Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 706
On April 24, after waiting for a few days to confirm that Ruzhou would not come to rescue them, Zhang Guiba summoned the generals to discuss the current situation.

Someone (entrusted) proposed to surrender, because there were no reinforcements outside, and it would be a dead end to defend.In order to avoid annihilation of the whole army like Huo Cun, it is better to surrender King Xia.

Not surprisingly, this "violent theory" has sparked intense controversy.

With a smile on his face, Zhang Guiba listened carefully to everyone's opinions.Insert a few words from time to time, subtly lead the topic to the predicament we are facing now, and in the end, those who do not want to surrender look at the wind and shut up.

As for the big soldiers, except for some people who are worried about their relatives, most of them have no opinion - if the back road is not cut off, everyone may still be willing to fight, but it's in this situation, so why hesitate?
After getting everything done from top to bottom, the surrender of more than [-] members of the Weirong Army became a matter of course.

On the 25th, the gates were closed and the soldiers of the Weirong Army went out of the city in the heavy rain, throwing armor and weapons on the open space in Guanbei.

Surrounded by his own soldiers, Shao Shude watched from a distance.

"Greetings to King Xia." After 6000 people were disarmed, they all knelt down in the muddy water.

"Everyone has done their duty. The warriors are their masters, fighting bravely, worthy of their own pay, this is a great kindness." Shao Shude asked his soldiers to pass on his words one by one.

"I was given a piece of silk. After receiving it, I went to Shanzhou for training. It will be of great use in the future."

"My family members don't have to worry. When I kill you to the Xuanwu states, you and I will meet each other naturally."

After finishing speaking in one breath, the soldiers continued to convey loudly, and the soldiers dropped the huge stone in their hearts.

"General Zhang." Jiang Bing had already got up, and lived in the Tianxiong Army's camp empty-handed. Shao Shude no longer cared about them, but turned to look at Zhang Guiba, and said with a smile, "I have been famous for a long time, and now I have a general here." Vote, and win an army of one hundred thousand."

Zhang Guiba didn't dare to take the polite words seriously, and immediately replied: "Your Majesty, who started in the early days and fought until now, is powerful in the Central Plains. He is the son of destiny. I am fortunate to have some martial arts and courage. If Your Majesty likes it, I will be ashamed of myself." , at all costs."

"It's useful for generals." Shao Shu pulled Zhang Guiba's hand, and said with a smile, "Teacher Du made the government office, military camp, and school grounds built in Shanzhou. I want to select brave and strong people from the descendants." There are 4000 people, and they will be trained strictly in order to become an army. In future battles, General Zhang will be indispensable."

"I can't ask for it." Zhang Guiba responded immediately.

He actually thought that it would be nice to be a governor like Xu Huaiyu, but that would be the end of his life, and he couldn't go any further.He is much younger than Xu Huaiyu, only in his early forties, and he is still very self-motivated. If he can still lead the army, it would be great.

Shao Shude nodded with a smile, and said: "The grassland is not peaceful, and the barbarians are rampant. At that time, the new army will mostly fight in the Yinshan Mountains. General Zhang can get acquainted with it in advance."

"As ordered."

The two, one in front and one behind, entered the city surrounded by everyone.

Chen Cheng took a step behind, found a civil official, and gave him some instructions.

Coach Du made the yamen not belong to the royal family, but to the shogunate. But Chen Cheng was also the deputy envoy of Shuofang Jiedu, and the coach Du made many affairs of the yamen intersect with him, so I wanted to remind people to do more screening when selecting candidates.

Since the war, the prisoners received have indeed been quite a lot.I received news yesterday that Qi Bizhang, the envoy of the Flying Dragon Army, sent about a thousand prisoners of the Po Xia Army to Dengfeng.If you count the surrendered troops from Yiqueguan, nearly 4000 people have been captured.

King Xia decided to select 4000 brave and skilled fighters from among them, and then recruit [-] warriors from Guanbei to form the Golden Sword Army.The army has a staff of [-], and [-] were recruited in advance. It uses Modao and epee as its main combat weapons. This is also Xia's first large-scale, well-organized close-combat force with big swords and heavy armor.

The recruitment and training of the Golden Knife Army will be in charge of the Shanzhou Academy of the Yamen of the capital coach.

The prisoners detained in Luoyang will be sent to Shanzhou in batches.In addition, after the war, more than 5000 people who performed well will be selected from the local peasants in various states, and together with the surrendered soldiers, they will be organized into a continuing army with a staff of [-].After dismantling the organizational system, it was reorganized and used as a supplementary source of troops for the main field forces.

The coach of the capital made the Yamen Lingzhou Academy currently have [-] continuation troops, practicing day and night, learning the use of various weapons, the identification of golden drum flags, and the transformation of arrays.

The Lingzhou Academy and the Shanzhou Academy add up to [-] continuation troops, which can provide [-] to [-] recruits who are rigorously trained, familiar with the military, and skilled in skills every year, which has played a great role.

Without them, it would be difficult for the field troops to maintain a fully staffed state for a long time. There are 8000 people on the books, but the actual shortage is serious, only five or six thousand, and it is very painful to fight.

The supplementary army, like the state soldiers, cost less than one-third of the government army, which is equivalent to spending [-] field army resources to support them, which is actually worthwhile.

After the world is settled down, how to deal with the continuation army can be discussed again, but it must not be disbanded.After all, they are sergeants trained with a lot of money. It is a pity to let them go back to farm, and it is also a hidden danger to local security.

After entering Yique Pass, Shao Shude first climbed to the pass tower and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Yique Mountain and Yishui River Valley.

The mountains, rivers and valleys in the rain look unique.And in the rain and fog in the south, there is still Ruzhou waiting for him to attack.

The Dingyuan Army has already moved south from Yique County.

Shao Shude's request to them was to "use all their strength" to bite as many enemy troops as possible.

……

Near the wharf in Xiangcheng County, it was raining in spring, and people shouted and neighed.

Kong Qing had led [-] yamen troops to the county seat, and the vanguard corps had marched in the direction of Yingqiao Town.

More than [-] Yingzhou Xiangyong received and sorted the baggage near the wharf.

Due to the limited number of ships and insufficient transportation, the transportation speed of all kinds of luggage is very slow. So far, there are still the last two batches of backlogs at the Liangxian wharf, waiting for shipment.

With the spring water soaring, sailing is much more convenient than walking.And this is also the main reason why Ding Hui dared to transport the baggage that greatly hindered the marching speed to the downstream first.

The family members and belongings of the shogunate came here together. In short, they are busy, just like ants moving house.

If Qi Bizhang was here, he must hate God very much. Why did it rain so much, making their mounted infantry lose their mobility?Otherwise, how dare the people of Liang dare to transfer supplies and personnel so arrogantly?
All in all, the retreat of Liang Jun along the Rushui line was relatively smooth on the whole.

There are good ones, and of course there are bad ones.

The Liang army in the Three Crows Valley retreated in a big way, but was discovered by the Luyang Pass defenders because they were not secretive.

They only had [-] Wesheng troops in total, plus [-] Dengzhou Tutuan villagers. After detecting that the enemy troops in front of them were withdrawing in batches, they immediately sent people to the valley in the rain, planted more banners and deployed more drums, and then the army dispatched , came in pursuit.

Liang Bing had no intention of fighting, and the 2000 people who had broken up in Sanya Town and Lushan County dispersed in a rush, clamoring to go home.

Most of them are not from Ru, so why are they willing to fight to the death for Ruzhou?
The two sides chased and fled, panting and soaking in the mountains and rivers, until a flash flood broke out.

Liang Jun suffered a greater loss.The 4000 people who had been evacuated earlier lost all their luggage and fled hungry to Longxing County in the northeast.All the way to escape, someone fell down along the way, the situation and scene were too horrible to bear.

The Weisheng army suffered relatively small losses, and unfortunately hundreds of people were swept away by the flash floods.However, the two thousand Liang troops blocked by the mountain torrents cut off their way forward, most of them surrendered, and a small number of people scattered into the mountains and forests without knowing where they were going.

The Three Crows Valley defense system that had blocked the Xia people for many years had completely collapsed.Now what can stop the Xia people is no longer the swords and guns of the Liang people, but the muddy road and the unexpected flood.

But no matter what, after the flood receded, there was a smooth road here.Weisheng's army can directly attack in the direction of Longxing, then turn to the northwest and kill in the direction of Ruzhou.

The above is the partial division of the Weisheng Army, and its main force is in the Wanye Corridor.The [-] troops and more than [-] Tutuan villagers besieged the [-] Liang Corps in Ye County.

A few days after Zhe Zongben first attacked, he ordered the siege to be dug.

He didn't want to waste the elite soldiers of the Weisheng Army who had been trained for many years in the city.It's hard to improve the combat power a bit, and it's hard to replenish it after death.

Furthermore, if the thousands of Liang troops in the city can be incorporated, it will also be very beneficial to further enhance the combat effectiveness of the Weisheng Army.

Dinghui's Youguo Army, like King Xia's Baoyi Army, was adapted from the old Xuanwu or Shuofang government soldiers as a whole.

Ruzhou still has the last group of troops stationed abroad, namely Li Renhan's [-] men.

They just came back from Guangchengze with more than 1 horses.The luggage has been transported to Liang County by Rushui boat, and now the city is almost full of big-headed soldiers.

The river surged, almost reaching the location of the sheep and horse wall.Li Renhan was distraught and asked to take the irritable horses to another place.After raising them for two days, they will go south to Liang County.

"The town envoy, there are people fleeing out of the city and fleeing to the countryside, you must stop them." A general came to inquire.

"Let them go, or you will raise them?" Li Renhan waved his hand impatiently and said.

"An envoy from Ruzhou came and asked our department to hold on until the 28th before withdrawing." Another person came to report.

"It's going to take three more days!" Li Renhan sighed.

He had already sent people to investigate to the north. Yique County was captured by the Xia bandits, and the Zhang Guiba Department of Yique Pass was probably broken and could not leave.If they surrendered the Xia bandits, then the bandits in Yique county could go south at any time—no, maybe they would already have gone south—then they would be threatened.

Fortunately, the supplies and most of the food and grass had already been transported to Liang County in advance, so it was easier to walk and less troublesome.But it's still a bit dangerous after all!
Thinking of this, Li Renhan called a few more people and told them to take the horses and go south to Ruzhou early tomorrow morning, and there was no longer any delay.

There was another thunderclap outside the county government office. In the bleak wind and cold rain, people's busy and panic voices could be heard everywhere.

"Alas, soldiers have no fighting spirit, and soldiers have no fighting spirit!" Li Renhan could only let out a long sigh, speechless.

Tens of thousands of horses did not dare to fight, and retreated hastily.

The reason was found very well. Ruzhou is a dead place, the food supply is not continuous, and there is nothing to defend, so we have to retreat to Chenxu to fight again.

Hehe, is it the head when you retreat there?You don't even have the courage to survive death, so why fight?
If it wasn't for Ding Shuai's kindness to him, Li Renhan would have surrendered directly to Xia Jun.In the Battle of Luoyang, the destruction of the right wing of the Changzhi Army caused such a bad impact that many people subconsciously became timid when they encountered Xia Bandit, which is a fart!

Li Renhan suddenly thought of Zhu Xuan in Yunzhou.

After repeated failures and the loss of elites, they can basically only stick to the city and occasionally counterattack.At the back, there was even less counterattack, because it was all about giving away the head.

If you can't fight back, you can only stay in the city.Then there were people who surrendered one after another, and the situation became more and more difficult.

If it wasn't for the Xia thief's intervention, and Li Keyong and Zhu Jin's help from time to time, Li Renhan doubted whether Zhu Xuan could survive for two years.

After Ruzhou was lost, the situation facing Bianzhou was somewhat similar to that of Yunzhou.Liang Wang became a big Zhu Xuan.

The situation has come to this point, which is really puzzling.

Shao Shude, could it be that fate really favored him?

(End of this chapter)