"General Hao, why bother?" On the north bank of the river, Feng Ba persuaded with some confusion: "We only have so much capital on hand. Once we lose it, why do you start from the team? At your age, why bother?
Desperately?"
More than 3,000 of them have arrived on the other side of Shaanzhou.
According to the plan made by Ge Congzhou in advance, he would wait for the opportunity to cross south to Shaanxi and Guo to attack Shuofang's army's food road.
If the food road is cut off, even if there is still food left in the camp, morale will be dampened. Unless the food road is reopened, it can be restored.
Hao Zhenwei did not answer, but asked: "General Feng is from the Zhaoyi Army. Do you know why the King of Dongping County did not invite King Rong of Chengde and Li Kuangwei of Youzhou to attack Hedong together?"
These two towns have excellent cavalry traditions and numerous soldiers and horses, especially Chengde Town.
Hao Zhenwei vaguely remembered that Chengde Town inherited most of the cavalry talents from the Anshi surrender.
During Li Baochen's period, there were fourteen generals in the left compartment, five on foot and nine on cavalry; there were eleven generals in the right compartment, two on foot and nine on cavalry.
When Li Xiaozhong was the governor of Yizhou, Li Baochen generously selected 7,000 elite cavalry for him to defend Youzhou.
With this kind of cavalry tradition, Ma Zheng also performed very well, and there are cavalry techniques and tactics passed down from generation to generation. A few years ago, in Youzhou and Chengde Town, they attacked Li Keyong's in-laws. Yi Ding Wang Chucun, Wang Rong quoted "Ten
"Ten thousand cavalry", there are also tens of thousands of cavalry in Youzhou. With such an overwhelming number of cavalry, why not let them participate in the battle?
"The King of Dongping County must have sent his envoys long ago. Wang Rong may not be willing to send troops. It is very likely that Li Kuangwei will send troops to attack Yuzhou. This place is occupied by the Hedong Army. It is really like a bullet in the throat." After Feng Ba thought for a while,
He said: "It's just that Youzhou has a large number of cavalry, almost two or three times as many as Li Keyong, but they may not be able to win."
Of course, the "one hundred thousand cavalry" in Chengde Town is too exaggerated, and it is impossible to really have one hundred thousand cavalry. One hundred thousand horses is about the same. The real number of cavalry can support 50,000, and the rest are mostly infantry who can maneuver on horseback and dismount to fight.
However, these two families combined a total of 70,000 to 80,000 cavalry, as well as tens of thousands of mounted infantry, and tens of thousands of foot infantry. They fought on the Hebei Plain, and were defeated by Li Keyong.
In Chengde Town, 20,000 people were captured and killed, so that Li Keyong never forgot to attack Chengde. This showed his confidence.
Before capturing the town of Datong, the cavalry used by Li Key was probably less than a fraction of the cavalry of Chengde and Youzhou combined. Even Helianduo of Datong had tens of thousands of cavalry at his disposal. At most, eight cavalrymen were pulled from the grassland at one time.
Wanqi had more troops than Li Keyong's entire army, but he was defeated many times. The Hedong Army's food route had never been cut off. In other words, it was cut off for a short time, but it did not affect his infantry's victory in attacking the enemy.
Should we say that Li Keyong's infantry was tough and resistant and effective in guarding the grain road, or that these cavalry were not good enough?
Li Keyong was not intercepted by more cavalry than his entire army. After reaching the grassland, Li Keyong, whose cavalry surged, never succeeded in intercepting Zhu Quanzhong's grain route. Instead, he was violently beaten by Zhu Quanzhong's infantry.
There are naturally reasons for this.
Even during the Later Jin Dynasty, more than 100,000 Khitan cavalry were beaten back.
The number of horses maintained in the Central Plains at that time shrank sharply compared with the separatist vassal towns in the late Tang Dynasty. There were not many horses in Chengde Town. The Central Plains were almost all infantry. Why didn't the Khitans rely on wolf pack tactics to defeat these infantry? The infantry in the late Jin Dynasty
, because of the economic collapse, population reduction, military pay, equipment, and training were all inferior to those in the late Tang Dynasty when feudal towns fought each other.
Aren’t the Great Plains of Henan and Hebei also the most suitable for Khitan cavalry?
This is a reason that Marshal Shao did not fully understand when he was in the vastly empty northwest, but now he has understood part of the mystery.
Zhang Quanyi could have prevented the Xia army's cavalry from walking freely in Henan Prefecture, but he was not prepared.
"Regardless of whether we can win or not, sending troops is useful. Wang Rong was afraid of being beaten, but Li Kuangwei was not. Didn't he defeat An Jinjun the year before last?" Hao Zhenwei said unconvinced: "It has been a vassal town for hundreds of years, and the soldiers and armor are all ready.
, sergeants hone their skills day and night, who is worse than the other?"
"I said that Youzhou Town will probably send troops, but Wang Rong will not." Feng Ba was very impatient with Hao Zhenwei and said angrily: "But what does this have to do with us? Cross the river from the Sun Floating Bridge, in case we encounter the main force of the Xia thieves
, we all will die without a burial place.”
"If you don't go, I will!" Hao Zhenwei snorted coldly, climbed up a boulder, and stared carefully at the pontoon ferry.
Their current location is Pinglu County, a county under Shaanxi and Guo Town on the north bank of the river. The northern end of the Sun Floating Bridge is Pinglu and the southern end is Shaanxi City.
They didn't dare to get too close to the northern end of the floating bridge.
The damned Xia thieves not only drove away the Shaanxi and Guo sailors who were guarding the pontoon bridge and the ferry, but also sent sergeants to guard the north bank of the river. They were very alert.
But there seem to be very few soldiers!
"Heaven help me!" Hao Zhenwei said with a low smile: "There are not even scouts. There are only a few security sergeants at this north bank ferry. It's up to me to capture it."
After that, he left quietly, preparing to go back and reorganize his troops.
…
Zhe Silun immediately received the report that a Bian Army brigade was heading this way.
At this time, he happened to be patrolling the north bank. There were only 300 guards at the ferry, which really only served as a warning.
On the south bank, there were only 300 soldiers. There were too many places to defend. He only had 5,000 infantry, but he had to defend the entire Shaanxi-Guo river area, so the number of troops was insufficient.
"Ya Nei, go back to the south bank. Let's burn the pontoon bridge." The garrison general on the north bank suggested.
"This bridge is not easy to build. The commander may want to keep it because it will be of great use." Zhe Silun was a little reluctant to part with it, but he still said: "You go ahead and pile up the firewood and hide it. Don't let anyone peek at it from a distance.
Get the real and the real. If something goes wrong, throw oil on the bridge and light it on fire."
"Please ask the yamen to retreat first," the garrison general said.
"We won't retreat!" Zhe Silun said firmly: "I'll go there and give me a hundred people. Then let the soldiers from the south bank come over to help you defend."
Zhe Si Lun refers to the mountains northwest of the ferry.
The garrison general was stunned and said: "Yamen, if the bandits attack..."
"The commander-in-chief sent an envoy to deliver a message. More than 4,000 silver spearmen have already crossed the river to the north and are looking for them all the way to the west. In Hebei, it is not that dangerous. In the worst case, I will escape to the west. Don't worry." Zhe Silun was determined.
Di said: "This time I send troops, I only have to work hard, how can I be willing to do so?"
These words are actually Zhe Silun's true inner thoughts.
The commander of the cavalry army, Oritsugu Yu, was born in the Oris family. What is his current status?
How can he, a legitimate son of the Zhe family, compare to others?
"Yamen..." The garrison general is also a descendant of the Zhe family, and he still needs to be persuaded.
However, Zhe Silun had made up his mind and immediately ordered a hundred people, took a lot of things and only a dozen horses, and hurried to the other side of the mountain.
After receiving the news, the three hundred guards on the south bank of the river immediately crossed the river and headed north to join the two hundred men under the garrison general.
Of course, the cohesion of the soldiers from the Zhe family is very high.
When fighting, they lead each other and pass arrows, fight together, advance and retreat together.
Five hundred people are on the north bank, and everyone is not ready to escape. Even the government office has not run away. Why are you running?
Hao Zhenwei rode on the horse excitedly, while Feng Ba looked reluctant and hesitant.
Behind them were more than 3,000 horsemen. The queue stretched out far away, but it was still in order.
They had seen the ferry in the distance.
Hao Zhenwei and Feng Ba gave the order to stop and began to regroup.
"Stop!" Feng Ba suddenly reached out and stopped the army that was about to move out.
"Why stop?" Hao Zhenwei said angrily.
"General Hao." Feng Ba looked at Hao Zhenwei with rare sincerity, and said in a serious tone: "You and I are both foreign generals in the Bian Army, and we have no roots. What I said before was not a joke, Kang Yanxiao defected to Bianzhou
, the Prince of Dongping County only asked him to start from the army. If you and I lose all the army, it would be good to start from the army. Don't you hear about Li Chan and Li Chongyin?"
Li Chan and Li Chongyin, one was a cavalry general and the other was an infantry general. Like Ge Congzhou, they were from Shangrang's old corps.
When Zhu Quanzhong surrendered, they had a high status and many troops, so they were a little arrogant. At that time, Quanzhong had few soldiers and was not happy in his heart, but he pretended to be generous on the surface and received many rewards.
But what now?
Last year, when Li Keyong was attacked, Deng Jijun was captured and all troops retreated, but the others were fine, but the second Li was killed by Zhu Quanzhong.
Prince Dongping is generous on the outside, but he is not generous on the inside.
"So what if Er Li was killed?" Hao Zhenwei's heart trembled, but he still asked patiently.
"Look at the mountains over there." Feng Ba pointed to the mountains northwest of the ferry. There were more than ten flags hidden among them. You couldn't tell them unless you looked carefully.
Hao Zhenwei looked at it for a long time and realized it, but he still hesitated.
"Look over there again." Feng Ba pointed again and said: "The Art of War says, 'When a bird rises, it will ambush', 'If an animal scares it, it will fall'. If the birds don't enter the forest, there must be an ambush. The animals will be frightened and run away."
When we come out of the mountains and forests, there will be soldiers walking in the mountains, trying to take a detour back to the rear of our army."
"Look at the ferry again." Feng Ba became more and more confident as he spoke, "The Art of War also says, 'If you challenge the enemy from a distance, you want him to advance'."
At the ferry, the defenders who came from the south bank brought a few horses. At this time, they selected some brave men, galloped back and forth, and shot arrows in this direction, provoking them endlessly.
"I have been in the army for fifteen years. This is understood by those who know the military." Feng Ba looked at Hao Zhenwei and said in a concluding tone.
Hao Zhenwei's face darkened. You have "know how to fight" after serving in the army for fifteen years. I have also been a defense officer.
But Feng Ba's words are indeed very reasonable, they cannot afford to lose.
The Shao thieves always had a large number of troops in their wars and were well protected. How could such an important ferry not be heavily defended?
You thief, you want to steal my last bit of capital again!
Hao Zhenwei, who had suffered several losses, became more and more angry as he thought about it, and was very happy in his heart.
"Retreat and find a ferry." He said somewhat reluctantly.
"It's time to withdraw our troops long ago." Feng Ba breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Ge Congzhou ordered us to cross the river and go south, saying that his father and son would lead the army to Erxiao Mountain and come out of the mountains south of Shaanxi Province, but we still haven't done anything yet.
No trace was seen. Why should we wait for him to take chestnuts from the fire?"
Hao Zhenwei nodded, and the two restrained the men and retreated quietly.
On the way back to the army, the atmosphere was a bit depressing and no one wanted to talk.
At this moment, a cavalry army was marching rapidly westward more than ten miles east of them.
