Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 885 Qizhou
The dawn sky was covered with gray clouds.Occasionally, I saw a few morning stars, twinkling and twinkling, looking so lonely.

Early in the morning, people gathered outside the city gate.

The carriage was full of winter vegetables, which were ordered by big households in the city.

Dozens of sheep were herded together, bleating, lowering their heads from time to time, looking for withered grass roots to chew on in the severe frost.

It is a pity that in the last moments of life, they cannot eat a good meal.The left-behind martial arts masters want to eat meat, and these sheep will not survive today.

There were also people driving several carts of charcoal.Cutting firewood and burning charcoal is hard work, and you can't earn much money. It is usually done by elderly people.

young people?The young man was gesturing with a wooden spear at every opportunity.Serving as a soldier is always the best chance for people at the bottom to stand up, there is no need to doubt this.

No chance to serve in the army?There will be a chance when those old warriors die.

It sounds cruel, but it has always been like this.When Zhu Quanzhong called back then, batch after batch of old warriors were wiped out, didn't the opportunity come?

"I heard that Yunzhou was breached by the Xia bandits." While waiting to open the city gate, everyone was so bored that they chatted up random stories.

"Where did you hear that?" Someone asked, "The Yun soldiers are so fierce, they were all killed?"

"Believe it or not. The soldiers in the city have gone to the west to fight, can't you see?"

"Oh, it's a pity that I, Qizhou Erlang, a very good guy, can't defend my hometown, but went to work hard for the people of Yun."

"We are also from Yun. Qizhou has been occupied for so many years, and Qingzhou has nothing to say. It seems to be asleep."

"Hmph. People from Qingzhou are here. Do you recognize that Marshal Wang when you are a soldier in the city?"

Zhang Wen silently listened to the conversation of the merchants, and smiled secretly.

How can there be any Yun people, Qi people, Yan people, and Qing people?Only locals and out-of-towners.

Qizhou has been occupied for so many years, and the earliest Yun soldiers who came here have long been localized, and they married with Qizhou soldiers and became in-laws.Everyone continues to make a fortune, become a master, life has not changed compared to before, and whoever is the Jiedushi or the governor is none of my business!

Well, you can't say that either.There are frequent battles in Yunzhen, and the soldiers from Qizhou have gone to battle more often. This may be their dissatisfaction.But at this time, even if you submit to Wang Shifan again, you will still be unable to escape the war.

When King Xia came, the warriors wailed everywhere.He wants to take away the wealth and power and dismiss the army. I'm afraid life will be difficult.

After chatting for a while, everyone had nothing to talk about.Some people took out the pancakes and began to eat, some closed their eyes and rested their minds, and some counted the goods.

The normal functioning of the city is inseparable from the countryside.If it is not for special circumstances, it is impossible to close the city.

"Open, open!" Suddenly someone shouted.

Zhang Wen and Dong Zhang looked at each other, and pretended to start packing the firewood on the cart.

"Squeak!" The sergeant guarding the gate feebly pushed the city gate open.

Several people brandished their scabbards and drove away the merchants who got too close, cursing.

There was a sudden sound of horseshoes in the distance, and everyone was startled.

"There are thieves! There are thieves! Close the city gate quickly." Yiqi rushed forward and shouted.

The horse under his crotch almost ran away, foam was overflowing from the corner of his mouth, and he was about to die.

"Sun Er! It's Sun Er!" A sergeant exclaimed.

"Sun Er, what's the matter?" A burly man stepped forward, grabbed Sun Er's rein, and asked.

"Captain Zhao, close the city gate quickly! There is a large group of thieves appearing from the north, and the speed is very fast." Sun Er rolled off his horse, with a feather arrow stuck in his back, and said anxiously: "Wu Dalang and the others are all dead!" I was hunted and killed by thieves, and I ran back alone, so close the city gate."

Captain Zhao hesitated for a moment, as if he was weighing things up.

The merchants listened on the sidelines, regardless of whether it was true or not, some wanted to escape to the city immediately, some wanted to turn around and go back to the countryside, and they were noisy and chaotic for a while.

"Close the door!" Captain Zhao roared, making up his mind.

"Huh!" A spear flew towards him.

Zhao Duitou's body was directly taken away and fell to the ground, his eyes full of disbelief.

"What are you still doing in a daze? Do it!" Wang Jiao pulled out another throwing spear from the woodpile, took aim, and then nailed another person to the ground.

"Do it!" Zhang Wen took out a long ax from under the woodpile, and Dong Zhang also took out a short spear.

There were more than a dozen people beside them. Seeing this, they drew out horizontal knives and iron swords one after another, and some people were stringing their bows. All of a sudden, they changed from merchants to murderous warriors.

The guards at the gate of the city were completely stunned.Someone reacted, shouted and ran back, trying to close the city gate, but was quickly thrown to the ground by the spear again.

Wang Jiao took a well-stringed strong bow from someone else, weighed it, drew out the feathered arrows, and shot left and right.

"Damn it, the shot is really accurate!" Zhang Wen rushed into the urn city, admiring, while swinging the long axe, slashing left and right.

Scout Sun Er drew out his horizontal knife and tried to step forward to block it.Dong Zhang rushed forward without saying a word, and stabbed him to death with a spear.

"Come on!" he roared.

Someone pulled a carriage and blocked the city gate.The rest of the sergeants followed with infantry bows in hand. They were all carefully selected warriors. They shot the thief accurately. After repeated shots, the guards almost lost their lives.

At the end of the road, there was already a dense sound of horseshoes.

The warriors who galloped all night forcibly cheered up, suppressed their physical and mental exhaustion, rushed to the city gate, dismounted one after another, and began to put on their armor.

Wang Jiao had already jumped into the carriage blocking the door, holding two bloody throwing spears in his hand, staring at the end of the street.

Zhang Wen looked admiring, but then became very annoyed, how could he be compared with others?Without saying anything, he circled the carriage and rushed to the front.

The [-] sergeants who arrived earlier had already put on their armor, and rushed up in line with their long spears.

They pulled away the carriage blocking the door and filed into the city.

Wang Jiao also put on a layer of iron armor, holding a bow in his left hand and a spear in his right hand, shooting from the left to the right. He was unstoppable - probably more than ten enemies died under his hands today.

The people of Qi, who were slow to react, finally rushed over for reinforcements.

Hundreds of people rushed down the street in a panic.The first commander of the Iron Forest Army, the five hundred soldiers, quickened his pace and fought the enemy head-on.

The collision between the men immediately decided the outcome.

Qi Bing was beaten and retreated, and the streets were covered with corpses in disorder.In fact, if you observe carefully, you can find that at the moment when the two sides confront each other head-on, the number of people who fall is actually the same, but a strong army is strong because it is used to life and death, and can endure higher casualties, so this alone determines success or failure. .

There is also a large cavalry army approaching outside the city.

Two warriors commanding [-] paces of the Iron Forest Army arrived one after another.No one needs to mobilize, everyone knows what to do and what not to do.After putting on the armor and taking the equipment, the officer with the flag on his back shouted loudly, then marched through the wall and rushed into the city.

Wang Jiao rushed to the front with 500 people.He was surprised to find that the resistance he encountered was very weak. The enemy's equipment was messy, their morale was uneven, and their uniforms were not uniform. What kind of soldiers are these?

"Kill his head!" Wang Jiao held up his throwing spear and threw it with a "huh", facing a thief school in front of him.

"Kill his head!" The soldiers of the Iron Forest Army shouted in unison, speeding up their pace and charging.

The thief was attacked suddenly, but he didn't react in time, so he played Bianzhou's refueling tactics again.Soldiers of the Iron Forest Army pushed in sideways, marched against the wall, and slashed with knives and axes, almost no one could block their blows.

With more and more Xia soldiers pouring into the city, the change of hands in Licheng County has become inevitable.

"Squeak!" The gate of the south city was opened, and Zhu Ting fled with dozens of horsemen, not daring to look north.

There was a sound of hooves in the field.The cavalrymen of the Tielin Army who had been waiting for a long time got on their horses one after another and began to speed up.

"Can the thief know Grandpa?" Xu Hao rushed out with a horse in his hand.

Zhu Ting glanced back, frantically swung his whip and went away.

Xu Hao also sped up his speed and saw him chasing and killing him.

The two chased and fled, and quickly ran a few miles away.

"Huh!" Xu Hao used the horse spear enough, but couldn't reach it, so angrily he took off his helmet and threw it forward forcefully.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Ting still had this kind of "hidden weapon", and was hit on the head by accident, staring at his eyes, and his speed slowed down a bit.

Xu Hao was overjoyed, he patted his horse forward, stabbed down with a spear, and directly picked Zhu Xuan up.

"Haha! I finally caught you." Xu Hao swung Zhu Ting's body to the ground with a crash, creating a snow pit in the shape of a human.

Shao Shude led the follow-up troops to stop outside Qizhou City.

"Only seven or eight hundred levels of beheading? There are so few defenders?" He was a little surprised, but then realized: This is because there was no time to mobilize a large number of townspeople, otherwise it would be no problem to gather thousands of defenders.

It seems that the main force of Qizhou has already come out and settled in Pingyin.Zhu Qiong may have seen that Zhu Wei had made a fortune as the governor of Qizhou, and then entered Yunzhou as the governor of the Tianping Army, trying to replicate this process?
In Pingyin County, a lot of bandits gathered.

Shao Shude recalled the topography of Xiapingyin County: the county is adjacent to Jishui River in the north, the Yellow River is ten miles north of the county, there is the ancient city of Pingyin in the Spring and Autumn Period, and in the northeast of the county, there is also the Great Wall of Qigu, which passes through Pingyin County in the west and Pingyin Ancient City in the east. In the south of the city, the Great Wall has been abandoned, but the important pass (such as the defense gate) is still there.To the east is the western end of Mount Tai, and to the west is the confluence of rivers and economic exchanges.

In such a place, the cavalry cannot charge up, either it is separated by mountains, or it is blocked by Jishui, the Yellow River and some fortified cities.

According to Zuo Chuan, in the 18th year of Duke Xiang, the Marquis of Jin gathered the troops of the princes to attack Qi, and the Marquis of Qi was defending the gate to defend against the enemy.

With water in the west and mountains in the east, such a terrain is naturally conducive to defense. Before that, the soldiers and horses of Hezhong and Zhongwu towns also fought repeatedly in these places, and only retreated into the county to hold on after they failed.This meeting has already been occupied by soldiers from Ziqing and Qizhou, and it is impossible to replicate the Battle of Sishui—your cavalry were discovered by the enemy while they were still crossing the river or climbing the mountain.

But this does not mean that there is no way to deal with Wang Shike, Zhu Qiong, Zhu Xuan and others.

How much food and grass is there in the army?Just over a month, no more than two months at most.If you have the ability, don't move your nest. I will first take down the counties in Qizhou and cut off all the roads. Go eat the dirt.

"Camp outside the city wall, and enter the city tomorrow." Shao Shude ordered: "Also, send envoys to Yucheng, Zhangqiu, Linyi and other counties to order them to descend."

(End of this chapter)