Xiakou City, the camp of the Northern Tang Dynasty.
Looking at the corpse covered with white cloth in the center of the tent, Guo Ziyi froze on the spot and didn't speak for a long time.
Duan Xiushi, the deputy general of the West Route Army, was kneeling at the tent door, his forehead touching the ground, and his whole body was as motionless as a stone sculpture.
The other generals of the Northern Tang Dynasty looked at each other with frowns on their faces.
Guo Ziyi raised his hand and signaled the guards to lift the white cloth.
After the white cloth was lifted, Guo Ziyi looked at Li Siye's miserable face, closed her eyes in pain, waved her hand and ordered someone to cover it with the cloth, and send it to the back camp for proper placement.
Slowly walking back to the desk, Guo Ziyi seemed to have aged much, and let out a long sigh.
After a while, Guo Ziyi said slowly: "In the battle of Jiangcheng, our army lost 30,000 men on the first day, and even General Li died on the battlefield. This is my fault, and I will apologize to you..."
Guo Xi, son of Guo Ziyi, said: "The defenders of Jiangcheng not only had artillery, but also gunpowder. Even General Li died because of it... There were firearms in Jiangnan, but no one knew about them before the war. It is not the fault of the commander-in-chief."
Guo Ziyi shook his head and said: "The situation on the battlefield is ever-changing. A leader should anticipate the enemy's opportunities and leave room for various possibilities. I know that Siye is brave and takes the lead in every battle. However, the internal situation in Jiangcheng is unknown. I really shouldn't arrange Siye here.
Former Army."
Speaking of this, Guo Ziyi sighed again: "After all, I am also anxious about this battle in Jiangcheng. I think that if we capture the city early, we can attack Jiangnan as soon as possible."
Most of the generals in the tent stood up and offered comfort to Guo Ziyi.
Guo Ziyi waved her hand and said: "I will definitely write a memorial to apologize, but the most important thing right now is not this."
After speaking, Guo Ziyi said to the tent door: "Vice General Duan, come in."
Duan Xiushi said "Hey", got up from the ground and bowed into the tent.
Guo Ziyi: "The 80,000 West Route Army attacked Jiangcheng. How many troops are available now?"
Duan Xiushi: "Excluding the soldiers who were killed, seriously wounded, and missing in battle, there are still 36,000 soldiers left, most of whom are stationed in the Yaoludu area."
Guo Ziyi: "How is the morale of the army?"
The general died in battle, the soldiers were in internal strife, and it coincided with a new defeat. It can be said that the morale of the West Route Army has dropped to the lowest level.
Duan Xiushi frowned, and for a moment, he didn't know how to answer.
Guo Ziyi: "Okay, let's not talk about this anymore, let's talk about Jiangcheng firearms."
Duan Xiushi nodded and said: "According to reports from the front line, the Jiangcheng defenders have a side force called the Shenhuo Guard. The weapons used are all squatting tiger cannons, which fire iron sand and are astonishingly powerful."
Guo Ziyi: "How many tigers are there?"
Duan Xiushi: "No less than a hundred families."
Guo Ziyi frowned, thought for a moment and then said: "Jiangnan was able to build artillery and prepare gunpowder, it must have been guided by others. And our army's firearms were captured by the enemy in battle, and the enemy I mentioned was,
There are two. One is the Tubo army and the other is the Yan army."
Guo Xi: "Commander, Tubo has been experiencing frequent civil strife in the past two years and has not appeared for a long time. The tiger squatting cannon and gunpowder in Jiangcheng must have been captured by the puppet Yan from our army and given to the southerners. If you want to be specific,
At the end of the day, I think it should be Shi Siming."
Guo Ziyi nodded, Guo Xi's guess was reasonable.
At that time, the Yan army defeated the Northern Tang army in the capital area and captured countless baggage, including not only gunpowder, but also tiger cannons and long cannons.
Guo Ziyi: "Even if Jiangnan obtained firearms and gunpowder from Shi Siming, it would be difficult to completely imitate them."
Duan Xiushi heard this and said to Guo Ziyi: "The general's subordinates seized some gunpowder used by the Jiangcheng defenders on the battlefield. I dare to ask the commander-in-chief to take a look."
Upon hearing this, Guo Ziyi nodded and said, "Bring it up."
Not long after, a sergeant brought in a heavy copper tubular object.
Duan Xiushi took the copper pipe, opened one end of the pipe, and carefully poured the contents onto the table.
Guo Ziyi and a group of generals came over and took a closer look.
The objects on the table are gunpowder from the Southern Tang Dynasty. Upon closer inspection, there are many differences from those used in the Northern Tang Dynasty.
Not only was it not granular in shape, but powdery, it was also variegated, unlike the gunpowder used by the Northern Tang army, which was pure black without any impurities.
After a general told the results of his observations, Guo Ziyi thought for a while and ordered the army to get the gunpowder used by the Northern Tang Dynasty military, placed the two separately, and then ignited them for comparison.
After some comparison, the result is that the gunpowder of the Northern Tang Dynasty burns faster and more powerfully, while the gunpowder of the Southern Tang Dynasty burns slower, and after the combustion is completed, there will be many impurities.
Seeing this, Guo Ziyi said: "It seems that Jiangnan has only initially mastered the method of making gunpowder."
The generals nodded.
Seeing this, Guo Ziyi remembered something again and asked Duan Xiushi: "On the Jiangcheng battlefield, except for the squatting tiger cannon, have you ever seen the defenders using long cannons?"
Duan Xiushi shook his head and said: "No, the Jiangcheng defenders only have tiger squatting cannons."
Guo Xi said from the side: "The production of the Tiger Crouching Cannon is relatively simple, and the requirements for the material of the cannon body are not particularly high. As long as it is tightened with iron hoops, even if the cannon wall is defective, it will not be a problem if it is used for more than ten times.
. But the long cannon is different. The iron used in the long cannon must repeatedly remove impurities and then be tempered into steel, and the production of the mold needs to be continuously improved before it can be formed."
Guo Ziyi: "According to the current level of weapons in Jiangnan, I'm afraid we won't be able to build a decent long cannon in a short time, but even if we only have the Crouching Tiger Cannon, it will be troublesome. This kind of firearm is extremely powerful at close range and has already constituted a great threat to our army.
A big threat.”
Turning his attention to the gunpowder of the Southern Tang Dynasty on the table, Guo Ziyi added: "There is also this gunpowder. The Southern Tang Dynasty is currently exploring the technology. There is no guarantee that it will be able to create a more powerful product in a year or two."
Hearing this, all the generals nodded.
Duan Xiushi raised his hand and said: "Commander, I am willing to make up for my past mistakes and lead the army in person tomorrow to attack Jiangcheng!"
Guo Ziyi looked at Duan Xiushi and asked: "Based on the current situation of the West Route Army, how confident are you in attacking Jiangcheng?"
Duan Xiushi knew the fighting strength of the West Route Army. At present, because the morale had dropped to the lowest level, the chance of victory was very slim. However, he still had to bite the bullet and said: "The general is deeply favored by the emperor and dare not slack off! Within a month, if we can't
After capturing Jiangcheng, Xiushi will entrust his life there!"
Guo Ziyi sighed and said: "Knowing that something cannot be done, but still forging ahead, this is a brave man, but not a wise man."
Duan Xiushi was stunned and looked at Guo Ziyi.
Guo Ziyi said to Guo Xi: "Give me the order, the Central Route Army's left front compartment, left middle compartment, and right front compartment will cross the river tomorrow to replace the West Route Army and continue to attack Jiangcheng."
Duan Xiushi said anxiously: "Commander!"
Guo Ziyi: "The top priority right now is to capture Jiangcheng. We will talk about other things later."
The next day, one hundred thousand Tang soldiers from the Central Route Army crossed the river, took the place of the West Route Army, and began to attack Liangcheng.
Due to the temporary change of defenses, which took a lot of time, and the fact that the Jiangcheng defenders had firearms, the Northern Tang army had a very difficult time fighting in the next three months.
Lai Yi is just like his nickname, like a piece of pig iron that cannot be smashed or chopped, guarding Jiangcheng.
The army led by Guo Ziyi attacked Jiangcheng hundreds of times, but in the end they all returned without success.
Jiangcheng is like a flesh and blood mill, consuming the combat power of both armies bit by bit. Thousands of lives are lost here every day.
However, the war has been in a stalemate with no end in sight.
Under such circumstances, Shi Siming of Xunyang City originally had the idea of fleeing as soon as possible when the situation was bad, but after hearing the news that Li Siye died in battle and that Jiangcheng's defenders outnumbered 80,000 by 10,000, he began to rethink this idea.
The final winner of this war finally decided to stay in Xunyang, fighting with Li Guangbi and watching the changes.
In addition to Shi Siming, there are many people in the world who are paying attention to this war in Jiangcheng.
Some of them were worried, while others thought the time had come.