Late Tang Dynasty: I

Chapter 54
Zhaoyi is located in the south of Taiyuan, Hedong, and is located in Luzhou, Xingzhou, Mingzhou, Cizhou, and Zezhou. The original Jiedu envoy Gao Xun fought against Huang Chao's general Li Xiang at Shiqiao, and was defeated and killed by his subordinate Cheng Lin. .

Meng Fangli, the guard of Tianjing Gate in Zhaoyi Town, led his soldiers to attack and kill Cheng Lin, claiming to stay behind.

He also moved the government office from Luzhou to his hometown of Xingzhou. Meng Fangli actually controlled the four states of Xing, Lu, Ci, and Ming, while Zezhou was occupied by Huang Chao's general Li Han.

At this time, there was a severe drought in Hedong for several years, and there was not enough food and grass. Li Keyong led his troops to plunder Zhaoyi, but Xingzhou suffered little damage due to the presence of large soldiers.

However, Luzhou, where Zhaoyi's army was originally stationed, suffered disasters. The important towns of Taipingyi, Tunliu, Gaowangpu, and Huguan were all lost due to insufficient troops.

It's absurd to say that after this incident, the people of Luzhou didn't blame Li Keyong, but Meng Fangli instead. Based on the idea of ​​joining if they couldn't beat him, the soldiers and civilians of Luzhou hooked up with Li Keyong, and sometimes acted like enemies.

Before Li Ke's army arrived, all the towns in Luzhou came to surrender one after another. Li Ke used his troops to capture Luzhou without bloodshed, and then led his troops northward to Xingzhou, Meng Fangli's old nest.

Under the city of Xingzhou, Li Ke rode his horse to the high ground in the west of the city. He listened to what the counselor Gai Yu said, and if he wanted to fight Zhu Wen decisively, he would go all out.Although Zhaoyi is small, he lives behind Heyang and Bianliang. If it is not eliminated, when the battle with Zhu Wen reaches a stalemate, bandits will suddenly come out from the rear, and it will be in danger.

What's more, when Li Keyong entered Heyang last time, Meng Fangli sent [-] soldiers into Taiyuan, which also made Li Keyong feel old-fashioned. This time when the army gathered in Xingzhou, it is natural to take revenge.

But at this time, Li Keyong saw the city wall of Xingzhou appearing in the fog, and he also made trouble. He despised Meng Fangli as a coward. The city wall was much higher than when he came last time. The moat It has also been widened by dozens of feet, and the crenels on the top of the city wall are full of archers.

At first glance, it was an existence that was not easy to provoke. Li Keyong secretly lamented that Meng Fangli was not good at field battles, but he had a way of defending the city.

If it is a strong attack, I don't know how many people will be lost?

……

Zhaoyi, Xingzhou City Tower

Meng Qian, who is defending the city, is Meng Fangli's younger brother. At this time, he is watching the battle from the cloud tower on the south gate.

It's foggy today, so I can't see very clearly.

In a vague way, I saw the Hedong army driving the people to fill the river with soil, and hurriedly ordered all the soldiers to shoot them.

Most of the sergeants refused, General Xu Bin said: "General, there are people in Xingzhou under the city. Many of them have children and relatives in the city. The general and the school also have close relatives. I hope the general will remember the people and don't kill them."

Meng Qian said: "This general can't bear it, but there is nothing we can do. If you don't shoot, you and I will be prisoners when the moat is leveled."

Then the whole army gathered to shoot, and for a while, there were screams by the river, and the river was dyed red.

At this time, the Hedong Army had set up more than fifty catapults outside the south city. Seeing that the Hedong Army seemed to be ready to throw stones, they pulled Meng Qian from left to right to hide behind the city wall.

With a series of whoo... whoo... sound.

Then there was a muffled sound of hitting the ground.

"It doesn't sound like stone."

When something happened to fall on the city wall, the violent collision smashed the projectile into pieces, and a piece of viscous liquid fell on Meng Qian's face. It was already dark red, and a stench came over.

Meng Qian was a little dazed, and looked at the ground of the city wall. Now, he could see everything clearly. The middle of the city wall was full of minced meat, the ground was a mess, intestines mixed with black and red liquid, and a head was on the ground. Twirling and spinning.

"vomit……"

The archers and soldiers guarding the city wall all opened their eyes wide with fear in their eyes, and some of them bent down and vomited crazily.

The fog gradually thickened, and people could not be seen clearly twenty paces away.

I don't know how many people the Hedong Army killed, one after another corpses, as if there was no end, kept falling from the sky.

Even on the top of the city, there were hundreds of corpses falling down, let alone how many there were in the city, there was no place for people to stand on the ground, the faces of the soldiers were all pale, and their eyes were terrified.

"Hedong dog thief..."

Meng Qian was about to burst into tears.

If this continues, the morale of the army will be broken without fighting. If it is a field battle, the soldiers may have already fled.

The same is true for the soldiers on the city wall, hiding under the wall, holding their heads, not daring to move, letting the smashed blood and flesh fall on their bodies.

I don't know how long it took.

Finally stopped.

A rider came from the other side of the moat, and shouted: "The commander-in-chief has ordered that those who descend will survive. If there is any resistance, until the day the city is broken, no chicken or dog will be left behind."

"On the day the city is broken, no chicken or dog will be left behind."

When the sergeants in the city heard this, they all widened their eyes and looked frightened.

Everyone has heard of the brutality of the Hedong Army, and even many people have experienced it personally, but this is the first time they have seen such a bloody one.

Meng Fangli, the envoy of the Zhaoyi Festival, also went to the top of the city at this time. Seeing this situation, he hurriedly asked people to bring civilian husbands to clean up the corpses. These corpses not only affect morale, but also cause plague after a long time.

The walls of Xingzhou City are high and strong, and there is sufficient food and grass in the city. It is not so easy to break through. Meng Fangli is most worried about his generals.

He already felt that the soldiers of the Luzhou line were dissatisfied with him, and it was not so easy to mobilize the army.

Most of the soldiers in the city are under the control of the soldiers of Luzhou. Meng Fangyi has no other way but to keep using money to win him over. He dare not suppress him, fearing that one day he suppresses them, his head will fall to the ground.

Meng Fangli has not been on the Zhaoyi Jiedushi for a long time, his foundation is not deep, and the surrounding Wei Bo and Hezhong have no friendship with him, so he can only turn his eyes to the emperor who is far away in Chang'an.

The imperial court definitely does not want the situation in the east of the river to be strong, so it will contact the feudal vassals and send a large army to rescue them. What he has to do is to stabilize the morale of the army and stand firm for help...

…………

Meng Fangli's calculation was good, Li Ye really didn't want Zhaoyi to fall into Hedong's hands.

After a little thought, Li Ye understood that Li Ke used to attack Zhaoyi.

As for Zhaoyi.

"Three months ago, the imperial court sent someone to Zhaoyi to urge Qiu Fu to be paid. At that time, he was very rude. Now that the Hedong soldiers are approaching the city, they remember the imperial court again."

Li Ye shook his head. In the eyes of the feudal town, the imperial court exists like a urinal. If you need it, you can take it and use it. When you don't need it, the sky is high and the emperor is far away.

Jing Xiang, who was sitting upright at His Highness, was entering the palace as an attendant for the first time, and getting along with others also required a process of adjustment. Jing Xiang didn't understand the emperor's mind, so naturally he didn't dare to speak nonsense.

In fact, he was very curious, not the emperor, but the "mysterious man" beside the emperor.

The "mysterious person" must exist, Jingxiang concluded.

What kind of person should this be?
(End of this chapter)