The Tubo army won the Battle of Shanque Peak, and the eight thousand Tang army was almost wiped out. The last barrier to Dunhuang completely fell, and the passage was opened.
Sang Chiruo knew clearly that taking Shanque Peak would mean taking over half of Dunhuang City.
Leading the army into Shazhou this time, it could be said that he had washed away his previous shame. Naturally, Sang Chiruo was very satisfied. Amidst the flattery of the Tubo generals and nobles, he gradually began to look down upon him.
After the Battle of Shanquefeng, the Tubo army should have taken advantage of the victory and pursued it, without giving the Tang army any chance to prepare, and captured Dunhuang City as soon as possible.
However, the Tibetan generals and nobles were eager to plunder money. In addition, the Yumen envoy was killed in the battle and the Shazhou governor was seriously injured. Everyone believed that the Tang army would not be able to organize a decent defense in the short term.
Therefore, the Tubo army did not choose to attack Dunhuang, but first went to Shouchang and Yumen.
These two locations in Shazhou were important starting points for the Daqi Commercial Road, and there were many businesses and shops that had no time to evacuate.
The Tubo people burned, killed, looted, and robbed a large amount of wealth, but they also left a certain amount of time for Dunhuang City to prepare.
When the Tubo army completed their plunder and rushed outside Dunhuang City, Sang Chiruo was surprised to find that Tang troops were everywhere on the city walls.
After the Tubo army set up camp, General Sang Chiruo, Lieutenant General Sang Chiruo and the nobles convened a military meeting.
Before the military meeting began, the craftsmen accompanying the Tubo army presented something.
This thing is a "Tiger Crouching Cannon" dug out from the ruins by the Tibetan soldiers after the explosion at Shanquefeng Rongbao.
However, this cannon has been blown beyond recognition. Military craftsmen spent a long time repairing some of the damage, and now the original shape can be seen.
In the tent, Sang Chiruo first looked at the exploding muzzle, then at the deformed ears, and asked everyone in the tent: "Which of you has ever seen such a weapon of the Tang Army?"
The Tibetan generals and nobles looked at each other, but no one responded.
Sang Chiruo frowned, clasped the cannon body with his hand, and said, "This material seems to be high-quality wrought iron, and it is made through hundreds of refinements."
Sang Chiruo placed the squatting tiger cannon on the ground and said to Yin Tu beside him: "Chop it and test its hardness."
Yin Tu Yiyan pulled out his sword and slashed hard at the tiger crouching cannon.
After a harsh clash of weapons, Yin Tu's saber collapsed with several gaps, but the cannon of the Crouching Tiger Cannon was intact except for a faint white mark.
The Tubo people in the tent all exclaimed: "What a solid iron tool."
Sang Chiruo looked solemn, waved his hand and said: "Take it down, let's talk about how to capture Dunhuang first."
A general said: "There are thousands of households. A sudden heavy rain a few days ago destroyed the nearby roads and caused flash floods. The reinforcements from the Tang State were unable to reach Dunhuang in a short period of time. And our army was wiped out at Shanque Peak."
Without the Doulu Army and Yumen Army, there will only be some auxiliary troops left in Dunhuang City to fill up the numbers."
Sang Chiruo nodded.
In his opinion, the guards at the top of Dunhuang City were most likely the guards of Dunhuang City, or even local people pretending to be soldiers.
At this time, another general asked: "What should we do if there are weapons that can make thunder in Dunhuang City?"
After this question was asked, everyone in the tent looked sad as they thought about the power of the Crouching Tiger Cannon that day.
Yin Tu's loud voice rang out at this time: "In the battle at Shanque Peak, the gods dropped a heavy rain and extinguished the weapons that could make thunder. This shows that God is blessing Tubo and the gods have been helping thousands of people.
household!"
As soon as Yin Tu's words came out, the eyes of the generals and nobles in the tent looking at Sang Chiruo changed.
In the Battle of Shanque Peak, the reason why the Tubo army was able to capture the pass was largely due to the sudden heavy rain, which soaked the Crouching Tiger Cannon.
The Tubo people believe in gods, and most of them attribute the arrival of this divine rain to the head coach Sang Chiruo, thinking that he brought good luck to the entire army.
Sang Chiruo did not intend to argue with this speculation, because this argument could strengthen his position in the circles of generals and nobles.
At this point in the military discussion, Sang Chiruo said to everyone: "The Tang army has no available troops at the moment, but it is best to be careful. Tomorrow our army will attack the city. We will first use slave soldiers to test the reality of the city."
All the generals said yes.
On the second day after the Tubo army arrived at Dunhuang City, Sang Chiruo ordered each tribe to send a battalion of slave soldiers, gathering 3,000 people, and tentatively launched an attack on Dunhuang City from the south gate.
The first siege battle began.
Three thousand slave soldiers dispersed and cautiously attacked the south gate of Dunhuang.
The defenders at the south gate blocked the Tibetan advance with bows and arrows.
Sang Chiruo, who was in the middle army, noticed after watching for a while that the Tang army's archers had extremely poor accuracy, and their landing points were sparse, making it impossible to form a volley.
From this, Sang Chiruo judged that the garrison on top of the city should be temporarily recruited volunteers who were sent to the battlefield before they had time to complete their training.
After three thousand slave troops approached the city wall, the Tang army on top of the city was in a hurry and could not defend at fixed points. There were even vacancies in a certain defensive area.
The Tubo slave army set up ladders, and after a fierce battle, several groups actually stormed the city wall.
Although they later had to retreat due to the driving force of the elite Tang army, this scene deeply inspired the Tibetan army.
Almost everyone believed that all the elite troops in Shazhou had been lost, the Tang army on the tower was weak, and the city's defeat was just around the corner.
The most important thing is that there are no weapons that can make thunder in Dunhuang City.
When Sang Chiruo saw this, he did not intend to waste time. He directly recruited five thousand soldiers from the three-winged elites, intending to make the final decision and capture Dunhuang directly.
In the second siege, the elite soldiers of the Tibetan army lined up in a dense formation and carried siege equipment to attack the south gate of Dunhuang.
The Tubo army once again attacked the city easily.
When the ladders began to be set up and the Tubo people gathered in large numbers, dozens of small wooden barrels emitting white smoke were suddenly thrown down from the top of the city.
When these wooden barrels fell among the Tubo people, violent explosions suddenly resounded throughout the battlefield.
Huge flames and strong impact instantly swept through everything under the city wall.
In the explosion of black powder, the Tibetan warriors were instantly torn into pieces like a small boat in the stormy waves.
Blood, severed limbs and armor were flying all over the sky, making the whole scene miserable.
At this moment, the south gate of Dunhuang City suddenly opened.
Guo Ziyi's son, Guo Yao, led 1,500 Moli army ring cavalry, suddenly rushed out of the city and ran directly into the Tubo army.
After experiencing the explosion, all five thousand Tubo soldiers were left with shock and fear. At this time, they encountered the heavy cavalry of the Tang army. Almost in an instant, the morale of the entire Tibetan front army completely collapsed.
Everyone began to flee towards the Tibetan army, unable to resist at all.
Guo Yao led his cavalry to cover the Tibetan rear line and kill them all the way to the edge of the Tibetan army's bow and arrow range before withdrawing his troops and returning to the city.
As a result, the three elite Tibetan wings and 5,000 soldiers were almost completely wiped out in the first battle.
But because Sang Chiruo despised the Tang army, he fell into Guo Ziyi's plan and was given a severe lesson.
The first battle between the Tubo army and the Tang army in Dunhuang City ended with a great victory for the Tang army.