Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

While Heluo in the north was bustling with joy, the defenders on the Yiyang side seemed to be staying out of the incident. They turned a deaf ear to all the personnel changes outside and made no reaction. They only paid close attention to the defense forces on the opposite side under the strict orders of General Yuan Jing'an. Henan Xiaodao had an attitude as if they were facing a formidable enemy, not letting go of any slightest sign of trouble.

Such a clear difference in attitude is of course due to the duties of the Yiyang garrison, but it also has a great relationship with the personal thoughts and wishes of the garrison Yuan Jing'an.

Yuan Jing'an was careful and prudent by nature, unlike ordinary soldiers who were greedy for merit and impetuous. Therefore, when Emperor Wenxiang presided over the recovery of Heluo, Yuan Jing'an was appointed as the prefect of Yiyang and took charge of Jiuqu City, an important frontline town. Later, Emperor Wenxiang was assassinated and died, and great events occurred frequently in the country. Yuan Jing'an's position was not transferred and he has remained here to this day.

Of course, the most important reason is Yuan Jing'an's background. He is a member of the Yuan clan. At this critical and sensitive moment of dynasty change, his surname itself is a sin. If he does not know how to protect himself wisely, his head will be in another place in a matter of seconds. The most important thing about protecting yourself wisely is to stick to your duties and avoid making more mistakes than you do!

In addition to being born in the Yuan family, Yuan Jing'an can also be regarded as a direct confidant of Emperor Wenxiang. As early as the old year when Emperor Wenxiang came to Ye to assist the government, he went with him. Although the Gao family has replaced the Wei Dynasty, Emperor Wenxiang died on the eve of the Yi Ding Revolution. It is not known how much care and tolerance today's emperor will give to Wenxiang's old relatives like him.

Therefore, for Yuan Jing'an, staying safe and adhering to one's duties is the best way he can think of to protect himself to the maximum extent.

Although as the situation developed, he gradually realized that it seemed necessary to look back at the rear. Especially when Baiting City was besieged, Yuan Jing'an was also extremely entangled in his heart. On the one hand, he is well aware of the significant impact of the gain and loss of Baiting City on Yiyang, but on the other hand, he is worried that any rash intervention may cause other changes that are detrimental to him.

After all, he is not the only one in Heluo now. Fufeng King Ke Zhu Hunyuan only has a lot more troops than him, and the official and noble power are far above him, and he is the real commander in Heluo area. .

Even Zhu Hunyuan sat back and watched Baiting City besieged without taking any action. Either Zhu Hunyuan had a far-reaching plan to defeat the enemy and needed to use Baiting City as a bait, or Zhu Hunyuan had lost control of the current situation.

In either case, it would be inappropriate for him to interfere hastily. Especially if the main force of the Western Wei army suddenly poured in when he was reviewing the situation in Baiting City, then he would definitely lose sight of one thing.

In this tangled mood, Yuan Jing'an paid close attention to the enemy situation in the south, while sitting back and watching Baiting City besieged without any rescue.

Fortunately, the army from Kansai did not surge out from Nanjiao Road, and there were no further changes in the Tongrail Defense after the abnormalities in the first few days. But what is worrying is that Baiting City has fallen into the enemy's hands, and the entire city has been burned to the ground by the enemy.

When the enemy army headed north, Yuan Jing'an couldn't hold it any longer and sent a group of scouts to the north to investigate. He only saw a dilapidated city with dark walls and ruins inside.

Fortunately, several groups of barbarian soldiers carrying supplies were discovered during the scouting trip, so Yuan Jing'an quickly sent additional manpower to intercept them, and transported the captured supplies back to Yiyang, treating them as supplies transported from the rear to appease them. Group sentiment.

The delivery of supplies to the Yiyang garrison usually takes one month as a cycle. Although the scene of raging fire and thick smoke rising into the sky from the direction of Baiting City was seen by many soldiers stationed here, when they saw that the supplies could still be delivered as scheduled, the soldiers also There is no need to make any further guesses, just that the road ahead will be uneventful.

Although it calmed the military's morale, he couldn't hide it from himself. Yuan Jing'an knew that the current calm was only a temporary illusion. If the situation did not change significantly in the future, they would most likely be met with disaster.

Because his duty was to guard Yiyang, he did not dare to abandon the city even though he knew that his escape route was cut off. Although he didn't know that Zhu Hunyuan had already led his troops back to the north of the Yellow River, seeing that the Western Wei people dared to be so reckless in the north, he could guess that the situation was not good, and he might have to sit back and wait for death if he stayed.

What's more serious than the situation of being unable to advance or retreat is that Yuan Jing'an doesn't know how to reverse this situation.

For many people, when they cannot stay or leave, perhaps surrendering directly to the enemy is a good choice. But this was also a dead end for Yuan Jing'an, because he entered the Pass from Xiaowu last year and fled back from the Pass after the death of Emperor Xiaowu. If he commits to the West again this time, it is conceivable that it will not end well.

"Why is God's will so cunning? It makes people completely hopeless!"

The ants still managed to survive. Faced with such a tricky situation, Yuan Jing'an felt sad in his heart.

When Baiting City was besieged before, he did not dare to send troops to rescue it. Now that he was at a loss, all he could do was save himself. Fortunately, there are still nearly 20,000 soldiers under his command, and Jiuqu City, in addition to obtaining supplies from the rear every month, usually stores one to two months of supplies in the city for emergency preparedness.

We have all the troops and provisions, and there is also the fortress city of Jiuqu City to defend us, so it is not completely hopeless. For Yuan Jing'an, the only way to survive now is to stick to Jiuqu City and wait for reinforcements to arrive from the rear. As for whether the junior high school would reward or punish him after the rescue, he didn't bother to think deeply.

In order to resist the enemy's attack as much as possible, Yuan Jing'an began to gradually abandon some less important strongholds around Jiuqu City and concentrated all manpower and material resources in Jiuqu City.

After all, the previous mission was to prevent enemy troops from entering the Heluo area, but now it was to save their lives. Even if they did not abandon these surrounding strongholds, they had become an outright lone army.

Just as Yuan Jing'an was hurriedly adjusting his defenses, Cai You also led 3,000 elite troops from Nanjiao Road into the Luoshui River Valley. Soon, he and a group of defenders on the same track approached the Luoshui River Valley to the north along the Jiu River Valley. Qucheng.

You can imagine Yuan Jing'an's complicated mood after hearing the news. He had been vigilant and fortified himself in every possible way before, but the Kansai troops never showed up. As soon as he tightened the defense line here, the Kansai army entered the Luoshui River Valley smoothly and without any bloodshed.

At the same time, the army led by Li Tai also came from north to south, gradually approaching Jiuqu City.

The reason why he arrived later than Cai You's troops was because when he came from the south of Heyang, he also went to capture Hanguguan City on the way. After Zhu Hunyuan was expelled to the north bank of the Yellow River, the threat to Li Tai's troops from the defenders in Hanguan City was almost nonexistent. However, only by conquering this city could the Beikiao Road be opened up, and it would be easier to recruit personnel in Heluo. Materials are transported to Xin'an and Guannan and other places.

When he arrived outside Jiuqu City, Li Tai saw the enemy troops cowering and defending. There are nine Banhara before and after Jiuqu City. The city itself is located on the second Banhara from the east. The terrain is condescending and easy to defend but difficult to attack.

In the previous year, Li Yuan only led a few thousand remnant troops to defend the city, but he resisted Zhu Hunyuan's more than 20,000 troops for a long time, waiting until Li Tai led his army to come for reinforcements.

Now the city is built on a larger scale than before, and there are more troops stationed in the city than Li Yuan. Just look at the way that the Jiuqu City defenders remained motionless when Bai Ting City was besieged before. It must be that a considerable amount of troops have been accumulated in the city. supplies.

Looking at this posture, if they just attack normally, Li Tai may not be able to capture Jiuqu City until Yu Wentai and others withdraw in disgrace.

Li Tai carefully inspected Jiuqu Sakahara, and then met with Cai You and others to exchange intelligence opinions, and then gradually formed an attack plan.

Next, Li Tai stationed his troops on Banyuan to the east of Jiuqu City. While setting up the Heyang Cannon in an orderly manner, he escorted the prisoners of the Northern Qi Army to the foot of Jiuqu City and shouted loudly to surrender, telling the defenders that they had been abandoned. Thereby disintegrating the enemy's fighting spirit.

As for Cai You and others, they dug trenches around Jiuqu City and tried to block them. The progress of the project was clearly displayed in front of the Jiuqu City defenders, allowing them to watch the escape route being blocked. Bits of compression damage.

Li Tai rarely puts himself in a completely passive defense. Even if he is far weaker than the enemy, he still has to take the initiative and strive for mobility as much as possible. Therefore, it is rare to be trapped in one place for a long time, and it is not very common. Understand what this experience and mentality is like.

But he understands that an isolated city cannot be defended. Even someone as powerful as Wang Sizheng will hate an isolated city. Although Li Tai could not invest as much military force as the Eastern Wei Dynasty conquered Wang Sizheng, he was good at creating an atmosphere that made people eager to go.

After two days of fierce momentum building and two cannon blasts into Jiuqu City with Heyang artillery, on the third day of the siege of Jiuqu City, Li Tai asked Cai You and others to stop the fortifications and evacuate Jiuqu Sakahara. Go to a remote place and stay temporarily.

The defenders in the city were still frightened, and they were amazed when they saw this scene. In the evening, they finally couldn't help but sent scouts out of the city to check. They couldn't help but secretly gasped when they saw the large-scale trench defenses. As for the reason why the enemy suddenly interrupted their fortifications and evacuated here, they naturally had no way of investigating in this deserted wilderness.

That night, Li Tai's camp also frequently made false appearances of personnel coming and going.

By the early morning of the next day, the appearance of the camp had changed dramatically. Not only were more flags erected, but the area of ​​the camp had expanded a lot further back, and it seemed that a lot more people had been added. However, the gate of the camp was tightly closed and it looked heavily guarded. It was not like the previous few days when men and horses were sent to rush to the city early in the morning to shout curses and invite battle.

"General, the situation of the rebel army is quite strange. Do you want to go out of the city and fight to find out the truth?"

The officers and soldiers in the city were already anxious and nervous, and they paid close attention to the enemy's situation outside the city. Seeing such an unusual behavior of the enemy, they naturally couldn't help but speculate, so some people couldn't help but ask Yuan Jing'an for a fight.

After Yuan Jing'an heard this, he shook his head and said: "The thief general Li Boshan is cunning and vicious. He has defeated our country's famous generals in a row. He must not be underestimated. Not long after he came to the siege, he frequently behaved strangely. I am afraid that he was just to lure me to attack. Now in our city The teachers are strong and well-supplied, so there is no need to rush for help. The best strategy is to stick to it!"

When all the soldiers heard what Yuan Jing'an said, they didn't say anything more. Although according to Yuan Jingan's previous defensive strategy, they knew nothing about the changes in the rear and were caught off guard when facing the enemy's attack. But at least so far, Yuan Jingan has not made any mistakes in terms of Yiyang's defense. What a particularly serious mistake.

Cai You's troops reappeared outside the city after disappearing for two days and continued to dig ditches. Compared with before, there were more than two thousand dejected prisoners in the team. Under the beatings and scoldings of their sergeant supervisors, the prisoners could only dig ditches.

In the evening, when it was almost dark, a dozen prisoners suddenly jumped out of a certain section of the ditch. When the guards were not paying attention, they ran towards Jiuqu City. As they ran, they shouted loudly: "The thieves are bluffing, the river Luo still has several cities guarding it, and King Fufeng’s army..."

"Stop! Come back!"

Before these prisoners approached the city, the guarding Wei soldiers had already noticed it. They hurriedly rode their horses to chase them. They shouted and drew their bows before shooting. In their haste, their accuracy was not very good. However, in order to avoid the arrows, the fleeing soldiers ran as fast as they could. It was also a big defeat, but in the end they were all captured.

"What were those fleeing soldiers shouting? Did you hear it clearly?"

The garrison officers on the city wall all whispered to each other when they saw this scene. It seemed that the situation outside was not what the Wei army claimed. There were still many friendly forces in Heluo and Heluo. It seemed that King Fufeng was not there either. He was not deported to Hebei.

When people are in trouble, they always tend to believe in information that is more positive and beneficial to themselves. This situation was soon reported to Yuan Jing'an. Although the messy shouts of those fleeing soldiers were vague and the information they conveyed was very limited, they were unable to stop everyone's imagination. When they relayed their stories again, they had already added many details.

After hearing these reports, Yuan Jing'an couldn't help but frown. He couldn't judge the reality of the situation, and he hesitated whether to send people out to investigate.

"If we had not abandoned the outer cities, we might have been able to learn more about the situation outside."

Suddenly a general spoke. Although it was just a casual sigh, it also showed that he had doubts about Yuan Jing'an's decision.

"Our military divisions are strong and have sufficient food and grass. It is our duty to stick to Jiuqu City! No matter how the external situation changes, as long as this city is not lost, the soldiers will have a chance to survive!"

After hearing this, Yuan Jing'an's originally wavering thoughts suddenly became firm again, and he made up his mind to continue to defend the city.

But his firm belief lasted until the next day. No, it was shaken that night.

After nightfall, everything went as usual, but in the second half of the night, firelight suddenly flashed and drums and horns sounded behind the enemy camp outside the city, mixed with the sound of various people and horses running and shouting. Even from the top of the city, it felt chaotic.

Yuan Jing'an was awakened from his sleep in the city lord's mansion. After learning about this situation, he hurriedly put on his armor and climbed into the city. Before he had time to take a closer look, he learned that a general had led his troops out of the city and rushed to the enemy camp.

After learning about this situation, Yuan Jing'an was furious, but it was difficult to pursue the case at the moment. He just ordered the troops defending the city not to move without permission.

The commotion in the enemy camp lasted for less than half an hour. As the sound of galloping horses sounded, a small cavalry team ran back to the city from the direction of the enemy camp. It was the same team that had just fought out.

Yuan Jing'an walked to the city gate with a pale face. Before he could order to capture this group of people who left the city without asking for instructions, he saw that these people had a lot of money, silk and goods in their hands and on their horses. There are also a lot of gold, silver, pearls and jade.

"Your Majesty, the enemy's camp is completely undefended. The general's troops can go straight into his camp and take the property as he pleases. It seems that the rear camp was attacked, and the bandit army did not stop it at all. The camps in front are completely empty, and even the Heyang cannon is empty. There is no one to guard it! After the general entered the camp, the thieves in the camp still shouted not to miss the Heyang Cannon..."

The general turned over and dismounted, grinned at Yuan Jing'an, and showed off the loot he had gained from the robbery.

Yuan Jing'an's face was tense at first, but after hearing this, his expression changed suddenly. He hurriedly stepped forward and took the general's arm and said, "You saw the Heyang Cannon? Is it really unguarded? Why didn't you Take back one of the artillery carriages!”

After hearing this, the general hurriedly said: "I only saw that the enemy camp was full of money and silk. No, no, that Heyang cannon is tall and heavy. It is difficult for me to ride on it with just a hundred horses..."

"Stupid, stupid! A greedy man, if he can get a Heyang cannon, he will be granted a title. I don't know how many times it will be worth this mere money and silk!"

Yuan Jing'an knew the virtues of these generals, and after hearing these words, he immediately scolded with anger on his face. He didn't attach much importance to money and silk, but the Heyang Cannon was very famous in their Northern Qi army. Famous generals such as Hu Lujin and Pan Le were defeated by this sharp weapon. With this contribution, Yuan Jing'an felt that he was able to survive the turmoil of the dynasty change safely, and even received a seal of reward!

There has never been anyone in this world who can remain absolutely sane. The reason why he can still remain calm and immobile is probably because the temptation is still not enough.

When Yuan Jing'an heard that this heavy weapon that really touched his heart was placed in the enemy camp and could be picked up at will, he could no longer hold back. Seeing that the chaos in the enemy camp outside the city was about to end, he refused to let go of this excellent opportunity. He immediately ordered to summon 3,000 elite soldiers in the city and went directly out of the city to attack the enemy camp.

As for Yuan Jingan himself, he continued to gather his troops and personally sat in front of the city gate to observe the development of the situation and respond in time.

Three thousand elite soldiers rushed into the enemy camp. At first, as Pao Ze said before, the enemy camp was empty of defenses. The flags planted all over the camp were just a bluff to deceive others, but in fact, several camps in succession were empty.

Seeing this, these soldiers of the Northern Qi Dynasty became more courageous and followed the general's instructions to search for traces of the Heyang Cannon in each camp.

"Here, here! Heyang Cannon..."

In the camp that was deeper in the field, some soldiers suddenly shouted in surprise. In front of them, there were several thick and tall instruments standing in the center of the camp, which looked very much like the Heyang cannon they had seen from a distance at the top of the city.

After hearing this, soldiers from other camps moved closer to this place. Their great surprise even made them ignore that the enemy camp seemed to be strangely quiet. When a group of soldiers swarmed in, the one at the front exclaimed: "How could this be?"

Although they have not really seen the Heyang Cannon at close range, they can still judge that these large wooden piles planted bare in the camp can never launch huge and heavy cannon stones into the city!

However, the soldiers at the back didn't know this, and they were still pushing inward desperately.

However, at this moment, there was a sudden sound of wind and arrows falling down like a shower. Although the field of vision was greatly restricted in the dark night, because the soldiers were all crowded together, countless people were hit by arrows at one time.

However, it was not too late. What was even more shocking was that the surroundings suddenly burst into flames and spread quickly. These soldiers were swallowed up in the sea of ​​​​fire in an instant. When they saw the opportunity, they hurriedly took off their armor and escaped, but most of them fell into it and wailed again and again.

Yuan Jing'an, who was in front of the city gate, saw the camp suddenly burst into flames again. He was a little surprised for a moment, but he still didn't know exactly what happened in the camp. He just saw many figures heading north through the light of the fire. Evacuation, even if subconsciously means that the enemy army has been defeated and fled.

However, the most important target of the Heyang Cannon has not yet been found, and Yuan Jing'an is also concerned but confused. Dang even leads two thousand light cavalry that hastily assembled to kill towards the enemy camp outside the city, hoping to expand the results of the battle.

Although there were all kinds of chaotic sounds under the night, when this kind of organized cavalry team galloped, the sound of iron hoofs on the ground was also particularly eye-catching.

In order to prepare for this trap, Li Tai had divided the camp into two camps, the front and rear. The front camp seemed to be robbed from the rear, but in fact it was he who did it. At this time, in the back camp, when he heard the sound of galloping horse hooves, he laughed and said: "The thieves have finally been mobilized. We will kill the enemy and make meritorious service tonight, so why don't you hurry up!"

A large city like Jiuqu City usually does not deploy too many cavalry. After all, war horses occupy too much space in the city, and with a fortified city to rely on, the requirements for mobility are not high. But as long as the cavalry is dispatched, it will definitely be the elite of the city defenders, so Li Tai said this.

After the generals who had been waiting for battle for a long time heard the general's words, they all crossed their arms and agreed, then marched out of the camp and led their men and horses to form a net on the plains outside the city, trying to capture the enemy forces in this large net. All sacks!

The sound of iron hoofs hitting the ground one after another echoed from all around, and Yuan Jing'an suddenly felt something bad. He was a cautious person by nature, and he had been patient until now, but he didn't want to step into the enemy's trap after all.

For a moment, he naturally did not care about searching for any loot from the enemy camp, and immediately led the crowd and rushed back towards the city gate.

However, at this time, another enemy army had already penetrated from the side, directly cutting off Yuan Jing'an's troops who were not far out of the city from the city. The leader was Cai You. Seeing the enemy troops rushing back, Cai You had no time to form a formation and directly led dozens of his followers to rush towards the enemy troops without hesitation. His subordinates also shouted: "The armored general is here, the thieves will die!"

Yuan Jing'an couldn't remember any armored generals for a while, but seeing the enemy general being so ferocious and brave, he was quite frightened for a while. He didn't dare to collide head-on, and turned to the flanks. But just this interruption, surrounding his army The enemy cavalry encirclement tightened again.

All parties were harassed, attacked and killed, and Yuan Jing'an's troops were involuntarily swept up by the enemy's cavalry towards the hillside and ridge of Xiaoshan Mountain in the north of the city. At the same time, Li Tai also led the troops in the rear camp to bypass the front camp, where the fire was still burning, and approached Jiuqu City.

They were besieged and surrounded along the way. When they arrived at the Yaoshan Mountains, only a hundred or so of Yuan Jing'an's troops remained. With the arrival of dawn, the field of vision gradually broadened. When Yuan Jing'an looked back at the enemy cavalry, he couldn't help but be stunned, and then said loudly: "Is the person coming here Pi Lang?"

Pi Jinghe was just chasing the enemy troops all the way, but he didn't know that the general Yuan Jing'an was actually among the team. He couldn't help but feel happy when he heard the shout, and immediately replied: "It's a strange thing, unexpectedly, we meet again here. male!"

"I beg Pi Lang to take care of our old friendship and let me go. I am hiding in the mountains and fields, and I don't dare to be an enemy of your army again..."

Yuan Jing'an was exhausted at this moment. Seeing that his followers were dwindling, he couldn't help but beg for mercy from Pi Jing and his old friend.

After Pi Jinghe heard this, he only sneered and said: "Your Majesty, this request is really hard on others and hurts old feelings! My lord, General Li, is one of the most heroic figures in the world. He lives me up with high righteousness and bestows favors on me. I will repay my loyalty and loyalty." It is not a pity to die. How dare you betray your loyalty by disrespecting me? Please dismount and be restrained, and you can still have some dignity, otherwise the next arrow will be merciless!"

As he spoke, Pi Jinghe raised his hand to draw the bow. One arrow passed by Yuan Jing'an's ear, and another arrow was placed on the string again.