The defeat was overwhelming, especially in Manjia City, which was like a big urn.
The defeated Zhongshan Army was unable to reorganize an effective line of defense for a while, and the remaining Zhongshan soldiers could not even run away; the high mountain chasm on the west side seemed to have become the death-killing guillotine of the King of Hell.
The red-eyed Zhao soldiers poured into the city like a tide. On the two streets that crisscrossed Manjia City, crazy crowds and war horses were running wantonly.
The remnant soldiers of the Zhongshan Army had no time to organize a new defense line in the city, and were scattered by the cavalry galloping recklessly. In an instant, they were drowned in the crowd by the Zhao Army's insurgents, and no one was dead.
A young Zhongshan soldier threw away the weapon in his hand and ran desperately with the crowd towards the hinterland of the city, just to stay away from the demons from hell. He saw with his own eyes a red-eyed Zhao soldier who was chopped down by the resisting Zhongshan people. The knife made a bloody gash on his cheek, and blood flowed all over his face, but he ignored it and grabbed the hair of a Zhongshan soldier, holding the sword and slashing at the man's neck like a chop. Saw again.
He knew that surrender was not possible now. The Zhao army's rebel soldiers who were the first to come in would kill anyone they saw, regardless of whether they surrendered or not.
They are not human beings now, but walking military merits and gold.
Manjia is a large city and an important trading town in Zhongshan District. There are even many merchants from various countries who have been trapped in the city.
At this time, without exception, all of them were affected.
All the surrounding houses were set on fire, and many of the Zhongshan defeated soldiers who had hid in the houses were forced to run out of the thick smoke, and were cut beyond recognition in the blink of an eye.
Blood and water flowed across the ground, and blood mist flew across the air. It was simply more terrifying than a chaotic slaughterhouse. The originally important town with a prosperous population and developed commerce and trade suddenly seemed to have turned into a hell.
...'Click! '
It seemed that God couldn't bear to see this hell on earth. The heavy rain suddenly poured down from the sky, washing away the ferocity of the human world.
A blood-red flag with the word "Justice" written on it appeared below the city gate, followed by Zhao Jun's cavalry brigade with bright armor, marching neatly on the blood stains. The dense rain curtain and the uniform sound of iron hoofs echoed in the sky for a long time. within the city.
At the front of the team, the generals of the Zhao army loudly preached Zhao's new policy of benevolence and righteousness. Zhao Yong, who was riding a green-maned horse, looked slightly sideways... When he saw in the corner of the ruins, several women's corpses with disheveled clothes and twisted limbs looked like garbage. Where it is usually thrown.
Zhao Yong's mouth couldn't help but tremble. This is a cruel war. Cruelty, like killing, is human nature. Especially in such an extreme environment, the evil of human nature will be infinitely magnified. No matter how much benevolence, justice and morality are preached, the cruelty in war will not be the same. It can't be avoided, just like we don't want soldiers to be killed or injured.
And all he could do was to minimize this tragedy.
The mighty army passed through the messy city roads and arrived outside the Manjia Mansion Yamen. At this time, the place was guarded by Zhao Jun soldiers, and a group of Zhongshan officials were kneeling at the gate. The person at the front is holding a wooden box in his hand.
The guard stepped forward and took the wooden box, opened it and looked at the contents inside. Then he turned around and held it in front of Zhao Yong.
Zhao Yong was riding on his horse, glanced at the heads inside, and then turned to look at the group of Zhongshan officials.
At this time, the official who was kneeling on the ground holding the wooden box said tremblingly: "Sinful minister, after hearing about the benevolence and righteousness of the king, I am willing to return to the Kingdom of Zhao. But this doctor Manjia does not know the righteousness and insists on going his own way to resist the heavenly soldiers of the Zhao Kingdom. The guilty minister and others tried to persuade him in vain. The guilty minister deserves to die. If he failed to get rid of this thief immediately, he surrendered his hand to the city. The guilty minister deserves to die. I hope the king will forgive me..."
"I hope your Majesty will forgive me..." The officials behind him immediately agreed.
An imperceptible sneer appeared at the corner of Zhao Yong's mouth.
"Get up. The king of Zhongshan acted unethically and acted treacherously. I am very pleased that you can recognize the righteousness and do good deeds. In this war, our country, Zhao, is fighting for justice and to save the people of Zhongshan. What's more, This land of Zhongshan was originally my homeland of the Three Jin Dynasties...Why don't you correct your evil ways and return to the right path, and become the people of our Zhao Kingdom?"
The Zhongshan officials suddenly became happy and said, "Is there still a chance for the guilty minister to make up for his mistakes?"
Zhao Yong glanced at everyone and said: "You can continue to serve as Manjia officials, gather those civil and military officials who are willing to correct their evil ways, and restore order here. Go down to calm the people, patrol everywhere, and the mobs will take the opportunity to cause chaos, so as to avoid the consequences of the war. More sinful things.”
Everyone hurriedly bowed and said, "I would like to be the people of the State of Zhao."
Zhao Yong nodded kindly, and then walked past the crowd toward the government office surrounded by soldiers.
Just as the government office entered the lobby, Fei Yi walked in from the outside, "It's okay for the king to pardon those subordinate officials, but why should they be appointed to their original posts? These people are all people who follow the influence of others."
Zhao Yong glanced at the gray-haired general, and then waved his hand to the palace servants and guards on the side.
After all the guards had retreated, he sat on a bench at the top and slowly said, "What do you think, Master Fatty?"
Fei Yi was stunned and said in a deep voice: "If our Zhao army is in decline, these people may rebel in an instant."
"Does Master Fei think that Zhao Guoguo is in decline?" Zhao Yong continued to ask.
"But..." The veteran was in a hurry and didn't say anything.
Just listen to Zhao Yong continue: "If the Zhao people want to gain a firm foothold in Zhongshan, they cannot rely solely on the great righteousness of our Zhao country. The most important thing is the support of the people. It is true that those guys are following the trend, but if they want to stabilize as soon as possible In the situation in Zhongshan, these people are of great use. I joined them because I want to set an example for other Zhongshan officials. If there is less resistance at that time, our Zhao army will have fewer casualties. If Fei Shi is not at ease, wait until the situation Once it stabilizes, it's just a matter of deposing him."
Manjia City is the capital city of the Zhongshan Kingdom on the south bank of the Hutuo River, and its significance to the Zhongshan Kingdom is naturally of great importance. These senior officials in Manjia City can be said to be deeply entangled in the entire Zhongshan Kingdom.
Keeping them is obviously more useful than killing them.
Fei Yi was stunned. He seemed to have never thought about this.
After pondering for a moment, he bowed and said: "Old minister, I am stupid."
Zhao Yong waved his hand and said with some seriousness: "Master Fei, the rules of this era are different. The destruction of the country and the destruction of the family is just a snap of the fingers."
Fei Yi was silent and looked at King Zhao in front of him with complicated eyes.
…
Fanwu City was the last barrier of the Zhongshan Army along the Hutuo River. It was also the beginning of the Hutuo River exiting the Taihang Mountains. It was only separated by a river from Lingshou City of Zhongshan Kingdom on the north bank.
The entire city is built in a U-shape. Fanwu North City has no city walls but runs along the banks of the Hutuo River.
If the enemy attacks from north to south, Fanwu City will be almost undefendable; but at this time, as the Zhao army guarding the south, it is undoubtedly a strong city.
There used to be many trees growing vigorously on both sides of the river, but now they have been cut down and all are bare.
The defender of Fanwu City was also the supreme commander of the Zhongshan Army in this battle, Gongshu Jie.
At this time, he was standing on the city tower, looking into the distance through the dense rain lines.
In order to prevent Zhao Jun from temporarily building warships, he ordered the implementation of the plan to clear the country and cut down all the trees along the lines of Fanwu City and Donghuan City. Even the ships were transferred or burned, and a large number of naval forces were deployed in the Hutuo River. , in order to prevent Zhao Jun from crossing the river.
As cities fell one after another, Gongshujie had clearly realized the gap in strength between Zhongshan and Zhao at this time. He did not attempt to defeat Zhao's large army from the front, but only hoped to defeat Zhao's army for a long time. Drag it on until Qi, Wei and other countries intervene.
At this moment, a horse suddenly appeared on the road by the river, running straight towards Fanwu City. Gongshu Jie and the generals around him couldn't help but look sideways.
A quarter of an hour later, a sergeant came to report.
The scout had an eager look on his face, and there was still blood on his body: "General, Manjia City has been lost?"
"What?"
Before Gong Shujie could say anything, the deputy general beside him had already shouted out of control.
There was a sudden commotion above the city gate.
They couldn't believe it for a moment, because they didn't expect that Manjia City would be so vulnerable!
Manjia City was built according to the natural chasm, and there were more than 20,000 soldiers inside it. What's more, the food and baggage inside was enough to last the defenders for several years. How could it be defeated in two days? Such a city is unlucky. It may not be possible to win it in two days, let alone two years!
Gong Shujie's brain was buzzing at this time, and the corners of his mouth twitched for a long time without saying anything. All that came to his ears were the demoralizing discussions of the generals.
…
…
At the end of May, Fei Yi united the forces of the five capitals in the east and west to approach the final location of the battle: Jingxing.
More than 50,000 troops, plus tens of thousands of civilians, marched hard on several roads on the Taihang Mountain Road.
At this time, Zhao Jun's intentions could no longer be concealed.
Within ten days, the Zhongshan Army sent troops three times from Donghuan and Fanwu with the intention of recapturing Manjia City.
Zhao Yong left Pang Nuan and Li Tong in charge of Manjia, while he himself rushed to the front line to supervise the battle.
The Zhao army launched an attack on the three passes of Jingxing from two routes at the same time. They sent troops from Taiyuan County via Qiuyou and Pingpingcheng all the way to Niangzi Pass of Weze Pass. They also attacked Jingxing Yi from Jingxingkou controlled by Manjia on the east side.
The Jingxing fortress without Manjia could not be defended for long. After several days of strong attack by Zhao army, the first difficulty was successfully overcome.
However, the next two armies in the east and west will all fight in the mountains.
The march route on the western front should be better. After all, Zhao State has an absolute advantage on the western front. The passage from Qiuyou County and Pingping County to Niangziguan has always been controlled by Zhao State.
The only difficulty is the Niangziguan guarding the mountains and rivers.
However, at this time, the main force on the eastern front seemed to have been defeated.
The final battle against Zhongshan came much earlier than Zhao Jun's original plan.
Now it is the heavy rain season, and the mountain roads are muddy and difficult to travel, especially the section of the mountain road after passing Jingxing Fortress. It is like being cursed at this time. It has been raining for more than ten consecutive days and it has not been dry.
The rain was not heavy, but it was very slippery when it fell on the ground. As soon as the army passed by, it trampled the newly repaired road into mud, and every step slipped. The feeling was indescribable.
Zhao Yong tried the mountain road himself and found it very difficult, so he could not scold the soldiers for no reason.
It is impossible to ride a war horse, and it is difficult to lead a horse. Therefore, cavalry is completely useless in fighting in such areas.
This path originally had a mountain road that could pass a single carriage, but at this time it had been completely cut off by the Zhongshan Army in Jingxing County, and huge rocks blocked it for several miles.
Zhao Yong climbed to the top of a mountain. From here, he could clearly see the 'battlefield' ahead, a depression in a mountain stream. There is Zhao Jun's command post in the Taihang Mountains.
After trudging for a while, Zhao Yong saw clearly that the mountain col that stretched for several miles was already filled with Zhao army's camps. Several trenches were dug outside the military camp, and there were many drainage outlets between the trenches. Several fences were built at both ends of the mountain stream, which seemed very organized.
There are more than a dozen mud houses in the middle of the military camp. They don't look like they were temporarily built. This place was originally supposed to be a village.
When we got down the mountain road, Fei Yi and Lian Cheng had already come out in advance.
The generals saw the ceremony and walked towards the mountain pass in front of Zhao Yong. Once here, the road is much smoother, and we can finally run horses.
Through the dense mountain fog, you can vaguely see Jingxing Chengguan a few miles away to the west.
Zhao Yong shook his sleeves that were wetted by the rain and asked Fei Yi, "How long does it take for the general to take over Jingxing City?"
Fei Yi bowed and said: "Today's test, I'm afraid it won't be possible overnight. Jingxing City is guarded by the mountains, and the Zhongshan Mountain has been reinforced several times. All the roads to the city have been dug out, and our army cannot surround it from the side, and the roads are muddy and difficult." Okay, we are exhausted, and several strong attacks have been unable to form strong offensive pressure on Zhongshan."
Zhao Yong nodded and looked at the mountain without speaking.
Upon seeing this, Fei Yi continued: "The old minister has sent people to transport stones and charcoal to spread on the road and build fortifications near Jingxing City. Then we can attack one by one. Otherwise, we will be as eager for success as we were the other day. The people below the city are exhausted and it is really difficult to break through the Zhongshan Army’s defense line.”
Zhao Yong pondered for a moment and said, "Is there any other way?"
The generals were speechless for a moment, because what the king said was complete nonsense. If there was a more convenient way, wouldn't they have left long ago?
The generals were silent and made no excuses.
Zhao Yong glanced at the mountain streams on both sides and continued to ask: "Is there any news from the Western Front?"
Lian Cheng on the side quickly bowed his head and said: "Five days ago, the army had already left Pingping City, but...at this time it seems that it has not yet fought against the Zhongshan Army."
The straight-line distance from Pingping City to Jingxing County is no more than 200 miles, but the spread of news between the two places is extremely inconvenient. The Taihang line has been blocked by Zhongshan, unless it is a detour or a flying bird.
The detour is too far, the flying birds are unreliable, and road traffic is a major drawback.
"Five days ago..." Zhao Yong nodded, and did not blame anyone: "Although Jingxing Pass is difficult to attack, the Zhongshan Army inside has no support. The mountain road is difficult to travel, and the food and fodder required by the tens of thousands of troops is huge. This army The lone army must take it as soon as possible, and tell the soldiers that those who bravely kill the enemy will be rewarded without hesitation!"
"Here!" All the generals said with fists in their hands.
