As the city gate slowly closed, the heavy wooden sticks supported it from the inside, which meant that the Xiting Pass East Gate was completely sealed.

Ren Hong "went into battle with injuries" and jumped back to life with tears in his eyes. He had already brought Zhao Han'er who had just arrived, as well as the 500 guards and the iron-hoofed cavalry composed of recruited soldiers from the door and met with more than 2,000 Xiaoyuezhiyi cavalry who had just crossed the Huangshui River to support him.

Jin Sang brought three thousand Central Army from Chang'an to defend the inside, while Ren Hong brought the Miscellaneous Army and Yi Conghu to form three thousand cavalry foreign aids and cruised on the loess platform near Xitingsai to restrain the Qiang troops and prevent them from attacking the city barriers with all their strength.

After all, the city barrier has just been completed and cannot accommodate too many people. It is a huge waste to use the flexible and mobile Lingju cavalry as the guardian of the city. As for the Xiaoyuezhi people... it is more reassuring to stay outside and let Ren Hong directly command the orders.

In addition, Ren Hong took the initiative to agree to this challenge with Jin Sang, and he also had his own selfish intentions. He did not say it out loud. However, Han Dandao couldn't hold it in his arms and complained to Zhao Han'er who had just come out and didn't know the truth.

"When you just left the city, did you see the General General of the Central Army Ren Xuan, and the Northern Army officials and soldiers looking at us?"

Han Dandang was angry: "It's like watching a group of deserters!"

During the period when the Xiting Pass was built, if Ren Hong had not been restrained, Han Gandang, who was so angry, would have fought barely with the Northern Army under Jin Shang, with the same difficult-to-dispute Ling soldiers.

As for the reason, if the Northern Army is the Central Army of the Han Dynasty and the Jincheng County soldiers are the Jinsui Army, then the Lingju recruits under the command of the Qiang Guardians are... guerrillas? In short, in the eyes of the Northern Army, the Lingju recruits cavalry are similar to the Xiaoyuezhi.

It was a miracle to keep them in one place and eat and live together for two months.

Even though the Lingju Cavalry followed the famous Xi'an Hou and won a great victory in the Battle of Haomen Water, the Northern Army believed that the Qiang people were too weak, and the credit of the horseshoe was what they said in secret:

"If you have a good general as the commander, you can win against the Qiang Hu and bring a group of dogs to the battlefield."

What makes people laugh and cry is that the soldiers of the Northern Army, mainly composed of six counties and Sanheliang family, even their chief officials, dignified marquis, and never had any experience in fighting formations, looked down on Jin Sheng, and often claimed to be: "If you change a dog and take us with you, you will always win and never defeat."

The Northern Army had a rich history. More than a hundred years ago, the Grand Marshal Zhou Bo led them to quell the Lü Rebellion. Since then, the Southern Army has been on the bench, and the Northern Army has become synonymous with the Central Army. Later, the Grand Marshal Zhou Yafu led his troops to quell the "Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms of Wu and Chu". The Northern Army once participated in the war with its main force and won a great victory.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the army expeditioned to the Huns was formed many times with the Eight Northern Army as the core. In the Witchcraft Rebellion, if Ren An was not counted as the small episode, most of the Northern Army stood in the right team again.

Today's great Han relies heavily on this army. As the personal army of the emperor, every soldier in the Northern Army was selected by veterans who had been in the frontier for a year, so the soldiers and generals were of good quality. They were strictly trained, well-equipped, and had extremely strong combat power. Almost everyone wore armor, held iron beryllium and spears, and held fine iron rings and head swords at the waist. They were the standard equipment, which led to Han Dandang cursing the arrogance of the Northern Army at Zhao Han'er, but could not help but envy their equipment.

During peacetime, the eight Northern Army schools defended Chang'an. As long as there was a war, they would be on the ranks of the expedition. They often went to the generals, either attacking Qiang and Hu in the northwest, or heading south to Dingyi chaos, becoming a famous ace field army. With the halo of the "King Army", it would be difficult not to be arrogant.

This is probably the most difficult army to lead in the world. Jin Sang has no strong merits and skills, and his good temper that no one offends, so he is indeed "weak" in the army and is despised. This group of soldiers in the Northern Army are actually Shi Sheng's chief Shi Renxuan in charge of the affairs. I heard that he is very close to Huo Guang's son Huo Yu, and he is also a "Huo family".

Although Ren Xuan was polite to Ren Hongke on the surface, Ren Hong could feel that this officer of the same surname was not his family, and he did not consider his achievements, turned a blind eye to the increasingly serious factional discrimination among the people below, and even contributed to the flames.

"The Northern Army always wants to do things like transporting stones, mixing yellow mud and building walls, and the Northern Army always wants to do it. When farming, it is lazy and doesn't want to work hard. What do you say about the Jincheng race in Jincheng? Why don't they say that the Jincheng people can only eat the Jincheng rice?"

Han Gandang likes the temperament of Jincheng people very much and has long been together with them. Fortunately, Ren Hong ordered him to make trouble, otherwise he would have to vent his anger.

Fortunately, Ren Hong was famous and won a battle. The grain officials did not dare to withhold supplies. The gold reward also agreed that the two armies would treat the same food and accommodation, which saved a lot of conflicts.

In addition, Zhao Chongguo was a member of the resident family, so the Northern Army did not dare to bully the fellow villagers of the Later General too much, but he felt arrogant and could not hide it.

"Save some effort, stop complaining."

Ren Hong heard Han Gandang's complaints, and thought that he had laughed at the Qiang people before, but in fact, the Han army was not much better. Even the front-line army had serious factional struggles and regional discrimination was everywhere. Guanxi and Guanxi were old grievances, Guanxi was also divided into three auxiliary departments, Liangzhou and Liangzhou had contempt chains, which was really a headache, so he scolded Han Gandang:

"You are also an old corps. Don't you understand that all the secret competitions in the army will eventually be on the battlefield to see the true story? Indeed, if you were in the obstacle, you would probably be arranged by Ren Xuan to deliver crossbow arrows and stones, and you would not even have a chance to go up to the wall. But now, you have the opportunity to compete with him."

They had already climbed the Red Stone Cliff near Xiting Pass and occupied the commanding heights. They could see the vast Qiang people rushing towards Xiting Pass, as if they could easily submerge this small fortress that had not been completely completed.

"There are about 20,000 Qiang people. As long as we can restrain ten thousand so that we cannot concentrate on attacking the city, Xitingsai can easily defend it."

Ren Hong pinched the horse whip and pointed at the bottom, and his opponents predicted the situation of the battle: "In the first battle, strong bows and crossbows guard the key points. That was the specialty of the Northern Army Shooting Camp in the city. Xin Wuxian and Zhao Jue, who led the Northern Army Yueqin Camp, received my urgent report. He had passed Huangxia and could join the battlefield before dark. At that time, the Qiang people would retreat, chase and die to the north, and drag the Qiang captives to rely on our iron cavalry."

Although Ren Hong could not say whether he had sent to lobby the Qiang to make a successful decision.

After hearing this, everyone was eager to try it out. They had indeed had enough of the Northern Army's anger in the past two months, so they had to ask them to have a good experience. The "Jincheng Tiger Cavalry" under the Tiger of Hehuang was not a false reputation.

Ren Hongdao: "I can't guarantee that there will be more beheadings afterwards than the soldiers in the Shooting Camp. Then they will ridicule you again, so they will count the heads of Qiang people they cut down and scold them back! The real achievements are there, and it depends on what else they have to say."

"The Lord said it makes sense."

Zhao Han'er patted Han Gandang: "Old Han, my new bow has not been shot yet, are you and I competing?"

Having said that, the cavalry confined beside him could not directly rush into the 20,000 Qiang people. As agreed in advance, when the flag was raised in the city and then launch an internal and external attack, Ren Hong only started the viewing mode first, watching Xitingzhan's offensive and defensive battle from afar.

...

"Dongdongdongdongdong, dudongdongdongdong."

Wearing a monkey-skin hat, beating a single-sided sheepskin drum, dancing and singing while walking, this is the standard outfit of the Qiang wizard "Shibi".

The reason why sheep skin was used as a drum is because the sheep ate white stone, probably a block of salt, so they hated the sheep and cut off their skin as a drum. The reason why they used the macaque skin as a hat was because the macaque was sacrificed when the Qiang people were in trouble and let them eat it through the difficulties, so their skin was made into a hat and put it on their heads forever to show respect and worship forever.

As for why it is a single-sided drum, there is also a legend that the former supreme god Mu Bita learned from his daughter who returned from the mortal world that there are still many unhealthy customs and ghosts that harm humans and animals in the mortal world, so he sent the god Jiboerla to lower the realm to rectify. Jiboerla overslept due to fatigue, causing one side of both sides to be damaged, and only one side can be used.

Long Ye Ganmang had heard a long time ago that if you want to become a Shibi, you not only have to become a disciple, but also have to go through difficult tests. The most difficult level is that you have to insert a knife from your right cheek into your mouth, and then insert a needle into your left cheek with a needle. A small fir flag is hung on the needle. When the ceremony is over, if the candidate can ensure that the blood will not flow, he will be considered to be successful and become a Shibi.

The monkey-skin hat and sheepskin drum can be faked, but the scar on the right cheek cannot be faked. The Qiang people have unwritten rules. In the war between tribes and river valleys, Shi Bi cannot be killed because they are wise men who inherit epics and witch doctors who interpret magic.

At this moment, Long Ye Ganmang followed Shaodang, staring at his enemy through the cracks: Yang Yu, the great hero of Qiang, destroyed Long Ye's tribe and sold himself as a slave.

At this moment, Yang Yu was kneeling in front of Shibi, the most respected Shibi in Hehuang. Shibi had already created a circle of big bonfires with pine and cypress trees on the ground, with wood crackling and pine resin sizzling.

Then Shibi took the Qiang sword offered by Yang Yu and burned it in the bonfire. When he took it out, the black sword had turned red and shiny. Old Shibi could recite the spell and actually raised the burning iron sword to his mouth, stretched out his tongue, and licked it quickly on the iron plow!

The sound of "Waiting" came from his mouth, making everyone frightened, but Shi Bi was not afraid and looked at it with a free expression.

Then he poured a bowl of water off the scorching sword tip, causing white mist, and there was more boiling water in the bowl.

Shi Bi drank water and sprayed Yang Yu, Youfei and a group of people who needed to play for the striker. The Qiang warriors sprayed them all over their faces!

According to the saying, this way you can get the protection of the gods and you will not be able to enter the sword or arrow.

It is not difficult to prove whether it is to enter or not. You can tell at a glance, but the Qiang people are like the senior brothers of the Boxer Rebellion in later generations. They believe it without doubt, or in other words, they must not believe it.

In addition to being superstitious about their own gods and ancestors and hope for miracles, what else can the Qiang people fight against the Han people?

Arms and soldiers are inferior to populations and are inferior to tactics.

If you can show off, isn’t it just a bad life that is not afraid of death?

The bonfire was beating, and the sheepskin drums were rumbling, like their fearless heartbeat, like the Qiang people's migration, struggle and trouble for thousands of years.

They would never understand that the Han area is not very big, so why did they have to come to this small Hehuang to compete for the last fertile land? They kept running away, and in the end there was only the snowy plateau in front of them, and there was nowhere to go.

The Qiang in Hehuang preys on the weak. In this huge world, thousands of nations also prey on the weak.

"Blood sprinkles the snow-capped mountains!"

"Blood sprinkles the snow-capped mountains!"

Accompanied by a burst of crazy roars, Shi Bi used spells and believed that he was unable to get into the sword, the Qiang warriors simply threw away their armor. Anyway, their fathers had tried it, and these things could not be prevented by the Han people's crossbows. Instead of believing in armor, it would be better to believe in their fast legs.

They held their weapons tightly and stepped on the soft field where wheat seeds and barley had just been scattered by the Han people, and walked towards Xitingsai step by step. Then, with the accompaniment of Huangshui flowing eastward, they trotted and ran wildly, and without a clutch, they launched a charge towards Xitingsai!

Just like a group of yellow sheep, when they were forced into desperate situations, they turned around, lowered their heads, hid their panic-like eyes, and pointed their not-so-sharp or even clumsy horns at the hunter who was chasing them, and pushed their heads over!

...

Jin Sang at the top of Xiting City had never seen such a moth-swinging fire-like scene, and was a little stunned, but Ren Xuan, the chief of the Northern Army Shooting Camp, commanded calmly.

"Put, prepare the rhubarb crossbow!"

On the western wall, there were thirty weapons with the farthest range among the Han army, the Great Yellow Crossbow.

This crossbow is a stone crossbow. The 300 kilogram pull force must be combined to operate. In addition, it is a bit bulky and often used as an attack and defense weapon on the top of the city. Unless it is a single-soldier monster like Li Guang, you can take the crossbow alone on the turn.

When Qian Xianling Qiang's forward who was confident of "not entering the knife and arrow" rushed out of the farmland and came to more than 300 steps away from Xiting City, the first thing that greeted them was a thick crossbow arrow that broke through the air. The ones who were hit by shells were as if they were shot and died through the chest and abdomen. Two unlucky ones were even penetrated.

Although it looks scary, fortunately the hit rate is also touching, but something even more terrifying has come because the giant crossbow on the top of the city actually fired three arrows in a row!

When shooting sounds, you will hear sounds in the dark, so it is named after it.

As the most elite long-range shooting force of the Han Dynasty, the bright yellow crossbows brought by Ren Xuan and several mysterious weapons "Dahuang Ginseng Crossbows" that were possessed by the sound captain. After each firing, the crossbow will automatically hook the strings and load the arrows in the box. At the same time, the "tooth" and "hanging knife" are restored to their original position, and can fire three arrows in a row!

Last month, Ren Hong was speechless when he saw this terrifying weapon being transported to Xiting Pass. The thought of helping the defenders get rid of some cheating was immediately gone.

Compared with the simple bows, arrows and flying stones of the Qiang people, the equipment of the Han army has been worse than that of the generations. There is no need to add icing on the cake.

The Qiang people suffered this terrifying blow. Although there were not many deaths, many young Qiang people, who had not experienced the war more than 30 years ago, were shocked. However, the rest of the people took a big yellow crossbow and rushed to within two hundred steps after shooting out the weak point of the extremely slow winding after one round.

The one who masters the big yellow crossbow is a unit called "六" in the shooting sound camp. The so-called "六" means that the crossbow is full. As the saying goes, Yi teaches people to shoot, he must be determined to be "六". The soldiers who are tall and big can drive a six-stone crossbow, which is a powerful tool to harvest lives within two hundred steps.

When a Qiang man Xiaohao kept cheering his subordinates loudly, holding a shield, leading them to the rain of arrows falling from the six-stone crossbow, and carrying a pine wooden ladder to about a hundred steps, he was shot into the vital point by a silent arrow, and suddenly fell to the ground with a feather arrow tied to his neck.

The archery camp is another elite force in the sound shooting camp, called "track shooting". It means that it can search and shoot and take it. Those who can enter the sound shooting camp are all excellent people in the autumn test shooting exercise. The sound shooting captain carefully selected this group of people and selected the group who are good at shooting, either proficient in arrows or proficient in crossbows.

The opponents of the Shizhans are the "Starring Eagle" of the Huns. They can all take the heads of their young chief among a hundred people. I don't know who is stronger than Zhao Han'er.

Under these continuous long-range strikes, most of the Qiang people rushed to the city wall without any damage. In addition to the crossbow arrows that shot down in turn, there were also stones thrown down. The pine wooden ladder was pushed down as soon as it was loaded, and the spear and sword halberd were stretched out to pound.

Even if there are Qiang warriors who are lucky enough to climb to the top of the city, they will find that what is waiting for them is a group of heavy armored soldiers standing behind the sound of shooting. They are covered with iron armor, but their arms are skinny, which is convenient for crossbows to aim at.

But at their feet, there were shields and ring-headed swords. When no one came up, they played a guest appearance as a crossbowman. When someone came, they put the crossbow on them, and when they drew their swords and held the shield, they pushed them up.

This is "Flying" and takes the name of a warrior who entered the water to kill dragons during the Spring and Autumn Period. As the saying goes, "Those who do not abandon the sword with rotten flesh and bones are the second thing to do." To put it bluntly, it is the heavy armored sword hand that pretends to be a archer and crossbow material official.

The Qiang man who could escape the piercing of the chest of the Great Yellow Crossbow and take his life to the end found that his blade could not hurt the heavy armored soldiers in front of him. Then he was stabbed to death by the flying warrior and fell on the not-so-high city wall. The blood did not sprinkle the snow-capped mountains, but it penetrated into the cracks of the stone wall.

In just half a moment, hundreds of Qiang people were killed or injured, but only one or two unlucky men on the northern army on the city were injured.

This is simply a unilateral massacre. No matter how brave the yellow sheep are or how fierce they are, they cannot defeat the real sharp claws.

But after all, there were many people in the Qiang people, and the three thousand people in the city were not all elite archery sound. Soon, under Yang Yu's command, the Qiang people who had tested Xiting City began to rush up, trying to break the city from the east wall and the south wall, but did not walk through the north wall that was on the edge of the water.

The common people of Qiang are ashamed to die of illness. Whenever they are sick, they will stab themselves with blades, and they will be honored to die in battle.

When they get ruthless, they stab themselves, let alone others? They continue to do so. This scene is like a migrating wildebeest herd, jumping down the deep ravine without hesitation, stepping on the other one, and jumping up.

Even Ren Hong, who was looking out from afar, felt a sense of tragic when facing this group of enemies who were not strong.
To be continued...