Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The first mountain abandoned by the officers and soldiers was called Wolong Mountain, where Zhuge Liang once stationed troops.

The second mountain abandoned by the officers and soldiers was called Changqing Mountain. Li Yan of the Shu Han Dynasty was demoted to a commoner and moved to the southern foot of the mountain to live. The origin of its name is that Sima Xiangru once studied here.

If you want to defend Zitong, you must defend Changqing Mountain.

In other words, you must guard the surrounding hills.

For example, during the Long March of the Red Army, when they attacked Zitong, they first attacked a bunch of hills. However, the Sichuan Army and the Red Army fought fiercely at Changqing Mountain. The Red Army called it the "Bloody Battle at Changqing Mountain", but no fighting broke out in Zitong City.

To attack Zitong City from the direction of Changqing Mountain, you have to fight across the river, which is very difficult.

Why not attack from the direction of Qiqu Mountain? The terrain there is the flattest and most open, and there is no need to cross the river to attack the city.

Because it is not easy to capture the hills there, if the attacker does not capture all the hills, they will always be in a situation of being attacked from several sides.

Ju Ming stood in front of Sima Xiangru's reading room, admiring the calligraphy inscriptions left by literati from past dynasties.

A group of prisoners were escorted over. They were all middle- and low-level officers of the rural soldiers.

"Did you read my appeal?" Zhu Ming turned around and asked.

No one answered.

Ju Ming smiled and said, "Didn't you read it? Then I'll show you again."

"No, I've already seen it," said an officer named Wang Xi.

Ju Ming asked: "How was the writing?"

Wang Xi replied: "Every sentence is wonderful, the scolding is free and flowing, and it expresses the aspirations of all people."

Ju Ming asked: "Then why do you still work for the government?"

Wang Bi said: "Your Excellency is a rebel after all. No matter how well-disciplined a rebel is, he will also plunder rations and force soldiers. Don't make excuses. Could it be that those tens of thousands of traitors and countless rations were just conjured up out of thin air? It is impossible to get so much food from the hands of the government and officers and soldiers. We, the common people, are being requisitioned for food and military recruitment, so we might as well serve the court, which sounds better than joining the rebels."

"It makes sense." Zhu Ming nodded.

Wang Xi added: "Since I have been captured by Your Excellency, you can kill or behead me as you wish. If you refuse to kill me or let me go, I... am also willing to surrender."

Ju Ming couldn't help laughing: "You are quite direct."

Wang Xi said: "Although the Wang family has been a prominent official for generations, there are still small families. My family only has more than a hundred acres of land, and it has long been unable to bear the heavy taxes from the government. I usually complain in private, and I have also done things to curse the emperor."

There is really no psychological burden for such a small landowner to become a thief.

Ju Ming asked the other prisoners again, and after careful consideration, they all agreed to become thieves.

Changqing Mountain is on the edge of the Zijiang River. The officers and soldiers abandoned the stronghold and fled. Their escape was too fast and bizarre. The rebels could not catch up, so they only captured hundreds of people. They were all landlubbers who were blocked by the river and unable to board the ship.

Some officers and soldiers crossed the river by boat to escape, and many more officers and soldiers took off their armor and jumped into the river to escape.

Ju Ming not only rescued a lot of food and grass, but also picked up a lot of cloth armor, leather armor, and a small amount of official and military weapons. These soldiers and armors are just allocated to the young and strong auxiliary soldiers.

Standing outside Sima Xiangru's reading room, Zhu Ming picked up his telescope and looked at Zitong City across the river.

This place is less than two miles away from the city wall. The view is very good and you can overlook the entire Zitong County.

Inside the city.

Huang Gai pulled Zhao Yu and tried hard to dissuade him: "General, you can't kill! These are soldiers from Chengdu. If you kill an officer, the soldiers in several nearby villages will be resentful and unwilling to fight again. Your Excellency wants to kill more than a dozen people next time. I am afraid that everyone will be in danger and the morale of the army will be in chaos if we do not fight."

Zhao Yu said angrily: "If you don't obey military orders, you won't be killed. Who will obey orders in the future?"

"Just give him a beating with a military stick. Please think twice before you act!" Huang Gai was still trying to dissuade him.

Zhao Yu turned from angry to silent, and then became frustrated. He hunched over and turned to leave: "You can punish me with the military stick. I'll take a rest for a while."

This battle can't be fought, he can't even control his own army.

Zhao Yu returned to the mansion and sat in the hall, staring at the big tree in the yard in a daze.

Zhao Yu was born in a clan and was from Kaifeng.

He felt that the old Zhao family's empire was probably running out of time, and it was beyond human power to restore it.

Two days later, Ju Ming divided his troops to cross the river downstream and occupied a hilltop southeast of Zitong City, preparing for the subsequent attack on Zitong.

The officers and soldiers attacked the mountain many times, but they were all defeated and fled back to the city.

Anyway, there are hills everywhere outside the city. If the thieves and bandits occupy one, they can take it. The officers and soldiers will defend the city and never come out.

It's early winter in a blink of an eye, and the temperature drops suddenly.

Ju Ming had already prepared a lot of winter clothes. Unless there was heavy snowfall, he would not be afraid of his soldiers getting cold.

The officers and soldiers were talking nonsense. They didn't have enough winter clothes for fighting in the local area. Priority was given to the Xiang army and the Zidi soldiers. As for the rural soldiers originally recruited by Huang Gai, they could only wear autumn clothes and carry them.

I was cheated by the logistics officer!

The transport envoy along the way is often the commander-in-chief. If there are important officials such as the strategic envoy, the pacification envoy, and the general commander of troops and horses, the transport envoy will automatically become the deputy commander-in-chief and the general logistics officer.

As the general logistics officer, Huang Gai is really not corrupt, but the materials are transported along the way, so it is normal for the goods to be less and less confusing.

Some clever guy or a group of clever ghosts in the rear are taking the opportunity to steal and sell the winter clothes of the frontline soldiers!

Zhao Yu inspected the military camp and saw the cold country soldiers. He went to Huang Gai with a dark face and asked, "Can you survive the winter without wearing any clothes?"

Huang Gai knew what was going on: "We are investigating the matter and have asked our subordinates to urgently dispatch another batch."

Zhao Yu was so angry that he walked away.

A few days later, a messenger came urgently to report that Zizhou had been attacked by rebels. The rebels captured Zizhou and only rested for half a day before galloping under the stars and besieging Mianzhou.

Before Zhao Yu could react, another messenger came to report that a group of bandits were besieging Yanting County.

The officers and soldiers are going to be made dumplings!

Zhao Yu's plan was to hold on to the city for as long as possible until Ju Ming's army ran out of supplies and until next year to wait for reinforcements from the Western Army.

But it's obvious that he can't wait until that time.

Zhao Yu had already sent orders to all roads to recruit troops and food to suppress the bandits. He especially told the Kuizhou Road to hold back Li Bao.

However, most officials are disobedient or incapable of enforcing it.

Knowing the dangers, the Zizhou Road Transfer Envoy no longer cared about the Lunan Yi and sent half of the "elites" from the south to the north, hoping to attack Li Bao's retreat. But as soon as the officers and soldiers left, the Lunan Yi rebelled.

The entire Zizhou Road was disrupted by rebels on the north side and ravaged by barbarians on the south side. Only some prefectures and counties in the middle were still in the hands of the government.

What's even more ridiculous is that many Han people in Luzhou actually rebelled with the barbarians and attacked the official army!

These Han people have a feud with the barbarians.

"Our army has been besieged on three sides," Huang Gai said in despair. "Either go north to Jianzhou, but there must be bandits guarding the city there. If we go there, we will be completely blocked in the mountains. Or we can cross the river from the direction of Qiqu Mountain and cross the hills. Obviously, we will go back to Chengdu through the hills and around Mianzhou."

Zhao Yu shook his head: "The march of hundreds of miles will take a detour. If the officers and soldiers can't do it, the bandits will catch up and they will be defeated. If you don't want to stay in Zitong and wait for death, you can only go out of the city to fight, and fight before the Mianzhou bandits come!"

"Then let's fight," Huang Gai sighed. "If we win, we will survive. If we lose, we will lose Sichuan."

The officers and soldiers were finally willing to go out to fight in the city, leaving thousands of people to defend the city. The rest were all pulled out, some formed a formation in the southeast outside the city, and some went to attack the bandits and occupy the hilltop.

Zhu Ming was afraid of being attacked halfway across the river, so he led the main force to cross the river further downstream.

Deng Chun led 3,000 Changjie troops and 1,000 auxiliary troops to guard the hilltop and wait for reinforcements from the large army.

Xie Jianzhong, who had previously abandoned the stronghold and fled, was ordered to perform meritorious service. If he knocks him down from the top of the mountain, his crime will be absolved. If he can't knock him down, his head will be chopped off.

Xie Jianzhong led the main attack, while another general named Shi Fangping led troops from the side to assist in attacking the mountain.

The mountain is gentle and narrow, not a dangerous place.

However, Deng Chun had more than ten flat artillery pieces. While the officers and soldiers were still at the foot of the mountain, they were attacked by small flat artillery pieces. There were not many casualties, mainly damaging the morale of the officers and soldiers.

"If the captain dies in battle, the whole team will be beheaded! If you want to avoid death, you will not retreat from the bloody battle!"

Deng Chun rode on horseback to reiterate military discipline in person.

The captain is the core of the Yuanyang Formation and is protected by the entire team. Unless you are particularly unlucky and are killed by long-range fire, basically nothing will happen.

Something happened to the captain, which meant that the Yuanyang formation was broken and the team had little fighting power left.

Four battalions of soldiers were deployed everywhere for defense.

Deng Chun led one battalion of combat troops and two battalions of auxiliary troops as reserve troops in the center. In addition, there are hundreds of non-combatants, all of whom are clerks, accountants, carpenters, stonemasons, doctors, tailors, etc. They also belong to the regular establishment of Chang Jie's army.

Mu Heng guarded the main attack direction of the officers and soldiers. As the rebel army continued to expand, among the twelve of them, Hua Rong became the leader of the musketeers, and Yang Zhi, Li Jinyi, Lin Chong, Guan Sheng and others all led an army alone.

Only Mu Heng, Zhang Qing, Li Ying, and Wang Xiong were the worst off. They were all battalion commanders commanding 500 people.

Mu Heng dreamed of making meritorious deeds and shouted: "Cheer up, everyone. If anyone dares to retreat in a timid manner, I will kill him first without having to be dealt with by the superior officer's military law!"

The entire battalion was divided into dozens of Yuanyang Formation squads, and four squads formed a large group and were deployed in various places on the mountain.

The rugged terrain does not affect the military formation, and the formation can always be slightly changed according to the situation.

The officers and soldiers who attacked the mountain were affected by the terrain.

Only when they reached the mountainside, it was already difficult to form a formation, and they were fighting in groups of twos and threes.

Xie Jianzhong was not afraid of death. He did not hide at the back and commanded his officers and soldiers to attack the mountain from all directions.

Before the two sides came into close combat, dozens of squad leaders greeted each other with bows and arrows.

Immediately, the rattan player and the long player threw javelins. Each of them had three javelins, and they had to throw them out before engaging the enemy.

There were also a small number of archers among the officers and soldiers, bending their waists and shooting upwards.

"Uu, uh!"

The squad leader's bamboo whistle sounded one after another, and the first battle finally began...well, it was over.

I saw the wolves making chaos everywhere. The officers and soldiers were attacking from their backs, but they were swept away by the wolves and found it difficult to move forward. In a daze, several spears were stabbed at them. Some officers and soldiers who rushed to the side were forced back by rake, and then they were stabbed by a spear.

The rebels obviously have fewer soldiers, but they can always defeat the smaller ones with more troops on local battlefields.

Only one of them met, and the officers and soldiers of each team retreated one after another.

"Blow the trumpet!"

"Wave the flag!"

The trumpet sounded and the flag was waved. Mu Heng's battalion of rebels actually charged down the mountain. Five hundred people counterattacked towards more than a thousand people.

The two battalions next to Mu Heng also began to countercharge.

Because the fighting time was too short, Xie Jianzhong didn't even react and found that nearly half of his soldiers had been defeated. If the rebels rush again, those who are not defeated will also collapse.

"Commander, leave quickly!" the soldiers shouted.

Xie Jianzhong ran away without the soldiers reminding him.

It was such a complete defeat that he didn't even know why.