Han Shizu

Chapter 887 The August War
Because of the problem of national strategy, in the first ten years of Qianyou, too many outstanding generals of the Han Dynasty were "idled" by Liu Chengyou in the north, Yang Ye, Ma Quanyi, Han Lingkun, Dong Zunhui, Li Hanqiong, Luo Yanyu, Wang Shenqi, The series of generals and envoys such as Bai Chongzan and Li Hanchao are not inferior to the Han generals who marched south in terms of ability. However, most of them have spent years and months in a garrison, such as Yang Ye and Luo Yanguan, who even counted for ten years.

For the stability of the northern frontier defense of the Han Dynasty, these generals did sacrifice a lot. In view of this, the tens of thousands of Hebei frontier troops in this mobilization are prepared for great use, rather than an opportunity to make contributions.

And these generals who have been suppressed for a long time are like wild beasts that want to eat people.Even the low-level garrison soldiers have some expectations for military merits.All soldiers have a desire for merit, and that is good news for war.

To launch such a large-scale foreign war, the emperor and the court are under great pressure. The most taboo is that if the people do not support it, they will have no fighting spirit and the soldiers will be war-weary.Fortunately, these situations were relatively rare in the early days of the war.

Where did the soldiers of the Han army have the desire to fight? The most important thing is that in these years, the imperial court has never been stingy in treating the army, whether it is rewards or pensions.And in these years, among the various corruption cases investigated and handled by Dahan, only those involving military pay and military supplies have been dealt with the most severely, and there has never been any exemption or reduction of punishment.

As a result, some civil servants were quite critical, thinking that the emperor treated those Qiu Ba too kindly, and it was easy to make them feel domineering.Liu Chengyou also received some remonstrance, although it is not easy to say it directly, but the implied meaning is obvious, it is to remind Liu Chengyou that the troubled times of the three generations lie in the power of warriors and in the pride of soldiers.
For these suggestions, Liu Chengyou accepted, but did not do it.Some people can only see one side of things forever, but often deliberately ignore the other side.Although he treated the army kindly, but at the same time, the strictness of the Han military law has not been relaxed, and it has been gradually improved.

For Liu Chengyou, the most satisfactory part of the transformation of the army in these years is not the measures to check and balance the power of the generals and the means to buy the morale of the army, but the establishment of a set of military management regulations that can be accepted by the generals and soldiers.

Coupled with the establishment of the comfort system and years of brainwashing, it is still very effective for low-level officers and soldiers who do not have much brains.These comprehensive factors work together to create the new look of today's Han soldiers.

Among the many generals of the great man, who is the closest to Liu Chengyou, Ma Quanyi.Looking back to the past, when Liu Chengyou was still the second son of King Beiping, Ma Quanyi had already followed him. It can be said that he was the first general Liu Chengyou discovered and subdued.In the early years, this kind of emotional bond was not too deep, but as time went by, the longer it passed, the more precious that friendship became.

As for Ma Quanyi, he never let Liu Chengyou down. He guarded Yongqing for eight or nine years and never acted domineeringly as the old man of the emperor. His dedication to his duties was his best reward to the emperor.Therefore, for Ma Quanyi, Liu Chengyou could always think of Ma Quanyi every year and festival, and called him back to Beijing several times to report on his work.

For the former, under the order of An Shenqi, Ma Quanyi led the Yongqing Army to fight northward. He fought in 11 battles, killing and injuring more than 1500 enemy troops.When Liao Qi was on a large scale and the situation in Yandi was deteriorating, he also stepped forward.

On August 8, due to the difficulty of attacking the city and the fortress, the army and the people of Youzhou cooperated with all their strength, and the Liao army began to change their offensive thinking and started to encircle and fight for aid.

At that time, at the suggestion of Liao general Han Kuangmei, the Liao army gathered 5000 troops to besiege Xin'anbao in the south of Jizhou, attracting the troops of Han and Yan to help, and secretly ambush the troops.At that time, the main force of the cavalry of the Han Dynasty did not realize that it was Ma Quanyi who took the initiative to lead the army out of the city from Yuyang to rescue Xin'anbao, and they fell into a tight siege.

Facing the surprise attack and siege of the Liao army, Ma Quanyi performed very bravely. He personally led the [-] cavalry accompanying the army, desperately fighting, rushing from left to right, and repeated several times to give the infantry time to form a formation to defend against the enemy.

After that, he took the lead and commanded the defense of the soldiers on the front line. He was shot with arrows, but his face remained unchanged.The Liao army broke through the army formation several times, but it was Ma Quanyi who led his men to rush forward, fill the hole, fight the enemy in blood, and rebuild the defense line.

In this way, the Yongqing Army's more than 3500 cavalrymen managed to resist the siege of more than three times the enemy's army for a full day.During this period, Yanmin in Xin'anbao saw the reinforcements fighting hard, and took the initiative to gather 300 people to attack, beheading many Liao troops.However, at that time, the Liao army had no intention of paying attention to that fortress, and only sent a partial division to defeat it.

The bloody battle of the Yongqing army for one day fully played the effect of using the body as bait. The Han and Yan allied forces from You, Shun, and Jizhou rushed to support one after another. Some of them were stopped on the way, and some fought with the Liao army on the spot. , There are also those who broke through to the Xin'an area to participate in operations.

When the reinforcements of the Han army arrived, the Liao army, which had also been fighting hard for a long time, was gradually exhausted.Upon learning of the battle situation, the Liao army in Luanping and Zunhua areas also came to reinforce them.

Around Xin'an Fort, Han and Liao fought the largest battle since the start of the war. The Han-Yan coalition forces totaled about 20000 infantry and cavalry, and the Liao army also participated in the battle with 24000 people.

Although it was a battle, it was more like a chaotic battle. Xin'anbao was the main station, and the battle was the most intense. But outside the main battlefield, the entanglement between the two sides in support and assistance was equally fierce.What's more, there is no unified command at all. From Xianghe River in the west to Yutian County in the east, the fighting area between the two armies exceeds hundreds of miles.The Han army fought against the Liao army either by the mountains or by the mountains, and some cavalry units even launched an active attack on the Liao army.

The final result ended with the active withdrawal of the Liao army in Xin'an. As for the result of the Battle of Xin'anbao, the final casualties of the Liao army were around 4000, and the Han army was not much different. Many losses were suffered by the Liao army on the way to aid. Riding robbery.

However, in terms of strategic significance, the Han army won completely.First of all, it thwarted the conspiracy of the Liao army to "encircle and fight for aid" and caused a lot of damage to it. Encourage the determination of Youyan army and people to resist the Liao army; finally, this is the starting point for the Han army to turn from defense to offense.

As for its own losses, to be honest, in a war involving several 100,000 people, a mere 4000 casualties is really nothing.With the human resources of Dahan, it can be replenished quickly.

In this battle, Ma Quanyi played the most critical role. Of course, the contributions of other Han and Yan generals cannot be denied.

After the battle, after resting for three days, Ma Quanyi led his army to take the initiative to attack Zunhua City eastward.In Gushui Yiyang, he defeated the Liao army again and beheaded more than 200 people, causing the Zunhua defenders to shrink back inside.

After the soldiers approached, Ma Quanyi chose to retreat voluntarily. Although the Hebei frontier army went northward and fought happily with the Liao army, although there were many chariots and horses, they did not bring the real huge siege weapons, and it was not the time to attack by force.

Looking at the terrain of Yannan, the military capital and Yanshan Mountain are in the north, and there are many obstacles in between. Zunhua is one of them. If it is removed, it will cut off an exit for the Liao army to go south.

In fact, even if Yanshan is dangerous, it is all in the hands of the enemy. With Youzhou as the backbone, supplemented by Yuyang, Huairou, and Changping, it is not easy for the Liao army in the north of the mountain to cross the south and go deep into the Han territory to fight.

In contrast, the enemy army from the east is more threatening to Youzhou, passing through the plains and rivers, it can almost reach Youzhou directly.Therefore, in the battle against Liao, the main target of Hanyan's attack was the Liao army who entered the pass from Yuguan to help in the battle.

Shicheng County, nearly three hundred miles away from Youzhou City, is located in Liaozhi and belongs to Luanzhou.During the more than a month of the see-saw strangulation in Hanliao, 5 large and small battles took place here. More than 2000 people have shed blood on this land, and the corpses of more than 1000 people have turned into nutrients for the soil.

At the height of autumn in August, the sixth battle is unfolding, between 8 Han infantry and 6 Liao troops.The generals of the Han army are Ma Quanyi and Ma Renyu, and the Liao army is the veteran Gao Mohan.

Gao Mohan is a general and veteran of the Liao Kingdom. As a native of Bohai, he has been reused by several generations of Liao rulers, from Yelu Abaoji to Yelujing.This time too, Gao Mohan took the post of Prime Minister of the Southern Mansion and led the Liaodong army to enter the pass to fight.

In fact, due to the separation of Guanshan Mountain, the roads are difficult, and the transmission of information is inconvenient. Due to the different affiliations of the various Liao armies, and the lack of strict organization, they often made mistakes in coordinating operations.This is also one of the reasons why the Hu people were brave, but after a fierce battle, they were gradually suppressed by the Han army.

After the main force of the Han army in the Northern Expedition of Yongqing went northward, the Liao army, which was mainly active in the Youji area, quickly retreated to Miyun and Juyongguan. Because of the lack of interest, Gao Mohan's reaction was slower, so that he was entangled by the Han army.

The army Gao Mohan brought into the pass from Liaodong, plus the defenders of the Luanping Battalion, totaled more than [-] people, a mixture of infantry and cavalry, with a small number of Khitan and Xi people, supplemented by Han people and Bohai people.However, under the attack of Hanyan army and civilians, nearly [-]% of the damage was caused.

And the battle in Shicheng County can also be regarded as an encounter in pursuit.Gao Mohan is indeed a good general and courageous. He personally led people to cover the rear, and retreated while fighting, and kept taking in the soldiers who were defeated by the Han army in the back, filling them in at any time.

Gao Mohan has a clear judgment on the battle situation, knowing that although he has a large number of people, his equipment and training are not as good as that of the Han army.

It's not that Gao Mohan didn't think about concentrating his forces to eat up the Han army in front of him, but he was not sure of victory. The result of the Battle of Xin'anbao made the Liao army realize a truth again, the formed Han army is indestructible.If you are not prepared to pay twice the sacrifice price and fight for a long time, don't try it lightly.

Therefore, no matter how aggrieved Gao Mohan felt when he was driven eastward by the [-] Han troops, he could only hold back and hold back.

Fortunately, he retreated all the way, and he was less than ten miles away from the county seat. As long as he retreated into the city, he could get a breather.The area east of Shicheng was still controlled by the Liao State, and the Han army did not dare to go further.

(End of this chapter)