Above the water of the Yellow River, the fire was blazing.
A large group of Liang Jun navy warships were forced by the fire ships and had to retreat downstream.
Two unlucky ships were already on fire, and the sailors had no choice but to abandon the ships and flee.
On the decks of some ships, sailors held long poles and pressed hard against the fire boats floating along the river, waiting for them to burn out and then sink.
All in all it was chaos.
The massive rescue operation involving dozens of warships and more than a hundred transport ships ended in an anticlimactic manner.
They didn't even get within the range of the crossbows, so they retreated in a hurry. Outside Zhongli City, the sergeants who had completed their armored formation returned to the military camp. The thieves couldn't get through, which saved them from a fight.
Of course, everyone also knows that the thieves only failed in their first attempt, and will definitely organize larger-scale attacks in the future, so they must be ready for battle at any time.
Shao Shude witnessed the whole incident at the top of Mengzhou City.
The full preparations in the early stage really paid off, and his situation now was better than that of Li Guangbi. Li was approached by others, and even had the pontoon bridge set on fire at one point. He had few soldiers in the south city under his control, and was still being besieged. There were also some in the direction of the north city.
The enemy is surrounded on all sides.
I don’t know how Huo Cun felt when he witnessed this incident.
When he returned to the city, he met Wang Yao who came to say goodbye.
"My nephew has been steady and steady over the past few years and has made many meritorious deeds." Shao Shude looked at this fake nephew with a thin face and unshaven beard and said, "Fight well and I won't treat you badly."
"It is a nephew's duty to fight for his uncle." Regardless of whether he meant it or not, Wang Yao's statement was spot on.
Over the years, all the money from Yanchi, Fenglingdu, and Pujin Pass was taken away by Shao Shude and used to relocate the sergeant's family. After careful calculation, Wang Yao spent a lot of money. In addition, from time to time, grain and draft animals were levied.
Wang Yao took care of everything for Raf's campaign, and I don't know how much internal pressure he endured.
"Is there still peace in the town?" Shao Shude asked again.
"Occasionally there were small changes, but they were suppressed." Wang Yao said easily, but Shao Shude knew that things were definitely not that simple.
"If necessary, just ask. There are still soldiers in Jinjiang, and they can reach Hezhong Mansion in a moment." Shao Shude said.
"There's no need to bother uncle just yet." Wang Yao said hurriedly.
His reputation in the river was not very good to begin with. Brothers killed each other and led wolves into the house. If he asked Xia Bing to help suppress and massacre the opponents in the town, it would be really bad.
In fact, he mainly relied on the more than 10,000 soldiers brought from Jiangzhou, and then continued to reorganize and learn from Shao Shude's methods. He went on several campaigns and placed the assassins in more dangerous places. After several battles, those who dared to cause trouble
That’s less.
The current Hezhong Yamen Army is definitely dissatisfied with Wang Yao and even Shao Shude. But Wang Yao is not naive. He does not want all the sergeants to support him. In fact, he cannot do that. As long as everyone does not know how to oppose him.
Things in the world are difficult, just take it one day at a time.
"After the Luoyang camp is disbanded, the National Protectorate Army will go back to rest. The people you brought this time..." Shao Shude looked into Wang Yao's eyes and asked.
Wang Yao understood and said: "Most of them are old government soldiers, newly recruited in recent years and staying in Puzhou."
"That's good." Shao Shude smiled and said, "Let's go after lunch. It won't be long before we leave."
"You can't ask for it." Wang Yao smiled.
…
Huo Cun climbed onto the tower and looked at both sides of the river with an anxious expression.
The number of Xia rebels who besieged the city was not too large, but they dug three trenches and built some garrison villages one after another, so the defense line became more and more stable.
The Xia people also recently launched a fierce attack, led by the Tielin Army, a pro-army force of the traitor commander Shao Shude. After three days of continuous attack, they broke into the north of the city for the first time and occupied the ferry wharf.
The navy was forced to retreat, and the Xia people immediately repaired the pontoon bridge, intending to completely open up the three cities of Heyang.
Huo Cun regretted that he had only sent people to burn the pontoon bridge instead of digging out the iron men that fixed the pontoon bridge and transporting it away. Of course, this would be more troublesome, and he didn't know how much manpower would be mobilized.
The pontoon bridge built by the Xia people still followed the old rules, using bamboo ties to connect the ships. After arriving at the bridge head, iron chains were used to connect several iron men buried deep in the ground. Unlike the Pujingguan pontoon bridge, iron rings were used between the ships. The iron chain is fixed. Perhaps this is just a temporary repair, and they will replace it with a new one later.
But no matter what, after the pontoon bridge is connected, the Xia thieves can avoid Liang Jun's naval attacks when the river thaws, and can easily go south to Luoyang without having to detour anymore. This is of great significance.
Well, the prerequisite for achieving this effect is to capture Heyang South City. Because this city was built as a highway, if you don't capture this city, you can only take a detour from the river beach next to it. The traffic efficiency can be imagined.
Thinking of this, Huo Cun felt a hint of the meaning of their existence.
"Grandpa, the treatment has been completed." Huo Yanwei went up to the tower and reported.
Huo Cun came back to his senses, looked at his adopted son who was covered in blood, sighed softly, and said: "Actually, there are endless numbers of people like this that can be killed."
Huo Yanwei was about to speak but stopped.
There was a Tongxia thief in the city, who was said to be a relative of Su Junqing, the judge of the Heyang shogunate. After he was captured, all the men, young and old, were executed, and the women were sent to the army to serve as camp prostitutes.
But the city has been besieged for more than two months. From now on, there will only be more and more such people. Can they really be killed?
"But" Huo Cun changed the topic and said, "The King of Liang has been very kind to me and personally appointed me as the envoy of the army to ensure victory. How can it be unworthy to become discouraged after a slight setback? Is there enough food and grass in the city?"
"It can last for a month and a half." Huo Yanwei replied.
"Just look at the arrangements." Huo Cun said expressionlessly.
Huo Yanwei was silent.
He knew what this meant. There were some Heyang yamen and Tutuan villagers in the city, and a considerable part of their families were in the city. The food supply should be guaranteed. The families of officials and generals should not be cut off from food, otherwise it would be very difficult. It is easy to get into trouble. Apart from this, other common people will not be given food if they can, and they can even be driven out to attack the Xia bandit trenches and die in order to minimize food consumption.
This is a common method used by Chao Jun, but it is not the style of Liang Jun. In fact, although most of the armies in vassal towns are brutal and brutal, they still have basic military discipline. As victors, Jin soldiers will be punished if they commit crimes in Youzhou.
He was arrested and beheaded. Although Li Keyong was angry, he pinched his nose and admitted it. Liang's military discipline was much better than that of Jin's army, so he would not have done this.
But now, alas! Huo Yanwei has no choice. His adoptive father is unwilling to surrender, so what can he do?
Another cry of death rang out from the north of the city, attracting their attention.
It was hundreds of elite soldiers they selected, who suddenly marched into the city and attacked the ferry where the Xia thieves were guarding.
Arrows were flying across the small battlefield, white blades were intersecting, and life and blood were flowing away rapidly.
It seems that the Tielin Army is not capable of fighting as expected, and cannot afford to be the strongest army of the Xia bandits. Huo Cun and his son have a vicious vision. After the previous battle, they have already seen that this army is a mixture of old and new, but it can still be done.
Chances are, this was the main factor in their attempt to retake the ferry.
But after all, there are still many strong old men in the Xia bandit formation. Under their leadership, the newcomers are not so easy to collapse. Therefore, they fought for a long time, but could not win the battle, and finally had to break back.
"Bang!" Huo Cun punched the female wall and angrily walked down the tower.
…
In Poppy Valley, the defense change has just been completed.
The two thousand Heyang native regiment soldiers who were guarding the camp retreated, and they were replaced by more than a thousand Chishui Army soldiers, plus two thousand newly arrived Guozhou native regiment soldiers.
Fan He stood high on the horse and couldn't help but smile when he looked at Master Heyang who had expressionless faces and unhurried movements.
He watched these native soldiers grow up step by step with his own eyes. From the nervousness at the beginning, to the numbness of life and death, to the calm and calmness now, more than two months of real swords and guns, the war almost started from scratch.
In the end, he changed a person.
Many of them come from the stable Guanzhong and are not very old. They have been accustomed to digging ditches, clearing weeds, and sowing wheat since they were young. They are too scared to speak when they see an official, let alone kill someone.
Killed.
Nowadays, things are really different. If you kill someone, you will also be killed by others. The cruel battlefield quickly encourages people to grow. Now when they see generals like Fan He, they will not even dare to look at them. Fight again.
After several big battles and several years of hard work, his unruly and fierce temper will probably be cultivated.
What is needed is a group of tigers and wolves. A group of docile sheep can only be slaughtered by others. It is difficult to recruit soldiers. If the people in the Central Plains have such a fierce temperament, even if all the warriors are dead, there are no such things as Turks and Uighurs.
When people take over the Central Plains, and the militia groups rise up, they can beat you to the point where you can ride a camel and run away.
"Are the Liang people still attacking in the past few days?" Fan He asked Wang He, the envoy of the Yazi Valley Village that he had appointed.
Wang He was Wang Chong's younger brother. After the Yinshan Fan tribe was dismissed, he did not want to go back, so he went to Fan He to ask for a job.
Wang He did not have a military position, but he was an official. Before the war, he had the casual title of Captain Xuanjie, and after the war, he was awarded the title of Captain Zhenwei from the sixth rank. But this was of no use and he did not care
, or he wants to join the army and strive for real wealth. After all, it is not his turn to inherit the family fortune of the Zangcai family in Mulashan, so why not work hard?
"We are no longer attacking, but we are still increasing our troops," Wang He said.
Fan He looked at the many camps and flags in front, back and left, and nodded.
There are very few people in these camps, and most of them are locals. For example, there are only about 500 people in a certain camp that hangs the banner of Dingyuan Army Wang Yu, all of them are local warriors from Nuxiang County, Guozhou. To put it bluntly,
Yes, it's just a lie! It creates the illusion that they have a large army. Anyway, they have a lot of cavalry, and they go out every day to intercept the bandits' cavalry, which greatly reduces the chance of them getting close for reconnaissance, leaving the Liang people confused as to their true strength.
"Do you know how many thieves have come?" Fan He asked again.
"It's hard to say." Wang He hesitated a little and said, "Judging from the news sent back by the scouts, there are still thousands of thieves in the Xuanmenguan area. Some people have crossed Dagong Mountain and went to Si River and Heyin area to investigate.
Detective, it is estimated that the Liang people still have no less than 25,000 people gathered behind. This was the news a few days ago, but I don’t know how many there are now."
"Pang Shigu was in a dilemma, and Zhu Quanzhong was hesitant." Fan He sneered.
He could tell that the Liang people probably wanted to launch an offensive, perhaps to invade Heyang. But it was hard to say whether the Wei people would participate.
If Luo Hongxin was unwilling to send troops or even borrow a road, then this offensive would be out of the question.
Correspondingly, if they cannot attack Huaizhou from the direction of Weizhou, then if the Liang people want to take the initiative to attack, they can only attack from three directions. One is Xuanmen Pass, the other is Yique Pass, and the third is Taigu Pass.
direction.
The latter two are actually not ideal, because they need to transport grain and grass through mountain roads, which is too expensive and can easily be cut off.
Judging from their troop deployment, the initial plan should be to use the navy's advantage to launch an offensive on both sides of the river. On Weibo's side, the Liang people should still be making their final efforts, right?
"It's time to hurry up!" Fan He got off his horse and turned to look to the west.
Xin'an County has been conquered and a lot of troops have been liberated. Now there is still Heyang South City, which is like a thorn in the back and makes people very uncomfortable. Capture this city and the situation of the entire battlefield will be greatly improved.