Chapter 847 Destruction

Chapter 847 Destruction

Chapter 847 Destruction
It was already July, and the weather was clear and crisp.

Before we knew it, the south wind turned into the north wind.

The earliest millet planted outside Pingcheng is almost ripe. When the wind blows, the golden ears rise and fall, which is pleasing to the eye.

On the south bank of the Yangshui (Mud River), the Xianbei people finally appeared.

The millet that was about to mature could not be harvested, which made them toss and turn at night and unable to fall asleep. After struggling for a long time, a large group of people came from afar to prepare for the harvest.

They had been busy for most of the night and were reluctant to leave after daybreak. Everyone was waving their sickles and trying to harvest as much grain as possible.

The Xianbei people did not care about the yield per mu when farming, nor did they plow deeply or have any field management. They just focused on planting a lot but getting a small harvest.

They are satisfied if they can harvest four portions of grain from sowing one portion of seed, and even two or three portions is not unacceptable because they really don't put in much effort.

Correspondingly, because they do not pursue per-acre yield, their sowing area is very large, and some fields are not even shallowly plowed, which makes people doubt whether one acre of land can produce one bushel of grain.

Sowing seeds is fun, but harvesting requires hard work.

The Xianbei man was panting, so tired that he could not even straighten his back, but his face was pale, and he looked around from time to time, not knowing what he was worried about.

By noon, the leader of the team became increasingly uneasy. He dared not delay any longer and immediately ordered all the food to be loaded onto trucks and the team to retreat quickly.

Although the herdsmen were reluctant, they still followed the order.

At this moment, the ranger on guard outside suddenly heard a noise, but the wormwood in the distance was too dense to see clearly. In a panic, he rode his horse to the high slope to see far away.

It wouldn’t matter if you didn’t look at it, but once you did, you’ll be scared to death.

The cavalrymen were looming in the endless wormwood. He couldn't see how many there were, but he felt that there were cavalrymen and wormwood everywhere, and the men and horses merged into the grass and moved quickly in the grass.

A strong wind blew and large patches of wormwood fell down.

The rangers' eyes widened immediately. There were so many people there, no less than two thousand.

It’s over! It's all over!

He immediately galloped down the hill, and under the surprised gaze of his companions, he jumped off his horse, stumbled to the tree, picked up the gong and started to beat it.

The ding-ding sound of the gong echoed across the wormwood, the reeds, the river, and throughout the fields.

After a while, the sound of gongs could be heard from all directions.

The cavalrymen on guard immediately mounted their horses and rushed towards the area where the gong sounds were most frequent.

The collision unfolded on the riverbank.

The Hun cavalry who came all the way from Yijing Town rained arrows like rain, screams continued to ring out, and blood dyed the ground red.

"Crash!" A team of mixed cavalry from the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Di and Qiang tribes from Puyang Mountain bravely crossed the river, dispersed the hundreds of light cavalry that were blocking them, and rushed into the fields that had just been harvested and only had stubble left.

The Xianbei people rushed to the horses and vehicles in a panic, trying to take out weapons to resist. But the Jin army would never give them a chance. The sound of bowstrings kept coming, and the Xianbei people who had just experienced the joy of a good harvest screamed and fell to the ground one after another.

"Tang tang..." The sound of horse hooves was heard again from the south, and more than a thousand Wuhuan cavalry came from behind to attack.

The rangers on guard had already joined the battle, and no one reminded them at all.

These Wuhuan cavalrymen, who were affiliated with the Wang family, easily rushed into the Xianbei crowd and killed them wantonly.

There was almost no suspense in the battle.

After a wave of raids, more than 600 Xianbei people were beheaded and more than 2,000 able-bodied men and women were captured.

The officer who commanded the raid had a clear mind and was not blinded by the victory in front of him. Instead, he ordered the prisoners to be tortured and forced to confess where they came from.

It didn't take long before hundreds of riders left the farmland and acted as vanguards, chasing towards the mountains in the northwest.

******
Forty miles north of Pingcheng, thousands of dejected Xianbei people were driven here and began to cut wood and carry soil to build fortifications.

Yuan Xi looked at these people from afar and suddenly asked, "What is the name of this city?"

"Liang Chang." Liu Kai, the servant of the general's mansion who came to deliver the message, answered.

"Liang Chang..." Yuan Xi repeated it softly and said with a smile, "What a nice name."

Liangchang is forty miles north of Pingcheng, on the northern bank of the Yangshui River.

In history, Murong Chui was on his way back from the attack on Dai and suffered a serious injury at Chanhe Pond, which made him ill. When passing by this place, he was seriously ill, so he stopped for a short time and ordered the construction of this city, which was called "Yanchang City".

As the name suggests, this city represents his beautiful expectations, but of course the final result is cruel.

Shao Xun ordered the construction of Liangchang City for no other reason than to prevent Helan Aitou from moving south.

Recently, some Helan clan cavalry appeared in the north, eyeing Pingcheng, so we had to do this.

As a result, the original tactic of besieging Pingcheng on three sides and leaving one behind was changed. Tuoba Heli's retreat route was actually cut off, although he himself might not know it yet.

Yuan Xi didn't care about all that. He was just ordered to supervise the captives in building the city to prevent the Liang Wang army from being ambushed by the sudden enemy cavalry. The combination of internal and external attacks was very dangerous and had to be prevented.

"After the city is built, what should we do with the captives?" Yuan Xi pointed at those people and asked again.

"The king has ordered us to move to Bianliang to serve as official slaves." Liu Kai said in a low voice: "If anyone asks for it, the general will never agree."

Yuan Xi nodded slightly.

He was a warrior, but that didn't mean he had no brains. Who asked for it? Of course it was Wang.

He could see that while the King of Liang was besieging Pingcheng, he sent a large number of cavalry to plunder and capture anyone they saw. Ding Zhuang was taken to Pingcheng and forced to attack the city.

Cattle and sheep were used as military supplies to reduce the burden of transportation in the Central Plains.

The elderly, the weak, women, children and some young men built the city here, but they would be moved away after the work was completed.

It can be said that there have been some changes compared to when we left Yanmen Pass.

At that time, many tribes came to surrender, and Shi Yijian and his son had a full meal. In addition, Wang's group was too weak, and King Liang also wanted to support them, so he didn't capture many people.

At this point, the methods became more intense.

Yuan Xi asked, most of the captives were from the Tuoba tribe among the ten Tuoba clans. Killing and enslaving the men and moving away the old, weak, women and children would greatly weaken the Tuoba tribe. Even if Pingcheng was sent away in the future, the agriculture and animal husbandry here would be severely damaged and it would be difficult to recover in a short period of time.

Not to mention, Yuan Xi didn't think that King Liang would hand over Pingcheng. Even if he gave it to Wang, it was under his actual control and was just a cover.

The Lueyang Yuan clan had been fighting with the Hu people for years. Yuan Xi had no good feelings towards these people and had no sympathy for them at all. He agreed very much with King Liang's decision - to move some of the garrison troops from the Central Plains here and slowly turn Pingcheng into a Han area.

Liu Kai had stayed in Liangchang for two or three days and was ready to go back. Before leaving, he looked towards the vast north and asked, "General Yuan, will the Helan clan go south?"

Yuan Xi thought for a moment and said, "Whether we go south or not, we have to be on guard against him. Judging from the king's intention, he will deal with this guy sooner or later. You don't need to think too much, just follow his orders."

"That's right." Liu Kai bowed and said goodbye.

Going south with him were a small number of light cavalry from Bingzhou. They drove more than 30,000 horses and rushed south.

The final destination of these horses was Bianliang.

In this year's war, the fort owners and aristocratic families in Henan provided a lot of food and labor service. When they heard that King Liang was planning to make a deal with them, they sold a large number of horses in exchange for the manpower and food needed for the war.

Of course, this seems to be just one of the purposes.

******
On the tenth day of July, it drizzled continuously.

Before they knew it, the siege had been going on for three days and it was time for Zhai Shu's troops to take to the battlefield.

As soon as it was daybreak, dinner was served in the camp.

The Dingling herdsmen devoured the corn porridge ravenously, but some of them started crying while eating.

The Xianbei people no longer knew how to defend the city. When he stood on the top of the city wall, he still had a great advantage, and the casualties of the attackers could not be small.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month, five thousand people were divided into three groups and took turns to attack, and in the end only more than three thousand were left.

To make matters worse, some people could not bear the responsibilities and rebelled in anger. They were directly hacked to death by the Silver Spear Army and the palace soldiers who were supervising the battle, and hundreds of people died.

We have to go into battle again today. There is a pessimistic atmosphere in the camp and everyone feels that they may not be able to come back this time.

"This is the last time." Outside the camp, Zhai Shu faced the leaders of each clan and advised, "King Liang promised personally that after this charge, it will be considered as a pardon for the crime, and that incident will be treated as if it never happened."

The clan leaders were dejected. Some of them could not help but say, "After we charged the day before yesterday, it was the Pu tribe Xianbei who charged. Yesterday morning it was the Wuhuan who charged, and in the afternoon it was the local tyrants from the counties in northern Xing. The Silver Spear Army launched a night attack, but it was fruitless and they retreated. Today it is our turn to fight again. I heard that a lot of prisoners were captured in the north. Our two or three thousand people are not enough for a charge. After we finish the battle, most of the prisoners will charge. I think King Liang did it on purpose—"

"Shut up!" Zhai Shu scolded, his face changing from gloomy to bright.

In fact, isn't that what he thought in his heart?

They were different from the people of Jin and had always been regarded as aliens. Did the King of Liang really trust them? Not necessarily.

That woman Wang was also stupid. In order to capture Pingcheng, she did not hesitate to sacrifice the Wuhuan and Xianbei people who were persuaded to surrender. When all the people are gone, then everyone will know the true face of Shao the thief.

After being tortured so hard by Shao the thief, Tuoba Xianbei is probably unable to get up.

Last year, there was a great battle between Guangning and Daijun, with heavy casualties on both sides.

Helan Aitou fought a series of battles with Qi's mother and son, and the number of casualties was not small.

The battle was still continuing to cost lives, and Zhai Shu had no idea how many casualties would be there after the battle was over.

In addition, most of the food in the wild was gone.

In hiding from place to place, the herders didn't even prepare fodder for the livestock to survive the winter. How would they survive this winter? Slaughter the livestock?

What about next spring? Without sufficient livestock, life will become more difficult and we will be more controlled by the Shao bandits.

It's over!
The sound of drums began to sound, this was the second time.

Zhai Shu sighed helplessly and went back to the camp.

After beating the drum three times, they would go into battle and fight for the slim chance of survival. However, the people who drove them to fight did not care about their lives at all.

To put it bluntly, he might be deliberately wasting his time, but he didn't dare to resist.

Whenever I think of this, my blood boils and I wish I could rebel immediately.

"Boom, boom, boom..." After a long time, the third drum sounded.

The more than 2,000 Dingling people looked as if their parents had died, and before going into battle, they all looked at Zhai Shu.

Zhai Shu's face turned blue and red, and finally he turned away, not daring to look at everyone.

There seemed to be a huge sigh in the wind.

Bathed in the morning light, the Dingling people went into battle listlessly.

(End of this chapter)