In the deep black fog, a war horse galloped towards Xuanwu City, and the sound of horses' hooves shattered the silent night, this was a Tang Army scout who was patrolling on the periphery, and he found danger coming.

Without waiting for the war horse to stop, the scout flew and jumped off the horse, stumbling in front of Shi Yang, who was alarmed by the sound of the horse's hooves and came out to check the situation, "What happened?" Shi Yang suddenly had a feeling of unease.

"Shi team is zheng, and I found a brigade of Qarluq cavalry, which is a few miles away."

"Order the brothers to get up quickly, and I'll go find Huang and Yang." Shi Yang turned around and shouted as he ran.

The sudden alarm made the Tang army highly nervous, a group of heavily armed Tang troops rushed to the city, dozens of Tang soldiers ran outside the city to cut the rope that bound the hanging tower, the high hanging tower fell down with a bang, they set fire to the simple wooden plank bridge, at this time, the fierce sound of horses' hooves was faintly heard in the distance, the Tang soldiers retreated into the city, and the suspension bridge was immediately pulled high.

"At least four thousand." A team surnamed Huang was pale, and he deduced from the faint sound of horses' hooves the number of Qarluq cavalry, and they were only 300 men, an unfinished castle, even the gate had not yet been installed, and what was worse was that there were still 3,000 prisoners of war in the city, what choice would they make in the face of the enemy's massive attack?

"We must immediately ask Vermilion Bird City and Canglong City for help." Another Yang team member suggested without hesitation.

"No, it's easy to be ambushed by the enemy when you come to help late at night." Shi Yang stared at the heavy night, he slowly shook his head and said, "I'm more worried that I will fall for the enemy's plan to divert the tiger from the mountain. ”

"But we only have 300 people, and we don't even have a city gate, how can we fight?" Team Yang is turning his head sharply to stare at this young team leader, how much combat experience can he have?

"Not only that, but there are 3,000 prisoners of war in the city, and if they mutinied, I would die without a place to bury." Huang Teamzheng's heart seemed to sink into the abyss.

"You go and organize the brothers first, and I'll figure out a way for the prisoners of war." Shi Yang bit his lip tightly. Turn around and run down the wall.

The two teams were glancing at each other, their eyes filled with deep worry, the situation was too serious for a petty officer like them to control.

The prisoner of war camp was also stationed in the city, consisting of more than 100 large tents, and thirty people were slumbering in each large tent.

"Let everybody come out." Shi Yang reversed his usual silence, he shouted sharply: "I have something to say to them!" ”

Dozens of Tang soldiers guarding the prisoner of war camp rushed into each of the tents and shouted and cursed. Driven out of the tent by groups of prisoners of war, perhaps captured for too long, these prisoners of war had a visceral fear of the Tang army, even though they numbered 3,000 people. And the Tang army had only a few dozen people, but they were still like a large herd of sheep. He was obediently herded into the open space in front of the camp, anxiously awaiting the young officer's lecture.

"I will tell you that the Qarluqs are coming, and they are coming at least two or three thousand cavalry." Shi Yang did not hide the truth, and told all the prisoners of war about the grim situation straight to the point. The POWs looked at each other and let out a low exclamation. There was mixed emotion in the exclamation, a little hope, but more of an instinctive reaction to an emergency, and most of them didn't know what the Qarluqs meant to them when they came.

"Maybe some of you are wondering if you will be free when the Qarluqs come, but if any of you really think so, then you are very wrong, will the Qarluqs hand you over to the Great Cannibals? No! The Qarluqs are greedy wolves, and the weak of you will be slain by them, and the strong and young will be their slaves, and they will not be able to turn over for the rest of your life! ”

Shi Yang said every word. Immediately there were soldiers who spoke the Great Eater and the soldiers who spoke Tocharian translated his words. In the light of the hunt, every prisoner of war was silent and thoughtful.

"Next year you will be free. This is the will of His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, no one dares to leave you anymore, next year you will go to your parents, wives and children, you have been boiling for four years, why did you fall into the hands of the Qarluq people before hope is coming? Maybe some of you will have the idea of luck, and the Qarluqs may return you to Da Shi, but I believe you also know very well why Da Shi only ransomed the Persians, but left you in Datang and ignored it, because they don't care about your life or death at all, and even you have died in the household registration book of Da Shi, be sober! The Great Cannibals will no longer want you, and your destiny is with us. ”

Shi Yangjiong's blazing gaze swept over everyone's faces, he took a deep breath, and said loudly: "I promise you, if you defend Xuanwu City with the Tang Army, you will be free in advance, do you understand?" Fighting side by side with us, this is not only to protect your own lives, the Tang people are a nation of gratitude and retribution, when the dawn comes, you will start a new life, how about it! Would you like to follow my commands? Who? Who wants to! ”

In a sigh, the desire for freedom of the 3,000 people was aroused, "I do! "Someone began to mumble to themselves,

"I can't hear you, you shout it!"

"I do." Finally, someone raised their arms and shouted, "I want to do it too, I want to!" ”

The shouts of the 3,000 people came and went, and the shouts became more and more loud and louder, and gradually merged into a torrent of emotions.

The flames were raging over Xuanwu City, and several horsemen had rushed to the four directions, and they wanted to convey the news of the Qarluqs' attack to every city in the vicinity, not to ask for help, but to make them vigilant and guard against the enemy's attack.

It was also very busy in the city, countless people carried pieces of heavy bluestone piled up in front of the city gate, and as the big bluestone ground continued to rise, a stone wall as thick as four zhang soon blocked the gate, and there was a gap above the stone wall for bows and arrows to shoot.

Immediately, the 3,000 prisoners of war were divided into two routes, one with 1,000 people staying in front of the city gate to guard the city gate, and the other with 2,000 people going up to the city wall.

At this moment, more than 4,000 Qarluq cavalry had stopped half a mile away, and the wide moat blocked their iron hooves, and Athran frowned and looked at the castle, which had not yet been fully repaired. The wide moats, the swarthy walls, and the towering drawbridges all looked like impassable mountains to a cavalry without siege weapons.

But it was their first city, and the sky was red with a raging fire burning above the castle, and Athran knew that today's footsteps would stop there, and there was no point in sneaking up on other cities, as Sulman said, he was just here to make a gesture, but no matter how simple a gesture was. He must attack, to shed the blood of the enemy and to shed his own blood, otherwise the Caliph will not be able to appreciate his sincerity.

At this moment, a fast horse came galloping, and immediately the soldier reported to him: "My subordinates have found out." Although the opponent's moat is frozen, you can't walk on it. ”

Athran snorted. He knew that this would be the result, this was the strange place of Daqing Pond, no matter how cold it was in the sea circle, there was only a thin layer of ice, and it was completely different ten miles to the north, the river froze from the surface of the river to the bottom of the river. That's why it's called Atami, and it's a paradise that all herders yearn for. It's a pity that it was occupied by the Tang Dynasty, and Athelan gritted his teeth for a while, if Da Shi didn't take away the broken leaves back then, then the Tang Army would never have succeeded so easily.

"Is the Giant Tree Felling over?" Athran asked loudly as he turned around.

"Back to the Great Chief, fifty giant trees have been cut down."

"Okay, build a bridge over the river and start a tentative attack!"

With an order from Athran, the sound of the brass trumpet suddenly sounded among the Qarluq cavalry, who were in a team of 100 people, dragging a large tree five or six feet high towards the moat.

This Qarluq cavalry was different from the one that was preparing to loot the caravan on the Golden Dragon Road. It was a rabble of herders who had been improvised by herders. There is no organizational discipline, and it all depends on a brute force. Defeated and defeated, this cavalry was Athran's personal guard, and after rigorous training, it was not only well-equipped, but also extremely impactful, and able to fight together.

They held a shield in one hand, dragged the giant tree in the other hand and moved forward slowly, and they were not impatient to attack, they knew that the Tang army in the city was only a few hundred, and there would not be too many bows and arrows.

Two hundred and fifty Tang soldiers lined up on the north city wall and watched the enemy approach in silence, a thousand people stood behind them, ready to fight together, while the other thousand people were divided into two teams and were busy nervously, one team demolished dozens of newly repaired houses and transported stones to the city wall, and the other team carried buckets of boiling water to the city head, and splashed the water on the city wall under the cover of night.

At this moment, Shi Yang has been elected by everyone as the acting captain, he successfully persuaded the prisoners of war to cooperate in the battle, so that the possibility of successful defense suddenly increased, the gate was blocked, the prisoners of war carried stones to the upper floor, and the other party has not appeared to attack the city weapons so far, the soldiers saw the hope of victory, and their morale was greatly boosted, this is the tradition of the Anxi army, and they have always been convinced and capable.

"No arrows are allowed to be released without my orders!"

"Saving every arrow, and hurting men, it is better for them to rush over the moat."

"Take the sound of bangzi as an order, the sound is shot, and the sound stops!"

Shi Yangdi sent orders one after another, the Tang army was still silent, each holding a longbow, carrying two pots of arrows on their backs, three hundred people, a total of 18,000 arrows, it is indeed not much, but fortunately, there are not many enemy troops, the black shadow is no more than four thousand people, the bow and arrow point straight at the black shadow under the city, and the Tang army is waiting for the final order.

"Boom!" A giant tree was thrown on the river, and one end of the giant tree smashed through the thin ice, stirring up a splash, and floated on the water, and immediately jumped down a dozen Qarluqs, raised their great shields and pushed the giant tree towards the city wall, but only halfway through, a dozen arrows shot out of the city like arrows, one arrow was as fast as an arrow, and the screams came one after another, and a dozen Qarluqs all fell to the ground, and none of them could stand up.

There was silence at the head of the city, and all the soldiers showed a look of extreme shock in their eyes, the enemy was thirty paces away, in the dark night, and only saw the black shadows shaking, and the other party seemed to be holding a shield, but he could shoot through the slightly exposed gap in an instant, what kind of archery is this?

Shi Yang slowly withdrew the longbow and said coldly: "Dare to be so arrogant in front of me, do you really see me as no one in the Tang Dynasty?" ”

For three years, Shi Yang has spent a boring and cruel life. He is a member of the Tiancai battalion, stationed in the East Inner Garden, during the day he rode a horse like ordinary soldiers to practice guns, patrol duty, after disbanding back to the barracks in the afternoon, he went to the shooting range alone to practice archery, whether it was a hard crossbow or a longbow, he had to shoot thousands of arrows every day, his fingers were worn out, the tiger's mouth was red and swollen, until he was exhausted he went back to study, every day, in Chang'an for three years. He didn't even go out of the gates of the Higashi-naien once, and the birds of the Higashi-naien were extinct because of him, and he had a natural talent for archery, coupled with the most brutal training. He won the championship with an indisputable advantage in last year's 400,000 Xiliang Army Archery Competition.

Shi Yang looked at the brothers around him and nodded approvingly. "Good!" In the tense atmosphere, no one blindly followed him because of his shooting, they were all waiting for the sound of the bang, with such discipline, why worry about not winning tonight?

Dozens of other Qarluq cavalry under the city were also frightened by this terrifying archery. They shouted, turned around and fled. The teams of Qarluq cavalry dragging the giant tree behind them didn't know what was happening, and they all stopped.

"!" Athran rushed up in a rage, and whipped his head and face at the retreating cavalry, "Dare to shake the hearts of our soldiers, come on!" Drag them all down and cut them all. ”

"Great Chief Calm His Wrath!" A commander stopped Athran, and he pleaded bitterly: "It's ominous to kill people in battle, you might as well let them attack first." ”

"Okay!" Athran let out a sullen breath, and when he saw that it was already the fourth watch, he didn't delay, pulled out his war knife and roared: "The whole army rushes up." Knock open the door for me. ”

The Qarluqs had no siege weapons. Breaking through the gates is the only way to get in. He could use the heads of hundreds of Tang troops to explain to the Great Food Caliph, a shout, followed by a piercing shout of killing, the Qarluqs jumped off their mounts, overwhelmingly slaughtered the moat, rushed to the front, hundreds of people pulled the giant tree and threw it into the river, boom! Bang! With a loud noise, the giant tree smashed through the thin ice and rose and fell on the moat, and hundreds of people worked together to push the giant tree into the river, and this time they became smarter, hiding in the dense branches and pushing the tree, and there was a natural barrier.

The river shook violently, pulling the giant trees together, forming a huge and wide wooden bridge, but there was still no movement in the city, and the Don army drew their bows and arrows, and looked coldly at the enemy troops below the city, who were waiting for the order to shoot.

The Qarluq attack began, and arrows rained down on the city, which had not yet been fully repaired, and many of the battlements had not yet been built, and the Tang army and the prisoners of war crouched down one after another, and the rain of arrows whistled over their heads.

The piercing sound of brass trumpets resounded in the sky, and the black crowd rolled in waves, Shi Yang leaned behind a battlement, looking at the details of the enemy with an expressionless face, there was no siege ladder in the black pressed crowd, and there were several long enemy groups, that must be the collision wood, Shi Yang's eyes moved to the city, from their pontoon bridge to the gate is only fifty steps away, the ground by the wall is less than six feet wide, only allowing two people to pass side by side, that is to say, it is impossible for two collision logs to pass at the same time, and this fifty steps distance will determine the outcome of tonight.

Despite his young age, his calmness and composure already had the air of a general, and he was undoubtedly a military wizard, and this was his first time commanding a battle, and he quickly found the key point in this battle.

"Throw a few boulders over here." Shi Yang pointed to the fifty-step narrow road under the city and shouted, and immediately rushed up with a hundred prisoners of war, throwing down more than a dozen boulders weighing 100 catties, two of which rolled into the river, smashing two big holes in the river, and the rest of the boulders were all blocked on the narrow road.

Three rounds of arrows were fired, and a group of enemy soldiers began to jump off the moat like apes, rushing from the wooden bridge to the opposite bank, at this moment, the sound of bangzi sounded on the head of the city, arrows were like rain, stones fell head-on like hail, nearly 100 enemy soldiers were hit by arrows, screaming and falling into the water, streams of blood like ink appeared on the black water surface, the boulders smashed and fell together with the pontoon, and dozens of people who had just jumped off the ground behind were unstable on their feet, and they fell into the water one after another, holding the giant tree and swimming to the shore in embarrassment.

"Don't come up, tie the pontoon with a rope!" When the commander in charge of the battle found a loophole in the pontoon bridge, he shouted loudly and ordered a long rope to be thrown into the water.

The Qarluqs in the back withdrew like a low tide, and the moat was quiet again, except for one cold arrow after another from the head of the city, and every arrow that went into the water would be accompanied by a scream, and in an instant. Of the more than 30 people in the water, only a dozen people were left to hide under the big trees, so frightened that they didn't dare to move, and there was a sudden death-like silence under the city wall.

The sound of the brass trumpet resounded in the sky, the black tide surged again, they raised their shields, shouted to kill the heavens, and Athran, surrounded by a dozen personal guards, personally came to supervise the battle, and in the burst of piercing brass trumpets, more than 2,000 Qarluqs were like wolves. Crowd after group jumped off the pontoon with a scream and ran to the other side.

The other 2,000 men squatted by the river and fired arrows at the city, suppressing the counterattack of the Tang army with a dense rain of arrows, which was an extremely effective means. The Tang army was suppressed so that it could not appear, and only a few Tang troops behind the battlements could release arrows. Or throw a few untargeted stones from the city, and occasionally hit a few shields, but against more than 2,000 enemy troops, this has no effect.

Soon, most of the more than 2,000 Qarluqs had rushed up the narrow passage by the wall. Holding his shield high and running towards the city cave, the narrow road less than two hundred paces wide and less than six feet wide was crowded with black-pressed Qarluqs. It's like an ant colony that is ready to move before the rainstorm, there are three thick crashing logs hidden in the middle of them, and they are moving towards the city hole little by little, and more than a dozen boulders on the narrow road have slowed down their speed, and some of the people who rushed in front are lifting the boulders into the river one by one, despite this, the front one of the crashing logs is less than thirty steps away from the city hole, once the wood is hit into the city hole, whether the loose stone wall can withstand the impact of hundreds of people, it is difficult to predict.

Shi Yang saw that the situation was critical. And the Tang army was still suppressed by the dense rain of arrows of the Qarluqs. He yelled, "No more fighting back." Everybody's going to die! ”

He took the lead in leaning down and dropping arrows into the city, immediately shrunk back and took the arrows, leaning out again, under his influence, the Tang army followed suit, round after round of arrows shot to the city, but in this way, the Tang army also suffered casualties, and people continued to fall down the city with arrows, dragging a long scream into the wolf-like Qarluq.

After a few rounds of arrows, Shi Yang found that there was still no effect, and there was a heavy shield underneath, covering the top of the enemy's head like an eaves, and the shield was full of arrows like a hedgehog.

"Stop shooting arrows and smash them with stones!" Shi Yang resolutely changed his tactics.

At the sound of an order, the prisoners of war behind carried heavy stones, rushed forward and threw down the city, compared with the arrows, the heavy stones began to have an effect, the shield could not withstand the punch of the stones, cracked, shattered, piles of Qarluqs were smashed to the bones, the city was a wail, the first crashing wood also fell off from the crowd, rolled into the moat. More than 100 Tang troops raised their shields to form a long shield wall, effectively resisting the rain of arrows shot from the city, and a piece of grinding plate earth stones began to fall from the city, blocking the way forward, making it difficult for the Qarlu people who were only seven or eight steps away from the city gate.

The clatter of broken bones, the screams of pain when they were smashed, and the chopping of flesh when their bodies were smashed by stones, all mingled, and it seemed as if it had become a hell on earth, and people began to flee back

Shi Yang leaned against a battlement, and watched closely from the hole in the wall at the dozen or so horseback riders about fifty paces away on the other side of the moat, he had already noticed that the dozen horsemen had not moved since the attack, and there should be the leader of the Qarluqs tonight among them, but who was their leader among the dozen or so? Fifty paces away, he couldn't make out their faces.

Shi Yang thought for a while, and immediately touched into his arms, he remembered that there should be a letter in his arms, which was the letter of appointment for his promotion to the team leader, and found it, Shi Yang took out the letter, pulled out an arrow, bit the arrow, and directly pierced the letter on the arrow shaft, he immediately opened his bow and took the arrow, whoosh! The ground shot the arrow letter flat, and the arrow letter was like a white dove sweeping through the night, accurately falling in front of a dozen black shadows.

At this time, the bow and arrow in Shi Yang's hand had been replaced by his steel crossbow, he put a crossbow arrow into the arrow slot, slowly raised it, the steel crossbow was placed on his left arm, and aimed at the white arrow letter

Under the city, a personal soldier turned over and dismounted, stepped forward and picked up the arrow letter shot from the city, "Great Chief, it's a letter!" ”

The soldiers hurriedly handed the letter to Athelan, Aseran sighed, the sky was almost dawn, and he was about to succeed, but unfortunately the Tang Army's Stonehenge made his sneak attack come to naught, he took the letter casually, turned his head and shouted: "Light a torch!" ”

At the moment when he turned his head, a crossbow arrow shot like lightning, poof! An arrow pierced his neck, and a sharp pain caused Athran's mouth to open wide, and as soon as his hand loosened, the letter fell to the ground, and he fell from his horse with a thud.

It was already dawn, and under the city wall were piles of corpses piled up five feet high, and the flesh and blood were blurred, and more than a thousand Qarluqs were buried under the rubble, and the one closest to the city cave was only one step away, but was smashed under a boulder, and the brigade of Qarluqs had already evacuated before dawn, and his great chief was shot and fell from his horse, and his life and death were unknown.

Shi Yang took a dozen soldiers outside the city to inspect their results, after a night of hard fighting, most of them were exhausted, and even the prisoners of war went back to the camp to sleep, and today will be a day off.

"Team up! You see. A soldier suddenly pointed to the west and shouted, Shi Yang turned around, only to see a black line in the distance, it was a cavalry, a cavalry was galloping towards this side, several soldiers turned around in panic to escape, but Shi Yang stopped them, "Don't panic, see clearly!" ”

The cavalry was getting closer and closer, and at this time, the city was already cheering, it was the cavalry of the Tang army, and Shi Yang saw a golden Tang dragon flag fluttering high above the team.

(Ask for a commuter pass again!) ）