Boom!
Huge rocks streaked across the sky, accompanied by a rain of arrows that blotted out the sun. After crossing a distance of several dozen feet, the rocks smashed into the towering city wall. The rocks shattered and fell, and the wall also trembled. Some of the rocks streaked across the top of the wall and fell into the city full of soldiers, causing tragic casualties. On the wall, the people shouted as they pushed out cannons and lit the fuses. The cannonballs fell toward the positions outside the city.
In the ninth year of Wu Jianshuo, at the beginning of the ninth month, the altar of hell had absorbed enough blood from the sacrifices and finally opened the door to the harvest.
The fourth southern expedition of the Jurchens had advanced to the moment of battle amidst a tacit yet suffocating atmosphere. The horn was blown by the Daimyo Prefecture of the Jurchens Eastern Army on their way south.
Before this, all the efforts that could be done had already been done. Wang Shanyue's Effulgence Army and Zhu Biao's Black Flag Army defeated Li Xizhi's nearly 200,000 soldiers and cleared the area. But the arrival of the Female Zhenren represented a completely different meaning from before. Even though she had made a gesture of cutting off all means of retreat in the Daimyo Mansion, no one knew whether the Daimyo Mansion, this isolated city, could withstand the fierce first blow of the Female Zhenren.
Back then, Liao's Shangjing was an important city that could hold out for several years. Under the leadership of Aguda, the Jurchens fought against many and took down Shangjing in half a day. Of course, the situation on the battlefield was ever-changing. In the first southern expedition of the Jurchens, Qin Shaohe led the inferior Wu dynasty soldiers of the Liao army to defend Taiyuan. In the end, they managed to drag out the war for a year. In any case, the Jurchens had arrived and the curtain was drawn on the main show. All the members nervously entered the field and waited for the moment of the verdict.
On the seventeenth day of the eighth month, dusk quietly swallowed up the sky in the west. The vanguard of the Jurchen "Fourth Prince" Jin Wushu, or Wanyan Zongbi, arrived at Daimyo and set up camp north of the Daimyo Prefecture. Soon after, the main force of the Jurchen army, craftsmen, and logistics personnel arrived one after another. Following that, the puppet Qi army that could be mobilized near the Daimyo Prefecture drove away the civilians who could not escape in time. One after another, they surged majestically toward the isolated city on the northern bank of the Yellow River.
The large tents, the banners, and the weeping people who were driven over were densely packed and stretched endlessly, forming a terrifying and horrifying ocean tide in one's field of vision. Every morning or dusk after that, the wailing or crying from the crowd would cause the people on the city wall to involuntarily clench their fists and shed tears.
Before the war even started, the cruelest thing was already foreshadowing. Over ten years ago, it was customary for the Jurchens to drive the civilians to besiege the city. After the third expedition to the south drove the Wu dynasty out of the Central Plains, this land, which nominally belonged to the puppet Qi, had been under the control of the Jurchens for many years. But this time, facing the obstruction of the Daimyo Prefecture, Wanyan Zongbi still immediately labeled all the Han people in the vicinity as rebels. On one hand, he drove the crowd over, and on the other, he began to spread propaganda to the civilians.
"… the Wu dynasty has lost its virtue in the world. The Central Plains, which originally belonged to Daqi for many years, no longer belongs to the Wu dynasty! Our Great Jin and Daqi were originally brotherly states. As people of Daqi, it is only right and proper for you to live here. Now, these traitors of the Wu dynasty have occupied the city and created chaos! Remember, your good days have been disrupted by these traitors of the Wu dynasty … "
While spreading propaganda, they also selected people to enter the city to persuade them to surrender. The people who came to the city either begged or cursed, but it was only an uncomfortable appetizer before the war. When their pleas to surrender were rejected, the people who were sent out of the city were captured along with their families and whipped to death in front of the city. At the same time, in the Jurchen camp, the construction of the siege equipment was still going on without a moment's pause.
On the morning of the fourth day of the ninth month, the crowd was driven to the Daimyo Prefecture. The crying and begging people trampled over the first wave of mines that had been hastily laid outside the city. There were also people who carried ladders for the Jurchen army, trying to rush to the city in front of them and seize a chance of survival. The Jurchen's military law team formed up in the rear, while the Han people faced the Han people. Not long after they entered the firing range, the first wave of arrows arrived as promised …
…
War was never a place for the weak to stay. After the war had been going on for more than ten years, the people who had been tempered had already understood this point.
The red clouds burned the sky, faintly soaked in the color of blood. The Daimyo Prefecture on the northern bank of the Yellow River had already been submerged in blood. On the fourth day of the ninth month, the first day of the Jurchen attack, under the city of the Daimyo Prefecture, more than ten thousand Han people who had been driven to the city were killed or injured. Under the butcher's knife of the Jurchen, the entire moat was almost filled with corpses.
Amidst the overwhelming rain of arrows, stones, and explosions, some people set up ladders, shouting and crying as they tried to climb the city. Stones were thrown down from the city wall.
No one knew where the Jurchen soldiers were mixed in.
In the fierce attack and defense, the Jurchen army launched three surprise attacks on the defense of the Daimyo Prefecture in a row. The defenders on the city wall did not neglect, and each time, they made a timely response to the Jurchen's surprise attack. At noon, there was even a Jurchen vanguard who briefly climbed the city wall, but was then killed by Hu Sanniang who was nearby, forcing the attack to retreat.
The Jurchen did not want to lose too many troops in the Daimyo Prefecture, but the lives of the Han people below the city wall were not valuable. In order to prevent these people from climbing the city wall, the Jurchen's rain of arrows and stones were thrown down from the top of the city wall. This kind of high-intensity battle lasted for a day, and when the fighting stopped that night, the soldiers on the city wall recovered a little, but they all felt exhausted. As for below the city wall, there were countless corpses. The wounded rolled among the corpses, wailing, moaning, and crying. Amidst the blood, it was a tragedy that no one could bear to see.
Wang Shanyue led the reserve soldiers up to take turns to check the wounded soldiers. Late at night, the Jurchen camp's stone catapults moved again and launched another round of attack. The civilians below were driven away, carrying ladders and continued to climb up, crying and begging the people in the city to let them go. The people on the city wall smashed the stones down with red eyes.
The next day, the fierce battle continued as usual. The soldiers on the city wall threw down leaflets that said, "If there is any movement, run to the east." The note was passed among the civilians below, and the Lady Zhenren strengthened the defense on the east side. On the third day, the cruel siege continued. Wang Shanyue mobilized the soldiers on the city wall and shouted, "Go to the west! Quickly go west! " The people who were forced by the pressure of death for three days rebelled and rushed towards the west. Then, the Jurchen's cannons on the west side sounded, and the cannonballs passed through the crowd, causing limbs to fly everywhere. But among the tens of thousands of people, the people could not tell which was which. Even though some people at the front stopped, countless people were still running. This uproar created a gap in the Jurchen's relatively weak defense line on the west side, and about ten thousand people rushed out from that gap, desperately fleeing into the wilderness in the distance.
On the fourth day, among these ten thousand people, thousands of people were driven back and continued to participate in the siege of the city.
It had been more than ten years since the first defense battle in Bianliang, and the cruelty of the war had never changed. Xue Changgong ran on the city wall of the Daming Mansion, supervising the operation of every part of the forty-eight miles long city wall. Defending a city was a difficult and long-lasting task. Every visible spot within the forty-eight li of the city had to have clear-headed generals to command and respond accordingly. Even if they defended during the day, they still had to defend during the night. During the most intense moments, they had to leave some fresh troops behind to take over in the gaps that followed. Compared to the emphasis on martial bravery when attacking, defending a city was more of a test of the commander's meticulous thinking and flawless thinking. Perhaps it was also because of this that Taiyuan City was ultimately able to hold on for a year under Qin Shaohe's command.
In the cruel defense of the city more than ten years ago, there were some things that had only appeared in recent years. Up and down the city, in every gap before and after a battle, the soldiers would sit together and talk about their own things in a low voice: their life in the Wu dynasty, the changes after the Jin came, the humiliation they suffered, their dead relatives, and their voices and smiles. At this time, Wang Shanyue would either come from the rear or just withdraw from the city wall. He would often participate in one such discussion after another, talking about the Wang family, the heroes of the family, the widows of the family, and how he would rather eat people than admit defeat.
This change was brought about by Wang Shanyue. It originally came from the inner demon Takeshi. Ever since Wang Shanyue formed the Guangwu Army, he would often hold similar meetings to reminisce about bitterness and sweetness. The culture of this land was often reserved. A man would not reveal too much about his past to outsiders. Xue Changgong was also reserved. When he first met Wang Shanyue, he felt something was wrong, but Wang Shanyue did not care. He talked about his grandfather, about how he could not defeat others, but he was the only man in the Wang family, so he had to support the whole family. He ate people just to make people feel afraid, but to make people afraid, he did not mind biting his enemies to death. After spending a long time with him, Xue Changgong realized that this man who looked like a woman might not have been willing to talk about these things in the beginning.
But speaking of it, it was quite useful for the army. Some clumsy men might just say, "I want to avenge my children," but after saying it to others, their spirits would indeed be different. Especially in a desperate situation like the Daimyo Residence, when the new soldiers talked about these things, they were often embarrassed, but after saying it, the determination to die in their eyes became stronger.
After the Guangwu Army and the Huaxia Army defeated Li Xizhi, the nearby Yellow Snake Stronghold, Grey Mountain Stronghold, and other places with lofty ideals came to join them. Although these foreign soldiers were somewhat ambitious, they always had their own bandit qualities. Even if they joined, they always seemed to have their own ideas. On the second day after the war, the chief of the Grey Mountain Stronghold, Yan Kan, told others about his family. At that time, he could be considered a wealthy family in the Central Plains. His daughter was raped and killed by the Jins, and Yan Kan went to the authorities. Later, he was arrested and beaten 80 times. He was beaten until he was on the verge of death, and most of his family property was lost. After he survived, he became a bandit.
After telling these things to the people, the old chief of the stronghold cried in front of everyone. Then, he scattered a few of his capable subordinates into the Guangwu Army, and no longer acted on his own. On the third day of defending the city, Yan Kan led a charge and repelled the surprise attack of a group of Female Zhenrens. Fortunately, he did not die. After the battle, half of his body was stained with blood, but he was still laughing with others, feeling indescribably happy.
In fact, all these years, after the Central Plains became the Great Qi, who did not have a trace of sadness in the Guangwu Army? Even if they did not have relatives, at least they had seen their comrades and friends die with their own eyes.
Listening to them talk about this, Xue Changgong would occasionally think of his dead wife, He Lei 'er. He remembered how timid she was, but more than ten years ago, she ran down the city wall and was finally shot by an arrow … All these years, he was afraid of the Female Zhenren's combat power, and did not dare to leave a child in this world. As for his wife, he did not feel that he really loved her. Why should a man worry about not having a wife? But now that he thought about it, he could always see that woman's voice and smile in front of his eyes.
Forget it, forget it.
He thought, "Women, anyway, I have never thought that I could live forever …"
He was a general, so he could not say these relatively disheartened words. But when he occasionally looked at the tragic scene outside the city and the surging tide of people, he could actually laugh every time. And in the city, Wang Shanyue was also encouraging and brainwashing people step by step.
"… Yes, the Wu dynasty is nothing great, but compared to the Female Zhenren, it is not much better … Look at those people outside the city, they are very miserable, but what can we do if we surrender? If the whole world surrenders, will we live well? All of them will become slaves — the Female Zhenren is not an immortal, in the past … they had nothing. Now that we have defended, do you know why … now we have nothing … "
"… We can't defeat them, we can't rely on ourselves … But even if we break their teeth, we still have to keep them here … Wanyan Aguda is already dead, Wu Qimai is about to die, if we delay, they will have internal strife, the Wu dynasty will fight back … If we delay, the Black Flag Army will fight back … Those ten thousand Black Flag Army, that Zhu Biao, as long as we can delay them, they can attack from behind. Brothers … the city is not easy to defend, it is not easy for us to live. I don't know if tomorrow when I open my eyes, who among you will not be here, or if I will not be here …"
"… But we have to defend, I want to live, the people outside the city also want to live. If the Female Zhenren does not die, no one can think about living … So even if I die, I will drag them down with me. "
"… Die together …"
The smoke that filled the air was swept up by the strong wind, the city walls were full of holes from being smashed by the boulders, the corpses gradually began to emit a stench, the people who had lost everything stood still on the treacherous ground …
At the beginning of September, the Jurchen Eastern Army headed south for the first battle to destroy NMAU. Facing the Daimyo Manor guarded by more than forty thousand people, Wanyan Zongbi had once made a plan to break the city in three days at most, but then three days passed, and the city was almost drowned in blood in the first round of attacks. Until the middle of September, the Daimyo Manor was still unmoved in this sea of blood and mountains of corpses. When this city was first built, it was used to guard the Yellow River and defend against foreign enemies. Once the soldiers in the city could grit their teeth and endure, it was really not easy to break the city's defenses from the outside.
At this time, Wu Qimai's stroke had been close to a year, the change of era was close at hand. The two brothers Zong Fu and Zong Bi could never have imagined that they would bite such a hard bone in their first battle south. What they also did not expect was that other than the Black Flag Army, the Han people in the south had actually also gradually begun to have such a bone.
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