Outside the city of An.

The Don army is still besieging the city.

This is the fifth siege.

In the past few days, Li Shimin and the generals have exhausted all means, but they are still unable to break through the city, the casualties are increasing, and the morale of the soldiers is getting lower and lower. He picked up the drumsticks and beat the drums of war.

In this way, the emperor personally beat the drums, the generals personally charged, and the morale that had been depressed for a long time finally gradually rose under the encouragement of the monarch and the ministers.

The son of a daughter can't sit down. With Cheng Yanjin's identity and official title, he naturally can't go into battle to attack the city in person, it's too dangerous, what Li Shimin needs is a general and commander who has a strategy and can command the soldiers to attack the city and pull out the village, not a barbarian general who only relies on an impulse to fight bravely.

However, this time is different, with the failure of the first four sieges, the morale of the army is getting lower and lower, it is not good news for the monarch and ministers, it is impossible to capture Anshi City, if the morale is low, the probability of breaking through the city is even slimmer, the monarch and the minister are in a hurry, and all kinds of freshly baked reward mechanisms are conveyed layer by layer, how much is the reward for beheading the enemy, and how much is the reward for beheading five people, which is equivalent to the slightest consent of the enemy, and their heads have been publicly sold by Li Shimin.

However, such a heavy reward mechanism still does not have much effect, the weather in the north is cold, the snow has been heavy in recent days, and several sieges have increased countless casualties, but there is no hope of breaking the city at all, and no one will be too enthusiastic.

In this case, Cheng Yanjin had to go up shirtless in person, Li Shimin understood Cheng Yanjin's intentions, he wanted to use his own efforts to motivate the army, and Li Shimin really needed someone to help him boost the army's morale at the moment, so he stopped Cheng Yanjin for a while and went with him.

The Tang army continued to attack the city, and when all the methods had been tried and did not work, the only thing that could be done was to forcibly attack the city.

Bite with your teeth, chop with a knife, fight with your life.

Can't take a shortcut, there is only hard to hard, the Tang Dynasty has been dominating the world all over the years, invincible, relying on the bloody nature of the soldiers, and the ambition to expand the territory.

Cheng Yanjin also gave up his life.

An old man of nearly fifty years old, bare-chested with an axe, rushed to the city wall, the guards held their shields high in front of them, blocking the cold arrows shot at Cheng Biting Jin, and the guards behind were carrying the ladder, waiting for Cheng Biting Jin to rush to the root of the city wall, the ladder was fiercely put on the arrow stack of the city tower, the iron claw at the top of the ladder was deeply rooted in the stone crack on the city wall, Cheng Biting Jin held the axe in one hand, climbed the ladder with the other hand, and climbed up with red eyes and panting.

A thick log fell from the top of the city and fell on top of his head, and Cheng Biting Jin was furious, and with an axe, he knocked the log away, and then continued to climb.

In the formation of the Chinese army, Li Shimin's blood was boiling, the rhythm of the drums became more and more rapid, and the drumsticks rained down on the drum surface, shaking the people's hearts turbulently and excitedly, and countless Tang army soldiers rushed to the city wall like a tide, accompanied by the earth-shaking shouts and killings, and the boulders and earth-shaking thunder on the stone-throwing car were also thrown to the city as if they were not dying.

Cheng Biting Jin is still climbing up with an axe, after many years of pampered life, plus he is also old, he feels a little difficult when he climbs halfway, and the rolling logs and stones on the city head are thrown down on his head in a steady stream, so angry that Cheng Biting Jin Wow shouted, raised the axe and pointed at the city, and said angrily: "Dog offal, wait for me to climb up, I have to chop you one by one and feed the dogs!" Tell your city lord Yang Wanchun, I'm the king of the Tang Dynasty......"

Before he could finish speaking, a huge stone fell down on the top of the city, which was obviously carefully selected by the defenders, and the three of them could only lift it together, and with great difficulty they carried it to the edge of the arrow buttress and pushed it down fiercely.

Cheng Yanjin, who was scolding the street on the ladder, looked up and saw a huge shadow above him approaching quickly, Cheng Yanjin's expression changed, and he suddenly felt bad, but the stone fell too fast and had no time to react, Cheng Yanjin could only subconsciously swing an axe and smash it hard.

There was a loud bang, the axe did not shake the boulder in the slightest, and Cheng Biting Jin's body fell from the middle of the ladder to the base of the city wall like a kite with a broken string.

As soon as the body fell, the defenders at the head of the city could not see that Cheng Yanjin was a big man in the Tang Army, and they fell into the well mercilessly, and the rolling logs were then smashed towards Cheng Yanjin under the city wall.

The guards of the Cheng family in the back couldn't help but be shocked, and several guards stepped forward with shields, and desperately blocked the shield on Cheng Yanjin's head, while blocking the rolling wood from the city, while desperately dragging Cheng Yanjin back.

In the middle of the Chinese army in the distance, Li Shimin saw this scene from a distance, and saw that Cheng Yanjin was hit by a boulder and fell off the ladder, Li Shimin was shocked, and hurriedly ordered the cavalry camp to go out of the battle to rescue Cheng Yanjin at any cost.

Fortunately, the guards of the Cheng family desperately protected, and Cheng Biting Jin, who was hit by a boulder, was able to pick up a life, when the guards carried Cheng Biting Jin back to the Zhongjun formation, the person had fallen into a coma, his left arm was at a strange bending angle, and he had obviously been smashed and fractured, with more than ten wounds on his body, and an arrow was inserted in his shoulder blade, which was shocking.

Li Shimin's eyes were red with emotion, he took Cheng Biting Jin's hand, and wept: "This is my loyal minister of the Tang Dynasty. ”

Cheng Yanjin was carried back to the camp to treat his injuries, and this siege was naturally as fruitless as the previous four times.

Mingjin, the troops were collected, and the Tang army once again lost thousands of soldiers under the city walls.

…………

Li Su has never seen the Tang army attack Anshi City, in his opinion that this city is impossible to easily break, every siege naturally ends in a bleak end, since he knows that the siege will fail, naturally he is not in the mood to observe how the Tang army failed every time, it is too sadistic.

Knowing that Cheng Yanjin was injured and in a coma was after Mingjin withdrew his troops, Li Su was so frightened that he bounced off the bed in the camp tent, and without saying a word, he ran towards the Chinese army camp in a hurry.

When he ran to Cheng Bitingjin's handsome tent, the handsome tent was already full of people, Li Shimin sat on the edge of Cheng Bitingjin's bed with red eyes, holding Cheng Bitingjin's hand and weeping silently, and the rest of the generals stood silently around the bed. Even Li Tai, the king of Wei, was among them, with a sad and sad look, and his acting skills scored five points.

There were too many people, Li Su thought about it, and after entering the tent, he retreated, and pulled the guards of the Cheng family outside the tent to inquire carefully.

Li Su is a frequent visitor to the Cheng family, and the guards all know him, and they all regard him as their own family, so the guards shed tears and told the details of today's siege as they were, and heard that Cheng Biting Jin's most serious injury may have been smashed by a boulder and suffered an internal injury, and after his left arm was fractured, Li Su was immediately relieved.

It's okay if you save your life, everything else is a trivial matter.

So Li Su stood outside the tent and waited patiently.

Not long after, the monarchs and ministers who visited Cheng Yanjin said goodbye and left the account, and there were only two military doctors left in the tent, and Li Su quietly walked in.

As early as when he was carried back to the camp, Cheng Biting Jin woke up, the injury was not light, when the doctor gave the dressing and splinting, Cheng Biting Jin grinned in pain, in view of his identity and age, he was embarrassed to cry out in pain, gasped uncomfortably, and glared at the doctor viciously from time to time.

Li Su, who approached the tent, saw this scene, and suddenly felt more relaxed.

There is also a spirit staring at people, proving that he can't die, the famous demon king in history is undisputed as a scourge, the scourge lives for a thousand years, God doesn't dare to accept his life so quickly, and it is also recorded in the official history that Cheng Yanjin lived to be seventy or eighty years old, and he really died at the end of his life.

Seeing Li Su walk in, Cheng Biting Jin grinned: "Come on, baby, the old man has suffered a loss today, and he is very unhappy, hurry up and send your spirits over, and roast some mutton for the old man to taste, his mouth is very bland, but these two damn quacks just put medicine on the splint on the old man, which made the old man feel painful, and poured me a belly of medicine, I don't know if it deliberately harmed me, well, the old man is angry, wait, you two melons, wait for the old man to be good, I have to hang you up and smoke ...... death"

The two doctors couldn't help but smile wryly, and tried to reason with Cheng Yanjin, such as the chicken soup for the soul that is good for illness or something, but Cheng Yanjin stared at him and stopped drinking.

Li Su smiled, he was very familiar with Cheng Yanjin, he had known him for so many years, when did the old guy ever be reasonable? Now the best choice for the two doctors is to ignore him, pat his ass and leave, and forget about it after two days.

"Uncle Cheng, you can stop, injured people can't drink, not to mention that you still have internal injuries, you don't want to die if you drink at this time......" Li Suwen persuaded in a warm voice.

Cheng Yanjin thought about it and felt right, he was immediately deflated, slapped his thigh hard, and said angrily: "I haven't been on the battlefield for many years, but I have hung up the lottery, the old man is really unfavorable, and he should be unlucky!" ”

Li Su hurriedly comforted: "Uncle Cheng is angry, maybe there should be this catastrophe in his life, this catastrophe has passed, you will be safe and sound in the future, and everything will go well." ”

Cheng Biting Jin sighed dejectedly, and said: "The baby is not comforting, at the age of the old man, what else can't be seen?" Back then, the old man was full of eclipse, and he could tear the tiger and leopard alive, but now he can't even climb the city wall, it seems that he is old......"

Li Su smiled: "Uncle Cheng is not old, and every time my little nephew sees you, he is very violent, jumping up and down...... Ahem, a dragon is alive, a pair of axes dance vigorously, you are not old at all. ”

Cheng Biting Jin Zhanyan smiled: "The baby is really comforting, at a young age, he gave birth to a crystal and exquisite heart, if the six bastard boys in the old man's family can learn your three things, even if the old man died during the siege of the city today, he can also smile Jiuquan, and give birth to a son like Li Zizheng......

Li Su's words were sluggish, and it was not easy to accept this, because he didn't know whether Cheng Yanjin was scolding him, and if he gave birth to a son like Li Zizheng or something, people who lacked heart and eyes would feel that he was praising himself, but he couldn't think deeply, and he felt scolded when he thought about it.

"Uncle Cheng Mo thought about it, now your identity is different, you are a general who is strategizing, the commander of the decisive victory in the tent, with all due respect to the boy, you should not have personally attacked the city today, and you must not take risks in the future."

Cheng Yanjin shook his head, and his smile was already a little bitter: "Does the baby think the old man wants to go up?" It's this age, what to do and what not to do, the old man knows very well, but in the past few days, the morale of the army has been turbulent and low, the battle has been fought for a long time, there is no hope of victory, the soldiers have a homesick heart, if the old man does not go into battle in person, I am afraid that it will not be long before my Wang Shi will repeat the mistakes of the overlord of Western Chu, and when the embattled singing, we will be defeated, Yang Wanchun is a good general, the old man has no doubt that he is really capable of doing this......"

Li Su lowered his voice and said: "Uncle Cheng, you personally went into battle to attack the city today, according to your opinion, can this Anshi City be broken by my royal division?" ”

Cheng Yanjin shook his head, and said with a depressed expression: "I'm not afraid of your jokes when I say it, the old man has personally learned the power of Anshi City today, the defenders are strictly disciplined, and they perform their duties when guarding the city, meticulously, there are soldiers in front of them, and there are generals in the back, we have been besieging the city for these days, but the old man saw the looks of the defenders when he climbed the ladder today, but he didn't see the slightest place where the army's heart was loose and wavering, everyone's face said to do their best, all of them were full of sacrifice and death, and the generals were silent in the back, The soldiers know what they should do, how to do it, such a defender, coupled with such a strong city, if I want to break the city, I'm afraid it's impossible, even if we take the lives of our Guanzhong disciples to fill it, and when we capture this city, I'm afraid that our army will already have most of the casualties, and its vitality will be greatly damaged, and it will be impossible to continue the eastward crusade......"

Cheng Yanjin said, showing a look of discouragement, and sighed gloomily: "Yang Wanchun has 120,000 soldiers under his command, and the battle damage these days is about 20,000, and he still has 100,000 soldiers available, think about the fact that there are still 100,000 tigers and wolves hidden in this city, the old man feels cold, this city, we shouldn't fight anymore, let's collect the troops early, change the direction, change the tactics, it's better to fight anyone than to fight Yang Wanchun......"

Li Su also felt cold, and it was not Yang Wanchun's strength that was cold, but Li Shimin's stubbornness.

Hanging his head, Li Su said softly: "But where is Your Majesty...... It seems that he does not agree to withdraw troops and divert them, he is eager to take Anshi City and remove Yang Wanchun, a thorn in his eye. ”

Cheng Yanjin smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty's strategy is right, when Your Majesty set the strategy of first south and then east, the old man also thought it was true, baby, you look at the map, Anshi City is located in the south of Goguryeo, this city is just stuck in the middle of the south, to the north, Yang Wanchun can directly hit Liaodong City, cut off our retreat, to the south, he blocked the sea route from Beisha City to Anshi City, to the east, it is in front of a flat plain, if our army takes Pyongyang directly, he can lead his troops to help at any time, baby, think about it, If you are the commander of the first army, can you ignore the nail of Anshi City with peace of mind? If Yang Wanchun is not removed, do you dare to lead hundreds of thousands of people to copy the capital Pyongyang? Not afraid of being stabbed in the back? ”

Cheng Yanjin sighed: "The strategy is actually right, Your Majesty and the old man, these generals are all old guys who have experienced a hundred battles, where to attack, where to defend, where to give up, where to fight, as soon as the map is unfolded, we know it at first glance, but what Your Majesty and the old man didn't expect is that Yang Wanchun is so powerful, if this person is not removed, I am afraid that it will be difficult to continue the Eastern Crusade." ”

Li Su said in a low voice: "Knowing the current affairs is Junjie, neither can it be done, it is better not to do it, the little nephew thinks that now we should withdraw the army, give up attacking Anshi City, turn to the north, first stationed in Liaodong City, and then march eastward, first take the capital Pyongyang, then Goguryeo has lost half of it, and the rest is ready." ”

After thinking about it, Li Su said again: "Yang Wanchun doesn't have to worry here, let's leave fifty or sixty thousand troops stationed in Liaodong City, and the rest will all march eastward, if Yang Wanchun leads his troops to pursue, the fifty or sixty thousand people in Liaodong City can cut off his back road in turn, Yang Wanchun's ability to defend the city is powerful, but the plain battle is not necessarily powerful, Uncle Cheng and my uncle are experts in this regard, if the two armies meet in the plain, presumably the two should not suffer, and the rest will be led by His Majesty, directly take Pyongyang, Pyongyang Ruoke, and capture the Goryeo King Gaozang and Quangai Suwen, Goguryeo can be regarded as conquering more than half of it, and Yang Wanchun has nothing to do at that time. ”

Cheng Yanjin pondered for a long time, and nodded: "What the baby said makes sense, it can be regarded as a complete strategy, no matter what, we can't continue to fight in Anshi City, and it will change later, if we wait until the old boy of Quangai Suwen has mobilized his troops and horses, and cooperates with Yang Wanchun to attack us back and forth, it will be a lot of fun." ”

Li Su smiled bitterly: "It's a pity, Your Majesty said that you would attack under the city of Anshi for another ten days, and now only half of the ten days have passed, and the next ......"

Cheng was stunned for a moment, and then gritted his teeth: "The old man went to talk to Your Majesty!" ”

Li Su hurriedly stopped him: "Uncle Cheng is injured, don't move anymore, besides, this is a rebellious admonition after all, the little nephew is afraid that His Majesty will be displeased when he hears it, and it will ruin the relationship between Uncle Cheng and His Majesty for many years, so let's talk about this matter and try to persuade Your Majesty to give up Anshi City immediately, and withdraw your troops to the north tomorrow." ”

Cheng Yanjin thought for a while, nodded and said: "It's okay for you to go and say, be careful in everything, be cautious in what you say, don't annoy Your Majesty, if Your Majesty doesn't agree, the old man and Li Ji will come forward again." ”

…………

…………

Inside the tent of the commander of the Chinese army.

Li Shimin's face was gloomy, listening to the history of the marching commander and the ordnance supervisor Cheng Yu to discuss the battle damage and the loss of ordnance.

Five sieges, more than 20,000 soldiers were killed, nearly 1,000 siege ordnance destroyed, as for the soldiers' weapons, swords, spears, halberds, etc., the losses are countless, the grain and grass in the army is enough for the army to eat for half a month, the logistics people are transporting grain and grass day and night, but the snow in the north is heavy, the road is blocked, I don't know when it can be transported, what is more anxious is that the earth-shaking thunder consumed during these sieges is too much, and now the remaining number of earth-shaking thunders detected by the ordnance supervision is probably only enough for a large-scale siege.

Every sentence was bad news, coupled with the fact that Anshi City could not be captured for a long time, the soldiers suffered heavy casualties, and the morale of the army was shaken.

Yesterday, there were generals who gave a performance, and there were deserters in the army, although the deserters were not the children of Guanzhong, but the Turks, Qiang people, and so on, and the number was not much, only 100 people. But the appearance of desertion is by no means a good phenomenon, which proves that the morale of the army has been shocked to a shocking level, if you don't win another battle to improve morale, who knows if the children of Guanzhong will become deserters next?