In just four days, the huge Tongwan City was covered with ice and snow, dazzling with silver light, and seemed like a fairyland on earth.
There are many flags and soldiers under the city, like an iron wall standing in the snowy field. But even though it is nearly two miles away, you can still feel the chilling atmosphere of iron and blood rushing towards your face.
Yuan Huan was faintly frightened: A rough calculation showed that there were at least tens of thousands of troops under the city. If Xi Kangsheng was just bluffing, why was there such a big fanfare?
Could it be that the lieutenant made a mistake?
Feeling uneasy in his heart, he peeked at Gao Zhao again. He saw Gao Zhaoyuan standing tall as a mountain, and there was no trace of panic on his face.
But why has he been keeping a close eye on Xicheng? Is he waiting for some news?
Just when he was suspicious, he saw another general running from the city, and Gao Zhao whispered a few words into his ear.
The voice was very low, even though Yuan Huan was standing next to Gao Zhao, he could only vaguely hear the general mentioning Yuan Cheng.
"It doesn't matter if he becomes angry and furious. Is it possible that Gao can be cursed to death?"
Gao Zhao sneered, "Bring him to the city...I want to see how the always calm King Rencheng looks like when he jumps..."
The confidant followed the order and left. Gao Zhao raised his head and looked to the west again.
It has been nearly four hours since I left the city in the morning. As the sun sets, why haven't I seen Gao Mang's reply?
Suspicious in his heart, Gao Zhao looked at the army outside the city and felt a little relieved.
Before noon, Xi Kangsheng sent all his troops to come. It can be seen that he had already prepared: if he could wait for Yuan Cheng's order, wait for the city gates to be opened and flags to be lowered all over the city, he would naturally lead his troops into the city.
If there is no news and the four cities are closed, Xi Kangsheng can only follow Yuan Cheng's agreement and surround the city with a large army.
Accordingly, troops and horses will be sent to patrol the west to prevent the Liziyuan camp from suddenly arriving and attacking his left flank.
Therefore, Gao Mang's whereabouts had long been known to the enemy. As expected, Li Shixian and his son had died violently, and Gao Mang or his close associates had already hurried west to report the news to Li Chengzhi.
The reason why I didn't see the news was that most of the soldiers were captured or fled. Even if one soldier escaped by chance and saw the army standing outside the city, how could he dare to go to the city and knock on the door?
Thinking like this, Gao Zhao felt relieved and his eyes became firm: Even if it is true as Yuan Cheng said, Xi Kangsheng would forcefully attack the city regardless of casualties, but with the ice city's strength, he could at least hold on until the weather warms up in February.
time.
It had been more than two months, and Li Chengzhi was definitely ready to launch an army to attack the imperial court and avenge his father and brother.
At that time, I can become the guest and sit back and watch the tigers fight...
"Lieutenant, I have brought Yuan Cheng and Yuan Yi here!"
A soft call brought Gao Zhao back to reality. He smiled slightly: "Bring it to the city!"
In just ten breaths, Yuan Cheng and Yuan Yi were brought up. They were still dressed in thin furs and long gowns, and their hands and feet were not restrained. However, there were four or five soldiers standing beside each of them.
Look at his face again: Yuan Cheng's face is as dark as water and as black as dyed ink. But Yuan Yi's face looks lost and disappointed.
Seeing Gao Zhao, Yuan Cheng opened his mouth and cursed: "Gao Shouwen, how dare you say something that is untrue and double-dealing?"
"Why don't I dare?"
Gao Zhao smiled calmly, stretched out his hand and pointed towards the city, "It is true as the chief minister said, Xi Kangsheng has mobilized all his troops to surround our Xiazhou. But after arriving at the city, there was no movement and he stopped moving forward... Why don't Your Highness write a handwriting on this
Seal and order him to attack the city immediately? Don’t worry, I, Gao, have made my word: Your Highness dares to write it, and I dare to send it..."
Yuan Cheng was so angry that his orifices were filled with smoke and stars were shooting out of his eyes.
Now it is no longer a question of whether he dares to give an order, or whether Xi Kangsheng dares to attack by force. It is a question of how many soldiers' lives must be sacrificed in order to capture Tongwan City?
At the beginning of the Great Xia Dynasty, Helian Bobo recruited 100,000 people to build the city with steamed earth. He was cruel and brutal, and extremely harsh: if he penetrated even an inch, he would kill the author and build it.
In this way, it took a full six years to unite ten thousand cities. We can see its strength and majesty?
And that's all. Since Emperor Taiwu was able to break it eighty years ago, Xi Kangsheng was a famous general, and there were few opponents when it came to the expedition. And with Li Chengzhi's improved stone cannon, it may not be able to show the power of the ancestors again.
.
Moreover, Yuan Cheng had no intention of letting Xi Kangsheng conquer Xiazhou, but he was just asking him to put in a desperate posture and force Gao Zhao to submit.
But who would have expected that Gao Zhao seemed to have been hardened by thallium and was not only prepared to fight to the end, but also built a city with ice like a stroke of genius?
If Xi Kangsheng is ordered to attack again, it is no different than a moth rushing to a flame, striking an egg against a stone...
What Yuan Cheng couldn't figure out was: Where did Gao Zhao have the confidence to dare to fight the imperial court to the death?
He is a wise man who has lived in the court for a long time. His understanding of the current situation in Beidi and Beizhen is limited to paper, but Yuan Yi is different.
Yuan Yi was imprisoned in Xiazhou for nearly a year, and Gao Zhao did not allow him to interact with Li Shixian. The two discussed each other from time to time and learned from each other's strengths. In fact, Gao Zhao knew more about Yuan Cheng than Yuan Cheng did.
Gao Zhao fears Li Chengzhi more than the imperial court. The reason why he dares to share the fate of the imperial court is simply because he is no longer afraid of Li Chengzhi colluding with the imperial court and attacking him...
Thinking of this, Yuan Yi was struck by lightning, and a flash of light flashed through his mind: "Where's Li Shixian, why haven't you seen him all day?"
Gao Zhao looked surprised and stared at Yuan Yi for a while.
Yuan Xuanren has never had any quick wits, but he has regained consciousness today?
He laughed: "To tell you the truth, Huaide and his son have been sent to the West Sea by me..."
Congratulations to Xihai?
A flash of light flashed in Yuan Cheng's eyes: "Gao Shouwen, you have a close relationship with Li Chengzhi and know him very well. Don't you think that if you release Li Shixian and his son, it will be difficult for him to be grateful to you and bury the hatchet?"
If it was really that easy, he would have done it long ago, why wait until today?
"How about Li? Your Highness doesn't need to worry about it. Your Highness should take care of the present first..."
Gao Zhao looked at Yuan Cheng with a smile but not a smile, "The first article is true to its word: if His Highness gives the order, a dead man will be sent to Xi Kangsheng immediately..."
Next bird feather... Do you think Xi Kangsheng is a stupid pig?
Yuan Cheng gritted his teeth in hatred, but was unable to do anything.
What he hated was not that Gao Zhao dared to kill him, but that he had not expected that Gao Zhao would imprison him in Xiazhou without leaving any room for him.
He couldn't leave for a while and went to Tuyuhun. Rouran's strategy of borrowing troops had to be shelved. Although there were many virtuous and talented people in the clan and there were many people who were qualified to send envoys, they could not bear the blame and could bear it.
There are very few people who experience subsequent stress.
As a result, the Queen Mother, who is suspicious and fickle and cautious, will definitely be hesitant and hesitant.
However, the current situation is changing rapidly, and good opportunities are fleeting. God knows what changes will be caused by this delay?
Feeling anxious in his heart, Yuan Cheng racked his brains, thinking about how to get Gao Zhao to let him out of the city?
If there is no good strategy, then use deception: if Gao Zhao dares to ask for it, he will dare to accept it... even if he agrees to let him be the emperor, so what?
Just as he was secretly thinking about how to speak, there was another drumming sound in his ears.
The movement was not very loud, but you could tell it was quite far away. After careful analysis, it turned out to be an order to attack the city?
Yuan Cheng's eyes widened suddenly and he looked down the city. Sure enough, the army in the distance was like a wave, pressing down on the city.
Is Xi Kangsheng crazy?
Gao Zhao also looked suspicious. He looked at the slowly advancing army and then at the setting sun approaching the Western Mountains.
Xi Kangsheng did not attack in the morning and did not attack in the evening. Why did he attack the city when it was almost sunset and it was almost night?
Is it possible that all your soldiers have night vision?
Thinking secretly, Gao Zhao shouted in a deep voice: "Don't panic, wait for the ants to attack and then fight back, so as to save some arrows..."
The army generals on the left and right responded with a bang, with relaxed faces on their faces.
After waiting for about two moments, when he saw that the enemy's front line did not rush into cars or buildings, Gao Zhao laughed and said, "I thought Xi Kangsheng really wanted to make a desperate move, but it turned out that he just came here to test the enemy?"
…
Gao Zhao was not wrong.
For this turtle shell, even if all the famous generals in the world were gathered together, they could only look at the city and sigh. Xi Kangsheng was naturally unable to defeat the city, but that didn't stop him from giving it a try.
Don't even think about attacking the city. The walls are covered with ice and you can't even build a ladder. So you can only use the artillery truck to blast it.
What was advancing towards the city at this time was the artillery array: one cannon with ten soldiers, followed by a large cart, but the cart contained not stone bullets, but porcelain jars.
There are only about a hundred cannons like this. Then there are slightly larger artillery carts, the kind that can throw dozens of kilograms of stone projectiles a hundred feet away.
At that time, Jinming County City was destroyed by such large artillery vehicles.
The formation was temporarily stationed, and after another order, dozens of carts were thrown. The accuracy was quite good, and most of them were thrown to the root of the wall or halfway into the wall. For a while, the sound was like muffled thunder, and the momentum was huge.
But apart from the great momentum, it seems that there is no success at all.
A stone bullet weighing dozens of kilograms is very powerful. But when it falls on the city wall, it will only be a white mark at most.
The defenders on the city were still on guard before, fearing that stone bullets would be thrown at the top of the city, or hid behind the battlements, or several people stacked shields and hid under the shields.
But after watching for a while, the highest stone bullet only landed in half of the wall, still three feet away from the top of the city. So in the end, except for Gao Zhao's personal guards, the other generals didn't even bother to stand up their shields.
Xi Kangsheng could push the artillery array closer, but don't forget the rockets that Gao Zhao relied on.
But if you dare to go within a hundred steps, you only need to send the firing officer to fire from a high position, and it won't take long to burn all Xi Kangsheng's artillery carts into a handful of fly ash.
After watching for a while, Xi Kangsheng ordered the artillery battalion to use small artillery.
The stone cannon suddenly stopped, and Gao Zhao suddenly felt a lot of silence in his ears. He thought that Xi Kangsheng would definitely withdraw his troops, but he saw that there were lights in front of the formation, and many torches lit up in an instant.
Although it was almost dusk at this time, the sun had not yet set, and it was far from the time to turn on the lights. Moreover, Gao Zhao thought that even if Xi Kangsheng was crazy, he would never dare to attack at night.
Whether you can see is only secondary, the key is that you can get countless frostbite in one night.
He secretly suspected that wherever he saw the lights, there were artillery carts, and there were still soldiers loading things into the artillery carts. Gao Zhao suddenly felt a sense of vigilance in his heart.
Just as the idea came to my mind, I heard another drum sound, and nearly a hundred firelights flew towards the city head like meteors.
What is this? Could it be Li Chengzhi’s flying thunder?
Otherwise, why would you use fire to draw it out?
Gao Zhao was half shocked, and just as he was about to give an order, the sound of breaking porcelain jars came again in his ears.
There was another "boom" behind the ears, and every place where the porcelain jar was broken was plunged into a sea of fire.
It wouldn't matter if they hit the city wall, but a few of them happened to be thrown into the city road. It didn't matter whether the soldiers were holding shields or not, but the sound of shattering was like a burst of crying for father and mother.
The general of the bodyguard flew towards Gao Zhao, put his shield over Gao Zhao's head, and shouted urgently: "Quickly, the guard Taiwei is going down to the city..."
Gao Zhaoqiu's face was livid with anger, and he slapped his hand away: "Thief, if you dare to talk nonsense again and disrupt the morale of our army, you will be killed without mercy..."
Gao Zhao had never seen pigs run away, but he had eaten pork. He had heard about Yuan Ji, how Chang Yizhi was defeated, and how Luo Jian collapsed.
Li Chengzhi's firearms were only the second most lethal, but they were extremely powerful, like divine punishment, and were most likely to confuse the enemy's morale.
If he retreats at this time, how can the morale of the defenders on the city be said to be high?
And this is only the second step. After all, there is a strong city to rely on. As long as all the guards on the city are removed, Xi Kangsheng is still helpless.
But when encountering firearms again in the future, be it generals or soldiers, they will definitely remember that Captain Gao abandoned the city and fled today, and they will definitely be even more frightened...
Gao Zhao shouted sternly: "Remove the shield for me... I want to see if the thunder from the sky can blow up Gao to pieces?"
As he spoke, he stood up and stood forward, without any trace of fear on his face.
Is this traitor very quick-witted?
It would be fine if they knew that Gao Zhao was standing here, but Tongwan City was ten miles long from east to west, with shining armor on top of the city and crowds of people. How powerful could Xi Kangsheng be to hit Gao Zhao among thousands of people?
Yuan Cheng cursed secretly in his heart, and then heard Yuan Yi ask: "This is not thunder from the sky, but more like kerosene?"
"How could Gao Shouwen not know this?" Yuan Cheng sneered, "It's nothing more than referring to tigers as pigs and deceiving the soldiers. Next time I really meet Tian Lei, I will at least have more courage..."
I see?
Yuan Yi suddenly realized and whispered: "Where did Xi Kangsheng get this thing?"
Yuan Cheng laughed loudly: "Don't forget that when the late emperor was here, he ordered Li Chengzhi to brew fire wine and transport it to the capital for storage, which amounted to hundreds of thousands of kilograms... I have already shipped all the wine when I went north this time, otherwise how would I dare to do it?"
Fighting the traitors to the death..."
He deliberately said it loudly, and Gao Zhao naturally heard it clearly. Although he knew that Yuan Cheng was threatening him, he was still frightened.
When Li Chengzhi did not follow the Western Sea, he had already been promoted to Taiwei. How could he not know how much fire wine was hidden in the capital?
Tens of thousands of pounds weighed on the sky.
The reason why Gao Zhao was surprised was because he didn't smell the smell of alcohol, but felt that the smoke coming from his nose was very familiar?
How could he not know that he relied on this and even raised his troops based on this?
This is obviously kerosene...
But Gao Meng took nearly two years, boiled several large lakes dry, and wasted tens of thousands of lives. How long did it take? It only took half a year for Xi Kangsheng to conquer Jin Ming. Where did he get this thing?
It is absolutely impossible that Xi Kangsheng collected it from the oil lake.
Those oil lakes have long been dug by Gao Meng to a depth of several feet, and poisonous gas lingers in them. As soon as a person steps out of the lake, he will die within two seconds. Otherwise, how could he easily abandon Jinming?
Like a frightened bird, Gao Zhao couldn't help but think of Li Chengzhi.
Li Chengzhi, a man appointed by God, knew that "there is burning water in Gaonu County", how could he not know that other places, like Jin Ming, are also rich in this product?
This little thief is used to fanning the wind and igniting fires. He is afraid that both himself and the imperial court will lose, so it is not impossible to dedicate the place where the object is to the imperial court...