Chapter 1245: Fame is hard to last

Chapter 1245: Fame is hard to last

The Wei army was distributed among all the troops in Hebei. The Boling route was the fastest advance. The leader was Kaifu Yuan Jing'an, who led 3,000 elite soldiers. After leaving Yecheng, they came all the way north, gathering responses along the way. and the powerful tribes of Hebei who were willing to submit to the Wei army. When they arrived at Boling, the number of the team had expanded to seven or eight thousand people.

The reason why this team advanced so quickly was that, on the one hand, after the capture of Xindu City in Jizhou, there were no longer any fortified cities to block the road; on the other hand, the Wei army's strategy was appropriate, and it dealt with the counties along the way. The county recruits people well.

The chief general, Yuan Jing'an, had served in the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi dynasties in the past year. He had also served as Gao Huan's trusted governor for a time, and he had a relatively deep understanding of Hebei's personnel.

Many of the people accompanying the team had similar backgrounds. The eldest son, Cui Zhiping, was born in the Boling Cui family and was the eldest son of Li Tai's cousin Cui Qian. In the old years, Cui Qian followed He Basheng to various places, while Cui Zhiping was separated from his father. , stayed in Hebei, and it was not until a few years ago that I had the opportunity to follow Lu Shuhu and others to Kansai.

In addition, there are several members of the Li family who were born in Longxi, including Li Tai's cousin Li Song, Li Qianzhi's nephew Li Zhongying, etc. They all went to Guanzhong later, and Cui Hongdu, who was born in Sanweierlang. , Wei Shikang, Zheng Yi and others.

This lineup can be said to be very impressive. There are veteran generals like Yuan Jing'an, Cui Zhiping and others from the Guandong family who are familiar with the situation in Hebei, and a group of young men who are not afraid of tigers. They drove all the way and soon arrived at Boling.

"This time we were able to successfully enter Boling. It is a great contribution to Chang Shi and others to contact the local people and righteous people. The armies are lingering behind, but I am the only one who stands out. When the matter is finalized, you will also be listed in the list of great achievements!"

Yuan Jing'an was also quite happy that his team had achieved such excellent results. After entering Boling City, he smiled and praised Cui Zhiping and the others.

After Cui Zhiping heard this, he also smiled and said: "The people of Hebei have been in disgrace for a long time. The thieves have relied on their arrogant and powerful generals to exploit the countryside and embezzle people and goods. Now that they are in danger, everyone is protecting themselves. Fortunately, the Lord is benevolent and righteous. We have taken pity on you and sent someone to comfort the village. The villagers are eager for treatment, so they come here to help. We will not just take advantage of the situation, but we should not commit suicide and be arrogant! "

Li Song, who was traveling with him, also sighed and said: "Although our army is advancing rapidly today, the route we are traveling is not in a dangerous place, and we do not have the courage to occupy a powerful city. If we stop here and wait for the rear divisions to catch up, we will inevitably waste our time. The rapid advancement has also failed those Hebei martyrs who gathered crowds to vote for the purpose of making great achievements!"

Indeed, although they advanced very quickly, they did not experience any decent battles along the way and did not capture any important military strongholds. If you can't make any major achievements based on this current advantage, and wait until after the war to reward your merits, the rewards you can get from just running fast will probably be limited. After all, achievements such as marching into Boling mainly depended on the righteous response of local villagers.

"Yes, Yuan Kaifu! We should still create great achievements so that we can live up to the opportunity of our Lord sending envoys and others to advance here! There are still tens of thousands of troops in Yecheng who are waiting for their arrival, but so far they have achieved nothing. , it is inevitable to be ridiculed afterwards.”

Cui Hongdu and other three guardsmen were even more fearless, looking forward to a great battle and great achievements.

Affected by this optimistic atmosphere, Yuan Jing'an also smiled and said: "From Boling to the east is Yingzhou, and to the west is Dingzhou. They are all the great cities of Qi State. As you can see, From which side should we seek?”

Everyone along the way also had an understanding of the enemy's situation. The person in charge of Yingzhou was Lou Dingyuan, King of Linhuai in the Northern Qi Dynasty. He was greedy and incompetent. He was only used because of his status as a relative. After taking office in Yingzhou, he neglected state affairs and only focused on hoarding. He had already caused public resentment in Yingzhou. Now that the whole of Hebei is in chaos, the situation in Yingzhou will inevitably become even more chaotic.

However, the Nan'an King Gao Sihao of the Northern Qi clan who was in charge of Dingzhou was relatively shrewd and brave. In addition, Dingzhou was originally the base camp of Xianbei in the six states, so his military strength must not be weak, making it a more difficult target.

After some analysis and comparison, attacking Yingzhou seems to be a better choice. However, Yingzhou is a bit deviated from the current advancing route of the army. Their main purpose is to clear the obstacles on the road from Yedu to Jingxing. The rush to Bolingdu is already a bit beyond this range. If they go to Yingzhou again It deviated even further. Before the Northern Qi armed forces in Jingxing and Jinyang were eliminated, there were some extraneous problems.

Of course, if Yingzhou can be successfully captured, it can be used to block the passage of the Northern Qi army from Youzhou and other places to go south for rescue, which does not mean it is meaningless. However, Dingzhou and Yingzhou are not far apart, and they also have considerable military strength. If they rescue Yingzhou when they attack Yingzhou, they will undoubtedly fall into the dilemma of being attacked from both sides.

If they choose to attack Dingzhou, their strength alone may be insufficient. Moreover, Dingzhou is not far from Jingxing, and the Northern Qi garrison at Jingxing may not let them attack Dingzhou without adding reinforcements.

Although it was very smooth to advance all the way before, it is more difficult to continue to advance in any direction. After discussing with his subordinates, Yuan Jingan decided not to act rashly for the time being. He continued to recruit local volunteers who responded to the Wei army to strengthen his team, and on the other hand, he passed information to the rear divisions and brigade. If the rear divisions and brigade could rush up in time, If you cooperate with them, further advancement will undoubtedly be much smoother.

Just when Yuan Jing'an decided to temporarily stop his advance, another incident occurred. Someone from Dingzhou wrote to the army, expressing his willingness to surrender to the Wei army and conspiring in the city to respond to the uprising, cooperating with the Wei army to seize Dingzhou.

After receiving this letter, Yuan Jing'an was overjoyed, but he did not believe it too much. Instead, he summoned Cui Zhiping and others to discuss whether the Zhaojun Li family who wrote to him could be trusted.

The relationship between the Guandong clans was complicated, and they all had relatives who were either far or near. This might not be enough to unite them into an inseparable whole, but communication between them was naturally much more efficient than others.

For example, Li Xiaozhen of the Zhaojun Li family who wrote to him this time, his aunt married Zheng Daoyong of the Xingyang Zheng family, the mother of Zheng Yi. In other words, Zheng Yi and Li Xiaozhen were cousins.

The mother of another Li Zuqin was Cui Qian's sister and also Li Tai's cousin. Li Zuqin and Cui Qian's son Cui Zhiping were also cousins. When Cui Zhiping was separated from his father, he once stayed at the Zhaojun Li family's house. The relationship between them was naturally close.

Compared with other Guandong clans, the Zhaojun Li family was in a better situation in the Northern Qi Dynasty. For example, Li Zuqin's sister Li Zu'e was the empress of Emperor Wenxiang Gao Yang, and other Northern Qi clans also married into the Zhaojun Li family. Moreover, the Zhaojun Li family had much more wealth than other clans. When Gao Huan entered Hebei, Li Yuanzhong of the Zhaojun Li family helped him a lot.

The other clans were more or less slow to react and did not cooperate well. For example, Cui Xuanyou's father Cui Xiaofen was killed by Gao Huan in anger after Emperor Xiaowu fled west.

Although the Western Wei has swept across Hebei, the overall situation cannot be said to be settled before the armed forces in Jinyang are resolved. Therefore, the enthusiasm of the Zhaojun Li family to surrender to the Wei army is not high as a whole. In Zhaojun, where the Li family's ancestral home is located, only some local tyrants surrendered. Even when the Wei army entered Zhaojun, some swords were used, and He Ruodun personally led the army to advance.

Since Li Xiaozhen and others intended to surrender, they did not stay in the village to welcome the king's army, but moved to Dingzhou City, which is somewhat suspicious. However, the reason was also stated in his letter. The main reason was that Gao Sihao, the King of Nan'an who guarded Dingzhou, was too domineering and cruel. He suppressed and persecuted them many times, forcing them to find ways to save themselves and then surrender to Wei.

This reason is reasonable. After all, the Wei army had a precedent of accepting surrenders and was very successful before. For example, Lu Zhengshan of the Fanyang Lu family directly sold his son-in-law in exchange for tolerance and protection. Li Xiaozhen and others were oppressed by Gao Sihao, and now the Wei army was powerful in Hebei, so it was natural for them to choose to surrender.

In any case, this was always a rare opportunity. Yuan Jing'an and others were originally determined to create greater merits, so they naturally did not want to miss it. However, Dingzhou was the base camp of the Xianbei in the six states. They were also a little worried that Li Xiaozhen and others' power and influence in Dingzhou were too weak to make a strong response, so they only maintained a positive attitude to contact them, but did not take direct action.

The reply letter sent by the Wei army to Dingzhou City was naturally delivered to Gao Sihao's hands as soon as possible. Seeing that the fish had been hooked, Gao Sihao was also very excited. While ordering Li Xiaozhen and others to continue to strengthen contact, he also reported the relevant situation to Jingxing, hoping that Duan Shao could cooperate.

Although Duan Shao was guarding Jingxing and waiting for the main force of the Wei army to arrive, he also hoped to defeat the rising momentum of the Wei army in Hebei through a victory, so he assigned Gao Changgong a thousand elite soldiers to cooperate with Gao Sihao.

In order to make merit and protect themselves, Li Xiaozhen and others naturally tried their best to lure this Wei army into the trap, and expressed their willingness to receive a small team of Wei army to enter Dingzhou City, on the one hand to prove that they had a certain control over Dingzhou’s defense, and on the other hand to increase their strength when they started the rebellion.

After communicating to this point, Yuan Jingan and others had fewer doubts in their hearts, and they were also worried that if they hesitated again, bad changes might occur, so they also began to gather people and move towards Dingzhou City. Cui Zhiping even took the initiative to volunteer, hoping to go to Dingzhou City for internal and external contacts.

However, there are many powerful troops in Boling in the team, and Cui Zhiping is still needed to communicate, so another cousin Zheng Yi was selected to go to Dingzhou City to join Li Xiaozhen and others.

Zheng Yi was not timid. With sufficient communication, he immediately led dozens of elite soldiers to sneak into Dingzhou City. With the cooperation of Dingzhou, the group successfully entered Dingzhou City and met Li Xiaozhen, Li Zuqin and others.

Zheng Daoyong followed Emperor Xiaowu into Guanzhong in his early years. Zheng Yi was also born in Guanzhong. Naturally, he was not very familiar with Li Xiaozhen, Li Zuqin and other cousins. After meeting, he just had a businesslike attitude and encouraged them, saying: "The King of Tang came to attack this time to completely destroy the bandits. It is really gratifying that cousins ​​are not afraid of the bandits in front of them and dare to return to the right path. After this success, when the expeditionary army returns, cousins ​​will follow the army to the court to receive rewards. I will first report to my mother in a letter. My mother must be very happy to hear this!"

"Sure!"

Li Xiaozhen and others dealt with Zheng Yi, and then took him to visit the camp that Gao Sihao specially opened to them in Dingzhou City to show that their power in the city was not weak. They urged Zheng Yi again and again: "Cousin, since When you see the personnel forces we have gathered in the city, send a message to Yuan Kaifu to ask him to act quickly! King Nan'an in the city is smart and capable, and if the matter continues to be delayed, I'm afraid it will be discovered!"

After Zheng Yi heard this, he did not doubt his presence. When he arranged for his fellow soldiers to report their knowledge to Yuan Jing'an, who was leading his army, he stayed behind to prepare for cooperation.

With the last reminder letter sent, Li Xiaozhen and others no longer needed to cover up. When their true colors were exposed, they directly captured Zheng Yi, his cheap cousin, and sent him to the state capital. Only then did Zheng Yi realize that this was a trap, but now it was too late to wake up. All he could do was to yell at Li Xiaozhen and others to vent his anger.

After Yuan Jingan and others received the message from Zheng Yi, they were even more overjoyed. They ordered the march to be accelerated, but they had no idea that a huge trap was waiting for them ahead!

After everyone arrived outside Dingzhou City, they saw from a distance that the defense layout outside Dingzhou City was indeed no different from what Li Xiaozhen and others said, so Yuan Jing'an arranged for a group of Hebei powerful men to camp in the east of Dingzhou City. Build siege engines to stage a feint attack.

As for himself, he hid in the camp with his elite troops to recharge their batteries, and on the appointed day, he led his troops to the west gate of Dingzhou City overnight. But when he came here to raise a fire as a signal, he received no response from the city. This inevitably made Yuan Jing'an wonder whether something had happened in the city.

He waited patiently for a while, and finally waited until the city gate opened slightly, and the firelight transmitting the message was revealed on the top of the city. Only then did his tense heartstrings relax, and he whispered: "Everyone cheer up, and try to hurry up after entering the city." Fight quickly and dig out the stubborn rebel forces. If everything goes well, you may not miss the early morning meal!"

After hearing this, all the officers and soldiers also smiled. The previous success had greatly reduced their vigilance. Now they all looked forward to quickly capturing the city and achieving greater success, so they took advantage of the cover of night and headed towards Dingding. Touch it at the gate of the state city.

However, when the team arrived at the city and the front troops had already entered part of the city, a sudden change occurred. Fire suddenly shone brightly on top of the city, and many fully armed Qi soldiers suddenly appeared, accompanied by loud tones. He sneered loudly and exaggeratedly: "The Qiang thieves have fallen into the trap, and they should die here!"

"No, get back!"

Yuan Jing'an was shocked when he saw this, and hurriedly ordered his troops to retreat. However, at this time, arrows poured down from the top of the city like a heavy rain, and wood and rocks were also smashed down, directly hitting the Wei army gathered in front of the city gate. The formation was destroyed. At the same time, many heavily armed Qi soldiers also poured out of the city, charging towards the Wei soldiers who had been deceived into the city.

"Don't panic, the bandit army has no courage to defeat me, so they come here to use treachery and deception! Form a strict formation, fight and retreat at the same time, you can evacuate calmly!"

Cui Hongdu is not old, but he is very courageous. He was the first to enter the city and was ready to kill him. He had already grasped the big battle ax in his mouth. At this time, he saw the enemies coming like a tide, and his face was filled with confusion. Without fear, when the enemy rushed forward, he swung his battle ax to strike down, directly blocking the momentum of the enemy's attack in front of him, and then slowly retreated while swinging the ax to kill the enemy.

On the top of the city, some soldiers of the Qi army pushed up Zheng Yi and others who had been captured before entering the city. They pointed at them and shouted loudly at the officers and soldiers of the Wei army who were already in chaos below the city: "The Qiang thieves are rampant and have repeatedly invaded our country. It is really not a pity to die! Now my lord, the King of Nan'an, has used a clever trick to lure you into this place of death. You must surrender quickly, otherwise it will be like this!"

After saying that, the sword fell from the top of the city. Zheng Yi and dozens of other people were beheaded at the top of the city, and the gushing blood poured down from the top of the city.

"The east thief deserves to die!"

The officers and soldiers of the Wei army below the city were already a little panicked, but when they saw this scene, they all had their eyes cracked and roared with rage. They no longer paid attention to the coordination of the formation, and headed towards the ambush troops pouring out from everywhere outside the city. Kill.

Although the Qi army first deceived the Wei army into a trap and gained a great advantage, as the blood and anger of the Wei army soldiers were aroused, the fighting power they unleashed was particularly astonishing. Some of the encirclements were relatively weak. It was actually torn apart by the Wei army soldiers.

However, due to the lack of a unified and effective command, the Wei army did not take the opportunity to break out and move and return to the camp in the east of the city. Instead, they stayed and continued to fight with the Qi army's ambush in the hope of rescuing more Paoze who were trapped in a bitter battle.

The sound of galloping horses suddenly sounded in the night. Yuan Jing'an, who was fighting and wandering in the battle formation and had gathered some soldiers, suddenly changed his face and shouted loudly: "Don't be obsessed with fighting, don't be obsessed with fighting, get out of the battle quickly, Return to the camp!”

It was the dawn of dawn. Once the enemy cavalry rushed into the already chaotic battle formation, these soldiers might be left here. Yuan Jing'an knew that now was not the time to vent his anger and hatred. The most important thing was to get out of the dangerous situation quickly.

"Don't run away from the thieves, kill all these Qiang thieves and leave no one behind!"

Nan'an King Gao Sihao led his cavalry troops out of the city gates elsewhere, and then joined the battle here. He waved a long horse in his hand and howled fiercely from his mouth.

At this time, the camp to the east of Dingzhou City was also attacked by the Qi army. Since Yuan Jing'an thought that he would be able to enter the city soon, the camp was not well established, and most of the people in the camp were The powerful troops from all sides in Hebei, who were not well-trained elite soldiers, were suddenly attacked, and chaos quickly spread.

After a fierce battle, Yuan Jing'an led his troops to break out of the enemy's siege and reunited with hundreds of troops from the remaining camp who came to support them in the south of Dingzhou City. The two troops combined only had less than a thousand people. The Hebei natives in the camp had already been attacked and dispersed, and it was difficult to restrain and assemble.

"Hurry up, get on your horse, evacuate the battlefield, join the rear divisions, and come back for revenge!"

Yuan Jing'an saw that the soldiers looked tired and there were many wounded, but the enemy cavalry was threatening them, so he ordered again, while the fleeing Hebei Xiangqu were still distracting the enemy's attention, prepare to Evacuate the battlefield first.

Because the camp was attacked and the horses fled in panic, many soldiers had no choice but to leave the battlefield with two men and one horse as soon as possible before making other plans. Since thousands of Hebei Xiangqu in the south of Dingzhou City fled in panic, and the defenders in Dingzhou City did not have sufficient strength, they did not build an encirclement in time. They still allowed this group of more than a thousand people to rush out of the battlefield and move to the south. .

But before they could escape far, another Qi army's elite cavalry appeared in the wilderness. Gao Changgong, who had been waiting to intercept the Wei army's retreat, led his troops to rush out and charged straight towards this defeated Wei army. There were many Wei soldiers. After seeing this scene, a cry of sorrow came out of his mouth.

"Those who can still fight must dismount quickly and form formations at the river bend. The wounded continue to flee south! Report to the Lord that Yuan Jing'an carelessly underestimated the enemy, resulting in such a defeat. It is an insult to the military's power. The only way to apologize is to fight to the death!"

Seeing that it was difficult to evacuate, Yuan Jing'an immediately got off his horse. Riding with him was Cui Hongdu, who was seriously injured even though he broke out of the city.

Cui Hongdu lay on the horse and reached out his hand to grab Yuan Jing'an, but Yuan Jing'an slapped his hand away. He immediately laughed and scolded: "You brave man, don't be like this! A certain person came in and out of the customs in the old year. Xi, who was ignorant of loyalty, later came to Jiuqu City to be loyal to the Lord, and sacrificed his integrity to survive. He was deeply trusted by the Lord and used him in many ways. However, he regretted that his blessings were shallow and he failed to follow the Lord to create a prosperous world. How can we continue to show off our ugly behavior? We will fight to the death here today. After you return, you must remember to avenge our dead soldiers in the future!"

Cui Hongdu's eyes were full of blood and tears after hearing this, and he said no more. He reluctantly raised his fist and hit his forehead hard, and then hugged the horse's neck tightly. Yuan Jing'an slapped the horse's butt hard with the back of his knife, driving it to gallop away. He then turned around and shot at Gao Changgong and his entourage who were approaching rapidly.

Gao Changgong was originally brave and good at fighting, and was carefully trained by Duan Shao. At this time, he led a group of elite cavalry to wait for work. It was natural to surround and kill the defeated Wei army soldiers who had fled here. He quickly killed the Wei army sergeants who remained on the spot. Everything is scattered.

However, due to the vigorous shooting of Yuan Jing'an and his soldiers, there were some casualties among the Qi army. This naturally made Gao Changgong furious, and he tried to assassinate Yuan Jing'an several times.

Yuan Jing'an is not a weakling either. In his early years, when Gao Huan dominated the palace and there were many brave generals, he was able to stand out and serve as a trusted governor. At this time, he was determined to die, and he even used his exquisite shooting skills to the extreme, blocking Gao Changgong several times. At the same time, he also accidentally shot and killed other Qi army knights.

When he shot an arrow, he touched Hu Lu behind his waist but found nothing. His expression suddenly froze. At this time, Gao Changgongfu came to kill again with a spear. Yuan Jing'an threw away the bow in his hand and laughed. Said: "Come and help Er Shuzi become famous. Unfortunately, fame doesn't last long..."