Chapter 406: Bloody fire search

During the Tang Dynasty, Khwarezm was just a small country in the Aral Sea Delta, far from later Khwarezm becoming a great empire across the Aral Sea and Caspian Sea. When 30,000 Tang troops appeared under its capital, Shiva City, this ancient country immediately fell on the brink of collapse.

Shiva City is a majestic city standing in the desert with a population of more than 100,000, accounting for almost half of the country's population. Its city walls are as high as ten feet high and four feet wide. They can gallop on the city. The city walls are all made of huge stones, which are extremely strong. Even with the largest catapult, it is difficult to move them at all. However, even such a strong city has only 6,000 soldiers defending it.

Khwarezm has more than 300,000 people. If one soldier is calculated based on the ten-dian army, its normal force should be around 30,000. But in fact, it only has more than 7,000 people. With the three thousand Dashi Army, it is only more than 10,000 people. The troops are severely small. This is related to the strategy of the Great Veterans fishing in the waters. Ordinary people need to bear extremely heavy taxes, and most of the food produced is transported away, making Khwarezm unable to bear more military expenses. At the same time, in order to balance the number of troops in the Great Veterans, the Governor of the Great Veterans did not allow Khwarezm to recruit more local soldiers.

Thirty thousand Tang troops set up camps five miles away from Shiva City. A murderous tent, reflected by the setting sun, seemed to be stained with blood, making the defenders on the city frightened.

Governor General of Khwarezm.

Alsayi held the hilt tightly with his hands and stared at the Tang army camp with serious eyes. Although Alsayi did not participate in the Battle of Talas, he knew that Lian Abu.

The army that Muslims can defeat is not something he can resist, but he still has a glimmer of hope in his heart, that is, reinforcements. The 100,000 reinforcements led by Haman are on the way to help the night. If he can support the reinforcements until the moment they arrive, he will be the hero of the Arabs.

The Tang army was very silent and set up the camp. They were not in a hurry to attack, but as the huge stone-cattering machines were assembled, a powerful murderous intent had irresistible from the Tang army's camp. When night was about to fall, twenty huge stone-cattering cities began to rumble towards the city wall. The north wind whistled, and the cold wind from the Aral Sea occasionally rolled up dust.

The catapult followed the wind and moved closer to the city step by step. When it was six hundred steps away from the city, the catapult stopped moving forward and began to prepare for the attack. This was the largest catapult of the Tang army. Each was as high as two meters and could throw a huge stone weighing 100 kilograms away to eight hundred steps. Each machine needed to use two hundred people to move it.

A cold wind blew across the desert, and once again raised a large area of ​​dust. At this time, the Tang army's heavy catapult began to start, making a squeaking and thrilling sound. Several Tang army placed a huge spherical object in the throwing bag. The defenders on the city were immediately frightened. There were also stone catapults on the city, but the throwing distance was only 400 steps, which was obviously lost to the Tang army. Faced with the huge threat from the Tang army, the bells on the city were ringing, and many soldiers shouted in horror, and some had even fled to the city.

"Boom!" With a sound of the ground, five huge balls were thrown high, and the projection angle was very strange. They did not hit the city head directly, but shot a high arc and were about to cross the city wall. Just as the ball had just arrived above the city head, suddenly it exploded with a "bang!", and a large stream of black smoke appeared. The ball split into two halves, and a ball of paper flew out from the ball, and then turned into thousands of pieces of paper, rolling in the air, floating towards the city along the wind. Tens of thousands of pieces of paper released by the five balls fell on the city wall, and almost every soldier picked up a piece of paper.

The paper is written in Sogdian, Arabic and Khwarezm's own words: The king has returned, and Arslan, the son of King Asanto, will rebuild the independent kingdom of Khwarezm, which is no longer controlled by the Arabs. The light of the Lord God Ahuramaz will re-illuminate Khwarezm.

As a large number of leaflets floated into the city, the news spread throughout the city within a moment. Riots began to appear in Shiva City, and a large number of Zoroastrians began to cheer. The bells in the last main temple that had not yet been demolished were roaring to celebrate the arrival of this historical moment with great excitement. The Muslims had a gloomy face and walked in a hurry. This was not only a religious opposition, but also an opposition of interests. In order to force Zoroastrians to convert to Islam, the Arabs adopted the most severe oppression on them. Most of their property

All were confiscated, and the food they obtained from their hard work for a year was taken away, leaving only a little food they depend on for survival. After years of adulthood, they lived like ants, without wealth or dignity, lived in a small, dark and small stone house like a cave, but they were responsible for the hardest and most tiring work. If they converted to Islam, the tax would be reduced immediately. Despite this, the Zoroastrians were still willing to be poor and occupied by the Arabs for fifty-four years. More than half of the Zoroastrians refused to change their beliefs.

The serious unfair distribution of wealth broke the Khwarezmian Kingdom into two classes, with religion as the boundary, hostile to each other and incompatible with each other. Arslan had been in contact with the Zoroastrians many years ago, and he had become their hope for resurrection. Today, Arslan finally returned, why didn't he be happy to the Zoroastrians?

But the soldiers guarding the city were still calm, so the soldiers were all Islamists. Zoroastrians were not qualified to join the army. They all breathed a sigh of relief. For them, ten thousand leaflets were not as effective as a huge rock.

In front of a huge trench, Li Qing'an stared at the towering city wall in the distance. It was already dark, and the stars were everywhere in the sky. The stars shone on the city of Shiva, and painted it with a faint white light. The desert, starlight, and the towering castle spire that gave Li Qing'an an illusion of traveling through time and space, as if the Tang Dynasty was far away from him was not only a distance from space, but also a distant time. For a moment, he was a little distracted.

"General, can you disturb me?"

Li Qingan was slightly stunned. When he turned around, he saw that Li Fei Yuanli had come over. His smile was a little unnatural, and there was a sense of fear in his eyes. Li Qingan couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart. As his strength became stronger and stronger, his authority became heavier. His comrades who used to be able to joke with each other did not dare to be arrogant in front of him anymore, including a rough man like Li Fei Yuanli, did not dare to be arrogant in front of him.

Sometimes Li Qingan missed the years when he drank and enjoyed everyone in Kucha, but he knew that such years would not be possible, just like people could not return to their childhood. The environment changed his mood, and he no longer cared about the past and turned his eyes to a higher future.

"What's the matter?" Li Qingan said with a smile.

Li Fei Yuanli walked over slowly and said embarrassedly: "I haven't told you that I have a son, I'm already one year old."

Li Qingan was stunned and then felt guilty in his heart. He only cared about his wife and children, and when his son was born, but ignored the matters of his subordinates. Li Fei Yuanli's son was one year old and he knew nothing.

He quickly smiled and said, "Old Li, congratulations. When the city of Shiva is captured tonight, the crown of King Khwarezm will be given to your son as a meeting gift."

"The crown is down...it's not important."

Li Fei Yuanli seemed to want to say something, but she couldn't say it. Li Qing'an saw his thoughts and smiled and said, "Say it! What do you want? Get more happy."

"Can the general tell the court that I want a title, but not me, I want it to my son."

Li Qingan laughed and patted his shoulder and said, "You guy, even if your father wants his son to be successful, he still has to worry about this. He is only one year old, why are you anxious? OK! I promise you that you will give a title first. After this battle, I will protect you as a county duke from the court. In addition, the crown of King Khwarezm will be given to your son as a meeting gift. This is my wish."

Li Fei Yuanli was overjoyed and grinned and said, "I want to give the private jewelry of Queen Khwarezm to my wife."

Li Qingan laughed and punched him in the shoulder, "You kid is insatiable, this is not enough, that is to be distributed to the brothers."

Li Fei Yuanli rubbed his shoulder hole, and Li Qing'an's punch made him feel quite painful. At this time, he suddenly reacted and said in surprise: "What the general means is to capture Shiva City tonight?"

Li Qing'an nodded and his face became serious, "I just received the news that a vanguard of the Dashi Army, about 10,000 people, is less than a hundred miles away from us. He will arrive as early as tomorrow morning. He thought their main force would not arrive in four days, but he did not expect that the Dashi Army actually sent a vanguard. It seems that they also realized that we were going to attack Khwarezm."

"Then let me intercept this striker."

"No!"

Li Qingan shook his head and said, "If the other party has several thousand people, it's okay, but the other party has a lot of troops, and I'm worried that there will be a brigade behind 10,000 people, so I can't take this risk."

Speaking of this, Li Qingan pondered for a moment and said, "There is another thing you want to do."

"Please give orders, General!"

"You immediately lead the headquarters to the Aral Sea Delta thirty miles away, which is the agricultural area of ​​Khwarezm. You drive all the people here and take away all their food. If they really refuse to leave, forget it, but the food must be burned and cannot be kept at all. This matter is very important. I will restrict you from coming back before dark tomorrow."

"Yes! Husband will definitely complete the task."

Li Fei Yuanli turned around and left. Li Qingan looked at his back and walked away. He faintly heard him shouting loudly, and ordered the soldiers from the headquarters to gather. Soon, a large group of horses galloped and headed towards the agricultural area in the north.

At this time, Li Qingan suddenly turned around, stared at the dark city wall, and resolutely ordered: "Tell me my order and start siege!"

The rumbling sound of the attack drums of the Tang army sounded again, and twenty giant catapults began to launch. One catapult was like a giant beast in the dark. This time, a special army came from the Tang army, with only five hundred people. They were leading more than a dozen carriages, and the carriages were tightly wrapped in oil cloth, carrying some mysterious items. The soldiers lifted the oil cloth and began to get busy. They nervously and carefully lifted down large wooden boxes, as many as two hundred large wooden boxes. They placed ten wooden boxes in front of each catapult. They pried open the wooden boxes and moved out flat black guys, all of which were cast in pig iron, which was particularly heavy. This was the most sharp weapon of the Tang army, which shook the sky.

Originally, Li Qing'an did not want to use this ultimate weapon in Khwarezm, but the sudden change forced him to change his plan. Li Fei Yuanli took away 10,000 people, and he only had 20,000 people in his hands, and the opponent's defenders also had six or seven thousand. In addition, the strong and tall city walls, in this case, if he did not use gunpowder, it would be difficult for him to take down Shiva City before dawn.

At this time, the sound of drums from the Tang army alarmed the defenders of Shiva City. They picked up their weapons and ran to the top of the city, stood at the battlement and looked nervously at the Tang army camp where torches were lit in the distance.

In the darkness, only the Governor of Khwarezm, Alsay, was shouting loudly, "Prepare the catapult, prepare the bow and arrow! Don't panic!"

The catapults on the top of the city were also ready to be activated. Their catapults were obviously much smaller than those of the Tang army. They only needed twenty people to pull and had a range of less than four hundred steps.

At this time, the Tang army's trenched strings, the range was set at 600 steps, and the angle was adjusted. Just around the city wall, two Tang army put the thunder in the throwing bag, one of them lit the lead, a burst of white smoke ignited, and began to burn at a constant speed, and the speed was very stable. The timed lead, which took two years for the gunpowder craftsmen in Tuozhi City, actually ensured that the gunpowder burned at a constant speed. This long-distance throwing explosion was actually difficult to control.

If the lead is too late, it will explode in the air in advance. If the lead is too early, it will be cut off by the enemy, or the lead is broken on the city bricks. Therefore, in order to overcome this difficulty, in addition to ensuring that the lead is burning at a constant speed and time, a craftsman also invented the method of inner and outer shells, burning the lead disc in the iron shell, and separating a thin shell from the gunpowder. In this way, the lead is burned in the iron shell. Unless it is extinguished with water, it will not be cut off by artificially.

A Tang soldier was nervously watching the burning scale. When the leads burned to the edge of the iron shell, he suddenly waved the flag and said, "Let it go!"

Two hundred soldiers loosened the rope at the same time, "Boom!" There was a loud bang, and the long arm of the trencher flew out, throwing the dark and white smoke-burning thunder high, drew an arc, and shot it accurately towards the head of the city. The thunder of pig iron cast on the top of the city and suddenly exploded. The explosion was shocking, flames burst out, corpses flew everywhere, and rocks penetrated the sky. Almost all Tang soldiers covered their ears, and the war horses were so frightened that they were screaming. Then the second, the third thunder exploded one after another, and some exploded under the city, causing gravel to fly, and huge smoke enveloped the city.

The continuous explosions were like the sky and the earth cracked. Even the thousands of Tang soldiers who were operating the catapult were so shocked that they could not suppress them. They held their heads, knelt on the ground, and waited for the explosion to stop for a long time, and their ears were still buzzing.

Almost every Tang army in the Tang army camp was shocked. Even the explosion in the Battle of Talas was not as terrifying as it is today. They had a fear that the world would no longer exist. Three thousand Krim legion soldiers were crawling on the ground and apologized to the wrath of their main god Ahuramaz.

Even the head coach of the Tang army, Li Qingan, did not expect that twenty thunderous thunders would have such great power. He was also thrilling in his heart. He couldn't help but kneel down slowly and stared at the city wall filled with smoke. Even he felt that this weapon would hurt the heavens and his defiance would make the heavens angry.

When the thick smoke slowly dissipated, the city wall was still there, but it was already full of holes. The entire three-mile-long northern city was almost flattened. More than 40 catapult stone platforms were blown to pieces and disappeared, and more than 2,000 defenders were completely gone.

"General, please send someone to blow up the city gate directly with the thunder of the sky!" Bai Xiaode whispered behind Li Qing'an.

"No! The sky-shaking thunder is against the harmony of the sky. Don't use it again unless it is absolutely necessary."

Li Qingan sighed secretly, and he resolutely ordered: "According to the original plan, use the attacking ram!"

"Woo--"

The horn sounded in unison, and a huge siege hammer that had just been assembled appeared. The wooden frame of the siege hammer was three zhang high and ten zhang long. There were forty huge wooden wheels under it. In the middle of the wooden frame was the siege hammer body. This was an eight-zhang-long thousand-year-old giant tree with a diameter of one zhang. It is a kind of iron wood unique to the river area. The wood is fine and extremely heavy. Five hundred Samarkand blacksmiths took a full half year to make three iron chains that were hundreds of feet long.

The giant tree was hung in the wooden frame, and the front was equipped with iron to hit the head. The power of the collision was enough to be powerful. This siege ram was called "Pojun", which required thousands of Tang troops to control it. However, the ones that drove the siege ram forward were not war horses or camels, but fifty adult war elephants. This was a secret force brought by the Tang army of Ju Zhanti, with a total of one hundred war elephants. This attack on Khwarezm brought fifty strong adult war elephants.

The elephant slave cavalry commanded the elephant to advance on his back. Fifty battle elephants rumbled forward with huge siege rams, approaching the city gate step by step.

Just when there were only twenty steps left from the city gate, defensive soldiers finally appeared on the northern city wall. At this time, reinforcements from other city walls were shocked by the explosion of twenty thunders. Many people were shocked to death. The Khwarezm soldiers who had not experienced war in the two generations had weak hearts, but the most violent weapon in the world showed its power on a large scale for the first time, when it appeared in front of these weak hearts, which made them unbearable.

When they were shocked, they scattered and fled into the city to protect their families. In an instant, there were less than two thousand great food troops left on the city. Their commander, Khwarezm Governor Al Sai, had been smashed to pieces in the explosion. The soldiers only found one of his arms and held a broken knife.

When the soldiers lie on the top of the city tremblingly, the situation in front of them shocked them. An extremely huge siege rifle was approaching the city gate step by step. The one who pulled the siege rifle was actually a monster they had never seen before. These big-food farmers recruited from Armenia and the Caspian Sea coast were short-sighted and had never seen an elephant.

They were so scared that their hearts were about to stop beating, and they knelt down one after another, begging for Allah's blessing. At this moment, there was a loud bang, the earth shook, the city walls were shaking violently, and the gate of the cast iron cast city made a sound like a roar of a demon. This sound penetrated people's hearts and made the soldiers of the Great Food kneel on the ground and shouted in fear, but the huge iron gate eight feet high withstood the like of the cracks of the land.

The high civilization of Khwarezm is reflected in their buildings. Not only do they have the strongest city walls, but they are even unparalleled in the world. This giant iron gate as high as eight feet tall, people look extremely small when standing under the city gate. Only a ram with a force of ten thousand pounds can there be a possibility of breaking it.

A thousand Tang soldiers shouted again, using the echoing inertia of the siege hammer, pulling the hammer body again. Another loud bang, the city gate could not support it, cracks began to appear in the surrounding walls, and the iron bolt at the door was about to break.

There was another violent impact. This time, the city gate let out a painful scream, and the iron bolt finally broke, and the iron gate opened with a loud bang.

Seeing that the situation was settled, Li Qingan raised his knife and shouted, "Kill into the city! Resist and kill him!"
Chapter completed!