Chapter 515 A Thousand Miles Journey (9)

On March 14, only one day after the battle between Hutuohe and Xushui, the troops were slightly gathered together, and Zhang Xing, the chief of the gang, personally sent troops to Youzhou.

There are not many troops, Zhang Xing is the leader, plus Wang Shuyong, Xu Shiren, Jia Yue, Yuan Baocun, Wang Xiongdan, Zhang Gongshen, Dou Xiaoniang, Su Jingfang eight battalions, and 287 cavalry led by Qin Bao are preparing to form the Tabai cavalry.

, and a whole team of fifty soldiers and thirty clerks led by Ma Wei.

Of course, the big leader and Grandmaster Niu He will accompany him, as will the newly surrendered Hou Junshu.

In addition, Zhang Xing also summoned Feng Chang and Xu Jingzu, two high-ranking clerks from the Department of Clerical Affairs and the Department of Military Affairs, who were in Yecheng, and asked them and their men to come from Yecheng immediately to accompany the army.

Also preparing to cross Xushui was another group of troops led by Li Ding, Zhang Shiniang, Liu Heifu, Zhai Qian, Feng Duan, Fang Yanshi, Su Mu, Han Erlang, Chang Fu, Fan Lihua and other leaders.

Their task was to assist Zhang Xing in capturing the three cities of Liangxiang, Zhuoxian, and Gu'an on the passage from Hejian to Youzhou City. Then they would turn to the west and join the two battalions left by Li Ding there to form a counterattack.

The heavily armed group on the western front not only controls Boling, which was originally about to be captured, but also looks for opportunities to attack Daijun, Shanggu, and Hengshan counties in the northwest corner of the Hebei Plain.

At the same time, Chief Zhang ordered in handwriting that Xiong Bonan and Xu Shiying should live in Muxian County, establish a large camp, enforce military laws, count military merits, hunt down the remaining tribesmen, control, kill, accept prisoners, and clean up Xushui and Hutuo

The battlefield between the rivers, and looking for opportunities to support Zhang Xing in the north and Li Ding in the west.

With Shan Tonghai as the leader, he organized a special force of five to six battalions, marched westward to Boling and Hengshan, and responded to Li Ding to jointly deal with the western front... The two of them were led by Li Ding.

Bai Yousi, Dou Lide and Xie Minghe lived in Hejian, surrendered the Hejian camp, retrieved the list of generals and soldiers of the Hejian camp, appointed leaders according to the original surrender list, distributed positions, selected elites, and set up military control according to the original plan.

, assisting Daxingtai in Yecheng with local acceptance and appointment of grassroots officials.

Among them, the appointment of county magistrates, county captains and above must be recommended by at least one of Hejian Bai Yousi, Dou Lide, and Xie Minghe, and then the three temporary Daxingtai chiefs, Chen Bin, Wei Xuanding, Chai Xiao, and Yecheng will be consulted.

, passed the review by the Supervision Department, and finally the appointment was issued by the Personnel Department.

If the appointment process is not smooth, the appointment information of the county governor, general, leader or above should be reported to the chief Zhang Xing for decision.

It can be said that Chief Zhang just made some hasty arrangements behind him and led his army directly across Xushui and into Youzhou.

On March 15, the army crossed the Juma River and captured the first city in Youzhou on the same day. However, it was not the three planned cities, but Suicheng to the west on the south bank of the Juma River and the north bank of the Xushui... They were basically

He was frightened by the battle on the south bank of Xushui River and the retreat of the defeated army in Youzhou, and took the initiative to surrender.

On March 16th, Liu Heifu, the vanguard of the army who took the initiative to fight, quickly went north along Baigou, a tributary of Juma River. The Youzhou army in Zhuoxian city was defeated like a frightened bird, and abandoned the city. When he fled, he also because of the conflict with the local

It caused turmoil and allowed the southern gateway of Youzhou, which had a solid city defense, and one of the largest cities in Hebei, to be easily captured by the army.

On March 18, Liangxiang and Gu'an fell at the same time. Liangxiang surrendered, and Gu'an resisted for two days. The wooden watchtower, the local magistrate, and a Youzhou military man were all killed by Xu Shiren with one arrow.

Shoot it to pieces, and then attack and capture it with three battalions.

In the evening of that day, Chief Zhang settled in Liangxiang.

At the same time, military orders were issued, with Su Jingfang guarding Zhuo County, Dou Xiaoniang guarding Liangxiang, and Zhang Gongshen guarding Gu'an, where he had made his home for more than ten years.

On March 19, Zhang Xing continued to advance northward and approached Youzhou City, but according to the previous discussion, he only brought five battalions of troops. Li Ding also sent troops at the same time, and went west as planned.

In the afternoon of that day, only four or five days later, Chief Zhang Xing arrived at the small town of Longhuo, south of Youzhou City.

"Is this the acropolis of Youzhou City?" Zhang Xing came here and after looking around for a moment, he realized the significance of this city.

"Yes, it's just like Hanling City is like Ye City, and like Jin Yong City is like Dongdu." Zhang Xing was answered by Yuanbaocun who had been in the semi-independent rule of Hebei for several years. His words were relaxed and his beard was calm. "This is

The capital of Zhongfang is a large city and cannot be easily defended, so some horns must be set up as acropolis. The Clanhuo City is the acropolis of Youzhou City."

Frankly speaking, many people are puzzled that Yuan Baocun can accompany him to conquer Youzhou, but Liu Heifu can only go to the west with Li Ding. This man has unprecedented battle skills, but some people have guessed the whole story.

Use this person's qualifications and identity to do the recruiting and surrendering work.

"Indeed." Wang Shuyong also interjected. "Sanggan River is in the south of Youzhou City. Longhuo City and Youzhou City stand across the river. It is a standard defensive corner."

"Even the Acropolis has been abandoned by the Youzhou people, which shows that it is at the end of its rope." Yuan Baocun continued to laugh.

"That's not what I'm talking about." Zhang Xing waved his hand. "I want to say that if Conghuo City is counted as the Acropolis of Youzhou, isn't it a bit far? Let's stand on the top of the city and look north. We can see everything.

There is no Sanggan water."

"It's a bit far." Ma Wei frowned and said. "I just asked the locals that it is twenty-five miles from here to Youzhou City, and there is a wide Sanggan River in the middle... It is said that... it was originally a river in the former Tang Dynasty.

The county seat has been in chaos due to local relocation for a long time, but the city was left behind because it corresponded to Youzhou City across the river, and was specially used as an acropolis."

"Twenty-five miles is indeed a bit far." Xu Shiren also frowned. "It is a bit far to serve as a guard city, and it is also a bit far to use it as a base camp for troops."

"If the chief intends to suppress Luo Shu and attack the rest of Youzhou first, stationing here is enough." Yuan Baocun persuaded seriously.

Zhang Xing did not answer, but looked towards the plain to the north, which caused the others to shut up for the time being and watch together... Under the afternoon sun, they saw that the most beautiful place in Youzhou was covered with green, but it was just a battle.

, the crops started to spring up, and Youzhou has always been a windy place in spring. The wind swept the fields and the green waves rolled, which was really spectacular.

However, it seems that there are only rolling green waves.

As he was watching, there was a commotion behind him. Looking back, he saw that the soldiers were trying to place Zhang Xing's red flag with the word "deposed" on it, which had become his personal flag, on a high platform in the middle of this militarized city.

But because the wind was too strong, the facilities on the rammed earth platform in the middle were a bit old, and there were not many people with cultivation skills to take care of it, it made it a bit troublesome.

Since Chief Zhang saw this scene, he naturally couldn't leave it alone. Qin Bao did his duty and went to deal with it. Hou Junshu also hurriedly went to help.

"We won't raise the flag for the time being." At this moment, Zhang Xing called out to Qin Bao, then turned around and expressed his attitude to everyone. "It's still early, let's set up a flag and walk around the Sanggan River. Let's see

Take a look at Youzhou City and look for a more suitable place... If not, come back, if there is, change it, this place is indeed a bit far away from Youzhou."

"The chief is right. Now that he's here, it's natural to have a face-to-face meeting." Yuan Baocun responded immediately.

After everyone reached a consensus, they left Jia Yue behind. Wang Xiongdan stayed in Conghuo City, while Zhang Xing raised his banner and led a few hundred riders. Several other leaders, including Niu He, followed him northward to Sang.

Go up to the riverside and look out at Youzhou City.

Before reaching the Sanggan River, the scenery had already changed because there was a fire ahead.

When we came to the south bank of the Sangqian River, we could see it even more clearly... It turned out that several ferries, villages and markets on the north bank of this place were all temporarily burned down. There were several pontoons on the river, but they were all burned down by the Youzhou people on their own initiative at this time. But what's interesting is that

Yes, there is actually a large stone bridge with three holes and a single arch, which is simple in shape and a hundred steps long, left untouched.

"Interesting." Zhang Xing looked at the stone bridge from a distance and couldn't help but laugh. "Is this because you don't want to give up, it's too late, and you do it on purpose?"

"It must be because we are reluctant or too late. We came too fast, and the Youzhou soldiers fled in disarray. It is said that this bridge was built by He Xihe, the deputy in charge of the army, when he accompanied the main force of the Wei Dynasty to conquer Youzhou. Youzhou people respected and loved it very much.

, are all called Youzhou Bridge." Ma Wei said sternly. "But there is some truth in saying it is intentional... After all, with the stone bridge, we have few soldiers, so we will not want to build a pontoon bridge if we have no choice but to march and retreat.

At that time, this stone bridge became a fatal choke point."

"There are some traces of Li Longtou's military use." Zhang Xing continued to laugh.

This was considered a joke, and no one was surprised. A few people even agreed.

Moreover, the specific results of the Hutuohe-Xushui battle have not yet been sent, and the impact has not yet been fully demonstrated, but it must be admitted in any case that the process of this battle was extremely fast, the losses were minimal, but the scale was huge, and the results were

It's huge, and the impact is huge.

The most obvious result of the battle was, of course, that the three most important counties in Hebei controlled by the Hejian Camp completely changed hands, and more than half of the main forces in Youzhou were destroyed.

It can be said that this battle basically eliminated the main obstacle to the unification of Hebei from a military perspective.

With this influence, not to mention anything else, the recognition of Li Ding by the whole gang has been greatly improved... This is the role of military talents. Without what Li Ding said that night, this battle would have

It's not that easy, right? How many more people will die?

According to Zhang Xing's complaints on the road a few days ago, it doesn't take much. If Li Ding can fight two more battles like this, his prestige within the gang will reach the top five.

In this way, everyone looked at the stone bridge, then looked at the river, then scanned the river bed and the terrain on both sides, and then looked at the city wall on the opposite side... It was afternoon, the sun shone on the Sanggan River, the golden light shone, and the water flowed, but it didn't stop.

Hurry. There were green seedlings on both sides, and there were fireworks on the river. The Youzhou army on the north bank evacuated hastily, and it was a mess. Only the flags on the city were in order, but Luo Shu's handsome flag was nowhere to be seen.

After watching it for a long time, I looked towards the south bank where my house was standing. It looked like a big flag was rolling and the sun was shining - it was another scene.

"Has this river been renovated recently?" After looking at it for a long time, Zhang Xing was the first to break the silence, but pointed at the river in front of him and asked a strange question.

"It must be so." Ma Wei looked at it and immediately replied, "It should be used as a moat."

"It's rare to meet someone who knows how to renovate rivers, but just to make a moat." Wang Wulang couldn't help laughing.

"Indeed." Xu Shiren glanced at the fireworks around him and couldn't help but sigh. "These warlords in these places know neither the system nor the law, let alone the people's livelihood? If the land on both sides of the Sanggan River can be better prepared,

Irrigation is a paradise unparalleled anywhere...but unfortunately, we only built a moat."

"Youzhou City is also built solidly." Yuan Baocun said with squinted eyes, but then looked at Niu He who didn't say much, and turned to another topic. "Niu Governor...Niu Gong, I dare to ask, if there is a grandmaster

If you build a pagoda here, can you really resist three masters or one great master?"

"It stands to reason that we can just do this." Ushikawa's reply was very simple.

"It stands to reason?"

"Of course." Ushikawa said seriously. "According to logic, this is like a person without cultivation versus another without cultivation. It seems like it should be a tie, but in fact everyone knows that one person versus another person

Nine out of ten people can tell the difference between a winner and a loser... Some people can beat ten of them, and some people can't even bite a wild dog on the roadside."

These words are easy to understand, and Yuan Baocun also suddenly understood: "We are all masters, and there are always strengths and weaknesses, just like mortals have strengths and weaknesses... Then Manager Bai stabbed a dragon and killed two masters, right?

The strongest among the Grandmasters?"

Ushikawa shook his head: "I don't know..."

"No." Zhang Xing said, while continuing to look across the river. "The strongest among the masters should be Sima Zheng. Sanniang has been unable to defeat him time and time again."

Everyone was obviously stunned.

Ma Zhou couldn't help but sigh: "Dongdu...Dongdu!"
To be continued...