At noon, dust was flying in the distance, and the sound of heavy horses' hooves was like muffled thunder, making the earth tremble.

The army of 20,000 Xue Yantuo pulled out a long black line, stopped the war horse three miles away, and waved the flag, with a murderous aura.

The spears on the head of the city were like a forest, the banners were flying, and the soldiers were in high spirits and high morale, and they all clung to the hilts and spears of their swords, and were ready for battle.

Guo Song stood on a high place and watched the enemy army in the distance, he turned back to the generals around him and said, "It seems that you don't see the siege weapons?" ”

Next to him, Li Ji said: "The scouts didn't find their baggage logistics team either, not to mention the siege weapons, and they didn't even carry tents. ”

Lu Mingbo, the general of the surrendered town, sneered and said: "It is estimated that their intelligence was obtained two months ago, and I thought that there were only five hundred defenders in the city, and they could win with one drum, so there was no need to carry baggage." ”

Guo Song said loudly to everyone: "Everyone, if you don't carry baggage, it means that their food can only last a few days, which is good news for us, but it also means that the siege battle will be very tragic, as long as we survive three days, then the victory will definitely belong to us!" ”

After speaking, Guo Song raised his arms and shouted: "Kill the enemy!" ”

All the soldiers at the head of the city raised their arms and shouted, "Kill the enemy"

The shouts soared into the sky, and the soldiers were in high spirits, gearing up for a decisive battle with the enemy.

.........

The Xue Yantuo people did not launch an offensive, they did not have siege weapons, the deputy general Yantuo Manshan led 5,000 soldiers to harvest wood in the nearby pine forest, they specially chose long and straight wood, cut off the branches and then dragged the trunk back to the camp.

Hundreds of soldiers were responsible for making the most rudimentary siege weapons, they could not make ladders with mortise and tenon structures, and they had no nails, so they could only simply tie sections of wood with oxen belts to two straight tree trunks, both of which were cut into three zhang long, and after tying a dozen wooden strips, they made the most rudimentary siege ladders, so simple that they did not even peel off the bark.

At night, the lights in Xue Yantuo's camp were bright, there was no big tent in the barracks, not even a fence and a spear array, 20,000 soldiers slept on the ground wrapped in blankets, everyone complained, originally thought that they could rush into the county seat to rob property and women when they killed Jiuyuan County, but they didn't expect them to attack the city.

They didn't have much to eat, and each person only brought a bag of bread and dried meat, so they could only last for ten days, and they could only stay here for three or four days at most, excluding the time spent on the road.

Xue Chake's eyes were grim as he patrolled the ladder-building site, and from time to time he stretched out his hand and pulled the gear of the siege ladder, his principle was that it was okay to be rough, but it must be strong, and the soldiers could not be allowed to step on the gear and fall down.

At this time, he came to a huge battering ram, which was a large pine tree that had grown for at least three hundred years, and it took two people to hug it, and the Xue Yantuo people sawed it off and made it into a pointed battering ram five zhang long, weighing thousands of catties, nailed with iron grippers, and it took at least a hundred soldiers to carry it and hit the city gate.

Adjutant General Yantuo Manshan walked up to Xue Chake and said worriedly: "I just investigated the dry food in the hands of the soldiers, I'm afraid that we don't have much time to attack the city, and we will have to evacuate after three days at most." ”

Xue Chake looked at the city wall three miles away, the shadow of the city wall was clearly visible in the night, and he said slowly: "I plan to use two days to capture Jiuyuan City with the most fierce offensive. ”

"I'm afraid we're going to have a lot of casualties." Yantuo Manshan said worriedly.

"It's not a question of casualties!"

Xue Chake glared at the deputy general beside him and said: "This is our dignity, we can't take Fengzhou, how can we explain to the big chief when we go back?" It will make the other tribes of the steppe laugh at us! ”

Yantuo Manshan sighed in his heart, he knew Xue Chake too well, his personality was violent, and he admitted death, it was almost impossible to persuade him to give up the siege.

.........

Before dawn the next day, the drums of Xue Yantuo's army were beating, and the soldiers got up and lined up, and soon they formed a line, and they were in a team of 1,000 people, a total of 20 teams of 1,000 people.

Dozens of cavalrymen raised wolf head flags and shouted as they ran: "The master will order, the 1,000th to 5,000th teams will attack the west city, and the 6,000 to 10,000 teams will attack the north city, and the siege will begin after dawn!" ”

On the first day of the siege, the Xue Yantuo people dispatched 10,000 troops, but the other armies were not idle, but continued to cut down trees to build siege ladders.

In one night, Xue Yantuo people built 200 siege ladders, mainly focusing on attacking Xicheng and Beicheng, Xue Chake also found that the head of Xicheng was five feet higher than Beicheng, and the Tang army seemed to have raised the city wall with sandbags.

Even the height of five feet also greatly increased the difficulty of Xue Yantuo's army to attack the city, but the west siege was the most advantageous, the ground was flat, and there were very few weeds, unlike the other three sides where the ground was bumpy, either wheat fields or weeds.

Therefore, Xue Chake still chose to attack the western city, and also attacked the northern city to disperse the forces of the Tang army at the head of the city.

As dawn broke, the drums of the attack were beating, 'Boom! Boom! Boom! The fierce drums of war shook the heavens and the earth.

The 10,000 Xue Yantuo soldiers let out a shout, and they carried siege ladders, like a surging tide, rushing towards Jiuyuan City from the west and north.

At the head of the city, Guo Song calmly watched the enemy's charge, as the commander-in-chief, he did not participate in commanding the defense of a certain place, he needed to coordinate the overall situation, and lead three hundred elite soldiers, ready to support the critical place at any time.

He held a bow and arrows in his hand, two soldiers carried a halberd for him, and a soldier next to him stared nervously at the enemy soldiers who rushed forward and said, "Envoy, they are about to enter the line of death!" ”

The death line mentioned by the soldiers was a distance of 300 steps from the city wall, and the Tang army laid a large number of tribulus thorns and traps between 300 and 150 steps, with the most on the north and south sides, and many on the east and west sides.

Guo Song nodded, he didn't have a heavy weapon to defend the city, so he could only take the edge of his sword.

The soldiers from the north took the lead in rushing into the three-hundred-step line, which was not a safe distance for the Tang army's bows and arrows to shoot, and the soldiers of Xue Yantuo did not have any worries.

Suddenly, nearly a hundred soldiers who rushed to the front fell down one after another, holding their feet and wailing, most of them stepped on the quenching tribulus thorn, and more than a dozen people stepped on the pit, and stepped on it, and the sharp wooden thorns below instantly pierced the instep, and the weight of the injury even exceeded that of stepping on the tribulus terrestris, if the wooden thorns were not pulled out in time, one foot would be wasted.

Running out of dozens of steps, more and more soldiers were stabbed by the quenching thistle terrestris and stepped on the pit, the attacking soldiers fell one by one, more than five hundred people in an instant, Xue Yantuo people were afraid, the soldiers in front turned around and retreated, but the soldiers behind did not know, they still rushed forward, the two sides staggered together, and the battlefield suddenly became chaotic.

The commander in charge of commanding the operation on the northern battlefield was shocked and urgently ordered: "Collect the troops and retreat!" ”

'When! While! While! The bell rang for the retraction, and the besieging soldiers from the north retreated like a tidal wave, and hundreds of wounded soldiers, with the support of their companions, limped back to the rear.

At the same time, there was also an abnormality on the siege battlefield in the west, many soldiers stepped on the tribulus thorns and traps, causing nearly 100 injuries, but the number of tribulus thorns scattered in the west was much less than that outside the city in the north, which had little impact on the soldiers' attacks, and did not stop the frenzy of Xue Yantuo's army's attack, but it still affected the soldiers' will to fight a little, and many soldiers were worried about their feet, lest they also step on the air and be pierced through the instep.

At this time, Xue Chake suddenly heard the bell of the withdrawal in the direction of Beicheng, and he was immediately furious, "Who is ordering the withdrawal of troops!" ”

Not long after, the commander in charge of the command of Beicheng rushed to report: "General Qiqi, there are too many thistles outside Beicheng, and they are poisonous, and more than a thousand soldiers have been injured and lost their combat effectiveness, and they have to withdraw from the attacking army. ”

It turned out to be more than a thousand people, so many people are debatable, Xue Chake nodded, "Since the attack on the northern city is unfavorable, then concentrate on attacking the western city!" ”

"Obey the order!"

The commander immediately rushed to transfer troops, at this time, the army of Xue Yantuo in the west had already attacked the hundred-step line, and the general who was responsible for commanding the Xicheng operation was Li Ji, who had two thousand people under him, and five hundred cold gunners, cold gunners were the innovative inventions of the soldiers, hiding under the mud bags, and specially stabbing the enemy from the tile hole to attack the enemy's lower three roads.

Li Ji shouted, "Release the arrow!" ”

Two thousand soldiers first act as archers, each of them holds a foot bow, the arrow is wound on the bow, the bow shooting is thrown, and the use of large arrows, the arrow is thicker and heavier than the ordinary arrow, falling from a height of tens of meters, its own gravity plus sharp arrows, the breaking force is very strong, the general leather armor can not resist at all, and the small wooden shield of the Xue Yantuo people is also difficult to resist.

Two thousand sharp arrows rained down into the dense group of soldiers, and suddenly a scream sounded, and nearly 300 people fell to the ground with arrows.......

The arrows at the head of the city could not stop the momentum of Xue Yantuo's army's attack, they continued to run, and in the running, people kept falling, which was stepping on the thistle thorn and trap, the second round of two thousand arrows shot out, hundreds of soldiers fell, but Xue Yantuo's army had already attacked the city.

Siege ladders climbed the city, and thousands of Xue Yantuo soldiers climbed up frantically.......

Li Ji shouted: "Change the spear, all the soldiers are in place!" ”

Two thousand soldiers lowered their bows and arrows, rushed up to the top of the mud bags, and threw them down the city with pieces of rolling wood and stones.