Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Zhang Guangdao suffered a defeat.

To be precise, it was the navy under his command that suffered a defeat.

Tong Guan and Xin Xingzong were so cowardly that they obviously came to suppress thieves, but they stayed at the mouth of the Wuling River and refused to come out.

The Han River turns into several sharp inlets, where the water slows down and sediment accumulates over the years. The Wuling River, the largest tributary of the Han River, also brings sediment here. Under the influence of many parties, a Jiangxin Continent was gradually formed.

Jiangxinzhou is four miles long and 400 meters wide, cutting the Han River. The narrowest point of the north flow is 200 meters, and the narrowest point of the south flow is 400 meters.

The divine arm bows and bed crossbows of the officers and soldiers were all arranged in Jiangxinzhou, and some flat cannons were also temporarily made.

Zhang Guangdao sent a warship to try to kill him, but was immediately attacked by Jiang Xinzhou. At the same time, officers and soldiers were shooting arrows wildly on the south bank, and officers and soldiers of the navy also fought their way out of the Wuling River.

Under attack from three sides, fortunately the officers and soldiers of the navy pulled back, otherwise the rebel navy would have been completely annihilated.

Even so, the rebels lost nine warships, large and small, more than 300 sailors were killed or missing in battle, and nearly 1,000 were injured.

Before, it was Xin Xingzong who was disgusted by the terrain, but now it is Zhang Guangdao.

The two sides were in a stalemate, and neither dared to attack again, because whoever attacked would be defeated. No matter how strong or large the army is, it is useless. This is purely a battlefield for the navy, and terrain factors have a great impact on the war.

Several small boats came from the south, and everyone on board was panicked and anxious.

Tong Guan was drinking on Jiangxin Island, which was the safest place, when he saw Xin Xingzong bringing people by boat.

"Master, Zhushan is gone." Xin Xingzong whispered.

Tong Guan was holding the wine glass, his expression completely frozen. After a while, he asked in surprise: "Your brother was defeated?"

Xin Xingzong said: "My brother was defeated. The group of bandits who captured Fangzhou sent agents to set fire to the city and occupied Zhushan City at night. My brother is now blocked in the mountains from the front and back. I'm afraid the situation is in danger."

Tong Guan had received news of the fall of Fangzhou before, but whether there were local rebellions or bandits coming from the south, the number could not be too large. He believed that the Shengjie Army cavalry sent to Zhushan could wipe them out.

How could Zhushan City be captured by bandits?

Xin Yongzong is so incompetent!

Tong Guan thought about it and thought it was not suitable to stay here for a long time.

It is true that he now occupies a favorable location. If bandits come from the south, he will be the one who is flanked.

That night, Tong Guan organized the people to carry the food and move them all to the lower reaches of Jiangxinzhou to board the ship, so as to avoid being detected by the bandits.

It took two or three days to transport the baggage in batches to Yunxiang, forty miles away, and then back to transport the soldiers at the mouth of the Wuling River.

The narrowest point of the Han River there is only 300 meters, and the countless Qizhou Islands have more complicated terrain!

After retreating to Yunxiang, Tong Guan still felt unsafe because the terrain here was more gentle, and the bandits could land in advance and attack by land.

So they gathered all the ships to transport troops and food, and retreated all the way to Danjiangkou.

Now that he had retreated to Danjiangkou, Tong Guan thought carefully and decided that it would be safer to stick to Xiangyang and quickly led the entire army to Xiangyang.

At least after arriving in Xiangyang, if something unexpected happens, there will be more than one escape route.

Although Zhang Guangdao did not dare to attack, he sent small boats to observe the enemy's situation from a distance every day.

Tong Guan transferred rations and soldiers from the shore and boarded the ship further downstream at night. Zhang Guangdao could not find him.

It wasn't until the third day after Tong Guan's entire army withdrew that the soldiers in charge of the investigation finally felt something was wrong. Because the several camps of officers and soldiers were too quiet, and there were no longer warships of officers and soldiers patrolling upstream.

The scouts dared to approach by boat, but there was still no enemy ship to chase him away.

Finally, we took a boat to Jiangxinzhou and found that the camp here was empty, with only many flags still fluttering in the wind. Then we took a boat to the south bank. The camp was still empty, and no enemy ships were found in the Wuling River.

"Why did you run away?" Zhang Guangdao couldn't understand.

It was obvious that the officers and soldiers occupied a favorable terrain and stayed there to make him lose his temper. Why did the entire army just escape?

Xu Ning guessed: "Could it be that Guan Sheng's side won a big victory, and Tong Guan was afraid of being attacked from both sides?"

"It's very possible," Zhang Guangdao nodded and ordered, "Chase!"

When Zhang Guangdao pursued him all the way to Yunxiang County, he found that not only was Tong Guan's army missing, but even the Yunxiang County magistrate had fled.

Effortlessly, pick up a county town for nothing.

Then he chased to Danjiangkou. There was no city here in the Song Dynasty, only a commercial town.

Further downstream is the military city of the Guanghua Army.

The commander of the Guanghua Army also ran away with the military commander.

Further ahead, Gucheng County is still empty.

Zhang Guangdao finally understood that Tong Guan definitely planned to defend Xiangyang.

Zhang Guangdao led the entire army and was stationed in Niushou Town, thirty miles away from Xiangyang. He also sent a ship back to pick up Guan Sheng, who had won a great victory, and then besieged Xiangyang after joining forces.

What is Guan Sheng doing?

Already joined forces with Li Bao.

Xin Qizong learned that Zhushan had fallen and his escape route had been blocked. He was so frightened that he attacked fiercely during the day and fled immediately after nightfall.

Afraid of being discovered by the rebels, he did not even dare to burn the food and grass, so he only left with some for each person.

Guan Sheng detected that the officers and soldiers were fleeing, and immediately led the entire army to pursue them. At dawn, they finally caught up.

The two sides fought in Yishui Town. The morale of the officers and soldiers was low, and the entire army collapsed after a short battle.

Xin Qizong realized something was wrong and quickly fled the battlefield with his soldiers, only to run into Li Bao and Chen Ziyi who were coming from Zhushan.

Li Bao and Guan Sheng joined forces, but they did not have enough ships, so they could only proceed slowly along the Wuling River.

It wasn't until Zhang Guangdao sent a boat to pick him up that he took the boat to Niushou Town.

"Since ancient times, if you defend Xiang, you must defend Fan, and if you attack Xiang, you must attack Fan," Li Bao said. "We must capture Fan City first."

Zhang Guangdao smiled and said: "Then attack Dengcheng first."

As soon as these words came out, all the generals in Jinzhou laughed.

Li Bao asked, puzzled, "Why are you laughing?"

Guan Sheng explained: "The Wei family, the largest family in Dengcheng, has a descendant named Wei Yingshi, who is the direct disciple of the general."

Li Bao nodded and said, "I know this and we went to Lizhou together."

Zhang Guangdao said: "All the goods sent from Jinzhou have to go to the Wei family to collect enough money. The news brought back from the south is also sent to the Wei family first. Even some of the military rations purchased by Jinzhou are from Wei. My family helped me contact him. Grandpa Wei once refused the imperial conquest and was completely disappointed with the Song Dynasty, so he allowed his grandson to help the rebels."

Wei Tai was not disappointed with Song Huizong, but despaired of the Song Dynasty court. Since his brother-in-law Zeng Bu was demoted and died, he believed that the court was hopeless.

It just so happens that the Zhu family and his son look like they can change the dynasty!

In Fancheng during the Northern Song Dynasty, the city walls had long been in disrepair and it was just a large commercial town under the jurisdiction of Dengcheng.

After taking Dengcheng County, Fancheng Town can be captured easily by land.

Zhang Guangdao led the army to approach Dengcheng, which was defended by local soldiers.

Wei Tai, Wei Yingshi and his grandson were invited from Weijiazhuang, and Wei Tai, the old man, personally went to persuade them to surrender.

Although people usually think that dogs are abandoned, Wei Tai's prestige is still very high. The shield bearer protected him and shouted outside the city. The rural soldiers in the city put down their weapons one after another. The county magistrate of Dengcheng was unwilling to surrender and was directly tied up by a group of rural soldiers.

Zhang Guangdao then sent his troops to Fancheng. Before they had gone far, Chen Ziyi, who was responsible for inquiring about the news, came back with his cavalry and reported: "Tong Guan abandoned the city by boat and fled, most likely to Nanyang."

"How come this eggless eunuch doesn't dare to stay and fight?" Zhang Guangdao was so angry that he yelled.

Zhang Guangdao's elite troops were blocked by disgusting terrain at the mouth of the Wuling River, and they had long been holding back their evil fire and had nowhere to vent it.

Especially since Li Bao made great achievements by running thousands of miles, Zhang Guangdao was also eager to prove himself and just wanted to fight with Tong Guan's army with real swords and guns.

However, Tong Guan could only run away, but Zhang Guangdao seemed to be holding a peerless magic bow and couldn't find the target.

In fact, Tong Guan really wanted to defend Xiangyang. It would be a huge sin to abandon this place, but another accident happened!

…

Two days ago.

The Jingmen Zhijun sent news that after the thief Kou Zhongxiang occupied Jiangling, more and more people fled north.

One moment it was said that the police had been taken over by bell thieves, the next it was said that the stone head had been taken over by bell thieves, and they even brought news that Wang Zhen's entire army had been annihilated.

The Zhijun of Jingmen didn't have many soldiers and was so scared that he couldn't sleep all day. When he heard that Tong Guan had returned to Xiangyang, he quickly asked Tong Guan to send some troops over.

"How could this Wang Zhen be defeated worse than us?" Tong Guan was furious.

Xin Xingzong said: "The army in Wang Zhen's hand is what we have left. It is very possible that the whole army will be annihilated. The bell thieves are probably Zhu Thief's generals. If they occupy more states and counties, they will kidnap more thieves." When our troops move north, Xiangyang will be attacked from both sides."

At this time, Zhong Xiang had proclaimed himself emperor, but the news had not yet reached Xiangyang. Tong Guan also regarded Zhong Xiang as one of Ju Ming's people.

Tong Guan thought: "It is indeed difficult to deal with it. If the thieves only attack from the upper reaches, Xiangyang City will definitely be able to defend the high ground and the deep pool. But if the bell thieves come from the south to attack together, we will have nowhere to escape."

Xin Xingzong sighed and said: "Losing the great city of Xiangyang is an unforgivable crime. We cannot abandon the city and leave."

Tong Guan gritted his teeth and said fiercely: "As long as the soldiers are still in hand, no matter how big a crime is, we can suppress it! I just hope that the Shaanxi side will also end in a defeat. If we are defeated in all directions, our defeat here will be nothing."

"This statement makes sense," Xin Xingzong muttered, "I am afraid that the way of cultivating a teacher will defeat the thieves."

Tong Guan said: "He can't win. Those bandits in Sichuan are not ordinary bandits. A bandit general named Zhang killed us and defeated us. The Zhu bandits in Hanzhong are personally in charge, and the road is difficult and dangerous. How can Zhongshidao win?" "

Xin Xingzong nodded: "I hope so."

Tong Guan said: "Hurry up and prepare to take only the Shengjie and Kaifeng soldiers away, leaving the rest of the Xiang and rural soldiers. There are too many people to fit on the ship, so we have to free up the cabin to transport food. Evacuate Nanyang first. If If Nanyang cannot be defended, we will retreat to Yingchang."

The two men immediately prepared to retreat. Except for the Shengjie Army and Kaifeng soldiers, all other troops would be abandoned by them.

Xiangyang is a strategically important place, and losing this city would be a great sin.

They only wanted the Shaanxi official army to be defeated, preferably the entire Western Army to be annihilated, so that they could overshadow the fall of the Nanxiang Basin.

As long as I have soldiers in my hands, the emperor must seriously consider the consequences when punishing me.

As long as others lose more miserably than me, then my defeat is nothing!

Tong Guan understands dialectics.