In the camp of the Tang army, Li Mao, Li Guangbi, and the commander of the Hui army, Qi Zhanali, were discussing the attack. Li Guangbi, the www.biquge.info of the pen "Fun", thought that he would first give the rebel defenders some colors to see, and then launch a psychological offensive under heavy pressure to surrender to Shi Siming. But the premise is that the first attack must be fierce and ferocious, and Shi Siming must be under tremendous pressure, feeling that the city will be breached soon, which will add a huge weight to the surrender. In view of this, regarding the arrangement of the first attack, Li Guangbi needs to explain and communicate with Qizanali.

"General Qizanali, in this siege, your Hui army is the main force. I intend to fill in the pits and build bridges across the moat, supplemented by my men and horses, so that your cavalry can quickly approach the walls and attack. I wonder if General Qizanali has any doubts? ”

"Li Dashuai, I don't agree with this. My Hui army is indeed brave and good at fighting, and it is also the main force in this battle. But don't you think that using the main force to attack the city from the beginning will cause the army to suffer heavy losses? The first wave of the enemy's counterattack was extremely ferocious, do you want to keep your useless soldiers behind, and tell me to return to the warriors to die? That's not right. Beggar said with his hands dangling his pigtails.

Li Guangbi frowned and said: "General Qizanali, you don't seem to understand the strategy set by Your Majesty and me, we want to attack the opponent in the first wave and cause pressure, which is conducive to recruiting the opponent." And your Uighur cavalry can quickly attack the city and put a lot of pressure on the opponent, so that's why you decide. ”

Qizanali shook his head and said, "I really don't understand what you think, in our place, there is only you living and dying, how can there be any way to surrender." If the enemy can surrender, he may betray, so what is the use of such a person to surrender? Sooner or later, it will suffer from it. I forgive you for your schemes. ”

Li Guangbi lowered his face and said, "General Qizanali, you don't have to make a mistake about your identity. The two of us have signed an agreement, and you are just borrowing troops from me to quell the rebellion, that's all. If you think that there is room for criticism in the general aspects of warfare, then you are mistaken. It's not up to you to decide. ”

"I'm not interested in your business, but I'm responsible for the lives of my Uighurs, and I can't let them be used by you to send them to their deaths," he cried out. ”

Li Guangbi shouted coldly: "General Qizanali, what you say is not reasonable. If you borrow troops to quell the rebellion, you will have dead and wounded soldiers, do you still expect 100,000 soldiers and horses to go back intact? I, Datang, have an agreement with you Hui people, and the casualties will be compensated, what is the reason for you to say such things now? ”

"Reparations? Can I go back to the people of your country to die for you? My warriors are priceless. ”

"Presumptuous!" Li Guangbi shouted angrily: "Qi Zhanali, you say so, what is the use of us borrowing your soldiers and horses? Didn't we borrow soldiers, but invited a group of ancestors to come back and provide for us? It's ridiculous! ”

Qizanali also stood up and said-for-tat: "It's useless for you to shout at me about this, I have told the Great Khan that I want to cherish the lives of the Hui warriors, and I will do what the Great Khan wills." If you want us to die, I will never agree. ”

Li Guangbi said angrily: "Then please ask your Great Khan to come and we will confirm the agreement between the two sides, otherwise what is the use of borrowing your soldiers and horses?" ”

Qizanali replied unceremoniously: "Light, do you want me to leave here with the army immediately?" ”

Li Guangbi's body trembled angrily, and he was about to refute his lips, but Li Mao on the side hurriedly said: "Two, two, why are you arguing?" Isn't this a matter of discussion? ”

Li Guangbi pointed at Qizana and said, "Your Majesty, you also heard it, what did he say?" Is this a blatant tearing up of the agreement? His soldiers and horses don't listen to the dispatch, what's the use of us borrowing these old soldiers? ”

Li Mao nodded and said, "Don't be impatient, it's just choking on words." General Beggar Zanali, you can't go up. I have made an agreement with your Great Khan, and the agreement is signed, and both parties must abide by it. You said that you led your troops away, and I believe that you are angry. If I do, I will tear up the agreement between the two sides, and I will no longer have any trust in you Hui people. Don't look at my Datang now that I'm in turmoil, I'm disrespectful to Datang, if I really turn my face, I'm not afraid of you. I sit in the world of the Tang Dynasty, and I can recover within a few years after quelling the rebellion, and when the time comes, if you Hui people want to have a relationship with my Datang again, I will definitely not allow it. The people of our Heavenly Empire value the most credit, and if there is no faith, they will not stand, and if they have no faith, they will lose their morality. Do you understand what I am saying? ”

Of course, Kizanali understood, and he didn't dare to really tear up the agreement at all.

"Dear Your Majesty the Tang Dynasty, I don't really want to do that, but your plan is really unacceptable. Your people are more familiar with siege warfare, and we Hui people are more suitable for horse warfare. It's not right to call us the first to besiege the city. In this way, I will send 30,000 soldiers and horses, plus your 50,000 soldiers and horses, and 80,000 people to attack the first echelon. I'll give you another 30,000 horses, so that you can solve the problem of charge speed. The army of the Gui Dynasty and the army of our Hui Dynasty will attack hand in hand, learn from each other's strengths, and I believe that it will be a miracle. ”

Li Mao turned his head to look at Li Guangbi, Li Guangbi nodded and said, "It's about the same." ”

Li Mao smiled and said, "Look, isn't this solved?" Anything can be discussed, and everyone has to make some concessions for the sake of the overall situation. The matter was settled. General Qizanali, you will stay in my big tent to eat, and have a glass of wine with Marshal Li for a while, and the matter will be over. It's called a glass of wine and a vendetta. Hahaha. ”

……

In the early morning of the third day of December, outside the Fanglin Gate in the northern city of Chang'an after the fog cleared, the Tang Dynasty officials and the Hui coalition army stood in dense formation.

There are seven gates in the north city of Chang'an, and the four gates of the imperial city and the Daming Palace are on the east side, but because it is the gate of the palace city, the city wall is thick and limited by the terrain, and Li Mao does not want to destroy the two palace cities because of the siege. Therefore, the focus of this siege was on the three gates of Fanglin, Jingyao, and Guanghua on the west side. Guanghuamen is in the westernmost part near the west city wall of Chang'an, and the terrain is cramped. Jingyao Gate is located in the middle of Hong Lim Gate and Guanghua, and the terrain is open, so it is a suitable place to attack. However, because there is Yong'an Canal running through the city, the terrain is fragmented, and it is not a good place to attack the city, so Fang Lim Gate has become the only city gate with open terrain suitable for breakthrough.

The morning sun sprinkled on several dragon flags in front of the camp, and the dragon flags fluttered in the cold north wind. Under the dragon flag, Li Mao rode a white horse, riding a yellow horse on his left and right, fully armed, and the handsome looking Li Guangbi, and on another short-legged and stout horse sat the leading general of the Uighur army, Qizanali, with curly hair and pigtails, wearing a wide leather robe.

"Your Majesty, the hour has come, please order the siege of the city." Li Guangbi immediately gave up his hand and said in a deep voice to Li Mao.

Li Mao showed a smile on his face, and said with a slender palm: "Quasi!" ”

Li Guangbi said in a deep voice: "Obey the order!" Turning his head, he straightened up on his horse's back, and ordered in a deep voice: "Beat the drums, give the order to attack." ”

A moment later, the big drum with a height of more than 18 sides was beaten on both sides, and with the sound of this soul-shaking rumbling drum, the first battle of the Tang Dynasty to recover the capital Chang'an since the An Lushan Rebellion officially kicked off.

Amid the sound of drums, tens of thousands of Tang Army infantrymen began to rush out of the front line with mud bags and sandbags, wooden planks, long poles and other objects. When the trail was hundreds of paces away from the city, they used their carryings to fill the horse pits and traps dug by the rebels within a few hundred paces of the city. As these traps were filled in one by one, thousands of catapults slowly moved forward under the impetus of the Tang soldiers, and gradually approached the firing range.

On the tower of the northern city of Chang'an, Shi Siming stood beside the battlements and stared closely at the movements of the Tang army below, his brows were tightly locked, but his fists were clenched.

"Tell all armies not to panic. Wait until they are within range before attacking, and don't waste arrows and energy. This time I want to teach them a lesson, even Wang Yuan didn't dare to attack the city so rashly, but Li Mao wanted to recapture Chang'an, it was a pipe dream. Tell all the leading generals that if anyone dares to be cowardly and let the enemy attack the city wall, I will only ask. Shi Siming shouted in a deep voice.

"Yes!" The generals beside him, Shi Chaoyi, Tian Chenghei, and other generals agreed in a deep voice, and the herald quickly spread Shi Siming's order to the defenders at the head of the city.

Under the city, with the passage of time, the siege army approached the city step by step. When entering the distance of 200 steps, the high arrow tower at the head of Chang'an City and the crossbow arrows on the city wall poured down like a torrential rain. This is not the arrows fired by the archers at the head of the city, whose range is only within one hundred and fifty paces below the city, which is the longest range in the case of sub-zero heights. The first blow was struck by the strong archers on the turrets and the more than 300 bed crossbows on the ramparts. The range of the strong bow and bed crossbow was between 200 and 300 steps, and Shi Siming only gave the order to shoot after letting the Tang army's siege soldiers and horses enter the range of 200 steps.

The arrow towers on the city walls of Chang'an were expanded from thirty-five to eighty-five by Shi Siming in the past few months. The north city wall of Chang'an is eighteen miles long from east to west, that is to say, each mile of the city wall is built with eight arrow towers, and there is an arrow tower as high as eight or nine zhang at a distance of less than dozens of steps. In addition, the city wall after heightening and reinforcement is as high as four zhang, and the total height of the arrow tower reaches fifteen or sixteen zhang. I didn't feel anything from afar, but up close I almost reached the sky.

Each tower is equipped with fifty strong archers, and there are nearly 5,000 strong archers on these eighty-five towers alone. These 5,000 men could unleash their firepower under the city with impunity, and they could shoot arrows anywhere within a radius of 300 paces.

Compared to the rain of arrows shot from the arrow tower, the bed crossbow at the head of the city gives people a more terrifying feeling. The bolts fired from the bed crossbow were thick and heavy, flying with a low roar of wind and thunder. Even if you don't shoot, when you hear them rushing to your ears with a low buzzing sound, the timid ones will immediately collapse to the ground. Not to mention the horror of a crossbow arrow hitting a human body. The tremendous force can penetrate the person like a scarecrow, and roll backwards several feet with a bloody body until it becomes a ball of flesh and blood that twists into a blurred posture. The bed crossbow is far less effective than the bow and arrow, but it brings a greater sense of fear.

In just half an hour, about ten miles wide and several miles deep, on the battlefield north of the city, 10,000 Tang Army death squads paid 30% of the casualties. The battlefield was littered with corpses and wriggling and moaning wounded soldiers.

However, the casualties of more than 3,000 people also benefited, as large pits and traps were filled up two hundred paces from the wall, allowing the catapults in the rear to slowly enter range. The situation was immediately relieved when hundreds of catapults began to throw stones at the city. More trebuchets began to attack, and after more than 1,000 catapults were all thrown into the bombardment of the city, the north gate of Chang'an was suddenly covered in smoke and dust.

"Second echelon, attack immediately." Li Guangbi, who was riding his horse in the rear, issued the second military order in a deep voice.

With the order issued, the 6,000 Tang Army infantry carried long horizontal ladders and planks, and carried rolls of straw ropes to the city. The death squads in front had rushed to the moat fifty paces away from the city walls. The next step was to build pontoons at the same time at more than a dozen different points on the moat with long ladders, planks and ropes.

The sight of thousands of catapults throwing stones was spectacular, and the rain of rubble fell on the top of the city, pinning down the tens of thousands of defenders on the city walls under the battlements. However, the towering towers had an absolute advantage in height, and the catapults had done their best to throw stones at the walls from a distance of 200 paces. However, they could not do anything against the tall towers. The arrow tower at the base of the stone stood still in the midst of the flying rubble.

These hastily built catapults cannot be called shoddy, but they are not elaborate either. Their ability to throw stones is not very strong, and in order to be able to throw stones onto the city walls, they have to go within a distance of 300 paces, and some even have to advance to a distance of about 200 paces due to the irrationality of the structure. At such a distance, they are also exposed to the range of the arrow tower and the bed crossbow.

For a time, you came and went up and down the city wall, stones flew horizontally and arrows were vertical and horizontal, and the rebel defenders at the head of the city were killed a lot, and the catapults were also dumb. Arrows are not lethal to catapults, but they can kill soldiers who operate them. Moreover, the rebel archers on the tower are condescending and know the situation on the battlefield as if they were in charge. They informed the defenders on the city wall of the news that the Tang army was congested by the moat and built a pontoon bridge, and the defenders braved the rain of stones to shoot several rounds in the smoke and dust towards the approximate position on the other side of the moat under the city.

After paying a huge price of casualties, more than a dozen pontoon bridges over the moat were finally erected. And the 16,000 Tang Army death squads in the two echelons have already suffered more than 6,000 casualties. Their corpses were strewn everywhere, blood pooling across the ground like a stream. The defenders at the head of the city also suffered a lot of damage, and in order to prevent the Tang army from building a pontoon bridge, they had to force their heads to attack, and they were heavily killed and wounded by the overwhelming stones. Many people were knocked unconscious by the stones, and then they were buried alive by the stones.

The more than half an hour of trebuchet bombing was finally coming to an end, and although more than 1,000 catapults were damaged, two or three hundred were damaged, but they successfully threw the hill-like stone bombs onto the head of Chang'an City. Under this high-intensity bombardment, even the strong city walls and the solid base of the arrow tower were severely damaged. The rain of stones leveled some of the battlements and caused the collapse of more than a dozen arrow towers with slightly weak bases. The stone bullets used by the catapult were finally exhausted. I didn't drive a catapult and prepared three carts of gravel blocks, which weighed more than a thousand catties. In this half an hour, more than 1,000 catapults threw more than 100,000 catties of stones onto the city.

The smoke and dust at the head of the city have not dispersed, and Li Guangbi under the city has already issued the third order in a deep voice.

"Third echelon, all cavalry ready to charge." Li Guangbi waved his arms violently, and the 30,000 cavalry of the Tang Army and the 30,000 Hui cavalry slowly marched out to the sound of war drums. In the dense drumbeat, 60,000 cavalry began to accelerate, and the straggler formation spread across the entire battlefield, like a huge black wave rushing towards the city wall, charging towards the north city wall of Chang'an.

At the same time, more than 30 huge and heavy chariots were also pushed by dozens of strong men to advance in the direction of the north city gate, and their task was to break through the city gate or the weak city wall in the siege of the army and open the passage to the city.

60,000 cavalry rushed in, and attacking the city with cavalry was really an alternative tactic, but what the siege soldiers and horses needed was to quickly advance to the city and directly enter the siege hand-to-hand combat. They had indeed done just that, and in just a dozen breaths, they had rushed to within two hundred paces below the city walls.

At the top of the city, the bewildered rebel defenders, bombarded by catapults, had just leaned out, and in the smoke and dust that gradually dissipated, they saw the dense crowd of siege cavalry rushing towards the city approaching quickly.

"Shoot the arrows!" Shi Siming's forehead was bleeding, it was a mark left by a small stone collapsing into his forehead, but he didn't seem panicked, and calmly gave the order.

Tens of thousands of defenders at the head of the city stood up in unison, bows and arrows in their hands like a full moon. The next moment, the air between the head of the city and the city below seemed to be shrouded in a layer of dark clouds, which were densely packed with tens of thousands of arrows flying towards the cavalry under the city. The sound of the bowstring vibrating was like rolling thunder, and the sound of the arrow breaking through the air was like a gust of wind. Countless arrows with strong air currents spread like a huge black cloud about a hundred paces below the city. The charging formation of the Tang army and the Hui cavalry under the city seemed to have been suddenly erased from the middle, and it became a blank in the ribbon covered by the arrows.

This round of arrow rain instantly took the lives of more than a thousand cavalrymen, and more than 2,000 soldiers were wounded. Rounds of fire followed, and lives were quickly lost as these arrows were mercilessly killed. Every moment, countless souls rise from the human body, leaving behind corpses like hedgehogs filled with arrows. On the battlefield, people on their backs turned over and the waves of blood were churning, and in the wind and thunder of arrows, even the terrible wails before death were covered without a trace.

Even with such heavy casualties, the only advantage of cavalry siege is reflected, and the ability to cross the battlefield infested with arrows at great speed and quickly reach the city is the true meaning of cavalry siege. In just a few dozen breaths, the exquisite cavalry of the Hui cavalry crossed the battlefield in the most concise way and reached the moat. They jumped off their horses and galloped across a dozen wide pontoon bridges, and in a very short time reached the dead end of the bows and arrows of the defenders at the head of the city.

Then ladders were erected and lined up along the city walls. The Uighur soldiers began to climb swiftly up the ladder to the top of the wall.

Since the besiegers had arrived under the walls and began to attack the walls, the defenders could no longer shoot the soldiers who rushed to the city, and they had to divide a part of their forces to attack the soldiers under the walls. This gave the cavalry who followed up a better chance of survival. In just a few moments, countless siege soldiers crossed the death zone within two hundred paces and broke through to the bottom of the city walls. More ladders were built on the walls, more soldiers began to climb towards the city, and the battle officially entered the stage of siege hand-to-hand combat.

Faced with the besieging enemy forces swarming below the city walls, the rebels at the head of the city were busy but not chaotic. The rolling wood and rocks that had been prepared for a long time rolled down, smashing countless soldiers who had climbed the edge ladder and falling down with a scream. Huge logs and heavy stones also caused huge casualties among the crowded crowds of soldiers below the city. Countless besieging soldiers were stoned to death and wounded, and their corpses were piled up by others to build human bunkers. Every piece of rolling wood smashed down, and when it hit the pile of corpses, there was a terrifying sound of bones breaking. At the same time, the pile of corpses was also smashing with purple and black plasma like oil. The smell of blood and the stench of feces and urine filled everyone's nostrils.

But even so, there are still hundreds of siege mountain packs on the ladder that have successfully climbed to the end of the ladder. However, the besieging soldiers soon discovered to their horror that their ladder was too short. Although the ladder made has exceeded the regulation of three zhang, which is already the height of the city wall of most cities is difficult to reach, but in the face of this super high and super thick Chang'an city wall, there is still a difference of half a zhang from the top of the wall. Looking at the unreachable wall in front of them, the siege soldiers who risked their lives to climb to the top of the ladder could only watch as the defenders who were close at hand smashed huge stones into their faces with hideous expressions.

In a desperate scolding, a string of Tang soldiers on more than 100 ladders fell from the air like broken pockets. Hundreds of soldiers broke their tendons on the ground. And surprisingly, there were quite a few defenders of the city who fell with them. Moments later, the Tang soldiers discovered a shocking secret, and the corpses of the rebel defenders who had fallen from the city were the work of the Uighurs.

The ladder climbed by the Uighurs also failed to reach the edge of the city wall, but the Uighur soldiers did not seem to panic, and the seven or eight Uighur soldiers above untied the ropes around their waists one by one and danced in the air, and then threw them hesitantly. These ropes were topped with iron grappling hooks, making it easy to catch an enemy soldier in the crowd of rebel defenders at the edge of the dense wall, and then with a vigorous pull, the unsuspecting defenders leaned down with stones or arrows and were torn off the city like a bundle of hay and smashed into flesh. The Uighur soldiers were skillful and precise in their movements, thanks to the fact that they grew up on the northern steppes, and when grazing cattle, sheep and horses, they were able to trap the galloping animals on the back of a fast horse with only a rope, which was a necessary survival skill for all men on the grasslands.

And this stunt is used by them in battle, these rope hooks are specially made combat objects, whether it is used in cavalry battles to drag opponents off their horses or used in siege battles, it has miraculous effects. Just now, when the Hui soldiers leaned seven or eight ladders side by side to attack the city at the same time, some Tang soldiers scolded them for being stupid, didn't this give the defenders a chance to sweep the seven or eight ladders with a rolling log. And now they understand why they did it.