Chapter five hundred and thirtieth: Lu'an's embarrassment
Liu Xiang paid no attention to the celebrations of the prince's birth in various places. He rewarded the army in Lujiang for three days and continued to prepare for the subsequent war.
After all, it is during the war, so it is enough to celebrate. If someone attacks the camp, it will be extremely joyful and tragic.
Gaoshun was left behind to garrison Shuxian. The Imperial Army, with 15,000 infantry and cavalry troops, took the criminal battalion and 16,000 auxiliary troops, and left the camp to go north. There were too many supplies and the quality of the soldiers declined. It took them seven days to arrive after a journey of 200 miles.
Below Lu'an City.
Lu'an is slightly smaller than Shu County, and the city defense is also a notch lower. The dilapidated rammed earth city walls still bear traces of past battles. The crenellations are uneven and the walls are full of potholes. They have not been well repaired. There are only a few defenders on the city walls.
The army totaled only a few hundred people.
Lei Xu went south and deprived the city of many men. After his defeat, Liu Xun probably did not replenish the defenders, but instead deducted supplies and personnel.
This important logistical center of the Huai River defense line must have been abandoned.
The people from the neighboring towns outside the city have moved into the city. The empty houses are piled up outside the moat. When the autumn wind blows, the fences sway and the door hinges creak, making them look dilapidated.
Lujiang has too many armies, too many wars, and too many powerful nobles. The pressure on the people at the bottom is very great. Since Liu Xiang entered the country, all counties have been in ruins. The people have yellow faces and thin bodies, and every one of them has lost their appearance due to hunger.
According to his understanding, the self-cultivating farmers have disappeared, and the people at the bottom have either become slaves or fled to the mountains to become mountain residents. Refugees are rare because they have long since starved to death.
It was already mid-afternoon. The soldiers had been traveling for most of the day and their physical strength was not strong. It was not a good time to attack the city.
"Go to the stronghold five miles away from the city and send people there to persuade you to surrender."
His orders were somewhat conservative, but when heading north, the army had more than 7,000 large and small chariots, hauling 120,000 shi of grain and grass. This place was only more than a hundred miles away from the enemy's army, so we had to be careful.
This food is not only for military use, but also for disaster relief.
It was more than ten days after Lei Xu's defeat that he led his troops to Lu'an. There was a high chance that Liu Xun would move away the grain and take away the young men.
It was just speculation before, but now it seems that this is indeed the case.
Those old and weak people who were left behind, who knows how many days they have been hungry? Others can ignore it, but Liu Xiang cannot.
His foundation is the people's support, and he has the conditions to provide relief to these victims.
Then it must be done.
The felling of trees and the establishment of a stronghold were done in an orderly manner. There was no need to count on the combat effectiveness of the auxiliary soldiers. They still worked very hard.
The emperor gave them plenty to eat, the prince was born, and he rewarded them with meat for three days. He also gave them land in the future. If he doesn't put in any effort, he will lose his conscience!
The people at the bottom are illiterate, but it does not mean that they are ignorant.
They have all heard about the good days on the north bank of the Huaihe River and have envied them for several years. Now that the imperial army is coming, the good days of having land and houses are definitely not far away.
As long as people have hope, strength will flow out continuously.
Although I was a prisoner a few days ago, my morale was very low, but it is different now. Not to mention that my morale is so high, but it has nothing to do with being low. My mental outlook is like a different person. I walk and work with a lot of energy.
With a burst of energy to work hard and make progress.
This is the power of hope.
Can the little bit of modern knowledge that Liu Xiang knows make the Han Dynasty's technology leap forward?
cannot.
Can he keep everyone fed?
also can not.
But what he brought was hope. When he stood there, the people felt that there was hope, so these people were willing to work hard for him, even to the point of risking their lives.
From Youzhou in the north, to Bingzhou, Jizhou, and then to Sanfu, Liangzhou, Qingzhou, Yanzhou, Xuzhou, and Yuzhou, in the past eleven years, wherever he led his troops, the lives of the people have improved.
Now, he has arrived in Yangzhou.
What will the people of Yangzhou choose? Needless to say? Who doesn’t want to live a good life?
However, things always had twists and turns, and Lu Fan, the magistrate of Lu'an County, refused to surrender.
Lu Fan and Lu Ziheng were from Xiyang, Runan. Liu Xiang remembers this person as the founding hero of Soochow and the first person to follow Sun Ce.
Unfortunately, this life is not history. He fled from Runan to Yangzhou, became a subordinate of Liu Xun, and is now blocked in the county by the imperial army.
At this time, Lu Fan was on top of the city tower, watching the cavalry trying to persuade him to surrender gradually walking away, feeling extremely bitter in his heart.
Although he was born into a poor family, his father-in-law was from a wealthy family and belonged to the group of people who would have their families confiscated and exterminated by the emperor. When Runan fell, their family fled to Jiujiang. After being appreciated by Prefect Liu, they moved to Lujiang.
But the imperial army is here again, and there is no choice. You can't abandon your wife and children, break up your in-laws, and betray your benefactor, right?
He would never do such evil deeds.
Now there are only a few hundred of his tribe in the city, and the rest are old and weak. The young and strong are all going to Anfeng and Yangquan to transport grain. They are all outside and will not be able to come back in the short term.
I hope I can hold on for a few days until reinforcements come to rescue me.
Liu Xiang naturally didn't know what Lu Fan was thinking. Since he didn't want to surrender, he would attack the city.
This person is indeed a talent, but it's not to the point where he needs to put any thought into it. Whether he can survive or not depends on luck.
The camp was built, the army rested for one day, and then left the camp at midnight the next day to besiege the city in three ways. There were no large siege equipment such as ladders or orchids, but there were still oars converted from baggage vehicles.
The newly built auxiliary army consisted of 4,000 archers, who together with the crossbowmen of the Shesheng Battalion suppressed the defenders at the top of the city.
We don't expect them to actually kill many enemies, they just want to fill up the numbers and experience the battle formation.
Pushing the oar, setting up a formation, and shooting without hesitation, the main reason is that they only know this simple and crude fighting method now, and other than relying on scale to fool people, they haven't had time to practice anything else.
The effect was not bad. Arrows were flying from the top of the city. In conjunction with the crossbowmen, they suppressed the defenders with several volleys. The buzzing of the tail feathers was still very bluffing, even if the defenders later hid.
Behind the battlements, the number of people killed and wounded was really limited.
The crossbowmen of the Shesheng Battalion had many methods, and most of them lobbed to the side. Although the defenders could not be seen, the screams that came out from time to time told them that they had gained something.
There were also some people who were holding crossbows and waiting for the other side to come forward and fight back. At first they had some success, but later they had to wait.
Without the defenders showing up, the filling of the river became extremely smooth. Truckloads of sand and soil were poured into the moat that was more than two feet wide, and multiple passages were quickly constructed.
There were really few defenders in Lu'an, with only more than a hundred people on each wall. Liu Xiang tested for half a morning and felt that there would be nothing hidden in the city.
At this time, Qingqi was roaming outside the city, and the scouts were sent out for thirty miles. The alert arrangements were sufficient, and the enemy would not suddenly appear and attack our army's retreat.
"Order the criminal camp and attack the city with ants!"
More than 5,000 people from the criminal camp were divided into three teams. Under the urging of the supervising team, they rushed across the moat carrying flying ladders and prepared to climb the city.
The archers have stopped shooting and are hiding behind the oars to watch the battle, but the crossbowmen of the Shesheng Battalion are holding powerful crossbows, waiting for the defenders to shoot arrows at the city, or throw rolling stones, knock down logs, and pour gold juice.
Their battlefield experience is so rich that when they see the urns set up on the city and the fire lit, they know that the enemy is waiting for our troops to approach. Without the command of an officer, they know to seize such opportunities and cooperate with the soldiers climbing the city to kill the enemy.
They are very confident in their shooting skills and are not afraid of hitting the robe.
When the soldiers fought hand-to-hand with the enemy on the city, they dared to use crossbows to support them. Their shooting skills and courage had long been practiced.
Seeing the flying ladder being erected on the city wall and being suppressed by crossbows for a long time, Lu Fan, who was hiding behind the battlements and struggling to hold on, shouted: "Get up, throw stones! Pour the gold juice!"