Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 802 The So-Called Gambling
The sky is faint, and the day is coming.

The battle to encircle and annihilate the Long Sword Army lasted from night to dawn.

Tens of thousands of Liang's troops collapsed and suffered heavy casualties.The elite troops who had been majestic in Yun and Yan towns, and defeated Wei Bo, were buried in the rural corners of Changshe County.

Beheading more than 900 people and capturing more than [-] people were the results of last night.In several battles, the Flying Dragon Army lost more than [-] soldiers, the Zhongwu Army lost more than [-] soldiers, and the Cavalry Army lost more than [-] casualties.

As far as the battle damage ratio is concerned, it is actually not very good-looking.Because the Xia army waited for work at leisure, with a large number of people and a large number of cavalry, it was finally fought like this. It can only be said that the long sword army was indeed battle-hardened, strong-willed, and eager to go home, bursting out with powerful combat effectiveness.

But no matter what, it was a hearty victory after all. The Liang army once again lost a main force in the formation system, and its demise was inevitable.

Wang Zhongshi's injuries were serious, and the corners of his mouth kept bleeding.The heavy blow to the vest brought him devastating injuries. After falling to the ground, he was trampled by the horses, and he was already powerless.

"General Wang, what else can you say?" Shao Shude asked, standing in front of Wang Zhongshi.

Master Wang Zhong tried his best to open his eyes wide, and looked at it carefully for a long time, before he uttered two words: "Go home."

"Okay." Shao Shude nodded, and said: "I like warriors the most in my life, and I hate that General Wang can't be used by me. Come here, go to the Changsha to find the members of the Wang clan, and let them take General Wang home."

"As ordered." Zhao Yan watched for a long time, and was the first to jump out when he heard the words, and replied.

He also participated in the battle last night. Under the escort of the Zhongwu Army, he fought a little peace battle and achieved the record of shooting and killing Liang Bing alone.

Zhao Lu was much stronger than him. He fought bravely and was wounded.

Overall, the Zhongwu Army worked hard yesterday.It may be that they have voted for a new owner and are eager to show off their value, so as not to be the first to lose their vassal status in the future.

Shao Shude looked at Jiang Bing from afar again.More than [-] people sat on the ground, their heads downcast, as if they didn't even have the energy to speak.

"Distribute water to them." Shao Shude ordered.

"Of order." Zhao Lu saw the opportunity, regardless of his injuries, and responded loudly.

Digesting troops is a complicated system engineering.

The captured Liang people, you can't expect them to maintain their previous combat effectiveness in a short time.This is impossible because there is still a step of reconciliation missing, which takes time.

After all, war is fought against people.It is easy to solve at the hardware level, but not so easy to solve at the ideological level.

At three quarters of the hour, Shao Shude led his army back to the camp.

The captives were escorted back to Xuzhou by the Zhongwu Army, and the Feilong Army and Iron Cavalry Army took a rest on the spot.

After months of fighting, the Feilong army suffered a lot of casualties. At first, there were more than 8000 people, but now there are only more than [-], and the battle damage is about [-].

Shao Shude could hardly find any familiar faces.This unit, which has been in the enemy's rear all the year round, suffered staggering casualties and was replaced very quickly.

"The Flying Dragon Army needs to persevere." Shao Shude said while having breakfast, "General Qibi will comfort the soldiers well, and after this battle, he will retreat with the Chishui Army to make up for it."

"The general will follow orders, and he will definitely not miss a major event." Qi Bizhang replied.

"Priority will be given to you to make up for Dai Siyuan's troops. From now on, the size of the Feilong Army's left wing will be limited to [-]." Shao Shude added.

He knew that Qi Bizhang had path dependence, and wanted to continue recruiting deserters from the Liang army scattered in the countryside.Shao Shude no longer intends to give him the right to recruit soldiers, and the coach of the capital will make the yamen to supplement them in a unified way.

In Henan, there are too many warriors everywhere.

The Xuanwu army led the four prefectures of Bian, Song, Bo, and Ying. Since the Dali period, it has raised [-] troops and fought everywhere. Huaixi, Ziqing, and Hebei all saw him, fighting for the court.

The three towns of Yun, Yan, and Qing, which were spun off from Ziqing Town, totaled [-].

The four towns of Wuning, Yicheng, Zhongwu, and Heyang totaled more than [-].

Huaixi Army, Li Xilie had 6 to 730 soldiers.Dongdu garrison, "six thousand seven hundred and thirty eight people", and later expanded the army by two thousand.

Shanguo Army, 5000 people.

During the peaceful years, the entire Henan Province raised 40 troops.After Chao Chao, each town expanded its army one after another, and the number of soldiers increased greatly.After a long period of fighting, there were countless fleeing and scattered soldiers. Qi Bizhang really wanted to recruit as many of these people as he wanted.

Qi Bizhang should no longer have the power to recruit soldiers, and Liang Hanyong's power should be taken back slowly.In the future, the size of the Flying Dragon Army will be controlled at about [-], which is enough for a cavalry infantry.

In the later period of major reorganization, if the two armies of Heiji and Jindao can catch up, they can expand their army appropriately and merge some other troops into it, each with a scale of about 2 people.

Shao Shude really likes this kind of army. It has the biggest advantage of cavalry, that is, mobility, and has a strong ability to attack and fight. It can create opportunities to fight more and win in some areas.Datang's garrison in Anxi, as far as the Han soldiers were concerned, were mainly mounted infantry, which played a very important role. The disadvantage was that the horses were too edible, so fortunately they didn't need to be rewarded.

"Your Majesty, the Lu Jun envoy of the Wuwei Army has come to report that Pang Shigu sent troops to attack the camp last night, but they have been repelled." Li Zhong walked over and reported in a soft voice.

Shao Shude pondered for a while, and said: "Fighting all day and night, people are tired and horses are exhausted, let's take a full day's rest today, and rush over tomorrow, we must encircle and wipe out Pang Shigu."

"Obey." Li Zhong immediately went to deliver the order.

In fact, people can still insist on traveling, mainly because the horse is dying and needs to rest.

Shao Shude silently calculated the speed of Zhu Quanzhong's army. He was afraid that he had just arrived in Fugou after beating Pang Shigu and resting.

Do you have the guts to come here?

******
On the third day of May, for Zhu Quanzhong, who was marching headlong, it was a thunderbolt from the blue sky.

Zhang Junlian, the tenth general of the Long Sword Army, led a few cavalry to break through at night, ran all the way east to Caishui, searched along the river, escaped the interception of the cavalry of the Dingnan Army, and rushed into the Liang Army formation.

When he got off his horse, there were only a dozen or so riders around him.

"Trash!" Zhu Quanzhong couldn't suppress his anger any longer, and drew out his sword to kill Zhang Junlian, but fortunately he was stopped by the left and right.

Xun asked about the details of the battle carefully, and after listening, he didn't say a word, his face was so gloomy that it was frightening.

Jing Xiang listened silently and sighed softly.

The Long Sword Army is finished, the Jian Rui Army is likely to be finished, and the Kuangwei Army will be finished within a few days.As for the Youguo Army, they were too far away, let alone withdrawing.

In fact, this ending was predictable. Was King Liang really unprepared?No.It's just that there was still a glimmer of hope before, and they always felt that they could withdraw. To no avail, King Liang personally led an army of [-] troops to the west to rescue them, and then retreated together, reorganized their troops, and then counterattacked.

Now that expectations are shattered, King Liang's anger is not because of the destruction of the Long Sword Army, nor is it because of Pang Shigu's disorderly retreat, but more because of his fear and despair about the future.

Oh, by the way, the [-] army is only in name, and there may not be so many now.

Xia Zei's cavalry harassed all the way, Chang Zhi, Xiong Wei, and Fei Sheng's three armies could withstand it, but the temporarily recruited Tutuan villagers could not.Except for a few who were attacked and killed by Xia Zei's cavalry, many people escaped on the road.Every time the thief came, Xiangyong was always easily flustered, and there were not many people who took the opportunity to escape.When camping at night, some people also absconded, forcing the king of Liang to use heavy codes to kill a wave, which stopped the trend a little bit.

But the fugitives never disappeared.Especially those brave men from Bo and Ying desperately wanted to go home, not wanting to lose their lives in vain.

In all fairness, the township braves recruited before are still disciplined and willing to fight.But if the current situation is like this, Xiangyong is not all ignorant people. The news of the defeat spreads everywhere. Under the turmoil of the army, the trend of fleeing intensifies, and thousands of people have escaped so far.

In such a situation, not to mention going to save Pang Shigu from the siege, it is not bad to be able to keep his body.

The army capable of fighting is no more than [-], is it really more than Pang Shigu?Obviously not.

The army quickly stopped and rested for an hour.

Zhou Ben, the general of the Huai Army Navy, went ashore, saw Zhu Quanzhong from a distance, and walked over.

Zhou Ben had a lot of friends, chatted casually with Li Zhen, and quickly figured out what happened.

He glanced at Jing Xiang, there was a lot of meaning in his eyes, Jing Xiang shook his head lightly.

Zhou Ben didn't give up, he only hesitated for a while, then stepped forward to salute and said: "See King Liang."

"With the help of the general along the way, Xia's bandits dare not invade. It is a great achievement." Zhu Quanzhong ordered his soldiers to set up the table and make tea.

There were still rangers of the Dingnan Army moving around in the distance, but Liang Jun seemed to be used to it and let them have fun.As long as you don't come close, you generally don't bother to expel them.

"My lord, I don't know if I should say something or not." Zhou Ben said.

"Come on, I'm not dead yet." Zhu Quanzhong said with a cold snort.

"In the old days, Cai's bandits were weak in Bianzhou, and their troops were heading straight for Bajiao Town. At that time, the king of Liang could not control the four prefectures, and Xie Yin, the rebel general of Bozhou, still separated himself and did not obey orders." Zhou Ben said: "In such a difficult and dangerous situation, Let Liang Wang resolve it, this is just a small setback, so why worry?"

Zhu Quanzhong sighed: "One moment and another moment. From General Zhou's point of view, how does Shao Bandit compare to Qin Zongquan?"

"Much stronger." Zhou Ben said honestly: "Shao's thieves rely on the general tranquility of dozens of prefectures in Kansai, the growth of household registration, and the increasing abundance of money and food, which can support him to fight for years without harming his roots."

Zhu Quanzhong nodded.

Before Xia Jun went east, Zhu Quanzhong was aware of the shortage of the Henan Fourth War, so he has been consciously burning the flames of war to other people's territory.

Since the town of Bian in the third year of Zhonghe, the battles against Huangchao and Qin Zongquan, except for the battle of Weishi (Shang Rang) and the battle of Bajiao Town (Qin Zongquan) were in Bianzhou, and the rest of the battles were pushed to the periphery as much as possible, such as Chen, Xu, and Cai and so on.Later wars with Zhu Xuan, Zhu Jin, and Shi Pu also mainly took place in Waizhen.

There are wars every year, even more than one war, but the agriculture and mulberry in Xuanwu Zhuzhou have been restored. It has to be said that this is the fundamental reason why Liang Jun is getting stronger and stronger.

But Shao Shude was even more outrageous than him.After quickly integrating Kansai, they continued to go east. In recent years, they have fought directly in Henan. The fundamental land of Kansai has enjoyed peace for many years.

In war, apart from consuming a lot of supplies, the greatest damage may be the need to recruit teachers and brave men.After the master left home, agricultural production was affected, and the casualties of Xiangyong who went directly to the battle were also staggering.The loss of these strong civilians is irreparable, and it is also an important reason why the fighting is getting poorer.

"However, the king of Liang also has Bian, Song, Bo, Cao, Shan, Hua, Xu, and Su Bazhou in his hands, and there are still more than [-] elite soldiers. Isn't it much stronger than then?" Zhou Ben talked eloquently: "Your Highness There is still a chance, at this time we must be calm and not throw the army lightly. The Shao bandits won tens of thousands of troops, and there are tens of thousands of cavalry troops, and they are aggressive. At this time, fighting against him may be more dangerous than good."

Speaking of this, Zhou Ben lowered his voice and said, "If the three armies of Changzhi, Feisheng and Xiongwei are all lost here, will Zhu Zhen of Caozhou still obey orders?"

Jing Xiang and Li Zhen looked at each other.The two of them are not warriors, and they don't have the kind of lofty arrogance. What they think about every day is nothing more than how to toss and turn in the current situation and try their best to maintain it.Liang Wang once scolded them that they can only check for omissions and make up for vacancies, and make suggestions, lacking the courage of warriors to gamble.

Jing Xiang admits that this is a defect in his character, he can only be a counselor, but cannot be a good master.But the problem is, if you want to gamble, Shao Zei has a kind face and a dark heart, he is old and cunning, and he never gambles, how can he win?

The two of them might have thought of rescuing Pang Shigu before, but after knowing the latest battle situation, they no longer advised King Liang to do so.

But they didn't dare to touch Liang Wang's bad luck at this time, or they might die.Zhou Ben helped them say this, and immediately heaved a sigh of relief.

The army is defeated like a mountain, so don't gamble anymore.If you gamble, you might as well bet on changes in the current situation, don't bet on winning or losing on the battlefield.

Bringing the power of great victory, the Shao bandits stationed in Xuzhou, fortified the wall without fighting, and frustrated their spirit.After your last burst of energy is over, you can suddenly break out, can you stop it?

Moreover, he can also recruit Zhu Zhen, Zhang Tingfan, and even the defenders of Bianzhou.When the two armies were facing each other, bad news came one after another, fearing that they would collapse without a fight, and the whole army would be surrendered.

"Your Highness, my lord will be in Anzhou in a few days, please take care of yourself and think about it in the long run." Zhou Ben persuaded with earnest words.

(End of this chapter)