It turned out that just a few days ago, another warlord in Huainan, Huainan Zuoxiang, knew that the soldiers and horses had made Bi Shiduo claim to be an envoy to the camp, and sent troops to attack Lü Yongzhi, the god stick that Gao Biao's favor believed in (I don't know where this brother offended Lao Bi). Bi's army soon captured Yangzhou, Lü Yongzhi saw that the situation was not good, the soles of his feet were smeared with oil and fled, but his master Gao Biao was captured (again slow running), Bi Shiduo imprisoned him, and replaced him with the self-proclaimed Huainan Jiedushi envoy.
Lü Shengang, who was running away, suddenly thought of Yang Xingmi in Luzhou, and immediately appointed Yang Xingmi as the marching sima in the name of Gao Biao, asking him to quickly send troops to rescue his master Gao Biao. At this time, Yang Xingmi's adviser, Yuan Xun, one of the Thirty-Six Heroes, said to him: "This is the heavens to give Huainan to the lord, the opportunity must not be lost and will not come again, the lord should send troops immediately." ”
Yang Xingmi felt that it was very reasonable, and immediately mobilized all his men and horses, and borrowed some troops from Shi Sunduan from Shi Sunduan in Hezhou (present-day Hexian County, Anhui), and gathered thousands of people to rush to Yangzhou overnight. From here, it can also be seen that Yang Xingmi's strength is still very weak at this time, and his men are not even ten thousand people.
When Yang Xingmi's troops arrived at Tianchang (天長, in modern Tianchang, Anhui), they encountered Lü Yongzhi, who had come to the rendezvous with his troops. Soon Bi Shiduo's subordinate Zhang Shenjian also came to defect because he broke up with Lao Bi, and then several more troops came and went, Yang Xingmi's men and horses quickly grew to seventeen thousand, and Zhang Shenjian also pulled the grain and grass from his old nest Gaoyou (present-day Gaoyou, Jiangsu) to Yang Xingmi for use.
Hearing that Yang Xingmi had sent troops to attack, Bi Shiduo, who had stolen Yangzhou, was a little panicked, and quickly sent his son Ben Xuanzhou (present-day Xuancheng, Anhui) to Xuanzhou to observe Qin Yan for help, and promised to make Qin Yan the lord of Huainan as long as yang Xingmi was defeated. As soon as Qin Yan heard that his heart was moved, he sent three thousand troops to rescue Yangzhou, and when Bi Shiduo saw that Qin Yan himself was not coming, he felt that Qin Yan was not sincere enough, and wrote a letter asking Qin Yan to personally cross the river and meet his own division.
Qin Yan could not get away with it, so he had to personally lead 30,000 troops to reach Yangzhou by boat and take the initiative to jump into the fire pit of Yangzhou. After entering the city, Qin Yan claimed to be quanzhi Huainan Jiedushi, that is, the meaning of temporary acting Huainan Jiedushi envoy, with Bi Shiduo as the marching Sima and Lao Bi officially retiring to the second line, mainly serving Qin Yan.
Soon Yang Xingmi's army arrived outside the city and garrisoned Shugang (蜀冈, in modern Yangzhou, northwest of Slender West Lake). Shugang is a mountain range in the northwest of Yangzhou, stretching for more than forty miles, since ancient times as a natural barrier of Yangzhou, the northern soldiers must first take Shugang, condescending, the dynamics of the city can be seen at a glance.
Yang Xingmi set up eight camps outside the city to besiege the city, and Qin Yan hung up the battle card and closed the city to defend himself. After besieging the city for a long time, seeing that there was less and less grain in the city, and there was an immediate danger of cutting off the cooking, Qin Yan could not sit still, and sent Bi Shiduo and Qin Chou to lead eight thousand troops out of the city to find Yang Xingmi to play for his life. As a result, the Luzhou army, which was waiting in a strict position, chopped melons and cut vegetables, and returned with a big defeat, Qin Chou was killed in battle, and the soldiers died 78 out of 10. The city was soon starved of food, lack of food and drink, scattered hearts, and even a tragic situation of people eating people in order to survive.
Just when Qin Yan was impatient and had nothing to do, another warlord stationed nearby, Shi Zhangxiong of the former Suzhou (present-day Suzhou, Jiangsu), extended an olive branch to him. Suzhou has been known as the "land of fish and rice" since ancient times, Zhang Xiong has been entrenched there for many years, accumulating a huge amount of grain in his hands, this person has always coveted the wealth of Yangzhou, this time seeing that Qin Yan is about to be unable to play, he is ready to use this opportunity to make a big profit.
Therefore, Zhang Xiong wrote to Qin Yan and generously expressed his willingness to sell grain to him to solve his urgent needs, you and my brother are not outsiders, just give you a membership price, 10% off, enough meaning.
Desperate, Qin Yan could only grit his teeth and accept this business at this time.
In order to survive, the people of Yangzhou, who were devastated by hunger, had to take out real money and silver to buy grain from Zhang Xiong's hands to eat. A high-grade belt for five liters of rice, a piece of brocade for five liters of chaff, Zhang Xiong made a fortune in the war, made a fortune, Qin Yan almost died of anger, OK, surname Zhang, count you fierce!
Zhang Xiong, who tasted the sweetness, did not want to help Qin Yan retreat from the enemy, Lao Tzu helped you fight back Yang Xingmi, will you still ask me? So how else did Lao Tzu make war money? After making up his mind, Zhang Xiong began to be passive and sluggish, and even secretly went to Yang Xing's eyebrows, betting at both ends, drought and flood to ensure the harvest.
Qin Yan, who had no way to help, blushed urgently, and gathered twelve thousand people led by Bi Shiduo and Zheng Hanzhang, and went out of the West Gate to find Yang Xingmi to play with his life. Yang Xingmi, lying in the big tent, said calmly and calmly:
Tell me when the thieves get closer.
Then he ordered that the gold, silver, treasures, wine, and good vegetables be piled up in a camp, and some old and weak soldiers were sent to guard it, and then they ambushed the elite soldiers nearby, and took a thousand people out of the camp to compete with Bi Shiduo a few times before turning around and running, and Old Bi didn't even think about it before chasing after him. As soon as the army rushed into the camp, those veterans scattered and fled, which was broken, Qin Yan's troops had been hungry for so long, and they held their breath. Now suddenly found that there were gold and silver jewelry and wine and meat meals everywhere, and the eyes were all glowing green, throwing down knives and guns, and rushing to scramble.
At this moment, there was a sudden killing noise, ambush troops were everywhere, Yang Xingmi killed a hui horse gun, the Qin army was defeated, the corpse was ambushed for more than a dozen miles, Lao Bi and Zheng Hanzhang only escaped with their lives, and fled back to the city.
Qin Yan was defeated again and again, and in anger, he sprinkled all his anger on Gao Biao's head, sent someone to execute all the old and young gao biao's family, and dug a big pit and buried it hastily afterwards. When the bad news came, Yang Xingmi was devastated and ordered the three armies to cry and sacrifice to the city for three days, which could also be regarded as living up to the cultivation of Engong.
At this time, Yangzhou had been besieged for half a year, and the two sides had fought dozens of fierce battles, and the city had already run out of food, and even the grass had been eaten, and the people could only eat mud to fill their hunger. Qin Yan's troops were so hungry that they were beastly, and they openly set up a cauldron on the street to sell human flesh, killed people on the spot and cooked meat, and sold it now. Yangzhou, the earthly paradise of the rich world during the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, has now become a dark hell on earth, which is really "xing, the people are suffering: death, the people are suffering." ”
The history books truthfully record the scene of hell in Yangzhou City like a Shuluo field, the starving corpses piled up like mountains, white bones everywhere, the Qin soldiers with green eyes were arrested when they saw people on the street, many of them were tied to the doorposts together, and the butcher slaughtered and boiled meat on the spot, just like killing pigs and slaughtering sheep.
When the battle reached this point, even the most obtuse people understood that it was only a matter of time before Yangzhou fell, and Qin Yan and Bi Shiduo, who were trapped in the isolated city, were also desperate, but Yang Xingmi outside the city did not know this, he could not attack for a long time, and he also paid a huge price, and he could not help but have the idea of retreating.
At this time, God helped him.
exegesis:
See "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms, Wu Yi, Taizu Family": "There is no food in the city, the rice bucket is straight to fifty taels, the grass roots and trees are exhausted, and the viola is used as bread to eat, and more than half of the starving people die." Xuanjun plundered many people and sold them harmoniously, or the husband and son slaughtered each other from their own entanglement, and the butchers were like sheep. ”
See The Old Five Dynasties History of the Ugliness column biography: "Secretly attacked and besieged Miqiu, the city was full of food, the rice bucket was forty thousand, and the residents were skimmed away." ”
See "The New Five Dynasties History of the Wu Family": "When the city was empty, the hungry people killed and ate each other, and their husbands and sons and fathers and sons slaughtered and sold them, and the butchers cut them like sheep." ”