The Emperor ordered Zhao Tang

Chapter 113 Qin Tai
On December 23rd, a bloody battle broke out between the North and the South.

Zhu Wen, along with Zhang Cunjing, Wang Yanzhang, Ge Congzhou, Wang Chongshi, Kou Yanqing, Zhu Yourang, Hu Zhen and other generals, led 150,000 infantry and cavalry soldiers and auxiliary troops to the Chimei River on the north bank of Gushui River, and ordered the warriors to retreat and form a battle array to guard Hezhong, Hedong and Henei. As it was a matter of gateway security, Wang Chongying did not hesitate and selected 30,000 elite troops to join the Jin army.

Li Hanzhi dispatched his subordinates Zhang Sui, He Fu, Duan Meng and others to raid Wangwu and Jiyuan counties, slaughtering livestock and leaving no one alive. They captured 70,000 men and women and put them in the army; the three towns claimed to have 200,000 men and women. The next day, hundreds of thousands of people fought from dawn to dusk. The dead filled the ditches and trenches, blood flowed like a river, and corpses were scattered for dozens of miles. The corpses covered the valley water and flowed eastward in a mighty force.

Li Keyong was at a disadvantage.

The war between the powerful vassals was unusual. In the Wukang battle, Xu Bian and his entourage deployed 160,000 troops. In the Kaifeng battle, Cai Bian led more than 400,000 troops. In the battles between the three Zhus, the number of troops was often over 100,000. These battles were almost all pure killing of talents, with few civilians. The imperial court could not get involved in a war of this scale. They could only hope that Wang Chongying and Li Keyong would be more powerful and make Zhu Wen temporarily give up the idea of advancing westward.

The situation in Heluo remains to be seen. Li Keyong will not leave unless he gets something from Zhu Wen, whether it is property or children. Not to mention Wang Chongying, if he doesn't hurt the people of Bian, will he invade again next year? This kind of vassal who only wants to protect their home is always the most difficult to deal with. But they are not weak. Zhu Wen has to think about the next strategy. West first, or east first.

At the same time, the war broke out again inside the pass. On December 25, the sage distributed food to the two towns, leaving most of the soldiers and civilians to continue guarding the pass to prevent the two towns from being defeated and the Bian bandits from coming back. He led more than 40,000 people to fight back against Dali. Li Sizhou, Li Yanzhen, Xie Jun, and Fei Zhongkang have been besieging the city for half a year! They haven't taken it yet; the sage is very dissatisfied with the lazy performance of these killers. Everyone is fighting to the death in Tongguan, how about you guys celebrating the festival? It's just that the powerful enemy was outside before, so he couldn't ask.

There are also the Tongzhou troops in the city, a group of bandits who are doomed to die; they have been besieging the city for half a year without surrendering, and they are raping and rioting all day long, just to see how tough their bones are. Another sister-in-law, Zheng Zhaoyi, is also trapped in a devil's den, and no one knows whether she is dead or alive or crazy... In the Qianfu year, Deng Qian, the chief of the Hedong cavalry and infantry, was killed, and the rebel army abducted his family. His wife committed suicide because she could not bear the beatings, and his daughter was tortured into dementia after a failed attempt to hang herself.

A bunch of devils.

On the 26th, the sage drank from the Maluo River in Chaoyi. The Yaowu Army envoys, including Tan Wang Li Sizhou, were greatly frightened, and the army was full of commotions: "The emperor's power and authority have been shown by himself. He has driven back Zhu Ni's 100,000 strong bandits, but we are alone in the city and have not yet conquered it. The emperor is coming today because he suspects that I am a traitor and will punish me. Tomorrow we will attack the city and fight to the death to appease the anger that has not yet been vented."

People were coming and going in the camp, officers and officials were shuttling back and forth, no one paid any attention to Li Sizhou, the heir king, who was standing outside the tent with a thorn on his back. Li Sizhou felt very embarrassed, but he had nothing to say, so he could only lower his head and listen to the occasional laughter.

Zhao Jia, the left imperial attendant, walked up the steps and sighed when he saw Li Sizhou's flushed face. It is true that the King of Qin did not do a good job as the recruiting envoy, but it is not clear that he has committed many crimes. The remnants of Tongzhou are no less than 6,000, all of them are fierce bandits. The King of Qin's troops, Li Yanzhen's troops, and the troops of Xie Jun and Fei Zhongkang, the surrendered generals of Tongzhou, only have 14,000 soldiers in total. How many warriors will have to die if we want to capture Dali without arresting the people? If we use force, I am afraid that the rebels will rebel before we can wipe out our subordinates; it is not easy to surround the rebellious army.

But as a warrior from the royal family, you have made no progress in the siege for half a year. If the sage does not punish you, how can you convince the arrogant and brave generals under your command? How can you punish the killers in Yaowu and Shangchen? Zhao Jia already understood the temperament of the sage's brother-in-law. He just doesn't like to kill people, not that he doesn't know how to kill. For the soldiers, he sympathizes with the hard work of military affairs, but he is not afraid of warriors. Li Sizhou understood. So without waiting for the sage to punish him, he stood in the cold wind with his bare arms and a bramble on his back and waited for the punishment.

"Your Highness, don't be discouraged. You are also a brother of the royal family. Don't make excuses this time. Just pretend to be deaf and dumb. Just follow the saint in everything. Everyone knows that Dali City is not easy to fight, and you can't be said to be derelict of duty. The Tongzhou thieves are too stubborn..." At this point, Zhao Jia was also a little speechless. These Tongzhou thieves will not cry until they see the coffin. The people of Bian have been defeated, but they are still stubborn! Don't they care about their families? Is the saint too kind? A bunch of bastards who deserve to be killed, just like Zhu Wen, the desperate enemies should be slaughtered without leaving a single one.

"Alas." Li Sizhou and Zhao Jia were not from the same faction, and they had never dealt with each other. At this moment, hearing Zhao Jia's consolation, he suddenly felt the indifference of the world and sighed: "We are all family. In the future, the Qin Wang branch and the Zhao family should have more exchanges."

Although Zhao Jia was only a secretary who ran errands for the saint, his sister was favored. His brother Zhao Fu was also trusted and appointed as the commander of the army. If the pregnant Zhu Xie gave birth to a prince, the saint would definitely support the sons of the He, Zhao, and Chen relatives to suppress the Jin people. In order to prevent these people from getting carried away or being convicted of some crime and suddenly killing the king and supporting Zhu Xiezi. As long as the Zhao family does not make mistakes, with the position of the Privy Councilor in the saint's heart, they will have a bright future; this thigh Qin Wangzhi can try to hug.

Concubine Shu? Useless thing! Sitting in the honor of the main wife but not spending as much time as Zhao did with the saint, what's the point?

"Let's talk about it later." Zhao Jia cupped his hands and said, "Tomorrow when we attack the city, the Yaowu Army must be attentive."

"Of course. I have warned the soldiers again and again, and they all know the pros and cons. But it is difficult to capture the city with only more than 6,000 soldiers of the Yaowu Army. Which troops can cooperate with me?" Li Sizhou asked.

"The evil army will be responsible for filling the trenches. The 7300 Fire Sharp Army and the 4000 Left and Right Dragon Warrior Army will be the second formation."

"Fire Sharp Army?" Li Sizhou frowned. None of the internal and external armies had this designation.

"The saint selected a new army composed of strong rogue soldiers under Gao Hanhong and Xu Bian's defected soldiers."

"That's enough." Li Sizhou counted the number of people and said, "Once I see the Saint, I will..."

"So what?" A young man in armor, with his hand on the hilt of a sword and a helmet in his arms, and a face full of scratches and stubble, walked over in the snow. Surrounded by a group of muscular warriors, they looked at the shirtless Li Sizhou with expressions of sympathy, contempt, or snickering.

"saint……"

"I heard that the Yaowu Army was planning to cause chaos?"

"I have already killed those who were making noises, the rest are loyal soldiers—"

"Got it." The saint interrupted him, walked past him, and pulled off the thorns on his back: "Take your cavalry to shoot a letter and tell the rebels - I can't bear to see the soldiers and civilians in the city perish together, so I will give you a day to redeem your sins. If you don't open the gates and surrender after one day, you should divide your troops into ten groups and dig the ground to attack day and night. We are more powerful than them, but they will be weak. When we break Dali, success or failure, life or death, your wife, children and parents, please weigh them carefully."

This……

"The rebel army is afraid of being the bad guys, so they are unwilling to surrender. If their crimes are pardoned, they will definitely surrender the city," Li Sizhou suggested.

"That's enough!" The saint waved his hand impatiently and said, "Haven't you heard about punishing the criminals? Not to mention that they destroyed Changchun Palace, raped and killed Princess Jinyong, Princess Yongping and other Li daughters, and played with Zheng Zhaoyi and Meng Cairen, two concubines of the previous saint. They tortured the poor people and abused them. Who doesn't know how bad it is! Am I here to get the Dali City? I am here to get rid of this great harm and get rid of a sore for the people. Either be a bad person or die, there is no room for them to bargain."

Since you have chosen to tear off the human skin and become an animal, you must be prepared to be killed. You are satisfied with everything, and then you come back and say I surrender, you must treat me well. The innocent people cry their eyes out in hell, the survivors who have been harmed become crazy, but the murderer is reformed in the world, and suddenly becomes a king's teacher, showing off his previous "deeds" to others; what kind of logic is this?

"Yes." Li Sizhou put on his clothes and left quickly.

After he left, the sage called all the generals to the general's tent and said, "Go back and organize the equipment and boost morale. Tell the men that after we defeat Dali, the imperial court will not take a penny of the rebels' property in Tongzhou, but give it all to the meritorious soldiers."

"Here!"

……

On December 27, Wang's army tied hundreds of letters of surrender to arrows and shot them into Dali, but the rebels did not respond.

On the 28th, an order was issued to attack the city.

Qin Tai was a little dazed. Looking at the majestic warriors, he seemed to recall the days of drinking and feasting in Fengxiang. The officials of the shogunate were disobedient and killed. Li Maozhen rebelled after entering Chang'an without success. Li Jizhen was defeated and killed. The judge's wife was born beautiful, so she was taken to the camp and beaten. Trick the judge into kowtow a few times, and then chop him to death when he has had enough of the trick. Deputy Jiedushi Zhang Fan did not dare to rebel, so they surrounded him. In the end, Zhang Fan had to humbly offer money and goods and speak kindly to appease everyone.

I think of the good days when I was accompanied by a beautiful woman and could laugh, scold, and do whatever I wanted.

He slowly touched the bald top of his head, his chin, and the face with the evil seal script tattooed on it.

Qin Tai's eyes turned red and he pinched his palm hard.

Unfortunately, he lost his anger because he had been beaten and abused for a long time and could only get two vinegar cakes to save his life every day. He had learned the rules of survival after being exiled to the evil army for so long. The result of being angry was being beaten. The butchers who led them tortured these poor people without mercy. He still remembered how his only friend died. Because he cried in the barracks in the middle of the night, he was thrown into a blazing furnace by the warriors and burned to bone slag; he was so scared that he wet his pants. The most painful thing was that this nightmare-like life had no hope at all, only endless misery.

Qin Tai gently relaxed his fist.

Soon. Perhaps this time the trench filling will become an unknown corpse under the city wall.

"If there is an afterlife, I think..."

It was not until the warrior's whip hit Qin Tai's face hard that the burning pain made him shudder and he lowered his head and trotted to the camp gate to gather.

There were a few villains around who were familiar to him.

Hong Qi, a military officer of Bining Yamen.

Shi Duosi, the remnant of Fengzhou Chao’s army.

Hua Zongfu, Han Jian's personal soldier.

There are many fewer. In the just-concluded Tongguan battle, too many villains died. They were all exhausted from heavy physical work such as building stockades, reinforcing city walls, digging pits, and moving stones. They died in the snow like wild dogs, and their bodies were trampled into ashes...

Qin Tai hurriedly greeted the three with his eyes, and then concentrated on arranging the formation under the command of the warrior. After being a villain for so long, his military skills were still fresh... He knew what the flag meant when he saw it, and he could react to which direction the officer was going when he waved his hand. He could tell whether the arrow would hit the target by just looking at the distance...

damn it.

Those civilians who know nothing can eat their fill every day, why can I only get two hard vinegar cakes!
He is not willing!

He wants more than that! In the past, in Fengxiang, if the reward for fighting was less than ten pieces of silk, he would not touch it at all!
Qin Tai's eyes reddened, and he was extremely jealous of those men and women.

"Pa!" A palm-leaf-fan-like slap hit his face, making him see stars. The warrior roared, "Why are you crying, you damned villain? Don't you want to fill the trench?"

"Yes, yes." Qin Tai nodded like a chicken pecking at rice. This slap suppressed his jealousy.

"Fight well. After filling the trench, we will attack the city. Whoever can climb up to the city wall will get two extra meat pies for dinner." The officers led the civilians to walk around in the crowd, throwing a wooden spear to each person, and promised a reward while giving a lecture: "Whoever kills ten or more rebel generals will be rewarded with a pound of meat..."

Hearing this, the villains immediately raised their heads, their dull pupils filled with spirit.

Drooling from Qin Tai's mouth.

He was used to being driven around. If they attacked the city, then what else could they do?

Didn't you hear? Anyone who kills ten generals or more will be rewarded with a pound of meat! He hasn't tasted meat for more than half a year. The last time he ate meat was when he secretly caught a fish while digging a canal in Bashang...

If Tianhao didn't die and had the chance to attack the city, he would have chopped off both of their heads.

It is said that Dali is now controlled by a group of desperate rebels with only a few thousand men.

He looked at the dense and boundless army gathered around him. If the general tactics were correct, he swore that it would take less than half a day to capture the city. When he entered the city, while the warriors had no time to take care of other things, he could take the opportunity to find a place to eat a full meal.

Also.

Since the saint led his troops to fight the rebels, he must have hated the people in the city. According to his custom, he would have imposed the most cruel punishment on these murderers - shaving their heads, removing their beards, tattooing them, and demoting them to evil people.

Hahaha!
A large number of new people will arrive by then.

Judging from his performance, as long as he survives this battle, won’t he be promoted to team leader by the warriors?
Qin Tai couldn't help but swallow.

Kill, kill him!
Listening to the warriors' shouting and roaring, Qin Tai's eyes showed a ferocious look like a tiger and leopard, and his breathing became rapid. At this time, the officer suddenly announced that the saint would show mercy to each villain during the siege, giving them three cakes and a pinch of salt, and they could eat them before fighting again.

"Woo..."

At one point, all the villains raised their arms and shouted, "Long live the saint, long live the saint!"

Qin Tai was very sure that he had heard it correctly, and he felt warm in his heart.

The saint is so kind to everyone. I really want to be his soldier.

"Yeah, can you give me a piece of armor? I promise to chop off ten heads of the rebels and bring them back." Thinking of this, Qin Tai smiled flatteringly at the officers of his team and whispered, "I am a yamen soldier in Fengxiang. I have served for nine years and I am the best at fighting and killing. Don't look at me as thin, I am very strong..."

"Fuck your mother!"

He was kicked to the ground, and he held his stomach in pain, unable to make a sound.

"Long live!!!" Suddenly there was another clamor, and the soldiers screamed. A horseman rushed to the front of the battle. The horseman's figure was agile, his hair was messy, but his eyes were tough and cold. Qin Tai found that the other party seemed to be looking at him from such a distance. The officer beside him also raised his right hand and waved at him. Qin Tai immediately retracted his prying eyes; the prestige of the saint... is it so high.

"Dong, dong, dong..." Before he could think about it, the sound of rapid drums rang out everywhere, the gates of the villages opened suddenly, and the army was in a commotion. Qin Tai quickly stood up, holding the wooden spear tightly in his hand. Without the officer's order, he urged the other villains to move forward. Remind them to stop and reorganize the formation every few dozen steps, and keep a good distance from each other. Listen carefully to the golden drums, watch the flags, and don't make any wrong reactions.

"The lives of wicked people are controlled by the hearts of warriors." Someone said contemptuously.

The battle to capture the city is about to begin.

(End of this chapter)