stubborn thief

Liu Chengzong sent Basang to lead the Xifan camp to station in Xidatonghebao because this area is called Maya Mountain, and the natives living in the mountain are all Xifan tribes, with a total of [-] tribes.

Wherever wars are fought, the local people are a great help or resistance. Since the entire Marshal's government has not yet established a relatively friendly relationship with the Maya Mountains, he chose the Xifan Camp for Zhuang Langwei's Xishan reinforcements. .

The purpose is to allow Basang to recruit and surrender the tribes in Maya Mountain, punish the evil noble leaders, recruit available leaders, gather the huge Western tribes in the mountain area, conscript troops and horses, and organize households and households.

Basang's thought at the beginning was also very simple, he would do what Liu Chengzong arranged, and it was always like this.

It's just that in this matter, it's useless for Liu Chengzong to send anyone, because the Seventeen Department of Ma Yashan has four festivals with him.

All the tribes in Maya Mountain say that their origin ancestors are all from the same group of people. Most of them are descendants of legions sent to Hexi during the period when Tubo ruled Hexi. Therefore, they call themselves Huarewa or Huarui, which means tribe of heroes.

After the Anshi Rebellion, Tubo took over Hexi, and the Guiyi Army briefly overthrew Tubo's rule. After the Jinshan and Han Kingdoms fell apart, three small regimes emerged in Hexi, one of which was located in Liangzhou, which was the Tubo regime.

The Liangzhou separatist regime has a history of about 200 years. The early ruling group was Wen Mobu, led by the Zhebu clan, a local Tubo family in Liangzhou, and later peacefully handed over to Pan Luozhi, the leader of Liugufan.

The Pan of Pan Luozhi is the Pan of Songpanwei. The name means the King of Panzhou. The Song Dynasty named Songpan Panzhou because of Pan Luozhi.

Back then, the small Tubo regime in Liangzhou could exist, on the one hand, because there was Li Jiqian from Xixia next to it, and on the other hand, it was because the Song Dynasty could accept the small regime in Helong and Feng Zhengshuo did not interfere with each other.

It is a tradition for Helong to enshrine Zhengshuo in the Central Plains. Even if those dirty small countries in the Central Plains of the Five Dynasties take turns to sit on the throne, the various regimes in Helong are willing to obtain titles from them.

But in the eyes of the little king in Helong, Tangut's Xixia is no good, this thing is just slipping away like my brothers, why do you block me?

Li Jiqian, the great ancestor of the Western Xia Dynasty, died at the hands of Pan Luozhi. Pan Luozhi was later killed by Li Deming. The Liugu tribe of Tubo, which occupied Xiliang Prefecture, disintegrated, and all tribes hid in the mountains. scene.

The strength of various ethnic groups has always been changing. In the era of the Ming Dynasty, the power of the Han people expanded unprecedentedly in the 1000 years after the Wei and Jin Dynasties. In the vast Hexi area of ​​​​Gansu Province in the early Ming Dynasty, there were only 150 Han people. Now the number is [-] million.

Most of the guard officers in Lanzhou, Liangzhou, Suzhou and other places can only trace their ancestors back to the time when Xu Da, Feng Sheng and others went west to fight.

Under the ebb and flow of each other, the Xifan people in the mountains naturally became a loose tribe with many feudal feudals and many establishments under the rule of the Great One Dynasty, and ruled according to customs. During the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years, they all surrendered to the Ming Emperor. The agent in this mountain area is Chieftain Lu of Liancheng.

In the Battle of Hehuang, they responded to the call of Lu Tusi and dispatched [-] local troops to defend Liancheng against the attacks of Liu Chengzu and Li Wanqing.

Although Liancheng still fell in the end, Lu Yunchang, who was both chieftain and court official, was still alive, and most of the defeated soldiers retreated to the mountains.

Because of this, the various factions in Maya Mountain did not announce their call to action with the end of the war, but stubbornly hid in the mountains, refused to contact the Marshal's Mansion, and actively prepared for the war.

Liu Chengzu and Li Wanqing killed more than 900 of their descendants during the war. This was the first festival between the Seventeen Departments of Maya Mountain and the Marshal's Mansion.

They are not preparing for the next battle with Liu Chengzong, but to deal with the aftermath of the war: bandits.

There used to be bandits in Maya Mountain, but most of them were made up of shabby settlers who couldn't survive. They were so poor that they could even snatch an axe. Naturally, they didn't have much fighting power. After a few villages are activated, they can beat them all over the mountain.

But since the end of the Hehuang War, there have been more than a dozen bandits that have sprung up. The big ones are no more than a few hundred, and the small ones are only three to fifty. They all hold weapons and wear armor. Carrying a dozen bird guns, he brought out a cannon.

The deserters from the frontier army in the five towns of Shaanxi greatly strengthened the bandits' strength. After fighting for more than half a year, both sides suffered casualties.

The allies who once fought together against Liu Chengzong became enemies, and the Seventeen Departments of Maya Mountain naturally recorded this blood debt on Liu Chengzong's head, which became the second festival between them.

As for the third festival, it does have something to do with Basang.

The most respected monks in the mountains have always lived in Hehuang. Since the war in Hehuang was over, Basang opened a special line for Buddha between Hehuang and Uszang according to Liu Chengzong's order, inviting monks to go to Uszang for further study. If he wanted to go, he would force him to return to vulgarity with a knife.

This has to be put elsewhere. If the Fanmin tribe can’t make it right, they will go back to believe in Bon religion directly. But in the mountainous area of ​​Maya Mountain, Bon religion has nothing left under the impact of various cultures for hundreds of years. .

The common people pick and choose, pick a more reliable god among the gods they believe in, and pray for the powerful and prominent Zhenjun Erlang to come down to earth and kill Liu Chengzong.

In fact, it is okay to pray for King Gesar to go down to earth, but people's hearts are not old now. The portraits of King Gesar that have flowed out from Uzang, Kangning, and Xining in recent years all wear third-rank official robes when they step off their war horses.

There is Erlang Pond at the foot of Mt. Songshan. Legend has it that Erlang God fought with people, and the horse’s hoof stepped on a mark. Erlang God shed another drop of sweat and fell into the horse’s hoof mark, which became Erlang Pond. People would worship there every year to pray for blessings. , I hope the weather in summer will be better.

In a nearby belief system, the god Erlang is responsible for good or bad summer weather.

With the monk gone, the common people had nowhere to vent their anger, so Liu Chengzong was naturally to blame.

It happened to be summer, so I asked Erlang God to throw some hailstones on Liu Chengzong's head, professional counterpart.

As for the fourth festival, it was because of the deserters who rushed into the mountains, which brought smallpox to the Seventeen Departments of Maya Mountain. Although they are still called the Seventeen Departments in name, there are actually only thirteen departments left.

The four festivals of war, military chaos, faith and plague come together, and the name Liu Chengzong is no less than a devil to the Ma Yashan.

Not to mention that he sent Basang, even if he brought the former Nangqian Wang Gama over, no one would listen to him.

For the past few days, Basang has been trying to get along with the [-]th Ministry in the garrison at West Datonghe Fort. After failing, he has been dispatching cavalry to drive away the nearby tribes and drive them to the north, so as not to cause trouble in the ensuing battle. .

However, it was also precisely because his army had dispersed to the north that the Xifan camp had received information about the Ming army's southward movement as early as the day the Liangzhou army set off from Gulangxia.

His cavalry also fought against Ming army Tangqi in the mountains several times. Small-scale conflicts could not take advantage of it. The noble cavalry from Kangning Mansion were also helpless against those Ming army Tangqi carrying flag spears, waist knives, three-eyed blunderbuss, bows and arrows.

Fortunately, Basang was very familiar with Tangqi's tactics, and used a simple containment method to prevent the control line from retreating under the invasion of Tangqi.

Speaking of dealing with things like Tangqi, there is no good way to deal with them at the same troop density. The only thing Basang can do to contain them is to control a radius of one mile with one Tangqi. I use two or even three Western infantry to control a whole area inside.

You have a three-eyed blunderbuss, I will use two musketeers to shoot at you, you charge forward, I will use noble cavalry to counter you, if you retreat, I will never chase you.

But this method is nothing more than an expedient strategy to stabilize the outside line. It all depends on Basang knowing that the main attack direction of the Ming army is the river valley, and will not mobilize heavy troops to confront him in the mountains. Other methods.

It wasn't until Zhuanglang Acropolis ignited the flames that Basang finally let go of his long-hanging heart. He left a general guard under his command and led the Xifan Battalion to the mountain pass northeast of Liancheng.

That night they carried fire across Tongyuan and arrived at Linping, [-] miles east of West Datong River. Five thousand soldiers surrounded the Fanmin village occupying Linping. Less than two hundred, no idea of ​​resistance.

Basang divided his troops into five hundred and escorted all men, women and children from the village to Hehuang, and asked the soldiers from the five towns of Hehuang to take care of them.

Then the main force rested in Linping for two hours, and then played drums and bells again, until the next morning they arrived at Qingling Mountain Pass in Bali, northwest of Zhuanglangwei City.

Under the pale blue twilight before sunrise, the Acropolis of Zhuanglang hadn't been breached yet, but looked very embarrassed.

Jing Xiaoliu, who hadn't slept all night, stood at the top of the city with his red eyes staring at him, two broken arrows were pierced into his cloth visor on his chest, his iron hat was replaced by a bowl he picked up from nowhere, and his helmet and spear were chopped off. broken.

On both sides of the city wall, there are wounded soldiers lying all over the place. The two horse-faced walls on the north side have been burned black, and the burnt city gate tower is emitting green smoke. A dozen soldiers who can still move are taking the corpses of the attacking army. Stacked on wooden trolleys, transported to both sides of the battlement that was blown out of the gap.

The pungent smell of smoke and boiled gold juice is everywhere.

Jing Xiaoliu was dragging the wooden cart, and brother Dao in the cart was shot in the chest, and a big hole was punched out, but he still maintained a full state of mind, with his helmet on and his armor holding up the torch, shining a light on the guards.

He looked over the cauldron boiling golden juice and urine, and looked at his subordinates resting against the battlements.

Just one day before, they were carefree Dongxiang Minzhuang, together with their neighbor's elder brother and relatives and uncles, they robbed the fields of the Zhuanglang Guards Banner Army, took down several piers by threats and intimidation, and even followed the commander of the Marshal's Mansion. The Mongolian cavalry together snatched the most majestic city in the Zhuanglang River Basin.

When the enemy army pressed the border, small-caliber artillery shot eggs all over their heads. People were scared to pee their pants, scream in horror, cry for their fathers and mothers, and even frantically tried to break through the city gate and escape.

But in just eight hours, everything changed drastically. The boy next door wanted to escape like crazy during the battle. He jumped off the three-foot city wall and broke his leg. He was cut off by the crazy Ming army. class.

The brave elder brother next door fired seven cannons with the Frang machine gun in a row, and with a loud bang, the red-hot barrel exploded to pieces.

The uncle with the same surname who was always drunk was the president of Bai, one moment he was teaching the juniors the experience of surviving on the battlefield, and the next moment he was pierced through the trachea by a stray arrow.

Not to mention the corpses lying on the ground after the smoke cleared, people don't even know how they died.

The coward died, the brave died, the inexperienced recruit died, and the experienced officer died.

The quiet corpse with dark red blood condensed in the cracks of the city wall and floor tiles is no longer frightening, and the stench of boiling golden juice is no longer unbearable.
Those who survived broke their throats in the terrified screams of fighting, and no longer had any desire to talk. They just lay back to back with Lucky, holding weapons, or sharpened their knives and guns in silence, preparing for the next siege.

Jing Xiaoliu heard the messengers on the four walls report to him: "General, there are 42 defenders in the north city, with 64 minor injuries and 79 insane; 120 defenders in the west city, three with minor injuries; [-] defenders in the south city, with minor injuries." Eight; there are [-] defenders in the east city, and the enemy troops there have never attacked the city."

Jing Xiaoliu nodded, and said to the messenger: "Understood, let those who are slightly injured go down to the city to take care of the wounded, and send thirty people from the east city."

He looked down the city, and saw smoke rising from the camp of the besieging army. He was afraid that the next attack would be imminent after dinner.

It wasn't just the army that changed this night, Jing Xiaoliu really watched one after another of the township soldiers he recruited die on the battlefield yesterday afternoon.

From the beginning of every soldier who died in battle, the officer would tell him the name, and then the officer refused to say the name, and he didn't want to listen to the name again, until it was close to the morning when the officers told him the name of the soldier who died in battle again.

His mentality has already collapsed. If at the beginning he told the Baibos to stand guard for two days and pick up his head to receive the reward, it was because he really believed that the reinforcements would arrive within two days. Don't want reinforcements to arrive.

His headquarters basically collapsed, three of the six hundred chiefs were killed in battle, and one had a broken leg; five of the twelve management teams were killed, one of them was promoted to acting hundred chiefs, and the establishment of the two hundred chiefs disappeared immediately.

In fact, Jing Xiaoliu planned to sleep during the attack last night, but he closed his eyes, and the parents, wives and children of the fallen soldiers were looking for him in all directions, so he dared not close his eyes at all.

There was a sound of horns below the city, and the Liangzhou army came out of the camp again, pushing more chariots towards the city, setting up a row of artillery positions, and the defenders on the city immediately got up, ready to pour boiling golden juice on the siege army on the head.

Just after the cannon fired twice, Jing Xiaoliu heard gold ringing suddenly from the city.

He had the courage to look out from the battlements, and saw that the infantry, who were about to ascend the city, suddenly rushed back to the camp with artillery, retreated to the north, and immediately set up a large car camp in a square shape.

At the Qingling Mountain Pass in the farther north, smoke and dust billowed to cover the sky, drums rumbled, two Western cavalry with spiral rods and spears decorated with tiger skin and leopard skin appeared on the bank of Zhuanglang River, and one rolled an earth dragon along the edge of the river. Down the river, another galloped across the river and stood in the north.

Immediately afterwards, a horizontal team composed of heavy infantry wearing ring armor and holding spears and lightly armed bird musketeers strode across the Zhuanglang River, pressing towards the chariot camp from north to south.

Amidst the roaring artillery fire from the chariot camp, stray bullets the size of goose eggs sprayed across the battlefield to all sides of the line, but the Fan soldiers turned a deaf ear to the sound of the artillery and the turning up of the turf, and just walked forward with their heads bowed.

Until they got close, the artillery officers in the Fanbing set up small cannons, and also blasted at the artillerymen in the chariot battalion. Immediately afterwards, the guns fired, the cavalry rushed, and thousands of Fanbing roared the scriptures in unison. , Even overwhelmed the roaring cannon.

"According to Prajna Paramita, there is no hindrance in the heart; no hindrance, no terror... stay away from reversed dreams, and finally Nirvana!"