Guo Huaiyan was woken up by the smoke in his sleep. He quickly got up and asked: "What happened?"
A maid covered her mouth and nose with a wet cloth and hurried over, "Master, it's full of smoke outside!"
Guo Huaiyan also covered his mouth and nose with a wet cloth and walked out of the room. Thick smoke filled the top of the mountain and the sky was obscured by smoke and dust.
At this time, a family member wearing armor rushed over and reported urgently: "Master, please go back to the house quickly and close the doors and windows. This smoke is poisonous!"
Guo Huaiyan was shocked, the smoke was poisonous? He asked urgently: "How is the condition of the soldiers?"
"Not good! Many soldiers have been poisoned, especially those at the mountainside defense. Some of them have now moved back."
The defense of Diaoyu Mountain is far from as perfect as that of the Song Dynasty. It relies more on terrain for defense. They deployed two lines of defense on the river and at the foot of the mountain, called frontal defense. At present, the frontal defense has been broken, with a loss of 7,000 people.
Then came the central defense, deployed on the mountainside, with a total of 8,000 people guarding the fourteen roads up the mountain.
The central defense is the top priority. If the central defense is broken, they will not be able to hold on for long in the end.
Finally, there is the bottom defense, which is the top of the mountain. Guo Huaiyan deployed the last five thousand people to make use of the easy-to-defend but difficult-to-attack terrain to ensure that the top of the mountain was not lost.
But now that the Tang army has begun to set fire to poison, the defense situation in the central part may be in danger. Guo Huaiyan stamped his feet anxiously, "Quickly tell me, how many people are there in the retreat?"
"More than 700 people have returned so far!"
"What?"
Guo Huaiyan's eyes widened. He had invested 8,000 men on the mountainside for defense, but now only more than 700 men had retreated.
He suddenly became anxious, "I'll go take a look!"
Ignoring the persuasion of the guards, he covered his mouth and nose with a wet cloth and rushed out. More than a dozen guards had no choice but to follow him.
There were soldiers running everywhere on the top of the mountain, but the thick smoke made it difficult to see their faces. Only their figures were shaking, and everyone covered their mouths and noses with wet cloths.
Guo Huaiyan came to the cliff and looked down the mountain. The scene in front of him shocked him. He saw that the mountain was full of fire and thick smoke was billowing. Compared with the thick smoke at the bottom of the mountain, the smoke at the top of the mountain was much better. Most of it was thick.
The smoke is floating into the sky.
Diaoyu Mountain is dangerous because there is only one road to the top. Guo Huaiyan rushed to the mountain road again and asked urgently: "How many soldiers have retreated from the mountainside?"
General Guo Song quickly reported: "Reporting to the head of the family, 1,200 people have returned so far!"
Guo Song is Guo Qianren's son. He inherited his father's legacy and is currently one of the main generals, responsible for bottom defense, that is, mountain top defense.
Guo Huaiyan asked again: "Have you sent someone to the central part to inform them to retreat?"
"I have sent three groups of soldiers down, but there is no news."
"What time is it now?" Guo Huaiyan asked, glancing at the smoky sky.
"Reporting to the head of the family, it's almost dawn!"
"When did the Tang army start setting fires?"
Guo Song thought for a while and said: "Probably the fire started before midnight, and it has been burning all night."
Guo Huaiyan suddenly became a little anxious, "Why didn't you ask the soldiers to retreat earlier?"
Guo Song lowered his head and said with a guilty conscience: "We all thought that the fire set by the Tang army was a fake, and the purpose was to force the defending soldiers on the mountainside to retreat to the top of the mountain, so that the Tang army could occupy the mountainside without any bloodshed. Unexpectedly, the fire became more and more fierce, and the smoke was poisonous. This
Only then did I realize that the problem was not good, so I sent people down to notify General Luo, but there is no news now, and many brothers on the top of the mountain were knocked down by poisonous smoke."
Guo Huaiyan glared at him and asked: "How many soldiers were smoked down on the top of the mountain?"
"Fortunately, it's not too many, less than a thousand people."
Guo Huaiyan was even more worried. The smoke on the top of the mountain was not serious. It was just some smoke and 20% of the soldiers were knocked down. Wouldn't it be more serious on the mountainside?
At this time, someone shouted: "They are back!"
Guo Huaiyan cheered up and hurried to meet them. He saw two soldiers coming back from the mountain road. Their whole bodies were burned black, and half of their hair was burned off. They were in a very miserable state.
These two people were the third group of soldiers sent by Guo Song to the mountainside to notify the retreat. In the third group, five people went and only two came back.
Guo Song asked anxiously: "Where are the other brothers?"
The two soldiers said with mournful faces: "We can't come back, General. The way back is blocked by fire and smoke. There are soldiers knocked down by the smoke everywhere on the mountainside. They are all poisoned. The five of us are trying our best to go back."
We ran away, and in the end only the two of us broke through the thick smoke blockade."
Before the soldier finished speaking, he heard someone shouting: "Master of the house! Master of the house! What's wrong with you!"
Guo Song quickly looked back and was so shocked that his heart almost broke. He saw the head of the family, Guo Huaiyan, swaying and fainting.
Guo Song was so anxious that he shouted: "Hurry! Send him back for rescue quickly."
Guo Huaiyan was also poisoned. He was over sixty years old and could not compare with the young and strong soldiers. He was poisoned and passed out after inhaling a large amount of poisonous smoke.
The fire burned until the afternoon of the next day. Tang Jun continued to add kerosene and oleander powder, and threw a total of three thousand sacks. Tang Jun did not know what the outcome would be.
By the afternoon, the fire began to extinguish gradually, and a moderate rain came unexpectedly, completely extinguishing the mountain fire.
Thousands of Tang troops began to search up the mountain. The entire mountain turned black, with trees burned to black charcoal and the remains of various animals everywhere.
Soon, the Tang army found a large number of corpses of enemy soldiers at the mountainside defenses. Most of them had been poisoned and suffocated to death. Many of them had been burned to coke by the fire. They were preparing to escape back to the mountain, and were eventually trapped in the fire and burned to death.
.
But the top of the mountain still seemed safe and sound.
Li Sheng observed the top of the mountain for a moment and decisively ordered: "Send five hundred soldiers with heavy shields up the mountain to test!"
The Tang army immediately sent a group of 500 heavy-shielded soldiers up the mountain.
Five hundred shield soldiers holding large shields walked slowly along both sides of the mountain road. Halfway through, a shout suddenly came from the top of the mountain.
Rolling logs and rocks rolled down one after another, and the soldiers quickly fell down. After the boulders passed, arrows were fired from the mountain, and arrows came like raindrops.
The five hundred shield soldiers slowly retreated. Their mission was not to attack the top of the mountain, but to test the reality of the top of the mountain.
The leader will report to Li Sheng: "Commander Qi, judging from the number of arrows fired by the opponent, there are about three thousand archers on the mountain. The number of soldiers is estimated to be more than this number, but it should not be much more.
"
Li Sheng looked at the top of the mountain and asked, "How far is it to the top of the mountain?"
"About a mile or so!"
"How far away were they to start shooting and stoning?"
"About one hundred and fifty steps!"
Li Sheng nodded and ordered: "Use the big yellow crossbow to load the big arrows and thunder, and cover the sword and shield army as they charge to the top!"
One hundred heavy crossbowmen immediately stepped forward, each with two cocking assistants. The heavy crossbowmen began to move up the mountain, followed by thousands of Tang saber and shield soldiers.
When we were about two hundred and fifty steps away from the top of the mountain, the leader waved his hand, and everyone stopped.
One hundred heavy crossbowmen raised their big yellow crossbows and aimed at the top of the mountain. The assisting soldiers lit the match rope and burned it to a red point. Hundreds of arrows and thunderbolts were launched at the same time and shot to the top of the mountain in an instant. Only a series of explosions were heard from the top of the mountain, and
The cry of soldiers.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the two thousand sword shield troops quickly rushed towards the mountain. Then the second round of arrows was fired, and a series of explosions sounded again on the top of the mountain.
Under the cover of three rounds of arrows and thunder, the two thousand sword and shield troops successfully climbed to the top of the mountain, and the arrows and thunder also stopped shooting at the same time.
The top of the mountain was in a mess, with soldiers killed and injured everywhere, and several sections of the high wall had been blown down.
Suddenly there was a shout from a distance, and dense arrows were shot from the wall hole. The soldiers of the Tang Army raised their shields and rushed into the wall hole in formation. Although some soldiers were shot in the legs and fell to the ground, most of the soldiers rushed in.
Inside the high walls.
Bows and arrows were useless. Thousands of Guo soldiers, led by Guo Song, rushed forward with shouts and fought fiercely with the Tang army soldiers.
Soon, another 6,000 spear soldiers and 1,000 crossbowmen rushed to the top of the mountain. The Tang army began to take full advantage and fought fiercely with the last 3,500 remaining soldiers.
The last battle lasted until dusk when it finally ended. The top of the mountain was covered with corpses. Guo Song, like his father, was stabbed to death by dozens of spears. His 3,500 most loyal Guo family members
All the soldiers were killed in the battle, and the Tang army also paid the price of more than a thousand casualties.
On the top of the mountain, everyone in the Guo family was driven out. Only then did Li Sheng know that the head of the family, Guo Huaiyan, had died this morning because of severe poisoning.
All 580 men, women, and children of the Guo family were driven down the mountain. In addition, Nanzhao State also betrayed the Guo family and detained all 174 people of the Guo family who were going to be transferred to the Piao Plains and handed them over to the Tang army.
It took the Tang army three days to clean up all the corpses on Diaoyu Mountain, and another five days to transport all the food, materials, and wealth down the mountain from the Western Han River to Chang'an.
At the same time, the emperor Li Ye approved that all the Guo family's men over the age of fourteen be beheaded, and other family members were exiled to Lingnan, and all their property was confiscated.
All officials who supported the Guo family and the rich and powerful officials were responsible for the liquidation.
One month later, all slaves in Bashu were converted into civilians, becoming the second region after Guanzhong to be completely free of slaves.
The front page of "Tang Dynasty Xunkan" records in detail the destruction of the Guo family and the Jia family, as well as the transformation of other Bashu noble families.
Thirty thousand copies were issued and sent to all parts of the country. For a time, all parts of the country were shaken. The powerful people understood the current situation and took the initiative to abolish slavery in order to obtain exemption from inspection and avoid pulling out carrots and mud when inspected.
By the end of the year, the abolition of slavery was completed. There were no more slaves in the Tang Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty entered the civilian era two hundred years ahead of schedule.
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