Qingwu City is a state-controlled city. It is strong and dangerous, and has abundant food and grass. It can still piece together nearly 100,000 defenders.
According to the paper strength of the defenders, this is a fortified city that is difficult to break, but the way of using troops is to attack the heart first and attack the city second.
The puppet Marquis of Liang, Zhao Xun, already had this city in his hands, and this was the only city in Liangzhou that had not yet been returned to Xia.
After confirming Li Dingguo's progress in Nanfu County, Zhou Bai was not in a hurry. In addition to ordering the filling of the moat and knocking down the arrow towers, Zhou Bai maintained the siege but did not attack.
The main focus every day is to attack people's hearts, and the direct method is to make propaganda, promote Daxia's policies and inform all parties.
Liang Jun's top brass couldn't stop it even if they wanted to. When the morale of the army could not support the harassment, the shouts of the loud warriors with the blessing of true energy could be heard all over the city walls.
You said that Xia Jun was a liar, but Zhou Bai didn't stop outside messengers from entering the city at all. Zhao Xun could hide it from some civilians, but he couldn't hide it from the big families and generals in the city.
The old Marquis of Liang was granted the title of Anlehou and could live out his old age in peace. Many of the Xia troops outside the city were former elite Liang soldiers. The people of Liang who suffered from famine received real relief...
If these were just enough to shake the minds of Sergeant Liang, the subsequent news that Changyan County had been defeated and Nanfu County had fallen completely shattered the defenders' psychological defenses.
There are no reinforcements from outside, and the retreat is cut off. If you continue to hold on and cause casualties to the Xia army, isn't it asking for death?
For several days, Xuanyi Wei Anzi and the Xu family's long-term plan were all activated, causing true and false rumors to fly all over Qingwu City and deflecting people's hearts.
After Zhao Xun regained consciousness, he carried out a bloody suppression and temporarily controlled the situation. However, without laws and divine supervision, the undercurrent was still raging and could not be suppressed at all.
He is not the old Liang Hou Zhao Qi. There are too few die-hard people who can be relied on and trusted. Maybe most of the supervising teams sent out now will rebel.
At the end of November in the seventh year of Tongzhi, Zhou Bai personally supervised the execution of "big figures" such as the lord of Changyan and the governor of Nanfu in front of Zhao Xun and the soldiers and civilians of Qingwu City.
In the black smoke of burning hundreds of captured military flags, Xinliang's last glimmer of hope was cut off alive.
That night, multiple rebellions broke out in Qingwu City. Several "loyal" guards instigated the uprising, and then powerful families responded, and everything was on fire for a while.
Even though Zhao Xun had expected it and was ready to suppress it in time, the Xia army outside the city launched a full-scale offensive at the right time, and everything brought the defensive situation to the end of collapse.
In the Lianghou Palace, which is composed of government offices and mansions, the lights are brightly lit, and hundreds of guards wearing armor and holding knives silently guard Zhao Xun.
He huddled on the Dragon King's chair in the hall, closing his eyes and listening to one bad news after another. It was not difficult to find that Zhao Xun was quite calm at this time.
"Report, the Nancheng rebels opened the city gate, General Zhao He abandoned the outer city and is relying on the Central South Neighborhood City to resist."
"Report, the left and right battalions of the Feihe Military Army have lost contact. The four guards of the Forbidden Army were ambushed by unknown enemies and are currently fighting near the granary."
"Reportedly, the ancestral homes of Qian, Ning, and Yuan have been controlled, but the whereabouts of the patriarch and other core figures have not been found."
"...Junhou, General Miao suddenly appeared in Dongcheng. The Xiyuan Army responsible for the defense of Dongcheng has given up resistance."
General Miao, Miao Zishi? After hearing this name, Zhao Xun finally couldn't help but open his eyes.
He was just about to ask his subordinate Miao Zishi how to escape, but the anger in his heart rose and died, and then he laughed and shook his head and continued to sit back.
Because of the many years of teaching, I didn't have the heart to kill him, so I should have expected this day to come.
It turns out that among the secret jailers guarding Miao Zishi, some of them are the secret secrets of the Xu family who have been disconnected. Xu Yuanchen doesn't even have a list of such secrets. Whether they can be activated or not depends entirely on the secret son himself.
Whether it was forced by the situation or Anzi was really loyal, the Daxia side made a decisive decision to make a plan based on the secret report.
During the turmoil in the city in the middle of the night, Xuan Yiwei did not participate too much, and his hidden power was basically used to rescue Miao Zishi.
The secret prison was tightly guarded, and it was impossible to prevent an insider from disclosing the defense, and then the Xuanyi guards attacked and killed regardless of casualties.
As soon as Miao Zishi was rescued, Dongcheng was captured.
Using the various powerful families and rebel generals in Qingwucheng as pawns to divert Zhao Xun's attention, he himself concentrated his efforts on attacking Zhao Xun's weak point, which could be regarded as making Xuanyi Wei famous again.
Miao Zishi served successively as the prefect of Liangzhou in the Daxu Dynasty and the former cavalry general of the Liang Kingdom. He fought against the grassland invaders for a long time, protected the people of the area, and had considerable influence on the military and even the people of Liangzhou.
The situation had deteriorated to this point, and with this man in front of the battle trying to persuade him to surrender, the old Liang army guarding Dongcheng simply surrendered.
The old Marquis of Liang and even millions of Liangzhou people lived very well under the rule of Daxia, why couldn't they.
When Xinliang was restored, many old soldiers had extravagant hopes in their hearts, hoping that Zhao Xun could lead them to revive, but now that the war was imminent, the results were before their eyes.
So they understood that what Liangzhou needed was a true hero and a holy lord, otherwise the war and disasters in troubled times and all kinds of disasters would happen again.
At the east city tower, the fighting dispersed. A group of Liang Jun guards who had done their duty loyally had just been surrounded and killed by their former colleagues.
But even these ruthless generals and soldiers were respectful in front of an old man with white hair and beard.
"General, just hope you're okay. Marquis Zhao is keeping you locked up. We don't know whether you are alive or dead."
"Miao Shuai, we have all drawn our swords and seen blood. You can give the order on what to do next!"
"The Great Xia has established two states. Maybe it will dominate the northern border, and I can follow you on the battlefield in the future..."
The old man is naturally Miao Zishi. He has been called a legend in his life. Even after tonight's shocking changes, he still maintains a calm attitude.
The old subordinates all had familiar faces, which could dissipate a bit of the sadness of fighting each other. However, as a few reckless soldiers talked more and more outrageously, Miao Zi glanced at the people in the corner, not daring to let them go any further.
"Ahem, Mr. Xia is a sage and wise monarch, so naturally he will not treat us harshly, but how can you ask for what we will do in the future?!"
"Even if Xia Gong allows me to live in seclusion in the countryside and keep company with cattle, it will be my honor."
Some of the straight-minded military academies didn't know what it meant, but some generals who were familiar with Miao Zishi reacted and stopped the talkative people.
Only then did they realize that there was a big figure in the corner who had not spoken out before, the commander of the Xuanyi Guards, Yao Ping.
As the Xia Kingdom became more powerful and the intensity of foreign wars gradually increased, Xuanyi Guard, as a secret service agency, was unable to participate in direct confrontations, and its presence was significantly reduced.
In the process of attacking Liangzhou, they basically played a supporting role, but now they can easily subvert a political power, which shows that Xuan Yiwei's fangs have never been dull.
Seeing everyone's eyes gathered, Yao Ping shook his head and walked out, cupping his hands and saying: "Shuai Miao is too worried. Your Majesty warned you many times before this operation that you can only succeed and not fail. He has long been thinking about the military masters of Liangzhou, how can he be willing to let you go?" Resign and go into seclusion. The huge Qingwu City is not as big as yours.
Miao Zishi smiled slightly when he heard this. No matter how true or false it was, he should be useful in Daxia.
"The generals will listen to the order and immediately follow the king's command to pacify the other three cities. It will be tonight that you will be punished and make meritorious service..."
"Here!"
Miao Zishi no longer had any scruples, he wore armor on his old body and drew his sword, showing off his decisive killing blow.
Under his control, Dongcheng Lao Liang's army quickly restored its organizational structure, and groups of rebels with white cloths tied on their sleeves marched to the streets and alleys of Qingwucheng.
…
In the blink of an eye, the night battle in Qingwu City continued into the middle of the night.
Because Miao Zishi "changed sides" and Dongcheng's old troops pushed hard, the resistance of Liang Jun in Qingwu City was much smaller, and most of it was just a show of force.
The four cities were lost, and all important locations such as military camps, granaries, and government offices were occupied by the Xia army. All the loyal subordinates of Zhao Xunnuan's son were lost.
In Lianghou Palace, located at the core of the inner city, messengers came in and out, and the panic became more and more intense.
Because by this time, the 100,000 defenders no longer obeyed the command here.
In the dark night, the bright lights of Lianghou Palace seemed to be guiding the Xia army and rebels outside.
"I am the legitimate daughter of the Ning tribe, and you slaves actually want to kill me with poison. How audacious!"
"No, no, Junhou, please save me..."
Along with the screams in several rooms, all the concubines of Zhao Xunxinna died, which showed that everything had come to an end.
"Your Majesty, the medical officer has tested and found that if Madam is pregnant, why not stay here? Someone will always offer incense to you after your death." The guard officer who had just finished executing the order sighed in confusion.
"The families of these lowly maids are exploiting everything, so it would be an advantage for them to leave before me."
"As for the incense, a rebellious son who was expelled from the Zhao clan, tell me how to continue the incense, hahahaha." Zhao Xun's laughter was loud, and it echoed through the Hou Palace with the night wind, but there was no one among the hundreds of guards guarding here. His face looked different.
Zhao Xun wiped the jade-inlaid sword in his hand as if nothing had happened, and said calmly: "Are the worshipers gone?"
"Master, let me tell you that these Taoists cannot be trusted!" the guard said angrily and with murderous intent.
"Come on, they are all idiots. Do you think Zhou Bai will tolerate them?"
At this time, shouts of killing rang out outside the palace gate, and the guards rushed forward to fight hard without saying a word.
"Kill! Capture the Puppet Marquis alive!"
"Kill in, capture the ones alive, and appoint Yinzi as an official..."
The overwhelming military aura and murderous aura rushed towards Zhao Xun, completely wiping out all the Wang Zi's noble aura in him. His good fortune was gone, and disasters were brewing.
"In the end, the winner is the king and the loser is the bandit. So-and-so is not worth mentioning."
At the last moment when he raised his sword and committed suicide, Zhao Xun thought back to the first half of his life and actually regretted the waste.
If the destiny could be reversed ten years earlier, perhaps everything would be completely different.
Liangzhou's unique Purple Qi destiny fell into darkness amid the turmoil. The Luck Dragon Python had nowhere to hide, and it appeared with a cry.
An ichthyosaur was sitting and swimming in the sky, swooping excitedly after spotting its prey. Coupled with the long-elongated dragon and snake it swallowed some time ago, this dragon and snake soon turned into a dragon with its four claws in its belly.
In the early morning of the first day of December, the cold winter wind washed away the land of Liangzhou, blowing away the blood of Qingwu City and the unruly dragon veins of Liangzhou.
Liangzhou is unified, and if you look at the overall situation, you will find that Daxia has taken the lead in the flow of dragon energy in the entire northern territory.
With heavy snowfall, Zhou Bai did not return to Xiyuan, but inspected the southern counties of Liangzhou.
Including Qingwu, Changyan, and Nanfu, they are all new, and people are uncertain.
He must hurry up this winter to completely integrate the cauldron and send troops westward after the spring of next year.
When digesting the dragon energy of Liangzhou, the luck fish and dragon are extremely restless and look to the west with great vigilance at all times, which is contrary to common sense.
So Zhou Bai took advantage of the inspiration brought by his promotion to the Dharma Realm to observe the situation in the world, and was shocked to find that the land of Shu had become a dragon with four claws.
It was not because of force, but because of the forces of heaven and earth. He never thought that a unified situation would emerge in the chaotic Shu region.
(End of chapter)
