Late Tang Dynasty: I

Chapter 98
The march of a large army is quite a test for the soldiers. The infantry can only rely on two legs, and the auxiliary soldiers are responsible for the weapons, armor and supplies. The soldiers must maintain their physical strength to fight.

There are many carts in Li Ye's army, which can not only carry food and grass, but also transport armor and weapons, and use few auxiliary soldiers, which can also save food.

As for the cavalry, can they not walk?

The answer is no, as long as the cavalry is not in a hurry, after riding for a period of time, the cavalry still has to dismount and walk for a period of time to save horsepower. Otherwise, if the horsepower is weak when encountering an enemy, it will be fatal.

Tuoba Sigong's [-]-step cavalry was approaching, so Li Ye naturally didn't dare to be careless, and marched until noon, Wang Xingyu and Wang Xingyue had conquered Fu County and Luochuan County.

The two counties surrendered without attacking at all.

Wang Xingyu and Wang Xingyue led the army to join the army and set up camp by the Jinshui River that night.

Li Ye summoned Wang Xingyue in the army tent, gave a brief encouragement, and then heard the news that the Anfujiang troops conquered Fangzhou without bloodshed.

Xindao Baoda's army and civilians are probably still inclined to the imperial court and refuse to accept the rule of the party members. There are only [-] party members in Fangzhou. .

And Gao Wenmin's gauntlet also arrived at this time, Li Ye opened it and was speechless.

Jingyuan Jiedu envoy Zhang Jun brought 5000 troops, which was beyond Li Ye's expectations, but after watching it, Li Ye was speechless.

It is indeed rare for Gao Wenmin to ramble on more than ten pages in the battle report.

Gao Wenmin's evaluation of the Jingyuan Army in the book is unceremonious. He bluntly said that the bandit army set off from Jingyuan and maintained military discipline in Ningzhou. .

Zhang Jun, the envoy of Jingyuan Jiedu, also personally told Gao Wenmin that after Fangzhou was conquered, the Jingyuan army would be allowed to plunder for three days, but Gao Wenmin flatly refused.

Li Ye handed the letter of war to Jingxiang, and said, "Gao Wenmin said that Zhang Jun is quite dissatisfied and may change, what does Ai Qing think?"

After watching the battle report, Jingxiang said: "One is coercion, the other is appeasement. I think that it is due to the combination of grace and power, and Jingyuan is short of food. He should use military supplies to force him to quickly march into Fuzhou, and his majesty is using lures to invite him to conquer Fuzhou. After the prefecture, the imperial court has its own rewards."

Li Ye nodded and followed his words.

Li Ye looked at the map, and it would take about two days before Anfujiang and Gao Wenmin could reach the city of Fuzhou.

Just about to call all the generals to discuss matters, I heard the military newspaper of Hezhong Army.

Li Ye originally thought that Wang Chongying of Hezhong might not obey the imperial edict, but he did not expect to send troops anyway, so he hastily summoned envoys to enter the account.

"Your Majesty, Ding Jiwei, the general of Hezhong, led an army of [-] cavalry to be ordered to hunt down the thieves."

"Wang Jiedu's envoy is loyal to the country. I am very relieved. I don't know where the army is now?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the army has arrived at Heshui, and it only takes two days to catch up with the imperial army."

"Okay! Come here, lead the army to return to the tent and rest."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Li Ye calculated the strength of the troops. The West Route Army he led was 28500 people, plus 3000 Hezhong soldiers and horses, making a total of 31500 people.

The Anfujiang Department of the South Route Army has 11000 people.

8000 people from the Gao Xinmin Department of the West Route Army plus 25000 people from the Jingyuan Army, a total of 33000 people.
The Third Route Army has a total of 75500 people. Not to mention the quality, the number is even larger than that of Tuoba Sigong.

Li Ye called all the generals to discuss the matter, and informed them of the general's situation.

Sun Wei looked at the map most carefully and said: "Your Majesty, now, I think that the army should gather in Fuzhou, and then order a partial division to set up an ambush on the other side of the Fulu Luoshui Bridge. If Tuoba Sigong crosses the river from the Luoshui Bridge, wait for half Crossing, our army can win the whole battle with one blow."

Zhu Zhen followed and nodded, and the two had a rare agreement.

Li Ye also felt that this strategy was very safe.

"If we gather in Fuzhou, we can arrive tomorrow. The army will set up the army camp. I will lead the cavalry from the Eight Capitals. Commander Zhu will lead Zuo Huwei's army to set up an ambush at the Luoshui Bridge. What I worry about is that if the soldiers from Fuzhou go out of the city to attack each other, Can the remaining [-] soldiers last for two days?"

Li Ye looked at the generals.

Sun Wei said the most: "The [-] Dingnan troops in the city of Fuzhou still have fighting power. The final general expects that the [-] Bao army will not die, and the [-] soldiers will be more than enough to hold the army stronghold for two days."

"Since that's the case, act according to this policy, and send messengers to urge the Hezhong Army, Anfu Jiang Army, and Gao Wenmin Army to speed up their march."

Li Ye released all the [-] cavalry from Zuo Xiaowei to cover the battlefield along the banks of the Luoshui River, not allowing a scout from the Dingnan Army to spy.

The next day, the army set out and arrived at the city of Yunzhou at noon. The army cut down trees in the suburbs and built a military camp five miles outside the north gate of Yunzhou.

Li Ye led the cavalry, and Zhu Zhen's troops stood ready to guard against the soldiers from Fuzhou going out of the city.

When the sun went down, there was no movement in Yanzhou City.

Sun Wei said the most: "I expect Tuoba to think of filial piety, and he must feel that there are too few soldiers to suppress and protect the army, so he dare not go out of the city."

Li Ye nodded, Sun Weizui's words were not unreasonable, but he couldn't be careless.

"General Sun, tomorrow I will leave two hundred cavalry guards. Firstly, I want to ensure that no one can ride out of the city to report the news. Secondly, if there is a change, it can also protect Aiqing from danger."

"His Majesty……"

Li Ye helped Sun Wei up and said, "Everything is precious!"

……

The next day, the army made meals at the fourth watch, and the soldiers set off after eating their stomachs, leaving behind the eighth, ninth, and thirteenth troops of the Right Shenwei Army, plus about [-] Tongzhou troops from Wang Xing, Sun Weizui, and Jing Xiang stayed behind. stronghold.

All the carts of the army were handed over to Zhu Zhen's troops, and Li Ye led the cavalry from the Eight Capitals to go first, and arrived at Luoshui Bridge at noon that day.

Li Ye was very pleased after checking the terrain. The Luoshui Bridge was a stone bridge with a width of two feet. Five hundred paces to the west of the Luoshui Bridge, the terrain was undulating, with a high slope. Under the high slope, it was possible to hide the army.

Zhu Zhen's troops also arrived at Luoshui Bridge that night, and the army was in position only to wait for Tuoba Sigong to be arrested.

The scouts reported that Tuoba Sigong had entered the territory of Fuzhou and would arrive in Fulu tomorrow.

"Looking at the situation, it is likely that they crossed the river at the Luoshui Bridge."

"With a radius of hundreds of miles, this bridge is the widest and the closest to Fuzhou. I also expected Tuoba Sigong to cross the river through this bridge."

Li Ye nodded, the atmosphere of the army before the battle was rather depressing.

"His Majesty!"

"What else?"

Zhu Zhen said: "Your Majesty, let's go out tomorrow and let the last general attack first. Your Majesty can just sit in the middle army."

Li Ye laughed and said, "I lead the cavalry of the Eight Capitals, and General Zhu leads the infantry of the Eight Capitals. There is no reason for the infantry to charge the formation and the cavalry to press the formation."

Zhu Zhen said: "Your Majesty, I have [-] large chariots, each of which can hold ten soldiers, and the army of chariots can be used to charge first."

"Che Jun?"

Li Ye suddenly realized that the cart was originally set up to transport supplies for the army, but in Zhu Zhen's hands it played new tricks.

"Is it possible?"

Zhu Zhen nodded, and said: "Today's march, I have ordered my soldiers to try it. Although they can't match the speed and sharpness of General Tu, they are much better than the infantry assault."

"General Tu?"

Zhu Zhen said: "This is the army trained by Zhu Wen. The whole army is made of chariots. The men and horses are all armored. There are knives on both sides of the chariot. Wherever the chariot passes, the men and horses are all broken."

Li Ye was also shocked, Zhu Wen is really a military genius, this army is probably specially prepared for Li Keyong.

(End of this chapter)