Chapter 4 Long-term sleepiness and internal turmoil
Chapter 4: Long-term siege and civil unrest
In Xiang City, Chen Jun's commander-in-chief's mansion was located in Prince Xiang's mansion. At this time, Chen Qi was sitting on the commander's chair. The Qi army threw General Xiao Hong's head onto the tower and stopped attacking the city. Both sides cleaned up the battlefield separately. In this attack and defense, Chen Qi
The army suffered more than 3,000 casualties. Except for the 1,000 people Xiao Hong brought out of the city for a surprise attack, most of the others were injured by the first wave of arrow formations of the Qi army. There were also thousands of civilians injured in the city.
Chen Qi's inner sorrow made him look much older all of a sudden. Xiao Hong's body had been returned by Qi Jun, along with the corpses of a thousand dead cavalrymen. Chen Qi knew that these belonged to Qi Jun.
The art of breaking the heart, but if your soldiers die in the enemy camp and cannot be buried, how can you feel at ease? Looking at Xiao Hong, who has followed him in the war for many years, just lying in the hall, his body has been sewn up with a man. Several of Chen Jun's
The generals stood around silently, some crying, some gnashing their teeth.
Gongsun Xiao looked at Chen Qi and said, "Commander, the Qi army returned the corpses of our soldiers, but they did not allow us to leave the city for burial. It would be bad if we did not bury so many corpses quickly. Firstly, it would affect morale, and secondly, it might cause death.
Harmful."
"Then choose a place to burn and bury it." Chen Qi waved his hand and told Gongsun Xiao to do it, and then said to Lu Kuan and others: "Generals, let's put away our sorrow first. General Xiao Hong's funeral will be handled after we return to China.
.You still have to work hard tonight, arrange the soldiers guarding the city, and be on guard, while the others take turns to rest and prepare for tomorrow's battle."
After seeing everyone off, Chen Qi walked slowly outside the house, raised his head and looked at the stars in the sky. The crescent moon was like a hook, the Big Dipper was shining brightly, and the autumn wind was blowing slowly. The sound of drums coming from all around was also mixed with the ### sounds of the injured.
The night added a touch of sadness to Chen Qi's heart.
Suddenly, there was a noise outside the commander's residence, and the sound of horse hooves came closer and closer. Li Wenming rushed in in a panic. Holding a piece of paper in his hand, he shouted to Chen Qi: "Commander, the Qi army is sending an arrow message to the city.
Xiang and the people rebelled against Chen together."
Chen Qi hurriedly took the arrow book, glanced at it briefly, and frowned. The Qi army's arrow book read: Xiangcheng was originally the capital of the Xiang state and was captured by Chen. Now the Qi army is assisting Xiang in defeating Chen, and Japan will annihilate it.
Chen's army numbered ten thousand and soon conquered the city. The people in Wangxiang told each other and rose up with a shout to drive away Chen's army.
Looking at the arrow book in his hand, Chen Qi realized that he had underestimated his opponent. The attack on Qi Jun's heart was really powerful. He caused the Xiang people in the city to cause chaos, so that he could not defend the city with all his strength. He attacked from inside and outside, forcing him to abandon the city and retreat with the smallest possible force.
Recapture Xiangcheng at the price.
During this time, Lu Kuan, Gongsun Xiao and others also came. Seeing that Chen Qi had not spoken for a long time, Li Wenming asked anxiously: "Commander, are you going to confiscate these arrow books, and everyone who sees the arrow books will be beheaded on the spot?"
"
Gongsun Xiao, Lu Kuan, and Zhang Yong looked at each other, nodded, and said to Li Wenming: "General Li, go and do it quickly!"
Chen Qi was about to stop him, but when he saw that Li Wenming had turned around and left in a hurry, he said nothing more and called others into the room to discuss.
Xiangcheng was destined to be unstable that night. The smell of blood floated in the night wind again.
Several generals in Commander Chen's mansion in Xiangcheng stayed up all night. The city was noisy all night long, with shouts and fires everywhere. It was not until dawn that the city became slightly quieter, and the horns of the Qi army outside the city were sounded one after another.
Li Wenming, who was responsible for suppressing the chaos in the city, had just returned to the commander's house, and the detective also hurriedly came in. "Report to the commander, the Qi army has increased its troops!"
"What?!" When Chen Qi and everyone heard this, they stood up and asked in shock. Li Wenming even grabbed the detective's arm and stared at him with wide eyes. The detective gasped and was frightened.
His face turned pale and he timidly replied: "The Qi army has increased its troops."
Chen Qi didn't care much, got up and left the hall, called the guards to prepare the horses, and hurried to the tower. He climbed up the tower to look at the Qi army, and saw that the Qi army directly in front was setting up more camps. The camp was obviously larger than yesterday.
Much denser.
Gongsun Xiao has also verified the reports from several other places. From the three sides, there are no less than 10,000 new Qi troops.
Chen Qi couldn't help but gasped after hearing Gongsun Xiao's report. He asked Gongsun Xiao softly, "Has the flying pigeon letter sent to the capital gone?" "It was sent out yesterday morning. It may be available tomorrow."
reply."
Chen Qi looked around at the soldiers guarding the city, and then fixedly looked at the city. The houses were densely covered with arrows from yesterday's Qi army, the streets were messy with doors and windows, and thick smoke was rising from time to time. He slowly
Walking down the tower, he inspected the soldiers standing or sitting behind the walls. After a day of fighting, the soldiers' faces and bodies were covered in blood, and their clothes were messy. When they saw themselves, they all stood up and saluted. Although they still looked so determined on the surface,
But Chen Qi knew that they already had fear deep in their hearts. Thinking of this, Chen Qi also felt a hint of panic: the morale of the Chen army had been overwhelmed by the Qi army.
Chen Qi guessed that these tens of thousands of reinforcements were either created out of thin air by the Qi army, or they were revealed later. But in any case, from the perspective of Chen Jun in Xiangcheng, the Qi army's camps had increased, and reinforcements were arriving in a steady stream, while Chen Jun
Trapped in an isolated city, cut off from Lincheng, it was only a matter of time before the city was destroyed. I might be able to inspire the soldiers' determination to die, but I could no longer inspire their confidence in victory.
"It seems that I have underestimated this boy Qi Si." Chen Qi thought to himself while holding on to the wall and looking at the Qi army's camp.
"Chen Qi, I'll take your 60,000 troops! I'll take this land!" King Wuyou, who was on the upper floor of the Qi army camp, was also looking at Xiangcheng in front of him.
The two people's eyes seemed to collide in the distance.
There was no fighting all night, and the Qi troops in the joint camp had a good sleep and rested. However, the Chen troops in Xiang City were harassed by Xiang people organized from various places, and they were all exhausted. When it got light, they had to prepare for battle again.
The Qi army attacked the city. However, the Qi army did not seem to have any plans to attack the city except to strengthen the joint camp and conduct exercises.
Looking at the Qi army's formation outside the city, Chen Qi and several generals were also confused, so they had to let the soldiers take turns to rest on the city wall. Then Li Wenming was asked to lead two thousand forbidden troops to search for the hidden rebels everywhere in the city.
Chen Qi has seen that this city cannot be defended for a few days, and it is likely that it will not wait for the reinforcements of Chen State. Sooner or later, this country will be captured by Qi State, and the people's support will not be concerned. In order to reduce the insecurity
If necessary, harass and kill Xiang people who seem to be trying to cause trouble, so as to defend the city with all their strength. At the same time, in order to reserve enough food and grass, it is natural to have to compete with the people for food, and there will inevitably be sword fights.
This city was originally the capital of the State of Xiang. Most of the people in the city were King Xiang's tribe and the officials and gentry of the State of Xiang. They had a deep hatred for Chen State's invasion. Knowing that King Xiang had borrowed troops from Qi State to restore the country, there were many young or hidden people.
Xiang's soldiers joined forces to attack and kill Chen's army. The original defenders of Chen's army in Xiang City were more than 10,000 soldiers left behind by the eldest prince Chen Cheng after he attacked Xiang. Another 30,000 garrison soldiers were transferred from Chen's border gates.
, coupled with the 20,000 forbidden troops and horses brought by Chen Qi. The three forces are relatively unfamiliar, and there are gaps in their combat coordination. In addition, the eldest prince Chen Cheng left behind troops and horses. He considered himself to be the hero of the victory over Xiang State, so he naturally despised the border troops.
The words of the garrison. The Forbidden Army are all elites of the Chen State, and they look down upon the soldiers who guard the border all year round. It is precisely because of the contempt of the Forbidden Army and other departments that the defenders also secretly slandered the rain of arrows before the Qi army attacked the city yesterday. They are familiar with the Qi army.
The frontier garrison soldiers who fought against the frontier army fled early one by one, and the Forbidden Army soldiers were hit by arrows one after another while laughing at the border army. Therefore, most of the more than 3,000 Chen soldiers who were killed or injured were the Forbidden Army soldiers. In the past, they were ridiculed by the Forbidden Army soldiers.
Laughing, after seeing their miserable situation, the garrison soldiers could only curse retribution secretly. They were not at peace with each other for three times, and their respective generals were not convinced by each other. Fortunately, the old general Chen Qi had great prestige, and the several generals he brought with him were also
He was a famous general in the Chen State, so the Chen Army did not cause any big troubles. The Chen Army did not cause any big troubles, but the troubles in Xiang City gradually became uncontrollable.
Last night, there were no less than a hundred large and small battles in Xiang City, and Chen Jun captured or killed hundreds of Xiang people. Now, Chen Jun is patrolling Xiang City, arresting anyone who goes out after the night curfew, and killing anyone who resists arrest;
Anyone with a blade more than three inches long will be captured, and anyone who resists will be killed. Although Xiang Jun was defeated, there were many stragglers who hid in the city. At first, they were forced to hold back due to the overwhelming force of Chen Jun. Now Chen Jun is tired of defending the city.
Although the patrol in the city seems strict, after all, there is a shortage of manpower and there are many omissions.
A group of Chen troops had just passed through a street. In a deep alley beside the street, a door was closed. There were more than a dozen strong men gathered in the house, mostly in their twenties and thirties, gathered around a
Next to the middle-aged man. The middle-aged man's name was Xiang Dingyuan. He was from the same clan as King Xiang, and he was worshiped as a general. Xiang Dingyuan was tall, with a beard on his face, and he exuded a sense of power. He glanced around the crowd.
, lowered his tone, but said firmly: "At midnight tonight, General Han will take a hundred people with me to burn Chen Jun's food and grass; General Zhang will take the remaining people to rob the cell and release the captured brothers. Li
Young master, please try to contact the Qi army outside the city and inform them of our actions. This will also let His Majesty know that our Xiang army is still there."
Xiang Dingyuan pointed at a picture on the table as he spoke. Several people around him who were called by their names were gearing up and excitedly agreed.
There was also a young man dressed as a merchant inside. He was listening to the arrangements of Xiang Jun's generals and secretly making calculations in his heart. His name was Li Da, and he was the eldest son of Li Gong, the largest grain merchant in Xiang State. The Li family was in Xiangcheng.
He can be regarded as the richest man, with tens of thousands of tons of grain and grass in his house, and tens of thousands of wealth. Li Gong was originally a minister of Xiang State. He resigned from office and went into business, doing grain business. He not only had grain shops in Xiang State, but also ran many shops in various parts of China.
Li Da had often made friends with the powerful officials of Xiang State since he was a child, and he became brothers of the opposite sex with many of them in the same year. This time, Xiang Dingyuan summoned his subordinates in the city to plan to burn Chen Jun's food and grass, so he was naturally called here.
Seeing that Xiang Dingyuan planned well and allocated the necessary manpower, Li Da came up with his own ideas."