The attack and defense of Niangniang City has entered its third day, and the war has been extremely fierce. The east wall of Niangniang City is covered with traces of war, corpses are piled under the city, and the wilderness is dyed red with blood. In addition to a thick layer of corpses, there are many smashed

The burned ladders and the wreckage of the crashed vehicles proved the brutality of this offensive and defensive battle.

In this offensive and defensive battle that lasted for two days, nearly 10,000 Goguryeo soldiers were killed, and more than 1,000 of the 4,000 Sui garrison defenders were killed and wounded. The young Goguryeo soldiers who were forcibly recruited to defend the city also suffered more than 3,000 casualties.

However, the Sui army, which originated from the miscellaneous soldiers of the Youzhou Navy, had adapted to the enemy's rhythm, and its morale became higher and higher as the war progressed.

The time entered the early morning of the third day, and the red flag of the Sui Army fluttered in the sky above the east city gate. A ray of morning sun shone through the thick morning fog on the head of the Empress City, glowing with a magnificent red color. The Sui Army soldiers on the city leaned against the city wall.

They fell asleep all over the place, their eyebrows and beards all covered with

There was a layer of white water vapor, and pieces of morale condensed slowly slid down from the face, helmet, and armor. But the tranquility did not last long. When the thick fog dispersed, the drums of the Goguryeo camp started beating again.

, the war drum sound of "Dong Dong Dong" is earth-shattering and can be heard endlessly.

The Sui soldiers who were sleeping soundly on the city woke up from their sleep and quickly entered the fighting position. General Mai Mengcai, who was sleeping on the gatehouse, also stood up. He wiped his eyes and strode to

In front of the battlements, the enemy soldiers stared straight ahead and looked away.

I saw the Goguryeo army in the distance gathering from enemy groups from all directions to the front, forming a black and dense phalanx, gradually forming an overwhelming front line.

"Send my order!" Mai Mengcai turned around and ordered: "Let all soldiers and civilians join the battle!"

After giving the order, he stared at the overwhelming enemy troops again. He felt that the enemy troops had invested far more troops this time than in the previous two days of fighting. He knew that the enemy troops were planning to carry out a desperate battle today, and the outcome would be decided today.

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"Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo,w........." horns for summoning the army sounded loudly. Groups of Sui Army soldiers quickly gathered on the city and each entered their fighting positions. The five or six mile long city wall was densely covered with Sui Army soldiers. The soldiers held spears in their hands.

The swords flashed and the bows lost their density; the civilians who were temporarily armed also heard the signal and took action, bringing the defense materials to the city.

The overwhelming number of Goguryeo soldiers outside the city quickly formed up. With the successive defeats in the siege, Wu Bin was extremely anxious. Not only did he send all the soldiers to the battlefield, but also a group of soldiers transferred from Shangjian City last night.

One hundred ladder trucks and thirty nest trucks were also thrown into the battle by him.

In this battle, Wu Bin personally led 5,000 elite cavalry to supervise the battle team. He stared at the pulled up suspension bridge under the banner. The suspension bridge was seriously damaged and crumbling.

"Report to the general, everything is ready." A general came forward and reported: "The city assault vehicle has also been built overnight."

Wu Bin turned around and looked behind him. A huge assault chariot had appeared not far behind him. He looked at a group of senior generals who had gathered and said seriously: "Everyone, no matter how many soldiers and horses we lose today, we still have to fight."

Conquer Niangniang City and annihilate the Sui army in the city. Otherwise, it will definitely affect the entire war situation, and King Gao Yuan will have no way to retreat."

"The last general will obey your order!" All the generals responded with a roar.

Wu Bin waved his sword and shouted: "Attack!"

"Dong, Dongdong, Dongdongdong..." The sound of Goguryeo drums began to get louder. More than 40,000 soldiers surrounded the ladder carts and nest carts and rushed forward. The army formations composed of square formations were like a huge carpet.

It covers all the wilderness between the mountains and the sea.

For the Liaodong Peninsula, Niangniang City was as valuable as Anshi City. Goguryeo was equipped with a hundred small catapults and a hundred crossbows for city defense; in previous battles, more than 60 catapults had been lost.

car

, more than forty crossbows. Mai Mengcai knew that Wu Bin had made up his mind to capture the city today, and they would continue to defend it, so he did not dare to be careless and throw in all the remaining catapults and crossbows.

In the middle of the battle.

"Launch!" When the Goguryeo army launched an attack, the catapult array, under Wei Kuangbo's order, swung its long arm and smashed dozens of stones into the enemy group as dense as a swarm of ants. Each huge stone hit

When the enemy falls, blood will burst out from the enemy group, and wailing sounds can be heard throughout the wilderness, but the gap that appears will be filled in an instant by the enemy group behind and behind.

With a "boom" sound, a nest car was targeted

The well-aimed stone hit, splinters flew everywhere, the support collapsed, and dozens of archers screamed and fell from the high-hanging archery tower.

The nest cart is made of huge wood and has a very simple structure. The nest cart is hollow and has a staircase leading to the top. The wooden platform at the top is like a bird's nest, so it is called the nest cart. At the same time, because the watchtower above is called a building cart, the nest cart can also be used as a nest cart.

The lookout car can also arrange archers in the building; and

If this kind of siege equipment is not destroyed, when it approaches the city, it can not only suppress the defenders with arrows from a high position, but also send soldiers to the top of the city. It is more powerful than a ladder truck because it is relatively bulky.

, are usually targeted first by the defenders with catapults.

"Boom", two more nest cars were hit at the bottom. The front axles were broken and the wheels came out. The nest cars lost their center of gravity and immediately tilted forward. Amidst the screams of the soldiers below and above, the nest cars fell down with a crash.

It killed and injured a large area.

Although the catapults were very intimidating, Goguryeo's offensive was like a tide amidst the rapid sound of war drums. The boulders thrown by the Sui army in turn fell into the enemy group, like blood-red waves splashing in the ocean, and instantly they were again

Being overwhelmed by the surging crowd, they continued to attack forward.

Wu Bin had already boarded a nest cart at this time, and ordered the soldiers to push it forward to watch the battle. Seeing that the nest cart and the ladder cart were seriously destroyed, if he continued to move forward slowly, they would be destroyed before they even got close to the city, so he ordered:

: "Let the siege troops continue to advance and speed up. As long as they are within the attack range of the catapult, the stones will not be able to shoot."

After two days of hard work, Wu Bin had already lost his patience. Since the palace in front of him was located in the hinterland of Goguryeo, its strength and height were far inferior to Gaimu City and Anshi City at the western entrance of the peninsula. It was said to be easy to conquer.

However, the way the Sui soldiers defended the city was so powerful that the enemy general

The defense was extremely tight, and no matter how dangerous it was, they could calmly and decisively replenish their troops in time. As a result, the Goguryeo army went to the city again and again, only to be killed again and again; especially because Goguryeo had accumulated too many weapons and equipment before the war.

, As a result, the Sui army still has no worries about lack of arrows or stones.

"Hugh, Hugh, Hugh!" When the nest cart and the ladder cart entered the blind spot of the catapult, the bed crossbows on the city also began to show their power. The direction they aimed at was also where the nest cart and the ladder cart were. As long as the pusher was pushed

If the soldiers in the advancing cart are shot to death, the progress of the nest cart and ladder cart will be delayed. It would be great if they can be killed.

The arrows were as dense as spears and like locusts. They rushed towards the enemy with a sharp whistling sound. The arrows penetrated the shields with great power and shot the soldiers to the ground fiercely. The sounds of screams could be heard one after another.

"Puff, puff, puff!" The life-threatening arrows missed one after another, making it impossible for the dense siege phalanx to avoid, and the arrows missed were powerful. Their arrival caused the siege troops to scream and fall to the ground one after another.

However, there were too few catapults and crossbows in the city, and reloading was very time-consuming, and the efficiency of launching was not high. In addition, there were too many Goguryeo soldiers. As time went by, there were finally more than 20 ladder trucks.

Built on the city wall, a Goguryeo army commander on the platform shouted with a ruthless face: "Follow me into the city."

"Kill, kill, kill!" The soldiers of the Goguryeo army immediately rushed up along the wooden bridge extending from the ladder truck to the top of the city.

However, the soldiers of the Sui army performed their duties. Wei Kuangbo had already mobilized crossbowmen to the ladder truck when the ladder truck approached. When Goguryeo came out of the truck, the soldiers calmly fired the crossbow machine, and the arrow missed and shot quickly.

Go out and hunt down all the soldiers on the wooden bridge.

The soldiers in front held sticks to pry up the wooden bridge, and others held many iron forks to fork the edge. Everyone worked together and pushed forward hard. The ladder trucks leaned back one after another, and the soldiers below screamed.

Amidst the sound, he slowly fell down.

The Goguryeo civilians who were forcibly conquered, under the threat of the war supervisors, braved the rain of arrows and threw buckets and jars of kerosene into the city. After they were broken, the thick kerosene inside immediately flowed slowly on the ground.

, the pungent smell of oil filled the long sky. Immediately afterwards, torches were thrown down from the city in a rotating manner, which instantly ignited the kerosene on the ground and the siege soldiers upwards.

The Goguryeo soldiers outside the city suddenly fell into chaos. Everyone was pushing and fighting, scrambling to retreat and flee, but there were too many soldiers behind them, making their escape extremely difficult.

The fire was getting bigger and bigger, spreading rapidly, and the fire was constantly thrown from the city.

Buckets and jars of fire oil also increased the intensity of the fire. The five or six miles long city wall soon turned into a sea of ​​flames. The soldiers under the city turned into burning men. They fell and struggled in the fire, miserable.

Screams resounded throughout the world, and the outside of the city turned into a hell on earth.

The blazing fire and wall of fire broke the first wave of the sharpest offensive of the Goguryeo army.

"General, the enemy launched a fire attack. The city turned into a sea of ​​flames. Our offensive was thwarted and we couldn't attack at all. Our morale is no longer as good as before." A general rode his horse to the nest chariot and looked up at the warriors above.

Bin reported the battle situation on the front line, and then asked loudly: "Excuse me, general, should you continue to attack or rest?"

Wu Bin looked at the troops retreating like a tide, punched the railing, and said coldly: "Kerosera is the enemy's last weapon to defend the city. Entering the battlefield this time, it can be seen that the enemy has exhausted its skills.

Send my military order to the siege army to retreat and rest. The rear army will carry sandbags and go forward to put out the fire. When the sand fire is extinguished, the siege army will charge again."

It is extremely frustrating to say that Wu Bin was ordered to prepare the supplies in the city. After Gao Yuan and Yuan Ziyou defeated the Xifeng Camp in Yangji and entered Shansong City, they ordered the southern army to prepare for various key city fortresses.

.Jili City and Niangniang City, as the eastern entrance to the Liaodong Peninsula, have a strategic position no less than Gaimou City and Anshi City. Wu Bin received Gao Yuan and Yuanzi.

Following You's order, Dahang City soldiers immediately moved in one after another the city defense materials, but now they have become deadly to the Goguryeo army. However, since the city defense materials were prepared by himself, Wu Bin knew what was inside.

When he saw the enemy finally pouring kerosene into the battlefield, he knew that the enemy was already at the end of the battle, so he was not surprised but overjoyed.

"Follow your orders!" As the order was passed, the Goguryeo army's siege troops slowly retreated, and the rear troops immediately stepped forward with sandbags under the cover of archers to use the sand to extinguish the fire.

When Mai Mengcai saw the enemy troops retreating, his tense heartstrings relaxed, but his brows were furrowed. This kerosene was their last weapon. They originally planned to save it until the afternoon, but the enemy troops today

His offensive was too fierce, and the defenders were extremely tired, so he could only throw the fire oil into the battlefield. The next battle was bound to be a very brutal hand-to-hand combat.

The battlefield at this time, due to the fire, temporarily became relaxed and calm. The Sui soldiers calmed down a little and immediately used their bows and arrows to throw arrows away from the wall of fire. Locust-like arrows streaked across the sky,

After a brief flight, they quickly fell down, and many sword and shield soldiers and heavy equipment turned into corpses.

The soldiers of the Goguryeo army below the city did not sit still and wait for death, nor did they give the Sui army a chance to breathe. They fired back with arrows one after another. The remaining phalanxes of chariots and ladder chariots also adjusted their directions to avoid being hit by catapults and crossbows aimed in the right direction.

In response to the changes in the enemy's forces, Mai Mengcai and Wei Kuangbo also ordered the soldiers to adjust their catapults and crossbows.

When the fire subsided, the Goguryeo army resumed the offensive.

This time, the Goguryeo army even used escalator-like ladders. This type of ladder was far less powerful than a ladder truck and could easily be pushed down by the defenders, but it was more lightweight and flexible. The two groups of soldiers held shields in one hand to block arrows and one in the other.

Holding the ladder posts in hand, they rushed forward quickly with all their strength.

After less than three moments of fighting, dozens of ladders were set up on the city. Iron claws were nailed on the ladder posts. When the ladder hit the battlements, they firmly grasped the battlements, making it impossible for the defenders to push them down. However,

Although the Sui soldiers in the city could not push it down, they could violently destroy it.

The soldiers wielded hammers and smashed the iron claws and ladder columns to the side. When one ladder column was empty, the ladder tipped to one side, and the soldiers on it fell one after another. However, the terrain on the city was limited.

The enemy had many ladders set up, and many ladders were successfully erected and secured.
To be continued...