Outside Xiazhou City, fifty bundles of firewood were piled neatly outside the door.
Even if it is covered with a thin layer of white snow, for the people of Xiazhou City, it still cannot cover up the alluring light.
It's New Year's Eve, and it should be a time for families to get together with lights on.
Outside the west city and in the east city of Xiazhou were very lively. The Guiyi Army who had besieged Xiazhou for more than three months were feasting and drinking to celebrate New Year's Day.
As for the Li family of Pingxiabu in the west city of Xiazhou, not to mention the bright lights, most people can't even get a bite of hot food.
A handful of raw millet that tastes like sand is a meal for many people.
If you can have a multi-grain pancake or a bowl of multi-grain rice, even if it's cold and almost goes rancid, it's still a delicacy that many people crave for.
The fun of the Guiyi Army lasted until late at night. They even used a trebuchet to throw some biscuits into the West City.
Whenever a bag of Hu cakes falls, the soldiers and civilians of the Pingxia tribe in Xicheng will fight each other like mad dogs. Sometimes, several people will be killed or injured for a piece of cake as big as a palm.
At the second watch of the day, the moonlight tonight is still bright. In the west city of Xiazhou, a dozen sneaky figures descended from the west city. Their target was the firewood deliberately piled there by the Guiyi Army.
Everyone knew that the Guiyi Army outside the city did this on purpose, but the temptation of cooked food was too great.
Everyone was lucky that it was already the second watch, just in case the soldiers who returned to the rebel army couldn't bear it and fell asleep.
Tuoba Chongmin was the leader of this group of people. He was originally the son of the leader of a small tribe of the Tuoba clan. He was not considered rich or powerful on weekdays, but he went to the White Salt Pond to cook some salt with his brother and lived a very happy life.
But since the Guiyi Army came over, everything has changed. His brother died in the battle, dozens of members of his clan died in the battle, the White Salt Pond was gone, and he was even besieged in Xiazhou City.
He hasn't had a bite of cooked food for half a month, and he dreams of having a hot bite.
More than a dozen people, wrapped in white cotton cloth, were crawling on the snow-white ground. Under the pale moonlight, if you didn't distinguish them carefully, you couldn't really see clearly.
Tuoba Chongmin thought so too. He felt that he had a high chance of getting the firewood that was originally worth less than two cents but was now extremely precious.
It's a pity that all this is just their self-comfort. According to the military discipline of the Guiyi Army, if there is any negligence on duty at night, especially on guarding the firewood, there will be no negligence.
For the first time, he will be deprived of his position and land, cancel his military salary, recover his previous rewards, and notify his hometown.
According to the custom left by Tubo, a fox tail is hung on the lintel of the home.
This is a package of demotion, salary reduction, and social death. Therefore, many people would rather suffer the punishment of beheading on the spot for the second time than have a fox tail hung on the lintel of their home.
This is tantamount to telling everyone that you are not a man, and there is no man in your family. If you hang on to this, brothers will not be able to marry their mother-in-law, and sisters will not be able to marry to a good family.
Therefore, Tuoba Chongmin and a dozen people had just climbed to the firewood, and when they were excited to move these precious firewood back, the sound of bowstrings vibrated.
Several people were nailed to the ground before they could get up. A few who were frightened got up and ran, but were shot without any accident.
The normally ferocious black sheep tried to resist, but its head was chopped off as soon as it came into contact with him.
The soldiers of the Guiyi Army were wearing thick cotton coats and holding sharp horizontal knives. They were no match for black sheep with bare hands.
"If you fall in love with your mother, you can't surrender so easily. This will make Yeye unable to go home for the whole day. I have to guard you bunch of eggless people in the ice and snow."
Tuoba Chongde watched a Guiyi Army soldier holding a horizontal sword getting closer and closer, and couldn't help crying.
You ask him if he hates returning to the Yijun? That must be hate, he wanted to bite Zhang Zhao to death.
But this hatred was no match for his desire to live a normal life again.
He imagined that he was like before, with his wife and children on the hot bed, and that was enough. If he had to choose between revenge and life, it would be life.
This is actually the choice of most ordinary people. There are only a few people who are truly unswerving and determined to take revenge. Precisely because they are few, every one who appears will be recorded and sung.
To Tuoba Chongmin's expectation, there was no cold knife stabbed into his body, nor was his head smashed by a bone. Instead, a steamed cake with a hint of heat was handed to his mouth. .
With a sound of "Ouch", Tuoba Chongmin let out a low cry like a beast protecting its food. Almost instinctively, Tuoba Chongmin grabbed the steamed cake and started to bite it in big bites.
However, after taking a few big bites, his movements slowed down. Only those who have experienced months without firewood know how precious cooked food is.
Tuoba Chongmin's swallowing turned into savoring in small sips.
Wang Tongtong smiled. Anyone who can eat a steamed pancake with tears streaming down his face is their best candidate.
The surrounding Guiyi soldiers were very patient. After killing all the party members who were yelling and resisting desperately, they even had the time to watch Tuoba Chongmin finish the last bit of steamed cake.
"Do you know what you guys want from you?"
Wang Tongtong squatted down, picked up the jade pendant around Tuoba Chongmin's waist with interest and asked.
This jade pendant, which is not of very good quality, proves that Tuoba Chongmin was once a small official.
"I can't offer the city by myself!" Tuoba Chongmin naturally knew what the officer in front of him wanted from him, but he didn't care. He just offered it, and he wouldn't lose anything.
"You don't need to know anything else. There is a warrior who wants to follow you back to the city. Do you dare to take him in? After that, I will ensure that your whole family is safe and go to Liangzhou to live a good life."
Tuoba Chongmin nodded numbly, and then handed over another steamed cake. A little life finally returned to his eyes.
After eating half, he wrapped the remaining half in linen and prepared to take it back to his son Zhou Geer.
Brother Zhou was still young and couldn't eat raw food. He was already dying of hunger.
Next to Tuoba Chongmin, a Dangxiang soldier who had returned to the rebel army was changing into the clothes of a Xiazhou native who had just been killed.
This method of using firewood to lure people out of Xiazhou City has been used for almost a month.
A month ago, the officers of the Dingnan Army were still in charge, but now they can no longer control it.
At first there were officers who organized soldiers to come down to rob them, but after hundreds of people died, no one came to rob them so directly.
Similarly, using this method to send people into the city, the Guiyi Army has sent nearly thirty people in, and there are also hundreds of people like Tuoba Chongmin who have been put back.
The warrior who entered today was a general from Hanshandu. He was going to lead the people in the city.
.
.
Zhang Zhao was reading the battle report written by Murong Nobunaga. Seeing the excitement, King Zhang took a big sip of the salty butter tea.
Murong Nobunaga and his four thousand men blocked the three thousand Pishi army by the Hun River. They almost ate half of the Pishi army at the cost of less than three hundred men.
Moreover, more than half of the three hundred people lost were members of the Zhe family. The two thousand people who returned to the rebel army were far stronger and had better armor than the Zhe family, so the casualties were much lower.
To be honest, Zhang Zhao did not expect that Murong Nobunaga and the others could achieve such results. This also proved that the Khitans were not as powerful as Zhang Zhao imagined.
The core difference between Zhang Zhao and Yelu Deguang is that Yelu Deguang has 30,000 Pishi troops, plus another 10,000 or 20,000 elite troops.
The elites Zhang Zhao could compare with were only more than 5,000 and less than 6,000.
Therefore, Zhang Zhao felt that as long as he entered the Central Plains, he would be able to compete with the Khitans in three or two years.
Moreover, Zhang Zhao had a vague feeling that Yelu Deguang was probably not as good as the wise Empress Dowager Xiao Chuo of Chengtian in military matters.
This Yelu Deguang is strong in patching up the foundation created by his father Yelu Abaoji. He is strong in establishing various systems for Khitan society, learning from the advanced institutional culture of the Han people, and laying a material foundation for the Khitan Kingdom. In terms of military affairs, he is also strong Not very good at fighting.
Of course, it is also possible that the Khitan during the Yelu Deguang period had just annexed the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun and had not yet fully exerted its full national power, while the Khitan during the Xiao Chuo period was already at its strongest.
But no matter what, this is an opportunity for Zhang Zhao.
He considers himself to be twice as talented as Brother Zhao, the founder of the Yanzhao Clan, Breaking Bad, the leader of the Ax Gang, and the God of Cars in the Gaoliang River.
Of course, Zhang Zhao is definitely not as good at drag racing, but in terms of military ability, Brother Zhao should not be able to see King Zhang's taillights.
If I use a weakened version of Tang Taizong to fight against the Liao Kingdom, which is not yet complete, I should still have a high probability of victory.
While he was thinking, Guo Tiance came in. He was holding a letter in his hand, which was written by Pei Yuan in Lingzhou to Zhang Zhao.
Now that Lingwu Jiedushi Zhang Xichong is seriously ill, Pei Yuan is basically taking care of all the affairs of Lingwu Jiedushi.
However, even though the government affairs were so heavy, Pei Yuan still found time to write this long note to Zhang Zhao.
Just like his confrontation with Zhang Zhao in Dunhuang that day, Pei Yuan reminded Zhang Zhao in his statement that he must have a clear understanding of his own strength.
He believed that Zhang Zhao's annexation of the four states of Yin, Xia, Yousui and Dingnan was already the limit.
With Zhang Zhao's core army of twenty or thirty generals, the civilian officials relied entirely on the old Guiyi army to support the situation.
Although there are twenty-eight states and three million residents, they are not able to command and control them.
Just by posting people to garrison Zhang Zhao's territory of twenty-eight states, it would drain the talents around Zhang Zhao.
Therefore, the top priority is not to occupy the territory, but to open up a wide range of opinions, select materials regardless of origin, vigorously promote talented people, and pay special attention to the introduction of talents from the Central Plains. For this reason, Pei Yuan suggested that a simplified version of the imperial examination could be established.
Secondly, Pei Yuan believed that Zhang Zhao should not compete with the Khitan for Yunzhou, because this would draw the Khitan's attention to the west.
By the time Shi Jingtang set fire to the Central Plains and cut off the trade routes to Hexi, the Khitans began to compete repeatedly with the Guiyi Army for the Lingzhou, Fuzhou, and Xiazhou areas.
They don't need to break through Liangzhou at all, they just need to pull repeatedly so that production in Longyou, Hexi, cannot be restored and developed.
Once this happens, Hexi Longyou will fight every year, coupled with the decline in the quality of life, there will be resentment among the people.
Regardless of whether it is the Khitan or the imperial court, all it takes is division and bribery to at least make Zhang Zhao tired of dealing with it, and even shrink the front line to protect himself. This is how the first-generation Guiyi Army was exhausted.
Finally, Pei Yuan suggested that Zhang Zhao must join forces with Khotan to deal with the Gaochang Uighurs as soon as possible.
First of all, the Gaochang Uighurs are the great enemies of the two generations of Guiyi Army and the descendants of Anxi Tanger. Killing the Gaochang Uighurs can greatly unite people's hearts.
Secondly, killing the Gaochang Uighurs will allow the Khitans to lose a foothold in the west.
With the Gaochang Uighurs here, the Khitan only needed to deploy 5,000 iron cavalry and 20,000 to 30,000 rangers to help. In addition, the Gaochang Uighurs provided guides and military supplies, so that Zhang Zhao could not completely solve the security problem in the west.
At present, the Khitans have not yet realized the value of the Gaochang Uighurs in the flanking attack on Zhang Zhao. They must send out large numbers of troops to deal with them as soon as possible. When the Khitans react, it will be difficult to deal with them.
After reading this, Zhang Zhao let out a long sigh. Many of the ideas coincided with his. Not to mention, the exhaustion strategy against Longyou in Hexi Province was very fatal.
If a smart person were to give Zhang Zhaolai a combination of punches like this, he wouldn't be able to withstand it.
After sighing, Zhang Zhao sighed sincerely to Guo Tiance beside him.
"If Pei Yuying hadn't been my right-hand man, I would have asked Dunzhu to lead people over and sink him into the Yellow River right now."
