Chapter 614: Baozhou is not safe
Shi Tianze laughed bitterly and said: It's too late, what else can you do?
Surrender to the Shenwei Army?
It’s too late. This is where I, Shi, will be buried.
Before the two of them could say a few words, urgent military reports came flying in like snowflakes. Shi Tianze combined the intelligence and judged that the Shenwei Army suddenly and quickly moved to Baozhou, basically forming a siege from the west, south, and east. There were constant reports of surrenders and captures from various states and counties.
The Shenwei Army is about to launch a general attack.
Zhao Yulin had already arrived in Zhending Prefecture. In Taiyuan, he saw the article written by Zhao Feiyan herself, "It is better to pursue the enemy with the remaining courage than to seek fame by imitating the tyrant". It aggressively listed the various crimes of the Mongolian army, scolded the grassland empire for being useless, and called on the sons of the new Song Dynasty to be fearless of sacrifice and bravely annihilate the stubborn enemy. He sighed that it was a really good article, which could definitely boost morale.
Lai Chuanfang was probably encouraged by the imperial court, and he came to tell him that same day: General Zhang Zhi had occupied Wuzhou and they were about to take action.
Zhao Yulin said: How to fight is our brothers' business. He said that if he doesn't interfere anymore, there will be no more obstruction.
Lai Chuanfang immediately took action after reporting to Yang Xingyun, sending out orders to attack while informing Feng Guiqi in the east, and the two armies soon joined forces. These brothers all knew that Shi Tianze in Baozhou City was extremely cunning, often making surprising moves, and acting very cautiously, surrounding him step by step and then suddenly encircling him.
Only then did Shi Tianze realize that he had become a trapped beast. In these few days of indecision, he had lost the opportunity to retreat and follow Hubili.
Three days ago, Hubili sent his confidant to tell him that the empire could no longer defend Daxing Prefecture, and asked him to organize his family to move outside the Great Wall. He replied that the person who came could resist the Shenwei Army in Baozhou and protect Prince Hu . In fact, this guy was deceiving himself by making such a promise, which was just an excuse for him not wanting to leave his hometown.
In the past few days, the remnants of defeated soldiers from all over the country have fled to Baozhou, which has indeed increased the number of troops, but most of them are frightened, and no one knows how many of them can pick up swords and climb up the city walls.
The water route to the east was completely cut off by the Shenwei Army.
No one knew what was wrong with the navy of the Shenwei Army. Warships of all sizes kept entering the river. Wherever there was a river, there were ships guarding it. Each of them was very vigilant and as loyal to their duties as Zhong Kui.
This almost cut off his chance of obtaining supplies and support by water.
Yesterday, he received an astonishing piece of news that Zhang Zhi, the commander-in-chief of the Western Route Army of the Shenwei Army, led the cavalry out of the Great Wall and arrived at Gubeikou. This was incredible.
If the Shenwei Army went further, blocking Yuguan would be equivalent to blocking the Mongolian Army's exit. He suddenly remembered the deep meaning of Prince Hu's request to him to leave his subordinates behind and go out of the pass.
But it's too late.
Shi Tianze stood on the top of the city wall and looked at the allied Shenwei Army outside the city. He thought that Baozhou was suddenly surrounded. It was probably because they learned that their Western Route Army was about to complete the encirclement on the Great Wall, so they acted quickly.
He was certain that the only Mongolian army in the Central Plains was the Shi family army here.
This guy was determined to become a martyr of the Mongolian army in the Central Plains.
The guy shouted calmly: Let's go back to the yamen to discuss matters.
In Chengdu, Shi's son is drinking with the old emperor in Huaxi Village. They both have the same surname Shi and were both influential figures in the Song Dynasty, but their ideas are different, so the endings are very different.
Shi's son made a bet with the emperor while spending the summer in Hengqu Town, betting that Zhao Yulin did not go to Xinshi for recuperation but went to the front line to lead the troops in the Northern Expedition.
The Battle of Datong Prefecture began, and the Shenwei Army occupied Yunzhou, seized Jiuyuan, and continued to recover lost territory. After the king Zhao Feiyan issued the "It is better to use the remaining courage to pursue the desperate enemy, rather than seek fame by imitating the tyrant" to attack the Mongolian army, it was confirmed that the commander of the Shenwei Army, Zhao Yulin, was indeed commanding the battle at the front line.
The emperor was in high spirits and asked the queen to arrange for a drink at the Lotus Pond with beggar chicken and the ministers who were compiling history to celebrate the victory. Everyone praised the current Feiyan ruler in front of Mr. Zhao for her wisdom and intelligence, saying that she was as good as a man and a hero among women. The emperor was so intoxicated by hearing that his daughter was so outstanding that he just drank.
Shi Zizi commented on the "It is better to pursue the enemy with the remaining courage" written by Zhao Feiyan, and directly compared it with Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty. He believed that Queen Feiyan was the living Martial Saint, and her literary talent was even better than that of Wu Zetian.
The emperor had long been confused by the flattery of his colleagues. The empress and the imperial concubine were both frail women. How could they support the emperor who was getting fat and heavy?
Xie Wuhui, who was in charge of security, quickly asked the attendants to help Mr. Zhao back to Huaxi Villa.
In the south, the young emperor of Dali Kingdom was feeling depressed.
Duan Xiaolin's father saw the newspaper of the New Song Dynasty. The Shenwei Army won another victory and recovered a large area of territory, and his son, Prince Zhennan, was leading the imperial guards to fight against the rebels in the south.
In the first half of the year, the Dali Kingdom's strong anti-corruption efforts affected the core interests of the local princes. The corrupt officials and local tribal chiefs got entangled and started a rebellion. The small Dali Kingdom was suddenly in chaos. Duan Xiaolin was ordered to lead the few imperial troops to fight everywhere, and finally defeated the rebels along the way.
However, the remaining bandits from all over the country gathered in the south of the border with Pagan. After joining forces with the Pagan army, their strength continued to grow. They even marched northward to capture cities and villages and occupied several of his towns and villages.
The young emperor was exhausted and felt that being the ruler of Dali was too tiring. Why wasn't he as leisurely as the female ruler of the New Song Dynasty, who could go to escape the summer heat today, go on an inspection tour tomorrow, and easily rule the country?
That's the comfortable life that a head of a country should have.
And he sat on this little dragon chair all day, worrying about money or military equipment and food, and being careful of rebellion or guarding against foreign invasion. Every day before dawn, he went to the court to discuss state affairs, and was still reviewing memorials in the middle of the night. He only slept with a 16-year-old concubine for three nights before leaving her in the harem without time to take care of her. He was really tired of this kind of emperor's life.
Look, his son, Prince Zhennan, is here again to ask for food and fodder.
A rebellion in Dali swept across the country, and the prefectures, states and counties were filled with smoke and shattered. Naturally, food production was out of control. Ragged hungry people were everywhere on the streets and roads, and bandits from all over the country occupied the mountains and became kings. There were village chiefs and mountain kings everywhere.
Where would he get food?
The young emperor turned his attention to the north again. The New Song Dynasty had a stable government and harmonious people. It had vast land, rich resources and a large population. They must have food.
However, his eldest son Duan Xiaolin is currently stationed in the army in the south and is definitely unable to get away. In the past, Xiaolin was in charge of the diplomatic missions to New Song to ask for money and food. Who should be sent to New Song to ask for food now?
The little emperor started burning his brain cells again.
The grassland royal court in Mobei was in chaos.
During the battle at Lijiayu in Yunzhou, Tachaer pushed Mengge down the hillside to protect him from being blown up, but this caused the Khan to suffer broken internal organs. His mother Suluhenidi personally escorted him back to the royal court but failed to save him despite all efforts.
Mengge had been in a coma since he was injured in Lijiayu. He did not leave a will to designate a successor after his death, which was a big problem. Without a will to designate a successor, anyone could become the Khan of the grassland as long as they were strong enough.
The people of the grassland are used to deciding victory or defeat with fists, and they will fight if they don't accept it.
Da Mengge's mother Suluhenidi was nervous. If the situation was not controlled well, his sons and grandsons would fight for the Khan position. She closed her eyes in pain and thought. Among the boys, the most capable and energetic candidate was Hubili. She immediately sent someone to secretly call him back to the royal court without hesitation.
However, what this woman did not know was that after this move, the grassland empire fell step by step into the endless whipping of God.
When Hubili received a secret letter from his mother asking him to return to the royal court, the Shenwei Army was advancing eastward to Gubeikou to block his return home. It was also the beginning of the Shenwei Army's siege of Baozhou, and the military situation was extremely urgent. For the sake of the Khan's throne, he could not care less and decisively decided to abandon Daxing Prefecture and take a big step back.
However, his loyal servant Shi Tianze could not retreat, as Baozhou had been surrounded by the Shenwei Army.
The heads of various groups of the Shenwei Army already knew that Zhao Yulin's eldest son Ma Yuan was killed after being injured by the Shi family army. In order to avenge the third young master, all of their columns ran as fast as they could. At this time, the Mongolian army had no way to retreat in Baozhou.
Not only that, because the two major military groups of Lai Chuanfang and Feng Guiqi had joined forces and had strong soldiers and horses, the Battle of Baozhou did not require so many troops. Feng Guiqi ordered Li Dagui to send out the vanguard to harass Daxing Prefecture.
Hubili had no choice but to take all the cavalry from Hebei and retreat quickly. After leaving the Great Wall, he ordered his personal guard Brother Dong to lead the troops to test the strength of the Shenwei Army cavalry. A thousand iron pagodas of the Mongolian army mixed with five thousand light cavalry and charged towards Zhang Zhi's camp. They were indeed defeated by the Shenwei Army's new muskets carried by horses and could not take a single step forward.
No matter how strong the Iron Pagoda is, the crooked horse could not withstand the horse-borne gunfire and was pierced through the armor and nailed to death within the range.
After observing the battle situation from afar through the telescope, he no longer hesitated and rode away on his horse.
Shi Tianze of Baozhou fell into a fierce attack by the Shenwei Army. The Shenwei Army guarded the dangerous places on the north and west sides, sealed the city gates, set up thousands of catapults to cross-fire from the east and south, and launched an attack at the same time. Dense thunder bombs hit the city, leaving no blind spots.
Lai Chuanfang ordered the artillery to give him the momentum of the Shenwei Army, to let the Shi family army know what terror is, and to bomb them without distinguishing between soldiers and civilians.
After the catapults bombarded for a long time, he ordered the heavenly army to go out to search for the enemy. After checking the effectiveness of the bombardment, he started shooting again in the afternoon, and then extended the attack to attack the city from the south gate.
The Mongolian army did not stop the attack of the Shenwei Army on the city wall. Li Tan's Shandong Army was the first to enter the city and only encountered sporadic resistance. It was not until the main army entered the city that the Mongolian army fought with the Shenwei Army for every street and alley, engaging in close-range street fighting.
The two armies competed in arm strength in hacking and killing. The Mongolian army, which ate beef and mutton, naturally had the upper hand. However, these soldiers were already as frightened as dogs that had lost their homes. Even though some of them were strong and ruthless, they could not withstand the hacking and killing of the Shenwei Army, which had been trained in the three-three system and used collective wisdom. The Mongolian army's positions were constantly captured by the Shenwei Army.
