Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 261

Half a month ago, under the secret control of a mysterious figure, more than a dozen groups of robbers and bandits in the Sichuan and Shu regions formed an alliance with more than 4000 people. They suddenly attacked Dazhou, and Dazhou was caught off guard. There were bandits inside the city, and Dazhou fell easily within a day.

After these more than 4000 bandits killed, burned, and looted in Dazhou, they began to recruit those refugees who could not eat enough. In just seven days, there were 2 people.During the period, three nearby counties were captured.However, the Xiang Army and the Forbidden Army nearby responded quickly, and the other prefectures and counties have been firmly guarded by the Song Army, and they have never been captured again.

According to the investigation and analysis of the intelligence personnel of the Huaxia Weifu, the mysterious person is likely to be the Maitreya Sect Xiaoming Wang Shangguan Bingyun, and the whole riot was secretly planned by the Maitreya Sect.

Naturally, this detailed information was sent to Zhao Kuangyin by Huaxia Weifu immediately.In fact, two days earlier than this information, Zhao Pu had already told Zhao Kuangyin his guess.The latter made a decisive decision and asked the Privy Council and the Political Affairs Hall to issue corresponding orders to the local military and government. This is also the main reason why the riot was largely brought under control not long after it started.

Kaibao three years in May,
Ye Chen received the siege equipment made by the [-] Southwest Forbidden Army in Yuanzhou these days, and after resting for a day, he marched towards Shaozhou in mighty force.Along the way, they crossed Yuecheng Ridge, Dupang Ridge, Dayu Ridge and other mountains. It took a day to approach Shaozhou, a border city in the Southern Han Dynasty.

Sure enough, as Ye Chen and others had expected, the Southern Han army did not dare to fight outside the city at all. When the army reached the Han territory, it did not encounter a single soldier of the Southern Han army until the Shaozhou city.

It wasn't even until the Song Army arrived ten miles outside Shaozhou City that the defenders of Shaozhou City learned from some people who ran into the city in a panic that the Song Army had come to attack Shaozhou.

Chen Shouyi, the prefect of Shaozhou, and Li Congxin, the defender, were so shocked that they dared to neglect. They hastily ordered people to close the city gate, mobilized the troops in the city to go up to the top of the city, and moved all the defense equipment to the top of the city, waiting in full force.

Fortunately, a few days ago, I received a notification from the imperial court about the invasion of the Song army. Although the city did not expect the Song army to attack Shaozhou first, it still made some preparations in advance.Otherwise, as usual, even the soldiers could not be gathered in a hurry, let alone find these defensive tools.

At a quarter o'clock in the afternoon, Ye Chen led an army of [-] to Shaozhou, surrounded the northeast and west three gates and set up camp.

Wherever you attack a city, besiege it first.Build a fence two hundred steps away from the city, send troops to guard it, and find an opportunity to rush out to attack the camp in the defense city.

Ye Chen first sent people on horseback to persuade them to surrender loudly as if it was a matter of business, which provoked a few curses and a few flying arrows from the city as expected.

Ye Chen knew that the enemy would definitely not surrender if he hadn't fought once, so he took his own soldiers and rode around the city wall without waiting for the result of the persuasion. Luo Yaoshun, Cao Wei, Yang Yanping, Wang Chao and Zhan Xiongwu also accompanied him. Watch the city.It was found that although the Shaozhou city was small in size, it was actually very tall. The height of the city wall was the same as that of the big cities in the Central Plains and the north.It can be seen that the founding emperor of the Southern Han Dynasty is far from being able to compare with his descendants, and he has worked hard in the military stronghold in the border town.

Ye Chen led the army and saw two army villages on the way here just now, but they have been completely abandoned and turned into an ordinary town. There is no army stationed at all, not even a garrison post, otherwise Ye Chen led the army. will be discovered.

Shaozhou City is six miles, 220, and seven steps around. It is three feet five feet high, one foot seven feet deep, and six feet five feet wide. It is a lower-middle state city among the border cities of the Southern Han Dynasty. In fact, its scale is not as good as some of the more prosperous counties in the Central Plains. Big.It can't even be compared with a big city like Guizhou in the Southern Han Dynasty.

Shaozhou is located on the bank of the middle and lower reaches of the Zishui River, only more than 30 miles away from the Xiangshui River. The northernmost point of the Shaoyong Plain has relatively smooth water and land routes. Although its strategic location in Jingnan is not very important, it is also a strategic location. .Because of controlling this place, Hengzhou can be attacked in the east, Yongzhou can only be connected to the south, and Guizhou can be directly reached in the southwest.Ye Chen's attack strategy in Kaifeng had set it as one of the first cities to attack, so people from the Huaxia Weifu Intelligence Department and more than 50 Huaxia Wei were also dispatched to the city.

Ye Chen also once thought of using the infiltrated Huaxia Guard as an internal response to raid a city gate, and the army from outside the city broke into the city in one fell swoop.But in the end the plan was abandoned.

Abandoning this time-saving and labor-saving plan is not because the success rate is not high. On the contrary, given the situation in Shaozhou City, the cost of this plan is very high.The reason for giving up is because such a siege strategy is used once, and it will not work well if you want to use it again when you attack Guizhou and other big cities. The Southern Han army will definitely take precautions.In other words, in a small town like Shaozhou, Ye Chen didn't think it was enough for him to expose his trump card.

After walking around Shaozhou City, everyone followed Ye Chen to the main tent of the Chinese Army. Ye Chen followed him to Hu Sanguang and said to Hu Sanguang, "Ministry Hu! Please report the situation of Shaozhou Army first." Hu Sanguang is good at intelligence Analysis and reasoning are also well-known in the Jianghu for being cunning and wise. He is nicknamed Blue Fox. He is currently the deputy envoy of the Intelligence Analysis Department of the Intelligence Department. Ye Chen specially asked him to collect and screen intelligence from various places during the expedition to the Southern Han Dynasty. .

Hu Sanguang hurriedly said: "Shaozhou City has more than [-] steps on Saturdays. The people in charge of the city are the prefect Chen Shouyi and the guard Li Congxin. There are more than [-] people in the city and [-] defenders, of which less than [-] are capable of fighting. There are less than a thousand defenders on each side, but they have relatively sufficient equipment to defend the city, and there is no problem with food and grass for two months."

When everyone heard it, Cao Wei first said: "General! Our 1000-strong army is all elite soldiers who have fought a hundred battles. The final general thinks that [-] people from the east, west, and south will send [-] feigned attacks to contain the three sides. After the enemy divides his forces, the remaining [-] of our army will attack. To the north, take Shaozhou City in one go."

Ye Chen was not in a hurry to make a decision. He glanced at the five people and saw that the other four had no other opinions, so he said: "Okay, let's make a decision according to this method. Tomorrow morning, the 2000 people belonging to Wang Chao will be divided into two and go to attack the east. On the south and south sides, Zhan Xiongwu led 1000 troops to the west, and the two of you only brought a small amount of equipment. The strategic purpose is to contain the enemy's defenders. The north will attack in the order of Luo Yaoshun, Cao Wei, and Yang Yanping. If the city Break, Luo Yaoshun and Yang Yanping's troops are engaged in street fighting to wipe out the remnants of the enemy. Cao Wei's subordinate is responsible for opening the other three gates as quickly as possible, allowing Wang Chao and Zhan Xiongwu's troops to enter the city quickly. Okay, go back now and make specific arrangements. Prepare the equipment and let the military craftsman build as many siege equipment as possible."

Cao Wei, Luo Yaoshun and Yang Yanping looked at each other and said in unison, "Tomorrow the city will be smashed with one blow."

Ye Chen saw that the three of them were full of confidence, but Zhan Xiongwu and Wang Chao were still a little disappointed that they didn't take the lead. Thinking of something, he said: "Also, don't forget the 'three bans' that Japan will set a few days ago." The so-called 'Three Prohibition' set by Ye Chen refers to the passage of the army. The forbidden army robs the people of money and property, prohibits killing captives, and prohibits raping prostitutes.

Ye Chen's "three prohibitions" were the most common things in the ancient army's war. Soldiers took advantage of the chaos to rob people's money when the city was broken; In order to stimulate the morale of the army, some leading generals even deliberately let the army rob a day after the siege. To put it bluntly, they let the soldiers rob the people's money and rape women.

Ye Chen is a professional soldier from later generations. Naturally, he hates these bad habits in the army. Fortunately, the Imperial Army of the Song Dynasty was very strict in the military. Although these bad habits existed, they did not become the norm. Otherwise, the generals below will definitely retaliate. .

The five solemnly said yes, and after saluting Ye Chen, they turned and left.

Ye Chen shook his head, stood at the door of the tent, looked at the camp, frowned and pondered. At this time, all the officers were called by the generals to discuss matters. The Huotou army led people to fetch water from the nearby river, and piled stones on the stove to cook.At this moment, everyone is working together, some are fetching water for cooking, some are collecting firewood to start a fire... Ye Chen has an illusion, as if he is having a picnic.If it wasn't for thinking about fighting, maybe this kind of journey would be quite interesting.

But he knew that after tomorrow's battle, some of these people in front of him must die.

In fact, Ye Chen is a bit disapproving of the main siege method of this era, the ant-attached climbing method, because it will cause too much loss to the attacking party. He decided in his heart that he will attack at most three times tomorrow. If he cannot take Shaozhou in one fell swoop, he will no longer use the ant-attached Siege method, and find other ways to break the city.

That night, the Song army set up a bright camp three miles outside Shaozhou City. This position was too close for the attacking side. Even five lanterns were hung high above the central army position, and they were not covered with black cloth, which seemed to be against Shaozhou's troops. The Southern Han army took it very seriously.In fact, the surrounding area is full of ambush troops and Huaxia Guards. Those military craftsmen have been busy all night lighting torches, building more shield vehicles, crude ladders, catapults and other siege equipment.

Ye Chen in the big tent looked at the scene outside for a while, then lowered his head, stroking the drawing thoughtfully with his fingers.Hu Sanguang and several personal guards stood around.

Ye Chen didn't take off his armor that night, and he didn't sleep well. He tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep. It wasn't because he was wearing armor.Rather, he was a little nervous. He thought he had thought things through and had thought about everything he needed to think about, but God knows what happened in the real fight. After all, this was the first time he commanded tens of thousands of siege battles.In a daze, he felt as if he had returned to the eve of the college entrance examination in his later life, and he was anxiously waiting for the moment when the result would be announced.

The soldiers of the Southern Han Dynasty did not have the courage to harass them at night, and the two sides lived in peace until dawn.

In the early morning of the second day, the drums of the Song army continued, and the soldiers of the imperial army who lined up neatly came out of the camp one after another, forming a line one mile away from the Shaozhou city wall.

In May, even in the south, the temperature difference between day and night is still a bit large. The next day it was just dawn, and Ye Chen washed his face with the river water brought by his soldiers, and it was freezing cold.

The personal guard reported that the army had already begun to deploy troops under the command of the main generals.Ye Chen pretended to be calm, washed his face a few more times with cold water, and then wiped his face.Then he walked out of the big tent, put tooth powder on the toothbrush, and brushed his teeth pretending to be calm.The soldiers passing by outside the tent saw that he was not in a hurry, and they all smiled and became more confident.

(End of this chapter)