Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 943 Panic
On September 25th, after the Feilong army had finished its rest, it appeared in the southwest of Qingzhou, cooperated with the Dingnan army to defeat Li Renyu's troops, and beheaded more than [-] thieves.

On the 26th, it appeared in the east of Linqu and attacked a grain transportation team.
On the 27th, he jumped back to Qingzhou again, rounding up the enemy scouts and rangers, and there was a lot of movement.In the next two days, they even returned to Zizhou at one point, and after making their debut, they disappeared at night.

Zhu Quanzhong was hosting a banquet for a group of Qingzhou generals in the camp in the western suburbs of Ye County, Laizhou.

"General Zhang must have come here to fight for Qingzhou." Zhu Quanzhong looked even more haggard. It was obvious that he had spent a lot of energy training the recruits in the past few months.

Of course, the unfavorable situation of the battle also made him very sad.

He "parasitized" two feudal towns one after another, was driven away in Weibo, lost most of his capital, finally gained a firm foothold in Qingzhou, and won Wang Shifan's trust, and Wang Shifan was also doomed.

The loss of Dizhou and most of Zizhou is very fatal.Now, what can really help is Qingzhou. Denglai and Denglai are sparsely populated and only suitable for pastures, so the help they can provide is limited.

The war has been going on for more than half a year, and the family property of Ziqing Town, which was originally very wealthy, has been greatly consumed. Zhu Quanzhong doubts how long it can last.

If Wang Shifan is destroyed, then he will not end well again.

"The war is fierce, but now there is no shortage of food, and we can barely make ends meet, but the shortage of goods is severe." Zhang Juhou drank half a bowl of wine and sighed: "The commander-in-chief sent me to ask if these soldiers can be made, can they can not fight?"

"Wang Shuai means..." Zhu Quanzhong asked.

"Staying like this is not a solution." Zhang Juhou said: "You know the situation of the Bohai Pavilion and the Silla Pavilion. There are still people coming to do business this year. What about next year? I know that there is a war here, and the goods are not easy to sell. Come? The Yanchi in Dizhou is gone, and the end of the year is only two months away, and Wang Shuai is still worrying about rewards."

"Is this a counterattack?" Zhu Quanzhong asked in surprise.

The soldiers he has trained can defend the city and guard the village, and they can also go out to fight against thieves or the so-called peasant rebels who rebelled, but fighting with the Xia soldiers who have been fighting for a long time, isn't this sending food?Unless the general on the opposite side is stupid enough to kill himself.

"Whether to counterattack or not, there is still no conclusion. The military government will also be divided into two factions, and the dispute cannot be resolved." Zhang Juhou said.

"Why two factions?"

"One faction thinks that it can still be defended now, and wait for changes in the future. It is not impossible to raise the military rewards for the Chinese New Year, but the big families are about to bleed. If it is delayed until next year, the situation may change."

Zhu Quanzhong was thoughtful.

If Li Ke used to mobilize the main force to go down the mountain, then with the current scattered deployment of the Xia army, it is bound to draw troops from various battlefields to fight the Jin people-mostly in Hebei.

In this way, several Henan feudal towns that have not yet surrendered will have a chance to breathe, and they can even take the opportunity to negotiate conditions and strive for better treatment.

The decisive battle cannot be finished in a month or two, nor does it start right away.Before the start of the war, all kinds of interest blending and wooing promises began, and the value of the grass on the wall has greatly increased, and there is a lot to do.

"One faction thinks it's better to mobilize Pinghai and unite the two armies. The Xia people have been besieged for a long time, and they are already a tired army. They may win a big victory. This is a gamble. Whether you win or lose, it's all about it." Zhang Juhou said again.

Zhu Quanzhong was contemplative.

The strategy is correct, but he still feels that the chances of winning are not high enough, but it is indeed time to gamble.

The combat effectiveness of an army is not constant.If you win a certain battle for the first time, if you fight it again under the same conditions, you may lose.

It is not uncommon in history books for a strong army that has run amok for many years to be defeated by recruits.War is fought by people, and people will make mistakes. As long as the mistakes of the enemy are caught, the weak may defeat the strong.

Moreover, Xia Jun's current combat effectiveness is definitely not as good as it was a few months ago. Why is the name "Tired Master" frequently seen in history books, because this is really a very dangerous state.Use a new force to deal with them, or have a chance of winning?
"What strategy does Wang Shuai prefer?" Zhu Quanzhong asked.

"Wang Shuai is hesitant." Zhang Juhou drank another bowl of wine and sighed.

Zhu Quanzhong was also speechless.

This will be hesitant. In fact, the first strategy is to choose the first strategy, waiting for changes, hoping that the Jin army will relieve them of pressure.I heard that there are Xia Jun envoys in Qingzhou, so the two sides must be negotiating terms, which makes it easier to understand.

"What strategy does General Zhang think is the best?" Zhu Quanzhong asked suddenly.

"Today I took a look at the sergeants of the battalion, and they are quite decent." Zhang Juhou said.

This is the inclination to the second strategy, to counterattack.

"Li Keyong is going to send troops, I don't know when. How long can we last?" Zhu Quanzhong gestured, Zhu Youhui got up, poured a bowl of wine for Zhang Juhou, only to hear him continue: "I heard that Wang Maozhang is in Haizhou , there are more than ten thousand people, Zhu Jin still has a lot of soldiers and horses, and he is extremely brave, why not invite him to send troops together and fight to the death with the Xia bandits."

"The king of Liang really knows the heart of my warrior." Zhang Juhou felt a sense of acquaintance when he heard it, and complained: "In my opinion, it's better to take all the horses from the shepherds in Denglai, and choose warriors who can ride horses, and rush to the rear of the bandits. The main force will launch an attack from the front of Qingzhou, and the chances of winning are actually very high."

Even in the Tianbao period, there were only about 20 people in the two states of Denglai.The Denglai Second Mansion in the Ming Dynasty later had a geographical scope similar to that of the Denglai Second Prefecture in the Tang Dynasty, but it had 160 million people.Therefore, Denglai at this time has a very low level of development, and the wilderness is full of wasteland and low hills, almost becoming the exclusive horse breeding land of Ziqing Town.

The Pinglu Army has a tradition of cavalry, and the number of horses is still not small, and it also imports Mohe horses.Armed roughly, it is still possible for thousands of sergeants to maneuver with two horses and march through Mizhou and Yizhou to the rear of the Xia people.

"Dutou, General Zhang." Zhu Youliang broke in suddenly, and said with a pale face: "There is news from the south that Xia's soldiers have broken Jimo, and the army is heading north all the way, coming in menacingly."

"What?" Zhang Juhou was a little surprised, and his head, which was a little drunk just now, immediately sobered up.

Zhu Quanzhong's heart tightened slightly, but his face didn't change much.

Fighting for half a lifetime, what kind of storms and waves have you never seen?What have you never experienced?He was not familiar with Xia thief's methods before, and he was not used to it, but now he has basically figured it out.

"The summer thieves on this road must have come from Mizhou." Zhu Quanzhong stood up and said: "Send down the order to hoard food, firewood, and equipment, and gather the soldiers of each battalion. Random news in the army, whoever makes a loud noise, will be cut immediately .Send another person to Zhoucheng to inform you.”

Zhu Quanzhong is an envoy of the capital's coach and cannot intervene in local government affairs, so he can only fulfill the obligation of notification, but most people already know about it.

"General Zhang, do you want to stay, or..." Zhu Quanzhong asked, turning his gaze to Zhang Juhou.

"I'll go back to Qingzhou immediately." Zhang Juhou said without hesitation.

"Okay! Please tell Wang Shuai. I appreciate your kindness so far. The thieves have traveled far to Denglai. Although the Pinghai and United armies have only a short period of time to form an army, they will definitely fight the thieves. Denglai two states, hand over I'm fine." Zhu Quanzhong said decisively.

Zhang Juhou nodded emphatically, he didn't have the time to think carefully about what Zhu Quanzhong said, so he left in a hurry.

Zhu Quanzhong and the two nephews looked at each other, and they both saw the clear look in each other's eyes.

The eight counties in the two prefectures and eight counties of Denglai are indeed inconspicuous, but every piece of land is hard-won and worth cherishing.

******
The army did not stay in Jimo, and after hastily collecting food, grass, mules and horses, they went straight north, rushed into the Gushui River Basin, and went straight to the city of Changyang.

Changyang is the Laiyang of the later generations. It is not big, the city is also very dilapidated, and the defenders are pitifully few.

After the army stopped here, the soldiers hurriedly made simple ladders and attacked the city regardless of the fatigue of the long-distance march.

It should be said that the will of the defenders was still very tenacious, and Changyang made a lot of preparations hastily.But after a day of attack, it was still taken on the sixth day of October.

From the county magistrate to the county lieutenant, as well as a few wealthy households who contributed money and food to help recruit young men to go to the city, all beheaded.

Du Guangyi pretended not to see it.

He knew that this would ruin his reputation in the army, so it was better to be a man with his tail between his legs.What's more, the one who should be killed is also the one who should be killed, so there is nothing much to say.

"Racing for a long time, but there are not many people in sight. Is this still Henan?"

"The Anshi Rebellion didn't affect this place. When Ziqing Town was encircled and suppressed, there was nothing wrong here. It's strange that there are still so few people."

"A lot of flat land is growing grass, and it's a pity that it hasn't been cultivated into farmland."

"It's none of my business, I only see how many rewards there are."

The sergeants took control of the county government and government treasury, talking about it in a hurry.When they saw Du Guangyi coming, they all shut up.

Someone wanted to scare him with a knife, but a pair of big hands stretched out from the side and pushed the knife back into its sheath.

"Du Guangyi's father is the Jiedu envoy of Hexi, and his younger brother Du Xiao served as Lingbao Ling and Shaozhou camp field inspector, and later worked for King Xia. He was released as the governor of Bozhou a few months ago." People said: "If you don't want to die, don't mess around."

"Mao Zhuizi is hateful. Right now I'm just being angry with them. If one day I'm manipulated by them, I'd rather die."

"At that time, you won't want to die. After the world is peaceful, these big measures will definitely take off."

"Then the world will not be peaceful."

"Don't talk nonsense!"

Du Guangyi couldn't hear the warriors talking behind his back, he walked quickly into the county government office, saw Qi Bizhang waving to him from a distance, immediately walked three steps at a time, and trotted over.

"I'm going to give Zhu Quanzhong a hard time, and Sui Envoy Du will help me as a counselor." Qi Bizhang laughed.

"Li Dutou's order to force Wang Shifan to surrender..." Du Guangyi said hesitantly, "Military envoy, this is probably King Xia's intention. After Dutou's hand, that's all."

"If you don't defeat the thieves, how can you build momentum?" Qi Bizhang asked back: "Don't always think about taking shortcuts and defeating the enemy without fighting. Sometimes you just have to fight, and the thieves will only give in when they hurt you."

"Then go to the northwest and attack Laizhou. To win this place, you can go west along the post road and intercept the back of Qingzhou." Du Guangyi said.

Qi Bizhang thought about it, this could indeed create panic in the enemy and speed up the war process.

"Then kill him, capture Zhu Quanzhong, and present it to the king." Qi Bizhang made up his mind: "The whole army rests for two days and recovers its horsepower. Set off after nightfall on the eighth day!"

(End of this chapter)