Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 520 Defending the West and Attacking the East
The countryside of Xiao County is full of wheat waiting to be harvested.

When the sergeants passed by, they couldn't help but take a second look.In Heluo, there are many big-headed soldiers fighting, but food has always been in short supply.

After the establishment of Dawu City, the defense line was pushed eastward for thirty or forty miles.Xiao County immediately became the rear area, where [-] Huazhou Masters and Hengshan Dangxiang lived, and they had harvested two crops of grain.

At the end of last year, five main officials and several miscellaneous officials of Xiao County were in place one after another, and Lingzhou also had a doctor of agriculture with students to guide the people in farming.

This county, created out of thin air, has become an important resting place for the Heluo Li Tangbin Group, as well as a place where all the yamen work together.

I heard that there is another Mianchi County, and the county manager is in Dawu City, but it is the front line, full of Tibetan soldiers and government soldiers, but no one is farming and grazing.There is also Mianchi County on the side of the Bian Army, and the county manager is at the old site—both under the rule of the Tang Dynasty, but there are two Mianchi counties, two sets of official teams, not under each other. The competition between the two sides in this mountainous area has become fierce. It has the taste of the Later Zhou Dynasty and the Northern Qi Dynasty.

3000 people traveled eastward along the post road.

The farmers on both sides of the road who were harvesting wheat stood up and beat their backs, looking at these high-spirited warriors with complicated emotions.

Working all day, most of the surplus will be taken away to support these warriors.But are the warriors happy?Almost every month, coffins are brought back from the east.

Those who can be included in the coffin must at least be at the level of a lieutenant general in the army or a small head of the Fan tribe.Ordinary soldiers, just dig a hole and bury it, so why is it so troublesome?Their family members in the rear may not even know where their father, husband, and son died.

Put your head on the line, fair deal, nothing to say.

The farmer bent down cautiously and continued to cut the wheat.Sweat soaked into the soil, drop by drop.It may be hard, but at least it seems good to be able to reunite with the family.

On the 29th, the army camped under Xiaoshan Mountain, and Fu Cunshen, who was guarding Huguo City, came to meet Wang Jianhe in person to reminisce about the old days.

"Master Yang has gone to Caizhou, and I don't know what's going on." Fu Cunshen looked at Wang Jianji, who was going east, with some envy.

He has guarded Hu Guocheng for a long time.

At first, there were only a few veterans from the Tianzhu Army under his command, mainly Xiangshan people from the Hengshan Party.After defending the city for a year, this army has been trained by him like a finger. Not only can it repel the Bian army attacking from the south and trying to go around to the north of Erwei Mountain, but it can occasionally rush down the mountain to fight back.

But Li Tangbin did not transfer him to other places for a long time.There is no chance, so what to do.

"Master Yang can still jump up and down now. After another two years, there will be wars everywhere in Caizhou. He only has a few soldiers on hand. What can he do? Why not vote here." Wang Jianji recalled the time when he went all the way from Heyang Going to Lingxia's past, thinking of the beauty, he and Fu Cunshen looked at each other and smiled.

The absurdity of that year!
Each person issued a sharpened wooden spear, and with [-] Heyang soldiers as the backbone, he led tens of thousands of people across the state and counties.

"This time going east, take care."

"Don't worry, Bian thief defends west and attacks east, it's nothing."

On the first day of August, 3000 people arrived in Dawu City.

There was a turmoil of people inside and outside the city, and the soldiers of the army spoke various languages, making the atmosphere smoky.

The cavalry started from here, and the range of activities was greatly increased. Generally, they had to go to Xiashi Fort, a hundred miles away to the east, before encountering the cavalry soldiers of the Bian army.

It is not accurate to say cavalry.They are the mule army, and when they encounter Xia army cavalry, they often dismount and fight.

The most important job of the mule army now is probably to guard both sides of the infantry and drive away the harassing Xia army rangers.

They once tried to raid Xiao County, but after the construction of Dawu City, it was doomed that the large group of people could not pass through.In the past, if there were small groups of rangers, it would be meaningless, and would be submerged in the vast ocean of [-] households.

Xia Jun also sent cavalry from Dawu City to attack the rear of the Bian Army.The difficulties they face are the same. There are many fortresses, which divide your troops. The most pitiful thing is that the west of Xin'an is a piece of white land.

The cavalry and mounted infantry on both sides have completely become auxiliary troops subordinate to the infantry in this mountainous area, and in the end they still have to obediently gnaw at the fortress and advance layer by layer.

On the third day of August, Wang Jianji and his troops arrived in the southwest of Mianchi City.

At that time, there was a huge exclamation on the battlefield, and a large area of ​​the south wall of Mianchi, which was riddled with holes, collapsed.Thousands of Fan soldiers, with 500 people as a battalion, rushed in along the gap in turn.

"Defeat Mianchi County, this is your home, everyone will give you land." Dozens of cavalrymen surrounded the many Tibetans who were waiting to attack, and shouted loudly.

Land is something that Marshal Shao rewarded the Fan people.It can be said to be military pay, or it can be said to be a reward or pension.Anyway, according to Li Tangbin's style of constantly sending cannon fodder to death, if all support is based on the pension of the regular government army, the finances will not be able to support it.

"His grandma, it's late!" Wang Jianji slapped his thigh and said angrily.

"It's not too late!" Dozens of horsemen rushed up suddenly, and the leader was the stern-faced Li Tangbin.

"Immediately go east for [-] miles to Qianqiu Pavilion, and set up camp on the road. It belongs to the command of the Shunyi army envoy An Xiuxiu, and there must be no mistakes!" Li Tangbin ordered.

Wang Jianji was stunned, going east?However, he reacted very quickly, and immediately responded: "The general will obey."

Before leaving, he took one last look at Mianchi City, which was in fierce battle.

The humble soldiers like ants rushed in along the gap, were shot down by arrows, and people kept coming.One team after another, one battalion after another, the Bian army didn't even have time to repair the city wall, so they could only watch them squeeze in a little bit.

Purely relying on human life to force it!Wang Jianji sighed and left.

……

In Xin'an County, Hu Zhen was restless and his forehead was sweating.

Zhu Quanzhong lay sideways on the Hu bed, with dark eyes and a fierce expression: "Defending from the west to attacking from the east, this is how you defend? In the twelfth month of the second year of Dashun, I personally led an army of [-] and drove Shao Shude back to Shanzhou, but now? In the third year of Dashun, the Xia bandits came back, destroyed several strongholds, set up Xiao County, and built the two cities of Huguo and Dawu. They had already left Shanzhou and gained a foothold in Henan Prefecture. Come on, the soldiers are surrounding Mianchi right now, do you expect them to retreat when they run out of food?"

"Marshal, the last general is incompetent, please punish him." Hu Zhen stood up and said sincerely.

He really has nothing to do with the mess in Henan Mansion.Just so few soldiers, what is enough for?
Moreover, Xia Bandit's offensive was too fierce, and those foreign soldiers were simply not considered human beings. After one group died, another group came again.In the battle of Shuangqiao Village, in fact the village was well prepared, but the Tibetans besieged them in turn, killing and injuring more than [-] people, and forced the village to break.He doesn't care about human life, what can you say?
The reinforcements he sent out were often blocked, not to mention that he didn't have many reinforcements to send.Ever since Xia Bandits left Shaanxi for the first time, they have been constantly approaching Luoyang. If they don't pay attention to the western front, Hu Zhen suspects that sooner or later they will be pushed to the city of Xin'an.

Zhu Quanzhong stared at Hu Zhen for a while, and almost smashed the stone inkstone in his hand, but he held back in the end.

"That's all." Zhu Quanzhong sat up straight and said, "After Xuzhou is recovered, the army will return, and I will send you more troops at that time."

Luoyang is the barrier to the west of Bianzhou.It's actually nothing to make a piece of white land, because there are not many people in the first place, but it must not be lost.

Once lost, Xia Jun will go out of the mountainous area and use Heluo as a base to attack Zhengzhou. This is the core hinterland.

Henan Province can fortify the walls and clear the wilderness, but what about Zhengzhou?Not strengthening the walls and clearing the field means that the range of cavalry activities of the Xia bandits has increased, which is difficult to limit and is very passive strategically.

"Marshal, Xuzhou is about to collapse?" Hu Zhen asked in surprise.

"Not yet, but soon." Speaking of this, Zhu Quanzhong also smiled a little more on his face: "Xu Zhen's soldiers are hungry and tired, and people keep crossing the city wall to surrender. Shi Pu, he won't last long."

And after Shi Pu's power was wiped out, the two brothers Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin were the shackles in the urn, and they would be destroyed sooner or later.

These three bastards understand the reason why their lips are dead and their teeth are cold. Rescuing each other for so many years is equivalent to fighting three feudal towns at the same time.After Shi Pu died, Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin should go down together to accompany him.

"After defeating Shipu, the next step is to attack Erzhu. Ximian, stabilize me." Zhu Quanzhong said solemnly.

The two towns of Tianping and Taining, after fighting for so many years, are short of their last breath.Maybe they just need to work harder to wipe out Erzhu and formally annex the two towns.

At this time, if we send our troops to the west and give Erzhu a chance to breathe, I really can't be reconciled!

But after Er Zhu was eliminated, the problem of Xi Mian could not be delayed.

Shao Shude unexpectedly entered the river, threatening Heyang faintly.Looking at what he has done in the past two years, Zhu Quanzhong has only one feeling: he is here for himself.

Shanzhou went out to the east, building fortifications and advancing; soldiers sent out to the river, and went out of Yuan County to enter Wangwushan;

Of these three major events, which one is not the Xuanwu Army targeting him?

Such a person, with a clear mind and clear goals, is the most frightening.

If it is like the one used by Li Ke, hitting one at a time and hitting another at a time, it is not so worrying.

By the way, Li Keyong is in Youzhou.Is it possible to separate the pair of fake brothers?
Zhu Quanzhong secretly thought, if Hedong can contain tens of thousands of Xia army soldiers and horses, then it is nothing to worry about.He will have enough time to conquer Wang Shifan and take Ziqing Town after defeating Er Zhu.

It's something to think about!
It's nothing more than the case.How many people are fighting in this world?There are vassals and towns everywhere, a paradise for the vertical and horizontal.An enemy today can be an ally tomorrow, and vice versa.

Shao Shude blatantly invaded and occupied the river, but he didn't believe that the people of insight in the world could not see the threat.

Before there was no Hezhong in the Later Zhou Dynasty, it was easy for the Northern Qi army to break into Guanzhong. However, after the city was built and defended in the river, the situation began to reverse.

The Later Zhou Dynasty has appeared, and the Northern Qi Dynasty has not yet been seen. Aren't the princes of the world terrified?
Zhu Quanzhong felt that perhaps it was time to adjust the strategy.In addition to the established goal of attacking Erzhu unchanged, some adjustments should be made to the attitude of other feudal towns, and they should try their best to tell them their interests and unite against the Shao bandits.

It is completely different to get the Shao thief in the river and not to get the Shao thief in the river.

……

In Bianzhou City, Jingxiang was dealing with official business.

As Zhu Quanzhong's de facto chief aide, he basically asked about everything.

Fuzhou was besieged, and Wuchang Army Du Hong sent an envoy to ask for help.There are no soldiers to adjust, only more comfort.

Ge Congzhou said that Tang and Deng Sui were many new followers, and their hearts were not firm, so they asked for more troops to attack.He had no soldiers to transfer, so he could only give him a few thousand state and county soldiers, and the commander-in-chief allowed him to recruit Cai people into the army, just to comfort him.

Zhang Shensi and Gao Renhou saw each other in the area of ​​Wangwu Mountain. After the renovation of the Guancheng was completed, they asked to lead the army back.Commander-in-Chief Xu Zhi recruited prefectural and county soldiers and Tutuan villagers to guard the new pass.

Contact with Mianchi County has been lost.Xiashibao town will report in the future that Xia bandits have set up a stronghold in Qianqiu Pavilion, and there are still a large number of peasants moving in here, as if they want to build a city.

Here comes this trick again!

Jing Xiang sighed, this Li Tangbin belongs to the tortoise, why does he like building cities so much?

After the Qianqiu Pavilion was built, Mianchi County, which was [-] miles west of it, had an additional barrier. Would it be necessary to play the trick of resettling the people in Xiao County, farming and fighting?

The four things I asked about today are all related to Xia thief.

It's getting more and more crazy!

Jing Xiang thought about it carefully, and felt that it had something to do with Xuanwu Army's strategy today.

Er Zhu and Shi Pu seem to be on the verge of dying, can you bear not to fight?Perhaps with just a few more months of attack, these three feudal towns can be annexed and their strength greatly increased.

Based on this consideration, the blind appeasement of the Xia thief on the western front has caused the current predicament.

Jing Xiang thought for a while, then sat back and wrote a letter to Zhu Quanzhong.What he meant was to suggest that his lord improve his relationship with Li Keyong.How could Li Keyong not be surprised that Shao Shude took Hezhong?Even if the two can't unite, they can at least show an attitude, so as not to draw swords and consume each other's energy.

When the commander-in-chief is attacking the Xia thief, Li Keyong only needs to wait and see tacitly, and don't take advantage of the fire to rob.If they can cooperate on the northern front and attack Shuofang, the Shao bandits will be in big trouble, although Li Keyong probably won't do so.

The letter was quickly delivered to Zhu Quanzhong who was still patrolling around Xin'an County and rewarding the sergeants.

The face that Li Ke used as a treasure is not worth much to Zhu Quanzhong.He even dared to make an appointment with Yang Xing in advance for his son and daughter's in-laws, and he was not annoyed when he refused, and continued to write letters to praise him. With such a heart, face is nothing.

Zhu Quanzhong called for a civil servant, wrote a letter on the spot, and sent it to Hedong by the envoy.

(End of this chapter)