In the sixth year of Li Jixuan's Yuanshuo, that is, the second year of Li Yu's calendar, the northern and southern forces with the Yangtze River as the dividing line were formally formed, and the north was the puppet of the emperor supported by Li Siye, and the country name was still called Tang. The south is the Zhengshuo of the Tang Dynasty, the imperial court headed by Li Yu.

The upper reaches of the Yangtze River are in the territory of Shuzhong, and the whole here is already Li Siye's sphere of influence, regardless of the north and south of the Yangtze River, but north of the Yangtze River in the middle reaches, Jiangcheng with the Yellow Crane Tower, as well as Jingmen and Xiangyang are still in the hands of the southern court.

Xiangyang is the northern gate of Jingzhou, and Jingxiang is a strategic point connecting Shuzhong and Hanzhong, and the Yangtze River and Hanjiang River flow down from Shuzhong and Hanzhong respectively and converge in Jiangcheng. As long as Xiangyang is opened, Jingxiang is at your fingertips, as long as Jingxiang is captured, you can coerce the power of the Central Plains, Hanzhong, and Shuzhong to supply the southward war, and you can control the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River and form a strategic advantage over the downstream.

Therefore, from the beginning of Yuanzheng, Li Siye began to coordinate the strength of the whole country, organized 130,000 troops to go south to attack Xiangyang, and at the same time asked Guanzhong, Hebei, Henan Province and other places to transfer taxes into military rations to provide military support for the army.

At the beginning of March, he personally led an army of 180,000 to the south, with Cen Shen, Gao Shang, and Yan Zhuang as the staff group, Duan Xiushi, Bai Xiaode, Tian Zhen, Cui Qianyou, Tian Chengsi, Xue Song, Li Huaixian and others as generals, mobilizing more than 500 Xuanwu artillery pieces and more than 900 giant Kong Ming lanterns. More than 3,000 ships carried grain and gunpowder from the canal, and 200,000 people were requisitioned to support the campaign.

Therefore, Li Siye confidently believes that within three months, Xiangyang will definitely be able to be taken, otherwise it will become a scorched earth.

Li Siye's preparations are not only these, he also tied up Guo Ziyi's third son Guo Xi and Zhang Xun's old mother and clan relatives in Puzhou, Hedong, and at the same time brought Li Guangbi, who surrendered in the past, Prime Minister Cui Yuan, Fang Xuan, and Guo Ziyi's old friends in the middle of the court, in order to achieve the effect of persuading surrender and attacking the heart.

The army soon arrived in Nanyang, and Tian Chengji, who was stationed outside Xiangyang City, came to meet him and report on the situation of the defenders of Xiangyang City.

"Lord Qiqi, there are more than 50,000 Tang defenders in Xiangyang City, Guo Ziyi is the commander-in-chief, and Zhang Xun is appointed as the deputy, and he rotates to patrol the city wall day and night for two days, and he never slacks."

Li Siye could guess these situations, and there was nothing new about them, so he asked Tian Chengsi: "In Tian Gong's opinion, can my 180,000-strong army capture Xiangyang within three months." ”

Tian Chengsi was shocked when he heard this, hesitated for a moment, stepped forward and said, "Lord Qiqi, I'm afraid it won't work for three months." ”

"The scale of this mobilization is the largest in all previous campaigns, the amount of baggage used, and the huge amount of ammunition consumed, far better than Yunzhou Youzhou and other big cities, is it possible that this Xiangyang City is an iron wall?"

Although it is not an iron wall, but this Xiangyang is by no means the Xiangyang of the past, after Li Heng went south, he sent people to strengthen the city wall, and after Guo Ziyi withdrew from Hanzhong to Xiangyang, the Xuanwu artillery of our army also repaired many city defense facilities. In order to protect against gunpowder and thunder, they also built many forts on the city walls, and many wooden buildings were torn down in the city, and all the houses were built of rock and blue bricks, and the houses were connected by stone tunnels or caves carved out of tunnels. His subordinates once sent people to take Kong Ming lanterns to investigate the situation in the city, and its structures were interconnected with each other, and as long as the gong was sounded, all the soldiers and civilians in the city disappeared within a cup of tea, and they were all transferred underground. ”

"Even if the lord is on the city wall, I'm afraid it will be difficult, the city wall built of green bricks is all boiled glutinous rice mixed with lime, and the outside is sealed with iron juice, although the hammer of a thousand jun cannot be shaken."

Li Siye's face was gloomy, and he sat down on the Hu bed and asked him: "Then do you think how long does our army need to attack the city before it can take Xiangyang as it wishes?" ”

"At least half a year, maybe longer."

"Half a year," Li Siye said, "It will take half a year, I have 500 Xuanwu cannons, pouring shells and gunpowder to attack the city every day, and more than 900 Kong Ming lanterns, which can rise into the sky day and night to monitor the bombing, I don't believe that they eat, drink, and Lazar are all underground, and if I don't believe that they won't show their heads." ”

Tian Chengji decided to say something nice. Otherwise, Li Siye would be holding back his anger, and he would definitely not be able to eat and walk around.

"Lord, the attack and defense of this city is a means of fighting, the so-called magic is one foot high and one foot high, which is exactly the reason."

Li Siye asked him rhetorically: "Then who is the demon and who is the Tao?" ”

"Isn't this clear at a glance, people say that demons are subdued, why don't you see demons and demons, whoever is strong is the way. Now that the lord is attacking the city, the remnants of the Southern Dynasty can only defend passively, and it is clear which is stronger and which is weak. No matter how well they defend, they are only defending, and you will always be able to conquer the city one day, and this result cannot be changed. ”

"You're right, no matter how well you defend, it's useless, as long as it's a city, there will always be a day when it will be breached. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and the siege will begin tomorrow to give Guo Ziyi a greeting gift. ”

Li Siye said that the greeting gift was that 500 cannons were lined up under the city wall, and two rounds of salvos came towards the city wall, and there were rolling fireballs on the head of Xiangyang City.

When the artillery fire ended, the Tang soldiers came out from the watchtowers and scattered in the various battlements, these watchtowers were evenly distributed on the city wall, with an average of one every dozen paces, which could quickly pounce on the defensive position and quickly run back to avoid the shells.

Li Siye stood on the watchtower of the besieged city and laughed coldly: "Think that's what I can do? Kong Ming lantern lifted me into the air, and I dropped bombs when I saw anyone showing up! ”

On the first day, Li Siye did not send troops to build ladders to attack the city, but in the early morning of the second day, he directly ordered the two siege battalions to rush towards the city wall, and the Kong Ming lantern rose into the sky at the same time.

Most of the watchtowers have defensive functions, and there are lookout holes and archery holes on this side facing the outside of the city, but large defensive equipment such as bed crossbows, shooting rods, and mercy columns can only be operated in the open air, so when the enemy army attacks the city, most of the soldiers are still exposed to the sun.

Naturally, the giant Kong Ming lanterns were able to seize this wonderful opportunity, and they took out the fierce fire thunder from the hanging basket, lit the twist and threw it towards the city wall.

The Tang soldiers were in flames and jumped off the city wall screaming. Lei Wanchun, the general under Zhang Xun's command, was furious, drew the longbow with both hands, and shot it at the ghost balloon in the sky, but the arrow lost its kinetic energy when it flew high, and it fell down again.

He rushed to the Fuyuan crossbow on the city wall again, first wound it with the two of them, and then lifted the crossbow frame with a loud roar, and held the arrow in his hands to the sky. The strings of the Fu Yuan crossbow popped out, and the thick arrows flew towards the sky, shooting through the hanging basket of Kong Ming lanterns, and then piercing the balloon from below. The Kong Ming lantern suddenly shifted, the bronze oil jar leaked, and the hot oil poured down with the flames and ignited the hanging basket, screaming and falling to the ground with a raging fire, and a second explosion was made with a rumbling sound.

The other Kong Ming lanterns were so frightened that they all rose a little higher. There are very few fierce people like Lei Wanchun in the Tang Army, and it is impossible for them to have such ability to knock down Kong Minglan every time. Flames continued to rage on the city walls, and the Don army suffered numerous casualties.

Zhang Xun ordered in a loud voice: "Withdraw to the watchtower first, and then attack when the enemy army is about to climb up!" I don't believe they would dare to drop bombs on their own people! ”