Chapter 1057: Sinners of the State

Chapter 1057: Sinners of the State

After several days of marching, the main army of the Western Wei Dynasty led by Li Tai also arrived at Fenqu, and then temporarily stationed at Qiao Mountain south of Xiangling.

The reason why the army cannot march all the way is because the roads in Mengkeng and Qiaoshan to the south of Xiangling are rugged and difficult to navigate, making it inconvenient for the army, especially the baggage, to advance and retreat. The terrain is not much better than that of Emeiyuan in Fennan. If we cannot occupy certain favorable conditions in the upper reaches of the Fen River, once the army rushes in, it is very likely that it will be attacked head-on by the enemy.

The Western Wei Dynasty has never used this route as its main attack direction before, and there are also reasons for this. Even if Li Tai is calculated mentally and unintentionally, he still needs to arrange for Wei Xiaokuan and other people to advance into Pingyang first and gain a certain advantage before he leads the main force to follow up.

If the former division had not gained a relatively solid advantage in Pingyang, then no matter how unexpected his military plan was, in the end it would just be a stroll around the border areas of Northern Qi and then return without success, repeating Yuwentai's intentions. The mistake of the army's march into Hedong.

"Those who are of humble rank respectfully welcome the Lord!"

Outside the camp left by the former division brigade, a group of Fennan officials came up to greet Tang Gong who was approaching on horseback.

Arriving at the camp gate, Li Tai got off his horse and immediately asked, "What's the situation here?"

"Your Majesty, most of the enemy city garrison between Fenjiang and Fenjiang has been removed. South of Pingyang, only one city, Zhengping in Dongyongzhou, remains."

Lu Zhusheng, the son of Lu Shuhu, who served as the chief historian of Yubi, stepped forward and answered. As he spoke, he raised his hand and pointed to the west of Fenqu: "The territory of Zhengping County spans both sides of the Fen River. Wenxi, Quwo and other places are all in the south of Fen. It belongs to me. Zhengping City, where the government is located, is located to the north of Fen River and is occupied by the enemy, so it is designated as Dongyong Prefecture. Zong, the connection between rural areas..."

In this context of the division of the East and the West, not only the original administrative regions of states and counties in the Northern Wei Dynasty were artificially separated, but even people in the border areas would actively or passively join the two countries.

The Xue Xunyi that Lu Zhusheng mentioned was also from the Xue family, a wealthy family in Hedong. Compared with the large indigenous families who have lived in Hedong for generations, such as Pei and Liu, the Xue family in Hedong was a wealthy family who moved in later. In order to survive by obtaining local resources, their style was relatively strong. For example, Xue Xunyi relied on his strong rural power to rebel against the imperial court in his early years. In the context of the mutiny in the six towns, his power and official position became stronger and stronger.

Later, Gao Huan served as the governor of Jinzhou under Erzhu Rongba's house, and he called Xue Xunyi into his command. Later, Xue Xunyi followed Gao Huan and Xindu Jianyi, and naturally became a hero of the Eastern Wei Dynasty.

After the Battle of Shayuan last year, Gao Huan was defeated and returned, and the Western Wei Dynasty took advantage of the situation and occupied most of the territory east of Hedong. Even at Jinzhou Pingyang, Gao Huan once wanted to give up and concentrate his troops to defend Jinyang. It was Xue Xunyi who, relying on his strong rural influence in this area in his early years, personally led his troops to garrison Pingyang and saved Jinzhou from the counterattack of the Western Wei Dynasty.

Although the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi were more powerful than the Western Wei, in order to save the cost of governance, they also appointed local powerful people to serve in their hometowns, but it was not as common as in the Western Wei. This was also the case when Xue Wenshu, as the son of Xue Xunyi, served as the governor of Dongyong Prefecture and was based in Zhengping City.

"I was ordered by General Wei to secretly plot Zhengping City a few days ago. I originally made an appointment with the citizens of Zhengping City to attack the city and surrender. However, Xue Wenshu was too cautious and noticed the signs of troops gathering in Baibi City very early. The people of the city were sent to the countryside very early, leaving only more than 2,000 of their trusted followers to defend the city. As a result, the previous plan failed, and Zhengping City has not yet been conquered..."

A middle-aged man in his thirties walked out and lowered his head in shame.

The Northern Qi Dynasty has local snakes who can defend the border, and the Western Wei Dynasty also has people who can plot. This middle-aged man is named Pei Wenju, and he is from the Pei clan in Hedong. His father, Pei Sui, once served as the prefect of Zhengping and sat in Fenbei in the past years.

When Li Tai was preparing to attack the Northern Qi Dynasty along the Fen River, Wei Xiaokuan asked this person to be summoned to his residence. The work of infiltrating personnel into Fenbei, Pingyang and other places through trade was mostly presided over by Pei Wenju.

After Li Tai heard this, he smiled and said: "Everything depends on man and God. If everything fails, there is no need for Pei to blame himself for joining the army. The overall situation has been achieved. Even if Xue Wenshu is quick and wise, he will not be able to stop the flow of the general trend. The isolated city of Zhengping will not be able to stop my march. , If this person can realize the truth and return to justice, he will not lose a fortune and reward. If he still insists on doing evil, the day when the city is destroyed will be the time to be crowned!"

The geographical location of Zhengping City is relatively important because it happens to be on the north bank of Fenqu. If the Western Wei army followed Longmen and turned into the Fen River and went upstream, the road would be difficult to open unless Zhengping City was conquered.

However, this time the Western Wei army did not come from Longmen, but passed through the Yuncheng Basin in the hinterland of Hedong and marched north via Sushui. Therefore, the importance of Zhengping City cannot be reflected. The army can directly bypass its city in Pingyang. Gathering under the city.

In history, Emperor Wu Yuwen Yong destroyed Qi last week. He also directly bypassed Zhengping City in Dongyongzhou and successively attacked Pingyang and Jinyang. Even Ye City was captured, and Zhengping City was still holding on.

The Northern Qi guard Fu Fu at that time could be regarded as completing a legendary achievement. Of course, this was also because the Northern Zhou Dynasty had never regarded Zhengping City as a target that needed to be captured. Facts have also proved that whether this city can be taken down or not It doesn't matter if Northern Qi cannot be destroyed.

Of course, if Zhengping City can be captured, it is best to capture it. Because the armies of the two countries are expected to confront each other in Pingyang and its surrounding areas for a long time, in the long run, having Zhengping City in hand will be more conducive to controlling the Fenshui supply line.

Therefore, after Li Tai arrived at Qiaoshan Camp, he sent an order to Fenzhou Governor Han Guo, who had already entered the Fenbei area, to lead his army to encircle Zhengping City and strive to capture the city as soon as possible.

Soon after the army arrived at Qiaoshan, news came from the north. With the cooperation of Gao Le and He Ruodun, the forward division and brigade had successfully held the two important roads of Queshu Valley and Qianlijing. The Northern Qi army in Jinyang It is difficult to go south directly, so the army in the rear can safely go north.

"These two are really brave and brave, and they live up to their expectations!"

After Li Tai learned the news, he couldn't help but high-five and praise these two people.

In this battle, one of the most critical factors is whether the enemy's southward passage from Jinyang can be controlled. If it can, then the active advantage of the Western Wei army will be further expanded. If not, then the situation will become somewhat passive and it will be difficult to achieve the optimal results.

So Li Tai then ordered the large group of people to continue advancing, while he led his soldiers through Mengkeng and headed towards Pingyang.

At this time, outside Pingyang City, there was a long wall in the north and south, extending from the bank of Fen River to the east, and finally intersecting in front of Piyuan to the east of Pingyang City, tightly wrapping the entire city.

Nearly half a month has passed since the first enemy army appeared outside the city and circled the north of the city. During this period, although the soldiers and civilians in Jinzhou City have been continuously reinforcing the city defense, they have always been They have never left the city to fight once.

The garrison officers and soldiers in the city watched helplessly as more and more enemy troops arrived outside the city, and they leisurely built forts and long sieges. Although the enemy troops never launched an attack on the city, this kind of situation was like catching a turtle in a urn. The situation is becoming more and more obvious.

"Still no reinforcements?"

In the early morning, Wang Wecan of Changle climbed onto the tower again and asked in a tired tone. During the siege, this had become the question he asked most every day.

When the enemy troops first arrived, he did not have the courage to go out to fight. Now that the number of enemy troops outside the city has far exceeded the number of defenders, and there is also a solid and stable siege method, he has completely given up relying on his own ability. The idea of ​​lifting the siege pinned all hopes on reinforcements.

When he heard the negative answer from his general, Wei Can's face became even more ugly, and he couldn't help but cursed: "There are many arrogant and powerful generals in the country, who often boast that they are brave and invincible. Now that the country is facing a crisis, these madmen Where is it? I am the only one who can defend this huge country. Is this Qi clan’s land only for my family to enjoy?”

He has enjoyed the glory and wealth for half his life thanks to the influence of his parents. Today's words can be said to be the most forceful. The city has been besieged for so many days and there is no trace of reinforcements. He just feels that he is the only one in the whole world who is working hard to hold on and the safety of the country is in danger. It's all on his shoulders. Although he really didn't do much during this period, the heavy responsibility still made him breathless.

He inspected the city again, and when the sun began to fade in the morning, he planned to return to his residence to rest. However, at this moment, a series of long-lasting cheers suddenly sounded from the enemy camp outside the city. Wei Can was deeply frightened and asked quickly: "What happened?"

"Reporting to your Majesty, there are enemy troops coming from the south and south!"

The general on duty on the southern city wall hurried over and said with an ugly expression.

"How many more came again?"

When Wei Can heard this, his face became even more ugly.

After hearing the words, the general just said in a solemn voice: "Boundless, no beginning or end in sight..."

"Nonsense! How could Qiang thieves, Qiang thieves, be so powerful..."

Wei Can cursed and moved towards the south wall. When he saw the torrent of enemy troops coming towards him, his face suddenly turned pale and he slumped behind the wall.

When Zhencheng Xianyu Shirong came forward to help him, he held his wrist and said in a trembling voice: "Quickly, quickly arrange for the messenger to leave the city and swim across the river to report to Jinyang and Yedu that all three hundred thousand bandits have entered." Under my city, come to the rescue quickly... The thieves are so fierce that I cannot resist them. If the rescue is delayed, I will not be able to defeat the thieves! If the generals in charge of the country do not come to the rescue, they are all sinners!"