"Uncle Wu, why are you leaving? We can obviously hold on..."
"Zhao Dingyuan's soldiers and horses were blocked by the Song army at Bailao Pass." Wang Hanchen looked down at the map, picked up his pen and circled Bailao Pass at the exit of Jinniu Road to Hanzhong, with a look of contemplation in his eyes.
Why did the Song army appear at Bailao Pass? Did they capture Hanzhong, or did they think too far and take a step ahead of the fourth brother?
At this time, Wang Hanchen's ears heard Wang Weizheng's endless chatter again.
"Even if the reinforcements from Hanzhong are sent back, Lizhou City is still outnumbered and strong, and can completely stop Li Xia. When the siege of Hanzhong is lifted, we..."
Wang Hanchen didn't respond. After thinking for a long time, he got up and walked out.
Wang Weizheng stretched out his hand to hold him and said, "My nephew doesn't understand why he wants to leave."
He plucked up the courage, glared at Wang Hanchen, and added another sentence.
"My nephew is the commander-in-chief."
Wang Hanchen was very anxious and said patiently: "If we don't return to defend Hanzhong, we will die if we are blocked by the Song army."
"My nephew is not afraid of death, as long as he can kill Li Xia to avenge his father..."
"enough!"
Wang Hanchen finally became furious and yelled: "If you have time for your own whims, why not take a second look at the map!"
Wang Weizheng was stunned.
Ever since he was a child, he has never been yelled at like this.
The map on the case had been crumpled into a ball and smashed into his face.
"Kill Li Xia? He stood and let you kill him? If he retreats to Jianmen Pass, can your 30,000 miscellaneous soldiers attack him?! Look at the location of Lizhou. It is a small city on Jinniu Road, with a wall in front and behind.
You are a Jedi who calls the sky and the earth ineffective. Who will think you are the commander-in-chief at that time?! Fighting, fighting, surrendering to Li Xia with your head!"
Wang Hanchen had also endured it for three or four days, saying everything that should be said and should not be said, and felt that he had lost his composure.
He patted Wang Weizheng on the shoulder and hurriedly went to arrange the troops again.
Wang Weizheng knelt down, picked up the map, and was lost in thought.
The nineteen-year-old commander-in-chief was respected by everyone wherever he went, looking at him with flattering eyes... He once felt that he was the only one who was relegated to immortality in the sky.
As a result, there was disharmony in the war and everything was exposed.
After squatting for a long time, Wang Weizheng regained his composure and went to the school grounds in the city to find Wang Hanchen.
After all, Wang Hanchen was mature and did not take the quarrel just now to heart, and said: "Commander, according to my wishes, we will lead the eight thousand soldiers in the city to the north, and the rest...the remaining troops will continue to guard Lizhou."
Wang Weizheng seemed to have changed a bit. He nodded and asked, "Is the food and grass burned?"
Wang Hanchen was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and said: "No need. The reason why we left was because we were afraid of the worst situation. Generally speaking, Lizhou can hold on."
Wang Weizheng said: "The warriors who can fight have been taken away by their father and uncle a long time ago to follow the Great Khan to conquer Shu. The only eight thousand elite soldiers left are here. Can those twenty thousand troops really hold on?"
"You don't need soldiers to defend the city, as long as you can throw wood and rocks under the city." Wang Hanchen said: "Lizhou is surrounded by mountains and has strong walls. Twenty thousand people can completely defend the city against less than eight thousand people.
"What Uncle Wu said is true. In normal operations, the Song army really has no possibility of conquering Lizhou."
However, Wang Weizheng became even more decisive than Wang Hanchen and said: "Then it is better to leave a group of confidants. If Li Xia cannot capture Lizhou, it is better. If Lizhou is about to be defeated, how about setting fire to the food?"
"That's what the commander-in-chief said." Wang Hanchen felt the change in Wang Weizheng and said, "Just now..."
"Fifth uncle, there is no need to say much, my nephew understands." Wang Weizheng said: "Gongchang is the root of the Wang family."
Wang Weizheng has completely forgotten what he once said
"I will live and die with Lizhou City, which my father has managed for ten years, and live and die with the soldiers and people in the city."
…
But just outside Lizhou City, on the banks of the Jialing River, there are still people who remember Wang Dechen's kindness.
Xu Qiaotou was punched in the face, fell to the ground, got up again, raised his hand and pointed at Xu Kui in front of him.
"Good... good fight!" Xu Qiaotou cried loudly.
His face was covered with snot and tears, he stared at Xu Kui and took a step back.
"Xu Guidou, you are so fucking capable now that you have become an official...beat me...I deserve to be beaten by you...I deserve to give you the last bag of food to escape..."
"I remember!" Xu Kui roared: "But you son of a bitch are not allowed to say good things about the Wang family in front of me!"
"I deserve to owe you. As long as you have the ability, your mother will live long enough for you to find a wife and have children... Where is I? If I die alone, I will die." Xu Qiaotou shouted: "I deserve it.
owe you."
"Is this about food?! You became a Tatar soldier!"
"I am a farmer..."
Xu Kui rushed forward and shouted: "The Mongols just chewed the food you grew and killed them. Do you know how many of my Paoze brothers they killed?!"
"You're the only brother... can I take care of it? There's no need to chew the bark of the tree. If Marshal Wang hadn't recruited you and me to go back to my hometown to farm..."
"Fuck you!" Xu Kui raised his foot and kicked him.
Xu Qiaotou held his head and shouted: "Kick you to death... Kick me to death... Who in the village doesn't say good things about Marshal Wang... Xu Guidou, you idiot, never come back to the village again..."
"You still said that!"
"Who has been sweeping your family's graves for you all these years?!"
Xu Kui suddenly stopped and his eyes were red.
Xu Qiaotou rolled on the ground and cursed.
"What will happen if you fight them down? Can you move all the people in the village to some mountain range... and become wild ghosts who die outside... Next year the Mongols will fight back, and you will escape... and move the whole village to
Get killed! Get killed!”
"You still want me to hit you!"
Suddenly, someone ran over, pulled Xu Kui, and reminded: "The general is here."
…
Li Xia walked to Xu Qiaotou and stretched out his hand.
"stand up."
Xu Qiaotou dared to behave in front of Xu Kui because he knew that Xu Kui would not be serious about it.
He didn't know what "integrity" was, and he was very afraid of death. He didn't dare to be arrogant in front of Li Xia, and he didn't even dare to look at Li Xia.
"Little, little... villain..."
Xu Qiaotou's tongue felt like it was tied up and he couldn't speak.
Li Xia said: "I heard the quarrel you just made. In this way, I guarantee you that after regaining Lizhou this time, there will be no more Mongolian troops entering Sichuan to rob and take captives, not a single one."
Out of nowhere, Xu Qiaotou asked: "Really?"
"Really, the gateway of Sichuan and Shu is in Hanzhong, we will fight to Hanzhong."
Xu Qiaotou didn't understand this, so he took the courage to ask again: "The fields...are they really going to be planted by us?"
Li Xia said: "You farm for the Mongols. Each person cultivates more than ten acres of land and produces eighty shi of grain per year? Of course, the fields are fertile and barren. I asked several prisoners and this is a rough estimate."
"A little man who cultivates twenty acres... can grow a hundred stones of grain."
Li Xia said: "Plowing ridges, weeding, and planting. Most men can't handle eight acres of land. You have limited legs and feet, how can you plant twenty acres?"
"Yes."
"Do you feel like living like an animal?"
Xu Qiaotou forgot that Li Xia was a general and blurted out: "How can people live well without animals? Those horses and cattle are well-raised."
"How much food do you need from you?"
"Take everything... take it all away, and give you monthly rations..."
Li Xia said: "After I regain Lizhou, I will be exempted from taxes for three years, and I will do corvee for three months every year during the slack season. After three years, I will pay thirty-one field tax, two months of corvee every year, and no head tax. Calculate how long it will take to save up."
Spend money to marry a wife? Do you live like a human being? After you calculate it, who is better, Wang Dechen or me?"
Xu Qiaotou is not stupid, so there is no need to calculate.
But he didn't believe it, so he could only stare blankly at Li Xia's boots.
As he looked at it, he felt again...this general meant what he said, and there was not a single empty word in his mouth. He had actually considered it.
Li Xia's hand was still stretched out and he said: "Get up."
"Little man... his hands are dirty, little man, get up by yourself..."
Li Xia then patted Xu Kui on the shoulder and said: "Don't be impatient in everything. When you meet fellow villagers, talk to them properly. There is no need to argue about whether you are a traitor or not. Just talk about your livelihood in southern Sichuan."
"General, I understand."
"Is the injury healed?"
"Okay!" Xu Kui responded loudly.
Li Xia said: "Would you like to be the vanguard of the siege?"
"The last general has taken the order! Lizhou will be destroyed!"
The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the Lantern Festival.
Wang Hanchen and Wang Weizheng had already led their elite troops to support Hanzhong, and selected several confidant generals to lead more than 20,000 troops to continue to guard Lizhou.
Just half a day later, the Song army began to attack the city.
This time, the first to attack the city were the Mongolian and Han troops who were captured by the Song army in Zhaohua City and nearby mountain fortresses.
"Look, the Song people have also begun to drive prisoners to die."
The Mongolian generals guarding the city laughed sarcastically, and then ordered: "Set cannon stones! Destroy their pontoon bridge!"
The cannon stones were thrown, and the prisoners began to howl like ghosts...
But gradually, the situation began to go wrong.
The Song army did not force the prisoners to build ladders and attack the city with ants, but they just tried their best to come over on the pontoon bridge. Then there were shouts.
"Is the fifth baby in the city? I am your eldest brother!"
"Kaicheng surrendered! Hanzhong was recovered! The Mongols escaped..."
"The imperial court's land allocation is exempted from taxes..."
Various shouts were heard, and the number of hammers thrown on the city gradually decreased. Occasionally, there were fights between the Mongolian and Han troops on the city.
"Don't throw stones! My uncle Shunzi is down there..."
On this day of attacking the city, the Song army still did not even touch the city wall.
With such an offensive, even if all the Song troops were killed, Lizhou would not be captured...
While the Mongolian generals breathed a sigh of relief, they also felt strongly uneasy.
They knew very well that Li Xia had even used the "siege method" of sneak attack on Hanzhong, so how could he use the stupid "siege method" of force attack again?
It is impossible for Lizhou to be captured by force, but its loss is inevitable.
The commander-in-chief and the marshal have all escaped, no one is stupid...
They could only send people to appease the soldiers, talking about Wang Dechen's favor and promising that they would be rewarded if they defended the city.
The soldiers thanked him profusely, but then they murmured to themselves.
"Can you believe it?"
"The commander-in-chief said we will live or die together, but where are the people?"
"Run away. Seeing that the situation is not good, run away quickly..."
It was night, and a chorus of shouts came from nowhere.
"Submit yourself to the imperial court and celebrate the Lantern Festival!"
"Submit yourself to the imperial court and celebrate the Lantern Festival!"
"..."
Lizhou City was in chaos.
"Quick! Burn the food and grass and withdraw from Lizhou!"
"Burn food and grass!"
"..."
"The generals are burning food!"
"You can't burn our food!"
"Open the city gate! Guard our food!"
"It's against you! It's against you! Open the city gate quickly!"
"Kill Montar!"
"..."
Xu Qiaotou limped and rushed into Lizhou City behind Xu Kui.
He kept shouting to everyone he met.
"You were bullied by the Tartars and you don't live like human beings!"
He didn't know why he was so excited.
Perhaps he was angry that the Mongols really wanted to burn the grain he had worked so hard to grow, even though the grain never belonged to him.