Tibet

Arrows rained down on the city, and the soldiers laying the pontoon bridge suffered heavy casualties. More than 3,000 soldiers were shot and killed. However, the Yan army soldiers were extremely brave and were sure to win. The soldiers in front were shot and killed, and the soldiers behind them immediately came up. They were all Working in teams of two, one person held up a shield to protect, and the other person installed the pontoon bridge. Although there were heavy casualties, the pontoon bridge was gradually completed.

Packs of burning sulfur and charcoal fire clay flew into the sky, blooming brightly like fireworks in the sky, and turned into millions of ignition points and rained down on the soldiers' heads.

The 30,000 troops attacking from behind all crouched down and hid behind their shields, but some soldiers were still hit by the all-pervasive rain of fire, causing pain to their bones and screaming in agony.

But on the battlefield, everyone is in danger. Unless they are brothers or fathers and sons, or help when retreating, no one will care about the life and death of the injured soldiers, and no one will add burdens to themselves. The wounded soldiers can only rely on self-rescue to survive.

But survival is difficult. Although they will not die after being injured for the first time, many injured soldiers died from the second attack. Thousands of Yan army soldiers did not bother to use shields for protection after being injured, and were quickly killed by the second attack. Killed by two waves of arrows or burned to death by a large rain of fire.

After paying the price of more than 4,700 casualties, the 10,000 bridge-laying army finally completed the laying of twenty pontoon bridges. Each pontoon bridge was laid side by side with several large wooden boxes to ensure sufficient width. The pontoon bridge was as wide as Three feet is enough to allow the two-foot chassis of the nest car and the ladder to pass.

In a short period of attacking the city and setting up a pontoon bridge, the Yan army paid a heavy price of 10,000 casualties. The tragedy of this battle can be seen from this.

At this time, Li Sheng walked up to Li Ye and said with a smile: "His Royal Highness is the first person to use fire warfare to the extreme throughout the ages!"

Li Ye chuckled and said: "I don't want to wear a high hat, but has General Li ever thought about staying in the Jianghan Army after the war?"

Inadvertently, Li Ye extended an invitation to Li Sheng.

Li Sheng felt a little embarrassed. After all, Li Ye was a local warlord. He actually wanted to return to the imperial army. Li Sheng thought about it and said, "Let me think about it!"

Li Ye nodded and smiled: "It's all up to you to decide, I won't force you!"

"Thank you for your understanding, Your Highness!"

"Woo——"

The low horn sounded again from the city. More than 25,000 Yan army soldiers jumped up, roaring like wild beasts, and rushed towards the city wall carrying the siege ladder. The remaining 6,000 soldiers who were laying the pontoon bridge also joined Attacking ranks.

One after another, the siege ladders were successfully put up on the city wall. The front end of the siege ladders had been replaced with iron, and the long axes could no longer break the rungs.

In addition, many siege ladders have baffles on both sides and bottom. The baffles at the bottom are to prevent soldiers from falling when they step on the air in panic. The baffles on both sides are to prevent the Tang army from facing the wall. A cold arrow shot from the side.

Although this kind of siege ladder protected by baffles on three sides seems to be conducive to the Tang army's rolling logs and boulders, in actual combat, after the rolling logs and boulders hit the first soldier's shield, they would often bounce up and hit the shield of the first soldier. The soldiers below the city were smashed, but the soldiers below the siege ladder were not hurt.

Therefore, when the generals of the Yan army reported the damage caused by sieges in the past few times, they only mentioned the cutting off of the top rungs and the cold arrows on the wall facing the horse, but did not mention the damage caused by rolling logs and rocks.

It's just that the craftsmen didn't have that much time and wood to carry out all the modifications, so they could only add baffles to 30% of the siege ladders. Fortunately, this prevented those siege ladders that had not been modified from another disaster.

The siege soldiers were hit head-on by hundreds of boulders weighing a hundred kilograms. These boulders were exactly what the trebuchets had thrown into the city, and now they were all returned. The soldiers were hit one after another.

The soldiers of the Tang Army in the city took the opportunity to pour two cans of kerosene down the bottom of the modified siege ladder and threw down the torches. The fire instantly engulfed the siege ladder. The soldiers on top were burned until they cried and screamed, and they were all on fire. Jumped off the ladder.

This means that every advantage has its disadvantages. Although the modified siege ladder protected the soldiers from being shot by cold arrows facing the wall, and prevented the soldiers from stepping on the air and falling, it also created a problem for the Tang army to attack with kerosene. If the conditions are met, the kerosene can flow along the bottom plate and fill the entire siege ladder without wasting it at all.

More than a hundred siege ladders turned into fire ladders. The soldiers of the Tang army defending the city took the opportunity to throw down a large amount of wheat straw. There were fire spots and thick smoke everywhere under the city.

Li Guiren could see it clearly, and he immediately ordered: "Remove the bottom plate of the siege ladder!"

The bottom plates of the remaining more than two hundred modified siege ladders were all removed, and the siege ladders began to play their role. Tens of thousands of Yan army soldiers fought fiercely on more than two hundred siege ladders and the Tang army at the top of the city.

At this time, ten ladders drove up first. The siege ladders were very similar to modern firefighting ladders. At the bottom was a cart with soldiers standing on it, and a basic ladder fixed on the cart. The basic ladder was Made of iron, it is about two feet high. With the height of the chassis, it is actually the same as the city wall. All rotating ladders are installed on the basic ladder. The direction can be adjusted according to the situation of the defenders at the top of the city, and they can be set up directly on the top of the city.

More importantly, the basic ladder was full of soldiers. When the ladder approached the city wall, the soldiers jumped to the top of the basic ladder, rushed along the ladder, and jumped directly to the top of the city. This is similar to the nest chariot. .

The ten ladders had already passed the pontoon bridge and were gradually approaching the city head. The Yan army spear soldiers standing on the ladder quickly climbed up the iron base ladder, holding the shield on their back in their hands, with a shield in one hand and a spear in the other. , be ready.

When the revolving ladder had just been set up on the top of the city, the soldiers of the Yan army began to charge fiercely with contradictions in hand. The long and heavy arrows fired from the big yellow crossbows on both sides came like raindrops. The soldiers on the revolving ladder were hit by arrows one after another and fell from the height of three feet in the air. Come down.

However, the shields of the Yan army soldiers still played a huge role. They blocked most of the arrows. Four out of ten people would be hit by arrows and fell. Six people could still rush to the city, but what greeted them was the heavy armored infantry of the Tang army. The moment many Yan soldiers jumped onto the city wall, they were killed by Mo Dao. They might have been able to hold on for a round or two, but they still couldn't escape death.

It is extremely difficult for a Yan army to deal with one heavy infantry, let alone more than 20 people. How can there be any hope of victory?

Moreover, the soldiers of the Yan army all died in a very tragic manner. They were either decapitated with a knife or cut into two pieces at the waist.

This is also the biggest shortcoming of the ladder. Only one person can go up to the city at a time, and its ability to output soldiers is relatively weak.

Therefore, an upgraded version was developed based on the ladder, which is the nest car.

On the top of the city, tens of thousands of Tang troops had a clear division of labor and clear organization. The largest number of ordinary soldiers dealt with the enemy troops on the siege ladder.

Three thousand large yellow crossbows and the corresponding 6,000 crossbow troops are responsible for shooting the enemy troops on the ladders and chariots. The 4,000 heavy armored infantry are divided into forty teams, each with a hundred people. They are the main force against the ladders and chariots. , in addition, five thousand heavy hammer hooks and gun troops were also prepared, waiting for the enemy troops from Chaoche to board the city.

Each branch of the military has its own tasks, cooperates with each other, performs its own responsibilities, and firmly controls the south city wall. No matter how brave the Yan army is, they can never break through the Tang army's defense line.

Li Ye no longer cares much about the ladder. Although the ladder is very sharp in siege, the ladder has a fatal weakness. The output capability of the ladder is too weak, causing the Yan army soldiers to be shot by heavy crossbow troops or hacked to death by heavy armored infantry. The important thing is that Li Ye is equipped with enough resources so that the combat soldiers can take turns to go into battle and take turns to rest.

Compared with the ladder, Li Ye is more concerned about the Chao Chao. The Chao Chao is output in batches. It can kill twenty or thirty people at a time, and it keeps pouring out. The real way to deal with the Chao Chao is to destroy the Chao Chao. If the Chao Chao is not destroyed, , the defense system on top of Nancheng will be broken quickly.

Li Ye took out his monocular and looked at the chao chariot 300 steps away. The telescope could see clearly that there were dark soldiers standing in the gap on the top platform of the chao chariot. They were wearing heavy armor, holding Mo knives and wearing black animal mask helmets. , looked particularly ferocious, just as he expected, the main force of the siege was the heavy armored infantry of the Yan army.

Li Ye was a little worried, and he immediately ordered: "Let General Xu come to see me!"

The messenger rushed away, and within a moment, Black Spear came running out of breath, "Please give me your orders, Your Highness!"

"There are too many heavy armored infantry to deal with the ladders, reduce them by half and use them to deal with the nest vehicles!"

"Follow the order!" Black Spear bowed and saluted, turned around and hurried away.

Li Ye readjusted the deployment of his troops, using one thousand heavy armored infantry to deal with the ladder, and the other three thousand heavy armored infantry to deal with the chao chariot.

The ten nest carts were not synchronized with the ladder, but were gradually approaching the moat, still two hundred steps away.

At this time, the three regional generals gave an order, and the trebuchet on the city head took the lead in attacking. Giant rocks weighing fifty or six kilograms rose into the air and roared towards the nest car.