Qicheng is a very ancient city. Xunzi's Ruxiao Chapter once recorded that when King Wu punished Zhou,... he had food in Qi.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, Qicheng was an extremely important strategic hub. In the Spring and Autumn Period alone, the princes gathered in Qicheng seven times.
However, after the Central Plains was unified and no longer fought by other countries, Qicheng's geographical location began to weaken.
Up to now, if it were not for the war between the Later Jin Dynasty and the Khitan, Qicheng would still be a nameless small town.
The specific location of Qicheng was in Hualong District, Puyang City, Henan Province.
However, one thing worth noting is that Puyang during the later Republic period and Puyang, which now belongs to Chanzhou, are not the same place.
Puyang in later generations was north of the Yellow River, which was actually Qicheng at this time, and Puyang at this time was south of the Yellow River.
The reason why Qicheng was so important in the Shanxi-Liao War was because the Yellow River was right behind Qicheng.
On this section of the Yellow River, there is a very important pontoon bridge, which is an important way to cross the Yellow River at this time.
Because this pontoon is not the kind of pontoon in Majiakou that can be destroyed by a battleship.
Instead, it is a high-end pontoon bridge that uses iron oxen as wooden stakes and iron chains as yizuosuo (woven bamboo ropes).
This kind of floating bridge consumes precious materials such as copper and iron. In history, the construction of the Puzhou Yellow River Floating Bridge in the Tang Dynasty is said to have used 80% of the annual iron production at that time.
During the Five Dynasties, which had gone through wars, there were only three such iron cable bridges that could still be used over the Yellow River.
Sun Bridge (Sanmenxia) in the territory of the Shaanxi Baoyi Army Jiedushi
Mengjin Bridge in Mengjin, north of Luoyang.
And the chain bridge behind Qicheng.
Therefore, after the failure of the Majiakou crossing, if Yelu Deguang wanted to completely defeat the Later Jin Dynasty, he had to occupy Qicheng, and then reach the south bank of the Yellow River from the chain bridge behind Qicheng.
As for why the Later Jin Dynasty did not destroy the Qicheng Iron Chain Bridge and cut off the Khitan people's hope of going south?
Haha! Yelu Deguang really hoped that later Jin would do this.
Because the Later Jin Dynasty did this, it meant that they gave up the land north of the Yellow River, and Yelu Deguang could immediately turn around and go to pacify the place.
And the people north of the Yellow River who felt that they had been abandoned by the imperial court would definitely seek refuge with the Khitan.
That would be great fun. Once the Khitans integrate Hebei and Hedong, they can choose any place to build a pontoon bridge from Shaanzhou to the mouth of the Yellow River.
You can only be a thief for a thousand days, but how can you prevent a thief for a thousand days? Because you can't guard against it!
The past dynasties have drawn rivers to govern, which is also drawing the Yangtze River.
Because the Yangtze River has a larger volume of water and faster flow, there are many uninhabited places along the way. Due to transportation conditions and supply problems, the places to cross the river are very limited.
Moreover, the southerners were good at boats and could easily raise thousands of ships on the Yangtze River, making it impossible for the northern regime to cross the river.
On the Yellow River, both sides of the river are cultivated land that has been developed for thousands of years. The terrain is flat, and manpower and material resources can be mobilized to build pontoon bridges everywhere. The south bank of the Yellow River faces the north bank and does not have the natural advantage of boats.
Therefore, in all dynasties, no one was able to cross the Yellow River with the enemy and conquer it.
....
At the end of December, the weather is getting warmer this year. In the past five or six years, although the Yellow River has frozen, it cannot carry large armies across the river.
Fu Yanqing took Fu Jiaerlang and the 400 cavalry he could mobilize, and Hu Cile and Hu Guang took 500 Liangzhou horses.
The four generals Yao Yuanfu, Wang Zhou, Pan Huan, and Xue Huairang also brought with them more than ten to thirty or forty personal guards.
They gathered together a thousand cavalry, and their equipment was relatively good.
Fu Yanqing's four hundred cavalry are basically all armored, while Hu Jile's five hundred cavalry are half armored heavy cavalry and half light armored archers.
The close personal guards of Yao Yuanfu and other four generals also have armor. These are their personal foundations, and they are all drawn out at this moment.
It took these one thousand men and horses almost more than two hours to cross the Yellow River.
This was because it was snowing heavily today, and the soldiers guarding the pontoon did not receive Jing Yanguang's order. Although they still let them cross the river, they refused to send out boats and boatmen to help ferry them across.
When they arrived at the North Shore, they immediately felt the tension in the atmosphere.
Not far from the bridgehead of the iron cable pontoon bridge, the Jin army built a fortress to watch each other from the protruding northeast corner of Qicheng.
The distance between this fortress and the protruding horse face in the east city of Qicheng is only three to four hundred meters, not even half a mile.
In this case, Qicheng's defenders could block the gap between Qicheng and Baozhai on horseback without leaving the city.
Moreover, there are several Fuyuan crossbows and winch crossbows at the top of the city, especially the winch crossbow, which was the prototype of the three-bow bed crossbow in the later Song Dynasty and was extremely powerful.
The Khitans tried several times to cut off Qicheng and the fortress, and then capture the fortress, but failed.
Of course, since the city gate could not be opened near Ma Mian, Gao Xingzhou in Qicheng was unable to lead his army out of the city and completely control the space between Qicheng and the fortress.
However, if Gao Xingzhou just wanted to run away with his son Gao Huaide and a few of his confidants, it would be fine, but Qicheng's army would definitely not be able to leave.
Therefore, Fu Yanqing stood at the end of the iron cable bridge, looking up to the sky and sighing, "I am not as noble and loyal as I am for serving the country!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard loud shouts of murder in the distance.
It turned out that the Han army in Yanyun and the captured people of Weizhou led by Governor Zhao Yanshou were digging trenches, while the troops in Qicheng went out to harass them.
You read that right, the ones digging the trenches were not the ones defending the city, but the ones attacking the city.
It turned out that due to the Khitans' poor ability to build siege equipment, they were unable to capture Qicheng, a small but strong city.
So they could only dig trenches to trap the Qicheng defenders in the city, then attack and pull out the fortress east of Qicheng with all their strength, and then turn back to attack Qicheng, or use thousands of soldiers and horses to trap the Qicheng defenders, and then the army crossed the river.
.
Gao Huaide is just seventeen years old this year, which is the age when young people are full of energy.
The Gao family is also a martial artist of the times, and is from Zhengding County, Changshan. Since Zhang Zhao made the Romance of the Three Kingdoms popular all over the world, Gao Huaide was also called Xiao Zilong by the people of the time because he was from Zhao Zilong's hometown.
Gao Huaide also claimed this title. At this moment, he was riding a white horse, rushing left and right.
When a group of Khitan cavalry saw that the Jin army was about to rush into the civilian camp digging a trench, they immediately followed Yelu Wuzhi's order and rode out with a hundred cavalry, hoping to attack Gao Huaide from the east.
Gao Huaide saw it from a distance, so he simply took 30 cavalry and continued to the Khitan civilian camp to clash, pretending that he had not seen it at all.
The Khitan cavalry general was overjoyed when he saw this, thinking that Gao Huaide was on his head and could not see clearly what was going on around him.
But when he rushed to a distance of fifty or sixty steps from Gao Huaide without any effort, he did not hesitate.
Gao Huaide suddenly drew an arc, bypassed the civilian camp, drew his horse to the left, and faced the Khitan cavalry charging towards him from the side.
That's what it means to be bold in art.
Gao Huaide clamped the horse's belly tightly, picked up three arrows from the Hulu, opened and closed the copper-tied iron-backed bow in his hand three times, and the three arrows flew past like meteors.
This kind of terrifying big bow with iron bars inlaid on the back of the bow usually has a strength of about one stone, three or four, and it cannot be pulled by a non-brave general.
Murong Nobunaga liked to use this kind of bow when killing important targets.
And with Zhang Zhao's ability, he could only serve salad twice.
But after Gao Huaide pulled it three times, he took out another arrow and shot the fourth arrow.
With such strong force, the arrows fired were extremely powerful. As soon as the Khitan cavalryman raised the short bow in his hand, he was hit by Gao Huaide's arrow.
This thick arrow, like a shovel, instantly cut a bloody groove on the left chest of the Khitan cavalryman.
Even the refined cowhide armor could not stop this terrifying destructive power. The arrow mercilessly penetrated the cavalryman's left chest, tearing off the bits and pieces of the cowhide armor and piercing the flesh along the wound.
The cavalryman who was suddenly hit hard on the chest screamed, a mouthful of blood spurted out from his mouth, and then he fell straight from his horse.
It seems that not only was the armor pierced, but the internal organs were also injured by the huge impact.
As the cavalryman fell to the ground, the three cavalrymen following him were all hit by Gao Huaide from more than fifty steps away. Without exception, they all screamed and fell off their horses.
Seeing Gao Huaide's excellent shooting, the morale of the Jin cavalry following him was greatly boosted. They fired their bows and arrows one after another, and then rushed forward to fight hand to hand with their spears and sabers.
This group of about 100 Khitan cavalrymen was beaten by Gao Huaide's 30 cavalrymen.
In fact, there is a peculiar pattern in today's Shanxi and Liao Dynasties.
That is, when the cavalry is fighting with less than 500 cavalry, the Khitans are far from being the opponents of the Jin army.
Because most of the cavalry of the Jin army came from Hedong and Hebei, and these places have inheritance.
Not only the riding skills are passed down, but also the armor and horses.
In a small to medium-sized cavalry battle involving less than 500 cavalry, the Khitans, who have been struggling outside the Great Wall and have only risen for a few decades, are no match for the Central Plains warrior family.
Often when the fighting started, everyone would be beaten until they screamed in agony.
But when the number of cavalry duels increased, especially when thousands or even thousands of cavalry were involved in the decisive battle, the Khitan people's ethnic attributes of fishing and hunting prairie began to gain the upper hand.
Their overall riding and archery skills began to overwhelm the Jin cavalry, and they were often able to win.
After Gao Huaide and others defeated the Khitan cavalry, they did not return to the city, but continued to rush towards the Khitan civilian husband camp while they still had some horsepower.
In fact, when Gao Huaide left the city now, he clearly felt that the trenches dug by the Khitans had greatly restricted their movements.
If these trenches were completed, the entire Qicheng army would be trapped and die in the city, especially the cavalry, which was the last resort for him and his father Gao Xingzhou to save their lives.
There is definitely no such thing as the death of both the city and the city. In this era, Gao Xingzhou and his son are already extremely loyal if they can survive until now.
In the distance, the Yelu housekeepers were furious. Gao Huaide was already at the end of his strength and was about to run out of power. He actually wanted to charge at his civilian camp in order to disperse the crowd digging trenches. It was a bit of a slap in the face.
"Order the Iron Pigeon Army and the Iron Falcon Army to each select a team of elite cavalry, and be sure to win this one!"
Yelvwuzhi pointed at the approaching Gao Huaide and roared loudly.
Both the Iron Pigeon Army and the Iron Falcon Army belong to the Khitan Pishi Army's iron cavalry. There are about three hundred people in a cavalry team, and now six hundred people are out in battle.
It seems inevitable.
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
There are too few records of the First Battle of Qicheng between Shanxi and Liao Dynasties, and there are also some contradictions. Recently, I have found two in one head. I don’t know if I will update it an hour or two later at night, because I still have to update the old and new five generations.
Let’s try to restore the nature of novels for those things that are unclear in history.
