Li Siye left his eldest son Li Chongbao to guard Youyan, named him the king of Youyan, and commanded 130,000 troops to govern the original Pinglu, and Fan Yang Jiedu made more than 20 prefectures and Andong governor's mansion. The rest of the soldiers and horses followed Li Siye south to attack the Southern Imperial Court.

At this time, the army of King Yong had just occupied Luoyang, and was intensively mobilizing the craftsmen and people of Luoyang to build big ships, and after the ships were built, they could follow the canal south to attack the cities along the canal.

In order to give Li Siye an opening lottery, Tian Chengsi, the king of Yanmen County, and Li Huaixian, the king of Wuwei County, each led 20,000 troops, and met in Shangqiu to pull out the first nail of the army to go south, Suiyang, and the generals who defended the city were Xu Yuan, the Taishou of Suiyang, and Zhang Xun, the deputy envoy of Jianghuai Jiedu.

Zhang Xun became famous in the Battle of Yongqiu, and after An Qingxu killed his father, he wanted to send Yin Ziqi south to attack Suiyang, but Li Siye soon led the army to Luoyang. Therefore, Zhang Xun did not exert his strength under Suiyang City, and the enemy army was already weak.

Now that the rebels are more powerful and attacking Suiyang, Zhang and Xu are ready to live and die with the city.

Tian Chengsi personally led the jumping soldiers to attack the southern city, the soldiers surrounded the siege ladder on the city wall, desperately climbed up, for a time the arrows rained down, all kinds of wooden throwing stones and merciful pillars greeted under the city wall, the soldiers of the Yongjun army were smashed to the head and blood, and the corpses were all over the field.

Zhang Xun personally carried a sword to guard the city wall, and there were two generals under his command, Nanba and Lei Wanchun, both of whom were brave and fierce generals, they held strong bows in their hands, and specially shot the officers and generals in the siege team, and soon Tian Chengsi was defeated, looking at the strong enemy on the city wall with a sad face.

In the afternoon, a messenger from Luoyang sent a letter from Li Siye to the two, asking them to suspend the attack, surround Suiyang first, and wait for the warships carrying artillery to go south.

In the middle of June, the first to complete the six large ships carrying more than 60 artillery along the canal, on the river outside the city wall of Suiyang to open fire on the city, at this time the Xuanwu heavy artillery through the Taiyuan and Lanzhou workshops of technical improvement, the firing range has increased to more than 1,500 steps, the shell also changed from the original spherical shape to the conical shape, which means that the gunpowder capacity of the shell has gradually increased, the power has increased exponentially.

The bombardment of the Yongjun army caused a double blow to the Tang army in the city, Zhang Xun had never seen this weapon more powerful than the stone throwing car and the ballista, and the city wall suffered heavy casualties, and Lei Wanchun was injured in the arm by shrapnel.

Tian Chengsi stood proudly on the boat and laughed: "You wait for the horseman, and dare to use the mantis arm as a car, and my army will not leave a piece of armor everywhere!" ”

"Stop firing artillery and give me a siege."

The Yongjun army continued to carry the siege ladder to the city, they thought that the dying Tang army's combat effectiveness would inevitably be weakened, but the dark-faced Zhang Xun still stood on the city wall in armor, and he held a horizontal knife in his hand to encourage the scarred soldiers: "Suiyang is the gateway to Jianghuai, if Suiyang dies, the Tang Sheji will be in danger, the rebels can reach Yangzhou along the canal in the east, and Xiangyang in the west, and the warships can cross the river, and Jiangdong will suffer from misery." ”

The soldiers then threw rocks under the city, and the rebels climbed upward, but they were hit by the reusable sassal wood, and Nanhachi had several wounds in the chest, but he still pulled his bow and fired continuously, killing several captains who commanded the siege.

The siege failed again, Li Huaixian beat his chest, and immediately killed two Zhonglang generals who were ineffective in supervising the battle, and wanted to personally raise a knife to attack the city, but was stopped by Tian Chengsi.

After the two discussed, they decided that Suiyang was a tough battle and needed to be besieged for a long time. But when the two of them asked for their lives before, they both made a military order to Li Siye and take Suiyang within half a month, but now that a month has passed, the Tang army defending the city is still strong.

They had to take off their shirts, bare-chested and bare-backed, and went to Luoyang with thorns on their backs to plead guilty to Li Siye.

……

After several wars in Luoyang, Ziwei City suffered serious damage, and the Ming Hall and Zhenguan Hall located on the central axis have all been burned down, and only the Yaoguang Hall and other buildings on the central island of Jiuzhouchi in the west city are still intact.

Li Siye was sitting on the Yaoguang Hall at this moment, looking at the two kneeling on the ground with a slightly cold gaze and asked, "What are you doing here?" ”

"The two of us are incompetent, we have failed to conquer Suiyang, and I ask the lord to punish him."

"What is the strength of the Suiyang defenders?"

Li Huaixian replied: "It's less than 10,000 people." ”

"I think my army used to attack cities and plunder land, even towering and solid cities like Youzhou and Yunzhou have always been invincible, how come it is in the hands of the two of you, you can't even take a small Suiyang City."

Tian Chengsi was awe-inspiring in his heart, and hurriedly stepped forward and said: "I thought that Xu Yuan had no talent as a general, and it would be easy to take Suiyang, but who expected Zhang Xun to come out of nowhere." This person has repelled the fox tide of An Lushan General Ling Fox Tide dozens of times in Yongqiu County, and he is a rare wise general. Now he personally guards the city wall with his sword, and his soldiers still insist on resisting even though they are seriously wounded, so that we are helpless. ”

"Zhang Xun? Zhang Xun. ”

Li Siye secretly pondered, this Zhang Xun is a genius who defends the city, when he defended Yongqiu, he only had more than 1,000 people under his command, but he was able to resist the siege of tens of thousands of Yan troops, and now he and Xu Yuan worked together to defend Suiyang, which was a big obstacle for him who tried to dominate the world in the south.

However, today's situation is far from being comparable to the past, he has unified the north, and also based on Hexi Longyou in the west, and Bashu in the south. Li Yu's small court occupied only the land of Jianghuai Jingxiang, not even half of the rivers and mountains. Even if there is a general like Zhang Xun who sticks to Suiyang, it is just to extend the life of the Southern Imperial Court for a period of time.

He got up from the front of the Hu bed and walked down the steps, helped Tian Chengsi and Li Huaixian up, and said with a smile: "Victory and defeat are common things in soldiers, and besides, you are not defeated. Suiyang is just a difficult bone to gnaw, as long as you increase your efforts and continue to gnaw on it, there will definitely be a day when it will be broken. This defeat is just a lack of preparation. I'll send someone to transport you the large Kong Ming lantern, and seven gunboats have been completed, so let them carry the Kong Ming lantern south. Mobilize all the ships in the canal to transport cannonballs day and night, I don't believe that Suiyang will be turned into a sea of fire, and Zhang Xun will be able to hold it. ”

After hearing this, the two stepped forward in unison and said, "Please rest assured, the lord can't take Suiyang this time, let's come to see you with our heads!" ”

At the end of June, Li Siye took a boat from the middle of the canal and personally went to the Suiyang front line to supervise the battle.

Duan Xiushi, who was in charge of the artillery battalion, lined up twelve warships and more than 100 Xuanwu cannons on the river, and frantically poured cannonballs into the city, while more than 50 Kong Ming lanterns flew over Suiyang City, throwing fierce fire and thunder at the targets below. Almost all those who dared to show their heads in the Tang Army would be scorched by the flames.

Under such a brutal siege, the defense of the city became more and more difficult, and after only one day Zhang Xun was exhausted, and a third of the more than 6,000 soldiers defending the city were killed in the artillery fire, and he decided to ask for help from Guo Ziyi, the commander of the army stationed in Xiangyang.

It's just that his letter has not yet been delivered, and Emperor Li Yu's will and Guo Ziyi's letter have been sent to Suiyang at the same time.

The messengers of the imperial court took advantage of the night to break through the encirclement of the Yongjun army, and dozens of horsemen rushed to Suiyang City, which was already more than half broken, Zhang Xun hurriedly opened the corner gate and let them in.

After Zhang Xun knelt down to accept the will, he was still unwilling in his heart, Suiyang They had been holding on for dozens of days, how many soldiers were killed and injured by shells in the defense of the city, how could they be worthy of the heroic soul of the fallen soldiers who retreated in vain.

He picked up Guo Ziyi's letter again and read it carefully.

"The rebel Li Siye killed the Shi clan to occupy the north, and the Tang Dynasty gained three of the four territories, and the Tang family had only one of them, which was a critical autumn for survival. The rebels brought strong soldiers and artillery, Suiyang was a lonely city, and the ruins could not be defended. Xiangyang is backed by Jiangcheng and has to be rushed by land and water, with convenient transportation, sufficient supplies and strong cities. His Majesty ordered me to operate and build many times, and the inner and outer cities have been built, the corner towers are connected with each other, and there are a number of Diaoyu City urn cities, such as copper walls and iron walls are difficult to overcome. You have the talent to help the world, you should look at the overall situation, not because of the gains and losses of a city and a place and damage your life, I hope you will quickly lead the troops to withdraw to Xiangyang after receiving the letter, and you will join forces to fight against the rebels and defend the Tang Dynasty. ”

Zhang Xun put the paper back into the envelope, let out a long sigh of relief, he stood up and said to Nan Jiyun who was standing outside: "Nanba, gather the soldiers, I have something to say." ”

At night, torches lit up on the school field in the city, Zhang Xun stood on the city tower and looked down, the soldiers raised their heads in tattered armor and ragged clothes, and every tightened torch was the spark of hope.

He shouted to his soldiers, "Brothers! Follow me to Xiangyang and join Guo Linggong to guard the Tang Dynasty! ”