Chapter 613: How about attacking the Khitans first?
There was only one reason why Zhang Gao came to Yecheng in person after he had already sent He Fujin to assist Yan Jin in guarding Yecheng.
That's when he suddenly discovered that he had committed a taboo among military strategists.
Zhang Yan is currently stationed in Xiangzhou, which is only fifty or sixty miles away from Yecheng in the north. In fact, two command systems of the Zhou army have been formed, and there are many overlaps.
For example, he sent Huang Yingda to reinforce Zhang Zhaojun. This was Zhang Gao's decision, but Yan Jin didn't know it.
If Huang Yingda goes and Zhang Zhaojun has been ordered to retreat by Yan Jin, then he will be cheating himself.
So Zhang Yan decided to go to Yecheng in person to unify the command system before making any plans. Moreover, he also needed to listen to Yan Jin's opinion.
At the end of April, Zhang Zhang personally led a thousand Hanshandu horse infantry troops, and led the six minions of Zhang Zhaojie (Dunzhu), Zhang Zhaojie (Qiongre Duojin), Zhang Zhaozhong (Manxiong), Fanshun, Wang Tongtong, and Zhang Cheng. Under escort, we arrived at the front line of Yecheng.
At this time, Zhang Zhou's main force of more than 80,000 and 40,000 troops were in Xiangzhou and the south, controlled by Fan Quan, Feng Hui, and Shanzhu'er Luo Shande, who had rushed back from Xuzhou.
Thirty thousand people are on the front line of Yecheng, and more than 10,000 people are deployed in the area from Weizhou to Bozhou.
The reason for this division is entirely due to logistical support capabilities.
Since the three floods, droughts and locust plagues four years ago, to the subsequent war between Shanxi and Liao Dynasty and Yelv Deguang's entry into Tokyo, the population of the entire Hebei area has been depleted.
There are only 20,000 households in the three states of Xiang, Wei, and Bo, and there are more than 100,000 people, which is simply unable to provide supplies for the large army.
All grain, grass, and baggage had to be transported from Henan. If Zhang Gao brought all the troops to one place, plus hundreds of thousands of civilians transporting them, the logistical supplies alone would be disastrous.
Therefore, Zhang Zhang could only place his command tent in Xiangzhou at first, and move his armies closer to the Yellow River in order to reduce the logistical pressure.
In fact, ancient wars were, to a large extent, limited by logistics.
Many times in ancient battles, we saw large armies attacking in a concentrated manner like fierce tigers, but in the end they became dispersed and combined attacks, which was a helpless choice limited by logistics and terrain.
Zhang Yan arrived at Yecheng secretly, and as soon as he arrived, he summoned all the officers above Yuhou to start a military meeting.
Only then did he realize that sending Huang Yingda to support Zhang Zhaojun (Ma Shacai) had caused a negative chain reaction.
Seeing Yan Jin's somewhat embarrassed expression, Zhang Hao waved his hand with a smile.
"You can say whatever you want. I'm not a god, so I can't have a perfect plan. Just tell me what will happen if Huang Yingda goes to reinforce me."
Zhang Yan's smile gave Yan Jin great encouragement. He stepped forward with relief, pointed at the map and said.
"As soon as Huang Yingda's 1,500 Uighurs arrived, Duke Zhangye had 3,500 horsemen, plus the 1,500 men from Li Rong's army who were besieged, there were 5,000 men in total.
Among these five thousand people, the saint Hexi Xiaorui alone accounted for more than three thousand. If that person was Guo Wei, he would have definitely flown down the Zhang River by now.
These three thousand saints will definitely not give up. If they are trapped, we must go to relieve the siege. Liu Zhiyuan can lead the elite Hedong Army to attack Beizhou first."
Zhang Hao nodded. His most elite Hexi team consisted of five guards of the pro-army and seven towns of the forbidden army. Their number was only thirty-six thousand.
Let alone 3,000 people trapped, even if 300 people are trapped, they still have to find a way to rescue them.
"How big can Zhangshui be? Will Zhang Zhaojun, Huang Yingda and others have any accidents?" Zhang Gao put away his smile and asked Yan Jin.
Yan Jin shook his head, "No, outside the valley mouth, the terrain is flat and the river is wide. Even if Guo Wei blocks the Zhang River, it will form a flooded area of more than ten miles in radius at most, and the water depth will definitely not be deeper than the knee.
Besides, the Duke of Zhangye is your Majesty’s brave general, and he always knows his troops well. He will definitely camp at a high place to avoid being hit by the Zhang River.”
Zhang Hao quietly breathed a sigh of relief and walked around twice, "According to the frontline battle report, Guo Wei's generation in Fuyang only has more than 30,000 people. Didn't he think that my army might have arrived? How dare he set up a battle array with me?"
"
"I think it's not that Guo Wei didn't understand that our army had arrived, but that he felt that after the flood, the land was soft and the horses couldn't move fast, and our army lost one of its gains.
Secondly, our army has many soldiers. After flooding, not only will it be difficult for the horses to move, but the burden on the soldiers will also become heavier. Guo Wei's troops mostly wear medium to light armor, which gives them an advantage in action.
In addition, once the road is blocked by water, it will be very inconvenient to transport food and grass, and we will certainly not be able to send too many soldiers to relieve the siege.
As long as Guo Wei lets people defend Fuyang and sends more than 20,000 people to the mouth of the valley, he can deal with me."
Zhao Yanjin had obviously studied it before, so he talked eloquently to Zhang Yan.
"Damn it! This Guo Que'er thinks he is the best in the world! He's a dog, I have to beat his brains out!"
Wang Tongtong, who was next to Zhang Gao, immediately became popular. Looking at it this way, Guo Wei was indeed a bit too much.
He wanted to use the Zhang River to retaliate, so that the Zhou army would lose its mobility advantage, and he would gain the maneuver advantage. With 30,000 troops, he could trap 70,000 to 80,000 Zhou troops on both sides of the Zhang River.
As soon as Wang Tongtong started to curse, all the generals in the room began to curse loudly. Murong Yanzhao stepped forward and said to Zhang Hao.
"Sage, it seems that the Hedong Army thinks that our great Zhou Tianbing relies on the sharpness of the cavalry. I invite you to be the vanguard and go into battle with light armor to defeat Guo Que'er. Let the Hedong thieves see that our army is also the best in the world in infantry combat."
Zhang Hao also smiled coldly. The Hexi cavalry was sharp and it really gave the people of the world a stereotype, that is, the Zhou army mostly relied on cavalry to conquer the world.
But in fact, Zhang Hao started his career by relying on infantry. At the beginning, almost all of Hanshan were infantry.
At that time, except for Bai Congxin and Ma Shacai, Zhang Gao did not have many cavalry talents.
The cavalry of Shandu was surrendered to Li Ruotai, the elder brother of his aunt, and after Cao Yuanxin sent Hu Ci Le and Hu Guang and his son to give him hundreds of Yue cavalry, Zhang Yan gradually began to have cavalry.
It really started to become strong after Zhang Yan received the gift from Li Shengtian, and collected a large number of Bashmi, Ogus, Uighur and other cavalry, returned to Liangzhou and took over the Liangzhou Liugu Tribe and the Shandong Tribe.
Already.
"Okay! Let's go meet Guo Que'er for a while and let him know how powerful you are in foot combat."
After preliminary discussions on the plan, the generals below the commander went out one after another. The only ones left were the truly trusted generals. Zhang Gao wanted to discuss the specific details with them and how many troops could be sent.
Moreover, Zhang Yan saw that Murong Nobunaga looked like he had something to say just now, and wanted to hear his opinion.
Sure enough, as soon as everyone sat down and Zhang Gao ordered the entire meal, Murong Nobunaga spoke.
"Sage, I feel that there is no need for us to send out the entire army to deal with Guo Que'er, because the Duke of Zhangye and others who are besieged this time are not incapable of fighting back.
Even if the entire Hedong Army in Fuyang is mobilized, they will still be able to fight their way out of the siege, not to mention that we can still support them. If our entire army goes to fight such a bad battle, that is what Guo Wei wants to see most."
Zhang Yan was silent for a while after listening. He also felt that he seemed to have been a little over the top just now, and was irritated by Guo Wei's attitude of belittling the ability of his troops to fight on foot.
"Then where do I think we should direct our main force?" Zhang Yan took Murong Nobunaga's hand and walked to the map again, and a group of confidant generals also gathered around.
Murong Nobunaga's hand drew a circle in Shenzhou, Yingzhou and other places north of Beizhou.
"Liu Zhiyuan's Hedong Army spent all its resources but could only recruit about 60,000 people, of which Guo Wei of Fuyang had at least 30,000.
Although in the past year, Guo Wei recruited many Hebei bandits and former Hebei Zhenya soldiers scattered throughout Fuyang, the Hedong Army among them was at least 15,000 to 20,000.
Therefore, the Hedong Army in Liu Zhiyuan's hands is only 40,000 to 45,000 at most.
The Fu Pingzhang family has been in the Wei, Bo, and Bei areas for a long time. Although the Khitans suffered considerable losses when they went south, they can still gather four to six thousand troops and horses, and thousands more men can be mobilized in Beizhou City.
With only more than 40,000 men, Liu Zhiyuan would not be able to capture Beizhou in a short period of time, even if he forced him to surrender, he would not be able to do so.
Therefore, I believe that the Khitan soldiers and horses that have been assembled and trained in Youzhou will also go to Beizhou to join Liu Zhiyuan.
Only the Khitan could bring 40,000 to 50,000 troops. Only after the two sides gathered an army of nearly 100,000 troops could they possibly capture Beizhou in a short period of time.
There is no need to even defeat him. Although Fu Pingzhang is interested in the imperial court, the Fu family is a large family. Since Emperor Wu of the later dynasties, it has been the family of Wu Xun. It is so intricate that even Fu Pingzhang cannot fully control the overall situation.
I even suspect that some of the defenders in Xiangzhou City have already contacted Liu Zhiyuan."
Yan Jin, Zhang Zhaojie, Fan Shun and others looked at each other, and only Murong Nobunaga could say this.
Everyone has seen how favored Fu Yanqing's eldest daughter Fu Ying'er has been since she entered the palace.
Murong Nobunaga's words are equivalent to saying that even though Fu Yanqing sent all his daughters to the palace, it does not mean that Fu Yanqing and his family are 100% loyal to Zhang Yan.
Once Liu Zhiyuan puts too much pressure on him, the Fu family may coerce Fu Yanqing into seeking refuge with Liu Zhiyuan.
Zhang Hao's heart skipped a beat. This possibility cannot be said to be very big, but it cannot be said to be impossible.
Moreover, the basis for all his current judgments is based on the impression Fu Yanqing gave him in history.
But this impression, because Fu Yanqing had three daughters and three concubines, is very likely to be praised by Yimei and Chunqiu in the history books.
I think in history, after Zhao Da usurped the throne of Fu Yanqing's grandson Guo Zongxun, he must have given him a lot of benefits, not to mention that Zhao Da's younger brother Che Shen was also Fu Yanqing's son-in-law.
The culture of the Song Dynasty was at its peak, and the writing skills of the Spring and Autumn Period were superb. For example, when Ouyang Xiu compiled the New History of the Five Dynasties, he directly destroyed all the records of the previous dynasties that were not to his liking and then wrote it as a family story. It was Zhu Wen's daughter-in-law who took turns to sleep with him.
The actual situation is different.
You must be on guard!
Thinking of this, Zhang Hao took a deep breath and asked Murong Nobunaga again.
"Then do you think we should go north to Beizhou to rescue Fu Yanqing?"
Murong Nobunaga slowly shook his head and raised his voice and said: "How about saving Beizhou directly? How about going straight through Jizhou and going to the Hutuo River to attack the Khitan army.
They were so frightened that they were killed by the Lord last time. If they are suddenly attacked by my cavalry when they go south, the whole army will be completely defeated.
After killing the Khitans, what use are Liu Zhiyuan’s tens of thousands of Hedong infantry?”
Murong Nobunaga's eyes shone with a fiery light. This kind of surprising fighting method was Murong Nobunaga's favorite.
Bai Congxin also followed up, raised his hands and said to Zhang Yan: "The Qinghai public is right. As long as we cut off the Khitan, Liu Zhiyuan's most important foreign aid, and then return to attack the Hedong Army besieging Beizhou, wouldn't it be easy?
Rather than relying on Fu Pingzhang to defend Beizhou, we should do it ourselves!"
Well! Sure enough, there are all kinds of factions in the party, so all Bai Congxin has to do is make it clear that the one he, Zhang Shengren, can trust the most is the Hexi Army.
It seems that the entry of Fu Yanqing, Gao Xingzhou and others, especially Fu Ying'er and Gao Eniang, put a certain amount of pressure on the Hexi Wuxun Sect.
Hmm! Pretty good. This proves that Zhang Yanafu, a sophomore girl in high school, made the right move.
Zhang Zhi could rely mainly on the Hexi faction, but it was impossible to rely entirely on the Hexi faction.
But for now! Zhang Yan decided to agree to Murong Nobunaga’s combat plan, because this plan is very implementable!
Liu Zhiyuan was finished after killing the Khitan cavalry who was still in fear.