Li Chengqian of the Tang Dynasty: Please say long live His Majesty

Chapter 632 Li Ji's War Rhythm (First Update)
"Woo~"

The sound of the trumpet resounded throughout the heaven and earth.

Fifty thousand Tang soldiers completely surrounded the entire Pingrang City.

Beyond sight, there were another 50,000 troops scattered in all directions, preventing reinforcements from any other direction while being ready to obey orders to march towards Pingrang City at any time.

Today, all 100,000 elite Tang soldiers set their sights on Pingrang City.

Under the black banner, Li Ji led more than a dozen brave generals and countless elite troops slowly approaching the south gate of Pingrang City with an imposing manner.

Hidden among the human figures, there are countless crossbows, catapults, crossbows, ladders, battering rams and other siege weapons.

From time to time, cavalrymen came running from all directions, delivering information to Li Yiyan who was following Li Ji.

All the information about the enemy's movements from all directions was sent over.

The army is fighting, watching all directions.

After Li Yiyan took a quick look at it, he picked out the important ones and handed them to Li Ji.

Li Ji took a calm look and continued to urge his horse forward.

Step by step, they gradually approached Pingrang City.

Li Ji stopped at a distance of an arrow from the top of Pingrang City.

For a moment, all the soldiers stopped.

In the entire world, apart from the neighing of horses' hooves and everyone's breathing, it seemed that nothing else could be heard.

Li Ji looked up at the densely packed Goguryeo soldiers on the city wall and sneered. Then he turned sideways to look at Li Yiyan: "Yiyan, do you know what it feels like to be hungry?"

Li Yiyan bowed and said, "Although I am not a royal family member, I am from the Longxi Li family. My grandfather was the chief official of the Sui Dynasty, and my father was the magistrate of Yingtao County in my dynasty. Although my family is not wealthy, I have never suffered from hunger since I was a child!"

"Hungry!" Li Ji sighed, raised his head and said, "Hunger is like a wildfire rising uncontrollably from the depths of your heart. It's a human's most instinctive desire. No matter if you're smart or dumb, everyone feels the same."

"Yes!" Li Yiyan bowed solemnly.

Li Ji looked towards the top of Pingrang City Wall and continued, "In recent years, in order to prevent the Tang Dynasty from attacking across the Taedong River, Quan Gaisuwen has stored a large amount of food and fodder in the city, enough to feed the city's more than 200,000 people for two years. However, since last autumn, not a single drop of food has been delivered to Pingrang City from other places."

The generals around him looked solemn.

They knew that Li Ji's words seemed to be directed at Li Yiyan, but in fact they were directed at each of them.

"A year has passed now." Li Ji looked up and sneered softly, "The city's food reserves now only have less than a year's supply. Not long ago, most of the food and grass in the city were burned, leaving less than four months' supply. Do you know what will happen in this situation?"

Li Yiyan hesitated slightly, but still bowed and said, "The food and grass in the city can still support us for four months."

Li Ji looked at Li Yiyan in surprise and said bluntly, "Your years as the Jinyang County Magistrate were truly in vain."

"Yes!" Li Yiyan's expression changed slightly, but he still bowed and said, "Please give me some advice, Marshal."

"If you hadn't done such a good job under me back in Taiyuan, I wouldn't be saying all this." After a brief pause, Li Ji looked up at Pingrang City and said calmly, "The city is short of 60% of its food and fodder for the end of next year. This means that only 40% of the Goguryeo people left will be left, or even less."

In this way, the remaining 40% of food will be enough for these 40% of people to survive until the end of the year.

The world is cruel and people’s hearts are evil.

It is never a simple calculation, but a cruel, bloody and cold-blooded one.

"I appreciate your advice." Li Yiyan bowed solemnly.

The expressions of the other officers and soldiers also became solemn at the same time.

Li Ji looked at the densely packed soldiers on the city walls and said softly, "From seven days ago until today, over five thousand people have fled the city, and there have been twenty-one fires. You are all high-ranking generals in the army, so you should understand what this means."

The generals' breathing suddenly became heavy.

More than five thousand people fled the city, and there were twenty-one fires in the city, and many others they saw.

All this meant that things in the city were gradually becoming chaotic, and were not far from being completely chaotic.

"Do you know why I didn't wait until the city was completely in chaos before taking action?" Li Ji said without waiting for others to ask, "Because Quan Gaisuwen is so ruthless, he will use all means to drive out 60% of the city's nearly 100,000 people beforehand... We can't afford it, so we can only attack today."

"Yes!" The generals looked solemn.

If they really let 100,000 people leave the city, they will be in big trouble whether they take care of these 100,000 people or not.

"In addition, these Japanese generals asked you to drink and barbecue around the city gate. The smell of wine and meat will make the wildfire in their hearts even stronger. Do you know what this means?" Li Ji turned sideways and looked at the generals on his left and right.

Everyone bowed and said, "Please teach us, Marshal!"

"This means they'll be constantly moving back and forth, especially with the food shortage these days. They'll be even hungrier, and hunger means no strength." Li Ji smiled unabashedly and asked, "You know what this means, right?"

"Yes!" The generals looked excited, and their pupils were filled with the blood of killing.

Li Ji's eyes grew serious as he slowly drew the Qianniu Knife from his waist. He looked towards the Pingrang City Wall in front of him and shouted, "Quan Gaisuwen murdered the previous King of Goguryeo and has now imprisoned the new King for ten years. By order of the Emperor of the Great Tang, Quan Gaisuwen must be strangled and the throne returned to King Gao Baozang. Kill him!"

"The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty orders: strangle Quan Gaisuwen and return power to King Gao Baozang!" The soldiers' expressions suddenly changed. They raised their swords and spears and looked towards the top of the city wall in awe: "Kill!"

"kill!"

"kill!"

The loud cry of killing resounded throughout the world, and the Goguryeo soldiers on the city wall had a flash of confusion and struggle in their eyes for a moment.

They heard clearly the words before the word "kill".

In recent years, the Tang Dynasty and Goguryeo have been at war, and Quan Gaisuwen has always told them that the purpose of the Tang Dynasty's war is to completely destroy Goguryeo, and all the other things like "returning power to the treasure king" are all nonsense.

But now, with 50,000 troops shouting in unison, even the most resolute person's mind would inevitably be shaken.

Of course, there was more panic here after the food and supplies were burned.

Although Quan Gaisu Wen announced to the whole city that not much food was burned, and they even ate a lot more in the first few days, the food supply dropped visibly in the following days. Yesterday, they even had only three meals of porridge.

It was today that we realized that the Tang army was going to attack the city, so we gave them a good meal.

Now, when tens of thousands of Tang soldiers shouted in unison and the sound of killing shook the sky, everything suddenly appeared in their minds.

The hand holding the weapon could no longer help but tremble.

……

Li Ji rode on his horse with an indifferent expression, swinging the black Qianniu Sword downwards.

In an instant, countless crossbow carts, catapults, towers, and ladders were all pushed forward quickly.

At the same time, more Tang soldiers carrying straw bags rushed forward quickly.

The trench ahead had been cut off from water supply from upstream several days ago. Although there was still some water accumulated in it, it was not a big problem.

What Li Ji needed was to quickly fill up sections of trenches and then create more than a dozen passages that would facilitate attack.

These trenches tightly blocked the entire Pingrang City for a whole year, preventing any grain from entering from outside the city.

Li Ji looked at the trenches with indifference.

In fact, he could continue to trap the entire city. Quan Gaisuwen would kill people, which would reduce the food pressure while also weakening Quan Gaisuwen's own strength.

But Li Ji did not wait.

Because the soldiers in the army also need military merits!
The people killed by Quan Gaisuwen count for nothing. Only when the people are killed by the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty can it be considered a military achievement.

Besides, winter is coming soon.

Be careful! The longer the night, the more dreams you may have!
The urgent sound of drums kept ringing in my ears, and the black pennant in front of the crossbow cart suddenly pointed forward.

The next moment, hundreds of ten-foot-long crossbow arrows flew into the air and landed heavily on the top of the city wall.

In an instant, countless people on the city walls were pierced from top to bottom by crossbows, then pinned to the walls. Blood flowed directly from the parapet and all over the ground.

At a glance, among the hundreds of crossbow arrows, only a few were nailed to the wall, and most of them fell behind the parapet.

Li Ji looked at Wei Hongji who was standing beside the crossbow cart.

Wei Hongji continued to wave the flag calmly.

With countless "boom" sounds, huge boulders were thrown up and directly onto the city wall.

With incredible precision, the stone hit the back of the parapet.

Suddenly, the area behind the women's wall was a mess.

At this time, a section of the trench had been filled in.

With flags waving, thousands of archers strode forward in the dense army, finally crossing the trench, forming three rows, then stepping on the crossbows and falling backwards.

The moment Senhan's arrows hit the city wall, with a buzzing sound, they were shot out in succession.

Most of the dense crossbow arrows fell on the city walls, leaving sections of the walls covered with casualties.

"Boom, boom, boom!" The drumbeats suddenly became heavy and deep.

The soldier carrying the ladder at the front immediately strode forward and quickly placed the ladder directly on the empty space on the city wall.

"Charge!" Li Ji thrust his blade forward and roared with gritted teeth.

The next moment, more infantrymen rushed towards the city wall with shields in their hands.

At this moment, a cold voice rang out from the city wall: "Release."

Dense arrows suddenly fell from the air like heavy rain.

The next moment, a large number of Tang army soldiers on the ground were killed or wounded, but more people still held shields and rushed directly towards the city wall.

At the moment when the ladder was placed on the city wall, the charging soldiers arrived and rushed up regardless of everything.

At this moment, countless crossbow arrows fell on the city wall in the sky behind him, and countless Goguryeo archers on the wall were killed or wounded.

But at this time, more Goguryeo soldiers came forward with bows and arrows, raised rolling stones, battering rams, and a large amount of gold juice, and threw the long spears in their hands at the Tang soldiers who had already climbed up.

The extremely brutal siege unfolded in the most brutal way in a very short period of time.

……

The sky turns west.

The sound of fighting continued on the battlefield. The Tang army soldiers finally managed to gain a foothold on the city wall, but were soon driven back down.

But the charge and fighting never stopped for a moment, and soon someone rushed up again.

Rolling stones, battering rams, and golden juice were continuously sent to the top of the city wall and then poured down directly.

There were nothing but corpses under the city wall.

Outside the city, crossbows and rolling stones were gradually raised at this time and hit the back of the city wall.

Suddenly, there was a wailing sound from there.

Countless Goguryeo soldiers were rushing up the city wall from the bottom of the city and were hit directly.

At this moment, cheers suddenly came from a city wall.

A burly Tang army soldier, wearing black armor and wielding two swords, charged left and right. In an instant, all the Goguryeo soldiers around were killed and repelled.

More Tang soldiers took the opportunity to rush up, then quickly gained a foothold and then attacked from both sides.

At this time, the Goguryeo soldiers seemed to have weakened in combat power, and the spears in their hands were suddenly knocked out.

The next moment, his neck was slashed by a knife.

As blood splattered, the man fell down.

At this moment, more Tang army soldiers suddenly discovered that their opponents had become much weaker.

In an instant, more people rushed up to fight excitedly.

Li Ji rode his horse and stopped under the big banner, looking at it indifferently.

Liu Rengui said excitedly, "Marshal, they have no strength left."

Li Ji nodded calmly.

The Goguryeo soldiers had a full meal only early today. They had been drinking porridge for the past few days, and today's meal was only enough for them until now. Their strength had declined a lot due to the intense fighting, and they were exhausted.

Unlike the Tang army soldiers, who have had wine and meat these days, they can still hold on for a long time.

"Who is that man?" Li Ji's eyes fell on the soldier who was wielding two swords and killing several enemy soldiers in front of him.

Liu Rengui's expression changed slightly, and then he whispered, "It's Fang Yiai!"

Li Ji couldn't help but raise his eyes, taking a deep look at Fang Yiai who was fighting hard on the city wall, and nodded gently, saying: "It is said that Princess Gaoyang's husband is brave and powerful. Seeing him today, it is indeed true."

"Yes!" Liu Rengui bowed his head.

"Let the archers attack and shoot at the enemy troops on both sides." Li Ji looked up at the sky and said softly, "This is just the beginning. If this section of the city wall is still in our hands tomorrow, we will have gained a firm foothold."

"Yes!" Liu Rengui bowed solemnly.

Night is the defenders' greatest helper and is extremely disadvantageous to the attackers.

It is difficult to accurately shoot arrows and rolling stones from under the city, and you also need to be more careful when climbing ladders.

More Tang soldiers were driven out of the city.

……

In a blink of an eye, a night passed and the fighting on the city wall became fierce again.

Li Ji stood at the foot of the city and watched with cold eyes.

On the city wall, Fang Yiai swung his two swords fiercely and chopped the Goguryeo soldiers in front of him, forcing them to retreat again and again.

That night, Fang Yiai retreated three times in a row and attacked again three times in a row.

Li Ji raised his head and looked towards Pingrang City.

After a night, Quan Gaisu Wen had gradually adapted to the rhythm of the Tang Dynasty, and more soldiers had replenished their food.

Although the roots are still weak, I am afraid that the situation will become less favorable for them as time goes on.

such a pity!
Li Ji raised his head and said calmly, "Send a message to Fang Yiai, asking him to continue to persevere and capture Pingrang City. I will give him the credit for being the first to reach the city."

"Yes!" Liu Rengui bowed solemnly.

Sure enough, military achievements are the most exciting.

Fang Yiai suddenly became more ferocious on the city wall and quickly cut a bloody path.

More Tang soldiers climbed onto the city wall and spread out fiercely to both sides.

"Send the order, have Xue Wanche and Xue Wanbei ascend the city walls and clear the way." Li Ji raised his head calmly and said, "Also, have Xue Rengui prepare!"

"Here!"

(End of this chapter)