Not long after, Qin Ling and Qing Shui hurried to the former army camp.

"How is the situation?" Qin Ling asked eagerly.

Zanpo hurriedly replied: "Tang Gou wore our military uniforms and sneaked into the former army camp to kill everyone he saw. Because it was too dark, the soldiers panicked and finally started killing each other!"

Qin Ling frowned and asked: "Didn't we send out sentries? How could the enemy not detect it when they launched a night attack?"

"It was a small attack. They killed our guard post first and then launched the attack!"

Hatred Shui said from the side: "They should have been lowered along the rope from the city wall. If they came out from the city gate, the sentries would definitely find them!"

Qinling nodded and asked again: "Are there many casualties?"

Zanpo whispered: "Preliminary count shows that there are about three thousand casualties!"

After hearing Zanpo's words, Qinling couldn't help but take a breath of air.

There were less than a thousand casualties during the siege during the day, but more than 3,000 casualties during the sneak attack at night, and most of them were caused by cannibalism. This was the first time Qinling had encountered such a thing.

Hatred Shui said with a grimace: "If I hadn't guessed, this would have been Lu Xiaoxian's masterpiece again!"

"Damn Lu Xiaoxian!" Zanpo couldn't help cursing after hearing this.

…

Lu Xiaoxian boldly launched a night attack and achieved huge results with the loss of only a dozen people, which greatly boosted the morale of the Taozhou defenders.

Perhaps because of the sneak attack last night, or perhaps in preparation for the next attack, Qinling did not launch another attack on Taozhou City the next day, but just stood still and surrounded Taozhou City.

Whether an offensive or defensive battle occurs depends not on the defending side, but on the attacking side. The defending side can neither force the attacking side to come and attack it, nor can it put up a no-war card to refuse the war. All the initiative lies with the attacking side.

inside.

Although Qinling did not launch an attack, Lu Xiaoxian could feel the atmosphere of an approaching storm. He did not dare to neglect at all and went all out to prepare for the battle.

He sent out all the veterans of Guangwu and mobilized them from house to house. He asked them to tell the people that the Tubo attack on Taozhou had caused too much damage. In anger, they would definitely massacre the city after they conquered Taozhou.

In fact, no one knows whether the Tibetans will massacre the city after they capture it, but after Lu Xiaoxian exaggerated it, it seems to have become a definite fact.

Taozhou City has too few troops. If he wants to defend the city, he must mobilize the entire city to participate in the defense. The reason why he wants to do this is to let the people in the city know: if you want to survive, you must firmly defend the city, regardless of men or women.

Both young and old are obliged to assist the officers and soldiers in defending the city.

The people of Taozhou have all heard about the looting and massacre by the Tubo soldiers. Their wives, children and families are all in the city. They can only rely on themselves to protect themselves. When the Tubo army came to the city, the people in the city were not weak or flinched.

It's just determination, courage and fearlessness.

Of course, just creating a tense atmosphere is not enough. The strings will break if they are too tight, and the people must feel that there is still hope for survival.

At the same time, Lu Xiaoxian asked people to spread the news in the city: General Manager Wang Xiaojie's 100,000 troops were on their way to reinforce Taozhou City, and they would be able to relieve the siege as long as they could hold on for five days.

Don't tell me, Lu Xiaoxian's trick really worked. The thirty thousand people in the city were enthusiastic and rushed to help the army defend the city.

Lu Xiaoxian handed over all the people he recruited to Chai Liu and Guangwu veterans, organized the people to strengthen the city wall, carried rolling logs, stones, armor, and equipment on their shoulders, while the women made fires to cook and reward the officers and soldiers.

After solving the problem of insufficient manpower, Lu Xiaoxian began to rack his brains again to think of various ways to assist in defending the city. He wanted to use all available resources in the city to make full preparations before the next attack by the Tibetan army.

Late at night, Lu Xiaoxian ordered people to beat drums and fire cannons in the city to create the momentum of an attack.

Of course, he didn't really go for a sneak attack. After last night's lesson, the Tubo people would definitely strengthen their defenses.

The Tubo people heard unusual noises outside the city and thought that the defenders were about to attack again at night. They immediately put on armor and swords and prepared for battle.

Unexpectedly, there was a commotion in the city all night, but not a single soldier went out to fight. Until dawn, there was no movement, and the Tibetan people were all yawning all the time.

Although they didn't get much rest all night, they had to bite the bullet and hold on because their commander-in-chief Qin Ling had already issued an order to attack the city.

Looking at the formation of the Tibetan army, Lu Xiaoxian's expression became serious.

No wonder there was no movement in Qinling yesterday. It turned out that he was preparing the most powerful weapon for attacking the city: the catapult.

The catapults used by the Tubo people are very powerful and can throw very large stones. Moreover, they used more than 100 catapults this time, which was very impressive.

Lu Xiaoxian ordered Zhao Lang: "General Zhao, quickly remove half of the brothers on the city wall, let them find a safe place to hide, and be ready for reinforcements at any time! The brothers on the city wall should also hide as much as possible to avoid appearing.

casualties!"

Of course Zhao Lang knew the power of the catapult, so he agreed and hurried to give the order.

As soon as Zhao Lang withdrew his soldiers from the city wall, the Tubo catapults began to fire towards the city wall.

I saw huge rocks flying toward the city wall, making loud noises.

After the first round of catapult strikes, the originally strong Taozhou city wall was damaged in some places. Lu Xiaoxian did not hesitate to order the soldiers to fill the holes in the city wall with wooden fences.

After four or five rounds of catapults, the Tibetan soldiers finally launched the attack.

They were almost crazy, carrying shields, carrying ladders, and braving the debris and iron falling from the sky, climbing the wall desperately. The broken limbs and broken bodies of the dead soldiers around them and the wails of the frequently killed soldiers seemed to have no impact on them.

Without the threat of the archers on the earth platform, the pressure on the defenders on the city wall was greatly reduced, and they could go all out to deal with the Tibetan soldiers who climbed the city.

In addition to beating the city defense tools with rolling wooden yaksha, various evil methods that Lu Xiaoxian came up with were also used one by one at this time.

A large number of fire tools were used on the city walls. Thick ropes made of thatch were soaked in oil and ignited to burn the rebels who boarded the city. There were also fireballs and even torches. Anything that could be ignited was thrown down the city.

Using fire attacks to deal with Tibetan soldiers is indeed a very effective method.

It's early winter now, and it's very cold outside the empty city. The Tibetan soldiers are all wearing thick fur clothes, which will quickly catch fire if they come into contact with them.

Then, several long iron ropes that were red-hot with fire were thrown to the bottom of the city to attack the Tibetan soldiers climbing the wall.
Chapter completed!