Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 977 Puxian and Shilou

Outside Yonghe Pass, ferries came one after another.

Throughout the day, the wharf handled the docking of more than ten ships and unloaded nearly [-] hu grains and beans.

The Jinglue Army sent more than [-] people to garrison here and patrol around.

The masters who came across the river from Yanzhou were divided into two parts, one part helped unload the grain, and the other part repaired the dilapidated Guancheng.

The people of Yonghe County were also expropriated to transfer grain and grass in the direction of Xizhou.

Now Xizhou is the logistics hub center of the entire Cixi front, and various materials are transported here for storage before being transported to the front.

Shao Chengjie stood on the Yanshuiguan City on the west bank of the river, almost standing on tiptoe to look towards the east bank.

Outside Guancheng, the generals from Cong Mazhi had already surrounded tightly, Shao Zhiyan and the three followed Shizi, watching carefully.

They are worried that if the son rises for a while, he will cross the river to the east and reach the territory of Yonghe County, Xizhou. At that time, will they stop him or not?

"Look at how promising you are." Shao Chengjie turned around, looked at Shao Zhiyan, Shao Zhixing, and Shao Zhi with a smile, and said, "It's all about looking at the mountains and rivers and geography, why is it like facing a big enemy like this?"

The three laughed awkwardly at the same time.

Sir, if you want to cross the river, we are not really afraid, what we are afraid of is that you cross the river alone.

How long will it take two thousand cavalry to cross the river without a pontoon bridge?Anyway, the crossing cannot be completed in a day or two, and if something happens, there is no time to help.

"How do you feel about the battle between Lu Dutou and Kang Junli?" Shao Chengjie asked.

Shao Chengjie's military experience is not as rich as that of Shao Zhiyan and the other three. This question is a bit old-fashioned, but it doesn't seem to matter because of his identity.

"My son, Lu Dutou's victory in this battle was due to a clever force. The strategy of luring the enemy into deep depths has existed since ancient times. Li Chengsi was fooled, and the entire army was wiped out. When the Jin army heard of the defeat, they retreated in fear. Dutou pursued and recovered. Ci and Xi prefectures are indeed inevitable." Shao Zhiwei said: "However, whether the troops under the command of Dutou can break through the Shilou and Shangping Pass is unknown."

"How do you say it?" Shao Chengjie was so excited that he asked someone to bring a map and perform on-the-spot deduction.

"What if the rebel soldiers left Shizhou and took the trail to attack the Yongheguan Ferry?" Shao Zhiwei asked.

Shizhou's surprise attack on Yonghe Pass was actually going south along the east bank of the Yellow River, and it could only go this way.

The rivers in this area are all east-west, and the mountains are mostly east-west. There is no north-south road, and only the area along the Yellow River can be barely crossed.But the road has not been repaired, and the large infantry will definitely not be able to go, so they can only attack by a small group of elite soldiers. There are reasons for not repairing the road. One is to open the mountain, and the other is that even if the mountain is opened, it will be flooded by the river during the flood season. , not necessary.

"The Jinglue Army has more than [-] soldiers stationed at Yonghe Pass, and Xizhou also has [-] soldiers, who can help each other." Shao Chengjie said.

"The 140 miles between Yongheguan and Xizhou are all mountain roads. If the bandits follow the example of the black army and let the mounted infantry bypass Yongheguan instead of attacking, what will happen? "Shao Zhiwei's words were a bit aggressive: "On the plain, 140 miles may not be a big deal. The cavalry patrols, and it is difficult for thieves to ambush, but Xizhou is different."

Shao Chengjie didn't care about Shao Zhiwei's tone at all, and scolded with a smile: "Aren't you talking about it?"

"Your Majesty!" Shao Zhiwei straightened his face and said, "I was in Shazhou in the past and fought against the Uyghurs. They liked to cut off the food roads. They used any bad tricks and took advantage of any loopholes. There is no such thing as a war. So you don't have to go to the extreme, fight each other wits and bravely, you show your flaws, it's your luck that others don't come to fight, but if they come to fight, it will be troublesome."

"Your words are reasonable." Shao Chengjie bowed and thanked: "I will reward you with ten pieces of silverware when I go back."

Shao Zhiwei was overjoyed and thanked again and again.

Shao Chengjie's complexion was a little bit bad.

In fact, his competitive spirit is very strong.You must surpass others in literature, you must surpass others in martial arts, you must surpass others in marching and fighting...

In today's deduction, being overwhelmed by Shao Zhiwei made him somewhat unhappy, but he quickly adjusted his mentality, and in the future, Shao Zhiwei will not feel so uncomfortable when he is his general.

But why can't we be number one in terms of Wenzhiwugong and military strategy?Ugh.

The boats on the river are still going back and forth.

Unknowingly, the logistics base of the Lu Huaizhong Group going north has been transferred from Jiangzhou Longmen to Yongheguan.

******
After Zhou Dewei got out of the dangerous pass, he looked back at the towering and majestic pass city.

The city of Guan is brightly lit, heavily guarded with swords and guns, and lined with flags and flags.

This is Taiyuan's Dinghaishenzhen.

After breaking through here, conquer Gaobi Town and enter Queshu Valley.There are Lingshi and Jiexiu counties in the valley, which can raise food and grass. After leaving the valley, they can break through Lengquan Pass and rush to the city of Jinyang.

These days, the Danish Pass area is not peaceful.The two sides continue to send troops forward to test, and the cloud of the war is still lingering.

Zhou Dewei didn't think it was a good idea to attack the fortress by force. The heavy casualties didn't necessarily lead to any results. Why bother?
Tonight he led the army to go out, not to attack the Fenshui Pass, which was heavily fortified by the Xia people, but to go straight to the southwest.

An army of more than ten thousand, with many chariots and horses, went west after leaving the pass, and disappeared into the mountains in a short while.

It was May, but the nights in the mountains were still chilly.

Zhou Dewei stopped his horse in a stream, scooped up a ladle of water with a horse ladle, and after drinking it happily, he said: "After beating the Xia people, I don't know when I will be tall."

"General, the east of the river is a victorious place, what are you afraid of him doing, can you turn over the mountain and come over?" The soldiers laughed.

"Aren't we going over mountains and mountains?" Zhou Dewei asked rhetorically.

Everyone was speechless.

"Continue to march." Zhou Dewei got up, and said: "This time the troops are sent out, which is very different from the battle in Youzhou. The Xia people can fight. Once we are prepared, we will withdraw to preserve our strength."

"Shi Yan." Zhou Dewei said again.

"The end is here." Shi Yan replied.

"You lead the cavalry, go first, the sooner the better, I will allocate all the extra horses to you." Zhou Dewei ordered.

"Follow the order." Shi Yan didn't say any nonsense, and took the order to leave.

Three thousand riders traveled southwest all the way, eating and sleeping in the open, non-stop.

In the early morning of the third day of junior high school, Shi Yan arrived at the destination with five hundred pioneers, and rushed into Pu County under the cover of mist.

In fact, he doesn't have to.

The officials in Pu County fled as early as last month, and they have not been dispatched until now. Now it is completely anarchic.

Pu County is a county of Xizhou, located in the valleys between mountains in the south of Xichuan and east of Daning.

This county is sparsely populated and has few resources, so there is nothing special about it.

The only thing worthy of praise is probably that Madouguan Ferry goes eastward, passes through Daning to Pu County, and then turns southeast to reach Linfen, Jinzhou Lisuo.The whole mountain road is not easy to walk. Most people like to cross the river from Longmen in the south, and go north to Jinzhou through Jiangzhou.

To the northeast of Pu County, there is still a mountain road that has been in disrepair for a long time, leading directly to the front of the dangerous place.

The reason why this road has been in disrepair for a long time is because no one walks it.

For business and personnel exchanges between Chang'an and Taiyuan, just cross the Pujin Pass.

For food transportation, just cross the river at Longmen.

Other roads are unnecessary. In the case of financial difficulties, wouldn't they have to fall into disrepair and gradually be forgotten?
After Shi Yan arrived in Pu County, he immediately collected grain, grass and horse mules, and at the same time sent scouts to search the mountains to check the movements of Xia's army.

He didn't strike blindly.

His most important task was to wait for Zhou Dewei's main force to arrive in Pu County, and everything had to serve this purpose.

******
The offensive against Shilou County has officially launched.

The troops participating in the attack included 2000 Wuwei Army, [-] Chishui Army, and more than [-] Xiangyong.

The Economic and Strategic Army is maintaining the logistics roads on the front line of Yongheguan and Xizhou.

The other 3000 members of the Chishui Army set up a stronghold in Huangzhuling to prevent the enemy from the direction of the Ningxiang River Valley.

The Black Knife Army is the only mobile reserve force stationed in Daning.

Such a division of troops is actually not enough to attack the city.

The morale of the Jin soldiers guarding the stone building suddenly became very high. They fought desperately and were extremely brave.

After arresting the prisoners and asking, it turned out that someone from above came to supervise the battle, beheaded some generals who were disadvantaged in the early battle, and gave rewards to the soldiers.

No wonder, no wonder!
Lu Huaizhong wanted to wait for the Jin soldiers to pass their anger, but his side went north with a sense of momentum, so it was meaningless.

He personally went to the front of the battle to supervise the battle.

More than [-] people surrounded San Que Yi, and the Tutuan villagers went forward bravely. They attacked for four or five days without making any progress.

The Wuwei army took the opportunity to defeat an enemy army that raided from the direction of Shangpingguan, beheading hundreds of thieves.

When the battle has reached this level, even discerning people can see that it has almost reached its limit.

There are only a few people you can use to attack, and there are not as many soldiers as the defenders. Why don't you stop fighting here, hoard food and grass, and think of other ways.

But Lu Huaizhong didn't say anything, and it was inconvenient for others to say anything.Anyway, the main ones who died in the siege were Hezhong and Cixi Xiangyong, so just fight.

However, Fan He, the envoy of the Chishui Army, couldn't bear it any longer, and said directly: "Dutou, with just such a small number of people, even if we take down the stone building, will we still have the strength to overcome the Pingguan Pass?"

In siege warfare, it is normal for the attacking party to pay more than three times the casualties, sometimes even far more than that, and there are many examples where more than ten times the casualties were not captured.

Is it worthwhile for Shilou County to take it hard?This is a very real problem.

"Dutou!" Fan He said anxiously.

From the beginning of the Battle of Heqing, Lu Huaizhong liked to attack the city by force. He felt that he was addicted to fighting. In order to show off the bravery of the Wuwei army, he completely ignored the casualties.

Fan He wanted to talk about the attack on Yu Township.If it weren't for the fact that Li Diancheng's subordinates were all mobs who just wanted to make money, even if you wiped out all [-] Wuwei troops, you still wouldn't be able to defeat Yuxiangcheng.

In the end, 1 soldiers were killed from the various armies besieging the city, and the Tutuan villagers had nothing to count, and Li Diancheng's [-]-strong army was wiped out.

Taking down a city guarded by more than 1 people with thousands of casualties is a glorious victory, but you certainly don't want to repeat such victories more than once.

"Stop fighting!" Fan He was about to protest, but Lu Huaizhong waved his hand and said, "You're right, even if we wipe out our 3 people, we won't be able to take down the stone building. We still have to lure the enemy out to fight in the field." , gather and annihilate them.”

"This is a sign to Your Highness, the battle can be fought until now. Killing tens of thousands of thieves and recovering two states, the people of Jin must have been terrified." Lu Huaizhong sighed and said: "Let's retreat now, let's see if the Jin thieves dare I don’t dare to catch up. If I dare to come, I’m afraid it’s a dream and I’ll wake up laughing.”

(End of this chapter)