Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 626
There was a small-scale conflict outside the city of Lingchang County. The soldiers of the Feilong Army who went to collect food encountered resistance from the township militia.

The officers and soldiers of the Xia army didn't want to entangle with them, because it would waste too much time.

In the end, something very outrageous but reasonable happened.The township brave militia donated hundreds of dendrobiums and ten mules, and Xia's army retreated.

Qi Bizhang was satisfied with this, and now he is urging the large army to count the supplies and prepare to transfer them to other places.

They have been resting in Lingchang County for two days.

The equipment has almost been repaired, the horseshoes have been trimmed and the palms have been nailed, and the number of mules, horses and donkeys has grown to about 1.2.

Many people have not finished all the dried meat, cheese, and milk powder they brought with them when they set off.Liang Jun's speed was too slow, and the number of soldiers was too small, so that they could stay in one place for more than a day, cook with the captured grain, and sleep comfortably.

What about chasing and intercepting?

At first, everyone was very nervous. After laying down the ground, they hurriedly counted supplies, replenished water, and then ran away quickly.But now it seems that there is no need to panic.

The grain and grass carried by the army remained at about ten days, a slight decrease from before.But it's not a big problem. Henan's population is too dense, agriculture has recovered well, and grain and grass can be easily collected.

The most amazing thing is that Bian people in twos and threes have come to seek refuge recently. They still bring their own weapons, and some even ride horses.

They are all a bunch of thieves, or simply deserters who have committed crimes. They have no integrity and want to make a fortune with the Feilong Army.

Qi Bizhang turned them into a single battalion, there are currently about two hundred people, and they are very fierce in fighting, of course, the military discipline is also very poor.

"According to what you said, Zhu Zhen has sent his cavalry east to chase him all the way?" Qi Bizhang asked, chewing mutton in the Lingchang County Yamen.

"Returning to the general, the cavalry sent by Zhu Zhen set off from Zhengzhou, and divided into two routes, north and south. One route went along the Yellow River, and the other route went to Bianzhou. The two routes outflanked them."

"There are also people coming from the direction of Caozhou. When I left my hometown, I heard many people say that the Desheng Army He Delun is recruiting people's horse mules and going north recently."

"There should also be infantry dispatched to guard bridges and military towns."

The few people who spoke were all thieves who brought their own dry food and weapons to cast, and one of them was a sergeant who deserted.They have some information that is difficult for Qi Bizhang to know, and they can still provide a lot of reference.

Qi Bizhang asked people to spread out the map and studied it carefully.

I don't know how many cavalry Zhu Zhen sent, at most two to three thousand cavalry, and the troops will be divided into two groups. In fact, the threat is not too great.

He Delun's Desheng army on the left and right is more troublesome. There are a full three thousand cavalry. If they fight head-on, the Feilong army is not afraid.

This place in Henan is not where you can go wherever you want.In fact, there are many obstacles that hinder the cavalry from marching, such as rivers, woods, low hills, cities, passes and so on.

The most troublesome thing is actually the river.

Henan has a well-developed water system. Although most of them are artificially repaired and dredged, the water is deep enough to pass bridges or build pontoon bridges by ourselves.

If the former is heavily guarded, you only need to hold you back for a while, and if the chasing soldiers surround you, you will basically be unable to escape.

The latter also takes time and carries the risk of being surrounded.

But then again, what the Liang people lack most now is troops.With the cooperation of cavalry and chasing and intercepting, how can tens of thousands of people not be able to do it in such a large place?

Qi Bizhang doesn't believe that Zhu Quanzhong can still gather tens of thousands of troops, so there is no need to defend the Yellow River defense line?And since there are not enough troops, don't try to surround me.

"I've made up my mind!" Qi Bizhang threw the butcher knife on the table.

The sharp knife was nailed into the chopping board, and it trembled endlessly.

The generals and soldiers who were eating so much oil looked at him blankly.No brains, what "I have made up my mind"?
"Go to Huazhou first!" Qi Bizhang's greasy fingers slid back and forth on the silk map, leaving a large area of ​​ugly oil stains, as if this area was about to be "polluted" by his army.

"There should be some soldiers in Huazhou, but not too many. Let's make an attack, wait for a while, let the Liang people gather here, and then—" Qi Bizhang swiped his thick and greasy fingers to the east again, and said : "Go to Puzhou, go to Zhu Xuan's house to borrow some arrows and military resources. The injured brothers will also be resettled by the way, and then use the roads Yun and Yan to break into Songzhou."

Everyone was not surprised at all.

Moving in the direction of Huazhou, I had planned to retreat to Puzhou if the battle was unfavorable.

It's hard to say what Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin's attitudes are now, but they are not yet on the same side as Zhu Quanzhong.It shouldn't be difficult for the army to take advantage of the road to provide some supplies, and they can also take a good rest and recover their energy.

Moreover, the pursuers had no idea of ​​their next move.Maybe, they thought that the Feilong army was going to Yun and Yan to reinforce Er Zhu, which is not surprising.

"That's it!" Qi Bizhang decided the next step without giving others a chance to intervene.

The two generals Tuoba Renfu and Li Renyu were also on Erzhu's territory, but I heard that they were not engaged in personnel affairs, and they didn't want to fight to the death with Zhu Quanzhong's men, wasting their strength, and followed Zhu Xuan's men to plunder Germany , Zi Erzhou, it is too much.

If we can meet this time, we should gather these people together and act together.

If Tuoba Renfu and Li Renyu were unwilling, there was nothing to say. They wanted to rebel and stand on their own feet, and they had their own means to deal with it.

On the tenth day of March, Qi Bizhang ordered to abandon the city and go to Lisuo Baima County, Huazhou, [-] miles to the northeast.

At the same time, there was some movement in the Heyang area.

The German army envoy Fu Cunshen led more than [-] men on foot and cavalry to the south to attack the stronghold established by the Liang people on the north bank of the Dahe River.

Gao Renhou sent another 5000 Flying Dragon Army to Huojia County, looking for an opportunity to cross the south of the river, planning to send a second wave of harassment columns to Henan.

Zhu Quanzhong doesn't want to withdraw his troops now, so he will put more pressure on you and see who can't stand it first.

……

"Whoosh!" Hit by an arrow.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!" Arrows flew out continuously, except for one arrow that missed the target, the other eight arrows all hit the target.

The sergeants onlookers cheered loudly.

Shao Shude got on his horse and circled the shooting range. During this time, he shot five arrows in a row, three hit the target, and two missed.

The expressions of the sergeants became even more frenzied.

"Shoot the deer!" "Shoot the deer!"

They hit the ground with their guns, shouting and cheering rhythmically.

Riding on a horse and shooting, three out of five arrows, this is a magical skill!
Shao Shude threw the riding bow into Li Zhong's hands, laughed and got off the horse.

Showing off to recruits helps boost morale.

Warriors these days especially admire those who are stronger than them.

If you are strong in force, it is easy to get their support. I don’t know how many tricks you can save, and how many rewards you can save.

The prestige of the founding emperor comes bit by bit from these small things, which is what the successful king lacks.

I'm about to go hunting, who dares to chatter?Not only did they not dare to chatter, but they also followed to share their prey.

"Commander, Heyang has moved. Gao Renhou divided the Flying Dragon Army into two groups, and the first group has already gone south and is active in the Huazhou area." Chen Cheng leaned forward and said, "Commander today Show off your skills, the soldiers will be convinced, and you will have a better chance of winning against the bandits in the future."

"They can only fight with the wind, nothing else." Shao Shude said in a low voice: "Gao Renhou is too conservative. All 1 soldiers of the Flying Dragon Army should be thrown out. How many soldiers can Zhu Quanzhong have?"

The Tianxiong Army and the Yicong Army have already retreated to the area north of Xinxi County, and Baoxin County has been forcibly relocated more than [-] people, and is currently renovating the city on the north bank of the Huai River.

The main force finally withdrew safely, which made Shao Shude heave a sigh of relief.

Next, he can attack and retreat or defend. Zhu Quanzhong wants to severely damage or even destroy his troops, but he has to think of other ways.

"It's better to be on the safe side." Chen Cheng said, "If you don't get any food, you will have to kill horses to satisfy your hunger and return to the north bank."

Shao Shude nodded, reluctantly agreeing with his statement.

Back then in Henan Province, it was because of the sparsely populated and difficult supplies that the cavalry's movement distance was very limited.Later, when Liang Ren perfected the defense system, it became even more difficult.

In the last two or three years, the Battle of Xiaojiangkou, where Zhe Zongben went south to Xiangyang, and the Battle of Heqing, where Shao Shude personally took charge of the micromanagement, should be milestone and decisive battles.

The former opened up the southern battlefield, and the latter annexed Heyang. Both of them could bypass the rugged and desolate Weihan Valley Road and harass the Liang people from the north and the south.

In the fifth year of the war, Zhu Quanzhong finally realized the difficulties in the hinterland.If Xia and Liang were still in a stalemate before, now in the second year of Qianning, the balance of victory and defeat in the war has changed significantly.

The strategic stalemate phase is over, and Shao Shude is about to start a strategic offensive.

"Did the news come back from ancient times?" Shao Shude asked again.

"not yet."

The last time news came back was two days ago. Zhe Conggu led [-] cavalry to the vicinity of Yingkou. Seeing that the Liangren Dazhai had strict laws and strict defenses, they withdrew.

He was very courageous, so he entered the territory of Yingzhou by borrowing it.It's not for hitting any target, but for further in-depth reconnaissance to see if they can find Liang Ren's troops.

"Wu Yu still refuses to come?" The sergeants on the school ground resumed their training, Shao Shude stopped watching and turned to ask another question.

At the beginning, because Wu Yu was really unreliable, he contacted Yang Xingmi's emissary in private, and at the same time, in order to slander Xia Jun's reputation in front of Anzhou scholars and people, Shao Shude called him to Pishui—in fact, it was not considered slander. Because the request for food and grass was true, Wu Yu just added fuel and vinegar.

At the same time, Zang Dubao, the envoy of the Tianxiong Army, quietly left the city and went to the camp outside the city, so as not to be decapitated by Wu Yu, that would be too wronged.

Now it seems that Wu Yu really has a ghost in his heart, so he didn't come, and the food collection also stopped.It may not necessarily betray Du Hong, but the intention of waiting and watching is indeed very obvious.

A typical small warlord with self-respect!

"Commander, Wu Yu's matter can be put aside for now." Chen Cheng said: "Shi Zan's ten thousand army has arrived in Shangzhou, and the food and grass will soon arrive there. Without Anzhou's food, we won't be hungry. "

Shao Shude was noncommittal.Let's not talk about the loss of long-distance land transportation of grain?But now is not the time to think about these things, he looked at the other side of the Xiapi River, and said: "I have sent an order to Wu Zang Jie, his troops retreat to Baigou City and Xinxi County, and do not cross the river."

Baigou City is located on the north bank of the Huai River, seventy miles southwest of Zhenyang County, close to the post road from Caizhou to Shenzhou.

Liang was garrisoned here for the white dog.Therefore, Yaoxiong, a general of the Later Wei (Northern Wei Dynasty), said: "Baigou, an important town in the north of Liang."

The city is not big, it was half abandoned before, and it has been renovated recently.The food and grass looted from Caizhou has also been hoarded no less than this.

Xinxi County, the Xi State in the Spring and Autumn Period, was destroyed by Chu.Five miles south of the county is the Huai River, and thousands of soldiers and horses can also be stationed.

Shao Shude asked Yi Congjun not to retreat across the Huaihe River, but to occupy the two northern strongholds of Baigou and Xinxi. This is an idea.

(End of this chapter)