Chapter 136: City Attack and Defense
Between Tongguan and Huayin, from afar, there were two streams of wolf smoke rising into the sky from the north and south.

Once you arrive near Tongguan, you will be able to see the signal smoke clearly.

There are four lanes along the river bank and eight lanes in the highlands of the southern mountains.

The flames were still smoldering, and thick black smoke was slanting northward, spreading in the sky and turning into a ball.

On the road, the black bear rode his horse at a rapid speed.

To prevent assassinations and interceptions, there is a patrol squad every mile on the road today.

There is a clear difference between the way Black Bear and Lu Bu ride horses. Lu Bu really enjoys the galloping of the Yin Gan horse.

It was only after the black bear arrived in Guanzhong that he truly saw the difference between a walking horse and a running horse. A walking horse was more like a cat walking quickly.

When the road is flat, the horse's walking posture is very flat. The horse will get tired more easily after carrying people or goods.

But the Yin Gan horse had unlimited endurance, so the black bear decisively adjusted the riding posture of the Yin Gan horse under him.

Therefore, when he galloped, the amplitude of the bumps was small, unlike Lu Bu's, who was jolting all the time, as if he was using his waist to hit the saddle.

Around noon, Black Bear arrived at the battlefield.

Meet Gan Ning first. Gan Ning has almost arranged the front-line positions.

The attack was divided into two routes, the west route was a secondary attack, and the south route was the main attack.

Due to its terrain and location, Huayin City has no moat.

Outside the south city, Gan Ning's five hundred men fixed green bamboos into a large bamboo raft; the large bamboo raft was placed horizontally on two wheelbarrows, which served as a movable shield.

When the black bear arrived, more than thirty shields had been divided into two rows, front and back, and were about twenty to thirty steps away from the city wall. Gan Ning's three hundred men had already started shooting at the archers on the city wall.

But both sides were just warming up and testing each other, and the shooting was of a harassing nature.

Both sides thought they were good at shooting and dodging, so they showed their courage at times like this.

When they arrived at the chariot where Gan Ning was, there was a double-sided drum at the back of the chariot. Two drummers were beating the drums alternately, and the drum sounds were gentle.

Gan Ning, wearing a golden helmet and armor, stood up to meet them and pointed to the top of the city: "General Qu, the enemy is quite skilled in fighting and using crossbows to fight back. So far, we have not been able to determine the specifics of the defenders' crossbows."

Black Bear nodded and asked, "Is the march going smoothly?"

"Front man Zhang Ding was blocked by three elders. Four of them tried to assassinate Zhang Ding, but were all killed."

Gan Ning pointed to the east of the city with his arm outstretched. "He has blocked the north and east gates. If any enemy troops approach, he will send knights to inform us."

"Three elders? They want to provoke Zhang Ding. Zhang Ding is calm in handling the situation. If he retaliates against the people around him, he will fall into the trap of these old villains."

Black Bear said this as he walked towards the wounded treatment area which was surrounded by two layers of cloth walls and curtains. Six simple square tents had been set up inside.

The military doctor assigned to Gan Ning had a hairband woven with five-colored ribbons tied on his forehead, and to prevent the hair from interfering with his surgery, all of his hair was wrapped with a red scarf.

The military doctors were dressed like this, and the apprentices and young Taoist priests assigned to them were also dressed like this.

Seeing Black Bear coming in, the military doctor quickly stepped forward, knelt on his knees on the soft ground, and kowtowed: "Commander Qu."

The pious and gentle voice made Black Bear stop in his tracks: "When practicing medicine and saving lives, there is no need to perform formalities."

"Here."

The military doctor stood up, and Black Bear waved at the four square tents on the side, and Gao Shun's ten-man team and Yuan Shu's six-man team appeared together.

Upon seeing this, the military doctor knelt down and kowtowed again, and was so excited that he choked up for a moment.

The young Taoist priests and apprentices assigned to him did not bow down or perform rituals in any particular order, but just kowtowed repeatedly.

"Clean yourself and the wounded. I would rather you stand and wait for work than kneel and worship me."

"Yes, Commander Qu!"

The military doctor stood up, his face wet with tears.

Black Bear just nodded, and looked at the peaches assigned to the military medical team. Seeing that they were all well preserved, he said to the military doctor who was following behind him, wiping his tears, "It's the same. When there is one-third left, send someone to come to me to get the peaches."

"Yes, I dare not forget."

The military doctor tried to speak in a voice as low as possible but one that Black Bear could hear clearly, for fear that speaking loudly would be rude and offend Commander Qu.

He also checked the spare clean water in the pottery jars and wooden basins, among which there were three jars of recently distilled wine.

This should be the distillation equipment that Gan Ning modified. Black Bear just took a few glances at it and thought, "Do your best and leave the rest to fate."

Finally, I looked at the white gauze bandages used to bandage the wounded. They were ordered from Nanxiang County. They were a blend of silk and linen and the material was breathable.

After arriving in Guanzhong, they were repeatedly soaked and washed in the hot springs controlled by the Qingzhou soldiers in the northern camp of Mount Li, and finally washed with boiling water. They were then dried and packed and shipped.

We will have to wait until next winter before we can produce bandages for the wounded soldiers.

Seeing that everything was properly prepared, Black Bear led Gan Ning out of the curtain area. He felt even more reassured when he saw that the military medical team was also equipped with a stretcher team of more than 50 people.

In this battle, we must try a frontal attack in broad daylight!
Be prepared to quickly return to the battlefield after treating the wounded!

Every wounded soldier who returns to the battlefield will inspire every soldier who joins the battle!

The difficulty of siege warfare lies here. The vast majority of siege soldiers lack the enthusiasm and passion to fight, wasting various short opportunities and being unable to cooperate closely.

Being the first to achieve military merit is often forced out by a combination of heavy rewards and harsh punishments!
It is because the vanguard troops have actively and passively abandoned death and launched the offensive regardless of everything that a close connection can be achieved.

Black Bear climbed onto the chariot, sat down calmly, and put his left hand on the armrest. He saw Lu Bu, Gao Shun's ten-man team, and Yuan Shu's six-man team weaving between the arrows and shields, and gradually coming to the front row.

Gan Ning also led a team of 100 heavily armed men with shields forward and approached the second layer of shield.

As Gan Ning shouted in the formation, the three crude ladders he brought began to slowly approach, and at the same time, shields from various locations moved forward together.

On the top of the city wall, Captain Liu Kaitou was wearing an ordinary leather helmet, but he was wearing black armor made in Hebei.

But only half of his face was exposed on the battlements of the city wall, which was essentially no different from the half of the face of the defenders around him.

Even so, when the shield under the city moved, there were still armored archers shooting at him.

The characteristic of Gan Ning's troops is that they are good at shooting.

If there is a need for heavy-armored archers in the future, these archers will definitely come from Gan Ning's troops.

Elite archers are already strong, so it won't be a big deal for them to wear heavy armor.

The burden that armor puts on the body is not as great as the physical energy consumed when drawing a bow.

Liu Kai observed the three ladders outside the city and couldn't help but twitch his mouth. He had also experienced a great war and really looked down on the enemy's ladders.

A few ladders could hardly change anything. What made him feel more uneasy and troublesome than the ladders was the heavily armored hundred-man team commanded by Gan Ning.

More than thirty of them were wearing golden helmets, golden armor and bright armor, which had the same level of protection as him, the captain.

With such a luxurious and heavily armed elite force participating in the siege, the soldiers defending the city would naturally be so frightened that they would not dare to engage in battle.

After fighting for so many years, staying away from elite troops with luxurious equipment has almost become a survival instinct.

"Bring the firewood here!" "Light it up and throw it out!"

Liu Kaitou did not respond and gave orders. A row of archers were crouching on one side of the parapet. The sword, shield, spear and halberd soldiers who were fighting in close combat were also gathered in the direction of the ladder under the leadership of the military officers.

As Liu Kai gave the order, balls of firewood wrapped with hemp ropes were ignited one after another, and smoke and fire filled the air above the city walls.

Then the guards grabbed the hemp rope and swung a ball of firewood the size of a human head, throwing it over the city wall regardless of how far it was.

These fireworks balls will roll for a distance after hitting the ground, and the smoke will gradually spread.

Those that fell behind the shields were quickly covered with moist soil or stepped on by the soldiers to extinguish them.

These bundles of firewood mixed with human and horse feces were filled with smoke and stench, but failed to disrupt the order of the attacking soldiers.

What's more, the soldiers guarding the city walls were also within the affected area, feeling very uncomfortable and their vision was also affected.

Liu Kai saw that the ladder truck was about twenty steps away, and immediately shouted: "Light the straw mats, cross your hands and get ready!"

As the order was passed down, Liu Kai turned to look at his deputy: "Throw stones! Throw stones!"

"Yes!"

The deputy responded loudly, bowed and ran back, got off the wall and stood on the steps, shouting to the more than 500 people behind the wall: "Throw stones!"

The five hundred or so people stood sparsely, with a pile of picked up pebbles in front of them.

Except for a small number of people who used leather ropes to throw stones, most people swung their arms and threw stones outside the city. Whether they could hit the target depended entirely on luck.

But even though they were standing behind the city wall, arrows still flew over the wall and fell from time to time.

Because of the parabola, these arrows fell into the rear housing area.

These stone-throwing militiamen acted recklessly, throwing stones one after another and hitting the shields.

Gan Ning guessed it immediately and shouted to his left and right: "Slingshot! There are people throwing stones behind the city wall, shoot five rounds!"

At this time, the shield was about ten steps close to the city wall, and the archers began to draw their bows and shoot randomly.

Some were hit by randomly flying stones. Unless they hit the face on the spot, if they hit the leather helmet or iron helmet, they would only cause headaches and dizziness.

The ones who were really in danger were the dozens of people in the city who were using slingshots and sending rocks flying everywhere.

One of the bullets actually hit the curtain wall of the military medical area and broke through it on the spot.

Suddenly, two bodyguards near the chariot boarded the chariot with shields in hand, and stood on the left and right sides respectively, staring with wide eyes, as if trying to find the flight trajectory of the stone, and then predict and intercept it.

"It's okay, go down."

Black Bear dismissed the two bodyguards. It would be difficult for you to observe unless the flying trajectory of the stone was directly in the focus of your pupil.

Anyway, I'm wearing a mask and my armor is first-class, so there's really nothing to be afraid of.

What you should be wary of are the possible crossbows on the city walls and the thunder chariots behind the city walls, rather than slingshots or crossbows.

The battle area was filled with smoke, and Black Bear could barely see where the ladder was; he couldn't help but frown.

Only when the vision is clear can these Taoist soldiers be commanded accurately.

The smoke interference on the battlefield is like signal delay, which has a great impact on oneself.

While he was thinking, the first ladder approached the city wall, and the ladder with a grappling hook hit the parapet.

"It's now!"

Liu Kai shouted from the top of the city wall: "Hold your hands! Throw down the straw mats!"

These straw mats are made of bundles of hay and straw mixed with oil. They burn quickly after being ignited. If they are not put away quickly, the hemp ropes will burn through.

The forkman used a specially made long fork to pick up the burning straw and put it on the ladder, trying to make the straw roll down the wooden ladder steps and burn the soldiers pushing the ladder.

Force these soldiers to retreat, and continuously drop straw mats to ignite the ladders from bottom to top.

If the straw thatch is stained with grease and falls on the ladder, it can also accelerate the burning of the ladder.

Some of the straw mats fell directly against the city wall, hitting the ground and the grease flowed onto the surface, making the flames even more intense.

Within four or five breaths, the fork-bearers who were walking in a line threw down fifty or sixty bundles of straw mats, and flames started.

Archers from both sides started shooting at close range at the same time.

The arrows hit the shield where Gan Ning was standing. He turned his head to look and saw Lu Bu stepping on the ladder to attack.

There were more than a dozen arrows stuck in his body, and these were long and narrow arrows with obvious feathers. As for the crossbow arrows, they were almost difficult to detect.

But as Lu Bu stepped on the ladder and wielded the Fang Tian Ji to chop and push away the straw, the arrows on his body were thrown off one after another.

The defenders on the city wall pushed with spears and halberds, trying to prevent Lu Bu from approaching.

The Fang Tian Ji slashed fiercely, but both sides were using super-long spears and halberds, and the defenders were densely packed and numerous, so it was difficult for Lu Bu to advance for a while.

Immediately after that, the other two ladders, Gao Shun's team of ten and Yuan Shu's team of six launched a strong attack.

There were people on the city walls with extremely long spears and halberds stabbing and resisting, and archers from both sides were still fighting.

Gan Ning sent a group of heavily armored infantry armed with spears and halberds to the vicinity of the ladder and began to put out the fire.

The man with the long fork who threw the straw mat could not get close to the ladder and could only throw the straw mat to both sides.

But things changed soon, and Lu Bu and other Taoist soldiers on the ladders withstood the long-range attacks of the defenders.

The defenders who were risking their lives to fight against them with super-long spears and halberds lacked high-quality armor and were being quickly shot at at close range by Gan Ning's archers.

With every breath, three or four spear and halberd guards were hit by arrows and lost their combat effectiveness.

The archers on both wings of the defenders gradually gained the upper hand in the shooting, and the casualties among the archers behind the shields under the city increased.

Liu Xiong and his 700 men who were watching the battle from the rear were stunned. How could they attack so fearlessly and bravely?
The stretcher-bearers moved forward, and the sparse stones thrown at them made their advance a little awkward.

The archers on the city wall were focused on attacking the soldiers on the ladders and the archers behind the shields, and had no interest in these stretcher transport soldiers.

The confrontation is fierce now, and every arrow is precious.

To put it bluntly, the injured archers and stretcher bearers on the attacking side are not worth attacking!

We must cherish every shooting opportunity and strive to completely defeat the morale of the attacking crossbow troops!

Finally, Lu Bu found an opening in front of him. He stepped on the burning ladder pedal and was the first to climb onto the city wall!
"Bang the drum!"

The black bear stood up and shouted, "Come on!"

The double-sided drums behind him were beating violently. The sound of the drums resounded, and Gan Ning shouted, "Follow me to attack the city!"

Liu Xiong was still in a daze, and the military officer beside him urged him: "Captain, give the order quickly!"

Liu Xiong reacted: "Archers, move forward!"

(End of this chapter)