The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 782 Sui army crossbow array, breaking the enemy
"General, the last general is willing to lead troops to attack the city." Under the city of Zaoyang, Xin Liaoer, Kan Leng and other generals challenged Luo Shixin to fight.The battlefield is the destination of generals and the source of their military achievements. They are not afraid of war, but they are afraid that there will be no war.

"Don't be so troublesome." Luo Shixin, with a mustache, shook his head lightly, and said calmly, "Bring me the Pojun crossbow."

"Here."

In an instant, the flag was unfurled, the Sui army lineup was divided, the cavalry was divided into two, and they separated to the two sides like a tide, revealing the infantry and crossbowmen phalanx behind them. Ten thousand infantry and crossbowmen quickly stepped forward and came to under the city.

"Arrangement."

Luo Shiluo gave another order.

Under the protection of the sword and shield soldiers, the crossbowmen began to assemble the army-breaking crossbows in groups of three. They cooperated with each other and were skilled in their techniques. It didn't take long for huge army-breaking crossbows to appear.

The biggest advantage of the Sui Dynasty's Pojun crossbow is not its long range, strong power, and amazing lethality, but the use of "assembly line" operations to produce it, and the parts can be interchanged for common use. If one crossbow breaks on the battlefield, another The parts of the rack are disassembled and assembled.In addition, it is easy to disassemble. The Sui army had a large number of war horses. Not only the infantry had horses, but also the supplies were transported by war horses, which greatly enhanced the mobility of the Sui army.

The broken army crossbow is a long-range and heavy-duty weapon. Its disadvantage is that it is huge and heavy, and it cannot be carried by one person.When the massive crossbow array was lined up, a complete lineup appeared immediately.

Looking down from the top of the city, it can be seen very clearly that this is a huge crossbow formation composed of more than a thousand giant crossbows.There are cavalry guards on both sides of the crossbow formation, sword and shield soldiers in front, and spearmen with hand crossbows in the formation. No matter whether the enemy is killed from the front or from the left and right sides, they can quickly meet the enemy.Behind the crossbow formation, there is also a murderous cavalry, divided into three columns from the left, middle and right.These three cavalry were trained by the major legions imitating the Xiaoguo Army, and their status in each legion was second only to the most demanding Mo Dao soldiers.

When seeing this huge crossbow array, Li Xiaoyi and Lu Jie in the city couldn't help but gasped.

Not only because of the large number of huge crossbows, but also because each giant crossbow is equipped with a row of huge crossbow bolts. A crossbow bolt is a spear. Ten "spears" were set up on the crossbow.

Although it has not been fired yet, everyone knows what this huge "spear" will look like if it is shot into the city by a crossbow.
Li Xiaoyi didn't dare to think about it, and Lu Jie didn't dare to think about it either, a chill came up from their backs as the crossbow array slowly moved forward.

The faces of the two were a little pale, especially when they saw the huge arrows that were constantly retreating and accumulating power as the soldiers of the Sui army pulled the winch, the depressed emotions immediately enveloped the hearts of all the Tang soldiers in the city. With the arrow above, some people began to subconsciously look for bunkers and subconsciously avoid them. For human beings, unknown things are always so frightening.

Li Xiaoyi moved his lips, he was about to let the soldiers and horses leave the city, and destroyed the giant crossbow before the crossbow array showed its power.

"General, no!" Seeing that Li Xiaoyi was going to give an order, Lu Jie hurriedly stopped and said, "The power of this giant crossbow is unknown, whether it can be shot/reached the city is still a matter of opinion, even if it can be shot/up, the Sui army is still capable. There are as many as a thousand, and our soldiers will not be able to destroy all the crossbow formations in a short time. If there are fewer people sent, they will be sent to death. If they go out with all their strength, they will fall into the hands of the Sui army."

Hearing this, Li Xiaoyi immediately looked at the countless cavalry cruising beside him, knowing that if troops were sent out at this time, the cavalry of the Sui army would rush out immediately.He frowned and said, "It's just that this crossbow array is really disturbing!"

"The crossbow array is too far away from the city, neither the catapult nor the bow and arrow can reach it. Right now, we can only defend passively. Even if the crossbow has a range of more than 500 steps, it may not have much power when it reaches the city." "Lu Jie After the analysis, he suggested: "The general can order the soldiers to step back and set up shields to defend. "

Li Xiaoyi nodded, and after calmly estimating the range of the crossbows of the Tang army defending the city, he gave the order to set up a shield for defense.

In fact, let alone the Tang army, even Kan Leng, who is in the Jianghuai area, is a little apprehensive looking at these behemoths, and even suspects that this thing is just a show: "General Luo, can this thing shoot/reach the city?"

"Of course it's possible. When we attacked Goguryeo's Pingyao City, we used this kind of crossbow to break the army. The city wall five feet high is no problem, let alone Zaoyang City." Luo Shixin said confidently: " Moreover, over the years, the skilled craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry have been improving, and the Breaking Army Crossbow is not only lighter, smaller, and less labor-intensive than before, it is also more convenient to disassemble, assemble, and reload the crossbow, but it also sacrifices some range."

After Luo Shixin finished speaking, he sighed regretfully.

"How far is the shooting range?" Kan Leng asked again.

"It used to be more than 700 steps, but now it is only more than 500 steps."

"More than 500 steps?"

Kan Leng's voice has changed. The previous rhubarb crossbow was only about [-] paces at most, but this broken army crossbow has reached an unimaginable [-]-odd paces. If this is the case, there is no city in the world that can withstand such A wild bombardment of a giant crossbow.

At this time, Kan Ling finally understood why the skilled craftsmen of the Sui Dynasty had to sacrifice the range of more than 200 steps, because the range of more than 500 steps was far beyond the tolerance of every big city, and the excess range was exchanged for a lighter and smaller body. Quantity is obviously a very smart approach.If the world really wants to have a strong city that cannot be reached by a five-hundred-step crossbow, it will be enough to replace it with a seven-hundred-step heavy crossbow.

"Actually, the Breaking Army Crossbow is not the most powerful crossbow in the Sui Dynasty. It is more powerful than it is a new type of crossbow called the Honeycomb Crossbow. That thing makes people despair." Luo Shixin introduced.

"Honeycomb crossbow?" Kan Leng was surprised again.

"That's right, the lethality of that thing is too terrifying, the Holy Majesty does not intend to use it in China." Luo Shixin smiled, and said gloatingly: "It is estimated that Tuyuhun and Tubo's troops will be in bad luck."

"General, the arrow is ready, do you want to shoot it?" The crossbowman commander rode his horse to Luo Shixin's side and asked with his hands clasped.

"Adopt the four-stage continuous shooting method, the first group shoots at the city head, the second group shoots/on the city wall, the third group aims at the city head, and the fourth group fires siege cables, so that the slave soldiers are ready to attack the city, and the crossbowmen are responsible for covering .” Luo Shixin issued a combat order, which is a new way of siege derived from the crossbow array.

It was the first time it was put into the battlefield.

"Crunch." With the waving of the flag, under the gaze of tens of thousands of eyes, the crossbowmen in charge of operating the first row and the second row released the winch, and there was a dull sound accompanied by a muffled sound.

"Om."

In an instant, the world was filled with buzzing sounds, and the five thousand giant arrows of the five hundred crossbows in the first row and the second row passed through a distance of five hundred steps in an instant, hitting the shield wall and the city wall respectively. middle part.

"click~"

Accompanied by a series of shattering sounds, the shield array erected by Tang Jun on the city was pierced and shattered in an instant.

"Pfft, puff, puff, puff..."

The giant arrow that shattered the wooden shield remained undiminished, and continued to howl and pierced into the body of the shield soldier. There was a series of sounds of sharp weapons tearing the body. After piercing through the human body, it was nailed to the tower behind. Flesh and blood flew everywhere, some corpses were still intact, and some were directly torn off by huge force, the city seemed to have turned into a hell on earth.

Li Xiaoyi and Lu Jie standing on the tower felt the wooden plank under their feet shake violently, and gasped at the same time when they looked down, the area below was covered in blood mist.

One after another, the sound of misery resounded through the heaven and earth, but this time, at least three or four hundred soldiers were engulfed under the huge crossbow without any resistance.Countless soldiers who had escaped by chance felt an unspeakable sense of fear in their hearts.

But they haven't discovered that the city wall under their noses is also filled with densely packed giant arrows.

"Haha..." Luo Shixin laughed happily after seeing this scene, and ordered: "The third and fourth groups continue to fire, let the slave soldiers attack the city immediately."

"promise!"

When the soldiers of the Tang army recovered and looked around, another five thousand giant arrows were shot at the city with a roar. The chest and abdomen were pierced with holes the size of fists, and even worse, even the internal organs were ripped out. The whole city was like a hell on earth, which made people feel creepy.

Amid the strong smell of blood, Li Xiaoyi, who was crawling on the ground, slowly stood up. Seeing this tragic scene, he heard the howling echoing in his ears, and shouted angrily: "What the hell is this? It has such power."

"General, look." At this moment, Lu Jie with a pale face pointed to a huge arrow that fell to the ground through a hole in the wooden wall.

Li Xiaoyi followed the trend and saw that the giant arrow looked like a shrunken anchor, the arrow looked like an upside-down claw, a narrow square hole was cut behind the arrow shaft, and a hemp rope the size of a thumb was tied to it.

Li Xiaoyi suddenly realized that the Sui army's big arrows should all be tied with ropes, and then let the soldiers climb up the city. After realizing it, he anxiously ordered: "Send the order, let the soldiers cut off the ropes."

"Here." The messenger went down to pass the order in fear.

. . . . . . .

"kill."

"Kill it."

"Roar! Roar!"

At this time, the slave soldiers wearing light armor and gesticulating short knives were excited by the power of the broken army crossbow. They rode their horses to the bottom of the city, then dismounted, pulled the rope, and stepped on the giant arrow firmly nailed to the city wall. He climbed up the city vigorously.

The slave soldiers who couldn’t get the rope directly held the shaft of the arrow. The smarter ones would grasp the bottom and climb up step by step; Either broke or fell off, and then fell into the crowd below with people and arrows.

The entire city wall is densely packed with slave soldiers climbing up, looking from a distance, it seems like a zombie siege game.

"Cavalry archers, cover." Luo Shixin ordered lightly when he saw Tang Jun start to shoot arrows and cut ropes.

"Here."

As the flag danced, the cavalry archers shouted loudly. When the horn sounded, they charged towards Zaoyang City fearlessly with high fighting spirit, as if they were about to break through the city wall.

They came within range and began firing the crossbows.

shhhhhh...

Rows of crossbow arrows shot out like rain, and the soldiers of the Tang Army who were still in shock on the city fell to the ground amidst wailing.

At this time, in the city, except for the few elite soldiers of the Tang army who have been tested for a long time, most of the people have already been frightened by the crossbow array, and the morale that was not much at all has been wiped out. dodge.

"Defend the city, defend the city."

Li Xiaoyi beheaded a few deserters like crazy, but he couldn't stop the people who were temporarily pulled over to defend the city from breaking up, they were just ordinary people, why did they ever experience such a battle?Even the people of troubled times have never seen such a desperate method of siege, let alone a terrifying crossbow array. When they saw the tragic scene caused by the giant arrows, they were frightened and turned around one by one. just go.

"Go back, go back!" Li Xiaoyi's supervisor team kept shouting and cursing, trying to stop the deserters.But where can we stop the auxiliary soldiers who are all terrified?
But at this time, the archers and cavalrymen below the city fired their crossbows at full force, and the arrows shot into the rout army on the city, causing a rain of blood.

Zaoyang City was three feet high, which was only about ten meters. Under the protection of the rain of arrows, some nimble slave soldiers killed the top of the city without any damage, brandishing short knives and fighting with the Tang army in a mess.

With these people fighting in the front, the follow-up slave soldiers were more relaxed. They climbed up to the top of the city continuously, started killing on both sides, and blasted the rout soldiers down the top of the city. Slash the drawbridge winch.

With the sound of clattering, the iron cable was pulled by the falling suspension bridge, swimming out of the city like a long snake. As the strength increased, the speed of the iron cable swimming became faster and faster. On the ground, it fell to pieces.

At this time, amidst the sound of a huge horn, the battering ram came out. It was a battering ram made of heavy nanmu, with a leather head and a handle nailed to its body. It weighed several thousand catties and was firmly tied to the On a trailer similar to a gantry crane, it was pushed by 200 slave soldiers, and another [-] people raised shields to cover it.

The huge battering ram looked like a black centipede, walking slowly towards the city gate along the flat open space. Behind them, a thousand cavalry in heavy armor were lined up, and they would rush in when the city gate was smashed open. Inside the city, the slave soldiers on the city had suppressed the Tang army on the city at this time, and the shield guards guarding the battering ram saw the arrows flying down, so they simply put down their shields and pushed the trailer forward together.

From the top of the tower, Li Xiaoyi saw that the speed of the battering ram was getting faster and faster, approaching the city gate, he became very anxious, but his soldiers had already been killed and dispersed, and he lost control of the top of the city.

Seeing that there was no more soldier to send in the city tower, a feeling of despair spread in his heart. He glanced at Lu Jie and saw the determination in each other's eyes. The two drew out their swords at the same time. , rushed down the stairs.Fight with slave soldiers in light armor.The two fought side by side, killing the heads of slave soldiers and corpses across the city.

But at this time, the soldiers of the Tang army realized that Zaoyang could not hold it anymore, and the city gate would be smashed by the battering ram sooner or later, and the slave soldiers kept coming up, so even the elite soldiers of the Tang army who came from everywhere began to lose their morale. After the collapse, many soldiers turned around and ran towards the west city. They fell from the wall of the west city wall and ran towards the official road, intending to escape to Xiangyang.

Li Xiaoyi and Lu Jie were indeed brave, but they couldn't hold back the large number of slave soldiers. When their personal guards were wiped out, the two of them were surrounded by bloody bodies, back to back, on the top of the city. The two lower body launches.

Lu Jie was a little inferior in martial arts. After parrying a few arrows, he was finally shot in the left leg by an arrow. The huge force of the arrow knocked him to the ground, and the tip of the arrow came out from behind. .

Without Lu Jie's cover, Li Xiaoyi was also shot by the arrow soon.

Suddenly there was a loud roar from below the city, and the battering ram slammed into the city gate once again under the swing of the trailer. The city gate finally couldn't hold it, and was smashed open, and the two hundred ram guards followed to attack the city. The hammer rushed into the city.

When Luo Shixin saw that the city gate had been opened, he waved his big gun and ordered in a sharp voice: "Go into the city, and those who resist in the corner will be killed without mercy."

A thousand heavy cavalry who were ready galloped forward, brandishing their war blades and charged towards the city.

. . . . . . .

After about two hours, Zaoyang City was completely settled down, and all the remnants of the Tang army were surrounded and wiped out. Some local hooligans who took the opportunity to make trouble were also captured and beheaded by the Sui army. Teams of Sui army soldiers patrolled the city, talking to appease The words of the people.Seeing that the Sui army did not enter into trouble, and helped them capture the broken soldiers and hooligans who broke in and robbed, the people gradually felt relieved. Although they still dare not go out, they are no longer afraid that the Sui army will harm them.

At this time, in the wide open space in the north of the city, a large camp surrounded by a camp fence appeared, and a huge battle flag with the word "Sui" fluttered in the wind.

In the large tent of the Chinese army, the dismantled sand table has been rebuilt, and several military craftsmen are seriously correcting the mountains and rivers on the sand table.

Coach Yang Shanhui stood in front of a map, watching the map of Chongling County silently. To the north of Zaoyang was a large area of ​​forests and hills, filled with rivers. From the perspective of time, Li Xiaogong's army would leave the mountains in these two days Come out, but if the news of Zaoyang's fall is known to him, he should turn to Caiyang County in the west.

At this time, Li Xiaoyi and Lu Jie were escorted in by the soldiers.

Luo Shixin, who commanded the battle, followed closely, stepped forward and saluted Yang Shanhui: "Commander, these two are Zaoyang's main general and his deputy. younger brother."

"Li Xiaoyi, Lu Jie?" Yang Shanhui turned his head and stared at the two, only to see that their faces were pale, obviously caused by excessive blood loss, the wounds on their bodies were only simply bandaged, and the blood was still oozing out.

"I am Li Xiaoyi."

Li Xiaoyi looked at Yang Shan very alone, "I don't want to say anything, since I was caught by mistake, I just want to die."

"He's a man, he didn't insult Li's name." Yang Shanhui waved his hand lightly, and said coldly, "Push them down and behead them."

As one of the clan members of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Shanhui wished that all of Li's descendants would die completely. For a person like Li Xiaoyi, keeping them would be a source of disaster, and he wanted to kill them once and for all.

If you send him to Luoyang, the Holy Majesty will be in a dilemma, kill him, people in the world will say that the emperor of the Sui Dynasty is not tolerant; if you don't kill him, there will be endless disasters. Being able to fulfill Li Xiaoyi's reputation of loyalty can be said to serve multiple purposes.And Lu Jie is not only the younger brother of the robber Lu Mingyue, but also a descendant of the Lu family, and he also joined forces with the Tang Dynasty to resist the Great Sui Dynasty, which is even more damning.

"Here."

Several soldiers pushed the duo out.

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(End of this chapter)