Thousands of people were marching quickly on the Great Post Road from the northeast of Luoyang to Heyang.
At the head were the 2,500 infantrymen stationed at Baisima Ban, led personally by Cai Songyang, the Tiande Army envoy. Behind them were 3,000 local peasants who were temporarily pulled from the city construction site.
More than 5,000 people marched lightly and quickly. Like Hu Zhen, they did not carry much luggage and only carried a few days of dry food, heading towards Luoyang.
But their primary goal is not to attack Luoyang City. Cai Songyang actually wanted to do this, but Fu Cunxen firmly refused, allowing them to try to attack Luoyang, but if the rebel army defended the city resolutely, don't force it and go straight to it immediately
At Jiangqiao, west of Luoyang, they set up camp and held out for several days, waiting for reinforcements.
In addition, the Tiande army's thousand cavalry and leopard cavalry all went south. They also ignored Luoyang and went to the countryside to collect food and grass, contact the nearby Tibetan cavalry, and then go south to Yique to see if there was a chance to attack this pass.
When issuing the order, Fu Cunshen deeply felt the pain of the Feilong Army being transferred away.
Can the cavalry attack the city? They don't have this ability. If the Feilong Army is here, one person and two horses, carrying milk powder, cheese, and beans, enough to last for more than ten days, they can move south to Yique with lightning speed to block this.
At the Luonan crossing, why don't you just deal with it as you please? The people under Hu Zhen can only flee through other more difficult paths. No one knows how much they will suffer in the process.
"Fu Cunshen didn't listen to me, how shameful!" Cai Songyang kept cursing along the way.
"Can Xu Huaiyu escape? He can't escape!"
"Can Zhu Youning escape? He can't escape!"
"Since we can't escape, why not take Luoyang first?"
The generals and staff were all busy on their way, except for Cai Songyang, whose loud voice echoed in the mountains.
Xin'an County is at the end of the Weihan Valley Road, eighty miles west of Luoyang. The road is winding and not easy to walk. In fact, even if it were a good road, Xu Huaiyu's group of people would not be able to walk on it!
Are the tens of thousands of people under Li Tangbin just a show-off? A big city like Xin'an can only be defended by 5,000 Youguo troops and 5,000 native Tuan peasants. Once you leave, the attackers will easily detect you. Besides, they have always been there.
Some scouts took a detour to the east of Xin'an for reconnaissance, and the retreat of the large group of troops could not be concealed at all.
To put it bluntly, they were stuck! From the beginning of this war, they were destined to be unable to withdraw, unless the Xia army's southward campaign failed and the entire army retreated to the north bank of the Yellow River.
It is possible for Zhu Youning's group to run away, because there is no pressure on them in person. If they want to retreat, there will be no chasing after them. But if they move slowly, they can only escape over Xiong'er Mountain and carry their luggage.
I definitely can’t take them with me, and I don’t know how many people will be separated on the way.
"Military envoy, in fact, General Fu's strategy is not wrong." One of the staff advised: "Luoyang is right there, and we can't run away. The fundamental thing is to eliminate the Liang thieves. If Luoyang is captured, but all the Liang thieves run away, it will be too late."
It's not very interesting. If all the Liang thieves are wiped out, Luoyang is still within our grasp. Maybe I can open the city and ask for surrender. Since ancient times, wars in Luoyang have always been peripheral battles. If the peripheral battles fail, it will be difficult to save Luoyang."
"Should I use you to teach me?" Cai Songyang glared at him and said angrily: "Fu Cunxing is jealous of my success in conquering Luoyang and wants to do it himself."
The staff was dumbfounded. When it came to this matter, he couldn't say anything more.
Luoyang has great symbolic significance, there is no doubt about it.
At that time, Li Mi advised Suzong not to rush to regain Luoyang, but to order Guo Ziyi to go north and bypass Yunzhou to attack Youzhou. Li Guangbi left Jingxing and also entered Hebei to "overwhelm the thief's nest" first, but Suzong could not bear to regain Luoyang.
The political benefits brought by it were rejected.
Luoyang is called the capital of the gods. Who wouldn’t be jealous of this achievement?
The cavalry roared south from the other side. Time was urgent, and they had the rare luxury of riding horses while marching.
In Pingluo City northeast of Cai Songyang, Yang Sheng, the deputy envoy of the Tiande Army, also abandoned the city and set out with three thousand infantry and two thousand native Tuan peasants, heading straight for Shiqiaodian along the mountain post road.
Luoyang Ancient City.
There are two roads from Luoyang to Heyang. One is to go straight to the northeast, leave Mang Mountain and arrive at Baisima Ban, a journey of thirty miles; the other is to go east through Luoyang Ancient City, arrive at Shiqiaodian, and then turn around.
To the north, after leaving Mang Mountain, it also leads to Heyang.
Heyang, Luoyang, and Shiqiaodian are connected to form a triangle. Generally speaking, the road that turns east and then north is the main road. Although it is far, it is easy to walk.
The two villages set up by the Xia army also blocked the exits of these two roads. Now that the German army and the Leopard Cavalry were all heading south, they naturally marched along these two roads.
As for the positions left by them, they will be filled by the Tianxiong Army.
This means that the reserve team has also been filled in. Whether we win or lose, it all depends on this.
…
In Luoyang City, Ma Sixun and Duan Ning sat opposite each other, undecided.
"Inspector Duan, I have thought about what you said." Ma Sixun sighed: "I am in the middle of the situation, practicing the war day and night, but I still can't get it right. If I were Commander Hu, I don't know how to fight this battle.
"
Duan Ning stood up, poured him a cup of tea, and comforted him: "In troubled times, duckweed can only go with the flow and make peace with the situation."
Ma Sixun did not reply to him, and continued to talk to himself: "Excluding those Tutuan countrymen who lack fighting strength, the Youguo Army has 15,000 people, the Changzhi Army has 10,000 people, the Victory Guard Army has 10,000 people, and the Heyang Yamen Army
There are also two thousand. Is there a small number of soldiers? Quite a lot! I guess the Xia thieves are attacking in two directions, and their troops are not much stronger than mine."
By now, no matter how stupid you are, you already know Xia Jun's intentions and arrangements.
The northern group, probably still led by Gao Renhou, moved southward and was divided into two routes: east and west. One part of the west route monitored the south city of Heyang, and the other tried to cross Mang Mountain and enter the Yiluo Valley Basin; the east route entered Luokou and besieged Luokou Cang.
, Gong County, cut off the Luoshui shipping, and at the same time sent people to set up a stronghold in the Poppy Valley to reject the Liang Army brigade that might come from Xuanmen Pass.
The most fundamental logic behind formulating this plan is that the Yiluo Valley Basin is too small to supply a large army, and under the harassment of the cavalry sent by them, it is difficult for the people to farm with peace of mind. If time goes on, the tens of thousands of people in Luoyang will not be able to
The war collapsed. Unless the Liang king spent a huge amount of money to transport grain and grass overland, the mountain roads were rugged and long. Once they were attacked by the Xia army's horse-mounted infantry who were making a fuss in the hinterland of Bianzhou, the supply line would become very vulnerable.
Such a "superficial" conspiracy must have come from Shao Thief, Ma Sixun was 70% sure.
Valley technology
But as the saying goes, this "superficial" strategy is really not easy to deal with. Because it does not use deception, temptation, alienation, instigation and other methods that require the enemy's cooperation and mistakes, it is completely directed at you.
The fundamental weakness. Whether you deal with it correctly or wrongly, it doesn’t matter, I’ll just fight it.
Perhaps Thief Shao has a deeper plan - well, this is Ma Sixun's "brain" after careful consideration.
Between the two points of Bianzhou and Luoyang, you were asked to rescue and rescue you, and you were exhausted. In the end, he took action brazenly and annihilated a large number of capable warriors.
And these capable warriors may not necessarily be defeated in a face-to-face decisive battle, and may even defeat the Xia thieves. But if they are constantly being mobilized back and forth like this and expose some flaws, they may be defeated without being able to display their true strength.
Annihilation, this seems to be what Shao Thief has been pursuing.
He always likes to adjust the state of his troops to the best, and then make the enemy's state become extremely bad, and then defeat you.
Of course, this is in line with military principles. A decisive battle when both sides are of similar strength and both are in good condition is stupid and is something the military books try to avoid. There is nothing wrong with Shao Thief doing this.
"Actually, the situation is not completely ruined now." Ma Sixun added: "Does Inspector Duan know that the Changzhi Army has left Yanshi and the entire army has withdrawn?"
"But because the road back is unstable, we withdraw to clear the road?" Duan Ning asked.
"Yes and no." Ma Sixun said: "Commander Hu, General Kou should have sent his troops to one place, either to rescue Gong County and hold on to it, waiting for the river to thaw in March and the navy to come. Or to penetrate the route to Heyang.
Tongtong corresponds to the headquarters of General Huo. However, since the transfer of the Fifteen Du Youguo Army and the transfer of ten thousand Changzhi Army last year, there are not many troops in Luoyang who are really under the command of Hu Shuai. General Kou should be able to
Knowing that after Hu Shuai went north, Luoyang would be empty and the road back would be unstable, so he rushed back to help. But in fact, what does it matter whether Luoyang is occupied or not?"
"The city is small and small. It is just a place to station troops. This is one of a kind."
"The grain, grass and equipment are all in Cangcheng, this is the second one."
"The army is so small and weak that it's not worth going to war. That's the third reason."
"The target of the Xia thieves should not be Luoyang, but Xu Huaiyu and Zhu Youning. Luoyang is just an accessory."
"General Kou's goal should not be to protect Luoyang, but rather to gather all the ministries and try to restore the situation."
"Luoyang is a dead place. The Xia thieves are here. If they can't attack the north for a long time and are cut off by the Changzhi Army on their way back, the entire army will be wiped out. When General Kou comes, Heyang and Gongxian will be broken through and intercepted again.
If you go to the three passes of Luonan, you will be trapped to death."
"We are in a deadly situation and should sit back and watch the success or failure."
Ma Sixun said a lot in one breath, and Duan Ning was silent after listening.
"I am impressed by your great talent." After a long time, Duan Ning stood up and saluted, saying: "I just want to ask, if Kou Yanqing comes to Luo, how will we respond?"
"There are only two thousand yamen soldiers in the city, so they may not all have the same thoughts. If the Changzhi army comes, if we refuse to defend, can we hold it?" Ma Sixun asked in return.
"I'm afraid I can't hold on." Duan Ning said.
There are actually three thousand soldiers in the city, two thousand Youguo troops, and a thousand native soldiers who have been recruited in the past two days. In addition, there are more than a thousand state soldiers and native soldiers in Cangcheng, but they may not be willing to listen. Duan
It's for two.
"Since we can't defend it, it's better to carry on as usual." Ma Sixun said. After speaking, he paused and then said: "If the Xia thieves arrive in the suburbs of Luoyang, it means that Commander Hu has been defeated. They can secretly send envoys to contact them, but they must not attack the city suddenly.
Welcome the surrender."
Duan Ning was a little hesitant. Is it really okay to be like this?
But it is indeed too risky to bet on who will win now. Even if Hu Shuai failed to go north and even his entire army was annihilated, it seemed that the situation did not completely collapse.
There were footsteps outside the door, and a man dressed as a domestic servant walked in. He leaned into Ma Sixun's ear and whispered a few words.
"Zhu Youning is here, probably because of the order given by Commander Hu before." Ma Sixun said: "Five thousand people have come, and half of them can fight. They have arrived at Yongji Bridge."
Yongji Bridge is on the Luoshui River, about ninety miles away from Luoyang, a journey of three or four days.
"Zhu Youning is very lucky, so Xu Huaiyu doesn't have to run away." Ma Sixun said with a smile.
Duan Ning lowered his head and thought.
It seems that Hu Zhen made some arrangements and did not tell them at all.
Carefully assuming Hu Zhen's position, his mission is not to defend the city of Luoyang. This ruined city has no value. He is very clear about his main mission, which is to maintain the defense line of Heluo and prevent it from collapsing.
Suddenly, another burst of footsteps sounded, this time it was Ma Sixun's personal soldiers.
Seeing that there were other people in the house, this person hesitated.
"But it doesn't matter." Ma Sixun said.
"General, some defeated troops have returned and are calling the door." the soldier said.