Chapter 705 Making an attack in the east and attacking in the west
I thought it would be extremely difficult and there would most likely be several fierce battles, but who would have thought that Da Xi's cognition was successfully overturned.
One month ago, Li Chengzhi decided to counterattack. He sent Li Feng to Yanhu to attack Woye. He then ordered Li Zhang and Li Yongshou to stop Rouran.
At that time, Daxi had already planned to go south from the Wei River.
Most of the people in the south are proficient in water, and they have practiced in the Yellow River for more than half a year, so they are very proficient. What's more, the ship they are driving this time is not a warship, but only has a load-bearing capacity of fifty or sixty materials (one material, one stone, about one hundred and twenty kilograms)
)'s paddlewheel is even more comfortable.
In order to avoid alarming the enemy, Da Xi sneaked into Longshan carefully and explored along the Wei River. When they reached Chencang, they found out that all the officers and soldiers in Heguan had already withdrawn. Only hundreds of defenders remained in Nanguan near Qinlu at the southern end of Chencang Road.
Prevent the invasion from the south and the north.
And just in case, the pontoons connecting the two sides of the Weishui River were also demolished, and all the people's boats were confiscated.
Without the bridge, the mountain people in the Qinling Mountains and the fishermen on the banks of the Weishui River were unable to send mountain game, fish and shrimp to Chencang County to exchange for food. They had no choice but to move to the county town or be recruited by Cui Yanbo to serve on Longguan Road.
Build cities and dams to earn some food for survival.
At this point, both sides of the Weishui River were deserted, except for the Beicheng, about thirty miles away on the north bank, where nearly a thousand soldiers were stationed, but they were only defending the Longshan Trail, not the Weishui River.
Da Xi was overjoyed and immediately ordered the navy to test the water with a paddle wheel.
Longshan Mountain is steep and the water in the river section of the mountain is turbulent. Even if the paddle wheel reverses, it can offset part of the momentum, but it is still dangerous.
However, Da Xi just explored along the river and came up with a solution: wherever the river is steep and the water flow is fast, iron ropes should be blocked, and empty boats should be placed in front of the ropes.
When there are more empty boats blocked in the river, the water level will naturally rise, and the flow speed upstream will naturally slow down. In this way, it took a full twenty days and dozens of empty boats to be scrapped before the river could be smoothed out.
In fact, this method is not surprising. Whenever the Yuan and Wei Dynasties marched south, they had to cross the Huaihe River. If they encountered turbulent areas, they would use this method to block the water and cross the river.
In this way, on the second day after Li Chengzhi dispatched troops from Qingshui Pass and marched towards Xiaoguan and Longguan, Daxi's Thousand Paddle Wheel had already been launched from the Mingshui River Bend, about sixty miles southwest of Bailitan.
Before dawn the next day, two infantry and two artillery battalions had already moved down the river and reached Chencang Shoal.
Having discovered that Chencang Pass was empty and only had a thousand guards, Da Xi left half of his troops under Zhang Jingzhi's command, while he led the rest of his troops to the mouth of the Lishui River fifty miles east.
The Qian River is a tributary of the Wei River and is extremely shallow, so even small paddle boats are at risk of running aground. Da Xi could only give up and stop the boat here. Otherwise, he would have gone north along the river and reached the garrison camp in Qian Yang County.
However, there are fertile fields on both sides of the river, which is a good place to go ashore to unload artillery. When hundreds of paddle boats lined up at the mouth of the Lishui River, the defenders were shocked: the rebels actually came down from the Wei River, and the official troops actually
Already under attack from both sides?
Only a few soldiers were left to guard the ships, and the rest were all disembarked. Only two hundred small cannons were left on the shore, which was enough to guard the ships. There were also twenty suppressing barbarian cannons, which were moved to carts after disembarking. There were no county towns or
The large army formation will not be used easily.
The rest are all tiger crouching cannons, with a total of 1,000 crouchings, Da Xi and Zhang Jingzhi each have 500. Each crouch is equipped with a corps of artillery soldiers. Each corps is equipped with two two-wheeled carts and two pack horses. One pulls the cannon and the other
Pull ammunition.
It can be said that wherever mules and horses can reach, tigers can reach with crouching cannons. If forced to do so, they can also abandon the mules and horses and replace them with people carrying them.
Each tiger squatting cannon only weighed more than thirty kilograms. Two soldiers took turns to carry it, and they still climbed over the mountains and ridges. The remaining three soldiers carried gunpowder and lead shot more than enough...
The reaction of the defenders was not unpleasant. As soon as Da Xi stopped the boat, thousands of officers and soldiers swarmed out from Yongcheng County, the capital of Qizhou Prefecture, about 40 miles northeast, and smoke was ignited from the city. So it was
In half an hour, the news arrived in Miyang County, about eighty miles away from the north bank of the Wei River.
Yuan Qin was so shocked that his heart felt cold and his head was sweating.
This is because all the food and fodder for the officers and soldiers are concentrated in Mianyang County.
While he was gathering his rear troops, he quickly sent his trusted aides to Longguan to report to Cui Yanbo urgently.
When Yuan Qin gathered more than 10,000 rear troops and rushed towards the mouth of Qianhe River like an overwhelming force, the sound of cannons was already booming on the shore...
The people stationed in Yongcheng were the generals of the rear army under Cui Yanbo, the governor of Guanzhong Road, and the governor of Qizhou, Yang Zhi. In addition, there were also generals of the left army, Li Shao, and the superintendent of grain, Yang Wei.
Regardless of qualifications, official title, or reputation, Yang Zhi is far behind Li Shao. Even if the title of general is changed from left to right, then to the last, it should be Li Shao who leads the army to defend the city, and Yang Zhi is the governor.
Negative food and grass.
But the bad thing was that Li Shao was too close to Li Chengzhi and was suspected of secretly communicating with each other, so neither the imperial court nor Cui Yanbo dared to let him command troops, let alone guard the city.
However, because the Li family in Longxi had great prestige in Guanzhong, the imperial court did not dare to reuse Li Shao, but had to use him. In the end, he could only be entrusted with the post of general and returned to the army to be dispatched by Sima Yuanqin.
Yuan Qin pushed the boat along the current and sent him and Yang Shu's younger brother to stay in Yongcheng to be responsible for the transportation of grain and grass.
However, if grain and grass were transported into Guanzhong via the Weihe River or by land via Tongguan, the two men led the people to transfer them to Qianyang.
The clay figurine still has three levels of anger, not to mention Li Shao, who has been holding a large number of troops for a long time and has been in the center for a long time?
Preparing for being treated like a thief, Li Shao did not resign on the spot, even if it was a favor to the court. So he muddle along every day, not seeking merit, but only seeking no faults. In addition, the Yang family is now at the height of its power, and Yang Wei is in charge of the food and grass.
Naturally, the task is to get twice the result with half the effort.
Li Shaole was so idle that he hid in Yongcheng all day long, drunk and dreaming. Unless Yuan Qin or Cui Yanbo summoned him, he would never leave the city.
But today, he had to go out.
It's not because Yang Zhi and Yang Wei forced him.
Yang Zhi was the governor of Qizhou, and he was only a rear general. He did not uphold integrity and ordered Li Shao, a general of the left army, not to move.
It was Li Shao who suddenly heard that a navy from the West Sea had suddenly arrived at the mouth of Lianshui River. He was so frightened that he was nine points drunk and scared away seven points.
Since Li Chengzhi can sail from Longxi to the hinterland of Guanzhong, and then the Wei River flows eastwards smoothly, wouldn't he be able to march to Luoyang anytime and anywhere?
How will the imperial court fight this battle in the future?
He immediately found Yang Zhi and said he wanted to go to the formation to have a look.
Knowing that the matter was of great importance, Yang Zhi did not dare to ask for help and prepared to lead the army himself. How could Zhengchou think of a reason to summon Li Shao out of the city, but he didn't expect Li Shao to come to the door?
Yang Zhi immediately ordered his troops and horses to rush towards the mouth of Lishui River.
Now it is war time, and Li Chengzhi sent out troops seven days ago, and even issued a letter of war and a letter of surrender three days ago. Fanqi, Jingzhou and even the counties under his control are all preparing their troops and waiting for danger.
After giving the order, within two seconds, nearly ten thousand soldiers and horses had already left the camp and rushed south.
What is commendable is that this time the soldiers no longer need to run on their own legs, but all ride on large carts.
Naturally, it was not that the imperial court was so rich that it equipped all the infantry with chariots, but that sheep were already responsible for helping Li Shao and Yang Wei transport grain, so chariots and horses were extremely convenient.
It was fast indeed, from receiving the news, to dispatching troops, to rushing to the mouth of Qianhe River, it only took two hours. The tired horse was foaming at the mouth and trembling all over.
Seeing that the rebel rear troops had set up military formations on the north bank of the Weishui River, as if waiting for the officers and soldiers to surrender, Yang Zhi felt a sudden shock in his heart.
But when he heard that the former rebel army was heading north with dozens of cannons, Yang Zhi's heart tightened, and he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.
Isn’t this going straight to Mianyang?
Qianyang is the main camp of the rear army, and all the supplies of the Guanzhong Dao army will be stationed here for two years. If there is a mistake, it will be difficult for him or Yuan Qin to leave the whole body...
But how did Li Chengzhi know that all the food and grass were in Miyang?
Yang Zhi narrowed his eyes and stabbed Li Shao, who was dumbfounded, as sharply as a blade.