Chapter 163: Skulls in a Chain

Anyang City was first established in the Qin Dynasty. It was originally a large county. During the Han Dynasty, the land of Anyang was divided into Dangyin County, Huang County and Ye County in the north. During the Jin Dynasty, Changle County was added 40 miles east of Anyang City. This county then became an ordinary small county with barely more than 10,000 households under its jurisdiction.

When the famous scholar Lu Ji led his troops north, in order to prevent the soldiers from running out of food and disintegrating, he only brought the 10,000 troops originally stationed in Dangyin County to the north, and garrisoned together with the 10,000 troops of the vanguard stationed in Anyang City. The remaining 60,000 armored soldiers and civilians were stationed in six county towns respectively.

The city of Anyang was only two zhang high and the moat was less than ten zhang deep. The only thing it relied on was the Zhang River in the north. Twenty thousand troops were crowded in the city, waiting for the King of Chengdu in the south to send troops to the north for help.

The leaders of the Jin army understood that if the city was besieged, all hope would be lost, so they sent out elite cavalry to patrol the Zhang River area day and night to guard against the bandits in Ye City from marching southward.

In the section of Zhang River between Yecheng and Anyang, the riverbed rolls, the banks collapse, the embankments are bent, and the distance between embankments can reach one and a half to six miles, but the water depth is only three to eight feet. Some shallows are piled with stones, so people can walk directly across.

Although the cavalry sent by Lu Ji discovered the bandits preparing to cross the river in large numbers, the bandits also had a small group of cavalry crossing the river in advance. After several rounds of fighting between the two sides with more than a thousand archers, the Anyang cavalry retreated directly back into the city.

"Anyang is only 50 miles away from Dangyin County, and elite troops can reach there in one day. Please ask the King of Chengdu to send reinforcements to the north as soon as possible. Most of the troops in this city are from the Yamen Army. Even if the bandit leader Li Hao leads his troops personally, the soldiers can hold out for two or three days at the risk of their lives."

In the county government office, Lu Ji, who was extremely anxious, waited for Meng Chao, the military supervisor sent by the King of Chengdu, to arrive, and then he stepped forward and gave orders.

In this campaign to suppress the bandits, the most trusted troops under Sima Ying's command were the 40,000 military households brought from Yecheng. Unfortunately, the families of these 40,000 soldiers were all near Yecheng, and the King of Chengdu did not dare to let them fight a fierce battle with the bandits, so he had to bring them with him to supervise the battle.

The most capable soldiers in the vanguard army are all the Yamen soldiers in the Luoyang central army, and the 20,000 people in Anyang City are no exception. The families of the Yamen soldiers are all in the vicinity of Luoyang. Even if they are defeated by the bandits, the Yamen soldiers will find ways to escape back to Luoyang. This is the key reason why the Jin court dared to send troops north to suppress the bandits.

"Originally, the governor decided to rely on the Zhang River. Now that the bandits have crossed the river, we can start attacking the city in the afternoon. Anyang City is small and dilapidated. It is a pity to have 20,000 troops defending this city. It is better for the governor to order the entire army to march east to Changle City. The bandits are short of manpower, and they will not be able to hold Anyang City even if they occupy it. Once the central army of King Chengdu arrives, the vanguard armies of various routes will join the central army to encircle Anyang and then recapture Ye City."

Meng Chao was the younger brother of Meng Jiu, a eunuch who was a close confidant of the King of Chengdu. Meng came from a poor family and disliked Lu Ji and Lu Yun, two famous families in Jiangzuo.

Lu Yun also followed his brother in the vanguard army. When the troops were divided into garrison in the eight counties south of Ye, Meng Chao had proposed that he, the military supervisor, be in charge of the troops in the four counties of Dunqiu, but in order to boost his brother Lu Yun's reputation, Lu Ji let Lu Yun take charge.

"The King of Chengdu is in Dangyin County. I have received great favors from the King. How can I abandon the city without defending it? Moreover, there are only more than 10,000 bandits. If the King sends troops in time, they can be surrounded and killed at the foot of Anyang City. There is no need to say more about this matter. Please ask the military supervisor Meng to lead the troops to ask for help."

According to reports from scouts in various places, there are about 30,000 to 40,000 bandit soldiers near Yecheng. Only more than 10,000 of them came to attack Anyang City this time. They must have come with the intention of attacking one of the eight counties south of Ye. If the siege is unsuccessful, they will retreat.

After the defeat of King Zhao Sima Lun, the servants of Lu Ji and Lu Yun spent millions of dollars to get them out of prison. Afterwards, the Lu family spent money like water to allow Lu Ji to reach his current position in front of King Chengdu.

In the current situation, no matter how many bandits come, this famous scholar from Jiangzuo has to defend it. After all, those who die are the Luoyang Yamen Army. This can not only increase his reputation, but also consume the manpower of the Yamen Army.

In this large-scale anti-bandit campaign, the King of Chengdu was also trying to deplete the strength of the central army in Luoyang. If Lu Ji abandoned the city and retreated eastward to preserve his troops, he would be severely punished. At the very least, he would be imprisoned, and at the worst, he would lose his head.

Unlike Lu Ji, Meng Chao had served in the army for a long time. Although he often allowed his soldiers to plunder civilians, he was much more familiar with the military's morale than Lu Ji and his brothers.

"The Yamen Army had no intention of suppressing the rebellion, and the imperial court did not give much reward money before the expedition. If we force the soldiers to defend the city now, I'm afraid we will lose these 20,000 people."

Meng Chao didn't want to sacrifice his subordinates in this dead city. The situation was about to get chaotic. Whoever had soldiers would gain power. "If the commander wants to defend the city, please do so. My five thousand guards must follow me."

Governor Lu Ji wanted Meng Chao to take only a hundred people to the south to seek help, not to let him take five thousand elite soldiers to escape first.

"There is a powerful enemy ahead. If you take your subordinates with you, the rest of the troops will not be willing to defend the city. This is absolutely not feasible. Please prepare to go south to seek help."

Lu Ji refused without even thinking about it.

Meng Chao did not waste time talking to the southern governor. He turned around and left. After leaving the county government office with his personal guards, he called on his subordinates to load rations and military tents onto the carts and prepare to flee south.

The news that thousands of people were preparing to march south could not be hidden from the governor Lu Ji in the city, nor from the rest of the guards and civilians who followed the army.

The enemy troops had not arrived yet, but Meng Chao's action had made everyone in the city want to flee. Governor Lu Ji had no choice but to invite Meng Chao to the county government again in the name of discussing military intelligence, and then set up an ambush and killed him.

Meng Chao's head was hung on the east gate. Governor Lu repeatedly ordered the court to defend Anyang City to the death. After the Yecheng soldiers and Yamen troops from Dangyin City, Changle City and other places would quickly send reinforcements, the defenders in the city stabilized their morale a little, gave up the idea of ​​fleeing south, and began to dig trenches and strengthen the city walls in an orderly manner.

At noon, more than 10,000 rebel soldiers finally formed up after lunch and arrived near the north gate under the expectant eyes of the Jin soldiers in Anyang.

In addition to the normal pennants, banners and command flags, the rebel army also had a very eye-catching long wooden pole with five skulls painted black on the top. The first three were recently dug out from Wen County, and the last two were two Sima princes who died at the hands of the rebel army.

Under the big flag, the three Lieutenant Generals Li Ji, Lu Rong and Wang Mi surrounded the general, waiting for him to assign them siege duties.

Under the rebel army's military system, a General of the Household was in charge of three colonels, with 4,500 armored soldiers and 500 auxiliary soldiers under his command.

In this attack on the Anyang defenders, Li Ji and Lu Rong's armored troops and auxiliary troops all went south, and Wang Mi's troops only had 1,500 cavalry. In addition, there were 1,500 personal soldiers of the general and about 1,000 soldiers and civilian laborers. The soldiers and civilian laborers were mainly responsible for building bridges, filling rivers, and pushing military equipment.

The first group of soldiers to fill the city walls were mainly the previously captured Wang Cheng and that group of ruffians, as well as the criminals looted from Yecheng.

Wang Cheng and that gang of scoundrels were quite lucky. Although they were forced to climb ladders when attacking Ye City, more than 50% of them survived. The leader, Wang Cheng, was stabbed with two halberds and lay on the top of the city pretending to be dead. He was not stabbed again.

After nearly three months of recuperation, this member of the Langya Wang clan had become no different from an ordinary person and was able to run and march. Coincidentally, the Jin court once again launched a large-scale expedition to the north, and the general specially ordered to take him and the surviving ruffians with him, and continued to let them climb ladders to attack the city.

"Lu Ji is in the city. The garrison is about 20,000. The Yamen Army has about 15,000 armored soldiers. The remaining 5,000 are civilians conscripted from various counties in Sizhou. They can be ignored."

Wang Mi told the general and his comrades about the military intelligence discovered by his cavalry.

"Lu Ji managed Anyang City for less than ten days. He did not even have time to cover the weak points of the city with bricks, but only widened and deepened the moat. This siege was slightly different from the previous ones. He first sent auxiliary soldiers and civilians to fill the moat, and then the soldiers forced their way to the city. He sent several hundred-man teams to set up ladders to attack the city, and the rest of the soldiers directly chiseled open the rammed earth walls."

Li Hao pointed at the sections of city wall made of rammed earth and gave orders.

After this war, the best situation for the rebel army was to occupy dozens of counties north of the Yellow River, and the worst situation was to defend Yecheng to the death. No matter how the situation evolved, it would be more advantageous for the rebel army to destroy the city walls of the counties south of Ye.

Li Ji, Lu Rong and other two main attacking Zhonglang soldiers received the order and left. The section of the city they were responsible for was roughly divided by the city tower, which was half of the whole section.

"Wang Mi, find a few fluent Jin scouts and send them to Dangyin County in the south to tell Sima Ying that every vassal of the Sima clan has a vacant position on the skull banner. If he wants to save his life, he should castrate himself and lead the army to surrender. I will give him a position as a eunuch."

It would be impossible for Sima Ying to lead his troops to surrender to the rebel army at this time. Li Hao did this just to disgust the King of Chengdu.

After receiving the order, Wang Mi went to select people personally. In the past two days, his subordinates captured many Jin army scouts near Anyang County.

The sound of war drums under the flags rang out quickly, and thousands of armored soldiers swarmed in, pushing the lighter shield carts to the front of the moat. The rebel crossbowmen hid behind the shield carts and shot arrows at the top of the city wall to protect the auxiliary soldiers and civilian laborers who were filling the river.

After several battles to clear the battlefield, the armor of the rebel army had exceeded the number of soldiers. The combat soldiers all wore tube-sleeved armor, or two-dimensional armor with shoulder pads. The auxiliary soldiers had armor plates on their chests, and even the laborers who filled the river wore leather armor and rattan armor.

Although the auxiliary soldiers' iron armor can protect the chest more tightly, it is heavy in the front and light in the back, so they are not as efficient as the civilians wearing rattan armor.

Most of these conscripted civilians were relatives of the gentry in Ji County. After the rebel army took control of the area near Yecheng, they roughly surveyed the land, registered the fields of the original military households and soldiers, and after confiscating the land of the gentry, distributed it to each relative at the rate of 50 mu per household.

Of course, after the rebel army's territory expanded, the land holdings of soldiers and defenders in various places increased again. The land holdings of each household ranged from 70 to 100 acres, depending on the county where they were located. The reward for beheading someone in battle was also changed to 20 acres of land for one head.

After obtaining the land, the loyalty of the people of Ji County near Yecheng to the rebel army greatly increased. Some poor people even moved north with their families, which formed a sharp contrast with the gentry members who fled south. During the siege, these civilians also worked very hard.

The Jin soldiers on the top of the city also used large crossbows and heavy bows to suppress the soldiers who were filling the river. Several catapults continuously threw down projectiles in an attempt to destroy the weapons of the bandits outside the city.

The speed of the thousands of auxiliary soldiers and civilians working was not slow. At the current rate of progress, the rebels would be able to fill the moat with two wide enough passages in more than half an hour. After feeling threatened, the frequency of crossbow shooting on the city walls increased greatly. Even with dozens of shield carts to cover them, the auxiliary soldiers and civilians of the rebels still suffered considerable casualties.

"Wang Mi led his troops to shoot arrows around the moat to suppress the enemy's arrogance."

In order to reduce casualties, General Li gave orders to Wang Mi, who was eager to fight. The flag bearers under the big banner waved the command flag, and the 1,500 cavalrymen put on their armor and mounted their horses. They galloped back and forth along the moat and exchanged fire with the Jin soldiers on the top of the city wall.

After the Sima family's ancestral tomb in Wen County was excavated, the status of General Feibao in the rebel army rose a lot. When the general was reorganizing the surrendered soldiers in Yecheng, he allocated a full-strength Yueqi Battalion to him. Apart from the general's personal soldiers, he had the largest number of cavalry under his name.

Most of the rebel cavalry were surrendered soldiers, and a few were selected and trained by military officers. Even though the general ordered all saddles to be equipped with double stirrups, the cavalry was still mainly archers. There were still not many elite soldiers who could kill the enemy on horseback with halberds and spears, and most of them were selected by the general as his personal soldiers.

The addition of cavalry under Wang Mi slowed down the casualties among the auxiliary soldiers and civilians of the rebel army, but the counterattack of the Jin army should not be underestimated. In order to speed up the filling of the river, Li Hao ordered a group of crossbowmen among his personal soldiers to follow him to the front of the moat.

Some of these crossbowmen were former surrendered soldiers, and some were able-bodied farmers. Their abilities in close combat with swords and halberds were average, but they were strong in their abdominal and back strength, and the crossbows they were equipped with were basically waist-drawn crossbows.

The waist-tension crossbow is often the most powerful single-soldier crossbow. When using it, the soldiers need to sit on the ground, tuck their feet into their big toes, hold the hook with both hands, lean back, and use their waist strength to hold the bowstring so that the hook can hook the grappling hook.

The amazing thing is that when a farmer carries straw on his back, he also leans backwards, pulls the hemp rope tight, and then stands up.

The difference between the action of stretching the bow with the waist and the old farmer carrying straw on his back is that one is exerting force in the first half of the action, while the other is in the second half.

Because the bows were powerful enough, the waist crossbowmen could hit enemy soldiers at a distance of 120 to 200 steps. In order to improve the suppression capability, the personal guards and military officers placed these 500 waist crossbowmen outside the range of the enemy's catapults.

The only weapons that could threaten them were the Jin soldiers' waist-drawn crossbows and the crossbows pulled by animals such as oxen and horses.

"Aim at your own battlements and shoot when you see someone showing his head. Don't be afraid of wasting arrows. The general has specially sent auxiliary soldiers to carry arrows for us."

The crossbow commander named Li Hu reminded his subordinates.

The general's personal guards consisted of six schools, totaling nine thousand armored soldiers, and there were only eighteen military commanders like him who were in charge of five hundred soldiers.

The selection criteria for personal soldiers are slightly different from those for normal volunteers. Generally, they select people who are strong in certain aspects. For example, the waist crossbow soldiers are selected based on the number of times they draw the crossbow strings.

After the rebels intensified their counterattack, the Jin soldiers on the city wall realized that the enemy was serious, so they no longer spared the city defense materials and fired arrows and stones at the enemy army.

The four most lethal crossbows shot arrows at the enemy continuously. Each crossbow was equipped with six oxen. In less than three quarters of an hour, the oxen pulling the crossbows were so tired that they cried out. The Jin soldiers had to whip the oxen to make them continue pulling the strings.

After the two sides fought for more than half an hour, the rebels finally filled up two roads. Although they still needed to be widened, the long ladders had been carried to the foot of the city by the two generals. The miscellaneous soldiers who climbed the ladders first, Wang Cheng, the ruffians and others were also driven to the foot of the city.

Thousands of rebel soldiers crossed the moat according to their respective affiliations. Some of them surrounded the foot of the ladder, while others chose the rammed earth wall and began to chisel it.

Of course, before digging into the city wall, most of the rebel soldiers wet their outer clothes, hair, etc. to prevent the enemy from pouring oil and setting fire.

Li Hao, holding a battle axe, was surrounded by his personal soldiers and crossed the moat. The Jin soldiers on the city wall had manure, rolling logs, and hot oil concentrated near several long ladders, and they only used stones to drive away the rebel soldiers near the foot of the city.

The personal soldiers held up their shields to protect the general's head, and Li Hao used an axe as wide as a human face to chop at the rammed earth blocks one by one.

The noise of the rebels digging into the city wall startled the Jin soldiers on the city wall. They had originally been wary of the elite rebels climbing up the ladders to attack. For this reason, Lu Ji selected soldiers from four schools and gave them rewards to boost morale.

"Look, Governor, three or four groups of bandits are digging at the city wall."

Some fearless Jin soldiers leaned out of the battlements to see the situation clearly, and then reported the actions of the bandits under the city to the commander-in-chief Lu Ji who was commanding the city.

"Quick, prepare the rolling logs and hot oil, and save the manure juice to pour on the ladder. Take down the doors and windows of the houses in the city, light them on fire and throw them down the city."

Commander Lu didn't understand whether the enemy soldiers were planning to attack the city by climbing ladders, digging down the city walls and taking the city in one fell swoop, or using both strategies at the same time, but he knew that if they didn't fight hard, Anyang City would not be able to be defended until night.

The captain sent to ask for help has already set off. In order to prevent Meng Chao's brother Meng Jiu from doing anything bad, he also specifically instructed the captain not to tell anyone that Meng Chao is dead.

The Jin soldiers began to use large amounts of burning firewood, coal, doors and windows to drive away the bandits at the foot of the city. This response was very effective. Most of the bandits retreated to the outside of the moat, leaving only a small number of strong men to work.

Among the four locations for digging the city, Li Hao's digging was the fastest. After digging two steps, he needed to use wooden boards to support the top and use wooden pillars to support the pillars to prevent the loose soil from falling and affecting the construction and the soldiers' carrying of the loose soil.

Half an hour later, the general and his personal soldiers had completely dug out a side door that was large enough for three people to walk side by side. The Jin soldiers in the city also knew that this was the fastest place to be dug. As soon as the rammed earth on the inside was dug, thousands of arrows shot into the gap within a few breaths.

The shield carts were unable to pass through this special side door, so Li Hao called in fifty low-level military officers including sergeants and squad leaders from his personal guards, and had them follow him and charge into the Jin army formation in the city holding large shields.

This side door attracted many Jin soldiers, and the pressure on the city wall suddenly eased. The two Generals Li Ji and Lu Rong seized the opportunity and sent soldiers to attack the city with ladders.

After the laborers who filled the river widened the moat, all the weapons carried by the rebels could be transported there and put to use. Governor Lu Ji was only concerned about whether the armored soldiers of the Yamen Army could defend against the rebels who came in through the rammed earth gate, and he handed over the defense of the city walls to several lieutenants, colonels and others.

After the Jin soldiers on the city reduced the number of times they set fire to the rebel soldiers who were digging through the other three parts of the city wall, they also dug through these three parts one after another, which made Lu Ji completely discouraged.

The soldiers he had prepared to guard against the enemy general were still rushing forward one by one. After the enemy general and his personal soldiers killed 500 people, he sent another 500 people to fight a rotation battle. However, he did not expect that the bandits on the city wall and the other three groups of soldiers who were trying to break into the city also broke into the city one after another.

In this situation, we can’t even make it to the evening.

What Lu Ji couldn't understand was that it was not only that the rebel general was so brave, but why were even the rebel soldiers and the laborers who filled the river so fearless and willing to risk their lives to fill the river and attack the city despite the arrows from the crossbows.

……

Dangyin County, the end of the Shen hour and the beginning of the You hour.

The sun hung listlessly in the western sky, and seemed to be about to set.

The Jin army camps near Dangyin County stretched for several miles. This small city could not accommodate the King of Chengdu’s central army, so most of the Jin soldiers had to live outside the city.

After receiving a request for help from Lu Ji, the commander of the vanguard army in Anyang County, Sima Ying reacted quickly. He immediately dispatched soldiers from the Yamen Army and the Xuchang Army in the central army to march north one after another. Even though it was almost evening when they arrived in Anyang County, they still sent troops to consume this group of bandits who dared to cross the Zhang River.

At this time, more than 50,000 Jin troops had already set out to support the north, and Sima Ying's 5,000 cavalry had just barely walked out of the barracks.

Five Jin scouts were brought before the King of Chengdu, and then relayed the words brought to him by the General of the Universe.

"My brother Sima Yi's skull was also painted black? He also asked me to castrate myself and lead the army to surrender? Who does he think he is?"

After hearing the scout's words, Sima Ying was furious and led 10,000 people south. How could Li Hao be so arrogant?

"The whole army is marching north at full speed. I will massacre the entire city of Anyang tonight."

PS: Please give me recommendation votes and monthly votes.

(End of this chapter)