Chapter 159: Difficult? Then don't do it (6k)

Two days before Yang Chang captured Qinyuan, Lu Junyi arrived in Mianshang in time to support Hua Rong, and captured and surrendered the enemy general Bian Xiang.

The garrison in Mianshang was very small. When everyone saw that the right prime minister Bian Xiang had surrendered to the government army, the soldiers in the city no longer felt guilty and gave up resistance, opened the city and surrendered.

Lu Junyi and Hua Rong captured Mianshang, left Zhu Wu to garrison and settle the aftermath, and then headed south to Qinyuan without stopping.

Yang Chang helped in Fenzhou and Taiyuan, and Lu Junyi was planning to return the favor, but he encountered tens of thousands of bandits who were fleeing from the north on the way.

The Qinyuan deserters did not dare to return directly to the "royal capital", so they planned to go to Mianshang to relieve the crisis and atone for their sins, but they did not know that the coalition forces of Lu Junyi and Hua Rong reached 60,000 to 70,000 people.

As expected, these tens of thousands of deserters were beaten to a pulp, and finally fled towards the "royal capital" Tongdi like beasts.

Being a deserter when outnumbered will naturally lead to being held accountable, but being defeated when outnumbered is a normal military outcome.

People are like this, they always find excuses to comfort themselves for their failures, and when there are more people making excuses around them, it becomes a normal thing.

The prisoners of war confessed to Lu and Hua that Yang Chang suppressed Qinyuan's 70,000 soldiers with only 30,000 soldiers, and later scared away most of the defenders. Lu Junyi and Hua Rong were stunned when they heard this.

As soon as the two men defeated the deserters and arrived in Qinyuan, they received the news that Yang Chang had captured the city.

After the war in Qinyuan, resources were tight and there was no way to support an army of nearly 100,000.

Yang Chang left Cao Zheng and the surrendered general Bi Jie behind, and led his troops to march towards Tian Hu's lair at the same time as Lu Junyi.

Tian Hu originally confronted Song Jiang at Tongdi Mountain. The bandits had more soldiers but they were not as elite as the Liangshan soldiers. They also had more generals and were not as good at fighting as the Liangshan generals. Although he had the advantage on the surface, he was actually very panicked.

Guan Sheng received information from Crown Prince Tian Ding that he was leading his troops from Taiyuan in the north to kill Ruqinzhou, and now they were harassing the outside of Tongdi City. Fortunately, there were only more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, and they were not to be feared.

The fact that Guan Sheng was able to attack from the north meant that Taiyuan had most likely been lost. In that case, Lu Junyi's tens of thousands of troops would also enter Qinzhou one after another to fight, forming a pincer attack on the royal capital.

Tian Hu felt that stopping Song Jiang was not enough, so he thought of returning to Tongdi to fight a desperate battle. However, if he withdrew the troops confronting Tongdi Mountain, Song Jiang's troops would march straight in.

Just as he was hesitating and considering, news came from the west that Qinyuan and Mianshang had fallen, and that the king's brother-in-law Wu Li had been killed in battle.

Now Tian Hu could no longer sit still. He left Li Tianxi, Zheng Zhirui, Xue Shi, Lin Xin and 30,000 soldiers behind, and led 50,000 troops back to the "royal capital" Tongdi to set up defenses.

Tian Hu had just returned to his army, and Li Tianxi and others were afraid and retreated their defense line.

Song Jiang knew that Lu Junyi and his troops were heading for Qinyuan, so he immediately ordered Hu Yanzhuo, Dong Ping and others to surround the mountain and attack fiercely, and sent Zhang Qing, Suo Chao, Sun Li and other generals to support Guan Sheng.

Later, he heard that Lu Junyi and Yang Chang had already arrived at Tongdi. Fearing that he would lose the first credit, Song Jiang left Xu Ning to attack the mountain, while he led a large army to Tongdi to capture Tian Hu.

On September 15th, more than 100,000 troops from Liangshan gathered at Tongdi.

Yang Chang's troops surrounded the north gate, Lu Junyi's troops surrounded the west gate, Song Jiang's troops surrounded the south gate, Hua Rong and Guan Sheng surrounded the east gate, completely abandoning the strategy of surrounding three and leaving one behind, obviously intending to wipe out the remaining troops of Tian Hu in one fell swoop.

Even a trapped beast will still fight, let alone a prime minister.

Tongdi served as Tian Hu's capital. Through years of development, the city was strong and well-stocked with food and grass. There were more than 100,000 defenders in the city, not to mention 200,000 civilians and 50,000 troops stationed in Wuxiang County to the east, who would take the initiative to return to support the king when necessary.

As long as we fight hard and don't make any stupid or risky moves, it won't be a problem to hold on for two months.

At that time, it was winter, with wind, frost, rain and snow all around. It would have been difficult for the government troops to get supplies in the rear, so they would be able to leave the city and launch a counterattack.

Song Jiang also realized this, and at the same time wanted to perform well in front of Su Yuanjing, so on the day when the troops joined forces, he issued orders to all units, requiring them to surround the four gates and attack the city day and night.

The three gates, east, west and south, were all under fierce attack, but there was no movement at Yang Chang's north gate. He only sent generals to the city to insult and challenge, but he did not allow the soldiers to climb the city wall in the face of arrows and stones.

The first battle did not go smoothly on the day. Tian Hu, Tian Biao, Tian Ding and others went up to the city wall to supervise the battle. The tenacious defense caused considerable damage to the Liangshan army.

When returning to the camp to rest at night, Song Jiang held the bowl of rice without appetite, biting his chopsticks and thinking hard about how to break the city.

The atmosphere in the tent was awkward at that time. Dai Zong and Ma Ling, two masters of the art of speed, came back to report. They were responsible for delivering messages and collecting intelligence, giving Song Jiang a sense of satisfaction as he had a real-time grasp of the overall situation.

Wu Yong saw the two people enter and hurriedly stood up to ask, "What did you find out? Is there any progress in the other three gates?"

"Dean Dai, please speak for yourself."

"it is good."

Dai Zong nodded to Ma Ling, clasped his fists and saluted to Wu Yong, saying, "We can attack the east and west gates normally, but the walls of Tongdi are high and solid, and we didn't prepare siege equipment in a hurry. There were heavy casualties if we climbed the city walls directly. There were about 1,000 to 2,000 casualties on each side, and the casualties on Mr. Lu's side were particularly serious. I hope to transfer Doctor An to take charge."

"Sieges naturally cause casualties. They have wounded at the east and west gates, but we have no wounded at the south gate? Let the military doctors in the west work harder. Look at Commander Yang, he doesn't ask for anything."

Song Jiang continued Dai Zong's words, and halfway through, he realized that there was no news about Yang Chang, so he curiously asked: "Is there any progress at the North Gate? How many casualties did they suffer?"

"No progress, no casualties."

Dai Zong ducked his head to avoid the attack, which aroused Wu Yong's suspicion. He bent down and chased after him, asking, "What's going on? How is it possible that there are no casualties?"

"correct."

Song Jiang suddenly felt hungry, took two mouthfuls of rice, and echoed Wu Yong: "What wonderful ideas does he have?"

"No. Yang Xianfeng did not order an attack on the city. He only sent a few surrendered generals to challenge the enemy."

"He dares not to obey the general's order?"

"I don't know."

Dai Zong didn't take Yang Chang seriously before, but when he saw him throwing cannonballs in Taiyuan, he immediately knew that he couldn't afford to offend this ruthless man, so he didn't dare to speak nonsense at this time.

"Ok?"

The more Song Jiang thought about it, the angrier he got. Suddenly, he made an angry move, threw his dinner upside down on the table, frowned and cursed, "This guy is so proud of his achievements that he dares not take me seriously?"

"Brother, calm down."

Wu Yong rushed forward and whispered to comfort him, "Since ancient times, there has been no fixed method for using troops. Yang Chang has always used clever tactics to break through the city. I guess he has some new tactics. I heard that the way to capture Qinyuan is to besiege it without attacking. Let's wait and see."

"is it?"

After Song Jiang vented his anger, he immediately backed off and used chopsticks to push rice into his bowl, muttering to himself: "What the military advisor said makes sense, but our three gates are fighting fiercely, and only his north gate is unique. If it continues for a long time, it may be detrimental to the morale of the army."

"Why don't we wait and see for a few days? If they are deliberately afraid of fighting, we can hold them accountable. General Su is currently stationed in Xiangyuan. If things really don't work, we can ask him to put pressure on them."

"never mind."

Before Wu Yong could finish his words, Song Jiang interrupted him with a wave of his hand.

He frowned and said with empty eyes: "If we trouble you with this matter, where will our face be? Let's wait for him for three days and observe. If he dares to act recklessly, we will remove his military power!"

"Yes"

Wu Yong nodded in response and waved to Dai Zong and Ma Ling to go and rest.

As a famous troublemaker in Liangshan, Yang Chang naturally continued to act arbitrarily. While the fighting at the east, west and south gates was in full swing, his north gate was still the scene of verbal battles every day.

This strange fighting style even made Tian Hu feel strange.

On the night of September 18, Tian Hu discussed defense matters with his important ministers as usual.

When talking about Beimen's insults and challenges, Tian Hu frowned again and remained silent.

Seeing this, the fake crown prince Tian Ding sneered and said, "How dare such a coward call himself a vanguard? The attacks on the east, west and south gates are fierce, and the soldiers defending the city are exhausted from holding on day and night. I think we can rotate the soldiers guarding the north gate so that they can relax and rest."

"No."

The Privy Councilor Fan Quan interrupted in a hurry and said excitedly: "Your Highness, this cannot be done. If you do this, you will fall into Yang Chang's trap."

"Why?"

"Yang Chang bombarded Linfen to seize Pingyang, helped Lu Junyi to capture Fenzhou and Taiyuan, and used psychological tactics to capture Qinyuan. This man is definitely not a coward. Perhaps he is waiting for us to change our defense, and then attack when the exhausted army is defending the city. The prince must be on guard."

"How can rumors be taken seriously?"

"Prince, be careful with your words. He does have this ability. Your uncle can testify to it!"

Fan Quan and Tian Ding were arguing with each other, and the third king Tian Biao also stood up to agree, but he still failed to convince his nephew.

Tian Ding frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose. He paced around and suddenly stopped, reminding meaningfully: "If we don't rotate the guards, the soldiers guarding the east, west and south gates will surely complain about the north gate, which will affect the morale of the army over time."

"This is exactly what Yang Chang planned."

"How can we guard against thieves for a thousand days? How could he know if we changed our position secretly? Unless there are enemy spies in the city."

As soon as Tian Ding finished speaking, he suddenly realized that something was wrong and hurriedly explained to Fan Quan: "Don't think too much, Mr. Fan, I don't doubt you."

"I dare not."

"Okay, don't say any more."

Tian Hu suddenly stood up and interrupted, looking at everyone with disdain and muttering, "I believe that you are all loyal subjects. Don't be scared by such a small trick. Starting tomorrow, I will adjust the defense. The crown prince will replace me to guard the south gate, my third brother will replace the crown prince to guard the west gate, and Fan Shumi will guard the east gate."

"Your Majesty, are you going to the North Gate?"

"Let the governor Wu Ying guard the north gate. I want to have some free time to inspect various places and dispatch troops for support in a timely manner."

"Your Majesty is wise!"

While Tian Hu was adjusting the defenses in the pseudo-royal palace, Dai Zong brought Song Qing to Yang Chang's camp.

At that time, Yang Changzheng, Wu Song, Lin Chong, and Sun An were enjoying dinner around the square table in the main tent.

The North Gate has been very relaxed these days. Yang Chang had nothing to do, so he piled up some dirt to make a stove. This stove can not only increase the temperature of the tent, but also boil water and make various pancakes.

When Dai Zong and Song Qing arrived, several generals were tasting Yang Chang's new product, a pot-cake that could hold vegetables or meat.

"Sanlang, you feel so comfortable."

"Ok?"

Hearing Song Qing's voice, Yang Chang hurriedly raised his head and waved, smiling and inviting: "Fourth brother, come quickly, let's just start."

"Sorry for bothering me then."

Song Qing bowed in response and walked forward quickly with Dai Zong.

Lin Chong and Sun An were very considerate. They each took two pot cakes and walked to the side, silently giving their seats to the visiting guests.

"Fourth brother, Dean Dai, please have a try. This is a new dish I made. You can eat it directly or with meat or vegetables."

"hehe."

Song Qing took the pot cake handed to him by Yang Chang, looked at Dai Zong and joked: "Sanlang's cooking skills are very good, Dean Dai is in for a treat."

"Yes, I've heard that a long time ago."

Dai Zong took one in his hand, bit a hole in it and slowly chewed it, but he had something on his mind and it tasted bad. Yang Chang knew what the two were up to, but he deliberately didn't take the initiative to bring up the topic, just ate the cake silently and waited for the other party to speak.

Song Qing never interfered in military affairs before. Tonight, he followed Dai Zong to "raise the army and ask for punishment". It was obvious that Song Jiang did not want the relationship to become too strained, so he deliberately sent him to help smooth things over.

Sure enough, after Dai Zonggan ate half of the pot cake, he couldn't help but take the initiative to speak.

"Yang Xianfeng, Brother Gongming has ordered an attack on all four gates. However, the east, west and south gates have been under attack for several days, and each unit has suffered thousands of casualties. Why is there no movement at the north gate? I heard that they just insult and challenge each other every day. Could it be that the Xianfeng has some clever plan to break into the city? Brother Gongming sent us here to ask"

"Ugh."

Yang sighed and explained calmly, "A good cook cannot cook without rice. I have few soldiers and generals under my command and no siege weapons. If we attack the other three gates like we did, they will lose their combat effectiveness within ten days. Therefore, I send people to insult and challenge them every day to put psychological pressure on the defenders."

"Psychological pressure?"

Dai Zong thought there was a good excuse, but he didn't expect Yang Chang to answer so honestly.

Unable to help but glance at Song Qing, Dai Zong turned to Yang Chang and asked bitterly: "The North Gate only talked but did not take action. Maybe it did not give the defenders psychological pressure, but it gave our other brothers psychological pressure. Don't forget that at this time, General Su is in Xiangyuan to supervise the battle. He is waiting for the victory report of the successful suppression of the rebellion. The emperor is also waiting for the victory report. Brother wants us to work together at all costs to quickly break this Tongdi City. Don't worry about a few casualties."

"How about that?"

Yang Chang frowned and shook his head, answering firmly: "You said that you don't care about casualties, you said that you will do it at all costs, but what exactly is this price? Is it the lives of the soldiers attacking the city? Yang is a person who values ​​a clear conscience."

"But if you don't attack and I don't attack, Tongdi City can't be defeated by scolding? We all work for the court, and we should die for the country without regrets. As the saying goes, a kind person cannot lead an army."

"I think it's a stupid idea to forcefully attack and pile people into the city. Limited casualties are acceptable, but casualties at all costs are not. I'm sorry that this vanguard cannot obey your order."

“Your answer makes it difficult for me to deal with this.”

Seeing that Yang Chang was so strong and had left no room for maneuver, Dai Zong's face instantly darkened when he saw that Yang Chang had spoken so forcefully that he had no chance to continue.

Dai Zong was so angry that his hair stood on end, but he held back his anger and instead glanced at Song Qing from the side, as if to say, it's your turn.

Song Qing was calming down and about to speak when Wu Song suddenly stood up with his face turned sideways, and with his hand that had fought a tiger before, he placed it under the table and lifted it up.

"Difficult? Then don't do it."

There was a series of crisp noises, and plates and dishes were shattered all over the floor.

Dai Zong and Song Qing both stood there in a daze, wondering what this reckless Wu Song was trying to do.
"Cough cough."

Yang Chang pulled Wu Song to sit down and pretended to comfort him, "Don't get excited, brother. Don't waste food even if you are angry."

"That's right, let's talk it over."

"You can eat it after patting it, so don't waste it"

Lin Chong and Sun An also came over to smooth things over, leaving Dai and Song completely at a loss. Dai Zong, with a bitter face, reflected secretly, "Did I say something wrong?"
When Yang Chang saw that the situation was almost over, he approached Song Qing and complained softly.

"Fourth brother knows me well. He cannot bear to see his brothers die innocently. The number of soldiers and civilians in Tongdi City is several times that of those outside the city. Encircling but not attacking is the best strategy at present. Tian Hu consumes much more food than we do. We can keep transporting food to the city, but if the city consumes one stone, it will be one stone less. It won't be long before the food runs out and the city collapses."

"I know Sanlang has good intentions, but Qinzhou is surrounded by mountains, and it is not convenient for us to transport food. In addition, winter is coming soon, and there is also the issue of keeping warm. Brother is not eager for quick success, but the conditions do not allow it. You'd better think about it carefully and cooperate with the other three gates to attack together, even if it's just for a day or two? Otherwise, even if brother supports you, he can't stand the nonsense of the brothers below."

"Okay, I have one condition."

"You said."

Song Qing was secretly delighted when he heard this, and thought to himself that it was good to have conditions, he was just afraid that you wouldn't propose any conditions.

Yang Chang glanced at Dai Zong and said meaningfully, "When we attacked the fortified city of Yangqu before, I used artillery shells to seize the gate. Dean Dai witnessed it with his own eyes. Please go back and tell my elder brother to send me a few hundred artillery shells. I promise to make a big splash at the north gate."

"This"

"Yang Xianfeng is good at throwing bombs. Maybe he can help us break into the city. Let's go back and ask Brother Gongming for advice."

"All right."

Dai Zong was beaten and knocked by Yang Chang and Wu Song. He no longer had the courage to argue. He was satisfied with such an answer. Besides, he had seen Yang Chang's ability with his own eyes. Maybe he could really break the city with dense artillery shells.

The two men returned to the South Gate camp overnight. When Song Jiang heard Wu Song overturn the table and Yang Chang put forward conditions, he angrily overturned his bowl again.

"How outrageous! How outrageous! This is beyond belief!"

"Brother."

Song Qing didn't know why Song Jiang was angry, so he leaned over and asked in a low voice: "I just asked Dean Dai, Sanlang is very good at controlling cannonballs, why not let him try?"

"What are you trying for? If I ask him to fight, I'll make demands. If everyone follows my example, how can I lead the team?"

"Then this."

"You guys go down and rest first. Even without Yang Chang's troops, I can still break through the city."

"Oh"

After Song Qing and Dai Zong left together, Wu Yong went to help Song Jiang clean up the table, and asked softly: "Brother, are you going to use Ling Zhen artillery to attack the city?"

"The one who knows me is my military advisor."

Song Jiang nodded, then frowned and said, "Yang Chang can throw with his hands, so there's no reason why Ling Zhen can't use the gun carriage. Go ask how many shells are left and arrange for him to lead the attack tomorrow. We can't let Yang Chang take all the credit."

"Brother, what you said is very true. I suggest that Master Lu be transferred to the South Gate as well. I heard that he once took Taiyuan with Yang Chang. Then, if he cooperates with Ling Zhen to fire artillery, he might be able to capture the South Gate in one fell swoop."

"Wonderful."

As soon as Wu Yong finished speaking, Song Jiang waved his hand to make peace, then stroked his beard and added: "It's too late now. I will send Shi Jin to go there tomorrow morning. I think Yang Chang will have no reason to stop us. If he still doesn't know how to deal with the situation, I will just remove his military power."

"Why not have a collective rest tomorrow to confuse the defenders in the city, and then continue the attack on September 20th, so that Ling Zhen can prepare."

"What the military advisor said is very good. Go and make the arrangements."

"Yes."

On September 19, the four gates simultaneously ceased fighting.

The defenders in the city were very surprised, but it was a rare opportunity to rest, so Tian Hu took the opportunity to change his guard.

Before surrendering, Ling Zhen had dealt with the armies of Tong Guan and Gao Qiu successively, using up most of the artillery shells on Liangshan Mountain, and surrendered without having time to replenish them.

Ling Zhen was stationed outside the capital at the time, and had less than three hundred pieces left. Later, Yang Chang took away another hundred. Adding those used to attack Zezhou and Luzhou, there are only seventy or eighty pieces in stock.

Song Jiang summoned Ma Ling and others to inquire and learned that Yang Chang had only used about sixty or seventy shells to cover Sun An's death squad to climb up the city wall and seize the gate, and now Ling Zhen's artillery shells were barely enough.

Try your luck first, and if it’s not enough, ask the court for help.

In the early morning of September 20th, the sound of artillery fire at the South Gate broke the silence of dawn.

Ling Zhen and a hundred or so deputies moved eight cannons to the front of the formation in advance. According to Song Jiang's request, they fired at the city gate tower, hoping to imitate Yang Chang's way of burning the city tower.

Bao Xu, Li Gun, Xiang Chong and other shield soldiers were all preparing to climb the city wall first.

Boom boom boom.
Eight guns fired at the same time, but unfortunately only two hit the target.

One bullet hit the eaves, and the other landed on the bricks of the gatehouse. The ignited flames did not ignite the beams and were quickly extinguished by Tian Ding's men.

Ling Zhen directed his deputies to load ammunition, which made Lu Zhishen anxious. He thought, at such a slow speed, how can you achieve the same firepower suppression as in Yangqu?

Boom boom boom.
After the second round of artillery fire, only two shots hit the tower, but they were concentrated on the edge of the tower and were not as accurate as Yang Changshou's.

Finally, Lu Zhishen couldn't help himself, so he walked up to Ling Zhen and said, "Come on, light it for me, and then watch me throw it with my hands."

"Oh."

Ling Zhen had heard of the "cannon battle" in Yangqu. When he saw Song Jiang signaling to him, he immediately asked several deputies to help light the fire.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh.
Lu Zhishen threw several missiles in succession. Although the landing points were not so fixed, the speed was much faster than using cannons.

Seeing that Song Jiang continued to nod, Ling Zhen asked his deputy to continue assisting Lu Zhishen.

Wu Yong saw that his aim was not good enough, so he reminded Song Jiang in a low voice: "Vanguard, don't let the brothers just watch, you should continue to try to attack the city."

"That makes sense, attack!"

Song Jiang then waved the command flag, and Bao Xu, Li Gun and Xiang Chong led the charge.

In less than half an hour, Lu Zhishen threw all the remaining shells, but because the firepower points were too dispersed, he was unable to suppress the enemy like Yang Chang did, and finally launched a conventional attack.

In the afternoon, the troops returned to the camp. Song Jiang ordered each camp to count the number of people. The casualties on that day were slightly lower than in the past. Everyone believed that the artillery suppression was effective and the reason for not breaking the city was due to insufficient number of shells.

Song Jiang found the crux of the problem and immediately sent Dai Zong to Xiangyuan to meet Su Yuanjing and ask the court to allocate artillery shells to break the city.

While Tongdi City held out during the day's attack, Tian Dingze was shocked by Lu Zhishen's hand-throwing cannonballs. The night's discussion made Tian Hu look worried. The reason for the failure of Taiyuan had already been reported back, and it turned out that hand-throwing cannonballs was actually true.

Now the big monk has taken action, but Yang Chang, the most terrifying and precise one, still sends people to insult and challenge him every day. Is he planning on a killer move?
The atmosphere inside the palace was depressing.

Tian Biao and Tian Ding both looked solemn. The Privy Councilor Fan Quan came out to comfort them: "Your Majesty, please be at ease. The reason why Yang Chang has not taken action so long may be that they do not have enough ammunition."

"not enough?"

Tian Hu shook his head and smiled: "I heard that this guy is the most accurate in throwing bombs. If Song Jiang really doesn't have enough shells, he should use them on him, right? Why would he let Lu Zhishen throw them randomly?"

"Uh"

"Besides, they have the support of the imperial court. If they don't have enough shells, can't they get more? All we have to do is to defend ourselves."

"Yes."

"Father, that's Yang Chang."

Before Tian Ding could finish his words, Tian Hu interrupted him and said, "Don't worry, Prince. Your father will personally go to the North Gate tomorrow to take charge. We will meet this Bright Heavenly Lord and see what he is up to!"

"Yes"

Although Yang Chang continued to slack off, Song Jiang would send people to report the battle reports from the three gates of the east, west and south every day.

This battle report is both a spur and disgusting.

Yang Chang ignored him. He knew that Song Jiang had run out of tricks and would send the cannonballs to the north gate sooner or later.

After all, Song Jiang was worried about who would capture the city first, or who would capture Tian Hu first.

On the morning of September 21st, Yang Chang was resting in the big tent after dinner. Qiu Qiongying, his "sister-in-law", who had been avoiding him, suddenly came to his door with an angry look on her face.

"Yang Xianfeng, what do you mean?"

(End of this chapter)