Tiger Guards

Chapter 644 Defending Our Homeland
Xiangwu is located at the border of Tianshui and Longxi.

The Ren clan, one of the four major clans in Tianshui, has many descendants, with one branch residing in Shandan Township, Xiangwu County.

The mountains here are tall and precipitous, resembling giant red watermelons nestled in the mud.

The flash floods washed away these mountains, carving out valleys, plains, and roads suitable for cultivation. The soil and exposed rocks were reddish-brown, hence the name Shandan (meaning "mountain red").

This Xiaoshandan is different from the Dashandan Military Horse Farm in the four prefectures of Hexi.

But for this Ren family, Shandan Township has become a solid base for their business for generations.

Every blade of grass, every tree, every mountain, and even the people and animals here belong to the Ren family.

Naturally, after receiving letters and messengers from the Ren family members and relatives in Jicheng, they gathered to discuss the matter.

For most of the Ren family members, they needed to engage in production to make a stable life.

There was no uncontrolled military service or corvée labor, nor heavy taxes. Even if they farmed, herded, fished, and hunted, they could still maintain a comfortable and happy life.

Therefore, it was not only the powerful clans themselves who resisted and opposed Zhao Ji, but also their vast clansmen who would do their utmost to resist in order to evade military service, corvée labor, and taxes... In any case, it was the powerful clans who would suffer severe punishment after the defeat.

As the main productive force, these people are somewhat emboldened and fearless.

The powerful clans and their associates preferred to follow the powerful, perform corvée labor and military service in the war, and contribute their property and resources, rather than contribute to a larger collective... because it was uncontrollable.

Even the most tyrannical local strongmen would adjust their methods according to the circumstances and would not persecute their fellow villagers and clans to death, but the traveling officials of the imperial court did not think that way.

When you serve powerful families and make contributions, you receive immediate rewards; but the imperial court is too large, the feedback chain is too long, and it is very easy to be interfered with.

For example, the change from Grand Marshal Zhao to Grand Tutor Zhao indicates that the court's feedback mechanism was maliciously delayed and disrupted.

"Take up arms and defend our homeland!"

After receiving support from the clan elders, the young patriarch of the Ren clan immediately rallied his relatives and fellow villagers to rise up in rebellion.

Defending the Han Dynasty is too far in the future. Defending the present, without exporting corvée labor, military service, and taxes, and without accepting the privileges of county and prefecture land inspections, is what every young and strong should strive for!
The Ren family of Shandan Township is just a microcosm of the powerful families in Tianshui. Unfortunately, it took them only two days to gather more than two thousand able-bodied men.

Because Zhang Xiu and Yang Xiu were stationed in Xiangwu and Longxi counties respectively, this branch of the Ren family could only send more than a thousand people to Jicheng to join the alliance and strengthen the influence of the direct line of the Ren family.

When the Ren family and several other powerful western forces arrived, the siege of Jicheng had already begun.

The two thousand garrison troops in the city held out tenaciously, tying down a large number of powerful rebel forces and preventing them from defending the city or launching a counterattack.

Communication between the city and the outside world was poor, and the city's defender, Heng Fang, dared not act rashly and waste precious, irreplaceable troops.

Therefore, outside the west gate of Jicheng, Wang Qi came from the Wei River, dragged his boat to the shore and began to build a new camp.

Amidst the sand and cold Wei River, a low, irregularly shaped ice city appeared three miles west of Jicheng, and a massive command and observation tower, constructed from layers of stacked logs, was being systematically erected.

At the west gate tower of Jicheng, Xin Pi gazed at the wooden tower that rose from the ground, pondered for a moment, and said, "Once this wooden tower is built, the enemy army will know the true situation inside the city. In this way, they can coordinate their forces from both inside and outside, and our army will inevitably be drawn into a bitter battle."

Beside him stood General Zhao Rong, who was suppressing bandits. As he watched the wooden tower being built and raised, many unpleasant memories began to surface in his mind.

For some reason, he thought of Zhao Ji.

He repeatedly observed the ground and confirmed that the wooden tower was three miles away from the city wall before he felt slightly relieved. If the arrow tower had appeared two hundred paces away from the city wall, Zhao Rong would have had to consider something else.

As Zhao Rong pondered the changing battle situation, he said, "Liu, the governor of Yizhou, suddenly sent troops to Qishankou. The enemy army was caught off guard, and the Three Auxiliary Regions were shaken. It is likely that the enemy general Han Shu will also gather his troops and hold his ground to observe the changing situation."

As long as Han Shu does not immediately start a war, over time, the scattered powerful forces of Tianshui will reorganize and have at least 30,000 troops, of which no less than 6,000 will be elite cavalry from Longshang.

Once the powerful allied forces of Tianshui are united, they will naturally be able to use their numerical advantage to drive out Han Shu and Wang Qi, and then turn back to cooperate with Han Sui to annihilate the four armies of Zhang Xiu, Yang Qiu, Zhang He, and Zhu Ling under the supervision of Ma Chao. Including the troops of Ma Teng and Ma Chao, this is a total of more than 40,000 elite veterans.

By integrating these veterans and joining forces with Zhang Xiu, dispatched by Han Sui and Liu Zhang, they were well-equipped to launch a counterattack against Guanzhong!

Just as Zhao Rong was optimistically predicting the changes in the battle situation, the coalition of more than 5,000 powerful families gathered in the west of the city launched a probing attack on the low-lying camp area built by Wang Qi by boat without authorization.

Wang Qi's officers and soldiers had no choice but to stop their construction work and take up arms to resist.

The armored spears, halberds, swords, and shields beside him were already guarding behind the low ice wall, while the other soldiers involved in the construction, not bothering to put on their armor, went to operate bows and crossbows.

On the west city tower, Xin Pi and Zhao Rong observed the changes in the battle together.

The powerful clans of Tianshui launched a dispersed attack, forming large and small battle groups. Although this was not conducive to overall command and coordination, each battle group consisted of fellow villagers and relatives, so their internal tactical cooperation and coordination were close. Even in the event of a rout, they could maintain their basic structure.

Their front ranks were still composed of heavily armored infantry and shield bearers, with elite cavalry from Longshang on the left and right flanks. Most of their archers and crossbowmen were also wearing leather armor, so they were not lacking in armor protection. In terms of armor coverage, they were even better than the soldiers of Yan and Yu provinces.

The weakness of Wang Qi's archers in counterattacking actually emboldened the powerful allied forces, allowing them to continue advancing and get closer and closer to the low ice wall.

Before the two sides could engage in close combat, the various battle groups of the powerful allied forces entered firing range, and the archers and crossbowmen in the ranks began to use their skills freely.

When the archers can fire comfortably and safely, their front-line armored soldiers also remain stationary to protect their archers.

On the transport ship, Wang Qi held a wooden hammer in his left hand and would occasionally lean over the ballista, close his eyes, and measure with one eye. If he noticed any unevenness, he would tap the wooden wedge to adjust the ballista's level.

Normally, when the ballista is mounted on a transport ship, it is not really useful for aiming or accurate shooting due to the rolling waves.

Now that the transport ship has been towed to the mudflats on the south bank of the Wei River, its hull is stable, which makes it possible for the ballistae loaded on board to fire accurately.

Wang Qi adjusted his crossbow, gripped the wooden hammer, stepped back, and struck the gong with the hammer handle.

With a piercing gong sound, Wang Qi's guards struck the ballista triggers with wooden hammers, and almost simultaneously, more than a hundred ballistae on the twenty-odd transport ships were fired.

The three powerful battle groups near the north were subjected to overwhelming fire, and the relatively dense armored infantry formations in the front ranks were hit by diagonal fire.

The heavy crossbow bolts, like short spears, were devastating. If they hit the torso or limbs, even if the victim didn't die, they would be severely injured and visibly disabled.

With just one volley, the fighting spirit of these three powerful battle groups, numbering seven or eight hundred men, crumbled.

Even during their retreat, these people would still help the wounded or carry the dead, and even arms torn off by ballistae would be picked up and taken with them.

Wang Qi carefully observed the opponent's retreat and felt it was a feigned retreat.

Unmoved, he gripped the wooden mallet handle and struck the gong again: "Wind it up!"

His mission was simply to keep this place under control and prevent the Tianshui rebels from fleeing westward!
As for other matters, they were left to Han Shu to handle.

(End of this chapter)