Chapter 544 Take Luoyang lightly

At the end of June, Xu Churen and Wang Shu returned to Mianzhou, leaving Xu Liang to sit in Qinzhou, in order to supervise the place after Xu Wei led the troops to the expedition, and sent Zhao Bin, who had a good relationship with Xu Wei, to serve as a transit envoy with the army.

Yao Pingzhong left last, and was personally sent off by Xu Wei.

"Xianggong, please go back, there is no need to worry about this matter, Ping Zhong knows how important it is." In the western suburbs of Qinzhou City, Yao Pingzhong led the horse and said to the Zijin Tiger beside him.

"Let's go again." Xu Wei's expression was as usual, and he looked very casual. These two people are not easy, when Xu Jiu was a fledgling, he and Yao Xiyan couldn't see each other. This one looks down on the other party's hometown soldier background and thinks that the other party is just a bad fighter. The one who looked down on the other party's high-flying appearance and thought that this guy was a "second ancestor". After many twists and turns, it is really commendable that the two representatives of the Young Zhuang faction can give up their past suspicions and work together. This is not only Xu Wei's measurement, but also Yao Pingzhong's boldness.

The two marshals walked in front, and the adjutant followed behind, all the way west. Xu Wei was always a little relieved in his heart, although he also knew that today's Yao Pingzhong was no longer the reckless man who was "ambitious, brave and unscrupulous" in the past, but his personality was the most difficult thing to change. This time, he personally led the troops to the battle, just to create a momentum, create the illusion that the western army swept Henan, and give Wushu enough deterrence. However, to prevent the Shaanxi Jin Army from taking advantage of the situation, the most important thing lies in the two roads of Jingyuan and Xihe.

Jingyuan Wang Yu and Xu Cheng themselves are not worried, but there is something wrong with this Yao Xiyan.

After thinking about it, Zijin Hu said softly: "Xi Yan, this time I handed over Qin Feng to you, but you must not be negligent, this is not a joke." ”

Yao Pingzhong stopped, and said with a straight face: "Xianggong, please be relieved, the lowly position has been arranged, and after I go back, Guan Shigu and my brother Yao Bilong will lead the army east." If nothing happens, if there is a change, only stick to one, do not flinch, do not rush forward, but seek a stable word. ”

Xu Wei laughed when he heard this, nodded and said: "This is the best, you and I have been dating for many years, and if you say more, it will be noisy." ”

Yao Pingzhong thought for a moment, raised his head and said: "In the past few years, Xihe has recovered very quickly. My brother Yao Bilong is also supported by the minister, and Ping Zhong knows this. This time, the prince trusts Qin Feng with the weight of Qin Feng, and he takes his job lightly? Humble duty is to ignore Xihe, and you have to stabilize Qin Feng and Yongxing, besides, isn't there still Jingyuan's strong soldiers on the side? Xianggong just goes, it's just a pity to wait for good news in Shaanxi, since the incident in Yanzhou, he hasn't been in battle for many years, you look at the fat of this body"

Xu Wei looked up to the sky and laughed, patted the other party on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, the opportunity will come soon." When the time comes, I will have to ask you to play the striker."

Yao Pingzhong took it seriously and said happily: "There is no joke in front of the army, can you count this?" ”

Xu Wei put away his smile and said solemnly: "Once you say it, how can it be child's play?" One day, the Western Army will restore all of Shaanxi, and Xihe will be the vanguard"

Yao Pingzhong is Yao Pingzhong, as soon as he heard this, he roared arrogantly: "If this is the case, the humble position will be a fight."

Xu Jiu cheered, and didn't say much at the moment, Yao Pingzhong introduced the ministry to return to Xihe. Xu Wei returned to the city and arranged for troops

Shaanzhou, that is, the Shaanxi County of Sanmenxia City, Henan Province in the later generations, connects the hinterland of the Central Plains in the east according to the Kunshan Mountains, connects the east-west traffic arteries in the west, connects the two lakes in the south, and faces the east of the river in the north, locking the throat of north-south trade. Jiudaxiongguan occupies the third, Kunshan, Hangu and Yanling are divided into three sides: east, west and south, and the north is the natural barrier Yellow River.

The gains and losses of Shaanxi are directly related to who takes the initiative between Shaanxi and Henan. If Shaanzhou is in the hands of Shaanxi, it can go out of Tongguan and attack the Central Plains. If it is in the hands of Henan, it can break through the Tong Pass and enter the Guanzhong. It is precisely for this reason that Xu Wei did not hesitate to lengthen the front when the previous defensive counterattack had basically ended, and sent his brave general Zhang Xian to capture Shaanzhou, thinking that it would be convenient to send troops to Henan on another day. I just didn't expect it to be so soon.

At the end of July of the third year of Jianwu, after a month of dispatching troops and allocating grain and grass equipment, Xu Wei personally led five generals, Zhang Xian, Wu Lan, Yang Zaixing, Du Feihu, and Li Chengwei, and Qin Feng's army of 20,000, plus 12,000 troops of the Liangxing Pacification Division led by Xu Hong, a total of 32,000 cavalry, out of Tongguan, through Shaanzhou, into Henan.

At present, Henan is in serious trouble, and thieves, grass bandits, righteous troops, and Jin troops attack each other and become a pot of porridge. As soon as the Western Army entered the Luoyang Basin, it made a big publicity, saying that Xu Zhi had put in charge of the tiger and wolf to collect the troops in the hands of Xu Wei in Henan. Thirty-two thousand, but how much? One hundred thousand

As soon as the western army came, it was like a flood sweeping away the filth, the thieves and grass cowards fled when they heard the news, and the rebels who insisted on resisting Jin launched attacks one after another like a long drought and Ganlin to welcome the king's division.

At the beginning of August, the three counties of Shenchi, Xin'an, and Mengjin, the first two defected and surrendered to the Western Army, the latter was captured by the Righteous Army, and sent men and horses to meet the Western Army, and Luoyang was shaken

Luoyang was originally the Xijing of the Great Song Dynasty, and there was Xijing to stay behind, and the former puppet Han Emperor Gao Shiyou was the Xijing Guard. Over the years, after several military disasters, the city of Luoyang collapsed, the household registration decreased sharply, and the Jurchens abolished the pseudo-Han and managed it personally. The title of Luoyang Xijing was revoked, and it was only called Henan Mansion.

At that time, the person who was the Yin of Henan Mansion of the Jin State was named Meng Bangxiong. Before this person fell in Henan and was assigned to the puppet Han by the Jurchens, he was a hero, and he called on the heroes with "loyalty" in the Luoyang area, and the rebels all defected, won tens of thousands of soldiers, and occupied Luoyang, claiming to be loyal to the Great Song Dynasty.

His move was naturally welcomed by the imperial court. The south sent a special envoy to Luoyang, worshiped him as the prefect of Xijing, the prefect of Henan, and concurrently served as a pacification envoy, the chief of soldiers and horses, and a series of real positions. However, after the Wushu swept the Central Plains and assigned the fallen area to the puppet Han, Meng Bangxiong, under the pressure of Gao Shiyou and others, defected to the enemy and was loyal to the puppet dynasty.

Originally, the situation was very complicated during this period of time, and some officials of the Great Song Dynasty repeatedly went between Song and Jin, which was not uncommon, and it could not be called a great crime. In history, officials who first went to the Song Dynasty, then to Jin Qi, and then turned back to the Great Song Dynasty abound.

But Meng Bangxiong is bad, he surrendered to the puppet Han, and after being retained as the prefect of Henan, he did a thing that was pointed out by Qianfu. Under the rule of Henan Prefecture, Gong County is the mausoleum of the kings of the Great Song Dynasty. In that year, the Wushu army pressed the border, and the soldiers of the Jin army smiled happily and poured into the imperial mausoleum in a swarm, ready to excavate. But Wushu followed Han Fang's advice and banned the atrocity. Because in the eyes of the Han people, digging a grave is a thing that can no longer be done, let alone an imperial tomb?

The reason why Meng Bangxiong did this was out of selfishness, and the treasures of the imperial tomb were not thousands? Second, in response to the call of the "Emperor of Korea", the Lianghe region ruled by Gao Shiyu was greatly damaged due to frequent wars. He not only wanted to maintain his own situation, but also had money to make friends with the magnates of the Jin State, and the expenses were very large, so he organized a professional tomb robbery team, known as the "Henan Sand Mining Team", which specialized in digging graves. Compared with him, Cao Cao's touching gold captain is simply an axe

Meng Bangxiong organized manpower to dig up seven emperors from Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin to Song Zhezong Zhao Xu, plus Zhao Hongyin, the father of Zhao Kuangyin, a total of eight imperial tombs, and the income was incalculable, in addition to some handed over to the "imperial court", a considerable part was intercepted by him.

This person's behavior caused the people of Henan to be indignant. The rebel army in Henan wanted to raise an incident, and the first call was to kill the Meng thief. But unfortunately, when the puppet dynasty was not abolished, Henan Mansion was heavily defended. After the Dajin State directly governed Henan, although Luoyang's troops were weak, Zhengzhou was full of tigers and wolves, and the rebels were too busy to take care of themselves, so they were unable to fight Meng Rebellious.

But now it is different for Shaanxi to set up Xianggong, Hushuai Xu Jiu, personally mentioned 110,000 elites of the Western Army, and the news of recovering Henan spread, regardless of the people of the Righteous Army, they all ran to shout, and Henan Mansion boiled for it, and many Righteous Army troops left the defense area and moved closer to the periphery of Luoyang, intending to unite around the Western Army and support the rivers and mountains

Xu Wei also learned what Meng Bangxiong did in Henan, and he didn't pay attention to Luoyang, but he had to prevent Meng from abandoning the city and escaping. Therefore, soon after entering the country, he sent Yang Zaixing as the vanguard, leading 7,000 troops directly to Luoyang Yang Zaixing was ordered to submit a letter to Luoyang City, and in the name of Xu Wei, he ordered all the officials and generals of Jinhenan Mansion to tie themselves up and ask for guilt

At the head of Luoyang City, a person who was still wearing the red official robe of a Southern Dynasty official, with a bright gold belt tied around his waist, and a fish bag hanging from his waist, was standing on top of the city, looking at the military camp outside the city with a frown.

This man was in his fifties, quite powerful, from sideburns to the jaw, thick beard, more than seven feet long, holding the city wall in one hand, a gold belt in the other, and smacking his mouth as if he had a toothache. Damn, Xu Hu'er's troops came so fast I just received the news that the Western Army left Tongguan, and his horse army galloped to my Luoyang City

This person is Meng Bangxiong, and around him, the civil and military forces of Dajin Henan Mansion gathered, without exception, all of them were crying and sad, full of gloom. The western army is coming to the city, and now they can't escape even if they want to. Moreover, Xu Wei threw a book into the city and ordered him to surrender, and his tone was very loud, saying that he dared to have a word, and on the day the city was broken, all of them would be beheaded.

If this is said by someone else, it should only be said by him. But this is what Zijin Tiger said, who dares to take it as a deaf ear?

"Damn, this government doesn't believe that he can reach the sky with the Purple Gold Tiger" Meng Bangxiong suddenly scolded.

"The prefect is a minister, rather believe in it, don't believe that Xu Jiu, since the Purple Mountain became famous in the first battle, he has been fighting all over the world, invincible and now the Western Army, the Optimus Pillar of Sichuan and Shaanxi, he personally proposed the Western Army to collect Henan, and there are only thousands of soldiers in my city, how can I fight?" The person who said this was the deputy head of the soldiers and horses of Henan Prefecture. At this moment, he should have commanded the troops and arranged defenses, but Yang Zaixing's thousands of troops galloped to the city, and he was shocked that he had no fighting spirit

Meng Bangxiong turned around suddenly, his sharp gaze swept over the subordinates, and he gritted his teeth and said: "You wait for Hugh to be double-minded, what we do, even if you die and go to ask for guilt, Xu Jiu can't spare us only now, only stick to it, and wait for Zhengzhou rescue."

"Father, now that the fourth prince is fighting in Xiangyang, the Zhengzhou Jin Army is here to rescue, how can it be the opponent of the 100,000 Western Army? What's more, is it still the Purple Tiger himself in command? Meng Bangxiong's son also persuaded.

Meng Bangxiong sneered when he heard this: "Personally commanded? Hehe, this can be hidden from others, but it can't be hidden from me, what is Xu Wei's identity now? The Shaanxi envoy didn't believe that he went out in person when he was a township soldier, and besides, half of Shaanxi was still in the hands of the Jin people, how could he dare to do it? Ten have **, this is a partial division, in order to respond to Xiangyang, don't be afraid, as long as it is blocked for a few days, Zhengzhou reinforcements will arrive, and the Western Army will not be anything"

At that moment, he was determined to resist stubbornly and ordered his subordinates to mobilize troops to go to the city and hold on to the end. But those soldiers who used to bear the name of the Korean army went to the city, saw the city wall full of holes and collapsed for many years, and then looked at the Western army camp outside the city, which one was not a two-way battle, and their hearts beat wildly?

On the eighth day of August, Xu Wei's main force joined forces with Yang Zaixing's department.

"Marshal, there is no sign of surrender in the city so far, but the soldiers have gone to the city, it seems that they want to resist to the end" In the big tent of the Chinese army, Xu Wei just lifted his battle robe, and Yang Zaixing reported to him angrily.

After hearing this, Zijin Tiger touched a handful of sweat on his forehead, thought for a while, and walked out: "Go and see." ”

At that moment, the generals followed him, left the camp, and went to peep into the city defenses. Running until he was hundreds of steps away from the city before stopping, looking at Luoyang City in the distance, Xu Wei couldn't help but sigh. Even people who don't understand history should know that Luoyang has a pivotal position in Chinese history. This city, built by the Duke of Zhou, is rumored to be the location of the Chinese dragon vein, of course, this is inevitably a little suspicious, but it is enough to show the importance of Luoyang.

However, is this dilapidated city in front of you really Luoyang?

Not to mention that the city wall has collapsed and the enemy tower no longer exists, where is the moat in Luoyang? The surname Meng dug up the imperial tomb, it should be a lot of money, right? Why are you reluctant to take it out and rebuild this city defense? Looking at the city again, although there is a dense crowd of figures, in the eyes of these famous generals of the Western Army, it is a local chicken tile dog that sells the first in a pile

"Marshal, if you are not mistaken, then it should be the people standing behind the soldiers?" Zhang Xian couldn't laugh or cry. He has been in battle for many years, and he has fought many battles, but it is the first time that he has encountered not enough soldiers, and he has also taken the common people. Didn't Meng Bangxiong think that this would create a momentum of more soldiers?

Xu Wei didn't have any extra words: "Zhang Xian, give you a day, break the city, and capture Meng Bangxiong to see." Li Chengwei, you pay close attention to the east, and if there is any disturbance, you must report it to the commander to know, and the others should do their own duties. ”

"De Ling," the generals shouted in unison.

When Xu Wei led the main army to the city, Luoyang was trembling for 32,000 horses, which is really not much in today's environment of frequent wars. But in front of Luoyang City, it is enough to make the enemy frightened by dozens of people, and it can be distinguished with the naked eye, but once it is tens of thousands, what do you think?

When the defenders of the city saw the Western Army coming in the wilderness, they had long lost their fighting spirit. On the evening of the day when the main force of the Western Army arrived, the defenders of the western city of Luoyang City mutinied, broke through the city gates, and went out to surrender. Meng Bangxiong was frightened and sent his son to resist. At that time, the people of the city were panicked, and no one expected the defenders to hold back the attack. I just hope that either the prefect decides to surrender, or the reinforcements from Zhengzhou arrive quickly.

The next day, Zhang Xian commanded the troops and began to attack the city. Under Xu Wei's command, Yang Yan and Zhang Xian were both his capable generals in attacking cities and fighting in the field. These two people have distinct personalities, Yang Yan is brave and Zhang Xian is calm. You can see from his siege that he still did his homework to fight such a broken city, goose carts, flying bridges, and giant crossbows...... If it weren't for the trouble, he might have to set up a cannon truck. This can't help but make Wu Lan and the others laugh at him, as for it?

"Commander, everything is ready," the general of the ministry sent a horse to Zhang Xian and reported to him.

The sun was very poisonous, and the oil came out, Zhang Zongben put up a pergola and looked at the city, and even he felt that he was a little too cautious.

"Remember, go through the moat, put the goose cart on the place where the wall has collapsed, and kill it with all your might. In addition, the trench bridge troops pay attention to the direction, and the city gate will not be broken, although it is broken, but Luoyang is Luoyang in the end. Zhang Xian made a final order. Luoyang City is decaying again, but its pattern is still there, and its city defense system is relatively complete, if you hit the city gate directly, even if you go in, there is also an urn city, it is too troublesome, it is better to kill the city directly, and the deterrent power is greater.

Let's add a sentence: "The city must be broken today, and the handsome man is waiting to enter the city to enjoy the coolness." ”

The mighty soldiers hugged all kinds of siege equipment, looking at the city with disdain, and the senior generals of Qin Fengshuai Division and Liangxing Pacification Division stood behind the big array, watching with interest. Xu Wei didn't even look at the city, and discussed something in a whisper with his cousin Xu Hong. He did not turn his head until the sharp whistling of the silver horn rose into the sky, and the soldiers roared and shook the earth.

The huge sound of the strings of the eight-bull crossbow shook people's ears, and the huge "one shot and three sword arrows" roared out and nailed to the collapsed city wall. At the forefront, the soldiers hugging the trench bridge pushed the equipment, shouted the trumpet vigorously, and flew towards Luoyang City. Behind them, the towering goose cart was like a huge beast, opening its bloody mouths, intent on devouring the ancient capital of several dynasties

The soldiers who watched the battle shouted in unison to cheer for the friendly troops. All this converged into a torrent, invisibly pressing on Luoyang and the defenders

In the face of this elite division that had been fighting with the Jin army for more than ten years, everyone in the city was terrified, and the soldiers trembled, pulled out their feather arrows, and trembled to string them, holding back the fear that kept gnawing at their hearts, and prepared to fight.

A defending officer, with a pale face, kept swearing in his mouth, and he didn't know who he was scolding. When the besieging Western army had already entered the range of the big crossbow, he actually forgot to give the order

"The enemy is coming," shouted the soldiers

The officer woke up from a dream, hastily drew his saber, and shouted hysterically: "Release the arrows"