Chapter 1128 Borrowing the East Wind to Burn Liao City at Night
Three days later.
Cheng Yaojin led 50,000 Fan Han soldiers and horses to the Liaodong City to join forces. Looking at the tall Liaodong City, he couldn't help but marvel at its majesty.
"No wonder Emperor Yangdi failed to capture this city during his four expeditions to Liaodong. It is indeed **** strong."
Li Shimin has been working as a porter in the city for several days. When he saw Lao Cheng, he handed him a willow basket without saying a word, "Move the soil!"
The trenches in Liaodong City were dug too deep and too wide, just like a **** river.
"It would be nice if it was winter, the water in this trench freezes, so it's useless."
The trenches in Liaodong City are connected to Daliang River, which is also called Taizi River. It is said that Prince Dan of Yan fled to Liaodong and died here, so the river was called Taizi River.
Li Shimin was covered in dust, and moved the soil seriously, "Do you think the Goguryeo people are stupid? This trench is the key point of their city defense. In summer and autumn, the trench draws the flowing water of the Daliang River as the moat, and in winter and spring, they will block the trench in advance. Get up and drain the water inside, there are many pickets and wooden thorns at the bottom of this trench, and there is no chance for you to take advantage of the loopholes and step on the ice."
Lao Cheng carried the willow basket to transport the earth.
"When will such a big trench be filled? How about building a bridge?"
Of course Li Shimin had already thought of this, but the trench is indeed very wide, and to attack such a fortified city, you must rely on siege equipment, so you still have to fill in a few passages first.
"Hasn't Qin Lang arrived yet? I heard that this kid has made great contributions again." Although Lao Cheng is not as high as Qin Lang in terms of rank, he is still a kid in front of the emperor.
Li Shimin just said, "I have already sent someone to call, and it should be here soon."
Lao Cheng looked at Li Simo and other Turkic kings directing Turkic Qingqi to shoot arrows at the city, "Can't the firearms of the Shenji Army be used?"
It was quite easy for Qin Lang to win Beisha City back then.
"Then we have to fill this trench close to the city wall first, or else can thunder from heaven blast away the city wall at such a distance?"
Old Cheng chuckled. He only knew a little bit about the mysterious and unpredictable Shenji Army. He only knew that Qin Lang used this thing to easily take down Beisha in Shili Mountain City.
But how to use it, I really don’t know.
This thing has always been a top secret. Before that, Qin Lang was in charge of the firearms supervisor and the Shenji army. In recent years, I heard that the firearms supervisor was handed over to Ma Zhou.
As for the Shenji Army, the emperor personally led it.
Building siege equipment is not something that can be done in a day or two. Fortunately, before this expedition, the imperial court had already made preparations and asked the military supervisor to build a batch of standard parts in advance.
The parts of the large catapult are manufactured in a standardized manner, and then numbered and disassembled for transportation. They can be quickly assembled on the battlefield. Although it takes some manpower and transportation to transport, it is better than temporary logging.
Lao Cheng helped transport the soil for a few days, and the dump truck was finally assembled.
These thrown cars were built one after another a few years ago, and then transported to Liucheng, Yingzhou. This time they were brought with the army.
All are new-style catapults improved by Qin Lang. The original catapults are generally traction-type, requiring many people to pull, and the weight that can be thrown is not high.
It takes two to three hundred people to pull a large cable-throwing vehicle, which is not efficient.
And this kind of throwing car modified by Qin Lang is no longer a throwing rope type, but a counterweight ratchet stone thrower, which can be operated by a few people in a team, and can throw hundreds of catties of heavy stone bullets at a time. It has a very long range and great power.
The ultra-long lever arm reaches several feet long, and its counterweight reaches an astonishing 10,000 jin, capable of throwing stone bullets of 200-300 jin.
However, the transportation and assembly of this thing are very troublesome. Even if the standard parts can be disassembled and assembled, it is still time-consuming to transport and assemble, and it needs to be adjusted.
Especially the required stone bullets, they have to be temporarily searched and polished from around the battlefield for transportation.
However, compared with the towed type, it is still much stronger. For example, the original whirlwind cannon pulled by 300 people in Datang can also throw two to three hundred catties of boulders, but the range is only sixty or seventy steps.
As for the rapid-fire gun towed by two people, it can only shoot small stones, and the range is not far.
And there is no precision at all.
The counterweight catapults are much stronger. The counterweights of these big guys built by the military inspector range from five thousand catties to ten thousand catties, and the weight of the stone bullets they can throw is one-tenth of their counterweight. , that is to say, in theory, a catapult with a counterweight of 10,000 jin should be able to throw 1,000 jin.
Of course, considering the actual operation, the 10,000-jin counterweight catapult can actually throw a maximum of 300-jin stone bullets for a distance of two to three hundred steps.
No matter how big it is, there will be no range.
However, although the new catapult is very powerful, it is still only a supporting role in the war, and he cannot be the protagonist alone. Facing the tall and sturdy Liaodong City and the moat that was more than ten feet wide and two feet deep, Li Shimin had to fill in a few passages first.
Otherwise, if the catapults hit Liaodong City indiscriminately, it would be impossible to smash down the city wall. It really collapsed, and there must be infantry to follow up.
Lao Cheng led tens of thousands of people to help fill in the trenches for another three days, and finally filled in many passages.
"Where's Qin Lang? Haven't arrived yet?"
Li Shimin finally didn't have to move the soil anymore.
"Return to Your Majesty, Wei Gong asked Niu Jinda and Wang Wendu to lead 50,000 troops to continue stationing under the city of Anshi, and personally led 100,000 troops to help!"
"One hundred thousand?"
Li Shimin froze for a moment.
Does Qin Lang have so many soldiers?
Niu Jinda originally only had 40,000 horses, Qin Lang took 80,000 and made up 120,000, and then divided more than 20,000 troops to attack Jili City and Shicheng. He fought a battle under Anshi City, and lost several thousand. The numbers are wrong.
"Duke Wei also brought the surrendered Goguryeo troops from Jian'an City."
Qin Lang not only brought 100,000 reinforcements, but also a large amount of food and grass, so it was a bit slow to come along the way.
Fortunately, Qin Lang marched by land and water. Some soldiers and horses traveled by water, from the mouth of the Daliao River, and then entered the Taizi River to the east. Qin Lang personally led the cavalry to come by land.
At this time, Li Shimin was still not short of food and grass. After Cheng Yaojin took down Gaimu City, he won a large amount of food and grass stored by the Goguryeo people in the north of the Liaohe River, which was enough to last for a long time. What he needs now is troops.
These days, Li Shimin has been refraining from launching a formal attack on Liaodong City. He is just filling trenches, shooting bows and arrows, and testing the reality of the city on a small scale.
If you don't attack, you're done. Once you attack, you have to win.
Facing a fortified city like Goguryeo, Datang couldn't besiege and consume it for a long time.
There must be enough troops to launch a thunder strike.
When Qin Lang finally arrived, Li Shimin even went to greet him in person.
"I have been looking forward to you."
Qin Lang had no choice but to be led away by Li Shimin's hand. He had always refused to say that he would not come to Liaodong, but he was still tricked by Lao Niu.
Li Shimin dragged Qin Lang to the Liaodong city and walked around.
"How to break this city?"
"The sage must have already made up his mind."
Li Shimin laughed loudly, "There is indeed a solution, and I just want to hear from you again."
"I see that the city of Liaodong is tall and strong, and there are hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the city. It is indeed difficult to attack, but it is not impossible. Although the city is built of stones, it is extremely strong, but I see that there are many soldiers on the top of the city. Wooden buildings, I heard that there are mostly wooden houses in Liaodong city?"
Li Shimin nodded, "That's true. There were not so many wooden buildings before, but when Quan Gai Suwen saw these large catapults erected under the city, he was obviously frightened, so he rushed to build these wooden buildings in a few days There are even a lot of curtains on the building, just to prevent our stone throwing."
Li Shimin nodded, "Huo Gong is really good, but we have to be close."
"How about using gunpowder?"
"If Your Majesty wants to dig the wall and blast it, of course it can, but I see that the Goguryeo people dug such a deep trench, and the city wall is made of big stones, so it may not be easy to blast."
"You can use catapults to bombard enemy buildings, then use archers to cover them, use ladders and poles to climb the city, and then you can shoot rockets at the city from a high position, or use fierce fire oil tanks to spray fire. The minister looks at the sky, and there will be a few days. With a strong wind, as long as you choose the direction of the wind to attack the city in advance, you can take advantage of the wind and destroy the enemy in one fell swoop."
Li Shimin was very satisfied when he heard this, "I agree with you. Now that all the armies are joining forces, the troops are strong and the horses are strong, just in time for the thunder offensive!"
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Liaodong City.
Yuan Gai Suwen looked at the Tang troops approaching outside the city one after another, his expression became more and more ugly.
"One hundred thousand people have been added, and the leader is Qin Lang?" Hearing this news, Yuan Gai Suwen's lips trembled. The next number one person relies on the power of the family.
Looking at the slaughter of pigs and cattle in the Tang camp in the distance, and even the obvious shadow of Goguryeo's descending army, Yuan Gaisu Wenqi didn't go anywhere.
Finally, after thinking for a long time, he summoned several generals and made some arrangements with them, asking them to stick to Liaodong City.
"What does Mo Lizhi mean?"
"I'm going out of the city to dispatch reinforcements. If Gao Yanshou and Gao Huizhen don't go in person, I'm afraid they will lead their troops to Anshi instead of Liaodong City. Only I can mobilize the 150,000 troops in person. Reinforcement. The safety of Liaodong City depends on these 150,000 soldiers. If we cannot transfer this army, we may not be able to survive the cold winter. If Liaodong City is lost, Anshi City will also be lost. , and there will be no more soldiers and horses behind, then the entire Liaodong will fall, and Goguryeo will perish!"
Yuan Gai Su Wen said awe-inspiringly.
The generals looked at each other.
Some people think that you are afraid and want to run away.
Someone couldn’t help persuading, “During a great war, the commander should not leave lightly, otherwise the morale of the army will be shaken...”
"I am also doing this for the safety of Liaodong City, and for the safety of Goguryeo. Am I afraid of Tang soldiers? Could it be that if you are allowed to go, you can mobilize the 150,000 troops of Gao Yanshou and Gao Huizhen?"
Yuan Gai Suwen patted the table and pulled out his precious sword, "After I leave, you don't have to stick to the city, don't go out of the city to fight easily, you must stick to it until I come back with reinforcements!"
That night, Yuan Gai Suwen led the Qingqi guards to break out of the encirclement.
The next morning, Tang Jun began to launch a formal siege.
A large and small catapults began to throw stones hotly, bombarding and smashing wildly.
The archers stood in square formations one after another and lobbed at the top of the city.
Countless warriors rushed towards Liaodong City with shields and knives in hand.
On the first day, I didn’t download it.
The next day, still not captured.
The third day, the fifth day.
Until the seventh day, the Tang army continued to attack without stopping. Two hundred thousand troops surrounded Liaodong City, attacking in turn.
After seven days of onslaught, the defenders of Liaodong City have suffered heavy casualties, and the coach Yuan Gai Suwen did not see the reinforcements returning after leaving in the middle of the night, which made the morale of the city continue to drop.
The defenders in the city couldn't hide their tactics of being passively beaten, which made their morale lower day by day.
On the seventh day of the fight, all the battle towers on Liaodong City of Goguryeo were bombed down, and even the battlements on the top of the city were bombed, and there were not many remaining battlements on the top of the city.
Night, the wind was strong.
Seeing that the time was ripe, the Tang Army launched a full-scale offensive with drums and horns, besieged from all sides for a while, and the Goguryeo people couldn't handle it.
Under the cover of throwing carts, bows and arrows, the elite guards of the Shenji Battalion, who had been recharging their energy, were dispatched. They carried three-eyed blunderbuss on their backs, thunderbolts in their waists, and rockets. The soldiers of the Flying Cavalry Battalion used The push rod was sent directly to the top of the city.
A row of shocking thunders were thrown over, and amidst the thunderous thunder, the top of the city was emptied. They quickly jumped onto the top of the city, and then used ignited rockets to shoot randomly at the rockets in the city.
In an instant.
The fire took advantage of the wind, and the wind assisted the fire, and a corner of Liaodong City burned rapidly.
The fire began to spread rapidly.
The defenders of Liaodong City rushed to fight the fire.
Tang Jun launched a more violent offensive.
Fighting fiercely all night, at dawn, Cheng Yaojin led his troops to break through the southwestern city gate first, and entered the city.
Immediately afterwards, the rest of the city gates were breached.
Liaodong City has fallen!
This night.
Qin Lang has been sitting with Li Shimin in the Tang camp eating barbecue and playing chess, Li Shimin's chess game this night is particularly smelly. Qin Lang wanted to let him go, but in the end he had no choice but to keep winning.
Li Shimin was obviously a little absent-minded. Although he looked calm and composed on the surface, with a look of winning, he was still a little worried about gains and losses in his heart.
It was Qin Lang who was calmer.
Although the seven days of mad attack did not win, but for such a big city with 100,000 people sticking to it, it is normal to attack for 70 days, let alone seven days.
And he knew that in history, Li Shimin's attack on Liaodong City actually took twelve days, so this time they had stronger soldiers and horses, at least three times more than in history, so it took seven days to attack, and the melon was almost ripe.
"Report, General Cheng Yaojin has broken through the southwest city gate!"
"Report, General Li Simo has broken through the southeast city gate!"
"Report, General Qin Guozhong has broken through the North Gate!"
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There is a white belly in the sky.
Good news one after another.
In the Tang camp, the cheers of the distant city can also be heard.
The city is broken.
The Liaodong City, which had blocked the Central Plains Dynasty for two hundred and forty years and made it impossible for Yang Guangsan to attack, was captured by the Tang Dynasty.
From the time Li Shimin led his troops to the city of Liaodong to the time they entered the city, it took a total of twelve days. The front was filled with soil for five days, and the city was attacked for seven days in the back.
Take it down.
Li Shimin let out a long breath, and finally showed an unconcealable smile on his face.
Qin Lang put down the chess pieces and congratulated the emperor.
"Congratulations to the saint, finally won Liaodong City!"
(end of this chapter)