At three quarters of noon on October 24th, the fifteenth year of Zhenguan, it was supposed to be the most yang-yang time of the day, but the sky was terrifyingly gloomy right now. The dim sky was full of dark clouds, dark and eerie.
, it is very depressing and makes people feel breathless. Coupled with the scenes of battlefields with rivers of blood and corpses all over Shenwu City, it looks like a scene of the end of the world.
It has been three days. It has been three days since Xue Yantuo's army defended Shenwu City. In the past three days, Xue Yantuo's army has attacked the city more than ten times, each time becoming more fierce. Since today's hour, Xue Yantuo's army has launched three waves of siege in succession. Although they were all attacked,
They retreated, but most of Li Zhen's soldiers had been lost, and most of the remaining soldiers were injured. The number of soldiers who could still participate in the battle and the young men in the city who were assisting in the defense totaled less than 4,000. As for the arrows,
The arrows, wood and other defensive tools had long been used up. The soldiers of the Tang Dynasty relied entirely on their flesh and blood to hold on. Even the commander-in-chief Li Zhen personally participated in the brutal city defense battle.
Tired, really tired! Even though Li Zhen had been practicing martial arts since he was a child and had worked hard to get in good shape, he was so tired now that he wished he could find a place to fall asleep. Unfortunately, he couldn't, at least not yet. Li
Zhen is very clear that in this situation, whether or not Shenwu City can be defended is the key point of the entire battle. Otherwise, the main force of the Tang Army should have been deployed now. Perhaps the attack has already begun. Can Xue Yantuo's main force be continued to be dragged under Shenwu City?
It becomes the key to victory.
"Your Highness, when will Commander Li arrive? Our troops have suffered too much damage and it is difficult to support them anymore." Just as Li Zhen was standing in front of the city wall observing the movements of Xue Yantuo's camp, a bleeding bandage was tied on his head.
Qin Huaiyu hurried over from the east of the city and asked worriedly when he saw Li Zhen.
Damn it, when will it arrive? I don’t know. Judging from the time, I should have already taken action by now. God knows why I haven’t arrived yet! A strong general like Qin Huaiyu can’t hold on anymore, and his morale is still uncertain.
What will happen? If the morale is gone, the city will not be defended! Li Zhen's heart suddenly thumped, and he was very anxious. However, as a general, he could not show any signs of losing his composure at this time. He glanced at
Qin Huaiyu, Li Zhen pondered for a while and said: "Huaiyu, please be patient, I have my own arrangements." Then he turned back to the guard captain Li Ge and said: "Notify the whole army to gather to the north of the city. I have something to do.
Announce, go quickly."
Qin Huaiyu didn't know what kind of medicine was sold in Li Zhen's gourd, and didn't dare to ask more. He had to stand aside in confusion. Most of the time, the Tang Dynasty officers and soldiers who could still participate in the battle supported each other and gathered under the city gate in the north of the city.
, Li Zhen stood on the terrace of the city gate tower and looked around at the soldiers at the top of the city. He saw that only a little more than half of the nearly 6,000 people including Xie Shou Qingzhuang three days ago were left, and he couldn't help but feel.
The ground felt sour, I took a deep breath, calmed my mind, and said slowly: "Warriors of the Tang Dynasty, facing an enemy army twenty times my size, we held on for three days, three whole days! You guys!
He is a real hero! I thank you all. Now our army has reached a critical moment of life and death. Brothers, please think carefully about what happened to those cities that were conquered. If we cannot hold on, there will be tens of thousands of people in the city behind us.
We will face the barbarian's butcher's knife, and everyone asks, can we let the barbarian succeed?"
"No!" Thousands of soldiers shouted in unison.
"Well said! No, as officers and soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, we will never let the people of the Tang Dynasty suffer such disasters again!" Li Zhen glanced at the soldiers and said loudly: "I hereby announce that this battle
After that, the pension for the war dead will be doubled, and I will reward you with an additional twenty guan as settlement allowance. Those who are injured and can no longer serve in the army will be rewarded with 10 guan. Those who are willing to return to their hometowns to farm will be rewarded with ten guan. Anyone who is willing to follow me can be released from military status and come to this king.
In addition to the rewards from the imperial court, I will also give you a heavy reward for the rest of the companies under my name! Brothers, I will leave it to you to defend Shenwu City!"
"Defend the city to the death! Defend the city to the death!" Li Zhen's reward was not too heavy. The morale of more than 3,000 soldiers was immediately boosted.
The cheers from the top of the city could be heard clearly in the camp.
Li Zhen was tired, and Dadu Shi was even more tired. Compared to Li Zhen, the burden on Dadu Shi's shoulders was a bit heavier. If the siege in the previous two days was just a feint attack, today's three strong attacks early in the morning
Even if he really tried to do it, except for the last trump card that he had not yet used, Dadu Shi had already used all the power he could use, but unfortunately it still came to nothing. By this time, he was already starting to get a little anxious——
Both sides of the Tang Army have already taken action, and are now engaged in a fierce battle with Tongluo, Ah Di and other tribes. Those small tribes can no longer support themselves. The calls for help have not stopped since then. Now, generous
If Shenwu cannot be captured as soon as possible, once the main force of the Tang army annihilates those small tribesmen and then joins forces together, Dadu She cannot guarantee whether the two ambushes he arranged in advance will work. If not,
Li Zhen became the only guarantee for whether he could return to the grassland safely, but Dadu was still wary about whether to use his last trump card. Without him, this would be the last barrier for him to fight for the throne in the future. Once he was in
If the losses here are too great, then he will definitely be at a disadvantage in the competition with his second brother Bazhuo, so he cannot be too generous or cautious.
Huh? What's the sound? Dadu was in deep thought, but was suddenly awakened by the cheers from the top of Shenwu City. After listening to it for a while, he suddenly felt furious and angry. He strode out of the tent with a pair of eagle eyes.
Staring at the top of Shenwu City, he gritted his teeth, his face twitched for a long time, and he gave the order viciously: "Send the order: Huihe, the commanders of the two Pugu tribes will jointly attack the south of the city, and Amuda will lead his troops to attack the north of the city.
The Wolf Camp then attacked the east of the city and told Timur that the governor would have dinner in the city today!"
"Damn it, you still want to attack?" As soon as Tudumi received Dadu Shi's command, he immediately became angry. In the past three days, he had lost nearly 3,000 horses back and forth to He, plus the attack on Shuo in front of him.
There were more than 3,000 casualties in the Zhou Dynasty. This time the troops were dispatched to Huihe, but they did not receive much property. The loss of men and horses was not that old or young. Seeing that Shenwu was not easy to chew, he had long been unwilling to fight. At this time, he still had no desire to fight.
Asking him to attack the city, Tudumi scolded him in front of Dadu's messenger.
Qi Jinyeda also didn't have a good reputation. Under the Shenwu City, the Pugu tribe had lost more than 6,000 horses in total. At this time, the morale of the army was at a loss, and most of the siege equipment had been lost. How could there be any hope?
Attacking the city, but seeing Tudu Mi doing it, he didn't want to get involved. He just stood aside with a cold face and planned to watch the excitement. Unfortunately, the excitement didn't really turn into a fuss - Xue Yantuo's messenger didn't even think about it.
Ignoring Tudumi's nonsense, he just said: "This is the order of the Grand Governor, and Commander Tudumi will take care of it." As soon as he finished speaking, he left immediately without giving any advice to Tudumi.
Opportunity to speak.
"You damn lamb, attack your mother's hair! I won't do it anymore!" Tudumi angrily swung his riding crop and planned to return to the camp, but when he was done with it, he became anxious. Without him, Tudumi would do this.
Once he leaves, the siege of the city will have to fall on his head. There are only so many troops left in the Pugu tribe. Once the number of troops is further reduced, even if Shenwu is captured, they will still be annexed by others when they return to the grassland.
End?
Qi Jin also had quick hands and quick eyes. He quickly grabbed the reins of Tudumi's horse and said with a smile: "Brother Tudumi, don't be angry. This time, the Governor has sent out all the capital of the Wolf Camp.
You and I are just pretending to attack, just show off, why bother getting angry with a little pawn."
"Aha." Tudumi sneered and said: "Forget it, just follow my brother's words, as long as you mean it, it doesn't matter whether it's a wolf camp or not, let's just watch the excitement.
.Come here, pass the order. When attacking the city, shout louder and send fewer troops, otherwise it will be boring to find it on your own!"
Just when Xue Yantuo was busy arranging troops in the formation and preparing for the final general attack, the Tang army at the head of Shenwu City was not idle either. There was no wood and rolling stones to demolish the houses. Not to mention the houses of ordinary wealthy people, even the houses of the county government.
After it was demolished, the beams were made of ready-made wood, and the bricks were rolled stones. Unfortunately, Shenwu is a small county after all, and most people live in adobe houses. There were very few wood and rolled stones that could be obtained.
After working hard for a long time, Li Zhen couldn't get much out of it. This left Li Zhen helpless. She had no choice but to drag her tired body back and forth around the city, trying her best to boost morale.
At the last moment, Xue Yantuo's military formation, which had been silent for more than an hour, sounded the shrill horn sound again. The Uighur and Pugu coalition forces in the south of the city, and the Xue Yantuo army in the north of the city simultaneously launched an attack on Shenwu City with the sound of trumpets. Shenwu City
The war reignited above and below, but the intensity of the attacks was quite different:
In Uihe in the south of the city, the shouts of killing by the Pugu coalition forces were deafening, but in fact not too much force was put into the attack. They mostly fired arrows by the moat, but there were very few people who actually crossed the moat and participated in the siege.
There were only a few ladders and a few hundred people on the left and right, and they moved slowly. They stopped as soon as they crossed the moat and never leaned against the city wall. This made Qiao Shengtai, who was guarding the south of the city, confused.
The Tang army did not have many arrows at this time, so Qiao Shengtai simply ordered not to fire arrows at the enemy troops who had crossed the moat. The two sides actually played "All Quiet on the Western Front" in an offensive and defensive battle of blood and fire, and each got what he wanted.
Compared with the two armies in the south of the city, who were at peace with each other, the north of the city fought head-on. This made Li Zhen, who was defending the north of the city, very busy. Fortunately, the morale of the Tang army was high at this time, and Xue Yantuo's troops could not attack the city for a while.
, just as the two sides were fighting to the death, a shrill horn sounded from the east of the city, and a cavalry unit of about three thousand people, dressed in black and black armor, covered the same number of black infantry and slowly moved towards the east of the city.