Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 170: Drinking Horses in Longxi
"Susu..."

On the first day of September in the seventh year of Dazhong, the autumn breeze brought coolness to the Longxi Valley, and the sky was high and the clouds were light.

The Wei River rushes endlessly to the north of the city, and there are countless warriors in bright armor and spears, with red flags waving.

After three days of hard work, the northern bridge of the Longxi ferry was successfully built. The Longxi army crossed the Weishui River and headed straight for Longxi.

Under the red flag, eight hundred armored soldiers were divided into four teams and lined up in echelons from south to north.

Six hundred elite cavalrymen were stationed on the left and right of the armored soldiers. The civilians in the rear were also courageous and looked up at the top of the Longxi city wall a mile away.

Although they were few in number, they were very powerful and suppressed the foreign troops, forcing them to just watch from the top of the city walls and not dare to set up camp outside the city to fight.

"Xu..."

On horseback, Liu Jilong reined in his horse and looked towards Longxi City.

The area about a mile north of Longxi City was full of potholes and pits, and the base of the city was piled with countless river stones, connected and compacted with clay.

"These pigs and dogs were frightened by the catapults. They built such a high stone wall in just two days."

Shang Duoluo shook the reins, walked up to Liu Jilong and said:

"This terrain is indeed dangerous. The east of the city is backed by mountains, and the west of the city is backed by the Wei River. There are only two passages in the south and north of the city that are passable. The terrain is similar to that of Daxia County."

"Governor, shall we build a catapult?"

Shang Duoluo asked tentatively, but Liu Jilong remained silent, just nodded, and then turned his horse around.

Soon, the soldiers began to build catapults, while the civilians built fortifications relying on the mountain terrain.

"The pig-dog guy, isn't he defending the city?"

On the north city tower, looking at Liu Jilian whose number of soldiers and horses outside the city had not decreased much, Zhe Buhui could not help but curse.

However, Lu Ruyue who was standing aside was relatively calm. He said in a deep voice: "Don't forget how much armor this fellow seized."

"Give these armors to civilians and they will become soldiers. They can't leave the city, but defending the city is no problem."

"I think he only has a thousand soldiers, far less than when we attacked Daxia. It seems we have killed and injured a lot of his soldiers."

"With his limited number of troops, it would be impossible to capture Longxi within ten days, even with the help of catapults."

"We only need to hold on for another nine days to get reinforcements from the Tang court."

Lu Ruyue said this, but Shang Yanxin frowned and said, "We have only more than 1,700 elite cavalry and armored soldiers under our command. Even if the Tang court rewards us with an official position, I'm afraid it won't be much."

"That being said..." Lu Ruyue pondered, "Don't forget, we still have more than 4,000 foreign soldiers, tens of thousands of women and children, and tens of thousands of slaves."

"Most of the population of Linwei Prefecture has been relocated here by us. If the Tang court gets our support, it can obtain Longxi County and Zhuang County."

"When the time comes, we will surrender to Chengzhou and Wuzhou. Even if we cannot travel outside, it will not be a problem to keep our wealth for the rest of our lives."

Lu Ruyue’s idea was good, but Shang Yanxin didn’t think that Tang Ting would believe them so easily.

While he was thinking this, the catapult positions outside the city were still being built.

What made the defending foreign troops even more terrified was that the Longxi troops tried to climb the mountain and cut down trees, making a gesture as if they were going to continue building catapults.

Although there was a severe drought in Longxi, there were still priorities.

The drought is most serious in Linzhou due to insufficient water in the Tao River, followed by Lanzhou and Hezhou, and finally Weizhou and the seven prefectures in Longnan.

Weizhou and the seven prefectures of Longnan are all located in the river valley areas between the mountains and gullies. After the river water evaporates, it will form a territory and flow into the river valley. Therefore, the trees in the river valley are still green, but it is hard to say about other mountains separated from the river valley.

Longxi is long and narrow, and the abundant moisture from the Wei River keeps the trees here green.

However, in front of the axes of the Longxi army, these huge trees that were hundreds or even thousands of years old fell down and slid into the valley.

Fortunately, Liu Jilong ordered his people to cut down trees in an orderly manner. Basically, they only chose trees that were over a hundred years old, and no other trees were cut down.

After these huge trees fell, the smaller trees received more sunlight.

"Trunks can be used as catapults, branches can be used as firewood, don't waste them!"

Inside the military camp, civilians were dealing with those huge trees.

Those trees that are more than hundreds of years old are more than twenty feet tall and require four or five people to hug them together.

This kind of tree was not uncommon in Longxi and Longnan areas at that time.

These giant trees can only be considered medium-sized because during the thousands of years of history of the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang dynasties, the Guanzhong government continued to cut down trees to build palaces.

The location for obtaining timber for the palace gradually shifted from the Qinling Mountains to Longxi, and then to the Daba Mountains.

When the palaces were built in the early Tang Dynasty, the giant trees in the Longxi area had already been cut down.

If Liu Jilian remembered correctly, these giant trees were cut down again in the Northern Song Dynasty.

From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and then to the Northern Song Dynasty...the giant trees in Guanzhong and Longxi areas were almost completely cut down, and soil erosion in Longxi became increasingly serious.

At least from what Liu Jilian saw, even in the context of severe drought, Longxi in the Tang Dynasty was still greener than Longxi in later generations.

If the drought ends, the greenery in Longxi will be even more lush.

“Human power…”

Liu Jilong looked at the mountains and couldn't help but sigh.

Hexi, Longxi, and the Guannei Road he had never seen before...

These places, which are still grasslands and forests today, will turn into loess gullies and sandy Gobi due to natural changes, overgrazing and deforestation.

In the face of time, even the most powerful creatures will eventually "age".

"Boom bang bang-"

Suddenly, the sound of stones from the catapult woke Liu Jilong up.

He shook the reins and headed for the front line, where he saw more than 20 catapults attacking.

Behind these more than twenty catapults, hundreds of civilian laborers were processing wood, trying to replace the materials for the damaged catapults.

Some armored soldiers directed the laborers to roast the wood, and personally processed the wood into parts for the catapults.

When in Wuquan, due to the shortage of manpower, the soldiers also had to take on other tasks besides training.

Making catapults, digging canals, repairing houses, etc. are common in Wuquan, and there are many soldiers who can make catapults.

Liu Jilian was not worried that this skill would leak out. After all, in order to conquer the three states of Liang, Hui and Lan, he had already left the catapult skills in Shandan.

Moreover, for the Tang Dynasty, as long as there were good craftsmen observing the operation of the counterweight trebuchet, they would sooner or later figure out the working principle of the counterweight trebuchet.

"Boom bang bang-"

The stone throwing continued, and Liu Jilian also rode his horse to Shang Duoluo.

"Almost. We are short-handed. We have cut down so much wood to make the trebuchets, but we don't have enough people to operate them."

Liu Jilong only took a quick glance and knew that most of the trees had been cut down.

Upon hearing this, Shang Duoluo sent someone to deliver a message, asking the laborers who were cutting down trees to go to the river in the rear to dig up river stones and transport them to the front line.

After giving the order, Shang Duoluo and Liu Jilian observed the situation in Longxi City on horseback.

Twenty-six catapults were continuously launching stones, and twenty or thirteen out of ten of these stones hit the city wall, while the rest fell on the moat and the flat ground a mile ahead.

The Longxi army's siege tactics were three-pronged: first, they destroyed the city's parapet, then destroyed the city defense equipment and long-range equipment on the horse road, then filled in the trenches, moved the front line forward, and stormed the city walls.

As the city walls collapsed, it was time for the soldiers to storm the city.

Although the method is conventional, it is effective.

"Boom bang bang-"

Soon, the third round of stone throwing continued, followed by the fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds...

As time went by, the catapults with replaced parts were also placed on the battlefield. There were a total of forty catapults, but only one thousand two hundred people were needed to operate them.

Not only that, some wood is still being baked and will be made into catapults in the next few days and placed on the battlefield.

Elite cavalry stood guard in the north and south, six hundred armored soldiers and six hundred civilian laborers operated catapults, while the other armored soldiers and civilian laborers were processing wood or digging river stones in the rear.

Faced with the repeated bombardment of forty catapults, the newly rammed stone walls on the Longxi city wall had already begun to shake and fall off.

Each round of stone throwing would cause the stonework on the city wall to fall off, or continuously transfer the force to the rammed earth wall behind.

The soldiers on the horse road hid under the inner wall. When facing stones weighing dozens of kilograms, the city gate tower and arrow tower were like a piece of white paper, breaking whatever was hit.

If the distance was not far enough and the aim was too poor, it would only take a day and a night to break down the rammed earth walls and destroy the city defense equipment.

The Longxi army still has enough food to last for three months, and there is also enough food in Xiangwu City to last them for a year.

All of these grains were captured in the Battle of Weiyuan, in addition to tens of thousands of livestock.

Liu Jilian had no time to make a count, as all he wanted was to capture Longxi and cut off the Tang court's plan to enter Weizhou.

"Boom bang bang-"

The Longxi army's stone-throwing attack began on the first day of September and lasted for five days day and night. Then, due to insufficient supply of river stones, the stone-throwing was stopped at night.

During this period, many catapults stopped working due to insufficient material endurance, but they soon resumed operation after being repaired by the soldiers and civilians.

There are now fifty catapults on the battlefield, and three or four rounds of stones can be fired every quarter of an hour.

The elite cavalry dismounted and operated the catapults with the armored soldiers, while all the laborers went forward to dig river stones.

The northern wall of Longxi City was already in ruins, and the rammed earth stone wall had long since collapsed. The fallen rocks filled up the foundation of the wall, and the continuously collapsing sand and soil covered it, eliminating the need for a cloud chariot to attack the city. "Protector!"

Shouting was heard after the stone was thrown, and a young man hurried down the path.

Seeing this, General Lin Ruzhen, who was standing in front of the corridor, asked hurriedly: "How is the city defense?"

"So much stone wall collapsed that the parapet collapsed!"

Xiaojie reported this, and Lin Ruzhen's face turned ugly when he heard it.

But before he could give orders, another official came riding up on horseback, dismounted hastily, and saluted.
"Protector General, there are cracks protruding from the inner city wall in many places. If this continues, I'm afraid we will end up like Great Xia!"

Lin Ruzhen clenched his fists, and at this time, a hundred households on the top of the city wall poked their heads out and said, "Protector General, the Han slaves are moving forward!"

"Asshole..."

Lin Ruzhen clenched his fists. Facing this familiar scene, he naturally knew what it meant.

They moved the catapults forward, and then replaced them with stones weighing more than 100 jin to break through the city walls. After that, the armored soldiers launched a strong attack...

Thinking of this, Lin Ruzhen cast his gaze towards the houses in the city and gritted his teeth and said:

"Tear down all these houses, and use all the stones, mud, and wood that can be used to reinforce the city wall!"

"Yes!!"

Following General Lin Ruzhen's order, slaves and foreigners alike were forcibly driven out of their homes.

All the houses facing the street were demolished and all the materials were transported to the base of the north city wall.

More than 6,000 civilians were called to the North City District by General Lin Ruzhen, who ordered them to start laying stones close to the city wall to consolidate it.

He used the main beams of those houses to build a wooden frame as high as the city wall, and then piled up stones and mixed them with soil to tamp them down.

For a while, the Longxi army was throwing stones outside, and the foreign army inside the city was building new walls. Both sides attacked and defended each other, and the situation lasted from day to night.

Because the Longxi army had to collect stones, they had to be divided into three shifts to rest. However, General Lin Ruzhen ignored the complaints of the civilians and forced them to build the city wall day and night.

In just one night, more than 6,000 laborers demolished hundreds of houses and used the materials to build the city walls.

The city wall, which was originally 16 feet thick, was forcibly thickened by two feet.

Not only that, Lin Ruzhen would take advantage of the night and send people to use hanging baskets to lift people out of the city and dig out the collapsed sand and soil to backfill the city wall.

All of their tactics were clearly seen by the Tangqi of the Longxi Army, and Liu Jilian naturally knew what they were doing.

However, Liu Jilian did not stop them. Firstly, there was little point in stopping them, and secondly, the temporary city wall could not stop the catapults under his command.

As he expected, as the catapult moved forward three hundred steps and was equipped with heavy stones weighing more than 100 kilograms, the Longxi city wall that was so close at hand became as fragile as tofu.

The huge stones hit the city wall, causing the entire wall to shake off sand and dust. The newly built inner city wall even directly exploded with a thumb-wide crack.

"One, two... pull!"

"Boom bang bang-"

The power of the stones thrown in round after round was several times greater than that of the previous few days.

When General Lin Ruzhen saw this, he immediately ordered people to repair the wall and he himself mounted his horse and headed for the south of the city.

He rushed along the main road all the way to the south of the city. He didn't even bother to raise his eyelids when he saw the people whose houses were demolished along the way.

Until he rushed out of the south gate, what lay before him was an endless stream of tents, the bare mountain range on the left, and the group of ragged women and children between the tents.

They occupied the arable land to build tents, and when they felt uncomfortable they went to the Wei River to relieve themselves, and their feces and urine flowed along the Wei River to Guanzhong.

If Shang Yanxin and Lu Ruyue had not issued a strict order not to allow them to defecate and urinate in the farmland, they would probably have made the place stink.

"drive……"

Galloping south along the official road for about four or five miles, Lin Ruzhen saw a huge tent across the official road in front of him.

He reined in his horse in time, turned over, and hurried into the tent.

Shang Yanxin, Lu Ruyue, Zhe Buhui and their families gathered in the tent, and freshly roasted mutton was placed on the table.

Even in such difficult days, they never treated themselves badly.

"Lin Ru really wants you here, come sit down and eat together!"

Lu Ruyue greeted him generously, and her desire to win over General Lin Ruzhen was almost written on her face.

"No need."

General Lin Ruzhen was straightforward. After rejecting Lu Ruyue, he bowed to Shang Yanxin, who was sitting on the left, and said:
"Qiliben, the Han army has advanced to a hundred steps outside the city wall. The wall can't withstand their stone throwing. Although I have led people to push the civilian houses to reinforce the wall, it is of little use."

He first reported the current situation, and then calmly waited for Shang Yanxin to speak.

"It's only the sixth day and you can't hold on?"

Shang Yanxin spoke with a dark face, and General Lin Ruzhen saluted and said, "We can still hold out for a few more days. I am worried that the Qinzhou troops will not arrive in time, and our army has not crossed the river in time."

"Hmm..." Shang Yanxin cast his gaze towards Lu Ruyue: "Lu Ruyue, if Qinzhou's troops can't come, we will all die here!"

Lu Ruyue felt a little embarrassed when she heard this, but she still managed to say, "Since you said it will take ten days, it will definitely not change."

"It's because we can't hold out until the originally scheduled 10th day of September, not because the Qinzhou troops didn't come."

"Including today, there are still five days until the tenth day of September. We must hold on to these five days!"

"That sounds nice!" Zhe Buhui said dissatisfiedly:
"We are just waiting here for the Qinzhou troops. If Liu Jilong breaks through the city, what should we do with the tens of thousands of people in the south of the city?"

"Have you forgotten the disastrous defeat at Weiyuan Ferry last time?"

Zhe Buhui bluntly mentioned the disastrous defeat in Weiyuan, which made Shang Yanxin and Lu Ruyue embarrassed.

The two wanted to get angry, but deep down they were worried that Weiyuan's disastrous defeat would continue.

After a long while, Lu Ruyue gritted her teeth and said, "Men and horses are the most important."

"Withdraw our men and let the slaves build the city walls. The women and children should take the herds across the river and wait on the south bank of the river."

"If we can't defend the city, we will then lead the soldiers and men to retreat, cut off the bridge, and retreat to Minzhou!"

Lu Ruyue expressed her ideas, and everyone nodded in agreement.

There are two ferry bridges in Longnan, the one in the south is less than a mile away from their tent, and it is a typical three-way intersection.

The Zhang River in the west merges into the Wei River here and flows to Guanzhong together with the Wei River.

After crossing the bridge, there is an official road to the west leading to Zhuang County and to the east leading to Fuqiang County of Qinzhou.

It is sixty miles from Longxi County to Zhuang County, and one hundred miles to Fuqiang County.

As long as there are no women, children, herds or baggage delayed, the men can cross the bridge quickly and cut the pontoon bridge in time. They will have enough time to go to Zhuangxian, Minzhou, or Fuqiang in Qinzhou.

"Why not fight to the death with Liu Jilong!"

Zhe Buhui still could not forget Linzhou which he had lost. He fantasized about defeating Liu Jilian and taking back the land he had lost.

"A fight to the bitter end?" Monk Lu Ruyue and Monk Yanxin glanced at each other and looked at each other as if they were fools.

Without waiting for Zhe Buhui to question him, Lu Ruyue said:
"If we fight Liu Jilong to the death here, after his defeat, the worst that can happen is that he will retreat to Xiangwu, reorganize his troops and continue to march south, but what about us?"

"Don't forget that the iron ore and coal mines in Weizhou are all in Weiyuan, and now that Weiyuan has been lost, there are no coal and iron mines in Longxi County at all."

"By then, most of the soldiers will be dead. What can we do to resist Liu Jilong's coming south again?"

"If all our soldiers are dead, even if we surrender to Xue Kui, he won't take us seriously."

"We have horses and armor, and these 1,700 men in the army can all become elite cavalry."

"One thousand seven hundred armored soldiers are not taken seriously, but one thousand seven hundred elite cavalry will definitely make Xue Kui accept us."

"What's more, we have 4,000 Fanding behind us. With a little training and some armor, they can become elite cavalry."

"If we don't join Xue Kui now while we still have some capital, are we going to wait for Liu Jilong to wipe out all his soldiers and then be annexed by others?"

Lu Ruyue scolded Zhe Buhui until he woke up, but Zhe Buhui refused to give in and said, "I just can't accept it!"

"Humph!" Shang Yanxin snorted coldly: "Han slaves have a saying, it is never too late for a gentleman to take revenge!"

"Liu Jilong took advantage of our weakness to attack us. We will come back to kill him when he is weaker in the future!"

Shang Yanxin's words were not only to comfort Zhe Bu Luo, but also to comfort himself.

When they were planning to cut the bridge and escape, Liu Jilian, who was five or six miles away from them, turned his horse around and returned to the camp.

The smell of meat wafted through the camp, as dozens of large pots were stewing tens or even hundreds of kilograms of mutton.

The sight of so much mutton made people drool, but the reason why Liu Jilong generously killed so many sheep was not to reward the troops.

"Zhang Chang, what's wrong?"

Liu Jilong dismounted from his horse in an open space and called out Zhang Chang's name.

Zhang Chang, who was working, heard this and immediately stood up and walked towards him, turning sideways and signaling:
"Two thousand sheepskin bags are ready, and we can build a floating bridge as soon as you give the order!"

In front of Liu Jilong were two thousand processed sheepskin bags.

The floating bridge was cut off twice by Shang Yanxin and Lu Ruyue. How could Liu Jilong make the same mistake for the third time?
"Okay!" A smile appeared on his face and his hand unconsciously rested on the hilt of the knife at his waist.

"If these three pig dogs still want to cut down the floating bridge, we will send them to hell!"

(End of this chapter)