Chapter 68: The Great Test Is About To Arrive

  Many cities were built in this way, with the direction of the city gate always being the most open place, and the city wall connecting the gate tower was mostly built in a dangerous place, and the section suitable for a large army to attack the city was near the gate tower.

  Tongguan City is even more so, except for a few large city gate towers where the terrain is relatively open, the city walls connecting the city gate towers are all built in steep and dangerous places. The city wall is also very high and steep, some places not to mention people, even monkeys can't climb, the rebel army wants to attack Tongguan City, except for attacking from a few major city gates, there is no other way.

  Unless there were special forces or reconnaissance units with extremely outstanding individual combat capabilities and overall attacking power that would make people tremble, they might be able to use various special equipment to infiltrate the city from other directions and gain a huge victory through small-scale special operations. However, in the Tang Dynasty, this was basically impossible unless Yang Gui trained a special force.

  The city walls connecting the city gates were not without soldiers guarding them, and every place had soldiers on high alert, strictly preventing possible small groups of rebels from climbing mountains and crossing ridges to sneak in. However, the number of soldiers guarding the city walls was very small, almost only for warning purposes.

  Due to the obstruction of a large number of wounded rebel soldiers, the subsequent charges by the rebels were not smooth, and the battle in the east gate direction was slower than at the beginning. This was beyond Yang Hui's expectation, and it also made Cui Qianyou, who was observing the progress of the war from a distant mountain top, unexpected and anxious.

  Seeing the people and horses attacking in the direction of Dongmen suffered a devastating blow, a large number of dead and wounded soldiers blocked the road, unable to speed up the attack. Cui Qianyou knew that today's plan to take down Tongguan City could not be expected to break through from the east gate.

  This made him feel very downhearted and secretly gave rise to pessimistic thoughts.

  He knew that, in a situation where his own military strength had a complete advantage, the best way to attack the city was to launch a large-scale and comprehensive attack, with multiple points of attack, each point concentrating a large number of soldiers to launch a fierce attack, using the advantage of military strength to put maximum pressure on the defenders on the city wall, so that the defenders on the city wall would be overwhelmed, suffering heavy casualties. This way, more soldiers could rush to the top of the city wall and engage in close combat with the defenders, also taking advantage of the military strength to occupy the top of the city wall and ultimately capture the city. However, now the attack surface cannot be opened up, only the south gate direction can launch a large-scale attack, the north gate direction cannot even deploy attacking troops, and the east gate direction does not seem suitable for large-scale attacks either.

  Only increase the intensity of the attack in the direction of the south gate, without regard for the loss of soldiers, and even fill the moat with corpses to allow more soldiers to have the opportunity to climb the city walls. Cui Qianyou secretly sighed.

  As soon as he thought of filling up the dry ditch, Cui Qianyou's heart couldn't help but skip a beat.

  Yes, if there was no moat, the south gate direction could concentrate more troops to attack the city. The soldiers attacking the city would not need to cross the treacherous moat and could directly set up ladders to climb the city walls. Moreover, they could launch a counterattack with arrows from the position of the moat against the defending army inside the city, rather than being passively beaten like now.

  In a moment, he was already deeply moved. After looking at the attack situation in various directions, he quickly changed his mind and immediately issued new orders to concentrate all his forces on attacking the south gate, while continuing to attack the east gate but reducing the deployment of troops.

  The Tang army at the East Gate must be held back and prevented from reinforcing the South Gate, while ordering a contingent of soldiers to launch an attack in the direction of Tongguan North Gate.

  －－－－－－－－－－

  "Report to the General, the rebel army in the north gate direction has also started attacking the city!"

  A soldier rushed quickly to Yang Hui's side on the city gate tower and loudly reported the situation.

  Taking advantage of the height and good view of the city gate tower, Yang Hui has been continuously observing the situation in various directions of the city gates. Without the need for soldiers' reports, he can see the battle situation in the direction of the three major city gates, but the specific details of the battle are not clear, especially in the most critical northern gate direction. After hearing the soldier's report, he immediately asked about the battle situation at the North Gate.

  After understanding the situation in the north gate direction, Yang's eyebrows were tightly knitted.

  Looking towards the east gate, the attack was still ongoing, but the number of rebel troops in the subsequent impact did not increase significantly, and there was even a trend of decrease. Moreover, many soldiers did not rush to the north gate, but instead a large number of rebel soldiers went to the south gate. The battle situation at the south gate showed no signs of easing, and he immediately understood what was going on.

  The rebels prepared to intensify their attack on the southern gate direction regardless of casualties.

  The rebels will go all out to attack the south gate, even at the cost of filling the moat with the bodies of their soldiers.

  At the thought of this, Yang Jie's eyes suddenly conjured up the Tang army corpses that had filled the gorge, and the gruesome scene after being burned by the great fire, and he couldn't help but shudder slightly.

  In later generations, even in times of war, such tactics would not be employed, where the lives of soldiers were not valued, and corpses were used to fill trenches, piling them up to the height of city walls without giving up. Such warfare was extremely cruel, a hundred times more so than wars in later generations, testing the willpower of men, especially that of the commanding officers on both sides. Fortunately, Yang Hui's willpower was much stronger than that of ordinary people; although he had not witnessed massacres of tens of thousands of people, he could face death calmly, large-scale deaths, without suffering a mental breakdown.

  Yang Jie believed that his judgment was correct, so he immediately ordered the northern gate guard to hold their troops and not move, neither increasing nor withdrawing them. As long as there were rebel troops attacking, they would be repelled. The rebel army in the north could not launch a large-scale attack, with each siege being only two or three hundred men, and any more would not be able to deploy. With over a thousand defenders on the city walls, it was more than enough to respond. At the same time, he also informed Geshu Han, Wang Silie, and Tian Liangqiu in the south gate direction to strengthen their vigilance and avoid being overwhelmed by the rebel army's continuous large-scale siege.

  If the situation changes, he will lead his family and a group of soldiers to reinforce the south gate, and never let the rebels attack the city head.

  Yang Jue's memorial was soon delivered into the hands of Ge Shuhan and Wang Sili, Tian Liangju by military officers.

  Because the East Gate is between the South and North Gates, standing on the gate tower of the East Gate can roughly see the battle situation in both directions of the two gates, but in the direction of the South Gate, the situation at the North Gate cannot be seen. The situation at the East Gate is also unclear due to the obstruction of the mountain cliff. Geshu Han and Wang Silie, Tian Liangqiu at the South Gate did not have a good understanding of the situation at the East and North Gates, and only knew after receiving reports on the situation at the East and North Gates.

  The news brought by Yang Jie slightly surprised Ge Shuhan and Wang Silie.

  It seems that everything is possible, when the Tang army retreated to Tongguan after their defeat, the soldiers rushed to escape, and even filled up the moat. The rebels are now preparing to fill a section of the moat with corpses to facilitate their attack on the city. If the moat becomes a thoroughfare, even if it's just one section, the defenders will have twice as much difficulty, and the rebels can use the height of the stacked corpses to set up ladders directly in the moat and climb into the city!

  A great test is about to come!