People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 316 It’s time for Annan to change the dynasty

Soldiers are valuable and quick.

Di Qing believed that Guo Shengyi would not fail to ask for help in the face of a sudden attack.

So he guessed that enemy reinforcements were probably on their way.

If the Song army did not pursue it, the Li Dynasty's defeated army might merge with the reinforcements and retreat to Thang Long.

Although Di Qing did not think that the enemy would be able to withstand their offensive if they retreated to Shenglong, but if they could directly destroy Li Chao in the wild, why not do it?

After all, the Song Dynasty would still need to rule the Red River Delta from Thang Long in the future. Unless it was a last resort, he did not want to use cannons to fill up Thang Long.

Guo Shengyi's army retreated from the Langshan Ancient Road and had no time to enter Liangzhou City. The Song army behind him was always following him like gangrene.

He had to flee south with the retreating army. After a day and night of desperate escape, they finally reached Zhilengguan, the gateway to the Red River Delta.

At this time, it happened that Li Foma also arrived at Zhilengguan with reinforcements.

Zhileng Pass has been an important pass for the Vietnamese Dynasty since ancient times, even more important than Lang Son Pass, because its terrain is more dangerous than the Lang Son Ancient Road, and beyond this pass is the Red River Delta, known as the Thang Long barrier of the capital of the Vietnamese Dynasty. say.

Then you can see the towering mountains on the left and right reaching into the clouds. The mountains and mountains are shrouded in clouds and mist. The vegetation below is extremely lush and the trees are dense. The road seemed to have been split into a terrifying ravine by the gods with a giant axe.

"Different."

On the Pass, Li Foma rested at Zhileng Pass last night and was preparing to continue to Langzhou to reinforce Guo Shengyi.

Liverma immediately hesitated.

It filled their minds and turned into a horrific nightmare.

Li Fuma nodded slightly. Jiaozhi was too remote and the information was not developed. They didn't even know that it was the Song Army's artillery, and thought it was a catapult or something like that.

However, both of these choices are extremely passive, facing the same situation as Guo Shengyi, passively being beaten. They were in Guanshan and the city, and people set up firearms outside and bombed them, but the outcome was still death.

Liang Maocai added: "Secondly, the Song army has strong soldiers and horses and well-equipped equipment. We cannot fight with them outside the city, and they have firearms to rely on. We will definitely suffer a loss in defending the city. It will be different if we defend Zhilengguan. The terrain here It’s a dangerous location, perfect for an ambush.”

He personally went on the expedition this time, leaving the crown prince Li Rizun, the Taibao Tao Chuzhong, the right counselor Li Zhengxian and others to supervise the country. He led a large army to come to the rescue in order to block the Song army outside Langshan Pass.

The most exaggerated thing is the terrain. Zhileng Pass is located on a hillside. If you want to break the pass, you must rush upward. All you need to do to close it is prepare a crossbow, no one can break it.

In Li Fuma's camp in Guanzhong, Li Foma suddenly jumped up from his chair after hearing the news.

"Maybe they have made more powerful firearms, otherwise how can you explain it?"

Li Fuma couldn't help but look sad, and told everyone about the situation, and finally said: "Now is the time when Dai Viet's life and death are at stake. I don't want to be the king of the country's subjugation, and you don't want to be the ministers of the country's subjugation. Please fight to the death." .”

Liverma said quickly.

Then Liang Maocai, the minister of Jinwu Guard, said: "Your Majesty, I feel that I can only defend Zhileng Pass."

This is really scary.

Historically, the Ming army was defeated by the Vietnamese army at this pass. This was the last time that the Chinese dynasty lost direct control of Vietnam, and Vietnam became independent.

"Your Majesty, don't worry, I will fight to the death."

He never expected that Guo Shengyi would lose, and lose so miserably.

Just when he was about to order the three armies to get up early in the morning to light a fire to cook and continue to set off after eating, several Vietnamese army scouts who had fled fled quickly arrived at the pass.

"Liang Qing, please tell me the reason."

Liang Maocai said: "First, the terrain of Zhilengguan is steep, and there is still a slim chance of survival. If they retreat to Thanglong, there is a smooth road outside the city. The Song army only needs to use a catapult outside the city to throw the exploding black ball into the city. There must be heavy casualties in the city.”

The 50,000 to 60,000 troops collapsed in an instant.

The nightmarish explosion sound, the terrifying smoke and dust, and the corpses of his comrades.

The scouts still had a look of horror on their faces. They ran for a long time and didn't even dare to sleep. As long as they closed their eyes, they could think of yesterday's tragedy.

Liao Jiazhen, the minister of Zhongshu, said: "In the past, the firearms of the Song Dynasty were like fireworks and firecrackers, and they could never shake the pass."

Everyone responded quickly.

Someone raised an objection.

"Firearms, they must be firearms."

"Your Majesty, we don't know either. We only know that there was a sudden loud noise on the mountain, and then black balls fell from the sky, and then exploded everywhere in the camp. Many people were blown apart."

Li Fengxiao, the privy envoy of the Yue Dynasty, frowned and said: "According to merchants from the north, the Song Dynasty defeated the Xixia and Liao Kingdoms with this firearm."

Li Fuma's face was full of shock, and then he asked anxiously: "What did the Song Army use?"

"Firearms are so powerful?"

Li Fengxiao argued.

"But didn't Lieutenant Guo also guard a pass with dangerous terrain, but was defeated by the Song people?"

"Ah."

Li Zaiyan, the political officer of Zuo Shenzhi, said: "Your Majesty, now is not the time to care about whether the Song army has firearms. The top priority is to think about what to do?"

"what?"

This shows that it is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

The problem now is that Langzhou has been lost, and there is no point in continuing the front army. So now he has two choices, one is to continue to defend Zhilengguan, and the other is to retreat to Shenglong.

What's even more terrifying is that the Song army didn't even engage them in close combat, and was able to defeat their camp more than ten miles away.

So it seems that the result will be the same everywhere.

Liang Maocai shook his head and said: "Guo Shengyi was defeated because he didn't know how to adapt. He only knew how to guard the pass, but he didn't know how to change according to the situation. He was at the mercy of the Song people. Why don't we take the initiative?"

Take the initiative?

Everyone suddenly fell into deep thought, and after a while, many people understood.

Yes.

If the people of the Song Dynasty relied on catapults to throw the black balls into the pass and exploded, it means that the people of the Song Dynasty were originally inconvenient and had very poor mobility.

Guo Shengyi foolishly thought that he could just stay in the pass and give the Song army enough time to assemble the catapult.

Just as Tan Ma reported.

The Song army had been stationed outside the pass for five or six days, preparing to go up the mountain to clear the trees and transport and assemble the catapults, but he did not move at all.

Although the biggest reason for this is that Guo Shengyi did not know that the Song army had such a sharp weapon, and wanted to fight more steadily, relying on dangerous passes to deal with the Song army, and was unwilling to give up the geographical advantage and go to fight the enemy outside the pass.

But this also shows from the side that Guo Shengyi is not aware of the changes and does not understand that during the enemy's preparation stage, he should at least send an army out to harass and see the situation before making a decision.

And after they saw through this, they naturally found a way. They had no chance of winning against the Li Dynasty.

What the Vietnamese soldiers were best at was hibernating in the mountains and forests.

If during the preparation stage of the Song Army, they suddenly rushed out from the mountains and forests on both sides, without giving the enemy a chance to release the black ball from a distance, and directly engaged the opponent in close combat, would they be able to win?

Thinking of this, everyone suddenly realized. Someone said: "Yes, the Song army only relies on the power of firearms. If we set up an ambush, they will definitely be defeated."

"The mountains on both sides are densely forested. When our people were hiding, they couldn't find them at all. Once the battle started, they suddenly came out and the Song army was caught off guard. They had no time to assemble their catapults and they would definitely be defeated by our army."

"It's just that we still need to collect the defeated troops of the commander in front to prevent the pass from being attacked."

"Well, that's it."

After hearing everyone's conversation, Liverma also felt that it made sense, so he issued two orders: "Secure Zhilengguan to the death, and then send people out to collect the defeated soldiers."

"Yes!"

Everyone immediately obeyed the order.

At that time, the Vietnamese army no longer went out to rescue Guo Shengyi, but continued to occupy the pass.

By noon, a large number of defeated Vietnamese troops were running towards Zhileng Pass one after another, and were gathered back into the pass by the people sent by Li Foma.

Moreover, some Song troops have vaguely appeared on the periphery, but they are not Di Qing's firearms army, but ethnic minority troops.

The current pursuit situation is like this. Di Qing's firearms army is in the middle, Guangxi's Xiang army is at the end, and the ethnic minority troops are at the front. They captured the largest number of rout soldiers, one or two thousand people.

no way.

The traffic roads in the southwest can be said to be difficult to describe. Di Qing's artillery was not pulled by horse-drawn carriages. In many cases, the barrels had to be carried by manpower.

Not only are the roads rugged, but they also have ups and downs. Sometimes the road is even as bad as four or five meters, requiring a climb to get up.

The soldiers of the Li Dynasty were indeed very strong, but they were not very good at fighting. They ran around like monkeys, and some panicked and even fled directly into the mountains and forests. Di Qing's firearms army and the Guangxi Xiang army had no way to deal with them. Only the ethnic minority soldiers on the border could catch up with them by walking over mountains and ridges as if they were walking on flat ground.

This resulted in a somewhat disconnected situation between the front and rear of the Song army. The ethnic minority soldiers had already chased them for more than a hundred miles, while the main force of the Song army was still rushing behind them, still thirty or forty miles away from the front.

After Li Foma learned of this situation, he sent Li Fengxiao to lead his troops to take the initiative to intercept the pursuing enemies, and quickly protected the defeated soldiers and returned to the pass.

He actually thought about simply fighting out while the enemy was out of touch, but the road was originally narrow and crowded with many of their defeated soldiers, and it was not feasible to go around the mountains on both sides for a while, so he had to give up. .

The ethnic minority soldiers who were pursuing them also discovered the main force of the Li Dynasty, so they retreated from Zhilengguan and left in the direction of Langzhou.

At this time, Langzhou had been occupied by the Song army. The local people were very frightened and fled in all directions.

Historically, the Ming Dynasty controlled Vietnam in the hands of Zhu Di. However, since Vietnam became independent in the early Northern Song Dynasty, it has gradually formed its own national consciousness. The resistance is very high, resulting in continuous uprisings. In the end, it quickly defeated the Ming army and broke away from the control of the Central Plains Dynasty. .

Now, since the establishment of Vietnam's first dynasty, the Ding Dynasty in 968 AD, the three dynasties of the former Le Dynasty and Li Dynasty have passed, and the Vietnamese people have become accustomed to no longer accepting the rule of the Central Plains dynasty.

Therefore, when faced with the Heavenly Army of the Song Dynasty, the local people were mainly panic-stricken. Even if the Song and Qiu Dynasty did not commit any crimes, it could not stop the people from being panic-stricken.

Di Qing entered the city first.

Langzhou City prospered due to trade between the Song and Yue Dynasties, but it was said to be the capital of Langzhou, but in fact it was barely the same as a remote county town in the Song Dynasty.

The outer city wall is no more than a foot high, old and mottled, and covered with ivy.

The houses in the city are all made of rough wood, and there are only two horizontal and vertical streets in the entire street. Due to the war, there are almost no pedestrians on the street, and the shops have been closed, leaving it full of desolation and dilapidation.

Di Qing looked around on horseback and said to his deputy Zhang Yu: "Are there any people coming to greet us when we enter the city?"

Zhang Yu shook his head and said: "No."

Di Qing thought for a while and then said: "You go find some elders from local prominent families to discuss matters with me."

"Yes."

Zhang Yu responded.

Di Qing then had a calm expression on his face and slowly rode his horse, stepping on the cold stone slab, towards the Langzhou government office.

The full name of the Vietnamese Li Dynasty was actually the Li Dynasty of the Dai Viet Empire. The Song people called them Jiaozhi or Annan.

Annan broke away from the control of the Central Plains Dynasty seventy-seven years ago. On weekdays, they accepted the title of King of Jiaozhi County from the Song Dynasty. In fact, they called themselves emperor internally and were known as the king outside and emperor inside.

Among them, the Li Dynasty was established 35 years ago by Li Taizu Li Gongyun who usurped the throne.

Therefore, among the current Ding Dynasty, the former Li Dynasty and the Li Dynasty, the Li Dynasty was established the longest. In addition, Li Taizu and Li Taizong were both good monarchs, so their prestige was still very high in the hearts of the people of the Yue Dynasty.

Obviously, after 77 years of hard work, the people of Jiaozhi no longer regard the Central Plains dynasty as orthodox. In the hearts of the people of Jiaozhi, they only recognized Li Chao as the emperor.

Fortunately, the Prefectural Court had already explained before coming that although this troop dispatch was an actual occupation, it must not be a nominal occupation.

They must make good slogans.

Soon in the afternoon, Di Qing met some local elders from prominent families in the government office of Langzhou City.

Some of them are local clan chiefs, some are tribal leaders, and some are simply big businessmen in the city who control some shops and assets.

These people basically control the local population, property and resources in Langzhou.

Therefore, even if the Song Dynasty court came, they did not dare to abandon Langzhou and escape. Faced with Di Qing's call, they could only come one by one and test carefully.

The government office is not big. According to the government office hall structure of the Song Dynasty, Di Qing sat in the main seat, with more than ten local leaders gathered on both sides.

"General, this villain is Li Yuanyi, the leader of the Li Zhu tribe in Langzhou."

"General, this villain is Ruan Ming, the leader of the Wuning tribe in Langzhou."

"The villain is"

Many heads of tribes, clan heads, and landowners introduced themselves.

Di Qing smiled and said hello. Seeing that everyone below was uneasy under the gaze of the guards, he immediately said: "Everyone, the imperial court does not want to occupy Annan."

As soon as these words came out, they did not make everyone feel at ease. Everyone continued to look at Di Qing, as if waiting for the next step.

No one is a fool, it is impossible for them to believe whatever Di Qing says.

Di Qing naturally knew that, so he continued: "Everyone must also know that the Li family and his son are rude and rude. They often invade our country. This is rude and insults our neighbors, which can lead to death."

"But the Song Dynasty did not have any intention of embezzling Annan. It just had to punish the Li family to show that our country, the Song Dynasty, cannot be humiliated."

"So when I came out of this trip, His Majesty the Emperor told me that it was only necessary to destroy the Li family, but not to annex the country. However, if the country is destroyed, what should I do if the Song Dynasty retreats?"

As he spoke, he spread his hands and looked at everyone and said, "Do you think that after the demise of the Li family, what should Annan do?"

Everyone looked at each other.

The results haven't come out yet, but if they are asked to express their position, what should they do?

If the Song Dynasty loses the battle and they surrender, it would be strange for Liverma to let them go.

Therefore, each one of them was speechless and speechless, unable to speak.

Di Qing smiled and said: "You don't need to worry, the court will make its own decision. But what I want to tell you is that Annan will be destroyed this time. As for what happens next, we will talk about it later. Please calm down the people's hearts for all matters in the city. I will post the poster Announcement to the people of Annan, informing the people of Annan that the Song Dynasty has no intention of occupying."

After saying this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Just don't force them to take sides.

Everyone immediately said: "The general is benevolent and righteous and does not anger the people. He is truly the heavenly army of the superior state."

"The Great Song Dynasty is so powerful that even small people are in awe of it."

"We will obey the general's order and will inform the people so that everyone can feel at ease."

Everyone promised.

Di Qing stopped talking and just conveyed his meaning.

He has given the Liangzhou gentry a chance, but if they don't take advantage of it, no one can blame them.

Before coming here, the Prefectural Court had said that after the Li Dynasty was overthrown, in order to prevent the Li Dynasty from winning the hearts of the people and establishing the country again, a descendant of the Li Dynasty or the Ding Dynasty could be established as a puppet emperor.

The Song Dynasty would station troops in Thang Long and the seaside, and support domestic pro-Song ministers to take office, thereby indirectly controlling the Vietnamese government.

If you surrender to the Song Army at this time, you will naturally receive support from the Song Army in the future.

It's a pity that these people were short-sighted and did not know how to change their families in time, so they missed an opportunity to act as the lackeys of the Song Dynasty.

But now we just need to stabilize these Langzhou nobles and prevent them from holding them back.

If the purpose is to destroy Annan and embezzle Annan, it may make them jump over the wall in a hurry and organize militia to constantly harass their luggage, which will not be worth the gain.

So it's good to be like this now.

After the Li Dynasty was destroyed in the future, the general trend was that more Annan nobles would come to seek refuge.

At present, Di Qing left a thousand soldiers in Langzhou City to support Nong Zhigao, and he was preparing to lead the firearms army to continue to pursue Guo Shengyi.

But as soon as he left the city, a scout came to report: "Report!"

Tan Ma galloped over, knelt down on one knee and said: "The enemy's reinforcements have deployed heavy troops at Zhileng Pass. General Huang, General Nong, and General Zhao in front have led their troops to withdraw first."

"Oh?"

Di Qing immediately asked: "Can we find out how many troops the enemy has and who is coming?"

Tan Ma said: "We saw from a distance a big flag with the word "Li" on the gate. Judging from the color, it seemed to be the Annan royal family, maybe their emperor or prince. The specific number is not known yet."

Annan royal family?

Di Qing looked towards the south with a solemn gaze. Little Annan dared to proclaim himself emperor?

today.

I will ask you to change the dynasty in Annan!

Think about it.

He ordered: "Let the soldiers in front gather together first, do not continue to pursue, and wait until I arrive before attacking."

"Yes!"

Tan Ma immediately went to convey the military order.

(End of this chapter)