One after another, the Tibetan elites fell on the city walls.
In his confusion, Songzan finally called off his troops.
In the commander's tent, Songzan was pacing back and forth with a gloomy expression. Footsteps sounded. He turned his head and saw Lu Dongzan enter. He immediately asked,""Great Minister, have you asked clearly?"
Sigh!
Lu Dongzan sighed and looked at the Monarch."" Yes, it's not that our soldiers are not brave enough, but that Li Ke's setup on the city wall is too tricky. He used sandbags to…"
"The more soldiers we have, the harder it will be to use them.”
Songzan clenched his fists and added,"If there are too few of them, they won't be a match for them. They're in the middle of a blockade, surrounded by enemies from both sides, just like Li Ke's situation at Tumen Pass.”
"He just divided the city wall into countless earth gates!”
Bang!
Songzan smashed his fist on the table.
"As expected of Li Ke. This prince of the Great Tang has an extremely high level of leadership and art!”
After the praise, Songzan turned to look at Lu Dongzan."Does Great Minister have any ideas?"
"This subject has thought of some methods that might reduce the casualties.”
"Speak!"
"Build an earth city within a hundred steps of Tumen Pass so that our soldiers can shoot at the same height as the Tang army.”
"Once the infantry attacks, our archers can suppress them from a hundred steps away.”
It was very difficult to cause any damage to the enemy soldiers on the city wall from a hundred paces away.
When they were within fifty steps, the archers suffered especially heavy losses.
Moreover, they were at a low altitude, so the archers could not see the situation above the city at a glance and provide accurate support.
"Good!" " Our archers will shoot in a flash," Songzan praised." Within a hundred paces, as long as they can clearly see the situation on the walls, they will definitely be able to provide effective support. We will do as Great Minister says."”
"Build a city overnight!"
"Yes, sir!"
After Lu Dongzan left, Songzan muttered to himself,""Li Ke, I want to see what other tricks you have!”
At the top of the fortress.
"General, this Wu Wang is so young. How did he come up with so many tricky tactics?”
"That's right. This Wu Wang has never had the experience of leading an army in battle before!”
……
Standing at the top of the fortress, one could look down at the situation on the city wall.
Liu Rengui's eyes flashed with fear.
For some reason, he actually hoped that he would fail this time.
Li Ke lost Tumen Pass, even if he could only go into exile in Tubo and mix with the barbarians.
With the illumination of the fire on the top of the city wall, the partition was clearly visible, and this thought became stronger.
Sob…
A dull horn sounded.
"The Tibetans are going to attack at night!"
"Prepare to defend!"
……
The sound of the horn alarmed everyone.
Li Ke climbed up the city wall and saw the Tubo soldiers piling up soil a hundred paces away.
"Big brother, Tubo is building a city to make up for the disadvantage of their archers.”The ancestors of the Central Plains had used this tactic countless times. Qin Huaiyu said after taking a look at it.
Li Ke nodded and said with a solemn expression," This is secondary. Don't forget that the archers of the Tubo people are better than our soldiers on average."”
"After the earthen city is built, the Tibetans can use the archers to provide effective support from a hundred paces away!”
The brothers 'expressions became solemn.
The accuracy of the nomadic archery was better than that of the soldiers of the Central Plains.
The nomads were all archery experts.
However, when the two armies fought together and shot at the same time, the rate of accidental injuries caused by the nomads was much lower than that of the archers of the Central Plains.
This advantage meant that the Tibetans could provide a more precise coordinated attack.
"Big brother, should we send archers?”Cheng Chumo asked.
Li Ke shook his head." Not for now. Songzan will definitely push the range of the city to around eighty steps. This distance will have a greater effect. Let's wait until they are within a hundred steps before we send the archers to the city. A hundred steps or so is a waste of arrows. We have to defend the isolated city and plan carefully.”
This was the problem Li Ke was facing.
Not only was he short of troops.
Even logistics had to be considered.
The Great Tang behind him could not provide him with any help in this situation.
Songzan mobilized his army.
They spent a day and lost 4,000 soldiers, all of whom died under the arrows shot by Tumen Pass when they were building the city.
A day later, an earth city, or more accurately, an earth mountain, appeared.
The peak of the mountain was almost on the same level as Tumen Pass.
The mountain was divided into three sections.
There were two passages about three meters apart.
This was for the infantry to attack.
The top of the mountain was about eighty steps away from Earth Gate Pass.
Before the battle even began, the archers of the two armies had already started shooting at each other from eighty steps away.
"Big brother, our archers have suffered a great loss, and we don't have many arrows left. We can't shoot without restraint.”Cheng Chuliang hurried over and said anxiously.
In just two hours, they had lost hundreds of archers.
Li Ke stood in front of the city tower with his sword in his hand. His gaze was unmoved as he pointed ahead."Do you see those two tunnels? After the battle, gather the archers and aim at the two passages to kill the enemy as much as possible.”
"Choose the best archers in the army. Once the Tibetan infantry passes through the tunnel, the other archers will retreat from the city wall. The best archers will be left behind to suppress the Tibetan archers and cover the infantry!”
"Yes, sir!"
After Cheng Chuliang left, Qin Huaiyu said helplessly,"Big brother, even so, I'm afraid it won't be as satisfying as yesterday.”
In yesterday's battle, they had lost 2,000 men, leaving 8,000 Tibetan and Tuyuhun soldiers on the city walls.
One to four!
"It can't be helped. Songzan isn't a weak opponent. I'm afraid it won't be long before Tuyuhun learns of Tubo's tactics.”
"Reduce the number of soldiers in the city again. Leave only six people in each section! Tell the brothers that they can give up one or two blocks appropriately. In addition, the reserve team in the city is on standby at any time to replenish the city in time!”
"Search and exterminate all flammable objects in the city. If necessary, burn the Tibetans who have entered the city to death!”
"Yes, sir!"
After Li Ke gave the order, his brothers immediately led the troops to do it.
It was almost noon.
Under the protection of his personal guards, Songzan ascended the earth city.
Sob…
Beep beep beep…
Bugle horns and war drums sounded, and the Tibetan soldiers who had rested for half a day began to attack again.
"Release the arrows!"
"Release the arrows!"
……
"Zamp, quickly, retreat!"
Lu Dongzan covered Songzan as he retreated from the city. Songzan watched the dense rain of arrows shoot through the two tunnels, causing his soldiers to fall one by one. His eyes couldn't help but turn red.
His breathing became heavy.
"Order the infantry to quickly pass through the tunnel!”He did not change his attack plan because of the casualties.
There were pros and cons.
This was inevitable!
"Kill them!"
"Capture Li Ke alive!"
"Capture Tumen Pass and capture Li Ke alive!”
……
Amidst the shouting and killing, the Tibetan soldiers carried the ladder and rushed to the top of the city wall.
Soon, the black figures were like ants, clinging to the ladder and starting to attack the city.
The battle instantly became extremely tragic.
"Fire!"
"Extinguish the fire, extinguish the fire!"
"Kill all the barbarians!"
……
The city wall became a millstone that grinded meat.
The archers on both sides were shooting at each other from afar.
On Li Ke's side, there were not many excellent archers, so they were at a disadvantage in a head-on clash and could not completely suppress their opponents.
"Quick, reinforcements!"
" We need reinforcements in the north. Quick!"
……
In the city, ladders were also set up along the city wall. As they shouted, teams of soldiers who were waiting in front of the ladders bit their knives and used their hands and feet to quickly reinforce the city wall.
Soldiers from both sides continued to climb up the city walls.
Blood splashed everywhere.
They attacked repeatedly for three days.
On the fourth day.
The Tubo and Tuyuhun stopped their attacks at the same time.
The city wall was still in Li Ke's hands.
However, the originally greenish-gray brick city wall seemed to have been wrapped in paste, revealing a strange purple-red color.
The stench was like maggots that could be smelled wherever they went.
Li Ke was injured.
His left hand was hung around his neck with a strip of cloth, leading his brothers to patrol the city wall.
Everywhere they passed, the soldiers silently raised their hands and looked at them.
No one stood up.
This was the latest rule of defending the city.
Because if he stood up, the archers on the other side would launch a sneak attack.
Li Ke walked on top of the city wall, protected by three soldiers who raised their shields.
"Imperial brother, can you hold on?"
When Li Ke passed by a partition, he heard a sound. He looked over and saw Li Tai covered in blood. Like the other soldiers, he was sitting with his back against the wall.
His originally fat body had lost a lot of weight in the past few days. One could vaguely see his bulging eyes.
He was injured and had a white cloth wrapped around his chest.
The surrounding soldiers all looked at Li Ke.
For the next few days, the city wall was like a silent millstone. The enemy soldiers fell one after another, and similarly, their comrades fell one after another.
Ordinary soldiers might not know, but Li Tai knew some things.
A total of 40,000 soldiers.
Now, there were only 10,000 left!
Last night, Helian Tienan knelt in front of Li Ke in the Marshal's Mansion, crying and begging Li Ke to promise that the remaining 1,000 elites of Helian Tribe would not participate in the war.
In this battle, Li Ke completed a mission.
The elites of Helian Tribe had been completely wiped out by this war!
Li Tai knew all of this.
There were still three days left before the ten-day deadline!
Li Ke really wanted to kick Li Tai to death. Wasn't asking such a question at this time shaking the morale of the army?
However, Li Tai's performance in the past few days made him decide to give up.
He pushed away the shieldmen who were blocking his way.
"Big brother…"
"Be careful of the Tibetan archers!"
……
Li Ke waved his hand to stop his brothers. He pointed at the mud city opposite him and said loudly,"Brothers, we have suffered heavy losses. Tubo and Tuyuhun suffered even more!”
"How much more can Songzan take?”
Qin Huaiyu's eyes lit up as he shouted,""Songzan, how many more losses can you bear?”
The other brothers seemed to have understood as well, and they also shouted loudly. Immediately after, the soldiers on the city wall shouted.
"Songzan, how many more losses can you bear?”
……
The sound waves alarmed Dadun Mountain Fortress.
This alarmed Songzan, who was behind the earthen city.
Songzan heard the shout from the commander's tent and roared like an angry hungry wolf,"Great Minister! Pass down the order to send troops to attack the city!"
"Zanpu, we have lost 40,000 men and 8,000 wounded soldiers. We have lost almost half of our troops. We can't fight anymore.”
Lu Dongzan knelt down and said,"Retreat, Zanpu. We still have to consider the Tang army's revenge!"?”
The entire Tibetan army only had 200,000 soldiers.
A quarter of it had already been lost!
Like a gambler who had lost a bet, Songzan panted heavily and said through gritted teeth,"Make one last attack! Find a way to inform Tuyuhun!”
"In this battle, Tubo helped Tuyuhun and only took Tumen Pass. Jishi Mountain is still Tuyuhun's as long as Tuyuhun surrenders to Tubo!”
"Rest for a day. The two armies will set a time to attack!”
"Great Minister, I can't accept this. I can't accept losing to Li Ke again! I want to win this time! Let me, Zanpu, be willful this time!”
"If we lose the chance to control Tuyuhun, Tubo will completely lose the chance to expand northeast. The rich Silk Road in the Western Regions will no longer belong to the people of Tubo. We can only cross the snow mountains and expand south.”
Lu Dongzan looked up at the young Zanpu.
He had personally assisted Zanpu in ascending to the throne of Tubo. The monarch and his subjects were one and supported each other. They suppressed the conservative and old aristocrats in the country, imitated the Central Plains, reformed the political system, and established a complete feudal monarch system.
They were monarch and minister, teachers and friends!
"Alright, I'll think of a way to contact Fu Yun!”
Dadun Mountain Military Fortress.
Liu Rengui looked at Tumen Pass with a gloomy expression.
"General, is the King of Wu crazy? He's still provoking Songzan!"
"General, what should we do? There are less than 150 soldiers in the fortress!”
……
Liu Rengui's expression was uncertain.
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