First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 26
25. Siege and Aid
On the top of the city, Shu Zuo Zhu Zhijin saw Tang Jun climbing up without fear of death, his hands were trembling, and he shouted in horror: "Tang Jun has climbed up."

"Smash it, smash it down for me quickly", although Gao Deru was trembling with fright, and his words were terrified to death, but he was still very firm in what he said, and his stubborn heart has not changed from the beginning to the end.

After a while of panic, the soldiers at the top of the city also slowed down. After all, they are soldiers and horses from the Northland. Without arrows, he went to the side to carry the rolling stone and the wood. For a while, Tang Jun's pressure increased sharply.

Gao Chong had already been hit by two or three arrows. Fortunately, the chain mail with wild goose feathers handed down in his family was very protective, and two layers of silk were worn inside the armor. Only one arrow shot on his shoulder pierced the skin, exuding silk blood.

Li Shimin not far away was also not much better, with several dangling sticks stuck in his chest, if it weren't for the strength of his armor, a few lives would not be enough to pierce it like this.

Gao Chong and the others had excellent armor to protect themselves, but ordinary soldiers were not so lucky. From time to time, some soldiers were too seriously injured to fall from the ladder, and it was very difficult to climb up every step.

A man above Gao Chong was hit by three arrows, and blood dripped on Gao Chong's face below, but the man still gritted his teeth and persisted, but an arrow shot right in the eye, and the severe pain made the man The heroic man couldn't hold on any longer and fell down the ladder.

"Governor, the enemy has reacted," Gao Chong waved his mace, knocked down the incoming arrows, and shouted at Li Shimin who was climbing on the ladder not far away.

Li Shimin knew that it would be impossible to destroy the city in a single battle, and this battle was a tentative attack. Upon seeing this, he immediately ordered: "Withdraw the troops", and the messenger not far away sent the order quickly after receiving it.

With the sound of Ming Jin, Tang Jun receded like a tide. Gao Chong led his bodyguards to protect Li Shimin in the middle. Just before he retreated to the front of the formation, Li Jiancheng and others came up to meet him, "Is Erlang injured?"

"No problem," Li Shimin swung his sword and cut off the arrow in front of his chest. "This arrow is weak and can't penetrate my armor." He said and looked at Li Jiancheng, "Brother, can you see how the defense is?"

Li Jiancheng nodded, pointed at the top of the wall and said, "You were right to attack the city from the left side, because the enemy's rolling stones and logs should all be stacked in the gatehouse over there, so you only received scattered arrows in the early stage. When the enemy army reacts later, and the rolling stones and trees are transported over, the pressure on you will increase greatly."

Yin Qiao also nodded at the side and said: "Moreover, the enemy army was lax in training, and they were extremely flustered in the early stage."

Li Shimin gritted his teeth as he looked at the city wall, "This small city of Xi is well-equipped with rolling stones, trees and other city defense materials. If we want to attack and break it, I'm afraid there will be a lot of casualties."

At this time, a scout came to report that because the Tang army was fighting at the north gate of Xicheng, a large number of merchants and civilians entered and left the other three gates.

"The other three gates should be blocked immediately to prevent the enemy scouts from going out of the city to ask for help."Yin Qiao suggested immediately after hearing the words.

Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin frowned when they heard the words.

Li Jiancheng waved his hand and said: "No, such behavior may lose the hearts of the people."

Li Shimin also nodded in agreement, "Brother's words are very true, we wait for the rebel army to attack the city, it has nothing to do with the people, and it must not hinder the normal passage of the people.

In this way, we announced to the public that the four gates of Xicheng are allowed to be open for two hours every day, and our army needs to verify the place before entering and exiting."

Li Jiancheng looked at Li Shimin, not knowing what to think, nodded and said, "That's very good."

"Then what if there are enemy spies sneaking out of the city to ask for help?" Yin Qiao frowned.

"Widespread scouts, especially keep an eye on the land east of the river," Gao Chong immediately continued, "If reinforcements come, they can besiege the city and fight for reinforcements."

"Siege the city and fight for aid?"

Everyone was stunned when they heard it, and then their eyes lit up. Everyone present is extremely resourceful.
"Wonderful", Li Jiancheng clapped his hands and praised, "This plan is quite similar to besieging Wei and saving Zhao, and it is an unsolvable conspiracy."

Li Shimin and the others were also as if they had found a treasure, muttering these four words, pondering over and over again, their mouths were full of admiration.

"Our army besieged Xicheng, not feigning an attack, but aiming to break the city. If the enemy has reinforcements, our army will use Xicheng as a bait to ambush it by surprise. This is the siege and reinforcements." Li Shimin said very excitedly, and shot high Rubbing his shoulder, "Yuzhi's plan is brilliant."

This beat made Gao Chong grin his teeth in pain.

Gao Chong didn't know that the four-character tactics of besieging the city and fighting for aid came from the works of a great teacher. Although there were similar tactics used before the Sui Dynasty, they were definitely not summarized so well. Therefore, as soon as these brilliant four words came out , it shocked everyone.

This is often the case with many exquisite things or theories. In fact, some people have already used them unconsciously, but they lack a discovery, summary and induction to make them more systematic and complete.

With this shot, Li Shimin discovered that Gao Chong was injured, so he immediately arranged for a doctor in the army to treat him. Gao Chong waved his hands and said with a smile: "As the second son said, the enemy's arrows are weak and weak. in the way."

But Li Shimin didn't listen, he dragged and dragged him back to the camp, when the military doctor came, sure enough, he just punctured the flesh and blood, but didn't hurt the muscles and bones, the military doctor took out a roll of black, yellowish cloth He wanted to bandage himself, so frightened Gao Chong hurriedly stopped him.

"Kaohsiung, let's find some clean white cloth, boil it in clean boiling water for [-] quarters of an hour, let it dry, and bring it here."Gao Chong hurriedly ordered.

As he said, he picked up the dirty cloth tape, his face was twitching, if it was bandaged up, it might be infected with some unknown bacteria even if it wasn't inflamed.

"You guys used this to bandage the wound?" Gao Chong asked with a frown.

"Back to Gao Gaolang, I have always used this cloth belt." The military doctor replied for no reason, and he might have seen Gao Chong's disgusted eyes, and hurriedly said: "Don't worry, Gao Gaolang, this cloth belt will be cleaned every time it is used. Clean".

Gao Chong nodded after hearing this, he was a little relieved, at least he knew how to clean it, but if he didn’t boil it in boiling water before exposing it to the sun, if he washed it in cold water, there would still be germs left, even if he boiled it, it wouldn’t be sterile. effect, but at least it will be much better.

Immediately said: "In the future, after cleaning the cloth bandages that you bandage the wounds, you need to boil them in boiling water for [-] quarters of an hour, dry them and then bandage the wounds."

The military doctor was startled when he heard this, and then he was a little puzzled, "Why is Gao Gaolang doing this? For hundreds of years, he has been bandaged like this." He was even a little unhappy with Gao Chong, and some technicians are most disgusted with laymen guiding experts.

(End of this chapter)