readx; Khorezm was only a small country in the Aral Sea Delta during the Tang Dynasty, far from becoming a large empire across the Aral Sea and the Caspian Sea like Khorezm in later generations, and when 30,000 Tang troops appeared under its capital, Khiva, this ancient country immediately fell into the brink of collapse. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Khiva City is a majestic city standing in the desert, with a population of more than 100,000, accounting for almost half of the country's population, its city walls are as high as ten zhang, four zhang wide, you can gallop horses on the city, the city walls are all made of huge stones, strong and abnormal, even with the most huge trebuchet can not move its cent, but it is such a strong city, the soldiers who defend it are only 6,000 people.

Khorezm has more than 300,000 people, if it is calculated according to ten dings out of one soldier, its normal strength should be around 30,000 people, but in fact, it only has more than 7,000 people, plus 3,000 food army, it is only more than 10,000 people, the strength is seriously small, this is related to the strategy of the big cannibals, the common people need to bear extremely heavy taxes, and most of the grain produced is also transported, so that Khorezm can not afford more military expenses, and at the same time, the governor of the Great Food In order to balance the number of troops, he also does not allow Khorezm to recruit more local soldiers.

The 30,000 Tang troops set up a company camp five miles away from the city of Khiva, and the tents full of murderous aura were as if they had been stained with blood under the reflection of the remnant sun, which made the defenders of the city tremble.

Governor Ben of Khorezm. Arsay's hand was tightly gripping the hilt of his sword, and his eyes were staring grimly at the camp of the Don Army. An army that Muslims can defeat, no matter what, he can't resist, but he still has a glimmer of hope in his heart, that is, reinforcements, Haman led 100,000 reinforcements are on the way to help in the starry night, if he can support until the moment the reinforcements arrive, then he is a hero of the Arabs.

The Tang army was very silent, set up a large camp, they did not rush to attack, but with the assembly of huge trebuchets, a powerful killing machine has been irrepressibly emanating from the Tang army camp, when night is about to fall, twenty huge stone throwing cities began to rumble towards the city wall, the north wind howled, and the cold wind blowing from the Aral Sea rolled up the dust from time to time.

The trebuchet followed the wind, step by step towards the city, when there were still six hundred steps away from the city, the trebuchet stopped advancing, began to make preparations for the attack, this is the largest trebuchet of the Tang Army, each as high as two zhang, can throw a hundred pounds of boulder to 800 steps away, each machine needs to use two hundred people to pull.

A cold wind blew through the desert, raising a large amount of floating dust again, at this time, the heavy trebuchet of the Tang army began to start, making a squeaky and piercing pulling sound, several Tang soldiers put a huge spherical object in the throwing bag, the defenders of the city suddenly panicked, there were also catapults in the city, but the throwing distance was only four hundred steps, obviously lost to the Tang army, in the face of the huge threat of the Tang army, the bell on the city rang in the city, many soldiers shouted in horror, and some even fled to the city.

"Boom!" With a bang, five huge balls were thrown high, and the angle of projection was very strange, not directly hitting the city, but shooting a high arc, ready to cross the city wall, just when the ball had just reached the top of the city, suddenly 'Bang! The ground exploded, a large puff of black smoke came out, the ball split in half, and a ball of paper flew out of the ball, which then turned into thousands of sheets, tumbling in the air, drifting towards the city with the wind, and tens of thousands of pieces of paper released by the five balls, many of which fell on the city wall, and almost every soldier picked up a piece of paper.

The scrap of paper reads in Sogdian, Arabic, and Khorezm's own script: The king has returned, Arslan, the son of King Assanto, will rebuild the kingdom of Khorezm, which is no longer under the control of the Arabs, and the light of the Lord God of Ahuramaz will reappear in Khorezm.

With a large number of leaflets drifting into the city, the news spread throughout the city in a matter of moments, and there began to be confusion in the city of Khiva, and a large number of Zoroastrians began to rush out and cheer, and finally the bell in the main temple, which had not yet been demolished, was loud and cheerful, and the Muslims were gloomy and hurried, this was not only a religious antagonism, but more of a contradiction of interests, and the Arabs took the most severe oppression against the Zoroastrians in order to force them to convert to Islam, Most of their property was confiscated, and the food they had earned after a year's hard work was also taken away, leaving only a small ration on which they depended, and they lived like ants in adulthood, without wealth or dignity, living in small and dark stone huts like caves, but they did the hardest and most tiring work, and if they converted to Islam, the taxes would be immediately reduced by half, but nevertheless, the Zoroastrians who were devoted to their faith remained in poverty and were occupied by the Arabs for fifty-four years. More than half of the Zoroastrians still refuse to convert their faith.

The gross inequity in the distribution of wealth has broken the kingdom of Khorezm into two classes, bounded by religion, hostile to each other, and incompatible with each other, Arslan has been in contact with the Zoroastrians for many years, and he has become their hope for a new life, and today, Arslan has finally returned, how can it not make the Zoroastrians rejoice.

But among the soldiers defending the city, there was still peace, so the soldiers were all Muslims, and the Zoroastrians were not qualified to join the army, and they all breathed a long sigh of relief, for them, 10,000 leaflets were not as direct and effective as a boulder.

In front of a huge trebuchet, Li Qing'an stared at the towering city wall in the distance, the sky was already dark, the sky was full of stars, and the starlight reflected on the city of Khiva, coating it with a layer of faint white light, the desert, the starlight, and the towering castle spire actually gave Li Qing'an an an illusion of traveling through time and space, as if the distance of the Tang Dynasty from him was not only the distance of space, but also the distance of time, for a while, he was a little distracted.

"General, can you excuse me?"

Li Qingan was slightly stunned, and when he turned around, he saw that it was Li Fei Yuanli who came over, his smile was a little unnatural, and there was obviously a sense of fear in his eyes, Li Qing'an couldn't help but secretly smile bitterly in his heart, as his strength became stronger and stronger, his authority became more and more heavy, and the comrades-in-arms who used to be able to joke with each other did not dare to be presumptuous in front of him, including rough people like Li Fei Yuanli, and they did not dare to be a little presumptuous in front of him.

Sometimes Li Qingan also misses the years when he drank and had fun with everyone in Qiuzi, but he knew that it was impossible to come back to those years, just like people could not go back to their childhood, the environment changed their mood, and he no longer remembered the past, and set his eyes on a higher future.

"What's the matter?" Li Qingan smiled slightly.

Li Fei Yuanli walked over slowly, and said with some embarrassment: "I haven't told you that I have a son, and I'm already one year old." ”

Li Qingan was stunned, and then felt sorry in his heart, he only cared about his wife and children, only about when his son was born, but he didn't care about the affairs of his subordinates, Li Fei Yuanli's son was already one year old, and he didn't know anything.

He hurriedly smiled and said, "Lao Li, congratulations, when the city of Khiva is conquered tonight, the crown of King Khorezm will be given to your son as a greeting gift." ”

"The crown is down.... Unimportant. ”

Li Fei Yuanli seemed to want to say something, but he couldn't say it, Li Qingan saw his thoughts, and said with a smile: "Say it!" What do you want? Have a good time. ”

"Can the general tell the court, I want a title, but not for me, I want for my son."

Li Qingan laughed, patted him on the shoulder and said: "You guy, even if the father wants his son to become a Chan, he needs to be in such a hurry, he is only one year old, what are you anxious about, okay!" I promise you, first you give a knighthood, after this battle, I will guarantee you to the court as the county prince, in addition, the crown of the king of Khorezm will be given to your son as a greeting gift, this is my heart. ”

Li Fei Yuanli was overjoyed, and said with a smile: "I want to give the private jewelry of Queen Khorezm to my wife." ”

Li Qingan laughed and punched him in the shoulder, "You kid is insatiable, this can't be done, it's to be distributed to the brothers." ”

Li Fei Yuanli rubbed his shoulder socket, Li Qing'an's punch made him quite painful, and then he suddenly reacted and said in surprise: "What does the general mean, take Shiva City tonight?" ”

Li Qing'an nodded, his face became serious, "I just received the news that a vanguard of the Great Food Army, about 10,000 people, is already less than a hundred miles away from us, and it will arrive before dawn tomorrow at the earliest, I thought that their main force would arrive in four days, but I didn't expect the Great Cannibal to actually send a striker, it seems that they also realize that we are going to attack Khorezm." ”

"Then let me intercept this striker."

"No!"

Li Qingan shook his head and said: "If the other party is a few thousand people, it doesn't matter, but the other party has a lot of troops, and I'm worried that there is a brigade behind 10,000 people, so I can't take this risk." ”

Speaking of this, Li Qingan muttered again: "There is another thing for you to do. ”

"General, please command!"

"You immediately lead your headquarters to the Aral Sea Delta, thirty miles away, where is the agricultural region of Khorezm, you drive all the people here, take all their food, and burn all those who can't be taken, if they really refuse to leave, forget it, but the grain must be burned, and nothing can be left, this matter is very important, I will limit you to come back before dark tomorrow."

"Yes! The lowly duty must complete the task. ”

Li Fei Yuanli turned around and left, Li Qing'an looked at his back and walked away, faintly heard him shouting loudly, ordered the soldiers of the headquarters to gather, and soon, the army of military horses galloped towards the agricultural area in the north.

At this time, Li Qingan turned his head suddenly, stared at the swarthy city wall, and resolutely ordered: "Pass my order and start attacking the city!" ”

The rumbling drums of the Tang army's attack sounded again, and twenty giant trebuchets began to start, one by one the trebuchets were like giant beasts in the night, and this time from the Tang army came a special army, only five hundred people, they led a dozen carriages, the carriages were tightly wrapped in oilcloth, carrying some mysterious items, the soldiers lifted the oilcloth, began to get busy, nervously and carefully carried down one by one large wooden boxes, there were as many as two hundred large wooden boxes, they put ten wooden boxes in front of each trebuchet, they pried open the wooden boxes, moved out a round black guy, all cast in pig iron, extremely heavy, this is the sharpest weapon of the Tang Army, the earth-shaking thunder.

Originally, Li Qing'an did not want to use this kind of killing weapon in Khorezm, but the sudden change made him have to change his plan, Lifei Yuanli took 10,000 people, he only had 20,000 people in his hands, and the opponent's defenders also had six or seven thousand people, plus the strong and tall city walls, in this case, if he did not use gunpowder, it would be difficult for him to take Khiva City before dawn.

At this time, the drums of the Don army alarmed the defenders of the city of Khiva, who took up their weapons and rushed to the head of the city, standing at the battlements and nervously looking at the Tang army camp lit with torches in the distance.

In the darkness, I could only hear the Governor of Khorezm, Arsay, shouting, "Prepare trebuchets, prepare bows and arrows!" Don't panic! ”

The trebuchets on the head of the city were also ready to be launched, their trebuchets were obviously much smaller than those of the Tang army, only twenty people were needed, and the range was less than four hundred steps.

At this time, the trebuchet of the Tang army has been tightened, the range is set at six hundred steps, the angle is also adjusted, just in the area of the city wall, two Tang soldiers put the earth-shaking thunder into the throwing bag, one lit the lead, a burst of white smoke ignited, began to burn at a uniform speed, the speed is very stable, the gunpowder craftsmen of the Tuozhi City took two years to develop the timing lead, in fact, it is to ensure that the gunpowder burns at a uniform speed, this long-distance throwing explosion is actually difficult to control, if the throw is late, it will explode in the air in advance, and if it is thrown early, the lead will be cut off by the enemy, Or break the lead on the city bricks, so in order to overcome this difficulty, in addition to ensuring that the lead burns at a uniform speed to time, a craftsman also invented the method of the inner shell, the lead coil is burned in the iron shell, and the gunpowder is separated by a thin shell, so that the lead burns in the iron shell, unless it is extinguished with water, otherwise it will be continuously hit on the city wall, and it cannot be artificially choked.

A Don soldier stared nervously at the burning scale, and when the lead burned to the edge of the iron shell, he slammed down the flag, "Put!" ”

Two hundred soldiers loosened the rope at the same time, "Boom! With a loud bang, the long arm of the trebuchet flew out, throwing the black and white smoke of the earth-shaking thunder high, crossing an arc, and shooting accurately towards the city, the earth-shaking thunder cast by pig iron smashed into the city, and suddenly exploded, the explosion was earth-shattering, the flames burst out, the bones flew sideways, and the stones pierced through the air, almost all the Tang troops covered their ears, and the war horses were so frightened that they raised their hooves and barked, and then the second and third earth-shaking thunderbolts also exploded one after another, and there were also explosions under the city, blowing up the gravel and flying around, and the huge smoke shrouded the city.

The continuous explosion sound was like the sky falling apart, and even the thousands of Tang troops who were riding the trebuchets were so shocked that they held their heads and knelt on the ground, waiting for the explosion to stop for a long time, and their ears were still buzzing.

Almost every Tang soldier in the camp was stunned, even the explosions in the Battle of Talas were not as terrible as they are today, and they had a fear that heaven and earth would cease to exist, and three thousand Crimean legionaries were prostrate on the ground, pleading guilty to the wrath of their main god, Ahuramadaz.

Even Li Qing'an, the commander of the Tang Army, didn't expect that the twenty sky-shattering thunder explosions would have such great power, and his heart was just as thrilled, and he couldn't help but slowly kneel down, looking at the city filled with gunsmoke in a daze, even he felt that this kind of weapon hurt the heavens and the sky, and the act against the sky would make the sky angry.

When the smoke slowly cleared, the city wall was still there, but it was already full of holes, the entire three-mile-long northern city was almost razed to the ground, more than 40 trebuchets were blown to pieces, and there was no trace of it, and more than 2,000 defenders were completely gone.

"General, send someone to blow up the city gate directly with the earth-shaking thunder!" Bai Xiaode whispered behind Li Qing'an.

"Nope! The earth-shattering thunder is against the harmony of the heavens, and it should not be used again until it is absolutely necessary. ”

Li Qing'an sighed secretly, and he resolutely ordered: "According to the original plan, use the battering ram!" ”

"Uhhh

The horn sounded in unison, a just assembled incomparably huge battering ram appeared, the wooden frame of the battering ram is three zhang high, ten zhang long, there are forty huge wooden wheels below, in the middle of the wooden frame is the body of the battering ram, this is a thousand-year-old giant wood up to eight zhang, the diameter is one zhang, it is a unique iron wood in the middle of the river, the wood is fine, extremely heavy, five hundred Samarkand blacksmiths spent half a year, made three hundred zhang long iron chains, hung the giant wood in the hollow of the wooden frame, and also installed the iron bumper head at the front end, The power of a collision is enough to have the power of ten thousand jun, this battering ram is called 'breaking the army', it takes a thousand Tang troops to carry it out, but it is not a war horse or a camel that pulls the battering ram forward, but fifty adult war elephants, this is the secret army brought by the Tang army, a total of one hundred war elephants, this attack on Khorezm, brought fifty adult war elephants with strong physique.

The elephant slave rode on his back and commanded the elephant to advance, and fifty war elephants rumbled forward with huge battering rams, approaching the city gate step by step.

Just twenty steps away from the city gate, the northern city wall finally appeared on the defensive soldiers, at this time the reinforcements from the other city walls, they were shocked by the explosion of twenty earth-shattering thunder, many people were frightened and fainted, these two generations of Khorezm soldiers who have not experienced war, their hearts are delicate, but the world's most violent weapons for the first time on a large scale appeared in front of these weak-hearted soldiers, so that they could not bear it.

When they were frightened, they scattered and fled to the city to protect their families, but there were less than 2,000 food troops left in the city, and their commander, the governor of Khorezm, Arsay, had been crushed in the explosion, and the soldiers found only one of his arms, and a broken knife in his hand.

When the soldiers trembled and fell on the head of the city, they were stunned by the sight of an incomparably large battering ram approaching the city gate step by step, and the battering ram was pulled by a monster they had never seen before, these large-eater peasants recruited from Armenia and the Caspian coast were short-sighted, and had never seen an elephant.

They were so frightened that their hearts stopped beating, and they knelt down and asked Allah to bless them, and at that moment, 'Boom! There was a loud bang, the earth shook, the walls shook violently, and the gate of the cast-iron city emitted a sound like the roar of a demon for ten thousand years, which penetrated the hearts of the people, and made the soldiers of the Great Food Eater cried out on their knees with their heads in fear, but the huge iron gate eight feet high withstood the blow like a landslide.

Khorezm's high level of civilization is reflected in their buildings, they not only have the strongest city walls, but even the city gate is unparalleled in the world, this eight-zhang high pig iron giant gate, people standing under the city gate seem incomparably small, only the power of the battering ram can break through it.

A thousand Tang soldiers shouted again, and took advantage of the habitual surname of the siege hammer to reverberate, and pulled the mallet again, and there was another loud bang, the city gate could not support it, cracks began to appear in the surrounding walls, and the iron bolt at the door was about to break.

There was another violent impact, and this time, there was a cry of pain from the gates, and the bolts finally broke, and the gates burst open.

Seeing that the general situation had been decided, Li Qingan raised his knife and shouted, "Kill into the city!" Resist killing! ”

"Kill!" 20,000 Tang troops rushed with iron hooves and rushed towards the city of Khiva.

(To be continued)