Although Fan Gu City is only a small border city in the northwest of the Sui Dynasty, it is no more than three and a half miles long and no more than three miles wide, and the edge can be seen at a glance, but there is no doubt that this small city is extremely well built. This is the most outpost of the northwest frontier, across the opposite Langru Mountains is the territory of Mandu Banner of the Mongolian Yuan Empire.
On the other side of the Wolf Milk Mountains, there is an equally strong Nirvana City.
Nirvana City is a stone city, as strong as a natural mountain.
Fan Gu is not a stone city, but compared to Nirvana City, it is probably even worse. This small city was built under the personal supervision of Yuwen Zhongshu, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry of the Great Sui Dynasty at that time. It is said that the construction technology is the same as that of Chang'an City, the capital of the Great Sui Emperor. When the spies of the Mongolian Yuan Empire saw this small city built with earthen walls first and then piled with city bricks outside, they even laughed sarcastically. It was decades later that the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty realized how naive and ridiculous their sarcasm was.
sturdy.
As strong as a block of the hardest diamond.
In the seventh year of the founding of the Great Sui Dynasty, that is, when the last emperor of the Great Sui Dynasty was in power, a small but far-reaching war broke out between the Mongol Yuan Empire and the Great Sui Dynasty. At that time, 40,000 wolves of the Mongolian Yuan Empire rode through the canyon of the Langru Mountains and took Fan Gu. At that time, there were only 800 frontier troops in Fan Gu City. Most of the left guards are heavy armored infantry, and it is obvious that they will not be able to catch up in a short time.
In that battle, 40,000 dismounted wolf riders used hundreds of catapults to bombard Fan Gucheng in turn. Hundreds of kilograms of boulders transported from Langru Mountain were thrown down intensively, and the two layers of green bricks wrapped outside the city wall of Fangu City were actually peeled off. The frontier soldiers on the city wall were so suppressed that they couldn't lift their heads, so they could only hide behind the walls.
At that time, Mandu Lang, leader of the Mandu Banner of the Mongolian Yuan Empire, laughed and said: "There is no need to attack the city, just smash it down like this, and this ruined city can be smashed down within a day. When the time comes, the wolf will ride When a horse enters the city, it is easy to kill all the people in the city."
Shockingly, after a day of indiscriminate bombing, Fan Gucheng was like a hard-boiled egg, the shell of which was smashed to pieces, exposing the pitiful egg white inside. But no one could have imagined that what they thought was fragile was completely wrong, and what happened next made the Mongol Empire's jaw drop in surprise.
The seemingly fragile earth wall actually stands like a mountain!
Hundreds of catties of heavy boulders hit it, but only a white mark was smashed on the earth wall. After the first day passed, one of the walls of Fan Gu City was neatly stripped of its green bricks. It's just that the seemingly fragile earth wall is as strong as a natural whole rock, and there is not even a crack left when the rock hits it.
Mandu wolf was furious, and ordered the catapult truck to continue the onslaught the next day. It was another whole day, and the team transporting stones from the Wolf Milk Mountains stopped when the supply was exhausted. It is a pity that the walls of Fangu City, which seem to be blown down by a gust of wind, still stand proudly.
The furious Mandu wolf ordered to attack the city, and tens of thousands of dismounted wolf riders began to attack. This is the first time since the founding of the Sui Dynasty that the troops of the Mongol and Yuan Empire attacked a Han city. The war between the founding emperor of the Great Sui Dynasty and the Mongol Yuan Empire broke the myth of the invincibility of the Mongol Yuan Empire on the plain. So this time, the little Fan Gu let the soldiers of the Mongolian Yuan Empire know what is indestructible.
The combat power of the wolf cavalry who stepped down and the wolf cavalry on the horse were completely different.
Those wolf knight soldiers in leather armor sprinted forward clumsily carrying the improvised ladder, completely ignorant of how to avoid and resist the feather arrows shot down from the city wall. What frightened them the most was the powerful heavy crossbow installed on the city wall. The heavy crossbow with the thickness of the calf was shot down like the fury of thunder, and it could tear a strong prairie war horse into two pieces.
After paying thousands of casualties, the wolf cavalry finally got close to the city wall, then erected the ladder awkwardly, and climbed up awkwardly. They drive their war horses like their arms and fingers, but this kind of tough battle is undoubtedly a nightmare for them. The wolf rider who has been at ease for too many years has long forgotten that the ancestors were once invincible in the Central Plains.
Six days, a full six days from the beginning to the end of the war. Mandu Wolf left more than 4,000 corpses outside Fan Gu City and retreated in embarrassment. Every time Yu Sheng mentioned this battle, he would beat his chest and point his feet in the direction of Fan Gu, cursing. The reason why they withdrew was because the Sui Zuowei elite soldiers who were hundreds of miles away finally arrived.
This battle made Fan Gucheng a famous place in the world.
This battle let the world know that the city of Great Sui was indestructible.
This battle also made Li Chao, the then General of Zuo Weiwei, famous all over the world. The reason is very simple. At that time, only Li Luan and his troops from the 900 Guards Cavalry Battalion rushed to Fangu City to rescue the frontier army. With nine hundred cavalry and a thousand banners, Li Luan frightened the Mandu wolves, who had tens of thousands of horses, back to the west of the Wolf Milk Mountains, not daring to turn back.
Most of the left guards were heavy armored infantry, and it was impossible to arrive in time. Li Luan had no other choice but to pretend to be a 100,000-strong army. Speaking of which, this is also the helplessness of the frontier army of the Great Sui Dynasty. Zuo Zuowei had an army of 50,000, but only 900 cavalry were assembled. The lack of war horses in the Sui Dynasty can be seen from this.
After the war, Emperor Jianye Yang Yun of the Great Sui Dynasty announced that all the frontier troops in Fangu City would be promoted to school lieutenants, and each would be rewarded with 30 acres of land, without paying taxes to the government. Residents of Fangu City do not have to pay taxes for ten years, and the Ministry of Households allocates 50,000 taels of silver to repair houses for the people and reward loyalty and bravery.
Li Luan, the general of Zuo Weiwei, was promoted from the county to the state, and opened the third division of Yitong.
In that battle, Li Luan had a young man who never left. Even though he knew that he might be besieged by tens of thousands of elite knights from the Mongolian Yuan Empire, he still didn't escape. This young man is the eldest son of Li Luan, who later inherited his status as the Duke of Tang, and is now Li Yuanshan, the Great General of You Xiaowei who also served as the Northwest Barrier of the Great Sui Dynasty.
You Xiaowei was also stationed in Jibei County, but he was not in Jibei County to govern Jibei City.
You Xiaowei's 50,000 elite soldiers are stationed at Woxian Mountain, 60 miles away from Jibei City.
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"Mr. Tang is so polite. It is the first time for our family to work in the emperor's capital. Please forgive me if there is anything inconsiderate. You know, if the people below did not annoy His Majesty, how could His Majesty let Dali Temple and The adults from the Ministry of War have come out of Beijing to conduct strict investigations? We’ve come along the way to see, and our family also knows that the brothers in the frontier army have worked hard, so we’re just walking around, and Duke Tang can rest assured.”
The person who spoke was an eunuch wearing a light blue official uniform from the sixth grade. He was thirty-five or sixteen years old. His face was covered with a thick layer of white powder, but his lips were extraordinarily bright. It's disgusting. Although this eunuch is only from the sixth rank, what you need to know is... Once the eunuch has a rank, it can only show that he is a favored person in the palace.
The eunuch's official uniform is different from that of hundreds of officials. It is blue, and the higher the rank, the darker the color. And there is no patch on the chest, and beam crowns cannot be worn. The people at Ouchi's bodyguards were wearing flying fish suits, and the patch on their chest was a strange beast recorded in the Shan Hai Jing. Flying fish, Zhang Zhang Xu, dragon head, cicada wings, fish tail.
This eunuch is Wu Peisheng, the eunuch of the imperial study room holding a pen, and he is really a very popular figure in the palace. This time, according to the order of Emperor Yang Yi of the Great Sui Dynasty, he inspected Hebei, Hexi, Shanbei, and Shandong together with officials from Dali Temple and the Ministry of War. Jibei County belongs to Shandong Road, and it is also the last stop of this inspection.
When he arrived in Jibei County, the first thing he did was not to enter the city, but to visit Li Yuanshan at Woxian Mountain. As the eunuch who held the pen in the imperial study, he naturally knew the weight of General You Xiaowei in His Majesty's heart. That's why he said the good words just now. Along the way, apart from being humble and courteous in front of the various governors, he has never been so polite in front of the governor of the third rank.
"What did Eunuch Wu say?"
Li Yuanshan was thirty-three years old, just the age for a man to be calm and mature. He is of medium build, around 1.7 meters, not burly. Compared with the fierce general in the army, he is a bit less sturdy, and he looks too thin. Especially compared with the Seven Tigers of the Right Xiaowei behind him, they looked even more ordinary. Those seven tiger generals are all tough people.
Because he was going to receive an order, he specially put on the authentic first-grade Duke's court uniform and a beam crown on his head today. The court dress is dark purple, with a unicorn embroidered on the chest. State Duke Liang Guan has Liang Badao, which has the same specifications as the county king and prince. This is the highest number among courtiers, because not everyone can use the number nine. Officials of the first rank have seven beams on the crown, six beams of the second rank, and three beams of the fifth rank. Those below the fifth rank are not allowed to wear beam crowns.
The costumes of military generals and civil officials in the Sui Dynasty are also different, the biggest difference is the patch on the chest of the official uniform. Military generals are all beasts, civil servants are all birds. The first to fourth ranks are purple robes, the fifth to seventh ranks are green robes, and the eighth and ninth ranks are green robes. Since the founding of the country in the Sui Dynasty, there have been no military generals of the first rank. The generals of the sixteen guards are all of the third rank. For more than a hundred years, there has not been a general of the third rank or higher.
But the Duke of the State is a first-class official, so Li Yuan wears an eight-beam crown on his head, a purple robe, and a unicorn embroidered on the patch on his chest. The generals of the second rank are painted lions, and the generals of the third rank are tigers.
The first rank of civil officials is also a purple official uniform, with a crown of seven beams and a crane embroidered on the chest, the second rank is a golden pheasant, and the third rank is a peacock.
Li Yuanshan is the Duke of the state, so he can wear an eight-beam crown and a court dress embroidered with unicorn patches. This is the rule of the imperial court, and it cannot be messed up at all. If there is chaos, there is suspicion of conspiracy and rebellion.
As he walked, he glanced sideways at Wu Peisheng and said with a smile: "Since Eunuch Wu came to conduct a strict investigation according to His Majesty's order, I will naturally cooperate. Whether it is money, food, people, treasury, ordnance, horses, these accounts will be all accounted for." Someone has been sent to make preparations, if Eunuch Wu wants to have a look, he will send someone over later."
"Mr. Tang is dedicated to his duties, and our family admires him."
Wu Peisheng smiled, and the white powder on his face fell down: "Since Mr. Tang is so solemn, if our family evades again, we will inevitably feel slack. If your majesty asks, our family is not easy to deal with. But... the matter of checking the accounts , is an official from the Dali Temple and the Ministry of War, and our family is just following along."
Li Yuanshan glanced back, followed by more than a dozen officials from Dali Temple and the Ministry of War nodded. His eyes stayed on the faces of the three of them deliberately for a while longer, and the three of them shook slightly almost at the same time.
"Dali Temple sent down three law enforcement envoys with more than broken mirrors. I heard that... the military department also sent a talisman master who has been broken for many years. Why don't you come together?"
"Mr. Tang, where did you get the news..."
Wu Peisheng smiled and said: "The Ministry of War just sent five clerks, all of whom are good at arithmetic, just to check the accounts. Where is there any broken-looking talisman teacher? Our family has a list of officials who came to inspect this time. Mr. Tang If you don't believe me, you can take a look, the Ministry of War has only sent one Yuanwailang and four staff, there is absolutely no talisman teacher."
He lowered his voice and smiled and said, "It's not that Mr. Tang doesn't know that the talisman masters are treasures."
Li Yuanshan was slightly startled, and then laughed: "Indeed, there are not many talisman masters in the Great Sui Army. If you send a talisman master to check the accounts, then the talisman master is too worthless."
Wu Peisheng laughed, not knowing why he was so happy.
"please!"
Li Yuanshan made a gesture.
"This Woxian Mountain was originally called Wofo Mountain. After the founding of our country in the Sui Dynasty, we expanded our borders and expanded the land. In the twelfth year of Guangwu in the Sui Dynasty, we laid down this land. At that time, the first emperor was very displeased when he heard that this mountain was called Wofo Mountain. So It was changed to Woxian Mountain, the first emperor said...there should be no Buddhas in the Sui Dynasty."