Recently, the Montenegrin soldiers' hearts have been wandering, and they have reached the point where they can hardly control themselves!
The incident started with the refugee wave more than a month ago.
In recent years, Montenegro has suffered from frequent famines. After the natural disasters, Montenegro launched several wars, but all failed, and even suffered heavy losses.
Failure is the most fatal, because it means that sending troops cannot get any benefits, and it is a pure loss-making transaction.
The pinnacle of the Black Mountain Army was when Yu Duhushou and others were instigated to invade Yecheng and almost capture Yuan Shao's hometown. However, this move completely angered Yuan Shao, who personally led the army in dozens of battles, all the way to the hinterland of Montenegro.
, killed many generals.
At that time, Zhang Yan personally led the troops, but could not withstand the attack of Lu Bu, who was the vanguard of Yuan Shao's army. He was at a disadvantage for more than ten days in a row, and was finally defeated and retreated to the hinterland of Montenegro.
To be fair, Zhang Yan is a famous general in the world. His nickname is Feiyan, which describes his horse galloping on the battlefield at an extremely fast speed, making it difficult for ordinary people to keep up with his pace.
But what happened was that he met Lu Bu, who was more powerful than him. The Black Mountain Army was beaten to the point of losing all courage. From then on, under the Yuan family's attack, it fell into a long-term disadvantage.
Unlike the prosperous Jizhou, the hinterland of the Taihang Mountains where Heishan is located has complex terrain and is isolated in many places. Dozens of Heishan generals each have their own hilltops. The people under their rule are more like a group of bandits than the normal production of counties and counties.
activity area.
Under the thinking of these generals who focused more on the military than on agriculture, the people's life was quite difficult. Coupled with successive years of natural disasters, having enough to eat had become a luxury.
That's all. If he cultivates and rests for a few years, he may not be able to get better. But at this time, Yuan Shao mobilized all the Jizhou army to attack Yijing.
As an ally of Gongsun Zan, Zhang Yan naturally cannot ignore death. Moreover, there are millions of dendrobium grains in Yijing City. If Yuan Shao is defeated, the Black Mountain Army can also get a lot of benefits from Gongsun Zan.
But the result was beyond Zhang Yan's expectation. He personally led the Chinese army and attacked in three groups. Then the last three groups were repulsed by Yuan Shao's three sons without even seeing Yijing's city wall.
Among the three routes, the North Route Army suffered the worst. Tens of thousands of people were almost wiped out. Bai Rao, Li Damu, Zhang Baiqi and others died.
However, although Zhang Yan was angry at the time, she didn't care much. If these people died, they would die, and they would be able to give up some territory and have less people to eat. In another sense, Montenegro's burden would be reduced.
After working with Yuan Shao for several years, Zhang Yan was already stretched thin.
Because the consumption on both sides is really unequal, the Montenegrin army only has hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians, and mobilizes 100,000 troops, which means that several years of savings have been wasted.
However, his opponent Yuan Shao had Jizhou with millions of people at his back, so the losses incurred by launching an army of 100,000 were much smaller.
What makes Zhang Yan even more disgusting is that Yuan Xi, the governor of Youzhou, is blocking the north of Heishan. Thousands of soldiers and horses are fighting back and forth, but they are all elites who are extremely difficult to deal with. Not only the battle losses are small, but also the loss of food and grass is small.
several times.
Zhang Yan found that no matter whether it was Youzhou or Jizhou, he had no choice but to fight again and again, and he couldn't defeat them, and he couldn't consume them. It really made him numb.
Therefore, after hearing the news that Gongsun Zan was defeated and killed, Zhang Yan, who was confronting Yuan Tan, decisively retreated. If he continued to fight, he would be defeated sooner or later.
He thought very clearly that this time the troops were already exhausted, and they needed to recuperate. Fortunately, many people died, which could slightly alleviate the crisis of food shortage.
As long as they can't afford the military and go back to growing food for a year or two, the Montenegro Army will be able to recover!
However, Yuan's boy with the nickname of Fierce Tiger did not give himself this opportunity. Instead, he took the opportunity to use all kinds of despicable and dirty tricks to spread rumors in Black Mountain and encourage the people to flee.
Starting after the Chinese New Year, Youzhou has offered a price. The refugees who escaped from Montenegro will be resettled by Youzhou locals and will be responsible for re-registering their household registrations. All comers will be accepted.
If someone in your family volunteers to join the army, you will get more land. Of course, if you don't want to join the army, you can also become an apprentice craftsman and make tools, which can offset part of the corvee.
For the people of Montenegro who have been torn by war, this is the most attractive thing. If they are not forced to recruit strong men to serve as soldiers, is there such a good thing?
You must know that throughout the dynasties, when various forces fought wars, they would use the young men and women in the territory as soldiers. As long as they went to the battlefield, life or death would be unpredictable, and it was common for families to be separated.
This is why it is said that it is better to be a peace dog than a person in troubled times.
Zhang Yan didn't pay too much attention to such rumors at first. After all, in his opinion, Youzhou is full of food. Can it accommodate so many mouths, and is it not afraid of dragging itself down?
But the development of things later was beyond his expectation. Youzhou seemed to have used all its previous accumulation. Even some wealthy families in Youzhou had devoted all their efforts to accept the refugees and fulfill their promises.
As the first batch of refugees were resettled and the news of adequate meals spread back to Montenegro, most people could not sit still.
Originally, there were no seeds for spring plowing in Montenegro, and the higher-ups still didn't care. They still had to pay rent, and if there was another war, they would be arrested!
In contrast, regardless of the purpose over there in Youzhou, at least there is food to eat now. Staying here would mean death, and the worst result of running away is to have enough food for the first half of the year before dying. The choice is self-evident.
So a large-scale escape began. Every day, countless people carried their few possessions on their backs, dragged their children with them, and fled over the mountains and ridges to Youzhou. Some villages even ran away in one night.
By the time Zhang Yan reacted, the most important spring plowing in Montenegro was already in a mess.
Now that everyone has run away, who is still farming?
Only then did Zhang Yan understand that the other party did not want to leave a chance for him at all!
Youzhou has spent all its wealth and tried its best to accept the refugees. In fact, there is no way out. Its purpose is very clear, which is to bring down Heishan. The decisive battle will be this year!
When Zhang Yan figured it out, she couldn't help but laugh angrily, "That's all for Yuan Shao. You, a son of the Yuan family, dare to openly fight with me based on several counties in Youzhou!"
Yuan Shao can't defeat me, where do you get the confidence?
Zhang Yan felt fierce in her heart, "Aren't you going to start a war with me? Then I will mobilize all the people to support war with war!"
When you harvest in summer and autumn, I will come out in full force to plunder and harvest food on your territory!
When the time comes, I will grab food for the winter, but you have to feed a large number of refugees in Montenegro but have no harvest. Then you will be waiting for a fire in the backyard and rebellion everywhere!
In Jicheng, Yuan Xi had already called everyone together. After listening to Liu He's explanation of the situation of resettling the refugees in the city, he said: "My previous plan was to wait until the summer harvest was over, and then use all the troops to attack the hinterland of Montenegro.
"
"Now it seems that the plan is going to change."
"I want you to talk about the feasibility of sending troops in advance."
After everyone heard this, they all began to think deeply. At this time, there were still two or three months before the first batch of grain was harvested in the summer, so that we could prepare military rations.
The resettlement of refugees in Guangyang Zhuojun and other places has used up a lot of food reserves. Now that we are sending troops, it is actually quite difficult to prepare military food.
Zhao Yuntianyu and others estimated that if thousands of troops and horses were mobilized, Youzhou's reserves of grain and grass might only last for two months.
But Yuan Xi must have reason to send troops in advance at this time.
Yuan Xi glanced at Guo Jia, who understood, nodded, and said: "It is true that it is difficult for us to prepare military rations now, so why not the Montenegrin Army?"
"According to the news, they have almost no spring plowing. In half a year, there will be a large-scale famine."
"If Zhang Yan is not stupid, they will definitely find a way."
"Either ask for help and borrow food from the surrounding areas, or go looting."
"If you want help, you can only go to the Southern Xiongnu in Bingzhou and Zhang Yang and Lu Bu in Hanoi. But the other party has also suffered a natural disaster and may not have food to lend to him. Besides, there is no telling whether Lu Bu is on good terms with Zhang Yan."
"So Zhang Yan can only attack Jizhou and Youzhou by plundering them. However, Zhang Yan suffered a lot of losses before, so he should be careful in choosing the target of his troops."
"If he chooses the weak one, he will choose Youzhou. Most likely, he will come to rob food during the summer and autumn harvests. This is also the behavior of the Black Mountain Army."
"If we wait for the summer harvest before sending out troops, we will fall into a passive position. The Black Mountain Army still has hundreds of thousands of troops. Although most of them are weak, they are living people after all."
"With so many people pouring out of Heishan, we cannot stop them with the existing military strength in Youzhou. If tens of thousands of people are missed by then, it will be a disaster."
"So the best choice at the moment is to immediately send troops into the Black Mountain Pass, seize the key pass of the Montenegrin Army, and establish a defensive camp."
"In this way, they can block their route into Youzhou, and at the same time, they can use the camp as a stronghold to attack the hinterland of the Black Mountain Army."
After Guo Jia finished speaking, all the generals nodded. Indeed, the way to win a war is to take the initiative in advance and not wait passively.
Now sending troops in advance is a great move. Although Youzhou is not fully prepared, the Black Mountain Army is even more hasty!
Jushou praised: "Shijun and Fengxiao are so considerate that I am really surprised."
Guo Jiaqian said: "Jia only knows how to use some small tricks, but the battle formation and military affairs are just a matter of personal skill. I still need my husband and I to take charge of the overall situation."
After hearing this, Jushou laughed and looked at Yuan Xi.
When Yuan Xi saw it, he said decisively: "Now I have made up my mind. I will personally serve as the commander-in-chief and make Beixin City the first stop for dispatching troops."
"Mr. Gong and Mr. Liu will be the supervisors of the army. Brother Liu will be stationed in Jicheng to provide support. General Zilong will be the commander-in-chief. Brother Yan will be the deputy general. Within three days, we will organize our troops and horses, station them in the new city in the north, and then divide the army into three groups to occupy the Black Mountain Pass!"
After hearing this, everyone accepted the order with a roar.
The news of Yuan Xi's dispatch of troops soon spread to Jizhou.
Yuan Shao said to his subordinate Yuan Shang and a group of counselors: "Xianyi sent troops to attack the Black Mountain bandits. What do you think?"
The judge said in a voice: "To use weapons without warning is to act without permission and without regard for the overall situation."
Tian Feng said coldly: "How can this be considered sending troops without authorization? Didn't you have a letter from Youzhou sent to Jizhou before?"
Everyone thought that who could have imagined this? The letter was written in an understatement, and everyone was still arguing and arguing, because at this time, the spring plowing had just ended, Youzhou had just experienced a battle with Gongsun Zan, and it was also a food infantry. It was really not a good time to send troops.
Who would have thought that Yuan Xi did not wait for Jizhou to reply, but took action himself!
Yuan Shang stood up and said: "Xianyi just wants to annex the state alone, right?"
Guo Tu sneered and said: "How is it possible? I heard that just a few thousand troops were dispatched this time. Can they really defeat hundreds of thousands of Montenegrin troops?"
Everyone agreed in their hearts that the weak defeated the strong in many cases, but the manpower gap between the two sides was too big, right?
Everyone has followed Yuan Shao and fought against the Black Mountain Army, and they know that the Black Mountain Army is definitely not a soft persimmon. The Yuan family used all the troops in Jizhou at that time, but they still failed to wipe out the Black Mountain Army. How could Yuan Xi and these thousands of people do this?
Unless there is a huge change, if these hundreds of thousands of people are killed by thousands of people standing still, I'm afraid they won't be able to kill them all, right?