The original Taiyuan City battle started three days after Pei Shiqing entered Taiyuan City, but it was not as tragic as Li Yuanji said in his letter to his father. In fact, he exaggerated the situation to urge his father to send reinforcements quickly. Since Yang Yuanqing led nearly 100,000 troops to Taiyuan City, it has been ten days. Only one battle occurred in these ten days: Yang Yuanqing personally led his army to capture Jinyang Palace again. In just half a day, he attacked the 5,000 defenders who guarded Jinyang Palace. The defender Sun Da was killed in the battle.

Perhaps in Li Yuanji's eyes, this battle can be called tragic (the newlyweds are not sweet.

The capture of Taiyuan City was the core of Yang Yuanqing's entire Hedong chess game. The other counties south of Taiyuan were not important to him now. He did not have so many troops to disperse and compete. Yang Yuanqing took back all his troops. Except for Su Dingfang who led 5,000 cavalry to stay in Hedong County to restrain the Tang army, and Cui Pojun led 5,000 troops to guard Huoyi County, the rest of the troops were all concentrated in attacking Taiyuan City.

When Taiyuan City was defending Liu Wuzhou at the beginning of the year, it dug two deep and trenches under the city, including a moat, with three defensive lines. The Taiyuan defenders carried out periphery defenses across the trenches. However, during the attack of Liu Wuzhou's army in the past two months, wooden bridges were built on these trenches, and the moats on the east and west sides were also filled with soil by Liu Wuzhou's army. However, Liu Wuzhou was unable to capture Taiyuan City in the end, and his efforts made Yang Yuanqing fulfillment.

Outside the east and west cities, military flags covered the sky and the sun, and the camps stretched for several miles. It was the tenth day that the Fengzhou army arrived in Taiyuan, but it had not launched an attack on Taiyuan City. Perhaps because they did not have any siege weapons, the siege weapons left by Liu Wuzhou were all destroyed by the Taiyuan defenders. The Sui army in Fengzhou seemed to have not had time to make ladders, siege rams and other weapons. They came empty-handed, which gave the Taiyuan defenders a first-line removal.

The Sui army in Fengzhou did not seem to be in a hurry. They were preparing for the siege. Teams of horses were galloping outside the city. In the distance, horses transported long and straight giant trees, which were giant fir trees transported from Yuci County more than ten miles away. There, the Sui army found a dense forest of fir trees and collected thousands of giant trees as high as five or six meters. Using these long and straight giant trees, the Fengzhou army could create a simple and effective siege weapon - the siege ladder, which was a profound inspiration left by the Turkic army. When this siege ladder that was several meters wide hooked the city, the army could rush to the top of the city in groups (god-level stars).

On the top of the city, Duke of Qi Li Yuanji rode a horse on the east city wall to check the Fengzhou Sui army's preparations for the siege. At this time, he no longer had his usual domineeringness, nor his usual arrogance, and there was a hint of unconcealed fear in his eyes, especially when he heard that the 20,000 elite soldiers who supported him were completely wiped out by Yang Yuanqing. He felt isolated and helpless, as if the entire Hedong had been lost, leaving only an isolated city in Taiyuan.

Li Yuanji had never experienced war. He had no experience in defending the city. Facing the powerful Sui army in Fengzhou, he was filled with fear of death. He wrote to his father more than once, asking his father to allow him to give up Taiyuan City and ask his father to change the guard, but he only waited for his father to scold him again and again.

Behind Li Yuanji stood a group of Li Yuan who stayed to assist his aides and officials, deputy left-behind Xiahou Duan, Shi Dou Dan, chief of Taiyuan's left-behind palace, Sima Liu Dewei. The record officer Yuwen Xin, Shaoqing of Weiwei Temple, Liu Zhenghui, Taiyuan County prefect Wang Xu, and dozens of generals.

Facing the upcoming offensive by the Fengzhou army, everyone was in a complicated mood. They knew very well that the Fengzhou army was not a bandit, and Yang Yuanqing was not Liu Wuzhou. He was famous all over the world just by defending the city. How could those who are good at defending the city be good at attacking the city?

"Duke Qi, Yang Yuanqing came from afar. They did not prepare siege weapons. They are now making temporary weapons. Not enough to worry, but we are fully prepared. There are 120 catapults alone, which is enough to smash Yang Yuanqing's army into meat paste. Duke Qi doesn't need it, we will definitely be able to defend Taiyuan City!"

The person who persuaded Li Yuanji was the deputy left-behind Xiahou Duan. He was Li Yuan's friend and Li Yuanji's elder. He was responsible for commanding the defense of the entire city. Xiahou Duan also received a letter from Li Yuan to him, and in the letter, he ordered him to be optimistic about Li Yuanji and not allow Yuanji to abandon the city and escape.

Xiahou Duan knew Li Yuanji's thoughts very well. He was frightened by all kinds of rumors in the city and was scared by Yang Yuanqing's 100,000 troops. Yuanji was young after all, and had never experienced wars and had no experience. He suddenly made him bear the heavy responsibility of defending Taiyuan, which he could not bear.

Xiahou Duan pointed the Sui army below with a horse whip and comforted him in a low voice: "Yang Yuanqing actually only brought 30,000 cavalry, and the rest of the army were surrendered by Liu Wuzhou. His training was weak, so Qi Gong was not worth worrying."

Li Yuanji was already tired of the old lady Xiahou Duan, and he just wanted to defend the city by himself and not give up easily. He glanced at Xiahou Duan and said coldly: "There are also 15,000 surrendered soldiers from Li Shuliang (the full text of becoming a Buddha in another world."

After saying that, he urged the horse to turn around and hang Xiahou Duan aside. Xiahou Duan looked at his back and couldn't help but sigh, no reason was to call his uncle's name directly.

The chief Dou Dan also shook his head and said to Xiahou Duan: "He is only sixteen years old after all, and he is still a child. General Xiahou should not make things too difficult for him."

"child?"

Xiahou Duan was furious and angry at Dou Dan. "I led the army to fight at the age of fourteen, and I was arguing with merits and triumphantly. I have already experienced many battles. You were invited to court to report to the court at the age of threeteen. Yang Yuanqing was ten years old and he was guarding the border to fight. But our prince is already sixteen years old. You still say he is a child. He robbed the women of the people and played with women. Why don't you say he is a child? He is arrogant and indulgent, not doing small things, and not doing big things. He is such a person. Don't think you are his brother-in-law and just hide it for him!"

Dou Dan was about twenty-seven or eight years old. He was Dou Kang's son, with his literary talent and martial arts skills, and he married Li Yuan's second daughter as his wife. Li Yuanji's brother-in-law. Li Yuan ordered him to be the chief of the Taiyuan residence and assist Li Yuanji in defending the city.

He was also annoyed by Xiahou Duan's scolding and scolding, and blushed and argued with a rough face: "Do you think I am willing to do this? He is the son of his lord. Even if he is not helpful, we will assist him. Apart from saying that he is a child, how can I explain to his lord, that he is a lewd and tyrannical?"

"You should at least tell the truth to your lord!"

The two were quarreling with each other, and at this moment, a cry of a goshawk suddenly came from the sky. The two looked up and saw a goshawk circling from the slant. Xiahouduan saw a small red tube tied to the eagle's legs at a glance. He was surprised and said: "It's Xinying!"

An eagle slave had already rushed to the top of the city. He shouted and waved to the eagle. The eagle retracted its wings and landed on his hand. The eagle slave took off the letter tube and handed it to a soldier, and he took out a piece of fresh meat from the bag to reward the letter hawk.

The soldier rushed forward and knelt down on one knee, and presented the letter to Xiahou Duan, "Report to the General, it is the Eagle Letter from Hedong City (the latest chapter of the best intimate follower."

The letter tube was engraved with the word "Hedong". Xiahou Duan pulled out the letter in a hurry, looked it hurriedly, and looked at it with a look of surprise in his eyes. He turned to Dou Dan, who looked expectant, and said, "Our reinforcements are here. We have passed Hedong County."

Dou Dan was overjoyed and asked quickly: "Who led and how many troops?"

"It was led by Duke Qin. There were a total of 50,000 troops!"

Dou Dan was so excited that he patted his forehead. King Li Shimin of Qin came. This was the Prime Minister's wise decision. He no longer used a fearful person like last time, but was destroyed before he even went north, making Taiyuan City extremely passive.

Dou Dan forced himself to calm down and said to Xiahou Duan: "Since we know this information, Yang Yuanqing will also know that he will definitely launch an attack in the next few days, so we must be more vigilant."

"But what attack he used?"

Xiahou Duan looked at the Fengzhou Army's camp. So far, he had not seen any large siege weapons appear. With such a thick city wall in Taiyuan City, would they still want to get in?

"General Xiahou, don't underestimate Yang Yuanqing, he is very good at making strange plans." Dou Dan said with some concern.

"I know he is good at making strange plans and does not underestimate him. I just talk about the matter. A man who has no preparations for siege is only looking for trees to build siege weapons under Taiyuan City. Such a general can conquer Taiyuan City, so I give him my head."

Xiahou Duan sneered disdainfully, turned around and went downstairs to deliver a letter to Li Yuanji. Dou Dan's eyes turned to Yang Yuanqing's camp. He frowned and intuition told him that Yang Yuanqing must have done something they didn't know in the past ten days.

If Dou Dan left the city, or if he stood ten feet higher, he would discover Yang Yuanqing's secret. Unfortunately, from the perspective of his standing, he could not find it, and no one in Taiyuan City could not find it.

In addition to the moat outside the city, the Taiyuan defenders dug two trenches from a hundred steps and two hundred steps, each of which was 100 trenches wide and six feet deep. There was a passage between the two trenches. This was designed to push the defense line to the periphery. It was designed to target the short range of bows and arrows and no cavalry of Liu Wuzhou's army. Ten thousand Tang army crossbowmen hid in the trenches to resist the enemy. These two trenches played a huge defensive role and shot more than 30,000 Liu Wuzhou's siege army (the latest chapter of Han Hua Yueying.

But with the arrival of Fengzhou Army, the two trenches lost their defensive effect. The Fengzhou Army's cavalry was fast, and the defenders hidden in the trenches could not escape the pursuit of the cavalry. The Taiyuan trenches gave up the outer defense, and the two trenches became decorations, and the Sui army could easily lay bridges on them.

But at this moment, there was a situation in the two trenches that Dou Dan and even the Taiyuan defenders could never have dreamed of. The two trenches outside the northern city were filled with Sui army, with hundreds of people. This was the fortification of the Sui army. Hundreds of Sui army soldiers sat in the trenches, leaning on the wall of the trenches, holding iron shovels. In the past ten days, the Sui army in Fengzhou only did one thing: dig tunnels.

First dig the tunnel from the camp to the first trench on the periphery, and then dig another tunnel between the two trenches. In this way, the Sui army in the camp can directly enter the second trench on the inside through the tunnel without being discovered by the city. The Sui army soldiers can appear a hundred steps away from the city wall without knowing their own eyes.

This should be a negligence of Xiahouduan. There are also such trenches outside the Dali City of Fengzhou, but the trenches are connected to the moat. Once they are given up, they will be immediately flooded, which is to prevent the trenches from being used by the enemy.

But Xiahouduan did not consider connecting the trench and the moat. Perhaps he was too confident in Taiyuan's city walls, or perhaps he was not experienced enough. He could not think of how to use this trench to attack the city. After all, the Sui army would still be exposed to the rain of arrows when they came out of the trench, and at most they would avoid the attack of the trenchers.

Everyone will have negligence. The key is whether they can grasp the negligence of the enemy. Xiahou Duan's negligence is nothing in the eyes of Liu Wuzhou, who is not good at siegeing the city, but for the Fengzhou Sui army, who is good at attacking and defensive battles in cities, this is definitely a fatal negligence.

[Digging tunnels to siege is a very common method for siege wars. During the Anshi Rebellion, tunnel wars were staged outside Taiyuan City. In addition, please recommend votes!!] To be continued
Chapter completed!