Chapter seven hundred and fortieth women and children
After October, the leaves and grass in the western foothills of Longshan Mountain turn yellow and the cold wind howls.
Behind him is the ruined city of Changdao County. Li Zhigao is sitting astride a tall maroon war horse. He wears a large blue-black cloak outside his armor to protect himself from the cold wind that blows like a blade after the winter in the northwest.
In the past six months, the local forces in Chengzhou and Wuzhou have been quite successful in occupying and annexing Chengzhou. Hou Mo, the governor of Chengzhou who had previously received a reward from the Mongols, finally left the city and surrendered. Han Qian named him the deputy commander of the Longyou Army and Horses, and assembled
More than 2,000 tribal Qiang cavalry in Chengwu and Wuzhou were under Li Zhigao's control.
Li Zhigao initially led only more than 5,000 soldiers and horses into Longyou. After absorbing the descendants of the Han army who had stationed in Longyou in the early years, and recruiting a large number of troops and horses on the spot, he now has 8,000 horse and infantry troops.
However, in addition to Wang Xiaoxian sending more than 3,000 Shu soldiers to Tianshui to strengthen the defense of the city, Wusu Dashi also ordered Li Yuanshou to lead the Pingxia tribe's Qiang cavalry southward, and the war in the southern part of Qinzhou became stalemate.
The Qiang cavalry recruited by Chengwu and Wuzhou were far from determined to join Daliang. At this time, they were just on the wall. The mentality of relying on whoever was strong could not be said to have strong combat effectiveness.
However, in the valley at the western foot of Longshan Mountain, the main force of the horse infantry led by Li Zhigao wanted to continue to advance towards Qinzhou, where the terrain was flatter and wider. They wanted to compete with the elite cavalry of the Pingxia tribe in such terrain, but for the time being they were still unable to do so.
Not caught.
At present, they are only able to compete with the Qiang cavalry of the Pingxia tribe by virtue of their more sophisticated armor and crossbows, and are unable to make detours to Qinzhou or even the Longyou area further north.
At this time, Li Zhigao could only return to the old routine, building fortresses one after another along the western foot of Longshan Mountain, occupying the steep terrain, and extending northward step by step.
In addition to strengthening the control of Chengwu and Wuzhou in the south, this also gradually reduced the scope of activity of the elite cavalry of the Pingxia tribe to the north.
This is a stupid way, but it is also an effective way.
Han Qian also supported his strategy of fighting the war by force and sent a team of craftsmen from Luoyang to Chengzhou. Li Zhigao recruited Han craftsmen from Cheng and Wuzhou, so that the Western Expeditionary Army was building the city wall.
In this regard, it has far greater advantages than the Qiang tribes.
The generals have more sophisticated weapons, armor and crossbows, and have more advantages in defending the city.
Building a walled city can also gather scattered Han people and some Qiang people to live and farm around the walled city, truly uniting them and becoming a usable force loyal to Daliang.
Although Rhinoceros Road is remote and narrow, more than 4,000 stone tea wine, cotton cloth, ironware, salt, soap and other materials are transported into Longyou every month. In addition to transporting 600 to 700 fine war horses to the inland every month, they can also exchange
More than 20,000 shi of grain and corresponding horses were used to support the construction of fortresses and war expenses.
Li Zhigao looked at the vast Longshan Mountains in the northeast. He thought that the battle to attack Xingyang should have reached the most critical moment at this time, and whether or not Xingyang could be captured would directly determine the next step of Daliang's counterattack in the Guanzhong area.
At this time, Li Zhigao was sitting on the saddle and was filled with emotions. Who would have thought that in just two years, the situation would turn around so quickly step by step.
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"Roar!"
Since the middle and late period of the previous dynasty, Wei Bo's elite troops and strong generals have conquered the Central Plains, and since Liang Shixiong was appointed as Wei Bo's military envoy for nearly 20 years, it was like a majestic mountain standing tall, making it difficult for the Jin army in Heshuo to move further south.
The bravery and heroism.
When it comes to Liang Shixiong's first general, it is not his three sons, but his nephew Liang Xing who followed him in the Northern and Southern Wars when he was young.
Liang Xing was very brave when he was young. He once single-handedly tore through the encirclement of hundreds of Jin army cavalry and rescued Liang Shixiong who was trapped in the encirclement. After he was thirty years old, he even became the leader of Wei Bo's gunsmiths in Heshuo, Chuanglongpanqiang.
, is the number one spearman in Wei Bo.
Since the sudden change in Heshuo, although he is a general under Liang Shixiong, he still likes to take the lead and charge into battle. Countless souls have died under his gun.
At this moment, he just looked down unwillingly and looked at the two long crossbow arrows on his chest that were slightly longer than ordinary feather arrows, and the tail wings were still making a fierce and shocking sound.
This armor of his was made by the secret method of the Qingqiang tribe. It was lighter than the ordinary Shanwen ring mail armor, but its protective power was doubled. Liang Xing himself had tried firing a three-stone strong bow, within fifty steps
Neither can break armor.
He did not expect that Liang Jun fired two crossbow arrows from the siege vehicle at 1670 steps, and not only shot through the strongest chest armor leaf on his chest without any hindrance - what he felt at the moment of death
He became extremely sharp - the arrow clusters still penetrated his body, and exposed a few inches from his back, pressing against the iron armor leaves behind him; and his thigh and left armpit had been shot with several arrows, and the blood had long since
His shirt was dyed red.
Looking at Liang Jun who was stabbed to death by him on both sides, his corpses were lying on the city wall in a staggered manner, with blood gurgling along the gaps between the city bricks. Liang Xinghu roared and leaned his gun on the ground, thinking that even if he died, he would still die.
Stand on the city wall.
Just like the tide, Liang Jun's generals swarmed up like a giant wave, mercilessly pushing down and trampling on his corpse with eyes wide open. Some even stabbed him twice out of resentment.
Liang Xing's bravery made him unable to get any sympathy or regret for his death in battle at this moment. In the eyes of countless old generals and soldiers of the Liang Army, he and Liang Shixiong were shameful. They almost ruined the national destiny of Liang and dragged the Hehuai River into the
The traitor in the monstrous war.
In order to strengthen the combat power of the forward camp in Xingyang, the fifty individual spring-arm crossbows manufactured by the Huaiyang Bingjia Ordnance Institute this year were sent to Xingyang City.
use.
After tens of thousands of civilians and auxiliary troops braved the enemy's arrows and rocks, and the hot oil spilled, regardless of casualties, they opened up the sixty-seven-foot-long moat Hao River and filled in four attack channels directly to the city.
The offensive and defensive battle of Xingyang City has entered the final critical stage.
Although the west city wall has been bombarded by stone bullets in the past month and a half and is in disarray, with cracks everywhere, and the west city gate urn has also completely collapsed and blocked the west city gate, the defenders still fight despite being trapped, showing a heart-warming display.
Shocking fighting spirit.
Among the 20,000 defenders, most of the generals were Wei Bo's elite who had followed Liang Shixiong in the north and south for many years.
The war between Liang and Jin in the Central Plains has not stopped for more than 40 years, and there are a lot of brave soldiers. Wang Yuankui and Tian Weiye are all elite troops from Heshuo and Hedong. The elite troops of Wei Bo commanded by Liang Shixiong in recent years have extremely strong combat effectiveness.
He is not under any family; the armor is also quite complete, almost everyone wears fine armor and is not afraid of arrows.
What's more, they are now fighting with no retreat.
The sudden change in Heshuo meant that they followed Liang Shixiong and Zhu Rang rebelled and launched a fatal attack from behind, which completely destroyed the situation in Heshuo. This also destined that Han Qian would not be able to give an explanation to Zhu Yu, who was under Jiuquan.
Will recruit them.
On the western city wall, which was more than two miles long, both sides fought bloody battles in every corner, like a meat grinder, devouring the lives of elite soldiers on both sides.
There were more than a hundred Chao Chariots approaching the front of Xingyang City at one time, but more than half of them were destroyed by the tornado cannons continuously produced by the defenders. However, on the remaining Chao Chariots, more than 30 individual spring-arm crossbows kept firing.
A sharp weapon that harvests the lives of defenders and generals.
The accuracy of the individual soldier's spring-arm crossbow, even if it does not meet the requirements set by Han Qian at this time, is a great weapon that can accurately break through armor and snipe enemy generals between 150 and 200 steps.
Especially when one's own generals climb the city wall and fight together with the enemy, the individual spring-arm crossbow can also provide additional long-range shooting support, which plays a very important role in the ebb and flow of the morale of the generals on both sides.
function.
Liang Xing, known as Wei Bo's most brave general, was shot dead on the city wall. Liang Jun's counterattack never drove off the elite Xiancheng troops led by Chen Kun personally from the west city wall.
Night fell, but there were burning houses and fires everywhere in the city and outside the city. The light of the fire reflected the sky, making the dilapidated Xingyang City as bright as day.
Liang Shixiong dug a deep and wide moat on the inside of the city wall, and set up wind cannons in the city, using the bricks and stones from the demolished houses as stone bullets to throw at the city head.
Chen Kun ordered the wooden palisades to be lifted onto the city wall and supported to serve as wooden sheds to withstand stone bullets. He personally led the leading elite troops and nailed them to the top of the city like iron nails. Even if there were casualties every moment, he was determined to do so.
Don't retreat.
Although the gap created by the collapse of the city wall had been filled in by the defenders with wooden palisades and earth and rocks, it was not compacted with lime and was still very loose.
Chen Kun guarded the west city wall, and hundreds of civilians climbed up the wall and dug gaps overnight to form a channel for troops to march directly into the city.
Although there is an inner fortress on the inside of the city wall, the inner fortress is not as deep and wide as the outer fortress.
Not only did they move the cyclone cannons close to the foot of the city wall to bombard the defenders' trebuchet positions in the city, but they also put more than 20 spring-arm crossbows on the city.
Head, block the long street connecting to the west city gate, and restrict the defenders from counterattacking towards the west city wall.
At this time, without caring about the casualties of the civilians in the city, the spring-armed scorpion crossbow kept throwing kerosene cans into the city, igniting the entire streets and courtyards, causing the west city to fall into a sea of fire, and the fire continued to spread in the afternoon.
The trebuchet positions of the defenders in the city were also trapped.
At this time, Chen Kun ordered dozens of heavy trenching trucks to be dragged directly into the city from the gap and placed horizontally on the inner wall. A heavy rain that night extinguished the fire in the west city. The fire did not continue to spread, but it entered the city and annihilated the last defenders.
The channel is completely opened.
Light but sturdy armored vehicles were pushed into the city one after another, protecting the soldiers as they advanced deep into the city along the streets and alleys.
On the Yu River in the north of Xingyang City, the river water was also ruffled by the cold wind, causing white waves to form.
Wu Su Dashi personally rushed to Mengzhou to supervise the battle, and Mengzhou Shuiying also broke out with extremely strong fighting power, taking advantage of the number of warships to swarm towards the south bank.
In order to prevent Liang Shixiong and his remaining troops from escaping at the last critical moment, the entire Luoyang-Navy Army was mobilized to fight fiercely on the Yuhe River between Xingyang and Mengzhou.
At this time, the water battle on the Yu River was coming to an end.
Dozens of warships were burning with residual fire and were slowly and irrevocably sinking into the river.
The remnants of the Mengzhou Shuiying camp, which had outgrown their size, were evacuating hastily towards the north bank, hoping that the defensive fortress in front of the Shuiying Dazhai could provide them with the final shelter.
Luoyang - The navy had less than half of its warships left and did not take advantage of the victory to pursue it at this time.
In addition to continuing to block the dock outside the north gate of Xingyang, which was already in a sea of flames, they were more concerned about salvaging and rescuing their colleagues who fell into the water after their warships were overturned.
This battle was so fierce that countless generals died in the battle. They watched the enemy soldiers struggling in the river, but they had no intention of rescuing the prisoners, either shooting them with bows and arrows, or sitting back and watching them being swallowed by the raging river...
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"Liang Shixiong, you thief, when you betrayed His Majesty, did you ever think about today?"
Chen Kun personally led the elite troops and forced a remnant army to the northeast corner of Xingyang City with no way to retreat. He stared at Liang Shixiong who was covered in blood with eager eyes and roared angrily.
Liang Shixiong's shoulders and arms were shot through by powerful crossbows, and he managed to stand still with the help of two guards beside him.
He watched as more and more tiger soldiers gathered behind Chen Kun, with ferocious expressions on their faces that he wanted to eat them alive.
He once went to Liang Jing as Privy Council, and the faces of these people were more or less familiar to him. It can be seen that the Huben selected by Chen Kun to attack the city were all former soldiers of the Liang army who had a deep hatred for him, so they did not hesitate to sacrifice their lives in the city.
They kept chasing him all the way, so he never had a chance to escape from the east city gate and the north city gate.
However, after such an elite group entered the city, more than half of them fell in a pool of blood forever, but the remaining tiger soldiers still killed the elite Yajun soldiers around Liang Shixiong with fear and chills.
Liang Shixiong looked up at the city wall behind him. Two groups of Liang Jun generals quickly marched from the west along the north city wall, and from the south along the east wall to march north, crushing the small-scale defeated troops on the city wall who had nowhere to escape.
We are launching an attack on the last tower on the northeast corner of the city wall.
Liang Shixiong looked behind him again. He was too confident and did not move hundreds of women and children of the Liang family out in advance before the Yuhe River was blocked. He watched them trembling under the protection of the Ya army.
Liang Shixiong knew that he was at the end of his rope today, and shouted: "Chen Kun, I might as well use this mortal body to fulfill your name today, but the Liang family's women and children are all suffering from me, so I guess you don't dare to
Disobeying the strict order of the leader of the Liang Kingdom not to kill prisoners and surrender..."
After Liang Shixiong said this, he took out the last sword from his waist, which was decorated with practical uses. He placed it across his neck and pulled it diagonally to the back, and a line of blood spurted out.
"If you shoot the enemy chieftain with a crossbow, you will not be spared!" Chen Kun ordered ferociously with his eyes red.
The strings collapsed like thunder, and the crossbow arrows were like swarms of locusts, densely covering the corners of the city wall.
The sound of arrows drilling through flesh and blood and being fired one after another echoed in the corners of Xingyang City, as if the sound of heaven and earth overriding the screams of women and children was clearer - more than a hundred Wei Boya soldiers had been killed, and even the soldiers were exhausted.
It was difficult to lift the sword and bow in his hand. Chen Kun did not give them a chance to surrender. They fell down one after another, lying in a pool of blood. Next came the turn of the family members who had moved to Xingyang with Liang Shixiong in the past few years.
Women and children became dead souls under the arrows at an even faster speed.
At this moment, the last corner of Xingyang City was completely soaked in blood.
At this time, the generals on the city wall also captured the last tower, and cheers shook the sky and the earth from up and down the city wall.
Chen Kun, however, seemed to have lost his strength, sitting down in the corner of the city wall, guarding a pile of dead enemy corpses. A girl's corpse rolled over, with the fear of death still on her young face.
Chen Kun took off his helmet and put it aside on the blood-stained mud, holding his war spear across his knees, like an old monk in meditation.
Zhao Wuji rode over, looked at the dead bodies on the ground, and got off his horse.
Chen Kun took off the tiger talisman and seal from his waist and said: "These women and children were shot and killed by me in violation of your Majesty's strict order. I have no shame to see you. I also ask Commander Zhao to return this tiger talisman and seal to you on your behalf."
, but if there is any punishment, Chen Kun will bear it with all his strength, and the other generals will have no fault."
"Help General Chen return to the barracks to bandage his wounds." Zhao Wuji motioned to the guards around Chen Kun to send him to recuperate first.
Except for the Minfu Xiangyong who assisted in the siege, the elites of various tribes rushed to capture Xingyang before the Yu River froze. No more than 10,000 people died in the battle. It can be said that the generals were red-eyed in the end.
When the supervising team enters the city, they will probably not even keep the last two thousand prisoners, and they will kill them all.
In the eyes of Chen Kun and other old generals of the Liang Army, Liang Shixiong was the primary culprit of the sudden change in Heshuo. They believed that if Liang Shixiong had not been instigating the plot behind the scenes, Zhu Rang would have neither the courage nor the ability to contact the Mongol people to rebel.
It was also the hatred that had accumulated in his chest for many years. In the end, Chen Kun did not even leave any women or children alive in the Liang family.
Zhao Wuji can understand the hatred in Chen Kun's heart, but he will not decide how to deal with it without authorization. His most important thing now is to clean up the mess after the victory.
Before the attack on the city, the defenders had 20,000 elite Weibo soldiers. In the end, only more than 2,000 soldiers were captured, and the remaining nearly 18,000 soldiers were all killed. Among the civilian households in the city, the elite who were forced to participate in the defense of the city and died, and in the sea of fire in the city,
As many as 20,000 civilians were buried.
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"..."
In order to give Zhao Wuji, Li Xiu, Chen Kun and Han Donghu the greatest command power and room to exert themselves, when the war in Xingyang was at its fiercest, Han Qian resisted the urge to go to Hulao Pass to supervise the battle and stayed in Luoyang from beginning to end.
The news of the great victory in Xingyang was also delivered to Shangyang Garden by fast cavalry one day later.
Han Daoming, Zhu Juezhong, Gu Qian, Feng Liao, Gao Shao, Jing Hao, Han Yuanqi, Chen Youjian, Zhou Daoyuan and other ministers and generals were sitting on both sides of the hall.
Xingyang won a great victory, but Chen Kun and more than two hundred generals brutally shot and killed more than a hundred women and children in the Liang Mansion, which was also put on Han Qian's desk.
As long as a soldier and horse can strictly observe military discipline and practice diligently, their combat effectiveness will not be bad. After a few more fierce battles, it is possible to temper them into an elite soldier in a hundred battles. However, an elite soldier and horse can be corroded and destroyed from the inside.
It's enough to simply follow the law but not be strict, and be lax in discipline.
In addition to the previous edicts strictly prohibiting the killing of prisoners, torture of prisoners, and the killing of women and children, before the attack and defense of Xingyang, Han Qian also officially promulgated a national edict to abolish the punishment of clan killings, the punishment of sitting and waiting, and the abolition of other limited death sentences such as hanging, poisoning, and killing with a stick.
torture.
Chen Kun, as a person at the level of the Zhendu Commander-in-Chief, shot and killed Liang Shixiong's entire family of women and children in full public view. Chen Youjian, who replaced Zhu Juezhong and entered the Supervisory Office as the right governor, did not dare to protect Chen Kun. He took advantage of today's court meeting to attack Chen Kun.
Kun and others' decision was submitted to Han Qian's court case.
Han Qian looked at the decision of the Supervisory Office, sighed lightly, picked up a pen and dipped ink, and wrote the approval directly on the memorial letter from the Supervisory Office, saying:
"Zhao Wuji led his troops back to Chenzhou and served as the envoy of Yingxi. He removed Chen Kun from the Hulao Pass capital control and the post of capital commander and envoy. He abolished the Hulao Pass camp and set up another Xingyang camp to control Changge, Xinzheng, Mi County, and Hulao.
Guan all the troops and horses, Han Donghu was appointed as the capital commander, and Xingyang was appointed as the envoy. Since Chen Kun has no face to see me, Yichuan County lacks a boss, let him take office directly. In addition, all the generals who participated in shooting women and children,
He was sent back to the local area, and his achievements in the attack on Xingyang were not mentioned. He was relocated to the local area as appropriate and no longer used..."
Chen Kun, who used to be one of the commander-generals of the Nine Major Towns, was now directly demoted to the rank of Lord Bo of the Nine-Rank County. The other generals who participated in the shooting of the women and children of the Liang Mansion were also decommissioned.
Even though Han Qian asked the local government to take them in and properly resettle them, Han Qian's approval of "no more reuse" directly blocked their future career in military and political affairs.
Everyone was silent. Han Yuanqi, Gu Qian, and Jing Hao were all inconvenient to plead for Chen Kun. The punishment proposed by the Supervisory Office was not much lighter than this, and Chen Youjian was responsible for proposing it.
"The casualties during the siege were too heavy. In the end, all the soldiers were killed in a rage. General Zuo Wei was also impulsive. And considering Liang Shixiong's crime of treason, according to precedent, killing the nine tribes was not enough to equalize the hatred of the generals." Others.
Even though it was inconvenient to plead for Chen Kun, Feng Liao stepped forward and said.
Han Qian ignored Feng Liao's words and directly put the approved memorial aside. Then he told Gu Qian, Zhu Juezhong and others: "Brother Zhu Yu does not want to be buried in a big way. The coffin is still under the ground.
Xi Temple. I have seen the magnificent scenery of Wolong Ridge in Yichuan. I want to come under Brother Zhu Yu's Nine Springs. I also hope to see the prosperous times when boats on the two rivers of Yiluo were like trees. I intend to build a mausoleum in Wolong Ridge to bury Brother Zhu Yu.
Let’s ask Chen Kun to take care of the errands as well.”
Seeing Han Qian arranging Chen Kun like this, everyone was speechless...