A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 537 Yanmen
Of the nine strategic passes under heaven, Yanmen Pass is the foremost.

"They're all useless,"

At the foot of Yanmen City, Jieli was furious. He had been besieging Yanmen City for two months, but still could not take it.

As the weather got warmer, Jieli's patience gradually wore thin.

"Drag all these damned bastards out and chop them all up."

Under the wolf-head banner,
A group of surrendered generals knelt down and begged for mercy. Jieli impatiently waved his hand, and a group of loyal wolf guards dragged them away.

Gao Kaidao stood aside, watching the surrendered generals being dragged away like dead dogs, and couldn't help but feel a sense of desolation, like a rabbit being killed and its dog being cooked.

"Obsession leads to loss of thought!"

Jieli picked up his wine glass and took a big gulp, then waved to Zhishi Sili, who was standing below him.

Zhishi Sili, grandson of Jielifa of the Zhishi tribe of the Turks, quickly stepped forward and said, "Sili pays his respects to the Great Khan."

Jieli leaned back, sizing up Sili.

“Sili, you also come from my Wolf Guard. Tell me the truth, why did you flee without a fight in Xinzhou?”

"Great Khan, we are innocent! We were also harmed by that traitor Gao Kaidao." Zhishi Sili had served as a guard for Jieli Khan when he was a minister, and they were quite close.

They immediately began to shift all the blame onto Gao Kaidao, saying that they had been besieging Xinzhou for many days and their siege equipment was almost ready, but then Gao Kaidao heard that Weizhou and Beiyanzhou had been captured by Li Yi.

Ignoring their objections, he immediately withdrew his troops alone, taking 30,000 men with him.

The remaining 10,000-plus Turkic tribes fought alone, and several small tribes withdrew in the middle of the night, which led to their defeat in a surprise attack by Li Gaoqian.

Anyway, the responsibility lies with Gao Kaidao and those few small tribes that secretly ran away.

However, under the leadership of his grandfather, Zhishi Yan, their Zhishi troops repelled Li Gaoqian's attack, rallied their defeated forces, and retreated to the important southern pass, Shiling Pass.
They successfully defended this important gateway to Taiyuan.

Shiling Pass is only eighty li away from Taiyuan City. It is a natural gap between Yunzhong Mountain and Xizhou Mountain. Although Shiling Pass is not as impregnable as Yanmen Pass, it is still a very important pass.

Zhi Shi Si Li's explanation did change Jie Li's expression slightly.

"Open the way!"

Jieli's gaze, sharp as an arrow, shot towards Gao Kaidao, who was standing some distance away.

"This guilty subject is here."

Gao Kaidao quickly stepped forward and knelt down, saying, "Your sinful subject Gao Kaidao pays respects to the Great Khan."

"Gao Kaidao, since you know your crime, then commit suicide to atone for it," Jieli said coldly.

Gao Kaidao gritted his teeth.

"I deserve to die a thousand deaths and should atone for my sins with my life. However, seeing that Yanmen City has been attacked for a long time without success and that Tang armies from all sides are surrounding it, I am truly worried for the Great Khan."

Li Yi attacked Weizhou and stationed his troops at Pingxingzhai, while Wang Junkuo attacked Beiyanzhou and aimed his sword at Yunzhong.

Liu Shirang guarded Yanmen, Li Gao moved his troops to Xinzhou, Zhang Lun guarded Lishi, and Li Shenfu guarded Taiyuan.
Recently, Duan Decao of Yanzhou has repeatedly defeated Liang Shidu of Shuofang and our Turkic troops. After Li Daozong was appointed as the commander-in-chief of Lingzhou, he also repelled our Turkic attack.

Great Khan, the situation is gradually becoming unfavorable for our Turks.

Although Yanmen Pass has been breached, Yanmen City has remained unconquered after two months of siege, and Xinzhou is also uncaptured. If the troops remain stationed here, they risk being surrounded by the Tang army.

But if we lead a large army south to plunder and pillage Jin, what will we do if the Tang army blocks our retreat?"

Jieli stared coldly at Gao Kaidao.

The troops withdrew without authorization from the walls of Xinzhou, resulting in the defeat of Zhishi's forces. They then underestimated the enemy and attacked at Pingxing Pass, leading to the near annihilation of their 30,000 men.

Now, leading eight hundred cavalry to Yanmen, he is like a stray dog, utterly useless in Jieli's eyes.

"Great Khan, Yanmen and Xinzhou must be captured, otherwise our army's southward advance may be blocked."

Jieli said coldly, "Do you have a way to take Yanmen City?"

Yanmen City was a fortress of war, easy to defend and difficult to attack.

There are three fortified passes outside the city, and outside the city gates there are barbicans and watchtowers.

The Turkic cavalry were fierce, but they were not good at siege warfare. After two months of fighting, they were still helpless.

Jieli ordered Li Da'en's surrendered generals to lead the surrendered soldiers and captured able-bodied men to attack the city. They suffered heavy casualties, but still could not defeat Liu Shirang.

He sent Zheng Yuanzhu and other detained Tang envoys to persuade Liu Shirang to surrender, but Liu Shirang ignored them completely, and Zheng Yuanzhu and the others did not sincerely persuade him to surrender.

Now, Jieli is in a dilemma.

The thought of marching south without capturing Yanmen City left him feeling uneasy and uneasy about proceeding south. Yet, he was truly at a loss as to how to take it.

"Your Majesty, this humble subject does have some experience in attacking cities. In any attack on a city, the cannons must be fired first, and the size of the cannons should correspond to the size of the city."

"In attacking a city, fire the cannons first, and aim them at the flanks."

Jieli became interested and said, "Give the King of Yan a seat, and serve him wine and meat, so we can talk while we eat."

Gao Kaidao finally got a place.
"Great Khan, if you have no cannons, attack the goal; if you have cannons, attack the corners."

He picked up a few pieces of lamb chops and arranged them in a square. “Look, Great Khan, this is like a city. Although the cannons are crude, if used well, they can neutralize the defenders’ advantage in defending the city.”

As he spoke, he picked up two more pieces of mutton.

The two pieces of lamb were placed on a corner of the city wall, arranged with great care.

By aiming the cannons at one of the city walls, two cannon emplacements could almost completely block both sides of this corner of the city.

"The stones launched from the artillery ricochet, especially when they land on the top of the sturdy city walls. The top of the walls isn't very wide, so our cannons can fire in a straight line, causing the stones to fall, whether ricocheting or splashing."
Both could inflict greater casualties on the defenders on the city walls.

This is far more destructive than simply placing cannons in front to bombard the city walls or the interior of the city.

The greatest power of this method of firing artillery at a corner is not in the number of people directly killed, but in rendering the defenders on both sides of the corner unable to protect it. Corners are generally the most fortified, some even encased in stone and brick.

However, if you place the cannons in a corner and fire fiercely at both sides, that corner will become a blind spot for defense.

At this point, if the attacking side attacks this corner and pushes over siege ladders, battering rams, etc., there will not be much interference.

If you're facing a blind spot, how difficult is it to attack?
At this point, there's no need to worry about a counterattack from the city walls; you only need to keep an eye on the defenders rushing out of the city to destroy the siege equipment.

Jieli looked at the pieces of mutton laid out, stood up, strode over to Gao Kaidao, and stared at them intently.

"Say it again," Jieli said loudly.

Gao Kaidao then proceeded to set out the stalls and explain as he went.
In fact, this tactic of firing cannons at the corners is not uncommon in the Central Plains.

Fire cannons first when attacking a city—that's standard practice. And what military family doesn't know the principle of attacking the gate without cannons, or striking the corner with cannons?
However, it's not so easy to actually do it.

Speaking of cannons, you need skilled craftsmen to build cannons of appropriate size according to the size of the city.

Too few cannons won't do; we need more.

Those seven-spear and five-spear cannons were all very large, difficult to manufacture, and difficult to operate. Just the gunners who pulled and tugged them together, one heavy cannon required two or three hundred people.

But attacking a major stronghold like Yanmen City...

Without cannons, it would be impossible. The high city walls, deep moats, and heavily fortified watchtowers and barbicans protected the city gates tightly.

The city gates have the strongest defenses.

The city walls, situated on high ground with moats and watchtowers, were easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Therefore, it often takes several times the number of troops to besiege a city.

Jieli has over 100,000 men besieging Yanmen City, but after two months the siege has made no progress; the problem lies in the lack of siege tactics.

Jieli nodded.

He understood; Gao Kaidao was indeed far superior to his special agents and spies.

"very good,
From now on, you will be in charge of launching the siege. If you can capture Yanmen City, I will forgive and forget your past transgressions.

"Thank you for your forgiveness, Great Khan. This humble subject needs to conscript all the artisans in the army and also needs some manpower."

"Here, give it all to you."

"This humble subject still needs some time to cut down trees and build cannons. In addition to cannons, we also need to build siege engines and various other siege weapons, such as siege ladders, battering rams, rams, crossbows, and so on."

Jieli waved his hand and said, "I will grant your wish. I will give you a golden arrow. Whatever you need, just summon it."

"What else do you need?" Jieli asked.

Gao Kaidao swallowed hard. "This humble subject needs some time to build various siege weapons and train artillerymen. All of this will take some time."

"how long?"

"Three months."

Jieli glared,
"Two months."

Jieli was still dissatisfied, saying, "I don't have that much time for you."

Gao Kaidao gritted his teeth, "In a month and a half, this humble subject has one more suggestion: we can send an army to the walls of Xinzhou, besieging the city from both sides simultaneously, firing cannons at the same time, and building siege equipment together. In this way, both Daizhou and Xinzhou can fall at the same time."

Although this took a month and a half, it actually saved a month and a half of time.

Jieli was amused by Gao Kaidao's algorithm.

Stroking his beard, he grinned and laughed heartily under Gao Kaidao's tense gaze. "Alright, I'll listen to you. One hundred thousand men will besiege Yanmen City, fifty thousand will besiege Xinzhou, and another fifty thousand will be sent to various places to raid and collect grain."
A month and a half later, I will have captured both Dai and Xin cities.

Gao Kaidao wasn't sure either, but he knew Jieli wouldn't give him much time.

"Great Khan, this humble subject also knows another method of siege warfare: tunneling. I would like to request that Your Majesty capture some more mine craftsmen for me, as these people are skilled at digging tunnels."

Training a group of tunnel diggers will not only help in attacking Xindai, but will also be invaluable in the attack on Taiyuan.

"Your Majesty Yan, do your job well. Once you conquer Xin and Dai, the money, silk, and women will belong to the Turks, and the land will be yours. I, the Khan, hereby bestow upon you the title of Southern Governor, grant you the wolf-head banner, and appoint you as the General Governor of Dai Prefecture, overseeing the military affairs of the five prefectures of Xin, Dai, Wei, and Northern Yan."

Jieli patted Gao Kaidao on the shoulder, "As long as you are loyal to the Turks, I will not treat you unfairly."

"Thank you, Khan!"

In the northwest of the Xinding Basin, in the city of Fanzhi, eighty li away from Yanmen City.

When Sijie chieftain Jielifa Sijie Awen saw his son Wusui's guards, he was in a terrible state, having only been away for a day.

He came back wearing only a pair of shorts, shirtless, covered in wounds, and his hair had been shaved bald by the Tang people.

"Jielifa, the young clan chief was defeated at Pingxing Pass, his entire army was wiped out, and the young clan chief was also captured."

Awen found it unbelievable.

"What did you say?"

"That scoundrel Gao Kaidao surrendered to the Tang general Li Yi, but lied to us, saying that he fought a major battle with Li Yi at Pingxing Pass, and in the end, his entire army was wiped out."
But the Tang army at Pingxing Pass suffered no losses whatsoever. Our three thousand cavalry were immediately surrounded by over twenty thousand elite Tang troops on all sides upon reaching the pass; there were six or seven thousand cavalry and over ten thousand armored infantry.”

"The young chief of the Wu Sui clan led us in a desperate battle, but we still couldn't break through. Over a thousand brothers died in battle, and the remaining two thousand were all captured. Even the young chief of the Wu Sui clan couldn't escape."

"General Li Yi of Tang sent me back to ask Jielifa how he wanted to deal with the young chieftain of the Wusui clan and those two thousand clansmen."

Si Jie Awen felt her vision go black, and the world spun around her, almost causing her to lose her balance.

"You scoundrel Gao Kaidao, I will never let you go!"

(End of this chapter)