Since the evening, Zhang Yin's army has continuously sent reconnaissance cavalry to detect the defense of Luoyang City. By the time the sun sets, the city wall defense has been cleared.

Luoyang's outer city is 52 miles and 90 steps in a circumference, which is larger than Kaifeng City. It is the world's number one city in the Northern Song Dynasty. However, when it was built in the Tang Dynasty, the outer city wall was lower than the imperial city, and then passed through the Tang Dynasty.

The wars in the last Five Dynasties were mostly in decline. The Song Dynasty built them many times, but the city walls were never really built up. When the Jin army attacked Luoyang, the outer city was even more severely damaged, and most places could not even defend wild animals.

Due to the lack of soldiers, Meng Bangxiong abandoned the outer city and did not defend it. The entire army was stationed in the imperial city. To the south of the Luo River, there was no soldier or soldier, and many places became farmland.

The imperial city was 18 miles and 258 steps in a circumference, which was still too big for Meng Bangxiong. So he demolished the bridge on the Luo River, leaving only one Tianjin Bridge. The troops guarding the city were mainly concentrated in the south and east.

The defenses in the rest of the area are sparse.

In Zhang Yinshuai's tent, Chief of Staff Xu Changxing, Secretary Zheng Tianguang, Zhang Yin, Zhang Chi and Zhang Zhen, studied the situation in Luoyang together.

After introducing Meng Bangxiong's defense, Xu Changxing said: "Meng Bangxiong now has more than 800 soldiers and completely abandons the outer city. However, the troops are too few, and the imperial city is still too large for them. According to reconnaissance, Meng Bangxiong's army was

It is mainly arranged in the Tianjin Bridge area, and there are very few troops in the other directions. Since the Luoshui Bridge was demolished, the most difficult thing for us now is to cross the Luoshui. There are hundreds of troops in Tianjin Bridge, and if it is a strong attack, it will take some effort."

Zhang Yin said: "The so-called surprise victory. If we attack Tianjin Bridge for a strong attack, we are falling into Meng Bangxiong's plan, which is not a good offensive direction."

Xu Changxing said: "I ordered people to go out and find a ferry. With the ferry, you can cross the river from other places. Then, from the upper east gate to Luoyang, capture Xuanren Gate, and enter the imperial city. As long as you enter the imperial city, Meng Bangxiong is the turtle in the jar.

.”

Zhang Yin nodded. Looking at the simple map on the table, he didn't say anything for a moment.

Zhang Chi said: "It is dozens of miles to go around the east of the city, which is not easy. If we directly attack Tianjin Bridge, the journey will be much shorter."

Zhang Zhen said: "Yes. Luoyang defenders have become frightened birds, so it's better to attack hard!"

A few people say one by one, each one, each one has their own reasons and they will not be able to settle for a while.

After a while, Zhang Yin said decisively: "Zhang Chi takes your troops to attack Tianjin Bridge! Zhang Zhen led two battalions to the east of the city to see if he could cross the river. If he crossed the river, he would attack Xuanren Gate.

Speed ​​is the most important thing, don’t wait until dawn! Zhang Chi, you lead the army and set out tonight, and attack Tianjin Bridge when the ugly one! Remember, you must be decisive in the attack, and there must be no hesitation at all. If Meng Bangxiong is forced to get angry, it will be burned

Tianjin Bridge, we need to work harder!”

Zhang Chi and Zhang Zhen crossed their hands and obeyed.

Zhang Yin said: "For Meng Bangxiong, Luoyang City is too big. There are less than a thousand people and they cannot defend it no matter what. What we need to guard now is that Meng Bangxiong suddenly abandons the city and escapes. It is not easy to chase him at that time. Zhang Zhen, life

The rest of your troops, block the gates of Luoyang, and don’t let Yang Wei and others run away in the city!”

Zhang Zhen said yes.

After discussing some details, Zhang Yin ordered Zhang Chi and Zhang Zhen to go back and prepare.

When Emperor Yang of Sui built Luoyang City, the palace city and the main gate of the imperial city were opposite the south. At midnight, Zhang Chi led his troops into the city from Dingdingmen and walked north along Tianjie to Tianjin Bridge. There were no soldiers on the road garrison.

There were no pedestrians, and the whole city seemed quiet.

At this time, a crescent moon hangs westward, and there are still stars in the sky. The cool breeze blows from the Luo River, with wetness. There is no ship on the river surface, everything is quiet.

Looking at the Luoyang defenders under the bridge headlight, Zhang Chi whispered to the soldiers and wrap white cloth around his left arm to distinguish them from the enemy. He was ready for a while, and shouted loudly and killed them first. A hundred warriors behind him raised their horses,

Following closely behind Zhang Chi.

It was midnight at night, and the soldiers guarding the bridge were dozing. The sudden appearance of Song army scared them. Before they could react, the steel knife had fallen.

After getting on the bridge, he saw the defenders on the opposite side gathering quickly. Zhang Chi said loudly: "Line spears line up and rushed straight!"

Tianjin Bridge was twenty steps wide, one step was two, crowded with dense spears in front of them shining with cold light in the night. A total of 120 people were divided into three rows and headed straight to the north of the bridge. This is usually practiced in the army.

The formation was completely unconfused, and it was pressed neatly.

In the darkness of the night, the defenders had no time to use their bows to shoot arrows. The arrows fell on the iron armor and made a jingling sound.

Occasionally, someone was injured and his body was caught by people from both sides and left. He could not make any moves, but just followed the brigade all the way forward.

Meng Bangxiong's defenders were not regular troops, so they had never seen such a formation? They shouted in chaos and went forward, and were stabbed to the ground by a spear from afar.

The spear of the spear formation is nearly ten feet long, and the enemy's swords and guns cannot be approached. Someone in the front row fell down, and the people in the back row immediately filled in and pressed up like a giant screen.

The soldiers have been specially trained. Once the spear stabs the enemy, they will shake it gently and throw the body off. The position of the spear remains unchanged, and it is almost in a straight line with the people around them, moving forward all the way.

In just a few breaths, dozens of defenders fell under the spear formation, and the people behind them couldn't help but be stunned.

Without a strong bow and crossbow, you cannot go around the flanks to attack. How can you block such a spear formation? The defenders were so scared that they were all terrified and turned around and ran away. They gave up Kaijin Bridge and concentrated on the Duanmen City Tower behind.

After crossing the Tianjin Bridge, Zhang Chi breathed a sigh of relief. The imagined war did not happen, and almost wiped out the defenders in one battle. His own losses were minimal, with less than ten people injured and no one died.

Many corpses of defenders fell on the bridge, and the cool breeze blew with blood. The moon had already hung to the west and was about to fall down the mountain.

Looking at the Duanmen Tower, Zhang Chi said: "Whether you can break through Luoyang tonight depends on whether you can break through this Duanmen! If it is dark today, the defenders on the city cannot see the situation below. We have practiced many times, such night battles

What should I do? Zheng Pingyan, you take two hundred people to the middle between Duanmen and Zuoyemen in the west, see clearly the area without defenders on the city wall, and climb up the upper city. I will try to break through the gate and attract the enemy.

As long as you go to the city, come and open the city gate immediately!”

Zheng Pingyan crossed his hands and said, "I will go west with the two capitals of the front army."

After Meng Bangxiong was appointed as the Xijing, he did not strengthen Luoyang's defense. At this time, Duanmen City Tower was in chaos, and you didn't know what to do when you come and go.

Zhang Chi looked around and ordered the east side of the door to attack the city with the cloud ladder.

Meng Bangxiong gave up the left-behind yamen and lived in the official office in the imperial city. He struggled for a day and couldn't sleep at night. He tossed and turned, and he didn't fall asleep until midnight. He couldn't sleep for a while, but was called by his personal soldiers.

Get up and say that the Song army has entered the city.

Sitting up on the bed, Meng Bangxiong looked at the candlelight for a while and said, "Zhi Niang, Wang Xiaoliu is so anxious that he doesn't let me sleep!"

After saying that, he suddenly got off the bed. The personal soldiers prepared their robes. Meng Bangxiong said, "Get my armor and sword! The Song army came so fast, let's fight with them tonight! If they don't do anything, how can they give up

!”

The personal soldiers did not dare to neglect, so they hurriedly took Meng Bangxiong's armor and weapons came over.

After finishing neatly, Meng Bangxiong made great strides out of the bedroom.

A personal soldier came up and whispered: "Master General, do you want Xianggong Lian and Taiwei Yang to get up?"

Meng Bangxiong said: "No need. Let them have a stable sleep. Get up tomorrow morning, but I don't know who they are facing!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a personal soldier rushed over and said, "General Manager, the Song army has crossed the Tianjin Bridge and is attacking Duanmen!"

Meng Bangxiong heard this and said angrily: "Zhi Niang, are all those who guard the bridge useless? Hundreds of soldiers and horses guarding a bridge cannot delay the Song army for a moment!"

After saying that, he drew out his sword and said, "All personal soldiers, follow me to the Duanmen Tower!"
Chapter completed!