The army at the head of the city watched uneasily as the Han army set up a large camp outside the field, a magnificent camp that stretched for more than ten miles, and this was the first time they had seen such a large scale of officers and soldiers in decades. 2

In the past few decades, there have been many times when officers and soldiers have come to encircle and suppress them, but at most more than 10,000 people, or even only a few thousand, do not have the scale and momentum of today.

This is only the memory of a very small number of older soldiers, the imperial court has not sent troops to eliminate them for twenty years, and for the younger generation of soldiers, they don't even know how to fight the Ludao War?

Many soldiers were so frightened that they squatted down and covered their faces with their palms, Song Jian looked at the camp outside the city with a pale face, he also realized that this time was different from before, but he had no choice.

Yang Wan's whole family was executed, that was his fate, he knew that the Tao was not about surrender or not, but that Liu Jing would not tolerate a second snorer on the side of the couch, Yang Wan was one, and undoubtedly he Song Jian was too.

"Cheer me up!"

Song Jian waved his sword and shouted: "The enemy army has no siege weapons, they can't break through our city!" ”

No one followed him and shouted, and the city remained silent

Night gradually fell, the Han army did not have any action to attack the city, the soldiers began to withdraw to the city barracks to rest, there were only five thousand soldiers left on the city, but at this moment, from the Han army barracks out of a huge black shadow, like a giant beast slowly moving forward.

These are a hundred heavy trebuchets, which can smash fifty catties of boulders from three hundred steps away to the head of the city, and the Han army spent an afternoon assembling a hundred such trebuchets.

Ten strong oxen dragged a trebuchet forward in the wilderness, getting closer and closer to the city, and the soldiers at the city head also noticed the abnormality, they shouted and rang the jǐng bell, 'Dang! While! While! The piercing sound of the bell resounded throughout the city, and the soldiers who had just fallen asleep got up, grabbed their weapons, and ran to the city. 1

At this time, the soldiers at the head of the city were nervously looking at the heavy trebuchets outside the city, there were no such defensive weapons on the city, and many soldiers saw it for the first time.

A hundred heavy trebuchets had creaked apart, huge clay pots of fire oil were loaded with iron pockets, and with a dull sound of drums, a hundred trebuchets threw long rods at the same time, and a hundred clay pots filled with fire oil were headed towards the head of the city.

'Boom! Boom! The sound sounded, the clay pot shattered, a large amount of fire oil flowed all over the city, and the air was filled with a pungent smell, which frightened the soldiers at the city, who did not know what these liquids were.

Three rounds of throwing shè in a row, there were already three hundred cans of fire oil smashed on the head of the city, the fire oil was all over the east city head, at this time, dozens of lit fire oil balls rose into the air, in the air a dazzling flame, smashed into the city, the fire oil was ignited, the flames spread rapidly in the frightened cries of the defenders, gradually, the whole city head was engulfed in flames.

Many soldiers could not escape, they were engulfed in flames, countless fire men ran screaming, and soon, they fell to the ground, but the trebuchets of the Han army still ruthlessly threw the fire oil clay pots on the city, making the fire more intense, and half an hour later, the entire mile-long city wall was engulfed in flames.

Song Jian stood on the top of the palace, looking at this scene in amazement, he couldn't believe his eyes, this is the fire of hell, to engulf them, he stumbled back to the palace with his sword, the crying in the palace shook the sky, his wives and concubines and children scattered and fled, Song Jian seemed to see nothing, walked into his room, and closed the door with a bang.

The Han attack outside the city had entered the second stage, and the city of Caohan was not near the river and had no moat, but still dug a dry ditch, which was covered with spikes and antlers, and a high suspension bridge was pulled up.

At this time, dozens of Eagle Strike soldiers had already crossed the dry ditch, they climbed the drawbridge, and used a huge axe to chop the chain of the drawbridge, and the fire splashed everywhere, and in a moment, the chain broke, and the huge drawbridge fell down, stirring up a cloud of dust.

Not far away, a hundred burly men held a thick battering ram, made of a thousand-year-old giant wood, six feet in diameter and ten zhang long, and the front was wrapped with cast iron, which was extremely hard. ""Whole Site, Fast Update, No Mistakes"

The fire was rolling on their heads, the smoke was rising to the sky, they didn't have to worry that there would be soldiers to release arrows from the city, in Wei Yan's shouting order, a hundred big men rushed forward with battering rams, they roared, the huge mallets hit the city gate, only to hear an earth-shattering muffled sound, the city gate shook violently, the sand and stones on it fell in a flutter, and a zigzag crack appeared on the city wall.

The soldiers retreated, they shouted again, grabbed the battering ram and rushed forward, and once again hit the city gate, the impact sound seemed to make people's hearts break, the city gate had been deformed, revealing a large gap, and the soldiers in the city gate could be seen running for their lives,

"Come again!"

The soldiers retreated again, the battering ram hit the gate for the third time like a storm, the gate could no longer withstand the impact force weighing 10,000 catties, the city gate was knocked open, revealing a huge black hole, in the distance, Liu Jing sneered, to capture this seemingly solid stone city is so simple, he waved his sword, and ordered: "Kill into the city!" ”

5,000 cavalry galloped under the leadership of Ma Dai, such as a big cháo galloping, wielding spears and swords into the city of Caohan, followed by 20,000 spearmen also killed into the city, the defenders in the city have been frightened by the flames, have knelt down to surrender, the Han army did not encounter a resistance, Ma Dai took the lead, led more than 1,000 cavalry into the palace

An hour later, Liu Jing was escorted by hundreds of cavalry, slowly entered the city of Caohan, the city was already completely controlled by the Han army, a group of dejected prisoners of war were escorted by the Han army to the barracks, full of searching Han soldiers, they smashed open the doors of the mansions, escorted out the people in the mansion, and began to search the mansion thoroughly, this is Liu Jing's order, the money and goods found, part of which will be used to reward the three armies.

Liu Jing walked into the palace, the palace had been occupied by thousands of soldiers, and all Song Jian's wives and concubines and children had been driven into a large room. ”

"What about Song Jian?" Liu Jing asked, this is the culprit, he must not let this person go.

"Song Jian is in the underground palace, he has already committed suicide by taking poison, please go to the underground palace with his humble duties."

Liu Jing nodded, and followed Ma Dai towards the underground palace, the entrance of the underground palace was under the chuang couch in Song Jian's bedroom, covered with a large iron plate with a radius of one zhang, and on top was a beautiful blanket, which was Song Jian's most beloved concubine and soldiers to find this entrance.

The iron plate was opened, there were soldiers standing guard on both sides, Liu Jing followed Ma Dai into the underground palace, the underground palace is about a zhang from the ground, it is an extremely wide underground palace, composed of seven or eight large rooms, each room is full of property, gold, jewelry, precious furs, dazzling to see.

Song Jian's body was found in a treasure trove full of large boxes, these big boxes were full of gold ingots, the area around Caohan was rich in gold, Song Jian had scraped almost half of the gold in the past 30 years, and piled it up in the underground palace, which was as much as tens of thousands of catties, which was one of the biggest gains of the Han army's westward expedition.

At this time, Song Jian's body was carried out by two soldiers, his face had turned black, obviously he died of poison, Liu Jing looked at this person, and couldn't help shaking his head, "Dig a pit for him and bury him!" ”

"Your Highness, what should be done with his children, wives and concubines?" Ma Dai asked in a low voice.

Liu Jing pondered for a moment and said: "His sons are all executed, leaving no future trouble, and the women will pay them the passage fee to let them go home, and those who have nowhere to go can be given to the officers as wives." ”

Ma Dai was more concerned about the 30,000 prisoners of war, most of whom were Han Chinese in the Hehuang area, whose ancestors moved from the Guanlong area two hundred years ago and made a living from farming, but because they lived with the Qiang people all year round, many of them were good at horseback riding, and they could choose one of them to form cavalry.

He also suggested: "Among these 30,000 people, there are many Han people who are good at riding horses, Your Highness, they are a precious resource!" ”

Liu Jing nodded, he also thought about it like this, and said with a smile: "The 30,000 prisoners of war can be exonerated and let them go home to continue farming, if there is no land, let the Xiping County Government allocate the land, they must become homesteaders, in addition, among these 30,000 people, you can choose 10,000 jīng Rui, who are good at horseback riding, to form a new cavalry." ”

Ma Dai was overjoyed, and hurriedly bowed down and said, "I understand the humble position, so I'll handle it." ”

Liu Jing turned around and said to Wang Ping: "Move all the property of Caohan City back to the camp and hand it over to the French army division to deal with, and then transform Caohan City into a military city with 3,000 troops." ”

Wang Ping hurriedly agreed, Liu Jing finished the order, turned around and went out of the city, met Ma Chao at the city gate, Liu Jing immediately said to him: "Meng Qi can arrange a hundred teams of cavalry, and I will order the arrows to be sent to various places, whether it is Di people or Tuyuhun, gather all the chiefs to come to me immediately." ”

"Obedience!"

Ma Chao immediately turned his horse's head and returned to the camp, and half an hour later, a hundred cavalry teams left the Han army camp and rushed to various places at a gallop, summoning the chiefs of various tribes to come to meet His Royal Highness the King of Han.

Three days later, hundreds of chieftains came from Longxi and Hehuang, Yang Wan was killed, Song Jian died, which greatly shocked these chiefs, plus Agui had sent envoys to various places to preach the kindness of the Han king, and the Di people rushed to meet the Han king with hope.

In a huge round tent, hundreds of chiefs gathered together to accept Liu Jing's banquet, Liu Jing raised his glass to everyone and said loudly: "You are all the subjects of the Han Dynasty, subject to the Son of Heaven, now the imperial court has turned Guanlong into the territory of the Han State, then all of you here are also subjects of the Han State, I Liu Jing will not drive everyone away from their homeland, I hope that you and the Han people can live and work in peace and contentment, reproduce future generations, live in harmony and equality from generation to generation, and all of them are my Han subjects, protected by the Han army, and bear their due obligations, For today's oath, we drank this cup. ”

All the chiefs heard the difference between the words and the past, in the past, they were only nominal subjects of the Han Dynasty, they did not have to pay taxes, and they only symbolized a few sheepskins to the government every year, even if they were subjects of the Han Dynasty, but Liu Jing had one more sentence in today's words, 'Protected by the Han army, bear the due obligations', which means that they will pay taxes and taxes to the government from today onwards, this is not something they can refuse, the chiefs have no choice but to raise a glass together, shout Long live the King of Han, and drink this slightly bitter subject wine together.

Liu Jing laughed, Han ** and others are not only verbal, but also tax, this is the real Han subject