Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1049 [Vanguard is surrounded]

Aksuhe took a boat to change horses and quickly chased the Ming army.

The person who took him there was Du Jushi, the interpreter of the Honglu Temple and editor of the Hanlin Academy.

Du Jushi's native place is Suining, Sichuan.

When Zhu Ming completely occupied Sichuan, the Du family still chose to wait and see, and only sent two young men from the small clan to join him.

It was not until the founding of the Ming Dynasty that they realized it, but it was obviously too late. Du Jushi finally passed the imperial examination and became the third Jinshi of the Ming Dynasty, but he preferred to study literature and history, and directly applied to the Hanlin Academy during his internship.

Gold shines wherever it is.

Du Jushi negotiated with several foreign envoys, learned Persian and Turkic, and translated Persian and Seljuk works in the Hanlin Academy for a long time. At the same time, he was seconded to the Honglu Temple as an interpreter.

The Eastern Roman envoy Aksukh was proficient in Latin, Greek, Turkic and Arabic.

They hurried and finally caught up with Zhong Yanchong in Liangzhou.

"An envoy observing the battle?" Zhong Yanchong was confused.

Du Jushi explained in detail, and Zhong Yanchong finally understood. He was busy with military affairs and was too lazy to entertain the envoy. He simply exchanged a few words and just asked Aksuhe not to run around.

The main reason why Zhong Yanchong was able to serve as the deputy commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition, in addition to his own outstanding abilities, was to balance the factions within the army.

Zhang Tong, Zhang Guangdao, Li Bao, Yang Zhi and others held important positions in the central government for a long time, and they promoted many generals from their respective factions.

Ever since Yao Pingzhong was deprived of his military power, Zhu Ming has been thinking about supporting the Shaanxi faction.

Zhong Yanchong was the representative of the Shaanxi faction that he selected. At the same time, Zhong Yanchong was from Luoyang, a military family of the Zhong family, and his sister married the emperor as a concubine. Although his ability was only above average, his status and qualifications were enough to convince the public.

A person from Luoyang can totally serve as a representative of the Shaanxi faction.

As for Li Yanxian, although he is from Shaanxi, he does not belong to the Shaanxi school.

Li Yanxian had served in the former Song Xijun Army, and initially made his fortune by relying on Shaanxi heroes and horse bandits. However, he was transferred back and forth, and his direct lineage had long been dispersed and integrated into the cavalry units of various armies.

Li Yanxian joined the army relatively early, and he was not very competitive. He led the cavalry and cooperated with many bigwigs, so he had good relations with various factions. In the middle period, he was stationed in Hebei, and most of his subordinates were from Hebei. In the later period, he was often in Shanxi, until the war to destroy Xixia, when he was transferred back to Shaanxi to command troops for two years.

With Li Yanxian as the head coach, all factions are willing to give him face.

"What is that place? There are troops stationed there, and many people come and go." Aksuhe asked.

The military escort sent by Zhong Yanchong said: "That is Liangzhou Warehouse City, which is specially used for storing and transporting military rations."

Aksuhe asked again: "Are there many military warehouse castles like this in the Ming Dynasty?"

The military escort chuckled.

Military secrets cannot be disclosed casually.

Aksuhe was not allowed to climb the city wall, and there was no suitable high ground nearby for observation. He mixed in the crowd and looked around, only to find that it was very orderly, with countless soldiers and civilians coming and going, but not chaotic.

He asked several questions in succession, but the military escort only answered one and answered the rest with laughter.

After staying here for half a day, he asked all the questions he could, and all the questions he couldn't ask were in vain. Aksuhe requested to catch up with the troops ahead.

Accompanied by personnel from the Honglu Temple and the military, he changed horses and galloped all the way, and caught up with Li Yanxian's second main force in Xingxing Gorge.

The rocks are jagged and the mountain path is rugged, so it is impossible to go faster even if you want to.

Aksuhe could only follow the troops obediently and walk slowly on the canyon mountain trails.

"The terrain here is rugged. We only need to build a fortress and send a small number of troops to effectively defend it." Aksuhe commented.

The military personnel shook their heads and said, "It's useless. At most, it can delay the attacking party. This place is not adjacent to either side, and there is not even a river. The only way to drink water is from two bitter springs. It is too difficult to supply food and grass. If you really want to defend this place, both sides will have to continue to increase their troops. In the end, the victory or defeat depends on which side has more food and grass and transports it faster. How dare Western Liao compete with the Ming Dynasty in this?"

After finally crossing Xingxing Gorge, Li Yanxian personally took charge of the Xingxing Gorge Town in later generations.

This place has become a temporary large military camp. The area for hundreds of miles before and after (the actual marching distance) is all rugged and desolate land. Only the area in front of us is relatively open and flat.

Even so, there are not many people.

The population of Xingxingxia Town increased because a road was built during the Republic of China period. The trees there were planted by town cadres in New China, and the drinking water comes from a reservoir far away.

Now, there are only more than ten households living in this area of ​​several miles, and there is not a single decent tree. Every day, they have to ask the garrison to open the bitter spring for drinking water.

Aksuhe commented: "This place is not suitable for survival, let alone marching."

Two bitter springs are not enough to supply the army.

Li Yanxian's main force had been drinking the water they brought with them since before they entered Xingxing Gorge.

All the troops accelerated their march, Wu Jie's vanguard was leading the way, and there was no possibility of enemies nearby - as long as the Ming army guarded the springs along the way, no matter how many troops the Western Liao army rushed to attack and ambush, they would all die of thirst. Because it was impossible to carry too much drinking water during the long march over mountains and ridges, and there were no people along the way.

The sooner the Ming army passes through here, the better. If they delay for too long, they may run out of water.

But they couldn't go faster even if they wanted to. The troops could travel quickly with light equipment, but the baggage had to be carried slowly.

The four-wheeled carriage had to be completely dismantled and had to travel some distance before it could be reassembled and towed by mules and horses.

As for the heavy artillery, it was even more difficult to transport. Li Yanxian directly threw it outside Xingxing Gorge to avoid blocking the passage of the army and affecting the overall marching speed.

Aksuhe went to pay a visit to Li Yanxian.

Li Yanxian's reaction was similar to Zhong Yanchong's. He threw a civilian officer to accompany him and didn't bother to care about the foreign envoy. There was nothing to see in this broken place. Troops came out of the canyon one after another, and then set up camp and waited to move on.

If you want to march, you have to queue up!
Aksuhe followed a troop and set off. Not long after they went, they came to high mountains and valleys. There was still no water source, the mountains were bare, and in many places there was not even a blade of grass.

The Qing Dynasty set up several post stations along the way and liked to exile criminals there to serve as postmen.

No matter how difficult life was, the prisoners and postmen did not dare to run away. Because the springs were guarded by soldiers, they would die wherever they fled, dying of thirst in the no-man's land!

We encountered a fortress ahead, with a small Jingguan built outside the fortress.

The human heads were piled up into a pyramid shape and were almost dried up by the dry climate.

Those were left behind by Wu Jie's vanguard troops. They chopped off the heads of the defenders of Xingxing Gorge and built a fort here to intimidate the enemy troops guarding the village.

The effect is very obvious!

The Ming army broke through Xingxing Gorge Village so quickly that none of the defenders there escaped. The heads were piled up here, and the defenders here had no desire to fight. Facing the artillery and musket fire, the defenders were so scared that they abandoned the village and fled before the siege troops even touched the village wall.

Some people even surrendered to Wu Jie and said they were willing to serve as guides for the Ming army.

Aksuhe finally crossed the mountain valley area, and thought the road ahead would be easy. But what happened? It was either a desert or a Gobi desert!

"Is this the place where the peach blossom stone fell? That's crazy!" Aksuhe couldn't help but complain.

He thought of the Eastern Roman army. If they had to march long distances through barren areas, their morale would probably be exhausted before the battle even started.

Du Jushi smiled and said, "This is all Chinese territory. An ancient Chinese general once said that anyone who openly offends the mighty Han will be punished no matter how far away he is. The place where he said this was thousands of miles to the west (3,000 miles as the crow flies)."

Aksukh was silent.

He was really convinced. An expedition of this kind was not something the Eastern Roman Empire could do, at least not at that time.

It really tests the army’s organization and logistical transport capabilities!
……

At this moment, Wu Jie's vanguard troops were only 140 miles away from Yizhou City (Hami).

Probably north of the later Hami Yandun Station.

There was a large fortress next to the river. The wall was built to more than five meters high and there were at least three thousand defenders gathered inside.

Wu Jie didn't consume much of his artillery shells, so he could collect them after winning the battle.

The consumption of gunpowder and food was huge.

He even stopped for a few days, waiting for the follow-up troops to deliver supplies and leaving the wounded to be treated.

Six enemy camps were eliminated along the way, and Wu Jie suffered more than 57 casualties - 82 killed, 134 seriously injured, and slightly injured.

Most of the seriously injured were scalded and smashed, all caused by the storming of the fort. Especially those who were splashed with gold juice, the purulent infection was difficult to treat, some of them died, and it is estimated that many more will be infected and die.

With only small cannons and flying ladders, Wu Jie found it difficult to attack the large camp in front of him.

He could only remove the watchtower on the south side of the fort, set up camp near the stream with the watchtower as the center, and then wait for the main force to come to reinforce.

The first main force of several thousand people was marching quickly with laborers and food.

It is called a forced march, but in fact it all depends on how fast the camels can walk, as a lot of food and equipment are carried by camels.

Aksuhe took advantage of every opportunity, and as long as the road was wider, he would overtake the existing troops and run to catch up with the troops ahead.

Finally, we caught up with the first batch of reinforcements.

After leaving the mountain pass, there is mostly desert and Gobi ahead, but as we walk along, vegetation begins to grow.

The reinforcement general Sang Zhong sent out light cavalry to explore the way, and soon the scouts came back: "There is a large group of enemy cavalry blocking the way ahead. General Wu's vanguard may have been surrounded by heavy troops!"

"Let's retreat and guard the fort at the mountain pass to protect the passage for the subsequent army to leave the mountain." Sang Zhong immediately gave the order.

"You're not going to save General Wu?"

"If he had been prepared, we wouldn't have needed to rescue him. If he was defenseless, there would be no point in rescuing him. He stopped to resupply once before, so his food and fodder can last for a few days. At worst, we can just kill the mules and horses. Our chariots and artillery are still behind, and we don't have many cavalry with us, so we don't have the ability to rescue him for now."

Sang Zhong was a general left by Zhong Shidao. In history, he first joined Wang Yan to fight against the Jin in Hebei, and then joined Du Chong to defend Kaifeng, but he was resentful of Du Chong. He also had a disagreement with Cheng Qianqiu, the governor of Jingxi, and rebelled in Xiangyang in anger. He dominated Hubei with more than 100,000 soldiers, but was eventually killed by his old boss Wang Yan.

The civil servant named Cheng Qianqiu not only forced Sang Zhong to rebel, but also forced the general who was responsible for conquering Sang Zhong to rebel.

In this time and space, Sang Zhong was reorganized with the Zhong family army, and then he fought and made meritorious contributions and was promoted step by step.

When he heard that Wu Jie's vanguard troops were surrounded, he had no intention of rescuing them and retreated obediently to the fort at the mountain pass to prevent the follow-up troops from being blocked between the mountains.

The mountain pass stronghold was also captured by Wu Jie, who also left some auxiliary troops and civilians to garrison there.

Sang Zhong retreated to the mountain pass for about an hour, and the scouts kept coming back to report: "The enemy scouts are increasing in number, our cavalry is not enough, and they have been pushed back to within five miles!"

"The cavalry should move closer," Sang Zhong ordered, "It will be a great achievement if we hold this place. We can slowly wait for the reinforcements from the friendly forces."

Wu Jie rushed too fast!
He trained an assault-type heavy-armored combined brigade and did not take the Western Liao army seriously at all.

Hammer in hand, looking for a nail to hammer.

(I recommend Da Luoluo's new book "The End of the Qing Dynasty". This guy types really fast. For every one I write, he can write several.)
(End of this chapter)