Chapter 43: The Battle of Guangwu

  Chen Er was a squad leader in Wang Dang's army, and this time he was ordered to collect grain and fodder, which made him very excited.

  Gathering grain and fodder is not easy, just rob the village inn that passes by, young and strong men are forced to join the army, women... haha, it's simply a beautiful errand! If this action can satisfy General Wang, maybe I can become the head of Qu (the leader of 500 people).

  Within ten miles of leaving Guangwu, Chen Er saw a small village and immediately led his men in a charge.

  But what made Chen Er furious was that there wasn't a single living person in the entire village. After sending someone to check, Chen Er's nose was crooked with anger. Not to mention grain and fodder, Chen Er didn't even see a single ear of corn. Every household had nothing but clear water.

  Chen Er was furious and immediately ordered his men to set fire to the house.

  Just then, the sound of horseshoes came suddenly from outside the village. Wang Er hastily assembled his troops and waited in battle formation. This place couldn't possibly have friendly forces; whoever was coming must be an enemy.

  It was now the time of dusk, and the afterglow of the setting sun shone horizontally from the horizon, while the dull sound of horse hooves came through the dazzling sunlight.

  A dark shadow flashed in the sunlight, and a group of cavalry suddenly appeared in Chen Er's line of sight.

  Chen Er's heart sank to the bottom of the sea, it's all over! This was the only thought in his mind.

  This cavalry team has more than 200 people, and relying on the number alone can crush our side. Moreover, they are all cavalry, while we only have a dozen or so horses, which are still used to transport grain and grass. How can this battle be fought?

  A shrill whistle cut through Chen Er's thoughts, and he felt a sudden pain in his chest. He looked down to see an arrow shaft quivering slightly on his chest.

  I've been shot! Chen Er finally realized what was going on, reached out to grab the arrow shaft, wanting to pull it out, but suddenly felt a sharp pain, and instantly felt no strength in his body. Chen Er swayed on the horse for a moment before falling off.

  It turned out that Taishi Ci was the one who came, and Taishi Ci had been wandering around the villages near Guangwu County. Chen Er was quite unlucky and bumped into Taishi Ci head-on.

  Taishi Ci charged into the enemy ranks on horseback, his long spear shaking, and in an instant he killed several people.

  Taishi Ci never took these mobs seriously, given enough time, Taishi Ci alone could kill them all off.

  But today's most outstanding ones were not Tai Shi Ci, but these soldiers under Tai Shi Ci.

  Most of these soldiers were locally recruited, some of them are even from this village, how can they bear to see their own homes being burned.

  One side was cavalry, the other infantry, and the cavalry had superior morale, numbers, and could fight to the death. This battle didn't have any suspense at all, it was simply a one-sided slaughter.

  Taishi Ci drew his bow and nocked an arrow, standing in the middle of the battlefield, scanning around him, giving his soldiers a sweep of the array, seeing which one was in danger, then shooting an arrow.

  These soldiers were extremely ruthless, every knife they used would cut the enemy in half, and they wouldn't stop until the enemy was torn to pieces.

  Before long, Tai Shi Ci felt something was amiss and hastily shouted: "Leave a few alive!"

  But Tai Shi Cai still shouted a bit too late, and although he managed to keep his mouth shut, he also lost an arm.

  Tai Shi asked Wang about the situation of his troops, and with a wave of his hand, a soldier immediately rushed over, beheaded the captive with one swing of his sword.

  Tai Shi Ci's inquiry and Zhang Cai's statement were roughly the same, with only slight differences in the number of troops. This was not unexpected for Tai Shi Ci, as Zhang Cai couldn't possibly know the exact number of soldiers. Tai Shi Ci immediately dispatched a few soldiers to deliver a message to Li Chong, which simply stated that Wang Dang's army was not large and could not surround Guangwu County completely, but only blocked the south gate tightly.

  After burying the corpses, Taishi Ci led his cavalrymen away with a loud whoop.

  Compared to Tai Shi Ci's heroic spirit, Wang Yang was extremely depressed. For three days, the 500 soldiers he sent out to collect grain and fodder were like stones sinking into the ocean, not one of them returned to report back.

  According to Wang Du's military experience, it was easy to guess that Guangwu must have left a cavalry unit outside to slaughter the troops collecting grain, otherwise some soldiers would have escaped back to the main camp.

  But even if he knew, Wang Dang had no choice. To deal with the cavalry that came and went like the wind, there was only one way - to use cavalry. Wang Dang's subordinates had a total of 200 cavalrymen. In the face of an enemy whose strength was unknown, Wang Dang would never dare to send out this team.

  The current plan is to attack Guangwu, and the king should believe that once Guangwu is in a precarious situation, the enemy's cavalry will definitely appear, and it will not be too late to deal with these roaming riders at that time.

  When the siege engines were completed, Wang Du immediately began attacking Guangwu.

  Wang Dang had originally planned to threaten Li Chong, and if he could get some benefits, Wang Dang was not unwilling to retreat. But now that he had lost 500 soldiers, the two had already harbored deep hatred for each other. Wang Dang didn't waste any words and directly began attacking the city.

  In the thin fog of dawn, Wang Da led the first wave of assault troops to appear under Guangwu City.

  Li Chong and Taishi Ci stood on the city wall, looking down at the battlefield.

  "The sound of war drums suddenly echoed outside Guangwu City, and the soldiers under Wang's command shouted in unison, carrying cloud ladders and massive logs to ram the city gate, rushing straight at the city wall."

  Guan Yu's martial arts were strong and powerful, not afraid of the enemy's bows and arrows, single-handedly holding a large knife standing on the city wall commanding the troops.

  When the siege troops came within range, Guan Yu shouted: "Release arrows..."

  Hundreds of powerful arrows suddenly flew out from the city wall, pouncing on the enemy army like locusts. Even though these enemy soldiers held large shields, more than a dozen were still shot down.

  Guan Hai gazed at the enemy army, a cold smile playing on his lips. He was fully confident in this defense of the city.

  Wang Dun currently has an army of about 3,500 people, and his own garrison troops have more than 1,000 people. Adding to that the Taishi Ci lurking outside the city waiting for an opportunity to strike, Wang Dun's army could be doubled and Gan Ning would not be afraid.

  This is not a miscalculation, Li Zhong himself has more than 700 troops, plus the family soldiers of Zhang Cai and others, and there are truly over 1,000 troops in Guangwu City that can be mobilized for battle. Not to mention the able-bodied men who can also participate in the fight, it can be said that at this critical moment, Guangwu County can muster at least 2,000 troops.

  King Wang's eyelids twitched, and this was just a small amount of work. At least a thousand arrows had been shot from the city of Guangwu, while his own troops had already lost over a hundred men. Where did Li Chong get so many archers, and where did he get so many arrows?

  "Kill... kill..." King Wang's fierce bandits were not to be underestimated, and with their superior numbers, they charged forward with reckless abandon, braving the hail of arrows above their heads as they rushed to the foot of the city walls.

  And what greeted them were indeed boulders and logs falling from the sky.

  The city wall over one zhang high, the rolling logs and thunder stones falling down were not very lethal, but also not small. The stone blocks were better, but the rolling logs inside Guangwu City were extremely threatening, with dense sharp thorns on top, which would certainly be fatal if they hit a vital spot.