Country color

Chapter 209
The sky in the north was gloomy, and the wind seemed to howl.

Under the high and thick city walls of Jixian County, the yellow flag with the word "Swallow" is as far as the eye can see, like mountains and seas.Countless soldiers in rags and yellow scarves raised their heads and stared at the city.

"break!"

"break!"

Countless weapons were raised, and at the place where everyone's eyes met, huge stone bombs pierced the sky.

boom!boom!
The city wall was shaken, crumbling, a burst of gray smoke rose, and the cheers of thousands of soldiers below the city shook thousands of miles!

Under Nancheng, more than a dozen trebuchets exerted force together, the trebuchets rattled, and the wooden arms creaked.The tip of the cannon bounced straight from the wooden frame, and the huge stone bullet whizzed through the air, and hit the high wall with a bang.The city wall still shook for a while, and the fragments of the stone bombs quickly splashed in all directions.One of the defenders on the city wall was unlucky, and was directly crushed by gravel, killing him on the city wall.

Wang Xubaxiong, the king of Mantian, stood on the high platform, and behind him, soldiers lined up to the foot of the mountain in the distance, and his army was all over the plain.It is not in vain to be able to carry a million soldiers in one's lifetime. Seeing this scene, Wang Xuba was suddenly full of ambition, and he drew his sword and swiped his head up to the sky!
Boom boom boom!
The war drums beat and the golden ge dances.The thousands of old, weak and remnant soldiers who filled the trenches under the city wall were half dead or injured, but they paved a way for Wang Xuba, leading directly to the city wall.Under the yellow flag with the word "Swallow", countless big men drank a bowl of farewell wine, smashed the porcelain bowl in their hands with a choke, and then raised the steel knife in their hands, rushing towards the city wall like waves. rise.The whole army moved, and the soldiers rushed down the city like a stormy wave without returning.

The defenders of the city began to counterattack.The walls of the city were densely packed with soldiers of the Sui army holding giant sculls. They were heavily armored, and their gazes were all cold under their heads.

Throwing stones, bows and arrows, and boiling oil were thrown from the city like money, and the defenders counterattacked very violently.Especially the catapults of the defenders were bombarded with the catapults of the attacking side. Every boulder fell, and a cloud of dust rolled up on the ground, and then blood oozes out from under the stone.For the densely packed siege soldiers who couldn't turn around, they could only be covered in blood and flesh under the attack of stone bullets.

not enough!Still not enough!Wang Xuba brandished his sword, constantly ordering his sons to attack the city.

Once the generals are successful and their bones are dry, Jixian cannot be conquered. Where will the food for the tens of thousands of troops come from for the winter?

If Ji County cannot be conquered, the countless armored battles of the Liao Dynasty in the city will be shelved.

"Take down Ji County, everyone eats meat!" Wang Xu drew his sword and yelled, and the soldiers of the three armies immediately started to move. The icy cold wind did not freeze the hands and feet of the soldiers.

Wang Xuba squinted his eyes, walking back and forth while pressing the sword.It has been two and a half years since he started his uprising, and the officials who surrendered in the Sui Dynasty flattered him that he rose from commoner clothes. Yes, a cowherd boy has an army of 10,000+ in his hand today, what more can a man ask for.

Wang Xuba put a helmet on the hilt of his sword, his eyes suddenly raised, he stared at the city wall, the sky with lead clouds hanging down, and thought, Gao Shida and Zhang Jinxuan are dead now, and I am the only one left among the anti-kings in Hebei. If this person doesn't stand up and rise to the top, who else can replace him.But if you want to recruit subordinates, you need food, if you don't have food, soldiers, why should others vote for you.

But it will be different if you can capture Jixian County. With its food, grass and weapons, you can recruit 10,000+ elite soldiers, and it will be easy to sweep the land of Hebei.At that time, what did Li Mi matter? If one day, I can become the emperor, firstly, for myself, secondly, to stand out, and thirdly, for the common people to stop living a miserable life and not be oppressed by corrupt officials. Niuwa can also marry a wife.

"Kill, kill, sons and daughters. Beat our drums!" Wang Xuba shouted again, drawing his sword, and the drummers around the central army also responded by beating the drums in their hands harder.The shouts and drums from all sides made him unable to hear anything.

call!
A huge boulder in the city was thrown high into the air, as if thrown by hand.Wang Xuba was stunned when he looked at the boulder, and the black shadow on his forehead suddenly became bigger and bigger.Wang Xuba suddenly seemed to understand something, and immediately ran away.

boom!
The boulder fell to the ground, and the Chinese army's platform collapsed.

Daye 12 years, December.

Although it is winter at the moment, the land of Yangzhou raises people. Although it is snowing heavily, it does not have the bitter coldness of the north.In the Yangzhou Palace, the artisans in the garden of the imperial garden cut flowers from colored silk and inserted them on the branches, so as to make the flowers flourish in winter, and decorate the entire imperial garden extraordinarily beautiful.

Yu Shiji held the memorial in his hand, and walked through the corridor covered with feathers and soldiers, and saw from a distance, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty, wearing a yellow dragon robe, was in the palace, facing the abyss of water, holding a fishing rod fishing.

The eunuch at the side whispered to Yu Shiji quietly, saying: "Your Majesty saw the memorial sent by Xue Shixiong and Yang Yichen today, Longyan was delighted, and his complexion improved a lot. He also made an exception and ate an extra bowl of jade pear porridge. Now it has been drying for half an hour. Sun. In a while, you can pick up more happy things and talk to His Majesty."

"Thank you, Eunuch Liu."

After Yu Shiji thanked him, the two of them stopped talking at the moment, turned around a corner door, and after the guards checked their identities, Yu Shiji walked up behind Yang Guang silently, kowtowed to Yang Guang and said in a low voice, "See Your Majesty."

Yang Guang had already passed the earth dragon, so it was warm and not cold at all.Yang Guang put away the fishing rod, said with a smile, "Sit down quickly, Yu Qing, no matter how softly you speak, you will startle my fish away. How do you think I will punish you?"

Yu Shiji pretended to be wronged and said: "No matter how your Majesty punishes, I will accept it. Didn't you say that thunder, rain and dew are the king's favor?"

Yang Guang laughed and said, "You're the only one who can put it nicely. I'm in good spirits today. I haven't seen the sun for a long time. It's a leisurely way to go fishing. Yu Qing, do you know how to fish?"

Yu Shiji kowtowed and said: "Your Majesty, I know a thing or two about fishing, but I'm not very proficient, but I heard that Jiang Ziya and Yan Ziling are both masters of fishing."

Yang Guang was very satisfied with Yu Shiji's flattery, took the memorial at hand, tapped the Jinxian crown on Yu Shiji's head, and said: "As long as you can talk, you have also read the memorial, Yang Qing, Xue Qing It’s doing very well in the north, and I’m very relieved, now that the anti-kings in Hebei have all been wiped out, and the rest is not enough, how do you think we should reward those who have made meritorious deeds?”

Yu Shiji glanced at the memorial beside Yang Guang, and he knew it in his heart. In fact, he was here for this matter. Someone paid a lot of money, greeted him early, and asked him to say a word or two in front of the emperor.

Yu Shiji, in line with his professionalism of using people's money to eliminate disasters, said: "Yang Yichen cut off Geqian one after another. Zhang Jin said, Gao Shida, this must be rewarded heavily. Now the thieves around Hebei are all small forces. Although there are many, it will not be a big deal in the end, so don't worry, Yang Yichen has tried his best to wipe out the thieves, and it is inappropriate to have a heavy army outside the capital for a long time, but he has to guard against it."

After Yang Guang put his hands on his back, Yang Xuan felt that Hu Sizheng's rebellion suddenly came to the fore.Yang Guang said approvingly: "Yu Qing is thoughtful for me, so what do you think Yu Qing should do?"

"Your Majesty, I think that Yang Yichen's military power can be removed, and he can be granted a title when he returns to the court. Then a general will lead the whole army in Hebei to continue to wipe out the bandits."

Yang Guang nodded, and said: "Very good, this not only fulfills the righteousness of our monarchs and ministers, but also avoids my worries, then you can draw up an order for me, worship Yang Yichen as Minister of Rites, and seal it when you return to the court, and then write it. General Duan Da of the Left Guard took Yang Yichen's place and wiped out the remaining bandits in Hebei."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Yu Shiji secretly smiled.

Fanyang County is covered with heavy snow, and now Li Chongjiu's army is stationed in Shanggu, and the two counties of Yanmen are spending the winter.When Li Chongjiu was preparing his troops, he also collected recent information from various aspects and planned the next step.

Wang Xuba led an army of 10,000+ to go north to attack Zhuojun to seize grain for the winter.As a result, under the high-walled and fortified city of Zhuojun County and Xue Shixiong's steadfast defense, Wang Xuba was accidentally hit by a stone and died.Afterwards the army withdrew, and General Wei Daoer, nicknamed Li Shanfei, replaced Wang Xuba in charge of the entire army and temporarily rested in Shenze.

When he learned of this, Li Chongjiu said in his heart that since the 11th year of his great cause, the three anti-kings who roared in Hebei, Gao Shida and Zhang Jincheng, all Wang Xuba died in battle.And after these three people died in battle, the Hebei Rebel Army really fell into a situation where the dragons had no leader.

After Li Chongjiu heard that Yang Yichen had left, Emperor Sui Yang ordered Duan Da to succeed Yang Yichen in military power.Duan Da is just a brave general, he led officers and soldiers to fight against the rebels many times before, but they were all defeated, so he was called Grandma Duan by the rebels.Because he was unfavorable in combat, Yang Yichen took over the military power.Now that Duan Da was back in power, Li Chongjiu thought that those rebels in Hebei must be setting off firecrackers right now, so they applauded.
Taken together, these two pieces of news show that the old pattern of the Hebei army and the anti-king is disrupted.Gao Shida and Zhang Jin said that although the three of Wang Xuba died, there were still 30 to [-] members of these three people. If Emperor Sui Yang thought that he could rest easy, he would be very wrong.

Li Chongjiu pondered that now the three anti-kings in Hebei are all dead, the dragons have no leader, Yang Yichen has been dismissed and replaced by an incompetent Duan Da.This is a great opportunity for Li Mi to go north to capture Hebei.It can be said that the right opportunity is bestowed by the heavens. If you don't take it when it is out of date, Li Mi will miss the opportunity.However, Li Chongjiu guessed that Li Mi was standing still, probably due to uncertainty between going south or going north.

Li Chongjiu doesn't bother to remind Li Mi now, this is bestowed by the heavens, and if you don't take it out of date, you will suffer.Instead of this, Li Chongjiu might as well take the opportunity to absorb it by himself and annex the rest of the Hebei Rebel Army to strengthen his power.Wang Xuba is newly dead, and now Wei Daoer is the new master. At this time of change, what is Song Jingang's attitude towards the new master? This is what Li Chongjiu is concerned about now.
Note [-]: In the biography of Dou Jiande in the New Tang Book, Xuba, the thief king of Shanggu, called himself "Mantianwang", fought against Youzhou with troops and died in battle.His subordinate Wei Dao'er is named "Li Shan Fei", with a wall of Shenze, and a crowd of one hundred thousand.Jiande seized it with a plan and had its own land.

(End of this chapter)