Seven days passed in the blink of an eye. Outside Chang 'an, 200,000 soldiers and horses had gathered. Their momentum was much greater than before Chang' an. Among the soldiers and horses, 50,000 Turks were particularly eye-catching.
"The Tang dynasty's army is indeed strong!" The leader of the Dang Xiangluo tribe, who came to watch the ceremony, was shocked. The Tang dynasty already had the advantage in terms of soldiers and armor. With the help of the Turks, they were like a tiger that had grown wings.
"The Tuyuhun is not weak either. Fu Yun has sounded the golden horn and gathered 300,000 Tuyuhun warriors. They may not lose!" Some leaders of the Dang Xiangluo tribe were not convinced.
"The Tangs want us to watch the ceremony of the Three Castles of Tuyuhun. They are really arrogant. The Three Castles of Tuyuhun were built by Fu Yun over ten years. They are easy to defend and hard to attack. The Tangs will definitely be badly beaten." A leader close to the Tuyuhun tribe mocked in their native language.
Everyone knew that the key to which side these fence-sitters would lean to was the strength of the Tang dynasty in attacking the Three Castles of Tuyuhun.
Li Jing looked at the leaders of the Dang Xiangluo tribe who were whispering to each other and then turned to look in the direction of the firearms department. He could not help but reveal a confident smile. This time, he would definitely win the Three Castles of Tuyuhun.
"Let's go!" Li Jing waved his long sword and suddenly shouted.
Instantly, 200,000 soldiers set out and headed straight for the Three Castles of Tuyuhun.
The Three Castles of Tuyuhun were about 200 li away from the border between the Tang dynasty and Tuyuhun. The army set out in the early morning. When the sun was setting in the west, the vanguard cavalry of the Tang dynasty had already arrived at the border of the Three Castles of Tuyuhun.
The three castles of Tuyuhun did not have a specific name. In order to distinguish the three castles, the Tang dynasty named them Tuhu Castle, Guhu Castle, and Hun Castle. The one at the front was officially Tuhu Castle.
At this moment, Tuyuhun's Three Fortresses were already on high alert as if they were facing a formidable enemy. It was even said that the Tang dynasty wanted to use Tuyuhun's Three Fortresses to establish their prestige and intimidate the various Dangxiang troops. Fu Yun even sent his general, Murong Ding, to lead 20,000 cavalrymen to assist the battle. He wanted to occupy the geographical advantage and make the Tang Dynasty army bleed.
"King Ming! The Tang dynasty has just arrived, why don't we send our cavalry to charge and let the Tangs see the power of our Tuyuhun soldiers? "
On the walls of Tuhu Castle, a valiant subordinate of King Ming was eager to give it a try. He had led Tuyuhun soldiers to plunder the Tang dynasty many times and had not encountered much resistance at all. Therefore, he despised the Tang Dynasty army very much.
Murong Ding shook his head and said, "The Tang Dynasty army has just arrived, and their morale is high. We can't underestimate the enemy. We have a strong city and wear down the spirit of the Tang Dynasty army before we make a plan. Besides, even if we want to attack, we have to wait until late at night."
"King Ming is wise!" The subordinate chuckled and said.
The Tuyuhun soldiers were cavalrymen. Under the cover of the night, they could come and go freely. If they used this method, they would definitely be able to harass the Tang Dynasty army.
"General, it's late now. Why don't we set up camp temporarily and attack the three castles of Tuyuhun tomorrow?" Looking at the dangerous terrain, Leader Hule worriedly persuaded Li Jing.
The other Dang Xiang leaders also looked at Tuhu Castle in front of them with gloating eyes. Anyone could guess that if the Tang dynasty wanted to attack Tuhu Castle, they would have to pay a heavy price.
If the Tang dynasty suffered too much damage, it would not be a demonstration but a joke.
Li Jing knew the thoughts of these Dang Xiang leaders. He laughed and said, "You have come from afar. How can I let you set up camp in the wild? That's not the Tang dynasty's way of treating guests. Come, attack Tuhu Castle and vacate Murong Ding's tent for our guests."
"Attack now!"
Suddenly, all the Dang Xiang leaders looked at Li Jing in disbelief.
"Dong, dong, dong!"
The drums sounded in the army. Groups of soldiers stepped out of the crowd and strode toward Tuhu Castle in an attacking posture.
Looking at the Tang dynasty soldiers striding forward, Murong Ding was so angry that he laughed and said, "Li Jing, you old bastard, you've gone too far. How dare you look down on Tuyuhun?"
The Tang Army dared to attack as soon as they arrived. Obviously, they planned to attack Tuyuhun in one fell swoop. How could such a contemptuous attitude not make Murong Ding angry?
"Everyone be on guard. Today, we must let Li Jing taste our power." Famous King Murong Ding roared.
"Toot, toot!"
In Tuhu Castle, the bugle horn sounded. A large number of Turks soldiers climbed up the castle and began to prepare for battle.
"Charge!"
The front troops were Duan Zhixuan's Zuo Qianniu Guards. With the order, a large number of Tang Army in heavy armor strode toward Tuhu Castle.
Riding on the horse, Meton saw such a grand battle scene for the first time. He was so nervous that his palms were sweating. His eyes were fixed on the Tang Army soldiers.
"Libation Lord, do you think Murong Ding will block the gate?" Li Daliang came to Meton and asked nervously.
Meton secretly wiped the sweat on his palms and pretended to be calm. "No matter whether the gate is blocked or not, we have to try."
Meton said casually. His eyes were fixed on Xue Rengui's figure among the charging soldiers.
400 steps!
300 steps!
200 steps! "
"Clank!"
Duan Zhixuan flicked the long spear in his hand and deflected an arrow from a Turks archer. Obviously, they had stepped into the shooting range of Tuyuhun archers.
"Crossbow, fire back!" Duan Zhixuan shouted. Suddenly, thousands of Godly Arm Crossbows were fired and shot toward Tuhu Castle.
"Watch out for the crossbows." Murong Ding suddenly grabbed a huge shield and shouted.
In fact, he didn't need to say anything. The overwhelming crossbows had already frightened all the Tuyuhun soldiers.
The crossbows rained down. On the walls of Tuhu Castle, there were screams. Some Tuyuhun soldiers didn't dodge the crossbows because of the leather shields in their hands. The powerful crossbows directly penetrated the leather shields and shot into the defenseless chests of the Tuyuhun soldiers.
"It's still so powerful from 200 steps away!" Murong Ding looked at the crossbows that were deeply embedded in the fine iron shield in his hand and said with lingering fear.
Before Murong Ding could react, a batch of crossbow bolts shot over, suppressing the Tuyuhun soldiers to the point that they couldn't even raise their heads.
"Charge!" Xue Rengui saw this good opportunity and suddenly shouted. He led a dozen riders and rushed toward the gate of Tuhu Castle with huge shields in their hands. The gate!
When Murong Ding saw the direction of the Tang Army's attack, his face suddenly changed. He suddenly felt that something was wrong. In order to attack the Tang Army at night, he didn't seal the gate. Instead, he shouted, "Kill this group of Tang Army."
In a blink of an eye, many Tuyuhun soldiers charged at Xue Rengui and his men despite the rain of arrows from the crossbows.
"Don't worry. This is a steel shield specially made by Lord Libation. Ordinary arrows can't penetrate it at all. Charge!" Xue Rengui gritted his teeth and suddenly shouted.
Suddenly, a group of 100 riders rushed toward the gate under Xue Rengui's lead.
"Suppress the Tuyuhun archers with all your strength. Be sure to buy time for the Firearms Supervisor." Duan Zhixuan shouted and personally shot back at Tuhu Castle.
The distance of 200 steps was fast. In the blink of an eye, Xue Rengui and his men had rushed to the gate of Tuhu Castle.
"They can break the gate with so few people." In the Tang Army, a group of leaders watched in disbelief as the dozen or so people from the Firearms Surveillance Department came to the Tu Fort alone.
However, what shocked them even more was that the dozen soldiers only stopped for a few seconds under Tuhu Castle. Then, they carried shields and ran back crazily.
Not only were the Dang Xiang leaders in disbelief, but even Murong Ding and the Tuyuhun soldiers on the city wall were also in disbelief. However, in their line of sight, several barrels of gunpowder had been piled up at the gate of the city, and a fuse was burning rapidly.
"The Tang Army retreated!" A Tuyuhun soldier couldn't help but cheer.
However, before the cheers died down, a loud noise that was hundreds or thousands of times louder than this noise drowned it out.
"Boom!" With a loud noise, the entire Tuhu Castle suddenly shook three times.
"What's going on?" Murong Ding shouted in surprise and doubt. .
When the smoke dispersed, the originally tightly sealed gate of Tuhu Castle had been blown into pieces, revealing the empty gate.
"The city has been breached!" Murong Ding was stunned. This news was even more shocking than the loud noise just now. The three castles of Tuyuhun that he was proud of could not even last one round in the hands of the Tang Army before it was breached.
"It's breached!" Duan Zhixuan was shocked. Although he had expected this scene, when he saw the gate of Tuhu Castle open, he immediately waved his hand.
"Charge! Don't let those guys from the Firearms Supervisor get ahead of us! "Duan Zhixuan shouted and immediately took the lead to rush toward Tuhu Castle.
Being the first to rush into the enemy's city was a merit that could let a soldier rise three levels. Who wouldn't want such a merit?
However, what they didn't expect was that the people from the Firearms Supervisor didn't counterattack at all. Instead, they formed a formation to protect themselves.
"Lieutenant, why don't we get the merit first?" One of the soldiers had an arrow pierced through his arm and was bleeding profusely. However, he was still unwilling to give up as he looked towards the Tuyuhun City gate.
The other soldiers also couldn't help but look to the side. They were the closest to the gate. If they counterattacked with all their strength, they would definitely be the first to rush into Tuhu Castle. However, there was a lot of shouting in Tuhu Castle. Obviously, the merit of being the first to reach the city had already been given to someone else.
Xue Rengui picked up a clean cloth rope and tied his injured arm tightly to stop the bleeding. He said, "This is the order of Lord Chancellor. There are only a few people in the Firearms Supervisor. Every one of them is precious. Besides, we have the merit of breaching the city. It's fine if we don't get the merit of being the first to reach the city."
Only then did the soldiers feel relieved. They had weapons like gunpowder and bullets in their hands. How could they worry about not getting the merit?
Xue Rengui saw the injured soldier and was about to break the arrow. Xue Rengui dissuaded him, "The battle will end soon. Leave the bow and arrow to the School of Medicine!"
Xue Rengui was right. When the Tang Dynasty army rushed into Tuhu Castle, under the sharp armor of the Tang Dynasty army, the resistance of the Tuyuhun soldiers quickly collapsed and they began to flee in large numbers.
When the sun set in the west and the earth fell into darkness, the shouting in Tuhu Castle gradually subsided.
"Reporting to General, Tuhu Castle has been captured. King Murong Ding has fled to Tuhu Castle. General Duan is chasing after him." A soldier covered in blood came to report.
"Good!" Li Jing laughed loudly and said, "Everyone! King Ming's tent has been cleaned up for all of you. Leaders, please go and rest. "
Li Jing walked to the front of the stunned Dang Xiang leaders and said proudly.
The group of Dang Xiang leaders suddenly felt a chill. They never thought that Tuhu Castle, which was like a natural moat to them, would be captured by the Tang Dynasty overnight. King Murong Ding, who was once high and mighty, would flee like a stray dog.
Especially when the earth-shattering sound was heard. The gate of Tuhu Castle was immediately breached. Such a god-like weapon was in the hands of the Tang Dynasty. Who else in the world could be a match for the Tang Dynasty?
Suddenly, everyone could not help but look at Chief Hule. Chief Hule was also full of bitterness. This time, it seemed that Dang Xiang had made two bets, but after today, they would only be able to go closer to the Tang Dynasty.
Everyone could not help but sympathize with the Tuoba tribe. This time, the Tuoba tribe had completely stood on the wrong side. They were afraid that this time, they would be doomed eternally! At the thought of this, everyone secretly rejoiced.
The group of leaders asked about gunpowder weapons in a roundabout way several times, but they were all fooled by Li Jing. Impatiently, they walked through the gate of Tubao Castle, only to find that all the bricks had been washed with water and looked brand new, except for the gate that had disappeared.
The group of Dang Xiang leaders could not help but smile bitterly. It seemed that the Tang Dynasty was very strict about this weapon. No one was surprised. If they had this kind of weapon, they would be more cautious than the Tang Dynasty.
Staying in the beautiful King Murong's tent, the group of Dang Xiang leaders had no desire to appreciate it at all. Today, the Tang Army had shocked them too much.
Early the next morning, a group of Dang Xiang leaders with two big dark circles under their eyes followed the army to attack Tuhu Castle again.
Tuhu Castle was one size smaller than Tuhu Castle, and the terrain was more dangerous. However, such a dangerous terrain could no longer give Murong Ding a sense of security.
Murong Ding looked at the Tang Army slowly approaching with bloodshot eyes. The grievance of running away wildly yesterday suddenly came to his mind. If it were not for the men in Tuhu Castle who came to help him, he was afraid that he would not be able to escape the pursuit of the Tang Army. Even so, he had lost more than half of his men.
"King Murong, the gate has been sealed." The personal attendant reported carefully.
Murong Ding nodded, hammered the city wall with hatred, and said sternly, "Li Jing, let's see how you break my Tuhu Castle this time."
"General, be careful!" The personal attendant suddenly exclaimed.
Dozens of huge objects suddenly flew out from the Tang Army's camp and flew toward Tuhu Castle.
Catapults!
Murong Ding's eyes narrowed. He naturally knew that catapults were the best siege weapons, but he did not expect that the Tang Army would bring them here.
"Don't worry, catapults can't break the walls of my Tuhu Castle!" Murong Ding said confidently. However, he did not notice that there were some inconspicuous black items mixed in with the huge rocks.
"Boom!" The huge stones hit the tall city wall hard. The unlucky Tuyuhun soldiers were hit by the stones on both sides of their bodies. It was extremely tragic.
Before Murong Ding could breathe a sigh of relief, he saw a black object fall not far from him from the corner of his eyes.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
With a flash of fire, a series of explosions suddenly sounded on the city wall of Tuhu Castle.
When the smoke cleared, the surviving Tuyuhun warriors found King Ming, who was on the verge of death, among the broken walls.
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