Four hundred and twentieth seventh chapter wake up time
Li Bing and other generals led 10,000 troops outside the north city gate. Although there is no moat outside the city, there is a dry suspension bridge to protect the city gate. A raging fire has been lit on top of the city, and the suspension bridge has been lowered, but
However, the city gate has not been opened for a long time, and only the shouts of killing can be heard from inside the city, which makes people extremely anxious.
The battle for the city gate was extremely bloody. One hundred Shatuo soldiers from the east and west came down to reinforce the city gate. Guo Song led 60 soldiers and 400 people to fight fiercely. Although there were dead bodies all around, the Shatuo people were still very strong.
, and rushed forward desperately.
In the narrow city gate, people were crowded and pushed against each other. Long weapons could no longer be used. Both sides could only stab with daggers and bite with teeth. There were piles of dead bodies on the ground. The soldiers who were still alive were trampled to death. The soldiers of Shatuo were trampled to death.
The tactics were also very obvious, blocking the Tang army in the city gate, preventing them from opening the city, and buying time to wait for reinforcements to arrive.
Guo Song was also anxious. He roared, jumped up, stepped on the head to jump to the outside, and killed the enemy from behind. His martial arts skills were also fully displayed, specializing in slashing the opponent's throat. It was simple and effective, and all he saw was a black sword.
Flashes of lightning flashed across the crowd, and Shatuo soldiers fell down one after another. The originally dense group of enemy troops finally loosened up. The Tang army in the city gate drove back the enemy troops step by step, and finally opened up a little bit.
Open door space.
At this time, Guo Song discovered that a large group of enemy troops were running towards this side of the city. He shouted: "Open the city gate!"
Several Tang soldiers quickly pulled out the three iron door bolts on the city gate and the ground bolt below. The city gate had been opened, but could not be opened. Nearly a hundred corpses piled on the ground blocked the city gate.
"Move the body quickly!" Brigade Commander Deng Feng shouted anxiously.
Guo Song was also on fire. The opponent's reinforcements had appeared a hundred steps away. They were densely packed with eight or nine hundred people. The more than a hundred Shatuo soldiers who were fighting fiercely at the city gate were greatly boosted in morale and fought back desperately. Inside the city gate cave
The soldiers of the Tang Army were still trying their best to move the bodies out, but it was too late.
At this moment, there was only an earth-shattering muffled sound. The city gate shook violently and opened two feet wide. Someone outside the city shouted: "Do it again!"
It turned out that there were more than a hundred soldiers outside the city holding a big tree and banging against the door. The soldiers stepped back a dozen steps and then rushed forward. "Boom!" There was another earth-shattering impact, and the city door shattered and was knocked open.
It is four feet wide and can accommodate a war horse.
The enemy had already reached fifty steps away, and Guo Song shouted: "Retreat! Retreat to the city head!"
He led more than 30 soldiers to retreat to the east corridor. Shatuo soldiers rushed into the city gate and tried to close the city gate, but it was too late. There was another earth-shattering impact, and half of the city gate collapsed. Li Bing waved his spear.
"Fight in!"
The Tang army's cavalry suddenly launched into action, like a strong wind from the ground, sweeping towards the city gate from a hundred steps away.
The soldiers of the Tang Army who hit the door dodged to both sides. The Tang Army's cavalry rushed into the city gate instantly, and Shatuo's reinforcements had just reached the city gate. The two armies met head-on. Li Bing swung his spear and led the cavalry into the enemy army.
Among the crowd......
Ten thousand cavalry entered Jiuquan County. The enemy troops in the city instantly collapsed. Shatuo soldiers knelt down and surrendered. Dozens of those who refused to surrender were all killed by the Tang army.
Guo Song took his men to sit on the corridor to rest. Eighteen of his sixty soldiers were killed and nine were injured, nearly half of them. The forty soldiers led by Zhang Yun also suffered nearly twenty casualties. Zhang Yun himself
He was also wounded and stabbed in the leg by an enemy spear. More than 400 of the 500 Shatuo soldiers who fought fiercely with them were killed, and more than 100 people were killed by Guo Song's sword alone.
Guo Song felt the difficulty of seizing the city for the first time. At this time, Li Bing escorted the lord of Jiuquan City. His name was Zhu Xie Shenglu. He was about fifty years old. He was the cousin of Shatuo Khan. He had just taken office in Suzhou.
In less than ten days, the military envoy became a prisoner of the Tang army.
"How are the casualties among the brothers?" Guo Song asked Li Bing.
"Reporting to the Governor, no one was killed, only a dozen were slightly injured, and a few horses were lost."
Guo Song nodded, his eyes fell on General Shatuo behind him, and asked: "What is your name?"
Zhu Xie Shenglu stepped forward tremblingly and said: "My name is Zhu Xie Shenglu. I am currently the strategic envoy of Suzhou. I beg the governor to spare my life. I will ask the soldiers from Fulu County and Juyanhai to surrender."
"What's your relationship with Shatuo Khan?" Guo Song asked again.
"Shatuo Khan's grandfather and my father were brothers, and I was his cousin."
"Your Chinese is pretty good!" Guo Song said with a smile.
"During the Tianbao period, I stayed in Chang'an for ten years."
During the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, aristocratic children from many ethnic groups in the Western Regions studied and lived in Chang'an. It is not surprising that Zhu Xie Shenglu was a Shatuo noble and lived in Chang'an when he was young.
Guo Song smiled and said: "Don't worry! I won't kill you. According to the prairie practice, your Khan can redeem you with property."
Zhu Xie Shenglu said quickly: "If the governor lets me go back, I am willing to exchange 200,000 sheep."
It turned out that a big fish was caught. Guo Song laughed and said: "Don't worry, I believe your Khan will send someone to negotiate soon."
.........
Meng Jiao and other more than a hundred scholars went to the Western Regions to join the army with great enthusiasm to serve their country. However, they were poured cold water on them in front of Liupan Pass. They did not have a clearance certificate, and the Tang army guarding the pass did not allow them to pass.
"We are all tribute candidates from various states and townships, and are dignified scholars of the Tang Dynasty. How can we have no status?"
The scholars were so angry that they argued with the general one after another. Meng Jiao even shouted angrily: "Ban Chao joined the army, and I have never heard of any pass that stopped him. We want to serve the country and go to Ganzhou to join the army. Why do you think so?"
Stop us?"
The customs guard said coldly: "I don't know anyone named Ban. I only act according to the rules. You can't pass the customs without the imperial court issuing a customs clearance certificate!"
A deputy lieutenant next to him said: "I will teach you a way. You can go to Pinggao County to find Yuanzhou Governor Zhang to issue a customs clearance document, and you can pass the customs."
"Pinggao County is still more than a hundred miles north, how do we get there?"
"That's your own business. Anyway, I only accept the ultimatum."
The deputy lieutenant sneered again: "What's so good about being in the army? You eat chaffy vegetables all day long and you still don't have enough to eat. You wear clothes that are worse than beggars and you don't wear warm clothes. Your military salary is deducted by the superiors for various reasons. In the end, you don't even have enough money."
You can’t leave home, you haven’t seen a woman for several years, you feel as beautiful as a fairy when you visit a sow, you die in a foreign desert and only wild dogs come to bury you, and the court will not acknowledge your merits. You nerds are still asking for this kind of life.
Look? I’m just so full that I’m so full!”
The heart-wrenching words of the general guarding the pass completely extinguished the enthusiasm in everyone's hearts and made them dejected. It was already getting late and it seemed that the pass could not be passed, so everyone had to return to Xikong Town to spend the night.
Xikong Town is named after it is located to the west of Kongtong Mountain. It is close to the exit of Danzheng Gorge of Kongtong Mountain and is only more than ten miles away from Kongtong Mountain. The official road here divides into three roads, all the way to Pinggao County in the north.
The other goes west to Liupanguan, and the other goes southwest to Longshanguan.
An inn in the town has been booked by Meng Jiao and others. Everyone sat in the lobby and sighed. Meng Jiao said to everyone: "It seems that the only way is to go to Pinggao County first, and then come back to pass the customs, which will delay four or five days."
day time."
At this time, two scholars walked up to Meng Jiao and said hesitantly: "Brother Meng, I really want to follow you to Ganzhou to join the army, but my mother is already sixty years old and in poor health. I really don't trust her. I want to go back."
Let’s go and have a look, and I will definitely go to Ganzhou to join the army in order to support my old mother.”
Another scholar also said: "Me too, I have a wife and two sons at home, but I didn't tell them that I also want to go home."
Meng Jiao looked angry and was about to reprimand, but Du Siye quickly advised: "Every family has difficulties, we can't force it, everyone has their own ambitions, let everyone consider their own choices!"
Huai Su also advised Meng Jiao to respect everyone's wishes.
Meng Jiao was convinced, he nodded and said to everyone: "I still have more than three thousand taels of silver here, which are the expenses raised by the people in the capital for us. I will distribute them to everyone. Those who want to go to Ganzhou will gather here tomorrow morning.
If you set out and want to go back, I will never force you."
He took out all 3,400 taels of silver and divided it into 120 parts, 20 taels per person. The remaining 1,000 taels of silver were left for those who wanted to continue to Ganzhou. No one had any objection.
The next morning, Meng Jiao and others gathered in the lobby. To his surprise, only about 20 of the 120 scholars were willing to continue to Ganzhou. The others all checked out and left before dawn.
.
In the end, blood and enthusiasm for serving the country are no match for family ties and daily necessities. The words of Liupanguan guard woke up many people. After thinking about it all night, they finally chose to give up, but they were too embarrassed to say it outright, so they all secretly stayed in the dark before dawn.
left.
Meng Jiao was really frustrated and sat there in a daze. At this time, his friend Du Siye came over. Du Siye was the youngest among them all, only twenty years old. His father was Du Zongwu, the second son of Du Fu.
The son is relatively mediocre, but his grandson Du Siye has had great ambitions since he was a child. When he was one year old, he grabbed a sword in his left hand and a pen in his right hand. His grandfather Du Fu was so happy that he could not close his mouth.
When I was nine years old, my grandfather passed away.
The year before last, Du Siye raised a sum of money and rushed to Baling alone to move his grandfather's coffin back to Luoyang for burial. He was highly praised. He was not married, and his grandmother Yang had his father and uncle to support him. Du Siye followed his grandfather's will and decided to follow Meng Jiao.
Ganzhou joined the army.
When Du Siye saw Meng Jiao sitting in a daze, he stepped forward and said with a smile: "Brother, you should be happy. It's better to leave now than to go back home after arriving in Ganzhou. Everyone decided to join the army out of passion.
To put it bluntly, I just got hot-headed. I think it’s a good thing to calm down now and make a real choice.”
Meng Jiao sighed, "You're right, I'm actually hot-headed too, but I stay hot-headed longer than them."
After saying that, he couldn't help but smile bitterly. At this moment, several businessmen walked in from outside.
A businessman complained: "What a bad luck! I actually lost the customs clearance document. I can't save any money even if I want to. I have to go through Longshan Pass."
Meng Jiao's eyes lit up, and he seemed to see a glimmer of hope.