Chapter 93: The Gradually Changing War Situation

  Yang Ugly fell behind the soldiers, and these knife-wielding troops chased him up with a beheading knife. These knife-wielding troops pursued for over a hundred meters without stopping their footsteps, and they rushed towards Yang Ugly's big camp, scaring Tai Shi Ci into a cold sweat, hastily shouting: "Sound the golden drum to retreat!"

  "It seems like the reward is a bit too high..." Tai Shi Ci rubbed his chin, secretly sighing.

  More than 300 headless corpses were scattered in front of the wooden wall, with a crimson color on the ground. The blood that had not yet cooled down was steaming with heat, and a pungent smell of gore lingered in the air.

  After the battle, Yang Ugly's soldiers died more than 300 people, and there were also dozens of wounded. The proportion is not wrong, and the slightly more seriously injured soldiers were all beheaded. These dozens of wounded soldiers were all lightly injured, and the injured parts were all on the upper body. Not a single soldier with leg injuries escaped.

  When Yang Ugly's soldiers retreated back to their camp, Taishi Ci hastily ordered people to collect the scattered corpses and transport them to the foot of the mountain, where they were buried under a layer of snow. Additionally, after checking, the severed heads were also buried with the bodies, as the dead are more important.

  Losses of over a tenth of his troops made Yang ugly extremely angry, hmm... and also a little fearful.

  One-tenth of the troops is not many, but the problem is that Yang Chou can't see a glimmer of hope for victory. There are not a few generals who pile up victories with human lives, and Yang Chou is not a benevolent general either. The key is that these two thousand people are still here, and they cannot break through Tai Shi Ci's wooden wall.

  Request reinforcements! Yang Chou finally made up his mind to ask Zhang Yang for help, although the decision was late, it was still a correct choice.

  At the same time, Taishi Ci immediately reported the situation to Li Tong.

  A distance of thirty li is not far, and a fast horse can deliver a message in about an hour. Li Chong soon received news of Taishi Ci's battle situation.

  Cheng Yu narrowed his eyes and said, "Your Excellency, I think that for now we should surround but not attack, focusing on dealing with Zhang Yang's reinforcements. It would be best if we could annihilate the defenders of Jinyang in a field battle, which would make our subsequent attack on Jinyang much simpler."

  "Not bad, but if Zhang Yang gives up Langmen County, what can we do?" Li Chong asked.

  Cheng Yu thought for a moment before slowly responding: "I think that in the short term, Zhang Yang will not give up on Langya County unless he suffers heavy casualties."

  "Alright, let's follow Cheng Gong's words." Li nodded heavily and immediately passed down the order to temporarily halt the siege, conserve military strength, and try to kill as many enemies as possible with arrows.

  Jia Kui nodded and said: "Since the lord is not in a hurry to attack Langmen County, I can lead people to build siege carts, which can effectively reduce casualties."

  Li nodded his head in agreement, and Jia Kui immediately went down to prepare workers, materials, etc.

  Only Li Chong and Cheng Yu were left in the account, staring at each other. Cheng Yu smiled bitterly: "Master's actions are indeed swift and decisive."

  Li Chong spread his hands and also sighed with a bitter smile: "With just you, me, and Jia Kui, the three of us, can't we be swift and decisive?"

  Now, Li Chong has only a dozen or so civil and military personnel under his command, including Cheng Yu, Chen Lin, Taishi Ci, Cheng Wu, Guan Hai, Liao Hua, Jiang Qin, Zhou Tai, and Zhao Yun. Once something happens, Li Chong immediately feels overwhelmed and deeply feels that there are not many people who can be used, which is very distressing.

  But with fewer people, there is also a good thing that can't be helped but laugh and cry, that is, discussing things is extremely fast, three or two sentences can determine the decision, and it will never delay military affairs.

  At the same time, Li Chong also sent 1,000 relief troops to Taishi Ci, along with grain and other military supplies, ordering him to prepare for a long-term defense.

  It was not that Li Chong's forces were insufficient, but rather that Taishi Ci had chosen a location with favorable terrain. A 500-step battle line could be defended by 3,500 soldiers, allowing for the deployment of reserve troops and rotation of units in combat; deploying more troops would have been pointless.

  When Li Zhong's reinforcements arrived at Yinfeng Valley, Zhang Yang finally received the news that Yang Chou was blocked in Langmen County. After a brief hesitation, Zhang Yang sent Sima Guang to lead 5,000 troops to reinforce Yang Chou. With the two reinforcement teams dispatched, the remaining soldiers inside Jinyang City were less than 10,000, and most of them were old and weak, with very low combat effectiveness.

  Zhang Liao was extremely disgusted with Yang Song, and on the way, he led his troops at a moderate pace, thinking in his heart that it would be best if Taishi Ci killed Yang Song with one spear, and then he would lead his army to defeat Taishi Ci. Less than 100 miles away, Zhang Liao walked for two days before arriving at Yinfeng Gorge.

  Yang Chou, as soon as he saw Sui Gu, complained: "Sui Baitu, the distance is only 90 li, and there are no enemy troops blocking the way. You actually took two days to arrive, marching so slowly that you missed the opportunity for battle. If Langmen County falls, I don't know how you will explain it to our lord."

  Zhang Liao looked at Yang Xiu and smiled, saying: "How am I going to explain this to the lord? This is me showing consideration for the soldiers, fearing they won't be able to withstand it, not giving Taishi Ci a chance to take advantage of us. But you, with such heavy losses, how are you going to explain this to the lord?"

  Xu Shu's words were somewhat exaggerated, but they made sense. The 90-mile journey was indeed a forced march, and the soldiers would have been exhausted by the time they arrived. If Taishi Ci had seized the opportunity to launch a surprise attack, it's possible that Xu Shu's troops could have been defeated. However, Xu Shu clearly didn't take Yang Chou seriously, believing that his army couldn't provide effective protection for himself.

  These two days, Tai Shi Cai didn't idle around either, desperately reinforcing the defensive fortifications, and forcibly building a simple camp at the crossroads. The wooden walls were also increased in height by about twice as much, and on the inside of the walls, two three-zhang-high arrow towers were built.

  Arrived at Yinfeng Valley, he immediately seized Yang Chou's military power and launched a probing attack.

  Over a thousand newly arrived soldiers trampled through the thick snow, carrying hastily made wooden ladders, and charged towards Taishi Ci's camp. These men had not experienced defeat before, their morale was high, and they moved swiftly.

  Tai Shi Zi was standing on the arrow tower commanding the battle this time, overlooking the battlefield from a high vantage point.

  At a distance of two hundred paces, Taishi Ci drew his bow and shot an arrow, which whizzed down and pierced through the body of one enemy soldier. Taishi Ci swiftly nocked another arrow and shot again, pinning another soldier to the ground. After the two shots, Taishi Ci nodded secretly in approval.

  When the enemy troops rushed to one hundred and fifty steps, Taishi Ci immediately ordered: "Draw full bows, release arrows..."

  A burst of bowstring explosions immediately rang out from the top of the arrow tower, and more than a dozen feathered arrows flashed by, falling into the crowd.

  The soldiers on the arrow tower were all carefully selected by Taishi Ci, and whether it was arm strength or archery skills, they exceeded those of ordinary archers. More than half of these dozen or so feathered arrows hit the enemy, which is already a very high hit rate. A godly archer like Taishi Ci could count on one hand the number of times he missed.

  After the hail of arrows, the archers on the arrow tower had killed more than thirty enemy soldiers. Although the number was not large, it effectively suppressed the morale of the enemy army.

  At this time, the enemy army had already entered the shooting range. Taishi Ci immediately ordered all archers to open their bows and shoot arrows. In an instant, feathered arrows flew back and forth, and bowstrings burst into sound.