Chapter 638: Liu County Attacked
Chapter 638: Liu County Attacked
Li Zitong had long known that Liu County had a lot of money, grain and supplies. Although he promised not to touch the coal fields, he could not guarantee that he would not set his sights on the grain and supplies.
Li Zi Tong did use the excuse of borrowing grain to extort more than a thousand shi of grain. At this time, the imperial army was approaching and Li Zi Tong was also actively preparing for war. Naturally, he thought of the tens of thousands of shi of grain in Liu County.
The gates of Liu County were closed, and Zheng Rong stood on the top of the city wall and coldly watched the arrival of the grain-borrowing army.
The grain collector yelled at the top of his lungs: "I am here on the orders of my general to borrow some grain from your city!"
Zheng Rong sneered and said, "No need to make such a loud noise. We don't have any extra food to borrow. Besides, we are short of food now. Please return the 1,200 dan of food you borrowed last time."
The grain collector shouted again: "My general said that if you are not willing to lend us grain, we cannot guarantee that your fleet will sail south smoothly."
"If you dare to intercept our fleet, just give it a try!"
Zheng Rong ignored them and turned around. A thousand soldiers raised their crossbows and aimed at the soldiers under the city.
The grain collector hit a snag. Seeing that the other side was murderous and ready for battle, he did not dare to break into the city by force. He had no choice but to return to Pengcheng County with a thousand soldiers.
Li Jinyang had participated in many wars and had rich experience. He sent several scouts to the west to inquire about the news of the imperial army, and at the same time began to arm young and strong men. There were 5,000 sets of armor in their warehouse. They organized the coal miners, and all miners who had served in the army or participated in military training must be equipped with armor.
A miners' army of 5,000 men was soon formed, with the rest of the miners serving as logistical support.
Li Jinyang shouted to the miners, "The imperial army is coming to suppress the bandits. The war will soon break out. The areas around Pengcheng County will be involved in the war, and Liu County is no exception. We all have the responsibility to defend our homes, our parents, wives and children, and also to protect yourselves from being captured. Brothers, follow us and fight together to defend our homes!"
Six thousand miners raised their arms and shouted, "Defend our homeland!"
That night, many refugees began to flee from the west. Almost all of them were residents of Dangshan County and farmers from the surrounding areas, who fled to Liu County with their elderly and children.
Zheng Rong ordered the acceptance of refugees. Of course, these refugees did not all flee to Liu County. There were Feng County and Pei County to the north, and many refugees also fled to these two counties.
At the city gate, a middle-aged shopkeeper was still terrified and told everyone about the horror of the army passing through. "Those soldiers were like locusts, looting and raping along the way. If you disobeyed, you would be killed. After one group left, another group came. They didn't bring any tents or anything. They rushed into the county town and stayed overnight in the homes of the people. Dozens of people rushed into a house. Needless to say, the money and food in the house were swept away. The women were raped in turn. They were even more brutal than the bandits."
Another farmer also said: "The generals above even indulged the soldiers in looting, saying it was to boost morale. My God, if you run fast, you can save your life. If you run slowly and get caught by them, losing everything is a small matter. If your women are taken away and abused, your life will be in danger!"
War has always been an excuse for soldiers to legally plunder and rape. Once a war breaks out, this is why a large number of people flee. If they stay, even if they don't die in the war, they will eventually starve to death.
As more and more refugees fled and the threat of war grew closer, Li Jinyang began to use all supplies to defend the city. He took out tens of thousands of sacks from the warehouse, filled them with soil, piled them on the top of the city walls to raise the height of the city walls, and collected stones to block the city gates.
At this time, Li Zi Tong had no time to take care of the food in Liu County. The 50,000 troops led by Chen Ling were less than a hundred miles away from Pengcheng County. Li Zi Tong also began to urgently mobilize troops and notified Du Fuwei's army to join forces.
Li Zitong and Du Fuwei deployed an army of 100,000 to fight against the 50,000 Sui army. The battle began on the vast plains west and north of Pengcheng County.
The area within dozens of miles of Pengcheng County became a battlefield, with small-scale conflicts occurring everywhere. Villages were brutally slaughtered, looted, and raped by soldiers from both sides, and the people fled in terror.
The county seat of Liu County was crowded with refugees fleeing from all over the place. In the morning, a Sui army of 5,000 people, led by General Wang Shishou, arrived in Liu County.
Wang Shishou was ordered to seize Liuxian, Fengxian and Peixian and collect grain. Although Chen Leng had studied the situation in Pengcheng County before sending troops and knew that the Jiangnan Dao General Administration Office had coal fields in Pengcheng County, Chen Leng just thought it was a business and did not take it seriously, and he did not know that Liuxian was already an enclave of Jiangnan Dao.
Wang Shishou led his army and stopped a few hundred steps away from the city gate. He looked at the county for a moment and was a little surprised. The top of the city was full of defenders, and there was even a Sui army flag flying on the city wall.
How is this going?
Wang Shishou sent someone to investigate, and soon the soldier came back and reported, "General, the other party said they are the army of the King of Jin, and they are here to protect the coal fields."
Wang Shishou was stunned. How come he knew nothing about this?
At this time, his deputy general Wei Qing said: "Could it be that the enemy army disguised themselves as the Jin King's army to deceive us?"
Wang Shishou nodded. It was very likely. He ordered, "Tell them to open the city gate. I want to go in and verify it!"
A lieutenant rode up and shouted, "My general has ordered us to open the city gates. We need to enter the city to verify our identities!"
There was no response from the people on the city wall. Wang Shishou was furious. He confirmed his guess that it was the enemy army disguised as the Jin Prince's army.
"Pass the order down, capture the county town, and let the soldiers of the three armies seize all the property in the city!"
The soldiers cheered immediately and their morale was greatly boosted.
Wang Shishou immediately ordered: "Prepare the battering ram!"
The Sui army did not prepare any siege weapons. Instead, they cut down large trees in the local area, made battering rams, and broke down the city gates.
This Sui army carried three battering rams, all made from extremely thick trees.
"Bows and arrows block the city walls!"
At Wang Shishou's command, two thousand soldiers rushed forward, drew their bows and arrows and shot at the top of the city wall. The soldiers on the top of the city wall squatted down to avoid them.
Amid the sound of war drums, a hundred soldiers holding battering rams rushed towards the city gate. Just as they were about to reach the gate, there was a loud crash from the top of the city wall, and a large amount of red-burning coal was thrown down.
The coal fell on the soldiers, scalding them so much that they screamed and wailed. Many soldiers stepped on the hot coals and had their soles burned through. They jumped up and screamed in pain, and the battering rams fell to the ground with a loud bang.
At this moment, a volley of arrows suddenly broke out from the top of the city wall. Thousands of crossbow arrows shot at the archers below the city. The archers were caught off guard and were hit one after another by the crossbow arrows.
Most of the soldiers holding the battering ram were shot down, and the remaining soldiers turned around and fled. The archers also retreated. The first attack was easily repelled by the defenders on the city wall.
Wang Shishou was furious, but he had no idea what to do. He didn't bring any siege weapons and couldn't take Liu County at all.
But Wang Shishou was not willing to give up Liu County just like that. The soldiers were waiting to break into the city and loot. He could not lose face in front of 6,000 soldiers. Wang Shishou immediately ordered the army to station outside Liu County and sent soldiers to cut trees in the surrounding area to make simple siege weapons.
(End of this chapter)