Anzhou has jurisdiction over six counties: Anlu, Yunmeng, Xiaochang, Yingcheng, Yingshan and Jiyang, with more than 10,000 households and more than 110,000 people. The economy is actually very average, but the geographical location is very important.
Some counties in the prefecture were plundered by Huai soldiers. The people were very panicked and suffered heavy losses.
Du Hong, the governor of Jiedu, was indifferent. So far, he had only carried out one rescue operation and forced hundreds of Huai soldiers to retreat. He ignored him at other times. The people of the six counties were so disappointed that they even formed their own militia and formed a stronghold to protect themselves.
In fact, powerful people in many states and counties grew up like this.
If we wait a little longer, maybe there will be some local tycoon in Anzhou who will take over the city and proclaim himself the governor, which is like a separatist regime.
But just when this sign first appeared, the influx of a large number of troops eliminated this possibility.
Chen Su, a local tycoon in Xiangzhou, entered Anzhou with a thousand troops and recruited sergeants along the way. Because wars were frequent and people's lives were not easy, he quickly raised a thousand troops and increased his strength to two thousand.
Anzhou has actually been infiltrated by Suizhou Zhao Kuanglin for a long time. The two key passes of Shen and Anjian such as Pingjing Pass and Baiyan Pass are all in Anzhou, but they have been occupied and controlled by the Suizhou army.
Facts have proved that the Bian army also liked to go here to cross the Tongbai Mountains and flank the counties of Suizhou. Therefore, many battles broke out at Pingjing Pass and they almost failed to hold it.
As for why they didn't attack from the direction of Cai and Shen, it may be because they were directly facing the main force of Zhe Zongben there. Even if they had the upper hand and repeatedly invaded Tang Dynasty, Sui, but before completely attacking the Zhe family army's garrison city, they rashly went deep into it.
There is a risk of the route of retreat being cut off.
After the 18,000 infantrymen of Yi Congjun and Tianxiong Army entered Anzhou, Zhao Kuanglin immediately gave up Pingjing Pass and retreated to Baiyan Pass to shrink his troops.
He had to do this because Zang Dubao, who had just been appointed as the envoy to the east of Han Dynasty, was stationed in Anzhou City and led the Tianxiong Army's 3,000 infantry to guard the back road. For this reason, some of the liberated soldiers would cooperate with Tianxiong.
The main force of the Xiong army went north, left Baiyan Pass, and invaded Shenzhou.
The strength of this route included 7,000 Tianxiong Army infantry, 3,000 Suizhou soldiers, and 600 cavalry from Xiangyang, totaling more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry, led by Niu Li, the deputy envoy to recruit Han Dong.
To the east of them, in the direction of Pingjingguan, there were 8,000 Yijun infantry, 2,000 Chen "Righteous Soldiers" and 400 Xiangyang cavalry, also totaling 10,000 people.
Two groups of troops set off, crossed the Tongbai Mountains, and headed north to Shenzhou. I wonder if they will be shocked.
Most of them have already learned that the Xia army on the southern front is increasing its troops, and they may even know the news of Shao Shude's arrival. However, full-scale fighting broke out in Luyang Pass, Wanye Corridor, and the Tang-Cai Pass, and they have been suffering for the past two years.
After the Xia army, which had been holding on for so long, actually counterattacked across the board, normal people would think that Zhe Zong was going to "take revenge", and the main battlefield must be in Ru and Cai.
However, the Tianxiong Army and the Yi Cong Army will soon enter Shenzhou from Anzhou. The Nanyang area cannot support too many troops. They must fight quickly or lose food to the enemy.
Chen Su rode a tall horse, and his sons and nephews followed him with swords and bows.
Before setting off, his team received one hundred pairs of iron armor and four hundred pairs of leather armor. King Xia sent people to send them, plus their own reserves, making the armor coverage of this army look decent.
Even after the army was expanded to 2,000 men, it was still not low, which gave them great courage to continue to advance.
Of course, compared to the Yi Congjun who serve as the main force, it is not enough.
There are three thousand people in Hengshan on the left side of the Yi Cong Army. Half of them are soldiers, each with a pair of iron armor. They are tall and have high morale. They have been fighting for many years and have rich experience. At first glance, they are not easy to mess with.
Chen Su even suspected that Hengshan could easily kill his two thousand men with only three to five hundred men.
The rise of King Xia in Kansai is really not accidental. These powerful troops who are accustomed to fighting are beyond the reach of ordinary military leaders.
Ezhou Duhong? Stop joking, he can't do it.
Xiangyang Zhao Kuangning? Not very good.
Huai thief? I’ve never seen him before, and he’s probably not very good at it.
Messengers kept passing by both sides of the queue, conveying various military information and orders. Generally speaking, they mainly came from the Western Route Army, Anzhou City and Suizhou heading north from Baiyan Pass.
Chen Su suddenly felt confident. He stood on one side of the horse and carefully admired the endless team.
The scene of tens of thousands of troops crossing the border was spectacular.
The counties of Anzhou and Suizhou provided 20,000 to 30,000 men with pack horses and carts to transport supplies and grain, divided into several groups, and moved together with the army, so the scene became even more spectacular.
This battle is exciting!
On the 30th day of the first lunar month, the entire Eastern Route Army passed Pingjing Pass, left the surrounding villages alone, and rushed toward Shenzhou City with great force.
At this time, news came from the west that the army and the Shenzhou soldiers fought in Shishui and defeated them, beheading more than 500 people and capturing 700 prisoners.
Chen Su was not a man without military knowledge. Judging from the number of prisoners and beheads, he was keenly aware that the Bian thieves in Shenzhou area really had few soldiers.
Perhaps they were all attracted to the west. This was their mistake, a fatal mistake.
On the second day of February, the Eastern Route Army also ushered in its first battle: more than 320 people were beheaded and 500 were captured.
According to the prisoners who were tortured, they learned that they were sergeants who had detoured from Guangzhou for reinforcements. As a result, they encountered Xia's army on the way and almost the entire army was wiped out.
These two states are really empty! Chen Su's morale was immediately boosted when he thought of the news from his daughter in private.
People like Deng Jinsi, Wu Tao, and Feng Jingzhang can serve as governors. There are even barbarian chiefs and bandits in Hunan next door. Can't I?
The King of Xia is a powerful man who can dethrone the emperor and sleep on the dragon's bed. He said that I can be the governor, so I can really do it.
What? Is it a rumor to sleep on a dragon bed at night? My daughter was a good concubine in the harem, and she was slept with by the saint Zhaoyi? How can I know better than you?
On the fourth day of February, the Eastern Route Army arrived near Shenzhou, and at the same time received an order to recruit the deputy envoy Niu Li, and turned to Guangzhou. Shenzhou was weak in force, so they captured it on their own.
…
Thousands of miles away on the north bank of the Yellow River, the Feilong Army finally moved south.
They did not go to Weizhou to rob the people, but went south to meet the Tibetan cavalry who had crossed the river in advance.
The people who went south from Wude and Wuzhi suffered a big loss. Four hundred riders went too far and rushed all the way to the vicinity of Lisuo County in Zhengzhou. They attacked a team transporting grain and grass to the north bank of the river.
.Then they started to kill, and they violated the order not to slaughter the people, burning, killing and looting all the way. Then they were ambushed and suffered a big loss, losing two to three hundred riders.
Xue Li, who led the team south, was too lazy to care about Fan Qi's life and death. He directly led his men to sneak at night, jumped to the vicinity of Fugong County, Henan, and raided a grain collection point of the Bian Army.
At this time, the battle was coming to an end. There was only a "boom" sound, and the gate of the Bianjun camp was pulled down to the ground by dozens of horses.
Thousands of soldiers who had been waiting for a long time swarmed in.
There were only a hundred defenders left in the stronghold, and they were not elite at all. They were immediately killed and scattered.
Xue Li watched all this with satisfaction.
The Feilong Army has expanded to 10,000 people. They are already the most expensive unit in each sequence of the Xia Army, so they naturally have to show their value.
Yes, that's right! The cost of ten thousand mounted infantry is higher than that of ten thousand cavalry, and much higher!
They are heavily armored warriors. Everyone has iron armor. Infantry combat is their special skill. Archery, spearmanship, and swordsmanship are all strictly trained according to the main force of the infantry.
Each person has a riding horse and a pack horse. There are no war horses, but the consumption is still huge.
They have strong maneuverability and a variety of weapons. Bows, crossbows, knives, spears, etc. can be seen everywhere. When encountering fortresses that are difficult for cavalry to attack, they are not afraid at all and have strong attack capabilities.
When encountering enemy cavalry, they dismounted and formed a formation according to infantry tactics, with long spears outside and powerful crossbows and bows firing. The cavalry was often beaten to the point where they did not dare to approach and fled in defeat.
Xue Li once saw the accounts of the military officials receiving supplies and food, and seemed to feel that the grain officers were bleeding. At the same time, he also saw the jealous eyes of his fellow cavalrymen. The cost of infantry was actually more than that of cavalry. How could he explain it?
Horse-mounted heavy armored infantry is a perfect unit, but it's a pity that it's too expensive.
As the last scream dissipated in the wind, there was no longer any resistance in the camp.
Xue Li asked someone to wave the flag. There were seven or eight hundred people on the hillside not far away. They were a team guarding the horses.
After receiving the order, they immediately took their horses down the mountain and met at the camp.
"Bring some of the food and grass that you can use together. Don't bring too much. The packhorse can't carry it." The ground was strewn with corpses of the Bian army, and the blood that flowed out was still slightly steaming. Xue Li stood in a pool of blood and ordered: "
Burn whatever you can’t take away with you.”
"Yes!" His subordinates responded loudly.
In fact, the Bian army's food was not rare to them, but it was too heavy to carry.
When they set off, they usually only carry dried meat, cheese and newly delivered milk powder. Milk powder in particular is very convenient to eat. You can do it while riding on horseback: pour some milk powder into a cowhide bag, then tie it tightly and there are
water, stir the milk powder evenly during the bumpy ride, melt it in the skin, and then you can eat it without wasting any time.
The grain is mainly used to feed the horses. There is not much suitable hay in the wild, so it is basically fed throughout the whole process.
Speaking of which, there are still too few horses. It would be good if each person had 5-10 horses. After all, you cannot guarantee that you will rob food every time, so every successful robbery is precious, and you must replenish as much food reserve as possible.
, otherwise starvation is very likely to happen.
One person and two horses can only ensure that they can move in a limited area. Only 5-10 horses can complete the great feat of plundering hundreds of miles into the hinterland of the Bian army. Even if the enemy clears the country, they can still persist in the wild for a long time.
Until the next raid is completed, if the raid fails, then the only option is to eat tree bark, or even kill horses as a last resort to satisfy hunger.
But generally speaking, mounted infantry carrying 5-10 horses are more likely to successfully plunder than cavalry carrying the same number of horses. The cavalry infantry is too weak to even take down the Wubao. This is a flying dragon
This is something that military officers have repeatedly laughed at.
"After cleaning up, burn the stockade, grain, and corpses, and let's go east to Xingyang. If Hu Zhen and Zhu Zhen have the ability, they can stop me." Xue Li laughed, feeling very happy.
This feeling of being able to fight whenever you want and leave whenever you want is really wonderful.