On the vast white land, cavalry were arrogant and arrows were flying everywhere.
Yuan Xingqin changed his horse in the air and quickly caught up with one person. When the thief looked back, he was horrified and urged the horse hard, almost reaching the maximum speed.
Yuan Xingqin also urged his horse forward, thrusting his spear sharply. The sharp spear blade did not hit anyone, but cut the horse's buttocks. The horse was tossed around in pain, and the thief was caught off guard and was thrown into the snow.
"Don't kill me, surrender!" The thief was not injured. After getting up from the snow, he took two steps to avoid Yuan Xingqin's fatal blow, and then knelt down and begged to surrender.
He knew that as long as he was spotted by someone, he would definitely die in the snow without a horse to move him. Now he could only survive in death.
"General Yuan!" Shao Siwu shouted.
Yuan Xingqin gave up the idea of killing the thieves chief, Ma Shan turned his head over his head, snorted coldly, and left.
Shao Siwu turned over and dismounted.
Cao Yijin signaled with his eyes, and several knights also dismounted, surrounded the thief, and escorted him over.
"Inspector Li, why are you running away?" Shao Siwu walked up to him and asked.
This "Inspector Li" is named Li Neng. His ancestors are Khitan people and he lived in Youzhou during Zhang Shougui's time.
After Shougui's adopted son An Lushan took charge of Fanyang Town, he slowly began to make a fortune. Now he is a tribal patrol in Shunzhou. It has been passed down from generation to generation for many years and is extremely powerful. Their family is not only a tribal chief, but also has many people in You.
Being an official in the state and town, joining the army, the network of people is very complicated.
"My humble servants in the mountains were frightened when they suddenly saw the noble man from Tianhuang, so he led the crowd to run away." Li Neng was kicked in the crook of his leg and fell to his knees in the snow.
"I don't eat people, so what are you afraid of?" Shao Siwu said gently.
Wang Jiao rode over and when he heard these words, he subconsciously thought of the saint.
Shao Sheng was equally amiable to the warriors. King Zhao had learned this trick by following the saint all year round.
"I am so ignorant, please forgive me for your life." Li Neng kowtowed twice in the snow and said loudly.
You don’t eat people, but you eat my sheep. How can you not run away?
"Now the overall situation has been decided. Li Luo fled to Fanyang, and Li Cunzhang retreated to Jicheng. The cities, towns, and armies may surrender after hearing the news, or raise troops to kill the Jin people. Li's inspection should be aware of the current affairs, fear the power of God, and surrender early.
Maybe there will be another fortune." Shao Siwu said.
"Your Highness, stop talking. I am a rough man. Since I was caught by Your Highness, I will surrender." Li Neng said repeatedly.
"Li Xunjian will definitely not regret today's decision." Shao Siwu was overjoyed and pulled him up personally.
Later, he asked another prisoner to be brought in and asked: "Li Biejia, the king of Daxia is advancing in unstoppable directions. Li Cunju, Li Cunshi, Li Cunhao and others have all been awarded the title without overestimating their abilities. Shan Tinggui,
Yuan Xingqin and other generals who killed thieves will be vindicated anyway. They have meritorious service and are not guilty. You..."
"Stop talking, stop talking, I will surrender too." Li Biejia said bluntly.
Li Biejia was from Shunzhou Biejia, a Sogdian native.
Although there are no Sogdian tribes in Youzhou, there are indeed many Sogdian people. They herd, farm, smelt iron, engage in business, serve in the army, and serve as officials. They are all closely connected with each other. Through the Persian Hu Temple as a link,
The cohesion is very strong. If this person surrenders, he can indeed bring a large number of people to join him.
"With the help of two people today, I am like a tiger with added wings." Shao Siwu untied the rope with his own hands and said with a smile.
He actually has a lot of troops under his command now.
There are nearly 12,000 serious warriors, about 5,000 soldiers from Huaihai Province, and about 4,000 soldiers from Youzhou. There are more than 10,000 tribal soldiers temporarily recruited, and the total army is more than 30,000.
There were quite a lot of soldiers, so the supply pressure was very high, and he had to plunder everywhere. He almost robbed the Tibetan tribes in Ying, Ping, Ji, Tan, and Shun five states, and he also visited the homes of ordinary people.
As for food and grass, whatever the mules and horses could take away, they took away to replenish military supplies.
This winter is not so easy for the Fan and Han people in Youzhou.
"Your Highness, there is a shortage of food and grass in the army. Do you think it is..." Wang Yanwen came over appropriately and asked.
When the two surrenders heard this, they almost sighed secretly at the same time. They must be bleeding heavily and there is no way to do anything. And they were also sensible enough to know that these words were deliberately told to them, so they immediately said: "Your Highness, we are willing to donate cattle and sheep.
, Grain to support military needs."
Shao Siwu was overjoyed again and said: "When Youzhou is conquered and rewarded for their merits, two of them will be indispensable."
"Your Highness, Youzhou City is high and deep, so the military strength may be insufficient." Wang Jiao suddenly said.
Shao Siwu was shocked and asked: "What can we do?"
The two descendants sighed again and said in unison: "Your Highness, my subordinates are willing to accompany the expedition and fight against the Jin traitors together."
"General Cao, it's rare for them to be full of sincerity, so you can incorporate them into the Crane Control Army." Shao Siwu said: "Limited to five thousand people."
"Yes." Cao Yijin responded immediately.
The He Controlling Army is a newly established temporary military number. It is based on the 3,000 Dunhuang warriors brought over by Cao Yijin and has more than 10,000 tribal soldiers. If we include the 5,000 people we plan to accept, the total strength will be close to 10,000.
Twenty thousand.
Well, the Crane Control Army was established in a hurry and has not yet been reported to the court. Cao Yijin doesn't know how long he can be a military envoy. Maybe he will be ordered to disband after the war?
But now he has really become addicted to generals.
Back then, the Guiyi Army had jurisdiction over the two prefectures of Sha and Gua, with a total strength of only 10,000 to 20,000 troops, not as many as the Hehe Army. The Central Plains was indeed a vast land and rich in resources, which was not comparable to that of the small Guiyi Army.
It would be great if the imperial army can be formally established in the future. Of course, Cao Yijin is not very optimistic about this, because disarmament is a general trend. There are too many warriors in the world, and the money and food rewards they ask for are so much, so it is really hard to raise them.
Too strenuous.
It is really difficult to say whether the Control He Army can be retained. However, Cong Ma Zhi, who is under the command of King Qin Shao Chengjie, is very likely to stay. This is because the two princes have different backgrounds and statuses, so there is no way.
"By the way, General Gao mentioned earlier that he could recruit Li Cunxiao from Guizhou. What do you think?" Shao Siwu asked.
"General Gao" is naturally Gao Youqing.
The idea actually came from "Liu Mian". He thought that since Li Cunxiao was short of food, it was better to recruit him to go south and eat in Youzhou. At this critical moment when Youzhou was about to besieged, the more strength he had, the more chance of victory.
"Guizhou only has a few thousand soldiers, will it be useful if they come here?" Wang Yanwen frowned and said, "They may not be willing to fight to the death, but they will hinder our army's supplies."
General Shao Si turned his attention to Wang Jiao.
"You don't need thousands of mouths." Wang Jiao said, "You can come or not, your Highness can make your own decision."
"Okay!" Shao Siwu immediately called for a messenger and ordered him to rush to Guizhou to deliver the message.
After giving orders to the messenger, he ordered: "After another sweep and collecting food and grass, we will join General Fan and General Liu's troops and march to Youzhou."
"As ordered." All the generals responded in unison.
****
What's outrageous is that Li Cunzhang has also been grabbing food recently.
It's not that the city doesn't have enough food. In fact, as a military town, Youzhou City has a considerable amount of food, ordnance, and other supplies all year round. He did this just because he felt insecure, trying to stock up on food for the winter like a squirrel.
, because he didn’t know how long this winter would be.
He didn't quite count on reinforcements from Hedong.
The King of Jin personally led the troops, but failed to break through the Yongji Canal and threaten the Xia army's food routes. What else can you expect?
The only possibility to save Youzhou now is to hold on with all your strength so that the Xia people cannot survive and have no choice but to retreat.
The so-called Luoyang Forbidden Army has family members who are not in Youzhou, so they cannot accept fighting in the field all year round. We are all warriors, so don’t play with those nonsense.
It will weaken, the risk of mutiny will increase, and most people will not bet.
This is their only chance to win.
Based on this consideration, Li Cunzhang sent troops to collect food and grass while recruiting local brave men to join the army to prepare for a long-term defense.
On November 19, Li Cunzhang personally went to the city to inspect the placement of the defensive equipment. It was at this time that he saw Li Si'en, the envoy of the Jingsai Army, returning from outside the city.
"Take all the people back." Li Si'en breathed in the hot steam and said, "I saw Xia Bing in the north of the city. There are not many people, about two thousand, both on foot and on horseback. They are heading towards Jicheng."
Due to previous huge losses, more than half of Youzhou's more than 20,000 soldiers and horses were lost. Now there are only more than 10,000 defenders in the city, and half of them are allocated to collect food in the wild. If they are lost, the defensive force will be even more insufficient.
"Could it be the Chishui, Guide and other armies led by Shao Thief's son?" Li Cunzhang asked.
"It should be right." Li Si'en nodded.
"Is there any way to make a surprise attack?" Li Cunzhang asked: "If we can capture the little thief, the old thief might throw a rat weapon into his trap."
"Stay behind, it's best to keep it quiet now." Li Si'en couldn't help but advise.
Li Cunzhang glanced at him and said nothing.
I was timid in my heart and feared the enemy like a tiger. Can I really defeat the Xia soldiers by relying on this group of people to defend the city? Then I felt a little discouraged. Who could I rely on if I didn't rely on them? There were no soldiers left.
"Okay, let's be more safe." Li Cunzhang said: "I will send people to inform all the ministries and quickly withdraw into the city. Over there in Zhuozhou, alas, I hope An Fuqian can hold on."
An Fuqian had a grudge against the Shao thieves for killing his brother and nephew, so he should not surrender. However, he had few soldiers and suffered another defeat. He could not have any spare power to support Youzhou. He even created a threat to the Xia army's flanks.
It all depends on whether the volunteers work hard or not.
There is also Chengde King Rong, who is still complaining. If you are brave enough, you should personally lead the army, suppress the whole army, raise a hundred thousand people, storm Jingzhou, and then kill Cangzhou, see if the Xia people are afraid
Not afraid.
However, he also knew that this was impossible. Zhao Bing had always been known for his good defense, but his ability in field combat was slightly inferior. If he counted on them, he might die without knowing how.
Alas, these losers! Are the three towns of Heshuo really going to end like this?
On November 20th, the wind and snow stopped for a while.
On the snowy plains a few miles northeast of Youzhou, there are many banners and the sound of drums is loud.
More than 10,000 soldiers and horses led by Shao Siwu, the king of Zhao in the Great Xia, surrounded and suppressed a Jin army returning from collecting grain. They captured and killed more than 1,000 people. They then cut down trees and set up fences to get a glimpse of Youzhou.
This is the first Xia army to arrive.
It is foreseeable that more and more Xia soldiers will arrive in the next time.