Chapter 220 Night Battle

Chapter 220 Night Battle

Chapter 220 Night Battle

In late February, spring had already fully arrived in the south of Dadouba Valley. Xiao Xia led an army of 6,000 to this plateau land again. Compared with more than a month ago, the plateau meadow had completely changed.

There was a warm breath in the wind, birds singing could be heard everywhere, hawks were circling in the sky, and the white snow on the ground had disappeared, replaced by endless green.

The army camped in the wilderness to rest for a day and adapt to the climate, and then marched towards the southwest in a mighty force.

In addition to the 6,000 troops, Xiao Xia also brought 6,000 camels, which mainly carried food, tents and other supplies. In addition, he also brought 20 small catapults that could be quickly assembled within an hour, as well as important accessories for siege ladders, such as iron hooks, large iron nails, etc.

On the Datong River, Cao Taiyue had led his soldiers to build a pontoon bridge. The army quickly crossed the bridge and continued marching along the alpine grassland.

Five days later, the army gradually arrived at Datong Mountain, which was still more than fifty miles away from Datong Valley.

At this time, a few small black dots appeared on the distant hills. They were the scouts of Tuyuhun. They only observed for a moment, then turned their horses around and galloped away.

"Envoy, that's the Tuyuhun scout!" Yin Shishi whispered to Xiao Xia.

Xiao Xia nodded, "It looks like we're almost there at Datong City!"

In the afternoon, the army arrived at the entrance of Datong Valley and saw Datong City several miles away in the distance.

Datong Valley is different from Dadouba Valley. Dadouba Valley is narrow and dangerous, with 90-degree cliffs on both sides in many places. Almost all of the valleys are narrow strips of sky. The widest part of Datong Valley is more than 20 miles, and the narrowest part is several miles. There are gentle slopes on both sides, grasslands below, large coniferous forests above, and snow-capped mountains above. It is more like a magnificent mountain pasture than a valley.

Datong City was built at the mouth of the valley. The whole city was built very roughly, but it covered a large area, just like a small county town. If the army entered the valley from the side, the city could not stop them. However, it was mainly for logistical support and it was easy to cut off the retreat of the Sui army. The Sui army had to take down this city.

It can be seen that the Tuyuhun army has made sufficient preparations in the past two months. The number of troops in the city has increased to 5,000, and a large amount of supplies have been transported.

The Sui army set up camp five miles away, and the soldiers went to the nearby area to cut down trees to use as siege weapons. This area was almost entirely pristine pine forests, and the pine trees were tall and straight, making them very suitable for making siege ladders.

In just half a day, the Sui army cut down thousands of large trees and dragged them back to the barracks with horses. At this time, dozens of horses were dragging a giant fir tree back. The soldiers ran out of the barracks to check, and even Xiao Xia came out after hearing the news.

This giant tree has a diameter of more than one meter, is about four feet long, and weighs nearly ten thousand pounds. An old craftsman stepped forward to inspect it for a moment and said to Xiao Xia, "Envoy, we just happened to bring a ramming head. Install it. It will be very powerful."

Xiao Xia frowned and asked, "How can I hold up such a thick tree trunk?"

The old craftsman smiled and said, "Don't worry, sir. We can install iron handles, fifty pairs on each side. Soldiers can hold the handles and lift it up!"

Xiao Xia nodded, and he looked at the giant tree carefully again. A siege plan quickly formed in his mind.

In the middle of the night, under the cover of darkness, Xu Min led more than twenty scouts and gradually approached the east side of Datong City.

Everyone lay down, Xu Min waved his hand, and three thin soldiers bent down and ran up, gradually approaching the city wall. Suddenly, a dog barking sound came from the top of the city wall, and the three soldiers were so scared that they quickly lay on the ground. Soon, a soldier on the top of the city wall stuck his head out to look down, but they found nothing, scolded the patrol dog a few words, and left with the patrol dog.

It was a false alarm, and the three thin soldiers continued running. They soon reached the city wall, squatted down, and began to study the wall carefully.

At five o'clock in the morning, Xiao Xia was awakened by the soldiers. He got up and went to the outer tent. Xu Min bowed and reported: "Your Excellency, we have carefully studied the structure of the city wall. Although it is made of large stones, it can't be called a masonry. It can only be called a pile. Unlike us who use glutinous rice paste and lime as adhesives, they don't have any adhesives. They just pile up large stones. In many places, you can even put a hand in."

"What's filled in it?"

"It's all mud!" Xiao Xia nodded, "I understand. Go back and have a good rest. We will launch the offensive tomorrow night!"

During the past month, Xiao Xia trained the army in night combat in Zhangye. This was also the experience they summed up. Taking advantage of the Tuyuhun people's poor night vision and launching attacks at night as much as possible would achieve twice the result with half the effort.

At the first watch of the night, six thousand troops set out. When they were still a mile away from Datong Military City, they were discovered by the enemy's scouts. The scouts immediately lit a pile of fire, and the alarm bells on the top of the city immediately rang, "Dang! Ding! Ding! Ding!"

The Tuyuhun army was also very nervous. They slept in their armor at night with their weapons in their arms. When the alarm sounded, the soldiers woke up one after another, jumped up and ran to the top of the city.

In just a moment, the military city was filled with Tuyuhun soldiers. Under the bright moonlight, the soldiers saw the Sui army coming like a tide in the distance, and all the soldiers were very nervous.

Commander Murong Genu shouted, "Prepare your bows and arrows for shooting!"

Thousands of soldiers drew their bows and arrows, waiting for the arrival of the Sui army.

The Sui army stopped advancing one mile away. Xiao Xia waved his hand and said, "Bows and crossbows!"

Two thousand Sui army archers lined up and advanced step by step. In panic, they fired arrows from the top of the city wall, but the range of the arrows was less than a hundred steps, so it had no effect at all.

Two thousand Sui army archers stopped one hundred and fifty steps away from the city wall, squatted down, raised their crossbows and fired arrows like heavy rain, shooting towards the top of the city wall. In just a moment, the soldiers on the top of the city wall were suppressed.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Amid the sound of fierce war drums, a thousand Sui soldiers rushed towards the top of the city wall with shields raised, threw ropes onto the top of the city wall, and grabbed the top of the city wall with the hooks at the front of the ropes, but they were immediately cut off by the swords of the Tuyuhun soldiers.

At the same time as the earth-shaking siege was taking place in the north of the city, two teams appeared outside the east of the city. An army of 300 people each appeared. They were like a giant reptile, silently moving towards the southeast wall under the cover of night.

The other team was carrying several siege ladders, with about two hundred people. They approached the city wall almost at the same time. They made a lot of noise, fearing that the enemy would not find them. Of course, these two hundred people were covering the battering ram moving southward.

One hundred men were holding an extremely huge battering ram, with one hundred men on each side holding shields for protection. In order to increase concealment, the Sui army even painted the shields black, which made them difficult to see in the night.

There were only a few hundred soldiers guarding the east side of the city, but their attention was focused on the city gate, and they looked towards the north from time to time.

"What is that?" Suddenly a Tuyuhun soldier discovered that enemy troops were rushing up with siege ladders.

All the soldiers looked over and someone exclaimed in shock: "The Sui army is going to attack the East City!"

"not good!"

The leader of the 500 men shouted in alarm: "We need to inform the commander-in-chief that the Sui army is about to attack the East City!"

Hundreds of soldiers on the east city rushed to the northeast corner for defense, and more than a hundred defenders on the southeast city wall were also attracted away, leaving no enemy troops on the city wall.

An attacking team that looked like a gigantic centipede suddenly appeared in the darkness.

This was Xiao Xia's double cover. The massive attack from the north was, of course, a feint. The siege ladder from the northeast was also a feint. The real attacking team was the battering ram.

The soldiers holding the battering ram suddenly increased their speed, and the huge iron battering ram slammed hard into the city wall.

(End of this chapter)