“……”

Zhao Ting'er returned to Shangyang Garden, and saw Han Qian standing alone in the courtyard of the dormitory, and there was no one waiting in the courtyard, so he came over and asked,

"Escorted Lu Qingxia and Yao Xishui back to Luoyang?"

"I've come back, I've seen them in Lingyun Pavilion before dusk, and their mouths are like boiled ducks, and they're hard. I still want to watch a handful of snot and tears begging for mercy, but no, disappointed. Han Qian said with a smile.

"Are you really going to send them to Jinling?" Zhao Ting'er asked, "Send Lu Qingxia and Zhou Yuan to Jinling, Yao Xishui and Li Zhihe's half-brothers and sisters will still be handed over to Li Zhihe after all." ”

"I originally planned to do so, but before noon, Li Zhihe sent a secret letter, praising Feng Xuan for his demeanor as a general, and said that when he led his troops into Chengzhou two years ago, he was hit by an arrow in his left ankle, leaving a dark disease, and the pain was unbearable every time he encountered rain and snow, and he wanted to resign from the post of Longyou Xuan's consolation envoy, and Feng Xuan would take over, and lead the Longyou Army to attack Fengxiang from the western flank," Han Qian took Zhao Ting'er's shoulder and said, "He didn't say it clearly in his letter, but he wanted to exchange his fame and fortune for Lu Qingxia and Zhou Yuan's ......lives."

"Alas, I didn't expect Li Zhihe to treat Lu Qingxia without forgetting his affection - yes, Lu Qingxia caused chaos in the world, but no matter what, after all, he kept the previous dynasty in the end." Zhao Ting'er was quite surprised and said with emotion.

When the palace rebellion was launched and the murder of Emperor Yanyou Yang Yuanpu was launched, Lu Qingxia and Zhou Yuan were the culprits, and in Chu Ting's view, what they committed was an unforgivable crime.

However, when it comes to the attitude of the top and bottom of the Liang Dynasty towards Lu Qingxia, Zhou Yuan and others, it is a little dispensable.

The relationship between Han Qian and Emperor Yanyou Yang Yuanpu has already existed in name only from the moment he got out of Fanchang City under the pretext of not discussing marriage; Yang Yuanpu's death, and even Han Qian was behind it.

And if it weren't for Yang Yuanpu's death, Han Qianchan would succeed to the position of the lord of the Great Liang State, and Liang Chu would not have been able to negotiate a peace negotiation, and the Great Liang would inevitably face several times more dangerous and difficult than imagined.

From this point of view, Lu Qingxia launched a palace mutiny and assassinated Emperor Yanyou Yang Yuanpu, which actually contributed to Daliang.

As for Lu Qingxia and Zhou Yuan's defection to the Mengwu people, helping the Mengwu people deal with Daliang, and even targeting Xuzhou and Tangyi everywhere in the past, they did not play any role.

However, at this time, Liang was still a vassal to the Chu court, and after Zhao Mengji sent Lü Qingxia and Zhou Yuan prisoners to Luoyang, it was reasonable that they should be sent to Jinling for trial, so as to ease the tension between Liang and Chu.

At present, the forces of the Chu Ting Shaozhuang main battle faction have a tendency to rise, if they detain Lu Qingxia and Zhou Yuan in Luoyang and do not go to Jinling, they will end up with the truth, and eventually make the Chu court courtiers talk about it, which is very likely to quickly cause the Chu court's attitude towards Daliang to become tougher.

The problem now is that Li Zhihe must protect them, even at the cost of handing over military power, but also to save the lives of Lu Qingxia and Zhou Yuan, but they cannot ignore Li Zhihe's request.

However, in response to Li Zhihe's request, leaving Lu Qingxia, Zhou Yuan and others in Luoyang and not handing them over was not simply asking Li Zhihe to hand over the military power, Han Qian also wanted to use Li Zhihe to command the troops to fight, and he did not need to hand over the military power.

However, as long as Li Zhihe is willing to cooperate, the General Staff Office will be able to better transform and reorganize the Liangzhou army, so as to better solve the problem that Liangzhou is actually still in the middle of standing at this time, so that Liangzhou and Liangzhou generals can be completely integrated into the Liang.

Of course, the attachment of this matter to Zhao Mengji will undoubtedly involve the sensitive nerves of Shu.

Zhao Ting'er asked, "What are you going to do, have you handed Li Zhihe's letter to Feng Yi and them?" Or do you want to detain Lu Qingxia and them first, and then talk about it after the Guanzhong is recovered? ”

"I can only do this for the first time," Han Qian said, "I was about to write a letter to Li Zhihe, telling him not to worry too much, to concentrate on this battle first, and then talk about other ...... after recovering Guanzhong."

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An Jixiang always felt that he was incompatible with the atmosphere of Luoyang, and lived in Dutingyi for a few days, so he rushed to the official department of the Younei Shifu to find Feng Yi, and asked for a ministry as an envoy to the Mengzhou government, and before the end of March, he rushed back to Mengzhou by official ship to take up his post.

Zhao Mengji imprisoned Lu Qingxia and Zhou Yuan and others, secretly attached to Luoyang, the Mongolian army and the Eastern Liang army naturally noticed the abnormality, and also began to strengthen the defense of Jincheng in the northern section of Taihang and the south bank of the Yu River, but the Mongolian army and the Eastern Liang army at that time were more or less still in mind that Zhao Mengji turned back to the shore, or thought that Zhao Mengji only intended to occupy Mengzhou and preserve the illusion of strength.

Zhao Mengji led the Mengzhou garrison to officially raise the banner and escort Lu Qingxia, Zhou Yuan and the officials of the Mongolian army stationed in Mengzhou to Luoyang, and the alarm of the Mongolian army and the Eastern Liang army was still great.

An Jixiang stopped at the Nanguan River wharf and landed on the shore, and could see the territory of Bianliang and Wuzhi, where the Dongliang army was driving tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians to build a fortress on the south bank.

To the east of Mengzhou are Huaizhou and Weizhou, which also belong to the old county of Hanoi, and further east are the two prefectures of Weibo, one of the three towns of Heshuo.

Hanoi Ancient County and Wei Bo Town, located in the north of the Yu River, south of the Taihang Mountains and the southeast of the Taihang Mountain, the terrain is contiguous, the Liang army to attack Huaizhou, Weizhou and Wei Bo in the east, it must be the most convenient to send troops from Mengzhou.

However, even if An Jixiang did not participate in the secret, he also knew very well in his heart that at this time, the Mengzhou army, whose morale and morale had not yet been truly firm, would attack the important town of Weibo, which was defended by the Eastern Liang army, which was very unrealistic; The main force of the Liang army is elite, and the focus of this year's operation is in Guanzhong.

When he returned to Mengzhou, when the official ship approached the wharf of the Nanguan River, he saw that the dam that the Mongolian army had transported soil between the southeast of Mengzhou and Wuzhi to cut off the Yu River was already full of soldiers and civilians.

On the side of the dam approaching the south bank, I saw that hundreds of soldiers had built a simple fortification with obstacles such as horses and antlers, and after the fortification, hundreds of soldiers surrounded the shield and crossbow to guard the enemy army on the south bank from entering the dam.

On the water west of the dam, several warships were moored to form a blockade of the Eastern Liang Army on the south bank of the embankment.

On the north side of the fortification, a huge gap has been dug up, and thousands of able-bodied people are like ant colonies, constantly transporting the excavated earth back to the north bank.

At present, the gap has been dug more than two zhang deep, and the flood season of the Yu River has not yet arrived, and the water level of the Yu River is still more than two zhang from the bottom of the gap dug at present.

At that time, the Mongolian army forcibly conscripted tens of thousands of people to dig earth and dam to cut off the Yu River, and then every year they would recruit people to reinforce it, so as to form today's dam that is level with the embankment on both sides of the river, and the width of the dam at the top is more than 12 zhang.

In a short period of time, Mengzhou only used three to five thousand strong people, and it was impossible to completely dig the dam, but after the flood season of the Yu River came, it was still possible to pass through the gap and channel a part of the flood water from the upper reaches of the Yu River into the old channel.

Of course, see on the pier

There is a newly built dredger docked, and An Jixiang thinks that when Yique Shuiying Dazhai builds more special dredgers, the speed of digging the dam may be faster.

An Jixiang returned to Mengzhou, wanting to be idle, but not idle.

In the seventh year of Taihe, the focus of the military and political affairs of the Great Liang was on the war on the western flank to recover Guanzhong, and the eastern flank and the northern front were mainly to build and consolidate the existing defense line.

Even in Huaizhou, which is adjacent to Mengzhou, the total number of county defense troops is only four or five thousand, Han Qian also made it clear that Mengzhou does not need to rush to use troops against Huaizhou, and will devote its main energy to the rectification of military and political affairs in the early stage.

At the beginning, in order to make the Shu soldiers take root in Mengzhou with peace of mind, Wusu Dashi forcibly conscripted tens of thousands of unmarried or widowed women from Zelu and other places, expelled them to Mengzhou, married and had children with the Shu soldiers, and made a total of 40,000 military households in Mengzhou, Heqing and other places, and drove them to cultivate and cultivate.

Although there are 40,000 military households in Mengzhou, there is a big difference from the military households compiled by Chu Shu or Dongliang and Mengwu in Heshuo and Yanyun.

That is, the military households (military households) of Chushu and other countries, each household has almost two or three adult Ding Zhuang, usually each household only needs to send one Ding Zhuang to perform four to six months of military service every year, which is the main Ding, and the other Ding Zhuang is Yu Ding, under normal circumstances, there is no need to serve in the military, and only need to participate in the drill training during the slack time.

In other words, even during the war, the military service of the soldiers may be extended indefinitely, but the soldiers will be able to guarantee at least one or two young laborers to maintain the farming.

There is only one Ding Zhuang in each military household in Mengzhou, and all of them are still in the army, and the children they give birth to are still extremely young, and the fields are all undertaken by the women who have been forcibly taken into marriage, and the hardships of their lives can be imagined.

Thousands of people die of exhaustion or starvation every year.

In addition to being far away from his hometown, this is also a major source of the Mengzhou Army's unsatisfactory combat effectiveness.

At present, the most urgent thing is not to implement a new tax system and take over local political affairs, but to convert all 40,000 military households into civilian households, and to reduce most of the 10,000 garrison troops, so as to make up for the labor needed for farming as much as possible, so that they can get real rest and recuperation.

As a reward for the returning soldiers, even if the generals are dismissed this time, they will be allocated 15 acres of water and dry land and some necessary relief materials at one time.

For those military attachés and generals who have retired from active service, the field allocation will be increased to 30 acres, and those who have a cultural background are also recommended to participate in the official examination organized by the prefecture and county, and serve as the prefecture or township department.

There are even people who miss their homeland very much, and want to return to Shu to reunite with their families, Luoyang is currently sending people to Chengdu to negotiate, as long as Wang Yong, the lord of Shu, agrees to receive, this side will send the road fee to help him return home.

Of course, considering that Shu is increasingly wary of Daliang, even if Wang Yong, the lord of Shu, is willing to accept some Shu soldiers to return to his hometown, the number of places is estimated to be quite limited.

An Jixiang guessed that the family clans that continued to hold a certain amount of power after the Shu lord Wang Yong seized the throne would find a way, and there would be a way to accept the children who had been exiled for so many years.

The low-level poor people and the generals from ordinary military families have always had the fate of going with the flow, and perhaps staying in Mengzhou to settle down and take root is their best destination.

The Mengzhou side will eventually choose to be brave and strong, retain the recruitment of three integrated infantry brigades, be responsible for local defense, and be incorporated into the Xingyang marching camp army

Zhao Mengji stayed in Mengzhou as the governor of Mengzhou Prefecture, the commander of the capital and the deputy commander of the Xingyang Xingying Army, and accepted the control of Han Donghu in the military defense of the Xingyang Prefecture and the Xingyang Xingying Army......

In addition to using troops to plot and not meet opponents, Han Qian was able to accept the Wen family and the Li family over the years, severely punished Chen Kun, the old general of Liang who killed women and children in the battle of Rongyang, and treated the captured soldiers well, and the old generals of Liang State could also better integrate into the old Tangyi military system, and get heavy responsibilities, and were very patient with the solution of the Liangzhou problem, and even boldly used Li Zhihe and Chai Jian as the main generals of the western flank to attack Guanzhong, and even used Zhu Yu's son to lead the troops, reflecting the true mind and bearing of a male lord.

And these are precisely the fundamentals of Zhao Mengji's final release of his guard.

An Jixiang did not know how much worry Mengzhou's annexation to the Great Liang would cause to the Eastern Liang army and the Mongolian army, but presumably the news reached Fengxiang, and the impact on Wang Xiaoxian and his generals must be not small.

An Jixiang walked into the Mengzhou Mansion and saw Zhao Mengji talking about his trip to Luoyang and meeting Han Qian, and also noticed Gu Mingfu and some other old faces, and even protected Zhao Mengji's eldest son, the Yuan Yajun, who was waiting for Zhao Shuo to be missing.

He didn't need to ask in detail, Zhao Shuo, Gu Mingfu and others must have rushed to meet Chai Jian or Li Zhihe, so that they could persuade Wang Xiaoxian and his generals to surrender nearby......

…………

…………

"Marquis Wei, you put down the halberd and surrender at this time, you can still spend the rest of the year in peace, if you want to go to Jianghuai to reunite with your wife and children, the king will also work hard to promote ......"

After the capture of Qizhou City, tens of thousands of soldiers surrounded the inner city, Li Zhihe wore battle armor, surrounded by more than 100 guards, Xu Xing was two hundred steps away from the south gate of the inner city of Qizhou, held the reins, stopped on the long street, and said in a loud voice.

Zhao Mengji's attachment greatly dissolved the will of Wang Xiaoxian's troops to resist.

Chai Jian led his son Chai Xun and Zhou Tong and Hao Zixia to force the city, Wang Fan, Xiang Zhen, Zhao Feixiong and other Fengzhou, Meiwu, Chencang walled city guards led their troops to surrender one after another, and Li Zhihe, Feng Xuan, Feng Yi led the Longyou army from Tianshui, all the way east to capture Jiequan, Longshan Pass, Fengge, Qianyang and other city fortresses are almost bloodless.

Only when the two armies encircled the city of Qizhou, and Wang Xiaoxian led more than 10,000 elites of the lineage to die rather than surrender, could it be regarded as a battle like a model.

However, Wang Yuankui's troops were surrounded by Jing Zhen and Kong Xirong with 40,000 soldiers and horses in Yongzhou City, and Han Bao led his troops to capture Tongzhou in the north of the Wei River, and blocked the small enemy army south along the Yuhe River to the north of Heyang.

Chai Jian led his troops to join Kong Xirong and Jing Zhen to participate in the siege of Yongzhou, and Li Zhihe led the Longyou Army to join Zhou Tong and Hao Zixia's old troops, with a total of 30,000 foot cavalry to force the city of Qizhou.

Wang Xiaoxian would rather die than surrender, and there are some generals under him who advance and retreat with him, but where is the morale of the Shu soldiers under him?

Li Zhihe didn't play any psychological warfare, and he didn't even wait for the heavy weapons to be transported from the rear, so he joined Zhang Song, Deng Tai, Zhou Tong, and Hao Zixia to lead their own troops and horses to build simple weapons such as ladders and climbing vehicles, and surrounded the crossbows to besiege Qizhou from all sides.

After killing more than 1,000 enemies in three days, the defenders of the outer city collapsed, and finally Zhang Song and Deng Tai led more than 10,000 soldiers and horses to besiege Wang Xiaoxian and the 3,000 tooth army in the inner city.

Even so, Han Qian still sent an edict to Li Zhihe, giving Wang Xiaoxian the opportunity to lead his troops to surrender as much as possible.

In the face of Li Zhihe's persuasion, Wang Xiaoxian smiled hideously, and after waving his hand, more than a dozen arrows were scattered towards Li Zhihe.

Zhang Song was busy with

Hu cavalry surrounded Li Zhihe and retreated, but he didn't expect Wang Xiaoxian to reach this point, and he was still stubborn, and said angrily: "The king and the commander have exhausted their benevolence and righteousness to Wang Xiaoxian, and they ordered the siege of the city!" ”

"Siege the city!" Li Zhihe sighed and said.

Wang Xiaoxian in order to show the death battle, but also to prevent other generals from unwilling to fight to the death, there is a surrender of the city, he has long ordered from the city to the north, east and west of the three city gates with earth and stone, leaving only the south gate where he personally sits even directly opened, luring the Liang army to kill through the city gate hole.

Zhang Song, as the main general of the siege, also concentrated the elite soldiers, horses and weapons at the south gate of the inner city and concentrated on attacking it all the way.

When entering the outer city, more than 20 nest carts were captured, and at this time they all advanced to the south gate of the inner city, and more than 300 crossbowmen stood on the nest cart with crossbows, and wave after wave of crossbow arrows shot towards the high wall like a swarm of locusts, forcing the defenders to retreat into the city tower.

Even in order to avoid the shield of the battlement wall, Zhang Song also merged several nest cars together to form a high platform slightly higher than the city wall.

The castle tower in the inner city of Qizhou is also made of bricks and stones, but the spring-arm bed crossbow shoots at a close range of 200 steps, and when an arrow goes down, the bricks and stones splash.

A batch of oil canisters were transported from Hanzhong by detour, and they had not yet played any role in attacking the outer city, and at this time there was no care, and they were thrown on the city wall with a spring-arm scorpion crossbow, and after a while, the city wall near the city tower fell into a sea of fire.

Taking advantage of the fact that the defenders could not stand on both sides of the tower, more than a dozen siege vehicles and ladders were erected on the head of the city, and a team of soldiers with swords and shields swarmed up like tigers and wolves, killing the two wings and the reinforcements who came up from the city to the city road, and established a defense on the walls of the two wings of the city tower.

Although no heavy whirlwind cannons directly destroyed the tower, hundreds of oil canisters were thrown on the tower, and by noon, the pillars and beams inside the tower were finally ignited.

Wang Xiaoxian led 200 guards to personally sit in the Nancheng Tower, and soon fell into a sea of fire......

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"Comfort Marquis Wang Xiaoxian would rather die than surrender, guard the south tower of the inner city of Qizhou, do not guard against the Liang army attacking the city wall, pouring oil and arson, comforting the marquis and two hundred personal guards were buried in the fire, the corpses remained, and the rest soon gave up resistance......"

Wang Yuankui and Wang Mao, the prince of Yongzhou County, who had been canonized by the Wuren people, sat on top of the palace and listened to the scouts report on the fall of Qizhou, their faces seemed to be shrouded in a thick layer of haze, and the atmosphere in the palace was also so solemn that it seemed that there would be a downpour at any time.

From the southward march of the Mughal army, it was only the tenth year of the full battle.

In the first four years, the Mongol army moved south according to the Yanyun Prefectures, not only captured the 31 prefectures of Hedong, Heshuo, and Guanzhong, but also the 24 prefectures of Hehuai were also under the control of the Eastern Liang army.

Who would have thought that Zhu Yu would give up the position of the lord of the Great Liang State to Han Qian, and Han Qian not only held Heluo, but also reversed the situation in Heluo in such a short period of time?

In the battle of Yiguan, the Mongolian army was severely injured, Wang Yuankui knew it in his heart, and even knew that Zhao Mengji might not be tied to a tree with them and hanged, but anyone would have a fluke mentality.

Han Qian entered the lord of Heluo, the monarchs and ministers were suspicious of each other and the enemy on three sides, and they were all supported in such a bad situation, Wang Yuankui thought that even if the Mongolian army suffered heavy losses in the Fenshui River Valley, there were still hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses available in Taiyuan and Jinnan, and the Eastern Liang army also had hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, plus 100,000 soldiers and horses in Guanzhong, Wang Yuankui thought that Zhao Mengji was not so easily determined to be a slave with three surnames.

Even by all indications that Zhao Mengji had imprisoned Lü Qingxia, Zhou Yuan, and other officials sent to Mengzhou, Wang Yuankui was also fantasizing that the situation would not deteriorate to the point of being out of control.

Wang Yuankui had such an illusion, in the final analysis, he still didn't want to give up the king of Yongzhou County and the envoy of Weinan Jiedu, who had just been crowned, and he was reluctant to give up the Weinan Plain, where the clansmen had just moved for two years.

He is already sixty-five years old, half of his life on the battlefield, after serving as the envoy of the Chengde Army to sit in Dingzhou, indulge in wine, and there is no decisiveness in the early years; For Wang Jingrong and Xiao Yiqing to persuade to join the Mongolian army, the root cause lies in this.

After many wars, he took Jinnan, Taiyuan, Hezhong and even Guanzhong, and he once had the illusion of winning the world immediately and being arrogant, but at this time, he learned that the Marquis of Wei Wang Xiao was in the sea of fire, and there was not even a whole corpse, and finally the illusion disappeared completely, and he just regretted that he did not break his wrist early and led his troops to withdraw from Yongzhou.

Wang Yuankui held the long case in his hand, stood up suddenly, and did not dare to sit in the hall with the generals, and motioned his son Wang Mao to follow him to the back house.

Walking into the study of the back house, Wang Yuankui signaled the left and right maids to retreat, closed the doors and windows and asked his son Wang Mao: "You sent someone to Baqiao, there is no leakage, right?" What does the Baqiao mean? ”

In the Spring and Autumn Period, Qin Mugong dominated Xirong, changed Zishui to Ba Shui, and repaired the Ba Bridge, and then rebuilt and repaired in successive dynasties, the Ba Bridge with nearly 400 steps long, the stone foundation and wooden beams are the traffic points on the south bank of the Wei River.

Kong Xirong led his troops out of Lantian Pass, went down the Bahe River, and joined Jing Zhen at Baqiao, which was the camp of the Liang army at this time.

There are a lot of Mengwu people and the eyes and ears of Guanjianglou in Yongzhou City, and many of the generals have returned to the Mongolian army, and even the family is still in Taiyuan and Dingzhou and other places, not wanting to startle the snake, Wang Yuankui and his son Wang Mao arranged for his cronies to go to Baqiao to see Jing Zhenyi, the chief general of the Liang army, for several days, thinking that Luoyang should also give a reply.

"Everything else is easy to say, but Han Qian wants us to hand over all the soldiers and horses unconditionally and go out of the city to accept the ......reorganization," Wang Mao said in a low voice, for fear that the wall would have ears and leak the news.

"What, could it be that my Wang family is inferior to Zhao Mengji's goods?" Wang Yuankui gritted his teeth angrily and asked. He fought horses for half his life, and he didn't understand other truths, but he only knew that the 40,000 German army was his biggest reliance, and it was also his last reliance.

Han Qian actually asked him to hand over all the soldiers and horses unconditionally, how could he accept it?

"The Liang army only has thousands of soldiers and horses in Tongzhou, Weibei, and its soldiers and horses in Pingyang and Jiangzhou can't get out, so Daddy should make a decision as soon as possible!" Wang Mao gritted his teeth and said.

He was also categorically unwilling to accept the offer to surrender all his soldiers and horses.

At this time, they still controlled the pontoon bridge of the Wei River and several walled cities on the north bank of the Wei River, and there was no problem in withdrawing the whole army to the north bank of the Wei River.

Even if the Liang army had a naval division and controlled the lower reaches of Weishui and the Yuhe waterway in the east of Yanzhou, he believed that at this time, he would abandon Yongzhou, cross 40,000 or 50,000 soldiers and horses to the north bank of the Wei River, evacuate to the northwest along the Jingshui River Valley, and then defend each other according to the hills and ravines of the Loess Plateau, lean on the desert wasteland where the Mengwu people galloped across the desert in the north, and connect Yinxia and other states controlled by the Qiang cavalry of the Pingxia Department in the west......