The sky is vast and the fields are vast, and cattle and sheep are visible in the windblown grass.
Well, this is Liu Yuan’s hallucination. This place was a grass pavilion on the outskirts of Yecheng. The place where he was sent was not an endless grassland, but he did think a lot. His thoughts had long returned to the vast sea of grass where he had galloped in his youth.
There is a rough wind there.
There are pure white sheep there.
There are galloping horses there.
There is a girl there who I liked in the early years...
After decades of separation, my hair on the temples has turned white.
Life is unpredictable, my wife has passed away long ago, and my children have grown up.
And he himself has finally entered the twilight years of his life irrevocably.
"Can't see through, can't see through!" Liu Yuan smiled bitterly.
He didn't understand why at this age, he still had to go back to the grassland to toil.
When Hu Yanyou first came, he was actually not very enthusiastic. Later, the emperor's brother refused to let him go and asked him to continue participating in the military in the shogunate. He agreed without any dissatisfaction.
But unexpectedly, within a few months, his ambition gradually grew and eventually got out of hand.
Hu Yanyou once said something to him, which was a paraphrase of the words of You Xian King Liu Xuan (grandfather of Liu Yuantang): "Zuo Xian King (Liu Yuan) is so heroic and martial that he surpasses the world. If God does not want to raise the Xiongnu, he will be born in vain. Today, the Sima family is killing each other, and the whole world is in chaos, and it is time to revive Han Xie's cause!"
This sentence seemed to hit Liu Yuan's heart, leaving him in a daze for a long time.
These days, Liu Yuan would chew on this sentence carefully every time he tossed and turned and couldn't sleep at night.
Emotionally, he couldn't agree more.
Intellectually, he felt it was pointless.
The Xiongnu have been in disarray for a long time. How can they resume the great cause of expelling Hanxie!
The education he had received over the years told him to give up. He was already old and half of his feet were in the coffin. Why would he still accompany those careerists to cause trouble?
Do they really obey you from the bottom of their hearts?
You have been away from home for so many years. How many old acquaintances in the tribe are still alive?
Those people speak vulgarly, have no integrity, and have no morals. Are you the same as them?
When you stay with wild beasts, people will become cruel, which is not in line with the code of conduct for most of your life.
Just going back and forth like this, Liu Yuan had repeated conflicts in his heart, which was extremely tormenting.
Until Sima Ying made a decision for him, everything was relieved!
Before leaving, Liu Yuan took one last look at the scenery on the outskirts of Yecheng.
Noda wide opened up the rivers and canals passing each other. Why is the millet so gloomy? The flowing waves stir up sorrowful sounds.
Farewell, Yecheng.
The former Liu Yuanhai is probably dead forever...
After getting on his horse, he never looked back. Surrounded by the guests and servants, he headed westward, working hard, and arrived at Zuoguocheng in only more than ten days.
At the end of September, Youxian King Liu Xuan and others worshiped Liu Yuan as the Great Chanyu.
Then he headed to Lishi to gather his tribe and made it his capital.
Although the country has not yet been officially established, the rise of the Xiongnu power is already unstoppable.
At the beginning, things were complicated and complicated, which made Liu Yuan very tired. When he had some free time, he once wanted to hire scholars from the Central Plains to help, but there were only a few who responded.
Scholars were not good enough, so he thought of recruiting soldiers.
At this time, a figure appeared in front of his eyes.
It was a bright spring day in March, and the Qili River was green and gurgling. The brave young man rode alone, kicked into the enemy formation, captured the owner of a building alive and returned.
There are so many talented people in the Central Plains.
The brave young man who took my good bow is busy doing something unknown...
****
Shao Xun was busy scolding Zhang Fang.
This man-eating demon king spent half a month, traveling more than a hundred miles, cutting down trees, and then building siege equipment. By the time it was almost done, it was already late September.
Facing the narrow and cramped terrain outside Luoyang City, the Western Army was furious.
They set fires, demolished houses, and used all kinds of tricks. Finally, a site was cleared in the north of the city, which could barely accommodate 3,000 people.
The siege began, but it didn't go well.
If you give Mi Huang and Shao Xun half a month, they won't do nothing.
At least the military morale has stabilized.
Wang Yan used his sharp tongue again and "borrowed" 3,000 people from the nobles and merchants. After organizing them into troops, they were strictly trained, so Luoyang had another mobile force.
This city seems to be more and more unbreakable.
"Zhang Fang, the pot is ready, waiting for you to clean it." Chen Yougen stood at the top of the city and shouted loudly.
After he finished shouting, ten specially selected sergeants with loud voices repeated it in unison.
The sound spread far away, and the defenders at the top of the city burst into laughter.
After hearing this, Xi Jun looked a little unnatural.
Although they eat human flesh, it does not mean that they think it is right in their hearts. After being openly ridiculed by the defenders, everyone lost their composure and their morale was a bit low.
"Shao Xun, what are you doing hiding in a turtle shell? You look like a woman, come out and fight me." Zhang Fang's son Zhang Zhuan rode a divine war horse and passed the battlefield far away.
After Zhang Zhi passed by, several of his soldiers came forward again, taking turns to provoke him.
Shao Xun laughed loudly, picked up his bow and arrows, and shot down two thieves one after another. Zhang Yan was so frightened that he slapped his horse and ran away, and there was a roar of cheers from the top of the city.
Inside the Xijun camp, Zhang Fang stood on a high platform and watched from a distance.
The siege has begun.
The drummer took off his shirt and went into battle shirtless, beating the war drum.
More than two thousand infantry soldiers pushed ladder trucks, stepped over the filled trenches, and rushed straight towards the towering Luoyang City Wall.
As soon as they approached, arrows rained down from the top of the city like dense raindrops.
Someone hid in the belly of a nearby ladder truck.
Someone held a large shield and protected them tightly.
But the arrows were too dense, and people in the advancing team kept falling, and the screams of the dying struggle were so shocking.
When they got close to the base of the city wall, there were falling rocks, soup, boiling oil, and gold juice falling from the top of the city.
No matter how brave you are, no matter how many layers of armor you wear, you can't help but roll and scream in pain when the hot golden juice is poured on you.
Being injured like this is no different from death, or even more painful.
Zhang was expressionless.
There is no one who can't die in a war. His heart has long been hardened, and no matter how many times he dies, he won't be moved at all. What he cares about is whether attacking the city like this is effective.
Now it seems that it is not going well.
"We've reached the top of the city." A soldier exclaimed.
Zhang Fang perked up and watched attentively.
The first group of people who climbed onto the city wall were not many, probably about twenty people.
They are all rare warriors in the army. They wear heavy armor and have amazing strength. They are also brave and good at fighting. When ordinary people stand in front of them, they dare not breathe.
"Perhaps, it's possible for them..." A glimmer of hope ignited in Zhang Fang's heart.
But this hope soon turned into disappointment, because a dense crossbow bolt suddenly flew out from the top of the city. The warrior who had just climbed to the top of the city was shot to the ground before his footing was stable.
There was a cry from the city. Some soldiers ignored the arrows and rushed over to snatch the corpse.
Obviously, the master of the private army died in the battle. The guests felt like mourning their heirs and tried their best to get the body back, otherwise they would not be able to explain.
"Alas!" There were sighs one after another all around.
Zhang Fang didn't want to watch anymore and got off the high platform directly.
The soldiers looked at each other and followed.
"How many days can the camp's grain and grass last?" Zhang Fang grabbed the grain officer and asked.
The grain officer was a little scared, swallowed his saliva, and said reluctantly: "It can last for half a month."
"Didn't you send someone out to search?"
"We have collected as much as possible, otherwise we would have run out of food."
"Trash, if you can't find any more food, just wait until you get put into the pot." Zhang Fang kicked the grain officer over and said angrily.
The grain officer rolled away and crawled away.
Zhang Fang pulled out his saber and slashed the wooden pillar hard.
When he led his troops to fight, he never had enough food and grass, so he had to find ways to raise it on the spot, which led to many shocking incidents.
The food and grass problem is actually not fatal.
What is really fatal is the war situation in Hebei.
The two towns of Bingzhou and Youzhou had more than 100,000 troops, which was extremely powerful, but the King of Chengdu only had less than 20,000 troops.
Zhang Fang can even boldly say that Yecheng is basically doomed and will not survive next month at the latest.
After the death of the King of Chengdu, where will the King of Hejian be placed? Where to put Zhang Fang?
Sima Yue was not dead and ran back to Xuzhou. He still had time to issue a message calling on all the officials to attack the two kings of Chengdu and Hejian.
Can the King of Hejian really resist such a powerful force?
Okay, even if the King of Hejian can resist, what will Zhang Fang do?
More than 20,000 people marched under Luoyang City. The old soldiers of the division were exhausted. Then they waited for soldiers and horses from all over the country to gather and annihilate them all in one fell swoop?
Zhang Fang has begun to think about leaving.
I tested it today and found that the enemy's combat strength was average, but with the advantage of defending the city, they were still able to drive off the elite soldiers he sent over.
In this case, there is no need to try any more, this battle is impossible to win.
Is it a loss to be able to be easily poured to death with gold juice or boiling water by a hard-trained elite soldier and a brave and tough heavy-armored warrior?
It is better to go back.
Zhang Fang's eyes looked north. Before leaving, he always wanted to take something with him.
He called his son Zhang Zhi and gave some secret instructions.
