In my dream of returning to the Tang Dynasty, I snatched Wu Zetian from my lap.

"That, that's firewood?" Li Yuanchang frowned, unable to resist leaning forward. The densely packed carriages were indeed carrying firewood.

"firewood?"

"What are they going to do?" All the generals were dumbfounded.

Li Yuanchang sensed something was amiss: "Quickly, organize a team to fetch water!"

Everyone was stunned for a second. How did one person end up carrying firewood and the other fetching water while the battle was raging?

"Go quickly!"

"yes!!"

"..."

In just a moment, the attacking Tang army revealed its intentions.

They pushed all the carts loaded with firewood to the foot of the city wall—at least a hundred carts!

Moreover, these firewoods are not ordinary firewoods; they have all been soaked in tung oil, making them flammable and difficult to extinguish.

"Stop them!!"

Li Yuanchang roared, "We've arrived at the front line!"

When the cart was pushed to the foot of the city wall, he knew what the Tang army was going to do.

The city walls of Anshi City are mostly made of bluestone, also known as limestone, which is the most common type of stone used in ancient city wall construction.

This stone is very hard, but once it is heated by high temperatures, the surface of the city wall is heated extremely, while the internal temperature is relatively low.

This huge temperature difference will generate thermal stress. When the stress exceeds the hardness of the stone, the surface of the city wall will crack, peel off, or even blow open!

This process, repeated over and over, is like peeling an onion; Anshi City will definitely be peeled open and a passage will be revealed.

It must be said that the wisdom of our ancestors was truly remarkable. There were many brilliant minds in the Tang army. Even without Li Ji, a large number of people worked through the night to come up with new methods.

Whoosh! !

A dense rain of arrows poured down, but most of them were blocked by the Tang army's shields.

When a large number of stones and logs came crashing down, it was too late to stop them; the Tang army's human wave tactics were simply too overwhelming.

As soon as a fire was lit, flames shot out from the corner of Anshi City's city wall and spread wildly to both sides.

The roaring flames continued unabated, like a giant dragon, spiraling out of control.

The flames shot five or six meters high up towards the city wall, and stretched for hundreds of meters to the left and right, enveloping the entire city wall and even parts of the mountain.

The temperature of the entire outer shell of the city wall began to soar suddenly!

"Water, water!!"

Li Yuanchang roared, and the water that had been ordered to be fetched in advance had come in handy.

Soon, thousands of buckets of water were carried up the city wall.

Li Yuanchang ordered his soldiers to pour water along the city wall, letting it flow down the entire wall to extinguish the fire and cool it down at the same time.

Although alternating hot and cold temperatures make city walls most vulnerable to blasting, the walls are so thick that a blast on the surface is not a big deal. The real concern is that the temperature might continue to rise and erode deeper into the walls.

The water poured down, instantly extinguishing the flames, and the fire dragon that had been engulfing the entire city wall visibly shrank.

The Tang army outside reacted swiftly upon seeing this situation.

As soon as the flames rose, all the soldiers retreated. At the same time, they erected shields outside the city to defend themselves, while archers stepped forward and lined up in a row.

"put!"

Whoosh! !

A steady stream of arrows flowed upstream.

All the commanders were shouting for them to dodge, but a considerable number of soldiers were still unable to dodge in time. In addition, some of their bodies were exposed outside the toothed wall when they were being poured water, and they were instantly pierced.

Screams rose and fell as buckets slipped from their grasp and tumbled down.

"Keep fetching water, keep watering!"

"Where are the throwers? Bomb the Tang army back!" Li Yuanchang had regained command of the front line.

"Your Highness, it's only two hundred paces! The brothers can't throw that far!" a general shouted. Some people had already tried, but they could only throw it less than a hundred paces with their arms.

The initial version of the Han Lei was already heavy due to its manufacturing process, and its limitations were further amplified when thrown by hand.

Seeing that the arrows could not break through the defenses and repel the Tang army's suppression, and that the Han thunder could not be thrown that far, Li Yuanchang was extremely anxious. He heard the roar of the heavy crossbows and suddenly had a brilliant idea.

His eyes suddenly lit up: "I've got it!!"

"Bring all the heavy crossbows here, light the Han thunderbolts, tie them to the crossbows, and fire them into the Tang army's camp! Hurry!!" Li Yuanchang roared, his hands already warm from the city wall.

The flames were so huge that the entire city wall of Anshi was like a furnace, especially below, where the air was distorted by the burning!

"yes!"

Anshi City has about eighteen heavy crossbows, all of which were brought from Liangzhou.

This thing is not as convenient or as effective as a regular bow and arrow, nor as powerful as a Han Lei bow and arrow. It's almost obsolete now, but it has the advantage of a long range and strong power, which is why it came in handy at this moment.

Eighteen heavy crossbows, each wrapped with twenty Han thunderbolts, were all ignited.

"Release it!!" Li Yuanchang roared.

Bang bang bang!

The heavy crossbow bolts fired with a thunderous roar.

All seventeen crossbows were fired, but only one failed to fire due to a malfunction; the crossbow bolt got stuck in the ballista and the crossbow could not be fired.

At that moment, everyone felt their scalp tingle and were completely stunned. The soldiers in charge of the launch turned pale and didn't know what to do.

Li Yuanchang's expression changed drastically, and he was about to shout "Lie down!" when...

At the critical moment, a soldier reacted quickly, stepped forward, snatched the hanging thunderbolt, and threw it down from the city wall.

boom! !

Han Lei exploded in mid-air, and the terrifying aftershocks made the people on the city wall's ears ring and made them lose their balance.

At the same time, the heavy crossbows broke through the enemy lines, successfully firing a large number of Han thunderbolts into the Tang army's archer camp.

Bang bang bang!

Instantly, it was like firecrackers going off inside; large swathes of Tang soldiers were torn apart and blasted into the sky, and the seemingly indestructible battle line was shattered in an instant.

Screams filled the air below the city walls, leaving a scene of utter devastation; the oppressive force against the walls vanished instantly.

Panic spread through the Tang army camp, forcing large numbers of soldiers to retreat.

"Put out the fire!" Li Yuanchang shouted.

"yes!"

The soldiers seized the opportunity and poured water down on the city walls again.

The heavy crossbows began a second wave of bombardment. Relying on the range of the heavy crossbows and the lethality of gunpowder, the Han army completely repelled the Tang army.

Explosions continued outside the city, tearing through the shields like a dazzling fireworks display. The Tang army eventually retreated six hundred paces.

This distance, including the previous two hundred paces, was far beyond the range of arrows, and the Tang army could no longer harass the defending soldiers.

Soon, the massive fire they started was brought under control, and two-thirds of the fire wall, which stretched for hundreds of meters, was extinguished.

Because the burning time was too short and the temperature rise was insufficient, it did not actually cause much damage to the city wall of Anshi.

But the Tang army was clearly unwilling to give up.

They regrouped and attacked again, braving artillery fire and employing fire attacks.

It must be said that the Tang army had extremely strict discipline; any other army that had been bombed would probably have deserted long ago.

The Han army also resisted, enduring the bombardment of boulders that kept coming from afar, and countered each move by pouring water down on the city walls.

The two sides were thus caught in a cycle of arson and firefighting, alternating endlessly.