The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 991 Bloody Dragon Water City, Heroes Tears
There were piles of corpses in front of Longshui Tuncheng. Since Hou Junji vowed to take this stumbling block, in just one afternoon of fighting, an astonishing [-] soldiers of the Tang army died in battle, with countless serious and minor injuries. The distance before the Tang Army's army was filled with dense corpses, and thick blood flowed down the mountain road.

The Sui army in the city suffered heavy casualties as well. Nearly 800 of the [-] soldiers including the surrendered soldiers were killed, and only [-] people were left including the wounded soldiers. Their strength was smaller than that of the Tang army, and they In order to deal with the simultaneous attack of the Tang army from the east city and the north city, they had already shot out the sharpest crossbow arrows. They abandoned a thousand crossbows that were usually cherished and loved, and used the bows hoarded in the city. More than half of them were shot. Fortunately, the arrows shot by Tang Jun also brought them supplements. If they shot all the arrows, they could only throw the spears in the city.

Fight break!

The soldiers didn't care about rest, and dragged their tired or injured bodies to collect arrows. Most of the arrows of the Tang army fell below the city, and less than [-]% of the arrows scattered in the city were not. It was they who stood behind the siege soldiers and shot upwards, and suffered from the terrain.

"General Zhang, we only collected more than 8000 arrows." Colonel Zhou Yong stepped forward and reported that he is now mainly in charge of the east city, which is half of the cliff and half of the inclined city. Compared with the north city, which can be fully attacked, the pressure is also less half.

"It's already quite a lot, let's count as much as you have!" Zhang Sheng was silent for a while, then asked again: "How is the situation in Dongcheng?"

"Half of the east city is located on the edge of a cliff, because many soldiers of the Tang army fell down before, so the soldiers later had concerns and did not dare to let go of the courage to fight; as for the other half, those messy corpses, rolling logs, etc. The wreckage of Shi and the ruined siege tower has more or less the effect of blocking the enemy. Of course, the most important thing is that the generals such as Hou Junji are on this side, so the soldiers of the Tang army on the east side are a little slack." Speaking of this, Zhou The smile on Yong's face faded, and he let out a long sigh: "General, I'm not afraid of anything else now, except the rain."

"This is also what I am most worried about." Zhang Sheng looked up at the thicker and thicker dark clouds in the sky, and his heart was suppressed to the extreme. They are at an absolute disadvantage in terms of numbers. , and the kerosene sprinkled from time to time, if it rains heavily, bows and arrows and kerosene will lose all their effects, and without the suppression of arrows and kerosene, Longshuitun will be in danger.

He pondered for a while, then ordered: "You ask the soldiers to move some spears over there, and if it rains heavily, throw spears to stop the enemy."

"I understand, let's arrange it now." Zhou Yong walked a few steps, and couldn't help but turned around and asked again: "General, brothers are all asking: Do we have any reinforcements? When will the reinforcements arrive?"

Zhang Sheng was also at a loss in his heart, and he was silent for a while before he said: "There must be, the Holy Majesty can't deceive us on this issue, and based on the itinerary, Li Shangshu and General Xue are almost here."

Zhou Yong smiled wryly: "If they don't come again, we really can't last long."

……

Zhang Sheng and Zhou Yong didn't know how the reinforcements would come, but Hou Junji under the city knew everything about it. He just got the news that the Tenth Army of the Sui Dynasty led by Li Jing had appeared in the south, only more than 50 miles away from them. Hou Junji was filled with hatred and anxiety, "Damn Longshuitun, which bastard lost it?"

At this time, Zhang Gongjin stepped forward and said comfortingly: "General, there are not many defenders in the city, definitely less than a thousand people, we can take it if we persist."

Hou Junji frowned and said, "We can't take this city, not because of the number of defenders, but because the defenders are too strong. According to a prisoner who fell from the city, his name is Zhang Sheng, and he is just a small tiger. General, but he led more than 1000 soldiers to fight fiercely with our [-] army for most of the day, and caused us to pay tens of thousands of deaths and injuries. If this gets out, I, Hou Junji, will become the laughing stock of the world."

Zhang Gongjin cupped his hands and said: "No matter how powerful Zhang Sheng is, he still can't change the fact that there are few soldiers. This time, he will eventually lead troops to attack the city. If we can't win Longshuitun today, I, Zhang Gongjin, will be punished by military law."

Hou Junji thought of Li Jing who was coming, so he nodded, "There is no need for a military order. If you fail to capture this city before Li Jing arrives, you and I will lose not only our reputation, but also our lives. I will give you ten thousand troops. Conquer this pass in the shortest possible time and at all costs!"

"The last general obeys the order!" Zhang Gongjin saluted and hurriedly went to prepare. This time, he used Hou Junji's most elite ten thousand soldiers as the main force to attack the city.

soon.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The sound of the war drum shook the heavens and the earth. Less than half an hour after the end of a great battle, it sounded again. The rumble of the war drum also caused the hearts of many defenders to fall into the abyss.

Everyone thought that the enemy would avoid Longshuitun and go westward to Longshan after repeated failed attacks, so as not to be attacked by the two armies headed by Li Jing and Xue Wandu, but they did not expect that the Tang army would confront them even at the risk of a north-south attack. In the end, another heavy army was sent to attack Longshuitun.

Even Zhang Sheng couldn't help but admire Hou Junji's madness. This guy took the risk of annihilating the entire army to fight against them. He was obviously a lunatic. What he didn't know was that Hou Junji in history relied on this madness. With great vigor, he achieved brilliant victories in defeating Tuyuhun and destroying Gaochang. These two big victories where the entire army was bet on made him step into the battle of famous generals.

Although Zhang Sheng didn't know this, when he saw the enemy attacking again, his heart became ruthless, and he ordered: "Let everyone who can move go to the city! Damn it, the Tang army is here again."

'when!when!when! 'The bell of the assembly of the whole army rang again on the top of the city, the sound was extremely sharp and piercing,
In addition to the seriously injured soldiers, the slightly injured soldiers of the Sui army bandaged their wounds and went into battle again, preparing for another bloody battle.

"Brothers, we only need to persist for two hours at most before we can defend the reinforcements. Today's battle will definitely be recorded in the annals of the Great Sui Empire!" Zhang Sheng mobilized for the battle with a hoarse voice. He is most worried about the rain now. Now the Tang army, who only hopes to go into battle lightly, has few siege weapons.

The fact is also true. The siege ladder built by the Tang army has been almost completely destroyed during the day, and the remaining siege ladders have made it impossible for them to organize a two-sided attack. The Sui army has just entered a state of preparation for war.

The first wave of siege troops from the Tang army, consisting of [-] elite soldiers, came to attack the city. Three large army phalanxes lined up in a vertical line and rushed from the northern city like a river.

These are [-] archers of the Tang army called vanguards. They lined up in nine rows and rushed towards the city gate in a mighty manner.And the [-] elite soldiers behind them are the real main force in the siege.

When they were within a hundred steps of the city wall of Longshuitun, the Sui army on the city fired arrows at the same time. Hundreds of arrows rained and shot at the Tang army. The Tang army erected shields, forming countless shield walls, and powerful arrows The arrow crackled and shot on the shield wall, making a series of 'dodododo' sounds.

This is the experience summed up after fighting for a long time. Both sides discovered each other's weaknesses and took advantage of them. There were no large defensive equipment such as catapults at the top of the city, so Tang Jun's arrow rain would be much calmer. After the wave of arrows rained, they began to counterattack, and the dense arrows like locusts shot at the top of the city, making the soldiers of the Sui army on the top of the city unable to lift their heads.

At this time, the Tang army's rear army blew a low-pitched horn, and five thousand elite soldiers of the Tang army who were waiting in the rear came to the city gate with dozens of newly built siege ladders.

However, the soldiers of the Sui Army have also accumulated a lot of experience. Because most of the robes they sacrificed were made of bows and crossbows, they no longer fought arrows with arrows against the large number of Tang soldiers. , greatly reducing the death rate.But when the soldiers of the Tang army attacked the city, the crossbowmen at the head of the city used spears and logs to fight back.

At this time, the oblique downward shooting hole became a nightmare for the Tang army to attack the city. When the soldiers of the Tang army fought with the soldiers of the Sui army who stood up, the archers would use their spears to pierce through the shooting holes and directly penetrate the Tang army. The lower body of the soldier is really hard to guard against.

Most of the soldiers of the Tang army who attacked the city died on the spears pierced from the shooting holes, and because of the hidden damage, the soldiers of the Tang army who were stabbed screamed and fell down before they could warn the soldiers behind them.

At this time, the bows and arrows of the Sui army did not achieve much results, and the Tang army's first phalanx to attack the city had already rushed to the bottom of the city, and a series of siege ladders "rumbling, rumbling" were built on the city wall.

Thousands of arrows were fired at the shooting hole in the city, and the rolling logs and stones fell from the top of the city one after another. The arrows were like dense rain, and the wood and stones were like hail. One by one, their bones were broken and tendons were broken, and they wailed.

"Shhhhhhhh..." Tang Jun's crossbowmen also began to fight back. They were in groups of two, one was responsible for holding up the shield and the other was dedicated to shooting. The dense rain of arrows shot towards the city, and the dense arrows above and below the city were falling A web of arrows was woven in midair.

As the siege ladders were put up on the city wall one after another, the soldiers of the Tang army swarmed up. This time, the Tang army invested 500 people, while the Sui army had less than [-] people, but they fought the Tang army with a disparate ratio.

On one side of the city wall, several soldiers of the Sui Army scooped up boiling water in a pot with iron spoons and poured it on the soldiers of the Tang Army on the siege ladder. Some blistered, and some were directly scalded and blinded.

Although the boiling water in this pot had to be used for a long time before it boiled again, for the soldiers of the Sui army defending the city, one pot was equal to one pot.

In the life-and-death struggle between the two sides, time finally reached dusk, and at this moment, pea-sized raindrops hit Zhang Sheng's face. When he raised his head, his heart ached, and he saw black clouds in the sky Low, the torrential rain he was most worried about, fell from the sky.

In the torrential rain, the bows and strings of the bows and crossbows will become soft, causing the Sui army to lose the three sharpest defensive weapons of bows and arrows, fire attack, and boiling water, and they can only fight with the Tang army with flesh and blood.

But as the battle continued, Zhang Sheng was surprised to find that the heavy rain not only did not have a fatal impact on his side, but made the battle much easier.This was because they were few in number, and the sparse arrows caused little damage to the large Tang army. On the contrary, the Tang army's crossbowmen had crushed the Sui army before, but now they couldn't release a single arrow.So that they don't have to worry about the arrows in their heads, they can free their hands and feet to stab the soldiers of the Tang Army on the siege ladder from the downward-sloping shooting holes.

But the elite troops of the Tang army Hou Junji brought from Yiling to Dangchang, and brought them here again, they are different from the previous siege army, and their combat effectiveness is like the devil army from hell. Taking Longshuitun was their only belief. They were all jealous, and they used all conceivable methods to kill the top of the city regardless of death.

Under the city, Zhang Gongjin braved the heavy rain and personally led more than a thousand soldiers of the Tang army to carry the corpses. Since the bows and arrows of both sides were useless, they could also act without hesitation.

In less than half an hour, they used the corpses to pile up several mountains of corpses that slanted to the front of the battlements. Zhang Gongjin led a group of soldiers to step on the mountains of corpses and climb up to the top of the city with a big knife in one hand and a shield in the other.

Since the shooting holes were also blocked by corpses, the Sui army could only stand up and fight the Tang army, but they lost their cover and fell into the vast ocean of the Tang army. As more and more Tang army soldiers climbed to the city.

The fierce battle has also reached its worst moment. More than 100 soldiers of Guo Ming have all been killed. Fortunately, the Tang army is only attacking the northern city. Zhou Yong of the eastern city heard the news and simply pulled all the soldiers here. More than a hundred soldiers fought desperately with Tang Jun.

Facing the Tang army that kept coming up, the generals of the Sui army stabbed with spears, slashed with knives, punched with their fists, and bit with their teeth. Seriously injured soldiers rushed forward one after another.

More and more soldiers of the Tang army rushed into the pass. The soldiers of the Sui army who had fought for a long time suffered heavy casualties. There were less than a hundred soldiers left. Zhang Sheng was covered in blood. With the high-pitched sound of the horn, he killed a soldier of the Tang army with a single blow. Out of the corner of his eye, he followed the reputation, and saw a torrent of black steel killing the Tang army.

Zhang Sheng's eyes were wide open. This bloody and wounded man was not afraid of death, but when he saw the imposing reinforcements, his eyes were blurred with tears and kept rolling down from his eyelids. Li Li shouted: "Brothers, our reinforcements have arrived, and we have successfully completed the task assigned by the Holy Master, kill the thief with me." At the end of the speech, his voice was sobbing that he couldn't hear it.

"Kill the thieves, kill the thieves." The Sui army yelled angrily one after another. They rallied their courage and killed countless soldiers of the Tang army with great pride and fearlessness of life and death.

"The cavalry of the Sui army is coming."

The soldiers of the Tang army on the city saw that the enemy was coming like a dragon, full of evil spirits, and saw that the commander had no new orders, so they withdrew one after another. Even Zhang Gongjin couldn't stop him from shouting.

At this moment, seeing that he was unprepared, Zhang Sheng immediately grabbed a spear from a corpse and threw it at him fiercely. The spear pierced deeply into Zhang Gongjin's chest like a flash of lightning.

Zhang Gongjin froze. He looked down at his chest in disbelief. The spear had already pierced his body. The strength disappeared, and he fell face up on the mountain of corpses.

Zhang Gongjin's death in battle dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the Tang army. The soldiers who lost their command quickly collapsed in fighting spirit and ran back frantically.

More than 100 Sui soldiers left in the city were killed, and dozens of soldiers from the Tang army who had no time to retreat in the future retreated steadily and were driven off the city again.

Seeing that there was no living enemy in the city, these warriors seemed to have lost all their strength, and they all sat down on the ground, crying loudly.

They don't know why they cry, but they just want to cry at this moment.

. . . . . . .

Hou Junji at the bottom of the city was directing the soldiers to kill, and the shouts of killing drowned everything. He hadn't noticed the arrival of the Sui army, but suddenly saw the soldiers on the city running down like a beast. He was puzzled and annoyed. At that moment, several scouts rushed over and shouted: "General, the cavalry of the Sui army came from the north!"

Hou Junji was taken aback, and quickly turned his head to look north, only to see that the north was covered in darkness, and the ground soon began to tremble, and the thunderous sound of horseshoes became louder and louder, spreading several miles away, and the soldiers of the Tang Army shouted in horror, "The cavalry of the Sui army is coming!"

"Don't panic, line up to fight." Hou Junji yelled sharply, brandishing his saber, rushed to the front of the infantry and shouted: "The spear army is coming!"

The Tang army hastily lined up in the pouring rain, but it was still difficult to keep the army in order.

The Sui army quickly killed two miles away.

It was the Sixth Army headed by Xue Wandu who came. He was ordered to go south and sent scouts to investigate the battle here. When he knew that Hou Junji's main force was concentrated here, and the defense of Longshui Garrison was strong, he simply concentrated the whole army. Li came here, intending to wipe out Hou Junji in one fell swoop, but he also wasted more than an hour while waiting for the [-] Chinese army, so he didn't arrive until now.

Xue Wanjun looked at the swarthy Tang soldiers who were hastily forming formation, how could they give the enemy time to calmly form formation?

He immediately shouted loudly: "The soldiers are divided into three groups, and the left and right wings are detoured to kill the enemy."

Amidst the rumbling horns, the [-] cavalry soldiers were divided into three groups. Dugu Qingyun and Dugu Yan each led [-] cavalry soldiers to the left and right wings, and Xue Wanjun personally led [-] soldiers to the central army.The three armies were like a pair of sharp scissors, outflanking the soldiers of the Tang army with great momentum.

Seeing the cavalry of the Sui army rushing to the front, the chaotic Tang army became even more chaotic, and the spearmen in front turned around and fled backwards.

There was a loud bang, screams and cries suddenly, and the [-] Chinese troops rushing like a frenzy rushed into the Tang army group, rushing out of a gap that was tens of feet long, and the two armies fought together .

The 7000 left-wing cavalry led by Dugu Yanyun were blocked by more than [-] light cavalry from Duan Xuangan. The two cavalry fought fiercely in a wilderness, and soldiers screamed and stabbed and dismounted.

The right-wing cavalry led by Dugu Qingyun came from the side. The difference in numbers between the two sides was not large, but in terms of combat power, morale, will, equipment, actual combat experience, etc., the Sui army was in a crushing situation, not to mention Hou Junji All the elite soldiers were sent to attack the city. At this time, those who faced the Sui army's iron cavalry were really vulnerable, and the elite soldiers who were retreating from the city collided with the soldiers of their own who were constantly retreating. People, the chaos of the Tang Army lineup is even more chaotic.In just about half an hour, Tang Jun collapsed.

Hou Junji was so anxious that he yelled and knocked down more than a dozen rout soldiers in an attempt to stop the rout soldiers.

Just when he killed a school lieutenant, an iron arrow pierced through the air as fast as lightning. Hou Junji realized it was too late. The iron arrow pierced his throat. Later, Hou Junji turned over and fell off the horse, paying the price with his life for his own character flaws.

A hundred steps away, Xue Wanjun silently glanced at Xue Li beside him, and silently took back the arrow that he had attached to the bow.

This kid Xue Li was stuffed into him by Yang Guang, and asked him to keep it with him for a while, and then gave it to Yang Tong, who has the 'knowledge of people', for tasting. In the future, he would not be able to deal with Yang Guang, so he put it beside him as a personal soldier. Who would have thought that when he was still aiming, this guy would kill Hou Junji with a single arrow. It seems that he has real skills .Seeing him looking over with an innocent expression, he coughed dryly and said, "Hou Junji is dead, and those who surrender will not be killed."

"Hou Junji is dead, and those who surrender will not be killed." All the soldiers shouted.

As they shouted loudly, the sound of "Hou Junji is dead, those who surrender will not be killed" soon filled the entire battlefield.

Duan Zhigan was leading his troops to fight, when he heard the sound, he saw that his soldiers could not withstand the powerful attack of the Sui cavalry, and they were killed to the point where they scattered and fled in all directions. After opening a bloody road, he fled towards Longshan, and soon disappeared into the thicker and thicker night.

……

In this tragic Longshuitun blocking battle, more than 1000 Sui soldiers killed more than [-] soldiers and more than [-] soldiers successfully dragged Hou Junji's army for a whole day, creating a great opportunity for Xue Wanjun to annihilate the main force of the Tang army. Given the opportunity, Zhou Yong, Guo Ming and other five school lieutenants all died for the country, even General Huben Zhang Sheng was stabbed several times, and the soldiers of the Tang Army suffered nearly ten thousand casualties under their tenacious resistance.

The blocking battle at Longshuitun was of great significance. It prevented Hou Junji's army from entering Shuzhong from Longshan, and was wiped out in Ziyang County. Besides, the strength to defend Chengdu City is not enough.

After Zhai Changsun and Yin Kaishan heard the news, in order to avoid following in the footsteps of Hou Junji and being defeated one by one by the Sui Dynasty, they retreated from Longshan County and Yang'an County of Shu County to Chengdu City.

The next day, Li Shimin announced that his father had been poisoned too deeply and died.And under the strong request of civil and military officials, he agreed to ascend the throne as emperor, and will officially ascend the throne of Tang Dynasty emperor three days later, and decided to follow the "Book of Changes Xici Xia" that "the way of heaven and earth, the one who watches the truth" , and named it "Zhenguan", which means "to show people the majestic and righteous way".

(End of this chapter)