Chapter Seventeen: Beacon Fires (III)

Tie Ren Xi Nuo Luo had no choice—He Long Fort must be taken!
“Fourth Thousand Troops, pay attention! Bring the trebuchets forward and bombard the fortress relentlessly. Fifth and Sixth Thousand Troops, prepare the scaling ladders and be ready to climb at any moment!”
He had no alternatives left—only a desperate gamble!
The Tibetans were not skilled in craftsmanship. These trebuchets and scaling ladders were built by Han craftsmen captured from He Long. Though the Tibetans regarded these Han slaves as worthless, they still had to work tirelessly for them. Any Han slave who disobeyed would be executed, and their bodies thrown into the mountains to feed the wolves.
Tibetan soldiers operated the trebuchets, producing a thunderous roar. Unlike the sophisticated trebuchets of the Tang army, these were massive siege weapons. With arms over thirty feet long, they housed huge stones in leather bags at the back. Dozens of Tibetan soldiers pulled on ropes at the front, using the principle of levers to launch the stones high into the air. These trebuchets had an extremely long range—up to six or seven hundred paces—so Tie Ren Xi Nuo Luo wasn’t worried about capturing what seemed like an impregnable fortress. No building, no matter how strong, could stand against such massive siege engines; the huge stones would crush any obstacle in their path! (Note 1) Like floods and beasts, these trebuchets hurled massive stones with tremendous force, instantly creating a storm of dust and debris. Dozens of stones flew through the air, and some Tang soldiers at the battlements couldn’t dodge in time, being smashed to pieces. They didn’t even have time to scream before dying.
Zhong Li’s eyes turned red as he roared, “Lie down! All of you, lie down! Use the battlements to protect yourselves and cover your heads—don’t stick your heads out!”
Although the battlements were dangerous, they created dead angles. With proper use of the terrain, everyone could avoid danger.
“Lie down quickly!”
A middle-aged man in the uniform of a fire commander rushed over and pushed a new recruit to the ground, shouting at him. The recruits, unaware of the danger, still stood foolishly at the battlements.
Just then, a huge stone the size of a millstone flew from the battlements, casting a huge shadow over the fire commander’s head.
“Boom!”
The stone hit the ground, raising a cloud of yellow dust. The fire commander seemed to see his son running toward him with a smile, arms outstretched, calling out, “Dad, hug me!”
The smiling face grew larger and closer, but when it reached him, it turned into the sinister grin of a demon. Instantly, a deathly silence spread everywhere.
“No! Captain Du! No!”

The fallen recruit screamed heartbreakingly. The fire commander shouldn’t have been in danger—he was standing right where he had been just a few seconds earlier. It was all his fault; he had doomed the fire commander! Blood gushed from the fire commander’s chest, staining the bluestone slabs and the eyes of every Tang soldier. Even to his death, a faint smile lingered on his lips…
“Bang, bang, bang!”
More boulders flew through the air, striking the catapults in the back row above everyone’s heads and instantly crushing those wooden machines.
“Damn it!”
Zhang Yanji slammed his fist against the stone wall, roaring in fury. The Tang army’s catapults didn’t have as long a range as those of the Tibetans, reaching at most two hundred paces. Thus, even though they could clearly see the Tibetans pulling the ropes and levers, the Tang soldiers were helpless.
“Pass my order: fight by beating drums. Five to six thousand men should use ladders to climb the fortress and slaughter all the Tang soldiers inside!”
Tie Ren Xino Luo saw the moment was ripe and issued the order to attack.
“Dong, dong, dong!”
The deep, oppressive sound of the Tibetan skin drums rang out again, as over two thousand Tibetan soldiers charged forward with fierce shouts. Some carried ladders several zhang tall, while others held large shields and long knives. Under the cover of the catapults, they rushed toward the base of the Great Wall fortress.
“Those who first enter the city walls will be rewarded with ten thousand sheep and a hundred beautiful women!”
Tie Ren Xino Luo’s voice rang out once more. The alluring rewards made the Tibetan soldiers’ eyes gleam with greed. Ten thousand sheep and a hundred beautiful women for those who first entered the city! With such rewards, they could rise to become lower-ranking nobles in Tibet and own their own property!
The Tibetans also learned to make ladders from the Tang army—“using large wooden frames with six wheels at the bottom.” These ladders were not only lightweight and easy to carry but also adjustable in height according to the city walls. The Tibetans were naturally brave and often able to climb cliffs without external help. With these ladders, they became even more formidable, filled with fighting spirit.
“Charge up and kill them all! Once inside, the Tang dynasty has endless treasures and countless beautiful women. Everything there will be yours!”
Lude Xigao, the commander of the sixth thousand-man unit, roared loudly. War unleashed the beast within him, and the temptation of wealth drove him almost to madness.
The tide of the Tibetan army had arrived, with hundreds of soldiers beside each ladder. The ladders had already been placed against the city walls, and with the help of their comrades, the first group of Tibetan soldiers began to attack the fortress walls!
Drums beat continuously, and the sounds of battle filled the air. By now, it was completely dark, yet it couldn’t hide the brutality of the war. Due to the use of catapults, both the Tibetans and the Tang soldiers suffered heavy casualties.

“Brothers of the Third and Fourth Brigades, draw your bows and get ready!”
Xi Mocha commanded loudly. The Tibetans were moving swiftly and had gradually entered range for archery.
150 paces, 120 paces, 100 paces!
“Fire!”
At Xi Mocha’s order, illuminated by the torches on the wall, hundreds of arrows with feathered tips flew out in a whirlwind. The brothers didn’t need to consider angles—they just needed to draw back their bows and shoot randomly into the air to effectively kill the Tibetan soldiers. There were simply too many of them at the foot of the wall!
The arrows formed a dense net, flying out from the battlements, rising high before pouring down upon the Tibetan soldiers’ heads.
“Ah!”
The Tibetan soldiers in the front line were hit by the flying arrows and fell off the ladders. They were too eager; huge rewards had clouded their judgment. To speed up their ascent, they even threw away their rhinoceros horn shields and rushed up the battlements at full speed!
Although the Tibetan soldiers wore high-quality chainmail that could effectively protect them from arrow attacks, the arrows used by the Tang army had been specially modified for them. After research by military craftsmen, the arrowheads had internal grooves that curved upward, allowing them to penetrate the dense chainmail and pierce straight into the flesh of the Tibetan soldiers. The arrowheads were also coated with deadly poison. Even if a soldier pulled the arrow out immediately, the poison would still spread through the bloodstream to the heart. Once the poison reached the heart, even the bravest Tibetan soldiers would die instantly!
“Pick up your shields and protect your vital areas, you fools!”
Lu Dexi’s eyes were red. Just one round of arrows from the Tang army had killed nearly 200 of his soldiers. If this continued, all his men would die before they could reach the top of the wall.
Hearing their commander’s orders, the Tibetan soldiers in the back gradually regained their senses and began using their small shields to cover their heads and vital areas. They no longer cared about protecting other parts of their bodies. With one hand holding the ladder, they gritted their teeth and rushed toward the wall. The archers protected by a large number of shields began to counterattack. They didn’t care whether arrows would hit them; they simply drew their bows and shot at a certain distance. The arrows flew upward in a parabolic path and landed among the Tang army on the wall. Some of the Tang archers on the wall also fell, but as soon as one fell, someone else would step on his body to take his place and keep shooting.

No one retreated, no one hesitated. Everyone knew who their enemy was—those Tubo barbarians, a group of merciless demons. If they allowed them to capture the fortress, everyone inside the Great Wall Fortress would be slaughtered, with no chance of survival for themselves.
Most of the Tang army’s trebuchets had been destroyed by the Tubo forces, leaving them unable to mount an effective counterattack. However, due to their rapid march, the Tubo forces had not brought heavy weapons aside from the trebuchets and scaling ladders necessary for siege warfare. The stones used in the trebuchets were taken from the surrounding mountains, and after several rounds of attacks, they had gradually run out.
Seeing that the number of stones thrown by the Tubo army was decreasing, Li Kuo, the officer in charge of fire support from the rear, shouted loudly, “Go get more stones—bring as many as you can, and throw them down from the battlements!”
At this point, Li Kuo no longer cared about military hierarchy at all. Although Dian Wuxi was the true commander of this fortress, in such an emergency, he believed Brother Dian would surely understand!…
Note 1: Trebuchets were used since the Spring and Autumn period and became important weapons for attacking and defending cities after the Sui and Tang dynasties. Large trebuchets could reach a range of six to seven hundred paces, making them essential tools for sieges.
Note 2: The scaling ladders of the Tang dynasty were greatly improved over those of the Warring States period: the main ladder was fixed at an angle on a base; outside the main ladder, there was an additional movable ladder (auxiliary ladder) with a pair of pulleys at its top, allowing it to slide up and down along the city wall—known as a “flying cloud ladder.” The bottom of the ladder was supported by a large wooden frame with six wheels.