General Aimu stood on Wen'an Yi City, his calloused hands caressing the battlements that were in disrepair.
Ten years ago, he followed his father as a servant and studied military affairs in Dingbian camp.
At that time, he lived in Wen'anyi.
He remembered that the mountain pass here was particularly prosperous, and people from all over the country gathered to hold markets. The streets were lined with rows of houses, all built to look like flat-roofed cave dwellings. They could collect water when it rained and grow food when it didn't.
Between the shoe shop and the inn is a Jiadian clothing shop. People like the new rather than the old. They make new clothes before the year and wear them at the end of the year. They use money to exchange for new ones.
There is Yu Ding, a military household who performs sumo wrestling every day to earn rewards. Vendors who pick chickens and sell fruits are around. There is also a painter whose hair scarf cannot cover his bald head sitting on the edge of the Wen'an River painting beauties. Every picture of a beauty needs to be replaced. pounds of beef.
Green plants climbed up the wall bricks, and the post city built on the top of the mountain was lush and lush. There was a Kuixing Tower in the city, and he even went to pay homage to it.
It's really funny to think about it now. The Mi Zhi Ai family and his family are three generations of generals. I'm afraid they don't need Kuixing's blessing.
The spacious scene and prosperous appearance of Wen'an Yi are still vivid in our minds.
In the blink of an eye, ten years later, my old father became ill due to overwork and died in the official office of Dingbian Camp. He also inherited his legacy and served as a general to guard the border for the Ming Dynasty.
All memories of yesterday seemed like illusions.
The sheds are missing, and the houses in the villages in the west of the city have lost their beams and collapsed.
The ivy covering the city, whether they died of drought or were eaten, was all clean. The bricks in the old city were the color of earth, and the Wen'an River not far away was about to dry up.
Wen'anyi is empty.
But Wen'an is not the only one with no one.
The sound of armor clashing behind him interrupted Aimu's contemplation. When he turned around, a young man wearing cotton armor and an iron helmet came forward with his sword in hand.
The young man stepped forward and knelt down on one knee and said: "General, the prisoner said that last year Cao Cao was able to recruit thousands of people with just a wave of his hand, but this year he only recruited more than a thousand refugees after traveling everywhere. If you can catch a glimpse of the leopard, the power of thieves in Yan'an Prefecture has declined."
The young man's name is Ai Huaiguang, and he is Ai Mu's eldest son.
In addition to Ai Huaiguang, Ai Mu also has four sons, Huaixiang, Huaiying, Huaiqian, and Huaiyuan, all of whom are serving in the army like he was when he was young.
"Be enlightened."
Ai Mu responded softly, asked his son to stand up, and then said: "The governor wants to recruit a group of thieves. The prisoner is Cao Cao's uncle. Can you go and persuade him to surrender?"
"Yes, I can, but my father...general, I am worried that he is just paying lip service to me. If I ask him to leave, he will definitely follow Cao Cao into exile again."
"Then let him bleed."
Aimu said categorically: "The governor's plan to recruit people is right. Yanchuan is a small county with less than a thousand households and a population of less than 20,000. If a hundred people in such a small county are thieves, the county magistrate should be dragged away and beheaded. Now there are more than a thousand thieves?”
He waved his son to look at the barren mountains within sight: "Huaiguang, this river is named after Wen'an Station. There are few wealthy places among the mountains on both sides of the river. There are no people there now."
"It's not just a thief. Mizhi's descendant, Master Ai, who was hired when the child was practicing martial arts, his son went to the mountains to weed the grass last year. I heard someone said that the man named Li who used to work as a long-term laborer for Uncle Nianhuai's family and stopped sheep will not be able to do it this year. Get money and kill Dian Shi."
Aimu shook his head: "Look at how he can afford it today."
Ai Huaiguang looked at the mountains outside, then at his father, and murmured in a low voice: "It's just a small amount of money, why did Uncle Nianhuai have to ask him to pay it back? Why did he lend him the money when he knew he couldn't pay it back? "
"What can I do?"
Aimu asked in return, and his son was silent for a long time. He said: "If you didn't borrow it, he would have had no choice but to become a thief last year. The thief even hated you and was the first to come to trouble you."
"It's a severe drought. If you borrow money, he can't pay it back. You don't want everyone to come to you to borrow money. Anyone who doesn't borrow money will come to you as a thief and cause trouble. You can only pick one and leave it at the county government office for everyone to borrow." I don’t dare to borrow it.”
Aimu shook his head. The expression on his face couldn't tell whether he was happy or sad: "It's a tough choice."
He said in his heart: There are 1,600 households in Mizhi, and there are more than 400 households with the surname Ai. Thousands of people from the same clan can't help them all.
Those who should help should have done so long ago.
I helped even those who didn’t owe me anything.
It's just that the world is like this, God has decreed, and the rest depends on who is lucky.
With these thoughts in mind, Aimu thought of the corpses of the thieves lying in the valley.
He said: "The team sent to behead?"
"The sixth team of the Outpost Zuosi, the team leader is called Ma Maoguan." Ai Huaiguang said: "Guanzhong soldiers have been in battle for a long time and had their heads cut off. It is better to make a profit at Dingbian camp."
Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, Aimu saw several horses running back from the official road in the east. They were all dressed as Tang soldiers, and some seemed to have arrows stuck in their backs.
Three rockets screamed and flew from the mountain highlands.
This is a sign that the sentry has seen a large group of enemy troops.
The sergeant who was sent to fetch water from the river first ran back with the bucket hanging on his shoulders. Then after running for a while, he saw something on the other side of the mountain and even lost the bucket.
He narrowed his eyes, frowned and said to his eldest son: "Huaiguang, go to the beacon tower to warn, send Tangqi out of the post city, notify the outposts at Huoshaogou and the Liangjiahe camp on the other side..."
From the official road to the east, there was the sound of mules and horses neighing.
A sentinel rider just ran into Aimu's field of vision and was hit by an arrow in the back. The arrow hit very fast and deep. It looked like it was fired from a war bow.
Immediately after, several cavalry sprang out to chase. They were all equipped with the appearance of frontier troops. They were riding tall horses. Some were holding bows and shooting, some were chasing after them, and some were running with spears on their sides.
The sergeants in the post city were busy hanging up their armor and winding up the strings. Officers at all levels were shouting and shouting in the post city. Thick black smoke was also burning from the beacon tower on the mountain to the west of the post city.
The sentry rider turned around with his bow and took aim, but several thieves chasing him rushed to his right rear. They barely managed to shoot out with an arrow, but failed to hit it. Instead, a thieves rider next to him knocked him down with an arrow from a few steps away. His helmet.
The hair scarf was also hung open by the helmet, and for a while, his hair was disheveled and he looked embarrassed.
The sergeant who was fetching water saw several thieves chasing them here. Seeing that they could not escape and had no armor to protect themselves, they had to draw their swords to fight.
But as soon as he pulled out the sword, the spear-wielding soldier slowed down his horse and attacked him. He was stabbed through the chest with a spear. He held the spearhead and was pushed back several steps by his horse.
At this time, the war horse also stopped. The traitor cavalryman pulled out the spearhead, held it with both hands on the horse and stabbed a few more spears. Then he poked the weapon on the ground, jumped down, took off the soldier's shawl and hung it on his body, feeling proud. mounted again.
The condition of the sentry rider was not much better. He lost his helmet and was hit by an arrow. He rushed to the foot of the post city and was chased by a bandit holding a golden melon. He was hit on the back of the head with a hammer and fell off his horse.
However, once the sentry rider died, the musketeers on the southeast corner of the post city no longer had any worries. A row of muskets fired down and injured a bandit soldier and a war horse, causing them to retreat in a hurry.
But there are still several horses running towards the city gate.
Before the five officers and soldiers who led their horses and ran out of the post city to deliver the message, they were blocked by several horsemen at the gate of the city. Arrows rained down, and someone even fired a musket on their horse.
Five people ran down, leaving three corpses behind, and the other two ran back to Yicheng.
Immediately the city gate was closed tightly, and the officers and soldiers lined up on the east, west, and south sides of the post city.
In the ruins of the village in the west of the city, the resting officers and soldiers saw the beacon warning, quickly put on their armor, gathered the baggage vehicles into the village, and then quickly marched towards the old carriage and horse shop on the west side of the post city through the pontoon bridge on the moat.
Aimu commanded his troops on the high wall of the south gate of the post city, and punched him hard on the battlements.
Before entering Wen'an Post, the army carefully inspected the surrounding valleys, and they fought all the way from the east. They had also sent Ma Maoguan's team to the east to cut off the heads earlier.
He did not expect that a large group of thieves would come from the east.
Fortunately, the bandit soldiers seemed to be helpless against Yi Cheng. They were afraid of the muskets and artillery on the southeast corner of Yi City, so the whole group could only line up at a distance, not daring to come forward.
This gave the remaining sergeants of the central post who were resting in the west an opportunity to escape into the post city.
The Lion Battalion was arrayed in the east of the city.
"General, why don't you continue chasing? Come forward now and prevent those officers and soldiers from entering the city. The moat is far away. Let me defeat them!"
Although Yang Yao's injury has not healed yet, among the six combat sentry commanders, he is the most eager to fight, and it seems that his troops are invincible.
Liu Chengzong held the saddle with one hand and looked relaxed. His tone did not sound like he was on a tense battlefield. Instead, he raised his whip hand as if chatting and pointed to the far post city: "Have you been to Wen'an Yi? Look at this post city. It's a good place. ah."
Yang Yao shook his head at first, and then said: "I've been here before. I just voted for the general last year. We went west to Yan'an Fucheng and passed by here... But this is not the time for chatting with the general!"
"Don't worry, listen to me."
Liu Chengzong raised his whip and pointed at Yi City: "Everywhere in this city is good. It is surrounded by mountains to the north and east. There is a moat outside the west city. In the south, apart from this official road, there is the Yi River. You can use volley guns to shoot at the city from here." you."
"There is no formation in the south of the city. If you want to attack the city, you can only attack the city from the southeast corner, ten steps to the east and forty steps to the south. With these fifty steps wide, forming a dense formation, one shot on the city can cause many casualties to my brothers. Ten people.”
Although he spoke very seriously, his expression was as relaxed as if he were telling a joke, and he pointed to the Post River Road: "Do you know why I know it so well? There are more than 20 post soldiers brothers in Tangqi who came from here, and its post officials I killed them, and I evacuated the food. I am very familiar with this post city, so you have to go across the river."
"We all have to go across the river, but not now. We have to wait for the officers and soldiers from the west of the post city to enter the city, and then block them in the post city."
Yang Yao kept frowning as he listened. Wang Wenxiu on the side was also puzzled and asked, "Does the general know that there is a tunnel in this post city?"
"There's no truth to it."
"Then this post city is easy to defend and difficult to attack, so why let the enemy troops into the city?"
"Put it in the city so you can beat others."
Liu Chengzong smiled as he should have: "This city is easy to defend and difficult to attack, but it is small and there are not many people inside. Ma Maoguan said that there were 700 troops stationed in the west of the city and 500 troops stationed in the city. Now there are 1,200 troops in the city. One hundred people, fifty people are here with me.”
"Seven hundred people are stationed at Huoshaogou in the north mountain outside the city, and 750 people are stationed in Liangjiahe in the south mountain...obey the order."
As Liu Chengzong spoke, he sat up straight on his horse, and the commanders surrounding him immediately looked serious.
Just listen to what he said: "The left post will be stationed in the east of the city, the right post will be stationed outside the south gate of the post city, and the middle post will go to the other side of the moat in the west of the city. The artillery post will give the red barbarian cannon to Feng Ru. Once the enemy tries to break through and the south gate dares to open, use The Hongyi bombardment will block them back."
"Wei Qian's Ertang Cavalry is on defense in Beishan, keeping an eye on the 700 enemy troops stationed in the direction of Huoshaogou. Once they come south, the high sentry commander guarding the east will immediately send troops to support the west, and Sentinel Commander Feng cannot move."
Feng Yu understood Liu Chengzong's intention. He was also from the firearms camp of the Beijing Army and was a gunner himself. He immediately responded: "General, don't worry, as long as the officers and soldiers in the city dare to open the door, I will use cannon to kill everyone in the city gate."
Wei Qian'er was happy. This was their home field. The twenty or so Tangqi men under his command were all locals and were familiar with every plant and tree in the nearby mountains.
He immediately turned around and said a few words to his cronies. After a while, two Tangqi came over and said they were locals from Liangjiahe. They would lead the way for Liu Chengzong.
Liu Chengzong turned to look at his little brother and said: "Chengyun, you stay here with the baggage sentry. The soldiers under the sentry should be closer to the west. If the officers and soldiers break through and the west is out of strength, send them to help."
Chengyun nodded very seriously: "Brother, don't worry."
After the order was issued, the sentry commander under his command was already very clear about Liu Chengzong's tactics.
"The outposts, the outposts, and the artillery posts are crossing the river from the south. Let these two heroes take them with them to defeat the officers and soldiers in Liangjiahe first."
Liu Chengzong specifically looked at Cao Yao and said, "Commander Cao, you can't beat the Pingyang Guards. You and Commander Wang will try to mix it up this time, one hundred steps."
Cao Yao nodded heavily. In this battle, it was time for him to try a volley of artillery fire at a distance of a hundred steps.
The order was being given here, and Tang Qi from the southwest rushed back to report: "General, there were several officers and soldiers riding out on the mountain road to the south. They fought for a while and then retreated!"
Liu Chengzong showed a smile on his face and said to everyone: "They must be spies sent by the enemy in Liangjiahe. The officers and soldiers over there may be ready to fight. You should be careful."
The generals took the order and arranged their defenses. Immediately, the brigade waded across the Yi River, which was about to dry up. Those who were on the defensive began to dig trenches outside the range of Yi City.
The three sentry troops who were due to attack headed south along the valley road, led by the local postmen.
After doing this, Liu Chengzong looked at Wen'an Yi City with a telescope. There was a general wearing fish scale silver armor on the tower, who was also looking out of the city with a telescope.
'Are you Aimu? '
Liu Chengzong thought in his heart, thinking that when he just left Yuhebao and passed through Mizhi, he ate the sheep brought by the Ai family.
"General, I don't understand, why are you doing this?"
Liu Chengzong turned his head and saw Fan Sanlang, who was wearing ill-fitting bubble nail armor, with bulging skin all over his body, and his cheeks were covered red by his hair and helmet.
He laughed: "What kind?"
"Surround and divide the troops. Why not take advantage of the two armies to be dispersed and capture the city?"
It seems that this little girl actually wants to learn the art of war.
Liu Chengzong said: "Everyone in the world lacks the means to siege cities. There are very few battles that can siege a city within three days. As for siege, have you seen Sun Tzu's Art of War?"
Fan Sanlang shook his head.
"Even in a field battle, it is best to use ten times the force to encircle and annihilate; with five times the force, I can fight whenever I want; with twice the force, I must work hard to defeat the enemy. If we are evenly matched, we should find a way to separate the enemy; if we have fewer than the enemy, we should find a place. If you can’t defend yourself, avoid fighting.”
"I don't have five times the force, so it's not cost-effective to attack the city by force, but I can use twice the force to eat away at the enemy."
"Then, in the end." Fan Sanlang asked: "In the end, isn't it necessary to besiege and attack the city?"
"Everything is fake. Only people are real in war. You think it's a siege of a city, but in fact it's people's hearts that are being besieged and people's hearts that are being attacked."
Liu Chengzong looked at her, laughed, and asked seriously: "There are 1,200 people in this small town. What do they eat?"
