The Grand Chanyu suddenly stood up with a bang. "What did you say? Haven't our people been in talks with Daqing all this time?"
He was almost spitting blood. His troops had just left yesterday, and today you're turning around to attack me?
Tie Yu shook his head. "We've been stalling for time. They're probably doing the same, waiting for the right moment for our troops to move out."
Meng Su looked at the scout. "Are you sure no troops have left Lin County?"
The scout quickly replied, "No. I saw them going about their usual business, even herding horses outside."
It had to be said that this was a unique characteristic of the Jinyang Army. Even though they were in an isolated city surrounded by the Quzhao Army, the Jinyang Army always managed to turn the chaos of war into an idyllic existence.
They used to farm the land, and now they herded horses.
It was simply outrageous.
After confirming that there was no movement from Lin County, for some reason, the Grand Chanyu secretly let out a sigh of relief. He slowly sat down, picked up a wine cup and took a sip. Then he looked at the others and asked, "What do you all think?"
While they were discussing here, the Daqing County had already started to attack the city.
The county magistrate of Tao County originally wanted to engage in single combat to stall for time, but he didn't succeed. As soon as the enemy arrived, they launched a direct attack.
There was no single combat, not even a single word was spoken.
This was the first time that Lu You, Li Zan and others truly felt the power of the repeating crossbows. They thought that siege warfare involved strategies, but in the face of such a powerful weapon, it was like a joke.
From a distance of more than a hundred zhang, hundreds of Jinyang soldiers held the Dragon Feather Crossbows. The Quzhao soldiers on the city wall didn't even dare to show their heads.
Although Quzhao had organized several times of coordinated attacks by shield bearers and archers, they were quickly scattered in front of the repeating crossbows that could pierce through shields.
The Quzhao soldiers could only hide behind the crenels and launch sporadic attacks on the enemy soldiers.
The Daqing soldiers pushed the battering rams, scaling ladders and trench bridges forward quickly. Protected by the shield bearers, they hardly encountered much resistance from the enemy and reached the moat with very few casualties.
The trench bridge was put in place, the battering ram advanced, and then there was a series of thuds as it hit the city gate!
There wasn't even a single person coming out to stop them!
They just let them smash!
Tao County was originally a small city. With a few hundred crossbowmen and more than ten thousand Daqing troops, it was simply a one - sided battle.
The scaling ladders were set up, and the Daqing soldiers climbed up the ladders with a thud...
It was only at this time that they encountered strong resistance from Quzhao. Because the enemy and friendly forces were too close, the Jinyang crossbowmen had stopped shooting for fear of accidental injury.
Only Nan Wen, who was extremely confident in his archery skills, was still making precise shots.
Lu You's lips trembled, and he didn't know what to say for a moment.
The advance before crossing the moat was usually the most costly in terms of casualties. But now, under the cover of the repeating crossbows, they had easily crossed the river. Now, all that was left was to climb the city wall.
Even more at a loss for words than him was the county magistrate of Tao County.
He had heard of the Jinyang Army's repeating crossbows, but this was the first time he had experienced it personally. His heart was in turmoil.
He roared hoarsely, "Shield bearers, move forward! Archers, shoot!"
Another wave of shield bearers was organized to move forward, and the archers shot arrows downwards.
At the same time, a bucket of boiling oil was thrown down and splashed on the battering ram. The Daqing soldiers were scalded and let out shrill screams.
Nan Wen frowned and shot with his repeating crossbow.
A Quzhao soldier who was holding a torch and about to throw it down was hit by him and fell. The torch dropped on the city wall with a bang.
They had traveled light this time and didn't bring large - scale crossbows like the stepping - peg crossbows. Fortunately, there were enough Daqing soldiers. Many soldiers had already climbed up the city wall on the scaling ladders and were fighting with the Quzhao soldiers.
While the Grand Chanyu of Quzhao was still discussing whether to reinforce Tao County, Tao County had already been captured by the joint forces of Daqing and Jinyang.
The Grand Chanyu was speechless.
He was so angry that he was almost spitting blood and could no longer maintain his calm demeanor.
"What a bunch of useless idiots! You said no troops had left Lin County. Where did these Jinyang soldiers attacking my Tao County come from?"
The scout was sweating profusely. "I, I don't know. We really didn't see anyone coming out of Lin County."
"Could it be that these Jinyang soldiers have been in Daqing County all along?" the scout guessed.
Meng Su sighed. "It's not impossible. After all, they've been cooperating for a long time."
"Now we should be worried about whether Daqing will continue to attack Zhuangzhang County," Meng Su said.
Tie Yu pondered for a moment. "Should we attack Lin County to make the Jinyang Army stretch their forces thin?"
The Grand Chanyu shook his head. "Since the Jinyang Army has arranged reinforcements in Daqing, it means they have a large number of troops. Attacking Lin County will only disperse our forces even more."
He gritted his teeth and gave the order, "Send reinforcements to Zhuangzhang County!"
It had to be said that his idea was right.
Qiu Liao was a little disappointed that Quzhao didn't come to attack Lin County. He really wasn't afraid of Quzhao's move.
Lin County was an isolated city with only about three thousand defenders. However, Jiang Jin had equipped them with one thousand and five hundred Dragon Feather Crossbows.
That meant that apart from the few hundred crossbows taken out by Nan Wen, there were still about one thousand in the city now.
It would be no problem to defend for a few days. By then, when Nan Wen returned with the Daqing troops, it would be hard to say who would defeat whom.
Early the next morning, the golden morning light spread over the earth, but it failed to bring a trace of warmth to this land.
Looking at the dark mass in the distance, Han Ning, the county magistrate of Dan County, felt a chill run through his body. Sure enough, the Jinyang Army was going to attack the city.
Qu Liu suggested, "How about having a few single combats to stall for time?"
Han Ning didn't comment. "I'm afraid the Jinyang Army won't give us this chance."
"Have you sent a message to the general?" he asked again.
Luo Zha nodded. "The carrier pigeon has been sent."
His face was very ugly. "The Jinyang Army is looking down on us. Do they think they can capture our Dan County with just a few thousand troops?"
Han Ning glanced at him. What a fool. The Jinyang Army didn't have many troops to begin with. They also had to guard against their attack from Zhou County on Gefeng. It was already good that they could send out a few thousand troops.
But were the Jinyang troops ordinary troops? Their repeating crossbows were simply invincible.
Qu Liu also knew this and tried to comfort him. "Don't worry too much. There are traps set up within a radius of two li. It won't be so easy for them to get here."
Han Ning felt a little more at ease. Right, they had made preparations in advance. With a large number of traps, the Jinyang Army would surely pay a heavy price if they wanted to get here!
No wonder he was so nervous. It was really because of the Jinyang Army's unbeaten record so far that made him feel uneasy.
Jiang Jin was riding at the front of the troops, with a smile on her lips. "Let's start."
As her voice fell, the troops moved to the sides, revealing more than a dozen large wooden crates behind them.
As the gates of the crates were opened, two wild boars that had been locked inside rushed out, grunting.
Han Ning's pupils shrank. "Wild boars!"
"Are they going to use wild boars to break our traps?!" He immediately understood the Jinyang Army's plan.
Qu Liu gritted his teeth. "In their dreams! To break our traps, how many wild boars would they need? Where would they get so many wild boars?"
As he was speaking, a shrill scream of a wild boar was heard.
Amid the flying dust, one wild boar fell into a trap and was pierced by the wooden arrows inside.
The remaining wild boar was startled by the shrill scream of its companion and ran around even more frantically, not knowing where to go.
