A few miles away from Guji Town, Jieli Khan listened to the stories of the soldiers who had escaped, and his cold eyes rolled on the faces of Tuli Khan and Ashina Jishe.
It claims to control 400,000 strings, but Jieli Khan knew very well that the grassland tribes could not confront the Han cavalry head-on, whether it was the previous Sui Dynasty or the current Li Tang Dynasty.
The key reason lies in the difference in equipment. Many Turkic cavalry are only wrapped in a leather jacket and hold a riding bow. Some arrows are made of bones and stones. They can carry an extra curved bow. The sword is considered elite.
In other words, the royal soldiers under Jieli Khan were slightly better. In addition to bows and arrows, they also carried long knives, spears and other weapons. Those with higher status could also wear armor.
Among the Tang troops, the thing that made Jieli Khan the most jealous and fearful was the Tang crossbow. Although this weapon had the disadvantage of being cumbersome to operate and could only fire one or two arrows in battle, it had a long range, sharp arrows, and extremely lethal power. .
The year before last, Jieli Khan invaded Hedong on a large scale. He was accidentally attacked by Li Shenfu, the then general manager of Bingzhou. Li Shenfu sent crossbow soldiers at that time. Under a burst of wild fire, Jieli Khan had to retreat. ...That day, a crossbow arrow shot a general in iron armor next to Jieli Khan to his heart's content.
Well, there are three types of arrows used in the Tang crossbow, one of which is called the armor-breaking arrow, which is specially used to break armor.
However, the Tang Dynasty's crossbows have always been produced under the supervision of the military weapons of the DPRK. Because of the long production time, they are rarely equipped with troops, and it is impossible for private soldiers to be available. Jieli Khan invaded Hedong many times, and he encountered it in Taiyuan Prefecture. .
And here is Shuozhou, west of Yanmen Pass.
There are a lot of crossbows on the top of the city, which shows that the Tang army stationed here must be elite. It is impossible for ordinary soldiers to have a large number of Tang crossbows.
The first batch of men to attack the city lost a lot of cavalry and most of the infantry. After the cavalry fled, the soldiers on the wall calmly shot down the infantry one by one with bows and arrows, and very few of them managed to escape.
The Turks have always been good at cavalry and have very few infantry. These so-called infantry are actually Yunzhou young men and even serfs who are attached to the Turks. They are attached to each other. At least at the beginning, it is impossible to use elites.
Jieli Khan, who had a gloomy face, asked a few more questions in person. He waved his horse whip in the air, stared at the association rate and shouted: "Although the city wall is not high, it is extremely strong. This is how Daizhou fell in just two months." The village you built?"
Zhang Shigui built a stronghold in Guji Town, and it is impossible for the Turks to not know about it. However, every time a small group of rovers attacked, there was a warning in advance from the association leaders. Before yesterday, Jieli Khan did not know what the state of Guji Town was.
The defeat in the first battle can be said to be an underestimation of the enemy, but today's attack on the city, although this is a weakness of the Turks, Jieli Khan did not expect that facing such a small fortress, he could not even touch the city wall.
Considering that the cavalry went out to fight yesterday and the Tang crossbows were shooting today, Jieli Khan had to consider that this stronghold was probably stuck here like a nail.
And all of this must have the connivance of Ashina Jishu and even Tuli Khan.
Jieli Khan had to admit that She'er's guess might be true. His troubled nephew might have some kind of agreement with Li Shan, the leader of Daizhou.
The first wave of siege ended so quickly, which surprised Li Shan. He looked from a distance, and Zhang Shigui sent soldiers to climb down the city wall to collect crossbows. These things are different from bows and arrows. They are all custom-made. If you fire one, you will lose one. Try to recycle them. Can be used repeatedly.
Li Shan went down from the high place glumly and paced back and forth in the meeting hall. Not long after, he heard roars from outside, and the second wave of offensive was coming.
Wang Junhao went out to take a look, then came back and whispered: "The leader of the association personally led the team to suppress the battle."
Yes, 80% of it was forced by Jieli Khan. Li Shan thought in his heart, did Jieli want to use a knife to kill people and weaken the power of Tuli Khan?
But the small town of Guji cannot expend too much troops. Is this necessary?
Zhu Wei reminded from the side: "Dalang, now the war has begun, don't get distracted."
Li Shan forced a smile, nodded and said, "Have you counted the number of people?"
"Everything has been calculated." Zhu Ba held the abacus and whispered: "The infantry, cavalry, civilians and generals' personal guards total 2,714 people, and the horses total more than 1,700 horses."
"There are only one thousand or two or three hundred cavalry." Li Shan knew that the extra horses should be the horses captured yesterday. "Choose three hundred horses, try to select the slave horses, do not give fodder, kill them every day, and chop them into minced meat. Cook it into meat porridge.”
If Jieli Khan must pull out the nail in Guji Town, then Li Shan's pre-planned strategy of mutual support between Mayi, Yanmenguan and Guji Town will be completely in vain... The key is that the number of troops dispatched by Jieli Khan this time is too large If it is too strong, no one will dare to leave the city at will.
Li Shan thought in his mind that if he wanted to continue to defend, he could kill the war horse first and then consume the food... There was no way, a war horse consumed too much food and grass, and it had to be fed at least four times a day, and the food had to be added once at night. .
There was not much food, mainly millet, yellow rice and some wheat. A total of only 300 shi were transported from the fortress one after another, and the total was less than 400 shi including what was left before.
There are all young and strong men in the fort, and even a pound of rice and noodles may not be enough in one day. After all, there is not much oil and water. The kind of steamed buns in the previous life, that is, the steamed cakes at this time, it is normal for young and strong men to swallow a dozen in one go.
If according to previous calculations, there are only about two thousand men in the castle, which can indeed last for half a month, but now there are seven to eight hundred more mouths.
Li Shan was too lazy to use an abacus, so he went out to find a stone and did an arithmetic problem on the ground... But no matter how he calculated, it was difficult to hold on, even if he kept killing horses to replenish his calculations.
We must withhold food rations, otherwise we will not be able to survive.
Equal distribution is impossible. Should civilians be treated the same as defenders?
Are cavalry and infantry treated the same?
It is even more impossible for ordinary soldiers and generals' personal guards to be treated the same.
Li Shan fell into thinking for a long time. It was not until the afternoon, when the shouts of killing outside gradually disappeared, and Zhang Shigui and Xue Wanche came down from the city wall that he came back to his senses.
"If this is the case, it will be difficult for the Turks to break the city." Xue Wanche said as soon as he came in, "But I am afraid that the Turks will attack with all their strength."
"If Jieli Khan wants to pull out the nail in Guji Town, he will definitely not be able to hold it." Zhang Shigui saw that there were no other people around, and said calmly: "But if they want to break the stronghold, the Turks will inevitably suffer heavy casualties."
Li Shan nodded. Although the Turks are not good at attacking cities, their tens of thousands of troops may exceed one hundred thousand. Even with a lot of lives, Guji Town can be flooded. The key is how much price Jieli Khan is willing to pay for this.
If Jieli Khan avenged his only son who committed suicide, Li Shan would believe it. But if Jieli Khan wanted to capture every Tang army fortress he saw in order to avenge his son, Li Shan would never believe it.
As long as the news that he was in Guji Town was not leaked, there was no need for Jieli Khan to break through Guji Town at the expense of his troops.
At this time, Xue Wanche touched his belly. Before he could say anything, Li Shan was ahead of him, "Starting today, eat two meals a day."
People in the Tang Dynasty originally had two meals a day, but this was not necessarily the case for high-ranking officials. People such as Xue Wanche, Zhang Shigui and Li Shan always had three meals a day, and sometimes they even had a midnight snack.
But now that there is insufficient food and grass, the generals must lead by example. Xue Wanche also understands this and complained quietly without saying anything else.
Li Shan thought for a while and added: "Brother Wu An will form the entire army. Those who go to battle will eat ten, those who have not gone to battle will eat seven, and the rest will eat five."
After a pause, Li Shan pointed at Wang Junhao and others, "Eat five for each."
On that day, the Turks sent troops to attack Guji Town more than ten times. Only twice did they climb the city wall, but their footing was unstable and they were immediately swept down.
Even at dusk, the Tang army lost less than fifty soldiers, but more than a hundred people were injured by arrows. Li Shan was busy very late in the wounded camp.
"Brother Shen!"
"Um!"
When Shen Changqing walks on the road, whenever he meets someone he knows, he will say hello or nod to each other.
But no matter who it is.
There was no unnecessary expression on everyone's face, as if they were indifferent to everything.
To this.
Shen Changqing has become accustomed to it.
Because this is the Demon Suppression Division, an organization that maintains the stability of the Qin Dynasty. Its main responsibility is to kill monsters and monsters. Of course, there are also some other side jobs.
It can be said.
Everyone in the Demon Suppression Division has a lot of blood on their hands.
When a person is used to seeing life and death, he will become indifferent to many things.
When he first came to this world, Shen Changqing was a little uncomfortable, but he got used to it over time.
The Demon-Suppressing Division is huge.
Those who can stay in the Demon Suppressing Division are all powerful masters, or those who have the potential to become masters.
Shen Changqing belongs to the latter.
Among them, the Demon Suppressor Division is divided into two professions, one is the Guardian Envoy and the other is the Demon Slayer.
Anyone who enters the Demon Suppression Department starts from the lowest level as a demon slayer.
Then he will be promoted step by step, and he is expected to eventually become a guardian envoy.
Shen Changqing's predecessor was a trainee demon slayer in the Demon Suppression Division, and he was also the lowest level among the demon slayers.
Possessing the memory of a previous life.
He is also very familiar with the environment of the Demon Suppression Division.
It didn't take long for Shen Changqing to stop in front of a loft.
Unlike other places in the Demon Suppressing Division that were full of chills, the attic here seemed to stand out from the crowd, showing a different kind of tranquility in the bloody Demon Suppressing Division.
At this time, the attic door was open, and occasionally people came in and out.
Shen Changqing only hesitated for a moment before stepping in.
Enter the attic.
The environment changes in vain.
The fragrance of ink mixed with the faint smell of blood hit his face, making him frown instinctively, but then relaxed it quickly.
There is almost no way to cleanse away the smell of blood on everyone in the Demon-Suppressing Division.
