Gao Xianzhi wanted to kill three animals to sacrifice to the river god, so everyone naturally had to make some preparations. Although the conditions were simple at the moment, everything was quite ready. The Shini Kingdom and the Humi Kingdom had argali and yaks, but no animals like pigs, so they eventually caught them in the river.
A few fish came instead.
Sacrifice to the river also required an altar. The soldiers piled up the river sand and made a small one, and performed a pretentious sacrificial dance. Gao Xianzhi personally stood on the altar and ordered everyone to kill the cattle, sheep, and fish, and pour the blood on the flag.
As a sacrificial flag, the bodies of the three animals were thrown into the river for the river god to enjoy.
Li Siye would not even believe a word of this kind of thing. The rise in river water is caused by the melting of glaciers. Now is the season when rivers flood. Kill a few animals and throw them into the river and the river god will listen to you? Besides, in the world,
There is no such thing as a river god.
However, the morale of the military is relatively stable at the moment, because most people firmly believe in this, and atheists are rare after all.
The soldiers looked at the river in a daze, as if waiting for the water level to drop.
Gao Xianzhi held the belly of his armor robe with both hands, looked at the river and said with a smile: "The river god lives downstream, and for his old man to eat these three animals, he has to wait until tomorrow morning."
He suddenly said loudly: "The three armies listened to the order and left a thousand people to meet them on the river bank. The rest prepared dry food and rested in place. We will start crossing the river at Yin time tomorrow!"
The soldiers of the Tang army were hesitant, so they went down and rested on the exposed rock slopes with sheep felt.
Where does Gao Xianzhi's self-confidence come from? Li Siye thought about it carefully and realized that it will be three or four o'clock in the morning tomorrow. It is midsummer now, and the highest temperature in Congling during the day has reached about ten degrees, while the temperature at night has dropped sharply to below zero.
The reason for the surge in river water is the melting of snow-capped glaciers, which means that the flow of river water changes with time. Three o'clock in the morning is the lowest point in temperature, so the water level of the river is also the lowest at this time.
Gao Xianzhi does have keen observation and judgment, which are also qualities that a good general should have. Although Li Siye also thought of it, it was only a hindsight after all, and he needs to strengthen this aspect in the future.
As night fell, the surrounding temperature gradually dropped. The soldiers wore iron armor and lay down on sheep felt along the foothills of the river. The armor was cooled from the outside to the inside, and even the inner layer of cowhide became cold. Many of them shivered in the middle of the night.
Awakened by the cold.
At this time, even the stars in the sky are cold, like flickering fireflies and weak sparks, as if they will be extinguished by the freeze at any time. Some people who wake up occasionally should actually be able to detect the rolling and rumbling of the river during the day.
The sound has disappeared and turned into a sound like the tinkling of a fine spring.
Half of the stars in the eastern sky disappeared, and only one bright star rose. This was the Taibai Star, heralding the arrival of the dawn. The soldiers were awakened by the generals and began to line up by the river. They held up the flags in their hands and faced the morning light.
Flying high.
The violent and surging river was dormant, and the water surface was so quiet that there was no sound. As a result, the soldiers became more and more respectful and admired Gao Xianzhi. Of course, Li Siye also knew what was going on, but he just pretended to be stupid and followed the generals.
Pay attention as a gift.
Sometimes as a subordinate, you cannot act too smart and have the awareness to be foolish and flattering. If you cannot even do this, the road to promotion will be extremely difficult.
Gao Xianzhi rode a war horse at the forefront of the team. He drew his horizontal sword and did not say any heroic words. He just waved it lightly towards the other side, and the soldiers began to lead the horses into the cold river water.
Li Siye followed Gao Xianzhi and whispered to him: "According to many investigations by Yu Gou, the envoy of Congling Guards, and Feng Changqing, the cavalry camp, we learned that the person stationed in Lianyun Fort was a man under the command of Kagelu Haonu Dongdai.
The leader of the five-thousand-man team is a Tibetan named Zonglu, who is actually a descendant of Tuyuhun, and I know him."
"Do you know him?" Gao Xianzhi glanced at Li Siye in surprise.
"Yes, in the past, when I was guarding the envoys of Congling, Shinibu Gayan came from nomadic to the vicinity of Congling. He was attacked by the Tibetan soldiers and horses sent by the Tibetans from Sole City. The tribe was almost robbed to Xiaobolu. I
He led the soldiers and horses guarding the city to attack and defeated them near the snowy mountains. The enemy leader was killed, and only one of the five hundred generals named Zong Lu escaped."
Gao Xianzhi smiled heartily and said: "It turns out that it was your men who were defeated, so our chances of winning Lianyun Castle this time will be even greater."
Li Siye muttered secretly, not only was he a defeated general, he was also my prisoner, and he even developed into a spy for me. It was a pity that Yu Gou failed to keep an eye on Gong Juezan, allowing him to escape and fell into his hands. There was no longer any handle to hold him back.
Kizuna, this guy got his freedom and let himself go.
Gao Xianzhi whispered again: "I know what you mean by that. Since you have asked me to come again and again, I will leave it to you to conquer Lianyun Fort. I will take charge of you from behind."
Li Siye raised his eyebrows instantly, when did I take the initiative to ask for help?
At this time, white light was already glowing behind the mountains on the horizon, and the towering snow-capped mountains stood out in silhouette. The soldiers were wading in the chest-deep cold river water, and even the horses carrying food were almost submerged up to their saddles.
When Li Siye went on an expedition, he took two horses with him. Hei Pang was responsible for transporting his master, and Qing Zhuo was responsible for transporting supplies. Zhaoye Jade Lion was reluctant to take them out. The two horses marched steadily in the water, and the cold river water poured into his calves.
I suddenly took in a breath of cold air and almost convulsed.
In less than half an hour, everyone was arrayed on the south bank. The flags were still fluttering and none of the six flags were wet. The soldiers were shivering in the cold wind. Fortunately, the red sun had already climbed out from behind the mountain. In a few moments, the sunshine would dissipate.
chill.
But just counting on the sun is not enough. If you want to dispel the cold, you have to engage in strenuous exercise. Is there any more strenuous exercise than charging into battle?
As soon as the three armies crossed the river bank, they quickly rushed to Lianyun Fort. This fortress was built on the top of a hill. Half of it was made of rocks and rammed earth, and the other half was made of wooden walls. There were steep slopes on three sides.
There is almost no chance of winning. On the other side is the main peak of this mountain. The slope is steeper, but the top of the mountain is higher than Lianyunbao.
Gao Xianzhi ordered: "This attack on the city will be led by Protector Li Siye. If you want to be the first to conquer the city, you can ask General Li to fight."
Faced with such a dangerous terrain, Li Siye's scalp suddenly went numb. The slope of this mountain peak was 70 degrees, and the city wall fit perfectly with the hillside. If the enemy was prepared, as long as they had enough wood, rolling stones and arrows, they would be ready to attack.
Don't even think about rushing forward with 100,000 people.
In order to take down Lianyun Fort, in addition to taking advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness, you also need to have certain skills.
He walked half a circle around the bottom of the mountain, looked at the north slope and said to Gao Xianzhi: "If we attack from the other three sides, even if the enemy is unprepared and we forcefully attack the mountain to alert the enemy, we will still suffer huge losses."
Gao Xianzhi raised his head and stared at the top of the mountain, then turned to ask him: "Then what are you going to do?"
"Give me everyone's ropes. I will carry the ropes on my back and climb up to the top of the mountain from the north slope. I will fix the ropes and then hang them down. I will pick out a hundred people from the front team holding Mo Dao, climb the ropes up the mountain, and then attack from a high position.
If there is a gap, you can take advantage of the situation at the foot of the mountain and attack upwards, and Lianyun Castle can be breached."
Wang Zhengjian stood behind them, looked at the top of the mountain, shook his head and said, "No way, you can't climb such a steep slope."
"I knew you would say that." Li Siye began to take off his armor, rolled up his sleeves and spat into the palm of his hand.
All the generals gathered around, wanting to see how the legendary Mo Dao general could create another miracle and climb the steep mountaintop with his bare hands.
The soldiers took out the ropes they carried and connected them together to make a coil. Li Siye turned around and said to Yan Xiaosi: "Bring me my backpack."
Yan Xiaosi took down a strange package from the horseback. It had two straps on it. This was a third-level package that Li Siye had made before. There were usually strange things in it.
He took out the contents of the bag, which was the mountaineering equipment he had built in advance: a modified Liuhe boot. The sole was made of heavy wood, with six or seven horizontal teeth for anti-slip. There was also a short pair of boots fixed on the toe.
A blade used to kick out footholds on rocks. A safety belt and an iron chisel fastened to the safety belt, and a climbing pick with a hammer on the front and a pick on the other.
This was originally a complete set of equipment he had prepared for crossing the glacier. Unexpectedly, it did not come in handy on the snow-capped mountains, but it did come in handy here.
He carried the rope on his back and started to climb up. When he encountered a gentle slope, he used his hands and feet together. When he encountered a nearly vertical cliff, he nailed an iron chisel with a hole in the rock gap and tied a safety rope to ensure safety.
Then use a climbing pick to carve out a shallow pit that can be climbed.