A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 1018: Dali's letter of apology for attacking and defending, long-term defense will lead to loss of loyalty

February of the third year of the Great Xiapingning
Dali front.

Nine months have passed since the Dali army and the Xia army were defeated in their first battle in April last year and retreated to Dali City.

Food has been scarce in Yunnan since ancient times. Even though Duan Siping raised all the available food and grass in the entire Dali area, and even borrowed some food from the Pyu Kingdom and Angkor Dynasty in the south, he was still stretched to the limit.

With tens of thousands of soldiers and horses feeding them, plus tens of thousands of civilians in Dali City, the daily consumption of food and fodder was an astronomical figure.

Outside the city, the Xia army camp, the commander's tent

The commander of the troops was still the Prince of Qian, Bai Wang. As for the old Prince of Qian, Bai Yu, he stayed in Weichu City not far behind, to supervise the battle and to make dispatches.

During the first two months of the siege.

After the Battle of Erhai South, the Dali army retreated into the city and held its ground.

Xia army coach Bai Wang originally wanted to take the city in one fell swoop with the help of several powerful troops under his command.

So he led his troops to attack.

However, things did not develop in the direction Bai Wang expected.

Dali City was strategically located, and the Dali army built another stronghold on the nearby Cangshan Mountain, and stationed a large number of archers to shoot arrows from above.

The Xia army was facing frontal resistance while being attacked by a hail of arrows from the mountains.

Although the Dali army's arrows were not sharp, they still disrupted the rhythm of the Xia army's attack.

This resulted in multiple sieges ending in failure and in the loss of many soldiers and generals.

Seeing that the casualties were too great, Bai Wang had to change from attack to siege.

He once thought that the elite troops under his command were not elite enough and could not break through the enemy with a single point, so he asked the court for reinforcements.

As for the other strongholds on Cangshan Mountain, the road leading up the mountain is not only narrow, but also firmly guarded by the enemy, which is not much easier than attacking Dali City.

By October, 5,000 Kaifeng imperial guards sent by the imperial court and more than 40,000 soldiers from inland garrisons arrived in Kuncheng.

Bai Wang immediately arranged for the imperial guards to go out and prepare to capture the city wall.

The fact was just as he expected, the imperial guards almost captured the city wall once they took the stage.

However, in the end Duan Siping personally took to the battlefield to reverse the defeat, and relying on his numerical advantage, he held back the imperial guards until nightfall.

In the following days, with the defense in place, the imperial guards could no longer achieve the initial results.

As the casualties of the imperial guards increased, Bai Wang finally gave up the last bit of confidence in the attack.

The attack was changed back to siege.

He also wrote a memorial in his own name, describing in detail the strength of Dali City, and apologized for failing the emperor's expectations for a quick victory.

Not only that, as time passed, soldiers from the mainland began to fall ill in large numbers due to unfamiliar climate and water.

In just a few months, nearly one-third of the soldiers lost their combat effectiveness.

While waiting for the court's decision, Bai Wang had to transfer them to Shu for rest.

A shift system was also announced for the Dali front.

That is, one third of all the troops from the mainland will be rotated every month to go to Luzhou for a half-month rest, and then return to the front line to replace other troops for rest.

So that 50,000 soldiers and horses were always maintained outside Dali City.

Bai Wang's letter of apology arrived at Bai Xi's desk. Although he set out on a practical basis, he did violate the emperor's order and had to be punished. In the end, the court issued an order to relieve Bai Wang of his post as the marshal of the expeditionary army and demoted him to the deputy marshal of the camp. The post of marshal was taken over by the old King of Qian.

It was called punishment, but in reality it was a lenient one. The old King of Qian, Bai Yu, stayed in the rear all year round to supervise the battle and coordinate the troops, but the actual control of the army was still in the hands of Bai Wang.

With the emperor's endorsement, Bai Wang finally put his mind at ease and focused on resolving Dali City.

Although the Xia army had already switched from attack to siege, Bai Wang did nothing.

On the one hand, he sent the commander-in-chief Chen Hong and local barbarian tribes including Yang Bao, Bai Jianying, Bai Qiangwu, and Meng Yongan to move south from the Polo River and deep into the southern part of the Dali Kingdom to pacify the barbarians in order to cut off the support of the Dali Kingdom.

On the other hand, he continuously sent monks to cross the Cangshan Mountain and sneak into Dali City from the rear to contact the generals in the city who were unwilling to follow Duan Siping to perish.

As a result, in just two months, not only did the amount of food delivered to Dali City decrease, but the morale of the defenders in the city was also shaken.

Until one moment, Duan Siping had a disagreement with two founding heroes, Gao Fang and Dong Jialuo.

Gao and Dong, based on the interests of their respective tribes, persuaded Duan Siping to surrender the city. After all, Daxia was far away, and in order to stabilize the southwest, they would certainly not cause mass killings, but would focus on appeasement.

It's just a title of emperor. As long as he can save his life and tribe, he can rebuild his country at any time when the Central Plains changes.

But Duan Siping was unwilling to listen to the advice of the two important officials. He said, "I heard that in the late Han Dynasty, when the Central Plains army invaded the south of the Yangtze River, all the officials advised the King of Wu to surrender to the north to save his life."

"Only the famous general Zhou Yu advised his lord that anyone who persuaded the lord to surrender could be killed. Anyone in the Eastern Wu could surrender except the lord. If he surrendered, he would die."

"In the end, Dongwu became the only country among the Three Kingdoms that survived the end of the Han Dynasty. It was not until nearly a hundred years later that it was destroyed by the new Jin Dynasty."

"Today, the two of you are urging me to surrender. Are you trying to trick me into not being able to execute you?"

After Gao Fang and Dong Jialuo heard this, they saw the fierce look in Duan Siping's eyes, their faces changed drastically, and they had no choice but to humble themselves and say "I am guilty".

In the end, Duan Siping was worried that killing the two would cause their troops in the city to riot, giving the Xia army an opportunity to take advantage.

He put on a friendly smile again, comforted them again and again, and then sent them back to the mansion.

Although the two of them managed to survive and got together after coming out of the palace, they still felt a chill in their backs.

Dong Jialuo said in despair: "Do you feel it? This time he really wants to kill us. He really wants to kill us."

Gao Fang was filled with fear and anger and cursed loudly, "Duan Siping, that ungrateful kid, was hunted down by Yang Zhao. If it weren't for our entire clan's help, both in terms of effort and manpower, how could he be in this situation today?"

"It's only been a few years, and you can't remember anything?"

Dong Jialuo was still immersed in loss and decadence. If you think about it, Dong Jialuo was closer to Duan Siping than Gao Fang. He was regarded as his military advisor and did everything he could to help him seize the throne.

Now that Duan Siping has turned against him, he feels deeply frustrated.

"Since he is not a good person, don't blame me for not remembering our friendship."

"What do you want to do? No, Duan Siping will not let us go. Moreover, the Qian Palace is the Xia people's running dog. If Dali is taken by him, the southwestern tribes will return to the scene of being oppressed by the Tang people. What good can we get?"

Gao Fang looked at him fiercely and said, "The Xia people are different from the Tang people. Besides, did you see the Xia army last time?"

"You mean the elite troops?"

"Yes, I heard that there are more than 200,000 elite soldiers like this in Daxia. What can we do to stop them? Even if we can stop them for a while, can we stop them forever?"

"this?"

Gao Fang leaned down, put his face close to the hesitant Dong Jialuo's ear, and whispered: "You don't want your Gao tribe and the Duan family to be destroyed together."

(End of this chapter)