nucmednet Chapter 488: Hand-to-Hand Combat at the Pass
Chapter 488: Hand-to-Hand Combat at the Pass
Sun Yue put his comrades aside and walked towards Zhu Zhanhui. When he saw him, he said loudly, "General, we are getting beaten like this. We might as well retreat."
Sun Yue shouted at the top of his lungs, but his voice was quickly drowned out by the sound of exploding shells.
Chen Yonggui heard Sun Yue's shout, frowned, ran after him, and asked loudly: "Sun Yue, what do you want to do?"
At this moment, everyone's ears were buzzing with the roar of artillery shells, and it was difficult to hear what others were saying. Everyone had to shout at the top of their lungs.
Zhu Zhanhui saw two people walking towards him, turned his head and saw that they were Chen Yonggui and Sun Yue.
He had been impressed by these two men when they were in Shizhou. They were both known for their fearlessness. He asked expressionlessly, "What's going on?"
His voice was not loud, and Sun Yue could only barely make out what he was saying based on his mouth shape and the weak pronunciation.
"General!" Sun Yue shouted with all his might, "We are here to passively take the beating. We have a thousand men, and we've already lost two hundred before we even set out. If this continues, we'll all die here!"
When Zhu Zhanhui heard what Sun Yue said, he looked at the people approaching him with a serious expression and instantly understood what they meant.
From time to time, shells landed on the city walls, blowing up clouds of dust. They fired at each other, which could barely be considered a battle, but those soldiers who were waiting for the enemy to attack the city were constantly being killed. It was heartbreaking to watch.
"Retreat one hundred steps and leave ten people to observe the enemy situation." Zhu Zhanhui was also at a loss at the moment. Faced with such a battle, he really didn't know how to deal with it.
In this desperate situation of meeting the enemy on a narrow road, he could only rely on his courage and hope to block the enemy in this narrow valley.
The Hun soldiers' attack was as fierce as a storm. The dense artillery fire continued to pour on the city walls, and brick and stone debris flew all over the sky.
The originally solid city wall had now been blown to pieces and was incomplete. In some places, there were even large-scale collapses, like an old man who could not bear the weight and was about to fall.
The battlefield was filled with smoke and the pungent smell of gunpowder made it hard to breathe.
On the artillery position, most of the gunners had fallen in a pool of blood, and the blood had dyed the ground bright red.
The artillery, which was already few in number, is now even fewer, and it is not easy to find temporary replacements at this critical moment of war.
Zhu Zhanhui looked at the tragic scene, his heart burning with anxiety. Without thinking too much, he shouted loudly: "Quick, find someone to take these cannons away!"
In his heart, the few cannons he had were extremely precious treasures. If they were lost, he would probably not even be able to fight back if there was another war in the future.
As the number of artillery casualties continued to increase, the sound of artillery fire at the pass became increasingly sparse, and was gradually drowned out by the shouts of the Huns and the sounds of exploding artillery shells.
Gulzar was observing the battlefield situation from a distance. Seeing this, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, revealing a smug smile. He turned to Gaddafi beside him and said, "Gaddafi, your time to show your skills has come. Lead the warriors to the city."
That smile was full of desire for victory and confidence in winning.
Jiao Zan, who was not far away, witnessed their conversation and couldn't help but recall what Yelu Qing had once said to him, telling him to just protect himself in everything.
Thinking of this, he gave up the idea of competing with Gaddafi for credit, and just stood quietly aside, watching the development of the war with cold eyes.
After receiving the order, Gaddafi immediately cheered up and quickly commanded the first batch of 5,000 people to launch an attack from both sides of the pass. At the same time, he deployed another 5,000 people to climb the front city wall.
After all, the terrain here is narrow, and too many people will make it difficult to maneuver. He is well aware of the importance of rational deployment of troops.
The soldiers on the city wall who were hastily evacuating their artillery were suddenly shocked to see the Huns approaching like a tide. They hurriedly found Zhu Zhanhui and said in a terrified and anxious voice: "General, the enemy is attacking the city!"
At this time, Zhu Zhanhui's head had just been hit hard by a flying stone. Although he was not bleeding, he was dizzy and his head was heavy, as if countless bees were buzzing in his ears.
He tried to cheer himself up and said in a weak voice, "Order...Order the people below the city to climb the city walls and prepare to meet the enemy."
Seeing this, the people next to him quickly moved closer to his mouth and were able to barely hear what he said.
"Meet the enemy, quickly, let the people below come up and prepare to meet the enemy." The messengers shouted orders to the people below the city one after another.
Wang Tieniu heard the shouting and turned to Sun Yue and said, "We are going up."
His eyes revealed determination and fearlessness.
Chen Yonggui also heard the order at this moment, and without hesitation, he shouted to the soldiers beside him: "Send a hundred men to each side and hurry to get there."
When the soldiers heard that the enemy was attacking the city, they instantly perked up, their eyes burning with fighting spirit, and they all rushed towards the pass with weapons in hand, like tigers.
The Hun soldiers approached the pass walls as quickly as hungry wolves. They targeted the craters formed by artillery bombardments and rushed up desperately along the scrambleable areas, shouting earth-shaking slogans in an attempt to capture the pass in one fell swoop.
Wang Tieniu saw the enemy approaching, his eyes glared, and without hesitation he picked up a heavy brick and smashed it with all his strength at the Xiongnu soldier who was climbing up, roaring, "You bastard, give me your life!"
Seeing this, others followed suit. For a moment, bricks fell like raindrops down on the city, making the Hun soldiers scream in pain.
After smashing the bricks out of the city wall, Wang Tieniu quickly took out his bow and arrow, strung the bow, aimed at the enemy, and with a "whoosh", the sharp arrow shot towards the enemy group like a meteor.
When the Huns below saw that the city was being attacked, they showed no weakness and raised their bows and arrows to shoot at the city.
For a moment, arrows flew up and down the city like dragonflies, and the air was filled with sharp whistling sounds.
Many soldiers were hit by these arrows, and those who were seriously injured could only cover their wounds, retreat in pain, and go to the rear for treatment.
As the number of personnel continued to decrease, new soldiers from the rear immediately replaced them without hesitation and continued to fight.
The situation on Sun Yue's side was the same. When the two sides were shooting arrows at each other, a tiger-barrel cannon quietly poked out of its black muzzle.
"Bang..." There was a deafening roar, and the immense recoil made the ground tremble slightly. The Tiger Barrel Cannon unleashed countless pellets, raining down on the Huns below the city.
The Hun soldiers who were shot fell down screaming. Although some of them were not hit in vital parts, they rolled on the ground and struggled in pain.
When the Huns attacked the city, they also brought tiger-shaped cannons. However, their mortars also launched attacks from time to time. Due to the chaotic situation on the battlefield, occasionally shells would fall into their own troops, causing panic and screams.
Soon, the mortar attack stopped.
It was difficult to aim the Tiger Barrel Cannon at the foot of the city wall accurately, so it could only fire randomly, which served more as a deterrent to oppress the defenders.
Many Huns had successfully climbed onto the city walls, but they were greeted by a flood of defenders.
The defenders were not afraid and fought bravely, engaging in fierce close combat with the Huns and quickly knocking the Huns who had climbed onto the city wall down.