Chapter 184: The Siege (I)

The guerrilla general Wei Yanqin led 5,000 cavalry of the Seventh Division Cavalry Brigade and the 5,000 cavalry of the Luoyang Garrison Guard led by Cheng Ji, the commander of the Xiao Cavalry School, quietly drove to the Tiger Prison Pass east of Luoyang and practiced together with the 6,000 cavalry of the 1st Division under the command of the chief general Xu Sheng.

The 4th Division of Guanhai was still stationed at Mianchi in the west, and sent small groups of rangers to patrol in all directions as usual, and most of the officers and men practiced in the large camp in the city as usual.

Since Liu Cun, the general of the chariot cavalry, rushed to Luoyang from Jinan with more than 200 ships of military supplies, the surrounding princes were nervously watching and seeing, all wanting to see how Liu Cun would respond to the provocation of the Baibo army.

Han Xian, the commander of the White Wave Army, who secretly established an alliance with Yuan Shao and tested Luoyang by force under the instruction of Yuan Shao, was a little restless, and the 5,000 cavalry of Li Le, the commander of the White Wave Army, fought with the 3,000 cavalry under the command of Guan Hai, the general of the Qingzhou Army, and in less than half an hour, more than 700 cavalry under Li Le's command were killed and wounded.

This result shocked Han Xian and others, although they had already heard that the Qingzhou Army was well-equipped and brave and good at fighting, but they definitely did not expect that the equipment and combat effectiveness of the Qingzhou cavalry were so strong, so that Han Xian and others had to re-examine the combat strength of the Qingzhou Army and their own position, and the middle and lower-level officers were full of worries.

However, it has been ten days since Liu Cun arrived in Luoyang, and there is no sign of sending troops to retaliate, which makes Han Xian, who has been nervous for several days, and the generals under his command gradually relax and begin to think about how to get along with the Qingzhou army, which is across the river and has never had any contradictions before.

Subsequently, the Chang'an court sent an envoy to Luoyang to mediate.

According to the news from Yang Fengbu, Yang Biao, the new lieutenant with high morality, and Zhao Qi, the servant of the imperial court, went straight to Luoyang after leaving Tongguan, in order to deliver the will of the emperor and the court to Liu Cun, the general of the chariot and cavalry, as soon as possible. Pacify the dead and wounded soldiers and civilians. Efforts were made to avoid the resumption of war.

The merchants in the north and south of the Great River did not see the expected war happen. He also learned that the special envoys of the DPRK and China had gone to Luoyang to appease all parties, so he began to cautiously go to Luoyang, which was gradually forming a material trading center, and at the same time, more and more Guanzhong refugees went to Luoyang to survive.

Rumor has it that all refugees who have fled to Luoyang will receive good relief and resettlement, not only with the land allocated by the government, but also with free farming tools and a ploughing ox for every five households. These rumors caused a steady stream of destitute people who had lost their land in Guanzhong and even in Bingzhou to flee to Luoyang, and Liu Cun's virtuous name once again spread throughout the north and south of the river.

All kinds of signs show that Luoyang does not seem to intend to continue the investigation, and there is no sign of starting a war, this situation makes the surrounding princes quite puzzled, but also gradually settled down because of this, after all, no one wants to see the war around them, let alone a strong military and political force next to the couch because of the war to expand.

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Summer has quietly arrived in the fourth year of early peace, and since the beginning of spring, there has been surprisingly little rain, and there always seems to be a blazing sun hanging in the sky. In the Central Plains, a large number of rivers and ditches have dried up and the land has cracked.

Tens of millions of acres of crops in Chang'an, Yanzhou, Yuzhou, and Bingzhou gradually turned into dry grass under the condition of prolonged drought and no rain. A massive drought that affected half of the Han was inevitable.

Thanks to the continuous efforts of officials at all levels led by Diannong Zhonglang and Mao Yu since the beginning of the year, the disaster was the lightest within more than 300 miles centered on Luoyang City.

The use of a large number of waterwheels and the early digging of wells have greatly alleviated the drought situation, and more than 4 million mu of wheat and millet planted in the early spring have grown well, of which more than 700,000 mu of wheat planted in early winter last year have reaped a bumper harvest, and after the harvest, the army has planted beans specially ordered for raising war horses.

The construction work inside and outside Luoyang City is still proceeding in an orderly manner.

By the beginning of June, one-third of the city's residential and commercial areas, two major civil wharves, two major markets, and two major commercial and residential areas along the banks of the Luoshui River outside the south gate had been completed, and the Luoyang government at all levels could mobilize more manpower and material resources to build the most important underground drainage system inside and outside the city.

On June 13, two days before Liu Cun launched a large-scale revenge war, Yang Biao, the new imperial lieutenant and Zhao Qi, the imperial servant, who were appointed by Li Dao and Guo Yan, hurriedly came to Luoyang, saying that they were appeasing all parties according to the will of the imperial court and inspecting the restoration of Luoyang City, but the actual purpose was to find out what kind of attitude Liu Cun had towards the Xiliang army and whether he would retaliate against the Baibo army, which nominally belonged to the imperial court but was actually a family of its own.

Yang Biao, who is more than half a hundred years old, was very interesting, and at the dinner, he talked and laughed with his old friend Liu Cun and dozens of civil and military officials affiliated to the General's Mansion, praised the speed and quality of the repair of Luoyang City, and together with Zhao Qi, on behalf of the Chinese military officials of the DPRK, repeatedly expressed his gratitude to Liu Cun and others.

At the end of the dinner, everyone dispersed, leaving only Yang Biao, Zhao Qi and Liu Cun's confidants in the hall, Yang Biao immediately sank his face and asked Liu Cun angrily:

"Zijian clearly knows that the reason why the Bai Bo army, which has done all kinds of evil, suddenly crossed the river south and took the initiative to provoke a war is completely to test Luoyang by force, why would Zijian accept it and not fight back?"

"Isn't Zijian worried that the princes from all walks of life will follow suit and covet it? In the future, if the Holy Lord is really welcomed back to Luoyang, how should the safety of the Holy Lord be guaranteed and the restoration of the government? ”

Liu Cun hadn't answered yet, Cui Yan, who was sitting on Liu Cun's right hand, had already laughed, and then asked two words that made Yang Biao stunned:

"Does Duke Wen know why Han Xianam's Baibo army suddenly attacked our army? Why did General Yang Feng, who also came from the Baibo Army, have not really fought a battle with Han Xian, an old friend who brazenly invaded Hongnong? ”

Zhao Qi, who is seventy-five years old this year, thought deeply after hearing this, and glanced at Cui Yan, Fu Zhu, Gongsun Fang, Mao Jue and others who looked relaxed one by one, and finally stopped on the face of Liu Cun, who was silent with a smile, and the snow-white beard on his lips trembled twice, and finally held back the doubts in his heart.

Yang Biao reacted quickly, pondered for a moment and asked Cui Yan with a shocked face: "Ji Qi (Cui Yanzi), is there a shadow of Yuan Benchu behind this?" ”

Cui Yan nodded slightly: "Not bad!" In mid-February, tens of thousands of Montenegrin Yellow Turban soldiers recruited by Yuan Benchu suddenly mutinied, and tens of thousands of horses and horses of the Montenegrin Army and the Poison Department joined forces to capture the expanding Yecheng, slashing and killing the Taishou of Wei County, and finally burned half of Yecheng that was about to be completed, forcing Yuan Shao, who was clearing out the remnants of the Changshan Kingdom, to hurry back to the division to rescue. ”

"At the end of last month, Yuan Benchu accepted the strategy of the strategists under his command, gathered 80,000 troops and soldiers to divide into two routes, and attacked Chaoge (now Qi County, Henan) with lightning speed, and surrounded more than 30,000 people of the Montenegrin Army and the Poison Department near Lugut Mountain, and finally killed the general of the Montenegrin Army for five days, and tortured and killed more than 10,000 people of the Montenegrin Army."

"Immediately, Yuan Shaojun marched along the mountain non-stop, breaking through the generals of the Black Mountain Army, such as Zhangba, Liu Shi, Qingniujiao, Zuo Xiao, Guo Daxian, Li Damu, Yu Yigen and other departments, and beheaded tens of thousands of people."

"At this moment, the Jizhou army is fighting with Zhang Yan, the commander of the Montenegrin Army, in Changshan (now northwest of Quyang, Hebei), Zhang Yan's army is very strong, and the two armies have been fighting fiercely for more than a month, and there has been no victory or defeat so far."

"During this period, the Baibo Army, which had been allied with the Montenegrin Army for many years, not only did not go to help the war, or attack Hanoi County, the rear of Yuan's original army, but suddenly crossed the river and went south, attacking Hongnong County, which was garrisoned by General Yang Feng, who was from the same source, and then occupied Shaanxi County, which was empty......

"What is incomprehensible is that the Bai Bo Army has never really fought with General Yang Feng, who has been under the command of General Li Dao, but instead harassed and plundered the Mianchi garrisoned by our army, and finally fought fiercely with our cavalry twice, don't Duke Wen and Lord Taifu feel strange about the appearance of this series of abnormal situations?"

Yang Biao and Zhao Qi looked at each other, and the more they thought about it, the more they felt that it was likely that Yuan Shao was behind it, but Yang Biao still asked very cautiously: "Even so, it can't prove that Yuan Benchu and Han Xian secretly reached a deal!" ”

Cui Yan smiled again: "So far, the weapons and armor produced by my major workshops in Qingzhou have been sold to the armies under the rule of the state assassins and state pastors, and the weapons and armors sold have different numbers and subtle differences, but I have never sold any weapons and armor to the Baibo army......"

"Two adults, if there are a large number of weapons and armor made in my Qingzhou in the Han Xian army, and these weapons and armor are exactly the same as the weapons and armor sold by Qingzhou to the Jizhou army, I don't know what Duke Wen and Lord Taifu think?"

Yang Biao and Zhao Qi were completely shocked, this was already the case, what else could they think? (To be continued......)