The carriage came slowly, and the sound of horse hooves broke the tranquility of the night.
On the high city wall, Yang Lu, the former commander of the Wudong Guards, had a frown on his face.
Li Xing, the elder of Wushan Palace in Yunzhou, stood next to him, his eyes filled with excitement.
"Sir, please let someone open the city gate."
Li Xing said softly.
Yang Lu frowned and said, "Do we have to unite with the Holy Cult?"
He dislikes the Holy Cult very much in Shuzhou. Although he and the Holy Cult are now serving Changping Hou Maojiang, Rang is still unwilling to deal with the people of the Holy Cult because he is very aware of the evil things done by the Holy Cult in Shuzhou.
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"Sir, this time it's not just the Holy Cult leader, but also the master of our Wushan Palace!" Li Xing said calmly.
Yang Lu was slightly startled and looked at the carriage coming to the city.
"The palace master is coming too?"
"That's natural. There are two innate warriors under the command of the King of Xin'an County. Although we can rely on the strong city defense of Pingman Pass, we must be prepared to face the two innate warriors." Li Xing advised.
Yang Lu lowered his head and fell silent.
A large part of the reason why he joined Changping Hou Maojiang came from Tang Mingcheng, but now that Tang Mingcheng has become a prisoner, should he continue to work for Mao Jiang?
To be honest, he was a little hesitant.
Now he can still make a choice, but if the leader of the Holy Cult and the master of Wushan Palace enter Pingman Pass, he will no longer have any choice.
"Sir, at this point, you should not have any illusions about the court."
Li Xing said softly: "You are rebellious!"
"I~" Hearing this, Yang Lu suddenly raised his head and wanted to refute.
"Everyone in Shuzhou knows that you are rebellious and that you have joined the Marquis's command." Li Xing continued.
Yang Lu stared at him, his expression becoming more ferocious.
However, Li Xing showed no fear at all and just said: "Master Yang, recognize the reality."
Yang Lu gasped violently, wanting to get angry but not daring to do so.
He stared at Li Xing intently, and took a deep breath helplessly for a long time.
"Open the door!"
He roared with all his strength, seeming to express the anger and frustration in his heart, and also seeming to encourage himself and make himself stronger.
Then he slowly walked down the city wall and came to the city gate.
The door bolt was pulled, a heavy creaking sound was heard, and the heavy city gate slowly opened.
In front of the city gate, there was a dilapidated carriage parked under the cold moonlight. Beside the carriage were a dozen Holy Christians wearing black hats.
Li Zhongxian slowly stepped down from the carriage. He first looked up at the tall and majestic Pingman Pass.
Under the dim night, Pingman Pass looked like a ferocious beast lying between two knife-cut peaks.
He withdrew his gaze and looked at Yang Lu who was walking out of the city gate with a serious expression on his face.
His stern expression was not directed at Yang Lu, but because of his inner feelings during this period.
After Qin Wei, the king of Xin'an County, entered Shuzhou, he first planned to help Luan Ping, the prefect of Xinning, attack and kill Qin Wei. However, before he could reach Xinning Prefecture, Luan Ping had already been captured by Yuwen Chengdu.
Later, he wanted to join forces with Tang Mingcheng to defeat Qin Wei and the Anning Army in Xin'an Prefecture, but they were defeated first, and even Tang Mingcheng was imprisoned in Chengdu.
Then Qin Wei led the Anning Army southward, and at the same time, the Zhenwu Division teamed up with Baiyin Valley to attack everywhere, uprooting the holy sect's strongholds in Shuzhou one by one.
Faced with this situation, he was very angry and wanted to kill Qin Wei immediately, but he couldn't do it, he really couldn't.
At this time, his heart was full of frustration and resentment, and naturally he didn't look good.
"I've met senior!"
Yang Lu and Li Xing came to Li Zhongxian and bowed their hands.
"When will your palace master arrive?" Li Zhongxian asked in a deep voice.
Li Xing replied: "The palace master will arrive at Pingman Pass tomorrow."
Li Zhongxian nodded and said: "Arrange a room for me. If you have nothing to do, don't disturb me."
Then the group entered Pingman Pass.
The cold moonlight spread, and the heavy city gate closed.
…
March 28th.
Qin Wei led 30,000 Anning troops along the official road to Pingman Pass.
Pingman Pass has hillsides on both sides and a valley bottom in the middle. The official road is built along the valley bottom.
As the army moved forward, the mountains on both sides of the official road became higher and higher, and the valley bottom in the middle slowly turned into a canyon. Until under Pingmanguan City, the mountains on both sides had turned into two towering peaks.
The peaks and ridges are thousands of feet high, reaching straight into the sky like two long swords.
Qin Wei looked up at the towering peaks and frowned slightly. It was simply impossible to climb up such peaks. Even if an innate warrior could walk on the air, it would probably take some effort to climb up.
He looked at the majestic Pingman Pass again, and his frown deepened.
Nearly ten feet high city wall!
Even Kyoto's city walls are not that high.
Under normal circumstances, the walls of Dali City are only three to five feet long. The walls of Kyoto are considered high if they exceed eight feet. However, the wall of Pingman Pass is actually close to ten feet, which is more than thirty meters high.
It is not easy to climb the city at such a height.
After some observation, Qin Wei walked into the tent that had just been set up.
Yuwen Chengdu, Liu Qing, Wang An and others also entered the tent.
In the tent, Qin Wei looked at the map and frowned.
"Do you have any ideas for attacking the city?" Qin Wei asked.
Everyone looked at each other, and no one spoke for a while.
They had all observed the terrain around Pingman Pass just now, and found no place that could be exploited at all.
Qin Wei also had a headache and rubbed his eyebrows.
As the saying goes, the first step is to attack the enemy, then the second is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the enemy, and then the third is to attack the city. The method of attacking a city is the last resort.
If possible, Qin Wei's least favorite thing to encounter is attacking a city.
But facing Pingman Pass, he had to attack.
Now that all the Wudong rebels have entered Pingman Pass, they have completely given up on the southern Shu area, which means that any strategy is useless. As long as the opponent does not leave the city, Qin Wei has nothing to do with them.
Siege is a last resort.
There are many problems before him now. If he were to attack the city, first of all, he would not have enough troops under his command.
Judging from the city wall of Pingman Pass, it would definitely be impossible to attack without ten times the enemy's strength.
And even if it were captured, the Anning Army would probably suffer heavy casualties.
Secondly, he lacked siege equipment.
There are no ladders, carts, catapults, or bed crossbows, but only more than a hundred crossbows.
As for gunpowder, there is no such thing as gunpowder in this world!
Qin Wei frowned.
He was thinking about whether to study gunpowder.
But he quickly gave up the idea.
He could produce gunpowder in a short period of time, but it wouldn't be very powerful.
The process of making black powder is not that simple. It cannot be made by mixing potassium nitrate, sulfur and charcoal according to the mass ratio. It must go through a lot of experiments.
Qin Wei doesn't have time to study this thing now.
Besides gunpowder, are there any other methods?
Qin Wei walked to the camp door and looked at Pingman Pass in the distance.
It is definitely not advisable to attack by force, as it will undoubtedly cost lives.
It's impossible to dig in the ground. The ground is full of rocks and it's impossible to dig.
Water attack is not possible, there are no rivers around, and there is no way to borrow water.
Fire attack!
Qin Wei stared at the compact canyon.
Maybe you can try fire attack.
Suddenly the corners of Qin Wei's mouth turned up, and he seemed to have thought of a good idea.
This method may not be able to break through Pingman Pass, but it should make the defenders inside Pingman Pass extremely uncomfortable.
Qin Wei asked: "If we make catapults now, how long will it take to make 200?"
Liu Qing replied: "There are not enough craftsmen in the army. If we recruit craftsmen from around, it will probably take a month."
Although they had experienced many battles before, they had never experienced a serious siege.
Even if it's a city siege, all it takes is Yuwen Chengdu to rush up to the city wall, and the battle is basically over.
But now facing Pingman Pass, even if Yuwen Chengdu rushed forward, it would be of no avail. Qin Wei knew that there must be innate warriors in Pingman Pass without asking.
Although it would take a month to make the catapult, Qin Wei felt that he could wait.
The only advantage to him now is that they have no shortage of wood. There is a lot of wood in the surrounding mountains and forests, and they only need to send soldiers to cut it down.
As for craftsmen, they can be recruited from surrounding prefectures and counties, or they can be mobilized from the rear.
Now that he has taken over most of eastern Shu and southern Shu, it is still very easy to recruit thousands of craftsmen.
"One month! Okay, then immediately recruit craftsmen to make catapults and ladders." Qin Wei said.
"Here!"
Liu Qing responded.
…
In the days that followed, the camp of the Anning Army began to get busy.
Liu Qing was responsible for coordinating the recruitment of craftsmen from the surrounding prefectures and counties, Yuwen Chengdu arranged for soldiers to cut down trees, and Wang An continued to improve the intelligence system of the Imperial City Division while collecting intelligence from all over Dali for Qin Wei.
Most areas in the east and south of Shuzhou have returned to calm. Although there are still a small number of thieves running around, they are no longer able to pose a threat to the prefectures and counties.
The first batch of grain and grass borrowed by Li Ru from Tianzhou has also arrived in Xinning Fucheng, and is arranging for farmers to send it to Pingman Pass.
In addition, Liu Yuanrang and Ji Fei led 8,000 soldiers to Shuzhou City. Although Shuzhou City is still in the hands of the rebels, it is estimated that it will not be long before it can be recaptured. After all, there are still many people and officials in Shuzhou City who are loyal to the imperial court.
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At the same time, Yuan Shizhe led the 20,000 troops of the Lushan Guards to enter the western part of Shuzhou. The situation in the western part of Shuzhou is more complicated, because the western part of Shuzhou is connected with Yuanzhou, and the rebels from the two states have united to defeat them.
It's not an easy task.
However, Yuanzhou Dusi Yamen has also gathered tens of thousands of troops. When they arrive in the southern area of Yuanzhou, they should deal with the rebels in the western part of Shuzhou together.
In Kyoto, the war in the three southwest prefectures did not seem to have any impact on Kyoto.
The Gonggun princes in the court seemed to have forgotten the turmoil in the three southwest states. Perhaps to them, the issues in the three southwest states were far less important than the battle for the crown prince.
It has been more than two months since the prince passed away, and now the court is calm on the surface, but there is an undercurrent surging behind the scenes.