Chapter 633: The Yan Army’s Western Invasion

The morning mist is spreading on both sides of the Mianman River like milk. Large areas of wheat fields are dark green, and strong seedlings have tilled into ears. This is the winter wheat area, which is different from the south. After the winter wheat harvest in May, corn will be planted here instead of rice. This is the busy season in the fields. Although the morning mist has not yet dissipated, farmers can be seen everywhere.

This is west of Hedong Guguan, and belongs to Shiai County, Taiyuan Prefecture. You can vaguely see the towering Taihang Mountains in the distance. This is also the entrance to the Hedong of Jingxing, a place that military strategists must compete for.

A rapid sound of horse hooves came from afar, and the sound of horse hooves was getting closer and closer. A team of cavalry rushed from the west, storming at lightning, dispersing the morning mist. Several rural farmers in the fields couldn't help but look up, and one of the older farmers seemed even more worried.

"Uncle Chang Geng, I heard that I was going to fight recently, will I come to us?" a young man asked worriedly.

Another middle-aged man smiled and said, "Silang, you are a militia. Do you still know whether you want to fight? Come and ask us."

"Uncle Mo doesn't know that although I am a militia, I just want to participate in the exercises on time and whether to fight or not. How could I know? I saw that Uncle Chang Geng was worried just now and thought that he was older and had more knowledge, so I couldn't help asking him."

The old farmer named Chang Geng sighed and said, "I just feel that from yesterday to today, five groups of cavalry have passed, all of which are reported. If something hadn't happened in Jingxing, how could they be so busy? I guess An Lushan has sent troops to Hedong."

The old farmer said something that made everyone look at each other, and someone shouted: "The wheat is not yet healed. If the bandits come, will the wheat be completely destroyed?"

Some people thought a little more and said panic: "The thieves are all Hu Man, who kill people, set fire to steal women. If there are young women at home, run away quickly! Don't worry about wheat."

Everyone was talking, some said they wanted to run away, some said they were waiting for the officers and soldiers, but none of them made up their minds. At this time, a person rang from a distance from the wheat field, shouting: "Everyone go back to the village first, there is an urgent matter in the middle, so go back quickly!"

"Uncle Mo, can we go?"

"Hey! How can you be so slow to react? Go quickly!"

Everyone was panicked, packed up their things and ran towards the village.

The homes of these rural farmers are not far from the front, called Manbei Village. It is a large village with more than 300 families. It consists of five large clans, and there are more than a dozen retail investors who do not belong to these five large clans. There are not many young people in the village. Some young people went to Taiyuan to make a living, and the other part went to the army. The remaining young people participated in the militia, with about 120 people. Together with the young people in nearby villages, about 500 people formed a militia camp.

At this time, under several old locust trees at the entrance of the village, there were densely packed with men, women, young and old. The elders of the five clans formed a circle and were listening to a young official with a serious expression.

The young official's surname is Zhao, and he is the chief of the military officer of Shiai County. He followed Li Zheng from Manbei Village and rushed back from the wheat fields one after another. The rural farmers squeezed into the crowd.

"Dear fellow villagers, before dawn, all the people from our county government went to the countryside. I just received an emergency order from the envoy Yan of Taiyuan Prefecture that everyone must move to Taiyuan City. If you don't want to go to Taiyuan City, you can do it, but you must move to Fenzhou and Jinzhou. The time is very urgent. Please set off today."

"Master Zhao, I want to ask."

An old clan man surnamed Mo asked, "The wheat will turn yellow in more than a month. Is it possible for the officers and soldiers to defend the old gate and prevent the bandits from entering Hedong?"

"I'm not very clear about the specific situation, but there are already more than 10,000 officers and soldiers there. Since I say that, I guess I'm almost unable to defend it."

Speaking of this, the young officials raised their voices again, "Dear fellow villagers, everyone knows that the place where they pass is empty, nine out of ten rooms, many of them are Khitans, Xi people, fierce and cruel, like wild beasts. In order to save their lives, don't care about wheat. News from Taiyuan Prefecture has also been heard that the court has decided to exempt all the rent and taxes from Taiyuan Prefecture this year. In addition, everyone will move to Taiyuan City, have tents and government relief porridge. After defeating the thief army, we will rebuild our homes. Without further ado, let's set off quickly!"

The young official had to go to several other villages, and he mobilized for a while before riding his horse.

As soon as the officials left, the village entrance suddenly became a clamor, with the cry of children, the shouts of women, and the shouts of scolding.

"Captain, can we go?" Several impatient people shouted.

Several old men discussed it and said to their respective tribesmen: "Everyone go back and pack up first! Let's discuss it again."

This sentence was like poking a hornet's nest. More than a thousand gathered at the entrance of the village dispersed in a flash, and everyone ran to their homes in a panic.

Half an hour later, the clan leaders of the five clans made a formal decision and immediately withdrew to Taiyuan. Then, various clans also discussed specific evacuation plans, mainly to collect carriages, count the number of women, children and the elderly, and the specific distribution plan for food rations.

At noon, more than 100 people from the Mo family, the smallest clan in Manbei Village, began to evacuate. More than 20 carriages were uniformly arranged by the clan. The elderly and children boarded the carriages, and the women and men walked. The carriages were loaded with valuable things from every household, as well as bedding and clothes and other necessary items, and began to head to Taiyuan City, 300 miles away.

The carriage was on the official road. At this time, there were already crowds of people on the official road, and the black crowd stretched for dozens of miles. Teams of fleeing people gathered from the county town and from villages in all directions. Most of them were silent, and headed west with confusion and concern for the future.

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The battle for Chengtian Army's garrison city has been going on for three days and three nights. Chengtian Army's garrison city was later Niangzi Pass, which was named after Princess Pingyang's Detachment of Women's Army in the early Tang Dynasty.

Chengtian Army's garrison city is known as the ninth pass of the Great Wall, dangerous mountains, river valleys and Great Wall, and built a natural dangerous city. It is also the last pass of Jingxing entering Hedong. It is guarded by a Chengtian army of 3,000 people. An Lushan's nearly 200,000 troops entered Jingxing and had already arrived at the gate of the gate. In order to compete for this majestic pass, the main general An Qingxu has invested nearly 80,000 troops, and Guo Ziyi has successively increased troops to the old pass, bringing the number of defenders to 10,000.

The fourth day of the battle, the Chengtian Army was already covered with corpses and blood flowing into a river. Nearly 15,000 people were killed or injured by the Yan army, and more than 60% of the troops guarding the pass were killed or injured. The originally strong pass also became riddled with holes, and the garrison city was in danger.

At noon, a tragic battle had just ended, and the air was filled with pungent smell of blood, with terrible bodies and burnt city ladders everywhere.

In the pass, the soldiers guarding the city leaned on the wall to rest exhausted. The city was in a mess, with arrows and stones everywhere, and the pools of blood were shocking. The bodies of hundreds of fallen soldiers and nearly a thousand wounded soldiers were carried down. After four days and three nights of battle, less than three thousand defenders were left. Everyone understood that if reinforcements did not come again, it would be a matter of time before the city was lost.

The chief general of the Tang army was Lu Sigong, a general under Guo Ziyi, who was a general in Shuofang Army. At this time, Lu Sigong, wearing armor, took dozens of soldiers to inspect the city. He was in a very heavy mood. He had sent five cavalry teams to Taiyuan for help, but he had just received the order from Guo Ziyi, ordering him to give up the Chengtian Army to guard the city.

Lu Sigong sighed secretly in his heart. He could understand Guo Ziyi's decision, not because he didn't want to defend the garrison city, but the Yan army had too many troops and the forces of the two sides were disparate. It was no longer realistic to want to defend the garrison city.

He slowly walked to the city and stared at the distance. The mountains were continuous in the distance. A narrow passage passed through the mountains. There was Jingxing. The narrowest part was only allowed to walk by one man and one horse. However, after coming out of Jingxing, the terrain immediately became wider, forming a trumpet-shaped valley opening. In this valley several miles wide and more than ten miles long, nearly 100,000 Yan troops were densely distributed, and there were also 100,000 Yan troops not coming from Jingxing Canyon.

Looking at the large flags and the large camp of Yan army, Lu Sigong was in a very complicated mood. On the one hand, Guo Ziyi's army made him dare not disobey, and on the other hand, he was unwilling to become the Tang general who let the Yan army enter Hedong. If the Yan army burned, killed and robbed Hedong Road, later history books would inevitably write a lot: the bandit army invaded Chengtian's army in the west to garrison the city, and Lu Sigong abandoned Guanxi and fled.

The huge pressure made it difficult for him to make a decision, but he also knew that if he did not withdraw, his army would inevitably be wiped out, and his Lu Sigong's end was to be righteous and benevolent.

At this time, a soldier rushed forward, "General Lu, Taiyuan urgently ordered!"

Lu Sigong took the order, and it was Guo Ziyi's order. There were only six words on the order: "Abandon the pass and withdraw from Taiyuan quickly."

A dozen officers surrounded him and said, "General, what should I do?"

Lu Sigong glanced at everyone and said in a deep voice: "The old coach's order is to abandon the gate and retreat. What about your opinions?"

Everyone looked at each other, and no one spoke. It was obvious that they did not want to guard the pass. Since Guo Ziyi had orders, everyone's hearts were shaken.

A general in charge said: "Nearly 70% of the troops were lost, and morale was gone. It is not advisable to fight for a long time."

"Do you all mean that?"

Everyone nodded silently and said, "Military orders are like mountains, and we dare not refuse to obey the old commander's military orders."

Lu Sigong was silent for a moment, and finally he sighed: "Okay! I will take care of it."

He immediately ordered in a deep voice: "Tell me my order, the wounded soldiers will retreat first, and abandon Guanxi when it is dark!"

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The sky gradually became dark. On a high platform in front of Chengtian Army's garrison city, An Qingxu, Li Huaixian and Cai Xide were looking at the pass several miles away. They had just received information, and the Tang army guarding the pass seemed to have had abnormal movements.

As the main general of the attack on Hedong this time, An Qingxu was under extremely pressure. Before that, he had never commanded an army of more than 50,000 people. This time, his father An Lushan asked him to command an army of 200,000 and limited him to conquer Taiyuan within one month.

From sending troops half a month ago to now, everything went smoothly, but the city guard in front of him suffered the first major setback of moving westward into Hedong. He had lost 18,000 troops, but the pass was still standing.

Although Li Huaixian and Cai Xide comforted him and attacked Chengtian Army's garrison city, which was a heroic pass that was a man who was a pass and could not be opened by ten thousand men, it was normal for 20,000 people to be killed or injured, the huge pressure still made An Qingxu not sleep well for several consecutive nights, and he did not sleep all night last night.

Li Huaixian whispered: "Little Prince, I guess the Tang army should have suffered heavy losses. They killed three thousand enemies and suffered eight hundred damage to themselves. Moreover, the bricks and stones at the pass have been loosened. If they attack twice, the garrison city should collapse."

An Qingxu sighed and said, "A garrison city caused me to lose 18,000 soldiers. It took four days. I am even more worried that Taiyuan City is strong. Can it be captured in twenty days?"

Cai Xide next to him said, "Young prince doesn't have to worry about time limits. The King of Yan should also know that one month is difficult. I think the real intention of the King of Yan is not to attack Taiyuan City."

An Qingxu and Li Huaixian were moved together and asked quickly: "How do you say this?"

Cai Xide said slowly: "I listened to what Shi Siming said before leaving. The real purpose of the King of Yan is to let us deal with Li Siye's Anxi Army."

An Qingxu's eyes showed a hint of fear, coaxing them to attack Taiyuan, but finally letting them attack the Anxi army. If this is true, his father An Lushan would be too dark-hearted.

"How did Shi Siming know?" Li Huaixian asked with some doubts.

"I also asked him, and he said he just speculated that if he wanted to seize Hedong, the Anxi army would not be able to bypass it. Either Li Guiren would deal with it, or we, or we cooperated with Li Guiren. Guo Ziyi's army was not worth worrying. As long as he defeated the Anxi army, Hedong would be captured."

"This Shi Siming is very cunning!"

Li Huaixian and Shi Siming had a very bad relationship. Last year, Shi Siming was defeated in Hengzhou. Li Huaixian ran out to defeat Guo Ziyi's army and saved Shi Siming, but because of the empty troops in Youzhou, the forage warehouse was burned. Logically, Shi Siming should be grateful and assumed half of the responsibility in front of An Lushan. However, Shi Siming pleaded for mercy on the surface, but secretly told An Lushan that this was because Li Huaixian sent troops to wipe out the rebel army without authorization, which led to insufficient troops in Youzhou.

When Li Huaixian learned about this later, he hated Shi Siming to the core, and the two of them formed an irreconcilable momentum, so An Lushan would not let them send troops together this time.

Li Huaixian sneered and said, "I guess he bought the prince's confidant. Why don't he like this? I knew the prince's true intention, so he pretended to be sick and refused to fight the Anxi Army, trying to preserve his strength. This person is not upright. We must persuade the prince well and be careful of him."

An Qingxu fell into deep thought, and he also believed Shi Siming's speculation. He might have asked them to fight the Anxi Army. However, if he cooperated with Li Guiren's troops to attack the Anxi Army, this would be a solution to both sides.

At this moment, a cavalry rushed over and reported loudly under the high platform: "I urgently report to General An, we found that the Chengtian Army's garrison was empty and there were no defenders!"

The three of them were shocked and looked at the city of Shu together. They saw a fire on the castle, a completely defensive state, which turned out to be the Tang army's empty city plan.
Chapter completed!