Changze City would later become the headquarters of the Xixia Youzhou Jianing Military Division, which was the new Youzhou established by Li Yuanhao after he abolished the old Youzhou north of the Mu Us Desert.
Changze City was not big, so Li Yiyin, who had fled here, left more than a thousand men to defend the city, hoping to delay Zhang Zhao's pursuit. Zhang Zhao released two thousand Jingtieshan mine slaves.
After these mining slaves experienced what real hell was in Jingtie Mountain, they cherished the days when they were not working in the mines.
Losing one's life can only happen in a moment, but going to the mines can be an eternal torture.
Therefore, these mining slaves risked their lives to attack the city. Two thousand united archers in light armor followed, followed by the heavy infantry of each town to supervise the battle.
Under heavy supervision, Changze City was captured in less than two quarters of an hour, and hundreds of soldiers from the Pingxia tribe and fire chiefs and above among more than a thousand Dingnan troops were all executed.
Zhang Zhao stationed troops in Changze City and sent out cavalry to plunder various places. All tribes that were unwilling to submit to Changze City in person were wiped out.
At this time, the people living on the territory of the Dingnan Army were basically the Dangxiang tribe who migrated eastward from the Shanzhou area in the past. Even the Qiang in Hengshan actually migrated slowly after that.
Compared with the Central Plains region, order here relies more on force.
Although there were soldiers in the Central Plains during the Five Dynasties, there was still some order.
But in Dingnan Army Yinxia Yousui, people's logic of defining strength and weakness is more direct.
If it were in the Central Plains, Zhang Zhao would show great righteousness at this time, restrain the soldiers, spread benevolence and righteousness widely, so that heroes from all over the world would come to surrender, and the common people would feel at ease, and would not cause the turmoil of the whole family to flee, and this place would be settled and belong to you.
But if Zhang Zhao does this in Yinxia Yousui, uh... these Dangxiang and Qiang people will definitely think that this is a fool.
They will take this kind of tolerant approach as a matter of course, thinking that you are asking for something from them, just like the Later Tang Dynasty court that came to attack Xiazhou five years ago and was regarded as an outsider destined to be wasted.
An Congjin and Yao Yanchou did not understand this truth at the beginning. As a result, Li Yichao called Dangxiang and Qiang cavalry to cut off their retreat. Without food and grass, they had to retreat to Yanzhou in embarrassment.
But Zhang Zhao is not them. The Guiyi Army has been trapped in Tubo for hundreds of years. It can be said that among the current Han people, he knows best how to deal with Dangxiang, Qiang, Uighur and other tribes.
If you want to show kindness, you have to ask them to kneel down and ask for it, and then you give it to them.
At first, if you rush to try to win over you, people will think you are a fool who doesn't understand the market.
Therefore, Zhang Zhao did not spread benevolence and righteousness as much as he did when he entered Guanzhong. He also collected the corpses of refugees and left medicine and food.
Instead, all the light and heavy cavalry were released directly, and a carpet-like encirclement and suppression was carried out along the line from Changze City to Xiazhou, from Hongliu River to Mu Us Sandy Land and then to Helan Mountain.
If the tribe is willing to surrender, then let the chief himself or his son bring the knights from the tribe to Changze City to wait for their service.
For those who refused to surrender, all the adult men were put to death, the women and children were escorted to Yanzhou, the cattle, sheep, horses and mules were plundered, and the crops in the fields that could be taken away were taken away, and those that could not be taken away were all burned.
This effect was remarkable. Within a few days, the tribes in Qingyanchi, Wuyan City, Helan Mountain and other places could not sit still. They came to Changze City to kneel down and asked King Zhang to show mercy.
At this time, Zhang Zhao reluctantly accepted their loyalty, gave them brocade silk, sugar and tea to appease them, and then asked the brave knights from the tribe to come to the tent to listen to them. These tribes obediently became Zhang Zhao's subordinates.
The Dangxiang people, who were deeply involved with the Dingnan Army and still missed the kindness of brothers Tuoba Sizhong and Tuoba Sigong, chose to lead their troops north to Xiazhou to unite around Li Yiyin.
At this point, Li Yiyin did not need to build a wall and clear the country. Zhang Zhao helped him build a wall and clear the country. From Changze City to Xiazhou City, there was almost no one on the road for dozens of miles.
Moreover, Li Yiyin quickly understood that strengthening the walls and clearing the country would not work for Zhang Zhao.
The Tang court's crusade against them five years ago was successful because it relied on strengthening the walls and clearing the country.
That's because Yao Yanchou's 50,000-strong army only had 3,000 cavalry, and the entire army only had more than 5,000 mules and horses.
All the grain, grass and weapons had to go northward from Ningzhou upstream of Ma Lianshui and Yanzhou upstream of Luohe River, which was extremely costly.
One stone of rice was transported from Guanzhong to the Xiazhou front line. Not counting the risk of being attacked, it was only one or two buckets. The Later Tang court could not afford this loss and had no choice but to retreat.
But when Zhang Zhao came from Lanzhou, the nearest Huizhou to Yanzhou was only 600 miles away. He could still walk more than 300 miles by water to Feng'an County, which was later known as Zhongning County in Ningxia. The remaining 300 miles were also flat.
All the heavy infantry in Zhang Zhao's army are mounted infantry, with 50,000 to 60,000 mules and horses, and more than 500 camels.
Not only can it prevent the Dingnan Army from attacking and disturbing the logistics supplies, but it can also greatly facilitate transportation. It is completely overthinking to rely on strong walls and clear fields to deal with the Guiyi Army.
Therefore, Zhang Zhao did not need to rush to Xiazhou City in a hurry. He waited here for his 15,000 civilians, 10,000 righteous cavalry, and 30,000 shi of grain to arrive, and then surrounded Xiazhou Manchu with 70,000 horses. Play slowly.
If before this, Li Yiyin abandoned Xiazhou City on his own because he could not bear the pressure, that would be the best outcome.
During the waiting period, Zhang Zhao was not idle. There were still three areas that needed to be settled before he could capture the Difficult Army.
The first is the Yanzhou Zhangwu Army Jiedushi and the Yanzhou Baoda Army Jiedushi who are close to Xiazhou. The rest are Hedong Jiedushi, and Liu Zhiyuan is left behind in Beijing.
Because if the Later Jin Dynasty wanted to intervene, its troops must be drawn from these three places.
Among them, Yanzhou Zhangwu Army and Yanzhou Baoda Army were the closest and fastest to the south of Xiazhou, but their strength was relatively weaker.
Taiyuan and Xiazhou, where the Hedong Jiedu Envoy was located, were only over 300 miles apart, and they were both powerful vassals of the imperial court.
If Shi Jingtang is determined not to let Zhang Zhao swallow up the trouble-making army, he will definitely let Liu Zhiyuan send troops, so he must solve these three aspects of the problem first.
. . . . .
Yanzhou, also known as Yan'an, the revolutionary holy land of the Republic, the ecological environment of northern Shaanxi at this time was completely different from that of later generations.
In later generations, northern Shaanxi was often a yellow land, full of sand blown by the wind, and was poor and barren.
But at this time, the environment in the northern Shaanxi area where Yanzhou, Yanzhou, Xiazhou, etc. were located was actually very good, with lush green trees and convenient irrigation.
There are many roads in the valley, and the hillsides are covered with cattle and sheep. It cannot be called a land of fish and rice, but it can be said to be relatively prosperous, and at least the output is good.
The Zhangwu Army in Yanzhou was formerly the Baosai Army of the Weibei Jiedu Envoy during the Tang Dynasty.
Later, the Weibei Jiedushi was split at the end of the Tang Dynasty, and gradually formed the current Yanzhou Zhangwu Army Jiedushi and Yanzhou Baoda Army Jiedushi.
The situation in Yanzhou at this time was very delicate. First of all, Yang Hanzhang, the military governor, responded to the call of the last emperor Li Congke and prepared to send troops to help the king.
However, as soon as the team left Yanzhou City, the local tycoon Liu Jingyan, the governor of Fangzhou, took the opportunity to stir up trouble among the soldiers and killed Yang Hanzhang to stand on his own.
Liu Jingyan originally thought that he wanted to kill Yang Hanzhang, the king of Qin, who had done meritorious service to Shi Jingtang. He was the military governor of Yanzhou Zhangwu Army.
As a result, Shi Jingtang transferred Kang Chengxun, a Sogdian general from the three northern tribes, to be the military envoy.
Liu Jingyan was naturally unwilling to give in, so he once again provoked the soldiers of the Zhangwu Army to cause trouble. Kang Chengxun could not suppress it and fled to Yanzhou.
Shi Jingtang had no choice but to let Liu Jingyan serve as the military governor of Yanzhou Zhangwu Army.
But the matter was not over yet. Liu Jingyan got the coveted Jiedushi, and immediately sent his confidant Xiong Gao to the court to express his gratitude.
Who knew that this Xiong Gao turned out to be a loyal minister who never forgot the emperor and cared about the country. This man was not only good at poetry, but also very knowledgeable.
After he met Shi Jingtang, he immediately told Shi Jingtang the truth about Yanzhou. Only then did Shi Jingtang know that the two mutinies in Yanzhou were all caused by Liu Jingyan.
Xiong Gao thought that after Shi Jingtang found out, the imperial court would definitely send troops to attack Liu Jingyan. However, Shi Jingtang, a scumbag, just wanted to be safe and secure on the emperor's throne, and did not want to attack Liu Jingyan.
Now Xiong Gao was in trouble. In order not to be harmed by Liu Jingyan, this man named Jiuhuashan had no choice but to run away anonymously.
This actually has something to do with Zhang Zhao. At that time, Zhang Zhao had just defeated Li Congsuo. Shi Jingtang was afraid that Zhang Zhaolai would not leave Guanzhong, so he quickly appointed Liu Jingyan as the military governor of Xingning.
He also promised that as long as Liu Jingyan obeyed the arrangement, he would forget the blame. Liu Jingyan was afraid of the imperial court's crusade, so he agreed with the help of Po Xia Donkey.
However, although Liu Jingyan obeyed the order and left, he still felt uncomfortable, so before leaving, he deliberately married his granddaughter to Gao Yunquan of the Gao family, the largest local wealthy family.
This Gao family has been a military general for generations. The family has been the Yajiang of Yanzhou since the late Tang Dynasty.
Gao Yunquan's uncle, Gao Wanxing, served as an official in the Later Liang and Later Tang dynasties, up to the Grand Master of the School, Zhongshu Ling, and concurrently served as the governor of Yanzhou Zhangwu Army and Yanzhou Baoda Army. He was granted the title of King of Beiping and was one of the local tycoons.
It's just that after Gao Wanxing's death, his descendants were not able to do enough, and it declined temporarily.
When Liu Jingyan married them, one was powerful and the other had soldiers, making Yanzhou's operations airtight.
At this time, Ding Shenqi, the newly appointed envoy of the Yanzhou Zhangwu Army, arrived, and he felt numb at the first sight.
Good guy, the Zhangwu Army only recognized Liu Jingyan and the Yamen officials, and the rural tycoons only recognized the Gao family. All their military and political interests were wiped out by them.
However, it can be considered that the people of Yanzhou are unlucky. If they meet an ordinary Jiedu envoy, they will accept their fate and wait for a few years to be transferred away.
However, Ding Shenqi himself is not a good person. He is known for being cruel and arrogant. How can he endure this?
The Zhangwu Army didn't care about him, right? Ding Shenqi took a sudden turn and spent his own money to recruit more than a thousand old troops and desperadoes, all wearing armor, and went straight to work.
Jiedu envoys brought their private soldiers and mingled with the imperial soldiers under their command, which was also a characteristic of this time.
When Cao Yanjing arrived at Yanzhou with dozens of soldiers, he was stunned by the scene in front of him.
Ding Shenqi's private soldiers occupied the west city, and the Zhangwu army's tooth soldiers occupied the east city. Between the two cities, a trench with a depth of more than two meters was dug through the entire city, and there were wooden walls built around the trench.
Yanzhou only opened a small gate on the east and west sides on weekdays, and most of the residents in the city fled. The two sides used strong bows and crossbows to shoot at each other on the wooden walls, a small dozen on three days, and a large dozen on five days.
Outside Yanzhou City, there are rural groups in all fields, and the groups train to protect themselves, because the two sides facing each other in the city also have supporters, and they will often go out of the city to fight against the other party's supporters in Caogu.
Cao Yanjing's eyes bulged out. This was a real magic! It is not unusual for the Zhangwu Army and Ding Jieshuai not to deal with each other, but it is the only one in the world to fight each other directly in Yanzhou City.
