Chapter 686: Sweeping the Bandits

Chapter 686: Sweeping the Bandits

Chapter 686: Sweeping the Bandits
That afternoon, Xiao Xia led an army of 50,000 to Xia Qiu County, Lu County. This was the county seat of Lu County and also the old nest of Xu Yuanlang. Xu Yuanlang was a local tyrant. He originally served as the governor of Lu County. With the support of several powerful families in Lu County, he also rebelled and was named King of Lu by the Western Sui Dynasty.

Xu Yuanlang had a total of 50,000 troops. His power previously only covered Lu County, which could not support too many troops. The 50,000 troops were only obtained after he seized Meng Haigong's Dongping County territory. Otherwise, relying solely on Lu County, he could only support an army of 30,000 at most.

Now Xu Yuanlang's power in the two counties was only a flash in the pan. Dongping County was captured by the Sui army just after it was acquired, and he also lost 20,000 troops.

At this moment, Xu Yuanlang stood on the top of the city wall and looked at the army not far away. His heart sank. Was this Li Mi's strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao? The King of Jin was still at the gates of the city.

"Send a message to the entire army, cheer up, we will live and die with Lu County!"

Xu Yuanlang shouted slogans desperately, but he looked fierce but was timid, and even he didn't believe it himself.

At noon, a cavalryman stepped forward and shot an arrow at the top of the city wall. It was a letter of surrender from King Xiao Xia of Jin, demanding Xu Yuanlang to surrender within an hour. If he surrendered, he and his family would be sent to Lingnan to settle down and he would be spared. But if he did not surrender, his entire family would be executed after the city was broken!

It was only one hour, but for Xu Yuanlang, even one day would be useless. He had no children, only a bunch of women, and his parents had died long ago. As for his brothers and nephews, he didn't care. It was because he had no sons that he rebelled without scruples and let himself indulge in the life of a prince.

Xu Yuanlang flatly rejected Xiao Xia's attempt to surrender. An hour passed in a flash, and suddenly a team of twenty cavalrymen appeared and rushed towards the city gate. The cavalrymen and horses were all covered in iron armor and were not afraid of arrows. Arrows shot down from the top of the city wall, hitting the cavalrymen with a clanging sound, but did not cause any harm to them.

The cavalry passed by the moat, and suddenly two soldiers swung out two chain mines. A chain mine is an iron chain with a small fire mine at each end. It is specially used to deal with siege ladders or suspension bridges.

The chain mine circled in the air and instantly wrapped around the iron chain on the suspension bridge. The fuse hissed, and when the cavalry ran away, there were a few loud explosions, and the two iron chains pulling the suspension bridge were instantly broken. The two iron chains flew up like two snakes, and the suspension bridge fell down and hit the bridge pier heavily, causing dust to fly everywhere.

The drawbridge is not only a guarantee for the moat, but also a large shield that protects the city gate. To attack the city gate, one must first break the drawbridge.

A suspension bridge is usually pulled by two iron chains at the front end. Either the front end of the suspension bridge is destroyed or the iron chains are dealt with. In the past, sieges were carried out by burning the iron chains of the suspension bridge with fire to burn them off. Now, it is much easier to use chain iron fire bombs.

The drawbridge dropped, and then, more than a dozen large catapults were slowly pushed out, surrounded by thousands of soldiers. The catapults were two meters high, and the throwing poles were five meters long. There was also a type of catapult that used a rope instead of a throwing pole, but this type of catapult was not very accurate.

More than a dozen catapults were like giant beasts, surrounded by thousands of soldiers, and moved slowly, stopping about 300 steps away from the city. There were arrow shields in front of them, but the Sui army obviously overestimated Xu Yuanlang's army, as they did not have crossbows with a range of 300 steps.

Behind the catapults, the Xue brothers each led 10,000 cavalrymen, ready to try and wait for the moment when the city would be broken.

"projection!"

At the commanding general's command, more than a dozen catapults were launched, firing fifty-jin caltrop iron fire bombs at the city gate.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The long spikes of the iron fire mines were extremely sharp. They immediately nailed the city gate once they hit it. In an instant, more than a dozen iron fire mines were nailed on the city gate at the same time, emitting white smoke.

In just a moment, "boom!" explosions sounded continuously. The power was not that of a hundred-jin iron fire bomb that could shake the earth, but the explosions were still deafening. The defenders on the city wall covered their ears and squatted down, with painful expressions on their faces.

But when the smoke cleared, the city gate disappeared without a trace. Xiao Xia swung his sword and said, "Attack!"

"Woo——"

The horn sounded, and Xue Wanche and Xue Wanjun shouted: "Kill!"

"Kill!" Led by the Xue brothers, 20,000 cavalrymen charged into the city, forming a powerful torrent.

The battle in the city ended quickly and 30,000 soldiers surrendered one after another, but unexpectedly, Xu Yuanlang still led 3,000 personal guards to defend the Prince of Lu's Palace and fight against the Sui army.

Xu Yuanlang's Prince Lu Mansion took three years to build, covering an area of ​​500 acres. There was a three-meter-wide moat around it. There was only one suspension bridge for entering and exiting the mansion, but the suspension bridge has been destroyed.

The walls of the house were three feet high, and soldiers stood on them, firing arrows with strong bows and crossbows. There were also hundreds of soldiers guarding the gates. It could be called a city within a city. The tallest building was six feet high, called Guantian Tower. Xu Yuanlang usually drank and had fun with his wives and concubines on the high building. There was also a large amount of food and meat stored in the basement of the Prince of Lu's Mansion, which could last for two years. Xiao Xia looked at it for a moment and sneered, "Use rockets to burn it!"

Five thousand soldiers fired gunpowder arrows into the Prince of Lu's Palace together. Five thousand burning gunpowder arrows shot into the Prince of Lu's Palace. In just a moment, the whole palace was filled with thick smoke and flames.

In particular, thousands of gunpowder arrows were shot into the Guantian Tower, and the entire building began to burn. When five thousand soldiers shot in the second round of gunpowder arrows, the Prince Lu's Mansion had become a sea of ​​fire.

Countless soldiers jumped from the wall into the moat to survive, but were still ruthlessly shot and killed by the Sui army soldiers.

The fire grew bigger, and with a loud 'boom! ', Guantian Tower collapsed in the flames.

The fire burned until nightfall, and the entire Prince Lu's Mansion was reduced to ashes. Thousands of skeletons were collected, and no Tibetans were found in the basement. Everyone, including Xu Yuanlang, died in the fire.

In the wilderness south of Lu County, Jibei County, nearly 100,000 troops were lined up.

This was the army that Ge Qian brought from Hebei a few months ago. Ge Qian inherited Liu Badao's army and continued to expand it. At its peak, he had an army of 200,000.

There can't be two tigers in one mountain. Although there are still bandits like Wei Daoer and Lu Mingyue in the north of Hebei, there are only two large armies of Dou Jiande and Ge Qian in the south. In fact, there is also Zhang Jincheng who leads tens of thousands of bandits.

Ge Qian and Zhang Jincheng formed an alliance to fight against Dou Jiande together, but in a battle in Qinghe County at the beginning of the year, Ge Qian was stabbed in the back by Zhang Jincheng, and his army was defeated. The 100,000-strong army was almost wiped out. Fortunately, the Yellow River had not melted yet, and Ge Qian led 80,000 troops across the Yellow River and occupied Jibei County.

The arrival of any group of bandits will bring severe disaster to the local people. The reason is simple. These bandits number from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. They have to eat every day, and they don’t grow their own food. Where does their food come from? They can only exploit the people. If they can’t exploit them, they will just rob them. They are like locusts. Wherever they go, the food will be eaten up and famine will break out.

In just half a year, most of the people in Jibei County ran away, almost all of them fled to Donglai County. Donglai County provided yam rice as relief, so the refugees could at least eat half full, and there were also soups and medicines to treat their illnesses, so they could survive.

At this time, Ge Qian's army was at the end of its rope. They could not grab any food, and the soldiers began to dig wild vegetables to fill their stomachs. Ge Qian planned to march to Qi County to eat.

But they had no chance, as Pei Xingyan led an army of 20,000 and attacked Lu County.

Twenty thousand elite troops faced off against a hundred thousand hungry mobs, and the two armies fought in the wilderness.

At this moment, a low horn sounded from behind Ge Qian's army, and Luo Shixin led 20,000 cavalry to attack from behind.

Ge Qian's army was attacked from both sides. Pei Xingyan shouted, "Kill!"

"Woo——"

The horn sounded, and the 20,000 troops shouted and rushed towards the enemy. Pei Xingyan led 10,000 cavalrymen and ran in the front. At this time, Luo Shixin's 20,000 cavalrymen also came from behind.

The Ge Qian army was already frightened by the 30,000 cavalrymen attacking from the front and back, but when the cavalrymen charged into the formation, the 100,000 bandit troops collapsed instantly.

The 100,000 bandits threw away their weapons and fled desperately, but they were no match for the cavalry. They were caught up in an instant, and the cavalry shouted, "Surrender and you won't be killed! Surrender and you won't be killed!"

The bandits knelt on the ground and begged for mercy, and the number of surrendering soldiers soon became endless.

Ge Qian fled towards the Yellow River with hundreds of people, and was spotted by Pei Xingyan. Pei Xingyan led more than a thousand cavalrymen to chase him. They were getting closer and closer. When they were less than a hundred steps away, Pei Xingyan drew his bow and shot an arrow, hitting Ge Qian in the back of the neck.

"Puff!" An arrow pierced his throat. Ge Qian screamed, fell off his horse, and died in a moment.

(End of this chapter)