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Chapter 132: Capturing Han Jixun Alive

Guzhen is located near a winding ancient river channel and is also surrounded by mountains, so the view is very narrow.

But compared to the Fengzhou City area, this place has left the main range of the Qinling Mountains, and the mountains have gradually become flatter and lower, with many terraces on the continuous high slopes.

From time to time, soldiers on horseback were running out from the outskirts of the military camp. Many people were working in the fields, and occasionally they would look up with curiosity at the groups of soldiers coming and going.

The Shu army stationed here a few days ago suddenly ran away, and the people were all confused and didn't know what had happened.

However, soon another large group of new troops arrived here, and everyone realized that it was the Zhou army that had attacked Guzhen.

The people were very panicked at first, and many people hid in the mountains overnight. Only a few brave people stayed nearby.

Fortunately, the Zhou army did not burn, kill, or loot everywhere. Instead, they sent many people to visit every household to appease the people. It is said that their commander had issued a strict order, forbidding soldiers to harass the people. If any soldiers committed crimes, everyone was to report them to the military camp.

The people waited and watched for two days, and found that the Zhou army did not act recklessly. They returned home from the mountains one after another and resumed their normal production and life.

The military camp in Guzhen was much larger than that in Tangcang Town. A circle of earthen walls and fences were built outside, and a trench more than ten feet deep was dug.

However, no matter how tight the defense is, it still needs people to guard it. The Shu army abandoned Guzhen and fled in panic, so this important stronghold naturally fell into the hands of the Zhou army.

"Has the Shu army in Qingniling made any moves in the past two days?"

In the military barracks, Li Yi stood in front of a huge map and asked without turning his head.

After the Shu army evacuated Guzhen, they retreated to Qingniling in the southwest, apparently to prevent the Zhou army from taking the opportunity to advance westward.

Li Hanchao replied, "According to scouts ahead, the Shu troops who retreated to Guzhen south of Qingni Ridge are stationed there, and there's been no major activity. However, in the past few days, Shu troops have been arriving from Xingzhou to provide support. It's said they're from Gao Yanchou, the commander of the Shu frontline camp."

Li Yi pondered, "The Qingni Ridge is a difficult and arduous road. Even if Shu Kingdom sends more reinforcements, it's already too late. Our army has now occupied Guzhen. If the Shu army dares to cross Qingni Ridge to attack, we can reach the pass ahead within a day from Guzhen. Even if the Shu army comes, it will be a waste of time."

As he spoke, he glanced at everyone in the tent. All the officers present were brought by him from Tokyo, except for one person, Pan Mei, who led the Yongxing garrison to assist the vanguard troops in the battle.

Seeing Li Yi's gaze directed at him, Pan Mei quickly said, "I agree. The capture of Qin, Feng, and the four prefectures is a foregone conclusion. If the Shu court were not deluded, they would never dare to advance rashly. In my opinion, the Shu army's best option now is to hold onto Qingni Ridge and guard the gateway to Xingzhou to prevent our army from advancing directly."

Li Yi nodded upon hearing this. Pan Mei, a famous general from the early Northern Song Dynasty, might not have made many achievements yet, but he was certainly no idiot and possessed a thorough understanding of the battlefield.

Li Yi immediately made the decision, "Our army will temporarily hold Guzhen, while closely monitoring any movements in the direction of Qingniling... Qin and Feng are already trapped, and Cheng and Jie are no longer a concern. Now it all depends on whether Shu has the courage to confront us head-on!"

"Yes!" The generals saluted and responded.

After everyone dispersed, Li Yi just sat down to drink a sip of water when a personal guard hurried in to report: "A group of mountain villagers came outside and said they want to use money to buy food from us."

"Huh?" Li Yi was surprised. In this day and age, are there still civilians who dare to buy food from the army? They should be thankful that the army doesn't steal the people's food.

He frowned and thought for a moment, then continued, "Go ask the grain officials to bring a cart of grain over, and don't charge them. Just treat it as a free gift."

The four states of Qin, Feng and Hou Zhou were now in their possession, and the people under their rule would also be the subjects of Zhou in the future. Therefore, adopting a conciliatory approach would be more helpful in winning over the hearts of the people.

Anyway, the army is not short of this truckload of food for the time being, and the rear is still transporting food and grass to Guzhen. Using this little bit of food to establish a good image is a sure-win business.

"and many more."

Li Yi stopped his guards and instructed them, "Go tell the people that our army doesn't even have enough food to feed itself. But our Great Zhou Emperor sympathizes with the people of Qin and Feng, who have long suffered from the harsh rule of Shu. Before the army set out, he specifically ordered us to treat the people well. That's why he saved a cart of food from our own military rations to help them."

In order to prevent anyone from finding fault with him for delivering military rations to the people in the future, Li Yi directly carried the emperor to the front.

It’s not wrong to help the emperor win the hearts of the people, right?
However, the personal soldier quickly returned, holding a few coins in his hand, and reported helplessly: "Those mountain folk didn't want it to be given away for free, they insisted on buying it with money, but the money they gave..."

"What's going on? Not enough money?"

Li Yi couldn't help but ask, these days there are local separatist regimes, endless wars, and private minting is rampant, and it is very common for the coins circulating among the people to be of insufficient color.

But when he took the coins handed over by his personal guard, he was stunned. Not only was the money not worth mentioning, it was not made of copper at all... but iron!

Li Yi then remembered that from the Five Dynasties to the Song Dynasty, due to the widespread shortage of money and the need to support a large number of troops, local separatist regimes did make money by casting iron coins.

Among them, Shu was the hardest hit area for the circulation of iron coins, which lasted until the demise of the Song Dynasty... Historically, after the Southern Tang was forced to submit to the Later Zhou Dynasty, it also began to mint a large number of iron coins due to financial pressure.

However, the imperial guards of the Later Zhou Dynasty were usually treated very preferentially, and their salaries were paid in full-quality copper coins. Li Yi had indeed never seen such inferior iron coins.

The guard smiled bitterly and said, "They insist on buying it with money, but we don't need the iron coins. Taking them would be like giving away food for free, and it wouldn't bring us a good reputation."

What he said hit the nail on the head. Giving away food for free is a kind act, but it's a different story if you accept money for it... Even if it's iron coins that can't be used, people will say you're selling military rations, not giving them away for free.

"Take me to see it!"

As Li Yi arrived at the camp gate with his personal guards, he saw a group of people in strange clothes, including men, women, young and old, who were chattering with the soldiers of Zhou army.

These people don't dress like Han people, but rather like ethnic minorities. However, Li Yi is not an expert in this area and cannot tell what ethnic group they are from.

A petite figure stood at the head of the group, pinching her hips and speaking rapidly, "Father said no reward without merit. If you give us food for free, you'll have something to hold against us, and you'll definitely use it to blackmail us into helping you fight. We feel more at ease when we buy it with our own money."

The voice was crisp and pleasant, like a lark, but what it said was laughable, what kind of handle was there... Besides, if they really wanted to conscript men to fight, did they need to find an excuse?
Li Yi looked over curiously, only to see that it was a young girl of about fifteen or sixteen years old.

Unlike the dark-skinned mountain dwellers next to her, this young woman's face was white and tender, like freshly baked tofu. She was wearing very bold clothes, exposing her delicate wrists, which were tied with a red string with a small bell.

The legs of his coarse trousers were rolled up just below his knees, and his bare feet stepped on the ground. His white and tender toes were covered in dust, and his nails were decorated with red.

Li Yi couldn't help but take a few more glances with admiration... It's said that people are shaped by the land and water they live in, but this young woman standing with a group of ethnic minorities doesn't seem to be from the same world.

At this moment, the soldiers at the gate of the camp saw Li Yi coming out and immediately saluted respectfully.

Li waved his hand, then took a few steps forward, looked at the leading girl, and asked, "What's your name?"

But the girl asked back, "Who are you? Why should I tell you my name?"

Li Yi said with a smile: "I am the commander of the army here, Li Yi, you can just call me General Li."

"Oh, so you're the one in charge." The mountain girl was indeed very fierce. She didn't seem afraid of Li Yi at all. She smiled and said, "You're really tall and handsome. You don't look like a soldier at all."

"You are also very handsome." Li Yi smiled and complimented him.

He suddenly developed a certain interest in this young woman. Aside from her attire, she didn't look like a mountain dweller at all. It wasn't just her appearance; her fluent Central Plains Mandarin, though thick with an accent, was clearly articulated.

After all, the people standing behind her were talking in such a jumbled manner that it was hard to understand. Li Yi said, "You know my name, so you should at least tell me yours, right?"

"My name is Zuo Ling'er." Zuo Ling'er added, "This is the name my father gave me!"

This name is really... well-deserved, she really is like a lark.

Li Yi asked, "Who is your father?"

"My father is really amazing, he..." Zuo Ling'er suddenly paused and looked at Li Yi suspiciously, "Why are you asking about my father?"

The woman's expression changed instantly, regardless of age. Zuo Ling'er said with dissatisfaction, "Just tell me whether you want to sell the grain or not. If not, we'll go back."

Li Yi asked in return, "Why are you coming to us to buy food?"

Hearing this, Zuo Ling'er's eyes darkened and she sighed, "The village suffered a disaster this year and the harvest was poor, and there's not much game to hunt in the mountains. The Shu Kingdom's court sent people to our village last month to force us to buy food, and every household has run out of food. I heard from people who have entered the mountains that the Zhou Kingdom's army promised that the people can come directly to you if they have any problems."

"I came down the mountain yesterday and saw you guys bringing in a lot of food, so today I brought everyone here to buy some from you."

Li Yi thought to himself: I was just saying it casually, my subordinates are just a bunch of arrogant warriors, not the people's soldiers... Is there really anyone who takes it seriously?

He shook his head and said, "If you really need food, this cartload will be a gift to you. As for the iron coins, you should keep them for yourself. They are useless in our Zhou Kingdom."

"Why can't we use it?" Zuo Ling'er asked anxiously, "This is the money given to us by the Shu Kingdom government. They said it can be used anywhere."

Li Yi shook his head, not knowing how to explain this to her, so he could only say, "If you want the food, take it. If not, I'll have someone take it back."

"Drive! Drive!"

At this moment, several Zhou army scouts came galloping from a distance.

Li Yi saw this and knew there was an urgent military situation. He quickly said, "It's up to you whether you want the food or not."

After saying that, he stopped talking nonsense and turned around to lead his men into the military camp.

"Oh, you..." Zuo Ling'er didn't expect Li Yi to leave as soon as he said so. She immediately muttered a few words in dialect angrily.

……

The weather is clear and the sun is shining brightly.

But there were dark clouds rolling in the sky south of Guzhen, making people feel as if it might rain at any time.

According to local residents, it rains frequently in Qingniling to the south, but rarely in Guzhen. The weather can be truly bizarre.

On a small road from Qinzhou to Guzhen, a cloud of dust was raised in the distance, and soon twenty or thirty knights rushed out from the smoke.

The Zhou army scouts were wandering nearby. When they saw someone coming, they didn't know what was going on for a moment.

The Qin and Feng regions surrendered from the Central Plains to the Later Shu during the Later Jin Dynasty, and only more than ten years have passed.

There were many veteran soldiers from the Central Plains among the soldiers of the vassal states, and even the styles of their armor and uniforms were not much different from those of the Zhou army.

If you don't look closely at the pattern of the bellyband and the texture of the fabric lining the military uniform, it is really difficult to distinguish from a distance.

However, since they were coming from Qinzhou, and with such a small force, they were definitely not members of the Zhou army. One of the scouts immediately rode back to report, while the rest watched cautiously from a distance.

At this time, the scouts did not know that there was a big shot among that small group of people.

The leading general among them was none other than Han Jixun, the heroic governor of Qinzhou. He was now galloping along with only a few dozen cavalrymen.

Han Jixun recognized them as scouts from the Zhou army and couldn't help but sigh, "If we had left a little later, we might not have been able to escape. The Zhou army is really too fast. Have they already reached Guzhen?"

He didn't know yet that Guzhen had been lost. The last battle report Han Jixun received when he left Qinzhou was only that the vanguard of the Zhou army had crossed Malingzhai and was heading towards Guzhen.

In Han Jixun's opinion, it was impossible for Guzhen to be captured so easily in just three or two days.

The attendant cursed, "Mighty Jiedushi Wang Huan is such a idiot! He's already lost almost all of Fengzhou in just over half a month! If Guzhen can't be defended, our escape route will be blocked. Who can we rely on to save Qinzhou then?"

Han Jixun said, "It's mainly because Tangcang's army was defeated so quickly. No one on the front lines of Fengzhou City could stop the Zhou army. I heard that the Zhou army's vanguard commander is called Li Yi. He was quite famous in the battles of Gaoping and Xinkou... Now it seems that he is indeed no ordinary person."

"Not only was their advance swift, their timing was impeccable, and their fighting was daring and fierce. In ten days, they captured eight of our military camps, routed Tangcang's 3,000 troops, and even took Weiwu City!"

There were only a few Zhou army scouts following from a distance, and they had no intention of getting closer. Han Jixun and his group, who were in a hurry to get on with their journey, simply ignored them and headed south on their own.

Before they knew it, they had run for more than ten miles. Seeing Guzhen right in front of them, Han Jixun and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Once they pass through Guzhen and reach Qingniling, they will naturally be safe.

"Swish--" Suddenly, an arrow flew over, and a knight next to Han Jixun fell off his horse.

Looking closely, I saw an arrow stuck in the man's chest, hitting him right in the vitals.

"No, there's an ambush!"

Han Jixun was suddenly horrified and immediately prepared to turn his horse around.

"kill!"

Earth-shaking shouts rang out from all directions, and more than a hundred Zhou cavalrymen rushed out from the surrounding woods.

On the high hillside, a heroic young general was slowly putting away the strong bow in his hand, standing facing the wind and watching the fighting below.

The number of people on both sides was very different, and they were ambushed, so the Qinzhou group was quickly captured.

Late June, a few miles north of Guzhen.

Han Jixun, the powerful governor of Qinzhou, was on his way to Qingniling.

He was ambushed by more than a hundred light cavalry led by Li Yi, the vanguard commander of the Zhou army... and was captured alive on the spot!

(End of this chapter)