Chapter 486: Siege of the City (3)

There was a small city on the river embankment northwest of the city. The residents in the city called it a new city, which was different from the old city. Every year when autumn water came, the government would mobilize the Ding Zhuang from the city to guard the small city. After the Huainan Army invaded, Lu Xiong had limited troops, moved all the people in the city to the old city, set fire to the new city, and abandoned it. The Huainan Army did not cross the river to advance, but the new city became deserted, with more foxes, snakes and rats. At night, it was full of chirping sounds, which made people frightened.

At about one update, more than a dozen torches came out on the other side of the stream, slowly passing through the water surface. When I approached, I found that there were some small rows, with some green cloth bastards on them. As soon as I passed the middle of the stream, the barbarians jumped off the boat and pulled the boat hard. It turned out that although it had rained a little over the past few days, the stream water was getting shallower. Not far from the middle of the water surface, I could no longer sail and had to go into the water to pull it.

The barbarians came up ashore. The leader saw that there was no one around, so he left several people to keep a watch, and the rest digged the river embankment with all their strength. It rained again these days, and the soil on the embankment had already softened a lot. There were about a hundred of these barbarians, and they were all strong men. They worked in shifts. At the third hour, they dug two holes about a meter wide on it. The leader looked at it for a while, then climbed to a high place and waved a few torches. Seeing that there were two flames flashing in the thatched bushes beside the stream on the other side, they had already received the signal, so they led their men to take a boat to cross the river and disappeared into the grass on the shore.

After about half an hour, a strange rumble came from the distance, as if a terrible giant beast was running wildly from a distance. The birds in the grass and trees beside the river bank made sharp chirpings and flew up. The foxes and rats hiding in the abandoned city also emerged from their hiding place in panic and began to run wildly, as if something was coming.

At this time, Han Yun was waiting for a shift change to come up at the top of the city. He suddenly felt the ground under his feet was shaking slightly. At first, he thought he was too tired at night and was dizzy. But he quickly judged from the same surprised expression on his companion's face that it was not his illusion. He quickly turned around and looked out of the city. He saw a group of birds flying from the bushes in the distance, flying miserably towards the distance. He couldn't help but shivered, and all kinds of ghost legends that he had heard from the old man when he was a child suddenly surged into his heart.

"What's going on? Could it be that I've seen a ghost?" The companion lay on the female wall, staring at the grass where all kinds of beasts were chirping.

"I don't know, you go and wake up Dutou below first, let me see what happened." Han Yun turned around and pulled up the torch inserted on the wall and threw it out of the city. The scene under the fire made him grow up with fear. A dark water line was rushing towards the city wall. All the things blocked the road ahead of the flood were swallowed. In front of the flood, all kinds of beasts were running wildly.

"The embankment is broken!" A shrill scream immediately woke up Huizhou Prefecture City.

The north gate of the city was in a ball. Under the shaking firelight, groups of Ding Zhuang quickly transported the sandbags into the city gate cave. The flood had already washed away the wall of sheep and horses until the bottom of the city, and the corpses and trees of dead animals were floating on the water. The dim flood had flowed into the city from the gaps in the city gate. With the help of the torches on the city tower, it was clear that the water in the north gate cave was already deep in its calves and was still rising.

"Everyone work harder, otherwise the city gate will be destroyed and there will be no way out for the whole city!" Lu Xiong shouted loudly on the city tower, and even rushed to carry sandbags. He now understood why the stream was so much lower than in previous years. He was full of regret and self-blame for not expecting the water attack plan of the Huainan Army. He could not have imagined that the gentle and lovely streams on weekdays could become so terrible now.

But soon the sandbags were almost used. After all, when the sandbags were guarding the city, they could only be used to fill gaps and extinguish flames. Some impatient men simply took off their clothes to replace sand packaging soil to block the cracks in the door. However, the water depth in the door hole was still increasing, from their calf to above their knees. The villagers began to panic, and some timids even began to sneakily find a way to escape.

Lu Xiong's eyes were already covered in blood. He knew very well that by dawn, the Huainan Army's attack would come. The flood could not stop them. The experienced Tao Ya must have prepared enough ships and rafts. Only by blocking the flood as much as possible before dawn can there be hope of embracing the city.

At this moment, Lu Shiqi ran down from the city tower, with a very anxious expression. He rushed to Lu Xiong and pulled him aside and whispered: "Governor, it's not good. The city wall in the west of the city has been washed away and there is no gap. It seems that it can't be blocked, and the water has poured in from there."

Lu Xiong suddenly felt dizzy and almost staggered into the water. Lu Shiqi quickly held it and whispered: "Brother Xiong, the water is coming. Let's go quickly, otherwise it will be too late!"

"Let's go? Where else can I go?" Lu Xiong smiled bitterly and said, "The king has entrusted me the land of a state. There will be no less than a hundred people in the clan. I have gotten such a field and escaped alone. Even if the king is merciful and spares my life, what kind of face can I have to meet the elders of the clan!" At this point, Lu Xiong pulled out his waist knife and pushed Lu Shiqi away and said, "Uncle Shiqi, go back and tell the king and his wife that Lu Xiong is incompetent and is ashamed of their trust. The kindness can only be repaid in the next life." After that, he was about to commit suicide.

Seeing that the situation was wrong, Lu Shiqi rushed up. Although he was old and weak, he weighed more than 100 pounds. Lu Xiong was desperate at this time and was thrown to the ground. Naturally, the knife was cut and fell to an unknown place. Lu Shiqi was afraid that he would commit suicide again, so he quickly stood up and said anxiously: "Brother Xiong, Luocheng is broken and there is still a small city. The terrain is very high and the water will definitely not flood there. Let's lead the brothers to retreat to the city to hold on. Reinforcements are just around the corner. Even if they are defeated and die, they will have time to die when there is no way out."

Lu Xiong woke up and quickly sent his personal troops to various sects to send orders, asking his subordinates to retreat to the small town east of the city, and ordered Lu Shiqi to go to the treasury to transport food. As his order was issued, the city was immediately busy.

It was already dawn on Shibi Mountain, and the fish belly was exposed in the sky. In the dim light, you can see that the city of Huizhou Prefecture several miles away was surrounded by floods on three sides. The fierce flood washed over the city walls in the northwest corner and poured into the city. From hearing the rumbling sound of floods in the morning breeze, you can imagine the power of this flood.

"How! Although the sea-town soldiers are good and the city is solid, they are still like ants in front of this flood?" Tao Ya's face showed a complacent smile. He suffered setbacks these days, but he used the weak to show his enemy, and secretly used water as his soldiers, and easily broke through the city. Even though he was well-educated, his complacent feeling was still beyond words.

"Ship Tao is indeed a clever plan. He can destroy the strong city without taking one weapon and one arrow. Even the generals could not even dream of using troops like this." At this time, Wang Qinian's face was full of admiration. These days, Tao Ya showed weakness on the surface, built a long siege, looking like she was preparing for a long siege. She secretly sent the barbarians to the upstream to build dams and store water, moved the main force to a high place to build camps, collect wood and make boats and rafts. When it rained continuously in the past few days and the water level was high, he sent people to dig up the river embankment on the other side, opened the dam to release water, and indeed destroyed the city walls of the defenders in one fell swoop. All this seemed simple, but in fact, I had an understanding of the terrain, weather, water conservancy, the timing, and the movement of the army were indispensable. The veterans of the Huainan Army who followed Yang Xingmi to capture this territory were indeed not easy to meet. Compared with these fathers, I was still very tender!

"My dear nephew, the guards in the city had a small frustration with you before. I will let you be the pioneer and capture the thief's leader alive later, which is a pity."

"Thank you, Mr. Tao! The last general will take the order!"

Chen Yun presented a fine paper roll with both hands in Wucheng, Huzhou, and the governor's office. This was the urgent letter used on the pigeons in Zhenhai Army.

"News from Huizhou?" Lu Fang asked while taking the fine paper roll.

“That’s right!”

"It's another secret letter? I'm afraid it's not good news! Chen Zhang's reinforcements should have arrived soon, is it because the battle situation is unfavorable?" Lu Fang's face became serious. After all, according to the shortage of carrier pigeons in the Zhenhai Army, unless it was urgent news, the guard would never use the carrier pigeons. He carefully spread the letter paper and couldn't help but recite it out loud.

"The bandits in Huainan attacked the city with water, and the northwest corner of the city was washed away by water. Xiong led the rest of the city to defend Zicheng. Now there are four hundred more people, and the food is not enough for term use, and people are not as good as ten. The last general is incompetent and the army has lost its territory. He is already waiting to die..." Thinking of this, Lu Fang loosened his fingers and had already dropped the letter paper on the ground.

"What, Huizhou Prefecture City has been taken by Huainan thieves? Take this matter seriously?" Chen Yun, who was standing beside him, quickly picked up the letter paper and asked urgently. Over the past few days, the front line of Su and Huzhou still maintained the calm state of the past few days. Even with several small-scale encounters, the Huainan army was about to retreat. Obviously, Wang Maozhang was also thinking of waiting for change.

"The letter said that Zicheng is still in the hands of the defenders, but judging from the situation in the letter, it was only a matter of ten days. When the Huainan Army won the capital, our reinforcements became the guest army. The situation was completely different. "At this time, Lu Fang smiled bitterly: "No one of the veterans under Yang Xingmi was easy to meet. It was also a blessing that he controlled the past, and he was so 'high-ranking and stubborn'! It was no wonder that Zhu Wen suffered such a big loss in Qing stuttering back then!"

"Will you send more reinforcements?" Chen Yun said anxiously.
Chapter completed!