Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 611
The sergeants of the brigade walked on the winding and rugged mountain road.

They were part of the Baoyi Army that set off from Lingbao, and they were ordered by Li Tangbin, the envoy of Heluo Jinglue, to set up camp in the area west of Xin'an County.

The Chishui Army stationed in Shanxian County, the Guzhen Army stationed in Mianchi, and the Wuxing Army stationed in Xiashibao have already been dispatched in advance. Together with their 4000 troops and the 3 soldiers from the left side of the Baoyi Army, there are a total of more than [-] people.

Behind them, 4000 soldiers from the three prefectures of Shaanxi, Guo, and Shao were responsible for guarding the grain roads and urging the Master to transfer grain and grass on schedule.

The cities of Kipshi, Xiao, and Mianchi could only be guarded by local peasants temporarily recruited by the counties in turn. One group would guard for two months.

As for the most critical Hu Guocheng, it was guarded by the three thousand guards of the pro-military division of the Duhu Mansion who had just arrived.Another 3000 people were also mobilized, but they were still on their way. They just left Tongguan yesterday and were still some distance away from the front line.

Li Renyu, Tuoba Renfu's tribe and the last two thousand riders stayed on the south bank of the river, and they were also summoned by Li Tangbin.The quality of these people is poor, the old and the young, don't expect them to go to the front line to fight, patrol the grain road back and forth, and help everywhere at any time, the requirements are not high.

To be honest, such a small number of troops is not enough to win Xin'an or even Luoyang.

Especially with only 4 or [-] people on the front line, it would be difficult to attack Luocheng head-on—Xin'an County was built during the Hou Zhou (Northern Zhou) years, with the purpose of attacking Luoyang in the Northern Qi Dynasty. It was originally named Tongluo.

On this front line, Xia Jun is actually very eager for Liang Ren to fight with them in the field, but it is basically difficult to get what he wants, just like last year's Battle of Heyang, Pang Shigu hoped that Shao Shude would fight with him in the field, but he never got it.

On the Nanyang battlefield, before Dinghui's reinforcements came, the Liang people were unwilling to fight in the field, but Zhezong was willing.After Ding Hui came, the Liang people wanted to wipe out the main force of the Weisheng army through field battles, but Zhe Zongben retreated, focusing on defense.

Both sides are trying their best to maximize their strengths and avoid their weaknesses, so as not to put themselves in a disadvantageous position and suffer strategic failures.

On the whole, there is no doubt that Liang Ren is at a strategic disadvantage now.

At first, the Xia army only attacked in one direction along the Hangu Road, but in the third year of Dashun (892), they opened up the Nanyang battlefield and were able to attack the Bianliang forces from the southwest.Today, this battlefield is still developing, and the flames of war are gradually ignited to the two states of Shenzhou and Guangxi, threatening the hinterland of Huaixi of the Liang people.

If he had a choice, Zhu Quanzhong would definitely want to attract all the troops of the Xia army in this direction, and decide the outcome in one battle, so as to completely solve the trouble in this direction.Otherwise, it would be too passive to procrastinate for a long time.

In the fifth year of Dashun (894), the fall of Heyang announced the opening of the northern defense line of Bianliang forces.

A large group of highly mobile Xia Jun stepped across the frozen Yellow River, went south into Henan Prefecture and Zhengzhou, and harassed them endlessly.It is true that the Xia army in the Heyang area did not have enough food and grass, and a large number of immigrant people consumed a lot of resources. They may not be able to launch a full-scale southward invasion, but the harassment of cavalry is still a headache.

In this direction, Liang Ren is actually willing to fight decisively. It is better than cutting flesh with a blunt knife and weakening every day.

Gao Renhou, Li Tangbin, and Zhe Zongben, the three generals, implemented three different strategies, gradually tightening the noose around Liang Ren's neck, trying to suffocate them to death.

This is a conspiracy, you can see through it, but you may not be able to break it.

"Let me tell you, there may not be a big battle when we move eastward this time." Xie Bin, who had set up camp outside Xiashi Fortress, said frothingly.

The matter of Mengzhou cheated the old boss Zhang Quanyi, Xie Bin blamed himself very much at first.But after so many days, he has changed his mentality, and he will honestly do his duty as a town general in Lingbao.

In the Xuanwu army's situation, if the Xia army did not lose consecutively, it would be quite dangerous.Judging from his half-life experience, Xie Bin found it difficult to stand up.

"Why did the town envoy say that?" Someone asked, "The Baoyi army walking in front of us on the left side, didn't they carry a lot of siege equipment? No matter how you look at it, it looks like they are going to attack the city."

"I agree with the town envoy's statement that there may not be a big war." Another person said: "But Xin'an County may still want to attack, even if it pretends to attack."

"It would be great if we can take down Luoyang, and we can go back and have a look."

"We won't be able to defeat them by attacking all the way, unless Hu Zhen surrenders."

Xie Bin listened to the generals' discussion and laughed without saying a word.

Dinner tonight was actually pretty good.Corn rice, cheese, and broth with some vegetable leaves floating in it. He had just inspected outside, and the soldiers ate happily.

If you vote for Xia Jun, the food in the army is really good to the naked eye.People in the Baoyi Army said that it was not so good before, but now there are many old cattle in Guanbei, and the price of meat is getting cheaper and cheaper. Later, it is convenient to conscript the people, and a large amount of dried meat is produced, which is shipped downstream with cheese.

As a warrior, it is really not difficult for everyone to eat meat.If you are willing to buy "cheap as mud" pork, you can even eat it every two or three days.However, Xia Jun's large-scale supply of dried beef and mutton and cheese milk powder is still rare, which reflects their heritage.

"Actually, if we want to know whether we want to fight or not, we have to look at how other battlefields are fought. If Nanyang goes straight into Caizhou, Ding Hui and Yang Shihou can't control it, and the entire battle line of Liang Jun will be pulled apart. Then we will Let's fight, fight a big fight."

"In that case, I'm afraid Gao Renhou will send his troops to the south. Even if the army is short of food, we have to fight first."

"I don't know how many people will die. Our [-]-step cavalry is thrown on the battlefield of more than [-] people. I'm afraid it will be gone in the blink of an eye."

The generals were still discussing, Xie Bin did not participate, just bowed his head and ate in silence.

In fact, he kind of agreed with everyone's point of view.Judging from his many years of experience, Xia Jun's first goal is still Luoyang. He wants to gather and annihilate the Liang Jun in this area and completely change the situation on the battlefield.

He has studied the tactics of King Xia's military use.

In short, Xia Wang likes to divide his troops, and there has never been a road that is the main battlefield in a pure sense.

A large number of troops is not necessarily the main direction for victory, and a small number of troops is not necessarily a partial division.The coincidence of coincidence and oddity, he has always been constantly adjusting according to the development of the battlefield situation, and finally achieved his own strategic goal.

The battle of cutting Liang in the second year of Qianning has already started quietly, and he will pay close attention to the direction of the battle.

……

From Heyang to Henan, from Zhengzhou to Shenzhou, and then from Tangzhou to Caizhou, more than [-] people from both sides were gradually involved in a dangerous offensive and defensive fight.

As the supreme commander of the Xia army, Shao Shude did not intervene in the specific battle at all, and let the three coaches play all the way.And he himself received Shao Desheng passing by at the Hanyin post in the west of Xiangyang City.

"Don't think about arriving in a few days. You can go south with him. Hunan is in a state of chaos. Cai general Liu Jianfeng ran around and broke through Tanzhou. After he was appointed to stay, he sent Ma Yin and others to go south to take Nanshaozhou, Hengzhou." Shao Shude said: "In fact, Liu Jianfeng only had more than seven thousand soldiers. When he crossed Jiangxi, he enlisted in the army wantonly, coercing the strong people, and had more than one hundred thousand soldiers. The core of this mob is still the seven thousand Sun Ru soldiers. But Having said that, you still have to be more careful, if it doesn't work, let's take a detour in Jiangxi."

"Yes." Shao Desheng replied.

Liu Jianfeng was born as a Cai thief, so I don't know if he is easy to talk to.Although generally speaking, after the Cai thief "goes ashore", he will try every means to obtain the name of the imperial court, and his actions are still somewhat methodical, and they are not completely reckless.

But don't be afraid of ten thousand things, just in case.

Cai thief became fierce, fearing that he didn't know what he was going to do next.Will he readily allow Mo Zaisi and Shao Desheng to lead the army?Hard to say.

"After going to the town, you can search for an early rice called 'Zhancheng rice'." Shao Shude said again: "This thing should be found within five tubes. Then find a way to send it here, I will be of great use .”

Among the five managements, Shao Desheng went to Rongguan, Mo Zaishi went to Annan, and mobilized the two to search together. If they couldn't find it, they could go to the Yongguan, Guangguan, and Gui jurisdictions to find a way, or even go directly to Champa Find—Generally speaking, Annan should have been planted in a large area, and it is not difficult to find it.

"Of order." Shao Desheng replied again.

Shao Shude looked at the slightly restrained Fa Xiao, felt helpless, and was about to say something, when Chen Cheng suddenly walked over and said loudly: "Commander, General Niu has sent a military report, and they have smashed two strands in Shenzhou from the direction of Guangzhou. The bandit army who came to help captured and beheaded nearly 2000 people."

This is the point of support.

Shenzhou was obviously very empty, but he was not in a hurry to win it now. Instead, he used it as a bait to ruin two waves of reinforcements in Gwangju, which caused a huge loss.

But it's not good to procrastinate any longer.There will definitely be reinforcements coming from the direction of Caizhou. If they can't gain a foothold as soon as possible, they will have to retreat and give up this newly acquired land.

"Give Niu Li an order to take Shenzhou City as soon as possible. Guangzhou has lost so many soldiers and horses, and the defense should not be tight. If it can be pulled out, it will be pulled out." Shao Shude sent an order.

Zang Dubao was recruiting envoys, and Niu Li was recruiting deputy envoys, but everyone who is familiar with it knows that in the direction of Shen, Guang, and Cai, the real commander of the battle is actually Niu Li, the deputy envoy of the Tianxiong Army, so Shao Shude also directly Give him an order.

As for Shen, Guang and An, Huang, there are still many problems between these four states.

The biggest problem is the inconvenient transportation. The Tongbai Mountains block Shen and Guang in the north, and isolate An and Huang in the south. They can only go south and north through a limited number of passes.

This time, Shao Shude still has requirements for Niu Li, at least to gain a foothold in the area north of the Tongbai Mountains, and to be able to withstand the possible siege of the Xuanwu Army and completely stabilize this territory.

And once a breakthrough is made between Shen and Guang, they can cross the Huai River in the north and attack Caizhou. Zhu Quanzhong's life will become more and more difficult.

"Quick battle and quick decision. Mr. Zheling takes the initiative to attack, even if he can retreat completely, the loss should not be small." Shao Shude finally ordered: "He has created an opportunity for you, so you have to seize it firmly. Shenzhou, give it now." I'll take it!"

(End of this chapter)