"It's true that Jiang Baoyi is a general, but I haven't heard of his great achievements before. Now, as the deputy general manager of Jiezhou's march, he leads troops to garrison the east city of Jiexiu. Yu Wenwo..."
"The end will be here."
The orderly advance and retreat of the army before was all the result of the Wei Mansion and the General Manager's Mansion.
When setting up the troops, it was Li Po who had the final say as to who should be used and who should not be used. They were all based on the scouting reports. After some deliberation, Li Po finally felt that it was almost done and began to issue military orders.
"The soldiers need to rest for a day. The morning after tomorrow, I will order you to lead the troops to attack Dongcheng. First, we will test it out to see if the descendants of the Jiang family are worthy of their name."
"The general will obey the order."
"Zhang Lun is an old general of Yanmen. After joining the Tang Dynasty, he made great achievements in battle. It has been said many times that he defended the southern city and did not need to attack by force. He followed the group..."
"The end will be here."
"When other ministries are attacking the city, you lead 10,000 cavalry troops to serve as infantry and line up in the south of the city to contain Zhang Lun's tribe so that they have no time to assist other ministries."
"The general will obey the order."
"Li Zhongwen is a noble man. His ancestor is Li Bi, the emperor of the Western Wei Dynasty. He is a powerful man... Haha, I like opponents like this, Chen Yuan and Yu Chixin."
"The end will be here."
"The day after tomorrow, you two will lead the main force of the infantry to attack Jiexiu North City. Let's first see if the general manager of Jiezhou has the talent to lead an army."
"The general will obey the order."
Military orders were issued one after another, and soon the generals dispersed.
Compared with the confidence of the cavalry, the generals of the infantry were not so confident. This was the first battle between the infantry armies of the two states and they had to face a city like Jiexiu.
There are also 30,000 Tang troops stationed in the city. For the infantry of the two states, this is not an opponent that can be easily defeated.
To be honest, despite Li Po's orderly instructions, he himself didn't know what to do.
He had seen siege battles. When he was in Liaodong, a million troops besieged Liaodong City. He watched it for several days, and the tragic scene seemed to still be vivid in his mind.
The Sui army had countless ways to attack the city, and the Goguryeo people's defense was also innovative. Regardless of the final outcome of that battle, it left an indelible impression on Li Po.
It was so tragic, both the defenders and the attackers shed their blood there.
What he was thinking at that time was, please don't ask us to attack the city, otherwise, whether you can survive in the end depends on whether God will give you this face.
Now he was facing a small Jiexiu City and 30,000 Tang troops. It was certainly incomparable with the battle in Liaodong City that day, but who knew, no matter how big or small a war was, there would always be similarities.
Now, the parallel is the course of the war.
On this day, the army under Jiexiu City still did not attack the city. After a long march, the soldiers must rest and recuperate.
But they were not idle either. The cavalry dragged in more and thicker logs, and the craftsmen got busy. They began to make some bulky siege equipment.
It is indeed incomparable to the Sui army under Liaodong City. There is not so much manpower and there are not so many skilled craftsmen to follow. Therefore, the most important siege equipment produced is actually crash vehicles, city boarding vehicles, and a series of siege vehicles. There are ladders set up and cannons.
Paolao is also called cannon throwing. These days, cannon throwing is an advanced siege equipment, and the production process is also a military secret.
That is to say, Li Po captured Jinyang. Otherwise, such large siege equipment would never have appeared in his army.
As for the all-wooden one, its range can only be said to be unsatisfactory. It is farther than a bow and arrow. It also depends on how heavy the weight is.
If we were attacking a big city like Jinyang, we would have to make the artillery even taller so that we could throw the stones up the city wall. If we wanted to break down the city wall in Jinyang, we should save it. That was the patent of artillery later.
Even if you can throw a thousand-jin heavy object with a cannon, as long as it doesn't always hit one point, it will be in vain for the walls of Jinyang City.
It can be said that even though the army was well prepared, this was not a large-scale siege. Li Mi and Wang Shichong would definitely have fought much more excitingly in Luoyang than here.
Of course, having said that, Li Po is not that kind of general. If Jiexiu City had not been small, he would not have let his soldiers launch a strong attack.
There will be bloodshed in war. This is unavoidable, but the amount of bloodshed can prove the ability of the general who leads the army.
The day passed quickly. In fact, this period of time was the most difficult for the two soldiers. The smell of gunpowder smoke was clearly discernible, but they still had to wait patiently.
In the early morning in March, the breeze was gentle, but there was still a bit of chill.
War drums sounded faintly, and large groups of infantry poured out of the camp, lining up in neat lines. Amidst the squeaking sounds, some monsters born in the war were pulled out by mules and horses.
The Tang army had also been ordered by the general to line up on the city wall in groups. Although morale was generally low, the orderliness during the battle made a clear distinction between them and the chaotic rebel army.
In fact, they, like the army under the city, belong to the military heritage of the Sui Dynasty, but their heirs no longer recognize them as Sui officials.
The elite and toughness of the Sui army can be reflected to a certain extent in them.
The period of preparation for the battle seemed extremely long for the two soldiers.
The siege army, which had taken more initiative, calmly made various arrangements under the city, attacking on three sides, leaving only the west end near the Fen River.
Surrounding three buildings? No, even if the Tang army escaped from the city, they would not choose the west side.
Under the east city of Jiexiu, a banner with the inscription "Yu Wen" was erected. Among the 20,000 infantry under Yuwen Huo's command, there were 5,000 Youzhou soldiers, and the remaining 15,000 were for his old troops and the Tang army.
Under the banner, Lieutenant General Yu Wenhuo summoned himself in front of him.
Yuwen Huo's voice came to everyone's ears clearly, "The war is about to begin. We shouldn't say anything else. However, many of our subordinates have surrendered. There may be some hesitation when we move forward with all our strength. After you return, please announce to the troops
, it is a matter of our life and death, honor and disgrace. If we want to hold our heads high and support our families from now on, it will depend on the outcome of this battle."
"Those who climb the city first will be heavily rewarded. If we can attack this city before other tribes, it will be the first achievement of the army. If I can open a palace and build teeth, I will not forget your help..."
In order to boost morale in front of the battle, there were few shouts, so these military lieutenants and generals had to be used as mouthpieces. Yuwen Wo, who was a descendant of Li Tang, was really worried that his soldiers would not be able to fight to the best of their ability.
Therefore, the whole army must be informed in advance how important this battle is to them.
In fact, except for his old subordinates, the people listening to him here are not descendants of Li Tang.
……………………
Under the city wall of Jiexiu East City, groups of soldiers held up large wooden shields and quickly advanced under the city wall. They all held tools in their hands to fill in the trenches dug by the Tang army under the city.
Behind them, live bullets flew into the sky and hit the city head and the inside.
Groups of archers, protected by large shields, came not far from the city and started shooting at the top of the city.
The Tang troops on top of the city drew their bows one after another. Amid the shouts of the officers, they loosened their bow strings and let the arrows fly into the sky.
For a time, arrows rained like locusts from above and below the city. From time to time, people were hit by arrows and fell to the ground. Amidst the shrill screams, the war slowly began.
At noon, Yuwen's Huo tribe finally gathered their men and horses, and they used the lives of hundreds of soldiers to clear all the obstacles under the city.
The other side is faster.
The bloody corpses were dragged back to the army one after another, burned at the transfer meeting, and the ashes were taken back to their hometown for burial.
And this was not Li Po’s initiative. He allowed his comrades’ corpses to be exposed in the wilderness. Those were the rebels. The Sui Army’s military regulations clearly stipulated that those who brought back the corpses of their comrades who died in battle would be counted in their battle merits and killings.
The enemy is the same.
Not to mention the Sui people, even the Turks had similar military regulations. Even when various tribes were fighting, they would sometimes set aside a period of time to allow the enemy to gather the bodies of those who died in battle.
Of course, the Turks more often use their spare time in the war to retrieve the bodies of their own people and kill the injured enemies on the battlefield.
The battlefield has returned to calm, smoke is rising everywhere, and the soldiers above and below the city can take a break for a while. It's time for dinner.
……………………
Compared to the north and east of the city, the battlefield in the south was eerily quiet.
On top of the city, Zhang Lun was holding on to the crenellations of the city wall and scratching his beard, looking suspicious.
After a long while, he said to the young man wearing a crown and armor next to him: "Hey, maybe the enemy's troops are insufficient and they dare not come to attack the city. Why not... divide our troops to the north of the city?"
The young man clasped his fists respectfully and said, "I will send someone to ask the manager right now..."
When the young man left, Zhang Lun sneered. His cousin came over from the side at the right time and whispered: "Brother, the people below the city are just bluffing and not attacking. This is a good thing. How can you still do it?"
Do you want to divide your troops to help others?"
"The son of the Li family is here to help us defend the city, but he is actually a military governor. This is really too much of a lie. Why should the elder brother care about the lives of others?"
Zhang Lun curled his lips and muttered, "It won't do us any good if the city is broken...these people under the city are all cavalry, just showing off here, so even the children of the Li family can't tell..."
Having said this, his face finally darkened, and then he whispered to his cousin: "Erlang, to be honest with you, Li Zhongwen is still very suspicious of us at this time. From what I see, this city cannot be defended."
Well, even if we can escape from the city before it is breached, we won’t be able to escape far.”
"You call Liu Da and the others immediately and ask them to be ready to listen to my orders at any time. If there is an emergency, immediately kill the Li family's children and ask for surrender. In that case, everyone may still have a way to survive... We can't
Bury with those two."
His cousin was not surprised but overjoyed, "Brother, it should have been like this a long time ago. No one named Li is a good person. No matter how many merits we have made, we are still treated like pigs and dogs. Why don't we find another place... Why don't we surrender first?"