Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

Gao Zhan was not ignorant of the principle that one should not allow others to snore beside his bed. A person like him who is strong on the outside but weak on the inside, if he is in a strong position, he will have no concerns or bottom line, and will act recklessly and without restraint.

But if he faces an opponent who is much stronger than him, he will be afraid of fighting and dare not fight, and fantasize about being able to settle things peacefully. For example, he gave up Yedu earlier and ran all the way to Qingzhou.

Now that the Tang army is advancing again, even if he wants to run, there is no good place for him to go for a while. No matter how timid he is in his heart, he has to bite the bullet and resist.

Since arriving in Qingzhou in the second half of last year, Gao Zhan has been levying heavy taxes and forcibly conscripting men for several months. Now he has barely gathered 80,000 to 90,000 armored soldiers, which can be regarded as having the strength to fight.

He first ordered the governor of Qizhou, Bi Yiyun, to firmly defend the river defense and not let the Tang army in the north break through the river defense and kill southward. But the Tang army from Cangzhou was only one of them, and the other troops were also advancing towards Qingzhou.

Before, Tang General Zheng Wei had led his army eastward and captured Dongjun. Next, the Tang army's eastward advance was temporarily suspended, and it was mainly invested in the encirclement and suppression war against Gao Yu in Hebei. After Gao Yu's remaining forces were eliminated, Han Xiong led the Heluo Division Brigade back to Henan, and continued to advance eastward with Zheng Wei and other troops.

The Northern Qi did not have any strong arrangements in Henan. When the two countries fought in Hebei before, the situation in Henan was also quite chaotic.

Some local tyrants directly rose up and expelled all the county officials appointed by the Northern Qi. These tyrants were not eager to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, but each of them occupied one side, so that the entire Henan region was rampant with bandits and chaos.

Henan has been a place of war since ancient times. No matter how chaotic the region is, as long as a strong force enters the game, those bandits and tyrants will soon stop.

For example, in the early days of the Five Barbarians' Rebellion, Zu Ti of the Eastern Jin Dynasty led his army to the north. With the victory of several battles, he quickly recovered the area south of the Yellow River and confronted the Shi Le regime of the Later Zhao Dynasty across the river. During the Southern Liang Dynasty, Chen Qingzhi's northern expedition also marched straight into Luoyang City of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and achieved the most brilliant record of the Southern Dynasty since Emperor Wu of Song Liu Yu's northern expedition.

Now the Tang army has conquered the Northern Qi Dynasty and has effectively controlled most of Hebei. Now Han Xiong led the Heluo divisions and brigades, a total of 50,000 troops, to attack the east. Along the way, he also captured cities and strongholds, and was invincible. He successively captured Chenliu, Jiyin, Puyang, Gaoping and other counties, and the army soon advanced to Yanzhou.

When Gao Zhan learned of this news, he was shocked again, and hurriedly sent the veteran general Hulu Ping to lead 30,000 troops to Yanzhou to meet the enemy.

Hulu Ping was Hulu Jin's elder brother. Although he was getting old and could no longer fight the enemy in person, he had accumulated military experience from his years of military career.

After he led his army to the east, he sent several cavalry units to come first to disturb and obstruct the Tang army's vanguard. After a brief contact, he pretended to be defeated and retreated. After several times, the Tang army's vanguard became arrogant and thought that the enemy's combat effectiveness was low and vulnerable. They became lax in the following march and were no longer as cautious as at the beginning.

Next, Hulu Ping personally led a large group of troops to slowly march towards Yanzhou City, but sent another two thousand elite cavalry to bypass the rear, using himself and the army as bait to induce the Tang army's vanguard to advance rashly, and then ambushed them and killed most of the more than 3,000 Tang army vanguards along the way, beheading more than a thousand.

When Han Xiong, the commander of the Tang army, learned of the disastrous defeat of the vanguard, he was also shocked and did not dare to be arrogant. He ordered the troops scattered in the counties of Henan to gather at his central army. After the troops were gathered, they would advance to Yanzhou City together.

At this time, Hulu Ping had already taken advantage of the momentum of the previous victory and led his troops to accelerate the march. After arriving at Yanzhou City, he quickly repaired the city defense. When the Tang army arrived at the foot of Yanzhou City, it was facing a strong city with complete defenses. It could only stop at the foot of Yanzhou City and make various preparations for attacking the strong city.

When Gao Zhan learned in Qingzhou that Hulu Ping won the first battle and successfully defended Yanzhou City and kept the Tang army out of the city, he couldn't help but smile for a while and praised: "Hulu is worthy of being a general of Dingguo. He is nearly 80 years old and can still lead troops to defeat the enemy. He is really great! If everyone in the country can be so loyal and brave, how can the Qiang bandits seize our six states! Now we only need to resist the enemy in Yanzhou, and when the bandits are old and have no success, they will definitely lead their troops to retreat, and the danger will be resolved!"

Before, Gao Zhan was going to send his confidant He Shikai to Guangzhou to supervise the construction of large ships, ready to continue to evacuate eastward and retreat to the sea by boat if the situation was not good. But now that the old general Hulu Ping has shown his power and temporarily stabilized the situation, he suspended this plan and sent He Shikai to Yanzhou to commend Hulu Ping on his behalf and directly appointed Hulu Ping as the Grand Master.

Gao Zhan was also planning to marry Hulu Ping, but Hulu Ping's children were all married, and his grandchildren were stranded in Guanzhong due to the fall of Jinyang, so he could not find a suitable marriage partner for a while.

After thinking about it, Gao Zhan simply asked his queen Hu to recognize Hulu Ping as her father and change her surname to Hulu, finally achieving the intention of marriage and giving Hulu Ping the status of a father-in-law.

When the Tang army on the Heluo side was temporarily blocked in Yanzhou, the 20,000 Huainan division led by Yangzhou General Ruo Feng also crossed the Huai River and advanced towards the northern prefectures and counties.

Different from the chaos in Henan, Huaibei prefectures and counties still retained some personnel establishments from the Northern Qi Dynasty. In places such as Suyu and Xiapi, although the Northern Qi court no longer exists, these county officials still adhere to the Qi system and defend their respective cities, refusing to surrender.

It is not because the officials and people in these cities are loyal to the Northern Qi Dynasty, but this area has been at the forefront of the confrontation between the North and the South all year round. Especially after the Hou Jing Rebellion, a large area of ​​land in Huainan was occupied by the Northern Qi Dynasty. Later, it was successively occupied by the Northern Qi, the Southern Dynasty and the Northern Qi. The changes of ownership in the Western Wei Dynasty made the officials and people in this area not sure which side to follow, so they simply stuck to themselves.

If we want to make an analogy, the people in these places are probably similar to Han Xiong and other armed forces in western Henan and Guannan. They do not belong to the core armed forces of any party, but they must rely on which party to exist. Although the Northern Qi Dynasty has been defeated, these places do not belong to the core sphere of influence of the Northern Qi Dynasty, and the feeling is not real. Now that the Tang army is advancing north, they are still resisting following the inertia of the past.

Therefore, the advance of Shuufeng's group was not very smooth. They had to fight hard in Suyu and Xiapi before they finally captured the city.

However, as the city fell, the soldiers who defended the city were no longer stubborn. Especially when General Yang Kun and others from the Tang Dynasty seriously told them about the changes in the current world situation, these people later realized that they were afraid. Then they all requested to go out with the army in the hope of atonement for their merits.

The folk customs in Huaibei have always been fierce. For example, the elite armed Beifu soldiers in the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the early years, and the main force of Liu Yu's Northern Expedition in the Southern Dynasties were basically Huaibei rural warriors. Therefore, these people dared to occupy the city and resist the Tang army. And when they joined the team, each of them performed enthusiastically, making the advancement of this group of people smoother.

Soon Shufeng led his army from Xiapi to the north along the Yishui River to Langya County. Unlike Huaibei, this area has a flat terrain and there are many hills in the territory. It is the so-called Yimeng Mountain Area in later generations.

When the news of this Tang army reached Qingzhou, the atmosphere in Qingzhou city that had just improved suddenly became tense again. The Tang army attacked several times, giving people a sense of powerlessness and overstretched.

Gao Yuanhai, the think tank of the gang, entered the palace and said: "When the thieves come from the south, for example, when Nan Yanzhi and Song Wu fought in the past years, it is necessary to quickly send generals to lead the elite army to the south to defend the area between Yishan and Dongshan. Do not let the thieves break through here." Mountains and rivers, otherwise Qingzhou will not be defended!"

"Who is willing to meet and resist the enemy's army?"

Gao Zhan was also worried that the enemy troops would continue to approach. After hearing this, he looked at everyone and asked. However, wherever he looked, everyone lowered their heads and avoided his sight.

Nowadays, Gao Zhan is surrounded by mostly unlucky people, and there are very few generals like Hu Luping who dare to face the enemy. Moreover, even he himself has a muddle-headed mentality, and the rest of the people naturally lack the fighting spirit.

"Yang Lie, the prefect of Langya, was born in the Taiyang clan, and was originally a male clan in this area. Previously, Yang Lie did not send an envoy to congratulate him, and his intention was unpredictable. However, the Qiang thieves were very harsh in their punishments, such as Zhaojun Li Any member of the clan who accepts Peng Cheng's false orders will be punished! Now the Supreme Lord can send envoys to confer high-ranking officials on Yang Lie. Those who are afraid of being punished and want to protect themselves will have to fight unyieldingly!"

After a while, Han Feng, who felt Gao Zhan's eyes lingering on him for a while, quickly stood up and suggested: "Yang Kan, the brother of the old Yang Lie tribe, rebelled against Wei Touliang. We know that such men cannot be trusted and will not die." It's a pity. But the Qiang people's punishment is terrible. As long as Yang Lie receives this title, he will die! After he defeats the enemy, he will send his troops south to fight, and he will have a better chance of winning!"