Seeing that the twentieth besieging team was defeated again, Yelu couldn't help but be angry. From noon the day before yesterday to now, it has been nearly two days since the Gubeikou Pass was guarded by only four or five hundred people with an army of 30,000 troops, but in addition to throwing more than 2,000 corpses under the gate and carrying back more than 3,000 wounded soldiers, he has not even boarded the Gubeikou Pass, and his Royal Highness the Khitan emperor can't help but be angry. It's just that no matter how angry he is, no matter how many ways he and his generals think of attacking the city, the defenders who occupy the terrain advantage will repel the Khitan army besieging the city. Even though Yelu gave death orders to his subordinates again and again, telling them to only advance and not retreat, and even arranged a war overseer behind the attacking team, killing hundreds of officers and soldiers who cowered and took the lead in retreating, but he still couldn't stop the rout that poured back like a tide. In addition, due to the heavy casualties, almost all the corpses were lying down from the Gubeikou Pass to the place three or four hundred steps away from the Guancheng. Not only did the corpses block the already narrow road, but the blood-soaked ground also became slippery and muddy, and it was so difficult to walk one foot deep and one foot shallow, so that the attacking team behind them could not maintain their formation at all, and the front and rear were disjointed, which was even more unfavorable to the attack on the fortress - Yelu Enemy Lie also sent people to clean up the corpses, but the soldiers who went to clean up were quickly dispersed by the artillery fire of the defenders, and finally had to stop this behavior, which only increased their own casualties.

Now that the twentieth attack had ended in failure, Yelu was depressed, and when the defeated commander came to him to plead guilty, he immediately ordered the sword and axe men to pull down and cut down the commander who had repeatedly told him for mercy, and his heart was a little better. But cutting off the head of the leading general, although he felt a little happier in his heart, did not help him in the predicament he was facing now. Judging from the current situation, even if he cut a few more commanders, it would be impossible to capture the small Gubei Pass, but it would affect the morale of his own army. Therefore, after slaying the poor besieging commander, Jereh did not go on a killing spree against the defeated troops, but ordered them to regroup and prepare for the twenty-first attack.

Just when the defeated soldiers reluctantly regrouped under the command of the new commander, a Han man who had been following Yelu and was wearing the uniform of the deputy commander of the pro-military camp showed a look on his face. Apparently he had something to say, but for some reason he hesitated, and for a moment he couldn't decide whether he should go and tell his master what he thought.

After a long while, when the group of Khitan troops who had just retreated had been reorganized and replenished, and were preparing to carry out the twenty-first attack on Gubeikou Pass, the deputy commander of the pro-soldier battalion finally stopped hesitating, but shook the reins, rode his horse to Yelu's side of the enemy, and saluted the other party: "Your Highness, there is a method that may speed up the progress of our army's siege and take Gubeikou as quickly as possible. ”

Hearing that the deputy commander of his own personal battalion said that there was a way to speed up the siege, Yelu Dilie, who was at a loss for what to do, was naturally both surprised and delighted. What is surprising is that since he followed him, Deputy Commander Zou has always been known and praised for his bravery and ability to fight, and he has never shown any superiority in military theories such as offense, defense, defense, strategy and tactics. At this time, he said that there was a way to take the Gubeikou Pass as soon as possible, which really did not surprise him. Happily, if Deputy Commander Zou didn't say big things, then he would soon be able to swing his army south, point his sword at Juyong Pass, and fight with Yelu Tart Lie outside the pass inside and outside, and add to this level in one fell swoop. Then they can march into Youzhou City and recapture the eight states in front of the mountain, so that those Han people and local traitors in the Southern Dynasty who do not know the height of the sky will know the Tianwei of the Great Liao Emperor and the combat power of the Khitan warriors. Therefore, after only being stunned for a moment, Yelu Enemy Lie asked, "Do you have any high plan?" ”…,

The deputy commander Zou adjusted his language a little and replied: "Your Highness, I have read the notes on the firearms used by the Han people of the Southern Dynasty written by General Cao Jiyun Cao, who died in Gu'an City, which was sent to the imperial court by Xiao Liushou in Nanjing, as well as the samples of muskets captured from the hands of the 'Shenji Army' of the Southern Dynasty. I remember that General Cao once wrote in his notes that although the muskets and artillery used by the Han people in the Southern Dynasties were powerful and sharp, they needed to be filled with gunpowder and projectiles during battle, otherwise they would not even be as good as a burning stick. Although the firearms used by the defenders of Gubeikou Pass are different from those used by the 'Shenji Army' of the Southern Dynasties, they are more powerful, more convenient to operate, and have a longer range, but they are afraid that they still need gunpowder and projectiles in battle.

Although he did not personally participate in the siege of the city in the past two days, he had observed the situation at the head of the city behind the siege department, and the sound of the enemy's firearms was heard very clearly. He found that as the fighting continued, especially from this morning, the sound of enemy musket fire became more and more sparse and far less incessant than it had been at the beginning of the battle. The enemy's artillery and gunpowder packs are getting harder and harder to hear, and the roar of gunpowder packs is now scarce, and the artillery has not even fired a single shot, and only the muskets are struggling to support the city. According to the soldiers who have participated in the recent siege operations, on several occasions the enemy troops in the pass have relied on Dawan spears and strong bows and crossbows to repel our siege warriors.

From this, it was inferred that the enemy army in the Seki had no gunpowder and projectiles left, and had to be economical and used. If our army can speed up the consumption of gunpowder and projectiles by the enemy troops in the pass, then it will not be long before the enemy army in the pass will be exhausted, and the muskets and artillery in their hands will really become a useless burning stick."

Hearing this, Yelu nodded frequently, and hurriedly asked, "In that case, what good plan do you have to speed up the consumption of the enemy's gunpowder and projectiles?" ”

"Actually, there is no essential difference between the method of humiliation and the tactics used by His Highness now, except that the interval between the two sieges is as short as possible, so that the enemy troops guarding the pass can only be exhausted, and there is no time to replenish ammunition and adjust the deployment of troops." Deputy Commander Zou explained, "Previously, our army attacked the city with the army as a unit, dividing the first army into several thousand troops to attack the enemy troops guarding the pass. After each failed attack, the defeated soldiers were gathered first, the battalion leaders who had suffered heavy casualties were replaced with new ones, and the team was regrouped before launching the next attack. And so on until one army had to withdraw from the battle due to heavy losses, and then it was replaced by another army to continue the siege.

Although this method of warfare is correct and safe, it is almost too long between each siege, giving the enemy troops at the pass a chance to breathe, so that they can calmly adjust their deployment, redistribute the gunpowder and pellets in the hands of each soldier, and avoid the unfavorable situation in which some soldiers have enough ammunition while others have run out of ammunition, so that there will be no weak links in their own defenses. The method of humbling the post is to break the restriction of using the army as a unit, and unify the eight existing armies that still have a certain combat effectiveness to form more than 20 thousand-man teams to launch an uninterrupted attack on Guancheng. If a certain unit is repulsed, the overseer team and the officers and chiefs are responsible for collecting and regrouping, and His Highness can only immediately send the next team to continue the attack in its place. In this cycle, the twenty thousand-man detachment continued to attack the city like a wheel battle, giving the enemy troops guarding the pass no respite, making them flawless and exhausted. In this way, I am afraid that it will not be long before the other side will have soldiers who have used up the little ammunition left in their hands, thus providing our besieging troops with an opportunity to break through the enemy's defense line. ”

Speaking of which, wheel warfare is not an unfathomable method of warfare, but a method commonly used when one's own forces are superior. It's just that Yelu Enemy, who has never read Cao Jiyun's codex, knows very little about firearms, and he didn't expect that this sharp weapon relies so much on the ammunition that matches it. In his view, firearms are weapons that are similar to the magic weapons used by gods and Buddhas, and the user can drive them endlessly by simply reciting a mantra. At this time, after listening to the introduction of the deputy commander of his own barracks, it suddenly dawned on me that although this thing is powerful, it also has a big weakness.

Therefore, on the one hand, Yelu Dilie asked his subordinates to reorganize the team in the method of Deputy Command Zou, and on the other hand, he sent people to collect the corpses of his own soldiers under the Gubeikou Pass, so as to clear the obstacles on the way forward for the later attack - in Yelu Dilie's view, since the firearms in the hands of the other side lacked sufficient ammunition, it was bound to avoid the very limited ammunition being consumed on the corpse movers of the Khitan army as much as possible.

In fact, just as Yelu Enemy Lie wished, the enemy army guarding the Guancheng no longer fired guns and cannons as they did in the first time, but chose to remain silent, watching the narrow official road under the Guancheng being cleared out by the Khitans little by little.

The work of cleaning up the corpses continued from Chenshi to Shishi, although it was not possible to move all the corpses of the Khitan army under the pass, but at least it barely cleared a passage for the siege troops to attack for the follow-up attack.

On the 16th day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar in the ninth year of the calendar (the fourth year of Xiande), the 20 thousand troops of the Khitan Army, which had completed the reorganization, began the 21st attack on the Gubeikou Pass.