The Xia army adjusted their formation again, and more than 20,000 men marched in three groups.
Along the way are the 3,000 cavalrymen of Liu Zijing's cavalry army on the northern line, supervising the transportation of grain and grass from Heyin to Zhengzhou, and also guarding the banks of the Yellow River.
All the way to the south, Fu Yanchao led the three thousand cavalry of the Dingnan Army towards Weishi County to cut off Bianzhou's southward escape route and to hold Chen Xu on his back.
The middle section was led by Shao Shude himself, with more than 16,000 men, with the surrender army as the vanguard.
At noon on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, Zhang Guihu reported that Zhongmu County would not surrender. He sent his troops to attack the city and defeated it in one go. Shao Shude ordered more than 400 families of resisting officials and sergeants to be sent to Longyou, and sent thousands of guards and close troops to Longyou.
He personally escorted him to Sishui and then returned.
That night, the army arrived at Bajiao Town. The horses were tired and kicked people, unwilling to go any further, so Shao Shude ordered to set up camp.
Thirty-five miles from Baisha to Zhongmou, and forty miles from Zhongmou to Bajiao, which is equivalent to a march of seventy-five miles in one day. Compared with the previous one man and five horses who traveled one hundred and eighty miles in one day, the two hundred miles are really incomparable.
Bajiao Town is already the boundary of Junyi County in Bianzhou, and Junyi is one of the Fuguo Counties in Bianzhou. More than ten miles east is Banqiaodian, where Zhang Guihou led his army. Going further from Banqiaodian
More than twenty miles to the east is the city of Bianzhou. There are even a few wealthy people from Bianzhou riding war horses, armed with bows and iron guns, poking their heads outside the Banqiao store to conduct careful reconnaissance.
There is no doubt that everyone in Bianzhou is aware of the approach of their victorious army.
"It's less than forty miles away from Bianzhou. We'll arrive there at noon tomorrow..." Shao Shude didn't have any advisers around him, so he could only call Xie Tong, who had recently come from Chang'an, to come to him to go over the details together and observe his behavior.
level.
Yes, Xie Tong came to vote. Although the Xuanwu Army's Jinzouyuan in Chang'an was not banned, the exchange of personnel and materials was extremely inconvenient. Perhaps due to internal struggles, Xie Tong received very little funding from the Jinzouyuan.
, life was very embarrassing. In anger, Xie Tong surrendered to the enemy.
This is just what he said. In fact, Shao Shude believes that there are deeper reasons. Xie Tong is a smart man and an egoist. His loyalty to Zhu Quanzhong is very limited. When he surrendered to Chengdu, the late emperor allowed him to do whatever he wanted.
He happily accepted the post of governor of Lingzhou. After losing his position, he shamelessly returned to Bianzhou. However, the opportunity was lost and he could no longer become the real core. He was even jealous of others.
"Your Majesty, there is no need to fight in Bianzhou. After all, the Tianwei Fourth Army has been training for two years. The Xuanwu Army is not a sluggish vassal town such as Wei Bon. The training is still very strict, and the requirements for sergeants are also very high. The same goes for the backbone of the officers.
Veterans with rich battle experience are not the kind of flowery people who collapse at the first touch and fall into the wind." Xie Tong considered the words and said slowly: "The king can send some cavalry troops to monitor, and then divide the troops into multiple groups, move around, and intercept the messengers.
, Rangers, ordering Bianzhou not to travel to other states. After it has been stable for a few days, rumors can be spread. If so, Quan Zhong will definitely be impatient, and will send troops to return to support at that time, or there may be a chance."
Xie Tong was still very anxious to show off, and the suggestions he made seemed to be the same. He was just a member of the Shuofang shogunate, and he definitely wanted to climb up the ranks and lay a better foundation for future generations.
Shao Shude was noncommittal, but kept laughing.
"Your Majesty, please listen to the briefings from the Wang Division and Datong Horse Racing." Li Zhong walked in and placed a stack of official letters at the head of the case.
Shao Shude picked it up, looked at it casually, and suddenly asked: "Li Kan passed away in Jiangling Mansion, various princes competed for the throne, the generals rebelled, and wars continued. What do you think of Mr. Xie?"
In fact, the internal situation in Jingzhou was far from being as understated as Shao Shude said. After Li Kan died of illness, several princes recruited foreign aid and fought endlessly. However, within a few months, the rebel government general Zhang Jun seized power. He was dead and gone. .But Zhang Jun was quickly killed by Xu Cun. His younger brother Zhang Xiu led his army to fight with Xu Cun and was defeated and died. His son Zhang Lian led the remnants of his troops to rush west to Kuizhou and joined forces with Ximen Zhao, the defense envoy of Kuizhou, to fight against and occupy Jiangling. of Xu Cun.
Ximen Zhao's real name was Fu Daozhao. He was a Cai thief and later became the commander of the Shence Army in Pengridu. In the first year of Qianning, he was defeated by Shao Shude and fled to the south to join Li Kan. Later, he met Zhao Kuangning in Xiangyang and Lei Man in Langzhou. After making great achievements in the long-term war, he was appointed as the defense envoy of Kuizhou and gained a piece of territory.
The war between the Zhongyi Army and Jingnan has actually been going on intermittently. It is unclear who started the attack first. The Zhongyi Army is currently led by Zhao Kuangning's younger brother, Zhao Kuangming, and took advantage of the civil strife in Jingnan to launch an offensive with the intention of annexing the vassal town in one fell swoop. This gave Zhang Lian and Fu Daozhao a chance to breathe and become active again.
"Your Majesty, please restrain Brother Zhao Kuangning. The war in Henan is urgent now, and the most important thing is to destroy Liang." Xie Tong didn't say much and only mentioned the key points.
"Ma Yin has made the general decision on the affairs of the Hunan Military Government. What does Mr. Xie think?" Shao Shude asked.
Liu Jianfeng was killed by his subordinates with iron laos for playing tricks on his wife. Ma Yin became the leader of the Cai thieves who fled to Hunan, and began to further attack cities and territories, intending to occupy Hunan completely, and may even covet other directions.
"Hunan is not rich in household registration and has a weak military force. What should the king do with him? After the attack on Quanzhong, the towns in the Central Plains that are inconvenient can be moved to the south of the Yangtze River. It is easy for these clowns to destroy them." Xie Tong replied.
Shao Shude nodded.
In order to quickly eliminate Zhu Quanzhong, he granted many official positions to all the powerful military governors. For example, the military governor of the Guanghua Army was given to Shishu Cong, the military governor of the Zhongwu Army was still given to Zhao Jue, etc. If Quanzhong was to be wiped out, he would Of course, it is impossible to tolerate separatist forces in the heart of the Central Plains, but it is not easy to break one's promise to enrich oneself, so let these military leaders transition for two years, and after everyone looks good, they can be allowed to move.
The principle of moving the town is to the south. If you want to separate the kingdom, go to the south to separate the kingdom. Leave the north with the stronger population, wealth, and military strength to me. After I have wiped out the heroes in the north, I will take care of the rest.
"Thank you, your envoy, for being a man of true talent. I am going east to Bianzhou this time, and I hope you will be your counselor." Shao Shude saluted and said.
"Don't you dare disobey me!" Xie Tong stood up flattered and responded.
****
On the tenth day of April in the fourth year of Qianning, this was another disastrous day for the people of Bianzhou.
In the past, the Qin Zongquan weakened Bianzhou and stopped at Bajiao Town. But this time the Xia thieves attacked, but no one could stop them, and they fought all the way to Bianzhou City.
In fact, roving troops appeared outside the city early in the morning. The Bian soldiers who "requisitioned" the last batch of grain, silk, gold and silverware and other goods from the Bianhe merchant ships retreated into the city and closed the gate tightly.
Outside the city wall is filled with ashes.
This time it was serious. I had never been willing to burn down the houses in Fuguo before. This time I started cleaning them up the afternoon before yesterday. I demolished the ones that could be demolished and the materials obtained were transported into the city, which can be used as firewood or as firewood.
It was used to repair the city wall. As for the parts that could not be demolished, they were naturally burned with fire. On the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, the fire outside Bianzhou City was blazing and burned all night.
A large number of people were also organized to cut down the nearby woods to create as much trouble as possible for the Xia thieves, preventing them from building siege equipment nearby, and at the same time accumulating a large amount of wood for emergencies.
The entire operation lasted for one day and two nights, and Bianzhou mobilized tens of thousands of people, demonstrating strong organizational capabilities.
Now, the Xia thieves are approaching the city, and everything that needs to be done is done. The rest depends on the confrontation between the two sides.
At noon, Princess Liang Zhang Hui took the palace servants and concubines to the top of the city with steamed cakes and distributed them to the soldiers guarding the city.
Zhang Hui had a good reputation in the army. Wherever he went, everyone praised him, and some even cheered.
The earth-shattering sound of horse hooves sounded.
On the distant horizon, knights in brown armor emerged like a tide.
They are all over the roads, meadows, fields and woods, emerging from the horizon one after another like magic tricks.
The banner was raised high, and hundreds of people surrounded a knight in golden armor, charging wildly towards Bianzhou City.
"It's Thief Shao! It must be Thief Shao!"
"Thief Shao is here!"
"Where's the crossbow? Shoot him with a strong crossbow! Shoot him to death!"
Zhang Hui clenched her little fist tightly and looked expectantly at the place where the sound came from, hoping that she could really shoot Shao thief to death and end everything once and for all.
"Shao Thief" didn't give them a chance. He stopped far away, built an awning with his hands, and looked at the city wall carefully. Er, I saw that he seemed to have said something, and after a while, several horses galloped towards the city wall.
A stone's throw away, he shouted loudly: "Where is Zhu Quanzhong? Will he only let women guard the city?"
The knights lining up in the distance burst into overwhelming laughter.
A continuous buzzing sound sounded from the top of the city. The knight was startled, rode away, then turned back and cursed.
Savage! Unruly!
This is Zhang Hui's intuitive feeling. The thief chief Shao Shude must also be a barbaric and rude warrior, just like the Hu chieftains recorded in history books.
Shao Shude rode his horse around the city again and watched. He rode very slowly and carefully observed the city's defense pattern. More than 2,000 soldiers from the bodyguard army followed behind him to prevent the sergeants in the city from rushing out and endangering the commander's safety.
But they were overly concerned. After wandering around for half an hour, the people at the top of the city just let it go and didn't react at all, which showed that they were cowardly to a certain extent.
"Everything outside the city gate is a battlefield. If the thieves are as powerful as this, what worries do they have?" Shao Shude raised his whip and said with a smile: "In the land of the four battles in the Central Plains, the reason why Quanzhong is strong is to draw the fire of war outside and fight against the Song Dynasty.
No harm. We have been at war with me for many years now, and the hinterland is full of wars. The decline is obvious, and it is easy to defeat."
"The king wants to attack the city?" Xie Tong asked with a frown.
"There is not much hope, but we still have to attack. What if we succeed?" Shao Shude turned his horse around and said while jogging: "This battle focuses on siege and reinforcements."
"Where to attack with reinforcements?"
"It depends on who comes to the door." Shao Shude said with a smile: "Quan Zhong will probably return to the north. If his troops are reorganized and there is no gap to exploit, then let him go. But Quanzhong can run away, what about Pang Shigu?"
run?"
Xie Tong thought thoughtfully, King Xia really "cherished his life" in the war, and he must wait until he was absolutely sure before taking action. If there is a 50% winning rate in a war, many generals think it is worthwhile to give it a try, but
King Xia will never take action.
The banner moved to the south again. Some sergeants had already begun to set up camp. The Bian people's city gates were tightly closed, but there was still no movement. They didn't even leave the city to attack the woodcutter sergeants.
"Zhu Quanzhong received the news yesterday, right?" Shao Shude stared at the city head carefully, where a large group of warblers and swallows were walking around, and suddenly laughed: "Quan Zhong has no other skills, but he has a lot of concubines."
Xie Tong filtered out the second half of the sentence in embarrassment and replied: "Yes, I received it late yesterday at the latest. If Quan Zhong goes north, he should first go to Chenzhou and then return to Bianzhou. Your Majesty, there is a waterway here.
Quanzhong's march should be very fast, so don't be careless."
Why do you want to go this way? Because there is a backup waterway to the west of the Bianshui River Road in the country, and there are quite a lot of business travelers, that is, the Yingshui and Caishui systems. Get on the ship in Yingzhou and go directly to Bianzhou via Chenzhou. Even if the ship
If there is not enough, the sergeant cannot take the boat, so he can also put the baggage, food and grass on the boat.
The most important thing that affects the marching speed is the baggage. With this channel, it is not only safe, but also saves a lot of trouble. The food route is safe, not to mention that there is no need to carry much food and grass with the army.
It is very difficult to catch Zhu Quanzhong by disturbing the grain road. Who made the Henan water system extend in all directions? The only one to blame is the imperial court, because the Yingshui and Caishui were dredged at the expense of the imperial court, and Zhu Quanzhong only did some simple maintenance.
Just sit back and enjoy the results.
"Your Majesty, I just received news that Huai general Zhou Ben led thousands of naval forces to cooperate with Zhu Yanshou to attack Shouzhou, but was repulsed. His men had marched westward a few days ago, probably towards Yingkou." Li Zhong
Suddenly came over and reported.
Shao Shude thought for a while, Yang Xingmi, Zhou Ben probably didn't know the news about the Battle of Si River. Zhou Ben's westward march was probably planned. He used the boat division to assist the Liang people. He had helped Shi Shucong before, and this time he was helping Zhu Quanzhong attack Ying.
The state may have also subsidized some food, grass, and equipment.
"Yang Xingmi! Why hasn't Qian Liu settled the states in eastern Zhejiang?" Shao Shude waved his horsewhip vigorously and said, "Don't let me seize the opportunity, or I'll kill them all together."