Chapter 68: The Death of Li Qianzhi

  "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 continuously observed the situation in various directions of the city gates. Without the need for soldiers' reports, he could see the battle situation in the direction of the three major city gates, but the specific details of the battle were 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 northern gate.

  After understanding the situation in the direction of the North Gate, Yang Hui's eyebrows tightened.

  Looking towards the east gate, the attack was still ongoing, but the number of rebel troops rushing forward did not increase significantly, and many soldiers did not swarm to the north gate. A large number of rebel soldiers went to the south gate instead, and he immediately understood what was going on.

  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 this thought, Yang Hui's eyes conjured up the scene of the Tang army corpses that had filled the moat before, and the gruesome sight after they were burned by the great fire, and he couldn't help but shudder slightly.

  Yang Jie believed that his judgment was correct, so he immediately ordered the northern gate guard to hold their troops in place, neither increasing nor withdrawing them. As long as there were rebel troops attacking, they would be repelled. The rebel army from the north could not launch a large-scale attack, with each siege involving only two or three hundred people, and any more would not be able to deploy. With over a thousand defenders on the city wall, it was more than enough to respond. At the same time, he also informed Geshu Han, Wang Silie, and Tian Liangqiu in the southern 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 by military officers into the hands of Ge Shuhan and Wang Sili, Tian Liangju.

  Because the east gate is between the south and north gates, standing on the city gate tower of the east gate can roughly see the battle situation in both directions of the left and right city gates. However, in the direction of the south gate, the situation at the north gate cannot be seen, and 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 very clear 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 Geshu Han and Wang Silie.

  "Pass the order to all generals, array the troops in a strict formation and shoot dead any rebel who dares to charge at the city gate, do not allow the rebels to have any chance of climbing into the city!" Geshu Han calmly gave out the new command. While ordering the masses of generals to strictly defend against the rebels' even larger-scale charge, he also ordered the soldiers to prepare hay and oil, planning to set a large fire in the moat when the rebels' corpses had accumulated to a certain degree.

  Wang Sili had a lot of combat experience. Although the vanguard he led suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of Lingbao, this did not affect Geshu Han's trust in him. It can be said that the command affairs on the south gate city head were mainly handled by him.

  He was very decisive and powerful in his actions, while Tian Liangju, the military affairs officer, was relatively weak. When he took over the command of the army from Geshu Han, he could not restrain Wang Sili at all. Today's battle command also followed Wang Sili's.

  Wang Silie, upon receiving Yang Hui's report, immediately understood the rebel army's intention to attack and ordered the bed crossbow to increase its firing frequency, striving to shoot more rebels on the east side of the Forbidden Ditch, and increased the density of the soldiers' arrow shooting, striving to inflict greater casualties on the rebels and destroy their morale.

  As Wang Silie's order was given, the arrows shot down from the city head became denser.

  In the hail of arrow fire, nearly futile charges, using every means to try to climb up to the west bank of the trench, the rebel soldiers fell down like cut grass, batch after batch falling down, many soldiers' bodies were full of arrows.

  Those rebel soldiers who charged forward under the pressure of their commanding officers became targets for the defending troops on the city wall, and the damage they caused to the defenders was negligible.

  The heavy casualties of the rebels made Wang Silie very excited, and he even shouted a few times from time to time to boost the morale of the soldiers.

  His eyesight was very good, his archery skills were also excellent, and he had great strength. When commanding soldiers in battle, he himself did not idle around, from time to time drawing his bow and shooting arrows, killing the rebel troops who charged forward. He didn't shoot at ordinary soldiers, but instead targeted those wearing the uniforms of captains, lieutenants, and deputy commanders among the rebels.

  He has his pride, he is a great general, and will not kill those nameless small soldiers unless absolutely necessary.

  A rebel commander clad in heavy, shining armor fell into Wang Silie's sights, and he immediately drew his bow. In this scorching weather, few people would wear such thick, shining armor. The armor would be scalding hot from the sun, and the body would not be able to withstand being confined within the heavy armor. The only possibility was that this was a high-ranking rebel commander who had rushed to the front lines to coordinate the various units' frantic charge against the city gate, or to supervise the troops.

  Roughly estimating, the rebel leader was standing at a distance of about 170 steps from the city gate, almost out of range of all bows and arrows. It seemed that this rebel leader had also estimated the distance well, standing in a relatively safe position, not to be shot by the arrows on the city gate, but still able to command his troops to attack. Moreover, that location was the blind spot of the bed crossbow shooting from the city gate.

  But Wang Silie became interested in it!

  Wang Silie used a three-stone bow, which can be said to be the heaviest among all the bows used by the Tongguan Town soldiers. The maximum range can reach two hundred steps, or about 300 meters. He wanted to rely on his heavy bow to shoot and kill this rebel general.

  In the midst of the "twang" sounds, Wang Silie drew his bow to its fullest extent, aiming at a rebel general standing atop a pile of corpses in the trench about two hundred steps away, waving a battle saber and directing his soldiers to quickly storm the city. After taking a deep breath, he let out a loud shout, and amidst the piercing sound of the arrow breaking through the air, this heavy arrow shot towards that rebel general clad in shining armor at incredible speed.

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  Li Qian led the vanguard troops to launch a fierce attack on the south gate of Tongguan City, but the effect of the attack was almost unbearable. The first batch of thousands of people who charged forward were mostly shot dead or injured. Cui Gan'you, who personally led his troops to arrive at the outer east bank of Jingou, saw this situation and did not blame Li Qian much. Instead, he handed over 4,000 more troops to him and ordered him to capture Tongguan City head at all costs.

  Li Qian could only grit his teeth and charge forward, changing into a suit of shining armor before rushing to the bottom of the trench, standing on top of the pile of soldiers' corpses, directing the battle.

  Several bodyguards held up shields to block any arrows that might fly his way.

  However, this distance, except for the bed crossbow, is generally not reachable by other arrows, and it is also a dead angle of the bed crossbow's shooting range. The arrows from the twelfth city wall are also difficult to reach, so Li Qian does not worry about being hit by an arrow.

  But who would have thought that a heavy arrow flew swiftly towards the place where he was standing, and it wasn't until the arrow was near that he and his bodyguards discovered it, but it was already too late to block it. The whizzing arrow hit him right in the face, piercing through his cheek.

  Li Qian only managed to let out a muffled groan before falling down, and with that, he was gone.

  The commander-in-chief of the battle fell, causing a riot among the rebels who were densely charging forward. Some people turned around and ran back in terror, while many others fell from the cloud ladders placed on the wall of the moat in confusion. The offensive slowed down, leading to a burst of cheers from the Tang army officers and men on the city head.

  Chui Kin-yiu burst forth like thunder, and on horseback ordered another Central General to replace Lee Chun, directing the assault on the city.

  Few people noticed that the sky above Tongguan had changed color, and dark clouds were slowly gathering. The sun was also unknowingly blocked by the cloud layer at some point.