In Mianchi, Xin'an, Yongning and other counties in Henan Prefecture, large groups of infantry and cavalry besieged various forts day and night.
In the field, Xu Hao, who had just been appointed as the attack envoy of Heluo Youyi, divided the seven thousand cavalry gathered from various ministries into three groups, each stationed in one place, ready to be dispatched at any time to attack the Bian Army cavalry if they planned to show up.
As for why the 7,000 cavalry are not concentrated, it is because the battlefield is vast. Do you know where the Bian Army cavalry will appear? They can only be divided into three stations to provide reinforcements nearby.
With the addition of these 7,000 new tactical cavalry who specialize in melee combat, the wilderness has basically become the Xia Army's paradise.
The 3,000 infantry soldiers of the Shunyi Army and the more than 4,000 infantrymen of the Huazhou Army (three thousand were escorting the prisoners) who besieged the fort were becoming more and more bold and dispersed to increase the efficiency of the plunder.
Food and Dingkou were constantly captured by the Xia army. The total number of people in Henan Prefecture was close to 300,000. I wonder how many will be left in the end.
As for siege, we don't have this ability yet, because there are too few infantry, and it's not worth it.
After collecting the Dingkou in the fort, we may try to besiege the county town. However, there is one county town that does not seem to need to be attacked. Just yesterday, the magistrate of Mianchi County opened the city to ask for surrender. This is the first Henan city that is willing to surrender.
Shao Shude personally summoned the county magistrate named Zhao Suo and gave him a reward.
"Commander, it doesn't matter whether you reward me or not. Although I surrender, I still have one thing to ask: What does the commander want to do by setting off troops to plunder? To kill the people? To fight for the world?" Jin Suo is not young anymore.
, who was in his early fifties, looked at Shao Shude with burning eyes and asked.
"If the remnant people succeed, the people in Mianchi, Yongning, and Xin'an counties will have been lying in bed for a long time."
Jinsuo nodded and said: "This is the reason why I am willing to surrender. Even the Jin soldiers, except Li Han, only plundered the people without harming their lives. But I still want to ask why the commander came.
Attacking Henan Prefecture? Shaanxi and Guo, and the two towns in Hezhong are still in the hands of Wang and his son. Huazhou Town is not led by the commander-in-chief's confidants. Hundreds of miles of roads are all controlled by human hands. In ancient times, there has never been a battle.
This is the way to die."
Not counting the new recruits of Wang Bian of Huazhou, Shao Shude's previous available troops include 8,000 infantry soldiers, 3,000 Shunyi soldiers, and 1,500 bodyguards, totaling 12,500 people, of which 9,500 were placed at the back.
This is to prevent problems with the food pipeline.
Of the 14,500 cavalrymen who could go into battle, 2,500 were placed behind and patrolled along the way.
This power can intimidate Wang Gong, but it cannot intimidate Wang Chongying. Fortunately, Wang Chongying's character is such that he can barely maintain this small force. It is a bit of a risk, but it is still within the acceptable range.
"At the invitation of my sworn brother, I came to attack Quanzhong."
"The Commander-in-Chief is making such empty words, what do you want to do in the end?"
Shao Shude smiled and said: "Quan Zhong has more soldiers than me, more prosperous household registrations than me, and more money and food than me. We are about to destroy the three towns of Zhu Xuan, Zhu Jin, and Shi Pu. The situation is too great to control without fighting."
"The Bian army is attacking the Jin division fiercely. Ke Yong has lost troops one after another and has turned to the defensive. If King Cheng De becomes king and Li Kuangwei of Youzhou raises his troops again, Ke Yong will be defeated. The commander-in-chief has two strategies now. One is to not worry about the retreat.
, took a gamble, King Chongying and his son did not dare to cut off the food road, and then gathered their troops to attack Ge Congzhou to remove the flank threat, and then surrounded Luoyang with the rear troops and captured it."
"I only have thousands of infantry and thousands of cavalry at my disposal. How can I defeat Ge Congzhou and Luoyang?"
Silver Spear Capital has five thousand soldiers, and there are still more than four thousand at present, plus Leopard Cavalry Capital has one thousand soldiers, which are available.
The five thousand soldiers of the Cavalry Army and the armored cavalry of the Leopard Cavalry are always taken wherever they go, otherwise there will only be auxiliary soldiers left in the camp. In case the Shunyi Army and the Huazhou Soldiers change, they are killed inexplicably.
If you don't, it will be a big joke in the world.
The only ones that could be used were more than 4,000 light cavalry, plus 3,000 infantry from the Shunyi Army that had not been reorganized. There were 7,000 Huazhou soldiers left, but they could only be used to attack the forts, and half of the force had to be used to escort the prisoners.
Jinsuo was stunned when he heard this.
"The general's cavalry is overwhelming. I thought there were tens of thousands of them." Jin Suo smiled bitterly and said, "Thousands of cavalry are indeed less. I heard that the king of Lingwu County has plenty of soldiers and enough food. Where is the army?"
"Not arrived yet."
This is not surprising. With thousands of cavalry, even the food road cannot be cut off. With thousands of infantry, it is indeed very difficult to attack fortresses. No wonder they have to plunder everywhere.
"Commander..." Jin Suo hesitated and said, "There are tens of thousands of people in Mianchi, but they don't know..."
"No move for now." Shao Shude said: "I heard that there are still more than a thousand soldiers in the city. Reorganize them all and recruit another thousand people."
Now that we have reached Henan, we must of course make full use of local resources.
In addition to relocating some people to Huazhou and Weibei to develop production and save money and food nearby, the local people in Henan are strong and strong, and they are high-quality sources of soldiers. How can we not make good use of them? They are not needed to fight head-on, and they can be reorganized to attack fortresses.
That's it. Even the Weishan Mountain where Ge Congzhou was guarding could be attacked.
Jinsuo was relieved when he heard this.
If possible, who would want to leave their hometown?
…
The cavalry of Shuofang's army can be divided into tactical cavalry and strategic cavalry in terms of their functions. In terms of the level of armor, they can be divided into three categories: heavy, medium and light.
Heavy cavalry are naturally armored cavalry, with both men and horses wearing armor.
Medium cavalry, men wearing armor, horses without armor.
It can be further subdivided here, namely, the rangers who mainly cruise and harass, and the armored riders who focus on charging into formations and fighting.
Light cavalry, the men wear leather armor, the horses do not wear armor, they are also divided into rangers and armored cavalry.
The 7,000 cavalry led by Xu Hao, the Heluo Youyi attack envoy, were the armored cavalry among the medium-sized cavalry. Today, he personally led 2,000 cavalry, and after completing the logistics with the help of auxiliary troops from the Flying Bear Army, he left the camp.
Leading the war horse around.
The wilderness was full of Huazhou soldiers who were taking the people back to Shaanxi Province, and there were also many roving horses moving around.
Speaking of Fei Xiong, the 10,000 auxiliary soldiers of the Second Cavalry Army really suffered a great crime.
During the day, I was busy repairing the camp, repairing equipment, trimming horseshoes, nailing horseshoes, picking wood, cooking, and collecting food and supplies. At night, I had to cook, feed the horses, and work overtime to repair equipment. I was so busy that it was dark.
Not only that, but also some manpower should be allocated to follow the cavalry army on patrol with a small number of troops to intercept and kill the messengers.
Gu/span>Now there are seven thousand more armored cavalry to serve, and they are all probably going to be paralyzed from exhaustion.
Xu Hao could only sympathize with them.
The 7,000 men under his command are cavalry, and they are usually served by infantry auxiliaries. However, this will be far away from the main force of infantry. He has no choice but to disturb the iron cavalry and the flying bears.
The withered yellow leaves were blown up by the west wind, and there was silence on the east and west Xiaoshan Mountains between Mianchi and Yongning Counties.
The fortress built by the Bian Army can be vaguely seen on the mountain. It has a lot of regulations and should have sufficient troops, food and fodder, but they are now a lone army.
As the forts in Yongning and Fuchang Counties south of Er'ao Mountain were destroyed one by one, the people were either kidnapped, or hid in Er'ao Mountain, Xiong'er Mountain, or fled westward into Lushi County in Guozhou and the countryside.
There is no human habitation for hundreds of miles, and they are also two isolated cities.
Zhang Quanyi worked hard for several years in farming and expanded the household registration in Henan Prefecture to 50,000 households. Now he has suffered huge losses. I don’t know how he feels about it.
Xu Hao raised his head and glanced at the village. This morning he sent people to place a box on the mountain road, but it had already been taken away by the Bian army.
Inside the box is a set of women's skirts. I wonder if Ge Congzhou and Xie Yanzhang couldn't help but look at it.
It doesn't matter if you can't help it. The commander-in-chief is already selecting soldiers from Henan prefectures and counties, as well as soldiers from the fields, to organize them into an army. When the main infantry arrives, he will launch a fierce attack on them. Can they still hide by then?
After walking around for a while, he felt that it was boring, so Xu Hao led his men and horses to go straight east. Along the way, he encountered several groups of roving horses and kept inquiring about the enemy's movements.
Suddenly, there was a sound of horse hoofbeats from the northwest, but because of the obstruction of the mountains and forests, there was no smoke.
Xu Hao was not surprised but overjoyed after hearing this, and immediately ordered the entire army to mount their horses, divide them into three groups, and march in sequence.
The two armies soon encountered each other in the wilderness.
It's a pity that the enemy is using the banner of "Zhang". Could it be Zhang Yanshou instead of Xie Yanzhang?
Xu Hao had gotten acquainted with several cavalry officers of the Bian Army in the camp before. Zhang Yanshou was quite capable.
Zhu Quanzhong once went out for reconnaissance in person, but because he did not have many troops, he was discovered by Cai thieves and mobilized cavalry to surround him.
At the critical moment, Ge Congzhou helped Zhu Quanzhong mount his horse and run away, and cut off the rear himself. Zhang Yanshou turned around and rushed forward, killing several of Cai's brave and elite cavalry, and only then did Zhu Quanzhong save his life.
So the ones coming this time should be Caizhou soldiers, and maybe Zhongwu soldiers?
"The bandit army only has more than a thousand riders. General Yang, you lead your headquarters to outflank us from the right wing." Xu Hao made a prompt decision and ordered.
These Huaiyi people are quite arrogant when they first come here. Are they used to it in the south?
"General Yang" is naturally Yang Can, the general of the Tianzhu Army. Hearing this, he didn't waste any words. He immediately raised his general's flag, led a thousand cavalry, and slowly moved forward and circled out from the right wing.
Xu Hao was accompanied by Qianqi, who came from the Tielin Army. At this time, the front row held the long spear straight forward and the back row raised it diagonally.
The horse kept snorting and became restless.
"I want to rush straight into the enemy formation, kill Zhang Yanshou and then return, who is willing to follow?" The thick horse is like a toy in Xu Hao's hands. He stared closely at Yang Can's troops who were outflanking and asked loudly.
Everyone who heard the question responded one after another.
Xu Hao ordered fifty cavalry, then observed the detouring Tianzhu Army cavalry, and then took the lead and rushed out.
Dozens of horsemen followed closely behind, shouting loudly and moving as fiercely as tigers.
Yang Can was also a ruthless person. He knew that Xu Hao wanted to take advantage of the enemy's loosened position to make a surprise attack, so he ordered his followers to wave the general's flag and rush towards the place where the enemy troops were the most numerous and densely gathered, intending to use the most ferocious offensive to attack the enemy.
Hit the opponent to attract their attention.
Thousands of horsemen roared and neighed, rushing towards the enemy's flank.
The enemy troops separated a part and counterattacked to intercept them.
With long branches facing each other, I don't know how many people will fall from their horses.
"Hoo!" The heavy horse's spear swept over a person's head. The man fell off the horse without even making a sound. Yang Can ducked again to avoid the oncoming horse. He exerted force with both hands, and the horse's spear reacted.
Sweeping towards him, another person fell to the ground.
Some of the cavalrymen following him abandoned their long swords and drew out their sabers, daggers, and maces to fight. They were so brave among the enemy cavalry that came back that they were about to kill them.
From the front, fifty cavalry led by Xu Hao charged straight towards them.
The rebel army was attacked on the flank, and their formation became a little loose, no longer as tight as before. Zhang Yanshou was a little panicked when he saw Xia Qi rushing from the flank so bravely.
"Zhang Yanshou!" A thunderous roar came from his ears.
Zhang Yanshou was calming down when he saw a horse riding towards him, with its long and thick branches reaching for his chest.
In desperation, he leaned back to avoid the fatal blow. Just as he was about to stand up, he saw a sharp dagger falling from the sky, with a "click" sound, and went straight into his neck.
Fifty cavalrymen followed closely and rushed into chaos the thieves cavalry who were looking a little dumbfounded.
Xu Hao dismounted, struck another sword, and decapitated Zhang Yanshou. Then he picked it up with a short spear and shouted: "The one who beheads Zhang Yanshou is Xu Hao of the Iron Forest Army!"