The walls of this city have high and deep trenches, and a straight front barrier rises inside the city gate to block the inside and outside. There are roads on the left and right, and their tails belong to each other. According to legend, the Yanlu metric system is built. The city spans more than ten miles.
This is a majestic city with very complete military facilities. The governor, Wang Qixian, is an old general of Lu Yanwei. He has 6,000 heavy troops, more than 3,000 state and county soldiers, and more than 10,000 native soldiers. They have plundered a large amount of supplies, all of which are concentrated in the
Within the city.
Ge Congzhou led his army from Bozhou, passed through Boping and Gaotang counties, arrived at Pingyuan County, Dezhou, conquered it in one day, and then entered the city of Dezhou.
At this time, the number of troops under his command totaled 28,000 from the Longxiang Army and more than 17,000 from the Shijie Army. In addition, a large number of soldiers from Weibo Prefecture County, Tutuan Countrymen and Yi Congjun who crossed the river to the north made the entire army 100,000 strong.
, dug trenches three times, and began the siege.
On June 20, 5,000 Gongchen troops and more than 20,000 Huaihai Daoxiangyong troops arrived.
Ge Congzhou handed over the responsibility of siege of the city to the Yi Cong army envoy Mu Zang Jieming, and led Long Xiang's army to the north.
In the following days, they divided their forces to capture the counties of Changhe, Jiangling, and Anling, and annihilated thousands of enemy troops, overwhelming the enemy.
On the 28th, thousands of Chengde troops set out from Jizhou and entered the northwest border of Dezhou. During the march, they were ambushed by the Dingnan Army and retreated in defeat.
Wang Rong also sent troops south to attack Beizhou, and the Tiande army guarding Weibo sent troops to help. The two sides fought one after another. Ge ordered a group of 5,000 cavalry from the Dingnan Army to march westward from Zhou, but he did not directly join the battlefield, but observed the enemy's weaknesses and
Possible directions for reinforcements.
Later, he led his own army to invade Chengde territory, seize Quan County, and threaten the Chengde army's retreat.
On the 30th, Lu Yanwei, the military commander of the Henghai Navy, personally led the army south to Jingzhou and camped between Dongguang and Anling. The armies of the two sides faced off.
At the same time, Ge Congzhou appointed Tianxiong Army envoy Zang Dubao as the East Route Recruitment Envoy, and led the entire Tianxiong Army, including more than 40,000 people from General Tu's troops, as well as various miscellaneous soldiers and local peasants.
More than 100,000 people marched north from Dizhou, conquered Wudi and Rao'an counties, and approached Cangzhou.
Lu Yanwei was in dire straits and asked for help from all directions. He was in an extremely critical situation.
On this day, his envoy arrived in Zhenzhou and was received personally by Wang Rong, the military governor of the Chengde Army.
"The Puppet Xia traitor army is not going out in a day or two. Why didn't Lu Shuai make preparations and let people march straight in? Why?" Wang Rong was very unhappy and asked.
There are more than one million people in Cangjing Town, 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers and horses, and the local braves are gathered together. More than 100,000 are at your fingertips. Why is it so useless and only inflates the ambition of others!
"The officers and soldiers of Cangjing were not careful." The envoy sighed: "There are really many thieves. Three hundred thousand people surrounded Dezhou. Wang envoys clashed many times and could not get out of the city. The surrounding counties fell one by one. The thieves marched from Dizhou again.
Hundreds of thousands of people entered Bo Cangzhou. Lu Shuai just led his troops to Jingzhou, but he heard that Cangzhou was unstable and was in a dilemma."
"According to what you said, there are millions of Xia thieves?" Wang Rong laughed angrily.
The messenger shook his head, but said nothing, with a pitiful expression.
Wang Rong sighed, feeling annoyed.
In fact, he also saw that there was really nothing Lu Yanwei could do.
The Xia thieves don't have one million, but they still have three to five million, which gives them enough confidence. Even if the troops are divided into three groups, the strength of any one group is greater than your main force. What can you do?
The tactics of defeating each one have become a joke, because even the weakest one is stronger than you.
This is no longer something that can be solved with proper tactics. Without foreign aid, Lu Yanwei will definitely die.
"This time, we need to get all the towns to join forces." Wang Rong said: "Chengde, Cangjing, Yi Ding will join forces with 100,000 troops, and tens of thousands of troops from Hedong will have a chance of winning. Has Commander Lu ever sent an envoy?
To Jinyang?"
"Already gone." The envoy said: "The King of Jin is anxious for justice, so he should send out a large number of troops to rescue him. Wang Shuai's side..."
Wang Rong was silent for a while and said helplessly: "Now there are only a few vassal towns in the north. What can we do if we don't keep watch and help each other? I will summon the generals to discuss matters, gather a large number of troops, and march south."
Chengde has actually sent troops to rescue. What Wang Rong will talk about now is whether to mobilize the Xia army. To fight the Xia army, it is not enough to rely on professional warriors. State and county soldiers, as well as local regiments and villagers must be mobilized and assembled as much as possible.
As many people as possible and as many supplies as possible.
In fact, there is not much doubt about this. If Cangjing is not saved, the next step will be to become virtuous. Everyone knows the principle of lip death and tooth decay.
"I wonder what Wang Shuai's strategy is for advancing the army?" the envoy was overjoyed when he heard this and asked.
"The main force is to attack Xingmingci, and a partial force is to attack Beizhou." Wang Rong said: "The Xia people have concentrated their troops in Cangjing, and the west is naturally empty. As the saying goes, criticizing the strong and destroying the weak, this is the correct way of war."
The envoy is a little unhappy, but there is nothing he can do. It's good if someone is willing to save you. You can't expect him to go to Cangjing with all his belongings to defend you. That's unrealistic.
Moreover, in terms of military strategy, there is nothing wrong with what Wang Rong said.
If you capture Xingming Ci, you can cut off the Yongji Canal and Food Channel not far to the east, and go south to defend it and threaten Henan. Moreover, it is easy to cooperate with the Jin army in this direction, and the chance of winning is greater, not better than that of Baba.
He ran to Cangjing to block the knife?
"In this case, I would like to express my gratitude to Commander Wang." The envoy said, "All the towns in Hebei Province are one and should help each other. If our town survives this disaster safely, Commander Lu will do his best to rescue him next time when Chengde is in trouble.
, we will not let Shao Thief show off his power."
"Let's just say a few words about these." Wang Rong was not very interested, so he continued: "Nowadays, it is different from the past. It is getting more and more difficult to travel to the river to tell the story of Shuo Shuo. Alas."
After that, he sighed softly, got up and went back to the backyard.
The messenger was silent.
The Xia thieves claim to have 800,000 soldiers, a large number of generals, and a fierce momentum. If they say they are not afraid, they are lying. Now they can only rescue each other, protect and help each other, and leave the rest to fate.
****
On the third day of July in the third year of Jianji, Jinyang began a new mobilization.
The people sighed, the warriors looked hesitant, and their morale was uncertain. It had been raining for days and days, and they almost didn't want to move.
In Wu'er Valley in Luzhou, Li Cunxu was in a very good mood.
Three months ago, his father assigned him a lot of soldiers and horses, almost more than 10,000 people - actually the middle camp of the fifth battalion of the new army, originally led by Li Sizhao.
After these soldiers arrived, some of them replenished the battle losses, and some of them were incorporated into his account. When they were in front of the hall with yellow armor and silver spears, they were scattered, and the Khitan direct four armies were strengthened.
Since the war with the Xia people, Li Cunxu has deeply realized that the small establishment of the Jin army is a bit deceptive. It is small in scale and a single army cannot bear large-scale battles. If people are transferred from other armies, there will be problems in terms of belonging and liaison.
Although the problem can be solved, it is still a trouble.
Therefore, he carried out drastic reforms, that is, reorganization of his troops.
The Tingqian Huangjia Army, commanded by Shi Junli, once incorporated some remnants of the Fifth Academy Army and Wu'an County Xiangyong, and once expanded to more than 11,000 infantry and cavalry. Later, it fought with the Longxiang Army, Tiande Army, and Tianxiong Army several times.
The losses were considerable, with less than 7,000 men left. This time, 3,000 troops from the middle camp were recruited to restore the strength to 10,000. They have been training for three months.
The scattered army was merged into the Yinqianxu Rebel Army, with about 5,000 soldiers, and another 5,000 middle camp soldiers were added, also with a strength of 10,000 people. The commander was An Yuanxin who was transferred last year.
To rebuild the bodyguard Jin Qianzhi who had been destroyed in Xing Mingci, more than 2,000 Khitan soldiers were recruited as a whole, plus 4,000 middle camp soldiers, for a total of more than 6,000 people - the number of troops is 10,000, and they are currently understaffed. Command
It was Shi Jingrong who had just been transferred.
These three armies are all the capital Li Cunxu has on hand. They are a mix of old and new, including both infantry and cavalry. Their combat effectiveness is so-so. After all, there are many veterans, but they are definitely not comparable to Xia's army. If you want to fight
To win the battle, you have to rely on strategy to make up for the lack of combat effectiveness.
"I just received news that Shi Shaoyong has led his army to Luzhou. This is the vanguard. My father has led the army out of Jinyang. This time he will cooperate with Cheng De and fight fiercely with Shao's thieves."
Li Cunxu was slightly excited when he said this.
In these years of fighting, although he didn't make much profit from Shao Thief, his fighting skills were not too bad. Li Cunxu was born to like this kind of life of licking blood with the blade of a knife. When he heard about fighting, he didn't even bother to play with instruments.
Go to the camp early for inspection.
"Shi Shaoyong didn't fight well in Cixi, but now he has strong troops and horses. It's really annoying." Shi Junli, the commander of the Huangjia Army in front of the hall, said angrily.
An Yuanxin and Shi Jingrong were a little dissatisfied after hearing this.
In the battle with the Xia people in Cixi, they lost ten thousand or twenty thousand soldiers and horses. The Wan Sheng army was cut into two sections and suffered heavy casualties. The last remaining soldiers were annexed by Shi Shaoyong and merged into the front army.
This time, some Khitans were swallowed up, and the army in front of the tent received thousands more cavalry. The Jinyang Jiafang Office even made armor and weapons for them. An and Shi asked, "How can Shi Shaoyong be so virtuous?"
So trusted?
Li Cunxu smiled after hearing this.
Of course he knew why Shi Shaoyong was trembling. It was just that he had climbed up to his eldest brother Li Luoluo and became his confidant.
The army in front of the tent has nearly 6,000 infantry and cavalry, which is quite a force among the armies east of Hedong.
As long as he comes this time, he will be sent to have a fight with the Xia thieves to see what the outcome will be.
"Stop chattering like a resentful woman all day long." Li Cunxu said, "Practice well. We have made great progress in the past three months. We will practice again until my father comes."
"As ordered." Shi Jun and other generals responded in unison.
Li Cunxu was the one who controlled and controlled all the passes on Zelu, and everyone was under his control. At a young age, he had already shown considerable knowledge and talent.
Let me just talk about one point. After he took office, he severely punished the unhealthy trend of cavalry riding horses when they were not busy. At the same time, he strictly enforced military discipline and severely punished the warriors who robbed the people. The appearance of the entire army was completely new.
Recently he has been tightening battlefield discipline again.
When large armies are arrayed for field battles, they often form multiple large and small military formations. Military formations need to cooperate with each other, and the degree of coordination often directly determines the success or failure of a field battle.
He is focusing on this matter right now. He often practices, reviews, and assesses. If there is no tacit understanding of cooperation, not in place, or not in time, he will be kicked out directly. Those who are capable will be promoted, and those who are mediocre will be demoted. His temperament is perfect for rectifying people.
It doesn't matter what your base is, it doesn't matter how close you are or how close you are, it just depends on your abilities.
After such a desperate struggle, many military schools relied on their seniority and went to Jinyang to cry to Li Keyong. It meant that your son was too shameful and did not look at our achievements over the years. It was not merciful at all, but Li Keyong supported it.
He gave birth to his son, scolded those military academies severely, and told them to go home to farm and herd cattle.
When has it been? If the Jin army is messed with by you old people who wantonly rest on their merits, their combat effectiveness will only become weaker and weaker. The army is more concerned with favors and trusting relationships than with ability. The result is that capable people will go south.
Xia, finally left a group of crooked melons and cracked dates, is it decent?
With his father's support, Li Cunxu became more determined in his approach.
Although some people advised him to stop it, it would not be possible to prevent the congregation from rebelling. Those in higher positions still need their own people.
But Li Cunxu didn't know whether it was because he was impatient by nature or because his emotional intelligence was too low. He directly said that the capable new generals I promoted were his own and pushed him back.
In any case, the three troops he led are indeed in good spirits. They have fought against the Xia people's Tianxiong, Tiande, Longxiang and other armies. They fought repeatedly, defeated but recovered, defeated but not in chaos, and sometimes even
He can win battles. At his age, it is not easy to do this, and it is even worthy of bragging.
"You continue to practice while I take people down the mountain to play and watch the Xia bandits' formation." After giving the instructions, Li Cunxu directly asked people to bring him bows, knives and guns, and said.
The generals were shocked. This man was good at everything. He just liked to take a small number of soldiers and horses out, and he often secretly approached the enemy's station to spy on intelligence. He even went out of his way to find someone to fight with to test the opponent's quality.