After Song Jingang captured Jinzhou and Jiangzhou, the area north of Jinzhou, except for Xihe City in Haozhou, was all occupied by Liu Wuzhou, and only the lonely city of Xihe was still in the hands of the Tang Dynasty. Xihe City was originally located in the north, close to Liu Wuzhou's original territory, and at this time, it was even more in the rear of the far-reaching enemy, like an isolated island in the vast ocean, ready to withstand the fierce attacks of stormy waves and storms at any time.

Haozhou Assassin Liu Jian knew that Liu Wuzhou would send troops to attack Xihe City sooner or later, so he hurried up to prepare to defend the city. He sent people to post notices, collect money and grain, recruit strong men, let people go to nearby towns to buy grain, enrich the warehouse, and organize strong men to go to the west mountain to mine stones and cut down trees for the defense of the city. In short, the preparations for the defense of Xihe City were in full swing and in an orderly manner.

On this day, Liu Jian was convening all the officials and subordinates in the hall of the government to discuss the matter of defending the city, and a subordinate hurriedly walked in and said: "Lord Assassin Shi, according to the scouts, Liu Wuzhou led 30,000 soldiers and horses to attack Xihe City, which is currently less than fifty miles away from Xihe City. ”

When the officials heard this, they couldn't help but be shocked. Everyone exchanged ears and discussions, and the lobby became boiling and noisy like boiling water.

Liu Zhen also frowned, worried. Although he expected that Liu Wuzhou would send troops to attack Xihe City, he did not expect that he would personally lead an army of 30,000 to come. Xihe City originally had 3,000 soldiers, plus more than 1,000 soldiers and horses brought by Li Zhongwen, the head of the march, but only 4,000 soldiers and horses. Seven to one, the difference in strength is too great, and the situation is not optimistic.

Liu Jian looked around the lobby, patted the case table with a startling wood, quieted the officials, and then said loudly: "Liu Wuzhou personally led the army to attack Xihe City, the situation is indeed very critical, if you colleagues have any opinions, you may as well speak out." ”

As soon as his words fell, an official with a long beard stood up and arched his hand: "Lord Assassin Shi, Liu Wuzhou's troops are too strong, the enemy is outnumbered, and Xihe City is bound to be difficult to hold, so it is better to give up the city and scatter the army, officials, and family members to the Guanzhong region to preserve their strength and make plans in the future." His words won the approval of many civil officials, who echoed them.

At this time, Li Zhongwen stood up, hugged his fists and said: "Lord Liu, Xihe City is the capital of Haozhou, with a large population and a very important geographical location, so you must not give up lightly." Hedong is the place where the Tang Dynasty royal industry arose, and the emperor will never abandon it, and will definitely send troops to recover it. If we stick to Xihe City, we can contain Liu Wuzhou's troops, and if we abandon the city of Xisa, we will enable Liu Wuzhou to get Xihe City without a fight, and there will be no worries about the future. His words were praised by many generals, and they nodded yes one after another.

In the lobby, civil officials and military generals were noisy and arguing. In the end, they all set their eyes on Liu Gan, waiting for him to make a final decision. Liu Jian pondered for a long time and said: "As a courtier of the Tang Dynasty, it is your responsibility to defend the land. Although we are trapped behind enemy lines and isolated, Xihe City must not give up! In order to defend the city, it is necessary to unify the military order, so I decided that all the soldiers and horses in the city should be uniformly dispatched by Li Zhongwen, the head of the march, and Sima Huangqi, as the deputy general, assisted General Li in commanding. Officials at other levels must fulfill their duties and ensure the supply of food, grass, and materials for the soldiers defending the city. If there is any dereliction of duty, the official will be severely punished! ……”

Liu Zhen handed over the responsibility of defending the city to Li Zhongwen, and Li Zhongwen felt a great responsibility. After leaving the Assassin's Mansion, he and Huang Qi immediately climbed the city wall to inspect the city's defenses. Xihe is a big city, the circumference of the city wall is forty miles, three zhang high, four zhang and two feet wide, and the momentum is magnificent. Due to the arrangement long ago, many soldiers on the city wall are busy, some of them are repairing the city wall, some are carrying various supplies, and there is a busy scene everywhere.

After Li Zhongwen and Huang Qi inspected for a long time, a scout came up from the road and came close to report: "General Li, Liu Wuzhou's army is still thirty miles away from Xihe City. They divided their troops into two directions, pointing to the south and north of the city. ”

Li Zhongwen nodded and said, "Got it." After the scout left, he turned to Huang Qi and said, "Huang Sima, I have carefully surveyed the terrain around Xihe City, and the Hongjiao Beach, which is five miles north of the city, is close to the mountains on one side and the water on the other, which is the choke point that the enemy army must pass through. We can send a detachment of men and horses to lie in ambush on the hill, and when the enemy army passes by, we can condescendingly charge down. The enemy army is outnumbered, and it is inevitable that we will be arrogant and underestimate the enemy, and we will never think that we will take the initiative to attack. If we take them by surprise, we can dampen the enemy's spirit and delay their siege. When Huang Qi heard this, he immediately nodded in agreement.

At the fifth watch of the night, Li Zhongwen led 2,000 soldiers out of the city and ambushed in the mountains and forests next to Hongjiaotan. The next day, the enemy's brigade appeared, only to see the flags on the official road, the armor shining, the team stretched for more than ten miles, and there was no end in sight.

When the vanguard of the enemy army passed under the hillside, Li Zhongwen ordered the drums of war to be beaten and led 2,000 soldiers to rush down the mountain. The enemy was caught off guard and was in confusion for a while. The Tang soldiers rushed into the enemy formation, and the two sides fought to the death.

Under the fierce onslaught of the Don army, the enemy's vanguard could not support it and had to retreat. All of a sudden, the enemy's brigade was crowded, trampling on each other, and making a mess. By the time they stabilized their positions and wanted to find the Tang army for a decisive battle, Li Zhongwen had already gathered his team, left the battlefield, and returned to Xihe City.

On the same day, Liu Wuzhou's 30,000 troops all arrived at Xihe City, set up camp, and surrounded Xihe City. Li Zhongwen stood on the city wall, holding the stacks in his hand, and looked into the distance, only to see the enemy's camp tents one after another, full of pits and valleys, densely packed, and there was no end in sight, which made people look at it in horror.

Liu Wuzhou attacked Xihe City this time and made full preparations. He brought with him a lot of siege equipment, such as cannons, cloud cars, crash cars, etc., everything. The cannon is a trebuchet, which is so large that it can throw a boulder of 50 pounds onto a city wall hundreds of feet away. The cloud chariot is a tall wooden tower with two hundred soldiers standing on it, and wheels at the bottom that can be pushed up to the side of the city wall, allowing the soldiers to quickly climb the city wall. A crash is a number of small carts loaded with a huge piece of wood, the spire of which is wrapped with iron sheets, which is used to hit the city gates.

The next day, as soon as the sun rose, Liu Wuzhou's army began to attack the city. Li Zhongwen stood at the head of the city, only to see the flags under the city waving, the drums shaking the sky, and countless soldiers shouting and rushing over. They carried the ladder on their shoulders, rushed to the bottom of the city to set up the ladder, and began to climb up. Some of the soldiers in the city threw arrows, and some lifted stones and logs and threw them down. Halfway up the enemy, he was hit and fell off the ladder screaming.

The enemy's cannon began to exert its might, and countless boulders flew towards the city, and one of them landed two feet away from Li Zhongwen, and happened to hit two soldiers, and immediately flesh and blood flew sideways, and the soldiers were smashed into meat sauce. The flesh and blood splashed Li Zhongwen's face, he didn't care about wiping his face, and shouted to command the battle. Several enemy soldiers climbed the city wall and fought with the Tang army. There were more and more enemies climbing up to the top of the city, and the situation was extremely critical, Li Zhongwen led a group of personal soldiers to rush over, and started hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, and finally eliminated the enemy who climbed the city wall and blocked the gap.

It was not until sunset that the enemy stopped besieging the city. The day's battle was over, and Xihe City, trembling in the brutal fighting, finally calmed down. Li Zhongwen took a few personal soldiers to inspect the city, and everywhere he went, it was a mess, many places were smashed by boulders, the soldiers were lying or sitting, and some seriously injured soldiers were crying out in pain.

Li Zhongwen and Huang Qi each had their own division of labor, and he was responsible for the defense of the city from the east gate to the west gate. He roughly estimated that about one-third of the soldiers in his defense area were killed or wounded, and this was only the first day, and more fierce fighting was yet to come. How long can it be sustained like this? Thinking about this, he couldn't help but feel very worried.

At this time, he saw Liu Gan leading many people up the city along the road, including strong men, women and old people. As soon as the strong men came up, they began to repair the walls, and the women and the old men brought food. They distributed food to the soldiers, and some women bandaged the wounds and fed the wounded. Seeing all this, Li Zhongwen felt a little relieved.

He found that Liu Zhen was walking towards him, and hurriedly greeted him, hugged his fists and said, "Lord Liu." After returning the salute, Liu Jian said, "General Li, how is the situation?" ”

"It's okay, it's just that there are more casualties among the soldiers."

Liu Zhen nodded and said, "Starting today and tomorrow, this official will recruit and send young and middle-aged people in the city to assist you in defending the city." ”

The next day, the enemy army launched a cloud car to attack the city. The cloud chariot was huge, full of elite soldiers, pushed by many soldiers, and moved towards the city walls. Li Zhongwen ordered the soldiers to shoot the enemy in the cart with arrows, but the enemy used a shield to cover it, so it could not effectively kill and injure the enemy, so it could not stop the advance of the cloud cart. The cloud chariot was slightly higher than the city wall, and once it reached the wall, the soldiers on it would jump down and fight for the city's head.

The cloud car slowly approached, and Li Zhongwen was so anxious that fine sweat broke out on his forehead. At this time, he occasionally turned his head and happened to see Liu Zhen with a team of strong men on the top of the city. The strong men carried three wooden poles three zhang long and thick bowls, two of which had iron hooks installed at the front end, and an iron cage at the front of the other wooden pole, Li Zhongwen did not know what these wooden poles were for.

Liu Zhen instructed Zhuang Ding to stretch out the two wooden poles with iron hooks and hook the cloud chariot. This kind of iron hook is specially made, with a hidden lock on it, once hooked, it is locked, and the cloud car can neither move forward nor backward. In the iron cage at the front of another wooden pole was a brazier, flamed and stretched out to burn the cloud chariot. After a while, the cloud cart was ignited, and a raging fire ignited. The soldiers on the cloud cart were on fire and screamed. Some of the soldiers could not bear the scorching flames, and jumped from the cloud cart several feet high, and their condition was very miserable.

Li Zhongwen walked up to Liu Zhen and said happily: "Lord Liu, your method is really good!" Liu Jian nodded with a smile and said, "I expected that the enemy would use cloud vehicles, so I gathered craftsmen and rushed to make a batch of such defensive equipment, and it seems that the effect is not bad." ”

When the enemy failed to attack the city with a cloud car, he slammed the city gate with a crashing car. The gates of the city were gradually broken by the violent impact of the woods, and they were about to crack open. Liu Jian commanded and ordered the demolition of the houses near the city gate and the reinforcement of the city gate with wood. Later, the enemy poured oil on the city gates and set fire to them. Liu Jian simply asked people to completely block the city gate with stones, bricks, and mud......

The battle for the defense of Xihe City lasted for more than two months, and when the battle was at its fiercest, the enemy attacked the city from all sides, day and night, and the tragedy of the battle was indescribable.

Li Zhongwen had been holding on to the city for more than two months, wearing armor no matter eating or sleeping, and when he was wounded, he bandaged it, and then continued to command the battle. The soldiers were even more exhausted, and almost all of them were wounded. To make matters worse, there were only 1,000 men left in the city, the arrows had run out, the stones, logs, etc., had long since run out, the houses near the city walls had almost been demolished, and many people had slept on the streets, and they could no longer demolish their houses. But if they don't demolish the houses, what will they do to stop the enemy from attacking the city?

In the evening, when Liu Zhen went to the city to inspect, Li Zhongwen told him about the difficulties. Liu Jian was silent for a moment, and said: "When the people in the city celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, there are a lot of old mugwort left in their homes. When Li Zhongwen heard this, his eyes lit up, and he hurriedly said then try it.

The next day, a large number of mugwort was transported to the city, tied into a silk handle, poured grease, and thrown down when the enemy attacked the city. Sure enough, the enemy was burned and screamed, and had to retreat.

That night, Li Zhongwen accompanied Liu Zhen to inspect the city. The two of them walked to a battlement and stood still, looking into the distance. There was a half-moon hanging in the sky, and a few stars were twinkling. It is a great blessing to be able to enjoy the tranquility of this night on the brutal battlefield.

The faint light of the stars and moon shone on the camp tent of the enemy army under the city, and Li Zhongwen pointed with his hand: "Lord Liu, after a few days of observation, I found that Liu Wuzhou's Chinese army tent is next to the forest in the southeast, and I plan to lead five hundred soldiers out of the city tomorrow night and attack his camp tent." ”

"The gates have been sealed, how do you get out of the city?"

"With a rope."

"Okay, Liu Wuzhou never imagined that we would be able to take the initiative to attack at this moment, just to take him by surprise."

At three watches the next night, Liu Wuzhou was sleeping soundly in the tent when he was suddenly awakened by a noise. He got up with a bone, and a guard broke into the big tent and said in a panic: "Your Majesty, it's not good, the Tang army is here!" ”

Liu Wuzhou didn't bother to put on his armor, and immediately ran out of the tent and evacuated under the protection of several guards. At this time, a group of Tang troops rushed over, and when Liu Wu saw it, he turned around and ran. There was also a person rushing over from the opposite side, and there was a knife in the head, but fortunately he flashed quickly, otherwise his head would have been opened. Rao was like this, and he was still stabbed in the shoulder. The guards rushed forward, killed the Tang soldier, and protected him from his haste to escape......

Liu Wuzhou's Chinese tent was attacked, and several of his close generals were killed in battle. Liu Wuzhou himself was injured and had to return to Mayi to recuperate, handing over the command to his general Huang Ziying. After Liu Wuzhou left, the enemy's offensive weakened significantly. Four months later, Song Jingang, who was confronting his second brother at Baibi, was in a disadvantageous position, and Liu Wuzhou ordered Huang Ziying to lead an army to support.

Liu Wuzhou's army withdrew, and the defense of Xihe City finally won the final victory.