Li Hanzhi was still very resourceful. After he led his army to Hebei, Ma Gai, the general of Zhaoyi Army, fought with him. Li Hanzhi defeated Zhaoyi Army and captured Ma Gai alive.
After Ma Gai was captured, he immediately became a leader and said: "If you want to conquer Xingzhou, you must first capture Cizhou."
Li Hanzhi listened to his advice and led his army to Cizhou. Meng Fangli led his army to fight, but was severely defeated. He "returned to Xingzhou alone". Cizhou was captured by Li Hanzhi.
At this time, we have to admire the courage of the warriors in the late Tang Dynasty. They really liked field battles.
Last year Xi Zhongxin led an army of 30,000 to attack Liaozhou, was defeated and captured. This year Li Hanzhi attacked Hebei, and Ma Gai's army of tens of thousands failed in the field battle. Meng Fangli came again and was defeated again in the field battle.
Why are people killed in wild battles again and again? It's puzzling.
After Li Hanzhi captured Cizhou, Li Cunxiao also took advantage of the situation to capture Mingzhou. Of the three prefectures in Zhaoyi and Hebei, only one was left, Xingzhou. After hearing the news, Li Keyong immediately led his brother Kexiu to town Zezhou and took An Jinjun with him.
The generals rushed to the front line of Hebei and personally commanded the siege of Xingzhou.
How many years did the battle with the Zhaoyi Army last? Li Keyong didn't want to recall it, but it was not short anyway. All the vassal towns in the world are difficult to fight, especially the vassal towns in Henan and Hebei. The relationships are intricate and they don't like outsiders to rule them.
He repeatedly raised troops to resist.
In the long-term tug-of-war, many people in the three states of Zhaoyi and Hebei had actually died, but Xi Zhongxin could still bring 30,000 troops to attack Liaozhou. This time, the army led by Ma Gai was another 30,000 to 40,000. Meng Fangli also
He brought twenty to thirty thousand people with him.
After defeating so many troops, it is estimated that there are still at least 20,000 people guarding Xingzhou at this time.
Where did so many people come from? The people of Xing, Ming and Cizhou supported them, as well as the recruits recruited from other vassal towns in Hebei. They fought tooth and nail to resist the invasion of outsiders, especially the Hedong Army, which had a history of enmity in recent decades.
.
After more than a hundred years of feudal rule, localism is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the relationship between warriors is deeply entangled, and the pro-party clique is strong. It is impossible to truly rule without beating these people to their knees.
"Commander, there is news that Meng Fangli was so ashamed because of his repeated failures that he committed suicide by taking medicine." In the camp outside Xingzhou City, An Jinjun walked in excitedly and shouted loudly.
Li Keyong was discussing matters with his younger brother Ke Gong. When he saw An Jinjun barging in carelessly, he felt unhappy and scolded: "You broke into the big tent without telling me, do you still have military law in your eyes? Pull him out and whip the two men."
ten."
The soldiers received the order and immediately held An Jinjun down.
An Jinjun subconsciously wanted to struggle, but when he did, he sighed and was escorted out obediently.
"Brother, the news should be correct. After Shao Shude broke through Liangzhou, he marched forward quickly and defeated Li Renmei at Xiandan. The remaining Uyghurs surrendered. The treasures and goods in the treasury were countless, and they were all put into his pocket." Li Kegong looked at it.
He glanced at An Jinjun, said nothing, and continued to report the information he had found out.
"After the two prefectures of Pinggan and Liang, Shao Shude was still not satisfied, so he lured the Uighurs and the rest of the people to join the rebel army and marched south to Hehuang. He fought with the Tibetans of the Qing and Tang Dynasties and won. The Tibetans were afraid, so they came to surrender one after another and took away the Sauerkraut.
, Kuo Erzhou."
"Brother, in Shao Shude's wars in recent years, the Yamen army dispatched at most 20,000 to 30,000 people, but there were almost 30,000 to 40,000 Tibetan soldiers accompanying him. It is really unbelievable that he has such appeal among the Tibetan tribes. Please take it seriously."
Li Keyong was silent after hearing the words.
Ask yourself, he shouldn't be able to get so many people from the grassland.
The five tribes in the north, Tuyuhun, Tatar, Shiwei, Uighur, and Xiren, were not so obedient. When they wanted money, they would obey and join forces to go south to help the Hedong Army. But if they didn't want to come, Li Keyong would also
No way, after all, there are two vassal towns, Datong Army and Youzhou, in between.
The troops from the Tibetan tribe brought by this attack on Xingzhou were mainly Shatuo and Zhaowu surnames, with a small number of Tatars.
Tuyuhun basically listened to Helianduo, and the Xi people were wavering, and he was facing the pressure of the increasingly powerful Khitan. Shiwei was also plundered by the Khitan from time to time, and he no longer paid much attention to Li Keyong's call.
Only Tatars and Uighurs are available!
Let’s count some of the things that Shao Shude can use.
This person's rule over the Qiang race has almost reached its peak. Hengshan Dangxiang, Pingxia Dangxiang, Shanhou Dangxiang, Hexi Dangxiang, Hexi Dangxiang, almost all obeyed, and the Qibi, Hun, Turk and other barbarians in the Yinshan tribe all obeyed.
The people also surrendered to him, and now he has conquered Tubo, a large Qiang family. How many troops can be drawn under the "big hair"?
Should he be called the Lord of the Qiang people?
Li Keyong sat there steadily, but all kinds of complicated emotions were surging in his chest.
The past few years have been really rough. These old feudal towns are really hard to fight!
Once upon a time, it became increasingly rare to see the kind of scene where every enemy army was defeated.
The three states of Zhaoyi and Hebei were beaten so badly, but they refused to surrender.
How could he not know the news of Meng Fangli's death? And still use An Jinjun to announce the good news?
An Jinjun didn't know that the people of Xingzhou had supported Meng Fangli's brother, and that Meng Qian, the governor of Mingzhou, was a soldier of Zhaoyi and continued to defend Xingzhou against the Hedong army.
An Jinjun still didn't know that the people of Xingzhou had asked Xuanwu and Zhu Quanzhong for help, asking him to send troops to rescue them. Fortunately, Wei Boluo Hongxin did not agree to Xuanwu's troops borrowing the road, so the Bian soldiers did not appear in Hebei.
Why is life so difficult!
Li Keyong stood up, extremely irritated, and subconsciously kicked over a matzha.
"Brother!" Li Kegong looked at him worriedly.
"We must capture Xingzhou as soon as possible!" Li Keyong drew out his horizontal sword and said in a cold voice: "Whoever doesn't work hard will be killed without mercy!"
"Brother, please don't mess up the situation." Li Kegong said loudly.
For some reason, Li Kegong suddenly felt regretful and felt that he shouldn't have told him about Shao Shude.
When the Prince of Lingwu County got the commander-in-chief of Xia Sui, he only had 20,000 troops, and the Xiazhou treasury was not rich, so it was difficult to support them. He was about to mutiny, but in the end he relied on the help of the Yue family and conquered the Pingxia Dangxiang.
position.
Subsequently, expeditions were carried out in the east and west, almost every year. Today, the situation is extremely difficult to control.
This person almost relied on killing to gain his current status. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is a ruthless person.
"Don't worry!" Li Keyong stretched out his right hand, stopped Li Kegong's words, and said: "As long as we capture Xingzhou and annihilate the remnants of Zhaoyi, we will have two big towns in Hedong and Zhaoyi, and ten elite soldiers.
Ten thousand, why should we be afraid? My sworn brother governs all the states. The land is vast and sparsely populated, and there are many mobs. Moreover, rebellions and surrenders are unpredictable, so it is easy to defeat them."
"I will personally supervise this battle!" Li Keyong said confidently.
Li Kegong glanced at him suspiciously.
My brother appears to be confident on the surface, but he is actually a little anxious inside, right? It’s not a good feeling to be caught up step by step by someone who is not as good as you, or even overtake him.
After Chang'an was recaptured in the past year, no one came from Hedong in terms of military strength. Even Gao Pian from Huainan, who had 80,000 troops, was not looked down upon by his brother.
It's just that in the past few years, alas, other people's progress has been too fast! Zhu Quanzhong is like this, and so is Shao Shude.
The old vassal towns, such as Hedong, Weibo, Youzhou, etc., are in decline and progress is slow. Hedong is relatively good. The Daibei warriors introduced by his elder brother have impacted the old general family system in Hedong.
Move and move. However, the towns in Hebei are strong on paper and have huge internal problems, making it difficult for them to expand. The ambitious people are deeply constrained and unable to break free from this trap. They can only act as household dogs. What can they do?
Among the three families of Hedong, Xuanwu and Shuofang, Hedong was originally the strongest. To this day, Zhu Quanzhong is ranked first, Shao Shude is second, and his brother is at the bottom.
Can your brother still swallow this breath?
At the top of Xingzhou City, Meng Qian breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at the Hedong soldiers and horses retreating slowly.
If Li Keyong could not be driven back, Meng Qian could not imagine what would happen to the Meng family. The generals of Ze, Lu, and even the surrendered generals of Xing, Ming, and Ci would not want to surrender to Li Keyong.
Is Meng alive?
Not to mention, in the past few years when the two towns were attacked, a large number of officers and soldiers from Hedong died in Xingzhou. Don’t they have family members? Don’t they have relatives and friends? Even if it is for the purpose of appeasing them, they should not be disappointed.
As long as Li Keyong does not lose his mind, it is impossible for the Meng family to survive in the world.
After checking the surrounding vassal towns, in addition to the towns in Hebei, Xuanwu Town might send troops to assist. However, Luo Hongxin did not trust Zhu Quanzhong and was afraid that he would be used to attack Guo, so he resolutely did not allow the Bian soldiers to pass through.
In fact, there is still one person you can turn to for help.
Yesterday, some staff suggested that they might send envoys to Xiazhou to ask Shao Shude, the envoy of Shuofang Jiedu, to send troops to attack Hedong, surround Wei and rescue Zhao, and force Li Keyong to retreat.
Meng Qian suddenly realized!
Shao Shude, the king of Lingwu County, is located in the western border. Although he is somewhat famous in Hebei, he is not famous enough. He is far less well-known than Zhu Quanzhong, Luo Hongxin, Li Keyong, Li Kuangwei and other military commanders. Moreover, the vassal towns he attacked were all
In a remote town, Hebei sergeants also always looked down on people from Guanzhong, so much so that Meng Qian subconsciously did not turn his eyes there.
I don’t know if the eldest brother ever thought about it before he was alive.
Meng Qian glanced at his nephew Meng Zhixiang who was standing beside him. He sent an envoy to ask for help. According to the rules of Hebei and Henan, hostages had to be sent.
The nephew is the son of the second brother and is a close relative. If he acts as a hostage, he may be able to gain the trust of the Lingwu County King.
It's a matter of life and death for the Meng family. Maybe my nephew understands his uncle's painstaking efforts, right?