gnovel Chapter 30 The First Battle of Dongxiguan City
Chapter 30 The First Battle of Dongxiguan City
The first year of Ying Shun, the fifteenth day of the third month, the day of Yi Mao.
While Gao Xingzhou was still planning and strategizing, a war far larger than the one between Yanxia and Xia was about to reach a critical juncture that would determine their life or death.
At dusk, Li Congke stood blankly on the city tower, gazing at the government troops receding like a tide outside the city.
As the western capital where the emperor of the Tang Dynasty once stayed, Fengxiang Prefecture was expanded on the site of the ancient capital Yongcheng of the pre-Qin period. It was built with rammed earth, brick walls, 4,230 crenellations, and a moat three zhang deep.
Back then, Zhu Wen attacked Li Maozhen and besieged the city for a year without being able to capture it.
However, my subordinates just reported that many sections of the moat have been filled in, and the east and west gates have fallen. They couldn't even hold out for a day.
The imperial army's offensive was extremely fierce, which was beyond Li Congke's expectations.
On the first day of the attack and defense, the defending troops of Fengxiang suffered two thousand casualties, while the government troops suffered five times more casualties!
The soldiers dragged their wounded bodies as they changed shifts, their expressions filled with exhaustion after the great battle, the relief of surviving, and grief for their fallen comrades.
Many people's lives remain in today, never to reach tomorrow.
The laborers, under the command of officials, carried out post-war cleanup work, and the horrific scene before them filled them with horror.
The ground was uneven, with fragments of varying sizes scattered everywhere – remnants of flying stones hitting and cracking the city walls.
The city wall is full of cracks and pits, and the crenellations are incomplete everywhere. The former is no longer smooth and looks as if it has aged and become wrinkled overnight, while the latter is like a mouthful of leaky teeth that may fall out at any time.
Even more terrifying were the corpses in various dead states, which were precisely the objects that the laborers needed to clean up.
Most of the corpses had arrows piercing vital organs, either the face or the chest, with an arrow shaft as thick as a finger inserted, the arrowheads penetrating deep into the body. When pulled out, they would reveal a deep hole from which thick, black blood would gush out.
The bodies were carried away, but the arrows were left behind to be used against the enemy tomorrow.
To use a somewhat inappropriate term, dying like this is already considered "lucky".
The corpses hit by flying stones often had dents in their armor, broken tendons and bones inside, bloodstains in their mouths, noses, and ears, and displaced internal organs; they were literally killed by the shock.
Soldiers without armor fared even worse; their chests were visibly sunken and their ribs broken; some even had their shoulders and backs collapsed, half of their bodies collapsing; and the unluckiest were hit squarely on the top of their heads by flying stones, blowing off half of their skulls, truly a case of their brains and livers splattered on the ground.
There are many other distorted forms that a living person could never exhibit.
Dried bloodstains can be seen everywhere on the city wall, scattered here and there. They are difficult to clean completely, so only some water can be splashed on them to slightly dilute the smell of blood.
In two more days, your sense of smell will become numb and you might not find the smell pungent and unpleasant anymore.
Several dilapidated siege ladders leaned against the city wall. Soldiers threw in flammable materials and set them ablaze. Soon they turned into spectacular pillars of fire, which soon collapsed and fell apart, leaving embers scattered all over the ground.
Tomorrow, the imperial army will bring even more siege equipment and attack in one fell swoop. Just thinking about it fills me with despair.
The moat of Fengxiang is shallow, and the fortified pass has fallen, making it largely difficult to defend. (Note 1)
Li Congke took off his helmet. The gentle spring breeze brought a refreshing coolness. His seven-foot frame trembled slightly, and he could hardly suppress the sorrow in his heart.
After more than thirty years of fighting on the battlefield, this is the end he got.
Eight years ago, when I was ordered to garrison Hezhong Prefecture, my subordinates, under the instructions of the Privy Councilor An Chonghui, took advantage of my absence while I was inspecting the horses and shut the gates to me.
The ruling authorities wanted to question the cause of the loss of the town, but fortunately, his adoptive father protected him and issued an edict that he should sit idly at his residence in Qinghua Village, not participate in court sessions, and remain in seclusion for a year.
During this time, fearing that An Chonghui would slander him again, he could only recite Buddhist scriptures and pray silently every day.
After enduring countless hardships until An Chonghui was convicted and executed, he was reinstated as General of the Left Guard, promoted to Grand Commandant, enfeoffed as Prince of Lu, and transferred to the position of Military Governor of Fengxiang.
Who would have thought that less than three years of peaceful life would be spent when his adoptive father suddenly passed away, leaving him without protection. The new emperor was intolerant of him, listened to treacherous ministers and attempted to reduce the power of the vassal states, and soon after ascending the throne, he launched a large-scale military campaign against them.
Back then, when Zhu Wen besieged Li Maozhen in Fengxiang, the city ran out of firewood and food. From winter to spring, the rain and snow continued, and thousands of people froze and starved to death every day. A dou (a unit of dry measure) of rice was worth seven thousand coins, so people burned human excrement as firewood and boiled corpses to eat.
When poverty reaches its extreme, a pound of human flesh is worth a hundred, while a pound of dog meat is worth five hundred; humans are even cheaper than dogs.
A father ate his own son, and a neighbor argued over the flesh, saying, "This is my son! How dare you eat him!"
Such a tragic situation.
Li Maozhen ultimately saved his life and fortune by offering up Emperor Zhaozong of Tang to sue for peace. Now that it's his turn to defend Fengxiang, can he survive?
"Your Majesty, do not worry. Zhang Meng once said: 'In the years of Jia and Gengwu, the earth element of Wu and Ji will be restored.' This year is Jiawu year, and the first day of the fourth month is Gengwu. As long as we hold on for the first half of the month, the situation will surely turn around."
The attendant, Fang Gao, offered words of comfort: "Although Zhang Meng is blind, he is skilled in divination. The Taibai Mountain God he serves is said to be the manifestation of Cui Hao, the prime minister of the Northern Wei Dynasty, hundreds of years ago, and is very accurate in predicting good and bad omens. Since there are words about the restoration of the dynasty, he will surely be able to get through this difficulty safely."
"When the garrison was moved, Zhang Meng also said there would be no trouble. When the army was at the city gates, he said that I, the king, am destined to rule the world, and that these imperial troops were there to welcome me, but it was all empty talk. Half a month later, I will most likely be dead." (Note 2)
Li Congke looked up at the sky and mocked himself, "Having lived to this age and fought half my life, I still believe in the nonsense of ghosts and gods. It's only because human strength has been exhausted that I can only be saved from this predicament by a miracle."
"If he suffers a setback in tomorrow's battle, don't blame him."
Li Congke instructed, "Pile firewood downstairs in the back courtyard of the government office."
Ignoring his subordinates' astonished expressions, he looked up at the afterglow of the sunset.
The sky is clear and the clouds are light; tomorrow will surely be a fine day. I'll climb the city wall and pour out my pent-up emotions. When the city falls, I'll end it all with a single fire.
As for colluding with the Khitan and enlisting the help of other ethnic groups, he had never considered such a thing.
……
Outside the city, several generals of the expeditionary force gathered at the main camp to discuss their plans for attacking Fengxiang the next day.
Despite the initial victory, Wang Sitong was not overjoyed. He frowned and said, "Although we have captured two passes today, the rebels are still very determined and are fighting desperately. According to our count, over ten thousand of our soldiers have been wounded or killed, which is two or three out of ten. We still need to devise a plan for how to proceed with our troops." (Note 3)
Yao Yanchou, his eyes bloodshot with rage, yelled at the top of his lungs, "What are you saying, Commander? Now is the time to press our advantage and take the city in one fell swoop! What do a few soldiers' deaths matter?"
Yao Yanchou's statement is not wrong. If another battle of the same scale were to occur, even if the city could not be captured, Li Congke's ability to resist would be almost exhausted, and the city would not be far from falling.
The three military governors, Zhang Congbin, Kang Fu, and An Yanwei, all had no objections.
Although Wang Sitong was the commander-in-chief, his prestige was not enough to suppress Yao Yanchou, who was the deputy commander. He turned his attention to Zhang Qianzhao, who had not yet expressed his opinion. If Zhang Qianzhao advocated caution and prudence, then Wang Sitong could speak up in support and perhaps salvage the situation.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Qianzhao glared at him and said, "As the military governor of Qiyang, I am even more familiar with the city's defensive weaknesses than the rebel Li Congke. Tomorrow, you may all sit back and watch the battle unfold, and witness my troops breach the city." (Note 4)
He wanted to claim the credit for being the first to scale the city, but Yao Yanchou retorted sarcastically, "Zhang Pingzhang, your men weren't exactly reliable today. Most of the casualties were foreign troops. So you were keeping the Imperial Guards around to reap the rewards tomorrow?"
Zhang Qianzhao was stationed in Shannan West Circuit, and the imperial court allocated a part of the Right Imperial Guard to garrison him.
The Imperial Guards were one of the Emperor's six armies, and their fighting strength should not be underestimated.
He did not allow all the Imperial Guards to join the siege, not because, as Yao Yanchou said, to preserve the fighting strength, but because he was worried that many of the late emperor's former subordinates, having been incorporated into the Imperial Guards, would be unwilling to serve out of consideration for their kinship with Li Congke.
Some things were better left unsaid, so Zhang Qianzhao retorted, "Yan Wei is under your command, but he hasn't done much. In war, everyone relies on their own abilities, not on empty talk."
During the reigns of Li Keyong and Li Cunxu, the army was based on soldiers from Hedong and Hebei, and had a wide variety of military titles, such as Crow Army, Righteous Army, Iron Forest Army, Horizontal Charge Army, Golden Spear Army, Silver Spear Loyalty Army, Scattered Personnel Army, Cavalry Army, Yellow Armor Army, From Horses, Mighty Army, Kuangba Army, Flying Army, and so on.
After destroying Liang, he incorporated all of Liang's imperial guards into his army and added the names of the Longxiang, Konghe, Shenjie, and Shenwei armies.
The late emperor was well-versed in military affairs. After ascending the throne, he vigorously reorganized the Imperial Guards, relocating all the families of the Imperial Guards who were scattered in Taiyuan, Weizhou, and Kaifeng to Daliang, establishing the Imperial Guard, and abolishing and merging various military titles, which served as a model for future generations.
The cavalry were called "Peng Sheng" (捧圣), and the infantry were called "Yan Wei" (严卫).
The Imperial Guard was formed from the Shenjie, Shenwei, Xiongwu, and Guangjie armies, and was divided into forty commands, divided into left and right. Each command had five hundred men, and ten commands formed an army, headed by a commander-in-chief.
Yang Siquan, the Right Commander of the Imperial Guard under Zhang Qianzhao, commanded approximately 5,000 troops.
Yin Hui, the commander of the Imperial Guard under Yao Yanchou, also led 5,000 troops, and the two Imperial Guards totaled more than 10,000 men, accounting for a significant proportion of the total force of the expeditionary army. Moreover, they were well-equipped and possessed the ability to influence the course of the battle.
Provoked by Zhang Qianzhao's words, Yao Yanchou immediately flew into a rage, slamming his fist on the table and shouting, "Zhang Pingzhang, do you dare to make a bet with me! Tomorrow I will lead my troops to attack the east gate, and let's see who breaks through the city first and beheads more people!"
"It's a deal!"
Zhang Qianzhao, with his characteristic shrewdness that only grows stronger with age, said: "I will lead my troops to attack the West Gate. Deputy Commander Yao, you must not lose to me!"
The other military governors started making a fuss, and Wang Sitong was powerless to stop them. The military meeting to attack Fengxiang the next day was decided in such a chaotic manner.