novelhk Chapter 270 The Tragedy at Jianmen Pass
Chapter 270 The Tragedy at Jianmen Pass
There were actually over ten thousand defenders in the city. Their chief general, Li Mo, the master of the golden eagle arrows, was already dead. The Song army soldiers under the city all looked ashen, their bodies were stiff, their scalps were numb, and they had completely lost their will to fight.
I don’t know who took the lead, but they threw their weapons on the ground, knelt down and cried bitterly.
The psychological defenses of the infantrymen attacking the city collapsed one by one. They dropped their weapons, knelt on the ground, held their heads in their hands, and surrendered.
Deputy General Hao Liang, who was watching the battle from behind, saw that the morale of the 3,000 soldiers around him was also shaken and they were in turmoil. He looked up to the sky and sighed: Alas! ... I never thought that I, Hao Liang, would become a surrendered general!
"Get off your horse, drop your weapons, kneel down and hold your head!" Hao Liang gave the last order in grief.
.....................
The narrow and steep stone steps in front of Jianmen Pass were covered with brown blood and burnt black spots. The unpleasant smell of blood and the smell of burning flesh and hair in the air was so strong that it was nauseating!
Pan Mei, the commander-in-chief of the imperial army that suppressed the rebellion, looked up at the majestic pass that still stood as tall as before, feeling anxious and worried. The Jianmen Pass, which had never been breached from the north, was indeed extremely easy to defend but difficult to attack. He had truly experienced the reputation of "one man guarding the pass against ten thousand men".
On the narrow and steep stone steps, it was impossible to arrange the troops and form a battle formation, so they could only attack in columns of thirty or forty men. The angle of the attack was too large, and every step forward would cost the lives of the soldiers.
Although there were only 2,000 defenders on the city wall, they were all archers and strongmen. Not to mention the seemingly endless arrows on the city wall, the endless ridged stones that smashed down, and the oval-shaped boulders that rolled down the stone steps, they would hit and crush dozens of people.
"Marshal, our army has suffered over ten thousand casualties. Otherwise,...should we suspend the attack?" Pan Mei's nephew stepped forward and said cautiously.
Several other deputy generals quickly echoed, "Yes! Marshal, there will be no achievement if we continue to attack like this. No matter how many lives we have at Jianmen Pass, it will not be enough to fill the gap. Let's stop the attack?"
"Marshal, the soldiers are all scared of the siege. Should we suspend the attack and wait for news of General Li Mo's surprise attack?"
Pan Mei pondered for a moment, then slowly said, "Use another thousand-man team to launch a fierce attack to cover the assault force that will capture Xiaojianmen Pass. If we still can't break through the pass, we'll just have to wait for news from Li Mo!"
Seeing that the marshal finally intended to retreat, several lieutenant generals gladly accepted the order and organized a final fierce attack.
The thousand selected soldiers, trembling with fear, holding shields and weapons, carried siege ladders, and climbed up step by step along the steep stone steps.
The young general Yunlong on the city wall waved his hand.
The soldiers lifted two large oval stones together, lifted them over the battlements of the city wall, and threw them down.
Two large oval stones were thrown down from the city wall, smashing up a pile of rubble with a "bang!" sound, and then they jumped and rolled along the steep stone steps, rushing towards the Song army that was charging upwards...
"run!……"
"what!……"
"Get out of the way!"
:"ah!……"
The siege infantry screamed in fear, trying to avoid the deadly rolling stones. The soldiers who failed to dodge were hit by the rolling stones, screaming and spitting blood, and their bodies flew backwards...
Pan Mei, who was watching the battle from a distance, counted with a heavy heart as the two boulders took away thirty-two lives, blood and flesh flying everywhere, before they changed direction and crashed into the mountain nearby and stopped.
"Bang!..."
"Bang!..."
Two more boulders fell, bringing with them screams and blood like ghosts and wolves howling...
Two more stones... and two more... until twelve boulders were thrown down the wall, Yunlong, who stood solemnly, waved his hand and said, "Archers, slingers, get ready!... Fire!"
The Song army, which had already climbed within the range of bows and arrows, was hit by a rain of arrows. The terrified soldiers used their shields to block the arrows, and pieces of jagged stones were thrown down by the strong men on the wall.
The Song soldiers who were hit by arrows or stones fell to the ground howling in agony. The soldiers behind them were urged by their superiors to continue climbing forward in fear...
Pan Mei closed his eyes in pain, "Sound the retreat! ..."
When the remaining 400-odd soldiers heard the order to retreat, they threw down their bodies on the ground and ran back as if they had been pardoned!
The siege on Jianmen Pass was fruitless, and the team of soldiers that raided Xiaojianmen Pass were of course recalled.
At night, ten rope ladders were lowered from the city wall with countless torches lit. Dozens of rebel soldiers climbed down the ladders to the bottom of the city wall and cleaned up the battlefield.
They quickly picked up the weapons scattered on the ground, stripped the armor off the corpses and carried them to the foot of the city wall, and threw the corpses into piles far away.
Pan Mei still made one last effort, and gave an order in the darkness: "Attack!"
Hundreds of nimble figures rushed out from the darkness and quickly moved towards the rebels who were cleaning up the battlefield.
A gong sounded from the city wall. The rebel soldiers who were busy working turned around and ran back. When they reached the city wall, they turned around and leaned against it, picked up the bows and arrows prepared on the ground, and aimed at the bottom of the stone steps...
"Alas! We were only dozens of steps away from catching up. This young rebel commander was too cunning!" Pan Mei had no choice but to order his troops to withdraw.
Hundreds of Song soldiers hid on the city wall out of the range of arrows, worried about the rolling stones that might be thrown from the city wall at any time. When they heard the call to retreat, they breathed a sigh of relief and turned around to run back.
The rebels under the city wall put down their bows and arrows and continued to work and clean up the battlefield...
Just as the Song army returned to the camp after their failed sneak attack, a raging fire and billowing smoke broke out at Jianmen Pass behind them...
The Song soldiers knew that the enemy had already cleaned up the weapons and armor on the battlefield and cremated the bodies of their dead colleagues. They were sad but did not curse the enemy. The weather was warm now, and it was better to cremate the bodies to prevent them from rotting and spreading the plague. This was a kind of protection for the soldiers on both sides.
Pan Mei returned to the general's tent and said helplessly to the several lieutenants who followed him: "Stop attacking Jianmen Pass and wait for news from General Li Mo!"
Several deputy generals felt relieved, but their hearts tightened again after hearing the marshal's other words.
Pan Mei frowned and continued, "General Li Mo should have led 20,000 troops out of the primeval forest and headed straight for Jiangyou Pass. Why hasn't he sent back any information?"
"Marshal, maybe the defenders of Jiangyou Pass are fighting desperately to defend the pass, and General Li will find it difficult to capture it for a while?" Deputy General Wu Jiang pondered and said this, even he himself did not believe it.
Even if Jiangyou Pass cannot be captured for the time being, General Li Mo should send a messenger to deliver a letter to the commander-in-chief Pan Mei!
The atmosphere in the commander's tent was heavy and depressing, and all the generals felt uneasy and had a bad feeling.