Chapter 1334: Attack on the City

Chapter 1334: Attack on the City

Chapter 1334: Attack on the City
The summer in Beiping County is still quite colorful, though a little desolate.

In the sixth year of Kaiping, the population was cleared, and 4,300 households and more than 19,000 people were found. Five years later, the population did not increase but decreased, with less than 4,000 households and about 18,000 people left. This was the number after many wealthy families, tribal farmhands, and slaves were taken in. For many years, people in the four county offices of Beiping filed lawsuits and asked the court to help catch the escaped slaves. The government agreed on the surface, but actually did not do much.

The second largest population gathering place in Beiping County is Jingsai Town.

The town currently has about 3,000 households and 15,000 people, most of whom are Jie people, and are mainly concentrated in the swamp area around Jingsai Town and to its south.

Jingsai Town is surrounded by farmland and has a very dense population, which is very different from the deserted scenes in other places in Peking. The south of the town to the sea is full of swamps because of the flooding of the lower reaches of the Ru River. Most of the land is used as pasture for the town, and sometimes other tribes or local people come here to graze.

In other words, this county actually had a population of more than 30,000 people, but it had to bear a relatively heavy military defense task and there were constant fighting all year round, but the court did not provide much subsidies.

Of course, correspondingly, Jingsai Town also became the largest force in the local area, controlling everything from top to bottom, and even the prefect had to consult with the town commander.

Rights and obligations are equal, which is fair.

If you want to control and take back power, it means huge financial expenditure. A large amount of subsidies will need to be provided to Youzhou every year, which will become a major source of financial loss.

If you don't care, there will naturally be no need for large-scale expenditures, and it will be financially easy, but you will have to cede local power and create the risk of separatist rebellion.

Nothing is perfect.

Compared with Beiping County, the neighboring Yan County is similar, with a total of ten counties, about 10,500 households, and more than 44,600 people. The two towns of Beikou and Linji have a total population of 30,000 to 40,000. In the swamps near the sea in the south, there are also some small tribes living - most of them have been registered as citizens.

Youzhou is like this, and has been like this for thousands of years.

However, Shao Xun still wanted to deal with these military garrisons. Not by abolishing them, but by having them managed by the imperial court, even if the expenditure increased sharply.

On the ninth day of June, he personally organized three battalions of the Yellow Head Army, the Luoyan Army, and the Black Head Army camp stationed in Peking, totaling more than 40,000 people, to conduct a large military exercise in order to intimidate the troops from various garrisons and the miscellaneous Hu tribes.

That evening, he received a military report from Jiang Ke, the commander of the Silver Spear Left Camp: after leaving Linyu Mountain, they fought several small battles and beheaded nearly a thousand people. The Xianbei tribe that stayed behind in Tuhe surrendered, and the troops were suffering from mosquito bites. It also rained heavily and the lakes were overflowing. They requested to stay in Tuhe temporarily and set off again when the weather improved.

Shao Xun agreed and casually placed the military newspaper on the table.

"Why did Jiang Ke send you a military report? Isn't Li Chong the Recruiting Envoy?" Shan Yinan picked up the military report and asked after reading it.

"He also sent it to Li Chong." Shao Xun said.

After saying this, he smiled to himself. He was now acting like Chiang Kai-shek, asking his opinion first for his direct troops. If he disagreed, then Li Zhong, the "king of the miscellaneous troops", might not be able to command these people.

Fortunately, he did not take the initiative to destroy the atmosphere, so Li Zhong did not fall into the predicament of not knowing where his troops had gone. The command authority of the front-line commander must still be maintained, otherwise it will be himself who is in trouble.

"Do you want to move these Xianbei people inland? I don't think it will be of much use." Shan Yinan said.

As they were talking, Shi washed a plate of fruit and brought it over.

"It's just some chores, why bother doing it yourself?" Shao Xun took the fruit plate and helped Shi sit down, facing Shan Yinan.

Shi was slightly happy, but also a little melancholy.

She was "accidentally" pregnant again, and according to the time calculation, it might be almost two months. After she got pregnant, the man took good care of her. Although she was a little embarrassed to admit it, Shi knew in her heart that at the age of 40, she still liked to hear the sweet words the man said in her ear, because she had never heard such explicit, blushing and memorable love words before.

However, when she saw Shan Yinan, their eyes met, and Shi quickly retracted her gaze and subconsciously lowered her head.

She lowered her head not because she was afraid, but because she felt inferior. The inferiority complex was not because of the difference in status, but because she was old.

Shan Yinan was more open-minded than Shi. Having unloaded a heavy burden, she lived more freely. At the moment, she was looking at Shao Xun and was too lazy to care about Shi who was in a complicated mood.

That old woman's mind is now full of vying for favor, which is so boring.

"In the long run, it is indeed not very useful. Without the Murong Xianbei, other tribes will come." Shao Xun said, "But within 30 years, the border troubles will be greatly reduced, so it is still somewhat useful."

"Most of the Tuhe Xianbei are Murong Han's former subordinates. Will they be handed over to him?" Shan Yinan asked again.

"Give him some followers, a few hundred at most." Shao Xun said, "If he wants his tribe, he can go out to the border to recruit them. Murong Huang is trapped in Jicheng, and the tribes are scattered and hiding. This is where Murong Han can be of use."

"He recruited some people, and he wants to give you some, right?"

"Let's see if he can behave himself."

"Where are you sending them?"

"They will be placed in Youzhou first, and brought back with them when the army returns. Later, they will probably be sent to Xuzhou, Huainan, Jingzhou, and most of them will be in Jiangbei."

“I’m afraid it will be difficult to adapt.”

"I will adapt." Shao Xun said firmly: "As long as you still want to live, you can adapt."

This - leaves one speechless.

Shan Yinan keenly felt that the key was outside the Jicheng battlefield. He had to weaken the power of Murong Xianbei, but he couldn't kill him with one blow.

The man in front of me has never focused on the war itself, but on post-war governance.

"Jiang Ke brought me the first batch of Xianbei people." Shao Xun picked up a fruit and said with a smile, "I wonder who can bring me the second batch."

******
The second batch of troops were actually from the Donglai camp, but they led the people to Ma Shijin instead of sending them directly to Youzhou.

Outside Xiangping City, Murong Ren's face was gloomy and uncertain.

Murong You and Murong Zhi stood behind him without saying a word. They had been like this since Murong Jun's death, just as the saying goes, "When the rabbit dies, the fox mourns."

These days they captured a tribe north of Xiangping, with a total of more than 3,000 men, women, old and young, with most of the young and strong men in the city. They also had more than 50,000 large and small livestock. In fact, they were not very rich, but still a small help.

Murong Ren immediately tried to recruit them, and when they heard that they could go to Xuantu, they immediately agreed. They were all descendants of the Murong family, so it was better than going to outsiders.

However, the Liang people obviously also took a fancy to this tribe. Zuo Feilongwei dispatched thousands of cavalrymen to take over the tribe as a "friendly army" and forced them to migrate south to Mashijin.

Murong Ren thought it over again and again and did not dare to intervene, but dissatisfaction was accumulating in his heart.

He looked at the Liang officers and soldiers on the eastern hillside, holding horse whips and pointing at Xiangping, with a very complicated look in his eyes.

Looking at the Liao River, the Liang people were taking advantage of the flood season to try to use boats to cross the swampy shallows near the estuary and go deep into the inland areas.

This level of power is not something he can resist at his current level.

Just bear with it for now! Murong Ren heaved a long sigh.

After Murong Huang's death, as the Duke of Xuantu County, he became the most influential person in the Xianbei's former land, and he still had many opportunities.

Murong You and Murong Zhi felt a little gloating, but they didn't show it. They were originally ordered to attack Murong Ren, but they were defeated and captured, so they had no choice but to surrender.

Murong Ren didn't have a very good face towards the two of them, and the two of them didn't have a good impression of this brother, because he was always on guard against them and didn't give them any power at all.

The long team soon disappeared on the southern horizon.

Murong Ren withdrew his gaze and continued to look towards Xiangping City.

The local tyrants and even the young men of the tribe in Liaodong County had launched an attack on the city for seven or eight days, but without much success.

The casualties on their side were more than 3,000, while the defenders only suffered more than 1,000 casualties. You can say that they are not good at attacking the city, but the Yellow Head Army also attacked twice, and the Zuo Feilong Guards even dismounted and attacked fiercely once, almost attacking the top of the city, but they still fell short.

At this time, only the Liaodong men and the Northern Army were still attacking the city from time to time. Judging from their listless appearance, it was obvious that they were not fighting to the death.

But there are more ways to break a city than just a violent attack. In fact, you can also achieve results through siege or psychological warfare.

Murong Jun has little food and grass, and he may not be able to hold out for long if he retreats to Xiangping with more than 10,000 soldiers. Moreover, most of the defenders are from Changli, and most of their families have surrendered. Why are you still defending?

As for the tribal nobles, it is even more difficult to get away with them.

The tribe that was recently found went around the east of the city when it went south, and everyone in Xiangping knew about it. At this point, who wouldn't worry about their tribe being found? Who wouldn't want to go back to protect their family? Even if they could get some benefits, it would be fine, but how many people in the world would be willing to die for a country that is about to perish?
So, at night, the north gate of Xiangping was opened wide, and hundreds of riders fled in panic, most of them were tribal nobles and their followers.

On the tenth day, hundreds of Hu and Han soldiers came out of the city to surrender.

However, Murong Jun suppressed the chaos at the critical moment, preventing the panic from spreading and preventing the whole army from surrendering. But anyone with a discerning eye could see that Xiangping would fall sooner or later, without any suspense.

Coincidentally, on the tenth day of June, a large group of cavalrymen, numbering more than 10,000, marched south from the north.

They did not rush to meet up at the foot of Jicheng City, but instead sent out several groups of cavalry to advance along the river and search for possible locations of the Murong Xianbei tribes.

This is not an easy matter. Even if it happens, it may be very dangerous. After all, most of the young and strong men of the Xianbei tribes are in the tribe, waiting to gather their strength to show the Liang people a hard time.

But anyway, this massive search operation is still very stressful, especially after the elite cavalry led by Shao Shen arrives one after another, the situation on the battlefield will undergo profound changes.

Of course, taking the opportunity to attract the lost and expand the strength is also one of the purposes.

In the evening of that day, Yuwen rode his horse up the high slope and looked at the endless willow forest and reeds in the distance. His eyes darted around like a fox, searching constantly.

She did not have a real name, and her Xianbei nickname was "Wild Li", which was quite appropriate.

On the edge of the swamp, cavalry were chasing back and forth. It was obvious that there was a tribe hiding nearby, but they still had the strength to fight, so they had to deal with it carefully.

While chasing, there were naturally knights with several fast horses, galloping towards the direction of Jicheng without caring about their lives.

The city of Ji was not peaceful that day. A massive siege was entering a fierce stage...

(End of this chapter)