Han Hai Tang Ergui

Chapter 880
Yingchun Fort is more than 40 miles west of Wanli City. As it is located on the plain of Shiguocheng, it belongs to the only fort built on the mountain among Wanli Xuanwei envoys. Yingchun Fort has always been the main supply point of beef and mutton in Wanli City.

Because it is located at the boundary between hilly mountains and plains, and the scenery is beautiful, it was the first to see spring among the eleven castles of the Wanli Xuanweishi, so it was named Yingchun Fort.

But this fortress is not big, with a radius of only about four miles. It was built with stones mixed with rammed earth walls. There are more than [-] households in the fort, and about [-] households outside the fort.

The owner of the castle, Wang Liulangwu, has a short stature and looks ordinary, but in fact he is ruthless. When he was young, he was a well-known jumping soldier in the Tianping Army of Yunzhou.

With a figure like a short top, he can carry about ten catties less armor than a tall soldier. At the same time, because of his short stature, he can sneak through the forest of spears more flexibly.

It only needs a small round shield and a bone handle, and it can play the role of a steel cone on the battlefield.

At the beginning, Wang Liu hated the court a little bit, and hated Emperor Zhang in the palace of Shendu.

Because during the process of being dispatched to the river, his eldest son and Xuxian's wife died successively due to acclimatization and disease, and often when he dreamed back at midnight, Wang Liu felt blocked.

This is all the sins of the court dog officials. If they hadn't forcibly expelled his family to the river thousands of miles away, the eldest son and Xu Xian would never have died.

But after a few years in Hezhong, this hatred was quickly diluted.

Without him, the court gave too much!

Before Zhang Zhou, the Central Plains court's attitude towards the Western Regions and Hezhong existed as a 'blood bag' in a sense.

At the beginning, it was used as a blood bag to fight against the Huns and Turks and send troops.Behind it is the real blood bag that continuously transports supplies to Guanzhong through the Silk Road.

Since it is a blood bag, the imperial court must not allow Anxi Han soldiers to have too much autonomy.

Therefore, whether it is the Western Regions Tuntian soldiers of the Han Dynasty or the Anxi Army of the Tang Dynasty, although they can enjoy more autonomy than the officers and soldiers in the interior, they are still wage earners working for the imperial court.

Most of the goods they obtained through various channels in Anxi eventually fell into the pockets of the nobles in Guanzhong through such policies and means.

So much so that in the late Wu and Zhou Dynasties, people in the mainland regarded going to Anxi as a soldier and an official as a dead end, and they would not go if they could not go, and those who went there basically stayed in a few big cities, which was similar to a bad show.

If Gao Xianzhi hadn't been born, he would have been bold enough to block some of the goods that should have been imported into Guanzhong to support the Anxi Army, so that the Anxi Army could once again shine in his hands, and then used battles to raise tens of thousands of soldiers. scholar.

The combat effectiveness of the Anxi army should be the fastest declining among the Tang army.

According to historical records, Gao Xianzhi was extremely greedy for money, extorted money, and bribed high-ranking court officials in large quantities. In addition to his own moral factors, maintaining the combat effectiveness and special status of the Anxi Army should also be a very important reason.

In history, Gao Xianzhi had no choice but to retreat to Tongguan. As a result, Li Longji only listened to Bian Lingcheng's slander, and decided to let him go before the battle to kill such important generals as Gao and Feng.

It may not be that Gao Xianzhi did not behave like Gao Xianzhi when he was in Anxi, leaving a deep impression on the emperor in the deep palace that he is such a person, so the old fool gave the order without thinking.

But it was different when it came to Zhang Zhou. A rough man like Wang Liu could easily feel that the status of the Han people suddenly rose after Shule.

No matter what kind of villain and scum you are in Middle-earth, as long as you can kill people with a knife, then you are a master.

Not to mention professionals like Wang Liu, he is just an ordinary person. As long as you are strong and dare to kill people, you can get hundreds of thousands of acres of land, dozens of large and small livestock, and two or three families of indigenous people as slaves.

Zhang Zhou was in the river, except for Suiye, he really shared the world with the Han people who left the pass!

Emperor Zhang responded in this way to the ministers' persuasion that he should not engage in vassals in the river, which might trigger a rebellion and separatism.

"In this world, whoever contributes the most can eat the fastest meat!"

"Immigrated to Hezhong and still want to completely separate the country, that is the incompetence of the imperial court!"

"Even if Hezhong is no longer owned by the state, so what? They still speak Chinese, follow Han rituals, and their descendants are still Han."

With the direct support and endorsement of the emperor, the Han people who came to Hezhong these years basically followed a pattern of development.

That is to say, he first went to the government office in the middle of the imperial court to rent weapons, armor, war horses, etc., and then occupied arable land and pastures with a scale of dozens or hundreds of people, arrested the local people and forced them to submit to himself.

Once the status is a little stable, it will be reported to the imperial government office immediately. After the office sends people to verify, it will issue them a gold seal, register the household registration atlas, and send craftsmen to build the city.

The weapons, armor, and war horses they originally rented were converted into production loans on the spot, allowing them to repay them in three to five years.

From then on, as long as taxes are paid and loans are repaid on time every year, they will be vassals, and when they are attacked on a large scale, they will be able to get support from the Yamen.

At the same time, every year the yamen will regularly organize training, and then go south or west on a large scale to attack and plunder people and wealth.

This kind of life is too dangerous for farmers in the Central Plains, no different from troubled times.

But for killers like Zhang Baoyi, Song Heishan and Wang Liu, it was heaven.

This is also the reason why Wang Liu's concept changed rapidly after he arrived in Hezhong. In the Central Plains, he was just an old dental soldier and thief killer who was killed at some point.

But in Hezhong, he is a legal vassal of the imperial court, and there are a large number of people under his rule.

What's wrong with the toubob, the toubob is also king!

. . . . .

'Boom! ' A short bowstring vibration sounded, and outside the south gate of Yingchun Fort, a Persian cavalry who was shouting and showing off his power suddenly shook his horse, and he was shot.

At the same time, the horse's crotch trembled suddenly, and an arrow was shot in its buttocks. In pain, the horse screamed and began to run wildly.

The poor cavalryman was shot in the neck and could have been saved, but the horse galloped him off the horse.

At the same time, the cavalryman's right foot was still stuck in the stirrup, unable to break free, he was dragged on the sandy ground outside the fort by the panicked horses, and his head was immediately knocked out with countless bumps. The panic and pain caused the cavalryman to scream up.

'Tap, tap! ’ Another cavalryman saw the screams of his comrades, and immediately galloped forward, trying to stop the galloping horses and rescue them.

"Thief Hu is so daring!" Just now the sharpshooter was furious, and then drew his bow and shot another arrow.

Hearing the muffled sound of dole, the Persian Huqi who rode forward suddenly opened his mouth wide, and spewed out a mouthful of blood on the horse.

After the bright tail feathers swayed on his back twice, he fell straight off the horse.

"San Lang is a god shot!" There was a burst of excited shouts from the earth wall of Yingchun Fort, and the morale was instantly boosted.

And after the San Lang forced a smile, he moved his left leg with difficulty, and the ointment tied with a white cloth on the ankle was vividly visible.

"It doesn't matter, although there are many thieves and cavalry, the armored soldiers in Wanli City will receive the news soon. As long as they rush over, we will be safe." Wang Liu stepped forward and said with a little flattery.

Although this Mr. San Lang is his son, the relationship between the two is a bit delicate, because this is the oil bottle he brought over from Xu Xian.

In fact, the relationship between the two of them is much better now. Before arriving in Hezhong, eleven or twelve-year-old Chen Sanlang felt that Wang Liu had snatched his mother away, and he was very hostile to this stepfather.

But after arriving in Hezhong, Chen Sanlang, who was hit hard by his mother's death, was encouraged by Wang Liu, and the father and son together attacked the nearby Thief Hu.

In many life-and-death battles side by side, a somewhat strange father-son relationship has been formed.

The infiltrated Persian cavalry has more than 100 cavalry, plus the leading party found locally, there are almost [-] cavalry in total.

And they are well equipped, with more than forty sets of chain mail and fifty or sixty sets of lighter river leather armor.

Such an elite cavalry squad was originally going to infiltrate into the northern town of Hubao.

Zhenhu Fort is located in the middle of Baishui City and Shiguo City, and its geographical location is even more important. It is the key route for Baishui City's materials to be sent to the front line.

Moreover, there are many believers who stubbornly believe in Tianfang Sect, unlike Yingchun Castle where there are still some Zoroastrians living here.

Therefore, if more than 100 fine cavalry can reach the vicinity of Zhenhubao, under the cover of the local Tianfang believers, it will be enough to cause great trouble to the Han army that has already transferred a large number of troops to the front line.

However, when they arrived at Yingchun Fort, they just wanted to take a rest, but they didn't know when the news leaked out. Wang Liu, the inspector of Yingchun Fort, seized the opportunity and launched a surprise attack in the early morning, losing seven or eight people.

Originally, this was nothing, just treat it as a carelessness, just bypass Yingchun Fort and speed up northward.

But after Wang Liu of Yingchun Castle interrogated the arrested Persians, he got the information that they were going to town Hubao. He immediately realized that these Persians could not continue to go north.

Therefore, Wang Liu made a decisive decision and hung three corpses on the road west of Yingchun Fort leading to Zhenhu Fort.

These three corpses were all Persians who were abducted or killed by Wang Liu and others during the early morning raid.

What made it even more difficult for the Persian Hurid Centurion Saral was that the three corpses were all dressed in women's clothes, and each corpse had a piece of crystal clear and fat braised peggy meat stuffed into its mouth.

On the wooden sign under the three corpses, the words Yingchunbao Wangboke were written thoughtfully in Turkic.

Dressing men in women's clothes and eating peggy meat is an intolerable insult to any Tianfang believer, and it must be washed away with blood.

Especially when Salar looked at the suspicious eyes of the twenty or so leading parties, there was no choice.

Originally, 200 people were raided by more than [-] people, and they were scared to run more than ten miles away. It would be a shame to lose seven or eight people.

Now if you dare not resist being so insulted by others, then you don’t need to go to Zhenhubao, because if you can’t get to Zhenhubao, the leading party will have to run away.

Chen Sanlang turned his head to look at his stepfather, and after a while he said in a low voice: "These people are not simple. You can see that their elite soldiers have not moved. There are at least 80 people. If they act together, just 20 people from our fortress. It's irresistible."

After finishing speaking, Chen Sanlang was silent for a while, then took a deep breath and said slowly: "I know you have left a fast horse in the backyard, you should leave as soon as you fight, don't all die here .”

Wang Liu looked at his stepson in surprise, then shook his head in relief, "That's for you, Chen Laodao is your only son, if you die, he will be gone forever.

Besides, if I run away by myself, how can I have the face to see your mother when I get to the Nine Springs in the future. "

Wang Liu had four sons, the eldest son died in Liangzhou, the second son died young, Chen Sanlang was in front of him, and the youngest son was studying in Wanli City, so he would not be out of succession.

Chen Sanlang's father can be regarded as his brother in the past. The two of them can't say how deep their relationship is, but they still can't look at the old robe.

"I hurt my foot, and I can't use the stirrups. Even if I run, I can't run far. There is no need to waste a chance to escape. My lord, hurry up and get ready."

Chen Sanlang still shook his head stubbornly, but at the moment of life and death, he seemed to want to let go.

Wang Liu suddenly laughed twice, and patted his stepson Chen Sanlang on the shoulder, "Then there is no need to argue, you and my father and son stand side by side, even if we die, we will die as a hero!"

"I think you've lost your mind and gone crazy!" Chen Sanlang was stunned for a moment, then cursed lightly, and turned his head away from looking at Wang Liu.

Wang Liu didn't care about him, and waved at the armored soldiers who looked like Han people around him, "Thieves barked their hands, it seems that they are going to attack by force.

Yingchun Castle is only forty miles away from Wanli City, and they should have received the news by now. Even if it takes some time to gather, people should come after an hour.

In other words, as long as we hold on for an hour, we can survive. "

A man with bow legs, speaking bad Chinese, who looked like a barbarian returning to the Han from the grassland, shook his head and said in a low voice: "I can't stand it, those thieves from donkeys have at least thirty or forty sets of armor, and we are only five set.

The inspectors should try to persuade your Sanlang, he is unparalleled in bow and horse, and he will definitely have a great future in the future. The next generation of the fifteen families in Yingchunbao must rely on him to promote him. "

"Hu Shang is right. Saburo didn't hurt his leg. He will never return to Yingchun Castle to recuperate. He still has a bright future. We can't let him die here with us old bastards."

Hu Shang refers to the bow-legged person who spoke just now. He is a diviner and believes in the Six Dharma Schools. He often likes to preach to the aborigines below like a monk, so he simply took the surname Hu and took the name of the monk, called Hu Shang. .

Wang Liu looked at the back of his stepson Chen Sanlang in the distance, shook his head and said helplessly and proudly:
"No need to persuade him, he won't leave. Chen Laodao's seed was also taught by me, Wang Liu, and he can't do the thing of throwing away his robes and running away by himself!"

After all, Wang Liu looked at Hu Shang and said: "Conscript all the men in the fort, lock their families into the granary, and pour oil on the firewood.

Tell those men, whoever dares to fight desperately, will burn their whole family to ashes before the city is broken.

If the fortress is defended, the whole family will be exempted from the autumn tax, the injured father will be given money and food as a pension, and the dead father will be responsible for raising their children and giving them to his parents until their death. "

See, this is called professionalism. If an inexperienced person comes, it is estimated that the natives in the castle will give up and sell them directly.

But for a ruthless veteran dental soldier like Wang Liu, this trick is easy to come by.

. . . .

Salar silently looked towards the direction of Spring Fort, and he didn't care at all about the casualties of the two Ikta auxiliary knights.

He also knew that he might have been exposed now, and it was best not to stay in this place for too long.

No, it is best not to go to Yingchun Fort, but to go to the vicinity of Zhenhu Fort according to the original plan.

However, looking at the silver and white King's flag fluttering in the wind on the Spring Fort, he couldn't restrain the anger and disgust in his heart.

Salar took out a very delicate crystal hourglass, and waved his hand after adjusting it.

"Half an hour, if we can't hold it, we will leave."

"Wow! Woow!" The strange cry sounded suddenly, and the Persian cavalry in the distance put on the white-striped chain mail outside, and at a distance of five or six steps from each other, they roared and rode their horses and began to gallop, rolling deliberately. There was an overwhelming yellow sand, and he made a look that he was about to rush in.

But Chen Sanlang didn't even raise his hand, and the Han soldiers on the earthen wall didn't move either.

Only Wang Liu held a wooden stick, and beat up the natives who were so frightened that they started screaming, fighting, and even turning around to run away.

Seeing that the plan was ineffective, two hundred Persian armored cavalry began to gallop back and forth around Yingchun Fort, and occasionally shot an arrow at the city wall symbolically to test the situation everywhere, but none of the Han soldiers did anything.

They are still fighting old battles, no one will be fooled like this.

Persian Jia rode for a few laps, but found no flaws, so he retreated in despair and changed horses.

Salar was not surprised, because if these Zhou people did not have this ability, it would be impossible for them to confront their millions of people with a core tribe of 10,000+.

"Fight to the east, all go to the east!" Salar quickly made a choice, and the accompanying cavalry also took out the small drums on the spare horses and began to beat them loudly.

There were twelve real Iqta knights in this small cavalry team. With the help of auxiliary soldiers, they put on iron plate armor stronger than chain mail and put on iron helmets.

A clarinet-like music sounded, and the Persian knights, who had already rode their horses slowly to about [-] steps to Yingchun Castle, suddenly accelerated to about [-] steps.

There were almost fifty riders in this wave, and they shot all their arrows at the earthen wall where Chen Sanlang was.

It seemed that they also knew how powerful Chen Sanlang was, and wanted to eliminate the sharpshooter in one fell swoop.

Chen Sanlang was unable to move, and he did not choose to fight back with a bow. He had fired five arrows in a row just now, and now he needed to save his energy.

Because in Yingchun Fort where a large number of elites have gone to the front line, he is the only one who has the ability to break armor with a hard bow.

The others are half-old men like their stepfather Wang Liu, so close combat is not a big problem, but they are no longer very good at continuous hard bows, which require explosive power.

Wang Liu let out a howl. He was wearing armor and holding up his shield, and rushed to Chen Sanlang.

The rain of arrows rushed forward like a swarm of bees, and arrows continued to pass through the gaps in the large shield and hit them continuously.

The father and son felt a piercing pain in their bodies, and the horse bow and arrow on the thirty or forty steps, as well as the horse speed bonus, although they couldn't break the armor, they were powerful.

One wave, one wave, another wave.

The rain of arrows kept pouring down, making Huang Huhu's earthy walls of Yingchun Fort seem to have suddenly grown hairs.

Wang Liu, Chen Sanlang and his son were like hedgehogs, and blood was slowly oozing from their bodies, but they were all fine.

When the father and son were shot, the Persian cavalry who kept hitting the earth wall were also shot down three or four cavalry.Then both parties wisely gave up this boring temptation.

The defense of the Han soldiers on the earth wall is sufficient, and at the same time, it is difficult for the Han soldiers to hit these high-speed Persian cavalry on the earth wall, so both sides chose to fight directly at the same time.

The battle became fierce in an instant. The Persian knights jumped off their horses and gathered at the east gate wearing chain mail holding round shields and scimitars.

Yingchun Fort is just a small castle, with only 400 people inhabited. There is no way to have a moat, and it is impossible to keep such things as rolling stones and lumberjacks. The city gate is just a thicker door panel.

Hu Shang and others screamed and kept throwing the kerosene bottle down, but it was not much. After burning two or three Persians to death, it was exhausted. Then he could only put on his armor and go to the gate of the city to block the fire with his body. Door.

Clap, Clap!The thin wooden gate couldn't withstand the chopping of the big axe. After paying more than a dozen lives, the Persians finally opened the gate of the east gate.

The moment the wooden door fell, the two sides howled and rushed towards each other suddenly. The spears and axes also made dull sounds amidst the roar and screams.

The Wang Liu mouse usually hunched over and burrowed through, and then began to stab randomly with short knives, especially the unarmored calf of the Persian.

The Persians were caught off guard by this 1.5-meter-eight-meter-eight, 150-jin iron-armored rat, and immediately suffered a big loss, screaming again and again after being killed by Wang Liu alone.

Many soldiers in chain mail were not overturned by the spears on the opposite side, but they were stabbed in the calf by Wang Liu, fell to the ground, were pinned down and stabbed to death.

Chen Sanlang also breathed out on the dirt wall. He had already seen the dozen or so Persian Iktas in gorgeous iron armor, and they were almost approaching the east gate.

"Aniang, I will not die here, I will live a glorious life, and live ten thousand miles away, instead of you and my sister, with wine and meat every day!"

After Chen Sanlang prayed, he let out a loud shout, his hands raised like eagles, his inhalation was to draw the bow, his exhalation was to shoot, the bow string vibrated like a thunderbolt.

An Ikta soldier had just rushed to the front, and suddenly felt as if he had been punched in the chest. He didn't care at all, and it wasn't like he hadn't been shot by an arrow.

But after running for two steps, he suddenly felt his body go limp, and before he could utter a scream, his vision went dark, and he fell straight to the ground.

Chen Sanlang used a strong bow with a stone, and if it wasn't for two layers of cloth-covered iron armor at a distance of more than 30 steps, the one who hit it would be killed immediately!
The other Ikta saw the comrade in front of him fall down, and couldn't help but look up at the earth wall. Then he only felt a silver light flash, and he flicked his neck violently involuntarily.

An arrow pierced through his neck, more than two inches into his neck.

This Ikta screamed, threw away the force in his hand, knelt down on the ground, and covered his neck with both hands.

Although he really wanted to save himself, the strength of life quickly disappeared with the rustling sound of the water pipe bursting, until finally he was stuck in the dust.

The battle was extremely fierce. Although Chen Sanlang shot brilliantly, after seven or eight arrows, he could only look at his sore arms and blame himself.

Wang Liu's fighting power is indeed strong, but they are 19 people fighting against 60 people on the opposite side.

After killing more than a dozen people on the opposite side, Wang Liu was almost knocked over by the Persian ax a few times, or was crushed to the ground by the crowd rushing up.

Outnumbered and outnumbered, this group of old tooth soldiers kept retreating after being beaten.

Amidst the screams, Salar kept staring at the hourglass in his hand. Half an hour later, the resolute and cold officer from Damascus, who was also a fanatical warrior, gave the order to retreat.

No matter how many people are lost now, he cannot be surrounded, because he has the precious leading party in his hands.

As long as we can retreat, we can find a way to boost the morale of the leading party in a few days before diving to Zhenhu Fort.

Hushang was dead. He was not cut in the neck by the Persian axe. Although his neck protected his flesh, the huge impact smashed his cervical spine, and the broken bones of the cervical spine pierced his trachea. He lost his life in a short while.

At the same time, nine Han soldiers died in battle, and almost all the rest were wounded.

Almost two-thirds of the native auxiliary soldiers were killed in battle, either by the Persians, or stabbed to death by the Han soldiers when they tried to escape.

Wang Liu took a deep breath. One of his legs was broken, and his chest was aching. There should be something wrong with his ribs, and it might be broken soon.

But when he saw that the Persians were planning to retreat, the inexplicable madness and arrogance that belonged to the five generations of warriors suddenly rushed over his head.

"Let's go? Yeah, I want to see if you have the guts to go. After killing so many of my comrades, you still want to go!"

Wang Liu shouted loudly, and the rest of the veterans from the Qingzhou Pinglu Army and the Yunzhou Tianping Army shared their hearts.

They roared, shoulder to shoulder, walked forward slowly but firmly, and walked more than [-] steps outside the east gate, in such a solitary but disdainful formation.

"Come on! Donkey, if you still have seeds, come here. If you don't have the guts, drink up the piss of Yeye, and let you go!"

Wang Liu yelled insults at the Persians who were still retreating two hundred paces away, and even unbuttoned his robe and actually urinated on the ground.

"Hahahaha!" The veteran dental soldiers with an average age of forty and above laughed wildly.

Salar's face was ashen, as if the piss had been poured directly on his face, and the anger completely knocked down his reason at this moment.

The little Damascus nobleman slammed the crystal hourglass in his hand to the ground, then drew out his scimitar and pointed forward.

"Kill them, for the sake of Allah, kill them all!"

Chen Sanlang's tears finally flowed out, because Wang Liu and the others were quickly submerged in the dust brought up by the Persian cavalry, and it was unknown how many people could survive.

He let out a roar, and the soreness in his arms seemed to heal a lot, and at the same time his back straightened even more.He secretly swears in his heart that as long as he is there, even if there is only this section of earth wall left in Yingchun Fort, then it will not fall.

At this moment, Chen Sanlang, through his tear-wet eyelashes, suddenly found a touch of silver in the distance, shining brightly under the sunlight.

Under that smear of silver, hundreds of war horses are galloping fast!
(End of this chapter)