Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 669
Thousands of people are marching fast on the big post road from the northeast of Luoyang to Heyang.

The first was the [-] infantry stationed at Bai Sima Ban, led by Cai Songyang, the envoy of the Tiande Army.Behind them, there were [-] Tutuan peasants temporarily pulled from the city construction site.

More than [-] people rushed in lightly. Like Hu Zhen, they didn't bring any luggage, only dry food for a few days, and headed towards Luoyang.

But their primary goal is not to attack Luoyang City.Cai Songyang actually wanted to do this, but Fu Cunshen resolutely refused, so that they could try to attack Luoyang, but if the bandits defend the city firmly, don't force it, and immediately go straight to Jiangqiao to the west of Luoyang, set up camp and set up a stronghold, insist on Several days, waiting for reinforcements.

In addition, all the [-] cavalrymen and leopard cavalry of the Tiande army went south. Leave Luoyang alone, go to the countryside to collect food and grass, contact the nearby fan cavalry, and then go south to Yique to see if there is a chance to capture this pass.

When giving the order, Fu Cunshen deeply felt the pain of the Feilong Army being transferred away.

Can cavalry attack a city?I don't have this ability.If the Flying Dragon Army is here, with one man and two horses, carrying milk powder, cheese, and beans, enough to last for more than ten days, they will go south to Yique with lightning speed and block the Luonan crossing. How to clean up?These people under Hu Zhen's hands can only escape by other more difficult paths, and they don't know how much they lost during the process.

"Fu Cunshen doesn't listen to me, hate it!" Cai Songyang cursed all the way.

"Can Xu Huaiyu escape? Can't escape!"

"Can Zhu Youning escape? Can't!"

"Since we can't escape, why not take Luoyang first?"

All the generals and aides hurried on their way, only Cai Songyang's loud voice echoed in the mountains.

Xin'an County is at the end of the Weihan Valley Road, eighty miles west of Luoyang. The road is winding and not easy to walk.In fact, even if all the roads are good, Xu Huaiyu's gang will not be able to go!

Is it just a display of tens of thousands of people under Li Tangbin's hands?For a big city like Xin'an, five thousand nationalist troops and five thousand native peasants are enough to defend it. Once you leave, the attacking party will easily find out.What's more, scouts have been detouring to the east of Xin'an for reconnaissance, and the retreat of the brigade cannot be concealed at all.

To put it bluntly, they were glued!From the beginning of this war, they were doomed to be unable to withdraw, unless the Xia army's southward campaign failed and the whole army retreated to the north bank of the Yellow River.

It is possible for Zhu Youning's group to run away, because they have no pressure in front of them, and if they want to withdraw, there will be no such thing as chasing soldiers chasing after them.But if the movement is slow, you can only run across Xiong'er Mountain, and you will definitely not be able to take the luggage with you, and you don't know how many people will be lost on the road.

"Military envoy, in fact, General Fu's strategy is correct." Some staff persuaded: "Luoyang is there, and you can't escape. The root is to eliminate the Liang thieves. If Luoyang is captured, but the Liang thieves have all run away, it will be impossible for them to escape." It doesn't make much sense. If you wipe out the Liang thieves, Luoyang is still in your hands? Maybe you will open the city and ask for surrender. In ancient times, Luoyang's wars have always been peripheral battles. If the peripheral battles fail, Luoyang will be difficult to keep."

"I use you to teach?" Cai Songyang glared at him and said angrily, "Fu Cun judged that he was jealous of my victory in conquering Luoyang and wanted to do it himself."

The staff were dumbfounded.Speaking of this, he couldn't say anymore.

Luoyang has great symbolic significance, there is no doubt about it.

At that time, Li Mi suggested that Suzong should not be in a hurry to recover Luoyang, but Guo Ziyi could go out of the fortress in the north and attack Youzhou by detour through Yunzhou. The political benefits brought by it were rejected.

Luoyang is known as the capital of gods.Who is not jealous of this credit?

The cavalry roared south from the other side.Time was pressing, and they had the rare luxury of riding horses while marching.

And in Pingluo City, northeast of Cai Songyang, Yang Sheng, the deputy envoy of the Tiande Army, also abandoned the city, and set off with [-] infantry troops and [-] Tutuan peasants, along the mountain post road, heading straight for Shiqiaodian, The ancient city of Luoyang.

There are two roads leading from Luoyang to Heyang. One is to go straight to the northeast, go out of Mangshan Mountain and arrive at Baisi Maban, a journey of [-] miles; the other is to go east through the old city of Luoyang, arrive at Shiqiaodian, and then turn to In the north, after leaving Mang Mountain, it also leads to Heyang.

Heyang, Luoyang, and Shiqiao stores are connected to form a triangle.Generally speaking, the road that turns east and then turns north is the main road. Although it is far away, the road is easy to walk.

The two villages set up by Xia Jun also blocked the exits of these two roads.Now that the German army and the Leopard Cavalry are all heading south today, they naturally marched along these two roads.

As for the positions left by them, they will be filled by the Tianxiong Army.

This is to fill in the reserve team, whether it is a victory or a loss, it is all in one fell swoop.

……

In Luoyang City, Ma Sixun and Duan Ning sat facing each other, hesitating.

"Inspector Duan, I've also thought about what you said." Ma Sixun sighed: "In the midst of the situation, playing the battle day and night has never been right. If I were Hu Shuai, I don't know how to fight this battle. "

Duan Ning got up and poured him a cup of tea, and comforted him: "Duckweed in troubled times can only go with the flow and live with the flow."

Ma Sixun didn't answer him, and continued to say to himself: "Excluding those Tutuan peasants who are insufficient in combat power, the Youguo Army has 5000 people, the Changzhi Army has [-] people, the Baosheng Army has [-] people, and the Heyang Yamen Army also has [-] people. There are two thousand, are there few soldiers? Quite a lot! I guess, Xia Bandits marched in two directions, and their strength will not be much stronger than mine."

By now, no matter how stupid he was, he knew Xia Jun's intentions and deployment.

The northern group should still be led by Gao Renhou, and the army went south, divided into east and west.One part of the west road monitored the south city of Heyang, and the other part tried to cross Mangshan Mountain and enter the Yiluo Valley Basin; the east road entered Luokou, besieged Luokou Cang and Gong County, cut off the Luoshui shipping, and at the same time sent people to Yingzigu to set up a fortress , in order to reject the Liang Jun brigade that may come from the revolving door.

The most fundamental logic for formulating this plan is that the Yiluo River Valley Basin is too narrow to support a large army, and under the harassment of the cavalry they sent, it is difficult for the people to farm with peace of mind. If time is prolonged, the tens of thousands of people in Luoyang will not be able to The war collapsed.Unless the king of Liang spent a huge amount of money to transport grain and grass by land, but the mountain roads are rugged and the roads are long and obstructed, once they are harassed by the cavalry infantry of the Xia army who are raging in the hinterland of Bianzhou, the supply line will become very fragile.

Such a "superficial" conspiracy must have come from Shao thief, and Ma Sixun is [-]% sure.

But just as the so-called ingenuity seems clumsy, this kind of "superficial" strategy is really not easy to deal with.Because he did not use methods such as deception, temptation, alienation, and instigation that require the cooperation of the enemy and the enemy's mistakes, and completely pointed at your fundamental weakness.It doesn't matter whether you are right or wrong, I will just fight like this.

Perhaps, Thief Shao has a deeper strategy—well, this is Ma Sixun's "brain supplement" after careful consideration.

Between Bianzhou and Luoyang, you were asked to save and save, exhausted, and finally he blatantly shot, annihilating a large number of capable troops.

And these masters who are capable of fighting may not necessarily be defeated in a face-to-face decisive battle, and they may even defeat Xia Bandit.But if he keeps being moved back and forth in this way and reveals some flaws, he is likely to be wiped out without being able to exert his true strength. This seems to be what Shao thief has been pursuing.

He always likes to get his troops in the best possible condition, and then make the enemy's condition extremely bad, and then beat you.

Of course, this is in line with military principles.It is stupid to fight a decisive battle when the two sides are of similar strength and are both in good condition. It is something that is avoided in the book of war. It is understandable for Shao thief to do so.

"Actually, the situation is not completely ruined now." Ma Sixun said again: "Does Inspector Duan know that the Changzhi Army has already left Yanshi, and the whole army has retreated?"

"But because the future is not safe, why withdraw to clear the way?" Duan Ning asked.

"Yes, and no." Ma Sixun said: "Hu Shuai and General Kou should have sent their missions to one place. They should either rescue Gong County and hold on to it, waiting for the river to thaw in March and the navy arrives. Or break through the road to Heyang Passage, echoing General Huo’s headquarters. However, since last year when the [-]th Duyou National Army was transferred away, and the Changzhi Army was transferred over ten thousand people, there are not many troops in Luoyang that really listen to Hu Shuai’s command. General Kou should be After knowing that Hu Shuai went north, Luoyang was empty and the road ahead was not safe, so he rushed back to help. But in fact, it doesn’t matter if Luoyang is occupied or not?”

"The city is small and small, just a place to garrison troops, this is one of them."

"The grain, grass and equipment are all in Cangcheng, this is the second."

"The troops are so weak that it's not worth fighting, the third one."

"Xia's thief's target should not be Luoyang, but Xu Huaiyu and Zhu Youning. Luoyang is just an accessory."

"General Kou's goal should not be to keep Luoyang, but to gather various ministries and try to restore the situation."

"Luoyang is a place of death. The Xia bandits have come. If the north cannot be attacked for a long time, and the return route is cut off by the Changzhi army, the whole army will be wiped out. When General Kou comes, Heyang and Gong counties will be broken through and intercepted again. If you go to the three passes in Luonan, you will be trapped to death."

"We are in a death situation, and we should sit and watch success or failure."

Ma Sixun said a lot in one breath, but Duan Ning fell silent after listening.

"Your great talent, I admire you." After a long time, Duan Ning stood up and saluted, and said, "I just want to ask one question today, if Kou Yanqing arrives in Luo, how should we deal with it?"

"There are only two thousand yamen soldiers in the city, and they may not all have the same mind. If the long straight army comes, if we refuse to defend, can we hold it?" Ma Sixun asked rhetorically.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to keep it." Duan Ning said.

There are actually [-] soldiers in the city, [-] Youguo soldiers, and [-] native soldiers conscripted in the past two days.In addition, there are more than a thousand state soldiers in Cangcheng, but they may not be willing to listen to Ma and Duan.

"Since you can't keep it, it's better to keep things as usual." Ma Sixun said, he paused after finishing speaking, and then said: "If Xia's bandits enter the suburbs of Luoyang, it means that Hu Shuai has been defeated. You can secretly send envoys to contact you, but you must not open the city suddenly. Come down."

Duan Ning was a little hesitant. Is it really okay to be so head-to-head?

But it is indeed too risky to bet on who will win now.Even Hu Shuai's failure to go north, and even the annihilation of the entire army, did not seem to completely collapse the situation.

Footsteps sounded outside the door, and a man dressed as a domestic servant walked in.He leaned close to Ma Sixun's ear and whispered a few words.

"Zhu Youning is here, probably because of an order from Shuai Hu." Ma Sixun said, "There are 5000 people here, and half of them who can fight have already reached Yongji Bridge."

Yongji Bridge is on the Luoshui River, about ninety miles away from Luoyang, a journey of three or four days.

"Zhu Youning was lucky, so Xu Huaiyu didn't have to run away." Ma Sixun said with a smile.

Duan Ning lowered her head in thought.

It seems that Hu Zhen still made some arrangements, and he didn't tell them at all.

Carefully substitute Hu Zhen's position, his task is not to defend Luoyang City, this ruined city has a fart value.He is very clear about his main task, which is to maintain Heluo's line of defense and prevent it from collapsing.

Suddenly, there was another sound of footsteps, this time it was Ma Sixun's personal soldiers.

Seeing that there were other people in the house, this person hesitated.

"But it's okay to talk about it." Ma Sixun said.

"General, a broken soldier has returned, call the door outside." Said the soldier.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly sank.

(End of this chapter)