Han Hai Tang Ergui

Chapter 678 Hanzhong, danger!

It took only three days for Ma Zhaoyuan to successfully capture the gate of Dongchuan, Meng Shu's most important natural danger on the Yangtze River.

Gao Yanchou, the Jiedu envoy of the Ningjiang Army in Kuizhou of Mengshu, committed suicide and died for his country.

The superintendent Wu Shouqian who made Gao Yanchou watch his meritorious deeds, on the contrary, quickly surrendered after Zhou Jun entered the city.

The right arm of Deputy Envoy Zhao Chongji of the Ningjiang Army was pierced by a divine arm bow. After losing an arm, the young Deputy Envoy Zhao survived.

Among the nearly [-] soldiers of the Ningjiang army who fought with Gao Yanchou, more than [-] were killed on the spot, and more than [-] were killed in the pursuit and street fighting in the city.

After the war, the prisoners were counted, and there were nearly 2000 people with minor or serious injuries, and one or two thousand people fled in all directions. Ma Zhaoyuan is ordering people to clear them up.

The four thousand mountain hunters who left the city were basically unharmed.

Because they were just hired to fight together for a few big money a day, so when the situation was wrong, they ran faster than anyone else.

However, no matter how fast they were, they were not as fast as the Zhou army's cavalry, and most of them were captured in the end. Ma Zhaoyuan actually started to select the guard army among them.

This trick really worked. The mountain people were afraid of being beheaded by Zhou Jun, but they didn't expect it to be beneficial, and they could get good fields on the flat land.

You must know that a place like Kuizhou is basically similar to Yunnan and Guizhou, and the land is not three miles flat. The few good fields are in the Yangtze River valley and on both sides of its tributaries.

In the Central Plains, the criteria for a good field should be fertile and convenient irrigation.

But here, the standard of a good field is first of all to be flat. As long as it is flat, there is no shortage of irrigation water, etc. A flat field is a field.

The mountain people were ecstatic, and immediately called their relatives and friends to Kuizhou to participate in the assessment. Ma Zhaoyuan was also very happy. Anyway, these lands belonged to the Ningjiang Army, and he felt distressed at all when he came to take Juntian.

As for the soldiers of the Ningjiang Army, the judge Luo Ji and others were treated fairly well, and the rest of the generals received no preferential treatment.

If he can do meritorious service, he might have some future. If he can't make meritorious deeds, then it depends on his fate.

After resting in Kuizhou for a day, Ma Zhaoyuan ordered someone to collect Gao Yanchou's remains and bury them.

Afterwards, Hou Zhang, the commander of the left guard of Jiangling, guarded Kuizhou, and the army continued to set sail, heading straight for Meng Shu's second Jiedushi on the Yangtze River, the Jiedushi of Wutai Army in Fuzhou.

However, don't look at Ma Zhaoyuan's rapid advances all the way, but in fact the importance is not too high.

Because at this time, the status of the east of the basin, including the entire later Chongqing City, in the middle of Shu, especially the economic status is not high.

The most important thing in Sichuan is the circle of Chengdu.

In the Tang Dynasty, Jiannan Xichuan was dominated by Chengdu, and Jiannan Dongchuan was dominated by Zizhou.

And Zizhou is Santai County in Sichuan, which is next to Chengdu in later generations. It is not Xichuan in Chengdu and Dongchuan in Chongqing as people in later generations think.

Of course, the more important thing is that it is too far from Kuizhou to Chengdu, which is nearly [-] miles away from Hanzhong to Chengdu, and it is difficult to transport upstream.

Ma Zhaoyuan has only 2 people, and he will send people to garrison every time he conquers a place to maintain the navigation of the Yangtze River.

According to this style of play, at most the Jiedushi of the Wutai Army in Fuzhou will be defeated. After advancing to Yuzhou (Chongqing), Ma Zhaoyuan probably will not be able to move.

The key battle still depends on Hanzhong and Qi Shandao.

. . . .

At Wukou Pass, Er Zhujing is also facing the same predicament as Ma Zhaoyuan at the moment.

He brought [-] horsemen and tens of thousands of peasants from Xiangyang Mansion, and went all the way up the Han River. When he reached Wukou Pass, he was already [-] miles away from Ankang Mansion in the rear.

Such a long supply road must be completed by the Han River. Not only is there a shortage of ships, but there is also a shortage of civilians.

He could only order to release most of the peasants after donating the Wukou Pass, and then allocated [-] soldiers and horses to station in the states and counties along the way in order to reduce the pressure of food consumption.

After this allocation, only three thousand and the regular army and two to three thousand laborers were left in Er Zhujing's hands.

Although the soldiers were still brave, the Yuanzhou Wuding army on the opposite side was much larger than the Zhou army. Field battles were no problem, but siege was very difficult.

Therefore, the two armies formed a confrontation in the east of Yuanzhou.

. . . .

Baoxie Road, Wuxiu Pass, this is the fifth day of the siege of Wuxiu Pass.

During the five days, the Zhou army, led by the relatives, launched more than [-] uninterrupted attacks along the ridge to Wuxiu Pass.

Wuxiu Pass does not occupy a large area. After all, there is not much open space in this place for the Shu army to build the pass city.

Therefore, similar to Baidi City, Wuxiu Pass can accommodate up to 700 people, and it also requires a support army to be stationed behind the pass for rotation and reinforcements.

Zhou Jun's continuous onslaught greatly exhausted the strength of Wu Xiu's Guan Shu army. Even the more than a thousand soldiers from Yuhou Sun Shunchao, the governor of Yanei, Shannan Road, who came to reinforce him, had already rotated twice.

And Wuxiuguan also has a problem. Although it is condescending and easy to defend, it is difficult to attack, but because Mengshu only started repairing it in the last year, the fortifications are solid, but there are not many means to kill the enemy, that is, rolling stones, wood, etc. The main, the crossbow spear is the auxiliary.

Seeing this situation, Luo Yuer quickly formulated a countermeasure, and Zhou Jun set up many flags and drums at the foot of Wuxiuguan Mountain, clamoring day and night.

The attacking soldiers were mainly soldiers from the Hengshan Dangxiang who could fly across the mountains and the soldiers from the Zhongnan Mountains in Guanzhong. .

These soldiers are quite powerful in combat. After being equipped with powerful crossbows such as divine arm bows and small wooden single crossbows, even a feint attack can put great pressure on the Shu army closed by Wuxiu.

Seeing that Zhou Jun's attack was so sharp, the Shu army who closed the gate thought that Zhou Jun was attacking desperately, and the consumption of rolling stones and wood was extremely alarming.

In particular, the Wuxiu Pass is not very large. After the rolling stones and wood are consumed, it needs to be moved up from behind the pass. This is not an easy job.

Although Zhou Jun's attack suffered a lot of casualties, Shu Jun was too tired to defend the pass.

On the fifth day of fighting, the soldiers assigned by the Guanshu Army to carry rolling stones and wood began to fish in groups, and their attack power was significantly weakened.

Now the time has come, it's up to Wang Communication!

Luo Yuer looked at Wuxiu Pass, expecting that the big brother of the Yuan Cong faction would bring him surprises.

How difficult it is to cross Wuguan Mountain, Wang Communication has now fully realized.

Because just a few breaths ago, he watched a warrior who had followed him since the time when he was in Wucheng, Liangzhou, fall into the abyss.

Wang Tongtong, who is gluttonous, lustful, extravagant, and ignorant, is full of problems. He looked at the cliff beside him with red eyes and was speechless for a long time.

One thing he is good about is that he is really loyal. As long as you have a good relationship with him, even if you have a lot of money in your pocket, you will be willing to spend half of it for you. If something happens, you are really brave.

Half a year ago, he ran to the gate of Jinshan Palace and stood there for a whole day because of the injustice of one of his subordinates, forcing Zhang Ting to go out to solve the problem.

In the end, Wang Tongxun was fined half a year's salary as Marquis of Wucheng, and Zhang Ting found an excuse for corrupting military discipline, and beat him ten times with military sticks.

However, Wang Communication finally got the job done, so he won the approval and respect of a large number of lower-level officials and soldiers.

So Wang Tongtong couldn't be Zhang Ting's personal guard like Manxiong and Dunzhu, but he could lead hundreds of people to do great things.

Because the soldiers at the grassroots level trusted this Marquis of Wucheng who ate and drank, prostituted and gambled with them, but absolutely dared to fight for their benefits.

200 people set off, and in three and a half days, Wang Tongtong led 130 people to cross Wuguan Mountain.

Of course, not all fell to their deaths, many of them were unable to continue due to physical strength or injuries.

Regardless of the small number of people, there are not many Shu troops closed by Wuxiu!These 130 people are enough.

After Wang Tong crossed the mountain and shared the last bit of food with his subordinate Erlang, he immediately lit the big firecracker in his hand.

With a bang, the sound shook the whole world!

At this moment, Sun Shunchao is urging the Guanshang Shu army to move the rolling stones and wood.

Unexpectedly, with a whistling sound, on the top of the Wuxiu Pass, which was supposed to be a thousand-foot cliff, a Zhou army whose clothes were hung torn by branches, descended from the sky!

At the same time, at the foot of the mountain, Luo Yu'er gave an order, and Li Cunhui personally held up a large shield and led hundreds of carefully selected warriors to start a fierce attack.

130 people, even if they don't have armor, even if they only have a short horizontal knife in their hands, the warriors who can do such a feat are not something the Shu army can resist.

Wang Tongxun waited like tigers rushing into the flock, and Sun Shunchao wanted to resist with a long spear. Wang Tongxun shouted loudly, and he flew to Sun Shunchao in a single step.

Looking at the killing god in front of him, all the past suddenly came to mind.

It turned out that Sun Shunchao had also been captured by the Zhou army. Li Xiaojie mentioned to Zhang Tie that the nephew of Sun Hanshao who was instigated was Sun Shunchao in front of him.

It's just that after returning to the Kingdom of Shu, Sun Hanshao thought that his nephew hadn't betrayed him for more than a year after being captured, and he was considered brave, so he was promoted and reused.

Sun Shunchao was originally going to be a second-five son, but he was reused when he came back, so he quickly extinguished this thought, but the fear in his heart was still there.

He saw that the person was Wang Tongtong, one of the famous four bulldogs of the Shaoming sage, who had beaten more than ten people by himself in the Shu army prisoner-of-war camp.

Immediately, I was so frightened that I couldn't breathe well, and I only felt that my hands were sore and weak, and at most I had exerted [-]% to [-]% of the ten costs.

Within a few rounds of fighting between the two sides, Sun Shunchao was knocked to the ground by Wang Tongtong. He was also very slippery and simply knelt on the ground, shouting, "I wish to surrender, I wish to surrender!" '

The Guan Shu army was exhausted from carrying rolling stones and wood, but now that Sun Shunchao shouted his wish to surrender, let's hit a hammer!
So the Shu army, who clearly had the upper hand in numbers, equipment, and physical strength, put down their weapons in front of a group of beggar-like Zhou troops.

When Li Cunhui led the people to the front of Wuxiu Pass, Wang Tong stepped on Sun Shunchao with his feet, swaggered and asked people to open and close the door, and let them in directly.

. . . .

Xingyuan Mansion, Shannan Road Jiedu Office, Sun Hanshao knew that the situation in Yuanzhou was barely stable, but he was not so relieved, because the occupation of Wukou Pass was always a trouble.

Not to mention the current threat, but to say that as long as the Zhou army can occupy the Wukou Pass and spend the first half of the year clearing the Meridian Road, there will be no need to fight the next battle.

So Sun Hanshao still wanted to increase his troops to fight Zhou Jun at the pass in the afternoon while Zhou Jun hadn't left the praise ramp.

At least the defense of Raofeng Pass must be restored. Anyway, the Shu army has the Han River running through Xingyuan Mansion, so they can come and go freely.

But Luo Yu'er didn't give him this chance. Just when Sun Hanshao was thinking about deploying troops, Wang Tongtong escorted Sun Shunchao, and together with Li Cunhui, tricked him into opening Qipanguan, the last checkpoint on Baoxie Road.

The Qipan gatekeeper was unwilling to open the gate, but Sun Shunchao couldn't help putting pressure on him as Sun Hanshao's nephew. As a result, when he opened the gate and realized something was wrong, it was too late.

After Wang Communication's Li Cunhui tricked and opened the gate, more than [-] Zhou troops filed out from the Bao ramp and began storming Baocheng County outside the pass.

Baocheng County is only forty miles away from Hanzhong, and it is not a pass but a county seat.

Occupying Baocheng County, you can use this as a base to besiege Hanzhong.

All dynasties have fought Hanzhong from Guanzhong. If they have reached Baocheng County, the battle is basically over, and the top figures in the separatist regime in Hanzhong will start to consider surrendering.

Because Hanzhong (Xingyuan Mansion), like Baocheng County, has no danger to defend, and it is impossible to resist the soldiers.

However, this time is a bit different. First of all, Zhou Guo has only occupied Guanzhong for two or three years, and he is following the route of elite soldiers, so he is not able to mobilize [-] or [-] troops to go out from the slope like the previous dynasties.

Secondly, the Shu army in Baocheng County turned out to be very tenacious. In addition, the Zhou army was quite exhausted from a long journey and failed to capture Baocheng County immediately. This gave Sun Hanshao time to dispatch troops and generals.

In the early morning of the second day after receiving the warning from Baocheng County, Sun Hanshao sent a message to Wang Huan and Li Jin in Yuanzhou on a flying horse, ordering them to quickly abandon Yuanzhou City and bring 7000 people back to aid Xingyuan Mansion.

On the one hand, he rewarded the troops from the treasury of Xingyuan Mansion, and recruited brave warriors from the people of Shannan Road to prepare for a decisive battle with the Zhou army by the Han River.

Zhang Zhou Shaoming three years, Meng Shu Guangzheng 18 years, AD 948, the seventh day of April.

Sun Hanshao sent [-] elite soldiers from Xingyuan Mansion on the South Road of Mengshu Mountain and recruited [-] athletes. He took the initiative to go northward from Xingyuan Mansion, intending to rescue Baocheng County and fight the Zhou army.

Sun Hanshao said to the generals of the Shu army: "The soldiers from the north came from far away, and they traveled [-] miles southward on the Baoxie Road in one month, and they were frustrated at Wuxiu Pass.

We are twice as numerous as the enemy, and we still have the advantage of being landlords. If we can unite as one, we will definitely be able to defeat the northern soldiers. "

Sun Hanshao returned to Meng Shu as the Jiedu envoy of Wuding Army in Yuanzhou after Li Congke Fengxiang started his army in the later Tang Dynasty.

Meng Zhixiang treated him extremely favorably, the soldiers under his command had never been divided, and Sun Hanshao had always been in control.

At the same time, after Meng Chang succeeded to the throne, Sun Hanshao actually became Meng Chang's political ally.

Because he neither belonged to Zhang Ye and Zhao Tingyin, the old ministers of Meng Zhixiang, nor had much ties to the big families in Sichuan.

Therefore, although he was recalled to Chengdu by Meng Chang and hung up high, but after Meng Chang knew about Sun Hanshao's role, he was immediately sent back to Hanzhong, and Meng Chang also added more troops to Sun Hanshao, and he did not even send a supervising army, so he trusted him extremely.

Sun Hanshao's identity in Meng Shu, after exploring the depths, he can no longer be regarded as a courtier.

You must know that without his instigation, it is impossible for Meng Shu to have Hanzhong. In addition, Sun Hanshao has always been quite independent, and Sun Hanshao is actually a minority shareholder of Meng Shu's regime.

The same is true for the Shu Army of Shannan Road in Hanzhong. If Sun Hanshao is a shareholder of Meng Shu, they are Sun Hanshao's shareholders.

Therefore, as long as Sun Hanshao is willing to fight, the Shu army in Shannan Road can fight.

On the eighth day of April, it took only one day for Sun Hanshao to lead an army of [-] to five miles southwest of Baocheng County.

However, he was still a step late. There were only a few hundred Shu troops in Baocheng County, which could not withstand the onslaught of more than [-] elite Zhou soldiers day and night. Before Sun Hanshao arrived, Baocheng County had already fallen.

Sun Hanshao had no choice but to lead his troops back, and Zhou Jun had already discovered Sun Hanshao's army.

Fortunately, it was too difficult for the Zhou army to go down the slope, and the horses had not been trained well, because there were not many cavalry capable of going into battle, and the Shu army also had a small cavalry guard, which ensured the safety of the Shu army.

During the early contact, the Qingqi of the two sides kept fighting and entangled. The Shu army barely retreated to six or seven miles northwest of Hanzhong City. The guarding cavalry was scattered by the reinforcements of the Zhou army.

Sun Hanshao could only camp underground, preparing to fight the Zhou army.

This place is the main grain-producing area of ​​Xingyuan Prefecture. Thanks to the irrigation advantages of the Han River and the flatness of the Hanzhong Plain, it is surrounded by high-quality paddy fields.

Right now it was the spring plowing period, and the paddy fields were filled with water. Sun Hanshao pitched his camp around two small hills tens of meters high.The east and west camps were divided into two camps, and the slippery paddy field silt was used as a barrier to block the attack of Zhou's cavalry.

Luo Yu'er left 500 people to guard Baocheng County as a logistics base, and immediately led the army to set up camp three miles in front of the Shu army camp.

After a little investigation, Luo Yuer immediately discovered Sun Hanshao's thoughts. This is indeed a good place to restrict the cavalry's actions.

This place is probably near Xingyuan Lake in Hanzhong City in later generations. The fact that a reservoir lake was built here during the Republic period shows that the terrain is low-lying and the water source is abundant.

Luo Yu'er was not stupid either, he would not give up the advantage of cavalry and let the heavily armored infantry step on the ankle-deep mud to attack the Shu army.

No matter how brave Zhou Jun is, there is no need to be so tough.

Anyway, he has already entered Hanzhong. Although the praise ramp is far away, it is not impossible to supply supplies. I will spend a while with you first.

At the same time, Luo Yuer continued to release the cavalry who had recuperated, and asked them to plunder the grain storage of farmers in the nearby countryside, and attack the grain requisition team of the Shu army by the way.

This is not the time for Shi Renyi. Guaranteeing the supply of the army is the top priority. Even if Zhang Ting is here, he has to do the same.

On the second day of the confrontation, more and more cavalry returned to the Zhou army. Luo Yuer even sent small groups of troops to try to attack the capital of Xingyuan Mansion, which put great pressure on Sun Hanshao.

The current situation is that the Shu army is slightly larger in number on both sides, but their combat effectiveness is weaker.

As a result, Sun Hanshao did not dare to move around Xingyuan Lake in later generations, because if he left the protection of the geographical advantage, he might not be able to defeat the Zhou army.

So anxious Sun Hanshao kept sending messengers to Yuanzhou to urge Wang Huan and Li Jin.

In order to reinforce Wang Huan last time, Li Jin took away most of the cavalry and a large number of heavy infantry from Xingyuan Mansion.

Sun Hanshao hoped that Wang Huan, especially Li Jin, would take advantage of the cavalry in their hands to quickly return to help, and then go around behind Zhou Jun and flank him back and forth.

Whether Xingyuan Mansion can defend depends on Wang Huan and Li Jin's ability to return to aid.

(End of this chapter)