Chapter 181 Victory in the first battle, transfer of destiny?

Author: Traveling from the South

Chapter 181 Victory in the first battle, transfer of destiny?

At present, the entire Bei'an County still maintains a certain degree of independence, and the only counties that have independent control over the military and civilian affairs are Andu and Ningqiu counties.

Ningqiu County is located on one side, with complex terrain and many mountains and hills. Its population and wealth are in the middle and lower reaches, and it cannot have much impact on the overall situation.

It won't take much effort to capture the other three counties in the four counties south of the county, and finally capture Ningqiu County, it will be a matter of course.

Compared with the strategic position of Ningqiu County, Andu County, located in the southernmost part of Bei'an County, is of great significance.

Its city defense is complete and it has access to the outside world. It is the southern gate of Bei'an County.

Sun Yucheng, who controlled both the county and the city, captured Andu County and sent heavy troops to guard the pass. This would form a closed loop of the political and military territory and have a solid strategic rear.

In this way, it will be much easier to deal with the Demon Subduing General's Mansion in the south of the county with peace of mind.

Lou Jinpeng has loved learning about mountains and geography since he was a child, and he is familiar with family military traditions, so he naturally knows the value of Andu County to Bei'an County.

Therefore, he captured the two counties day and night, hoping to launch a surprise attack on Andu in order to gain an advantage in the upcoming battle.

From the moment Jiedu Mansion sent troops to capture the southern part of the county, Lou Jinpeng knew that they were going to go to war with the General Mansion. This was the inevitable truth that one mountain could not tolerate two tigers.

But he never expected that Zhou Bai would move so quickly. According to the calculations before the war, the General Mansion would normally disperse its troops and leave them alone.

Zhou Bai wanted to assemble all the troops, baggage and supplies for the first battle, and seven days should be the fastest time limit, which would be enough time for the army to return.

However, the envoys from Andu County for help had just arrived in Pingcang, and the main force of their army could go out on the same day. This was too unreasonable.

"Have you been prepared for this? Or did Jiedu Mansion leak the news?"

No matter how many doubts Lou Jinpeng had, facing Sun Yucheng's successive urgent edicts, he could only lead his army back halfway.

They brought out 20,000 people, 5,000 yamen troops, and 15,000 foreign town troops. When they returned to the county, the number turned out to be 30,000.

Not only did he not send troops to stay in Tong County and Fusheng County, he also raided and took away all the soldiers and horses in the two counties, including the family members of the wealthy families.

The money and food in the government treasury of the other two counties were also completely emptied. They did not look like officers and soldiers at all, but just bandits who took a fortune and ran away.

Especially Fusheng County, the only middle county in the south of the county, with a population of more than 200,000, plundered nearly 7,000 soldiers and a large amount of money and grain.

In his eyes, the problems of the more than 10,000 newly added soldiers and horses, such as using useless weapons to make up for the numbers, weak willpower, and inability to display their combat power, are no big deal in his eyes.

If it is not suitable for field battles, it can also be placed in the city to assist in defense, or as a supplementary soldier.

As for how much instability and trouble this kind of behavior will bring to Jiedu Mansion's rule in the south of the county in the future, we can't worry too much about it right now.

In the next battle, we can only win but not lose.

If you win, you can adjust slowly. If you lose, everything will be in vain.

On April 14, the vanguard general Jiao Tu appointed by Zhou Bai led 3,000 regular soldiers (garrison troops) and 300 cavalry, and marched quickly to the market town of Futong, a hundred miles away from the county seat.

Now that the demon-suppressing army is out on an expedition, the cavalry will no longer be hidden away as a treasure. They already have the confidence to use battle as a substitute for training.

The cavalry army has been expanded to a total of one thousand cavalry. Except for the five hundred cavalry who will not move lightly as direct subordinates, the remaining five hundred cavalry will be kept at night and equipped with the army for use as patrol sentries.

The forward with three hundred cavalry is to use the advantage of cavalry to cover the battlefield ahead, effectively harass and delay the enemy's activities, and make Sun Yucheng blind.

Since the great changes in Cangbei County, caravans passed through the grassland trade road every day, but now there is no group of merchants for several days.

Because now only the Taoist officials dispatched by the General Mansion can ensure that the caravans are not disturbed by wild ghosts. If we want to maintain the grassland trade routes, we will need to spend more manpower and material resources.

Similarly, Huyanhe, which is gaining successive victories in the northern grassland, has greatly increased the difficulty of obtaining resources in the south.

In order for the General's Mansion to ensure smooth trade routes and regular buying and selling of resources, Hu Yanhe suffered a lot of blood.

As gifts of 800 war horses, cheese, fur, ore and other grassland resources equivalent to ten thousand taels of silver, things are indeed getting better and better.

Moreover, Huyanhe not only built a new city on the grassland as the capital of the Northern Jin Dynasty, but also made significant military progress and captured most of the northern foothills of Yinshan Mountain.

Yinshan is of extraordinary significance to the Jin people. Hu Yanhe's title is the Marquis of Yinshan. If Yinshan is completely conquered, Hu Yanhe will gain unimaginable political prestige.

The noble ministers here in the Southern Jin Kingdom will also turn around and support him, and the unification of the Jin Kingdom will be a foregone conclusion.

Thinking of Hu Yanhe's various performances after he fled to Daxu, especially his forbearance and determination in Shenjing, he finally got the opportunity to be the "sword" by Emperor Xiangxing.

Zhou Bai felt that with such an opponent, if he was really allowed to unify the Jin Kingdom, the rear would definitely be greatly threatened.

So after taking Hu Yanhe's resources, the General's Office set up a quarry market in Cangbei County.

Of course, after receiving the money, they would definitely not let Hu Yanhe come all the way to get the resources. They would still send the caravan.

However, the Cangbei Forex Market is a nominal foreign exchange market, and all forces can come here to exchange resources.

For example, another large grassland country, the Xianbei Kingdom, or the Nanjin Kingdom adjacent to Cangbei.

Jiao Tu couldn't imagine these big strategic games, nor would he care about them.

He only cares about eradicating Futong Town as soon as possible. This is the first battle of joining the General's Mansion. If he delays even a little bit, it will be difficult to repay General Fumo's trust.

Many people in the Demon-Suppressing Army are qualified for the position of vanguard. Zhou Bai chose a demoted general, so he was naturally given a chance.

If you can achieve good results, you can not only prove your talents, but also quickly integrate into the larger group of the Demon-Subduing Army.

Zhou Bai really wanted to reuse and train the talented generals who were destined to be red and yellow. He was chosen to be a pioneer based on Jiao Tu's specific performance.

Futong Town, as its name suggests, is a trading town rich in goods.

In peacetime, this place was one of the most lively places in Bei'an County. Even in the county town, it may not have all the goods here.

Since Sun Yucheng raised troops to capture the county town, the counties in Bei'an County have basically cut off official exchanges, and several market towns and strategic locations around the county town have become military-controlled by Jiedu Prefecture.

Futong Town, in particular, is an important node for the Northern Army to move south to the county town, so there are troops garrisoned here.

The prosperity was no longer there, and the houses around the market town were collectively demolished and used for the construction of village walls.

An open commercial market town turned into a fortified military stronghold blocking the official road.

At first Zhou Bai could lead his cavalry around it and come and go freely, but if he really wanted to march his army, he couldn't leave such a nail behind, otherwise the Houqin Food Road would be harassed.

On the wall of the stronghold, there are many armored soldiers, and the garrison troops are ready.

However, both soldiers and officers looked sad when they saw the troops arrayed outside.

Because this powerful army did not plan to set up camp, but instead built simple ladders and battering rams. It seemed that they were going to capture Futong in one go.

"Report, the enemy's vanguard general Jiao Tu has sent a letter persuading him to surrender. Mr. Qian, do you want to read it?" A soldier quickly sent a letter and gave it to the garrison Mr. Qian Huang Gui.

Different from the establishment of the central army, one battalion of 500 men is not enough to garrison many places, and one guard and two guards are too many.

The garrison army needs to be flexibly adjusted, so a lot of additional military positions have been extended to supplement the regular teams, battalions, guards and other establishments.

Such as Baizong, Qianzong, defense, etc.

Before Huang Gui read the letter and learned who the vanguard general was outside, a group of other officers immediately exploded.

"Zhou's flag, Jiao's flag, it's indeed Jiao Wei, why is it him!"

"What are you afraid of? There are two thousand of us and they are only three thousand. If we can't defeat them in the field, we can't defend them?"

"Hey, brother, you are a servant of a great commander. You don't know Jiao Tu's reputation among the county soldiers. At the beginning, no one was afraid of the bandits in Cangshan. As soon as Jiao Tu sent out troops, he immediately hid in the mountain and stayed there for several months."

"There are two thousand of us, but only 700 are old men who have been trained and started their careers with the commander. The rest are..."

Before he finished speaking, Huang Gui turned over with a glare and snorted coldly.

Suddenly, everything was silent, and everyone was as silent as a cicada.

The eldest brother was very kind to them. He was so angry that he was treated by military law.

After using Weifu for his own use, Huang Gui then crumpled the letter of persuasion into a ball and felt more comfortable.

This group of brothers, after they were stationed in Futong Town, enjoyed the hot food and drank spicy food, but they just got a little carried away.

However, his expression remained gloomy, because he himself knew that his subordinate was right.

Huang Gui and other garrison guards stationed around the county town were not actually given the best jobs at the beginning. None of the four counties in the south of the county and even other pass counties in the county were better than the garrison positions in small towns.

But good fortune and misfortune can come as no surprise. Just when Sun Yucheng was about to send troops to conquer the four counties in the south of the county, he was severely attacked by Zhou Bai. His prestige and luck were greatly reduced.

The outer town army could only stay in the county town for the time being, and Huang Gui's positions in the surrounding areas became a hot commodity.

Perhaps in order to strengthen the defense, or perhaps to silence the generals of the outer town army, with Sun Yucheng's tacit approval, the generals who were out of town, such as Huang Gui, expanded their troops one after another.

Futong Town, which Huang Gui occupied, was rich in business, money, food and taxes, so he had a thousand-man general, but brought two thousand soldiers.

Two thousand soldiers were not many, but it made a general in Jiedu Mansion fancy his position and failed to persuade Sun Yucheng to lower the order.

But when he really thought about the fighting strength of his two thousand soldiers, Huang Gui was a little unsure of how long he could hold out.

One day or two days and three days?

Jiao Tu arrived so quickly that he didn't even have a chance to escape. You said that if you had sent a message earlier, he would have held on.

As a non-Jiedu direct descendant, Huang Gui, who was just an inspection officer, had no idea what "loyalty" meant.

"Report to Mr. Qian, the water source outside the town has been discovered."

Just when Huang Gui was hesitating, Jiao Tu was not idle outside. As a former county soldier, he was on guard. The county city was a hundred miles away, and there was no place he was familiar with.

Several close subordinates suddenly felt like bitter gourds. Bei'an was short of water, and the only water source in Futong Town was a hidden underground spring. Unless they were locals, most people didn't know where it was.
To be continued...