In mid-May of the third year of Tianyou (760), as the commander-in-chief of the eastern battlefield of the Northern Tang Dynasty, Fan Yang Jiedushi Li Guangbi led an army of 150,000 people and marched south from Jizhou.
Shi Siming, who was stationed in Handan, was arguing with Cui Qianyou who stayed in Yecheng in Weizhou City (today's Ji County) over military pay and supplies.
After hearing the news that Li Guangbi was leading his army south, Shi Siming didn't care about anything else and hurried back to Handan City.
According to the reports from the scouts, unlike in the past, Li Guangbi's attack this time was so menacing that it looked like the entire army was pressing down on him.
Shi Siming secretly thought something was wrong. While he began to send troops and generals to resist the offensive of the Northern Tang Army, he secretly prepared a retreat and planned to evacuate southward at any time.
At the end of May, the Northern Tang Army, composed of Lulong Army, Youzhou Army, Weihua Army, Changping Army, Xinyang Army and Qian Army, marched to Mingji Mountain a few miles north of Handan. They were not in a hurry to attack the city, but instead Start resting and setting up camp on the side of the ridge.
Shi Siming stood at the head of Handan City and looked toward the mountains to the north, where he could vaguely see the large flags of the Northern Tang Dynasty.
He frowned and asked his generals: "When the Tang army set up camp, they did not choose to occupy the official road, but instead went to the foothills. Aren't they afraid of ruining their own livelihood?"
Shi Siming's eldest son, Shi Chaoyi, stood up and said: "The Tang army occupied the high ground. Firstly, they could broaden their horizons. Secondly, they could set up strongholds and fortify themselves. According to the general's opinion, Li Guangbi had planned to besiege the city for a long time."
Shi Siming nodded first, then shook his head, and said: "That makes some sense, but something is wrong."
Liu Jincheng, the general under Shi Siming's command, raised his hands and said to the former: "Commander, Handan City is one of the strong cities in Hebei Province. There are twelve watchtowers, four forts, a moat, a horse-rejecting formation, a barbican city, etc. Wait, not to mention that there are 80,000 elite soldiers in the city. Even if Li Guangbi is extremely capable, he can never even think of attacking this city!"
Shi Siming: "Although Handan is not as strong as Fan Yang, it is well-defended and has enough food and grass for three months. The only thing I am worried about is the weapon used by the Tang army to defeat Fan Yang..."
Liu Jincheng: "The commander-in-chief is talking about thunder?"
Shi Siming nodded.
Liu Jincheng: "Don't worry, Commander. Before this battle begins, our army has invited all the monks and Taoist priests from a hundred miles away into the city. As long as the Tang army dares to use magic, we can open an altar to do it and invite all the gods in the sky." Buddha, destroy evil and restore righteousness!"
When Shi Siming heard this, a smile appeared on his face: "You are still thoughtful."
Shi Chaoyi listened on the sidelines and reminded: "The Tang army used Zhentian Lei twice. The first time it exploded the Fanyang City Wall, and the second time killed thousands of Yiluohe cavalry. It can be seen from this that Zhentian Lei's attack method , it’s not just thunder, there may be other spells that we have to guard against.”
Shi Siming had always disliked his eldest son, and when he heard the latter singing the opposite tune in public, his face showed a little displeasure.
Seeing this, Liu Jincheng said with a smile: "Young general, there is no need to worry too much. As the saying goes, the Supreme Lord's order means four lives will benefit from it. Although this magic is ever-changing, the power of Taoism and Buddhism is incomparable, and there is always one that can suppress the evil. "
After speaking, Liu Jincheng opened his armor pocket and saw that the armor lining inside was covered with Taoist charms and Buddhist scriptures.
Patting his armor, Liu Jincheng said with a smile: "The general has ordered the Taoist priests and monks to work day and night to write thousands of runes and distribute them to the soldiers and generals in the army. This method can ensure that the evil spirits are dispersed!"
When Shi Siming heard this, he glanced at the generals in the city.
Among the generals of the Yan army, many opened their armor leaves and found talismans and scriptures stuck underneath them.
Shi Siming hesitated for a moment, then stretched out his hand: "Give me some, too."
Liu Jincheng first said loudly, and then, like a magic trick, he took out a large stack of talisman papers from his arms and helped Shi Siming paste a circle of talisman papers and scriptures.
Shi Chaoyi was dubious, but in the end he asked for a few talismans and put them in his arms...
After the army of the Northern Tang Dynasty set up camp in Mingji Mountain, they did not leave the camp for three days and three nights.
Just when Shi Siming was considering whether he should send a scout closer to the foot of the mountain to see what the Tang army was doing, Li Guangbi personally led the army to the official road 500 steps away and set up an siege formation.
As a result, Shi Siming stopped exploring the strength of the Tang army and began to actively prepare for war, intending to defend the city.
The two armies faced each other. After the Tang army formed their formation, they did not attack for a long time.
Just when Shi Siming was filled with doubts, a loud noise came from Mingji Mountain, followed by a burst of white smoke.
A black round object shot out from the foothills, flew for almost 900 steps (1350 meters), drew a beautiful arc in the air, fell into Handan City, and smashed a gate tower near the city wall into pieces.
A ruin.
Everyone in the Yan army in the city was stunned by this scene.
Shi Siming pointed to the sky and asked the generals: "Did you... see it? What just... just now flew by?!"
All the generals looked at each other, and no one answered.
General Liu Jincheng shouted: "The magic method! It is the magic method of the Tang Army!"
After saying that, Liu Jincheng ran to the other side of the tower, stuck his head out of the parapet, and yelled at the nearly 100 monks and Taoist priests in the courtyard of the city: "Why the hell are you standing still here! Hurry up and open the altar!"
"
The Taoist priests hurriedly took out their wooden swords, burned the talismans, and walked around the altar chanting words; the monks sat on the ground together, and the wooden fish made a clanging sound.
In just half a stick of incense, a deafening sound of cannons came from Mingji Mountain.
The first shell is to calibrate the impact point, and the subsequent salvo is a saturation strike.
More than a dozen iron bullets, like rain, hit the Handan city tower heavily.
Bricks and stones flew everywhere and buildings collapsed.
There was an unlucky Yan Army general who was hit in the chest by a cannonball. His whole body was shattered in an instant. Bones and flesh were instantly covered with a section of the city wall.
Shi Siming put his head in his hands and lay on the ground.
Everything that happened before him was completely beyond his understanding.
His body was trembling and his mind went blank. The only words he could shout were: "Fight back! Fight back!"
Shi Chaoyi used his hands and feet to crawl to Shi Siming's side and shouted loudly: "Father, the bow and arrow have a range of one hundred steps, the catapult has a range of two hundred steps, the furthest crossbow is only three hundred and thirty steps, and the weapons on the city head are enough to even the enemy troops below the city."
Not to mention the enemies on Mingji Mountain!"
When Shi Siming heard this, he felt despair in his heart.
The weapon with the longest range in the Tang Dynasty was the Thousand Bull Crossbow. When activated, hundreds of people were required to push the winch at the same time. However, it was only equipped in capital cities like Chang'an and Luoyang.
The city defense weapons of ordinary cities, whether they are catapults or ordinary crossbows, have a range of no more than 500 meters at most.
However, the thunderbolt used by the Northern Tang Army flew over from the top of a mountain thousands of meters away.
This also means that the Yan army can only be beaten, but has no means of fighting back.
General Liu Jincheng of the Yan Army got up from the ground at this time and pulled off the armor underneath him, revealing the layers of talismans and scriptures on the lining of the armor.
He rushed to the side of the city tower and shouted at the top of his voice to the monks and Taoist priests in the courtyard: "Don't stop! Quickly invite the gods and Buddhas to help our army defeat the enemy!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the artillery position of the Northern Tang Army started the second round of salvo fire.
Another dozen cannonballs landed on the city wall.
Some of the shots carried huge kinetic energy and bounced off the ground, jumping directly off the tower, knocking over the Taoist priest's altar, and even smashing the monk's wooden fish.
When Liu Jincheng saw this, his face turned pale and he fell to the ground.