Both generals took the lead and rushed to the city walls. How could the rest of the soldiers not fight to the death?
But the closer they got to the city gate, the larger the logs and stones that fell from above became. In the end, a whole thick log came crashing down!
"Don't stop! Speed up and charge forward!" Xiang Yu was at the forefront, holding a shield in one hand and carrying the battering ram and the Overlord's Halberd in the other.
To outsiders, the battering ram is the main weapon for breaking down the door, but in reality, the Overlord's Halberd is the real weapon, and it is indestructible!
"Break!" Xiang Yu seized the opportunity and unleashed his full power, unleashing a devastating strike!
Boom!
Splash...
The city gate shattered, and the earth, stones, and giant trees blocking the gate were instantly blasted away!
Chapter 268 The Decisive Battle of Kunyang (Part 5)
In fact, the soldiers who followed Xiang Yu in attacking the city gate all had their heads down or their eyes closed as they charged forward at the final moment of impact.
When they opened their eyes after hearing the loud noise, the city gate was not only broken, but the battering ram, which was covered with copper, was also smashed open!
Moreover, many of the stones that were knocked away hit the rebels, killing quite a few on the spot.
What incredible power this is!
The Gengshi soldiers guarding the city gate were dumbfounded. Although the city gate was not completely blocked, it was already blocked enough. In their view, even if the city gate was broken, the enemy would definitely be blocked outside by this pile of stones.
Even a brief delay could inflict heavy casualties on the enemy by the defenders above. It would be impossible for the enemy to clear the stones out of the city gate while pushing against the rolling logs and boulders.
But the new army managed to break through the blocked city gate with just one battering ram!
The moment the battering ram made contact with the city gate, the rolling logs thrown by the Gengshi army almost simultaneously struck the battering ram, causing the battering ram, which was originally parallel to the ground, to lift slightly upwards.
Therefore, the gate was still sealed off by one-third of its height of earth and stone, but the passage had already been opened.
The garrison at the east gate of Kunyang finally recovered from their shock. Taking advantage of the enemy's presence outside the city, they hurriedly tried to salvage the situation, hoping that even if they only narrowed the passage by half, they could still hold out for a while.
"Quick! Keep moving stones to block the gate! Smash them into the city gate! Send more archers! Shoot the enemy as soon as they show their heads!" Li Tong couldn't think of a better solution in his desperation, but he had to try it unless it was absolutely necessary.
At this moment, Wang Feng and Wang Chang on the city tower also realized that the loud noise just now was because the city gate had been breached!
With the city gates gone, how can this city still be defended?
"General! What can we do?" Wang Feng cried out in despair.
"I will lead the army to hold out for a while longer. Your Excellency, please quickly lead the troops rotating through the city to break through the west gate!" Wang Chang had thought that the city gate might be breached today, but he did not expect it to happen so quickly. Now, the only way to survive is to abandon the city and break through.
"I will never forget your great kindness, Lord Yan!" Wang Feng bowed with his hands clasped. He didn't know if he could successfully break through the encirclement, but running away first would definitely give him a better chance, while staying in the city would mean certain death.
Just then, a soldier came to report.
"Reporting to Your Excellency and General! A major battle has broken out in the west of the city! Our reinforcements have breached the outer perimeter of the new army's camp!"
"Great! Heaven has not forsaken me!" Wang Chang immediately realized that if Liu Xiu was in the east, then the reinforcements from the west must have come from Wancheng.
Wang Feng's eyes lit up. "Could it be that the Grand Minister and his men have already captured Wancheng and are coming to its rescue?"
"That must be it! Pass down the order, everyone charge out of the west gate and attack from both inside and outside to rout the enemy! Let's fight!" Wang Chang didn't want to stay and defend the city anymore, since he couldn't hold out for long anyway. He might as well fight his way out and join the reinforcements.
As for whether or not the enemy can be defeated, that depends on fate!
"Let's give it our all!" Wang Feng also perked up, feeling like she had inexhaustible energy.
At this moment, Li Tong looked towards the city gate with a face full of despair, "Is this Ju Wuba? He's indeed fierce, we can't hold on..."
With his massive halberd clearing the way, Ju Wuba led his new army into Kunyang!
Arrows, logs, and boulders were all useless, unable to stop him in the slightest. Ju Wuba's powerful body was brought to its fullest potential.
Xiang Yu followed Ju Wuba, behaving in a conventional manner without any particularly outstanding performance. It seemed that there was no need for him to do anything more, as the capture of Kunyang City was already a foregone conclusion.
However, suddenly, the enemy troops all turned and fled, even though they could have held out for a while longer.
"No! The enemy doesn't seem to be fleeing; they're trying to break out!" Xiang Yu immediately made the judgment.
Hao Jiu slapped his thigh. "The Kunyang army broke out of the city. Doesn't that confirm the historical record of being attacked from both inside and outside?"
"Isn't Liu Xiu in the east? Who are the Kunyang defenders attacking from the west with?" Xiang Yu realized what was going on after he finished speaking.
They focused their attention on Liu Xiu, leaving the task of monitoring and preventing reinforcements from the Gengshi army in Wancheng to others. In addition to attacking Liu Xiu from both inside and outside, the Kunyang garrison could also attack the reinforcements sent from Wancheng from both inside and outside.
"King Xiang, we may have underestimated the Gengshi army at Wancheng." Hao Jiu cursed inwardly, realizing he had been misled by the history books again!
In Hao Jiu's memory, the Battle of Kunyang was a display of Liu Xiu's great power, with 20,000 troops defeating the Xin army of 420,000, and the Gengshi army in Wancheng had nothing to do with it.
But the truth may be quite the opposite. The claim that 20,000 troops defeated 400,000 was just a way to mythologize Liu Xiu. In reality, the Gengshi army that participated in the battle was much larger, and the decisive force in the Battle of Kunyang was the reinforcements sent from Wancheng!
In fact, historical records clearly state that Wancheng was the first city to be captured, and troops were sent to support Liu Xiu. However, the role of these troops was not mentioned, or it was attributed to Liu Xiu.
Putting aside everything else, even if Liu Xiu had the martial prowess of Xiang Yu, it's impossible for him to be so arrogant as to lead only three thousand men to storm a camp of hundreds of thousands of troops. This would not conform to objective laws.
It's unlikely that Wang Yi and Wang Xun would issue orders forbidding the armies from rescuing them. Even if such orders did exist, the generals wouldn't be foolish enough to watch Wang Yi and Wang Xun being chased and killed by Liu Xiu without offering any assistance.
The real situation is most likely that the reinforcements from Wancheng tied down most of the new army, which gave Liu Xiu's troops the opportunity to strike directly at the heart of the enemy and defeat Wang Xun's forces in one fell swoop, thus leading to a major defeat of the new army by the main force of the Gengshi army.
Finally, in order to highlight Liu Xiu's miraculous achievements, the merits of the Gengshi Army in Wancheng were omitted and replaced with celestial phenomena such as meteorites falling from the sky, clouds falling, and floods, thus smoothing over the absurd claim that 20,000 had defeated 400,000.
Of course, even with the troops of Wancheng holding back the main enemy force, Liu Xiu leading three thousand daredevils deep into enemy territory and defeating Wang Xun's more than ten thousand troops was still a remarkable achievement.
On the other hand, if it is true that Liu Xiu's 20,000 troops wiped out the 400,000-strong Xin army, Emperor Gengshi Liu Xuan would not have only killed Liu Yan and not Liu Xiu; he would have certainly eliminated them completely.
Therefore, although Liu Xiu performed well in the Battle of Kunyang, his achievements were not particularly outstanding.
In this current world, Xiang Yu stopped Wang Yi and Wang Xun from confronting Liu Xiu head-on, but he couldn't stop Wang Xun from going elsewhere to get himself killed.
West of Kunyang, a great battle has just ended.
The brave Liu Ji killed Wang Xun on horseback, and then chased after Wang Yi, shouting and killing him.
Then, the west gate of Kunyang City suddenly opened at this moment, and the Gengshi army inside the city fought desperately and charged out!
"Charge!"
"Kill them!"
"Sand them from both sides!"
"The Gengshi army has won a great victory!"
...
"Ah! My life is over!" Wang Yi still had a lot of troops at his disposal, but he panicked when he saw this scene. Were the Gengshi army all this fierce? He was blocked in front and pursued from behind, and was attacked from both sides!
The key is that it's not a big deal if only one person, Wang Yi, panics, but if the entire army panics, it will lead to a major rout. The number of soldiers lost due to trampling and infighting may be more than the number killed by the enemy!
"Liu Ji, who killed Wang Xun, is too fierce. Only Wang Xiang and Ju Wuba can match him, but they are both attacking the city at the east gate. They are too far away to help us. What can we do?"
At the critical moment, shouts from the new army suddenly rang out from the walls of Kunyang, south of Kunyang, and even throughout the surrounding area:
"Kunyang has fallen! The rebels have suffered a crushing defeat! Don't let them escape! The time to make a name for ourselves has come! Capturing and killing high-ranking rebel officials can earn us a title!"
Chapter 269 The Decisive Battle of Kunyang (Part Six)
Previously, when Xiang Yu discussed the Battle of Kunyang with Hao Jiu, he believed that as long as the Gengshi army wasn't foolish, they would definitely send troops from Wancheng to Kunyang to help with the battle. Whether it was to disrupt the supply lines or harass the main camp, it would relieve the pressure on the Kunyang defenders and give them hope.
This is the same principle as the Battle of Julu. If the State of Chu had not sent reinforcements or had remained on the sidelines like the other feudal lords, the Zhao army at Julu would have had no chance of defending itself. They would have surrendered immediately, as there was no hope of survival and the army would have collapsed long ago.
It can be said that many people, including Wang Yi and Wang Xun, knew that the Gengshi Army in Wancheng might send troops to rescue Kunyang, but none of them took it too seriously.
As long as Wancheng is still holding out, even if the Gengshi army sends troops to reinforce it, they will not be able to commit too many troops. In total, there are only 100,000 troops, and at least 50,000 would be needed to besiege Wancheng. Moreover, if 50,000 troops are sent to reinforce it, it would be equivalent to having to fight the Xin army in Kunyang ahead of schedule.
Liu Yan would not take such a risk. Even if he were to engage in a decisive battle at Kunyang ahead of schedule, he would rather let the new army from Wancheng break through than bring more troops.
Although Xiang Yu and Hao Jiu knew the outcome of the Battle of Kunyang and that Wancheng would surrender before the decisive battle of Kunyang, they were already exhausted from dealing with Liu Xiu, who had a powerful system. Now that they had to attack the city, where would they find the extra energy to guard against Gengshi's army in Wancheng?
Historically, Wang Yi and Wang Xun were defeated by Liu Xiu due to underestimating his enemy. In this version of the story, Liu Xiu, with his system, was even less likely to win. Therefore, Xiang Yu and Hao Jiu didn't dare leave these two east of Kunyang, but instead stationed them west of Kunyang. They figured with tens of thousands of troops at their disposal, they could at least guard against Gengshi's army at Wancheng.
As it turned out, things didn't go as planned. The Liu Ji they encountered was even more powerful than Liu Xiu in history. He was a true warrior who would often find himself surrounded in battle because he charged too fast and the others couldn't keep up.
Even so, this fierce general ultimately died at the hands of his own people, Emperor Gengshi Liu Xuan, rather than dying recklessly on the battlefield.
In Liu Ji's view, in war, the weak fear the strong, the strong fear the ruthless, the ruthless fear the stubborn, and the stubborn fear the reckless.
Although the Gengshi army was small in number, as long as they all put on a show of reckless courage, they could easily drive the large enemy force into a panic, or even cause them to lose their composure and turn on each other.
However, achieving this effect requires a process. For example, this time he defeated a larger force with a smaller one, charging desperately and killing the enemy general Situ Wang Xun, which immediately terrified the enemy.
Wang Xun's troops, having lost their commander and fearing the same fate as Wang Xun, lost their will to fight and fled.
As soon as this group fled, other soldiers of the New Army, unaware of the truth, assumed that the pursuing troops were very powerful and followed suit. In the end, even the New Army's commander-in-chief, Grand Minister of Works Wang Yi, fled in panic towards Kunyang City.
Of course, it cannot be said that Wang Yi was completely unreasonable. There were also many new troops attacking Kunyang City, and their regrouping would help stabilize the situation to some extent.
However, the sudden attack by the Gengshi army in Kunyang City at this time was sure to excite Liu Ji. The timing was perfect, and the new army was terrified. With a pincer attack from both sides, they were bound to achieve greater results, and it was even possible that this would lay the foundation for a decisive victory.
However, before Liu Ji could rejoice for long, he heard shouts coming from afar: "Kunyang has fallen! The rebels have been utterly defeated! Don't let the rebels escape! The time to make a name for yourself has come! Capturing and killing high-ranking rebel officials will earn you a title!"
With just a few simple words, the panic of the new army was completely dispelled. It turned out that the enemy troops who had rushed out of Kunyang City were not deliberately rushing out to attack from both sides, but were trying to escape and break through the encirclement. Kunyang City had already been captured!
Once the city is captured, the winner and loser are obvious. Why should the victor panic?
The subsequent achievements and rewards directly aroused the desires in the hearts of the new army. People die for wealth and birds die for food. At this time, the soldiers of the new army were probably already thinking about how to seize the few merits that were on their necks!
Liu Ji's aggressive fighting style has allowed him to survive to this day, which is due not only to his personal martial prowess but also to his excellent judgment of the battlefield situation.
He knew perfectly well when to act recklessly, when to slow down, and when to withdraw his troops.
Under these circumstances, it would be difficult to achieve greater results. The morale of the new army had stabilized, and a closer look revealed that they had 30,000 men, while the enemy pursuing them numbered only 3,000.
If you surround them with ten men, then when the troop strength is that much, it's not easy to lose unless you lose your composure.
"Pass down the order: the army will immediately break out of the encirclement to support the Kunyang troops!" Liu Ji abandoned the idea of expanding the victory. Now that Wancheng was in the hands of the Gengshi army, there was no point in holding on to Kunyang. Being able to rescue Wang Feng, Wang Chang and others would also be a great achievement.
"Yes!" Liu Ji's soldiers were also feeling uneasy. There were tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of enemy troops. Once they came to their senses and stopped running, they would turn around and surround and kill the three thousand or so of them. Wouldn't they be doomed?
The key is the shouts of the enemy soldiers. No matter how panicked or dull-witted the enemy soldiers in front are, they will surely wake up quickly and swarm towards them like locusts.
"Kunyang has fallen! The rebels have suffered a crushing defeat! Don't let them escape! The time to make a name for ourselves has come! Capturing and killing high-ranking rebel officials can earn us a title!"
These words were naturally written by Xiang Yu and Hao Jiu. Xiang Yu knew very well what the new army needed most when the enemy attacked from both sides: as long as they could hold their ground, they could win.