In the camp in the west of Zhenzhou City, a tense handover is underway.
Li Bai, the commander of the Daozhou military capital in Guannei, led a large number of troops from Beicheng to Xicheng to take over the defense.
Ding Hui, the envoy of the Youguo Army, had just received the order to join the Fu Cunjian Department of the Tielin Army and march westward into Jingxing.
Ding Hui is a "cultural person" and of course he knows what this order means.
Jingxing is really one of the throats of Hedong.
In the eighteenth year of Qin Shi Huang's reign, he attacked Zhao and Wang Jian went to Jingxing.
In the thirty-seventh year, the First Emperor died in a sand dune. He did not mourn secretly, but returned to Jiuyuan from Jingxing.
Han Xin attacked Zhao and also went to Jingxing.
During the Anshi Rebellion, armies from Hedong and Hebei also entered and exited this passage repeatedly.
Such a choke point where "cars cannot have square tracks and riders cannot line up" (Li Zuo's car saying) should allow people to come and go at will. Therefore, during the Qianyuan period of Emperor Suzong of the Tang Dynasty, the Chengtian Army was established in Jingxing (today's
Niangzi Guansinnan), this choke point has been blocked.
If you want to enter Hedong from Jingxing, you must pass through the Chengtian Army. So the question is, will the Jin Army let you pass?
"Military envoy, since the saint has given orders, there should be no obstacles in clearing the customs. With the situation in Hedong now, most of the defenders have no fighting spirit, so it's not surprising that they surrendered half-pushed." Deputy envoy Kong Qing came over and said.
"What you said makes sense." Ding Hui said.
I only have 12,000 men under my command, and I really don't want to start another war. If it can be resolved peacefully, that would be the best.
The cost is too much for anyone.
"The support envoy has arrived!" More than ten cavalrymen galloped from a distance, and the leader was Fu Cunshen, who had just been appointed as the support envoy for Jingxing Chengtian Army.
"General Ding!"
"General Fu!"
The two of them greeted each other.
"Have you assembled the men yet?" Fu Cunshen asked, pointing his riding whip at the warriors of the Youguo Army who had formed up in the wilderness.
"The Youguo army is all here." Ding Hui replied.
"Then please ask General Ding to select the elite as the vanguard, and travel day and night to the Chengtian Army." Fu Cunshen ordered.
"Kong Qing!" Ding Hui shouted directly without hesitation.
"The end will be here."
"You lead two thousand elite soldiers and clear the way first."
"As you command!"
Kong Qing was an old subordinate of Ding Hui and a veteran general on the battlefield. Hearing this, he immediately ordered two thousand soldiers and marched westward under the banner of the banner, heading straight for Jingxing County.
"General Fu, Tielin Army..." Ding Hui said hesitantly.
"The sage has an order, and the Tielin Army must also march westward." Fu Cunshen nodded and explained: "Actually, it is not a fight. The general of the Chengtian Army, Li Chengyu, a native of Yan, has long been willing to surrender. Our troops have arrived.
, then Kaicheng please surrender."
"Then the defenders are willing to surrender?" Ding Hui asked.
In these days, whether a city surrenders or not, the defender's decision may not necessarily count, it must be agreed by the leading soldiers.
"Half of the Chengtian Army officers and soldiers are Yan people, and they are also willing to surrender."
"That's a great thing!" Ding Hui said with a smile.
After laughing, he looked back at the tall Zhenzhou City, took a sip, and said: "This Bird City has tricked me to death. After taking care of Hedong, come and deal with Wang Rong."
"I expected that at that time, the Zhenzhou thieves were also discouraged and had no fighting spirit, so they were defeated with one blow." Fu Cunshen said.
The distance between Zhenzhou and Taiyuan is four to five hundred miles. After passing the Chengtian Army, there are no more dangerous passes at Xiongguan. You can easily drive to the foot of Jinyang City - if you ignore Hedongzhou and County along the way.
In fact, Fu Cunshen was also curious about how the soldiers and civilians in Hedong would react when their 30,000 to 40,000 troops passed by.
Take the initiative to attack? Stand aside and watch? Or defend the city?
No one can answer, everything has to be seen while walking.
****
At the top of Zhenzhou City, Wang Rong held his hand on the female wall and stared at the Xia army's camp in the west of the city.
This will be a break in the battle, and it will be relatively peaceful. Otherwise, Wang Rong would not be in the mood to go to the city to boost morale - to encourage him!
"Where are the Xia people going?" Wang Rong looked at it for a long time and asked, puzzled.
"If you go west, you must go to Jingxing County and Tianchang Town." Judge Zhou Shi said with certainty.
"Tianchang Town..." Wang Rong's mouth was bitter.
That was his sad place.
Tianchang Town was rebuilt by him in order to block the Jin army from coming down the mountain from Jingxing. In the late Tang Dynasty, the Jin army besieged Tianchang Town. He led an army of 30,000 to rescue it. However, Li Keyong destroyed it at Chiri Ridge and lost the general.
At that time, Li Keyong was an all-powerful man with unstoppable courage. He had just annexed the entire Zhaoyi Town, and then set his sights on Chengde Town, joining forces with Wang Chucun of the Yiwu Army to attack. If Li Kuangwei from Youzhou hadn't come to the rescue, he might have been defeated.
Let Li Keyong enter the city of Bozhenzhou.
But it had only been ten years, and the situation was changing and things were unpredictable. Li Kuangwei no longer knew where he died in the wilderness, and Li Keyong couldn't afford to fall ill, leaving him struggling to cope with the situation, unable to even surrender.
.
"After passing Tianchang Town, sixty miles to the old city of Niangziguan, and another ten miles to Chengtian Army City, the Xia people are running east of the river." Zhou Shi shook his head and said, "They are so sure, they must have arranged everything.
, Marshal..."
"I can see that." Wang Rong said silently.
He even doubted whether Li Keyong was dead and the power in Hedong collapsed. Li Chengyue, the general of the Chengtian Army, was eager to join the new master and led Xia soldiers into Hedong to seize Jinyang.
After thinking about it, it seemed that Shao Shude didn't need to make it so complicated. Li Cunxu, the son of the King of Jin, was in Beiping, and Shao Shude treated him very well as his daughter-in-law.
Woolen cloth.
The Xia people were marching westward at this time. Could it be that they already had some accurate information?
Wang Rong had no intention of watching anymore and led Zhou Shi down to the top of the city.
The city was lifeless. The warriors were leaning at the base of the city wall, all silent and with numb faces.
Wang Rong pretended not to see them and returned to the mansion all the way.
"Can you please give some more advice to the troops?" Wang Rong asked irritably: "What's the point of fighting against the Xia people like this? It's just like we are both in ruins. Our army is suffering terribly from the continuous attack on the city, but the casualties of the Xia people are far away. More so than me. If we let them use real fire, once the city is broken, unspeakable things may happen, so why bother?"
Zhou Shi didn't speak. It wasn't that he didn't agree with Wang Rong's words, but that he didn't dare.
To persuade those nervous or even nervous warriors? Zhou Shi's courage is not that big. What if he is killed? It's not like this has never happened.
"Commander, this matter is very difficult." Zhou Shi excused himself.
Wang Rong's face turned cold.
Of course he knew what Zhou Shi was worried about, but in the current situation, he really had no one to use. If he really waited until the day the city was broken before surrendering, he would not have a good ending.
"Alas!" Wang Rong hammered the table and said, "If Li Keyong dies, no one in the North will be able to join forces with me. What can I do?"
Zhou Shi couldn't bear it when he saw it, and comforted him: "Commander, as the saying goes, there is no perfect way, but if you think about it carefully, there is actually a way. The Xia people are still attacking the city, and the soldiers are resisting it very hard, and then attack In a few months, people willing to surrender will begin to appear, and then there may be a turn for the better."
"I accept your good advice." Wang Rong said weakly.
****
Shao Shude did not leave immediately.
He first went to Lu Huaizhong's camp and ordered the next stage of strategic planning, which was to suspend the storming regardless of casualties and focus on siege. Secondly, after the Tielin and Youguo armies were withdrawn, the siege force's strength was greatly reduced, and its combat effectiveness was also reduced. To weaken it, you need to be careful to prevent Zhao people from leaving the city for a sneak attack.
Finally, he gave Lu Huaizhong a piece of reassurance: Don't be impatient, after I take care of Hedong, Zhenzhou will be easy to break.
On March 15, he took Yin'an straight to the north and arrived at the south entrance of Feihuxing, where he waited for the Tianxiong Army's left compartment, which was rushing in.
Of course, it is impossible for him to go to Hedong without bringing anything. That is not courage, but stupidity. Even if Li Keyong has no ill intentions towards him, can you guarantee that all Jin people do not have any ill intentions?
In fact, as early as the night of the 12th, he had already urgently conveyed many orders through 500 miles.
After resting and reorganizing, the Heijian army crossed the river to Cixi and tried to go north to Shizhou to test the attitude of the Jin people.
The Golden Sword Army also finished its rest and left the Dengzhou garrison. Traveling day and night, they rushed to Heyang on horseback to join the military commander and head north.
The military commander sent troops to Tianjingguan and recruited Shi Jiantang, the general of the town, to surrender.
Liang Hanyong, the commander of Rouzhou's camp capital, led the Feilong Army and part of the Tibetan soldiers to go south and stationed themselves in the southern border of Yunzhou. They were not allowed to act rashly.
The last order was given to the right wing of the Tianxiong Army who stayed in Beiping Prefecture: If anyone makes noise and causes chaos, he will be killed immediately without any mercy.
On the 18th, Shao Shude waited until more than 3,000 people from the vanguard of the Tianxiong Army arrived panting. He was anxious and decided not to wait any longer, and immediately entered Feihuxing and headed north to Yuzhou.
The Xingdao was deserted, with no business travelers or passers-by. It was completely deserted and overgrown with grass.
The army was walking through it, but they saw high mountains standing between the roads on the left and right. The black stone was like iron, and the walls stood like knives - hence the name "Iron Wall".
The road was narrow and cramped, with no grass growing in some places, covered with sand and moraine, and winding and rugged for dozens of miles. Shao Shude was in a hurry, but he walked for two full days before finally arriving at Feihu Pass at the northern end of Feihu Trail.
After exiting this Xingdao, it's not far from Yuzhou.
On the night of the 20th, the army camped outside Yuzhou City.
"Your Majesty, General Jincheng Town has followed the instructions and removed the pass defenses, allowing Li Keyong to come in and out." Chen Cheng beat his waist while sorting out military reports, and heard him say: "Ke Yong traveled very quickly. It is said that he left Yanmen Pass yesterday.
.”
Shao Shude stood in the backyard of the state government office, looking up at the bright moonlight, silent, not knowing what he was thinking.
When Chen Cheng saw this, he sighed slightly.
"Actually -" Shao Shude said suddenly: "I really regard Li Keyong as a brother. It's just that in a time of great strife, there is no room for hesitation or a little tenderness. I once thought about it, if I capture Li Keyong,
If you use it, I will personally untie him and make amends, have a drink together, and share the wealth."
Having said this, Shao Shude smiled to himself and said: "I also know that my sworn brother's temperament does not allow him to bow down to anyone. He would rather die than surrender to me."
After saying that, he added in his mind: He is ready to die now, and he probably won't bow to me before he dies, otherwise he won't be Li Keyong.
"After more than 20 years of fighting, old friends, enemies, and passers-by have left one by one." Shao Shude said with emotion: "Sometimes I find it very boring."
Chen Cheng looked at Shao Shude, who was standing in the courtyard covered in moonlight, and he seemed to sense a hint of loneliness.
The emperor is a loner by nature.
The only ones who are somewhat popular are the founding kings of the past dynasties. They often started out of recklessness and disdained rules and restrictions, and no one dared to restrain them.
The founding kings were straightforward in nature, unlike the established kings who wrapped themselves in layers of power and sacred cloaks. They laughed and cursed in an informal manner.
When he gets excited, he puts his arms around the warriors, sits on the ground, and drinks and eats meat together.
When he feels unhappy, he can even write swear words and curse others in his memorial.
But the emperor is the emperor after all. He is destined to be far away from people and very close to God.
A lonely, old and frail emperor is even more terrifying. If he is still the most prestigious founder of the country, his destructive power will be astonishing.
Fortunately, the saint is not the master of male guessing, otherwise the civil and military officials may not have a good life.
Chen Cheng calmed down and said, "Your Majesty, do you want to see Prince Jin for the last time?"
"I'm afraid my sworn brother won't give me this chance." Shao Shude shook his head and returned to the bedroom to rest.
