Chapter 89: Fighting in the Northwest (2)

The August sunlight shone almost directly onto the streets and alleys of Jingzhou, making the whole city shiny and a little dazzling. All the dirty and broken ones are exposed to the sun.

Every household in the city hung green gauze and white flowers to commemorate the dead, and a thick smoke of burning inferior spices floating in the air. Countless elderly women and children sat at the door, staring at the sergeants of the Zhou army entering the city with empty eyes.

Hou Dayong rode his horse to the street. Although there were thousands of soldiers behind him, he still unconsciously felt a murderous aura in Jingzhou City. "Super Yin Qi" was the first feeling that Jingzhou City gave him in the sun. Hou Dayong shrank his body, as if he tightened his body to resist the coldness that was everywhere in the city.

Hou Dayong turned around and asked Han Lun, the troupe envoy around him: "Every family in the city has funerals? Where did the man go?" Hou Dayong actually had an answer in his heart, but he couldn't help but want to ask clearly.

Han Lun had a smile on his face, but after hearing this, he also smiled and said, "If it weren't for the thousands of Qingzhou soldiers gathering a lot of yang energy here, Jingzhou City would have become a ghost city. After the Dangxiang Army defeated the Jingzhou Army, the Jingzhou Army fled in all directions. In order to ensure the safety of the city, the Dangxiang Army launched a large-scale killing in the city. In Jingzhou City, except for a few men who hid in the cellar or mezzanine, most of the men were killed. In July, the Dangxiang people dragged all their bodies to the back mountain in the south of the city and dug many large pits to bury them. Later, the Dangxiang people thought it was troublesome to transport the bodies, so they took the caught people to the back mountain to kill. During that period, the families living in the south of the city heard screams every day. Now, no one dared to live in the south of the city, and the south of the city has become a dead city."

Hou Dayong's heart suddenly sank. He said to Wang Yanchao and Shi Ying in an unquestionable tone: "Let's go directly to the south of the city and see the cemetery in the back mountain."

When Han Lun heard that Hou Dayong was going to the cemetery, he hurriedly said, "The soldiers walked all morning and everyone was hungry. It would not be too late to go to the back mountain after eating." Han Lun just heard that there was a cemetery in the back mountain in the south of the city. He was afraid of bad luck and never visited it once.

Hou Dayong stared at Han Lun viciously, and Han Lun's eyes gradually became flustered. Hou Dayong then withdrew his eyes and said firmly: "Go to the back mountain in the south of the city immediately."

The Five Dynasties basically inherited the Tang system. The Jiedushi often led several towns, including land, people, financial resources, and armored soldiers. The military positions of the Jiedushi directly under the army and civil servants in the envoy's office were appointed by themselves. The civil servants specified include marching Sima, deputy envoy, judge, supervisor, chief secretary, etc. Among them, those who hold important positions can also perform the power of the Jiedushi. Those who are second-class can be appointed to serve as prefectures and counties.

Whenever the central government had a weaker power, the Jiedushi became a substantially independent kingdom. After the demise of the Tang Dynasty, Jiedushi in various places became emperors, such as Zhu Wen, the general of Huang Chao, was named Xuanwu Jiedushi. He later deposed Emperor Ai of Tang and established the Liang Dynasty; Liu Shouguang, the governor of Youzhou, called himself the emperor. The country was named Dayan; Shi Jingtang, Guo Wei, Wang Jian, Ma Yin, and Yang Xingmi all claimed to be emperors in the position of Jiedushi. After Chai Rong became emperor, after a series of rectifications, the strength of the central government increased greatly. Chai Rong changed the situation of Jiedushi's "long-term tenure and long-term command of the army" in the late Tang Dynasty. He often changed the power of the Jiedushi, and the power of the Jiedushi was gradually restricted.

While Hou Dayong was waiting for the door to open outside Qingzhou City, Han Lun was reluctant to show up. For some reason, this scene suddenly reminded Hou Dayong of the Battle of Bagongyuan.

The Battle of Bagongyuan was the most important battle in the Gaoping War. At that time, Fan Aineng, commander of the guards and horse army, and He Hui, commander of the infantry, commander of the army, commander of the army. Shortly after the battle started, the right wing army surrendered under Fan Aineng and He Hui. It almost wiped out Chai Rong's entire army. The most unacceptable thing was that Fan Aineng and He Hui surrendered to the enemy under Chai Rong's nose.

Han Lun was quite considerate, but his attitude was lukewarm, which made Hou Dayong feel alert. On the battlefield in the northwest, most of the generals he was about to control were the governors who were in charge of the side. If he could not command freely, it would be difficult to fight the war in the northwest. Therefore, in order to suppress Han Long, Hou Dayong was quite tough in front of him.

The mountain in the south of the city is not high and very gentle. The woods are sparse and there are many old tombstones in the woods. This is originally a cemetery of Jingzhou people.

Hou Dayong followed the stone stairs, which were not wide. The soldiers of the Bianzhou Army, the soldiers of the Shuixing Army and Hou Dayong's personal guards were all standing at the foot of the mountain waiting. They did not follow up. Only military officers and staff above the military lieutenants and military staff followed Hou Dayong up the mountain.

Looking up from the foot of the mountain, you can see the newly established tombstone everywhere. When you climb up a small slope, you will see three men, a middle-aged man and two teenagers, digging and draining water for a new cemetery. Some newly planted saplings still drooped their heads. The three of them looked at a group of armored generals going to the back mountain, and were a little surprised, and soon they buried their heads in their heads.

Hou Dayong walked to the middle-aged man and asked, "Who are you?"

The middle-aged man waved the rake in his hand, and did not look up, saying, "I? I am a garden guardian. The mountain is full of grievances. Someone must come to see him."

“How many people are buried here?”

"Jingzhou City is Zhongzhou, with 27,000 households. All the men were killed. No one knows how many people there are. There are pits all over the mountains and fields, and there are countless people in each pit." The middle-aged man raised his head, looked at the generals and schools with bright armor, shook his head and said, "It's late, you're late, Jingzhou City is over."

When Hou Dayong heard that he spoke extraordinaryly and was not like an ordinary person, he was about to ask again, when a military captain in the Bianzhou behind him suddenly said, "Zhu Tianya joins the army, this is the recruitment of the envoys in the northwest of Xiong's camp, and Hou Dayong, the governor of Xiongsheng Army."

The middle-aged man looked up at the speaker, looked at Hou Dayong again, and sighed: "Zhu Tianya is dead, and only Zhu Shoushan, a garden guard here." After saying that, he walked straight away and went to the other side of the cemetery to dig a trench.

New tombs on the top of the mountain were particularly dazzling under the sun. Suddenly, several "rattle" sounded on the top of the mountain, making people sad and echoing in the mountains.

Hou Dayong approached the simple wooden sign, which had seven words engraved on it: The tomb of four thousand Jingzhou people. The first three of these characters were very neat, and the last four characters became more and more cursive. The last character "tomb" was already cursive. It was obvious that the person who wrote the tomb text tried his best to control his mood, but when he wrote the last few words, he was already angry.

Hou Dayong did not say anything, and slowly knelt in front of the cemetery. Qian Xiangnan, Chen Meng and others reacted first and quickly knelt behind Hou Dayong. Then, Wang Yanchao and Shi Ying looked at each other. Wang Yanchao and Shi Ying nodded at the same time, and the two of them also knelt down. Seeing that the three of them knelt down, Han Lun did not expect Hou Dayong to kneel down. Seeing that everyone was kneeling down, although they were unwilling, they still knelt down.

The middle-aged man didn't seem to have expected these high-ranking officials to kneel down suddenly. He held the rake, was stunned for a while, and continued to dig a trenches.

Although Han Lun served as the position of the regiment training envoy, he was a very rare regiment training envoy who was not a military general in the Great Zhou Dynasty. He never had sex with the soldiers. He had delicious food and drink every day. He had several circles of fat on his abdomen and knelt for a while. He felt sore back and forth. Han Lun led his troops to reinforce Jingzhou this time. He was so lucky that he captured Jingzhou City and burned the Dangxiang military camp without any injuries. When the Qingzhou cavalry arrived at the small hill outside Qiaojiabao, the Bianzhou army and the Dangxiang army were exhausted. Whoever had reinforcements on both sides could win, the Qingzhou cavalry appeared just right. These three contributions were easily obtained by the Qingzhou army. However, the Jingzhou army, which really fought hard with the Dangxiang army, the Bianzhou army and the Fengxiang army had no credit for making any contribution.

When Han Lun knelt down and sweated heavily, Hou Dayong stood up. He said to the generals: "Dangxiang broke through Jingzhou City and killed a lot. Every family in Jingzhou City has funerals. We are soldiers of the Great Zhou, so we cannot keep all the safety of the area and are ashamed." At this point, Hou Dayong paused for a moment, drew out a carved feathered arrow, broke it fiercely, and shouted loudly: "I will not destroy Dangxiang. I will not return home. If I violate the oath, there will be such an arrow."

After the generals and school arrived at the back mountain in the south of the city, they were shocked by Dangxiang's cruelty. After hearing Hou Dayong shouting "I will never return home if I do not destroy Dangxiang, but if I do not return home if I do not destroy the oath, I will have such an arrow." They took out an arrow and broke it, and then said: "I do not return home if I do not destroy the oath, but if I do not, I will have such an arrow."

After going down the back mountain, Han Lun looked at Hou Dayong with a gray face and wanted to invite him to the banquet several times, but he didn't say anything. When he was about to break up, Han Lun invited Hou Dayong to the banquet again. Hou Dayong said lightly: "The team training is good, but can you continue to eat now?"

The Bianzhou Army and the Yongxing Army were both stationed at the Jingzhou Army camp in the east of the city, and the Qingzhou Army returned to another military camp in the north of the city. Although Han Lun’s official position was not high, he was influenced by the commander of the son Guards and Infantry Commander Han Lingkun. Four years ago, he became a regiment commander from the sixth rank of Xuzhou. From then on, he was considered a figure. Since Han Lingkun was Chai Rong’s confidant general, the officials from the upper, lower, left and right gave Han Lun three points of weakness. In recent years, he has been

Qingzhou always speaks in words and lives a life of freedom. This time, the Qingzhou army made great contributions to the rescue of Jingzhou. Han Lun was proud and hoped that as soon as the war ended, he would also get a military governor to come to Dangdang. After Hou Dayong and his party arrived at the city gate, he deliberately delayed the time, mainly to test the character of the new commander. Hou Dayong did not say a word about the city gate, but on the back mountain in the south of the city, he gave him a nail that was neither soft nor hard.

Han Lun returned to the mansion where he lived angrily. After the Qingzhou army entered the city, Han Lun felt that the yamen was dilapidated and was unwilling to enter the yamen. He saw that Bai Chongzan's underworld was not bad, and the Dangxiang people who occupied the Bai Mansion ran away in a hurry and did not destroy the Bai Mansion. At this time, Bai Chongzan had already died in battle. His family ran away or were killed after the Dangxiang people entered the city. The mansion was empty, so Han Lun moved into the Bai Mansion without hesitation.

Han Lun called the concubine who was following the army. He poured a glass of wine, drank it all, and said, "I can't afford to mess with me, I can afford to hide. I will go back to Qingzhou tomorrow and I won't play with you."

The concubine was newly acquired by him in Gyeongju. She looks average and has a very good figure. The places where she should be concave and the places where she should be convex, making Han Lun even more rare. She is very good at acting cute and fascinated by Han Lun. The concubine raised her fingers of orchids and drank wine, and said tremblingly: "General, I will pour you another cup."

Han Lun held the concubine, put it on his thigh, and said, "Little baby, we will go back to Qingzhou tomorrow, and I will go hiking with you."

The concubine smiled and said, "There is no mountain in Qingzhou City." Then she woke up and covered her mouth and smiled charmingly, "The general is good or bad." After laughing, she put it into Han Lun's arms and enjoyed Han Lun's rubbing comfortably.

The Jingzhou Yamen was occupied by the Dangxiang people, just like the Bai Mansion. The Dangxiang people fled in a hurry and did not destroy the Yamen. However, the Yamen was messy and covered with filth.

The Black Eagle Army guards set up a table in the backyard of the yamen. They cut some old beef and placed two bowls of old wine. The miserable scenery of the back mountain in the south of the city affected the mood of Hou Dayong and Shi Ying. The two were speechless and ate meat and drank wine silently.

Hou Dayong and Shi Ying were already quite familiar with Daliang all the way. Although Shi Ying's official position was small, his position was very important, especially Hou Dayong had to freely command various towns. Shi Ying was a very critical figure. Therefore, Hou Dayong was instilling his strategic plan in him from Daliang to Jingzhou, and Shi Ying's ears were called out. Shi Ying was in the Privy Council, and he was familiar with the military situation in the Dazhou area and the situation of important generals in the Dazhou Dynasty.

It is reported that Hou Dayong led the Black Eagle Army from Cangzhou to quelling the rebellion, purging the war, seizing Fengzhou to defeating Tubo and Uighurs, and he had a lot of combat in the past two years. He knew very well how outstanding his military achievements were. When Shi Ying and Hou Dayong met, they had a sense of admiration. Hou Dayong tried his best to indoctrinate, from another perspective. He also taught Shi Ying a strategic lesson for more than half a month. Shi Ying subtly understood and slowly recognized Hou Dayong's ideas.

The two of them ate for a while, Shi Ying said, "I am the minister of the imperial edict. Although Li Hui, the governor of the prefecture, Wang Yanchao, the governor of Yongxing Army, and Han Lun, the governor of the Qingzhou Tuanlian, and Han Lun, also knew His Majesty's order, there were also four people, including Wang Jing, the governor of Fengxiang, Feng Jiye, the governor of Lingzhou, Tian Jing, and the governor of Fuzhou, Yuan Feng, and Yuan Feng, the governor of Yanzhou. I did not see it. When I left the capital, Your Majesty ordered me to summon all the governors and announce the imperial edict in public."

After hearing this, Hou Dayong put down his wine glass and sighed: "This is Your Majesty's support for me. I have the self-knowledge. Compared with these Jiedushi, I have the least qualifications. Your Majesty is worried that I will not be convinced and will affect the war in the northwest. However, it is indeed necessary to call the Jiedushi to Jingzhou. The war in the northwest. According to my opinion, it cannot be solved in one day. There are still many problems that must be unified. Otherwise, each of them will be easily defeated by the Dangxiang Army. The defeat of the Fengxiang Army is a best example. Today is August 5th, and I suggest this meeting in Jingzhou on August 15th."

Shi Ying nodded and said, "The farthest is Feng Jiye, the governor of Lingzhou. The rest of the troops can reach Jingzhou in about ten days."

Hou Dayong was most concerned about the local issue of Fang Dangming's 30,000 troops, saying: "Now the Dangxiang Army in Wuliuguan was besieged by heavy troops from various towns, they could only hide in Wuliuguan. The most worried place was the Dangxiang Army in Xihuizhou. Xihuizhou was only one day away from Lingzhou. Fang Dangming was eyeing him, which was the biggest threat to the northwest front line at present. I have ordered the main force of the Black Diao Army to go from Yizhou to Jingzhou. After the main force of the Black Diao Army arrived in Jingzhou, the Qingzhou Army returned to Qingzhou to strengthen its response to Lingzhou."

Shi Ying still did not pay as much attention to Fang Dangming as Hou Dayong. When he heard that the main force of the Black Diao Army was going north, he said: "After the main force of the Black Diao Army went north, the strength of Qin, Feng and other states was greatly reduced. If the Dangxiang Army headed south from Yizhou, how should we deal with it?"

Hou Dayong said confidently: "Don't worry, I have already arranged it. After the main force of the Black Eagle Army left, the commander of the Chengzhou Infantry Army Wang Jiang led 2,000 infantry to defend Yizhou, and the commander of the Jiezhou Infantry Army Chen Renyi led 2,000 infantry to guard Qinzhou. In addition, the temporary recruitment of 5,000 united troops were used to station in Jiezhou and Fengzhou to strengthen the defense of Feng, Cheng, Jie, and Qinzhou, and not give the Dangxiang Army an opportunity to take advantage of it."

After lunch with Shiying, Hou Dayong brought Chen Meng and ten personal guards to the city wall. He carefully checked the defense status of the Qingzhou army. The equipment was good for defending the city, but the Qingzhou army soldiers were quite casual.

On August 6, 2013, Hou Dayong woke up while singing several birds. The golden sunlight shot into Hou Dayong's dormitory from the window frame. Hou Dayong touched his head, which was still a little painful, and walked into the backyard of the yamen in a daze. Chen Meng sat on the stone bench in a short suit, sweating slightly on his strong body. His morning exercise was over.

Hou Dayong slapped his head and said to Chen Meng: "I drank a lot last night, but I missed my morning exercise. You are younger and you can still get up on time."

Chen Meng smiled embarrassedly and said, "I just got up too. The weather is hot. After a while, I will sweat a lot."

Hou Dayong went to the back mountain of the south of the city to see several large tombs yesterday morning, and was in a bad mood. At noon, he had a very quiet lunch with Shi Ying. As soon as he came back from the city wall, he saw Wang Yanchao sitting in the yamen waiting. Wang Yanchao, the governor of Yongxing Army, came to invite Hou Dayong to the Yongxing Army camp to give lectures. The Qingzhou regiment training envoy Han Lun could not give face, but the famous general Wang Yanchao had to give face.

After entering the Yongxing Army camp, all the officers and officers above the Yongxing Army were present. There were large pots of meat and large bowls of wine on the table. Hou Dayong's speech was very simple. He picked up a bowl of wine and said to the generals and schoolmen: "If you don't say much, there is only one sentence. The Dangxiang Army kills too much. We have to pay back the blood and blood. After drinking this glass of wine, we can't be a coward on the battlefield." After saying that, he drank it all. Yongxing Army Generals were preparing to listen to Hou Dayong's long speech. Unexpectedly, Hou Dayong spoke simply and ended at the beginning. Although he was short, he heard the generals and schoolmen's enthusiasm for toasting was greatly increased. He took turns to toasting. The final result was that Hou Dayong did not get up on time the next morning for morning exercises.

Chen Meng smiled and said again: "I drank too much yesterday and pulled Wang Jiedushi to call him brother. I only remembered that he was Jiedushi this morning."

Hou Dayong did a hundred burp burping in the yard. After getting up, he said, "I'm really a little slutty, only 100, and I'm a little tired." Then he relaxed his arm muscles and said, "Today seems to be a peaceful day--the Black Eagle Army is still on the way to Jingzhou. There is no abnormal movement in the Dangxiang Army, and the soldiers who sent the letter have left. The food and grass from Hezhong Prefecture and Jingzhao Prefecture are speeding up to be sent to Jingzhou. My northwest camps are recruiting recruits, and I should be the busiest person. Why does it seem like there is nothing to do? It's really strange. In this way, after breakfast, we will go to various military camps in Jingzhou City."

A long time later, Hou Dayong recalled what he said to Chen Meng in Jingzhou Yamen - today seemed to be a peaceful day, and always said self-deprecatingly: "August 6 is actually such a lively day." August 6. For Hou Dayong, or for the war in the northwest, it was really a special day. There were riders who conveyed emergency information on the north, east and west, desperately running towards Jingzhou.

To the north, Fangdangming launched the first siege battle in the early morning. On the evening of the fifth, the Dangxiang Army only carried out a preliminary siege on Lingzhou. Then the Dangxiang Army set up camp outside the city and prepared for the siege. In the early morning of the sixth, after a cannon, the Dangxiang Army attacked Lingzhou City with artillery vehicles at the east gate. There were only two artillery vehicles. Although the big rocks thrown up the city were huge, they actually did not have much lethality. They just threatened the defenders in the minds. After the artillery vehicles attacked for more than ten rounds, the flying ladder, chariot and crossbow were all used. This is also the entire Dangxiang Army. The ground-heavy weapons were all dismounted. Some of the Dangxiang cavalrymen were approaching the city wall and entered the range. They used bows and arrows to shoot against the city last week's army. The other part did the dirty and tiring work of the infantry. They held the long ladder and shouted and rushed upwards, preparing to attack the city wall. The Dangxiang army's charge was easily defeated by the sneering of Feng Jiye, the governor of Lingzhou. The Dangxiang army took a short rest and launched a second attack. The ground was covered with wood and stones were prepared very well. The walls were covered with wood, huge stones and bows and arrows were used together. The Dangxiang army could only sigh in the face of the strong city.

However, several rescue operations carried out by the Lingzhou army in Shitou Pass and the Sufang Lao Military Camp outside Lingzhou City were defeated by the brave Dangxiang cavalry. The Lingzhou army in Shitou Pass and the Lingzhou army in Shufang Lao Military Camp each sent sergeants to report the news and ran south desperately.

To the west, Bai Ge, who had not left the customs for a long time, led a 10,000 army. He suddenly came out of the customs. After walking around the city outside Yizhou, he snatched the villages outside Yizhou, and then slaughtered and cooked the stolen cattle, sheep and other spoils outside the city. Seeing the Dangxiang Army so rampant, the Chengzhou infantry on the city was so angry that he cursed on the city. Wang Jiang saw that the Dangxiang Army had more than 10,000 Dangxiang Army, and then looked back at the old and young infantry army. With the wry smile, he ordered the city to prepare bed crossbows and use several bed crossbows to harass the Dangxiang Army. At night, several soldiers slid down from the city and took advantage of the cover of night to head towards Jingzhou.

To the east, at the headquarters of Daliang Feiying Hall, Meng Shu wrote a secret letter with a blue face. Feiying Hall activated the relay system. After leaving Daliang City, the rider went west with no effort. After arriving in Zhongmu County, the rider who came out of Daliang handed over the secret letter to Zhongmu Feiying Branch, and sent a fast horse from Zhongmu Feiying Hall to Zhengzhou. The letter was very short, with only eight words - the death of Queen Fu Shi on the 6th day of the morning. It was short, but surprising news.
Chapter completed!