After 30,000 to 40,000 horses entered the city, they indulged themselves wildly and dispersed to camp in civilian houses. The generals and commanders, regardless of the fatigue of day and night raids, couldn't wait to lead the soldiers to plunder property and women. They disturbed the whole night last night.
How could it be such an easy thing to suddenly rectify the chaos and organize troops to storm the inner city?
Ge Huaicong and other generals realized that the situation was critical and did not bother to appreciate Hu Ji's delicate flesh. They put on armor, mounted their horses and personally supervised the battle, adjusted their deployment, and still played some role.
Tianxiong's army was in the northwest city, and both wings of the southwest city turned to form defensive formations before noon. In the afternoon, they first gathered 3,000 soldiers and horses to launch a strong attack on the inner city of Datong. No matter how wide the long street coming in from Shengde Gate was, it could only be opened once.
It can accommodate three to five hundred people to attack the attached city, but the space is still too narrow.
This speed can be said to be acceptable.
However, it is already too late to delay the attack on the inner city until this moment.
It is impossible for the Tianxiong army to carry heavy siege equipment and attack Datong over a long distance.
Within two days of entering the city, Zhu Hang and Yue Hailou repeatedly urged Ge Huaicong to attack the inner city. Ge Huaicong fully agreed and issued orders to prepare for war.
In fact, Du Yuhou, who had to be ordered to take charge of this matter, was busy leading his subordinates to plunder property and look for Hu Ji to declare the power of Vietnam. He had long forgotten this matter. When he really wanted to storm the inner city, Ge Huaicong
It was discovered that the army had only hastily built a few ladders, not to mention demolishing all the houses outside the east gate of the inner city to create a wider space for the attack.
The most regrettable thing is that on the day when the army raided Datong City, more than 4,000 remaining enemies retreated to the inner city, and people were most panic-stricken.
There were many dignitaries in the inner city of Datong who hurriedly fled from the east city to Datong City, which further weakened the defenders' will to resist.
Although the siege conditions at that time were more primitive and the generals of the Tianxiong Army were also very tired, the morale was usable and the people's hearts were the most exciting. If they could attack the inner city in one go, they would probably directly suppress the remaining enemy's remaining will.
collapsed.
More than two days have passed since Ge Huaicong led the main force of cavalry into the city. Even though the defenders in the city remained extremely vigilant, they did not open the inner city gate once, and they could not see any collusion or communication with the peasants in the outer city. However, Datong City
The domestic situation has been reversed, a fact that even a blind person can see.
As for what happened outside Datong City, the inner city defenders did not need to figure it out.
They even thought that the Dai Viet army and horses that entered Yingzhou and other places had been defeated, so they waited for reinforcements to arrive in such a short period of time.
And Tianxiong's army entered the city for two days, burned, killed and looted. The defenders stood at the top of the city and could see clearly. The anger in their chests was burning. They even wished that the Vietnamese army had attached to the city and stormed the inner city so that they could have a chance to vent their inner anger.
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In comparison, the morale of the Tianxiong Army was far behind.
Shengdemen was attacked and collapsed. The southern city was captured early in the morning, but the northern city was defeated. Ordinary generals did not know what was happening in the outside world.
The general repeatedly explained that only a small group of enemy cavalry was attacking, but in the eyes of the military officers and the lowest level soldiers, it was only a small group of enemy cavalry that was attacking. Why was the Shengde Gate set on fire and collapsed because of the small group of enemy cavalry? Why did they
So far, we have not been able to capture the South City and North City areas?
They were thinking, could it be that the Eastern Route Army had been annihilated? The general had actually lied like a dog for a long time, and he was just pretending to be calm to deceive them?
Starting at noon, Ge Huaicong personally supervised the battle in the front line and organized more than ten waves of offensives. The generals went into battle in panic, holding shields, door panels to block arrows, and rushing to the city with simple ladders, without any other protection.
The wooden shields and rolling stones were smashed down from the top of the city, and the small shield was of no use at all. As soon as they advanced to the bottom of the city, people were killed and injured.
They reluctantly used a ladder to climb up the city. There were no crossbows under the city to suppress the city. The small shield could only cover the top of the head, but could not block the arrows on the flanks. The leather armor worn by ordinary soldiers had limited protection. They were hit by arrows one after another and fell to the ground. The remaining people
They quickly retreated hastily, no matter how hard Ge Huaicong tried to drive them away, it didn't work.
In the afternoon, there were more than ten waves of offensives, resulting in hundreds of casualties. Only two people climbed up to the top of the city, both of which were caused by Cao Shili leading the attack.
The strength of the Tianxiong army was completely exposed at this time. No matter how brave Cao Shili was, he could not reverse the situation. Seeing him ascending to the top of the city, the defenders rushed over desperately to take his head for meritorious deeds.
Thanks to the good morale of the Qing Shun army, they rushed to the top of the city to protect Cao Shili and his surroundings. They were able to fight to the death with the defenders, but they were unable to further expand the space on the top of the city.
There were no more soldiers and horses to replace them and mount the city wall to fight to the death. Cao Shili's troops held on at the city wall, suffering heavy casualties and increasing the results of the battle. Both times they had to temporarily retreat down the city wall to rest.
The Tianxiong Army focused their attack on the inner city. In the northwest city and southwest city area, they mainly formed formations for defense, but this did not mean that the resisting peasants in the south city and north city areas gave up.
Except for Xu Huai being able to discern the established historical trajectory through the memory fragments that emerged in his mind, who could be sure at this time that Liu Shizhong and Cai Yuanyou would not send elite troops from Yingzhou to reinforce Datong?
In fact, Ge Huaicong, Yue Hailou and Zhu Hang all placed their hopes on Liu Shizhong and Cai Yuanyou to send troops for reinforcements at this time.
Xiao Linshi looked down upon Liu Shizhong and Cai Yuanyou, but at this time he never dared to conclude that they would not send reinforcements.
From the south bank of the Huangshui River in the southeast of Yingzhou City to Datong City, it is more than a hundred miles apart.
It is separated by the Huangshui River and the Hui River. The water level of the two rivers is very shallow after entering winter. Even if the river ice has not frozen solid at this time, the cavalry can directly wade through the water.
The Shengdemen gate tower has collapsed and blocked the city gate, but the fire was completely extinguished in the afternoon.
The Tianxiong Army has 40,000 troops in the west city. Due to the narrow space, most of them cannot be sent to the battlefield. They can only send people to the battle in turns. At this time, they can also free up enough manpower to block the Shengde Gate.
All the masonry and remaining wood were dug out.
This isn't something that takes much effort.
Just like Xu Huai built a climbing road on the north city wall near the northwest corner tower, all he had to do was remove 20,000 loads of bricks and stones and fill them with wood.
This is not a difficult task.
However, Xiao Linshi obviously did not expect to be able to completely seal Shengde Gate with the help of the collapsed city tower. He deployed more than a thousand elite cavalry by the woods outside Shengde Gate in the West City. Not only did he never withdraw, he even
Organize strong peasants from the city and deploy a defense line outside Shengde Gate.
In the absence of reinforcements and the cooperation of a large number of heavy weapons, even if the Tianxiong Army can clear the obstacles blocking Shengde in time, how can they kill through the two or three feet wide city gate in the face of the blockade and interception of a thousand elite cavalry?
Go out and stay outside the city?
Withstanding the rain of arrows accurately shot by the opponent, would you send out one or two hundred cavalry each time from the narrow city gate to fight with the elite enemy cavalry in the field in front of Shengde Gate?
However, as long as Liu Shizhong and Cai Yuanyou can dispatch five thousand cavalry from Yingzhou to drive away the Hu cavalry outside Shengde Gate, regain the dominance outside Datong City, and reconnect Shengde Gate, even if there is no hope of annihilating the city
Despite resisting the Tibetan people, Tianxiong's army still had a chance to withdraw calmly.
At this time, no one except Xu Huai could conclude that reinforcements would not arrive.
Therefore, Xiao Linshi did not dare to relax, hoping to destroy the Tianxiong Army's will sooner.
In addition to deploying a defensive line outside Shengde Gate, the rebels also frequently launched offensives from both wings in the afternoon.
The rebels obviously did not forget that the north and south city walls were two excellent avenues for attack.
Whoever can gain control of the north and south city walls can also shoot down the enemies below the city from a high position, thereby gaining a greater advantage.
Xu Huai certainly would not tolerate others taking control of the North City Wall at this time. Through Zhu Hang, he forced Ge Huaicong to demand that the Supervisory Military Envoy be responsible for the defense of the North City Wall and the vicinity of the garrison.
During special periods, in addition to having the power to recruit imprisoned soldiers and soldiers to participate in battles, the Military Supervising Envoy (Military and Horse Supervisor), as an upright and upright deputy commander, directly controls the troops and horses of various ministries, which is completely in line with the rules.
Ge Huaicong had previously rejected and suppressed the Supervisory Army Envoy because he hated the Supervisory Army Envoy's control over him and did not like Zhu Hang bossing him around. But at this time, he was eager for Zhu Hang and the Supervisory Army Envoy to help him take care of his worries.
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In his opinion, the Military Supervisory Commission, as an institution set up for war, would be dismantled once the war was over when Wang Fan returned to the capital. It was impossible for him to worry about the Supervisory Military Commission being able to interfere with the Tianxiong Army's military command.
In his opinion, even if the Ge family agrees, the imperial court will not allow the violation of ancestral laws to exist.
From the fifth horse-faced war tent on the north city wall to the east, the areas inside and outside the city fell into the hands of the rebels.
Most of the Tibetan people were good at riding and shooting, and the city walls were too narrow. Even if they were well protected with large shields, they could not avoid resisting the Tibetans and injuring people by throwing stones and wood.
Xu Huai had limited elite troops and horses at his disposal, and could not tolerate too many losses. He finally chose to defend the fifth horse-facing wall war tent, using sidecars, horses and other obstacles to block the city road in front.
In addition to the twenty divine arm crossbows, Xu Huai also placed two crossbows and a small ram that he had assembled in an emergency after arriving in Datong in the war shed to suppress the approach of the resisting Tibetan people.
At the same time, Xu Huai also established defenses in front of the alleyway under the battle tent of the fifth horse-faced wall next to the northern city wall.
Both the city walls and the lanes are only two to three feet wide. As long as the rush vehicles and sidecars are deployed in advance, unless the opponent has corresponding weapons for hedging, the houses on both sides may be demolished on a large scale and erected behind the array.
Throw a stone crossbow, otherwise it would be extremely difficult to conquer with manpower alone.
Without foreign aid, Tianxiong's army was always suppressed in the west city, and there was no hope of conquering the inner city. Xu Huai expected that Ge Huaicong would think of escaping after only two or three days.
And in such a short period of time, he was not worried that Xiao Linshi could urgently organize craftsmen to make weapons to attack here.
In doing so, Xu Huai not only wanted to completely control the small area under the northwest corner tower, but also wanted the newly formed six hundred Tongbai Mountain soldiers to adapt to the battlefield in a new formation. More importantly, he wanted to call the Tianxiong Army
The Tongbai Mountain soldiers of various tribes further noticed their presence.
In addition to organizing soldiers and horses along West Street to storm the inner city, the Tianxiong Army and the rebels used more than 20 streets and alleys on the north and south wings to conduct confrontation operations. The confrontation position responsible for the military envoy's office can be said to be extremely narrow.
At this time, the Tianxiong army mainly formed defensive formations in other confrontation battlefields. They were afraid that too much movement would attract the elite peasants to attack. However, Xu Huai placed the war drum originally placed in the corner tower in front of the fifth war weapon. , knocking "dong dong dong" incessantly, very coquettishly, for fear that others would not notice it.
After nightfall, Xu Huai still lit dozens of bonfires on the north wall and organized a night battle.
Xu Huai saw clearly that the elite cavalry under Xiao Linshi's direct control wanted to establish an interception line outside Shengde Gate on the one hand, and on the other hand he even created a suspicious formation on the north bank of the Huihe River to deter the Eastern Route Army from coming to the north. Also leave enough mobile troops and horses.
This means that Xiao Linshi can directly send into Datong City, and the direct elites who can organize the peasants to counterattack are very limited.
The Tibetan people had strong morale and were good at riding and shooting. They had no problem suppressing the weakened morale of the Tianxiong army, which included a large number of old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers, but at this time they were not capable of chewing hard bones.
Among the rebels, there was especially a lack of elites who could fight on foot and attack fortresses - this was not something the nomads, who were famous for their riding and archery, were good at.
It was impossible for Xiao Linshi to equip these tribes with weapons for infantry battles before they took refuge in Datong City.
The more momentum the North City Wall builds, the less likely it is for Xiao Linshi to easily take out his precious elites and waste them in vain on such a narrow confrontation battlefield.
Xiao Linshi's original intention was never to fight to the death with the Vietnamese troops.
He was able to steadily and steadily weaken the morale of the Tianxiong Army on a larger confrontation battlefield, accumulating more advantages step by step. Especially at this time, he was using the confrontation war organization to quickly control the people who were not under his direct control. It was a good opportunity for all the young and strong Tibetan tribes to be integrated into the army and horse formations. Why bother to cling to the northern city wall, a front that was completely unfavorable for them to launch?
