That night, Li Jing left with 30,000 troops, leaving only his "underworld artifact" and several hundred soldiers to block the Arab soldiers in Jilinga City.
He believed that after the first day of battle, if he did not attack, the people inside would never dare to rush out under gunfire.
The other four armies outside the city did the same thing after receiving Li Jing's order.
Soon Li Jing's army of more than 100,000 was assembled behind these cities.
They had originally let go of the soldiers who went to ask for help, but now they only had to ambush them halfway.
In the entire Tianzhu, except for those held back by Tang Ping and others in the west, there were also a hundred thousand troops left in the direction of Latan City in the north, and the rest were gathered by Arum.
He also knew that Datang's weapons were powerful, and their only chance of winning was to concentrate their superior forces and defeat the smaller ones with more.
For this reason, he also mobilized the entire army in central Tianzhu. After gathering a total of 200,000 troops, they marched towards the besieged cities.
The news they got now was that Tang Dynasty landed from here, probably the 150,000 troops.
Now he actually dares to attack five of their cities at the same time. Now he has the best chance to take these 200,000 troops to defeat them one by one.
But he didn't expect that Li Jing would be waiting for him halfway with someone.
As soon as they crossed the Mahanadi River, they were attacked by Li Jing halfway across the river.
First, the upstream area was blocked by Li Jing. When they were halfway across the river, the river was released.
The army that crossed the river was only halfway across the river when it was divided on both sides.
Then the Tang Dynasty still had the same three old tricks: artillery, muskets, and hot air balloons.
This time, Li Jing and the others used almost a third of their ammunition to block the Arab Empire's army crossing the river and beat them up.
The heavy cavalry, which the Arab Empire's army was most proud of, had no chance to charge. How much of a threat could the cavalry that had lost its impact be?
In addition to artillery and muskets, Li Jing even used crossbows and other items. Anyway, in one sentence, the Arab army on the other side of the river will die!
Of the 200,000 Arab troops, those who were washed away by the river, those who were killed, and those who surrendered totaled almost 80,000.
The remaining 120,000 Arab troops could only retreat to a small city on the other side of the Mahanadi River.
Then the Tang army began to cross the river again, and they also wanted to imitate the Tang army and attack halfway across the river.
What they didn't expect was that the range of Datang's artillery was wider than the river. When they arrived at the river, they were beaten to death by a bombardment.
Then the hot air balloon came again, using kerosene to directly drop a circle of isolation tape.
After the fire was extinguished, Datang's musketeers and archers had also crossed the river, and rows of guns were sent back to the city by the Arab heavy cavalry.
Then Li Jing led his people to surround the city.
At this time, the ammunition brought by Datang was running low, so Li Jing did not plan to attack the small city by force, but directly surrounded the city.
Li Jing is not in a hurry now. The other side is inside the city and they are outside the city.
How can the city compare with them if food and grass are consumed?
Then Zhen Yougan and Raja Sri found Li Jing. They were already active in the nearby area. When they saw Li Jing blocking the main force of the enemy army, they directly patted their chests and told them to leave the task of raising food and grass to them.
When the local people in Tianzhu provided them with food, they went directly to the Manahadi River to fight with the Arab army.
Li Jing not only wants to win, but also minimizes losses.
Even if he could win by attacking the city, the losses would be greater in the end, so he surrounded the city like a defensive side.
Arum also tried to break through once, but in this city, the gate is so narrow that only more than ten horses can go parallel at a time.
As soon as they went out, Datang greeted them with a set of firearms.
There were corpses left at the door, and they were beaten back.
The Arab army is having a hard time.
Go ahead, it seems like you can't get out. Once you get out of the city gate, you'll be greeted by a set of firearms.
But keep an eye on it, the food and grass are getting less and less every day, and there will be a day when we run out.
Fortunately, Amru sent a letter to China when he realized that Datang was about to attack.
So they thought that the country would definitely send a large army to reinforce them.
They had figured out the attack of the Tang Dynasty. The artillery was the enemy's most powerful attack method, but the number was not too large and it was difficult to turn.
As long as they wait for reinforcements to arrive and cooperate with each other from inside and outside, are they afraid that their hundreds of thousands of troops will not be able to defeat these Tang people?
Unexpectedly, the 200,000 troops that Fakhrdin brought into Tianzhu were suddenly held back by Tang Ping and Duan Zhixuan with more than 20,000 people.
After waiting around in the city for no reinforcements, the food supply finally hit the bottom.
The morale of the Arab army has also dropped to the lowest point. I originally thought that I was the most powerful army in the world, but I didn't expect that I was pinned to the ground and was unable to fight back.
With this kind of mental change, coupled with the fact that the rations were getting smaller and smaller day by day, and his stomach was growling with hunger, how could he still have the morale to fight?
In desperation, Arum distributed all the food and began to prepare for a breakout.
But he didn't expect that Li Jing actually placed the artillery at the other three city gates, but let go of the southeast direction.
Without the threat of artillery, Arum naturally chose to break out from the southeast.
And Datang didn't seem to have any intention of stopping them from breaking through. It just used various long-range attacks to consume Arum's army that broke through.
After they all ran out, they chased after them.
So Arum's army could only keep running, but the hot air balloon above it looked like a devil.
When they rested at night, they threw burning oil from the sky to the bottom.
With almost no time to rest, Arum's army took three days to reach Utu City, the northernmost city among the five besieged cities, and dived in.
Then Li Jing led his people to surround the city.
Arum entered Wutu City and called the guard Nasser over.
"Didn't you say that there are 30,000 troops guarding you outside the city? Where did those Tang troops come from?"
Nasser shook his head. He was also puzzled. He pointed to the outside of the city and said, "They are really outside the city all the time. Not only are the tens of thousands of defenders there, but also the big black tubes they brought."
Arum followed Nasser up the city wall and saw that the Tang army had surrounded them, then dismantled the straw men and used the grass to feed the horses.
"You idiot, there are all fake people out there!" Arum was furious. If it hadn't been for the false information sent by these idiots, would he have been ambushed halfway?
"Are you going to stay in the city this month and compete with the dummies outside?"
Arum pushed Nasser and said, "Someone, lock him up for me."
Thinking about it this way, I'm afraid the other four cities are the same, blocked by dummies inside the city.
