Chapter 521 Defending Bianzhou

Bianzhou.

There are no dangers from mountains and rivers in this city, and it is the site of the Fourth War. The terrain is scattered and not conducive to defense.

In the sky full of wind and snow, black figures appeared in the north of the city, followed by the sound of horns on the top of the city.

"The rebels are here again!"

The siege of the city had lasted for many days. Amidst the shouts, Zhang Xun, who had not rested for several days, once again boarded the turret in the northeast of the city. He looked through his telescope and saw rebels attacking from both directions.

The enemy troops in the north were flying the banner of "King Huai of Dayan". Shi Chaoyi took advantage of the ice of the Yellow River to cross to the south bank, and cooperated with Zhou Zhi who came from Huliangdu to form a pincer attack on Bianzhou City.

At first, Li Guangbi asked Zhang Xun to guard Bianzhou City for half a month. When the military order came, Zhang Xun's generals felt that they had been slighted and asked the messenger if they knew how long Zhang Xun had been guarding Yongqiu.

Zhang Xun did not dare to entrust his superiors, so he stopped his generals and personally replied to the messenger that he would stick to it.

However, after the messenger returned, he still reported to Li Guangbi what he heard in Bianzhou. Li Guangbi faced off with Shi Siming's main force and felt that the pressure was too great. When he learned that Zhang Xun's generals were so confident, he asked Zhang Xun to hold on.

If you can no longer hold on, ask him for help.

Bianzhou City fell into a bitter battle.

Previously, due to the obstruction of Helan Jinming and others, grain from Huainan had not been delivered. Now that water transportation had just resumed, Li Xi sent the first batch of grain. As a result, Zhou Zhi arrived and sent his troops south to cut off Zhang Xun's grain route.

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Zhang Xun paid the most attention to logistical supplies during the war. Seeing that Zhou Zhi had cut off the supply route, he arranged his soldiers in the south of the city, preparing to go out to meet Li Xi.

Seeing this, Zhou Zhi divided half of his troops to the south of the city. Unexpectedly, Zhang Xun actually led the warriors to attack Zhou Zhi's camp in the east of the city at night. He used explosives to blow open the fence, set fire to the rebels' tents, provisions, and fire

He had no desire to fight, so he retreated to Bianzhou City before the rebels from the south could reach them.

In the twelfth lunar month of winter, the rebel soldiers had no choice but to chop firewood and transport supplies. That is to say, they were mostly Northern Fortress frontier troops and could withstand the colder weather than the Tang army. Otherwise, their morale would have dropped even more.

Zhou Zhi suffered a small loss at first and had to order to guard against Tang troops leaving the city day and night. The next night, he received military information again and said that he saw Tang soldiers hanging from the top of Nancheng one by one.

"Zhang Xun, how dare you come?!"

Zhou Zhi was furious, stood up, and personally led his troops to check. In the distance, he saw black shadows leaping down from the top of the city.

Fortunately, he was prepared and ordered his soldiers to fire arrows at the Tang soldiers above and below the city.

The Tang troops on the city immediately screamed.

The rebels mobilized more archers overnight and fired thousands of arrows. The screams continued all night, and it was unknown how many Tang soldiers were killed or injured.

When it was dawn, Zhou Zhi took a closer look and found that the Tang army was pulling the ropes and dragging the scarecrows up the city one by one. He looked up at the top of the city again and saw that all the people standing on the top of the city were scarecrows.

And these scarecrows are covered with arrows from the rebels.

From this day on, the arrow rain when the Tang army defended the city became much denser than before.

Moreover, for several nights in a row, Zhang Xun tried to repeat his old plan and used a scarecrow to deceive Zhou Zhi's arrows. Zhou Zhi would not be fooled again and scolded Zhang Xun for being greedy.

And just a few days later, on a night when the rebels' defense was lax, Zhang Xun personally led a thousand men to attack the rebel south camp at night. The rebels deliberately did not fire arrows at first, but when Tang Qi rushed in, they fell into chaos and trampled on each other.

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When Zhou Zhi saw his soldiers rushing indiscriminately without distinguishing between ourselves and the enemy, he was in a panic and did not dare to fight, so he fled back to Dongying on horseback.

Zhang Xun not only got the baggage of his southern camp, but also got in touch with Li Xun, and drove the supplies back to Bianzhou with a thousand oxen and horses overnight.

This battle finally stabilized the turmoil in Henan caused by Li Zhi's defeat.

But Zhou Zhi quickly reorganized his troops, and Shi Chaoyi also attacked and surrounded Bianzhou.

Once Bianzhou is lost, Luoyang will definitely not be able to hold it. Moreover, Zhang Xun knows that the soldiers and people of Luoyang City have been frightened for a long time, and now they must be in chaos.

He did not dare to take any unexpected risks, so he sent people to Yan Gaoqing and Li Guangbi respectively to ask for help.

This time he asked for help not because he could no longer hold on, but for the sake of the stability of the overall situation. What Zhang Xun was thinking about now was not the gains and losses of a city or a place, but the progress of the Tang Dynasty's counterinsurgency, and how to make more people in the future

Stable and less troublesome.

He gritted his teeth and looked through the snow and wind at Shi Chaoyi's army.

~~

The white snow was trampled into a mess, stained with blood, and turned into red ice. Shi Chaoyi gritted his teeth and looked at the tall and solid Bianzhou city wall with fierce eyes.

He eagerly wanted to capture Bianzhou, and then continue to advance eastward to achieve great success in capturing the eastern capital. This related to whether he was King Huai or the crown prince of Dayan...

"King Huai!"

Luo Yue, the general of the Yan army, withdrew and reported loudly: "The defenders on the city are too stubborn. If we continue to attack, we will suffer heavy casualties."

Shi Chaoyi felt angry and immediately wanted to scold the general, saying something like "I have to take this city even if I have to sacrifice lives for it", but he swallowed it back.

If he wanted to be the prince, he had to win the support of the soldiers, so he suppressed his anger and patted Luo Yue on the shoulder and said: "Your Majesty is urging you very urgently. What can you do?"

"Excuse me for speaking frankly." Luo Yue said: "The city is guarded by Zhang Xun. He is guarding Yongqiu. An Qingxu has been attacking for several months and still can't take it. How can we take it quickly? Your Majesty's order is too difficult for King Huai."

"Don't talk nonsense."

Although Shi Chaoyi stopped Luo Yue, he agreed with what he said in his heart and felt aggrieved by Shi Siming's strict military order.

"Is it possible to dig a tunnel into the city?" he asked, not realizing that his words showed his mediocrity.

"King Huai, the weather is cold and the ground is freezing, and the soil is too hard to dig." Luo Yue said, "I will see that Zhang Xun is a tough opponent. We should encircle him instead of attacking him. It would be better to go straight to Luoyang."

Shi Chaoyi said: "But His Majesty's military order is for us to capture Bianzhou and help him attack Li Guangbi from both sides."

"The general is out, and military orders are not obeyed."

The reason why Luo Yue retreated from the battle line was because he had something to say to Shi Chaoyi. He took two steps forward and lowered his voice.

The dead and wounded on the battlefield in the distance are still wailing, but the people in charge of the soldiers have no time to pay attention to the battlefield, and once again care about personal gains and losses of power.

"If your Majesty doesn't know how to adapt, and patrols under Bianzhou City, and cannot take the city, it will be your Majesty's fault. Even if he does, he will lose his troops and generals, and those of us who are close to you will die. At that time, how will your Majesty commit suicide?"

Where?!”

Luo Yue changed the subject and said: "On the other hand, Luoyang was originally the capital of Yan. The time for An Qingxu's retreat was still short, the people's hearts were still uncertain, and the city wall was not strong. It will be broken when the king's troops come to the city. By then, the king will have great achievements in regaining it.

, occupy the Eastern Capital and gather momentum, why worry about not being the crown prince?"

"Your Majesty will definitely be angry at me for not obeying military orders. Can you still appoint me?" Shi Chaoyi said.

"The king does not expect to gain the throne through meritorious service, but instead expects His Majesty's love?"

Shi Chaoyi also felt that it made sense in his heart, but he still hesitated and asked: "What if Zhang Xun attacks our rear area?"

Luo Yue said: "So, we have to let Zhou Zhi continue to surround Bianzhou City."

Shi Chaoyi swept away the snow with his feet, squatted down, and knocked the ice and soil on the ground with the handle of the knife. It made a bang bang sound, as hard as Zhang Xun's bones, which was helpless.

"Then...according to the general's wishes."

~~

Two days later, when the sound of gold rang outside the city, Lei Wanchun kicked down the last rebel who climbed to the top of the city, gasping for air, and planned to throw away the knife in his hand.

The handle of the knife had frozen to his palm along with the blood. Every time he took it off, the scabbed frostbite would reopen and the pus inside would leak out, causing pain and itching.

Lei Wanchun seemed unaware and strode towards Zhang Xun.

"Your Majesty! Fortunately, the general has lived up to his command and defended the city for another day!"

His voice was very loud, and it was he who said to Li Guangbi's messenger, "Don't say stay for half a month, even half a year, we can hold it," which made Li Guangbi stop coming to rescue Bianzhou.

Zhang Xun was looking out of the city with his telescope in his hand. He had been looking for a long time. A thick layer of snow had accumulated on his helmet, and his eyebrows and beard were also stained white.

"The rebel forces are low."

"Did you know that you couldn't attack the city you were guarding, so you retreated?" Lei Wanchun asked, "Or did you go to attack Yongqiu, Ningling, Suiyang and other places?"

Zhang Xun didn't answer for a long time. The wind blew his face more and more dry and cracked, and he became more determined. After a long time, he made a confirmation and said: "Luoyang!"

"What?"

"I can't wait to save Luoyang!"

If it had been anyone else, hearing that Zhang Xun was besieged in an isolated city and had to go to support elsewhere when his soldiers were exhausted, he would have been doubtful and dissuaded. But Lei Wanchun did not hesitate at all and raised his hand covered with scars and frostbite.

With one arch, he immediately accepted the order.

The next day, Zhang patrolled Qi Jiaben, Nan Jiyun, Yao Zhen and other generals to analyze the situation. He asked them to guard Bianzhou City while he led Lei Wanchun and led 500 cavalry to attack Shi Chaoyi's rear army and cut off its

Food and grass to support Luoyang.

"Your Majesty, this is too dangerous." Jia Bi quickly advised him.

"Can it be more dangerous than when we were in Yongqiu?"

Zhang Xun had made up his mind and refused to listen to any dissuasion.

Jia Bi had no choice but to bid farewell to Zhang Xun with tears at the top of the city.

However, the troops of Bianzhou had just left the city, and the cavalry under Zhou Zhi soon made movement. They surrounded the city to the west, apparently calculating that Zhang Xun might send troops, and they were well prepared.

"I'm going to rescue the envoy!" Yao Min was immediately anxious.

Jia Ben burst into tears, but strictly followed Zhang Xun's instructions and refused to let these generals leave the city, but still strictly guarded Bianzhou.
To be continued...