Chapter 130 "Half the City Wall Flying into the Sky"
Just when Liu Jia was dumbfounded, Liu Zhang said softly: "Whenever it is convenient, let me tell my father to say something to those who often make noises. Don't worry, as long as you do a good job, even if others complain a little at first, it will slow down over time." Slowly calm down. Just like when you were fifteen years old, you led the troops to defeat the rebels and the Nanbarians. You won two great victories and all the doubters were convinced. Later, you led the troops to kill the envoy Cao in Chengdu. You forced us to oppose Cao's army going south and ally with Sun Quan and Liu Biao. Although 100% of the people thought you were going too far, almost everyone also believed that you would do great things after entering Jingzhou. So my father gave me the gift at that time. You have 15,000 soldiers and horses, which is 5,000 more than you expected. Except for Du Ji, who objected, everyone else agreed to do it for my father. This is because you did a good job in Zoke , Okay, I¡¯ve said so much in one breath today, I¡¯m tired of being a father, you can go and do your business, don¡¯t worry about things between you and me.¡±[]
After hearing Liu Zhang's words, Liu Jia secretly screamed in shame and smiled sheepishly.
Things that Liu Jia thought would take a lot of effort were solved so easily!
However, Liu Zhang soon made a request, which was to ask Liu Jia to hold a state-wide amnesty, pardon all criminals, and also release Liu Jia's younger brother Liu Yi, who was less than ten years old.
There was nothing wrong with releasing Liu Yi. Almost no one had any objections. Liu Jia not only released Liu Yi, but also asked his teacher Meng Guang to step down from his position in Zoke and concentrate on educating Liu Yi.
But there are different opinions on the amnesty of the whole state. Some old officials agree with Liu Zhang's opinion. It was said that it showed the generosity and kindness of the newly appointed Liu Jia, but the younger officials fiercely opposed it. Unexpectedly, although Meng Guang was old, he was also a fierce opponent of amnesty. One day, he went to Liu Zhang's house and said to Liu Zhang, who was half lying on the bed: "Forgive me, this is a withered thing, which is not suitable for the Ming Dynasty. The disadvantages are extremely bad. It must be done as a last resort, and then it can be done with authority. My Lord is a benevolent and virtuous man. Why is it possible for hundreds of officials to do their jobs well, so why should they show extreme kindness to others in order to benefit traitors? Then the hawks and falcons attack, and the original pardon is guilty, and the heaven has violated the times. . This is contrary to human principles. I am old and decrepit, and I am not good at treating the body. I even say that my method cannot last long. How can I expect the beauty of it? I only hope in Mingde."
In the end, Liu Zhang had no choice but to take back his words, and he could be his free man with peace of mind.
Liu Jia officially took over Liu Zhang's power and took over Yizhou as herdsman, and announced it to all parties. Naturally, he ignored the objections from all over the country. Opposition mainly came from Jiangdong under Sun Quan and the north under Cao Cao.
Liu Jia also appointed Huang Quan as the pastor of Yizhou, Ma Liang as the pastor of Jingzhou, Meng Gongwei as the pastor of Jingzhou, Cui Zhouping as the pastor of Jiaozhou, and Wu Ju as the pastor of Jiaozhou.
In addition, Liu Jia appointed the governors of several special counties: Zhao Yun was the prefect of Hanzhong County, Huang Zhong was the prefect of Xiangyang County, Li Yan was the prefect of Jiangxia County, Samoko was the prefect of Cangwu County, and Meng Da was the prefect of Xinggu County. All these counties appointed by Liu Jia personally bordered the enemy forces, and these county governors were mainly responsible for resisting possible enemy invasions.
Except for Xiangyang County, which was occupied by Zhang Lu, all other counties have been firmly controlled by Liu Jia.
Other officials are also appointed. The main personnel are: Liu Ba is in charge of the economy of the three states, Pang Tong is in charge of the military, Wang Lei is in charge of justice and punishment, Hua Tuo is in charge of medical care, Ma Di is in charge of the manufacture of gunpowder and other weapons, and Zhang Song is in charge of intelligence collection and communication. Li Hui was responsible for liaison with the enemy, and E Huan was responsible for commanding the imperial army to protect Chengdu and ensure the safety of important officials
Others include: Xu Shu is responsible for commanding the expeditionary army, Fa Zheng is responsible for commanding the local garrison, Peng Yi is responsible for logistics supplies, Gan Ning is responsible for naval training, Zhang Liao is responsible for cavalry training, and Yu Jin is responsible for infantry training
Of course there are people responsible for education, transportation, business, agricultural production, etc.
Just when Liu Jia was busy in Chengdu, in May of the 16th year of Jian'an, 36,000 men and horses led by Pang Tong Fazheng arrived at Shangyong City as scheduled to join Xu Shu's more than 20,000 horses.
Because compared to Xiangyang City, the walls of Shangyong City are shorter and thinner. It is also the only defensive area of ??Xiangyang City. If the city is lost, Xiangyang City will become an isolated city. It is entirely possible that it will be surrounded by Liu Jia's troops in the future and become a dead city. In a certain sense, the fall of Shangyong City was the beginning of Zhang Lu's demise.
Therefore, Zhang Lu attached great importance to the defense of Shangyong City. Before Pang Tong's army arrived, he ordered Yang Ang to lead 60,000 soldiers to station in this small city. The defenders outnumbered the attacking troops by several thousand. Zhang Lu naturally wanted to rely on his numerical advantage and the protection of the city wall to compete with the armies of Pang Tong and Xu Shu.
According to Liu Jia's order to kill all the enemies in Shangyong City, Pang Tong made the following deployment of troops: Let Wei Yan and Yan Yan lead 15,000 soldiers to station in Shangyong City andBetween Yangcheng and Yangcheng, the connection between the two cities was completely cut off; Yu Jin and Wu Tugu were asked to lead five thousand soldiers deep into the northern mountainous area of ??Shangyong City and occupy strategic positions. Prevent the defeated army from escaping to Cao Cao's territory in the north; let Yang Hong guard Hanzhong City. Lingbao and Zhuo Ying were transferred from the city to replace Zhao Yun in guarding Yangping Pass, while Zhao Yun came to Shangyong City to form a siege knife with Huang Zhong and Gan Ning.
Guard general Yang Ang was shocked when he saw Pang Tong's posture: Is there anyone who fights like this? There were fewer garrison troops than I had to begin with. He even pretended to eat all of my 60,000 men and horses. Although there are only more than 10,000 elite soldiers among the 60,000 men and horses in the city, there are still more than 10,000 civilians in my city who can be used. I don't believe that people like you can capture this city.
Yang Ang said that, but he was still unsure because he had heard countless people talking in horror about the horrific scene in Jiangyou Town. So he didn't have any carelessness. Apart from sleeping, his daily routine was to stand on the city wall and supervise the soldiers and migrant workers to constantly prepare materials for defending the city. He often said to his generals: "If Liu Jia is sitting in Chengdu and can still invite the God of Thunder to help him and knock down our city wall, then it is God's will to kill us, and we have no regrets. As long as he can't invite the God of Thunder, this will The general told them to go without return. The general did not believe that they could capture the city with 60,000 soldiers separated by 20,000. If the city was destroyed in a fair fight, it would be the general who deserved to die. Such thoughts: "This No. 18 It's nothing more than this. The + Army wants to live a few more years and contribute a few more years to the Lord, so generals, please work hard and work harder. If I, the general, find out that any general does not work hard to prepare and does not show his strength in battle, then I will think that you want to murder me, and of course I will not be polite. Will kill him first and destroy his nine clans. Do you understand what I said, General? We either fight to the death or fight to the death! "
Similar to defender Yang Ang, Pang Tong, the commander-in-chief of the offensive side, actually didn't have much confidence. Although Xu Shu repeatedly assured that the gunpowder made by Ma Su and his friends could blow down a city wall and would definitely allow the siege knives to rush into the city smoothly, Pang Tong was still a little hesitant.
He said to Xu Shu: "If we can blow open the city wall more than ten steps long, our three generals will definitely be able to rush in. Tong doesn't believe that those black powders are so powerful."
Xu Shu smiled and said: "It's not surprising that you don't believe it. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed that five hundred kilograms of gunpowder could explode such a big hole." When Xu Shu said this, he made a hollow in the air with his hand. A circle was drawn and almost the entire tent was drawn in.
Pang Tong said in disbelief: "Is it really that big? Only five hundred pounds?"
Xu Shu looked at Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun, Wu Tu Gu and others and smiled: "Tell me, is it true?"
Several generals who had seen the power of gunpowder in Jiangyou Town nodded quickly, with a hint of fear in their proud expressions, even though so much time had passed and they were the winners.
Wu Tu Gu also said with a smile, using the foul language he had learned from E Huan: "What a bastard. With just such a sound, I almost knocked out all the teeth in my mouth while lying on the ground. There was only a buzzing sound in my ears." "
People who had never seen it before, including Pang Tong, looked forward to it.
The placement of the gun this time was done in accordance with Liu Jia's order. First, they tried to block the entrance to the moat and drain the water in the moat. Then, they built a high fence about a hundred steps away from the city. The soldiers kept digging tunnels towards the city wall, all the way to the foot of the city wall. To be on the safe side, the soldiers even dug out a square hole in the stone foundation of the city wall underground, and then placed a large coffin in the square hole. , and finally carefully stuffed nearly a thousand kilograms of gunpowder inside.
This method was stolen by Liu Jia, and the teacher who told him this method was the Taiping Tian** of later generations. Although most of the city walls in the Qing Dynasty were much stronger than those in this era, Taiping soldiers used this method many times to collapse the walls and then breach the city. But this method also has its shortcomings: first, the city itself is on a high terrain, and even if a section of the city wall collapses, the city cannot be breached; second, it is limited by the terrain. If there is too much underground water and the ground is stone, tunnels cannot be dug and can only be dug. The coffin was forcibly carried to the city wall and set on fire in response to the defenders' attack. Therefore, the chance of success was very low, and some even blew themselves up. Third, the opponent was strong and could rush out at any time to fill the attacker's tunnel and cause the soldiers underground to smash it. They died, were suffocated, and their bodies were snatched away and used by the defenders who rushed out.
But now these shortcomings do not exist.
Undoubtedly, this was another large-scale massacre. When Xu Shu, who was standing on a high place, waved the red flag vigorously a few times, the entire army fell to the ground.
Soon there was an earth-shattering explosion as expected, and the earth shook. Half of the walls of Shangyong City suddenly rose upwards, and some bricks, stones, and human bodies were thrown high into the air. Then gray dust and black smoke sprayed out in all directions, covering half of Shangyong City.
The noisy sound suddenly disappeared, leaving only the sound of stones, bricks, soil, wood falling from the sky.
After a while, cries, howls, shouts, and laughter came from the city walls¡ª¡ªsounds from frightened people.