Outside the city of Gaochang.

Hou Junji and Gao Yong accompanied Li You to observe Gaochang City. Hou Junji said: "I didn't expect Gaochang City to be so strong, it seems that it will not be able to attack it for a while." If I knew this, it would be better to ...... at the beginning."

What he meant was that at the beginning they advocated a sneak attack on Gaochang City, but Li You did not agree, and as a result, it is very difficult to fight this Gaochang City now.

Li You smiled: "What a big deal, I don't believe they can keep it." Since it can't be fought for the time being, there is no hurry to fight, let the troops rest, and do something else first. ”

From the next day, Li You asked Hou Junji and Gao Yong to continue the siege to prevent the enemy from breaking through. Some of Murong Ling's men and horses were sent to the vicinity to cut wood, and some of them transported iron nails, ropes and other materials collected from various occupied cities. Assist Zhao Fu, who has already arrived, and lead the craftsmen to make siege equipment.

Gaochang City.

Lu Wentai and Lu Zhisheng, father and son, were extremely nervous when they first learned that the Tang army was besieging the city. However, after repelling the two attacks of the Tang army, he had some confidence in resisting the Tang army.

Later, when their father and son saw the arrival of reinforcements from the Tang army, they became nervous again, and Lu Zhisheng lived directly at the head of the city, waiting for the Tang army to attack again. Unexpectedly, the Tang army outside the city did not move at all.

Lu Wentai and Lu Zhisheng's nerves relaxed again, they thought that the Tang army had no way to deal with the tall walls of Gaochang City, and it would not be long before they would retreat with limited supplies they carried.

On this morning, the Gaochang soldiers guarding the city outside the east gate found a group of Tang troops walking towards the city wall with tall wooden shields.

The Gaochang soldiers hurriedly raised the alarm, and the soldiers defending the city rushed to the city walls, ready to repel the enemy's attack.

The Tang army continued to advance, getting closer and closer to the city wall. The officers and soldiers defending the city, in order to prevent them from continuing to approach, began to shoot arrows at them.

The wooden shields of the Tang army were more than one person high, and two wooden wheels were installed underneath, with two brackets on them, and the soldiers hid behind and pushed the wooden shields forward, and the Gaochang people on the city wall could not see them at all, and the bows and arrows did not work against them at all.

The soldiers on the city wall were extremely nervous, and they prepared the rolling wood and thunder stones, and waited for the enemy army to enter the city.

Unexpectedly, when the Tang army came to a distance of about 100 steps from the city wall, it stopped advancing.

The soldiers defending the city saw that the Tang army first lined up several wooden shields in a row, and then a row of wooden shields was erected on top of these wooden shields. The soldiers on the city wall could not see what the Tang army was doing behind at all.

Soon, behind these wooden shields, a shelf was erected, and on the side facing the wall, also blocked by a huge wooden shield. The officers and soldiers defending the city watched as the shelf grew higher and higher, exceeding the height of the city wall, and finally became a tall wooden tower, more than five zhang high.

Now, the life of the soldiers defending the city will be sad. On this wooden tower, there are Tang Army archers shooting arrows from the hole. Moreover, the archers on the wooden tower are all picked out archers, and they are almost every shot. The officers and soldiers defending the city had no place on the city walls at all.

At the beginning, the officers and soldiers defending the city also fired arrows at the wooden tower. But they can't see anyone at all, and they really don't miss an arrow. Soon, on the wall in front of the wooden tower, for a long distance, the defenders could not be seen at all.

And that's not all, in addition to the archers, a huge tin horn was installed on the wooden tower. A group of loud people, with different accents, took turns to persuade them to surrender.

Soon, the Tang army found many people who had relatives and friends in Gaochang City, and they stood on the wooden tower and called out to the people in the city by name, telling them to come out and surrender.

The loudspeaker on the wooden tower was so loud that the sound traveled far away. Lu Zhisheng stuffed Gaochang's specialty - cotton in his ears, and he couldn't block the sound at all.

He was so angry that he wanted to take someone out and tear down the wooden tower. But there was a powerful Don army outside the city, and they did not dare to go out of the city at all. So they set off rockets to burn the wooden tower.

Their rockets use rapeseed oil, and their firepower is weak. Shooting on the wooden tower does not cause the wood to burn quickly. There are many holes in the top of the wooden tower, and whenever a rocket hits the wooden tower, water will flow out of the holes on the top. Rockets do not work at all.

Soon, the Tang army painted gourds in the same way, and built 4 wooden towers one after another every 150 steps along the city wall. Under the watchful eye of the archers on the wooden tower, the defenders were no longer visible on the city walls.

Lu Zhisheng was in a hurry, and said in his heart: "This is too bullying." "If the Tang army erected a ladder to attack the city at this time, the officers and soldiers defending the city would not be able to reach the edge of the city wall at all, how could this be defended?

On this day, Hou Junji and Gao Yong personally came to the wooden tower and felt very happy to see the embarrassment of the enemy troops on the city wall. Seeing the archers monitoring the city, Gao Yong also picked up the bow and arrows to have a good time, but he couldn't see a single soldier defending the city.

The two of them went down the wooden tower and came to see Li You.

Hou Junji said: "Your Highness, let's attack the city, and a charge will go up." ”

Li You said with a smile: "Don't worry, such a good training opportunity, you have to make good use of it." ”

At this time, the Tang army had already occupied 22 cities except Gaochang City, and there was no problem at all. Hou Junji, Gao Yong and the others also wanted to see what other tricks Li You had, so they were not in a hurry to attack the city.

On this day, the soldiers on the wooden tower found that the defenders had erected a long corridor on the city wall overnight. They hid under the promenade, and the archers on the wooden towers were of no use to them.

Hou Junji regretted it a little, and he said: "Your Highness, a while ago, the archers were able to suppress the defenders on the city wall, and it was good to attack the city at that time. Now Gaochang City has already been taken. Now the defenders have found a way to deal with the archers on the tower. It will be difficult to attack the city again. ”

Li You smiled: "Don't worry, I'll show you a new thing today." After speaking, he called Miao Wu and said, "It's time for your fire attack team to play." ”

On this day, Lu Zhisheng hid under the wooden house and said very proudly: "Don't think that if you build a few wooden towers, we can't do anything. Now, what can you do with us? ”

Koji Zhisheng set up this corridor, but it took a lot of effort. There was not so much timber in the city, and they had to tear down the gates of many people to raise so much timber.

Lu Zhisheng observed for a while and felt that Tang Jun had nothing to do, so he prepared to go back and sleep well.

At this moment, the broadcast on the wooden tower started again, and the people said by name: "Lu Wentai, Lu Zhisheng, give you another chance, surrender quickly." You must cherish this opportunity, otherwise, don't blame us for being unkind to you after taking the city. ”

Lu Zhisheng ignored them, he wanted to see what the Tang army could do to deal with the defenders on the city wall.

Tang Jun shouted a few times, and when he saw that no one cared about him, he stopped being angry. Lu Zhisheng smiled contemptuously: "Your grandfather is not scared. ”

At this time, from the wooden tower, a huge arrow shaft protruded, and the shaft of the arrow was like a spear, and a clay pot was hung in the front section. The shaft of the arrow rests on a large wooden frame, which turned out to be a bed crossbow.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh", the bed crossbow fired seven or eight crossbow arrows in a row, except for the first two, the rest fell on the top of the city, the clay pot on it was shattered, and the liquid inside splashed everywhere.

The defenders at the head of the city smelled a strong smell that they had never smelled before.

At this time, a sharpshooter picked up a rocket, lit it, and shot it towards the city. 8)