On the other side, Haoyue Kingdom
After Shen Xu and his team arranged and deployed the personnel and weapons for the feint, they rushed to the Xiangyangling front line overnight with several generals.
Xiangyangling had just experienced a great battle, and the open space in front of the battlefield was littered with corpses. Taking advantage of the lull in the fighting, both sides sent out medical soldiers to clean up the bodies in a hurry.
Some wounded soldiers lay exhaustedly on the edge of the city wall, some were groaning and wailing, and some fell asleep on the ground powerlessly. It was a sad and miserable scene.
A long row of corpses were neatly lined up in the open space in the city.
Li Fei, the commander of Xiangyangling, still had blood on his face, and he hadn't had time to remove the arrow feathers from the iron helmet in his hand. He and several deputy generals stood silently, solemnly watching as several soldiers placed the epaulettes of the king's army on the chest of each corpse, whispering that they were going home, and then they were wrapped in bloodstained horsehide and cloth.
"Report! The court has sent the Grand Marshal and the female Prime Minister to supervise the army in person. They are now outside the city." A messenger holding a seal reported to him.
Li Fei took the seal and unfolded it. It was written to him by his fellow general. The letter mentioned that people from the court came to the camp, quickly dealt with the neglect of military affairs by Marshal Su Yi, deployed a strategy to repel the enemy, and had now arrived at the front line to personally supervise the troops to repel the enemy.
Li Fei and several deputy generals were shocked when they saw the letter. They couldn't help but exclaimed: "What? They killed Marshal Su and several generals!"
Although Marshal Su ignored military affairs and indulged in sensual pleasures, when the battle situation between the two armies was stalemate, the court would inevitably cause chaos in the army if it executed the marshal and the deputy general.
The royal cavalry has suffered a series of defeats. Now that the marshal is dead, can the war still be fought?
But when he heard that the person coming was the Grand Marshal, he did not dare to be negligent and immediately ordered people to invite several nobles from the capital into the front-line command camp.
The group entered the front-line command camp. Before they could even have a cup of hot tea or a word, another soldier came hurriedly reporting: "The Xue army launched a fourth wave of attack. They have set up the barricade again. General Li, more than half of the cavalry on the front line have been killed. They can't hold on!"
"Retreat and sound the horn first!" Li Fei didn't say anything more and immediately ordered the troops to retreat.
Everyone hurriedly followed him out, only to see the thick city gate of Xiangyangling opened. Teams of cavalrymen threw away their armor and weapons and quickly retreated into the city. On the stretchers behind them, some were missing limbs, some had arrow feathers stuck in their bodies and heads, and some were covered in blood. They staggered towards the city gate, looking extremely embarrassed.
"Xue's army is chasing us, Xue's army is chasing us!" Someone could be heard shouting in panic, "Close the city gates, close the city gates!"
The suspension bridge in front of Xiangyangling City was raised high and the gate was slowly closed.
"Don't close the door, don't close the door, we haven't come in yet." The wounded soldier running behind raised his hands, watching the drawbridge rise, and shouted almost in despair.
I saw a group of cavalry chasing the wounded soldiers of the king's army. They held scimitars and slashed them skillfully. The wounded soldiers in the open space in front of the Xiangyangling city wall screamed in pain, and the scene was bloody.
Shen Xu stood on the top of the city wall and quickly ordered several generals to distribute the power crossbows.
"Quick, crossbow cover."
"No way." The soldier beside him said anxiously, "It's too far."
Shen Xu didn't say anything more. He raised the crossbow, aimed, and pulled the trigger.
call out--
The sharp blade shot directly at a cavalryman, and she shouted: "Open the city gate, and use crossbows to cover the wounded and evacuate!"
No one dared to move and they all waited for Li Fei's instructions.
Song Lin and Pei Zhiyuan hurriedly distributed dozens of power crossbows to the soldiers on the city wall, and taught them how to use them.
After a while, many wounded soldiers and generals had gathered on the bank of the suspension bridge outside the city. They looked at the Xue army cavalry rolling in from a distance in despair and became panicked.
"General Li, save us!"
"Lower the drawbridge!" Shen Xu shouted again, "Open the door!"
Li Fei gritted his teeth, watching the wounded gathering by the drawbridge. He seemed to be wrestling with a great internal struggle. "Lower the drawbridge! Immediately dispatch a cavalry unit out of the city for cover!"
The drawbridge was slowly lowered, and Song Lin and Pei Zhiyuan hurriedly rode out of the city to cover the evacuation of the wounded.
Shen Xu stood on the city wall, looking anxiously at the Xue army cavalry team that was getting closer and closer, and the infantry phalanx team that was slowly moving in the distance. There were at least 50,000 to 60,000 of them.
"They are going to attack the city! Engineers, hurry out and set up barricades, the cavalry, reorganize their formation and prepare to fight, transport bows and arrows to the city walls, and push up the crossbows." Li Fei was busy commanding the army.
"General Li, their long spear barricades are rising again. Our cavalry can't break through them at all!"
A deputy general said anxiously, "General Li, close the city gate. We still have poles, forks, and ladders. We can close the gate and hold it."
"Hurry up, hurry up! Retreat!" The shouting soldier on the city wall shouted at the wounded to evacuate into the city as soon as possible.
However, there was still a steady stream of wounded soldiers and disabled generals pouring into the city gate from the open space.
Song Lin and Pei Zhiyuan led a team of cavalry and started fighting with the cavalry that rushed up to pursue them. There were constant shouts of retreat from behind.
I saw teams of infantrymen forming a semicircular formation of several hundred men slowly approaching. Outside the semicircular formation were tall crossbow carts. The infantrymen of Xue's army were all wearing hard armor, holding long spears, and pushing the crossbow carts slowly forward.
Shen Xu saw clearly the formation used by the other party and shouted hurriedly: "The cavalry will temporarily hold off on leaving the city. Go and prepare kerosene!"
The general who was following at the side asked, "Does the female prime minister have any plan to break the formation?"
Shen Xu nodded and explained, "It's the Que Yue Formation, a formation of infantry and cavalry. This formation can easily counter a cavalry force of tens of thousands with a few thousand infantrymen. It's very strong."
Upon hearing this, Li Fei quickly gave the order: "Prepare kerosene, all cavalry on standby, ladders, battering rams, crossbows, and catapults, all ready to close the city gates and meet the enemy!"
"No, first send the cavalry out of the city to feint and attack. After luring the enemy infantry into the range of the rain of arrows, immediately retreat and do not charge." Shen Xu said, "The biggest disadvantage of the Que Yue formation is its slow movement speed. Pour kerosene within the range to form a kerosene net, and then attack with a rain of flaming arrows."
"The cavalry should bring kerosene and feint an attack on the moon formation. When they reach the range, they should scatter the kerosene and retreat. Do not fight to the death. The archers should be on standby with their fire arrows." Li Fei immediately gave the order, ordering all the cavalry to bring kerosene.
Soon, teams of cavalrymen carrying kerosene and straw rushed towards the oncoming Xue army. When they were about to reach the range of the enemy's bows and arrows, they hurriedly retreated, and the kerosene and straw in the barrels also fell down and were scattered all over the ground as the horses ran.
"The entire army retreats!"
The retreat horn on the city wall sounded, and Song Lin and Pei Zhiyuan quickly chopped down several people, lifted the wounded onto the enemy's horses, and quickly ran towards the city gate with several people.
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