The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 532
The west edge of Nanyang Basin in Nanxiang County, Xiyang County, with low mountainous areas in the northwest, hilly areas in the middle, hilly land and alluvial plains in the southeast, belongs to the south side of Funiu Mountain, which is an extension of the eastern section of the Qinling Mountains. Precious nanmu, green sandalwood, Lingchun wood, Lianxiang tree, water green tree, and ginkgo; when Yu Wenkai built Luoyang, many building materials and landscape trees in Ziwei City came from Nanxiang, where Xishui and Danshui converge in the northeast of the county , Su Danshui goes straight to the west to Qinchuan, and Nishui goes to Hongnong. The convenient water transportation conditions are a major advantage of Nanxiang. In peaceful times, a large amount of mountain goods and timber were shipped to Daxing or The convenient water transport resources in Xiangyang and Luoyang make Guanzhong, Jingxiang, Central Plains, and Jiangnan giant merchants come directly to the river with cloud sails to buy high-quality goods here at low prices.The land route is also very convenient. You only need to go out of the city for more than 20 cities, and you can reach the official road in the county that reaches Nanyang in the east and Wuguan in the west.

Although Nanxiang County is close to the northern part of Nanyang controlled by the Sui army, because the food and grass of the Tang army at Waiwuguan and Zhuyangguan have to go through Danshui and Xishui respectively, Nanxiang, where the two rivers meet, has become the most important material for the Tang army on these two routes. At the center of the rotation, since the Danshui and Xishui can only sail at most 1 shi cargo ships, the capacity is low, so the thousand shi cargo ship that transported grain and grass supplies from Xiangyang needs to unload on a cargo ship that is half the size after it arrives in Nanxiang County.So the Tang army built hundreds of warehouses at the intersection of the two rivers, piling up countless food supplies. Considering the demand in the direction of Nanyang, this warehouse city was built on the east bank. When Li Xiaogong went east, he obtained supplies from this.In the past, there were only [-] troops stationed here, but now that it is in war, and the northern part of Nanyang has been occupied by the Sui Dynasty, the army has directly increased tenfold, reaching [-].

This afternoon, an army of unknown origin appeared on a small road east of Nanxiang County. This army was all cavalry, about ten thousand people. The soldiers who came out built an army.

This army is the Great Sui Xiaoguo Army, which is known as the Son of Heaven's pro-army. All soldiers are selected from nearly ten armies. The ten armies themselves are composed of the elite of the Sui army, and they are the elite of the elite, and they are all brave. Good at fighting, they are not only good at riding, archery and riding combat, but also very brave in close combat. They are equipped with the best armor equipment of the Sui army, and their swords and spears are all made of high-quality iron.

The war horse is also a high-quality war horse specially selected from the pasture of Feima County in Liaodong. It can not only travel long distances, but also charge at close range. For middle use, he didn’t need Hequ horses to kill him. The Sui Dynasty had several sources of horses, and there were many war horses. Ai Jiang complained so much. Considering the actual situation, Yang Yu ordered the Sui army to transfer collectively. Liaodong horses and Hequ war horses sent to Henan fell into the homes of ordinary people one after another, while the Xiaoguo army and Xuanjia army were riding on the children of Hequ horses and Liaodong horses, who also had the strengths of their parents.

The leader of this Xiaoguo army is naturally Luo Shixin. He is in charge of attacking the Tang army's logistics in order to weaken the Tang army's combat capabilities. According to Xue Wanjun and various previous information, Luo Shixin locked the first target in Nanxiang County, because this is not only the logistics center of Zhuyangguan, but also the supply of Waiwuguan, once it is destroyed, the two Tang troops will be affected.

Not to mention Waiwuguan, Zhuyangguan will definitely be in turmoil. If Li Shimin is defeated, then the defenders defending Wuguan and the Sui army at Waiwuguan will be hit hard by the Sui army from behind. Tang Jun, what kind of weather has become.

They floated from Nanyang Ju, left the military camp in the west, then went south along the Nanyang Chaoshui Road, arrived near Champion County, and then entered the intersection of Junyang County and Nanxiang County in Xiyang County, and then swaggered northward .On the way, when I met a scout from the Tang army asking, he slapped him and called out, and then he pretended to be Li Yuanji's new army.

The new army stepped on the Red Armored Army and became famous in the first battle, becoming the number one force in Li and Tang, with arrogance. In addition, the styles of Sui and Tang equipment were similar, and they came from the south, so the scouts believed it. It is also quite reasonable, Li Yuanji is the emperor's son, his pro-army, it would be a ghost if the equipment is poor.

In this way, a group of people went to rest in a valley three miles away from Danshui, waiting patiently for news from the scouts.

Although this is not the first time he has done such a thing, Luo Shixin has not been idle. He personally brought a few scouts to stand on a hill, observing the situation down the hill carefully. , at his feet is the big river formed by the confluence of the Dan River and the Xi River, and continues to the south and merges into the broad Han River. Build an excellent place for docks and ports.On the other side is Nanxiang County, which is the seat of the county seat. The county seat is large in scale, with tall and strong walls and a circumference of more than 20 miles. According to the standards before the Sui Dynasty, it should be a densely populated upper county, but this is not Luo Shixin's goal. , So the eyes received the foot of the mountain again.

At the foot of the mountain is Luo Shixin's target—Tang Juncang City. It is distributed on the east bank of the river and stretches for eight or nine miles. There are about sixty or seventy large warehouses built of wood. The easternmost part of the warehouse, judging from the layout, it was hastily set up to defend Nanyang from the land attack of the Sui army. It is about two miles away from the warehouse, and the wharf is located between the barracks and the warehouse. , the pier is now full of thousands of stone cargo ships. At a glance, there are as many as fifty or sixty ships.

After observing for a while, Luo Shixin returned to the resting valley.

Back in the valley, Luo Shixin asked the soldiers to invite Xin Liaoer. The two discussed the battle strategy in front of a big rock. Luo Shixin drew a sketch and said to Xin Liaoer: "The focus of our attack this time is the Tang Army's warehouse. I plan to burn all the warehouses with a fire, and don’t let the ships go, this place is different from Hongnong, we can’t get these grains, and it’s cheap to stay here.”

"Excuse me, General, how many troops does Tang Jun have?" Xin Liaoer asked.

"Judging from the area occupied by the military camp, there are about 1 people?"

"Will there be a garrison in the county?"

Luo Shixin shook his head, "The warehouse is related to the supply of the two armies. If there is any loss, there will be double turmoil. Once the two armies are in chaos, the two gates of Zhuyang Pass and Waiwu Pass will be destroyed without attack, and then the entire Xiyang will fall. In addition, the main force of our army is near Nanyang, so the warehouse is the most important place in Nanxiang County. Relatively speaking, the county seat has no strategic value, but I think there are many flat areas around the barracks. The barracks want to expand It's easy, but they don't have any, so I conclude that there is no army in the county, and even if there is, it's probably not a good local army."

Xin Liaoer was convinced by Luo Shixin's analysis, and said with a smile, "In the opinion of the general, how should we fight this battle well?"

Luo Shixin focused his fingers on the military camp on the map, "It's very simple, as long as this army is killed, the warehouse and the dock will be lambs for our army to slaughter."

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Nanxiang County is rich in wood. The Tang army used local materials to build more than 70 large warehouses with wood, surrounded by fences. The warehouses were filled with grain, grass and various military supplies. This warehouse is currently the most important transfer station for the Tang army. , the defense is very tight, [-] soldiers are divided into four squads, guarding the safety of the warehouse around the clock, groups of soldiers can be seen everywhere, even the peasants who carry food are guarded by soldiers, not only are they not allowed to bring in a sharp weapon, but No kindling that can start a fire is allowed to be brought into the warehouse. To the south of the fence is the gate of the warehouse. There are more than a thousand soldiers stationed there. All civilians who enter the warehouse will be strictly searched by them.

As usual, a brigade of soldiers from the Tang Army is patrolling along the fence to the east. This place is not only close to the mountains, but also the focus of defending the Sui army in the direction of Nanyang. Not only are there 1000 troops patrolling, but they also built four sentry towers. Soldiers are on the sentry towers Take turns to observe the situation.

Just when the patrol team was about to reach the No. [-] sentry tower, a cold arrow was shot from the mountain, hitting the sentry's throat, and the sentry rolled down from the sentry tower clutching his throat.

The sound of falling to the ground alarmed the patrolling soldiers nearby. They pulled out their knives and ran towards the sentry tower. Just as they were dozens of steps away from the watchtower, countless arrows were shot through the cracks in the fence. The blue arrows glowed with poisonous light. , only heard the sound of bowstrings, the whole brigade of soldiers wailed, and fell to the ground with arrows one after another. The soldiers of the Tang Army behind were frightened out of their wits, and turned around and fled one by one, but they couldn't escape dozens of steps. Most of the soldiers shot down, and only a few escaped.

"There is an enemy!"

While running wildly, the soldiers yelled, "Someone has come in!"

At this time, the sentry tower rang the alarm bell, and [-] Tang soldiers in the warehouse ran from all directions to the place where the accident happened.

"boom!"

The barracks was pulled down by the Sui Army with a noose, and a gap of ten feet wide appeared. Two thousand Sui Army cavalry led by Xin Liaoer rushed into the warehouse. At this time, Tang Army soldiers came from all directions.

"Combine!"

Following Xin Liaoer's order, the cavalry quickly formed ten squads, each with 200 men, and each soldier held a round shield and a battle lance, and urged their horses to kill in four directions. The soldiers of the Xiaoguo Army were extremely brave. A team of 50 people cooperated tacitly and gave full play to the advantages of cavalry. They reversed the situation in a short while and killed [-] Tang soldiers to the ground, and fled in embarrassment.

"Burn it up for me!"

At this time, Xin Liaoer lit a torch and threw it into a forage warehouse. The soldiers followed suit and quickly set fire to more than [-] warehouses.

The two thousand cavalry joined forces, turned their horses and charged towards the gate of the camp.

The sound of alarm bells and billowing smoke from the warehouse alarmed the barracks two miles away. Coincidentally, Zhang Liang was still in command of the army. Once he learned the lesson of the Luoshui camp and put all his troops into Cangcheng. Zhang Liang was eating lunch at this time, when he heard an alarm bell in the distance, he put down his bowls and chopsticks and walked out of the big tent. Reported: "General, something happened in the warehouse."

Zhang Liang was taken aback, and ordered: "The whole army gathers!"

At this time, thick smoke was billowing from Cangcheng in the distance. Zhang Liang was so anxious that he led five thousand people out of the camp and rushed towards the warehouse two miles away.

There are 30 shi of grain, [-] dans of forage, and [-] sets of winter clothes stored in Cangcheng, which are ready-to-ship war supplies to Zhuyang Pass and Waiwu Pass. I am afraid that he will not be reused after losing the important logistics area.

The mountains on the east bank of Danshui are rounded, so that there is a large open space at the north and south ends, but in the middle, the protruding mountains are pushed to the line along the river, cutting the coast into the shape of a gourd that is wide at both ends and slender in the middle.

Due to the low terrain in the middle part, it is convenient for ships to dock, so the Tang army built a wharf more than two miles long here. The dozens of large ships moored were the Qianshi fleet that had just sailed from Xiangyang, and had not unloaded grain and grass supplies.

The boatman was not in the boat at this time, but ran to the county town on the other side to squander, and waited until the civilian husband unloaded the supplies before leaving the boat tomorrow, which allowed the Xiaoguo army to seize the gap to attack.

Zhang Liang took the lead and led [-] soldiers to run wildly along the path. To the west of the path was the wharf, and on the other side was the gloomy forest, which was dark even in daytime.

There were still about a mile away from the warehouse, and there were faint shouts and screams. Zhang Liang was startled, tightened the reins, and the horse immediately slowed down.

"Pfft..."

At this moment, there was a sound of crossbow arrows being released in the mountain forest, and the dense arrows fell to the ground one after another, and the screams suddenly rang out. Zhang Liang, who was on a war horse, became the target of everyone's criticism. Hundreds of arrows were shot at him to greet him, and he was hit by more than a hundred arrows. He fell off the horse like a hedgehog, and followed Qiu Xinggong's footsteps.

Luo Shixin, who was ambushing here, roared, "Get out!"

Eight thousand Xiaoguo troops rushed out from the forest, and immediately rushed the Tang army into several sections. The Xiaoguo army descended like a tiger, brandishing their spears and fighting bravely at the chaotic soldiers of the Tang army.

The thick smoke from Cangcheng alarmed the county town on the other side, but there were only hundreds of local soldiers guarding the city in the county town. They were frightened and closed the city gates tightly, and they bought local goods in the city and tried to bring the boatmen who made a fortune to Xiangyang. After hearing the news, they all ran up to the top of the city to look across the bank, only to see that the warehouses had been shrouded in thick smoke and fire, and the thick smoke covered the entire sky, and even the mountains and forests were affected and began to burn. Soon the barracks were on fire.

Obviously, the barracks have also been broken, because at this time the fighting between the two sides is no longer visible.

At this time, a boatman pointed at the big boat and shouted: "Look, there are people on the pier!"

In fact, without his reminding, many boatmen saw hundreds of cavalry throwing torches on the big boat. All the boatmen from Xiangyang felt their hearts sinking into the abyss. They knew that the enemy cavalry was going to burn the boat.

Under the watchful eyes of the crew, dozens of large ships caught fire one after another in less than a moment. The flames burned bigger and bigger, and were quickly swallowed up.
The cavalry who set fire to it were very courageous. They guarded until the ship slowly sank, and then they rushed up the hill and gradually disappeared from everyone's sight.

"The Sui army is ready to kill, hurry up! Everyone is in position! Prepare to defend the city."

At this time, a shrill sound shook people's eardrums, and the county magistrate climbed to the top of the city, commanding the local army to take their positions hoarsely.

"You also defend the city with me. Otherwise, you will all die."

"Okay! Weapons!"

"Give me the armor."

The Sui army was seriously demonized by the officials of Li and Tang. These Xiangyang sailors were also afraid when they heard the words. They dropped the mountain goods in their hands one after another and cooperated with the command of the county magistrate.

(End of this chapter)