After Song Jingang captured Jinzhou and Jiangzhou, all areas north of Jinzhou, except Xihe City in Haozhou, were occupied by Liu Wuzhou. Only the isolated city of Xihe was still in the hands of the Tang Dynasty. Xihe City was originally located in

To the north, close to Liu Wuzhou's original territory, it was far behind the enemy, like an isolated island in the vast ocean, ready to withstand the violent attacks of rough waves and violent storms at any time.

Liu Fan, the governor of Haozhou, knew that Liu Wuzhou would send troops to attack Xihe City sooner or later, so he took the time to prepare to defend the city. He sent people to post notices, collect money and grain, recruit strong men, and sent people to nearby towns and villages to buy grain and replenish the warehouses.

They also organized strong men to go to the Western Mountains to quarry stones and cut down trees to use as materials for the defense of the city. In short, the preparations for the defense of Xihe City were carried out in an intensive and orderly manner.

On this day, Liu Fan was convening all the officials in the government office hall to discuss the matter of defending the city. A subordinate hurriedly walked in and said with cupped hands: "Master Governor, according to the scouts, Liu Wuzhou led 30,000 troops to attack Xihe.

The city is currently less than fifty miles away from Xihe City."

When all the officials heard this, they couldn't help but be shocked. Everyone was whispering and discussing, and the hall became boiling and noisy like water boiling.

Liu Gan also frowned, worried. Although he expected that Liu Wuzhou would send troops to attack Xihe City, he did not expect that he would personally lead an army of 30,000 people. It seemed that Liu Wuzhou was determined to win Xihe City. Xihe City was originally

There are 3,000 soldiers, plus the more than 1,000 troops brought by the marching general Li Zhongwen, it is only 4,000 troops. Seven to one, the difference in strength is too great, the situation is not optimistic.

Liu Gan looked around the lobby, tapped the table with a gavel to quiet the officials, and then said loudly: "Liu Wuzhou personally led an army to attack Xihe City. The situation is indeed critical. If your colleagues have any suggestions, you might as well speak up.

Don’t shy away from it.”

As soon as he finished speaking, an official with a long beard stood up and said with cupped hands: "Master Governor, Liu Wuzhou's troops are too strong. We are outnumbered and the enemy is outnumbered. It will be difficult to hold on to Xihe City. It is better to abandon the city and generals.

Officials and their families were dispersed to the Guanzhong area to preserve their strength and make plans in the future." His words won the approval of many civil servants, and they all echoed his words.

At this time, Li Zhongwen stood up, clasped his fists and said: "Master Liu, Xihe City is the capital of Haozhou, with a large population and a very important geographical location. We must not give up lightly. Hedong is the place where the Tang Dynasty's royal industry rose, and the emperor will never abandon it.

Regardless, we will definitely send troops to take it back. We are waiting for you

Defending Xihe City can contain Liu Wuzhou's troops. If the city is abandoned in the west, Liu Wuzhou will capture Xihe City without fighting. From now on, he will no longer have to worry about the future. It will be detrimental to the Tang Dynasty's recovery of lost territory. Please think twice." His words were well received.

Many generals praised him, and they nodded in agreement.

In the lobby, the civil servants and military generals were noisy and arguing. Finally, they all turned their attention to Liu Fan, waiting for him to make a final decision. Liu Fan pondered for a long time and said: "As a minister of the Tang Dynasty, it is my duty to protect the land. I will wait.

Although trapped behind enemy lines and isolated and helpless, Xihe City must not give up! To defend the city, we must

Military orders must be unified. Therefore, I have decided that all troops and horses in the city will be uniformly dispatched by Li Zhongwen, the commander-in-chief of the march. Sima Huangqi will serve as deputy general to assist General Li in commanding. Officials at all levels must fulfill their duties to ensure the supply of food, grass and materials for the soldiers defending the city.

.If anyone neglects his duties, I will severely punish him!..."

Liu Fan handed over the responsibility of defending the city to Li Zhongwen, and Li Zhongwen felt deeply about the great responsibility. After leaving the governor's office, he and Huang Qi immediately climbed onto the city wall to inspect the city's defense. Xihe is a large city, with a wall circumference of forty miles and three feet high.

, four feet and two feet wide, magnificent. Since the layout had been made long ago, many soldiers on the city wall were busy. Some of them were repairing the city wall, and some were carrying various supplies. There was a busy scene everywhere.

After Li Zhongwen and Huang Qi inspected for half a day, a scout came up from the Dengdao Road and came closer to report: "General Li, Liu Wu and Zhou's army are still thirty miles away from Xihe City. They are divided into two groups, pointing to the south and north of the city respectively."

Li Zhongwen nodded and said: "I understand." After the scout left, he turned to Huang Qi and said: "Huang Sima, I have carefully surveyed the terrain around Xihe City. The Hongjiao Beach five miles north of the city is surrounded by mountains on one side and water on the other.

, is a choke point where the enemy army must pass. We can send a team of troops to ambush at

On the mountain, wait for the enemy troops to pass by, and charge down from a high position. The enemy troops are so numerous that they must be arrogant and underestimate the enemy. They will never think that we will take the initiative to attack. If we kill them by surprise, we can dampen the enemy's energy and delay their attack.

City." Upon hearing this, Huang Qi immediately nodded in agreement.

At five o'clock that night, Li Zhongwen led two thousand soldiers out of the city and lurked in the mountains and forests next to Hongjiao Beach. At midnight the next day, a large group of enemy troops appeared. On the official road, flags and streamers were fluttering, armor was shining, and the troops

It stretched for more than ten miles, with no end in sight.

When the enemy's vanguard passed under the hillside, Li Zhongwen ordered the war drums to be beaten and led two thousand soldiers to rush down the mountain. The enemy was caught off guard and was in disarray. The soldiers of the Tang army rushed into the enemy's formation, and the two sides launched a desperate fight.

.

Under the fierce attack of the Tang army, the enemy's leading troops could not hold up and had to retreat. For a while, the enemy's large groups were crowded, trampling on each other and making a mess. After they stabilized their position, they

When he wanted to find a decisive battle with the Tang army, Li Zhongwen had already gathered his troops, left the battlefield, and returned to Xihe City.

On that day, Liu Wuzhou's 30,000 troops all arrived at the foot of Xihe City, set up camp, and surrounded Xihe City. Li Zhongwen stood on the city wall, holding a stack of dishes in his hands, and looked far into the distance, and saw only the enemy's camps one after another.

There is a building, full of pits and valleys, so densely packed that you can't see the end at a glance, which makes people feel horrified and frightened.

Liu Wuzhou was fully prepared to attack Xihe City this time. He brought many siege equipment, such as cannons, cloud carts, crash carts, etc. The cannons are trebuchets, which are huge and can throw fifty-jun boulders.

On the city wall a hundred feet away, the cloud car is a kind of

The tall wooden tower can hold two hundred soldiers on it. It is equipped with wheels at the bottom and can be pushed to the side of the city wall, allowing soldiers to quickly climb the city wall. The crash is a large number of small carts carrying a huge piece of wood with a spire.

Wrapped in iron sheets, used to hit city gates.

The next day, as soon as the sun rose, Liu Wuzhou's army began to attack the city. Li Zhongwen stood on the top of the city and saw flags fluttering below the city, drums beating loudly, and countless soldiers shouting and rushing over. Carrying ladders on their shoulders, they rushed to the city

They set up a ladder and started climbing up. Some of the soldiers on the city fired arrows, some lifted stones, and smashed logs down. The enemy who was halfway up the ladder was hit and fell off the ladder screaming.

The enemy's cannon began to unleash its power. Countless boulders flew towards the city. One of them landed two feet away from Li Zhongwen. It happened to hit two soldiers. Their flesh and blood immediately flew everywhere. The soldiers were smashed into meat paste. Li Zhongwen's blood and flesh were splashed all over the place. With a look on his face, he didn't bother to wipe his face and shouted to direct the battle. Several enemy soldiers climbed up the city wall and started fighting with the Tang army. More and more enemies climbed up the city wall. The situation was extremely critical. Li Zhongwen led a group The team of soldiers rushed over and started hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. Finally, they eliminated the enemies who climbed up the city wall and blocked the gap.

It wasn't until sunset that the enemy stopped attacking the city. The day's battle was over, and Xihe City, which was shaking in the brutal fighting, finally calmed down. Li Zhongwen led several soldiers to patrol the city. Everywhere he went, there was a mess. , many places were damaged by huge rocks, soldiers were lying or sitting, and some seriously injured soldiers were crying out in pain.

Li Zhongwen and Huang Qi each had their own division of labor. He was responsible for the city defense from the east gate to the west gate. He roughly estimated that the casualties of the soldiers in his defense area accounted for about one-third, and this was only the first day, and more intense battles were yet to come. Photo How long can it continue like this? With this in mind, he couldn't help but feel very worried.

At this time, he saw Liu Fan leading many people up the city along the Dengdao. There were strong men, women and old people in the team. As soon as the strong men came up, they began to repair the city wall. The women and old people brought food. They brought the food They were distributed to the soldiers, and some women also bandaged the wounds of the wounded and fed them food. Seeing all this, Li Zhongwen felt a little relieved.

He found Liu Gan coming towards him, and hurriedly greeted him, clasping his fists and saying, "Master Liu." Liu Gan returned the courtesy and said, "General Li, how is the situation?"

"It's not bad, but there are a few more casualties among the soldiers."

Liu Gan nodded and said: "Starting today and tomorrow, I will recruit the young and middle-aged men in the city to help you defend the city."

The next day, the enemy launched a cloud chariot to attack the city. This cloud chariot was huge in size and filled with elite soldiers. It was pushed by many soldiers and moved toward the city wall. Li Zhongwen ordered the soldiers to shoot arrows at the enemies pushing the cart, but the enemy used The shield blocks it and cannot effectively kill the enemy, so it cannot stop the cloud chariot from moving forward. The cloud chariot is slightly higher than the city wall. Once it gets close to the city wall, the soldiers above will jump down and fight for the city head.

The cloud car slowly came closer, and Li Zhongwen was so anxious that beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. At this time, he occasionally turned his head and happened to see Liu Fan leading a group of strong men to the top of the city. The strong men were carrying three sticks and three feet. It is a long wooden pole with a thick mouth. Two wooden poles are equipped with iron hooks on the front end, and another wooden pole is equipped with an iron cage on the front end. Li Zhongwen does not know what these wooden poles are used for.

Liu Fan commanded the strong men to stretch out the two wooden poles with iron hooks and hook the cloud cart. This kind of iron hook is specially made and has a hidden lock on it. Once hooked, it will be locked and the cloud cart cannot move forward. , and could not retreat. There was a brazier in the iron cage at the front end of another wooden pole, with blazing flames, stretched out to burn the cloud chariot. After a while, the cloud chariot was ignited, and a raging fire broke out. The soldiers on the cloud chariot Their bodies were on fire and they screamed in agony. Some soldiers could not bear the burning flames and jumped from the cloud carriage several feet high. Their condition was very miserable.

Li Zhongwen walked to Liu Fan and said happily: "Master Liu, your method is really good!" Liu Fan smiled and nodded: "I expected that the enemy would use cloud carts, so I summoned craftsmen and rushed to make a batch of these. The defensive equipment seems to be effective."

When the enemy failed to attack the city with cloud chariots, they used ramming chariots to hit the city gate. Under the fierce impact of the hitting wood, the city gate gradually became damaged and would soon burst. Liu Fan took command and ordered the demolition of the houses near the city gate.

The city gate was reinforced with wood. Later, the enemy poured oil on the city gate and set it on fire. Liu Fan simply had people use stones, bricks, and soil to completely block the city gate...

The battle to defend Xihe City lasted for more than two months. When the battle was at its fiercest, enemies attacked the city from all directions day and night. The brutality of the battle was indescribable.

Li Zhongwen has been on the city for more than two months. He wears armor whether he eats or sleeps. When he is injured, he bandages it and then continues to direct the battle. The soldiers are even more exhausted, and almost everyone is injured. What's more serious is that

, the only remaining soldiers who defended the city were

A thousand people have fallen, they have run out of arrows, stones, logs, etc. have long been used up, and the houses near the city wall have been almost demolished. Many people are already sleeping on the streets, and they can no longer demolish their houses. However, if they do not demolish the houses, they

What can we do to stop the enemy from attacking the city?

In the evening, when Liu Fan went to the city for inspection, Li Zhongwen told him the difficulty. Liu Fan was silent for a moment and said: "When the people in the city celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, they leave a lot of old mugwort in their homes. If the mugwort is tied into handfuls,

, pour grease on it and throw it down the city, wouldn't it also burn the enemy to death?" After hearing this, Li Zhongwen's eyes lit up and he quickly said let's try it.

The next day, a large amount of mugwort was transported to the top of the city, tied into bundles, poured with grease, and then thrown down when the enemy attacked the city. Sure enough, the enemy was burned so hard that they howled and had to retreat.

.

That night, Li Zhongwen accompanied Liu Gan on an inspection tour of the city. The two of them walked to a battlement and stood there, looking into the distance. There was half a bright moon hanging in the sky, and a few stars were shining. In the cruel

On the battlefield, it is really a great happiness to be able to enjoy the tranquility of this night.

The dim light of the stars and moon shone on the enemy's tent under the city. Li Zhongwen pointed with his hand and said: "Master Liu, after several days of observation, I found that Liu Wuzhou's Chinese army tent is next to the woods in the southeast. I plan to

Tomorrow night we will lead five hundred soldiers out of the city and attack his camp."

"The city gate has been blocked, how do you get out of the city?"

"Use a rope."

"Okay, Liu Wuzhou never expected that we could take the initiative at this moment and catch him by surprise."

At three o'clock the next night, Liu Wuzhou was sleeping soundly in his tent when he was suddenly awakened by a loud noise. He jumped up and a guard broke into the tent and said in panic: "Your Majesty, it's not good, the Tang army is coming to kill you."

Got it!"

Liu Wuzhou didn't bother to put on his armor and immediately ran out of the tent and evacuated under the protection of several guards. At this time, a group of Tang soldiers rushed towards him. When Liu Wu saw Zhou Zhou, he turned around and ran away. A person also rushed towards him from the opposite side, namely Doutou.

Fortunately, he dodged quickly, otherwise his head would have been cut open. Even so, he still received a knife on his shoulder. The guards rushed up, killed the Tang Jun, and protected him and fled in a hurry...

Liu Wuzhou's Chinese army tent was attacked by surprise, and several of his close generals were killed. Liu Wuzhou himself was also injured and had to return to Mayi to recuperate, and handed over the command to his general Huang Ziying. After Liu Wuzhou left, the enemy

The army's offensive weakened significantly. Four months later, Song Jingang, who was confronting his second brother in Baibi, was in a disadvantageous situation. Liu Wuzhou ordered Huang Ziying to lead his army to support him.
Chapter completed!