Not long after Guo Ziyi sent troops into Yecheng, the news that Shi Siming had retreated from Yuguan and escaped into Liaodong came from the previous convenience, and everyone secretly admired Guo Linggong's clever calculation, and his prediction of the battle situation was so correct.

He called his son Guo Hua and his generals into the account, and calmly analyzed: "Now the main forces of Li Siye's army are concentrated in Youzhou, and Jizhou is scarce, we can attack Jizhou immediately, as long as we hold Jizhou in our hands, we will be like a sharp knife firmly inserted in Hebei." Then rely on the continuous supply of grain from the south through the rear canal to provide logistical support, which can be attacked and defended. ”

Fugu Huaien stepped forward and suggested: "Li Siye has been attacking Youzhou City for more than two months, and the veterans of the division are already tired, while our army is in full swing and strong, why not go north to take Youzhou after capturing Jizhou and force it back to Yunzhou?" ”

"No, no." Lao Linggong waved his hand and said: "Don't judge the strength of the rebels, the generals should not worry about victory before they lose in battle, we can get Jizhou has achieved our original requirements, how to act in the future should be taken step by step." ”

The generals should do so.

After a period of rest, the Tang army immediately sent all its troops north to attack Jizhou.

Guarding the city of Jizhou was Zhang Guangtao, the envoy of Hedong Jiedu, who led his army to attack Jizhou from Hedong with only 15,000 troops. Compared with a big city like Jizhou Xindu, this point of people is somewhat stretched.

Zhang Guangtao organized soldiers to strengthen the city defense day and night, prepared defensive equipment, and sent people to ask for help from Li Siye in Youzhou.

At this time, the powerful mobility of the Flying Tiger Cavalry was revealed, and Li Chongbao immediately led 30,000 Flying Tiger Cavalry from Zhuozhou to the south to rescue Jizhou after receiving Li Siye's order, and it took only two days and nights to reach Wuyi County near Jizhou.

After leading his troops to Wuyi County, he took a short rest and ordered his soldiers to rest for two days to maintain their horses and prepare for battle.

There were many outstanding scouts among the Guo family's personal soldiers, and they found the Flying Tiger Cavalry that had arrived in Wuyi County in advance, and immediately returned to report to Guo Ziyi.

After Guo Ziyi heard about it, he ordered the army to stop the siege, cut down trees and build fortifications opposite Jizhou City, and after the initial ramming of the earth fortress was successful, he only sent an army to attack the south of Jizhou City every day, and the rest of the people continued to defend the fortifications for processing, and in just ten days, there was already the scale of a low city.

Li Chongbao personally led thirteen horsemen to reconnoiter on the hill west of Jizhou City, and when he saw the walled city built by Guo Ziyi from afar, he couldn't help but admire: "I used to hear my father say how powerful Guo Ziyi was, but today I only learned that he was old and spicy in his army, and our army had only arrived in Wuyi County a few days, and he had already taken measures to deal with it. has 130,000 troops but chooses to stick to the barrier, which is a clear vowed not to give up if he does not take Jizhou. ”

His lieutenant general said beside him: "Guo Ziyi's earthen fortress camp is very close to the Jizhou city wall, and there are many troops, he only sends troops to attack the southern city every day. ”

"Really?" Li Chongbao laughed and said: "My father has hoarded a lot of gunpowder in Jizhou City, and there are shell workshops in the city, and artillery is also deployed on the city, although there are not many of them, but I can write to my father and ask him to transfer the Xuanwu artillery battalion and Kong Ming Lantern to participate in the battle. ”

The deputy general, as a compliment, naturally asked Li Chongbao a question: "The Xuanwu cannon moves slowly with cattle, and it travels thirty or forty miles a day from the south of Youzhou City to Jizhou, and half a month will pass when they arrive, in case something goes wrong in Jizhou City during this period......

"Jizhou's city defense is strong, and there are a large number of firearms hoarded, if Zhang Guangtao can't hold it for even ten days, then he is not qualified to be the envoy of Hedong Jiedu. And don't we still have us? Divide the cavalry under his command into dozens of squads, raid and harass the enemy every day, and wait for the arrival of the Xuanwu artillery battalion. ”

"In addition, you immediately divide half of the cavalry to go north, and escort the Xuanwu artillery battalion when it goes south, and there must be no mistakes."

Guo Ziyi constantly ordered people to ram the earth to extend the barrier, and the fortifications had been extended to the Jizhou city wall, and then constantly sent people to cut down trees to build siege equipment and attack the Jizhou city wall.

Zhang Guangtao mobilized the bed crossbows and artillery on the head of the city to return fire at the city, and often the siege equipment that the Tang army spent a day building was completely damaged after an afternoon of fierce siege fighting, and the earth fortress that had been rammed up was bombarded into a pile of earth by artillery fire.

But Guo Xi immediately organized manpower at night to rebuild the earthen wall, although this move was too labor-intensive, but it was able to resist the Flying Tiger Cavalry not far away, and the casualties on both sides were concentrated in the city and under the city, as for the Flying Tiger Cavalry led by Li Chongbao, they did not carry any heavy equipment, they could only attack with arrows near the earthen fortress, and there was no other way.

The earthen fortresses of the Tang army gradually extended for dozens of miles, showing a "squirrel" shaped structure to surround the three sides of Jizhou City, if the Xuanwu artillery battalion and the spindle-shaped Kong Ming Lantern arrived half a month late, they would besiege the entire city to death.

Guo Ziyi stood on the watchtower built of wood, looking at the head of Jizhou from afar, he really didn't expect that Jizhou City, which was only garrisoned by 15,000 people, would be so difficult to gnaw, and now a month has passed, and the Jizhou city guards will stand on the head of the city day and night without taking off their armor and stick to resist, and the city defense has not loosened in the slightest.

Of course, it will take some time to conquer Jizhou, but he can't just pin his hopes on the siege. Li Siye's Flying Tiger Cavalry and the artillery battalion are swords and shields for each other, if there is only a Flying Tiger Cavalry, he and his 130,000 troops are not afraid of the other party's tiger eyes. But once the Flying Tiger Cavalry and the Artillery Battalion are combined, the power is so great that they can break all formations.

He immediately ordered to gather all the generals, called them to him, and said: "The city of Jizhou is strong and difficult to conquer, I am afraid that the battle time will be extended, but once we wait, Li Siye's artillery battalion will come to Jizhou, and then we may be out of luck." ”

The horse Guo Yu stepped forward: "Father, please allocate 5,000 light cavalry to my son, I am willing to lead the troops to the north to attack the Xuanwu artillery battalion." ”

The general Sun Quanxu also stood up and said: "The status of the horse is noble, how can he sacrifice his life to go to danger, the last general is not talented, and he is willing to go through this experience for the horse." ”

Guo Ziyi looked a little hesitant: "Quan Xu is a general, and leading the army to attack is really useless." ”

"Ling Gong, what is the difference between big and small use, Quan Xu only knows that if we wait for the arrival of enemy reinforcements, we will attack Jizhou and will be defeated, and we can only lift the weight if it is light, please order the public to lead me to break the Xuanwu artillery battalion."

"Okay," Guo Ziyi sighed and said, "The Xuanwu Artillery Battalion must be escorted by the enemy's elite along the way, and the general must be careful, not obsessed with a momentary victory or defeat." ”

"Please rest assured that Quanxu will definitely live up to expectations."

After the Tang army retreated to Jiangdong, war horses gradually became scarce, Guo Ziyi devoted all his strength to the eldest grandson Quanxu to make up 9,000 war horses, and selected 4,500 soldiers who were good at riding and archery in the army, and one person and two horsemen set out in the early morning to attack north along Jizhou City.

At this time, the Xuanwu artillery battalion had just arrived in Luze County, Shenzhou, and Li Siye equipped it with two escort teams, one of which was heavy infantry, with a crossbow battalion and a Modao team, and the other was a flying tiger cavalry sent by Li Chongbao.