Although it was late at night, Tantai Xuanye could not close his eyes.
After Fang Hui was attacked and killed, the Shence Army began to track down and encircle Qin Xiao's thousand cavalry. However, more than half a month had passed. The Shence Army had used various methods. So far, not only had they failed to annihilate Qin Xiao,
Xiao's lone army couldn't even catch a single soldier of the opponent.
The Shence Army not only sent out almost all the cavalry, but even bribed people everywhere and offered heavy rewards for clues to Qin Xiao. Although they did receive many reports, the situation completely deviated from Tantai Xuanye's plan?
Originally, there was intelligence proving that Qin Xiao's troops were still active in Pengcheng County, and Yan Yue's troops had been tracking them. However, soon, another intelligence came that Xuzhou cavalry had appeared in Mount Tai.
Moreover, the intelligence can even show that although Qin Xiao divided his troops and left a small number of troops in Pengcheng County to lure the enemy into containment, the main force had already entered the territory of Mount Tai, and was accurately located in the Mengwan area.
For this reason, the Shence Army made careful arrangements, with two cavalry groups of nearly 4,000 men, preparing to catch Qin Xiao off guard and surround him in Mengwan.
This operation was carefully planned in advance to coordinate the cooperation of the two groups of soldiers and horses. Tantai Xuan also made careful designs in terms of speed and tactics.
But the final result made Tantai Xuanye almost collapse.
There are indeed Xuzhou cavalry in Mengwan, but the enemy army that spent a lot of force to encircle and suppress them actually only has a dozen cavalry.
Moreover, after falling into a desperate situation, none of the dozen cavalry were cowards. They were eventually surrounded by a detachment of the Shence Army and all of them died in battle, without being able to capture anyone alive.
The Mengwan siege, which cost a lot of energy and troops, turned out to be a joke.
Tantai Xuanye also fully understood that Qin Xiao's thousand-man cavalry had been reduced to pieces and was probably divided into dozens of small teams. Relying on their familiarity with the geographical environment, they began to carry out guerrilla attacks in their own rear.
This move was indeed something Tantai Xuanye didn't expect.
If Qin Xiao continues to lead Qianqi to swim in the rear, the strength of this army is neither too much nor too little. After issuing a heavy bounty, the two intelligence forces of the Shence Rangers who are good at investigation and the local people will soon be able to
It was easy to find the traces of Qin Xiao's cavalry.
But after being broken into pieces, dozens of squads are like fry in the sea, and it becomes very difficult to grasp the enemy's whereabouts.
It will be easier for them to hide. It is much easier for each team to replenish supplies in various villages than it is for thousands of riders to gather together to replenish supplies.
What's even more terrible is that Xuzhou is a large state. Taishan County has seven counties, and Pengcheng County has five counties. The two counties combined have twelve counties, and the west of the two counties has seven counties. The land of these seven counties.
They all became the rear of the Shence Army. Qin Xiao's cavalry did not even need to enter the territory of Yuzhou. They only dispersed in the vast land of these seven counties. With the geographical advantage, they were enough to avoid being rounded up by the Shence Army.
Facing a fierce tiger, even if it requires a hard fight, no matter whether you win or lose, at least you know how to use your strength.
But faced with a group of hares running all over the mountains and plains of Sichuan, there was nowhere to focus.
Tantai Xuanye is in this state now.
The enemy army is divided into dozens of squads, and the combat effectiveness of each squad is of course not worth mentioning. There are even some squads that are really targeted by the Shence Army and the entire army is annihilated, such as the one killed by Meng Wan.
A small team, but such a situation made it impossible for the Shence Army to concentrate their strength to defeat the enemy with one blow.
The general didn't sleep, so his generals naturally didn't dare to withdraw.
In fact, how to attack Xuzhou City? Long before the Shence Army entered Xuzhou, specific deployments had been made in Yuzhou, even down to who was responsible for leading the troops at each gate of Xuzhou City, and the specific siege methods.
, and how to deal with it if a quick resolution cannot be achieved. These were discussed many times in Yuzhou.
But no one expected that Qin Xiao would come with such a hand. In the past few days, the generals of the Shence Army seemed to have forgotten that the main goal was to attack Xuzhou City, and they had been discussing how to kill Qin Xiao.
Everyone is not a fool, and they can see that General Tantai seems to be determined to kill Qin Xiao. In this case, it is natural to target Qin Xiao as the main target now.
Tourists came to report almost every day. Not only were the rangers sent by the two soldiers and horses reporting the specific movements of the two cavalry groups, but there were also many intelligence reports brought by the rangers responsible for reconnaissance.
Instead of allowing Tantai Xuanye and others to determine Qin Xiao's location, the Rangers' information made it even more difficult for Tantai Xuanye to determine Qin Xiao's whereabouts.
Because the Xuzhou cavalry appeared in too many places, they were extremely scattered.
"General, if it really doesn't work, why don't we divide our troops as well." Someone saw that Tantai Xuanye's expression had become more serious and solemn in the past two days, and finally couldn't help but said: "Since the general has judged that Qin Xiao has dispersed his cavalry into ten
Several or even dozens of small teams are scattered throughout the two counties, so our army simply divides its troops and forms small teams to pursue them individually. Our cavalry
Their soldiers are four times as many as theirs. They have dozens or even a dozen people in a squad. We are a team of a hundred, and the strength of each team is not inferior to theirs. They are like a flock of sheep now, and we are like a cheetah, fleeing in all directions.
A flock of sheep cannot use up the strength. In this case, we can also turn a cheetah into dozens of wild wolves and use the wolves against the sheep."
Tantai Xuanye said lightly: "So you mean that the soldiers have to handle the logistics themselves? After dividing the troops, how to supply food and grass to dozens of teams? Chasing the enemy troops everywhere, their whereabouts are uncertain, do we still have to do it?
Organize dozens of logistics teams to look for cavalry to provide logistics?"
"Qin Xiao's men and horses can find food by themselves, and our people should be able to do the same!"
"The military newspaper said very clearly that Qin Xiao's team replenished their food and grass by purchasing it at several times the market price, without doing any harm to the common people." Tantai Xuanye sneered and said, "Can the Shence Army be as careful as they are?
No crime? Not to mention how many Shence soldiers took the opportunity to plunder the people when the Shence Army was mobilized to pacify Qingzhou, which made the people of Qingzhou hate the Shence Army. Before the attack on Taishan City this time, the general gave three orders not to plunder.
The common people are still unable to put an end to this phenomenon. There are still people looting the city like gangsters, so the general has to kill dozens of people to fight in public. If thousands of cavalry are dispersed, they can replenish the food and grass themselves.
, what do you think the result will be?”
Everyone present was suddenly embarrassed.
Although the Shence Army was an elite member of the Tang Dynasty, they had done a lot of immoral things.
After Tantai Xuanye arrived in Yuzhou, he also spent the whole day
Despite the military discipline of the Shence Army, and as Tantai Xuanye said, strict orders were issued before entering the city, but some people still took the opportunity to do evil in the city after the city was broken.
The arrogant and powerful generals of the Shence Army were dishonest under Tantai Xuanye's nose. If they were to be broken into pieces to pursue the enemy and replenish their own supplies, many people would definitely take the opportunity to do evil under the banner of Tantai Xuanye.
Just like in Qingzhou, rape and robbery cannot be prevented.
"And you must know that although our pursuing troops are far superior to Qin Xiao's, the initiative is not in our hands." Tantai Xuanye said with sharp eyes: "Qin Xiao has already turned from passive to active. Since he dares to divide his troops
, then before dividing the troops, they must have arranged how to regroup. Don't underestimate this person. I believe that if he wants to break into pieces and regroup, the speed will be very fast. At that time, he can rely on his local strength advantage to pursue and kill him.
Our cavalry detachment."
When the generals heard this, they couldn't help but nod, but they all felt that Qin Xiao was becoming more and more difficult.
"I have been thinking in the past two days that Qin Xiao's purpose of harassing our army is to threaten our army's logistics line and prevent our army from marching to Xuzhou City." Tantai Xuanye said slowly: "I have always felt that if
If the rear is unstable and it is easy to attack Xuzhou City, our army will always worry that its logistics will be cut off and it will not be able to attack the city with all its strength. For this reason, I feel that this enemy force must be annihilated to ensure the safety of our army.
." At this point, he sighed and said, "But just now I suddenly realized a serious problem."
All the generals looked at Tantai Xuanye, and someone asked cautiously:
"General, what's the problem?"
"Qin Xiao personally led a lone army to break into the rear of our army. This was a personal risk." Tantai Xuanye said: "He dared to take such a big risk, of course because he was very courageous, but the most important reason was to
Achieving the goal. His goal is very clear, which is to delay our army's attack on Xuzhou City, and we have been restrained by him for half a month. If we continue to play this game with him, I am afraid that we may not be able to annihilate them all in another month or two.
"
A general couldn't help but said: "General, I forgive my subordinates for speaking out. Maybe we fell into Qin Xiao's trap from the beginning. We are now focusing our energy on chasing this person. Maybe he is
A dream situation.”
"Qin Xiao did this because he was afraid that our army would quickly march into Xuzhou City." Tantai Xuanye sighed: "I was stubborn before, but I forgot that what we should do most is what the enemy is most afraid of. Our army is already in
We have spent more than half a month here, and if you still keep an eye on him, you will reach a dead end." Looking around at the generals, he asked: "General Song Lang, you are in charge of the logistics and baggage. The food and grass that our army brought with us, how about you?
How many days are you sure you can hold on?"
General Song Lang lowered his head and thought for a moment, then said: "General, you sent envoys to Yuzhou quickly to deliver orders. Before annihilating Qin Xiao's cavalry, Yuzhou does not need to supply food and grass to the front line for the time being. It only needs to temporarily stock up and prepare.
Be prepared to supply it at any time. The food and grass our army has with us can last at least forty to forty-five days according to the current daily consumption. After the city is broken, the granaries in the city are also under our control. After counting, the food stored in it is actually
quite a bit, enough
The nearly a thousand defenders of Taishan City were fed for five or six months. Originally, according to the general's instructions, the food and grass were temporarily used for the prisoners, but if they were all taken out and the prisoners were ignored, our army could still
The consumption of food and grass will last about six or seven days."
"General, we must first ensure that there will be no problem with our army's food and grass." Someone said: "I don't think we need to take care of those prisoners. They are rebels, so we might as well just kill them. Let's transport the food and grass directly, so that we can have enough."
We can easily attack Xuzhou City in more than fifty days."
General Song Lang shook his head and said: "I'm afraid this is not appropriate. The general promised not to kill them, and also said that he would treat the prisoners preferentially. If he kills them directly to save rations now, he is breaking his promise. If word spreads, even
When the news reached Xuzhou City, the defenders of Xuzhou learned that our army had surrendered, and they became even more determined to defend to the end."
Tantai Xuanye nodded and said: "General Song Lang is right. We don't need to take action if we really want them to die. There are more than a thousand prisoners in Taishan and Pengcheng counties. Since they surrendered, they are naturally qualified to serve the imperial court. Come to
Then use them as the vanguard camp to attack the city!"
"The general is wise." The generals smiled.
"The Shence Army is known as one of the three elites of the Tang Dynasty. If it cannot capture Xuzhou City in fifty days, is it too incompetent?" Tantai Xuanye glanced at everyone and said: "After arriving at Xuzhou City, you can tell the soldiers,
We only have enough food and grass for twenty days, and our logistics are also harassed by the enemy, so we can't guarantee that the food and grass can be sent to the front line. So they can either capture Xuzhou City in twenty days, and then everyone will receive a heavy reward and go to the city to drink.
Eat meat, either
If there is no food in twenty days, everyone will starve to death. There are two paths, one can only choose one."
General Song Lang said: "General, are you encouraging the soldiers to risk their lives and survive?"
"I said that the eldest grandson Yuanxin is dead, and Qin Xiao is the only general under She Yue who can take charge of his own affairs." Tantai Xuanye sneered at the corner of his mouth: "Now that he is leading troops to harass our rear, Xuzhou City will not be able to do anything on his own."
A true warrior who stands alone." His eyes became sharp and he said word by word: "Wouldn't this be more conducive to our army's attack on the city?"
As soon as these words came out, all the generals felt a sudden enlightenment. They felt that Qin Xiao had indeed attracted their attention before, but they never thought that without Qin Xiao, Xuzhou City would be easier to attack.