Late Tang

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On the second day of the first lunar month, Fan Dongjun, magistrate of Liaoxi County, woke up with twitching eyelids, always feeling a bad premonition in his heart.Going out and riding a big green mule to the county government office, halfway, a group of crows circled low in the sky, squawking and screaming, which brought a bit of ominous feeling to this gloomy snow-melting cold day.Although it was the New Year, Fan Dongjun could not sit at home peacefully due to successive orders issued by the Marshal's Mansion.

"Has General Zhang Zhen arrived?" At the gate of the county yamen, Fan Dongjun jumped off his mule and asked the yamen servant standing in front of the yamen.

"Go back to the Ming Mansion, General Zhang Zhen went out for inspection yesterday, but he hasn't come back yet." The tall, thin yamen servant with his face flushed with cold said hastily.

Fan Dongjun's footsteps stopped suddenly, his brows were raised, and the feeling of uneasiness in his heart became more intense.Suppressing the panic in his heart, he said with a dry smile on his face: "I guess he rested in some fort post last night. When Zhang Zhen will return, he will notify someone immediately."

In the afternoon, a yamen servant came to report, and the beacon signal in the north was raised as usual, a column of smoke, and everything was safe.

However, Zhao Xiong still hasn't come back yet.

After another hour passed, the sky was already dark, but there was still no news of Zhao Xiong and his men.

Fan Dongjun began to worry, feeling more uneasy in his heart.

After anxiously turning the hundredth circle in the house burning with charcoal fire, he finally lost his composure.

Although Fenghuo reported that he was safe, he still knew Zhao Xiong as a very dedicated general. If there hadn't been an accident, how could he have not come back now.

Thinking of the commander-in-chief issued by the commander-in-chief's mansion in recent days, Fan Dongjun already had the worst feeling in his heart.

"Come on!"

Fan Dongjun yelled, and called several deputy county magistrates, county lieutenants, chief bookkeepers, and other officials in the county yamen, as well as other book orders, order officials, assistant officials, etc., to come over.

On the one hand, he sent people to Zhang Xiong's military camp in the west of the county to inquire about the whereabouts of Zhang Xiong and his party, and told the policeman that if Zhang Xiong did not return to the military camp, he should immediately let the officers in Zhang Xiong's camp know the situation before them, and let them Gather your men and get ready.

At the same time, on the one hand, he sent the head catcher from the county to take two people on horseback to the Taogushan post to inquire about the situation.

After dispatching these two men, he ordered the young men in the city to be summoned immediately, and assigned them weapons such as spears and spears.

Before dark, he raised 300 men.These 300 people are all locals in Liaoxi County, and there are about [-] Xihu people among them. These are all Xi people who moved from Liaoxi back then. Malay.

With this hundred Xihu, Fan Dongjun finally felt a little calmer.

When it was dark, the arrester sent to the barracks came back, and he also brought back the town soldiers in the west of the city. Sure enough, Zhao Xiong did not return to the camp, and the deputy town general Zhang Degong who stayed behind gathered the remaining 200 soldiers. When it was dark, Zhao Xiong still hadn't come back. He already knew that the situation was not good, so he decisively brought [-] people to the county seat.

Two hundred town soldiers arrived, and there were five hundred soldiers in Liaoxi County.When Zhang Degong came, he had already brought most of the ordnance in the battalion.

Among them, what pleased Fan Dongjun the most were one hundred bows and ten thousand arrows.

Fan Dongjun handed over the responsibility of command and prevention to Zhang Degong. Zhang Degong was an old soldier. He immediately asked Fan Dongjun to call another group of young men to help move stones and logs to the top of the city. Oil.

After making these arrangements, the head catcher Fan Dongjun sent to Taogu Mountain hadn't returned yet, and even the spies Zhang Degong sent when he was in the camp didn't have any news.

As it was getting late, Fan Dongjun and Zhang Degong already understood that something happened to these people.

Li Jing's army is coming!

Zhang Degong, who had been waiting for the confirmation of the news before, couldn't hold back at this time. He turned around and called his own soldiers, and sent him the urgent report he and Fan Dongjun had just written to Youzhou.

Although a lot of preparations have been made, it is still 120 miles from here to Youzhou City.Together they only have two hundred soldiers and three hundred young and strong. This number of troops is really too small.If it was really the Liaodong soldiers who invaded, judging from the fact that Zhao Xiong and others never returned, the scale was definitely not small.

There is no danger in the small western Liaoning county, and the morale of the soldiers and civilians in the city is even lower.

When it was about to fall into the night, the head catcher sent earlier finally came back. He came back with one of the three spies sent by Zhang Degong. The two were panting and even had arrows on their backs.Six people were pulled out in two, and only two wounded came back.

The news they brought made Fan Dongjun and Zhang Degong feel even more heavy.

Sure enough, the Liaodong Army sent troops to invade, and the Taogushan outpost had been occupied. According to what they saw, the Liaodong Army's forwards had already been killed all the way.The spy insisted that the forward of the Liaodong Army alone had at least a thousand troops.Moreover, this is just a forward!

There are 1000 forwards, which makes Fan Dongjun feel ashamed.In his heart, he believed in the judgment of the spies. If there were so many cavalry soldiers in the west at once, there might be more Liaodong soldiers on the wider plain in the east.

However, there is also a possibility that the Liao soldiers may not have many soldiers in order to maintain the secrecy of the raid.

The Liaodong Army's sudden dispatch of troops was definitely not just for a small Liaoxi County.

However, although Youzhou is only 120 miles away from here, Youzhou has been the military center of the north for hundreds of years, and it is not easy to capture.

Perhaps, the purpose of the Liao soldiers is to close the military capital?

The military capital is located in the northwest of Youzhou, southwest of Liaoxi County, and the distance is also about 120 miles.

Youzhou is the largest town in Hebei, and Junduguan is the largest fortress in Youzhou.

They are all tight fortresses, but Jundu Pass is just a pass, and its defense is definitely not as good as Youzhou.However, the military capital is the west gate of Youzhou, and it is very important to defend Youzhou.Especially now that the nine tribes of Fan soldiers dispatched by the imperial court are gathering in Datong one after another.If they take over Guizhou outside the pass, Junduguan will become the last gateway for Youzhou to stop the imperial army.

Zhang Degong's face gradually turned red, startled by his own guess and judgment.

If Li Jing's goal this time is the military capital pass, if Guanzhong Shouzhong is raided and lost to the pass, then Guizhou will be completely surrounded by the officers and soldiers.Moreover, if the military capital is lost, Guizhou will not be protected, and then the imperial army will inevitably swarm in from the military capital and directly kill the city of Youzhou.

Marshal Liu personally sits in Youzhou, while Junduguan is now guarded by Liu Yue's younger brother Liu Yan, who has [-] troops.

Zhang Degong had already made up his mind to hold on to the city and wait for reinforcements.But now after careful consideration, he began to hesitate again.Junduguan is very clear about the importance of Youzhou.If the military capital is lost, it will be a disaster for Youzhou Town.What's more, he didn't think that with the 500 people in the city right now, he could defend Liaoxi and block the attack of Liao soldiers.

Perhaps, he should take these soldiers and retreat to Junduguan before the enemy army arrives.

He didn't dare to withdraw to Youzhou without a military order, but if he was withdrawing into the army, he could use the defense army as an excuse.Maybe, not only will he not be guilty, but he will also be meritorious.

He whispered this idea to Fan Dongjun, and Fan Dongjun frowned and hesitated.

Stay here, close to death.But going to the military capital seems to be a good idea in terms of performance.But the forwards of the Liaodong soldiers are about to arrive, and they have to run 120 miles to the military capital at this time.

Once caught up by Liaodong soldiers in the wild, there is only one dead end.

Fan Dongjun was still hesitating, unable to make up his mind, but not long after, a group of people suddenly stumbled from the east.

At first glance, it was some defeated soldiers in Huairou County, southeast of Liaoxi County.

Those panicked defeated soldiers brought news that made Fan Dongjun even more heavy. The brigade of Liaodong cavalry suddenly rushed to Huairou County, and the people in the city were caught off guard.The town general Zhou Fang and the county magistrate Gao Long ordered the city gate to be closed, but then Li Jing's banner appeared under the city, and the Liaodong soldiers shouted a few words, and the capital of Huairou Town, Yuhou Jiang Shouyi, suddenly mutinied and killed Zhou Fang and Gao Long opened the city gate and surrendered Li Jing.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Zhou Fang's personal troops, the general of the town, fled out of the city taking advantage of the chaos.

"There are already Liaodong cavalry on the way to Youzhou, so we can't get through!" Zhou Zhi, the leader of the personal army from Huairou, who is Zhou Fang's nephew, sighed.

After hearing the news that Li Jing led the cavalry in person, and that Huairou had fallen, even Fan Dongjun now understood the dire situation.According to Zhou Zhi, there are at least [-] cavalrymen in Huairou city, and all of them are one man and two horses, the best of the best.As soon as the overwhelming cavalry team appeared, the soldiers in Huairou County collapsed.

Although it is said that cavalry siege is not as good as infantry.

But if there are [-] elite cavalry attacking the city, and only [-] defending the city, and half of them are freshly recruited young men, it is clear at a glance who will win and who will lose.

After Li Jing captured Huairou, he sent cavalry to the south of Huairou and Liaoxi counties, blocking their way back to Youzhou City.

"Let's go to the military capital!" Zhang Degong didn't care about waiting for Fan Dongjun's opinion any more.Fan Dongjun had no further objections, and immediately passed on the news.

Huairou in the east fell, and there were already Liao army cavalry on the way south to Youzhou. Now, the only way out is to go east.The military capital is closed as a fortress, and there are still [-] garrisons. As long as they can escape, there is still a glimmer of life.

Without any further hesitation, Fan Dongjun, Zhang Degong, Zhou Zhi and others immediately opened the city gates and marched towards the west military capital.The people in the city had heard the news at this time, and there was chaos everywhere.

Because the three prefectures of Ji, Tan, and Ping fell into Li Jing's hands, the barrier of the Yanshan Mountains to the north of Lulong Town had already lost its effect.On the flat North China Plain, Liu Yue did not station heavy troops in Huairou, Liaoxi, and Luxian on the front line of Lushui. Instead, he gathered troops in Youzhou, Guizhou and Junduguan in the northwest, and tried his best to guard against the west. officers and soldiers of the imperial court.

Liu Yue did not station heavy troops on the front line of Huairou because there is no danger to defend here, and Li Jing's cavalry is most suitable for fighting on the plains.Instead of deploying limited troops on the front line of Lushui, it is better to simply shrink and use the strong city of Youzhou as the center of defense against Li Jing.On the other hand, Ji Tan was originally the territory of Youzhou Town, and he did not station troops on the front line of Lushui there.After Fan Xinglong died, the Jitan army head-to-head killed Fan Xinglong and surrendered to Li Jing. Even if he wanted to arrange it, it was too late. In the end, in order not to irritate Li Jing, he simply did not intend to stick to this line of defense.

Under such a result, the total number of soldiers and horses in the four counties of Lushui is less than five thousand.Facing Li Jing's simultaneous surprise attack, they fell one after another!

On the evening of the second day of the first lunar month, when Li Jing's troops arrived in Huairou, the capital Yuhou in the city killed the county magistrate and the town general Kaesong and surrendered.

In the early morning of the third day, Lin Wu, the leader of the Crane Control Army, led his troops to Liaoxi County. The officials and soldiers in the city had already fled, and Lin Wubing took Liaoxi County without bloodshed.

At noon on the third day, Wang Yanzhang, the soldier and horse envoy of the Crane Army, led a thousand cavalry to Lu County, and guarded the city behind closed doors.Wang Yanzhang directly launched wave after wave of onslaughts, relying on strong bows and crossbows, and stormed the panicked and frightened soldiers and young and strong defenders composed of less than a thousand soldiers on the city. He was directly blocked by Wang Yanzhang's sharp archers.

Within half a day, more than half of the defenders in the city were killed or injured, and the county magistrate, county magistrate, and town general died in battle one after another.

Wang Yanzhang then suspended the attack and sent envoys to persuade them to surrender. After promising not to kill the surrender, not to plunder, to loot property and wipe out women, etc., the gate of Lu County finally opened and the whole city surrendered.

On the [-]th day of the first lunar month, Gao Sijigao, the military envoy of the Crane Control Army, led a thousand cavalry to Yongnu County, a city along the canal in the southeast of Youzhou. [***] Three times of occupation, after Gao Siji suddenly led his army to arrive, he did not encounter any strong resistance, and the county magistrate and generals in the city surrendered directly.

From the official launch of the attack on Lulong Town on the first day of the first lunar month to the capture of Yongnu on the fourth day of the first lunar month, this battle led by Li Jing dispatched [-] elite cavalry, divided into four groups, within three days. Completely won the four counties of Liaoxi, Huairou, Luxian, and Yongnu, and achieved Li Jing's set goal of capturing the area north of Lushui before sending troops. (To be continued.)