Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 385: Shuofang in danger

"Sorry..."

Outside Huile County, horses were neighing as Liu Jilian led 7,000 elite cavalrymen to bypass Mingsha and surrounded Huile County in the northern part of Mingsha.

The soldiers and civilians in Huile County gathered on the city wall, showing their willingness to defend the city to the death, but they did not have enough strength.

Not to mention that there were only 300 soldiers and infantrymen and more than 8,000 civilians in the city, the defense of Huile alone made it impossible to muster the determination to defend the city to the death.

The rammed earth city wall, which was several feet high, was in tatters and many of the parapet walls were missing. Even if Liu Jilian did not attack, just surrounding the city like this was enough to make the people in the city feel despair.

"General Ji, I will lead a team of brothers to blow up the city wall with gunpowder bags. We can take Huile County within half an hour!"

An Pohu asked for instructions behind Liu Jilong, and Liu Jilong nodded and said, "I will give you all the gunpowder bags I took yesterday. Be careful of arrows and don't try to get ahead."

"I obey your command!" An Po Hu bowed in response, then assembled a team of fifty soldiers, dismounted, raised their shields, and approached Huile City.

At the same time, Liu Jilian waved his command flag and rode fast horses back and forth around the city.

Upon receiving the military order, the elite cavalry stationed on each side sent out more than 200 men on foot to attract the attention of the government troops in the city.

Sure enough, when the government troops in the city saw the Longyou army dismounting to attack, they had to split their forces to deal with the pressure from the other three city walls.

There were no more than seventy or eighty officers and soldiers left, but including the civilians there were a full thousand people.

Liu Jilong was not worried about this, and An Po Hu's speed did not disappoint him.

An Pohu led fifty soldiers to approach the city wall, and then formed a shield formation to resist the arrows from the city.

After discovering that the government troops had more bows than crossbows, An Pohu began to give orders: "Four groups stay and fight back with arrows, and the fifth group will cross the river with me!"

"Beep--"

When the whistle sounded, the shield formation was immediately put away, and more than 40 Longyou soldiers drew their bows and arrows, or used crossbows to fight back.

For a moment, arrows flew like locusts. At first, the government troops on the city wall could still show their heads and fight back, but in the end they could only hide behind the parapet, gasping for breath.

At the same time, Anpo Nu and others crossed the moat carrying gunpowder bags and approached the base of the city wall with their shields raised.

They began to dig at the base of the wall with pickaxes. The government troops on the top of the city wall also discovered their actions and could only bite the bullet and fight back with bows and arrows against the Tang army on the other side of the moat. They then called on the civilians to use rolling logs to deal with An Po Hu and others at the base of the city wall.

A heavy log weighing hundreds of pounds was thrown down from high above. There were only six people at the foot of the city wall responsible for holding up shields to provide protection. The six people were instantly knocked down by the impact and suffered a stitch in their chest.

After finally recovering, he felt the shield in his hand coming under wave after wave of pressure, which almost crushed him down.

Liu Jilong, who was far away, saw this and immediately ordered: "Three armies advance, use the bows and crossbows in your hands to help the brothers break through the city!"

"Beep--"

Shrill whistles continued to sound, and more than a thousand elite cavalry from Longyou pressed forward from the south of Huile County. They dismounted after approaching the city wall and continuously fired bows and crossbows at the dozens of government troops on the city wall from the north bank of the moat.

After a stick of incense had passed, enough space had been dug out at the base of the city wall, and An Pohu and his men immediately blew short, long wooden whistles.

They stuffed the gunpowder bags into it, then left the fuse long, lit it with torches, covered the fuse with shields, and ran to the other side of the moat.

"withdraw!"

Seeing that An Po Hu and others had succeeded, Liu Jilong gave orders to the bugler beside him, and the bugler immediately blew the horn.

"Uuuuuu——"

The dull sound of horns rang out, but countless elite cavalrymen from Longyou evacuated the moat one after another. An Pohu and others who crossed the moat did not care about anything else and ran towards the main camp.

The soldiers and civilians at the head of Huile City were still celebrating their victory over the rebels, but suddenly they felt dizzy and lost their five senses...

"Rumble--"

Muffled thunder rumbled, as if the sky was collapsing and the earth was splitting apart. The city wall where An Pohu and others had stayed before raised a large amount of dust in the blink of an eye, almost covering half of the wall.

The government troops and many civilians who had gathered here to resist the elite cavalry from Longyou were buried by the collapsed city wall in the first place. When Liu Jilian saw the rising dust, he immediately drew his sword and slashed towards Huile County.

"Attack the city, take over the county warehouse first!"

"Uuuuuu——"

The horn, which had been sounding continuously, sounded again, and An Pohu and others, who had retreated halfway, rushed to the gap in advance.

Before the dust settled, An Pohu and others had already crossed the moat and arrived at the base of the previous city wall.

But the two-meter-wide city wall disappeared, revealing many buried people and a wall foundation less than two feet high after the collapse.

"rush!!"

An Pohu was extremely excited, and so were the fifty brothers who followed him.

The one who rushes in first and seizes the gap will be the one who gets promoted first!
"kill!!"

The shouts and cries of killing echoed in the dust. Liu Jilong was no longer worried when he heard the sounds, because he knew that Huile County was already in his hands.

Sure enough, two quarters of an hour later, upon learning that the officers and soldiers at the other three city walls of the southern city wall had fallen, they surrendered one after another. The Huile County magistrate, county magistrate, county lieutenant, chief clerk and others also surrendered one after another.

Liu Jilong sent people to guard him, and then went to the warehouse and storehouse in the county.

Although the army had a lot of money and food when it marched north, it was only enough for one month.

In order to occupy Huizhou and Lingzhou, sufficient money and food are needed.

Fortunately, Huile County did not disappoint him. The county's warehouses had more than 5,000 dan of grain, as well as more than 3,000 strings of cash and spices, including more than 700 strings of cash.

"Record the merits and give rewards according to merit after the battle!"

Glancing at the intact warehouse, Liu Jilong left only one sentence and then walked out.

When he walked out of the warehouse, An Pohu and others found him with blood on his face.

"General, the rebellion of the local tyrants has been quelled. More than 20,000 dan of grain and at least 8,000 guan of money and other goods have been confiscated!"

Liu Jilong nodded when he heard this, and instructed the captain beside him: "I will give you half a day to tell the people of Huile County about our decree."

"It will be a war of attrition for us, the Longyou army and civilians, to fight against the imperial court alone, so we must unite the people in the conquered lands. Land is the best weapon to win people's hearts!"

"Also send fast horses south, order Cao Mao to send 1,000 cavalry and infantry to Huile County, and send another 1,000 cavalry and infantry and 1,000 civilians to transport soybeans and gunpowder south to Weizhou."

"I obey your command!" The captain responded calmly, and then sent military officers to the six markets in Huile County to spread the news.

The news that the rebellion of the powerful had been quelled and the land would be divided equally among the people in the county soon spread.

This time, Le County was like other counties in the Tang Dynasty. Powerful families occupied more land. There were more than 40,000 acres of land in the county, and three powerful families in the city alone occupied 20,000 acres. The remaining land was occupied by military generals and county officials, totaling nearly 10,000 acres.

There are 8,000 people, but only 10,000 mu of arable land for their own cultivation, and the rest are tenant farmers.

Upon learning that they could get their own share of the land, the tenant farmers could no longer sit still and began to clean the battlefield for the soldiers of the Longyou Army and repair the damaged city walls.

An Po Hu and his fifty brothers who were the first to reach the battlefield were credited with a merit. As long as they could survive, this group of people would at least become team leaders or foreman after the war, supervising more than 500 soldiers.

Three hours later, except for the gap in the south city wall which still reminded the people that a war had just occurred here, there was no trace of war in the entire county.

That night, Cao Mao, who was besieging Mingsha, learned that Huile had fallen, and he sent a thousand cavalry and infantry to Huile County overnight.

Naturally, the actions of the Longyou army outside the city could not be concealed from the besieged Mingsha County.

Li Sigong and Zhou Bao also knew that Huile had most likely been lost or was about to be lost.

If Huile falls, the rebels can rely on the Huile ferry to attack the three counties of Lingwu on the west bank of the Yellow River and at the foot of the Helan Mountains. What is the point of them defending Mingsha to the death?

Thinking of this, Zhou Bao sent people to release all the carrier pigeons in the city to ask for help from Qinzhou and Chang'an.

Although there are many birds of prey in this era, each has its own territory, and dozens of birds of prey are enough to occupy thousands of square kilometers of airspace.

The reason why carrier pigeons were able to deliver messages successfully was that they were intended to feed birds of prey with the carcasses of countless carrier pigeons, so that the surviving ones could reach their destination.

Because of this, the cost of sending messages by carrier pigeon is undoubtedly very high. Except in critical moments, fast horses are used as much as possible on weekdays.

However, Mingsha is now surrounded, and it is impossible to send out fast horses. The only way left is to send messages by carrier pigeons.

Countless pigeons were released into the night sky, and time passed by.

When the sky was just getting light, Shanggui County in Qinzhou, which was closest to Mingsha, was the first to receive the message from the carrier pigeon.

The generals of Shanggui did not dare to delay and immediately sent fast horses to pass the news to the front line.

At the same time, the cavalry and infantry sent by Cao Mao also arrived in Mingsha County.

As the cavalry and infantry took over the city defense, Liu Jilian ordered this unit to supervise the construction of boats for crossing the river, and then led the elite cavalry out of the city with enough bean fodder and a small amount of cash.

They rushed southeastward toward Weizhou. For them, the 130-mile journey was only a day and a half.

As for the three counties of Lingwu isolated on the west bank of the Yellow River, Liu Jilian had no intention of attacking at all.

As long as he could eliminate the prefectures and counties adjacent to Shuofang, the three counties of Lingwu would either go north to join the Tiande Army 600 miles away, or surrender.

As long as they dared to abandon the city and head north, Liu Jilian would only need four or five days to catch up with them and complete the encirclement.

The army galloped southward. If any soldier stumbled along the way, they would be left behind and their horses would be led back to Mingsha.

After a day and a half of journey, the number of soldiers who fell behind was less than 300, which made Liu Jilong very satisfied. They also arrived at the empty Wenling County of Weizhou.

"General Jie, they should have been gone for less than a day. They must have migrated to Weizhou!"

An Pohu, who had been promoted to a special general, bowed and reported, feeling very excited.

As a soldier in Longyou, he waited for five years before he was promoted to captain. Now, only half a month after the war started, he was promoted from captain to brigade commander, and the brigade commander was promoted to general.

At this moment, he was still not used to others calling him "other general", and he just felt it was unrealistic. "Rest for half an hour, and then rush to Weizhou in half an hour."

Upon learning that the people of Wenling County had left for at least a day, Liu Jilong knew that he would not be able to catch up with the people of this county.

It is true that people walk slowly, but Wenling County is only thirty miles away from Weizhou.

I have already spent half a day on the journey. In a day and a half, these people should have entered Weizhou.

However, judging from the city defenses of Wenling County and Huile County, Weizhou probably had not been rebuilt, and the cavalry, infantry and civilian laborers sent by Cao Mao would be able to deliver gunpowder and soybean feed here by tomorrow at the latest.

With gunpowder and soybean feed, it was guaranteed that the city would be captured.

While he was thinking, half an hour passed quickly and Liu Jilong led his troops to Weizhou.

Before dusk, Liu Jilian and his elite cavalry arrived at Weizhou and surrounded the four gates of this city with a circumference of only four miles.

Set up camp on the spot, waiting to get beans and gunpowder tomorrow to plan the siege...

At the same time, Wang Shi on the Weizhou front finally broke through the first of several city gates in Longxi.

"Crackling..."

The originally tall city gate still stands on the bank of the Wei River. The difference is that the city gate is stained with blood, and hundreds of government troops are cleaning up their corpses under the city gate.

Inside the city, Gao Jinda burned down all the houses and camps before withdrawing his troops.

The first city gate, which took the government troops twelve days to capture, turned out to be an empty shell.

"How many of us were killed or wounded..."

Looking at the scene in front of him, Wang Shi took a deep breath to calm himself down, while Li Hongfu, Wang Chongrong, Zhao Qian and others behind him did not look happy.

"Three thousand one hundred and twenty-five soldiers were killed in the battle, and no less than four thousand were wounded, but they will be able to fight again after some rest."

Zhao Qian's words made Wang Shi feel uneasy. He had been exhausted by the rebels' endless methods of defending the city in recent days.

"Have you taken the stone fort in the south?"

Wang Shi tried to calm down, but Zhao Qian shook his head: "It's not yet taken..."

His mood sank. There were only a thousand rebels stationed in the stone fort to the south, and Wang She had sent troops to attack it for many days but had not been able to take it down.

There were no less than 4,000 soldiers on the two battlefields, but he had only 76,000 soldiers. Among them, 10,000 soldiers were stationed in Chengji to guard against the thousands of rebels who were constantly spying from the north, and another 15,000 soldiers were stationed in Shanggui to guard against the invasion of Chengzhou rebels.

The number of troops he could use to attack the city was less than 50,000.

The tenacity of Longyou exceeded his imagination.

Even when he faced a hundred thousand barbarians with only five thousand soldiers and horses in the past, he did not feel this sense of powerlessness.

As expected, the difficulty is not in expanding territory, but in suppressing the internal rebellion...

While Wang Shi was thinking, Wang Chongrong stood up and bowed, saying, "Young Master, there are still three barriers and two river crossing gates in front of our army."

"In my humble opinion, conquering these city gates is no less difficult than retaking a state."

Wang Chongrong was at least considered a good general who had experienced the Wang Shouwen Rebellion in Hezhong and was able to achieve a great victory.

Even though he had made preparations before setting out, he still couldn't have imagined that the Longyou Army was not only well-equipped and tall and strong, but also had such tough city defenses.

The remaining five passes before them would probably not be able to be filled without the lives of 20,000 to 30,000 people.

Wang Chongrong just felt that the supreme ruler was out of his mind. Why would he want to attack Longyou?

With such a large force, they might have been able to conquer Wei Bo or Cheng De, but they were ultimately defeated in this siege.

"I cannot fail to live up to the emperor's wishes. I will write to the court to explain the difficulties here and request that his troops be transferred to the garrison."

"Before that, please do your best to conquer the remaining five levels."

Wang Shi bowed to the generals, and the generals turned half of their bodies to show their respect.

After Wang Shi stood up, Wang Zhongrong continued, "I am willing to lead the attack tomorrow and help Shao Bao take the second pass."

Wang Chongrong saw clearly that this barrier would become more and more difficult to overcome as time went on. If he wanted to perform, now would be the best time.

"I am willing to lead the troops to capture the second pass!"

"Young Master, a certain..."

As soon as Wang Chongrong finished speaking, the military governors and generals of other towns spoke up to express their opinions. It was obvious that they also realized that the pass would become more difficult to attack as it went further back.

This is not because the pass is high and thick, but because the military spirit and morale of Longyou are gradually rising with their consumption.

"Everyone..."

Before Wang Shi could finish his words, he was interrupted by the sound of horse hooves rushing into the city gates.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw a horse galloping towards them. Everyone felt something was wrong.

"Shao Bao, urgent news from Shanggui, Shuofang is in danger!!"

Kuaima dismounted and reported immediately, but the content made everyone feel nervous.

Wang Shi hurriedly took the urgent report, but saw that the news brought by the carrier pigeon was copied on the letter paper. Among them, Zhou Bao explained that after Huizhou fell, Lingzhou Huile fell, they were surrounded by the rebels in Mingsha, and Weizhou, Wenling and other places were in emergency.

Wang Shi's face gradually became solemn, and then he passed the urgent report to all the generals for them to read.

When the generals saw this, they couldn't hold back any longer...

"It's only been more than half a month since the war started. It's fine that Huizhou fell, but how come even Weizhou and Lingzhou are in danger?"

"Master Bao, this is different from what we thought. Do we need to find a way to survive?"

"Master Guard, if we continue to allow the rebels to cause chaos, Shuofang may not be safe..."

The Jiedushi and the military commanders had the same attitude. No one expected that Shuofang Town would quickly lose one state, resulting in two states being surrounded.

At the speed at which Liu Jilian captured cities and strongholds, it was only a matter of time before Shuofang fell.

If Shuofang fell, the prestige of the imperial court would undoubtedly be further damaged. Who would prepare for nearly two years, only to have an entire town destroyed as soon as the war broke out?

Faced with such a situation, Wang Shi also felt a headache.

Ever since he saw Longyou using alchemist's methods to defend the city, he had already realized that something was wrong.

Now that Shuofang is about to be lost, the situation he faces is even more dangerous.

However, at the current marching speed, it is probably impossible to keep Shuofang. It is better to go all out and see if we can take Longxi and force Liu Jilian to return to defend.

Thinking of this, Wang Shi took a deep breath and said, "Don't panic. With the speed at which our army marches, it may be difficult to rescue Shuofang."

"I will report to Chang'an and ask the court to mobilize troops to help the northern region."

As soon as Wang Shi finished speaking, he turned around and walked towards the camp outside the city, leaving everyone looking at each other in bewilderment.

A quarter of an hour later, a fast horse walked out of the camp and galloped towards Chang'an.

However, there was no need for Wang Shi to report this, as the carrier pigeons released by Zhou Bao and others arrived in Chang'an at noon.

In Xianning Palace, Li Yi was holding the copied urgent report and breathing heavily.

Standing in the hall were five ministers from the Southern Court and the Northern Court, including Xu Shang and Qi Yuanjian, as well as lieutenants of the Shence Army, including Yang Xuanjie and Ximen Jixuan.

"Shuofang is about to fall. Will the imperial court send troops to help?"

Li Yi asked slowly, his tone heavy.

Facing his question, Xu Shang frowned and said, "Your Majesty, although Tiande, Zhenwu, Xiasui and other towns have troops, the number of troops they can provide to support is less than 10,000."

"Even if we add the troops that can be allocated from Fengxiang, Jingyuan, Bining and other towns, we can only barely gather 20,000 infantrymen."

"Shuofang is flat, with only Xiaoguan and Weizhou in the south having hills."

"If we send infantry to help, it may be difficult to win..."

Xu Shang's words made Li Yi feel uncomfortable. He couldn't help but say, "The imperial court has gathered 150,000 soldiers. If they fail to break through a pass in half a month, they will lose three states and one town."

"Is it so difficult to conquer the tiny Longyou?!"

His words echoed in the hall, but no one dared to answer immediately.

After a moment, Xu Shang could not help but bow and said, "Your Majesty, the only plan now is to order Shannan West Road to send troops to attack Chengzhou and Wuzhou under the rebels, and then dispatch Zhaoyi and other vassal states with spare strength to provide assistance."

"Can we pacify Longyou in this way?" Li Yi asked, but Xu Shang hesitated: "This..."

When Li Yi saw Xu Shang like this, he immediately knew that he was also unsure.

However, the imperial court does not have many choices now. It is impossible for the imperial court to negotiate peace with the rebels because that would destroy its prestige.

Only if the rebels came to the imperial court to negotiate peace and the imperial court occupied several prefectures and counties belonging to the rebels could the imperial court achieve a superficial and nominal victory.

Thinking of this, Li Yi could only suppress his temper: "Send an order to mobilize troops from Zhaoyi, Shannan East, Yiwu, Heyang and other towns to rush to the battle, there should be no delay!"

"I obey your order..." Xu Shang breathed a sigh of relief. Li Yi waved his hand impatiently and said, "Everyone, leave."

"I will take my leave, may you live to a hundred million years old..."

(End of this chapter)