Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 369 0364 [Kuizhou and Kuimen]

Kuizhou City is difficult to capture, so attack Baidi City first!
Anyway, the officers, soldiers and navy were defeated, and the rebel navy could move freely in the Yangtze River.

Sun Chengmai, an officer of the Kuizhou Navy, who had just taken refuge, said: "The control should not be careless. It is better to go to Baidi City. If you go east to attack Shimen Pass, you have to cross the Kui Gorge (Qutang Gorge). The most dangerous thing is Heishi Beach. , two black stone beams in the north and south extend into the Yangtze River, and the two sides are rushed by the rushing water, with several jet swirls in succession. It's useless to be good. Even the corpse can't rush away, and it doesn't sink, it just floats and spins on the whirlpool."

"Then how to get there?" Li Bao asked.

Sun Chengmai said: "You have to be an old helmsman who is familiar with the water situation to avoid the jet vortex. The narrowest channel is only fifteen or sixty feet (more than 50 meters), and there are countless bright and dark eddies. If you go a few feet wrong, the ship will be destroyed. .”

Li Bao was amazed, but at the same time a little scared.

If the officers and soldiers of Kuizhou had retreated to Wushan, and they had not been reminded by the locals, would they have lost countless losses in the Yangtze River if they foolishly took a boat to go there?

Sun Chengmai continued: "Now is the dry season, the water is relatively slow, and the eddies are not so strong. But shallow water also has troubles with shallow water. If you are not afraid of eddies, you must be afraid of hidden reefs, and you need an old helmsman to steer the helm."

Li Bao said: "You said that the vortex was caused by two stone beams, why don't you take advantage of the dry season to chisel out the stone beams?"

Sun Chengmai said: "Stone beams are as strong as steel. It is useless to chisel a little bit. It will take countless time to chisel more."

Those two stone beams are rich in iron sulfur oxides, and firm as steel is not an adjective.

It was not until the Daoguang period that a businessman named Li Benzhong hired people to drill rocks and cut rocks at his own expense, which slightly reduced the difficulty of navigation.

In the end, the People's Liberation Army had to take action to clear nearly [-] cubic meters of rocks with explosives.

Between words, the fleet was approaching Baidi City.

Li Bao stood on the deck, with Tiesuo Pass (Qutang Pass, Kuimen) directly in front of him, Baidi City in front left, and Qutang Gorge in front right.

The majestic mountains and rivers shocked Li Bao into a speechless moment.

At this moment, Li Bao finally understood what "Kuimen is the hero of the world".

When he came back to his senses, Li Bao said: "Why do you want to fight Wushan? Such a steep mountain and river, occupy Kuimen. It only needs 2000 people to stand firm, and if the navy makes a move, [-] officers and soldiers will not be able to kill them. "

The practice of successive dynasties is to pull an iron lock across the narrow Qutang Gorge mouth.

Throw thousands of soldiers at Kuimen, pull up the iron locks, and no one will pass by!
Therefore, in the Northern Song Dynasty, Qutang Pass was directly renamed Tiesuo Pass.

"Siege!"

Li Bao gave an order, and the soldiers rushed towards Baidi City by boat.

There is no place to stay nearby, so they can only attack the city immediately, and the equipment has been built.

Li Bao's navy has hundreds of large and small warships, all of which are remodeled merchant ships, fishing boats, water boats, and salt ships.Most of the sailors are fishermen, water bandits, inspectors, private salt dealers, and salt merchants.

The guard of Baidi City is called Guan Shuyan. He has only [-] soldiers under his command, and most of them are temporarily recruited from the countryside.

Guan Shuyan was terrified when he saw the rebel sailors approaching, and immediately shouted: "Hurry up and open the city, follow me to meet the rebels!"

"Don't worry about the command..." The civil servant next to him hurriedly stopped him.

"Chong!"

Guan Shuyan drew his knife out of its sheath, and chopped off the civil servant with one blow.

Are you kidding me, most of Sichuan is lost, why should my little township stick to it?
Holding the binoculars bestowed by Zhu Ming, Li Bao watched the city gate slowly open, and the guard led the soldiers down the steep hillside, nodding and smiling: "But he is also clever."

"Sinful General Guan Shuyan, pay homage to the Great General of the Rebel Army!" The guy rolled and knelt down in front of Li Bao.

Li Bao stretched out his hand to help him up: "General Guan Gaoyi, he did not hesitate to bear the name of disloyalty, but he also surrendered in order to save the people. I really admire him very much, there is no need to perform such a great gift."

When Guan Shuyan heard this, he immediately felt much more at ease, and Mao recommended himself: "The guard at the iron lock on the opposite side is my distant cousin's husband. If the general is trustworthy, he will send a small boat and ask me to bring Kuimen down." .”

Li Bao was even happier: "If you can say that you have surrendered to Kuimen, the general will do a great job."

Guan Shuyan set off in a small boat, imagining that he would become an official in the new dynasty, and in a blink of an eye he had arrived at Tiesuoguan.

"Brother-in-law, it's me!" Guan Shuyan shouted.

The guard Tang Qiu scolded angrily: "If you were asked to guard Baidi City, why did the bandits surrender as soon as they came?"

Guan Shuyan shouted: "Brother-in-law, let me in first before we talk."

Tang Qiu bent his bow and set up an arrow, aimed at Guan Shuyan and shot.

Guan Shuyan hurriedly dodged the arrows and flew past him, and shouted in horror: "Brother-in-law, are you really shooting? Zhu Xianggong has already occupied the third of the four Chuanxia roads, and there are only a few cities left on this Kuizhou road." Tie Suo Pass is indeed a natural danger, but what you guard against is the enemy downstream, how can you guard against the upstream?"

"Don't talk too much," Tang Qiu shouted, "If you want to win this pass, let the thieves lead their troops to take it, and we'll talk about it after a real battle."

Guan Shuyan shouted: "All the generals of Kuimen, listen up, my brother-in-law has gone crazy, so tie him up and surrender!"

"Who dares?" Tang Qiu turned around and glanced at the officers under his command.

Hundreds of warships of the rebel army are already heading towards Kuimen, looking for a suitable landing point.

Tang Qiu seemed to be quite prestigious, the officers were stared back by him.

Finally someone had the guts to take a step back, and then moved forward again: "Brother Tang, brother Guan is right, Sichuan is almost lost, and there are only a few cities left that can be defended? There are even those with big turbans surrendering. It’s no shame for us Qiu Ba to surrender. With the natural danger of Kuimen, if officers and soldiers can’t come in, Zhu Xianggong will definitely be the emperor. If you and I surrender early, we may not be able to be named princes in the future.”

Tang Qiu sneered: "You know what the hell, when the imperial army and the western army come, the bandits will be defeated for thousands of miles. As long as you guard Kuimen, you and I will all be heroes!"

Another officer asked: "Even if we made a great contribution, is the contribution really ours? I'm afraid someone will snatch it away."

"Such a great achievement, no one can take it away!" Tang Qiu said this, feeling completely at a loss.

Two more officers came from another city wall, made eye contact with each other, and approached Tang Qiu together in a fan shape.

Tang Qiu's personal soldiers pretended not to see them, and kept a distance on purpose.

Everyone wants to surrender except the general.

Perhaps Tang Qiu could keep the great achievement of keeping Kuimen, but others would definitely not, and they had no part in rewarding for meritorious deeds.

Tang Qiu drew his sword and scolded: "Anyone who dares to come over will be executed!"

Someone had already circled around to the rear, looked at each other, and then rushed over at the same time, tied up Tang Qiu and surrendered.

Li Bao boarded the Guancheng, looked at the steep and narrow Qutang Gorge, and immediately felt infinite heroism.

He had an impulse to write poetry, but he didn't read much, so he could only write a doggerel.

Occupying this place can ensure that the east gate of Sichuan is not lost, and it does not need to invest too many troops.

After repeatedly confirming Tang Qiu's unwillingness to surrender, Li Bao smiled and said, "I can't bear to kill such a righteous man, so I will send him back to Kuizhou City!"

A ship carrying Tang Qiu headed for Kuizhou City.

Kuizhou Road Transit Envoy Guo Lun, Deputy Envoy Zhao Shiding, Yun Juan Zhang Shen, and many officials, large and small, including prefects and county magistrates from other prefectures and counties, all those who were not caught by the rebels gathered in Kuizhou at this moment In the city.

Some officials even come from Chengdu.

There are more than 70 high-ranking officials gathered in Kuizhou City.

"Who is under the city?" Zhang Shen asked.

Tang Qiu replied, "Kuimen guard Tang Qiu."

Guo Lun turned pale with shock: "Have you surrendered the bandits?"

Tang Qiu said with a sad face, "I didn't surrender to the bandits. It was the generals under my command who caused chaos and tied me up and dedicated them to the bandits. Kuimen and Baidi City are lost, and the bandits will deliberately send me to Kuizhou City."

"nonsense!"

Zhang Shen suddenly drew his bow and set the arrow, shot it without warning, and then shouted: "This person is pretended to be a bandit, not Kuimen guard Tang Qiu."

Tang Qiu was hit by an arrow inexplicably, and was so shocked that he went straight back, rolling down the steep stone steps, and fell halfway.He looked down at the arrow on his shoulder, the wound was painful, and his heart hurt even more.

He knew what Zhang Shen meant. If Kuimen was lost, Kuizhou City would become a turtle in a urn.Not to mention the soldiers guarding the city, even the officials would think about surrendering.

Kuimen cannot be lost, so he, the guard of Kuimen, must be a fake.

When Tang Qiu rolled down the stone steps, his head was bleeding, he limped back to the boat, gritted his teeth and said to the boatman, "Send me back to Kuimen, I will be a thief today!"

At the head of Kuizhou City, there was a dead silence.

More and more officials came after hearing the news, even the prefect of Chengdu was here.

Zhang Shen said: "Don't make wild guesses, just now it was a bandit pretending to be a bandit. The guard of Kuimen Tang begged me to see him. He looks nothing like this fellow."

Guo Lun, the nominal coach, only felt parched and stared at the rolling Yangtze River in a daze.

The other officials also looked at each other in blank dismay, Kuimen is gone, Kuizhou is already an isolated city.Even if you can stick to it for half a year, don't even think about waiting for reinforcements. The officers, soldiers and sailors can't pass the iron lock!
Officials one after another, lost their minds and left the city wall.

In this broken place, there is no way to escape. Either commit suicide, die in battle, or be captured. There is no fourth possibility.

The next day, Li Bao came with his army and camped on the east bank of Meixi Mountain, facing Kuizhou City across the river.

A few days later, New Year's Eve.

The city couldn't see the joy of the New Year, and everyone was frowning.

All the people in the city are subject to food ration control, all food is requisitioned, all the young and strong must defend the city, the old and the weak, women and children are responsible for carrying supplies, and Zhang Shen has to fight a protracted war with the bandits.

This man is the third in command of Kuizhou Road, and he is also the person who knows the military best.

As for the number one and number two leaders, they drank to drink away their sorrows in the house, and handed over the matter of guarding the city to Zhang Shen. They did not want to face the reality themselves.

Both the common people and the soldiers complained, and the good New Year has become like this.

On New Year's Day, Li Bao landed with his troops.

He asked the soldiers to carry the upside-down boats and went to the city to shout: "Brothers and sisters in the city, today is the New Year's Eve. As long as you surrender during the day, you can have New Year's Eve dinner at night. If you don't surrender, you will never have New Year's dinner in this life." Yes. General Li said, if you continue to resist stubbornly, the rebels will come in and slaughter the city! Xiangjun and Xiangbing brothers, you should kill the officials quickly, and all the New Year’s Eve dinners will have meat. General Li killed a few pigs, Just waiting for you to eat. The big piece of fat meat is very satisfying!"

Kuizhou City was built on the mountainside, and a steep stone-step road led to the riverside wharf.

Li Bao chose a stone step to place the pot outside the range of the bow and arrow.No cooking porridge, no cooking, only fat fat suet, put it into the pot and slowly boil it.

Several large pots boiled lard together, and when the river breeze blew, the aroma of the oil wafted to the top of the city.

The rebel army under the city was still shouting on the boat: "Come out and eat pork, big fat meat, come to celebrate the New Year! Surrender and there will be meat to eat, big fish and big meat New Year's Eve dinner! Quickly kill officials and surrender, come out and eat big meat. Eat You can go back to your hometown after eating meat. Those who do business do business, and those who farm land plant the land. General Zhu lowered exorbitant taxes in Chengdu, and the people there are living a good life. There are no corrupt officials, and all corrupt officials have been killed... "

"Father of Kuizhou, follow me to kill officials and eat meat to live a good life!"

A temporarily appointed township soldier officer suddenly raised his weapon and shouted, and the fellow villagers responded one after another, and killed the officials closest to them.

More and more township soldiers started to fight, and soon the urban youth joined in. They have had enough these days.

The military officer was so frightened that he joined them and led troops to massacre the civilian officials.

Civil officials from all over Sichuan were blocked in the city and killed dozens of them.Regardless of his official reputation, good officials and bad officials were killed together, and gradually evolved into targeting wealthy households in the city.

It was still a military officer who led the soldiers to open the city gate, and the others all went crazy.

The first thing Li Bao did when he entered the city was not to keep his promise to give meat to eat, but to quickly ask the soldiers to stop the burning, killing and looting.

(End of this chapter)