The dry season is not without rain, it's just that it doesn't rain as much and as often as it does in the rainy season.

It was raining on this day, and Han Zong stood under the oil-paper umbrella, looking at the township soldiers slowly gathering along the avenue of cane sugar, with a solemn face.

Tens of thousands of township soldiers were recruited in the land of one state, and Xu Ping was not the first to do this in the Great Song Dynasty, and Han Zong knew that there were more than three people. However, it was along the border of Hebei, facing the Khitans, those township soldiers were not even with swords, guns, bows and arrows, and they played more of a role of shouting and cheering.

Xu Ping's tens of thousands of township soldiers were really going to be pulled out to fight a tough battle, not only were they equipped with swords and guns, their banners were neat, and half of the cavalry and a quarter of the infantry were also armoured. In terms of equipment alone, it is naturally incomparable with the regular army of the Great Song Dynasty, but it is on par with the regular army of Jiaozhi.

Han Zong's eyelids jumped, remembering that these township soldiers were not fighting for the Xiang army, but completely independent, he sighed that Xu Ping was playing too big.

Not far away, in the place where the village soldiers were concentrated, someone was reading aloud the content on the white wall: "The ambition of the wolf son, the court is now suspending the favor of the elders, and the anger of the thunder is ......"

After reading, a calligrapher shouted in the rain: "Over the years, it has been in the Kou, but it is not limited to the border states such as Luzhou, Siling and Shixi. It is the current lord of Jiadong, Jia Chenggui, who once broke through Taiping Village in the early years of Tiansheng, burned and looted countless people, and the soldiers and civilians were killed and injured. Some of us have crossed the ocean, some have crossed the mountains of Wuling, traveled thousands of miles to Yongzhou, taken root and settled down, and have not lived a good life for a few years. If we allow the armor to run rampant, our life will not be peaceful. Instead of letting them fight, let's take the initiative to kill them and get rid of this scourge forever. It is also counted as a blessing for future generations......"

Thin strands of rain drifted with the breeze. The assembled Xiang Jun did not react enthusiastically to the words of the bookmaker. If Xu Ping were standing here, he would have been disappointed to see this kind of scene.

The proclamation was for the imperial court, officials, and Jiaozhi to see, and the content of the proclamation was far from enough to make the village soldiers willing to go to war. Xu Ping also thought of a lot of ways, such as the meat appearance mentioned by the calligrapher, so that this war can be effectively connected to everyone.

It's a pity that Xu Ping still can't touch the pulse of this era, his set of lessons learned from his previous life, and it is effective for an awakened nation. It is far from enough for the current people of the Great Song Dynasty, and the effect is not great.

After five generations of war, the people were displaced, and the lower classes of the people in this era had a strong atmosphere of displacement, and defending their homeland did not appeal much to them. This is still in the sugar business, and the lives of immigrants have really changed dramatically in recent years, and I can still listen to these words.

In another place, the bookmaker's words will cause laughter. If you fight, you will fight, and talk about how much money you give and how much you can rob. than these are attractive.

Let the combatants know what they are fighting for, and willingly fight to the end. It's always been the hardest thing in war. That's why Wu Qi sucked pus for the soldiers, there was a magic stick with the army, and only the five generations of town generals accepted the elite soldiers as righteous sons, and so on. What people learned in the end was that it was cheapest to let the combatants know what they were fighting for, as long as they knew what to do with strict military law.

Xu Ping will learn this slowly after all.

December 25th, the last day of the 49th.

The wind came from the east, and it seemed to carry the smell of the ocean, some wet, some cold.

Xu Ping was dressed all over, riding on a horse and looking at the sun that had just risen in the east, the red sunlight dissolved the cold breath, giving people warmth and confidence.

Tan Hu whispered on the horse: "Official, the time has come." ”

"Pass my military order, and send the soldiers to forgive the state!"

Xu Ping exhaled, lifted the reins of his horse, and galloped towards the Langzhou Basin in the east.

The sound of the horn sounded from outside the city of Menzhou, and gradually extended to the east, all the way to the border of Menzhou.

Han Daocheng heard the sound of the horn in the distance, and his brows twitched: "Straight lady thief, it's time to count!" Tell the order to go down, and the whole army will set off and go straight to the Poor Qi River! ”

On the 25th day, Sang Yi, who returned from Guangyuan Prefecture, arrived in Qiyuan Prefecture, and the overall situation of the western front had been decided, and Xu Ping took a total of 15,000 soldiers and horses from Menzhou and Pingxiangtong to officially enter Langzhou.

By noon, the 1,000 cavalry stationed on the border of Menzhou had arrived at the Qianqi River, patrolling back and forth along the river. The ferry on the river had long been burned down by Jiatong, and the Jia family made up their minds to abandon Beilangzhou.

In the afternoon, Xu Ping's Chinese army arrived outside the city of Beilangzhou.

Xu Ping looked at the small city in front of him on the horse, the city wall was less than a zhang high, made of earth, there was no moat around, wooden city gates on all sides, and there was no urn city. It rains a lot, and the earth city is very erosed, and although it has been repaired over the years, there are still many places where wild grass grows.

Seeing that the four gates of the city were closed and there was no movement at all, Xu Ping asked the people around him: "It has been an hour or two since the cavalry advance bypassed here, has the city been so quiet?" ”

"Yes, it's like it's full of dead people!"

"Could it be that no one inside needs to eat or drink, so no one comes out to chop wood and buy vegetables?"

"Official, since the last time Han commanded the siege of the city, the people in this city have been driven out, only the Zhizhou family is inside with the soldiers guarding the city, it seems that they are going to defend the city to the death!"

Xu Ping sneered: "Hold on? This small town also deserves it! ”

After calling Tan Hu, Xu Ping gave a few instructions and asked him to shout outside the city gate.

Tan Hu promised, Le Ma went to the city gate, saw that there was no one in the city, and I didn't know if anyone would hear it, so he shouted hard: "The Great Song Dynasty raised the Zuojiang Daoxi Pass Affair Xu Guanren to tell Li Qingcheng, the governor of Langzhou, in the city, and quickly open the city gate to welcome the imperial court soldiers and horses. ”

shouted three times, and seeing that there was no movement in the city, Tan Hu returned to Xu Ping's side in a daze.

Xu Ping didn't say anything, waited for a while, and said to Tan Hu: "You go over again, let him open the city gate within half an hour, otherwise he will start attacking the city." Also, if our men and horses are fighting to enter, then he is plotting to rebel and commit treason, and he will be beheaded, and his wife and concubines and children will be exiled 3,000 miles away! ”

Tan Hu promised and was about to leave, but Xu Ping stopped him again and said to him: "Also, I especially want to tell him that I know that one of his two sons is in Jiatong and the other is in Shenglong Mansion. If we break the city and behead him, I will ask Ka Tong and Thang Long to send his two sons back and dispose of them together. Now that I have tens of thousands of soldiers in Langzhou, I don't believe that Jiaozhi and Jiatong will be righteous for him! ”

Tan Hu responded and returned to the city gate to shout.

Shouting this kind of thing Xu Ping, as the commander of the first army, will not go in person, if there is a strong bow and crossbow in the ambush in the city, and the commander is shot over, the joke will be big.

After shouting, Tan Hu came back and waited quietly beside Xu Ping.

About a quarter of an hour later, there was movement on the city gate, and Li Qingcheng appeared at the head of the city, shouting at the handsome banner: "Li Qingcheng, the governor of Langzhou, has something to say to the officials who raised it!" ”

The sergeant in front passed the word, and Xu Ping said coldly: "Tell him, if you have anything to say, wait until I enter the city and talk slowly!" If you don't open the gates again, the siege will begin in a quarter of an hour! ”

This small city is still effective in dealing with the rebellion of the native soldiers, and for the soldiers and horses of Xu Ping, who are fully armoured, it is just like a child playing at home, and he just piled a few mounds and stepped over.

Defending the city was not to shrink in the city and defend it, but to rely on the city to take a series of defensive measures, and when it resisted by closing the city gates, it was not far from breaking the city.

The sergeant in front passed the word, and Li Qingcheng at the head of the city knew that he could not delay any longer, so he had no choice but to order the city gate to be opened.

Zhang Rong took his subordinate infantry to take the lead, and when he arrived at the city gate, he saw Li Qingcheng kneeling on the side of the road, his face was like ashes, and said to him: "You are waiting for the officials here, and you are waiting for punishment!" ”

After saying that, he led his subordinates into the city gate.

There were only one or two hundred native soldiers under Li Qingcheng in the city, and except for some personal entourage, they threw down their weapons early and hid without a trace, and there was no battle.

After Zhang Rong entered the city, he immediately asked his subordinates to occupy the official office and the treasury of various places, and everyone with knives and guns looked at it. Everything was unexpected, and then he ordered someone to let Xu Ping's Chinese army enter the city.

The small city could not accommodate too many troops, and only Zhang Rongyi commanded the people who really entered the city, and Xu Ping's Chinese army was less than a thousand people, and everyone else was camped outside the city.

The procession of more than 10,000 people is impossible to look like a gathering of students on the playground, stretching from Menzhou to Langzhou, and when they arrive one after another, they will occupy the entire Langzhou Basin north of the Qiqi River.

Xu Ping rode past the city gate, glanced at Li Qingcheng on the ground, and said in a deep voice: "Get up, let's go to the yamen to talk." It is a big mistake to refuse to admit officers and soldiers, so don't add mistakes to mistakes! ”

Li Qingcheng stood up, bowed down and said, "Obey the decree of the official!" ”

On the day that Xu Ping marched into Langzhou, he occupied Northern Langzhou without blood.

Gao Daquan led the first command of the headquarters of 500 cavalry, plus the first command of the cavalry and the fourth command of the infantry army, as the left flank followed Han Daocheng's army into Langzhou. After entering Langzhou, he crossed the city and went upriver along the Qianqi River, blocking the valley mouth from Luzhou.

There is no military village at the mouth of the valley, and the boundary between Langzhou and Luzhou is a pass in the valley of the river, where the checkpoint and tax collectors are located, and there is no one stationed at the mouth of the valley.

Xu Ping had already instructed that as long as the valley mouth was jammed, the Jiaozhi army that entered Luzhou should not be left alone, as long as they could not rush into Langzhou. Those were all barbarian soldiers in the territory of Cochin, accustomed to crossing mountains and mountains, and there was no need to go to the mountains to fight them. As long as their retreat is cut off, Luzhou will not be able to support these five or six thousand people, and sooner or later they will send them to the door themselves.

Although it is also regarded as a mountain basin, although the area of Luzhou is large, the territory is uneven, the hills are continuous, and most of them are stone mountains, it is a good place to see the scenery, and farming and raising people are far less than here in Langzhou. It is precisely because the place is barren that although it is connected, Jiatong did not expand there, but only used it as a pedal to enter the Song Realm.

On the 25th, Xu Ping occupied the northern part of Langzhou, and there was no fighting, and Jiatong had already tacitly acquiesced that this place did not belong to him.

However, at this time, the world has changed, Jiatong is willing to give up North Langzhou, but Xu Ping is unwilling to give up South Langzhou.

(There's another chapter in the evening.) (To be continued.) )