Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 147: Seizing the Pass and Breaking the City
"Smash!"

"Bang bang bang-"

At dusk, the Guiyi Army civilians outside Jincheng Pass continued to operate catapults to attack Jincheng Pass.

Under their operation, Jincheng Pass suffered three rounds of stone throwing in less than a quarter of an hour, resulting in countless casualties.

Seeing that it was getting dark, Zhang Chang and Geng Ming looked troubled, but Liu Jilong raised his hand and said:
"Bring up the tallow and the linen!"

Under his military order, seventy kilograms of asphalt and dozens of pieces of linen obtained from Guangwu City were placed in front of everyone.

Everyone looked at Liu Jilong in confusion, but Liu Jilong dismounted, opened the pottery jar containing asphalt, and dipped the linen cloth directly into it.

Seeing this scene, many people looked reluctant, after all, one piece of linen was enough to make two pieces of clothing.

But Liu Jilong didn't care and stirred the linen in his hand repeatedly in the asphalt until the linen was soaked in the asphalt. Then Liu Jilong took it out and handed it to the laborer next to him.

"Wrap this thing around the sling!"

"Yes Yes……"

The laborers reluctantly wrapped the sackcloth around the slingshots. One piece of sackcloth was enough to wrap up two slingshots weighing seventy or eighty kilograms.

Amid the puzzled gazes of the crowd, Liu Jilian snatched the torch from Huke Siguang's hand, held out the torch and lit the two slingstones.

The two stones quickly caught fire, scaring everyone back half a step.

Liu Jilong ignored them and said facing the fire: "Throw them out!"

"Smash!"

"Bang bang bang-"

Following his military order, the civilians operating the two catapults immediately activated their mechanisms.

In a breath, two stones burning with blazing flames smashed towards Jincheng Pass like meteorites.

"What's this?!"

"Bam—"

Two flaming stones hit the horse path and the city wall respectively. The former hit the horse path, and the sticky asphalt splashed around, igniting the Fanding on it. The latter left a continuously burning flame on the wall.

"Save me! Save me!"

The foreign soldiers and guards kept patting the fire off their bodies, and then rolled around on the ground until other foreign soldiers helped them put out the fire. They were already badly burned.

Such a tragic scene was witnessed by everyone inside and outside the city. The Guiyi Army had a flash of inspiration, but the foreign soldiers guarding the city were terrified.

Zhang Chang and Geng Ming picked up the sackcloth and stirred it in the asphalt. "Why are you all standing there? Didn't you hear what the governor said?!"

As the two men shouted, the civilians around them suddenly woke up as if from a dream and came forward to take the linen cloth. They then stirred the linen cloth in a pottery jar filled with asphalt, and then wrapped the linen cloth covered with asphalt around the slingstone, put it on the catapult and fired it out.

"Bang bang bang-"

Soon, burning stones streaked across the twilight sky and slammed heavily into Jincheng Pass.

For a moment, flames broke out on the top of the city wall and wailing could be heard throughout the pass, making people shudder.

Although the fire from the stones gradually died down over time, the Guiyi Army's catapults did not stop.

After five rounds of flaming stones, although the asphalt was exhausted, the foreign soldiers and guards on the horse road all fled down the road, and the city wall was hit and caught fire.

The sun had completely set into the mountains, but the Guiyi Army's catapults continued to attack without stopping, taking advantage of the fire from the burning city walls.

Hot meals were delivered from the camp to the front line, and the laborers began to take turns resting and attacking.

Liu Jilong and his men have returned to the tent to rest. The soldiers from each regiment take turns on night duty, so they can rest assured.

Compared to them, Mouruna and his men, as the defenders, looked in a mess.

They leaned against the city wall to rest, and were occasionally hit by clods of earth from the top of the city wall.

But they did not dare to go too far away from the city gates, for fear that the Guiyi Army would reach the top of the city.

More than 2,000 people were dragged to the foot of Jincheng Pass without a moment's rest.

Time passed, from 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., the entire night, the Guiyi Army's catapults never stopped.

During the attack, the leather belt of the catapult broke, but no one was injured. After the leather belt was replaced, the attack continued.

In addition, Jincheng Pass had not been repaired for many years, so what lay before the Guiyi Army in the early morning of the next day could be described as ruins.

The hundred-odd steps of the city wall that were hit by the catapults were full of gaps and collapsed in many places.

The walls of Jincheng Pass were not very high to begin with, and after they collapsed even the armored soldiers could climb over the gap, so there was no need for a cloud chariot at all.

For this reason, as the army had finished their breakfast, Liu Jilian decisively launched an attack.

"Uuuuuu——"

At noon, when the horn sounded outside Jincheng Pass, the exhausted Mouruna stood up like a frightened bird and looked out along the gap in the collapsed city wall.

When he saw the thousands of armored soldiers rushing towards the gap, he suddenly woke up: "Don't blow the whistle, retreat to Wuquan City!"

Mou Runa was worried that the whistle would attract pursuit from the Guiyi Army, so he hurriedly led more than 300 armored soldiers and more than 1,800 foreign soldiers to the Wuquan City in the east.

The armored soldiers rode their horses and soon disappeared without a trace, and the foreign soldiers, hearing the noise coming from behind, almost gritted their teeth and ran towards Wuquan City.

A large number of armored soldiers crossed the gap across Jincheng Pass and opened the pass gate without any obstacles.

"Governor, those guys have fled to Wuquan!"

Shang Duoluo rode back to the camp and told Liu Jilong about the situation at Jincheng Pass.

Liu Jilong was surprised and said, "These guys still refuse to surrender. They really want money over life."

"You take your elite cavalry and surround Wuquan City first. Their herds won't be able to hide in such a short time. Seize the herds first!"

"Yes!" Shang Duoluo nodded in response, then led more than a thousand elite cavalrymen to rush towards Wuquan City.

Liu Jilong was not in a hurry. While arranging for the army to move out of the camp, he also left civilians to repair Jincheng Pass.

Although Jincheng Pass failed to defend against them, after being repaired it could defend against those who intended to attack.

Even though Liu Jilong didn't think that anyone in Longxi could force him to defend himself, it was always better to be prepared.

Half an hour passed quickly, and Shang Duoluo sent someone to bring back the news that he had captured tens of thousands of herdsmen outside Wuquan City.

Upon hearing the news, Liu Jilian also led his troops to speed up the passage. After leaving five hundred armored soldiers and one thousand civilians to repair the Jincheng Pass, he set out towards Wuquan.

In the afternoon, as the Guiyi Army surrounded Wuquan City again, Mouruna on the top of Wuquan City had become a frightened bird.

A group of more than ten Tang cavalrymen arrived at the west gate of the city. They looked up at Mu Runa on the top of the city wall and said, "My governor Liu said that if you are willing to surrender, you can leave 30% of your herds and property and live out the rest of your life in peace!"

"fart!!"

Mouruna took out his bow and shot an arrow, hitting a Tang rider in the chest, but fortunately the rider had thick armor and no damage was caused.

When the Tang riders saw him counterattacking, they turned their horses around and retreated, reporting to them everything that Muruna had done.

"Damn it!" Liu Jilong cursed, "Fire the catapults! After the city is broken, all the centurions and above will be executed!"

"Yes!" Zhang Chang and others responded one after another, feeling angry in their hearts.

After all, with Rebajian's surrender, Mou Ru's resistance seemed very ungrateful.

They were just worried that they had no chicken to kill to scare the monkeys, and then Mou Ru came right to their doorstep.

In this case, not killing him would be inhumane.

Under his orders, fifteen catapults were set up again, and the several centurions on the city walls looked as pale as death.

"Smash!"

"Bang bang bang!!"

In an instant, dust rose up from the walls of Wuquan City, and the fleeing soldiers hid here and there, while the outside of the city was also quite lively.

While Shang Duoluo led his elite cavalry to capture tens of thousands of herdsmen, he also captured all the foreign soldiers who did not have time to escape back to the city.

Nearly two thousand Fan Ding squatted on the ground and watched the Guiyi Army attack Wuquan City.

Every time a round of stones were thrown, they couldn't help but tremble.

Anyone could see that it was only a matter of time before Wuquan City was conquered.

"Qiliben! Surrender?!"

On the top of the city wall, while the catapults stopped, a centurion urged Muruna to surrender.

If it were someone else, they would have probably thought of surrendering, but Mu Runa refused to give in and said, "Surrender? Impossible!"

"Don't forget, they said they would only leave 30% of their wealth for you. Are you willing to give it up like that?!"

Mouruna tried to remind everyone by using the fact that 70% of their property had been confiscated, but he forgot that their greatest wealth was their herds of livestock, which had already been captured by the Guiyi Army.

"you……"

"Bam—"

Before Mou Runa could continue to deceive the crowd, he felt a dull pain in the back of his head and lost control of his body.

"You pig-dog bastard! You forced me to do this!"

A centurion had a fierce look on his face and kept hitting Mou Ru on the head with the hammer in his hand, splashing red and white.

Mouruna was still twitching and tried to reach out for help, but was only met with even stronger retaliation.

"you you……"

The other centurions were terrified. No one could have imagined that this centurion, who had remained silent, would suddenly attack and kill Muruna.

"Me what?!"

The captain said fiercely: "Look at the Tang army outside the city. They are more numerous than the entire city. Why are we still holding on?"

"I've been fed up with this bastard for a long time. When the famine hit, this bastard had cattle and sheep every day, but we could only eat one sheep a month." "The situation in Lanzhou has become like this, all because of this bastard!"

"Isn't it just surrendering and confiscating 70% of our property? As long as we have enough wealth, why should we be afraid of confiscating our property?!"

He dropped the red and white hammer in his hand, and several other centurions looked at him and asked tentatively: "What do you mean?"

"What do you mean?" The centurion wiped the blood off his face and pointed at Muruna's body.
"Don't you know how much money this guy has hidden in the government office?"

"We will take people to divide his money and bring it back home. Even if the Tang army wants to confiscate his property, we will definitely not lose out!"

The centurion's words made the rest of the people look at each other in bewilderment. Before they could think, the Guiyi Army outside the city launched a new round of attack.

The vibration of the stones hitting the city wall made several people panic.

After looking at each other, they all agreed to the proposal of the murderer.

Five centurions brought more than ten soldiers to the yamen and withdrew all the soldiers guarding the city, allowing the Guiyi Army to bombard Wuquan.

Soon, shouts of killing and sounds of rape were heard in the Wuquan Yamen.

Mouruna's money was looted, and his wife and daughter were molested and killed.

Two hours later, the gate of Wuquan City slowly opened, and five centurions walked out of the city gate wearing fur coats and without their armor.

Since some of Lanzhou's canals are still usable, there is still a shallow layer of water in the moat.

They walked out along the stone bridge at the city gate, and Liu Jilian raised his hand to signal to stop the attack.

"Qilibenmuruna from Lanzhou tried to resist the Heavenly Army, but was killed by us. We beg the Heavenly Army to surrender Lanzhou!"

The murderous captain was holding Mouruna's head and shouting at the Guiyi Army's cavalry who were rushing over a hundred steps away.

"Kill the master and surrender?"

Liu Jilong narrowed his eyes, but didn't think anything of it.

This was indeed the general environment in the late Tang Dynasty. Even the Guiyi Army, which was well-behaved at the beginning, eventually experienced internal strife and murder of their leader.

If you want to avoid being affected, you have to keep your own small environment unpolluted within the larger environment.

"Shang Duoluo, Zhang Chang..."

"The general is here!"

"Lead the troops to take over the city."

"Yes!"

Under Liu Jilian's military order, the two men led 3,000 armored soldiers to surrender, and the foreign soldiers from Wuquan also honestly took off their armor and handed over their weapons.

In less than half an hour, Wuquan fell completely into Liu Jilong's hands, and he rode forward and met the several centurions who killed Mouruna with their own hands.

"Provincial Governor..."

Shang Duoluo returned to the outskirts of the city and told Liu Jilong what had happened in the yamen.

After hearing this, Liu Jilong frowned and glanced at the five centurions with a cold look.

"You did a good job..."

The five people were not fools, so they could naturally hear the sarcasm in Liu Jilong's words.

Seeing his dissatisfaction, the first centurion who committed the crime quickly explained:
"General, you don't know that this Muruna has often treated us harshly during the famine in recent years."

"He ate meat and drank wine, but made us drink porridge, let the people eat wild vegetables and grass roots, and even led people to slaughter some slaves!"

The centurions tried their best to find justice that was beneficial to themselves, but everyone knew that they were not good people either.

"You resisted stubbornly, and even if you repented later, you cannot escape the guilt."

Liu Jilong looked down at the men and said in a cold voice: "All the herds will be sent to the army, and only 30% of the family property will be left in the mansion."

"Thank you, General Long!"

Seeing that their lives were saved and 30% of the mansion's wealth was also saved, several centurions kowtowed in thanks.

Liu Jilong ignored him, shook the reins and walked towards Wuquan City.

Seeing that they were getting away from these people, Li Yizhong lowered his voice and said, "Governor, these people killed their master. It might be unlucky if they stay here. Why not..."

Liu Jilong glanced at him and said calmly, "It's not the right time to kill them. Killing them now will be detrimental to my advancement to Longxi."

"Yes..." Li Yizhong nodded in response, and Li Ji, Hu Siguang and others looked at each other and nodded after hearing this.

Soon, they crossed the stone bridge over the moat and the corridor at the city gate and entered Wuquan City.

In the past, the Silk Road was open, and although Wuquan City had a small population, it was very prosperous.

Unfortunately, after ninety years of Tibetan rule, coupled with the Helong unrest and drought in recent years, Wuquan no longer has the prosperity it once had.

No one cleaned the mud on the streets, the houses along the streets were dilapidated, and the people were skinny and lifeless.

Except for some children who still had light in their eyes, the rest of the people looked like zombies.

"Damn it!"

Looking at these scenes, Zhang Chang and the others couldn't help but think of their past selves, yelling and cursing as they clenched the reins.

Compared to them, Liu Jilong walked along the road with a frown on his brow.

He didn't care about the people's numbness because he knew that as long as he was there, things would get better.

The only thing that made Wuquan City difficult for him was its small population.

He saw the situation outside the city. The basin where Wuquan City was located alone was enough to cultivate more than 100,000 acres of arable land while grazing tens of thousands of people.

But the problem was that there were too few people in the city, and population became a headache for him.

However, as he dismounted and walked into the Wuquan Yamen, news that gave him even more headaches came one after another.

The bloodstains and corpses in the yamen had been cleaned up. Liu Jilong sat in the main seat in the main hall, flipping through documents with a frown on his face.

There were only more than 5,000 stones, dozens of pieces of linen, and more than 7,000 kilograms of rough copper ingots in Wuquan's warehouses.

These more than 7,000 kilograms of copper ingots are enough to buy 3,000 shi of grain if placed in Hexi, but not in Longxi.

He looked through the records of Lanzhou, Huizhou and Hezhou purchasing grain, and found that one thousand kilograms of copper ingots could only buy eighty shi of grain.

You have to know that one thousand kilograms of copper ingots can make at least one hundred and sixty or seventy strings of money. If you put them in Hexi, it will be enough to buy three hundred dan of grain.

But when he arrived in Longxi, he could only buy 80 dan of grain, which means that the price of grain in Longxi had at least reached a high price of one dan and two guan.

Fortunately, there are still a small herd of livestock outside the city, numbering at least 20,000 to 30,000. With the food they bring and the autumn harvest outside the city, the herd should be able to survive until this time next year.

However, with such a small population, it was too difficult to achieve anything. There were not even enough civilians to support the army's expedition to Hezhou.

He must find a way to rescue Wuquan, the tens of thousands of Han people that Shang Bibi had mentioned before.

However, Shang Bibi is a guy who will not do anything without benefits. If you want him to hand over these Han people, you must pay him corresponding compensation.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong closed the document, looked up and said:

"Confiscate 70% of the property of those foreign generals as agreed, and count the herds outside the city and register the people inside the city."

"Three days later, I want to know the situation in Wuquan City!"

"Yes!" Everyone responded, and Li Yizhong also stood up and bowed, saying:

"Governor, since Wuquan has been captured, I will lead my troops back to Guangwu."

"No hurry." Liu Jilong smiled brightly, stood up and said to Li Yizhong:

"You are stationed in Guangwu, so you don't need so many soldiers."

"I see many soldiers in the military camp want to stay. Why don't you ask them and let those who are willing to stay stay."

"This..." Li Yizhong didn't expect Liu Jilong to have his eyes on him, and said awkwardly:

"If we don't bring them back, the Jiedushi will probably complain."

"It's okay, just say that I was the one who kept them here." Liu Jilong smiled and took the blame, saying:
"In addition, I promise to give each of the civilians outside the city a cow and ten acres of land if they are willing to stay!"

Ten acres of land was already a considerable amount, not to mention a cow.

Although these yellow cattle in Longxi need to be domesticated before they can be used to cultivate the land, it is not difficult for the people of that era to domesticate oxen.

Once Liu Jilian put forward these conditions, I am afraid that many single men will stay.

"Governor, if you do this, there will be no one left in Guangwu..."

Li Yizhong's face was not looking good, but Liu Jilong said: "You have Liangzhou as your backer, so you don't have to worry about food and grass, but I can't."

"Besides, think about it carefully. I will restore the production of Wuquan now, and I will hand it over to you in the future. Then you can save a lot of trouble. Isn't this better?"

After listening to Liu Jilong's words, Li Yizhong also reacted.

Liu Jilong will eventually go to the three states of He, Lin and Wei, and the Wuquan will not be his by then. In that case, what else is there to worry about?
Thinking of this, Li Yizhong reluctantly said, "Okay, I will tell them about this in the camp after I return."

"Okay!" Liu Jilong nodded and said, "In three days, I will let Shang Duoluo lead 500 armored soldiers to go back with you and bring the family members who followed the army to Wuquan."

"You are tired today, go down and rest first."

"Yes..." Li Yizhong bowed and stepped back after hearing that, but Liu Jilong looked at his back with a raised corner of his mouth.

He has no intention of letting go of Wuquan, and even Guangwu in Li Yizhong's hands will belong to him in the future.

Although he admired Zhang Yichao and Zhang Huaishen, these lands and populations would only be squandered by the Tang court in their hands.

Only if it falls into their own hands can the Han people continue to take root in this land and avoid the events of the Northern Song Dynasty and Western Xia Dynasty.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong turned his head and looked at the main seat in the main hall.

"From today on, he is Liu Jilong of Longxi..."

(End of this chapter)