On this morning, Hanoi County still opened the city gate as usual, the people went in and out, the defenders here did not feel the crisis, although the war continued, but the war was mainly carried out in Yuancheng, which was still far away from Huaizhou, in everyone's hearts, Yuancheng was just a lonely city, and it would soon be conquered, and everyone was waiting for the news of the demise of Wei.

The north gate was heavily guarded, dozens of soldiers were strictly checked outside the city, and every pedestrian entering the city had to search their bodies and check their luggage.

At this time, a group of young men came from the official road in the distance, about seventy or eighty people, each pushing a wheelbarrow cart, walking vigorously, and the speed was very fast, and the guards at the head of the city were suddenly suspicious, and it was unusual for so many young people to appear at the same time.

"Stop them and check them out!" The guard shouted to the soldiers below.

Dozens of soldiers were gearing up, waiting for each other to come forward.

Eighty young men pushing wheelbarrows gradually arrived at the city gate, and the brigade commander stepped forward, raised his hand and said, "Stop, check!" ”

Unexpectedly, the man with the cart ignored him at all, and ran over with the cart, and the brigade commander was not in a hurry to dodge, and was hit on the thigh by a deer cart, and with a click, his leg was broken, and the brigade commander was knocked aside.

Eighty men drew their swords and shields from their carts and rushed towards the city gates, and this group of young men was extremely brave, and slashed a dozen people in a row, and they moved so fast that more than a dozen of them had already rushed into the city.

In the distance, dusty and a black cavalry appeared, like a sharp sword, killing in the direction of the city gate.

The guard was taken aback and shouted, "Close the gates and pull up the drawbridge." ”

The soldiers struggled to push the winch, but the city gate did not move, and the lower part was stuck, but the drawbridge creaked and rattled, at this time, two Jin soldiers jumped up and climbed the iron chain, and they each hung a small fire mine on the iron chain, which weighed only a dozen catties and had an iron hook on it.

The two quickly lit the fire rope, jumped back to the ground, dodged to both sides, and for a moment, 'Boom! Rumble! There were two loud bangs, debris flew wildly, gunsmoke filled the air, the front of the drawbridge was blown to pieces, long chains flew up like snakes, and the drawbridge fell with a bang.

Eighty scouts have controlled the city gate, a moment, three thousand cavalry took the lead in killing, rushed into the city, behind 30,000 troops rushed to kill, the defenders were in chaos, the main general Jiang Ling learned that tens of thousands of troops were killed, he knew that he could not hold the city of Hanoi, he led three thousand soldiers to evacuate from the south gate, to the south of the rout.

The Jin army did not let them go, 3,000 cavalry chased all the way, the soldiers of the Zhu army could not outrun the cavalry, and surrendered on their knees, Jiang Ling only led 1,000 soldiers to escape from the mountain road, and they did not dare to stay, and fled directly from the ice of the Yellow River to the opposite bank.

Li Bing captured Huaizhou, leaving 10,000 troops to defend Huaizhou, and he himself led 20,000 troops to Liyang County, on the north bank of the Yellow River, 300 miles away.

Liyang County wants to cross Weizhou, although the capital of Weizhou is in Ji County in the middle, but the importance of Ji County is far less than that of Liyang County, Ji County has no defenders, and all the 10,000 defenders of Weizhou are in Liyang County.

Li Bing did not enter the city, but asked about the latest situation in Liyang County in a temporary tent.

Cui Wei was born in the Boling Cui clan, compared with the Qinghe Cui clan, the Boling Cui clan did not have a strong sense of existence in the Jin Kingdom, on the contrary, Cui Zao, the right minister of the Southern Tang Dynasty, was born in the Boling Cui clan.

However, Boling didn't want to occupy a place in the Jin Kingdom, but he didn't have a chance, so Cui Wei was extraordinarily cooperative.

"Liyang is usually stationed with 5,000 people, this time Zhu Zhu deployed 5,000 soldiers in each state, so the strength of Liyang County is 10,000, and the grain reserves in the city are huge, I heard last year that Liyang's grain reserves are about 200,000 stones, and now it will only be more and not less, Zhu Zhu has been running Liyang County, and all kinds of war readiness materials are also relatively sufficient, and he can fight a protracted war."

"What is the combat effectiveness of the Liyang defenders?" Li Bing asked again.

Cui Wei thought for a while and said: "The Liyang army has always been the elite of Zhu Zhu's army, last year Tian Yue's 50,000 troops besieged Liyang City, but never took it, I had to make peace with Zhu Zhu, and agreed that Zhu Zhu would continue to occupy Liyang County, Liyang County is notoriously tall and strong, very difficult to attack, but there is a chance in winter." ”

Li Bing's spirits perked up, and he hurriedly said, "How do you say this?" ”

Cui Wei took a piece of paper, drew a sketch with a pen, and said with a smile: "Yongji Canal is from Liyang into the Yellow River, about a few hundred steps away from the Yellow River, Yongji Canal opened a branch canal, straight into the city, because to take a big boat, so the water city gate is very high, only two very old wooden doors, now that the winter is frozen, the Jin army can attack from the river, you can set fire to the gate, you can also crash into it, and then directly from the ice into the city, it can be said that this is the only weakness of Liyang City." ”

Li Bing pondered for a moment and asked, "I want a hundred good carpenters and twenty good blacksmiths, can Cui Tingshi provide them?" ”

Cui Wei smiled slightly: "This request is nothing, I will prepare it for the general immediately, and in addition, I may be able to send the general a good thing." ”

"Good stuff?" Li Bing was stunned, what did this mean.

"General, don't worry, I'll see it soon."

In a short time, Cui Wei found a hundred carpenters and twenty blacksmiths in the city, and at the same time transported the good things he said out of the city.

Li Bing was suddenly surprised and delighted, the good thing Cui Wei said turned out to be a giant tree, six zhang long, and the tree was hugged by five people, at least seven or eight hundred years old.

This is the trunk of a jujube tree, the wood is fine and solid, and at first glance it is the top timber for building a palace, weighing nearly 10,000 catties, and it is transported by more than a dozen ox carts.

Li Bing stepped forward and patted the giant tree, feeling like it was slapping on a stone.

"How can there be this baby?" Li Bing asked in surprise.

"This giant tree was transported from Hanoi County, it grew for nearly a thousand years, and in the twenty-fifth year of Kaiyuan, Emperor Tang Ming rebuilt Xingqing Palace, collected palace pillars from all over the world, and transported nine jujube wood pillars from Huaizhou, one of which was not long enough, so he didn't want it, and stayed in Ji County."

Li Bing patted the giant tree, "Is that it?" ”

Cui Wei smiled and nodded, "That's it!" ”

.........

Liyang County is located in the southeast corner of Weizhou on the north bank of the Yellow River, the Yongji Canal that meanders from Youzhou is here to join the Yellow River, Liyang County is a strategic town since ancient times, the Sui Dynasty, when it was one of the four major granaries in the world, Liyang Cang, even in the Tang Dynasty, it is also one of the most important grain transit places.

At present, there are no ordinary people in Liyang City, all of them are warehouses and barracks, which is the springboard for Zhu Zhu's attack on Hebei, and it is also the logistics center of Zhu Zhu's army after entering Hebei.

There were 10,000 garrisons in the city, led by Xue Lun, Zhu Jun's confidant, and unlike Huaizhou, Xue Lun had already received a warning from Zhu Zhu, asking him to strictly guard against the sneak attack of the Jin army.

Xue Lun also knew the weakness of Liyang County, the river was frozen in winter, and it was easy to break through the attack on Liyang City from the river, so Xue Lun ordered people to build three sandbag walls on the river surface inside and outside the wooden gate, and poured water into ice, which was extremely strong and difficult to be smashed open.

At the same time, Xue Lun sent hundreds of sentry posts twenty miles around the city.

On this morning, the outpost in the northwest sent a message that they had discovered an army of 20,000 men, which was marching towards Liyang County.

'Woo-'

The low horn sound at the head of Liyang City sounded, and the whole city was shocked, and Xue Lun ordered all 10,000 troops to enter their combat positions, and they were ready to fight.

Half an hour later, a black army appeared more than a dozen miles in the west, and it was killing in the direction of Liyang City.

Xue Lun observed very carefully, the other party has baggage, but the number is not much, mainly grain and grass, and the camp tent does not, now it is winter, there is no camp tent means a short-term battle, it seems that the Jin army wants to take Liyang City quickly.

Xue Lun shouted, "All the brothers cheer up and prepare to meet the enemy with all their might. ”

Li Bing had been to Liyang County when he was a child, but at that time he was just a child, following his father to take a boat in Liyang County, his only impression of Liyang City was high, and now he is re-examining this city with the eyes of the main general of the attacking side, the city wall of Liyang City is at least four zhang high, I am afraid that it is the highest city wall in all the cities, far more than Chang'an and Luoyang, but it is a military city, it is more special, not in the scope of transgression.

The walls are shining with silver, and there should be a layer of ice on them, and it will be very difficult to attack the city with siege ladders.

Li Bing's gaze finally fell on the river, indeed, a tributary river leads directly into the city, the water gate is closed, and two ice walls are built in front, as long as the obstacles on the ice are removed, the huge battering ram can break the city gate with one blow.

Xue Lun's judgment was not wrong, the Jin army did not carry tents, and they could not stay outside the city for a long time in winter, so they could only fight quickly.

After the army had only rested for an hour, Li Bing began to deploy his army and prepare for the attack, and their goal was very clear, that is, to concentrate on attacking Watergate.

The head of the city of Watergate was covered with 8,000 defensive soldiers, with bows and crossbows, ready to fight, and nearly 100 small trebuchets had already opened their positions, ready to shoot stones at the Jin army.

'Boom! Boom! Boom! ’

The war drums of the Jin army were loud, the first army went into battle, and the soldiers of the three thousand giant shield army began to move slowly on the ice.

Dressed in leather armor and wrapped in thick cotton clothes and trousers, they looked bloated and moved slowly, but this was the way to ensure that they were not frostbitten by the bone-chilling cold.