Chapter 382

By the end of the ninth month, the laborers, grain and fodder from Liangzhou, and ten thousand elite sworn-follower cavalry began arriving one after another.

Zhang Zhao had Liu Zaisheng temporarily take up the post of Qingzhou Prefect, with the title of Surveillance and Disposition Commissioner of Huizhou and Qingzhou.

He ordered him to draw fifteen hundred Tangut roving cavalry from Qingzhou, along with three thousand mules and horses, and after wiping out the Tangut in northern Qingzhou, to proceed to Changze City as reinforcements.

These Tangut of northern Qingzhou had the worst luck imaginable — they thought clinging to the thigh of the Dingnan Army would bring them glory, but instead they were swept along by Xifeng Xili to the White Salt Lake.

In a single battle, several hundred of them died and the rest fled back in disarray, after which Liu Zaisheng, commanding the troops of Huizhou and the southern Qingzhou Tangut, annihilated them completely.

Immediately after, the terrified Weizhou — that is, the great Han clans and the various Tangut and Qiang tribes around Huan County in Shaanxi, more than thirty thousand people in all — hastened to submit as well.

Zhang Zhao appointed Li Yansi and Li Yanli as left and right commanders, and levied three thousand horse and foot soldiers from the three prefectures of Hui, Qing, and Wei to go to Changze City.

From this point on, not counting laborers, Zhang Zhao had brought twenty thousand men himself, and had additionally levied ten thousand elite sworn-follower cavalry.

Now with another three thousand and more arriving from the three prefectures of Hui, Qing, and Wei, plus over three thousand Tangut and Qiang from the various tribes who had been frightened into submitting, the number of troops in Zhang Zhao's hands reached roughly thirty-seven thousand.

In the first ten days of the tenth month, Zhang Zhao, having received Cao Yanjing's report, received the envoy sent by Ding Shenqi, and then dispatched two battalions of horse and foot troops from the Hanhai Garrison to march south with Ding Shenqi's envoy.

Gao Yunquan had at this time deliberately gathered all officers of rank squad general and above in the Zhangwu Army for a drinking feast; in the midst of the wine-soaked revelry, the Hanhai Garrison seized them all in one stroke.

Afterward, with Zhang Zhao's backing, Gao Yunquan carried out a purge within the Zhangwu Army, and afterward reached a reconciliation with Ding Shenqi.

At the price of thirty thousand strings of cash a year, Zhang Zhao took away the thousand-odd elite soldiers in Ding Shenqi's hands.

Ding Shenqi was thus able to rid himself of the double-edged sword he had been clutching; he took the thirty thousand strings of ready silver, along with the post of Suizhou Prefect that Zhang Zhao had promised, and departed Yanzhou with Cao Yanjing, setting aside the dignity of a Military Governor to come serve Zhang Zhao.

At the same time, Gao Yunquan presented Zhang Zhao with fifteen thousand shi of grain, and additionally sold the Guiyi Army another thirty-five thousand shi at fair price, preliminarily solving the problem of the grain and fodder the Guiyi Army needed for besieging Xiazhou.

Three or four days later, Guo Tiance returned. Zhang Xichong, together with Pei Yuan, had already levied three thousand men from the Lingwu Army.

Of these, two thousand would arrive within days; the remaining one thousand, led personally by Zhang Xichong, awaited only a single order from Zhang Zhao to go take over Youzhou.

However, watching Ding Shenqi stride out with an air of swaggering self-importance, Guo Tiance said with a worried look: "This man has only a thousand-odd soldiers, yet he already has the look of an overbearing bully. Moreover, he is a Military Governor of the court, not a subordinate of the Great King.

Our brave lads of Hexi and Longyou have fought for the Great King for many years, yet few of them have ever obtained the post of a prefect. Now to rashly promise Suizhou to Ding Shenqi — I fear the officers and men will be discontented!"

Zhang Zhao nodded. "If the men have thoughts on the matter, I will go explain to them myself. Tiance, do you know what places Suizhou borders?"

Guo Tiance thought for a moment. "It should be right up against Shizhou and Xizhou in Hedong."

"Then tell me — a man like Ding Shenqi, once he has the land of Suizhou, and with my shining example before him, do you think he might get the idea of offering Suizhou to the court in exchange for even greater rewards?" Zhang Zhao smiled a sinister smile.

Guo Tiance understood at once. "This Suizhou was won by our Guiyi Army at the cost of our lives. If the court dares to take it, then they have wronged us — the fault is theirs. Then we... heh heh! The Great King is brilliant!"

Guo Tiance understood Zhang Zhao's strategy — in plain terms, it was wanting to play the whore while putting up a chastity arch.

The Guiyi Army styled itself as loyal subjects; if it wanted to seize the court's territory, it always needed a pretext. The moment Ding Shenqi's head grew hot, that would hand the Guiyi Army its pretext.

"Send men to make the selection. From the adopted-son army in Liangzhou, pick a few sharp-witted ones to go defect to Ding Shenqi. Once we have our hands free, have them stir Ding Shenqi into action."

Zhang Zhao waved his hand, sending Guo Tiance off to carry out the task, while he himself began making preparations for departure.

By this point, Zhang Zhao had under his command a total of forty thousand horse and foot soldiers and more than twenty thousand laborers — over sixty thousand people plus tens of thousands of mules and horses, advancing in a vast, surging column along the Hongliu River toward Xiazhou.

The Hongliu River — the name sounds utterly ordinary, but after reaching Xiazhou, the Hongliu River takes on another name, and that is the famous Wuding River.

Pity the bones by the Wuding River — they are still the men of dreams in spring boudoirs.

Following the current for barely a day, the Guiyi Army's sixty thousand men arrived within five li of the walls of Xiazhou.

This whole journey, thanks to our Great King Zhang, truly saw not a single cock crow for a thousand li — the surrounding tribes had all been swept clean once over by the Guiyi Army's cavalry.

And upon reaching the walls of Xiazhou, Great King Zhang Zhao was instantly dumbfounded. He personally rode out with several dozen elite cavalry to reconnoiter from the hillside outside Xiazhou City. After staring for a long while, Zhang Zhao put his hands on his hips, and a "son of a bitch" burst from his lips.

The Xiazhou City before him was none other than the Tongwan City of Helian Bobo in history, a city expanded from the Sheyan City of the Han dynasty.

In years past, Helian Bobo brought a hundred thousand Yi and Han people from north of the mountains to this place, then built the city by steaming earth. If an awl could be driven one cun into the wall, the builder was killed on the spot and built into the wall along with it.

That is to say, this Tongwan City was rammed from tabia earth mixed with glutinous rice paste, and every section built was tested for quality by the overseer with a small awl.

If that section of wall could be pierced one cun by the awl, then the craftsmen who built the wall were killed, and their corpses were built into the wall along with it.

Under such exacting requirements, Tongwan City was naturally extraordinarily sturdy. Once completed, it was divided into an inner and outer city, and the inner city was further divided into an east and west city.

The east city had a circumference of a little over five li, the west city a circumference of nearly five li. The walls were eight or nine meters high and three meters wide. Because they were made of glutinous rice paste and tabia earth, they presented a uniform rice-white color, and it was commonly called the White City.

In terms of defenses, corner towers, bastions, crenellated platforms, barbicans, trenches, and moats were all present in full. Especially those bastions, a dozen or so meters long and several meters wide — just a few dozen men could seal off a huge area.

In addition, the walls also had the insidious tiger pits. These were holes dug into the wall face, normally covered over with various objects, and in battle the coverings were torn away.

When the fighting began, the attackers would finally manage to leap onto the wall, but because they could not see the condition of the wall face clearly, if they were not careful they would jump straight into a tiger pit.

The tiger pits were over a meter deep, and the inside was studded with sharp spikes made of bamboo and wood. Anyone who fell in would at the very least have their hands and feet pierced through. Even a tiger could not climb out — hence the name "tiger pit."

Although the Dingnan Army was short of men at this time and could not hold the entire city, having to concentrate entirely in the west city of the inner city, this actually increased the difficulty of the attack.

If Li Yiyin had tried to use the tens of thousands of people in the city to hold two cities with a combined circumference of around ten li, then even if he worked the entire city's soldiers and civilians to death, they still could not have held it.

But now holding only the smaller west city was just right. Outside the city, the Hongliu River curved around the west city, providing an ample water source and also forming a defense. As long as enough grain was stored, it simply could not be taken by assault.

For Zhang Zhao, what was even more fatal was that, given the quality of a city like Xiazhou, it was very likely that black powder could not blast it open.

After looking it all over, Zhang Zhao's face turned green. This Helian Bobo was truly fucking insane!

In this godforsaken place, he had built a fortress city comparable to the Xiangyang and Fancheng of the Southern Song in history.

Great King Zhang now somewhat understood why that Breaking Bad Second Brother Zhao had destroyed Xiazhou City. This Xiazhou City was simply too damn hard to take.

Atop the walls of Xiazhou, Li Yiyin watched with a cold sneer as the Guiyi Army outside the city ceaselessly maneuvered and set up camp.

Before Zhang Zhao arrived, he had already pulled all his forces back into Xiazhou City, and had stockpiled enough grain to last eight months.

He had also sent more than a dozen waves of messengers to the court. He, Li Yiyin, would offer the four prefectures of Xia, Sui, Yin, and You to the court, and was willing to move to the Eastern Capital with his entire clan.

The Dingnan Army had held Yin, Xia, You, and Sui as its own fief for a hundred years. The court in the Eastern Capital, knowing there was such an opportunity to recover the four prefectures, would certainly not let it pass.

He needed only to hold out for a few months. Once the court's great army arrived, Zhang Zhao would have no choice but to retreat.

"The entire army is to enter the east city of Xiazhou, build earthen walls facing the west city, and seal off all the key roads in the surrounding area.

Build large trebuchets, dig channels, cut off the water of the Hongliu River, and divert it into the Wu River ten li away."

In the command tent that had just been set up, the assembled officers were all somewhat stunned when they heard Zhang Zhao's orders. Ma Yaozi asked cautiously:

"The Hongliu is a great river of Xiazhou. Just diverting its water into the Wu River would take no less than two or three months to complete.

By then it will be deep winter. The army will be camped in the open, and many soldiers will surely suffer frostbite."

"Why don't we try a direct assault first? If it doesn't work, we'll withdraw to Changze City and Yanzhou, and come back next spring."

Bai Congxin immediately jumped out to voice his disagreement. "Sending troops this year has already delayed the autumn harvest. If we do it again next year, the spring planting will be delayed too. An army of tens of thousands cannot withstand such disruption.

If the court sends a few thousand armored soldiers into Xiazhou City while we are withdrawing, that would be even more troublesome."

"But this Xiazhou City is Tongwan City, built by the Xiongnu Helian Bobo with a hundred thousand laborers. It is even sturdier than our Liangzhou. Even a direct assault would probably not take it in one or two months," Zhebu Jiashi said with considerable worry.

Zhang Zhao looked at Chen Nianban, who was hesitating in the corner as if about to speak, and beckoned to him. "Chen Nianban, do you have a good suggestion?"

Chen Nianban slowly rose upon hearing this. "Your servant has just accompanied the Great King on a survey of Xiazhou City. The city is indeed lofty and magnificent, extremely difficult to breach. The Li family of the Dingnan Army has entrenched themselves here for several hundred years, so the grain stored in the city must be plentiful.

But when I observed the fields around Xiazhou, the trees on the mountains are not abundant, and there are no traces of recent large-scale felling. I have a question: do the soldiers and residents in Xiazhou City not need firewood for cooking?"

Zhang Zhao stood up at once, and the generals in the tent fell silent.

Right! Because the land around Xiazhou was brought under cultivation quite early, there are almost no forests left, and the trees on the distant mountains are sparse and scattered.

There are tens of thousands of people in Xiazhou City. Cooking every day must require a great deal of firewood, right? In winter they would also need firewood for heating. Do they have that much in reserve?

"Zhongde is indeed meticulous. Reward him with twenty bolts of colored silk!" Zhang Zhao was overjoyed.

"Du Lun Chixin, return to Liangzhou and have the Left and Right Chief Clerks rush to produce five thousand sets of cotton quilts and ten thousand sets of padded coats for Xiazhou.

Imagination

All units are to seal off the west gate of Xiazhou City. Tell the lads: once we take Xiazhou City, then we go home!"

When the officers in the tent heard that Zhang Zhao was going to release the cotton quilts and padded coats — war supplies controlled by the Commerce Bureau — they immediately felt the depth of Zhang Zhao's resolve.

Because these supplies did not belong to the Hexi-Longyou Military Governor's office, nor to the Prince of Han's mansion, but were Zhang Zhao's personal property.

With these five thousand sets of cotton quilts and ten thousand sets of padded coats, the soldiers could squeeze together and endure the winter. (To be continued)

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