When the Eastern Dynasty army marched south to besiege Yubi City, the Lishi Hu people who had returned from the east also arrived at the first destination of their trip.

"Lord Qiqi, the city erected on the hill in front of you is Wutu City, and it is also the largest military city set up by the Eastern Thieves in this realm. In the old year, the thief leader He Liuhun personally led his troops to garrison here, and attacked the various departments of Lishi, causing heavy casualties to each department......"

Before Liu Kuzhen went north to Yunyang Valley to marry his daughter-in-law, he appointed a person to lead the people on his behalf, and it was Liu Aqi in front of him. Talking about the old things when Gao Huan led the army into the encirclement and suppression, he still gritted his teeth with hatred, and the words were derogatory, as if Gao Huan would not sneak attack, they would be able to defend their homeland.

Li Tai looked in the direction of Liu Aqi's fingers, and saw a city standing on the top of the hill, which was also built because of the topography, with an irregular oval shape, covering most of the outstanding mountain in a hill, with a steep slope rock wall on one side and a winding river on the other.

Liu Aqi explained on the side: "This Wutu city is the middle reaches of Lingshui, the terrain is blocked from north to south, and it can go directly to Yanzhou to the north, and it can go straight to the big river to the south. ”

The name of Wutu City, Li Tai knows.

Not only because the remnants of the Erzhu clan fled here under the leadership of Murong Shaozong and were finally surrendered by Gao Huan, but also because Liu Zhenqiang, the son of Liu Pingfu, who he hunted and killed when he first pursued Jihu in Beizhou, was settled here by the Eastern Wei Dynasty.

Lishi Hu is unruly and untamable, and it has long been a danger near the Eastern Wei Dynasty and Jinyang Bafu. Before freeing up his hands to purge it, Gao Huan had been pursuing the strategy of governing Hu with Hu, recruiting Jihu from the Western Wei Territory who were not allowed to be in the Western Wei Dynasty to clean up the Jihu in his territory that were not controlled by the hegemon.

Liu Aqi's so-called miscellaneous thief department is talking about this situation. And what Li Tai did this time was also to pick up the tooth wisdom of the Eastern Wei Dynasty and use your previous means to disgust you.

Due to the existence of Luliang Mountain, after crossing the river in northern Shaanxi, it is impossible to go straight to Jinyang in the hinterland of Shanxi, and at the western foot of Luliang Mountain, it is not all rugged mountains.

Wutu City is located at the northernmost point of this narrow plateau, and the Eastern Wei Dynasty only needs to control this city in their hands, and to the south can sweep away Lishi Zhuhu along the Lingshui River. And if Lishihu wants to return to his hometown, he must also capture Wutu City, otherwise he may be blocked by the Eastern Wei Dynasty's troops at any time, and he will be dumpled in this land of western Jin.

Li Tai didn't plan to cross the river so early, and he tossed in front of Lishihu first, so as to consume the combat effectiveness of the remaining men and horses of the Eastern Wei Dynasty. But these Lishi Huzhong are really watery, and after entering the country, they have not yet overcome this first goal.

Li Tai knew very well that the fighters were like fire, and although the Eastern Wei Dynasty had a large army moving south, if the remaining forces were really fully mobilized, they should not be underestimated. In particular, if the initial plan was not smooth enough, then there would not be enough time and conditions to implement the next ideas, so he personally led a thousand Suizhou men and horses to cross the river to supervise the battle.

When he came to the outside of this Wutu city, he took a look for a while, and found that he couldn't completely blame Shihu Tai scum, the Wutu city in front of him was condescending, and it was indeed easy to defend and difficult to attack.

In the previous war in northern Shaanxi, Li Shihu suffered huge losses, Li Tai was cheeky to ask the generals who participated in the war, plus he was captured in Guangwu City before, and finally gathered more than 15,000 people to be handed over to Liu Kuzhen under the command, but there were still a large number of old and weak women and children, and the real Ding Zhuang was only three or four thousand people in front of him.

Last year, the living environment was bad, and there was a serious shortage of winter materials, and these Lishihu lost two or three thousand people. Now Li Tai wants to let them cross the river and return to their hometown, and there are more than 5,000 men and women in the front passer, and before these people have specific meritorious achievements, Li Tai will not give them too sophisticated weapons, nothing more than some simple swords, guns, weapons and rods.

The Jade City in the east of the river is only about ten miles in circumference, and although the terrain of the Wutu City in front of him is not as extreme as the Jade City, the scale of the city is not far behind. Gao Huan's army of more than 100,000 people besieged Yubi, and Li Tai counted on the remnants of Shihu to capture Wutu City, which was really a bit difficult for a strong man.

More than 5,000 people could not even surround the hill where the city was located, so Liu Aqi gathered his troops into a large camp and set it up on the banks of the upper reaches of the Lingchuan River.

This guy is also quite knowledgeable about military affairs, and he had led the army to besiege Li Mu in Guangwu City earlier, although he also relied on the strength of the crowd, but it was also a rare skill to be able to control so many people.

Due to the lack of sophisticated ordnance and the conditions to build powerful siege equipment, Liu Aqi failed to make any major breakthroughs in organizing sieges several times, and only tested the number of troops and combat effectiveness of the defenders.

Originally, Li Tai also felt that it was too easy to attack a city stronghold suspended outside, and the tactics were simply to come with a slap on the head, dig up the Lingshui River and lead them away, and kill them with thirst, or pile up the earth mountain, pile it higher than this city, and do it condescendingly, and the tunnel will be dried down without digging.

But after observing the topography of the city on the spot, he couldn't help frowning slightly, could it be that I, Li Boshan, also want to have a little fun here?

With his strength of several thousand people, there is no need to think about the big project, if you really want to toss yourself tired and disheartened, it is just to rush to send the head, and you have no strength to run, and you will be harvested by the defenders who rush out directly.

With this in mind, a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, and he looked at Liu Aqifa and asked, "How many defenders are there in the city?" Have you ever tried to lure out of an engagement? ”

"The guards of the city were about 2,000 people. My department will be stationed in the city here, and there is no intention of going out at all, and my department is also weak, and the whole group can still order advance and retreat, once there is no restraint, I am afraid that it will fall apart, and it will be difficult to reunite, so there is no ......"

After hearing this, Liu Aqi shook his head and said, the more complex the military order, the higher the quality of the soldiers and the stable military spirit are needed to carry it out.

Now that his men and horses are not excellent in terms of combat effectiveness or equipment and provisions, they have only gathered together with the vision of returning to their homeland, and any orders that are not simple and direct may cause cognitive confusion and collapse of the group.

Li Tai also knew what kind of bird this team was, and after hearing this, he didn't criticize Liu Aqi too much, but just raised his hand and pointed to a direction that was open and suitable for cavalry battles and said to Liu Aqi: "Since you haven't tried it, you might as well give it a try." Later, if you are still unable to conquer the city, then withdraw your camp and go to the southeast, where you may wish to make some gestures of defeat to lure the defenders. ”

Although he brought reinforcements, it was only a thousand cavalry, and even if they were all put into siege operations, the effect they could receive was very limited, and only in the field could they maximize their combat effectiveness.

His cavalry was not exposed to the sight of the enemy defending the city, and stopped in the distant valley to rest. As long as the soldiers defending the city have a little sense of victory and defeat, seeing that this group of men and horses is unable to attack the city and then evacuate in embarrassment, they will inevitably refuse to let go easily, and it is very likely that they will go out of the city to pursue.

After all, Gao Huan personally led the army to clear this area before he personally led the army to clear this area, and if these soldiers who defended the city sat back and waited for the Lishi Hu people who fled back here to flow poison into the wilderness, they would inevitably suffer severe punishment.

"The servant is ordered by the lord to do his best to lure out the thief, but he dares to plead with the lord that if these apprentices do not die after the ordeal, it should be the will of heaven to live, please let the lord guide them back to their hometown!"

Hearing that Li Tai arranged his men and horses as bait without pity, Liu Aqi didn't dare to refute, but just kowtowed to Li Tai and said.

"You don't need to worry about the back road, and since I have covered you in the former, I will not lead you to a dead end. As long as you can make meritorious contributions in the war and make up for your previous sins, I will do what I say and I will definitely help you regain your ancestral town. If you still have doubts about this, take off your armor and go away, and I will supervise the people by myself!" ”

Li Tai said in a deep voice after hearing this, he was not worried that these Lishihu would betray him after returning here, and now he was the only one on both sides of the river who could accommodate them and provide effective help.

"Don't dare, don't dare, ask the Lord to forgive your sins!"

When Liu Aqi heard this, he kowtowed again and again, and it was not until Li Tai forgave him that he dared to stand up, and then returned to the camp and began to arrange the siege of the city. Li Tai also sent his horse back to his headquarters, waiting for the enemy to be lured out and then engaged in field battles.

The war soon began, under the drive of Liu Aqi's subordinates and cronies, the soldiers of Shihu shouted and rushed towards the gate of Wutu City, but when they rushed to the gate of the city and still had some distance outside, the defenders on the head of the city drew their bows and shots, and the soldiers who rushed to the front kept falling despite the protective tools such as planks and grass shields.

The army defending the city was full of strength, and from time to time there were rolling stones and logs thrown down from the city, while the besieging side did not even have basic armor defense, and only rushed to the city wall with a fierce spirit, but without the cooperation of siege equipment, it could not do any effective attack at all, and only killed people in vain.

Looking at the clumsy siege methods of these enemies outside the city, the defenders at the head of the city couldn't help but let out a hearty laugh, if it weren't for the cautious protection of the general, they would have rushed out of the city to slaughter these embarrassed rabble.

After losing hundreds of lives, the Hu soldiers retreated like a tide, and the commander of the soldiers arranged by Liu Aqi in advance led his subordinates to flee to the Lingshui River.

Seeing the tragic death of their comrades, the other soldiers also subconsciously wanted to stay away from the desperate killing field, so they also fled into the river. Although the autumn water was already a little chilly, it was not enough to numb the hands and feet, and the flow of the river became shallow, and soon they swam across the river and rushed to the opposite bank, running farther into the wilderness.

As Liu Aqi said, these Hu pawn troops are already on the verge of collapse, and now they only need a little push, and they don't need to disguise themselves at all, and they look like they are out of defeat.

At this time, the defenders at the head of the city of Wutu saw that the enemy was crushing without a fight, and they couldn't help but laugh again and again, and soon the rope ladder basket cage was lowered, and the guards continued to climb down and go straight to the camp left by the enemy to harvest the defeated soldiers and collect supplies.