The Emperor ordered Zhao Tang

Chapter 130: Difficult Mountains to Cross
"Puff!" A slap was given to the red face.

They all lowered their heads, not daring to even breathe, for they had heard of the brutality of the Tang people.

The morning breeze blew away the thick fog on the river. In the Diaohe River Valley, three miles north of Xiangwu City, a group of evil men were supervising with machetes and bamboo canes. Their names were tattooed on their cheeks and their hair was shaved clean, which was very dazzling. In the river valley, ragged men and women were working in groups, pulling carts of sand, gravel and soil, and moving their feet with difficulty.

They were more than 15,000 Yuanzhou Tubo captured by the Jing army, and were escorted by Tuoba Lizhen to Weizhou to assist in the "battle". Yesterday, the saint handed them over to the evil army, responsible for building dams and canals in Diaohe Valley, and diverting the Wei River to flood the city walls.

Therefore, the evil army forced them to do this hard work that they should have done themselves, and treated the more than 10,000 Yuanzhou Tibetans like animals.

In the eyes of Qin Tai and others, these captives were like grass and were not worth mentioning. They were pure consumables. As long as they could divert the Wei River to the city, it would be worth it even if they all died. There were so many Tibetan tribes in Hewei, were they still afraid that they could not be captured?
"Push harder!"

One of the villains hit the pregnant Tibetan girl hard with the back of his knife, causing her to stagger and almost fall. The girl shed a few bitter tears, but after she stood firm, she did not dare to cry and continued to pull the rope with all her strength.

Qin Tai, who was in the same team, rarely took action and at most just cursed a few times.

This is not because he has a change of heart, but the consumables are only tens of thousands of people. If all are gone, they have to be captured now, but I am a kind-hearted man, and I am not willing to slaughter the six states of Tangut who do not come to the court, nor allow the warriors to go out to fight. In other words, if the Yuanzhou Tubo sent by the Jingshi is used up, they will have to do the exhausting work of building dams and digging canals.

There is no way, since they are bad guys, we can't ask the imperial guards and the nine foreign army schools to do the labor service themselves, right?
"My dear, let me rest for a while. I am not a Tibetan. I am a descendant of the abducted Tang people." A young woman felt dizzy, her legs went limp and she fell to the ground, begging breathlessly.

Perhaps it was her beauty or her face that was similar to that of a Chinese that impressed Qin Tai. He was about to answer the young woman who spoke Chinese very poorly, but he saw a passing warrior striding towards him. The villains lowered their heads and made way.

"You are a sneaky and treacherous captive woman!" The warrior kicked the young woman hard in the stomach and cursed, "If it weren't for you captive women giving birth to little captives every year, our army would have taken over all the states long ago. Would you still be caught here digging canals? If you delay any longer, I will kill you!"

A kick landed right on the young woman's abdomen, causing her to roll over on the ground in pain. The Tibetan men and women near and far heard the crying, slowed down their movements, and stared blankly over here.

"Don't you want to take a rest? Okay, lie down and rest now, and I'll give you hot water to drink." After saying that, the warrior quickly untied his belt and started urinating on the young woman.

"Rest, rest, I told you to rest enough."

"Ouch..." The young woman dodged left and right as she was drenched, her wet hair sticking to her forehead, looking very embarrassed.

Qin Tai, who was standing by, saw this and for some reason felt reluctant. He gritted his teeth, stepped forward and said to the warrior with an apologetic smile, "Brother, I will beat up this captive woman later. You are busy with military affairs, so there is no need to worry about it."

The warrior turned around and saw that the person who spoke was a villain. He couldn't help but slap Qin Tai's face and laughed: "Haha, since when did a bald tattooed thief soldier speak in front of me? You are a rebellious remnant who is even more despicable than a captive woman. You are like a prostitute. Get out of here."

"If the work cannot be completed within five days, you will be killed!" The warrior slapped Qin Tai in the face, said a few threatening words, and then walked away.

The construction site was busy again, but it was even quieter.

……

The bald tattooed thief is a good match for the army!

The rebellious remnants are even more despicable than the captive women!
Like a prostitute!

These words echoed in Qin Tai's ears repeatedly, and every word was as painful as a steel needle piercing his flesh. He clenched his fists tightly, his eyes were red, his teeth kept dislocating, his cheeks were bulging and contracting, and his breathing was like an asthma patient.

I’m not a bitch… Qin Tai could feel the instinctive anger coming from a man, but when the fire in his heart burst out of his lips, ninety percent of it disappeared, and the urge to roar turned into suppressed whimpering.

Qin Tai turned around and walked away silently, no longer paying attention to the humiliated captive woman. Although he didn't want to admit it, he could still see his own shadow in this captive woman. During the years when he was demoted to a villain, during the most difficult times, he even lived worse than this captive woman. Originally, these painful memories had faded with the passing of time, but at this moment, they were all stimulated and filled his mind.

Don't ask for trouble...

After all, the person who was humiliated by the samurai was also a captive woman, and they were not targeting any bad people. She just offended the killers.

Qin Tai whispered to himself to comfort himself: I have been promoted by the saint to the third commander of the evil army. I was the first to reach Dali City. I am not a thief... No matter what the warrior said...

One day, I will be forgiven by the saint, I will!

……

Fight in the south of the city, die in the north of the city, die in the wild and be unburied so that crows can eat them.

Battle in the south of the city!
Cui Gong, who was given the title of the envoy of the four camps, used his power to seduce the surrounding Yehai, Baigou, and Yecui tribes to send men. He promised that if they killed the enemy, they would be rewarded, and that they would be provided with adequate food and that they would return to their homes when the city was captured, and that they would not be required to fill the trenches. Seeing that the treatment was good and that there were a large number of warriors to cooperate in the battle, more than 30,000 men responded to the call. There were Tibetan-transformed Dangxiang, Qiang people, mixed Hu people whose ethnicity was unknown, and real Tibetans.

Early this morning, Wang's army launched a strong attack on the stone forts and blockhouses in the south of the city.

The main force was the more than 30,000 foreign people lured by Cui Gong and the 14,000 Dangxiang people from the seven tribes of Pingxia brought from the capital.

For the regular army, the saint mobilized the imperial guards, the infantry commanders Tiefu and Yingwu, 4,000 infantrymen from the Tiance foreign army under the command of the Longxiang lieutenant Xifeng Shuolihe, 1,500 crossbowmen from the foreign army under the command of the Shooting Eagle lieutenant Yelu Chongde, as well as 3,000 remnants of the Qi people from Fu Daozhao, 5,000 from Zhao Chong, and 2,000 from the command of the Jingyuan general Tuoba Lizhen; a total of nearly 18,000 soldiers.

According to the art of war, this group of killing materials with complex composition is the "vanguard" of this attack.

"Woo..." The heavy horn tore through the layers of white light, announcing another round of failed attacks. The troops, along with the auxiliary soldiers, carried the wounded and the bodies back to the camp to rest for a while, eat lunch, change weapons, report the enemy situation, etc.

The saint stood on the watchtower and observed that under the low city wall, there were corpses and siege tools scattered all over the ground. There were carts, ladders, crossbows, small wooden donkeys, wooden curtains, nest carts... all kinds of things, but there was no heavy siege equipment.

There is only one road to the west of Hewei, namely Tangfan Road. It was called "Qiangzhong Road" in Han Dynasty and "Tuyuhun Road" in Northern and Southern Dynasties. Starting from Chang'an, passing Xianyang, crossing Longshan, and then passing Tianshui and Longxi counties to Daxia. This is the section of Tangfan Road in Hewei area. Princess Wencheng went to Tibet and merchants and envoys from Western Arab countries went to Tang Dynasty by this road.

This road is very wide, and it is easy for people and horses to travel, but it is very difficult to use stone cannons. During the war between the Tang army and Goguryeo, the artillery vehicles used could fire hundreds of kilograms of stones. The largest model of the catapult used by Li Guangbi against Shi Siming in Taiyuan required 200 people to pull the rope to accumulate power. It would be too beautiful and too amazing to transport such a giant along the Tang-Tibet Road to Hewei...

There are mountains, passes and rivers along the way, which is what is meant by "mountains and passes that are difficult to cross".

The war craftsmen accompanying the army were rushing to make war tools on the spot, and the troops were eagerly waiting, but they didn't know when they would be able to make a big thing like a mobile artillery cart. If Xiangwu City was captured by then, they would be transported to Jincheng along Didao Road to let the Tibetans in Lanzhou test their power.

He looked at the top of the city again, where a large group of warriors wearing Tibetan-style black and red armor stood. He squinted his eyes for a while, but couldn't see clearly. They should be Mijiazu, Sangbaobao and their respective confidants. While the saint was observing them, they were also pointing at the watchtower and chattering non-stop.

The national conditions of Tubo are quite interesting.

If it were the Central Plains, with such a huge gap in strength between the enemy and us, 90% of the defenders would have killed their superiors and their families and begged for peace. These two guys only have over 10,000 soldiers and horses, and there are so many people in the city, but none of them rebelled. Don't they have any generals who are indecisive?
Could it be that the strength displayed by the Tang army was not enough to make the other side "capture their leader and force them to surrender"?
Ugh!
Mijia soldier slapped the battlements and sighed: "The Tang people built a siege around the city and blocked the river in the Diaohe River Valley, trying to divert the Wei River to soak the city walls. Do you think they can hold out for a month?"

"Don't talk nonsense!" Sang Baobao frowned and could not help scolding: "I see that Li's son has more than 100,000 people, including men and women, and several thousand monks, and the warriors are no more than 30,000 or 40,000. Moreover, he even captured monks to fight, which shows how aggressive he is. There must be no men left in the country. We have no reason to be afraid of such a mob enemy, as we are defending the city with a stronghold."

In the morning he saw the group of monks driving away the prisoners with knives, which was simply hilarious.

Dog meat really cannot be served at a table!
Besides, how could the Tang Dynasty emperor protect his country if he was so disrespectful to Buddha?

"It's difficult." Miga sighed, "Ga clan, Lun clan, Xiboye clan, Meilu clan, Bei clan are all unwilling to help, and they are just waiting for the Tang people to come in and become the loyal subjects of the Heavenly Khan. If we only rely on our tens of thousands of soldiers, if there are too many casualties, Gadebei's group of evil beasts will definitely stab us in the back. Not to mention that there are so many Tangut tribes outside. If the Tang people capture the herdsmen under the city..."

In fact, there are already signs. In the three waves of attacks this morning, the main force used by the other side was the recruited tribes. The Tang people took advantage of the "poor ghost" characteristics and easily "seduced" more than 30,000 strong men from the surrounding tribes to be cannon fodder. A very familiar scene, the Tubo also tempted the Pingxia Dangxiang to fight for themselves and fight against the Tang people. If the siege is not smooth, it is not ruled out that the other side will use force to capture all the surrounding herdsmen and stand in rows under the city. This is what he least wants to see, because he has recruited many six-state Dangxiang and miscellaneous Hu to help defend the city. If the family is held hostage by the Tang army... these people will be sneaky even if they don't rebel, and even secretly open the door to welcome the Tang army.

Now, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, as the Son of Heaven, has not resorted to such despicable means. But if the war continues to intensify, there is no guarantee where his bottom line is.

After all, how could an emperor who could recruit even monks as soldiers be a good person? What kind of dirty things would he not dare to do? If such a person were the king of Dafan, he would have been assassinated by the monks long ago.

"Jie'er, why don't we just gather our troops and go out of the city to try a field battle with the Tang army." A subordinate suggested to Migazu.

Baby Sang rolled his eyes.

According to the custom of Dafan, the Jiedushi should have gathered the Han and Fan forces under his jurisdiction to fight the enemy to the death. But the problem is that now that Dafan is dead, there is no place where there are no town commanders, Jie'er, and tribal envoys who have set up their own forces. The same is true in Weizhou. Everyone is doing their own thing. There is no leader to lead the overall situation and integrate forces. No one has the prestige and ability. With these 10,000 regular troops now, taking tens of thousands of slaves and tribal men to go out for a field battle, don't make a fuss...

Besides, since the founding of the Dafan Kingdom until the uprising army dug up their ancestors' graves, they rarely defeated the Tang people in field battles. Whether it was against the demons such as Guo Ziyi, Li Sheng, Hun Yu, Wei Gao, Gao Pian, or the small town generals such as Hao Yan and Ye Shiliangfu... To put it bluntly, the Dafan people have a shadow on this matter.

Wild battle...wild bird battle!
It would be better to lead the troops to break out to the West Sea earlier. The world is so big, how can there be no place for us to stay?

"Let's send someone to the Li's camp to talk and see how much money and goods we have to give in exchange for the withdrawal of the troops." Miga thought about it. He didn't want to leave Weizhou unless it was absolutely necessary. The Hehuang area was so big that the richer places were basically occupied by others. What's the point of going to such a poor place?

Upon hearing this, some people were disappointed, some felt relaxed, and some were in a daze, thinking about its feasibility.

"The Tang people are greedy, cruel and lustful, and they march to war just for this. First, ask Emperor Li how many beauties and treasures he wants. If that doesn't work, we can only wait for reinforcements from Jincheng, Guzhou and Shanzhou. If they understand the principle of the lips and teeth being cold, and lead their troops to help, Weizhou can still be defended. If they don't help, we can only leave..." said Migazu at last.

He looked outside the Stone Castle not far away.

There were dead bodies everywhere, and all kinds of vultures and crows were walking around among the wreckage.

The base of the wall looked like it had been gnawed by a dog, with numerous gaps and piles of earth dug out. Not only the Miga soldiers were panicking, but the warriors on the upper floors were also terrified. Perhaps in another day, the base of the wall would be hollowed out and dug through by the Tang people. The stone fortress would be built flush! With tens of thousands of people working on the other side, how big a city would it have to be to withstand the digging and construction?
The stone fort was lost. How could the low-rise Xiangwu City resist the invasion of the Tang people?

If that doesn't work, let's break out at night, Sang Baobao thought inexplicably.

……

Outside the three stone forts and five blockhouses that were under fierce attack, earth piles had been built. Apart from the siege troops, the remaining troops and civilians were all busy with one thing - building earth! Tens of thousands of people were dispatched in turns. When one army was tired, another army would take over. When this group of men and women could not hold on, another group would take over. At the same time, the 3,000 soldiers of the Guangrui Army were still digging tunnels with bare chests, sweating profusely.

Tired? Compared to attacking the stone fortress head-on, it doesn't matter if you can break the city by digging the ground, piling up mountains, and diverting water to flood the city.
Seize the sunny days, grab the cloudy days, and treat the drizzle as a good day! Work hard when it rains lightly, work hard when it rains heavily, work hard when it rains hard, work hard when there is no rain, roll up your sleeves and work hard. Three words: work! work! work!

In the afternoon, after lunch and rest, the troops continued to attack the stone fort. The army was able to hold out, but many of the miscellaneous Hu recruited by Cui Gong suffered casualties, but they could not hold out. One of the leaders cried out and wanted to retreat: "Old man, we don't want to eat this cake and meat anymore."

Cui Gong patted his head and said, "We have soldiers and civilians building the earth and digging the wall, and warriors cooperating with us. We have also issued you shields, but you still can't fight? Well... go and take a rest."

The man was speechless. He looked at the old man's smiling face, stood up and turned to leave. As they passed by, Cui Gong said to him, "Since you want to rest, don't get up again."

As he spoke, he had already drawn the sword from his guard's waist and slashed it across the chief's neck like lightning. The onlookers, the barbarians, the civilians, the officers, and the warriors of the various armies who were watching the excitement watched the pigtailed head fly high into the air, splattering blood.

"Hang it on the flagpole on the moat south of the city and pass the order to continue attacking the city." Lord Cui didn't even look at it. He turned around and put the knife back into the guard's sheath with a swish.

The guard shuddered.

This old man scared me!
After gathering the remaining troops, Lord Cui ordered his son Cui Yi and other generals to lead the seven tribes of Tanguts and the recruited foreign troops to attack the city all night without stopping until the three stone forts and five watchtowers were taken. Well, he even sent his own son to the front line, what else could everyone say?
At the same time, in the east of the city, more than 7,000 soldiers of the Bin army also gathered on the moat outside the range of bows and arrows. The armored warriors howled and made strange noises, and the rumbling of war drums pierced the eardrums. None of the Tibetan soldiers on the upper floors showed their heads, and they seemed to be huddled behind the battlements and trembling.

"Tear down Weizhou and leave no grass behind!"

"Haha, I'll capture your wives and daughters and cut off their flesh to eat with the wine!"

"Come out quickly, Western barbarians, and surrender to us. Don't resist. Otherwise, when our friendly forces break into the city, we'll follow them in. I can't guarantee that I won't harm anyone, haha."

"Rob! Robbing! Robbing any Tibetan woman with a big ass and taking her back to attack her!"

"I like red-faced Tibetan noble ladies, like the daughters of the Zamp."

In addition, there were also Bin people who kept running to the moat and shooting letters and shouting at the East Tower: "Listen up, captives inside, the saint is merciful, and those who rebel and kill Mijia soldiers and surrender will be granted...that...yes, that's your Qianhu official. In short, as long as you surrender to the Tang Dynasty, you will have a good life. But if you are stubborn, when we come in, we will make your eggs fall apart!"

When one group of warriors got tired of shouting, another group would come in. Wu Xiong lay on the stone, crossed his legs, holding a dogtail grass in his mouth, and basking in the sun leisurely.

The last time the Bin army shouted at others like this was when Wang Xingyu was there, and they surrounded General Qi in Macheng. General Wang listened to the nonsense of his staff and was afraid that he would be punished by heaven for betraying his allies and superiors frequently, so he had to kill Li Maozhen without bloodshed.

This afternoon, the Saint ordered Master Bin to attack East City, and this is how these killers attacked...

Although it wasn't an attack, the scene was quite grand and intimidating.

Let's say we are attacking...

However, just like when they shouted at Li Maozhen, this continuous voice of explanation did have some effect. No one paid attention at first, but as the attack on Nancheng became more and more fierce, a few Tibetans gradually threw ropes to slide down, or climbed out of the sewage ditch that was almost blocked despite the stench.

"Humph, the saint is blind." Wu Xiong shook his heels and looked at the Tibetans who were cursing and fighting on the city wall with some pride. The tendency of more warriors to try to escape has attracted the attention of the garrison commander, who ordered them to suppress it. The men let the enemy kill each other with just their mouths, is this useless?
I think that kid Li is of limited intelligence and tactics. He doesn't even understand the principle of conquering the enemy's heart first and attacking the city second, and of defeating the enemy without fighting.

Can this lead troops to fight?

"You, my lord, bah, Wu Xiong, Wu Erlang, are you looking for death?" The soldier sitting in the shade of the stone heard this and poked Wu Xiong's head with his spear, saying, "Do you have any rebellious intentions? Tell the emperor if he hears this, and don't let us be in mourning, it's so unlucky!"

"From now on, I will call myself a minister and address the saint as His Majesty the Emperor. Do you understand?" Three or five more generals pushed Wu Xiong's body and warned him, "If you don't obey, I will kill you and ask His Majesty to replace you with a loyal minister as the governor. Do you understand?"

"No need to worry, I'm just used to it." Wu Xiong rested his head on his hands and grinned, "You're talking as if you've never scolded the emperor's family. Deng Xia, I remember you used to yell about taking the Second Saint He Shufei home to have a baby. And when the old Marshal Wang Xingyu was alive, didn't he often yell about becoming the Minister of the Chancellery, sleeping on the dragon bed at night to play with the Second Saint, and then making the emperor kneel on the ground and call him father?"

Deng Xia was so scared that he covered his big mouth with his hand.

The soldiers looked at each other.

How could this Jiedushi stay for long?
If killing the Jiedushi hadn't given the court the impression that he was unruly and undisciplined...

"I had no choice before, but I want to be a good person in the future." Deng Xia said angrily, letting go of the pair of hands that were covering Liu Hou.

　I won't be a eunuch, I won't be a eunuch, no doubt about it. I will be slow, but I will never be a eunuch. It's mainly because I have been busy recently and my body is exhausted. In addition, I would like to thank Raise_lovell and Li Yiche for their alliance. The emperor ordered R Gong to be the governor of Liangzhou with the imperial seal, and to be the general of Tiance. He was in charge of the various roads in Shaanxi and the commander of the four camps in Bianzhou. He was given the title of King of Liang with 15 counties including Chenliu, Qiao, Pei, Xingyang, Shangdang and Henei as his land. He was also the Grand Marshal and was equipped with a five-time deputy carriage. I would like to thank Mo M for his 10,000-coin reward. I would also like to thank Shannan Xidao, Daxia Oh, Nanyi Girl's Dream, Li Yanhao and others for their rewards. I won't list them one by one, and I will thank them in a separate chapter another day.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)