The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 809 Desperate Counterattack
The siege of Jishiguan and the inner and outer gates lasted from early morning to afternoon. More than [-] Tuyuhun soldiers were killed and injured, and the Sui army and shepherds who defended the city suffered heavy casualties. Attacked the top of the city, but was killed by the soldiers of the Sui army.But the most tragic one was in the west of Guancheng. Li Shimo personally led the army to command the capable Sui soldiers to take charge of this area.

In the downpour, the bows and crossbows were useless, making the war extremely bloody and cruel. Although the defenders had the advantage of the city wall, they could condescendingly smash down stones and killed a large number of Tuyuhun soldiers, but after a burst of siege horns, they Under the urging of the formation, Tuyuhun soldiers still frantically put dozens of siege ladders on the city wall, and then climbed up like a colony of ants.

Since the inner city wall was wider than the outer city, the defenders had to divide their troops to defend. They used spears and ladders to fight against the enemy.

At this time, Murong Xiaojun also threw his ace army into the siege battle, and the fight between the two sides became more cruel. The corpses piled up under the city flowed into the bright red streams under the pouring of heavy rain. This kind of cruel fight However, not only the Tuyuhun soldiers suffered heavy casualties, but also the untrained shepherd defenders paid an equally huge price.

The chief general Li Shimo was already screaming hoarsely, and he kept commanding the army to replenish the critical point. At this time, a soldier pointed to the east and shouted: "General, the enemy is coming from here!"

When Li Shimo looked up, it was as if an invisible sledgehammer had hit his head hard, causing his head to buzz, and the stars in front of him danced wildly!I saw that more than [-] enemy soldiers had already climbed up the Xiqing Mountain in the east, and were picking up stones, preparing to roll down the mountain.

Li Shimo was very anxious. What he was most worried about finally happened. He thought that the enemy would not find out so early. As long as he guarded until dark, he could use the night to cover up this defect. He persisted until dawn tomorrow. When he arrived, the enemy army came from the mountain.

It's just that at this time, not only was there no soldiers to send, but his side was relatively steep outside the city, with heavy rain and heavy rain, and there was no place to climb, which was why he didn't send troops up the mountain beforehand.Now that the situation is extremely critical, it is too late to say anything, so I can only say to the soldiers: "Order the soldiers to retreat to the barracks."

The barracks was where Yang Tong once stationed troops. When he marched westward, in order to deceive and confuse the enemy troops outside the pass, he did not demolish the barracks, making it not only a place for wounded soldiers to recuperate and rest, but also Li Shimo’s last line of defense. The defense of the city gate is too far behind.But Li Shimo can't take care of these now.If the enemy troops drop rocks from the mountain, the soldiers at the foot of the mountain will be smashed into meat.

"Here." The guards left as ordered.

Langri Zanpu, who was watching the battle from a distance, finally laughed. When Tuyuhun soldiers attacked the city bloody, his soldiers had already quietly gone up the mountain under the cover of heavy rain.

Judging from the hasty retreat of the defenders at the top of the city, Langri Zanpu knew that Chu Suiliang's plan had succeeded, and it was only a matter of time before he could capture Guancheng, so he immediately ordered coldly: "Blow the horn."

"Woo, woo, woo, woo..." Hundreds of horns blew at the same time, like thunder rolling across the sky. This was an order to fight endlessly to the death, and they would not stop fighting until they could win the pass.

"General Zhou, the enemy has already killed Xiqing Mountain. General Li tells you to retreat immediately." A Sui soldier said to Zhou Shaoze, the deputy general in charge of the east gate.

This news was like a thunderbolt, which stunned Zhou Shaoze. Li Shimo told him about the loopholes in the inner city's defense, so he should always pay attention to it. At first, he didn't worry too much about it. He thought that the Second Tu coalition army would not find out. That arrives so fast.

He knew it was time to retreat.

"General Zhou, give the order quickly. If the enemy troops drop stones from the mountain, or kill them from the mountain, we will not be able to retreat."

The soldier who sent the letter said anxiously.

Seeing that the general situation was over, Zhou Shaoze sighed and roared: "Withdraw! The whole army retreats into the barracks, and then fight endlessly with the enemy."

As he said that, Zhou Shao stopped controlling the enemy army under the city, and led his soldiers to kill them on the city platform. There were many corpses where the sword passed. , slashing straight at the opponent's neck, this person saw Zhou Shaoze's sharp saber, he leaned back, and the blade slashed across his nose, but he was rushing to meet the enemy after all, and his speed of getting up was a little slower, and he was missed Zhou Shao backhanded a saber, and the sharp blade pierced through the back of his neck, "Master Dou's head flew more than a foot away, and the headless corpse spurted blood like a spring, and fell slowly to the city.

The main general was killed, and Tuyuhun's offensive was suspended. Zhou Shao took this opportunity to command the soldiers to go down the city quickly.

Losing the interception of the defenders, Tuyuhun soldiers rushed to the top of the city one after another, and cheers resounded from above and below the city.Open the city gate and welcome the army to enter.

Langri Zanpu pointed at the horsewhip: "The wounded soldiers demolished the Guancheng, and the rest followed me."

He knew that there was another military camp behind him, and if the Sui army entered the camp victoriously, it would be another hard battle, so hiding from behind would undoubtedly be the best opportunity to wipe out the enemy.

. . .

The Sui army withdrew from the inner city less than five miles away, when news came that the enemy army was coming like locusts. Li Shimo ordered Zhou Shaoze to lead the wounded soldiers first, and he led less than [-] soldiers who could fight. Afterwards, he asked anxiously Left and right: "Which one is the closest to us?"

The enemy army is pressing on every step of the way. I am afraid that it will not be long before his troops can't hold on.

"The closest ones are the wounded soldiers in the barracks. The defenders of Chishui City are too far away from us. I'm afraid it's too late to get the news." The guard replied quickly.

Li Shimo suddenly felt a burst of despair. All the soldiers who could fight had gone into battle, and he had no hope for the wounded soldiers at all.Now there is no one who can help them, so they can only fight to the end, to buy time for the Holy Majesty and the wounded soldiers, immediately looked up at the black Jishi Mountain, the beacon tower was in sight, and immediately gave an order. "Light the three-pillar beacon to warn the Holy One."

"Here." Hearing the words, the guard raised the banner.

The beacon on Jishi Mountain was lit, and three thick black beacons shot straight into the sky. Another beacon twenty miles away also lit three pillars of beacon smoke, and then to the west, three more pillars of beacon smoke shot up into the sky. To the west, one beacon after another Light it up, and send the alarm of Jishi Pass fall to Yang Tong.

"General, retreat. If the fight continues, these warriors will be gone." At this time, a Qiang warrior said: "We came to help the battle at the order of the elders of the Susang tribe. More than 8000 of our soldiers stayed in the There are less than half of the remaining here, and we brought them here to follow the general. If we lost them, how do you ask us to explain to the families of the warriors!?"

The corner of Li Shimo's mouth turned bitter, is it not just a Qiang?There were more than 5000 Sui soldiers and 4000 slave soldiers left behind by Yang Tong, and now there are barely more than [-] alive. Aside from the wounded in the barracks who could no longer fight, there are not even [-] soldiers who can fight now. arrive.The soldiers from all sides who can fight add up, and there are more than [-] soldiers in front of us.

"Warriors, people will always die." Li Shimo glanced at the crowds of soldiers gathered around him, took a deep breath, and said slowly, "We can retreat or escape, but everyone knows that we retreat , does it represent something?"

"It means that the soldiers of Tubo and Tuyuhun can drive straight into the whole Heyuan. How the soldiers of Tuyuhun treat you is clearer than me, Li Shimo. Once we retreat, everyone can indeed save their lives, but our hometown and family will be destroyed. We will cry and howl under the enemy's iron hoof, our parents and children will be brutally killed by the enemy, and our wives and daughters will be ruined and ravaged by the enemy!"

"Maybe you don't know." Li Shimo looked at the crowd and said in a deep voice: "The holy majesty led an army in the Doma area and wiped out more than [-] Tibetan elite soldiers. They are rushing here. It will take a day or two at most. will come."

"This battle is not that the Holy Majesty wants to fight, but that we have to fight!" Li Shimo suppressed the helplessness and resentment in his chest, and there was a strong sense of sadness in his deep voice: "Even if we know that there is no tomorrow, but for Heyuan Taiping, in order for our hometown not to be poisoned by the enemy, even if we die, we must drag the enemy here, not for the Sui Dynasty, not for the emperor, not for me, Li Shimo, but for everyone's hometown! Warriors, we There is really no way to retreat, and there is no way to retreat!"

Su Sang's son Su Li came from a distance, looked at the surrounding soldiers, raised his spear angrily, and roared: "The only thing is death, I, a Qiang man, will never retreat!"

After a moment of silence, the Qiang people who came to help raised their weapons and roared earth-shatteringly: "I, the Qiang people, will fight to the death and never retreat!"

"General Qi, the enemy army is attacking." A scout galloped forward.

"The whole army is preparing for war, and it will never retreat!" Li Shimo roared angrily.

"A battle to the death never retreats."

At this moment, no one backed down.

As Li Shimo said before, imperial soldiers can retreat to Hexi, Guanzhong, and Central Plains.But they who have lived in Heyuan for generations have no way out.In a sense, the court soldiers are now fighting for the Qiang people, not for the court.

The 'guests' are desperate for the people of Heyuan, what else can they say as 'masters'?

Through the rain curtain, you can vaguely see the crushing enemy troops coming here. Li Shimo proudly said to everyone: "In the torrential rain, the enemy's bowstrings become as soft and useless as ours. Today we use long bowstrings to Spears and swords make the enemy pay the worst price."

The enemy army began to approach the army formation, and someone shouted, "Kill!"

The enemy army accelerated and rushed towards the Sui army. Li Shimo watched the enemy army getting closer and could even see their ferocious faces through the rain and fog, and ordered: "Kill!"

"kill."

More than 4000 soldiers also rode their horses to meet them, killing the enemy with overwhelming momentum.

As soon as it started, the battle entered a fierce hand-to-hand fight. Groups of Sui cavalry fell, but the follow-up army continued to rush forward. The two sides were intertwined and killed inextricably. blood flower.

A Tubo soldier cut down a tired Sui soldier with a single knife, and before he had time to let out a happy cry, he suddenly felt a tearing pain in his thigh. Looking down, he saw the soldier who had been cut down by him coming down Then, a spear pierced his thigh, and he couldn't help being furious. He raised his sword and wanted to kill this damned but immortal bastard, but the raised blade didn't fall, and a warrior with a broken arm The spear pierced his chest.

The same scene continued to play out on the battlefield. The boldness of the Sui army at this moment made the soldiers of the coalition army terrified.

(End of this chapter)