The next morning, before dawn, the Turks surrounded Shuozhou and launched a fierce attack. However, the Tang army was prepared and defended the city in an orderly manner.
Xue Shao was ordered to defend early in the morning, and the Thousand Bull Guards followed suit.
Although the Thousand Bull Guards were only a small team of five hundred men, their spirit and energy were not something that ordinary soldiers could compare to. The entire team had an awe-inspiring aura.
All the soldiers in Shuozhou had heard about it! It was these five hundred men who had scared back the three hundred thousand Turkic soldiers. It could be said that the Thousand Bull Guards were their role models, and they respected them like gods!
In the era of cold weapons, attacking a city was the most difficult thing to do. The side attacking the city often had to pay two to three times the number of soldiers to break through.
This was especially true for Shuozhou City, the last line of defense on the Great Tang's border. Every year, the money spent on repairing and improving the city's defenses was almost enough to build a new city with a population of two hundred thousand. Shuozhou was naturally an indestructible military fortress.
For the grassland cavalrymen who were not good at attacking cities, Shuozhou City was a city that was not easy to deal with.
It was a natural barrier that was difficult to break through and could not be crossed!
Even so, the Tang army, which had the advantage of geographical advantage, still suffered heavy casualties. On the first day, the Tang army suffered more than 20,000 casualties. You could imagine the intensity of this city attack and defense battle.
The Turkic soldiers would only die even more. They were fighting with no regard for their lives. One team acted as meat shields while the other moved ladders to attack the city! Using human lives to build walls.
At night, the wind blew and the battle stopped. The air was filled with the smell of blood, so thick that it made people uncomfortable.
On the highest watchtower in Shuozhou City, Xue Shao, whose face was as black as charcoal, looked up at the blood covered armor.
Beneath Shuozhou City was scorched earth and mountains of corpses, surrounding the entire fortress like a flood.
Shuozhou City was like a city of death!
Xue Shao let out a sigh of relief. Today, the Turks had already launched countless fierce attacks. The sabers of the Great Tang soldiers had become blunt, and although their attacks were fierce, they had still been blocked!
Looking at the black mass of Turkic soldiers outside, Xue Shao wondered how many more such attacks would occur.
Taking advantage of the interval between the Turks, Li Zhi called Xue Shao, Xue Rengui, and Pei Xingjian over for an emergency pre-war meeting.
Logically speaking, Xue Shao's official position could not participate in this kind of discussion at all. Emperor Li Zhi clearly already completely treated Xue Shao as one of his own.
Looking at Xue Shao's face that was as black as charcoal, Li Zhi laughed loudly and ordered someone to bring a large basin of hot water for Xue Shao to wash his face. Xue Shao wiped it several times in a row.
That large basin of hot water had already turned pitch-black. Even Xue Shao himself did not doubt that it could be used directly as ink.
"Xue Shao has worked hard!" Li Zhi said.
"This is my duty. Protecting the country has always been my ambition. It's all thanks to Your Majesty that I can realize it today!”Xue Shao cupped his hands and said.
Li Zhi nodded and said,"Xue Shao, what do you think of today's attack?"”
Xue Shao thought for a moment,"In this minister's opinion, the Tu Jue should be desperate!”
The eyes of Li Zhi, Xue Rengui, and the others lit up, and they said," Why do you say that?”
"The leader of the Turks, Ashi Funan, was able to shift the internal strife of the Turks to an external war, taking down the Spiritual Province and wiping out one hundred thousand soldiers of our Great Tang army! This battle had once again brought together the Turkic tribes that were on the verge of collapse. It could be said that this was a drastic measure, enough to prove Ashi Funian's wisdom and unique thinking!”
"But this time, anyone who is the leader of the Turks would know that His Majesty has personally led the army to Shuozhou. He must be retreating to avoid the enemy's attack, or else the Turks will most likely be destroyed! Retreating to the steppe was the best option. The Great Tang did not easily enter the Turkic steppe and had chosen to force itself to attack Shuozhou, a military fortress. Either Ashi Funian had the means to break through Shuozhou, which was extremely unlikely, but not impossible. His Majesty needed to be cautious and deal with this, or Ashi Funian had encountered an unprecedented crisis. Once this crisis erupted, it was very likely that the Turks would fight on their own, and the scattered Turks would be nothing more than sheep to the Great Tang. The Turks would also be destroyed in the end, so Ashi Funian could only go all out and take a gamble!”Xue Shao said.
To Xue Shao, what A Shi Fu Nian had done was more like an ambitious person.
Ambitious, the literal meaning referred to a valiant and heroic person, a tyrannical and ambitious person.
Heroes came from troubled times, but in fact, there were even more ambitious people in troubled times. Heroes were the ones whose names would go down through the ages, but it was often the ambitious ones who would conquer the world.
This was because the ambitious and ruthless heroes were not only ambitious but also ruthless. They would do anything to achieve their goals, such as Cao Cao. Heroes, on the other hand, would always have the so-called soft-heartedness of a woman. They would lose their sense of justice for a small reason, such as Liu Bei.
As a result, the Turks believed that the last possibility was the most likely. The Turks would use any means necessary to break through the city!
Li Zhi and the others fell into deep thought. It was impossible to make a decision with just a few words from Xue Shao. After all, this concerned the fate of the Great Tang. If they made a wrong decision, the Central Plains would fall and it would be even more difficult to recover!
Thus, they had to be cautious.
Li Zhi's nature was ultimately somewhat indecisive, and this was also why he could not expand his territory like Emperor Taizong, Li Shimin. He could only be an Emperor who guarded his territory. The current Great Tang was much stronger than the early Tang.
Xue Shao was only a general now, so he would leave these worries to the old emperor to worry about himself. He would first defend Shuozhou. Xue Shao took his leave!
PS: The contract was sent today. The word count is already 80,000. The results of this book are average. Let's give it a try!
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