On the ninth day of the second lunar month in the fifth year of Qianning, the sound of killing outside Pingyin County was loud, and the offensive was like a wave.
Wang Shike's troops were unprecedentedly powerful: there were more than 15,000 Ziqing Yamen, Waizhen, and Zhizhou soldiers, including 12,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry.
There are also three thousand Tibetan soldiers, Tuoba Renfu's cavalry, but they are not all Tibetan soldiers. In recent years, a large number of Ziqing natives have been recruited into the army, and the personnel structure has undergone great changes.
There are also more than 10,000 Tuan villagers mobilized in Ziqing Town.
In Qizhou, the governor Zhu Qiong has eight thousand soldiers, and there are more than ten thousand Tutuan countrymen, with a total force of twenty thousand.
The two sides combined have 50,000 troops and about 8,000 cavalry, which is quite a huge force.
Of course, those were pre-war numbers.
After several field battles and walled city attacks and defenses, the Qi people lost thousands of people, and now only had more than 43,000 people.
Zhu Xuan couldn't survive in Yunzhou anymore, and he recently ran back in despair.
In this world, strength is ultimately judged. Without strength, you will not have the confidence to speak, and you will be looked down upon by others and be manipulated by others.
No, Zhu Xuan had just returned from the charge, his robes stained with blood and his face ugly.
The old capital brought back from Qingzhou has lost another batch. After careful calculation, the loss has been more than half. Look at the more than two thousand soldiers arrayed in the distance, both Yun people and Qi people, but alas, the new army has arrived The sergeant really can't compare with his old brother.
"Commander!" Zhu Yu and Zhu Han came over to greet him.
Zhu Xuan handed over the horse to his soldiers. Under the saddle hung a bunch of heads, all of which were the Pu soldiers that Zhu Xuan had just killed.
The Pu people, many of whom guarded Pingyin, were beaten so hard that they hardly dared to take the lead. They only occasionally went out of the city to charge for a while, but they were quickly defeated.
According to the information received, the morale of the Pu people in the city was low, and some people were trying to kill Mabudu Yuhou in the river and hide it, and then return to Puzhou.
Zhu Xuan was not surprised by the clamor to kill generals.
Soldiers and horses in vassal towns who are on expeditions will encounter this problem to a greater or lesser extent, and this is not uncommon in the country. The soldiers take action as soon as their minds are hot. Even if they regret it after taking action, it is too late.
Just this "return to Puzhou" is a bit whimsical, but "failure to return to Puzhou" is more or less the same.
"Zhu Qiong is nothing." Zhu Xuan whispered through gritted teeth.
Zhu Yu and Zhu Han were also a little aggrieved.
Isn't it? Zhu Qiong, the governor of Qizhou, deliberately curry favor with Wang Shike and suppressed Zhu Xuan openly and secretly. He even deliberately sent out the people he had worked so hard to recruit to consume him.
How could Zhu Xuan not understand Zhu Qiong's thoughts? Seeing that Yuncheng was destroyed and there was no hope of recovery, he had the idea of seeking refuge with Wang Shifan. Anyway, Qizhou originally belonged to Ziqing Town, so it was natural for him to join him. Moreover, He is now worried that his position as governor of Qizhou will be robbed, so he uses any small means, which is very shameless.
But whether he is ungrateful or ungrateful, the balance of strength between the two sides has undergone profound changes. Zhu Xuan is actually helpless against Zhu Qiong.
"Commander, why don't we run?" Zhu Yu suggested.
"Run? Where to go?" Zhu Xuan shook his head and said: "There is no place to go. Bear with it for now, and wait for the opportunity to recruit more young men to join the army and save more capital. Xia Ren is about to lose it.
If Pingyin is defeated again and Pingyin cannot defend it, then the army will march straight into Yunzhou, and there may be a chance."
The chances are definitely slim.
Wang Shike is working so hard now, fighting Pu Bing and Xu Bing regardless of casualties, what is he trying to do? Maybe he wants to swallow Yunzhou together.
Zhu Xuan also wanted to regain his identity as the Jiedushi of the Tianping Army, but he could only appear in his dreams.
But until hope is completely shattered, Zhu Xuan will work hard for it and will not give up.
The drums and horns sounded again.
The three Zhu brothers looked together and saw a new round of offensive starting again.
This time there were many Yunzhou masters who were forcibly recruited. They were forced forward by the Qi army's bows and arrows from the rear, and then were shot to death by the Xia army's bows and arrows in the front. After their lives were exhausted and the arrows were exhausted, a large-scale attack resumed.
Initiate.
Qi people and Xia people will always die.
****
General Tu has left Wushui County.
Kang Yanxiao was appointed as the capital commander and led the sudden generals, Yameni and more than 20,000 Tianxing troops who came across the river to advance towards Bozhou.
The army was well-equipped, well-trained, and had high morale. When the people of Wei heard about it, they were greatly frightened.
Shao Shude also left Wushui County.
The two infantry troops on the left wing of the Tielin Army commanded 4,000 people, the six cavalry troops commanded 3,000 people, the Dingnan Army commanded 9,000 cavalry, and the Yin'an Army had hundreds of cavalry, totaling more than 16,000 people, with tens of thousands of horses.
The horse is heading eastward like the wind.
On the ninth day of the lunar month, the army passed by Bozhou.
At that time, various reinforcements from Wei and Bo were gathered in Bozhou one after another. Three hundred cavalrymen who came south from Beizhou were surrounded in the wilderness before they could enter the city and disappeared without a trace.
On the tenth day of the lunar month, it reaches the Tang Dynasty.
Gaotang Ling personally led 300 county soldiers and a thousand native regiments to the west, intending to meet up in Bozhou. On the way, they were overwhelmed by cavalry, so Gao Tang Ling escaped alone and fled back to the city.
But just when he had spent all his wealth, recruited sergeants, and planned to fight the enemy to the end, the overwhelming cavalry left Gaotang County and disappeared behind the woods to the east.
This is to go to the ferry!
Gao Tangling understood it all at once, and was a little speechless at the same time. Being bumped into by someone in the middle of the road was really an unforeseen disaster.
The people at the ferry were shouting and shouting, and there was great confusion.
Dozens of Wei soldiers fell on their backs in a pool of blood. Under the surprise attack, they barely had time to react before being wiped out by the overwhelming arrows.
The floating bridge is very narrow, and the passage efficiency of people and horses is very low.
Shao Shude sat under the stone pavilion next to the ferry, quietly waiting for the news.
From his position, he could already faintly hear the sounds of fighting on the other side of the river. Yin'anzhi's deputy general Zhang Wen personally led 500 people to dismount, rushed straight along the pontoon bridge, and fought with the defenders.
"Your Majesty, the thieves have been defeated." Yin'anzhi's deputy envoy Yang Hongyin came over excitedly and reported.
Shao Shude looked at the sky and immediately said: "Let's go, set off immediately!"
Although the river has not completely thawed, the river surface is no longer safe and it is impossible for you to cross the river on the ice. Then, the choice of marching route is very limited, and the ferry and pontoon bridge have become a must-win.
Fortunately, coming all the way from Wushui County, their movements were very fast and unexpected, and the ferry was easily captured, and now they can cross the river in large numbers.
Shao Shude crossed the river in the afternoon. At that time, many people had gathered on the other side of the river. Wei Boqiu and Fu Yanchao came to say goodbye together.
They will lead the 9,000 horsemen of the martyred army southward, march to a predetermined place and ambush them.
As for why they were not allowed to rush directly to the vicinity of the Pingyin battlefield and replicate the results of the Battle of Sishui that defeated Ge Congzhou, the reason was also very simple: the possibility of success was too low.
The combat effectiveness of the Dingnan Army is too low, and the cavalry may not be able to beat the Qi people in a head-on charge. And the Qi people have quite a lot of cavalry, eight thousand, and they want to use their cavalry to surprise you.
After the Dingnan Army left, Shao Shude led more than 7,000 cavalry to Lisuo Licheng County in Qizhou to try his luck.
If the prefecture city cannot be captured, then the surrounding counties will be swept away, raising food and grass while creating a big disturbance and mobilizing the enemy.
In addition, the Feilong Army's Qibi Zhang Department has not yet been contacted. If possible, they will be transferred to the northern front. But how they come is also a problem. Now the Ziqing Cavalry is very tight, and the efficiency of the Feilong Army in raising food and grass has been greatly reduced.
I have already gone to the area of Michigan to eat.
"Your Majesty, the messenger has returned." Yang Hongyin reported.
"Okay, let General Tu speed up. It depends on them whether they can win a big victory this time." Shao Shude said happily.
The infantry group composed of Tujiang, Yanei, and Tianxing had already passed Bozhou. The Wei people basically watched the whole process without making any obstruction. Perhaps in the eyes of the Wei people, it was a great thing that these plague gods could take the initiative to leave.
Shao Shude didn't know what Qi Ren was thinking.
Perhaps they thought that the Yellow River was gradually thawing. Bozhou and Dezhou on the north bank of the river were all vassal states of Hebei's old vassal towns, so there would be no problems. On the south side, there were rolling mountains, making it difficult to march, and people had already been sent to keep an eye on it. Therefore,
, they can deploy the main force to move westward and clear this road first.
It was right to think so. But when they met Shao Shude, a severe cancer patient, and Wei Bowufu was more cowardly than they thought, problems arose.
Thousands of riders roared out of the ferry, crossed the creek, crossed the farmland, and headed towards Licheng.
There was actually a city near the ferry, namely Yucheng County, but Shao Shude was not interested in visiting it.
Most of Zhu Qiong's troops are in the Pingyin area. In this case, let's go and dig out his hometown, Licheng. It doesn't matter if it doesn't work, just find another place to stay. Most of the six counties in Qizhou are empty.
.
The sky was getting a little gloomy, and thousands of horseback riders were galloping in the wilderness. They wanted to seize the last ray of light before dark and rush on their way.