Chapter 199
Fei Longhai stood on the city wall of Yanzhou, looking coldly at the Japanese soldiers below. He understood the current situation. A tough battle in Liaodong had already come. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, Liaodong had never fought such a siege war. Even the fall of Xinzhou last time was just a sneak attack by the Japanese. The outcome of this war will be directly written into the wheel of history. No matter who wins in such a war, it will have far-reaching impacts.
His father, Fei Lin, the governor of Liaodong, told him clearly that the disaster of the Jin Dynasty was planted as early as thirty years ago, and the death of Emperor Yang Shao two months ago was the fuse that ignited these disasters. The Japanese attack may seem to be a minor issue, but once the Japanese really take away a large piece of Chaoguo and Liaodong, the northern Hu, western Di, and even the southern barbarians will definitely follow suit and divide up the Jin Dynasty, which may directly lead to the destruction of the Jin Empire. Even if they are driven back for various reasons in the future, the result will not change. The next few hundred years of history of the continent will be calculated from this moment. I hope this will not plunge the history of the Han people into darkness.
No one has a definitive answer as to how the war should proceed. In such a turbulent era, who should and who should not act, even the gods in heaven probably cannot tell.
It was also at this time that Fei Longhai got to know his father again. That night, when he looked at his brother Fei Longjie's desperate eyes, his father's words rang in his ears again: "Hai'er, the aristocratic families have survived for hundreds of years, relying not only on poetry and books, elite soldiers and generals, and even more than wealth. The most important point is that aristocratic families are Han aristocratic families. If you lose your Han identity, who will recognize your family background? Your brother just doesn't understand this."
It was these words that made me understand that the most important thing in the heart of my father, who had devoted his entire life to the Fei family and the Liaodong nobles, was his identity as a Han Chinese. Maintaining his identity as a Han Chinese was his bottom line.
Fei Longhai was lost in thought, and his thoughts returned to the entire Liaodong battlefield. The situation of Ji Yanrao, deputy commander of the Liaodong Border Defense Army, was probably the least optimistic one. Now the two major legions of the Japanese Army have surrounded his troops on the Qinghe Plain near Xinzhou. They did not carry out a large-scale encirclement operation, but blocked Ji Yanrao's passage to Yanzhou and surrounded the passage layer by layer. As long as Ji Yanrao's tens of thousands of troops were entangled and he could not return to Yanzhou for support, the troops would be united and supplied with food and grass, and the Border Defense Army would collapse without a fight, and the Liaodong invasion would be more than half won.
For the past three days, the Japanese have been launching fierce attacks and taking turns to assault Yanzhou City. He can only rest for an hour every day. The number of soldiers he has at hand has been reduced from more than 10,000 to more than 9,000. In addition, the city has been infiltrated by Japanese spies, and he has to allocate a part of the soldiers to guard against sneak attacks and sabotage. If Ji Yanrao does not return to support Yanzhou City, it is only a matter of time before Yanzhou is captured. After all, without external aid, Yanzhou is isolated unparalleled, and the Japanese are determined to win.
"The Japanese are coming again! The Japanese are coming again! Everyone prepare for battle!" The words of the sentry soldier interrupted Fei Longhai's thoughts, leaving him no time to think about it anymore. A new and difficult day was about to begin.
On April 11, the Japanese army launched an attack on Yanzhou City. According to the strategy set by Shimazu Nobuhisa before the war, they launched feint attacks on the east, south and west sides, and the north gate was the main attack. The reason for choosing the north gate for the main attack was that the terrain of the north city of Yanzhou was the most open, and it was most conducive to the deployment of the army. From dawn, at the forefront of the Japanese army, drums and gongs sounded, military bugles sounded, and thunder roared. Tens of thousands of soldiers and horses shouted like a mountain torrent and tsunami, and then swooped down to the city.
When the morning mist dissipated a little, the soldiers of Yanzhou could clearly see the first wave of enemy attacks. Those who were furious and rushing to the front line of the enemy were not the shield-bearing Japanese infantry, nor the brave elite of the "Wushen Camp", but countless Jin prisoners. Most of these prisoners were civilians who had been captured when Ye Yunchen's troops were defeated and had no time to escape from the Japanese troops. Most of them were old people, children, and women. There were also many young and middle-aged men or border guards who were captured in previous battles.
The officers of the Yanzhou City garrison shouted, "Shoot! Shoot! Don't let them get close!"
But the soldiers hesitated, with the arrows in their hands hanging down. How could they bear to shoot arrows at their compatriots? Unable to bear to watch this cruel scene, several soldiers cried and wanted to leave the city wall, but were mistakenly thought to be trying to escape and were mercilessly shot to death by the supervision team.
Someone shot the first arrow, then the second arrow. The soldiers hesitated, arrows rained down, and they watched their compatriots screaming and falling in their hands. Even the hard-hearted military judges shed tears. But the enemy did not give up, driving in waves of prisoners, forcing them to move forward. The moat turned bright red and was gradually filled with sand, stone, blood and flesh.
Some prisoners were frightened by the rain of arrows and stopped for a moment, but were immediately shot by the Japanese military supervision team in the rear without hesitation. Dozens of people were killed in an instant. The remaining prisoners were horrified and began to move forward tremblingly.
Behind these captives, hundreds of high ladders approached the city, siege vehicles were slowly approaching in the crowd, and tens of thousands of Japanese troops were also there. They were all promised that if they could break the city today, everyone would get a huge reward. The first soldier to enter the city, whether a soldier or an officer, would be rewarded with a thousand taels of gold, and would have his own territory in Liaodong! Hearing such tempting conditions, the eyes of the Japanese soldiers turned red, flashing with the light of choosing someone to devour.
"Archers, suppress the enemy. Quickly, kill them. Don't let them climb onto the city wall." Fei Longhai was horrified when he saw the Japanese soldiers and captives climbing up the ladders and about to climb up to the city wall to kill them. He shouted angrily, relying on his sword, and commanded the soldiers to move forward. Under his command, many soldiers took up their weapons and prepared to kill the attacking soldiers.
Although they had the help of bows and arrows and various city defense equipment, after all, they had been fighting for several days and the manpower in Yanzhou City was already short. The Japanese still consumed a large part of their arrows and rolling logs and stones through prisoners. A tall and strong man, holding a big knife and a large shield in his hand, protected the front. He rushed to the city wall, climbed up the city wall, and then pushed the big shield over, knocking down two people. He took the opportunity to jump into the city wall, waving the big knife in his hand, and killed several Yanzhou soldiers who rushed over. A space of several steps in radius appeared in front of him.
Seeing this, the soldiers behind the strong man would never miss such an opportunity. They ignored the danger, sped up their speed, rushed into the open space created by the strong man, and fought with the Yanzhou soldiers together with the strong man.
"Quick, kill these people." Fei Longhai didn't expect that this strong Japanese man would be so fierce and brave. He ignored the danger and rushed to the city wall. He immediately felt something was wrong and quickly ordered the soldiers to kill them. Only at this time, if they were driven out of the city wall, Yanzhou City would have a chance of survival. Otherwise, this most important administrative center in Liaodong would fall in just one or two hours.
The sturdy man brandished a broadsword, hacked to death a Yanzhou soldier beside him, and laughed loudly. With the help of the following soldiers, he finally broke the situation on the top of the city. The powerful force preserved this small position, allowing the soldiers behind him to come continuously, and the Yanzhou city was in danger.
Shimazu Nobuhisa, who was far away, saw this and twirled his beard lightly, looking happy. He was about to order the whole army to charge, but the Japanese soldiers who had already stood firm on the city wall suddenly fell to the ground like harvested wheat. The first strong man who climbed the tower was hit by something and fell off the tower. The gap that had been opened was filled by the Yanzhou soldiers. He asked Abe Hideaki, "Abe-kun, is there a master like Abe-kun in Yanzhou City who is attacking in secret?"
Abe Hideaki nodded and said, "I'm afraid so. According to the feedback from Yagyu-kun and Date-kun, there are people from the Central Plains Demon Cult in Liaodong. It is not ruled out that Fei Lin's old man has contacts with the people of the Demon Cult and invited them to help defend the city."
"Then please, Mr. Abe, find a way to find these hateful people so that our soldiers can successfully climb the city wall and gain a foothold." Shimazu Nobuhisa requested.
"I'll do my best." After saying this, Abe Hideaki left Shimazu Nobuhisa and set off with Date Masamichi to Yanzhou City to deal with those hiding in the dark.
In a corner of Yanzhou City, a middle-aged man was frowning as he watched the battle on the city wall. At this time, a man came up behind him and said, "Report to the envoy, Abe Hideaki and Date Masamichi from Japan have already set out with dozens of people from the "Wushen Camp". It is obvious that they have seen through our presence. What should we do?"
The man called "the envoy" sighed and said, "It's as expected. Although Master Fei has cooperated with our Holy Church for many years, he also knows that we cannot appear in broad daylight. He had no choice but to let us take action this time. He has done us a favor, and we have no way to repay him. However, apart from the leader of the Holy Church whose whereabouts are unknown, there are only us and the young lady left. No matter what, you must leave a seed for the great cause of our Holy Church." He paused, thought for a moment, and ordered, "We can't fight with Abe Hideaki's group again. Let's see how long we can hold out. It depends on whether the young lady can get reinforcements from other places. Otherwise, when the city is broken, we can only try our best to take Master Fei away. There is nothing this envoy can do about the others."
The war on the city wall was still going on. The huge Yanzhou City was now caught in a bloody battle. For many years, Yanzhou City had not been threatened by war, but today, the shouts of killing were deafening. The Japanese and the Central Plains people were fighting each other. The city walls were already covered in blood, washing away the face of the Great Jin Dynasty.
"Attack!" The front-line commander of the Japanese army under the city, Tachibana Sorin, did not think so much. Fei Longhai led the army to defend Yanzhou City, and he had the only way to attack. Fortunately, when attacking, he took everything into consideration, and basically everything happened as predicted. As long as he proceeded step by step, victory would still belong to his side.
"General Tachibana, look, what is that?" Tachibana Sorin's deputy general suddenly pointed to the distance and said, with a look of horror on his face. He saw smoke and dust billowing in the distance, and a long dragon was charging towards them!
"Oh no! Those are the reinforcements from Jin!" Tachibana Sorin's expression suddenly changed. Although the Yanzhou City was strong, it had few people after all, so it was not that scary. The scary thing was that their side had put a lot of energy into siege. Although they didn't know who was leading this cavalry team, it was enough to deal a blow to them.
At the same time, Shimazu Nobuhisa in the camp also received news that a cavalry of unknown origin was rushing towards the battlefield. He knew in his heart that this must be the elite cavalry from Songzhou, and he could not help but sigh to the sky.