May 16th, the third day when the Turkic war began.
Li Shan, who was standing on the city wall wearing soft armor, touched the sweat on his forehead, turned his head and looked around, with a bit more confidence in his eyes.
Today, the Turks attacked the city again. Yesterday, there was heavy thunder and light rain at first. Later, they started to move more or less seriously. But today, they were just putting on airs. They stopped moving about 150 steps away from the city wall... to the crossbow arrows.
The range of the weapon is quite clear.
Then Li Shan, who stayed up until midnight for surgery last night, went up to the city wall, analyzed the situation, explained the battle situation, and concluded that Jieli Khan would definitely give up and would bypass Guji Town to attack Mayi or Yanmen Pass.
When Li Shan was explaining, everyone around him had dark faces. Wang Junhao pulled Li Shan's clothes several times regardless of his dignity... But!
but!
It was just in the afternoon when the Turkic army really bypassed Guji Town and swept southwards. The two flags of Jieli Khan and Tuli Khan gradually disappeared from everyone's sight.
Of course, not all the Turks went south, and there were still about ten thousand cavalry left around to keep an eye on Guji Town... The previous three thousand cavalry were defeated by hundreds of Tang cavalry, which obviously made the Turks wary.
However, just relying on more than ten thousand cavalry to break through Guji Town is a no-brainer. If Yanmen Pass was not too close, Jieli Khan could have killed him at any time. Just relying on more than a thousand cavalry in the fort,
Zhang Shigui and Xue Wanche were both confident of defeating these tens of thousands of Turks... After all, the Tang Nu's lethality was too powerful.
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong in the original time and space, Xiao Song, the governor of Hexi Province, sent out 4,000 crossbowmen. Relying on the fortified city, he defeated the 20,000 Tibetan army. Deputy General Wang Zhongsi personally led 700 crossbowmen to surprise the Tubo Zanpu and killed thousands of Tibetan soldiers.
The remaining people gathered in the capital to watch and then returned home.
Even Zhang Shigui was fortunate that Li Shan managed to mobilize these thousands of Tang crossbows from Chang'an in advance. Ordinary generals would not have to think about it. Even Li Daozong, the general manager of Bingzhou, only had a few hundred crossbows on hand.
The danger in Guji Town was temporarily alleviated. Li Shan thought in his heart that he was not afraid of problems at Yanmen Pass, but he was not sure about Mayi... The key was that the Turks sent more than 100,000 troops this time. Liu Shirang and Qin Wu
Tongtong can still be stable, but can those Yuan Junzhang's old troops be stable?
It has been half a year since he took office in Daizhou. Xue Wanche, who had been to Mayi with Li Shan, also thought of this, "Your Highness, over there in Mayi..."
"Jieli Khan and Tuli Khan both passed through Guji Town. This time they are marching south and will not go to Mayi." Li Shan comforted Xue Wanche and also comforted himself, "The ones who attacked Mayi should only be partial troops...
…”
Zhang Shigui said expressionlessly: "I'm afraid it will be difficult for Ma Yi to come to help. I will send my personal guards out of the city later to investigate the situation in Mayi."
"But it is really difficult to send troops from Guji Town..."
"At this time, we can only stand firm and wait for reinforcements. Although Su Dingfang is young, he has the ability to lead the army. The Turks are not good at attacking cities. As long as they do not break through the barriers and enter, the situation can still be dealt with."
In these few words, Zhang Shigui has clearly explained the situation of the war. Now let's not think about making achievements. If we want to survive, there is only one way to go. Su Dingfang secures Yanmen Pass and prevents Jieli Khan's 100,000 troops from invading.
Hedong Road.
As a result, after all, with an army of more than 100,000 and insufficient food and grass supplies, the Turks were unable to fight a protracted war. If the two sides continued to stalemate, Jieli Khan would inevitably retreat.
As for Guji Town, will Jieli Khan, who returned to the army, spend time and endure the inevitable heavy casualties to pull out this nail under the premise of lack of food?
The possibility is not high.
Xue Wanche added: "Fortunately, Your Highness knew about Yuan Junzhang's old tribe before. Now there is enough food and grass in Mayi. If there are many Yuan Junzhang's old troops in the city and they surrender, the Turks can get a lot of food and grass."
"Yes, the Duke of Yiyang County is stationed now. Even if the city is broken, he will set fire to the grain and grass." Zhang Shigui nodded and said with a smile: "Your Highness is very capable. Now in Shuozhou's thousands of miles of wasteland, Jieli Khan came with more than 100,000 troops.
Come, there will be no food and grass."
Indeed, Li Shan spent more than half a year gathering the scattered people in Shuozhou and Yunzhou and moving them to Seine. As a result, all the grain and grass in Mayi and Guji towns had to be supported by Daizhou, but at the same time, it also caused the Turks to find almost no one in Shuozhou.
There are no supplies.
After thinking back and forth in his mind for a long time, Li Shan was relieved. Unlike Zhang Shigui and Xue Wanche, he had strong confidence in Su Dingfang's military capabilities.
Well, although historically Su Dingfang was idle for a long time after leading 300 cavalry to break through the Turkic king's tent, and it was not until the reign of Emperor Gaozong that he was able to hold a high position and truly become a commander, but the younger version of Su Dingfang should not have a big problem at least guarding Yanmen Pass.
Turning back and looking in the direction of Yanmen Pass, Li Shan said softly: "I hope they don't want it over there at Yanmen Pass..."
In the middle of speaking, Li Shan suddenly stopped and looked around. Not to mention Wang Junhao and Xue Wanche, even Zhu Wei and Zhang Shigui looked wary.
Li Shanqian laughed a few times and closed his mouth obediently.
At this moment, on the road between Mayi and Yanmen Pass, several cavalrymen were galloping, and the sound of heavy horse hooves was echoed in the open wilderness.
In the yellow sand rolled up by the horses' hooves, the leading knight tried his best to open his eyes wide and shouted, "We hit him!"
Several other people looked up and saw small dots spread out like black lines coming from north to south. No need to guess, they must be Turkic scouts.
"The military leader leaves first!"
Five or six knights drew their swords and rushed north, just to gain a little chance for their companions to escape. The leader's eyes were red, and he kicked the horse's belly hard with his heel, and galloped eastward with all his strength.
Turkic marches have never had a clear route, only a general direction, and the biggest role played by Turkic scouts is not to detect the military situation, but to cover the battlefield.
Before the main army arrived, the Turkic cavalry, numbering dozens or more than a hundred people, dispersed in all directions. It was difficult to catch a few, but the Turks were not willing to let them go. They left dozens of people to deal with it, and the remaining dozens of cavalry returned.
Chase eastward.
The companions left behind to block the enemy were all dead and wounded. They had no armor to protect themselves, no Tang crossbows to control the enemy, and even no long spears. The Turkic cavalry spread out and used only bows and arrows. After a while, each scout had more
A few long arrows.
Getting closer and closer, the remaining scouts lowered themselves as low as possible, staring closely at Yanmen Pass, which was not far away, and heard the whistling sound of long arrows piercing the sky.
With a muffled groan, a long arrow accurately hit the scout's shoulder. At the same time, more than a hundred cavalry emerged from the corner of the valley to the east. The leader, a big man holding a big bow, bent his bow and nocked an arrow, chased at the front.
The two Turkic cavalrymen fell from their horses.
"Mayi battle report..." the scout shouted.
The big man's face was ashen, and he waved his hand to his personal guards to protect him. He put down his big bow, picked up the horse's spear, and went straight to the west. He was wearing bright light armor and was facing a hail of arrows.
Killed three Turks.
The more than a hundred personal guards behind them either bent their bows and fired arrows, or charged into battle with spears in hand. They were quickly defeated by dozens of Turkic cavalry.
Looking from afar, he saw that the enemy scouts had fallen off their horses and died, and their horses were empty... The big man gritted his teeth, did not dare to delay, and quickly turned his horse back to Yanmen Pass.
"Brother Zhonggui, thank you for your hard work." Yanmen Pass guard general Ma Sanbao personally led his troops to respond at the city gate.
Daizhou Sima Zhu Yichen, who took the initiative to ask Ying to go out to meet the scouts, forced a smile and said, "Where are you?"
"Sent to the wounded barracks." Ma Sanbao extended his hand and said, "Su Dingfang and Li Demou have already rushed over."
At this time, the defenders on the city wall shouted in unison. Er Zhu Yichen and Ma Sanbao looked at each other and quickly climbed to the top of the city. Looking from a distance, the ant-like black spots in the north grew from small to large, densely packed all over the sky and the earth.