Chapter 598: Bloody Battle at Xiangzhou (2)

Cheng Qianli's face turned pale. The other party had only five nest cars against the city, so he didn't take it seriously, but he never expected that the soldiers in these five nest cars were so fierce that they killed his subordinates to retreat one after another. Then he suddenly realized that he had underestimated the enemy.

"Press up! Annihilate them all..."

Cheng Qianli waved his sword and shouted loudly. Thousands of soldiers rushed forward, divided and surrounded him, and pressed the five hundred fierce Yan troops to where they climbed the city to prevent them from gathering together. The Tang army on the top of the city also knew that once An'an Lushan broke through the city, none of them could survive. Therefore, the Tang army also fought back to the death. Although the five hundred elite Yan troops were fierce, they were not many after all. Faced with the dense siege of the Tang army, they could not rush out for a while.

There was still fierce battle on the city and under the city. The ladder was overturned, and the soldiers who siege the city were shot and fell into the city. Screams and roars came one after another. The Yan army also came in a rain of arrows under the city. The Tang army was constantly hit by arrows and fell to the ground. The offensive and defensive battle between the two sides entered a white-hot state.

But the most threatening is the five nesting vehicles. They are like five convenient city-climbing passages. The continuous Yan army climbed to the city from here. Cheng Qianli's eyes were red with anxious anxiety. He saw the Tang army's rockets shooting at the nesting vehicles, but there was no effect. The key was the lack of fire-driven objects.

He turned around and hissed, "Use tin oil! tin oil!"

Hundreds of soldiers rushed up the pot with tincture oil in their arms, throwing the pot into the nest car. The pot was broken and the black tincture oil filled the car. At this time, the rockets were launched at once, and the nest car was flaming, and the flames flew away. In just a moment, the blazing fire swallowed the five nest cars one after another. Without the support, the five hundred fierce troops who rushed to the city first fought less and less, and were finally wiped out by the Tang army.

At this time, the Tang army invested another 3,000 soldiers, making the defensive forces in the eastern section reach more than 10,000. The Tang army gradually gained the upper hand and controlled the situation.

‘Dang!Dang!Dang!’

As the bell of withdrawal rang, the Yan army siege retreated like a tide, leaving behind the bodies on the ground, fragmented ladders and burning nest cars, the first tentative attack of the Yan army ended.

After nearly two and a half hours of this battle, the Yan army was destroyed by nine nest chariots and twenty-three cloud ladders, with more than 6,000 casualties, and the Tang army also suffered more than 1,000 casualties. The city began to get busy. The civilians went up to the city to clean up the bodies of the dead, lifted the injured on a stretcher, and cleaned the arrows on the city. Some soldiers took cage cars to the city to kill the Yan army, who were seriously injured but did not flee, and recovered the arrows.

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The bloody and tense war finally stopped. Cheng Qianli felt that he was exhausted and almost exhausted. Sweat made his inner and outer armor soaked, and his armor became particularly heavy, hanging on him like a big stone. He sat on a big stone and looked out of the city. The overwhelming camp outside the city suddenly became unreal. He felt like he was having a nightmare. When he woke up, everything would return to peace. Too many killings and deaths made his heart numb. There was a faint desire to die on the battlefield in his heart.

"General Cheng, look!" a personal soldier shouted at the sky.

Cheng Qianli turned around and saw two carrier pigeons hovering in the sky and flying south. He smiled and shook his head. The one-armed woman moved very quickly.

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In fact, Cheng Qianli was wrongly guessed. This was the fourth pigeon letter sent by Qi Yuhua. She was like the war correspondents in later generations. Every hour, the latest battle situation was sent out. The pigeon flew into the distance at an extremely fast speed. This last letter was her summary of the war.

The pigeon letter from Xiangzhou was sent to Heyin, which was a transit station, and then the information was transferred to other places from here. The two places were about 300 miles apart, and pigeons could fly there at most more than an hour. Li Guangbi had just arrived in Heyin early in the morning. He learned that An Lushan's army had arrived in Xiangzhou last night, so he rushed to Heyin overnight. It was a bit careless about the Xiangzhou war strategy. Li Guangbi was very concerned about the Xiangzhou battle. He knew that if Xiangzhou could be defended, An Lushan's rebellion would not have become a climate and was eventually suppressed by Hebei. If Xiangzhou was lost, it means that An Lushan would occupy the entire territory of Hebei.

Originally, Li Guangbi also believed that Xiangzhou City could be defended. Nearly 50,000 defenders, tall and strong city walls, and sufficient food. If it were him, there would be no problem to hold on for more than half a year. However, judging from the battle reports that came from successive battles, he felt aroused. A short tentative attack made the city dangerous and was attacked by the enemy. If An Lushan really attacked in a large-scale manner, could Xiangzhou City still be defended?

Although Cheng Qianli has been a veteran who has been in the army for many years, he has been in Anxi for many years and has no experience in defending the city!

"How is the ice in the Yellow River?"

When Li Guangbi saw a personal soldier coming in, he asked quickly.

"Report to the general, the Yellow River has not been completely frozen, and there is still about seven miles of river surface in the middle."

Li Guangbi was helpless. Even if he was completely frozen, he could not leave. He had to wait until the freeze was solid before he could cross the river. Li Qing'an did not object to his support for Xiangzhou. From the overall perspective, he also believed that defending Xiangzhou was the key to quelling the An Lushan rebellion. It was certain to assist Xiangzhou, but it was just a strategy to use. The other party had an army of 300,000 siege. He rashly led his army to Xiangzhou, and undoubtedly he was defeated by An Lushan's strategy of besieging the city and fighting aid. An Lushan's troops were in a strong way and could not be defeated.

Li Guangbi pondered for a moment. He decided to wait until the Yellow River was frozen and ordered Li Sheng's troops to send troops into Hebei, take Cangzhou Road to advance to Youzhou, and force An Lushan to withdraw his troops with the strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao.

Thinking of this, he immediately sat back and replied to Xiangzhou City. He pointed out the shortcomings of several places in Cheng Qianli defending the city and taught him how to deal with the Chain Che.

At the same time, he wrote a letter to Li Qing'an, reporting to him about the situation of the offensive and defensive battle in Xiangzhou. After writing the letter, he handed it to his personal soldiers and said, "Send these two letters immediately, hurry up!"

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Li Qing'an had returned to Luoyang at this time. He lived in the Dongdu Palace outside Luoyang City. This was where Wu Zetian lived when he practiced Buddhism in his later years. It was located in a beautiful scenery outside Luoyang City. It was actually a valley surrounded by mountains. The mountains were full of green pines and cypresses. Even in winter, it was lush and lush. The mountain springs were gurgling, strange rocks and peaks, and a small river crossed the valley like a jade belt. It was an excellent place for seclusion and cultivation.

At this time, the mountain springs were frozen, the river water was frozen, and the crystal clear world was shining. A light snow was falling, dyeing the clear water of Daishan with a layer of white frost.

Li Qing'an's Hu Ben Army has blocked the valley and surrounding areas, and there are scouts patrolling the surrounding mountains, and they are extremely vigilant.

By the river at the foot of the mountain is a villa covering an area of ​​about twenty acres. There are about one hundred houses without walls. The villa has flying eaves and horns, carved beams and painted columns. The buildings are magnificent. They are built in a forest. The river water winds around the house. It is a building that is completely integrated into nature.

In addition to Li Qing'an, there are also Yang Yuhuan brought from Chang'an, and more than a dozen palace maids and eunuchs from the Luoyang Palace served him. They lived in seclusion with beauty and lived a leisurely life.

However, although there is a beautiful woman like Yang Yuhuan by her side, Li Qingan doesn't spend much time with her during the day. He does not come here to enjoy the beauty, but to consider the general trend of the world in peace.

Li Qing'an's study is close to the riverside and is located on the second floor. The room is large and bright. You can clearly see the beautiful scenery outside from the large floor-to-ceiling windows. This was also Wu Zetian's study. Although it has been renovated, many details of the room are still full of feminine styles, such as panes, carved beams, door decorations, beds, etc. The exquisite flowers, birds, fish and insects, and beauties and ladies on it all reveal the weak side of Wu Zetian as a woman back then.

But it is hard to feel this style at this moment. The room is full of various maps, including Anxi, Guanzhong, Henan, Hebei, Hedong, Bashu, Jingxiang, Jianghuai, etc., and a sand tray that is four feet long and three feet wide is placed in the center of the room.

This is a pieced-up sand table, mountains, rivers, cities, and pass roads that include Hebei Road, Hedong Road and Henan Road. All of them are clear. Li Qing'an stood in front of the sand table, staring at Xiangzhou City, and fell into deep thought.

He had received the latest information about An Lushan's army surrounding Xiangzhou. Li Qing'an always believed that An Lushan's strategy was to attack Jingxing, and actually take Xiangzhou, so that the entire territory of Hebei would be controlled first.

So far, An Lushan's actions have been predicted by him, but for some reason, Li Qing'an suddenly felt a little vigilant in his heart. This vigilance was a strategic sensitivity that he had gradually formed over the years of war, a kind of accumulation of war experience, which ordinary people could not achieve.

He felt that An Lushan’s strategy was not as simple as seizing Xiangzhou. It was very simple. As an ambitious person who was determined to capture the world, his eyes would never be only focused on one city and one territory. If An Lushan’s goal was to seize the Hebei Road, Li Qingan would never believe it.

An Lushan besieged Anyang City at this time. Will he really use a 300,000 army to deal with a city? Li Qingan has gradually realized that An Lushan's reality is still empty. While he besieged Xiangzhou City, he must have another plan. So where is his plan? Henan Road or Hedong Road?

Li Qing'an's eyes fell on the Taihang Mountains. The eight Taihang Xings are four passes south of Xiangzhou, including Fukou Xing, Baixing, Taihang Xing and Zhiguan Xing. Among them, Taihang Xing and Zhiguan Xing are both in Huaizhou and Baixing are in Weizhou. These three passes are far away from Taiyuan, located south of Hedong, and the mountains are blocked, and the journey is difficult. The key is what An Lushan's strategic intention is. If it is to shock Qin and Jin, then it is more convenient to walk these three passes, but if the troops are directed to Hedong, then the An Lushan army will inevitably go to Fukou Xing and threaten Taiyuan.

Li Qing'an was almost certain that An Lushan would go west. The only thing he was not sure about was whether An Lushan sent a surprise troops to Qin and Jin, or steadily entered Hedong.

He pondered for a moment, then returned to his seat, picked up a pen and wrote a letter to Guo Ziyi, and asked the personal soldiers behind him to say, "Send this letter to Guo Ziyi as soon as possible."

As soon as the personal soldiers went out, Yang Yuhuan brought a bowl of ginseng tea and walked in. Seeing the map of the room, he couldn't help but smile and said, "Oh! Are you selling maps?"

Li Qingan stretched and smiled, "Even if it's right! But there are no customers, do you want to buy one?"

"What do I do when I buy a map? It's not a music score. Besides, I don't have money."

Li Qingan blinked ambiguously and smiled, "It's okay to have no money, just pay for it with your body."

"spit!"

Yang Yuhuan gave him a blank look, "Why are you thinking about it all day long and ignore you? I'll go first."

Seeing her plump and beautiful, and her eyebrows were charming, Li Qing'an couldn't help but feel excited. He stepped forward and hugged her from behind, and laughed in her ear, "My beauty Yang, go to the next door, I'll show you something."

"If I don't look at it, you will definitely be uneasy."

Although she said this, Yang Yuhuan had already looked charming and had a coquettish voice. Li Qing'an half-hugs her and pushed her to the next bedroom.

"Qiro, it's still daytime now, let's come back tonight!"

"Let's talk about the evening tonight."

Li Qingan closed the door, got his heart and took off her skirt. Yang Yuhuan was sore and weak all over by him, so he had to hold his neck and blew in his ears, "You are really my enemy..."

For a moment, the room was filled with spring and panting.

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Guo Ziyi's army was still confronting Shi Siming's army in Zhending County, Hengzhou. At this time, both sides increased their troops. Guo Ziyi increased 30,000 troops from Hedong, bringing the troops to 80,000 troops. Shi Siming's army was also led by An Qingxu to reinforce 20,000 troops, with 80,000 troops against 100,000. Both sides were evenly matched.

But what is interesting is that both sides remained silent, as if they were tacitly informed. Both sides were staring at the battle of Xiangzhou in the south. For Shi Siming, if An Lushan's army was dragged in Xiangzhou, he would decisively enter Hedong and seek territory. If An Lushan decisively takes Xiangzhou, then An Lushan would inevitably march into Hedong in that step, so he would stay in Hebei and seek development in Hebei. In short, Shi Siming had his own ideas. Shi Siming did not take An Qingxu, who came to monitor him very seriously. He could transfer him away with an order.

The same is true for Guo Ziyi. He is also paying attention to Xiangzhou. As long as An Lushan's army is dragged in Xiangzhou, he can suppress the army, defeat Shi Siming's army, and directly attack An Lushan's old nest Youzhou. For this opportunity, Guo Ziyi transferred another 50,000 reserve troops to stand by on the other end of Jingxing. Once the conditions are ripe, he will take the initiative to attack Shi Siming's army.

Guo Ziyi stood at the head of Zhending County and watched the situation east of the official road. He had just received news that Shi Siming sent an army of 5,000 people to the east, but he didn't know what happened?

These days, Guo Ziyi has been paying attention to the news about Ji Sheng. Where is the young scout general who is both wise and brave? But Guo Ziyi has a intuition that Ji Sheng has not returned triumphantly. He is still in Hebei. Perhaps he has already sneaked into Youzhou. I wonder if Shi Siming's five thousand troops left is related to him?

At this time, there were rapid footsteps behind him, and a personal soldier stepped forward and said, "Elder General, Li Qing'an has an emergency report."
Chapter completed!