The left and right dared not persuade again, but listened to Zhang Liao shouting loudly: "Come here, beat the drum,"
The sound of war drums sounded again, and the soldiers of the Han army rushed towards Qixian town with a long ladder. When everyone’s attention was focused on the town of Qixian town, a tall figure suddenly appeared in the crowd, Zhang Liao rushed with a big knife in his hand. In the team,
Seeing that his main commander took the lead, the morale of the Han army, which had been hit by the unsuccessful siege of the city, was reinvigorated again. The shouts were louder and louder, but the generals in the Han army were holding hands for Zhang Liao. sweat,
At this time, the defenders on the city’s head also seemed to have noticed this situation. Random arrows shot towards Zhang Liao. Zhang Liao danced wildly, pulling down the feathers and arrows one after another. Without stopping at all, they rushed across the frame in a blink of an eye. On the long ladder on the moat, Zhang Liao’s bravery made all the defenders on the top of the city stunned.
In fact, after several hours of fierce fighting, the defenders on the city’s head were already very tired. The archers’ arms were numb, and the arrows they shot lost strength and lost their head. This also caused Zhang Liao’s The charge was much easier,
At the head of the city, the guards were stupefied. Two soldiers of the Han army had put up the long ladder on the city wall. Zhang Liao was holding a large knife in his hand, and holding the long ladder with the other hand, and quickly climbed up, when Zhang Liao climbed up. Half of the time, the defenders on the city came back to their senses, and someone pushed down a hurdle.
Zhang Liao's climbing speed did not decrease. With a loud shout, the back of his sword slammed on the beating wood. With a muffled sound, the beating wood flew up in the air, turned somersaults, and landed on the top of the city. The garrison over his head knocked down a piece, and the city and the city exclaimed in unison,
Taking advantage of this gap, Zhang Liao flew up to the top of the city and flew up and down with a knife. He was invincible. Ji Ke stayed on the top of the city for a few hours. He did not take a sip of the water and was waiting for the Han army to retreat. I was able to relax, but I didn’t expect to rush up to a murderer. Jike pulled out the saber around his waist, but after all, he was just a scribe. The sword is just a decoration. Can I still expect to fight against Zhang Liao? ,
Seeing that the gap on the city’s head was getting bigger and bigger, Jike understood that the situation was over, and he sighed up to the sky, suddenly put the saber on his neck, his hands were hard together, the blood surged, and he slowly fell on the city’s head.
To Zhang Liao's surprise, Jike committed suicide. Instead of giving up resistance, the defenders became more fierce. Zhang Liao chopped over and rushed towards more than a dozen defenders and civilians. With a wave of his sword, he shouted: "Stop it all,"
The two sides who were fighting were stopped by his drink. Zhang Liao said in a deep voice, "Jike is dead. Those who lay down their weapons will not kill."
Some defenders shouted: "No, we have to avenge Master Ji,"
Although this Qixian city is strong, it is inferior to the training center in the western suburbs of Xiangyang. However, the Han army has attacked so hard. This is the strongest one among the several cities that Liu Xin plans to capture, Zhang Liao. Not using some heavy siege equipment to keep the city intact as much as possible is certainly an important reason, but the more important reason is that Ji Ke usually wins the hearts of the people, and Qixian soldiers and civilians are willing to fight to the death. Zhang Liao has already seen this. Out,
Zhang Liao knew that it was not the time to reason with the defenders and civilians. He slammed the sword in his hand on the ground, turned his head and said: "Although each is the owner, the loyalty and courage of Master Ji is admirable. , Bring Master Ji down to the city, so that you can constrain your life. In addition, you will be given pensions to Master Ji’s family members. No one is allowed to harass. Anyone who violates the order will be killed without pardon."
In this siege battle, the Han army suffered heavy casualties, and the soldiers were full of resentment. If the defenders did not dare to surrender, they could take the opportunity to kill and avenge the dead colleagues. Without the support of the city wall, even these defenders No matter how brave soldiers and civilians are not afraid of death, they are just a group of lambs to be slaughtered in front of the powerful Han army.
After hearing what Zhang Liao said, the soldiers became anxious and talked a lot.
Zhang Liao's face sank, and he shouted: "Execute the order,"
The military order was like a mountain. No matter how unwilling the soldiers were, they didn't dare to say more. Several people went up and carried Jike's body down. Seeing that the Han army general respected Jike, the soldiers of Yuan Jun and the civilian husband who guarded the city had a lot of respect for Jike. Disintegrated, throwing away their weapons one after another, creeping please surrender, Qixian Suike,
Zhang Liao didn’t want to kill him, but Yuan Jun, who was guarding the city, left aside. There were still many civilian husbands in this county. If all these people were killed, the people of Qi County would lose their hearts and minds. He captured Qixian County because he wanted to use it as a base to resist the Xianbei cavalry going south. If the people’s support was lost, the city would be difficult to defend, let alone use it as a base to counterattack.
After the soldiers and civilians who defended the city surrendered, Zhang Liao did not break his promise. He pardoned everyone. Those who were willing to stay to fight the Xianbei cavalry together were incorporated into the people's army. Those who were unwilling to stay were given travel expenses to be dismissed.
From time to time in the past few days, people fleeing from the north passed by. The county magistrate Ji Ke was kind and promised to let the people into the city, but these people were worried that Qixian was too close to the Xianbei camp, and most of them just stopped for a while and continued. Going south, because of Yuan Shao’s order, Jike did not dare to publicly advocate against Xianbei. This was the only place that made the soldiers and civilians dissatisfied in the city. Now, the soldiers and civilians in the city discovered that this new army was sincerely prepared to fight the Xianbei. , And those willing to stay to be incorporated into Minzhuang accounted for the majority,
Zhang Liao saw that Qixian County had been set, leaving some people behind to guard the city. He took five thousand steps to reinforce Daling overnight. When he walked halfway, he saw the torch lined up in a long dragon, and a man and horse came oncoming and led the way. The person is Hou Qinu,
It turned out that Ji Ke was loyal to the Yuan family. After learning that the Han army had occupied the central capital, he strengthened the city defense and sent a flying horse to complain to the Tai Plaintiff. At the same time, he informed the neighboring county to strengthen guard. Had already fallen into the hands of the Han army, and the messenger who sent the letter was detained by Han Yong. Later, the people who had reinforced Daling from both land and water had arrived. Hou Qinu discussed with Han Yong to establish another one. Gong, only 1,500 people wanted to attack Qixian city, but Zhang Liao had already captured Qixian overnight. Otherwise, his 1,500 people would be really hard to succeed.
Soon, there was good news from Gaoshun. His team had already conquered the Zi family. Now, except for Pingtao County, twenty miles southwest of Daling, all other cities have been taken. In view of the attack on Qixian County Zhang Liao did not order an immediate attack on Pingtao, but instead sent a few envoys to persuade him to surrender.
At dawn, the county magistrate of Pingtao came to surrender with a group of subordinates, but Zhang Liao and Gaoshun were not idle that night. After discussing all night, the two of them basically determined the way to defend this area and prevent the Xianbei cavalry from going south. ,
Liu Xin has always disliked disturbing the people, especially at the critical moment of the autumn harvest. However, the focus now is on how to build a line of defense. The people of the nine counties have been mobilized. In fact, even if they do not disturb the people, the Xianbei will come over soon. There will be very little crops left in the field. Although the Xianbei people do not feed on grains as their staple food, their horses will certainly eat the wheat in the field as forage. Therefore, the first thing Zhang Liao did was to build walls and clear the land. ,
The strong walls and clear fields here did not simply collect the surplus grains from the people’s homes, but moved all the people into nearby county towns. Of course, all the grains were taken away. The crops in the fields were harvested, no matter whether they were mature or not. If it’s too late to harvest, set a fire and burn it. In short, it can’t be left to the Xianbei people.
The Han army lacked food. Even if the crops in these counties were not harvested, it would not have much impact. Although the dispatch of troops was a little hasty, Liu Xin had already stored a large amount of grain and grass in Hedong County. It is being transported continuously, Yongan, Mianshangju and then to Jiexiu have become a huge supply base, not only food and grass, but also various defense equipment, as well as a large number of war horses.
While sending people to persuade the people in the countryside to escape into the city, the Han army was also nervously carrying out various pre-war preparations. The cities in all counties must be repaired and reinforced, and many pits and pits were excavated in the suburbs and fields. The trenches have set up many hidden obstacles, which are effective means to block the impact of the cavalry.
It is very necessary for Zhang Liao to race against time. The senior officials of Bingzhou Governor in Taiyuan should have received the news at this time. Maybe Yuan Shao of Yecheng already knew the situation here. Yuan Shao’s army and Xianbei cavalry will appear here soon. , He must make all preparations before the arrival of the enemy, otherwise it is not only the soldiers of the 70,000 Fourth Army that he led, but also the countless local people who are facing difficulties.
Sure enough, Yuan Shao of Yecheng got the news of the Han army's aggressive attack on Taiyuan County. However, Yuan Shao was not in a hurry. The Xianbei army outside Taiyuan City had reached 210,000, and there were still varying numbers of Xianbei cavalry passing by the geese every day. Going south, with such a powerful force as support, it is not easy for the Han army to continue going north to conquer Taiyuan.
In Yuan Shao's view, the reason why the Han army started this war suddenly was because it learned that the Xianbei cavalry was about to go south and wanted to preemptively. The Han army was able to conquer nine cities in a row within two or three days, indicating that Liu Xin has already The main force was dispatched. Although the Xianbei people had been standing still, Liu Xin was successfully attracted by them. This was the effect Yuan Shao wanted.
What Yuan Shao hopes most now is for the Han army to continue northward and start a battle with the Xianbei people near Taiyuan, killing both sides. If this battle occurs, the talented people in Taiyuan will definitely suffer great harm, but Yuan Shao thinks it is a big deal. People, how can the safety of these young people take care of him
In the Xianbei Great Tent outside Taiyuan City, Kuitou once again met Yuan Shao’s envoy. This time, Yuan Shao’s envoy did not urge them to go south immediately, but hoped that they would set up a battle in the south of Taiyuan to help Gao Gan prevent the Han army from going north.
Kuitou came this time to establish prestige among the clan. He didn't want his 200,000 army to become a shield for Taiyuan City. After listening to the envoy Yuan Shao's words, Kuitou sneered and said, "We Xianbei men are upright and upright. Hero, how can you be a tortoise with a shrunken head like you Han people, and give my order, the army will immediately go south to regain the lost ground for General Yuan, and the day the city breaks, the army will be deployed for three days."