With Pei Changqing's message, Xiao Yuanqi's soldiers began to move after the city gates were closed an hour later. The army moved and slaughtered all the people belonging to the Tang dynasty in a short time. More than 1,800 people were killed.
Everyone had been killed.
Without exception.
The killing also caused a stir in the city. The people were shocked. However, the government issued a notice saying that all the people who were executed were spies planted by the Tang army and had been instigated by the Tang army.
After the order was issued, the people stopped talking.
Instead, they were filled with righteous indignation.
They blamed the Tang dynasty and targeted Xia Xia, hoping that Xia Xia would be in trouble. Especially now that the Tang dynasty had begun to approach Rouyuan County and was going to attack Xia Xia, the people all knew the news, so they hated the Tang dynasty even more. Now that they knew that the government killed these people of the Tang dynasty, the previous uproar turned into hatred for the Tang dynasty.
The corpses were all piled up outside the city for the time being.
When the army led by Li Shimin drove all the way to Rouyuan County, they saw the corpses piled up outside the city and smelled the bloody smell caused by the blood. Li Shimin was a little surprised.
"What's going on?"
"Why are there so many corpses outside Rouyuan County all of a sudden?"
Li Shimin had a bad feeling in his heart.
In fact, the reason why Li Shimin was able to easily kill his way to Rouyuan County was because Xiao Yuan Qi and Ma Yuan didn't deploy any troops to defend the east side of the county. Moreover, they also ordered the people to hide, so Li Shimin's journey was smooth.
Ma Yuan and Xiao Yuanqi's idea was very simple. They wanted to use the city to guard.
First, they would block Li Shimin's army.
Then, they would think about countermeasures.
Li Shimin didn't go to the city in person, but his subordinates who were in charge of the bad guys went to check and quickly sent back the news. The person in charge of the bad guys said, "Your Majesty, the corpses piled up at the city gate should belong to our people. Because some of them have already been killed. "
At this time, Xiao Yuanqi began to shout, saying that the corpses piled up outside the city were all spies of the Tang dynasty.
The news was confirmed.
After Li Shimin learned of this, he clenched his fists tightly, his expression rather furious. It must be known that there were many people planted in Rou Yuan County, and they had instigated so many people to defect. Their overall strength was not weak, and there were close to 2,000 people.
But now, they were all dead.
Li Shimin raised his head to look at the city gate tower, his eyes were sharp. He did not go forward, but ordered, "Li Jing, arrange the catapult carts to go forward, prepare to use the gunpowder clay jar to suppress the military strength on the city gate tower. Our weapons are modified from the catapults. The improved catapults had a longer range and would definitely be able to catch Du Qi's forces by surprise. A distance of 180 steps is enough to gain an absolute advantage. "
Li Jing immediately made arrangements.
Row after row of catapults were aimed at the city gate tower. With the catapults in place, the soldiers began to charge forward. The army charged forward in a mighty manner.
This was the current arrangement of the Tang army.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! The catapults began to move. One after another, clay pots flew through the air and began to be thrown up onto the city walls.
When the clay pots fell on the city gate tower, they exploded with a loud bang.
Fortunately, the soldiers were already prepared, so when the clay pots flew over, they had already squatted down to avoid them.
Although there were casualties, it was not too serious.
Xiao Yuan Qi personally commanded, but he was extremely calm and did not panic. He calmly arranged the mortars on the city gate tower, and then ordered the mortars to counterattack.
One after another, the mortars aimed at a position 180 steps away from the city and quickly loaded their shells.
Boom! Boom!!!
Cannonballs flew out from the barrel of the cannon.
The sound of the shells flying out was extremely shocking. In the blink of an eye, the shells had already passed through the air and then landed where the catapults were.
Boom!!!
The shells fell one by one and exploded with a loud bang.
As the shells fell, all the catapults were blown up, including the soldiers around the catapults. Waves after waves, as well as the flying smoke and dust, showed the ferocity of the gunpowder and the power of the weapon.
This scene shocked countless Tang soldiers.
How could it be?
How could all the catapults be blown up in such a short time?
Not a single catapult was left.
Not a single soldier survived.
Especially now that Li Shimin had retreated to the rear to command. But even so, he could still clearly see the situation at the front line. So when Li Shimin saw the situation at the front line and saw so many soldiers under his command had been turned into ashes in an instant, he was so angry that his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
His heart failed to live up to his expectations and became excited.
This was because he was frightened.
Ever since Li Shimin saw the explosion of the gunpowder, he felt that his horizons had been broadened. But now that he saw this scene, he was scared stiff.
Too powerful!
This explosion was too powerful!
It made people's hearts palpitate.
Li Shimin took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the shock in his internal breath. Then he looked at Li Jing and said, "Duke Wei, I don't know how to deal with this weapon of Xia Xia!"
Li Jing's heart was also beating non-stop. Because of the explosion at the front line, the ground shook a little. This was something Li Jing had never seen before. Li Jing's mouth was even a little dry. He said, "Your Majesty, I've lived for decades, but I've never seen such a weapon or such a battle."
"On the battlefield, with such a killing weapon, it's enough to change the way the battle is fought."
Li Jing said, "In the past, the battle on the battlefield was a contest of stratagems and the confrontation of the art of war. But now, it's different. With such a weapon, it's enough to defeat ten with one force and break the law with force. "
Li Shimin's face darkened.
His eyes were solemn.
Li Shimin said, "Then in the current situation, if we want to win this battle, I'm afraid there will be a change. Because right now, there's no way to break the other party's weapon. Duke Wei, look at the soldiers who are charging forward. They've already been bombarded. "
Li Jing also looked out of the city gate tower.
At this moment, outside the city gate tower, the area 200 steps away from the city gate tower had been bombarded one after another.
Rumble!!
The sound of explosions rose and fell one after another.
More and more cannonballs exploded in the surroundings, causing the charging army to be continuously blasted to death.
There were countless casualties.
Under such bombardment, although some soldiers were close to the city, they were immediately bombarded by grenades as soon as they reached the city gate tower. The soldiers under Li Shimin's command were killed and injured, but they couldn't pose any threat to the city at all.
When Li Jing saw this scene, he frowned even more.
The situation was not good!
The defense of Xia's side was too strong.
Although the Tang Dynasty now had gunpowder that could be used to bombard the city with catapults, they hadn't developed landmines and grenades for the time being. Because the Tang Dynasty hadn't developed these weapons yet.
Li Jing looked at Li Shimin and said, "Your Majesty, this battle won't be easy."
Li Shimin said, "Duke Wei, now that things have come to this, there's no room for retreat. How long has it been since the battle between us and Du Qi's army in Guazhou? In such a short time, Du Qi has an even more powerful weapon. If this continues, I'm afraid that Du Qi's strength will be even stronger, and it will be harder for us to win. So now, we can't let Du Qi continue to develop. "
Li Jing nodded.
Zhangsun Wuji agreed, "Your Majesty is right. The stronger Du Qi is, the more we will need to take action. The more powerful Xia is, the more we need to take action to destroy Xia. Otherwise, the consequences will be unimaginable. "
Li Shimin's eyes became more determined, "No matter what, we must attack with all our strength."
"Men, inform the Ashina Secret Service to come."
Li Shimin ordered.
The Ashina Secret Service was a Turkic, the current chief of the Turkic tribe in the grassland. Ever since the defeat of Xieli Khan and Tuli Khan, the power of the Turks on the prairie had been declining day by day, much worse than before.
The Ashina Secret Service only had six thousand soldiers.
Most of them were infantrymen.
In the past, the nomads in the grassland had countless cavalry, but now, there weren't many horses left. Moreover, it was quite difficult for the Ashina Secret Service to gather six thousand soldiers.
The soldiers passed down the order, and soon, the Ashina Secret Service arrived in front of Li Shimin. He bowed and said, "Your Majesty!"
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