Chapter 1559 An army of one million troops marched against Shu
The overall terrain of Hanzhong is dominated by mountains, which account for 75.2% of the total land area. Among them, low mountains account for 18.2%, and high and high mountains account for 57.0%.
Shangyong and Xicheng in the east are blocked by the Qinling Mountains, Bashan, Wudang Mountain, and Wushan. The territory is connected by the Han River, Nan River, Duhe River, and Qianqian River. It radiates in a network and is a standard place with four fortresses.
.
It is precisely because of this that Mengda, during the period of the Three Kingdoms' great power, was able to establish a separate regime here for a long time.
Shangyong and Xicheng are both built in dangerous places, close to mountains, which makes them easy to defend and difficult to attack.
The generals Liu Che arranged to station here are not mediocre, but comparing people to others will lead to death, and comparing goods will lead to throwing away. Although these generals are not mediocre, compared to the father and son combination of Wang Jian and Wang Ben, they are actually more mediocre.
There isn't much difference between people.
Moreover, beforehand, Floating Water House had collected as much information as possible about the roads in Bashu and made full intelligence preparations for this battle.
Wang Jian used the greed of people's hearts to lure General Shangyong out of the city and successfully ambushed him outside the city.
Afterwards, Wang Jian sent out 300 elite troops, led by generals Wang Zhongsi and Zhao Yun, who pretended to be Shangyong guard and his followers, and deceived the city gate into opening.
The city gate was opened, and Wang Jian's army hidden in the dark killed him in one fell swoop, completely taking Shangyong into his pocket, and achieved a good start after entering Shu.
If Wang Jian used deception and attack to attack Shangyong, then what he carried out in Xicheng after that was an out-and-out forceful attack.
The road to Shu is as difficult as climbing to the sky. These words are never just words.
It's not easy for people outside to break in, but similarly, is it easy for people inside to get out?
Most of the roads in Hanzhong are mountainous. Even if there are reinforcements in Yizhou, by the time they arrive, the day lily will be cold. Unless they are in some nearby counties, there will be no time to support them. Moreover, with what they have in hand,
There are a few people who have the courage to support us.
Wang Jian's men include Li Guang, Gao Changgong, Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, Chen Qi, Zheng Lun, Fan Kuai and other fierce generals. There are also three god-level generals, Shi Gandang, Xiong Yan and Zhao Yun.
Although some of the generals who conquered Japan were transferred to other places, most of them were still here with Wang Jian.
In order to capture the west city as soon as possible, Wang Jian not only personally commanded the army to attack the city, but also ordered Shi Gandang, Xiong Zhen, Zheng Lun and other generals to lead the attack in turn.
Although the terrain of Xicheng was dangerous, it could not withstand Wang Jian's usual overwhelming and overwhelming posture. After holding on for ten days, he was still unable to succeed, which added to Wang Jian's small achievements.
In fact, it is a rare thing for this general to be able to stay here for more than ten days. It is not an easy task for Wang Jian to support him for so long.
When Liu Che learned that Shangyong and Xicheng had been lost, he was shocked. But he also knew that since the Jin army had already taken action, it would definitely not just be satisfied with such a pitiful place. Next, Yizhou and Jin
The great war of armies is really about to begin.
Perhaps, to put it more bluntly, the war between the two most powerful princes in the world is really about to begin.
As a result, Liu Che sent General Zhou Yafu with 150,000 troops and horses to help at night. Wang Jian only had less than 30,000 troops in his hands. Of course, there was no need for 150,000 troops to rush for reinforcements. Only reinforcements were sent from Hanzhong.
That's enough.
However, Liu Che sent 150,000 troops and horses, so of course it could not be just Wang Jian's 30,000 troops.
Liu Che saw clearly that Wang Jian's 30,000 soldiers and horses were just appetizers in the final analysis, and they were just the vanguard troops of the Jin army exploring the road. In the direction of Hanzhong, what they will face next is definitely far more than these 30,000 soldiers.
people.
The Jin army in the direction of Nanyang began to attack Hanzhong, let alone the Han army in the direction of Yongzhou.
At this time, Liu Che not only did not think that his one-time dispatch of 150,000 troops was too much, he was even worried about whether the troops would be enough.
Sure enough, not long after, the news that the Jin army sent millions of troops to conquer Shu spread throughout the world.
Sizhou's 200,000 troops came to Jingzhou in a mighty manner. One hundred thousand troops were separated from Nanyang, led by Chang Yuchun, to join Wang Jian. The remaining one hundred thousand troops, led by Wu Qi, joined Qi Jiguang of the Yangtze River Navy along the Yangtze River.
Shu.
In the north, Li Jing personally led an army of 300,000 and 100,000 Yongzhou soldiers and horses, and the Lantian camp of 50,000 soldiers and horses, a total of 450,000, were in Guanzhong, and Liangzhou continued to gather.
"My lord, the Jin army is attacking with millions of troops, and no one but my family can resist it! My lord needs to contact the princes of the world as soon as possible to jointly resist the Jin army!" Huo Guang said worriedly.
In ancient times, although the army was often called a million troops, in fact it was just an imaginary number.
A million-strong army is not impossible, but time must be sufficient.
The battlefield situation changes rapidly, time is extremely precious, and combat mobilization also relies on time. From mobilization to assembly, from preparing supplies to transporting supplies, it all takes time. In ancient times, transportation was underdeveloped. It was impossible for the emperor to say that the whole country was mobilized, and the soldiers would be mobilized the next day.
Once assembled, they will appear in front of you.
Just like Li Xiang, after Wang Jian made a good start, although the news of a million-strong army dispatching troops was overwhelming, most of them were actually on the road and had not yet reached the designated location.
The Battle of Pengcheng was said to have 560,000 soldiers, but when Liu Bang set out, he had "50,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry." This number comes from "Historical Records. Biography of Qingbu".
"Your Majesty leads troops to attack Pengcheng. The King of Chu has not yet gone to Qi. Your Majesty sends out 50,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry. Can you capture Huainan?" - "Historical Records. Biography of Qingbu".
Liu Bang had only been mobilizing for a month at that time. It was destined that he would not be able to gather many people in one month. The soldiers that could be gathered could only be those who were relatively close to him, so the total number of soldiers around him when he set off was only 55,000.
The 56th Army just claims that this is just a psychological tactic to increase morale and put psychological pressure on the enemy.
In the Battle of Kunyang between Liu Xiu and Wang Mang in 23 AD, the number recorded in historical records is that Wang Mang had 420,000 troops, but the actual number may be less than 100,000.
"Hanshu" and "Houhanshu" record that in April 23, Wang Mang mobilized all the prefectures and counties, planning 1 million people, but finally decided on 420,000. In May 23, Wang Mang began to set off from Luoyang.
As mentioned above, there were no means of transportation such as cars and trains in ancient times. It was a luxury for ordinary soldiers to even ride horses. However, it would take at least a year to mobilize 420,000 people across the country. As a result, Wang Mang mobilized in April and began to send troops to Luoyang in May.
One thing to understand here is that Wang Mang mobilized the whole country, which means that when he sent troops, soldiers from other states and counties were still on the way to gather and he had already set off. Therefore, Wang Mang could not have an army of 420,000 people under Kunyang City, so "
In the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, it is simply written that "the number of Mang's troops who arrived at the city was one hundred thousand", which means that the number of soldiers who were still on the way out, and Wang Mang's soldiers arrived at Kunyang, was at most 100,000, and maybe not that many.
Because, "Dongguan Han Ji" records that Wang Mang's army arrived at Kunyang City with only "50,000 to 60,000", the data here are very different. Therefore, the scene of a million-strong army fighting in ancient times is theoretically feasible, but it is a bit difficult in practice.
Therefore, in ancient times, the so-called million-strong army was actually an imaginary number. Soldiers plus a series of non-combat units such as civilians may have reached this number.
But although Li Xiang doesn't have a million-strong army, there are still as many as 750,000, not to mention the million farmers.
