Pang Shigu climbed to the high platform in the camp and carefully observed the battle situation between the two sides.
On the white grassland, a Xia army left the camp and marched forward.
One of their friendly forces had just been defeated. Liang Jun came across the river and invited a fight. The Advocate Army sent hundreds of people to fight, but was defeated by hundreds of enemy Long Sword Army soldiers.
Guan Kairun, the envoy of the Jinglue Army, was furious and personally led 500 men to fight, finally defeating the Liang people. The defeated troops retreated along the pontoon bridge, and both sides stopped fighting again.
Near Yingqiao Town, north of Baiyuan, part of the Dingyuan Army crossed the river to the east, and the Burning Liang Army guarded two small villages, defeated a group of Liang Army infantry that came in a hurry, and captured more than ten people before returning.
The small-scale battle never subsided!
"The Xia thief is so tight." Pang Shigu patted the railing lightly and frowned to himself.
The four armies of Dingyuan, Jinglue, Guide, and Protecting the Country are the numbers of the Xia thieves on the other side of the Ying River that have been detected for a long time. There are more than 30,000 people in total. In addition, there are 30,000 Tutuan countrymen from Henan Prefecture and Hezhong Prefecture.
and Heyang Town.
Liang Jun's troops deployed to the east of Yingshui were mainly composed of Jianrui, Changjian, and Kuangwei troops, plus local men from Tutuan, totaling more than 50,000 people.
There is not much difference in the strength of the two sides. The combat effectiveness of the sergeants and the equipment and equipment are also similar. Except for a slight difference in morale, everything else is really similar.
Therefore, no one is sure of defeating the other in a large-scale field battle.
But there are no big battles, but small battles have never stopped. And this kind of small battles are also an important means to spy on the opponent's intelligence, find out the opponent's military composition, and test its combat effectiveness. Otherwise, people will secretly replace the weak soldiers to defend the stronghold, and use the elite soldiers to guard the stronghold.
If you are transferred and you don't know the result, this may bring about a fatal crisis.
Pang Shigu had a feeling that in recent days, the Xia thieves' "sticky lake power" had come up, and they kept sending men to harass the Liang army on the other side of the river, as if they were worried that they would abandon their camp and leave.
The infantry formations of both sides were fighting in front of us. It was a small scene. The real big scene was that the Xia thieves sent out many Tibetan cavalry. After crossing the Ying River, they went deep into the vicinity of Xuzhou to harass their logistics and food routes.
Fortunately, the main force is not all deployed on the Yingshui front line. There are still troops available in the rear, so the food route will not be cut off. I just find it a bit annoying, and the Xia cavalry army is too arrogant!
"Dutou, Poxia Army, and Luoyan have all left Xuzhou and headed for Chenzhou." Zhang Shensi climbed onto the high platform, walked to Pang Shigu's side, and said.
"Where are Dai Siyuan and Yang Shihou?" Pang Shigu asked.
"Dai Siyuan had already left Chenzhou and arrived at Yancheng via Yanling. Yang Shihou was stationed in Shangcai County and had been asking for equipment and rewards on the grounds that the bandit army was strong." Zhang Shensi said.
Pang Shigu nodded slightly.
Zhang Shensi did not add any exaggeration. In fact, he truthfully stated the situation of each department and left everything to Pang Shigu himself to judge without any emotional inclination, which is good.
Kang Yanxiao had already rushed to Shangcai. No matter how much Yang Shihou delayed, it was time to move.
However, it would be difficult for this person to win Zhe Zongben alone. If he wanted to successfully defeat his army, he still had to make great efforts and send more people over. Pang Shigu thought about it and decided to adjust the long swords on the Yingshui front line.
, Kuangwei's Second Army went to Yancheng, and mobilized 20,000 national troops to attack and continue to confront the Xia army.
Over in Yingzhou, except for the Poxia Army and the five thousand people from Luoyandu, Pang Shigu does not plan to send more troops. In fact, there is no need for people like Zhao Lin and Zhu Hanbin to take the lead, and they will not be able to take on the role in a short time.
Lift heavy responsibilities.
In addition to this, additional rewards were given to boost morale, which seemed inevitable. Anyway, Luo Hongxin and Yang Xingmi had come up with this part of the money.
******
The offensive receded like a tide, and came back like a tide. When the tide reached its highest point, the revolving gate gate shattered, and the city gate opened with the inside and outside closing.
Hu Zhen wore iron armor and entered the city under the escort of sergeants.
He named several people in succession and scolded them endlessly.
"We haven't surrendered until now, so why hesitate?"
"After the Longwu Army was reorganized, many people were dispersed and couldn't make any noise for a while." someone replied.
"Those fellow villagers from Bian and Zheng Tu Tuan were unwilling to surrender, so they really went through a lot of trouble." Someone else said.
"General Wang committed suicide. If he had not died, many people would still hesitate to wait and see."
"The capital has surrendered. Can Commander Hu be in charge of the troops? If he can be in charge of the troops, can you let everyone follow you?"
Hu Zhen was a little embarrassed, but it didn't matter. He was now thick-skinned.
Commanding troops? It's probably impossible. Let alone letting him lead Liang Jun to surrender. Wouldn't that test Hu Zhen's loyalty? I can't guarantee that I will always be loyal...
"Now that we have surrendered, we must first go to the Shaanzhou Academy for training." Hu Zhen said, "After the training is completed, we will join the various armies and then we will fight hard for the King of Xia."
There are currently more than 20,000 new recruits in the Shaanzhou Academy of the Du Jiamen's Yamen, mainly for surrender. They have now greatly reduced the recruitment ratio of new soldiers. They can't use up all the prisoners. What's the use of recruiting so many new soldiers? That's it.
Lingzhou Academy accepts few prisoners and is currently recruiting a large number of new people for training.
Not everyone knows how to use the troops, that's for sure. The strong and brave ones are sent to the armies immediately to fill the vacancies. Those with average skills are sent to the armies to supplement the battle losses as planned after repeated training. The level is really good.
Those who are too bad are basically dismissed and sent to Xiuwu County to do manual labor.
Everyone was speechless.
Fighting for the King of Xia? No, everyone is fighting for themselves. If the King of Xia does not default on the reward, of course it is okay to work for him. If there is no reward, then don't blame everyone for being disloyal.
The officers and soldiers of the Chishui Army marched into the city in formation. They lined up neatly, looked solemn and silent, and their morale was very high. One team after another drove into Guancheng.
Hu Zhen and others watched silently.
The Chishui Army is inconspicuous, but many people know that it is the army with the second largest number of martial arts students after the Tianxiong Army.
The attack on Luokou Cang and the battle of Gongxian were bloody battles. Before the war, the soldiers of the victory army had vowed to defend for three months until the river thawed. But under the desperate offensive, most of these cities could not even last a month.
When they persisted, they were defeated by the Chishui Army.
Military Commander Fan He is also a ruthless person. He will kill the soldiers who are disadvantaged in battle, even if they are martial arts students. He ensures that the troops are very aggressive. Even after recruiting many new soldiers, they are still very aggressive.
.
There is no doubt that the defenders at Xuanmen Pass were killed by them.
To be more precise, it was after Ge Cong's large-scale retreat eastward from Zhou Dynasty, which shook the morale of the army, and Hu Zhen's persuasion to surrender that Li Ying should cooperate with the outside world, that Guancheng was finally breached and this important pass was captured.
"Hu joined the army. The commander-in-chief has ordered that these thousands of surrendered troops be handed over to you. The next step is to collect Sishui and Heyin counties." Fan He led the war horse to Hu Zhen and said: "
The Heyin side should be more difficult, so take Sishui County first. It’s better to do it sooner rather than later, so let’s do it as soon as possible.”
Hu Zhen was a little surprised. King Xia actually trusted him so much?
Although there are only a thousand men, their nature is completely different. Commanding troops and not commanding troops are completely different things.
"Don't worry, General Fan. I'll go to Si River right now." Hu Zhen said, "Ge Congzhou led the main force eastward and left them here, completely leaving them to fend for themselves. I must be right.
The army is coming to surrender."
"Okay! Let's work separately." Fan He was overjoyed and said: "Tomorrow I will send troops to Heyin to pursue the enemy step by step. We are also part of the Luoyang camp. It would be shameless to have no merit."
******
On December 11, the sky was full of wind and snow. The Xia army cavalry active in the fields disappeared almost overnight.
In fact, they didn't leave, they just disappeared in Liang Ren's eyelids.
In the rural villages of Yuanwu, Yangwu, Suanzao, Xucheng and other counties, there are many rural warriors taking shelter from the wind and snow.
While they marveled at the wealth of Henan, they mercilessly collected goods.
Grain, fodder, cloth, copper coins, gold and silverware, livestock and even the population itself have all become the objects of their plunder.
The bitter heroes of Heyang Township happily stuffed the parcels with goods, then escorted a group of common people back to Mengzhou on the ice of the Yellow River.
The first group of people who came left, and the second group came again. By the time the second group was about to leave, the third group was ready to go.
These counties in the north of Zhengzhou are really unlucky. If the Longwu Army had not mobilized in large numbers and created considerable obstacles, more than four or five thousand people would have been kidnapped, and maybe a few counties
All were evacuated.
In such a noisy background, Ge Congzhou led the Longwu Army to regain Xingze County in a low-key manner, intercepted a group of Xia Army cavalry on the post road leading to Guancheng, and beheaded more than two hundred people.
In the afternoon, the endless sound of horse hooves sounded from a distance and slowly gathered in Xingze County.
He Delun, the commander of the Desheng Army on both sides, threw down a few bloody heads, got off his horse, looked up at the biting cold weather, and cursed in a low voice.
"Ge Dutou, Zhengzhou can't retreat any longer." He Delun walked with a heavy heart. He stopped playing with the riding crop in his hand and concentrated on thinking about the situation of the battle.
"Has General He seen the king?" Ge Congzhou looked sad and in a bad mood.
I have fought against Shao Thief Zhenger Bajing many times. I still remember that during the first confrontation, Xia Thief was so aggressive that he came all the way east. As a result, he set up an ambush in the Erban area of Xiaoshan Mountain and killed hundreds of enemies. Afterwards, he firmly
Controlling Wei Village, they always threatened the Xia thieves' flanks and food routes. In the end, they only looted and retreated, losing the opportunity to occupy Henan Prefecture. Later, the Xia thieves spent their blood.
The price was paid back one by one.
This command of the Longwu Army was Ge Congzhou's first battle as a commander-in-chief, which was of great significance.
But the question is, what the hell is this fight about?
As soon as he arrived, he was faced with whether to give up the Xuanmenguan and Sishui County affairs. According to Ge Congzhou's original intention, the entire army was withdrawn and brought down, but he did not dare to do so for fear that Zhu Quanzhong would be punished, so in the end he did it half-heartedly.
, in fact, he was just giving his head to the Xia thieves for nothing.
"Of course I saw it," Hedron said.
"Does your Majesty have any instructions?"
"Your Majesty, please fight hard." He Delun said: "Caizhou is Pang Shigu's left arm, and Zhengzhou is Pang Shigu's right arm. This summer, the thieves want to break these arms. At the same time, they send people to attack Yingzhou and take a peek at Chenzhou. There are
This is an attempt to appease Pang Shigu's back. The war is difficult, and your Majesty knows our difficulties and does not urge us, but encourages us to fight bravely and defeat the Xia thieves in one fell swoop."
Ge Congzhou was old-fashioned, automatically filtered out the nonsense, and caught the message that Prince Liang was "considerate" about them. He was immediately relieved. It was almost as he expected. At this time, Prince Liang would not act rashly.
Domineering is completely within the tolerance range. At the same time, it is also a bit sad. How could the King of Liang, who once said he was the only one, come to this situation step by step?
I heard that King Liang was not anxious at all in Bianzhou, but looked panicked, disappointed, discouraged, and decadent. He talked and laughed with people, and led troops out of the city to patrol the city from time to time to boost morale. He was still very energetic and often dealt with official correspondence until late at night, which is admirable.
Forget it, he would help King Liang kill him again. Apart from anything else, he was still sure of stabilizing the situation in Zhengzhou.
The Xia thieves' troops didn't seem to be many, and they weren't enough to defeat Zhengzhou's overall situation. Unless they continued to increase their troops, he wanted to see if Shao Shude could still summon more troops.