Tang Dynasty Prison Administration

110: The Tang Dynasty's border troops fought to the death, refusing to retreat.

After a long while, Su Wencai finally recovered from his state. He held Cui Lingyu's hand tightly, without saying a word, just staring at her silently. Then he stood up and said, "Someone come here!"

......

That night, the wind and rain were calm and the entire Dunhuang County was silent. Su Wen lay in bed, and every time he closed his eyes, he saw images of battle. Although he hadn't participated in the fighting himself, the images were imprinted on his mind and he couldn't shake them off.

No matter how much Su Wen imagined other things, he couldn't avoid them.

Zhang Xizhou held his shattered, mangled head in one hand and a large knife in the other, standing before Su Wen. He looked around; there was nothing there except Su Wen standing alone at the city gate.

Zhang Xizhou laughed loudly, "Haha... Su Wen, I'm going to cut off your head!"

"Thump!"

A knock on the door jolted Su Wen awake from his dream. He realized it was just a dream, but he was still covered in a cold sweat.

"Master, the Tibetan army has arrived at the city walls!"

Upon hearing this, Su Wen hurriedly got up, put on his clothes, and went to the door. He opened the door and, seeing Xu Ge, asked, "So fast?"

Xu Ge nodded.

Before long, Su Wen and Xu Ge arrived at the city wall and looked ahead. They saw a large, dark mass of Tibetan soldiers, all arranged in a strict square formation of one hundred men per team, which was also the military formation of the Tang Dynasty.

All the military formations were arranged neatly and orderly, with armored cavalry on the left and right flanks.

Zhang Yi had already ordered 100 men to stand guard at the city gate, while the rest of the Tang army were on the city wall.

Those who volunteered to defend the city were also ready to fight on the city gate, and the two sides faced each other from a distance of several hundred paces.

When the Tibetan general saw that the city gates were not open and the Tang flags were still flying on the city walls, he knew that the plan to launch a surprise attack from within had failed!

However, with the troops already arrived, he didn't hesitate for a moment. He slightly raised his right hand and simply waved it forward. His adjutant immediately shouted, "Arrow!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yi shouted loudly, "Shield top!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a black cloud, like smoke, suddenly shot into the sky from within the enemy's ranks and hurtled straight toward Dunhuang County.

Zhang Yi hurriedly pulled Su Wen to the observation deck behind them, closed the door, and then Su Wen heard a crackling sound, like a torrential downpour!

After the rain of arrows subsided, a horn sounded, followed by the rhythmic beat of war drums.

Zhang Yi hurriedly opened the door and stood on the city wall, shouting, "Beat the drums! Defend!"

Su Wen slowly walked out of the room. He saw that the shouts below were deafening. All the Tibetan soldiers were advancing step by step in strict formation. People on the city wall fired arrows, and the enemy used shields to block them.

Soon, as the soldiers reached the city walls, siege ladders were immediately erected from the crowd and forcefully fell towards the walls.

Su Wen then noticed that the front of these siege ladders had something like eagle claws. Once they hooked onto the city wall, they could only be removed by lifting the bottom; otherwise, they could not be pushed down at all. In an instant, arrows, stones, hot oil, and so on all began to be thrown and smashed down on the city.

At this moment, fierce fighting broke out on all the city walls on the main battlefield. Long spears were thrusting down the ladders, while people below climbed up with shields. One person picked off a shield while another thrust, their coordination was extremely good.

Su Wen then realized that the sieges in TV dramas were a joke, while this was a real siege. The soldiers below would use bows and arrows to ambush the defenders, while the defenders would coordinate in front while the rest waited behind. Some of them would stand up and throw a stone or squat down in the gaps, or stand up and pour a ladle of hot oil down.

The enemy's war drums never stopped, and their siege continued relentlessly; the two sides fought each other in this way.

Despite having an army of over 20,000, with 2,000 cavalry and over 10,000 in the central army, the Tibetan forces that came to attack the city were unable to take down the city walls. Even now, after about an hour or two, not a single enemy soldier has made it onto the walls.

Su Wen then realized that the first to scale the walls, one of the four great military achievements in ancient times, was actually so difficult.

Unfortunately, Su Wen couldn't offer any help and could only watch.

Just then, Su Wen saw the cavalry on both sides of the enemy begin to turn around, and suddenly, thick smoke began to rise from behind the Tibetan army.

Zhang Yi, standing to the side, revealed a hint of joy and said, "Imperial Envoy Su, Li Zhong's ambush has succeeded! The Tibetans should stop their siege!"

Su Wen looked at Zhang Yi, who knew absolutely nothing about military matters.

Just then, as expected, the enemy suddenly stopped beating their drums and began blowing horns. After the horns, the rhythm of the war drums changed, and the soldiers below the city began to retreat towards the center, while the Tibetan cavalry on the left and right flanks turned around and charged backward at high speed.

Clearly, something terrible must have happened to the Tibetans' rear, especially given the enormous amount of smoke, which most likely indicates that supplies or similar items were burned.

As all the Tibetans below the city withdrew to within a few hundred paces, Su Wen knew that the siege was over.

Su Wen looked down and saw that at least a thousand people had died.

There were over a thousand people! The enemy immediately stopped attacking the city and dealt with the ambush troops in the rear. In other words, these thousand people died in vain!

At this moment, Zhang Yi said, "Everyone except the soldiers defending the city, immediately replenish your supplies of stones, hot oil, and crossbow bolts!"

Upon hearing this, Su Wen immediately understood. This was a siege battle, which was essentially a war of attrition. One side was expending human lives, while the other side was expending stones, hot oil, and crossbow bolts. Once these resources were exhausted, only close combat remained!

After that, the Tibetans changed their formation, forming large groups of a thousand men each, and began a relentless attack, besieging the city from daytime until nightfall.

The Tibetans then ceased their attack. Night battles are extremely disadvantageous for the attacking side, so sieges are generally not conducted at night.

Only after the Tibetans retreated were the soldiers able to get a short rest.

At this moment, Zhang Yi and Su Wen heard a constant stream of reports that they were almost out of crossbow bolts, hot oil, and stones, and that their own side had lost two or three hundred men, while the enemy had lost nearly three or four thousand men.

Tomorrow at daybreak, we'll be engaged in close combat.

At night, Zhang Yi ordered his men to frantically reinforce the city gates. The enemy's heavy siege equipment had been ambushed by Li Zhong and his men and had not yet arrived. Once the equipment arrived at dawn the next day, a bloody battle would ensue.

Zhang Yi bowed to Su Wen and said, "Imperial Envoy Su, this humble general would like to invite all the soldiers to have a drink. Is that permissible?"

Upon hearing this, Su Wen hesitated for a moment, but still nodded in agreement.

A moment later, Zhang Yi, holding a cup of wine, shouted loudly, "Brothers, drink this wine! Tomorrow we will fight bravely against the enemy! We, the men of the Great Tang, will fight to the death!"

After everyone downed their drinks in one gulp, they shouted, "Fight to the death!"