Five days later, the south gate of Fort Lid was finally completely destroyed by hundreds of trebuchets from the Hetao around the clock. Although Jinmeiliu also organized a large number of people to repair it, the cavalry from the Hetao was always there.
Under the city wall, Haixi's archers were obviously unable to deal with these cavalry coming and going like the wind, and the troops in the city were also at an absolute disadvantage, being completely suppressed by the Hetao.
In the past few days, there has been no rest in the Hetao. The cavalry of the Huben Corps and the Fengwu Corps together cleaned up the entire southern area of Leadburg. Except for Jin Zongbiao, some remnants retreated in several larger cities.
All the rest of the area was flattened by rivers. The corpses of massacred Haixi people were scattered all over the southwestern part of Haixi, but these corpses quickly sank under the snow and disappeared without a trace.
In order to cope with the pressure from the Hetao, the Haixi Dynasty transferred all its troops to the southern region that day. Now there are only 30,000 to 40,000 Jin Zongbiao's low-morale remnants left in the south of Lid Fort, while in the northern part of Lid Fort, Jin Zongwu
The eastern part of the defense area was originally supposed to be the Jinmeiliu defense area, which was also the main battlefield for the battle between the Haixi royal family and the Sushenshi Wei clan. Excluding the 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers in Lidebao City, the remaining troops in the entire Haixi area were still
With less than 150,000 men, there was no way they could withstand the force of the Hetao army.
Jin Zongwu still had a conscience. When he saw the siege of Fort Lead, he gathered 50,000 soldiers from here and there to come to the rescue. However, before he could see the walls of Fort Lead, he was discovered by the Hetao scouts, and then he was encircled and suppressed by the Hetao cavalry.
The entire army was wiped out.
"My lord, Su Shen, Shi Wei and the Xi tribe's envoys would like to see you." Luo Xiang stepped forward and said as the attack on the city was about to begin.
Haotian turned his head away: "What are they here for?"
"On the surface it should be a sign of surrender, but the purpose is to divide the territory. Haixi will definitely be destroyed by our clan. They naturally covet such a large territory in Haixi." Luo Xiang said.
"In that case, let's not see each other anymore. The most annoying thing is people like this who come to claim credit just after they win." Haotian said impatiently.
Luo Xiang smiled and said: "My lord, why don't you stabilize them first and then destroy them all when spring comes next year?"
Although Hetao wants to destroy Haixi before the Spring Festival, this is just a beautiful idea. Outside the Great Wall in winter, it is too difficult to mobilize the army. If you can capture the royal capital of Haixi, it will be razed to the ground.
, is already the limit of the Loop. After all, even a pure cavalry regiment needs to rest, otherwise it will not be able to cope with the big war after next spring.
Haotian frowned and felt a little moved.
Before the Three Kingdoms in the Northeast, the ethnic minorities in the Northeast had always posed a threat to the Chinese Dynasty. Every time one of them had an experienced person, the northern region of China would inevitably be in flames of war. When the Chinese Dynasty was weak, they also led their armies to go south repeatedly.
Caused huge damage north of the river.
After thinking for a while, Haotian still rejected this tempting idea: "It still doesn't work. Anyway, since they didn't provoke us first, then we can't attack others first. This is a basic moral etiquette. If opened
With this precedent, there will inevitably be more such excuses to invade other countries in the future."
Luo Xiang said: "My lord, once they become strong, they will invade the border every year. You can only commit thieves for a thousand days, but there is no way to prevent thieves for a thousand days. It's better to strike first and eradicate them in one fell swoop. Then the northeastern border will be destroyed for at least fifty years."
There will be no border troubles.”
Haotian laughed: "So what if they become stronger? As long as our country does not fall into internal strife and the dynasty is not corrupt to the extreme, they have no chance at all. They invade the border every year. As long as they have the courage, then our country's
Millions of elite soldiers will make them understand what the dignity of the Celestial Empire is!"
Seeing Luo Xiang's face, Haotian laughed and said: "Sir, why should you worry too much? The soldiers will come to block the water and cover up the soil. What's the point of fearing the barbarians? Forget it, let's meet them, but it must be in Lide.
After the fort is taken."
Luo Xiang also understood that Haotian wanted to use the victory in the Loop to intimidate the arrogance of some of these unruly ethnic minorities, so he nodded in agreement, then looked at Xue Sha, who was wearing a military uniform next to him, and said: "Commander Xue,
It’s up to you.”
Xue Sha rarely put on armor, not because he was afraid of arrows and rolling stones on the battlefield, but because the weather was too cold. Although he had reached the point where he was immune to the cold and heat, as a commander, he was still shirtless despite the cold winter.
The impact was very bad, so he had to wear armor during the bloodbath.
"Sir and lord, please rest assured. If even the two hundred thousand elite warriors cannot take this city guarded by only fifty or sixty thousand soldiers, then I should wipe my neck and commit suicide." Xue Sha laughed.
Haotian smiled, but still said with concern: "Commander Blood, please be careful."
Xue Sha laughed again, picked up the butcher's knife, jumped on Zhen Shan's back, and suddenly shouted: "Soldiers, the war has begun!"
Jinmeiliu had already received the news that the Hetao army was preparing to attack. Now there were only 50,000 or 60,000 demoralized soldiers in the city, and the nearly 200,000 troops attacking the Hetao were all veterans who had experienced hundreds of battles. Although he had worked hard to organize
The people are strong, but even he himself does not have much confidence in these hastily formed troops.
In the past few days, Jinmeiliu also tried to break through, but the 200,000 horsemen of Hetao were parading outside the city, completely blocking the connection between Lidburg and the surrounding areas. After several charges, Hetao easily killed them back. In desperation,
Jin Meiliu had no choice but to gather all his troops and fight stubbornly in the city.
The north wind suddenly blew, and the sky became gloomy for a moment. Haotian looked up at the sky, and saw heavy snowflakes falling down. The slightly warm snowflakes fell on his face, and suddenly turned into cold water droplets, flowing down his cheeks.
It flowed, and then an icy chill suddenly filled the whole body.
"Get Fort Lid and withdraw the troops. Even I can't stand this kind of weather, let alone those ordinary soldiers." Haotian thought silently in his heart.
The winter outside the Great Wall is really too cold. Compared with the winter in Hetao, it is completely different. Haotian himself knew that two nights ago, one of his soldiers forgot to wear a leather hat when patrolling in the middle of the night.
When it was folded back, only one ear was left, and the soldier didn't even know when his left ear fell off.
In these five days, Hetao's casualties due to frostbite had exceeded 2,000. Although Haotian was anxious for the war, he was not one to sacrifice his soldiers' bones to win.
"Capture Haixi and kill all Fatty Jin's family. Even if there is still Jin Zongwu outside, it won't do any harm at all." Haotian thought about his future strategic plan: "As for those fish in Haixi that slipped through the net, it's totally fine.
Leave it to the indigenous peoples like Su Shen. I think they are also willing to accept this task. Well, the army will come to clean up next year. The military advisor has said that the soil in the southwestern part of Hainan is fertile and is a rare good farmland. And it is located in Xing'an Mountains.
Surrounded by green water, there is another grain producing area similar to Yizhou Road. How about putting this area under the direct control of the empire and setting up the Zhengdong Protectorate here?"
Although the military strength was at an absolute disadvantage, and both morale and combat effectiveness were at an absolute disadvantage, Haixi did not give in at all. All the soldiers and civilians relied on the complex terrain in Lid Fort to resist the attack of the Hetao army. They
Taking advantage of our familiarity with the geographical location, we constantly harassed the rear of the Loop, forcing Xue Sha to use the bloodiest method to fight his way through.
Fort Lid is not big. Even in its heyday, the total population did not exceed one million. However, Hetao mobilized all the infantry in its hands. From this, we can see the determination of Hetao, and it is obvious that it hopes to wipe out the city at once.
Leedeburg.
Because they misjudged Haixi's resistance at the beginning, the Hetao army was a little eager to advance, so they fought for a long time without success. After calming down, Xue Sha had to pay attention to the ordinary people in the city. It was because of the existence of these people that
The Hetao army's attack was slow.
Originally, Blood Kill meant to eliminate the main force in Haixi first, and then slowly annihilate these people. But now it seems that this is obviously not possible. Blood Kill had to order the army to stop first, and then slowly encircle and suppress area by area.
.
"The Mandan soldiers are elite, the generals who worship the capital are brave, and Haixi Shiye. Tie Shuai's evaluation back then is indeed true." Haotian heard this and sighed: "Haixi's elite troops are basically exhausted, but their ordinary people
They are still so tough. According to the battle report of the Blood Commander, the attacking soldiers have lost more than 7,000 soldiers, and nearly half of the soldiers were killed by these common people."
Luo Xiang took the battle report and glanced at it roughly: "It seems that the savagery of Haixi is still higher than that of Dongbo. The most important thing is that Haixi does not have the servility of Dongbo who bows to the strong and treats himself like a dog.
, so it is difficult to deal with it. Fortunately, this nation has almost become history."
Qiu Mu asked curiously from the side: "Husband, what did you say to the envoys of the Sushen and other tribes yesterday?"
Originally, Haotian planned to receive the envoys from Sushenshi, Wei and other tribes after taking down Fort Lid, but the envoys from these tribes were really annoying and came to visit every day. Luo Xiang was so annoyed by them that he simply said
The kick hit Haotian.
"They hope to be able to serve as old vassals of the empire..."
"Subordinate? Is it a vassal state or a local chieftain?" Luo Xiang interjected.
"They naturally hope to become a vassal state, so that their autonomy and status will be much superior." Haotian said with a smile.
"Then how did the lord answer them?" Luo Xiang said.
The Sushen and Shiwei tribes originally lived in the southeastern region of Haixi. However, with the rise of the Jin Dynasty in Haixi, they were forced to move eastward and now live on the coast of the Sakhalin Sea. This part of the area is the territory of the Shenzhou Dynasty and the Great Wall.
The place where foreign races compete. When China is strong, this is the territory of China. When China is weak, it becomes the territory of foreign races outside the Great Wall.
In the history of China, it was the territory directly ruled by the China Dynasty during the Han, Tang and Ming Dynasties. However, more often than not, it was occupied by ethnic minorities and was subject to its own national power.
, the Chinese dynasty implemented a policy of appeasement towards these ethnic minorities.
In Luo Xiang's opinion, Haotian should be preparing to implement the local chieftain system. After all, this is China's thousands of years of tradition. Unexpectedly, Haotian smiled slightly and said directly: "I told them that we will rebuild the Zhengdong Protectorate.
, the administrative seat is in the southwest of Hainan, and its jurisdiction is the area north of the Great Wall and east of Juyongguan."
Luo Xiang was surprised: "Master, do you mean to bring this place directly into the scope of local governance?"
"The military advisor said that the southwestern part of Hainan, that is, the basin between Xing'an Mountains and Green Water Surround, has fertile soil suitable for farming. If it falls into the hands of these foreign races, as long as they absorb a little bit of the civilization of our celestial dynasty, then this land will be
The foundation for their strength. Therefore, for the sake of future generations, their power must be driven out from here."
Luo Xiang nodded, it seemed that Haotian had indeed considered it carefully.
"I have an idea to build a Liaoyang Road in the southwestern part of Hainan. As for the Sushen and Shiwei tribes, if they are willing to stay within the scope of the Liaoyang Road, they can be treated equally as subjects of the empire, but they are not as good as before.
All the privileges we have. If they don’t want to, then set aside a piece of territory in the northern part of the Xing’an Mountains and let them struggle.” Haotian said with a smile.
Luo Xiang said worriedly: "But that place is now the territory of the Abate people."
"That's not right. The Abat people are not good people either. They go south mainly for plundering, and they will soon return to the far north. The Shiwei and other tribes going north can serve as our barrier in the north.
"Haotian said.
Luo Xiang thought for a while: "My lord, what you mean is that those who go north will become vassals of the empire, and those who are unwilling to go north will become subjects of the empire?"
"They are not vassals, but vassals. Their land was given by us, and they have sworn allegiance to our Chinese dynasty since the beginning of the dynasty of King Lin Tianxia. Therefore, they are our vassals, not vassals. Of course, their tribes
The leader will also retain certain rights." Haotian said.
Luo Xiang was a little worried: "My lord, is it too far out of reach?"
Haotian sighed: "That's why I have to set up the Zhengdong Protectorate. Otherwise, it will take at least half a month for the news outside the Great Wall to reach Tiandu Shengjing, and Tiandu Shengjing will react.
The Eastern Protectorate was established to have full jurisdiction over these matters."
Luo Xiang stopped talking. If this is really the case, then the power of conquering the Eastern Protectorate is too great. Moreover, the Northeast has always been a troubled area for China. After Haixi is destroyed, these barbaric peoples may only need twenty or thirty
After years of recuperation, he will become another Haixi. As for the Protector-General of Zhengdong Protectorate, I am afraid he will become a prince again.
However, Haotian's intention has been very clear. He does not want to take action against the Sushen and other tribes now. Since the other party has sincerely surrendered and there was no reason to kill them before, then as long as they are honest, China has no reason to take action against them.
Moreover, keeping them is not necessarily a bad thing. After all, without external pressure, the empire's huge military power can only be used to maintain internal rule, which is to transfer military threats from the outside to the domestic people. Such a thing, Luo
Xiang didn't want to see it either.
Haixi's resistance was indeed quite heroic, but due to the superior strength of Hetao, they were eventually forced to retreat. Wherever the Hetao army passed, all the houses were smashed, and the ground was covered with frozen bodies.
The blood of the corpses of the people in Haixi had already condensed into ice as soon as it flowed out. From a distance, the entire Lidburg became a city glowing with red light.
In order to increase the pressure on Jin Meiliu and others, Xue Sha simply transferred the 30,000 cavalry of his army into Fort Lid. Although those alleys and alleys were not suitable for the cavalry to exert their combat effectiveness, on the main avenues,
The deterrence of the cavalry is still extremely strong. After another three days of hard work, the more than 100,000 Hetao army led by Xue Sha finally surrounded the remaining 20,000 Haixi soldiers in the palace.
"Just for Fort Lid, nearly 30,000 soldiers died in the battle. Fortunately, the entire Haixi royal family was besieged in the palace." Haotian said.
Luo Xiang followed Haotian: "But there are still more than 20,000 soldiers in the palace. If we want to win, it will be a hard battle. Isn't my lord planning to go and supervise the formation in person?"
Haotian laughed and said: "With the bloody commander here, why do we need to supervise the formation? We are just going to watch the excitement."
When they arrived in front of the palace, the fighting was fierce. The attacking Hetao soldiers and the Haixi army were fighting fiercely. Even in such a cold winter, they were still killing each other with fervor.
The Haixi Palace has only two gates, and what Hetao is attacking now is the main entrance of the palace. The cavalry in Hetao are using their bows and arrows to suppress the defenders on the city tower, and the trebuchets and large-scale trebuchets looted from the walls of Lidburg are
Crossbows and arrows were tilted crazily on the palace wall to protect our own soldiers from attacking the city.
At the front was a row of swordsmen holding shields, and in the middle were soldiers pushing siege vehicles. Countless soldiers were waiting behind them, waiting for the soldiers in front to open a gap and then prepare to charge.
"Disperse and attack!" Xue Sha was giving the order with a serious face. The soldiers in front had already crossed the frozen moat in the east. Dozens of siege vehicles were approaching, followed by countless soldiers carrying ladders. The palace
The city wall is not high, only three feet. When the ladder is set up on the city wall, it only takes a few jumps to jump up to the city wall.
The Hercynian defenders on the city wall were obviously aware of the approaching danger. Arrows poured down like a storm, and countless rolling logs and stones fell like raindrops, making the Hetao soldiers who had rushed to the city very embarrassed. However,
The soldiers who attacked Hetao were all veterans who had experienced hundreds of battles. Although they were in dire straits, they did not suffer any casualties.
Fortunately, the city wall of Haixi Palace is not as strong as the city wall of Liedeburg, but in a short period of time, it is still impossible to open a gap in the city wall. After all, the combat effectiveness of Haixi soldiers is obvious to all.