Tibet

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 top of the city became silent, and hundreds of thousands of eyes were staring at this 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 other side did not shoot arrows or stones. What did they want to do? Did they want to attack with fire?

Thinking about it, there was only this possibility, but Dengli did not recall the soldiers. He wanted to see the Tang army's defense method. Was it a fire attack?

100 steps away, the Tang army on the top of the city still did not make any move. Dengli 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 from the moat, only the last dozen steps left, at this moment, the commander Gao Xiuyan on the top of the city finally gave the order to fire!

"Shoot!"

Two hundred and fifty explosive arrows shot at the 300-man battering ram team at the same time, "Boom! Boom! Boom!" A series of explosions sounded, and blood and flesh flew everywhere, screaming, 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, the battering ram also rolled into the moat, and the battlefield was filled with gunpowder smoke.

The whole world seemed to be still, whether it was the Huihe cavalry, the Hele cavalry or the city guards, they were all stunned with shock, they had never seen such a powerful and sharp firearm.

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

Dengli Khan has realized that it is impossible to break the city gate with a battering ram, and Yunzhong County cannot be taken. The Tang army has such a powerful weapon to defend the city, and they are destined to be unable to attack the city.

The 100,000-strong army retreated, and the originally high morale was now dead. Only the Tang army on the top of the city cheered, and they forced the enemy back without losing a single soldier, which made everyone ecstatic.

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

Qu Yanmo told about the terrible weapon they encountered, the iron fire thunder, and half of the lost soldiers were killed by the iron fire thunder rolling down from the top of the canyon.

In the big tent, although the generals were afraid, no one dared to propose to withdraw to the grassland at this time.

All eyes were on Dengli Khan, only he could decide everything.

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

That night, more than 100,000 Huihe troops retreated northward. They were not familiar with Feihu Pass, so they turned to Jundu Pass and headed for Juyong Pass.

In Jingxing, a 30,000-man Tang army was rapidly passing through the cliffs of Taihang Mountain.

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

The 30,000 Tang troops were unstoppable all the way, seizing the pass and even taking Niangzi Pass in half a day, killing the enemy and fleeing. They would soon arrive at Tumen Pass, which was the exit of Jingxing.

The commander of this army was Li Sheng, and the deputy commander was the veteran Wang Sili. Of course, with Wang Sili's qualifications, Li Sheng should be his deputy commander, not Wang Sili's deputy commander.

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

But Wang Siyi was unwilling to do so. He knew that even Guo Ziyi could still be an old horse in the stable, but he was younger than Guo Ziyi, but he had to retire. The fundamental reason was that the regent and the court did not believe in 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 was loyal to the court all his life, bear this? He repeatedly wrote to Li Ye, hoping to be allowed to lead the troops to the expedition.

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

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

At noon that day, 30,000 troops arrived at Tumen Pass and entered Hengzhou after crossing Tumen Pass.

Tumen Pass was built on the hillside, with a long slope going up and a long slope opposite.

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 pass. Merchants had to pay taxes when passing through here, and they 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 advantages and weaknesses.

The biggest advantage of Tumen, or the only advantage, is that it is high above, with slopes on both sides at 30 degrees. It is very difficult to climb up the pass with a ladder at this angle.

But its weaknesses are also obvious. The pass is too small and has no depth. It can only accommodate a hundred soldiers at most, and there is 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 is probably some kerosene stored in the pass. When we knock on the door, the other side will throw kerosene to burn us. It is better to shoot from a distance to get 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 very embarrassed, so he would try his best to support Li Sheng when making decisions at critical moments.

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

Dong Hui hurried over and smiled, "What do you want, old general?"

Dong Hui is very young, less than 30 years old, but he has been with Li Ye for a long time. He started as a soldier and was promoted to General Longxiang step by step in more than ten years.

Above the Zhonglang Jiang is the general, and the general is divided into four grades, namely General Feixiong, General Baotao, General Longxiang, then General Dutong, and above that is the general.

The general is also divided into three grades, General Zhenrong, General Zhenjun and General Zhenguo, and above that is the general. At present, Li Ye serves as the general of Tiance.

General Longxiang is the second rank of general, and the next rank is General Dutong. Li Sheng is currently General Dutong.

Wang Sili has no military position. His title of General Zuowei is just a ceremonial position. Li Ye just gave him a chance to prove himself, but after all, he is old and covered with wounds. If he performs well, he will be made a civilian after the war, and at least he will not retire.

So in a sense, Dong Hui is actually the military supervisor. No matter whether Li Sheng or Wang Sili want to support themselves, these 30,000 Guanlong troops will not listen to them, but only to Dong Hui's command.

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

Wang Sili smiled and said, "The poisonous smoke quiver I asked you about yesterday, take it out! We're going to use it to break through the pass today."

Dong Hui took a look at the pass and immediately understood and smiled, "Wait a minute, old general, I'll arrange it now!"

The poisonous smoke quiver of the Tang army is actually a large amount of oleander powder mixed with gunpowder. There are two forms. One is a hand-held throwing tube, which looks like a beer bottle and is a paper tube.

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

Not long after, a group of 2,000 crossbowmen appeared 200 steps away from the pass. They held large shields, with crossbows and quivers on their backs, and the quivers were full of Dugu quivers.

The soldiers half-crouched on the spot, inserted the huge shield into the mud, and used the shield to block the vital points. At this time, more than a hundred crossbow arrows shot from the top of the city, "Pah! Pah! Pah!" Shot on the shield, a soldier's exposed shoulder was shot, screamed, and huddled up.

"Who's shot? Get down!" the Zhonglang general 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 the crossbows and put the poisonous smoke quivers on. The Zhonglang general shouted: "Fire freely after ignition!"

The soldiers took out the fire starters and swung them, lighting the matchlocks one after another and putting the fire starters aside. The slow-burning fire starters could ignite five poisonous smoke quivers.

The soldiers raised their crossbows, adjusted the sights, and pulled the hanging knives. 'Swoosh! Swoosh!' Two thousand burning poisonous smoke quivers shot into the city wall.