readx; "General Cheng, there is movement at the root of the east city wall!" A soldier made an urgent report to Cheng Qianli. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Cheng Qianli was intoxicated with the joy of victory in defeating the nest car, and when he suddenly heard this, he was taken aback, and ran towards the east city.

There is already a circle of people under the root of the east city wall, and there are twenty large vats neatly buried on the ground, which is used to listen to the movement underground, and more than a dozen soldiers are lying on the vat to listen carefully to the movements.

"The general is here!"

Everyone dodged away, and Cheng Qianli strode forward and asked, "Is there any movement?" ”

"General Report, just now we heard the sound of digging and knocking on the ground, and now it's gone."

"Let me come!"

Cheng Qianli lay down, his ears were on the vat and his eyes were closed to listen, and suddenly, he heard 'Bang! Boom! His eyes lit up with a tap, and the sergeant next to him shouted, "Here we go again!" They started again. ”

An experienced soldier quickly made a judgment, judging by the sound of the knock, the opponent was only thirty paces away from them at most, thirty steps, that is, the opponent was already under the moat.

Cheng Qianli understood that An Lushan must attack the city through tunnels, but he had no good experience in defending against this kind of tunnel siege, and he was silent for a while, and Liu Qingyun, the lord of the eastern city, stepped forward and offered his advice: "General, if you attack the city through tunnels, the army will generally concentrate at the front first, and then rush out, so the best way to deal with the tunnel siege is to cut off its back road, and then smoke it with poison." ”

"Good!"

Cheng Qianli nodded, "This task will be handed over to you, if you do it well, I will have a heavy reward!" ”

"Don't worry, general, I will do it well."

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At this time, the battlefield has been quiet, An Lushan's army retreated to three miles away, which created an opportunity for the Tang army, Liu Qingyun personally led more than 100 people to ride a cage car down the city wall, they did not participate in collecting arrows, but crossed the moat cat's waist, and ran to the battlefield, the battlefield was full of collapsed nest cars, boulders full of flesh and blood, broken ladders, and corpses all over the ground.

After about a hundred paces, they stopped and began to lie on the ground with a special metal earpiece to find an authentic tunnel.

"Found it!"

One soldier shouted in a low voice, and the rest of the soldiers gathered together, they listened carefully with their earpieces, and sure enough, they heard a slight sound of running footsteps underground, and they slowly followed this footstep to crawl forward, until they climbed five hundred paces away, and the footsteps finally disappeared, that is, all the soldiers who participated in the raid underground ran to the city, and there was no one behind them.

"Do it!"

Liu Qingyun gave an order, and more than 100 soldiers started to dig down with the shovel of the tomb robbery, and in a moment, two deep pits were dug out, 'Boom! With a bang, the earth collapsed, and a swarthy cave appeared in front of them, about a foot above the ground, and the cave was five feet high and wide, and it was bottomless, so that they could run forward.

The five soldiers jumped down, and for a moment, only a few muffled snorts were heard, and the soldiers dragged up a Yan soldier who was very young and trembling with fright, "Spare your life!" Spare your life! ”

Liu Qingyun grabbed his shirt and said viciously: "If you are honest, I will not kill you." ”

"I say! I say! ”

"How many people are there in the tunnel?"

"There are about 3,000 people, all of whom have gone to the front, and I have a stomachache and am outdated."

"Good!"

Liu Qingyun knocked him unconscious with a punch, and turned around and ordered: "Do it!" ”

Hundreds of soldiers moved together, the hole was filled and solid, and a few big stones were pushed and pressed on the buried tunnel, at this time, a soldier waved a red scarf and reported to the city, the city has also found the tunnel, but it was not dug up, heard the order, the soldiers waiting here started together, dug a corner of the tunnel, the tunnel was already crowded with soldiers, suddenly saw the sky, dozens of soldiers were about to stand out, but were all killed by the Tang army's random arrows.

The fire was ignited, and the soldiers threw the poisonous branches and vines such as oleander, kudzu, and ivy into the fire, and the smoke billowed and poured into the tunnel, and the coughing and screams of fear of death were constantly heard in the tunnel, and people kept trying to smoke and rush out, so they were immediately shot to death by the Tang army, and the Tang army Suo poured fire oil on the corpse, and the corpse burned together.

The poor 3,000 Yan troops underground had no way to escape, and after a quarter of an hour, they were all smoked to death in the depths of the ground......

After getting the news, An Lushan was furious, pointed at An Shouzhong and shouted: "Push him out and behead him!" ”

An Shouzhong shouted in fright: "Dashuai, you are guilty of despicability, but the crime is not to death!" ”

"Dashuai, this is a mistake in intelligence, Dashuai, humble and innocent!"

"Stop!"

An Lushan waved his hand and said coldly: "What kind of information is wrong, you say!" ”

An Shouzhong wiped the sweat from his forehead, knelt down and said: "Marshal, the humble position said that the intelligence said that the Tang army did not bury the ground to listen, so the humble position thought of using the tunnel to kill, but today's situation, the Tang army obviously listened, why didn't the intelligence say it?" Marshal, this is a mistake in intelligence! ”

A sentence reminded An Lushan, and he remembered that the intelligence seemed to say that the Tang Army did not listen to it, what is going on?

"Go! Invite Mr. Gao. ”

"Is the marshal looking for me?"

A noble voice came from the door of the tent, and I saw him walk in quickly, bow down and salute: "See the great handsome!" ”

"Mr. Gao, your information is wrong! You said that the Tang army was not buried in the ground, but today I lost 3,000 people. ”

An Lushan's tone was slightly reproachful, and he said apologetically: "Dashuai, the information was four days ago, it was not buried at that time, and it is possible that it is buried now." ”

In fact, Gao Shang also faintly felt that something was wrong, this time the tunnel siege failed, and the information sent by the spies in the city was obviously wrong, even if it was not four days ago, but the Tang army installed the ground to listen, they should have told it in time, but no, this made Gao Shang suspicious, and then thought of the last delay, he felt even more bad in his heart, could it be that something had happened to them?

He had just received a piece of information from the city, saying that Cheng Qianli had reduced the food ration of the people, and that there had been a civilians robbing food last night, and Gao Shang couldn't believe the news, and he didn't want to tell An Lushan.

However, although he didn't believe much in the information in the city, in front of An Lushan, he couldn't admit that he had received false information, and he explained: "They don't know that the marshal wants to attack with the ground, and it is reasonable that the information is not timely. ”

An Lushan has great respect for Gao Shang, and when he explained like this, it was not easy to blame him, so he had to wave his hand and say: "Let him go!" ”

An Shouzhong escaped death, and hurriedly stepped forward to thank him: "Thank you for the grace of not killing!" ”

Although An Lushan spared him, he hated it in his heart, so he ignored him, sighed, and said to Gao Shang: "Sir, the city is strong, and it is difficult to take it for a while, I am anxious!" ”

Gao Shang smiled and said: "When the marshal first tried to attack the city, he almost succeeded, why is that?" ”

An Lushan thought for a while, and then said: "That's because I used the nest car, and the other party didn't have a way to deal with it, but this time they used a thunderbolt car, which made my nest car invalid." ”

"That's right! The problem is here, I found that Cheng Qianli is not experienced enough to defend the city, lack of urgency, the marshal initially used the nest car to attack the city, he was difficult to adapt to for a while, so we almost succeeded, this is his biggest weakness, and it is also the key to our capture of Xiangzhou City, do you understand what I mean? ”

An Lushan didn't react for a moment, and An Shouzhong said: "What the military advisor means is that we should use a new type of siege engine, and we will succeed at one time." ”

"I know, I need you to talk more!"

An Lushan glared at him fiercely, so frightened that An Shouzhong was silent, lowered his head and didn't dare to speak, An Lushan said to Gao Shang: "Then according to Mr.'s plan, how should we deal with it?" ”

Gao Shang Yin smiled and said: "I still say the same thing, surprise and attack unprepared." ”

He whispered a few words to An Lushan, An Lushan nodded, gritted his teeth and said, "Okay!" Just act according to Mr.'s plan, no matter what, we must take Xiangzhou before the Yellow River freezes. ”

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In the afternoon, the soldiers guarding Nancheng found that the Yan army besieging Nancheng had completely disappeared, leaving only an empty camp, which made Cheng Qianli suspicious, not knowing where An Lushan had drawn his troops?

But without waiting for him to think about it, the Beicheng offensive started again, this time An Lushan invested 100,000 troops to attack the city, specializing in the western section of the northern city, the offensive was like a tide, the fierce attack was wave after wave, the corpses were crossed, the battle was fierce, the soldiers at the head of the city were suppressed by An Lushan's 30,000 crossbow army, lost the advantage of bows and crossbows, more than 100 cloud ladders were set up at the head of the city, the Yan army was like ants climbing the city, and there were constantly cloud ladders being overturned, but there were constantly Yan troops attacking the city, breaking through the gap, and soon being submerged by the supporting Tang army.

This siege battle An Lushan put an iron heart, always refused to withdraw the army, fought until late at night, still fighting at night, up and down the city, the corpses piled up like a mountain, blood stained the city, both sides suffered heavy casualties, the Yan army has more than 30,000 casualties, and the Tang army's casualties have exceeded 10,000 people, both sides are red-eyed.

Cheng Qianli's voice was hoarse, this was a tragic battle that he had never had in his life, he knew in his heart that if he could hold Xiangzhou City, just tonight, he had already made a desperate bet, and invested 30,000 troops to fight in the northern city, leaving only 5,000 people in the west and east cities, and all the defenders of the southern city were transferred to the north city.

The fire above and below the city was soaring, the ladders were burned into strings of fire, the Yan army on fire screamed and fell down the city, but the ladders rushed to the city, the outlaw soldiers hit the city again, the two sides were exhausted, many Yan troops had the intention of retreating, but An Lushan sent three thousand swords and axes to supervise the battle, and those who retreated were all beheaded.

On the wooden platform, An Lushan pressed the hilt of his sword, a pair of blood-red eyes stared at the sky-high fire on the city wall, at this time, the surname Hu Renye in his bones also burned in his blood, he issued a strict order, if he can't take Xiangzhou City this time, Zhonglang will behead all of the above!

"Pass my order, and then invest 30,000 troops to attack the northern city, and order Cai Xide's department to attack the eastern and western cities!"

At this time, it was already one watch, and the east and west cities came to report, and both sides found that the enemy army had signs of attacking the city, and Cheng Qianli shouted in a hoarse voice, "Tell them that if they can't hold the city, the whole city will die." ”

The war has entered the white heat, the north, east and west of the three cities have launched an attack, An Lushan invested an unprecedented 200,000 people to attack the city, at this time the Tang army still has more than 30,000 people, all of them are also engaged in a bloody battle, even 30,000 people have joined the battle, this night, Xiangzhou City to the time of life and death.

At the time of the two watches, the southern camp that had been silent suddenly moved, there were only more than a thousand defenders in the south city, they were alarmed by the loud rumbling sound, and they looked into the darkness in horror, only to see that in the dark night, a swarthy behemoth was slowly approaching the city wall, like a prehistoric monster, it was four feet tall and ten feet long, when it was still a hundred steps away from the city wall, all the soldiers shouted at the same time: "Break the city mall!" ”

Yes, this is an incredibly large city-breaking mallet, the body of the hammer is a thousand-year-old giant wood, eight zhang long, one zhang in diameter, the front end is wrapped with fine iron, it is cone-shaped, and the wooden frame that bears this broken city hammer is even more huge, the wood used is thicker than a human thigh, dozens of hundred-zhang long iron chains are hanging from the mallet body, and the chassis below is equipped with eighteen giant wooden wheels that are one person high.

There are also more than a dozen battering rams in the An Lushan camp. But they are all small and almost useless, and this behemoth was built by An Lushan over a year, and it was the secret weapon he originally prepared to use to attack Chang'an, and it had just arrived in Xiangzhou this morning.

The entire battering ram weighs tens of thousands of catties, controlled by 400 healthy cattle and 3,000 soldiers, this is the noble surprise, at this time the south city head is empty, it is a golden opportunity to attack the city.

The warning beacon fire at the head of the southern city was lit, and the blazing beacon fire lit up the night sky, Cheng Qianli was a little stunned, he sat down tiredly, and an unprecedented sense of despair poured into his heart.

Although there were no troops to send, Cheng Qianli still drew a thousand people from each of the other three city defenders to rush to Nancheng to fight, this is a noble policy, the whole army pressed the siege, forcing Cheng Qianli to attract all the troops of Xiangzhou City to the other three cities, Nancheng was scarce, and they used powerful battering rams to attack Nancheng.

The circumference of Xiangzhou City is more than sixty miles, and it will take a quarter of an hour for reinforcements from the three cities to arrive at the earliest.

The battering ram is most afraid of two things, one is the fire oil, followed by the iron hook, in order to deal with the burning of the fire oil, the entire battering ram is frozen with a thick layer of ice, and there are five hundred soldiers specially prepared to put out the fire with sand, and the noble bet Cheng Qianli does not have much fire oil in his hands, he will use all the fire oil in the defense of the north city, which is caused by Cheng Qianli's lack of experience.

As for the iron hook, if the defenders of the city hook the battering ram chain with a hundred zhang iron hook and pull it on both sides, the battering ram will lose its balance and overturn, and Gao Shang does not care about it, and even the thunderbolt cannon is not prepared, how can there be a hundred zhang iron hook.

The battering ram was advancing slowly like a mountain, only fifty paces away from the city gate, and four hundred healthy cattle had been dragged away, and three thousand Yan troops were pushing it forward on both sides.

More than 1,000 defenders on the head of the city rained arrows, shooting on the battering rams, Ding Ding rang out, the Yan troops on both sides had already prepared, hundreds of people held up huge shields, covering other soldiers to push the battering rams.

The target of the battering ram is not the city gate, the structure of the Central Plains city gate is different from the west, it is a double city gate, there is a twenty zhang long city hole, the real defense is in the inner city gate, the city gate is sealed with a boulder, the huge battering ram can not enter the city, so the target of this battering ram is the city wall, and its cone-shaped head also determines its great power to break the city.

Three thousand reinforcements were still running and galloping in the city, and the nearest reinforcements from the east city were still a few miles away from the south city, but the huge battering ram had already arrived under the city and stopped, as if time had stopped at this moment, the soldiers in the city had stopped shooting without effect, they did not burn with oil, and it was useless to smash with stones, and the soldiers stared blankly at the body of the battering ram slowly pulled back.

The two thousand Yan troops dragged the iron chain under the cover of the shield, and with a shout, the thick mallet body eight zhang long was pulled higher and higher, and suddenly there was a shout, and the iron chain was loosened with a bang.

The swarthy mallet blew a strange wind, rushed down, and slammed into the city wall with a earth-shaking momentum.....

"Boom!" There was a dull loud noise, the sound spread throughout the city, many people felt that the soles of their feet were trembling, and the power of tens of thousands of catties was transmitted to the city wall in an instant, and the south city wall shook violently, and more than a thousand defenders on it were unstable and fell one after another.

The solid shell of the city wall was shattered, and the body of the 10,000 jin mallet plus the potential energy of a few zhang high rushed down, forming an impact force of more than 100,000 catties, all concentrated on five or six wall bricks, they could not withstand the power of shaking the sky, and were beaten into the belly of the city, and a black hole five feet wide appeared.

There was another shout, and the body of the 10,000-pound mallet was squeaked and raised, and the two thousand soldiers suddenly let go, and the earth-shattering impact smashed on the city wall again, and with a 'boom', the city bricks collapsed, and the mud and sand inside poured out, instantly submerging the chassis of the battering ram, revealing a large hole several feet long and wide.

The section chosen by the Yan army is the narrowest part of the city wall, the width of the city is only two zhang, when the battering ram is pulled up high again, the hearts of the soldiers in the city are welling up with a kind of imminent tragedy, the guard Zhou Yuanlang drew his sword and shouted: "Brothers, go down to the city and fight to the death!" ”

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"Boom!"

Another violent impact, but this time the impact was no longer dull, but a kind of piercing sound of breaking the city, hundreds of pieces of rubble in the city splashed everywhere, like the head of a giant dragon has penetrated into the city, the wall bricks collapsed, and a large hole four or five feet wide appeared in an instant.

A thousand Tang soldiers who were waiting here showed a tragic look in their eyes, but no one escaped, they picked up their steel crossbows, drew their horizontal knives, and prepared to build the last wall of Xiangzhou City with their flesh and blood.

The camp outside the southern city suddenly shouted and killed, the elite of the 20,000 Yan troops hiding in the tent surged out, the 3,000 cavalry galloped in front, and the 20,000 troops rushed like wild waves, pouring into Xiangzhou City from the big hole in the collapsed southern city.

Zhou Yuanlang shouted, "Brothers, kill thieves!" ”

A thousand defenders put life and death on the line, and they bravely stepped forward and fought a bloody battle with An Lushan's army to the end......

Nancheng was lost, and the balance of victory had tilted in favor of the Yan army, at this time Cheng Qianli issued the last military order, "The whole army breaks through from Nancheng!" ”

The order to break through the siege spread throughout the city, and the last more than 20,000 Tang troops withdrew from the city and killed the south gate where the enemy's strength was the weakest. ”

"Capture Cheng Qianli alive!"

The shouts resounded through the city, and the Tang army withdrew, but Cheng Qianli stood still.

"General, let's go!"

Several pro-soldiers desperately pushed Cheng Qianli, but Cheng Qianli shook them off, he strode up to the battlements, his blood-red eyes stared at the camp outside the city, in the firelight of the hunt, he seemed to see An Lushan laughing proudly.

He suddenly shouted: "An Lushan, I, Cheng Qianli, was born as a Tang minister and died as a Tang ghost, don't be delusional!" ”

He drew his sword sharply and crossed his neck.....

At this time, snowflakes fell in the sky, heavy snow fell one after another, and the first heavy snow in southern Hebei came.

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The smoke of the tragic Xiangzhou War dissipated, An Lushan's 300,000 troops finally broke through the city, and the 50,000 Tang troops defending the city except for 13,000 people broke through successfully, and the rest of the soldiers were almost all killed, and the main general Cheng Qianli committed suicide when the city was broken, and lived and died with Xiangzhou City.

An Lushan's army also suffered heavy casualties, more than 50,000 people were killed before and after, and countless wounded, but the victory of the Xiangzhou War did not bring a strategic advantage to An Lushan, as the first heavy snow of the Yellow River fell, the Yellow River began to freeze, three days later, Li Shengbu of Qizhou led 30,000 troops to cross the Yellow River and stationed in Dezhou, Li Guangbi also led 100,000 troops to cross the Yellow River from Heyin and enter the Weizhou line.

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(To be continued)