Yan Zhenqing was surprisingly calm and said unhurriedly: "If he embezzled the money of the imperial court into his pocket, I would have dismissed him on the spot, but he didn't do that, but used the money to build the city wall, why did he build the city wall, this is the key question, he is to resist the invasion of Fengzhou by the Xue Yantuo people." ”

Yan Zhenqing raised his voice, "In the autumn of the previous year, he defeated Xue Yantuo's army, how could Xue Yantuo's army give up, and he would definitely report it again, he was originally going to attack Fengzhou last year, but because the Sijie troops pressed the border, Xue Yantuo was forced to give up the plan to attack Fengzhou, so what about this spring?" If he didn't build the city wall in time, what would he do to defend against Xue Yantuo's army? Everyone has to consider the actual situation in Fengzhou, Guo Song is not that he doesn't want to go through the procedures, but the time is too late, he can only start the construction first, and then go through the procedures after the beginning of spring. ”

"But last year, there was obviously a year, why didn't he go through the formalities? He can apply for the construction of docks and warehouses, so why not apply for the construction of city walls? Obviously, he felt that he didn't need to apply for the city wall, and he could repair it if he wanted, didn't he?" Chang Gon asked aggressively.

At this time, Cui Youfu said: "We have all been magistrates, and many things can be done without wanting to, but if you can do something, if you don't seize the opportunity, when the opportunity passes, you will regret it, why didn't Guo Song build the city wall before, and then suddenly wanted to build the city wall, I think I can understand, Fengzhou is sparsely populated, he just wants to build the city wall and has no heart, but a locust plague brought a large number of refugees to Fengzhou, just to work for relief, there are a lot of young and strong labor available, as for why he didn't apply in time, Everyone knows how long it takes to apply for a modification of the height of the city wall, and it will take at least three or five years to get it under the premise of the imperial court's consent, so he can wait, but will Xue Yantuo wait? ”

Chang Gon snorted coldly and said, "This is not a reason why he can violate the law!" ”

At this time, Han Yun said slowly: "Fengzhou is a frontier, not the Central Plains, the Central Plains does involve more than all aspects of the modification of the city wall, and even stipulates that it cannot exceed the height of the city wall in Chang'an, generally even if it collapses and rebuilds, it will not be easy to approve the modification of the height, but the frontier is not, Emperor Xuanzong has a will, the construction of the city wall in the frontier should consider the enemy situation, you can decide on the spot, you don't have to go through the approval of the imperial court, the specific year of the decree, I forgot a little, but you can find out." ”

Han Yun's words were very convincing, Chang Gon was speechless for a while, and said for a while: "But he embezzled money and goods for the purposes specified by the imperial court at will, is it considered a violation?" ”

Liu Yan also said: "If this is a violation, then I should have been imprisoned countless times, when I was a support envoy, I was not digging the east wall to make up the west wall one day, all kinds of money stipulated by the imperial court are not used casually, what is the use, everyone ask yourself, which of us has not embezzled the money and grain approved by the imperial court when he was a magistrate?" I think that as long as it is not embezzled privately, or used for eating, drinking, and having fun, this kind of misappropriation between projects is not a big deal, and I can criticize a few words, but I can't use the word guilt, let alone use it as a reason for impeachment. ”

Two of the five grounds for impeachment were removed, and there were still three left, at this time, Yan Zhenqing said again: "It's still the article of granting land privately, I took a look, he didn't violate the uniform field system, the uniform field system is very clear, Ding male is one hectare, Ding female fifty acres, although it has never been reached, at most more than ten acres, but it can't be said that he violated the law by giving one hectare, and the amount of land he granted is completely in line with the uniform field system!" As for 'privately granting land', I think that when Anxi gave land to immigrants, he never consulted the imperial court, when did the imperial court say that Anxi granted land privately? Fengzhou is also a frontier, why can Anxi be able but not Fengzhou? ”

Han Yun said again: "Article 5, without the approval of the Ministry of Households, he signed an immigration agreement with the disaster victims without authorization, turning the disaster victims into immigrants, resulting in a large number of empty households in Shengzhou and Xiazhou, I just want to ask, what does Guo Song's immigration agreement look like, has Chang Xiangguo seen it?" Or has this Overseer seen it? Is there any of the above involved in re-establishing a household registration in Toyosu? If there is no household registration, it is normal to recruit displaced people to go to the frontier tuntian, if you continue to tuntian in the frontier for ten years, then according to the regulations of the imperial court, this terra nullius can be owned by the cultivator. ”

Chang Gon was a little dizzy, seeing that the four reasons for impeachment with conclusive evidence were actually rejected one by one, and they were methodical, making it difficult for him to fight back.

He grabbed the first reason for impeachment like a life-saving straw and said, "What about the first one? What is the crime of forming an alliance with the Si Jiebu without the consent of the imperial court? ”

Everyone was silent, this was indeed a very taboo thing in the Tang Dynasty, especially the frontier generals were not allowed to collude with foreign races in private, or reach some kind of deal in private, which was also related to the fact that at the end of the Sui Dynasty, the Turks supported a large number of rebel heroes, including Li Tang was also supported by the Turks.

Because of this experience, the Tang Dynasty has always strictly forbidden frontier generals to make some kind of deal with nomads without permission.

Guo Song and Sijie can't talk about forming an alliance, after all, they didn't see anything written, but Sijie Khan did send troops to suppress Xue Yantuo at the request of Guo Song, and did not pass through the imperial court, this matter is serious and indeed serious, but it doesn't seem to be a big deal if it is not serious, Guo Song and Sijie Khan have a good personal relationship, and there is no specific content of the transaction.

The key is a sentence from the Son of Heaven, whether the Son of Heaven pursues this matter or not.

At this time, Han Rong said: "Let's sort out today's opinions and hand them over to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince together with the impeachment letter, so that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can weigh this matter!" ”

Everyone agreed, and although Chang Gon wanted to vote on it, he could not do it alone, so he had to reluctantly agree.

.........

The drums of war beat loudly, the bloody siege battle is still brutally continuing, Xue Yantuo's army attacked the city, and was killed and retreated, the city was full of corpses of the dead, some soldiers' heads were smashed by boulders, red and white brains flowed out of the cracks in the big stones, and some only left the body, the head did not know where to go, the blood in the neck cavity had dried up, and the smell of fishy smell.

The soldiers of the Tang Army also suffered heavy casualties, some were killed by arrows, lying at the head of the city with their necks crooked, and some soldiers were pierced through the heart by spears and were already dead, but their hands were still holding on to the shaft of the spear, their eyes were wide with anger, and they did not blink to death.

The war has been fought for nearly three hours, the time has come to the afternoon, the siege is still extremely fierce, although Xue Yantuo's army is extremely fierce, but the Tang soldiers are stubbornly resisting, brave and good at fighting, the city has never been able to take down.

Xue Mantou was a little anxious, his troops were not many, so he was counting on taking the city in one go, if the casualties were too heavy, he would have to return with a feather, and Xue Yantuo's reputation in the grassland would be over.

"Nest car attack!"

Xue Mantou turned around and gave the order, and five giant-like nest cars rumbled out.

The nest car is also called the building car, the earliest is to pull the siege soldiers to a high place to observe the enemy situation at the head of the city, just like the bird's nest, so it is called the nest car.

However, with the large-scale siege weapons, the nest car has also developed many functions, such as the arrow tower, which builds a high platform at the top of the wooden frame, which can be used by more than 100 soldiers to stand on the high platform and shoot arrows at the head of the city.

Another example is the siege tank car, in fact, it is a disguised siege ladder, to establish a sealed passage to the city, this kind of siege nest car chassis is wide, not easy to overturn, with thick pine as the frame, wrapped around thick wooden planks, and then wrapped with a layer of raw cowhide.

Each siege cart was pulled by forty well-trained horses, and hundreds of soldiers were pushed around it, and thousands of soldiers gathered around each nest car, forming a siege team, slowly moving forward on the flat field.

To deal with the siege nest car, the bow and arrow have lost their effect, the only effective way is to attack by fire, followed by the continuous attack with boulders, the inner wooden frame is broken, but the surrounding defense is tight, and the fire attack is difficult to achieve, especially covered with raw cowhide, which is to prevent the Tang army from attacking, followed by the boulder attack, it is impossible for the trebuchet to hit the nest car continuously, it is very good to hit it once, but it is useless.

It is precisely because it is difficult to deal with that this siege nest car has become a siege weapon for the Xue Yantuo people.

Five huge giant siege nest vehicles were getting closer and closer to the city wall, and the besieging Xue Yantuo soldiers began to retreat, but the archers stayed where they were, suppressing the Tang army at the head of the city with bows and arrows.

'Woo-' The low sound of a horn echoed across the field, and the soldiers of Xue Yantuo poured out of their nests.

The army of 14,000 Xue Yantuo was reinvigorated, and they followed around the five siege engines and marched overwhelmingly towards the city walls.

Guo Song stared at the five siege nest chariots that were getting closer and closer, and ordered: "The archers retreat to the inner city, and the spear soldiers are concentrated at the head of the outer city, ready for a decisive battle!" ”