Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 134: Troops Arrive at Guzang
"More than 76,000 dan of rice and wheat, 12,000 dan of soybeans, iron..."

At night, Zhang Huaishen's voice came from the tent.

The outer part of the tent was brightly lit, and the interior was filled with generals.

At the main seat, Zhang Huaishen took the document and flipped through it, showing everyone the materials seized from Jialin Warehouse and the warehouse.

In history, Zhang Huaishen fought in Liangzhou for three years. Although he finally recovered Liangzhou, he did not gain much money and food, and even lost many Han men.

This also led to the loss of Liangzhou later. The Guiyi Army did not have the strength to recapture Liangzhou. It was not until eight years after the loss of Liangzhou that Zhang Huaishen regained strength and recaptured Liangzhou for the second time.

Unfortunately, the second attempt to recapture Liangzhou was still lost due to the interference of the Tang court and the killing of Zhang Huaishen.

From then on, Hexi began to be moved out of the Han area, and it was not until more than 500 years later that it was recovered by the Han people and a large number of immigrants arrived.

However, the current situation is different because of Liu Jilian. The Eastern Expedition, which was supposed to start in the 14th year of Dazhong, was launched eight years ahead of schedule.

Not only did they avoid a stalemate, but they quickly captured the two cities of Fanhe and Jialin.

The food and grass in these two cities were not consumed, and the Han people were not slaughtered, which gave great support to the Guiyi Army.

"At present, the two cities of Fanhe and Jialin have 150,000 dan of grain and more than 23,000 dan of beans."

"With the food in our hands, we can completely surround Guzang without attacking it. What do you think?"

Zhang Huaishen put the document down and glanced at everyone.

"I suggest surrounding the city without attacking, and at the same time sending someone to fetch Xiduo Yu and hold him hostage to force Changsong to surrender."

"In this way, Guzang will become an isolated city in Liangzhou. If Shang Moling does not want to be besieged to death, he has no choice but to surrender!"

Suo Xun gave his own suggestions, and Li Yizhong also echoed:

"That's right. After Changsong surrenders, our army can block the four gates of Guzang and use the civilians to cultivate the land outside the city. This will increase the strength of the other."

"With the food in Guzang, they can hold out for two years at most. We don't need to rush. We can slowly attack with the catapults!"

Li Yizhong did not want to attack the city directly, but instead wanted to surround it and attack it with catapults.

In response to this, many generals in the tent showed expressions of approval.

Zhang Huaishen did not make a decision, but turned his gaze to Liu Jilong: "Jilong, what do you think?"

"What you two said makes sense, but if the siege lasts too long, I'm worried that the foreign bandits will attack the people in the city."

After Liu Jilong pondered for a moment, he put a question in front of everyone.

The people he was referring to naturally could not be the foreigners, but the Han people and people of other ethnic groups.

If Shang Moling was unwilling to surrender and instead crazily slaughtered the Han people in the city, then even if the Guiyi Army recaptured Guzang, they would only have recaptured a Guzang full of foreigners.

Without enough Han people to support them, even if they recovered Guzang, it would be easy to lose it later.

Suo Xun and Li Yizhong looked at each other, but stopped talking.

Obviously, if this problem cannot be solved, the only way left is to attack Guzang by force.

Seeing that the two of them didn't say anything, Zhang Huaishen knew what decision he should make.

"Jiu Juyan, I order you to recruit 2,000 Zhangye civilians as new soldiers and station them in Jialin."

"Geng Ming, I order you to lead 300 elite cavalrymen to supervise the migration of the foreign generals and their families above the tenth household head of Jialin to Zhangye."

"I have already sent light cavalry to Dunhuang during the day. They will be able to bring General Mang Luo's head back to Zhangye in half a month at most. So you will lead people to help dig out General Mang Luo's coffin tomorrow, and send the coffin to Zhangye for burial together with Mang Longhua."

"When you return, be sure to escort Xiduoyu from Fanhe here!"

"Zhang Chang, you will go into the city tomorrow to appease the 1,000 soldiers in Guzang and tell them that we will let them go home as soon as our army recaptures Guzang."

"I will obey your orders!" The three generals stood up and responded one after another, and Zhang Huaishen glanced at everyone and said:

"Rest for three days, and then the army will continue to march to recapture Guzang!"

"Yes!!"

Following Zhang Huaishen's order, all the generals stood up and bowed, then left the tent and went to rest.

At noon the next day, when the Danggui rebel army was still resting in Jialin, Changsong's returning cavalry had already arrived at the Guzang government office.

As the Qingqi brought back the news about Changsong, Shang Moling also angrily punched the table in front of him and cursed:
"That little bastard Xilunqin, has he forgotten who helped him break the siege of Changsong?!"

"Qiliben, please calm down." Zhe Buluo tried to persuade him, but Shang Moling glared at him and said:
"Dugazhi and his men were severely defeated by me last year, and they fled like lost dogs. How could they appear in Changsong now?"

"That little bastard Xilunqin, after I defeat Liu Jilong and Zhang Huaishen, he will be the first one to be dealt with!"

"Yes..." Zhe Bu Luo agreed reluctantly, but then he tried to persuade her:

"When Jialin got the news, he should have sent troops to break out immediately, and urged you to go to Jialin to rescue him. Now there has been no news for the whole morning. Should we send light cavalry to spy on Jialin?"

Faced with his suggestion, Shang Moling said dissatisfiedly: "It's only one night. Even if Mang Longhua is a loser, he should be able to hold on for ten days."

Hearing this, Zhe Buluo said earnestly: "But they sent news yesterday saying that Jialin was in danger. It doesn't seem to be false..."

"It's just a means to force me to send troops." Shang Moling was still self-righteous.

He leaned back in his chair, looked down at the generals and said, "There is enough food in Guzang City to last for three years. The city is high and has many people. I have also stored enough firewood. If Liu Jilong wants to come, let him come. I want to see what tricks he can come up with!"

Shang Moling had given up on leaving the city to fight Liu Jilong. Instead, he changed his mindset and concentrated on staying put.

In his opinion, he had sufficient food and grass in the city and no worries about water shortage, so there was no need for him to go out of the city to fight Liu Jilian in the field.

Of course, this means not fighting outside the city, but not fighting in the field. Defensive field battles still need to be arranged.

Therefore, after he changed his mindset, he turned his gaze to Zhe Bu Luo and asked, "How are the four camps outside the four gates arranged?"

Hearing this, Zhe Bu Luo bowed and said, "The bridges in Guzang are all stone bridges, and the camps on the other side of the stone bridges have been arranged."

"The trenches, chevaux de frise, ram's horns, and fortifications have all been built. Even if we can't hold the city, we can retreat back into the city and use the four-gate urn to stop the enemy!"

All the things that Zhe Buluo mentioned were things that had been prepared since the beginning of spring.

Even if a camp has only 500 people, it can withstand the attack of 2,000 to 3,000 people.

Even though Liu Jilian had 20,000 men, he could only defeat four camps, and the four gates behind the four camps included the four surrounding city walls.

If Liu Jilian wanted to capture the four battalions and the four gates, he would have to leave behind at least tens of thousands of soldiers' corpses.

However, Zhe Buluo was a little worried about the catapults of the Guiyi Army mentioned by Jialin Qingqi, so he said anxiously:
"Although our city defense is perfect, the catapult that Jialin Light Cavalry mentioned the day before yesterday really concerns me."

"Humph!" Shang Moling snorted coldly: "If we compare catapults, I have more and bigger ones than his!"

"If he wants to take Guzang, then he should flatten the city wall first!"

Shang Moling stood up and walked towards the inner hall. Seeing this, Zhe Buluo could only say to the generals around him: "Send someone to move all the stones within five miles of Guzang City into the city!"

"Yes!!" The generals saluted one after another, and tens of thousands of people in Guzang City were forced to mobilize.

Under Zhe Bu Luo's arrangement, in less than three days, all the mature stones outside the city were cleared out and moved into Guzang City.

If you want to collect them, you can only go five miles away, which will take up quite a bit of time...

"Drive! Drive! Drive..."

"Beep--"

On March 20th, as a shrill whistle sounded west of Guzang, a cavalry of several hundred men galloped in from the official road in the west.

They rushed along the official road towards the west gate, not daring to go beyond the official road at all.

The chevaux de frise in front was lifted by the armored soldiers, revealing a rammed earth wall that was dozens of steps long from east to west and was compacted with rubble and clay.

The ten-foot-high rammed earth wall eliminated the possibility of cavalry charge, and the camp gate filled with barricades was opened.

Light cavalry poured into the camp gate one after another, and the rammed earth wall that was nearly ten feet thick gave the foreign soldiers an absolute sense of security.

The semicircular camp was guarded by hundreds of armored soldiers, and defensive equipment such as crossbows and battering rams could be vaguely seen on the city walls.

After just a few dozen steps, the light cavalry walked onto the stone bridge and walked along the stone bridge to the east bank of the moat.

A seven-foot-high rammed earth wall has been built on the east bank of the moat, cutting off the possibility of going ashore from the moat.

Fortunately, the stone bridge was not surrounded by the rammed earth bridge, so the light cavalry could easily enter the city.

After passing through the west gate, which is two meters high and nearly three meters thick, what is revealed is a city wall with an area of less than one mu.

The city gate you see when you pass through the city wall is also tall and thick.

It was not until they passed through this city gate that they finally entered Guzang City.

There were piles of stones on both sides of the Guzang city gate, some large and some small. The houses near the city gate were demolished and leveled, and behind the city wall was a giant catapult three feet high.

Obviously, Shang Moling and Zhe Buluo learned from Jialin's lesson. They placed the catapults behind the city wall, made them higher and heavier, in order to deal with the Guiyi Army led by Zhang Huaishen and Liu Jilian.

Not only that, they also built stone walls in every street and alley in the city using rubble and clay.

These stone walls are only two or three feet thick and five or six feet high, but they can effectively block the enemy's offensive.

From the west gate of Guzang to the Guzang government office, a road less than one mile long, there are seven or eight stone walls standing.

In comparison, the entire area from the Yamen to the East Gate is visible, with no stone walls at all.

"Screw rustle..."

The sound of armor pieces rang out in the yamen courtyard. Jie'er, who was in charge of the scouts, walked into the yamen breathlessly and bowed to Shang Moling, who was in the main seat:
"Qiliben, Hannu has already marched thirty miles to the west. I'm afraid they will arrive outside the city at dusk!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the generals in the hall looked at each other, obviously surprised at the speed of the Guiyi Army.

"Humph! This pig-dog bastard, Mang Longhua!"

Shang Moling snorted coldly, not knowing that Mang Longhua had surrendered. He thought he had been defeated and killed in the battle.

"Two thousand armored soldiers can at least kill three or four thousand of these Han slaves, right?"

"It's hard to say... After all, when the light cavalry came to report a few days ago, Jialin's city wall was about to collapse."

"Triple walls, I don't believe they can break through so quickly!"

The generals were discussing, but Shang Moling looked at Zhe Bu Luo and asked, "Have the light cavalry sent to Hezhou returned?"

"Not yet!" Zhe Bu Luo shook his head in response, and then he comforted him: "But please rest assured, Qi Liben, we have 2,000 elite cavalry and 1,000 armored soldiers. If we can't defend Liangzhou, we can also go through the east gate and cross the Macheng River to Changsong."

"Even if Shang Yanxin doesn't accept us, we can still go to Huizhou or Lanzhou."

"If it doesn't work, I still have another way to keep us safe!"

After Zhe Bu Luo finished speaking, all the generals looked at him, even Shang Mo Ling couldn't help but look at him and asked, "What's the solution?"

"Beg for surrender to the Tang court!" Zhe Buluo responded with a salute, but this answer caused an uproar.

"Protector General, the Tang army is the one attacking us now. If we surrender to the Tang court, isn't that the same as surrendering to Liu Jilong and his men?"

"No! Liu Jilong has too much hatred towards us. Who knows if he will kill the surrendered people?"

"Protector General, your method..."

The generals discussed the matter, and none of them agreed to surrender to the Tang court. However, Zhe Buluo explained:

"We are begging for surrender to the Tang court, not to Zhang Huaishen and Liu Jilong."

"What's the difference?" Shang Moling asked impatiently.

"Of course." Zhe Buluo continued to explain:
"Zhang Huaishen, Liu Jilong and the others were all slaves under my Great Tubo. They just took advantage of my Great Tubo's decline to rise up."

"Although the Tang court accepted them, they were also wary of them."

"If we surrender to the Tang court, the Tang court might keep us in Liangzhou to restrain them!"

After Zhe Bu Luo finished his speech, the generals still couldn't understand. After all, in their opinion, there was no need for the Tang court to restrain Zhang Huaishen and others.

Although Shang Moling is sometimes arrogant and reckless, he can still analyze things calmly at critical moments.

"Save this method for the last try."

He did not reject the suggestion, but decided to try it again when he had no other choice.

But when he said this, the generals became somewhat unhappy.

"Qiliben, if we want to break out, should we first arrange for the soldiers' families to go to the East City and prepare carriages for them?"

"Yes, Qiliben, if you don't bring the soldiers' families with you, I'm afraid there will be deserters on the road."

The two generals made suggestions, but Shang Moling slammed the table and stood up: "Okay!"

"As long as you have armor and weapons, you can find women everywhere. You can start a family anywhere."

"Hide the breakout from them for now, and take your families to East City first!"

Shang Moling didn't care about the lower-level soldiers, he just ordered the generals to bring their families to the East City.

The generals looked at each other, and finally decided not to refute him. They quietly ordered their centurions and tens of households to bring their families to Dongcheng to avoid losing the city.

For a time, the city of Guzang was filled with the noise of people moving, and the news that the army might break through also made the people in the city waver.

Time passed little by little, and when the sun set, noise began to be heard on the official road west of Guzang City.

The sound of horse hooves and wheels continued to be heard, and the sound of horns also rang out on the horse trail of the West Camp.

"Uuuuuu——"

A melodious horn sounded from the west camp outside the city, followed by the west urn city and the west gate. Finally, the entire Guzang city was filled with the sound of horns.

The sound of the horn made the whole city lively. The soldiers began to put on their armor, and tens of thousands of conscripted civilians began to perform their duties.

Shang Moling rode his horse to the horse path of Guzang West Weng City and looked to the west across several miles.

On the boundless plain, a team was flowing slowly from the west like a tide, gradually approaching the west gate.

They chose to stop one mile west of the west camp outside the city and sent out light cavalry to advance.

In less than half a cup of tea, a light cavalry suddenly lost ground a hundred steps away from the west camp. The wailing of the horses startled everyone.

"One hundred steps, trench..."

On horseback, Zhang Huaishen narrowed his eyes and told the result, then looked at Suo Xun: "Okay, call back the light cavalry!"

"Yes!" Suo Xun agreed, and Zhang Huaishen also looked at Guzang City in the distance, thinking about something secretly.

After a long while, he slowly said, "The army will set up camp, with the west gate as the main attack point, and set up the catapults!"

"Don't you want to get closer?" Suo Xun asked, but Zhang Huaishen shook his head.
"Jia Lin's light cavalry reported the news. I think they already know the power of our catapults."

"Just in case, I would rather reduce the weight of the trebuchet and place the trebuchet a mile away than get close."

After that, Zhang Huaishen looked at the silent Liu Jilong and said, "Jilong, what do you think?"

"I agree with you." Liu Jilong approved of Zhang Huaishen's arrangement and said:

"It's too late today. Let's inspect Guzang again tomorrow to see how we should attack the city."

"Yes!" Zhang Huaishen said, and then looked at Hu Siguang: "Hu Siguang, you will temporarily take charge of the light cavalry tonight and send the light cavalry fifteen miles away from the main army to prevent Shang Moling from attacking the camp."

"I obey your command!" Huke Siguang bowed in response, turned his horse around and took over the light cavalry.

Soon, six thousand civilians began to build the camp, while the armored soldiers and elite cavalry set up the tents first and started cooking.

"Humph, I want to see how you take over Guzang City!"

On the bridle path of Wengcheng, Shang Moling saw the Guiyi Army outside the city setting up camp and the smoke from cooking rising. He snorted coldly and immediately gave an order: "Set up the pots and cook, kill all the sheep that can be slaughtered in the city, and share them with the soldiers!"

"Yes!" Zhe Bu Luo responded with a salute, and the defenders in Guzang City also had a rare chance to eat mutton.

However, they all knew that this meal of mutton would require repayment with their lives, so the atmosphere in the city did not become high, but instead became eerily calm.

Outside the city, as the camp was set up, Liu Jilong also summoned his generals to gather in the tent.

It has become Liu Jilong's habit to always wear armor when marching and fighting. Even if it makes sleeping uncomfortable, he feels very safe.

He glanced at everyone. Shang Duoluo, Ma Cheng, Zhang Chang, Zheng Chu and Li Ji had all arrived. Hu Siguang was not in the camp at this time because he was in charge of the light cavalry.

"Governor, did you summon us here to attack the city?"

Ma Cheng spoke first, and the other generals also looked over at him.

In response, Liu Jilong said calmly: "Yes and no."

He kept it a secret, then said, "Gu Zang is not like Fan He and Jia Lin. Shang Mo Ling is a stronger man and will never surrender to us."

"From what I've seen at the West Gate, I'm afraid the arrangements at the other three gates won't be too bad either."

"If we want to take down Guzang, I'm afraid it won't be done overnight."

Everyone agreed with his words, but he changed the subject:
"I was appointed as the governor of Lanzhou by the Jiedushi, nominally to guard the important road to Hexi, but in reality I was asked to stay away from Hexi."

"In other words, after I recover Liangzhou, I will leave for Hexi and head to Longxi!"

(End of this chapter)