Nu Yalang of Tang Dynasty

After reading the report from the Anxi Arsenal, Zhou Jun turned his attention to the military report from Hebei.

As the deputy marshal of the world's troops, Guo Ziyi commanded the Shuofang Army, the Anxi Army, and the Beiting Army, and together with the Huihe Tribe, the Pugu Tribe, the Tongluo Tribe and other border people, they had been besieging Fan Yang for several months.

Zhou Jun opened the military report sent by Guo Ziyi. At first, he looked calmly, but the more he looked at it, the more solemn his expression became.

The army led by Guo Ziyi, coupled with the recruited rebels, border tribes, etc., once expanded to 170,000 troops.

On Fanyang City's side, in addition to the most powerful 30,000 old soldiers from Hebei, the Yan army also had more than 30,000 defenders from other prefectures and counties. The combined strength reached 60,000.

The general of the garrison was named Cai Xide, and his deputy was Niu Tingjie.

Cai Xide knew that the army under Guo Ziyi was approaching fiercely and could not deal with it head-on, so he gathered the troops from Hebei prefectures and counties and gathered around Fanyang City, intending to rely on the strong city to hold on and wait for reinforcements.

Logically speaking, Guo Ziyi leads an army of 170,000, which is three times the number of Fan Yang's defenders, so he should be at an advantage when attacking the city.

However, the Northern Tang army of 170,000 troops lost 11,000 elite troops in the first ten days of attacking Fan Yang, but they were unable to capture even a single fort in Fan Yang City.

Guo Ziyi wrote in the military newspaper that the rebel army was not afraid of death and had a tenacious fighting spirit. When facing the city, most of the fifty-man army of the rebel army were killed or injured. They often fought until the last man was left and still did not retreat at all. The wounded soldiers would rather kill themselves.

, unwilling to surrender. Whenever the city wall was lost, Hebei soldiers would always cover themselves with fire oil and then set themselves on fire to rush into the formation, causing our army to be repeatedly blocked and unable to advance even an inch.

Zhou Jun felt dizzy when he saw this.

Fanyang City is the base camp of the rebels. Once it is captured, it will completely defeat the morale of the rebels.

However, the Hebei Army was an elite force that had experienced hundreds of battles. Coupled with the home battle and the defense of the city alone, it had completely aroused the will to die and was really difficult to suppress.

Zhou Jun continued to look down.

The war lasted for almost a month, and Fanyang City could not be captured for a long time.

Shi Siming, who fled to the south of Hebei, raised another army of 50,000 people and took advantage of the situation to move north, intending to flank Guo Ziyi's army with Fan Yang's defenders.

Among these 50,000 people, there were not only Shi Siming's old troops, but also the reinforcements sent by Luoyang to Hebei, including the 8,000 Yiluohe cavalry, the most elite of the Yan army, as well as six people from the Tongluo and Xi tribes.

Zhou Hu's elite soldiers.

After Guo Ziyi heard the news, he had to detach 30,000 elite troops from his army, led by Pugu Huai'en, and stationed them in the Boling area to prevent Shi Siming from going north and ensure that Fanyang battlefield would not be attacked from both sides.

At this point in the battle, the situation has become quite critical.

Once Shi Siming's army approaches Boling City and breaks through the city, it means that the retreat of the Northern Tang Dynasty's 170,000 troops will be cut off.

Therefore, the current plan is to capture Fanyang City as soon as possible regardless of the cost.

Therefore, Li Guangbi took the initiative to volunteer and personally led the elite 5,000 men of the Anbeiting Second Army to storm the west gate of Fanyang City.

This army withstood the rain of swords, guns and swords from Fan Yang's defenders and once attacked the west gate tower, but it only lasted for a quarter of an hour before being forced to withdraw from the tower by the Hebei Army who came from the city camp.

On the way to retreat, Li Guangbi was caught off guard because he was in the front line and was shot in the right chest by a stray arrow. He fainted on the spot.

When Zhou Jun saw this, he was so shocked that chills ran down his spine.

According to the battle report, if the stray arrow had missed the target by just a few inches, Li Guangbi would have been killed on the spot.

If Li Guangbi died due to the Battle of Fan Yang, then this historical change would be enough to make Zhou Jun regret it for the rest of his life.

Seeing this, Zhou Jun said to Kong You: "I am ordering Guo Ziyi to suspend the army for the time being."

Kong You bowed in response.

Zhou Jun: "Also, let Li Siye lead four thousand light cavalry and set off from Qiuci and rush to Fanyang immediately. In addition, among the accompanying baggage, bring black powder and tiger squat cannon."

Kong You: "Your Majesty, do you want to use gunpowder to break down Fan Yang's city wall?"

Zhou Jun nodded.

Kong You thought for a while and said: "Fanyang city is well-defended. Using gunpowder to break the city is indeed a good way. However, once gunpowder is used, the world will probably know that the Lord has this weapon, and it will probably attract people."

Others covet it."

Zhou Jun: "The situation in Hebei is urgent now. In order to capture Fanyang City as soon as possible, we have to use gunpowder. As for what you said, it is correct, so I have always placed the gunpowder and artillery workshops in Anxi instead of moving there.

Zhongyuan is also concerned about confidentiality."

Kong You raised his hand and asked again: "Your Majesty, are you planning to go to Hebei in person to command Fan Yang's siege?"

Zhou Jun nodded and said: "I am afraid that no one else has ever seen the tactic of using gunpowder to break down the city wall. Only by going there myself and putting it into practice can I guarantee success. When I am not in Liangzhou, all matters, big and small, will be left to you."

Come and take charge. If there is any emergency, please contact me as Haidongqing."

Kong You bowed and said yes.

After handling official duties, Zhou Jun rode back to the mansion.

Stopping at the gate of the mansion and handing the reins of the horse to his servant, Zhou Jun looked at the house at home and let out a long sigh.

In Hebei, there was a hard battle waiting for him to fight.

And in this family, there is also a confrontation, but he cannot avoid it.

Walking into the main hall of Zhongyuan, Zhou Jun saw Song Ruo'e holding a several-month-old baby in her arms, sitting on a folding chair, and taking her maid with her, urging Zhou Xiao and Zhou Shang to write a poem.

Zhou Jun walked forward, and Song Ruo'e saw him, stood up from the folding chair, and said with a smile: "Erlang is back."

Zhou Jun walked to Song Ruo'e, looked at the swaddled baby, and said, "Yier is still young, and you have given birth not long ago. You should have a good rest in the room."

Song Ruo'e: "I had nothing to do in my room and couldn't leave the house, so I thought I'd come and see how Xiaoer's homework was going. It happened that Shang'er from my uncle's family was also a guest, so we decided to take the exam together."

Zhou Jun turned around and saw Zhou Xiao and Zhou Shang with depressed expressions on their faces.

It must be that the questions given by Song Ruo'e were too difficult and the two children would not be able to answer them for a while.

Zhou Jun looked at Zhou Shang and asked, "Where is your father? He is in Liangzhou right now?"

Zhou Shang followed the example of an adult, bowed to Zhou Jun and said, "Uncle, my father went to work in Zhangye City, Ganzhou."

Zhou Jun nodded and said to Zhou Shang: "Let's talk about homework another day. You can take Xiao'er and go to the courtyard to rest."

Seeing the two children leaving happily, Song Ruo'e said to Zhou Jun: "Erlang dotes on his children and never tests his schoolwork. If Xie Qin knew about it, I'm afraid he would nag him again."

Zhou Jun carefully took his second son Zhou Yi from Song Ruo'e's arms, teased him for a while, and then said to the latter: "In the past, you were the most playful one, but I don't know when you changed your temper.

"

Song Ruo'e: "In the past, I only loved poetry, music, music, chess, calligraphy and painting, but since I gave birth to Yi'er and had my own child, my interest in playing has gradually faded away. I will help as much as I can with the affairs in the house."

When Zhou Jun heard this, he paused in his movements and asked Song Ruo'e: "Princess is still ill in bed?"

The latter nodded and said: "The doctor came to see me several times and only said that he was depressed."

Zhou Jun sighed slightly, handed Zhou Yi to Song Ruo'e, and said, "I'll go see her."

Walking along the long corridor into the inner garden, and then coming to the side room in the main courtyard, Zhou Jun walked into the bedroom. When the maids in the room saw it, they all knelt down and called "Master".

Yin Yu, who was lying on the couch with her eyes closed, heard everyone's shouts, struggled to get up from the bed, looked outside the tent and asked softly: "Is it Erlang?"

Zhou Jun quickly walked to the bed and sat next to Yin Yu. Seeing the latter's haggard face and thin figure, he couldn't bear it. He gently held Yin Yu's hand and whispered: "It's me."

Yin Yu raised his head and looked at Zhou Jun: "Erlang hasn't been home for seven or eight days. I thought something happened again in the court."

Zhou Jun heard the vague uneasiness and fear in Yin Yu's words. He stretched out his arms and hugged the latter, and said slowly: "It's okay, everything has settled down."

Yin Yu: "I heard that my father is ill in the palace, and no one who wants to visit can see him..."

Zhou Jun: "His Majesty needs to rest. If others come rashly, they will only disturb him."

Yin Yu hesitated for a long time, and finally plucked up the courage to ask: "I heard from others that Erlang wanted to be detrimental to his father, but... is it true?"

Zhou Jun hesitated for a while and replied: "I have no intention of harming Your Majesty. All I am doing now is to protect myself."

Yin Yu: "What exactly does Erlang want to do?"

Seeing Yin Yu's worried look, Zhou Jun said helplessly: "Mother, now the rebels are so powerful that the Tang army is almost unable to suppress them. The current situation in Hebei is the key to the war, but your Majesty wants to withdraw troops from there. Do you know why?"

Yin Yu: "Why?"

Zhou Jun replied: "His great achievements shocked the Lord."

Yin Yu was not stupid. Hearing these four words, he immediately understood everything.

Zhou Jun: "Sailing against the current, if you don't advance, you will retreat. In my position, if I make a mistake, I will die, and my family will be affected. Sometimes, I don't want to do it, but I have to

Do."

Yin Yu rested her head in Zhou Jun's arms and said softly: "Erlang, I want to see my father."

Zhou Jun was silent for a moment.

There was a hint of crying in Yin Yu's voice, and she repeated her words again: "Erlang, I want to see my father..."

Zhou Jun struggled to spit out one word: "Okay."