More and more generals jumped on the wall, slashed with swords and shields, stabbed with spears, and hacked to death the enemy soldiers who had climbed up the wall in a hurry but had not yet understood the situation, or drove them off the wall.
The Yunzhou Han army's company camp located on the second level of siege line, the size of a single camp is not large, less than 500 steps square.
There were not many bonfires lit in the camp at this time. The Chushan cavalry generals who jumped on the wall of the camp threw their torches into the enemy camp.
The Han army in Yunzhou besieged Taiyuan in the north for a year. The camp and the military buildings inside were all built into semi-fixed structures. Although the houses in the camp were almost all made of felled wood, an extra layer of thick mud was applied to prevent fire.
It is unrealistic to start a fire in the enemy camp, but the torches thrown are coated with rosin and will not be extinguished so easily.
The Chushan generals only needed more light at this time to provide convenience for them to enter the camp and fight in depth.
Marching southward from Tianmen Mountain, marching in the dark night with fire in the wind and snow, and braving the rain of locust arrows, they passed through the narrow spaces on both sides of the Yunzhou Han army camp, and immediately launched an offensive before reaching the company camps.
, it is impossible for the various troops and horses to avoid chaos.
Previously, the Chushan generals attacked the wall from the front of the camp, and it was easy to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy. However, the formations were completely scattered. Hundreds of thousands rushed to rush into the camp. The speed of the advance was fast and slow, and the light was like that.
It was dark, and the difference between the armors and uniforms of both sides was not obvious. At this time, distinguishing ourselves from the enemy mainly relied on passwords and the familiar accents of the generals and soldiers.
"Zhuangzhi is hungry for Hulu meat..."
"Joking about drinking the blood of the Huns..."
"Expel the Huru..."
"Give me back my mountains and rivers..."
Roaring and roaring, shaking the heaven and earth, shaking people's hearts, Chushan generals advanced deep into the enemy camp like wolves and tigers, tearing all hasty and panic resistance into pieces...
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During the previous dynasty, the west of Taiyuan City was built against the majestic mountains of Luliang Mountain. The Fenshui River rushed out from the deep gorge of Luliang Mountain and turned south from the southwest corner of the city.
At that time, the terrain where Taiyuan City was located was much more steep than it is now.
In the early days of the establishment of the Dai Viet Dynasty, Emperor Taizu led hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses to personally conquer Taiyuan. It was difficult to capture Taiyuan for a long time, so he was forced to build a dam in the Fenshui River and cut off the river, causing the Fenshui River to flow back into Taiyuan City.
After the old city of Taiyuan was destroyed, a new city was relocated and rebuilt to the east of the old site, far away from the Luliang Mountains to the west and the Fenshui River to the southwest.
Xu Huai stood on the wall of the village, looking at the complete ruins of Taiyuan City that was fully revealed in the morning light. Recalling the situation a few years ago when he escorted Wang Xun north to Lanzhou and passed through Taiyuan on his way to his post, who could have imagined that in just three years
In four years, everything turned out to be nothing but people and things.
"That's Qian Langjun and the others..."
By this time, the soldiers of Chushan fought fiercely all night and had completely occupied the two company camps between the Han army camp in Yunzhou and the north gate of Taiyuan. They also sent troops to occupy several outposts on the south side, opening up the connection with Taiyuan.
At this time, dozens of people walked out from the north gate of Taiyuan. When they crossed the front base, Wang Zhang saw Qian Zerui among these people.
"Zheng Tu, go and greet Mr. Qian on my behalf!"
Opening up contact with Taiyuan City is the first step.
In addition to the ongoing attacks on the enemy camps on both wings, Xu Xin'an and Yang Qiye each led four to five hundred soldiers to block the north and south gates of the Yunzhou Han Army camp. Li Chulin may send troops from the Yunzhou Han Army camp at any time to launch a counterattack.
At this time, Xu Huai needed to stay at a high place and keep an eye on the changes on the battlefield. He did not dare to leave for a moment, so he asked Zheng Tu to greet Qian Zerui and others on his behalf.
"Marquis Xu Jun, General Wen, you recognize him. This is Xu Wei, the prefect of Taiyuan..." Qian Zerui dragged his weak body and asked someone to help him climb the wall and introduce Taiyuan coach Xu Wei.
Xu Huai had never met Xu Wei before, but he had met Wen Hengyue.
At this time, Wen Hengyue was so thin that his cheekbones were high and his eye sockets were sunken. His once extremely strong figure was now reduced to a tall frame. Compared with when he was in Shuozhou, he looked completely different.
.
Xu Huai was also startled, and hurriedly saluted Xu Wei and Wen Hengyue, saying: "Xu Huai is fortunate to have fulfilled his mission. It is a good fortune to meet Mr. Xu Fu and General Wen in the north of Taiyuan City!"
Xu Wei, Wen Hengyue, Qian Zerui and others resisted the decree and refused to surrender. It was impossible for the court to hold them accountable for their crimes, and they were unable to relieve the siege of Taiyuan. However, it was "generous" to reward officials and titles.
At this time, Xu Wei was granted the title of Minister of the Ministry of War, and also led the transfer envoy to Hedong, the magistrate of Taiyuan, and the supervisor of the army and horses. Wen Hengyue was in charge of the Tianxiong Army and the commander of the Xiang Army. Even Qian Zerui was granted the title of Privy Council Commander.
Taiyuan Prefecture Judge and other positions.
Xu Huai sent him to be the magistrate of Chushan County, and the capital of Tianxiong Army was Yuhou.
After the imperial court lifted the power of the Caizhou Defense Envoy to control the troops and horses of the Qin Dynasty, Xu Huai served as the magistrate of Chushan County. The Chushan rural soldiers under his command were nominally under the jurisdiction of Caizhou. However, as the capital of the Tianxiong Army, Xu Huai
Hou, nominally under the control of Taiyuan.
Of course, Xu Huai bowed his head to Xu Wei and Wen Hengyue, and still respected their integrity and perseverance.
Without Xu Wei, Wen Hengyue led hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians to defend Taiyuan for a year. Not to mention that there would not have been a thousand-mile raid, the situation in the entire Hehuai River would be even worse than it is now.
In the first southern invasion, the main force of the Chihu people's Western Route Army was not that they did not want to go south, but that Taiyuan City had not fallen.
At the same time, their understanding of Hehuai was not deep enough, so they were forced to choose a relatively safe strategy for dispatching troops.
If Taiyuan had fallen when the Chihu people invaded the south for the first time, it would be such a desperate situation to think about how the main force of the Chihu Western Route Army would have gone south directly along the Fen River.
In that case, the main force of the Chihu West Route Army will directly insert into Jiangzhou and Puzhou, or attack Guanzhong from Puban, or go south from Maojin Ferry to occupy Luoyang, and there will be no defensive battle in Gong County at all.
Without the persistence of Taiyuan, the Chihu people's first southern invasion would probably have wiped out the main force of the Western Army. It is very likely that by this time, Guanshan, Luoyang and other places would have fallen into the hands of the Chihu people.
Although the situation in Hehuai has been completely eroded, and Bianliang may fall at any time, Taiyuan held on for a full year, holding back the main force of the Chihu West Route Army for seven or eight months, and also forced the main force of the Chihu East Route Army to retreat on the 4th or 5th.
In March, they were forced to retreat to Yanji and rest for three or four months before heading south again.
This actually bought extremely critical time for internal military mobilization and adjustments in Jianghuai, Guanshan, Jinghu and other places, and also saved more hope for finally resisting the southern invasion of the Chihu people in Jianghuai and other places.
The reason why Xiao Linshi and others still believe that there is hope for the Southern Dynasty must go to Xu Wei, Wen Hengyue, Qian Zerui and the Taiyuan army and people.
It is also true that Zheng Huaizhong, Qian Shangduan, Qiao Jien and others did not object to Xu Huai leading his troops to raid Taiyuan.
They all knew that whether Xu Huai's raid on Taiyuan was successful or not, it would win King Jing a huge reputation, and at the same time it would make it impossible to accuse them of not watching the fall of Bianliang.
Putting aside the calculations of Zheng Huaizhong and others, Xu Huaidu felt that Xu Wei, Wen Hengyue and others were worthy of his heavy courtesy.
"Marquis Xu Jun is so polite, Xu (Wen) dare not accept this great gift!"
Xu Wei and Wen Hengyue hurriedly returned the courtesy.
At this time, Taiyuan City was alone in the heart of the enemy-occupied area. Even though Qian Zerui met King Jing from Puban and Zheng Huaizhong returned later, they did not believe that there would be reinforcements.
Although Xu Huai was ordered by King Jing, who has dared to lead a lone army, ignore an enemy ten times stronger and go deep into the enemy's territory throughout the ages? Is there any famous general who has been passed down through the ages?
What's more, Xu Huai led the Chushan Army to attack Taiyuan, which really brought hope of life to tens of thousands of people in Taiyuan.
Wen Hengyue's contact with Xu Huai was also very short. The most profound impression he had before was that Xu Huai helped Wang Fan seize the military power of the Tianxiong Army from Ge Boyi and kill Ge Huaicong and others. Therefore, he was deeply prejudiced against Xu Huai, even though he was in the process of seizing the army.
He also continued to serve as a general under Wang Fan.
Xu Wei had not been in contact with Xu Huai in the past, but the rumors he heard were all detrimental to Xu Huai.
However, it is said that fire can refine real gold. In the face of Xu Huai's steadfast body like the God of War, in the face of the fierce battle on the left and right wings that has not stopped, and in the outer periphery, the enemy troops are still several times their number but show no fear.
Prejudices and rumors were shattered in an instant.
"Hurry up and bring some meat porridge to Xu Fujun and the others!" Xu Huai saw Xu Wei, Wen Hengyue and others were weak, and hurriedly ordered him to go down, and then explained, "The enemy's grain reserves are mainly in Yunzhou Han in the north.
In the military camp, we captured two enemy strongholds and still seized hundreds of stones of millet. I asked them to chop up the horse meat and cook it with millet as soon as possible..."
"How much food did Marquis Xu Jun bring this time? Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians have suffered from hunger for too long. Now few of them can hold swords and guns. Without food to replenish it, let alone break through, it will be difficult to get out of Taiyuan City!
"Xu Wei asked with concern.
The several hundred stones of grain seized at this time were not enough to feed the entire city's soldiers and civilians.
Qian Zerui returned to Taiyuan and tried his best to persuade Xu Wei and Wen Hengyue to prepare for a breakout. However, except for Xu Wei and Wen Hengyue, they did not believe that there would be reinforcements, and they were running out of food.
In order to save physical strength, the generals stayed on the city wall from day to night. Even if the enemy used trebuchets to throw stones, no one went down to the city. Many people thought they would rather be killed by the stone bullets and be relieved;
People are lying at home waiting to die, and they only have the energy to dig tree cores to satisfy their hunger.
To break through, the first thing to solve is food.
Xu Huai said: "We don't carry much food, but we have 5,000 horses on this trip. In addition to keeping 2,000 war horses as spares as much as possible, the other horses can be slaughtered and eaten. Of course, we must be able to capture the Han army in Yunzhou as quickly as possible.
Daying, that’s the best…”
Xu Huai tried his best to accumulate less than 6,000 good horses in Tongbai Mountain.
In order to raid Taiyuan this time, Xu Huai brought more than 4,000 horses from Chushan. Together with Yang Qiye's and Zheng Jinqing's troops, the total was more than 5,000 horses.
Now that the war horses were being slaughtered to serve as military rations, Xu Huai's heart was bleeding, but there was no way. In order to march quickly and to make the enemy completely defenseless, they set out from Fuzhou without carrying much food and grass.
"Okay!" Xu Wei and Wen Hengyue cheered repeatedly.
One to two million kilograms of meat, plus the seizures from the subsequent attack on the enemy camp, should be enough to support at least one hundred thousand soldiers and civilians for the first half of the month. And with this foundation, only one hundred thousand soldiers and civilians can hope to break through...
