It is said that in the past, the First Emperor swept across Liuhe and divided the world into thirty-six counties. The area around Lanzhou was called Longxi County.
In the second year of hunting in the Yuan Dynasty of the Han Dynasty, Huo Qubing conquered the Xiongnu in the west and opened up four counties in Hexi, namely Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan and Dunhuang.
——For the above four counties, for thousands of years, when we recite their names, we can still see the grand scene of the yellow sand and vast sea, the Han banners flying high, the soldiers' armor shining in the sun, and the cavalry's brilliant cavalry. These are the illustrious martial arts of our ancestors!
In the first year of the First Yuan Dynasty, the Han Emperor established Jincheng County. In the sixth year of the First Yuan Dynasty, it was promoted to Jincheng County.
In the third year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign in the Sui Dynasty, the county was changed into a state. Because there was Gaolan Mountain in the south of the city, it was called "Lanzhou". This is the origin of Lanzhou.
At the end of the Tang Dynasty, there was a war in the Central Plains, and the Tubo people took the opportunity to cause chaos and occupied Lanzhou. From then on, it was not owned by the Han family.
During the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty, Dangxiang rose up and defeated Tubo repeatedly. Li Yuanhao took control of Hexi, and Lanzhou was also acquired by Xixia.
More than forty years later, Emperor Shenzong forged ahead and fought hard to open the border. The Song army took advantage of the civil strife in Xixia to regain Lanzhou. From then on, the two countries faced each other across the river and attacked each other - the "flower arrangement between the eyebrows" king outside Bangyuan Cave died in the battle. Shun Chen once served as the magistrate of Lanzhou.
During the Shenzong and Zhezong dynasties, famous generals emerged in large numbers in the court, and the martial arts of the Song Dynasty was at its peak:
They conquered Xixia three times, defeated Tubo, rejected the Liao Kingdom in the north, and destroyed Qingtang in the west. The yellow-headed Uighurs bowed their heads and proclaimed themselves ministers, and the Gaochang Uighurs shook their heads in fear. They opened more than 2,000 miles of territory. Until Zhao Ji, an old official, came to the throne, he still looked up to his father and brother. Yu Wei established the Longyou Protectorate here.
A word of gossip here——
If in the original time and space, after the old official family purchased the Sixteenth State of Youyun, the theoretical land area was more than three million square kilometers, and the "martial arts" was so prosperous, it was really a strong man who surpassed his ancestors. From this point of view, it is not difficult to understand that the old man This is why the officials are happy about "the prosperity of Henan".
The book returns to its true story.
However, they said that this time Xixia and the Jin Kingdom formed a good alliance and devoted all their efforts to attack the Song Dynasty. The main force of the country went to Yongxing to fight on the army road.
At Qinfeng Road, a partial division was sent to contact the Tibetan, Uighur, and Qiang forces. They assembled a coalition of more than 670,000 Hu and Hu troops to seize Xining Prefecture, Lanzhou, Qinzhou and other places.
However, Xixia sent troops this time in a hurry, and was eager to take advantage of the fact that the Song Dynasty had no time to take care of itself, so it was inevitable that the advance would not be thorough.
Looking at the Qin Feng and Yongxing armies, in various prefectures and counties, there are many who have never conquered, and there are also defeated Song armies who have gone into the mountains to guerrilla, or formed strongholds to defend themselves.
In short, the situation in the northwest looks like Xixia is advancing rapidly and the Song Dynasty has lost countless territories. In fact, wherever the army passes, the war continues, like stars, and it has already turned into a pot of porridge.
Originally, if there was no one in the Song Dynasty, and the Xixia front line was over, and they would all be wiped out one by one, given time, there would be no worries.
But there was Lao Cao in the Song Dynasty!
Lao Cao set out from Qinzhou, selected three thousand elites, and drove day and night. In less than three days, he had already traveled more than 600 miles behind him.
A few miles away in front of him was the important border town of Lanzhou.
This state is a military state with no counties. It has only one village and four forts under its jurisdiction, which are called Gongguzhai, Dongguanbao, Aganbao, Xiguanbao and Gongxinbao.
In the past, Song Dynasty general Li Hao captured Lanzhou and became the first magistrate of the state. Because the old city in the Sui and Tang Dynasties was small and dilapidated, it was difficult to defend Xixia, so he requested an order to expand it to the north. The city wall reached the bank of the Yellow River. Because there were big rocks like turtles on the river bank, it was also called "stone". Turtle City”.
After that, the imperial court strengthened and repaired it several times. By the time the old official came to power, it had reached a large scale. The city walls along the back side of the river were all made of bricks, more than three feet high, and there were rolling waves below.
The remaining three earth-built city walls are also more than two feet high. The four forts surround each other from the west and the east, like the four legs of a turtle, echoing each other.
As for Gonggu Village, it is still located on Yunshan Mountain, sixty miles southeast of the city. This mountain is the first mountain in Longyou, with a height of 700 to 800 feet. The village is surrounded by canyons on three sides, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. Lao Cao went to Lanzhou to kill him. Passing by the village.
This stronghold was originally built with the intention that if Lanzhou was lost, the defenders could retreat here to wait for reinforcements. .
However, when Xixia really attacked, all the elites of the Western Army were transferred to the pass. The soldiers and horses left behind were immediately defeated. How could anyone be willing to defend here?
As for the soldiers and horses, they were too lazy to come here to eat the wind and drink the dew, and simply abandoned this natural danger.
Even the four tortoise-footed fortresses are now unattended, which gives Old Cao a big advantage.
To the south of Lanzhou, Gaolan Mountain is like a high wall, stretching along the Yellow River and enveloping Lanzhou. The mountain is so high that it is difficult to climb. Only the east side canyon can be used for marching, so Lao Cao went everywhere, just to the east of the city.
It was noon. Lao Cao was ten miles outside the city. He led his troops to hide behind a low mountain. He looked at the closed city gate and said with an unhappy face: "These summer dogs are really courageless. The battle lines have all been pushed to Tongguan and Luliang. They are so stubborn." The city gates are closed in broad daylight.”
He rolled his eyes around and came up with a plan. He asked Generals Shi Qian and Shi Bao to lead twenty good men, all pretending to be merchants. He also ordered Hua Rong to lead thirty or fifty people, pretending to be Song Dynasty soldiers who had been defeated in the previous round. The army plundered the merchants and chased Shi Qian and others to lure the defenders into battle.
Several brothers took the order and immediately prepared their own preparations. Shi Qian and others changed into fur coats common in the northwest, and wrapped some stones and wooden stakes in the fur coats, and carried them on the horses as cargo. Each of them hid short instruments in their bodies.
Hua Rong's troops covered their armored horses with dust and mud, as if they had been wandering in the wild for a long time, showing a sense of embarrassment and desolation.
Everyone dressed up properly, Shi Qian and others came out first, showing some signs of fear, shouting and running wildly.
Hua Rong waited for him to go far away, and also led the army out, shouting and chasing closely.
The two teams chased and escaped, and soon they arrived at the gate of Lanzhou City. Hua Rong fired arrows from time to time. Every time he shot several arrows, one person fell off his horse——
In fact, they are all empty strings, and the person who falls off the horse is also a soldier with superb riding skills making a show.
There were soldiers and horses on the city guarding the city. When they saw this situation, they rang the bell to warn and shouted on the city: "Who is it? Stop talking quickly."
Shi Qian was always familiar with local talk from all over the country, so he straightened up his tongue and started talking about the northwest talk: "Brother, I am a business guest. I met a group of hungry Song soldiers. If you are willing to save me, give me five hundred taels of silver." Reward my brother."
When the guard in the city heard this, he was moved.
Looking around, I saw that Shi Qian and his companions were riding on the horse. Packages of various sizes were so heavy and hard that the horse could not run fast. They were obviously either gold bricks or silver nuggets!
I couldn't help but be ecstatic: Yesterday, Blind Man Wang said that I was in a bloody disaster. He kicked me a few times before I was willing to tell the truth. He said that I will get rich in the near future. Could it be fulfilled here? This old man is lazy. Next time I meet him, I'll kick him harder and just ask him to tell the truth.
Looking at Hua Rong and others, they were all covered in dust and shabby clothes, and he nodded secretly: Needless to say, the Song army, which was defeated at an unknown place, had no way to advance or retreat, so they had to rob merchants and travelers to survive. He must be going crazy with hunger, otherwise how would he dare to chase him down to our city? But don't you just put the credit into my hands? After taking these heads, it might as well be sold to the Xixia people.
It turned out that the soldiers and horses stationed in the city were more than 300 Xixia soldiers, more than 1,000 Tubo soldiers, and more than 1,000 miscellaneous soldiers.
As for this person, he was a bastard with a background as a horse bandit. He had just been recruited by Xixia and had hundreds of capable fighting partners under his command.
The leader of the horse bandits was making his own calculations when he suddenly saw a few Tibetan soldiers looking around and quickly running down the city.
I was suddenly shocked: Forget it, these bitches must have gone to tell the truth. If they attracted those Tibetan wild dogs, wouldn’t they share my food?
Fortunately, most of the city gates were his, so he immediately asked people to open the door. He led two to three hundred companions down to the city, eager to make a fortune.
When they hurried out of the city gate, they saw Shi Qian and others, and were chased and surrounded by Hua Rong's men.
Shi Qian and others begged for mercy, and they all dismounted and knelt down tremblingly. The Song soldiers smiled broadly and took all the horses loaded with packages into their hands.
The leader of the horse bandit was very anxious when he saw it, and shouted: "Kill me, don't let this Song thief rob me of my money."
Hundreds of horse bandits roared out, and the Song troops fled eastward one after another. Shi Qian and others took the opportunity to get up and fled to the city gate, but were stopped by the gatekeepers.
Shi Qian cried to the sky and wiped his tears, begging hard to let himself and others enter the city, and also begged the soldiers to be merciful and recover his property for him.
But Hua Rong said that when he saw the defenders leaving the city, he was about to return to his horse and flee, but when he took a closer look, he saw that there were only more than 200 people, and he couldn't help but frown secretly.
He thought in his heart: How could such a city only have these people? It must be that the army didn't come out in time. That's all, let me kill him for a while and lure his army into the trap!
This is truly the boldness of a skilled artist! Hua Rong made up his mind, deliberately made an angry look on his face, and started to curse: "You are a bully, you are bullying others too much, the masters are looking for some food, what's wrong with you? Come and bully each other! Now I will kill you all." "
After saying this, he pulled the horse back, opened his bow and shot, with a set of arrows, and shot seven people off their horses.
Hua Rong's ability of connecting arrows is so great in the world, why is it just seven consecutive arrows?
But he was afraid that his ability would be too shocking and scare off the defenders, which would be unsightly.
The leader of the horse bandits was shocked and shouted: "Oh, he is actually a sharpshooter! Brothers, hurry up and kill him, he will be disorganized when you get close."
In the bitter cold land of the northwest, various ethnic groups live together, and the folk customs have always been tough. If a brick falls from the roof, it can kill eight swordsmen. For these people who eat with knives on horseback, the involution is extremely serious.
Therefore, few of those who can survive take their lives seriously, and they are much more vigorous than their counterparts in the Central Plains.
Seeing that Hua Rong was so good at archery, they all sped up their horses. Those with shields put up their shields to cover their faces, while those without shields hid in their stirrups and hung them on the side of the horse. Many people took out their bows and arrows and fired again, whistling in their mouths. If it continues, it will be like a pack of wolves hunting. If ordinary people heard it, they would be frightened to death.
Hua Rong was not surprised but overjoyed, laughing and said: "You are so brave, it would be fun to kill him."
He immediately galloped on his horse, swaying left and right to avoid the incoming arrows, while firing arrows continuously. After a while, he shot down more than ten people, all of whom were good shooters who dared to compete with him.
After all, there were many horse bandits, so they took the opportunity to catch up. The leader had a ferocious look on his face. He suddenly sat upright and drew his sword to chop with fierce and urgent moves.
What a good Hua Rong, he knocked the horse's belly, ducked lightly, calmly put away his bow, took off his gun from the winning hook, and fired several shots in succession, just like a dragon coming out of the sea, like a python turning over, killing the bandit leader in a daze. .
The bandit leader waved his sword wildly and shouted: "This is a good guy, brothers, fight to the death and kill him!" Just as he was waiting for the opportunity to retreat, Hua Rong twisted the gun, and there was a cold light and lightning, and the bandit leader felt a chill in his heart. The energy all over his body drained away like water, and when he was staring at Hua Rong, he had already entered the crowd.
Everyone knows Hua Rong's name as "Little Li Guang", but they ignore that gun. How many strong opponents have he fought since he was born? Have you ever lost any dignity?
Only those who are close to brothers will know that the name "Silver Gunslinger" is a wasted reputation.
Lao Cao personally led his troops to make a surprise attack and traveled more than 600 miles in two or three days. He was determined to win the city of Lanzhou.
Now the key to success or failure lies in whether he can lure out the main force in the city as he wishes. Hua Rong knows that he has a heavy responsibility on his shoulders, so how can he be willing to relax even a little bit?
Then I saw General Hua, who was always elegant and smiling, as if he was Iron Shura who had returned from Jiuyou. A spear was fired, but all over his body, there were rustling shadows of spears, like falling snow and dancing pear blossoms. Not only was he happy, When it reaches the extreme, it is also extremely beautiful. Besides being extremely fast and beautiful, it is also extremely fierce!
However, those horse bandits, Qiang Hu, were also fierce. Seeing that their leader was dead, they became even more desperate. They used sabers, spears, flying hammers, and big axes to fight with all their strength from all sides.
Seeing that he was attacking so fiercely, Hua Rong didn't give in at all, and put more force in his hands. The spear seemed to turn into dozens of spears. He blocked his attack with one shot, and then he roared, and the spear was like The cracked embankment exploded like a torrent, stabbing more than ten people from all directions and dismounting their horses. For a moment, they were surrounded by ownerless horses. The rest of the bandits were frightened and could not get close to them for a while.
Without waiting for the bandits to drive away the horses, Hua Rong placed his gun across the saddle and took the bow and arrow in his hand like lightning, but when he heard——
Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat... There was a series of violent sounds, and the eleven horse bandits all dismounted from their horses. When their companions looked at them, long arrows penetrated several inches into their foreheads or throats.
You must know that in the northwest, there are many famous archers, and it is not uncommon to be able to shoot seven or eight consecutive beads. Therefore, the bandits had seen Hua Rong's seven consecutive beads before, and they still had the courage to charge.
But this eleven consecutive beads is really shocking! Even these horse bandits have never taken their own lives seriously. At this moment, seeing his guns and arrows, they can't help but feel scared!
This is not because the horse bandits lack courage, but as creatures in this world, they have the fear of death in their bones.
Just like animals facing such top predators.
Hua Rong drew back her bow, endured the soreness in her arms, snatched away the empty-saddled horses, and tried her best to kill again. The horse bandits roared and fled in pieces.
Shi Qian and Shi Bao were almost stunned in front of the city gate——
Didn't his brother teach him to lure the enemy into defeat?
How come he feels like he can kill through this city alone?
Fortunately, at this moment, horses' hooves shook the ground, and more than a thousand troops, wearing various armors and leather robes, galloped out of the Lanzhou city gate.
Most of the Lanzhou garrison has been mobilized so far.
When Hua Rong saw it, he laughed loudly and yelled: "Hugou is nothing more than that!"
He spurred his horse and turned around and left.
The defenders, seeing his ability and the corpses all over the ground, did not dare to pursue him for a moment.
But a Xixia war general said angrily: "One man comes to run wild. If he escapes, we will all be laughed to death! Besides, how much energy can he have left in such a fierce fight? Follow me!"
The crowd of barbarians realized this, roared in unison, and chased after him like a tide.
There is a poem by later generations in which Shan praises the killing at the hands of Hua Rong—
The volley of divine arrows has become unparalleled, and there is no longer Wang Shunchen in the world.
The bow revealed Li Guangying, and the gun revealed Zhao Yunhun.
The general's bravery overwhelms the dragon and tiger, and the warrior's murderous intention frightens the ghosts and gods.
Who can be like a king who despises life and death for the sake of repaying knowledge?
(End of chapter)
