The huge boulder weighing 120 kilograms fired three times in succession, smashing a large block within a hundred steps of Xizhou Nancheng into a terrifying sea of fire. Due to the former Bantian Hongbin's order to remove the city gate ban, the barbarians have withdrawn from the city on a large scale. The once prosperous capital of Dongxi is now empty of ten houses. Most of the remaining people followed the Peng family and migrated there decades ago. This is the Han people.
As Han Chinese, they naturally have a heartfelt affection for the Peng family, which has the same ancestors. When the Peng family in the governor's office of Xizhou was in trouble a month ago, Peng Shiyu's brother and sister were able to escape. In addition to the desperate guards of the Qin brothers under his command, many Han people also came to the rescue spontaneously after hearing the news.
Recently, they heard that the young master of the Peng family had returned to Xizhou with the help of the Tang army. Although these Han people were living as usual on the surface, they had been secretly rejoicing for a long time. However, they never expected that the young master they had longed for would actually bring them today. Come such a catastrophe.
When the fireball dropped from the sky, weighing only one hundred and twenty kilograms, and it fell at high speed, many unlucky people were killed in their homes along with the bricks and tiles on their roofs.
The people who survived were panic-stricken and managed to escape from the sea of fire with their families. Just when they wanted to run to the farther neighborhoods in the east and north of the city to escape, they found that a large number of houses destroyed by the surrounding flames had already been destroyed by the wind. It spread rapidly under the pressure of hundreds of boulders, and the kerosene dripping from hundreds of boulders splashed everywhere along with the rubble, and set several streets on fire. The way out was almost cut off, and there was no hope of escape.
Thick smoke billowed into the sky, almost covering up the daylight, and the suffocating smoke was mixed with the smell of blood and burning. It enveloped almost the entire southern city in gloom, with desperate people under flying ash and sparks everywhere. It is not an exaggeration to say that the sound of people crying and howling is like an endless hell.
In front of Wu Ping's army formation below the city, three hundred trebuchets were slowly advancing forward under Liu Jiangsheng's flag-raising order, in accordance with the established strategy, intending to narrow the attack range to a hundred steps again. Xu Kuangheng also galloped to command the civilian team at the rear, which was continuously delivering the huge stones in reserve to the front army.
Seeing the trebuchets attacking together for several rounds, Li Yuan looked at the Xizhou City that was riddled with holes. His heart was calm and he was still determined to continue to extend the distance and area of the attack to completely defeat the arrogance of the barbarians. Although this kind of indiscriminate bombing of boulders and the spread of the sea of fire will definitely cause a large number of civilian casualties, he must not be merciful and must wait for all the boulders to be thrown before attacking the city with soldiers.
Not to mention that this style of play can greatly reduce the casualties caused by the previous ant attack mode. The key is that if Tian Hongyou and the barbarians are not frightened with terrifying and powerful force, and the barbarians have always been stubborn and cunning, the war will never happen again. How long does it last.
After all, Li Yuan's real concern now is not the small Xizhou in front of him, but the main force of the Han army hundreds of miles away.
Whether the cause of this battle was Peng Shiyu's request for help or the strategy to stabilize Langzhou's rear, Li Yuan had already dragged the main force of Wuping's army into such a barren land, and fighting on two fronts was always a risky move. Now Yiyang, Tanzhou Everything is at stake. We must end the Xizhou war as soon as possible and personally lead the troops back to solve the real serious troubles. Otherwise, if we lose sight of one thing and lose the other, the overall situation in Langzhou will be shaken.
Therefore, the only way to deal with the barbarians is to adopt quick tactics. Since they are equipped with powerful weapons such as trebuchets, the best way is to directly burn the city into rubble, thus forcing Tian Hongyou into a desperate situation.
Now in Li Yuan's heart, there is no suspense about this war. There is only one question that needs to be considered immediately. After pacifying the three states, how to manage this large area in the future? It has to be said that even though he had previously formulated a strategy of using barbarians to control barbarians, Li Yuan could not help but be tempted many times when he thought of the vast land and population of the three states, but he quickly withdrew this dangerous idea.
There is no doubt that from the day he raised the army to the present, Li Yuan, who has personally experienced the barbarism in this place, has become more and more aware that this barbaric land, even if it is under the jurisdiction of Wuping Jiedu, will not be governed by the previous methods of state and county governance. It is absolutely difficult to maintain stability here.
The gap between the barbarians and the Han people was indeed deep, and it could not be quickly eliminated by forceful means. Moreover, the barbarians could abandon the city and live in the mountains and dense forests, but the Tang army could not. It may be possible to conquer all the large and small cities in the three states by relying solely on military conquest, but it is absolutely impossible to conquer every high mountain and dense forest here, let alone conquer the hearts of the barbarians.
Therefore, this is one of the reasons why Li Yuan dared to launch an siege with destructive means in this battle.
Anyway, it has been publicly promised that Peng Shiyu will still be the lord of the three states, and he only needs to change his flag and pay taxes and corvees. So how to deal with the mess after the conquest can be left to Peng Shiyu and the family behind him. The Peng family can Having been in charge of Xizhou for decades, I believe they will be able to handle it well.
Since then, the three states have been under the rule of Wu Ping Jiedu. Unless there is a crisis that makes self-determination difficult, Li Yuan will never be willing to spend a lot of energy to directly intervene here.
After all, he was still a feudal official of the Tang State, so he certainly contributed to the expansion of territory for his majesty who was far away in Jinling. However, Li Yuan, who was already jealous, had a new hidden danger. As long as this barbaric land could not be maintained. Even if a major incident occurs, he, the military envoy of Wuping Army, will most likely suffer verbal and written criticism from the Yushitai and even the government and the public...
Thinking of this, Li Yuan inexplicably turned his head to look at Peng Shiyu, who was silent and gloomy. Putting aside the so-called brotherhood and oath to heaven, judging from the recent performance of this young master of Xizhou, the more he knows how to tolerate, the more It can be seen that his ambition is still there.
Peng Shiyu and his brother Peng Shigao are actually different. The latter has been integrated into the Han court system for many years since he left the tribe to follow the former King of Chu, Ma Xihe. Cultivate him in such a way that even if he is in such danger, you can still see in him a character that is obviously different from ordinary people, just like a proud alpha wolf of the pack.
Therefore, if he wants to make the three states safe and stable in the future, Li Yuan needs to ensure that he is obedient and solves the hidden dangers in Langzhou's rear once and for all.
Because of this, today's siege was even more intended to intimidate Peng Shiyu. In fact, he is also similar to Tian Hongyou in the city. To deal with such a guy with a lofty ambition, he must be beaten with a stick until he is subdued, and then he will restrain himself in the future. Let Peng Shiyu see with his own eyes the tragic scene of confronting the Tang army, and use unimaginably powerful force to make him surrender from his heart, which is far better than exchanging cups and calling each other brothers based on mutual speculation.
Not long after, three hundred trebuchets, led by sergeants and horses, had advanced to a distance of 250 steps from the Xizhou city wall. With an order, the sergeants began to lean over and drive piles to fix them, preparing to start a new round of air strikes on boulders.
On the south wall of Xizhou, the barbarian soldiers who had been devastated by the sky fire and cried for their mothers finally received the order from the governor Tian Hongbin and were able to temporarily abandon the defense of the city wall. They hurriedly gathered along the hot stone steps to go down to the city and hid. Enter the urn city at the rear.
As for the streets and houses next to the Wengcheng that had been bombed into ruins by the Wuping army, and the Han people who filled the streets desperately struggling and crying in the sea of fire, not a single barbarian soldier came to rescue them. Not to mention the difference between barbarians, after all, it was a war. After seeing too many tragic deaths and injuries, everyone had already become numb.
