Chapter 451

"Tufa dog thief! Take your life!" Zhang Honghong roared, her blade pointing straight at the main camp!

Tufa Yan looked at the unstoppable figure, a flash of fear in his eyes, but it was immediately replaced by ferocity.

"Stop her! Stop her for me!" He waved his curved sword, commanding his personal guards to block.

If he had to go up and fight her himself, he knew he was not the other party's opponent, and for now, he could only use the method of siege.

Zhang Honghong was not afraid at all, and even her eyes were full of contempt: "Disgraceful, where is there any appearance of a general?"

Tufa Yan's face turned somewhat livid when he heard this, his heart full of anger, but he wouldn't rush up and lose his life because of a sentence.

In such an era, only those who survive have the qualifications to clamor; as long as they can win... the means are not important!

At this moment, on the city wall of Tongguan, many Western Liang soldiers saw the abnormality in the distance.

"General! Look! Lantian direction!"

The Vice General pointed to the firelight vaguely rising in the southeastern sky, his voice carrying suspicion.

Murong Ke's heart was uneasy! Lantian? Zhang Honghong made a move? Then Qinling...

Just at this moment!

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Outside the pass, in the Beijiang camp, the sound of war drums suddenly became urgent! It was no longer the harassing beat from before, but the order for a general attack!

"Kill!"

The earth-shaking shouts of battle came from outside the pass like a tsunami!

Countless torches were instantly lit, and dense Beijiang soldiers, carrying ladders and pushing battering rams, rushed toward the Tongguan city wall!

Han Xiao's main banner appeared at the very front of the charging team!

Some foolish generals thought that the Ming Army's goal was Tongguan, and there would be no movement in other directions for the time being.

And Si Wushuang did not expect that Jiang Jinshi would dare to launch a full-scale war, and he had always thought that the Tongguan side was just a feint, with the main purpose of containing Western Liang's combat power.

But from the beginning, Jiang Jinshi's goal was to swallow the entire Guanzhong in one bite; he used the unique advantages of the Ming Army to launch a full-scale war in this winter.

"Not good! Han Xiao is going to do it for real!"

Murong Ke's pupils shrank, and he roared sternly. "All troops prepare for battle! Archers! Shoot! Rolling logs and stones! Smash them down! Quick!"

Arrows poured down like raindrops, and rolling logs and stones smashed down with a rumble.

Beijiang soldiers under the pass kept falling, but the subsequent tide of people stepped over the corpses of their companions without hesitation and continued to charge!

Ladders were set up on the city wall one after another, and the fearless Beijiang elites, holding steel blades in their mouths and shielding themselves with shields, began to violently attack the city!

"Hold on! Hold on for me!"

Murong Ke was hoarse, grabbing a strong bow himself and shooting downward.

He knew that Tongguan must not be lost! Once Tongguan is lost, the gateway to Luoyang will be wide open, and Western Liang will be finished!

There was no pre-war shouting, and no confrontation between the two armies; the war entered a white-hot stage as soon as it began.

"General!"

Murong Ke's Vice General's voice was panting. "Han Xiao... has he gone crazy? In this ghost weather, the ladders are frozen and slippery, is he really going to fill it with human lives?"

Murong Ke didn't say a word; the dense Beijiang soldiers under the pass were shielding themselves with shields, stubbornly surging toward the city wall in the wind and snow.

Ladders were erected one after another, seemingly expressing the Ming Army's determination to attack the city.

"Pour water!"

Murong Ke ordered abruptly; in such weather, cold water was better than hot oil, and he didn't believe that the Ming Army could take Tongguan under such pressure.

Buckets of ice-cold river water, mixed with crushed ice, were poured down with all their might.

The water poured on the ladders and the climbing Beijiang soldiers, and soon condensed into a layer of ice shell.

Screams sounded, and the climbing soldiers slipped and fell from mid-air, hitting the frozen ground heavily.

"Archers! Suppress! Don't let them get close!"

Murong Ke continued to order, but his doubts grew larger and larger.

Han Xiao was not a reckless man, and the soldiers under his command were not cannon fodder.

Knowing Tongguan was a natural danger, knowing that such cold weather was a nightmare for the attacking side, why did he still pay such a huge price to attack strongly?

The Ming Army came from Beijiang; they couldn't possibly not know the price required to attack the city in winter!

Just to contain? This price is too high!

Could it be... he really has some backhand? But in this wind and snow, what backhand could there be?

As soon as the thought arose, a change occurred!

Behind the Beijiang army formation outside the pass, dozens of behemoths covered with thick felt cloth were suddenly uncovered.

They were not battering rams, nor were they common catapults, but a kind of strange machine that Murong Ke had never seen before, with a thick wooden throwing arm, a huge leather pouch, and an unusually sturdy structure.

"What is that thing?" The Vice General also saw it, his voice carrying suspicion.

Murong Ke's heart jumped, and a strong sense of unease instantly swept over him.

He stared fixedly at those machines, only to see the Beijiang soldiers carefully placing black, round things, bigger than a human head, into the leather pouch.

That thing looked heavy, and it took several strong men to move one.

"Load! Quick! Send a big treasure to Western Liang!"

Han Xiao's voice carried excitement; this thing was a trump card Jiang Jinshi had come up with, and it was meant to be revealed at the very end.

He and Luo Feng were lucky enough to see it once, and the power of this thing was comparable to heavenly thunder, which was absolutely not something that ordinary human power could resist.

"Fire!"

Following Han Xiao's order, the throwing arms of dozens of catapults sprang up abruptly!

Those black iron lumps crossed over the heads of the charging Beijiang soldiers under the pass and rushed straight toward the Tongguan city wall!

"Watch out! Falling stones!" Some Western Liang soldiers shouted in horror.

Only Murong Ke noticed something wrong; if it were really stones, was it necessary to polish them so round?

And looking at the appearance, it looked like an iron lump; iron was a strategic material, a necessary material for making armor, weapons, and arrows. Who would spend time and price to make an iron ball to smash people?

Thinking of this, he almost instinctively roared: "Hide! Find cover!"

Before the words fell, the first wave of iron lumps had already smashed down!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!!

It was not the dull roar of giant stones smashing down, but like thunder exploding in the ears!

The deafening explosions connected into a piece, instantly suppressing the whistling of wind and snow and the shouts of soldiers!

The entire Tongguan city wall was shaken hard and swayed violently!

The explosion point was full of fire, and thick smoke wrapped in snow and gravel rushed into the sky!

"Ah! My ears!"

"Heavenly thunder! It's heavenly thunder!"

"Help! My leg! My leg is gone!"

Screams and wails instantly drowned the city wall.

The Western Liang soldiers closest to the explosion point were torn to pieces without even a groan, and residual limbs and broken arms mixed with internal organ fragments splashed in the smoke and snow foam.

Those further away were lifted by the violent shock wave, hitting the city tower and crenellations like broken sacks, breaking their tendons and bones.

More people were bleeding from their seven orifices, rolling and wailing on the ground while holding their heads, their ears buzzing, and their eyes were blood red.

Murong Ke was pressed to the ground by his personal guards and escaped a disaster.

He struggled to raise his head, his face covered in blood and black gunpowder ash.

Through the pervasive smoke, he saw the city wall in a mess.

The sturdy arrow crenellations were blown open with huge gaps, the city defense equipment was tilted, and the surviving soldiers were running around like headless flies, their faces full of horror.

Fear? No, Murong Ke had more shock!

This... what kind of weapon is this?!