On this morning, the city gates of Hanoi County were still open as usual, and people came in and out. The defenders here did not feel the crisis. Although the war was still going on, the war was mainly fought in Yuancheng, which was far away from Huaizhou.
, in everyone's mind, Yuancheng is just an isolated city and will be conquered soon. Everyone is waiting for the news of Wei's demise.
The North City Gate is heavily guarded. Dozens of soldiers conduct strict checks outside the city. Every pedestrian entering the city must be searched and their luggage checked.
At this time, a group of young men, about seventy or eighty people, came from the official road in the distance. Each of them was pushing a wheelbarrow cart, walking vigorously and very fast. The guard on the top of the city suddenly became suspicious and appeared at the same time.
So many young people, which is unusual.
"Stop them and investigate them carefully!" the guard shouted to the soldiers below.
Dozens of soldiers were gearing up, waiting for the other side to come forward.
Eighty young men pushing wheelbarrows gradually arrived at the city gate. The brigade commander stepped forward, raised his hands high and said: "Stop, check!"
Unexpectedly, the man pushing the cart ignored him and ran over with the cart. The brigade commander was too slow to dodge and was hit hard on the thigh by a deer cart. With a crack, his leg was broken and the brigade commander was knocked aside.
Eighty men pulled out swords and shields from the car and rushed towards the city gate. This group of young men were extremely brave and cut down more than a dozen people in a row. Their movements were fast and violent, and more than a dozen people had already rushed into the city.
Dust was flying in the distance, and a black cavalry appeared, like a sharp sword, heading toward the city gate.
The guard was shocked and shouted: "Close the city gate and pull up the drawbridge."
The soldiers pushed the winch hard, but the city gate did not move at all. The lower part was stuck, but the suspension bridge creaked and pulled up. At this time, two Jin soldiers jumped up, grabbed the iron chain, and each fired a small fire.
The thunder is hung on an iron chain. This small fire thunder only weighs more than ten kilograms and has an iron hook on it.
The two quickly lit the match rope, jumped back to the ground, and dodged to both sides. For a moment, "Boom! Boom!" there were two loud noises, debris flew everywhere, smoke filled the air, the front end of the suspension bridge was blown to pieces, and the long iron chain looked like a snake.
Flying up, the suspension bridge crashed down.
Eighty scouts had already controlled the city gate. In a moment, three thousand cavalry arrived first and rushed into the city. Behind them, 30,000 troops rushed to kill. The defenders were in chaos. General Jiang Ling learned that tens of thousands of troops were coming to kill him.
Knowing that Hanoi City could no longer be defended, he led three thousand soldiers to evacuate from the south gate and fled south.
The Jin army did not let them go. Three thousand cavalry chased them all the way. The soldiers of Zhu Si's army could not escape the cavalry, and they all knelt down and surrendered. Jiang Ling only led a thousand soldiers to escape from the mountain road, and they also
Not daring to stay, he fled directly across the ice of the Yellow River to the other side.
Li Bing captured Huaizhou. He left 10,000 troops to guard Huaizhou, while he personally led 20,000 troops to kill Liyang County on the north bank of the Yellow River, 300 miles away.
Liyang County is going to cross Weizhou. Although the capital of Weizhou is in Ji County in the middle, Ji County is far less important than Liyang County. Ji County has no defenders. All of Weizhou's 10,000 defenders are in Liyang County. Li Bing
When they arrived at Ji County, Cui Wei, the governor of Weizhou, led a group of officials out of the city and surrendered.
Li Bing did not enter the city, but asked about the latest situation in Liyang County in a temporary tent.
Cui Wei was born in the Bolingcui family. Compared with the Cui family in Qinghe, the Bolingcui family did not have a strong sense of presence in the Jin Dynasty. On the contrary, Cui Zao, the right prime minister of the Southern Tang Dynasty, was born in the Bolingcui family.
However, it was not that Boling didn't want to occupy a place in the Jin Kingdom, but he just didn't have the opportunity, so Cui Wei was particularly cooperative.
"Liyang usually has 5,000 troops stationed. This time, Zhu Si deployed 5,000 soldiers in each state, so Liyang County has 10,000 troops. In addition, the city has huge grain reserves. I heard last year that Liyang's grain reserves
It will be around 200,000 shi, but now it will be more or less. Zhu Si has been running Liyang County, and various war preparation materials are relatively sufficient to be able to fight a protracted war."
"What is the combat effectiveness of Liyang's defenders?" Li Bing asked again.
Cui Wei thought for a while and said: "The Liyang Army has always been the elite of Zhu Si's army. Last year, Tian Yue's 50,000 troops besieged Liyang City, but they never captured it. They had to make peace with Zhu Si and agreed that Zhu Si would continue to occupy Liyang County.
Liyang County is famous for being tall and strong, making it very difficult to attack, but there is a chance in winter."
Li Bing perked up and said quickly: "How do you say this?"
Cui Wei took a piece of paper, drew a sketch, and said with a smile: "Yongji Canal enters the Yellow River from Liyang. About a few hundred steps away from the Yellow River, Yongji Canal opens a branch canal that leads directly to the city. Because it is necessary to walk
It is a big ship, so the water city gate is opened very high, and there are only two very old wooden doors. Now that it is frozen in winter, the Jin army can attack from the river. They can set fire to the gate, or they can knock it open and then directly attack from the ice.
Fighting into the city, it can be said that this is the only weakness of Liyang City."
Li Bing thought for a moment and asked: "I want a hundred good carpenters and twenty good blacksmiths. Can Governor Cui provide them?"
Cui Wei smiled slightly and said: "This request is nothing. I will prepare it for the general right away. In addition, I may be able to give the general something good."
"Good stuff?" Li Bing was stunned, what did he mean?
"Don't worry, General, you'll see it soon."
Not long after, Cui Wei found a hundred carpenters and twenty blacksmiths in the city, and at the same time transported the good things he said out of the city.
Li Bing was suddenly surprised and delighted. The good thing Cui Wei mentioned turned out to be a huge tree, six feet long, enough for five people to hug it. It was at least seven or eight hundred years old.
This is the trunk of a jujube tree. The wood is fine and strong. It looks like top-grade wood for building a palace. It weighs nearly 10,000 kilograms and was transported by more than a dozen oxcarts.
Li Bing stepped forward and patted the giant tree. It felt like patting on a stone.
"How come there is this treasure?" Li Bing asked in surprise.
"This giant tree was brought from Hanoi County and grew for nearly a thousand years. In the 25th year of Kaiyuan, Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty rebuilt the Xingqing Palace and collected palace pillars from all over the world. Nine large jujube wood pillars were transported from Huaizhou, including one
The tree is not long enough, so I don’t want it and leave it in Ji County.”
Li Bing patted the giant tree, "Is this it?"
Trevi smiled and nodded, "That's it!"
.........
Liyang County is located on the north bank of the Yellow River in the southeast corner of Weizhou. The Yongji Canal that meanders from Youzhou merges into the Yellow River here. Liyang County has been a strategic town since ancient times. In the Sui Dynasty, it was one of the four largest granaries in the world.
Even in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, Liyangcang was one of the most important places for grain transit.
At present, there are no ordinary people in Liyang City. They are all warehouses and military camps. It is the springboard for Zhu Si to attack Hebei and also the logistics center for Zhu Si's army after they enter Hebei.
There were 10,000 troops stationed in the city, led by Zhu Si's confidant general Xue Lun. Unlike Huaizhou, Xue Lun had already received a warning from Zhu Si, asking him to take strict precautions against a sneak attack by the Jin army.
Xue Lun also knew the weakness of Liyang County. The river froze in winter, and attacking Liyang City from the river would be easy to break through. To this end, Xue Lun ordered people to build three sandbag walls on the river inside and outside Muzhamen, and poured them with water.
Ice is extremely strong and difficult to break open.
At the same time, Xue Lun sent hundreds of scouts twenty miles away around the city.
That morning, news came from the northwest sentry that they had discovered an army of 20,000 men, heading towards Liyang County in a mighty manner.
‘Woo——’
A deep horn sounded from the top of Liyang City, and the whole city was shocked. Xue Lun ordered all 10,000 troops to enter their combat positions, gearing up and preparing for battle.
Half an hour later, a dark army appeared a dozen or so ways to the west, heading towards Liyang City.
Xue Lun observed very carefully that the opponent had baggage, but not much, mainly food and grass, but there was no tent for camping. It was winter now, and not having a tent for camping meant that it was a short-term battle. It seemed that the Jin army wanted to hurry up.
Capture Liyang City quickly and decisively.
Xue Lun shouted: "All brothers, cheer up and prepare to face the enemy with all your strength."
Li Bing had been to Liyang County when he was a child, but at that time he was just a child. He followed his father to transit in Liyang County and took a boat. His only impression of Liyang City was that it was high. But now he is re-examining the city with the eyes of the attacking general.
, the city wall of Liyang City is at least four feet high. It is probably the tallest city wall among all cities, far exceeding Chang'an and Luoyang. However, it is a military city and is quite special. It is not considered to be trespassing.
The city wall is shining with silver, and there must be a layer of ice on it. It will be very difficult to attack the city with a siege ladder.
Li Bing's eyes finally fell on the river. Indeed, a tributary ran straight into the city. The water gate was tightly closed and two ice walls were built in front. As long as the obstacles on the ice were removed, the huge battering ram could knock open the city gate with one blow.
Xue Lun's judgment was correct. The Jin army did not carry tents and could not stay outside the city for a long time in winter, so they could only fight quickly.
The army only rested for an hour, and Li Bing began to deploy his troops and prepare for the attack. Their goal was very clear, which was to attack Shuimen together.
The top of Shuimen City was covered with eight thousand defensive soldiers, with bows and crossbows raised, and nearly a hundred small trebuchets were ready to shoot stones at the Jin army.
'Boom! Boom! Boom!'
The Jin army's war drums beat loudly, and the first army went out to fight. Three thousand giant shield soldiers began to move slowly on the ice.
They wore leather armor on the inside and thick cotton clothes and trousers on the outside. They looked very bulky and moved slowly, but this was how they could protect their internal organs from being frostbitten by the bone-chilling cold.