The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 447
The siege of Luoyang was extremely fierce. Wang Shichong personally commanded the elite troops to fight fiercely on the city. At the same time, Prince Wang Yingxuan mobilized [-] civilians to defend the city.

'Boom!Boom!Boom! '

The sound of rumbling war drums resounded throughout the world. Amidst the passionate drums, tens of thousands of Tang troops pressed forward, and dense soldiers rushed towards the city. They held shields and knives and shouted to kill the sky.

The black army guards hundreds of huge ladders and three-foot-high nest carts, which are pulled by more than 100 bulls and pushed by countless soldiers. Huge wooden wheels roll slowly, and the sound of deep horns keeps coming from these huge objects. next to blow.

On the top of the city, hundreds of catapults and giant crossbows were waiting, and the commanding officer shouted: "Let go!"

'boom! ' With a loud noise, huge boulders were thrown out by the catapult, rolled in the air, and accurately hit a nest cart two hundred steps away. The nest cart was hit repeatedly, and finally collapsed unbearably.

More stones fell into the crowd, only throwing Tang Jun on his back, causing heavy casualties.

The giant crossbow on the city also started shooting. This is a large bed crossbow with shafts like car spokes and arrowheads like giant axes, with a range of more than four hundred steps.

Under the repeated blows of these heavy defensive weapons, the Tang army's siege engines suffered great damage. Even so, dozens of ladders and nest cars leaned against the city wall.

Tang Jun climbed up like a colony of ants, arrows from the top of the city suddenly shot at Tang Jun on the ladder from both sides like a storm, and people kept falling.

Boulders and rolling logs rolled and fell from the top of the city. Tang Jun smashed over and over again, screaming and falling from the ladder.

In the west city of Luoyang, a nest cart leaned against the top of the city, and the bridge deck covered with iron was lowered, and the iron hooks on it hung on the battlements. Dozens of Tang soldiers swarmed out of the nest cart, and more than a hundred Zheng soldiers on the top of the city Facing the battle, the two armies fought fiercely.

The Tang army was repulsed again and again, but some people continued to charge up. This tragic battle has lasted for ten days, and both sides have paid tens of thousands of deaths and injuries.

The battle lasted all morning, and the weakening Tang army gradually retreated.

Wang Shichong's face was ashen on the top of the city. Tang Jun's ten-day continuous attack caused nearly half of Zheng Jun's casualties, and the elite division was less than 5. Loopholes began to appear in Luoyang's defense. If Tang Jun continued to attack like this, Luoyang City would soon be It is about to be breached.

Wang Shichong's only hope now is that the Sui army in the east can make a timely move. He knows that Yang Tong is already ready, but he just intends to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight to the end. He would rather destroy the city of Luoyang than send troops. This makes Wang Shichong hate I had to grit my teeth, but there was nothing I could do.

This is a three-party game, and it depends on who can support it to the end, but in the current situation, Wang Shichong knows that he will be the first to be eliminated, and the end of failure is inevitable.

But Wang Shichong doesn't think he has no talent or virtue. He is flexible in mind and has both civil and military skills.After gaining a foothold in Luoyang, he also knew how to rest his troops to support the people and buy people's hearts. He has the foundation to unify the world and the ambition to build a foundation for eternity.

His only regret is that his luck was bad, he controlled the land of the Four Wars, and was surrounded by three powerful enemies in the Sui, Tang and Wei Dynasties.Years of conquests have emptied his troops and ruined his foundation, but as long as he is given three to five years to prepare his troops, he will definitely become a major force in the Central Plains.

However, when Wang Shichong made secret alliances with the Sui Dynasty in the north and Li Mi in the east, and led his army southward to Jingxiang in high spirits, he was suddenly stunned. Therefore, the people in Xiangcheng and Fuyang counties, who had been poisoned by Zhu Can, regarded him as someone like Zhu Can, and Li Tang's spies made a big fuss about him killing good men and pretending to be meritorious, and killing captives. Second County has never been stable.

What shocked him even more was that Li Tang suddenly ignored Xiao Mian and assembled more than 20 Tang troops from Xiyang and Nanyang to attack Luoyang. .

Up to now, Wang Shichong is desperate, because Luoyang is the only lonely city left in his Zheng Guojiangshan. He doesn't want to see this result, but he has to accept this cruel fact.

After these days of great battles, bad news came frequently.

First, Wang Jundu, the king of Yue, was provoked by Hou Junji, gave up the fortification of Qianjin Fort, and went out to fight in the city, resulting in the collapse of the five thousand army and the loss of Qianjin Fort.

Then Wang Tai, the king of Song, led the remnant army back to defend Luoyang, and was ambushed by Liu Hongji, and the whole army was wiped out.

And King Shiheng of Qin was killed in Cijian City...

Wang Shichong's second son, King Xuanshu of Han and Wang Daocheng, King of Wei, were killed in Mang Mountain by Li Shimin's three thousand horsemen on their way to Jinyong City.

The third son, King Xuanqiong of Han, also died in Dingdingbao.

The news of this series of failures made him understand that Li Shimin's strategy was to encircle Wei and save Zhao. He approached the city and forced the troops scattered around the city to return to Luoyang. In this way, Hou Junji, Liu Hongji and Li Daozong could easily attack the city. , Annihilate Zheng Jun one by one in the wild without causing too much loss to himself.

What's even more frightening is that even if he knew this was the case, Wang Shichong couldn't stop it, and even if the troops on the periphery knew the road of death, they still had to bite the bullet. Mrs. Wang was a typical end.

Even Wang Shichong doesn't have much hope at this moment.

Although Li Shimin hadn't arrived at the city of Luoyang, the whole Luoyang was filled with a strong sense of despair.

At this point in the battle, Wang Shichong felt nothing but despair, and he couldn't think of any possibility of a comeback.

Down Tang?

Wang Shichong stared blankly at the sky outside, with a look of sternness flashing across his face. Two of his three sons died, seven of his ten nephews died, and his second elder brother died at the hands of Li Tang. Even if the family is wiped out, they will never bow to Li Tang, never!

A noisy sound sounded from a distance, Wang Shichong frowned slightly and stood up.

"What's going on?" Qin Wei asked, looking aside.

Several personal guards looked at each other in blank dismay. They had been guarding here all the time, so they didn't know what happened.Wang Shichong was about to say something when he saw Wang Renze coming in a hurry with a solemn expression on his face.Wang Shichong frowned and said, "What's the matter with you?"

The Battle of Luoyang has lasted more than ten days.Three battles were fought outside the city, but all of them ended in Wang Renze's disastrous defeat, which caused Zheng Jun to lose more than 2 elite troops.

Wang Shichong has always placed high hopes on Wang Renze, but Wang Renze's performance disappointed him. The loss of more than 2 elite soldiers made Wang Shichong heartbroken. He proclaimed himself the Grand Marshal of the World's Soldiers and Horses, and took all the remaining [-] elite soldiers into his own hands.

Although Wang Renze was deposed as a citizen, his position is there, and he is not willing to let the Wang family sink. These days, he has used the old ministry to implement his strategy of defending the city, silently assisting Wang Shichong.Seeing the emperor's uncle's own dissatisfaction, Wang Ren bowed and begged: "My lord, please allow me to say something, even though I die, I will have no regrets!"

Facing the pleading eyes, Wang Shichong softened his heart and sighed, "Say it!"

"The three defeats outside the city are definitely not because I am incompetent. In fact, there are other reasons."

"what reason?"

"Report to Your Majesty, the first time King Wei didn't listen to my command, he attacked without authorization, causing the flank to fall, and the whole army was defeated." Having said this, Wang Renze gritted his teeth, bowed his head and said: "In the second war, in fact, the Tang army At that time, it was a battle of wills, but at the critical moment, the uncle was terrified by Wang Junkuo, and left the army to flee alone, causing the entire army to collapse; the third time was because of Zhu Can, Tang Jun Knowing that he was going to fight, Li Shimin used the Jingxiang army as the main force. Because Zhu Can had done a lot of evil in the Jingxiang area, the local people hated him to the bone. Coupled with the fact that they have a large number of powerful generals, they are still defeated... Our army has too many problem generals. As for the uncle, third uncle, father and fourth uncle, they have been worn out by the luxurious life all these years The fighting spirit of the past has been lost, and now one is more afraid of death than the other, and the remaining few cousins ​​who can fight are gone."

"I said this not to shirk responsibility for myself, but to remind the Holy One that if we don't adjust the military power, I'm afraid we will still lose."

After listening to Wang Renze's words, Wang Shichong couldn't help but fell into deep thought. After a long while, his face gradually softened, and he sighed: "Everything you said is true, and I actually understand it, but now... If I rectify it rashly, they will They must have turned against each other and surrendered to the Tang Dynasty...what can I do?"

"Father..." Wang Xuanying ran over with a general in panic.

"What happened?" Wang Shichong suddenly had a bad premonition in his heart, and shouted in a deep voice.

Wang Xuan replied: "Royal Father, there are more than a dozen military officers who are going to dedicate their city to the Tang Dynasty, and the time is set for tonight."

"What?" Wang Shichong was taken aback, and asked sharply, "Who is going to descend to Tang?"

Wang Xuanying pulled the officer out, and said: "You can tell Father Emperor yourself."

The officer saluted and said: "The general is not sure who it is, but Li Gongyi got drunk last night and said that he showed his mouth. He said that he wanted to open the Houzai Gate in the south."

Wang Xuanying answered: "My minister has already controlled Li Gongyi, but the matter is so important that I have no time to interrogate him."

Wang Shichong's ignorance burst into flames, his chest heaved several times, his complexion became very ugly, and he shouted sharply: "It's unreasonable, I want to see who is so bold!"

Wang Shichong rushed out to Houzaimen aggressively with his hands.

"This..." When Wang Shichong saw a large group of people rushing towards the city gate like a tide on Houzai Street, Wang Shichong was a little dazed, and looked at Wang Xuanying beside him in disbelief.

"The news of Li Gongqing's arrest must have been leaked, and these people simply turned their backs!" Wang Ren said immediately.

"Bastard!" Wang Shichong was furious, and said to the defenders on the city: "Shoot the arrow!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa~"

Without any hesitation, the defenders shot out a sharp arrow and fell into the crowd. The group of rebellious soldiers were instantly shot down.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" Wang Shichong gritted his teeth.

Wang Shichong's personal guards ran towards the city with knives and guns in their hands. Every time they took a step forward, they would yell loudly, and an air of blood and blood filled the air, making the faces of these soldiers turn pale, and many of them dropped their weapons and ran away. After all, not everyone is willing to contend with the 'imperial court' army. Before, it was because of the clamor of the superior generals, coupled with the large number of people, that they dared to do it. At this moment, they were so frightened by Wang Shichong's personal guards that they lost all courage. After a while , and ran away for most of the time, the rest of the people also looked at each other in blank dismay, at a loss.

"Kill!" Wang Shichong snorted coldly, waved his hands and shouted sharply.

(End of this chapter)