At the end of September, civilians, grain and grass, and ten thousand righteous soldiers from Liangzhou began to arrive one after another.
Zhang Zhao asked Liu to be promoted to the temporary position of governor of Qingzhou, and he was called the investigation and disposal envoy of Huiqing two states.
He was asked to deploy 1,500 Dangxiang cavalry and 3,000 mules and horses from Gyeongju. After annihilating Dangxiang in the north of Gyeongju, he went to Changze City for reinforcements.
These party members in the northern part of Gyeongju were really unlucky. They thought they would gain glory by clinging to the arms of the disaster-stricken army, but in the end they were carried away to Baekyan Pond with fine seals and gifts.
After the battle, hundreds of people died and fled back in embarrassment, and were completely wiped out by Liu Zaisheng's governor Huizhou and Gyeongju's southern party Xiang's troops.
Immediately afterwards, the frightened Weizhou, that is, more than 30,000 Han people and Dangxiang and Qiang tribes in Huan County, Shaanxi Province, also hurriedly took refuge.
Zhang Zhao ordered Li Yansi and Li Yanli to command the left and right, and sent 3,000 horse infantry troops from Hui, Qing and Wei prefectures to Changze City.
From then on, Zhang Zhao himself brought 20,000 people, not counting the civilians, and then levied another 10,000 Yi Congxiaoqi.
At this time, more than 3,000 people from Hui, Qing, and Wei prefectures came, plus more than 3,000 Dangxiang and Qiang people from various tribes who were frightened by him and came to seek refuge. The number of troops in Zhang Zhao's hands reached 37,000. People around.
In early October, Zhang Zhao, who received Cao Yanjing's report, received the envoy sent by Ding Shenqi, and then dispatched two battalions of horse infantry from Hanhai Town to follow Ding Shenqi's envoy south.
At this time, Gao Yunquan deliberately summoned the officers of Zhangwu Army and above to have a drink. When the wine was intoxicating and his ears were hot, he was captured by Hanhai Town in one fell swoop.
Subsequently, Gao Yunquan, with the support of Zhang Zhao, launched a purge in the Zhangwu Army, and later reached a reconciliation with Ding Shenqi.
Zhang Zhao took away more than a thousand elite soldiers from Ding Shenqi at the cost of thirty thousand guan per year.
Ding Shenqi was able to get rid of the double-edged sword in his hand, took 30,000 guan of cash, and the post of governor of Suizhou promised by Zhang Zhao, followed Cao Yanjing and left Yanzhou, putting aside the dignity of a town's military governor, Come and serve Zhang Zhao.
At the same time, Gao Yunquan gave Zhang Zhao 15,000 shi of grain and sold it to the Guiyi Army for 35,000 shi at a fair price, which initially solved the problem of the Guiyi Army's need for food and grass to besiege Xiazhou.
Three or four days later, Guo Tiance came back. Zhang Xichong and Pei Yuan had already recruited 3,000 Lingwu troops.
Two thousand of them will arrive soon, and the remaining one thousand, led by Zhang Xichong himself, will take over Youzhou as soon as Zhang Zhao gives the order.
However, Guo Tiance looked at Ding Shenqi who was walking out carelessly, and said with worry: "This man only has more than a thousand soldiers, and he has a domineering appearance. He is also the commander-in-chief of the imperial court, not a subordinate of the king.
I have waited for the athletes from Longyou in Hexi Province to fight for the king for many years, but few of them can get the position of governor of a state. Now that Suizhou is rashly given to Ding Shenqi, I am afraid the soldiers will be dissatisfied! "
Zhang Zhao nodded, "The soldiers have an idea. Let me go and explain it to you. Can Tian Ce know where Suizhou is next to?"
Guo Tiance thought for a while, "It should be Shizhou and Xizhou (xi (two sounds)), which are close to Hedong."
"Then you think that someone like Ding Shenqi, if he gets the land of Suizhou and has a certain pearl in front of him, will he think of dedicating Suizhou to the imperial court and win a bigger reward?" Zhang Zhao smiled sinisterly.
Guo Tiance understood immediately, "It was my rebel army who risked my life to conquer Suizhou. If the court dares to ask for it, it will be a failure to me and they are in the wrong. Then we... Hehe! Your Majesty is wise!"
Guo Tiance knew Zhang Zhao's strategy, which in layman's terms meant being both responsible and established.
The Guiyi Army regards itself as a loyal minister, and if it wants to seize the imperial territory, it must have an excuse. When Ding Shenqi's head gets hot, it just gives the Guiyi Army an excuse.
"Send someone to select and transfer a few smart people from Liangzhou's volunteer army to join Ding Shenqi. When we are free, let them encourage Ding Shenqi."
Zhang Zhao waved his hand and asked Guo Tiance to go down and do some work while he began to prepare for departure.
At this point, Zhang Zhao's men totaled 40,000 horse infantry, more than 20,000 civilians, more than 60,000 people plus tens of thousands of mules and horses, pressing along the Hongliu River in the direction of Xiazhou in a mighty manner.
. . . .
Hongliu River, this name sounds ordinary, but after arriving in Xiazhou, Hongliu River will change its name, and that is the famous Wuding River.
The poor bones by the Wuding River are like those in a spring boudoir's dream.
After only one day's sailing along the river, the 60,000 rebel troops arrived five miles outside Xiazhou City.
Thanks to me, King Zhang, there was really no cockcrow on this journey, and the surrounding tribes were all cleaned up by the cavalry of the rebel army.
After arriving at Xiazhou City, King Zhang Zhao was immediately dumbfounded. He took dozens of fine cavalry to climb the hillside outside Xiazhou City to investigate in person. After watching for a long time, Zhang Zhao put his hands on his hips and blurted out the words "Your uncle."
Xiazhou City at this time was the historically prosperous Tongwan City, which was expanded from Sheyan City in the Han Dynasty.
In the past, hundreds of thousands of people from the Yixia tribe in the north of Helian Mountains came here, and then steamed the earth to build a city. They cut it into an inch, and then killed the author and built it together.
In other words, this Tongwan City was built with Sanhe soil and glutinous rice slurry. Every time a section was built, the supervisor would test the quality with a small awl.
As long as this section of the city wall can be penetrated by a pendant even an inch, the craftsmen who built the city will be killed and the corpses will be built into the city.
Under such stringent requirements, Tongwan City was naturally extremely strong. After its completion, it was divided into two inner and outer cities, and the inner city was divided into two east and west cities.
The circumference of the east city is more than five miles, and the circumference of the west city is close to five miles. The city wall is eight or nine meters high and three meters wide. Because it is made of glutinous rice paste and three-component soil, it shows an off-white color, and it quickly becomes a white city.
In terms of city defense, there are turrets, horse faces, crenels, urns, trenches, and moats. Especially the horse faces that are more than ten meters long and several meters wide. Only a few dozen people can block a large area.
In addition, there are also insidious tiger drops on the city wall. This thing is to dig holes in the city wall. They are covered with various objects on weekdays and removed during war.
When the battle started, the attacker managed to jump onto the city wall, but because he couldn't see clearly what was happening on the wall, he would jump directly into the tiger's fall without paying attention.
The tiger drop is more than one meter high and is filled with spikes made of bamboo and wood. If it falls, at least the hands and feet will be pierced, and even the tiger will not be able to climb up, so it is called the tiger drop.
Although there were few soldiers in trouble at this time and could not hold the whole city, they could only concentrate them all in the west city of the inner city, but this only increased the difficulty of the attack.
If Li Yiyin wanted to use the tens of thousands of people in the city to defend two cities with a combined circumference of about ten miles, he would not be able to defend them even if the entire city's soldiers and civilians were exhausted.
But now it is just right to only defend the smaller West City. The Hongliu River outside the city flows around the West City, providing sufficient water sources and forming a defense. As long as enough food is stored, it will not be captured at all.
For Zhang Zhao, what is even more fatal is that with the quality of Xiazhou City, it is very likely that black powder cannot be exploded.
After reading it, Zhang Zhao's face turned green. This Helian Bobo is really fucking sick!
In this poor place, a fortified city similar to Xiangyang and Fancheng in the Southern Song Dynasty was built.
King Zhang now somewhat understands why Brother Zhao from Breaking Bad destroyed Xiazhou City. This Xiazhou City is too difficult to defeat.
At the top of Xiazhou City, Li Yiyin looked at the Guiyi Army who were constantly mobilizing outside the city and setting up camp with a sneer.
Before Zhang Zhao arrived, he had already reduced all his troops to Xiazhou City and stocked up enough food for eight months.
He also sent more than a dozen groups of messengers to the imperial court. Li Yiyin wanted to dedicate the four states of Xia, Sui, Yin, and You to the imperial court, and was willing to move all his relatives to Tokyo.
The Dingnan Army has been separatist in Yinxia and Yousui for hundreds of years. Knowing that there is such an opportunity to take back the four states, the court in Tokyo will not let it go.
He only needs to hold on for a few months. Once the imperial army arrives, Zhang Zhao cannot help but retreat.
. . . . .
"The whole army entered the east city of Xiazhou, built an earth wall opposite the west city, and blocked all the surrounding arteries.
Build a large trebuchet, dig river channels, cut off the water from Hongliu River, and divert it to Wushui ten miles away. "
In the military tent that had just been set up, all the generals were confused when they heard Zhang Zhao's order. Ma Yaozi asked cautiously.
"The Hongliu River is a big river in Xiazhou. Just diverting water to Wushui will take two or three months to complete the work.
It will be deep winter by then. The army is stationed in the wild, and there must be many sergeants suffering from frostbite.
Let's try to attack by force first. If it doesn't work, we can retreat to Changze City and Yanzhou and come back next spring. "
Bai Congxin immediately jumped out and expressed his disagreement, "If we send troops this year, the autumn harvest has been delayed. If we do it again next year, spring plowing will also be delayed. An army of tens of thousands cannot afford such trouble.
It would be even more troublesome if the imperial court sent thousands of soldiers into Xiazhou City while we were retreating. "
"But this Xiazhou City is Tongwan City built by 100,000 people from Helianbobo, the Huns. It is stronger than our Liangzhou City. Even if we attack by force, I am afraid it will not be captured in a month or two." Zhe Bu Jia Shi said worriedly.
Zhang Zhao looked at Shen Nianban in the corner who was hesitant to speak, and waved to him, "Shen Nianban, do you have any good suggestions?"
Shen Nianpan stood up slowly after hearing the words, "I have just inspected Xiazhou City with the king. This city is indeed majestic and extremely difficult to break. The Li family of the Dingnan Army has been here for hundreds of years. I want to store food in the city." Quite abundant.
But when I look around the countryside in Xiazhou, I see that there are not many trees on the mountains, and there are no traces of recent large-scale logging. I have a question? Are these military and horse residents in Xiazhou City? Don’t you need to light a fire to cook? "
Huh?
Zhang Zhao stood up immediately, and the generals in the tent fell silent.
yes! Since the four fields of Xiazhou were reclaimed relatively early, there are no forests anymore, and there are only sparse trees on the mountains in the distance.
There are tens of thousands of people in Xiazhou City. Making fires and cooking every day requires a lot of firewood, right? They still need to use firewood for heating in winter. Do they have so many reserves?
"Zhongde is indeed attentive, and he will reward you with twenty pieces of colorful silk!" Zhang Zhao was overjoyed.
"Du Lun Chixin, please go back to Liangzhou and ask the left and right officials to quickly make five thousand sets of quilts and ten thousand sets of cotton coats in Xiazhou.
Changxiang Chinese website
The armies blocked the west gate of Xiazhou West City and told the sons and daughters to capture Xiazhou City and then return home! "
As soon as the generals in the account heard that Zhang Zhao was going to release the quilts and cotton-padded clothes controlled by Shang Cao and other war preparation materials, they immediately sensed Zhang Zhao's determination.
Because these supplies do not belong to the Jiedu Yamen in Longyou, Hexi, nor to the Prince of Han's Palace, but to Zhang Zhao's personal possessions.
With these five thousand sets of quilts and ten thousand sets of cotton coats, the soldiers can survive this winter even if they squeeze in. (To be continued)
