The Legend of Shushan Xuanjian

Chapter 409 Fighting wits and courage
There are several blocks in the cold mountain, and the low wind shatters the Central Plains Road.In the autumn sky, there is no present and past, drunk and naked in sable fur, and a little memory of the paging place.

Who should the man bet on?When I am old, I am fierce and arrogant.There are many idle foxes and rabbits in the world.The moon is black and the sand is yellow. I miss you at this moment.

——Chen Weisong in "Drunken and Poor Chanting the Eagle" (Qing Dynasty)

……

The news of An Lushan's sudden death spread to Chengdu, and the Supreme Emperor Li Longji sat by the Huanhua River without saying a word all day.All kinds of things in the past are like dew and electricity.

"Who was the first courtier to persuade me to kill An Lushan? Should it be Zishou?"

The prime minister, Zhang Jiuling, had seen countless people, and his gaze was like a torch. After interrogating An Lushan, he deeply felt that this person was "straight on the outside, but cunning on the inside", and he was definitely not a kind person.

Zhang Jiuling wrote a comment on An Lushan's case file: "If the order of the Shougui Army is followed, Lushan should not be spared death."

Xuanzong felt that An Lushan was brave and good at fighting, and hoped to pardon An Lushan so that he could return to the army to serve his crimes and make meritorious service.

Zhang Jiuling resolutely opposed it, and said to Xuanzong: "The Lushan wolf is ambitious and has a rebellious face. Please kill him for his crime, so as to avoid future troubles."

"If I had listened to Zishou's words, I would have slaughtered that bastard. The moon is full tonight, so I should go boating in Taiye Pool with Yuhuan..."

Zhang Jiuling once wrote a poem: "The lover complains about the distant night, but lovesickness at night", which is actually a portrayal of Xuanzong today.

Li Longji thought of Zhang Jiuling's foresight, shed tears for it, felt like a knife was twisted in his heart, and regretted his mistake.

The next day, Li Longji sent eunuchs to the grave of Zhang Jiuling in Qujiang, Shixing County, to pay homage to his family.

……

On the sixth day of July in the second year of Zhide, Yin Ziqi mobilized an army of 10,000+ and went south again to besiege Suiyang.

A few months ago, hundreds of cavalry from the Tang army attacked the camp. In the Yan army camp, Yin Ziqi was shot blind in one eye.Yin Ziqi regarded it as a great shame and humiliation.

This time, Yin Ziqi was sure to win the siege. He learned the lessons of the previous failures and specially transferred a group of siege equipment and ordnance craftsmen from Luoyang.

After several months of rest and reorganization, the Yan army has replenished a large number of soldiers, food, supplies, weapons and ordnance.

In contrast, Suiyang, which lacked military supplies, was increasingly running out of ammunition and food.

Suiyang originally raised [-] shi of grain from weeping blood.However, Henan Jiedu envoy Guo Wang Li Ju repeatedly forced Xu Yuan to allocate [-] shi of grain to PY and Jiyin.

Xu Yuan was forced to have no choice but to reluctantly hand over the food to the two counties.But not long after, Gao Chengyi, the prefect of Jiyin, surrendered the city, and the [-] shi of grain that Xu Yuan painstakingly accumulated was in vain for the Yan army.

The army of Yan began to besiege Suiyang in the first month of the second year of Zhide, and has been besieging the city intermittently for half a year.The armies in the neighboring counties were unable to provide rescue, and the [-] shi of food in Suiyang City was gradually exhausted.Starting from July, each soldier can only be allocated one hemi per day.The soldiers had to mix bark and tea paper to satisfy their hunger.

Bai Fu also tasted the taste of hunger.

In the beginning, Bai Fu relied on his pure internal energy and used the bigu technique to breathe out, but the influence was not too great.After a long time, I was also hungry.When fighting fiercely with the Yan army, he concentrated on killing the enemy without feeling hungry.Once it's the dead of night, it's very uncomfortable to feel the front of the heart sticking to the back.

Only then did Bai Fu understand the reason why Master Zhongsi attached great importance to food, supplies and logistical support.Only when you have actually been on the battlefield can you know that starvation and cold can sometimes destroy the morale of an army more than fierce battles and injuries.

After half a year of hard work, the Tang army in Suiyang wiped out tens of thousands of enemies and suffered five thousand casualties.The soldiers guarding the city were suffering from hunger and sickness. Of the [-] soldiers, there were only more than [-] left.

If it weren't for the impassioned and passionate pre-war mobilization by the chief general Zhang Xun, the example of sharing weal and woe with the soldiers, taking the lead in charging into the battle, and his compassionate care for soldiers like children, Suiyang City would have been breached several times.

Like the other soldiers, Bai Fu felt the same. Although he was in dire straits every day, he was full of fighting spirit and was willing to die for Zhang Xun.

The friendship from birth to death made every man in the Tang Dynasty feel that it is an honor to be able to fight to the death with his brothers!So strong, so fast!

After the fierce battle every day, when the smoke cleared, Bai Fu, together with other soldiers, collapsed on the tower, panting and resting, teasing and bickering.No one knows when Yan Jun's next charge will be and how long he can live.Therefore, everyone cherishes this moment of tranquility, caressing about the family, recalling the peaceful and warm hometown before the war, loving parents with white hair dyed, affectionate lovers, naughty children...

Bai Fuchang was at this moment, lying behind the arrow stack, looking at the setting sun through the arrow holes.The warm sunset is like a ray of light on the top of Mount Hua...

……

Looking at the battered and dilapidated city tower of Suiyang, Yin Ziqi knew that the isolated and helpless Tang army would not be able to defend for long, and the city would be broken just around the corner.

Yin Ziqi ordered the Yan army to step up the attack on the city.

The Yan army dispatched a large-scale siege tool-ladders.The ladder is huge, as high as the city wall, invincible.The middle layer of the ladder is the siege tower, which can accommodate [-] elite soldiers.At the top is an archery tower and a springboard.

There are wooden wheels at the bottom of the ladder, and soldiers can hide behind the bunker of the ladder and push the ladder to the city wall.

The soldiers of the Yan army first pushed the ladder to the bottom of the city, and the soldiers of the archery tower suppressed the firepower of the Tang army with arrows, and at the same time lowered the springboard.

Soldiers boarded the siege tower and entered the tower through the springboard connected to the city wall.

……

Yan Jun Yunti's first siege caused a lot of losses to the unprepared Tang Jun soldiers.After repelling the Yan army's attack, Zhang Xun summoned his soldiers to discuss how to deal with Yunti.

The generals brainstormed and formed many brilliant ideas.

After the battle meeting was over, Zhang Xun ordered people to dig many hidden holes in the city wall, and each group of three holes was used to deal with a ladder.

The next day, the Yan army sent out ladders to attack the city again. Thousands of soldiers pushed ten ladders slowly to the city wall.The ten ladders are like ten giant beasts, with ferocious faces, making the guards fearful.

When the ladder was about to approach the city wall, Tang Jun stretched out a wooden pillar from the first hole, with an iron hook tied to the head of the pillar, and the iron hook hooked the ladder so that it could not retreat; The steel fork is firmly against the ladder so that it cannot get close to the city wall; a long wooden stick protrudes from the third hole, and an iron cage is tied to the end, and a torch is placed in the cage.The iron cage torch burned the middle of the ladder, and the raging flames instantly ignited the ladder.

Once the middle section of the ladder is broken, the two hundred elites hiding at the top are like roasting pigs in a stove, their bodies are on fire and their hair is on fire.Many soldiers would rather jump off the ladder and fall to their deaths than be burned alive.

The mighty ladder suddenly became a nightmare for the Yan army, and the city of Suiyang screamed again and again, and the scorched smell filled the air.

Yin Ziqi's face was livid, and he called for gold to withdraw.

Looking back, Zhang Xun and the generals were in the tower and shed, talking and laughing happily, and Yin Ziqi was even more annoyed.

A few days later, Yin Ziqi dispatched a "hook car" to attack the city, and specially hooked the city to the pavilion.These sheds can not only avoid arrows, but also shade from the sun and heat, so that the generals can relax and wait for work when they are defending the city.

The Yan army was defeated that day, and these sheds became Yin Ziqi's punching bag.If you can't attack the city, first destroy the towers and facilities.

Yan Jun's newly invented hook car is really powerful, and the sheds and pavilions will collapse wherever the hook reaches.

Not to be outdone, Zhang Xun led the barracks craftsmen to rush to make a batch of "leather carts" overnight, using wood, chains, and iron rings to form the "leather cart long arm".

Once the Yanjun hook cart appeared, immediately use the iron ring at the end of the long arm of the leather cart to cover the iron hook on the hook cart, and drag the hook and cart to the top of the city together.

If the soldiers of the Yan army refused to let go and the two sides tug of war, and the stalemate could not be resolved, the soldiers of the Tang army cut off the iron hook with a sharp ax and a long knife, and then let the hook car go back.

Both the ladder and the hook car were scrapped under Zhang Xun's whimsical defense method, and the Yan army had to dispatch another new type of siege equipment-'wooden donkey'.

The soldiers of the Yan Army hid in groups of five under a shield made of wood.The shield is shaped like a donkey, covered with wet cowhide. Soldiers hide in the belly of the 'wooden donkey' and carry it forward.With the 'wooden donkey' as a cover, soldiers of the Yan army are not afraid of arrows, including arrows with fire.

After several rounds of fighting, Zhang Xun found a way to crack the 'wooden donkey'.

Zhang Xun ordered the soldiers to melt the metal into juice. When the Yan army's wooden donkey mountain rushed to the city with a tsunami, Tang Jun poured copper juice and molten iron on his head, and the boiling soup instantly turned the "wooden donkey" into burning coals.

The soldiers of the Yan Army rolled out from the belly of the 'wooden donkey', covered in flames, and rolled on the sand, trying to extinguish the flames.The sharp archers of the Tang army at the head of the city shot and killed the Yan soldiers one by one with one arrow.

　Notes:
　　1. Zhang Jiuling wrote a comment on An Lushan's case file: "If the order to guard the army is followed, Lushan should not be spared death." ("Zi Zhi Tong Jian" [-])
　　2. Zhang Jiuling believes: "The Lushan wolf is ambitious and has a rebellious face. I ask you to kill him for his crimes, hoping to avoid future troubles." (Volume [-] of "Old Tang Book·Zhang Jiuling Biography")

　　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)