Before the war, Xiao Ruxun had strictly ordered that they were only here to suppress the Yang rebels, not to burn, kill, or loot. If there was any burning, killing, or looting of innocent civilians, they would be severely punished by military law.
This was not only to restrain the Qin Army, for he still had some confidence in the military discipline of the Qin Army. The key point was to restrain the Southwestern Barbarians who had attached themselves to the Qin Army.
The Yang family of Bozhou had the highest degree of Han culture among the Chieftains of the Southwestern Barbarians. Their politics, economy, and culture were the most developed, and they were very close to Bashu.
Their ancestor, Yang Duan, was originally a Han from Taiyuan in the Tang Dynasty. The Yang family was also a Han family. After coming to Bozhou, faced with the crisis at the end of the Tang Dynasty, Yang Duan decided to abandon the Han culture and integrate with the local Barbarians to survive the crisis and become a real Chieftain. But since the Song Dynasty, the Han culture had gradually recovered.
Since the twelfth generation Chieftain Yang Zhen said that the mountains and rivers of Mujiachuan, twenty miles north of Le Fortress, were beautiful, and that the tiger carriage would follow justice, for more than 400 years, Bozhou advocated Confucianism, established schools, and raised scholars. The scholars and customs had changed greatly, just like the cultural relics of the Central Plains, showing signs of atavism.
The other families were far behind the Yang family in terms of cultural level and status. In Xiao Ruxun's opinion, the buildings, cities, stations, and roads that had been built in Bozhou should not be destroyed by the war. After the war, they could also save a lot of money, and it would not cause turmoil in the territory.
Yang Yinglong was indeed arrogant and despotic, but the civilians in Bozhou were definitely not the enemy. If they started a massacre, how could they be mobilized in the future?
Now they had to accumulate trust, establish their trust in the imperial court and the army, and establish the image of the imperial court, which would be very useful in the future.
As for the An family and the Song family, they were also strictly restricted.
They absolutely could not burn, kill, or pillage the people of Bozhou, especially destroying the buildings and roads of the city. Therefore, when the army approached, Bozhou City was already defenseless. Yang Yinglong symbolically left the defending generals to open the city gates and surrender.
Zheng Ying had the army set up camp outside the city to rest while he led his troops into Bozhou to occupy the area. He stationed soldiers at the important government offices to protect them and issued a proclamation to pacify the people in the city, allowing the people who had not yet escaped to settle down.
An Jiangchen was frightened, but he was also slightly dissatisfied. Even though he didn't dare to show it, he didn't send troops just to curry favor with Xiao Ruxun. He also wanted some benefits. As the saying goes, an emperor doesn't send hungry soldiers. We fought for you and gave you directions, so you should at least give us something, right?
What can we get from the spoils of war? Didn't they still have to rely on looting during the war? In the past, when the Ming Army and the Tusi Army assisted in battle, it was always like this.
But he said that he would follow the pace of the Qin Army. How could he ask for special treatment now?
Zheng Ying was clearly treating this place as Daqin's land and wouldn't allow them to mess around.
Bozhou was rich, and Yang Yinglong's property was what he wanted. Not to mention a good personal relationship, at this level, it was just superficial brotherly affection. It was just that the conflict of interest had not reached the point where it was necessary to shed all pretense of cordiality.
Yang Yinglong was unlucky. How could he not get some benefits?
Unfortunately, Zheng Ying didn't give him this opportunity. He didn't even let them enter Bozhou and directly occupied it. He hung the national flag and the military flag of Daqin and announced the change of ownership of Bozhou.
The ancient city of hundreds of years was not destroyed in the war and razed to the ground.
On the afternoon of the eighth day of the first lunar month, under the guidance of An Jiangchen and Song Seong-eun, Zheng Ying and others cooperated with the defense map of Hailong Harbor investigated by the secret agents and had a full understanding of Hailong Harbor. After that, Zheng Ying didn't look good.
How could it be a natural stronghold?
Hailong Harbor was built on the independent Longyan Mountain in the east of the Dalou Mountain Range. The lonely peak reached into the clouds and was steep on all sides. The lower half of the Longyan Mountain was a gentle slope with more soil, while the upper half was a completely different cliff. On the mountain was a slope with a radius of five kilometers. The new palace where Yang Yinglong lived was built, which was different from the old palace in the Song Dynasty.
The new palace was a group of buildings with the central road as the central axis, generally following the pattern of the front court and the back bedroom. The temples on both sides were arranged in a row, as well as supporting facilities, such as a water prison, a treasury, a silver warehouse, a gunpowder pool, an embroidery building, a drill field dam, and a quarry.
It was completely the configuration of a small imperial court, which was enough to show Yang Yinglong's ambition to fly freely and the weak control of the local forces in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.
On the sides of the surrounding mountains, there were six passes, namely Tongzhu, Tiezhu, Feihu, Feilong, Chaotian, and Feifeng. On the west, there were three passes, namely Wanan, Xiguan, and Houguan, for a total of nine passes. At the foot of the mountain, there were the Xiang River and the Baisha River, separated from the mountains by the surrounding valleys. The valleys were deep and serene, surrounded by mountains.
Zheng Ying and the other generals climbed up the Haiyun Harbor, which had already been breached. From the top, they looked at the terrifying stronghold on top of Hailong Harbor. Their faces were solemn, and no one said what they had said before. Even Zheng Ying himself felt a little troubled by the bold words he had said before.
Take this place in fifteen days?
If they could take down one pass in the east and west of the harbor, that is, the front and back of the harbor, it would be considered a good progress.
Although the scale of these passes was not as large as the other passes, the key was that the roads were steep and narrow. To attack these passes, the Qin Army had to attack from the back, which was equivalent to climbing a mountain. This meant that the Qin Army's ultimate siege weapon, the Hongyi Cannon, could not be used.
Even if it could be used, they could only use one cannon to attack a city. The efficiency was too low.
And if they were to transport a few more Hongyi Cannons up, it would probably exhaust the Qin Army's soldiers, cattle, sheep, and horses to death. Moreover, once they were up there, they could forget about coming down. Or, it would be more convenient to just throw them down from the mountain.
"The six passes in front of the harbor and the three passes in the harbor were all rebuilt by Yang Yinglong. Not only are they stronger and thicker, there are watchtowers and fortresses everywhere. They can be garrisoned everywhere, and they can fire their firearms. Moreover, the roads are narrow, and my army can't spread out, making it easy for us to become his live targets."
Zheng Ying's chief of staff, Gu Tan, had a solemn expression on his face as he told them everything he had expected. "Moreover, the roads up the mountain are not suitable for the Hongyi Cannons. The cannons are too heavy, and they can't be pulled up at all. They can still be used when attacking Bronze Pillar Pass, Iron Pillar Pass, and the rear passes. But if we break through the mountain, especially above the thirty-six steps of the Stairway to Heaven, they can't be used at all. We can only let the soldiers break through with their flesh and blood, and the casualties will be high."
Zheng Ying's expression did not look good, and so did the rest of the generals. They returned to their tents and looked up at the towering mountain peak, feeling somewhat helpless.
Although they had successfully swept through all the surrounding military strongholds, easily breaking through Chicken Raising City, Horse Raising City, and other military strongholds, their morale was high, and they had an indomitable momentum. If they suddenly couldn't use the Hongyi Cannons at this time, their attack would be obstructed, and their morale would take a huge hit.
It was easier to lower morale than to raise it. Not to mention the deadline for the attack, Zheng Ying felt that even if Xiao Ruxun were here right now, it would be difficult to break through Hai Long's defense line within fifteen days.
But there was still a general attack method, and that was to split the army to attack the front and back of the harbor. There were six passes in front of the harbor, and three passes in the rear, all of which were dangerous.
Of course, the difficulty of attacking the rear was slightly lower than the front, but there were more defenders, and the defense was stronger. There were many more checkpoints in front of the harbor, and the most dangerous thirty-six steps of the Stairway to Heaven, it could be said to be extremely dangerous.
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