~.-~ Chapter 468 The iron-clad Zezhou

In this war, the Zhou army led by Dong Zunhui captured nearly 10,000 people under Li Yun's troops. After discussion, everyone decided to take these soldiers to the near Taihang Mountains to be responsible for building roads and opening roads and acting as coolies. If Dong Zunhui had not stored a large amount of military rations in the Huaizhou area in advance by relying on the advantage of the crosser, the Zhou army had already begun to lack food at this time, so it would be impossible for them to have food to resettle them, so they could only kill these prisoners. Now that there is food and grass, everyone's vision will naturally be relaxed, and they will naturally hand over the chores of broadening the road to these prisoners. Although they are a little dirty and tired, they can at least save their lives.

Just as Dong Zunhui and others were discussing the handling of the prisoners, Li Yun also jumped up and down in Zezhou City to prepare to defend Zezhou. Although the city of Zezhou City is small, the city defense fortifications are solid. If Dan Gui had not pretended to be reinforcements, it would have been impossible for him to easily take it down. Although Li Yun's hands are limited, he still has the confidence to hold on for more than three months! The reason for three months is that Li Yun had ordered a search of the whole city at this time and concentrated all the grains to be distributed according to the stakes. If nothing unexpected happens, the grain can be supported for three months!

Of course, Li Yun also received some good news, which was also a comfort to his defeat in Nianzi Valley. After the war in Nianzi Valley that day, thousands of defeated soldiers fled to Zezhou one after another. Of course, Li Yun did not dare to trust these defeated soldiers too much. Who knew if there were any detailed works of Dong Zunhui in it! For safety reasons, he reorganized these defeated soldiers and mixed them with the local defenders to supervise each other.

At the same time, Li Yun also wrote two letters in person and sent someone to Luzhou and Jinyang. In his letter to Luzhou, Li Yun reminded his son Li Shoujie to immediately recruit young and strong people nearby and immediately carry out basic city defense training to prevent the Zhou army from raiding Luzhou. In his letter to Jinyang, Li Yun bowed to Liu Jun for help for the first time, hoping that he could quickly send a large army and carry food and supplies to Zezhou. In Li Yun's letter, he wrote: "Luzhou is the southern pass of Jinyang, and Zezhou is the castle of Luzhou! If Zezhou is in the loss, Luzhou will be unprotected; once Luzhou is under the control of the Zhou army, our great Han (Northern Han) territory will face Dong Zunhui's iron cavalry!"

After receiving the letter, Liu Jun attached great importance to it and immediately sent someone to support Zezhou. However, in order to ensure the safety of the Northern Han Dynasty, the reinforcements sent by Liu Jun were still weak. As a result, he was defeated by the Yong'an Army Jiedushi in Shashizhai and retreated in a panic. Poor Li Jun was still looking forward to the arrival of reinforcements, but he didn't know that his reinforcements had been beaten to death by others!

One day later, Dong Zunhui led his army to surround Zezhou City tightly. He ordered people to set up a camp in the south of the city and brought a group of cavalry to the vicinity of Nancheng. Li Yun could hear the shouts and scoldings of the soldiers of the Later Zhou Dynasty clearly, but he was not a fool. He was so powerful that he did not dare to go out of the city to fight.

Dong Zunhui shouted loudly: "General Li Yun, now you are trapped in the lonely city, without food and grass inside and without soldiers outside, so it is better to surrender early! Look, yesterday you fled in a panic, and even Prime Minister Wei Rong of the Han Dynasty was thrown on the battlefield by you. Even your most trusted general Dan Gui abandoned you. What are you still trying to defend in Zezhou? You should surrender quickly!"

Every time Dong Zunhui said something, dozens of loud soldiers repeated loudly, and the guards at the southern city wall of Zezhou could hear it clearly.

Li Yun was not willing to be outdone and immediately replied loudly: "Dong Zunhui, I asked me to say that you surrendered. Although you won by chance in the first two battles, burned food and grass, and destroyed our army, you did not seize the food and grass of our army! Now, although you are proud on the surface, you are facing the danger of being out of food soon! In addition, the roads in Taihang Mountains are so difficult to walk, I think you will starve to death on the road to transport food in the future! It's better to listen to me, a veteran, surrender quickly, and I will give you a bowl of food!"

Murong Yanzhao laughed: "Li Yun, how can you catch up with the wisdom of my general? Our army had already hoarded a lot of food and grass in Huaizhou and was ready to quell the rebellion. Some time ago, we even sent a small pretender to be a merchant and purchased a lot in Zezhou City, plundering part of the stored food here! Li Yun, how much food is there now in the city? Not to mention the fake numbers on the account book! You can go to the warehouse to see, the rats can starve to death!"

Li Yun was shocked. He also knew that the rise in food prices some time ago. It seemed that it was caused by Zhou Jun's secret purchase of grain, so he believed Murong Yanzhao's words by 70%. But now it is time for war, even if you believe it, Li Yun cannot admit it. He laughed and said angrily: "I'm so arrogant! I'm talking to Dong Zunhui. Why are you, a soldier, jumping out? Could it be that you think your status is above Dong Zunhui, or do you think your ability is three points better than others?"

Hearing this, Murong Yanzhao was also shocked. Dong Zunhui smiled and said to the city without waiting for his explanation: "Li Yun, don't provoke discord. Hualong and I are sympathetic to brothers. Do you think that just a few words can provoke our relationship?! Now that your situation is over, you can surrender early and save your family's life! I'll give you a day, think about it carefully!"

After saying that, Dong Zunhui led his army to leave. Shi Shouxin asked in confusion: "General, why do we give the old man Li Yun time? Li Chongjin in the south is not very stable now!"

Dong Zunhui said with a wry smile: "The Battle of Nianzi Valley has just ended, and we also need time to replenish the vacancies of the troops and reorganize the remaining troops. Moreover, although Zezhou is small, the city defense fortifications are very strong. We also have to build some siege equipment, otherwise how can we capture the city of Zezhou! Hualong, go to the camp to urge them to see when those catapults can be renovated. We all rely on them for siege!"

Murong Yanzhao obeyed the order and hurriedly ran to inquire. Shi Shouxin, Gao Huaide and others also quickly returned to the garrison and mobilized their subordinates to build a long ladder. With everyone's full preparation, the next morning, all the siege equipment was ready. So Dong Zunhui immediately ordered an attack on Zezhou City.

The first to open the prelude of the war was the Zhou army's catapult troops. Of course, all the catapults used by the Zhou army now came from the capture, and their standard catapults were still staggering on the mountain road. The more than ten catapults restored by the Zhou army were lined up in front of the formation, and they tried hard to fire stone bullets at the city head of Zezhou. However, the Zezhou defenders were not vague and adjusted the fixed catapults on the city head to launch a counterattack on the Zhou army. The soldiers of both armies worked very hard, but the level of the catapults was too inferior and the area of ​​the stone bullets fired was too small. Although the two armies fought lively, they did not have much impact on the situation.

Since the catapult cart cannot work, it is the turn of archers to perform. However, although Zezhou is small, the city is several stories high. The archers under Li Yun standing on the city wall have a much higher range than those of the Zhou army. The archers of the Zhou army have not yet entered the effective shooting range, and the archers under Li Yun's command have already begun. Moreover, because the equipment and supplies of the 30,000 troops are basically supplied in Zezhou, the Zezhou arsenal is full, and the number of arrows is unpredictable!

Luo Yanhuan, who made great contributions yesterday, was the first to lead the charge today! This time, he put on double armor, raised a large shield, and rushed towards the city of Zezhou City. Seeing that this guy with a tiger back and a bear waist was about to rush forward, the defenders on the city wall were as excited as if they were injected with chicken blood, and kept shooting out the arrows in their hands quickly.

Hearing "Bang bang bang bang...", arrows were constantly nailed on Luo Yanhuan's shield. He did not dare to look up, nor did he dare to turn around to call the soldiers under his command. He could only rush up with his teeth. The more he rushed forward, the greater the resistance. More and more archers aimed at Luo Yanhuan, and arrows were nailed on the wooden shield beside Luo Yanhuan!

With a "Puchi!", a long arrow actually shot through the scarred wooden shield and shot towards Luo Yanhuan's chest. Luo Yanhuan screamed, and then looked at the wooden shield, and there was a thick pattern on it. He was shocked, knowing that the lifespan of the wooden shield was approaching; but now he retreated is looking for death, and his back is the most easily shot target by the archer!

Luo Yanhuan rushed forward a few steps, quickly picked up the clothes of a dead soldier with his feet, and grabbed the wooden shield in his hand. Just as he changed the shield, the wooden shield that Luo Yanhuan had first held was shot from the middle by an arrow!

In fact, Luo Yanhuan was lucky to do this. At least he rushed to the base of the city wall. Many soldiers sacrificed their lives in the rain of arrows before they rushed to the bottom of the city wall.

As the soldiers rushed more and more, the shooting frequency of the defenders in the city became more and more dense, and the attacks became more and more frequent. Many archers in the defenders had their fingers cut by the bowstrings, and their arms were even more sore and weak, and they were no longer able to participate in the battle.

This gave Zhou army archers a chance. They seized this favorable opportunity and quickly rushed to their own position. They immediately bent their bows and took the arrows, and started shooting at the city wall. After being interrupted by the Zhou army, the defenders could not stare at the infantry under the city. Luo Yanhuan and others finally took a long breath.

However, before they were happy, the young and middle-aged men who had just rushed up the city wall had already raised the big stone in their hands and smashed it at the Zhou army soldiers under the city. A stone even hit Luo Yanhuan in the direction of Luo Yanhuan.

What a Luo Yanhuan, he was not afraid of danger. He was so angry that he sank the dantian, pressed his feet hard against the ground, held a shield in his left hand to protect himself, raised the big knife in his hand with his right hand, and shouted loudly: "Come on!"

Maybe he was frightened by Luo Yanhuan, maybe the stone was thrown in the wrong direction, and before he could rush to Luo Yanhuan, the stone turned around. However, Luo Yanhuan was not happy, because the screams under the city wall were already connected, and more and more Zhou soldiers threw down their weapons and fled behind them.

It is hard to make a forest. Without everyone's help, no one can bring up the long ladder. Luo Yanhuan could only evacuate sadly in the end. The first siege ended like this. However, Luo Yanhuan was not discouraged. He firmly believed that with Dong Zunhui's wise leader, they would definitely be able to take over the Zezhou city!

~.-~


Chapter completed!