Chapter 5 defend Suiyang

The enemy has begun to attack the city. The 130,000 Yan army flooded the city of Suiyang like an overwhelming flood.Looking at that posture, it seems that the small city of Suiyang will be submerged in one day. However, Zhang Xun stood on the top of the city. With him around, 6,800 soldiers will become 6,800 iron walls, and the Yan army, who is determined to win, will have to pay a heavy price for every step closer to the city wall of Suiyang! Under the personal supervision and command of Zhang Xun, the Tang army fought hard day and night, repelling the more violent attacks of the Yan army.At most, they repelled 20 enemy attacks a day.Sixteen days later, the Yan army dropped more than 20,000 corpses under Suiyang City, and more than 60 generals were captured by the Tang army, but Suiyang City still stood proudly in front of Yin Ziqi, the Yan army's coach.

On the night of the sixteenth day, Yin Ziqi had to leave the camp quietly. The casualties were too great, and his morale was severely damaged, so he needed to rest. Of course, this is just a short break. Because the purpose of retracting the fist is to punch it out more powerfully! After defeating the Yan army's first stage attack, Xu Yuan admired Zhang Xun so much.He said to Zhang Xun: "I am cowardly and not good at fighting, but the general is wise and brave. I would like to hand over the command to the general." From then on, Xu Yuan was only responsible for logistics matters such as food, grass, ordnance, and the command of defending the city and defending against the enemy was handed over to Zhang Xun.

Two months later, Yin Ziqi made a comeback.Zhang Xun encouraged the soldiers and said: "I am waiting for the great kindness of the Netherlands, and now I will serve the country with my death!" The soldiers were so excited that they were all willing to fight to the death.Zhang Xun then ordered the slaughter of cattle and sheep to comfort the three armies, and then led the army into battle.When Yan Jun saw that Tang Jun had only a few thousand pitiful men, but he rushed out of the city to fight them, all of them burst into laughter. This is what Zhang Xun wanted. Because the proud soldiers will be defeated, and the mourning soldiers will be victorious!

This is the eternal iron law of war. Zhang Xun held the battle flag, took the lead, and led the crowd straight to the Yan army's formation.All the generals and men of the Tang army fought bravely to be the first, and all of them counted one as ten.The Yan army's position was disrupted at once, and they retreated one after another.Taking advantage of the situation, the Tang army rushed from left to right in the Yan army, galloping vertically and horizontally, and immediately defeated the Yan army, beheaded more than 30 generals, killed more than 3,000 soldiers, and pursued the victory for dozens of miles.

Although Yin Ziqi suffered repeated setbacks, he was not discouraged. Because he has an absolute advantage in military strength, he can afford it. In the days that followed, Yin Ziqi continued to attack Suiyang day and night.Standing on the battered city tower, Zhang Xun looked thoughtful at the Yan army, which was overwhelming and overwhelming. In the evening of the same day, Zhang Xun ordered his soldiers to beat drums and shout in the city, and gathered his troops together, as if he was about to attack the enemy camp at night.When Yan Jun got the information, he immediately stepped up his vigilance. From dusk to the early morning of the next day, each of them stood on guard, not daring to relax at all.But after dawn, Zhang Xun ordered to stop beating the drums and disbanded all the assembled teams.

Yin Ziqi heard the news, climbed the Feilou (a high tower to watch the enemy's situation) in person, carefully observed the situation in the city, and found that the Tang army had no movement at all, so he relaxed after tense all night, and ordered the officers and soldiers to return to the camp to rest.Yin Ziqi himself rubbed his red eyes, and went back to sleep in the Chinese army tent. At this moment, Zhang Xun and his subordinates, Nan Jiyun, Lei Wanchun and more than ten people, each led fifty elite cavalry, rushed out of the city gate, and shot at the Yan army's camp like a flying arrow. .

What's terrible is that all the dozen or so arrows were aimed at the heart of Yan Jun - Yin Ziqi's Chinese army camp.Hit a snake and hit seven inches, catch the thief first and catch the king first! This is what Zhang Xun thought while standing on the tower. The officers and soldiers of the Yan army stayed up all night and were ordered to go back to the camp to sleep at this moment. They never expected that the Tang army would attack at this moment.When they ran out of the camp sleepily one by one, their heads just hit Tang Jun's gleaming blade. For a while, Zhang Xun and others seemed to be in a land without people, beheading more than 50 enemy generals and more than 5,000 soldiers in a row, just like chopping melons and vegetables.The Yan army's camp was in chaos, and it couldn't stop the roaring Tang army.Zhang Xun and others reached Yin Ziqi's tent without any effort.

At this time, Yin Ziqi had already woken up with a start, had already escaped from the big tent surrounded by his own soldiers, and began to organize a counterattack in despair. Since there were panicked enemy soldiers everywhere, Zhang Xun and the others couldn't recognize Yin Ziqi among the thousands of troops. Time is passing bit by bit. Nan Jiyun, Lei Wanchun and others have been looking around anxiously. If Yin Ziqi could not be found and killed in the shortest possible time, once the Yan army with a large number of people came back to their senses, they would inevitably carry out a crazy counterattack and encircle and wipe out the small Tang army.

In desperation, Zhang Xun suddenly thought of something, and immediately ordered someone to find some thin wooden sticks, sharpen their heads, and shoot them at the enemy like arrows.The Yan soldiers who were shot were greatly surprised, thinking that Zhang Xun's arrows had run out, and ran to report to Yin Ziqi. Looking from a distance, the general riding on the tall horse and gesticulating at the soldiers suddenly became very eye-catching. Zhang Xun smiled, and looked back at Nan Jiyun behind him. Nan Jiyun understood, and immediately nocked the arrow.With a whoosh, the feather arrow pierced through the morning mist and shot into Yin Ziqi's left eye impartially.Yin Ziqi let out a miserable howl and fell off his horse.Nan Jiyun patted his horse and rushed forward, preparing to stab Yin Ziqi's neck.

However, Nan Jiyun failed. Because Yin Ziqi's soldiers stood in front of him one after another, and some people helped Yin Ziqi onto the horse, surrounded him and quickly escaped from Nan Jiyun's sight... Yin Ziqi, who was lucky enough not to die, ran a long way before turning his head panting, staring at Suiyang City in the distance for a long time with his remaining one eye. I will return.Yin Ziqi said. At the beginning of July, Yin Ziqi mobilized tens of thousands of fresh troops from the rear, and the strength was restored to more than a hundred thousand, and then went south again to besiege Suiyang.

After several months of rest and reorganization, the Yan army has not only replenished its soldiers and revived its morale, but also has been greatly supplemented with food, grass, supplies, ordnance, etc., which can be said to be sufficient.In contrast, Suiyang, which has been without logistical supplies for a long time, has gradually fallen into the predicament of running out of food and aid. Suiyang originally had 60,000 shi of grain, which was collected and painstakingly accumulated by Xu Yuan in order to stick to Suiyang for a long time.But not long before the Yan army besieged Suiyang, Li Ju, the king of Guo who was the governor of Henan Province in the Tang Dynasty at that time, ordered Xu Yuan to allocate half of it to Puyang (now Juancheng County, Shandong) and Jiyin (now Dingtao County, Shandong). Two counties.Xu Yuan refused to obey, but Li Ju forced him again and again.Xu Yuan had no choice but to reluctantly hand over 30,000 shi of grain.Soon after, Gao Chengyi, the prefect of Jiyin, surrendered the city to the Yan army, and the 15,000 shi of grain that Xu Yuan had just allocated to him also fell into the hands of the Yan army in vain. The army of Yan began to besiege Suiyang in the first lunar month, and has been besieging Suiyang intermittently for more than half a year. The 30,000 shi of food in Suiyang city was gradually exhausted, and there was no supplement, and the situation became increasingly serious.Therefore, starting from July, Zhang Xun and Xu Yuan had to implement a strict rationing system, stipulating that each soldier could only be allocated one hemi (equivalent to two taels) per day.It is conceivable that this amount of food was not enough, so the soldiers had to mix bark, tea, and paper to satisfy their hunger. After more than half a year of hard fighting, the Suiyang defenders wiped out tens of thousands of elite Yan troops, but they themselves also suffered more than 5,000 casualties, leaving only 1,600 people left.Moreover, these more than a thousand soldiers are weak soldiers who can't even fill their stomachs and are "unbearably hungry and sick"!Therefore, Tang Jun at this moment can no longer attack as frequently as in the previous stage.Facing the elite Yan army, which was a hundred times larger than their own, they had no other way to retreat from the enemy except passively being beaten and waiting for help. The Battle of Suiyang entered the final stage of defense. Yin Ziqi looked at the devastated city walls and battlements that were scorched black by the flames of war with his single eye, and a sinister smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. Subsequently, the Yan army continued to increase its siege efforts and dispatched ladders.The so-called cloud ladder is not an ordinary ladder, but a large siege machine with wheels on the bottom and the height of the city wall.According to historical records, this kind of cloud ladder is "like a half-rainbow", and "two hundred elite soldiers can be placed on it", which is equivalent to a movable "high tower".Once this kind of high tower is close to the city wall, the soldiers in the tower can jump directly to the top of the city and attack the defenders, which is very threatening.If two or three of these siege towers leaned against the city wall together, Suiyang would fall in all likelihood. Of course, Zhang Xun wouldn't let him come over easily. In order to deal with this terrible siege equipment, Zhang Xun ordered people to dig many hidden holes in the city wall, and every three holes were used to deal with a ladder.As soon as Yan Jun's ladder approached, a long wooden stick protruded from the first hole, with an iron hook tied to the end, hooking the ladder so that it could not move back; Resist the ladder so that it cannot move forward; a wooden stick sticks out from the third hole, and an iron cage is tied at the end, and a raging flame is burning in the cage, use it to ignite the ladder. Zhang Xun's method is very effective.Whenever the ladder approached the city wall, it would soon burn out from the middle, and all the soldiers of the Yan army hiding on it caught fire and fell to their deaths one after another. It was midsummer, and in order to avoid the scorching sun, the Suiyang garrison built "sheds" on the top of the city to shade them from the heat.Immediately, Yin Ziqi dispatched a "hook cart" to hook the city to the shed pavilion, "everything that the hook reaches will collapse."Facing Yan Jun's hook car, Zhang Xun was tit-for-tat, and designed a "crane", which was composed of wood, iron chains, and iron rings to form a "crane arm".Whenever Yan Jun's iron hook appeared, he immediately used the iron ring at the end of the boom to catch it, and then hoisted the hook and the car to the top of the city, cut off the iron hook, and threw the car down the city. Both the ladder and the hook car were disabled, so the Yan army had to send out "wooden donkeys".The so-called wooden donkey is estimated to be similar to the Trojan horse, which is to hide the soldiers inside to avoid being attacked by arrows when charging.Since the surface of this wood donkey is covered with a layer of wet cowhide, it cannot be dealt with by general fire attack tactics. When fire attack failed, Zhang Xun resorted to "water attack". Of course, this is not ordinary water, but silver water and copper water.Whenever Yan Jun's wooden donkeys rushed to the city in groups, Tang Jun poured silver water and copper water on their heads, burning all the wooden donkeys and the Yan Jun soldiers in their stomachs to coke. In front of the resourceful Zhang Xun, all Yan Jun's "secret weapons" became useless decorations.Yin Ziqi was furious, so he had no choice but to resort to the last trick - to build a "deck".He ordered people to cut down a large number of trees in the northwest corner of Suiyang City (where the trees are relatively dense), and then piled up the wood under the city wall, and piled sandbags on it, intending to build a solid and wide trapezoidal long embankment so that the army could fight against it. Suiyang launched a group charge. During the more than ten days when the Yan army built the road, Zhang Xun remained calm. Of course, he just kept his face during the day.At night, he ordered people to sneak out of the city and stuff a lot of flammable materials such as pine needles and pole grass into the wood under the sand.For more than ten days, Yan Jun didn't notice.On the day when the road was built, before the Yan army could charge along the road, Zhang Xun ordered his soldiers to throw countless torches, which instantly ignited the entire road.Yin Ziqi and the officers and soldiers of the Yan Army watched helplessly as the fruits of their labor for more than ten days were burned, and they could only sigh helplessly. The fire that soared into the sky had been burning for more than 20 days before it was gradually extinguished.So far, Yin Ziqi is at the end of his rope. Zhang Xun's extraordinary adaptability made him extremely angry, and he had to be convinced. In the end, Yin Ziqi gave up the tactics of storming and ordered the soldiers to dig three trenches around Suiyang and set up wooden fences to prevent the Tang army from breaking through and prepare to trap the Tang army in the city. Yin Ziqi knew that Tang's army was running out of food and grass, he just had to wait patiently for a while, and Suiyang would definitely get his hands. In mid-July, the food in Suiyang City was completely exhausted, and even two liang per person per day became a luxury. At this moment there are only 600 defenders left, and Zhang Xun and Xu Yuan each lead 300 people to garrison: Zhang Xun guards the east and north gates, Xu Yuan guards the west and south gates.Zhang Xun and Xu Yuan ate and slept with the soldiers on the top of the city.And their last food, only bark, tea and paper. The worst thing is that even these three things are almost eaten up. If reinforcements and supplies don't come, what will they have to eat? At that time, there were three Tang armies not far from Suiyang: Xu Shuji was stationed in Qiaojun (now Bozhou City, Anhui Province), Shang Heng was stationed in Pengcheng (now Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province), and He Lanjinming was stationed in Linhuai (now south of Sihong County, Jiangsu Province). ).Among them, He Lan Jinming's troops are the strongest, but in order to preserve their personal strength, they ignore Suiyang's crisis, and they all support their troops. Now, Suiyang has reached the last juncture, since none of them came to help, Zhang Xun could only ask for help. Zhang Xun handed over the task to Nan Jiyun.He gave Nan Jiyun 30 elite cavalry, and told him to break through the encirclement desperately and go to Linhuai to ask He Lan Jinming for help.After Nan Jiyun and others left the city, tens of thousands of Yan troops swarmed to attack. Nan Jiyun "straight towards the crowd, shooting left and right", making the "thieves invincible". Army encirclement. Full of expectations, Nan Jiyun rushed to Linhuai non-stop and starry night, but what he saw was He Lan Jinming's icy face. He Lan Jinming said coldly: "These days you have been out, maybe Suiyang has already fallen, what's the use of sending reinforcements!" Nan Jiyun said angrily: "If Suiyang falls, Jiyun is willing to die to thank Doctor (He Lan Jinming's central official position is Doctor Yushi). What's more, if Suiyang falls, the next target of the rebel army will be Linhuai .Suiyang and Linhuai depend on each other, how can the doctor just sit back and do nothing?" He Lan Jinming was unmoved.But he admired Nan Jiyun's loyalty and bravery very much, so he decided to keep him under his command.On the same day, He Lan Jinming threw a grand banquet and specially arranged for a band to play music, hoping to keep Nan Jiyun with the entertainment of sensuality. But at the banquet, Nan Jiyun didn't drink a drop of wine, and didn't even touch his chopsticks.Seeing that He Lan Jinming had no intention of sending troops, Nan Jiyun gave up.He said to He Lan Jinming with grief and indignation: "When I came, people in Suiyang had been out of food for a month. Although I really wanted to enjoy the delicious food in front of me alone, it was hard to swallow anyway. Suiyang has fallen, and there is no heart to rescue those who are in danger, how can this be done by loyal people?" Immediately afterwards, Nan Jiyun suddenly pulled out his saber and cut off one of his own fingers.Everyone present, including He Lan Jinming, were all shocked and moved.They heard Nan Jiyun say: "Since Jiyun can't complete the task assigned by the master, I can only keep this finger to prove that I have tried my best." Afterwards, Nan Jiyun left Linhuai overnight and rushed to Ningling, not far from Suiyang. Together with Lian Tan, the guard here, they led the only 3,000 pacers in the city, and rushed eastward to reinforce Suiyang. When Zhang Xun was stationed in Suiyang, he handed over 3,000 troops to General Lian Tan and ordered him to stay in Ningling; now that Suiyang is in critical condition, it is meaningless to stick to Ningling, so Nan Jiyun can only pull this army out to rescue Suiyang. On the night of August 3rd, Nan Jiyun returned to Suiyang with 3,000 reinforcements, and immediately entered the siege of the Yan army, all the way to the city of Suiyang.After some bloody battles, although Nan Jiyun led the crowd to break through the Yan army's barracks and killed a large number of enemy soldiers, he himself also lost 2,000 people, leaving only 1,000 people to enter the city. Seeing Nan Jiyun covered in blood and the thousand troops, the soldiers in Suiyang City were in despair.Could it be that this is the reinforcement they are looking forward to? Yes, this is their reinforcement, the first and last reinforcement. Realizing this, the soldiers couldn't restrain their inner anger and despair any longer, and they looked up to the sky and wept bitterly. A man doesn't flick his tears lightly, but he doesn't reach the sad point!