The matter of Marshal Liu Rengong vomiting blood was strictly silenced. Except for the Marshal's bodyguards and hundreds of soldiers from the soldiers' camp, no one knew about it. If this news spread, it would be enough to shake the morale of the Lulong Army, which was unfavorable in the war.
Three days later, Liu Rengong, surrounded by generals, began to inspect each battalion. He loudly encouraged the sergeants to continue fighting bravely, told impassionedly about his dream of reviving the Tang Dynasty, and laughed and talked to the soldiers at the bottom.
He talked all kinds of dirty words, patted the shoulders of every brother around him and vowed to lead them to wealth and promotion...
Everything shows that the coach is optimistic about the future war. His high-profile and positive attitude has cleared away the gloom that weighed on the Lulong Army to a certain extent and restored some vitality in the military camp. But I witnessed it with my own eyes.
In the scene where Liu Rengong vomited blood and fell to the ground, Li Chengzhong could see his pale face and the frown between his brows.
"The marshal is forcing a smile..." Jiang Miao, who also knew the inside story, whispered in Li Chengzhong's ear, "Look, the marshal's hand is holding the riding crop..."
Li Chengzhong nodded without saying anything. He had long noticed the hand that was always resting on the horse's mane. The hand was trembling, reminding him of his grandfather who suffered from Parkinson's disease in his life.
The military morale that Liu Rengong gained from patrolling the barracks did not last long before he was broken by a message from a southern scout - the Bian army had increased its troops.
Bianjun generals Li Sian and Zhang Cunjing commanded 30,000 troops and had crossed the Yellow River. Now they are approaching the Yellow River, pointing to Weizhou in the distance!
"I heard that these soldiers are just the vanguard, and the Bian Army brigade is still marching slowly behind," Wang Dalang said with a sad face and a hint of frustration in his eyes: "The flags are like a forest and the horses are like clouds! I heard that the smoke and dust are billowing along the way, covering the sky.
Block out the sun!"
Wang Dalang's nickname, Wang Yibo, was also a brother of Pontu's Jianzu Camp. During the siege battle a few days ago, he almost fell off the ladder. Fortunately, Li Chengzhong at the bottom of the ladder pushed him sideways and saved him.
After that, Wang Dalang, who claimed to repay Li Chengzhong's "grace of pushing", often walked around the camp of Li Chengzhong and Jiang Miao. This was a familiar guy, and when he talked to the leader Zhang Zhongyan,
He is neither old nor young, and he is even more unrestrained in front of the two newly promoted team leaders, Li Chengzhong and Jiang Miao. He is very popular in the capital, but he likes to inquire about things too much. To use the words of Li Chengzhong before time travel, this person is very
Gossip.
"There are really so many people? Thirty thousand forwards alone?" Li Chengzhong asked.
It has been almost two months since he came to this era, and Li Chengzhong has a general understanding of the population situation at this time. After the Huangchao Uprising and years of melee in military towns, the Tang Dynasty has long ceased to have the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty with a population of 100,000.
Lulong Town, which is still relatively stable, has jurisdiction over 13 prefectures and 35 counties. The entire town's strength in the southern expedition can only be 50,000 soldiers and 30,000 civilians. No matter how powerful the Bian army is, it is impossible.
With several sides fighting at the same time, so many troops could still be sent north. Therefore, Li Chengzhong had deep doubts about this number.
Wang Dalang was stunned for a moment and said hesitantly: "Uh... I also heard about it..."
"Who said that?" Li Chengzhong asked.
"Liu Wu... He is from the same village as So, and he is now a scout in the Marshal Yajun. So was originally going to defect to him, but he couldn't make the decision, so he sent So to the Jianzu camp. Speaking of which, Yajun is really good.
Ah, good food and a good knife are much stronger than ours... If you can become a scout, you can also be assigned a war horse. Liu Wu's war horse is really strong. It is a war horse that can be used in battle. It is better than
The horses raised at home are much stronger..." Wang Dalang went off topic as he spoke.
Yajun is the Yameni Army, which belongs to the commander-in-chief's personal army, so the treatment is naturally different.
Li Chengzhong coughed and pulled him away from the topic of horses: "Can you go and ask again? How many people are there in the Bian Army?"
Wang Dalang nodded, agreed, opened the curtain and went out.
Jiang Miao asked in a low voice: "Li Lang, why do you want to know so much?"
Li Chengzhong said: "As the saying goes, know yourself and the enemy, and you will never be in danger in a hundred battles!"
Jiang Miao sighed: "What can we do if we know each other? We are just team leaders, and now we have no one under us..."
Li Chengzhong grimaced and was speechless for a long time.
When Wang Dalang came back and told the news he had found out, the matter became clear. The Bian Army Li Sian and Zhang Cunjing commanded more than 10,000 troops, known as 30,000, and are now stationed in Naihuang. As for whether there will be a Bian Army brigade in the future, it is still unknown. .Although according to Li Chengzhong's estimation, there should be no follow-up, but these more than 10,000 Bian troops alone made the Lu Long Army like a thorn in the back, making it difficult to sleep and eat.
Neihuang is less than eighty miles away from Weizhou, and the army can reach it by traveling day and night. If the Bian army suddenly attacks the city while the Lu Long Army is attacking the city with all its strength, the consequences will be disastrous under the attack from both inside and outside. Li Chengzhong thought of this problem, and the top brass of the Lu Long Army would naturally He did not dare to ignore it. On the second day, Li Chengzhong saw a large group of people setting up camp and heading southwest.
The inquiring Wang Dalang told Li Chengzhong and Jiang Miao more precise news: the Yichang Army's military commander, Marshal Liu Shouwen, led the army to Neihuang to attack. The Yichang Army only governed Cangzhou, Jingzhou, and Dezhou, and the military commander Liu Shouwen Shouwen himself is the eldest son of Liu Rengong, the governor of Lulong Army. Therefore, in essence, Yichang Army is a vassal of Lulong Army. Within the town of Lulong Army, Yichang Army is not regarded as an outsider. In the eyes of all the vassals in the world, The Yichang Army is actually part of the Lulong Army.
In addition to the tens of thousands of troops and horses in the Yichang Army's own town, accompanying the young commander were eight thousand Badu cavalry who had no use in the siege battle. The leading general was Badu Cavalry to suppress the attack, and General Ningyuan could only reach it.
Wang Dalang was beaming as he described Shan Kechi's extraordinary bravery. He couldn't help but dance when he talked about the tense and exciting parts. However, Li Chengzhong and Jiang Miao were not interested. They finally waited for Wang Dalang to finish and then gave Wang Dalang a reason. left.
As Marshal Liu Shouwen moved south, the besieging army became a little thinner, but even so, 20,000 elite troops including the Yameni Army, the disciples of Shanbei, Yinhudu, and various state soldiers were still there, together with thousands of soldiers who had lost nearly half of their health. The enemy camp still has the power to siege the city. The original 8,000 Wei Boya soldiers in the city and the Bian army whose number is unknown, but is estimated to be no more than 5,000, should also be seriously damaged now, and the strength comparison is still dominated by Lulong's army.
The current situation is relatively delicate. The Lulong Army is fighting on two fronts. Whether it is Weizhou or Neihuang, the progress of the battle will determine the outcome of this war. So after the young marshal went south, the Chinese army issued an order to attack Weizhou again!
After listening to the news relayed by Wang Dalang, it was Liu Zhiwen, the marshal who proposed to attack Weizhou again, who marched in the Yamen and joined the army. This scholar proposed a strategy of "building a city with earth". It is said that the marshal appreciated it very much and adopted it immediately. Wang Dalang relayed it in detail, Even the commander was so excited that he accidentally tore his clothes when he got up from behind the case. He told the story vividly, as if he had witnessed it with his own eyes.
Li Chengzhong was dumbfounded after listening and asked Wang Dalang how he knew so clearly. Wang Dalang said proudly: "The handsome soldier has a certain fellow villager!"
Jiang Miao blinked and asked, "Which village is Dalang from?"
Wang Dalang chuckled: "Let's go to Wangjiatun in Shenzhou." Then he quickly opened the tent and went out, leaving only the two people inside the tent with their handsome backs.
Jiang Miao murmured to Li Chengzhong: "Good country party..."
Li Chengzhong was confused and asked Jiang Miao: "What's a good way?"
Jiang Miao sighed and said: "Our commander-in-chief is from Shenzhou."
Suddenly, the whole army began to mobilize. First, Yin Gourddu suppressed the city with bows and arrows, and then the civilians piled bags of soil and built the city along the predetermined baseline. The men of Yan and Zhao were good at shooting, especially those in the mountains.
The descendants of the latter lived together with the barbarians outside the pass all year round, and had practiced archery skills since childhood. Liu Rengong selected the more outstanding ones among them to form an army of 3,000 people, and distributed them with high-quality arrows and crossbows. They showed great proficiency in this southern expedition.
Long-range strike capability. Because these soldiers like to carve silver ornaments on the bow, it is named Silver Gourd City.
In the siege of Weizhou these days, the silver gourd has played a great role. The soldiers' precise arrow skills have almost always overwhelmed the defenders at the top of the city.
.At this moment, the civilians were fortifying the city, and the silver gourds also successfully suppressed the bows and arrows of the defenders at the top of the city, greatly reducing the casualties of the civilians.
After the unremitting efforts of tens of thousands of people, in just two days, the Tucheng began to take shape. The Tucheng was built north of the east gate on a relatively flat terrain. It was completely built up with earth bags and was as high as the city wall.
A dozen people can pass side by side. The earthen city extends from a hundred feet outside the city to the city wall, directly filling in the moat. It is only three feet away from the city head, which can ensure that Lulong's soldiers board the earthen city from a safe place. To put it simply, this
It is a large slope pointing directly to the city.
On the fourth day, the fighting became more and more intense. Both sides mobilized a large number of crossbowmen and rushed to the slope to shoot at each other. The arrows were as dense as locusts. Sergeant Lu Long carried a huge wooden board made in advance to the front to resist the rain of arrows.
, the peasants boarded the earth city under the cover of wooden planks, and then continued to dump the earth bags forward. The distance between the earth city and the city head gradually narrowed, from three feet to two feet, and from two feet to
One foot.
At this time, Lu Longjun didn't care anymore and pushed out the last few archery towers until they reached the side of the slope. On each archery tower stood more than ten archers from Yinhulu City, shooting condescendingly towards the city head.
Braving the rain of arrows from the Silver Gourd Soldiers of the Lulong Army, the defenders at the top of the city threw oil cans one by one at the Tucheng, and then fired rockets in an attempt to repeat the same trick. However, the defenders were covered up with mud by the well-prepared Lulong Soldiers.
The army focused the burning on the large wooden boards at the front of the slope, but these wooden boards were all soaked, so it was not easy to light them. Some wooden boards finally caught fire because they were stained with too much oil, but Sergeant Lu Long only needed to
Throw the board down and replace it with a new board from behind.
Li Chengzhong was waiting in line below the city. Because the Jianzu camp suffered heavy losses in the previous battle, it was still ranked behind in this siege, so he had time to watch this scene carefully. He couldn't help sighing and thinking, this
The method does work. If this method had been used earlier, why would the situation be so urgent now?
Seeing that the Tucheng was getting closer and closer to the city head, the civilians retreated along the slope. The elite Yameni troops from the brigade quickly ran up to Tucheng to assemble. When everything was ready, the war drums of the Lulong Army's central army suddenly started to beat loudly.
, the whole army shouted loudly, and the soldiers in the front row of Tucheng suddenly put down the wooden planks and directly set them up on the city head. Rows of Yameni sergeants shouted, passed the planks, and rushed into the densely packed defenders at the city head.
Li Chengzhong looked excitedly at the group of Yameni army brothers beside him, shouting and rushing up the slope, and then leaping onto the city wall on the wooden planks. His blood boiled in his heart, and he couldn't help shouting.
After more than a month of siege and fighting, many brothers fell under the city. Now it is about to be completed and the city is about to be destroyed. How can we not be excited! How can we not be excited!