Qian Siyi looked at Jiping County under the setting sun, his eyes like knives.
Jiping County was captured by Long Rui's army without bloodshed. The news naturally reached Shunjincheng as soon as possible. After hearing the news, Huangfu Yunzhao immediately summoned his generals to discuss countermeasures.
In fact, although Shunjincheng is on tight defense these days, they still sent a group of rangers to look for news everywhere.
In addition to Gu Baiyi's troops at Songyang Racecourse, Huangfu Yunzhao has also been sending people to pay attention to the movements in western Liaoning.
Last time Song Shixin lost troops and generals, the Liaodong Army suffered heavy losses. In order to prevent Long Rui's army from taking advantage of the situation to attack Shunjin City, Huangfu Yunzhao gathered troops and made arrangements to defend Shunjin.
However, Long Ruijun did not make much action after that, which was somewhat beyond Huangfu Yunzhao's expectations.
In fact, after the last defeat, the Liaodong Army quickly became alert.
Wang Xingchao and his generals all knew that Long Rui's army was developing at an alarming rate. If the Liaodong Army remained unmoved as before, the situation would only become increasingly unfavorable to the Liaodong Army.
While Qin Xiao was accumulating grain in western Liaoning, the Liaodong Army had also begun to recruit soldiers in Liaodong and Xuantu counties, and was collecting grain and grass. The forging department was also working day and night to build weapons and armor, and began to quickly prepare for a showdown with Long Rui's army.
Preparation of both sexes.
Yingping County is the frontline of the two armies, and Shunjin City has become an important frontline stronghold. According to the Liaodong Army's strategy, Shunjin is the barrier to defend Long Rui's army from expanding eastward. As long as Shunjin can be defended, Shunjin City will always be controlled.
With it in hand, the Liaodong Army's rear can buy time to prepare for war.
In Yingping County, Shunjincheng is naturally the primary defense location of the Liaodong Army.
At the end of September, when the autumn harvest season entered, Huangfu Yunzhao immediately asked the county governor Liang Zongyi to convey orders to the counties to harvest grain and grass as quickly as possible, and strictly ordered the county officials to transport the grain and grass to Shunjin.
There is actually plenty of food and grass in Shunjin City, but there is definitely not too much food.
The Liaodong Army began to recruit brave soldiers and expand its strength. Naturally, the more money, food and equipment the better.
These days, a lot of food has been shipped from various counties. If there is another half month, at least tens of thousands more dan of food can be stored. But at this time, the news came that Jiping County was captured by Long Rui's army.
, the generals in Shunjin City were naturally shocked.
Not to mention that Jiping County itself is an important granary town, the important thing is that the granaries of Yingping County are concentrated in the south, and the official road from Jiping to Shunjin is an important road for transportation from southern counties to Shunjin City. Long Ruijun occupied Jiping
County, it is equivalent to cutting off the blood vessels of the southern counties to Shunjin. This is of course unacceptable to Shunjin.
Everyone also knows that the number of Long Rui troops who captured Jiping is limited. This troops entered the city disguised as the Liaodong Army. The ranger scouts failed to find out the whereabouts of this group of troops beforehand. Except that this group of troops was not too large.
The most important reason must be that they traveled day and night, avoiding the eyes and ears of the rangers.
If it only cuts off Shunjin's food route, everyone understands that if Jiping is controlled by Long Rui's army, then Long Rui's army will have a strategic advantage over the southern counties. Once Long Rui's army follows up with reinforcements,
, and if Jiping is completely controlled, the food and grass in the southern counties will become the food of Long Ruijun.
As a result, one thing is decreasing and the other is increasing, which will be even more detrimental to the Liaodong Army.
Therefore, after Huangfu Yunzhao convened the generals for discussion, the generals unanimously advocated sending troops immediately to recapture Jiping County before reinforcements from Long Rui Army arrived.
There are only a few hundred Long Rui sergeants guarding Jiping County, and Long Rui's army has no foundation in Jiping, and it is impossible to get the support of the people in the city for a while. Therefore, in the eyes of the generals, it is not necessary to recapture Jiping County.
Difficult matter.
The important thing is to buy time.
Using a small number of troops to pretend to be Liaodong sergeants to seize Jiping County can only be the first step for Long Rui's army.
Both sides knew that it would be impossible to defend Jiping with only a few hundred soldiers.
Therefore, the follow-up troops of Long Rui Army will definitely be dispatched as soon as possible to quickly reinforce Jiping.
There are two groups of troops of Long Rui Army, one is in Songyang Grassland and the other is in Guangning.
The soldiers and horses to reinforce Jiping will definitely not be mobilized from Caochang. After all, Shunjincheng and Caochang are constraining each other. Once Caochang's main troops mobilize reinforcements and the grassland is empty, Shunjincheng's soldiers and horses can take advantage of the situation to attack Caochang.
Therefore, reinforcements can only be mobilized from Guangning.
But Guangning is several days' journey from Jiping. Even if we travel day and night, it will take three or four days to arrive. Therefore, this period of time is a good opportunity to seize Jiping and there is no need to delay.
This time, it was Qian Siyi who took the initiative to volunteer and publicly issued a military order to take on the task of capturing Jiping.
In fact, all the generals present knew that attacking Jiping would not be a hard-fought battle, but because of Jiping's geographical advantage, recapturing Jiping would definitely be a great achievement. Qian Siyi took the initiative to ask for military service, naturally he wanted to make a great contribution by chewing off the soft bones.
Qian Siyi was a direct descendant of Wang Xingchao. This time he led the 1,000-year-old Huangfu Yunzhao to fight, which actually served as a supervisor for the army. Everyone knew this.
Now that Qian Siyi took the initiative to ask for the tassel, it was difficult for others to fight for it. Huangfu Yunzhao was happy and agreed to Qian Siyi's request. He also dispatched another thousand men and two thousand troops to recapture Jiping. He even ordered,
After recapturing Jiping, two thousand soldiers and horses were stationed in Jiping.
In addition, the county governor Liang Zongyi was asked to summon craftsmen overnight to build a ladder.
Qian Siyi was impatient and immediately ordered all his troops to leave the city overnight.
Among the two thousand soldiers and horses, there were only two hundred cavalry, and the others were all infantry. However, they did not stop on the way. By evening, they had arrived outside Jiping County, which was only ten miles away from the county seat. From a distance, they could see
The outline of Jiping County can be vaguely seen.
"Report!" A scout came flying from the direction of the county seat and reported: "Report to General Lang, the flag of Long Rui Army has been erected on the top of the city!"
Qian Siyi sneered and said in a deep voice: "Pang Tuo!"
"The humble general is here!"
"You lead four hundred people to go outside the south gate and contain the guards at the south gate." Qian Siyi said: "No one is allowed to enter or leave the city. If anyone comes out of the city, no matter who it is, they will be killed."
Pang Tuo didn't waste any time and ordered four hundred sergeants to go to the south gate for deployment.
"General Lang, the baggage train will not arrive until tomorrow at the earliest." A subordinate said: "Should we camp just outside the city?"
The county towns in the northeastern counties are not as tall and strong as the county towns. Most of them are very simple. Although Jiping County is an important granary town, the city is not high and cannot be considered as a balance. As soon as the ladder arrives, thousands of soldiers launch an attack. It is actually not easy to break into the city.
Not too difficult.
However, if the city gate is attacked before the ladder arrives, if the opponent defends it tightly, it will only cause a loss of troops.
Qian Siyi knew in his heart that this battle was of great importance to him.
It is not difficult to recapture Jiping. This battle must be fought beautifully, and naturally the less losses, the better.
He didn't talk nonsense and just ordered the whole army to move forward.
When we arrived at the city, the sun had already set.
There were figures shaking at the top of the city. There was a flag on the left and right, one with the word "Tang" and the other with the Long Rui military flag.
"This general is Qian Siyi." Qian Siyi arrived at the city, reined in his horse, looked up at the defenders at the top of the city, and said loudly: "Who is your general?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a roar of laughter could be heard from the top of the city.
"General Qian Lang, you don't even know who the general is guarding the city, why are you here to fight?" A man at the top of the city shouted loudly: "It is said that only by knowing oneself and the enemy can one fight without slacking off. You don't even know who I am.
, this battle can’t be fought.”
"Are you the commander-in-chief?"
"That's right." The man said, "Zhao Shengtai, the captain of the Longrui Military Academy of the Tang Dynasty, has been here for a long time."
Qian Siyi sneered and said: "Captain of the Tang Dynasty? After your Long Rui army came out of seclusion, you were afraid that the world would not be in chaos, and even colluded with the Xile people to cause rebellion. Your intention to rebel was obvious, and you even dared to use the banner of the Tang Dynasty.
It’s really unreasonable.”
Zhao Shengtai was neither arrogant nor impetuous, and said with a smile: "The Liaodong Army has been ruthlessly conquering the Northeast and enclosing the territory, and its evil deeds are too numerous to mention. The Long Rui Army, following the emperor's order, went out to train troops, but you actually made things difficult for them at every turn, and even attacked Changwu County. That's what it is."
Real rebellion. The champion general has been ordered to quell the rebellion. Qian Siyi, if you ask yourself whether you are still a minister of the Tang Dynasty, dismount and surrender now. I can intercede for you with the general, so that you will not end up with everyone being executed.
."
Qian Siyi originally wanted to persuade the other party to surrender, but he didn't expect that the other party would make a move first. He was even more angry. He held down the hilt of the sword at his waist and said sternly: "Zhao Shengtai, I won't talk nonsense to you. You are so cunning and deceived that you actually defrauded Ji Ping."
County, I give you one last chance. If you surrender in Kaicheng now, I will be given a lighter sentence. Otherwise, after the city is broken, you and the rebels under your command will not survive. I will kill your heads when the time comes.
They were lined up and hung at the top of the city to let everyone know what happened to the rebels."
Zhao Shengtai laughed loudly and said loudly: "It's not enough to say nothing. Qian Siyi, surnamed Zhao, has been fighting for half his life, but he has never been scared by anyone. There is no need to say more nonsense, you can come and fight,
If we frown, then we are not raised by our parents." He picked up the long bow, bent the bow and nocked an arrow, and shot an arrow towards Qian Siyi.
The arrow was like a shooting star, and its power was not weak. However, Qian Siyi was wary of his opponent's arrows, so he didn't get too close to the city gate. When the arrow came, he immediately opened it with his sword.
Although this arrow was just a warning, Qian Siyi knew in his heart that it was impossible for the defenders in the city to open the city and surrender. In anger, he prepared to order a direct attack on the city, but fortunately he still kept a little clear-headed and sneered,
He said, "I'll let you live one more day." He thought that as long as the transport team from Shunjin came over and they had the ladder, they would attack with all their strength and they would be able to break through the city.
Immediately, he ordered his soldiers and horses to camp outside the city, trap Jiping County first, and wait for the arrival of the baggage train before launching an offensive.