Two hundred and sixty fifth chapter: The Battle of Yanmen Pass VII
Hearing Hu'er's explanation, the generals finally understood, but at the same time they felt aggrieved. After so many years since the founding of the Sui Dynasty, they had fought in the south and north, and swept the world. Even if they failed in the three expeditions to Goguryeo, they would never Before ending up in such a useless end, being blocked by the enemy within the city wall and not even daring to fight head-on, now they even have to be cautious to avoid the enemy's full attack. This kind of thing has never happened to the Sui army when the late emperor was there. Been there.
The generals each had their own thoughts, and after waiting for a while, Dugu Sheng led a group of people and pulled the three artillery pieces up to the top of the city. The so-called artillery was naturally not the kind of cannon of later generations, but It is a type of trebuchet, but what this trebuchet projects is not ordinary stones, but specially made kerosene bombs.
Once this kind of kerosene bomb is shot out and lands in the enemy's formation, it will spill out the kerosene inside. At the same time, when it collides with the outer flame, it will produce a large flame and burn the enemy. This kind of weapon, if two When the army is fighting head-on, it will certainly not play a great role, but when it is used to defend the city, it is most suitable. When the Turks just besieged Yanmen Pass, Yun Dingxing proposed to use artillery to repel the enemy. , but Lai Hu'er found an excuse to refuse, and now Lai Hu'er offered to use artillery. I don't know what the other generals thought, but Yun Dingxing, who was below, looked very ugly.
In Yun Dingxing's view, the old guy Lai Hu'er clearly couldn't see himself being favored in front of the emperor, and deliberately deprived himself of the opportunity to make meritorious deeds. Thinking of this, Yun Dingxing's hatred for Lai Hu'er It deepened a little more, and I had secretly made up my mind that as long as I found an opportunity, I would make this old guy pay back double the amount.
Of course Lai Hu'er didn't know Yun Dingxing's thoughts at this moment. His current thoughts were on how to retreat from the enemy today. He had previously denied that Yun Dingxing used artillery to retreat from the enemy at the beginning. That was because Lai Hu'er Er had long seen that Shi Bi was determined to break through Yanmen Pass this time. Although dozens of artillery could increase the strength of the defenders, it was absolutely impossible to push back Shi Bi's 300,000 cavalry. By the same token, in this way It will only make Shibi angrier and increase the intensity of the attack on Yanmen Pass. It is better to use it slowly like now, which can achieve the purpose of delaying time.
Seeing that Dugu Sheng had brought the artillery, Lai Hu'er gave the order, and the soldiers immediately braved the rain of arrows and installed the three artillery pieces on the top of the city. The attack range of these artillery pieces was far beyond the normal range. Bows and arrows, so the location of the artillery was also at the back of the city. When the artillery and kerosene bombs were installed, Lai Guer did not give any orders, but looked coldly at the battle ahead. , pursed his lips, as if waiting for something.
However, the situation on the battlefield will not stagnate just because of the waiting for the guardian. Although the soldiers of the Royal Forest Army fought bravely to kill the enemy, the Turks outside the pass were killed endlessly. The kerosene on the dozens of ropes had also slowed down. It dried slowly, and with some ropes added later, the city wall of Yanmen Pass seemed to be hung with a door curtain. Countless Turkic soldiers were like beads on the door curtain, densely packed and rushing up to the top of the city. On the top, the archers of the Royal Forest Army fired arrows, but the other soldiers no longer bothered to block with their shields. They simply put away their shields and threw stones down the city.
Stones mixed with arrows poured down crazily, but they still could not stop the Turks from rushing upward. There were too many Turks, and every Turk was not afraid of death, even if they faced the heavy Using stones and sharp arrows, they also climbed up with their heads held high. Finally, after nearly two hours, the first Turkic man climbed up to the top of the city.
Of course, the first person who came out to eat pufferfish must have met a miserable end. He was directly stabbed in the chest by three or four spears. He screamed and was pushed off the city wall. But with the first one , there was a second one, a third one, and soon many Turks jumped in from the parapet. Seeing this scene, all the generals on the top of the city were frightened, and hurriedly turned their heads to look. Some people came to protect the children, and some people couldn't help shouting: "Old general, please give the order to fire the artillery."
"There's no hurry," although everyone urged, Lai Hu'er was not in a hurry. Instead, he waved his hand and shouted: "The archers took ten steps back, and the rest of the soldiers took three steps back. Form a formation to kill the enemy."
The Royal Forest Army is indeed worthy of being the strongest army in the Sui Dynasty. Although there is chaos on the city, after hearing the order to protect the children, all the officers and soldiers of the Royal Forest Army strictly carried out the military orders to protect the children, and all the archers immediately retreated. He raised his own bow and arrow, pulled out the dagger from his waist, and stepped back ten steps, just behind his comrades holding spears. The other soldiers of the Royal Forest Army raised their spears one after another and formed a formation, preparing to meet the increasing number of soldiers. of Turks.
Although they don't know why these Sui soldiers suddenly retreated, the Turks didn't think much about it. The Sui soldiers' retreat just provided them with space to climb up the city. At one time, fifty or sixty people climbed up. At the top of the city, these Turks looked at the enemies that had formed in front of them. They all stared with red eyes and looked ferocious, and they might attack at any time.
"Hmph," Lai Hu'er, who was standing on the high platform, snorted coldly, but finally raised his arm, waved his hand behind him, and shouted: "Fire the artillery,"
Dugu Sheng, who had been guarding the artillery, had been waiting for this order for a long time. When he heard the order from the guardian, Dugu Sheng immediately beamed with joy. He turned around and shouted to the soldiers controlling the artillery behind him: "Quick, quick. , do it quickly,”
In fact, without Dugu Sheng's greeting, the soldiers controlling the artillery had already started to take action. With the unique creaking sound of the artillery, three dark but flaming fireballs were directly launched into the air and headed towards Flying past the pass, I saw the three fireballs drawing an arc in the air, and finally hitting the Turks' military formation directly. At this moment, the outside of the pass was already heavily surrounded by Turks, with nearly 300,000 Turkic cavalry. They were densely surrounded outside the pass, so even if they saw those fireballs falling, the Turks would have no way to avoid them. However, in their opinion, even if they were hit by the fireballs, the most they would suffer would be a bloody head. No matter how unlucky it is, one or two people will die, so no one cares.
However, when the three fireballs landed almost at the same time, these Turks finally realized that they were wrong. After the fireballs were smashed open, the kerosene inside was directly smashed open, stained by the flames outside, and immediately It burned up at the first moment. At that time, the three places were full of fire, and no Turkic people around were spared. The flames were like ghosts of tarsal bones. Once they got attached to a certain Turkic person, they would be destroyed in the shortest possible time. Inside, it climbed up his body and tortured him painfully until he lost his life. Seeing his companions in front of him being tortured by the sudden fire, the Turks next to him who were not contaminated by the flames couldn't help but swallow their saliva, and their hearts rose. Fear arose, and then, successive kerosene bombs continued to be thrown from the top of the city, making the flames outside the pass grow bigger and bigger.
Among the Turks' rear army, Shibi and Elifushe were also shocked by this incident. Seeing the sudden appearance of flames, Shibi's face suddenly became ugly, and he hummed: "I didn't expect it. "There is such a sharp weapon in Yanmen Pass." When Shibi was young, he also stayed in Dongdu with his father Qimin Khan for a period of time, so he immediately recognized the origin of the artillery. It stands to reason that there are artillery in Yanmen Pass. This is common sense, but I never thought that the Sui army would be so tolerant and delayed taking out the artillery until now.
Elifushu's shock was much higher than at the beginning. Looking at the growing fire, Elifushu couldn't help but exclaimed: "Oh my god, what is this? Are these Han dogs?" Is there really some kind of psychic ability that can actually summon a big fire?"
"Don't panic," Shibi didn't laugh at Elifushu's gaffe. After all, it was his first time to see these sharp weapons of the Sui army, and they were worse than his brothers. However, Shibi's face was not very good. , because most Turks, like Elipheshu, have not seen the various sharp weapons of the Sui army, so the morale of the soldiers is also greatly affected now. If they continue to attack, I am afraid that the losses will be even greater. Bi can be regarded as a hero of the generation. After weighing his strength, he immediately turned around and shouted behind him: "Send the order, withdraw the troops." Hearing Bi's shout, the Turkic soldier holding the horn was just stunned for a moment, but it was very short. Soon the trumpet was blown and the final order was conveyed to the Turkic soldiers on the entire battlefield.
At this moment, on the top of the city, the Turkic soldiers who had just climbed up the city did not notice the changes on the battlefield behind them. They had gathered hundreds of people and began to prepare to sharpen their swords and attack the enemy in front of them. This At that moment, the horn sounded, but it also made them all stunned. At the same time, they turned their heads and looked back, wondering why they suddenly had to retreat when the situation was so good.
They were stunned, but the veteran Lai Hu'er was not in a daze. Seeing this opportunity, Lai Hu'er immediately shouted: "The whole army attacks, the archers shoot, notify the cavalry below, open the door, and pursue the enemy for one mile. "
"Drink," after hearing Hu'er's order, the first people on the city to react were the archers who had been waiting for a long time. They immediately took out their bows and arrows, bent their bows and nocked arrows, and headed directly towards The missiles were launched in mid-air in front of them, and the soldiers of the Royal Forest Army in front of them also picked up their spears and rushed towards the Turks with neat steps. Before the Turks could put up a defensive posture, countless The long spears directly opened bloody holes in their bodies. These Turks who finally climbed to the top of the city were killed in one breath.