manynovel Chapter 1109: Betrothal
Chapter 1109: Betrothal
Chapter 1109: Betrothal
Under Mingsha City.
It took the Dangxiang army five days to complete the three-sided encirclement of Mingsha City. During this period, the Song army continued to go out of the city to attack the Xia army, and both sides won and lost alternately.
In the end, the Dangxiang still destroyed the stone fortifications and the sheep and horse walls outside the city walls.
On the sixth day, the Dangxiang began to attack the city. It was indeed as You Shixiong had said before, there were no trees around Mingsha City.
There are bare beaches and riverbanks everywhere, with only some grass less than half a person's height.
The Dangxiang people came on horseback from thousands of miles away, and they had no choice but to attack the city like ants. Before that, You Shixiong had stored many large stones on the top of the city wall, and the soldiers defending the city used the stones to repel the Dangxiang people's several attacks.
By the seventh day, all the earth and rocks had been used up, and the Song army suffered increasing casualties.
During these days, Zhang Zhi carried two sesame cakes with him and went up to the city to patrol every day. The Song army only had ten days of food and fodder. If they did not save money, they would have no food after ten days.
Although Zhang Zhi was the commander-in-chief, he was able to share the joys and sorrows with his soldiers.
Zhang Zhi's military skills were indeed mediocre, but he treated his soldiers well and could remember many of their names. After guarding the city for several days, he remembered the names of nearly half of the thousands of soldiers in the city, and even all of the officers.
Whenever there was a battle, Zhang Zhi would stand on the top of the city wall.
He didn't even want a secretary or officers, and he personally recorded the performance of the soldiers and officers.
Whether the soldiers killed the generals and captured the flags, or even performed slightly outstandingly, he would record it. As for those who collapsed in battle or even escaped, Zhang Zhi would not let them go.
Those who fight bravely will be rewarded heavily, and those who retreat will be severely punished.
This was what Zhang Yue taught Zhang Zhi personally. He told Zhang Zhi many times that as long as a commander could identify and employ people, and clearly distinguish between rewards and punishments, he could become a famous general.
So Zhang Zhi is very good in these two aspects.
Any money in the army was given away generously. During this time when they were trapped in an isolated city, Zhang Zhi used all the money and property with the army to reward the soldiers. He also personally visited the soldiers who fought bravely and were injured.
On the ninth day, the Dangxiang army launched an attack.
This time the offensive was like a tide. Zhang went straight up to the city to fight, and even he himself was in danger. His armor was cut twice. Fortunately, You Shixiong and Wang Shan came to the rescue at the last moment and repelled the Dangxiang soldiers.
Although the city was defended, it would be impossible to hold it if the Dangxiang attacked again.
Zhang Zhi, Wang Shan, and You Shixiong all knew that they could not defend this city. The generals below came to persuade them more than once that Mingsha City was a dead end, and the main force of Fuyan Road was almost annihilated. The other troops were terrified and did not dare to come to help.
It would be better to fight to the death and break out at night, and see how many survive will be the best.
Some generals even hinted at surrendering to Western Xia.
Hearing about the surrender, Zhang Zhi shook his head. He didn't need to say more. Wang Shan and You Shixiong's families were in Qinzhou and Chang'an respectively.
The court has made arrangements for the families of border generals and military commanders. If they die on the battlefield, their families will receive compensation. Otherwise...
Even so, the court still did not trust them, otherwise why would it use Wang Zhongzheng to command the troops?
Zhang Zhisheng thought that the whole world was a chessboard, and the soldiers and generals in the city were just chess pieces on the chessboard. In the final analysis, he was also just a chess piece.
Zhang Zhi sighed silently, his heart hardened a little, thinking that it was nothing. Having seen life and death, he no longer took human life, or his own life, seriously.
Wang Shan and You Shixiong in the room were silent.
Zhang Zhi looked at Wang Shan and You Shixiong and said, "If you hadn't saved my life, I would have died under the swords of the Dangxiang today."
Wang Shan and You Shixiong both said, "The commander dare not."
Zhang Zhi lowered his head and smiled, "Now the city is in danger, and we are all going to die here, so there is no difference between the commander and the general."
Both of them were silent, their faces gloomy.
Zhang Zhi said: "I have an unwelcome request today, let me discuss it with you two."
Wang Shan, You Shixiong looked up and said, "General, just give your orders."
Zhang Zhi seemed to be mumbling to himself, "I have been an only child since I was young. I have been studying since I was young. I don't have many brothers or friends. My father treats me very well, but he doesn't talk to me from the bottom of his heart. My third uncle can talk to me from the bottom of his heart, but he is very strict and supervises my homework very strictly."
At this point, Zhang Zhi chuckled and said, "I've said so much, you two saved my life, and you're willing to accompany me in this lonely city, which shows that you're willing to share life and death with me. So I think... I want to become sworn brothers with you two today!"
Wang Shan and You Shixiong were both stunned when they heard this.
Zhang Zhi said: "From now on, your parents are my parents, and my parents are your parents. I will follow the example of Liu, Guan and Zhang in Taoyuan. I don't ask to be born on the same day as you, but I ask to die on the same day as you. What do you think?"
Wang Shan and You Shixiong looked at each other, then bowed and said, "General, you are so noble that you have sworn brotherhood with us. We are so lucky."
Zhang Zhi was overjoyed, and immediately helped the two men up and said with a smile: "That's great. In the midst of chaos, there is no need to go into red tape."
"In terms of age, Uncle Jing is the elder brother, I am the second oldest, and General Wang is the youngest, so I'm sorry to make you the younger brother."
"Big brother, third brother, please accept my greeting!"
You Shixiong and Wang Shan were moved by Zhang Zhi's sincerity and hurriedly helped him up.
Everyone bowed to each other.
You Shixiong said, "General, there was a great battle today, and many Tanguts were killed and wounded. If we go to steal their camp tonight, it will be very effective."
Zhang Zhi said: "We have been sneaking into the camp for days, but we have not been able to shake the Western bandits. Why can we succeed tonight?"
You Shixiong said, "General, firstly, there is no moon tonight. Secondly, I have been watching from the top of the city for many days. The troops in the northwest of the Tanguts have not been strong and their formation is not complete. Thirdly, after a day of fighting, both armies are exhausted. The Tanguts never expected that our army would have enough energy to fight."
Zhang Zhi said: "Okay, why not try it one more time."
Wang Shan said, "In the past, we always sneaked into the camp in the middle of the night, and retreated if we failed. Now we will do it again. First, we will sneak attack in the middle of the night, and then retreat if we fail. This will make the Tanguts think that we have run out of tricks. We will stop here tonight. We will attack again in half an hour, so that we can catch them by surprise."
Zhang Zhi and You Shixiong both agreed.
……
When Wang Shan returned to the army, he was quite excited, knowing very well that under normal circumstances, it would be impossible for a military general like him to become sworn brothers with a great general.
Today, he knew that although Zhang Zhi had some intention of winning people's hearts, he was happy to do so.
He was the brother of the governor, and from now on the two of them could confide in each other. He could even treat Zhang Yue as his son or nephew when he met him in the future.
It is said that your parents are my parents, so your third uncle is also my third uncle.
Wang Shan was a man who was determined to do big things and was very ambitious.
Even though the soldiers were extremely tired after the life-and-death fighting during the day, the veterans below were actually quite scheming.
The soldiers were not united during the siege.
Since ancient times, the siege has been to surround three sides and leave one side open. It seems to give you a way out, but in fact, they don't want to force the defenders to death. Therefore, many veterans kept their minds on it and saw a way out. Once Mingsha City was broken, they tried to escape from the city through the route that the Dangxiang people had not surrounded.
Although they had lost their organization and the Tangut cavalry could chase them along the way, they still had a chance of survival. They could even surrender to the Tanguts after escaping the city.
Wang Shan knew exactly what his soldiers were thinking, but he would not stop them. But today was different.
Tonight, Wang Shan summoned all his trusted generals. Seeing Wang Shan's serious expression, the generals thought that the other side was going to open the city and surrender, or that he was going to lead his troops to escape secretly.
When the generals saw that Wang Shan did not say anything after calling the meeting, they just ordered the soldiers to take out all the treasured wine and share it with everyone.
During the siege, there was wine to drink, and all the generals drank heartily, except Wang Shan, who refused to drink and instead picked up his pen and wrote more than a dozen Chinese characters for tiger. Wang Shan was a man of few literary talents, and the character for tiger was his best.
After all the generals had finished drinking, he threw down his pen and said, "Everyone, there is a huge fortune that needs to be exchanged for life. Are you willing to share it with me?"
All the generals became excited when they heard this.
"I just became sworn brothers with Zhang Jinglie..."
The generals were dumbfounded when they heard this. They had never heard of a civil official willing to become sworn brothers with a military general.
Wang Shan looked at the generals and said, "So you know..."
……
At this moment, Peng Sun, who was in the Xixia camp, said to Li Qing: "My general has agreed to return to Lanzhou first and then go to Huizhou, in exchange for the safety of the soldiers in the city."
Li Qing said: "No matter what, Lanzhou and Huizhou must be returned together, otherwise my master will not agree!"
Peng Sun said: "You also know that it is not easy for us as border officials to achieve this step."
Li Qing said: "That's your business."
As the two were talking, they suddenly heard shouting and killing outside.
Peng Sun smiled and said, "It seems that Mingsha may not be in our hands as you said."
Li Qing said expressionlessly: "You don't need to test me with words. Whether or not a mere Mingsha can be taken down is something that anyone can see."
Peng Sun said, "Well, let me return tonight and report to Shen Jinglie."
Li Qing sneered: "I'm not afraid of you coming to spy on me."
Seeing Li Qing's confident look, Peng Sun knew that what he said was true, so he immediately stood up and said goodbye.
After saying this, Peng Sun left the camp and brought his followers to a nearby high place to look, only to see shouts and screams coming from under Mingsha City, and Song soldiers holding torches were burning the Western Xia army.
Peng Sun couldn't help but cheer in his heart, the worst thing about defending a city is to stay in silence.
After a hard day's battle, the Song army was able to launch a night attack, which shows that their morale was still good.
Peng Sun watched as the Song army broke through several Western Xia camps in succession. The followers who came with Peng Sun all cheered for the Song army in their hearts, and some even ignored the Western Xia soldiers beside them to cheer for the Song army.
The Xixia generals who were escorting them could not help but watch, and said with disdain: "The Song army has come to steal our camp again. Although this time there is some novelty, it is nothing more than this. This time they will definitely go without returning."
Sure enough, the Western Xia troops came out together to block the Song army's way back.
The Xixia general in this famous quote looked pleased, but soon his complexion returned to normal.
It turned out that the two armies had fought hard, and the Dangxiang army, which had ten times the number of troops, was unable to defeat the Song army, and even allowed the other side to return to the city from their original position!
Peng Sun couldn't help but sigh silently. Sure enough, no miracle happened in the end, but he was inspired by the fighting spirit of the Song army in the city to survive.
"If Zhang Jinglue can survive this battle, our dynasty will have another famous general like Cao Bin!" Peng Sun said in his heart.
Thinking of this, Peng Sun no longer looked at Mingsha City, but rushed back to Huluchuan camp.
(End of this chapter)