The rise of the prince

Chapter 614 The Tragedy of Shanxi

At the beginning of July, Li Xingzhou's army was considered to have completely entered the territory of Taiyuan Prefecture.

It was about three days later than originally expected, mainly because the twelve cannons were too heavy. After entering Taiyuan Mansion, there were refugees everywhere, and there were many unkempt beggars on the side of the road. After seeing them, they ran up the mountain desperately.

Li Xingzhou was puzzled, but Wei Yubai told him that these were deserters, if they met a bad-tempered general, they could be killed immediately if caught, that's why they ran for their lives.

An army of 1 people is not a small number, and the team on the official road stretches for about five miles, with no end in sight.

In fact, in the area north of Qigou Pass, it is almost impossible to deploy such a large-scale army, so the party with a small number of people will usually want to fight in the north of Qigou Pass, because the terrain is narrow, and the advantage of numbers cannot be displayed.For example, Zhang He, the mainstay of the Wei State in the official history, is the ever-victorious general. He rarely lost. One of his defeats was at the hands of Zhang Fei. Can't play out.

And Zhang Fei is also very special. Unlike the records in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhang Fei is actually a figure of the elite class. There are almost no records about his appearance in the official history, but one thing is for sure. He likes to make friends with the doctor class, and at the same time march to fight He loves to use strict methods to train elite troops, which is a bit similar to the special operations of later generations, but the too strict training of elite soldiers also paved the way for his death.

Therefore, once you pass the Qigou Pass, it is very unsuitable to start a frontal battle in the lower part of Nanjing City, because there is a narrow section of terrain.

Although Yelu Dashi had put all his eggs in one basket at the beginning, he had a plan and a premeditated one. He used the broken troops to launch a surprise attack when Yang Hongzhao had just left the narrow valley, forcing the army to retreat back to the narrow valley.

Once the terrain is narrow, the numerical advantage of Yang Hongzhao's army will not be able to be used at all. The only people who meet the enemy will always be those limited people in the front. Easily demoralized.

But this time, the few people became them. If Yelu Dashi was smart, he should let them pass the Qigou Pass safely, and then try to fight them head-on.

Only a frontal battle in an open field can give full play to the advantage of the Liao army's numbers, and the Liao army with more people will have the opportunity to outflank them.

If Yelu Dashi is following the classic war thinking of this era, then I am afraid I will let him down.

Li Xingzhou was thinking this way. There are more and more homeless people on the road. In the back, he even saw the skinny corpses starved to death on the side of the road, with traces of being eaten by wild animals. Today, in summer, the weather is hot after the heavy rain, and the stench is incomparable , Many soldiers of the new army changed their faces, and some even vomited.

He had to let soldiers clear the road, bury it by the side of the road, and move on.

This is also a good thing, let most of the new troops who have fought in the war realize the cruelty of war in advance, even if it is indirect, it also inoculates them psychologically.

The army was defeated, and many deserters did not dare to return to the camp. In addition, they lost food, grass and supplies, and even if they went back, they could not afford so much.

By the time the city of Taiyuan fell, the head of the city was already hung with heads as a warning, and most of them were deserters who had fallen into bandits.

Yang Wenguang got the news early and took people outside the city to wait for him.

Li Xingzhou got off his horse and chatted casually. Wei Yubai and the Yang family were also very familiar. Yang Wenguang chatted and laughed and led everyone to the city.

On the way, Li Xingzhou whispered: "General Yang, the Privy Council has received your brochure, and I have read it too."

When this matter was mentioned, Yang Wenguang was very excited: "Thank you, my lord!"

"Don't thank me first, the matter is not that simple. The king was also very angry at the time, so he personally took the booklet to see the emperor, but the Wu family made a move first, and sent people into the palace a few days ago to take away the queen. Luzi told the emperor that the delay was due to heavy rain and the bridge was washed away by mountain torrents, so the delay, the emperor also believed it, and asked me not to interfere, and he took care of it himself." When Li Xingzhou said this, Yang Wenguang's face was full of ravines Dim down.

"This king knows that Wu Zhengqing must have messed up this matter, but it will be difficult to cure him in a short time."

"My lord!" Yang Wenguang looked at him intently, and he also knew that he might be Yang Wenguang's only hope.

"Of course I want to investigate thoroughly, but you must also understand the situation I am in now. There is a big battle to be fought, and the urgency of life and death is at stake."

"I understand." Yang Wenguang sighed, "I just feel sorry for tens of thousands of heroic souls."

Li Xingzhou said: "When I come back this time, I will find a way to thoroughly investigate this matter."

Yang Wenguang hesitated to speak, "Is the lord really planning to take this little man northward?"

He nodded.

"My lord, with all due respect, if such people go north, it may be more dangerous than good." Yang Wenguang frowned and said, "As far as I know, Yelu Dashi took over the Liaoxing Army, and the former Zhangde Army may now have expanded to more than 3 people.

The Liaoxing Army and the Zhangde Army are both the elites of the Liao Kingdom, [-] elites, and they can still gather in the city to defend. My lord, I'm afraid to go here. The lord's rich body should not act hastily. Now the best time has passed. The next official suggests Or wait for the time. "

Li Xingzhou understood this meaning. Yang Wenguang was afraid that he would never return, so he couldn't help but think of a famous saying, "Labor and capital beat the elite."

Yang Wenguang froze, opened his mouth, was speechless for a long time, and didn't understand why he suddenly uttered vulgar words, but this sentence undoubtedly blocked his words, so he could only shake his head and stop talking about it
Li Xingzhou didn't plan to stay in Taiyuan for a long time, he only stayed for one day, and went north the next day. Yang Wenguang hosted a hastily banquet that night. It was full of Shanxi style, that is, the table was full of carbohydrates. Very good.

On July [-]th, the army had reached Daizhou, one of the three important border towns on the northernmost border of Jingguo.

Ninghua, Baode, and Daizhou, commonly known as the land of Sanjiao, are the borders of Liao State and Jing State. The Yang family army guards these three places all the year round. Yang Wenguang's leader of the Sanjiao military commander said these three places.

The city wall of the important town of Daizhou was more than two feet high. After the defeat, there was still a large army guarding it. Yelu Dashi also chased here a month ago and was resisted by this fortified city.

With Yang Wenguang's warrant, the defenders quickly opened the gate and let the army go north.

The novel outfits and equipment of the new army also attracted the attention of many defenders.
The moment Li Xingzhou stepped out of the gate of Daizhou, Li Xingzhou officially set foot on the land of Liao Kingdom. Looking around, there was barrenness everywhere, and the rare green was low shrubs on the hills in the distance. The unique flustered coolness.

A huge stone was erected on the side of the avenue outside the door, with the two characters "Daizhou" carved on it. The lower part of the stone is still dark red, and the surface is covered with a layer of dark red like dry moss, which emits a stench. .

Wei Yubai told him that it was blood ointment, too many people had died, and the blood would accumulate in pools, and it would be produced after it could not seep into the ground.

A month ago, this place was the place to resist the Yelu Dashi going south. The most tragic battle of the West Road Army took place in this area. Tens of thousands of people died, blood flowed into rivers, and corpses piled up into mountains.

The corpse was cleaned and buried, but the dry blood flow could not be erased even after several days of heavy rain.

As the army continued to go north, there were large crows and other birds hovering in the sky, and there was still a stench on the avenue. From time to time, highly decomposed corpses could be seen in the weeds on the roadside, which were missed when cleaning the battlefield.

From Daizhou to Yuzhou, at the junction of the two countries, there is more than 30 miles of no man's land in the middle, because here, both the Jing army and the Liao army will be regarded as enemies.

After walking for [-] miles, after noon, the scouts in front hurriedly reported that they had already seen Weizhou City!

(End of this chapter)