The winter solstice is coming, and the atmosphere inside and outside Huaiyuan New City is filled with joy and joy.
Women go to the market in small groups to buy various New Year goods
In the cattle market outside the city, old cows were slaughtered on the spot. The onlookers stamped their feet to ward off the cold while chatting about the gossip spread from the grassland. There was always one protagonist in the gossip, and that was poor Albus.
This person is also a number one figure after all. The Yinshan Tatars are also a well-known tribe. Although after the rise of the five Yinshan tribes, their influence has gradually declined. Many younger generations have never heard of the name of the Yinshan White Tatars.
But how can I put it, if Albus is given time to mobilize with all his strength, tens of thousands of horses can still be pulled out.
But for a grassland campaign, who gives you time to mobilize and assemble? It’s always about fighting quickly. Before the people below have time to react, the middle and upper levels and the core tribes will decide the winner first.
Arbus was even more unlucky than to be raided.
Leading his troops south to Yinshan Mountain, he met the powerful formations of the Iron Cavalry Army, the Silver Spear Army, the Golden Sword Army, the Black Guards Army, and the Leopard Cavalry City. More than 40,000 professional knights who trained all day long killed his herdsmen, who doubted their lives, and were later captured.
In the old nest, except for some people who fled eastward and went south to join Li Keyong, most of them were wiped out.
The pasture where they grazed has now been renamed Rouzhou. There are rumors in Lingzhou that most of the area in Rouzhou, except for the newly established Jining County, was awarded to the Qibi family by the King of Xia as their pasture.
Besides Arbus, the second biggest topic is that King Xia will brave the severe cold to go to Liangzhou after celebrating the New Year.
King Xia really hasn’t been to that place for a long time. Tens of thousands of elite soldiers accompanied him to the three states of Liang, Gansu and Suzhou. The various ministries were shocked and declared their power. This was probably the purpose. However, there are also rumors that King Xia will go north to the grassland.
, met with the chiefs of various tribes, and established the supreme power in the grassland.
As citizens of border counties, the people of Lingzhou almost thought they were living in the interior of the Central Plains these years. If they hadn't seen large groups of Tibetan people in strange clothes from time to time, they would have almost forgotten that as long as they cross Helan Mountain to the west, they will reach Shaqi, and cross Yinshan Mountain to the north.
, is the grassland. The new grassland political system built by King Xia made Lingzhou a regional center and a core hinterland. It has since been far away from the threat of war, which is a great achievement.
Today, a large number of Tibetan people gathered outside Huaiyuan City. There were more than 4,000 tents in total, speaking Tatar, including men, women, old and young.
Carrying more than a thousand camels, more than 6,000 horses, and more than 300,000 cattle and sheep, they planned to leave Lingzhou and arrive in Luoyang via Guanzhong.
Isn’t the reason for taking this route just to get some food from Jingzhao Mansion?
In winter and spring, hay is very scarce. Every autumn, people in Lingxia harvest the grass in the fields, dry it, chop it into pieces, and slaughter cattle and sheep.
The three-crop rotation system has been implemented for many years. Farmers now slaughter a large number of livestock every autumn and winter. The meat obtained after slaughter is salted or smoked and dried. People who are more particular will also use various spices, which has given rise to the idea of
There is a huge demand for spices to marinate meat, and sometimes it is impossible to cover up the flavor without spices.
There was not enough hay, and the turnips and carrots in the fields were not willing to be given to them. Moreover, these Tibetan people were extremely poor and could not afford to buy any feed, so they could only be allowed to go to Jingzhao Prefecture, and the people in the counties along the way provided hay and crops.
Orange stalks are even food.
The people in Guanzhong had to support Luoyang, the Tang and Deng dynasties, the two vassal towns in Huaixi, and from time to time there were troops, Tibetan people or large numbers of livestock crossing the border, all of which needed them to provide food and grass.
Safety is safe, but they are exploited very badly. Lingzhou "Shao Sheng" has suffered them countless times.
"Woo-_" the trumpet sounded, and the Tibetan people became commotion.
Soon, a large group of riders came over on horseback, waving their whips and beating them. After struggling for a while, these Tatars understood the rules and knew how to obey orders.
After three poles in the sun, the sound of the trumpet sounded again.
Hundreds of guards and soldiers led these thousands of Tibetan people, driving cattle and sheep, and pulling carriages, and left Lingzhou in a mighty manner and headed south.
Shao Shude had just finished practicing his martial arts skills when he received the news.
Although it is basically impossible to fight in battle, Shao Shude has never slackened on his martial arts training over the years. He originally knew how to use weapons such as a walking bow, a long spear, a horizontal sword, and a mo knife. Later, he learned how to ride and shoot, epee, and horse sword.
Skills, I've even become obsessed with spear throwing recently and I'm asking someone for advice.
He now looks like a border town veteran who has been in the army for more than ten years. He is proficient in four or five kinds of equipment, can also use a few unfamiliar equipment, can ride horses, and can speak nonsense. He is an experienced all-round warrior. The court has been with him for a year.
We have to spend twenty or thirty dollars on maintenance expenses, not including food and accommodation.
The price is high enough, but the ability is also extraordinary. When I go into battle, I can keep it and chop it down until the enemy screams - if I'm in a good mood.
"The Yinshan Tatars and the White Tatars have two batches of more than 8,000 tents. Is this the second batch?" Shao Shude took the sheep towel from Pei's hand, wiped his sweat, and asked: "Qinan's
Tatar is considered useless."
Some were destroyed, some were recruited into the Shao clan's slave tribe, some fled to Li Keyong, and some were distributed to the military tribes for benefits. In the end, there were still a few thousand tents left, all of which were sent to the Central Plains for battle. In fact, these eight thousand tents were not complete at the end.
They are Tatars, mixed with a lot of Tuyuhun and Dangxiang.
"Your Majesty, if you go north to Kunshui next year, you may be able to gain a lot of warriors." Chen Cheng has been racking his brains to study the grassland recently. The main reason is that when he was away, Zhao Guangfeng secretly offered suggestions and was appreciated by Shao Shude, which gave him
A sense of crisis.
"I don't think those people are worth fighting," Shao Shude said.
The prairie cavalry was really nothing in the eyes of the warriors of the imperial dynasty. Even back then, the Uyghurs with 50,000 cavalry, the Zhenwu Army, and the Tiande Army fought back with only 10,000 men.
Shao Shude went to the grassland to recruit soldiers. The main thing he wanted was that they were hard-working and had a ferocious energy in them, making them a promising talent. As for their overall combat effectiveness, he really didn't like them.
Of course, Beiwei, the personal attendant of the grassland leader, was a full-time professional warrior who had others offering cattle and sheep. Shao Shude still liked this kind of person very much and often asked the chiefs of various tribes to "turn it over"
"Commander, whether you can fight is one thing, recruiting troops is another." Chen Cheng reminded.
Shao Shude smiled and said: "I almost forgot. Yes, recruit troops! The more the better, and they must not be left to the chiefs. It is very good to send the grassland soldiers south to attack the Liang people, and to send the Liang soldiers north to fight the grassland people.
Very good!'
There are actually quite a few Tibetans active on the front lines in Henan.
The most important ones are the 30,000 Tao Min Qiang, Qing Tang Tubo and Hexi Qiang Hu who were placed in Henan Prefecture. Shao Shude was not very satisfied with the use of these people because he felt that they could not play a greater role on the frontal battlefield.
, it would be better to transfer them to the north and south wings.
In this battle, the article was originally made on the two wings. Once the two wings were completed, the big lump in the middle could not escape at all. So, he planned to micro-manage it.
"Continue to collect people in the grassland. Henan Prefecture and Ruzhou are empty. Even the household registration in Zhengzhou is not very abundant." Shao Shude said: "The people collected should be put into the northern line. Tang and Deng Sui, Huaixi cannot support them.
Okay, what a pity.
Chen Cheng and Guo Mo both responded.
Guo Mo was recently promoted to the position of Sima of the Shogunate's March Army. He is also an old man of the Shuofang Army. He served as a military judge during the Tielin Army, and he worked hard and achieved great results. In addition, he knew music, so he seized the opportunity and was reused - well, knowing music is
An important factor in his promotion, because it will come in handy in the next stage.
On December 18th, the third year of Qianning, it was sunny after the snow.
Even Ge Congzhou, who has been fighting for many years, has to admit that winter is a wonderful season for the overwhelming light cavalry.
Rivers, streams, and ditches were frozen solid and no longer hindered the march.
The grain in the fields has been harvested and it has become a racecourse for everyone.
All the leaves in the forest have fallen. The old forest is bare and there is no way to hide soldiers.
There are extremely few people in the wild, which greatly reduces the risk of exposure.
Ge Congzhou today garrisoned Wansheng Town, a famous commercial port on the bank of Bian River and the most densely populated town in the west of Bianzhou. Before Ge Congzhou arrived, the merchants of Wansheng Town gathered nearly 2,000 people.
Strong bows, powerful crossbows, long spears and big swords repulsed the two waves of Heyang Xiangyong's offensive, causing the thieves to abandon more than a hundred corpses and leave with extremely weak casualties.
The caravan guard is magnificent!
His son Xie Yanzhang sent him a message from Bianzhou, saying that the "Tianwu Eighth Army" had only been established for a short time. At this moment, he was working hard to train the more than 50,000 recruits together with his colleagues, but he could not send them out in a short time.
I would like to ask you not to take this army into consideration when arranging your troops.
"Arrange the troops." Ge Congzhou laughed and said, "This boy is quite alert.
In fact, he had been hesitating recently. While hesitating, his son wrote to him, letting him know that the Tianwu Eighth Army was not yet able to fight in the field. It had been more than a year since it was established as an army. It had only learned the golden drum flag and strictly enforced military discipline.
Learning to form a formation is not enough.
If the Tianwu Eighth Army cannot fight, then we might as well call in the Zhili Army!
Ge Congzhou calculated that there were more than 10,000 Longwu troops, 3,000 cavalrymen of Desheng army, and more than 2,000 cavalrymen in the hall. If there are more elite soldiers from Changzhi to help, he can recruit 20,000 to 30,000 native regiment soldiers to form a complete army.
It is not difficult to build an army of 50,000 or 60,000 people.
With this group of people, we can try to fight a counterattack in Zhengzhou.
This counterattack is not only to regain lost ground, but in fact has a greater role in boosting confidence and morale.
Furthermore, there are so many Xia thieves wandering around and they are scattered everywhere, making it quite troublesome to find them. It is better to attack the place where they must be rescued and attract the thieves to gather back, so that they can be annihilated together.
After thinking about it, Ge Congzhou immediately sent an envoy back to Bianzhou, carefully reported his battle plan to Zhu Quanzhong, and mobilized 10,000 people of the Zhi Army to march westward.
When Zhu Quanzhong reviewed it, there was nothing else, but the description about Hu Zhen made him a little angry and dizzy. Hu Zhen did two things: first, secretly instigated a rebellion of the Xuanmen Pass defenders, and cooperated with the Xia thieves inside and outside to attack
They went down to Guancheng; secondly, the Xia army besieged Sishui County. Hu Zhen rode alone outside the city and lured his old men to surrender. He heard that more than a hundred people lowered the city every day, and the city was broken after a few days of siege.
By this time, the Xia bandits had moved to Heyin County and Biankou, and Hu Zhen stepped forward again and was active on the front line.
"Wow!" Zhu Quanzhong swept everything off the table.
After finishing it, he was still not relieved, so he kicked the case over again.
When the eldest daughter-in-law Liu, who was approaching the study with a food box, saw her, she was so frightened that she became silent and quietly retreated.
Zhu Quanzhong glanced at the back of Mr. Liu who was afraid of leaving, and miraculously calmed down his mood. He took a deep breath, ordered his servants to tidy up the room, and then turned his mind back to the current situation.
He had no objection to Ge Congzhou's strategy. At this point, if it were not inconvenient, he would have personally led the Changzhi Army westward to Zhengzhou.
Forget it, let's leave Changzhi's army in the hands of Youyu and let him lead the journey westward.