The Tang army captured the weak point of Sui soldiers who were too few to defend the city in turn, and thus exhausted, and launched an attack just as dawn.

Five thousand Tang army crossbowmen were vanguards and lined up in nine rows, and rushed towards the city gate. They raised their shields to resist the intensive bows and arrows shot from the city gate.

Behind them are the five thousand most elite soldiers, and they are the real main force in the siege.

When they entered within a hundred steps from the Huguan city wall, the crossbowmen on the top of the city fired at the same time, and a thousand powerful rain of arrows roared towards the Tang army. The Tang army erected shields to form countless shield walls. The powerful arrows shot on the shield wall, making a series of "doles!doles!doles!' sounds, most of which were nailed on the shield.

This is experience. After experiencing repeated bloody battles, both sides will discover the opponent's weaknesses and use them. There is no impact of the huge rock on the top of the city wall, and the Tang army will be much more relaxed in dealing with the rain of arrows on the top of the city wall. After dozens of battles, Li Xiaogong knew how to deal with the crossbow on the top of the city wall.

Five thousand Tang army crossbowmen began to counterattack after avoiding the first wave of arrows from the Sui army. At the same time, they shot arrows at the top of the city, and dense arrows like locusts were shot at the top of the city, which made the Sui soldiers on the top of the city unable to raise their heads.

At this time, a low trumpet sounded in the Tang army camp, and the five thousand elite Tang soldiers who were waiting for the troops were carrying dozens of newly built siege ladders towards the city like a tide.

But the Sui army soldiers also accumulated a lot of experience. Many of their soldiers, including the original chief general Zhao Ping, died in the dense bows and arrows shot from the city. The crossbows under the city caused their biggest casualties.

Therefore, the soldiers of the Sui army would not shoot against the Tang army under the city. When the overwhelming arrows under the city came, they immediately hid behind the battlements, squatted on the ground and shot blindly with parabolas or shot arrows in the shooting holes, which greatly reduced the mortality rate.

But when the Tang soldiers began to attack the city in large numbers, the crossbowmen on the top of the city would stop shooting arrows, and they began to fight back with spears and rolling wood.

The shooting hole with a diagonal angle has become a nightmare for siege Tang army. When the Tang army soldiers are concentrating on fighting the soldiers on the city wall, the shooting hole below will suddenly pierce a spear and directly pierce the lower body of the Tang army soldiers, which is unpredictable.

Almost half of the Tang soldiers siege the city died in the sneak attack of the shooting hole, and it was extremely secretive. The stabbed Tang soldiers could no longer remind the soldiers behind, but instead screamed and fell down the city.

Five thousand Tang soldiers had already attacked, and the Sui army's crossbows did not exert much power. The Tang army's first phalanx army rushed to the city, and with a "boom!", he put a raft in front of the trench and erected ladders to the city wall.

Thousands of arrows were shot in the shooting hole on the top of the city, and rolling wood fell from the top of the city, like dense rain and wood like hail. Nearly a thousand Tang soldiers first rushed across the moat were shot by arrows, hit by rolling wood, broken bones and broken tendons, and wailed.

At this time, the Tang army crossbowmen also began to fight back. They were in groups, one raised a shield and the other shot. The arrows were covered with the sky and shot up the city, and the dense arrows up and down formed a net of arrows.

As dozens of city ladders were built on the city walls one after another, Tang soldiers rushed forward, and five thousand elite soldiers were fully committed to the battlefield. At this time, the Tang army had already invested 10,000 people, while the Sui army had only more than a thousand people. They fought a desperate bloody battle with the Tang army at a huge difference of one to ten.

More than a dozen soldiers on the city ladder were poured with poison oil one after another, and screams suddenly sounded on the siege ladder. More than a hundred Tang soldiers on the city ladder were burned unbearable by the strongly corrosive poison juice. The poisonousness occurred rapidly, and the soldiers in great pain jumped off the city ladder.

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On the other side of the city wall, two Sui soldiers carried the crucible and used an iron spoon to scoop the melted iron juice from the crucible and splashed it onto the city ladder.

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At several key attacks of the Tang army, fierce Tang soldiers rushed to the top of the city and were constantly killed by the tenacious and brave Sui army. Both sides flew with flesh and blood, fighting for life and death. A Sui army was pierced through the chest by a spear. He burst out his last strength and fell off the city wall with his arms and soldiers.

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A bloody and cruel offensive battle was held in Huguan.

The Tang soldiers were like the devil army from hell. Taking down Huguan had become their only belief. They were so angry that they were killed. Five thousand soldiers were put into battle. They ignored their deaths and used all possible ways to kill the city.

Under the suspension bridge, Zhang Liang personally led hundreds of soldiers to carry the bodies. Three thousand Tang army crossbowmen on both sides suppressed the Sui army soldiers at the top of the city to cover Zhang Liang's actions.

In less than half an hour, thousands of corpses piled up into a mountain of corpses two feet high. Zhang Liang shouted loudly, holding a big knife in one hand and holding a shield in the other hand, climbing the suspension bridge while stepping on the pile of Tang soldiers. More than a dozen Tang soldiers behind him also followed him to climb the suspension bridge. They tried hard to cut down the iron wedge wood that pulled the city bridge, and the long chains flew away, and the city bridge collapsed with a bang.

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The fall of the moat bridge caused the battle to take a sharp turn. When Li Xiaogong saw the hope of breaking through Hu Pass, he shouted loudly: "Attack the city rail!"

Hundreds of Tang soldiers wearing iron mail held nearly ten feet long to the city-slamming giant tree. Under the dense protection of hundreds of shields, they rushed towards the city gate again and again. The Sui army's bows, rolling wood, and iron juice on the top of the city could not shake the centipede iron beetle.

"boom!"

The city gate was shaking, the Huguan was trembling, the bricks and soil fell down, and the iron-armored centipede retreated dozens of steps again. In a burst of wild beast-like howling, the giant tree carried tens of thousands of pounds of power, and rushed towards the Huguan again frantically.

Another earth-shaking sound was heard, and the city wall was shaking violently. The Sui soldiers stood unsteadily on the city and fell down one after another. The Huguan gate was already shaking, and the loss of Huguan was inevitable. Many Sui soldiers closed their eyes in despair.

However, at this moment, a low horn sound suddenly came from the valley behind him, like a storm sweeping across the valley, resounding through the thunder in the mountains.

Yuchi Gong personally led 10,000 reinforcements to Huguan at the most critical moment.

Li Xiaogong, who was supervising the battle in the camp, heard the sound of trumpets coming from the valley. He couldn't say a word. After a while, he sighed, "God's will!"

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Ten days have passed in Zhongdu, and it is finally time to get the exam. In this imperial examination, Zhongdu and Chang'an, a total of 90,000 people participated in Zhongdu and Chang'an, of which Zhongdu was 47,000, while Chang'an was 42,000. The number of people in the two places was similar, and the admissions were also surprisingly consistent, both of which were admitted 100 people.

In addition, the Imperial College in Zhongdu will recruit 5,000 outstanding scholars to study, and Chang'an also imitates it, recruiting more than 4,000 people to study in the Imperial College. Both Imperial Colleges provide free food, accommodation and monthly food subsidies. The competition between the two capitals is very fierce.

Since tomorrow is the day to issue the list, these two ****s are busy with this matter. At noon, in the Tianci Building of the Neishi Province, more than a dozen important officials and senior officials are negotiating the admission list.

Zhang Xuan led his army to fight in Goguryeo at this time. He was unable to participate in the grand first imperial examination. Zhang Xuan appointed Wei Yunqi, the Minister of Personnel, as the chief examiner, and Lu Zhuo and Du Yan as the deputy examiners. He also ordered the six ministers and the inner historians, and the senior officials of the two provinces under the jurisdiction to form a collegial group to jointly decide the admission list. At the same time, the Censorate was responsible for the full supervision to ensure the fairness of the admission of the imperial examination.

The head of the collegial group was Su Wei, the inner historian. In addition to daring to adhere to principles in major events, Su Wei liked to be a peacemaker in other court affairs. This imperial examination was not a major event for him, so he continued to show his true nature of being good at mixing with others.

Although Zhang Xuan requested fair admission, it was actually very difficult to do. It was very simple. If the admitted scholars were concentrated in Hebei, it would be unfair to scholars in other regions. Because the reference scholars had close relationships with the aristocratic families in various places, this would hit the support of the gentry in various places for Zhongdu. Everyone understood these principles, so everyone unanimously decided to allocate regional quotas.

However, in terms of the specific quota allocation, the opinions of the people were divided. Lu Zhuo and Cui Huan represented the interests of the Hebei gentry. They asked that the quota of Hebei gentry account for 40%, while Pei Ju represented the interests of the Bingzhou gentry, Wei Yunqi represented the interests of the Shandong gentry, and Zheng Shanguo represented the interests of the Central Plains gentry. Xiao Yu and Yu Shinan both spoke for the scholars of Jiangnan, hoping not to forget the south. Even Su Wei, who had always been in harmony with the words, was somewhat biased towards the Guanlong gentry.

However, no matter how quarrels are, they still have to come up with a plan in the end. Su Wei showed his talent as a peacemaker at this time.

Su Wei coughed heavily and said to everyone who was whispering: "Everyone, be quiet!"

Everyone gradually became quiet, and Su Wei said slowly: "The ranking will be released tomorrow, and we are still arguing. This is not possible. Moreover, when His Highness King Qi left, he repeatedly reminded us to get this done, but we spent two days in a row. This failed His Highness King Qi’s trust in us. Let’s do this! I came up with a plan, and then everyone voted, and more than half of those who agreed, and everyone will see if they agree."

Wei Yunqi nodded and said, "Suiangguo is right. If you continue to argue like this, there will be no result. If you continue to make a decision, you will suffer from chaos. We should make a decision."

Everyone agreed, and Su Wei said: "My plan is very simple. Let's first admit 5,000 Tai students from high to low according to the results of this imperial examination, and then divide the 5,000 Tai students into the 5,000 Tai students, and look at the proportion of each region. Then the imperial examination will be admitted according to this proportion. For example, if the scholars in Hebei account for 30%, then the scholars in Hebei will be admitted 30 people, and if the scholars in Bingzhou account for 10%, then the scholars in Bingzhou will be admitted 10 people. As for the final ranking of these 100 people, they will be arranged according to their studies in the exam. This is my plan. Let's raise your hands to vote!"

Su Wei raised his hand first, and then Wei Yunqi also raised his hand. Everyone was silent for a long time and raised his hand one after another. Fourteen participants and eleven raised their hand to agree. Only Pei Ju, Lu Zhuo and Li Jing did not agree. Pei Ju and Lu Zhuo felt that the plan was inappropriate, while Li Jing simply disagreed with the ratio of the region. He advocated treating everyone equally and only admitted according to the level of learning.

Su Wei didn't care about Li Jing's attitude. He glanced at Pei Ju and Lu Zhuo and said apologetically: "You two, sorry!"
Chapter completed!