Tibet.

Chapter 1244 Alarm in the Cloud
In the morning, three Tang cavalrymen came from the north at high speed. When they arrived at the city of Yunzhong, they waved their hands and shouted, "The Huihe army is coming! The Huihe army is coming!"

"Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!"

Urgent alarm bells rang on the top of the city wall. At the same time, the people working outside the city dropped their work and ran into the city.

Yunzhong Governor Gao Xiuyan and Deputy Governor Zhang Guangsheng both arrived at the city wall one after another.

After a winter of careful preparation, the defense of Yunzhou Military Governor's Office had been very complete. The entire Yunzhou Military Governor's Office had an army of 40,000, including 30,000 troops in Yunzhong County and 10,000 troops in Mayi County.

After the beginning of spring, all the garrisons on the northern border were withdrawn. These garrisons could guard against small groups of cavalry scouts, but they could not defend against an army of more than 10,000 people and would all be killed in battle. Therefore, only the beacon towers on the mountain were left, and the rest of the soldiers were withdrawn to Yunzhong County.

At this time, the beacon on Baideng Mountain dozens of miles away could be clearly seen from the top of the city. The wolf smoke was lit, and three columns of black smoke rose straight into the sky, indicating that a large group of nomadic cavalry had entered the border.

The soldier who reported the news knelt on one knee and reported: "Your Excellency, we have seen with our own eyes that there are more than 100,000 cavalrymen camping at the foot of Baideng Mountain for the night. They will soon arrive."

Gao Xiuyan and Zhang Guangsheng looked at each other and realized that he had indeed arrived.

Gao Xiuyan immediately ordered: "Level 1 combat readiness!"

"I understand the humble position!"

Zhang Guangsheng was the deputy general, and he was responsible for the arrangements. Level one combat readiness was the highest combat readiness. Twenty thousand soldiers rushed to the top of the city, and ten thousand soldiers were on standby.

In addition to the 30,000 regular soldiers, Yunzhong County also recruited 30,000 militia troops. After a winter of hard training, they were able to go to the city and cooperate in combat.

Militia soldiers were also responsible for transporting supplies and operating large catapults. Yunzhong County was once the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty. It was extraordinary in grandeur. The circumference of the city wall was more than 30 miles. The city wall was tall, wide and thick, with a width of 30 feet on the top of the city wall. Sixty large catapults and sixty large cannons were deployed.

At this time, 20,000 Tang troops and 20,000 militia troops were already on top of the city waiting in full battle array. The lookout pointed into the distance and shouted, "Commander-in-chief, they are coming!"

Gao Xiuyan raised his clairvoyance and looked into the distance, only to see a black line appearing in the distance, which was twenty miles long. This was indeed the size of an army of one hundred thousand.

He immediately ordered: "Light the beacon!"

Yunzhong County also has beacon towers, but as the commander-in-chief, Gao Xiuyan must personally confirm that there are more than 100,000 troops.

The tallest building in Yunzhong County is the beacon tower. Several soldiers lit three pots of wolf smoke. Wolf smoke is made by burning dried wolf dung. Its characteristic is that the smoke gathers but does not disperse, and it goes straight into the sky, unlike cow dung smoke which will disperse.

Three smoke signals were lit, and soon, the beacon towers on the White Wolf Pass in the south were also lit. One beacon tower after another was lit, and the beacon tower in Mayi County was also lit. Half an hour later, the beacon tower on the top of Taiyuan city was also lit.

A few miles outside Yunzhong County, the 130,000-strong nomadic army was spread out like a carpet in the vast wilderness, and the nomadic cavalry all dismounted to rest.

Dengli Khan, surrounded by hundreds of people, inspected Yunzhong City three miles away. The height and solidity of Yunzhong City gave him a headache. They were light soldiers heading south and did not even bring tents, let alone siege weapons.

After looking for a while, the only solution was to cut down trees and break open the city gate. As for the moat, just fill it up.

Moreover, he had enough troops, and he could divide them and march south. Dengli Khan turned around and ordered General Qu Yanmo of Meili: "General Qu Yan can lead 20,000 cavalry to continue, capture tens of thousands of Han people, and use them as ladders to climb the city!" "Yes, sir!"

General Meili Qu Yanmo soon led 20,000 cavalrymen to continue southward and marched into the heart of Hedong.
Dengli Khan was not idle. He ordered his soldiers to find big trees and ordered 100,000 troops to prepare sand bags to fill the moat.

As night fell, nomadic cavalry outside the city came and went like a revolving lantern, throwing bags of mud and sand into the moat.

Arrows from the top of the city wall rained down on the enemy cavalry. Although they occasionally hit the war horses, the effect was not great. These nomadic cavalrymen were all excellent riders. They put sandbags on the horse's back and hid themselves under the horse's belly, so the arrows could not hurt them at all.

You said that you can shoot arrows at war horses and make them fall to the ground. This was possible in the past, but the Turks also learned the art of making armor. War horses' heads are covered with solid and thick leather armor, and their chests and necks are also covered with leather armor. The saddle on the back protects the horse like a shield, so a few arrows on the horse's buttocks will not have much impact, not to mention that there are now bags of mud and sand on the horse's back.

The only places where a warhorse could be injured were its two front legs, but the probability of hitting a horse's legs when running at high speed was too low, so the arrows shot from the top of the city had basically no effect, and only a few hundred warhorses were injured overnight.

One hundred thousand troops ran back and forth transporting bags of mud and sand, and filled the moats on both sides of the suspension bridge overnight. When it was almost dawn, the suspension bridge suddenly caught fire, and hundreds of bags of kerosene set the suspension bridge on fire.

It was normal for the Uighur army to have kerosene, which was the kerosene that the Sogdians transported from Bukhara and sold to them, and then resold from the Uighurs to Youzhou and other vassal states.

The fire burned for an hour, the iron chain was burned off, and the suspension bridge fell down with a loud bang, hitting the bridge pier heavily.

Gao Xiuyan calmly watched the enemy troops under the city. It seemed that the city was in great danger, but in fact he was not worried at all because the Tang army had not yet started to counterattack!

The opponent's intention is already very clear. They are preparing to attack the north gate. There are certainly towering trees around Yunzhong County, so it is easy to find a sturdy big tree.

At noon the next day, a low horn sounded suddenly outside the city, "Woo--"

Then the dull sound of a big drum rang out, "Dong-dong-dong-dong"

Gao Xiuyan immediately ordered the entire army to go up to the city. All 30,000 soldiers went up to the city, and 20,000 militia soldiers also took their positions. Bows and crossbows were shining, spears were like a forest, and the soldiers stared at the city with murderous intent.

Five hundred firearms soldiers were deployed above the city gate, in groups of two, armed with crossbows and explosive arrows, waiting for the siege soldiers to come forward.

At this time, the 100,000-strong army had assembled and began to approach the city wall step by step. Once the city gate was breached, the 100,000-strong army would swarm into the city.

Perhaps the Uighur army also saw the catapults on the top of the city wall, so they stopped advancing when they were still 500 steps away from the city wall. At this distance, neither the catapults nor the crossbows could basically hurt them.

The black mass of cavalry covered the sky and earth, arranged in ten square formations, which was extremely spectacular.

At this time, Khan Dengli swung his sword and said, "Battering ram!"

The team made way for them, and three hundred soldiers appeared with a battering ram that was seven zhang long and five feet thick. The front of the ram was slightly sharpened and equipped with a cast iron ramming head.

One hundred soldiers held battering rams, and two hundred soldiers held up shields, forming a shield wall on both sides and began to rush towards the city gate quickly.

(End of this chapter)