Chapter 154: Breaking Spring Ice

The cold winter of the four years of Tiance finally passed. When the spring of the fifth year of Tiance arrived, everything was not revived early.

The Tang army and the Huihe army in Tianfang throughout the winter have never fought a big battle. Although they only had a small contact, they have not started due to the weather.

After the spring warms up and ice melts, all wars are put on the schedule again. As the weather is better, the more strict the defense is, the more February it is, the dynamics between the two sides become strange again.

In the past winter, the military rations of both sides were almost exhausted. Guo Wei did not show off his mountains and waters, but did not attack the city but blocked the Tianfang Army's way out to the east. He did not fight fierce battles but made the people of Samarkand dare not leave the city easily. This led to Samarkand, Victory City and Bosid were basically in a state of consumption but not being earned.

The Tang army was not feeling well. Although Guo Luo mobilized all resources and saved everything he could, and some non-combat teams had even begun to use the food restriction policy - this was very dangerous, and they mobilized civilians to try their best to plunder all the food that could be eaten in the eastern part of the Nami River Basin, by early February, the entire army was still in a state of being out of food at any time! Ningyuan's transportation from Nami to Nami was not considered to be generally thawed in mid-January, and subsequent supplies were difficult to reach.

So after February, the most eye-catching thing between the offensive and defensive sides was still not fighting, but supervising the food. Satuk actually left Samark and rushed to Kushan State - because a small rebellion had just happened there. If the rear was unstable, it would be useless even if the front line was held!

And Guo Luo is like this, he is worried about food!

"Here I come, I'll come soon!" He always said this. Guo Wei sent people to ask several times, because he didn't dare to officially start the siege because he didn't have any subsequent food! Guo Luo was really sad. You should know that although the mountain roads were thawed in early spring, the road was very difficult to walk at this time. Therefore, the grain transport team traveled several times more frequently than in summer and autumn, and there were frequent accidents. Although the first batch of grain had been shipped, the quantity was too small, which was a drop in the bucket compared to the entire army.

Guo Luo calculated that according to the current situation, the food that is enough to supply the entire army will definitely not be fully arrived within half a month. In five days, the Tang army will have to be exhausted, and then the terrible period of food is about to be eliminated. Even if the army is large enough, it can be tried to adjust, but in ten days, the Tang army must consider retreating! Because of Esatuk's shrewdness, he will not wait until then to not counterattack!

The situation in the east is already very bad now. If the west returns without success, the entire Tiance regime will probably enter a state of great contraction and retreat next!

At this time, Guo Luo was not the one who was stronger than Satuk, but who was more stoic!

"Doesn't God really want me to be defeated?"

How much thought and how many situations you have put in, everything is ready. Will you be blocked by the grain for several days at this critical moment and fail?

In a few days, his gray hair increased greatly! By February 10th, when the food was about to be cut off, Guo Luo's expression became less and less beautiful, and his black hair was half white! Although he tried his best to keep the news, some things could not be hidden, and there was also an impetuous atmosphere in the entire army!

At this moment, the Ula Mountains were completely unsealed - this mountain road leads to the Baishuicheng area, which leads to the Talas area, and the Talas area leads to the Saiye area - this is another rear of the Tang army in Tiance. However, Guo Luo did not consider this rear. The successive wars from the Saiye area to the Talas area made it very exhausted. Although Xiao Shitou stabilized the situation there with the help of Shi and Ge families, Zhang Mai and Guo Luo's expectations for them were just to not be messed up there. Although Shiba also tried to transport some food and grass, the quantity could not be the main supply for the Nami River Basin War.

But at this time, after the Ula Mountains thawed, a flock of sheep surged from the mountain road!

"Report! The supplies from the Sailed Leaf have arrived, and they have arrived! We have passed Mount Ula!"

After receiving the news, Guo Luo didn't take it seriously at first, but he found that the tone of the messenger seemed to be too excited and asked, "How many?" He thought that although it was impossible to have too many, the current situation would be more hopeful if he could endure one day.

The sender reported a number, and Guo Luo jumped from his seat and shouted, "How is that possible!"

The letter-transmission officer presented a letter. The letter has been sent for a long time. It was found that the date was issued in October last year, but because of the ice and snow, it has only arrived in Guo Luo's hands until now!

When Guo Luo opened it, he found that it was not written by Shiba, but by Yang Yi! It turned out that Yang Yi came to the book last fall and thought about the various problems that might be encountered on the western front. Therefore, he wrote to Shiba again, asking him to search all the sheep flocks in the Shaye area and transport them all to Talas and Baishui City before the winter solstice. At the same time, he mobilized the sheep flocks that Beiting could raise to move westward to make up for the shortage of Shaye area.

Yang Yi's move almost drained the potential of Beiting and Shuye, making the Beiting area extremely empty. However, for Guo Luo, this was a batch of life-saving materials!

When the first batch of sheep and horses arrived in the Nami River Basin, Guo Luo issued an order to Guo Wei: "Attack!"

The general attack, which had been waiting for a long time, finally began!

On this day, Guo Wei slaughtered many newly transported sheep, allowing all the soldiers, including combat troops and civilians to have a full meal!

Eating the newly shipped military rations, the whole army knew that the biggest crisis was over!

"After eating this meal, we will attack the city! Seven days! We will win the Victory City within seven days!"

The whole army cheered and thundered, like the roar of the sea, and even shouted: "Why seven days! One day is enough! Today we will take down the Victory City!"

Although there was no particularly big battle in the past winter, Guo Wei was fully prepared. Most of the siege equipment was completed when spring came. When Guo Luo's order came, the war suddenly came from peace to climax!

The cavalry of the Tang Dynasty, wearing silver armor, rushed out of the Victory City like a group of fish in spring. Shu Yibar knew that his opponents should master the field power of this war as soon as possible!

While the cavalry advanced, there were 2,500 catapults that could move outside the city slowly pushing!

These catapults were designed by Ningyuan mechanic Sadi. Some key parts were built in Ningyuan. They were split and transported here. Then they were made locally and made many chassis and matching parts. Sadi trained hundreds of craftsmen in total. In this winter, 2,500 catapults were built. Each catapult was controlled by twenty people. In addition to the surrounding guards, the huge catapults alone had reached 80,000!

Thanks to Guo Wei's lack of training in advance, he arranged the corresponding catapult cart place in almost every place west of the trench - this pre-arrangement took countless trivial efforts! But because of this, the action was not chaotic!

To make nearly 100,000 people move in an orderly manner under such technical conditions in this era, it really requires extremely valuable command art!

Countless bridges were built in the trench, and black castle chariots rushed over. The shells were all sulfur and refining bombs, and there were also huge stones that were opened on the spot!

Looking at the dark group of catapults, the people in the city were shocked! They didn't expect that there was such a powerful weapon hidden behind the trench! Catalogs are not rare in the Hezhong area, but there are 2,500 catapults! This number is terrifying!

"Come in one place and smash it for me!"

Guo Wei ordered!

The effective range of the catapult is larger than that of the bow and arrow, and it has a protective setting, which can completely resist long-range and weak bow and arrow, but the catapult is slow, so both Shui Ibar and Ista can see the actions they will carry out next from the action of the catapult group!

"Please let us fight!" Ista, representing the black knight of the Tianfang Cult, came to ask for battle.

His request for battle makes sense. In the city, the archers can't do anything about these long-range siege tools. If they want to deal with the catapult, they can only use the catapult. In the city, there are only one hundred and fifty catapults in the city. This "only" is actually not appropriate enough. This number is actually quite large. However, compared with the Tang army's outside the city, the number of catapults is not enough for the other party!

Moreover, if you want to use the catapult car in the city to accurately project the catapult car outside the city, there must be people who are proficient in long-range ballistics (that is, the taker in the Tang army). After all, Satuk is a simple army, and there are not many people in the army who can proficient in long-range ballistics. With the current situation, the catapult car in the Bisheng City obviously cannot effectively suppress the catapult car outside the city. As long as the Tang army, the catapult car group, is placed, the city wall of Bisheng City will face an extremely terrible or even irreversible situation!

Of course, the catapult group has a natural weakness, that is, it is almost without defense against melee troops. Although Sadi's design is agile, it is precisely because of its agility that it is impossible to arrange each catapult into a very solid small fortress - that will make it inconvenient to move and cannot be split!

"As long as our cavalry is approaching and stepping over all the way, the true god blesses you, you can level the catapult formation in one trip!" Ista said: "This catapult group should be the last killer weapon of the Tang people. As long as it is destroyed, the morale of the Tang army will be greatly affected and will inevitably be in a slump!"

Ista's analysis makes sense, but Shu Yibal had another concern: "But what if this is a trap for the Tang army?" he said.

"Even if we are traps, we have to go out!" Ista said: "If all these thousands of catapults are activated, do you think the walls of Victory City can withstand it?"

Many of the walls of Bisheng City were made of stones, and they had strong anti-strike power. Shu Yibar also combined the defensive techniques of various countries, prepared cotton-plated cloth to offset the impact of the catapult, and prepared various fire-fighting objects. Therefore, he was not very worried about the catapult siege method. Not only the catapult siege method, but he was prepared for the ladder, crash, tunnel, water attack, etc., but he did not expect that the Tang army used the numerical advantage from the beginning!

If the two thousand five hundred catapults are started at the same time, hundreds of catapults aim at one place, how long can the hard and thick city walls last?

"Must leave the city!" all the black-clad cavalry shouted!

"Even if the other party is ambushed, it's under the city. Our bows and arrows can help suppress the other party. We have a chance of winning in this battle!"

Last winter, Shu Yibal's inability to retreat had already made most of the Tianfang cavalry very dissatisfied. If Shu Yibal refused their request for battle at this time, it would be fine if the battle went smoothly. If the battle was not smooth, these people might become out of control!

There are many times when the general may not know the danger, but he must take care of the morale of the army and morale. After all, war is not based on the script.

"Okay," said Shu Yibar. "But you are not the striker, but the main force."

"What's the meaning?"

Shu Yibal did not answer, but he knew that although the cavalry under Ista’s control reached 20,000 to 30,000, the real core elite was only 6,700, and these 6,700 people were one of Satuk’s greatest capitals. In addition, he had another force that had not been used yet. In Shu Yibal’s opinion, this force was not suitable for defending the city, and that was a fanatic from all over the world!

These people have been clamoring to go out to fight in the past winter, and are very dissatisfied with Shu Yibal's shrinkage. They are very scary after being motivated. However, defending the city is a technical job, relying on perseverance is far more than fanatic, so Shu Yibal decided to let these people go out of the city to be cannon fodder!

The Tang army had a catapult like a mountain, but I didn’t have a fanatic like a sea!

This battle will begin before the catapult is arranged!

The two thousand five hundred catapults are arranged and completed. Although the action has been started since the early morning, the time calculation will take at least until dusk to complete the arrangement!

And before noon, Shu Yibal's order had already spread throughout the city!

"Go to fight!"

He ordered!

Tens of thousands of fanatics of the Tianfang Sect who were so exhausted all screamed, and the agents of the immortals in the mountains came to the crowd to inspire morale!

"Go to fight, fight! The east is the Tang Dynasty like a flower. If we win, the territory there will be ours! We will conquer their men and seize their women! Even if you will die on the battlefield, the True God has prepared beauty and wine for you in heaven, where you will get eternal life and eternal happiness!"

Crazy cheers came from the city. When the city gate opened, what a terrible group of people were pouring out!

What terrible things will happen in this space between the catapult array and the Victory City Wall?

"Now is the time for you to express your loyalty to the Tang Dynasty." Before the war started, Guo Wei had already asked Guo Luo for almost all the Hu cavalry. "Can Victory City resist our great cannon? Impossible! As long as the cannon breaks a road, you will rush in! Tian Khan has already given the order, the soldiers will be granted the title of marquis! The general has split the soil! The city of Samarkand will be given to the tribes that entered the city first!"

Hu Qi was all happy. They had been used to seeing Shu Yibal's turtle in the past winter. They felt that as long as the catapult group could break a path, it was not difficult to rush in. They didn't know what was waiting for them in front!

"Run!" As the city gate opened wide, Ista shouted: "It is inconvenient to move the catapult car, not to mention that there are so many catapult cars that basically occupy all the places that can move! So as long as we approach, we will win! No need to fight, we can win by charging!!"

"I will win, I will win!"
Chapter completed!