Chapter 281: Suddenly heard the bad news and fell into despair
Chapter 281 Suddenly heard the bad news and fell into a desperate situation
Tingzhou City at the northern foot of Tianshan Mountain is much colder than Xizhou on the southern slope. After a heavy snowfall, the outside of the city wall turned into a vast white snowfield. The snow was more than half a foot deep, and the north wind followed. The snow froze solid overnight. The morale in the Turkic camp besieging the city was also declining day by day. This ice and snow will naturally not have a great impact on the city, but it is really difficult for the Turks who live in simple felt tents in the windy land outside the city.
What's even worse is that in such weather, people and horses are prone to slipping when walking on the ice and snow, let alone attacking the city. They are afraid that they will be shot by the defenders' bows and arrows and powerful crossbows before they can even crawl to the bottom of the city. Nailed into a mat on the snow. The bright snow made the night attack even more of a joke. Ashina Duzhi had no choice but to order to continuously throw stones into the city, while at the same time cutting down wood, rolling ropes, and making siege equipment. After six or seven days, the city wall of Tingzhou City was already riddled with holes. It seemed that it would collapse in the next burst of stone rain, but it still stood there.
The Tang Dynasty reinforcements that came suddenly disappeared with the arrival of heavy snow. They seemed to have made up their mind that as long as the Turkic cavalry did not attack the city, they would never show their faces. After thinking twice, Ashina Duzhi just sent out more scouts to monitor several key roads into Tingzhou and movements within 20 miles of the camp, and then ignored the supporting soldiers.
Tingzhou was originally the territory of the Tang Dynasty, and the opponent had the favorable location and people, so it was somewhat fanciful to attack and suppress them by surprise. Furthermore, although the number of people in that team was not too large, they had fast horses and strong bows, and a thousand-man team could not occupy it at all. It's not cheap, but if more people are sent, it will be just like the last time, being led by the nose and ran out of Tingzhou, and almost didn't catch up directly to Shule City a hundred miles away - those are the four armies of Anxi One of the towns, although the garrison can't leave the city now, the number of them is much larger than that of Tingzhou. Is it possible that they can take advantage of it when they get to the city?
If it hadn't snowed, he could have feigned an attack on Tingzhou and laid a trap secretly, but with the weather like this... Ashina Duzhi looked at the city wall of Tingzhou bitterly and said sternly, "Keep throwing stones!"
The roaring sound stopped after a while. Ashina Duzhi was about to get angry. He looked back at the soldiers busy in front of the trebuchet and closed his mouth - the stones around the camp had long been used up. To find stones, we had to walk farther and farther, and the soldiers tried their best.
Seeing that after half an hour, the trebuchet's leather bag was slowly half full again, Ashina Duzhi's brows couldn't help but frown even more tightly. He was silent in silence when he heard someone behind him saying urgently. , "Tutun, Tutun, something bad is going to happen!"
Ashina was startled, and quickly turned around, only to see a few scouts carrying two men in embarrassment walking over quickly. Before they even got close, they shouted, "Tutun, the Tang Dynasty has attacked It’s spreading! They’re setting fire everywhere, saying they’re going to burn down our granary!”
With this cry, the entire Turkic camp suddenly became commotion. Ashina Duzhi's face changed drastically and he said sternly, "What? Make it clearer!"
The two men who were being carried over broke free and climbed to the feet of Ashina Duzhi, "Tutun, we are patrolling the city of Kuangyan. On the night of the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, the walled city was attacked by the Tang army. Those Tang people directly We broke through the wall and set fires everywhere. Several granaries and haystacks were burned the most. We tried our best to save them, but we could only put out the fires in two granaries with snow, but all the hay was burned! The people of the Tang Dynasty also left a message, saying that if a city is burned down in one day, the whole of Paiyan will be set on fire!"
“Before we came out to report the news, people from the ranch closest to the walled city also sent people to report the situation. They also said that they were attacked by Tang people at night, and all the horses were taken away by them, and all the stables and barns were burned down!
Ashina Duzhi's face suddenly became as cold and hard as the snow under his feet. There were not many good horses left, but if all the grain, rice and fodder stored in the tribe were burned, The horses have no fodder and the people have no food left. Is it possible that they will kill horses to make a living this winter? In this case, what's the use of no matter how much money they came to Tingzhou to plunder? Most of the elite Tang troops in Western Xinjiang should have gone to the Great Protectorate, so why are there such strange soldiers everywhere now?
He couldn't help but shouted angrily, "How did you guard the city? You let people rush in and set fire to it, and why did you wait until today to report the news?"
The messenger kept kowtowing, "It's not because we were careless. There were hundreds of Tang troops. They probably took a secluded path when they came, and no one noticed them. We attacked the weakest part of the walled city that night. We didn't." There were hundreds of people, and the whole city was full of fire. How could we put it out? By the time we arrived at the granary, it was already burned to a great extent! The general asked us to report the news, and sent a dozen men and more than twenty horses. There was ice and snow all the way, and the horses were broken one after another on the way. Only our horses made it this far... Please send troops back to Tutun as soon as possible. If it is too late, it will be too late!"
On the fourth day of the lunar month, sneak attacks and fires began everywhere, and the largest city was burned first. If one city was burned down in one day, six full days would have passed today! In any case, it's too late! If the Tang army deliberately retaliated... Ashina Duzhi felt cold in his heart and hurriedly asked, "How are the casualties in the walled city?"
The messenger hurriedly said, "There were not many casualties. These Tang people just set fires everywhere. They didn't seem to want to hurt anyone, and they didn't fight with us. They set fires and ran away. Our men and the women and children in the walled city were not seriously damaged." ”
Ashina Duzhi felt relieved, and suddenly heard the sound of a sigh of relief from all around. He looked up and saw that the faces gathered around were all anxious and relieved. He couldn't help but tremble in his heart. Tang Jun just set fire. Not killing people may be to undermine the morale of the troops and force them to return to the army... But now that they are going back, the plundered food and grass are only enough for the troops and horses to chew on the return journey. How will the troops and horses in the army spend this winter?
He looked at the long row of simple wooden carts that had been lined up behind the camp. He pondered for a moment, gritted his teeth and raised his head, "You heard it too! Even if we went back immediately, the grain, rice and fodder that were lying around would have been burned." For the most part, now we can only conquer Tingzhou in one go, grab food and fodder, and then return, so that our horses can survive this winter! "
Everyone who had just relaxed felt suddenly startled. Exactly, without food and grass, people can still eat cattle and sheep. What can war horses eat? For them, the war horse is half their life! The whole camp immediately cheered up and responded loudly, with unprecedented determination in their voices.
In less than a quarter of an hour, hundreds of Turks pushed wooden carts and carried wooden shields and rushed to the foot of the Tingzhou city wall again. Shouts and screams resounded across the wilderness again.
More than an hour later, under the east wall of Tingzhou, the Turks had left more than two hundred corpses. The blood was often frozen into dark red ice before it even flowed out. On top of the high pile of corpses, the attacking soldiers used wooden carts and ladders to build a sloping pile nearly ten feet high. Seeing that the slanting pile was getting closer and closer to the top of Tingzhou City, the most athletic warriors could already Standing on the top of the slope, they used snagging ropes and flails to drag down or smash down the defenders at the top of the city. However, more defenders blocked the gap desperately, pushed down the boulders, and killed the Turkic warriors who had been screaming sharply just a moment ago. Smashed into patties.
During the stalemate, the scouts' fast horses galloped over, and the reinforcements of several hundred people from the rear of the Turkic camp appeared once again on the snowy field. Ashina couldn't help but sneered. He shouted and waved his flag. The Turkic cavalry and the thousand-man team from the rear camp surrounding the city gates on both sides quickly surrounded them. Seeing that they were only a few miles away from the Tang army, it only took two confrontations. If you hold them back for just a moment, you can form an encirclement and suppression force. However, this Tang army suddenly moved to both sides and ran back, running three points faster than when they came.
Ashina grinded her teeth with hatred. Just when she was about to raise the flag to ask them to retreat, the soldiers around them screamed. They saw a Tang army of more than 200 people rushing over from behind the hills in the south. Go to the south gate of Tingzhou City.
He couldn't help but be shocked. He didn't care about attacking the city. He led hundreds of his own soldiers to cross the way and shouted loudly, "Block the city gate and never let them enter the city!" At this time, the city was already full of exhausted troops. If you add two hundred fresh troops with this kind of combat power, it will be great!
But they saw that the Tang army was coming very fast. In a moment, they had rushed to a few dozen steps away from the city gate. However, they did not rush towards the city gate. Instead, they suddenly made a circle under the city and shot a few loud arrows towards the top of the city. Without hesitation, he turned around and ran away. By the time Ashina Duzhi's troops arrived, they had already run for more than a mile.
Ashina Duzhi stared at the back of the cavalry in stunned silence. After being stunned for a moment, he turned around and shouted, "Continue to attack the city! Intensify the attack!"
More than a quarter of an hour later, the skew pile under the Tingzhou city wall was several feet taller. In about half an hour, the Turkic soldiers would be able to attack the city from the skew pile. However, dozens of wooden barrels suddenly appeared on the crenels at the top of the city. With a "crash" sound, dozens of barrels of cold water were poured down on the Turkic soldiers below the city. The Turkic soldiers who were suddenly poured into the water were shocked and confused. It was so cold that I couldn't help but scream and retreat. The city didn't stop, and water was still being poured down bucket after bucket. When the Turks from behind rushed up with more shields, they suddenly felt that the soles of their feet were slipping. , actually fell into a pile with a grunt.
It turned out that the weather was extremely cold, and the cold water instantly formed a layer of ice on the ground. Even the slopes that had been easily piled up had turned into ice slopes. It was so slippery that there was no way to climb up!
Buckets of cold water were still being poured down on the city wall, and before long, the Tingzhou city wall turned into a glistening ice wall. Ashinadu stood in front of the formation, and his heart became It's all cold - such an ice city is stronger than copper and iron, and even a trebuchet can't help it. It can't be broken in a short while!
…………
Dozens of miles away, Bai Sanlang reined in his horse, looked back for a moment, and sighed deeply. Xizhou Minyong next to him laughed and said, "Chief Shi has a good plan. Tingzhou City must have turned into an ice city now, and even the gods can't do anything about it! Our errand this time is indeed easy and tight. It's only on the third day of the lunar new year." After injuring more than a dozen people, he got a great achievement, why is Saburo still sighing? "
Bai Sanlang shook his head, his voice full of regret, "It's really not the right time to snow this time! Chang Shi taught me several strategies, and I was just thinking of teasing Captain Zhou, but it actually snowed. It's snowing heavily. For the first time in his life, Bai's belly is full of tricks, but they are completely useless! Oh, it's okay, this time the guy named Zhou is better, let's go back to Xizhou!"
As the people and horses of Xizhou gradually turned into black spots in the snowy field, the sun also rose into the sky, adding a bit of warmth to the snow-cage-like sky and earth. But in the Turkic camp outside Tingzhou City in Xizhou, there was deathly silence. Tingzhou, not far away, has completely turned into an ice city. The Tingzhou guards even started to laugh loudly at the Turkic camp in half-baked Turkic language, but no one here had the interest to reply.
Ashina Duzhi stood in front of the tent. I don’t know whether it was because of the cold or because he had been standing for a long time. His figure looked like an ice sculpture. The generals winked at each other, but no one dared to really come forward and say a few words of persuasion.
There was silence, and the sound of horse hooves in the distance was extremely loud. A scout jumped off his horse in front of the camp and rushed to the central army tent. "Inform Tutun that a large army has appeared in the valley of Vimo Road." The grain truck!”
Ashina Duzhi suddenly turned around, his eyes shining with an astonishingly bright light.
Hmm, I originally thought I could write more today about what happened to Su Guquan, but the hospital informed me to get the physical examination results and then wait to arrange the specific time for the operation. I’ll write more tomorrow. Hoho, students who want to see what happens to the pumpkin in one go are welcome to use their pink tickets to smash the pumpkin!
(End of this chapter)