Kuizhou City is difficult to capture, so let's fight White Emperor City first!

Anyway, the officers and soldiers and the sailors were defeated, and the rebel sailors could crisscross the Yangtze River at will.

Sun Chengmai, a newly surrendered officer of the Kuizhou Naval Division, said: "You can't be careless in control, it's better to go to Baidi City here, if you go east to attack Shimen Pass, you have to cross the dangerous beach of Kuixia (Qutang Gorge)." The most dangerous is the black rock beach, the north and south two black stone beams stretch into the Yangtze River, the two sides of the rapid water rush, several jet whirlpools in a row, the beach is deep and bottomless. If you don't pay attention to it, the hull of the ship will be torn and smashed by the whirlpool, and it will be useless if a person falls into it. Even the corpse could not be washed away, and it did not sink down, but floated and swirled on the whirlpool. ”

"How's that going to happen?" Li Bao asked.

Sun Chengmai said: "You have to be an old helmsman who is familiar with the water and avoid the whirlpool before you have to sail through." The narrowest channel is only 156 zhang (more than 50 meters), and there are countless bright and dark whirlpools. ”

Li Bao was amazed, but at the same time a little afraid.

If the officers and soldiers of Kuizhou retreated to Wushan, they did not have the locals to remind them, and they stupidly took a boat to go over, wouldn't they have to lose countless losses in the Yangtze River?

Sun Chengmai continued: "It's the dry season, the water is slow, and the whirlpools are not so strong. But shallow water also has shallow troubles, not afraid of whirlpools, afraid of reefs, but also have to be helmed by an old helmsman. ”

Li Bao said: "You said that the whirlpool is caused by two stone beams, why don't you take advantage of the dry season to chisel and remove the stone beams?" ”

Sun Chengmai said: "The stone beam is as strong as steel, it is useless to chisel a little, and it will take countless hours to chisel more." ”

Those two stone beams, rich in iron and sulfur oxides, are as strong as steel is not an adjective.

It was not until the Daoguang period that a businessman named Li Benzhong recruited people to drill rocks and cut stones at his own expense, which slightly reduced the difficulty of navigation.

In the end, it was necessary to rely on the People's Liberation Army to take action and use explosives to clear nearly 30,000 cubic meters of reefs.

Between the words, the fleet was approaching the White Emperor City.

Li Bao stood on the deck, directly in front of him was the Iron Lock Pass (Qutang Pass, Kuimen), in front of the left was the White Emperor City, and in front of the right was Qutang Gorge.

The majestic mountains and rivers shocked Li Bao so much that he was speechless for a short time.

At this moment, Li Bao finally understood what it meant to be "the hero of the world".

When he came back to his senses, Li Bao said: "What else is Wushan?" Such a steep mountain and river, occupy Kuimen. As long as one or two thousand people hold on, and then let the sailors move, there will be 100,000 officers and soldiers who can't kill them. ”

The practice of successive dynasties is to pull up an iron lock across the river at the mouth of the narrow Qutang Gorge.

Throw thousands of soldiers at the gate, pull up the iron locks, and no one will want to pass by!

Therefore, in the Northern Song Dynasty, Qutang Pass was directly renamed Tiesuo Pass.

"Siege!"

Li Bao gave an order, and the soldiers rushed towards the White Emperor City by boat.

There is no place to stay nearby, so the city can only be attacked immediately, and the equipment has already been built.

Li Bao's sailors had hundreds of large and small warships, all of which were transformed from merchant ships, fishing boats, cao boats, and salt carriers. Most of the sailors were fishermen, bandits, inspectors, smugglers, and salt merchants.

The defender of the White Emperor City is called Guan Shuyan, and there are only 2,000 soldiers under his command, and most of them are temporarily recruited township soldiers.

Seeing the rebel army sailor killing, Uncle Guan was horrified, and immediately shouted: "Hurry up and open the city, follow me to meet the rebels!" ”

"You can't ...... in command," the civilian official next to him hurriedly stopped.

"Boom!"

Uncle Guan pulled out the knife and chopped off the civil official with a knife.

What are you kidding, most of Sichuan has been lost, why should you stick to this little bit of township soldiers?

Li Bao held the telescope given by Zhu Ming, watched the city gate slowly open, and the guards and soldiers came down from the steep hillside, nodding and smiling: "But he is also a clever man." ”

"Uncle Guan, the guilty general, meet the general of the righteous army!" The goods rolled to Li Bao and knelt down.

Li Bao stretched out his hand to help him up: "General Gao Yi, not hesitating to bear the name of disloyalty, but also surrender in order to protect the people." I really admire it, and I don't have to do this big gift. ”

When Uncle Guan heard this, he instantly felt much more comfortable, and Mao Sui recommended himself: "The iron lock guard on the other side is my distant cousin-in-law. If the general is trustworthy, he will send a small boat and ask me to bring Kuimen down. ”

Li Bao was even more happy: "If you can say that you can descend to Kuimen, the general will make a great achievement." ”

Guan Shuyan set off on a small boat, fantasizing about becoming an official in the new dynasty, and in a blink of an eye, he came to the iron lock.

"Brother-in-law, it's me!" Uncle Guan shouted.

The guard Tang Qiu angrily reprimanded: "Let you garrison the White Emperor City, why did the thieves surrender as soon as they came?" ”

Uncle Guan shouted: "Brother-in-law, let me in first." ”

Tang Qiu bent his bow and arrows, aiming at Guan Shuyan and shooting.

Guan Shuyan hurriedly dodged the arrows flying past him, and shouted in horror: "Brother-in-law, are you really shooting?" Sichuan Gorge 4th Road, Zhu Xianggong has accounted for the third, and there are only a few cities left on this Kuizhou Road. The iron lock is a natural danger, but it is the enemy downstream, how can you prevent the upstream? ”

"Hugh wants to say more," Tang Qiu shouted, "If you want to take this level and let the thief bring the soldiers to take it, you will talk about it after a real battle with real knives and real guns." ”

Uncle Guan shouted: "The generals of Kuimen are listening, my brother-in-law has gone crazy, quickly tie him up and surrender!" ”

"Who dare?" Tang Qiu turned around and glanced at the officers under his command.

Hundreds of warships of the rebel army have already sailed towards Kuimen, looking for a suitable landing site.

Tang Qiu seemed to have a lot of prestige, and the officers were stunned back by him.

Finally, someone was bold, took a step back, and moved forward again: "Third Brother Tang, Brother Guan is right, Sichuan is about to be lost, how can there be only a few cities left?" The big turbans have surrendered, and we are not ashamed to surrender. With this danger, the officers and soldiers can't get in, and Zhu Xianggong will definitely be the emperor. You and I surrendered early, and I can't say that we can still be crowned marquis in the future. ”

Tang Qiu sneered: "You know what a fart, when the forbidden army and the western army come to kill, the thieves will definitely collapse for thousands of miles." As long as you guard the door, you and I are heroes! ”

Another officer asked, "Even if it is a great achievement, is this credit really ours?" I'm afraid I don't know which one will rob me. ”

"No one can snatch such a great achievement!" When Tang Qiu said this, he didn't have a bottom in his heart.

Two more officers came from the other city wall, made eye contact with each other, and then fanned out to Tang Qiu together.

Tang Qiu's personal soldiers, pretending not to see, deliberately distanced themselves.

Except for the main general, everyone wants to surrender.

The great merit of guarding Kuimen is not lost, maybe Tang Qiu can keep it, but others definitely can't keep it, and they don't have their share in rewarding meritorious deeds.

Tang Qiu drew his sword and scolded: "Whoever dares to come over, he will be dismissed!" ”

There were already people who went around to the side and back, each with a look, and then pounced at the same time, tying up Tang Qiu Wuhua and surrendering.

Li Bao boarded the Guancheng and looked at the steep and narrow Qutang Gorge, and suddenly gave birth to infinite heroism.

He had an urge to compose poetry, but he didn't read much and could only write limerick poems.

Occupying this place can ensure that the east gate of Sichuan is not lost, and there is no need to invest too many troops.

Repeatedly confirming that Tang Qiu was unwilling to surrender, Li Bao smiled and said: "Such a righteous man, I can't bear to kill him, put him back in Kuizhou City!" ”

A ship carrying Tang Qiu sailed towards Kuizhou City.

Guo Lun, the transfer envoy of Kuizhou Road, Zhao Shiding, the deputy envoy, Zhang Shen, and many officials, large and small, including the Taishou and county orders of other states and counties, but those who were not caught by the rebels gathered in Kuizhou City at this moment.

Some officials are even from Chengdu.

There were more than 70 high-level officials gathered in Kuizhou City.

"Who's under the city?" Zhang Shen asked.

Tang Qiu replied: "Tang Qiu, the guard of the Kuimen." ”

Guo Lun was shocked: "Did you surrender to the thief?" ”

Tang Qiu cried and said with a sad face: "I didn't surrender to the thief, it was the generals under my command who rebelled and tied me up and offered me to the thief." Kuimen and White Emperor City have been lost, and the thieves will deliberately send me to Kuizhou City. ”

"Nonsense!"

Zhang Shen suddenly grabbed his bow and arrows, shot out without warning, and then shouted: "This person is pretending to be a thief, not Tang Qiu, the guard of Kuimen." ”

Tang Qiu was inexplicably hit by an arrow, and he was so shocked that he fell straight back, rolling down the steep stone steps, and fell halfway. He looked down at the arrow on his shoulder, the wound hurt, and his heart hurt even more.

He knew what Zhang Shen meant, if Kuimen was lost, Kuizhou City would become a turtle in an urn. Not to mention the soldiers defending the city, even the officials will think about surrendering.

The gate can't be lost, so he, the gatekeeper, must be fake.

Tang Qiu rolled down the stone steps and bled back to the boat, gritting his teeth and saying to the boatman: "Send me back to Kuimen, Lao Tzu will be a thief today!" ”

At the head of Kuizhou City, there was a dead silence.

More and more officials rushed to hear the news, and even the prefect of Chengdu was here.

Zhang Shen said: "Don't guess randomly, just now it was a thief pretending to be, and the guard of Kuimen, Tang Qiu, I have seen it, and he doesn't look like this guy at all." ”

Guo Lun, the nominal coach, only felt that his mouth was dry, and he looked at the rolling Yangtze River in a daze.

Other officials also looked at each other, Kuimen was gone, and Kuizhou was already an isolated city. Even if you can hold on for half a year, don't think about waiting for reinforcements, the officers and soldiers can't pass the iron lock at all!

One official after another, lost and dejected, left the city walls.

In this broken place, there is no way to escape, either commit suicide, die in battle, or be captured, there is no fourth possibility.

The next day, Li Bao came with his army and camped on the east bank of Meixi, across the river from Kuizhou City.

A few days later, the thirtieth year of the Chinese New Year's Eve.

There was no joy for the New Year in the city, and everyone was sad.

The people of the whole city implemented ration control, all grain was requisitioned, all young and strong people had to defend the city, the old and weak women and children were responsible for carrying materials, and Zhang Shen had to fight a protracted war with the thieves.

This guy is the third-in-command of Kuizhou Road, and he is also the person who knows the most about military affairs.

As for the first and second in command, they all borrowed wine to kill their worries in the house, and handed over the matter of defending the city to Zhang Shen, and they themselves did not want to face the reality.

The people and the soldiers were full of complaints, and a good New Year became like this.

On the day of the Chinese New Year, Li Bao landed with the army.

He asked the soldiers to carry the upside-down boat and shout under the city: "Brothers and sisters in the city, today is the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, as long as you surrender during the day, you can have a Chinese New Year's Eve dinner at night." If you don't surrender, you won't want to eat New Year's dinner for the rest of your life. General Li said, if you resist stubbornly, the rebels will come in and slaughter the city! Brothers of the Xiang army and the village soldiers, you hurry up and kill the officials, and all the Chinese New Year's Eve meals are meaty. General Li killed a few pigs, just waiting for you to eat. Large pieces of fatty meat, very satisfying! ”

The city of Kuizhou is built on the mountainside, and a steep stone staircase leads to the riverside wharf.

Li Bao was outside the range of the bow and arrow, and chose a stone step frame pot. Don't cook porridge, don't stir-fry, just use fat big plate oil, put it in the pot and slowly boil.

Several cauldrons, boiling lard together, as soon as the river breeze blows, the aroma of oil wafts to the city.

The rebels under the city are still shouting on the boat: "Come out and eat pork, big fat meat, all come for the New Year!" Surrender will have meat to eat, big fish and big meat for the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner! Quickly kill the officer and surrender, come out and eat big meat. After eating meat, you can return to your hometown, do business and do business, and farm land. General Zhu lowered the harsh taxes in Chengdu, and the people there were living a good life. There are no corrupt officials, and all corrupt officials are killed......"

"Kuizhou father, follow me to kill officials and eat meat to live a good life!"

A temporarily appointed officer of the township army raised his weapon and shouted, and his fellow villagers responded by killing the nearest officer.

More and more village soldiers are doing it, and soon the young people in the city will join in, and they have had enough of it these days.

The military attaché was so frightened that he joined in and led his troops to massacre the civilian officials.

Civil officials from all over Sichuan were blocked in the city and dozens were killed. No matter what his official reputation is, good officials and bad officials are killed together, and it gradually evolves into a knife against the rich in the city.

is still a military attaché, with soldiers to open the city gates, and everyone else is crazy and robbed.

The first thing Li Bao did when he entered the city was not to keep his promise to give meat to eat, but to quickly ask the soldiers to stop the burning, killing and looting.

(End of chapter)