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"Kill me! Don't let any of them go, pour fire oil on all those ladders and well railings, and burn them all! Hou Junji, who commanded the cavalry of the Tang Army, smiled cruelly. In the previous field battle with the Zhou army, he lost his troops and suffered a lot, and he has always been very aggrieved in his heart, but now he finally has a chance to vent.

Yuming and Xu Shiji's faces were very ugly at this time, and now the situation is very clear: Li Jiancheng had already dug a five-zhang wide ditch outside the city, but it was filled with crude oil and covered with wooden planks and sand.

Now, Li Jiancheng saw that the situation in the city was dangerous, so he ignited the crude oil in the ditch, separating the Zhou army on the city wall from the Zhou army on the periphery.

In this way, the Zhou army that attacked the city wall became rootless, and was defeated and retreated under the siege of the Tang army.

And the infantry of the Zhou army under the city walls were not the opponents of the cavalry of the Tang army, and they faced an almost one-sided massacre. Screams and cries for help were endless, and blood stained the city walls red.

Guo Yi looked at the fire in front of him, and he also had palpitations, if Yu Ming hadn't stopped him just now, he was afraid that he would have rushed to the other side of the ditch. In that case, he'll be stuck over there, too. Under the slaughter of the cavalry of the Tang Army, no matter how strong his martial arts are, there are not many good men, and the final outcome is bound to be exhausted.

After seeing it, it was cut off, but the soldiers of the Zhou army at the head of the city burst out with huge potential, and people often let go of it under the danger of death.

As if they had gone mad, they fought with the enemy troops around them with red eyes, and started a fierce melee.

"Quick! Engineer Corps on! Fill in the ditch with sand and dirt and extinguish the fire! Rescue our brethren! Yu Ming shouted loudly at this time. He knew very well that the crude oil that started the fire could only be isolated from the air with sand and gravel, so that the fire could be extinguished, and the water to extinguish the fire would only make the fire bigger and bigger.

Guo Yi, Wei Chi Jingde and others woke up like a dream, and hurriedly led the infantry to pick up the sand and fill it in the ditch.

It's just that they have to dig sand and dodge the sharp arrows fired by the Tang army, so they advance relatively slowly.

The walls have been divided into countless small battlefields. Fierce fighting and hand-to-hand combat were taking place everywhere, and the sound of killing shook the sky.

Under the city walls, the sky was full of dust, screams and shouts were endless, where the swords collided, sparks were everywhere, and when the weapons entered the flesh, blood was dripping.

Both armies fought with all their might and paid heavy casualties.

As the war progressed, there were more and more corpses in the battlefield, and the densest places were completely piled up, one by one, and there was no place to intervene. Many of the wounded and not dead soldiers were still wailing in pain and rolling on the ground......

As the minutes ticked by, the fire in the ditch began to gradually extinguish, and the sounds of fighting and screaming along the city walls gradually thinned out. The number of Zhou soldiers at the head of the city and under the walls had decreased considerably, and their resistance was getting weaker.

At the same time, a raging fire was ignited by the city wall, which was the result of the Tang cavalry igniting the ladders and well railings of the Zhou army after pouring fire oil.

Many soldiers of the Zhou army, who were still on the ladders and well railings, fell from the sky due to the fire on their pedestals, and immediately fell to pieces......

When the Zhou army's brigade finally extinguished the fire and filled in the five-zhang wide ditch, they roared and rushed under the city wall, only to see bloody corpses all over the ground, as well as the remains of burned well railings and ladders. The soldiers of the Zhou army who attacked the city have all been killed, and the comrades under the city wall have also died.

However, the culprit Tang cavalry had already withdrawn to the city and closed the city gates.

"Avenge your brothers!" Seeing this, Guo Yi was immediately furious, and he waved his big knife to charge towards the city wall.

At this moment, another burst of arrows came from the city, and several of Guo Yi's personal soldiers immediately fell to the ground. He was also hit by an arrow in the arm, and blood flowed.

"Yi, let's withdraw first! Now the ladder and the well fence have been burned down, and we can't get up to the city wall at all. Wei Chi Jingde said with a solemn expression: "And our army has just suffered a big setback, the morale has been discharged, and the sky is getting dark, so it is indeed not suitable to continue fighting." ”

After Guo Yi heard this, his eyes were full of equators: "Brother Wei Chi, I understand what you said, but so many brothers have sacrificed, as their boss, how can I not avenge them?" ”

"Revenge also has to be strategic! If you rush up like this, you will only be killed by random arrows. When you are also dead, who will avenge them? Wei Chi Jingde said hatefully.

When Guo Yi was still hesitating, there was a sound of gold from the rear, obviously Yu Ming also discovered the situation in front and knew that it was not suitable to continue the siege.

"Alright! Let's withdraw first, and then fight these bastards in the future! Guo Yi glared fiercely at the city wall, then covered the wound on his arm and slowly retreated.

Wei Chi Jingde also breathed a sigh of relief, and then shouted: "Bandage General Guo's wounds, after I come to break it, everyone retreats slowly, and the archers shoot their positions to prevent the Tang cavalry from going out of the city again!" ”

In fact, Li Jiancheng really planned to send Hou Junji to lead the cavalry out of the city to rush and kill. But seeing that the infantry of the Zhou army retreated in an orderly manner, some archers opened their bows and arrows, and broke off with a vigilant face. If you send cavalry to attack now, even if you can win, you will definitely pay a heavy price.

Therefore, after hesitating for a while, he still gave up the idea of going out of the city to pursue again. In case he was entangled by the infantry of the Zhou army, and Yu Ming sent the cavalry and the Modao army, then he would suffer a big loss.

As the sun sets, the afterglow of the setting sun shines on the walls of Hejian County, which was originally made of bluestone, but is now stained red with blood, and the remains of some ladders hang on the walls.

Under the city walls were piles of corpses, both those of the Zhou army and the Tang army, and the blood flowed on the ground and merged into a red stream. Under the golden sunlight, it formed a tragic and bleak picture......

……

"! This Li Jiancheng is really cunning and abnormal! I actually suffered such a big loss! After returning to the big tent, Yu Ming punched the marching table and said angrily.

Just after counting the casualties, the Zhou army actually suffered more than 20,000 casualties, especially the Zhou infantry who attacked the city and were trapped on the other side of the ditch at that time, almost all of them were killed, which can be described as heavy casualties.

And what made Yu Ming even more angry was that almost all the well railings, siege crashes and ladders in the army were burned by the Tang cavalry. This has also made the plan to continue the siege tomorrow come to naught. At present, the Zhou army must first send people to cut down trees and rebuild siege equipment before they can start attacking again.

"Your Majesty, Li Jiancheng actually commanded the battle and did not pressure his brother Li Shimin at all, and he showed outstanding military talent as early as when Li Tang marched into Guanzhong. It's just that because he is in the East Palace, he often needs to sit in Chang'an, so there are fewer opportunities to lead troops to battle. Xu Shiji also sighed at this time: "It was our successive victories that underestimated the enemy, giving Li Jiancheng an opportunity to take advantage of." ”

"Your Majesty, the last general led the troops to fight ineffectively today, so that the soldiers suffered heavy casualties, ask for punishment!" Guo Yi knelt down at this time and said.

"Your Majesty, the last general also asks for punishment, otherwise I will feel uncomfortable! It was I who failed to detect the abnormal movement in the Tang Army in time! Wei Chi Jingde also knelt down and said.

"The last general also asks for punishment! It was I who took the plunge against the enemy! ”

"I also ask Your Majesty to punish you, if I had been careful in my reconnaissance before, how could I not have found the enemy's hidden ditch?"

……

The generals of the Zhou army in the tent suddenly fell to their knees, and they all asked Yuming to punish themselves.

Hearing the self-blame of the generals, Yu Ming's emotions gradually calmed down at this time. The failure of this attack, with the loss of more than 20,000 people at once, was indeed an unprecedented defeat for the Zhou army. And this is also a wake-up call for myself: no enemy can be underestimated.

Because the history books are all about how powerful Li Shimin is, there is almost no mention of Li Jiancheng. So he naturally regarded Li Shimin as an important enemy. He was very cautious when fighting Li Shimin, and did not give his opponent a chance to take advantage of it.

But when facing Li Jiancheng, although he also verbally said that he should pay attention to his opponent, in fact, he really didn't take this Datang in his eyes. Especially after winning a battle before, he thought that Hejian County could easily be won, and then successfully recovered Hebei.

And the result of today's battle is retribution for him and Zhou Jun. The bloody facts taught him that anyone who despised the enemy would pay a price.

Moreover, because the Zhou army has been winning consecutive battles before, there are some feelings of pride and complacency from top to bottom, including himself, there is a kind of invincible mentality of the Zhou army. On the bright side, this is self-confidence, and the confidence that you will win in battle will keep morale high. But it can also lead to contempt for the enemy and imagine the enemy as vulnerable.

In this way, as long as the smart opponent seizes the opportunity, it will be a crushing defeat for the side.

But fortunately: now the main force of the Zhou army is still alive, and the vitality is not injured, if from now on, the whole army will hate the enemy and work together, no longer despise the enemy, and it will not be impossible to turn defeat into victory.

"Let's all get up first!" Yu Ming said with some shame at this time: "Speaking of which, the biggest person responsible for the failure of this siege is me!" The battle plan was drawn up by me myself, and there were many things that were not considered at the time of its formulation, and the generals only carried out my plan...... The one who deserves the most punishment should be me! ”

"Now that the dead are gone, don't be too sad! As long as we cheer up and stop despising the enemy, our army will have a chance to turn defeat into victory! Xu Shiji also spoke at this moment, and he bowed to Yuming and said, "Your Majesty, Weichen suggests that the whole army rest for a whole day." First, let everyone adjust their mentality and treat the wounded soldiers; Second, it is a good time to use this day to build siege equipment and prepare for the resumption of attacks in the future; In addition, it can also breed the pride of the enemy, so that the Tang army thinks that our army is timid after defeat and does not dare to fight again. ”

"Good! Just do what Xu Junshi wants! Ordered to hang out a war-free card at the gate of the camp, and our army will rest for a whole day, and then attack the city in the future! Yu Ming pondered for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

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