(Thanks to the tips from SN Xiaoyao book friends!)

"How so? OMG!"

Looking at the flash flood that broke out in the forbidden ditch, Cui Qianyou, who was pale, muttered to himself in pain. The rain was no longer falling, the sun was coming out again, Cui Qianyou's eyes were stabbed and painful, he could only close his eyes helplessly, he was dazed, and he didn't even feel the war knife in his hand slipping down.

It was only a moment ago, the situation on the battlefield obviously changed in their favor, the Tang army on the city could not stand it, as long as more soldiers rushed to the city, the morale of the Tang army also collapsed, and finally collapsed, and the entire south gate could fall into their hands.

After capturing the south gate, the Tang army could no longer defend the city, and Tongguan City was in their pocket.

But he didn't expect that the mountain torrent that protruded in the forbidden ditch broke the bridges made of corpses one after another, and also wiped out all his hopes.

It is a trivial matter for thousands of soldiers to be washed away, but the follow-up siege men and horses can no longer rush through the forbidden ditch, and the retreat of nearly 10,000 soldiers who have rushed to the city is also cut off, which is fatal. The forbidden ditch is dangerous, and the Tang army at the head of the city can also launch a counterattack against the soldiers under the city without any scruples.

As long as the Tang army holds the city, it can ensure that Tongguan City is not lost.

Things are very bad, all the efforts of the men and horses under his command today will eventually come to naught, and the more than 8,000 soldiers who are densely clustered together under the city will basically have no chance of returning safely. It can be said that today's efforts have been lost heavily, but in exchange for nothing.

The pain in Cui Qianyou's heart really can't be spoken.

"Vice Marshal, what are we going to do?" An adjutant general asked Cui Qianyou anxiously.

Cui Qianyou slowly opened his eyes, glanced at the desperate south gate of the city, and finally gave an order that made him very painful with a trembling mouth: "Order the whole army to stop the siege!"

Of course, Cui Qianyou felt that this was the most cowardly and helpless order he had ever given in his life!

Maybe he didn't know that this was also the stupidest order he had ever given, which directly led to his loss of power in the future, and finally he was killed!

With Cui Qianyou's order, the offensive under the East Gate City immediately eased, the sergeants no longer charged in vain, and the sergeants who rushed up the winding steps also used the shield cross cover and the terrain to cover and slowly withdraw from the range of bows and arrows.

No one will pay attention to the corpses in one place, and the heavy rain has washed away most of the blood stains on the ground, but there is still a large amount of blood seeping out of the corpse pile, and outside the East Gate, there is still a tragic situation of rivers of blood.

The south gate of the city was even more miserable, after Cui Qianyou gave the order to retreat, the remaining soldiers under the city no longer had the fighting spirit and rushed to flee first. There was only one way for these sergeants to escape, and that was to cross the forbidden ditch, but now the flow of the forbidden ditch showed no signs of slowing down, and most of the sergeants who were rushing for their lives were washed downstream with the current. Many of the sergeants drowned, some fell or fell to their deaths when they jumped, and a large number of corpses appeared in the forbidden ditch, mixed with the sergeants who had fled in various ways, and at one point even blocked half of the water.

In times of crisis, people's potential is also unlimited, and many soldiers swam across the forbidden ditch under the stunned eyes of the Tang soldiers at the head of the city, or after floating with the current for a while, they struggled to swim to the shore and went up to the east bank of the forbidden ditch.

Of the thousands of soldiers trapped under the walls, only more than 1,000 eventually fled back to the east bank of the ditch, and most of the others were shot dead under the walls or swept away by the flood waters in the ditch. In fact, the flash flood does not last long, as long as the rain stops, the water in the forbidden ditch will always slowly decrease, Cui Qianyou issued the order to stop the attack to lead to the rout of the army, if he ordered the soldiers under the city to insist on attacking the city, and let the follow-up men and horses find a way to support, the rebel soldiers under the city will not be defeated so quickly.

About half an hour after Cui Qianyou ordered the retreat, the rebel sergeants were finally no longer alive under the south gate.

After winning the first battle, whether it was Yang Xi, Ge Shuhan and other generals, they were all ecstatic.

"I can't imagine Cui Qianyou is so stupid!" This is the idea that Yang Xi once had, and it also came out of Pang Zhong's mouth.

Pang Zhong reported the situation to Yang Xi, and after spit out the above contemptuous words, he said without fear: "Marshal, if there is no flood in the forbidden ditch, we may really not be able to withstand it!"

"If the heavy rain continues to fall, and the flood in the forbidden ditch is a little bigger, the rebels will not even be able to storm the city, and it will be impossible to even rush through the forbidden ditch!" Wang Sili, who was standing on the other side of Yang Xi, breathed a sigh of relief, and said proudly: "If there is a lot of water in the forbidden ditch, the guards of Tongguan City will be impregnable, and the rebels will never want to capture Tongguan City again!"

Facing the feelings of the two generals, Yang Xi just smiled and said nothing.

If a reservoir is built in the Tongguan area and the water in the reservoir is diverted into the forbidden ditch, the flow of water in the forbidden ditch can continue.

"After the fighting subsides, we can go and investigate whether a reservoir can be built nearby!" This was Yang Xi's sudden thought.

But whether or not a reservoir can be built nearby is not something to be considered now.

The next thing to consider is how to defend against possible future attacks by the rebels.

"God still favors Datang and helps me Yang Xi!" Yang Xi looked up at the sky, facing the slightly soft sun, and said with emotion that now he is no longer worried about Tongguan City being captured by the rebels.

The large-scale attack of the rebels was repulsed, the sun was about to set, reinforcements would also arrive, and the situation was further developing in the direction favorable to our Tang army.

There are still quite a few casualties among various units, and it is necessary to make statistics, and more importantly, military discipline must be seriously rectified. During the fierce battle just now, many sergeants were afraid to move forward, which Yang Xiwan could not tolerate, and he did not want a similar situation to occur in the next battle.

The sergeants at the head of the city were nervously cleaned and organized under the command of the commanders, and the detachments were rested and prepared for another battle, while those who had escaped were escorted by the sergeants who enforced the military law, waiting to be disposed of.

There are many sergeants who are afraid of the enemy and flee, Ge Shuhan, Wang Sili, Tian Liangqiu and others are also angry, which makes them lose face in front of Yang Xi, and almost leads to serious consequences, how can they not be serious about military discipline? Moreover, Yang Xi had already announced before the war that he would severely punish the behavior of cowardice and not fighting. Nearly 200 sergeants who had escaped or were timidly were tied up in one piece, waiting to be dealt with.

"Marshal Qiqi Yang, a total of 180 sergeants who were cowardly and escaped from the battle, have all been detained, waiting for the marshal to deal with them!" Wang Sili stepped forward to ask Yang Xi for his life.

Yang Xi looked at the more than 100 sergeants who were detained, with a terrifying look in his eyes, but he was a little hesitant in his heart.

But in the face of the attention of many generals and thousands of soldiers such as Ge Shuhan and Wang Sili, Yang Xi immediately gave an order to deal with it.

"Those who escape from the battle will be killed! If they are afraid of the enemy, Ben Shuai will give them another chance to live, as long as they have a heroic performance in the follow-up battle, Ben Shuai can not be held accountable! Otherwise, it will still be punished!" It is impossible for Yang Xi to order all 180 sergeants to be beheaded, there are too many of them, so he can only pick some people with bad circumstances to open the knife, kill chickens and monkeys, and the law will not blame the public!

"Marshal, the little one must fight bravely to kill the enemy, and never be afraid of the enemy again!" When a sergeant heard that he was not beheaded on the spot, but that he still had a chance to atone for his sins, he fell to his knees. The other sergeants who had been fortunate enough to have their lives were also on their knees at the head of the city.

More than 20 of the deserters who were the first to drop their weapons also knelt down, but their pleas did not impress anyone, and the morale of the army was fluctuating, and some people must have paid the price with their lives.

After Yang Xi's order was issued, Wang Sili personally led people to enforce military discipline, beheaded more than 20 sergeants who threw down their weapons and fled, and repeated Yang Xi's order again.

Just when Wang Sili and the others finished rectifying the sergeants and were about to go to Yang Xi's side to obey the orders, a sergeant quickly ran to Yang Xi's side and reported loudly: "Report to Marshal Yang, General Dou Hua sent someone to report that the 3,000 sergeants he led have almost arrived in Tongguan City!"

"Reinforcements have finally arrived!" Yang Xi was overjoyed when he heard this, and said with a smile to Wang Sili, Tian Liangqiu, Pang Zhong, Li Fude and other generals around him: "They must have pinched the time and knew that the enemy army had stopped attacking the city, so they were finally willing to enter the city!"

Yang Xi's humorous words made the generals stunned for a while!