Fine snowflakes floated from the sky and fell on the forest valley.
Everyone in the Zhe family army was very curious. Will it snow in the south?
Of course, they are not sure whether Junzhou is in the south or the north, maybe it is the junction.
The army advanced rapidly, arriving at Yunxiang in three days and capturing it without any bloodshed.
Then they collected boats and sailed down the river, arriving at Junzhou City in one day.
The troops in the city were weak, and they had just received news of the defeat, so they were in panic and chaos.
The old troops of Lu Ye, the former governor, opened the city gates and let the soldiers of the Zhe family enter the city, and Junzhou was pacified.
There was also Fengli County, not far from Shangjin. General Li Tong sent 1,500 people there to help occupy it.
In this battle, Feng Xingxing's troops were killed between six and seven hundred people, and the rest were captured. It can be said that the entire army was wiped out.
Feng himself was very unfortunate. While being dragged by his war horse, his head hit trees and rocks, and he died...
The two sons, together with the general Quan Shilang, were all prisoners.
The campaign against Junzhou ended in such a shocking way. I wonder what the Xingyuan soldiers and Jin merchant soldiers who were still on the way would think after hearing this.
This place in Junzhou is so tough!
Sun Xi crossed the river alone and was beheaded by Feng Xingxi. Feng Xingxi wanted to attack Shangzhou, but was ambushed by Zhe Zongben.
It would be great if all the wars in the world could be so straightforward. What I fear the most is the tug-of-war.
The first thing that Zhe Zongben did after entering the city was to summon the officials and assistants in the city to comfort them with gentle words. They were all retained and everyone felt at ease.
When foreign soldiers arrive in a place, it is not enough to suppress them by force alone. It is best to gain the support of local people, at least not strong opposition, so that they can gain a firm foothold.
Those who don't understand this, such as Sun Ru, will be destroyed sooner or later.
This guy abandoned his old nest in Yangzhou, drove men, women, old and young across the river, occupied Suzhou, and defeated Yang Xingmi in Guangde.
Being a secret agent was also hard work, so he could only send people to Jiangbei to clean up the territory that Sun Ru had abandoned, because he felt that the place that Sun Ru had harmed would be safer, even though it was quite dilapidated.
Sun Ru stayed in Suzhou for some days, then burned and plundered Su and Changzhou, and drove his troops to Xuanzhou, Xingmi's home base.
After Qian Liu confirmed that Cai Bing had left, he sent people over to occupy Suzhou.
Cai Bing broke the secret code of Xingmi many times outside Xuanzhou. Xingmi retreated to Xuanzhou and asked Qian Liu for help. Qian Liu provided Yang Xingmi with military rations out of fear of death.
At this time, Cai soldiers set up a large camp outside the city and surrounded Xuanzhou. Xing secretly did not dare to leave the city, so he could only resign himself to fate.
"Li Shijun, I'm here for the first time and I'm not very familiar with the geography of Shannan East Road." In the Junzhou Yamen, Zhe Zongben asked Li Tong who was following him: "How about the land route from Junzhou to Xiangyang? What about the waterway?"
"Commander Huizhe, it is three hundred and sixty miles from Junzhou to Xiangyang. It is a land route with no clouds, and we all go by boat." Li Tong's attitude became more and more respectful. Feng Xingxi had caused so much trouble to the Li family and his son. As a result, they
As soon as they arrived, they implemented a small plan and eliminated this scourge.
"There is no land route?" Zhe Zongben was a little surprised.
"The land route requires a long and narrow path, which is rugged and difficult to navigate, and there are many ferocious animals. It is not as fast and convenient as the water route." Li Tong explained: "Whether the army is passing through, or whether it is public or private, they all travel by boat on the Han River, going back and forth between Jun and Xiangzhou.
Now that the river is not frozen, we can still go by boat, and we can reach Xiangyang in a few days."
Zuri Zongben knew it well as soon as he heard it.
Junzhou is in the upper reaches, and it is convenient and fast to go down the river. You can reach Xiangyang in a few days, and the transportation of logistics materials will not be a drag.
What a great place!
"Li Shijun will give me a detailed explanation of Xiangyang's waterway."
"I will explain it to you in detail." Li Tong said: "Sixty miles down the river from Wudang, Junzhou, there is a place called 'Xiaojiangkou', which is where the Dan River flows into the Han River. Zhao Deqian was born in Cai General, specializing in
He was not very interested in local government affairs. Your Majesty might as well gather your troops, occupy this place, build a city and set up a stronghold to defend it. There are many deep mountains and steep valleys nearby, making it difficult to travel. If there is a strong stronghold, it will be difficult for the thieves to capture it in a hurry.
, and I can ship troops, money and food down from Shangzhou, and I can also send reinforcements from Junzhou. After leaving this small river mouth, I have a smooth road and enter the border of Xiangzhou, which is densely populated and relatively wealthy."
Of course, this wealthy area is relatively speaking. After all, it was a place that was harmed by Cai Bing. Although Zhao Deqian was not as outrageous as Qin Zongquan or Sun Ru, the disaster was not a small one at that time. After several years of recuperation, he has recovered a little now.
vitality.
"Since Xiaojiangkou is so important, I should set up a stronghold and garrison troops." Zhe Zong originally had 2,000 troops at hand. He was planning to pick 2,000 troops from the surrendered troops and add them to the elite troops he brought over, and then break them up and reorganize them.
There were four thousand troops, but it seemed a bit small.
We can only wait for the follow-up army to arrive.
This is the road where the son-in-law's surprise troops stand out, but be careful. Once he controls the land of Xiang and Deng, Zhu Quanzhong will be attacked from both sides and will be unable to resist.
But the problem is, how to prevent Zhao from turning to Quanzhong? It seems difficult.
…
Shao Shude has not received news from Junzhou yet.
But he had high hopes for this journey, and he didn't know what kind of situation Zhe Zong could cause.
Leaping a thousand miles into the Dabie Mountains was such a stroke of genius.
The only thing that needs to be worried about is the supply problem. The limit is only three to four thousand soldiers. Even if the gold merchants provide more support nearby, they can only support five thousand soldiers.
What's more, why does Jinshang Town raise troops for you? They have a heavy burden and have a lot of soldiers to raise, although their combat effectiveness is not very good.
The only ones that can really be relied upon as a foundation are Wudang and other three counties.
If you want to truly develop, you still have to occupy more territory. It is best to continue to advance, rely on the wealth of the eight counties of Xiangzhou to support the army, and gradually grow and develop.
Xiangzhou has a flat terrain, dense water network, and numerous fertile fields, so it has the economic foundation to support the army's campaign.
Then they cooperate with the north, one south and one north, and the whole country is loyal.
Along the way, Shao Shude granted Zhe Zongben full authority. He could decide whether to fight, how to fight, and where to fight.
After all, this is another battlefield. Shao Shude definitely doesn't know the actual situation on the front line like Zhe Zongben. If he makes blind commands, isn't that Chang Kaishen?
What he is concerned about now is the Henan battlefield.
Li Kuangwei raised an army, with a total of 40,000 infantry and 20,000 cavalry.
According to the latest news, Helianduo sold his old face and roped in a bunch of "fool friends" from the grassland, and wanted to take them south to Hedong to make a fortune. There were more than 50,000 riders in total.
Helianduo attacked Lanzhou and killed the Zhelu envoy Liu Huzi.
Li Kuangwei attacked Yuzhou and besieged it day and night.
Li Keyong had to withdraw his troops.
In the Battle of Baixing, Zhu Quanzhong's general Zhang Shensi commanded more than 13,000 troops and faced off against Li Cunxiao and An Jinquan. They fought bloody battles but could not cut off the return route.
After Li Keyong unified the main force and returned north, they fled.
Well, it was Kang Junli who was left behind by Li Keyong to break up the queen, and Kang Junli left Li Han behind to break up the queen...
If you think about it carefully, Li Keyong led troops several times, and when he attacked Xingzhou, he quickly retreated twice before the enemy. In the battle with Youzhou, he also sent people to support An Jinjun, but he was never chased for thousands of miles. This skill is quite good.
Can.
Li Keyong retreated, and news came from the silver spears. The army was gathering in the direction of Ruzhou. The number of troops could not be determined, but it was at least 30,000, and probably more. They should have been brought back by Pang Shigu from the south.
Shao Shude only hated that Yang Xingmi had not yet gained momentum and could not put pressure on Zhu Quanzhong in Huainan. Otherwise, how could Pang Shigu lead his troops back so elegantly?
It’s time to keep in touch more in the future. When we get back, we will ask the saint to promote Yang Xingmi. Xuan She will no longer be the military governor, and he will go directly to the Huainan military governor. Zhu Quanzhong occupies the two states of Shou and Chu in Huainan, and Chu state is still an enclave.
There is a "territorial dispute", and this is an opportunity.
"See the commander-in-chief!" Shao Shude sent an envoy to quickly summon all the future generals to discuss matters, including Zhe Siyu, Ye Liyu, Xia Sanmu, Xu Hao, Li Tangbin, Fu Cunchen, Yang Can, Zang Dubao, Niu Li and other generals.
Come one after another.
Discussions of this scale cannot be held frequently, and the general cannot stay with the commander every day. This is usually done only when important decisions need to be made.
"Pang Shigu and Ge Congzhou have assembled a large army in Ruzhou, and are about to march into the Luoshui Valley to threaten our flanks. In the direction of Heyang, the Jin division has retreated, and Zhu Zhen's victorious division will advance westward at any time. Perhaps this time has already come.
Quanzhong was in Bian, and he had already mobilized his troops to Luoyang in the late stages of the Jin War. The leader was Hu Zhen. The two groups might merge, and their strength would be no less than 100,000. Quanzhong, he came with all his strength.
"The person who introduced the situation to the generals was Chen Cheng, deputy envoy of Shuofang Jiedu.
"Are the Tianping Army, Taining Army, and Wuning Army dead? They can't even move?" Xu Hao burst out with a big mouth, and everyone laughed when he heard this.
Shao Shude looked at it and said, "It's very good. The morale is pretty good."
Since the expedition, he has defeated the enemy one after another and captured more than 400,000 dendrobium of military supplies. The people of Henan Prefecture have hundreds of thousands of treasures, and they have also killed three generals and captured one general, which established the reputation of Shuofang's army.
"The Tianping Army and the Taining Army should have lost the strength and courage to take the initiative to attack. Wuning Shipu should not be able to do well either. He is still facing pressure from Ding Hui's troops, which is useless." Shao Shude added next to him.
One sentence: "Don't place your hopes on others, it will kill yourself."
"Envoy Zhe, what is the situation of Hu Zhen's troops now?" Shao Shude asked.
"After Liu Han's three thousand men were defeated, his main force remained stationary and stationed east of Luoyang. At the end of the day, the general sent his cavalry to check, but was driven away by the bandit cavalry. There must be cavalry coming up. However, the bandit cavalry did not want to fight and drove them away.
Just walk on my horse and it will be fine, just like a house dog." Oritsugu Yu replied.
The generals laughed again.
Zhu Quanzhong was afraid that he would not be willing to continue consuming precious cavalry.
He inherited the old cavalry from Xuanwu and Xuanyi towns, sent Pang Shigu to Ziqing and Huaixi to recruit cavalry to form new cavalry, and probably also incorporated Qin Zongquan's Caizhou cavalry, Tianping and Taining towns' cavalry.
Troops, and maybe some nest troops surrendered, this is his entire cavalry strength.
The surrendered troops from Cai, Yun, and Yansan towns were brought to Henan Prefecture by Ge Congzhou. Now I don't know how many are left, but they have all been gathered in Ruzhou.
The cavalry around Hu Zhen were probably responsible for the Desheng Army.
Zhu Quanzhong has soldiers who are good at riding, mainly "Huaiyi". He also has talented cavalrymen, such as the family of professional cavalrymen represented by He Delun. However, he has only been running the horse administration for a few years, and the number of horses is seriously insufficient. This is
The main factor constraining his cavalry force.
We can't let him get Ziqing Town again!
There are a lot of horses maintained in that place, and like Huaixi, Hou Xiyi and Li Zhengji led more than 10,000 people southward from Fuhai, Liaodong. They are all descendants of the Pinglu Army that suppressed the Khitan for many years, and the cavalry inheritance is profound.
"With the main reinforcements from Quanzhong, Hu Zhen should be heading west, but he may not be able to be the leader." After thinking about it, Shao Shude ordered: "The cavalry army continues to harass and delay, but do not fight head-on with the thieves.
, unless there are military cavalry on the side."
It is obviously impossible for the army's cavalry to be used. It is attached to the infantry and has a limited range of activities. It is difficult to go east of Luoyang.
"There are nearly 6,000 loyal and shun soldiers, including their families, who have all moved away. All ministries are ready to suppress the rebellion in case of rebellion. All the people in Mianchi have also moved away." Shao Shude no longer wants to maintain a fragile superficial relationship with these people.
Yes, it's actually impossible.
"The entire army retreated to the Erling area of Koban, and the Chinese army was stationed in Huguo Village."
Of course there is a reason why we are stationed in Huguo Village, because it is a strategically important location.
From Huguo Village to the southeast, passing through several dangerous areas, you can reach the Luoshui River Valley, and then turn northeast to Luoyang. This was also a route used by emperors of the imperial dynasty to go to Luoyang for meals, and there were many palaces along the way.
To the east of Huguo Village is the route Shao Shude took at this time. There are also palaces such as Zigui and Tieling along the way. The emperor sometimes took this road to Luoyang to eat.
This is an important intersection. If the army from the direction of Ruzhou comes, it is most convenient to go straight to Huguo Village.
Of course, there are other ways, which can be directly inserted into the rear of Shuofang's army, or even inserted into Shaanxi and Guo, cutting the rear of Shuofang's army into three or five pieces.
The mountains in those places were contiguous, making it difficult for cavalry to drive, so the infantry of the Bian army could calmly defend the dangerous terrain and block the return route of Shuo Fang's army.
"Commander" Chen Cheng hesitated for a moment and said: "Isn't it too risky? The people can't walk as fast as the army. If the Ruzhou Bian Army takes the Xiong'er Mountain and Erxiao Mountain Road, our army's cavalry will have nothing to do with it.
There are too many places that the Bian army can choose to cut off my return, and they are all easy to defend and difficult to attack."
"The general asked the commander to withdraw to Xiashi first." To Shao Shude's surprise, Niu Li, the deputy envoy of the Tianxiong Army, suddenly stood up and said: "Our army is small and we have gone too far forward. The road back is long and extremely difficult.
It's unstable. We can lose the army now, but we can't lose the commander. Please give way to Xiashi County and lead the remaining army to meet us. The general is willing to lead Tianxiong's army to evacuate the people here, and he will definitely fulfill his mission."
Zang Dubao was a little surprised. Before he, the military envoy, could speak, Niu Li actually stood up.
So he hurriedly said: "Commander, please rest assured that all five thousand members of the Tianxiong Army are determined to fight to the death and will definitely fulfill their mission."
"Maybe I'm too greedy." Shao Shude stretched out his hand, asked them to sit down, and said: "The biggest threat at present is not the 100,000 main force that Zhu Quanzhong may bring over, but Pang Shigu and Ge Congzhou.
This force gathered in Ruzhou."
Just as he was about to continue talking, Zheng Yong, the tenth general of the army, suddenly walked in and reported: "Commander, Li Keyong sent a messenger. The Bian Army messenger they captured in Heyang was brought to Shaanxi.
Guo’s secret message.”
"Bring it here." Shao Shude reached out and took the letter and read it twice carefully.
After reading it, he was silent for a long time, with a very rich expression on his face.
"Please handle this letter and send it to Zhu Jian intact. I will set off immediately to return to Shaanxi and Guoan."
In fact, it doesn't matter whether he sends it or not, because Zhu Quanzhong cannot send just one messenger.
This is a big crisis, but there are opportunities within the crisis.
