The battle to encircle and annihilate the Long Sword Army actually lasted from night to dawn.
Tens of thousands of Liang troops collapsed, with heavy casualties. The elite divisions that had once been so majestic in Yun and Yaner Towns and had defeated Wei Bo were buried in the countryside of Changshe County.
More than 4,000 people were beheaded and more than 5,000 people were captured. That was last night's results. Our Feilong Army lost more than 900 soldiers in several battles, the Zhongwu Army lost more than 1,000 soldiers, and the Cavalry Army suffered more than 300 casualties.
As far as the battle loss ratio is concerned, it is actually not very good. Because the Xia army was waiting for work, with a large number of people and a large number of cavalry, and the final battle was like this, it can only be said that the Long Sword Army has indeed been in battle for a long time, has a tenacious will, and
Anxious to go home, he burst out with strong fighting power.
But no matter what, it was a resounding victory after all. Liang Jun once again lost a main force, and its demise was inevitable.
Master Wang Zhong was seriously injured, with blood bleeding from the corner of his mouth. The heavy blow to his vest caused devastating injuries to him. After he fell to the ground, he was trampled by a war horse and was unable to recover.
"Does General Wang have anything else to say?" Shao Shude asked, standing in front of Wang Zhongshi.
Master Wang Zhong tried his best to open his eyes wide and looked at it carefully for a long time. It took him a long time to say two words: "Go home."
"Okay." Shao Shude nodded and said: "I like warriors the most in my life, and I hate that General Wang can't be used by me. Come, go to Changshe to find the Wang clan members and ask them to take General Wang home."
"As ordered." Zhao Yan watched for a long time and was the first to jump out and responded.
He also participated in the battle last night. Under the protection of the Zhongwu Army, he fought a peaceful battle and achieved the feat of killing one Liang soldier.
Zhao Lu was much stronger than him. He fought bravely and was wounded.
Generally speaking, the Zhongwu Army worked very hard yesterday. It may be that they voted for a new owner and were eager to perform and show their value to avoid being the first to eliminate the vassal in the future.
Shao Shude looked at the surrendering troops from a distance again. More than five thousand people sat on the ground, dejected, as if they had no strength to speak.
"Distribute drinking water to them." Shao Shude ordered.
"As ordered." Zhao Lu saw the opportunity and responded loudly regardless of his injuries.
Digesting and reducing troops is a complex systematic project.
You cannot expect the captured Liang people to maintain their previous combat effectiveness in a short period of time. This is impossible because there is still a step to calm down, which takes time.
In the final analysis, wars are about people. Things at the hardware level are easy to solve, but things at the ideological level are not so easy to solve.
At three o'clock in the morning, Shao Shude led his army back to the camp.
The prisoners were escorted back to Xuzhou by the Zhongwu Army, while the Feilong Army and the Cavalry Army rested on the spot.
After months of fighting, the Feilong Army suffered quite a lot of casualties. Initially there were more than 12,000 people, but now there are only more than 8,000, with about 4,000 battle losses.
Shao Shude could hardly find the familiar faces anymore. This unit, which had been conducting raids and operations behind enemy lines all year round, suffered shocking casualties and was replaced very quickly.
"The Feilong Army needs to hold on a little longer." Shao Shude said while eating breakfast: "General Qibi will calm down the soldiers. After the battle, he will retreat with the Chishui Army to replenish."
"General, if you obey your orders, you won't miss important events." Qi Bizhang responded.
"Priority will be given to you to replenish the troops from Dai Siyuan's tribe. From now on, the size of the Feilong Army in the left wing will be limited to 10,000." Shao Shude added.
He knew that Qi Banzhang was path-dependent and wanted to continue to recruit deserters from Liang Jun who were scattered in the countryside. Shao Shude did not intend to give him the power to recruit troops anymore. In the future, the coach of the capital would make the Yamen unified to replenish the troops.
Henan is full of warriors, too many.
The Xuanwu Army led the four prefectures of Bian, Song, Bo, and Ying. It had raised an army of one hundred thousand since the Dali period and fought everywhere. They were seen in Huaixi, Ziqing, and Hebei, fighting for the imperial court.
The three towns of Yun, Yan and Qing, which were split from Ziqing Town, have a total of 100,000.
The four towns of Wuning, Yicheng, Zhongwu and Heyang have a total of more than 100,000.
The Huaixi Army numbered between 50,000 and 60,000 at Li Xilie's time. The number of troops stationed in Dongdu was "6,738," and was later expanded to 2,000.
Shaanxi and Guo army, fifteen thousand people.
During the years of peace, the entire Henan Province maintained an army of 300,000 to 400,000 people. After the Chao Rebellion, each town expanded its army one after another, and the number of soldiers increased greatly. After a long period of fighting, countless soldiers fled and were scattered. Qi Banzhang really wanted to recruit these people.
There are as many as there are.
Qi Banzhang should no longer have the power to recruit troops, and Liang Hanyong's power should be gradually taken back. From now on, the size of the Feilong Army will be controlled at around 20,000, which is enough for a mounted infantry.
During the later reorganization, if the Heijin and Golden Sword armies can catch up, they can expand their armies appropriately and merge some other troops into them, each with a size of about 20,000.
Shao Shude really likes this kind of army. It has the greatest advantage of cavalry, that is, mobility, and has a strong ability to attack and fight. It can create opportunities in local areas to win with more troops and fewer troops. The Tang garrison in Anxi,
As far as the Han soldiers were concerned, they were mainly mounted infantry, which played a very important role. The disadvantage was that the horses were too edible, so fortunately there was no need to give them rewards.
"Your Majesty, the envoy of Wuwei Army and Lu Army came to report that Pang Shigu sent troops to attack the camp last night, but they were repulsed." Li Zhong came over and reported softly.
Shao Shude pondered for a while and said: "We have been fighting all day and night, and the men and horses are exhausted. We will rest for a day today and rush over tomorrow. We must surround and annihilate Pang Shigu."
"Yes." Li Zhong immediately went to deliver the order.
In fact, people can still keep on going, mainly because the horse is dying and needs to rest.
Shao Shude silently calculated the speed of Zhu Quanzhong's army again. He was afraid that he had just arrived at Fugou after defeating Pang Shigu and resting.
Do you have the guts to come here?
****
On the third day of May, it was a bolt from the blue for Zhu Quanzhong, who was marching sluggishly.
Zhang Junlian, the tenth general of the Long Sword Army, led a small number of cavalry to break out of the encirclement at night and ran east to Caishui. After searching along the river, they got rid of the interception of the Dingnan Army's cavalry and rushed into the Liang Army's formation.
When he got off the horse, there were only a dozen or so riders left around him.
"Trash!" Zhu Quanzhong could no longer suppress his anger and drew his sword to kill Zhang Junlian, but luckily he was stopped by both sides.
Xunyou asked carefully about the details of the battle. After listening, he didn't say a word and his face was frighteningly gloomy.
Jingxiang listened silently and sighed softly.
The Long Sword Army is over, the Jian Rui Army is likely to be over, and the Kuang Wei Army will be over in these few days. As for the Youguo Army, it is too far away, and it is impossible to withdraw.
In fact, this outcome is foreseeable. Is the King of Liang really unprepared? No. It's just that I still had a glimmer of hope before, always thinking that they could withdraw, but at the end of the day, the King of Liang personally led an army of 70,000 to march westward to prepare for the defeat.
They relieved the siege, then retreated together, reorganized their troops, and launched another counterattack.
Now that the hope was shattered, what angered King Liang was not the destruction of the Long Sword Army, nor Pang Shigu's disorderly retreat, but more the fear and despair of the future.
Oh, by the way, the 70,000-strong army is only in name, there may not be that many now.
The Xia cavalry harassed them all the way. They were long, straight, majestic, and the three armies could withstand it. However, the temporarily recruited local peasants could not withstand it. In addition to a few people who were attacked and killed by the Xia cavalry on the road, many people also ran away. Every day
As soon as the thieves came, the heroes of the country were easily panicked, and there were so many people who took the opportunity to escape. When they set up camp at night, some people also escaped, forcing the king of Liang to use heavy weapons to kill a wave of people, and then the situation stopped a little.
A trend.
But the number of fugitives has never disappeared. Especially those brave locals who conquered Zibo and Ying, desperately wanted to go home, and did not want to lose their lives in vain.
To be fair, the Xiangyong recruited in the past are still disciplined and willing to fight. But if the current situation is like this, the Xiangyong are not all ignorant. News of defeats spread everywhere, and the military morale is turbulent, so they flee.
The wind is getting stronger and stronger, and thousands of people have been dispersed so far.
In such a situation, let alone rescuing Pang Shigu, it is good to be able to save oneself.
There are only more than 30,000 capable troops. Is it really more than Pang Shigu? Obviously not.
The army soon stopped and rested for an hour.
Zhou Ben, the naval general of the Huai Army, went ashore and saw Zhu Quanzhong from a distance, so he came over.
Zhou Ben had a wide circle of friends and chatted casually with Li Zhen for a few words, and quickly figured out what had happened.
He glanced at Jingxiang, his eyes full of meaning, and Jingxiang shook his head gently.
Zhou Ben did not give up. He only hesitated for a while, then stepped forward and saluted: "See the King of Liang."
"With the help of the general along the way, Xia thieves did not dare to invade. It was a great service." Zhu Quanzhong ordered his soldiers to put the table on the table and make tea.
There were still cavalrymen of the Dingnan Army moving in the distance, but Liang Jun seemed to have long been used to it, letting them have their way. As long as they didn't come close, they generally didn't bother to chase them away.
"Your Majesty, there is something I don't know whether to say or not." Zhou Ben said.
"Tell me, I'm not dead yet." Zhu Quanzhong snorted coldly and said.
"In the past, the Cai thieves attacked Bianzhou, and their troops were approaching Bajiao Town. At that time, the king of Liang could not lead the four states, and the rebel general Xie Yin of Bozhou returned to separatist rule and failed to follow orders." Zhou Ben said: "In such a difficult and dangerous situation,
The King of Liang has resolved everything, so if it’s just a small setback, what’s the point of worrying?”
Zhu Quanzhong sighed: "One moment, another moment. From the perspective of General Zhou, how does Shao Thief compare to Qin Zongquan?"
"Much stronger." Zhou Bencheng said: "The Shao thieves rely on that the dozens of states in Kansai are generally peaceful, the number of households has increased, and the money and food have become abundant, which can support him in successive campaigns without damaging his roots."
Zhu Quanzhong nodded.
Before Xia Jun went east, Zhu Quanzhong realized the shortcomings of the four battle areas in Henan, so he had been consciously burning the flames of war on other people's territory.
Since the suppression of Bianzhou in the third year of Zhonghe, the battles between Huangchao and Qin Zongquan, except for the battle of Weishi (Shangrang) and the battle of Bajiao Town (Qin Zongquan), were fought outside Bianzhou, and the rest of the battles were pushed to the periphery as much as possible, such as Chen, Xu, Cai
and other places. Later wars with Zhu Xuan, Zhu Jin, and Shi Pu also mainly took place in outer towns.
There are wars every year, even more than one war, but the agriculture and mulberry trees in Xuanwu Prefectures have been restored. It must be said that this is the fundamental reason why Liang Jun became stronger and stronger as he fought.
But Shao Shude was even more outrageous than him. After quickly integrating Kansai, he continued to move eastward. In recent years, he has even fought directly in Henan. The fundamental land of Kansai has enjoyed peace for many years.
In addition to consuming a large amount of materials, the greatest damage caused by the war may be the need to recruit concubines and country warriors. After the concubine left home, agricultural production was affected, and the casualties of the country warriors who directly went into battle were also staggering. The losses of these strong civilians are irreparable.
, which is also an important reason why people become poorer and poorer as they fight.
"However, the King of Liang also has the eight states of Bian, Song, Bo, Cao, Dan, Hua, Xu and Su, and has more than 50,000 elite soldiers. Isn't it much stronger than then?" Zhou Ben said eloquently: "Your Highness
There is still a chance, so you must be calm at this time and not throw the army lightly. Shao's thieves have hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and they have tens of thousands of cavalry, and they are fierce. If they fight with them now, it will be more dangerous than good."
At this point, Zhou Ben lowered his voice and said: "If Zhang Zhi, Fei Sheng, and the mighty army were all lost here, would Zhu Zhen of Caozhou still obey the order?"
Jing Xiang and Li Zhen looked at each other. They were not warriors, and they did not have the kind of heroic spirit of throwing everything. What they thought about every day was nothing more than how to survive in the current situation. King Liang once scolded them that they could only investigate.
He fills in the gaps and makes plans, but lacks the courage of a warrior to take a gamble.
Jingxiang admits that this is a flaw in his character. He can only be a counselor and cannot be a good ruler. But the problem is, if you want to bet, Shao Thief has a kind face and a dark heart, and is cunning and never gambles. How can he win the bet?
The two of them may have had thoughts of rescuing Pang Shigu before, but after learning about the latest battle situation, they no longer advised King Liang to do so.
But they didn't dare to get into trouble with Prince Liang at this time, as it might kill someone. Zhou Ben helped them say this, and he suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.
If you are defeated like a mountain, don't bet any more. If you are betting, you might as well bet on the changes in the situation, but don't bet on winning or losing on the battlefield.
The Shao thieves are stationed in Xuzhou with the power of great victory. They hold the wall without fighting, which dampens your spirit. After your initial momentum has passed, will you be able to stop him if you suddenly charge out again?
Moreover, he could also recruit Zhu Zhen, Zhang Tingfan, and even the Bianzhou defenders to surrender. When the two armies were in a stalemate, bad news came one after another, fearing that they would collapse without a fight and the entire army would surrender.
"Your Highness, our Lord will conquer Anzhou in the near future. Please take care of yourself and consider the long term." Zhou Ben persuaded with sincerity.