Hou Mo and Li Zhi led a Qiang cavalry brigade and a horse infantry to march north in coordination and headed for the Daqiu village set up by the enemy in the south of Qinzhou.

The Qiang cavalry brigade was 3,000 elites, and the horse infantry was only 1,500 people, and they went first as the vanguard soldiers and horses, and swept away to the garrison Daqiu Village on the left front flank of the Qiang cavalry in Pingxia.

The Qiang cavalry of the Pingxia Department is good at riding and fighting, and is not good at building a wall to defend the city, and the big hill village built between the hills and mountains in the south of Qinzhou is also very simple.

For the cavalry to dispatch and drink water, Daqiu Village is located on the south side of a stream, a large slope in front of the village, the terrain is open - the camp is narrow, a large number of cavalry gathered over, quite a lot of men and horses are set up outside the village to rest.

The Longyou army rode horses on foot, and the cavalry of the Pingxia Department stationed in Daqiu Village and several nearby simple defense villages also came out brazenly.

The black-pressed cavalry lined up in front of the foot of a snow-covered rocky mountain, like several torrents of Jingwei distribution, accumulating momentum and about to rush out at any time.

Scouts on both sides were in the meadows and valleys, and they had already picked up longbows and crossbows and cruising and shooting at each other.

Li Zhi led the horse infantry to stop six or seven miles away from Daqiu Village, and after dismounting the heavily armored foot soldiers, they formed five conical charging formations in a valley diagonally towards Daqiu Village, and pressed forward.

Hou Mo led three thousand Qiang cavalry in blue and black sè armor, divided into five teams and cruising between the low slopes and valleys on the flanks.

The enemy cavalry also brazenly dispatched at this time, and the front line of the cavalry stretched left and right, as if the torrent was spreading through the slope valley that was three or four miles wide.

The enemy cavalry is so arranged, it is to directly surround the forward soldiers and horses of the Longyou Army with the dominant cavalry scale, and then use the terrain to continuously launch an attack until it will tear the Longyou Army to pieces.

It's just that the enemy's commander-in-chief obviously overestimated his own will to fight.

Hou Mo was only surrounded by more than 100 cavalry, and together with Li Zhi, he was in the center of the heavily armored charging infantry formation, changing the flag, and the cavalry on both wings quickly scattered to the flanks and rear flanks.

The established tactics were simple, to do everything possible to avoid a scuffle between the cavalry on both sides.

In the face of the enemy cavalry pouring out, the cavalry on both wings shrank along the slope valley and mountain ridge to the rear flank, and took the initiative to expose the heavy armor infantry formation in the middle, and used large shields and heavy crossbows to meet the impact of the enemy cavalry.

Wait until the heavily armored infantry in the center is like a rock to contain the fierce attack of the enemy cavalry like a torrent, and the cavalry on both flanks will kill from the flanks.

At this time, the longer the enemy horse is entangled, the more vividly the heavy crossbow of the heavy armor infantry array can play its due role.

To the west of Longshan, it is said that the terrain is flat and broad, but here is located at the edge of the Loess Plateau, and the branches of Longshan and Minshan are intertwined, and the mountain terrain is very obvious.

If you don't take the ancient post road that has been built for thousands of years, which has also been badly damaged by the enemy beforehand, the chariot and the heavy spring-arm bed crossbow and scorpion crossbow cannot be dragged into the shallow ravines and valleys to fight.

If the heavily armored infantry wants to move forward in the area where the ravines are intertwined, without the help of military horses, they can climb mountains and valleys in a day, and they are so tired that they can walk twenty or thirty miles in a straight line.

This area, usually said to be the world of cavalry, the Qiang people who are good at riding and shooting, driving excellent war horses, interspersed with twists and turns between the slopes and valleys, the speed is extremely fast, and they come and go like the wind.

The right army of Long will not be entangled with the enemy's cavalry in the ravines and valleys, and the foot soldiers will ride horses and cavalry to protect each other, and go straight to its walled city to line up; If the enemy army fights, it will be served by a large shield and heavy crossbow, and before entering the walled city without a fight, it will also be served by a large shield and heavy crossbow.

The heavy crossbow equipped by the heavy armor foot soldiers is also a sharp weapon that Li Zhi, Hou Mo and other generals rely on to win.

The heavy crossbow equipped by the heavy armor foot soldier can no longer be called the arm open crossbow, because the crossbow arm is too strong, the strong soldier even uses the foot to open the crossbow is quite laborious, mainly using the gear winch to open the crossbow, the shooting speed is slower than the traditional arm open crossbow.

The weight of the crossbow is also quite gratifying, weighing more than 30 catties, no matter how strong the warrior is, it is difficult to hold the rope and drive the horse while holding the crossbow with one hand to shoot the enemy accurately; And the crossbow and reloading arrows are also more complicated and cumbersome than the light crossbows equipped by the cavalry.

However, the heavy crossbow of the foot soldier is powerful enough to shoot through the ring chain mail at a distance of 200 steps, which is more than enough to make up for its many shortcomings.

The sword and shield soldiers hold the big shield to protect the side, and the heavy crossbow exposes the sharp armor-piercing arrow clusters from the gap in the big shield, and shoots the enemy horseman, and then shoots head-on, and the dense crossbow arrows are fired, which can always shoot more than a dozen people and horses to the ground.

The enemy cavalry tried to take advantage of the gap between the heavy crossbow shots to swarm up and attack the shield array, while the cavalry on both flanks bravely attacked the attack, slowing down the speed of their attack from the flanks, reducing the pressure on the shield array, and buying more time for the heavy crossbow to open the strings and reload the arrows.

And even if the enemy cavalry is not afraid of casualties, rushing into the array of heavily armored foot soldiers, even if they are riding on horseback, they have a condescending advantage, the war knives they wield, but it is difficult to split the protection of the heavy shield and strong armor, and the foot soldiers of the Longyou army are severely damaged.

After a few rounds of contact, the enemy cavalry saw that they could not take any advantage, but they spread out to the two wings, and did not dare to entangle the battle anymore, and Hou Mo and Li Zhi commanded the infantry and cavalry to approach Daqiu Village.

In the relatively open valley, the Longyou Army did not have an advantage in the size of the cavalry, and it was difficult to fight a battle of annihilation against the enemy cavalry of such a scale, but the campaign intention of the Longyou Army was very straightforward.

It was necessary to first capture the walled cities of the Pingxia Qiang Cavalry south of the Wei River, forcing them to lose their foothold between the plateaus and hills south of the Wei River, and had to withdraw from the valleys south of the Wei River.

As long as the Longyou Army can seize the southern area of Qinzhou and force the banks of the Weishui River, it will also be able to block the passage of Wang Xiaoxian's troops to flee along the Weishui River Valley to the plateau area west of Longshan from the western flank, and complete the established combat mission.

Except for the occasional bloody cavalry generals of the Pingxia Division, most of the cavalry generals of the Pingxia Division fought quite conservatively, usually entangled themselves, and when they saw that there was no opportunity to take advantage of it, they gathered troops and horses to retreat, and no one thought of retreating to the simple walled city.

And those Qiang generals who were killed bloodily, in the face of the shield array and crossbow array of the Longyou Army and the coordinated tactics of infantry and cavalry, were killed to the point of bleeding, and finally saw that there were no reinforcements on the left and right to come up for a bloody battle, and they had to withdraw with the remnants of the defeated generals.

From the sheepfold Liangzhai built by the Longyou Army in the past two years to the Qinzhou Prefecture to govern Shangqi (Tianshui) is more than 100 miles, but one by one swept the enemy villages in the south of Qinzhou, forced the enemy army to retreat north, and the ancient post road was seriously damaged by the enemy, the army all the way or over the ravine, or repair the road and build bridges, the enemy cavalry will also guard the opposite bank of the ravine and the ravine from time to time, deterrence, and it is only in early March that 20,000 cavalry advanced to the city of Shangtai.

At the time of the Xia Shang, the land on both sides of the upper reaches of Weishui belonged to Yongzhou, and the ancestors of the Qin Dynasty won the Zhou Dynasty to raise horses for the Zhou royal family, and were enshrined in the Qinchi north of Weishui and at the west foot of Longshan Mountain, which was also the earliest place name in Qinzhou to be seen in the historical books; After that, Qindi expanded southward, and placed two counties in the upper reaches of the Wei River, which were also the first two county-level establishments in history.

Tai County is today's Qinzhou Prefecture is located in Shangtai County, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty placed Tianshui County, to the Northern Wei Dynasty Yi County changed to the state, the beginning of Qinzhou, and continues to use to this day; As the seat of state governance, the names of Shangtai and Tianshui counties are mixed to this day.

Li Zhihe whipped the south bank of the Wei River and looked north.

Qinzhou is bounded by Weishui, and the terrain is different

In the Ming Dynasty, the south is mostly mountainous, and the north is thick and undulating loess hills, while the upper reaches of the Weishui River valley area has fertile soil deposited by the Wei River and its tributaries.

The Qinzhou River Valley region has been war-torn for a long time, but even at this time, it still bred more than 100,000 Han people who were good at farming, which shows its wealth.

However, no matter how rich and fertile the river valley area was, Li Yuanshou finally did not dare to take out the family wealth accumulated by the third emperor of the Pingxia Department for this piece of gifted meat, and before the arrival of the Longyou army, he led tens of thousands of Qiang cavalry to abandon Shangqi and cross the Wei River to the depths of the Loess Plateau in the north.

Previously, when the Liang army did not gather a large army from the eastern flank to attack the hinterland of Yongzhou, Wang Xiaoxian and his generals still had a trace of optimism about the situation, thinking that after two years and the Mongolian army recovered, they could finally recapture the Fenshui River Valley from the Liang army and drive the Liang army from the north of Xiangshan and Wangwu Mountain; At the same time, Wang Xiaoxian has a lonely temperament, is proud in his heart, and is unwilling to do things that run away without a fight and humiliate things.

At this time, Chai Jian, Zhou Tong, Hao Zixia and others had led through the Qinling Mountains, approaching the southern area of Fengxiang, since Wang Xiaoxian was unwilling to give up Fengxiang, fled west and submitted to Li Yuanshou, and was unable to divide troops to defend Shangqi, he could only watch Li Yuanshou lead the Pingxia Qiang cavalry to retreat north, and the cities west of Longshan and the north and south of Weishui fell into the hands of the Longyou Army without bloodshed.

At this time, Wang Xiaoxian shrank his soldiers and horses to the street spring sandwiched between Longshan and Qinling, hoping to take advantage of the dangerous terrain here to block the gateway of the Longyou army to Fengxiang along the Weishui east......

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In the Western Han Dynasty, Hanoi County was placed in the south of Taihang Mountain, east of Wangwu Mountain, and north of Yu River, and Wei Sui changed the county to a state, and Hanoi County belonged to Meng, Huai, and Wei Prefectures, with jurisdiction over 19 counties; Since the fall of the previous dynasty, it is also one of the most fierce battlefields for the Liang and Jin heroes, I don't know how many bones of the generals are buried, and the grass grows and the warbler flies in the spring twilight every year, which is exceptionally fat.

Since the invasion of the Mongol and the south, the three prefectures of Hanoi also belong to the Mongols, among which Mengzhou has peeped into Liangbian in the south, locked Heluo in the east, and guarded the Yiguan and Taihang in the head, and the situation is the most important.

Since the first year of Taihe, Mengzhou City has been repaired several times, the city is strong and the pond is deep, the city wall is connected with the wall, the ditch is connected, and at the same time, from Heshuo, Zelu forcibly recruited unmarried or widowed women to marry with Shu soldiers, and cultivate the fields to achieve military households, so in the war-torn world, Mengzhou still has more than 300,000 soldiers and civilians.

Mengzhou City, which has 80,000 or 90,000 people in the garrison and households, has not been directly devastated by war for more than 20 years, and it is rare prosperity in the world.

Yao Xishui sat under the acacia, watching the treetops pull out new shoots, decorated with a little green, caressing the strings in front of him, ding ding dong out of tune, at this time there was a sound of soldiers and armor moving in the courtyard.

She couldn't hold back and raised her head in shock, but her vision was blocked by the heavy courtyard wall, and she didn't know if it was just the soldiers and horses trapped outside the courtyard who were changing their guards, or whether Zhao Mengji remembered them again.

At this time, Zhou Yuan walked into the courtyard, and he didn't know what he wanted to say, but he just stomped his feet, and shrank back to the courtyard where he lived.

Yao Xishui didn't say anything to greet him.

The late Red Mansion, which was finally rebuilt in Mengzhou, was uprooted again, and most of the newly recruited disciples in recent years were either directly dismissed or incorporated into the army as hard labor, and Lu Qingxia, Zhou Yuan, Yao Xishui, more than 30 core personnel and Zhou Yuan's family were all imprisoned by Zhao Mengji in this five-entry and three-span courtyard.

At this point, a full month has passed.

In the past month, Zhao Mengji has not shown his face once, nor has he directly arrested them and put them in prison, except for the food and water brought by people every day, they have been isolated from the world.

The front and back of the house and the side doors were also blocked from the perimeter, and food was only brought in through a hole in the side wall.

They now do not know whether Zhao Mengji has completely surrendered to the Liang State, nor is it clear whether Taiyuan has sent troops and horses from Taiyuan, Zelu, Heshuo and other places to suppress it after knowing about Zhao Mengji's abnormality.

There was a chaotic noise, as if someone was clearing the obstacles blocking the courtyard gate.

Probably hearing the movement outside the courtyard, Lu Qingxia, who was over sixty years old and full of silver threads, came out of the room with the help of someone at this time, stood under the eaves, and stared at the sandalwood courtyard door.

After a while, the courtyard door opened leisurely, and two teams of soldiers rushed in, escorting Zhou Yuan and others into the courtyard together-more than a dozen men wearing black sè short and narrow clothes walked in, and under the command of a thin man, he took out the shackles and locked the hands and feet of Lu Qingxia, Zhou Yuan, Yao Xishui and others one by one.

Lu Qingxia stared at the thin man led by him and asked, "Are you from Luoyang?" ”

Yao Xishui, the dozen black-clothed people, does not look like the descendants of Zhao Mengji's side, and the shackles that bind their hands and feet are extremely exquisite, and they obviously do not look like creations outside Luoyang.

"The North Division of the Great Liang Staff Office and the Governor Zhang Shimin have met the envoy of the Lu Palace and Zhou Shilang. The gentleman specially invites you to Luoyang to talk about the past, in order to prevent changes in the journey, you have to first ask for a seat. The thin man smiled.

"Since Zhao Mengji has decided that the world will be all under the Great Liang, why did he hand us over to Han Qian, and he didn't dare to see us? Could it be that in the past few years, they have been dependent on each other and have no friendship at all? Lu Qingxia didn't struggle, just tried to turn her wrist so that the shackles would not hold her thin wrist bone, and asked calmly.

"I don't know what kind of friendship Lu Gong Envoy wants to talk to me?" Zhao Mengji was wearing a plain robe, accompanied by An Jixiang, Gu Mingfu and others, walked into the hospital, and asked in a cold voice, "If Zhao hadn't been a little vigilant, his life would have been taken away by the envoy of the Lu Palace, what kind of friendship would he have talked about at this time?" ”

After An Jixiang met with Zhang Shimin and others, he found an opportunity to talk to Zhao Mengji about appeasement after the Shangyuan Festival, but Zhao Mengji still ignored it at the time, and even ordered An Jixiang to be imprisoned.

Although Zhao Mengji was also a general of the Shu army who suppressed Liangzhou and killed decisively, he had led tens of thousands of Shu soldiers to have a rough turnover and endured hardships over the years, and he no longer had the decisiveness of his early years.

After the battle of Yiguan, of course he didn't want to be tied to a tree with the Mongolian army and hanged, but the victory or defeat of the battle of Yiguan was more or less accidental, Liang was surrounded by enemies, and he might not be able to win the final victory, Zhao Mengji still wanted to save more strength in this world, and he didn't have to make a choice so quickly.

In the end, what prompted him to decide to put Lu Qingxia, Zhou Yuan and others under house arrest was first confirmed by news that Han Qian did not hesitate to go near and far, and ordered tens of thousands of elite cavalry to fight in Longyou.

From here, he could see that Han Qian's vision and absolute self-confidence were that someone else might rather let Wang Xiao go west to Longyou to join Li Yuanshou, and would also ensure that Guanzhong was captured first.

The second thing is that Zhao Mengji ordered An Jixiang to be imprisoned, but did not directly behead An Jixiang or take him to the Queen Mother for trial.

However, the whereabouts of Lu Qingxia and the others, and even the people who were bribed by Zhao Mengji's side, were all under the surveillance of the secret secretary's hidden personnel, and they were reported by Gu Mingfu in time, Zhao Mengji set a trap and caught the assassin, and then found out from Lu Qingxia's side that Wu Su Dashi had given her the secret decree to dispose of his life as early as a year ago.

Even he thought that the two generals in the arm, especially one of them, were still sticking

The tooth army guarding him was all waiting, and he had already been bought by Lu Qingxia.

At this moment, Zhao Mengji had no choice, released An Jixiang, and with the assistance of the secretary of the General Staff Office, cleared out dissidents in the army, and put Lu Qingxia, Zhou Yuan and others under house arrest.

The abnormality of Zhao Mengji and the defenders of Mengzhou, it is impossible to completely hide the defenders of Bianliang and Zelu, who are close at hand, but the reason why they did not directly change their banners is that in the final analysis, it is expected that whether it is Wusu Dashi or Zhu Rang, they will never want to see Wang Xiaoxian flee without a fight.

As long as they still hoped that Wang Xiaoxian would stay in Fengxiang and defend both sides of the Wei River with Wang Yuankui, then they would not take the initiative to leak the news that Zhao Mengji and the Mengzhou defenders had been annexed to Luoyang before Wang Xiaoxian.

For such reasons, Zhao Mengji did not directly change his flag.

At this time, Li Zhihe and Feng Xuan had already led their troops to occupy Tianshui and other cities in the upper reaches of Weishui, blocking Wang Xiaoxian's passage to flee west from the western foot of Longshan Mountain, and it was time for Zhao Mengji to officially change his banner.

Lu Qingxia and others were escorted out of the courtyard under house arrest, more than a dozen carriages stopped in front of the street, and looked up to see a big beetle not far away from the courtyard of the front court of the Thorn Shi Mansion, with the word "Liang" on it, but then look at the generals gathered around the carriage Although they have not changed into the uniforms of the Liang army, they are in order and there is no panic as imagined, it can be seen that the generals under Zhao Mengji have accepted the fact that they have joined the Liang army.

was escorted into the carriage, the window was not deliberately closed, and Lu Qingxia and the others could still look out of the window along the road.

In addition to some of the sleepers, Luoyang will also send a group of personnel over to be responsible for the reception and integration of Mengzhou, while Zhang Shimin and An Jixiang are responsible for escorting Lu Qingxia, Zhou Yuan, Yao Xishui and others to Luoyang - two official ships flying the battle flag of the Luoyang Navy have already been waiting at the Nanguanhe wharf.

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At dusk, the river goes up from Mengzhou, when the night is clear, the starry sky is in the sky, suitable for night sailing, sails into the Yiluo River overnight, turns to the southwest, all the way to the Yiquemen Shuiguan Wharf in the north city of Luoyang, has been the next day when the head of the west slopes before stopping the ship to dock.

The other members of the Red Mansion and Zhou Yuan's family were all escorted to the prison of the Supervision Mansion on the way, and Lu Qingxia, Yao Xishui, and Zhou Yuan were sent by Han Qian to wait in front of the dock and were escorted directly to Shangyang Yuan.

In recent years, Luoyang City on the south bank of Luoshui has been repaired, and it has almost restored the appearance before the Heshuo shock.

Although it is the new national capital, the newly developed industrial and mining workshops are mainly concentrated in the south of Luoyang, along the banks of Yishui and Luoshui.

At present, Luoyang City is mainly the general officials, garrisons and small families to live, in Guanzhong, Hehuai, Taiyuan, Zelu and other places have not been recovered, Heluo is far from the geographical advantage of the center of the world, there are not many business travelers, there are not many residents in the city, it is not as prosperous and lively as imagined, giving people a false impression of Erer.

Shangyang Yuan, which is Han Qian's daily handling of military and political affairs and his residence, is also quite simple.

Before the carriage and horses arrived directly at Lingyun Pavilion, Lu Qingxia, Zhou Yuan, and Yao Xishui were taken off the carriage, and at this time, the dozen generals walked out of Lingyun Pavilion, and they seemed to know the identities of the three of them.

Xi Ying walked to the front of the hall steps, beckoned Yin Peng to bring Lu Qingxia, Zhou Yuan, and Yao Xishui into the hall, and also signaled to appease Zhao Mengji's meritorious Zhang Shimin and An Jixiang to enter the hall.

The west wall of Lingyun Pavilion was replaced with a glass window with a light green gloss, and at this time, the sunset shone into the main hall, and the main hall was extremely bright.

Han Qian was wearing a vermilion python robe and sitting behind the imperial case, he was already thirty-eight years old at this time, with a thick short mustache on his lips, and his resolute expression revealed the pavilion bearing of being the lord of a country.

Feng Yi, Han Daoming, Chen Jingzhou, Yun Puzi and others sat in two columns, and they can all be said to be the ancestors of Lu Qingxia, Zhou Yuan, and Yao Xishui.

"Twenty years of eventful years, with a flick of his fingers, Han Qian never thought that he would be able to see Mrs. Lu, Lord Zhou, and Miss Yao again here and now......" Han Qian put down the notes he was reading, and looked at Lu Qingxia and Zhou Yuan, who were both frosty on their temples, and Yao Xishui, who was very prosperous for a while, at this time, there were inevitably several fine crow's feet between the corners of his eyes, and he said with emotion.

"The matter has come to this, what else is there to say," Lu Qingxia tried hard to straighten up his wrinkled clothes, so that he could look more decent, and said, "Since you are still a minister and a tribute to Chu Ting, especially at this moment, you still want to continue to confuse Chu Ting, it is nothing more than to send us to Jinling to be tried to show weakness; With your status as the master of the people today, there is no need to deliberately ridicule our defeated subordinates, right? ”

"Mrs. Lu is quite self-aware, but I still remember the bits and pieces of twenty years ago at this time, so why am I willing to send you to Jinling for trial without recounting the old feelings?"

Han Qian chuckled, stared at Lu Qingxia solemnly, and asked,

"Thirty-two years after the fall of the previous dynasty, the world was torn apart, and I don't know how many living people's wives were scattered and their corpses were in the wilderness. Mrs. Lu lurked in the palace for more than 20 years, and she may not see how hungry the world is, but after being expelled from Jinling, she has been tossing and turning in the past six or seven years, like a lost dog, and there is still a bit of obsession in her heart to avenge the past and not hesitate to disturb the world? ”

"Today you are in great power, and whatever you say will naturally be said by you." Lu Qingxia said.

Han Qian looked at Zhou Yuan and Yao Xishui, and saw that they were all bowing their heads, ignoring themselves, and said with a smile: "It seems that you are really unrepentant, then eat in prison in my Daliang for a few days, and then leave......"

Han Qian waved his hand, and Zhang Shimin directly escorted them to the prison of the Supervision Mansion to be imprisoned, and gave An Jixiang a seat.

An Jixiang and Chen Ruyi are all disciples brought out by Zhang Ping, Chen Ruyi was willing to be driven by Lu Qingxia, but in the end he was killed because Lu Qingxia covered up the truth of the assassination, but it can also be said that he deserved it, An Jixiang was coerced and escaped from Jinling, and then was driven out of Liangzhou together.

In the past few years, An Jixiang has been in Mengzhou, and he has not colluded with Lu Qingxia and Zhou Yuan, but has been in Mengzhou for a day and a monk for a day.

Han Qian inquired about the situation in Mengzhou at this time, and asked him about his future plans and whether he would like to stay in Luoyang as an official.

"In the past few years, I have lived in Mengzhou, but I know a few friends who drink and meat, drink and appreciate literature in my spare time, and I can even pass the time, and I implore you to stay in Mengzhou for the rest of your life." An Jixiang pleaded.

"You are a year younger than me, it is too early to think about spending the rest of your life at this time," Han Qian smiled, "You can go back to Mengzhou if you want to, there are always officials to settle the people's livelihood, let Feng Yi arrange a leisurely dispatch for you......"

"Thank you." An auspicious salute and retired first.

An Jixiang had no residence in Luoyang, and he had no intention of buying a residence in Luoyang, so Han Qian asked Yin Peng to arrange for him to live in Dutingyi first, and after Feng Yi was idle, Shi Si arranged a suitable dispatch, and then asked An Jixiang to return to Mengzhou.