Large groups of cavalry stopped one after another in the distance.
Under the command of the officer, they quickly divided into three parts. One part took off the armor and equipment from the back of the pack horse, and put them on each other in pairs; some gathered the horses and gathered in the rear; some stayed behind to act as a reserve team.
The sergeants who had finished putting on their armor picked up long swords, heavy swords, rifle bows and other weapons, marched through the wall, and killed the enemies arrayed a mile away.
The enemy was a little panicked. Only the front row had armor, and the back row was mostly unarmored soldiers. The total number was only a thousand or so.
In fact, it’s not their fault. Does a material transfer node in the deep rear need to be heavily guarded? No need.
But now there's a problem.
Four thousand Flying Dragon Army soldiers came with an overwhelming momentum. They were tall, well-equipped, with expressionless faces and calm movements. Perhaps in their eyes, killing a person was no different from killing a chicken.
Yes, the left wing of the Feilong Army is a bunch of desperadoes! Five thousand people ran eastward, but half of them were lost in the battle. When they came back, the force had grown to over ten thousand.
The long-term mobile warfare, hard life, and extremely high elimination rate have made those who survived have two skills. They dare to fight and fight, are unruly, murderous, and have no regard for life and death.
Desperadoes are not scary, but desperadoes with strict discipline, well-equipped equipment, and strong martial arts are scary.
When the left wing of the Feilong Army came back, Shao Shude inspected it, and Qi Binzhang followed him respectfully. Finally, the majority of the sergeants in the team who came to vote on the way knew who was the boss.
But this level of reorganization is far from enough. If the war is not urgent and the Feilong Army is urgently needed, Shao Shude plans to reorganize this army for a year, break up the organization, exchange personnel, and then get familiar with it again and strengthen the running-in.
The civil servants who came back with the army talked about a lot of things in private, and there were a lot of small reports. There were reports about the sergeants' habit of robbing outside, about the officers being unruly, and there were even many reports that pointed directly at Qibizhang himself, because he arranged
Many relatives from the Qibi tribe served as mid-level and senior officers, which was "not in line with the system."
High-frequency and high-intensity wars delayed this consolidation. The desperadoes received a reward from King Xia, and three days later they moved out again. Now they were about to attack Liang Jun in Yingqiao Town: there were more than a thousand people in total, and there were
The combat effectiveness is only six to seven hundred.
The courage of Liang people is commendable!
They knew that the dilapidated Yingqiao Town had no blocking effect, so they simply came out to fight in the field, hoping to defeat the enemy in one battle and turn the crisis into safety.
The arrays on both sides quickly connected.
The stalemate on the battle line only lasted for a short while, and then there was an uncontrollable collapse.
The experienced and courageous sergeants fell to the ground after the first wave of blows, but the Xia Army's back row bravely charged into the Liang Army's native soldiers and directly defeated them, scattering them into a mess.
Qibizhang turned his attention away from the battlefield and headed straight into the town with 500 cavalry.
The people fled in all directions, crying and crying.
Qi Banzhang was not surprised at all. The Liang people didn't know how they organized the Xia army. They were afraid that they were put into the same category as Qin Zongquan. This reaction from the people was not surprising. He had seen it many times.
There were dozens of old and weak soldiers in the town, who were apparently stacking firewood and preparing to burn the food. When they saw the Xia army rushing towards them, they dispersed without caring about anything.
"Pull up the mules." Qi Bizhang, riding on his horse, waved his whip and ordered.
It was all a familiar job, and soon a sergeant came forward, untied the leather harness on the back of the mule, and led it away. They didn't need a carriage, which hindered the marching speed, but the mules were necessary because they ate less.
It can withstand rough feeding, carry a lot of weight, has good endurance, and is not too slow. It has always been the favorite of the Flying Dragon Army officers.
"Count the food, take away what can be taken away, and burn what cannot be taken away." Qibizhang quickly gave the second order.
Yingqiao Town is an important node on the great post road from Xuzhou to Ruzhou. At the same time, many materials are transported here for collection and distribution, and then sent to various places. If this place is taken away, Ruzhou Liang Jun's logistics will have a big problem
.
As for burning grain, it is a routine operation of the Feilong Army. Everywhere they go, they first feed the livestock, and then fill the grain bags on the pack animals. The rest are materials that cannot be taken away, and the usual disposal is a handful
If it is burned by fire, it will not be left to help the enemy.
The Liang people seemed to want to burn grain just now, and had already accumulated a lot of firewood, which saved the Feilong Army a lot of trouble.
"Replenish some arrows, wound medicine and other supplies. Take the time to feed the horse, loosen its girdle, and wash it. After resting, set off immediately to Xiangcheng." The third order came one after another, which shows the fighting rhythm of the Feilong Army.
It was very fast and very powerful. Perhaps this was the important reason why they were able to survive the heavy encirclement and suppression by the Liang people.
The officers performed their duties and became busy.
Qibizhang found a dry place to sit down, drank cold water, ate rough dry and hard grain pancakes, and studied the route of action.
The distance between Xu and Ru is about 230 miles, passing through Xiangcheng and Jiacheng counties in Ruzhou and arriving at Lisuoliang County.
Xiangcheng is right on the edge of the Ru River. Chen and Xu's grain and grass supplies were transported to Yingqiao via the Ying River, and then transported overland for a while to Xiangcheng, and then transported to Ruzhou via the Ru River.
The seven counties of Ruzhou, Xiangcheng, Jiacheng, Liang, and Linru, are all located on the banks of Ru River. These four counties are also the places with the largest population in Ruzhou. In fact, there are not many. In Zhang Quanyi's time, there were only 10,000 households, and now the increase is no more than 10,000.
Very limited.
In addition, supplies can also be transported along Ru River from the direction of Caizhou, so this place is really crucial.
Since the difficult times, the imperial court's eastern capital has stayed behind, and must lead Ruzhou as a barrier to Luoyang. The position of defense envoy of Ruzhou has been established many times. Zhuge Shuang was the defense envoy of Ruzhou before he led his troops to attack Li Guochang and his son.
Qibizhang only glanced at it for a moment, and then asked someone to put the map away. The next step that was not mentioned was to attack Xiangcheng, cut off the traffic in Ru River, and "wean" Ding Hui.
They have probably received some news by now, and they don't know what they will make.
…
Outside Taiguguan City, a sudden heavy rain extinguished the flames on the ladder truck.
Liang Bing on Guancheng was so angry that he jumped up and down, scolding God for his injustice.
The morale of the Xia army was greatly boosted, and they took advantage of the favorable opportunity when the rain had just fallen and the ground was not too muddy to continue to launch a fierce attack.
In the past few days, more than a thousand defenders have been killed and wounded, but Taigu Pass has still not been captured.
The two generals Ma Sixun and An Xiuxiu who were in charge of the command remained unmoved. Wave after wave of Luoyang native Tuan villagers were driven up, risking their lives to attack the fortified Guancheng.
Outside Shenyuan Pass to the east of Taigu Pass, most of the Dingyuan Army and the Jinglue Army left the pass and advanced toward Dengfeng County. Behind them, there were 10,000 Tuan Tuan peasants from Huazhou, all of them.
The total number of troops is about 23,000.
Led by deputy envoy Wei Boqiu and Youyi envoy Yang Yi, a 2,500-foot cavalry unit of the Jinglue Army took a risk and marched out from the Luokou area of Fangshan (north of the Songshan Mountains) at the southernmost tip of Gong County.
Inserted into the county.
They brought a large amount of milk powder, dried meat, and beans, which were carried by the mules and horses accompanying the army, but it was only enough to last for ten days. Once the offensive did not go smoothly, or no food and grass were collected, they would have no choice but to slump there and wait for the rear.
Spend a lot of money to support them through the "thin pipe" of Luokou, or simply retreat and declare that this approach has failed.
Dingyuan, the dispatch of the second army of Jinglue was mainly due to the intelligence sent back by the scouts. Because Taigu Pass was tight, a large group of Liang soldiers were heading west from Dengfeng to reinforce the Taigu front line.
The scout estimated that the number of troops was more than 4,000, of which 1,000 were "elite soldiers" and more than 3,000 "weak soldiers".
The Luoyang camp judged that there should be a thousand Luoyandu or Tingzidu infantry, bringing more than 3,000 newly arrived Tutuan peasants to reinforce Taigu Pass. This Guan city originally had more than 1,000 straight troops plus more than 1,000
Tutuan fellows, this group has suffered more than 40% casualties, its morale is somewhat low, and it is in urgent need of new troops to replace or reinforce it.
As for the defenders of Dengfeng County, there should be more than 2,000 elites, 6,000 Poxia troops, and 2,000 Tutuan countrymen, a total of 10,000 people.
In fact, the overall combat effectiveness is not very good. Because the strength of the Poxia Army, which accounts for the majority, is very doubtful. The veterans of the Dingyuan and Strategic Second Army have the confidence to teach them how to behave, if they dare to fight in the field.
News of the Xia army's massive attack reached Dengfeng early, and Zhang Guihou immediately summoned the generals to discuss matters.
Zhu Hanbin went to Taigu. Now, apart from the general Zhang Guihou, the biggest one in the city is Zhao Lin, the envoy of Poxia Army, and there are also middle-level generals such as Wang Yanzhang, Liu Qi, Du Yanqiu and so on.
"The thieves are fierce and charging straight towards us. If you have any regulations, please discuss them." Zhang Guihou said feebly and a little haggardly.
In his opinion, this battle was too fucked up. He let the large group of thieves sneak past and headed straight for Xuzhou. Although it is not their fault, because if the Feilong Army does not want to fight, you cannot stop it, but
How should I put it? There are still some dereliction of duties. If the higher authorities really need to investigate, everyone will have to take responsibility.
The second fucked up part is that the Xia bandits outside Taigu Pass didn't care about human life at all. The offensive shook the mountains. The defenders could not hold on for more than ten days, but suffered 1,400 casualties and had to ask for reinforcements. The defenders also claimed that "killing
Thirty thousand thieves", but in Zhang Guihou's opinion, it was all nonsense.
But there was no way, Taigu Pass could not be lost, so in the end Zhu Hanbin was asked to bring more than 4,000 people there, further diluting the strength of Dengfeng's troops. The most important thing was that there were less than 1,000 elite soldiers to fight.
The biggest screw-up is that they have no reinforcements.
Zhao Jue, the envoy of Chen Xu Jiedu, claimed that the "thief force" in the Xuzhou direction was "monstrous" and "violently plundered the countryside", and refused to send reinforcements, which meant that Dengfeng became a lonely army.
Of course, a lone army has a lone army strategy, and this may be what the Liang King wanted them to do, that is, stick to Dengfeng, contain the main force of Xia thieves heading south, and buy time for dispatching troops in other directions.
But in the Battle of Luoyang in the first month, did the defenders of several cities who were isolated, divided and surrounded have any good fruits to eat? The entire army in Gong County was wiped out, Xin'an surrendered, and Nancheng in Heyang held on for three months. Huo Cun and his son both died in the battle.
Extremely tragic.
If they were besieged in Dengfeng, could they wait for reinforcements to arrive?
To be honest, five or six years ago, Zhang Guihouxin would have been more trustworthy.
But now, he doesn't believe it.
It’s true that I have fought too many defeats in the past few years and I can’t keep my spirits up. Anyone who believes this is a fool.
Zhao Lin observed his words and saw that Zhang Guihou was about to speak but hesitated, and he suddenly had an idea in his mind. He cleared his throat and said: "The thieves' army is powerful, but our army doesn't have many soldiers to fight..."
Having said this, Wang Yanzhang glared at him.
Zhao Lin was unmoved and continued: "It's a pity to throw it away lightly. It's better to avoid the edge temporarily and retreat to Chengcheng or even Yangzhai to preserve your useful body and pose a greater threat to the bandit army."
"Shameless!" Wang Yanzhang stood up and cursed angrily.
"General Wang Shi, sit down." Zhang Guihou scolded him and said, "Do you think I am a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death? When I fought against the Qin Zongquan, how could I ever retreat? The Xia thieves are coming with great force, with no less than 20,000 soldiers, most of them are hoarders.
We have been fighting for many years. Our army can only fight with two thousand soldiers. How can we fight against the enemy?"
This was because he looked down on Po Xia's army and did not trust their fighting power. Wang Yanzhang was filled with anger and could not vent his anger, so he punched the table with his fist and sat down angrily.
"Do the ten generals have any more rules?" Zhao Lin also showed off the power of a military envoy and scolded: "If you are trapped in Dengfeng, you will end up like Huo Cun."
Now even Liu Qi, Du Yanqiu and others couldn't stand it anymore, and they all looked at Zhao Lin. Huo Cun and his son were loyal and brave people, and Zhao Lin's arrangement of them in this way was a bit too much.
"That's it, I've made up my mind!" Zhang Guihou stood up and said, "Retreat to Yangzhai immediately, rely on the Zhongwu Army, and fight the enemy together. There are no reinforcements from outside, and the defense of Dengfeng is meaningless."
Wang Yanzhang looked up to the sky and sighed.
Faced with the dilemma of being surrounded, some people choose to defend, some want to break out, and some directly retreat. People are different and their choices are also different. It doesn't matter in the first place, but they are very unwilling to do so.
Are Xia thieves just three heads and six arms? I don't believe that if we defend Dengfeng for three months, no reinforcements will come.