Da Wei Chun

Chapter 648 The Bird of Fright
In just four days, the huge Tongwan City was covered in ice and snow, shining with silver light, like a fairyland on earth.

There are many banners and flags under the city, and the soldiers are like hemp, like an iron wall standing in the snow field.But it was nearly two miles away, but I could still feel a chilling aura of iron and blood rushing towards my face.

Yuan Huan was startled: a rough calculation shows that there are at least tens of thousands of troops under the city, if Xi Kangsheng is just bluffing, why is there such a big fanfare?

Could it be that the Taiwei made a mistake?

Feeling uneasy, he stole another look at Gao Zhao.I saw Gao Zhaoyuan and Yue Zhi, as majestic as a mountain, with no trace of panic on his face.

But why did he keep staring at Xicheng? Could it be that he was waiting for some news?
Just as he was suspicious, he saw another general running from the bottom of the city and whispered something in Gao Zhao's ear.

The voice was extremely low, even Yuan Huan was standing beside Gao Zhao, he could only vaguely hear the general mentioning Yuan Cheng.

"So what if you become angry from embarrassment and fly into a rage, is it possible that you can still curse Gao to death?"

Gao Zhao sneered, "Bring him to the city... I want to see how the calm King Ren Cheng looks like when he jumps up..."

The cronies led away, but Gao Zhao raised his head and looked west again.

It has been nearly four hours since I left the city in the morning.Seeing the sun go down, why didn't Gao Mang reply?

Suspicious in his heart, Gao Zhao looked at the army outside the city, and felt a little relieved.

Before noon, Xi Kangsheng dispatched all his troops to come. It can be seen that he had already prepared for it: if he could wait for Yuan Cheng's order, and then wait for the city gate to open and flags to be lowered all over the city, he would naturally lead his army into the city.

If there is no news from afar and the four cities are closed, Xi Kangsheng can only follow Yuan Cheng's agreement and surround the city with a large army.

Correspondingly, he will definitely not send troops to patrol the west, lest the Liziyuan camp suddenly arrive and attack his left flank.

Therefore, Gao Mang's whereabouts have long been known to the enemy. Not surprisingly, Li Shixian and his son died suddenly, and Gao Mang or his cronies have already rushed west to report to Li Chengzhi.

The reason why I didn't see the report must be that most of the soldiers were captured or fled.Even if a soldier escaped by chance, how could he dare to knock on the door of the city when he saw the army outside the city?
Thinking about it this way, Gao Zhao felt a little relieved, and his gaze became firm: even as Yuan Cheng said, Xi Kangsheng would forcefully attack the city regardless of casualties, but with the strength of the ice city, at least he can hold out until February when it recovers. when.

After more than two full months, Li Chengzhi must have made preparations to attack the imperial court and avenge his father and brother.

At that time, I will be able to turn the host into the guest, sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight...

"Taiwei, I have brought Yuan Cheng and Yuan Yi here!"

A soft call brought Gao Zhao back to reality.He smiled slightly: "Bring it to the city!"

In just a few breaths, Yuan Cheng and Yuan Yi were brought up.The two were still dressed in thin furs and long gowns, and their hands and feet were not bound.However, there are four or five soldiers standing beside each of them.

Look at his face again: Yuan Cheng's face is as sinking as water, black as ink.Yuan Yi, on the other hand, felt disappointed and disappointed.

Seeing Gao Zhao, Yuan Cheng opened his mouth and scolded: "Gao Shouwen, how dare you speak without faith, double-faced?"

"Why don't I dare?"

Gao Zhao smiled calmly, and stretched out his hand to point to the city, "It is true that Xi Kangsheng has gathered all his troops to surround Xiazhou, as the chief minister said. But after reaching the city, there was no movement, and he did not move forward... How about His Highness write a letter on this?" Feng, let him immediately attack the city? Don't worry, I, Gao Mou, said Jiuding: If your highness dares to write, I will dare to send it..."

Yuan Cheng's seven orifices were filled with smoke, and his eyes were filled with gold stars.

Now it is no longer a question of whether he dares to give orders, or whether Xi Kangsheng dares to attack by force.But how many soldiers must be killed in vain to capture Tongwan City?

At the beginning of the Great Xia Dynasty, Helianbo recruited [-] strong people to build the city with steamed soil, and it was cruel and brutal, extremely harsh: if the cone penetrated an inch, the author would be killed and the city built.

In this way, it took a full six years to complete the unification of the city. You can see its strength and strength?
And that's all, since Emperor Taiwu was able to break it 80 years ago, since Xi Kangsheng was a famous general, there were few opponents in terms of conquest.And with Li Chengzhi's improved stone cannon, it may not be able to show the power of the ancestors again.

Besides, Yuan Cheng didn't intend to let Xi Kangsheng break through Xiazhou, but just let him put on the posture of breaking the boat and forcing Gao Zhao to submit.

But who would have expected that Gao Zhao seemed to have eaten his heart, not only was he ready to fight to the end, but he also built the city with ice like a stroke of magic?
Let Xi Kangsheng attack again, it is no different from a moth to a flame, an egg to a stone...

What Yuan Cheng couldn't figure out was: how did Gao Zhao get the confidence to fight the court to the death?

He is a wise man who thinks a lot, and has lived in the court for a long time. His understanding of the current situation in Beidi and Beizhen is only limited to paper, but Yuanyi is different.

Yuan Yi was imprisoned in Xiazhou for nearly a year, and Gao Zhao couldn't help but communicate with Li Shixian. The two discussed from time to time and learned from each other's strengths. On the contrary, they knew more about Gao Zhao than Yuan Cheng.

Gao Zhao was more afraid of Li Chengzhi than the imperial court.The reason why he dares to die with the imperial court now is that he is not afraid of Li Chengzhi's collusion with the imperial court and attacks him...

Thinking of this, Yuan Yi felt like a lightning strike, and a flash of light flashed in his mind: "Where is Li Shixian, why haven't I seen him for a whole day?"

On the contrary, Gao Zhao looked surprised and stared at Yuan Yi for a while.

Yuan Xuanren has no quick wits, but he woke up today?
He laughed: "To tell you the truth, Huaide and his son have been sent to Xihai respectfully by the old man..."

Respectfully send it to Xihai?

A gleam flashed in Yuan Cheng's eyes: "Gao Shouwen, you have a very close relationship with Li Chengzhi and know him very well. Don't you think that releasing Li Shixian and his son will make him grateful to you and resolve the past?"

If it was really that easy, he would have done it a long time ago, why wait until today?

"What about Li, His Highness doesn't need to worry about it. Your Highness should take care of the present first..."

Gao Zhao looked at Yuan Cheng with a half-smile, "The words in the first article must be done: if His Highness gives the order, I will immediately send the dead man to Xi Kangsheng..."

The next bird feather... Do you think Xi Kangsheng is a stupid pig?
Yuan Cheng gritted his teeth in hatred, but there was nothing he could do.

What he hated was not that Gao Zhao dared to kill him, but that he was secretly annoyed that he didn't expect Gao Zhao to leave even the slightest leeway, and would imprison him in Xiazhou.

He couldn't get away for a while, so the strategy of going to Tuyuhun and Rouran to borrow troops would be shelved.Although there are many virtuous and virtuous talents in the clan, there are many people who are qualified to be envoys, but there are very few people who can bear this blame and withstand the follow-up pressure.

In this way, the empress dowager's suspicious, fickle and cautious temperament will definitely hesitate and hesitate.

But now the situation is changing, the good opportunity is fleeting, God knows what will happen after this delay?

Feeling anxious, Yuan Cheng racked his brains, thinking how to get Gao Zhao to release him from the city?
If there is no good strategy, then use deceit: Gao Zhao dares to ask, he dares to respond... Even if he promises to make him emperor, so what?
Just as he was thinking about how to speak, another drum sound came from his ear.

The movement is not very loud, and one can tell that it is quite far away.After further debate, it was actually an order to siege the city?

Yuan Cheng's eyes widened sharply, and he looked down the city.Sure enough, the army in the distance was like a wave, pressing down on the city.

Is Xi Kangsheng crazy?
Gao Zhao also looked suspicious, he looked at the slowly advancing army, and then at the setting sun which was approaching the western mountain.

Xi Kangsheng didn't attack in the morning and didn't attack in the evening. Why did he attack the city at sunset and night?
Could it be that all the soldiers under your command have the ability of night vision?

Thinking secretly, Gao Zhao shouted in a deep voice: "Don't panic, wait for the ants to attack before attacking, and save some arrows..."

The left and right army generals agreed with a bang, with a relaxed expression on their faces.

After waiting for about two quarters, Gao Zhao laughed when he saw that the enemy's front line did not rush into cars or buildings, "I thought Xi Kangsheng was really going to put all his eggs in one basket, so I just came here to test the enemy?"

……

Gao Zhao was not wrong.

Regarding this tortoise shell, even if all the famous generals in the world are gathered together, they can only look at the city and sigh.Xi Kangsheng couldn't break through the city, but that didn't stop him from trying.

Don't even think about ants attacking the city, the walls are full of ice, and even ladders can't stand up.It can only be bombarded with a cannon cart.

At this time, the artillery array was advancing down the city: one cannon, ten soldiers, followed by a cart, but what was loaded in the cart was not stone bullets, but porcelain jars.

And there are only a hundred or so cannons like this.Then came the slightly larger cannon carts, the kind that could throw tens of catties of stone bullets hundreds of feet away.

At that time, the city of Jinming County was bombed down with this kind of large artillery vehicles.

The large formation stayed temporarily, and after a while of orders, dozens of carts were thrown first.The accurate head is quite straight, most of them are thrown to the base of the wall or half of the wall.For a while, the sound was like thunder, and the momentum was great.

But apart from the great momentum, it seems that there is no merit.

A stone bomb weighing tens of catties is not insignificant.But if it falls on the city wall, it is at most a white seal.

The defenders on the city were still on guard before, fearing that stone bullets would be thrown on the top of the city, or they hid behind the battlements, or several people piled up shields and hid under the shields.

But after watching for a while, the tallest stone bullet fell in half of the wall, and it was still three feet away from the top of the city.So in the end, except for Gao Zhao's personal guards, the rest of the generals didn't even set up their shields lazily.

Xi Kangsheng could push the artillery array closer, but don't forget the rockets that Gao Zhaolai relies on.

But if you dare to go within a hundred steps, you only need to send the archers to condescend to throw the shots, and it won't take long to burn all of Xi Kangsheng's cannons into a handful of fly ashes.

After watching for a while, Xi Kangsheng ordered the artillery battalion to use small artillery instead.

The stone cannon stopped suddenly, and Gao Zhao suddenly felt a lot of silence in his ears.Thinking that Xi Kangsheng would definitely withdraw his troops here, he saw that it was like lighting lamps in front of the battle, and many torches were lit in an instant.

Although it was almost dusk at this time, the sun had not yet set, and it was far from the time to light up the lights.And Gao Zhao thought that even if Xi Kangsheng was insane, he would never dare to attack at night.

Whether you can see it is just the second thing, and the key is to be able to frostbite countless people overnight.

Secretly suspicious, seeing that the place where the lights are lit is the cannon cart, and there are still soldiers filling the cannon cart, Gao Zhao suddenly felt a little vigilant in his heart.

As soon as the thought came to him, he heard the sound of a drum again, and nearly a hundred fires flew towards the city like shooting stars.

What is this, could it be Li Chengzhi's Feilei?

Otherwise, why use fire to lead it?

Gao Zhao's soul was half frightened, and he was about to order, when the sound of porcelain pots shattering again sounded in his ears.

There was another burst of "booming" behind the ears, and all the broken parts of the porcelain pots were caught in a sea of ​​flames.

It would be fine if they hit the city wall, and there just happened to be a few of them thrown into the city road.It doesn't matter whether the soldiers are holding shields or not, but hearing the sound of shattering, there is a burst of crying for father and mother.

The general of the personal guard flew forward, covered the shield on top of Gao Zhao's head, and shouted urgently: "Hurry up, protect the Taiwei and go down to the city..."

Gao Zhao's face was livid with anger, and he slapped his hand: "You dog thief, if you dare to talk nonsense and disturb our army's morale, you will definitely be killed..."

Gao Zhao has never seen a pig running, but he has eaten pork.How Yuan Ji and Chang Yizhi were defeated, and how Luo Jian was defeated, he had already heard.

Li Chengzhi's firearms are only second in terms of damage, but they are extremely powerful, like divine punishment, and are most likely to confuse the enemy's morale.

If I retreat at this time, how can the morale of the defenders on the city be spoken of?

And this is only second, after all, there is a strong city to rely on, as long as all the guards on the city are withdrawn, there is still nothing Xi Kangsheng can do.

But when encountering firearms in the future, no matter whether it is a general or a soldier, he will definitely think of Gao Taiwei who abandoned the city and fled today, and he must be even more afraid...

Gao Zhao shouted sharply: "Remove the shield for me... I want to see if the thunder from the sky blows Gao up to nothing?"

As he spoke, he stepped forward and stood forward, without a trace of fear on his face.

Is this traitor really quick-witted?

It would be fine if we knew that Gao Zhao was standing here, but Tongwan City is ten miles long from east to west, with shining soldiers and crowds of people, what kind of rage must Xi Kang have to smash Gao Zhao out of ten thousand people?
Yuan Cheng cursed inwardly, and then heard Yuan Yi ask: "This is not thunder, but fire oil?"

"How can Gao Shouwen not know?" Yuan Cheng sneered, "It's nothing more than referring to tigers as pigs and deceiving soldiers. Next time I really meet Tian Lei, at least I will have more courage..."

I see?

Yuan Yi suddenly realized, and said in a low voice, "Why did Xi Kangsheng get this thing?"

Yuan Cheng laughed: "Don't forget that when the late emperor was here, he ordered Li Chengzhi to brew fire wine and transport it to the central cellar in Beijing, which was worth tens of thousands of catties... I have already transported all of it in my trip to the north, how dare I do it otherwise? Fighting with the rebels to the death..."

He purposely said it loudly, Gao Zhao naturally heard it clearly.Although he knew that Yuan Cheng was threatening him, he was still shocked.

When Li Chengzhi didn't follow the West Sea, he had been promoted to Taiwei, how could he not know how much fire wine was hidden in Beijing?
Tens of thousands of jacks.

The reason why Gao Zhao was suspicious was because he didn't smell the alcohol, but felt the smoke coming from his nose was very familiar?
He is relying on this, and even more relying on it to raise troops, how could he not know?
This is clearly fire oil...

But Gao Meng spent nearly two years, boiling all the big lakes dry, and even killed tens of thousands of lives in vain.And it has only been half a year since Xi Kangsheng broke Jinming, where did he get this thing?

It is absolutely impossible that Xi Kangsheng picked it from the oil lake.

Those oil lakes have already been dug to a depth of several zhang by Gao Meng, and the poisonous gas is lingering in them, as soon as a person stepped out of the lake, he died within two moments, otherwise how could he easily abandon Jinming?
Like a frightened bird, Gao Zhao couldn't help thinking of Li Chengzhi.

Li Chengzhi, who is a man of heaven, knows that "Gaonu County has flammable water", so it's hard to know that other places are also rich in this thing like Jinming?
This little thief is used to fanning the flames. He is afraid that he and the court will lose both. It is not impossible to dedicate the place where this thing is located to the court...

(End of this chapter)