Cao Shixiong looked at Hulejian who was sitting on the horse with his head held high and his eyes far away. He didn't seem to be worried that Mo Lihu's order was being ignored. He just felt bitter in his heart.
If the Chihu people just forced them to massacre in Kelan City, he would feel better, but he never thought of ordering him to lead his troops to attack Xishan and force them to fight against Shuozhou's troops.
But do they have a choice?
"Prepare to attack the prefecture! Wang Gaoxing, Qian Zerui and others think they are noble, today I will make them cry in front of the coffin!" Cao Shixiong pondered for a long time with a gloomy face, and finally gritted his teeth and gave Meng Ping the order to start the attack on the prefecture.
Yamen, give up trying to persuade him to surrender.
"Spit!" Meng Ping spit out a mouthful of thick phlegm into the icy mud. He was so angry that he couldn't calm down. However, after taking a few long breaths, he didn't say anything. He walked away in a muffled voice and prepared to attack the state government.
matters.
In a street-facing shop building not far from the state government office, behind a wooden window, several pairs of eyes stared at the south gate of the state government office through the gaps. After seeing the red cavalry arriving, Cao Shixiong changed his strategy.
They were preparing to storm the state government office. Everyone in the bungalow was shocked and confused.
"What's going on with Cao Shixiong? He doesn't plan to persuade Wang Gaoxing, Qian Zerui, Xun Yannian and others to surrender. Is he planning to storm in and bloodbath Kelan City?" Zhou Jing asked doubtfully.
Wang Gaoxing, Qian Zerui, Xun Yannian and others were able to be vigilant and even gathered the Xiang army to resist before Cao Shixiong formally surrendered to the enemy. In fact, Zhou Jing and others were sent by Xu Huai and had been secretly spreading the news.
Of course, Xu Huai never expected Wang Gaoxing, Qian Zerui, Xun Yannian and others to be able to expel Cao Shixiong from Kelan City with two thousand troops.
The most important reason why he decided to do this was to buy more time for other forces in Lanzhou.
Cao Shixiong has long wanted to surrender to the enemy, which also means that he is most afraid of Shuozhou, so he must station his main troops in Yangkou, and Ningwu will guard against the Tongbai Mountain soldiers from heading south. As for whether the Tongbai Mountain soldiers will escape to Fuzhou via Xishan
, the impact on Cao Shixiong and other Shuozhou surrendered generals was not great.
This also means that Wang Gaoxing, Qian Zerui, and Xun Yannian gathered the Xiang army to control the Lanzhou Prefectural Government. Cao Shixiong could only concentrate the remaining military forces under his command to ensure that there would be no trouble in Kelan City, the important town of Lanzhou, so that he would have no time to worry about it.
Lei Teng, Zhu Run, Xie Zhong and other local forces in Langu and Loufan counties saw the situation clearly and made the right decision, gaining two or three days of precious time.
Otherwise, Cao Shixiong is likely to be able to lure Wang Gaoxing, Qian Zerui, Xun Yannian, Lei Teng, Zhu Run, Xie Zhong and others to Ningwu and imprison them with just an official letter, thereby easily controlling the entire Lanzhou.
.
Cao Shixiong sent troops to besiege Zhouya all night but did not take action. Zhou Jing and others could see that Cao Shixiong still wanted to coerce Wang Gaoxing and local forces to join the Red Husbands. However, they did not expect that a group of Red Husband cavalry galloped into Kelan in the morning light, so they called directly
Cao Shixiong changed his mind.
"Something must have happened. We will leave the city immediately..." Xu Wukun said.
At this time, Cao Shixiong gave up his efforts to win over local forces and decided to attack the prefecture. Next, he would probably bloodbath the prefecture city and eliminate local forces and suspicious figures who might still be loyal to the Yue court.
If they continue to lurk in Kelan City, they will no longer be able to play any role and face unnecessary risks. They might as well take advantage of Cao Shixiong and others' attention to focus on Zhouya
Within, take the opportunity to sneak out of Kelan City.
…………
…………
Kelan was the prefecture of Lanzhou, and the city was not small. The garrison troops originally stationed in the four cities were all transferred by Cao Shixiong to besiege the state government, and the few remaining soldiers and horses were only enough to block the entrance and exit of the city gate.
Xu Wukun, Zhou Jing and the others sneaked to the southwest corner of Kelan City in the morning light. Seeing that there were no soldiers guarding them on the left and right, they climbed up the city wall with hooks and ropes. At this time, they turned around and saw a group of rebel soldiers hugging a beam.
Knock open the south gate of the state government office.
In the eyes of Xu Wukun, Zhou Jing and others, the rebel army's combat effectiveness could not be said to be very strong, but they usually served as soldiers in the yamen of various courtyards without much training. The Xiang army, which was filled with old, weak, sick and disabled, was obviously even worse.
After the south gate of the state government office was knocked open, the Xiang troops inside resisted the arrows for a while with swords and shields. However, after Meng Ping personally led dozens of elite soldiers to rush in like wolves and tigers, they were quickly killed.
Terrified.
Xu Wukun and Zhou Jing watched helplessly as the rebels poured into the government office like a torrent.
The resistance of the Xiang army was actually much weaker than they imagined. They doubted that even Cao Shixiong could take half a day to completely control the situation in Kelan City.
Cao Shixiong sent troops to besiege Zhouya last night. The news should have reached Langu County before early this morning. Xu Wukun and Zhou Jing did not know what Lei Teng, Zhu Run, Xie Zhong and others would do after hearing the news.
What a reaction.
After the failure of the first Northern Expedition against Yan, Lei Teng and Zhu Run got very close to Cao Shixiong and other Shuozhou surrendered generals, but before that they were mainly fighting for positions within the Tianxiong Army.
If Lei Teng and Zhu Run were besieged or captured by Cao Shixiong, Shuozhou would not have high expectations for them, but Cao Shixiong had not yet had time to free up his hands to take care of Langu, so there were some things that he might not be able to win over.
After Xu Wukun and Zhou Jing met with the supporting personnel outside the city, they immediately rode westward, passed Huanglongpo Station, crossed Guanjuan Mountain, and entered Langu County.
Since the soldiers and horses on the front lines of Ningwu and Yangkou were all under the control of Cao Shixiong and other Shuozhou surrender generals, the news of the defeat of the Yan army had not yet spread among the people of Langu County.
Xu Wukun and the others had not seen people fleeing in panic along the way, but they had not seen any soldiers either.
It can be seen that after Lei Teng, Xie Zhong, Zhu Run and others learned that Cao Shixiong sent troops to besiege Zhouya, they had no intention of sending troops to suppress or resist the rebels. At this time, they should gather their troops and horses back to the walled city.
This is also the reason why they can only rely on themselves in this time of chaos.
"Where are we going?" Zhou Jing halted his horse at the top of the northwest foot of Guanxun Mountain and looked northwest.
In front of you is the Caocheng River between Guanlui Mountain and Xishan Mountain. It is one of the few places with abundant water and grass in the east, west and north of the river. However, it is located on the border of Yanyue. Farming is abandoned and overgrown with weeds. There are only a few near the Junzhai City.
The land is cultivated and planted.
In addition to Langu City, Dayue also built military forts such as Caocheng and Guangwu, and built stone-wrapped border walls that extended to Fuzhou to defend against the Hu cavalry moving south.
"Let's go to Guangwu Village." Xu Wukun said.
Guangwuzhai is Jiezhong's defense area.
Because Xie Zhong was close to Zhu Hang and everyone in Tongbaishan, he failed to compete with Lei Teng when it came time to determine the commander of the ninth general of the Tianxiong Army, and he had always been resentful towards Cao Shixiong.
After Chihu officially declared war, Xu Huai's plan was to try his best to persuade Zhu Run and Lei Teng to lead his troops to withdraw to Fuzhou, but at the same time, he hoped to explain the relationship between Xie Zhong and him.
We advance and retreat together.
In addition to the past friendship, apart from knowing Zhong, who also considered himself a member of the royal family, there was another important factor, and that was that Guangwu Village was the key pass from Lan Valley to the Western Mountains.
The success or failure of Guangwu Village is related to the flank security of the passage from Shuozhou to Fuzhou via Xishan.
Even if Jie Zhong has no intention of advancing and retreating with Shuozhou and wants to evacuate to Fuzhou in advance, everyone in Tongbai Mountain must take over Guangwuzhai from Jie Zhong and cannot just sit back and watch it fall into the hands of Cao Shixiong.
At this time, regardless of the horse power, Xu Wukun, Zhou Jing and others worked hard to arrive in front of Guangwu Village before noon.
Guangwuzhai leans on the rugged peaks of Guanlui Mountain to the east, and stretches for hundreds of miles to the northwest. The border wall built along the southern slope of Xishan Mountain was also the boundary wall between Yan and Yue. Who would have thought that the Great Yan Kingdom would soon completely become history.
Guangwu Village is not big, only about three miles around. The rammed earth city wall is more than three feet high and wrapped with bricks. It stands between Guanlui Mountain and Xishan Mountain. It can be said to be a strong fortress that is easy to defend but difficult to attack.
In addition to hundreds of households of border residents, Xie Zhong commanded the Jinxiang Army, which numbered 1,500 soldiers.
The gate of Guangwu Village is now closed, and no one can be seen outside the village.
Even though Liu Jun, a doctor in the Ministry of War, went to Datong to persuade surrender but was shot and killed in the city, Xu Wukun and Zhou Jing still braved the bullet and drove their horses to Guangwu Village and shouted: "The Marquis of Jiejun can be in the village, Xu Wukun of Shuozhou , Zhou Jing came to tell me something important..."
After a while, the village gate opened directly, and they saw Xu Wuqi and Shi Zhen accompanying Xie Zhong to greet them inside the village gate.
The last trace of Xu Wukun's worries came to an end, and he and Zhou Jing led their horses to the stronghold, followed by Xie Zhong, Xu Wuqi, and Shi Zhen. After seeing the ceremony, he said: "Cao Shixiong initially sent troops to surround Zhou Yamen, but in the morning there was a group of red soldiers. The cavalry galloped directly into Kelan. At this time, Cao Shixiong suddenly decided to attack Zhouya. When we escaped from the city, Zhouya had already fallen. Wang Gaoxing, Qian Zerui, Xun Yannian and other princes were probably in danger. What's the situation over there?"
"Last night the Red Huns were in Huairen, and the cavalry from the Jincheng area gathered in the direction of Jingong Mountain. Mr. Shi thought that the Red Husbands could not be attracted by Xu Huai so easily. He was worried that the Red Husbands would make Cao Shixiong attack Guangwu, so he specially pulled I came here to pay homage to the military princes and discuss the matter of guarding Guangwu..." Xu Wuqi said.
"Cao Shixiong is so slippery, will he easily confront us head-on?" Xu Wukun asked with some confusion.
"After the Chihu people rose up in the northwest desert and completed their transformation from a centralized dynasty, their control over the vassal forces was much stricter than that of the traditional tribal alliance; and they were always used to using blood to deal with the weak and remnants of the vassal forces. "We won the battle and carried out ruthless elimination," Shi Zhen said. "The Xishan Fanhu invaded Shuozhou, and the Chihu people were there. They had paid attention to Shuozhou before. Shi felt that the Chihu people would not underestimate the enemy of Xu Junhou. ; We should immediately strengthen Guangwu’s defense..."
Xu Wukun looked towards Xu Wukun with some hesitation.
The troops they have are too limited, only 5,000 people at full strength.
If they had mobilized troops to Guangwu Village in advance to strengthen their defense, and stayed in Houerwu, the number of supporting troops in Shuozhou City would be greatly reduced. They would probably have to watch helplessly as the Red Husbands defeated them with only one or two thousand cavalry. The gap between Jingong Mountain and Xishan Mountain is cut off.
However, if Shi Zhen's judgment was correct, they did not mobilize their troops in time. How could Jie Zhong's frightened Jinxiang Army, which had only 1,500 people, withstand several or even ten times the siege of the rebels?
