After receiving the holy decree, Guo Ziyi once objected with a detached strategic vision, believing that the Youyan soldiers had strong combat effectiveness but lacked loyalty, and they often used father and son to maintain the relationship between superiors and subordinates. And Li Siye has already formed a good and complete military system, so Li Siye and Shi Siming's warring sides, Li Siye has a better chance of winning. If they only attacked Wuguan or waited to reap the benefits, they would probably lose the opportunity to collect a large number of Youzhou generals, and once Li Siye defeated Shi Siming, their military strength would be greatly enhanced, and they would have no chance to recover the Central Plains.

However, not long after Li Yuxin ascended the throne, the Tang court was still dominated by Li Fuguo at this time, Guo Ziyi did not have much right to speak, and his above table was personally vetoed by Li Fuguo above the court.

Li Siye led the army at this time just to conquer Jixian County, less than two hundred miles away from Youzhou City, I heard that Guo Ziyi had led the army to the north, and recovered many cities without much effort, and was close to Luoyang, where the Yan army had withdrawn.

He put down the news sent by the scout and sighed: "Li Yu'er may become the biggest winner of my battle with Shi Siming, he accepted Shi Siming's demotion table, and took back most of the land south of the Yellow River without a single soldier, and there is really a new monarch." ”

Cen Shen stepped forward and said: "The lord is now strong and strong, and it is a good time to plot against the Central Plains, no matter how the two sides submit or form an alliance, our attitude will never change." ”

Li Siye nodded and said: "What Master Cen said is exactly what I want, but at the moment, the Youzhou City occupied by Shi Siming has strong troops and a strong city, and if you want to take it, you need to lose a lot of men and horses, if you really lose both of them, it will be worth the loss." ”

Cen Shen replied like a stream: "Whether it is Youzhou or the Central Plains, the terrain is flat, and the river is flat, which can be transported by large-scale cavalry and heavy firearms, which is our advantage." Now the Southern Imperial Court has long lacked war horses in the south, and the ability to project troops and siege cities is far inferior to ours, and after we capture Youzhou, we will go south to sweep the states of the Central Plains, defeat the imperial court to obtain the Central Plains, and even go south to complete the unification in one fell swoop. ”

In order to complete the accumulation of strength, Shi Siming took the initiative to shrink his troops, gathered 140,000 troops in Yingzhou and Youzhou, and left 40,000 soldiers and horses in Yecheng for Shi Chaoyi. Although he has taken the initiative to surrender, he still can't trust the imperial court, in case Guo Ziyi doesn't follow the rules and crosses the Yellow River north, he has a good defense.

Prime Minister Xue Song suggested that he strengthen the city walls based on Yingzhou, Youzhou and Yecheng, and abandon the rest of the city. The Yan army accumulated grain and grass in these three cities, which could be eaten by the army for a year. Under the conditions of cold-weapon warfare, there are very few people who can hold on to the siege for more than six months without getting tired. At that time, Li Siye will attack Youzhou and Yingzhou for a long time, and it will be a good time for him to fight back.

Shi Siming had other plans, he had already gone north to borrow troops from Tongluo and Murwei, and married his daughter to Murwei Khan as a means of harmony. There were 30,000 cavalry, including Luo, and together with the infantry cavalry under his command, it was 210,000. With these 210,000 people, what kind of city is still guarded, he wants to have a decisive battle with Li Siye between cavalry and cavalry, infantry and infantry on the thousand-mile plain between the secluded annex, and wipe it out. Then he captured Yunzhou in one go, went south to Taiyuan, crossed the Yellow River into Guanzhong, gradually annexed all of Li Siye's territory, and finally turned to the imperial court.

It's just that the team to send off his relatives is still on the way, and the borrowed soldiers have not arrived, so he has to wait patiently in Youzhou City.

Li Siye's 120,000 soldiers and horses were already outside Youzhou City, and he mobilized the strongest elite Flying Tiger Cavalry and Xuanwu Artillery Battalion under his command, with more than 500 artillery pieces alone and countless ammunition.

On the first day of the siege, he ordered the Xuanwu artillery battalion to vent artillery shells into Youzhou City, of which more than 2,000 flowering shells were fired and 3,000 fierce fire and thunder shells were fired, causing a fire in the city. Shi Siming quickly organized manpower to extinguish it.

In the early morning of the second day, Shi Siming looked at the devastated city and said with a smile: "You all say how powerful Li Siye's artillery camp is, in my opinion, it's just that. The walls of my Youzhou City are all made of green bricks and glutinous rice slurry, and I am not afraid of bombardment, and he will not be able to bombard for another fifty or sixty days.

Early in the morning of the third day, the huge Kong Ming lantern rose from the horizon, and the soldiers of the Yan army pointed at the city in fear, the second mysterious weapon used by their enemies. The general, Tian Chenghe, opened his three-stone treasure bow and aimed it at one of the lowest-flying hot air balloons, but the arrow lost its kinetic energy when it reached the highest point, and it was still a few feet away from the balloon, and it was planted crookedly.

Tian Chengsi looked at the hot air balloon and said thoughtfully: "Standing on these Kong Ming lanterns, everything in Youzhou City can be seen clearly, how much forage has been piled up, and how many troops have been hoarded. If they drop the fire and thunder from above, they can not only make up for the lack of artillery range, but also blow up wherever they want, quickly, hide, and don't gather together. ”

As soon as his words fell, an iron can was suddenly thrown from a hot air balloon basket above their heads, Tian Chenghe's eyes were fast, and he actually jumped down the city wall, and then there was a violent explosion overhead, and the blazing flames turned more than a dozen soldiers into burning people.

The fierce fire thunder is a mixture of gunpowder and oil, which does not go out for a long time after combustion, and the soldiers of the Yan army are especially afraid of this kind of thing.

It's just that all of a sudden, a wind rose up for no reason, blowing these Kong Ming lanterns out of the range of Youzhou City, and failed to continue to kill the Yan army.

Li Siye was furious, and said to Xu Bin: "Can you transform these Kong Ming lanterns and provide them with a driving force, so that they can freely choose to stay in the air and move forward and backward." ”

Xu Bin replied slowly: "Wait a while, my lord, I will discuss with the craftsmen whether we can put the bellows used by the blacksmith on the balloons, although it cannot withstand the strong wind, but the ordinary wind should be no problem." ”

"Okay, let's stop the shelling of Youzhou City today, and wait until the transformation of Kong Ming Lantern is completed, and then carry out a general attack."

But he couldn't wait for the best time to attack, and the helper that Shi Siming had paid a lot of money for had already come. After arriving in Youzhou, the cavalry of Tongluo and Murowei did not break into the city, but stayed at Yuguan in the north of Youzhou, which later had a more resounding name called Shanhaiguan.

The people of Murowei are not ready to defend the city with Shi Siming at all, they came here to help, either you pull the army out and we will cooperate with the two families to have a field battle with the enemy, or they will withdraw their troops and go back, and you will play your city by yourself.

Shi Siming is not prepared to defend the city at all, and it is not his character to hide behind the city wall and be bombarded, now he has 210,000 troops, even if his son Shi Chaoyi divides 40,000 in Yecheng, there are still 170,000 against Li Siye, afraid of a bird.

He sat in the humble palace and saw the letter written by his in-laws, and waved his hand to the generals below and said, "Now I have received reinforcements from 30,000 iron cavalry from Murowei, which is enough to fight Li Siye. I have made an appointment with Murowei Khan to cook dinner tonight, and at the fifth watch, the army will go out of the city, and the two armies will jointly attack Li Siye's camp, give him a surprise attack, and make a good start first. ”