The post road route from the west to the middle city is 490 miles long. It is convenient for war horses to run on the grassland, Rao is so, Xicheng's urgent report is urgently reported to the main force of Xue Chongxun's department in Zhongcheng with eight hundred li, and the Turks have already crossed the Yinshan army and approached Xicheng City.

It is impossible for the officers and men of the Tang Army facing the war to wait for a reply or reinforcements from Zhongcheng, and even now that the war is about to start, it is difficult to say whether the messengers sent out have arrived in Zhongcheng.

At this time, Zhang Renyuan was dead, and all the senior generals were forced to go to Zhongcheng, and they were on the verge of ...... The highest level of the remaining generals is the captain, and whether such a general has the ability to coordinate the overall situation is not necessarily, at least he has no authority. As a result, the army in the city did not have a unified command and arrangement system at all, and it was impossible for the layout of the four gates of defense to be adjusted and changed in time after the battle began...... It can be said that it is a mess. There are also staff and civil officials such as Changshi in the city, but these literati in Xicheng are okay to give advice, and it may be a bit blind to decide to mobilize troops and horses in person.

The army stood on the city wall and stared to the north, only to see a surging horse team under the shadow of Yinshan Mountain. Those enemy soldiers were very far away from Yin Mountain to the north, but from a distance, it looked like they were right down the mountain.

At this moment, a group of herdsmen and sergeants were shouting at the west gate to open the city gate. The army stationed in this town will also produce when there is no war, and according to local conditions, some herdsmen and soldiers will be brought together with livestock to graze and solve a part of the military food; When the military information came from the early warning point of the sentry fort on the other side of Yinshan, most of the herdsmen had already run back to the city to hide, but some people who were too far away from the city did not have time to come back, and even some were about to fight before they learned the news. Now the group of people under the city gate drove the cattle and sheep to come back too late, and the city gate has long been closed for martial law.

Many men and women shouted below, some looked up at the sergeants on the tower, and some looked back at the Turkic soldiers who were getting closer and closer in the distance and shouted in fear.

"Zhang San, Zhang San! I'm the fifth! Tell them to open the gates......"

An officer and soldier upstairs finally heard someone shouting to him, and he leaned on the arrow stack to look down, and immediately shouted: "Old five......

The young general named Lao Wu might be a general like Team Zheng, so he hurriedly advised another general on the city wall: "Captain hurry up and open the city gate, it's too late to let them in!" ”

The captain shouted: "Open the city gate when the enemy soldiers are approaching the city? In case there are enemy soldiers inside who lose the door, who will bear the responsibility! ”

The young general almost cried: "How can it be a spy, there are people I know below, it can never be a spy!" ”

"No, go back to your place and prepare for battle!" The lieutenant roared, and the spit flew into the young general's face.

The young general gritted his teeth and said: "Seeing that so many Han people in the city were slaughtered by enemy soldiers and could not be saved, the captain is also responsible!" At this time, if you report to the peak, the peak will definitely not die without help! ”

"Peak? Where is the peak now? The lieutenant pulled out his saber and said angrily, "My grade is the highest here, what I said is the military order, and those who disobey the military order can be beheaded now and go back!" ”

The young general stared at him: "Then you kill me, I see that the villagers don't save me and have no face to live in the world." ”

The lieutenant was furious, but he felt that he was indeed a little unreasonable, and in such a mood, it was really a bit unbearable to kill the officers and soldiers who got along day and night, and the atmosphere suddenly became deadlocked.

At this moment, a voice suddenly said: "Disobey the military order in battle, when will you wait if you don't kill?" ”

When the army heard the sound and looked back, they saw a dignified young man who had just walked up the stone steps, at most eighteen or nineteen years old, he was wearing a white felt robe and a sword at his waist.

The highest-ranking general and lieutenant here also had to respectfully clench their fists and bend down and shout: "Li Gongzi." ”

This person is from an unbelievable background, his name is Li Shizhi, and his grandfather is Li Chengqian; Li Chengqian, the eldest son of Taizong Li Shimin, and the eldest grandson of the queen! Authentic Gaozu bloodline, Li Tang's prince and grandson!

How could he be in this remote place where his life could be in danger at any time? Obviously, it was bad luck, in the past, Wu Zetian wantonly killed and suppressed the descendants of the Li family, and then the court situation was turbulent, and the gang in the center was not a good bird, Li Shizhi was naturally framed several times and was convicted of being displaced, and the more he was scattered, the more unlucky he became, and when he got to the current situation, he was an official like a marching counselor in Xicheng, and in the end, he had a good fortune to prove that the Li Tang court had not completely abandoned him.

Li Shizhi pointed to the young general called Lao Wu and said: "Disobey the order in battle, throw it to the city, and behead!" ”

When Lao Wuyi heard that he was going to die, he simply broke the jar and shouted: "Why, what official position are you, and why are you pointing fingers?" ”

I really can't find a reason to ask Li Shizhi like this, now that you are in the army, it doesn't matter what kind of background you are, you don't have an official robe on your body, and you don't have a seal in your hand, what authority do you have to issue military orders?

However, Li Shizhi did not answer this kind of question that was difficult for him to answer, and said solemnly from a different angle: "With more than 30,000 soldiers and people in the city, under the threat of enemy soldiers!" For the hundred and ten people under the city, take the lives of tens of thousands of people and the important town of the Tang Dynasty? You are the oldest in a team, can you afford the safety of my Li Tang Sheji?! ”

The lieutenant next to him didn't say much, and as soon as he gave the order, the sergeant pounced on him and arrested the young general.

Li Shizhi looked back left and right and said: "Even if there are one or two people in the city who know each other, who can guarantee that there are no spies mixed in at such a juncture?" ”

He stood up, raised his head and said in a loud voice: "Soldiers, what are we here to do in this western surrender city!" ”

The army immediately bowed in, and this man was quickly recognized by many people.

After a while, I saw Changshi and other bureaucrats coming to the city with a group of soldiers, and the sergeant behind was still carrying a public case, only to see that the public case was covered with red silk, and there were red pens, cinnabar cards, order flags and other things, which were things that Zhang Ren was willing to use, but the king's order and seal letter were not there, and they were taken to Zhongcheng by the general Li Gui.

Changshi shouted: "The generals in the city are not here, and they have to act expediently at this critical juncture, and all the cities and departments are subject to the orders of my Anbei shogunate, and those who violate it will be killed!" If we kill the wrong person, and wait to repel the enemy soldiers, we should pay our lives and pay back the debt with blood! ”

The soldiers up and down the city tower were suddenly solemn.

A group of people entered the building together to put the official case on the table, and the sergeants stood on both sides and temporarily formed a command center. Changshi hugged his fists and said: "I heard that Li Gongzi is familiar with military books in order to excel, and when he survives, he must focus on the overall situation, and do not shirk." ”

Li Shizhi replied: "So Li is the best to do!" With that, he flicked his white robe and sat on the top seat. Picked up the order flag and said: "Order all the armies, all under the order of the Chinese army, coordinate the deployment, the people on duty will go to the city first, and the rest will line up at all gates, and wait for the order at any time, there must be no mistakes!" ”

"Order!" A sergeant took the flag, repeated it again, and then turned and hurried out.

The military order soon spread to the four gates, and the various departments heard that the people of the Li family clan and the long history had set up a Chinese army in the Xiqiao Building, although it was not as down-to-earth as the generals who listened to the people who knew them, but it was better than nothing...... With tens of thousands of troops, if no one tells them what they should do, it's strange if they don't mess up.

After that, orders were passed one after another, and the chaos in the battalions gradually eased. The armies ordered to go to the city successively carried ordnance and carried the tools of defense of the city; The men and horses of the reserve army formed a formation in sequence on the avenue inside the city gate.

When the edict drafted by Li Shizhi was read, the armies were completely restored.

On the stone steps, an official was standing and read aloud: "In the place where the opportunity of the great war is dead, we should hold on to the fortifications with the determination to burn the jade and wait for help, and if the city is broken, we will fight with the enemy until one soldier is killed, so as to show that our Tang army and people will never bend their knees and beg for mercy......"

I saw that the military formation on the avenue was balanced and straight, the queue was neat, and the swords and guns were erected in mid-air. The armies waited at the gates of the city, their shining armor like iron walls, ready to fight the Turks who rushed into the city.

The officials of the Chinese army went to the city wall to inspect it, and when they saw this scene, they immediately bowed to Li Shizhi.

The city on this side was tossed and turned for a while, and the Turkic soldiers were always two miles away. The view on the grassland is open, and the horse team that has been seen for a long time is not far, but the actual distance is not close.

The gate of the West Gate was still closed, and the Han people below were already desperate, but there was no other way to do it. They are like people who are about to be burned to death in a fire, or like people who have no way to escape in the face of floods...... And now, the catastrophe comes from the humans themselves, but it is as ruthless and cruel as the disaster wolves.

Sure enough, the Turkic light cavalry was the first to rush towards the west gate, and they saw a crowd of people and horses on this side, thinking that there was an opportunity. When the cavalry approached, they found that the city gates were closed, and the strong bows and crossbows on the city walls were waiting for them, and there was only a group of herdsmen and semi-armed soldiers and civilians below. Just as sharks can't smell blood, so too can the nomadic cavalry see a living, and soon they rush on a rampage to grab people and rob cattle and sheep.

At this time, a herald rushed to the city and shouted: "The Chinese army has an order, and the enemy soldiers can attack when they are close to the city!" ”

When the general was authorized, he gave the order to release the arrows. The arrows did not have long eyes, so naturally regardless of the Turkic soldiers and civilians, there were constantly people under the city who were hit by arrows to the ground. The vanguard of the Turkic army was small in number, and when it was attacked by a rain of arrows, it drove the looted men, horses, cattle and sheep back one after another. Those who were not captured in a hurry were also shot by cavalry, and the unprotected soldiers and civilians were killed and wounded, and the corpses were soon left in the city.

The Turkic soldiers approached overwhelmingly, but they no longer advanced at a distance of nearly a thousand paces, and the bed ballistae of the Tang army had a range of several hundred paces, and if they got closer, they became live targets.

The former army robbed some Han people and returned to the main force, and soon there was a massacre in public. The Turkic generals decided that there was no need to keep prisoners and slaves during the siege, so they ordered men and children to be cut to death, leaving only the young women as a tool to vent their desires, and women were also a resource worthy of grabbing in the steppe.

Knowing that Ximen had a strong bow and a strong crossbow to defend it, they abandoned Ximen and sent three teams of men and horses to feint and attack the other three to test the firepower. The siege of the city gradually began. G