Back to the prosperous Tang Dynasty to be the emperor

Chapter 374 Dangerous Situation (2)

An Township is located more than eighty miles southeast of Huanghan City, on the banks of the Huangshui River. The terrain is flat and the land is fertile. It is one of the few grain-producing areas in the west of Hexi. Although the yield per mu is high, the total output is not too large, and because there is no danger to defend, the strategic position is really not prominent. The Tang army does not have heavy troops stationed in this county, and only the local county government has built a large-scale It is not surprising that the small militia was captured by the Tubo army that came in for a surprise attack in order to maintain law and order, but if you count the time, something strange will come out.

More than eighty miles is really not a big deal for the Tubo cavalry galloping on horseback. It is only a distance of less than two hours. The problem is that if the Tubo cavalry attacked Anxiang at night, they had to be careful The army's attack naturally did not dare to go there blatantly, so they could only sneak out of the camp in the dead of night, and when they arrived at Anxiang, the sky would surely be bright, and it was impossible for Anxiang County to fail to detect the enemy Even if they were caught off guard, it would not be difficult to resist for an hour or two. In this way, the Tubo cavalry would escort the people in the city back, and they might not be able to reach the city before the sun went down. But at the end of the day, the Tubo army actually appeared, which only means one thing - Anxiang surrendered without a fight!
The fall of Anxiang County will cause a serious problem, not only the trouble of many people falling into the enemy's hands, but also the fact that all the grain and fodder in Anxiang City may have fallen into the enemy's hands-according to the regulations, although Anxiang produces grain , but cannot store grain, all the surplus grain must be collected in the prefectural government for use, but the governor of Hezhou is such a slacker who does not care about business, it is already late autumn, and the grain fodder for this year's summer and autumn has not yet been transferred In the state government grain depot, it is still in Anxiang County, and the grain of more than [-] shi is so cheap for the Tubo people. If the income of the Tubo army is taken into account, the amount of grain and fodder may have to be doubled again. Several times over, the Tusa Allied Forces with so much luggage will have no worries. Not only that, but such food and fodder may be enough for the Tubo army to besiege Shanzhou City for a month. There is no doubt that in such a situation Under the circumstances, it is obviously impossible to force the Tubo army to withdraw by delaying the war. The situation is at a critical juncture for the Hexi Tang army whose total strength is far less than half of the Tubo army!
Zhang Mingwu is a standard soldier, commanding and fighting is okay, but he is limited to the level, so he can't see the strategic things so clearly. He is just worried that the fall of Anxiang will make the city of Fanghan become an isolated city, but I didn't think too much about the importance of food, fodder and supplies to the Tubo army, but Li Yaodong was different. Although he came from the bottom, but this time he came to Hezhou, he had already received clear instructions from Li Xianfei's letter in advance. The importance is seen much more thoroughly than Zhang Mingwu. The reason why he has not made a statement at this moment is because he is thinking about the possibility of reversing the crisis. However, he is not a wise man like Zhuge Liang after all. He frowned and thought for a long time. , I couldn't think of a safe way, so I had no choice but to nod to Zhang Mingwu and said: "Master Zhang doesn't need to show up. If you can trust it, let Li deal with it."

"Okay, Brother Li, please!"

Zhang Mingwu himself was not good at socializing, and Li Yaodong was a special envoy of the King of England, so he was happy to let him face Yao Wangshu, his old boss, so he waved his hand without hesitation and said please.

"Hmm." Li Yaodong didn't say any more, and after saying a word, he gave Zhang Mingwu a wink, raised his palm, and made a downward movement, and then, without waiting for Zhang Mingwu's response, he strode to the wall plate side.

"Where is Captain Zhang? This officer is here, why do you avoid seeing him?"

Li Yaodong thought for a little longer. Yao Wangshu, who was waiting at the base of the city, was already impatient. Seeing Li Yaodong leaning out from the city in casual clothes, he immediately put on the air of a governor and yelled angrily. shouted up.

"Where is the mad dog? How dare you bark here, looking for death?"

Li Yaodong is a noble man, he always looked down on soft-boned people, now that he knew that Yao Wangshu had surrendered to Tubo, how could he be polite to him, he humiliated Yao Wangshu severely by opening his mouth.

"You...you bastard, who are you? If you dare to rebel like this, go and call Zhang Mingwu out, I will give instructions!" Yao Wangshu turned blue with anger at Li Yaodong's words, and pointed at Li Yaodong, extremely annoyed The ground roared.

"Master Zhang doesn't have time to see such a traitorous villain as you. If you want to fart quickly, if you want to be aggressive, be careful and serve with bows and crossbows!"

Li Yaodong secretly saw the crossbowmen on the left and right sneaking up close to the city wall, and he deliberately delayed for a while to give the crossbowmen a good chance to kill with one blow, so he scolded Yao Wangshu sharply. One sentence.

"Bastard, I am the governor of Hezhou. If Er'an dares to insult me ​​like this, he must be punished. Get out and ask Zhang Mingwu to come and listen to the training!"

Yao Wangshu was so provoked by Li Yaodong's words that he became furious, clamped the horse's belly with his feet, rode the horse forward a few steps, pointed at Li Yaodong, and yelled at him.

"A certain is the special envoy of His Highness the King of England. Everyone listen carefully. Yao Wangshu betrayed my Tang Dynasty and exterminated the nine clans. Such a thief, An dare to call himself the governor, come and kill!"

Seeing that several crossbowmen had already moved into place, Li Yaodong didn't want to waste any more time talking to Yao Wangshu, so he raised his voice, shouted loudly, and immediately saw several crossbowmen rushing out of the city. Then he poked his head out, or stretched his bow and set an arrow, or aimed at Yao Wangshu with a crossbow, ready to shoot him with random arrows and kill him on the spot.

"oops!"

Yao Wangshu's reaction was alert. Seeing the crossbowmen on the top of the city aiming at them, he didn't care too much. He jumped off his horse with a cry of surprise, and lay down behind the horse's buttocks. They shot straight down, but unfortunately most of them hit the horse, only one arrow hit Yao Wangshu's shoulder. Although he was shot backwards and fell to the ground, it was a pity that the wound was not fatal. Before the crossbowmen opened their bows again The Tubo round shield cavalry who had already reacted rushed forward, dragged Yao Wangshu up regardless, and rushed away.

"Hahaha... All the troops listened to the order: Anyone who can kill the traitor Yao Wangshu will be rewarded with a reward of one thousand pieces!"

Watching the Tubo cavalry fleeing in embarrassment, although Li Yaodong secretly regretted not being able to kill Yao Wangshu in one fell swoop, he did not forget to take the opportunity to boost morale, so he laughed loudly and offered a heavy reward. Hearing this, they couldn't help being speechless, and they discussed excitedly with each other, and the morale that had fallen to the bottom suddenly rose back.

"Hmph, waste! Take it down!"

Herzzan, who rode his horse and stood in the formation, had originally hoped that Yao Wangshu would use his status as the governor to come down without a fight, but he didn't expect that the defenders in the city would not give this so-called governor any face. Yao Wangshu's half-dead panic, Herzzan's heart burst into flames, he didn't even bother to take a look, waved his hand impatiently, and asked Yao Wangshu to be escorted back to the camp, but he pulled out his waistband With a big sword, he pointed at the top of the city, as if he wanted to order a forcible attack on the city.

"Wait a minute, general, there are so many Han dogs here, why don't you go as planned!"

Seeing that Herzan was about to attack again, Ning Gus became anxious immediately. He didn't want to send his warriors to die for nothing, so he rushed out from the side and made a loud suggestion.

"uh-huh!"

Herzzan was obviously very annoyed by Ning Gusdu's behavior of interrupting his order, but he also knew that this was definitely not a good opportunity to attack again, so he would not object to Ning Gusdu's proposal, but he didn't give him a good face either. Look, he snorted twice, didn't say much, just waved his hand to signal Ning Gusi to follow the predetermined plan, but he rode his horse forward for a few steps, and looked at the low man with a wary gaze. At the head of the city of Fanghan, his eyes were full of undisguised coldness.

"Boys, let's make a big show for the Han dogs in the city!"

Ning Gusi only wanted not to lose his own warriors for nothing, so he would not care about Herzzan's attitude. Seeing that Herzzan had agreed to his suggestion, he dared not delay a little and galloped to his home In the formation, with a wave of his hand, he shouted excitedly.

"It's time for a big show!"

"Aww, come on, brothers!"

"Have fun!"

A group of soldiers from the Salar tribe had obviously been waiting for this order for a long time. When they heard that their leader Jinkou had opened his mouth, there was no way to be polite. Among the villagers, more than a hundred young men and women were dragged out, pushed and escorted to a place less than one mile away from the city, stripped off all the girls' clothes without shame, and set off on the spot Not only that, but also a group of Salar tribe soldiers tortured the young and strong captured Han family with knives, horsewhips and other things, taking pleasure in killing and doing cruel things!
"Damn it, dog thief!"

"You bastard, come here for me if you have the guts, killing prisoners is a matter of ball!"

"Master Zhang, a scholar can be killed but not humiliated, let's fight with the thieves!"

"Yes, let's fight, brothers, go out of the city!"

The men of the Tang Dynasty are all tough men. Seeing that the Tuca coalition forces are openly doing such evil things under the city, how can they swallow the anger in their chests? ll.

Zhang Mingwu is also a hot-blooded man. Seeing that the children of the Han family are suffering such humiliation, he immediately trembled with anger, his fists were clenched white, the veins on his arms were exposed, his eyes were red like blood, and his whole body was covered with blood. It was a terrifying bloody aura, and he wished he could lead his troops to rush down to the city immediately, tearing those evil Tuca coalition forces into pieces, but unfortunately he couldn't, as the leader of the first army, Zhang Mingwu knew very well that with the current strength of the troops, , Once out of the city, it means one thing - the whole army is wiped out!But if they didn't attack, it was difficult to suppress the anger of the entire army. When they were anxious, they couldn't help but feel a headache.

(End of this chapter)