On Pingyuanjin or on the east bank of Zhanggongdu, people are gathering one after another.
The camp is in a mess, with the structure completely out of order and no rules. If a strong soldier sneak attacks you at this time, the camp will definitely be blown up.
Fortunately, this place is already in Yucheng County, Qizhou, and it is relatively safe. The tense nerves of a group of people were relieved. After two days of slight rectification, officers at all levels were re-appointed, and some miscellaneous equipment was distributed to them.
It was the weapons of Zhu Qiong's tribe in Qizhou that had been captured before, and then they were sent on their way.
On September 16th, more than 7,000 Weibo and Huazhou warriors arrived in Zizhou. Before that, they were given a replacement Double Ninth Festival reward: one person, one coin, and one piece of silk. The quantity was not much, but it was all at present.
In this situation, everyone is still very grateful and morale has been restored.
Li Gongquan was called away early in the morning.
Wang Yanzhang found an open space by the river and carefully washed the horses. He now had two horses. The original one was used to carry luggage, and the new divine war horse was used to ride and charge.
The equipment was also changed, and the daily rations were much larger than others. But no one dared to express dissatisfaction, because those who were not convinced were punished. Moreover, many people in Huazhou rallied around Wang Yanzhang, and some people even called him "jun."
"Envoy", it can be seen that his prestige is not low, so he can't move.
After washing the horses, Wang Yanzhang met an acquaintance. In fact, he was not too familiar with him. He had just met him a few times. Liu Renyu, the former Bianzhou Prefecture Military Academy.
"I thought you, General Wang..." Liu Renyu was a little surprised. He was just escorting grain and grass from the Biankou cabin. He didn't expect to see Wang Yanzhang.
"Isn't there Jishui? How can we transport grain and grass by land?" Wang Yanzhang asked.
"The king of Xia has ordered to build warehouses in the three states of Qi, Di, and Zi to stock up on weapons, grain and grass. Furthermore, so many people have gathered in the Ziqingyan area that Jishui has been extremely busy. The land route has been transshipping, but there are few
Some." Liu Renyu said: "Anyway, it is grain transported from Guanbei. I heard that many ships will sink on the way. If the people of Guanxi are willing to waste, let them waste it. Anyway, Henan is tax-free."
"That section of the Yinsuiyandan river is indeed very dangerous." Wang Yanzhang smiled and said nothing more.
For Chang'an, the Shaanxi-Guo section of the Yellow River is the most dangerous, and then it enters Guanzhong via the Weishui River. The journey is smooth. But if you set sail from Lingzhou and go down from Yinzhou, the river surface suddenly narrows, the flow speed suddenly becomes faster, and the river course is winding.
, the gap is still very large, for example, the section down from the Mengmen stone trough can be called the gate of hell, much more dangerous than the Shaanxi-Guo section.
After passing the Shaanxi-Guo section and entering Henan, the river surface becomes wider and the flow speed slows down. The Yellow River gradually becomes docile and can even be used by large ships. The difficulty of navigation between the two is different.
The land in Henan is more fertile than Guanbei, the population is more than that in Guanbei, more cash crops can be grown, the people are richer, and the water system extends in all directions. Even shipping on the Yellow River is many times easier than yours. This is really infuriating.
.
"Did General Wang defect to King Xia?" Liu Renyu asked.
"I voted for the King of Xia..." Wang Yanzhang smiled bitterly and said, "I voted for Li Gongquan. It seems that Li Gongquan voted for the King of Xia, so that's it."
"What's so good about Li Gongquan? He's just a bereaved dog." Liu Renyu said disdainfully: "You might as well go directly to the King of Xia. Go find Xiao Fu and Xie Yanzhang. Aren't you on good terms with them? Go and find him alone, rather than working under Li Gongquan.
It's a good fight."
"Won't Li Gongquan's tribe also be organized into an army? What's the difference?" Wang Yanzhang asked.
"The difference? The difference is huge." Liu Renyu said with a smile: "Thousands of warriors under Li Gongquan may be sent to attack the city soon. Do you think there is any difference? In the past few months, those miscellaneous soldiers attacking the city have
I have seen many soldiers going forward, and there is no one who is not miserable. Some are missing arms and legs after falling from the top of the city, some are screaming miserably with burns all over their bodies, and some have more than a dozen arrows picked out from their bodies, there are too many
Number. Do you want to attack the city?"
Wang Yanzhang fell silent.
Fighting with the enemy in the field, he was not afraid at all, and was even confident. But attacking a city - forget it, that is not what humans should do. No matter how brave you are, you will end up in the same end.
"Zizhou has been under siege for so long and has not been broken yet?" Wang Yanzhang suddenly asked: "Is the defender at the end of its war effort?"
"Guard General Liu Wei is quite capable. He stocked up a lot of supplies in advance and recruited a lot of local soldiers. He can also fight, and he can win over people's hearts and boost morale. It's hard to say what the garrison in the city is like, but you can't help it.
Send people to keep an eye on you. As soon as you leave, he will go out of the city to fill in the trenches and cut off your retreat. It is always a troublesome thing." Liu Renyu said: "But when I heard that Bochang City had been breached, they surrounded it for more than a month. The defenders
Seeing that the camp on the north bank of Jishui was broken down and flames shot into the sky, the reinforcements from Qingzhou were repelled and could not get close, so they broke out of the city and were wiped out."
"There is also Qiancheng County, which is even more outrageous." Liu Renyu said with a smile: "Ya Nei Army and Dizhou Army attacked the city. There were too many people and the city wall collapsed."
This is the consequence of not repairing the city wall. In history, when the Khitans besieged Yuzhou, there were too many people crowding up and down the city, which directly collapsed the city wall, leaving people speechless.
Wang Yanzhang laughed when he heard this. The Pinglu Army was famous as the most powerful vassal in the world at that time, with more than ten Lianzhou, a household registration in the millions, no less than 100,000 men in armor, and a large group of well-trained cavalry.
The towns in Hebei are much more arrogant. How come they are like this now?
"If you have a chance, go to Xie Yanzhang and ask him to introduce you to Hu Zhen and Ge Congzhou. Especially Hu Zhen, who is a popular person in front of King Xia, with beautiful concubines, wealth, and mansions. He is constantly rewarded and is highly trusted." Liu
Renyu said.
"No. Since I have voted for Li Gongquan, why should I abandon him? Just die, it's all fate. This is how it will be in this life." Wang Yanzhang shook his head.
"You are really stupid." Liu Renyu sighed, not knowing what to say.
"Beat the drums and gather the troops!" a noisy shout rang out in the distance.
After a while, the rumble of drums sounded, which was the signal for the troops to assemble.
"I just came here and I'm about to attack the city. Alas." Liu Renyu didn't expect Li Tangbin to be so ruthless and looked at Wang Yanzhang helplessly.
Wang Yanzhang bowed and left in a hurry.
Liu Renyu watched intently for a long time, until his men came to urge him, and then he continued on his way to the newly conquered Bochang and Qiancheng counties.
****
"Wang Shuai, I have also lived in Qingzhou for a long time. Have you made a decision about moving the town?" Li Shouxin asked with a smile inside the palace of Wang Shifan in Qingzhou.
He is the son of Li Hang. He served as a warrior and a county magistrate. In the end, he inherited his father's legacy and took up the job of an envoy.
It is true that he has been in Qingzhou for a long time. Wang Shifan only met him once at the beginning, and nothing was discussed. Later, he has been living in Guanyi, seeing and missing, leaving and not letting him go, which is like house arrest. Today Wang Shifan
It was the first time in more than ten days that he was called into the mansion for questioning.
"Why are you so anxious, messenger?" Wang Shifan squeezed out a smile and said: "Moving the town is a very important matter and involves many things. How can we make a hasty decision? How to arrange the more than 100,000 warriors in Ziqing is a big trouble. How many people are there in this world?
Are people willing to leave their homes thousands of miles away to seek a life in the hot places of the south?”
"Commander Wang, the situation waits for no one." Li Shouxin said: "Your army has suffered repeated defeats and its morale is low. Now it can only be trapped in the walled city. Sooner or later it will not be able to hold on. Why bother? Maybe Zhu Jin led his army.
Yes, he does go out of Yanzhou often now, but since the defeat of Laiwu Valley, this road has been blocked. Yizhou has surrendered, Mizhou can be captured in a few days, and Zhu Jin can't come to Qingzhou."
From Yanzhou to Qingzhou, there are generally only three roads due to the obstacles of mountains and rivers.
The most convenient way is to take the Laiwu Valley, which leads directly to Zizhou and the south of Qingzhou. However, the terrain in the valley is complex and there are many places for ambush. Whether it is the Xia Army or the Yan Army, the risk of taking this route is very high. The Xia Army is here
After suffering losses and losing many men and horses, Zhu Jin also suffered a major defeat and did not dare to go from here again, so this was a dead end - Huang Chao died in a place called Langhu Valley in the Laiwu Valley Road.
The second way is to detour through Yizhou and take the route Liu Yu used to attack Guanggu (Yidu). But Yizhou has surrendered. Although the countryside is very desolate and it is impossible to send people to watch at any time, how can Zhu Jin do it?
Don't you think about the way back?
The third option is to go north to Yunzhou, pass through Qi and Zizhou and reach Qingzhou, but this will inevitably conflict with Hu Zhen and Ge Congzhou's group, and it is impossible.
The continuous mountains, dominated by Mount Tai, determine that the Shandong battlefield is such a broken situation. Qingzhou has actually been isolated. After Yizhou was captured, Yanzhou was actually isolated. It is possible for Zhu Jin to escape with his people.
, but it’s just a “one-way ticket”. Once you leave, you can’t come back.
"Isn't the envoy exaggerating?" Wang Shifan's brother Wang Shiyue said: "Yang Xingmi in Huainan has many soldiers and horses, and Wang Maozhang has more than ten thousand. They are stationed in Haizhou. They are the horns of each other with Zhang Tingfan in Xuzhou and can go north at any time. Your army
Xu Su summoned his envoys, Feng Yin, and sent troops to the West River, and under the fortified city of the East River, the Bo and Ying states were also extremely empty. The Huai people came from time to time to plunder, so that people were panicked and the people lost their crops.
When a large army comes, relying on Wuxing, the more than 10,000 soldiers and horses of the Guzhen Second Army cannot stop it. Once the southern front collapses, the hinterland of Xuanwu will be opened, and the siege of Qingzhou will be solved by itself."
"General Wang Haojiao knows." Li Shouxin twirled his beard and said with a smile: "Tang Shuai Gong Zhe has ordered more than 100,000 troops to march eastward, and the Huai people have too much time to take care of themselves. In a few months, maybe all the hinterland of Xingmi will be mine.
The Huai soldiers from the three states of Xu, Hai, and Si have been taken, one by one, so don't go back."
Yang Xingmi still valued these prefectures of Henan Province. The Xu region had a strong martial arts style and had produced troops with extremely strong fighting capabilities such as silver swords, door guns, and carved flags. They are now an important source of troops for the Huai Army. Guangling is Yang Xingmi's natural choice.
, was once massacred by Sun Ru, and now a large number of Xuzhou sergeant's families have moved in. This shows that the Xuzhou dialect can be spoken almost unimpeded in the local area.
The reason why Xu, Hai, and Sizhou are mentioned is because these places are on the north bank of the Huaihe River. Yang Xingmi's navy cannot sail to the shore to help them fight, so they can only transport grain, grass, and equipment - Huaihe River and the southern part of Henan Province
The Ru River, Wo River, Huan River, etc. do not freeze in winter and are open to navigation all year round. In terms of transportation alone, their role is still great.
Wang Shiyue sneered, seemingly not believing it at all. As for what he was thinking in his heart, outsiders had no way of knowing.
Wang Shifan didn't say anything after hearing this, as if he was deep in thought.
Li Shouxin glanced at them and knew that the two brothers had not given up yet, and did not know what to place their hopes on. Could it be that Pinghai, who Zhu Quanzhong was training, united the two armies with more than 20,000 cavalry? According to the information obtained, a total of 20,000
There are 4,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry, among which there are only more than 5,000 veterans. They have only been trained for more than seven months. What can they do?
Li Shouxin decided to suggest that after Li Dutou captured Mizhou, he immediately dispatched troops and horses east to Denglai to severely attack this army and make Wang Shifan completely give up.