Tibet

Hu Lie pondered for a moment and asked, "What the army outside wants to know most is whether Tian Shenyu has any intention or preparation to set fire to the city?" The shopkeeper nodded, "This is the important information I want to give you. Tian Shenyu has arranged 32 ignition points in the city. Once he is defeated, he will set the whole city on fire and let all the people in the city be buried with him. It can be said that he is crazy." The shopkeeper took out a map and handed it to Hu Lie, "The 32 ignition points are marked in detail." Hu Lie put away the map. He was also a little worried. There are hundreds of thousands of people in Taiyuan City. If the whole city is on fire, these hundreds of thousands of people will be in danger. "Do you think Tian Shenyu's army will execute such a crazy order?"

"Their personal soldiers will definitely execute it, but other soldiers may not, but as long as there are 32 personal soldiers squatting at the ignition point, they will definitely ignite the fire once they receive the order."

At this point, the shopkeeper frowned and said, "The key is, how can you get out of the city to deliver the letter?"

Hu Lie smiled and said, "I am now a captured civilian laborer, participating in the control of the catapult. I will be on duty in the second half of the night tonight. Can I sneak out of the city?"

The shopkeeper knew that Hu Lie's parents had passed away. Although he had brothers and sisters, they were not in Taiyuan City. He would not implicate his family if he went out of the city.

"Take care of yourself. The information is very important and must be delivered to the commander."

Hu Lie nodded, got up and left.

At three o'clock in the morning, the guards were changed on the top of the city, and a large number of soldiers and civilians went up to the city to take over their posts.

The four generals secretly came to a private house. This private house was the home of one of the generals. His parents, wife and children were all at home.

Four generals sat down in the study. One of them took out a letter from his bosom. The letters of the others were confiscated, but this letter was preserved. The general stuffed it into the crack of the wall. Tian Shenyu's personal soldiers came to search him, but they didn't find it.

The four took turns to read the letter written by Li Ye, the regent, to the soldiers in the city. One general said: "If Tian Shenyu wants to die, that's his business. No one will stop him, but if he wants to drag the whole city to be buried with him, that's not okay."

"That's right. We all have family members in the city. If he wants to die, will my children have to die with him?"

The four generals were all former subordinates of Tian Shengong. Their families were all in the city. Common interests brought them together.

"No matter what, as long as the Tang army enters the city, we must immediately stop Tian Shenyu from setting fire, especially controlling the kerosene depot is the key."

Tian Shenyu's kerosene depot is located next to the government office in the north of the city. It was originally a grain depot, which was requisitioned by Tian Shenyu to store kerosene. Because kerosene is too dangerous, Tian Shenyu dare not put it together with other grain and grass supplies, but put it alone in a warehouse.

The four people immediately stated that for the sake of their own lives and the lives of their families, they must strictly prevent Tian Shenyu from using kerosene to burn the city.

At dawn the next day, Guo Ziyi sent someone to invite several generals to his tent. He smiled and said to everyone: "I'm sorry to disturb your rest last night. At four o'clock last night, one of our scouts in the city ventured out of the city to deliver a letter and brought us this!" Guo Ziyi spread a map on the table, "This is important information obtained by the intelligence station in the city. Tian Shenyu arranged 32 ignition points in the city. It is said that there is one of his personal soldiers at each ignition point." The three of them looked at the map together. Gao Xiuyan frowned and said: "They are scattered, basically in residential areas!" Guo Ziyi nodded, "There are two key issues here. First, when did he notify the ignition soldiers; second, how did he notify the ignition soldiers? As long as we grasp these two key points, we can minimize the losses." Everyone has reached a consensus that it is impossible to attack Taiyuan without losses. They can only do their best to minimize the losses. "Tian Shenyu must have ordered the whole city to be set on fire only after the situation was hopeless. The way he gave the order was nothing more than launching rockets, so we could buy a little time." Guo Ziyi said in a deep voice: "We must set up 32 special teams, each with 100 people, preferably cavalry, each responsible for one target, and rush over as quickly as possible to eliminate the risk." At this time, Tian Shengong pointed to the northeast of the city and said: "This is Cangcheng, there is a beacon tower inside, and the whole city can see it when the beacon tower is lit. If Tian Shenyu wants to set the whole city on fire, then lighting the beacon tower is the best signal." Guo Ziyi nodded, "Then don't rush to attack Cangcheng, to prevent them from jumping off the wall in desperation and lighting the beacon tower in advance. It won't be too late to attack Cangcheng after we have removed all 32 ignition points." Guo Ziyi glanced at everyone again and said: "The attack on Taiyuan cannot be delayed any longer. I will attack at two o'clock tonight. Do you have any opinions?" Before two o'clock, tens of thousands of Tang cavalry slowly approached the city wall along both sides of the Fen River, and finally stopped two miles away from the city wall. Tens of thousands of Tang soldiers held torches, lighting up both sides of the Fen River like daylight.

An ice wall was built on the Fen River, filled with mud and sand bags, about two feet high, and connected to the city wall on both sides.

Two thousand barrels of kerosene and countless hay were scattered behind the ice wall, including in the river and on both sides, stretching for a mile. Even if the enemy attacked the ice wall and rushed into the city, they would be greeted by a fire trap.

There were twenty catapults on both sides of the city, with huge stones in their hurling bags, ready for battle.

Soldiers stood around the catapults, and similarly, soldiers stood on both sides of the Fen River in the city.

Tian Shenyu stood on the top of the city, sneering in his heart. He had long known that the enemy must attack the Fen River and rush into the city with sled boats full of soldiers.

He had the most powerful kerosene weapon, so how could he let the enemy get what they wanted?

At this time, Guo Ziyi gave an order, and thousands of crossbowmen rushed out and fired arrows at the top of the city together. The arrows shot towards the top of the city like locusts.

The civilians and soldiers at the top of the city squatted down one after another, and the trebuchets and bows and arrows on the top of the city also fired. Arrows shot down from the top of the city like a rapid rain, mixed with twenty boulders. Although the range was only one hundred and fifty steps, But the inertia was strong, and the boulder hit the ice heavily, roaring towards the crowd of Tang Army soldiers.

Two huge rocks smashed into the crowd. The Tang army soldiers were unable to dodge and were knocked over dozens of people.

The other soldiers realized that the ice was unsafe and moved to shore.

It was already two o'clock in the morning, and the Tang army suddenly switched to rockets. Countless arrows were shot into Fenhe City, and the river suddenly burst into flames.

"Damn it!"

Tian Shenyu cursed secretly, the other party actually saw through the fire trap he had set.

At this time, a soldier rushed over, knelt down on one knee and reported, "Lord, there are troops gathering outside the east city!"

Tian Shenyu was immediately surprised. Is Dongcheng the enemy's real attack point?

The more he thought about it, the more likely it became. The other party must have known that there was kerosene on the river for a long time, but they were reluctant to use rockets just to buy Dongcheng time.

Tian Shenyu was very anxious and immediately ordered: "Except Nancheng, the troops from other cities must gather towards Dongcheng!"

He also got on his horse, rushed down the corridor, and rushed towards the east city with thousands of people.

At this time, soldiers from all walks of life were running towards the east city. Tian Shenyu had just rushed to the city gate when he heard 'Boom! Boom! Boom! ’ There were three earth-shattering explosions in a row.

The whole ground was shaking, the explosion was deafening, and many soldiers were unable to stand and fell to the ground.

Tian Shen Yuxin fell into the abyss. He suddenly turned back and looked towards Beicheng. He saw thick smoke filling the sky above Beicheng, forming three huge mushroom clouds.