Chapter 4: Butian (Sixth Chapter) Under the crimson and white battle flag, Li Anyuan led five thousand soldiers to launch a frenzied attack on the east wall of Chang'an City. About half of the brothers fell on the way forward, and red blood stained the ground.
However, Li Anyuan did not let the team stop to rest. He only had ten days. If Chang'an could not be captured, the brothers' retreat northward to resist the Turks would not be safe. The Li family would be at risk at any time.
Destroyed in the tide of fighting for the world, his dream of being a founding hero will also be blown away by the wind.
Li Anyuan did not want to see such an outcome. He could not tolerate the Turks trampling on the people of the Central Plains. At the same time, he was not willing to lose the glory and wealth he was about to obtain. Therefore, he could only do his best to take down the fortified city in front of him within ten days. Even for this
Will lose the lives of most of his subordinates
The attackers were dispersed into an attack array of a hundred people. The brothers walking in front held their large shields high, blocking the arrows flying from behind the thick smoke. The shield bearers were followed closely by the archers. They walked as they walked.
He bent his bow and fired a volley at the command of the captain. The arrows tore through the smoke and made the defense facilities on the city wall jingle.
More than ten steps away from the archers, there are towering siege ladders that reach into the clouds. The soldiers pushing the ladders try to get as close as possible to the carriage where the ladders are placed, so as not to become the target of the opponent's sharp archers. Although they are cautious, there are still some people.
The blood of those who were shot by stray arrows during the march was smeared on the edges of the pale wood stubble, making it so red that it hurt the eyes.
After dozens of ladders, there are five behemoths made of giant wood, beef tendons, iron nails, and ropes. They are siege weapons built for Li Yuan by the Taiyuan warrior family who spent a lot of money. They can launch more than two hundred kilograms of stones to a hundred.
When attacking Xihe fifty steps away, this thing caused the defenders to suffer a lot. The civil structure of the city tower only took about half a day to collapse. When the body of the defender was found under the beam, the soldiers on the city immediately
Birds and beasts disperse
The first wave of exploratory attacks quickly failed. General Zuo Yiwei who defended the city wall on the east side of Chang'an, Yin Shishi, was very timid but very experienced on the battlefield. He used stones and boiling water to deal a big blow to the attackers' morale, causing great harm to them.
After many brothers withdrew, they looked at the city wall and trembled.
"Shield bearers, form where you are!" After the front row of soldiers advanced to within fifty steps of the city wall, Li Anyuan loudly ordered the guards around him to blow the horns immediately, passing the leader's orders into the ears of every soldier.
"Woo-woo-woo-woo!" Li Jiajun announced the start of the second attack with a sad rhythm. The shield hand quickly poked the huge wooden shield into the soil under his feet, then squatted down and hooked the shield with his arm.
Simple fences with handles at the back were constructed instantly on the battlefield. Behind the fence, the archers raised their bows at the same time.
"Archers, three rounds of shooting!" Li Anyuan's order came as the sound of a horn. Upon hearing the order, the archers quickly released their bowstrings and arrows, like locusts, broke through the thick smoke, and smashed towards the top of the city with the sound of wind. Most of them were destroyed by the opponent.
Blocked by the shield wall, a small number of them got through the gaps in the shield, killing the enemy troops behind them. Some of them fell halfway and hit the surface of the city wall, breaking the blood ice that had just condensed, revealing the original appearance of the city bricks.
Swarthy, heavy, and as clear as history
"Ballista, attack the city head, fire volley!"
With the sound of deadly horns, the powerful crossbows in the archer team also began to exert their power, roaring across the space of dozens of steps, smashing shields, and smashing the defenders' formation to pieces.
The second round of feather arrows caught up in time to make up for the gap caused by the crossbow. The screams on the city wall were endless, and the shouts under the city wall were deafening. Without any emotion, Li Anyuan pulled out a yellow corner flag and danced the warrior family back and forth.
The contributed weapon began to exert its power, and the huge stone projectiles flew up with a "soaring" sound. After disappearing for a few breaths, there was a dull loud noise from the top of the city, followed by a series of desperate wails.
"Fire!" Aim at the watchtower! Li Anyuan ordered again. Another stone projectile rose into the air, penetrated the smoke, and hit the looming watchtower. This projectile had a slightly larger range, and flew past the top of the watchtower, bringing it with it.
A piece of broken bricks and tiles
The third stone bullet quickly adjusted its trajectory and hit the wooden guardrail and small section of the low wall in the center of the enemy tower. It collapsed together, and the entire enemy tower was crumbling.
The defenders quickly launched a counterattack, and dozens of crossbows fired at the place where the stone bullets were rising. A catapult fell apart in an instant, and the stones that did not have time to fly rolled down from the broken swing arm, directly hitting the panicked soldiers.
into meat sauce
"Help!" The soldiers who were pressed under the wooden beam shouted for help. Several brave Paoze stepped forward to help. Before they could move the beam away, another round of crossbow arrows shot through the air, killing the fallen man and his wife.
The helpers were shot through
The wailing was endless, but Li Anyuan could not hear anything. He quickly adjusted his tactics, dispersed the remaining catapults, and struck the enemy tower from different angles. Then he drew out the sword from his waist and aimed it at a section of the wall slightly far away from the enemy tower, "
We have a camp inside and attack it! The first to reach the city will be promoted to the third rank and will be rewarded with a thousand acres of farmland!"
"Woo-wu-wu-wu!" The sound of the trumpet continued continuously, igniting everyone's blood. The twelve teams of infantry pushing the ladder suddenly accelerated, bypassing their own shield bearers and archers, and rushed straight to the city wall.
Suddenly, twelve ladders hit the city wall. The pusher quickly opened the mechanism under the carriage and nailed the ladder, the box base and the city wall firmly together. Zhaowu captain Wang Yuanhua held a short sword in his mouth and held up a shield with one hand.
, the other hand cooperates alternately with both hands, and is as agile as an ape
"Go up, kill them, and take the gold and silver in the city!" Someone shouted at the top of his lungs, which immediately triggered thunderous cheers. The ladders were instantly filled with people, and twelve ants were moving like black lines.
They entered the city wall together like a hail of arrows, constantly knocking down the climbers. The warriors who followed immediately took up the positions left vacant by the fallen ones, turning a deaf ear to the arrows and stones that were so close at hand. A basin of boiling water knocked down the ten people on the ladder on the far left.
Several brothers poured down, and the archers responsible for covering immediately launched a counterattack. The defenders on the top of the city were hit by arrows, screamed and fell down. They rushed to the ground at the same time as the wounded on the ladder. The cold earth opened its arms and accepted them, no matter what.
Who is from Guanzhong and who is from Hexi
Most of the enemy's attention was attracted by the catapult. In order to ensure that the city tower would not be smashed down, Yin Shishi mobilized almost all the crossbows on the east wall to counter this sharp weapon that could fire stone projectiles.
The panic move resulted in a serious shortage of heavy weapons for defending the city wall, greatly reducing the lethality against attackers. After paying the price of nearly a hundred lives of his subordinates, Zhaowu captain Wang Yuanhua was the first to approach the city walls.
"Kill!" He threw the shield full of arrows in his hand towards the top of the city, knocking down two officers and soldiers who tried to get close to him. Then, he jumped up with both feet and landed on the city wall like a kite from mid-air before he could wait for him.
Standing firmly on his feet, the two long spears were immediately pushed towards him from left to right. Wang Yuanhua dodged one of them and flicked the blade of the other with one arm. At the risk of his arm being cut off, he pushed the blade away from his lower abdomen.
At the moment when the enemy was stunned, he quickly took the horizontal knife from his mouth with his right hand, pushed his feet flat against the pole while exerting force at the same time, and ran forward quickly. Four fingers were neatly cut off. Wang Yuanhuahua
He stopped suddenly, swung his sword with one hand, grabbed the pole that was about to fall with the other hand, and quickly twisted his body. A series of screams followed his movements. The two city defenders were hardened by the sweeping pole.
The man was smashed and fell to the bottom of the city. The other man covered his broken finger with his hand and jumped in pain. Wang Yuanhua quickly wiped a knife on his neck, ending his pain.
"Captain Wang is up, Captain Wang is up!" Taiyuan soldiers and horses shouted like crazy. One after another they jumped onto the top of the city. They were well-trained and immediately formed a small formation, with their backs against their own robes, and they continued to attack the breach.
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The defender's attention was quickly attracted by the breach. A large number of officers and soldiers ran towards it with shouts. Li Anyuan commanded his men to shoot nearly one-third of the soldiers midway, but the remaining two-thirds still rushed towards Wang Yuanhua and others without fear of death.
people
"The people from Hedong will massacre the city!" There were rumors spreading rumors, igniting hatred in the eyes of the brothers. "We have torn away the ancestral graves of Li Yuan's family. If he enters the city, no one in our family, old or young, will be able to survive." Those who stayed in Chang'an
The officers and soldiers cried and fought with the attackers to the death.
Wang Yuanhua stood among his brothers, being pushed by the retreating crowd, retreating steadily. "Hold on, hold on, we can't get down!" He shouted, reminding the brothers that this was a city wall, there was no way out, but the effect was extremely limited.
Paoze, who was blocking the outermost perimeter, had just killed the enemy when he was stabbed by a wooden gun that came straight towards him. A brigade commander following them swung his sword one after another, killing several enemy soldiers wearing iron armor.
Accidentally, he was hugged by the wounded soldier who was lying on the ground waiting for death. His thighs were unable to move, and then he was cut into a pulp by the random blades that came one after another.
A group of defenders held torches and rushed to the ladder with boiling oil. They first poured it into their pockets and boiled the cooked meat of the Taiyuan soldiers who were trying to climb up to the top of the city for reinforcements. Then they quickly threw down the torches and red snakes were flying on the ladder.
, turned into a giant flaming dragon that could not be climbed. Another group of defenders rushed forward despite the rain of arrows, threw their spears at the climbers, and smashed the upward surging ant formation into two pieces of crossbows.
, iron rakes and other sharp weapons began to gather near the breach. Wang Yuanhua and others were getting less and less support, and they were under increasing pressure. His horizontal knife had long been broken, and the long sword in his hand was also hardened by the enemy's axe.
Chopped into two pieces, a Sui soldier thrust his spear at him. Wang Yuanhua held the barrel of the spear with one hand, and stabbed the half of the spear directly into the opponent's throat with the other hand. The enemy soldier screamed and fell down, but Wang Yuanhua refused to let go of the wooden spear with both hands.
He grabbed it back with all his strength, and just when his arm was bent back in front of him, a huge wooden stake was pushed straight into his chest.
"Ah -" Wang Yuanhua, who couldn't avoid it, took a few steps back, vomiting blood. The wooden stake held by more than a dozen Sui soldiers hit the front again, and the second soldier who tried to rescue him was knocked away cleanly.
The third wooden stake roared in, smashing shields and knocking away horizontal knives. It knocked down the Taiyuan soldiers who rushed to the top of the city like dust. Soon, that section of the city wall was recovered by the Sui army. Wang Yuanhua's head and his generals were recovered.
The flags were picked out from the battlements, dripping with blood.
"Damn Master Yinshi, I will definitely kill your whole family!" Li Anyuan's eyes were broken when he saw it at the bottom of the city. He roared angrily and organized his manpower to attack again. If the enemy's reaction was slower, he would have made his first breakthrough in Chang'an.
The duck he got flew away and caught up with several of his close friends.
Yujian once again became the protagonist on the battlefield. Above and below the city, human blood gathered in one place, winding like a stream. As if for fear that everyone could not see clearly, a gust of morning wind blew by, quickly blowing away the thick smoke that shrouded everyone's heads.
The sunlight instantly illuminated thousands of corpses and thousands of pairs of eyes that remained silent.
Yin Shishi, who was responsible for organizing the defense, had already become red-eyed and ignored the dissuasion of his soldiers. He rushed to the top of the city in person to block the enemy's attack. A Taiyuan soldier who climbed up the ladder just exposed half of his head, and was killed by him.
The other climber tried to attack his knees with his shield. The Yin Shishi raised his boots and kicked him, sending both the shield and the shield holder flying into the air.
The third enemy soldier who was not afraid of death appeared at his feet. He held a horizontal knife in his mouth. He hooked the battlement with one hand and raised his knife to chop. The attacker behind him held the knife blade with an iron fork.
Before he could change his moves, the man with the knife in his mouth had already rolled up to the top of the city, clenched his palm into a fist, and hit him directly in the lower part of the body.
Despicable and shameless! Master Yin Shi didn't have time to dodge, so he had to bend down as hard as he could and take away half of the force of the blow on his lower body. Even so, he was still in pain and speechless. The enemy soldier succeeded in the blow, immediately took the knife from his mouth, and wiped it towards Yin.
At this moment, a guard rushed forward, hugged Shishi, and jumped down from the top of the city.
"Kill the man named Li into the city. No one can survive!" A hoarse voice sounded from behind Yin Shishi, which shocked him. He endured the severe pain and quickly turned around, and saw Yang Baobao leading several strong men holding the hand from the collapse.
The wooden beams picked from half of the city tower were charged back and forth, unstoppable.
Rumors can actually be used as weapons. Master Yin Shi smiled bitterly. No one can say anyone is despicable or shameless. This is war, there is only victory or defeat, there is no morality.
"Kill, old thief Li Yuan wants to massacre the city!" The next moment, Yin Shishi himself repeated this rumor loudly and quickly conveyed it to every corner of the city wall through the mouths of his soldiers.
The brothers who were beaten by the attackers were completely angered. They did not bother to investigate the authenticity of the rumors. They only remembered that the people living within the city walls were their own fathers and fellow countrymen. As long as they had a breath, they could not tolerate their relatives.
Being massacred by the enemy, Li Yuan wanted to enter the city unless all the men in Chang'an City died.
The third wave of attacks was quickly repulsed, and several rebels lost support. The rebels who were struggling for time at the top of the city were directly pushed off the city wall by the angry Sui soldiers.
The ladder on the top of the city struck hard with one axe, two axes, three axes, and several feather arrows flew in the air, shooting them like hedgehogs. The dying axe-holder raised his arms again, roared fiercely, and the bloody axe
The blade dazzles in the sun and becomes cold
The ladder finally broke away from the city wall and fell to the ground. It was torn apart. The axe-holder laughed a few times, hugged the battlement with one hand, and lowered his head. The shouts of killing from above and below suddenly stopped, and the brothers on both sides of the offensive and defensive sides raised their heads at the same time to salute the brave man.
With the highest respect, they raised their bows and swords to each other again, as if they had an irreconcilable hatred for each other.
The fourth wave of attackers was quickly defeated by the defenders. Li Anyuan's five thousand brothers had suffered more than two thousand casualties, and their morale was in jeopardy. "Tang Gong is watching everyone!" He shouted angrily, "Come forward, don't embarrass me.
!”
The motivational effect of words is very limited. Li Anyuan had to continuously increase the reward. However, even if he granted the maximum official position within his scope of authority, the morale of the brothers was still sluggish. The enemy was too strong and almost killed him.
For one life, this style of play really makes it impossible for the attacker to muster up courage.
"Take it!" Li Anyuan had no choice but to throw the command flag to his deputy general Zhou Wenyong. Without waiting for his opponent to react, he held a knife in one hand and a shield in the other, and rushed to the city wall himself. "It belongs to a man, come with me!"
Run, he shouted, with a fierce look in his eyes
The sound of gongs that suddenly came from behind stopped him from this desperate act, "Dang, Dang, Dang, Dang!" The crisp sound of gongs sounded from Li Yuan's position, calling all the brothers participating in the siege away from the battlefield, "Grandma's..."
Li Anyuan cursed in a low voice, lowered his head in frustration, and followed the flow of people away from the city wall, leaving the cheers of the defenders far behind him.
Master Yinshi held the battlement with one hand and breathed heavily. If the enemy organized another attack, he might have confessed, but Old Woman Li was reluctant to spend money. After all, she was from Hedong, and she was stingy in everything she did.
"Who told you that Li Yuan was going to massacre the city?" Looking at the enemy retreating like a tide, he asked without looking back at the critical moment. It was the rumor that saved the entire army. But if this rumor continues to spread, it is very likely to become a reality.
"It was Li Jinglin who asked his subordinates to do this when he went to the west of the city!" Yang Baobao did not dare to take credit from others and replied in a low voice. He thought that by doing this he could increase General Yin's favor for Li Juncheng, but who would have expected that it would lead to
