Li Siye left his eldest son Li Chongbao to guard Youyan, and named him King of Youyan. He commanded 130,000 troops to govern Yuan Pinglu, Fan Yang Jiedu envoy to more than 20 states and the Andong Dudu Mansion. The rest of the troops followed Li Siye south to attack the south.
The court has gone.
At this time, King Yong's army had just occupied Luoyang and was intensively using Luoyang craftsmen and common people to build large ships. After the construction of the ships was completed, they could go south along the canal to attack the cities along the canal.
In order to give Li Siye a head start, Prince Tian Chengsi of Yanmen County and Prince Li Huaixian of Wuwei County each led 20,000 troops and met in Shangqiu to pull out Suiyang, the first nail in the army's march south. The general who defended the city was Xu Yuan, the prefect of Suiyang.
and Zhang Xun, deputy envoy of Jianghuai Festival.
Zhang Xun rose to fame in the Battle of Yongqiu. Later, An Qingxu killed his father and wanted to send Yin Ziqi south to attack Suiyang. However, Li Siye quickly led the army to Luoyang. At that time, An Qingxu was furious and quickly summoned Yin Ziqi to lead his army back.
Withdrew to Yecheng. Therefore, Zhang Xun did not show his strength under Suiyang City, and the enemy army was already weak.
Now that the more powerful rebels are moving south to attack Suiyang, Zhang and Xu are ready to live or die with the city.
Tian Chengsi personally led the Tiaodang soldiers to attack Nancheng. The soldiers gathered around and put up the siege ladder on the city wall, climbing up with all their strength. Arrows rained down for a while, and all kinds of wooden ripraps and mercy pillars were directed toward the bottom of the city wall. Yong
The soldiers were beaten to death, with their heads bleeding and corpses strewn everywhere.
Zhang Xun personally guarded the city wall with a sword. He had two generals, Nan Ba and Lei Wanchun, under his command. They were both fierce and brave generals. They held strong bows in their hands and specialized in shooting the officers and generals in the siege team. Soon Tian Cheng
Si Bian was defeated and looked at the powerful enemy on the wall with a sad face.
In the afternoon, a messenger from Luoyang sent the two men a letter from Li Siye, asking them to suspend the attack and first surround Suiyang and wait for the warships carrying artillery to go south.
In mid-June, the six large ships that were first completed arrived along the canal carrying more than 60 artillery pieces, and fired on the city on the river outside the Suiyang city wall. By this time, the Xuanwu heavy artillery had undergone technical improvements in Taiyuan and Lanzhou workshops, and its range had reached
As it increased to more than 1,500 steps, the cannonball also changed from the original spherical shape to a conical shape, which meant that the gunpowder capacity of the cannonball also gradually increased, and the power doubled.
The Yong Army's bombardment caused a physical and mental double blow to the Tang Army in the city. Zhang Xun had never seen such a weapon more powerful than a trebuchet or a ballista. There were heavy casualties on the city wall. Lei Wanchun was injured by shrapnel.
The arm was injured.
Tian Chengsi stood proudly on the boat and laughed and said: "You ordinary men, how dare you use your arms as a chariot? My army will pass by without leaving a single piece of armor behind!"
"Stop the cannon fire and let me attack the city."
The Yong army continued to climb the city with the siege ladder. They originally thought that the combat effectiveness of the dying Tang army would be weakened, but the swarthy Zhang Xun still stood on the city wall wearing armor. He held a horizontal sword in his hand and encouraged his soldiers who were covered with scars: "
Suiyang is the gateway to the Yangtze River and Huaihe River. If Suiyang dies, the Tang Dynasty will be in danger. The rebels can reach Yangzhou along the canal in the east, and go straight to Xiangyang in the west. Warships can cross the river, and the east of the river will be devastated."
The soldiers then threw stones at the bottom of the city. The rebels climbed up, but were hit by the reusable wood. Nanba had several wounds on his chest, but he still drew his bow and fired continuously, killing several captains who were commanding the siege. The enemy and their horses were killed.
Down.
The siege failed again. Li Huaixian beat his chest and immediately killed two Zhonglang generals who had failed to supervise the battle. He wanted to attack the city himself with his sword, but was stopped by Tian Chengsi.
After discussion, the two decided that Suiyang was a tough battle and required a long-term siege. However, when they asked for orders before, they both issued military orders to Li Siye to capture Suiyang within half a month. However, it has already been a month and the defense has not yet been completed.
Chengtang's army is still unparalleled in strength.
They had no choice but to take off their shirts, bare their chests and backs, and carry thorn sticks on their backs to Luoyang to plead guilty to Li Siye.
…
After several wars in Luoyang, Ziwei City suffered serious damage. The Mingtang Hall and Zhenguan Hall located on the central axis have all been burned down. Only the Yaoguang Hall and other buildings located on the central island of Jiuzhou Pond in the west part of the city are still intact.
Li Siye was sitting in the Yaoguang Hall at the moment, looking at the two people kneeling on the ground with cold eyes and asked: "What are you doing?"
"The two of us are incompetent and failed to conquer Suiyang. Please, my lord, punish us."
"What is the strength of the Suiyang garrison?"
Li Huaixian replied: "It's less than ten thousand people."
"I think about the past when my army attacked cities and plundered territory. Even towering and strong cities like Youzhou and Yunzhou were always invincible. How come you two can't even take down a small Suiyang City?
"
Tian Chengsi felt awe-inspiring and hurriedly stepped forward and crossed his hands and said: "I thought that Xu Yuan had no general talent and could easily capture Suiyang. Unexpectedly, Zhang Xun appeared out of nowhere. This man once served in Yongqiu.
He is a rare and wise general who has defeated Anlushan's general Linghu Chao dozens of times in the county. Now he personally wields a sword to patrol the city wall. Although the soldiers under his command were seriously injured, they still persisted in resisting, leaving us helpless."
"Zhang Xun? Zhang Xun."
Li Siye secretly thought that Zhang Xun was a genius at guarding the city. When he was guarding Yongqiu, he had only a thousand men under his command, but he was able to withstand the siege of tens of thousands of Yan troops. Now he and Xu Yuan are working together to guard Suiyang and fight against those who want to go south to dominate the world.
It was a big obstacle for him.
However, the situation today is far from what it used to be. He has unified the north, and has occupied Longyou in Hexi to the west, and Bashu to the south. Li Yu's small court occupies only the land of Jianghuai, Jingxiang, and not even half of the rivers and mountains. Even if there is Zhang
So what if a general like Xun sticks to Suiyang, it is just to extend the life of the Southern Court for a while.
He stood up from Hu's bed and walked down the steps, helped Tian Chengsi and Li Huaixian up and said with a smile: "Victory and defeat are common matters for military officers, and besides, you are not defeated. Suiyang is just a hard nut to crack, as long as you increase your efforts,
If we continue to chew on it, we will definitely be able to break through one day. This failure is just due to our insufficient preparation. I will send people to transport the large Kongming Lantern to you. There are also seven gun-carrying ships that have been completed, so they can carry the Kongming Lantern.
Go south and mobilize all the ships in the canal to transport artillery shells day and night. I don’t believe that Zhang Xun can hold on even if Suiyang turns into a sea of fire."
After hearing this, the two of them stepped forward in unison and said, "Please rest assured, my lord, we can't take down Suiyang this time. We are here to see you with our heads high!"
At the end of June, Li Siye took a boat from the middle section of the canal and went to the Suiyang front line in person to supervise the battle.
Duan Xiushi, who was in charge of the artillery battalion, lined up twelve warships and more than a hundred Xuanwu cannons on the river, pouring cannonballs wildly into the city. In addition, more than fifty Kongming Lanterns flew over Suiyang City, aiming at the city below.
Fire and thunder were thrown at the target. Anyone who dared to show their head in the Tang army would be roasted by the flames.
Under such a brutal siege, it became increasingly difficult to defend the city. After only one day, Zhang Xun was exhausted. One-third of the more than 6,000 soldiers defending the city were killed in the artillery fire. He decided to lead the troops stationed in Xiangyang.
The prince, Guo Ziyi, asked for help.
However, his letter has not been delivered yet. Emperor Li Yu's decree and Guo Ziyi's letter have been sent to Suiyang at the same time.
The imperial court's messengers took advantage of the darkness to break through the encirclement of Yong's army. Dozens of cavalry rushed to the foot of Suiyang City, more than half of them were damaged. Zhang Xun quickly opened the corner gate and let them in.
After Zhang Xun knelt down and accepted the order, he was still unwilling to give up. Suiyang and the others had been holding on for dozens of days. Many soldiers were killed and wounded by artillery shells during the battle to defend the city. How could they retreat in vain to honor the souls of the fallen soldiers?
He picked up Guo Ziyi's letter and read it carefully.
"The rebel Li Siye killed the Shi family and occupied the north. The Tang Dynasty lost three out of four territories, and the Tang Dynasty only had one of them. This was the autumn of life and death. The rebels brought strong troops and artillery, and the isolated city of Suiyang was in ruins.
Xiangyang is backed by the water and land strategic point of Jiangcheng, with convenient transportation, sufficient supplies, and a strong city. Your Majesty ordered me to build it many times. The inner and outer city has been built, with turrets interconnected with each other, and several fishing cities and urn cities. It is difficult to conquer like copper walls and iron walls.
You have the talent to help the country and save the world. You should look at the overall situation and not lose your life because of the gains and losses of one city or one place. I hope you will quickly lead your troops back to Xiangyang after receiving the letter, and you can join hands to fight against the rebels and defend the country of the Tang Dynasty."
Zhang Xun put the paper back into the envelope and breathed a long sigh of relief. He stood up and said to Nan Jiyun who was standing outside: "Nan Ba, gather the soldiers, I have something to say."
At night, torches were lit on the school grounds in the city. Zhang Xun stood on the tower and looked down. The soldiers, with broken armor and ragged clothes, raised their heads. Each tightly held torch was the fire of hope.
He shouted loudly to the soldiers: "Brothers! Follow me to retreat to Xiangyang and join Guo Linggong to guard the Tang Dynasty!"