Arriving at the palace in Boling City, Zhou Jun sat on the throne. Looking at Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi standing in the palace, he asked: "Have you caught Shi Siming?"
Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi looked at each other. They looked ashamed and did not dare to answer. They just shook their heads.
Zhou Jun was stunned.
Half of the 80,000-strong army was sent out, and several generals were ordered to set up several ambush rings on the way north, not to mention that Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi were still on guard.
Even so, Shi Siming was still allowed to run away?
Zhou Jun asked why.
Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi briefly recounted their experiences.
Shi Siming regarded his generals as abandoned sons and even sent his son Shi Chaoyi to the rear. He broke out twice and broke free from the hands of Guo and Li.
After Zhou Jun heard this, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh. Shi Siming's fate was really tough.
Seeing this, Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi bowed their heads to Zhou Jun together: "If you have done something wrong, the commander-in-chief will punish you."
Zhou Jun glanced at the two of them and said, "Get up first and tell me what happened."
After listening to the two people's detailed accounts, Zhou Jun understood one thing.
Looking at the entire frontier army of the Tang Dynasty, the Hebei army was really capable of fighting.
Boling City is the most important city under the control of the Yan army in the entire Hebei Province, except Fan Yang.
The 10,000 defenders among them are different from the Yan troops in Changshan County, Beimen County, and Zhao County. The Boling defenders are the elite sent by Fanyang City to garrison, which is the so-called Hebei regular army.
These 10,000 Hebei regular troops, plus the 5,000 new troops improvised by Shi Siming, faced the heavy siege of the Tang army, and faced off against Shuofang Army, Anxi Army and other powerful soldiers. They were ambushed and beaten one after another.
Fight the enemy head-on.
In Guo Ziyi's ambush circle, the two generals of the Yan army, Zhong Baofu and Fan Zhu, led 4,000 infantry troops. They were regarded as abandoned by Shi Siming. After being surrounded, they not only had no idea of ​​surrender, but were aroused with ferocity.
The Hebei army, whether it was generals or soldiers, almost adopted a completely life-threatening approach.
Many soldiers of the Hebei Army lost their shields and climbed up the shield with horizontal knives in their mouths. They were stabbed in the stomach by the spears and their intestines were broken. They endured the severe pain and climbed into the shield array of the Tang Army. They covered their intestines with one hand,
Fight with a knife.
Zhong Baofu, the general of the Yan army, was hit by dozens of arrows. With amazing will, he continued to direct the battle until his blood was drained and he died.
Fan Zhu was even more fierce. He rode towards the Tang army's military formation, but his mount was hit by an arrow and fell to the ground in front of the shield formation. After the man got up, he actually lifted the body of his mount above his head, knocked down the Tang army's shield wall, and then held the horse in his hand.
Fan rushed into the Tang army and fought hard. The Tang army hung Fan Zhu's body with a hook, dragged him to the ground, and cut him into pieces with knives. This was the end.
In the end, Guo Ziyi surrounded the 4,000 Boling garrison. At the end of the battle, no one surrendered.
And Li Guangbi's cavalry did not get any favors from Shi Chaoyi's rear army.
Shi Chaoyi was not like his father Shi Siming. He was generous, treated his soldiers well, and was loved by the army.
When Li Guangbi was fighting Shi Chaoyi, Yan's soldiers fought desperately to protect their commander, blocking arrows with their bodies, which caused a lot of trouble for the Anxi Cavalry.
When the Yan army finally fought to only a hundred men, Shi Chaoyi couldn't bear it when he saw the heavy casualties among his men, so he dismounted and asked to surrender.
After Zhou Jun heard this, he began to recall in his mind that in the early spring of Tianbao's fifteenth year in history, Li Guangbi faced Shi Siming in Changshan County and won six victories in six battles. Later, he joined forces with Guo Ziyi and Pugu Huai'en and gathered together an army of 120,000 people.
Drive the rebels back to Boling.
Three generals of the Tang Army, commanding an army of 120,000, besieged Boling City with only 20,000 defenders. According to common sense, they should be able to capture it easily.
But Shi Siming relied on the 20,000 Boling garrison and the strong Boling City to kill and injure nearly 12,000 Tang troops in just ten days after the war began.
After this battle, the Tang army no longer dared to approach Boling and retreated directly to Changshan County.
After the war, Guo Ziyi said to his subordinates that the Boling army was brave and not afraid of death, and they were really the best soldiers of the bandit army.
But now, history has changed.
Pugu Huai'en united with the Huihe people, rebelled against the uprooting of Yegu and Pugu, and incited the Tongluo tribe and the Xi tribe to rebel. Fan Yang was already in chaos, prompting Shi Siming to lead his army back to defend, which gave the Tang army a chance.
, was able to defeat it.
Thinking of this, Zhou Jun said to Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi: "You two should get up first."
Hearing Zhou Jun's calm tone, Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi breathed a sigh of relief and stood up.
Zhou Jun: "Where is Shi Chaoyi, Shi Siming's son, now?"
Li Guangbi cupped his hands and said, "Tie him outside the door."
Zhou Jun: "Bring him here, I have something to ask him."
Li Guangbi replied.
Half a quarter of an hour later, a general who was tied up with five flowers was brought to Boling Mansion.
Zhou Jun looked Shi Chaoyi up and down and sighed in his heart, it turned out that this was the last emperor of the Yan Kingdom in the history books.
Shi Siming had two sons, the eldest son Shi Chaoyi and the younger son Shi Chaoqing. He loved the younger son but hated the older son.
After Shi Siming usurped the throne and became the emperor of Yan, he often wanted to depose Shi Chaoyi as the crown prince and make Shi Chaoqing his heir apparent. He even wanted to kill Shi Chaoyi at one point.
After Shi Chaoyi learned about this, he lived in fear every day. Under the instigation of his men, he finally couldn't bear it anymore, so he killed Shi Siming first and climbed to the position of emperor of Yan Kingdom.
After thinking about this, Zhou Jun looked at Shi Chaoyi with a thoughtful look on his face.
Shi Chaoyi was kneeling on the ground, holding his neck, and shouted loudly: "The defeated general just wants a quick death!"
Zhou Jun asked: "Shi Siming pushed you to be the queen in order to escape?"
Shi Chaoyi shouted: "Don't slander my father. The idea behind the throne was proposed by Chaoyi himself!"
Zhou Jun nodded and asked some more about things in the Yan army.
Shi Chaoyi held his head high and remained silent, as if he was looking forward to death.
Seeing this, Zhou Jun suddenly changed the subject: "Do you have a younger brother named Shi Chaoqing?"
Shi Chaoyi was stunned, not knowing what Zhou Jun meant, and looked over unconsciously.
Zhou Jun: "I heard that your father prefers his second son to your eldest son?"
Shi Chaoyi pursed his lips and shouted through gritted teeth: "It's a bunch of nonsense, there's absolutely no such thing!"
Zhou Jun smiled and said to the people around him: "Take him down and take good care of him."
After Shi Chaoyi was taken away, Zhou Jun waited in the palace for a while. The generals of the Tang army who had left the city to set up an ambush sent their horses to the mansion to report, and they all said that they had not seen any trace of Shi Siming.
After listening to the reports of other generals, Guo Ziyi raised his hands and said to Zhou Jun: "Commander, Shi Siming encountered two ambushes in succession. He knows that the road to the north is very dangerous, and he may have gone elsewhere."
Zhou Jun thought for a moment and said to Li Guangbi: "Send out scouts to search the surrounding area thoroughly for traces of Shi Siming."
Li Guangbi took the order and left.
Zhou Jun then said to Guo Ziyi: "Select a group from Shuofang's army to stay in Boling. Then organize the grain, grass and supplies and prepare to go north."
In the following days, Shi Siming seemed to have evaporated from the world and completely disappeared.
Guo Ziyi speculated that Shi Siming might have given up his plan to go north and instead went to other prefectures and counties in Hebei to recruit soldiers and strengthen his strength.
Since Shi Siming could not be found, Zhou Jun did not intend to stay longer in Boling, so he planned to issue an order for the entire army to march towards Fan Yang.
At this juncture, a fast horse suddenly came from outside the city and handed an urgent imperial edict into Zhou Jun's hands.
Zhou Jun, who was in the Boling Mansion, opened it and took a look after receiving the imperial edict. He sighed and said nothing for a long time.
After obtaining the consent, Guo Ziyi took the imperial edict, read it briefly, his face changed several times, and then said to other generals: "The army led by Fang Xiang encountered Zhongguan in the west of Chang'an City and Weishui in the north of Tongguan.
After two major defeats, more than half of the 200,000-strong army was lost. Deputy General Cheng Qianli was killed in battle, and Yang Xiwen and Liu Cao surrendered to the rebels. Your Majesty ordered the commander to rush back to Liangzhou to take charge of the aftermath."