"The Southern Barbarians are a bit false to the story." Zhang Wu stood at the top of the city and looked at a group of enemy troops retreating.
To put it simply, don't fight so hard and retreat when you encounter some strong resistance. This is a typical slippery slope.
In fact, the recent weather is very suitable for Nanman attacks, because heavy fog often occurs in the morning and evening, which makes the siege troops much more concealed and reduces casualties a lot.
Secondly, after the sun rises, the water vapor in the mountains and forests evaporates, and the miasma makes people feel particularly uncomfortable. The soldiers from the north brought by King Yan are very sick and cannot be energetic at all. A few days ago, they went out of the city to chase and defeat the enemy.
I've been feeling weak and demoralized lately.
Zhang Wu once thought that if the Shengjie army were to fight them at this time, there might be a chance of victory? Of course, it was just a thought.
The northerners are not adapted to the climate, and the southern barbarians are actually not very adaptable, but they are much stronger after all. Zhang Wu changed his location and felt that he should step up his offensive now and try to break the city in one battle. Or he should withdraw his troops and admit that he cannot take out Yazhou.
This nail is hammered into their side, so they should retreat early.
But the Nanman's current operation is very confusing. The attack seems to be massive, but in fact it is reserved. If the attack continues like this, it will be impossible to break through Yazhou. But they have no intention of retreating, at least not yet.
This situation is actually a bit dangerous because the strategy and tactics are not clear, and if you are not careful, it will lead to a big defeat.
"General Zhang, don't worry about what Nanman thinks, let's do our own thing." King Yan's general Qi Biyi wiped the sweat from his forehead and said: "If Yazhou is not lost, our battle is as stable as Mount Tai. If Yazhou is lost, we will
All of them will die without a burial place. After being besieged for so long, many of the city walls are damaged. Please organize manpower to repair them as soon as possible."
"The civilians will come over soon." Zhang Wu said: "What I'm worried about is that the thieves don't know what they have planned. They have been here in Nianni Lake. The attack has not been effective, but they are unwilling to retreat. Instead of doing this
, why not organize a group of troops and go down the mountain to attack at night, maybe there will be gains."
"Actually, there is no conspiracy." Qi Biyi said; "I heard that the Nanman generals in charge of the siege were Yang Qianzhen and Yang Zhao brothers. Their soldiers were Nanman soldiers, but they were not necessarily the soldiers of the Barbarian chief Zheng Renmin. I said you were the same before.
Li Maozhen’s generals don’t understand what’s going on here?”
"I am a Yamen general." Zhang Wu said awkwardly.
Yamen generals have no military power. They clock in and go to work. They only have the opportunity to command the army when they go on an expedition. Moreover, this army is not your own, but the military envoy's.
"However, I have never eaten pork, but I have still seen pigs running away." Zhang Wu added: "From what General Qibi said, brother Yang Qianzhen is indeed suspected of conserving his strength. Most of those who have come to die in the past few days are barbarians.
Tribal soldier. If we continue to fight like this, he will soon be unable to suppress those barbaric cave masters, right?"
"Sooner or later," Qi Biyi said, "Moreover, the Yang brothers' own soldiers also suffered casualties. Even if the casualties are not large, the ministries are exhausted and have low morale."
The people present are all old warriors, how could they not understand the things between warriors? Daxia has just left the Jiedushi era for less than ten years, and Dachanghe Kingdom is still a standard military leader, tribal leader, aristocratic family and king.
In the era of co-governance, the Yang Qianzhen brothers, as the princes in power, would not believe anything they said if they did not have the intention to preserve their strength.
"It seems that fighter planes have gradually appeared. We just don't know where Zheng Renmin's army is now. If he can also go north to join in the fun, we can use the fortified city to drain their morale, and we will be more sure."
Zhang Wu is now more and more confident and has begun to imagine what kind of victory he will achieve next.
"I expected Zheng Renmin to come." Qi Biyi said, looking at the endless mountains in the south.
******
Jung In-min has indeed gone north.
He set out on the 25th, arrived at Shankou City in two days, and arrived at Qionglai Pass on the night of the 28th.
After dinner, he climbed to the top of the mountain and stared at the long dragons heading north in the valley, feeling a sense of heroism.
With a single order, one hundred thousand soldiers will serve you and rush to the front line to fight without hesitation.
The king's order was spread everywhere, and the tribal leaders and cave masters came to pay homage one after another, and then marched north with tens of thousands of troops.
Who can stop the hundreds of thousands of troops in southern Sichuan?
If you go to Henan to fight, I will not be as good as you, Shao Shude.
If you use troops in Jiannan, you are not as good as me.
Prime Minister Duan Yizong followed Zheng Renmin. He was not young and was not as passionate as the young emperor Zheng Renmin.
In Zheng Renmin's eyes, the imposing dragon army made Duan Yizong tremble with fear.
The old basic troops of the Great Nagawa Kingdom were divided into pieces by the broken terrain.
If a long dragon encounters an enemy, can other long dragons come to the rescue? This is not necessarily true. Or even if they can, the battle may be over.
Having a large number of people was originally an advantage for their side, but now that it is cut off by the terrain, the advantage seems not to be that great. In this case, will they repeat the tragic situation of being chased all the way by 5,000 Youzhou soldiers and being defeated?
?
Who cares which way you come? All he has to do is pick one road and pursue it with all his strength. The other roads are in a blur. When he heard the news, he might have thought that the other side had more than 100,000 troops coming, and his entire army was completely defeated.
Well, what kind of fighting spirit is there? You know, the country of Dachanghe is not monolithic. Duan Yizong feels that as soon as the Duan family members see that the situation is not right, they will run away if they cannot protect everything.
"Your Majesty, we have been fighting in Yazhou City for more than ten days. We have lost troops and generals, but gained nothing. The cave masters and the leaders' men suffered heavy casualties, and they all have complaints. I don't think it is better -" Duan Yizong suggested.
"No!" Zheng Renmin turned around, pointed at Guancheng at the foot of the mountain, and said: "Qionglai Pass was built ten years ago during the Sui Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, it was one of the Thirteen Central Passes in Kaiyuan. There are also other passes on the nearby Daxianggong Ridge.
Zhuge Temple, it is said that Zhuge Liang passed here during his southern campaign. This pass is also the dividing line between Li and Ya states. How long did it take my army to conquer such an important pass?"
"Half a day." Duan Yizong said.
"Actually, it's less than half a day." Zheng Renmin laughed vigorously and said nothing: "The Xia people lost consecutive battles and were completely defeated. Many dangerous passes have been abandoned, so I can easily take them. Yuan doesn't think that the Xia people are incompetent, but that they are in trouble.
The troops and horses in Shu are very poor, almost the same as those of Emperor Xizong of the former Tang Dynasty."
"Nayazhou..." Duan Yizong asked.
Zheng Renmin waved his hand and said nonchalantly: "It must be that the remaining defeated soldiers from Si, Li, and Ya prefectures have gathered there, relying on the mountains to hold on. Now that the oil is exhausted, one more fight,
Maybe it will be beaten down."
Duan Yizong was not so optimistic. He only heard him say: "Brothers Piao Xin, Yang Qianzhen, and Yang Zhao may not really fight. They are also reluctant to consume the elite troops brought out from the Huichuan Governor's Mansion, and the troops of Li and Ya tribes may not fight at this time."
There are already complaints. I heard from the front that someone has sneaked away with Ding Zhuang. The benefits are not much, but people continue to die. The cave masters will not do this kind of loss-making business. "
When Zheng Renmin heard this, his face was uncertain, and he said: "Yang Qianzhen, if Yang Zhao dares to disobey the imperial edict, Yuan will certainly punish him, and everyone must have nothing to say. Yuan does not necessarily want his territory, but he was defeated and lost his troops and generals.
What qualifications do you have to continue to lead the Huichuan Governor's Mansion?"
Duan Yizong was silent.
Speaking of which, there is no way to continue. Who will capture Yazhou? The Duan family? The Gao family? The Zhao family? Or some sudden rise of a tribal leader?
No one is stupid.
The Xia soldiers in Yazhou are obviously not exhausted yet. Is it possible for everyone to fight with their own soldiers and horses?
Duan Yizong suddenly felt a little tired.
It is true that he is a member of the Duan family, but he is also very dissatisfied with the fighting between several big families in the country. It looks like a farce of the Han Dynasty in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. It used to be the Meng family, but now it is the Zheng family.
, which family is next?
The Zheng family does not trust the Yang family, the Zhao family, the Gao family, and the Duan family. These families also do not trust the Zheng family. It is strange that the country's power is good because of mutual suspicion.
This world!
On the last day of May, Zheng Renmin personally commanded an army of more than 50,000 people, passed through Hanchang City and Shimen garrison, and arrived at Rongjing County, Yazhou - later named Yingjing, which originated from a fire in the 13th year of Hongwu, with wooden characters overflowing.
For this reason, "Rong" was changed to "Ying".
This place is only ninety-two miles away from Yazhou City, very close to the front line. Zheng Renmin sent envoys one after another to urge Yang Qianzhen to step up the attack on Yazhou and be prepared for Xia army reinforcements that might attack from the north.
******
Li Lin left Shuangliu County on May 19th.
Then they marched all the way quickly, arriving at Xinjin on the 20th. On the 22nd, they stayed at Yangongyi in the south of Anren County. On the evening of the 23rd, they arrived at Linqiong County (now Qionglai), Qiongzhou Lisuo, and stayed outside the city.
On the 24th, we wanted to continue moving south, but unfortunately we had already pulled some distance away from the main force. The envoy sent by the Chinese army asked us to rest for a day.
We continued on the 25th and spent three days passing through Shunchengyi, Baizhang County, and Mingshan County—Baizhang and Mingshan are both counties of Yazhou.
When they got here, they slowed down a little to conserve their physical strength as much as possible - The Art of War says: "When an army marches a hundred miles, the one who strives for profit will defeat the general." They had obviously traveled far more than a hundred miles.
On the afternoon of the 30th, the army arrived at the north bank of the Pingqiang River and rested for half a day to recover their strength.
At this time, the main force of more than 40,000 troops led by Li Tangbin also arrived at Shunyang Station outside Mingshan County, about forty miles away from them.
The Southern Barbarians and Xia armies advanced from north to south, almost in unison, and a great battle was inevitable.
Li Lin thought about it carefully and found that the King of Daxia had at least two advantages.
First, the Southern Barbarians have been attacking Yazhou for more than half a month. They have suffered heavy casualties and the soldiers are so exhausted that they cannot even attack the bridgehead on the south bank of Pingqiang Mountain. They can only dig trenches and build trench walls to surround them.
The second thing is, because this battle adopts the strategy of luring the enemy deep, we are naturally fully prepared.
On the north bank of the Pingqiang River, there were many Rangers, trying to kill as many Southern barbarian scouts as possible. At the same time, they also sent state soldiers to drive away nearby tribes and blast them far into the mountains. This was considered an intelligence advantage.
As for the logistical advantages, it goes without saying. With so many soldiers and horses from the Southern Barbarians, in addition to the grain and grass being transferred from the rear, they almost depleted the tribes in the three prefectures of Si, Li and Ya. These people had nothing to gain, and they must be resentful in their hearts.
, it is difficult to continue to provide sufficient food and grass.
Even if the Southern Barbarians could plunder the Yazhou countryside, how much could they plunder? In fact, if the delay continued, the Southern Barbarians would retreat sooner or later, and if they pursued them, they would be able to bite off a large piece of their flesh.
But why bother? Can active withdrawal and passive withdrawal be the same thing?
"Cross the river! Kill the thieves!" Early in the morning on the first day of June, Li Lin made up his mind and walked onto the rope bridge first without hesitation.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!" Five thousand soldiers roared in unison, gearing up to fight the thief to the death.