Chapter 523 Fragility
Fo Tucheng woke up from his sleep.
There was continuous drumming outside, and there were faint sounds of killing from the top of the city. It was very fierce in some areas. It seemed that the defenders were still unable to push the attacker off the top of the city.
Fo Tucheng walked around the room, sighing secretly.
Unfortunately, I came to Yecheng too late and failed to gain Shi Le's trust.
If he believed in himself, he would tell him now that after experiencing the big defeat during the day, it would be impossible to defend such a huge city, at least the outer city could not be defended, and he could only retreat to the palace. The group (Santai) held on.
In tonight's battle, it is obvious that the Jin army is testing which section of the city wall is weakly defended.
Once they are tested out, they will immediately deploy elite troops to break through and attack the city.
He came from Tianzhu and had a lot of experiences along the way. He heard a lot of things and saw a lot of things. He couldn't be more clear about these little war tactics.
The old monk is not ignorant of war.
Naihe, Naihe!
Fo Tucheng came to the table, moved a small rope bed and sat down, opened the scriptures and recited silently, praying for the soldiers of the two warring armies.
The world is tough and this is all he can do.
The gate of the Buddhist temple was suddenly pushed open, and a group of people rushed in noisily, occasionally mixed with the cries of children.
Fo Tucheng continued to chant sutras without raising his eyes.
It was his special instruction to take in the old, weak, women and children to avoid chaos, and to keep the door open at all times.
Generally speaking, those who serve as soldiers will not act recklessly in the Buddhist temple. This is a relatively safe place.
People came in one after another, and even the windowsills were full of people.
Some people were crying, some were shouting, and some were chatting.
"Big Head left the city and surrendered." someone said.
"Which one?"
"Who else could it be that was the one who delivered charcoal to General Wang's house?"
"Why did he become a soldier?"
" They were drafted." The speaker sighed: "Even in this Buddhist temple, there are young and strong monks who were drafted and went into battle with tin sticks. I saw it with my own eyes this afternoon."
< br>"Can...can I be beaten?"
"Being beaten, planted on the top of the city, and not knowing whether to live or die, it is obvious that the Dharma is not profound enough."
Fo Tucheng stopped chanting sutras.
The world is ignorant and has never seen his various methods. It would be great if I could speak in front of Mr. Chen Shaoxun, just once! He can convince him by performing little tricks.
This is a secret technique brought by Tianzhu, and Shao Xun must not be able to see through it.
Alas, to be honest, he doesn’t like playing with these things either. Unfortunately, it was too difficult to propagate the Dharma in the Jin Kingdom, and one had to find a way to win by surprise.
The two people outside were still talking.
“If you surrender the city now, can you avoid death?”
“Of course. There are always hundreds of people who ran away tonight. If the city is not broken tomorrow, even more will run away tonight. There are many people."
"How to run?"
"Spend some money and get down from the city."
"No one cares?" br>"Wang Yang's people turn a blind eye, while Tao Bao's people don't care at all."
"You've already done this, and you're still doing nothing."
< br>Another group of people poured in outside the gate.
The conversation stopped, and only the sound of crying filled my ears.
Sitting in sleepy city, everyone is very scared.
Fotucheng stood up again and was silent.
The morale of the army in Yecheng was completely shattered.
Soldiers have families, relatives and friends, and they are not ignorant of the outside world.
Since the powerful families in the four counties of Wei, Ji, Dunqiu and Leling all defected to Shao, this war no longer had to be fought.
The money is raised by wealthy families.
Food was raised by wealthy families.
Military information relies on reports from wealthy families.
The resting place when going out to raid is provided by the wealthy family.
Some people even rely on the contributions of wealthy families for their troops and horses.
At this point, people's minds have changed. If you expect them to work hard, you are simply overthinking.
Even in Henan, ruled by Shao Xun, he would be in a very embarrassed state if a wealthy family turned against him and took refuge with Shi Le.
Maybe it was a mistake to come to Hebei, and I have to find a way to meet that person.
How can I meet him?
Do you want to take some credit? Recently, Shi Le and his family members stopped coming to his pagoda, which was a bit troublesome.
******
Although it is late at night, there are still people coming and going on the street.
At Yinshi, a group of sergeants noisily withdrew from the top of the west city. After seeing Shi Le's figure from a distance, they suddenly turned around and rushed to the top of the city noisily to fight with the garrison troops who had ascended the city.
The Tuntian Army was a little confused.
They selected 300 people and attacked the city at night. It originally went well, but the defenders were not strong in fighting spirit and collapsed after a stalemate for a while. But as soon as they collapsed at the foot of the city, they turned around and charged forward, shouting for a fierce battle, as if they had seen a ghost.
The garrison was caught off guard and was driven off the city wall.
Shi Le's face was ashen.
The defeated troops just now were not the servants of wealthy families, or the young men recruited from temporary conscription, but serious troops. When he joined the army in Changshan, it was regarded as one of his oldest troops. Everyone was assigned a farm and a house, located in various villages in Anyang County.
This made Shi Le particularly angry and wanted to punish him severely.
But when the words came to my lips, I swallowed them back.
Can you blame them? It seems not possible either.
Their family members are still in Anyang, and they don’t know whether they are alive or dead. What do you want them to do?
Is it because Ji Bao failed to defend Anyang and his army was defeated and died? It seems even less possible.
Anyang is located four miles south of the Huan River. Shao Xun's fleet penetrated directly to the north of the city and cut off the retreat of all armies south of the Huan River. The local wealthy family was affected by this and their position was quite suspicious. In such a dangerous situation, Ji Bao dared to face the difficulties and take on this fatal burden.
It is normal for him to be defeated, and his final death in internal strife was also very tragic.
No one can be blamed, then the only one to blame is Shao Thief!
While sighing, Wang Yang walked over with sweat on his head, the armor leaves on his body clanking.
"How?" Shi Le asked.
"The door is closed." Wang Yang breathed a sigh of relief. Someone had just opened the city gate secretly. When Wang Yang got the news, he was frightened to death.
After hurriedly notifying Shi Le, he led his own soldiers to intercept the attack. It turned out that the person who opened the city gate was a cavalry force from the Wuhuan tribe of Shangdang. It's not that they surrender to the enemy, but that they simply run away and give up. The infantry can hang a rope on the city wall and escape, but the cavalry can only open the city gate.
It was their behavior that attracted the attention of the Jin army, so the nearest group of garrison troops set off urgently and rushed up carrying ladders.
Wang Yang fought fiercely with the Jin army at the gate of the city. After finally killing them, one third of his own soldiers had been lost. Before he could feel sad, he heard that the Jin army had entered the city, so he hurried to the rescue. Fortunately, it was a false alarm. After the defenders collapsed, they saw Dahu coming, so they went to the city to fight hard and drove back the Jin army.
There was another sound of footsteps in the distance.
Shi Le and Wang Yang looked up and saw Tao Bao, the prefect, rushing over with more than a thousand soldiers.
"Your Majesty—" Tao Bao just bowed and was interrupted.
Shi Le held the scabbard in his hand and hit Taobao directly on the face, saying: "The Zhang family gang ran away."
Taobao was shocked and did not dodge, allowing Shi Le to vent his anger. .
The "Zhang family" obviously refers to the Wuhuan Zhang family of Shangdang.
But there are too many people named Zhang from the Shangdang Wuhuan tribe. Which one is it? Or which ones?
"You stay here tonight and don't slack off." Shi Le gave Tao Bao a cold look and left.
Wang Yang stepped forward, patted Taobao on the shoulder, and sighed: "Don't blame Dahu, he was just furious. He will regret it tomorrow morning and come to you to apologize."
After that, he left.
Taobao nodded silently, then reached out and wiped it, there was blood on his forehead.
He turned and looked at the soldiers he had brought.
The soldiers avoided his gaze and pretended not to see him.
Taobao smiled miserably.
After all, he is also a high-ranking official and a veteran general. He was beaten and scolded by Dahu in public, and even drew blood. How will he lead the army in the future? Doesn't he want to lose face?
How could Dahu still think that they are the Eighteen Cavalry...
Which of the Eighteen Cavalry today is not in a high position, with a group of wives and concubines, and a cloud of servants? Which one doesn't have a bunch of people eating with them?
In the past he could endure being beaten, scolded, slapped or even tied up by Dahu, but not now.
Taobao took a deep breath and began to inspect the city defense.
******
Within three stations, a bunch of people were sitting in the yard, whispering.
Ms. Liu glanced at them coldly and said, "What else did Fudu say?"
"Fudu" is a name in Jie language. Weiyuan General Liu Da's nickname is Fudu. Liu is just the surname that their ancestors gave themselves.
“Yena, what do you think?” said one of the old men in their fifties.
Ms. Liu squinted her eyes and looked at the old man and asked: "Haizhu, have you already left the city?"
"I have not, my son He Du has left the city. , is back again." The old man did not hide anything, and said carelessly: "Fudu is very good with Shao Xun. The Jin people treated his injuries, gave him food, wine, and beautiful clothes, and said that he would be given as long as he performed meritorious services. His official job is to do it. "
The city wall of Yecheng tonight is like a highway, with people coming in and out, busy and very funny.
"Jin and we are not the same people." Ms. Liu raised her face, her amber eyes flashed with dangerous light, and heard her say: "What benefits can you gain by turning your back on Gole? Shao If Xun wins Yecheng and attacks the party in the future, he will probably kill you all."
"Maybe, but Shao Xun has never deceived anyone yet, and I heard that he has a good reputation." The old man said. : "If we don't surrender now, we will all die. We can't wait until the day when Shao Xun attacks Shangdang."
Ms. Liu looked at this group of relatives with disappointment.
When they were defeated, they had to either surrender or leave, and no one was willing to stay and coexist with Yecheng.
"Ye Na, don't look at me like that." The old man said again: "Da Hu can't hold Yecheng anymore, he will leave sooner or later, why do you expect us to stay here for you? Is he working hard?”
"Shao Xun was building walls and digging trenches outside the city. He didn't stop even late at night. If he didn't leave, it would be too late."
"We are cavalry, are we supposed to dismount and defend the city? Is it such a ridiculous thing? ?”
“It’s useless for us to stay here. The cavalry is not as effective as the infantry in the city. It’s better to go back to the party, or simply surrender to Shao Xun, Ye Na, without us. Nothing. You are just a woman. If we don't help you, Dahu will sleep with Cheng Ya's sister in a blink of an eye and never look at you again. He is a very ruthless person."
said. After saying these words, the old man stood up slowly, took two steps back, and said, "That's all. Take your hands off your waist. Women shouldn't carry swords."
Others also Looking at Ms. Liu, there was a hint of dissatisfaction on her face.
We are all a family, are we going to Shi Le to help that man who is doomed to fail to attack his relatives?
Ms. Liu let go of her hand, took a deep breath, looked at everyone with her head raised, and said, "I will stay here and wait for reinforcements from the court."
In the evening My husband said that if we gather the generals' personal soldiers and child servants and retreat to Santai, we should be able to hold on for a long time, and there is still hope of waiting for reinforcements from the court.
"You can guard it yourself, no one will come to help you collect the body." The old man shook his head, said hello, and led everyone away.
When the last person disappeared, Ms. Liu felt her body go limp, as if all the energy and spirit in her body had been drained away.
She sat on her knees and looked into the distance.
The lights are brightly lit outside the city, and countless people are wielding shovels, digging trenches, compacting soil, and building city walls.
That is a cage, a cage intended to trap everyone.
Some people could not withstand the pressure, so they ran away shamefully before the cage closed around them.
In the city full of sergeants, few are willing to fight until the last moment for Da Hu.
During the day, three thousand horsemen left without saying goodbye and did not enter the city at all. They were the Huns, and it could be said that they were not from the same group.
Two thousand Wuhuan escaped an hour ago. At this time, it would be a bit deceiving to say that they are not our own, because they are from Shangdang.
At this point, my relatives and Shangdang Jiebu didn’t want to do it anymore. What's even more frightening is that in addition to escaping, they also seriously considered another possibility: surrendering to Shao Xun.
This is a direct consequence of Liu Da's capture.
As for the infantry, their attitude will not be much different from that of the cavalry, or even worse, because their land, homes, and families are all in Hebei, and they are more likely to surrender.
There are many nobles and powerful people in Yecheng.
Their mansions are magnificent, and their servants are swarmed in droves, and with just a little arming, they are a source of unrest.
The reason why I haven’t moved now is probably that I am still waiting for the opportunity.
The timing may be accidental.
Maybe the meal was distributed unfairly.
Maybe someone cursed.
Maybe someone was beaten.
Maybe someone lost the bet.
Even the moonlight tonight is not beautiful enough, which makes me feel bad, so I decided to betray Dahu...
Yes, Yecheng is so fragile and weird now. .
"If you eat black beans all day long, you won't be able to poop. It's better to do the opposite. Mr. Chen can eat corn rice." In the silent night, someone suddenly shouted loudly.
(End of this chapter)