Liu Yan looked around the hall, trying to find suitable candidates to quell the chaos. Although the bandits in the lower reaches of the Yellow River were just a mob, it was particularly important to send a reliable candidate at the moment, because if the person sent lost, not only would the spirit of the army be frustrated, , the whole country may be affected, especially the army of the Western Expedition, so it is necessary to choose a general who is accustomed to fighting to pacify it in one fell swoop, just to promote the power of the Celestial Empire to the whole country. I think Xun Mou is now a reassurance within the court, and it is definitely not possible An Shiqing, the eldest son of Pingyuan Bo Anyuanshan, was the most suitable person to send. So he raised his eyes and looked at An Shiqing from the Wu Ban and said: "I will order General An to be the 'Pingkou General' and send troops immediately tomorrow." In encirclement and suppression, we must win it in one fell swoop.”
An Shiqing received the order to thank him and accepted it happily.
Liu Yan then continued to ask: "General Xun, how is Liu Xun's investigation going now?"
Xun Mou said: "Catch them all in one sweep. All one hundred and six of Liu Xun's accomplices were confiscated and imprisoned."
"Very good. You have the greatest credit for this matter. You can collect the brocade and golden beans that I reward you by yourself. Your credit has been agreed upon by me, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel. You will be appointed as the 'Generalissimo of the World's Soldiers and Horses' to take over." Your master, Marshal Zhou, will grant you, General Xun, the title of 'Unparalleled National Scholar' and a first-class salary."
After Xun Mou heard this, he was very happy and immediately kowtowed three times and bowed nine times. The other officials also shouted "Long Live the Wise One".
When the court dispersed in the morning, Liu Yan felt uncertain and asked Xun Mou to stay in the palace. Liu Yanping went to the left and right, walked down Danqi in a few steps, came to Xunmou, and asked if there was anything wrong with Gao Jun leading the Western Expedition this time.
Xun Mou thought for a moment and returned: "Gao Yun is a well-known person whom the late emperor relied on. Yi Weichen only saw that there should be no problem. I am just afraid that he will be merciful and soft-hearted when meeting an old friend on the battlefield."
"Are you saying that Gao Jun will be passive and lazy in fighting? No wonder he hasn't attacked the city for more than half a month."
"I am also planning to discuss this matter with you. Gao Yun has an army of 100,000 people. With his ability, it is not impossible to capture Shanzhou. If the matter in Shanzhou is delayed again and again, it will only be detrimental to us."
"What should we do?"
Xun Mou said: "Send a trustworthy and capable supervisor to supervise Gao Yun. First, he can monitor Gao Yun to prevent him from defecting. Second, he can urge Gao Yun to quell Liu Xingyuan and other rebels as soon as possible."
Liu Yan nodded in agreement, "Then I will immediately order Xiao Renyi to go and supervise the army for the Western Expedition."
The towering Lanzhou city wall is impregnable. It seems more difficult to attack the city forcefully than in previous years. Looking at Lanzhou City in the distance, Gao Jun seemed to be a little out of his depth. A strong attack would inevitably lead to loss of troops. He originally wanted to besiege Lanzhou and wait until the city ran out of ammunition and food before launching an attack. However, he did not expect that when Xiao Renyi came to supervise the army this time, he sent a The bad news is that the treasury is now empty, and Lanzhou must be captured as soon as possible. If Lanzhou is not captured, we may face a shortage of food and grass. Gao Yun looked back at the warriors behind him, feeling a hint of worry in his heart.
Zheng Huai, with his horse in front, held a silver spear in his hand, and vowed to Gao Jun to fight: "Marshal, I would like to ask for orders to attack the city."
Gao Yun frowned and hesitated for a moment. Xiao Renyi, who was beside Gao Jun, spoke up, "Marshal Gao, this time the emperor has requested that Lanzhou be captured within a time limit. If not, neither you nor I can afford to suffer the consequences."
Gao Jun ignored Xiao Renyi. He knew that the reason why the emperor sent his confidant Xiao Renyi to supervise the army was to restrain him. It seemed that he had to attack the city now. Gao Jun had no choice but to order Zheng Huaide to lead 5,000 men to attack the city first.
The trumpet sounded and arrows were like locusts. Under the cover of the rain of arrows, the siege team launched the first wave of attack. Gao Jun did not expect that the troops led by Zheng Huaide would be so brave. They rushed straight into the city and had already reached the city in less than a cup of tea. The "dong-dong" sound of war drums beating, the "rumble" sound of battering rams hitting the city gates; the "swishing" sound of arrows flying overhead; the shouts and screams of soldiers one after another, along with the billowing smoke, The entire city of Lanzhou seemed like purgatory.
The rebels at the top of Lanzhou City saw that the enemy troops had reached the base of the city wall, so they fired arrows of fire down the city in an orderly manner. In an instant, a flame formed a barrier under the city wall. When the soldiers in front saw this, they immediately stopped and did not dare to go forward. However, the soldiers behind unexpectedly rushed forward. Most of the soldiers in front were pushed into the sea of fire by the people behind, and they could only hear the sound everywhere. Screams came one after another, and more and more Han troops were dressed in fire, running around and shouting. Upon seeing this, the Han troops behind did not dare to rush forward, but they also did not dare to retreat. Zheng Huaide was a little angry and wanted to lose morale in the first battle. Wouldn't it make the three armies laugh? So he immediately ordered the siege to continue, and anyone who violated it would be beheaded. Under the leadership of Zheng Huaide, the Han army once again boosted their morale and attacked the city.
Gao Jun and the soldiers behind him looked anxious. Seeing that Zheng Huaide's offensive was gradually being extinguished, and now it seemed that a second wave of offensive was necessary, they immediately ordered Lieutenant General Guan Le to lead 5,000 people for support.
Sure enough, the second wave of offensive made the defenders on the city a little tired. Zheng Huaide saw that the city gate had not been opened for a long time. Every time his men climbed halfway up the ladder, they were killed by rolling logs and stones, so he abandoned them. He opened his arms, took off his cloak and threw it away, pulled out the sword from his waist, jumped off the horse, and rushed towards the ladder. The wind musician was not far from Zheng Huaide. When he saw this, he shouted, "General Zheng, don't be reckless!"
Zheng Huaide scolded his mother, "How can I capture Lanzhou if I don't take the lead in attacking the city? Just watch me climb the city."
The wind musician did not dare to chase after him easily. He could only curse in his heart and warned, "Don't worry..." Before the wind musician could finish his sentence, he was hit by an arrow in the right eye and fell off the horse. His men hurriedly dragged him Vice General Guan escorted him back to the Chinese military tent.
Zheng Huaide dodged left and right, and finally ran to the base of the city wall, and then climbed up the ladder. At this time, the Han army saw that their generals were so desperate to move forward, and they all moved forward bravely like tigers emerging from the cage.
Although the Han army's offensive became more and more fierce, the defenders' defense was not weak at all. Just when Zheng Huaide was about to climb up the city tower, he found a black-faced man on the battlements. That man was Chen Tuizhi, the chief defender of the city. When Chen Tuizhi was poking at him with the spear in his hand, Zheng Huaide hurriedly blocked it with his knife. He felt that he couldn't dodge as he dodged left and right, so he freed his right hand and grabbed the spear with all his strength. When Chen Tuizhi saw this, he laughed loudly, shouted, and threw Zheng Huaide to the side. Zheng Huaide tried hard to stabilize himself, but he didn't expect that the other party was so strong that he threw Zheng Huaide from the ladder and fell to the bottom of the city. He was miserable. .
Zheng Huaide died, and his subordinates were all angry with the enemy, so the offensive became more fierce. It was nearly noon, and the siege had lasted for more than an hour. By now, there were mountains of corpses and rivers of blood under the city. Gao Jun saw that the soldiers had launched four waves of attacks one after another and killed two generals, but they were still unable to attack the city and the city gates were difficult to breach, so he decided to retreat. Xiao Renyi saw Gao Jun's thoughts, and then stepped forward to encourage him: "Marshal Gao, you see our offensive is fierce now. We should launch a general attack immediately, and we will definitely attack Lanzhou City."
