ps: Thanks to eagle week and abelus for the reward, and thanks to shuzhenwei and plantrees for their monthly tickets.
There are only more than 40 miles between the south bank of the Yellow River and Bochang, but tens of thousands of Cangzhou and Weizhou troops walked for two full days. There is no other reason, except that the road is bumpy. The Yellow River and Jishui run parallel to the east, and there is less than fifty miles between them.
Therefore, the Yellow River often diverts water from Jishui, leaving dozens of miles of mud, streams and pools behind.
Different from other armies in the Central Plains, the Lulong Army with more than 10,000 people has thousands of war horses. These war horses cannot form a quick advantage at this moment, but have become a drag on the Lulong Army. In addition to the war horses, the equipment of the Lulong Army can be called luxurious. The Tang version of "Imitation England"
"Longbow", the iron armor of the armored spearmen, the heavy armor of the swordsmen and shieldmen, the Mo Dao Du's swords and armor configurations, many equipments of the logistics battalion, a large number of equipment of the engineering battalion, and far more food and grass than foreign troops, all were given to the Lulong Army
The march caused great trouble.
When the whole army arrived at the camp where Li Siye was stationed, the tens of thousands of Lulong troops were all in an extremely embarrassed state. Their clothes were covered with mud, and the wheels of their carts were thickened by several inches of mud. As a last resort, the camp assigned all the troops to Ji in turn.
They bathed in the water, so they wasted another day. Fortunately, they had already passed the most difficult road, and the flat green land was exposed to the eyes of the Lu Long Army, and the Lu Long Army's horses could finally play their role.
Opposite to block Lu Long's reinforcements was Zhu Youning's Jianwu Army, with a total of 3,000 men. Although it was less than 30% of Lu Long's army, the fighting spirit was quite strong. The entire army lined up for field battle, and even ordered all the Yuhou and staff officers to camp in Dizhou.
They were taken aback.
Regarding the battle plan of the large corps, the camp had already prepared a plan. Zhang Xing rearranged three military formations.
The Chinese army is divided into two parts, the front is the Weizhou Army, which needs actual combat experience. This battle will be the main force to contact the enemy; the rear is the elite Cangzhou Army, which guards the Dizhou camp and serves as a reserve force.
All four cavalry battalions of Weizhou Army and Cangzhou Army were mobilized and divided into left and right armies, covering the two flanks of Weizhou Army, with thousands of cavalry on each side.
Facing the weak Jianwu Army, the Lulong Army adopted traditional combat methods. Of course, although it was a bit traditional and rigid, it was based on the experience gained from previous battles and was very lethal.
As the flags were fluttered, a total of a thousand archers on the left and right sides of the Weizhou Army unfolded their bows, and thousands of big arrows flew towards the Xuanwu Army's formation. The Xuanwu Army, which was unprepared and thought it was beyond the range of the arrows, suffered heavy casualties.
The leader, Sima, was stunned for a moment and finally came to his senses, and quickly ordered the charge to Lu Long's army.
I have to admit that the Jianwu Army is indeed the essence of the Xuanwu Army and indeed deserves the title of the main force of Xuanwu. Although the casualties were heavy, military discipline was strict. Under the orders of officers at all levels, not only did they not retreat, but they carried big arrows.
The attack is moving forward. At the same time, Xuanwu Army officers at all levels are battle-hardened. They automatically disperse into groups of sergeants without orders from the general, ranging from a hundred to dozens, in order to minimize the risk of being covered by arrows.
of losses.
After three waves of large arrows, the Lulong Army archers were exhausted. They put down their giant bows, rested for a while, and then switched to their regular walking bows. At this time, the Jianwu Army had already entered the range of the walking bows, so they fired three more arrows, then quickly retreated fifty steps and started again.
Form a team and wait for the opportunity to shoot again.
There was already a violent crash in the front line, and the Jianwu Army was already fighting against the Weizhou Army's armored spearmen. The four battalions of the Weizhou Army had a total of 2,000 armored spearmen, forming a gorgeous armored array, like a mountain.
Block the incoming Jianwu troops firmly and prevent them from advancing even an inch.
The subsequent Jianwu Army expanded towards the two wings of the Weizhou Army, but was blocked by the Weizhou Saber and Shield Soldiers on both wings, tightly covering the armored army formation.
Dozens of officers including Zhang Xingzhong and Jiang Miao in the Dizhou camp gathered around Li Chengzhong, pointing from time to time and analyzing the battle situation in front of them. They were in a temporary mound of earth about ten feet high that had been built by the engineering camp.
, you can have an unobstructed view of the battlefield. The officers were analyzing the battle situation and recording it on paper. The entire mountain looked busy and orderly.
As the master, Li Siye stood next to Li Chengzhong, looking at the battlefield without saying a word, his face flushed. He had been speechless since the beginning of the war between the two armies. What Lu Longjun showed was not combat power, but the luxury of fighting!
Dense arrows were sprayed at the enemy as if they were free of charge. Li Siye made a rough calculation and found that just a few waves of shooting just now, he had fired 6,000 feather arrows! Because he had a good field of vision, he even saw the military formation.
A group of archers on the side covered the dozen or so warrior soldiers who were attacking from the side with rain of arrows. They used more than a hundred feather arrows before and after, shooting these dozen soldiers like hedgehogs.
As for the two thousand armored spearmen in the front line, Li Siye could only marvel. If there were so many iron armors and leather armors, he believed that he could equip at least six or seven thousand men!
Li Siye looked at the two cavalry camps arranged at the side and behind again. After a moment of staring, he was suffocated and could hardly breathe. Those cavalrymen were lazily looking at their crossbows while riding on their horses. Not one of them, but
Everyone! My God, just on the battlefield in front of me, the Lu Long Army cavalry was equipped with two thousand hand crossbows!
Li Siye swallowed secretly and murmured in his mind, what's going on with such a plan? Even if he wins, the price alone won't be worse than losing, right?
Lu Longjun's luxury confused Li Siye's eyes, and he no longer cared to look at the battle ahead. I don't know how long it took, but suddenly the sound of fighting seemed to have subsided, but in just a short moment, it broke out again more violently than before.
At the sound of shouts, Li Siye woke up from his confusion and quickly cast his gaze forward, only to see that at some unknown moment, the Jianwu Army began to retreat desperately backwards.
An order flag was raised on the mound, and the drum beat gradually accelerated, and then became like a violent storm. The Lulong Army cavalry on the two flanks accelerated like a long dragon, and then rushed up to the retreating Jianwu Army.
On the fifth day of June, the Lulong Army defeated the blocking part of the Jianwu Army and came to the gates of Bochang City. The 5,000 soldiers and horses of the Jianwu Army who came to reinforce were scattered by the Lulong Army cavalry. Zhu Youning had to abandon the half-built siege hill and break camp towards the city.
After retreating ten miles, the siege of Bochang was resolved.
Wang Shiyue and Wang Shike, who were guarding Bochang, removed the wooden bars and iron nails blocking the city gate, removed the huge stones, opened the city gate, and welcomed Li Chengzhong into the city.
Lieutenant General Li Cheng left the Dizhou camp, logistics camp, and engineering camp outside the city, built the west camp, and used the Cangzhou army to guard the west gate of Bochang. He led the guards and the Weizhou army into the city.
The city of Bochang was already desolate. In order to defend the city, Wang Shiyue and Wang Shike tore down the bricks and stones from the houses and walls. The houses and government offices were in dilapidated condition. Less than a thousand of the defenders in the city were intact, and most of them were injured.
Injured, nearly a thousand corpses were hastily buried under the walls of the city, emitting an unconcealable smell of decay.
Bochang City held on for more than two months and was already overwhelmed.
Brothers Wang Shiyue and Wang Shike are only in their twenties, a few years younger than Li Chengzhong. However, after guarding the city for two months, their faces have become sallow and their beards are unkempt. They look like they are in their forties or fifties. But although they are haggard
Although he was unbearable, he still behaved in a measured manner, showing the demeanor of a Confucian general.
Although Li Siye was the deputy envoy of Jiedu, he still had to salute the Wang brothers when he saw them, and the Wang brothers returned the courtesy as usual. The city was so dilapidated that Li Chengzhong could not stay. After the two sides met, Li Chengzhong left the city and returned to Xiying.
Resettlement. Li Siye was left by the Wang brothers to clean the city, repair the houses, dig out the dead bodies and bury them outside the city. There were many dirty and tiring tasks that I will not go into details one by one.
The Wang brothers originally wanted to hold a banquet in the official government office in the city to entertain Li Chengzhong and others, but Li Chengzhong saw how they were doing it and figured out that they didn't have much food left over to entertain him, so he simply turned the tables and invited the Wang brothers to Xiying for the banquet.
The brother hesitantly agreed.
What Li Chengzhong feels is that the two brothers from Wang Normal University are very polite in dealing with people and things, but there is an indescribable coldness in their politeness. You can't fault him for being rude, but it is definitely
I can't say there's anything endearing about it.
In the evening, Wang Shiyue, Wang Shike, and Li Siye brought more than ten officers to the Western Camp. Li Chengzhong personally went to the Chinese army's tent and took them in.
The Lulong Army was heavily armed, how could the Pinglu Army compare with it? What's more, the Pinglu Army had been besieged for more than two months!
During the war, you couldn't drink too much, so Li Chengzhong only gave each person half a jar of wine, but he ate a lot of food. Boiled haggis, browned fat sheep, yellow chicken soup, various vegetables, and millet rice.
There are also sweet oranges.
Wang Shiyue and Wang Shike were still gentle and ate leisurely, but the other generals of the Pinglu Army were not so particular. They had already opened their clothes, rolled up their sleeves, and started eating happily. Even the officers of the Lulong Army came to accompany the banquet.
He didn't even care about toasting. He drank the wine in a hurry while grabbing pieces of meat and stuffing them into his mouth.
Li Chengzhong ate with the Wang brothers, and also inquired about the situation of the Xuanwu Army. The Wang brothers also told them one by one, without any concealment. Nowadays, the green land is full of war smoke, and the battlefields are crisscrossed, mainly in three places: one is Qingzhou
, Wang Shifan and Zhu Quanzhong were in a confrontation inside and outside the city; the second was Bochang, which was Zhu Youning's main battlefield; the third was Yanzhou, where Ge Congzhou was besieging Liu Wei.
Of course, the Wang brothers were besieged for more than two months, and they didn't know that Linqu had a new battlefield. Wang Maozhang, supported by Wang Shijie, had broken Mizhou, and the two armies joined forces and rushed to Qingzhou for reinforcements. The Xuanwu Army
Then Zhang Guihou's troops were mobilized to meet the enemy, and Wang Maozhang and Wang Shijie were blocked in Linqu, thirty miles south of Qingzhou, where Zhenglie was currently fighting.
The Wang brothers hoped that the Lu Long Army would come to Qingzhou to aid as soon as possible, because Wang Shifan only had 30,000 defenders in Qingzhou City. Although he boasted of 100,000 troops, the rest were just old and weak people in Qingzhou. They were temporarily issued with swords and guns and went to the city to guard the city.
Weak. Outside the city, Zhu Quanzhong has an army of 200,000. The strength of the two sides is too disparity.
During the discussion, a Youzhou express was delivered to the Chinese army's main tent. The messenger handed the express to Yang Keshi, the camp capital of Yuhou. Yang Keshi opened it and read it quickly. Then, with a look of ecstasy on his face, he handed it to Zhang Xingzhong.
After reading this, Zhang Xingzhong was startled, stood up quickly, kowtowed to Li Chengzhong, and said: "Congratulations to the commander-in-chief, the emperor has issued an edict, and the commander-in-chief of the Jin Dynasty is the title of King Yan!"
For a moment, there was silence in the big tent. (To be continued.)