Late Tang

In the morning of the next day, Zheng Congxuan finally arrived with [-] Chinese troops and set up an army formation under Shanyang City.

After hearing that Tuoba Sigong and Helian Duo had suffered a big loss last night, Zheng Congxuan couldn't help raising his vigilance, and sent several cavalry to search within a radius of [-] miles to prevent Shatuo cavalry from ambush.In addition, he rejected Tuoba and Helian's proposal to attack the city immediately.Instead, two groups of messengers were sent to urge Li Jing and Yu Yu to come.Prepare to wait for the soldiers and horses to arrive before starting to attack Shuozhou City, and prepare to fight a siege battle with real swords and guns.

The soldiers and horses retreated ten miles away from Shuozhou City and went to camp. While waiting for the arrival of Li Jing and Yu Guan's soldiers and horses, Zheng Congxuan ordered the soldiers to cut down trees and make large wooden shields, ladders, catapults, battering rams and other equipment needed for the siege of the city. .

For a whole day, there was no movement in the middle, and another day later, Yu Yu's [-] rear troops finally arrived with food and supplies.In the afternoon, Fu Wenda, Fu Wentong, Gao Wenshun, and Gao Wenji arrived with [-] infantry soldiers, along with Li Jing's supervising envoy Zhang Chengye.

"Why didn't General Ji Yu arrive?" Zheng Congxuan couldn't help asking strangely when he saw that Li Jing and the three bandits were not seen among the troops.

Zhang Chengye explained: "My general said that the cavalry is of little use in attacking the city. He has already led the cavalry into Shuozhou. Li Zhenguo said that recruiting envoys has enough soldiers and horses. will show up with an army."

Regarding this explanation, Zheng Congxuan nodded slowly, Li Jing is not the kind of person who makes fun of war. "Understood."

With [-] soldiers and horses in hand, the army has made a lot of crude equipment in the past few days. After another day of rest, Zheng Congxuan began to attack the city.

Compared with Tuoba and Helian's siege last time, the soldiers and horses of the towns under the command of Zheng Congxuan attacked the city, and their military capacity was even more prosperous.

Taking the battalion as the unit, dozens of phalanxes were arranged neatly and marched forward in unison.Each infantry phalanx fluttered its own military flag, and countless swords and spears lit up, forming a forest of spikes.

"Raise the shield!" Located under the big purple banner in the center of the army is a huge moving building car.Zheng Congxuan stood on top of the moving ten-foot cloud cart, commanding at the top, and had a panoramic view of the entire battlefield situation.On the platform of the cloud car, there stood sixteen soldiers of the messenger banner and sixteen drummers.

Following Zheng Congyu's order, a flag bearer immediately above the cloud chariot waved the command flag, and under the cloud chariot there was an order for the cavalry to watch the cloud chariot at any time. After seeing the order, they immediately sent orders to the front of the formation. "Raise the shield!" The general in front of the formation shouted loudly, and the shieldmen in the front row of the phalanx immediately raised up huge wooden rafts. These wooden rafts are made temporarily, thick and heavy, and each row must be lifted by two people.The wooden raft made of newly cut trees does not even need to be covered with cowhide, and it is neither afraid of arrows nor fire.It is very convenient and easy to use.

Numerous wooden rafts were erected, and a wooden wall was immediately erected in front of the advancing phalanxes. Soldiers from each battalion chanted rhythmic numbers and marched in an orderly manner, holding weapons and slapping shields non-stop. There was a huge sound, and finally gathered into a neat and unified loud sound, leading the army forward like a drum.

Accompanied by shouts and shouts, all the phalanxes walked in unison, moving forward like a mountain to the sound of the huge drums of the hundred-faced cowhide war drums.Suddenly, mountains and mountains are constantly pressing against the city wall. Overlooking the clouds from the top of the city, as far as the eye can see, there are officers and soldiers phalanxes slowly pressing everywhere, and the passionate voice resounds through the world!

"Datang! Datang! Datang!"

Between the phalanxes, there are also a large number of siege equipment, including [-] catapults, [-] ladders, [-] moving arrows, [-] tower vehicles, [-] cloud vehicles, and [-] siege vehicles. car.

Such a large number of siege equipment was used at one time, which is quite rare in Datang in recent years.In order to manufacture these equipment, tens of thousands of Tang Jun spent almost five or six days.

The attacking soldiers and horses were like mountains and seas, the sound of cars rumbled, the iron armor clanged, and the war horses roared.

The footsteps were heavy and unified like thunder, and Tuoba Sigong and Helian Duo felt that Zheng Congxuan was too timid for such a huge attack.In the face of a small number of defenders who can't shrink back, to use such a battle is simply to kill a chicken with a sledgehammer, and the victory is invincible.

Li Youjin and other Shatuo generals who were hiding behind the soldiers at the head of the city saw that Zheng Congxuan did not underestimate the enemy, but instead used all his strength to attack as soon as he came up, and they couldn't help but look extremely ugly.They thought that showing this weakness should allow Zheng Congxiang to directly attack the city underestimating the enemy, so that they could kill the opponent by surprise.Who would have thought that Zheng Congxun would not be seduced at all.

It seems that this battle can only be a bloody battle.

"Are you ready?" Li Youjin asked.

"Everything is ready, let's fight Tang Jun forever!" Kang Junli and others shouted in unison.

"Okay, order, full counterattack!"

When the dark tide of soldiers poured in two hundred steps away from the city, the Shatuo people's counterattack began.

One after another, sharp whistlings flew over the sky below the city, and small black dots rose above the city, like swarms of locusts flying over suddenly.The stone throws rapidly expanded in Tang Jun's field of vision one by one, and there were countless sharp whistling sounds in his ears. Dozens of fist-sized stone bullets shot from the sky with a huge momentum, like a meteor shower hitting the sky. In the Tang army's attacking formation, the stone bullets shattered the shields and hit the soldiers, splashing bright blood flowers.

The throwing stones mixed with some large heads were even more powerful, and even the huge wooden raft in the front row was smashed and shattered directly.It smashed into the army formation, killed several people directly, and even bounced a few times. Every time it bounced, it took the lives of several soldiers.

The whole team froze slightly, a little confused.However, under the order of the army and the sound of the drums, there was only a slight delay, and the [-] army continued to advance. The soldiers in the back row stepped on the bloody corpses in the front row, and the entire square formation was like a huge wheel. Moving forward slowly but firmly.

On the top of the wall, Li Sizhao's face sank like water, and Tang Jun's reaction made his heart heavy.Faced with such a fierce blow, Tang Jun was completely different from many opponents they had encountered before, and they had no fear.

Perhaps Tang Jun did this because of his superiority in numbers, Li Sizhao comforted himself.Turning his head, he waved violently at the crossbowman who had already prepared: "The crossbowman is ready!"

"put!"

Crossbow arrows flew across like meteors, and countless arrows shot down from the top of the city. Even if the front row was blocked by shields, soldiers still fell one after another.The front army on the left is the formation of the Zhongwu Army, and the Zhongwu Badu has set up eight large square formations.The eight phalanxes were led by the eight generals of Zhongwu.

The eight capitals are Lu Yanhong, Han Jian, Wang Jian, Li Shitai, Zhai Cong, Zhang Zao, Li Jian, and Jin Hui.

He was born as a private salt dealer, and later recruited by the imperial court to join the thief king Ba Wangjian of Xuzhou Zhongwu Army, because he betrayed many friends who used to sell salt, handed in a lot of certificates, and killed these brothers on the road. He took a lot of private salt and handed over the family property of the brothers, so he won the position of the general.Later, Cui Anqian took over as the Jiedushi of the Zhongwu Army. Because of the arrogance of the Zhongwu Army, he reorganized the Zhongwu Badu, and most of the staff were newcomers.Because of his bravery and outstanding performance, Wang Jian was also promoted to one of the eight capital generals. Although he was only a low-ranking eight capital general, he still had a thousand brothers under his command.

Now no one calls him Thief Wang Ba anymore, the older brothers who are more familiar in the army call him Wang Bage, and the others respectfully call him General Wang.Sitting astride the horse, Wang Jian held a spear, very brave.Wealth and fame are immediately obtained, and the more you fight, the more chance you have to be promoted.

He was turning his head to greet the [-] brothers in Bendu to move forward, when suddenly there was a sharp whistling sound, and a man standing up on a vigilant horse under his crotch, neighing endlessly.Unprepared, Wang Jian was thrown off his horse. Just as he was furious, he heard two whistles in a row. His horse passed the first crossbow arrow, but then two more crossbow arrows shot down.One of them fell just a foot in front of him, while the other passed directly through the horse's neck. It was already dead and could not die anymore.

With a sound from the secret channel, Wang Jian hurriedly got up, and simply retreated into the wooden shield and commanded on foot.

At this time, it was less than a hundred steps away from the city, but a ten-foot-wide moat blocked it.

Wang Jian swung his spear and shouted, "Brothers, go!"

"Kill!" The soldiers in the eighth capital of Zhongwu Eighth Capital all shouted desperately with yellow turbans on their heads, in order to cheer themselves up and let themselves forget about the blood and flesh flying on the battlefield.Under the leadership of Wang Jian, the soldiers of the Eighth Capital rushed to the edge of the moat first, and then the seven-foot-long wooden rafts in their hands quickly played an important role at this time, and the wooden rafts began to connect. Well connected interface.At this time, connect the wooden rafts to each other, and then add two wooden boards and a few large iron nails at the joints, and then tie them tightly with ropes, and a simple long bridge board is formed immediately.

Pieces of simple bridge slabs made under the city head under the rain of arrows and stones were pushed to the top of the moat, and a simple bridge that could allow one person to walk was built immediately.The yellow-headed army clamored. Wang Jian held a round shield in one hand and a spear in the other. He was the first to step on the shaky simple bridge and the first to rush across the moat.The soldiers of the Eighth Capital also rushed forward one after another, with the Eighth Capital taking the lead, and Zhongwu and the other seven were also mobilized and swarmed forward.

Zheng Congxuan of the Chinese Army was overjoyed to see the bravery of the Zhongwu Army on the cloud car, and ordered the Chinese Army to beat the drums fiercely.The drums of war were rumbling, and the whole army set off gunfire like a tide, and it went straight to the top of the city.

The Shatuo defenders on the city immediately launched a fierce counterattack, arrows poured down like a torrential rain, and throwing stones flew down continuously.At this time, the largest catapults of the Shatuo people even threw tens of catties of stones into the Tang army's formation. The huge stones hit the ground and made people feel shaking. Being hit, it immediately became a puddle of flesh and blood.

However, amidst the sound of high-spirited war drums, the Tang army was quite brave at this time, just rushing forward with nothing, regardless of casualties.

At this time, behind the infantry formation, hundreds of catapults and heavy crossbows had also reached the attacking distance, and began to deploy on the spot, preparing to shoot at the defenders on the city to cover the infantry attacking the city. (To be continued.)