On the north bank of the Ru River in Xiangcheng County, a Tang army of about 20,000 people was moving northeast along the river. This team was the Tang army on the eastern front led by Qu Tutong. Qu Tutong's goal was very clear, and he found Xu Shiji's army and defeated or annihilated it in one fell swoop.

But the scout's situation does not seem to support Qu Tutong's ambitions. He has not been able to accurately judge where Xu Shiji's army is?

This made him very embarrassed. If he could not find the Sui army within five days, the food and grass he carried would be exhausted. In fact, he only had three days, so he could not return on hungry.

Yesterday he finally got a clue. Someone told his scout that he had discovered a large group of Sui troops near Runan County two days ago. This news made Qu Tutong ecstatic and immediately rushed to Runan County.

Runan County is not the same as Runan County in the south. The county seat of Runan County is called Ruyang County, close to Xiangyang. The Runan County here is just a small county under Xiangcheng County. It is located south of the Rushui River. The city is dilapidated and the population is only a thousand households. In recent years, it has been looted by bandits and its population has dropped sharply to less than three hundred households.

The next afternoon, Qu Tutong led 20,000 Tang troops to this small plain county. Qu Tutong squinted his eyes and looked at the dilapidated small town several miles away. The city wall was low and the circumference was only seven or eight miles long. Some important military fortresses were even bigger than it.

At this time, more than a dozen Tang army scouts rushed over and reported to the commander of the brigade: "Report to the old general, the county town is almost empty, and the Sui army has been stationed in the city for nearly ten days."

Qu Tutong frowned, "How could it be an empty city?"

The brigade general turned around and waved his hand. Several soldiers brought an old man up. The old man said tremblingly: "Report to General, the Sui army is like a wolf or a tiger. The people in the city are so scared that they run away, leaving only a dozen old bones who don't want to leave home."

Qu Tutong was a little puzzled. "The Sui army has not always been strict in military discipline. How could it become like a wolf or a tiger?"

"well!"

The old man sighed, "It was fine at the beginning, just two days ago. The Sui army asked for food and property, wanted to catch strong men, and the young women also wanted to reward the army. The city was full of chaos, and there were not many people in the city, but they were all scared away."

"Where did the Sui army retreat?" Qu Tutong felt a little depressed and was one step late again.

The old man shook his head, "I really don't know that they left yesterday afternoon and left in a very hurry."

It seemed that the Sui army had discovered their arrival, so they evacuated hastily. Qu Tutong could not decide whether the Sui army would evacuate south or north. He could only wait for the scouts to inquire about the situation nearby. He looked up and saw that it was already afternoon. He ordered: "Tell me my order. The army entered the city to rest!"

The Tang army's 20,000 troops drove into the city, and in a moment the small county town was filled. Although it was a little crowded, it could barely settle down.

They got the harvest of food and grass, which surprised them. They found that the Sui army had abandoned a lot of supplies. In addition to some weapons, there were more than 1,000 stones of grain and two thousand tannes of grass, which just solved their urgent needs.

Qu Tutong rode a horse to inspect the city. According to the Sui system, such a small county town could only have two city gates, one south gate and one north gate. The two city gates were about three miles apart, and it also formed the only main street in the city.

Most of the houses were dilapidated, and many houses collapsed due to disrepair. Each house was filled with soldiers. Qu Tutong saw a group of soldiers fetching water by the well and preparing to cook.

"Have you checked the well?"

Qu Tutong asked loudly, he was very cautious, and he had to check the wells and houses one by one to prevent the Sui army from poisoning, and also to prevent the Sui army from accumulating dry firewood, sulfur and other fire-induced objects.

Fortunately, they did not find any exceptions.

When the soldiers saw that the Lord's future came, they immediately replied: "Report to the general that the well has been inspected and there is no abnormality."

Qu Tutong nodded and continued to strode his horse to inspect everywhere.

.........

As night gradually came, the Tang army, who had been marching for two days, were exhausted and fell asleep early. The city gates were closed. Teams of Tang army patrolled back and forth at the top of the city, with high alert. Outside the city, nearly a hundred Tang army scouts went to inspect the suspicious situation within ten miles.

It was cloudy tonight, without stars and moonlight, thick dark clouds covered the sky, and the night was heavy, making the earth particularly dark.

At about one hour, a team of twenty-person Tang army scouts were running towards the city quickly. They discovered something abnormal and were rushing back to the city to report that they were five miles away from the city at this moment.

Just as twenty cavalrymen ran over a low hurdle, there was only a sound of arrows breaking through the air, and dense arrows on both sides shot towards them. The twenty screamed and fell off the horse. After two rounds of arrows, no one was alive.

At this time, more than 20,000 Sui troops had gradually moved closer to the two gates of the county town. With the protection of the dark night, the defenders on the city did not find the large group of Sui troops approaching, but in the slow deployment, ten thousand Sui crossbowmen had blocked the gates.

At this time, hundreds of fortification soldiers built objects on the flat ground two hundred steps away from the city. They carried ready-made parts and built long-range shooting weapons with giant trees and twisted ropes. Half an hour later, ten huge behemoths appeared outside the city, and the tall support tower was even taller than the city wall.

When the construction was nearly completed, the defenders finally discovered an abnormality. A soldier rushed down the city and reported to the main general Qu Tu urgently.

Qu Tutong had just fallen asleep, but was not completely asleep. Although he was very tired, the pressure from the general made him a little anxious and difficult to fall asleep. After decades of military service, he had an unusual sense of vigilance about danger.

He also felt something was wrong in this small city, but he couldn't tell what was wrong. He checked all the suspicious places, and even dug three feet to see if there was anything buried underground, but he found nothing.

Qu Tutong was lying on the couch, and scenes flashed through the daytime scenes in his mind. He must figure out where his uneasiness came from?

Suddenly, Qu Tutong sat up suddenly, and he thought of the problem. During the day, the old man said that the Sui army snatched food and grass and ransomed property the day before leaving. If the Sui army really needed food, why did it leave more than 1,000 grain and more than 2,000 loads of grass left? This would be incomprehensible.

Then the Sui army violated military discipline in an abnormal manner, and only one purpose was to force the residents in the city to escape. They did not need to persuade them, and the methods of persuasion would make themselves alert. So what should the Sui army do? Drive all the residents in the city and leave an empty city for themselves.

Qu Tutong suddenly jumped up in his heart, and his two trembled. He had already vaguely guessed the intention of the Sui army. At this moment, a rapid running sound came from the yard.

"We have urgent matters to report to the general!"

"But the old general has rested. He is too tired. Can't he report it tomorrow?"

"No! I'm afraid it will be too late tomorrow."

Qu Tutong stood up suddenly and opened the door, "What happened?"

The patrol soldiers came forward to report, "Report to the old general, we found that there was an abnormal situation outside the city."

Qu Tutongxin was a little cold. Although he didn't know what was happening outside, he had realized that their stationed in this county was a trap of the Sui army. He only considered that the city wall was a security guard that could defend against the Sui army's sneak attack at night, but forgot that the city wall was actually a kind of constraint.

Qu Tutong quickly stepped up to the top of the city and stared into the distance. He saw ten giant-like towers two hundred steps away, two or five feet tall, one september higher than their lower wall. In the dark night, a long arm could be seen.

This was a giant catapult, and cold sweat rolled down Qu Tutong's forehead. He already understood the Sui army's intentions. He turned around and shouted loudly: "Roar the alarm bell!"

"Dang!Dang!Dang..."

The harsh bell echoed in the small county town, but at the same time the alarm bell rang, the huge catapult of the Sui army also broke out.

This is a scattered trencher with no wooden wheels, no complex tower body, and no winch. It is tied up with more than a dozen giant trees, and each trencher is pulled and thrown by two hundred people.

Amid the harsh alarm, ten turbulent barrels were thrown out at the same time, crossing the city wall and flying into the city. The turbulent barrels hit the roof and the ground, and immediately broke. Black turbulent oil flowed all over the ground. Then the second round of turbulent oil was thrown out, and the ten turbulent barrels roared into the city.

Hundreds of Sui army archers rushed to the front of the city and fired arrows together. Hundreds of rockets soared into the air and shot into the city. Fire spots began to appear in the city, and tincture oil was ignited and began to burn rapidly.

In Runan City, a group of Tang troops had already lined up. Under Qu Tutong's command, they did not panic. More importantly, the fire in the city is still burning near the city wall and has not yet reached the center of the county town.

Qu Tutong understood in his heart that the biggest threat to them now was not the fire, but the casualties in the breakout. If the casualties exceed 30%, then this battle will undoubtedly be defeated.

This result made Qu Tutong very sad. He was like a hunter who was struggling to find a beast, but in the end he was hunted by the beast.

"Elder General, do we have to break through?" Deputy General Qin Wutong rode forward on a horse and asked loudly, and he also realized that there would be losses in the breakout.

Qu Tutong looked at the fire getting closer and faster and faster, and calmly replied: "At the latest half an hour, the entire county town will become a sea of ​​fire."

All the generals felt sad and bit their lips tightly. Qu Tutong estimated the time it took to rush out of the city. He only walked one gate and didn't have time to go up. He turned to Qinwu Pass: "General Qin, you can lead the left army to break through from the south city. We meet at Sanlipo, east of the city."

"Abide by the order!"

Qin Wutong shouted, "Brother Zuo Jun comes with me!"

Countless Tang soldiers turned around and ran towards the south gate. Qu Tutong waited for a while and ordered: "Open the city and release the suspension bridge!"

The city gate rumbled open, the suspension bridge slowly lowered, and the Tang army infantry raised large shields and lined up in a dense line.

Apart from 150 steps in the north city, Xu Shiji had been waiting for 5,000 crossbowmen for a long time. Among them, two thousand heavy crossbowmen were in groups, and one thousand heavy crossbows were coldly aimed at the city cave.

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