Invincible Iron Man 33, The Abandoned Army Flag

  Wang An rubbed his chest and said, "Fortunately, I had a protective mirror here, otherwise I would have gone to see King Yan earlier." However, the huge impact of the arrow still made him spit out a mouthful of blood.

  Wang An saw that the battle nearby was still intense, Wang An's old soldiers were seasoned veterans, and without Wang An's command, they continued to fight. The new recruits were infected by the old soldiers' fighting spirit and also continued to fight. They no longer needed commands or mobilization because they knew that behind them lay their homes, and they had to fight for their homes, for their loved ones. Now they had nowhere to retreat and would not retreat either.

  A Xiongnu soldier had just shown his head when he was hit on the head with an iron shovel by a Guyang soldier, and instantly his head was broken and bleeding, and he fell down from the city. The Guyang soldier laughed loudly: "You love to climb high, but you can't stand the iron shovel's forceful strike." At this time, another Xiongnu climbed up elsewhere, and an arrow pierced his chest. The Guyang soldier... (the rest of the text is incomplete)

  There was a Xiongnu soldier who had just poked his head out, and was hit on the head with a brick, falling off the city wall. The soldier who knocked down the Xiongnu laughed loudly: "You don't even ask what kind of person I am, I'm a notorious rascal from Nanyang Street in Guyang, even if you have high martial arts skills, you're afraid of being hit by a brick."

  Wang An's army was no longer as calm as before, and the overall situation of the city defense was not optimistic. In many places, the Xiongnu had already climbed onto the city walls, entangled with Wang An's army, and both sides were fighting desperately.

  At this time, a general said to Wang An: "It's not good, the eastern section of the city wall has been breached and the enemy is already on the city head." Wang An loudly said: "I don't care what method you use, immediately drive the enemy off the city for me." The man responded with a sound, and immediately returned. He knew that there was no rescue army here either, and everything could only rely on himself.

  The casualties of the Xiongnu were far greater than those of the Jin Dynasty. Every time he saw his soldiers die or get injured, the Righteous King's heart was also very sad. However, he thought that the city of Yiyang was like an egg, and as long as the hard shell outside was broken, the inside would be at the mercy of the Xiongnu.

  Snowflakes floated in the sky, mixing with the blood of warriors on the ground, and the entire battlefield was desolate. The soldiers of Jin's southern city showed a heroic spirit, some embracing the enemy and jumping off the wall to die together, others abandoning their defenses and perishing with the enemy. Some were filled with arrows but still charged at the enemy.

  Wang An also engaged in a fierce battle with the enemy, and this life also picked up his weapon to join the fight. A Xiongnu soldier shot him with an arrow, but it didn't hit a vital spot. He swung his large knife at the enemy soldiers, who were also very brave and fierce. They exchanged blows with Wang An using their bows, knocking away his knife and using the bowstring to strangle his neck, trying to choke him to death. Wang An's tongue was already sticking out, and his eyes had become somewhat dim.

  Wang An thought of his father, thought of the wife who had betrayed him. He felt a pang of longing, but no regret, for he was a soldier of Great Jin, with the sacred duty to defend the land and protect the people.

  The Xiongnu's skull was shattered, and Jiang Zai, disregarding his own safety, killed the Xiongnu soldiers. He thought to himself that he could do without Jiang Zai, but not without Wang An. Li Li and Du Lu, Zhang Wan also arrived, their thoughts were the same as Jiang Zai's.

  The army of Da Jin struggled to hold on, gritting their teeth until nightfall, when the Xiongnu army finally retreated. Many of Wang An's soldiers were injured and bleeding. Liu Jiao was protected by Wang An's soldiers and did not participate in the battle, but she also witnessed the tragic scene of the entire battle and was moved by the bravery of the Da Jin army. She thought to herself that these soldiers were just ordinary citizens not long ago, living cautiously and conservatively, yet they shone with extraordinary valor on the battlefield defending their country.

  The entire Jin army's camp was solemn, today too many soldiers left them, this day the Jin army lost nearly three thousand soldiers. To know that the entire Jin Nan city's military strength is only more than 15,000 people, and nearly one-fifth of them were casualties. The Xiongnu paid a price of nearly 10,000 casualties, after all, they were at a disadvantage in attacking the city.

  The soldiers of the Great Jin are silently mourning their comrades, many of whom they grew up with since childhood. Some were still eating together a few days ago, but today they are forever separated by life and death.

  After hearing about the dire situation in Nan City, several defense envoys arrived at Nan City. Upon seeing the situation, they all thought that Nan City could not be defended. Du Lin said to Wang An, "General Wang, it's extremely difficult for Nan City to hold out against the enemy's frenzied attacks for even one more day. If the Xiongnu army continues to attack like this tomorrow, we will likely lose control here. Even if you manage to hold on tomorrow, what about the day after? And the days after that?" Wang An looked at them but didn't say a word. Du Lin continued, "The soldiers here have been injured and are suffering greatly. How about this: we can dispatch some troops from our army to support you, but you'll need to bear the cost of their military rations. You can give us 40,000 taels of silver." Wang An was furious in his heart, thinking that he had earned 40,000 taels of silver, but it hadn't gone into his own pocket; all the money had been spent on defending Yu Yang, and yet they were trying to calculate their financial gains. They truly lacked a broad perspective.

  The soldiers were also extremely angry when they heard about it, and they were very clear about Wang An's difficulties. They were furious and ashamed of the behavior of taking advantage of the fire to loot. Jiang Cai gritted his teeth, Li Li clenched his fists, thinking that you let us defend the city, but do not give us military rations, military pay, or military equipment, yet you make us responsible for defending the most difficult section of the city wall, it's really infuriating.

  Wang An said, "We don't need relief. Our army may be poorly equipped and our soldiers lack combat experience, but we still have backbone. As long as I'm alive, I won't let the Xiongnu set foot in Yuyang City." He spoke resolutely.

  Du Lin said, "Wang An, we're coming to you with good intentions. If you refuse, when the time comes and prices skyrocket, it'll cost us 800,000 taels of silver to beg for your help. You should think carefully about this."

  Jiang Cai said, "Brother Wang told you to leave, why are you still not leaving?"

  "Leave!" The soldiers let out a loud shout.

  Dulin sneered and said, "Now you are tough with your words, but after a while, you will come to beg me. Why bother? You don't need that worthless dignity, and your dignity is actually worth nothing." Wang An shouted to the soldiers, "Soldiers, tell them with your voices whether our dignity is valuable or not!" The soldiers shouted, "Valuable! Valuable! Valuable!" Wang An revealed a smile.

  Liu Jiao whispered to Wang An, "If you don't have money, I can lend it to you. You know that being stubborn will harm yourself and the city. Once this place falls, the entire Yu Yang will be lost. If the south city continues to develop in this trend, even with the most optimistic estimate, it will be breached within three days. And I think you won't even last till tomorrow, look at your soldiers, many of them are injured, they can't continue fighting." Wang An said, "Thank you for your concern, General. We will definitely protect this city wall. Don't worry, it won't fall and will stand like a copper wall and iron fortress, defending the entire Yu Yang."

  Liu Jiao walked away with a sense of disappointment, thinking to herself that she had misjudged the person. Wang An was too arrogant, for the sake of money and so-called self-respect, he gave up the opportunity to request reinforcements and put the entire defense of Youyang in danger. Liu Jiao left without looking back. She was planning what to do if this place fell, whether to build another section of city wall or to build an inner city within the city.

  The next day, the sky was already bright, and Wang An was surprised to find that another simple city wall had appeared behind them. Many people were busy building this city wall. Jiang Zai saw it and angrily said: "We haven't died yet, they've started building a city wall. Do they think we'll definitely die in battle?" The soldiers also felt angry about the Jiedushi's behavior, which was abandoning them, despising them, and being ruthless. In these days, we fought together with other troops, and there should be deep feelings of camaraderie among soldiers. Now, however, they had done something despicable, like burning the bridge after crossing the river.

  Jiang Cai was furious, and many soldiers secretly vowed never to serve under Liu Jiao again. Wang An saw this and actually smiled, saying to the soldiers: "Brothers, it seems they can't finish on time, so we'll send people to help them complete it. A gentleman has a sense of shame." The soldiers angrily said: "General, with their behavior, you still want us to help them build city walls?" Wang An said: "Helping them is not just about completing the task, but also about not giving those who want to mock us the satisfaction. We'll not only help them, but we'll do it with a smile. I don't believe our city walls are made of paper, and I don't think theirs are impenetrable fortresses either. Let's help them, and they will definitely regret their actions today." The soldiers nodded in agreement and chose several hundred to go and assist the other group in building the city wall. At this point, the soldiers who were originally building the wall were stunned, thinking to themselves: "What is going on? Is the opposing general crazy or just stupid? Can't they see that this move is clearly aimed at them?"

  The Xiongnu's Right Virtuous King began to besiege the city, with a multitude of enemy troops swarming towards the city like a tidal wave. They thought that they could capture the city today. The Xiongnu army in other directions also used the battering ram to attack the city, and the defenders on each wall were immediately overwhelmed.

  Liu Jiao looked at the new city wall that was getting higher and higher, and suddenly felt strange. She asked: "Whose order is this?" The soldier replied: "It's the order of Zhao Xiangqian, the defense envoy. He said that Wang An's army will definitely not last until tomorrow, let us prepare."

  Something came up today, just one more post. I'm asking readers for a big recommendation.

  Note: The cloud ladder was a type of siege engine that was widely used in Chinese sieges, such as when Emperor Taizong of Tang attacked Goguryeo and recovered Liaodong. According to historical records, on May 17th, with strong winds blowing from the south, Emperor Taizong ordered his troops to ignite the southwestern city tower using fireball catapults. The flames engulfed the residential areas within the city, reaching high into the sky. He then ordered his elite soldiers to climb up the cloud ladder and ascend onto the city walls in one swift motion.

  Emperor Yang of Sui also used the cloud ladder in the campaign to recover Liaodong. According to historical records, Wu Xing and Shen Guang climbed to the top of a 15-zhang-high cloud ladder, fought against the Goguryeo soldiers on the city wall, killed more than ten people, and were attacked by the Goguryeo soldiers together, falling from the top of the pole. Just as they were about to fall to the ground, Shen Guang grabbed a rope hanging from the cloud ladder, flipped his body and climbed back up to continue fighting.

  If someone has seen the People's Liberation Army's exercise in the 1950s, they must have also seen the PLA using bayonets.

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