Late Tang Dynasty: I

Chapter 71
With the sound of marching drums, more than [-] people rushed to the enemy's village together, intending to take the ferry away.

The battlefield was full of flags and the sound of killing shook the sky.

All the officers fought bravely to be the first, and all the soldiers marched forward bravely.

Surrounded by his personal guards, Li Si'an went into battle in person.

Dozens of people around him held round shields and stared at the enemy soldiers intently. As soon as an arrow came flying, someone would have already blocked it.

There are three or five people around Li Si'an, who are diehards in the army, and they will rush to change Li Si'an's life at any time.

puff!
Li Si'an bent his bow to build it, and hit the archer on the tower with an arrow. The archer fell to the ground with a scream, like a sack, and a puff of smoke rose.

"Come on!"

Archers and shield soldiers cooperate with each other to hunt down guards who dare to stand up one by one.

Most of the Right Neiya Army are veterans, and they will not panic like recruits who have just entered the battlefield. They can always find their own state on the battlefield, protect themselves, and can effectively kill enemy soldiers.

Some people turned sideways to the earth wall and dug the soil with their weapons, while others looked for opportunities to shoot and kill the defenders, and even more powerful people threw the hook rope to the crossbar on the tower and wooden fence, and several horses pulled the rope together .

"Boom! Boom!"

Several towers collapsed, and the soldiers on them also fell to the ground, life and death unknown.

The morale of the Bian army was greatly boosted.

After a while, as the earth wall was dug thinner and thinner, the bottom of the wall was almost hollowed out. With a push, several places fell to the ground.

The remaining soldiers in the village couldn't hold on any longer, they put down their weapons one after another, and fell to their knees...

……

Heyang city

Zhu Wen's army pressed the border, did not attack Heyang, and went straight to the Yellow River ferry, which caught Li Cunxiao by surprise.

Li Cunxiao personally led troops to rescue him, but was stopped by Zhu Wen's army and lost more than a hundred soldiers, so he stopped trying.

But when the sentry reported back, Zhu Wen sent another team to Sishui Pass, Li Cunxiao was not calm.

If Sishuiguan is lost again, he will not be able to go back to Hedong, and it will be difficult for the reinforcements from Hedong to enter Heyang.

What should I do?Li Cunxiao was very anxious.The troops in the city are limited, and it is difficult to advance or retreat.

Heyang has 4000 soldiers from Li Cunxiao's headquarters, and Li Hanzhi left [-] infantry, plus [-] newly recruited city defense soldiers.

Besides grain and grass, Li Cunxiao has never been a man who knows how to live. He spends as much grain and grass as military supplies.

If there is no shortage, they will show their cards to the local officials in Heyang. Heyang has been in constant war and lack of people's strength. How much output can be produced? The money and food collected are not enough to supply [-] troops.

But Li Cunxiao couldn't manage so much, and if he couldn't collect taxes, it was the business of the local officials, who were either killed or beaten. These officials suffered terribly, and the people were even more terribly miserable.

But Li Cunxiao's methods are far more than these. Heyang is located in the main road of the Yellow River, where the north and the south communicate. There are many wealthy businessmen in the city. Redemption, one person per hundred.

For a time, broken families and dead people were everywhere.

As for the looting of the surrounding area, Li Cunxiao has inherited Li Keyong's way of governing the people brilliantly.

Historically, Li Ke used his territory to grow bigger and bigger, but his people became poorer and poorer.

If the people don't agree, there are many dissidents.

Li Cunxiao also felt that the local soldiers were perfunctory to his general orders, and he was very vigilant, so he ordered the soldiers under Li Hanzhi to take strict precautions. Hedong soldiers and horses are under control.

But at this time it is not a matter of defending the city.

The Yellow River Ferry has fallen, so should the Sishui Pass be saved or not?

Li Cunxiao also had no decision, so he hurriedly called all the soldiers to discuss.

"Everyone, the crossing of the Yellow River has been sunk by the Zhu bandits. Now the bandits divide their troops to attack Sishui Pass. If this pass is lost, if we want to go back to the east of the river, we will have to take a long detour. Whether we can save them or not, what will the generals think?"

Shen Congdao, the commander of the capital, said: "General, Heyang has few soldiers, and it is not easy to defend. If we send troops to Sishui Pass again, Heyang will be difficult to protect. If Heyang City is lost, and Sishui Pass cannot be secured, we will have no way out."

General An Zhixun said: "What good is it for us to stick to this place? Now that the ferry of the Yellow River has been lost, if the Sishui Pass is lost again, where will the commander-in-chief march south to cross the river? The last general thought that Heyang could be lost, and the Sishui Pass would be lost. Don't miss it."

All the soldiers argued endlessly, and Li Cunxiao became more and more irritable. He received the military order from his father, Li Keyong, to stick to Heyang and hoard weapons, food and grass for the army to use.

This month, Li Cunxiao scraped the ground, hoarded a large amount of food, grass and equipment, and hundreds of thousands of money. If he saves Sishuiguan, these things will not be taken away. If he does not save...

"It's gone! It's gone!"

With a wave of Li Cunxiao's hand, he wished he could gallop his horse and have a good time with Zhu thief, but he was confined in Heyang, unable to advance or retreat, and felt powerless.

At this time, Zhu Wen's big tent, Shi Shucong and Li Si'an handed over the general order, Zhu Wen was overjoyed, and rewarded Shi Shucong and Li Si'an with all the soldiers of the right inner government army.

"Cunxiao's children don't know about military affairs, and when Li Ya'er doesn't know about soldiers, I'm so lucky."

The soldiers under Zhu Wen's tent were neat and orderly, and all the best were out.

The left Changzhi army of [-] people has followed the generals Zhu Zhen and Li Tangbin to attack Sishuiguan, and the right Changzhi army of [-] people has followed Zhu Wen.

The left and right Neiya troops are Xuanwu tooth soldiers, the elite of the elite infantry, each with 2 people, and the left and right troops have a total of [-] people.The generals Pang Shigu and Shi Shucong commanded.

The left and right accompanying armies are all cavalry, with 5000 soldiers in each army, and a total of 1 soldiers in the two armies, led by Ge Congzhou.

The left and right Jianrui army (specialized in siege), the left and right Tuma army (equipped with serial heavy crossbows, specializing in riding horses), and the left and right Tu generals (death squads) each ranged from 5000 to [-] people, a total of about [-].

There are also the five hundred Luoyan capital led by Zhu Hanbin, the one thousand Bashan capital led by Wang Zhongshi, and the one thousand hall capital led by Kou Yanqing.These are all slayers, who specialize in trapping battles. This is Zhu Wen's favorite, and he is reluctant to use it easily.

Kou Yanqing and Wang Zhongshi are brave and resourceful generals who stand alone.

With this lineup, even if Li Ye was here, he would still be drooling, calling out: "But Zhu Wen has so many talents!"

Compared with the Thirteen Taibao used by Li Ke, it is not much better.

"The army marches out, soldiers encircle Heyang!"

Zhu Wen wanted to take Heyang in one go, but Li Cunxiao was still hesitating at this time, seeing Zhu Wen's mobilization of troops.

Li Cunxiao hurriedly gathered the drums and led the army out of the city, trying to catch Zhu Wen by surprise.

As soon as the cavalry of the brigade charged, they were shot down by a series of powerful crossbows before they could take over the battle.

After rushing to the front, at some point, the ground was covered with barbed thorns, and hundreds of people were lost, so they had to flee back to Heyang in embarrassment.

Li Cunxiao lost troops and lost generals.

"General, if you don't leave at this time, I'm afraid you won't be able to leave."

When Li Cunxiao climbed up the tower, seeing Zhu Wen's army gradually encircle him, his heart became more and more anxious, but he still shook his head and said:
"Soldiers, horses, money and food in the city must not be discarded!"

"General, you should not stop, but you will be disturbed by it. Please think again!"

"..."

(End of this chapter)