In mid-October, the weather was getting cooler and cooler.
After Du Qi's camp finished setting up everything, he was already waiting for Li Shimin's army to arrive.
On this day, it was close to noon.
Du Qi got the news that the army led by Li Shimin was approaching. Du Qi immediately took people to the gate of the camp to command. About a quarter of an hour later, Li Shimin's army had approached. This time, Li Shimin did not go up to shout, nor did he shout anything. He directly gave the order to attack.
After all, Li Shimin had made arrangements before, so the army under his command was orderly divided into eight teams. They quickly moved around the camp to form an encirclement, and then the eight armies launched an attack at the same time.
"Kill!"
Shouts rang out.
One by one, the Tang soldiers launched an attack.
Li Shimin personally beat the drums to cheer for his soldiers. With the sound of the drums, the whole camp was burning with the flames of war. Wave after wave of Tang soldiers kept attacking. However, Du Qi did not panic in the face of such a scattered attack. Because the army in Du Qi's camp quickly responded and then scattered to block.
There were not many soldiers in charge of blocking. Except for the soldiers at the gate of the camp, there were only 3,000 soldiers in each direction. They were all blocking on their own.
3,000 against 20,000, there was a great disparity in strength. However, there was a fence around the camp, and the Tang army did not immediately attack. The 3,000 soldiers quickly built defensive fortifications. In addition, one mortar after another was in place and began to bombard quickly to block the attacking Tang soldiers.
After the war started, it was still a battle of merit and defense.
Du Qi was not worried about Li Shimin's arrangement. This was because Li Shimin seemed to have chosen a clever method of attack. So much so that according to Li Shimin's method of attack, as long as there was a breakthrough in one or two places, his subordinates would be able to enter the camp. Then, like a spark of fire, they would form an offensive in various places, attacking Du Qi from both inside and outside.
The problem was that Li Shimin's army had to break through the defense line, otherwise, it was impossible. Especially Li Shimin's arrangement, in fact, was not much different from Li Ji's in Jiuquan.
Back then, when Li Ji was in Jiuquan, he had split up his troops to break out of the encirclement. However, he had been heavily obstructed and his entire army had been wiped out.
Right now, Li Shimin's army was either breaking out of the encirclement or attacking. However, it was not easy to form an offensive. Facing the constant bombardment and the defenses formed everywhere, it was impossible to quickly break into the encirclement and enter the camp.
Defenses continued to be put up everywhere.
Du Qi was still sitting in the front camp, calmly giving out orders.
To this day, Du Qi still had a sufficient number of troops by his side. Other than the troops that he had sent out to defend against the enemy, he still had over seventy thousand men under his command.
Therefore, Du Qi did not panic at all.
Du Qi was not in a hurry, but Li Shimin was very anxious. Other than the more than ten thousand men by his side, the rest of his forces had already been sent out to attack. All the forces under his command were equipped with gunpowder. The gunpowder was not used to kill enemies, but to blow up the fence so that they could enter the camp.
Li Shimin and the others had been fighting for an hour, but the people sent out had not returned with any news of victory. He was a little nervous and directly issued an order, ordering all the forces to go all out to attack.
However, this order did not have much effect.
Li Shimin looked at Fang Xuanling, Wei Zheng, and the others and said, "Now we have to encourage the soldiers to break through Du Qi's defenses. What should we do now? Do you have a plan to break the enemy? "
Fang Xuanling's eyes flashed and said, "Your Majesty, we can only increase the reward. Under the heavy reward, there will be brave men. Only by encouraging the soldiers with heavy rewards will they have a chance to break through and succeed. "
Wei Zheng echoed, "Your Majesty, I second that."
The rest of the people also agreed.
Now, the people who stayed with Li Shimin were mainly civil officials. The generals had been scattered to command the battle.
After listening to everyone's words, Li Shimin clenched his hands into fists and immediately loosened them. He ordered, "Pass down my order. In this battle to attack Du Qi's camp, the one who leads the army to break through the defense line and kill into Du Qi's camp will be awarded the title of Duke, and the rest of the officers will be promoted three levels."
"If you kill into Du Qi's camp, kill the generals under Du Qi's command, or kill the important cabinet members under Du Qi's command, the general will be conferred the title of Duke, hereditary, and the rest of the officers will be promoted three levels. If you kill or capture Du Qi alive, you will be conferred the title of Duke, hereditary, and the rest of the officers will be promoted three levels. "
Li Shimin said, "Immediately inform the soldiers in the army."
The messenger immediately arranged it.
Wei Zheng, Fang Xuanling, and the others had a look of amazement on their faces, because the reward given by Li Shimin this time was really generous. It should be known that after Li Shimin ascended the throne, he adjusted the titles of the officials in the world.
During Li Yuan's time, not to mention the Duke, there were many Dukes. After Li Shimin's adjustment, there were very few founding Dukes, and Du Qi was the only Duke with a different surname. The rest of the members of the imperial family were mostly Duke, and it was impossible for them to be Duke. But this time, Li Shimin gave out a lot of titles, bestowing many titles. This was extremely rare.
As the order was passed down, the soldiers of the Tang dynasty were all excited. Because this promotion was not only for the general, but also for all the soldiers, so everyone was excited and kept attacking.
The Tang army's attack was fierce for a time.
At this moment, the originally stable situation was actually on the verge of collapsing.
Du Qi was still not the least bit panicked. He once again mobilized the troops, and once again sent 3,000 soldiers to various places. With the intervention of new forces in this battle, the defense, which was in danger, became stable again. Even if the Tang army's attack was like a tide, the defense line of Xia Xia's army was watertight, and temporarily stopped the Tang army's attack.
At this point, Du Qi had dispatched nearly 50,000 people to participate in the battle.
Fortunately, it was defense.
If it was a head-on battle, it would be very difficult for Du Qi's 50,000 men to resist the attack of the 160,000 Tang army. Even so, as the battle went on, it was afternoon and evening, and Du Qi's defense gradually showed signs of fatigue, and faintly could not stop the Tang army's attack.
The Tang army's attack became fiercer and fiercer.
Many of the defense lines had begun to fight hand to hand, as the Tang army and Xia Xia's army began to fight.
This situation was summarized in front of Li Shimin, and Li Shimin's face was full of smiles. He and Du Qi had been fighting for so long, and now, he finally had the upper hand. Even if Li Shimin knew that Du Qi had not gone all out, and Du Qi still had the army, but if this momentum continued, Du Qi would undoubtedly lose.
Li Shimin stroked his beard, looked at Fang Xuanling beside him, and said with a smile, "Minister Fang, we were right to split up and attack. Now we are worried about breaking through the defense line, and the troops have begun to kill their way into the camp. Next, when Du Qi's defense line collapses, we can encircle Du Qi's army here and annihilate Du Qi here. If we can take down Du Qi, then the battle between the Tang dynasty and Xia Xia will be reversed. "
Fang Xuanling smiled embarrassedly, but did not say anything.
Li Shimin was a little arrogant!
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
