Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1220 To Youzhou for the New Year

On November [-]th of the third year of Jianji, it was snowing heavily and freezing cold.

In fact, it has been snowing for several days, and the Yongji Canal has been completely frozen, and the rivers, fields, villages, and cities are all covered in white snow.

The military operations in North China have been greatly affected, but the war is still going on.

On the Daibei battlefield, the Rouzhou camp basically shrank back after the forage withered.The five prefectures of Shen, Rou, Xin, Yi, and Gui mostly turned on the defensive, trying to reduce consumption as much as possible, and even killed some livestock, so as to persist until the beginning of next spring.

Fortunately, Li Siyuan and Li Sizhao on the opposite side were not interested in provoking the Xia people too much. After breaking through a few small fortresses, they didn't send troops to stay behind. They gave up and withdrew to Daizhou.

Li Cunxiao in Guizhou was already killing horses to satisfy his hunger, and kept begging for food and grass support from Rouzhou.The place in Guizhou is so desolate. Before Li Cunxiao surrendered, he relied on Hedong and Youzhou to help him.Now that it has fallen, it all depends on the distribution of grain, beans and livestock in Johor state, but it is not enough, after all, Johor state itself is very poor.It can be maintained in summer and autumn. When there is no pasture in winter and spring, it is always difficult.

Just a while ago, when the Jin army withdrew due to changes in the war in Youzhou, Li Cunxiao wanted to abandon Guizhou and head west.Instead of going to poor places like Johor, Canzhou, and Yunzhou, I went to Shengzhou to eat.If Liang Hanyong hadn't severely reprimanded him and subsidized a small amount of food and grass before the snow fell, there is a high probability that Li Cunxiao would have given up on this place where the number of beatings is getting fewer and fewer, and the more beatings are getting poorer.

He never expected that the Xia people, who were always famous for their wealth and wealth, would have such a sharp decline in their supply capacity once the pastures withered, that they were almost the same as pure grassland tribes.

On the Youzhou battlefield, more than ten thousand soldiers and horses led by Shao Siwu are attacking Shunzhou.

There are few soldiers in Shunzhou, and a lot of townspeople were conscripted temporarily, which is enough to defend the city, but when the Xia army came to attack aggressively, they dared not go out of the city to fight in the field.Shao Siwu didn't take it seriously, and focused on plundering Shufan tribes scattered in various places to obtain supplies.

These tribes don't cultivate much land, and for many years they still focus on grazing. In winter, they rely on the accumulated hay to feed cattle and sheep, and slaughter a small amount of livestock to make a living.When Xia Bing came, a large number of cattle and sheep were plundered and became their supplies. The life of these tribes could not go on any longer. There were only two ways in front of them: [-]. Take the cattle and sheep back desperately; [-]. Ask Youzhou for relief , or plunder the people of Youzhou who are farming, regardless of the Han.

As for surrender, that is impossible, because the Xia people are also short of food, and what they rob is your food.You surrendered, where can they get food?
Shao Siwu's behavior actually caused some controversy.Some people thought that he was too immature politically, offended these Shufan tribes too hard, and pushed them to the side of the Jin people.

But the reality is that there is no way.Shipping has stopped long ago, and the only way to get food and grass is to rob.

Among the two troops going north to Youzhou, one Tianxiong Army has just conquered Gu'an and is searching (big) gathering (plundering) grain (township) grass (li); the other has left Youzhou after Ke'anci Only tens of miles away.

The Longxiang Army mainly attacked Zhuozhou, and the troops were divided into multiple groups, fighting several times a day.

Just yesterday, An Fuqian suffered a big defeat and retreated to Zhuozhou City; Li Luoluo teamed up with Wang Gao to rescue and defeated the Longxiang Army at Fanyang City.

According to the interrogation of the captives, Li Keyong had returned to Jinyang and was planning to send Li Sizhao's troops out of Daizhou to join the Zhuozhou battlefield.

On the one hand, the rebel army in Dunbing Mozhou suppressed the local armed forces, and on the other hand, they attacked Boye, trying to invade Dingzhou and Shenzhou, oppressing the soldiers and horses in these two towns, so that they could not interfere with the war in Youzhou.

The Tiande army deployed along the Yongji Canal stationed in Jingzhou, and continued to advance westward, threatening the direction of Jizhou.

In short, Ge Congzhou's strategy is to drive away the troublemakers, put the main force into the Youzhou battlefield, eat up this weakened Jin army as soon as possible, and completely win the land of Yan.

That is to say, whoever is weak will beat the other, weak first and then strong. After eating Youzhou, he will treat the enemy's victorious with his own invincibility. The thinking is very clear.

Information from various battlefields is naturally transmitted to Cangzhou all the time.

Shao Shude carefully examined every letter and discussed with the ministers.After reading the latest military report, he was a bit planning to go north and put more troops on the battlefield.

He is now in Cangzhou, and more than [-] people from the three armies of Tujiang, Gongchen, and Xiaojie are stationed near the left. It is too extravagant and unnecessary to be his guard.

"Your Majesty, why should you take the risk yourself?" Xiao Yun said, "Ge Shuai responded well. The Tianxiong Army has entered the southeast of Youzhou. If King Zhao sweeps the tribes in Pingshun Prefecture, he can also march to the northeast of Youzhou. The situation is very good, so why bother?" Woolen cloth?"

Shao Shude was very displeased when he heard this, and only heard him say: "Since I ascended the throne, I have been unhappy in every possible way. I can't go here, and I can't take risks in that. I think back then when I went to the front line to boost morale, and even rushed to kill myself, what's the point?" Afraid?"

The more soldiers there are, the wider the general will be, but the people below will not allow you to come to the front line in person, which is outrageous.

Shao Shude knew that they had good intentions, because now there was no need to risk his life like before, but all kinds of restrictions on him still made him very unhappy.

He is the founding emperor, that's all.If it is a future emperor, is there still a possibility of conquest?
"You also know that the current situation is good. But you know, if there is heavy snow in the second ten days and the ground is seven feet deep, and the transportation of grain and grass is not good, how can we fight? Is it all by robbing?" Shao Shude said: "I am going to Youzhou Chinese New Year, will you go?"

"This..." Xiao Yun didn't know how to answer for a while.

The sage has gone to Youzhou, can he not?This thing is messed up!

"If your Majesty is going north, please take the Jizhou Road." Chen Cheng knew that he couldn't change the saint's mind, so he retreated to the next best thing and advised.

Jizhou Road refers to going north from Cangzhou and then reaching the southeast of Youzhou.In this way, it will be safer to be a little farther away from the front line where the two sides are fighting.

Shao Shude pondered for a while, and said, "That's fine."

That is to go north to Lutai Army, then north to east, heading straight to Sanggan River.After crossing the river, you can go north to Jizhou, or go northwest to Youzhou, which is indeed relatively safe.

"Let the Xiaojie army go first, and escort the food and grass to the north." Shao Shude ordered.

The Yongji Canal cannot be left. Now all materials have to be transported by land, and the efficiency has dropped greatly.And this is also the main reason why the various ministries on the front line wantonly plundered places, to reduce the logistical pressure a little. After all, the road is really difficult to walk in winter when it is snowing all over the sky.

"The Tiande army dispatched three infantry commanders and four cavalry commanders to head east to Cangzhou."

"Civil and military officials, palace servants, concubines, and servants all stayed in Cangzhou."

"Cangjing Dedi Boying Mo Qizhou, collected carts, mules, horses, grain and grass, and devoted all his efforts to transporting materials."

"The three armies of Tujiang, Gongchen, and Yin'an follow me to the north."

"Your Majesty, wait..." Chen Cheng said quickly after hearing this.

"Choose a few and go with me." Shao Shude glanced at him sullenly, and said, "You go to the front line of Zhuozhou yourself and tell Ge Congzhou that his stall is a bit big, and I don't worry about it, so give him more money." The soldiers are coming. But how to fight is still how to fight, don't think too much."

If it was an ordinary person, the emperor would have been waiting anxiously at the rear, and he would probably be under a lot of pressure to come up in person.But Shao Shude believes that Ge Congzhou can handle these things well. If he can't bear this and gets confused in a hurry, then I'll beat him up and I will do it himself.

******
Outside the ancient city of Lutai, mules and horses screamed endlessly, and carts were everywhere.

Zhou Da brought half a bag of grains and bran, mixed with water, and fed it to the mule.

"Eat slowly, eat slowly." Zhou Da looked at the mule who was so tired that his legs could not stand still with sympathetic eyes, and sighed: "They are all hard-fated people. There are still wars in heavy snow, so why are we not mules?" Woolen cloth."

The masters who spoke accents from different places were still busy.

They sent the exhausted draft animals into the ancient city, and then put the leather harness on the resting draft animals, and walked slowly along the snow.

The sky is full of snow, and the road ahead is long.

Warriors are risking their lives to fight the enemy, so why aren't they risking their lives to transfer supplies?

The ancient city is adjacent to Yongji Canal in the north, and it has been frozen solid at this time.But there is still a wooden bridge built on the river to connect the north and south banks—people and horses may be able to walk on the ice, but carriages definitely dare not.

On the other side of the river is the Lutai Army. More than [-] pioneers of the Xiaojie Army have just arrived and are resting.

These people left in a hurry, took almost nothing, and even crossed the river to ask them to borrow cooking utensils.

They are all miserable people!
With the support of others, Qin Li boarded a carriage heading south, still cursing.

The snow was slippery, and Uncle Qin unfortunately broke his leg and had to go back.

After feeding the mule, Zhou Da came over to see him off in person.

"Don't worry, your sons and daughters' military tickets are all in your bag, so you can't lose them." Qin Lizheng patted the burden on his body and said.

After conquering Cangzhou, the saints rewarded the whole army, and even the peasants of Tutuan each received a piece of Wudi silk cloth. As the starting point of the Northern Maritime Silk Road, the silk weaving industry in Wudi County was quickly spawned, and there are The local specialty, that is, Wudi silk cloth, is of middle-to-high quality.

At this time, all the money and silk have been transported to the rear. Sergeants, countrymen, and foreign soldiers can receive rewards with signed military tickets.

"Take care." Zhou Da was so sad that he didn't know what to say for a while.

Qin Lizheng sighed, and said, "Are you going to go north in a few days? Are you going to Youzhou?"

"Yes. As soon as Shengjia arrives, we will leave." Zhou Da said.

"You are blessed." The expression on Qin Lizheng's face was very complicated. He didn't know whether it was regret or happiness: "Following the saint is much safer, but there is no chance to make meritorious deeds. It was rumored in the army yesterday that the Gongchen army will continue For the expansion, many people are eager to try it and want to go in to eat the imperial food. But they are all from Bian, Yun, and Yan, so whether you can enter or not depends on fate."

Zhou Da hesitated to speak, he was not very enthusiastic about it.

"Your martial arts are actually not too bad. Zhou Heitun taught you well." Qin Lizheng said: "It's good luck, really good luck."

A crisp bell sounded in the distance, even though the sky was full of wind and snow, it was still clearly audible.

The two turned their heads to look, only to see a long gray dragon appearing on the snow field, winding to the horizon.

The military situation is like fire, and the army is marching northward, day and night.

(End of this chapter)