manynovel Chapter 1204 Using force to suppress others
Chapter 1204 Using force to suppress others
Chapter 1204 Using force to suppress others
Fan Yu, the transport commissioner of Qinfeng Road, and Sun Lu, the inspector of integrity, who were called "Sun Qingtian" and "Fan Qingtian" by the people of Qinfeng Road, were standing on a hill not far from Jingyuguan.
In the distance, the Yellow River is rolling, and the raging waves are hitting the Jincheng Pass built along the river. Grain ships departing from Taoshui and other Lanzhou docks are competing for crossing. The deep-draft grain ships unload grain when they arrive at Jingyuguan Wharf, and then transfer to small boats to carry the grain upstream along the Zhuanglang River.
In the nearby river valley, countless civilians were pushing and dragging eight-ox crossbows and artillery carts, trudging along the road with difficulty.
Looking from a high place, both the civilians and the boats seem as tiny as ants, but when they gather together, they seem to be surging like strong beating blood.
Using the heaven and earth as a chessboard and the people as chess pieces is the wish of emperors and generals.
However, looking at this scene, Fan Yu, who was standing on the top of the mountain and watching from afar, showed an anxious look.
As a transport envoy, it was his duty to deliver military equipment and rations to the front line in Liangzhou.
"I didn't expect that this batch of newly-made Eight-Ox Crossbows, artillery carriages and thunder cannons by the Military Equipment Supervisor would be so difficult to transport. Did the craftsmen expect this in advance? How much manpower will be mobilized for just one carriage?" Fan Yu was very dissatisfied.
Sun Lu said: "Originally, the civilian labor deployed this time was enough, but it seems that we need to mobilize another 50,000 civilian laborers."
Fan Yu was so anxious that blisters appeared on his lips. He said, "Where can I find so many civilians? All the civilians in Xihe Road and Qinfeng Road are here. If we don't, the people will cause trouble."
"This time, in order to transport grain to Shaanxi, the price of rice in Shu has risen sharply. The scholars in Chengdu have collectively appealed to the government not to harm people's livelihood in order to revive the country. Please think about the common people."
"Is the country important? Are the people important? It's not only difficult to be an official in Qinfeng Road, but it's difficult to be an official in the world."
Sun Lu said: "The court has given so much money, food and subsidies, but the people are still not satisfied. I think we should not be too kind to the people, otherwise they will easily become lazy and fearful."
"During the Han Dynasty, a commoner had to perform corvée labor for three months a year and bring their own food. Before Emperor Wu of Han conquered the Xiongnu, there were 30 million registered people, and after that, there were 15 million registered people, but this did not affect the grandeur of his achievements."
Fan Yu stroked his beard and said, "It's different now. Prime Minister Zhang has repeatedly stressed that officials should 'put the people first'."
Sun Lu smiled and said, "General Cao, although the Prime Minister said so, how many officials in the world really care about the people?"
"It is always difficult to be a good official, but easy to be a bad official."
"To put it bluntly, the common people... the common people are nothing!"
Fan Yu said angrily, "How is your talk different from that of a one-cent man?"
Sun Lu said with a smile: "The commander of the canal is not Gao Aocao, and I am not Liu Gui, so how can I say anything like Qian Han? It's just that you and I were recommended by Mr. Zhang to serve here."
"Only by conquering Liangzhou can we repay Lord Zhang's kindness. We can't accomplish great things if we are too soft-hearted."
"It is the right thing to do to stabilize Lord Zhang's position as prime minister and help him achieve great success. Otherwise, even if you and I care about the people, where can we go to cry? The only solution now is to recruit more people. Lord Fan has also seen that the victory of the Liangzhou battle is only 20% to 30% in the head-on confrontation, but 70% to 80% depends on you and me behind the scenes."
Fan Yu said: "That's true, but the relationship between the court and the people is not a one-time deal. To benefit the people and the country is the long-term way. To govern the world with benevolence, justice and morality is the way to long-term peace and stability."
While the two were talking, one of them reported, "General Cao, Envoy Lian, Jisang was captured yesterday!"
Upon hearing this, Sun Lu and Fan Yu were overjoyed.
Sun Lu said: "I didn't expect it to be so devastating. With one victory of Jisang, the eastern gate of Liangzhou is wide open, and there is no place to defend anymore."
Fan Yu laughed and said, "Yes, even a strategic place like Jisang has been conquered. The Minister Jinglüe is really an expert at commanding troops."
"Come here, give this man five hundred taels of silver and a meal."
The other party said, "Thank you, Marshal Cao. The Minister of State Affairs also ordered me to go to Marshal Cao to urge for grain!"
Fan Yu frowned when he heard this. Sun Lu said, "General Cao, Jisang is going deep into the Dangxiang area, so we need to transport more food, fodder, and weapons."
"Don't forget what happened two years ago when our army attacked Lingzhou City without any siege equipment for 20 days and then retreated after running out of food."
"Don't make the same mistake again. The court has prepared so much money and food just for this day."
……
Jisang was Cangsong County in the Han Dynasty and Changsong County (now Gulang County) in the Tang Dynasty. As for Jisang, it is just the transliteration of Cangsong in the Dangxiang language.
When Wang Hou led the main force of the Song army to arrive here, he and You Shixiong, Zhang Sai, Bao Shun, Bao Yue, Zhao Sizhong, Xia Wuchi, Yao Lin and hundreds of other Song army generals looked at this piece of Han and Tang Dynasty land, and in the distance behind them was a 150,000-strong army that continued to arrive.
And more than 300,000 civilians were conscripted for labor.
Wang Hou said to the generals: "Everyone, the place in front of us is Liangzhou."
"Since the establishment of the Liangzhou Provincial Administration during the Han Dynasty, this place has been called Wuwei County. It has been occupied for three hundred years."
The terrain of Liangzhou is surrounded by the vast Tengger Desert on the north and east, and the towering Qilian Mountains on the south and west, with only the Hexi Corridor running through it.
The heart of the country is a fertile oasis. Tang general Guo Yuanzhen settled in Liangzhou for five years, and the bumper harvests in just a few years were enough to support the army for decades.
More importantly, this is a pasture area. There is a saying that goes, "The big horses from Liangzhou roam the world." During the Tang Dynasty, 300,000 official horses were raised here. Of course, the most important thing is to open up the Hexi Corridor and obtain the benefits of endless trade.
Cai Bian remembered that these words were spoken to him by Zhang Yue when he was in the shogunate.
Ever since Zhang Yue was stationed in Xihe Road, he has been focusing on this, hoping that one day he would be able to capture Liangzhou.
If he could capture Liangzhou, Zhang Yue's career as prime minister would be far superior to that of all the prime ministers in the Song Dynasty, and would also surpass that of his father-in-law Wang Anshi, who had conquered the seven military states of Xihe.
The situation of the Song army is now very good. Wang Shan and Wen Xixin have left Tong'an City and fought with Renduo Yading several times under the city of Liangzhou, breaking the opponent's fantasy that they can attack from several directions while I will only go one way. The veteran general Miao Shou has captured Luopangling and cut off the reinforcements from the direction of Xingling from the Dangxiang.
Now it all depends on whether they can capture Liangzhou City before the reinforcements from the Dangxiang Guasha and Xingling directions arrive.
After Wang Hou finished speaking, he pointed in the direction of Liangzhou and said, "Everyone, the revival of our Song Dynasty depends on this place!"
Amid the rolling yellow sand, all the generals and the three armies raised their weapons and roared in unison towards Liangzhou City.
In July of the fourth year of Yuanfeng, the main force of the Song army's central route and the main force of the western route joined forces at the city of Liangzhou.
Renduoyading was forced to defend the city.
More than 200,000 Song troops surrounded Liangzhou City!
……
At this moment, Ren Duoya Ding was standing on the pagoda of Dayun Temple in the northeast of Liangzhou, looking at the Song army outside the city.
This Dayun Temple was built by Zhang Tianxi, the ruler of Former Liang. It was originally a palace but was later converted into a temple.
Buddhism flourished in Liangzhou, and there are many legends about the pagoda in Dayun Temple. It is said that every time the pagoda tilted, the sound of hammering and axeing could be heard that night, and the pagoda would be straightened the next day.
At this moment, all the generals were shocked by the huge size of the Song army. One general said, "Back then, the Song army didn't have so many soldiers and horses under Lingzhou City!"
Renduoya Ding once defended Lingzhou City. At that time, he defeated 100,000 Song troops from Xihe Road and Jingyuan Road, where many famous generals gathered under the city.
He knew that the generals were calm and said, "The more troops we have, the more chaos we will encounter. We don't need to be afraid of them."
"But commander, I see the Song army under the city is very organized!"
Renduo Yading did not say anything but said: "I will lead one of the five leaders in the city, and the others will guard the gates. The Song army in the north of the city is weaker, but we should not underestimate the enemy."
"Hold on for a few days, and reinforcements from Shazhou and Guazhou will arrive soon."
"Aligu and I also wrote to him, asking him not to stop us. He agreed."
All the generals nodded.
Ren Duoyading looked at the confused faces of the generals and knew what they were thinking.
As they were talking, there was a sudden loud noise from the south of the city, and the soldiers on and off the city shouted in unison.
Renduoyading immediately got down from the tower, mounted his horse and galloped away through the city.
When he arrived at the south of the city, he asked the commander, "What's the matter?"
The garrison commander said in a panic, "The Song army is testing their artillery."
"Nonsense!" Renduo Yading whipped the other man with a horsewhip, "The Song army just arrived at the city yesterday, how could they set up the artillery so quickly!"
The guard said: "It's a cannon!"
Ren Duoyading changed color and immediately rode his horse up the city wall.
Renduoyading dismounted and looked, only to see a hole had been smashed in the battlement.
He looked at the Song army below the city. What on earth could have created this masterpiece?
It turned out to be a cannonball mounted on a vehicle.
In fact, the Dangxiang also had the whirlwind cannon of the Poxi Army, which was a mobile stone cannon mounted on a camel, and the stone bullets it fired were about the size of a fist.
Now the Song army actually came up with the idea of using carts instead of camels to fire cannonballs.
The guard on the side said: "It's a double-barreled cannon! I don't know how the Song people made it, and they can even install it on such a big cart."
In the Song Dynasty, artillery pieces ranged from light to heavy, including single-pronged, double-pronged, five-pronged, and seven-pronged cannons.
For example, the heaviest seven-barreled cannon required 250 men to operate and fired 90-jin stone bullets.
As for the smallest single-barreled cannon, it required forty people to operate it and fired five-jin stone bullets. The cannonballs that the Song army had just fired on the top of the city weighed more than twenty jin.
Renduo Yading didn't know that the Song Dynasty actually had artillery carts very early, but they were never actually used in the battlefield against the Dangxiang.
Because this artillery carriage consumes too much manpower and material resources, and is very inconvenient to transport. As for general city defense battles, fixed artillery is used and this type of artillery carriage is not needed.
But this time, the Song army transported artillery carts from the rear and used them in the siege of Liangzhou City.
The supplies were transported 500 miles from Lanzhou to the city of Liangzhou. This kind of abundant logistical support was something the Song army had never had before.
In addition to the artillery carts, Renduoyating also saw the Song army unloading a huge crossbow bed from an ox cart in the distance. This crossbow bed was very familiar to Renduoyating, it was the Song army's powerful weapon for defending the city, the Eight Ox Crossbow.
No matter how powerful a Tangut warrior is, he would turn pale with fright when he hears the sound of the trigger of the Eight-Ox Crossbow.
The iron spear fired from the Eight Ox Crossbow could shoot a fully-armed infantryman into pieces.
This scene was common in previous attacks on Song cities. Fortunately, the Eight-Ox Crossbow was too heavy and had never been used by the Song army in sieges.
But now such a sharp weapon has also appeared under the city of Liangzhou. This is simply not giving people a chance to survive.
In order to capture Liangzhou City, the Song Army almost moved out all their assets!
Ren Duoyading was thinking so, and when he came to his senses, he looked around, only to see the generals and soldiers on both sides staring at the Song army's eight-ox crossbows and artillery carts with pale faces.