bookcurios Chapter 162 Li Zhen Occupies Cixian County
Chapter 162 Li Zhen Occupies Cixian County
After a night of fierce fighting, the Jin army suffered heavy losses. Although the Jin cavalry relentlessly charged the defensive lines set up by the Li family army, cold weapons were simply no match for modern firearms. By dawn, the area in front of the machine gun emplacement was littered with the corpses of Jin soldiers. The surviving Jin troops managed to flank the enemy and retreat towards Cixian County.
Hu Sheng was unaware that Cixian County had already fallen into the hands of Li's army. Last night, while they were fighting fiercely with Li's army on the north bank of the Zhanghe River, a Li's army unit disguised as Jin soldiers successfully occupied Cixian County.
The first group of Jin soldiers to escape arrived at the city gate with heavy steps, and they began to shout at the tightly closed gate.
"Open the city gates quickly, I'm exhausted."
After calling for a long time without receiving a response from inside, the Jin soldiers raised their heads and shouted in unison at the people on the city wall.
"Fire arrows!"
Immediately following was a dense rain of arrows, which killed many of the unsuspecting Jin soldiers on the spot. At this point, even a fool would know that Cixian had fallen into enemy hands, so the surviving Jin soldiers began to flee for their lives again. Although they were hungry and tired, compared to their lives, a little more fatigue didn't matter.
The Jin soldiers encountered General Hu Sheng on the way and gave him a detailed report of what had just happened. Hu Sheng immediately felt dizzy. He hadn't expected that Cixian would also be lost, since he hadn't been able to capture Anyang City.
After a while, Hu Sheng waved his hand and said, "We can't go back to Cixian, so let's go to Linzhang and rest for a bit first."
The Jin army, led by their general Hu Sheng, arrived at Linzhang County to rest. According to their count, they had suffered nearly 15,000 casualties after the fierce fighting the previous night. Of course, many of these were missing; only about 7,000 or 8,000 were actually killed on the spot by Li's army. The Jin army was not entirely composed of Jurchens; many were conscripted from the populace. After several days of hunger and cold, and the chaos of the previous night, many Han soldiers had deserted.
Standing on the city wall of Cixian, Li Zhen looked with satisfaction at the soldiers who were clearing away debris inside the city. He said to Bu Liang, "Scholar, although we have temporarily repelled the Jin army, I'm afraid they will not give up easily. This place will become a battlefield for both sides again. In a while, you should organize some people to go into the city and do ideological work with the people, and persuade them to move to Anyang City."
Bu Liang: "My lord, rest assured. I spoke with several people when we entered the city, and they were very welcoming of the arrival of our Li family army. Your reputation has spread throughout the entire Daming Prefecture, and many people want to be under your rule. If it weren't for the local governments managing things, Anyang Prefecture would probably be overcrowded by now."
To the west of Cixian County lies the famous Fengfeng Copper Mine. Li Zhen dispatched a team to drive away the Jin soldiers defending the area and specially arranged a battalion of troops to reinforce the defenses there.
In today's market economy, the copper standard prevails. Although gold and silver are more expensive than copper, copper coins are still the most widely used currency. The Song Dynasty, starting from the Northern Song period, suffered from a severe copper shortage because many wealthy families hoarded countless copper coins in their vaults. Over time, this accumulated to an astronomical sum. Since these coins did not circulate in the market, even with the Song Dynasty's best efforts to produce more copper coins, it was still insufficient.
After the Jin army was repelled, the situation in Anyang Prefecture returned to calm for the time being, while Tangyin City in the south was being attacked by countless Jin soldiers.
In order to capture Tangyin City, the Jin army used a large number of siege weapons. These included conventional weapons such as catapults, siege ladders, and battering rams. They also dispatched countless Jin soldiers to dig tunnels from outside the city into Tangyin City, attempting to dig all the way into the city and rush in through the tunnels.
Wanyan Yi also learned of Hu Sheng's defeat in the north. He was not surprised by it. Although Hu Sheng held the same rank in the army as him, Wanyan Yi looked down on these family scions from the bottom of his heart. Moreover, Hu Sheng had hardly ever been on the battlefield; his only achievements were suppressing rebellions in various parts of the Jin Kingdom.
This is the third attack on the city today. Although his Jin soldiers are fighting very hard, the Li family army defending the city has overwhelming firepower. Not to mention anything else, the machine guns and mortars they have set up on the city walls have had a great impact on them. This not only caused personal injuries, but more importantly, it made the usually brave Jin soldiers hesitant to advance, which greatly affected the morale of the Jin army.
As night finally fell, the Jin soldiers, having received the order to retreat, returned to their camp with a sigh of relief. They hadn't eaten or drunk anything since having a hearty meal that morning, and the ravenous Jin soldiers rushed to the kitchen as soon as they came down from their camp.
In this era, military camps typically ate at most two meals a day. Only Li Zhen's Li family army ate three meals a day, and even then, they would occasionally have some meat. At this moment, these Jin soldiers were gnawing on hard, coarse grain flatbreads and holding bowls of rice porridge—this was considered quite good. Normally, their flatbreads were mixed with half bran; they only ate such food during battles.
In the central command tent of the Jin army camp, various kinds of meat were laid out in front of each Jin general. Compared with the food of ordinary soldiers, theirs was simply a delicacy.
Wanyan Yi picked up his wine bowl and said, "Normally, drinking is not allowed in the army, but everyone has worked hard these past few days attacking the city, so let's each have two bowls. Once we enter Tangyin City, I will drink with everyone until we're all drunk."
After finishing a bowl of wine, Wanyan Yi asked, "General Zhang, how is the tunnel digging going?"
Zhang Zhaokun quickly stood up, clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Reporting to the general, we have already dug to the city wall. We have used more than a thousand people to take turns digging, and we estimate that we will be able to dig into the city in another two days."
Wanyan Yi smiled and said, "Sit down and let's talk while we eat. Everyone, please don't be shy. If you have any other good ideas for attacking the city, please feel free to share them so we can discuss them together."
As night fell, the Jin army camp was utterly silent, filled with the sounds of snoring and murmurs in dreams. Even the wind seemed to slow its pace, unwilling to disturb this uneasy tranquility. Meanwhile, not far away, darkness, like a thick curtain, silently concealed the surging of a mysterious force.
A elite force of the Li family army, clad in jet-black battle robes, moved silently through the wilderness like phantoms in the night. Their figures blended into the darkness, leaving only the faint rustling of grass and trees as their sole trace. This extraordinary army was a carefully laid ambush outside Tangyin City, carrying a secret mission, waiting for the opportune moment to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy.
The leading general had sharp, eagle-like eyes. He would occasionally raise his hand and make subtle gestures to adjust the speed and direction of the march, ensuring that every step was precise and that no slightest sound would reveal their location.
Because the Jin army had dug countless trenches outside the city, the Jin soldiers on lookout were able to spot the troops inside the city as soon as they appeared. So Qian Dazhuang managed to contact this army and asked them to destroy the siege equipment and supplies in the Jin army camp at night.
Moonlight filtered through sparse clouds, occasionally casting dappled shadows, adding a touch of mystery and grandeur to this tense and unpredictable moment. Amidst this interplay of light and shadow, the warriors of Li's army had quietly approached the edge of the Jin army camp; a thrilling night raid was about to unfold in this sleepless night.