The Emperor ordered Zhao Tang

Chapter 202 Seesaw (Part )

"What kind of hand is this! Ah! Can all the water in the ocean wash away its blood? No, I am afraid that the blood on this hand of mine will dye the blue sea into a deep red. What begins in injustice must be consolidated with sin." - Shakespeare's "Macbeth".

At the end of August, the war accelerated.

After the Wansui Army and the Uighurs wreaked havoc in Jiangzhou and suppressed the people of Bianzhou, they began to move eastward. On the 21st, Obudai, Qiyan, Wuxiong, and Li Renqi went deep into Huaizhou, burned Cisheng Temple and Sima's hometown, and once reached Heyin Bridge and Muye and Xinxiang on the border of Weizhou, observing Zhengzhou and Weizhou across the river.

Tian Xide was shocked. While strengthening his defenses, he also boosted his confidence and discussed reorganizing the army to fight again. At the same time, he sent an envoy with a batch of weapons and food to meet him - "The imperial country is an important vassal state, and the mountains and rivers are inherited from generation to generation. We swear to restore the holy Tang Dynasty, and we will never return even if we die; we will never live under the same sky with the Dangshan brats!"

Henan was also in a state of panic. On the 22nd, Jia Sheng's troops stationed in Heyin were mobilized, wearing armor and sleeping on boats, bridges, and ferry crossings, ready to board and guard the ropes at any time. The Yellow River transport was forced to stop, including the official ships transporting supplies to the river.

At midnight, the Queen Mother, who had just fallen asleep, was boldly pushed awake by the female historian, who told her: Li Jun poured into the other side of the Heyin Bridge and was about to invade the palace! Hmm, it smelled like Jing Kang. As if some unbearable dirty memory had been triggered, the Queen Mother sat on the couch with her hair dishevelled and bare-chested, her hands and feet cold, unable to move, and her nose bleeding wildly, scaring the palace maids to shout for hot water, acupuncture, burning incense, and pinching acupoints. It was not an ordinary feeling to have someone come to your house to ask for the price of a penis, and laugh at you while you were peeing and call you a bitch*deer!
Li can relate to this the most.

Upon hearing the alarm, she ordered the capital of Daliang and other capital areas to be under martial law, and ordered Huang Wenjing, the defense envoy of Zhengzhou, and others to guard the border carefully, and report the enemy situation three times a day in the morning, noon and evening, and make another report in case of emergencies; if more than 100 bandits escaped to Bian, they would be punished. She also sent a letter to Zhu Wen, asking him to reinstate Wang Yanzhang, who was at home due to his crime, and transfer him to Guandu to defend the city.

On the third day of September, General Pang Shigu and Niu Cunjie arrived with a new leadership team and stationed in Mengjin. Zhu Wen gave them 20,000 additional soldiers from Yicheng and Huaixi camps, making up to 100,000, slightly more than the scale of the attack on Xu. The war was about to start. Pang Shigu didn't want to waste time on the disgusting "you advance, I retreat" game of Li Ni, but if he didn't beat him hard, he would never have a peaceful life. Justice is only about how many people are killed, and Pang Shigu deeply believes that. So he decided to kill Li the thief, Yongliang people, and Hu Lu until they were scared to death when they heard the Bian accent, and they would scramble to become Zhu's obedient subjects and no longer resist.

On the fifth day, the eldest son Zhu Youyu was sent back from the Qingzhou front and stationed in Bianliang.

In addition, upon hearing that the emperor was on an eastern tour, Wang Chucun, the governor of Yiding, sent his cousin Wang Chuzhi to lead 7,000 troops to protect the emperor via Xingming. In the first year of Guangming, when the bandits entered Chang'an, he was the first to send 2,000 people to Hanzhong to protect the emperor. Since the emperor ascended the throne, he is also the only governor north of the Yellow River who has paid the "tribute" on time and in quantity.

Henghai changed his commander and sent Gao Xin to help Qi join the war. Now the Yiwu army, which was freed up, also went to battle. It seemed that the nest was already in ruins. Only Yan and Zhao remained without a statement.

But in Jiang, the emperor was busy.

On the ninth day of the ninth month, after a period of preparation, the sage sent Liu Xun, Chen Xiong, Wang Shaorong, Liu Zhijun, Zhang Fan, Nangong Shanshang, He Chuyu, Gao Hanhong, Yang Kexuan, Lun Hongyi, Zhao Cun and other generals, including the Dragon Sovereign, the Fire Rui, the Overlord, the Evil Man and more than 40,000 Pu soldiers, with stone cannons, box cars and other heavy equipment, to attack the outer stronghold of "Dragon Viewing Pavilion" held by 4,000 people of Murong Zhang's army.

The fight became intense as soon as it started.

Commander Liu Xun led a non-stop offensive with 5,000 men in each group and six groups in each group. The saint personally went to the city and stood by the trench to supervise the battle. The battle lasted a whole day, with casualties everywhere. At night, they fought at night. Murong Zhang was under great pressure and went to the front line to kill the enemy. The Bian army used the fences and terrain to fight desperately, trying to make Li's army retreat. The most intense battle was piled with corpses, and even the mud and well water were dyed deep red. The defenders could not leave, and Li's army could only move the debris first if they wanted to attack.

Liu Xun was so angry that he transported all the remaining thirty stone cannons in the camp and poured stone materials and gunpowder at the enemy crazily.

The Bian bandits in Guanlongting are quite stubborn.

But I understand that the Bian army in Zhu Wen's era had magic. Pengcheng, Yanzhou, Yuncheng, Taiyuan, Yancheng, Qingzhou, Luzhou, Dingzhou, Waqiaoguan... all of them were a lot of lives. Later, in the Northern Expedition to Youzhou, they set a record of capturing more than 20 cities in two months. Except for the horse battle, there was nothing else to complain about.

Henan people are tough and ignorant. The Bian army, which was born from them, traveled all over the country and their fighting quality is beyond doubt. In addition, they have developed animal nature. It is not easy to deal with them before they suffer a devastating defeat, lose their self-confidence, develop self-doubt and fall into internal friction.

By the second half of the night, Guanlong Pavilion had not yet been taken, and Li's army continued to attack.

To prevent Murong Zhang from getting hurt, Zhang the thief selected 8,000 elite soldiers to line up outside the city, threatening the flank of the king's army, and personally led hundreds of cavalry to harass the camp where the saint was. The personal soldiers of various routes protected him like wings, clamored in response, and shot arrows at the camp. They tried to cause a night howl. The night watchman Ye Shi Changming led people to drive them away. Li came out and took a turn, speaking loudly, and asked the Du Yuhou to beat the gong to explain the situation, so that the soldiers could sleep peacefully and not go out, and the situation was easily resolved.

Zhang's plan failed, so he turned to attack Liu Xun. Murong Zhang led his troops out of the camp to cooperate. The two sides, who were bloodthirsty, fought hand-to-hand again, with blood and flesh flying everywhere. How could they fight hand-to-hand in the dark? They should rest. But when the battle reached this point, it can only be said that everyone had lost their minds. Especially Pu Bing. When Wang Chongying just died, many people still had naive fantasies and were ready to kill Wang Ke for this. After Wang Gong let the wolf into the house, how many people's relatives and friends were used as human shields, and what was the fate of the Jin and Jiang soldiers who followed Wang Gong and Wang Yao to surrender to the bandits?
After a fierce battle that forced Liu Xun to give up his idea and save Guanlong Pavilion, Zhang Ze gave Murong Zhang two thousand more men, and ordered Ying Jian to defend himself without going out, while he himself stayed in hiding. Li Jun has the ability to attack the city! This made Zhang Cunjing very uneasy. I thought it was a mob, maybe like Li Keyong, a small army could beat Li Ni and make him flee at night. I found out that they dared to attack the city for real.

The troops with courage, ambition, combat skills, discipline, confidence in the generals, and good relations with the officers are the real elite. The Hedong Yajun at that time was well-equipped, skilled in combat tactics, and strong in physical fitness. Its actual combat power was among the best in the world. But its discipline was so bad that it could kill five Jiedushi in a year and rob its own people at will. What combat power did such a beast have? In fact, it was useless. The Datong army dragged Li Keyong into chaos, but there were only 10,000 people, while Hedong had nearly 100,000 infantry and cavalry inside and outside, and they could only stare at the other side.

If you have fighting ability but cannot use it, you are nothing but waste.

After only three years of leading the troops, he had built up such an impressive army. This "Li boy" despised by Zhu Wen was not so easy to deal with.

Leading troops is difficult, but also easy.

But how many people in power can always be consistent in these most basic things: not being greedy for money, keeping their words, collecting the bodies of the fallen, not killing people indiscriminately, and living and dying together? In the south, there is Wang Chao. In the north, there is Li Keyong. East of Tongguan, there is only the Tang Lord.

On September 12, the sage, who had failed in his second attempt to capture Guanlongting, was at his wit's end. He dispatched generals with troops to set up camps on the roads to cut off the connection between the external strongholds and the main city. Then he continued to dig tunnels, trenches, build earthen cities, set traps, and carry out "bombardment" at regular intervals. He laid siege to the city to consume the defenders' energy and wait for the progress of Li Renmei, Nangong Daoyuan and others.

*****
The wilderness is bathed in the bright moonlight, as if covered with a thin veil, beautiful, holy and extremely peaceful.

"The enemy is coming!" A terrified cry came from the beacon tower. When Xie Yanzhang climbed up to see, he could already see the southern bank of the Jishui River. Amid the rumbling sound of horse hooves, countless Li Jun cavalrymen were flowing along the river like an avalanche or a mudslide.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom..." Sounds came from the military city, the city gates suddenly opened, and the soldiers clamored.

"Fuck you! There's still a fight at night! Brothers, help me kill Xie Yanzhang!"

"Come on. We can't stop them here, and the supplies can't be transported to Pingyang. Once Zhang Cunjing is finished, we will have to stop them on the endless plains of Chen, Zheng, Bian, Song, and Hua. Why let the elders suffer a great disaster again? Don't panic, there are more than 20,000 cavalry to help. As long as we block the barbarians' three axes, the cavalry will charge and slaughter pigs and dogs."

"Haha, I just said that."

"Li Renmei is so arrogant, he treats us like wheat." "Start fighting! Let the barbarians know my methods of attacking, and share them with the Khan."

"Defeat the Uighurs, charge into Chang'an City, and snatch Saint Li's slutty wife!"

"Hoohoho!"

"Shut up!" The officers ran around shouting, beating, kicking, whipping, and punching, telling these killers to quickly go out and assemble.

The infantry of Chen Lingxun, Shao Ru, Li Duo, and Shi Yanhong marched to their respective positions in an orderly manner. The formation commanders who had arrived earlier, with flag officers, held torches, colorful banners, and musical instruments, and issued orders one after another. In this way, some Bian people wore fish-scale armor, some carried long spears, and some checked crossbows. They formed dense square formations one by one, forming a strict formation, with various flags and drums erected, and weapons standing upright, including spears, maces, pen boards, halberds, and quivers. The archers took a deep breath and closed their eyes to rest.

The most core is the formation where Shi Yanhong is located. There are more than a thousand tall and strong warriors in it, all wearing chain mail and carrying long-handled swords on their shoulders, reflecting the shining silver light under the bright moon.

"I hope that both the man and the horse can be destroyed." Xie Yanzhang made a wish in his heart.

The thunderous sound of hooves rang out.

Li Jun no longer controlled his speed and began to gather momentum, stirring up smoke and leaves. The cold light cast down, reflecting the barbarian and Han knights with shaved heads, loose hair, pigtails, and buns, making them full of the terrifying power of ghost soldiers passing through the corridor.

Xie Yanzhang tried to look around following the smoke and dust.

The impression he got was horses, horses, countless horses, a torrent of war horses, knights. From the riverside to the hills, from the forest to the grass, all were cavalry. In the middle, there was a sea of white horses with white manes, and the knights were fat and strong, sitting on their horses like a small mountain, rolling in like that - the cavalry on both wings were of various colors, wearing red and white, and riding black and yellow horses. They must be the cavalry captains of Li the thief's personal guards, the cavalry lieutenants of the foreign army, and the Wansui Army.

"Da da da..." The central part of the enemy army stopped advancing, turned their horses to the left and right, spread out their formation to the east and west, and slowly formed a cone formation.

"Huh!" More than 10,000 knights at the front roared in unison, and it felt like the ground was shaking. The Bian army, standing on tiptoe to look out, whispered to each other, making a buzzing sound of conversation. The cavalry of the Tabai and Baima units deployed in the rear and on the ridges on both wings could not see the situation in front clearly, they could only hear the sound, their expressions were a little stiff, and their mounts kept stomping their hooves, shaking their heads and snorting, as if they had seen a ghost.

"Boom, boom, boom!" The enemy army beat drums, and the knights at the front raised their lances stuck in the ground and pointed them diagonally forward.

The sharp spear tips were like venomous snakes spitting out their tongues under the bright moon thousands of miles away.

Just by pointing at him, Xie Yanzhang shuddered subconsciously. It was not because of fear, but he simply couldn't help it. The back of his back felt numb and cold out of human instinct.

"Kill, kill! Kill!" After Li Jun's offensive formation was deployed, the entire army shouted "Kill, kill, kill" three times.

Looking down from the military city, there were forty thousand cavalrymen, a vast and mighty force with no end in sight.

It's only because this is a big river, otherwise it can't be opened.

Eight thousand infantrymen lined up in front of the enemy were like a small boat in the vast ocean, which could be overturned to the bottom of the sea by the waves at any time.

Chen Lingxun's face turned pale.

He had never seen such a grand scene before.

The thieves are powerful!

Iron horse torrent!

"Break through the enemy's formation, break through the enemy's formation!" The roar of the horses' hooves awakened the stunned Hanoi. Zhao Fu, Nangong Daoyuan, and Wu Xiong kicked their horses' bellies at the same time and jumped out. The eldest brother-in-law held the horse spear high, and the edges of his bare arms were clear like tiger legs. He only had time to say: "Go south!"

All kinds of thoughts popped up in Li Renmei's mind, and he shouted loudly: "My men, follow me!"

He pushed with both feet, squeezed the horse's belly hard, the reins shook, and the beast jumped out.

In fact, there was no need for officers to lead them. All the Han and foreign knights were shouting the same two words: "South! South!!"

"Ten thousand cavalrymen are attacking our formation!" Some people from Bian couldn't stand the fright, trembled and lost their voice, then quickly covered their mouths.

　Note 1: Sheng Tang. In the Tang Dynasty, some people called their country Huang Tang or Sheng Tang. I have only seen the term Da Tang on inscriptions on Shinto tablets.

　　Note 2: Yiding Jiedushi. That is, Yiwu Army. It is the remnant of Yan and Zhao, and one of the results of reducing the feudal system. It was taken back from the rebellious feudal lords in Hebei. It was customary for the generals of the Shen Ce Army to be stationed in the town. Regarding the names of the vassal towns. The regular ones are called according to the specifications and states, such as the Jiedushi of such and such states. The defense envoy of such and such states. The observation envoy of such and such states. The Jinglüe envoy of such and such states. If there is a military title, it is called the military title. For example, the Jiedushi of Xiasui, Yinyou and other states got the military title - Dingnan Army. Jingyuan got the military title - Zhangyi Army. Eyue - Wuchang Army. Hunan - Wu'an Army. Tongzhou - Kuangguo Army. Hezhong - Huguo Army. Yiding - Yiwu Army. Yuncaopu - Tianping Army. But not everyone has a military title, some have, some don't. There are also those who are called according to the capital, such as the Jiedushi of Henghai, who is also called the Jiedushi of Cangzhou. The Jiedushi himself was called Lu Shuai, Qi Shuai, Jin Shuai, Yan Shuai, Bian Shuai according to the place name, or Li Shuai, Zhu Shuai according to the surname. Or he was called a casual official position or a title. General, King of Langya. Different names were used in different situations. There was no such thing as "Wang Jiedushi". Today I saw a book that actually called it Li Jiedushi, Zhang Jiedushi, and Jiedushi Mansion. None! The place where the Jiedushi was located was called Yasi, Junfu, Luocheng, Di, and Zhai.

　　Note 3: Dutong. A higher level of command authority than Zhaotaoshi. If accompanied by a military supervisor, he is called Dujian. Commander-in-chief of the front army.

　　After reading the previous article, I feel so upset that it was censored like it was bitten by a dog.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)