The war with Xiao Xian took a turn for the worse in mid-August.
Zhou Faming surrendered immediately, and the brutal Nanyang War came to an end. Both armies suffered extremely serious casualties.
After two months of fierce fighting, the Tang army suffered nearly 18,000 casualties, and the Liang army suffered nearly 50,000 casualties. The blood of the soldiers of both armies was spread all over Nanyang City.
This was the most critical battle in the attack on Liang, and in the end the Tang army won.
When the soldiers of Liang Army put down their weapons under the orders of the generals, walked out of the city and camp in groups, and gathered at the place designated by the Tang Army, the soldiers of the Tang Army burst into cheers that shook the earth.
Liang Jun was not very depressed. Many people felt lucky to survive the disaster. Now they were only worried about rejecting Tang Jun for two months and shedding too much blood. Will Tang Jun go back on his words in the future?
Zhou Faming, leading his two sons and several lieutenant generals, slowly approached the Tang army's central tent.
Zhou Faming was so thin that he was out of shape, his eyes were dim, his beard was gray and messy, but he still managed to straighten his waist and press his lips tightly, maintaining the last bit of dignity.
Yuchi Gong came out surrounded by the generals. He was the opposite of Zhou Faming in terms of age and energy. Although he was tired in his prime, he was very excited now that the overall situation had been decided.
The winner has the appearance of a winner, and the loser has the appearance of a loser.
Zhou Faming only looked at him for a moment, then clasped his fists and saluted, "Zhou Faming has met General Yuchi."
Yuchi Gong stepped forward, held his arm, and said with a smile: "No need to be polite, I have heard of Zhou Pushe's name for a long time. Only after today's battle did I know how brave Zhou Pushe is. To be able to see him face to face is really great."
Yuchi's life is full of blessings."
This is not hypocritical. With the elite of the Tang army, Zhou Faming was able to lead his troops to hold back the main force of the army in Nanyang for more than two months. He indeed gained the respect of Yuchi Gong and other Tang army generals.
During the previous campaign, the Tang army wished they could rush into the city, cut off Zhou Faming's head and then hurry up. But now that Zhou Faming came to surrender, it was completely different.
Zhou Faming gave a wry smile and said, "The defeated general does not dare to speak bravely. I only hope that the general will not treat the surrendered soldiers harshly for the sake of our initiative to surrender."
Yuchi Gong shook his beard and said with a smile: "The army I lead is not a cruel one. Just rest assured, Pu She. As long as no one takes any chances, I won't hurt anyone again."
As he spoke, he held Zhou Faming's arm and walked into the big tent. The surrendered generals who followed Zhou Faming were all stopped outside. Someone led them to Zhang Liang's place and screened them carefully.
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Yuchi Gong was not in a hurry to lead his army south, nor was he in a hurry.
The Tang army suffered a lot of damage in the Battle of Nanyang, and the troops were also very tired and needed some rest.
Moreover, there were too many surrendered troops. After an inventory, it was found that there were 183,000 troops. The reported numbers made Yuchi Gong and others feel frightened.
If Liang Jun can work together, Tang Jun will still be able to attack Nanyang City if he wants to.
It's just that there are no guarantees in the war. The Liang Army seems to have a large number of people, but its combat effectiveness is not at the same level as the Tang Army. It is said to be a regular army, but half of it is Minzhuang.
Most of the rest are government soldiers. Only Zhou Faming's pro-army is the standing army of Liang State. Ironically, these elites are of no use. They are the last reserve force and they are still needed to suppress various departments in the army.
, they will almost never appear in front of the two armies if they don't see a fighter that's good enough to win, or when it's the last moment.
There is no need to be surprised. This is the most common military structure in the world. Otherwise, how would an army of hundreds of thousands come from?
The Tang army was different. Li Po had been restricting the number of troops. Even the food and grass were almost escorted by the standing army. This caused a very serious burden. In the past few years, almost all of Li Po's savings were fed to them.
Therefore, after the expansion of the Tang army, there are only more than 200,000 people. This also includes some local garrison troops stationed in the north. Otherwise, Pang Yu, the general of Zuojianmen, would not have led the pitiful 4,000 people to fight against Tuyuhun.
, Tuqiang coalition forces fought.
This made the Tang army extremely powerful and unique among the armies of the world.
The elite of the Tang army was very concretely reflected in the Battle of Nanyang. One hundred and ten thousand Tang troops came to Nanyang City. In the two months of fighting, the Tang army, whose military strength was only half of the opponent's, completely took the initiative.
During the crazy attack, Liang Jun, who was well prepared, completely lost the ability to fight back. If they were given some more time, it would not be difficult to defeat Liang Jun's defense and invade Nanyang City.
It was precisely because of this that Zhou Faming went out of the city to ask for surrender, because it was really almost untenable, and other reasons were secondary.
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There were so many prisoners captured in this battle that Yuchi Gong couldn't help but scratch his head, but what made him smile was that there were mountains of grain and grass in Nanyang City, enough for the army and the surrendered prisoners to waste two months.
Liang Guo devoted all his manpower and material resources to the Henan strategy and prepared enough food and grass for the two armies for half a year. Most of them were intercepted in Nanyang by Zhou Faming, which gave the Tang army an advantage.
After resting in Nanyang for ten days, in addition to reporting the victory to Chang'an, he also tried his best to appease the surrendered soldiers. Since Zhou Faming surrendered, he no longer had any other thoughts and helped Yuchi Gong suppress the surrendered troops, saving Yuchi Gong a lot of time.
Less effort.
Ten days later, Yuchi Gong left Zhang Liang behind, while Zhou Shao and others guarded Nanyang, guarding the surrendered soldiers and supervising the transportation of grain and grass. They took charge of the main force of the army. Zhou Faming led 70,000 surrendered troops as the vanguard and went south to attack Xiangyang.
There were so many surrendered troops that Yuchi Gong did not dare to leave them all in Nanyang, so he could only drive them as the vanguard. This made him terrified along the way. He was not afraid of them escaping, but afraid that they would mutiny.
Fortunately, the journey was uneventful, and they met Zhang Shigui and others at the foot of Xiangyang City. A 160,000-strong army surrounded Xiangyang City. It was already the end of August.
At this time, Li Jing, Zhang Lun, and Yuwen Huo in the middle of Shu had also completed their rest and reorganization. Yuwen Huo was the general manager of Xinzhou and stayed behind in Kuizhou. Li Jing and Zhang Lun led an army of 60,000 people to leave Shu by boat and march directly to Jiangling.
Both armies have achieved crucial victories.
By this time, Liang Guo was in a precarious situation, and the chance of a comeback was slim.
As soon as Nanyang was reached, the gate of Jiangling had been opened. While Yuchi Gong was resting in Nanyang, he sent a message to Bu Qun, asking him to seize the time and lead the cavalry southward, preparing to bypass Hulao and prepare to march into eastern Henan.
This is also one of the established strategies. If Dou Jiande has the intention of leaving Hulao and fighting the Tang army in the field, then the Tang army can surround Luoyang and fight Dou Jiande in western Henan.
However, Dou Jiande's army was entrenched in Xingyang and Hanoi, but there had been no movement. More than 20,000 cavalry troops were patrolling near Luoyang without waiting for a fighter plane, so bypassing Hulao and entering eastern Henan from the south became the best option.