Updated: 2010-05-08

From Zhou to Song, the Bianliang Imperial Army has attacked Taiyuan for the fourth time. The imperial family declined at the end of the Tang Dynasty, and the two great heroes Zhu Wen and Li Keyong competed for dominance in the world. In the story of Taiyuan soldiers and households, the Hedong Army always played the role of a tragic hero who was not afraid of power. In Taiyuan City, yelling people as a son of Bianliang is accusing him of being lazy and treacherous.

In the fourth year of Zhonghe, Xuanwu Town, Bianzhou was forced by the bandit Huang Chao, so he asked Li Keyong, the governor of Hedong. 50,000 Hedong children swore to fight for the king. They defeated Huang Chao in a row. When the overall situation was settled, the Xuanwu Army in Bianzhou, who was begging for help, suddenly fought back and sent people to surround Shangyuan Post where Li Keyong lived, and set fire on all sides, and arrows were fired at the same time. Li Keyong survived, which kicked off the prelude to the Xuanwu Army stationed in Bianzhou and the Hedong Army stationed in Taiyuan for a hundred years.

After that, Zhu Wen usurped the Tang Dynasty and became emperor, and the country was named Liang Dynasty. Li Keyong, the governor of Hedong, was loyal to the Tang Dynasty throughout his life. When he died, he gave his son Li Cunxu three arrows to attack Liu Rengong with one arrow. Because Youzhou was unfair, Henan could not be defeated; he attacked the Khitan with one arrow, because Abaoji broke his promise and defeated Zhu Wen, who was independent of usurped the Tang Dynasty, had a lasting regret. His son Li Cunxu worked hard to govern and eventually destroyed the Later Liang and established the Later Tang Dynasty.

In the following hundred years, the Hedong Army repeatedly sent troops from Taiyuan to attack Bianzhou, the capital of the Central Plains court, and played an important role in the frequent dynasty changes. In the third year of Kaiyun, 300,000 Kaifeng soldiers surrendered without fighting. The Khitans invaded the Central Plains in large numbers. The head of Hedong Town invaded Yiqi. The towns in the Central Plains attacked the Khitan army, forcing the Khitan Emperor Yelu Deguang to retreat from the Central Plains in a hurry. Until Guo Wei became independent on the Han Dynasty, the Hedong Town Army maintained an absolute advantage in terms of morality to victory and defeat against the imperial guards of the Bianliang court. In the Battle of Gaoping, the Hedong Army had just begun to attack, and the Bianliang imperial guards were worthy of their fence-like nature and shouted for Liu Zhiyuan to release their armor and surrender. However, Zhou Shizong reversed the situation with his violent and unscrupulous general who was comparable to Li Keyong's death. After Emperor Shizong's death, Zhao Kuangyin continued, and the fate of the Central Plains was the fate of the Central Plains, and the stars were changed between Hedong and Bianliang.

Although Emperor Yin of Han was cruel and unkind, Liu Chong, who occupied Hedong and established himself as the Northern Han Dynasty, did not disappoint Guo Wei. The Northern Han claimed to be orthodox in Taiyuan and fought against the Bianliang court. However, the general trend of the world was that even with the best city and elite soldiers in the Central Plains, the fall of Taiyuan was only a matter of time under the full attack of the imperial guards of the Song Dynasty.

Looking out from the city south, a rammed earth dike was gradually formed. The Song army recruited tens of thousands of people and adopted the method of taking full control in sections, extending each section to the left and right until it was finally closed. The earth dike had not been built yet, and most of the channels for drinking water from the Fen River had been completed. The Hedong army repeatedly left the city to destroy the Song army's construction of the earth dike, but was always repelled by the Song cavalry who were monitoring and guarding. After thousands of people were killed and injured, they had to live hiding behind the city wall. Watching this deadly embankment gradually take shape. Jinyang City was repeatedly attacked by water in history. The soldiers and civilians in the city experienced the disaster of Song Taizu breaking water and irrigating the city. They cursed the Song army outside the city with gritted teeth, but there was no way.

While building the embankment, the Song army did not relax its attack on the city. More than 200,000 imperial guards took turns to fight and set off their stance. The Song Dynasty's advantage of gathering the world's material resources was undoubtedly revealed. Yangma City in the southwest corner of the city was first captured by Cao Han, and Liu Jiye, the governor of Jianxiong Army, was forced to retreat and strive to protect the city wall on the south. The city wall on the west side of Jinyang, which Liu Jiyuan's palace city relies on, was directly exposed to the Song army.

Emperor Liu Jiyuan of Han attempted to send envoys to ask for help from the Khitan, but the envoy was captured by Guo Jin, a subordinate of Shiling Pass, and was taken to the city of Taiyuan. From spring to summer, Governor Pan Mei attacked the city of the imperial guards for hundreds of thousands of days and nights. The arrows in Taiyuan were raining, and the houses in the city were broken by stone bullets, and they were almost intact. The adult man among the people in the city, Dadu went to the city to help defend, but only the elderly, weak, women and children were anxious at home. However, Hedong and Bianzhou had a deep grudge, and had been attacked by the imperial guards four times in recent years. He has repeatedly heard that the Bianliang army would destroy the city and massacre after capturing Taiyuan. Therefore, although the troops guarding the city were exhausted, they still fought hard.

In April, the Song Dynasty officials sent envoys to surrender Liu Jiyuan and the soldiers guarding the city. The soldiers in the city refused to report and shot him back with a random arrow. Zhao Jiong felt humiliated and put on armor overnight to urge the generals to attack Taiyuan, day and night. Liu Jiyuan, the king of the Northern Han Dynasty, mobilized the people in the city to pick up the arrows that the Song army shot into the city, and bought them for ten cents each, and actually collected millions of arrows. In May, the hearts of the important officials of the Northern Han Dynasty began to fluctuate. First, Fan Chao, the envoy of Xuanhui of the Northern Han Dynasty, claimed to have gone to war, but in fact he attempted to surrender. He was killed by the Song army. Later, the commander of the Ma Army, Guo Wanchao, was beyond surrender and accepted by Zhao Jiong.

Since then, the surrender of the Northern Han court officials has risen. Only Liu Jiyuan Yi's brother, who had previously advocated surrendering to Song, and Liu Jiye, the governor of Jianxiong Army, insisted on not surrendering. Liu Jiye said that if the war was not started, the Han lord surrendering to Song would be the best way to save the people. However, for nearly four months of war, both sides suffered heavy casualties. Once surrendered, although the Han royal ministers could be safeguarded, the Kaifeng soldiers in Hedong were full of hatred for the possibility of massacre of the city. Therefore, for the people of the city, they should insist on defending the city, and delay the Song army's money and food, and they would be removed. At most, they would burn both jade and stone, which would be better than the killing of everyone after the extermination of the army. Most of the soldiers and civilians in the city recognized Liu Jiye's statement, but the Han lord Liu Jiyuan was lobbying day and night by ministers who wanted to surrender, and gradually had some intentions.

The Song army gradually discovered some movements in the city and began to consciously strengthen the attack on the southern wall defended by Liu Jiye. However, Jianxiong Army was the best elite soldier in the north. Under the storm of the Crane Army and the Hujie Army, the towering and heavy city walls were defending very tough. When encountering opportunities to take advantage of, Liu Jiye might lead elite cavalry out of the city to attack the imperial guards who were in chaos due to exhaustion. Li Hanqiong, the governor of the Song general Zhangde, who was responsible for the south wall, was also a fierce general.

In order to dispatch elite troops to stop the counterattack of the Yang family cavalry, they have been personally stationed in the siege cave dug under the city wall for several days, and have been sleeplessly commanding the army to attack upwards. Zhao Jiong was originally going to supervise the battle in the west of Taiyuan City, which was approaching Liu Jiyuan's palace city. Hearing that the battle in the south was even more tragic, the soldiers were injured and injured, so he put on heavy armor and wanted to go to the siege cave to command the army to attack the city. Li Hanqiong was shocked when he heard this. He rushed back from under the city wall regardless of the arrows and stones, and cried and tried to warn the officials to take care of the dragon body, which made Zhao Jiong dispel the idea.

In Taiyuan City, picking up arrows that the Song army shot into the city, exchanged copper coins from the yamen clerks, and then buying some food for life has become the norm for the people in Taiyuan City. After Li Jiuyan defected to his son, because Daibei was in chaos for many years, Li Chengxiang, the capital of Jianxiong Army, bought a house in the city of Taiyuan for him to live in. Li Jiuyan took Juan'er to stay in Taiyuan. Originally, Li Chengxiang was guarding the border in Daibei, and Old Man and Juan'er depended on each other. The imperial army was overwhelming, and Jianxiong Army returned to the north to help, and the family reunited. However, Li Chengxiang was guarding the city wall for ten days, and the military pay and rations were not distributed for many days. In order to make a living, Old Man Li still had to take Juan'er to pick up arrows everywhere every day at the risk of his life.

At this moment, Old Man Li and Juan'er were hiding in a dilapidated house with no owner, waiting for the rain of Song Jun to sparsely drop.

After running around these days, Juan'er is no longer afraid of walking through an environment like rain. Li Jiuyan is also a veteran. Based on his experience in the past few months, he inferred the approximate time when the Song army had gone out of the arrows, and took Juan'er out to pick up the undamaged arrows at this time.

"Grandpa, why do the imperial court have so many arrows?" Juan'er waited for a long time, but the arrow rain did not appear sparse. She couldn't help but look at the people who were picking arrows behind the street houses with the arrow rain. Most of them were ragged and clusters of intact arrows were like a hungry mouse that saw white-faced steamed buns. Liu Jiyuan's reward grid for an arrow was ten copper coins, and one thousand copper coins could only be exchanged for a bowl of gruel in Taiyuan City today.

As soon as she finished speaking, there was a loud noise. Old Man Li shouted "No," and a rock bullet of about 100 pounds smashed through the roof. It landed less than half a foot away from the two, smashing a large pit more than three inches deep. For a moment, the house was covered in dust, choking, Juan'er stood there in a daze and couldn't speak. Li Jiuyan was afraid that she would be frightened and coaxed, "Don't be afraid, this place where the stone bullets fell was God's point, and it's rare that there would be stones falling down."

Just at this moment, several screams came from the street. It turned out that the rain of arrows from the Song army suddenly became dense for some reason. Several people who picked the arrows could not avoid it. They were hit by several arrows and could not bear the pain and shouted loudly. This made them even more unsophisticated. They were repeatedly hit by arrows and rolled on the street for a while before they stopped.

Juan'er looked at the scene in panic, and finally couldn't help but cry in a low voice. Li Jiuyan's wife died early. When she pulled Li Chengxiang, she leaned on the stick to make a filial son. The ancient saying of a man bleeding but not crying. Seeing her crying, she only sighed. When the Song army's arrows finally became sparse, by the time, it was about the time when a group of arrows were used up and waiting for the baggage to be connected, Li Jiuyan did not call Juan'er, walked out of the house alone, carefully selected those arrows without any.

The damaged arrows. Soon after, Old Man Li felt a sound behind him. When he looked back, Juan'er followed him. She had no strength to raise the arrows shot into the cracks of bricks and rocks and the beams of the house. She could only look for arrows that happened to hit the roof tiles at an oblique angle and then hit the ground. Seeing that Juan'er's face was still hanging on her face, like a flower-faced cat, but she bit her lips tightly. Old Man Li sighed again and reached out to lift the arrows that had been inserted into the people who had been shot to death.

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