Traveling through time and space and becoming a deposed prince, he just wants to survive!

Chapter 491: Early Morning War

The news that the Hun army was quietly approaching outside Pingyang County was like a haze that had long since shrouded the heart of the garrison commander Li Ya.

To ensure the impregnability of Pingyang City, Fan Jin, acting prefect, resolutely traveled to Luoyang to fetch weapons. The key to defending the city depended on timely receipt of equipment from the imperial court.

At this time in Pingyang City, Chen Songtao was the general, a fifth-rank official. His official position was higher than Ren Chaohui, so it was natural for Li Ya to appoint him as a general and take on the important task of commanding the battle.

Qiao Mang's situation was a bit awkward, as he and Li Ya were both fifth-rank officials.

At first, Qiao Mang still had some courage in his heart and planned to take the brothers who came out of Shizhou to defend Jinzhou. However, the weapons and equipment in their hands were too weak. In this chaotic situation, it was difficult to support a decent defensive battle.

When he learned that the imperial court had allocated a large number of weapons to supplement Bingzhou, and that these weapons were mainly prepared for Pingyang City, which was about to face a war, Li Ya persuaded him earnestly, and Qiao Mang finally came to Pingyang Prefecture reluctantly.

The types of weapons sent by the court this time are so diverse that it is dizzying.

Among them are large-caliber cannons specially used for defending the city. These cannons are huge in size and incredibly powerful. Once fired, they can cause huge damage to the enemy in an instant.

There are also infantry guns, which are easy to push and move on the battlefield and have high shooting accuracy. Nowadays, the court often uses them in street fighting.

In addition, there are artillery pieces called mortars in Luancheng. Although they are similar in shape to common mortars, their principles are different.

Several small-caliber handheld tiger-shaped cannons were also equipped. These cannons are flexible and lightweight, suitable for close-range combat.

With the help of these weapons, Li Ya and others gathered in Pingyang Prefecture, sat together, and carefully discussed strategies to defend against the enemy.

They decided to wait for the enemy to attack the city and then organize their forces to launch a counterattack after a certain number of Xiongnu soldiers were destroyed.

On the other hand, the team led by Yelu Qing arrived in Jinzhou one day late.

At this time, Gulizar had already left with his team.

The leader, Luo Haiqing, also had 50,000 troops under his command. According to Yelu Qing's instructions, they consciously set out a day later and then slowly rushed to the battlefield.

Everyone has his or her own little calculations and thoughts in mind.

On the other hand, no one in Pingyang Prefecture expected that Gulizar would choose to launch a sneak attack in the early morning.

On this day, the darkness before dawn slowly enveloped the earth like a thick curtain.

The sky in the east was just beginning to turn pale, and a gentle morning breeze blew over the top of Pingyang City, bringing a hint of coolness.

After a night on duty, many soldiers were exhausted. Many began to doze off at their posts, waiting in a daze for the soldiers to arrive to relieve them.

On the city wall, a young soldier felt the urge to urinate. He gently nudged the veteran soldier next to him and whispered, "Brother, I really need to pee. Let me go down and relieve myself."

The old soldier, sleepy-eyed, responded impatiently, "You idiot! There's no one outside the city at this hour. Why don't you just pee along the wall? It might even fertilize the weeds on it."

The young soldier scratched his head and chuckled, "Brother, I'm afraid that if a passing young woman sees my virginity and spreads it out, it would be so embarrassing."

The old soldier spat in annoyance: "You are the only one who talks too much nonsense. If you want to go, go ahead. Don't bother me here."

The young soldier muttered to himself, "I can pee at night, and it's not even daylight yet. What's the harm in peeing here?"

So he followed the gap in the parapet, unzipped his pants and scooped water down to the city.

At this moment, he vaguely saw a figure approaching not far away.

Since the distance was at least 200 meters and his vision was blurry, he thought he was dazzled.

After draining the water, he shook himself, pulled up his trousers, and was about to tighten the rope around his waist, but he clearly saw many heads moving below, and their movements were surprisingly consistent.

He was startled and said to the old soldier hurriedly: "Brother, I really am not seeing things. There seem to be a lot of people not far away."

The old soldier smacked his lips and continued impatiently, "You're really nagging me. In this weather, how can you see anyone... anyone?"

Halfway through his words, the old soldier suddenly felt something was wrong. He shuddered, instantly got up from the ground, rubbed his eyes hard, and looked intently into the distance.

Sure enough, there were a lot of people standing densely in the distance, and all of them were facing them.

"Oh no, there's someone!" The old soldier's heart tightened and he couldn't help but shout out loudly.

"Is there really someone there? Am I seeing things?" The young soldier also became nervous.

"Stop talking nonsense! Get up quickly! Go and tell the officer on duty and have the artillery come over quickly. Prepare for battle..."

The veteran shouted loudly and pushed hard at the soldiers around him who were still dozing off.

This shout was like a thunderclap, waking up those who were drowsy. Everyone stood up and looked outside the city wall in panic.

At this time, the visibility in the sky was much clearer than before, and the situation below the city gradually came into everyone's sight.

The officer on duty heard the shouts and hurried over, shouting as he ran: "If you guys are seeing things wrong, I'll drag you out and feed you..."

Before he could finish his words, he heard a sharp "whoosh", followed by a deafening explosion.

"Enemy attack, the Huns are coming..." The officer on duty changed his face and shouted at the top of his voice.

As the explosion sounded, the officers and soldiers defending Pingyang were instantly awakened and rushed to their respective posts.

However, because the enemy was discovered a little late, many gun positions were knocked down by the Huns' first round of attack, resulting in the destruction of many cannons.

Fortunately, there were a large number of artillery pieces deployed on the city walls this time.

Under Han Ziqing's quick organization, the soldiers defending the city quickly stabilized their position and launched a counterattack.

As soon as the two sides clashed, fierce fighting broke out instantly, and casualties followed.

Below the city walls, many of the Huns' mortar positions were blown away by the powerful force of the large-caliber artillery on the city walls, and artillery parts flew everywhere;

On the city wall, some cannons rolled down the slope and leaned against the wall because the city wall collapsed.

Artillery fire clashed with each other in the dawn sky. Although it was not yet bright, the flickering flames had already illuminated the sky as red as blood.

Han Ziqing saw that the number of cannon positions on the city wall was decreasing, while the Huns' mortars below the city did not seem to be affected much and continued to pour fire on the city.

He was extremely anxious and shouted an order: "You guys, hurry up and bring up the infantry guns, and fight them at these gaps!"

From a high vantage point, if the infantry gun fires a projectile, it will be able to hit the enemy at the current distance.

Han Ziqing was well aware of this, and his arrangement was a decisive and correct decision.