Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 192 Huizhou ([-])

Cheng Zongchu listened to the messenger's report in silence, and suddenly felt a little sad.

I'm turning fifty this year, and my teenage ambitions are gone forever.Facing less than [-] rebels, he felt that his hands were tied, and even the recovery of Pingliang County in Weizhou depended on cleverness, rather than crushing the enemy in a devastating manner.

Jingyuan was poor and lacked military resources. Although the soldiers endured hard and deadly battles, they did not receive sufficient rewards for a long time, and their morale could not be raised at all.The reason why they are willing to send troops this time is because they want to regain their hometown. After all, many sergeants live in Yuanzhou and Wuzhou.

I also promised that the king of Lingwu County would march into Huizhou, how would I explain it to the soldiers?
If this incident only troubled him, then the strength of the Dingnan Army made him feel terrified. There were more than 2 troops. I originally thought that only a part of them could fight, and the rest were temporary recruits. Now it seems that this is not the case at all.The Fan Bingyi Congjun army has already gone north to Yanzhou, and the remaining few troops should be the main force.

In fact, Cheng Zongchu didn't think that the skills of the sergeants of the Dingnan Army were much better than those of the Jingyuan Army he had trained so hard.In terms of formations and changes on the battlefield, in terms of personal skills, and in terms of ability to endure hard battles, his Jiuqianjingyuan Army is not bad at all.The difference between the two sides was morale. Cheng Zongchu could tell that the Jingyuan Army had a tendency to hold back their strength in battle.

Whether there is hard work, whether there is a deadly battle, the old ranks can tell.

"The state is so difficult." Cheng Zongchu sighed.

"Why is Cheng Shizhong sighing? More than ten thousand troops marched north, and just after defeating more than three thousand people from the Bagou tribe, the Bazang family ran away after hearing the news. If it goes so smoothly, we will definitely be able to regain Yuanzhou." Zhe Zongben rode on the horse and said with a smile.

"Zhe Shuai's words are very reasonable, so why are you lamenting? To recover the lost ground is now." Cheng Zong Chuqiang smiled and said.

The Zhe family and the Shao family are related by marriage. If the situation in the northwest of Beijing is like this, what can the husband say?This time, he returned the Shao's favor and helped him regain Huizhou, so he sent his troops back home to protect the environment and the people.Don't ask more questions about external affairs, unless the emperor has an edict.

Jingyuan and Binning two towns of more than [-] cavalry troops were faster, and it took only ten days to reach more than ten miles south of Yuanzhou.It still took time to fight Caogu. After all, the Tubo troops were gathered near Yuanzhou, and the tribes were all old and weak. The Jingyuan Army and Binning Army had a good time.

Because of this, when they arrived near Yuanzhou, they drove a large herd of cattle and sheep with the army, and the military supplies were replenished.

The Dingnan Army arrived in the east of Yuanzhou City three days earlier than them, and sent cavalry to fight the Tubo people, beheading hundreds of people.But no matter how many victories there were, it was gone, because the three tribes of Wuzang, Mingzhu, and Bai fled westward early, and the Bagou tribe was defeated by the Jingyuan Army and Binning Army in the south. Now in Yuanzhou City, only the most powerful The Noribe and their little brother Shui Lingbu are two. There are 6000 adult men guarding Yuanzhou City in fear.

But Yuanzhou City was deliberately destroyed by them before, and the Dingnan Army came too fast, and there was no time to repair it. It is really difficult to defend it at this time.

The Dingnan army sent to contact them was Li Shaorong, the deputy general of the cavalry army, who was still muttering until recently.

Cheng Zongchu laughed after listening carefully, and said: "General Li doesn't understand the habits of the Tubo people. This generation uses soldiers, the army is the people, and the people are the army. Every time they leave the army, they must send out rich houses, all of them are slaves, and they usually scatter to farm and herd."

Tubo is a nation that both herds and cultivates.When the army goes out to fight, the chieftains of each department must bring the people and servants of the department, and go out with the commander.Every expedition is actually a migration of the whole people.After laying down a place, the servants went to farm and graze.If you are defeated, you will either run away, or if you cannot escape, you will surrender on the spot.This is how a large number of Tubo and Dangxiang tribes in Jingyuan, Binning, and Fengxiang towns came here.

of course there are exceptions.There are some nomadic tribes in the Tubo headquarters. After occupying Yuanzhou in the middle Tang Dynasty, they graze in Yuanzhou every winter and spring, and go back to Qinghai to graze in summer and autumn. It is not troublesome at all.

"Don't Tibetans have no home?" Li Shaorong scolded.

"Home?" Cheng Zongchu smiled wryly, and said, "Where you hit is home. If you can't beat it, throw away your belongings and servants, and then go find a new home and conquer new servants. Anyway, there are many grasslands, and there are also many weak tribes." .”

"No wonder those Tibetans ran so fast, they lost their tents, cattle, sheep, and food." Li Shaorong suddenly realized.

"That's fake Tubo, the real party. But most of them have no good fruit to eat. If they go to Wuzhou, they will be better off. At most, they will be driven away by others. If they go to Huizhou, they will probably be intercepted and annexed by Qubu."

"Well, I don't care if they are Tubo or Dangxiang. The only thing I am here this time is that the commander-in-chief wants the Jingyuan army to attack Yuanzhou." Li Shaorong said.

"Yes." Cheng Zongchu nodded, and said: "The King of Lingwu captured more than [-] people in Baiquan, and now he beheaded hundreds of people in Yuanzhou. It has been a great help. I am very grateful for the help here. .The Jingyuan army is duty-bound to attack Yuanzhou."

Zhe Zongben watched from the side without speaking.In fact, the Binning army was also a guest army who came to help his fist, of course, it was mainly to help his son-in-law, and helping Cheng Zongchu was by the way.There was no battle along the way, but a lot of cattle, sheep, and leather were robbed. Everyone was quite satisfied.

On February 4000th of the second year of Guangqi, more than [-] troops from the three towns combined and surrounded Yuanzhou City on three sides.Cheng Zongchu, commander-in-chief of Jingyuan Festival, conscripted some Fan tribes and forced them to leave Ding. With [-] people, he began a strong attack on Yuanzhou City.

Yuanzhou City has been destroyed many times in history.Every time Tubo takes possession, the city walls must be demolished.After the capture of Yuanzhou in the first year of Guangming, a lot was destroyed, so that it is difficult to defend the city now, which can be said to be a cocoon.

The Fan tribe confiscated by the Jingyuan Army is mainly composed of Dangxiang people.They had poor equipment and low morale, but under the pressure of tens of thousands of troops, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and attack the city.

One is a pure-bred party item, and the other is a Tubo-style party item. Both sides come and go, fighting to the death, which is extremely tragic.

After only one day of attack, the Jingyuan party could no longer hold on and wanted to withdraw.Cheng Zongchu directly ordered the suppression, beheading more than [-] people, and ordered them to attack the city all night after cleaning up the rest, without even stopping for a moment.

Shao Shude turned a blind eye to this.Although Cheng Zongchu was a loyal minister, he was naturally not a soft-hearted person who could be a handsome man.

But don't forget, Marshal Cheng is also a warrior, and there are no good warriors!

During the day on the 21st, Dangxiang continued to attack the city.In the evening, there were so many dead and wounded that it was impossible to attack.Cheng Zongchu replaced 500 captured men from the Bagou tribe, ordered them to continue to attack, and promised to pardon their crimes if they attacked twice.

As a result, the attack lasted until midnight, and more than [-] people were killed or injured in the Bagou tribe, and they finally got the order to retreat.

After two days and two nights, more than 2000 people were killed or injured by Jingyuan Dangxiang, which exhausted the Yelibu and Shuilingbubu in the city, and exhausted the few defensive equipment in the city.

Seeing that the time was ripe, Cheng Zongchu selected a thousand Jingyuan elites, took advantage of the most fatigued moment in the second half of the night, to attack the city suddenly, and even broke through in one fell swoop, which made Shao Shude look at him with admiration.

This Marshal Cheng has a lot of experience.

The fight that followed was lackluster.The Jingyuan Army continued to invest in troops, seized the gate of the city, and then allowed the army to enter.

Tubo Dangxiang had to abandon Yuanzhou and break out of the siege at night.

"Shao Shuai, you still need your army to send out cavalry to pursue them. You must keep these thieves behind." The Jingyuan Army only had a thousand cavalry, which was not enough, so Cheng Zongchu still asked Shao Shude for help.

"Even if Cheng Shuai doesn't open his mouth, I will send cavalry to chase after him." Shao Shude said: "This generation of thieves should be killed as cleanly as possible, so as not to go to Huizhou and Wuzhou to become slaves to tigers."

Cheng Zongchu breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately asked, "Shao Shuai wants to enter Wuzhou?"

"Naturally." Shao Shude replied: "I will accompany Cheng Shuai to recover Wuzhou, then go west to Huizhou, and destroy Qubu in one go."

"Does Shao Shuai have a plan to crusade against Huizhou?"

Shao Shude pondered for a while, and then said: "It's okay to tell Shuai Cheng. More than ten days ago, a certain messenger sent a messenger to rush back to Xiazhou and Lingzhou. With my warrant, he transferred the Wuwei army to the west to Lingzhou, and dispatched the Yuan army. Go south to Huizhou. Calculate the time, it should have been dispatched by this time."

"Shao Shuai is an experienced soldier." Cheng Zongchu sighed: "When the army is marching westward, most of the Qu's troops will gather troops to fight. If there is a stalemate, they will learn that there is a loss in Huizhou's old nest, and Ding's army will be in a state of confusion. , It is also difficult to last. This time the recovery of Huizhou is expected."

Going south from Dingyuan Military City, because the whole route was marching on the inside, they could advance lightly and reach Wulan County and Wulan Pass in the early twenties, which was easy to break through.And after March, the Yellow River water transport can play a role again. At that time, tens of thousands of troops will be overwhelmed, and the transfer of materials will be convenient. There will not even be a need to conscript many masters. This battle is really easy.

Of course Shao Shude thought further.He has even considered that if he attacks Lanzhou in the future, it seems that ships can be used to transport food, equipment, and even troops, and the cost will be greatly reduced. The premise is that Lingzhou has built enough transport ships—the five hundred households brought back from Guanzhong. This is where the role of the shipbuilder is.

When Xixia conquered Helong, due to technical or knowledge reasons, they failed to make full use of the value of water transport in the Yellow River, but I am different. As a person from the 21st century, it is almost an instinct to make full use of the advantages of water transport.

Shipping in the upper reaches of the Yellow River existed in the Western Han Dynasty, and it was mainly concentrated in the lower reaches of Huangshui River, Jincheng (Lanzhou), and the Hetao Plain. "Ice down the Caoxia", "In the spring, the soldiers of the province, Xunhe, Huangcao Valley to Linqiang and the Qiang captives", that is, after the spring thaws, use the water boats to transport grain and grass along the Yellow River and Huangshui River to conquer The Qiang army transported supplies.

Before the Anshi Rebellion of the Guo Dynasty, they immigrated vigorously to the Hexi and Longyou areas, reclaimed a lot of land, and became a relatively prosperous place in the Tang Dynasty.

You'd be a fool if you didn't take advantage of this.

A Yellow River is worth hundreds of thousands of masters!

　Chapter 2 will be updated at night.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)