Chapter 84 The War between Sui and Tang Dynasties (14)
In Qianshuiyuan, the confrontation between the Sui and Tang armies has reached the fifth day, but the unfavorable news coming from Tongguandao has caused subtle changes in the battle situation. It is obvious that the Tang army cannot continue the confrontation, and the pressure of the final decisive battle is heavy on the Tang army.
They became passive...m
For Li Shimin, the situation on the battlefield was not only severe, but also a more serious crisis occurred in Chang'an City. Qi King Li Yuanji unexpectedly seized the command of Chang'an's 40,000 garrison.
An urgent report came from Tang Feng that the King of Qi had accumulated more than 2,000 dead soldiers, and they were secretly transferring them to the Prince of Qi's Mansion in the city in batches in the past few days.
All the intelligence points to the fact that King Qi is probably planning a major action. Li Shimin knows very well that this so-called major action can only be one, King Qi wants to seize the throne and ascend to the throne.[
In the big tent, Li Shimin was reading a piece of information that Zhang Gongjin had just sent. The prince sent Zhan Shi Wang Gui to find Zhang Gongjin, hoping that the East Palace and the Qin Palace would join forces to deal with the King of Qi.
The continued deterioration of the situation in Chang'an made Li Shimin worried, but he had to cheer up and face the battle situation in front of him. His opponent was Yang Yuanqing, who had elite troops and nearly twice as many people as him. If this battle failed again,
, the Tang Dynasty was really over.
The critical situation of the war forced Li Shimin to fight, and the fear of failure prevented him from making up his mind. He was in an extremely painful dilemma.
At this time, Fang Xuanling walked in slowly with his hands behind his back. He didn't need to report when he entered Li Shimin's tent. He walked not far from Li Shimin and looked at Li Shimin with pity. This young coach had not slept for two days.
I don't want to give him worse news.
Li Shimin was pressing his forehead in deep thought when he suddenly felt something. He looked up and saw Fang Xuanling, and asked in a hoarse voice: "Sir, what can I do for you?"
Fang Xuanling stared at Li Shimin's eyes which were red due to insomnia. He sighed and said, "Your Highness doesn't care about the Sui army on Tongguan Road?"
Li Shimin shook his head, "How could I not care, but the crisis in Tongguandao is still within my tolerance range. After all, they only have 10,000 troops, and they are led by Cheng Yaojin. I think he should not dare to attack Chang'an rashly.
, at most they are showing off their power in Guanzhong, as long as we block the news, morale will not be affected."
Fang Xuanling bit her lip and said, "I advise Your Highness to launch an offensive! Don't wait any longer."
Li Shimin was startled. He felt something was wrong. Fang Xuanling would never speak like this. What was going on? He stared into Fang Xuanling's eyes and asked slowly: "What happened?"
Fang Xuanling sighed slightly, "I just received the latest news that Shi Wanbao surrendered to the Sui army at Xiantong Pass."
Li Shimin felt his vision go dark, his body swayed, and he almost fainted. Fang Xuanling quickly stepped forward to support him, "Your Highness!"
Li Shimin opened his hand and shook his head, "I'm fine!"
He took a deep breath. What he was most worried about finally happened. The Eastern Front was lost and the situation in Guanzhong was over. Are they really finished?
Li Shimin raised his head and stared at Fang Xuanling, "Sir, what should I do now?"
Fang Xuanling sighed in his heart. In fact, he had advised Li Shimin a few days ago to make a desperate move and fight the Sui army. If he could win, then after defeating the main force of the Sui army, he would immediately rush to support the eastern front. There might still be a glimmer of hope.
But Li Shimin did not adopt his own plan. Now that the eastern front was lost and the overall situation was almost determined, their hope was slim.
But Fang Xuanling couldn't bear to make Li Shimin despair. He asked in a deep voice: "Will Your Highness accept my plan?"
Li Shimin nodded, "I will definitely follow your husband's advice this time."
"Well, I have two strategies. Your Highness can choose one of them. Your Highness will immediately fight the Sui army at any cost. As long as we can defeat the Sui army, we can return to the capital to collect 40,000 troops, and then launch an offensive against the Sui army on the eastern front.
, maybe we still have a glimmer of hope, this is an offensive strategy; secondly, His Highness withdraws to Chang'an, concentrates his forces to defend the city, and can defend the city day by day, and hopes that the Sui army will retreat on its own. This is a defensive strategy, attack or defend, Your Highness decides!
"
Li Shimin nodded slowly, knowing that he could not choose a defensive strategy.[
"Pass my order, beat the drum and gather the generals!"
........
In the Sui army's camp, Yang Yuanqing stood on the guard tower and looked at the Tang army's camp. He got the news that Cheng Yaojin broke through Tongguan Road and entered Guanzhong, and also got the latest information about Tongguan's surrender. He knew that Li Shimin could hardly bear it.
Either today or tomorrow, the Tang army will definitely attack us in a large scale.
Behind him, tens of thousands of Sui soldiers were ready and waiting for the order to fight. Next to him, Luo Shixin was gearing up and eager to try. He was so eager for this head-on war.
At this moment, the earth-shattering drum sound suddenly came from the Tang Army camp opposite, "Dong-dong-dong!" The long drum sound was an order for the army to assemble. Yang Yuanqing's eyes narrowed.
Sure enough, it came.
"Your Highness, send out the troops and form an array!" Luo Shixin shouted excitedly.
Yang Yuanqing looked at the sky and saw that it was just after noon. He slowly shook his head and said, "Pass my order, stick to the camp and don't go out to fight!"
Luo Shixin was stunned for a while and did not recover for a long time. Yang Yuanqing patted his shoulder and said seriously: "The more anxious the Tang army is, the less anxious we will be. Our goal is victory, not temporary gains and losses."
Luo Shixin nodded slowly, he understood what Yang Yuanqing meant.
The gate of the Tang army's camp was wide open, leaving only a few thousand troops to guard the camp, while the remaining 40,000 troops pressed forward. Troops came out of the camp one by one, and were spread out in a black mass on the field.
The wall of the Sui army's camp was ten miles long. The Tang army attacked the enemy camp at three points. Li Shimin led 20,000 troops to attack the main west gate of the Sui army, Yu Chigong led 10,000 troops to attack the northern front, and Hou Junji led 10,000 troops to attack.
On the southern front, the three armies are each two miles apart, so they can attack at separate points and at the same time gather quickly.
Li Shimin was wearing a golden helmet and golden armor, holding a sword in his hand, and looked sharply at the Sui army camp. The situation was developing towards the most unfavorable side. Yang Yuanqing did not go to the battle, which shows that he probably already knew that the Sui army was on the eastern front.
breakthrough.
Li Shimin sighed secretly. He had no choice. He swung his sword and Li Shimin shouted sternly: "Beat the drum and attack!"
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The war drums sounded, and the drums were beating intensively. Tens of thousands of Tang troops launched into action, shouting and rushing towards the Sui army's camp, like a rolling black wave with murderous intent.
The wall of the Sui army was two feet high and divided into upper and lower floors. There was a thick wooden board in the middle. There were shooting holes on the upper and lower floors. Thirty thousand Sui soldiers stood on the upper and lower floors, holding military crossbows and waiting in full formation.
Four thousand crossbowmen were deployed at the main west gate. This was also one of the Sui army's lethal weapons against cavalry. The six-stone crossbow operated by the two men was replaced with ordinary arrows. The effective killing range was up to 250 steps, which was the normal two-stone
Double the force of the crossbow.
In the middle of the camp, there is a five-foot-high wooden tower, which is the command tower of the Sui army. From the tower, you can see all directions of the camp. At this time, Yang Yuanqing was standing on the tower, watching the Tang army coming in overwhelming numbers.
As the commander-in-chief, Yang Yuanqing did not directly interfere in specific operations. He only focused on the coordinated operations among the armies. Although Yang Yuanqing made careful arrangements for the Tang Army's large-scale attack, he seemed very relaxed at this time. He knew what to do.
It is not difficult to defeat the Tang army.
He had 80,000 elite Sui troops in his hands, while the Tang army only had more than 40,000 men. The Sui army was almost twice as large as the enemy. Regardless of the time, place, and people, the Sui army had the absolute upper hand. If they could not win under this situation,
Tang Jun, that's really a strange news in the world. What's more important is that the eastern front has been broken through, and the general trend of the world has been determined.
The overwhelming Tang army was getting closer and closer. They carried thousands of ladders and ran towards the Sui army camp. The infantry was in front and the cavalry was behind. They were getting closer and closer. Three hundred and two hundred and fifty steps, they had already entered the crossbows.
However, the soldiers of the Tang army did not realize that they had entered the hunting range and did not raise their shields. They usually did not defend against enemy bows and arrows until they were 150 steps away.
The leader of the Sui army in the middle line was Niu Jinda. He stared closely at the Tang army as they entered the range of the giant crossbow and shouted, "Shoot!"
Two thousand powerful crossbows were fired at the same time. They were not using iron arrows, but ordinary crossbow arrows. The shooting range was as far as 300 steps, and the killing distance was 250 steps. "Click!" There was a sound of crossbow machine, and two thousand crossbow arrows soared into the air.
It rose up, as dense as a rapid rain, and shot at the Tang soldiers rushing towards them.[
There was a scream from the army, as if a line swept across, and more than 700 people fell to the ground. Only then did Li Xianjun, the leading charging general, suddenly realize and shouted loudly: "Raise your shield to fight!"
Thousands of Tang soldiers raised their shields, and their running speed began to slow down. Soon, the Sui army began to fire in full force. The rain of arrows fired by 30,000 Sui soldiers was so dense that it covered the sky, like a swarm of locusts flying all over the sky.
Although the soldiers of the Tang army raised their shields to greet them, the casualties were still increasing, with the number of casualties increasing by the order of thousands. The fields were filled with Tang soldiers who had been hit by arrows.
When Li Xianjun saw that the Tang army suffered heavy casualties, he couldn't help but galloped to Li Shimin and shouted: "Your Highness, brothers have suffered heavy casualties, please withdraw first!"
Li Shimin gritted his teeth, "Anyone who dares to retreat will be killed!"
In desperation, Li Xianjun had no choice but to turn around and run forward. Li Shimin personally raised the drumstick and beat the war drum vigorously. The pounding drums of the attack resounded throughout the earth. After paying seven to eight thousand casualties, the Tang army finally rushed to the Sui army's headquarters.
In front of the camp, planks were laid on the trench, and wooden ladders were set up on the wall. The soldiers of the Tang Army began to climb the wall bravely.
The battle flags were waved on the command platform and the deployment of military services was changed. The Sui army's defense began to change. The crossbowmen on the lower level were still firing arrows from the arrow holes, while the crossbowmen on the upper level withdrew one after another and stood dozens of steps away and fired arrows outward.
With arrows, nearly 20,000 spearmen rushed to the upper level of the board wall and fought fiercely with the Tang army soldiers who rushed up. The two armies started a bloody fight inside and outside the board wall.
Li Xuanba and Hou Junji were responsible for attacking the southern front. They also faced strong fire from the Sui army's crossbowmen and suffered heavy casualties. However, soon, the Tang army soldiers also rushed to the wall and fought fiercely with the Sui army defending the camp.
.
"Get out of my way, everyone!"
Li Xuanba was so infuriated by the war drums of the attack that he could not restrain himself. He had been looking forward to this day for a long time. He swung his sledgehammer and rushed forward crazily. He swung the hammer and smashed it hard. He hit the wall twice with two hammers.
There was a muffled sound, and two large holes were smashed into the wall. Several Sui soldiers inside the wall were thrown out. The wall shook violently, and chunks of mud fell down.
Li Xuanba was overjoyed. He swung his hammer and hit hundreds of Tang soldiers who were supporting him. He fired arrows at the Sui soldiers on the wall, suppressing them from attacking Li Xuanba.
In fact, the board wall around Li Xuanba could no longer stand. It was shaking violently, causing the board wall to collapse. During Li Xuanba's series of attacks, the board wall in front of him finally collapsed, opening a section of about two feet wide.
Gap.
Li Xuanba roared, swung his sledgehammer, and rushed into the Sui army camp first. Hundreds of Tang army soldiers rushed in. At this time, just fifty steps away, Luo Shixin was holding a big iron gun with cold eyes.
He stared at Li Xuanba, having been waiting for him for a long time.