Tibet

To Li Ye's surprise, Shang Jiezan was not fooled and did not abandon the city and come out to fight with him, but continued to defend the city.

General Li Fei Shouyu whispered: "Jiedu Envoy, perhaps Shang Jiezan received the eagle letter from Xiao Bolu and knows the number of our troops."

Li Ye shook his head. This possibility was unlikely. He had already sent people to search Xiaobolu, and there was no sign of raising eagles. It was possible that General Xiaobolu had sent people to report in advance.

Since he refused to fight, it was okay. Li Ye immediately sent people back to summon the entire army. The army set up camp three miles away from the royal city.

It was already May, spring had completely entered Dabolu, and the climate was warm. The Tang Army scouts soon discovered a large pine forest at the foot of the mountain more than 20 miles away.

Li Ye immediately sent three thousand troops to cut down the trees. In the evening, the troops came back and used camels to drag back hundreds of century-old pine trees.

The pine trees here grow tall and straight, perfect for making large siege ladders.

The Tang army carried a large amount of materials for making siege ladders. They tied up dozens of thick pieces of wood with belts and ropes, fixed them with large iron nails, and nailed wooden stalls one by one. Two large iron hooks were installed in front of them. The huge staircase, which is 10 feet high, is finally completed.

This kind of ladder looks very rough, but it is very simple and practical. It is like a bridge built directly on the top of the city. Soldiers run on it and can resist arrows. It is like a huge shield. If there is a moat, It can be put directly on the river. The ladder is very heavy and it is difficult for the defenders at the top of the city to overturn it.

The ladder is very wide, so siege soldiers can run on it without being knocked off the ladder easily.

The only drawback is that the number is not too large and the requirements for trees are relatively high, but this is not a problem here in Dabolu.

The height of Dabolu's city wall was less than three feet, but Li Ye required that the length of the ladder be five feet, which was one foot longer than the previous length of four feet. Although the ladder became longer, the slope became gentler.

Don't underestimate this short length of one foot. It can greatly reduce the impact of rolling logs and rocks. Soldiers can resist them with heavy shields. This is also the accumulation of experience in sieges.

Overnight, the Tang army set up ten siege ladders.

At night, Shang Jiezan stood on the top of the city and stared at the Tang Army's camp not far away. The Tang Army's camp was stationed in the east, with the obvious intention of intercepting their retreat eastward.

A corner of the camp was brightly lit, and countless figures were shaking. This was obviously the Tang army building siege weapons.

Shang Jiezan's eyes were very nervous. He did not expect that the Tang army would have 30,000 troops, and he only had 7,000 men. This battle would probably be a disaster, unless the Tang army made a huge mistake, but judging from the current deployment, The Tang army's general arranged everything so that hundreds of Tang army scouts were closely monitoring the Tibetan army's every move around the city. If there was any slightest movement, they would be discovered. It would be almost impossible to sneak attack the Tang army at night, and they would only suffer a disastrous defeat.

Shang Jiezan secretly regretted that if he had known this, he would have given up on Dabolu and led his army back to Tibet. Although Dabolu could not be saved, at least 7,000 troops could be saved.

Seven thousand Tubo troops! Nowadays, the population of Tubo has dropped sharply, and almost all young men have joined the army. At least 200,000 to 300,000 people have been killed every year. This is really an unbearable loss for Tibet, which has only 2 million people.

The current 7,000 troops are so precious. If all 7,000 troops are destroyed, plus the loss of Xiao Bolu, the entire Tubo may only have tens of thousands troops left. Where will there be troops to march westward?

Shang Jiezan felt really regretful, as one thought on his part might lead to the total destruction of the 7,000-strong army.

General Sanjay noticed the coach's worry and whispered: "Why don't we withdraw under the cover of night!"

Shang Jiezan shook his head, "The night is a trap for us. The Tang army hopes that we will withdraw at night. Our entire army will be destroyed in the dark."

Tubo soldiers are notoriously not good at night fighting. The proportion of soldiers suffering from night blindness is quite high, reaching almost half. If the Tubo soldiers break through at night, as long as they are surrounded by the Tang army, it will definitely be the result of the total destruction of the entire army.

Another important reason is that Tubo soldiers are not good at riding and shooting. Although most soldiers have horses, they are just for transportation. When they go to the battlefield, they will dismount and fight in groups.

Breaking through at night and being intercepted by the Tang army, is that a fight or not? If you want to fight, you have to dismount. What will happen to the horses? If you run away without fighting, you will still be killed by the Tang army's cavalry.

Shang Jiezan knew very well that once the opportunity passed, he would never get it again. He sighed and said, "order the whole army to have a good rest. Tomorrow will be a bloody battle!"

At dawn, in the Tang Army’s camp, ‘Boom! Boom! Boom! ’ The war drums sounded, and at the same time, a low trumpet sound also sounded in the city of King Dabolud.

Groups of Tibetan soldiers rushed to the city, and 7,000 soldiers filled the city.

The population of Dabolu is very small, only about 10,000 people. Most of them live outside the city. This is mainly because tens of thousands of Tibetan troops are stationed here for a long time, which requires Dabolu to provide logistics support, which seriously restricts Dabolu's national strength. , there is not enough food, the population cannot breed, there is a serious lack of nutrition, and many children will not grow up to adulthood.

With a low birth rate and a high death rate, in just a dozen years, the population of Dabolu has dropped sharply from more than 30,000 to just over 10,000 now, and the former two thousand army has also perished.

The young men were farming outside the city, and the city was full of old, weak, women and children. The Tibetan army, let alone capturing young men, could not even find young women to provide logistics. There were only more than a hundred middle-aged women who cooked for them.

The Tang army's tents were dismantled, and 30,000 Tang troops formed a formation outside the East City and South City.

Li Ye led 15,000 troops to attack the east city, and Li Siye also led 15,000 Anxi troops to attack the south city. Both walls had gates.

Li Ye waved his sword and ordered: "Heavy shield troops cover, throw fire!"

Two thousand heavy-shield soldiers lined up forward, and each two heavy-shield soldiers were followed by a fire-breathing hand. Even if two shields were used to defend three people, it was almost enough.

The heavy shield soldiers were arranged in forty rows every fifty men.

They began to move forward amidst the thundering sound of war drums.

At the same time, the Tang army in Nancheng also began to advance in formation. This was Li Ye's deployment last night. Every detail must be executed in accordance with Li Ye's deployment.

The reason why Li Ye did not deploy crossbowmen was because the Tubo army's slingers were more powerful and posed a great threat to the undefended crossbowmen. Even the heavy armored infantry suffered heavy losses, let alone the crossbowmen.

Li Ye must first see the range of the opponent's slingshot before deciding how to use the crossbowman.

Sure enough, when the soldiers of the Tang Army advanced about 200 steps, fist-sized stones from the top of the city came like raindrops, hitting their shields hard. The soldiers with heavy shields squatted down to resist the intensive stones from the top of the city.

The catapult's range was two hundred steps. Li Ye immediately ordered: "Heavy crossbowmen attack!"

"Woo——"

The low horn sounded, the blue flag waved, and the generals of Nancheng and Dongcheng simultaneously ordered two thousand heavy crossbowmen each to press forward.

The heavy crossbowman fired a five-stone crossbow, which required two people to lie on the ground and pedal hard at the same time to pull the crossbow arrows apart. They loaded the heavy arrows and fired at the city head from 350 steps away.

Two thousand heavy arrows were fired at the catapult at the top of the city at the same time. After two rounds of arrows, the effect appeared, and the originally dense slings suddenly became sparse.

Under the cover of the heavy crossbow troops, the heavy shield soldiers got up again and continued to advance.

Six thousand ordinary crossbowmen were dispatched to fire arrows at the top of the two cities. It was very organized. The heavy crossbowmen were to deal with the slings, while the ordinary crossbowmen were to deal with the Tibetan soldiers on the top of the city. Bow and arrow, suppress the opponent.

At this time, a thousand fire-breathing hands began to run.