‘Dong Dong! Dong Dong!’ The polished boulders, the size of a human head, were thrown by the trebuchet, whizzing towards Yuanzhou City.
After a while, the only remaining turret at the head of Yuanzhou City, which may have been built during the Tang Dynasty, was completely destroyed.
On Yuanzhou City, people with swords and guns came and went, running around like panicked ants, and their cries could even be heard by the Guiyi Army outside the city.
In the northwest of Yuanzhou City, four thousand Dongshan Party Xiang cavalrymen who were invited by Li Zhongchao, the leader of the Yuanzhou Party, to jointly fight against the "Tubo bandits", gathered under a hillock.
These party cavalry were wearing khaki and gray-brown leather robes, and there were about a few hundred of them wearing some messy armor.
Although everyone has a bow, there are not many sophisticated swords and guns. Some of the braver ones are scattered in groups of twenty or thirty people on horseback.
This was a defensive reconnaissance for fear of being outflanked by Zhang Zhao and others, but it seemed a little late.
Facing them were the more than two hundred Basimi Qingqi and the Nestorian knights recruited by Suiye in the capital of Hanshan.
From a distance, there is a huge gap between the two sides in terms of equipment.
These Hanshandu cavalry were all dressed in cotton-padded clothes, shiny chainmail coats, and double helmets with visors on their heads. Their fine iron swords shone brightly in their hands, and their horses were even more majestic and majestic.
The two sides faced off for about two-quarters of an hour. There were more than 400 knights from the Hanshan tribe, but the more than 4,000 knights from the Dongshan tribe didn't dare to come up, and they didn't even provoke.
A gust of yellow sand blew in with the northwest wind, and Dongshan Dangxiang, who was already a bit disgraced, felt even more inferior.
They feel like they are like wild dogs on the roadside, while others are like gods in the sky.
Of course, the more important reason is that the Dongshan tribe's party members did not dare to come up at all, because they regarded Zhang Zhao's rebel army, which was fully armored, as the army of the Central Plains court.
Although four years ago in 933, the Dingnan Army Jiedushi Li Yichao strengthened the walls and cleared the country, which depleted the army of the Later Tang Dynasty and made various parties begin to despise the imperial court.
However, the Dongshan tribe in Gyeongju was not as powerful as the Pingxia tribe of the Dingnan Army Jiedushi, let alone as united as they were. Therefore, the Central Plains imperial court was still a behemoth that could not be offended by the Dongshan tribe.
When they saw that the Guiyi army had a large number of armors, generals and officials, they immediately scolded them. In their opinion, Yuanzhou's party members must have offended the imperial court, which was why the imperial court sent out a large army, but they were deceived into saying they were attacking Tibet.
.
While cursing, Dongshan Dangxiang immediately gave up when he saw the trebuchet.
A young general came out of the military formation, accompanied by more than ten followers, and ran toward the Guiyi Army under a large gray-white flag.
"I don't know which commander is here? Li Yanli from the East Mountain Division has come to pay his respects!"
Zhang Zhao looked at the young general in front of him. He was tall and upright in appearance. At first glance, he was not one of those low-level party members who sleep in the sheepfold all day long. Moreover, in terms of his hairstyle, clothing and accent, he looked exactly like a Han Chinese.
The hairstyles of the Dangxiang people, which are most impressive to later generations, are all kinds of weird hairstyles for bald heads.
That thing was actually created by Li Yuanhao. After this guy rebelled, he discovered that after hundreds of years of integration, there was basically no difference between the Dangxiang people and the Han people.
So in order to show that his rebellion was justified, he tried every means to make the party members bald, just to make them different from the Han people.
But now, Li Yuanhao's great-grandfather Li Guangyan is still missing. Dongshanbu said that he is a party member. Except that he is extremely poor, he is not much different from the Han people.
"How could you be such a madman and dare to lead a crowd to peek at the army? Do you know that the country's laws are strict? You are in front of Sikong, the governor of the school, Zhang Sikong, the governor of Hexi Province and the governor of the four states of Shanlan and Hekuo, and you haven't paid homage yet!"
Li Yanli was stunned for a moment. Isn't Hexi outside the country? What the hell is the Shanlan Hekuo Four State Festival? Besides, these armors are not something Hexi can afford!
However, Zhang Zhao was too lazy to explain to him that if he hadn't seen that Dongshan Dangxiang had not surrendered to Pingxia Dangxiang, he would have killed them long ago if he had to deal with Li Yiyin, the military governor of the Dingnan Army.
"Who are you, the governor of Qingzhou?" Zhang Zhao asked slowly.
"It's my father!" Li Yanli looked at this man who was about the same age as him but had a good temperament. For some reason, he felt a very strong sense of authority.
"It's true that after the imperial court ordered officials, a certain person raised troops to quell the rebellion in Weizhou according to the national edict. Are you here to help me put down the rebellion?"
Zhang Zhao opened his mouth and said that Dongshan Dangxiang, who had been invited by Dangxiang from Yuanzhou City to help him, was here to help him.
Just as Li Yanli wanted to kill him, Zhang Zhao's face darkened, "If you didn't come to serve the imperial court and help suppress the rebellion, then do you want to go to Weizhou and join the rebellion?
The imperial court treats you Dongshan tribe very well. I hate the most disloyal and unjust person in my life. If I heard about it, I would go thousands of miles away to kill him!"
"Ah! Uh! This..." Li Yanli was speechless for more than ten seconds, and suddenly he heard bursts of exclamations.
It turned out that another group of well-equipped light cavalry with at least 500 people and more was galloping over from a distance. Just these 1,000 people could make 4,000 of them suffer a big loss.
"That's right! My father is also a loyal minister of the imperial court. Hearing that there was chaos in Weizhou, he sent his brother Yansi and me to help annihilate the rebels!"
Li Yanli wiped his hands with cold sweat. Although everything seemed strange at the moment, he still had to stabilize the commander in front of him first.
"Since we are helping to suppress the rebellion, the various ministries in Yuanzhou City are being arrogant and rude, blocking the passage of the counter-rebellion army. Please invite this Li Langjun to lead the army as the vanguard of the army! If you break this city, you will definitely ask the saint for credit.
!”
Damn it! Li Yanli suddenly froze. He was invited by Li Zhongchao from the city to help him, and they were also in-laws. If he turned around and attacked Yuanzhou, he would be torn apart by the big and small-headed tribesmen.
After wiping away the dripping sweat, Li Yanli finally knelt down with his legs.
"Reporting to Sikong, Li Zhongchao in Yuanzhou has been loyal to the imperial court for generations. There must be a misunderstanding today. I would like to go to the city and ask Li Zhongchao to come and explain."
"Boom!" While the two were talking, the west gate of Yuanzhou was finally destroyed by a large section.
Zhang Zhao smiled faintly and grabbed Li Yanli's arm. Li Yanli was shocked and tried to pull away, but he couldn't pull it away. His face turned pale with fear.
"Explain? I don't need to look at it anymore. Come with me into the city and let Li Zhongchao explain to someone's long sword!"
Li Yanli, who couldn't pull his arm back, was a smart man after all. When he saw that the Hexi soldiers and horses did not take advantage of the collapse of the city wall to rush in, he immediately understood something.
"Please also ask Commander-in-Chief to be magnanimous. We, Gyeongju Dongsan Dangxiang and Wonju Dangxiang, are all loyal to the imperial court."
"If Li Zhongchao can surrender within a quarter of an hour, I will spare his life, and of course, your lives too!"
Zhang Zhao smiled, looking a little tired, but his eyes revealed ferocity.
Because Bai Congxin's troops had spared a large circle, they finally bypassed the Qingshui River and suddenly appeared behind Dongshan Dangxiang.
These party members sent scouts to the left and right, but they did not expect that Zhang Zhao had already arranged for people to come around from the upper reaches of the Qingshui River.
The equipment gap between the two sides was too big, and they thought that the Guiyi army was the imperial army, so they were at a psychological disadvantage. As soon as Bai Congxin got around to the back, more than 4,000 horsemen from the Eastern Mountain Division began to escape to the west.
"Please be kind to Sikong! I am willing to enter the city!" Li Yanli finally knelt down on his knees. Others had better horses and better bows than them, and they seemed to be very familiar with this kind of chase battle between light cavalry.
These four thousand cavalry are 30% of the strength of the Dongshan party. Even if they lose 10% or 20%, they cannot afford it.
....
Li Zhongchao, who had gray beard and hair, howled and threw himself in the dust, kowtowing to Zhang Zhao. In front of him, the dust-covered head of the Li clan chief of the Shatuo tribe in Lanzhou was still dripping with blood.
"If not for the urgent summons from the imperial court, I would definitely kill your whole family today!" Zhang Zhao snorted coldly, but he would not kill Li Zhongchao's whole family. He wanted to use Yuanzhou as a logistics center, so that he could safely enter Weizhou to quell the chaos. .
"Li Yanli, ask your brother to send a thousand cavalry. Li Zhongchao, Yuanzhou Dangxiang, send at least two thousand cavalry. You, your sons and grandsons will follow you south to quell the chaos. If you are diligent, you will be rewarded."
The lives of the two Tuoba Li clan leaders were in Zhang Zhao's hands. How could they dare to resist?
Especially Li Yanli from the Dongshan tribe was filled with regret. He thought it was the imperial troops here? He naively thought that he could come to negotiate an agreement with 4,000 cavalry.
Who would have known that what he faced was not one or two thousand elite cavalry, but more than five thousand fully armored elites.
Zhang Zhao let out a sigh of relief and entered Yuanzhou smoothly. Zhang Zhao also had a place to store the proceeds he looted along the way.
In addition, he also extorted a large sum of corn, cattle and sheep from Li Zhongchao. Since the situation in Guanzhong was critical, Zhang Zhao could not snatch it away step by step.
He decided to turn Yuanzhou into a logistics base, coerce local party members to go south with him to quell the rebellion, and then let Liu Zaisheng lead an army of 1,000 people and more than 2,000 volunteer cavalry to stay in Yuanzhou, while he had to travel south day and night.
Zhang Zhao felt that the scale of the Weizhou mutiny might not be small, otherwise Shi Jingtang would not be so anxious.
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
I am writing now and updating now, unfortunately! It is expected to be updated on time the day after tomorrow.
