A few days later, the Tibetan army arrived in Chang'an.
Gao Shi stood on the tower of Chang'an's Golden Gate, looking at the Tibetan army stretching for miles, with no end in sight, and could not help but frown.
There are less than 10,000 troops in Chang'an City, and the city has nine gates alone.
Back then, Guo Ziyi attacked Chang'an City. After An Shouzhong was defeated, Yan Army general Tian Chengsi abandoned the city without hesitation. The reason was that the city was vast and it was too difficult to defend without sufficient troops.
But now, facing this situation, Gao Shi, who only has 9,000 troops in hand, has no choice but to adopt the strategy of multiple defense points and multiple suspicious soldiers.
When the Tubo army arrived at Chang'an City, Sang Chiruo and a group of Tubo nobles saw flags flying everywhere at the top of Chang'an City, and countless soldiers behind the city wall.
Tubo Second Prime Minister Dun Renzeng frowned and said to Sang Chiruo: "It is really unexpected that there are so many troops in Chang'an City."
Sang Chiruo didn't speak, he just sat on his horse and looked carefully at Chang'an City in the distance for a while.
Soon after, he said to others: "The city wall stretches endlessly. This kind of city is not conducive to defense. If I were the commander-in-chief of the army, if an enemy attacked, I would not rely on defending the city, but would rely on
Fortifications outside the city to defend against enemy forces."
Dun Renzeng: "The big theory means that the soldiers on the city are just ordinary people who were recruited temporarily? Are there not enough troops in Chang'an City at this time?"
Sang Chiruo raised his riding whip, pointed in another direction of the city, and said: "Whether the defenders of Chang'an City are as I expected, it is very simple to verify. Send out partial troops and attack other city gates at the same time. If the defenders
The army is improvised by the common people, so the defenders must have low combat effectiveness."
The Tibetan army arrived at the west gate of Chang'an, and what they did next was beyond the expectations of the defenders in the city.
The Tubo people were not in a hurry to attack the city. Instead, after being stationed, they separated two armies from the Chinese army camp and set up branch camps in the north and south directions of the city.
As a result, the Tubo army was divided into three armies, and they took the initiative to cage Chang'an from three directions: west, south, and north.
On the first day of the war, Chang'an's city defense was full of dangers, with constant mistakes and omissions.
The civilian warriors recruited from the common people were in a hurry during the war because they received training for a short period of time.
For example:
He fired arrows without waiting for the enemy to come into range; he pushed the gunpowder barrel down the city wall before the fuse was lit; he was halfway through the battle at the top of the city, became frightened, and turned around to run away.
Things like this happen endlessly.
As the commander of Chang'an city guard, Gao Shi, the left prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, ran around like putting out a fire.
Wherever the war was critical and a red flag was erected on the gatehouse, Gao Shi would take the guards and go to the military camp there to boost morale and mobilize the soldiers.
The battle lasted for two days, and Gao Shi didn't sleep a wink for two days and two nights. His body was so skinny that he was no longer human-like. Only his eyes were still full of energy and energy all over his body.
On the other hand, the commander of the Tibetan army, Sang Chiruo, had already figured out the details of the Tang army at this time, and knew that there were very few soldiers in Chang'an City, and most of them were temporary recruits.
So, on the third day of the battle, Sang Chiruo mobilized heavy troops and chose the Jinguang Gate to the west, intending to take over Chang'an City in one go.
The unusual movements of the Tubo army aroused the vigilance of the Chang'an defenders.
When the Tang army reported the news to Gao Shi, the latter quickly realized that the Tibetan army might step up its offensive at Ximen today.
After boarding the tower and carefully observing the movement of the Tibetan troops, Gao Shi arranged the troops in advance after determining the direction in which the enemy troops would gather.
At the beginning of the general attack, the Tubo army outside Jinguang Gate was divided into one group of 5,000 people, and then divided into three groups: left, middle and right. They launched an attack on the city gate at the same time.
The Tibetan siege army of 15,000 people swept towards the city wall of Chang'an like a wave.
Gao Shi ignored the dissuasion of others and stood on the tower on the front line. The defenders and people in the city showed no fear at all when they saw the Prime Minister on the battlefield. They were all encouraged by him.
Everyone was brave enough to fight on the city wall, fighting to the death with the Tibetan army.
The morale of the Tang army was high, and since Chang'an was the strategic hub of Gyeonggi Province, the arsenal had sufficient gunpowder and artillery.
Moreover, after the first two days of running-in, most of the civilian warriors who had never been in combat have gradually become familiar with the operation of firearms.
Therefore, although the Tang army was at a disadvantage in terms of military strength, with its continuous rear supplies, it was not at a disadvantage when facing the Tibetan army.
The gunpowder barrels thrown from the city wall exploded one after another under the city wall, leaving corpses of the Tibetan troops attacking the city scattered all over the place.
As for the Tibetan soldiers who stormed the city, what awaited them was the entire front line of squatting tiger cannons.
Along with the roaring sound of cannons on the city wall, the broken limbs and broken armor of the Tibetan soldiers fell down one after another like rain.
The Battle of Chang'an lasted from morning to evening.
On the battlefield, the bodies of the dead were everywhere.
The outer city wall of Chang'an was turned black and gray by fire and gunpowder smoke. From a distance, it looked like the city was shrouded in dark clouds.
The 15,000 siege troops invested by the Tibetan army first lost almost one-third, and the Chang'an defenders also suffered about 3,000 casualties.
In the Tubo camp that night, Sang Chiruo, who was usually calm, became extremely angry in front of everyone.
On today's battlefield, the Tang army numbered less than ten thousand, and the rest were just a group of common people who had never been on the battlefield.
Under such circumstances, on the first day of the attack on Chang'an, the Tibetan army suffered a loss of 5,000 soldiers, without even achieving an inch of success.
If this kind of achievement was reported back to Luoxucheng, it would definitely be ridiculed by the Tibetan nobles.
The furious Sang Chiruo executed on the spot dozens of generals who were in charge of commanding today, and issued a death order to the Tibetan generals who would be in charge of attacking the city tomorrow, saying that the outer city of Chang'an must be captured.
Unfortunately, although Sang Chiruo gave the order, the Tibetan army was still unable to achieve a decisive victory in the offensive in the next few days.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The firearms of the Tang army, including gunpowder barrels, squatting tiger cannons, and long cannons, became the biggest obstacle for the Tibetan army to attack the city.
These firearms, unlike military supplies such as swords, guns, bows and crossbows, require long-term training.
Any common person, as long as they simply learn some knowledge about charging and igniting, can go to the battlefield, operate firearms, and help kill the enemy.
In that year, in order to support the Hehuang, Shannan, and Hedong battlefields, Chang'an's arsenal was expanded and filled several times for front-line use.
Therefore, Chang'an City's firearms became a major concern for the Tibetan army.
Sang Chiruo thought about it for a long time in the camp, realized his previous mistakes, and began to change his ideas for attacking the city.
The Tang army had a large number of firearms and was in a convenient position to defend the city. If the Tubo army attacked by force, it would be difficult to capture the city in the short term, not to mention casualties.
However, the use of firearms has its own weaknesses.
For example, tiger crouching cannons and long cannons need to have good visibility during the day to be effective. If they encounter weather such as darkness, heavy fog, and heavy rain, their power and accuracy will be lost.
Thinking of this, Sang Chiruo recruited the military's most trusted advisors and began to plan the next strategy.
Since firearms cannot be dealt with during the day, we will adopt a night attack method, scale the city wall, and attack Chang'an.
Although the Chang'an city wall is tall and strong, it is still nothing to the Shankai army of Tubo.
Most of the Shankai army were barbarians who lived at the foot of the mountain, and it was easy to cross the mountains, let alone the city walls.
Sang Chiruo summoned Yin Tu, the general of the Shankai Army, and said to him: "In the past few days, the Tibetan army will continue to attract the Tang army's attention on the battlefield on the western front. And you, the Shankai Army, will select an elite team and choose
I went to the southern line late at night, then took advantage of the Tang Dynasty's unpreparedness, climbed up the city wall there, and captured the city gate!"
Yin Tu loudly accepted the order.
A few days later, Yin Tu led five hundred Shankai troops and took advantage of the darkness to go to the south gate of Chang'an.
Since the Tibetan army has been launching offensives on the western front in recent days, the Tang army on the southern front is not as heavily guarded.
The soldiers in the Shankai Army who were born in the mountains used unique rock climbing tools to avoid the patrol posts of the Tang Army and climbed up the city wall without spending much effort.
However, when Shan Weijun went to the city gate, he was unlucky and was seen by a Tang Army sentry.
The latter promptly sounded the alarm and shouted that someone was attacking at night.
Yin Tu was furious, threw his axe, killed the sentry, and gave orders to his men to change the sneak attack into a strong attack and seize the city gate as soon as possible.
Five hundred Shankai troops rushed towards the defenders who had just assembled. The latter was caught off guard and was beaten back one after another.
When Yin Tu saw that the Tang army was defeated, he did not hesitate to fight. He went directly to the south gate tower, killed the guards inside, ordered the suspension bridge to be lowered, and then turned the winch to open the city gate.
The Tibetan troops who had been ambushing near the south gate all mounted their horses and rushed towards the city gate while cheering.
When the Tang army at the south gate saw that the city tower had been lost and they saw the Tibetan army outside the city, they quickly attacked with torches. They didn't know what to do for a while and fell into chaos.
At this moment, Gao Shi, who got the news, rushed to the south gate with his soldiers in time.
First, he killed several defeated soldiers who wanted to escape. Seeing the chaos of the Tang army, Gao Shi ordered his guards to raise the general's flag on the front line.
Hearing this, the soldiers hesitated and advised Gao Shi: "Prime Minister Zuo, the city gate is in chaos right now. We are small in number and close to the enemy. If we raise the general's flag, it will be like raising a candle in the darkness.
Although our army can see it, the enemy army can also see it, so why not send messengers everywhere..."
Gao Shi didn't wait for the soldiers to finish speaking, and shouted on the spot: "The city gate has been lost, and hundreds of thousands of people in Chang'an are about to lose their lives. How can we hesitate at such a critical moment!"
After speaking, Gao Shi ordered again to raise the general flag.
When Gao Shi's general's flag was raised at the south gate, the Tang army, which was originally scattered, suddenly had a backbone.
Someone shouted: "The Left Prime Minister! The Left Prime Minister is here!"
Someone else shouted: "If the left prime minister is not afraid, how can we retreat!"
Just when the morale of the Tang army was recovering, Shan Wei's army, which had already taken control of the city gate, also discovered the location of Zuo Xiang Gao Shi.
Yin Tu glared at Gao Shi's general flag angrily, put his hand to his mouth, and whistled.
The next second, a group of 500 Shan Wei troops detached themselves and quickly attacked where Gao Shi was.
Gao Shi's personal soldiers were originally small in number. Facing this powerful group of Shan Kui troops, they could only form formations to resist while trying their best to delay.
After paying the sacrifice of nearly a hundred people, General Yin Tu of the Shankai Army gradually surrounded the retreating Tang Army. Knowing that the night attack failed, he could only order a retreat as soon as possible.
The unwilling Shan Wei army threw a hail of arrows at the array of Gao Shi's soldiers, and finally withdrew from the city gate angrily.
The south gate was recaptured by the Tang army at this time, the city gate was slowly closed, and the suspension bridge was raised.
The Tibetan forwards, who were less than a hundred meters away from the city gate, saw the city gate slowly closing, so they could only dismount, their cavalry turned into infantry, and they changed their surprise attack into an siege.
The Tang army that recaptured the city gate quickly climbed up the city wall, faced the swarming enemy troops, and began to launch round after round of attacks on the enemy with the help of torches and moonlight.
Arrows, powder barrels and artillery were crisscrossed on the battlefield in front of the south gate, forming a line of defense. Any Tibetan soldier who wanted to cross this area would have to pay the price with his life.
In the city, Gao Shi's personal troops faced the assault of Shan Wei's army. Although they suffered heavy losses, many people still survived.
The Guardsman was rejoicing when he suddenly noticed that Gao Shi's expression behind him was different and he couldn't help but look down.
I saw a stray arrow hit Gao Shi's chest.
The arrow penetrated the armor and pierced directly into the body.
The guardsmen were shocked and quickly wanted to call for help.
Gao Shi grabbed him and whispered: "Don't make any noise."
The guard of the guard hurriedly said that he was going to find a doctor and pull out the arrow.
Gao Shi shook his head and said: "The fighting at the top of the city is still ongoing. If the army knows that I am seriously injured, our army's morale will definitely be dampened, and the enemy will definitely take advantage of the situation to fight... You are looking for the general's seal and give it to the deputy general Lu Xiao. If anything happens to me,
, order him to take charge of the three armies."
The guard of the Janissaries had a lump in his throat and his eyes were full of tears. He wanted to speak several times, but in the end he could only nod lightly.
Gao Shi took a breath and continued: "Cut off the arrow feathers, find a broad robe, cover my armor, then support me and climb the tower."
When Gao Shi, the guard of the Guards, helped him up to the tower, the defenders who were fighting the Tibetan army cheered when they saw the Left Prime Minister sitting in command.
Suddenly, the morale of the Tang army soared, and they defeated the Tibetan army under the city.
Gao Shi grabbed the sword and pressed it firmly against the ground, standing upright like a flagpole.
While stabilizing his body's balance, Gao Shi allowed the blood from the wound to flow along the armor and fall under his feet bit by bit.
The slightly warm blood, one drop at a time, took away the old man's remaining vitality.
The sound of fighting in my ears became more and more distant.
After an unknown amount of time, the dawn appeared on the horizon.
A ray of morning light fell on Gao Shi's face.
The old man raised his head with difficulty, looked at the horizon of Chang'an City, and finally slowly closed his eyes.
This chapter has been completed!