Tibet

Wuguan is also a gate city. The city wall is about three miles in circumference. It is higher in the south and lower in the north. There are two buildings in the city. One is a stone building, which contains warehouses, water houses, kitchens, stables, etc. This is fixed. of.

The other type is tents. Because there are many soldiers and Guancheng is too small, the tents must be put away during the day to free up space, and tents can be set up at night.

There are currently a total of 2,000 troops in the city. They are strictly guarding against the Jianghan Army. If the Jianghan Army does not break through the siege method and still uses siege ladders or battering rams to hit the gate, then even if the Jianghan Army finally captures Guancheng, there will be no casualties. It would be very disastrous, and at least it would cost more than 10,000 people killed in battle.

Li Ye had already considered this. He considered two plans. The first was to attack the city with fire. This was the primary plan.

If this plan fails, he will adopt the second plan, sending a surprise force to go west along the Han River, walking about three hundred miles, and then go north from Shangjin County, take a small road to Fengyang County, and finally to Shangluo County. This is The other road into Shangzhou is a small road, which is not easy to walk, but cavalry can also be used, and then attacking Wuguan from the north will be much easier.

At this time, fifty fire kites flew into the city, suddenly burned up, turned into firebirds, and rushed into various places in the city.

Immediately afterwards, the second group also crossed the city head, flew into the city, and burned again. The big tent was ignited. Fortunately, it was a winter leather tent, not a wool tent, so it would not burn into one piece, but there were still dozens of halls. After being set on fire, the soldiers in the city were in chaos and fled from the tent one after another. Many of the soldiers were barefoot and in a state of embarrassment.

General Wang Enzhao rushed out of the tent and shouted: "General Wei leads a thousand soldiers to the city from the north. The other soldiers follow me to the south city to defend. The Tang army is about to attack the city!"

Wang Enzhao was not stupid at all. He immediately realized that the Tang army was about to attack the city, but the south city head could only accommodate a thousand people at most, so half of the people evacuated to the east and west city heads to avoid the fire, and the other one thousand people went to the south city.

"Follow me barefooted!" Lieutenant General Wei Wenzhong led hundreds of people to rush towards Beicheng.

Wang Enzhao led 700 people and just rushed to Nancheng. Suddenly, countless fireballs flew from the sky and crackled on the top of the city. The top of the city suddenly burst into flames.

Wang Enzhao was shocked and shouted: "Everyone, be careful and use your shields to resist!"

But the shields were useless. The Tang army fired more than one batch of fireballs, and then batches of fireballs hit the city. The city was full of flames, and the soldiers looked for places without fire to hide.

At this moment, streams of black spray came up from the city. Many soldiers were unable to dodge and were sprayed all over their faces. Then, their bodies began to burn. The burning soldiers yelled in fear and tried their best to attack the city. After running, they soon fell to the ground and curled up because of the burning. Some soldiers could not bear the pain of burning and jumped directly into the city, falling to death on the spot.

Wang Enzhao was stunned. He thought of something and looked down the city. He saw that the city was full of black Tang troops, spraying black oil with something like a bamboo pipe.

'puff! 'A jet of black oil just sprayed on Wang Enzhao's face. He couldn't open his eyes immediately. There was a pungent smell. He hurriedly wiped his face with his clothes, but suddenly there was burning pain on his face, body and arms. All caught fire.

"Ah!" Wang Enzhao screamed and ran, falling into the fire. After struggling a few times, he was completely engulfed by the fire.

More and more soldiers turned into burning men on the top of the city. Other soldiers were so frightened that they fled towards the East City and West City. Soon, there were no guards on the South City.

Pei Xiu had already led three thousand troops to appear at the city gate. He ordered: "Break open the city gate!"

There is a three-foot-wide dry ditch in front of Wuguan, and a heavy and wide suspension bridge is pulled up by thick iron chains on the top of the city. This is mainly to protect the city gate. The Tang army has prepared a huge battering ram, and the last step is to break open the city gate. A good idea, but the prerequisite for hitting the city gate is to lower the suspension bridge.

The Tang army had laid wooden planks on the ditch. A dozen soldiers carried a siege ladder and rushed across the ditch. They set up the siege ladder at the head of the city and hooked the city wall with the iron hook at the front. More than 20 soldiers Climbing up the city with a wet quilt on his back, Pei Xiu ordered the soldiers to continue to add fuel to both ends of Guancheng to prevent the enemy troops on the east and west walls from coming back.

A burly soldier took the lead and climbed to the top of the city. He used a shield to protect himself. The smoke was billowing from the top of the city. It was impossible for any enemy soldiers to be there. Even if there were any, they would be smoked to death.

The leading soldier spread out strips of wet bedding, the fire was extinguished, and the smoke began to fade. He jumped up to the top of the city, paved the way with wet bedding, and soon came to the console.

The pulley controlling the suspension bridge was stuck by an iron rod. Another soldier rushed forward and knocked off the iron rod with a hammer. The suspension bridge rumbled down and landed on the dry ditch.

At this time, several soldiers on the top of the city worked together to slowly pull out an iron bolt weighing a thousand kilograms. This iron bolt was the key. This iron bolt controlled the gate, unless the gate was completely smashed. , otherwise the city gate will definitely not be able to be opened.

The soldier waved down, and Pei Xiu shouted: "Up the battering ram!"

One hundred soldiers held a huge battering ram, at least seven feet in diameter and five feet long. It was equipped with an iron ram at the front and weighed several thousand kilograms.

The soldiers shouted, rushed up the drawbridge with the battering ram in their arms, and rushed straight to the gate. "Boom!" There was a muffled sound, the gate shook violently, and dust fell.

"Come again!"

The soldiers stepped back dozens of steps, rushed forward again, and once again the battering ram hit the city gate hard.

Without the iron door bolt, there was only a wooden bolt at the bottom of the city gate. With a dull impact, the wooden door bolt under the city gate broke with a "click!" The gate opened with a bang, and the siege soldiers rushed in. Inside the city.

"Kill!"

Three thousand Tang troops rushed into Wuguan with shouts, and Wuguan fell.

At dawn the next day, Li Ye led the army into Wuguan in a mighty manner.

Pei Xiu brought Wei Wenzhong, deputy general of the city guard, over. Wei Wenzhong was blocked by the Tang army in the west city and had to surrender with his army.

"The guilty general Wei Wenzhong will be brought before His Highness King Lu!"

Wei Wenzhong knelt down and kowtowed. He was a surrendered general from Tongguan and was really afraid of being liquidated.

"Isn't the defender the Youzhou Army?"

When Li Ye saw more than a thousand soldiers surrendering, he knelt down in panic, completely unlike the brave soldiers of the Youzhou Army.

"Reporting to Your Highness, we were originally the Longyou Army. We were cornered during the Battle of Tongguan and were forced to surrender to the State of Yan."

"What about the other armies in Shangzhou?"

"They were all surrendered troops in the Battle of Tongguan, but our Longyou Army was used to defend the city. The other troops were temporarily recruited by Ge Shuhan to defend the county."

"How many people are there?" Li Ye asked again.

"About ten thousand people, mainly in Shangluo County and Shangluo County. The leader is Yan Hanhai, who is also the governor of Shangzhou. He is the eldest son of Prime Minister Yan Zhuang."

This information is very important. The governor of Shangzhou is actually Yan Zhuang's eldest son, which is a rare good thing.

Li Ye immediately ordered Nan Jiyun to lead 10,000 cavalry to the north at Lantian Pass, leaving the county alone and cutting off the enemy's retreat in Shangzhou.

Nan Jiyun immediately led 10,000 cavalry to the north at lightning speed. Li Ye ordered General Chen Liansheng to lead 2,000 men to continue guarding Wuguan. Chen Liansheng had been the guard of Wuguan before. When the Yan army came from the pass, he could not hold Wuguan. He had no choice but to abandon the pass and retreat south. Li Ye did not punish him, but ordered him to continue to guard Wuguan.

Li Ye immediately led a mighty army and continued northward to Shangluo County.