end song

Chapter 748
Neixiang County.

This is the exit of Wuguan Road in Tang Dynasty.

Shi Tianze withdrew to Neixiang County, and was not frustrated by today's small defeat.

He quickly rectified his morale, and even sent scouts to observe the movements of the Song army...

"Report, Marshal, we have found signs of the Song Army near Mount Tuo."

"How many people?"

"I just approached, and the Song army came out of the forest, but looking at the birds in the forest, it seems that there is a large army inside, erecting a big banner, and the sound is loud..."

After Shi Tianze listened, he didn't say anything, a little doubt flashed in his old eyes.

Dong Wenyong and Shi Ge looked at each other, very grateful.

"Shi Shuai is right." Dong Wen said with cupped hands, "As Shi Shuai said, Zhang Jue really sneaked around to attack our army."

"There are more than ten thousand troops, they cover up too well, right?" Shi Ge pondered: "Can it be done?"

"Every time Li Xia has an incredible victory, it must be because he is so treacherous."

"If so, it's really weird." Shi Ge nodded.

For the time being, only the signs are detected, so it may not be certain, so we can only send scouts to investigate.

However, it was already dark, and it was probably difficult to find out much about the military situation.

Dong Wenyong has already started to praise Shi Tianze.

"Shi Shuai's use of troops can be described as unique. He has a clear understanding of the fire. He noticed Li Xia's tricks and retreated bravely. I admire..."

He has roughly counted the casualties in the army, and has a more intuitive understanding of the results of the battle.

From the early morning to the evening of today's battle, the death rate of the Song army was always higher than that of the Mongolian army, but the Song army was still waiting for Zhang Jue to lead 1 people around, and it was never defeated.

That is to say, Shi Tianze Mingjin withdrew his troops in the end, and [-] infantry who were engaged in the battle failed to withdraw.But in coordinating the whole battle, there were only a thousand more casualties than the Song army.

Not a defeat.

If Zhang Jue could take advantage of it, it would be called defeat.

"Speaking of which, what Song Jun learned today is Shi Shuai's tactics in the battle of Ximu Tunaoer, which he quietly walked behind. It's no wonder that Shi Shuai saw through it at a glance..."

Shi Tianze couldn't bear to listen to the eloquent flattery, so he waved his hands.

"It doesn't matter whether it's false or real." Shi Tianze sighed, "I underestimated Li Xia. I wanted to annihilate Li Xia before going to Shandong to suppress the rebellion. In the end, I chased him with two thousand cavalry all the way, but met 2 people."

"Yes, I was attracted by Li Xia and wasted my time."

"Since he has this strength, he can't be destroyed easily." Shi Tianze said: "Let me put down Li Fen's chaos first, please play to Your Majesty, mobilize all the troops to attack Guanzhong together."

Dong Wenyong said: "Yes, what Shi Shuai said is right."

This was the reason why Shi Tianze retreated. When Li Xia showed his strength, it seemed difficult enough to fight.That is not his side of the world responsible for extermination.

In the eyes of others, he was defeated, but the fact is that he just decided to step back and find a safer way to deal with Li Xia.

"I can't delay any longer. King Zong has been waiting for me in Jinan for nearly a month now, and he must send troops to Jinan as soon as possible. I think Li Xia's army rations are not much, and he will withdraw to Wuguan soon."

Dong Wenyong asked again: "But... once Shi Shuai leads his troops away, and Li Xia sends troops to harass him again, I'm afraid I won't be able to stop him."

Shi Tianze shook his head.

"For one thing, Li Xia is short of food and grass, and I have held him back for a long time, which is enough to force him to retreat; for two, with Ashu, Liu Zheng, Yang Dayuan and other troops threatening Guanzhong one after another, Li Xia will not have any more energy left. Harassment abroad."

At this point, Shi Tianze was a little emotional, and said again: "Can you see it? Li Xia is grasping the little time before our army from all walks of life attacks. This Zhuzi has a very fine grasp of the timing."

"Speaking of which... it was indeed Shi Shuai who set off on the expedition, and Li Xia made a big fuss in the less than a month's gap before Zhulu forced his way into Guanzhong."

"I have no choice but to block Li Xia for this month." Shi Tianze patted his knees and sighed.

What he meant was that the reason why he came to pursue Li Xia before going to Shandong was because Li Xia ran around Henan with two thousand cavalry like a mouse.

He brought troops to chase after him, at least he drove the mouse away, so he could attack Shandong with peace of mind.

Dong Wen responded with cupped hands, secretly thinking that Shi Tianze was safe.

~~
The next day, when Tan Ma reported back, Li Xia led his troops up Danshui and retreated slowly to Wuguan.

As expected, Shi Tianze couldn't wait any longer, and even raised his troops to advance eastward.

Dong Wenyong began to contact Dong Wenzhong and Dong Wenwei, preparing to attack Dengzhou.

In the past few years, Dengzhou was guarded by the nephew of the Shi family. Shi Tianze's visit this time may only be one of his intentions to get rid of Li Xia, and he also meant to prevent Dengzhou from falling into the hands of other princes.

But Hebichi was in a hurry, and finally gave up to Dong's family.

The friendship between the two families is actually very good. Before Shi Tianze lost his true identity, it was Dong Jun, the father of the Dong brothers, who lent his personal guards to Shi Tianze, and the two families have been married continuously for decades.

Shi Tianze had no choice but to accept the Dong family's return to Dengzhou.

This battle was not difficult for the Dong family brothers.

Lu Wenhuan's determination to guard Dengzhou was not firm.

Dengzhou is located in the Nanyang Basin, the terrain is flat and not easy to defend.

Xiangyang is much easier to defend. It lives in the south of the Han River, with Fancheng in the north of the Han River as its corner. The navy is across the Han River, which can effectively wipe out the enemy.

He sent troops this time to regain Dengzhou and behead Shi Quan, which is already a great contribution.

More importantly, strategically restrained the Mongolian army for a whole month, and effectively cooperated with Li Fen.The military order arranged by the court has been completed.

This is just a reason for not being firm. From a personal point of view, Lu Wenhuan wanted to defend Dengzhou, but gradually found that money and food could not support him to defend Dengzhou...

Because the Song Army is different from Mongolia.

Why has the Mongolian army been supported by money and food when it sieges the city?

Three words, don't seal the knife.

The Mongolian army did not defend the city. Wherever they passed, they slaughtered them. While they had money and food, there was no defensive pressure at all.

Today, the Mongolian army will be the main attack. They will first capture Fancheng, slaughter the city, and immediately continue to attack Xiangyang.

Shipping luggage?Stay behind?Building city defense?To appease the people?

None.

Of course, Kublai Khan now talks about Han law and benevolence and righteousness, and rarely does this, because the 60 years since the founding of Mongolia was the time when the country was the most powerful.

Lu Wenhuan did not have this strength.

If it is said that every time the Mongolian army attacks a city, it is a draw.Every time the Song army attacked a city, it was dispersed.

Originally, [-]% of the strength was used to defend Xiangyang. With the addition of Dengzhou, [-]% of the strength had to be divided into Dengzhou, and the remaining [-]% had to be allocated to the logistics line.

The difficulty of the Northern Expedition, which was only more than 150 miles north to the national border, has been deeply understood.

After defending the city for just a few days, Lu Wenhuan understood that he was doomed not to be able to defend Dengzhou.

It was as if there was a force that pushed Da Song's line of defense back to Xiangyang.

It's more like there is a stronger force behind him, trying to "pull" the Song Dynasty's defense back to Xiangyang.

When Li Zengbo wanted to build a defense line in Xiangyang, Jia Sidao strongly opposed it.

Because Da Song really cannot benefit from the expansion.

……

"Get ready, withdraw from Dengzhou tonight."

On May [-]th, when the defense battle lasted to the eighth day, Lu Wenhuan finally gave the order.

He was also helpless and unwilling.

but no way...

To his surprise, on this afternoon, he saw a Song flag waving further north...

~~
Today, brothers Dong Wenyong and Dong Wenzhong looked at each other in surprise.

"As soon as Shi Shuai left, this Shuzi came back?"

"Is it true that he won the battle?"

"But...we have never defeated Li Xia. So he advances when he wants to, and retreats when he wants to retreat."

Dong Wenyong said: "Shi Shuai's intention is that Li Xia shouldn't have the strength to attack and harass all the way into the pass."

"It must be that those soldiers and horses were too slack and did not put pressure on Li Xia..."

"Send a fast horse to Luoyang again, let the elder brother supervise..."

~~
Li Xia actually felt a lot of pressure.

When he returned to Wuguan, news from all over the world poured in.

Li Zengbo, who was sitting in Longxi, obviously felt the threat of Ashu deeply, and kept sending letters to Hanzhong to ask for reinforcements. Hanzhong felt that the situation was serious, so he forwarded the letter to Wuguan;

The Yan'an Mansion urgently reported that it was being besieged by the Mongolian army...

If it is said that these are just battles and battles, the news from Heyang means that Liu Zheng has captured the Heyang camp.

But under such circumstances, Liu Zheng did not move the main force of the navy to Xiayangdu, but only sent a small number of soldiers and horses into the pass first, scattered out to scout the horses, captured the people, and built strongholds.

This is what I learned from the battle between Cao Cao and Ma Chao in the Tongguan battle. First cross the Yellow River, then build a stronghold on the bank of the Yellow River, fight a dull battle, and advance step by step.

It was as if Zhang Jue had set up a trap and dropped a piece of fat. Liu Zheng poked his head out cautiously, as if he was about to step into the trap, but he began to test and destroy the trap little by little.

In this way, it will be very difficult for Zhang Jue to eat Liu Zheng's navy.

Obviously, he did not expect that Liu Zheng, who was brave enough to win Xinyang in the Twelve Heroes, would be so cautious in fighting.

"What Zhang Shuai means is that he will not defend Heyang County, and continue to let Liu Zheng's main force enter the Guanzhong. But the generals are very worried. Looking at the situation in Yan'an Mansion and Longxi, if Liu Zheng is allowed to gain a foothold in Guanzhong, he will not be able to drive him away. ..."

Listening to this, Li Xia also considered for a moment, if he wanted to defeat each of them, should he really choose to attack Liu Zheng first.

But in the end, he still supported Zhang Jue's decision.

"Let Zhang Jue take full command, and tell him again, I will try my best to put pressure on Nanyang and force Liu into the urn..."

~~
On the second day of June, a letter from Dong Wenbing was delivered to Liu Zheng again.

"The military situation is like fire. If there is no war, it will be impossible. Li Xia and Zhang Jue have put out the main force, and Nanyang is in danger!"

"Not at all." Liu Zheng waved his hand, he really didn't believe that Nanyang was in danger...

"Liu Shuai! Li Xia's main force is not in Guanzhong. If he hesitates now, if Nanyang loses again, he can't bear the crime of delaying the battle."

"This……"

"Your Majesty's various arrangements are to prevent Li Xia from sending troops when we put down Li Fenzhi's rebellion. Now that Li Xia has sent troops, it is time for Liu Shuai to use his force!"

"Now that Shi Shuai is going to Shandong to fight the rebellion, Liu Shuai is the only one who can solve Nanyang's emergency. He will lead the army of water and land into the customs and head straight for Chang'an."

"Not bad! Go straight to Chang'an!"

"..."

Liu Zheng didn't want to send troops at all, he also wanted to fight, but he just fought steadily. He already occupied the Heyang camp, so how could he not call for troops?
However, it turned out that what everyone meant was that the army was going straight to Chang'an before it was called to send troops...

~~
"I'm about to face enemies from three or even four sides. Now that Liu Zheng can't be wiped out, what's the point of bringing him into the pass?"

In Zhang Jue's tent, an aide named Jiang Kai persuaded him, and said, "Why don't Zhang Shuai take over Fuyang Camp and Xiayang Ferry, set up the Yellow River defense line, and go north to rescue Yan'an Mansion as soon as possible?"

"Fight against the Yellow River? The Yellow River is so long and there are so many crossings, how many troops will be dragged down... It is the enemy on all sides, so we should destroy all the way first."

"That's the case, but Liu Zheng can't be fooled. He is the world-famous 'Sai Cunxiao'."

Afterwards, someone hastily entered the account and reported something to Zhang Jue.

Zhang Jue let out a long breath.

"Finally...Sai Cunxiao's ability seems to be about the same, it's time for me to meet him..."

(End of this chapter)