Chapter 1367: Han Banner World (Fifty-Seven) Clash

Yin Cuo stood in front of Tan Feng with a face full of shame, "General, I am incompetent."

Tan Feng narrowed his eyes and looked at the Wulong County City in the distance. He ignored Yin Cuo and let the general under his command stand in front of him with a big head. Tan Feng disciplined the army, rewarded and punished severely, and never had a good face for subordinates who failed to complete the task. His style also created subordinates who were swift and resolute. Once the task was issued, they had to do it well no matter how many ways they thought of, because the general didn't care about the process, only the result. Now in Tai'an, Sima Yan had already achieved the goal, but he messed up here.

"How are our casualties?" Tan Feng asked, finally retracting his gaze.

Tan Feng finally spoke, which made Yin Cuo feel as if he had been pardoned. He hurriedly said: "Reporting to the general, we have suffered more than a thousand casualties, including more than 700 to 400 killed in battle and more than 800 injured."

"What about the other side?"

"According to my estimation, the casualties will not be lower than ours. After all, they are some local guards, and their combat experience is not as good as ours. Although they have a strong city, their casualties are not small. The most hateful one is that Zou Peng, who has rich combat experience and is not an easy character to deal with." Yin Cuo said.

"We can't choose our opponents, but no matter who they are, it can't be a reason for you not to take Wulong." Tan Feng said coldly.

"Yes, I am incompetent." Yin Cuo lowered his head.

Looking at his general, Tan Feng knew in his heart that he could only stop there. He, Sima Yan, and Gongsun Zhi were all his staunch supporters, and he couldn't hurt the other side too much because of a small setback.

"Do they have a lot of gunpowder weapons?"

"It's not clear yet. They only use gunpowder weapons when we are about to attack the city, mainly ceramic grenades and explosive packs. Our siege vehicles can't get close to them at all. Others such as battering rams will also be blown up when they get close to the city walls. Unable to approach the city walls, unable to climb the city walls to fight, this is a stalemate." Yin Cuo was a little helpless.

"They have gunpowder weapons. Don't we have them?" Tan Feng sneered.

Yin Cuo opened his mouth. They did have gunpowder weapons, but grenades needed soldiers to throw them out, but they were under the city, how could they throw them up. Now they can only rely on crossbows, trebuchets and other weapons to attack. Compared with the other party who can easily use gunpowder weapons, this threat is not a concern at all.

"Push the trebuchets forward another 100 meters." Tan Feng said: "Your subordinates, prepare to climb the city walls to fight."

"Understood." Yin Cuo said loudly.

Dozens of huge trebuchets were slowly pushed to the front of the formation, and Tan Feng's personal soldiers quickly took over these trebuchets. Yin Cuo was startled by what the soldiers of the central army brought over. They were small packages tied tightly together. Yin Cuo naturally recognized them. They were explosives.

Several soldiers gathered together and discussed in a low voice, and then began to adjust the throwing arms of the catapults. After tinkering for a while, a pack of explosives was put on the catapult. Yin Cuo noticed that there were some small stones tied to the pack of explosives. At the end of the pack of explosives, a long fuse hung from the throwing arm to the ground.

"Get ready." A soldier half-crouched on the ground, holding two flints in his hands. Several other soldiers stood on the side of the catapult.

"Ignite, fire!"

There were several clicks, and the flints collided, and sparks came out. The fuse was lit, and the sound of the fuse burning came, and a soldier on the side of the catapult suddenly turned on the switch. The throwing arm of the catapult made a whirring sound and was raised high. The explosive pack placed at the front immediately flew into the air, drawing a beautiful arc in the air and flying towards the direction of Wulong County.

Yin Cuo followed the trajectory of the explosive pack and suddenly realized in his heart, how could he not think of such a simple idea? No, it was not that he could not think of it, but there were too few gunpowder weapons in his army. He had always wanted to use them in the most critical moments and did not want to waste them easily. Now the technology of gunpowder manufacturing is no longer a secret, but for Yingchuan soldiers, it is still a luxury weapon. The annual output is not much, and the quality cannot be compared with that of Qin and Chu, not to mention the Han army. The Han army has always been far ahead of everyone in terms of ordnance.

"What a pity!" Watching the explosive pack fall down powerlessly when it was still more than ten meters away from the city wall, it hit the ground with a bang. After another moment, there was a deafening noise and bursts of smoke.

"Increase the range a little more, and the fuse should be shorter. The best thing is to let them explode in the air. In this way, the enemy has enough time to extinguish the fuse. Then we are not attacking them, but sending them weapons." A personal guard officer said repeatedly, and several soldiers became busy again, and began to adjust the mechanism on the catapult to make its range a little longer.

On the top of Wulong City, Zou Peng's face finally changed. The enemy finally thought of using this trick. He originally thought that the opponent would soon use the catapult to throw explosive packs to attack the city wall. If Yin Cuo on the opposite side had used it a few days earlier, the soldiers on the city would have collapsed long ago. They were not well-trained soldiers who had experienced the test of blood and fire, but just some local guards. When weapons such as explosive packs exploded on the top of the city, the scene of blood and flesh flying and the deafening noise would quickly consume the morale in the city.

"How many explosive packs do we have?" he asked in return.

"General Zou, there's not much left. We only have a total of more than a hundred kilograms of explosives. These days, we have to use some every day. This is the last stock." An officer shouted back.

"Use the trebuchet to throw the lit explosive package. The target is the enemy's trebuchet. Now, quickly, quickly!" Zou Peng roared.

"Understood."

Under the city, another explosive charge was raised high. This time, he lived up to his expectations and landed on the city wall. With the loud explosion, Yin Cuo could clearly see a battlement with several severed hands. The severed legs and several torso parts flew high into the air, faster than the rising smoke.

"Beautiful!" he shouted, "blow them, blast them!"

He shouted excitedly, "General, I'm going to prepare to attack the city right away. If you do this a few times, the morale in the city will drop to a low point."

"Go ahead. Today, I want to have dinner in Wulong City." Tan Feng waved his hand.

Dozens of trebuchets were all equipped with this explosive package. With an order, more than a dozen special ammunition flew into the sky and flew towards Wulong City. Almost at the same time, several similar explosive packets flew out from the city wall. Above and below the city, everyone looked up at the explosive packets flying in the air, and the burning fuses passing by in the air. It's beautiful, but it kills people.

There were less than twenty explosive packets flying in the air, and the area of ​​attack was very limited. Most of the soldiers were staring at the location where the explosive packets would attack. But where the explosive package was about to fall, there was a panic. The soldiers below screamed in despair and ran like wolves and rats, trying to leave this place that would definitely become a hell immediately.

Loud noises were heard one after another, and the attacked positions above and below the city were instantly shrouded in thick smoke. The noisy battlefield instantly became quiet, and everyone's eyes focused on the bombed area.

The wind blew, and the smoke gradually dissipated, looking at the place where the explosion had just occurred. Everyone took a breath of cold air. Under the city, the location of the trebuchet was completely different from before. Most of the dozen trebuchets had turned into pieces of wood on the ground. The pieces of wood scattered on the ground were still stained with specks of blood, and a round head was jumping on the ground. It rolled and finally stopped in the eyes of everyone, with a pair of wide-open eyes. It seemed like he was still staring at everyone. The soldier closest to the trebuchet pulled a severed hand from his shoulder somewhat numbly. It was blown over and just fell on his shoulder. He threw the severed hand on the ground. The soldier Suddenly he bent over and retched.

In the distance, the expression on Tan Feng's face did not change at all as he witnessed all this, "Bring up the trebuchet and blow it up again."

On the city, a small section of the battlements of the city wall has disappeared, and there are no living creatures in the center hit by the explosive charges. A little further away, many soldiers who were affected are lying on the ground in pain. Some were injured by the porcelain shards wrapped in the explosive bags, and their bodies were dripping with blood, while others were killed by the shock wave. There were no visible injuries on the outside, but blood kept coming out between their mouths and noses.

Zou Peng looked at all this, sighed, and shouted in a low voice: "Keep firing, keep bombing their trebuchets."

After giving this order, Zou Peng glanced at the colorless soldiers on the city, shook his head, turned and walked towards the city. There were only some guards in Wulong City. If they were the elites under General Lu, the guards during this period would When fighting in the city, he actually still has many options to choose from, such as going out of the city to counterattack. But it is impossible for the soldiers under my command to go out of the city to fight with the enemy in the field. That would be death. Trapped in the city without counterattack, this kind of defense will ultimately be undefendable.

"Lord Gongsun, retreat!" Zou Peng looked at Gongsun Kang and said dejectedly: "We can't hold it anymore. If my prediction is correct, the city will be broken today. Once the opponent is allowed to climb the city wall, our soldiers will fight in hand-to-hand combat. Neither skill nor courage is a match for the enemy."

"General Zou, haven't you been keeping a tight guard?" Gongsun Kang asked in shock.

"The enemy used gunpowder weapons. The only gunpowder weapons we can counterattack have been used too much in the past few days. The little we have in stock is not enough to fight against the enemy. It may not take an hour for the enemy to attack the city. Come on, let's go, it will be too late if you don't leave." Zou Peng said.

Gongsun Kang stood up in panic and said, "I'll go and clean up right away, and I'll ask the general to protect me and retreat together."

"There is no need to pack up anything. Let's leave immediately. When General Lu is done, we will have nothing. Those external belongings should be packed away by whatever necessity. Only in this way can we save our lives." Zou Peng stepped forward and pulled Gongsun Kang up, panicking. He ran outside in panic.

Zou Peng's estimate was correct. After he and Gongsun Kang left Wulong City, waves of attacks under the city finally broke down the defense on the city wall. Yin Cuo led soldiers to swarm in through the exploded city gate. .

A smile finally appeared on Tan Feng's face, Wu Long finally won, and his strategic goal was completely achieved. Enter the city, have a good meal, and then have a good sleep. As for the resistance in the city, Tan Feng doesn't think there is anything to worry about.

Just as he was about to get on his horse and enter the city, there was the rapid sound of horse hooves behind him, and several knights flew towards him. When he saw Tan Feng, he rolled off his saddle, knelt on the ground, and cried loudly: "General, it's not good. Yingchuan County was lost, General Gongsun Zhi was killed in the battle, and the Han army has occupied Yingchuan County. "

The smile on Tan Feng's face froze instantly, and he could hardly believe his ears. (To be continued.)