It took Dangxiang's army five days to complete the siege of Mingsha City on three sides. During this period, the Song army continued to come out of the city to attack the Xia army, with both sides winning or losing.
In the end, the party still destroyed the stone barriers and the sheep and horse wall outside the city wall.
On the sixth day, Dangxiang began to attack the city. Indeed, as You Shixiong said before, there were no trees around Mingsha City.
There are bare beaches and river beaches everywhere, with at most only grass plants less than half a person's height.
Dangxiang came thousands of miles away on light cavalry, but there was only one way to attack the city. You Shixiong had previously piled large rocks on top of the city, and the defenders used the stones to repel Dangxiang's several attempts to attack the city.
By the seventh day, the earth and stone had been exhausted, and the Song army's casualties increased.
During these days, Zhang Zhi patrolled the city with two sesame cakes in his arms every day. The Song army only had ten days of food and grass. If they did not live frugally, they would have no place to eat in ten days.
As the commander-in-chief, Zhang Zhi shared the joys and sorrows with his soldiers.
Zhang Zhi's military skills were indeed mediocre, but when it came to treating his soldiers, he could remember many of their names. After guarding the city for several days, he memorized less than half of the names of the thousands of soldiers in the city. As for the officers, he remembered all of them.
Whenever there was a battle, Zhang Zhi stood at the top of the city.
He didn't even want a secretary or an officer. He recorded the performance of his soldiers and officers himself.
Regardless of whether the soldiers killed the generals and captured the flag, or even performed slightly outstandingly, he would record them in the record. As for those who collapsed in the face of battle, or even ran away, Zhang Zhi would not let them go.
Those who bravely kill the enemy will be heavily rewarded, and those who retreat will be severely punished.
Zhang Yue taught Zhang Zhi this step by step. He told Zhang Zhi many times that as long as a commander can recognize and employ people and distinguish rewards and punishments, he can become a famous general.
So Zhang Zhi is excellent on these two points.
Whatever money the army had, they were rewarded without hesitation. This time when they were trapped in the isolated city, Zhang Zhi used all the money and materials that accompanied the army to reward the soldiers. He personally visited the soldiers who were injured in the brave battle.
On the ninth day, the Dangxiang army launched an attack.
This time the offensive was so intense that Zhang Zhi went to the city to fight. Even he was in danger and his armor was slashed twice. Fortunately, You Shixiong and Wang Gan came to the rescue at the last moment and were able to repel the party soldiers.
Although the city was defended, Dang Xiang might not be able to defend it if he attacks again like this.
Zhang Zhi, Wang Fan, and You Shixiong all knew that they could not defend the city. The generals below came to persuade them more than once that Mingsha City was a dead place. The main force on the Yanyan Road was almost wiped out, and the rest of the army was so frightened that they did not dare to come to help.
.
It's better to just fight like this and break out at night, and survive as long as you can.
Some generals even suggested that they might as well surrender to Xixia.
Hearing the surrender, Zhang Zhi shook his head. He didn't need to say more. The younger ones of Wang Fan and You Shixiong lived in Qinzhou and Chang'an.
The imperial court has arrangements for the families of border generals and leading military officials. If they die in battle, their families will receive pensions. Otherwise...
Even so, the imperial court was still worried about them, otherwise why would they use Wang Zhongzheng to lead the army?
Zhang Zhi created a chess game in the world, and the soldiers and generals in the city were nothing more than chess pieces on the chess game. After all, he was just a chess piece.
Zhang Zhi sighed silently, his heart was a little hard, and he thought it was nothing. After seeing life and death, he did not take human life, nor his own life, seriously.
Wang Fan and You Shixiong were both silent in the room.
Zhang Zhi looked at Wang Fan and You Shixiong and said: "If you two hadn't saved your life, I would have died under Dang Xiang's sword today."
Wang Fan and You Shixiong both said: "Commander Jie doesn't dare."
Zhang Zhi lowered his head and smiled and said: "Now the city is in danger, and we are all going to die here, so there is no point in being charismatic."
Both of them were silent and their faces were gloomy.
Zhang Zhi said: "I have an unkind request today, and I would like to discuss it with you two."
Wang Zhen and You Shixiong raised their heads and said, "Commander Jie, just give me your orders."
Zhang Zhisi murmured to himself: "I have been an only child since I was a child. I have been studying since I was a child. I have no brothers or friends. My father treats me very well, but he doesn't say anything from the bottom of his heart. My third uncle can talk to me from the bottom of his heart.
, but he is very strict and supervises me very strictly in my homework."
At this point, Zhang Zhi chuckled and said: "After talking so much, you two have been a life-saving grace to me, and you are willing to accompany me to defend this lonely city, which shows that we share life and death, so I think... I want to talk to you two today.
Become sworn brothers!"
Wang Fan and You Shixiong were both stunned when they heard this.
Zhang Zhi said: "From now on, your parents will be my parents, and my parents are also your parents. I will follow the example of Liu Guanzhang in Taoyuan. I don't want to be born in the same year, the same month, and the same day, but I want to die in the same year, the same month, and the same day. What do you think?"
Wang Fan and You Shixiong looked at each other, and then they both bowed and said: "What a great commander, what kind of status is the commander-in-chief? He has become brothers with us. We two are really lucky."
Zhang Zhi was overjoyed. He immediately helped the two of them up and said with a smile, "That's great. In the chaos of the army, there is no need to talk about red tape."
"In terms of age, Uncle Jing is the elder brother, I am the second, and General Wang is the least. I feel sorry for you as my younger brother."
"Brother, third brother, please accept my worship!"
Seeing Zhang Zhi's sincerity, You Shixiong and Wang Fan couldn't help but be moved and hurriedly helped each other up.
Everyone bowed to each other.
You Shixiong said: "Commander, in today's battle, Dang Xianggu was also killed and wounded. If we go to steal the camp tonight, it will be miraculous."
Zhang Zhi said: "We have been stealing camps for days and have not been able to shake down the Western bandits. Why can we do it tonight?"
You Shixiong said: "Commander, firstly, tonight is a moonless night. Secondly, I have been watching at the top of the city for many days. The troops and horses in the northwest of Dangxiang have not been strong and the lineup is not uniform. Thirdly, after a day of fierce fighting, both armies are exhausted.
Dangxiang never expected that our army would have enough strength to fight."
Zhang Zhi said: "Okay, you might as well try one more time."
Wang Fan said: "In the past, we always sneaked into the camp in the middle of the night and retreated if we were victorious. Now we will do it again. First we will sneak attack in the middle of the night and then retreat without victory. This makes Dangxiang think that we are at our wits end. We will call it a night. If we attack again after half an hour, we will
It’s a surprise.”
Zhang Zhi and You Shixiong both called him this.
…
When Wang Fan returned to the army, he was a little excited in his heart. He knew that on ordinary days, he, a general, would never be able to sworn sworn sworn orders with Tangtang.
Today, he knew clearly that although Zhang Zhi had some intentions of trying to win people's hearts, he was willing to do so.
He is the brother of the envoy. From now on, the two of them can be confidant. Even when they meet Zhang Yue in the future, they can call themselves his nephew.
They say your parents are my parents, so your third uncle is also my third uncle.
Wang Fan is a man who does great things and is very ambitious.
Although the soldiers were fighting to the death during the day and the soldiers were extremely exhausted, in fact, the veterans below had scheming intentions.
During the siege, the soldiers were not united.
Since ancient times, the siege of a city has always been about three people but one missing. It seems to give you a way out, but in fact, it does not want to force the defenders to death. Therefore, many veterans have paid attention to the way out. Once Mingsha City is defeated, they will fight to get rid of the party members who have no chance.
Surrounded, he fled all the way to the city.
Although they have lost their organizational structure and the Dangxiang cavalry can chase and kill them along the way, they still have a glimmer of hope. They can even surrender to Dangxiang after escaping from the city.
Wang Fan knew very well what the soldiers below were thinking, but he would not stop anything. But today was different.
Tonight, Wang Fan summoned all his trusted generals. Seeing Wang Fan's solemn expression, the generals thought that the enemy was going to open the city to bring down the summer, or that he was leading his troops to open the door and escape privately.
The generals did not speak when they saw Wang Zhen summoned, but ordered the soldiers to take out all the wine in the collection and share it with everyone.
During the siege, there was still wine to drink, and all the generals drank heartily. The only exception was Wang Fan who refused to drink a sip. Instead, he took up his pen and wrote more than a dozen characters for tiger in succession. Wang Fan was proficient in calligraphy and ink, and he was the one who wrote the character tiger.
The best word.
After all the generals had finished drinking, he threw his pen and said: "Everyone, there is a fortune that is so great that I have to sacrifice my life in exchange for it. Are you willing to share it with me?"
When the generals heard this, they all became energetic.
"I just became brothers with Zhang Jinglue..."
The generals were dumbfounded when they heard this. They had never heard of a civil servant willing to sworn a sworn brother to a military general.
Wang Gan looked at the generals and said, "So you know..."
…
At this moment, Peng Sun, who was in the Xixia camp, said to Li Qing: "My envoy has promised to return to Lanzhou first, and we will talk about it after we return to the city. The officers and soldiers in the city will be safe."
Li Qingdao: "No matter what happens, Lanzhou and Huizhou must be returned together, otherwise my lord will not agree!"
Peng Sun said: "You also know that as a border official, it is not easy for me to achieve this step."
Li Qingdao: "That's your business."
While the two were talking, they suddenly heard shouts of murder outside.
Peng Sun smiled and said: "It seems that Mingsha may not be in your hands as you said."
Li Qing said expressionlessly: "You don't need to test me with words. Everyone can see whether I can win a mere Mingsha."
Peng Sun said: "Well, let me return overnight to report to Shen Jinglue."
Li Qing sneered and said, "I'm not afraid of you coming to see my truth."
Seeing Li Qing's confident look, Peng Sun knew that what he said was true and immediately stood up to leave.
After saying that, Peng Sun left the camp and took his entourage to a nearby high place to look. He saw shouts of killing everywhere under Mingsha City, and the Song sergeants held torches and set fire to the Xixia army.
Peng Sun couldn't help but applaud from the bottom of his heart. The most taboo thing about guarding the city was to guard the city in a dull manner.
The Song army fought hard for a day, but they were still able to attack at night, which shows that their morale is still good.
Peng Sun watched the Song army defeat several Xixia fortresses. All the followers who followed Peng Sun applauded the Song army from the bottom of their hearts, and even cheered for the Song army regardless of the Xixia soldiers around them.
The Xixia generals who were escorting them couldn't help but watch, and said with great disdain: "The Song army came to steal the camp again. Although there is something new this time, it is nothing more than that. This time there will be no return."
Sure enough, Xixia soldiers and horses came out to block the Song army's return.
The Xixia general in this famous quote had a bright face, but soon his face returned to normal.
It turned out that the two armies fought hard, and the party with ten times the strength could not do anything to the Song army, but they still ordered the enemy to fight back to the city from where they came!
Peng Sun couldn't help but sigh silently. Sure enough, no miracle happened in the end, but the fighting spirit of the Song army in the city to survive in the face of death inspired him.
"If Zhang Jinglue can survive this battle, this dynasty will have another famous general like Cao Bin!" Peng Sun said in his heart.
Thinking of this, Peng Sun no longer looked at Mingsha City, but quickly returned to the Huluchuan Camp.