Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 848 You Can't Kill Me

"The Xia thief is attacking the city!" A heart-piercing shout sounded from the top of the city.

The sergeants who were resting under the city got up one after another upon hearing the news. After checking their equipment, they climbed to the top of the city under the leadership of the officers.

Wang Tan, the commander of the Shenjie Army, also received the news, because it was the first time Xia Jun attacked the city, he attached great importance to it and personally led people to the top of the city to supervise the battle.

It turned out that when he got there—er, that's it?
There are already officers whipping the defenders who reported indiscriminately. What the hell is this? Is this a siege?They just gathered people and horses to form an array, and they didn't mean to attack at all.

"Who are these people?" Wang Tan didn't lose his temper at the poor soldier, and asked the guard directly.

"The envoys returning to the army are all young and strong in the city. They have never been on the battlefield, and they panic when they see bandits gathering."

Wang Tan sighed.

Now it is really difficult to find some experienced Liangdi veterans. The 20 people didn't know where they went. If you really had to search carefully, there might be more Liangren veterans in the Xia army, which is too unacceptable.

"Look carefully, don't yell." Wang Tan scolded, and then walked aside to carefully examine the outside of the city.

Bianzhou is actually not big, that is, the size of an ordinary state city.During the reign of Emperor Dezong, it was expanded, with 20 miles and 155 steps around the city, and there were seven gates, including two water gates.Before the expansion, it was not even as big as an ordinary state city.After all, at that time, the imperial court did not rely much on money and food from the south, and Bianzhou's status was not that high.Hebei, a major grain producer, is still sending rents and taxes to the imperial court, but this line of communication does not pass through Bianzhou, and Weizhou's status is even far higher than that of Bianzhou.

Since the separatism of the feudal towns, the amount of money and food provided to the imperial court in the wealthy Hebei has been greatly reduced. Wars in Henan are frequent, and sometimes the central government is required to help.

But to be honest, the population and arable land in the south of the Yangtze River are not large, and there are a lot of swamps and forests. With a wild natural landscape, how can there be much wealth?To put it bluntly, Jiangnan is still honest, and doesn't spend much to support the army, and the remaining money and food have been looted by the court.At that time, the amount of taxes in Jiangnan far exceeded that of Huainan, Henan, Hedong and other places, and the people were overwhelmed, which eventually led to the Qiu Fu uprising.

Water transportation brought Bianzhou prosperity, making it rise rapidly, surpassing Weizhou, and becoming the most affluent place in the Kanto region.Even the cities of Caizhou and Xuzhou have developed accordingly, and the strength of the entire Kanto has begun to grow rapidly.

Wang Tan is relatively clear about these histories.

He once imagined that if the world was changed and the king of Liang established a new dynasty, then Bianzhou would most likely be the capital.At that time, Bianzhou City will also usher in great development, and the city's circumference will change from twenty miles to fifty or even seventy miles.

Too bad none of that happened.

Wang Tan felt slightly regretful.Bianzhou may have missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and that's it.

More and more Xia troops gathered outside the city. They lined up neatly and strictly disciplined. The soldiers were boasting of their bravery, and the auxiliary soldiers were digging trenches.

Yes, it is to dig trenches. This is the prelude to the siege. Xia Jun will not stop until he takes Bianzhou.

"What a good soldier, with high morale, and I feel that I can conquer the world." Wang Tan took one last look at the Tianxiong soldiers outside the city, and went down from the top of the city.

Liang Jun has lost confidence in winning, which will make their combat effectiveness lower than their real strength.Self-confidence is too important for an army that fights all year round, and sometimes it can even allow you to exert combat effectiveness beyond your own strength.

The situation is reversed, and the general trend is gone.

When Wang Tan returned to the barracks, he suddenly saw Shi Yanci, the street envoy.

"General Wang." Shi Yanci bowed and saluted.

"Doctor Shi." Wang Tan was a little impatient, but he still returned the salute.

Shi Yanci didn't care about Wang Tan's attitude, and said, "General Wang is from Chang'an, right?"

Wang Tan's heart moved, but his face remained calm, and he said: "It's all happened more than ten years ago, and now my family is in Bianzhou."

Shi Yanci didn't seem to have heard this sentence, and said again: "I heard that Xia Wang likes to use Kansai warriors as generals..."

Wang Tan got up suddenly, stroked the handle of the knife, and called for the generals.

Shi Yanci's face turned pale, and he secretly sighed "My life is over".Under the instigation of the staff, he prepared to take a risky gamble, but he didn't expect that he was about to die just after taking the first step. This must be too bad luck.

"Kill everyone far away, and those who approach the big tent without reason, will be killed without mercy." Wang Tan ordered.

"Obey!" The general took the order and left.

Shi Yanci's face turned from white to red, his heart was beating non-stop, and he became active again.

"Why didn't Doctor Shi continue talking?" Wang Tan looked at Shi Yanci with a half-smile and said.

Shi Yanci was so frightened that he forgot what he had originally thought. Hearing this, he asked: "General Wang, do you think Bianzhou can be defended? How long can it be?"

"If Xia's thieves besiege and don't attack, and the whole city is united, it will only last for more than a year." Wang Tan sat down, suddenly smiled, and said: "But in the current situation, at most half a year. If the city is not broken within half a year, You can keep it for a year."

Generally speaking, the further back the defending city is, the stronger the will of the defending army will be.Gein and the others had already killed a large number of siege sergeants. They were worried that they would be liquidated after the city was broken, so they dared not surrender easily. Unless the attacker gave a guarantee that the city would not be slaughtered, and they had to have credibility, it would be a battle for both the attacker and the defender. tragedy.

"But from my point of view, people in the city are in panic. It's impossible for half a year, and three months is enough." Shi Yanci said: "The Xia bandits dig trenches and pretend to be besieged for a long time. Obviously they don't want to kill or injure a lot of people. After half a year, The water is gradually rising, and the Xia bandits don't need to attack by force, they build dams to block the water, dig dikes to irrigate the city, and I'm afraid they won't be able to defend."

Attacking with water is indeed a good way, but if the defenders are tenacious.It also has no effect.In history, Jinyang was flooded more than once. The water in the city was knee-deep, and the corpses were floating on the water. Has it landed?No!On the contrary, because of the weather in Jinyang, the soldiers in the besieging city suffered from an epidemic and suffered heavy casualties——

Zhu Quanzhong's Liang army besieged Jinyang. Because of the heavy rain for months, the army was plagued by epidemics, and the number of personnel was seriously reduced, so they had to retreat.

Guo Rong besieged Jinyang in the later Zhou Dynasty. Because of the heavy rain for months, the soldiers fell ill on a large scale and suffered heavy casualties, so they had to retreat.

But if the morale of the defenders is low and the will to fight is not tenacious enough, then Bianzhou is really not easy to defend, because it is more suitable for flooding.

Is the morale of the defending Liang army high?Blind people can see that it is not high.

"Doctor Shi has communicated with Xia people?" Wang Tan asked suddenly.

Even though he already knew Wang Tan's attitude, Shi Yanci was still taken aback, and denied it flatly: "There is absolutely no such thing."

After finishing speaking, he felt a little regretful, the staff asked him to pretend that he had something to do with the Xia people, but it was too late to make up for it.

"Then why did you come to me?" Wang Tan touched his waist again and sneered.

"Shenjie Army is responsible for the defense of Zhengmen, Liangmen, Suanzaomen, and Fengqiumen, right?" Shi Yanci said hurriedly, his face turning pale again.

"You are a street emissary until now, have you ever thought about why?" Wang Tan sneered, "Just now you should answer that you have secretly communicated with Xia people, and I might still be afraid to kill you. But now What value do you have? If I want to vote for King Xia, behead your head and open the city, and earn an extra credit, wouldn’t it be great?"

"How can General Wang act like this?" Shi Yanci was startled, subconsciously said.

"Why can't you act like this?" Wang Tan asked back.

"Sister She is the concubine of the King of Liang. She is enchanting and charming, and has always been favored by the King of Liang. Seeing her, the King of Xia must love and pity her too much. You can't kill me." Shi Yanci said.

Wang Tan was dumbfounded.

He forced a smile and said, "Come here, serve tea to Dr. Shi."

After finishing speaking, he said again: "Just now I was worried that Dr. Shi was sent by Zhu Youwen to test me. I offended him with his words. I still look forward to Haihan."

Shi Yan said in his heart, I believe you, just now he really felt that Wang Tan was going to kill him.

But right now is not the time to worry about this matter, Shi Yan resigned his thoughts and asked: "General Wang, would you like to send people out of the city with me to meet King Xia?"

Wang Tan was silent for a moment, and said: "The envoy can go through the Zheng gate, other gates are not safe."

******
Zhu Youwen is very busy now, busy killing people.

Xia's army marched into Bobianzhou in a big way, and people in the city were panicked, and rumors and rumors were repeatedly banned.

Some people said that the defenders fled one after another, and Xia Jun was about to break through the city.Zhu Youwen sent troops to arrest and kill dozens of people.

Some people say that there are generals in the city who want to sacrifice the city to win wealth.Zhu Youwen sent troops to arrest and kill dozens of people.

Others said that there was not enough food and grass in the city, and that it was not enough for a month's consumption.Zhu Youwen also sent troops to arrest and kill more than a hundred people.

Bloody heads were hung here and there as a warning.

The atmosphere in the city became more and more silent and strange. Zhu Youwen subconsciously felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't tell where the problem was.

"The king of Liang was forced to leave, unable to enter the city." This was the latest news that was circulated. Zhu Youwen didn't dare to kill anyone, because it was so widely circulated that even the soldiers were speculating and whispering.

It is not impossible to defend an isolated city without reinforcements from outside.But you have to give a deadline, right?How long will it last?
No one dared to answer, and could not answer.

Looking at it like this, either the four towns of Yun, Yan, Qing, and Huai combined forces to defeat the Xia bandits and relieve the siege of Bianzhou, or the Xia bandits surrounded the place to death, and no one could break the siege until the city was destroyed.

Moreover, for the civil and military generals and even the big soldiers in Bianzhou, it is not necessarily a good thing that the Yunbing and Yanbing came to rescue the siege, and it may mean a greater disaster.

The hatred between the two parties is simply too great.Once Bianzhou is under their control, everyone's wealth will not be preserved, women will be insulted by these hateful warriors from other places, and even their lives will be in danger.

Then, it's better to surrender Xia Bandit.At least, Shao Shude can restrain military discipline, and he will only insult the daughters of the Zhu family, and will not harm ordinary people.

Zhu Youwen left the military mansion with a heavy heart, and returned to his mansion under the guard of his own soldiers.

After busy work, his wife Wang changed into casual clothes for Zhu Youwen.

"These warriors, alas!" Zhu Youwen sat down and sighed.

He has little experience in front-line fighting, which is his flaw, and it also makes many warriors faintly dissatisfied, very rebellious.

As for why he was able to become the commander of the Guangsheng Army, and even took charge of the defense of Bianzhou, it is actually not difficult to understand.Zhu Youyu is the oldest and the most outstanding among the brothers, and he often leads troops in battle.After the father and elder brother set off for the expedition, the choice of who stays in Bianzhou is very critical. In the past, a general could be chosen to be in charge, but in the past two years, my father's suspicion has become more and more serious. Winner.

But the Zhu family is too weak, and the relationship with the Zhu clan in Dangshan is also very poor, as can be seen from the people who have no hometown so far.

Choose and choose, choose yourself.

At the beginning, Zhu Youwen felt very excited, and felt that his status in his father's heart was second only to his elder brother.And after hearing the "rumor" that his elder brother might have died in battle, he even secretly rejoiced, feeling that the opportunity had come.

But now it seems that this is a big fire pit.He was hung on top and roasted repeatedly, maybe one day his subordinates would borrow his head and die without a place to bury him.

"Husband, the princess has returned to the palace from Kaiyuan Temple. I went to see you today, and the princess promised to help stabilize the morale of the army." Wang walked over, poured a bowl of wine for Zhu Youwen, and said.

"Oh? That's great." Zhu Youwen breathed a sigh of relief.

The influence of the princess in the army cannot be underestimated.My father has a bad temper, he beats and kills generals at every turn, and punishes the sergeants. Thanks to the concubine's persuasion, there are quite a few generals and sergeants in the army who have benefited from the concubine's favor. Some of these people were transferred to the eighth army of Tianwu. up.

Footsteps sounded outside the door.

Zhu Youwen looked up, but he was a general, so he asked, "What's the matter?"

The general looked around, leaned closer and said in a low voice, "Zhang Guibian and Xie Yanzhang have run away."

(End of this chapter)