On April 24, after waiting for a few days and confirming that Ruzhou would not come to rescue them, Zhang Guiba summoned the generals to discuss the current situation.
Someone (entrusted) proposed to surrender. The reason was that there were no reinforcements from outside and defending would be a dead end. In order to avoid being wiped out like Huo Cun, it was better to surrender to the king of Xia.
Not surprisingly, this "violent theory" triggered fierce controversy.
Zhang Guiba had a smile on his face and listened carefully to everyone's opinions. From time to time he would add a few words and cleverly lead the topic to the dilemma he was facing now. In the end, those who were unwilling to surrender looked at the scenery and shut up.
As for the top soldiers, except for some who are worried about relatives at home, most of them have no objections. If the escape route is not cut off, everyone may still be willing to fight, but now that we are in this situation, why are we still hesitating?
After everything was done from top to bottom, the surrender of more than 6,000 Wei Rong troops became a matter of course.
On the 25th, the gates were opened wide, and the soldiers of the Wei Rong Army came out of the city in the heavy rain, throwing armor and discarded weapons in the open space in the north of Guan.
Shao Shude, surrounded by his own soldiers, watched from a distance.
"Meet the King of Xia." After disarming themselves, the six thousand people all knelt down in the muddy water.
"Everyone has done his duty. Every warrior has his own master, fights bravely, and is worthy of his share of pay. This is a great good deed." Shao Shude asked his soldiers to pass on his words one by one.
"I was given a piece of silk. After receiving it, I went to Shaanzhou for training. It will be of great use in the future."
"There is no need to worry about my family. When I reach the Xuanwu Prefectures, you will naturally meet each other."
After saying it in one breath, the soldiers continued to convey it loudly, and the surrendering soldiers dropped a huge stone in their hearts.
"General Zhang." The surrendered soldiers had already stood up and moved into the Tianxiong Army's camp empty-handed. Shao Shude no longer cared about them, but turned to look at Zhang Guiba and said with a smile: "We have been famous for a long time, and now we have a general."
Throw in and win against an army of 100,000 people."
Zhang Guiba did not dare to take his polite words seriously, and immediately replied: "Your Majesty, you have been in humble beginnings and have been fighting till now. You are so powerful in the Central Plains. You are the son of destiny. Fortunately, I have some martial arts and courage. If Your Majesty takes a fancy to you, I will be ashamed of myself."
, no matter what."
"There is a place where I can be a general." Shao Shu took Zhang Guiba's hand and said with a smile: "The governor has already built a government office, military camp, and school grounds in Shaanzhou. I want to select brave and strong men from among the surrendered people."
Four thousand people will be trained rigorously in order to form an army. In future battles, General Zhang will be indispensable."
"It's not what I asked for." Zhang Guiba immediately responded.
He actually thought that it would be good to be a governor like Xu Huaiyu, but that would be it for the rest of his life and he could not go any further. He was much younger than Xu Huaiyu, only in his early forties, and he was still very motivated. If he could still command an army
, that would be great.
Shao Shude nodded with a smile and said: "The grassland is not peaceful and barbarians are rampant. By then the new army will mostly be fighting in the Yinshan Mountains. General Zhang can get familiar with it in advance."
"As commanded."
The two of them entered the city, one behind the other, surrounded by the crowd.
Chen Cheng was a little behind and found a clerk and gave him some instructions.
Coach Du's yamen was not under the control of the palace, but the shogunate. However, Chen Cheng was also the deputy envoy of Shuofang Jiedu, and many affairs of the yamen were intertwined with him. Therefore, I wanted to remind people to do more screening when selecting candidates.
Since the war, we have indeed received a lot of prisoners. Yesterday we received news that Qi Binzhang, the envoy of Feilong Army, sent about a thousand prisoners of Poxia Army to Dengfeng. If we include the surrendered troops from Yique Pass, the number has already reached Dengfeng.
A total of nearly 14,000 people were captured.
The King of Xia decided to select 4,000 people who were brave enough to fight and skilled in skills, and then recruited 1,000 warriors from the northern part of Guan Dynasty to form the Golden Sword Army. The army had 10,000 members, and 5,000 were recruited in advance, mainly using Modao and Epee swords.
Combat weapons, this is also the Xia Army's first large-scale, organic melee force with swords and heavy armor.
The recruitment and training of the Golden Sword Army personnel will be handled by Shaanxi Province Academy of the Governor's Office.
The prisoners detained in Luoyang will be sent to Shaanzhou in batches. In addition, after the war, more than 10,000 outstanding performers will be selected from the native Tuan peasants in various states, and together with the surrendered troops, they will be organized into a continuing army with a strength of 25,000.
People. After being dismantled and organized, they were reorganized and used as a supplementary source of troops for the main field forces.
The capital's commander-in-chief, Lingzhou Yuan, currently has 50,000 troops in reserve. They practice day and night to learn the use of various weapons, the recognition of golden drum flags, array transformations, etc.
Lingzhou Academy and Shaanzhou Academy combined a total of 75,000 continuous troops, which can provide 15,000 to 20,000 rigorously trained, familiar and skilled recruits every year, which played a great role.
Without them, it would be difficult for each field force to maintain full strength for a long time. There were 8,000 men on the books, but the actual shortage was serious, only 5,000 or 6,000. It would be very painful to fight a war.
The supplementary army is the same as the state army, and its cost is less than one-third of that of the Yamen army. It is equivalent to spending 25,000 field army resources to support them, which is actually worth it.
After the world is peaceful, we can discuss how to deal with the additional army, but it certainly cannot be dismissed. After all, they are soldiers trained with a lot of money. It is a pity to let them go back to farming, and it is also a hidden danger to local security.
After entering Yique Pass, Shao Shude first climbed the pass tower and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Yique Mountain and Yishui River Valley.
The mountains, rivers and valleys in the rain look unique. And in the rain and fog in the south, there is Ruzhou waiting for him to capture it.
The Dingyuan Army has moved south from Yique County.
Shao Shude's request to them was to "use all their strength" to capture as many enemy troops as possible.
…
Near the dock in Xiangcheng County, the spring rain was pouring and people were shouting horses neighing.
Kong Qing has led 5,000 yamen troops to the county seat, and the vanguard has moved towards Yingqiao Town.
More than 3,000 soldiers from Yingzhou Township gathered near the dock to receive and organize the baggage.
Due to the limited number of ships and insufficient carriers, the transportation speed of all types of baggage is very slow. There are still two batches of goods backlogged at the Liangxian dock, waiting for shipping.
When the spring water surged, sailing by boat was much more convenient than walking. This was the main reason why Ding Hui dared to transport the baggage downstream, which greatly slowed down the marching speed.
Also coming with them were the families and belongings of the shogunate generals. All in all, they were as busy as ants moving.
If Qi Bizhang were here, he would definitely hate God very much. Why did it rain so much that their mounted infantry lost its mobility? Otherwise, how could the Liang people dare to transport baggage and personnel so arrogantly?
All in all, the retreat of Liang Jun along the Ru River was relatively smooth overall.
There are things that go well, and of course there are things that don’t go well.
The Liang army in the Three Crows Valley retreated in large numbers, but because they were not acting secretly, they were discovered by the Luyang Pass defenders.
They only had a total of 2,000 Weisheng troops, plus 2,000 Dengzhou native Tuan villagers. After detecting that the enemy troops in front of them were evacuating in batches, they immediately sent people to the valley in the rain, planted more flags, and set up more war drums, and then the army was dispatched.
, came in pursuit.
Liang Bing was unwilling to fight. In Sanya Town, the two thousand people behind Lushan County dispersed in a hurry, clamoring to go home.
Most of them are not from you, so how can they be willing to fight to the death for you?
The two sides chased and fled, panting and soaking through mountains and river valleys, until a flash flood broke out.
Liang Jun suffered greater losses. The 4,000 men who had evacuated earlier lost all their baggage and fled hungry to Longxing County in the northeast. Along the way, some people fell behind, and the scene was horrific.
Wei Sheng's army suffered relatively small losses, as hundreds of people were unfortunately swept away by flash floods. However, the two thousand Liang troops blocked by the flash floods cut off their way forward, most of them surrendered, and a small number of people scattered into the mountains and forests, missing their destination.
The defense system of Sancrow Valley that had blocked the Xia people for many years has completely collapsed. Now, what can stop the Xia people is no longer the Liang people's swords and guns, but the muddy roads and unexpected floods.
But no matter what, after the flood recedes, the road here will be smooth. Wei Sheng's army can directly attack in the direction of Longxing, then turn northwest and kill in the direction of Ruzhou.
The above is the partial division of the Weisheng Army, and its main force is in the Wanye Corridor. Eighteen thousand troops plus more than 10,000 Tutuan peasants besieged the 6,000 Liang regiments in Ye County.
After a few days of initial attack, Zuri Zongben ordered trenches to be dug and besieged.
He didn't want to waste the elite soldiers of the Weisheng Army who had been trained for many years in the city. He finally improved his combat effectiveness, but it would be difficult to replenish it if he died.
Furthermore, if the thousands of Liang troops in the city can be recruited, it will also be very beneficial to further enhance the combat effectiveness of the Wei Sheng Army.
Ding Hui's Youguo Army, just like the Xia King's Baoyi Army, was adapted from the old Xuanwu or Shuofang Yamen soldiers. It can be said that they are quite capable of fighting, and they should mainly focus on persuading surrender.
Ruzhou still has the last force stationed abroad, namely Li Renhan's 3,000 troops.
They had just returned from Guangchengze, bringing with them more than 10,000 horses. The baggage had been transported to Liang County via Rushui ships, and now the city was almost entirely filled with heavy soldiers.
The river surged, almost reaching the location of the sheep and horse wall. Li Renhan was upset and asked people to take the irritable horses to other places. After raising them for two days, they went south to Liang County.
"Envoy of the town, there are people fleeing from the city to the countryside. Please stop them." A general came to ask.
"Let them go, or will you take care of them?" Li Renhan waved his hand impatiently and said.
"An envoy from Ruzhou has come and ordered our troops to hold on until the 28th before withdrawing." Another person came to report.
"It will take three more days!" Li Renhan sighed.
He has already sent people to investigate to the north. Yique County was attacked by Xia thieves, and most of Zhang Guiba's troops at Yique Pass were destroyed and unable to escape. If they surrendered to Xia thieves, then Yique County's army could attack at any time.
Not going south, maybe it would have already gone south and they would be facing threats.
Fortunately, the heavy equipment and most of the grain and grass have been transported to Liang County in advance, so walking is easier and less troublesome. But it is still a bit dangerous after all!
Thinking of this, Li Renhan called a few more people and asked them to take the horses south to Ruzhou early tomorrow morning. They could not delay it any longer.
There was another thunder outside the county government office, and in the cold wind and rain, the busy and panicked voices of people could be heard everywhere.
"Alas, the soldiers have no fighting spirit, and the soldiers have no fighting spirit!" In response, Li Renhan could only sigh, speechless and choked.
Tens of thousands of troops did not dare to fight and retreated in haste.
The reason is very good, Ruzhou is a dead place, the food supply cannot be continued, and there is no way to defend it, so we must retreat to Chenxu and fight again.
Haha, is it the end if we retreat there? We don’t even have the courage to survive in death, so how can we fight?
If it weren't for Ding Shuai's kindness to him, Li Renhan would have wanted to surrender to the Xia army directly. In the Battle of Luoyang, the destruction of the right wing of the Changzhi Army had such a bad impact that many people encountered Xia thieves.
Subconsciously, I was afraid of taking a three-pointer first. What a slap in the face!
Li Renhan suddenly thought of Zhu Xuan of Yunzhou.
After repeated failures and the loss of all the elites, one could basically only defend the city and occasionally counterattack. Later, even counterattacks became less common because it was all about losing people.
If you can't fight back, you can only stay in the city. Then people surrender one after another, and the situation becomes increasingly difficult.
If the Xia thieves hadn't intervened, and if Li Keyong and Zhu Jin hadn't helped from time to time, Li Renhan doubted whether Zhu Xuan could have survived two years.
After Ruzhou was lost, the situation faced by Bianzhou was somewhat similar to that of Yunzhou. The king of Liang became a big Zhu Xuan.
It's really puzzling that the situation has reached this point.
Shao Shude, could it be that he is truly blessed by destiny?
