Northern Dynasties

Chapter 284

In the territory of Dongxia Prefecture, there is a river running across almost the entire northern Shaanxi plateau, named Qingshui, which is later known as the Yanhe River, one of the important tributaries on the west bank of the Yellow River.

Most of the terrain in Dongxia Prefecture is the hills of Taiyuan, but the valleys in the Qingshui River Basin can still be said to be rich in water and grass and fertile.Therefore, the two sides of Qingshui are also the most densely populated areas in Dongxia Prefecture, and most of the other areas are desolate and uninhabited slopes, with barren land and limited output.

Guangwu City, the prefecture of Dongxia Prefecture, is located in the Qingshui River Valley.This area is densely covered with rivers and valleys, criss-crossing, and the plateau walls are steep and rugged. If you are not familiar with the path of the plateau valley and enter here rashly, it is like entering a vast maze.

As the state capital of Dongxia Prefecture, Guangwu City is composed of three cities of different sizes, each of which is based on a valley.

The easternmost small city is located on the north bank of Qingshui, next to mountains and rivers. It is called Fenglin City. It was built during the Helian Huxia period.Although the city is not big, the city wall is as hard as a stone, and there are many horse faces, which are long and dense. Relying on this unique geographical advantage, it is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Fenglin City is more than a dozen miles westward and the valley gradually widens. There is also a city near the river, located in the valley between two rivers. There are many canals and valleys around the city. The city is also quite deep and wide. This is Guangwu University. The city is also the seat of the state capital of Dongxia Prefecture.

A few miles to the west of Guangwu Dacheng, there is a narrow and long valley, which used to be a tributary of Qingshui, but the river has dried up many years ago, forming a valley called dry valley.The Dry Valley is an important channel connecting the valleys of the Qingshui River Basin. Through this, you can quickly reach Fushi City and other places from Guangwu. Therefore, there is an official pastoral and post station here, named Dry Valley Station.

In the early morning, Li Mu went up to the tower to watch the enemy's situation.

At this time, there was a thick layer of frost on the outer wall of the city wall. In order to prevent the enemy from attacking the city, the guards poured cold water on the city wall at night. It solidifies into ice and does not melt for a long time.

At this time, there were not many enemy camps outside the Guangwu city. Since Fenglin City in the east was still firmly guarded, the enemy did not dare to enter this section of the river valley and station nearby in order to avoid being attacked by the enemy.

But this is only to ensure that the pressure on this east-west area is still small. Between the valleys on the north side of Guangwu City, the enemy camps are already full, and they are constantly sending rangers around day and night. Patrolling and sweeping the river valley, maintaining the blockade of the city.

Looking at the locust-like enemy rangers patrolling back and forth in the valley outside the city, Li Mu spat hard. Although he was very annoyed, he felt a little helpless for a while.

He originally wanted to keep the enemy out of the way, and led a strong force of three thousand to the north to meet the enemy. He planned to wipe out the bandit army in the upper reaches of Qingshui in the northwest, so that they would not dare to go south to harass them.

In the beginning, the battle went relatively smoothly. After encountering the bandit army head-on, Li Mu defeated and scattered them one after another.

But he didn't expect that the bandits would fight more and more. After one group, several groups would soon be recruited. In the end, Li Mu didn't even know how many bandits were attracted. Besieged in the northern region.

He withdrew his troops here and returned to Guangwu, and most of the bandit troops who had wandered between the two Xia states were also brought in, chasing them all the way to the city of Guangwu.Li Mu hastily mobilized the Han and Hu armed forces in the territory, and finally gathered thousands of people to besiege the city.

"My lord, Fenglin City reports that the supplies and equipment are insufficient, and I implore the main city to provide supplies."

Li Mu was still looking north at the enemy's formation with a frown on the top of the city wall, when a general from below rushed into the front fork to report.

Li Mu nodded after hearing the words, and after pondering for a while, he ordered: "Give another five hundred stones, two thousand arrows, gather three hundred strong soldiers, eat and rest immediately, and go out of the city to transport goods in the evening."

Fenglin City and Guangwu Great City are the horns of each other. If they don't keep it, the bandit army can cover up and surround Guangwu Great City without any restraint. Then the situation will be even more dangerous.

The bandit army is well aware of the advantages and disadvantages of this terrain, so they have been attacking the relatively small Fenglin City in the past period of time, and mainly blocked the big city of Guangwu.

Although Fenglin City is easy to defend and difficult to attack, it cannot withstand the continuous offensive and defensive battles of the bandit army day and night. Nearly half of the thousand guards in the city have been lost, and the supplies in reserve have already been exhausted. It takes a desperate delivery to sustain it.

After hearing the words, the general accepted the order first, but he still hesitated to speak, and after pondering for a moment, he said again: "My lord, if you break it, you must break it. Our army can support it alone, and there is no value in defending here. It is better to abandon the city and go south early before the bandit army is close to the siege, and take the city back when the spring is warm in the coming year and the troops are well rested... "

After Li Mu heard the words, he shook his head and said: "As far as my new township is concerned, if it is not a last resort, how can I be lightly regarded as a minister who lost the land! In this cold and desolate place, even the guarding army has insufficient reserves. It is mighty, but there is no way to replenish it on the spot, so it is bound to not last.

If I am afraid of temporary difficulties and avoid it, I will hand over the city and land to benefit the bandits and strengthen their courage, and the bandits will surely chase after them.Losing land and attracting thieves is a deeper crime!Kuang Zhufang waited and watched, but Li Boshan had already told him that he would definitely come to help, at this time, we still have to trust him and not retreat rashly. "

As he said this, his heart was also very heavy.Although the thieves came from afar, they were numerous and powerful. After several days of besieging the city, the naked eye could see that their grasp of the environment had deepened. Displayed outside the city to break the morale of the defenders.

Moreover, the bandit army's offensive methods are becoming more and more diverse, from the initial harassing by rangers, to digging some camps and ditches outside the city, and even cutting down trees to create large siege equipment.

Li Mu said that he wanted to give Li Tai trust, but his heart was pounding, wondering if he would come to help.

After all, so far, it is still unknown how the banditry will be, including Li Mu, who has not been able to see the whole picture of the bandit army, and now it is the deep winter season, and it takes a lot of courage to lead the troops into battle.

In the evening, the number of thieves outside the city suddenly increased, and they began to tentatively set up camps.

Seeing this, Li Mu naturally didn't want the bandit army to bully them into camping, so he summoned hundreds of elite soldiers and personally led his troops out of the city, fully armed to kill the enemy.

Seeing Li Mu's attack, the bandit army went straight to the battlefield to add thousands of troops, like swarms of locusts, they pressed straight towards Li Mu's men and horses, and brought out the advantage of their numbers.

Although this kind of crowd tactics is not very ingenious, it is effective. After several times of looting and charging, Li Mu's hundreds of cavalry were unsuccessful, and faced with an enemy ten times their size, they had no choice but to retreat. Withdraw to the city.

However, with so many enemy troops entering the battlefield, apart from forcing Li Mu to retreat to the city, there was no further progress in the battle.The great city of Guangwu is deep and vast, far from being able to be shaken head-on by thousands of people.

If there is no continuous flow of troops to settle in and advance the overall front line, the camp set up is just a few targets erected on the battlefield. It is difficult to maintain it for a long time in the cold weather and no shelter. .

After Li Mu returned to the city, he was wondering why the enemy army did such a futile thing so unwisely, but suddenly he smelled a strong bloody breath mixed with the cold wind blowing from the west, his expression changed abruptly, He shouted loudly: "No, Dry Valley Station is dangerous!"

As if in response to Li Mu's words, horses' hooves sounded loudly in the direction of the valley to the west, and dust was flying all over the sky. I don't know how many bandit soldiers galloped down from the upper reaches.There were still many bloody heads hanging from the saddles and spears of the thieves at the front, and the fierce and bloody breath was spreading from their ranks.

After these thieves approached, they did not immediately return to their own camp with their backs against the valley. Instead, they took the captured heads and lined up outside Guangwu City to show off and show off their might.

"It's the Huyan tribe in the northern section of the Dry Valley. They refused to obey the Lord's order to help defend Guangwu. They were not spared after all, and were murdered by the bandit army."

A general watched on the city wall for a while, then sighed, and then his face became serious again: "The bandit army has already entered the dry valley, if they are allowed to control the post road, not only Fushi City and other dangers, even if reinforcements may It's hard to get close! My lord..."

Li Mu's expression also became gloomy at this moment, and he said in a harsh voice: "In the city of order, check the inventory, and the troops will be on standby at any time after they are full!"

(End of this chapter)