Lingzhou, also known as Lingwu, is the place that controls the Hetao. It is a strategic place that controls Hetao and Shuo in the north and Qing and Liang in the south. It is also the most important pasture and granary in the northwest. After the Anshi Rebellion, Li Heng ascended the throne here and pacified the world. If the barbarians in the north of Sai want to herd horses in the Central Plains, Lingzhou is the place they must take. In the former Tang Dynasty, the town of Lingzhou was built. It was also called Shuofang Town because "the north gate of Shuofang Kingdom was surrounded by the imperial dogs and Rong in the west, and the Yu and Yu in the north." Relying on the strong city of Lingzhou and the fertile soil of Hetao, Shuofang's army attacked the Turks in the north and defended the Tibetans in the west, aiming to conquer the barbarians. During the Five Dynasties, there were eight major governor's offices in the world, headed by Lingzhou, followed by Shaanxi, You, Wei, Yang, Lu, Zhen, and Xu. For more than a thousand years, there have been formations like clouds under the Helan Mountain, and the sounds of feathers flying day and night. The city of Lingzhou has been soaked with the blood of many Han men and barbarians outside the Great Wall. For the Dangxiang Tuoba clan who is entrenched in the five states where the land is barren and the people are poor, the land of Lingzhou and Hetao is a temptation that cannot be resisted no matter what. But for Dangxiang's army, which had almost no ability to attack fortresses, Lingzhou City was too strong.
The Dingnan Army was not without sharp weapons. In the past, the ancestors of the Tuoba family traveled to the desert of North Wei and conquered the Central Plains in the south. In order to deal with the armored cavalry, they had Han craftsmen make offset crossbows and special arrows. They have been improved over the ages. By this time, they could shoot three More than one hundred and forty steps, half an inch into the wood. In order to enable the artillery battalion to keep up with the movement of the cavalry, the cyclone gun was reduced in size and transported on horseback. Later, it could be fired directly on the back of a camel. The famous sword made from the sword-forging technique passed down by the Tuoba clan is extremely sharp and valuable, and is said to be "blood-sealing". The armor used by the Dangxiang Iron Kites is stronger and lighter than the armor used by the elites of the Song Dynasty and Khitan.
However, being confined for a long time in a barren and impoverished land such as Dingnan Five Prefectures, the Tuoba clan had only military and national weapons, but no strength to produce them in large quantities. After a hundred years of accumulation, there are only more than 3,000 pieces of Xiaozijia, only more than 5,000 crossbows, more than 100 pieces of cyclone cannons that are most useful for siege, and only more than 200 gunners. In front of Lingzhou, which is almost the strongest city in the northwest, more than a hundred cyclone cannons were like tickling a giant. Even though Li Jifeng concentrated all his crossbows and whirlwind cannons on the east city gate, he still could not defend the city head. The army suffered heavy casualties.
"Dangxiang's warriors are still not good at attacking the city." Li Jifeng frowned. After several days of attacking, there was nothing but dead people. He could not even climb the city once. After all, Lingzhou's city wall was too Solid, but the Dangxiang people are too incompetent.
"Brother, don't we have Han people who can attack the city?" Li Jiqian pointed to the Han Xiang army and civilians camped behind the Xiazhou army. These Han soldiers who had transported grain and grass from various roads in Shaanxi were forced to stay in Lingzhou by Li Jifeng. Under the state city, let them build forts and cut firewood for the party's army. "How can the officers and soldiers of the imperial court be willing to bleed and fight for us?" Li Jifeng sighed. If he had any regrets, he had seen the overwhelming power of the Song Dynasty imperial army when they attacked the city. The crossbows were used like running water, and hundreds of arrows were used. The power of destroying thousands of arrows in an instant is guaranteed by strong national power. It is because of this that Li Jifeng lacks confidence in restoring the Tuoba clan to its former glory.
"Who is sent to escort us to transport grain and grass? What kind of support can he have in the court? As long as Lingzhou City is captured, even if the court is blamed, what can it do? By then, the officials will also be eager to confer the title of brother on Shuofang Jiedu Envoy." Li Jiqian concealed his ambition and looked mockingly at the Han military camp with Chinese flags flying. If we capture Lingzhou and pass through the Hetao area, we can plunder the Han people from the Central Plains. The Han people are good at defending and attacking cities. If we have such a Han army under our command, coupled with the powerful cavalry of the Dangxiang Qiang, the Iron Kites will charge unstoppably. , it is time for the Tuoba family to take the high position in the Bianliang Dynasty. Although the Xianbei Tuoba clan has a small number of people, they are able to use many races in the world for their own use. They are truly a noble bloodline promised by the Immortal God.
In the camp of the Han army, Li Jifeng, who had been sentenced to death by the army, was forced to stay under Liangzhou City to do labor. The Xiang soldiers and civilians from Guanzhong complained, and even the officers were scolding him. "We heroes in Guanzhong have fought against foreign countries for generations, but we are the stronger ones. We escort the grain and grass for this party." The person escorting the grain and grass this time was Yao Liangbi, the training envoy of the Huanzhou Regiment. After hearing Yuhou Wanjian's complaint, he said in a deep voice: "Don't criticize me. When dispatched by the imperial court, you must complete the task honestly." He still knew the imperial court's plan in his heart. Chen De was a Han and was a greater threat to the imperial court, while the Dangxiang barbarians occupied the borderlands of the five states. , all the food and salary depended on the imperial court, and internal fighting was frequent, which was really nothing to worry about. What's more, no matter how powerful the party was, it was just one of the Uighurs, Tubo and other northwest tribes. The imperial court had always adopted the policy of using barbarians to control barbarians in the northwest. This strategy provoked various factions to check and balance each other. At present, the Lingzhou Anxi Army was a thorn in the side of the imperial court who wanted to get rid of it quickly.
Suddenly, the infantry leader Sun Meng rushed in from outside the tent and shouted: "No, General Yao, the party members have surrounded the general camp!" "What?" Yao Liangbi and Wan Jian stood up at the same time and strode out of the army. When I opened the tent, I saw about ten thousand party cavalry gathered in front of the military camp, and more than ten thousand cavalry scattered around, all bald and grumpy. Yao Liangbi felt conflicted in his heart. These were the hardest things to deal with. If he disagreed, he wouldPointing the sword at each other, he just smiled and said: "This general is Yao Liangbi, the training envoy of the Huanzhou regiment. If there is any misunderstanding, please come forward and speak."
Li Jiqian, the commander of the capital of Xiazhou Yamen, had just slowly galloped out from the middle of Dangxiang's cavalry army and stood up at the gate of the village. When he saw Yao Liangbi coming out, he loudly said: "The Dingnan Army Jiedushi has an order, and Yao Liangbi will lead his headquarters to attack Xiazhou. " He had an extremely arrogant look on his face. He pointed his riding whip at the training envoy of the Huanzhou Regiment and spoke as if he were talking to the slaves in his family. Even a figure like Yao Liangbi, who was regarded as an elite in the officialdom, could not help but feel angry. rise. Sure enough, as soon as Li Jiqian finished speaking, there was an uproar in the Huanzhou Army, "Attack your grandma." Sun Meng, the infantry leader, immediately scolded that the Xiang army in the early Song Dynasty had no responsibility for fighting and was only responsible for force service, let alone thousands of miles away. They came to fight for the party members, and curses broke out all over the place. Many of the Xiang troops were leftovers from the Forbidden Army selected from the border troops. Although their abilities were not as good as those of the Forbidden Army, their courage and cultivation in scolding were comparable.
Seeing the commotion of the soldiers in Huanzhou, Li Jiqian's face darkened and he raised his left hand. The cavalry from the Dangxiang tribe behind him all bent their bows and arrows, pointing directly at the Han army. The rear troops drew their swords and shouted loudly at the Han army. Pressed down. The Huanzhou Army came to escort grain and grass and camped among the friendly forces, so they did not build a stronghold wall or even put up many antlers. Yao Liangbi was pointed at by the iron kite behind Li Jiqian with an arrow, and his face suddenly darkened: "Li Jiqian, you threaten the army, but do you want to rebel?" Although his words were tough, they were false inside. The border troops killed people at every turn. In order to calm the situation, the imperial court would resort to appeasement if it was unable to suppress the situation, and the Han people who were killed by the border soldiers would become unjust ghosts. Now that Li Jiqian and the party members behind him have revealed their murderous intentions, the only thing to worry about is that there are more than 20,000 soldiers and civilians here. Do they really dare? But after a while, Yao Liangbi had no chance to regret it.
Li Jiqian laughed loudly and said: "General Yao, this place is surrounded by the Xiang tribesmen of our party. Who knew that your Han army was not killed by the Anxi army? There were only general orders in the army, but you disobeyed the general orders of the Dingnan Army Jiedushi. Can't I kill you?" He had already made up his mind. Li Jifeng had always been in awe of the imperial court. Now that he was doing this major thing of massacring the Han army, he wanted to use the interests of his party members to curry favor with the imperial court. He also had to consider Whether they will settle accounts after the fall or not, they can only continue to fight against the court. Li Jiqian waved his left hand, and the iron kites surrounding him fired a volley of arrows. They actually shot Yao Liangbi, Sun Meng, and more than a hundred Han troops beside him, like hedgehogs. As soon as the surrounding Huanzhou army made a move, the rear party party troops rushed into the camp with their horses, and used sabers and spears to kill the Han troops who dared to resist to the ground. It's a pity that the Huanzhou Xiang army has never been used to battle. They are mostly engaged in hard work such as building bridges and roads, transporting grain and grass. Many of them have never even experienced fighting against bandits. Now they are overwhelmed by the superior party cavalry. There was a back and forth conflict, and it didn't take long before they lost the ability to fight back. The Han army's camp was full of fallen corpses, and the blood was gurgling, soaking the yellow sand on the ground.
Tie Yao Zi Ye Li next to Li Jiqian said at the end of his sentence: "Sir, the Jiedushi only allowed us to force the Han people to attack the city. If the current situation is like this, the Jiedushi is to blame?" Li Jiqian looked at this almost single-handedly scene coldly. Looking at the tragedy of the massacre, he snorted coldly and said, "If this were not the case, would they be willing to fight for us?"
At the top of the Lingzhou city, Chu Kaiwen pointed to the city and shouted: "What's going on?" Captain Qian Qingzhi looked gloomy: "Those are the Shaanxi Xiang army and civilians who are transporting food and grass for the party members." There were only more than 3,000 party members in sight. The Xiang cavalry army drove about six to seven thousand Han soldiers and civilians towards the city wall. The other Xiang cavalry troops stopped attacking the city and reined up their horses to watch from a distance. Some even pointed their whips and scimitars at the soldiers who had almost no armor and marched one step at a time. The Han troops walking towards the city wall laughed loudly. Suddenly, four or five Han soldiers ran back. Before they could run four or five steps, they were shot to death by several sharp arrows. The other Han soldiers had no choice but to continue moving forward. Only a few of them carried waist knives. More people only have wooden sticks, pickaxes and other tools in their hands, and carry ladders on their shoulders. I wonder what the party army is doing to drive such people with no fighting ability up?
"Consuming our arrows and stones." Qian Qingzhi whispered, "What?" Chu Kaiwen asked in surprise, "Consuming our arrows with human lives?" At this time, the Central Plains had not yet experienced the catastrophe of the Jurchen and Mongolian invasions, even though When the Khitan invaded, they only took Han people as slaves, and rarely used Han people as vanguards to attack cities on a large scale. Countless lives were sacrificed just to fill ravines with arrows. "Because the Dangxiang people don't regard them as human beings at all." Qian Qingzhi said solemnly.
The Han army and the civilians approached the Lingzhou city wall. A small number of them began to set up ladders, and most of them began to dig the foundation of the city wall. Even with the strength of Lingzhou, thousands of civilians could not help but keep digging. "Fire the arrow!" Qian Qingzhi ordered in a deep voice. "This is the common people! The civilian husband, grandma's wife, and my mother-in-law were hired from Guanzhong." "This is a military order!" Qian Qingzhi ignored Chu Kaiwen and waved his hand. The archers at the top of the city leaned out of the city wall and faced Shoot at the civilians below the city. At this time, the party's cavalrymen who were supervising the battle from afar did not even do anything to shoot arrows at the city head to cover the civilians' digging of the city wall, but only monitored whether there was anyone.They turned around and ran away, and then shot and killed the Xiang soldiers and civilians who were running away like a game. Many Party soldiers even competed with each other, shooting arrows in their eyes, foreheads, or chests, one after another, laughing and shouting loudly.
{PiaoTian Literature www.PiaoTian.com thanks all book friends for their support, your support is our greatest motivation}