"The heavy rain keeps falling, and the Yingshui River rises two feet overnight, which is probably not a good thing." In the Yingshui River Valley, the sergeants who took a short break were chatting.
"I heard from the old man that there is a certain amount of rain every year. If there is more rain this year, there will be less rain next year. I think there will be a severe drought next year and life in Henan will be difficult."
"I'm afraid it's not just Henan."
"It would be okay if Henan can settle down, but I'm afraid it won't."
"I don't think it can be decided yet, unless Zhu Quanzhong dies suddenly."
The sergeants' hakama slaves, whose Shu shirts were covered with mud and water, looked extremely tired. Although their morale was not high, it was still above the level.
This is the army that has been fighting all year round. They have experienced too many killing fields and encountered many difficult scenes, and their endurance is relatively strong. To use an inappropriate metaphor, the "animal attributes" are stronger. Well, if
If you think they can endure hardship and give less rewards, you can give it a try.
There were still soldiers passing by on the post road next to it, mostly auxiliary soldiers and local peasants.
The mules and horses panted heavily, dragging the heavy carriage across the muddy post road and moving forward bit by bit.
The carriages contained either food, equipment, or other materials, such as clay pots for cooking, shovels and picks for digging trenches, tarpaulins and ropes for camping, tools and sharpening stones for repairing equipment, etc. These baggage items
Supplies, it is impossible for the warriors to carry them on their shoulders, and without them, it would be the so-called "quick advance of light soldiers". A one-shot deal, normally it would not be like this, then you can only trouble the auxiliary soldiers and the army masters.
Generally speaking it's the latter.
This road has not been traveled by too many people, and the road condition is not bad yet, but it is still daunting, which makes the entire army of more than 10,000 people move as slowly as a snail.
I often see a carriage stuck in a mud pit, and then a crowd of people gather around, pulling and pushing the carriage out of the pit.
Sometimes a car rolls over on the side of the road, often causing a huge traffic jam and making the officers in charge of logistics jump in panic.
Who the hell came up with the idea of marching in the rain? Stand up and let me wait and see?
"Let's go, let's go!" An officer came over and waved.
The sergeants stood up quickly, with numb expressions on their faces. They quickly checked the equipment around them, and then quickly formed a team. They looked like well-maintained killing machines.
Wang Yu passed by on foot wearing a raincoat. A large group of soldiers followed behind him. The raincoat was covered with mud spots.
Wang Yu's face was not very good, but he was in good spirits. He was even in the mood to joke while walking: "If Zhang Guihou escapes, we can only capture the thousands of thieves in Taigu Pass. How can our Dingyuan Army do it?"
Climb to the top of the city before the Tielin army and let the commander give us rewards."
The soldiers laughed when they heard this.
The Dingyuan Army has been fighting for many years and has continued to inherit. The biggest loss since the formation of the army should be the attack on Luyang Pass. In that time, almost half of the soldiers were lost and their vitality was severely damaged. The second largest battle damage should be the recapture of Longyou.
At that time, one-third of the soldiers were lost. Fortunately, the skeleton of the army was still there. After recruiting new people and practicing repeatedly, the strength gradually recovered.
We now have a rough idea of the strength of the Liang Army at Taigu Pass and Yingyang. There were originally 3,560 defenders, but they were repeatedly attacked by the Shunyi Army, Henan Fuzhou soldiers, and Luoyang Xiangyong, and more than half of them were lost. Subsequently,
, Zhu Hanbin, the tenth general of Luoyandu, came over with another 4,000 reinforcements. I don’t know where they were deployed, but a considerable number of them should have gone to Guancheng to replenish the battle losses, or even rotate the original defenders.
But no matter what, there are only five to six thousand people on his side, and he has more than 17,000 horsemen to ride over them. If he cooperates with the main force in the north, it will not be difficult to defeat the rebel army.
In Dengfeng County, there are 5,000 infantry soldiers of the military commanders staying behind. While they are stabilizing the back road, they are also supporting the two directions from the north and the south, that is, the more than 2,000 military commanders in Gaocheng County in the south and the exit from Sheyuan Pass in the north.
A steady stream of transport convoys.
In short, the entire war machine was activated and extremely busy.
On April 13, after three days of arduous trek, the main force of Dingyuan Army arrived a few miles east of Yingyang County.
A thousand soldiers in the vanguard, wearing armor and holding swords, stepped on the turbid muddy water and endured the drizzle of light rain. They climbed to the top of the city with only a few improvised simple ladders, and then dispersed a dozen or so county soldiers.
The city gate was opened.
The army then entered the city.
"The military envoy, Du Yuhou, just now interrogated the traitor officer and learned that this city was originally occupied by Zhu Hanbin. But a few days ago, he plundered mules, horses, grain and grass in the city, and then headed southwest, probably to Ruzhou.
." The staff knew what their lord was most concerned about, and came to report it as soon as possible.
"Zhu Hanbin is so brave!" Wang Yu was amazed after hearing this.
He vaguely remembered that when he and Liang Jun were still fighting for supremacy on the Xiaohan Valley Road, let alone retreating without permission, even those who returned after being defeated would not get any good results, and most of them would be killed by Zhu Quanzhong.
Xuanwu's army once attacked Hedong, and two generals, Li Chan and Li Chongyin, retreated without permission and were also beheaded.
But in the Battle of Heyang, Zhang Shensi, who was defeated and fled, was not killed, but was demoted and never became a general again.
This year, Zhang Guihou ran away decisively, and Zhu Hanbin also ran away. The Liang people's army discipline was so lax? It's not like that.
Starting from the autumn of the second year of Dashun, this is only the sixth year, and Liang Jun has been beaten like this?
Wang Yu was also a veteran in officialdom. He replaced himself as a general of the Xuanwu Army. After a long time, he could only sigh.
The war went unfavorably, and troops and territory were lost one after another. The prestige of the coach was somewhat damaged, and he gradually no longer had an absolute advantage in the game with his generals.
Zhang Guihou ran away, could Zhu Quanzhong kill him?
His brother Zhang Guiba was the envoy of Yiqueguan Town, and he was extremely brave. During the battle with the bandits, he was hit by an arrow. He directly pulled out the arrow from his body, including his leather and flesh, and reflected it back, killing the bandits.
The prestige is very high.
The second brother, Zhang Guihou, was good at generals and cavalry. He liked to fight with enemy generals in front of the formation. He was very good at shooting arrows. He often rushed into the bandit formations single-handedly and killed the generals and came back alive. He also led the hall to defeat more than a thousand heavy cavalrymen.
, repeatedly charging and killing the Yan soldiers for more than 20 rounds, completely defeating the Yan army cavalry, which made Zhu Jin feel ashamed.
The third brother Zhang Guibian served as a yamen general in Bianzhou. He was also a brave man. Although he was not as good as his two brothers, he also accumulated a lot of military exploits.
These three brothers, like Huo Cun, Huo Yanwei, Ge Congzhou, Xie Yanzhang, Li Chan, and Li Chongyin, are members of the Shangrang tribe. Moreover, they are from good backgrounds. Zhang Guiba's father is a county magistrate, and the three of them have studied poetry and prose since childhood.
, to hone his martial arts skills, he is not that stupid and reckless man. He is brave, but he is definitely not stupid.
Does Zhu Quanzhong dare to kill Zhang Guihou now? I'm afraid he can't. The consequences of killing him will be serious, and Yique Pass may be surrendered directly.
So can Zhao Lin be killed? It seems like he can’t!
The Zhao family in Xuzhou was very loyal to Bianzhou and could not be killed even if he wanted to win over the Zhao family.
It seems that only the adopted son Zhu Hanbin can be killed, this fool! Can you, Zhao Lin, Zhang Guihou and others be the same?
"I will rest for two days. When the weather improves, I will personally lead the army north to attack the city." Wang Yu sat down on the bed, feeling weak all over and his hands shaking a little.
…
Outside Ye County, the Weisheng Army has set up camp.
Ding Hui looked at the top of the city for a while and then went downstairs.
The old man from Tangzhou seemed to have brought a lot of troops, probably about 20,000. In the corridor of Wanye Corridor, there were also local men from Tutuan who worked tirelessly to transport supplies.
These people are new, but they should have been arranged long ago. They didn't go out because of the heavy rain a few days ago. As soon as it cleared up, they popped up like ants, constantly transporting food and arrows to the front line.
Ding Hui did not stay in the city for too long. After lunch, he left with his soldiers.
The road was muddy and it was impossible to ride a horse, so we had to walk back with difficulty.
Before leaving, Ding Hui was silent for a long time while looking at the mountains in the south.
"Commander, it's time to go," the general reminded.
"What a pity." Ding Hui said something meaningless, but his confidants present all understood.
King Liang ordered the Youguo army to shrink its forces and retreat to the Xiangcheng area, relying on Xuzhou to make further calculations.
What does this mean? It means giving up Ruzhou.
Ruzhou is too far to the west, and it is a semi-enclosed terrain. It is no problem to say that it is half of the Yiluo Basin. From a military perspective, this large Yiluo Basin is actually very easy to defend, but the fatal problem is
The problem is that it has only 10,000 households and cannot even support one-tenth of the current 30,000 garrison.
The Xia army has already captured Luoyang. After exiting Shenyuan Pass, they can directly penetrate into Yangzhai and then cover up towards Xiangcheng. This will cut off the transportation lines between Yingshui and Rushui, and allow the 30,000-strong army to become chaotic without a fight. This is what they are doing now.
, .; It can be said that it seriously threatened the retreat of the Youguo Army, and it was intended to beat them like turtles in the urn.
Ding Hui actually didn't quite agree with King Liang's opinion. He felt that there was still room for improvement in the situation in Ruzhou.
If tens of thousands of soldiers and horses are mobilized to Xuzhou to help them stabilize this retreat, then Ruzhou will still be impregnable and an iron fence separating Luoyang and Nanyang.
The only question is, can these improvised tens of thousands of troops be permanently stationed in Xuzhou? The answer may not be optimistic. Most of them have to leave, and they cannot wipe the butt of the Youguo Army all the time. This is because of insufficient troops.
Difficulty.
Although all the Xuanwu prefectures are now recruiting new troops and training them rigorously, and the Jiafang is also working hard to make equipment, this will take time. Even if the newly recruited people train for a year, they can only defend themselves.
City, or serve as a second-line garrison. If you fight in the field, you will lose your life, which is very embarrassing.
Therefore, this is almost doomed that Liang Jun will be in the dilemma of insufficient troops for a long time. Giving up Ruzhou may alleviate this dilemma a little, but what else is there to say?
"Let's go, let's all go!" Ding Hui turned back in despair.
Without Ruzhou, who would he be? Leading the military governor of Youguo from afar?
After taking a deep breath and sorting out his thoughts, Ding Hui returned to reality and seriously thought about how to retreat.
This is a craft job. Especially since the forces of both sides are already somewhat intertwined, it will be even more difficult to retreat.
The King of Liang has already sent troops southward and westward. It would be much better if there were people to help him. But the weather is a problem now. It is raining heavily and the ministries are moving slowly. When the reinforcements arrive, it is not sure what will happen.
Fortunately, the weather is also troublesome for summer thieves, otherwise it would be really difficult.