Chapter 48: The Battle on the City Wall

  Among the wounded and dead, nearly thirty were warriors of the Jin army. In addition to being hit by rolling logs and hot oil from the city walls, some were shot by repeating crossbows. The two layers of heavy armor they wore did not bring them safety. The Zhuge repeating crossbow on the city wall could easily break through their double-layered heavy armor, causing them to die miserably on the ground.

  This situation is rarely encountered in other castles of Xining, which makes many Jin soldiers under the city produce a sense of fear for this place called Luoyun Fortress.

  Under the scorching sun, a strong smell of fresh blood and a hint of golden liquid filled the air, making people feel nauseous.

  That ox recording Zhu Wei Qiang endured that smell, looking out at the city head continuously. Beside him, two ox recording official flags were standing tall, and beside him were all wearing bright helmets and armor, with flying feathers on their helmets, and behind them were the flying tiger back flags of the Ka Ba Shi soldiers. There were also those with high red tassels on their helmets, wearing double-layered bright armor, the Bai Pai Ya La soldiers.

  Niu Lu Zhu Wei wore three layers of heavy armor, the innermost being a locked plate armor, then iron armor, and on the outside, he also wore a layer of riveted iron lamellar armor. Although these three layers of heavy armor could effectively protect his safety, in the sweltering heat, wearing dozens of kilograms of armor made him extremely uncomfortable, with large beads of sweat constantly rolling down from his head.

  Fortunately, this cow was recorded by Zhu Wei, who had been through many battles and could still bear it. He just hoped to take the city as soon as possible and end everything in front of him.

  In this small Luoyun Fortress, so many people have been lost, which has already made him extremely surprised at the combat effectiveness of the righteous army inside the city. Fortunately, there are several brave warriors who climbed up to the city head, with their own bravery and the righteous army's negligible hand-to-hand combat ability, it should be possible to break through this damn fortress soon.

  The huge casualties in the army have already exceeded the psychological expectations of many Jin soldiers. If they don't break through the city, it will collapse soon. Our brave warriors may retreat soon.

  ……

  Just now the golden liquid was poured down, Yang Xiao heard the miserable cries of the barbarian soldiers outside, but he couldn't see the situation under the city. Nearby, the sentry team also started to pour golden liquid on the two cloud ladders that were approaching the city, and again miserable cries came from under the city.

  Very soon, the three cloud ladders near the front heard the barbarian soldiers climbing up again. It seems that the rolling wood and stone could not stop the attack of the barbarian soldiers under the city. Jinju had only one pot on his side, and he coldly shouted, "Long spear soldiers, go to battle!"

  Soon, the same sound echoed from the city walls around them.

  From the earthen wall to the left side of the city wall, a distance of several dozen steps, was guarded by some soldiers from the Left Watchtower's A and B teams. In this section, two ladders of barbarian troops were leaning against the wall, with a steady stream of Golden Soldiers climbing up.

  As soon as the officer's order was heard, a group of auxiliary soldiers rushed up and moved some of the abatis from inside the city wall to the place where the cloud ladder was leaning against the wall. These several abatis were covered with sharp iron caltrops, which made people tremble at the sight. In order to strengthen the blocking force and killing power, under the command of the officer, the auxiliary soldiers arranged the abatis in a positive and negative way.

  The auxiliary soldiers set up the abatis and quickly left this section of the city wall, their mission here was completed, and the next battle would be handed over to the combat troops.

  Behind the several rebuffed horses on the city wall, twenty-five iron-armored long-gun soldiers of the Left Watch First Unit were standing with their guns held high and staring intently at the cloud ladder. They were divided into five squads, each standing in front of a section of the city wall, led by a squad leader who was accompanied by four men to fight.

  In the military council before Ye Xuan and others, when the enemy soldiers climbed up to the city, it was a good opportunity to heavily injure them, and at the same time, it could also temper their own soldiers' close combat capabilities. Only in the life-and-death struggle can those new recruits grow rapidly!

  To minimize casualties, Ye Xuan stipulated that when encountering a large Jin army, if the divine machine camp's repeating crossbowmen could shoot, they would first use the repeating crossbowmen to fire from a distance, and only then would the long spear soldiers charge up to stab and kill.

  On the city wall, the left and right watchmen of Lu Yunbao had 200 crossbowmen. Under the two waves of unexpected arrow rain from the Jin army, some young auxiliary soldiers were also injured, and about 30 people were killed or wounded in the subsequent shooting on the city wall and under the city. The left watch team also had several crossbowmen casualties, leaving a large area of bloodstains in this area.

  At this time, the crossbowmen of Team A, except for leaving behind a small team of one squad of crossbowmen to continue shooting at the city wall from horseback, the remaining several squads of crossbowmen, led by the squad leader, were waiting in ambush around or behind the long spear soldiers to provide supporting fire.

  The upper part of the city wall of Luoyunbao is about 4.5 meters wide, and even if these abatis are placed at the mouth of the wall, there is enough space behind and around them to accommodate these troops.

  The long spearman and the crossbowman of each small team were unified under the command of Jia Chang, and the soldiers of the five teams were also unified under the command of Su Zhong, the commander of the Shenji Camp. Beside him, two guards and two flag bearers were also standing tensely with their knives at the ready.

  Listening to the sounds outside the city, the soldiers of the Left Watchtower Team were all pursing their lips tightly, their chests heaving rapidly, just staring nervously at the movements on the other side of the cloud ladder.

  At last, near the first horse-faced wall on the left side, a few steps away from the cloud ladder mouth, a Qing soldier appeared with a round shield in his hand and a half-moon short-handled axe in his right hand. His head was large and thick at the neck, with a full beard and several deep scars on his face. Looking at his helmet and the flag on his back, he turned out to be a specialized Dashe leader among the Qing cavalry.

  He appeared on the city wall, without looking inside carefully, and used his round shield to protect himself in front, avoiding the Ming army's white blade coming from inside. With his right hand holding a short axe, he let out a loud roar and jumped down from the city wall fiercely. Usually, this momentum of his could scare off many Ming soldiers on the city wall, and it had been proven effective many times before.

  This vanguard has this confidence, as long as they jump onto the city wall, they can open up a foothold on the city wall for the troops behind.

  Unexpectedly, under the city wall of Yun Ti, there were several rows of caltrops, scattered all over the place, with sharp iron thorns emitting a cold glow. As he jumped down, he landed right on one of the caltrops. In an instant, multiple sharp iron thorns deeply pierced his body, and he let out a loud, mournful cry, desperately twisting his heavy body.

  "Kill!"

  At this gate, there were long spear guards from the first squad of Team A's second platoon. Several gunners had already leveled their guns and were waiting to fire. This special messenger was on the horseback, that squad leader let out a loud shout, he took two steps forward and made a sudden charge, instantly his hand grasped the long spear pierced through the iron-studded cotton armor and the inner chain mail on his body, deeply stabbing into his heart.

  At the same time, several long spears of the remaining team members were also stabbed into the body of Zhuan Da. One spear pierced his eye, one was stuck in his throat, and two more were stabbed into his left and right chest.

  His body was pinned down by the dense array of long spears, unable to move in the slightest. His left hand grasped a round shield, his right hand clutched a short-handled half-moon axe. He let out a furious roar, staring fixedly at the several long spears that had pierced his body, and it was like this that he roared as he died, trapped within the dense array of spears. His single eye remained wide open, as if even in death he refused to shut his eyes.