If the battle of Changyuan County only made Xu Shiji sulk, and it was not enough for him to completely turn over in the military discipline incident, then whether Xiangcheng County could keep it was related to his career and his status in the Sui army.

In the entire Central Plains Campaign, Xu Shiji did not serve as the main attacker, but as the link and side response between the two main battlefields, which is equivalent to the waist in the human body.

It is no secret that it was Xu Shiji's army of 20,000 people that made the layout of the Sui army in the whole game of chess come alive, and later took the initiative and gained the initiative in the entire campaign.

Xu Shiji has been paying attention to the movements of Li Xiaogong's army, when Qu Tutong led 20,000 troops to the west, he got the information of the scouts, this battle against Qu Tutong, he is actually dark against light, he is in the dark, Qu Tutong is in the light.

From the very beginning, he seized the opportunity and was in a favorable position, luring Qu Tutong either implicitly or explicitly, taking advantage of Qu Tutong's weakness of lack of food, to lay a trap in Runan County, and finally introduced this veteran into Runan County, a small city that had laid a trap.

In fact, this is also due to Qu Tutong's underestimation of the enemy, he has gradually achieved the status of a military god in the Tang army, with sharp insight and far-reaching vision, which attracted Li Shimin and Li Xiaogong, the two major military leaders, to respect him as a god.

In addition, he outwitted the Tiger Prison Pass and forced the Sui general Luo Shixin to abandon the pass without spending a single soldier, such an impressive achievement made him a little fluttering.

In the battle of Xiangcheng County, he did not take Xu Shiji, a general from Wagangzhai, to heart, and fought against 20,000 troops against 20,000 troops, he thought that as long as he found the Sui army, he would undoubtedly win this battle, which was an obvious light enemy.

The arrogant soldiers will be defeated, Qu Tutong's light enemy finally made him fall into Xu Shiji's trap, at this time, Xu Shiji's heart can't help but be excited, if he can kill or capture Qu Tutong alive, he Xu Maogong will be famous all over the world. Step into the ranks of the best.

Xu Shiji's eyes were sharp at the Tang army out of the city, the Tang saber and shield army was in a row of five, lined up in a long line, holding a huge shield, there were about 3,000 people, this was the vanguard, their task was to break through the bow and crossbow array of the Sui army, so that the cavalry army behind could break through.

Xu Shiji also had to admire Qu Tutong's combat experience. It's the best way to break through. With the sword and shield army as the vanguard, the cavalry as the center, and the pikemen in the rear. It's very disciplined, and this is not a breakout, but an offense.

But Qu Tutong didn't expect Xu Shiji to bring a sharp weapon against the shield. Xu Shiji sneered and shouted the order: "Heavy crossbow five rows of shots, prepare!" ”

The two thousand heavy crossbowmen were divided into five rows, brushing the ground and raising a cold thousand heavy crossbows, and the sharp iron arrows were aimed at the Tang saber and shield soldiers in the city cave, and the tips of the arrows exuded the breath of death in the thick darkness.

The Tang saber and shield soldiers had already walked out of the suspension bridge, and a hundred steps away, Xu Shiji gave an order, "Shoot!" ”

"Boom! Boom! Knock~" Dense drums beat. Immediately after a click, two hundred iron crossbow arrows rushed towards the front and sides of the Tang army with incomparably strong force.

Only the cracking sound of a shield was heard, followed by the neighing and screaming of the Tang army, and the iron crossbow arrows shot through the shield, penetrated the bodies of the Tang soldiers, and even pierced through.

The five people in the front row and dozens of people on both sides screamed and fell to the ground, and then two hundred iron arrows in the second row came out of the string. Lightning-like shot towards the Tang army, dozens of more Tang troops were shot over.

In five rounds in a row, the Tang army suffered nearly 200 casualties, and because the Sui army was almost in one go, the Tang army did not react in a very short time.

When the five rounds of arrows are finished. Tang Jun was suddenly frightened, this kind of iron arrow that can shoot through the shield and penetrate the muscles and bones. The great lethality it produced frightened the Tang soldiers, and they turned around and fled for their lives inside the city, and the officers behind could not stop shouting and shouting.

Another round of arrow attacks of the Sui army began, this time Xu Shiji changed to three rows of shots, dense and powerful iron arrows shot into the city cave, in the dark city cave, wails and screams sounded together, corpses piled up, viscous blood gathered into a spring, flowing out of the doorway.

Xu Shiji's eyes were indifferently watching the killing of the enemy soldiers, and he gave another order, "Ignite!" ”

Dozens of rockets took off into the air and shot into the dry ditch, Runan County is a small city, there is no moat, but a symbolic two-zhang wide dry ditch is dug under the suspension bridge.

At this time, the dry ditch had been filled with fire oil by the Sui army, and dozens of rockets were shot into the dry ditch, and the flames rose into the sky, and the thick smoke was billowing and burning rapidly.

The fire in Runan City grew bigger and bigger, and the Sui army continued to throw oil barrels into the city, and the fire burned far faster than Qu Tutong expected.

He originally thought that it would take an hour for the fire to engulf the county, but according to the speed of the fire in front of him, it seemed that at most, the fire would consume everything in half an hour.

The front of the fire was only a hundred steps away from the Tang army, the tongue of red flames licked and devoured the houses, the flames soared into the sky, the rolling heat wave scorched the Tang soldiers, the war horses screamed in terror, the cavalry desperately pulled the reins, and all the soldiers had a kind of fear and despair in their hearts.

The beads of sweat on Qu Tutong's forehead rolled down, this was not scorching, but nervous and anxious, the huge pressure made him feel numb, this was a fiasco that he had never encountered in the army for thirty years, he had heard that the Sui army was good at fire attack, and he would be defeated under the fire again.

At this time, Qu Tutong no longer expected to turn defeat into victory, he knew that the morale of the army had been lost, and now he could only count on how many troops he could keep, Qu Tutong ran in the army, and shouted in a hoarse voice: "Don't mess up, stabilize your position, everyone can live!" ”

Qu Tutong barely kept the formation of the Tang soldiers with his personal prestige, at this time, there was a great chaos at the city gate, thousands of sword and shield soldiers fled back in defeat, and rushed to the formation, Qu Tutong was furious, rushed up and shouted: "Why flee back!" ”

A partial general rushed forward and presented an iron arrow, "Old general, the Sui army has strong bows and crossbows, and the brothers have suffered heavy casualties!" ”

Qu Tutong took the iron arrow, under the red firelight, the iron arrow seemed to be dyed with a layer of blood, Qu Tutong gasped, this is at least a strong crossbow of more than seven stones to shoot, the Sui army actually carried such a heavy crossbow, at this time a desperate mood also rose in his heart, it seems that today will be more than auspicious.

"General!"

Another lieutenant rushed to the scene and shouted in terror: "The Sui army has set fire in the trench, and the fire has engulfed the drawbridge!" ”

Qu Tutong was taken aback, his heart was flustered, and the iron arrow in his hand was unstable, and he fell to the ground.

If the drawbridge is burned down and the trench fire is not extinguished, all of them will be killed in the flames.

He immediately shouted: "Cavalry charge, don't turn back!" ”

The sword and shield soldiers quickly retreated, replaced the three thousand cavalry, and with the sound of drums, the three thousand cavalry shouted, urging the war horses to rush out of the city.

Outside the city, the arrows rained down, and the cavalry was shot on their horses, suffering heavy casualties, but in order to survive, they still charged forward desperately, trying to break out of the way.

At this time, Xu Shiji knew that it was time to change his tactics, and he resolutely ordered: "The crossbowmen retreat, the cavalry is killed, and the spearmen are withdrawn!" ”

The trumpets were in the sky, the drums were beating, thousands of crossbowmen quickly retreated, three thousand cavalry met the battle, two thousand spearmen who operated trebuchets also covered up, and a part of the crossbow army was also transformed into a spear army, and they began to intercept the breakthrough of the Tang army.

Although the Tang army rushed out of Runan County at the cost of 1,000 dead and wounded cavalry, at this time they had no intention of fighting, their fighting spirit was lost, and there were only two words in everyone's hearts: 'Escape!' ’

They no longer have a queue, no rules, like a dense crowd of headless flies, desperately breaking through, scattering and fleeing, this desperate force generated by the desire to survive made the Sui army unable to resist.

Xu Shiji saw that the Tang army had completely collapsed, and the method of interception and killing would cause unnecessary casualties to his army, so he should change to chasing and killing at this time, and he gave another order: "Withdraw the passage!" ”

The horn sounded again, this was an order to give way, and the generals of the Sui army ordered the soldiers to dodge the road.

As if the surging river had finally found a place to vent, the Tang army broke and fled through various gaps, plunging for thousands of miles, and the Sui army pursued and killed behind them, killing corpses all over the place, and countless surrenderers.

Xu Shiji stared at Qu Tutong, he saw Qu Tutong escape from the side under the escort of more than 100 soldiers, he shouted, "The First Cavalry Battalion follow me!" ”

Xu Shiji led five hundred cavalry to kill Qu Tutong, the cavalry horses were as fast as flying, and gradually caught up with Qu Tutong, and the Sui cavalry kept firing arrows in the back, making Qu Tutong's entourage less and less, and Qu Tutong led his retinue to run desperately in a barren wheat field.

Suddenly, Qu Tutong's war horse stepped into the vole hole, the horse's leg was suddenly broken, and the war horse neighed miserably, fell to the ground, and threw Qu Tutong several feet away.

When they turned their horses and ran back, the Sui cavalry had already arrived, instantly separating Qu Tutong from his own soldiers, surrounding dozens of personal soldiers, a burst of spears and bayonets, a scream, and all the personal soldiers were annihilated.

After all, Qu Tutong was more than sixty years old, almost all his bones were broken, and when he was about to struggle to get up in pain, a long lance pressed against his throat, Xu Shiji said coldly: "If you dare to move again, I will stab your throat!" ”

Qu Tutong let out a long sigh and lay down on his back, his heart was full of endless sadness, the cycle of heavenly dao, retribution was unpleasant, and he was finally defeated in the hands of the Sui army.

At this time, he suddenly remembered the situation when he surrendered to Queen Tang to persuade Yao Junsu to surrender.

At that time, he was sad and ashamed, standing under the city with tears on his face, shouting: "Jun Su, the Sui army has been defeated, the Tang King has risen, the Sui Dynasty has gone, you surrender!" ”

Yao Junsu stood at the head of the city and said coldly: "The war horse you rode was given by the saint, now what face do you have to ride this horse again?" ”

Qu Tutong shouted sadly: "Jun Su, I surrendered only after trying my best!" ”

"Humph! Try your best to die as a martyr for the country, instead of being a lackey of the Tang people, one day, you will have retribution, and the sky will have its own justice! ”……

Qu Tutong closed his eyes in pain, tears of humiliation flowed from his eyes, and he shouted, "Xu Shiji, you kill me!" ”

Xu Shiji unexpectedly took back the horse lance, and said lightly: "I really want to kill you, but I don't have this power, you go and beg His Royal Highness the King of Chu for mercy!" ”