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Chapter 23 Battle of Jinyang
The situation on the battlefield changed in an instant.

In the early stage, the Later Zhou army was unstoppable and almost took over the entire Northern Han territory, and after they captured the Longzhou city.

Jinyang has become an isolated city.

However, the attack on Jinyang City was not smooth. The battle lasted for nearly a month, and the Later Zhou army still made no progress.

During this period, the logistical support for the various armies began to be stretched.

Chai Rong ordered You Pushe Li Gu to replace Fu Yanqing and take charge of the Taiyuan administration.

Laborers from Xi, Ci, Jiang, Ze, Jin, Lu, Xing, Zhao, Zhen, Ding and other counties near Hedong were urgently dispatched to transport grain to support the front line.

Afterwards, Chai Rong appointed Liu Ci, the governor of Hezhong, as the chief commander and Bai Chongzan, the governor of Fuzhou, as the deputy commander.

Zhang Yongde, the commander-in-chief of the Palace Guard, led the troops of the Palace Guard to guard the emperor's carriage.

Chai Rong prepared to go to Jinyang in person to supervise the battle.

As the chief officer of the Inner Palace Guard, Li Yi naturally had to accompany him.

He finished his inspection mission a few days ago, returned to Luzhou to report, and reported his results to the emperor.

Within half a month, Li Yi led his men to kill hundreds of soldiers who harassed the civilians.

Probably due to the shortage of food and fodder on the front line, the troops of many local vassal states could not get enough supplies.

However, those people were used to being domineering in the local area, so they simply relied on their own strength and began to plunder the people in the Northern Han territory.

It then evolved into atrocities of murder and massacre of the entire village.

In addition to the troops of local vassal states, a small number of imperial guards also participated.

Some people even argued after being caught, saying, "The fake Han people are not the people of the Great Zhou. Killing them and stealing their food is no big deal."

Li Yi didn't waste time talking to them. Once he caught them, he would chop them all off on the spot. This did scare a lot of people, and the looting of civilians was temporarily calmed down.

Upon learning of this, Chai Rong was very angry and issued repeated orders not to harass the people.

But these people treated his words as bullshit.

Chai Rong immediately ordered the punishment of certain generals who failed to control their subordinates.

……

"Brother Yi, do you really want to bring that little girl Chen back to Kaifeng?" On the way to Jinyang, Ma Renyu was still struggling with this question.

After they executed the Beizhou soldiers in the village.

Li Yi felt sorry for the surviving elderly, weak, women and children, so he asked them to follow the returning grain transport team to Luzhou.

At that time, he asked Chen Xiaoniang to follow them, but Xiaoniang held on to Li Yi's armor and refused to let go, as if she was afraid that Li Yi would abandon her.

Li Yi couldn't understand why Chen Xiaoniang trusted him so much and wasn't afraid that he was a bad person when it was just their first meeting.

Is it because I’m handsome and don’t look like a bad guy?

In the end, Li Yi persuaded Chen Xiaoniang kindly to stay in Luzhou with peace of mind, and he would definitely take her with him when the Later Zhou army returned to Tokyo.

Thinking of this, Li Yi replied casually: "A man's words are as good as his bond. Since I promised the old woman, I must keep my word..."

"Besides, that girl seems quite obedient. Bringing her back to Tokyo will be just right for my sister-in-law to keep her company."

"That's true. My sister-in-law has no children, so she's looking for a companion..."

Although Ma Renyu is slightly older than Guo, he has a close relationship with Li Yi and also calls her sister-in-law.

But when he got to this point, he realized that he had said too much and stopped talking immediately.

Li Yi was silent after hearing this.

It was impossible for him to tell Ma Renyu directly about the emotional entanglement between himself and Guo, so he just pretended not to hear what the other party said.

In mid-May, Emperor Chai Rong of the Later Zhou Dynasty arrived at Jinyang City with his personal guards.

It was early summer and the weather was getting hotter, but the Later Zhou army still made no progress in attacking Jinyang City.

When Li Yi led his men to inspect the battle situation, he was also shocked by the brutality of the siege. Countless soldiers climbed up the city walls like ants, and they were greeted by rolling logs, stones, boiling kerosene, and gold liquid.

Many people fell down screaming and rolled wildly on the ground. The fiercely burning kerosene made them suffer so much that they would soon turn into charred corpses.

Even if someone managed to climb onto the city wall, they would face defenders that outnumbered them by dozens of times. They would either be pushed off the wall and smashed into a pool of meat paste, or be chopped into pieces in a few strokes.

Everyone wants to take the credit for being the first to reach the top, but if you can't stand on the top, you will just die in vain.

At the foot of the city wall, soldiers pushing battering rams and battering rams rushed forward under a hail of arrows and rolling stones and logs.

But by the time they reached the city gate, most of the people had been killed.

At this time, a large amount of kerosene was poured out from the stone holes deliberately exposed on both sides of the city gate, instantly turning the soldiers into fireballs, and they fled in all directions wailing.

The wooden battering rams and battering rams were quickly reduced to a blazing firewood.

From afar, smoke and dust were billowing everywhere outside the city of Jinyang, and the sky was filled with arrows and flying stones, like a barrage covering the sky and the sun, falling among the troops of the Later Zhou Dynasty.

The scene before him reminded Li Yi of a sentence:

"The general, without caring for his soldiers, climbed the city walls like ants. Eight or nine of his soldiers were killed, but he still could not take the city. This was a waste of lives and a waste of the people's wealth. Every family was in mourning..."

It is said that the best strategy is to attack the enemy's plans, the next best is to attack their alliances, the next best is to attack their troops, and the worst is to attack their cities.

Since ancient times, defending a city has been easier than attacking it.

If you want to capture a city at the lowest cost, you have to persuade them to surrender, otherwise you have to be prepared to pay a huge price for a strong attack.

The reason why the Later Zhou army was able to conquer the prefectures and counties around Jinyang so quickly in the early stage was that most of the Northern Han defenders voluntarily opened the gates and surrendered.

Now it is the turn to attack Jinyang City, and the Northern Han ruler Liu Chong is obviously determined to fight to the end.

Jinyang.

It has been an important border town in the north since the Han Dynasty. Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, changed Taiyuan County into Han State and established the capital in Jinyang.

Later, Liu Bang changed it to Dai Kingdom and gave it to his fourth son Liu Heng, who later became Emperor Wen of Han.

During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Gao Huan, a powerful official of the Northern Wei Dynasty, started his career in Jinyang and began his magnificent life.

Not to mention the Sui and Tang dynasties, when Li Yuan and his son started their rebellion in Jinyang and later established the glorious Tang Dynasty.

During the chaotic Five Dynasties period, three of the five founding emperors proclaimed themselves emperors in Jinyang.

As for the other two emperors.

One was destroyed by the Later Tang Dynasty from Jinyang, and the other followed the Later Han Dynasty Taizu from Jinyang.

In a sense, the entire Five Dynasties period is inseparable from the place of Jinyang.

After being repaired and reinforced throughout the dynasties, it is no exaggeration to say that Jinyang City is an iron wall fortress.

It is no wonder that the later "Donkey Cart War God" Zhao Kuangyi was so scared that he wanted to raze the entire Jinyang city to the ground.

"Damn it! I'd rather fight the Khitans than attack this damn city!"

After hearing what Ma Renyu said, Li Yi agreed with it.

It is said that the Khitans sent a large army to aid the Northern Han, and Prince Wei Fu Yanqing led his troops to garrison in Xinzhou.

Chai Rong ordered them to stop the Khitan troops.

If Li Yi had to choose one, he definitely didn't want to stay here to attack the city. He would rather go and have a good fight with the Khitans.

however……

He didn't expect that his words would soon come true.

　This chapter is a transitional plot, mainly explaining the reasons for the defeat of the Later Zhou Dynasty.

　　This sets the stage for the protagonist's first encounter with the Khitan.

　　(The Khitans are an extremely important opponent in the mid-to-late game. The Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun are still in their hands. Not only must we take them back fairly, but we must also kill the Khitans!)
　　
　
(End of this chapter)