The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 651

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" It was dusk at this time, but the battle drums in the Wei Army camp were rumbling.

The Sui army in the Sui army camp became nervous about it, and some people rushed to report. After a while, Yao Junsu and deputy generals Wang Xingben, Feng Li, and Li Zhengbao rushed to the watchtower after hearing the news.

I saw that the Wei army under the camp had been mobilized on a large scale, and groups of Wei troops gathered in front of the Sui army camp from all directions like a converging river and sea.

Under the setting sun, the battle flags of the Wei Army were like clouds, and their weapons gleamed like a forest. They were majestic and majestic, and the heaven and earth were filled with awe-inspiring spirit.

Yao Junsu's expression was stern, and his eyes were awe-inspiring. Although he had [-] troops in name, Shouchun County, which was the county government, allocated [-] soldiers to him, and Anfeng County, which was upstream of Feishui, allocated [-] soldiers. Every small town on the West Bank must be garrisoned by troops.The army for him to fight is actually only about [-].

Since Li Mi entered the country, he has been attacking day and night for three days and nights, causing Yao Junsu's army to suffer nearly ten thousand casualties in the intensive and fierce offensive, and the remaining [-] soldiers are also exhausted.

He said to Wang Xingben beside him: "Li Mi has been reluctant to launch a general attack for a long time, but let the armies take turns to attack day and night. They are all extremely exhausted. Judging by this posture, they want to capture the camp before tonight."

Wang Xingben said worriedly: "General Qin's Jiang Xia Army has already set off, crossing the Yangtze River to the north is Yong'an, according to the speed of the cavalry, it will arrive tomorrow morning, but the problem is that the army has come a long distance, and it is extremely tired. It won't do much. Before they recover, they can only rely on our [-] tired soldiers. Does the general think we can last until that moment?"

Yao Junsu shook his head, "I don't know either!"

"For the current plan, we will do our best to defend the camp no matter what!" Having said this, Wang Xingben paused, pondered for a moment, and then said: "Our army's camp lies on the only way for the Wei army. If we want to go deep Huainan will inevitably break the camp. Judging from the direction of their attacks these days, they usually attack in three routes, with the east gate as the main, and the north and south routes. I will be in charge of guarding the front east gate tonight, and the north and south directions can be Leave it to Feng Li and Li Zhengbao. As long as we stick to the reinforcements, we will be a great achievement."

Although Yang Tong didn't give Yao Junsu much troops, there were quite a few generals who came to experience training.

Regarding Wang Xingben's suggestion, Yao Junsu was noncommittal, but looked at Li Zhengbao who was beside him, and seeing that he hesitated to speak, he asked with a smile: "If General Li has any good suggestions, you might as well just say it."

"Yes!" Li Zhengbao bowed first, then stood up straight, looked at Yao Junsu, and said boldly: "The last general's meaning is very simple, why should we stick to it?"

"Why did General Li say that?" Wang Xingben was taken aback.

Li Zhengbao replied: "Li Mi's attitude is already very obvious. He intends to capture our army camp tonight. In addition to the three fronts, the Wei army with many soldiers and generals can also take advantage of the night to send a surprise army down from Bagong Mountain. If we attack, once we enter the camp from the mountain, our army will be in chaos."

Xue Wanjun adopted this method when he attacked Zhuyang Pass. Using Gao Yan and Yu Zhan as surprise soldiers, he entered the pass from the mountains on both sides of Zhuyang Pass, killing the Tang army in the pass into chaos, and finally gave the frontal army to fall into the city. opportunity.In terms of terrain, the camp of the Sui army is exactly the same as Zhuyangguan, and it is also sandwiched between the two mountains, so Li Mi can also use Xue Wanjun's method to deal with the Sui army.

Wang Xingben also participated in the battle of Zhuyangguan, so when he heard Li Zhengbao's words, he broke out in a cold sweat.

"General Li agrees with my ideas." Yao Junsu said with a smile: "A good fighter does not fight for the gains or losses of a city or a place, but for the final victory. I decided to abandon the camp at the right time and retreat to the west bank of Feishui. Gradually drag Li Mi's main force to the west, away from Jiangdu, and create a good opportunity for the Holy Majesty to take Jiangdu calmly."

Looking up at the sky, Yao Junsu said again: "In one to two hours, it will be completely dark, and we will take the initiative to retreat at that time. Li Mi saw that we retreated without chaos, so we must have taken measures to lure the enemy As far as the plan is concerned, in order to avoid being caught in an ambush, he will definitely not pursue, and by dawn, we have already retreated to Shouchun."

"But then again, our army already has a favorable location, and we can definitely gain a lot by taking advantage of the camp and the condescending situation. Therefore, this battle must be fought with all our strength, and Li Mi must not be allowed to win too much."

"The end will obey orders!"

The three generals saluted, and each led an army to rush towards the main attack direction of the Wei army.

At this time, Yao Junsu took a deep breath, and shouted: "Pass my order, let [-] soldiers and supply soldiers participate in the defense, and another [-] soldiers as reinforcements."

The Sui army not only had [-] soldiers, but also recruited [-] young and strong civilian husbands. These young and strong men who were born in troubled times were not afraid of battle or blood. As long as they were trained briefly and given weapons, they could guard the camp together. After these three days of war, they have also adapted to the war. As long as the Wei army does not break through the camp, the ten thousand people will not be in chaos.

Yao Junsu, who once blocked hundreds of thousands of Tang troops from going south to Hedong, knew the heart of the civilian husbands who assisted in the defense.

The Sui army on the defensive side had just made arrangements, and the Wei army had also assembled.For this general attack, Li Mi mobilized all forces. He divided his troops into three groups, one to attack Dongyingmen, and the other two to attack the north and south, and each route had three groups of front army, middle army, and rear army. The central army attacked the camp, and when the central army weakened, the rear army went up again.Three sets of cycles, we must win the Sui army camp tonight.

Just as Li Zhengbao expected, he listened to Fang Xuanzao's suggestion and dispatched two groups of surprise soldiers, planning to climb the mountains on both sides of the Sui army's camp when it was dark, and launch a deadly attack on the Sui army when the battle reached a stalemate. hit.

everything's ready.

Li Mi looked at the Sui camp in the distance, drew out the sword at his waist, pointed the blade straight ahead, and shouted vigorously: "For those who break the camp, each general and school will be promoted to a higher level, ordinary soldiers will be rewarded with a year's salary, and the head of Yao Junsu will be beheaded." Those who do, will be rewarded ten thousand taels, and bestowed on the duke of the country.”

Hearing the news, the internal army guarding the emperor opened his voice and shouted: "For those who break the battalion, each general and school will be promoted to a higher level. Ordinary officers and soldiers will be rewarded with a year's salary. Those who behead Yao Junsu's head will be rewarded with a reward of ten thousand taels and bestowed on the Duke of the State." Sir."

"For those who break the battalion, each general and school will be promoted to a higher level. Ordinary officers and soldiers will be rewarded with a year's salary. Those who behead Yao Junsu's head will be rewarded with a reward of [-] taels, and will be bestowed as a duke of the country."

Under the reward, there must be a brave man!
Instigated by high officials and rich money, the Wei army began to rush towards the Sui army's camp like a tide and like crazy in an orderly siege formation.

Although the Wei army did not launch a general offensive, they never stayed idle. Instead, they used the night to fill the trenches and traps in front of the camp with soil. The three offensive directions on the frontal battlefield had been completely filled, and these three safe routes became The main battlefield where the Wei army attacked the camp tonight.

Tens of thousands of Wei troops carried solid shields and swarmed along the three two-mile-long security gaps. The array was as dense as an ant colony. Behind them, five huge nest cars each slowly drove towards the Sui camp. .

"Dong dong dong..."

The fierce sound of war drums seemed to break the hearts of people, and the arrows fired by the enemy and us were like a storm, forming a large black cloud of arrows, which made the soldiers on both sides breathless.

At this moment, more than a dozen heavy-duty trebuchets of the Wei army took turns to project, throwing huge boulders and piles of gravel at the Sui camp, with huge holes piercing the camp wall; .

One after another, the screams resounded throughout the world. After three days and three nights of fighting against the enemy, the soldiers of the Sui army had gradually transformed into elite soldiers, and each of them was red-eyed. Taking advantage of the terrain, they were condescending from the camp wall. Rolling logs were thrown at the Wei army one by one from above, and the giant logs rolled down the inclined city with increasing speed and strength. A series of Wei army soldiers were knocked to the ground, screaming.

"General, they are here. There are about three thousand of them."

On the frontal battlefield, a loud soldier reminded the general Wang Xingben.

"How far is it?" Wang Xingben looked up at the soldiers on the watchtower.

"It's about 250 steps, and it's within the range of the broken army crossbow." The soldier replied loudly.

"Prepare to break the army crossbow, target, the enemy's rear."

Following Wang Xingben's order, a group of crossbowmen quickly divided into six rows and came to the camp wall. These people shared a large crossbow with two people, but these crossbows were different from ordinary ones. The body of the bow alone was eight feet long. The left and right bow strings are made of beef tendon and iron wire. In order to reduce the force required to open the bow, each big bow has two bow strings, and two fixed pulleys are installed in the middle of one of them, but it takes two Only people can use it, one person is responsible for calibrating the target, and the other is responsible for firing the bow. As for the shooting range, it has reached a sensational 300 steps.

"The first group is ready!"

"Crench."

There was a dull sound, the strong soldier pulled the bowstring with all his strength, and buckled it on the bow, and another soldier quickly placed two five-foot-long cross arrows on the bowstring. Although the light army-breaking crossbow is not as time-consuming as the large bed crossbow used for defending the city, it is very labor-intensive. Even a strong man who has been selected layer by layer can only open the bow five times at most.

"Salvo! Release!"

The commander on the watchtower gave an order, and two thousand sharp arrows fell into the Wei army's phalanx, and they were scattered by only one round of volley.Looking around, it was a mess, the corpses of the soldiers of the Wei Army were everywhere, the stumps and broken arms were scattered everywhere, and the heads and bodies were soaked in the blood all over the ground, just like a hell on earth.Some soldiers were cut in half by the strong force of the cross arrow, and they hadn't completely died for a while, and the upper half of the corpse screamed horribly.

But Wei Jun was also extremely brave, dying in one battle, and going up again in another.At the same time, Wei Jun's catapults also roared towards the front camp.

"Boom~Boom~Boom~"

With ear-piercing roars, Wei Jun's catapults roared at the same time, and more than a dozen large stones fell on the city wall one after another, causing the entire camp wall to shake, as if an earth dragon turned over, and some soldiers who had no time to escape were crushed by the stones that fell from the sky. It hit the body firmly, and before it even had time to scream, it was directly blasted to pieces, blood and shattered corpses splashing everywhere.

In fact, the real casualties caused by these large stone-throwing catapults are very limited.After all, the rock is only that big, and it is difficult to strike accurately. On average, one big rock may not be able to kill ten people, but the mighty momentum is quite a blow to morale.

The terrifying power like a natural disaster, as well as the death of the soldiers who were shot, caused the morale of these soldiers who had not yet become elite to be greatly reduced in an instant.

Regarding the performance of these soldiers, Wang Xingben could only shake his head and sigh. Fortunately, the soldiers did not show signs of defeat, so he continued to command the soldiers to launch a counterattack with the broken crossbow.

……

Time passed slowly in the brutal bloody battle, and the sky quickly turned into night.The Wei army outside the camp had already lit torches and raging bonfires, illuminating the inside and outside of the camp like daylight.

"General, there is a crisis in the north where General Feng is in charge. The camp wall has collapsed, and the brothers are almost unable to withstand it."

"General, there is a crisis in General Li's direction."

"The nest cart is already approaching the east gate of the camp. There are too many enemy troops, and our crossbowmen can no longer draw their bows."

The defenders of the three routes were in danger, and the messenger soldiers reported the situation to Yao Junsu one after another.

Yao Junsu also saw three nest carts close to the east gate. The Wei troops on the nest carts were already higher than the camp wall, and they shot arrows at the camp gate one after another, suppressing the soldiers on the wall so that they could not fight back.

Wang Xingben could only order the crossbowmen to retreat to the camp, and use the range advantage of the army-breaking crossbow to attack the Wei army on the nest cart. However, the army-breaking crossbow is not a catapult after all. Although it is powerful, it cannot Like a boulder, it can smash the nest car into pieces.The Wei army had the advantage in numbers, and they died one after another, while the Wei army on the ground lost the suppression of their bows and crossbows, and had already reached the camp wall.

The war has lasted until now, and two hours have passed. Whether it is the soldiers in the main battle or the temporary requisitioned soldiers, all of them fought bravely, even better than Yao Junsu imagined.However, the coordination of these soldiers is far inferior to the army he led before. When the flying stones arrive, there will always be chaos for a while, which gives the Wei army a chance to breathe. Long gaps and omissions.However, under Li Mi's desperate command, the Wei army continued to attack, and the camp could not last long.

Now that it has become like this, it is meaningless to keep it up.Instead of being entangled and unable to distinguish between the enemy and the enemy, it is better to leave before the Wei army arrives,

Thinking of this.

Yao Junsu ordered: "Order [-] soldiers to be responsible for cutting off the rear. If the Wei army pursues, use bows and crossbows to hunt and kill. Order [-] soldiers to carry the wounded."

Until now, the [-] soldiers that Yao Junsu used to prevent sudden changes have never been sent to the battlefield.

"Here!" A group of soldiers left quickly.

After about two quarters, the soldiers came back and reported that all the wounded soldiers had left the camp.

"Let the three generals give up their defense and retreat directly to Shouchun City with their weapons and equipment." Seeing that the mission had been accomplished, Mr. Yao readily agreed to order the three armies to retreat.

"Here!" The three guards received the order to leave.

As the chief general, Yao Junsu retreated with the [-] soldiers who were in charge of covering. Before retreating, they burned the camp with kerosene, and the whole camp was suddenly engulfed in flames.

The raging fire and raging flames bought the time for the Sui army to retreat safely.

As the camp of the Sui army fell into a sea of ​​flames, the soldiers of the Wei army who were under no pressure immediately cheered, and the sound of cheers resounded through the sky.

Li Mi was also infected by the aura of victory, he took a deep breath, and happily said to Fang Xuanzao beside him: "Sir, we won!"

But Fang Xuanzao didn't respond, he just stood there in a daze, as if he had lost his mind.

Li Mi thought he was in a daze with liking it, and jokingly said, "Sir, you have always been as steady as a mountain, why are you so happy for this small victory?"

"Your Majesty!" Fang Xuanzao, who came back to his senses, took a deep breath, looking at Li Mi with a faint look of uneasiness and worry in his eyes: "There seems to be something wrong."

"How do you say that?" Li Mi was taken aback, and then stopped smiling.

Fang Xuanzao said worriedly: "Have you ever remembered the information we received at noon today?"

"Sir means..."

"The grain ship that was supposed to arrive in Zhongli Tushan County yesterday, but there is no news yet."

Li Mi also thought about it, and said with awe in his heart: "Has the person who inquired come back?"

"Reporting to the Holy Majesty, the soldiers have gone to inquire, but until now, no one has sent back any news."

Li Mi's heart was also covered with a shadow. The transportation of military rations and supplies has always been the top priority. There should be no mistakes or delays. Could it be that something happened?

He muttered to himself: "The grain ship departs from Jiangyang warehouse, passes through Bingou to Shanyang, and then goes westward from Shanyang against the Huai River. Water and land along the way are our core areas, so nothing should happen. Even if the Sui army If we take a boat eastward from Runan, we will also get news."

Fang Xuanzao frowned deeply, and said sadly: "Our troops left in Jiangyang Cang and Jiangdu City are too small, and I really don't feel relieved."

"The general has [-] soldiers in his hands, [-] soldiers in Jiangyangcang, and [-] troops in Jiangdu City. These troops are enough for defense. Even if the remnants of the Jiangnan gentry rebel, it is impossible to make a big deal."

Even though Li Mi said so, he knew that Fang Xuanzao was not the kind of person who worried about gains and losses, so he simply asked: "What are you worried about, sir?"

"What I'm worried about is the Sui army." Fang Xuanzao had already thought of the loopholes in their defense, thinking of that possibility, he only felt a chill down his spine.

"Sir, you are worrying too much." Li Mi shook his head and laughed: "The Sui and Tang Dynasties are on the eve of the outbreak, and the Sui army has no energy to pay attention to our great Wei. Bodang and Xu Shiji will defend and warn us in time. Du Fuwei has a general to restrain him, how can the Sui army cut off my food supply?"

Fang Xuanzao said in a trembling voice, "Sea Road!"

"Sea route?"

Li Mi only felt that his head was hit hard by a hammer, and there was a buzzing sound. There was a burst of gold stars jumping around in front of his eyes, and he fell into a brief dizziness.The joy of victory brought about by breaking the camp suddenly disappeared without a trace.

(End of this chapter)