NCCnovel Chapter 458 Gap
Chapter 458 Gap
As the night deepened, the criminal army launched a night attack on the Xiongnu army like ghosts.
However, in the face of the huge military force of the Xiongnu, this night attack was like an ant trying to shake a tree, and only caused minor losses to the Xiongnu army.
At this moment, there were still at least 300,000 Xiongnu enemy troops entrenched in the encirclement outside Shizhou City, like a dark cloud pressing down on the city.
However, this attack outside the north gate was not ineffective. It successfully delayed the attack on the north gate.
The other three walls were also heavily damaged, with smoke filling the air, broken bricks and stones, and bloodstains covering them.
Under Qiao Mang's calm and composed command, the soldiers and civilians of Shizhou City shared a common hatred of the enemy and fought hard.
The soldiers brandished their weapons and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Hun soldiers who climbed up the city walls, their eyes filled with determination and resoluteness; the common people brought stones and wooden planks to help the soldiers resist the foreign enemies, their shouts shaking the air.
Finally, with everyone's concerted efforts, they successfully resisted the Huns' siege again.
Logically speaking, with an army of 300,000 people, it should be no problem for the Hun to capture the city.
However, now that they had the powerful weapon of artillery, after some discussion and summarizing their experience, they felt that using artillery to destroy the city could minimize their own casualties.
So they chose to wait until the artillery was ready.
During this brief period of waiting, reinforcements from Pingyang Prefecture quietly arrived from the south gate.
Ren Chaohui rode a vigorous black horse and led 20,000 troops to the vicinity of the South Gate with a solemn expression.
He did not launch an attack rashly, but waited for a perfect opportunity.
The Xiongnu army at the South Gate was led by Zhang Xuegeng and Yu Wenhua. Their 200,000 men moved separately, and they deliberately left 100,000 men between the East Gate and the South Gate to guard against reinforcements from Jinyang or Pingyang.
This cautious deployment was keenly noticed by Ren Chaohui, who has always been careful in his work.
Ren Chaohui knew clearly that he only led 20,000 troops. If he confronted the Huns head-on, it would be like hitting a rock with an egg, and he would be seeking his death.
The scouts sent by Zhang Xuegeng soon discovered their army. In Zhang Xuegeng's eyes, Ren Chaohui's 20,000 troops were just the vanguard and could not cause any big waves.
The person in charge of attacking the city at the east gate was Xiao Ran. As Yelu Qi's deputy commander, he fought with extreme caution.
It is said that his ancestor was Xiao Tianyou, who once established a glorious dynasty on the grassland. However, for some unknown reason, the dynasty collapsed and this history can no longer be verified.
Hu Shanzhong, Guo Yaoshi and others were stationed in the southeast corner. Xiao Ran knew that most of these people were defeated soldiers from the previous dynasty, and he did not have any good feelings towards them.
In Xiao Ran's opinion, the 200,000-strong army composed of the Xianbei people and the defeated soldiers of the previous dynasty was not very strong.
Just when everyone was hesitating about the next move, news came that Jinyang had sent out 30,000 troops.
Although Xiao Ran is cautious in character, he is by no means bad at leading troops in battle.
After learning the news, he frowned, thought for a moment, and then ordered someone to find Hu Shanzhong and Pharmacist Guo.
When the two arrived, Xiao Ran looked at them, his tone full of doubt and temptation: "30,000 people want to attack me from behind? What do you two think?"
After Guo Yaoshi defected to the Xiongnu, his already small number of troops suffered heavy losses in the devastating snowstorm last year.
If Dun had not allocated the slaves on the grassland to him, he probably wouldn't have been able to gather even a general for this southward expedition.
Now, he has been placed in Hu Shanzhong's army, and everyone knows the intention behind this.
When Hu Shanzhong heard Xiao Ran's question, he became more cautious. After quickly weighing the pros and cons in his mind, he said, "We need to explore this matter further. We must be prepared for the possibility of a large army behind us."
He actually knew about the reinforcements from the south, but he didn't say it out loud. Instead, he kept it in mind and wanted to leave a way out for himself.
"Whether there's another army behind us isn't important. What's important is that we take precautions. You have 100,000 men, so it shouldn't be difficult to intercept a 30,000-man force."
Xiao Ran stared at Hu Shanzhong with burning eyes and said.
After hearing this, Pharmacist Guo felt a pang of fear in his heart and swallowed subconsciously, but did not express any opinion.
Hu Shanzhong thought for a moment and replied, "We have another mission here, which is to prevent the enemy from coming from the south. The east side has only 50,000 people to cooperate with you at most."
"Nonsense! There are already 100,000 troops attacking the South Gate. What do they need you for?"
Xiao Ran was immediately furious and shouted loudly, feeling extremely dissatisfied with Hu Shanzhong's evasion.
"We are one with General Zhang. Although it is our responsibility to help you, there is no point in losing sight of the main goal."
Hu Shanzhong also had his own plans in mind. This time, their army came with a clear goal, which was to develop here after occupying the city, and had no plans to continue moving south.
Zhang Xuegeng had been living peacefully in his Xinghe City, but due to Yu Wenhua's persuasion, he had to leave temporarily and follow the Xiongnu to another place to conquer the world.
Now, Xiao Ran asked them to have 100,000 people to fight against Jinyang's army alone. This would undoubtedly anger Bingzhou and openly oppose the Great Zhou Dynasty. He would not be so stupid.
After all, the Huns left after the war, and they had to retain their strength and consider their future.
"What? You are fighting a war without putting in any effort. What's the use of you?" Xiao Ran was really angry this time. From Hu Shanzhong's words, he heard the other party's perfunctory and self-protective attitude.
Seeing the atmosphere growing increasingly tense and tense, Pharmacist Guo quickly spoke to smooth things over, "Don't be angry, Chief Xiao. The final solution is to stop the reinforcements from Jinyang. General Hu has his own responsibilities, and you shouldn't force him to do anything."
Pharmacist Guo's words did not completely extinguish Xiao Ran's resentment. He was so angry that he lay face up at the sky, gasping for breath.
"Well, I will take the troops with me, and have General Hu reinforce them. We will have 50,000 men in the east to block the army coming from Jinyang."
Pharmacist Guo suggested after seeing the situation.
Hearing Pharmacist Guo mention sending troops, Xiao Ran felt a little better. "Then I'll have to trouble Guo Chunyu to send the troops."
Yaoshi Guo, whose courtesy name was Chunyu, was accustomed to addressing others by his own courtesy name when he was in the Xiongnu.
Seeing that the matter had been discussed, Hu Shanzhong secretly breathed a sigh of relief and returned to the base.
Pharmacist Guo asked Hu Shanzhong for 10,000 men and set off with his team.
Looking at Pharmacist Guo's departing team, Hu Shanzhong muttered to himself, "It looks like the people from the south are going to stop them too."
So he quickly wrote a letter to Zhang Xuegeng about his current situation. The general meaning was that he was taking 40,000 people to the south to stop the enemy, but he could not be sure of the specific number of the enemy, so he asked Zhang Xuegeng to send some people to support him.