"Formation! Formation!" In Yangwu County, Zhengzhou, the Liangren Military Academy shouted loudly, asking the sergeants to form a tight formation.
Liang Bing's quality was pretty good. Soon, hundreds of people quickly moved closer, their spears pointing outwards and their bows cocked. The rhythm was tense and efficient.
They leaned against the earth wall with firm expressions on their faces, suppressing the fear of the horses in their hearts, and quietly waited for the enemy to attack.
People are not afraid of Ru Lin's spears, but horses are! I don't believe you can charge over.
The leader, Commander Xia Junxiangyong, rode his horse in a circle and was almost shot off by a rifle bow, so he ran back with a look of disgrace on his face and said: "Retreat! Don't fight them."
The village heroes were delighted to hear the amnesty.
Not to mention that the horses were unwilling to charge at the densely packed spears, neither were they. Furthermore, it would be impossible to use a strong bow with a longer arm right away, which would inherently disadvantage the range. Unless there was a favorable wind, there would still be gains.
beat.
"Gone! Gone!" More than eight hundred riders receded like a tide and disappeared into the vast wilderness.
Liang Renjun breathed a sigh of relief, moved his stiff arms slightly, and spat hard on the ground.
Why can't you use your strength to fight the Xia people? Zhu Jin dared to charge the infantry formation, why don't you do it?
Fight if you can win, run if you can't win, guerrilla habits, bully us, can't we run on four legs?
At this time, another cavalry unit appeared on the outskirts of Yuanwu County, with a total of more than a thousand cavalry.
This time they succeeded.
The thieves transporting grain and grass were just local brave men. Farmers in the Central Plains have a natural fear of horses. They were confused when they saw it. When they reorganized, they had no time to react. Four hundred people were scattered on the spot.
Xiangyong from Huojia County rode a war horse, brandishing his sword, and chased the Liang people with their backs exposed.
If both sides are fighting on foot and both are brave men, the gap is actually not that big. It can even be said that there is no gap. With these thousands of people, if they want to kill these 400 Liang people, it will take a lot of effort, even if the opponent
If there are some fierce ones, they will suffer a lot and will not be able to win.
But it's so cool now. The thieves have been dispersed, and they are not government soldiers. They don't have the courage to continue fighting after being dispersed, so it can only be a one-sided massacre.
The village warriors in Huojia County were so relaxed and comfortable that they scolded each other for their heads.
In fact, such scenes not only appear in Yangwu, but also in Yuanwu County, Yingze County, Suanzao County, Wansheng Town, Putian Town and even outside Zhengzhou.
They used villages as units, ranging from dozens of cavalry to more than a thousand cavalry. They scattered in all directions and bullied the Liang people. They had few cavalry, and most of them concentrated on the front line, roaring back and forth.
When you see an easy target, you rush forward. Sometimes, even one township can't take it down, and even several townships or even a county's townships rush over. Taking advantage of their mobility advantage, they scatter and gather unscrupulously, leaving the hard bones alone without chewing them.
Picking on the weak and attacking Zhengzhou, which had no defense left, was dizzy and suffered heavy casualties.
Starting from the third day of December, for five consecutive days, warnings were issued across the five counties in northern Zhengzhou, and even the neighboring counties of Huazhou Jujube, Xucheng, and Lingchang were affected.
Especially on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, thousands of people from Jiyuan, Hanoi, Heyang, Wen and other counties rode across the ice of the Yellow River and gathered again in Zhengzhou.
So far, the number of cavalry warriors active in Zheng and Hua areas has exceeded 13,000. There are both Tibetan and Han people, but the majority are Tibetan people. After all, although the Han people have begun to raise a large number of horses, after all, their riding skills are still not that good.
Skilled, this time it was mainly the Tibetan people who compiled the households who showed up first.
On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, more than 300 horsemen even reached Zhongmu County in Zhengzhou, which was only dozens of miles away from Bianzhou.
The situation on the south bank of the Yellow River has exploded!
"You mean, the Shao thieves used more cavalry than in previous years?" Ge Congzhou, who hurried to Zhengzhou to organize firefighting, asked his staff.
The staff member has been working in Zhengzhou for many years. He has served successively under the commanders Zhang Shensi, Pang Shigu, and Ge Congzhou. He is a veteran and know-it-all in the officialdom.
"In previous years, there were overwhelming cavalry, but most of them were Tibetan people or Xia rebels. This year, most of the cavalry that appeared were local warriors wearing Putou. Coming from the north, most of them were local men from Heyang." The staff said:
"But I didn't see any cavalry from the Xia Thief Yamen Army this year, which is a bit strange."
"In the south and east." Ge Congzhou sighed.
From Yangzhai to Xuzhou, it is a ninety-mile journey, and it would take less than a day for the Xia cavalry army to arrive.
From Xiangcheng to Caizhou, a distance of two hundred and eighty miles, it would take three days of horse racing.
It's two days' journey from Shenzhou to Caizhou.
The Xia thieves were more ruthless. They left Shenzhou and ran directly across Henan to Bianzhou, which was only a seven-day journey by horseback.
Pang Shigu's side should be in dire straits now.
When the Xia cavalry is dispatched, they can fight back and forth in a few days, and they can break into any place within a range of hundreds of miles.
Someone asked, King Liang had more than 100,000 troops, why couldn't he even drive away the cavalry that was harassing the rear? Isn't that too false?
It takes several days for someone to call him back and forth, and you don't know where he comes from. How can you run away? A few days is not enough to react. By the time you react, he has already run away.
What? Are you planning to deploy hundreds of thousands of troops to pursue and intercept him?
The chance to intercept Xia's cavalry was lost forever.
When Heluo was still in hand, the mountains in the west were rolling and there were only a few roads, which made it easy to predict their route of action. But now it is all flat and flat, and people don’t even bring carriages. They just go straight from your wheat field.
If you walk past it, you will be hard-pressed to avoid it.
"My military order is that from now on when transporting grain and grass, no more than 3,000 people are allowed to go out alone."
"When marching, horse-drawn carriages, baggage carriages, and side carriages are used for whatever purpose. Do not be careless. Nowhere in Zheng, Bian, or Huazhou is safe."
"Draw up a seal for the King of Liang and ask you to mobilize the left and right Desheng troops to march westward."
"States, counties, and military towns strictly guard the city and are not allowed to fight privately to avoid being taken advantage of by thieves."
Ge Congzhou issued several orders in one breath to ensure the safety of his food routes and rear areas. But this also meant that he gave up the countryside and allowed the Xia army's cavalry to run away.
He is a pragmatic person, but when he lacks cavalry, he prioritizes ensuring his own logistics. As for face and the impact, he doesn't bother to worry about it. That is what the King of Liang should worry about.
He will not try to deal with these Xia cavalry until he has enough cavalry.
In fact, Zhu Zhen of Caozhou once achieved some results, that is, setting an obvious target to lure Xia thieves to attack, or predicting their course of action, betting on luck to set up an ambush, or sending people to falsely surrender to join the group, which successfully caused Qi Bizhang to be lost.
There are few people, but overall it is still very passive.
You can't run as fast as anyone else!
The staff sat down and wrote the order with a pen. After writing it, they presented it to Ge Congzhou. Just as Ge Congzhou was about to use the seal, he saw another clerk hurriedly ran over and reported: "Dutou, Heyin County has come to report that the Xia thieves are here.
A large number of troops and horses have gathered on the north bank, and there are signs of crossing the river to the south."
"Going south?" Ge Congzhou suddenly stood up and asked someone to spread out the map and look at it carefully.
"This battle!" Ge Congzhou became angry and said, "Xia Thief is too deceptive. He deceived Hu Zhen once, is it possible that he wants to deceive me again?"
His face was struggling fiercely.
If a large number of Xia troops from Heyang really went south and used the same indiscriminate tactics as before and cut the army along the river into several sections, he might as well wipe his neck.
"The enemy can go, and I can go too. Do you really think I didn't kill you?" Ge Congzhou stopped mid-sentence.
If you leave thousands of people to guard the Xuanmen Pass and Heyin line, and lead a main force of 10,000 people to attack Heyang northward, do you have any chance of winning? Will the Xia thieves be careless and neglect their precautions?
This is possible.
Cross the river and go north, take advantage of the Xia thieves' unpreparedness, and suddenly attack them on the north bank, burning their reserves and killing their soldiers, which may demoralize the thieves.
But without the protection of cavalry, it is easy to go, and you may be able to kill the Xia thieves by surprise, but it is difficult to come back.
However, he still did not issue such an order that would easily lead to no return.
The Longwu Army had recently been reorganized and was not the old army he was familiar with. To carry out this kind of mission, he might not be tempted to mutiny.
The civil servants all looked at Ge Congzhou eagerly, waiting for him to make the final decision.
Ge Congzhou walked around the house, glancing at the map from time to time.
The atmosphere was a bit dull, and everyone didn't know what to say. The situation was already very difficult, and everyone was actually passively resisting the Xia thieves. To say how much confidence they had, it was just a lie.
"Choose five hundred warriors, carry five days of dry food, copy the Dagong Mountain path, and attack the Xia bandit camp at night." Ge Congzhou stopped and ordered.
Everyone was puzzled, but they still started drafting orders.
There is no doubt that the success rate of this combat plan is very low. Five hundred people walked on a mountain path, carrying no luggage and only a few days of food, to sneak attack the enemy's camp, and there was little hope.
"The garrison at Xuanmen Pass consists of one Liulong military force and three thousand township warriors. There are two Liulong military forces in Sishui County and five thousand township warriors, ready to assist Xuanmen Pass at any time. The rest of the troops and horses will all be transferred eastward tonight to go to the river.
Yin, set up defenses in Biankou."
This completely changes the focus of operations.
Everyone looked at each other in confusion. Ge Congzhou was showing signs of abandoning the defense line around Dagong Mountain and Xuanmen Pass. He gathered heavy troops in Heyin and even Zhengzhou further east, so that he could advance and retreat more freely.
To put it bluntly, now that the Xia thieves can move south to their rear at any time, some places should not be defended at all. The troops should be concentrated to do more useful things.
Of course, this is Ge Congzhou's opinion. Others occasionally have this idea, but dare not say it. In that case, once the Xia thieves follow this land passage and enter Zhengzhou, who can withstand the old scores?
?
"I know what you are thinking." Ge Congzhou said, "I will discuss this matter with King Liang myself. I am not afraid of taking responsibility."
"Order Zhang Guihou to withdraw to Guancheng and stop defending Mi County." Ge Congzhou added: "To defend everywhere is to fail to defend everywhere. The thieves are fierce and the cavalry is overwhelming. If you are still trapped in a
We are really passive in this city. Besides, there are no soldiers in Bianzhou, how can I not make preparations?"
Yes, in addition to the 10,000 people on the right side of the Changzhi Army, Bianzhou only has the "Bianliang Eighth Army" that has been newly trained for more than a year. It is really empty.
In case you need a "King of Diligence", you have to prepare in advance, right?