The Zhenjiang army decisively abandoned the defensive line and withdrew from Liangzhou, which completely failed the Turks' plan to outflank them. After Ashina Zhijin learned about this, he couldn't help but be disappointed.

He didn't expect that Xu Youchang would be so clever and carry the fierce offensive of Roña for nearly a month, obviously he had stabilized his position, but he actually said that he would leave, and he almost jumped out of the encirclement he had carefully set up.

It's like a fire fox on the grassland, with an extremely sensitive sense of smell, it smells the smell of the interspersed troops in advance.

However, the people didn't stay, and it was okay to take Liangzhou.

This was also important for the morale of the Turks.

Ashina Zhijin specially sent envoys to the front line, commended the meritorious soldiers, including the Prince of the Temple, Ronia, and encouraged them to continue to fight bravely and strive to recapture Zijin Pass and Shengyu Pass as soon as possible.

You must know that these two places are important checkpoints behind the Turks, and they are the throat arteries connecting the ghost desert of Western Xinjiang and even the Western Continent. Snatching it into the hands is equivalent to opening up the qi veins of the Turkic Eastern Expeditionary Army, and the supply of troops and materials will be replenished in a steady stream, and the initiative of the entire war will also be re-grasped by Ashina.

Conversely, the Turks will be slowly choked by the throat until they suffocate to death.

Now that Liangzhou has been occupied again, there is an advance base for attacking Zijin Pass, and the next thing is Zijin Pass!

Ashina told Roya that the opportunity to attack Zijin Pass was actually very short. On the one hand, Li Jiangyao must also be desperately deploying troops and strengthening the defense force at this time, and the longer the time drags on, the more difficult it will be to fight Zijin Pass; On the other hand, Helian Xiong's troops are stubbornly defending Wuguan, and with the arrival of the main force of Jingxiang's army, the battle will inevitably become more and more intense, and Li Bing has recently shown signs of counterattack, and it is difficult to predict how long King Huaiyang can hold him back.

Once the situation in the east became unfavorable to the Turks, the strategic opportunity to storm Zijin Pass was basically over.

When that time comes, they will really face the dilemma of being attacked on their backs.

In view of this, Ashina Jin assigned the Condor and Ghost Dou armies responsible for the outflanking task to the command of Ronia, and at the same time sent an additional 100,000 subordinate troops from the Western Xinjiang to support, plus the original Turkic soldiers and horses, the strength of the Temple Prince Ronia was expanded to 300,000.

With such a strength, even attacking the Holy Tang Emperor is almost enough, not to mention a small pass fortress.

Ronald felt the heavy responsibility on her shoulders and did not dare to slack off. While mobilizing troops and horses to steadily advance in the direction of Zijin Pass, he adopted Prince Tanley's suggestion and concentrated resources on manufacturing all kinds of siege equipment.

In half a month, 20 giant nest cars, 80 long-range trebuchets, 110 ladders, and five extremely sturdy storming vehicles were all delivered.

If people who don't know the situation look at first glance, they still think that this is not a Turkic army, but the Holy Tang Army attacking Wuguan.

In the face of the enemy army that was approaching the city and was determined to win, Zijin Pass was also riveting all the preparations.

Three hundred large trebuchets with larger sizes and longer ranges were lined up in Zijin Pass, and the stone and oil bombs next to them were piled up as high as a hill. Thirty or forty bucket trucks, pulled by chains and equipped with slides underneath, could also quickly transport more ammunition from the rear warehouse to the trebuchet at any time.

One hundred and fifty giant crossbows covered the city of Zijin Pass. Large crossbow arrows resembling javelins were placed in bundles behind the base of the giant crossbow, and the arrows shone with a dazzling light.

On the ground in front of Zijin Pass, three trenches have been dug out by the Zhenjiang army, each trench is four meters wide and two meters deep, and the bottom of the ditch is full of sharp wooden stakes.

And the most exaggerated thing is the city wall.

As the western gateway of Shengtang, Zijin Pass has always been a defense against the west but not the east, so the city wall on the east side of the fortress has always had the problem of insufficient defense. In order to resist the counterattack of the Turks, the Zhenjiang army gave full play to the spirit of "either do not do it, or do it absolutely", and on the basis of the original city wall in the east, a higher and thicker city wall was added.

This wall is all made of large bluestone strips three feet long, with rammed earth and rice milk glued, which is so strong that it is unreasonable.

It includes eight arrow towers and two city gates, which are completely in accordance with the standards of the imperial capital.

The silver spent on the construction of this new city wall alone made Li Jiangyao secretly distressed for several days.

In addition, the defensive strength of Zijin Pass is unprecedented.

The 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th armies of Zhenjiang, with 200,000 main forces, gathered at Zijin Pass, which had the momentum of a decisive battle.

Of course, Li Jiangyao not only kept an eye on Zijin Pass, but he also did not relax at the Shengyu Pass in the south.

Strengthen the fortifications of the city wall, increase the large-scale combat equipment, all the actions are the same as the Zijin Pass, and at the same time dispatch the second and fourth armies of Zhenjiang, 100,000 soldiers and horses are ready to wait for the Turks to appear in front of Shengyu Pass.

"Dadu Hu, according to this level of preparation, let alone Ronia, even if Ashina is a royal driver, he won't be able to get any good." The Turkic Gemar Khan stood at the head of Zijin Pass and flattered him.

Li Jiangyao looked at the flag looming on the eastern horizon and said in a deep voice: "Gemar Khan, do you know how many people I have been mentally prepared for this time? ”

Gema was slightly stunned: "Uh...... How much? ”

"At least a hundred thousand, or...... One hundred and fifty thousand. Li Jiangyao's sword eyebrows tightened.

Gema was surprised: "So many?! You...... Are you going to fill in half of the Zhenjiang Army? ”

Li Jiangyao bowed slightly: "The premise is to be able to hold the Zijin Pass." If you can't hold here, the entire Zhenjiang army will have to get in. ”

Gema secretly sighed that Li Jiangyao was ruthless enough, and asked at the same time: "Dadu Hu, I don't know what kind of dispatch you asked me to send here, do you need the help of the Yakut Legion?" ”

Li Jiangyao smiled when he heard this: "That's not necessary. I promised you that I would leave some seeds for the Nightwheels......"

"Dadu Protector, this time and that time," Gema said sincerely, "Since your forgiveness, the Zhenjiang Army has been very good to us, not only without any humiliation or abuse, but also trying their best to ensure our living supplies. To be honest, my people and I are very grateful for this. Now that the army of Ronia is pressing, if you can win, it means that we will win, and if you lose, we will also be doomed. Everyone has long been one, and we should have fought side by side with the same enemy. ”

Li Jiangyao nodded: "I'm very pleased that you can think so." However, it is really not yet the time for the Yakutia Legion to go into battle. I have asked you to come here to help me with your familiarity with the Turkic army. Incidentally...... You can also persuade the Condor Clan and the Ghost Fighting Clan not to follow Ashina Zhijin to the dark. ”

"That's absolutely fine!" Gema patted her chest and laughed: "Don't hide it from the capital, the opposite is Ronia, if it is replaced by Prince Chili to lead the troops, I may be able to pull him over directly for you, hahaha." ”

Li Jiangyao was very helpless by his stupid appearance, shook his head and said, "Then I don't count on it." Gemar Khan, let's talk about jokes, and we have to hurry up when we get down to business. You go write a few letters now, and send your men to secretly send them to the generals of the Condor Clan and the Ghost Fighting Clan, so that they can know what you have experienced. You don't have to try to persuade you to surrender, you just need to make contact. ”

Gema said "yes" and left happily.

Looking at his back, Xu Youchang on the side couldn't help but say, "Jiang Yao, will it be useful to do this?" Can the Condor Clan and the Ghost Fighting Clan listen to him? ”

"It will be useful," Li Jiangyao smiled faintly: "I don't want the Condor Clan and the Ghost Fighting Clan to defect, but I want the Prince of the Temple to be suspicious of them." Once the seeds of vigilance were planted, the Turkic armies were no longer monolithic. ”

Xu Youchang gave a thumbs up convincingly: "You are still ruthless." ”

Li Jiangyao turned his head behind him and asked, "Are the representatives of Western Xinjiang here?" ”

"It's all here," Situ Wushou responded: "According to the order of the lord, all countries have sent weighty figures, either prime ministers or princes, Shule and Chechi are the most serious, Shule Prince Tani and Chechi King Gehan came in person. ”

Yudra on the side continued: "Not only them, but the Pope of the Flower God Sect specially ordered the four Dharma Protector Elders to come and say that they will fully cooperate with our army's actions. ”

Li Jiangyao smiled with satisfaction: "Okay, with these people coming forward, the 100,000 subordinate troops in Western Xinjiang don't have to worry." ”

"Do you want them to write to us now?" Situ Wushou asked.

"Don't worry," Li Jiang looked into the distance: "Let Gema play a role first, after the Turks themselves are full of suspicions, it will be convenient for Western Xinjiang to act." ”

-

The Prince of the Temple, Ronia, sat in the tent, his expression was a little solemn, he swept his gaze over everyone, and said in a deep voice, "Does anyone else want to express their opinion?" ”

"I don't agree with the second prince's idea."

The person who spoke was Geshu Beichuan, the chief general of the Ghost Fighting Clan. He is the younger brother of the patriarch of the Ghost Fighting Clan, the third uncle of Ge Shuxuan, brave and good at fighting, and has always been responsible for commanding the army of the Ghost Fighting Clan to fight outside.

I only heard him continue to speak: "No matter how strong Zijin Pass is, can it still be stronger than the Holy Tang Imperial Capital? At the beginning, under the leadership of the eldest prince, we fought fiercely for a month and a half, and didn't we trample the imperial capital under our feet? ”

Tan Li sneered when he heard this, and was about to open his mouth to reprimand Geshu Beichuan, but Yun Qianxue, who was sitting next to him, was afraid that he would offend people, so he hurriedly said: "Lord Geshu, the situation in the imperial capital is completely incomparable with that of Zijin Pass. Although the fortifications of the imperial capital looked very powerful, it covered an extremely large area, with hundreds of thousands of defenders scattered on the defensive line, completely diluted, and there were only a few troops in each section of the battlefield. We, as the attackers, can attack from all sides and make them exhausted. ”

He paused slightly, and said to Ronia, "Zijin Pass is just the opposite. It was built in a precarious place, with only the eastern wall facing us, and the length of the entire front was no more than five miles, and the besieging troops could hardly even spread out their offensive formation. Looking at the enemy again, there are three trenches, two layers of city walls, more than 200,000 troops stationed in the garrison, and countless large-scale combat equipment and grain and grass materials......"

"That's enough, Yun Qianxue," Ronia waved her hand: "I'm not asking you if the Zijin Pass is difficult to fight, but asking how you fight." ”