Chapter 32: The Stormy Weather of Yu Guan (11)

  When the second Khitan appeared, Liu Jinhou's heart also stabilized a lot. He waited for the opponent to fully expose himself, shouting and jumping into the empty space, yelling: "Kill!" The wooden spear in his hand stabbed straight at the opponent's chest. At the same time, Liu Jinhou's companion followed the order and stabbed towards the root of the Khitan person's thigh.

  Liu Jinhou's timing was perfect, and the Khitan had no way to change direction in mid-air. When the Khitan's saber slashed towards Liu Jinhou's wooden spear, he finally saw Liu Jinhou's companion's spearhead stabbing from the side, let out a terrified cry, and hastily withdrew his leg. This time, Liu Jinhou held his wooden spear tightly, and the Khitan's attention was diverted by the spear coming from the side, so the force of his block was much weaker, unable to deflect Liu Jinhou's spear. Although he finally dodged the spear stabbing at his thigh from the side, his chest was still pierced by Liu Jinhou's wooden spear, and he fell to the ground with a thud, pinning Liu Jinhou underneath him.

  Right behind, the second Khitan's figure appeared. Without Liu Jintou's order, his companion was somewhat at a loss and stood stupidly in place, seemingly forgetting the wooden spear tightly grasped in his hand.

  Zhong Si Lang divided his troops into five groups, as the Khitan wooden ladders only had five frames. Therefore, he only had two defensive points on his front line. He placed two groups of people at each of these two defensive points: the first group blocked the front, and the second group waited in a more lateral position. Another group followed behind him as a reserve.

  The situation is urgent at this moment, and the standby group's position on Liu Jinhou's defensive point is a bit far away, and they can't rush over in time. So Zhong Silang shouted loudly: "Kill!" The reserve team behind him swung their wooden spears together with him, three wooden spears stabbed forward, two of which stabbed at the Khitan people's chest, and one stabbed at the root of the thigh.

  The Khitan man fell to the ground, and was kicked by his companion Liu Jinhou who had fallen down beside him. He stumbled forward, barely avoiding three wooden spears that were thrust at him. With one hand, he grabbed hold of the three spears, tucking them under his armpit, and with his right hand, he swung his sword at Zhong Siliang. Zhong Siliang was anxious in his heart, if this Khitan man broke through his defense, then a steady stream of Khitan men would pour through the city wall he guarded, and he would become the scapegoat for the defeat of the Youzhou Pingzhou army! He gritted his teeth, his heart filled with hatred, and lowered his body, closing his eyes as he charged forward.

  The Khitan's horse knife chopped onto Zhong Siliang's back, but because Zhong Siliang was already close by, the power of the knife didn't come out, it only slapped Zhong Siliang and made him feel a wave of nausea. He himself was pushed by Zhong Siliang to the edge of the city wall and immediately fell off the pass wall.

  Zhong Si Lang didn't have time to care about the pain on his back caused by being slapped with a horse whip, and he hastily instructed his brothers in the same gang. One group would kill one person and then immediately retreat, replaced by another standby group on the side. The two groups of people took turns continuously, ensuring that they could maintain their defensive strength in the city battle without interruption.

  The effect of this change was good, and in the subsequent battles, the two attack points defended by Shishiro did not appear to be in danger again.

  Things didn't go so well for the others, and Zhou Duan Dao had to lead his shield-bearing soldiers to fill in the gaps twice. It has to be said that the Khitan people's close combat strength is indeed not something that these new recruits from Pingzhou can match. Once the Khitans successfully climbed the city walls, the casualties would be much higher. In these two crises, although Zhou Duan Dao led his men to fill in the gaps and killed the Khitans who had climbed up, the Pingzhou army also suffered casualties, with two soldiers dying directly and three others being stabbed.

  Zhong Si-lang took advantage of the gap and ran over to tell Zhang Xing-chong about his flexible approach. Zhang Xing-chong's eyes lit up, and he hastily ordered each group to change their defensive tactics according to Zhong Si-lang's method, finally holding back the Khitan people's offensive.

  There was a daze in Wuri, he looked at the tribal warriors under his hand climbing up the city wall one after another, and then jumping onto the top of the city head. The city head immediately responded with a burst of killing sounds, and then... there was no movement! He opened his mouth wide and looked around at Kedan Shu, but Kedan frowned tightly, staring intently at the city gate above for half a day without speaking.

  At this moment, nine batches of tribal warriors have been sent to the city wall, a total of 45 people. However, after these 45 people went up, it seemed that there was no big splash, and there was no chaos or noise on the city wall. After these warriors went up, they did not show up again, as if the city wall was a huge wolf's mouth, and all these warriors became fat meat fed into the wolf's mouth. Oh, seven people have appeared, but they were pushed down by the defenders on the city wall...

  Ke Dan had experienced many battles and witnessed numerous sacrifices. When he made the decision to attack Yu Guan, he was also prepared for sacrifice. However, compared to the results of the battle, this sacrifice was a bit too tragic. It's worth noting that these people who climbed the city walls were all elite soldiers from the tribe. In just one meal's time, they sacrificed a full tenth of the entire southern expeditionary force!

  He didn't dare to attack again, if he continued like this, the power of supporting Xiao Lang Jun would be defeated under the city of Yu Guan. Even if he finally took down Yu Guan, it would only be a loss. He had lost these tribal warriors and didn't dare to imagine how to go on in the future. He was the first brave warrior of Pin Bu, he was his mother's most trusted guard, he had to take responsibility for Xiao Lang Jun's future, for the entire Pin Bu's future.

  Khitan hastily ordered the cessation of the siege, and the regular soldiers who were preparing to climb the ladders at the foot of the city walls breathed a sigh of relief. Under the cover of the archers, they directed the auxiliary soldiers to lift up the wooden ladders and returned to the Khitan army's camp. The archers who were exchanging fire with the garrison on the fortress also slowly retreated, gathering around Khitan. Seeing that these archers had not suffered any losses, Khitan felt slightly reassured. These people were his personally trained tribal sharpshooters, and they would be the most important support for Little Langjun to ascend to the throne of the Great Khan in the future.

  Wu Li thought for a moment, then said: "Ke Dan Shu, when you broke through the Yu Guan last time, didn't you set fire to the gate and burn it down? This time we can do the same, just set another fire and burn down the gate, then we can charge in."

  Ke Dan shook his head and said, "Last time I carefully examined the Guan City gate, inside the gate there is a drainage channel, we can prevent fire from below, and pour water down from above to put out the fire. As long as there are people on the city wall, we won't be able to burn this gate."

  Wuri felt a bit disappointed: "That... are we just retreating like this? What did Brother Tie say in response? He said as long as we take down Yu Guan, he'll support me becoming the tribal leader..."

  Ke Dan comforted: "Yu Guan can't be attacked head-on, let's write a letter to Ah Kuo, tell him the truth about Yu Guan, he should understand. Let's first return to the old camp at White Wolf Water, we've also plundered quite a bit of wealth and goods over these few months, first distribute what we've taken back, I'll train some more brave warriors, when the time comes we can come back again, after all Yu Guan won't run away."

  Wuri had always relied on this Khadan uncle, and after listening to him, he could only give up. He immediately ordered the retreat to the north and returned to the old camp at Bailangshui.

  When the Khitan turned to leave, a very warm applause burst out on Guan City. These refugees from outside the pass, who had suffered enough under the oppression of the Hu people, managed to block the enemy's attack in a head-on confrontation, and countless grievances and resentment finally broke out, everyone was overjoyed and cried, and they couldn't help themselves.

  Forty-five of the enemy were killed, seven of whom were pushed down from the city gate and died, and the Khitan army took them away when they retreated, so thirty-eight heads were cut off. Although relying on the convenience of the city wall, the Pingzhou army also suffered heavy casualties, with thirteen deaths, five serious injuries, and seven minor injuries. The archery team that confronted the enemy at the pass was the heaviest casualty, accounting for half of the total loss of the Pingzhou army.

  Li Chengzhong had the wounded treated by people in the camp who knew some medical skills, while ordering Wang Dalang to go out of the city and closely monitor the movements of the Khitan people, strictly preventing them from launching a surprise attack. It wasn't until Wang Dalang returned the next day that the people inside and outside the Yu Pass finally breathed a sigh of relief, because the Khitan people had retreated fifty miles north of the Yu Pass and were continuing to move northward.

  Yu Guan's threat has been temporarily lifted, and Li Chengzhong convened a summary meeting attended by platoon leaders and above. In addition to letting everyone discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the Khitan people, they also proposed problems exposed in defense and directions for future improvement. At first, everyone was still a bit unaccustomed and very restrained, not daring to speak up.

  Ginger seedling hesitated and said: "Li Lang, you are the superior officer, what you say goes, why do we need to discuss it?"

  Li Chengzhong patiently explained: "Although I am the commander of the fourth team of Yu Guan, it is impossible for me to fight alone. When we really start fighting, you are the ones who will be commanding the soldiers. What problems do you encounter in battle? What do you think is good or bad? Let's discuss them and next time we'll understand each other better."

  Seeing everyone looking at each other in dismay and not making a sound, Li Chengzhong simply called out: "Zhou Da, you tell me, you led the knife shield team to charge on the city wall twice, what do you think and feel?"

  Zhou Duan Dao was taken aback, his mouth agape, and hesitated for a moment before saying: "I just feel that my stomach is lacking in oil and water. If I could eat my fill or have some meat, it would be great." As soon as he spoke, everyone burst out laughing and began to tease Zhou Duan Dao. Zhou Duan Dao angrily retorted: "What nonsense! If I had eaten my fill, those Khitan bandits would have been defeated by me alone, and their heads would have rolled off the city walls. How could they have run amok?"

  Li Chengzhong said, "What Zhou Da said is very good. This is indeed a problem, a problem of logistics and supply. I've taken note of this issue and will think of a solution later. Don't laugh, comrades. Throughout history, wars have been largely fought over logistics. If soldiers don't eat their fill, how can they fight? Wang Dalang... are you still smiling? ... You continue speaking!"

  Wang Dalang was originally still enjoying himself, but upon hearing this, he suddenly looked gloomy, scratched his head, and thought for a long time before saying: "I think we should specially select a few people who can ride horses to serve as scouts. Relying on just one person to gather information is really tiring... Head, I'm not trying to be lazy, I just think..."

  Li Chengzhong nodded and said, "Not bad, originally according to the regulations, the scouting mission in Pingzhou Army should be undertaken by the middle camp, but now that our Jia Du and Yi Du are separately garrisoned at Yu Guan, it's really inconvenient without a dedicated scout. After the military council, you go and select some men, I'll give you five quotas, as for horses...I'll go find Feng Dao and ask him to lend us a few horses from the civilian labor camp's cavalry team. Those horses are not ideal, but they're better than nothing..."

  Zhou Fangdao and Wang Dalang's opinions were both praised and adopted by Li Chengzhong, and the other officers, seeing this, all began to speak out, making the military council suddenly lively.