The Emperor ordered Zhao Tang

Chapter 82 Amanda

"Kill, kill, kill!" Outside the moat, flags were like clouds, and 20,000 infantry and cavalry were arranged into several square formations, and the soldiers were howling.

Civil servants kept coming forward and shouting, "Listen! For those who come out to surrender, officials will be promoted three levels, soldiers will be given salaries and repatriated, generals will be resettled according to their abilities, and civilians will be left to do as they please. Otherwise, when the city is captured, no one will be left alive!"

There were crowds of people upstairs, and there was a lot of noise. Many people shouted to the king: "Why do you have to stand with the saint? Why not turn the tables and fight him! Wouldn't it be wonderful to go to Chang'an together and have fun?"

"The treasures in Daying and Qionglin are piled high like mountains. You can just rob them. Why would you risk your life to exchange for the emperor's reward?"

"The Saint has thousands of wives and concubines in his harem, all of them are beautiful and noble. Kill the Saint with a single blow, return to Chang'an, and the imperial concubines will all be yours!"

"Don't make the mistake, I'll kill you if you dare to attack the city!"

"..."

The quarrel lasted until noon, when the rebels had had enough of their noise and could no longer curse, and the sage ordered Zhao Fu to provoke them. Zhao Fu received the task and sent his generals Ouyang Jian and Amo Nan to lead a hundred cavalrymen across the moat to humiliate the rebels and force them to fight.

"Hahahaha!"

"Coward, what Tangren Tianbing, woman!"

"Come, drink Yeye's urine, Wu..."

A hundred riders were laughing loudly at the foot of the city, and a few bearded men were standing on horseback and urinating on the defenders. Some took off their pants, stuck out their white buttocks, and slapped the battlements. Some stuck out their bellies, showed their buttocks, and whistled at the defenders: "What kind of soldiers are you, you old turtles who don't fight back when you're beaten or scolded? Kneel down! Call me Aung!"

This row of shouting and cursing was so heart-wrenching that the faces of the Tongzhou soldiers upstairs turned pale.

"Damn it, I can't stand it anymore!" General Wang Chong shouted, "Who dares to go out of the city with me to kill these evil beasts!
"I go!"

"I!"

"Kill this bastard!"

A group of guards rushed out, all gritting their teeth and quickly arranging their equipment. Soon, the city gate opened, and more than a hundred riders rushed out, and the soldiers on the top of the city shouted and beat drums to cheer, and at the same time fired a rain of arrows to suppress the enemy's position. However, Ouyang Jian and Amonan had always maintained a safe distance of 200 steps from the city wall, and the threat of arrows was almost zero.

Seeing the enemy going out to fight, the hundred cavalrymen pulled up their trousers, put away their playful expressions, and stood on their horses, swords drawn, waiting.

The sage stood on the tower and watched from afar, knowing that this was going to be a duel - the scene in movies and TV dramas when two armies confront each other and the generals come out to duel, which was quite popular in the Tang Dynasty. Li Guangbi was defending Heyang, and Shi Siming fought with him. He lost the duel and felt very embarrassed, so he covered his face and fled amid laughter.

General Wang Chong held the spear in one hand and the reins in the other, watching Ouyang Jian and the others move forward slowly.

After fifty steps, Wang Chong reined in his horse and stopped. Seeing that the other party's clothing was not the Central Plains style, he shouted angrily: "Barbarian dog! Do you recognize me?"

"Haha!" Ouyang Jian laughed: "Why, your mother didn't tell you? Which warrior kidnapped the bastard your mother gave birth to!"

Da da da.

Ouyang Jian rode his horse forward, and the hundred riders behind him quickly followed.

Twenty steps - both sides could see each other's appearance clearly, both had the expression of a monkey with bared teeth.

"You dog! Whose slave are you?" Wang Chong glared at Ouyang Jian.

"It's your father!" Ouyang Jian roared, rushed out on his horse, and smashed the Iron Bone Sword towards Wang Chong fiercely.

"Bang!" Wang Chong used his spear to push away the bone flower, then he held the spear tightly in his left hand, reached to the horse's belly with his right hand, pulled out a shiny horse-cutting sword, and slashed fiercely at the leg of Ouyang Jian's mount.

"Great!" More than a hundred cavalrymen of the Tongzhou army burst into loud cheers.

What a brilliant move by Wang Yanei!

"I underestimated you!" Ouyang Jian grabbed the saddle with one hand, flew down in the air, and made a precise elbow strike at the horse-cutting sword.

A few sparks flew, and the sword slashed on the chain mail. The warhorse was startled and stood up. Ouyang Jian grabbed the saddle with one hand and the reins with the other, and ran forward a few steps with his feet on the ground, then turned over and sat high on the horse's back, and returned to the main camp!

"How is it?" Ouyang Jian was full of vigor and he pointed at Wang Chong and raised his eyebrows and said, "You can't even kill the fallen people, what's the use of you?"

"A bunch of clay chickens and clay dogs!" The hundred riders of the Tianshui tribe laughed loudly.

Wang Chong blushed.

To put it bluntly, it is indeed very rare for a cavalry general like him who started out as a cavalry general to reach this level, but when it comes to fighting on horseback, he is still not as good as a real cavalry general like Ouyang Jian who has been trained since childhood - there are also differences between knights.

Cavalry is not just a warhorse for a warrior to ride on. The skills of stabbing with a 4-5 meter long lance, shooting with a horse bow, shooting at targets while moving, riding in battle, and charging at different positions require a huge amount of time and a lot of wide pastures to train.

"With such courage, why don't you serve the country and become a thief?" Guduo pointed at Wang Chong, and Ouyang Jian shouted, "Abandon the dark and join the light now, follow me to submit to the saint, and you will not lose your official position and wealth. Don't make mistakes."

"If the saint captures us, he will shave our heads, tattoo our faces, and demote us to evil people." A cavalry soldier in the Tongzhou army was furious.

"My family is still in the city, why would you surrender?"

"We played with the emperor's sister-in-law, how could he forgive us——"

"Kill!" Upon hearing this, Amonan jumped on his horse and rushed forward with his spear in hand to fight with the Tongzhou army. The rest of the hundred riders also rushed forward.

"Boom, boom, boom!" The army behind saw this and beat the war drums frantically, and the rebels on the upper floors also screamed. Wang Chong turned his horse's head and retreated towards the city gate while fighting. He couldn't beat the enemy on horseback, so what was the point of fighting?
"Hmph, you want to escape!" Amona punched the horse on its butt, and the warhorse ran away wildly.

When they passed each other, Amo Nan raised his mace and smashed it hard at Wang Chong. Wang Chong couldn't avoid it, so he had to use his spear to block it.

Unexpectedly, Amo Nan had amazing strength and knocked out four times in succession.

The spear in Wang Chong's hand broke.

"Ah——!" Amonan threw away the mace and held Wang Chong's hands with both hands.

The two wrestled desperately.

Wang Chong was no match for him, so he lowered his head and bit him hard. Blood flowed out, and Amona pulled his elbows back, shook Wang off, cursed him as a bastard, stood up from his horse, and jumped onto the other's horse, sitting behind Wang Chong.

"Get out of here!" Wang Chong pulled out his dagger and stabbed.

Amonan punched him in the back several times, grabbed Wang Chong's hand holding the dagger and pulled it back, snatching the dagger away. Then, he hugged Wang Chong tightly in his arms with his left hand, and stabbed Wang Chong's throat with the dagger in his right hand, and blood immediately flowed out! "Do you accept it?" Amonan shouted in his ear.

"I give in. I give in." Wang Chong cried out in pain.

Looking at the other soldiers, the more than one hundred cavalrymen they led were either killed or surrendered, and only more than twenty people escaped back to the city.

"Pa!" Amonan slapped Wang Chong in the face, held him under his armpit, turned his horse back to the moat, and reported to Zhao Fu.

"Ha ha ha ha!" The warriors in the front row of the king's army cheered like thunder, and kept hitting their shields with their swords. The generals whispered to each other, asking who the green-robed bearded man was.

They captured people alive in battle, and their martial arts were as powerful as those of Guo Ziyi, Hun Yu, and Li Sheng. These servants of the saint's brother-in-law were quite something.

On the city wall, the rebels were in grief.

"Let's go!" In front of the battle, Ouyang Jian and Amonan led dozens of bandit generals including Wang Chong, ready to report to their lord Zhao Fu. However, Zhao Fu was not surprised by the favor or disgrace, and said gently: "Let's go and pay respect to the saint. We are all ministers of the emperor now."

Amanda was stunned, but still responded loudly and turned to look for the saint.

"Slaves Ouyang Jian and Amonan pay homage to the Emperor!"

"What brave men!" The saint pounded their chests vigorously. "I see that you are very skilled in martial arts. What are your origins?"

"My ancestors were Tang soldiers in the Western Regions. After being captured by the Tibetans, they became riding slaves for generations. After the fall of the Tibetan Kingdom, they fled to Qinzhou and became members of the Zhao family. They were the sword slaves of the eldest son." Ouyang Jian replied.

"I..." Amona didn't know what to say for a moment.

"You two remind me of Wei Qing, the Grand Marshal and General of the Former Han Dynasty. He was just a riding slave of Princess Pingyang at first, but later Wei Zifu was favored and he entered and left the palace. He led seven expeditions against the Xiongnu in his life. It is not the origin of a hero that matters—" The saint encouraged them for a few words. He wanted to use Shi Le as an example, but felt it was inappropriate: "From now on, you are no longer slaves."

"Immortal fate--" the saint shouted.

"I'm here." Liu Xianyuan, the coach of the Ma Army, responded loudly.

"They will serve under you as coaches."

Hearing this, Ouyang Jian and Amonan looked at each other, and saw the burning excitement in each other's pupils: "I bow to thank the emperor for his great grace!"

It’s really a good choice to come to Chang’an!
"Go." After sending the two away, the saint looked at the rebels on the top of Dali City and fell into deep thought.

Although this small-scale battle was won and morale was greatly strengthened, it was still too difficult to break the city. It was so difficult to conquer a small city like Dali, which made people feel exhausted. I really don’t know how Zhu Quanzhong, a later generation, conquered Xuzhou, a powerful city in the Central Plains.

It seems like it lasted for more than two years.

----

The night was like water, and the king and his ministers gathered to discuss what to do next.

"Your Majesty, why don't we recall 10,000 infantrymen from Li Sizhou and Li Yanzhen, and build a double siege outside the city. When the rebels are out of food, it will be easy to attack them. We can win in one battle." Mei Zang Qiqi suggested. He seemed very frustrated and didn't want to waste time here.

"The remnant of the Tongzhou army is a formidable enemy." He Chuyu also agreed with his opinion. Seeing that the saint did not say anything, he continued, "The king's army now has only 20,000 to 30,000 people. Internally, we must intimidate the Ximen family's troops, and externally, we must guard against rebellions by the vassal states in the northwest of Beijing. We cannot lose too many people. Now, if Your Majesty is unwilling to give up, you can either surround the city with two camps or recruit civilians to help."

recruit……

If the warriors carried it out, they would only brutally confiscate the property of the emperor, just like Qin Zongquan and Sun Ru. Any warlord could do this, except the emperor. Since Li Ye enjoyed the natural appeal of this identity, he had to restrain his behavior.

"Your Majesty." Zhazhu came closer and saluted, saying, "Sixty thousand Youzhou soldiers besieged Yizhou, and there were only three thousand defenders in the city, and they were still defeated. Now we have thirty thousand people attacking a city occupied by 7000 elite soldiers. How can we win? If it were any other city, we could dig holes to attack it, but Dali is next to the Luo River, and I'm afraid we'll dig out the Yellow Spring Water. It's better to return to the capital, recruit soldiers, and wait for an opportunity to attack Shannan, so as to spy on Jinshang and Bashu, and become the power of Qin."

Fu Cunshen frowned and shook his head, saying, "As soon as the royal army withdraws, the rebels will come out to cause chaos again. What can we do?"

"We have to take Tongzhou. It is the main thoroughfare between Qin and Jin and the northern barrier of the capital. It has a large population and many merchants. It is rich enough to support 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers." Zhao Fu said suddenly, "We can leave more than 10,000 infantrymen to surround the city. Firstly, it will cost less and secondly, it is close to the capital, so it is convenient for supply."

"Let me think about it." The sage did not expect that so many officers would advocate withdrawal.

In fact, reason told him that the only good strategy was to surround the city from both sides. It could both minimize the resentment of the soldiers due to the hard battle and avoid harassing the common people.

What else can we do? The rebels have 7,000 soldiers, and they can also recruit civilians to help defend the city. How many casualties will it take to defeat the enemy? At the beginning of the year, Wang Congxun joined the old pig herder to attack Tongguan, and he was completely killed by the lives of the peasants. This also caused a mutiny on the battlefield, and the soldiers tried to kill Wang Congxun.

"Your Majesty, you have always liked me, and I admire your courage. I will speak directly." Zhazhu held the saint's hand and said, "Your Majesty is twenty-five this year, and you are in your prime. Li Situ is nearly forty, and Zhu Quanzhong is also in his forties. Which governor in the world can outlast you? Why bother about temporary gains and losses! If Dali cannot be taken, let's try another easier one. Xingfeng, Hanzhong, Jinshang, and Fudan are all fine. When fighting a war, the most important thing is to win the people, the soldiers, and the prestige, not necessarily to fight for land."

The sage smiled when he heard this, and he also knew the reason for his hesitation - after winning several battles, he became a little carried away and wanted to eat a fat man in one bite.

Thinking of this, he had made up his mind: "Let Li Sizhou and Li Yanzhen lead the troops back, leave all the infantry behind, and surround the city from both sides!"

The two Li’s combined forces totaled nearly 10,000 people.

He also brought more than 4,000 elite soldiers from the Infantry Division, and more than 1,000 soldiers from Xie Jun, a surrendered general from Tongzhou, which amounted to more than 15,000 real combat soldiers. When he returned to Chang'an, he could test Ximen Qi's loyalty. If he could get more than 10,000 soldiers from him, he could surround this broken place on all sides. By then, the Tongzhou army could no longer expect to surrender, and they would not be able to survive as evildoers.

Later, while besieging Dali, he could try to use troops against Jinshang, Xingfeng, and Hanzhong to expand the strategic depth and push the battlefield outward. In the north, Jingyuan, Shuofang, Fudan, Dingnanjun and other towns, and in the east, Hezhong, he had to promote the relationship between the monarch and his subjects. Those who can be summoned to the court, should be summoned to the court. Those who can be married, should be married. He did not expect these people to be loyal subjects, but at least they should not cause trouble.

"Pig, you sleep with me tonight." After the meeting, the saint asked Zhazhu to stay in the tent.

The previous imperial concubine was Xiao Wang, but this time Xiao Wang didn't come, so he was replaced by his brother-in-law He Chuyu. This fellow snored loudly and slept in a bad posture, which the saint couldn't stand.

----

On June 27, Li Sizhou and Li Yanzhen returned with 10,000 men from the Yaowu and Shangchen armies. They were ordered to be the chief and deputy commanders of the campaign, and as soon as they arrived, they recruited civilians to help the soldiers build the city walls and fill in trenches and moats.

A day later, the sage returned to Chang'an with more than 10,000 cavalrymen. The soldiers were rewarded according to their merits and given two days off. The sage had many things to discuss with the prime ministers, especially the governance of Tongzhou.

In addition, now that the territory is getting bigger and bigger, there are more and more warriors under his command, and the prestige is rising day by day, this feeling is intoxicating and frightening. The subsequent ideas have to be seriously considered, how to cultivate internal affairs well. As for Zhu Quanzhong, we also have to find a way to disgust him.

But before that, there are a few things to do.

The court officials have been jumping up and down recently. One of them is flirting with Zhu Quanzhong, the other is flirting with Li Keyong. Many of them have bribed the Privy Councilor Zhao, the Inner Housekeeper He Yuqing, the Imperial Clothing and Food Officer Zhu Xiewusi, and the Imperial Procuratorate Yu Wenrou to buy official positions. They are so naughty that they have forgotten whose black hat they wear.

The war in which Wang Jian was besieged by the military governors and provincial governors of Sanchuan has also made significant progress. He needs to add fuel to the fire and make preparations for the aftermath.

(End of this chapter)