The land of Henan is enveloped in a strong atmosphere of war.
The grove was cut down in a mess, with pieces here and there.
The hills are full of rangers and scouts, and from time to time messengers gallop by.
There are no traces of people in the wilderness, only broken walls and ruins of villages, telling the story of a miserable life under the setting sun.
Occasionally, a team of camels and horses came, frightening the birds in the shrubs and grass, and circling in the lonely sky for a long time.
Li Tangbin was sitting in an abandoned Taoist temple. He didn't look tired at all after handling official duties all day long.
It was late, but he couldn't feel even a trace of tiredness.
The commander-in-chief put all 50,000 troops into his hands, and Li Tangbin felt that he had a huge burden on him.
I don’t know what the commander likes about me? He smiled bitterly.
The soldier brought a bowl of soup cake with green onions and leeks floating on it and large pieces of mutton.
Livestock from Guanbei could not be transported to Henan, except for preserved meat and cheese transported with the army.
There is not enough pasture.
Merchants going to Chang'an to trade livestock would fight privately for the pastures and water sources along the way, which shows that this is also a precious resource.
After eating the soup cakes in a few seconds, Li Tangbin quietly looked at the map spread out on the incense table, without moving for a long time, as if he had meditated.
There are 8,000 Yicong troops, 10,000 Shaanxi-Guo troops, 8,000 Heyuan troops, 8,000 Jishi troops, and 7,000 Tianzhu troops, a total of 41,000 troops. It seems like a lot, but in this undulating mountain range, the cavalry
In places that are often useless, in places where the enemy's forts are numerous and the troops may not be smaller than yours, in places where the opponent's internal lines are fought, supplies and troops are easily replenished, and the cost is low, you still have to go eastward, and there is a big deal in this.
The red candles on the incense table were shining brightly, illuminating the murderous intentions of soldiers arrayed on paper.
It seemed like a storm was coming, the evening breeze blew in through the doors and windows, and the paper rustled.
The clay puppet with half its head missing behind the incense table quietly stared at the warrior in front of him. He was making a decision, a decision that related to the fate of thousands of people.
The Yi Congjun from the Qing and Tang Dynasties had already arrived at Shihao Village.
Master, the auxiliary soldiers are cutting down trees and building siege equipment. Tomorrow, these heavily armored warriors from Hengshan will also arrive. They, nicknamed "Bubazi" by others, will take the lead in siege and evacuation of the city together with Qing and Tangdu.
important responsibility.
It doesn't matter if people die, there are tens of thousands of Dangxiangshan people in Xiashi County who can add more. Li Tangbin doesn't care about human life, let alone being a Tibetan.
The Shaanxi and Guo army were waiting for a long time, as if they were mourning for their heirs. Now they have just gathered in Shaanzhou and received their equipment, money and food. They are still two or three days away from Xiashi.
The Tianxiong Army, the Shunyi Army, and the bodyguard troops stayed behind. The Huazhou Army sent troops to guard the dangerous points on the Xiaohan Valley Road. If it was insufficient, the 17,000 national troops in Tongguan Town would also send people to support them. They were incompetent in the field, but they could clean up the rear.
It's still ok.
From the six towns of Binning, Jingyuan, Shuofang, Weibei, Longyou and Hexi, they are still deploying Tutuan villagers to head to Tongguan to supplement the number of soldiers in the town.
Of course, the main force is necessary, but miscellaneous troops are also essential, and even more are needed. The Yinshan Fan tribe who have already arrived in Guozhou, Hexi Dangxiang and others will appear on the battlefield more and more frequently in the future.
The Heyuan Army, Jishi Army and Tianzhu Army stayed together. They had just left Xiashi but had not yet reached Shihao.
Only by conquering the Shitou, Gantou, Hu and Guo areas will the road ahead suddenly become clearer.
Li Tangbin calmed down and signed and sealed the order handed over by his staff.
…
Yu Xi flew quickly, and the messenger quickly arrived in a deep valley.
There were hidden sentries outside the valley, and he was discovered as soon as he approached. After his identity was verified, the messenger was brought into the valley.
The setting sun shines in the evening, giving the trees and mountain springs in the valley a layer of red glow.
Many tents and huts were set up in the valley. Some soldiers were resting in their uniforms, while others were taking care of horses and maintaining equipment, but they tried not to make any noise.
The forage was collected and dried to be used as horse feed.
Dawan alfalfa is grown on a large scale in Lingxia. It is an excellent livestock feed and horses also like to eat it.
This move by the Marshal is really a stroke of genius. It is like adding a lot of horse material out of thin air. It can cut three to four crops a year. It grows very fast and the yield is extremely high.
Unfortunately, there are still too many weeds, occupying a lot of space for grass to grow. If the grass is everywhere, it will be like the grassland, coming and going like the wind.
"General Bai, there is a military order coming." The messenger handed over two confidential documents and said.
"Thank you for your hard work." Bai Gui sat up from the ground, then was stunned: "How come there are two letters?"
"I don't know."
"Take this brother down to rest and send him away later." Bai Gui ordered, and then opened the secret document to check.
One letter was written by the strategic envoy Li Tangbin. The meaning was very clear and he agreed with the battle plan proposed by him and Gao Renhou.
With only such a small number of troops and the terrain being so complex, it would be difficult to open up the situation without resorting to extraordinary means.
Another "letter home" that made Bai Gui feel refreshed was that her sister asked someone to ghostwrite it.
Bai Gui looked at it three times and finally put it away carefully, with a smile on his lips.
Since Huizhou defected to the commander-in-chief, the Bai family has worked hard for many years and finally saw the light of day!
The younger sister was actually pretty, but she was illiterate, so she had to work as a maid for several years. The handsome man became interested and occasionally favored her, but unfortunately he could not give birth to a boy and a girl.
If the younger sister can improve her status with the commander, and then fight bravely on the battlefield and make meritorious deeds, both internally and externally, the Bai family will surely reach a higher level.
The plan has been decided, now it depends on whether the Bian Army is willing to give this meritorious service.
Bai Gui asked someone to bring a map and carefully observed the mountains, rivers, roads and forts on it.
The Bian army had many infantry and was able to take advantage of the dangerous passes.
Our army has more infantry, but more cavalry, which is more conducive to charging and killing.
However, the mountains are continuous and the riders cannot form a line, which seems to be very disadvantageous. But when it comes to fighting, shouldn't we use our strengths and avoid weaknesses, suppress the disadvantages, and carry forward the advantages? Only in this way can we win.
Bai Gui looked at the terrain over and over again, and went through the plan over and over again, trying to take every detail into consideration.
Distance, time, troops, repeated thinking, repeated chewing.
The sky gradually darkened, and the valley became dark and dark.
There were no fireworks, everyone ate dry and hard vinegar cakes and drank cold water.
There was no movement. The horse seemed to be infected, or was cared for too comfortably. He rubbed his head against his partner affectionately, and then stood quietly and slept.
…
Inside the Huguo Village camp, the Bian army was busy preparing various supplies and equipment.
Liu Kangyi organized his equipment and luggage with the help of his soldiers.
News has come that Shihao Village was besieged by Xia thieves.
The bandit soldiers built a large number of equipment and launched an aggressive offensive. There were only a thousand soldiers from Henan Province and counties in the stronghold. Even though they were defending their homeland and their morale was high, their combat effectiveness should not be overestimated.
Shihaozhai is very close to Xiashi, a day's journey away.
Setting up a stronghold so close to the Xia thieves is more of a warning than a defense. This is just a large beacon.
To the east of Shihao Village, there is Qianhao Village, which is heavily stationed. There are more than a thousand soldiers from Xu Su, a thousand soldiers from Henan Prefecture, plus a thousand soldiers from Songzhou and 500 soldiers from Huazhou, for a total of 3,500.
One hundred infantry and two hundred cavalry were organized into an outer town army, namely the Qianhao town army.
The scale of Qianhao Village is also relatively large, with trenches dug outside, horse pits set, and iron caltrops placed to hold back horse guns.
In the north, there is also a small village on Shenque Terrace, guarded by Huazhou soldiers.
Here, we can resist the Xia bandit army for a long time. When their offensive is exhausted and their morale is low, an opportunity will appear.
"Let's go!" Seeing that preparations were almost complete, Liu Kangyi gave the order.
The sources of the five thousand troops are very complicated. They include the Yan and Yun Jiang troops, the Henan government troops, the brave warriors selected from the field soldiers, and the Xuanwu government troops. After half a year of training last winter and this spring, they are already a full force.
We have an army ready to fight.
Liu Kangyi was a little regretful that the troops sent to Xuanwu Town in Henan Prefecture by the commander-in-chief were too few, and most of them were stationed in important areas.
Sometimes he secretly wonders, is this consuming someone?
But after I thought about it, I shuddered and threw the idea away. The commander-in-chief was such a heroic figure. He led 500 people out of the town of Bianzhou, intrigued with Xuanwu's old army generals, recruited his best troops, and then destroyed Bo.
Qin Zongquan's army continued to grow, from the initial tens of thousands to nearly 200,000.
He also defeated Wei Bo many times, and obtained hundreds of thousands of coins and millions of bolts of silk from him. From then on, he surrendered and paid tribute every year. The soldiers all benefited from it, their morale was high, and their fighting spirit was strong.
This is the hero! Everything the hero does has its own reason.
After the army was prepared, Liu Kangyi sent out his few hundred mule soldiers and spread them out far away to guard the left and right. Then five thousand people in large and small cars quietly went down the mountain under the darkness of night.
The tricks to deal with summer thieves are actually very simple.
Henan Prefecture is mountainous, which is not conducive to the Xia cavalry's movement, and the terrain is complex, with many hiding places.
He has already chosen a valley with a spring in the mountain that can accommodate thousands of troops. It is very hidden and located between Shihao Village and Huguo Village, making it very convenient to attack.
The sergeants have received orders in advance. They are not allowed to raise fires, light smoke, make noises, or move around. They are all waiting for orders to act.
Anyone who disobeys orders will be killed!
After training this army for half a year, Liu Kangyi still has some prestige. From this point of view, the orders were carried out very well, which made him very satisfied.
After fighting a few more battles, the cohesion will be stronger and we will become a strong army.
War raged all over the Central Plains, and the people's customs were strong, tempering one strong army after another. The Xiaozhen Army in his hands will inevitably go down this road.
After walking for most of the night under the moonlight, we finally arrived at our destination.
The mule army had already entered early. They occupied some high places and laid out their crossbowmen.
After receiving the safe signal, the large group of people moved in in batches.
Regardless of their fatigue, they immediately began to set up camp.
Auxiliary soldiers began to distribute water, and everyone ate rough dry food without any complaints.
Our ancestors said that Qin soldiers endured hard battles, but how could they know that Henan soldiers could also endure hard battles? Anyone who has experienced more than a hundred years of war and turmoil will become more resilient.
The first battle down the mountain is to surprise the Xia thieves and wash away the shame of last year.
