Chapter 316: It Is Time for Annan to Change Its Dynasty

Soldiers are valuable and quick.

Di Qing believed that Guo Shengyi would not fail to ask for help in the face of a sudden attack.

So he guessed that enemy reinforcements were probably on their way.

If the Song army did not pursue it, the Li Dynasty's defeated army might merge with the reinforcements and retreat to Thang Long.

Although Di Qing did not think that the enemy would be able to withstand their offensive if they retreated to Shenglong, but if they could directly destroy Li Chao in the wild, why not do it?

After all, the Song Dynasty would still need to rule the Red River Delta from Thang Long in the future. Unless it was a last resort, he did not want to use cannons to fill up Thang Long.

Guo Shengyi's army retreated from the Langshan Ancient Road and had no time to enter Liangzhou City. The Song army behind him was always following him like gangrene.

He had to flee south with the retreating army. After a day and night of desperate escape, they finally reached Zhilengguan, the gateway to the Red River Delta.

At this time, it happened that Li Foma also arrived at Zhilengguan with reinforcements.

Zhileng Pass has been an important pass for the Vietnamese Dynasty since ancient times, even more important than Lang Son Pass, because its terrain is more dangerous than the Lang Son Ancient Road, and beyond this pass is the Red River Delta, which is known as the Thang Long barrier of the capital of the Vietnamese Dynasty. say.

Then you can see the towering mountains on the left and right reaching into the clouds. The mountains and mountains are shrouded in clouds and mist. The vegetation below is extremely lush and the trees are dense. The road seemed to have been split open by a giant axe, creating a terrifying ravine.

The most exaggerated thing is the terrain. Zhileng Pass is located on a hillside. If you want to break the pass, you must rush upward. All you need to do to close it is prepare a crossbow, no one can break it.

Historically, the Ming army was defeated by the Vietnamese army at this pass. This was the last time that the Chinese dynasty lost direct control of Vietnam, and Vietnam became independent.

This shows that it is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

On the Pass, Li Foma rested at Zhileng Pass last night and was preparing to continue to Langzhou to reinforce Guo Shengyi.

Just when he was about to order the three armies to get up early in the morning to light a fire to cook, and continue to set off after eating, several Vietnamese army scouts who had fled fled quickly arrived at the pass.

"What?"

In Li Fuma's camp in Guanzhong, Li Foma suddenly jumped up from his chair after hearing the news.

He never expected that Guo Shengyi would lose, and lose so miserably.

The 50,000 to 60,000 troops collapsed in an instant.

What's even more terrifying is that the Song army didn't even engage them in close combat and was able to defeat their camp more than ten miles away.

This is really terrible.

Li Fuma's face was full of shock, and then he asked anxiously: "What did the Song Army use?"

"Your Majesty, we don't know either. We only know that there was a sudden loud noise on the mountain, and then black balls fell from the sky, and then exploded everywhere in the camp. Many people were blown apart."

The scouts still had a look of horror on their faces. They ran for a long time and didn't even dare to sleep. As long as they closed their eyes, they could think of yesterday's tragedy.

The nightmarish explosion sound, the terrifying smoke and dust, and the corpses of his comrades.

It filled their minds and turned into a horrific nightmare.

"Firearms, they must be firearms."

Li Fengxiao, the privy envoy of the Yue Dynasty, frowned and said: "According to merchants from the north, the Song Dynasty defeated the Xixia and Liao Kingdoms with this firearm."

"Firearms are so powerful?"

Liao Jiazhen, the assistant minister of Zhongshu, said: "In the past, the firearms of the Song Dynasty were like fireworks and firecrackers, and they could never shake the pass."

"Maybe they have made more powerful firearms, otherwise how can you explain it?"

Li Fengxiao argued.

Li Zaiyan, the political officer of Zuo Shenzhi, said: "Your Majesty, now is not the time to care about whether the Song army has firearms. The top priority is to think about what to do?"

Liverma immediately hesitated.

He personally went on the expedition this time, leaving the crown prince Li Rizun, the Taibao Tao Chuzhong, the right counselor Li Zhengxian and others to supervise the country. He led a large army to come to the rescue in order to block the Song army outside Langshan Pass.

The problem now is that Langzhou has been lost, and there is no point in continuing the front army. So now he has two choices, one is to continue to defend Zhilengguan, and the other is to retreat to Shenglong.

However, both of these choices are extremely passive, facing the same situation as Guo Shengyi, passively being beaten. They were in Guanshan and the city, and people set up firearms outside and bombed them, but the outcome was still death.

So it seems that the result will be the same everywhere.

Li Fuma couldn't help but look sad, and told everyone about the situation, and finally said: "Now is the time when Dai Viet's life and death are at stake. I don't want to be the king of the country's subjugation, and you don't want to be the ministers of the country's subjugation. Please fight to the death." ”

"Your Majesty, don't worry, I will fight to the death."

Everyone responded quickly.

Then Liang Maocai, the minister of Jinwu Guard, said: "Your Majesty, I feel that I can only defend Zhileng Pass."

"Liang Qing, please tell me the reason."

Liverma said quickly.

Liang Maocai said: "First, the terrain of Zhilengguan is steep, and there is still a slim chance of survival. If they retreat to Thanglong and there is a smooth road outside the city, the Song army only needs to use a catapult outside the city to throw the exploding black ball into the city. There must be heavy casualties in the city."

"Um."

Li Fuma nodded slightly. Jiaozhi was too remote and the information was not developed. They didn't even know that it was the Song Army's artillery, and they thought it was a catapult or something like that.

Liang Maocai added: "Secondly, the Song army has strong soldiers and horses and well-equipped equipment. We cannot fight with them outside the city, and they have firearms to rely on. We will definitely suffer a loss in defending the city. It will be different if we defend Zhilengguan. The terrain here Dangerous location, perfect for an ambush.”

"But didn't Lieutenant Guo also guard a pass with dangerous terrain, but was defeated by the Song people?"

Someone raised an objection.

"no the same."

Liang Maocai shook his head and said: "Guo Shengyi was defeated because he didn't know how to adapt. He only knew how to guard the pass, but he didn't know how to change according to the situation. He was at the mercy of the Song people. Why don't we take the initiative?"

Take the initiative?

Everyone suddenly fell into deep thought, and after a while, many people understood.

Yes.

If the people of the Song Dynasty relied on catapults to throw the black balls into the pass and exploded, it means that the people of the Song Dynasty were originally inconvenient and had very poor mobility.

Guo Shengyi himself foolishly thought that he could just stay in the pass and give the Song army enough time to assemble the catapult.

Just as Tan Ma reported.

The Song army had been stationed outside the pass for five or six days, preparing to go up the mountain to clear the trees and transport and assemble the catapults, but he did not move at all.

Although the biggest reason for this is that Guo Shengyi did not know that the Song army had such a sharp weapon, and wanted to fight more steadily, relying on the dangerous passes to deal with the Song army, and was unwilling to give up the geographical advantage and go to fight the enemy outside the pass.

But this also shows from the side that Guo Shengyi is not aware of the changes and does not understand that during the enemy's preparation stage, he should at least send an army out to harass and see the situation before making a decision.

And after they saw through this, they naturally found a way. They had no chance of winning against the Li Dynasty.

What the Vietnamese soldiers were best at was hibernating in the mountains and forests.

If during the preparation stage of the Song Army, they suddenly rushed out from the mountains and forests on both sides, without giving the enemy a chance to release the black ball from a distance, and directly engaged the opponent in close combat, would they be able to win?

Thinking of this, everyone suddenly realized. Someone said: "Yes, the Song army only relies on the power of firearms. If we set up an ambush, they will definitely be defeated."

"The mountains on both sides are densely forested. When our people were hiding, they couldn't find them at all. Once the battle started, they suddenly came out and the Song army was caught off guard. They had no time to assemble their catapults and they would definitely be defeated by our army."

"It's just that we still need to collect the defeated troops of the commander in front to prevent the pass from being attacked."

"Well, that's it."

After hearing everyone's conversation, Liverma also felt that it made sense, so he issued two orders: "Secure Zhilengguan to the death, and then send people out to collect the defeated soldiers."

"yes!"

Everyone immediately obeyed the order.

At that time, the Vietnamese army no longer went out to rescue Guo Shengyi, but continued to occupy the pass.

By noon, a large number of defeated Vietnamese troops were running towards Zhileng Pass one after another, and were gathered back into the pass by the people sent by Li Foma.

Moreover, some Song troops have vaguely appeared on the periphery, but they are not Di Qing's firearms army, but ethnic minority troops.

The current pursuit situation is like this. Di Qing's firearms army is in the middle, Guangxi's Xiang army is at the end, and the ethnic minority troops are at the front. They captured the largest number of rout soldiers, one or two thousand people.

no way.

The traffic roads in the southwest can be said to be difficult to describe. Di Qing's artillery was not pulled by horse-drawn carriages. In many cases, the barrels had to be carried by manpower.

Not only are the roads rugged, but they also have ups and downs. Sometimes the road is even as bad as four or five meters, requiring a climb to get up.

The soldiers of the Li Dynasty were really strong, but not very good at fighting. They ran around like monkeys, and some panicked and even fled directly into the mountains and forests. Di Qing's firearms army and the Guangxi Xiang army had no way to deal with them.

Only the ethnic minority soldiers on the border could catch up with them by walking over mountains and ridges as if they were walking on flat ground.

This resulted in a somewhat disconnected situation between the front and rear of the Song Army. The ethnic minority soldiers had already chased them for more than a hundred miles, while the main force of the Song Army was still rushing behind them, still thirty or forty miles away from the front.

After Li Foma learned of this situation, he sent Li Fengxiao to lead his troops to take the initiative to intercept the pursuing enemies, and quickly protected the defeated soldiers back to the pass.

He actually thought about simply fighting out while the enemy was out of touch, but the road was originally narrow and crowded with many of their defeated soldiers, and it was not feasible to go around the mountains on both sides for a while, so he had to give up. .

The ethnic minority soldiers who were pursuing there also discovered the main force of the Li Dynasty, so they retreated from Zhilengguan and left in the direction of Langzhou.

At this time, Langzhou had been occupied by the Song army. The local people were very frightened and fled in all directions.

Historically, the Ming Dynasty controlled Vietnam in the hands of Zhu Di. However, since Vietnam became independent in the early Northern Song Dynasty, it has gradually formed its own national consciousness. The resistance is very high, resulting in continuous uprisings. In the end, it quickly defeated the Ming army and broke away from the control of the Central Plains Dynasty. .

Now, since the establishment of Vietnam's first dynasty, the Ding Dynasty in 968 AD, the three dynasties of the former Le Dynasty and Li Dynasty have passed, and the Vietnamese people have become accustomed to no longer accepting the rule of the Central Plains dynasty.

Therefore, when faced with the Heavenly Army of the Song Dynasty, the local people were mainly panic-stricken. Even if the Song and Qiu Dynasty did not commit any crimes, it could not stop the people from being panic-stricken.

Di Qing entered the city first.

Langzhou City prospered due to trade between the Song and Yue Dynasties, but it was said to be the capital of Langzhou, but in fact it was barely the same as a remote county town in the Song Dynasty.

The outer city wall is no more than a foot high, old and mottled, and covered with ivy.

The houses in the city are all made of rough wood, and there are only two horizontal and vertical streets in the entire street. Due to the war, there are almost no pedestrians on the street, and the shops have been closed, leaving it full of desolation and dilapidation.

Di Qing looked around on horseback and said to the deputy general Zhang Yu beside him: "Are there any people coming to greet us when we enter the city?"

Zhang Yu shook his head and said, "No."

Di Qing thought for a while and then said: "You go find some elders from local prominent families to discuss matters with me."

"yes."

Zhang Yu responded.

Di Qing then had a gloomy face, slowly rode his horse, stepped on the cold stone slabs, and slowly went to the Liangzhou government office.

The full name of the Vietnamese Li Dynasty is actually the Li Dynasty of the Great Viet Empire. The Song people called them Jiaozhi or Annan.

Annan broke away from the control of the Central Plains Dynasty 77 years ago. On weekdays, they accepted the canonization of Jiaozhi County Kings by the Great Song Dynasty. In fact, they called themselves emperors internally, known as the external king and internal emperor in history.

Among them, the Li Dynasty was established 35 years ago by Li Gongyun, the founder of the Li Dynasty.

Therefore, among the current Ding Dynasty, the Pre-Le Dynasty and the Li Dynasty, the Li Dynasty was established the longest, and Li Taizu and Li Taizong were both good monarchs, so in the hearts of the Vietnamese people, their prestige is still very high.

Obviously, after 77 years of hard work, the people of Jiaozhi no longer regard the Central Plains Dynasty as orthodox. In the hearts of the people of Jiaozhi, they have long recognized only the emperor of the Li Dynasty.

Fortunately, the prefect had already explained that although this expedition was an actual occupation, it could not be a nominal occupation.

They must have a good slogan.

Soon in the afternoon, Di Qing met some local elders in the government office of Liangzhou City.

Some of them were local clan leaders, some were tribal leaders, and some were simply big merchants who controlled some shops and assets in the city.

These people basically controlled the local population, property and resources of Liangzhou.

So even if the Song Dynasty court attacked, they dared not give up Liangzhou and escape. Facing Di Qing's call, they could only come one by one and carefully test.

The government office was not big. According to the hall system of the Song Dynasty, Di Qing sat in the main seat, and more than a dozen local leaders gathered on both sides.

"General, I am Li Yuanyi, the leader of the Lizhu tribe in Liangzhou."

"General, I am Ruan Ming, the leader of the Wuning tribe in Liangzhou."

"I am"

Many leaders, clan leaders, and landlords of various tribes introduced themselves.

Di Qing smiled and said hello. Seeing that everyone was anxious under the gaze of the guards, he immediately said, "Everyone, the court does not want to occupy Annan."

This did not make everyone feel at ease. Everyone continued to look at Di Qing, as if waiting for the next words.

No one is a fool. It is impossible for them to believe everything Di Qing said.

Di Qing naturally knew it, so he continued, "I believe everyone knows that the father and son of the Li family are arrogant and rude, and often invade our great country. This is rude and insulting a great neighbor, and they deserve to be destroyed."

"But the Song Dynasty has no intention of swallowing up Annan, but it must punish the Li family to show that our great country cannot be humiliated."

"So when I came out this time, His Majesty the Emperor had already told me that it was enough to destroy the Li family and not to swallow up their country. However, if the country is destroyed, what should the Song Dynasty do if it withdraws its troops?"

As he said this, he spread his hands and looked at everyone and said, "What do you think, after the demise of the Li family, how should Annan be dealt with?"

Everyone looked at each other.

The result has not come out yet, and they are asked to express their opinions. What should they do?

If the Song Dynasty loses the war, they surrender here. It would be strange if Li Fuma would let them go.

So everyone was speechless and could not speak.

Di Qing smiled and said, "Don't worry, the court will make its own decision. But I want to tell you that Annan will be destroyed this time. As for the future, we will talk about it later. For the affairs of the city, please appease the people first. I will post a notice to appease the people and tell the people of Annan that the Song Dynasty has no intention of occupying them."

After saying this, everyone was relieved.

It's okay if they are not forced to take sides.

At the moment, everyone immediately said, "The general is kind and righteous, and he doesn't vent his anger on the people. He is really a heavenly army of the superior country."

"The great power of the Song Dynasty, I also respect it."

"We will obey the general's order and inform the people to reassure everyone."

Everyone promised.

Di Qing didn't say anything more, just convey his meaning.

He had given the Langzhou nobles a chance, and if they didn't seize it, no one could be blamed.

The prefect said that after the destruction of the Li Dynasty, in order to prevent the Li Dynasty from winning the hearts of the people and establishing a country again, the descendants of the Le Dynasty or the Ding Dynasty could be established as puppet emperors.

The Song Dynasty would station troops in Thang Long and the seaside, and support the pro-Song ministers in the country to take office, thereby indirectly controlling the Vietnamese government.

If they surrender to the Song army at this time, they will naturally be supported by the Song army in the future.

Unfortunately, these people are short-sighted and don't know how to change their allegiance in time, missing an opportunity to serve as the running dogs of the Song Dynasty.

However, now it is enough to stabilize these Langzhou nobles and prevent them from dragging their feet behind.

If they hold the purpose of destroying Annan and annexing Annan, it is possible that they will be desperate and organize militias to constantly harass their baggage, which is not worth the loss.

Therefore, it is good now.

When the Li Dynasty is destroyed in the future, the general trend will be that many Annan nobles will come to surrender.

At that moment, Di Qing left a thousand men in Liangzhou City to support Nong Zhigao, and he was about to lead the firearms army to continue chasing Guo Shengyi.

But just as he left the city, a scout came to report: "Report!"

The scout came running and knelt on one knee to him and said: "The enemy reinforcements have deployed heavy troops at Zhiling Pass. General Huang, General Nong, and General Zhao have already led their troops to withdraw first."

"Oh?"

Di Qing immediately asked: "Can you find out how many troops the enemy has and who is coming?"

The scout said: "We saw a big flag with the word "Li" on it from afar. Judging from the color, it seems to be the Annan royal family, maybe their emperor or princes. The exact number is still unknown."

Annan royal family?

Di Qing looked towards the south with a grim look. How dare the small Annan declare itself emperor?

Today.

I will ask you Annan to change the dynasty!

Think about it.

He ordered: "Let the soldiers in front gather first, don't continue to pursue, and attack after I arrive."

"Yes!"

The scout immediately went to convey the military order.