Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 553: Twilight of the Gods (Part )
The rain stopped. Under the city of Huayin, countless rebel soldiers from Hebei were working in groups of three or five to build siege equipment.

At the same time, many people were piling up earthen hills, trying to make the height of the hills as high as the walls of Huayin City, using this "earthly method" to attack the city.

It's even busier than a construction site.

It has to be said that in order to capture Huayin, An Shouzhong really put all his effort into it.

Huayin City is actually not easy to attack, because the city is very small, the city wall is very tall, and it is located at the foot of the mountain with a certain slope. If there is time, it can be completely surrounded and killed. After a few months, the city will be out of food and will naturally fall without attack.

When the siege lasts for a long time, even drinking water becomes a problem.

But Huangfu Weiming couldn't wait for a few months, he just wanted to capture Huayin quickly, the sooner the better!

Even days of waiting are too much to bear!

In desperation, An Shouzhong had to change his thinking.

He ordered the organization of death squads to continuously charge in from the mountain. However, the mountain roads were narrow and the flat land on the mountain was extremely limited, which could not accommodate too many soldiers and horses.

Every time they crossed the mountain and tried to break into Huayin City from the north, they basically used a small number of people against a larger number, and almost every time they came back, only one in ten survived.

But what An Shouzhong was thinking was: I can't beat you, but I will at least outlast you!
Even though more people died on his side and fewer died on the Huayin defenders, An Shouzhong was certain that the other side was unable to replenish their troops, and one less death was one less!
However, the continuous consumption also caused the morale of the Hebei rebels to become low.

This war of attrition was uncomfortable for Li Guangbi and An Shouzhong as well.

Just like arm wrestling, both sides feel uncomfortable, and it depends on who can last to the end.

Faced with such a tough nut to crack, Huangfu Weiming dared not leave Huayin City behind.

No one dared to say that Chang'an could be taken in one day. If there were still enemy troops deployed on the Baqiao line, as long as they held on for a few days, the Hebei rebels would not be able to bear the situation of being blocked at both ends.

The roads in Huayin were too narrow and could be easily blocked. Only by taking this city and ensuring the retreat could the army advance to Chang'an.

It was just nightfall that day and the day-long siege came to an end, but Huayin City remained unmoved.

Huangfu Weiming came to inspect An Shouzhong's progress in attacking the city and almost fainted from anger.

Seeing Marshal Huangfu's unhappy expression, An Shouzhong, knowing that he was in the wrong, clasped his fists and saluted, saying:
"General, the siege equipment is not ready today, so the attack is not going well. The equipment will be ready tomorrow.

I have sent people to attack the northern cliff repeatedly and then quietly divided my troops. I have already ambushed one or two thousand people there. If we attack the city from all sides tomorrow, we may be able to win. "

An Shouzhong looked quite confident.

"Speed ​​up the progress. We have been stuck here for a few days. We should not wait until the military rations are exhausted and then wait for the rear to transport food and fodder to attack the city!
We can’t afford to delay any longer!”

Huangfu Weiming warned with a fierce look on his face.

In fact, An Shouzhong really tried his best. It was raining and he couldn't build siege equipment or attack the city. Even climbing the mountain was very dangerous. God didn't give him face, and An Shouzhong had no choice.

It's not up to him to decide whether it rains or not! Now that the rain has stopped, we can get down to business!
At this moment, a scout came running, walked up to Huangfu Weiming, clasped his fists and reported: "General, there are soldiers from Chang'an camping on the west side of Baqiao and digging trenches around it. The enemy's leader is Guo Ziyi."

"Go and rest."

Huangfu Weiming waved his hands weakly.

The number of government troops in Chang'an may not be large, but there are at least 10,000 of them. It is more than enough to defend Baqiao for a few days, and the sneak attack is useless.

It’s better not to have those evil thoughts. The best strategy is to capture Huayin City first.

"Are you confident that you can attack the city tomorrow?"

Huangfu Weiming looked into An Shouzhong's eyes and asked.

"Have."

An Shouzhong said with gritted teeth.

Can he say "no" at this time?

That’s definitely not possible!
However, Huangfu Weiming also saw his hesitation and reluctance, and stretched out three fingers and said: "Three days, I will give you three days to capture Huayin City, otherwise you will be punished by military law."

It can be seen that Huangfu Weiming was really angry this time. If Huayin cannot be captured in three days, this general will really sacrifice An Shouzhong's head!

"Please rest assured, Marshal. If we fail to capture Huayin, I will bring my head to you!"

An Shouzhong saluted with a solemn look on his face, but he was secretly groaning in his heart.

Attack? What to attack?
After Huangfu Weiming left, An Shouzhong sighed and looked up at the towering Huayin City. The sun was hanging on the city wall, and through the gaps in the parapet, the golden light with blood-red tinged on it hurt his eyes.

What if we fail to capture Huayin in three days?
An Shouzhong thought secretly, figuring that if he couldn't capture Huayin, he could try to attack Chang'an. He was trying to survive from death, and a living person couldn't be suffocated to death by urine.

"It's a pity that we can't dig tunnels in the mountain city."

He couldn't help but sigh that the terrain of Huayin City restricted many siege tactics and was very tricky.

While An Shouzhong was planning the siege, Li Guangbi was also observing the movements of the Hebei rebels on the top of the city wall. The more he watched, the more he frowned.

"Tomorrow the enemy army will launch a general attack and deploy siege equipment. In addition to ladders and pounding stone carts, there may also be nest carts... It will be difficult to deal with."

Li Guangbi held up his chin and observed the siege equipment that the rebels had already built under the city, and he was able to see some truth from them.

Huangfu Weiming came from afar, so he didn't have any equipment like a winch crossbow. However, he still brought some "hardware" for making siege equipment. This was also the standard equipment for the field army. When encountering a city that was difficult to climb, they needed to cut down nearby trees and temporarily assemble siege equipment.

Li Guangbi also had his own difficulties. There was a lack of kerosene and other flammable materials in Huayin City, so it was not easy for him to deal with those wooden siege equipment.

I'm afraid tomorrow will be a tough battle.

It can even be said that under normal circumstances, it will be difficult to defend Huayin City in tomorrow's battle.

"Jun Shi, it will be hard to defend tomorrow!"

Hao Tingyu walked up to Li Guangbi and whispered something.

Seeing that Li Guangbi didn't say anything, he added: "The city gate is blocked, and it's not going to work for us to attack the enemy camp at night."

In fact, he had thought of a countermeasure, and the only one was to take advantage of the night to raid the enemy camp and disrupt the enemy's deployment.

At least we can delay the enemy's general attack. After all, if the night attack destroys the camp, it is inevitable that the army's morale will be shaken. We certainly can't pull out the troops to attack the city directly!
"What you said is indeed a solution."

After hearing what Hao Tingyu said, Li Guangbi nodded in agreement.

"Jun Shi, I'm just saying this, don't take it seriously!"

Hao Tingyu was afraid that Li Guangbi would do something weird.

"No, the city gate is blocked, and the enemy army will not be prepared for our night attack. This is actually an opportunity."

Li Guangbi narrowed his eyes, as if he had thought of a solution.

"Is there any more kerosene?"

He looked at Hao Tingyu and asked.

Whether something exists in the military or not is often not absolute, and an order of magnitude needs to be set before judgment can be made.

For example, kerosene is a must-have item for making fire and cooking in the army. How could there be no kerosene at all? But it was difficult to collect the kerosene needed for a battle.

"Of course there are, but not many..."

Hao Tingyu said with difficulty, "Use as much as you can."

Li Guangbi waved his hand, signaling Hao Tingyu not to continue.

"Okay, I'll go get ready."

Hao Tingyu knew Li Guangbi's temper and just took the order and left.

At midnight, Li Guangbi personally led the team and prepared dozens of ropes, which were lowered from inconspicuous corners and blind spots. Hundreds of selected soldiers climbed down along the ropes.

After they gathered together, they found that the Hebei rebels had been frantically digging earth and making siege equipment during the day, and were resting early in preparation for the siege tomorrow. They were exhausted like dead dogs, and the snoring in the simple camp was deafening.

Li Guangbi was not polite either. He sent a few people to beat drums desperately at the other end of the camp to confuse the enemy, while he led the rest of the people to burn the siege equipment.

Unfortunately, there was not enough kerosene on hand. After lighting half of the ladders and pounding stone carts, the kerosene ran out. At this moment, the Hebei rebels had come to their senses and organized people to put out the fire.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless and that any further delay would only result in loss of troops, Li Guangbi had no choice but to return to the bottom of the city wall. Hao Tingyu had already prepared a number of hanging baskets and rope ladders there, as well as dozens of ropes that had not been retrieved.

With the help of these things, Li Guangbi's team returned to Huayin City almost unscathed.

Unfortunately, the number of enemy siege equipment they burned was limited, which could only slightly reduce the defensive pressure tomorrow daytime. It was a pity.

It worked, but it wasn't a complete success.

Seeing that Li Guangbi seemed to have a look of regret, Hao Tingyu pointed to the fire below the city and comforted him:
"The ladders are easy to deal with. There aren't many of them. We can just find some thick wood to hold them up and prevent them from getting close to the city wall, and then set them on fire. The trouble is the stone pounding carts. We don't seem to have any particularly good way to deal with them."

Hearing this, Li Guangbi nodded in agreement.

Ladders are easy to use, but it is not easy to push such a big thing, and attacking the mountain city is uphill. When the Hebei rebels came to the city under the arrows, not only many people would be hit by arrows, but also a lot of physical strength would be wasted.

It would be a bit difficult to attack the city wall in this state, facing the well-rested defenders.

But the stone-beating cart was a bit more abnormal, especially since there were a lot of stones in Huayin, so it was not difficult to get them. The thrown stones hit the city wall, which could easily collapse the high stone walls of Huayin City.

Li Guangbi didn't seem to have any particularly good way to deal with this kind of "competition of strength rather than skill" thing.

If you can't leave the city, you can't destroy the stone pounding cart. There are only a limited number of winch crossbows in the city, which are placed on the city wall. This thing can't withstand being hit by stones, and it will break if it hits!

A true warrior dares to face the bleak life and the dripping blood. If you have no way to deal with it, just use your head to receive it. Anyway, you can't run away now!
"Let's be patient with the stone-beating carts for now. Let the soldiers defending the city carry more shields and form a battle array to fight back. We can hold out for as many days as possible."

Li Guangbi sighed and said, he had already expected it. A good cook cannot cook without rice. Many ways to defend the city cannot be used in Huayin City, and he can't help.

Fortunately, An Shouzhong, who was attacking the city, seemed to be unable to use many of his siege methods.

Both the attacker and the defender were weakened at the same time, and they were fighting to the death on almost the same level.

……

Fengling Ferry is very large. Since the Han Dynasty, it has been one of the key ferry crossings in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, with many ships moored there.

It is about five or six miles from here to the beach on the other side where you can land. If you consider going upstream and taking a detour, it is almost equivalent to rowing ten miles.

It’s not far, but it’s not close either. It’s enough for the army on the other side that has prepared in advance to deploy its formation!
Fang Youde led more than 10,000 elite soldiers, hiding during the day and moving at night, and finally arrived here four days later. In order to avoid being noticed by the Hebei rebels, he spent a lot of time on reconnaissance and ambush. The journey was a few days slower than originally planned.

However, it has been raining heavily these days, so we can't walk fast. But this kind of weather also makes it easier to hide our whereabouts.

It is hard to say whether it is a blessing or a curse.

By the time Fang Youde and his team arrived at Fenglingdu, it was five days after Hao Tingyu left the team.

Fortunately, there were many ships moored at Fengling Ferry, enough for more than 10,000 troops to cross the river to the other side.

It was almost dark at this moment. Fang Youde found a boatman who was familiar with the water, and took Li Jiaqing and others to row to a plateau on the opposite bank to observe the battlefield situation in person.

Looking far to the west, he saw that, as he had expected, the main force of the Hebei rebels under Huangfu Weiming was besieging Huayin City. Their military camps stretched to Tongguan, a distance of several miles. Although it was not yet dark, torches were lit inside and outside the camp.

Although it was large in scale, the defense seemed lax, with no trenches, arrow towers, or anything like that.

After all, in Huangfu Weiming's view, it was almost impossible for enemies to come east of Tongguan, and building these things was a sheer waste.

"Marshal, the enemy is unprepared. Our chance has come."

Li Jiaqing looked delighted.

We are all people who lead troops in battle, and we can understand most of the basic battlefield situations at a glance.

Rumor has it that when Li Erfeng first went into battle, he was able to judge the strength of the enemy by observing the situation on the battlefield.

I don’t know whether it is true or the Li family is bragging.

Fang Youde folded his arms without saying a word, staring in the direction of Huayin City, pondering in silence.

It seems like he is weighing the pros and cons.

Seeing that he was silent, Li Jiaqing didn't want to interrupt his train of thought, so he had to keep silent as well. The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became dull.

After a long time, it seemed that the sky had darkened considerably, Fang Youde finally let out a long sigh and said, "If we act now, I am not sure of winning, we have to wait a little longer."

Li Jiaqing was stunned when he heard this. He hadn't heard Fang Youde say such ambiguous words for a long time.

According to past habits, Fang Youde's frequent statements were bold words such as "don't worry", "the enemy army is selling their heads", and "you just watch from the side".

"Does the commander-in-chief think that the troops under Huangfu Weiming's command are more difficult to defeat?"

Li Jiaqing asked doubtfully.

Fang Youde waved his hand and said:
“No, even if I didn’t win before, I had already prepared a way out in my mind.

But this time, if we fail to win, the consequences will be disastrous, so we are worried about gains and losses.

The enemy army was unable to attack the city due to the rain a few days ago. Now, there are definitely only two or three days left before the siege begins, so they still have a lot of energy left to use.

Considering our habit of carrying seven days' worth of dry rations, the enemy army probably has a lot of surplus food now.

If we take action at this time, even if it is an unexpected action, Huangfu Weiming can still command and dispatch the troops calmly.

We have the upper hand but fewer soldiers, so the odds are even. I will not get up early and arrive late.

Therefore, Li Guangbi still has to suffer a lot and drag these bandit troops to fight harder to consume their resources.

When the enemy army is exhausted, we can attack and win the battle in one go."

Fang Youde gave Li Jiaqing a long explanation, and now even Li Huaiguang next to him understood it.

"General, when the time comes, I must lead the way and defeat the enemy!"

Li Huaiguang clasped his fists and asked for a fight.

"It's easy to talk about."

Fang Youde looked at the direction of the sunset. The red sun gradually disappeared into the horizon. He murmured to himself:

"After this battle, the overall situation of the world should be almost settled."

(End of this chapter)