The afternoon sun was warm, making the blowing north wind feel less cold.
The cavalry in armor escorted the carriages, riding on the official road paved with coal slag, and the iron-clad ruts made a creaking sound on the road.
The carriage was covered with velvet curtains to block the wind. Gu Junxun and Gu Yingxiu were sitting next to each other. Gu Junxun said worriedly: "I heard that the Queen Mother is a very powerful person. I'm afraid she is not so easy to get along with?"
"Even though she is a tiger, she will soon lose her teeth." Gu Yingxiu went to Hailing Prince's Mansion to meet Queen Mother Liang before noon. She was not very impressed. Seeing that Gu Junxun was uneasy, she smiled and said, "Princess Hailing is actually very gentle.
She looks like she shouldn't be difficult to get along with. The little girl at the top of Yangxin City back then has also grown up. She is also a princess after all. I heard that she suffered a lot in the past few days. The entire Hailing Palace was bullied by Chang Shi Gaoqiang.
Awesome, this probably means that 'a phoenix that has shed its feathers is not as good as a chicken'... You are now the wife of the dignified Duke Pengcheng, there is nothing to be timid about."
Gu Junxun smiled. The women living in the old city had the highest status and respect among women in the world, but their situation in Chongzhou was really not that good. Gu Junxun had to be considered a hostess in Chongzhou for more than two years.
She had never thought of going to the Queen Mother to pay her respects, and there was really nothing to be timid about. She was worried about other things.
"What the official letter of the photo means is that as long as Jiangning City doesn't break into chaos first, the rebels will probably not attack Jiangning. If Huaidong really wants to send the Queen Mother and King Hailing into Jiangning City, isn't it going to cause a lot of trouble?
"Gu Junxun asked.
"It is harmful to take it by force when the time has not come. If you don't take it when the time has come, no one will think about the good things of Huaidong, which is even more harmful." Gu Yingxiu looks at the problem much more pragmatically than Gu Junxun.
This is also due to the intrigues she had in the Lin family. She said, "Right now, everything is going according to the trend. Today, I just go to the Queen Mother to say hello, make some arrangements first, and what to do next.
We still have to see how Old Seventeen is doing."
"Don't you mention the Su family case?" Gu Junxun asked.
"Seventeenth said nothing, but Su Mei and Xiaoman knew in their hearts that the time was running out. Maybe they would find other excuses to rehabilitate the Su family in the future - Xiaoman also just gave birth and had lived in the house for too long.
I am very depressed and want to come out to join in the fun..." Gu Yingxiu said.
The carriages and horses rumbled into the old city of Chongzhou. Chang Shi Gaoqiang, chamberlain Miao Shuo, Zuo Guitang and others greeted them in front of the Hailing Prince's Mansion. Su Mei and Xiaoman also got out of another carriage and accompanied Gu Yingxiu.
Walking into Wangfu Dongyuan with Gu Junxun.
Prince Yuan Jianhai of Hailing showed up and left, leaving Princess Tian and Princess Yuan Yan as well as Mrs. Chen, wife of Chang Shi Gaoqiang, to accompany the Queen Mother in the Nuangezi to receive Gu Junxun and others.
Empress Dowager Liang's eyes were much clearer than before. She accepted the greetings from Gu Junxun and others, gave her a seat, and brought her eyes to Su Mei. Xiaoman looked at Su Mei for a long time and sighed: "It looks like it, it really looks like it, it has been twenty years in a flash."
…”
Su Mei and Xiaoman followed this time, wanting to see what Empress Dowager Liang was like, but they didn't want to bring up the old things. They never expected that Empress Dowager Liang would bring them up first, and they were a little at a loss for a while.
"Forget about the old things, an old lady from the Ai family is about to be buried. All the old friends from the past are also withering away, and there are not many people alive." Empress Dowager Liang sighed sadly and said, "Before the Ai family is buried, I will give your family a gift first."
Let one person explain it to him."
"The Queen Mother made serious remarks. Before the country, personal grievances were as light as feathers. How dare Su Mei ask for an explanation from the Queen Mother?" Su Mei said calmly, just as the Queen Mother Liang said, all the parties involved in the Su family case had also passed away in the future.
There is a chance to rehabilitate the Su clan, but it is not that important whether we pursue the case or not.
The topic was brought to an end, and he didn’t go into details anymore. Then he started talking about household matters. Before leaving, Gu Junxun brought up the key things and said: "I see that there are not many people in the garden at my disposal, so I thought
I took it upon myself to recommend a few accustomed servants to take care of the Queen Mother's daily life, and I hope the Queen Mother will give her permission..."
"Then Lord Lao Jian'an has to worry about it," Empress Dowager Liang said calmly, then looked at Yuan Yan beside her and said, "Yan Yatou is clumsy. Looking at the Lin family's quick work, she thought
I want to learn her skills for a few days so that I can take care of this difficult old aunt of the Hou Ai family. How many more days will Jian'an County Lord have to reluctantly take her in?"
Gu Junxun was startled. Lin Fu wanted to take the Queen Mother and King Lu back to Jiangning. Naturally, he would not allow them to escape control. Trustworthy people must be placed inside and outside. This is also a condition that the Queen Mother Liang and King Lu must accept.
Who would have thought that Empress Dowager Liang would send Princess Yuan Yan away in turn?
It was Yuan Yan's duty to serve the Queen Mother before she got married, but on the surface she was the daughter adopted by the late emperor. She was the daughter of the previous generation of King Lu, so she couldn't be openly asked to serve as a female official. Gu Junxun couldn't react at the moment, and didn't know what to do.
respond.
Gu Yingxiu smiled and continued: "What ability can I have, but the Queen Mother rarely cares about me?"
Su Mei said: "Maybe Princess Yuan Yan thinks our place is more lively and wants to come over to join in the fun. Who can take her in or not? If Princess Yuan Yan is happy and wants to come and stay for a few days, we will all be happy!"
Empress Dowager Liang said with a smile: "It's true that the Ai family can't speak anymore, so they just wanted to have an excuse to move around frequently, just like visiting relatives, and not to go back and forth to ask for instructions..."
Xiaoman stared at Yuan Yan suspiciously for several times. Yuan Yan felt aggrieved, but she couldn't say it out loud, so she could only lower her head and remain silent.
Gu Junxun responded doubtfully: "All of that depends on the Queen Mother's orders..." After that, he said goodbye and left.
Back on the carriage, Xiaoman became angry even thinking about it, and said: "I'm really afraid that our place is not lively enough!"
Su Mei smiled slightly, but she could understand Empress Dowager Liang's eagerness to push Yuan Yan into the fire pit.
Lin Fu planned to use the Empress Dowager Liang and King Lu to suppress Emperor Yongxing. After all, Emperor Yongxing still had the support of a group of veterans such as Chen Xiyan. The Empress Dowager Liang and King Lu were unwilling to completely become pawns in the hands of Huaidong, but they lacked the ability to check and balance Huaidong.
s method.
Even after arriving in Jiangning, apart from Huaidong, it was difficult for the Empress Dowager Liang and King Lu to win the support of other political forces - pushing Yuan Yan out was a bad idea and very against the rules. If something happened, she would definitely be provoked.
The whole city was in turmoil, but the key point was that in the hands of the Empress Dowager Liang and King Lu, apart from Yuan Yan, there was no good strategy, middle strategy or other bad strategies to choose from.
*******************
It snowed heavily in Liyang for three consecutive days.
From Maoshan to the south, all the way to the coast of the Qianjiang River, there is heavy snow all the way.
As far as the eye can see, the mountains and valleys in the distance are all white and covered with falling snow. Only in the vicinity, the snow has been trampled to pieces by soldiers, mules and carriages, revealing the muddy black land.
In the past, when attacking a city in such horrible weather, let alone ordinary soldiers, even the generals would be full of dissatisfaction. However, at this moment, the heavy snowfall for several days has blocked the way for Huaidong soldiers and horses to go north.
This means that there is more time to attack Liyang City.
Since the seventeenth day, the Zhejiang and Fujian armies have surrounded Liyang City from the east, south and west. They have only left the northern city alone to weaken the will of the defenders and encourage them to break out of the encirclement and flee north.
For several days, 20,000 soldiers and horses of the Zhejiang and Fujian troops were piled under Liyang City. They used the Yuan Road that piled directly to the top of the city to continuously launch fierce attacks on the approximately 8,000 soldiers and horses of the Hanghu Army in the city.
I don’t know when the snow will stop. The Huaidong Army’s advance troops have already entered Changxing County, a hundred miles away. The main force is four hundred miles away and will go north at any time. There is not much time to leisurely implement any strategy.
We must use blood and fire to make the generals of the Hanghu Army surrender, crush their will, and force them to flee from the north city...
She Feihu stood with a sword in hand. He asked for orders and was willing to wear armor for the soldiers and charge into the battle. Tian Chang couldn't really think of him as a dead soldier. In the end, She Feihu persisted until the front line directly participated in the siege. Tian Chang then supervised the battle from the front line.
Leave the matter to She Feihu.
Over the years, if you carefully count the numbers, you will find that the Zhejiang and Fujian armies have won far more battles than they have lost. However, the several key battles with Huaidong that caused the She family to turn from prosperity to decline were all lost at the hands of She Feihu.
Here, he was also extremely depressed and resentful.
Although it has always been unfavorable to compete with Huaidong in recent years, I have learned some skills from Huaidong.
Different from the traditional means of siege, Huaidong sieges mostly use stone-throwing crossbows. To attack Yongjia City and Jin'an City, the Huaidong Army used more than a hundred stone-throwing crossbows at one time. Stone projectiles weighing tens of kilograms or even hundreds of kilograms were thrown
When it hit, not to mention the soldiers' bodies, it hit the ground and there was a big hole in the ground. When it hit the city wall, the wall cracked and the rocks were broken. The shock to the soldiers defending the city is even more difficult to describe in words.
Use the road to climb the city and fill the road with soil. Compared with the ladder, the attack on the city siege road is continuous and more troops are deployed. The slope is wide and the road is gentle. Not only can the armored soldiers rush up in formation, but they can even directly let them down.
The armored cavalry rushed to the top of the city to fight.
Use the nest cart, well platform, cloud platform, and multiple strong bows and crossbows to seize the city on your own side and suppress the defenders at the top of the city with the arrow rain. The bed crossbow placed on the nest cart shoots huge spear-like arrows.
It can easily shoot through a soldier wearing iron armor and even break a wall. It is far more frightening to the surrounding defenders than killing a person with an ordinary arrow.
When attacking the city in Huaidong, pottery pots of kerosene were often used. When armored soldiers climbed into the city, the kerosene pots were lit and thrown out. The sea of fire spread and the defenders were forced back. The power was much greater than that of kerosene.
After fighting with Huaidong for several years, they also realized that only stone-throwing crossbows could defeat stone-throwing crossbows, and the Zhejiang and Fujian armies were well prepared.
Although it is impossible to invest hundreds of them at once like Huaidong, there are more than twenty stone-throwing crossbows deployed in sequence under Liyang City and in the south of Liyang City. They are specially equipped with nearly a thousand troops to operate, collecting stone mills from the left and right.
All the stones that could be collected, including tombstones, were chiselled on the spot into stone bullets weighing tens or even hundreds of kilograms, which were continuously thrown at the head of Liyang City.
Although the scale of the stone-throwing crossbows used by the Zhejiang and Fujian armies cannot be compared with those in Huaidong, the Hanghu army that retreated to Liyang City was in even more embarrassment. Their march north was in a hurry, leaving behind their baggage and light troops, and relied on local supplies, not to mention throwing away their troops.
There are heavy weapons such as stone crossbows and bed crossbows. If you defend the city for three days, even the arrows will be used up.
Meng Yishan stood on the watchtower, snow fell all over the fields, and the reinforcements were still invisible.
As soon as the rebels reached the southeast corner of the city wall, they easily gave up retreat and allowed them to take it back. Lifeless corpses were carried down the city wall one after another, and the blood almost stained the city wall red. The She family saw that heavy snow could stop Huaidong.
The army went north. In order to avoid brutal street fighting in more complex terrain, they took advantage of the relatively open wall connected with Yuan Road. Through repeated battles, they continued to consume the brave soldiers and resistance will of the Hanghu Army.
.
The city wall was less than ten feet high, so it was far from safe to rely on. The rebels directly piled earth and filled the road to connect to the city head. The five- to six-foot-high chariot was high above, pressing down on the city head and shooting arrows, not to mention the constant bombardment on both sides.
The incoming stone bullets put the defenders at the top of the city at an absolute disadvantage.
The North City has not been encircled, and the rebels are mainly infantry. If they abandon the city and break out to the north at this time, the Hanghu Army can still retain some strength, but they have just been awarded the title of Protector and General of the Auxiliary State, and they will only be able to defend Liyang.
How could Mengyi Mountain accept it when Tian abandoned the city and fled? However, if he did not break out at this time, the road was blocked by heavy snow in northern Zhejiang, and the Huaidong Army came through the snow, and its speed must have been extremely slow. The Hanghu Army was in the small town of Liyang.