Chapter 225: Jedi Counterattack (Part 1)

The huge catapult was tightened with a squeak. With the order from the sergeant, the huge rock was thrown up to the cliff and hit the walls of the stone castle city, and a stream of dust appeared, like a small wave stirring up on the sea.

But more than one hundred catapults shot out at the same time, and dense stones hit the city walls, dust and mists rose, and large pieces of gravel fell from the cliffs, which was spectacular.

However, this attack had no effect on conquering the Shibao City. The strong castle was built on Chiling, surrounded by cliffs and only a narrow passage. It can be said that "one man is an official, tens of thousands of men cannot open." In the eighth year of Tianbao, 400 Tubo troops guarded the fort, but Geshuhan, the governor of Longyou, took the castle at the cost of tens of thousands of casualties.

This shows the difficulty of taking this fort.

Zhang Huan had been attacking for ten days. He retreated from time to time to lure Ma Chongying to chase him. Seeing that the opponent was not deceived, he immediately turned around and attacked. However, the real attack was only twice. After hundreds of people were killed or injured, he immediately stopped attacking and used stone cannons and flying crossbows to attack. However, Ma Chongying never stood up. Both of them were tacitly informed. One was trying to get time to evacuate the Tang army in Hehuang, and the other was waiting for reinforcements to prepare for a large-scale counterattack.

In the middle of the night that day, the Tang army was quietly packing up their belongings and preparing to retreat. Zhang Huan stood beside the coach's tent, looking at the stone castle city shrouded in the night. He had never taken the solid castle, but he had no time, and the situation was even more critical than he thought. He had just received urgent reports. Tubo Zanpu personally led a 100,000 army from Huixi Fort, and the 5,000 Dangxiang Army, who were preparing to evacuate to Longyou, were surrounded by the enemy in Longzhi County, and had surrendered to the Tubo army. Now the Tubo vanguard has reached Huangshui.

I couldn't go back to the original road, so now I can only walk from the south to Ningsai County and the route where the scout Liu Shuai escaped back to Longyou. But even if I take this road, it is probably full of hardships.

"Governor, we are ready to leave." Seeing that Zhang Huan's eyes were full of reluctance, Du Mei comforted him and said, "As long as we preserve our strength, we will fight back in a few years."

Zhang Huan didn't say anything. He stared at the stone castle city and suddenly said, "You said that if we don't retreat from the same path, will Ma Chongying be in a hurry to chase?"

"What does the governor mean?" Du Mei suddenly understood Zhang Huan's thoughts.

Zhang Huan smiled faintly and said, "I have been fighting for more than a month, but I have never seen this famous Tubo general. How can I not leave some souvenirs for him?"

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The next morning, Ma Chongying stood on the castle as usual, looking at the movements of the Tang army. Three days ago, the 30,000 troops who came to support from Jiuqu area had quietly arrived at Shibao City. Now, he needs to calculate the time and wait for Zanpu to cut off Zhang Huan's retreat.

Ma Chongying was summoned by Chisong Dezan after losing his attack on Xibao. Only then did he know Zanpu's plan to attack the Tang Dynasty. By heart, he was not optimistic about Zanpu's plan. After all, attacking Longyou is completely different from attacking Hexi. However, he also knew that Tubo had fought for years and his financial resources were gradually exhausted, so Zanpu had no choice but to raise the idea of ​​an Eastern Expedition.

Although Chi Song Dezan did not know in advance that Zhang Huan would attack Hehuang, Ma Chongying knew that Zanpu would take the opportunity to cut off Zhang Huan's retreat. In terms of time, he should have succeeded.

"Governor, it's a bit strange." The deputy general Siddhazang suddenly found a clue.

"What's strange?"

"Please look at the Governor." Siddhazang pointed to the thief from a distance and said, "The stones projected a few days ago can still hit the top of the city, but from this morning to now, the highest one has only hit the middle of the city wall, and it seems that only half of the stone cannons are projecting."

Ma Chongying was reminded that he carefully observed the situation and that the stones shot were indeed lazy, and there was no such force as howling yesterday. He knew that this kind of stone cannon was made temporarily by Zhang Huan, and there was no trick to leverage the force. A stone cannon would require at least 200 people to fully load. The current lack of force only means that the Tang army did not have so many people to attack.

"Has Zhang Huan started to retreat?" As soon as he thought, Ma Chongying immediately ran to the highest watchtower and pounced on the battlements to look into the distance.

From afar, I saw that the Tang military camp was still there for miles away, but it was very quiet, completely without the bustle of people coming and going like before. ‘Wait a minute, don’t worry.’ Ma Chongying repeatedly warned himself that he was thinking about Zhang Huan’s plan.

From early in the morning, Ma Chongying watched the changes of the Tang army motionlessly. The stones thrown in became increasingly sparse and the force became weaker and weaker. Until noon, the Tang army finally stopped attacking.

A hundred stone cannons were placed in the open field, and there was no Tang army, and the camp tent was still the same. Logically, this was the time for the Tang army to go back to have a meal.

Ma Chongying stared at the west side of the camp, where smoke was lit every day, but now there was no movement. Suddenly, a thin wisp of blue smoke floated up and circled up softly.

"Select the troops!" Ma Chongying finally made a judgment. The Tang army had really withdrawn. He waved his arms excitedly and shouted, "Get ready to pursue."

A quarter of an hour later, the gate of Shibao City opened, and teams of Tubo soldiers flocked out. Ma Chongying took the lead and led a thousand people into the Tang army camp. Sure enough, the Tang army camp was empty, and there was no one, and the food, grass and supplies were not taken away. Where the blue smoke was just now, several sheep were eating green grass. When they nibbled a rope, some burning charcoal fell on a pile of hay, and only half of the Chinese books in the general tent burned, and some sporadic copper coins fell on the ground in many camps. It was obvious that the Tang army was in a hurry to retreat and even the money was distributed to the soldiers.

"Governor, is it the enemy's strategy to lure troops again?" Siddhazang asked with some concern.

"My reinforcements have arrived, so why are you afraid of him?" Ma Chongying couldn't help laughing loudly and said, "Didn't you see his escape route? He also knew that the retreat was broken."

He turned over the horse, pointed to Dongfang with a whip and said, "Please chase me at night, kill Zhang Huan, and be promoted to the third level, and give me a reward of 100,000 yuan."

Tens of thousands of Tubo troops fought bravely, and under the leadership of Ma Chongying, they followed the trajectory of the Tang army's retreat and chased eastward frantically.

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But half a day after Ma Chongying chased out, a group of three thousand cavalry in Tubo uniforms quietly approached from behind Shibao City. This army was naturally Wang Siyu's three thousand cavalry. After they washed Wanxiu City, they chased them all the way and arrived at Shibao City with 30,000 Tubo reinforcements three days ago.

Although it was ten days later than the time specified by Zhang Huan, Wang Siyu would never go back without taking down the Shibao City. It was relatively easy to enter the fort from the south of the Shibao City. The cliff walls were not as steep as the north, and the road was slightly wider, allowing five people to travel in parallel.

In order to capture Shibao City, Wang Siyu specially prepared hundreds of carriages disguised as a logistics army of Tubo people, and obtained dozens of Tubo-speaking Han slaves from Wanxiu City. When he found out that the Tubo army had left the castle, Wang Siyu knew that the opportunity had come.

He immediately urged hundreds of carriages to slowly drive towards the city gate.

At this time, there were only one thousand garrison troops left in Shibao City, led by a thousand-man commander. At this time, a Tubo soldier came to report that a logistics army was coming and calling the door.

The commander of a thousand men walked quickly to the top of the city, supported him on the battlements and looked down. He saw hundreds of carriages parked under the long stone steps in the hazy moonlight, full of items, and what's more wonderful is that there seemed to be a woman vaguely under the moonlight.

"We came from Wanxiu City and were ordered to deliver supplies." A loud Tubo army shouted under the city gate: "There are still fifty women."

The defenders on the city had seen the woman, and they were all itchy and looked at the leader with a gaze. No one suspected that the Tang army would come from behind. This was something that would never happen.

But the commander was very cautious. He did not open the door immediately, but instead poked his head and shouted: "Do you have documents!"

"Yes!" As soon as he finished speaking, a broken arrow shot up to the top of the city, with a document inserted on it. The commander of the thousand-man opened it and looked at it. It was indeed the grain transport army sent by Wanxiucheng, and there was also the seal of Wanxiucheng guarding.

The head of the thousand-man completely relieved his heart. He waved his hand and smiled and said, "Open the city!"

The city gate opened, Wang Siyu's eyes slowly narrowed, and he said in a deep voice: "Don't panic, go in slowly."

Hundreds of Tubo soldiers carried loads and climbed up the steps, with a group of women behind them. However, the sky was dark and they could not see clearly. They were wearing brightly-colored groups, shaking their faces, and entering the city gate gracefully. The Tubo army in the city was unhappy. No one cared about the supplies they sent. Everyone rushed up to surround the group of beauties they had longed for for a long time. But when they approached, they found that the group of women were tall, and seemed to be a little taller than them. It was fine, and their breasts were flat, so there was no trace of women's curves. Looking at their faces, they all had thick eyebrows and concave eyes, grinning and laughing with bloody mouths. Many people's faces were covered with thick bumps, and even a thick layer of powder could not be covered. The Tubo soldiers were so disgusted that they could not help but cover their mouths and ran to the corner of the wall.

"What the hell is it? Why are they all like men?" A Tubo army couldn't help but curse.

"That's right, I'm just a man, kill me!" Dozens of 'women' suddenly roared, and two long swords appeared in their hands like magic tricks. They swung their strength and slashed the Tubo army on the head. In an instant, dozens of people were chopped over, and hundreds of 'Tubo army' carrying the load also pulled out weapons from the load and snatched to the control of the city gate.

The sudden change shocked the Tubo defenders in the city. The commander of thousands of men saw a leucorrhea on their arms at a glance. He suddenly realized that this was the Tang army's deception of the city. He was shocked and scared, and roared and ordered his subordinates to rush up to seize the city gate.

But it seemed too late. Thousands of Tang troops had already swarmed in. An extremely tall Tang army general held a large iron spear and flew left and right among the Tubo army group. The cold spear tip was like a ghost judge's life pen, and the gun was shot to death. For a moment, a hundred corpses were buried beside him, and everyone was shot in the throat and heart. The Tubo army around him was so scared that he shouted and turned around to run away. Wang Siyu laughed at the sky, narrowed his eyes, and his sharp eyes stabbed the commanders of the Tubo army.

The commander of the thousand-man was also inspired by his arrogance. He roared and swung his sword at Wang Siyu, but he froze in the middle of the journey. He looked in disbelief and a large iron spear had penetrated his chest.

Wang Siyu smiled coldly, raised the body of the Tubo commander with a gun and shouted loudly: "I have killed the enemy leader. Brothers, it's time to make meritorious service and receive rewards!"

"Kill!" The bloodiness on Tang Jun's body was completely aroused. They waved their swords and stolen their lives and rushed into the depths of the castle.

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Half an hour later, Shibao City changed hands, the Tubo army in the city was killed, the city gate opened, and several fast horses rushed eastward.

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As night gradually fell, Ma Chongying led his army to chase for more than a hundred miles. He chased him to a lake and temporarily stopped chasing him, and ordered the soldiers to get water to rest and wait for the brigade behind to follow.

As time went by, Ma Chongying's excited heart gradually calmed down. It was obvious that Zhang Huan already knew that the retreat was cut off, so he retreated from the south. He had been in Hehuang for a long time and knew that there were countless old ways to lead to Longyou from the south. If Zanpu's army still intercepted Zhang Huan in the area of ​​Shancheng to the north, he would most likely be escaped by him.

Thinking of this, Ma Chongying immediately stood up and ordered a personal soldier, "Take a few people to inform the interceptor army in the north, tell them that the Tang army was going to escape from the Ningsai and Anxiang line in the south, and let them go south to intercept it quickly."

The soldiers led the order and rode away on horseback. Ma Chongying also turned over and looked eastward. There were many rivers in this area, and the fog was heavy in the air, and the surrounding mist was filled with smoke. Through the fog, the towering Chiling on the right was vaguely visible, and the narrow Suihe Mountains on the left were already entering the Knights Valley. This was a trumpet-shaped valley, wide in the west and narrow in the east, more than twenty miles long, about five miles wide, and the narrowest entrance to the eastern valley was less than a hundred feet. There was also a castle called Suihe Fort there.

Ma Chongying has experienced many battles and is always careful about this terrain and immediately ordered: "Send scouts to the front to observe, don't be careless."
Chapter completed!