When Liu Xiang arrived at Yuguan, it was already four days later. He led the cavalry and three thousand Nuo opera actors first. The rest of the infantry of the Chinese army had to hand over the defense with the rear army, and then they rushed to Yuguan to escort the second army.
The second batch of grain, grass and baggage met up with the army in Tuhe County.
90,000 regular soldiers and 50,000 militiamen put a lot of pressure on logistics. He decided to use two routes of transportation, the land route through the Liaoxi Corridor, and the sea transportation from Yunfan Camp to the north along the coastline. He established a transit base on Juhua Island near Jinxi to store supplies.
.
When the army reaches Tuhe County, they will build a water fort at the mouth of Xiaoling River to receive grain, grass and baggage.
Yunfan Camp has been in force for a year. After many expansions, it already has more than 500 large and small ships, including 100 15-foot sea ships, each of which can carry 300 dendrobium, and 200 10-foot sea ships.
Each ship carries two hundred dendrobium of grain, and they are the main force in transporting grain.
The rest of the boats are called dinghy according to the Han Dynasty name. Those made in Han Dynasty with less than 200 dendrobium are called boats.
If the fleet is fully loaded, it can transport 70,000 to 80,000 shi of grain at a time.
For Yunfan Camp to be of this scale, Zhen Yi contributed a lot, especially the 15-foot-long ships. He initially gave Liu Xiang fifty ships, and later purchased another fifty through his connections.
It was a pity that he could not buy a warship. Liu Xiang was so greedy that he drooled at the tall building ship that was more than twenty feet long and ten feet high.
I can only covet it and cannot get it at all.
Not to mention building ships, sterns, and fighting ships, you can only buy civilian ships.
Therefore, Yunfan Camp was a transport fleet. In the past few months, they bought food. They went to Qingzhou and Xuzhou many times and made great achievements. Liu Xiang was rewarded according to his military merit. Although he was not promoted to a military title, he received generous rewards and received good treatment in the army.
Zeng, this time I heard that I was going to fight with the army. Everyone was looking forward to making new achievements and hoping to be rewarded with military titles.
Before Liu Xiang arrived at Yuguan, 10,000 officers and soldiers of the Yunfan Battalion had already set off. They carried construction materials and took more than 10,000 militiamen to Juhua Island to start construction of the camp.
The construction of Yunfan Camp this year can be said to be either a success or a failure.
The success is due to the fact that the fleet has been built up. They spent a lot of money to buy ships in Yangzhou. The largest fleet in Youzhou is Yunfanying, which stretches across the coastal waters of Youzhou and is unrivaled.
However, to dominate the sea in Youzhou, I always feel that it is not up to par.
The failure lies in the inability to build big ships. The shipwrights in Yangzhou employ more than a thousand people. They can repair ships and build light boats. But without master craftsmen and blueprints, they cannot build big ships, let alone warships.
This step was stuck here, and Liu Xiang had no choice.
The construction of the navy cannot be accomplished overnight. When conquering the north, the navy is the icing on the cake, but it will not work in the south. Without the navy, it will be lame.
You can't just build a ship right when you're attacking the south, right? Building a war ship is based on a yearly cycle, so it's simply too late.
Putting aside this troublesome problem, Liu Xiang led the army and walked for eight days before arriving at Tuhe County.
The locust plague has been raging in Liaodong for more than ten days. Everywhere is gray and gray. It may be that it is devastated by the locust scourge. The Anping Army has not been intercepted. It followed the seaside road built by the Liaodong Army last year and walked out of the 400-meter road safely.
Liaoxi Corridor.
It wasn't until the army appeared that the Tuhe County defenders panicked and began to be on guard, and sent a large group of troops to the river bank to garrison, hoping to rely on the Xiaoling River to resist the Anping Army.
Unfortunately, the Yueqi camp had already crossed the Xiaoling River.
Yan Gang and Taishi Ci rode their horses and shouted loudly. They moved forward, shooting from the left to the right, and from the right to the left. They defeated the front line, outflanked the central army, and fought with the defenders on the east bank.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Wang Xing showed off his skills and used his newly invented modified version of the oar car and trench bridge to lead Zuo Jun to build a pontoon bridge between the tea cups.
He is worthy of being a large-scale ordnance enthusiast and the second inventor of the Anping Army.
After the invention of the interconnected oar car camp, it was modified with a large oar that can be easily disassembled and a foldable trench bridge.
Cui Yi loudly praised: "What a good idea!"
Before he finished speaking, he led Xiaoqi across the pontoon bridge and ran straight into the formation of the Tuhe County defenders. Not long after, Zhang He's excited voice came: "Behead one of the enemy generals in formation!"
Oops, Guan Yu, the human-headed monster, actually didn't snatch him away. Zhang Junyi is so awesome, you can brag about this for the rest of your life.
At this time, Liu Xiang had led his right army into the enemy's formation. The left army continued to build a bridge, and the Montenegrin army also rushed to the east bank one after another. After a while, the troops formed a roundabout and outflanked them.
The Tuhe County garrison that left the city was completely wiped out.
More than 10,000 people were surrounded and beaten by 70,000 Anping troops. More than 2,000 people were killed in the battle, and the rest surrendered.
This battle was just outside the west gate of the county town. The defenders in the city closed the door tightly and watched helplessly as their comrades were killed, feeling extremely depressed.
Without the river bank defense line, Tuhe is like a tortoise that has been peeled off its shell. It all depends on Liu Xiang's thoughts.
We learned from the prisoners that there were more than 4,000 defenders left in the city, only 2,000 defenders in Bintu County, thirty miles away, and only 5,000 defenders in Changli County, a hundred miles away.
This was still the long-cherished plan of Gongsun Zan to conquer western Liaoning. The army recruited last year had not been disbanded, otherwise it would be even less. The standing troops of the Liaodong vassal state were only 4,000.
In this battle, half of the troops were wiped out.
The army was ordered to set up camp on both sides of the Xiaoling River, connected by bridges in the middle. This will serve as the main camp of the army and will also facilitate the transportation of supplies by Yunfan Camp in the future.
The Black Mountain Army divided 20,000 men and went south along the river, built a water fortress at the mouth of the sea, and stationed on the spot to receive the arrival of the Yunfan Battalion.
Liu Xiang took Zhao Yun and others to inspect the city, and he has not changed his habit of leading hundreds of cavalry to besiege the city for reconnaissance.
It's better to be cautious.
Like Li Er, he took a few people to visit the city and almost got killed. It was really bad.
Tuhe County is a typical small northern town, with a circumference of a little over five miles and four gates. The west gate is three miles away from the Xiaoling River. Now that the river bank defense line is lost, it is no longer a fear.
Moving according to the weather, following the path built by the enemy, and taking advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness to seize the enemy's important line of defense, he couldn't help but sigh: "It's really like the story of the Golden Bull Road."
Cui Yi didn't understand, scratched his head and asked, "What does it have to do with Taurus when we go to war?"
Liu Xiang explained with a smile: "It's not the Golden Bull, it's the Golden Bull Way. During the Warring States Period, King Qin wanted to conquer the Kingdom of Shu, but the mountains of the Kingdom of Shu were steep and blocked by natural obstacles, making the road difficult to travel.
So I made up a legendary story about a golden bull, saying that it was to be given to the King of Shu. The King of Shu was greedy and ordered people to open a road to bring the golden bull to Shu. As a result, the Qin army followed this road and destroyed the Shu Kingdom."
After he finished speaking, he said with emotion: "At that time and at this moment, the country of Shu, a subordinate country, had good luck."
Cui Yi chuckled and said: "They are all Shu and must be destroyed. The lord is the King of Qin."
Guan Yu had been taken by Cui Yi as a personal soldier. After hearing this, he stroked his beard thoughtfully.
After Zhao Yun heard the story of Jinniu Dao, he thought it was a good fortune, so he said, "My lord, why don't you spread this story? The morale of the generals in the army will be greatly improved after hearing it."
Liu Xiang nodded: "Zilong is smart and has a really good idea. I'll leave this matter to you."
"The general will obey the order."
Cui Yi looked at Zhao Yun in surprise and said jokingly: "I originally thought that Zilong was just like a certain person, a rough man who only knew how to fight. Now I know that Zilong is so smart. It's disrespectful. It's disrespectful."
Zhao Yun quickly waved his hand: "Zi'an, don't make fun of him. Zhao is also a rough guy. How dare you call yourself smart? If you say it out loud, others will laugh at you."
"Much better than XX, XX is illiterate and doesn't understand many principles." Cui Yi smiled mockingly to himself.
Liu Xiang mocked him on the side: "I gave you a book and you didn't read it. How can you learn to read if you don't read the book?"
"It's too difficult, I can't understand it." Cui Yi complained and quickly changed the subject: "Why don't you attack the city, my lord? The power of the narrow victory just now will surely be defeated in one go."
"Don't talk nonsense, how can you attack the city rashly if you don't have enough physical strength? I won't let the army's leader die in vain. Besides, it's not the time to attack the city yet. Tuhe County, what a good bait, we can definitely catch big fish