Chapter 3416 Blow up the city gate
Xi Junmai summoned fifty soldiers with strong skills and bravery, who were the "soldiers who ascended to the death first". They were all wearing armor, holding shields, and carrying gunpowder. The artillery began to adjust its barrels and fired continuously at the city walls on both sides of the city gate. One after another, kerosene bombs hit the city walls and city heads, all of which were burned in the fire. The defenders on the city suffered heavy casualties.
The newly recruited soldiers were unable to exert their fighting power for a while, and they had no time to take care of the dead soldiers of the Tang army approaching the city gate, who were crouching down and using huge wooden shields to cover themselves. It wasn't until the Tang army came to the city gate with their dead soldiers that the soldiers on the city realized that arrows and stones rained down like raindrops, but the Tang army had already hid in the city gate hole.
The guards on the city felt something was wrong, but the city gate was sunken inwards, making it difficult to attack from the top of the city. If they opened the city gate from the inside, it would be an act of seeking death...
Fortunately, the Tang army did not confuse the defenders for too long.
These first-person soldiers were all trained for a long time and specialized in laying gunpowder. Use a spiral pointed cone to screw it into the green brick, and then use a hammer to hit other parts of the green brick. In a few strokes, the green bricks that are tightly embedded together will be broken into pieces. As long as one green brick is broken and removed, the other green bricks will be easily taken out one after another.
Within a few moments, two large holes were opened at the corners on both sides of the city gate, and the Tang army buried all the gunpowder into the four holes. Although gunpowder is infinitely powerful, it also requires a method of burial. It is not just about digging a hole and burying gunpowder to achieve maximum power. Except for the Navy, how do other troops understand this kind of matrix-type explosive response?
Wait until the fuse is laid, light it, and then all the "first climbers" retreat with huge wooden shields.
"Puff, puff, puff!" The arrows above the head hit the wooden shield like raindrops of stones, and the dead soldiers of the Tang army spread their legs and retreated at full speed.
"Boom!"
A dull sound seemed to shake the bottom of my heart, and I saw that the strong and towering city gate suddenly expanded and shattered like a block of tofu. Huge bluestones and broken green bricks were shot and thrown in all directions to the west. Originally, The standing city gate turned into ruins in an instant, and the charred bricks and stones were rising like a dark cloud with strong gunpowder smoke.
The city gate, which was built with an adhesive mixed with glutinous rice slurry, lime, etc., could not withstand the huge force generated when hundreds of kilograms of black gunpowder were blasted. It was easily blown to pieces, and the stone and blue bricks turned into a pile of ruins. .
The Goguryeo defenders were first stunned by the threat of heaven and earth. When they realized that the city gate had collapsed, a huge gap appeared in the entire city wall defense line. The heavy infantry who had been wearing armor and armed to the teeth were already heading towards Launch a surprise attack at the city gate.
The hoplite unit has actually disappeared from the current military order of various countries. Although it has strong defense and is almost invulnerable, it moves slowly and has poor maneuverability. It is almost equivalent to a living target on the battlefield and can only be passively beaten.
However, the navy is still equipped with a heavy infantry to carry out offensive tasks, especially against the barbarians who are disadvantaged in combat, and can often achieve miraculous effects. In the Silla and Japanese kingdoms, the navy's heavy infantry made great contributions and killed many people.
At this moment, the heavy infantry launched a surprise attack towards the city gate, and the artillery behind them fired shells near the city gate to delay the defenders' rescue. They actually achieved a "beggar's version" of infantry and artillery coordination...
All the elite troops in Pingrang City went north to pursue the main force of the Tang Army in an attempt to delay the return of the Tang Army. The remaining defenders in the city could not be called elite. At this moment, the city gate was suddenly blown open by the Tang army, and a huge gap suddenly appeared in the complete city wall defense line. The defenders urgently needed to come to block it. However, the defenders were stunned by the Tang army's kerosene bombs, which delayed their opportunity to fight.
When they reacted and went to intercept, they were first bombarded by artillery fire from the Tang army. Finally, they rushed to the city gate, where they had to face heavy infantry armed to the teeth. The sword and ax struck the Tang Army's thick armor, causing a string of sparks to leave a mark, but the Tang Army was unharmed. But the Tang army slashed with a backhand sword, and there was a shower of blood. The Goguryeo soldiers were disembowelled and their limbs were scattered all over the place.
However, the Goguryeo soldiers were also brave. Although the weapons in their hands could not cause effective damage to the Tang army, they still rushed forward without fear of death. They relied on their partial numerical advantage to block the heavy infantry at the city gate. Both sides stepped on the city gate. The stone and blue bricks of the door collapsed, and a bloody battle began.
Although the Tang army had the advantage in armor, the city gate was narrow and the troops were insufficient. For a time, it was blocked by the Goguryeo defenders and it was difficult to advance.
But behind them, countless navy soldiers had already assembled, rushing towards the city gate like a tide.
*****
The army retreated all the way north and soon reached the Yalu River area.
The news of His Majesty Li Er's death is still tightly concealed, not daring to reveal anything. Not to mention that once this news is leaked, it will cause a huge blow to the morale of the army. With the morale of the army being weakened, the army will have no fighting spirit and will only flee. It is very likely that the enemy chasing behind will take advantage of it. Just after the news is leaked, Li Ji did not dare to take any risks due to the violent shock that was bound to be caused when the news spread back to China.
Originally, the city of Chang'an was in turmoil. Many people were eyeing the position of the crown prince. The kings of the clan were ready to make a move, but because of His Majesty's prestige, no one dared to act rashly. Once they learn that His Majesty has passed away, those people will no longer have any scruples. They are afraid that Chang'an City will fight endlessly overnight and turn it into ruins.
And it is very likely that this turmoil will spread, causing chaos in China and war everywhere in the world...
However, even if Li Ji was still anxious and expected to lead his army back to Guanzhong to stabilize the situation as soon as possible, he was quite afraid of the Goguryeo cavalry chasing after him.
He wanted to turn around and fight the enemy decisively, cut off the tail regardless of casualties, and then embark on the return journey without any distractions. However, the Goguryeo cavalry refused to fight and stayed far away; but when the army set off to the north, the enemy continued to attack them. , if you are not careful, you will be harassed by it, which is very annoying.
With no choice, Li Ji had to command the army to retreat in turn according to the original organizational structure of each department. One group retreated and the other moved to the rear. They marched alternately in this way, and the progress was slow.
Walking to the bank of Yalu River, the river is frozen and covered with snow, and Bobi City is in sight in the distance. Surrounded by mountains on both sides of the Yalu River, there is only one access road to Bobi City. As long as one army is left behind to guard this city after the large army has passed, the enemy can be cut off from continuing to pursue. The army can travel lightly and quickly return to Yingzhou.
When the army crossed the frozen river and entered Bobi City, the enemy army did not pursue them as closely as before, which made Li Ji a little confused...
"Quickly send out scouting horses to check the enemy's movements."
Li Ji had always been cautious, but the enemy's abnormal behavior made him smell something unusual.
But before the scouts could set off, they received a message from the navy.
……
"The navy actually ignored the general's order and attacked Pingrang City without permission? Mother! Could it be that Su Dingfang relied on Fang Jun to protect him and became lawless?"
In the government office in Borui City, Yu Chigong, who was still recovering from his injuries, was sitting sideways on a chair. After hearing the report from the naval captain, he immediately cursed.
Qiu Xiaozhong also looked gloomy and said dissatisfied: "Who does Su Dingfang think he is? Hundreds of thousands of troops besieged Pingrang City for two months and failed to defeat it. Is it possible that with the power of a mere navy, they can achieve the feat that hundreds of thousands of people failed to defeat? Surely? He is really blinded by his merits and has a dark heart. If he fails to attack and loses his troops under Pingrang City, we will have to see how the imperial court will deal with him!"
The rest of the generals, except Cheng Yaojin who was silent and Xue Wanche and Ashina Simo stayed out of the matter, all expressed their dissatisfaction.
It wasn't that he had any deep hatred for the navy, but Su Dingfang's behavior of disobeying orders and sending troops privately made everyone sense a strong crisis.
Hundreds of thousands of troops have indeed besieged Pingrang City for two months without defeat. Now that His Majesty has died, he has to withdraw his troops and return north, defeated. However, Pingrang City has been fiercely attacked by the Tang army in these two months. The city was damaged, the soldiers were lost, and the strength was reduced. Already a big loss.
If we were not worried about changes in Chang'an due to His Majesty's death, Pingrang City would have been destroyed in just ten and a half days.
Now that the army is returning north, the navy is launching a fierce attack, and Goguryeo has also sent an elite cavalry force of tens of thousands to harass the army. Pingrang City must be empty of troops... although it is unlikely that Pingrang City will be captured by the navy. , but this possibility does exist.
What if the navy is unlucky and the battle to level Rangcheng is really decided?
At the beginning, everyone in the government and the public, as well as all factions in the military, excluded the navy, lest it gain merit and become stronger. Now that the war has been going on for more than half a year, each and every one of them, like wolves and tigers, was beaten to death under Pingran City, and even His Majesty died. This large group of famous generals in the world still don't know how to explain themselves to the world after returning to the capital. The achievements of the Eastern Campaign were all taken away by the Navy... Everyone wiped their necks, how can they show their faces?
(End of chapter)