In the festival hall of Changshe County, Xuzhou Li, people were coming in and out, making it a busy scene.
"Your Majesty has an order. From today on, all troops will be eliminated and executed." Pang Shigu publicly announced to the gathered generals.
To pull out the troops and kill them, that is, if a group of sergeants loses their integrity, the whole group will be killed.
There is no doubt that this is a strict military discipline that has been rare since ancient times. At the same time, it is also a double-edged sword. While it encourages soldiers to fight bravely to win, it can also easily lead to a large number of deserters.
In the early battles against Huang Chao, Qin Zongquan, Zhu Xuan, Zhu Jin, Shi Pu, and Luo Hongxin, this strategy had more advantages than disadvantages and had a positive effect. Of course, there were many deserters who lost the leader of the team at that time. They were afraid
They were beheaded and refused to return to camp after the war, so they fled one after another. For this reason, Zhu Quanzhong had to tattoo the faces of the sergeants, so that as soon as they appeared, they would be arrested and interrogated by the state and county, eventually forcing these people to defect to enemy towns or
Falling grass becomes a bandit and becomes a hidden danger.
Now he encountered a new situation.
The war with Shao Shude is a long-term one. It started in the second half of the second year of Dashun (890) and is now in its seventh year. I don’t know how many team leaders have died. It is common for sergeants to flee and hide in mountains, forests and swamps, just like Xuzhou silver in those days.
After the rebellion in Dadu, the soldiers fled in all directions and hid in the countryside.
After Pang Xun's uprising, all the soldiers from the Silver Swordsmen flocked to join him. The addition of these regular warriors greatly enhanced Pang Xun's strength.
Qi Bizhang and Liang Hanyong broke into the hinterland of the Liang people many times from the west and from the east. The more people they attacked, the more people they attacked. Many of the people who joined the group were experienced Bianliang warriors who were good at martial arts. This was outrageous.
Today, Zhu Quanzhong finally decided to abolish this harsh military order that has done more harm than good.
"You will convey this matter as soon as you get back, without any mistakes. In Jinxiang County, Shanzhou, more than a hundred sergeants took refuge with the bandit general Liang Hanyong and practiced riding horses in Puzhou. King Liang was furious when he heard the news." Pang Shigu Surong said.
Pang Shigu has one advantage: he executes orders to the letter. In the past, he was very in favor of leading the army to kill, but when Zhu Quanzhong's attitude changed, he also changed. No wonder the King of Liang would rather hand over the army to him than
It was given to Zhu Zhen and others.
"This matter is over, there are still a few things left." Pang Shigu motioned for everyone to sit down, turned his gaze to Dai Siyuan, and said: "General Dai, your troops have fought against the bandit general Qi Bizhang several times, why have you failed?"
This is actually an exaggerated statement. In fact, Dai Siyuan is not without success.
When Qi Bizhang's troops were collecting food, they often dispersed, and the two sides sometimes met unexpectedly. There were many small and medium-sized battles. He also won several times, killing more than a thousand enemy troops, but he had been careless recently.
2,000 people were eaten. In total, Dai's Flying Dragon Army lost more than 2,000 soldiers, and Chebi's Flying Dragon Army lost more than 1,000 soldiers. It was not a big loss.
After arriving in Chenzhou to recruit new soldiers, they have restored their organizational structure and are currently leading the new with the old to strengthen training and prepare to go into battle.
"Pang Shuai, the Xia thieves are strong and brave, they are many desperadoes, and they are very alert. If something goes wrong, they will flee to Ruzhou, or go south to Shenguang, and then come back. He has replenished the battle losses, and has more veterans from Henan than the last general.
The new recruits recruited are much stronger." Dai Siyuan answered truthfully.
He only had 8,000 soldiers at full strength, and he didn't have as many horses and mules as others. He was constantly recruiting deserters from his own side, while he was recruiting new recruits. After a few months, the gap became obvious.
Pang Shigu also knew the inside story. He didn't ask this to blame, but to put some pressure on Dai Siyuan so that he wouldn't slack off. After hearing Dai Siyuan's self-defense, he nodded and said, "I know you
The hard part is to train your troops well. There are more than 5,000 old soldiers and more than 2,000 new soldiers. They can be trained very quickly. The king has already abolished the formation and cut off the troops, so the sergeants will not run away wantonly. Fight hard from behind."
"As ordered." Dai Siyuan stood up and responded.
"General Zhang, your troops crossed the Ying River and fought against thieves. One victory and one defeat. The merits and demerits are equal to each other, so I won't criticize you harshly. You will still have to work hard to fight for the king. In this way, wealth and honor will continue from generation to generation."
Pang Shigu looked at Zhang Jun, the commander of the Jianrui Army on the left and right, and said: "Now Wei Bo and Huainan are helping me, and Yunzhou will soon help the Liang King, gathering the power of eight towns from all directions, why worry about the Shao thief?"
Immortal?"
Zhang Jun lowered his eyelids and said: "I will serve the King of Liang and Pang Shuai to the death."
The Jianrui Army originally numbered 20,000 people, but nearly half of it was lost in the Battle of Heqing. Now it only has 10,000 people. Before marching westward, they were assigned more than 10,000 native soldiers, but after half a year, these rural warriors returned.
They can only rely on themselves to work hard.
But the morale of the Jianrui Army is really worrying.
They are mainly the surrendered troops of Xu, Yan, and Yun towns, as well as the local warriors selected from the four states of Chu, Si, Hao, and Shou. They have been fighting for many years, but they have always been like that. They feel that they have no progress and their morale is very average.
After being transferred to Yingshui for garrison, he fought several battles within a few months, including two cross-river attacks. The first time he raided the Xia army, killed hundreds of them and retreated, the second time he crossed the river and defeated more than 2,000 people.
, more than 700 soldiers were lost. Most of the remaining troops were engaged in defense along the river, destroying the pontoon bridge used by the Xia army to cross the river, and intercepting small groups of Xia soldiers who had sneaked to the east bank. These were small-scale battles, each with casualties.
To be honest, the fight was not bad, so Pang Shigu did not criticize him harshly, but encouraged Zhang Yun.
"The three armies of Changjian, Kuangwei and Jiama have not yet engaged the thieves in a large-scale battle, so we should not be arrogant." Pang Shigu then said to Wang Zhongshi, Zhu Yougong and Wang Jingshen: "Xia thieves can still fight. In the past few months, Ying Ying
There have been dozens of battles on the water, and the river is red, but the morale of the thieves is not low, so they should not be underestimated. It is gradually entering winter, and I estimate that the summer thieves will attack in large numbers. By then, I will not rely on long swords, guards, or traps.
Can a strong horse rely on the support of the national army?"
These words made all three of them laugh.
The Changjian, Kuangwei, and Jiama armies each had more than ten thousand soldiers and horses. Among them, the Changjian Army and the Jiama Army only defeated the three towns of Weibo, Tianping, and Taining. The Kuangwei Army conquered Xuzhou Shipu and participated in the Heqing Crossing.
During the battle, they also defended the defense line across the river.
The commander of the Changjian Army, Wang Zhongshi, is a powerful general. He often leads his troops to fight on the front line. He is extremely brave. Because he has never fought against each other, he has no intuitive understanding of the Xia Bing's combat effectiveness. He has seen some in the past few months and even sent out five hundred heavy soldiers.
A long swordsman crossed the river to the west, broke through a small Xia army stronghold, and killed all the defenders. Subconsciously, he believed that both sides could still fight, and that his own Yingshui defense line was relatively stable.
Zhu Yougong was also from the Changjian Army. He once served as the military envoy of the Left Changjian Army and recently served as the commander of the Left and Right Kuangwei Army. As Quan Zhong's adopted son, he was of course very reliable, so it was appropriate to hand over the troops to him.
Wang Jingxuan, the former governor of Yingzhou, was tall and strong, and was a typical brave tiger general in the army. He once made great contributions in the battle against Huangchao and Qin Zongquan, and was appreciated and promoted by Zhu Quanzhong, and became the commander of the left and right horse armies.
This army had been fighting Zhu Jin and Zhu Xuan before. Because Zhu Jin had too many cavalry, more than 10,000 at its peak, so all members of the Jiama Army used long spears, hooks, sickles, large bows, and powerful crossbows to deal with them.
The cavalry is the main force. Generally speaking, it is up to the level of Zhaoyi's infantry. When faced with the cavalry charging into the formation, it is very stable. It easily and skillfully pulls Zhu Jin's cavalry off their horses and kills them one by one. The cavalry disperses the enemy.
The formation did not collapse at all, and they continued to fight in groups. The beating almost made Zhu Jin cry, and he said, "Ride alone and avoid it."
When attacking Wei Bo, the Jia Ma Army also defeated the elite cavalry of the Wei people. They were all good soldiers. Even Shao Shude had been famous for a long time. He wanted to take this army into his account as his weapon to defeat the Khitan and the Uighurs in the future. Marshal Shao always believed that
, these are high-quality assets of the Central Plains, it would be a pity to lose them in vain. It is not easy to train elite soldiers, and it often takes several times of dead soldiers to train them.
"You Guojun, alas." Pang Shigu sighed and stopped mentioning it.
There are currently 20,000 people in this department. They are resting in Yancheng and besieging the Qi Bizhang Department. How can I put it, they can still fight, but they are too oily, slippery, and unwilling to fight to the death. In addition, their commander Ding Hui
He is also a senior general, even more senior than Pang Shigu. He is also a Jiedu envoy (remote leader). He is also a good person and has good relations with many people, including the King of Liang. Pang Shigu is not easy to speak harshly, so
Just use them as a reserve team.
I hope he can step up at the critical moment and not disappoint.
The six armies of Feilong, Jianrui, Changjian, Kuangwei, Jiama and Youguo have a total of about 70,000 combatable soldiers, plus 50,000 Tuanxiang Yong who have been newly transferred from various states and counties, for a total of 120,000 troops. It is a difficult situation.
Maintain the defense line of Chen, Xu, and Cai.
The total strength of the Xia army was not much larger than theirs, but because it could attack from multiple directions and had strong maneuverability, the advantage was very obvious.
Having fought with Xia Jun for several years, Pang Shigu now knows their tactics very well.
When you are sure of winning in a decisive frontal battle, fight head-on and decide the outcome in one battle. When you are not sure, fight in deep ditches and high bases, stand in a stalemate, and then use all kinds of dirty tricks, such as flanking, recruiting surrenders and traitors, etc., to defeat the enemy in person.
The main force of the army has been weakened to a considerable extent, and another battle is won.
Now, after several months of preparations, the supplies and personnel of the Xia Army have been put in place one after another. Luo and Ru Prefectures have also been completely stabilized. They have also felt the situation through small-scale fighting. A new round of offensive is about to begin.
And the Xia thieves are ready, are they ready? So far, even Qi Bizhang's harassment in the rear cannot be stopped, what should we do?
King Liang still paid too much attention to influence. In Pang Shigu's view, it is better to learn from Zhu Xuan. I know I can't defeat you, so I will defend the city. You can do whatever you want outside the city. No matter how bad the disaster is, wait until you can't defeat it.
When the time comes, it will naturally retreat, and I can still pursue it and get some results.
Or simply be more ruthless and move part of the people of Chen, Xu, and Cai to the four prefectures of Xu, Su, Cao, and Dan. Anyway, the locals have been fighting for many years, and the population has suffered a lot, so there is enough space for resettlement. The remaining people,
Concentrate on the military town and farm around the city. When encountering the police, retreat to the city. How much grain and grass can be harvested.
The supplies needed by Chen, Xu, and Cai's armies for the campaign were brought from the rear, and enough materials were collected for a year. With the city and the army present, the Xia thieves could not go around and penetrate deep into the rear, and the situation improved a lot.
Zhu Xuan relied on this trick to survive for several years, until he waited for Xia Jun's large-scale march eastward and succeeded in surviving in death.
Pang Shigu was a military man and he would only consider issues from a military perspective, but Zhu Quanzhong had to consider it from a political and popular perspective. Is this possible unless it is absolutely necessary?
"Over in Zhengzhou, the king has appointed Ge Congzhou to take charge of the overall situation. All we need to do is focus on the present. The war is imminent, and we must work together to overcome the difficulties." Pang Shigu said.
"I will obey the general's orders." All the generals responded one after another.
Not long ago, Zhu Quanzhong had just issued an order to reorganize the troops in Sishui and Zhengzhou. When Hu Zhen was suppressing Luo, there were still more than 10,000 soldiers transferred from the Fifteen Du Youguo Army. There were also local victory troops and the remnants of the Heyang Yamen Army.
One group was reorganized into the Left and Right Longwu Army, with a total of 16,000 soldiers in sixteen cities, commanded by Ge Cong and Zhou Rendu.
His son Xie Yanzhang returned to Bianzhou to take over Zhang Guibian's duties and train tens of thousands of newly recruited Yamen troops.
These recruits had been training in Zhang Guibian's hands for more than a year. They were fully equipped with armor, stomach and equipment, and the military formation was in good shape. Zhu Quanzhong was very happy and wanted to reward him. However, when the news of Zhang Guiban's surrender to Xia came, he suddenly
Nothing is left.
Zhang Guibian asked himself to resign, and Zhu Quanzhong agreed.
Zhang Guihou, the commander of the hall, also asked him to leave his post. Zhu Quanzhong wrote a letter of condolences and ordered him to stay in his original post and return to Ge Congzhou to take command.
In fact, according to Zhu Quanzhong's past temper, he must be held accountable. But since the execution of Hu Zhen's family, people's hearts were a little turbulent, and he hesitated.
Zhu Quanzhong knew very well that Bianzhou was in such a mess. He could only wait for the day when Shao thieves would be attacked by a group of thieves, or there might be a turn for the better.