Liu Xie began to encircle Qishan in Xinyou in May. As he said, there was no sign of launching an siege on the spot. Instead, he built a long moat on the outside and planned to besiege the city for a long time. In fact, there is no need to do this. Dong Zhang Liao
The soldiers led by Zhao and his party had been running back and forth between the mountains since late April, and they barely had a few days to rest. Even though they were veterans of the military for a long time, many of them clung to the rocks and had blisters on the soles of their feet, making it difficult to move.
But seeing that he was about to return home, he had to be forced back to Qishan by the Western Dynasty, which greatly demoralized the soldiers. What's more, there were Western prisoners in the city who could serve as internal agents. If the city really wanted to be attacked, even if the Qishan Fort was well-fortified, the Xifu
I'm afraid there is a 70% chance of winning.
But in order to avoid the reputation of being a regicide, Liu Xie had already made up his mind to starve to death. He also saw through the Shu army's plot, which was nothing more than to use Hanzhong reinforcements to attack the flanks of the Xifu and force the Western army to come to relieve the siege. This was around Qishan
It was difficult to deal with the wide terrain, but it would take time for the reinforcements from Hanzhong to be mobilized, which gave Liu Xie time to seize the advantageous position. After discussing with Duan Xuan and Pang Tong, he and Zhang Yi and Li Xian respectively fought with Zhang Yi and Li Xian at the mouth of the Du Valley.
Strongholds were set up on high cliffs, both at the narrowest point on the Qishan Road, which was enough to make it difficult for the Shu army to move forward.
Sure enough, in June, Zhang Liao and Zhang Lu led their troops across the road to rescue the siege. However, facing the mountain stronghold between the narrow roads, the Shu army had no good way to attack the city and could only fill the ravine with flesh and blood.
However, comparing the numbers of the two armies, the Hanzhong Army did not have the upper hand. The Xifu Army only had to replace its exhausted divisions every day and take turns garrisoning between the two villages. The fortresses remained as unmoving as rocks. Even if Zhang Lu used his military capital to
With great prestige among the Qiang, they successively mobilized the White Horse Di, Xingguo Di and other Qiang Di from other roads to come to the rescue, but still to no avail.
At this time, news gradually spread to Xiangyang. Knowing that the emperor was trapped in Qishan, Liu Fan began to withdraw his troops back south one after another, and mobilized some naval forces to openly enter Hanzhong from Mianshui. Chen Chong and Liu Bei also heard about the changes in Guanzhong at the same time, and hurriedly
He wrote a letter to the court and stated that he would return as soon as possible.
But misfortunes never come singly. Just when Chen Chong was about to return to Beijing first, the governor of Yuzhou, Zhang Ji, received news that Wu troops had left Huaibei and besieged Ruyin and Longkang. Although Yuzhou had taken precautions against this since last year, for the sake of
In order to avoid more variables, Chen Chong chose to postpone his return to Beijing and instead moved to Xu County, Yingchuan, making a gesture of planning a decisive battle with the Wu army.
For a time, the focus of all parties in Kyushu shifted to the Qishan Mountain Fortress between Longshu and Longshu. The time soon came to July. As Duan Xuan said before, the food in the mountain fortress was not enough. After a long siege, the food supply
It quickly ran out. Even though the soldiers in the city halved their daily food, large-scale famine still inevitably came. The soldiers in the city first discovered rats underground, cicadas and birds by the trees, and then wild vegetables on the mountain fortress.
and tree roots, but they soon faced the dilemma of having nothing to eat. Then one day, the Westerners below the city actually smelled the smell of meat coming from the city. They were surprised and then shuddered: I am afraid that people in the city have begun to interact with each other.
The food was a tragedy.
Someone came to Liu Xie and said, "The city is very hungry, and the soldiers must have lost their courage. It is better to take the opportunity to attack the city, and we will be able to defeat it in one fell swoop!" Liu Xie waved his hands and refused, saying, "The emperor is in the city, and we attack the city recklessly. If
What happened to His Majesty, and who can be held responsible?" So the siege continued.
By mid-July, the second wave of reinforcements from the Shu army arrived in time, led by Pan Jun, and tried to attack Chencang northward, using the strategy of besieging Wei and rescuing Zhao to ease the siege of Qishan. However, Xifu expected that Pan Jun could not break the city and still defended the siege. Not moving. Pan Jun's reinforcements attacked Chencang for ten days, resulting in thousands of casualties. However, there was nothing he could do about Chencang. In the end, he could only bow to the west and lead his army to turn around and return.
In the blink of an eye, in early autumn and August, the Westerners below the city could no longer hear a single chirp of birds or the chirping of cicadas in the fort, let alone the sound of human activities. Only at night, when there were lights on the walls of the mountain fort, could they It is certain that the defenders in the mountain fort are not dead yet.
One afternoon, the sky was dark and gloomy. It seemed to be raining, but the rain never came down. When I breathed, I could only feel the smell of dust. It seemed that the strong wind in the distance had stirred up sand, and the sand floated over and filled the air. Cannot spread in the air.
Seeing the weather, Duan Xuan, the commander-in-chief of the Xifu Army, and Liu Xie, the prince of the Dai Dynasty, rested together in the tent and talked about the situation in Guandong. When they were having a good time, a close friend suddenly came to report that someone in the mountain fort was shouting on the tower. Duan Yan said "Oh" and said, "It's really strange. What was he shouting about?"
"I asked you to surrender," the confidant replied.
Duan Xuan turned to Liu Xie for advice. Liu Xie looked down at his fingernails, making it difficult to see his expression. He said, "I went out hunting with Governor Duan today and didn't know about it." A close confidant. He immediately understood the meaning of refusing to surrender, and without asking any more questions, he bowed his head and exited.
Unexpectedly, Pang Tong rushed in not long after, bowed to Liu Xie and said urgently: "Your Highness, a king should have benevolence and love, how can he be so cruel? It would be against heaven to starve all the people in a city to death. Peace!" Liu Xie was furious when he heard this and cursed: "Support Confucianism! Soldiers are a matter of life and death for the country. It is time to think about the overall situation and abandon one corner. I treat the traitors leniently today, how can I see Zhongliang again in the future?"
"There is still an emperor in the city, how can he be called a traitor? Even if Jiuzhou cannot hear about it today, in the future the history will be as iron as iron, isn't your highness afraid of making fun of future generations?!"
These words made Liu Xie's face turn pale. Duan Xuan on the side saw that his hand was holding the knife habitually, and he couldn't help but break out in cold sweat, for fear that something tragic would happen in the tent.
After a while, Liu Xie said: "You want to be a strong commander, but I am not as dim as Guangwu. My original intention is to delay for a long time to kill them. Liu Xie will leave when he says, surrender when he says, really Does the world belong to his family?" After saying that, he turned to Duan Yan and said, "The governor will inform all ministries and prepare to send people to accept the surrender in an hour."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
The rest of the people in the tent breathed a sigh of relief and praised Liu Xie's kindness. However, at this moment, there was a sudden noise outside the tent, as if something big had happened. Everyone came out of the tent to take a look and found a mighty fire dragon rising from the mountain. The castle boiled up, and the sound of violent burning could be heard even for miles below the city. The smoke of gunpowder filled the nostrils. From a distance, it looked like a pillar connecting the sky and the earth, blending into the black and white clouds and dust in the sky. Then there was a faint sound of low thunder. It seems that even God is mourning for it.
Pang Tong reacted first and said loudly to Liu Xie and others: "The Emperor is here!" and immediately ordered people to put out the fire. But in fact, everyone knew that with such a fire, it would be too late to save people. As expected, many people hadn't even gotten close to the mountain.
I was so stunned by the smoke that I didn’t even dare to approach the fort.
When the clinker soldiers were panicking in front of the city, the door of the mountain fort slowly opened in the heat wave. They saw an old man staggering out with white hair and smoke marks on his face. He was holding a box of wooden letters in his hand and was covered in blood.
Trembling, it seemed that he would fall down at any time. But he still stood still in front of the swords, and asked in a hoarse voice: "Where is the prince? I have something important to report."
Hearing his voice, people realized that this person was Jia Xu, who was famous in Chi County. The army knew that Jia Xu was hungry, so they wanted to give him food first, but Jia Xu refused, and stood there until
Liu Xie led the crowd to come to meet him.
After the two met, Jia Xu first asked: "Did the plan here come from His Highness?" Seeing Liu Xie slightly nodding, he smiled bitterly and said: "I thought I would be burdened by the emperor, even though I have to bear the name of a traitor, it's probably
I can die of old age in Bashu, but I don’t want to be captured by His Highness. There are heroes in the history of the country, and they will not deceive me."
Then he handed the wooden letter in his hand to Liu Xie and said: "Everything your Highness wants is here."
Liu Xie ordered someone to open it, and what was inside was indeed the Imperial Seal and the Six Seals of the Emperor. Liu Xie immediately asked someone to close it, and solemnly put it into his account. Then he turned to Jia Xu and asked, "But I don't know where the Emperor is?" p>
This question is puzzling. Everyone knows that the emperor is under heavy siege. Now the mountain fortress is lit with fire. It is obviously to maintain the emperor's majesty and avoid being humiliated.
But Jia Xu heard the deep meaning of Liu Xie, and he said slowly: "Before His Majesty besieged the city, I deceived the Shu thieves and quietly sent Your Majesty away. Your Majesty actually has no interest in political affairs. He just wants to live in seclusion in the mountains and forests, just to be accepted by others."
Due to coercion, I had to leave. Now leaving the seal to His Highness is also the result of the emperor's order."
"Okay!" Liu Xie was overjoyed after getting what he wanted, and then asked about the specific situation in the city. It turned out that in the past few days, the food in the city had been exhausted, and most of the people in the mountain fortress had starved to death. Dong Zhao wanted to kill the Han people in the city.
The army captured the enemy, but Jia Xu could not stop him, so he led his troops to sneak attack in the middle of the night and killed Dong Zhao and the remaining Shu people. Only then was he able to open the city and surrender. At this time, there were probably less than 200 people alive in the city.
.
When Liu Xie heard this, he couldn't help but look at Jia Xu differently and said, "Jia Gong is really a wonderful person in the world." But he thought in his heart, what should he do with this man who is so clever and scheming? He might as well kill him, otherwise he will become Liu Xie's old minister in the future.
, if you say something or cause any trouble, the situation will be difficult to clean up.
When he made up his mind, Jia Xu saw the change in his eyes and knew his fate. He was already prepared for this. Although he was lamenting in his heart, his face remained calm and he said slowly: "Chen Gu deserves to die, but the innocent family members
, I hope Your Highness will not be involved."
Liu Xie was not annoyed when his thoughts were revealed, but smiled and said: "Don't worry, Mr. Jia, those who want to govern the country will not stop the heirs. I still understand this truth."
After that, he sent someone to pull Jia Xu away, and quickly found a pit. He put a heavy earth bag half a man's height on Jia Xu's head, while another person held down the twitching body under the earth bag.
.After a while, the body under the soil bag became stiff and motionless.
After the fire subsided, Liu Xie sent people to the mountain fort to count the bones. While counting the bones of the emperor, queen, Dong Zhao and others in the attic, he killed all the remaining soldiers who were still alive, and then filled them together in a pile outside the city.
In the big pit.
In this way, all the obstacles to becoming king and emperor were removed. Liu Xiezhi was so proud that he recited a poem to the Han River that night: "The prosperous times have been wasted, and wars have stopped thousands of miles away. Unexpectedly, under Hu Guan, he heard about Chu Ke again.