Duan Da heard that Yang Guang only went to Yanmen Pass to inspect the battlefield situation, and did not insist on going into the city to live, so he ordered Li Hun to lead the hussar battalion soldiers to protect Yang Guang's regiment in the center, and he and Li Xiong and Yu Juluo accompanied Yang Guang to ride down the high slope and enter the city from the south gate of Yanmen Pass. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

As soon as Yang Guang entered the Yanmen Pass, there was a choking smell of burnt burning, and when he looked up, he saw that the city seemed to have just experienced a big fire, broken walls and ruins abounded, and the beams and pillars of many houses were still on fire, and the people in the city who were forced to leave home and sleep on the streets on Chinese New Year's Eve because of the fire gathered in twos and threes, unclothed, describing horror, which made people unbearable to look at directly.

Under the guidance of Li Xiong and others, Yang Guang passed through the city and came to the vicinity of the north gate of Yanmen Pass. The soldiers of the Sui army, who had been fighting with the Turks all night, saw the King of Jin personally inspect the enemy, their morale was greatly boosted, and they cleaned up the army, and arranged their bodies into a long human wall to block the collapsed city wall.

Yang Guang walked past a soldier with a sleepy face and asked Li Xiong beside him, "How many men and horses did the Turks send to attack the city last night?" Who is the commander of the army? ”

"Back to Your Highness, the Turks did not have many men and horses who came to attack the city last night, according to the observation of the last general, it should not exceed 5,000 people, but the siege weapons they used were unprecedented, and it took less than one night to break through the city wall. Lord Wang, please come here with the last general to watch. Li Xiong said as he led Yang Guang and the others to a flat land about four or five hundred meters away from the city wall.

On this flat ground, dozens of iron cars are parked, as Yu Juluo said. Yang Guang approached to take a look, and saw that the inside of these iron cars was empty, and he could only vaguely guess that the original load on the car was very likely to be the object of ignition.

"Lord Wang, please come to the car and see." Li Xiong led Yang Guang and the others to the front of the car, pointed to the rows of sharp iron nails densely covered in the front of the car and said to Yang Guang, "Two years ago, the last general saw this car in the Qinghe Gong Army, and knew that this car was called 'Chongche', and it was a sharp weapon designed and cast by Qinghe Gong to attack the city. The Turks attacked Yanmen Pass at night and modified the 'rushing car', in addition to keeping iron nails in front of the car, they also filled the car with tung oil that ignited the fire. The burned houses that the prince had just seen in the city were set on fire by this car. ”

"These dozens of 'fire oil rushing vehicles' alone don't seem to be enough to quickly break through the city wall, right?" Yang Guang saw that the wall of Yanmen Pass was more than three zhang high and more than one foot thick, and the whole system was made of rammed earth, which could be called indestructible, so he asked.

"That's true. Lord Wang, last night the Turks first used a stone machine to smash the city wall, and after the city wall began to collapse and gap, and then rushed down from the high place outside the city with dozens of burning 'rushing cars', breaking through the city wall in one fell swoop, and broke through the city wall in less than two hours, igniting the fire in the city. The last general led the defending soldiers to resist to the death, only to reluctantly repel the Turkic iron cavalry that followed, but the soldiers stationed in Yanmen also lost more than half, if it were not for the brave men led by General Yu to arrive in time, the last general repelled the last group of Turkic iron cavalry that attacked the city, before dawn, Yanmen Pass is likely to fall. ”

"Li Shangshu, there are still incomprehensions in the last general's heart, please make it clear." Listening to Li Xiong's introduction to the Turkic siege, Duan Da took the lead in asking with a puzzled face, "The last general once accompanied the Le'an A.D. Harmonic West expedition to Tuguhun, and the stone machine used in the Japanese army was only used to throw boulders into the enemy's fortified city, and its power did not seem to be enough to smash such a strong wall as Yanmen Pass." But I wonder how the stone machine used by the Turks to smash the city wall last night is different from the stone machine used in ordinary armies? ”

Li Xiong nodded and echoed Duan Dadao: "What General Duan said is very true. From the previous dynasty to our Great Sui, the stone machine used in the army was indeed used to throw stones into the city and attack and wound the enemy's defending soldiers. However, until now, I don't know much about the stone machine used by the Turks last night, only from the soldiers who witnessed the powerful power of the stone machine used by the Turks, I heard that the stone machine used by the Turks last night not only used to smash a boulder of the city wall has a weight of one or two hundred catties, but also the force of throwing stones is also very great, and the most surprising thing is that these boulders that were thrown to break the city wall can also be used to send and receive back and forth. I have never seen a stone machine like this. ”

"Li Shangshu, as far as this king knows, you have led an army against the Turks for many years, and in the past in the war with the Turks, have you ever seen a precedent for the Turks to use the 'oil cart' and the stone machine?" Yang Guang asked Li Xiongdao contemplatively.

Li Xiong shook his head without thinking and replied, "I've never seen it." The Turks have always been good at attacking cities with rockets and cavalry, and it is said that such a powerful siege weapon is rarely used even by ordinary chariots. This is also the main reason why the last general sent people back to the state to ask His Highness for help not long after he found out that the Turks were attacking. ”

"Lord Wang, could it be that after the princess married the Turks, she taught the Turks the manufacturing and use of these siege weapons?" When Li Hun was a child, he had heard his father Li Mu mention it many times, saying that Yuwen Panruo, the princess of the former dynasty, was a strange woman who was both civil and military, so he had an idea and reminded Yang Guangdao.

"Let's go to the council chamber of the city government office to discuss this matter first." Yang Guang's heart actually coincided with what Li Hun said, and almost at the same time guessed: the "fire oil rushing car" and the stone machine that can send and receive back and forth are very likely to be ingeniously designed by Yuwen Panruo to equip the Turkic army. It's just that at this time, in front of a cadre of sergeants, it is inconvenient to discuss the Turkic tactics in detail with the generals, so he gave instructions to Li Xiong and others.

The Yanmen Customs Office is located in the south of the city, although it is outside the direct attack range of the "fire oil rushing car", but the two gatehouses adjacent to the gate are also led by the houses connected to the same street, and after a night, only some ruins and broken tiles remain. Fortunately, the chamber in the office has not been overburned and is still intact.

Yang Guang led the generals into the council hall and took their seats, and then responded to Li Hun and said: "What Jin Cai said is indeed reasonable. Except for Yuwen Prajna, I have not heard Mr. Changsun mention that there are such ingenious and mechanical people among the Turkic tribes. However, I still don't know much in my heart, why did the Turks brazenly tear up the peace treaty in such a short period of time and attack my Yanmen Pass at night, even though they begged this king to draw water out of the pass and signed a peace treaty with this king not long ago? What do you think about this? ”

Li Xiong, who is in the Shangshu of the Xingtai Military Department of Hebei Province, and is the chief general who led the army to guard the Yanmen Pass, heard Yang Guang's question, and took the lead in getting up and clasping his fists and replied: "The state of Turkic tigers and wolves is capricious, according to the last general, the non-aggression peace treaty signed with His Highness before was just a deliberate delaying tactic for them. The sudden attack on Yanmen Pass last night exposed their true intentions. ”

Duan Da had followed Yang Guang out of the customs to Baidaozhou a month ago to meet with the Turkic prince Yongyu Lu, and after listening to Li Xiong's answer, he shook his head slightly and said: "After the Turkic Shabalu Khan led the main force of the tribe to the west, the Turkic Khan who stayed in Baidaozhou could not lead more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, plus 5,000 soldiers and horses under the command of Yongyu Lu, the eldest son of Sha Boluo, a total of only 15,000 soldiers and horses. Even before the recruitment of new troops in our army, the military strength of the garrison at Bingzhou and Yanmen Pass was also on a par with it, regardless of whether it was up or down, and if only more than 10,000 soldiers and horses wanted to carry out a strong attack on Yanmen Pass, and then capture Bingzhou City, I thought it would not be a wise move. ”