Tibet.

Chapter 1341: Bloody Battle in Huichuan

At dawn the next day, the sound of rumbling war drums was heard outside the city, breaking the tranquility of the early morning. Teams of Tang troops rushed to the top of the city wall. The top of the city wall was already full of Tang soldiers. Each man stood in his position, with his bow and arrow drawn, ready for battle.

Craftsmen also made more than fifty medium-sized catapults on the city wall. This is a very simple catapult that can throw a fifty-jin iron fire bomb to a distance of one hundred and fifty steps. Although its accuracy is not good, accuracy is not necessary for dense crowds.

Twenty thousand Tibetan troops have lined up, waiting for the final order to attack the city. They are arranged into two large square formations. The black masses of soldiers are holding short swords and shields, full of murderous intent.

Huichuan City was actually not difficult to attack. It had a moat in the early days, but it was later filled up by the Tubo army, leaving only two rivers flowing out of the water city gate.

The Tubo army certainly wanted to make it easier for themselves to attack cities. The Tang army occupied Huichuan City twice, but was eventually captured by the Tubo army both times, cutting off the Tang army's supply and retreat routes.

The Tubo army and the Nanzhao army had a method of cooperation. Once the Tang army attacked, the Nanzhao army only needed to put up a little resistance and then retreat, and would cede the city of Sichuan to the Tang army. When the Tang army broke into the heart of Nanzhao, the Tubo army would then attack.

The city wall was not very high, only about three meters, which was equivalent to a three-story building. The Tubo army could quickly attack it by climbing the siege ladders.

"Woo--Woo--"

A low horn sounded, and ten thousand Tibetan soldiers shouted in unison, holding up their shields and charging towards the western city wall like a tide.

Qu Huan ordered coldly: "Shoot!"

On the top of the city wall, ten thousand soldiers shot arrows at the bottom of the city. The overwhelming arrows shot at the surging crowd. The arrows were sharp. Even the shields could not stop the crossbows falling from the sky. The shields were pierced one after another. Groups of Tibetan soldiers were shot down. Thousands of soldiers were lost in the first round of arrows.

But it still couldn't stop the Tibetan soldiers from running. At this time, the horn sounded again, and the second phalanx also ran and killed towards the west city wall.

This is the characteristic of the Tubo army. They deploy a high density of soldiers at one time, and each of them is fearless and brave. Even if they suffer heavy casualties, they can still fight their way to the top of the city and capture the city.

They actually exchanged a large number of soldiers for victory at the cost of their lives.

The nomadic cavalry cannot do this. As long as more than 30% of them are killed, the nomadic cavalry will collapse.

But if the Tubo army did not blow the retreat horn, anyone who dared to retreat without authorization would not only be executed, but his entire family would also be implicated and become slaves.

On the contrary, if a soldier died in battle, the whole family would receive various benefits.

It was this kind of severe punishment and incentive mechanism that led to the Tubo army's fighting style of fighting to the death, which brought tremendous pressure to the Tang army and the court for a hundred years. Throughout the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty was always suppressed by Tubo, and even the capital Chang'an was captured by the Tubo army. The entire Longyou, Hexi and Anxi all belonged to Tubo.

Until the end of the Tang Dynasty, with the arrival of the Little Ice Age, the climate became colder, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau became an ice world, various resources decreased sharply, internal competition became fierce, Tubo began to decline, and the Tang Dynasty also perished.

At this time, the Tang army on the top of the city also witnessed this horrific scene with their own eyes. The crowd rushed towards the city densely, and the dense arrows shot down seemed to have no effect.

Qu Huan calmly ordered: "Fire the catapults, and throw the kerosene in advance!"

The catapult creaked and more than fifty black iron fire bombs were thrown into the crowd, exploding one after another in the crowd. The iron fire bombs had extremely strong lethality. When one iron fire bomb exploded, dozens of Tibetan soldiers were blown to pieces. Dense poisoned iron fragments were shot all around, and dozens of soldiers were hit by the fragments. Screams and wails filled the crowd.

Countless soldiers were terrified. Was this the wrath of God upon the world?

The Tubo chief general Qi Zang Zha Zhe had been watching the battle from behind. Suddenly, he saw black objects thrown from the top of the city wall explode violently among the crowd, like thunder from the sky. Qi Zang Zha Zhe was shocked.

But although he was surprised, he was also worried that the soldiers would be frightened and run away, so he shouted loudly: "Beat the attack drums!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The fierce war drums sounded, urging the army to attack.

The frightened Tubo soldiers heard the sound of war drums and had to muster up the courage to continue the attack. Even if many soldiers were hit by poisoned iron pieces, they could not retreat and had to endure the pain and continue the attack.

The first round of iron fire bombs killed more than 2,000 Tibetan soldiers, but for an army of 20,000, the death toll only accounted for 10%, which had little impact.

But the Tang army's iron fire mines did not stop at one round. The second and third rounds of fire mines exploded in the crowd, causing heavy casualties among the Tibetan soldiers, with cumulative casualties exceeding 6,000. At the same time, the Tang army had dumped thousands of barrels of kerosene under the city, turning the entire city into black mud.

The Tibetan soldiers rushed to the city in a surging tide. Siege ladders were placed on the top of the city walls. The soldiers jumped on the ladders and rushed towards the top of the city walls while shouting.

"Throw fuel!"

Following Qu Huan's order, thousands of soldiers threw lit kerosene cans at the Tibetan soldiers who were climbing the siege ladders.

The burning kerosene was poured on the Tibetan soldiers. The soldiers who were crawling in the front were set on fire. They screamed and jumped down. The siege ladder was then turned into a fire ladder.

At this time, the ground under the feet of nearly 10,000 Tibetan soldiers under the city burst into flames, and the kerosene that had been poured in advance burned rapidly. The Tang army had poured two thousand barrels of kerosene at five o'clock in the morning and covered it with a thin layer of mud.

So once it catches fire, not only the area below the city walls, but also everything within a hundred steps of the city walls will burn.

The Tang army then threw down thousands of bundles of dry straw, and the area below the city suddenly turned into a sea of ​​fire and purgatory.

More than 10,000 Tibetan soldiers were trapped in the sea of ​​fire, crying and screaming in fear as they ran back. The Tang soldiers on the city walls fired thousands of arrows at them. Without shields to protect them, the Tibetan soldiers were shot by arrows and fell to the ground one after another. The raging fire soon engulfed them.

"Withdraw the troops! Withdraw the troops!"

The Tubo chief general Qi Zang Zhe Zhe shouted in panic.

"Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!" The retreat bell rang rapidly.

Thousands of Tibetan soldiers who had not yet attacked turned around and fled.

The siege had just begun when the Tang army used powerful firearms to deal a heavy blow to the Tubo soldiers. Of the 20,000 soldiers attacking, only 3,400 retreated, and the remaining 16,000 were all killed in the rain of arrows, explosions and fire.

Qi Zang Zhazha was completely stunned. This was something he had never encountered in the more than 20 years he had been leading troops. The Tang army could actually kill nearly 20,000 of his soldiers in such a short time.

He was terrified. If he attacked the city again, his remaining 30,000 soldiers would be completely killed.

Since it was no longer possible to attack the city, Qizang Zhazha ordered the entire army to retreat to Jianchuan without hesitation. The life and death of Nanzhao had nothing to do with him anymore. He had to protect the remaining 30,000 troops, otherwise the Zamp would never forgive him.

Qi Zang Zhazha issued an order to withdraw the troops. The Tibetan soldiers were so terrified that they did not even bother to pack up their tents and turned around to flee towards Jianchuan Prefecture.

Soon, a Tang scout came galloping on horseback from the city. He passed through piles of charred corpses and endured the stench. He ran to the city and shouted, "There is military information to report to Commander Qu!"

Qu Huan was at the top of the city wall. He leaned over and asked, "What's the matter?"

"General, the Tibetan army has retreated!"

"Where to retreat?"

"Towards Jianchuan!"

Deputy General Liu Jing whispered, "Could the Tibetan army's retreat be a trick?"

Qu Huan pondered for a moment and said, "The enemy is already scared, so it's unlikely that this is a trick. But regardless of whether it's a trick or not, I will send troops to pursue them. You will be responsible for cleaning up the bodies outside the city and guarding the city strictly!"

"I humbly obey my orders!"

Qu Huan immediately led an army of 10,000, carrying a large amount of kerosene and firearms, and pursued in the direction of the defeated Tubo.

Qu Huan had already sent two thousand troops to ambush in front of the dangerous mountain road. If the two thousand soldiers could hold on, it would be possible to completely wipe out the Tubo army this time.

(End of this chapter)