Li You's Tang Dynasty

Chapter 642
"Attack...!" With an order, Su Dingfang's third division launched an indiscriminate attack on Mocheng.

Because there are too many mountain roads in Lingnan, many siege weapons of the Tang Dynasty cannot be transported. You must know that there are already many siege weapons in the Tang Dynasty. For example, there is a kind of crossbow, which is a kind of arrow. The requirements are lower than those of archery, and the lethality is greater than that of arrows.Carriage Crossbow is to put the crossbow on the chariot and shoot multiple arrows at once.

Li Jing said in "The Art of War of the Duke of Wei", "When the teeth are fired, all the arrows are fired together, and they reach seven hundred steps. All the fortresses in the middle are destroyed, and the towers are also toppled. It is called a crossbow."

The range of the strong crossbow can reach 600 meters, and the range of the extra-large crossbow can reach a thousand meters.Someone made a theoretical assumption based on this: a strong crossbow can shoot through 3-5 iron cavalry, tens of thousands of them in a round of volley, and it is estimated that it can kill 10 people, one round per minute, and 1 million in 10 minutes army.Although this assumption is a joke, the lethality of the crossbow can also be glimpsed.

But what I want to explain here is that it is too big. And the cost is very high. It can be used to defend the city, but it is very cumbersome to use it to attack the city.

There is also a car crash, which is often seen in film and television dramas: many soldiers carry a large log and crash into the city gate.In actual combat, there is a more advanced equipment than this method: crashing cars.

Crashing chariots are a kind of chariot specially used to attack city gates or city walls. A huge piece of wood is mounted on the chariot, and the city is destroyed by the force of the collision.The head of the wood is pointed and wrapped with iron sheets to increase the strength of the impact.

"Old Tang Book" records that in the war between the Tang Dynasty and Goguryeo, Li Ji used a crash car. "Push and bump a car and bump into its pavilions, and everything will fall."

Li Jing also recorded other siege tools in his "Wei Gong Art of War", such as rockets, fire apricots, and pointed wooden donkeys.Tang Jun brought many craftsmen with him in every battle, probably making siege equipment according to the terrain.It was with these advanced equipment that the Tang Dynasty resisted the nomads without building the Great Wall.This is unique in Chinese history.

However, Li You couldn't bring these weapons to Lingnan. They were either heavy or slow. The siege weapon Su Dingfang used now was called a trebuchet. This tactic was actually used by Hou Junji before.

It is the greatest contribution of Hou Junji, the battle of destroying Gaochang. When Gaochang was in the Tang Dynasty, it was a country with an extremely important geographical location. It happened to be in the middle of the Silk Road. To the south was the endless Taklamakan Desert, and to the north was the rolling Tianshan Mountains. .Anyone coming from the Western Regions must pass through here.

Gaochang King Qu Wentai's ancestors were also Han Chinese, and he was also a high official in the Han Dynasty.It's just that he got into a big disaster and fled here to gain a foothold, and then developed into a local rich family, and accidentally became the king.By the time Qu Wentai arrived, he was already the ninth king.

Since ancient times, the Silk Road has been taken from the West to the Central Plains.But here in the Western Regions, there is not only one Silk Road, but three routes: the North Road, the Middle Road, and the South Road.The North Road is relatively far away, and the South Road has long been deserted, so most people will take the Middle Road where Gaochang is.Therefore, Gaochang has become the largest transit point on the Silk Road, monopolizing most of the international trade, and rich in oil.

There were a lot of people going on, and Yanqi on the southern route of the Silk Road became jealous. King Yanqi immediately sent a small report to Li Shimin: "Your Majesty, we want to repair the southern route. It will be convenient for you later."

Li Shimin agreed at first glance, isn't it just a way after all?All roads lead to Rome and lead to Chang'an, wonderful.

But wouldn't this cut off Gaochang's source of income?Cutting people's wealth is better than killing their parents. When Qu Wentai learned that Yan Qi was going to steal his business, he was furious, and immediately led his troops to defeat Yan Qi, and even looted all the gold and silver treasures in Yan Qi's country.

Of course, he understood that the big boss behind Yanqi was the Tang Dynasty, so he united with the Western Turks to launch a strong attack on Yiwu, a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty, and wanted to cut off the Silk Road and monopolize the Western Regions.Not only does he not pay tribute himself, but he also does not allow other countries to pay tribute.

Li Shimin understood that Qu Wentai was losing his temper, but he couldn't do anything.Besides, if you don't come to pay tribute, why are you threatening others not to come?

Therefore, Li Shimin ordered Qu Wentai to go to Chang'an to face the saint, but of course Qu Wentai would not listen, it was obvious that he would never return.Therefore, Qu Wentai rejected Li Shimin's will on the grounds of illness.

Li Shimin was not reconciled, so he could only invite Qu Wentai over and over again.But at this time, Qu Wentai was like a wild horse running wild, and he simply shook his head and said to the Tang Dynasty envoy: "We will go our own way in the future, and I don't believe that I can't live without you."

Isn't this a public challenge to Li Shimin?But this is not because Qu Wentai is insane, but because Gaochang is too far away, two thousand miles of which are deserts.If you are hungry, you can eat snow after walking in the snow, but if you walk in the desert, you can’t eat sand, right?
In fact, Qu Wentai also had some disbelief in the strength of the Tang Dynasty.After all, when he visited the Tang Dynasty ten years ago, he saw that the northern part of Qinlong was sparsely populated, so Qu Wentai concluded that the Tang Dynasty was too poor, so he turned around and hugged the Western Turk's lap.They are regarded as neighboring countries. If they unite, the Tang Dynasty may really not be able to defeat them.

Therefore, Qu Wentai carried out extensive infrastructure construction in the country, built city walls, and built fortifications, relying on the common people to unite and prepare for any incoming enemies.

At this time, Qu Wentai seemed to be preparing to go all the way to the dark, and was ready to win over Xue Yantuo, so he immediately sent envoys to use the aggressive method.But Xue Yantuo Khan didn't accept this, but immediately told Li Shimin: "If your majesty attacks Gaochang, remember to take me with you."

Li Shimin finally couldn't bear it anymore, and immediately appointed Hou Junji as the chief supervisor of Jiaohe Road, and led the army to Gaochang.But Hou Junji cherished this opportunity to go on an expedition very much, and he led the army straight to Gaochang with confidence.

A few months later, Gaochang learned of the news that the Tang Dynasty sent troops, and people were panicked for a while.But Qu Wentai calmly analyzed his own advantages. After all, the sky is high and the road is far away, so supply is a big problem.

Just when Qu Wentai was immersed in a sweet dream, Hou Junji had brought Tang Jun to Qikou. "Moraine" is the desert, and "Qikou" is the entrance of the desert.At this time, the Tang army was already at the entrance of the desert to Gaochang, which means that the Tang army was close at hand.

When Qu Wentai heard the news, he couldn't believe his ears. He was furious for a while, feeling ashamed and angry. He was bedridden all of a sudden, and then he kicked his eyes and kicked his legs to death. He must have been frightened to death. of.

At this time, the country of Gaochang suddenly fell into chaos, and Tang Jun also learned the news, and planned to do it on the day of his burial, so as to wipe out all civil and military officials.

However, Hou Junji was extremely calm at this time, frowning and said: "We are here to fight against injustice, not to be robbers." Thinking about it, the big guy, it's really not kind to do so.

So, the Tang army officers and soldiers beat the drums and launched an attack.It took less than half a day to capture a nearby city, and in a short while they were at the foot of Gaochang City.

However, before the fight started, Hou Junji first wrote a letter of persuasion to Qu Zhisheng, the son of the new Gaochang King Qu Wentai, Qu Wentai, expressing reason and emotion.

Although Qu Zhisheng is young, he is very experienced in dealing with things.He wanted peace talks, not surrender, and he just told Hou Junji in a Tai Chi style: "The one who offended you was the former king, if you have the ability, go to him."

Hou Junji gave up writing letters, and instead sent his soldiers to cut down trees and build high platforms and wooden buildings. Standing on them, they could overlook their capital, and there were trebuchets, the most terrifying siege weapon at that time, on them.

At this time, the Gaochang people finally couldn't resist, and even the Western Turks were so frightened that they fled westward for more than 1000 miles overnight.A few days later, Qu Zhisheng could only obediently surrender.According to Li Shimin's instructions, Hou Junji established the Anxi Protectorate here.

Su Dingfang’s trebuchet was actually learned from Hou Junji. The long-range shot is about 150 meters. The weight of the stone is [-] catties. There are fifty trebuchets in total, even the Gaochang Palace can’t stand it. Not to mention this small strange city.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

The sound of stones being smashed into the city was endless. When did those members of the Tiger Clan feel such a crazy attack? This attack is simply irresistible. If a big stone hits you, you will be turned into meat paste.

This should be the most dangerous siege that the Liao people of the Tiger Clan have encountered. You must know that the officers and soldiers of the Tang Dynasty also attacked the city before, but because they restrained the contradictions between the two sides, they did not dare to kill them. People were killed too hard, and it might cause even greater rebellion, because Datang's policy towards Lingnan is still mainly to appease.

Therefore, such a catapult machine with great lethality is basically useless, but no one thought that Li You's intention to kill this tiger clan this time was because Li You wanted to show his prestige, and The most important thing is that this Tiger Clan has gone too far and killed too many people from Mocheng.

"Patriarch. The offensive outside is too strong. We must fight back. I suggest taking 1000 people to fight out and destroy all the weapons that throw stones, so that we can be safe."

A tiger warrior speaks out his advice, and beside the tiger warrior, the roar of stones smashing houses is not far away.

Because there is really no other way, the patriarch of the Tiger Clan had no choice but to agree that although opening the city gate would pose a great safety hazard, if he keeps shrinking now, then he has no other choice but to wait for death. It's better to fight than to die.

After the 200 Tiger Clan warriors had assembled, they opened the gate of Mo City, followed a leading Tiger Clan member and killed them, targeting the trebuchets less than [-] meters away.

It's just that these tiger people never dreamed that these catapults are the main weapon for siege, and they are also used for fishing. Around the catapults, there has long been a regiment led by Zhou Likai. Waiting not far away with a bow and arrow.

As long as these Tiger Clan people had just arrived around the trebuchet, their bows and arrows would be endless. Su Dingfang's use of troops was absolutely powerful.

(End of this chapter)