This is a life-and-death war. For the Tang army, they have no retreat. Once the city is breached, it will be a dead end, and they will have to fight with their last resort.
As for the Xueyantuo soldiers, they longed for the wealth and women in the city, and this was clearly reflected in their sacrifice for money.
At this time, nearly 4,000 Xue Yantuo's troops who originally attacked Beicheng also joined the battle to attack Xicheng. Guo Song also immediately ordered that only 500 people be left in Beicheng, and the remaining 1,500 came to support Xicheng.
More than a hundred siege ladders were lined up in a row, with arrows raining from above their heads, and large rocks and huge trees falling like hailstones. The Xue Yantuo soldiers on the ladders were hit with broken bones and tendons, and suffered heavy casualties.
'Boom! Boom! Boom!'
The drums urging the battle were thundering, and the general Xue Chake issued a large reward order. The first soldier who entered the city was rewarded with 10,000 sheep and ten slaves. Even if he died in battle, the reward would be given to his family.
Encouraged by the heavy reward, the siege soldiers rushed forward wave after wave. Soldiers constantly stepped on thorns and pits and fell down. However, in the offensive tide of nearly 10,000 people, this could only be classified as a small collision.
The rocks cannot change the momentum of the attack.
Xue Yantuo's soldier was knocked down the ladder, and another soldier rushed up from behind and struggled to climb up.
The battlefields on both sides were also constantly moving and changing. First there were thorns on the 300-step line, then bows and arrows on the 100-step line, and then it turned into rocks smashing the top of the city. After paying heavy casualties, Xue Yantuo's soldiers
After reaching the edge of the city wall, the situation became serious.
The two sides fought on the edge of the city wall. The soldiers of the Tang Army stood on the mud bags, condescending and taking the advantage, but at the same time their bodies were exposed. Soldiers of the Tang Army were constantly shot by cold arrows from the city, and fell down the city screaming.
The cold spear stab of the Tang army also played a great role. During the fierce battle between the enemy and the soldiers of the Tang army on the city wall, it would pierce the enemy's lower body from below unexpectedly, making Xue Yantuo's soldiers unable to guard against it. It greatly weakened Xue Yantuo's strength.
The momentum of the army's offensive.
At this time, there was a crisis in the defense not far from the city gate. Several Tang soldiers were shot by cold arrows in succession. There was a gap in the defense. Two strong Xue Yantuo soldiers jumped onto the top of the city. Several Tang soldiers were shocked.
Spears stabbed from all sides,
Two Xueyantuo soldiers were blocking with their shields while looking for an opportunity to jump down. At this time, two arrows were shot one after the other. The arrows were powerful and fast as lightning. The two soldiers were unable to dodge, and one of them was shot through the forehead by the arrow.
, one person was shot in the throat and rolled down the city one after another.
Only then did everyone realize that the commander-in-chief Guo Song was holding a bow and arrow in the distance, glaring coldly at them. The morale of the soldiers was greatly boosted, and they killed three enemy soldiers in a row and defended the gap again.
A crisis also occurred in the northwest corner. A defensive point fell and dozens of enemy troops stormed the city. The defensive captain hurriedly sent people to ask Li Ji for help, but Li Ji was commanding operations in the southwest corner at this time, asking for help.
The soldiers saw Guo Song and rushed forward to report: "Envoy, there is a crisis in the two defense points in the northwest corner. The enemy has attacked the city. Lieutenant Han is asking for support!"
Guo Song ordered the three hundred soldiers around him: "Follow me!"
He took the halberd and ran toward the northwest corner with three hundred soldiers...
Seventy or eighty Xue Yantuo soldiers had already rushed to the top of the city. More than a hundred Tang soldiers resisted desperately. Both sides fought with all their strength. The ground was covered with corpses of soldiers from both sides. The fighting scene was extremely cruel.
With the cooperation of Xue Yantuo's soldiers at the top of the city, seeing that the third defensive point was about to be breached again, the Tang military captain shouted with all his strength: "Hold on, we can't let them come up!"
The situation had reached a very critical level. At this moment, Guo Song led 300 reinforcements and arrived.
Guo Song roared, and jumped into the crowd of enemy soldiers. His halberd swept across the crowd, and more than a dozen soldiers were unable to dodge. They were knocked over and knocked down, leaving many dead and injured. Guo Song's halberd flew over, and he stabbed and slashed mercilessly.
A large number of enemy troops were killed and their formation collapsed instantly.
The bravery of the general led other soldiers of the Tang Army. The morale of the soldiers of the Tang Army was greatly boosted, and the enemy troops were defeated steadily. They kept pushing Xue Yantuo's soldiers to the wall, and pierced the city with a spear.
In less than a cup of tea, hundreds of Tang troops retook two defensive points and slaughtered more than 70 enemy troops who stormed the city.
At this time, Guo Song used his halberd to hold up a siege ladder and pushed it outward with all his strength. The siege ladder was crudely made and had no iron hooks to hook the city head. It was just placed directly on the city head. The long ladder gradually gradually
After leaving the top of the city and pushing outwards, dozens of Xue Yantuo soldiers on the ladder let out desperate screams. The ladder finally collapsed outwards, and the soldiers on top jumped down one after another to escape.
Guo Song overthrew three ladders in one go. The soldiers of the Tang army were inspired, but there was no iron fork in their hands. Suddenly, a soldier shouted wittily: "You can use an iron fork to fork wheat straw!"
Not long after, hundreds of long iron forks were sent from the city. There was an iron fork in the front and a long wooden handle in the back. Three soldiers used one iron fork, and the two iron forks were inserted into the two ends of the ladder.
All Tang soldiers exerted their strength together, and the ladders began to tilt outwards away from the city wall. Amidst shouts, the siege ladders fell heavily to the ground.
At this time, Xue Chake, the commander-in-chief of Xue Yantuo, saw that the situation was very unfavorable, so he issued an order to withdraw his troops.
'Dang! Dang! Dang!'
The withdrawal bell rang, and the attacking troops withdrew like a tide. The battle lasted for two and a half hours from early morning to noon. Xue Yantuo suffered nearly 4,000 casualties, and the Tang army also suffered more than 500 casualties.
Both sides paid a heavy price.
Xue Yantuo's army retreated to the camp three miles away. The morale of the soldiers was low. They sat on the ground silently drinking water and eating dry food. Many soldiers who had stepped on thorns of tribulus and had their insteps pierced by wooden thorns screamed. The poison attack and severe pain made them unbearable.
Several prairie doctors were busy sweating profusely, brewing a detoxifying herbal decoction. The poison may be relieved, but being pierced by a wooden thorn in the instep will almost certainly leave a disability or even amputation.
In the only big tent in the military camp, Xue Chake paced back and forth anxiously. When he returned to the big tent, he realized that there were more than 3,800 casualties. The casualties were so heavy that he could not even explain to the chief.
.
His 20,000 troops were cobbled together from more than a dozen tribes in Xueyantuo. Everyone was willing to send troops, and of course they wanted a share of the loot. In the end, they didn't even get a grain of wheat, but they suffered so many casualties. These tribal elders
Will you spare him?
At this time, Lieutenant General Yantuo Manshan came in. Seeing that the general was worried, he advised: "General, let's withdraw our troops in time while the losses are not too great!"
Xue Chake punched the table hard, "I won't be willing to withdraw our troops without getting anything!"
"But...if the losses increase and we still can't capture the city, we won't be able to explain it to the chief when we go back!"
Xue Chake was silent for a long time and said: "Now we can no longer explain to those old guys in the Presbyterian Church when we go back. Only by capturing the county seat, maybe we can offset the merits and demerits!"
He turned back to Yantuo Manshan and said: "I have made up my mind. Don't try to persuade me anymore. Just go all out to build a siege ladder. If you cannot attack the city, I will bear all the consequences!"
Having reached this point, Yantuo Manshan could no longer persuade him. He had no choice but to bow and salute, "I will do my best in this humble position!"
.........
The enemy army retreated, and the city was busy. The militia soldiers cleaned up the corpses, and the wounded soldiers went down to bandage and recuperate. Xue Changshou personally treated the soldiers' injuries. He was the chief military doctor in the former one hundred thousand Shence Army. The soldiers basically
Everyone knows him and is well aware of his superb medical skills.
Under his guidance, several other military doctors quickly retrieved arrows from the soldiers, disinfected them, and bandaged them. Lunch was also served. More than a hundred strong women pushed meal carts and carried soup buckets to deliver meals to the soldiers.
The food comes with soup, and the food is good. There are baked pancakes and fried mutton, two servings per person. The soup is winter melon stewed egg soup, which is very thick.
Although the soldiers were very tired, they still couldn't resist the temptation of delicious food, so they worked hard to eat, and then took a good sleep to regain their strength.
Guo Song was studying the iron fork with several generals, and everyone discovered that the most powerful weapon against the enemy's siege ladder was the iron fork used by farmers to fork wheat straw. This was of course related to the crudeness of the opponent's siege ladder.
The biggest weakness of the ladder is that it is easy to be overturned. For this reason, craftsmen invented an iron hook on the front end of the siege ladder, which can hook the city wall during the siege. Using the weight of the ladder itself and the siege soldiers to push down, the defenders can easily
It's hard to overturn.
But this time, the Xueyantuo people did not bring any craftsmen to make siege weapons. They could only make the simplest and crudest ladders, which naturally exposed the biggest weakness of the original siege ladders.
Liang Wu suggested: "Actually, there is another way. Use the rope to pull the ladder to the left and right sides. You can also pull the ladder down."
"That's not right!"
Li Ji shook his head and said: "Unless you pull it from the outside, the ladder will be blocked by the battlements and it will be difficult to pull it down from the inside. It is better to use an iron fork to push it outward. However, this iron fork is still a little smaller. If you use a large iron fork,
, the effect will be even better.”
Guo Song immediately made a decision: "Then we will stop making the thorns, and now we will start making the big iron forks overnight, and try to make five hundred of them in one night."