Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 776 Bloodshed in Chang'an (Part )
The battle outside Dunhuafang became intense from the very beginning.

Wave after wave of Tibetan soldiers climbed up the wall by stepping on the shoulders of their companions. After landing, they were strung up by... those sharpened, densely packed wooden stakes.

The people in front became immobile meat cushions, while those behind were still climbing. The corpses were piled several feet high, and the walls of Dunhuafang had become a hell on earth.

From time to time, the Bianzhou army threw out pottery jars of incendiary oil that would explode automatically from the corner tower of the town wall. Because there were too many Tubo soldiers, they were crowded together. Many of these pottery jars of incendiary oil did not fall to the ground. After exploding in the air, they splashed on the faces and even bodies of the Tubo soldiers. In an instant, the place was in chaos.

Many people were knocked to the ground by the soldiers who were stained with kerosene and went mad with pain, and then they were trampled on, creating a very chaotic scene.

Although the gate was knocked open, the bodies of Tubo soldiers were everywhere on the barricades and wooden fences in front of the gate, showing the brutality of the battle. A team of heavily armored soldiers rushed into the gate, screaming and then died soon after. In this way, they rushed forward one team after another, but did not achieve any substantial results.

Not far away, Daza Lugong, who was commanding from the top of the "command vehicle" (a watchtower made of a wooden frame), frowned. He clenched his fists and trembled with anger, but he could only suppress his anger.

You can't fight a war like this! This is courting death!

Dazha Lugong's heart kept sinking!

The area near Dunhuafang is located in the southeast corner of Chang'an. The area here is extremely small, even narrower than the general fang in Chang'an City. There is Qujiang Pond in the south where troops cannot be stationed, and there is also a canal blocking the way. You can't go forward and have to take a detour.

In short, it is impossible to surround this place from all sides, and we can only attack in one direction, using the corner where the west and north of Dunhuafang intersect as a breakthrough point.

The area between the outer wall of Dunhuafang and Dutingyi formed a core defense zone. The limited force of the Tibetan army rushed in without making a splash, and all the soldiers were killed.

Although the Tibetan army had a large number of people, the width of the front line was only more than 100 meters. A large number of lightly armed infantry could not move forward to fight, let alone make a detour. They could only stand on the periphery and stare blankly, and had to guard against being trampled. It can be said that they were extremely frustrated.

In a field battle, a trebuchet or something like that would be enough to teach the Bianzhou army in Dunhuafang a lesson. But in Chang'an City... where would they deploy the trebuchet?

Dazha Lugong was thinking whether he should withdraw outside the city, and then advance slowly, clearing out one block at a time, and it would take half a month to level Chang'an City!

"Da Lun, Shulu Jiesang Jiagong failed to attack Daming Palace and was repelled by the Tang army. He is now leading his troops to attack the Ten Kings' Residence and has already rushed in."

Suddenly, a messenger climbed onto the command vehicle and reported to Dazhalu Gong.

"There are actually organized Tang troops in Daming Palace?"

Dazha Lu Gong was stunned and asked in confusion. Even the matter of Lu Jiesang Jia Gong not obeying orders was thrown aside and not pursued for the time being.

Fang Qing arranged a battle at Dunhuafang, so according to common sense, the Bianzhou army should concentrate near Dunhuafang to deal with it. However, Fang Qing was not an ordinary person, and he might not dare to do what others did not dare to do.

Considering that the area around Dunhuafang was small and cramped and not suitable for deploying troops, Dazhalu Gong seemed to understand Fang Qing's plan.

In this place, Fang Qing only needs 1,000 men to hold off more than 10,000 Tibetan troops in a short period of time, at least for a day or two. In fact, the Tibetan troops are rushing forward, and the soldiers behind them can't see the enemy at all. They can only passively receive arrows and be burned by fierce oil!

I can't even fight back!
"Pass the order down. The front team of the entire army will become the rear team. Slowly withdraw from the west outside Chang'an City! Line up near the Jinguang Gate!"

Daza Lugong gave the order in a deep voice.

When these words were spoken, several guards beside him thought they had heard it wrong!

They finally rushed into Chang'an City, ready to start a massacre. Now they haven't killed enough and haven't even faced the enemy head-on. How can they withdraw from Chang'an!

"Why don't you go and pass on the order!"

Daza Lugong scolded.

"Order!"

The messenger beside him hurried away, and Dazha Lu Gong turned to the messenger who had just come to report the military situation, and asked unkindly: "What is Shulu Jiesang Jiagong doing! Didn't he ask him to attack Daming Palace?"

"Da Lun, Shu Lu Jie Sang Jia Gong heard that the Ten Kings' Residence was where the princes of the Tang Dynasty lived, and there must be a lot of wealth. And the Daming Palace has been looted countless times, so there is not much money, so he..."

The messenger was a little unable to continue.

As a small soldier, he shouldn't have commented on the behavior of a great noble like Shulu Jiesang Jiagong. He just couldn't stand what that man did.

But anyway, similar things were not uncommon in the Tubo army. In fact, Dazalugong was the only one in the Tubo army who wanted to destroy the Bianzhou army in one fell swoop and treated this as a top priority.

But Tubo is a system of co-governance by noble families, and the interests of different families are not the same. Dazha Lugong thinks so, but other nobles may not think so. Enlan is not an old noble family. Dazha Lugong's status was carved out by himself, not by his family.

Therefore, every time at a critical moment, those people from the old and powerful Tibetan families would often pretend to obey his military orders but actually disobey them, putting the interests of their own family first.

For Lu Jiesang Jiagong, making a fortune in the Tang Dynasty was the real thing. As for occupying Guanzhong or even ruling the Tang Dynasty, Lu Jiesang Jiagong didn't even dare to think about such a thing.

There are no real benefits.

It would have been fine if the troops had not been divided, as these people would not dare to do anything under the watchful eyes of Dazalu Gong. However, once the troops were divided, each unit in the army would only care about its own interests.

"Order him to evacuate Chang'an as soon as possible, and then the army will meet outside the Jinguang Gate and regroup."

Dazalu Gong patiently gave the order. If it was normal, he would have drawn his sword and chopped people down long ago, but now was a critical moment, and he had to hold back any anger, and wait until the battle was over before settling the score!

Ding, ding, ding! Ding, ding, ding! Ding, ding, ding!
When the sound of the horn was sounded in the Tubo army, the Tubo soldiers who had just been attacking Dunhuafang retreated like a tide.

However, just as the Tibetans were retreating westward, they suddenly saw a firework explode in the sky above Dunhuafang! A team of Bianzhou cavalry rushed out from Qixiamen, the closest to Dunhuafang and the easternmost part of Chang'an in the south, and directly cut off the retreating Tibetan army!

There were still hundreds of people who had not evacuated near Dunhuafang, and their retreat was cut off by the cavalry. These people instantly fled to the north in panic.

Dazalugong saw this scene, but did not make any rescue move. He ordered to speed up the retreat, and the troops behind formed a shield wall and slowly moved westward. As for the hundreds of Tibetan soldiers fleeing to the north, he ignored them!

In other words, those people are already useless!
Even the main general of the Tubo army had given up. Wang Nande, who led the cavalry to charge into the battle, naturally would not be polite to the Tubo people.

He led the cavalry of the Silver Spear Xiejie Army and chased northwards. When they arrived near the Xingqing Palace, they found that a Tibetan army was besieging the Xingqing Palace.

Wang Nan did not think twice and directly dispersed the Tibetan army, and cooperated with the Bianzhou army infantry in Xingqing Palace to fight back.

The Tibetan army that rushed to Xingqing Palace was just trying to rob, and they didn't want to fight the Bianzhou cavalry head-on. When they saw a large group of cavalry coming, they quickly formed a battle formation and retreated westward.

Wang Nandi did not lead his troops to chase after them, but returned to Dunhuafang with the guards of Xingqing Palace. When Lu Jiesang Jiagong, who was near Daming Palace, learned that Dazha Lugong had led the main force to withdraw from Chang'an City, he was terrified. He did not care about looting in the Ten Kings' Houses, and hurriedly withdrew from Chang'an City, fearing that he would be surrounded by the Bianzhou army.

The first attack of the Tubo army was also a fierce surprise attack at night, but it ended in failure because of the order of the Tubo army commander.

In Duting Posthouse, Fang Chongyong looked solemn when he received the news. He did not feel ecstatic because of the retreat of the Tubo army.

In fact, the strategic goals of the first phase were not achieved. The secret weapons had not even been used before the Tibetans had already retreated.

In other words, before Dazha Lugong could exert his full strength, he found that something was wrong and directly led his troops to evacuate the area around Dunhuafang without wasting manpower because of his excessive enthusiasm!
"Official, what should we do now?"

Zhang Guangsheng stepped forward and saluted Fang Zhongyong, asking him, "This time he was in charge of the core defense zone between Dutingyi and Dunhuafang. His armor was now stained with blood. We did bleed the Tibetans tonight, but it was less than expected. The Tibetans obviously still had the strength to fight."

"Repair on the spot and evacuate the wounded. Let the king give up his horse, and then lead the elite troops to defend Ci'en Temple! Use the Ci'en Temple tower as an observation point, and send someone to report the Tubo army's movements every incense stick of time!"

Fang Chongyong instructed Zhang Guangsheng.

As soon as Zhang Guangsheng left, Fang Zhongyong hurried back to his study and observed the model of Chang'an City on the ground. He had a bad feeling in his heart. Seeing that he didn't say a word, several of his close associates, such as Li Quan and Yuan Zai, were all silent.

"Official, what's the situation now?"

Puppet Emperor Li Qi asked doubtfully. Feeling the solemn atmosphere in the study, he also realized that the battle situation might not be going well.

"Let's talk about it tomorrow. The Tibetans won't come again tonight."

Fang Zhongyong waved his hands, thinking about Dazha Lugong's possible countermeasures.

……

Of course, it was impossible for the Tibetans to come again tonight, because Dazalugong had been waiting in formation outside the Jinguang Gate for a long time, but he only waited for the troops of Shulu Jiesang Jiagong and the defeated soldiers who failed to attack the Xingqing Palace.

There are still several troops that have not returned. It is not known whether these Tibetan generals were so excited about looting that they forgot military orders, or whether they were killed so many times that their organization was destroyed.

Anyway, the people who went to deliver the message have not come back, so most of them are probably dead.

In front of the "command vehicle", Dazha Lugong looked at his subordinate Lu Jiesang Jiagong, who looked indifferent, with a stern face, and anger was gathering in his heart.

"The military order required your troops to attack Daming Palace. Why did you abandon Daming Palace and lead your troops to plunder the Ten Kings' Residence?"

Daza Lu Gong asked bluntly.

"Because Daming Palace is heavily guarded, I can't break in."

Shulu Jiesang Jiagong looked helpless and said casually that he was too lazy to even find an excuse.

"The Tang army has already prepared for this. What's your plan for now?"

Daza Lugong continued to ask, without pursuing the matter of the other party's looting.

"Da Lun, I have a stupid idea, I don't know if you can listen to it."

Shulu Jiesang Jiagong looked at Dazha Lugong and said, his face was not respectful at all. He was a troublemaker in the army, and he was also a powerful person from the lineage of the Zamp Queen. He had a cooperative relationship with Dazha Lugong, not a simple superior and subordinate.

"You can talk as you please."

Dazha Lugong's face was calm, and it was impossible to tell whether he was happy or angry.

"This Chang'an City is quite large. This is the first time I have seen such a large city. Why don't we sweep each district one by one and lure the Tang army to defend it. This way we can turn the tables.

We will sweep one block today, and another block tomorrow. I heard that there are only 108 blocks in Chang'an. If we sweep one block a day in just over three months, we will be able to pacify Chang'an by winter. I believe that there are food reserves in every block, so there is absolutely no worry about the army running out of food."

What Lu Jiesang Jiagong said was quite exaggerated, but the logic was correct.

A quick victory seemed unlikely. But using Chang'an as a chessboard and fighting the Tang army against each other was something we could try.

Dazha Lugong looked thoughtful. In fact, Lu Jiesang Jiagong had a lot of selfish motives. He made this suggestion to facilitate the Tibetan army's looting. Perhaps many generals in the army thought the same way.

Dazha Lugong originally wanted to propose to first wipe out the two Tang army camps south of Dunhuafang, and then use them as a base to gradually erode the areas around Dunhuafang. In this way, the main force of the Tang army could be forced out in a short period of time.

It's not that Shulu Jiesang Jiagong's method is not feasible, he just didn't consider the meaning of the phrase "the longer the night, the more dreams there are". After all, the Tubo army came from the plateau, and the strategic risk of going deep into Guanzhong alone was already extremely great, which could be said to be walking on a tightrope and performing acrobatics.

If we delay time, won't Bianzhou send reinforcements to support Guanzhong?
Dazalu Gong is not as optimistic as the person in front of him!

"What you said is not a bad idea, but what if Bianzhou sends troops to support Chang'an? Their people will increase in number!"

Daza Lugong asked in a deep voice.

General Lu Jiesang Jiagong shook his head and said, "That is something for the great theory to consider. I am only offering a suggestion."

His stubborn look made Dazhalugong's eyes twitch.

The powerful people in Tubo are all like this! They hide far away when they have to take on responsibilities, but run away very fast when it is their turn to grab the credit.

Although Lu Jiesang Jiagong is a troublemaker, his thoughts are not necessarily isolated. There must be many people in the army who think the same way.

I think this guy should have gained a lot tonight, right?
Dazalu Gong suppressed the murderous intent in his heart. He sighed and said, "Then it will be as you said. Tomorrow your unit will lead the charge and be responsible for attacking Chang'an West Market. The other units will be responsible for one block around, and they must clear out the Tang army in the block near Jinguang Gate."

Xishi, that is an urban legend that spread in Tubo, so much so that everyone in Tubo knew about it. Many treasures in the homes of Tubo dignitaries were transported to Tubo by caravans from Xishi, Chang'an.

Hearing this, Lu Jiesang Jiagong was delighted. He laughed and said, "Please rest assured, my troops will fight to the death tomorrow and take down Xishi!"

He strode towards the headquarters, but he did not notice that Dazalu Gong was looking at his smug back with a meaningful gaze, as if he was looking at a dead person.

The Tibetan army commander showed a barely perceptible sneer on his face, but did not say a single extra word.

(End of this chapter)