Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 494 Retreat

The Buddha's tooth relic must be obtained!

After Xiao Yi made up his mind, he said to Su Tingquan:
"Father is a Buddhist. As a son, I must show my filial piety. Can Su Lang give up his love for me?"

In fact, Xiao Yi could have directly detained Su Tingquan and his goods.

However, Su Tingquan has connections and can always bring rare treasures from the Western Regions, so Xiao Yi still wants to do long-term business with him.

In addition, Su Tingquan also has a close relationship with Su Ze. Although the two sides are now at war, Xiao Yi actually doesn't want to offend Su Ze too much.

Su Ze occupied Yizhou, the territory of his stupid brother. What does it have to do with him in Jingzhou?
Xiao Yi didn't care about Yizhou occupied by Su Ze, he cared about the interests of his own Jingzhou.

Su Tingquan saw Xiao Yi taking the bait, and then he said:

"This tooth was originally intended to be given to the king."

Xiao Yi was not happy after hearing this. He was not a fool. He knew that free was the most expensive.

As expected, Su Tingquan said:

"In fact, trade between Guanzhong and Jingzhou is beneficial to both sides. Tingquan is also willing to serve the king."

"But there are too many checkpoints along the way, which is really not conducive to the flow of merchant ships."

"Especially Baidi City and the Kuimen and Jingmen in the back are heavily guarded. Every time you pass through, you have to pay a lot of money to bribe the garrisons."

After Su Tingquan finished speaking, he fell silent and looked at Xiao Yi's expression.

Kuimen is the entrance to the Three Gorges, right next to Baidi City. Like Baidi City, it is also the western gate of Yizhou. An official checkpoint was set up here a long time ago, which was specifically responsible for intercepting ships from upstream.

Jingmen is the exit of the Three Gorges and the eastern gate of Jingzhou. The Nanliang Dynasty also set up checkpoints here.

Between Kuimen and Jingmen are the natural barrier Three Gorges. These two gates can be said to be the two most important gates in the entire middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

If these two gates are closed, no ship from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River will be able to enter the middle reaches.

Su Tingquan's words were also carefully considered.

He did not ask Xiao Yi to withdraw the garrison, which was certainly impossible. He just said that it was inconvenient for merchant ships to travel.

Moreover, Su Tingquan specifically pointed out that merchant ships were not prohibited from passing, but they had to bribe the government troops in order to pass.

This illustrates one thing: the guards at Kuimen and Jingmen were very corrupt. As long as they paid money, they could pass through. The guarding role was actually not significant and instead hindered commercial activities.

As expected, Xiao Yi's expression changed immediately when he heard Su Tingquan's words.

The corruption of the Southern Liang government and army was no secret.

But after hearing Su Tingquan say it in person, Xiao Yi still felt a little embarrassed.

Moreover, the important fortified towns openly demand tolls, and after being charged the tolls, these merchants will definitely add the cost to the goods they sell. Aren't they paying money to these defenders?
This is something Xiao Yi absolutely cannot accept!
A mere group of soldiers guarding the checkpoint actually took money out of my pocket?
Outrageous!

Xiao Yi stood up and slammed the table. He paced back and forth and said:

"These defenders are really reckless!"

Su Tingquan saw that the emotions were already brewing, and he immediately said:
"Please, Your Majesty, issue an order to allow merchant ships to pass through Kuimen and Jingmen."

Xiao Yi nodded repeatedly and said:

"That's right, but Liangmen is an important river defense town. It seems inappropriate to allow ships to pass through at will."

Su Tingquan immediately said:
"This is easy. The palace of the Great King can issue flags. Any ship with the flag of the Xiangdong Palace can pass through. Those without flags cannot pass through. The palace will personally identify them and will naturally not let the wrong people in."

Xiao Yi was also very happy when he heard this plan. For ordinary businessmen, doesn’t this mean another means of collecting taxes?
From now on, only caravans that paid could get flags of passage, which gave the royal palace another way to make money.

Xiao Yi said with satisfaction:

"This method is wonderful!"

During the conversation, the two sides no longer mentioned the matter of Baidi City.

In fact, they had already reached a tacit understanding, and Xiao Yi was ready to give up Baidi City.
-
As expected, half a month after Wang Sengbian defended Baidi City to the death, Hou Jing launched an siege on the city at the end of April.

Hou Jing raised the hull of the boat and had soldiers stand on it to shoot arrows into the city, while using paddling poles to attack the city walls.

After the passage between Baidi City and the land was cut off, the morale in the city was already low.

Hou Jing then resorted to a vicious scheme, using spies in the city to pollute the water wells.

If it could still be connected to the shore, the problem of contaminating the wells would not be a big deal, as the drinking water could be heated to sterilize it. But now the passages in the city were cut off and there was a lack of fuel, so even cooking was not possible in the city, let alone heating water. The plague soon spread to Wang Sengbian's army.

When the battle had reached this point, Wang Sengbian knew that he could not continue.

He sent envoys to negotiate with Hou Jing, willing to give up Baidi City, but asked Hou Jing to allow him to lead his army back to Kuimen.

Hou Jing agreed decisively. He immediately ordered the troops to withdraw and allowed Wang Sengbian to withdraw from Baidi City.

Seeing that Hou Jing was so decisive, Wang Sengbian was afraid that he would change his mind halfway, so he immediately led the remaining troops to withdraw from Baidi City and headed straight for Kuimen, which was not far from Baidi City.

At this point, Hou Jing finally occupied Baidi City, which closed the door to Shu, and Shu was pacified!
Hou Jing sent a messenger to Guanzhong to report the victory!
In front of Yubi City, Erzhu Rong looked at this fortified city and was so angry that he almost vomited blood.

He really tried every possible means during this period.

The craftsmen made a battering ram covered with leather, reinforced it with wooden boards, and then painted it with fire-resistant tung oil. A dozen soldiers pushed it to the foot of the city and used the battering ram's wooden hammer to attack the city.

However, facing the solid Yubi City, even if the battering rams rushed to the bottom of the city, they could not make a gap. The fallen rocks and crossbows on the city wall would also cause great damage to the battering rams. After leaving behind more than a dozen damaged battering rams, Erzhu Rong had to abandon this plan.

In the past, the method of using ladders to attack the city was abandoned because Yubi City was built on a platform and the craftsmen were unable to build ladders that high.

Some craftsmen proposed to use the Fen River to flood the city, but the terrace was too high. The accumulated river water could not fill the Yubi City at all. Instead, it destroyed part of Erzhu Rong's military camp, and this plan also failed.

Another general proposed to cut off the Fen River, but wells had already been dug in Yubi City and enough fuel and food had been stored. Cutting off the water supply had no effect on the city. Instead, it lengthened the distance that Erzhu Rong's army had to transport food and fodder, so Erzhu Rong ordered them to stop.

Over the past month, Erzhu Rong has tried every possible means, but still has no way to take Yubi City.

On the contrary, the defense line of his siege became increasingly lax. In the past ten days, Yu Jin sent support troops to the city of Yubi three times. Every time these support troops entered the city, they boosted the morale of the defenders of Yubi City.

Yu Jin continued to send reinforcements. The supplies and soldiers were insignificant, but this was an attitude that showed that the rear of Hedong County would not give up Yubi City.

This attitude will allow the defenders in Yubi City to continue to hold their ground.

Erzhu Rong was an expert in military strategy, so he naturally understood this principle. However, this time he did not punish the defenders who had been broken through, because he knew that his troops were really tired.

After more than a month of siege, their morale had been completely destroyed.

However, good fortune never comes alone, and misfortune never comes alone. Erzhu Rong received another piece of news that shocked him like a bolt from the blue - Yanmen Pass was lost!

When Xiurong's messenger delivered the news to the big tent, Erzhu Rong's first reaction was to draw his sword and shout:
"Erzhu Zhao, that little kid, misled me!"

As expected, after listening to the report from the messenger and knowing that Erzhu Zhao had lost Yanmen Pass because he had advanced too far and was ambushed, Erzhu Rong said angrily again:

"I have long told Erzhu Zhao that Su Ze is very wise and should not rush into battle, but he insisted on going into battle for the sake of merit!"

Heba Sheng stepped forward and said:
"General Tianzhu, Yanmen is related to the safety of Bingzhou. Su Ze is ambitious and will definitely not be satisfied with occupying Yanmen. What about Jinyang?"

Erzhu Rong knew what Heba Sheng meant. There were not many defenders in Jinyang, and Heba Sheng was reminding him to give up attacking Yubi City and return to Jinyang.

How could Erzhu Rong be willing to return empty-handed after a month of military campaign? However, Bingzhou was his foundation, and Xiurong was the Erzhu family's foundation.

No matter how unwilling he was, Erzhu Rong could only sigh and say:
"Withdraw our troops! Return to Jinyang!"

The soldiers also breathed a sigh of relief. The long siege of Yubi City had been unsuccessful and had a huge impact on the morale of the soldiers. It was not just the troops in Yubi City that were besieged, but the troops surrounding Yubi City were also a huge torture.

Erzhu Rong decided to return to Jinyang. The whole army was jubilant, as if they had won a victory.

Wang Sizheng, who was standing on the Yubi City Wall, saw unusual movements in Erzhu Rong's camp. He sighed and said to those around him:

"Erzhu Rong is indeed worthy of his reputation."

The deputy general beside him asked doubtfully:

"Why did the garrison say that?"

Wang Sizheng pointed at Erzhu Rong's army and said:

"After a long siege on Yubi, they are still able to withdraw in such a neat and orderly manner. Isn't this a good way to lead the troops? I originally wanted to pursue Erzhu Rong while he was withdrawing from the city, but now it seems that the enemy's morale has not fallen. I strictly order the defenders in the city to continue to perform their duties and contact Governor Yu after confirming that the enemy has withdrawn."

The deputy general followed Wang Sizheng's gaze and saw that Erzhu Rong's military camp was indeed in order, and it didn't look like they were retreating at all. He also accepted the order and ordered the soldiers to continue guarding the city in case Erzhu Rong was also pretending to retreat.

As expected, two days after withdrawing his troops, Erzhu Rong sent people to investigate the situation in Yubi City. Wang Sizheng continued to defend the city as before, without any slackness. Erzhu Rong then sighed deeply. Wang Sizheng was much stronger than his nephew Erzhu Zhao. He didn't know how Su Ze managed to recruit such a talent.

If Wang Sizheng wanted to escape from the city for the sake of merit, he would have wanted to make a surprise attack, but he did not expect that Yubi City was still heavily guarded and would not give him any chance at all.

Erzhu Rong could only order the entire army to speed up and march northward and return to Jinyang.

(End of this chapter)