Chapter 40: The Bed Crossbow Begins Firing

  Thanks for the reward from Iron Blood Yi Xuan book friend!

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  Li Fude and Pang Zhong originally thought that Geshu Han and Yang Hui had arranged for them to be stationed at the city of Hantanguan, which meant they would have to defend this place to the death. Li Fude did not dare disobey Yang Hui's orders, while Pang Zhong, having just experienced defeat in Lingbao, was filled with regret and had lost all his arrogance, and did not have the courage to resist Geshu Han and Yang Hui's orders.

  But just before the war began, they were surprised again after receiving Yang Hui's order.

  No one had expected Yang Guozhong's order to be such, having them retreat and defend the city of Tongguan after being ambushed by the enemy. Regardless of what ideas Pang Zhong and Li Fuguo held, they were both moved upon receiving Yang Guozhong's order - they hadn't been abandoned by Yang Guozhong and Ge Shuhan.

  This feeling also made them feel heroic and eager to prove their excellence with a brilliant battle.

  Yang Kai ordered them to hold on till nightfall, no matter what, and try their best to prevent the Han Tongguan city from being occupied by the rebels tonight. Such an order made both Pang Zhong and Li Fude feel a heavy burden on their shoulders, they also decided to fight to the death.

  Pang Zhong and Li Fude had already seen the rebels' movements, and they immediately ordered the whole army to prepare for battle.

  The west gate of Hantang City was not guarded because it led to Suizhou, and the north gate faced the Yellow River, with only a few feet of open space along the city wall, making it difficult to set up even a cloud ladder. Now that it's the flood season of the Yellow River, the rebels would hardly attack from the north gate. Therefore, the two generals focused their defense on the east and south gates, each leading about 1,000 soldiers and horses to guard one gate.

  Pang Zhong was familiar with the terrain, and led his troops to defend the south gate, which was the main direction of the rebel army's attack. Li Fude led a thousand men to defend the east gate, while the remaining few hundred cavalry were kept as mobile reserves, ready to reinforce whichever side suffered heavy casualties. After the orders were given, all the soldiers quickly ran to their positions on the city wall, with arrows nocked in their bows, waiting for the rebels to come within range. At a single command, they would unleash a hail of arrows into the rebel ranks.

  Large-scale bed crossbows on the city tower were also equipped with long arrows, ready to strike the rebel army coming towards the city tower at an ultra-long distance.

  Pang Zhong sighed, the city of Hantang was too broken and his military strength was too weak. If the city had been heavily repaired and they had an army of 10,000, he could guarantee that not a single rebel soldier would set foot on the city wall, but now...

  Pang Zhong is slightly worried!

  Moreover, he has never worked with Li Fude before and does not know what kind of performance Li Fude will show next.

  But they could only fight to the death, no matter what, and try to hold on to the city until nightfall, or even longer.

  Delay the rebels as much as possible, that is to gain more time for the arrival of my reinforcements. As long as the reinforcements arrive, Tongguan will be safe.

  Tongguan is safe and sound, and the capital will also be at peace.

  Although the sun has already set in the west, the sky is still very hot. The wall tiles on the city building are scorching under the sun's rays. Fortunately, the mountain peaks behind have blocked most of the sunlight from the city building, and the wind blows occasionally, making the sweltering feeling disappear a bit; otherwise, standing on the city wall would be unbearable.

  This is better than this morning and noon, when it was really scorching hot.

  Tongguan is adjacent to the Yellow River and Mount Hua. The sun's midday heat is intense between the mountains and rivers, but once the sun sets, the sweltering air dissipates quickly. Areas not exposed to sunlight are relatively cool. The rebel army did not launch an attack on Tongguan during late morning or noon, which reduced some of the trouble for the defending troops in the city.

  But all this did not bring much joy to Li Fude and Pang Zhong, they knew the most brutal battle was about to start.

  "General Li, the enemy is coming so fast!" A school lieutenant standing beside Li Fude looked at the rebel army troops approaching slowly towards Hantong Pass in a shocking color and said in a low voice, "General, we only have such a small number of soldiers, can we hold on here?"

  "How dare you spout nonsense! If we can hold on, we must hold on; if we can't hold on, we still have to hold on. If you dare to speak recklessly again, don't blame me for not showing mercy when I punish you!" Li Fude bellowed angrily. Of course, what the young lieutenant said was also what he thought - the rebel army's second invasion came quickly.

  After the successful ambush, he thought that the rebels would be battered and bruised for a while, at least for one day, which would allow the soldiers who had just won the battle to enjoy the joy of victory and also get some rest.

  Day and night they marched for hundreds of miles, the officers and men had no good rest, physical exhaustion was very great!

  I thought I could have a good sleep tonight, but it turned out to be just a dream. The rebels launched another attack before dusk.

  Tonight, after passing through, how many of these more than 2,000 people can still retreat to the higher and more majestic Tongguan City behind?

  But that was no longer necessary to consider, for the rebels were getting closer and closer, and even cavalrymen and infantrymen could be distinguished, and the battle would soon erupt.

  Li Fude and Pang Zhong looked back at the Suide Gate City, about three miles away from their city gate. On the high city tower of the east gate of Suide Gate City, Yang Hui's towering figure could be vaguely seen. Every time Pang Zhong looked back, it seemed that he could see Yang Hui standing proudly on the Guan of Tongguan, gazing in this direction, which made Pang Zhong feel a sense of melancholy and Li Fude very moved.

  No one knows that Yang Kai's almost cruel action to himself gave the generals on each city gate a kind of supportive belief, especially the generals on Hantangguan City. They felt they were not being ignored!

  "Pass the order to the whole army, make good combat preparations!" Li Fude and Pang Zhong's orders were transmitted one after another, and the arrows in the hands of the soldiers were all placed on the bowstring. The soldiers operating the bed crossbow had already put several thick arrows on the string, and several soldiers pulled the string to test their feel. The bed crossbows on the city head of Hantanguan had taken away countless lives of rebel soldiers in the past few months, and today they would wreak havoc again.

  "General, the enemy has entered the range of our bed crossbows!" A lookout soldier ran to Li Fude's side on the gate tower and reported loudly.

  "Pass down the military order, start firing the bed crossbow!" Li Fude gave the command calmly.

  As Li Fude's order was given, several large bed crossbows were laboriously cocked by a number of soldiers amidst the eerie "creaking" sound. With the command of "Fire!" from the lieutenant in charge of the bed crossbow, numerous long arrows shot out from the crossbow, whizzing through the air with a loud "whooshing" sound, drawing several beautiful parabolic curves as they flew towards the rebel vanguard cavalry that had just appeared over three hundred paces away.

  At the same time, in the direction of the south gate, Pang Zhong also ordered the large-scale bed crossbows on the city gate to start firing.