From Yixian County to Zhuozhou Fucheng, more and more people wanted to join the blizzard team. After asking, it turned out that men of all ages joined the army just to have a good meal. The poverty of the people here once again exceeded He Qizhou's imagination.
Hundreds of miles of fertile fields are overgrown with weeds, without even a decent tree. They have all been cut down and used as firewood. Most of the dilapidated houses on the roadside are owned by military families. It is not that these people moved here with the army, but if they want to
The only way to survive here is to serve as a soldier.
If the strong men in the family unfortunately die in battle, the old and weak who stay here can only go south to survive, and most of them become beggars. The elderly often freeze to death and starve to death in their ruined homes on the way to migration.
There was nothing He Qizhou could do about it. It was impossible to disperse the pitifully small military rations for the sake of the people. At most, he could only open the granaries with little food when passing through two counties, so that the nearby people could have two full meals. It might be
When they heard that enemy troops were invading, the county magistrates had long since fled without a trace, which saves them the trouble of congratulating Qi on boat expenses to persuade him to surrender.
After losing Yanjing, Zhuozhou Prefecture became the first line of defense in the north of Qi State. Perhaps because he had gathered the surrounding soldiers, the defender thought that he could defend the city for a few days; or perhaps because he did not want to give up the wealth in the city, He Qizhou finally
We encountered the first city that dared to resist.
Because the city of Yanjing had been changing hands between Zhou and Qi, and the Qi State built several large cities in northern Hebei to be extremely strong, He Qizhou looked at the gloomy defenders at the top of the city who were shouting to kill, and he was a little worried at first that it would be difficult to attack.
Although you can go around the city without worrying about a surprise attack from behind by the city's defenders, Blizzard travels lightly and can only continue to march south with supplies from one city and one pool. Therefore, even the toughest bones have to be chewed off.
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What made He Qizhou even more surprised was that the bones of Zhuozhou City were even tenderer than tofu! With one upward shot, the weak Qi soldiers at the top of the city were suppressed so that they did not dare to raise their heads. After the masters in the army used rope hooks to attack the tower, they immediately
After controlling the situation, they only broke through a little and opened a city gate. The entire city's defenders surrendered in unison.
After going to the city, He Qizhou discovered that he actually knew the guard who was captured alive at the top of the city. He was Lei Xi, a disciple of the Yunmen Sect whom he had defeated in the martial arts competition!
In fact, the only ones who really resisted at the top of the city were Lei Xi and his hundreds of soldiers. It was precisely because of Lei Xi's insistence that the general Song Kangcheng decided to take a risk and "stop". Standing far away in the southeast corner of the city wall was Song Kangcheng.
Seeing someone attacking the south gate tower, he immediately ran towards the south gate without saying a word. There were more than a hundred horses parked there, as well as his entourage, which was rich in gold and silver. Before the Eastern Zhou Dynasty cavalry could enter the city, he rushed to the south gate with more than a hundred horses.
Surrounded by others, they all ran wildly and fled south.
Lei Xi was really a man. When he saw He Qizhou, a "traitor", he cursed him and asked for a quick death. Of course, He Qizhou was unwilling to kill such a man of integrity, so he spent a lot of effort on telling the boss that Jiang Lang was the one.
The true emperor who succeeded to the throne by imperial edict and the real enemies of Qi are Helian Qingfeng and Jiang Shan! My purpose on this trip is to clear the siege of Shanhaiguan and then the siege of Tuyuhun!
As the deputy general of Zhuozhou, Lei Xi refused to listen to the advice and insisted on dying. He Qizhou had no choice but to imprison him.
Jiang Shan kept using troops, and the available generals in the army were already stretched thin, so he recruited many students from the Yunmen Sect and the Four Schools. Originally, with Lei Xi's strength, he would definitely be able to join Jiang Shan's imperial army, but Lei Xi knew the true nature of Qi State.
The threat was from the north, so he resolutely requested to go to Zhuozhou, a place where most people were unwilling to come.
The commander-in-chief, Song Kangcheng, is the supervisor of the Military Inspection Yuan and also holds the position of Tongzhi of the Military Inspection Department. He was sent to garrison the northern border because Jiang Shan was worried about the dominance of the Xiao family and sent him to give the Xiao family some military power.
Song Kangcheng, who had no combat experience, had long heard of He Qizhou's "evil reputation", and imitated the guard of Yi County, flying horse to report to the Xiao family. Those more than a hundred horses had plundered Zhuozhou City.
With all the war horses, the other infantry couldn't even follow him.
In Zhuozhou City, He Qizhou gained quite a lot. There was a lot of military rations stored in the city. The Xiao family also opened a bank here. Song Kangcheng, who was eager to escape, was not able to take away much property.
This time, He Qizhou directly distributed military pay, but he did not pay it to his own soldiers. Instead, they were all dispersed among the soldiers and civilians in the city. The 20,000 defenders and 50,000 people inside and outside the city were all distributed with money and food. He Qizhou only took it for three days.
ate enough food, rested for a night, and set out on the southward journey again.
Before leaving, He Qizhou ordered his people to release Lei Xi and his soldiers who dared to fight, and left a letter urging him to lay off at least 80% of his redundant personnel. After careful training, the combat effectiveness of two thousand elite soldiers was better than that of ten thousand mediocre troops. In the end,
Remind him again that what needs to be guarded most is Helian Qingfeng of the Northern Zhou Dynasty! If possible, try to form an alliance with Shanhaiguan!
He Qizhou was well aware of the importance of an elite army. The Qi State attacked Zhou several times, with hundreds of thousands of troops. They spent countless amounts of food, money, and people, but the results were not as good as Yang Zheng's 5,000 elite cavalry, so He Qizhou always used them.
My own Blizzard is limited to about 7,000 men with one person and two riders. If you really want to win the war, it definitely depends on more than just numbers.
It wasn't until He Qizhou's entire army left the city that Lei Xi believed He Qizhou's words, because there was absolutely no need for him to leave behind a team that might threaten his return. What's even more unbelievable is that such a team rushed thousands of miles away.
The Zhou army did not rob the people of Qi at all, and did not even take any property from banks and military camps. Is it true that the rumored blizzard is really different from other Zhou armies, and is truly a benevolent and righteous army that treats the people well?
?
…
He Qizhou had no time to take into account Lei Xi's thoughts. He was about to face Qi's next line of defense - the Juma River. Most places on the south bank of the Juma River were two feet high from the ice. There were dense fences and deer and firewood stretching along the south bank.
For hundreds of miles, a towering sentry tower was built every five miles to detect the enemy's situation in time and allow soldiers in dozens of barracks on the south bank to move to the enemy's invading areas as quickly as possible for defense.
The blizzard had no harm to the local military and civilians, so it was easy to find enough guides. He Qizhou asked them to accompany more than a dozen teams of scouts to investigate along the Juma River, hoping to cross this barrier with minimal casualties. Unexpectedly, more than a dozen teams
The results reported by the reconnaissance cavalry are almost the same, that is, every river bank is suitable for attack, because there is no defender on the other bank!
He Qizhou easily passed through this defense line that Qi State had spent a lot of money to build, and the march for the next few days was surprisingly smooth. The defense lines, large and small, were almost undefended. Every time he passed a county town, the city gates were always open, but the main officials
Most of them had already fled, and all their money and food had been emptied. He Qizhou, who had received a small amount of supplies, could only set his next target at Dingzhou, an important town that the opponent would definitely not want to give up easily.
Dingzhou is the center of the entire defense of northern Hebei. The commander is a member of the family who has been promoted to the Minister of War and is supported by the Xiao family. After joining the Xiao family, he has been relegated to the "cold palace" because of his failure in the last martial arts examination.
Received an unexpected promotion, after Jiang Shanxi conquered Tuyuhun, he was sent to take charge of the defense of northern Hebei.
The tactics of the Xinzhuan are very simple, there are only two in total: one is to lure the enemy deep into the enemy's territory to arrogantly attack his troops; the other is to gather the troops and defend to the death!
Because it was already known that the troops led by He Qizhou were kind-hearted and would not plunder the poor people for military needs, so when they withdrew the troops, they took almost all the money and food with them and ignored the lives of the local people, so that there was no need to demolish houses and relocate people.
This will achieve the effect of strengthening the wall and clearing the country, and also forces He Qizhou to gnaw on the hard bone of Dingzhou.
…
Dingzhou City is not big, the city is about three miles square. There don't seem to be many people at the top of the city, not even as many as the densely packed bed crossbows. However, He Qizhou clearly felt a different tense atmosphere from Zhuozhou. This person who is also the supervisor of Tianshu Academy
The newly promoted minister of the Ministry of War is indeed outstanding in the field of defense.
Although the ten-foot-wide moat is covered with thick ice, countless iron caltrops are densely scattered on the ice. Except for the spikes on the top, most of them are frozen in the ice, making it difficult for even people to walk, let alone horses.
There are places for footing, which were obviously laid out in a day or two, and it is not known how much water was poured on the river;
There is also a six-foot-high city wall where water has been poured. Not only the outer walls, but also the three walls of the urn city were poured with ice;
Three-bow bed crossbows that require three people to operate are lined up every five feet at the top of the city. The heavily armored army is not afraid of ordinary bows and arrows, but facing the bed crossbows, even Chengzong's masters wearing thick armor did not dare to try one.
The power of the arrows, obviously Zhu Xizhuan moved all the bed crossbows on other lines of defense;
There are also differences in the soldiers in the city. He Qizhou learned from the surrendered soldiers that the main force were veterans who had followed the Xiao family for many years. Dingzhou City and the Hutuo River defense line behind it guarded several of the Xiao family's positions in southern Hebei.
There are one hundred thousand acres of fertile land, so this line of defense is what the Xiao family has truly built with all their heart. The loss of those cities further north is just the loss of some wasteland. How can the Xiao family become their real main force for the country?
Although he didn't know how many defenders there were in the city, He Qizhou judged that there should be no less than 20,000 people, more than half of whom were experienced veterans.
"How many days will the army have enough food?" He Qizhou, who had camped in the north of the city, was holding a meeting of officers at this time and asked Luo Yu, an all-rounder who was responsible for carrying guns, rescuing people, and also managing money and food.
"How many more days are there? At most, there will be nothing to eat after three meals." Luo Yu pouted.
"You can still hold out for two days without force. The best option is to capture Dingzhou City quickly. If you are afraid of excessive casualties, should you go around and go straight to the Hutuo River?" Yuwen Lingyun asked.
He Qizhou said: "I have thought about it, but I have to travel at least three to four hundred miles to get to the densely populated Yinan. What I'm worried about is that as long as there is a slight delay on the way, I will run out of food, and I will have to kill horses to get it.
"Shi, I can't bear to kill those war horses, and everyone probably can't bear to do it either."
"I don't want to give up. What are you talking about? There is such a big city right in front of you. Why don't you just fight your way in?" Yuwen Zhu, who was young and of high seniority, said proudly.
Then almost all the generals clamored to attack the city directly. Seeing that everyone had made up their mind, He Qizhou formulated an siege plan overnight. This chapter has been completed!