Chapter 563 Chapter Twelve

"The next step is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the army, and the second is to attack the city." All strategically important cities have thick walls, high walls, moats and moats, are easy to defend and difficult to attack, and can win more with less. Therefore, Sun Tzu's military skills are like a god, and he still has to attack the city as a last resort. Of the policy. Kou Zhong, who often said these famous military quotes, has a more comprehensive and profound understanding of this.In the battle of Jingling, he was the defender of the city; in the current battle of Liyang, he is the attacker.

If he had a choice, he would advise Dou Jiande to just besiege and not attack, but the problem is that Li Shiji is well prepared, and the food stored in the city can last for a year or so. Secondly, if the enemy reinforcements come to rescue them, they will be attacked from inside and outside. is passive. After research and discussion, they decided to adopt a strategy of encircling on all sides and taking turns to attack day and night, in order to disintegrate the enemy's fighting spirit and physical strength.In the battle to lure the enemy outside Liyang City, they wiped out tens of thousands of enemy troops and greatly weakened the strength of the regular army defending the city.In other words, Dou Jun can rest, but Tang Jun has no such luck, which shows the criticality of the battle outside the city.

Dou Jiande's attack on Liyang this time is determined to win. Reinforcements keep coming from Shouchun and Xucheng. Up to now, the total strength exceeds 150,000 people, constantly increasing the pressure on Liyang's defenders. All supplies are well prepared, because it is absolutely impossible to break through the enemy's deep trenches and high fortifications with only infantry and ordinary swords and arrows.Therefore, it is necessary to prepare properly in terms of siege equipment, materials, and organization, especially the round-the-clock onslaught, the requirements in all aspects are even more stringent.

The first is to build movable watchtowers "nest cars" and "building cars" so that they can peep at the situation in the city from a high place, or launch arrows to assist. After conquering the enemy, we must attack the enemy. The first step in siege warfare is "crossing the trench". Only after successfully crossing the moat of Liyang City, can the siege equipment and death squads have the opportunity to approach the city wall and start the siege warfare.Dou Jiande and Liu Heita are both veterans of the city siege. When the battle started, the water source of the moat was cut off immediately, and the method of "blocking the water source and shallowing the gate" was adopted. The car was pushed directly into the trench, and these cars, commonly known as frogs, were forced to fill up the deep trench.

After "filling the trenches" is the "connecting the city" battle, and the "wooden donkey" is a must in this case.The wooden donkey is a four-wheeled cart with a pointed roof-like giant wood on the top. It is not afraid of bows, arrows, or stones. It is covered with medicinal cowhide, which is not easy to burn. Nearly a hundred soldiers can be hidden under it. The city works wonders. Approaching the city wall is the moment when all kinds of siege tools come in handy. Flying towers, crash cars, climbing cars, fishing battlements, trains, tall buildings, ladders, and giant logs that hit the city gates all use thunderous force to climb the city, Hit the wall and hit the door, you must climb to the top of the city, and stand firm on the city, and then gradually expand the breakthrough to consume the enemy's will and defense.

Kou Zhong and Liu Heita rode on the front line to direct the tragic siege battle, while Dou Jiande stayed on a temporary podium set up far away from the city, commanding the overall attack and retreat with torches, horns, and war drums. The difference between this battle and the battle of Jingling is that Du Fuwei adopted the strategy of "opening a corner" back then, leaving a way of life for the soldiers and civilians in the city to escape.This time Dou Jiande is under heavy siege, he must wipe out all the soldiers in the city, so that Li Shiji and Li Shentong cannot escape to Weihui, and regroup the army.

However, no matter how well-prepared Dou's army was, resources were always limited, so Dou Jiande concentrated his main siege force on the east gate, and the attack on the other three gates was much smaller. Under the light of torches inside and outside the city, Li Yang's defenders, who had endured uninterrupted attacks for days and nights, were exhausted. Kou Zhong personally attacked the city wall three times and beheaded more than a hundred enemies, but in the end he was forced back outside the city by Li Shentong, Xu Shiji and other masters.Just now he went back to the camp to rest for two hours. At this time, his mental and physical strength was exhausted, and he put on his armor and mounted his horse again, waiting for the moment when the city was broken.

He stands high on the back of Qianlimeng horse, Wuming stands proudly on his left shoulder, his tiger eyes are shining brightly, but his mind is as calm as the moon in a well, scanning the tragic offensive and defensive battle between the enemy and us. "Boom! Boom! Boom!" The slamming car hit the city gate one after another, which seemed to represent that the strength of Li Yang's army was being reduced bit by bit, and the besiegers also paid a heavy price for every bit of weakening the enemy. Some of the wooden donkeys and building carts burned by the enemy's arrow fire outside the city have been reduced to ashes, and some are still burning, sending out clouds of thick smoke, covering the sky.

Fires broke out in many places in the city, and smoke fell across the sky, all thanks to the fireballs fired by trebuchets, so that the soldiers and civilians in the city were exhausted. Arrows and slings flew like locusts in and out of the city, adding to the souls of the dead who died for this ruthless war. Kindness and mercy have no place here. Kou Zhong felt more and more that war was like playing chess, and he had to use this kind of ruthless mood to direct the advance and retreat of his own troops with the attitude of only seeking results. The Dou army attacking the city is like a large number of ants ignoring their own life and death. Those who climbed the ladder and climbed the wall attacked the enemy on the top of the wall, while the defenders desperately resisted the enemy with the high wall, and wiped out the enemy who tried to climb the city on the crenel or under the city wall. .

The close hand-to-hand combat shows that the offensive and defensive battle has reached its climax. This is the third wave of offensive launched by the Dou army tonight. The lime, chaff, boiling oil, and stones thrown by the Dou army to the defending Tang army in the last two trips shattered the desire to break the city. The defensive power was not as good as before, and it was no longer possible to prevent the wooden car from directly attacking the east gate with Wuxia. Before each siege, Dou Jiande appealed to Li Shiji and Li Shentong to surrender, but was firmly rejected. Liu Heita shook his head and sighed, "Li Shiji lost!"

Kou Zhong looked up at the place where Li Shiji's commander-in-chief flag was erected, and sure enough he no longer saw the figures of Li Shiji and Li Shentong, he nodded in agreement and said, "Be careful that they break through and escape when the city breaks." Liu Heitai turned his head and glanced at the thousand cavalry standing behind him, and said with a sneer, "It's not that easy." Then there was an order, and the remaining more than 100 ladder cars and crash cars, two infantry divisions with giant shields and bows and arrows on both sides of the cavalry, each with a number of 5,000, advanced towards the east gate amidst the sound of war drums. "Boom!" The solid east city gate could not withstand the impact, and it collapsed into the doorway, raising dust and wood fragments all over the door. The morale of the attacking party was greatly boosted, shouting and shouting shook the sky, completely covering up the sound of fighting and weapons clashing. Liu Heitai's expression changed and he shouted, "Stand back!" When the horn sounded, the Mumu convoy that was in charge of hitting the door retreated hastily, but it was a step too late. Only Kou Zhong understood that the reason for Liu Heitai's discoloration was due to his miscalculation of the time to break the gate. Needless to say, the enemy secretly removed the sand and stone iron carts that blocked the gate to strengthen the gate's resistance, causing the gate to be smashed easily.You must know that if according to the original plan, the moment the city gate is destroyed, the wooden cart must retreat immediately, and the fortification soldiers will be responsible for clearing the obstacles in the doorway, and then let the infantry enter the city. In the end, it will be Liu Heita and his men. The cavalry captain drove straight into the shock battle, but at this moment the facts did not match the predictions, so that although the Dou army had the upper hand, they still had to advance and retreat in time. Sure enough, the gong rang in the city, and a large group of enemy cavalry swarmed out from the city road, killing anyone they saw, and split into several groups to break through in all directions. Given the opportunity, the battlefield outside the east gate was in chaos, and it was difficult to distinguish ourselves from the enemy. Liu Heita made a decisive decision and shouted wildly: "Brothers! Go!" He rushed forward with Kou Zhong, ignoring the enemies frantically swarming out of the city, concentrated their forces, a thousand cavalrymen roared their hooves, and rushed straight to the open east gate. Kou Zhong uttered a shriek, commanding Baby Wuming to fly into the sky, unfolding the art of man and horse as one, riding his beloved horse Qianlimeng, and galloping ahead. Dou Jiande in the rear hastily mobilized troops to encircle and intercept the enemy to prevent the enemy from breaking out and escaping. The infantry on both sides, under the command of the other two generals, pressed towards the east gate like two raging waves, and the battle was fierce. Kou Zhong took the lead, Jing Zhongyue slashed left and right, spiraling vigorously, all those who stood in the way were thrown flying by him with their weapons, they were unstoppable.With the cooperation of Liu Heita and the elite fighters, the enemies who rushed out of the doorway were forced back into the city. I don't know how many people have been killed, and suddenly the pressure is greatly reduced. It turned out that he successfully passed through the doorway and entered the city.Crying and shouting were heard in the city, fires were everywhere, thick smoke and shavings covered the sky, a blood vat in Liyang City was like Shura Hell, soldiers, civilians, old and weak women and children fled in all directions, a tragic atmosphere of doomsday, it was appalling to watch. Inside the city, more intense hand-to-hand combat began. Kou Zhong and Liu Heita's cavalry troops marched on the Dongmen Street of Liyang City, and charged deeply towards the enemy defending the city without giving up an inch. The brutal street fighting was in full swing, and the generous city walls completely lost their defensive and protective functions. Suddenly a Tang army of nearly 300 men came head-on, and the leader was Li Yuan's younger brother, Li Shentong, who was one of the best in martial arts among the Li clan. Kou Zhong laughed and said, "Why didn't you see Brother Shiji? Didn't he hide in fright?" Qianlimeng carried him forward and Jing Zhongyue struck out with lightning. Li Shentong's eyes were bloodshot, he swung the long sword forward, and shouted, "Even if I die, I still want you, Kou Zhong, to accompany me on the road." "when"! The swords clashed, and the two of them shook violently at the same time. In the blink of an eye, the two sides clashed and fought, and Li Shentong's men were swallowed by Kou Zhong's side like a tide, and they were no longer in formation. Li Shentong knew he was going to die, so he unleashed his swordsmanship, brave and unstoppable, and immediately attacked Kou Zhong with more than a dozen swords, all of which were aimed at killing him at the same time, even with Kou Zhong's ability, it was quite difficult to block. Although in the battle of thousands of troops, Kou Zhong's mind is still as calm as the moon in a well, he knows that Li Shentong has suffered a lot in the fierce battle of defending the city in the past few days, and he is at the end of his strength. Suddenly, the soldiers behind Li Shentong turned on their backs, and Liu Heikai appeared behind Li Shentong, sweeping his long knife towards his back with a sharp whistling sound, if Li Shentong was hit by the knife, his head must be in a different place. Kou Zhongjian flipped his wrist and increased his strength, causing Li Shentong's long sword to swing away and he was unable to block it back. Li Shentong was also very good, and hurriedly crouched beside the horse's neck, barely avoiding Liu Heitai's fatal blow. Liu Heikai gave a cold cry, turned the sword upside down and hit the horse's head hard with the back of the sword. The horse's four hooves knelt softly and lost control, and the ground fell sideways, causing Li Shentong and the horse to roll to the ground together. Just before he lost his balance and fell to the ground, Kou Zhong leaned over to get away from the horse, Jing Zhongyue picked out lightning, and hit the vital point on his side. Li Shentong was shocked like an electric shock by the knife, Kou Zhongshun held his vest and armor, lifted it from the ground, sat upright on the horseback and shouted: "I captured Li Shentong alive, those who surrender live, those who resist die. " The shouting suppressed all the shouts of killing and spread throughout the entire battlefield in the east of the city. Liu Heitai came to Kou Zhong's side, cheered and shouted: "Those who put down their weapons and surrender will not die." The sound of weapons clashing gradually decreased. Seeing that the commander in chief was captured, the Tang army in the city lost all fighting spirit and surrendered one after another. Dou Jun continued to rush into the city and put Liyang City under control. Kou Zhong let go of Li Shentong, who was full of helplessness and humiliation, and his acupoints were restrained, and handed him over to Dou Bing to tie him up and imprison him. He felt emotional, thinking that Li Shentong was so majestic in the past, but today he is a prisoner. Under Liu Heita's instruction, the generals who entered the city led their soldiers deep into the city and recruited other defenders in the city. Surrounded by a group of soldiers, Kou Zhong and Liu Heitai rode slowly on Dongmen Street, advancing towards the Dudu Mansion in the core of Liyang City. Teams of cavalry and infantry walked past them, exploring the way for them clear the way. Liu Heikai said excitedly: "The capture of Liyang this time is all thanks to Xiao Zhong's ingenious tactics, annihilating the main force of the enemy and severely weakening the enemy's morale. The next thing we hope to capture most is not Luoyang but Tongguan, the fortress of the Li family. Not only is it a passage to and from the Guanzhong Plain, it is also a barrier to the east of Chang'an, and it also controls Fenglingdu on the Yellow River, and if Tongguan is captured, the days when the Li Clan can show off its power will be numbered, let's see when Li Yuan will be so powerful?" Kou Zhong sighed, "Brother Liu, don't you think we won this battle miserably?" Liu Heichen said in amazement: "Why does Xiao Zhong think about this? Since ancient times, casualties in siege battles are inevitable. Li Yang is the most important strategic stronghold outside the Li Clan's pass. After Li Yang falls, Wei Hui cannot be protected. Li Clan's only choice now is to Just attacking Luoyang, we can advance and attack, retreat and defend." Just as Kou Zhong was about to answer, a group of people galloped up, and the young general who led the team reported: "The remaining enemies retreat to the Governor's Mansion, determined to resist." Liu Heitai said angrily: "You guys who don't know what is good or bad, surround the Dudu's mansion for me, and see how long they can keep it." The young general said again: "According to the arrested soldiers, Li Yuan's youngest daughter, Princess Xiuning, should be in the Dudu's mansion." Kou Zhong lost his voice: "What?"