Will Ming

Chapter 640 IX Stepping Through the River East

The first rain of this year only fell in early June, and the crops in the fields, which had been thirsty for several months, could finally have a full drink. However, the rain came too late in this season, and I don’t know how much land has been parched. , Even a large part of the wheat does not have strong ears, and it is all flat when squeezed by hand.

This year is doomed to have no joy of a good harvest, only the common people shake their heads and smile wryly as they look at the dried-up wheat.Even if the summer grains are not harvested, the harvest is not much worse. In some places, the people cut the shriveled wheat stalks in advance, plowed the land and planted some grains with a relatively short harvest period. It is worth celebrating that it just happened to catch up with this rain. As long as we cook for another two or three months, we can eat whole grains, at least to fill our stomachs.

There are far more places where there is not enough to eat than there are places where there is enough to eat. The Tang Dynasty encountered a natural disaster just after the founding of the country. Officials from all over the country asked for instructions to open warehouses to distribute food to the victims. The memorials flew to Chang'an like flakes. In the Taiji Palace in the city, Li Yuan's brows became more and more wrinkled.

The Great Tang Dynasty had just been established, and at this time we must not lose the hearts of the people. Li Yuan was always ready to ask for instructions to open granaries from all over the country. Fortunately, there was a granary in the Great Sui Dynasty that had been filled year by year since the reign of Emperor Kaihuang.I also want to thank Yang Guang for his decision that the people would rather starve to death than take out the food, otherwise the situation facing the Tang Dynasty would not be as simple as a shortage of troops.

If the new country cannot even deal with a natural disaster that is not particularly large in scale, then it can only be said that this country has no qualifications or necessity to exist. After nearly ten years of natural and man-made disasters, their sense of belonging to the country has long been as thin as a piece of paper, which can be torn if poked.

Officials within a few hundred miles of Chang'an were busy with disaster relief, but in Hedong County across a river, there was not a single Tang official helping the people.Because it is the more than [-] troops of Yanyunzhai who are doing this now, as for the officials of Datang in Hedong County... If they are not dead, then they are no longer officials of Datang.In order to appease the people, Xu Shiji asked people to mobilize a large amount of food and luggage from the Liyang warehouse, distribute it to the counties of Hedong County, and then use this as a condition to lure the people in Hedong City to open their doors and surrender.

The defender of Hedong City, Wang Duo, didn't care about the people's affairs at all, because there was another thing that gave him a headache more than appeasing the people.All the elites of Hedong County were transferred to Chang'an, the capital of the capital. Wang Duo was temporarily promoted to serve as Governor of Hedong County. Originally, this person belonged to Liu Wenjing, but because he offended the emperor and tried to plot rebellion, Liu Wenjing was beheaded when the Tang Dynasty was just established.As for whether this crime is really true, anyway, that's what the notice issued by the court said.

With such an identity, Wang Duo was suddenly promoted to the position of the third-rank local official, and he was naturally elated, but before he had time to be happy, the 10,000+ army of Yanyun Village poured into Hedong County like a wave.In just one month, under the dual effects of absolute military deterrence and countless grains, all places in Hedong County except for the county government, Hedong City, have been surrendered.People in Hedong City, which had barely been breached, were panic-stricken. There was not enough food in the city to last for seven days. If the reinforcements from the imperial court did not arrive, Wang Duo had no choice but to open the city gate and let the Yanyun army in.

This was not the main reason for his distress, the most important reason was that there was a prince in the city who was a little overwhelmed by fright.

He has not been on the city wall for the past few days. The less than 1 defenders of Hedong City have held on for six days, and the loss of troops has been huge. Push it back, and then seal all the city gates with civil engineering.Yan Yunjun had that thing that could terrify people and burst out fireballs, and the city gate was almost breached because of the amazing power of that thing.

Fortunately, his reaction was fast enough and smart enough. No matter how pressured the city wall was, he did not use the death squad of 900 people. He did not order the death squad to rush out until the city gate was blasted open. None of the nine hundred elites were left, and they were all besieged and killed near the city gate by Yan Yun's army.

After eating a ditch and gaining wisdom, Wang Duo immediately ordered the four gates to be blocked.If he couldn't get out, Yan Yunjun naturally couldn't get in either.

However, there was a shortage of food in the city, and there was another person who would send people to him almost twice every hour to ask him if he could keep the prince, and he was exhausted from being tortured.

Just when he ordered the soldiers to repair the city defense, he saw two eunuchs running towards him in a hurry. Wang Duo couldn't help cursing, turned his head and walked out.

"Lord Sheriff, please stay, please stay!"

An eunuch shouted at the voice of a male duck: "Your Highness sent a slave to ask your lord if you can keep it today? Your highness said... If your highness says you can't keep it, please let me know in advance, your highness is ready to drive out of the city."

"There are one hundred thousand Yanyun troops outside the city! What can His Highness do when he goes out of the city?!"

Wang Duo asked in a cold voice.

The eunuch lowered his voice and said: "Your Highness said that although His Majesty has not made it clear to the world, there is no doubt that King Yan is his uncle... If he goes out of the city and surrenders, he will think of this relationship with Xu Shiji of the Yan Yun Army." I will not embarrass Your Highness."

These words almost exploded Wang Duo's lungs. If that Highness was his son, he would have sent someone to break the coward's legs. From the very beginning of the war, the cowardly guy wanted to escape and surrender. , I haven't been on the city wall to encourage the morale of the army, but I send people every half an hour to ask if it can be defended!What a talented and rough man his father is, how could he give birth to such a guy who can be looked down upon.

"Go back and tell His Highness that Wang is as safe as a mountain in Hedong City!"

"That's good! That's good!"

The eunuch hurriedly said a few good words, turned around and ran back.Looking at the eunuch's back, Wang Duo spat and cursed: "If the city breaks down, I will kill all of you eunuchs first!"

"Enemy attack!"

At this time, the soldiers let out an exclamation, and immediately, the warning horn blew.

……

……

"Get down and don't stand up! Get down! Wait for the bandits to get close to the city wall before standing up and shooting arrows. If you don't want to die, get down on the ground!"

Wang Duo yelled a few words loudly, and then quickly lay on the city wall and shrank under the wall, not daring to move.His shout just fell, followed by countless boulders.The Yanyun army outside the city set up hundreds of catapult carts, which can throw hundreds of catties of boulders onto the city wall at a distance of [-] steps, which is extremely powerful.The defenders on the city wall have been tortured for the past few days, and even the battlements have been smashed and collapsed.

Hundreds of kilograms of huge boulders smashed down violently with the whistling sound of the wind, and when they hit the city wall, a cloud of dust and rubble was immediately stirred up.The sound of booming was endless, and it was also mixed with the mournful wailing of those who were hit by the boulder.Just less than ten meters away from Wang Duo, a huge boulder slammed into the battlements and rolled down. The battlements were smashed down, and the soldiers hiding below were directly crushed into a pulp.

A soldier's left leg was pressed down by a boulder, and he yelled "Mother".The part of the crushed leg under the rock was probably shattered into a puddle, and even if he could be pulled out, he might not be able to survive.There is no amputation operation in this era, even bleeding can kill this soldier.

A boulder was right in the gate of the city, and with a loud noise, half of the gate collapsed. At least [-] soldiers were pressed down by the collapsed roof, and dust and smoke rose suddenly. It was full of thick dust that even the comrades who were close at hand couldn't see it.

After hundreds of stones were smashed, the city wall was in a mess.These days, the soldiers have developed a habit of being baptized by boulders every day.As long as the Yanyun army moved the catapult, they would get down on the ground, and they would never stand up and shoot arrows until the soldiers of the Yanyun army came close.

The city wall on this side of Hedong City has long been smashed beyond recognition, almost all the battlements have been smashed, and the top of the city wall is full of big holes smashed by boulders.

A piece of crushed stone slammed into Wang Duo's face, and a deep gash was drawn immediately.The blood kept spilling from the wound, Wang Duo gritted his teeth in pain, and was about to call the soldiers around him to wipe the blood, but when he looked back, he saw that the closest soldier was pierced by a piece of gravel Eye sockets are not alive.He tore off a piece of cloth from the soldier's corpse, and wiped the swearing words from his mouth indiscriminately on his face.

After the three-wheeled catapult was crushed, the defenders on the city wall lost at least 400 people.The most important thing is that the city wall has already been cracked, and if there is no accident, it is very likely that a large area will collapse if it hits the outer wall bricks a few times.The sides of the city wall are built with blue bricks, but the middle is filled with soil.

"Get up, all those who are not dead stand up for me! Archers, all archers stand up, let the bandits go 160 steps away before throwing arrows, no one is allowed to shoot arrows indiscriminately, and obey my military orders!"

"Here!"

The soldiers responded scatteredly, but no one dared to stand up at this time.The power of the catapult is indeed too great, and I don't know how many people have been frightened.

"Ballista, check if the ballista is still available!"

Wang Duo stood up first, ran and shouted on the city wall.

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

A soldier of the Tang Army answered with a hoarse voice, and then grabbed the hard bow with trembling hands, but because his hands trembled so much, he failed to set up the feathered arrow several times.Wang Duo quickly walked over to help him put the feather arrow in place, then patted his shoulder but didn't know what to say to encourage the soldiers to fight bravely.

He didn't know how to comfort the soldiers under his command, and he didn't even know whether it was right or wrong to resist like this.He knew that Hedong City could never be defended, and he still insisted on it just because he didn't want to get the notoriety of defecting to the enemy and treason.But just because he didn't want to, more than 3000 people have died on the city wall in the past few days.Wang Duo himself sometimes hated himself why he hadn't surrendered yet, and he didn't dare to think that if he died in battle, how would he face those thousands of innocent souls after he went down?