Chapter 185: First to Ascend the Land, Conquer Three Cities in Three Days
The most solid city in the entire Jiuqu is Shudun City, which was once the capital of Tuyuhun, but it had been captured by Li Xuan by "forcefully holding up the city gate".

Cities like Wanxiu City were still able to defend themselves during low-intensity sieges.

But as long as the Tang Dynasty attacks with all its might, it will surely be able to break through.

This is also the reason why the Jiuqu Cities have changed hands several times.

Less than three hundred people can stand on one wall.

Even if there were three thousand defenders, they would have to line up below and wait to die.

They also had to constantly endure attacks from the Tang army's catapults and crossbows.

This type of attack usually cannot hit people, but if it hits, it will cause psychological trauma to the soldiers guarding the city nearby.

"Oh!"

As the Tang army climbed the city wall, people were constantly hit by large rocks.

The soldiers were fearless and vied with each other to be the first to reach the top.

Compared with ladders, ladder trucks are safer.

Because there are shields and grappling hooks on the ladder.

The Tibetan defenders had to put in a lot of effort to destroy the Tang army's ladders.

Moreover, the Tang army was wearing iron armor, so bows and arrows were ineffective unless they hit their faces.

They could only wait for the Tang soldiers on the ladders to reach a certain height and then poke them down with spears.

The Tibetan soldiers were not having an easy time either, as they had to face the indiscriminate shooting of the powerful crossbowmen below, and their casualties were even greater than those of the Tang army.

Even if the powerful crossbowmen forty or fifty steps away could only hit the target once with twenty arrows, a thousand of them would be enough to defeat the Tubo defenders.

However, the Tang army under the city was attacking fiercely, and one after another they climbed up the ladders and climbing ladders.

If a few Tang soldiers in iron armor attacked the city, the killing power would be much greater than that of a strong crossbow. Therefore, the Tibetan defenders could only risk the strong crossbows and bed crossbows to face the Tang army climbing the city.

Fortunately, the Tang army was afraid of accidental injuries and did not dare to throw stones again.

Even though the Tang army was well prepared and still somewhat heroic when they first climbed the city, the stones thrown by the defenders hitting them on the head were too fatal.

At the moment of attacking the city, they had not even touched the parapet.

When the Tibetan soldiers died, the reserve troops immediately climbed up the city wall, and even threw their own corpses down to hit the Tang soldiers.

But the Tang army was not discouraged at all, and became more courageous as they faced more setbacks.

Gosuhan placed great hopes on the elite Tang troops in the east, while the Tuyuhun in the north and south were more to tie down the enemy.

In order to improve the accuracy of the crossbow arrows, Geshu Han took a risk and advanced the crossbowmen another twenty steps.

And mobilized three hundred archers to the east.

Geshu Han keenly noticed that the Tibetan soldiers on the wall were attracted by the Tang army attacking the city.

"Pfft!" "Pfft!"

At a distance of less than thirty steps, the accuracy of the Tang army's crossbowmen and archers was greatly improved.

Arrows flew like rain and the attack was like a tide. Some Tibetan soldiers were shot by crossbows and died before they could even raise their stones.

Some people were even shot by arrows and rolled down the city wall.

Most of the Tibetan soldiers had no armor, so even the arrows from the archers could kill them.

The Tibetan soldiers on the city wall were suppressed for a time.

"drink!"

Taking advantage of this opportunity, a Tang army warrior touched the parapet on the ladder and quickly jumped onto the city wall.

At this time, the Tang army archers did not dare to shoot arrows in this direction, so the Tang army warrior was besieged. The Tibetan soldiers pierced the gap in the Tang army warrior's armor with their spears and killed him on the city wall, causing the first climb to fail.

After a while, the Tang army jumped onto several parts of the east city wall, but without exception, they were outnumbered and were stabbed to death on the wall by the Tibetan defenders.

"Warriors, hold on, hold on!"

The defender of Wanxiu City shouted loudly behind the shield held by his personal guards.

He didn't leave any loopholes for Li Xuan.

Even though Li Xuan was only fifty steps away from the city.

"Li Sheng, Xue Cuo, follow me and help the brave warriors who are the first to climb up to the city wall to stand firm."

Li Xuan didn't want to wait for the "beheading" any longer, so he gave orders to Xue Cuo and Li Sheng.

Among his personal guards, only Li Sheng and Xue Cuo could hit the target every time within fifty steps.

"As ordered!"

After receiving the order, the two men picked up their bows and followed Li Xuan, putting arrows on the strings and staring at the city wall.

"Grandpa is here, the credit for being the first to reach the summit belongs to me!"

A Tang army leader holding a shield climbed the ladder to the parapet, then jumped up and shouted loudly to boost his morale.

The moment he climbed onto the city wall, two spears stabbed at him at the same time.

The Tang army men dodged by turning sideways and immediately drew out the swords from behind.

Taking advantage of the moment when the Tibetan defenders put away their spears, he swung left and right, killing two Tibetan soldiers.

The other Tibetan soldiers also reacted and attacked the Tang army from the front and back.

There were exactly three people behind him.

"call out!"

Li Xuan raised his bow and shot an arrow.

A soldier behind the Tang army's leader fell down in response to the arrow.

"Whoa..."

Li Sheng and Xue Cuo took aim and shot their arrows immediately.

The other two attackers were shot dead.

The Tang army soldier faced several Tibetan soldiers in front of him, and used his shield to protect his vital parts, so that the Tibetan soldiers could not pierce his armor.

"call out!"

Li Xuan shot another arrow at a Tibetan soldier in front of him.

The Tang army leader saw that it was General Li who was helping him, and he seemed to be given stimulants, as if he was helped by God. He shouted and moved forward, blocking the spear with his shield, and turned around and killed another Tibetan soldier.

A Tibetan centurion saw that the situation was not going well and swung his sword at the neck of the Tang army leader.

"clang!"

The sturdy fish-scale heavy armor blocked the attack for the leader of the team.

"Pfft!"

The Tang army leader swung his sword back, cut through the straps of the Tibetan centurion's chain mail, and slashed his waist.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..."

Li Xuan, Li Sheng and Xue Cuo shot arrows again and killed a round of attackers for the team leader.

In just this short moment, five or six Tang soldiers climbed up the city wall together using two nearby ladders and a sieve, drew their swords, and stood together with their backs to each other.

They don't need to take the initiative to attack, as long as they defend this section of the wall, their comrades will climb up continuously.

"Quick, get on top! Drive them down."

Seeing this, the defender of Wanxiu City became very anxious. He drew his sword and pointed it at the Tang army on the city and gave orders.

But it was too late. After the Tang army gained a foothold on the two-meter-high city wall, more than a dozen Tang soldiers climbed up the wall soon.

Once the armored soldiers have a small city wall of this size, it will be difficult to drive them away.

A group of Tibetan soldiers came to besiege the soldiers who climbed up the city wall, but they found that more and more were coming forward.

Geshu Han, along with his servant Zuoche, climbed up the city wall without shields, only spears.

He fought bravely, charging forward with a dozen soldiers, thrusting his spear straight forward, invincible.

"Pfft!"

The deputy general of Wanxiu City wanted to block Geshu Han's attack, but was stabbed to death by Geshu Han in one blow.

The other Tibetan soldiers were terrified and there were even signs that the defenders were retreating.

This also indicated that Wanxiu City was on the verge of collapse, because after the defense line of the city was disrupted, other places could not be defended, and nearly a hundred Tang soldiers soon climbed onto the narrow city wall.

The Tang army archers had also retreated to the north and south walls.

The loss of the eastern city wall made the Tibetan defenders on the northern and southern walls terrified.

More crossbowmen and archers joined in, and the Tang army had already charged towards the northern city wall, causing it to fall.

The southern city wall was also attacked by Tuyuhun soldiers. Due to the butterfly effect, the Tubo soldiers were frightened and their fighting power was far inferior to that of the Tuyuhun soldiers wearing chain mail.

Another general led his soldiers to break through the Tubo city wall and charged directly into the city.

The sluice gate was also raised!
Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the lord of Wanxiu City did not fight to the death, but knelt down and surrendered to the Tang army.

Wanxiu City fell amid the cheers of the Tang army!

Li Xuan did not kill the Tuyuhun commander because of his resistance, but planned to take him back to Chang'an to be dealt with by Li Longji.

While detaining and counting the prisoners and the spoils, Li Xuan ordered the soldiers to carry the siege equipment down the hillside in preparation for an attack on Hongji City, more than 20 miles away, tomorrow.

The soldiers slaughtered cattle and sheep in the city to celebrate the capture of Wanxiu City.

After a night's rest, some soldiers were left in Wanxiu City to guard the prisoners.

The army continued to attack Hongji City in the snow.

This is also a mountain city, but the height of the city wall is not as high as that of Wanxiu City. We attacked at noon and captured Hongji Bridge before 3 p.m.

The defender of Hongji City surrendered!
After another night of rest, they attacked Damomen City, 20 miles away from Hongji City.

Damomen City was built on flat ground, with its back to the Yellow River.

Li Xuan knew from the "March Record" that the rammed earth layer was less than half a foot, so he ordered Geshu Han to gather all the catapults to attack from one side.

And two battering rams were also used.

"Boom..."

For three hours, as the walls of Damoumen collapsed, the Tang army rushed into Damoumen City.

Li Xuan personally led the Shen Ce Guards into the city to fight on foot, killing dozens of people alone.

By evening, the city of Damomen was officially conquered.

The defender of Damommen City died in the chaos.

After resting for a night, the army rushed to Baigu City, the last city of Tubo in Jiuqu.

At this time, the snow had stopped and the sky was clear.

But it's getting colder.

The Tang army, which had attacked several cities in a row, did not lose its fighting spirit. They were ready to make further efforts and capture Baigu City.

If you capture the last city in the Jiuqu area, you will truly obtain Jiuqu.

Even if Tubo wanted to counterattack and fight a decisive battle with Li Xuan, Li Xuan would not mind.

Li Fei Shouyu and Li Fei Yuanli had led 10,000 cavalry into Jiuqu. Li Xuan asked them to lead 10,000 cavalry, plus the Tuyuhun cavalry, to immediately attack the Tuyuhun tribe in Jiuqu. There was also a Tuyuhun prince there, and if they were still there, they would be killed.

After defeating the Tuyuhun tribe, attack the Tubo pastures. There are no Tubo soldiers there, only the elderly, the weak, women and children, who can be captured.

While Li Xuan was busy preparing for the attack on Baigu City, Zhang Xing in front of Hongji Bridge had been leading his soldiers in fighting for three consecutive days.

The Tang army's formation at Hongji Bridge was extended all the way to Shudun City and connected to Shudun City.

The heavy armored infantry and the Modao Army were in the front, and the powerful crossbows were in the back.

The Modao Army was divided into ten teams of fifty men.

The remaining five hundred people rested and rotated in the rear.

Holding Mo Dao, they fought in front of the bridge for three days. Even though the Mo Dao soldiers were rotated, they were still very tired.

Fortunately, at the critical moment, nearly 10,000 infantrymen of Bailang Qiang appeared in front of Hongji Bridge, forcing Tubo to stop the offensive.

At the same time, these three days also frightened the attacking Tibetan infantry.

The Modao Army wore heavier armor and face guards.

Moreover, they were the only two soldiers in the army wearing inner armor, the other one being Li Xuan's Shen Ce Guard.

This also means that even if the Tibetan infantry could break through the gaps in their armor, it would be difficult for them to kill the Modao Army soldiers.

The Modao Army killed with their swords, blood spurted out, and basically no corpse was left intact.

Many Tibetan soldiers who attacked on broken limbs were shaking and their legs were weak before they even reached the Modao Army.

In the end, the blades of the Modao Army were all damaged, and some of the Modao were even completely scrapped and could not be repaired.

Fortunately, Li Xuan had already prepared a spare Mo Dao.

Two thousand heavily armored infantry and two thousand crossbowmen also form an unbreakable barrier.

Tubo attempted to attack Shudun City, but Li Xuan left nearly two thousand light cavalry and scouts in the city.

At the critical moment, Gao Shi dispatched another thousand crossbowmen to the city.

Shudun City was originally the first city in Jiuqu. In the absence of heavy siege equipment, the Tubo suffered heavy casualties and had to stop.

It was not until tens of thousands of Tibetan soldiers were killed or wounded that Moluqiongsang Woermang stopped the attack when he saw the arrival of Tang army reinforcements.

He ordered some soldiers to continue to drag the Tang army in front of the bridge, while other soldiers crossed the Yellow River and went around the rear, trying to attack from both sides.

He followed the advice of his subordinates, prepared for the worst, and destroyed the Hongji Bridge.

But the area around the Yellow River was filled with scouts from the Tang army.

Tubo chose to cross the Yellow River thirty miles away from Shudun City.

Nan Jiyun had discovered it long ago, but did not make it public. He just gathered cavalry nearby.

After the Tubo people had crossed the river for a night using many sheepskin rafts, Nan Jiyun led the Lintao light cavalry and Bailang Qiang cavalry to suddenly charge out and fired thousands of arrows.

The Tubo people were caught off guard and their formation was in chaos. After a fierce battle, thousands of people died, hundreds drowned in the glacier, and two thousand were captured.

This also meant that it was impossible for Tubo to cross the Yellow River under the control of the Tang cavalry.

Unless after some time, the Yellow River is completely frozen.

But by then the Nine Twists may have been subverted.

……

Under Baigu City.

The Tang army's catapults, battering rams, crossbow carts, ladder carts, blocking vehicles, and city ladders were all ready.

Baigu City is eighty miles southeast of Hongji Bridge. Due to the deep snow, it took the Tang army's infantry two days to reach this place.

Although Baigu City stores grain, the "gu" in Baigu does not mean grain, but a city built in the valley.

This city only has two gates: southeast and northwest.

There is only the possibility of attacking from these two directions.

After learning about the thickness of the rammed earth layer, Li Xuan knew that it would be difficult to break through the city wall like he did with the Damomen City.

Therefore, catapults would not be used to destroy city walls, and battering rams were only used to scare the Tibetan defenders.

The Tang army arrived outside Baigu City and rested for one night.

Before the siege, Li Xuan escorted the bodies of the defenders of Damome City, as well as the defenders of Wanxiu City and Hongji City to the northwest gate of Baigu City.

Let the defenders of Baigu City know that it only took them three days from the attack on Wanxiu City to the capture of Damome City.

Taking over a city in one day can be described as an unstoppable force.

"If the city is captured, they should die in battle. Why are they still alive?"

Lun Xijia Zang was furious when he saw the two guards still alive.

His words made the Baigu City defender next to him feel a chill in his heart.

He knew in his heart that without reinforcements, these cities would not be able to hold out for long against the Tang army's siege equipment.

After all, their cities are far from comparable to the Huangshui City and Guzang City of the Tang Dynasty.

"You wouldn't have such thoughts, would you?"

Lun Xijia Zang suddenly turned his head and asked the commander of Baigu City, his eyes wide open.

"When the city is alive, people are still there; when the city is gone, people are still alive!"

The defender of Baigu City said quickly.

"What happened to the Meilu Dalun?"

Looking towards the west, he felt a sense of melancholy.

It is one of the three great Tibetan treatises, a noble and great treatise.

When the Tang army raided Jiuqu, he was in charge of Jiuqu, hoping to boost morale.

But in the Battle of Jiuqu, the Tang army defeated Shang Zanmo and subdued the Bailang Qiang and Jiuqu Tuyuhun. When he wanted to leave Jiuqu, he was blocked by the elite cavalry of the Tang army.

The Tang army captured several cities in succession, and Jiuqu, which had been managed for decades, was about to be lost.

Now the Tang army has surrounded Baigu City tightly, and they have completely cut off any news from any other place.

"Meilu Dalun must be doing his best to defeat the Tang army!"

Although the commander of Baigu City said this, he was not optimistic in his heart.

The Tang army mobilized so many soldiers to attack the city, which clearly showed that Hongji Bridge was under their firm control and they were not afraid of the arrival of Tibetan reinforcements.

All they could rely on were the 2,500 soldiers in the city and some weak-willed slaves.

"Whoosh..."

"Da Lun, be careful..."

At this moment, a sound like thunder rang out in the sky.

It turned out that Li Xuan saw that they were stubborn and ordered the catapults to attack.

He concentrated all the catapults, crossbows and battering rams on the city wall near the northwest gate.

The envoy, Lun Xijia Zang, believed that the Tang army's main attack would be at the northwest gate, so he deployed the city's archers, crossbows, and elite troops, including more stones, at the northwest gate.

Seeing the whistling stone coming, Lun Xijia's followers immediately threw it under the women's wall.

"Go away!"

Lun Xijia Zang angrily pushed his followers away. He didn't believe that the Tang army could hit him.

We must not lose momentum at this time.

Lun Xijia Zang stood up and saw the flying rocks falling and making small holes in the city wall.

Indeed, it is not easy for a small number of catapults to hit people.

Getting hit is just bad luck.

"They are now in a state of tension. Our soldiers will continue to rest. We will continue to shoot until midnight and use powerful crossbows to launch a feint attack. We will harass Baigu City for two days and then launch a fierce attack when they are tired."

Li Xuan gave an order to Geshu Han.

Nan Jiyun has reported the results of the battle to him. Hongji Bridge has gathered 20,000 infantrymen from Bailang Qiang and Tuyuhun.

Tubo could not break through with just these reinforcements.

Now he has time to slowly attack Baigu City.

"As ordered!"

Geshu Han knew that the current battle situation was very favorable for them and there was no need to rush.

The Tang army soldiers set up tents in the distance to rest, while the catapults continued to throw catapults.

If any Tibetan soldiers showed their heads on the city wall, the crossbows would be fired at the same time.

After shooting several Tibetan soldiers to death, they could only bury their heads behind the parapet.

Lun Xijia Zang stood behind the parapet and drank the northwest wind for the whole day.

The other Tibetan soldiers also spent the day in fear.

Screams could be heard from time to time, and anyone who was hit by the rocks died in a very miserable manner.

"The Tang army is trying to tire out the enemy."

Lun Xijia's heart sank, because this meant that the Tang army had plenty of time.

The implication behind this is self-evident!

Lonely city!

The key point is that for a small city like this, even if we know that the Tang army is trying to tire out the soldiers, we still have to be on high alert.

The two-meter-high city wall could be climbed up by the Tang army using ladders in the short time it takes to take a nap.

At midnight, the Tang army on both the north and south sides pushed ladders and shouted loudly.

The Tibetan defenders thought that the Tang army was going to attack the city, so they all stood up to meet the enemy.

But as soon as they stood up, the Tang army's powerful crossbowmen a hundred steps away opened fire, and dozens of Tibetan soldiers were shot dead.

The Tang army's shouts and screams stopped, and the crossbowmen withdrew.

"Whoosh..."

Freshly loaded stones were launched from the trebuchet.

The Tang army took turns to rest, and even the cavalry came out to scare the enemy.

They would launch a feint attack every hour, making the Tibetan soldiers extremely tired.

On the second day, the Tang army, holding shields and pushing carts with strong defense, arrived fifty steps away from the Baigu city wall.

A Tibetan soldier with dark circles under his eyes appeared and was shot by the Tang army's crossbowmen.

The Tibetan crossbowmen on the city wall shot back, but the Tang army's strong crossbowmen had large shields for defense.

The Tang army refused to retreat and maintained this formation, slowly advancing towards the city wall.

"call out……"

In this situation, Li Xuan shot an arrow from 120 steps away...

(End of this chapter)