Li Jing is not his unscrupulous cousin Chen Sangliang. Whenever he encounters Xiongguan Jiancheng, he will only think about how to sneak around. He doesn't think about how to deal with difficult problems head-on. It was easy to fight but still faced the difficulties. After careful preparations, on May 30th, the soldiers of the Sui army finally launched a frontal attack on Lengquan Pass.
The biggest difficulty in attacking Lengquanguan is that the roads are narrow, the troops cannot be deployed, and it is even more difficult for large-scale assault weapons to approach the pass wall. The soldiers of the Sui army can only attack the pass with a small amount of troops in batches. Then you can rely on the top of the pass wall, the sheep and horse wall, the pass building and the highlands on both sides to occupy a local force advantage, and give the Sui army a three-dimensional strike from far and near. Under normal circumstances, as long as there are no mistakes in the defenders and no problems in the internal rear, no matter which general of the Sui army is in command of this battle, he will have to suffer as hard as the Persian boss Xerxes I at Thermopylae Pass.
Fortunately, Li Jing is doomed to become unlucky like Xerxes, not to mention the huge gap in command art, the development and progress of weapons and equipment also determine that the Taiyuan Army will not be able to reproduce the glory of the three hundred warriors of Sparta. When the Sui army officially launched a formal attack, the first thing to play was the bronze artillery that appeared hundreds of years in advance. The bronze artillery that made the Taiyuan army suffer twice and was as fearful as a tiger.
It must be admitted that the Li brothers and the Taiyuan army are also very good at learning lessons. Knowing that the artillery of the Sui army is powerful, they not only prepared a large number of sacks of soil in the pass to block and close the gate at any time, but also spent a lot of effort to strengthen the closed walls and closed buildings. At the same time, the narrow terrain south of Lengquanguan is also the confidence of the Taiyuan army to deal with the artillery of the Sui army. Before that, Chen Sangliang used artillery against the Taiyuan army twice in order to show off his power. Twenty feet, so the Taiyuan Army has always believed that the Sui Army's artillery can only exert its power if it is lined up, otherwise the shells fired from behind will definitely hit the artillery in front.
Li Jiancheng's confidant Zhang Lun, who was in charge of Lengquanguan, was soon dumbfounded. The twenty cannons brought by the Sui army could not be lined up in the valley road, and at most three cannons could be lined up horizontally in the valley road. It is true, however, under the command of Yuan Tiangang, the soldiers of the Sui Army arranged fifteen artillery pieces on a relatively open and gentle slope southeast of Lengquan Pass. Straw and horse manure were spread on the ramp to reduce friction and facilitate transportation. The other five artillery pieces were placed by the Sui Army soldiers on the banks of the Fenshui River to the southwest of Lengquan Pass, forming a firing angle that crossed and covered Lengquan Pass. None of the cannons were placed directly in front of the closed gate of Lengquan Pass as usual, and the front space was also left for the soldiers of the Sui Army to line up to protect the artillery array.
What stunned Zhang Lun and the soldiers of the Taiyuan Army was that the distance between the artillery of the Sui army and the Cold Spring Pass was one mile away from the nearest gate, and the farthest was more than one and a half miles away. The attack range of machine guns and strong bows and crossbows, even the bed crossbow that can shoot 500 paces on the wall of Lengquanguan, can barely hit the nearest Sui army artillery at most. Very pitifully small. Seeing this scene, Zhang Lun couldn't help screaming in despair, "Can the bandit artillery hit so far? How is this possible?!"
Without experience, there is no way to accumulate experience. In order to suppress the formation of the Sui army and boost morale, Zhang Lun decisively ordered the 20 bed crossbows of the Taiyuan army to fire first, and shot at the nearest Sui army artillery. They shot at a distance of more than one mile, but most of them were too far away. Only five or six arrows managed to get close to the Sui army's artillery, and by chance, they wounded a Sui army gunner who couldn't dodge in time.
Everyone knows how slow the winding speed of the bed crossbow is. Before the Taiyuan Army fired the second wave of giant arrows, the Sui Army’s artillery had already been deployed, and then the Sui Army’s gunners, who were trained by Yuan Tiangang himself, quickly calculated the shooting height and aiming. After reaching the target, Yuan Tiangang waved the flag, and the artillery of the Sui Army immediately began to roar and roar, and the bed crossbow array of the Taiyuan Army would never have the chance to launch together.
The target of Li Jing's artillery attack is not the cold spring pass wall that has been repeatedly reinforced, let alone the closed gate that will definitely be blocked, but the bed crossbow closed by the Taiyuan army and the catapult inside the pass, and the Taiyuan army on both sides of the cold spring pass Fences and earth fortifications were built on the high ground, and the first round of salvos were all bombarded at the top of the cold spring pass. The heavy solid iron bullet hit the wall with a loud whistling noise, destroying three expensive and time-consuming Taiyuan army bed crossbows on the spot, and took the lives of more than 30 Taiyuan army soldiers. A few shells crossed the pass wall and directly hit the pass, destroying a Taiyuan army trebuchet.
Amidst the screams and screams of the soldiers of the Taiyuan Army, the artillery of the Sui Army continued to roar like thunder, and the solid shells continued to hit the inside and outside of the wall, leaving deep craters on the wall, and explosions on the arrow stacks. Sniffing the smoke and dust, those who hit the top of the pass took the lives of the soldiers of the Taiyuan Army, those who hit the top of the pass stirred up sawdust and tiles all over the sky, and those who blasted into the pass were to see the bad luck of those Taiyuan Army soldiers, or the suffering of that trebuchet . The deafening roar of the artillery echoed in the valley road, while the soldiers of the Taiyuan army lay on the wall and shivered, praying that the Sui army's shells would not hit them.
Zhang Lun was also forcibly pressed by his own soldiers to the shooting blind spot behind the arrow pile. He watched the soldiers of our own army fleeing and screaming in front of the constantly bouncing shells. The artillery is still vulnerable to shells, and it is constantly becoming riddled with holes. Zhang Lun is at a loss when he sees the bed crossbows that the army spent a lot of money and painstakingly build one after another into the state of parts and sawdust. He didn't know how to decipher the artillery tactics of the Sui army, and he didn't know how to restore the confidence and fighting spirit of his soldiers in the face of these terrible weapons. The only thing Zhang Lun could do was to pray that the shells and gunpowder of the Sui army would be used up quickly. If it is over, or quickly stop bombarding with artillery, and quickly send troops up to fight with real swords and guns.
Of course Li Jing will not allow Zhang Lun to fulfill his wish. Not to mention that the Sui army has sufficient ammunition, the pressure on the Sui army to attack the fortress is actually not very great. The Sui army can hope to break through the city without using too much ammunition. It doesn’t matter if the main force of the Taiyuan army completely retreats to Taiyuan City, its old nest. The terrain of the valley didomed the Sui army to take down the city without relying on artillery, so the artillery of the Sui army kept roaring, and Li Jing never had any intention of stopping the bombardment tactics.
While the defenders of Cold Spring Pass were shivering under the cover of the Sui Army's artillery, Li Jiancheng and Li Er brothers also brought the first army to the north of Cold Spring Pass to watch the battle. However, their eardrums were not only trembling by the roar of the Sui Army's artillery, but they still had no time to get close. Half a mile from the north gate of Lengquan, they were stopped by loyal Taiyuan Army officers and soldiers, and reminded them: "You two governors, you can't go any further. The shells of Chen's army sometimes cross the pass The city hit the front, and a brother was almost shot just now."
"Can the bandit artillery hit this far?"
Li Jiancheng looked up in surprise, and it turned out that a Sui army shell just crossed the Cold Spring Pass and hit Li Jiancheng more than a hundred steps in front of Li Jiancheng. Down. Seeing this scene, Li Jiancheng and Li Er couldn't help but looked at each other, and they both saw the shocked expression on each other's faces.
After a while, Li Jiancheng said to himself amidst the continuous sound of cannons: "I didn't expect Brother Yingliang's artillery to be so powerful. It seems that even if he doesn't know our water attack tactics, we will It is difficult to hold on until the flood season of the Fenwen Ershui comes."
"Brother, in fact, you and I know in our hearts that Cold Spring Pass is unreliable. Cold Spring Pass is a pass and not a city. There is no way to garrison too many troops, and there is no way to effectively rotate troops to assist in defense. "Li Er sneered and said: "If you want to defend Queshu Valley, you must first defend Lingshi City! Losing Lingshi City is equivalent to losing more than half of the natural danger of Queshu Valley. It is far above our army, and if we lose Lengquanguan, even if our army still has Jiexiu to defend, the bandit army can calmly besiege the city and divide the troops to attack Taiyuan City. How long will you hold on?"
"Of course I know this. The only thing I miscalculated is that Wang Fubao of your brother-in-law's association lost the crucial Lingshi City early." Li Jiancheng admitted frankly that his second brother was right, and then said: "But Your enemy tactics also have weaknesses. First of all, our cavalry is pitifully small, and there is no chance of winning a guerrilla war against an enemy with many cavalry. Secondly, you know the inherent weakness of Taiyuan City. The enemy only needs to flood the city with a flood. We immediately have nothing to do, we can only catch them without a fight."
"Soldiers are more expensive than elites!" Li Er said confidently: "As long as you dare to trust me, brother, I will take care of the food roads that can make the Chen thief's army have no peace day and night! Those few under Chen thief's command I don’t pay attention to the cavalry general!”
"As for diverting water to irrigate the city, it doesn't matter." Li Er sneered again and said, "Let's not say that the traitor Chen is hypocritical to love the people and refuses to use this poisonous trick, so what does it matter even if he really diverts water to irrigate the city? Han Kangzi and Wei Huanzi attacked Jinyang City and flooded the city with the Fen River of the Jin River. Zhao Xiangzi, who was defending the city, led the army to nest and drink while hanging the cauldron. He still held on for three full years, and finally won the chance to turn defeat into victory! Thief Chen really wants to flood the city with water, that's great, we just follow Zhao Xiangzi's example."
"What about the people?" Li Jiancheng asked back: "The main force of our army retreated to Taiyuan, and the flames of war burned into the hinterland of our army's control area. Wouldn't the people under our army be devastated and suffered from the flames of war? Besides, in the Spring and Autumn Period, Jinyang The city is sparsely populated, but Zhao Xiangzi can live in a nest and drink while hanging a cauldron, now Taiyuan City has a population of more than 100,000, you want all these hundreds of thousands of people to live with us and drink while hanging a cauldron?"
"Brother, I really don't understand. Are you really a bodhisattva? Or a benevolent woman?" Li Er said with a sneer: "Brother, if you love the people so much, why did you follow your father in the army? Yu Minqiu did nothing wrong, so the enemy soldiers you killed on the battlefield were not human lives? Could it be that they were not ordinary people when they were young and old?"
"On the battlefield, you die and live. I kill for self-defense." Li Jiancheng replied coldly, "I'm not like you. How dare you say that you were not the one who instigated your father's war? Human life, don’t regard the lives of our soldiers as human lives! When have you considered the safety of the soldiers, and when have you considered how to reduce the casualties of the soldiers under your command as much as possible?”
The words were not speculative, and Li Er was angrily preparing to refute, but the sound of the Sui army's artillery in front suddenly stopped, and the ground, which had been trembling for a long time due to the loud roar of the artillery, suddenly returned to calm. Li Jiancheng and Li Er knew that there must be an accident ahead, so they rushed to the horses Going straight to Lengquanguan, rushing into Lengquanguan which has been devastated by the artillery bombardment of the Sui army, and then going up to the north gate of Lengquanguan which is already full of corpses and even the building of the pass has completely collapsed, Li Jiancheng and Li Er are the first to see A Sui army envoy with a white flag in his hand was shouting loudly to surrender, but the Taiyuan army soldiers were silent. No one yelled and refused to surrender. The guard Zhang Lun also had a grim expression, and he did not reject the Sui army envoy in a single word. Surrender.
Seeing this situation, Li Er, who knew that his morale had been depressed, did not even blink his eyelids. He immediately drew his bow and set an arrow and shot it, right in front of the envoy of the Sui Army who was hitting the white flag with his hand. The envoy of the Sui Army screamed and fell to the ground. There was also a burst of roaring in the Sui army's position.
When the incident happened suddenly, not only Zhang Lun and the guards at Lengquan Pass screamed out, but Li Jiancheng was also taken aback, and then immediately turned to Li Er and shouted angrily, "Who told you to shoot arrows? The two countries are fighting each other. If you don't kill them, the envoys of the enemy are flying white flags." , why do you still shoot arrows?! Are you not afraid that the enemy will retaliate against our envoy in the future?"
"Of course I am afraid, but what I am afraid of is that the morale of the army will be shaken." Li Er replied with a sneer, then pouted his lips lightly at Zhang Lun who was in the distance, and said in a low voice: "Didn't you see? Even Zhang Lun has already been a little shaken, If you don’t do this, Cold Spring Pass will be even more difficult to defend!”
While Li Jiancheng was gnashing his teeth, Zhang Lun also hurriedly came to the Li family brothers, and hurriedly explained while saluting: "The two governors, the last general just wanted to drive him away after listening to the envoy of the traitor Chen. Open your mouth, and you are here. By the way, please go down quickly, this place is dangerous, and the bandits may be about to fire again."
Before the words fell, the Sui army's artillery was fired again, and another artillery shell bombarded the head of Lengquan Pass. The soldiers feared that Li Jiancheng would lose something, so they quickly dragged Li Jiancheng down the wall, and Li Er followed suit. The wall left Zhang Lun leading the Taiyuan army to continue struggling to support the wall of Lengquanguan which was riddled with holes. After withdrawing from Cold Spring Pass and returning to the safe zone, Li Er smiled and said to Li Jiancheng: "Brother, how are you doing? It's time to make up your mind? It should be too late to adopt my younger brother's enemy defense strategy now!"
"Don't even think about it!"
Li Jiancheng's answer made Li Er extremely surprised. At the same time, Li Er could clearly see that Li Jiancheng's eyes were still blood red, and the muscles on his face twitched and said: "Don't you think that I will hand over the military power to you! Your heart Too vicious, if I give you the military power, I don’t know how many soldiers of our army will die for nothing because of you! I don’t know how many innocent people will die because of you! I can’t take the military power in your hand, but If you want me to give you an army again, dream!"
It was the first time that Li Er was intimidated by his elder brother's aura, and he was a little timid for a while, but after recovering, Li Er also gritted his teeth and said: "Brother, so you are my younger brother and I led the troops and horses to leave here?"
"If you want to be a bandit and send someone under the fence, I won't keep you." Li Jiancheng said with a grim expression on his face, "But don't think you can go back to Taiyuan City! Don't think that you and your fourth brother can control the entire Taiyuan City together. I have brought two of the four old chiefs of the fourth brother, and the remaining two chiefs, do you think they are really just following the orders of the fourth brother?! I left them in Taiyuan City, isn’t it? Have you ever thought that they might help the fourth brother launch a mutiny and take away the control of Taiyuan City? You go ahead, and I will give them orders and let them do what they should do!"
After grinning, Li Jiancheng said with a sneer again: "Also, do you think I really don't know about the beauties you secretly gave Feng Li jewelry? Let me tell you the truth, I know the list of gifts you gave him and the names of the beauties , it was Feng Li who took the initiative to tell me, if you think you have bought him over, just go back to Taiyuan City!"
Li Er was speechless, looking at his angry brother as if he didn't know him, but Li Jiancheng said: "I have made up my mind! No matter whether Cold Spring Pass can be held or not, I will try my best! When I live, I will consider retreating to Taiyuan City! If you want to become a bandit and join someone else, I will not keep it!"
After all, Li Jiancheng rode away angrily, leaving Li Er sweating profusely on the spot. Several times he wanted to break with his brother and lead the army to leave, but he knew that his own army lacked clothing and food, and morale was low. If he breaks up with his elder brother, there will definitely not be many people who will really go with him. At that time, not only will he be like a bereaved dog, it will be difficult to have a chance to make a comeback, and he may die at any time, or even freeze to death and starve to death!
When Li Er was feeling overwhelmed with sorrow, the artillery of the Sui army also roared outside the cold spring pass for a whole day, until the evening when the troops returned to the camp, even though Li Jing did not launch an ant attack, the artillery of the Sui army easily destroyed most of them. At the same time, they beat the Taiyuan army so temperless that they didn't even have a counterattack when they left the pass. So on the way back to the camp, Li Jing also confidently told the generals of the Sui army, saying: "The morale of the enemy army is already low. Our army can send out toad carts to fill the trenches starting tomorrow, and we can tackle key problems in the next day!"
There is another evidence that the morale of the Taiyuan Army has declined. That night, a soldier of the Taiyuan Army quietly left the pass and came to the Sui Army patrol sentry, begging to be received by Li Jing on behalf of the defenders of Lengquan Pass. After the meeting, the soldier of the Taiyuan Army truthfully reported that he was a soldier of Zhang Lun at Lengquanguan. On behalf of Zhang Lun, he stated to Li Jing that the killing of the emissary today was not the intention of the defenders of Lengquanguan, but Li Er, the right governor, shot him with an arrow himself. I implore Li Jing Understand the embarrassment of the Cold Spring Guards, and do not abuse and kill the Cold Spring Guards who were unfortunately captured on the battlefield.
Li Jing readily accepted the entreaties of Zhang Lun's soldiers, saying that he would never kill Zhang Lun and the guards of Lengquan Guan, and then wrote a letter to ask the soldiers to take them back, but Zhang Lun's soldiers said: "General Li , the villain can't go back, because there is a supervising team sent by Zuo Dudu to monitor the pass, the young one still risked his head when he went to the pass, and he will definitely be found when he goes back. General Zhang didn't expect the villain to go back, but Just let the little one bring the words."
"Then you can stay." Li Jing didn't force it, and arranged for a good life to entertain Zhang Lun's personal soldier who volunteered to surrender, and said in his heart: "You can write a letter to your nephew, and let him prepare for the attack. If we can catch Li Jiancheng in the pursuit battle, we may not have to launch a water attack in the Taiyuan War."