(I'm sorry, I just returned from a business trip, and today's update is late, so I'll make up for it now.) Ladies of you, please bear with me! ）

The creaking sound of a winch was faint, and the catapult's brackets and ropes seemed to have reached their limits.

"Put!"

"Whew!" The stone, which was larger than the basin, made an arc at a rapid speed and smashed towards the densest place in the city.

"Stone-throwing! Lapidation! The sharp-eyed * shouted loudly, and the two soldiers holding the square shield in front almost subconsciously raised their hands.

"Dang!" With a loud bang, the stone smashed the wooden square shield soaked in tung oil, and the soldier who was more stressed suddenly weakened his feet and fell to the ground with a shield. Unfortunately, the sharpest corner of the stone wedged into the shield at an angle of almost ninety degrees, and after smashing the large square shield into pieces, it went straight to the chest of the young soldier.

"Brother Ying!" The surviving companions were blinded and cried out in pain.

The two were originally friends in the same village, and they were brothers of the opposite sex who were allied by blood, enlisted in the army together and went to Shule together. Now that his relatives have died tragically in front of his eyes, how can he accept it?

The smaller one forgot for a moment that he was on the battlefield, and he frantically threw off his shield and took two steps to embrace his good brother who shared the suffering.

"Brother Ying'er......"

A sharp pain came from his chest, and he looked down blankly to see that a cluster of arrows with a cold light had just "grown" out of the middle of his heart. The little man seemed to understand something, and closed his eyes in relief......

On the city wall, Said coldly took another arrow, and there was only hatred in his eyes as he stared at the city.

Tararidan gave a surprised glance, and a trace of horror flowed through his heart - this brute made a good hard bow!

In these years, not everyone can pull a three-stone hard bow, let alone shoot four arrows in a row and still have the strength to continue shooting the enemy, but Said is as strong as this!

There was no time for Talaridan to continue to sigh, he had to do everything in his power to organize the suppressive forces of the city, and look at the posture of *, and have the idea of taking down Talas in one go. Fortunately, they probably didn't have a lot of siege equipment, otherwise they really wouldn't be able to stop it.

Under the city, it has been turned into a Shura field.

The powerful stone-throwing and cold and swift arrows are ruthlessly harvesting the life* in the rear of the Shule army, there are also soldiers who are skilled in bows and crossbows in the counterattack, and the soldiers of the stone country at the head of the city also have the unfortunate ones who fall from the city head from time to time. But comparatively speaking, the siege* below always suffered much more losses, and the living forces of the Shule army were constantly decreasing.

Li Siye glared at the city, and when the enemy retreated into the city, his Mo sword was useless.

The current situation is very strange, the Hu people, who have always come and go like the wind on horses, have become the side defending the city, and the Han people, who are naturally good at defending the city, are attacking. And what's funny is that the two sides have been fighting until now, but they haven't even declared war, and they haven't even said a word. Although the two countries were at war in the Tang Dynasty, there was no need to inform all parties later that "from now on the country will enter a state of war against so-and-so", but it will also issue a war letter, at least the two armies will explain to each other when they meet.

Perhaps this is also the premise that after the Anshi Rebellion in history, the Great Food side actually sent troops into China to declare "King Qin" - after all, if the layer of paper on the surface was not torn, everyone had the right to think that the Battle of Talas was a misunderstanding.

Watching the good brothers who lived and died together fall in the rain of stones and arrows from the people of Shiguo, Li Siye couldn't hold back anymore.

"Crossbow!"

The invention of the bed crossbow was not later than the Eastern Han Dynasty. "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty: The Biography of Chen Qiu" records that in a war, Chen Qiu once "used the string and wood as the bow, the feather spear as the arrow, and the opportunity was triggered, shooting more than 1,000 steps from a distance, and killing and wounding many people". This kind of big crossbow is difficult to open with only the power of hands and feet, so it should be a bed crossbow.

* The crossbow is divided into several types, and the largest multi-bow crossbow has almost a hundred people when the number of twisters is tensioned. Aiming and firing with hammer teeth are handled by special personnel. The arrows used are made of wood and the iron is a feather, which is known as "one gun and three swords and arrows". This arrow is actually a spear (spear) with a feather, which is very destructive.

This time, the Shule army led by Li Siye carried a total of four crossbows, which should be regarded as medium-sized crossbows. The soldiers of the twisted shaft need thirty-six people, and they can be equipped with arrow pockets on the strings, each pocket contains dozens of arrows, and shoots them at the same time, called "jackdaw arrows", with a range of 280 paces, and in * all weapons, the range is second only to the farthest "hundred-man crossbow".

"Kick the arrow! If you don't have a ladder, you have to kill it! Li Siye slammed the Mo knife in his hand to the ground and sank half a foot into the ground.

"General......" Ashina Duzhe looked embarrassed and secretly pulled Li Siye.

"What?" Li Siye's eyes widened angrily, and he glared back at him dissatisfied.

"General...... The walls of the city of Talas were made of great stones...... I'm afraid it's hard to work. ”

Li Siye was immediately angry. Yes, the crossbow can indeed shoot rows of wooden wedges, and after nailing them to the enemy's walls, they can become a "ladder" for siege soldiers to step up, but there is a premise that the stepping arrows can only be driven into the rammed earth walls, and the stone walls have no choice.

"Then get on the guns! Fuck it! Li Siye was in a hurry.

“…… Be. Ashina sighed slightly in his heart, people are condescending, your "one shot and three swords and arrows" is powerful, but can you hit it? However, now Li Siye is on the verge of rage, so let him go first.

"General! Checkmate! A ranger quickly arrived from the rear, and before he had time to calm down, he reported intermittently, "Gao Gong has arrived!" ”

Li Siye was shocked, and subconsciously looked up at the sky, it was just after the middle of the day, and at the beginning of noon, how could Gao Gong's troops arrive?

"How many? Is the front part of the high parent-in-law rate arrived? "Li Siye's heart gradually sank, and if Gao Gong could rush to Talas in advance, something bad must have happened.

"It doesn't look like ...... Gao Gong ordered me to come and ask the general to suspend the attack first! And then he arrived! ”

In a ravine at the western foot of Qianquan Mountain, Jian Yuwei was trudging hard.

Yang Qing didn't say a word, and led Huo Liuyun behind Ye Guan.

"What's wrong? Who do you think? Seeing Yang Qing like this, Guo Xi didn't know what was going on, so he simply stepped forward to make fun and ease the atmosphere.

Yang Qing didn't have the heart to pick up the stubble at all, but slowly shook his head: "Xilie, I always feel that there is something wrong with the group of resting merchants who came over in the morning. ”

"What's wrong?"

"I was in a hurry, so I didn't look closely at it. Now that I think about it, there are at least a few doubts! Yang Qing simply stopped, "First, early in the morning, where are they going in such a hurry?" Merchants can't afford to make a profit, but if you look at the goods they carry, they don't even have a car! 2. Although the war did not reach the vicinity of Talas, it is certain that it is not peaceful, and the caravans who are a little more well-informed know it, so it is that they will not know anything about it when they are well-dressed? If you look at the decorations of their mounts, they are definitely first-class! 3. Since they are rich people, why do they have so few retinues? Even if you are not afraid of war, are you not even afraid of robbers? 4. Why do 20 or so people have to bring more than 40 horses? There is only one explanation, they have to travel day and night! So what's the reason for such a hurry? Isn't it a rush to do business? 5. Why did they appear on such a remote path? There is a river in front of them, there are no bridges at all, and it is not conducive to crossing the river on foot, why should they choose such a road? ”

Guo Xi's face gradually became solemn: "What do you mean...... Are they spies? The spy of the Great Cannibal? ”

"I don......'t know," Yang Qing shook his head in annoyance, "Judging from their dress, words and deeds, they really don't look like soldiers in disguise." Moreover, they are very good at dealing money and goods in Rest, and they do not look like fake merchants. ”

This time it was Guo Xi's turn to shake his head: "Ziyin, whether it is Middle Earth or the Western Regions now, there are many caravans that are used to do fine work. The purpose of our hard detour to a dangerous place is also to hide our whereabouts as much as possible. If this group of suspicious vendors is as you say, it is the work of the great cannibals, then our whereabouts and intentions ......."

Yang Qing was silent for a long time, and sighed: "It's a pity that I didn't expect it at the time, otherwise I would have to detain them in the army!" ”

Guo Xi smiled reluctantly: "It's useless to talk about these things now, only be more careful in the future." Besides, didn't you have people check what they were carrying, it's all normal. There is no name and no points, and it is not easy to arrest them, the so-called division is nameless. ”

"It's better to kill a thousand by mistake than to let one go!" Yang Qing's thick eyebrows furrowed, and a murderous aura burst out of his eyes!

Guo Xi was shocked when he heard this, is this still the Yang Qing he knows?

Looking at Guo Xi's horrified expression, Yang Qing smiled bitterly: "Xilie, you don't have to look at me like this. ”

Looking back at the brothers who had been marching hard for days, Yang Qing's eyes had a hint of warmth.

"I didn't say I'm going to kill them." Yang Qing Zhengse looked at Guo Xi and said sincerely, "I just want to try my best to avoid all the people and things that pose a threat to Jian Yuwei. Now that we are on the battlefield, we can no longer have the slightest kindness of a woman! It doesn't matter if I'm careful, or if I'm suspicious, as long as it comes to my brother Paoze, I don't care about a few infamy on my back! If I let go of the enemy's spies because of my temporary intolerance, revealed the whereabouts of our army, and then caused the blood of my sons and daughters of Jian Yuwei to splash on the battlefield, I will be uneasy for the rest of my life! ”

Guo Xi was shocked, and immediately bowed his head without thinking: "Ziyin is very right!" Guo Xi has been taught! ”

Yang Qing looked at Guo Xi, and had mixed feelings for a while, and forgot to help the other party up.

Born in sorrow, died in peace. When Guo Xilie served in the border army, he was also a decisive and unrestrained hero, and Yang Qing had heard this kind of words many times. Unexpectedly, after staying in the capital Chang'an for less than a few years, Guo Xi's bloody and murderous aura has regressed a lot.

A crisp sound of horses' hooves woke up the second general of Jian Yuwei, who had all his concerns.

"Qi Yu Zhonglang General, Zuo Lang General! The forward rangers found that a large number of cavalry had appeared on the road between Whitewater City and Talas in front of them, and they suspected that they were great cannibals! ”