The scout bowed in agreement and exited the side hall.
After the scouts left, Li Shimin said with a hint of ridicule: "Let's not stay here anymore, let's go to the top of the city and have a look!"
Yang Zhengdao fought ten miles outside Aries City in the middle of the night. It seemed that he was going to attack the city overnight. He really should go and take a look.
Li Yuanji nodded, followed Li Shimin out of the side hall, and then left the Xiangyi Racecourse Courtyard under the escort of the remaining Yongwang guards.
There were no people on the street outside the courtyard, and the courtyards and tents on both sides of the street were also empty.
When the scouts reported the traces of Yang Zhengdao and his party, everyone in Aries City was automatically incorporated into the battle order.
King Yong's guards were sent out of the city by Li Shimin, and the city guards were sent to the hills on both sides by Li Shimin. The remaining people were sent to the city walls to guard Aries City.
In other words, the people responsible for guarding Aries City now are a group of common people.
But no one should look down upon them just because they are common people, because none of the common people who dare to appear in Aries City at this time and can appear in Aries City are simple characters.
Take the steward who helps Li Shenfu guard the other courtyard for example. He is a veteran who has served for six years. The highest official position is school captain. Because he injured his thumb when fighting against the Turks in the fourth year of Wude, there was nothing he could do.
After taking up long weapons again, he quit the army and became Li Shenfu's subordinate, and was sent here by Li Shenfu to guard the other courtyard.
He was accompanied by twelve veterans who had served for four to five years, ten of whom were still his former colleagues.
The stewards and gatekeepers of other courtyards, households, and gatekeepers may not be as good as him in terms of status, but they may not be inferior to him in terms of qualifications. Each of them has the experience of serving in the army.
When they wander around Aries City on weekdays, they look like ordinary people. Some of them are worse than ordinary people, like beggars.
But when the war came, none of them panicked, and none of them shouted in fear. They all acted as if nothing was wrong.
When the general drum sounds on the school field, no one needs to inform them. They consciously put on leather armor, cloth armor and other armor, grab their weapons and gather in the school field.
After beating the drum at the three-way point, basically everyone who could make it arrived, and they were all sorted according to their previous positions and functions in the army.
This is the fighting quality of all the people during the period of the military system.
The vast majority of men have served in the army. Even those who have not served in the army can still play with swords, guns, swords and halberds without hurting themselves when swinging them randomly.
This is one of the important reasons why there were far fewer bandits in this period than in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Because a small group of bandits appeared, the local government would not report it to the court, but would organize its own troops to wipe it out.
Therefore, bandits and bandits without the support of wealthy families or local gentry would not be able to survive during this period.
The kings who often appear in novels and romances have been kings of places for many years. They are all supported by wealthy families or local squires, and they only rob businessmen with no background in the past and will not invade.
Ordinary people, or businessmen with background, otherwise they wouldn't be able to survive.
As for those who did not have the support of wealthy families and country gentry, they simply could not survive during this period.
Therefore, those who have some martial arts skills and like to wander around all like to be called rangers, and they also like to be rangers, rather than being the masters of such and such mountains, or the heroes of such and such mountains.
This kind of masters of a certain mountain and heroes of a certain mountain only appeared after the emergence of professional soldiers during the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.
Some people may say, if there were not so many bandits in the Tang Dynasty, then why did Li Shimin recruit so many blind people to become bad people in history?
This has to mention a kind of person who will appear in all dynasties after unifying the world.
This kind of person is a ruffian.
This kind of person has been fighting all his life. After the world is stable, he will have no means to make a living, so he can only idle around and cause trouble.
In this case, these people who have made contributions to this country and protected it have become people who destroy this country and affect its stability.
Therefore, all dynasties will take some measures to deal with such people.
The method Li Shimin adopted was to fight evil with evil, win over a group of people, and defeat a group of people.
Win over those who are still useful among the soldiers and make them temporary workers in the yamen, helping the local yamen and official government officials to deal with the remaining soldiers.
Since they are both soldiers and gangsters, they are naturally the ones who understand the gangsters best, and it is easier to deal with them.
With their help, the soldiers and gangsters will naturally be punished and the local stability will be restored quickly.
This is the original intention and purpose of Li Shimin setting up bad people.
As for later movies and TV dramas that described the bad guys as a mysterious organization and turned Yuan Tiangang into the leader of the bad guys, Bao Shuai, that was purely staged and could not be taken seriously.
Yuan Tiangang was an official of the Qintian Prison, who was responsible for observing the stars and weather. He had nothing to do with arresting thieves. How could he become the leader of bad people?
Even if Li Shimin, Li Zhi, and Wu Zetian were kicked in the head by a donkey, it would be impossible for someone who could read the stars and the weather to act as a catcher or temporary leader of the government officials.
Moreover, if the bad guys were really some mysterious organization that helped the Tang Dynasty do some secret things, it would be impossible for the emperors of the Tang Dynasty, such as Li Shimin, Li Zhi, Wu Zetian, etc., to send someone who could read the stars, watch the weather, and perform the imperial calendar to lead them.
Is it Duan Zhixuan who is not fragrant, or Xu Jingzong who is not fragrant?
The former is brave, the latter is resourceful.
They are all good at helping the emperor do dirty things.
Who is not more suitable to be in charge of the mysterious organization than Yuan Tiangang?
Therefore, those in later movies and TV series are not credible.
The bad guys are just a group of temporary workers composed of soldiers and blind drifters. They do not have any mysterious mission, nor are they some extremely powerful mysterious organization.
Nowadays, if there is any mysterious organization in the Tang Dynasty, it is more likely that the Water Prisoners will be involved than the bad guys.
The Capital Water Supervisor was in charge of the world's water conservancy, and was responsible for maintaining and supervising the construction of water conservancy projects in various places. The officials there often traveled around the Tang Dynasty. They helped the emperor collect intelligence and did dirty things, which was far easier than the bad guys.
After all, they run around all day, no matter where they go, no one will suspect them. If they kill someone, bury them under the dike, or cause a dike burst to wash away everything, they will not be suspected.
Suspect.
As for Baiqisi, who is widely praised by later generations, although he is engaged in espionage now, in history, he really did not do this.
Historically, it was a place that accepted the elites of the Tang Dynasty and some outstanding martial artists.
It is a strong army composed of warriors drawn from hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, and has the ability to charge into thousands of formations with hundreds of cavalry.
This is not a boast, this is the record achieved by Li Shimin personally leading the Hundred Cavalry.
Although after that battle, Li Shimin's favorite horse was shot into a hedgehog, and all his horsemen were killed or injured.
But if you survive with a hundred cavalry charging into thousands of formations, you will be able to look down upon many people and many armies.
It was because of this incident that Li Shimin founded Baiqisi.
The purpose is that with these hundred horses, he can go anywhere in the world.
Therefore, Baiqisi is not a mysterious organization, but a very simple and powerful army. It can be regarded as the last and most trustworthy military force of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.
It's just that it hasn't been used since Li Shimin, and it slowly disappeared into the dust of history.
Speaking of which, when Li Shimin led a hundred cavalry into a formation of ten thousand, it only happened when he tried to lure the enemy deep into the enemy's territory and got away with it.
At that time, as usual, he used his head to lure the guards of the city he wanted to attack. As a result, the general guarding the city heard that he liked to do this, so he came out before he could get close to the city, killing him by surprise.
.
He achieved the record of charging into ten thousand formations with a hundred cavalry only when he was fleeing for his life with a hundred cavalry.
If it was a head-on confrontation, he would definitely be cold by now.
Among all the generals of the Tang Dynasty, there was only one who could truly lead hundreds of cavalry into thousands of formations, but that person was not Li Shimin.
"why are you laughing?"
Li Yuanji and Li Shimin walked for about half an hour and arrived at the west stairs of Aries City. Li Shimin saw an inexplicable smile on Li Yuanji's lips, and subconsciously felt that Li Yuanji's smile had something to do with him, and he was still laughing at him.
It was an embarrassment, so I asked angrily.
Li Yuanji did not hide it, and said cheerfully: "I remembered how my second brother lured the enemy out of the city when he was conquering Song Jingang!"
When Li Shimin heard this, his face darkened. He stared and defended himself: "That's because the traitor guarding the city is unreasonable. Otherwise, how could I be so embarrassed?!"
Li Yuanji nodded and said with a smile: "Yes, yes..."
Before Li Shimin could speak again, Li Yuanji said again: "Is this what people often say if you often walk by the river, do you have shoes that don't get wet?"
Li Shimin glared at Li Yuanji fiercely, didn't want to talk anymore, and strode toward the city wall.
Li Yuanji chased behind him, smiling wildly.
Li Shimin has been a wise man for most of his life, and this incident is definitely one of his most embarrassing things. Whoever mentions him will get a bad look.
After climbing the city wall, the defenders organized by the common people have guarded each crenel entrance, and set up bed crossbows and other items at the crenel entrances. However, it is not easy to allow bed crossbows, and Suni has lost his troops and there is no city.
Therefore, they did not bring many bed crossbows, so there were only thirty bed crossbows set up at the crenel.
But it was these thirty crossbows that gave the people defending the city great confidence.
In siege warfare, the effect of bed crossbows is far greater than that of the same number of soldiers, or even more.
With the bed crossbow, you can kill important members of the enemy, causing some of the enemy's troops to lose command and become paralyzed.
It can also shoot the braver ones among the enemies and restrict the enemy's ability to climb the city wall.
Without the crossbow, bows and arrows with insufficient strength would not be able to effectively shoot down important members of the enemy, as well as the braver people among the enemy.
