Chapter Fifty-two: Frosty Ice Guards the City

  "What did you forget?" Chen Lin asked further.

  Li Chong pointed his hand in the northwest direction. Zhang Yan did not know that General Guan Hai also had a thousand troops at Shenchi. When the battle was intense, as long as General Guan Hai launched a surprise attack on Zhang Yan's rear army, Zhang Yan would undoubtedly be defeated.

  Tai Shi and Jiang Qin could not listen anymore, so they took charge of the hundreds of people under their command. If they dared to launch a surprise attack on Zhang Yan, the enemy would only need to send out a cavalry unit to defeat them all. The two men muttered a few words and went to direct the soldiers to defend the city.

  The soldiers in the front row carried ladders and shouted as they rushed towards the city wall.

  Tai Shi Zi stood on the city wall, took out his bow and arrow, "Ha......" exhaled loudly, drew back the curved bow in his hand, and shot out three arrows in a row.

  At this time, the enemy army was still over 150 steps away from the city wall, but Taishi Ci's arrows shot out like three black flashes of lightning, and in the blink of an eye, he shot down three men.

  Jiang Qin's eyelids twitched as he watched from the side, thinking that Ta Shi Ci was indeed skilled with his bow, and with this archery technique, it seemed to be a bit better than his own.

  Seeing Tai Shi Ci shoot down three men, the defenders on the city wall cheered, and Jiang Qin couldn't help but feel a little itchy, also taking out his bow and arrow, shooting out three arrows. Jiang Qin's archery was not bad either, these three arrows did not miss, killing three enemy soldiers.

  Li Chong smiled and clapped his hands. Ta Shi Ci and Jiang Qin each shot and killed three enemy soldiers, then stopped shooting arrows. Relatively speaking, using bows and arrows to kill enemies is more physically exhausting. Ta Shi Ci and Jiang Qin would rather stand on the city wall with swords and guns to kill the enemy. The few arrows they shot earlier were just to boost morale.

  Seeing the enemy approaching within fifty paces, Li Zhong loudly shouted: "Release arrows!" Instantly, arrows rained down from the city wall, striking Zhang Yan's army with cries of agony.

  Siege warfare entails such losses; Zhang Yan stood atop the high platform with an expressionless face, constantly urging his troops to continue the siege.

  After paying the price of more than a hundred people, Zhang Yan's army finally set up the cloud ladder on the city head, and the soldiers attacking the city began to climb up with steel knives.

  Tai Shi Ci wore armor, holding a steel knife in each hand, and guarded the city head alone for over 10 meters. The city head was filled with blood and flesh, and Liao Hua and Jiang Qin were not weak either. They also held steel knives to guard the city head, but they obviously didn't have Tai Shi Ci's skill with cold arrows, so they could only hold a shield in one hand while fighting. Together, the two of them barely matched Tai Shi Ci's defensive distance.

  Li Chong wore armor and wielded a steel sword, patrolling back and forth. After half a year of practice, Li Chong's martial arts skills were no longer weak, at least he could exchange dozens of moves with Liao Hua.

  But Li Chong was the mainstay of the entire Guangwu County, and no one dared to let him take risks. Li Chong could only hide behind the city wall and kill the enemy, with several bodyguards following him to prevent any accidents.

  After about an hour, Li Zhong saw that the soldiers guarding the city were getting tired, and immediately ordered to use water cannons to meet the enemy.

  The water dragon of the Han Dynasty was equivalent to a modern fire hose, only with some differences in the distance of spraying water. Li Chong had long thought of using the water dragon to defend against enemies, so he had dozens of them made by craftsmen.

  Melt the snow and pour it into the water dragon, no need to aim, just spray directly at the cloud ladder.

  It's now the depths of winter, with biting winds and icy rain. Zhang Yan's siege troops were suddenly drenched in cold water, instantly feeling a chill to the bone. In less than a few seconds, their bodies were covered in frost, frozen stiff, and one after another fell off the cloud ladders.

  The wooden cloud ladder was drenched in cold water and quickly wrapped in a layer of hard ice, making it slippery to the touch. The soldiers attacking the city had to first use their knives and spears to chop off the ice blocks on the cloud ladder before they could stand firm and climb up. Already at a disadvantage, the soldiers were distracted by the icy surface beneath their feet and were killed in an instant, crying out in agony.

  Zhang Yan stood far away and saw it very clearly, got angry with smoke coming out of her seven orifices, and severely scolded Li Chong for being despicable and shameless.

  Tai Shi Zi and others did not expect Li Chong's Water Dragon Battle Method to be so effective, the pressure on their bodies greatly reduced, they all retreated from the battlefield to recover their strength.

  It is said that the water dragon is effective, and the young and strong people who use it are suddenly excited, and their movements in their hands are also faster.

  But unexpectedly, Li Chong's hastily made water dragon was of poor quality due to the tight deadline. When it was running at full capacity, nearly half of it suddenly broke down.

  Li Zhongqi stomped his feet and pounded his chest, he had hoped that these water dragons could hold up for a month, but unexpectedly not even one day passed before they collapsed. He was furious at once and ordered: All the young men who lost their water dragons to fill wooden buckets with water and pour them down on the city below.

  Under Li Chong's fierce intimidation, these young men could only muster up the courage to run to the outside of the city wall, make a loud shout, and then run back like rabbits shot by an arrow.

  After several rounds, not only the city below but also the top of the city wall had a layer of thick ice. As a result, the entire northern city wall of Guangwu County became an icy wall. The iron hooks on the cloud ladder pierced into the icy wall and the ice blocks shattered immediately, making it impossible for the cloud ladder to reach the top of the city wall.

  Li Chong made a mistake, and his eyes lit up with joy. He immediately ordered that the other three city walls be treated in the same way.

  Zhang Yan was so angry that she couldn't speak, damn it! Do we have to fight against the heavens first?

  "Fall back!" Looking at the city wall of Guangwu County covered with a layer of solid ice, Zhang Yan shouted in a hateful tone. The soldiers attacking the city retreated like they had received a great amnesty, flowing back like a tide.

  Zhang Yan withdrew his troops back to camp, and Li Chong also came down from the city wall, arranging for Liao Hua to patrol on the city wall.

  As night fell, the city walls of Guangwu County were lit up with hundreds of torches, casting a crystal clear and dazzling glow, as if it were a heavenly city.

  Without mentioning Zhang Yan's gloomy expression, Li Chong returned to the county government office. Taishi Ci, Jiang Qin, Wang Shen and Zhang Cai all followed Li Chong to the back hall of the county government office to discuss military affairs.

  Shuniang served millet wine to warm up several people, and Taishi Ci and others quickly stood up. After all, Shuniang was also a person in the inner courtyard, although she couldn't get Li's favor, but if she gave birth to a boy, her status would definitely rise rapidly, so it's better to be respectful.

  But they didn't know that Li Chong had never consummated his marriage with Shun Niang.

  After Shun Niang retreated, Taishi Ci said: "My lord, Zhang Yan's power is great, and being besieged in a lonely city is not a solution. Why don't we launch a surprise attack to boost the morale of our troops?"

  Li Chong shook his head and said: "It's not possible. Zhang Yan's cavalry is extremely elite, and there's no guarantee of winning in a field battle against them."

  Li Chong paused for a moment and sighed: "It's bound to be defeated."

  Everyone shook their heads. Indeed, Zhang Yan's 2,000 cavalry was too large in number. Except for Taishi Ci, a fierce general, even Jiang Qin did not dare to say that he would go out of the city to fight.

  Seeing that everyone was somewhat lacking in confidence, Li Chong smiled and said: "What's wrong? It's just a small Zhang Yan, no need to be anxious, wanting Zhang Yan to withdraw his troops is not worth the effort."

  "Really?" Zhang Cai asked abruptly.

  "Is this true?" Chen Lin also asked in a hurry.

  The two of them, one a merchant and the other a scholar, both had a kind of psychological fear towards war, showing some urgency.

  Li Zhong smiled lightly and replied, "Now Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao are engaged in a fierce battle at Jieting Bridge. It won't be long before one of them emerges victorious. Regardless of who wins or loses, they will not let Zhang Yan off the hook for mobilizing his entire army. Zhang Yan's old nest is in Yuanshi County, and when the time comes, he will definitely rush back to rescue it. We can then strike him while he's down, haha..."