When talking about the Imperial Military Academy, we have to mention Yang Zheng. Emperor Taizu, who was so talented in martial arts, died only four years after he unified the Central Plains. In order to let Jiang Cong, the eldest grandson who was favored by Taizu, inherit the great treasure, Taizu
The ancestral throne was given to the seemingly mediocre second prince, and the military power of the eldest prince and sixth prince, who had made extraordinary achievements in the founding war, was removed. Before leaving, major crimes occurred repeatedly and a large number of founding generals were taken away.
Jiang Cong's father reigned for fourteen years. He upheld Taoism and Confucianism, refrained from war, promoted imperial examinations, controlled floods, repaired water transportation, and promoted agriculture. The country's power grew stronger. Jiang Cong succeeded to the throne at the age of twenty-two and named the country Yuan Xi.
He has been in charge of the country for three years. Following the legacy of Taizu, he changed his father's inaction national policy and further centralized power. He eliminated the chancellor, eliminated the chancellor, secretary of state, and three provinces, established a cabinet to oversee six ministries, reestablished the Privy Council to control the world's military, and confiscated
Local military power was assigned to the governor's office to take charge of the 16 provinces in the country.
In the sixth year of Yuanxi, Qi had unified the Central Plains for twenty-six years. It had abundant warehouses and abundant military armor. Shenzhou only knew Qi but did not care about its homeland. Annan in the south and Yuhun in the west also became vassals and paid tribute one after another.
There is only one thorn in Jiang Cong's heart. That thorn is Beiyan, which is sandwiched between Zhou and Qi. When Qi was competing in the Central Plains, it decided on a strategy of going north first and then south, and the north of the Guangling River had been corrupted.
All the barbarian regimes were driven back to the northern grasslands. After that, most of the southern countries were defeated in one battle, leaving only Beiyan, which was only a province the size of the northeastern corner, unable to conquer; while the Helian clan of the Xiang tribe in the northwest took advantage of the chaos and rose up. After successive years of bloody battles,
He unified the three thousand tribes in the grassland and imitated the Central Plains system, respecting Buddhism and Confucianism, popularizing Chinese characters, promoting imperial examinations, vigorously absorbing the Hu and Han ethnic groups in the Central Plains' homeland, and becoming the ruler of the Central Plains, which made Qi more prosperous.
However, more than 20 years have passed, and it has been impossible to conquer Beiyan, which is separated by Taihang Mountain and Yanshan Mountain. Beiyan has been a place of hundreds of battles since ancient times. It is located in a plain, with many people and vast fields. It has been a hundred years since the founding of the country. After the Central Plains War, the reason why these 20 people can survive
Over the years, it should also be attributed to Murong Qianshan, the sixth emperor of Northern Yan who was unparalleled in his life. During the war in the Central Plains, Murong Qianshan, who was located in a corner, kept a low profile, absorbed a large number of soldiers, horses, wealth, and established a stronghold in Daxing and Yanshan Pass.
He built a large number of city walls for defense and stocked up elite infantry to defend against the Northern Zhou cavalry. At the same time, he spared no expense in bribing powerful officials of the Zhou Dynasty and opened quarrels with each other to show his goodwill. To the south, Zebu used all the main cavalry force to repel Qi's many attacks.
However, he never arrogantly advanced his troops, and only called himself a brother to Qi State, not a minister, and claimed that he was willing to defend the northern border of Qi State. Qi Taizu pressed the army several times, and Murong Qianshan threatened to surrender the country to Zhou. Because he was afraid of losing the Yanshan barrier, Taizu also
Had to return without success.
For Qi State in the Central Plains, the grassland cavalry has been the biggest enemy for thousands of years. Now there are mountains, deserts, ravines, and the Great Wall blocking the northwest and due north, and they are far away from the hinterland of the Central Plains. But as long as you pass Yanshan Mountain in the northeast,
It is just a flat river, and you can reach Luoyang, the capital, within a few days. In addition, Beiyan holds a hundred thousand troops and is wavering at both ends. This made Jiang Cong feel like he was in trouble, and he began secretly preparing troops as early as five years ago. For Zhou Guo,
Beiyan is not only the gateway directly to the Central Plains, but also has thousands of fertile fields and millions of people. Once there is any natural disaster in the grassland, the twelve states of Beiyan will be a huge granary.
It was in the sixth year of the Yuan Dynasty that Murong Qianshan, who had been struggling to support himself, died, and Prince Murong Hu succeeded to the throne. The eldest prince Murong Ying, who had failed in the fight for the throne, surrendered to the Northern Zhou Dynasty with seven thousand soldiers stationed in Yinshan because he was afraid of being killed by his younger brother.
Murong Hu was furious and demanded money to redeem Murong Ying, but the Northern Zhou Dynasty ignored him. Murong Hu immediately sent his brother Murong Bao to reinforce the mountain defenses on the northern front, and at the same time threatened to close the two countries' interrogation fields. This move played into the underground ambitions of Emperor Helian of Zhou Dynasty.
, within one month, they gathered 80,000 cavalry, known as 500,000, and rushed to Yanshan. With Murong Ying as the leader, they broke through two lines of defense within a few days.
Murong Hu only knew that the situation was serious and had attracted a real tiger, so he had to ask for help from the Southern Qi Dynasty. Unexpectedly, he would lead the wolf into the house. Jiang Cong was not willing to let go of such a good opportunity. Within fifteen days, 50,000 people and 200,000 people were riding together.
The Bujia crossed the Yellow River and headed north. Seeing the strength of the Qi army and the promise of the Qi Emperor to confer the title of King of Yan, He Sheng, the defender of the northern Yan southern line, led 20,000 Yan cavalry to defect on the battlefield and invaded Yanjing. Murong Hu committed suicide in shame and anger, He Sheng
In order to seize the throne, Sheng slaughtered all the Murong royal family. Murong Bao, who was defending the enemy on the northern front, heard the news and immediately opened the country and led 50,000 Yan soldiers to surrender to the Helian family. As a result, the elite states of Qi and Zhou directly faced each other, and the first
The Second Qi-Zhou War started outside Yanjing City.
Outside Yanjing City, on the Qi side, there were 50,000 Qi cavalry and 200,000 infantry who had crossed the river. The surrendered Yan cavalry had 20,000 troops and 10,000 infantry. Jiang Cong went against all odds and personally led the Imperial Forest Army with five horse and infantry troops.
Thousands of people are preparing to cross the river as backup. The total strength reaches an astonishing 400,000, and they are ready to fight to determine the country. The heroic Lord Helian has followed his father Helian's ambition to conquer the north and south since he was a child. He has been on the throne for more than thirty years, and this time he is even more powerful.
In Bide, I personally led the 30,000 royal tent cavalry Yulin Guards to rush to the rescue.
General Cheng Tianhe, the commander of the Qi army, was already over sixty years old, but he could still put on armor and mount a horse with the same majesty as before. He was the only remaining founding father of the country. When Taizu was in power, he was loyal to the then prince and did not love military power, so he did not
After being purged, Jiang Cong once again appointed him as the Marshal of the Army. The Zhou army was personally led by Helian Dadi, and General Xiao Ta was sent as the vanguard. Xiao Ta's force was astonishing, and he led 20,000 light cavalry named
Tornado is the most elite unit of the Zhou army with a combat power equal to that of the royal cavalry. Xiao Tat will take the lead in charging in every battle. He is good at surprise attacks and surprise attacks. He is a fearless general in the grassland tribes. When Murong Bao opened the door, Xiao Tat led 20,000 people.
Riding, they made a surprise attack of 200 miles a day and a night, and arrived outside the city in the early morning. Without resting, they rushed directly towards the central Qi army encamped outside the city of Yanjing.
Fortunately, Cheng Tianhe was not in vain. As soon as he learned that Murong Bao had surrendered to the enemy, he had already begun to prepare for the war. After discovering that Xiao Qi was advancing quickly, he was calm in the face of danger. He immediately sent 30,000 cavalry to fight head-on, and asked He Sheng in the city to lead 20,000 Yan cavalry from the flank.
Attack, he leads 30,000 Qi cavalry to raid the formation. Unfortunately, the seemingly powerful Qi cavalry has not fought in a battle for more than 20 years, and its combat power is far inferior to that of the Beiyan cavalry. The 50,000-strong coalition army actually collapsed under the impact of 20,000 tornadoes.
Cheng Tianhe made a prompt decision and asked the eunuch Wu Cheng to lead 50,000 infantry into Yanjing City to strengthen the city's defense. Deputy Commander Liu Kun led the remaining 150,000 people to gather deer and firewood along the city wall, dig trenches, build horses, and deploy crossbows. He himself personally
He led 30,000 cavalry to join the battle, with 80,000 cavalry against 20,000 cavalry.
Seeing that the commander was in the lead, the morale of the Qi army was greatly boosted. Xiao Tat, who was surrounded by enemies on three sides, gradually became exhausted and had to fight while retreating. Cheng Tianhe did not want to pursue, but Jiang Cong regarded this battle as a national war and issued a death order. Beiyan must win.
The whole territory had no choice but to risk an attack. Xiao Ta retreated for more than fifty miles and suffered heavy casualties, but his tactics were not chaotic. After retreating for thirty miles, the follow-up cavalry from Helian Dadi arrived one after another and joined the battle. The Qi army suddenly looked defeated.
When He Sheng saw that something was not going well, he immediately withdrew from the battle, and when he saw the opportunity, he surrendered to the Zhou Dynasty. The Yan-Qi coalition forces were instantly defeated, with tens of thousands of horses fleeing in all directions, and numerous casualties. Cheng Tianhe first wanted to buy time for Yanjing's city defense, and secondly, he
There was no hope of survival after such a huge defeat, and he led his two thousand soldiers to fight to the death without retreating. All of them were killed in the battle. The territory of Beiyan was mostly plains, and horse fighting was very difficult. Helian sent light cavalry to pursue them everywhere, and at the same time concentrated 10,000 armored heavy cavalry.
In fact, Cheng Tianhe had a premonition that the Qi army could not stop Zhou Qi, so he had to clear the countryside and defend the city. When the Zhou army ran out of food and grass, he would retreat. The reason why not all troops entered the city was because Yanjing was a small city.
All the troops entered the city and were trapped by the Zhou cavalry. In a few days, they would run out of ammunition and food, and they would be defeated without a fight. However, with the defenses under the city and the strong arrows and crossbows at the top of the city, it would be extremely difficult for the Zhou army to lay siege to the city. So before leaving,
The arrangement was indeed a good idea, but unfortunately Liu Kun, the deputy commander who was the privy envoy and minister of the Ministry of War, considered himself a confidant of the emperor. He was jealous that Cheng Tianhe, who had already retired, had overtaken him as an official. He ignored the advice of the supervisor Wu Cheng and insisted on leading 50,000 infantry.
They marched, hoping to seize the victory after the cavalry's victory, but the defense outside the city was not decisive and the formation was loose.
After the 50,000 infantrymen had driven out for more than 20 miles, they learned that the cavalry in front was defeated. Instead of setting up defenses on the spot, they retreated hastily.
Thousands of infantry were wiped out, and only Liu Kun and a dozen other cavalry escaped back into the city. Fortunately, the old eunuch Wu Cheng, who had fought with Taizu, was quite experienced and ordered the soldiers in the city to go up to the city wall to defend, closed all the city gates, and ordered a hundred thousand soldiers to guard outside the city.
The army formed a desperate formation to resist the enemy. Unfortunately, the 100,000 defenders outside the city who had not completed their defenses suffered heavy casualties under the impact of the Northern Zhou's armored cavalry. It was not until dark that the Zhou cavalry withdrew their troops. Wu Cheng ordered the 50,000 defenders in the city to leave the city and join the remaining troops outside the city overnight.
After setting up defenses, we finally had a chance to breathe.
Besides, after a day and night of traveling and fighting, the Zhou army was extremely exhausted. In addition, they were all cavalry and could not attack the city, so they camped twenty miles outside the city that night. In the next few days, they were not in a hurry to attack the city.
Chasing the defeated army everywhere, they collected food and grass on the spot, hoping to break the attack after the defenders in the city ran out of food. The Zhou army had a light cavalry force of about 10,000 horses chasing the fleeing Qi cavalry. They were able to catch up and were in the south of Yanjing city.
Baili Chu encountered Jiang Cong's imperial army unexpectedly. He thought that the Qi cavalry was weak and vulnerable, so he took the lead in attacking. Unexpectedly, the 50,000 royal cavalry were the most elite troops in the Qi State. With the imperial cavalry personally marching, the morale was high and the people were strong.
They fought to take the lead and actually killed the arrogant Zhou Qi and fled in defeat.
Jiang Cong knew of the defeat at the front, and quickly mobilized domestic troops and horses to rush for reinforcements. While transporting soldiers and food to Yanjing City, he strengthened defenses on both sides of the Yellow River, but he did not dare to take the initiative. However, Helian did not expect that the Qi Congress would use the power of the whole country when he raised his troops.
They had no intention of fighting, but they had insufficient troops and food preparations, and they were afraid that the newly recovered tribes in the country would join forces to rebel. In late autumn, they had no intention of fighting again, so they negotiated peace with Qi under the city of Yanjing.
The result of the peace negotiation was that Zhou won the five states of Yun, Zhuo, Shuo, Ying, and Ji to the north of Youzhou in Beiyan, and the seven states in Qi were Deyou and Tan, and set up a market for mutual trade in Youyun and two states. Beiyan fell, and from then on
Zhou Qi completely formed a confrontation situation. In this battle, Qi seemed to have gained the land of the seven states, but it lost about half of the country's 70,000 cavalry, 150,000 infantry, and countless money and food. What was even worse was that the northeastern barrier was completely lost.
, it was truly a disastrous defeat.
Jiang Cong placed all the blame for the defeat of the battle on the Privy Councilor Liu Kun. He lost his fame and was assigned to the Lingchi and Yi tribes. However, he still called the battle a great victory in destroying Yan. He rewarded the three armies and defended the school captain Yang Fa outside the city of Yanjing.
, was promoted to guerrilla general two years after the war. Although the Zhou Kingdom also lost 30,000 cavalry, it did not lose its vitality and was able to move south. From then on, it took the lead. In the next ten years, there were no major battles and small battles continued.
Zhou's cavalry often went deep into the Qi territory to plunder, but many of the Qi troops did not dare to fight and could only defend themselves in the city. The border people were miserable.