Tibet

Chapter 1245 Explosion and Deterrence
Five hundred steps. Four hundred steps. Three hundred steps. Two hundred steps.
As the battering ram gradually approached the city gate, the entire battlefield and the city walls became silent, and hundreds of thousands of eyes were staring at the siege centipede.

Only 150 steps away from the city, the Tang army still did not move. Dengli Khan squinted his eyes and looked at the top of the city. He felt something was wrong. 150 steps away, the enemy did not shoot arrows or stones. What did they want to do? Did they want to attack with fire?

Thinking about it, this is the only possibility, but Dengli did not recall the soldiers. He wanted to see the Tang army's defense method and see whether they would use fire attack.
After a hundred steps, the Tang army on the top of the city still did not make any move. Deng Li gritted his teeth and ordered: "Blow the horn and order them to charge!"

"Woo--" A low horn sounded, urging the battering ram to speed up, and the soldiers holding the battering ram suddenly ran.

Fifty steps away, not far from the moat, only the last dozen steps are left. At this moment, the commander Gao Xiuyan on the top of the city finally gave the order to fire!

"shooting!"

Two hundred and fifty explosive arrows were shot at the same time at the 300-man battering ram team. "Boom! Boom! Boom!" A series of explosions sounded, and blood and flesh flew everywhere, with screams rang out. More than 260 of the 300 soldiers were killed on the spot, and the remaining soldiers fell to the ground groaning. No one could escape back to the team. The scene was bloody, and the battering ram rolled into the moat. The battlefield was filled with smoke.

The whole world seemed to stand still. The Uighur cavalry, the Hele cavalry, and the defenders on the city walls were all stunned with shock. They had never seen such powerful and sharp firearms.

Dengli Khan was also stunned, a chill rising from the soles of his feet. After a long while, he waved his hand gently, "Pass on my order, the army retreat ten miles!"

Dengli Khan had already realized that it was impossible to break through the city gate with a battering ram, and Yunzhong County could not be taken. The Tang army had such powerful city defense weapons that they were destined to be unable to attack the city.

The 100,000-strong army retreated, and their originally high morale had now died down. Only the Tang army on the city wall cheered. They were able to force the enemy back without losing a single soldier, making everyone ecstatic.

That night, General Meili Qu Yanmo led more than 16,000 people to escape in a panic. They encountered an ambush by the Tang army in the Bailangsai Gorge. The Uighur army lost nearly 4,000 people and retreated in a panic.

Qu Yanmo recounted the terrible weapons they encountered, the iron fire mines, and how half of the soldiers they lost were killed by the iron fire mines that rolled down from above the canyon.

Although the generals in the big tent were afraid, no one dared to suggest retreating to the grassland at this time.

Everyone's eyes are on Dengli Khan, only he can decide everything.

Dengli Khan pondered for a long time and said slowly: "Although the Tang army's firearms are powerful, where there is a spear, there must be a shield. It's just that we don't understand the situation, but our friends should know how to deal with it. Let's turn the army to Youzhou!"

That night, more than 100,000 Uighur troops retreated northward. They were unfamiliar with Feihu Pass, so they took the Jundu Pass route and headed for Juyong Pass.

In Jingxing, a Tang army of 30,000 men was marching rapidly among the cliffs of the Taihang Mountains.

This army was the Northern Army led by Li Sheng. They were responsible for advancing into Hebei from Jingxing and attacking Li Baochen's troops from the north and south together with Lei Wanchun's army.

The 30,000 Tang troops were unstoppable all the way, seizing passes and even taking over Niangzi Pass in half a day, killing the enemy and forcing them to flee. They would soon reach Tumen Pass, which was the exit of Jingxing.

The main general of this army is Li Sheng, and the deputy general is the veteran Wang Sili. Of course, with Wang Sili's qualifications, Li Sheng should be his deputy general, rather than him being Li Sheng's deputy general.

It was just because Li Ye had decided to let Wang Sili retire and appointed him as the General of the Left Guard and the Inspector of the Ministry of War.

But Wang Siyi was unwilling to accept this. He knew that even Guo Ziyi was still able to continue his career at an old age, but he was younger than Guo Ziyi, yet he had to retire. The fundamental reason was that the regent and the court did not trust him.

Because he was a Goguryeo person and because of the influence of his brother Wang Siyi, he lost the trust of the regent and the court. How could Wang Sili, who had been loyal to the court all his life, bear this? He repeatedly wrote to Li Ye, hoping that he would be allowed to lead his troops to war.

Li Ye finally gave Wang Sili a chance to prove himself and asked him to become Li Sheng's deputy general and go on the expedition together. Wang Sili agreed without hesitation.

Of course, Wang Sili was sixty years old after all, and it was a bit difficult for him to serve as a deputy general. Li Ye then appointed General Longxiang Dong Hui to assist Wang Sili.

At noon that day, the 30,000-strong army arrived at Tumen Pass and entered Hengzhou after crossing it.

Tumen Pass was built on the hillside, up a long slope, and opposite it was also a long slope.

As a pass, it is not dangerous, but it is the only passable road, so for a long time, Tumen Pass existed as a tax gate. Merchants passing through here had to pay taxes and could not escape. Tumen Pass can be said to be the last line of defense of Jingxing. In the past, the Guanlong Army had conquered this pass many times and was very clear about its strengths and weaknesses.

The biggest advantage of Tumen, or it can be said that its only advantage is that it is located at a high point, with slopes on both sides of 30 degrees. At this angle, it is very difficult to climb up to the city gate with a ladder.

But its weaknesses are equally obvious. The city wall is too small and has no depth. It can only accommodate a hundred soldiers at most, and it has no protection. Both the front and the back are visible.

The entire pass can be suppressed using long-range weapons such as bows and crossbows. If a fire attack is used, the pass will be even more difficult to resist.

Li Sheng smiled and whispered to Wang Sili, "There may be some kerosene stored in the pass. When we knock on the gate, the other side will throw kerosene to burn us. It is better to shoot from a distance to break through the pass. What do you think, General?"

Although Wang Sili was the deputy general, Li Sheng respected him very much and discussed everything with him, which made Wang Sili feel embarrassed. Therefore, he would try his best to support Li Sheng when making decisions at critical moments.

Wang Sili nodded and turned around and shouted, "General Dong!"

Dong Hui hurried over and asked with a smile, "What do you want, old general?"

Dong Hui is very young, less than 30 years old, but he has followed Li Ye for a long time, starting as a small soldier and rising step by step to become General Longxiang over more than ten years.

Above the General of the Household are the Generals, who are divided into four ranks: General Feixiong, General Baotao, General Longxiang, then General Dutong, and above that is the General-in-Chief.

The generals are also divided into three levels: General Zhenrong, General Zhenjun and General Zhenguo. The next level is general. Currently, Li Ye serves as general Tiance.

General Longxiang belongs to the second rank of general, and above him is the General-in-Chief. Currently, Li Sheng is the General-in-Chief.

Wang Sili did not hold a military position. His title of General of the Left Guard was just a ceremonial position. Li Ye was just giving him a chance to prove himself. But after all, he was old and covered with wounds. If he performed well, he would be made a civilian after the war. At least he would not retire.

So in a sense, Dong Hui was actually the military supervisor. No matter whether Li Sheng or Wang Sili wanted to establish their own regime, these 30,000 Guanlong troops would not listen to them but would only obey Dong Hui's command.

Li Sheng and Wang Sili were both well aware of this, so they were very polite to Dong Hui and would not put on airs in front of him.

Wang Sili smiled and said, "Take out the poisonous smoke quiver I asked you for yesterday! We are going to use it to break through the level today."

Dong Hui took a look at the pass and immediately understood what he meant. He smiled and said, "Wait a moment, General. I will arrange it right away!"

The Tang army's poisonous smoke tube was actually gunpowder mixed with a large amount of oleander powder. It came in two forms. One was a hand-held throwing tube that looked like a beer bottle and was a paper tube.

The other is the poison smoke quiver, which is long and thin, tied to an arrow shaft and used to shoot into a room from a long distance.

Not long after, a team of two thousand crossbowmen appeared two hundred steps away from the city wall. They held large shields in their hands and carried crossbows and quivers on their backs. The quivers were full of Dugu quivers.

The soldiers half-crouched on the spot, inserted their huge shields into the mud, and used them to block their vital parts. At this time, more than a hundred crossbow arrows shot from the top of the city wall, "Pah! Pah! Pah!" They hit the shields, and a soldier's exposed shoulder was hit by an arrow. He screamed and huddled up.

"Whoever was hit by an arrow, get down quickly!" the General of the Central Army shouted.

The soldier who was shot raised his shield and slowly retreated. He was shot in the shoulder and could no longer pull the crossbow string.

All the soldiers pulled their crossbows and placed their poisonous smoke quivers on them. The General shouted, "Fire freely after lighting them!"

The soldiers pulled out their tinder sticks and swung them around, lighting the fuse one after another and putting the tinder sticks aside. The slow-burning tinder sticks could light five poison smoke quivers.

The soldiers raised their crossbows, adjusted their sights, and pulled the trigger on their swords. "Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!" Two thousand burning poisonous smoke quivers shot towards the city walls.

(End of this chapter)