Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 533: Two Groups (Special thanks to the monthly ticket from Seventeen Years Old Bookworm!)

While Chai Zongxun and the imperial family were celebrating New Year's Eve in Bian Jing, the three armies of Crown Prince Chai Jiyu's orthodox Longxiang Army were celebrating the New Year in "Huyan Zan City" in the northwest.

Since the army set out from Bian Jing on August 3, the nd year of Kaixi, it traveled along the "Great Zhou Straight Road" for more than months and arrived at "Huyan Zan City" on December .

Seeing that the weather was getting colder, Chai Jiyu ordered his troops to be stationed here. He sent out scouts to gather battlefield intelligence and study combat plans, while also allowing the army to adapt to the local climate.

When the weather warmed up in March, they began to conquer Kievan Rus.

"Huyan Zan City" is located in the middle of the northwest Ming Dynasty, controlling the eastern exit of the "Longxiang Mountains" and has a superior terrain.

The lowest temperature here in winter is over 30 degrees below zero, and the highest temperature in summer is 21 or 22 degrees.

After more than ten years of development, under the guidance of personnel sent by the Ministry of Industry, a large number of coal mines have been built in various states of Beiming. The amount of coal mined has increased day by day and has become a must-have for daily heating for the people of Beiming.

By the end of the 42nd year of Kaixi, the annual output of more than a thousand coal mines of various sizes in the Beiming region had exceeded 600 million jin. On average, for a population of more than three million, the per capita output was nearly 200 jin, which was completely sufficient for heating and production purposes for the people.

In ancient China, people called coal "stone", "charcoal", "graphite", "black gold stone", "black dan", etc. Conclusive archaeological data prove that as early as the late Neolithic Age, that is, six or seven thousand years ago, the Chinese people had discovered coal and used it skillfully.

Since the Han Dynasty, coal has been used as fuel in many parts of my country. There is evidence of coal use at this time in Xinjiang, Gansu, Liaoning, Henan, Hebei, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Jiangxi and other provinces. Traces of coal burning were found in the fire pit of the Han Dynasty residential site in Fushun, Liaoning.

The level of coal mining technology had reached maturity by the end of the Han Dynasty. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, there were coal mines as deep as eight feet and coal caves that could accommodate more than a hundred people. The brother-in-law of Emperor Wen of Han also dug coal when he was poor.

According to the "Shiji: The Family of Foreign Relatives", during the reign of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, a "bank collapse" occurred in a coal mine near Yiyang, which crushed and killed more than a hundred people on the bank. This shows that the scale of coal mining at that time was quite large.

According to Li Daoyuan's "Annotations to the Classic of Waterways", in the 15th year of Jian'an in the Eastern Han Dynasty (210 AD), Cao Cao built the large-scale Bronze Sparrow Tower, Golden Tiger Tower, and Ice Well Tower in Ye County (west of Linzhang County, Henan Province), with hundreds of houses. The Ice Well Tower stored inexhaustible coal.

Because Beiming is vast and rich in resources, there are many shallow coal mines and the price of coal is low, about 120 copper coins for 100 jin.

On February 17th of the 43rd year of Kaixi, the Longxiang Guards who were sent to Kievan Rus to gather intelligence returned to the city of "Huyan Zan" one after another.

Kievan Rus had a land area of ​​approximately 2.6 million square kilometers and a population of about 10 million, mostly Slavs.

The reigning monarch, Vladimir I, had an army of 600,000 men. Those who had previously invaded the surrounding territory and plundered were mainly hunters and ruffians.

The capital city of Kiev is located in the southwest of the country. The eastern border city near the "Dragon Mountains" is Muro, which is about 1,200 miles away from Kiev and has 150,000 soldiers.

Vladimir I was also afraid that the Great Zhou would launch an attack, but as he saw that the Zhou army was small in the Beiming area, he was not too worried. However, he also stationed heavy troops in the city of Muro for defense.

On February 18th, Chai Jiyu summoned all the generals to the main hall to discuss military affairs.

Zhang Xingzhou, a commander of the Longxiang Guard who accompanied the emperor on the expedition, gave a detailed account of the enemy's intelligence.

Chai Jiyu said:

"My father has ordered that the goal of this expedition to Kievan Rus is to destroy that country.

This is my first time commanding an army, and I have no experience in commanding a large army. In order to fulfill my father's will, you generals can offer your advice and suggestions!"

After the generals thought for a while, Yang Yanzhao, the commander-in-chief of the Fourth Corps, said:

"Your Highness, Kievan Rus' land is mostly plains, and their army is mostly cavalry. If we attack one city at a time, although we will surely defeat them under our artillery fire, the enemy can easily escape on the plains, and it will take time and effort to attack them.

Thirty percent of the population of Kievan Rus is concentrated in its capital, Kiev, which must be defended. Our army should be divided into two routes, one to besiege Muro City, and the other to attack Kiev City from the southern plain.

We only need to capture the capital city of Kiev and capture all the king and ministers. The rest of the country will collapse without a fight and it will be easy for our army to defeat them."

Cao Can, the Grand Commander of the Sixth Corps, said:

“I think this strategy is feasible.

But Vladimir I has stationed 300,000 troops in Kiev. If you want to attack and defeat them, Your Highness must send a large force."

Chai Jiyu hesitated and said:

"If we send troops thousands of miles to attack Kiev, but fail to capture the city quickly, they will be surrounded by the armies dispatched by Vladimir I from various provinces. Isn't there a risk of being wiped out?"

Lin Wenshan, the commander-in-chief of the Eighth Corps, said:
"Your Highness, the Kievan Rus devils are all bandits and robbers. They only dare to sneak into the North Sea to kill and plunder women and children and civilians. They are no match for our army at all!

Our army is far more powerful, so there is no problem in conquering Kiev, but we must bring enough military supplies and food."

When Chai Jiyu heard the three generals say this, he was immediately relieved and approved the battle plan.

After a discussion, Chai Jiyu decided to send Generals Yang Yanzhao and Lin Wenshan to lead their respective corps to attack Kiev, while he and Cao Can would lead the Sixth Corps to attack the city of Muro in order to attract enemy troops from various states.

The tactics were decided, and the three generals immediately began to prepare, carrying the prince's order to mobilize food and military supplies from various states in the northwest.

After more than a month of preparation, everything was ready, the weather had thawed, and the temperature was around ten degrees. On the sixth day of March in the forty-third year of Kaixi, Chai Jiyu ordered the entire army to march out and enter the country to attack the eastern border town of Muro in Kievan Rus.

The army cut a path through mountains along the way and it took them seven days to cross the "Dragon Mountains" and enter the territory of Kievan Rus.

On the second day after entering the country, at noon on March 15, the 43rd year of Kaixi, scouts reported that they had seen a Kievan Rus village with several hundred houses 20 miles ahead on the plain.

After discussing with the generals, Chai Jiyu sent Zhang Xingzhou to lead 3,000 Longxiang Guards to attack.

Zhang Xingzhou received the order and went to the battle. In just half an hour, he had surrounded the village from five miles away and then advanced in all directions.

The Russians in the village only realized the Zhou army's attack when it was about two miles away. Then the whole village shouted and screamed, and thousands of adult men with swords, spears and arrows rushed out in panic.

At Zhang Xingzhou's command, 3,000 Dragon Guards wearing plate armor all held divine arm bows and aimed at the Ross villagers, attacking the village.

As soon as the battle began, the Ross villagers were outnumbered and their weapons were outdated, so they were slaughtered by the Dragon Guards.

In less than an hour, three thousand Dragon Guards had invaded the village and killed all the resisting Ross villagers.

Zhang Xingzhou said loudly:

"Brothers, search every villager's house carefully to prevent any hidden enemies! Bring out all the surviving villagers."

(End of this chapter)