In early December, Yelu Deguang of Weizhou learned that the West Route Army Wei Wang and the East Route Army had suffered a disastrous defeat. He was extremely frightened and feared being surrounded from two sides.
So he immediately added 20,000 troops to Zhao Yanshou and Yelu Wu as hostages, and ordered them to quickly break through Qicheng and cross the Yellow River south.
As long as the main force of the Jin army is defeated and the misfortunes on the left and right are defeated, it doesn't matter.
By now, the number of Khitan troops participating in the siege of Qicheng had reached 80,000.
And how many people are there in Gao Xingzhou, who is stationed in Qicheng and serves as the thorn in the army?
The answer is less than six thousand people.
Qicheng was small and could not store much food. Eighty thousand Khitan troops surrounded it and attacked it fiercely, making it in constant danger.
Gao Xingzhou and Zi Gao Huaide went out of the city several times, using their cavalry to attack left and right, but there were too many Khitans to break through.
In the middle of the year, Shi Chonggui, who was stationed in Chanzhou, won the battles between Xinzhou and Majiakou. He was overjoyed and rewarded the generals and held a large banquet. From the initial fear, he began to look down on the Khitans.
Jing Yanguang knew how powerful the Khitans were, because whether they were the Great King of the West Route Army or the Ma Da of the East Route Army, they were essentially the tribal armies of the Khitans.
These armies cannot be said to have no combat effectiveness, but they have few armor and weak weapons and are not familiar with geography.
Liu Zhiyuan, Li Shouzhen, and Huangfu Yu are all famous ministers and brave generals. It is normal that the Khitan tribe army cannot defeat them.
As for the main force of Yelu Deguang on the north bank of the Yellow River, there were at least 20,000 Pishi troops and more than 10,000 Shan troops.
These are all the Khitan people's imperial troops. Their armor ratio exceeds 70%, and most of them are iron armor.
Zhao Yanshou inherited his father Zhao Dejun's savings of more than ten years. The thousands of men under his command were all elites of the Lulong Army in the past, and their combat effectiveness was quite strong.
Therefore, this powerful official who was loud and loud in the world gave up when facing the main force of Khitan.
He withheld the letter asking for help from Gao Xingzhou and sent it to Shi Chonggui, and made up his mind not to rescue him.
Because in Jing Yanguang's view, it was inevitable that the Jin army would not be able to defeat the Khitans. If he sent troops to rescue them, they would probably be severely defeated.
If they were not rescued, it would only be Gao Xingzhou, Gao Huaide and his son who died in battle, and they would still be able to confront the Khitans across the river.
However, paper cannot cover the fire. Gao Xing's surrounding generals were superb and stood out against all odds to come to seek help. However, they would not leave until they received help. They made endless noises outside Shi Chonggui's camp every day.
Haha! If I, Jing Yanguang, can't solve the problem, how can I solve you, the person who caused the problem?
So Jing Yanguang ordered Gao Chao to be arrested secretly, but the bodyguards he sent out were also warriors and felt the same and were unwilling to arrest this loyal general, so they secretly revealed the information and Gao Chao escaped with his life.
....
In the evening, the right Qian Niu Guard general Hu Ci Le invited the generals in the camp.
Fu Yanqing, Wang Zhou, Pan Huan, Yao Yuanfu, Xue Huairang and others all arrived.
Although Hu Cile was only a general with the false title of You Qianniu Guard, his son Hu Guang was only a deputy general of the bodyguard horse army.
However, they, father and son, had always had extensive friendships in Tokyo, and they had made great contributions to annihilating Zhang Congbin's rebellion five years ago with Murong Nobunaga. Shi Jingtang once made them his confidants.
During the Shi Chonggui period, they fell out of favor, but this made the two of them even more unusual in the eyes of interested people.
Because everyone knows that with Hu Ci Le and Hu Guang's father and son's salary, why should they spend so much money in Tokyo?
There must be someone behind this, so it’s self-evident who is behind it.
Apart from the King of Great Liang who is exchanging envoys with the imperial court and is likely to come to the twenty-eight states of Liang Kingdom again, who else can there be?
And why does King Zhang Tian support Hu Ci Le and his son's property? Isn't that obvious?
There is also a secret connection between them.
Fu Yanqing, the 44-year-old Ma Jun formation commander, knows this even more clearly.
Because his eighth brother Fu Yanlun and eldest son Fu Zhaoxin had always been on good terms with Murong Nobunaga, they knew the power structure of the Liang Kingdom relatively clearly.
In the past, King Zhang Tian led 107 people to go west to Khotan. These 107 people were the Yuancong sect in the Liang Kingdom. They had the highest status, the most military exploits, and were the most trusted ones among their confidants.
In addition to the Yuancong faction, which currently has only a few dozen members left, it is the Donggui Wuxun Group where Huchile and his son belong.
Most of these people are descendants of the Anxi Army and the Khotan Tang children who were gifted by the King of Heaven's uncle, King Li Shengtian of the Kingdom of Jin.
Although their positions are not high, they have a large number of people. Compared with the Yuan Cong faction, which has dozens of people, they are Zhang Tianwang's base.
Hu Cile was born in Donggui Wuxun, so how could he betray King Liang casually?
Now that the Liang Kingdom is in the west of Hexi and has sharp armor and soldiers, it is about to become a major force in the world.
At the same time, Shi Chonggui has become less and less like a personal master in the past two years. He is far different from Shi Jingtang.
In the Jin Dynasty, Liu Zhiyuan and Du Chongwei had second thoughts. The powerful Jing Yanguang was narrow-minded and provoked a war with the Khitan, but he did not take any responsibility and only focused on rejecting dissidents.
There are powerful enemies outside and internal unrest. In addition, since the Hou Liang Dynasty, all previous dynasties have basically been nothing more than a decade or two of national destiny.
Therefore, many people also compare Zhang Zhao, who lives in Liang State, with Liu Zhiyuan, who lives in Hedong.
Because he was on the front line, and the Later Jin Dynasty had been facing floods and droughts in recent years, even Huchile, who was not short of money, did not have any good food for his guests, just some muddy wine and a few skinny sheep.
After everyone had eaten a few bowls of wine, Hu Cile, who was sitting at the head table, suddenly put down his chopsticks and let out a long sigh.
"We have nothing to gain from fighting against the Han people. We only have martial arts skills. We are here to defend our country from enemies today. That's why we are here.
The deployment in Gaodu is trapped by the Khitan army and is in imminent danger. Not to mention the lean sheep due to heavy wine, we may not even be able to eat a bowl of corn and rice. However, we are holding a drinking party here, and I really can't bear it."
Hearing what Hu Cile said, Fu Yanqing felt particularly uncomfortable, because he was Gao Xingzhou's close friend, and the two of them were usually the same in the military.
But he didn't understand one thing, why did Hu Zaile summon them together and say these words?
Because the officers present, except him, Fu Yanqing, could only be regarded as mid-level officers.
In terms of future generations, it is roughly the level of battalion commander to deputy regiment commander. Officers at this level will definitely not be able to control the affairs of Jing Yanguang and other high-level officials.
And even if you want to incite dissatisfaction among the generals in the army and tarnish Shi Chonggui's image for King Zhang, isn't it too early?
But having said that, Fu Yanqing also felt that Hu Zaile might be trying to establish his image of being loyal to the country through this matter.
However, Fu Yanqing has this understanding because he comes from a martial arts family.
But others such as Yao Yuanfu, Pan Huan, Wang Zhou and others were just fighting warriors, and they didn't have so many twists and turns in their hearts. When they heard Hu Cile say this, they all yelled at Jing Yanguang.
Because the war with the Khitans was caused by Jing Yanguang, and now, Gao Xingzhou is trapped in Qicheng, and Jing Yanguang refuses to send troops to rescue him, and dares to block military reports.
Hu Cile took a look and saw that Fu Yanqing had no intention of speaking, so he could only cough and clarify the matter.
"The Duke Guanhou is a close friend of the Emperor. Now that Jing Yanguang is blocking the way to speak, the Emperor is deep in the palace and I'm afraid he doesn't know what is happening outside. Can the Duke lead us to speak to the Emperor?"
Fu Yanqing's character is very interesting, it is called Guanhou. Most people would not dare to use these two characters as a font size, because no matter how you look at it, it reminds people of Champion.
So every time Fu Yanqing heard someone solemnly call him Guanhou, even though he was in his forties, he still couldn't help but feel a little ripple in his heart.
The relationship between Fu Yanqing and Shi Chonggui was indeed very good, but that was established before Shi Jingtang rebelled against the Tang Dynasty and proclaimed himself emperor.
At that time, Shi Chonggui was just one of Shi Jingtang's adopted sons and was not very favored.
Fu Yanqing's father, Fu Cunshen, was originally named Li Cunshen. He was one of Li Keyong's thirteen eunuchs and was posthumously named King of Qin.
It can be said that Shi Chonggui was trying to curry favor with Fu Yanqing back then.
But now, after Shi Jingtang passed away, he only left a son who was more than one year old, allowing Shi Chonggui to take advantage.
Now that Shi Chonggui has become the emperor, he is not very willing to get together with old friends like Fu Yanqing again, because it will remind Shi Chonggui of the unpleasant past of his low status.
So Fu Yanqing slowly shook his head and refused with difficulty: "Now that Jing Yanguang, Feng Yu and others are in the holy family, I am just an envoy from the left platoon. If I want to make a speech to the emperor, I am afraid that I will not be able to enter the palace easily.
"
Hearing what Fu Yanqing said, others didn't think anything of it, because it was indeed the truth.
Although everyone sympathized with Gao Xingzhou's experience, there were many complaints about Jing Yanguang's indifference.
But they were not willing to risk offending Jing Yanguang and speak to Shi Chonggui.
However, as soon as Fu Yanqing finished speaking, someone rushed out from the back hall. Everyone looked up and saw that it was Gao Xingzhou's general Gao Chao who had sent people to rush out from Qicheng. It turned out that he had been hidden by a tiger thorn.
Gao Chao looked at Fu Yanqing with splitting eyes and shouted loudly: "I have always believed that among the generals in Chanzhou today, only the commander of the Fu formation is a hero!
If you don't even save my family, who else can be saved?
If you are loyal to the country, should you die under the sword of the Khitans?"
When Yao Yuanfu and others saw Gao Chao coming, they all remained silent.
They were just some mid-level officers who were not even able to lead a town. They did not have many soldiers, and they had no cards in front of Jing Yanguang. Even if they wanted to save him, they could not save him.
However, Fu Yanqing was aroused by the superb words and immediately stood up.
"You are so great, so don't use words to provoke me. There is really nothing you can do about the emperor and Jing Yanguang, but Gao Du is an important general in the country. I can't ignore him when he fights the enemy bravely!"
There are still hundreds of Fu family members under a certain command, and they are willing to live and die with Gaodu's deployment. All the generals are here, who is willing to cross the river with me to rescue them?"
Hu Cile and Hu Guang's eyes showed admiration at the same time.
The 80,000 Khitan troops besieged Qicheng. Although it was impossible for all 80,000 people to be crowded outside the small Qicheng, they were distributed in various towns north of Qicheng.
But the number of enemies facing Qicheng will not be less than 30,000, and they must be the elite of the Khitan army.
Fu Yanqing actually sent hundreds of cavalry to rescue Gao Xingzhou. In the eyes of most people, this was no different than committing suicide.
Therefore, although Fu Yanqing spoke impassionedly, Yao Yuanfu, Pan Huan, Wang Zhou, Xue Huairang and other generals also looked ashamed, but still did not speak.
Don't be ridiculous, let them take the risk of offending Jing Yanguang for this matter. How could they go to save Gao Xingzhou like committing suicide?
But when they refused, Hu Ci suddenly stood up and bowed to everyone.
Today's banquet was originally convened by him. Now that Fu Yanqing is going to rescue Gao Xingzhou, how can he fall behind?
Moreover, winning over Fu Yanqing, Gao Xingzhou and others was a secret mission given to him by King Zhang Tian.
What's more, the 700 Liangzhou horses under his command are all well-equipped cavalry, and half of them are relatives of the Hu Tile tribe, so they can fight as one united and determined.
Qicheng is surrounded by vast plains, which is very suitable for cavalry operations, so it is not necessarily impossible to rescue Gao Xingzhou.
Thinking of this, Hu Cile shouted loudly to everyone: "Fu Pai Zhen envoy Bo Yuntian, although my father and son of the Hu family are barbarians born outside the Pass, they have been taught by the King of Heaven and know what loyalty is.
I am willing to go with the Fu Pai Zhen to rescue Gaodu's deployment. If I never come back, I still have hundreds of treasures and some clothes and armor here, so I ask you to share them with me. I will also use them to kill the enemy in the future."
Hearing what Hu Cile said, Yao Yuanfu drank up the muddy wine in the bowl in one gulp.
"General Tiger, don't look down on others. I, Yao Yuanfu, am willing to accompany you two to Qicheng."
At this point, Xue Huairang, Pan Huan and Wang Zhou were forced to have no choice but to change their minds and agree to go together to rescue Gao Xingzhou.
