At the foot of Yining City, as the enemy forces attacking the city temporarily retreated, the fierce battle also temporarily came to an end.
Supervising the battles in the past few days has greatly exhausted Han Zunian's energy. Since the enemy launched the attack, he has spent most of his time on the top of the city, dispatching soldiers to defend and counterattack. He often only has two or three hours to rest in the city.
One of the reasons for being so tiring was that the enemy's offensive was too fierce. On the first day of the siege, they rushed directly to the top of the West City, forcing Han Zunian to urgently mobilize more than a thousand soldiers to fly between the two cities.
Plank Road sent reinforcements from the East City to the West City, and after a fierce battle, they barely managed to hold on to the city.
The second reason is that the strength of the defenders in the city has been greatly reduced. From the initial tens of thousands of troops to less than 5,000 now. Originally, the two cities were guarded across the river and were as solid as a rock. However, with the shortage of defenders, both sides
The two cities were placed side by side, which placed a huge burden on the defenders. As the enemy troops constantly changed their attack positions, they were exhausted from running between the two cities for days.
As the battle continued, the defenders in the city continued to suffer new casualties, making their troops increasingly scarce. Han Zunian had already considered giving up the west city when it was appropriate, and concentrated his troops to retreat to the east city, where a lot of supplies were stored, for later use.
The arrival of road reinforcements.
Taking advantage of the enemy's pause in their offensive, Han Zunian slowly walked down the city wall step by step, and took a break and had some meals in a residence near the city wall.
However, before he had finished eating here, the sound of drums and horns sounded again outside the city. After hearing this sound, Han Zunian subconsciously shook the chopsticks in his hand, threw the chopsticks in and stopped eating, and then hurriedly walked up the city again.
Head, prepare to continue fighting to block the enemy.
However, this time what came out with the sound of drums and horns was not the fully armed enemy soldiers, but hundreds of ragged and dejected soldiers, escorted by hundreds of Wei army knights to an open space not far from the city.
.
Han Zunian took a quick look and recognized that these people outside the city were his own soldiers who had been captured by the enemy before. The soldiers on the city who were waiting for the enemy with their bows also saw it one after another, so they all gathered around.
He raised his bow and arrow and stuck his head out of the city wall to see if there were any relatives or friends among the prisoners.
"Tang Gong is so righteous that he spared your life and provided food and drink for the past few days. Now I am entering the city to persuade the defenders to surrender. You can reunite with your relatives and friends and become meritorious men!"
After the Wei army officers led these prisoners to the city, they shouted orders to them and asked them to shout to the city to persuade them to surrender.
But these prisoners also knew that once they spoke out to persuade them to surrender, it would be considered a definite rebellion in the eyes of the countrymen. The outcome of the battle between the two sides was still undecided. If they shouted to persuade them to surrender for the sake of temporary safety, they would inevitably implicate their relatives and friends in the city, so many of them
Everyone just lowered their heads and said nothing. Even if some people were frightened and wanted to obey the order, when they saw that most of their companions remained silent, they were too timid to speak out.
The prisoners refused to open their mouths and shouted to the city to persuade them to surrender. Pi Jinghe, who had led the prisoners here, simply took off his clothes and showed his face. Then he raised his face and shouted to the city: "Do you, the guards in the city, recognize me? A certain person.
Pi Jinghe, a native of Guangning, was forced to become a thief when he was young and weak. He fought with the Western Dynasty and was captured by my lord Tang Gong.
Tang Gong did not abandon me for my old sins, but instead selected him to be a close friend in the tent. A certain person was granted the title of Shimen Gong in the Western Dynasty, and his official residence was in the Huqi Kaifu. You and other thieves in the city worked for the Gao family group, and several of them were given official titles.
Can you beat me?
We have been attacking for days. You should know that our army is brave and powerful. The envoys of Tang Dynasty came forward to persuade you to surrender, not because they are defeated, but because they pity your lives. If you still persist in evil, the city will be destroyed in the future.
It’s the day when a stubborn thief is given his head! Whether it’s life or death, each of you has his own plan in mind, so make a quick decision!”
"Bang the drum, beat the drum, don't answer this evil sound!"
When Han Zunian heard Pi Jinghe's shouting at the top of the city, his expression changed slightly for a moment, and he hurriedly asked people to create noise at the top of the city to suppress the voice of persuasion to surrender and prevent the defenders from being shaken.
When Pi Jinghe heard the chaotic drumming coming from the top of the city, he did not continue to shout. Instead, he brought a few sheep, slaughtered and skinned them directly by the river, cleaned them and put them on the grill.
Put it on the barbecue. After the mutton was cooked, he began to dismantle the barbecue and share it with the prisoners.
Although the noisy drums on the top of the city can suppress the noise elsewhere, they cannot restrict people's sight. When the defenders on the city saw the scene of prisoners eating mutton, they were naturally deeply touched, and they may not immediately
He wanted to surrender to the enemy, but he also planted in his mind the impression that the enemy would treat the prisoners well.
Not to mention the changes in the thoughts of the defenders at the top of the city, after the prisoners below the city were fed mutton, their emotions fluctuated very intensely for a while. Some prisoners of war couldn't help but shed tears while eating the mutton at the top of the city.
Calling to relatives and friends, although he did not directly persuade him to surrender, his trembling tone and frightened expression conveyed many messages.
Then Pi Jinghe led people to lead these prisoners of war back to the camp for resettlement. In order to let the defenders in the city digest their emotional fluctuations, the Wei army did not continue to attack the city for the rest of the day.
Although the battle did not continue, Han Zunian's mood was quite heavy, and he walked down the city with equally heavy steps.
When he just walked down the city wall, several governors came forward quickly, with expressions on their faces that were hesitant to speak. After looking at each other for a few times, they pushed out a representative and walked to Han Zunian with a low tone.
He opened his mouth and said: "Excuse me, Lord, when will the Pingyuan King's reinforcements arrive?"
After asking this question, he quickly added: "The general is not timid and afraid of fighting. It's just that, after fighting for days, the number of combatable soldiers in the city is less than 3,000. We still have to divide the two cities. There are more and more enemy troops.
, and they are all brave warriors. If there are still no reinforcements rushing to save us, even if we fight to the death, we may not be able to save the city!"
After hearing this, Han Zunian could not help but frown deeply. He knew that the current situation was indeed unfavorable, but it was not as serious as what the general said. The reason why the generals were afraid of difficulties was that
It was just affected by the enemy's mind-attacking tactics.
"Yining City guards Qinyuan, taking into account both the east and west. You all know how heavy the terrain is. How could the king of Pingyuan not know about it? Since we know that the bandits are here to invade, reinforcements will definitely arrive quickly. But the enemy's attack has not lasted for ten days.
The urgent apostle is still on the way, so you can go ahead and ask about the reinforcements. Is it possible that the reinforcements can fly across Guanshan and suddenly arrive at the city?"
He lowered his face and reprimanded the general, and then said: "The only plan now is to wait for reinforcements and don't think of other things! As long as the reinforcements arrive and the rebels are forced back, we all have merit in the defense and we will win."
Great reward!"
After saying this, he waved his hand to reject the generals, and then dragged his tired body back to the military mansion in the city.
However, today was destined to be another eventful day. Shortly after Han Zunian returned to the military mansion, another soldier suddenly reported that another accident had occurred outside the north city. When Han Zunian hurried to the north city, he saw a dozen defeated soldiers shouting outside the city gate.
Request to enter the city.
After Han Zunian inquired for a while, he found out that these people were the defenders of Guyuan City, and Guyuan City was suddenly attacked by a group of enemy troops a few days ago. The defenders were caught off guard and were attacked by thieves. After a battle, they finally defended the city.
The army was defeated and retreated from the city, fleeing south to report a rebellion and ask for help.
After learning about this, Han Zunian's eyes suddenly darkened and he was almost unsteady on his feet. As the seat of Yining County, Guyuan City did not retain heavy troops, but it housed many military family members, and Yining City could only communicate with Yining City through Guyuan City.
It is connected with Wusu Town and other city garrison in the rear.
The enemy's attacks on the front were already ferocious for days. Unexpectedly, they sent a surprise force to bypass the rear and attack Guyuan City. For a moment, Han Zunian was in a state of confusion. It took him a while to react, and he hurriedly looked at the sergeants present.
They ordered: "This matter must be kept secret and must not be leaked to the outside world, so as not to cause panic to the soldiers and civilians in the city!"
"But, but, there are several others who were with us, who were escorted into the city by the Xicheng defenders."
The sergeants here hurriedly nodded in agreement after hearing this, but soon another sergeant suddenly slapped his forehead and spoke.
After Han Zunian heard this, his expression suddenly froze. He hurriedly summoned dozens of cronies and prepared to go to Xicheng via the plank road connecting the two cities to control the spread of the news.
But before he could reach the west wall of the city, suddenly another soldier came to report: "Your Majesty, something bad happened! The defenders of the west city cut off the plank road and opened the city to surrender to the enemy..."
Han Zunian's expression changed even more when he heard this. When he finally arrived at the top of the city, he saw that the connection between the two cities had long been severed. The west city guard had already led nearly a thousand defenders to open the city.
He opened the gate, threw all the bows, knives and instruments out of the city, and sent people to the enemy camp on the opposite side to ask for surrender.
A series of changes hit Han Zunian hard. In order to avoid unrest in the city, he personally patrolled the city with a knife. After some intimidation, the situation was temporarily stabilized. And he did not dare to relax and stayed in the city.
Monitor the movement inside and outside with your head until nightfall, when you fall asleep due to physical and mental exhaustion.
In his sleep, Han Zunian only felt abnormal bumps, and his hands and feet were in great pain, as if he was entangled and bound by a poisonous snake. He suddenly opened his eyes in a daze, only to see light and shadow floating in front of him, and soon a familiar face appeared in front of him.
She smiled at him and said, "General Han is awake?"
"You, you are Zhang Baoluo and Shijun Zhang? What about you? How could I see you? Could it be that I am also dead...and have gone to hell?"
Han Zunian thought about it for a moment, and then he remembered that the face in front of him was Zhang Baoluo, who had been captured by the enemy and executed earlier. He was shocked in his heart and said in a trembling voice.
After Zhang Baoluo heard this, his expression suddenly became a little embarrassed. The smile on his face faded slightly. He looked at Han Zunian and said: "General Han is not dead yet. He was just kidnapped by your subordinates and asked to surrender. See you later, my lord Tang.
Only Grand Prime Minister Li can decide your life or death!"