Tibet

That night, Li Ye sent a thousand soldiers carrying large bags and dropped nearly a million poisonous caltrops within a range of 200 to 500 steps outside Taiji Palace and Daming Palace. This undoubtedly weakened the defense of the Beicheng Palace. Added a defensive weapon.

The weapons factory in Dongdaying was brightly lit, and hundreds of craftsmen were working overnight to transform wooden pillars. These were the pillars of the palace. Each one weighed tens of thousands of kilograms and was relatively long. It needed to be sawed slightly shorter, and then Fill the handle, and add a pig iron head to the top. A battering ram weighs eight to nine thousand kilograms, and a hundred soldiers carry it on both sides. The force of one impact can reach tens of thousands of kilograms.

Also on a cold night, thousands of Tang soldiers dug holes in the ice of the moat in front of several city gates in the north. Hundreds of holes were drilled in the ice of the moat in front of each city gate, and a large amount of salt was evenly sprinkled on it. , allowing the salt to slowly dissolve the ice surface.

Before dawn on the third day, war drums sounded in the West Inner Garden outside Beicheng. Today is the home court of Beicheng General Li Guiren. He will personally lead an army of 30,000 to attack Taiji Palace. This is An Lushan’s order. An Lushan’s Li Ye had a strong desire to hold grudges, so he invaded Chang'an from the Fanglin Gate of Taiji Palace, and he also wanted to invade Chang'an from Taiji Palace.

Of course, it is also related to the fact that the gate of Taiji Palace is relatively easy to attack. The gate of Taiji Palace does not have an urn and is a single gate, while the gate of Daming Palace has an urn.

In addition, the city wall of Daming Palace also has a horse-facing wall, but the wall of Taiji Palace does not have a horse-facing wall. The soldiers do not have to worry about being attacked from behind. This is very important.

The wall of Taiji Palace is about two miles long, with three gates: Fanglin Gate, Xuanwu Gate and Xuande Gate. Li Sheng personally led 6,000 soldiers to defend Taiji Palace.

There are 3,000 Rhubarb Crossbow soldiers on the city wall, 1,500 Rhubarb Crossbows, and ten large trebuchets. 300 axemen are also in place, and there are also 3,000 backup troops, including 1,000 heavy trebuchets. Armored infantry, once the enemy attacks, they will surround the city gate.

"Woo——"

A deep horn sounded in the West Inner Garden, and 30,000 Yan troops appeared in the wilderness two miles away, with battle flags flying and murderous intent rising to the sky. There were hundreds of siege ladders and several huge siege towers in the team.

Li Guiren stared at the city wall for a moment, and then he ordered sternly: "Jin Zaixu and Wang Qi listen to your orders!"

"I'm here!" Two generals stepped out.

Li Guiren ordered: "Each of you will lead three thousand troops and carry hundreds of siege ladders. Jin Zaixu will attack the east of Xuanwu Gate, and Wang Qi will attack the west of Fanglin Gate. If there is no signal from me to withdraw, those who withdraw will be killed!"

"Follow the order!"

The two generals took the order arrows and galloped away on horseback.

Li Guiren then said to Zhang Kou, the leader of his own soldiers: "You can lead a thousand swordsmen and axemen as war supervisors. Anyone who dares to retreat will be killed without mercy!"

"Follow the order!"

Zhang Kou led a thousand cavalry and also went up with sharp axes.

Li Guiren then coldly ordered: "Beat the drum and go to war!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The earth-shattering war drums sounded, and six thousand Yan troops rushed toward the city wall with spears and shields in hand. There were no crossbows or trebuchets on the top of the city. Li Sheng had his own battle ideas, and the enemy troops were relatively scattered. He believed that bows and arrows and trebuchets were of little significance, and his large yellow crossbows and trebuchets had specialized targets.

"General Li, do you think this is a tentative attack by the enemy?" Li Ye asked calmly.

Li Sheng nodded, "The opponent has just dispatched 6,000 troops. I think it is not just for a tentative attack."

"Why not a tentative attack?" Li Ye asked in confusion.

"Reporting to Your Highness, the enemy's main general in the attack today is Li Guiren. Guo Ziyi admired him very much, praising him as an extraordinary general who can defeat more with less. He only attacks key points and will not attack on a large scale. He took the lead with 6,000 troops. The siege is just to confuse us and distract our defense resources. His real trump card is the battering ram."

"So you don't need the big yellow crossbow or the trebuchet?"

"Exactly!"

Li Ye nodded secretly. He was indeed a famous general. He could see through the enemy's intentions, do what he did and what he didn't do. He was very methodical and a rare talent. He must take Li Sheng under his command.

At this time, hundreds of Yan troops running at the front suddenly fell to the ground, wailing, because they had stepped on poisonous tribulus.

The soldiers behind were so frightened that they stopped running. The cavalry swordsmen and axemen rushed up and killed dozens of people with their axes, forcing the Yan army to continue charging.

The soldiers of the Yan army were forced to have no choice but to continue running. Every soldier was cautious and watched what was happening under his feet. Despite this, some soldiers kept stepping on the poisonous tribulus and fell down. The poisonous tribulus was hidden in the grass. How could it be that bad? Easy to spot?

Six thousand soldiers finally crossed the 200-step line at the cost of more than a thousand people falling. No more soldiers stepped on the poisonous tribulus and fell. Only then did they realize that they were safe. The soldiers ran again and crossed the moat. A series of siege ladders were hung on the top of the city, and countless soldiers began to climb up the city.

Li Yeliu's backhand appeared. The axemen of the Tang army on the top of the city appeared on every siege ladder. Before the enemy troops could climb up, they swung their axes and slashed hard at the rungs on the ladder, 'Crack! ' With a sound, the top rung was cut off, and then the second rung was cut off by a big axe. Almost every siege ladder suffered this fate.

This resulted in the siege soldiers having their chests level with the city wall and unable to go directly to the city. They could only press the city wall with both hands and jump up. But this meant that it was impossible for them to go to the city. In front of dozens of spears, how could they? Maybe there is an opportunity to press hands on the city wall?

This is actually the most vicious move against siege ladders. It has been used repeatedly in wars for thousands of years. It is this flaw that forced the upgrading and progress of siege weapons, and the ladder appeared.

Of course, it is possible to replace the top few rungs with iron rods, but it still cannot prevent the stabbing of dozens of spears from the defenders.

General Li Guiren could not see this flaw from a distance. He only saw soldiers being stabbed down the city one after another, and no one could reach the top of the city.

However, Li Guiren didn't care about siege. The siege was just a cover-up for him. His real secret weapon was five battering rams weighing 8,000 kilograms.

"Battering ram on!"

Following the command of the general Li Guiren, three long-legged centipedes came out of the team and a battering ram was carried by a hundred people, with fifty people on each side, holding the handle on it tightly with both hands. Each person carried eighty kilograms of weight.

In addition, each hammer-bearer was accompanied by two people, one holding a large shield for cover, while the other was responsible for laying the planks, plus a captain as the main general, a total of 300 people formed a battering ram team.

The three battering ram teams corresponded to the three city gates. Li Sheng could see clearly, and he cheered up and shouted: "Prepare the trebuchets, prepare the big yellow crossbows, and prepare the Flying Tigers!"

The trebuchets were reinstalled and fixed according to Li Sheng's requirements. Ten trebuchets were fixed on both sides of the city gate. Five hundred soldiers with large yellow crossbows were also deployed above the city gate, and there were 20 soldiers with high martial arts skills holding iron chains. Waiting in front of the battlements.

The battering ram entered the Tribulus area. Soldiers laid out two wooden planks, one on the left and one on the right, in front. The two rows of soldiers behind them walked slowly forward on the planks.

After laying the planks, the third soldier retreated, leaving only two hundred people in the battering ram team, one as the main attacker and one as a cover and backup.

Just as they entered the 200-step area, the trebuchet on the city head was launched. What was launched was not huge rocks, but more than twenty fist-sized stones. Each stone weighed two or three kilograms. The dense stones flew into the air. Shoot away.

“What a great idea!”

Li Ye praised him. This was indeed more effective than throwing a 70 to 80 kilogram boulder. A few kilograms of gravel hitting someone hard could break bones and tendons.

But Li Ye also knew that Li Sheng's purpose of using gravel was not to deal with people, but to deal with shields.

The gravel roared in and crackled on the shield. The shield was like armor. It was not afraid of spears and arrows, but was afraid of heavy weapons. Although there were no casualties among the soldiers, many heavy shields were damaged by the repeated pounding of gravel. Cracks appeared.

The soldiers with heavy shields supported the gravel blows of the trebuchets, and the three long-legged centipede teams continued to move forward, gradually entering within a hundred steps.