Chapter 1057: Sinner of the Country

After several days of marching, the main force of the Western Wei led by Li Tai also arrived at Fenqu, and then temporarily stationed at Qiaoshan, south of Xiangling.

The reason why the army could not march straight in was that the roads of Mengkeng and Qiaoshan, south of Xiangling, were rugged and difficult to travel, which was inconvenient for the army, especially the baggage, to advance and retreat. The terrain was not much worse than that of Emeiyuan in the south of Fen. If the army could not occupy certain favorable conditions in the upper reaches of the Fen River, it would be very likely to be hit head-on by the enemy if it rushed in rashly.

The Western Wei had not used this route as the main attack direction before, and there were also reasons for this. Even if Li Tai was now intentional, he still needed to arrange Wei Xiaokuan and other troops to advance to Pingyang first, and after gaining a certain advantage, he led the main force to follow up.

If the front division did not gain a relatively stable advantage in Pingyang, then no matter how unexpected his military plan was, in the end it would only be a stroll in the border area of ​​Northern Qi and return empty-handed, repeating the mistake of Yuwen Tai's intention to march into Hedong.

"Your humble servants and others respectfully welcome the Lord!"

Outside the camp left by the front division, a group of Fennan officials came forward and bowed to the approaching Lord Tang on horseback.

Arriving at the camp gate, Li Tai dismounted and immediately asked, "What is the situation here?"

"My Lord, most of the enemy's cities and garrisons between Fenjiang have been removed, and only Zhengping in Dongyongzhou is left south of Pingyang."

Lu Chusheng, the son of Lu Shuhu, who served as the chief of Yubi, stepped forward and answered, while pointing to the west of Fenqu: "Zhengping County spans both sides of the Fen River. Wenxi, Quwo and other places are all in the south of Fenqu and belong to us. Zhengping City, where the government is located, is located in the north of the Fen River and is occupied by the enemy, so it was established as Dongyongzhou. Xue Wenshu, the governor of Dongyongzhou, is the son of Xue Xunyi, a stubborn thief. His family used to be a powerful clan in the region, and the local forces are connected..."

Under the background of the East-West split, not only the original administrative areas of the prefectures and counties of the Northern Wei Dynasty were artificially divided, but even the people in the border areas would actively or passively join the two countries.

The Xue Xunyi mentioned by Lu Chusheng was also from the Xue family, a great family in Hedong. Compared with the native clans such as Pei and Liu who have lived in Hedong for generations, the Xue clan in Hedong was a powerful clan that moved in later. In order to obtain local resources and survive, its style of Wuzong was relatively strong. For example, Xue Xunyi relied on his strong local power to rebel against the court in his early years. Against the background of the Six Towns Rebellion, his power and official position became stronger and stronger.

Later, Gao Huan served as the governor of Jinzhou under Erzhu Rongba's mansion, and he also summoned Xue Xunyi to join his army. Later, Xue Xunyi followed Gao Huan to build Xindu, and naturally became a hero of the Eastern Wei.

After the Battle of Shayuan last year, Gao Huan was defeated and returned, and the Western Wei took advantage of the situation to sweep and occupy most of the territory of Hedong. Even Jinzhou Pingyang, Gao Huan once wanted to give up and concentrate his forces to defend Jinyang. It was Xue Xunyi who relied on the strong local power he had built in this area in his early years, and personally led his troops to garrison Pingyang, and saved Jinzhou under the counterattack of the Western Wei.

Although the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi were stronger than the Western Wei, they would also appoint local tyrants to serve in their hometowns in order to save the cost of ruling, but it was not as common as in the Western Wei. Xue Wenshu, as the son of Xue Xunyi, served as the governor of Dongyongzhou and was stationed in Zhengping City, which was also such a situation.

"I was ordered by General Wei to secretly plan Zhengping City a few days ago. I had agreed with the citizens of the city to start an uprising and surrender the city. However, Xue Wenshu was too cautious. He noticed the signs of gathering troops in Baibi City very early, and dispersed the citizens to the suburbs very early, leaving only more than 2,000 of his trusted soldiers to defend the city, which made the previous plan fail. Zhengping City has not been taken yet..."

A middle-aged man in his thirties stepped out and said with a face of shame.

The Northern Qi had local snakes to defend the border, and the Western Wei also had people who could plot. The middle-aged man was named Pei Wenju, a member of the Pei family in Hedong. His father Pei Sui had served as the governor of Zhengping and was stationed in Fenbei in the past.

When Li Tai was preparing to attack Northern Qi along the Fen River, Wei Xiaokuan asked to summon this man to his residence. Previously, the work of infiltrating personnel through trade in Fenbei and Pingyang was mostly presided over by Pei Wenju.

After hearing this, Li Tai smiled and said, "Man proposes, God disposes. If things fail, Pei Canjun does not need to blame himself. The overall situation has been determined. Even if Xue Wenshu has quick wits, it is difficult to stop the flow of the general trend. Zhengping City is difficult to stop our march. If he can understand the situation and return to justice, he can still retain a rich reward. If he still insists on doing evil, the day the city is broken is the day to surrender!"

Zhengping City is relatively important in terms of geographical location, because it happens to be on the north bank of Fenqu. If the Western Wei army turns into Fenshui along Longmen and goes upstream, the road will be difficult to open if Zhengping City is not conquered.

However, the Western Wei army did not come from Longmen this time, but passed through the Yuncheng Basin in the heart of Hedong, and advanced northward via the Sushui River. In this case, the importance of Zhengping City could not be reflected, and the army could directly bypass the city and gather under Pingyang City.

In history, when Emperor Wu of Zhou, Yuwen Yong, destroyed Qi, he also directly bypassed Zhengping City in Dongyongzhou, and successively broke through Pingyang, Jinyang, and even Yecheng. Zhengping City was still defending.

Fu Fu, the defender of Northern Qi at that time, also achieved a legendary achievement. Of course, it was also because the Northern Zhou Dynasty had never regarded Zhengping City as an object that needed to be captured. Facts have also proved that whether this city can be taken down has little to do with whether the Northern Qi can be destroyed.

Of course, if Zhengping City can be taken, it is better to capture it. Because the armies of the two countries are expected to confront each other in Pingyang and its surrounding areas for a long time. In the long run, it is more conducive to control the supply line of Fenshui if Zhengping City is in hand.

Therefore, after arriving at the Qiaoshan camp, Li Tai ordered Han Guo, the governor of Fenzhou who had entered the Fenbei area, to lead his troops to besiege Zhengping City and strive to capture the city as soon as possible.

Shortly after the army arrived at Qiaoshan, news came from the north that with the cooperation of Gao Le and He Ruodun, the vanguard brigade had successfully controlled the two important roads of Queshu Valley and Qianlijing. It was difficult for the Northern Qi army in Jinyang to go south directly, and the rear army could go north with confidence.

"These two are really brave and courageous, and they live up to expectations!"

After learning the news, Li Tai couldn't help but applaud and praise them.

In this battle, one of the most critical factors is whether the southward passage of the enemy army in Jinyang can be controlled. If it is possible, the initiative advantage of the Western Wei army will be further expanded. If not, the situation will become somewhat passive and it will be difficult to achieve the most ideal results.

So Li Tai ordered the troops to continue to move forward, and he led his personal soldiers through Mengkeng and went to Pingyang.

At this time, outside Pingyang City, there was a long fence in the north and south extending from the bank of Fen River all the way to the east, and finally converged in front of the pond in the east of Pingyang City, wrapping the entire city tightly in it.

Since the first enemy army appeared outside the city and went around the north of the city, it has been nearly half a month. During this time, although the soldiers and civilians in Jinzhou City have been constantly strengthening the city defense, they have never gone out of the city to fight.

The defenders in the city watched more and more enemy troops arrive outside the city, and they built camps and long fences without panic. Although the enemy army has never launched an attack on the city, this situation of catching turtles in a jar is becoming more and more obvious.

"Still no signs of reinforcements?"

In the early morning, Changle King Wei Can once again climbed the tower and asked in a tired voice. During the period of siege, this has become the question he asks most every day.

When the enemy first arrived, he did not have the courage to go out of the city to fight. Now the number of enemy troops outside the city has far exceeded the number of soldiers defending the city, and there is a solid and stable siege method. He completely gave up the idea of ​​lifting the siege by his own ability and placed all his hopes on reinforcements.

When he heard the negative answer from his generals, Wei Can's face became more and more ugly, and he couldn't help but curse: "There are many arrogant soldiers and brave generals in the country, who always boast of being brave and invincible. Now that the country is in crisis, where are these lunatics? I am the only one defending the gate of such a big country. Is it that only my family can enjoy the Qi family's country!"

He has enjoyed the glory and wealth of his parents for half his life. Today's words can be said to be the most tough. The city has been besieged for so many days without any signs of reinforcements. He feels that he is the only one in the world who is trying to defend it, and the safety of the country is all on his shoulders. Although he has not done anything during this period, the heavy responsibility still makes him a little breathless.

He patrolled the top of the city again, and when the sun gradually dried up in the morning, he planned to go back to the mansion to rest. However, at this moment, a series of long cheers suddenly sounded from the enemy camp outside the city. Wei Can was frightened and asked hurriedly: "What happened?"

"Report to the king, there are more enemy troops coming from the south, south!"

The general on duty on the southern wall hurried over and said with a somewhat ugly face.

"How many more are coming?"

When Wei Can heard this, his face became even uglier.

After hearing this, the general just said in a hoarse voice: "Endless, no end..."

"Nonsense! How could the Qiang thieves have such a great power..."

While cursing, Wei Can also moved towards the southern wall. When he saw the torrent of enemy troops coming here, his face suddenly turned pale and he collapsed directly behind the parapet wall.

When Xian Yushirong, the city garrison commander, came forward to support him, he held his wrist and said in a trembling voice, "Quickly, quickly arrange for a messenger to leave the city and swim across the river to report to Jinyang and Yedu that the three hundred thousand enemy troops have all entered our city. Hurry up, hurry up and help us... The enemy is fierce and I cannot handle it. If the rescue is delayed, I will be defeated by the enemy! If the generals in charge of the army in the country do not come to help, they are all guilty, all of them!"