The new era of chaos begins in the Song Dynasty

Chapter 328: Divide the troops into Qishan

In ancient times, dispatching an army was a very complicated and systematic project.

There is a saying that before the soldiers and horses are moved, food and grass go first.

Just arranging food and salary supplies was enough to make the entire Duzhi Branch officials scratch their hair.

Others include the specification of the route for the army to travel, the dispatch of civilians and supplies, the arrangement of personnel, etc.

The Privy Council envoys could manage to straighten out these matters in just ten days, which only shows that the planning ability of these officials is really outstanding, and their execution ability is terrifyingly efficient. They are worthy of being the old masters left over from the Zhezong era. Team.

During this time, the army marched westward to quell the Tubo rebel general Zhao Huaide. However, Cai Jing and others strongly advocated the appointment of Zeng Bu's brother Zeng Zhao as the commander-in-chief, Liu Zhongwu as the general, Gao Qiu, an old man from the official family, as the military supervisor, and the commander-in-chief Zhao'an Shi. The troops and horses, as well as the imperial army of 10,000 people, walked along the line of Luoyang, Hezhongfu and Huazhou, heading straight to Qinfeng Road.

After the marching order was issued, the ten battalions of rebels broke out one by one.

The ones who pioneered the way were Gu Zhengxi's subordinates, his deputy general Jing Zhong and another hero named Fushun.

Then Han Cunbao, Yang Wen and others led their troops to set off one by one. The last one to break camp was Wang Huan's troops.

The army marched thirty miles a day, broke out of camp at sunrise, and went down to the camp at dusk, meandering all the way.

Later, there was a direct high-speed train from Kaifeng to Xi'an, and the straight-line distance of more than 500 kilometers only took more than two hours.

But during the Song Dynasty, the rebel army set out from Bianliang, and it was already two months before the leading troops arrived at Jingzhao Mansion (Chang'an).

In fact, this is normal. After all, during the Song Dynasty, if you wanted to march from Bianliang to Jingzhao Mansion, you would definitely not be able to walk in a straight line. You would have to walk at least twice the distance with seven twists and turns. This was still the infrastructure construction of the Song Dynasty ( Such as roads and bridges) can only be achieved under relatively good conditions.

Of course, the army marches thirty miles a day, and the marching speed is set to ensure that the army's combat effectiveness will not be reduced due to the long journey.

If they marched urgently, it was not impossible for the rebels to march farther in one day.

However, the most important thing for an army to fight with cold weapons is to maintain sufficient physical reserves. If you march fifty miles in a day, your army's combat power will inevitably be reduced. As the saying goes, "If you fight for gain at fifty miles, you will defeat the general, and the method is half the battle."

As for marching hundreds of miles day by day, staying at the same place day and night, marching twice as many times, and rolling up armor, the army will collapse on its own without the enemy taking action.

Not to mention the classical army, even in later generations, except for the strongest light infantry on the surface, which can be called the gods descending from the earth, the army of any other country can never expect to be able to move hundreds of times a day while maintaining the organization with only legs. inside.

By the way, the cavalry unit may have very strong short-term explosive power. For example, it can quickly reach 200 miles in half a day, but the cavalry can only explode like this, and the subsequent mounts will fall into a period of weakness, which will take more than half a year. Buffer and possibly never recover.

Some people may say, if the cavalry is so fragile, then how come the northern nomads can defeat the Central Plains dynasty so hard that the cavalry can defeat the infantry?

First of all, we must understand that when the nomads were able to suppress the Central Plains dynasty, it was when the Central Plains dynasty was in a period of weakness or even collapse. Once the Central Plains dynasty regained its national strength, it could basically push back.

This was true in the Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, and Ming dynasties. Of course, the coward is an exception. It is not that the army is ineffective, but that the monarch has a calcium deficiency in his bones that cannot be repaired by supplements.

As for the cavalry of the northern nomads, they often advance at extremely high speeds. It is not because of how powerful their cavalry is, but because they have many horses and an absolute number of cavalry.

If you look at the cavalry establishment of the nomadic people, you will know that after thousands of years of changes, aren't they still the system of captains of ten, centurions and thousands of captains? Some may have changed their names, but the essence is still the same.

To put it bluntly, the largest independent combat unit of the nomadic cavalry is the Qianqi. This is related to the constraints of the nomadic generals' command capabilities and logistics supply capabilities.

Tens of thousands of nomadic cavalry, equivalent to dozens of independent combat units, rush forward one by one and just consume as much as possible.

As for why the nomads waste themselves foolishly, the reason is simple.

When nomads go south to plunder, most of the time it's not because they are really predatory, but because the grasslands can no longer support too many people.

The nomadic tribes had to go south to plunder, otherwise they would freeze to death and starve to death.

As for the result of going south, if you are lucky, you can take advantage of the civil strife in the Central Plains to plunder supplies to survive. But if you are unfortunate enough to encounter a powerful dynasty in the Central Plains, giving away these excess people is also a rather helpless solution to the problem. .

Of course, the one in the late Ming Dynasty was a different situation, so I won’t go into details here.

The army marched all the way, with the distance between the war camps relatively wide, marching like a long snake, and the front army and the rear army were separated by nearly five days' journey.

And during this five-day journey, some people started to have troubles.

At that time, Zeng Zhao was promoted as the head coach by Cai Jing and others, but he actually had an ulterior motive.

Liu Zhongwu, the true battlefield commander of the army, Yuhou Gaoqiu, the envoy who oversees the army, and Cao You (Cao Ping's younger brother), the commander of the left wing of the imperial army, are all different from Zeng Zhao.

In fact, the only confidant Zeng Zhao could truly rely on in the entire Western Expedition was Chen Congshan.

Due to his meritorious service in recruiting and surrendering the rebel army, Chen Congshan was promoted to the Inner Palace (an ambassador among the three officers of the military generals, with a different position, and the eighth rank), and was awarded the title of Chengyi Lang (a postal officer, similar to the salary level, and the rank is from the seventh rank) .

Zeng Zhao was pushed to become the head coach of the Western Expedition, but he had no one under his command, so he had to recruit Chen Congshan as a helper.

Chen Congshan wanted to refuse this from the bottom of his heart. Anyone with any brains would know that in the case of the Zeng brothers, the older brother Zeng Bu was the prime minister and the younger brother Zeng Zhao was the commander-in-chief and commanded thousands of troops. It is impossible to exist in the political ecosystem of Song Dynasty.

When Zeng Zhao was appointed as the head coach but did not refuse it, Zeng Bu's career as prime minister had already entered a countdown. In fact, his powers as prime minister had been emptied out.

Not to mention Zeng Bu's political opponents, even his former allies and party members, after Zeng Zhao took office, did not even need Cai Jing, the schemer behind it, to alienate or even resist Zeng Bu's exercise of the power of prime minister.

As for why Zeng Zhao never resigned to fulfill his brother Zeng Bu, there are two unavoidable reasons.

First of all, Zeng Bu's future is already visible to the naked eye. He has reached the end of his official position, and there is basically no chance of promotion in the future. The strongest one is Xue Zhangdun who monopolizes the power of the prime minister like he did in Zhezong's era, which is obviously not possible in Song Huizong's era. possible.

Zhao Ji would never trust Zeng Bu as Zhezong trusted Zhang Dun. Zeng Bu was not even as favored by officials as Cai Jing.

Precisely because of Cai Jing's presence, the Zeng brothers knew very well that Zeng Bu's loss of power was bound to come soon.

Another reason why Zeng Zhao refused to take a step back was that he also had the ambition to make progress. He wanted to go to the northwest to make contributions, and then use this to directly enter the center and become a prime minister to control the world.

It's a pity that Zeng Zhao underestimated the complexity of the army, especially when the other big leaders in the army did not agree with him, some problems were inevitably inevitable.

When the rear army of the army arrived in Shangzhou and passed Xiong'er Mountain, heavy rain caused the mountain road to be cut off, and the reserve baggage could not keep up. Wang Huan's tribe, Jia Gan's tribe and the first part of the Forbidden Army had to rush to the blue sky to eat. At this time, there were three battalions of soldiers and horses resting here in Lantian (one of the battalions was also part of the Forbidden Army, with about 2,000 people). If the three battalions of soldiers and horses came to eat, the supplies provided by Lantian County would definitely not be enough. This is equivalent to having one banquet table but two tables of guests.

At this time, either everyone is hungry, or some soldiers and horses are full, while others can only starve.

Originally, as the leader of the rebel army, Wang Huan was a little careless.

Faced with the limited distribution of supplies, he planned to give his brothers a hard time and allocate more to the Forbidden Army, so that he could make some connections in the military for his brothers.

Wang Huan is still very confident about this. His father Wang Hou is now well-known in the northwest and can be called the number one border general. He just captured Huangzhou last year (1103), and it was called Xihe Kaibian in history. Weizhou regiment training envoy, Xihe economic strategy pacification envoy.

If Wang Huan's family background is like this, and he is accustomed to making friends, he should be able to handle this matter easily.

He never thought that the two imperial troops who joined together were here to stir up trouble. He directly mobilized troops and horses to seize all the supplies and equipment, but did not leave anything with Wang Huan and other Zhao'an rebels, and then put up a posture He made a defensive posture, as if waiting for the Zhao'an rebels to attack.

The fourth battalion of the Zhao'an Rebel Army was naturally filled with indignation at this, and the two sides were at war with each other, threatening to fight each other.

Of course, it is impossible for large armies to be destroyed by fire, not to mention that everyone finally obtained imperial edicts and received official posts. How could their future be ruined because of impulse.

Another one is that our own side lacks baggage and supplies and cannot endure the battle, but the Imperial Army is waiting for work and has abundant baggage. It is the rebel side that will really suffer in the fight.

So everyone can only negotiate with the generals of the Forbidden Army.

At this time, Wang Huan, who had an identity and background, naturally did his part, but he went to the meeting alone, bringing only Jia Gan as a bodyguard to meet Cao You, the commander of the Forbidden Army.

It wasn't until he entered the Forbidden Army camp and met the person in charge that Wang Huan discovered that the so-called leader of the Forbidden Army was not actually Cao You, but Cao Ping, Cao You's brother.

Who is Cao Ping?

The most powerful person in the imperial army of the Song Dynasty since the death of Gao Gongji. He was the commander of Tianwu City and Yuhou in front of the palace. He was deeply trusted by the royal family of Zhao and Song Dynasties.

Wang Huan was inferior to Cao Ping because of his lack of force and family background.

Therefore, when Wang Huan saw Cao Ping, he reported to his family.

Cao Ping, on the other hand, did not make any false claims. He only scolded Wang Huan: "Wang Mingxiu! Compared with your father Wang Chudao (zi Wang Hou), you are far behind! It is simply insulting to talk about your ancestor Fu Yanggong." What a wonderful reputation!”

Wang Huan's grandfather, Wang Shao, was known as Fu Yangzi. He was famous for his "wonderful strategies, wonderful deeds, and wonderful rewards" and was known as the "Three Wonders".

Cao Ping took Wang Huan's heart away with just a few words.

Wang Huan said with some shortness of breath: "We have long been pardoned by the officials and generously rewarded. We are also serious generals of the Song Dynasty. You are superior to the upper four compartments of the imperial army, but you should not rob us of our baggage." also!"

Cao Ping laughed and said: "That's all! Let you, Wang Mingxiu, be a wise man. This time, all the prime ministers in the court wanted to plot against Zeng Zikai (Zeng Zhao), but you just happened to be on the edge of the knife. Wang Huan, you are the one. The knife that stabbed Commander Zeng in the back. Now you can either attack my camp with the whole army and take back the military supplies; or you can go west with the whole army and enter Lantian County to plunder the people for food."

Wang Huan's face turned pale when he heard this, and his heart was full of bitterness. Isn't this... forcing people to a dead end? !

Either of the two roads given by Cao Ping would be a dead end for Wang Huan and others.

Whether it is internal strife in the army or plundering local counties and counties, as the commander of the camp, he and others will inevitably have to go to Shangcai Market in the end.

But at this moment, Jia Gan, who was waiting at the entrance of the tent, was annoyed.

As Wang Huan's temporary guard, Jia Gan was not allowed to enter the military tent, but he could still hear the conversations of several people.

He was angry when he heard this, but he ignored the strategic location of the military tent and broke into it. He pointed his finger at Cao Ping and shouted, "Zhi Niang thief! It's only because of such traitors and sow trouble that we led us to revolt. On the contrary, Loyalty! Now you only want to harm Mr. Zeng, but you let tens of thousands of soldiers starve, and even innocent people in a county may suffer! Such vicious and cruel people are really shameful!"

Jia Gan scolded him so hard that not only Wang Huan turned pale in shock, but Cao Ping also turned pale and pale.

Jia Gan's scolding was quite right, leaving Cao Ping speechless.

Cao Ping sneered and said: "Okay! Okay! Okay! I didn't expect there to be such a courageous man among the reckless! What a good scolding! It's really rare! Boy, your name is Jia Gan, right?! Don't blame Cao for not giving it. When you get the chance, we will make a gentleman's agreement."

Jia Gan also sneered: "I want to hear what farts you have!"

Cao Ping gritted his teeth and said: "This time, Cao decided to divide the baggage into three parts. Then you and I will send out three generals from each army and compete in three battles. If you win one, you can take one of the baggage."

Jia Gan sneered: "What if we win three games in a row?"

Cao Ping laughed and said, "Then Cao will send all the baggage to you, leaving nothing behind!"

Jia Gan said with enthusiasm: "Okay! A gentleman means what he says!"

Cao Ping also said: "It's hard to chase a horse!"

Jia Gan laughed, then stepped forward and pulled Wang Huan: "Let's go! Brother Wang Huan, let's go back to the camp to prepare, but come and compete with him!"

Wang Huan twitched the corners of his mouth and forced a wry smile.

well! The ignorant are fearless!

Cao Ping, who was only sitting upright, sneered: "Wait a minute! Jia Gan, an agreement is an agreement. Just now you broke into the big tent and insulted me, and you can never let it go!"

Jia Gan heard this, but showed a lazy smile and said with a smile: "Oh! But I don't know how the general will punish me? Or scold me if I don't do it, or beat my military stick? Or cut off my arm?" Brain?!”

Cao Ping stood up and said, "It's too embarrassing to scold you! How can Cao, a nobleman from this generation, act like a shrew! If I beat you to death based on military discipline, I'm afraid you will be dissatisfied and my reputation will be ruined even more!"

He walked three steps in front of Jia Gan, raised his fist and said, "I heard that you, Jia Gan, are also a strong warrior with extraordinary martial arts. Cao hit you three times with his fist. But if you try your best to block, dodge, or attack, and you can take these three punches without any harm, then the things you scolded me for today will be wiped out!"

Jia Gan didn't think he would be unable to take the three punches from the treacherous man in front of him, but he still deliberately asked: "If I can't take your three punches, what will you do?"

Cao Ping sneered: "The dead don't need to know too much!"

(End of this chapter)