Chapter 57: The Empty City Strategy

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  The sky will soon be bright.

  But fog has risen in the mountains!

  The increasingly thick fog hid the two Tongguan cities, and the peaks of Huashan also appeared and disappeared in the fog, which was extremely beautiful.

  But Hua Shan's beauty in the fog is almost ignored by anyone, especially at that time, who has the mind to appreciate the beauty?

  The rebel army of Cui Gan-yu, which had retreated more than 20 li, began to make preparations at dawn. They wanted to take advantage of the time before sunrise when it was not too hot to launch an attack on Hantong Pass and capture it with all their might. Then they would gather all their forces to launch a sustained attack on Suotou Pass, trying to capture it within one day and open up the last gateway to Chang'an.

  After a noisy and quarrelsome breakfast, Cui Qianyou ordered Li Qian and Cheng Wei, two Zhonglang generals, each leading 4,000 men and horses to take the lead in launching continuous attacks on the south gate and east gate of Hantongguan City.

  Last night, Cui Jianyu did not order the soldiers to attack the city overnight, but still sent out many soldiers to lurk near the Hantanguan City and observe the situation on the city wall. Whether the Tang army had increased its troops or launched a surprise attack at night were all situations that Cui Jianyu had to grasp.

  According to the soldiers lurking around, in the first half of the night, Tongguan City was bustling with excitement. The patrolling soldiers were constant, as if there were reinforcements arriving. The defending soldiers on the city wall seemed to be more densely packed. By the second half of the night, the noise had subsided slightly, and the torches and lanterns had decreased, but the city wall still had a vague human shadow. The number of soldiers increased and decreased from time to time, and there were occasional arrows shot down to probe the situation outside the city.

  According to the report of the hidden soldiers, Cui Qianyou believed that the Tang army had already sent reinforcements overnight, but the number of reinforcements was not clear. The Tang army did not dare to launch a night attack out of the city, which can be explained by the fact that the number of reinforcements is not large.

  According to yesterday's observation, Cui Qianyou judged that the garrison of Hantangguan City had only more than 2,000 people. Adding the reinforcements, it should be less than 4,000.

  Inside the city of Hantanguan, there were only about 4,000 defenders. Cui Gan believed that with his vanguard of over 50,000 troops, using the wheel war tactic, rotating shifts to attack the city, he could definitely take down that dilapidated city.

  Therefore, Li Qian and Cheng Wei were ordered to attack with all their might, no matter how great the cost.

  Li Qian and Cheng Wei, who were assigned to lead the charge, felt a chill run down their spines. They knew that this task was not easy to accomplish and might even cost them their lives. The tragic scene of yesterday's siege was still fresh in their minds, and today they would have to witness a similar tragedy unfold among their own troops. But they did not dare disobey orders and could only lead the charge as instructed.

  The Hantangguan City was still hidden in the fog, and even the soldiers lurking nearby could only see a rough outline of the city, but couldn't see the defenders on the city wall. Li Qian and Cheng Wei led their troops to move cautiously towards the bottom of the Hantangguan City, planning to take advantage of the thick fog before it cleared, when the defenders on the city wall couldn't see the situation below, to launch a surprise attack and catch them off guard.

  So they repeatedly warned the soldiers to be careful and try to avoid making loud noises that would alert the guards on the city walls.

  The fog started at dawn, initially it was just a light mist, but as the daybreak approached, the fog grew thicker.

  This is a common scene in the Huashan area during summer, almost every morning there is fog, only the degree of fog is different, on days with heavier humidity, such as after rain the day before, the fog will be very big the next day, but this is not absolute.

  Yesterday morning, before sunrise, the thin fog had completely dissipated. It doesn't look like it will be that easy today.

  Two groups of people groped their way forward slowly, and the mountain road of two or three miles took nearly half an hour. Finally, under the guidance of the hidden soldiers, they sneaked to the bottom of Hantanguan City, but at this time, the defending army on the city wall did not discover them, without any movement, nor were there any arrows shot down.

  Li Qian and Cheng Wei were overjoyed at the prospect of commanding the battle, and immediately ordered their soldiers to quicken their pace and hurry to set up the cloud ladders against the city walls.

  Yesterday's great casualties resulted in no soldiers climbing onto the city wall, and even fewer cloud ladders reached the top.

  Today, we can easily dive under the city wall and set up cloud ladders. Thanks to this thick fog, the Tang army on the city head has lost its judgment and the ability to react first. Many cloud ladders have been set up, and after a command, the soldiers holding shields climb up first, while the soldiers holding swords quickly climb up towards the city head under the cover of the shield-holding soldiers.

  But just as the cloud ladder was set up, a pile of stones and logs rolled down quickly from several places where the cloud ladder was placed, hitting the soldiers who were climbing the city wall on the head. The soldiers who were hit first let out a miserable cry and fell to the ground, landing on top of the soldiers who were climbing behind them, causing a chain reaction. The soldiers on the same ladder fell one after another, and the cries of misery continued to come.

  "The Tang army is attacking!" A soldier shouted there.

  It's strange that this time the Tang army attacked with stones and wooden boards, but didn't use arrows. Did they run out of arrows in the city yesterday?

  Nor was there the sound of Tang army's shouting, nor were all the ladders attacked by the Tang army. Several ladders did not encounter any attack, and the rebel soldiers on the ladders landed smoothly on the very dilapidated city wall.

  Those cloud ladders that were knocked down by stones or wooden beams were lifted up by the following soldiers, and other soldiers who followed continued to climb the city.

  The attack on the city wall weakened quickly and then stopped, which made the rebel army attacking the city very suspicious.

  After quickly climbing onto the city wall, the rebel soldiers immediately shouted and killed the Tang army soldiers holding knives on the city wall, but after the knife was cut on the Tang army soldiers' bodies, a more surprising situation occurred.

  The soldiers on the city wall were actually all wooden or straw men, dressed only in Tang army armor.

  The Tang army has abandoned the city and fled? This is a question that any rebel soldier who stormed the city would be wondering.

  However, there was still a thick fog on the city wall, and the rebels who rushed up the city wall could not see the situation clearly.

  The rebels who couldn't see the situation clearly were rushing around and even hitting each other in a state of panic, resulting in accidental deaths and injuries.

  "The Tang army has abandoned the city and fled!" Finally someone shouted out this inference loudly, then more people accepted this view and followed with loud shouts.

  "Rush down at once and open the city gate!"

  It was someone's order that came loudly.

  "Yes!" The soldiers responded loudly and rushed down to the city quickly.

  But immediately afterwards, a miserable cry followed!

  That was what came out of the mouth of the soldier who wanted to rush down the stairs.

  In the thick fog, it was impossible to see clearly what was happening, and in the heat of the moment, those who rushed to the top of the city wall, full of excitement, unconsciously followed the slope of the stairs down, but did not expect that no matter which staircase or horse path led down to the bottom of the city, they were all cut off or oiled, and the soldiers, caught off guard, scrambled to fall down, rolling directly to the foot of the city wall several feet high, many people lost their lives.