Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 363 I am the main force!
Hou Jing was also really anxious.

In order to attack the city, Hou Jing drove all the captives to the foot of Gangu City, and built a high platform a hundred steps opposite the Gangu city gate, and let archers stand on the platform to shoot into the city.

Hou Jing also drove the civilians of Qinzhou to build a huge cloud chariot. The soldiers stood on the cloud chariot, pushed it to the edge of the city wall through the driveway, and then jumped off the cloud chariot to fight.

Hou Jing even captured all the wild animals near Qinzhou. He ordered the craftsmen to cover the chariots with the fur of these wild animals to block arrows, and then pushed these battering rams to attack the city gates.

In addition, Hou Jing also dug a tunnel, but was discovered by Mozhe Tiansheng, who caused a landslide to stop the tunnel digging.

Hou Jing also built a dam in the upper reaches of the Wei River to block the river water, hoping to store water for attacking the city. However, due to the shallow water level this year, it was impossible to store water, so he had to give up in the end.

If it weren't for the military supervisor in Hou Jing's army watching, Hou Jing might have really driven his soldiers to attack the city.

However, Hou Jing did not dare to do so, because Su Ze had instructed him before the expedition that the merit of attacking Qinzhou was secondary, and if the army was destroyed, Hou Jing would be held accountable.

Therefore, Hou Jing could only drive the captives and the collected civilians to attack the city, but even so, the area under Gangu City had become a purgatory.

Seeing Hou Jing's crazy attack on the city, Mozhe Tiansheng's army in Gangu City was inspired to fight.

They constantly thwarted Hou Jing's chances of attacking the city, repaired the city walls every night, and actually held on.

At the same time, Yu Jin's army in Lueyang also encountered difficulties.

The terrain of Lueyang is complex. After defeating Su Qinmingda's army, the scattered army occupied many dangerous places and began to continuously block Yu Jin's logistical supplies.

There is no other way. The water routes for transporting goods from north to south are not smooth, and there are always some places that require land transportation.

Yu Jin's transportation costs are high, and Gaoping Town is relatively poor. Even the food and grass stored last year are not abundant. It is far less convenient for supply than Hou Jing's hinterland such as Longxi and Hezhou, which Su Ze has been operating for many years.

In fact, these defeated armies were not fighting for Mozhe Tiansheng at all, but simply fighting for survival.

Serving as soldiers under Mo Zhe Tiansheng, even the officers had to go hungry. Seeing Yu Jin transporting food and fodder, they turned into sporadic bandits to rob.

In this way, Mingming defeated Su Qinmingda, but Yu Jin stopped in Lueyang City.

Yu Jin was cautious by nature. He was afraid that the food supply to the rear would be blocked. If problems arose while attacking Tianshui, the entire army would collapse.

So Yu Jin simply stationed in Lueyang and sent a team of 100 people including Hulu Jin to the rear to suppress the bandits.

As for Di Gan (She Di Gan) who killed the enemy on the battlefield, he had been promoted to captain for his merit in killing Su Qin Mingda. The fight between him and Hulu Jin had already ended, and he had directly become Hulu Jin's superior.

Breaking into enemy territory and killing enemy generals have been the highest achievements since ancient times.

Di Gan's promotion to colonel was only a reward given by Yu Jinxian. His honorary title and subsequent appointment would have to wait until Su Ze's general's office confirmed his military merits before being announced.

Di Gan's meritorious service in the first battle aroused the envy and jealousy of other brigade commanders. When they encountered the opportunity to suppress the bandits, they fought desperately and wanted to earn the credit on the battlefield.

While both armies encountered obstacles, Yang Kan did not encounter any difficulties along the way.

Yang Kan was also rather cautious. He did not immediately believe that Tianshui City was really going to surrender. Instead, he continued to advance westward along the Wei River, attacking Tianshui City one city at a time.

The result was far beyond Yang Kan's expectations. After seeing his army, all the cities along the way opened their gates and surrendered. The fake officials appointed by Mozhe Tiansheng were tied up and surrendered, and the weapons were sealed in the armory. Yang Kan only needed to enter the city to receive them.

In fact, as time went on, Yang Kan became more experienced in accepting surrenders, and it only took him half a day to take over a city.

Is this the Mo Zhetian army that defeated Xiao Baoyin many times?
Yang Kan had also fought in Liangzhou and Mozhe Dam. At that time, their fighting skills were quite remarkable. How come they became so weak in less than a few years?

In this way, Yang Kan, as the team with the longest journey, was the first to arrive at the city of Tianshui.
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The person left behind in Tianshui City was Hou Gang, who was demoted to Duke of Anle.

Hou Gang was originally nominated as the King of Qin when Mozhe Dadi started his rebellion. Later, when Mozhe Tiansheng proclaimed himself king, Hou Gang gave up his title of king and was called Duke.

Later, Mozhe Tiansheng established the Qin State, and it was no longer appropriate to call Hou Gang Duke of Qin, so he was changed to Duke of Anle.

Ever since the Mozhe Dam era, Mozhe and his son had never trusted Hou Gang. They never let him lead troops alone and always kept them under their watchful eyes.

But Mo Zhe Tiansheng really had no one under his command.

Generals from other families like Su Qinmingda could be entrusted by Mozhe Tiansheng with the important task of leading an army.

Hou Gang, who once served in the imperial guards of the Wei Dynasty, was a rare military talent under Mozhe Tiansheng. Moreover, Hou Gang and Su Ze had a grudge for murdering their fathers, so Mozhe Tiansheng asked him to guard Tianshui.

But what no one expected was that Hou Gang actually surrendered.

Hou Gang sent envoys many times to ask Yang Kan for surrender, and even sent his newly married wife in Qinzhou to Yang Kan's army to show his sincerity. He was just short of opening the city gates and surrendering.

Faced with this great achievement, Yang Yaren asked Yang Kan:

"General, I have investigated many times and found that Hou Gang really wants to surrender. As long as we enter Tianshui, Mo Zhetiansheng on the front line will be defeated. What are you still hesitating about?"

Yang Kan sighed and said:
"My hesitation lies in Hou Gang."

"Why?" "You don't know the connection. This Hou Gang is the enemy who killed General Su's father."

Yang Yaren was surprised:
"Then he dares to surrender?"

Yang Kan said:

"This man is also a hero. He guessed that General Su had great ambitions and would pay a huge sum of money to forgive his crimes, so he opened the city and surrendered."

Yang Yaren also knew the thorny part of this matter. Xian Tianshui City had made such a great contribution by surrendering. If Su Ze wanted to kill Hou Gang, who would surrender in the future?
This matter will affect Su Ze's reputation.

Remember when Xiang Yu captured Liu Bang’s father, Liu Bang didn’t even want his own father.

However, the hatred for killing one's father is irreconcilable, and this matter will definitely annoy General Su.

Yang Kan finally stood up and said:

"Go into the city! I will apologize to General Su later! From now on, military affairs will be handed over to you."

"Excuse me?"

Yang Yaren didn't understand what was going on, so Yang Kan strode out of the military tent and led his troops to the city of Tianshui.

On the eighth day of the fifth month in the third year of Xiaochang, the governor of Tianshui City appointed by Mozhe Tiansheng, Anle Gonghou, had just opened the city to surrender.

After Yang Kan led his troops into the city, he was "assassinated" by Hou Gang. Although Yang Kan was wounded by the sword, he still "beheaded" Hou Gang on the spot.

Even though he was injured by the sword, Yang Kan still urged the deputy general Yang Yaren who came to rescue him to remain calm, and asked him to forgive other officials and generals in Tianshui City. Then he handed the army to Yang Yaren and returned to the military camp outside the city to "recuperate."

At the same time, Yang Kan wrote two letters about Hou Gang's affairs.

One letter was an official document reporting victory, "apologizing" to the Shogun's office, saying that he was accidentally "injured" because of "Hou Gang's false surrender" and was guilty of negligence that almost put the army in danger.

The other was a private letter from Yang Kan to Su Ze, also in which he apologized to Su Ze, saying that for the sake of General Su's reputation, he had framed Hou Gang for false surrender and had him executed, and that he himself was fine, but he had acted on his own initiative and disobeyed Su Ze's military order that surrendered without killing, and asked Su Ze to punish him.
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Tianshui City is less than a hundred miles away from the front line. After Mo Zhe Tiansheng heard the news that Tianshui City had been broken, he finally realized that the situation was hopeless.

But now he has really started a fight with Hou Jing on the front line. He puts himself in Hou Jing's shoes and knows that the other party hates him deeply.

If I surrender to Hou Jing now, given Hou Jing's character, I'm afraid I'll be harmed.

But surrendering to Yang Kan is not an option either, because Mo Zhe Tiansheng's father, Mo Zhe Dati, was killed by Yang Kan. If he surrenders to the enemy who killed his father, he will be stabbed in the back for the rest of his life.

After much thought, Yu Jin was the best choice. In fact, Lueyang was not far from the front line. He just had to go to Lueyang and ask Yu Jin for surrender.

Mo Zhe Tiansheng made up his mind and continued to hold his ground. He secretly left Gangu City with his trusted men and rushed towards Lueyang.

When the people in Gangu City discovered that Mozhe Tiansheng had escaped, the city immediately fell into chaos, and finally the city gates were opened to surrender to Hou Jing.

Hou Jing was also afraid of a trap, so he sent envoys to negotiate with the people in the city many times.

But soon he heard news that chilled his heart.

The reason why Gangu City surrendered was because Yang Kan had already occupied Tianshui City and Mozhe Tiansheng fled.

He fought hard, but Yang Kan got the greatest credit and occupied Tianshui City first!

No? I am the main force, right?
Hou Jing was now anxious. The military merit for occupying Tianshui City was gone, and his greatest achievement now was capturing Mozhe Tiansheng.

Hou Jing sent his general Song Zixian to take over Gangu City, while he personally led elite troops to pursue Mozhe Tiansheng.

But before he could chase too far, he heard the news that Mo Zhe Tiansheng rushed to Lueyang to surrender to Yu Jin.

Hou Jing was completely dumbfounded. I was clearly the main force! How come all the military merits were taken by you two small forces?
If it were someone else, Hou Jing might have made some trouble, but the generals of these two armies were Yu Jin and Yang Kan.

Not to mention Yu Jin, he was Su Ze's old subordinate and comrade-in-arms, the prefect of Gaoping County appointed by the court. When Hou Jing was serving in the Six Garrisons, he was a soldier under Li Chong.

Yang Kan was the governor of Liangzhou and his old boss when he was in Liangzhou.

Both of them were superior to Hou Jing in terms of seniority and prestige.

Tianshui City surrendered on its own initiative, and Mo Zhetian surrendered to Yu Jin on his own initiative. Even if Hou Jing wanted to make trouble, he couldn't.

General Song Zixian caught up with Hou Jing and asked:

"General, shall we continue to chase?"

Hou Jing took out his horse whip: "Chase! What are you chasing for!"

"Go back to Gangu City now, and I'll punish you by making you write a battle summary!"

(End of this chapter)