On the high platform of the Sui army's camp, Yang Shanhui watched the advancing Sui army, although this was a night battle, but the soldiers seemed to be orderly, and there was no chaos, and under the reflection of the torches in the hands of the auxiliaries, it looked quite spectacular.

Six thousand archers formed six phalanxes, stopping five hundred paces in front of the Tang camp, if the Tang army dared to come out and destroy the camp equipment, then the strong crossbows in their hands would let the Tang army know what a storm was.

The soldiers of the Sui army's 'siege camp' gestured with big shields and swords, escorted the catapults, crossbows, and bed crossbows to continue to move forward, and they also stopped four hundred paces away, some soldiers quickly led the horses dragging the equipment back to the camp, others were reinforcing the catapults, and the slave soldiers carried stones and arrows bare-chested.

With the passage of time, the 300 catapults and 600 crossbows and bed crossbows that had been put into the battlefield had been put in place one after another, and the two teams of cavalry rushed from the north and south ends one after another, and reported under the high platform: "Report to the commander, the southern army is in place and can launch an attack on the Tang camp at any time." ”

"Report to the marshal, the northern army is in place and can launch an attack on the Tang camp at any time."

Although Yang Shanhui's idea was to be entangled with the Tang army, resulting in Li Shimin's inability to break the embankment, he did not put the direction of attack in one place, but drew up a plan for coordinated operations on the north and south lines according to the Tang army's camp, the southern army was led by Xie Yingdeng as the main general, the northern army was headed by Mai Mengcai as the main general, He Panren and Feng Li were the two deputy generals, he himself was in the center, Zhang Zhenzhou, the governor of the navy, served as the main general of the backup, and the land and water generals such as Lai Cheng, Zhou Shaofan, and Xue Wanbei also had their own responsibilities.

The Sui Dynasty has vigorously excavated and cultivated Han scholars over the years, although the talent reserve is not abundant, but it is not as stretched as it was at the beginning, coupled with the Sui Dynasty's national peace and security, public security and stability, the inner county guard, the county guard, the county guard, and the general guard are now all served by Wenchen, like Lai Quan, Zhou Shaofan, Xue Wanbei, these civil and military all-rounders with rich combat experience, all have been reasonably arranged, such people either sit in the border county, or go to the martial arts academy for further study, Tsinghua Xuegong Martial Arts Academy is now also suspended, and all students are assigned to various places for training, Most of these students are from the middle and low-level military attaches of the army, and they are no strangers to war.

When Yang Shanhui heard this at this time, he immediately ordered: "Start attacking." ”

"Boom! Boom! Dong ......" A big man beside him raised his drumstick and struck the giant drum with all his might, and the dull sound of the drum was heard far away at night, which was the order for the Sui army to begin its attack.

"Put!"

A siege battalion commander of the Southern Route Army shouted, and the soldiers released the handle of the catapult winch at the same time, the winch rotated rapidly, and the long arm pole threw a boulder violently.

As soon as the drums stopped, the north and south attacked at the same time. As a result, hundreds of boulders soared into the air almost at the same time, and they slashed across the arc in the night, smashing towards the wall panels of the Tang camp more than two feet high four hundred paces away.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ”

A hundred pounds of boulders smashed into the Tang army camp, a boulder smashed into the wooden wall of the Tang camp, the fierce impact of the stone smashed the top of the board wall to pieces, opened a big gap, several soldiers standing on the horizontal board were smashed out, the flesh and blood were blurred, a bed crossbow guarding the camp was also smashed to pieces, exclamations, screams suddenly resounded!

The catapult continued to exert its might, and a piece of boulder smashed into the camp wall with a terrifying whistling sound, from time to time there was a dull impact sound and the sound of breaking the supporting wooden frame, a camp wall was smashed twice in a row, when the third boulder came, it finally collapsed unbearably, and the Tang soldiers who were lucky enough to avoid the boulder were thrown out fiercely, and let out a burst of ghost crying wolf howls, but the battle was in full swing, and obviously no one cared about their life and death.

The Tang army aimed at the two attack points of the Sui army, and set up two defense generals, and the one in charge of the southern camp was Li Shimin's confidant Hou Junji, who heard that the camp wall had broken several big gaps, and immediately became anxious, and shouted loudly: "The bed crossbow counters, be sure to shoot the Sui army's catapult to Lao Tzu." ”

In fact, as early as when the Sui army pressed the camp, the Tang army's thousand bed crossbows were concentrated, and the Tang army was not stupid enough to give the Sui army a chance to concoct, and the powerful giant arrows were fired in the direction of the catapult with a dense momentum.

But the Sui army is also prepared, there is a huge shield phalanx in front of the equipment, each giant shield is one zhang high, five zhang wide, in fact, it is not a special information, but made of bamboo, covered with two layers of cooked cowhide, ordinary arrows can not penetrate the two layers of cowhide at all, the arrows of the bed crossbow are powerful, although they can shoot through the cowhide, but many arrows are stuck in the gap between the bamboo pieces, the slave soldiers in charge of this phalanx are not stupid, they fixed the bamboo shield with a bracket, and then retreated to a certain safety zone, even if the arrows can penetrate, However, the destructive power has also been greatly reduced, and only some unlucky ghosts have been nailed and stabbed by the arrows that came through them.

The bamboo shield array is the first line of defense of the catapult, it itself also has a defensive setting, these great Sui craftsmen after the catapult not only put the winch behind, increased the baffle to protect the soldiers, but also wrapped all parts of the catapult with thick cowhide, some of the more vulnerable positions are also covered with iron sheets, so that even if the arrows of the bed crossbow hit the catapult, but the power has been greatly reduced, just like ordinary arrows nailed to it, it will not cause fatal damage. These defense methods are actually quite simple, easy for people to learn the past, but the problem is that neither Li Yuan nor Li Mi have enough cowhides, they can't buy them from the northern nomads, and now the entire northern land is the territory of the Great Sui, and the border bordering foreign races is separated by a tall and heavy Great Wall, and traders can only enter and exit through the established gates, and these open passes are controlled by disciplined military discipline, and it is difficult for them to smuggle. Even if you get a few cowhides from some unscrupulous traders, it is not enough to make soldiers' armor, and you can't even think about making a sheath for catapults.

Tang Jun fired five rounds of bed crossbows in a row, and Hou Junji's expectant gaze also became disappointed, such a concentrated launch, not a single catapult fell, and he felt a little comforted that the shield array had a loose sign, he felt that this was a good phenomenon, so he continued. The focus of attention is also on its own defense, compared with the poor results of the Tang army's bed crossbow, the results of the Sui army's catapult can be described as brilliant, and after a few rounds, the camp wall of the Tang camp has been smashed out of a big gap, and Hou Junji alone has seen more than a dozen collapses.

But although this line of defense is no longer complete, but it still has a weak defense, if left alone, the Sui army will definitely attack from these places, although the Tang army still has a follow-up defense, but compared to the camp wall is a big shortage, so Hou Junji used 5,000 logistics troops, moved huge trees and stones, desperately repaired the collapsed camp wall. Under the pressure of the blade of the war overseer, the logistics soldiers were terrified and risked death to repair.

At this time, a flying boulder hit the place that was being repaired, and several wooden pillars that had just been laid down were smashed to the ground, and after the stones smashed the heads of several logistics soldiers, they rolled on the ground and swept towards the crowd, and dozens of logistics soldiers were so frightened that they turned around and fled.

Although the catapult was a mechanical repetition of the previous movements, the excitement of the Sui soldiers never subsided, and every time they saw the camp wall collapse, they burst into cheers, and then enthusiastically operated the catapult.

On the conning tower!

Yang Shanhui was expressionless and engrossed in the battle in the distance, so that Xue Wanbei, who was arranged by his side, wanted to speak many times, as if he wanted to say something, but when he saw that Yang Shanhui was focused on the battle, he didn't dare to disturb!

"Just ask!" Yang Shanhui said with a smile as if he knew that the other party had doubts. Looking at this young general, he was very emotional in his heart, and he was also very envious of his father Xue Shixiong.

Xue Shixiong's five sons are all remarkable, and Xue's prominence in the Great Sui is eye-catching.

Now the boss Xue Wanshu has been appointed as a general and an earl, sitting in the most difficult county of the Great Sui, if he makes some achievements, a county prince will not be able to escape, and it is still a national duke; The second Xue Wanshu is also a general and an earl, the difference is that as the commander of the Fourth Army, he sits in the northeast and has an unlimited future.

The third and fourth are even more remarkable, the third Xue Wanjun was awarded the title of General of the Right Wuwei and the Duke of Teng Guo, and now he is the chief general of the Sixth Army, and he can move his army eastward at any time to cut Li Shimin's back road; The fourth Xue Wanche was named the general of the Right Xiaowei and Deng Guogong, and was the chief general of the Tenth Army, sitting in Lintao, responsible for defending the Bashu Tang Army and Tuyuhun on the plateau.

As for the old man of the Xue family in front of him, he is also a man of both civil and military affairs, he is not very old, only in his early twenties, but he has a lot of experience, he has worked as a county guard in Xihe, governed the place in an orderly manner, served as a general, and cleaned up the Liang division; Now of course, he has been thrown into the martial arts academy, but this is not a snub, but a cultivation, this guy is under the command of the wise and martial emperor, and sooner or later he will be in charge.

After careful calculation, among the ten major legions of the Great Sui, there are three of the Xue brothers as the main generals, and the boss and the old man are also people with unlimited prospects in the military.

Speaking of which, what Yang Shanhui admires most about the Xue brothers is not that they are all outstanding and have unlimited futures, but that their brothers are sensible, know how to advance and retreat, and know current affairs! Soon after they were entitled, they were divided into five, each running their own small family, although they did not make a posture of not getting along with each other, but they rarely gathered, even if they got together, they were undoubtedly wise and smart, resulting in Yang Gongren, Yang Shidao brothers, Li Jing, Li Keshi brothers, Mai Mengcai, Mai Zhongcai brothers, Zhou Shaozu, Zhou Shaofan brothers, Lai brothers...... They have followed suit. Pei's father and son, who are also a double prince, although they have not yet been divided, Pei Renji and Pei Xingyan also live in their own mansions, and there is no substantial difference between them and the family, and with Pei Xingyan's character, bearing, and personal achievements, he will obviously not compete with his half-brother Pei Xingjian for his father's inheritance.

Yang Shan will have three sons, but his son is young, and it is not yet time to split the family, but he will also separate them one by one in the future, in fact, Yang Shan will feel that early separation is only good for the family itself and not harmful, avoiding the king's suspicion is one thing, the important thing is that the departure of each son is an experience, there is no big mistake to watch the father on the side, and when the father is gone, they have matured, even if they have no enterprising ability in the future, they can still have the ability to keep the family business, and although the brothers are separated, But there have been no family property disputes, and the brotherhood is not harmed, which can also help each other and support each other for a long time.

As the initiator of the trend of family separation in the officialdom of the Great Sui, although the emperor never said anything to the Xue brothers, the attitude shown by the Xue brothers must have made him appreciate and trust him more than before, and the king's favor and trust are obviously ten million times more precious than real money.

However, after Xue Wanbei got Yang Shanhui's permission, he said very sadly: "Back to Dashuai, before my father died, let our brothers learn the lessons of his fiasco, and repeatedly warned our brothers to try to avoid night battles. Second, it is difficult to distinguish between friend and foe in night battles; Third, the field of vision is not smooth, there are many dead ends, and the enemy can use the cover of night to attack the flank and rear of the attacking side; Fourth, even if they win, the enemy chieftain can take advantage of the darkness to escape, and can take advantage of the chaos of the attacking side to clear the camp and counterattack...... These problems are also mentioned in the war books, but the right servant shoots to fight night battles with a dignified and upright momentum, and the last general doesn't quite understand! ”

Yang Shanhui couldn't help laughing: Xue Wanbei, who has succeeded in suppressing bandits many times, will not know the wisdom of the soldier of 'impermanence and impermanence', with his level, he should not ask such a naïve question, obviously he has doubts about his decision to storm the Tang camp this time, but he is afraid of offending himself by asking for advice, his art of conversation not only makes people hate, but also makes people feel good.

Looking at the polite Xue Wanbei, Yang Shanhui tried his best to get rid of the idea of beating his own son, and said with a smile: "What you said is right, but our army has the ability and experience to fight at night, and some of the drawbacks mentioned in the military books are useless for our army." Of course, the problem of the enemy chieftain escaping cannot be solved, but the problem is that whether it is me or the saint, everyone does not want to capture Li Shimin alive, nor do they want him to die. ”

Xue Wanbei was stunned and said: "It is a well-known thing that Li Yuan relies on the Li clan, since Li Xiaogong was deposed, Li Shimin has become the only person in the pseudo-Tang Dynasty who has experience in commanding a large corps of battles, isn't it good to catch him?" ”

Yang Shanhui asked rhetorically: "Do you know the reason for the repeated defeats of the Tang army?" ”

Xue Wanbei said without hesitation: "Naturally, our army is brave and good at fighting, and the generals are good at using their troops; The thief army is weak in battle, demoralized, and incompetent......"

"The words of all families are not enough to rely on!" Yang Shanhui shook his head, and without waiting for Xue Wanbei to ask again, he said directly: "It's not that what you said is wrong, but it's not all right, the pseudo-Tang is not that the generals are incompetent, but that they are powerful and unable to make it!" In fact, the saint attached great importance to Li Shimin and the pseudo-Tang general. ”

Xue Wanbei carefully tasted Yang Shanhui's words, and reacted a little, "Is it said that the pseudo-Tang court is the root cause of the Tang army's repeated defeats?" ”

Yang Shanhui nodded and said, "Exactly!" The hands of the civil servants of the puppet Tang court were stretched too long, causing the soldiers in front to be tied, which involved the struggle for military power between the civil and military, and there were other contentions. ”

Xue Wanbei said suddenly: "Did the marshal mean to let Li Shimin deal with Li Jiancheng?" ”

Yang Shanhui smiled faintly: "Li Shimin, who fights alone and restrains his hands and feet, is not a big threat to my Great Sui, but his existence, at least can not make the various forces of the pseudo-Tang Dynasty twist into a rope, for my Great Sui, the living Li Shimin is more valuable than dead." ”

Xue Wanbei understood, nodded and said, "It turns out that this servant has a comprehensive plan, so he launched a night battle, but the last general is presumptuous." ”

Yang Shanhui smiled bitterly when he heard this, in fact, he didn't want to fight at night, because there were too many variables, but the problem was that he had to fight! It's just that the root cause of this war, they can't let too many people know, otherwise, it will cause a big panic.

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