Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 543 Grab Time

The cavalry of the Bian Army chased after them crazily.

Yang Liang laughed loudly and walked away with his head.

A cavalry pawn came to meet him from behind.But they didn't intend to stay at all, and quickly left Mengzhou City.

A beautiful fishing ambush has already achieved good results, and there is no need to confront the enemy head-on.

The cavalrymen of the Bian Army lost a general angrily, and chased forward for several miles. They didn't wake up a little until the sound of gongs sounded from the tower, slowly gathered their troops, and retreated back.

And a large group of infantry was also dispatched from the city. They lined up outside the city, with a dignified manner and no flaws. At first glance, they looked like a regular army that had been fighting all year round.

"Kill!" Thousands of infantry shouted in unison, and the sound shook the whole field.

A standard phalanx with scattered teams, garrison teams, and guerrillas is complete, and the armor rate is not low. If the cavalry dares to attack head-on, it will end up like Zhu Jin's "Wanqi" against the infantry of the Bian army. .

Zhang Shensi, who was neatly dressed, also left the city.

He silently watched a messy battlefield.

Ankangba's body was still lying on the ground, missing a head.Not far away, there were many people lying here and there, and they didn't know whether they were dead or alive.The ownerless war horse ran back and forth restlessly, as if telling the human beings about the tragedy of the encounter just now.

The Xia bandits were unable to attack Mengzhou. There were more than ten thousand brave Yamen in the city, as well as sufficient food, arrows, and defense equipment. Even if they came to reinforcements from fifty thousand Shuofang, they would never want to capture this city.

But the face was beaten too hard!
"Gather the horses and the wounded, and bury the corpses on the spot. Send a messenger to Bianzhou." After Zhang Shensi gave these instructions, he returned to the city.

Many people in the city are uneasy.

They didn't know the specific battle situation outside the city, but judging from the situation of the garrison inside the city rushing out to retaliate in despair, they should have suffered a loss.

Once upon a time, war was far away from them.

At the beginning in Yuan County, he was only conscripted to be a master and repair the fort.

Later, the war broke out in Wangwu County until the county fell. Although the people of Heyang were worried, they were still far away.Qiziling and Zhiguan are like two firm barriers, keeping the flames of war out.

But Qi Ziling soon fell.Xia Zei cavalry appeared in Heqing County by detour, and attacked a grain transportation team.Now it appeared outside the city of Mengzhou again, and the flames of war were already burning in front of our eyes.

Mengzhou is no longer peaceful. This is the subconscious reaction of everyone, and panic has gradually spread.

Zhang Shensi is not interested in appeasing the people, what he is thinking about now is how to maintain this difficult battle situation.

"Zhang Shuai also saw that Xia's thief cavalry is extremely arrogant and good at fighting. He even dared to provoke us right under our noses." Zhang Shensi called Zhang Quanyi to discuss the situation of the battle.

"Zhang Dutou, tell me exactly what step Xia Bandit can do?" Zhang Quanyi frowned and asked.

He just came to Heyang to take office, and he planned to show off his strengths.

That's how Henan Mansion was, and it was badly harmed by Shao's thieves.The only remaining 18 people are farming in the Yiluo Basin. In the past two years, some refugees have been taken in, and there are only less than [-] people, more than [-] households.

There are more than [-] households in Ruzhou, but they were also tortured enough, and they were sent to the military for three days and two days, so they couldn't take a good rest.

It can be said that his foundation was seriously shaken by Shao thief.

Even if the King of Dongping repelled the Xia bandits and regained the entire territory of Henan Prefecture, will this Henan Prefecture still have anything to do with him?
The National Defense Army is different from the Xuanyi Army. Zhang Quanyi is not a subordinate of the King of Dongping, and maintains a high degree of independence.The Henan government's army was established by itself, and the officials were appointed by themselves. They usually transported money, food, armor, and war horses. Although the king of Dongping County was dissatisfied, he didn't say anything.

But if it really develops to a confrontation between the main forces of the two sides in Luoyang, no matter who wins or loses, Henan Mansion will never go back to how it was before.

He really gritted his teeth and hated Shao Shude.

And this time out of the town of Heyang, why didn't Zhang Quanyi feel a little bit small in his heart?Mengzhou already has a foundation. If he stabilizes it for a few years, he may not be able to become another foundation of the Zhang family.

The ten counties of Meng and Huai are crossed by big rivers, densely covered with water networks, flat and extremely fertile.As long as there are enough people, given time, it can slowly recover like Henan Mansion.

"Zhang Shuai is also a martial artist, so you can tell that this group of Xia thief cavalry must have come from Heqing County." Zhang Shensi said: "The terrain of Wangwuhe Qing Road is rugged, there are no square tracks, and it is difficult to transport food and grass. To the east of Heqing, there are few people along the way, and the Xia bandits can't get much supplies, and most of them can only be carried with them when they set off. They can't last a few days in the wild. Don't look at Ankangba being beheaded, the [-] cavalry who left the city only came back two There are more than a hundred, but this summer thief cavalry army is actually not terrible. Can they attack the grain convoy? As long as you are careful, you don’t have that ability. Can you harass our infantry? It can’t be done either.”

To deal with the continuous harassment of cavalry, there has been a mature plan since the Northern Dynasties.After all, whether it is the Later Wei (Northern Wei), the Eastern and Western Wei, and the Later Zhou (Northern Zhou) and Northern Qi, there are a large number of cavalry troops, and the scale of the infantry is also very large.And when the infantry is dispatched, it is impossible to have a large cavalry escort every time, so how to deal with the harassment of the cavalry day and night has become a compulsory subject.

The first requirement is to have a rest point within tens of miles, which is the most important, for the exhausted infantry to recover their energy from being harassed.

Of course, if you can't even bear the harassment of the cavalry for a few days, then there is nothing you can do.Such a weak infantry is to deliver food to people, and it doesn’t matter whether they don’t go to war—the Westerners can go forward against the "Turkic harassment" of the Green and Green Cavalry for a long time. There is no reason why Tang Wufu, who has been fighting all his life, cannot do it.

Heyang is a small place with many prefectures, counties and military towns, so it is not difficult to find a place for infantry to rest.Zhang Shensi felt that Xia Zei's cavalry could not seriously interfere with their food delivery team or marching infantry.

What's more, they also have cavalry.Compared with raising horses, the grasslands are not as good as those in the Central Plains. The premise is that the pastures in the Central Plains are not invaded by the people or officials, and there is enough land for pastures.That's not realistic when it's densely populated, but will it be densely populated?
"Zhang Dutou, that's what I said, but Xia's thief cavalry came to the foot of Mengzhou City, which greatly damaged morale. And in the future, our army must be careful when moving defenses and mobilizing. The marching speed is slow, which is really worrying." Of course Zhang Quanyi did not He will be fooled by Zhang Shensi's words.

It is indeed difficult for cavalry to succeed against well-trained infantry, but the advantages are also obvious.The marching speed has been slowed down, and the food transport team also needs to be equipped with some infantry guards who can fight, which makes the already insufficient troops even more strained.

"As well as Heqing and Zhiguan, what is Zhang Dutou's strategy?" Zhang Quanyi asked again.

Zhang Shensi was a little hesitant when he heard the words, the situation he was facing now was somewhat similar to Ge Congzhou's, the soldiers were not enough.

"It's very important. I want to go to Jiyuan to increase troops." Zhang Shensi replied: "In Heqing County, it is not easy to transfer grain and grass. If the Xia bandits can't break through the city in a short time, they will definitely retreat when they run out of food. The cavalry that harassed Mengzhou today , it must be Xia Bandit's plan to attack the West."

Zhang Quanyi thought about it carefully, and agreed with Zhang Shensi's judgment.

"Huaizhou has been repeatedly harassed by Xia thieves, how to deal with it?"

"I want to personally lead the army to Huaizhou and take care of it."

Huaizhou is located in Hanoi County, not far from the various roads of Taihang Mountain.In fact, there are three routes in Hanoi, namely Zhiguanxing, Taihangxing, and Baixing, all of which are within the control of Hanoi County. It is indeed a good way to station troops here.

"Since Zhang Dutou has made up his mind, I won't say anything more. Dutou will go, and I will personally sit in Mengzhou. Even if I die, I won't let the Shao thief take it." Zhang Quanyi seldom uttered such harsh words. It can be seen that the mentality is indeed a bit chaotic.

"What is Pang Shigu doing now?"

"After the destruction of Pengcheng, a small number of soldiers were left to defend, and the rest returned to Bian Song to rest. It is unknown what will happen next," Zhang Shensi said.

Pang Shigu's division, plus Wang Zhongshi and He Delun's divisions stationed in Caozhou, should be the only mobile field regiment of the Xuanwu Army, with a total of more than 2 Yajun troops and [-] soldiers from Hao, Su, Shou, Chu, and Xu.

Originally there was still Dinghui Department, but [-] of its yamen troops had arrived in Xu and Cai, and they were under unified command of a total of [-] yamen troops, including Ge Congzhou and Yang Shihou. Tang Deng Sui's Zhezong Headquarters.

Hu Zhen also has [-] yamen troops and some miscellaneous soldiers.

After careful calculation, Shao Bandit has already attracted Xuanwu's [-] main force.It is really abnormal to talk about defending from the west and attacking from the east, but being restrained by so many troops, it is time to face up to the threat of Shao thief.

Pang Shigu's army, in cooperation with Wang Zhongshi and He Delun, defeated Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin in the field without any problems. Even if only one-third of the troops were sent, they could defeat Erzhu in the field. Something is missing.

It's better to send all the northward transfers to Heyang, and push the Shao bandits back to Wangwushan.

"Why don't you and I submit the table together, and ask the king of Dongping County to send the army to the north, and fight the Shao bandits in Heyang?" Zhang Quanyi said suddenly: "Send 10,000 Yamen troops to the north, and then send soldiers from prefectures and counties, Tutuan Township There are tens of thousands of husbands, and [-]+ troops will overwhelm the Shao bandits."

Seeing Zhang Quanyi's earnest face, Zhang Shensi hesitated, but finally said: "Forget it, I will go to the table with you."

……

Outside Heqing County, Shao Shude ordered the leaders of the Bian army and the prisoners to be taken to the city.

The morale of the soldiers who were attacking the city was greatly boosted, the strength of their men increased by three points, and the offensive became more violent.

In the past few days, the army has actually achieved results, not Heqing County, nor Baiyacang, but Liaowu.

Most of the more than a thousand Bian troops guarding Liaowu were soldiers from Xu Zhen, and their fighting spirit was just like that.

During the day, the He, Wei and Fan tribes attacked for a while, causing nearly a thousand casualties and failing to recover.In the middle of the night, the elite Wuwei army went up and fought until dawn. The bandit army broke up and successfully occupied the pier.

Afterwards, the Master from the Hezhong Mansion took action immediately. Under the guard of the army, he built two earthen walls and trenches around the road down the mountain from Baiyacang to prevent the bandits from going down the mountain at night and break the horns first.

After completing this work, the Hewei Fan Department immediately launched a fierce attack on Heqing County, regardless of casualties.

"Heqing must be captured before the main force of the Bian army comes to help." Shao Shude sat in the camp and said to the leaders who came to discuss matters.

Now is the rush.

The mountain road was difficult to transport, and after saving for a long time, the military rations in the camp were still only enough for more than [-] days of consumption.

A large carriage can transport thirty dendrobium grains, but a pack horse can only transport more than one dendrobium, and the efficiency difference is too great.Moreover, the passing rate of that small road was too low, the speed was too slow, and the wear and tear was too high. Countless people and animals were killed and injured, which hurt morale.

"I don't care how many casualties there are, and don't tell me how many people died." Shao Shude said with a serious face: "If we capture Heqing County, our army will have a foothold, and then we can reduce the number of frontline troops and gradually accumulate food and grass. Relying on the defense of the strong city, use this place as the first base of our army."

"When the head of the team dies, the deputy general will go up. If the deputy general dies, the ten generals will go up. If the ten generals will die, the military envoy will go up. The military envoy will also die, and I will go up. There are only two thousand bandits in the city. It's worn out."

"Zhang Shensi, you should be able to react soon."

"Five days, I'll give you another five days. If it doesn't work, don't fight this battle."

After Shao Shude said so much in one breath, all the chiefs looked at each other, and finally knelt down in unison and said: "I will obey the orders of the Great Khan."

"Land." Shao Shude pointed to the endless wilderness outside the camp, and said: "I have made it clear to the soldiers that as much land as I want, I only want Heqing County. If I can also capture Baiyacang, I will reward you with three thousand pieces of silk." match."

(End of this chapter)