Became a feudal lord in the late Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 150 The Central Plains looks to the north like a mountain!

Fighting sometimes needs to be very fast. For example, in a rush battle - capturing the opponent's base camp or performing a beheading, you need to be absolutely sure and ruthless when attacking.

But sometimes, the goal of war is not entirely to defeat the opponent. In this case, war is a continuation of politics.

After a light rain at the end of July, both sides started their own actions. All the households outside the city in Zhuozhou were gathered into the city. This was Liu Ling's order.

Of course, he was not worried that doing so would alert the enemy. With Tong Guan's headstrong nature, even if the former generals realized something was wrong and reported the situation to him, he would still order the march to continue.

The Song Army officially launched the "Northern Expedition", and the external name was that a certain general of the Zhenyuan Army massacred Song people on the border and embezzled money and food, so the Song soldiers and horses had to take over the Yan land as a "punishment".

They crossed Baigou and "captured" the new city within two days. In fact, the city was also fortified and cleared. All households and luggage were transported to Zhuozhou City. The large-scale fighting that was originally expected to break out along the Baigou River did not occur. , it seems that Yanyun did not react at all, and could only retreat hastily.

Wang Zhen knew in his heart that this was not the case at all. The Yan people were definitely retreating in an organized and orderly manner, and there were almost no rogue bandits anywhere along the way. There were even unripe crops in some fields.

Yunzhong belongs to the Hetao area with fertile soil, and Yandi actually has a lot of mulberry farming land. Judging from Wang Zhen's observations in the past two days, the entire Yandi is obviously in a state of continuous recovery.

Who is helping Yan Di recover?

Every time Wang Zhen thought of the answer, he had the urge to yell at Nan Mian.

Moreover, the composition of his former army is also very mixed. It is not just the Western Army, but also a large number of Forbidden Army and Xiang Army transferred from some places in Hebei.

Damn it, are those Xiangjun soldiers capable of fighting?

Fortunately, this time Tong Guan knew that the front army had a heavier task, so he specially allocated some more Central Forbidden Forces to Wang Zhen.

Many of the soldiers in the army were indeed capable of fighting. Wang Zhen saw this in his eyes, but in his heart he couldn't help but compare them with Yan Yun's soldiers and horses.

When Liu Ling led his army to struggle in the Yan region, the Song people suppressed the rebellion at home.

When Liu Ling led his army to confront the Jin people across the Gaoliang River, the Song people suppressed the rebellion at home.

When Liu Ling led his army to invade the Xingqing Mansion of the Xia people, the Song people were still fighting the rebellion at home.

Every time they fight a war, it is a national war, and the elite troops of other countries are fought. Although it is hard to live in the land of the Fourth War, as long as you survive it, the army must be filled with veterans of hundreds of battles. I heard that the Yanyun army does not lack treatment and rewards, so the combat effectiveness cannot be low.

On the battlefield of hundreds of people, Wang Zhen was really worthy of the Yanyun army, and even the demonized Jin Kingdom in the north.

But if it is a big battlefield battle, and his family knows his own affairs, the current Song army really does not have the ability to compete with Yanyun's army.

Moreover, if the coach this time is not Tong Guan but that gentleman, Wang Zhen will feel more confident.

but

Wang Zhen seemed to be cheering himself up and said to himself: "Fortunately, there is no Wei March over there in Zhuozhou. If we take Zhuozhou first, the morale of the soldiers will be higher."

"I'm afraid that's not necessarily the case."

Yu Wenxuzhong knelt down opposite him and said slowly: "Most of the sentinels who have been to the north in recent days have not come back. The sentinels over there in Yandi are better than our sentinels, bows and horses. Let's not ignore this for now. However, there is too little news from the north, and our army does not even know how many defenders there are in Zhuozhou City."

"Isn't Zhuozhou City just a small city?" Wang Zhen asked doubtfully.

"Wang Tongzhi, you underestimate the enemy too much."

Yu Wenxu sneered, "Although Liu Ling is now based on Yunzhong and Yanjing, in fact he started from Zhuozhou. I sent someone to see Zhuozhou City in detail half a year ago. The city is tall and thick, and it occupies a very large area. , it was Liu Ling who personally supervised the construction and addition of the city wall after he took control of Zhuozhou.

Liu Ling started building this city two years ago. Guess what Zhuozhou City is like today, two years later? "

Wang Zhen was a little irritated by what he said, and couldn't help but sarcastically said: "No matter how high you are, it can't be higher than Taiyuan City, right? You praise Liu Ling so much that you make it seem like he could have reached this day two years ago."

"The king of Han has a far-sighted vision that is beyond the reach of ordinary people." Yu Wenxuzhong seemed not to hear the dissatisfaction in Wang Zhen's words, and said coldly: "He defeated the Jin people in Ningyuanpo, why did the Jin people never want to suffer losses? Do people have to swallow their anger or even negotiate peace with him this time?

It is because Liu Ling has sworn an alliance with the Xia State before, and now the Xia State and Yanyun are fighting each other, not only intimidating the Jin people, but also the Song Dynasty. If both of them confront the Song Dynasty at the same time, the Empress Dowager Yelu will It's not Nong Zhigao, Liu Ling, or Fang La. Who wants to pay another sum of money after this war? "

Wang Zhen glanced at him indifferently, stood up, pulled out his sword, looked at the sword body, and said in a deep voice: "This sword was personally given by the Prince of Guangyang a few years ago. In recent years, There is a lot of criticism against him in the country. In public affairs, I want to serve the country, but in private life, I cannot betray the trust of the Prince of Guangyang.

Bachelor Yuwen, you serve the officials at home and serve as ambassadors to other countries when you go out. I admit that you know more than me, but I, Wang Zhen, am the general of the Song Dynasty. I don’t need to think so much. To be a general, I only need to know one thing. , that’s winning! He handed the sword to Yu Wenxuzhong and said in a deep voice: "If Yanyun's soldiers and horses do not take the initiative to fight, I will prepare to attack Zhuozhou City in two days. At that time, you have to go back and resume your life with the king." This sword has been with me in battle for several years, and I give it to you today.

Bachelor Yuwen, of course you can't be emotional, but you also need to know that if you don't even believe that you will win, then why do you let the soldiers below fight for their lives? "

Yu Wenxu was stunned for a while, but he didn't refute anymore. He took the sword and looked at it for a moment, then nodded slightly.

When attacking, you don't necessarily have to wait until the autumn is high and the horses are fat. Sometimes your own inconvenience is also the enemy's inconvenience. The Song army has already torn up its alliance with Yanyun since it started moving north from Baigou River. The opposite side should soon be there. will react.

Moreover, his side was fighting away from home. Although Wang Zhen thought that Yu Wenxuzhong had exaggerated the Yanyun army and Liu Ling, the moment he saw Zhuozhou City, he couldn't help but tremble in his heart.

I heard that Yanjing was used as a companion capital by the small court of the Liao Kingdom a few years ago. Wang Zhen had never seen Yanjing with his own eyes, but now looking at the Zhuozhou City in front of him, he suddenly felt that even the Yanjing City was nothing more than this. kind of scale.

Together with the urn city, there are clearly a large number of soldiers stationed on each wall. Dozens or hundreds of crossbows and catapults can be vaguely seen. Moreover, each wall is like this, with a large number of defensive equipment installed.

Liu Ling's Zhenyuan Army did not have the ability to manufacture such city defense equipment on a large scale at the beginning, but as he picked out a group of craftsmen from the Jin and Song countries, Yanyun's various technologies began to develop rapidly.

In fact, the craftsmen who came from the Song Dynasty were treated very poorly at home, but when they arrived in Yan, they became guests. Many craftsmen immediately devoted their efforts to help build equipment and train apprentices.

Money can make people go around, not to mention that the king of Han gave them not only money, but also showed respect for their skills.

Zhuozhou City casts a shadow, shaped like a tiger lying in front. After the defenders on the city noticed him, they immediately controlled the catapult and conducted two rounds of test firing.

It's just that Wang Zhen stood far away. After two rounds of catapults failed to hit, the city gave up and continued to launch.

Wang Zhen called out the deputy general's name.

"General, what's wrong?" The deputy general came over on horseback.

Wang Zhen stared at the boulder that fell not far ahead and said softly: "Look, their catapults can throw farther than ours."

"General."

"Set up camp on the spot. The whole army will be temporarily repaired. Immediately send people to the rear and ask the king to quickly march in for support. With the strength of our front army, it is very likely that we will not be able to take down this city. And..." At this point, Wang Zhen hesitated. , after all, saying this will definitely make him appear weak.

"You must tell the truth to your Majesty. Zhuozhou City is extremely strong. Liu Ling most likely wants to drag our army outside Zhuozhou City and then lead the main force to fight with our army in the field."

"Here."

Tong Guan's army had been waiting at the rear for a long time. He knew that Wang Zhen always had a target in mind, and he cursed Wang Zhen in his heart for not even daring to attack a city. At the same time, he had no choice but to lead his army to follow up.

The news of the large-scale march of the Song Army to the north was delivered to Liu Ling almost within half a day. Shi Liai stood beside him, and the two of them looked at the sand table in front of them.

Now, Liu Ling led the Zhenyuan Army and the Shengjie Army to retreat in Yizhou. Tong Guan's main attack direction is Zhuozhou, and once he mobilizes, it means that a large area of ​​​​Hebei that borders Yizhou and the Song Dynasty is instantly empty. prepared status.

You know, Tong Guan claims to have hundreds of thousands of troops in the Northern Expedition. Although it is certainly not that many, the one hundred thousand troops are indeed real, but the number of soldiers who can actually fight is only about 50,000, and the rest are mostly Xiang troops, Auxiliary soldiers and civilian husbands.

But even so, so many people cannot be mobilized in a short while, which means that most of the capable troops in Hebei and Hedong are in the hands of Tong Guan.

So at this moment, a second way appeared in front of Liu Ling.

Bypass Tong Guan's main force, and then go south!

Shi Liai chuckled from the side and said, "Song people are so considerate."

It's like being a high-end girl in the hook bar. She has to clean the place several times before doing anything.

(End of this chapter)