Kong Huaying lowered her head, making breakfast with an unchanged expression. "It should be. Didn't the Jinyang Army say not to worry? The Qu Zhao people can't break in."
She had been sent back home two days ago. It felt like a dream. She never thought that Shanguan County would one day return to the hands of the Han people.
And she could still be alive and go home to live a peaceful life with her father.
Kong Xinshu forced a smile. "You really trust the Jinyang Army."
He also hoped that the Jinyang Army would win. These days had been so good. Except for the day when they came to register the household, the Jinyang Army had not bothered them since.
And his daughter was released soon as the Jinyang Army had promised.
Most importantly, after the Jinyang Army entered the city, several new shops opened in the city, including a grocery store, a cloth store, a ready - made clothing store, and a wine shop.
Ordinary people like them could finally buy grain and cloth. Some people in the city were even recruited to repair the city wall, dig pits to bury the corpses, etc., and they were paid well.
There was something called an iron stove and honeycomb coal. He thought it was very convenient at first sight and immediately bought one. It was really useful.
The Jinyang Army was different from any other force he had ever seen before. It had strict military discipline and always kept its word.
He thought it would be great if the Jinyang Army could always guard Shanguan County.
Kong Huaying smiled. "I naturally believe. I heard that workshops will be built in our Shanguan County in the future. We women can also go to work and earn wages."
Kong Xinshu hesitated for a moment and finally made up his mind. "Come and learn medicine with me. It was very difficult for female doctors to gain a foothold in the world before."
He lowered his voice. "They say there are female doctors in Gefeng. Female doctors can treat anyone and even serve as military doctors. I think it will be good for you to learn medicine."
Kong Huaying was stunned and looked up at him. "Father agrees for me to learn medicine?"
She had been interested in learning medicine since she was a child, but her father had always disagreed.
She didn't understand before and thought her father disliked her because she was a girl. Later, as she grew up, she realized that it was extremely difficult for a girl from a small medical family like her to learn medicine.
No one would ask a woman to see a doctor!
And the wealthy families had their own female doctors for some private diseases of their women. They hardly ever asked someone like her whose skills were unknown.
Even if they did, she might be silenced. To the powerful and wealthy, ordinary people like them were just objects.
Kong Xinshu nodded. "It's different now. They don't mind female doctors."
Jiang Jin stood on the south gate tower, looking at the dark Qu Zhao army in the distance. Her face showed no expression.
Yun Chengxuan stood behind her, having just swallowed the last meat bun. "Auntie, when will they start? They're so slow."
Jiang Jin twitched the corner of her mouth. "It should be soon."
Sure enough, as she expected, the Qu Zhao army launched an attack directly, and they attacked all four city gates at the same time.
They assumed that the Jinyang Army had insufficient troops. By dividing their forces into four, they could further disperse the Jinyang Army's troops.
The Qu Zhao soldiers holding shields led the way, forming square formations and charging towards the city gates. Behind them were trench bridges, siege rams, and ladders.
Jiang Jin raised her hand, and 240 large arrows from the 80 Eight - Ox Crossbows at the south gate were almost fired simultaneously.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The arrows directly penetrated the shields and the soldiers holding them. The huge impact sent the penetrated soldiers flying backwards, hitting the soldiers behind them.
Several shield formations were immediately broken, and they were in a hurry to fill the gaps.
When they regrouped and advanced again, the large arrows from Shanguan County were fired again, and the Qu Zhao soldiers' formations were disrupted again, with heavy casualties.
After several times, the shield formations became smaller and smaller.
Jiang Jin watched the approaching Qu Zhao soldiers. Taking advantage of the chaos of the Qu Zhao shield formations when the Eight - Ox Crossbows fired their arrows, the Dragon Feather Crossbows were fired instantly.
Although there were only 250 Dragon Feather Crossbows at the south gate, these were not ordinary bows and arrows but repeating crossbows that could fire continuously. Each crossbow could fire 20 arrows. If all were fired, it would be 5000 arrows.
After the Qu Zhao army divided its forces to attack the four gates, each gate only had about ten thousand soldiers.
Under the protection of the shield soldiers, it was impossible for one arrow to kill one person, but on average, three or four arrows could still kill one person in the chaos.
Compared with when she was in Gefeng, Jiang Jin was much richer now. Except for the shortage of troops, she had prepared enough arrows of various types and could shoot as much as she wanted.
In a short time, more than a thousand Qu Zhao soldiers were killed. Together with those shot by the Eight - Ox Crossbows before, nearly a quarter of the Qu Zhao army's troops had been killed before they even reached the moat.
Yan Pu's eyes showed shock. "The repeating crossbows of the Jinyang Army are so powerful!"
Qu Bai didn't say a word. His face was as cold as ice. "Send the cavalry!"
The soldiers in front were basically just the vanguard to consume the Jinyang Army's repeating crossbows.
While the Jinyang Army was reloading their crossbows, this was their chance.
Siege warfare was like this. They had to use lives to fill the gap.
The Qu Zhao cavalry following behind immediately rushed towards the city gate.
Jiang Jin had long known the Qu Zhao army's tactics and was not panicked at all. "Catapults, fire! Prepare the shields and the archers."
The catapults had been modified, and their throwing distance could reach two or three hundred meters, which was farther than the attack range of bows and arrows.
However, the cavalry was fast, and the catapults could basically only launch one wave.
Dozens of catapults fired simultaneously. Huge stones fell from the sky, hitting the Qu Zhao cavalry and their horses.
Flesh and limbs flew everywhere. The screams of the soldiers and the neighing of the horses were intertwined, and the scene was extremely bloody.
Many galloping cavalry were not hit, but were tripped by the fallen horses in front, and the scene was in chaos...
The Qu Zhao cavalry were worthy of being elite soldiers. Although the front part was hit by the catapults, the ones behind still rushed forward fearlessly.
Seeing that the Qu Zhao cavalry had reached the shooting range of the bows and arrows, Jiang Jin gave an order. "Fire!"
Arrows rained down, whistling towards the Qu Zhao cavalry.
At the same time, the Qu Zhao cavalry's arrows were also shot towards the city wall.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The iron shields on the city wall were firmly in front, and almost all the Qu Zhao's arrows were bounced off and fell.
Qu Cong's pupils shrank. "They are iron shields!"
Qu Bai's face was gloomy and he didn't say a word.
Iron was still very rare in this era. It was generally used to make weapons. Most shields were made of bronze, wood, or even bamboo.
Iron shields were the hardest. It was difficult for the arrows they shot to leave a mark on them, and all were blocked.
The Qu Zhao army was not so lucky. Riding on horses, there were no shield - holding soldiers to block the arrows for them. They were simply sitting ducks and were shot off their horses one by one.
At this time, most of the Dragon Feather Crossbows had been reloaded. Under the cover of the shields and the city wall crenels, they kept firing at the cavalry below.
By the time they reached the moat, more than half of the thousands of Qu Zhao cavalry had been killed.
However, with the advance of the cavalry and the cover of the arrows, a large number of infantry and large siege equipment such as siege rams and trench bridges also reached the moat.
The shield - holding soldiers quickly moved to the front to provide cover for the cavalry, archers, and trench bridges.
The crossbowmen and archers of the Jinyang Army on the city wall no longer shot on a large scale but looked for opportunities to shoot accurately.
Seeing that several siege bridges were about to be successfully erected, the stone-throwing machines on the city wall started bombarding the bridges with large rocks, making a series of "bang, bang, bang" sounds.
Yun Chengxuan picked up a rock weighing several hundred catties and hurled it at the siege bridges. This guy had incredibly good aim.
With a deafening "bang", the siege bridge that the Qu Zhao soldiers had just set up was broken in the middle. The Qu Zhao soldiers standing on the bridge were instantly turned into a bloody mess.
Blood stained the moat...
Watching their comrades being smashed into minced meat and the siege bridges built at the cost of countless lives being destroyed, the Qu Zhao soldiers were enraged. They roared, "Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Without a shred of fear, they all jumped into the moat, determined to swim across.
However, once they were in the water, they discovered that they couldn't swim...
