On the land of Hebei, silver snakes dance in the mountains, covered in silver, and the sky and the earth are completely white.
A conscripted Minzhuang was trudging through the snow with difficulty. They wanted to transport this batch of winter clothes and millet to the Qishui camp of the Han army as soon as possible.
There, due to heavy snowfall, the Han army could only confront the Taishan army across the river. But this confrontation obviously would not last long. When the Qishui water froze, a foreseeable bloody battle would inevitably break out.
So taking advantage of the heavy snow, the Han army was stepping up its efforts to mobilize supplies and weapons from the rear to build up strength.
This minzhuang came from Wuzhi County. The leader was Zhang Sheng, the local pavilion chief. After receiving instructions from the prefect of Hanoi, each pavilion sent hundreds of minzhuang people to the front.
Zhang Sheng was considered a local tycoon, but these days, the imperial court pressed him harder and harder, and even he, the chief of the pavilion, was having an embarrassing life.
And now, he was leading more than a hundred people to deliver food to Qishui, a hundred miles away, in this heavy snowy weather. They were walking in the freezing cold, and even if there were winter clothes on the car, they didn't dare to take them off to keep warm.
Along the way, Zhang Sheng also saw the dilapidation of other places, and the closer he got to the north, the more so.
Originally, he thought that this was just the case in Wuzhi County. Who would have thought that this was the case all the way? Even an ignorant country man like Zhang Sheng had an idea in his heart:
"It seems like the world is really in chaos."
The heavy snowfall was so severe that Zhang Sheng and others wanted to find a place to take shelter, but the houses along the road were either tightly locked to prevent outsiders from entering, or they had collapsed into desolate ruins.
Obviously, although Hanoi was not systematically attacked by the Hebei Yellow Turbans, regular conquests caused a large number of civilians to flee to the countryside and become bandits.
In order to survive and to avoid being hunted by the Han Dynasty, these people looted the villages in the countryside one after another. As far as Zhang Sheng saw, all the pavilions and houses built along the official roads were destroyed and destroyed, and only foxes and rabbits occupied them.
The place is deserted.
But there are still things that show that the Han Dynasty still has the ability to rule Hanoi.
In front of Zhang Sheng and others, there was a tall locust tree. The leaves of the locust tree had withered, but the branches that grew out were still strong and strong in the wind and snow.
On the branches, there were three frozen corpses hanging from the locust tree, with a wooden sign around their necks that read:
"Those who collaborate with thieves will die."
Among the people, only Zhang Sheng was literate, but even if he was illiterate, these people from Wuzhi all knew that this was not a good place.
So, everyone discussed it and decided to continue on their way despite the wind and snow.
Fortunately, they were not far from the Han army camp on the south bank of Qishui River. At noon that day, they finally arrived at Qishui camp.
At this time, the Qishui Camp had undergone earth-shaking changes. Originally, it was only the camp wall of Cao Cao's army. However, as the Han troops continued to arrive, the Qishui Camp continued to expand.
At this time, the camp stretched for ten miles. At least four captains were stationed here, with a strength of more than 10,000 people. There were also countless civilians, slaves and slaves busy, all crowded in this camp area.
When Zhang Sheng and others were pushing the cart and were about to enter the camp, a group of cavalry rushed out from the galloping road on the left side of the camp gate and headed upstream of Qishui River.
Obviously, the key factor in the defeat of Cao Cao's troops was the group of Taishan Army thieves and cavalry active on the south bank of Qishui River. While the Han army strengthened the camp, they continued to disperse their cavalry as a counterattack.
With these rangers patrolling, not only to catch traces of the opposite side, they can at least patrol the two wings, so as not to make the same mistakes as Cao Cao's troops.
The effect of these actions was obvious. The traces of the thieves' cavalry had disappeared at least within a radius of twenty miles. Presumably the other side knew they were outmatched and had retreated to the north bank.
Zhang Sheng and others avoided the patrolling cavalry, and after a lot of trouble, they entered the camp under the impatient eyes of the military officials at the gate.
After entering the camp, Zhang Sheng and others understood what the concept of army gathering was.
There are camps everywhere, and there are patrolling Halberdiers everywhere, looking down like hawks from the towering arrow towers, and if anything goes wrong, they will be shot immediately.
Zhang Sheng and others, led by a warehouse official, entered the warehouse area in the southwest corner of the camp, where the entire army's baggage was stored.
After delivering the winter clothes and corn, the warehouseman wrote a note on the bamboo slip with a red pen, and then let Zhang Sheng and others go.
In fact, the treasury officials did not count the materials delivered by Zhang Sheng at all, and any previous methods of using cards to make false accounts were useless. It was not that they had changed their nature, but that they were really busy.
After delivering the supplies, Zhang Sheng wanted to ask the warehouseman for a bucket of ginger soup to ward off the cold, but he was coaxed out before he could finish his words.
You have the life of an ox and a horse, but you still want to order me around? Are you an ox and a horse, or am I an ox and a horse?
Of course, regardless of their status, the treasury officials are indeed busy.
At this time, not only the main force of the Han army was gathering at the Qishui camp, but also the powerful people in Hanoi came to the Qishui camp with their own armed forces to join the army.
The powerful people in Hanoi know the situation in Henan County very well. They know that these Taishan troops not only want the lives of the Han army, but also want their powerful land. So they might as well kill them.
So this time, they were not forced, nor were they tied with shackles and nooses to join the army, but they volunteered and brought their own dry food to join the army.
Hanoi's tycoons were originally the center of the Han Dynasty's military preparations. Although two groups had been conquered by the previous war, there are still many powerful forces among these tycoons.
They trained briefly in the Qishui camp and organized three battalions. Among them, the Hanoi hero Han Hao had a battalion of a thousand soldiers, the hero Yang Chou had a battalion of a thousand soldiers, and the Hanoi hero Hao Meng also had a thousand soldiers. The leader of the human department.
Of course, these three people are actually brave generals, and they do not really have the authority to command these 1,000 men. Because the supplies of these 3,000 men are almost all jointly funded by various powerful families in Hanoi, so in fact they still control these 3,000 men. In their hands.
The reason why they chose these three people is that they learned the result of the defeat of the Gyeonggi powerful forces in the Battle of Xingyang. Many family members are actually not suitable to lead troops in battle. Rather than being defeated and killed, it is better to hand them over to brave heroes. .
These three generals did not set up camp in Qishui camp, but were divided into the upper and lower reaches of Qishui, serving as the outer defense line of the main force of the Han army.
On the recommendation of his uncle Du Yang, Han Hao led the new battalion to station at the mouth of Lianghe.
The mouth of the two rivers is the intersection of Qishui and Zhanshui. When the Zhanshui further north passes through the northern area of Hanoi, it joins the Qishui in the south and merges into the east at the mouth of the two rivers.
So in other words, the river where the Han Army and the Taishan Army's Western Expeditionary Army actually faced each other was already the intersection of Qishui River and Zhanshui River. It's just that the Qishui River has a larger flow and a longer culture, so it is collectively called this.
Precisely because the mouths of these two rivers are at the intersection, and the rivers range from narrow to wide, they are often the places where Taishan's army and thieves ride through the water on the north bank, so Han Hao's troops were stationed here to control this important part of the river.
Yang Chou and Hao Meng, as the river patrol troops, patrolled along the west bank of Qishui River. There were many wild crossings on the upper and lower reaches of Qishui River, and both of them had to patrol in order to discover the enemy's movements as soon as possible.
These arrangements may sound simple, but in fact they are complicated, which will test the financing ability of General Zhendong's shogunate.
But fortunately, the grain platform originally set up in Aocang did a very good job.
Under the control of Xun You, Zhong Yao and others, there was an endless stream of military grain sent to the north. Unfortunately, because the road was cut off by the Taishan Army, the Han army in Handan further north has not received a single grain of millet from the south. It is also miserable. .
Of course, the greater contributors to the smoothness of the grain road were the grassroots officials and officials like Zhang Sheng, who braved wind, snow, freezing cold, and transported truckloads of grain by foot.
But for these people, the Han army was not even willing to give them a bowl of ginger soup. Perhaps what made them colder than the winter snow was the chill in their hearts.
While the Han army was accumulating strength on the south bank, the Taishan Army in Yecheng was also providing supplies to the Western Expedition Army on the north bank.
Compared with the Han Army, the Taishan Army's supplies were much more scientific.
Because the Han army lacked the ability to integrate, when Aocang grain was sent to Huai County, Hanoi, the ministries recruited from various counties and townships in Hanoi had to collect grain there, and then transported it directly to the front line.
Although this long-distance supply method saves the energy of the warehousemen, it makes the Guizhou leaders miserable. They have to walk too many wrong roads. In addition, many of them have frozen feet in this severe cold weather, so they have to push. Transportation, so on the supply line, there were complaints from the head of Guizhou.
The Taishan Army adopted segmented transportation. Cangcao set up a military station every 20 miles on the 60-mile road from Yecheng to the camp on the north bank of Qishui. Then, the transportation of each military station only recruited Guizhou heads from nearby villages, and was also divided into Class three.
For example, after the transfer team from Yecheng traveled twenty miles during the day, they stored their supplies at the military station here. Then they rested at the military station for one night, and then returned to Yecheng the next day, where they rested again. day, and the second wave of supplies will be transported the next day.
However, because of the three shifts, the supply line of the Taishan Army is non-stop. This is overall planning and dispatch, and it cannot be done without numbers.
This scheduling method was proposed by Zhang Chong, and then the army's field officials coordinated the actions. Because these field officials often measured the land, they were the most adept at planning in the army.
During this process, one of the previous surrendered soldiers came to the fore, and that was Qianzhao.
This king had accompanied Liu Bei in an ambush of the Taishan Army during the Han Army's break-up battle, and was later defeated and captured. Later, during the Battle of Xingyang, Yu Jin, the Zuo Xiaowei of the Central Guard Army, released these prisoners of war in order to concentrate his forces.
Yu Jin made an agreement with these gentlemen, and after the war the Taishan Army was indeed victorious. Qian Zhao and others who were lurking in the surrounding fields returned to the Taishan Army without a second thought, fulfilling their promise with Yu Jin.
The Han people vomit their promise in a cup, but the Five Mountains are insignificant. This is so true!
He has an astonishing talent in fortune-telling. Because he successfully coordinated this military supply dispatch, he was recommended to join the military academy to receive higher-level training.
Of course, what is more important than training is that the senior leaders of the Taishan Army have obviously maintained a certain degree of trust in Qianzhao. This may be even more important for Qianzhao, who was born in Jiangren.
Sixty miles from Yecheng to the camp on the north bank of Qishui, there were two military stations in the middle. A steady stream of millet, clothing, salt, and soy sauce were delivered to the soldiers of the Western Expeditionary Army on the front line to maintain their physical fitness and fighting spirit.
However, the Taishan Army could not last long with such high-consumption supplies, because Yecheng was not rich in supplies.
Although the Taishan Army sent out hundreds of thousands of dans of grain from Aocang and seized another 60,000 shi of grain from Yecheng, they also consumed a lot of grain along the way and transferred a large amount of millet to the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans.
Food is out.
In addition, Yecheng served as the last line of defense against the Yellow Turbans in Hebei Province. After months of fierce fighting, the countryside was devastated. When the Taishan Army regained nearby settlements and rural communities, they not only failed to receive supplies, but also consumed materials for construction.
Therefore, the Han army could not bear this kind of high-intensity supply, and neither could the Taishan army.
In other words, the battle between the Han Army in Henan and the Western Expeditionary Army of Mount Tai took place after this heavy snowfall.
But no one expected that the heavy snow would fall for five days and immediately freeze Qishui.
Now, Qishui was no longer in a state of peace, and the obstacles between the Han and Han armies directly turned it into a battlefield.
Guanghe six years, November 6th.
The messenger transferred from Shangdang, carrying military orders from Handan to Lu Zhi, was delivered to Zhendong General Zhang Wen.
Lu Zhi had also received an order from Luoyang before, ordering him and Chaoge to attack the Taishan bandits from north to south with the Han army in Henan. Lu Zhi did not dare to neglect, and hurriedly sent a messenger from Shangdang to Chaoge to set a time for the flanking attack with Zhang Wen.
But because of the heavy snow, the Taihang Mountains were blocked by snow, so the messenger was trapped, and the letter was not delivered until now. But it was also because of the heavy snow that Hebei and Henan were able to agree on a time to attack.
That is, on the second day after the heavy snow melts, the Taishan bandit will be attacked from the north and the south, and the bandit will be destroyed together.
When Zhang Wen received this letter, he was very hesitant and confused because he had a bad premonition about the war.
This was only found in the military report he received from Zhu Jun two days ago.
Zhu Jun's army, which had crossed the river from Juan County in Henan to attack Hanoi, had not yet arrived. So Zhang Wen sent a message urging him to quickly move his army north to join him in Chaoge.
Zhu Jun also had an army of more than 10,000 soldiers from the six counties of Yuzhou, which was a decisive force. The reason why Zhang Wen had restrained his attacks before was because he planned to wait for this reinforcement.
Then two days ago, Zhang Wen received Zhu Jun's military report and was shocked.
At this moment, Zhu Jun's army was not on the north bank of the river at all. They actually turned back to Xingyang.
Zhu Jun said that when the army was preparing to cross the river in Juan County, the commander of the Sixth Regiment headed by Runan Yuan came directly to Zhu Jun and said that Xingyang was empty. Their most important thing was to guard the safety of the east side of the capital and they were unwilling to cross the river.
Zhu Jun made it clear in the military newspaper that he was helpless. Because these six regiment ministers were in the same camp, they directly ignored him as an empty-headed commander. Zhu Jun said that the so-called guarding of Xingyang by these Yuzhou families was false and not true. It is true that I am willing to go to Hebei.
They were all soldiers from Henan. When they first started to raise the army, they were guarding their hometown. They never thought of leaving their hometown. Zhu Jun even said that this operation, which was similar to forcing the army, was carried out by the Yuan family in Runan. Its meaning is difficult to understand.
In short, Zhu Jun said, don't think about Henan's subsequent heroic steps, they will not go north.
Under such circumstances, how could Zhang Wen not have a shadow in his heart and dare to attack the Taishan army? But now it was no longer up to him, because the news of the arrival of the messenger from the north and the emperor's audience in the army also knew that the attack was imminent and could not be No more posting.