Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 183 Tit for tat
"I have learned that I am willing to surrender the entire city to Envoy Liu!"

At noon on September 21st, the eighth year of Dazhong, as the fifty-year-old Changdao County Jie'er Suo Xi surrendered to Liu Jilong's tent, the Changdao County soldiers were taken under his command without bloodshed.

Sitting in the main seat, Liu Jilong stood up, walked to Suoxi, bowed and helped him up.

"What Shandor said is what I said. Since he made a promise, I must abide by it."

"If Jie'er can still persuade me to be demoted to Shanglu County, I am willing to be awarded the rank of Sixth-Rank Flying Cavalry Captain, with an annual salary of 100 dan and 500 mu of permanent farmland!"

After recovering the three states, Liu Jilian would rather spend more money than sacrifice the lives of his soldiers.

Saoxi looked up upon hearing this and said hastily, "If the envoy allows me to do what is convenient for me, I will certainly be able to persuade him to reduce my salary."

"Okay!" Liu Jilong nodded and said, "I'll allow you to do as you please!"

After he finished speaking, Liu Jilong looked at Shang Duoluo who had returned with Saoxi and said, "Shang Duoluo, I order you to bring 500 elite cavalry and 500 armored soldiers with Saoxi's 500 armored soldiers to persuade Shanglu County to surrender!"

"I will obey your orders!" Shang Duoluo responded decisively, while Liu Jilong looked at Geng Ming:

"Geng Ming, the three armies will break camp and march towards Yanjing!"

"Yes!"

Geng Ming stood up and responded, and the Longxi army moved out in response to the order.

Shang Duoluo led 1,500 cavalry and infantry troops southward, while Liu Jilian led 2,300 armored soldiers and 3,000 civilians to march along Changdao.

The army split into two beside the West Han River. After marching for only two hours, they saw Changdao County on the east bank of the West Han River.

Changdao County is located on the east bank of the West Han River, running northeast, no more than two miles wide and more than thirty miles long, in the middle of the river valley in the Qishan gully.

The farmland outside the city is long and narrow, extending northeast along the West Han River. After more than thirty miles, you can see the ferry.

By passing through the ferry in the northeast, you can cross the Xihan River and reach Yanjing County on the west bank of the Xihan River.

At present, Hu Si Guang led 500 elite cavalrymen to stay in the city. When he saw the Longxi army coming, he immediately came to support them.

"Governor, the money and goods in the treasury of Changdao County are less than a thousand strings of cash, and less than 20,000 dan of grain."

Huke Siguang rode his horse to the south bank of the ferry and reported to Liu Jilong who had just crossed the bridge.

Liu Jilong nodded when he heard this, then looked at the team crossing the river in the back, and then looked at Hu Siguang: "You take 500 elite cavalry to the ferry in the north now, seize the ferry bridge first, and don't give Yanjing's Li Wei a chance."

"I obey your command!" Upon hearing this, Hu Siguang bowed and accepted the order, then turned his horse around and galloped towards Changdao County.

Looking at his back, Liu Jilong couldn't help shaking his head.

Shang Duo Luo and Hu Si Guang still haven't changed their role as vanguards, otherwise they wouldn't have left the northern ferry unattended.

Fortunately, Li Wei is not a strong enemy, so he cannot find such a loophole.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong called Geng Ming, pointed to Changdao County in the distance, and discussed with him how to govern Changdao.

The terrain of Changdao is very good. If it is managed well, it will be no problem to reclaim 70,000 to 80,000 acres of arable land.

The terrain of Qishan here is very high, and only by attacking from both ends of the valley can one enter the long road.

As long as we recover Shanglu and Yanjing and set up camps in Mumen Valley in the north and Hanxia in the south, it will be difficult for anyone to attack Chengzhou from either the north or the south.

"Zhang Rende, I order you to lead 300 soldiers to garrison Changdao County!"

"The last general takes command!"

"Uncle Wang, I order you to organize the people in the city into militias and sow wheat in time. Don't delay the farming season!"

"The last general takes command!"

"Zhao Huai dares, I order you to..."

Geng Ming rode his horse across the official road, giving orders to the generals in the army in a hoarse voice.

Soon, three hundred armored soldiers entered Changdao County, and several military officers followed them.

Now that the autumn harvest is over, it is a good time to plant wheat, so we naturally cannot delay.

Seeing that Geng Ming was commanding the situation in an orderly manner, Liu Jilong did not interfere with him, but just gave him some advice and supplementary suggestions from time to time.

Soon, Geng Ming became proficient in the task, and the army crossed the thirty-mile river valley and arrived at the ferry on the north side of Changdao.

Huke Siguang led five hundred elite cavalrymen to camp here, and smoke signals had already risen in Yanjing County, less than ten miles away.

"Governor, this place is too close to the salt well. We were discovered as soon as we arrived here."

Huke Siguang rode his horse to find Liu Jilong and reported what had just happened.

Liu Jilong nodded when he heard this and looked at Geng Ming. Geng Ming also straightened his chest and said:

"It's okay. My army is crossing the river with such a large force that they will find out sooner or later."

"Now the army has crossed the river and set up camp three miles outside Yanjing County. Hukui Guang, you lead five hundred elite cavalrymen to approach Yanjing to see if Yanjing is a fortress or some other city."

"Yes!" After all, Hu Siguang was Geng Ming's junior. He didn't think there was anything wrong with obeying Geng Ming's orders as long as Liu Jilong agreed.

Following Geng Ming's instructions, he led five hundred elite cavalrymen and galloped towards Yanjing.

At the same time, Yanjing County was lined with armored soldiers, and a strong general wearing armor and a gorgeous iron helmet walked quickly onto the horse path.

At the same time as he walked onto the horse path, more than 500 elite cavalrymen including Hu Si Guang just rushed past the city.

"You pig-dog fellow, how dare you rebel against me!"

"Qiliben, it seems that they are not Saoxi, they seem to be...Tang army?"

In front of the city wall, Xiaojie explained nervously, and the general widened his eyes when he heard it.

"Why would the Tang army come from the south?"

This general was the lord of Yanjing City, Qilibenliwei.

The Yanjing City under his feet is located at the foot of Qishan Mountain, on the north bank of the West Han River, and nestled among the ravines of Qishan Mountain.

During the Western Han Dynasty, salt wells were discovered here, so a city was built and salt officials were appointed to mine brine and make salt.

The city was renamed many times, but the task of making salt never stopped.

After the Tibetan king was assassinated, Li Xi relied on the benefits of Chengzhou's well salt to build a very strong city with abundant food and grass, so he was not afraid of the invasion of Qiliban from other states.

Even when the fear of heat was rampant in Helong, he paid no attention to the fear of heat.

What he feared most was that the Tang Dynasty would turn against him, leaving him with only the well salt but no market for it.

Now that the Tang army has appeared in Yanjing County, doesn’t this mean that the Tang court is preparing to take action against him?

"The Han people are like pigs and dogs. I knew they couldn't be trusted!"

Li Xi first cursed the Han people, then comforted the soldiers around him:

"Don't panic. The food in the city is enough for us to defend the city for five years. Besides, there is no shortage of water. What is there to worry about?"

"It's almost October now. In another month, the mountains will be covered with snow. They can only attack for a month at most before they have to retreat!"

"When they retreat, I will take you to Duomai to seize the river valley. You won't have to worry about having a bad life!"

Li Wei's words calmed down the 1,500 elite cavalry and armored soldiers in the city.

Xiaojieer next to him couldn't help but say, "Qiliben, what about this well salt..."

"You pig-dog fellow, the Tang court has fallen out with you, who can we sell this well salt to?"

"If we abandon them and go to Duomai, we have enough troops to seize several river valleys. Will it be worse than living here?"

Li Wei taught Xiaojie a lesson, and then looked north with him.

The temperature was still relatively high at that time, so crops could still be grown on the plateau, but the yield was not as high as it was a hundred years ago.

In places with lower altitudes like Duomai, there are large river valleys that can be reclaimed for grazing, so Li Wei is not worried about losing his livelihood.

He has so many soldiers and food that he can make a comeback wherever he goes and has no need to worry about not surviving.

"Uuuuuu——"

The sound of horns rang out inside and outside the city, and many Tang Dynasty merchants who came to Yanjing to do business disguised themselves for fear of being recognized.

The trade routes between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo were cut off at the court level, but this did not prevent these merchants from sneaking into the salt wells to collect cheap well salt.

Before the Anshi Rebellion, the price of salt in the Tang Dynasty was generally ten wen per dou, and even in the inland areas, it was only twenty wen per dou.

However, after Emperor Suzong of Tang implemented the "salt monopoly" policy, namely the "Salt Monopoly Law", the price of salt in the coastal and inland areas of the Tang Dynasty rose sharply. For example, the price of salt in the Jianghuai area rose to 300 wen per dou, while the price of salt in the Hezhong area was 270 wen per dou.

The high price of salt forced the people of the Tang Dynasty to smuggle salt, and the Tang Dynasty also introduced the death penalty for catching salt smugglers.

Even so, it still couldn't stop the people from smuggling salt. Du Fu wrote in his poem "Carrying Firewood" about the local women in Yunyang who risked their lives to sell private salt: "They climbed the dangerous market gate with their muscles and strength, risking their lives to make a profit from the salt wells."

Although strict laws and punishments were implemented after the mid-Tang Dynasty, and people were punished for “killing people with salt”, the problem of private salt was never solved, and the price of official salt remained at around 300 wen.

Under such circumstances, many local officials would collude with private salt dealers to smuggle salt, and the salt wells were a microcosm of this larger context.

The salt from the salt wells was sold for only one hundred coins per dou, which was two hundred coins cheaper than the official salt, which meant a profit of two hundred coins.

Even after deducting necessary expenses such as shipping costs and bribes, there is still a profit of at least fifty cents.

Money and goods can attract people, which is why there are so many smugglers and illegal immigrants.

"Damn it, why are the government troops here to attack us?!"

"Hurry up and change your clothes. When the government troops break into the city, no one should betray anyone else!"

In the tavern, shouting continued to be heard from each room, but among them, there was one room that was very quiet.

Inside the house, a merchant was using a very fine brush to write small characters on a piece of paper as long and wide as his thumb.

There was not much content, just a few words, but he wrote more than ten notes.

Soon, he put more than ten notes into small bamboo tubes, then turned and walked towards the cabinet behind him.

These cabinets looked like cabinets, but when he opened them, he saw pigeons inside.

He tied the bamboo tubes to the legs of pigeons and released them one by one. As the last pigeon flew away, he couldn't help but frown and look at the dark sky: "I hope I can live half as long as Shanggui..."

As he finished speaking, Hu Siguang took a look around outside the city and then returned to the west of Yanjing City.

At the same time, Liu Jilong and his men also led their troops and set up camp three miles outside the city.

"Ah... Governor!"

The sound of reining in the horse was heard, and then Hu Siguang turned over and dismounted, hurriedly walked into the tent, bowed to Liu Jilong and Geng Ming, and said:
"It's just an ordinary city. The city wall is about two meters high and three meters thick. The city wall is built with river stones and rammed earth. It is very solid."

"The two sides of the city are passable. Do you want to surround the city?"

As Huke Siguang finished speaking, Geng Ming subconsciously looked at Liu Jilong.

Seeing that Liu Jilong did not speak, he perked up and looked at Hu Siguang: "You lead 500 elite cavalry to station in the east of the city, and arrange another 1,000 armored soldiers to station in the north and south of the city."

"Yes!" Huke Siguang bowed in response and then went to make arrangements.

Geng Ming saw him walk out of the tent, then he looked at Liu Jilong and said, "Governor, do you want to attack at night?"

"You decide for yourself." Liu Jilong did not say anything. Geng Ming nodded, stood up and walked out of the tent.

An hour later, when Liu Jilong was tasting a bowl of fresh fish soup, a dull banging sound was heard outside the tent.

"Boom bang bang-"

"Uh-huh!"

"Pig-dog! What is this?"

"Trebuchet! It's a trebuchet!"

"Fight back, you pig-dog fellow!"

For a while, there were constant curses from the top of Yanjing City. Li Wei hurriedly retreated from the horse road and watched the battlefield from the bell tower in the distance.

Under the cover of night, stones the size of human bodies kept hitting the city or the city walls.

Every time one of them fell, it seemed to hit the foreign soldiers' hearts.

I thought that was the end of it, but soon a flame appeared in the night sky, like a shooting star.

Before the foreign soldiers could react, the flaming rocks fell on the top of the city and inside the city.

The black asphalt set many huts on fire, and the entire city was ablaze.

"Go away!"

"Water leaked! Put out the fire quickly!"

"A'niang...A'niang..."

"Someone come save my baby! Someone come quickly!"

"Uh-"

The terrifying sounds of putting out fires, cries for help and wails filled people's ears.

The prosperous and sturdy Yanjing City turned into a hell on earth in less than an hour, irritating everyone's nerves.

Li Xi led people to put out the fire, and at the same time ordered craftsmen to build catapults to fight back.

At the same time, eight or nine carrier pigeons flew into the Shanggui County Government Office, which was less than a hundred miles away from Yanjing.

The news they brought was exactly the same, causing Zhibai, who was in charge of the pigeons, to shrink his pupils.

Soon, more than ten carrier pigeons were released, and they arrived in Fuqiang County in less than an hour. The Fuqiang County Government released more than ten carrier pigeons shortly afterwards.

"Tuk Tuk Tuk!"

"Governor, there is urgent news from Fuqiang, you need to take a look!"

"Tuk tuk tuk..."

"Provincial Governor..."

At midnight, the sound of hurried knocking on the door woke Gao Pian from his sleep. He held his forehead and stood up. The woman next to him wanted to get up as well, but he raised his hand to comfort her.

Soon, Gao Pian put on his coat and opened the door, only to see an anxious look on Zhang Lin's face.

"Provincial Governor, urgent news from Fuqiang!"

Zhang Lin handed over the letter, Gao Pian unfolded it and read it with squinting eyes.

[Chengzhou was besieged, referring to the officers and soldiers]

Seeing these eight words, Gao Pian immediately sobered up, raised his head and ordered: "Zhang Lin, send the Tang cavalry to go deep into Longxi to see if there are any traces of a large group of people and horses fleeing from the Longxi ferry."

"In addition, write a letter to Yanjing to inquire whether the so-called officers and soldiers are flying the Longxi flag, even if their identities are exposed!"

"Tell Wang Zhongren to gather the elite cavalry. I want to meet them outside the east gate in an hour!"

"I obey your command!" Zhang Lin bowed in response, then trotted out of the inner hall to make arrangements.

Gao Pian closed the door and held his forehead with his hand, and the woman on the bed got up, put on her clothes, and walked behind Gao Pian to massage the acupoints on his forehead.

"Why are you so anxious?"

Feeling the relief on his forehead, Gao Pian sighed slowly and said, "There are soldiers besieging Chengzhou. I'm afraid Liu Jilong led his troops to sneak across Qishan and besiege Yanjing..."

Hearing this, the woman's massaging hands froze for a moment, and then she soothed him, "With my husband here, Liu Jilong won't be able to mess up the situation."

"No..." Gao Pian rarely admitted that he couldn't control the situation. He took a deep breath and said:
"Although I have trained my troops for several months, my troops are still inferior to his. Moreover, it is more than 200 miles from here to Chengzhou. His catapults are very powerful, so I am afraid it will be difficult for me to achieve success."

"Even so, I still believe in you, my dear." The woman leaned over and hugged Gao Pian. Gao Pian enjoyed it for a moment before getting up and saying:
"Okay, I need to lead my elite cavalry to rush into Chengzhou. Take good care of yourself these days."

"I am waiting for my husband to come back." The girl knew the general situation and did not cry or make a fuss. She just helped Gao Pian to dress and put on his fur coat.

An hour later, Gao Pian appeared outside the East City wearing military uniform and a black fur coat.

Without much talk, he immediately led Zhang Lin, Lu Ruyue, and Lin Ruzhen, and five thousand elite cavalry, heading south along Luomen Road to Chengzhou.

They advanced along the official road, galloping from Yinshi (3 o'clock) to dawn, but what appeared in front of them was a stone wall blocking the official road.

"The governor!"

Zhang Lin reined in his horse and turned around on the spot, while Gao Pian rode forward with a gloomy face.

The elite cavalry of the Longxi Army was stationed on the stone wall, and there were seven or eight armored soldiers on the stone wall.

"Who gave you permission to build a stone wall here?!"

Gao Pian asked calmly, and a figure walked up the stone wall path.

Dou Jingchong looked at the elite cavalry team that stretched for several miles, and then turned his attention to Gao Pian.

"I'm sorry, Governor Gao. My envoy heard that Luomen Road was in ruins, so he led his troops to repair it."

"This road is blocked. Please take the Qishan Road instead!"

Dou Jingchong bowed and signaled Gao Pian to take the Qishan Road instead.

"This place is the territory of Qinzhou. When will it be Liu Shijun's turn to build roads for Qinzhou?"

Gao Pian looked calm, and then bowed to Dou Jingchong and said, "General, please step down from the horse path. Our army is going to tear down this city wall!"

"Ridiculous!" Dou Jingchong said angrily, "My lord has ordered that the city wall must not be demolished before the road is repaired!"

Suddenly, the armored soldiers beside him drew their swords from their waists and confronted the Tianxiong Army and Chengwu Army from a high position.

The official road was only three meters wide, but the city wall stretched across the road and was seven feet high.

Judging from the fact that the official road is still passable, it is probably at least seven feet thick.

Seeing this, although Gao Pian's expression remained normal, he was constantly calculating in his mind.

At the same time, the captain on the horse road couldn't help asking Dou Jingchong: "Captain, if they really tear down the wall, what should we do?"

"Let them tear it down. Although this stone wall is not solid, it is at least ten feet thick. They are all elite cavalrymen. Let's see how they tear it down!"

Dou Jingchong deliberately provoked Gao Pian to demolish the wall. However, in the face of his behavior, Gao Pian glanced at the official road on the other side of Luomen River.

"Okay, so you came here through the abandoned Tibetan road."

Gao Pian narrowed his eyes, then shook the reins and came to the edge of Luomen Water.

Seeing that the river was not deep, he immediately turned his horse around and shouted, "General Lin Ruzhen!"

"I am here!" General Lin Ruzhen rode out on his horse, while Gao Pian pointed his whip at the abandoned Tibetan road where Liu Jilian and his men came from.

"Since Governor Liu has repaired the official road for us, we cannot fail to show our appreciation."

"You lead a thousand elite cavalrymen across the river and repair the official road for Governor Liu and his men!"

"you dare!!"

Before Gao Pian finished speaking, Dou Jingchong widened his eyes and shouted angrily.

However, Gao Pian ignored his angry scolding, turned his horse around, and returned with the remaining 4,000 elite cavalry, preparing to take the Qishan Road to Chengzhou.

At the same time, General Lin Ruzhen also led a thousand elite cavalrymen to wade across the Luomen River.

Even though the Luomen River was bitterly cold in autumn, a thousand elite cavalry still crossed the river and seized the way back for Liu Jilian and his men.

Now, even if Liu Jilian captured Cheng and Wu states, he would have to take Luomen Road to Wushan County and then take a detour back to Longxi County.

Gao Pian knew that Liu Jilian would not resort to violence, and he would not be the first to do so.

Although he could not use force, he could cut off Liu Jilong's food supply, and there was less than a month left before the Qinling Mountains were closed due to heavy snow.

"go!"

Shaking the reins, Gao Pian led 4,000 elite cavalrymen and galloped towards the Qishan Road in Shanggui.

(End of this chapter)