Chapter 50 The family has a son who is not defeated, and the country of his family and the state of the country are not destroyed

In Fengzhou City, Zhang Changxun stood at the head of the city, looking at the north.

His eyelids had been beating for days. There is a way that the left eye jumps wealth, and the right eye jumps disaster. The key is that Zhang Changxun's left and right eyes jump together.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew.

Zhang Changxun smelled the smell of horse manure in the air.

A storm suddenly broke out on the steppe, and countless Turkic cavalry emerged from behind the hills, from the meadows, waving the riding bows in their hands, converging into a terrible torrent, with beast-like cries coming out of their mouths, or blowing swan whistles, and swept towards Fengzhou all over the mountains!

Their forces were so huge that the entire Monan grassland was filled with their figures, and the sand and dust raised by the horses' hooves covered the sky, and Zhang Changxun's worries suddenly became a reality!

The sound of hooves rumbled like thunder, and the earth shook violently, making people untenable.

The horns were continuous, the smoke and dust were soaring into the sky, and tens of thousands of Turkic cavalry roared.

The soldiers of the Tang Army on the wall of Fengzhou City all looked at each other in horror, and their faces turned pale. They also expected that the Turks would attack the city of Fengzhou, but they never dreamed that in order to deal with their mere 1,200 people, the enemy army would gather more than 100,000 troops and tens of thousands of people!

Tens of thousands of horses, a relatively scary number in the prairie. The Turkic cavalry that surrounded Yang Guang at Yanmen Pass was actually tens of thousands of cavalry.

Now that they have only 1,200 people, they actually enjoy Yang Guang's treatment, I really don't know whether to cry or laugh!

The Turkic cavalry did not do any tricks such as persuasion to surrender, Fengzhou is isolated in the north of the Yellow River, south of the desert, if you want to surrender, I am afraid it will fall, and it will not be the turn now.

The Turkic cavalry rushed to the city of Fengzhou, galloping wildly on horseback and shooting arrows with bows and arrows.

"Woo Woo ......"

The dense rain of arrows was connected, and the elite Turkic cavalry, their arrows were accurate, and they could ride on the back of a galloping war horse and shoot an arrow at a hare in the distance, and the best of them could even shoot down the eagle eagle hovering in the sky with an arrow, and let them shoot the Tang soldiers on the city wall, fixed targets, which was not a problem at all, in a snap of a finger.

However, the soldiers of the Tang Army immediately shrank behind the battlements of the city wall, and the rain of arrows swept towards Fengzhou City, which was immediately oversized hedgehog.

However, the city wall is not a hare, nor is it a big eagle, after being cooked with loess, the city wall that is tamped into is as hard as iron, and the arrow is inserted in the city wall, but it is more than an inch. When the wind blows, it drops arrows on the ground.

Seeing that tens of thousands of arrows were fired, even a Tang army soldier on Fengzhou City was not shot.

The Turkic generals who led the army shouted frantically: "Attack...... Offensive...... Storm the city, kill them and leave them alone! ”

The Turkic soldiers let out a shout in unison, jumped off their horses, the archers in front, and the sword and shield hands in the back, and slowly pressed towards the city wall.

Zhang Changxun looked at the ladder carried by the Turks, nodded slightly, and said, "These fools have finally grown a little." ”

The Turks attacked the city without fire support or planning to attack in multiple waves, they all rushed up in a swarm to attack the city, and after being beaten back, they retreated in a swarm, and now they learned wisely, and knew that they should use archers to shoot their positions and cover the siege of the city......

When thousands of Turks advanced on foot to a distance of fifty paces from the city walls, a powerful crossbow with a tooth-aching sound peculiar to the twisting strings came out from behind the battlements, and then ......

Wow Oo......oo The metal trilled in unison, and the crossbow arrows, which were only a foot and a half long, burst through the air, nailed to the shield and popped.

In order to prevent the strong crossbow in the hands of the Tang army soldiers, the Turks deliberately rushed out a heavy shield with a length of one meter and two and a width of forty centimeters, and the surface was also covered with a layer of cowhide, weighing 20 catties, and it was very laborious to hold it in the hand, so those shield soldiers generally tried not to raise the shield without raising the shield.

But the Tang army's strong crossbow was too terrifying, even if it was shot from fifty paces away, it could shoot through the cowhide, nail deep into the shield, and even shoot through the shield and nail the hand of the shield soldier to it. A round of crossbow arrows came, and there were screams among the shield soldiers, either they were pierced in the arm by the arrows that pierced the shield, or they were shot in the legs or heads by the crossbow arrows, and the shield wall suddenly appeared several gaps.

The Turkic soldiers gritted their teeth and continued to push forward.

The crossbow arrows of the Tang soldiers on the city wall kept pouring all the time, and no one knew how many crossbow arrows these damned Tang soldiers had in reserve......

In fact, there were not many crossbow arrows prepared, and the entire city of Toyosu was barely enough for 300,000, and the average distribution was less than 100 per capita, which was a terrible nightmare for the Turkic soldiers besieging the city.

The arrows fired by the Turkic cavalry darkened the land and obscured the sunlight! The soldiers of the Tang Army did not show weakness, and the crossbow machine threw the sharp arrows over, and the arrows fell, and the people turned over on their backs.

As far as the exchange ratio is concerned, the officers and soldiers of the Tang army took a great advantage, they had a daughter wall on the city wall to cover, and the strong wall of the daughter wall, even the eight-ox crossbow needed several arrows, and at the same time hit a little to be able to shoot through. For the Turks, who generally only have seven buckets of pulling the bow, it is like an ant gnawing on an elephant.

Of course, even when the Tang soldiers were shooting, their steel helmets and cuirass withstood the test of the Turkic arrows, and at a distance of fifty meters, none of the sharp arrows shot by the Turkic soldiers could penetrate the helmets and cuirass and cause them fatal injuries, while the steel arrows they shot could easily and happily penetrate the helmets and leather armor of the Turkic soldiers.

The crossbow is a good thing and very easy to use. It is a way of aiming in a straight line, the soldiers of the Tang Army have been playing for so long, they have played flowers, and every wave of crossbow arrows is poured down, there must be many Turkic soldiers who are shot in the face or throat, rolling to the ground, and then being trampled by countless pairs of big feet, and it will become a ball of meat sauce when it lands.

The soldiers of the Tang Army played the three-stage consecutive shooting superbly, and the crossbow arrows shot down one after another, splashing dots of blood in the surging crowd, and the screams shook the heavens and the earth, and the ghost knew how many people were shot dead and how many people were injured!

Of course, this crossbow machine fired in three bursts, which was not the same as the musket's three-stage bursts. Instead, a crossbowman shoots in front, and two soldiers, or several civilians, take refuge in the back to load the crossbow machine with arrows and wind it with force.

The Tang Army archers holding crossbow machines only need to wind the crossbow machine, aim it at the enemy, and pull the bracket to complete the shooting.

The crossbow machine, which was originally slow to fire, was actually shot by the Tang Army soldiers with the effect of bows and arrows.

After nearly an hour of attack, three attacks by the Turks were all repulsed.

The Turkic striker general, Ashina Sheer, secretly felt bad. From the time he left the division to the present, he has lost nearly 5,000 men and horses, and he has long been broken, and Fengzhou City has no signs of wavering, even if he can finally take Fengzhou City, the price will be so painful that it will make him cry bitterly!

But isn't he going to die now? Having lost so many warriors, what a heavy blow to his reputation would have taken if he hadn't attacked? Whether or not you can bring this army in the future is a question!

At this moment, Ashina Sheer waved his hand and said, "Call those Byzantines!" ”

It is a well-known fact that the Turks are not good at sieges. But in the same way, in this world, it is not only the Chinese who are good at attacking and defending. Similarly, the Byzantine Empire is an empire with a brilliant civilization. It can be said that this is the last afterglow of the Roman Empire.

In order to resist the threat of the Sassanid Empire, the Byzantine Empire united with the Western Turkic Empire ("Journey to the West", by Tang Duhuan), and the Western Turks stopped in the Khorasan region of the Sassanid Empire because they were not good at attacking cities. The Byzantine Empire sent excellent commanders to command the Western Turks.

Jieli's alliance is actually complementary in all directions. Jieli sent a special service leader, more than 1,000 outstanding Turkic soldiers, responsible for improving the cavalry combat effectiveness of the Byzantine Empire. And the Byzantine consul Cassily Barsi.

The Balsi family is also one of the family gate valves equivalent to the Tang Dynasty. The later Macedonian Empire was founded by the Balsi family.

As Cassily Barsi took over the command of Ashina Sheer, the Turkic army's offensive became methodical, and dozens or hundreds of modified high vehicles, like tanks, slowly approached the city of Toyosu.

In front of him, the five-inch thick shield wrapped in cowhide, the bow and crossbow of the Tang army, could not cause any damage to the Turks behind the high chariot, and the high chariot slowly approached the city wall of Fengzhou City.

Zhang Changxun's face became very ugly, this kind of six-foot-tall cart, close to the city wall, the Turkic carriage behind stuffed the earth and stone into the bottom of the cart and the cart, many of which formed a six-foot-high earthen platform.

As more and more tall cars slowly approached the city, a slow path of more than ten zhang wide was gradually forming.

"Mr. Zhang, what should I do now!?" Someone was yelling at Zhang Changxun.

Zhang Changxun smiled bitterly: "What else can I do?" Let's fight to the death! ”

The soldiers around him did not say the words when they came to their mouths.

Zhang Changxun's smile became even more bitter, and he said slowly: "Don't think about surrendering, Your Majesty treats us well, we can't be so wolf-hearted...... Besides, do you think the Turks will let us go? No, they're going to kill us! ”

More and more high-rise trucks are piled up under the castle of Toyosu, and gentle slopes are rapidly formed.

Once a gentle slope was formed, the Turkic cavalry could ride their horses and charge directly to the city of Toyoshu.

Zhang Changxun said: "Light the wolf smoke and fight to the end!" ”

……

Under the gate of Chang'an City, a messenger captain hurriedly knocked on the door knocker.

A Shuling Shi on duty rubbed his sleepy eyes and opened the door.

The captain raised the urgent letter in his hand and said hurriedly: "Urgent report at the border gate, which minister is on duty tonight?"

Shuling Shi bowed and said: "It's Xuanling Xiangguo"

Shuling Shi was busy, invited the messenger lieutenant in, and then ran quickly to the back hall.

After a while, Fang Xuanling hurriedly walked into the lobby.

The messenger sent the urgent mail to Wei Zheng.

Fang Xuanling opened the urgent mail and asked the captain of the messenger: "When you set off, what was the climate like at the border pass?" ”

The messenger said: "Qi Yu Fang Gong, it is said that at this time in previous years, it should have turned cool, but now it is very hot, it has been a month, and it has not rained. ”

Fang Xuanling nodded and said, "Go, someone will send a copy to Your Majesty and all the prime ministers." ”

Shu Lingshi took the urgent mail and left quickly.

In the Hall of Xiande, Li Jing reported to Li Jiancheng: "The Ministry of War has listed the estimate of the number of troops that need to be invested in the national war by the end of next year.

Li Jiancheng hurriedly pricked up his ears and listened carefully.

Li Jing said: "The Tang Dynasty must mobilize at least 300,000 or 500,000 troops, of which the cavalry strength must reach about 100,000 people, but with the national strength of the Tang Dynasty, by the end of the second year of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, it can only gather at most 100,000 troops to go out, of which the cavalry strength does not exceed 30,000 people......

Li Jiancheng frowned deeply.

Wei Zheng said: "Although Your Majesty has issued an edict to raise horses in all parts of Guanzhong, because of the famine, it has not completely passed, and the effect of Ma Zheng has not been seen for a while......

At this moment, Fang Xuanling suddenly came in and interrupted everyone's speech: "No, the algorithm of the military department is wrong......

Li Jiancheng and the others turned their heads in unison and looked at Fang Xuanling.

Fang Xuanling said: "If you choose summer or autumn to carry out this war, then you will indeed need 300,000 to 500,000 troops; But if, the time of the war will begin, choose in the winter, or in the spring......"

Li Jiancheng's eyes lit up.

Fang Xuanling said while thinking: "Then 100,000 troops are enough; If the heavens are beautiful, let Mobei, and there will be another heavy snowfall, then the Tang Dynasty only needs 50,000 troops to quell the Turks, of which 5,000 cavalry troops are enough. ”

Li Jiancheng took the case and said: "Yes, a heavy snowfall is enough to reach an army of 100,000. ”

Yang Gongren said: "Compared with cattle, the sheep in Mobei breed faster, good breeds, can produce two children a year, generally three children in two years, if the forage is sufficient, a year and a half, can double the number." ”

Fang Xuanling said: "Now the number of Jieli's flock is quite sufficient, as long as he is willing to recuperate for two years, at least the Turks will not lack goat milk to eat." ”

Yang Gongren said: "Their grain harvest this year has been lost. ”

Li Jiancheng nodded and said: "Jieli drove the people of the Han family who were taken captive to Mobei by him to farm for him, and these people are about 1.5 million. ”

Li Jing handed a thick stack of documents to Wei Zheng and said: "This is the statistics of the Turkic cattle, sheep, livestock and horses collected from Mobei by the Ministry of War, as well as Zheng Yuanshou and them, and the top is the general statistics. ”

Wei Zheng picked up the top statistical table, quickly scanned it, and said in surprise: "Turkic horses, so badly lost?" I remember that when Wude was in the seventh year, the number of horses in the tribe under the command of Guangtuli was more than that. ”

Li Jing nodded and said: "After three consecutive years of campaigning, coupled with the heavy snowstorm in the winter of these two years, the Turks can't withstand such a toss no matter how thick their family background is. Jieli is now desperately blackmailing Xue Yantuo, Xi, Xi, Khitan and other tribes, so it caused these tribes to rebel.

Wei Zheng weighed the thick text with emotion and said: "The military department and the Honglu Temple are hard, if they can defeat the Turks, they will also take credit." ”

A Chinese scholar wanted to enter the political hall, but was stopped by Li Anyan, who was guarding the door, and said, "The ministers are in a meeting." ”

The general said: "The envoy of Honglu Temple has just brought news from the Xue Yantuo Department. ”

Li Jiancheng took in Tuli and canonized him as the king of Beiping County, which made Yi Nan see hope, after all, the consumption of the Eastern Turks is getting bigger and bigger, and there are no less than 30,000 representatives participating in the alliance, and these people must be entertained well.

The result of Jieli's squeezing of Xue Yantuo was to make Yinan Khan prepare to follow Tuli's example and surrender to the Li Tang court.

The ministers looked at the table of surrender brought by the Tongshi Sheren, and Wei Zheng suddenly said, "How does Your Majesty plan to respond to Xue Yantuo's request?" ”

Li Jiancheng said: "I promised Yi Nan that I would send envoys to canonize him with great fanfare." ”

Yu Wenshi nodded and said, "If Jieli learns about this, he will definitely send troops to quell the rebellion." ”

Li Jiancheng said with a smile: "I just want him to not get a moment of respite." ”

Fang Xuanling said: "If we continue according to the current strategy, by the end of next year, Datang's national strength will be able to recover......

Wei Zheng said with a smile: "And the Turks at that time were the weakest ......."

Li Jiancheng sneered: "At the end of next year, it will be the period of decisive battle between the two countries." ”

Fang Xuanling said: "Your Majesty, don't be complacent, Fu Jian before the water, Cao Mengde before the red cliff...... Lessons from the past......"

Li Jiancheng said: "The family has a bad son, and it is not defeated by its family; The state has a minister, and it will not perish in its country; Fang Xuanling is my minister! ”

Everyone looked at Fang Xuanling in unison.

Fang Xuanling squinted his eyes and said with a calm expression: "Your Majesty, if you praise the minister, what the minister should say, he will still say it."

Li Jiancheng's face collapsed suddenly.

Others fought hard to resist the urge to laugh.

……

Fang Xuanling scattered and returned to the front of the house by car. At this moment, Fang Xuanling saw Gao Shilian standing at the mouth of the alley.

Fang Xuanling stepped out of the carriage and stood side by side with Gao Shilian.

Fang Xuanling invited Gao Gao Shilian into the house.

Gao Shilian shook his head and said, "No, I have other things!" ”

Fang Xuanling frowned and said, "What's the matter?" ”

Gao Shilian said: "I heard that Your Majesty is in the political hall today, praising you as a minister?" ”

Fang Xuanling nodded.

Gao Shilian sighed and said: "Xuan Ling, as a minister, it is certainly an honor, but this proves that you say too many things that you don't like on weekdays, and Your Majesty will be disgusted when he hears you speak." ”

Fang Xuanling nodded: "I am self-aware. ”

Gao Shilian smiled bitterly: "Now after all, it is not the reign of King Xianqin, Brother Xuanling, let's be a little more restrained!" ”

Fang Xuanling nodded lightly and smiled without saying a word.