Chapter 38: Fierce Defense of the City Outside Xiangping City, Tian Ze and others were in a hidden corner, observing the situation of the Wuhuan Army and the Xianbei Army through a "telescope". In order to deal a fatal blow to the Hu people, Tian Ze led his army from Wen County, took a small road to the east, and then marched north. The Xianbei never thought that the Han army would come to support Xiangping. Although Su Puyan sent some reconnaissance cavalry just in case, they were all distributed on the south side and had no idea that Tian Ze's army had already circled to the east side. Although the detour chosen by Tian Ze successfully avoided the Wuhuan spies, the journey was long and the terrain was rugged. Because they were worried that Xiangping could not hold out for too long, the army marched quickly all the way, and now they are exhausted. Therefore, Tian Ze did not launch an attack immediately, but let the army rest for a while. "My lord, the Wuhuan and Xianbei formations are in disarray, and it seems that they have suffered quite a few casualties during the siege." Ma Teng said affirmatively after observing for a long time. "Let's not talk about the Xianbei for now. This time we must keep all these Wuhuan cavalrymen." Tian Ze said in a deep voice. Before this, he had always been reserved about fighting against the Wuhuan. If it were not for the position of prefect, he would have taken action as early as when the Wuhuan attacked Anshi County.
Whether it was to attack the Wuhuan's retreat route or to go directly to the vassal state of Liaodong to destroy their lair, it was not a difficult task for Tian Ze at that time. It’s just that the situation at that time was not appropriate, and under Jia Xu’s dissuasion, he did not take action. Now that the position of Liaodong governor has been obtained, the Wuhuan tribe, a vassal state of Liaodong, must be eliminated as a major hidden danger around Liaodong. "My lord, Zhang He has led a thousand light cavalry to set up an encirclement in the southwest, and Han Dang has also deployed a thousand naval forces across the Liaohe River. As long as we defeat the main force of the Wuhuan, they will have no way to escape." Cheng Yu said. In line with the principle of being cautious, Tian Ze did not dare to deploy too many troops in this battle. More than 2,000 people were the limit. However, in order to ensure that everything was foolproof and to completely annihilate the Wuhuan cavalry, Tian Ze made a lot of secret arrangements. The situation is chaotic now. As long as these troops do not appear on the front battlefield together, no one can distinguish the number and origin of these Han troops. The garrisons of various counties may be involved. "Yu thinks we should wait until the next attack by Wuhuan and Xianbei, and then take advantage of their fatigue to defeat them in a battle," Cheng Yu suggested. Tian Ze nodded and said, "I'm afraid Su Puyan is more anxious than us now. He will definitely attack the city again within two days. Let the soldiers be prepared and never reveal their whereabouts. Eat fried noodles and dried meat for the next two days. Any open flames are strictly prohibited." "Yes!" said Guan Yu and Ma Teng. Just as Tian Ze expected, realizing that the Xiangping defenders had suffered heavy casualties, the anxious Su Puyan only rested for one night before launching another attack on Xiangping City. In the previous siege, he worked the hardest and suffered more than two thousand casualties, while the Xianbei soldiers suffered only over a thousand. But the more this happened, the more he dared not relax. He had invested too much sunk cost, and if he gave up at this time, he would lose everything. In contrast, Suli calmed down and did not intend to fight Xiangping to the death. Instead, he thought of making a fortune if there was an opportunity, and retreating if there was no opportunity. If Su Puyan had not constantly dissuaded him and offered up his interests, Suli might have run away long ago. In Su Puyan's opinion, their side suffered heavy losses and the defenders of Xiangping must be even more stretched. With continued fierce attacks, Xiangping could be captured in three days at most. As long as we take Xiangping, all the losses will be worth it. "After taking Xiangping, the army can plunder at will for three days!" Before the battle began, Su Puyan gave the order.
Anyway, they had completely torn their relations with the Han people. If they failed to take Xiangping, their people would starve to death. Su Puyan no longer cared about anything. Upon hearing Su Puyan's promise, the Wuhuan people seemed to be energized, their eyes turned red, and they rushed towards the city wall. Ji Fang, who was standing on the south wall, saw this scene and his eyes darkened. But now, he had no choice but to fight to the death and hold on. The ruthless Su Puyan deployed all his troops and launched an attack from the southeast and southeast directions. He deployed no less than a thousand men on each wall, leaving only the western wall as a "lifeline" to force the Han people to flee westward. However, this "lifeline" was actually a trap. Facing the Wuhuan and Xianbei cavalry that came and went like the wind, once the protection of the city wall was lost, the outcome was self-evident. "Ji Caoyuan, the east city wall can no longer be defended. Do you want to transfer a hundred men from the west city wall?" the deputy asked anxiously. "No." Ji Fang refused decisively. "There are only 200 defenders on the west wall, and the enemy's situation is unclear. If we transfer another 100, what if the enemy launches a surprise attack?" "But there are too many enemies on the east city wall, and we brothers can't hold on any longer!" said the deputy. Because there was an additional city wall that needed to be defended, Ji Fang had to reallocate his troops again. There were only more than 400 soldiers on the three besieged city walls, and all the troops had been thrown into the battle, even the reserve troops who were mostly seriously injured were all involved. "You have to hold on even if you can't!" "These barbarians are blood-thirsty. If we can't hold on, not only will we die, but all the people in the city will be buried with us!" Ji Fang roared with red eyes. Having fought on the border for many years, he knew the Hu people very well. The state of these barbarians before him clearly showed that they had received orders to plunder at will, and the madness and greed could not be concealed in their eyes. In the past two years, natural disasters have occurred frequently, and both the Hu and Han people have suffered greatly. They have become extremely crazy in order to survive. In the past, when the harvest was good, the Hu people could collect enough food by looting a few villages, and would not even touch the county town. They even knew how to loot sustainably, leaving behind a few young and strong people and the elderly and children to wait for the next harvest. Things are different now. The Han people can hardly survive on their own. If the Hu people want to survive, they must plunder everything from the Han people. It is inevitable that corpses will be left everywhere they go. As Ji Fang roared, the soldiers present realized that it was a moment of life and death, and they fought back with all their might. Countless falling rocks and arrows poured down towards the Wuhuan people who were attacking the city. But after all, the troops were too few, and the city walls were full of Hu people like ants. Ji Fang had to personally lead a team of elite soldiers to plug the leaks and put out the fires everywhere. However, the other two walls were not so lucky. Even if they deployed all their forces, they would not be able to completely defend the entire city wall. More and more Hu people climbed onto the city wall through the gaps in the defense, gradually shifting the battlefield from under the city wall to above the city wall, causing the Han army to lose its advantage in defending the city. At this critical moment, Tian Chong, who had been observing from below, led his troops directly to the city wall without hesitation. After Tian Ze arrived in Xiangping, he secretly passed the message to Tian Chong as soon as possible. Therefore, Tian Chong no longer had to worry about anything else. He had already taken out the black armor weapons from the underground warehouse of the trading company and equipped them all to the guards. The soldiers defending the city were filled with surprise and disbelief when they saw a group of troops with luxurious equipment and orderly formations appear. Aren't there no more soldiers in the city? How come such an elite team suddenly appeared?
They had only seen such equipment configuration in the Northern and Southern armies that they had the honor of coming into contact with in the capital. In contrast, most of them wore leather armor, or at most a piece of tattered armor, looking like a ragtag group of soldiers. Moreover, these elite troops were not just for show. They worked in groups of five, cooperated very well, fought extremely bravely, and easily killed dozens of Hu people on the city wall. Afterwards, he cooperated with the soldiers defending the city with great skill and firmly defended the city wall. (End of this chapter)