The war drums beat rhythmically, and it takes more than 30 people to push the shrimp? Under the vigorous impetus of the Sui soldiers, the car slowly approached the moat of Lengquan Pass, and the arrows fell like rain on the wall of the pass that was bombarded by artillery, and constantly nailed to the shield of the shrimp toad car and the shield held high by the left hand of the Sui soldiers, during which the Sui soldiers were hit by arrows one after another, and the muffled snort of pain also sounded one after another, the lightly injured Sui soldiers gritted their teeth, and after the seriously injured Sui soldiers fell, a companion with a shield rushed up to fill his position, and worked hard with other cart companions to push the shrimp toad cart full of earth and stones, Slowly but unwaveringly, slowly moving forward.

On the edge of the moat, after the six temporary fortifications composed of long shields by the soldiers of the Sui army, the archers of the Sui army were also struggling to pull the strong bows and shoot blind shots at the wall, doing their best to suppress the defenders and share the pressure for the shrimp and toad convoy. In the sky, the arrows come and go like locusts, and occasionally some large stones thrown by the remnants of the cold spring guards, and the dead bodies of the Sui soldiers on the ground are all over the place, the broken arrows and broken feathers are as dense as grass, and the sound of bowstring vibration and the sound of shouts and trumpets converge and go straight to the sky.

The soldiers of the Sui army fought very hard and hard, but compared with the pressure suffered by other armies in the attack, the soldiers of the Sui army can definitely be regarded as very lucky, because the artillery of the Sui army has completely collapsed the arrow tower of the Guanlou of Lengquan Pass, completely cleared the bed crossbow of the defenders on the wall of the pass, and bombed the fortifications of the defenders on the high ground on both sides of Lengquan Pass, at least destroying sixty percent of the defense of the defenders of Lengquan Pass, resulting in a serious lack of three-dimensional striking power of the defenders of Lengquan Pass, and the threat to the officers and men of the Sui army has been greatly reduced. Otherwise, the Sui army would only be several times or even ten times more difficult to fight this battle.

The Sui army shrimp toad car is only fifty steps away from the moat, the wall bang, the wall suddenly put down a Taiyuan army archer with a rope, quickly hid behind the sheep and horse wall that can avoid the arrows, and then pull the bow and release the arrows, cross shot the Sui army soldiers behind the shrimp toad car, but the Sui army shrimp and toad convoy has already prepared, and there are long shields to protect the wings and block most of the cross-shot feather arrows. At the same time, the remaining dozen or so trebuchets in Lengquan Pass were also desperately pulling ropes and throwing stones, covering the Sui army's shrimp and toad convoy as much as possible.

A boulder just smashed on the head of the Sui army's shrimp and toad convoy, and a poor Sui soldier was smashed squarely, and before he could even scream, he was smashed by the shield and the people. However, before the defenders could cheer, the Sui artillery more than a mile away suddenly rang out again, throwing even more powerful heavy shells into Lengquan Pass, and the sound of cracking wood and screams of soldiers was immediately heard in the pass.

Between the bombardment and firing back and forth, the Sui army shrimp and toad car finally came to the edge of the moat, the Sui soldiers pulled up the baffle, struggled to lift the body, and the heavy earth and stone slid into the trench by gravity, and filled a section of the trench in a blink of an eye, and then the Sui soldiers immediately cheered and fled with the trailer, and quickly withdrew from the bow and arrow coverage of the defenders of Lengquan Pass, and at the same time, the second shrimp and toad cart full of heavy earth and stones was also pushed by the Sui soldiers and soldiers, and it was slowly moving towards Lengquan Pass, and the artillery of the Sui army also immediately adjusted the target, Hurry up and insert the needle, and bombard the Taiyuan army archers hidden behind the sheep and horse wall with all your might.

Li Jing used the most formal and slowest siege tactics, but the more this kind of slow and regular siege tactics, the more the defenders of Lengquan Pass could not find a way to restrain and crack it, because this kind of regular siege tactics is the crystallization of wisdom summed up by the armies of all ethnic groups in the Central Plains after many actual battles, slow and correct, no opportunism, and no opportunity for the enemy to take shortcuts, so although the defenders of Lengquan Pass were so anxious that they tried their best to prevent the destruction, But it still couldn't stop the Sui army's shrimp and toad carts from gradually filling the trenches they had worked so hard to dig, and gradually opening and widening the road for the Sui soldiers to reach Guanxia.

Although the Sui army did not have the slightest sign of imminent attack on the city, just by seeing the moat that was gradually filled, an atmosphere of despair had already shrouded the head of the defenders of Lengquan Pass, because the defenders of Lengquan Pass knew very well that the enemy was not afraid of the ant-attached siege, but to sharpen the knife and not cut wood, and when the enemy's main force really launched the ant-attached attack, it must be a thunderstorm, Mount Tai is overwhelming, and it is irresistible! The morale of the Sui army, which had already been severely damaged by the Sui army's artillery, was even more declining, and many Taiyuan soldiers were already secretly thinking in their hearts that when the cold spring could not be defended, how to avoid the sharp axe of the overseer team and surrender to the enemy on the opposite side.

The Sui army's trench filling operation lasted for a whole day, and it was not until late in the evening that the troops were collected and returned to the camp, and when the Sui soldiers withdrew, the moat outside Lengquan Pass had been filled in more than seventy percent, even if the Sui army did not destroy and obstruct the Taiyuan army, it could not dig up the soil filled by the Sui army in a short time. The expression of frustration was written on the faces of every soldier of the Taiyuan Army, and between the weak packing of the fortification equipment, the soldiers of the Taiyuan Army discussed whether the enemy would attack the next day.

Some soldiers of the Taiyuan Army were whimsical, kneeling to the sky and praying that heavy rain would fall the next day, so that the enemy could not launch an ant-attached attack the next day, but the stars and bright moon that gradually filled the night sky not only told him that this was just wishful thinking, but also experienced companions sneered: "Fighting with the Chen thief army, can you expect to encounter good weather that is favorable to us?" Haven't heard of it? The one named Yuan Tiangang in the Chen thief army can call the wind and rain, let it rain when it rains, and let the weather be sunny when it is sunny, when he was in Yanmen, our general suffered his big loss in this regard! ”

During the discussion, Li Jiancheng's herald suddenly came to Lengquan Pass, and announced to the Lengquan Pass defenders on behalf of Li Jiancheng that it was the officers and men of Lengquan Pass who had made meritorious contributions to defending the pass today, so Li Jiancheng decided to reward the Lengquan Pass guards with wine and meat, and also reward everyone with a piece of cloth. However, it is a pity that the reward trick has little effect on the demoralized Lengquan Pass defenders, who even have few cheers in the Lengquan Pass garrison, and many soldiers whispered: "Zuo Dudu is preparing to give us the last dinner, right?" If the Chen thief army launches an ant-attached siege tomorrow, how many of us will have left to eat tomorrow's dinner? ”

Perceiving the low morale of his subordinates and arranging the night defense, Zhang Lun took the time to quickly return to the main camp of the Taiyuan Army, and reported the situation of the army to Li Jiancheng in person, explaining that the morale of the army had been severely damaged by the artillery of the Sui army, and a lot of physical strength was consumed in today's long-range weapon offensive battle.

Li Jiancheng did not hesitate to reject Zhang Lun's request to change the guard, and said: "Manager Zhang, I understand your difficulties, but the hasty change of the new army is not familiar with the terrain and does not understand the situation of the pass, and the battle will only be more disadvantageous, and now there is a big war imminent, so I can't take the risk of changing the guard." But don't worry, as long as you resist the frontal attack of the Chen thief's army once, I will immediately change your guard and let your army withdraw to rest. ”

"Then what if the Chen thief army continues to attack day and night?" Zhang Lun asked, and said: "Looking at the posture of the Chen thief's army, they will definitely attack tomorrow, and it is very likely that they will attack day and night one after another, and then they will ......." ”

"If that's the case, then I'll give you a thousand new forces tomorrow evening." Li Jiancheng interrupted Zhang Lun and said, "The morning after tomorrow, I will send someone to lead the army to replace your army the morning after tomorrow." ”

Li Jiancheng had already said it to this point, and Zhang Lun didn't have much to say, so he could only respectfully say goodbye and leave, but as soon as Zhang Lun left on his front foot, Li Jiancheng immediately asked Zhang Daoyuan next to him: "How is the grain transportation team from Taiyuan?" Have you been in touch? ”

"Got in touch." Zhang Daoyuan replied in a low voice: "According to the order of the Governor of Zuo, Shen Shu'an has already led the grain transportation team to turn around and return to Taiyuan City. ”

Li Jiancheng nodded and stopped talking, but Yin Kaishan asked in a low voice: "Governor Zuo, the grain and grass in my military camp are only enough for ten days, and you also ordered the grain transportation team to send the grain and grass back to Taiyuan, do you think that the cold spring will not be able to hold it for even ten days?" ”

"If I can hold it for five days, I'm already thankful." Li Jiancheng sighed softly and said in a low voice: "I also saw the benefits of Ying Liangxian's artillery with my own eyes yesterday, so I thought it was too simple before. In fact, even if our water attack plan is not exposed, it will definitely not persist until the flood season comes. Brother Ying Liangxian's artillery is too powerful, more than a mile away, a cannon can still be smashed with an arrow stack, and then it can continue to kill and hurt people, if I don't see it with my own eyes, I can't believe that there can really be such a sharp weapon in the world, in front of such a sharp weapon, Lengquan Xiaoguan can't hold out for long anyway. ”

Zhang Daoyuan nodded, and asked in a low voice: "Governor Zuo, then if Lengquan Pass is suddenly lost, how can we resist the pursuit of the thief army?" Can Fan Botong, who is guarding Jiexiu, be able to temporarily hold back the main force of the thief army for us? ”

"Don't worry, I've got it." Li Jiancheng replied quietly, lowered his head slightly, sighed lightly, and said, "I only hope that Zhang Lun can persist for a day and a night, so that we can be a little more relaxed." ”

As Zhang Lun expected, the next morning, the Sui army really came to Lengquan Pass again, and brought a few ladder trucks and a large number of flying ladders built for Lengquan Pass. Zhang Lun saw that the Sui army was not coming well, and while organizing the army to defend it with all its might, he sent a fast horse to warn Li Jiancheng that the Sui army was about to launch an ant-attached attack, and the answer he got was, "Hold on with all your might!" ”

When the Sui army officially launched the ant-attached attack, Li Jiancheng also issued a new order to the main force of the Taiyuan army, saying that this attack by the Sui army must be non-stop day and night and last for an extremely long time, so let the army make fire and cook with all its might, equip each soldier with five days' dry food to carry with him, and also prepare a large number of torches, so that all armies and battalions can be put into the battlefield at any time without worrying about running out of food to eat, and without worrying about no torches available. As a result, after this order was delivered to Li Er, Li Er immediately sneered and said, "I'm not stupid, I know I'm ready to run away." ”

After sneering, Li Er did not hesitate to order the people of the headquarters to act according to the order, but it is a pity that the 6,000 or so soldiers and horses of Li Er's headquarters who went south from Taiyuan during this war are now less than 3,000 people left, and the number of wounded soldiers is nearly half, among which there are many serious difficult ones. Although Li Er didn't regret this, he couldn't help but secretly hate Liu Heimin's treachery, biting his army to the death, hating his brother even more, and never replenishing his troops, causing his descendants to fight less and less, and the weaker and weaker they became, but just when Li Er secretly hated, Li Jiancheng, who had a big quarrel with Li Er the day before yesterday, sent a person to order Li Er to meet him in the big tent of the Chinese army.

Estimating that his brother did not dare to poison himself at this critical moment, Li Er came to the Chinese army's tent to meet Li Jiancheng very confidently, and after the meeting, Li Jiancheng's first thing was to leave the rest of the people in the tent and so on, and then said to Li Er very directly: "Second brother, if Lengquan Pass is broken by the enemy, the main force of our army will immediately retreat to Taiyuan, and then you will lead the headquarters to be responsible for the palace." ”

"What? My Highness?! Li Eryi jumped three feet high.

"I'll replenish you with a thousand troops." Li Jiancheng went straight to the point, and said: "After withdrawing to Taiyuan, no matter how many soldiers and horses you have left, I will give you another 5,000 troops!" You'll be given enough weapons and equipment, and you'll be given another 600 horses! ”

Li Er froze, rolled his eyes and pondered for a moment Li Er said: "I still have one condition, when the cold spring can't be held, you must immediately order Wenshui to dig up the embankment and release the flood!" How much to stop the main force of the Chen thief! ”

"You don't have to teach that." Li Jiancheng replied calmly: "To tell you the truth, I have already set up a beacon tower ten miles away from the northwest, and once Lengquanguan cannot support it, I will immediately send a fast horse to order the wolf smoke to be lit there, and when I see the wolf smoke, my uncle will immediately dig a dam and release the water." Also, at my uncle's place, I have also gone to order him to be ready to dig the embankment at any time. ”

"Brother is really hidden." Li Er smiled and said, "Okay, my highness." ”

Li Jiancheng also smiled, and then called five captains who had already listened to orders outside the tent, and asked them to lead their headquarters to move to Li Er's camp, and accept Li Er's orders and commands from now on. After Li Er happily left with the five lieutenants, Fan Botong, the general of Jiexiu, also came to Li Jiancheng to receive the order, but Li Jiancheng's attitude towards Fan Botong was far kinder than his younger brother's attitude, and he took Fan Botong's hand and said a lot of thoughtful words, and then gave Fan Botong a dangerous order with tears, requiring Fan Botong to hold on for ten days after the fall of Lengquan Pass, and break through the siege if he can break through after ten days.

Li Jiancheng is also very accurate in seeing people, listening to Li Jiancheng's thoughtful crying, Fan Botong couldn't help shedding tears, choked up and assured Li Jiancheng to defend the city for more than ten days, and promised that if he couldn't break through, he would defend the city to the end, the city was in the people, the city was dead, if possible, he would hold on until Li Jiancheng won the victory in the defense of Taiyuan, and returned to the army to save Jiexiu Town, Li Jiancheng cried when he heard this, and Fan Botong hugged his head and cried.

While crying, Li Jiancheng had been listening carefully to the faint shouting and killing sound from Lengquan Pass in the south, and secretly said in his heart: "General Zhang Lun, I'm really sorry, for the safety of the main army, I had to lie to you once." Don't worry if I don't give it to you, I don't want you to stay until tomorrow morning, as long as you stay until tonight. ”

The Lengquan Pass side fought far harder than Li Jiancheng imagined, after the artillery bombardment stopped at noon, the Sui army's ant siege has not stopped, the Sui army's battalions and schools took turns to go into battle, carrying the flying ladder to continuously impact the narrow Lengquan Pass wall, the Lengquan Pass defenders who lost the ability to strike immediately could not effectively suppress the Sui army's charging momentum, and could only rely on the last advantage of condescending to barely resist the Sui army's offensive, and every time the Sui army soldiers rushed to the top of the wall, they could usually bring several times the casualties to the Lengquan Pass defenders, Zhang Lun led the death squad to fight the fire everywhere, killing even the knife with a blade, and only after the fierce battle reached the afternoon Shen Shi, the supervision team sent by Li Jiancheng also executed more than half a hundred Taiyuan army deserters on the spot.

The Sui soldiers who dug the city have dug a deep pit that can accommodate people on the rammed earth wall, and the Sui infantry has also seized the mountain peak and high ground east of Lengquan Pass, and began to throw stones and arrows at the pass, but the defenders of Lengquan Pass are still struggling to support on the wall, not out of loyalty, but because Zhang Lun personally told Li Jiancheng, who was guarding the pass, that there would be a new force to replenish until dark, and that they could change their guard and withdraw to the camp to rest until the next morning. They had no idea that their main army was already arranging for a retreat, and it was impossible to send them reinforcements.

When the sun gradually set westward, the attacking Sui soldiers had successfully seized a wall position, and the follow-up army was able to continue to climb the pass. However, when the personal soldiers sent by Zhang Lun rushed back to the Taiyuan army camp northeast of Jiexiu with sweat and blood on their faces, they were stunned to see that the main force of the Taiyuan army was already moving towards the north, and then he himself was also detained by Li Jiancheng's order, preventing him from bringing the news that the main force of the Taiyuan army had begun to retreat back to Lengquan Pass to shake the army's heart.

It was also when it was slightly dark and the main force of the Taiyuan army left the camp and rushed north, that Li Jiancheng sent someone to send an order to Zhang Lun, asking Zhang Lun to abandon his troops and leave Lengquan Pass immediately, and return to Taiyuan City with him. After receiving this order, Zhang Lun finally understood that Li Jiancheng had already planned to give up Lengquan Pass, and in a fit of rage, he almost wanted to lead the army to surrender to the Sui army, but he was afraid of his wife and children who were detained in Taiyuan City by the Li brothers, Zhang Lun still quietly left Lengquan Pass with tears in his eyes, leaving a cadre to continue to fight with the Sui soldiers on the wall of Lengquan Pass.

When the sky was dark, the cold spring pass without the command of the chief general was finally broken by the Sui soldiers, but when the Sui soldiers planted the military flag on the wall and cheered, the northwest Wenshui confluence into the mouth of the Fenshui, but suddenly there was a sound like thunder of the water, and the Wenshui torrent that had accumulated for more than ten days rushed into the Fenshui River, first overflowing the Sui soldiers to pursue the Taiyuan army, and then diverted to the south, surging into the Bird Mouse Valley, and successively flooded many sections of the Bird Mouse Valley road located in the low place, Although the Sui army had already prepared to quickly withdraw to the high ground, the flood was not too big and was destined to endanger the safety of the Sui army's camps, but it also brought a huge threat to the Sui army's advance pursuit.

"At least one night's delay." This is what Li Jing said helplessly to Yuan Tiangang, and said: "I also underestimate Li Jiancheng, who has always been known for his loyalty, I can't imagine that he will deliberately let the defenders of Lengquan Pass die in vain, give him time to retreat, and decisively release water while retreating. ”

Unlike Li Jing, who was quite disappointed, after receiving the news of Lengquan Pass, Chen Fuliang did not have the slightest regret or disappointment, and said: "Send fast horses to Qin Qiong and Cheng Yanjin to give an order, telling them that there is no need to fight hard to outflank and cut off the retreat of the Taiyuan thief army, the infantry can't keep up with them, no matter how much they outflank and detour, it will not be effective, just let them fight a pursuit battle to promote the enemy's rout as much as possible." Also, give me all the strength to win Li Erlang's head! As long as they can take Li Erlang's head in the pursuit battle, even if the main force of the thief army escapes back to Taiyuan City, I will give them a great credit! ”