Chapter 349 Twelve Cities
Winter in the north is generally desolate.

The Tang army soldiers formed neat rows and, at the command, marched northward in unison.

As for the Yan army, almost all of them retreated and defended their camps.

Before this, the Tang army had built a large number of siege weapons, including crossbows, catapults, and a large number of siege ladders.

The Tang army was divided into two parts. One part was the 30,000 infantry and cavalry led by Dou Cong and Liu Zongxun west of the Fen River, and the other main force was the 120,000 Tang army led by the Li brothers themselves.

In fact, Jinyang, which the two sides were fighting for this time, was just west of the Fen River. However, due to the terrain factors, Jinyang was backed by the Luliang Mountains in the west and faced the Fen River in the east. Therefore, the depth of the battlefield in the attack direction west of the Fen River was not wide. It was only necessary to capture Daling and then go all the way north to the city of Jinyang.

The Yan army also set up heavy troops and strict defensive fortifications inside and outside the city of Daling. The main battlefield of the two sides west of the Fen River was outside the city of Daling on the north bank of the Wenshui River.

As for the area east of the Fen River, the battlefield was extremely wide, so the main forces of both sides were placed on the north and south banks of the Guodong River.

The Yan army built twelve cities on the north bank of Guodongshui, forming a relatively tight defense system.

The Tang army launched a strong attack around the two cities in the middle. The purpose was very clear, which was to capture your two cities in the middle, cut off the connection between you, and force you not to fight.

Otherwise, the Tang army would just take out the nails one by one. If all the twelve cities in front were taken out, the Yan army would have no defenses to rely on.

In fact, the walls of the Yan army's city were not really built like those in Jinyang, which were several dozen feet or more than ten meters high.

In fact, it is only about ten feet high, but there is a wooden fence on top, a trench dug below, and chevaux deer horns on the outside.

Although the city wall is not high, its defensive capabilities are actually very strong.

Each of the cities was not very big, more like a small village, and each city was defended by a thousand men.

However, the Tang army was well prepared and had a full range of equipment. Under the cover of shields, they first pulled out and cleaned the enemy's deer antlers. During this process, the Yan army continued to harass them with arrows, causing certain casualties to the Tang army.

Once the antlers were cleared, the Tang army could set up ladders and start attacking the city. A large number of arrows were thrown into the city, and then the Tang army's infantrymen climbed up one after another. The first to rush up were strong men holding axes and wearing heavy armor. Their only task was to chop down the wooden fences on the opposite side. During this period, the Yan army's spearmen also continued to assassinate the Tang army through the gaps between the fences.

In the early stages of the siege, the Tang army was almost filling the gap with human lives.

Once this pit is filled, what awaits the Yan army is a fierce offensive like a storm.

Finally, after hundreds of soldiers died in battle, the roadblocks and fences leading to the two small earthen cities of the Yan army were cleared. Then, at the order of the commander-in-chief, hundreds of comrades-in-arms of the dead soldiers rushed to the top of the city walls holding swords, shields, and bone fragments.

The soldiers of the Yan army were curious about the cotton armor worn by the Tang army, but were surprised that their clothes could not be penetrated by arrows!
The most elite infantry of the Tang army, the left and right Wuwei Jianghuai troops under the command of the King of Qi, also put in their best efforts. After their brothers in front risked their lives to clear the way, they burst out with powerful fighting power.

Hu Kuohai, Tang He, Tang Yun, Wu Liang, Hua Gao and other brave generals all climbed up to the city wall first and fought hard. The governor Xu Qiande even shouted: "We, the men of Huainan, are going to show the northerners who is the real hero today! Kill!" After saying that, he climbed up the ladder with swords and shields in hand.

General Zhu Deyu of the Zuowuwei Army even went to the front of the battlefield and beat the drum to cheer.

These Yan troops were young and strong men selected by Liu Xuanji from among the hundreds of thousands of surrendered soldiers captured after he defeated Wang Xuba and Liu Huzhi. The strong ones were formed into soldiers and were strictly trained.

In fact, they are already considered elite troops, but most of them are from Youzhou, and can be called brave warriors from the border area.

But when faced with these Huaixi men who were not tall but had extremely strong fighting will, they felt for the first time that there were actually brave warriors among the southerners.

What they didn't know was that the troops used to fight this first battle were the old foundation of Li Yuanhui, the King of Qi of the Tang Dynasty. These were the elite troops so powerful that he would feel sad if any of them died. These were the foundation.

But for this battle that determines the fate of the nation, they must be put in the forefront. This is when the elite can show their value.

Under the fierce attack of the Jianghuai elite troops, it took only one and a half hours for the Tang army to capture two camps and captured more than a thousand Yan troops.

In the Yuci camp, Liu Xuanji even found the news a little ridiculous when he heard it.

His original plan was to let the Tang army consume their physical strength and fighting spirit under the twelve cities on the shore, and then send out troops when the division was old and the soldiers were tired.

As the saying goes, "morning is strong, daytime is weak, and evening is retreating." This phrase comes from Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" in the Spring and Autumn Period. The change of a day's morale is used to describe the change of an army's morale after a battle. That is, at the beginning of a battle, the army's morale is strong and unstoppable; after a period of time, due to the loss of strength, the morale gradually becomes lazy; in the later period, the morale is exhausted and the soldiers miss home.

It means that the army's morale is undoubtedly at its highest in the morning. He plans to wait until the afternoon or evening to send out the troops. By that time, the morale and physical strength of the Tang army will have dropped to a certain level. If he leads the elite troops to attack, he will surely achieve good results.

But two of the twelve connected cities he painstakingly built were breached by the Tang army in just over an hour?

If left unchecked, the Twelve Cities connected to Dongshui might all be breached by the Tang Army that day.

If that happens, it will have a huge impact on our morale.

Liu Xuanji could no longer sit still. He knew that the current situation had become disadvantageous and he had to curb the offensive of the Tang army.

Immediately summon all the generals and beat the drums to gather the troops.

Liu Xuanji personally led the 30,000-strong Youzhou military headquarters as the central army.

He ordered the fierce general Dongfang Di to lead the vanguard, with three thousand cavalry.

The brothers Tuoba Tianbao and Tuoba Tianmu led 10,000 Daibei cavalry as the left army, while the father and son Hulu Rong and Hulu Mingyue led 8,000 Hu cavalry as the right army.

An army of 50,000 troops came out together, ready to fight the Tang army to the death.

In fact, Liu Xuanji had made a lot of calculations. Although he had sent out all his elite troops and was ready to fight to the death, there were still ten cities among the Twelve Cities on the river bank, which were enough to stop the main force of the Tang army from rushing to the north bank. Therefore, in the current battle, the Tang army's passage to the north was just a safe zone between the two cities, so there was no need to worry about the disadvantage in troop strength.

After Li Yuanhui sent Zhu Deyu to capture the two cities, he immediately ordered Chang Yanheng and Wang Bi to lead 8,000 cavalry as the left army, Xue Renmei and Yuwen Xiao to lead 8,000 cavalry as the right army, to guard the safety of the two wings. Li Erfeng personally led 20,000 infantry and cavalry to the north bank and marched in battle formation.

In the first game of the war, the two sides created a situation similar to that of veterans facing off in chess.

Li Yuanhui also led his troops across the river and climbed onto a captured earthen city. Looking north, he saw that the 13,000 infantrymen of the Tang army had already formed their battle array.

Li Erfeng personally led 7,000 cavalrymen to the rear of the infantry formation.

The Tang army's infantry were the elite troops of Guanlong from the left and right guards, and were considered the strongest soldiers in the world. The cavalry consisted of the 3,500 black armored troops directly under the Qin Palace and the elite troops led by fierce generals such as Zhai Sixun, Cheng Zhijie, and Shan Xiongxin.

Li Yuanhui looked at the majestic troops and suddenly thought of an inappropriate word.

Young and powerful.

But Wu Laoer, who controls the southeast, is far inferior to Li Laoer.

(End of this chapter)