The remaining troops in Zhengzhou City were handed over to Xiao Qian's command to clear them out. Yue Hailou and Cao Shili's troops withdrew from the city, but there was still a process to be done before they were ready to formally break camp.
Mo Lihu was also running around non-stop, trying his best to fight non-stop for the two soldiers, striving for more rewards and more sufficient supplies of materials to dispel the resentment in the hearts of the soldiers. He also first mobilized the supervisory troops and horses, and communicated with the soldiers along the way.
The scouts inspected the docking of horses and confirmed the marching route.
Of course, the more important thing is that the main attack directions of Cao Shili and Yue Hailou must be determined before the official departure of camp.
"Hulao is connected to Songyue Mountain in the south and the Yellow River in the north. The mountains are intertwined and form a natural danger. It has been a battleground for military strategists in the past dynasties. The power of mountains and rivers is more important than Xingyang, Gongxian and Yanshi. It can be said that our army must
We need to seize the city; the sooner it falls, the better." Yue Hailou sat in front of Mo Lihu's seat, holding a long case with his hands, glancing at Mo Lihu and Cao Shili with piercing eyes, and said involuntarily, "I am right
I am more familiar with the situation in the Hehuai River than General Cao. I will lead my troops to attack Hulao. General Cao, you don’t think that I am being naughty by not attacking Gong County just because Xu Huai is more likely to be in Gong County, right?"
For hundreds of years, the leading generals at the state and military town levels have included Jiedu envoys, defense envoys, governors and prefectural magistrates. Among them, the Jiedu envoys have the most authority, followed by defense envoys and governors. Since the establishment of the Dai Viet dynasty, they have been the most powerful.
To restrict local officials from exercising power, the military envoys, defense envoys, and provincial governors were all left in vain to inform a certain military and state affairs and take charge of state affairs, assisted by officials such as general judges.
When Chi Hu conquered the world, although he also followed the Han system in setting up officials, at this time it was even more necessary to grant sufficient centralized authority to the generals so that they could be mobilized more thoroughly and tap local military potential for rapid expansion.
Cao Shixiong also controlled Shuozhou as the Lanzhou Jiedushi, and Cao Shili and Meng Ping were both granted the title of marching thousands of households. Their direct troops were the Shuozhou Han army who had followed him from beginning to end.
However, because Xu Huai led his troops to raid Kelan City and rescued Wang Gaoxing, Qian Zeduan and more than a hundred state officials, including later assisting some local forces in Lanzhou to evacuate, this objectively made it easier for the Cao brothers to keep closer ties
He controlled the Lanzhou area. Especially the peasant households in Lanzhou were persecuted on the eve of the first northern expedition to Yan. This time, they were all wooed by the Cao Shixiong brothers.
Therefore, when the Chihu army moved south, the Lanzhou Han army under the command of brothers Cao Shixiong and Cao Shili expanded the total number of troops to 20,000. Also because the Lanzhou Han army was more numerous, except for some soldiers and horses, they stayed in Lanzhou to take precautions.
In addition to the Gu family in Fuzhou, some troops of the Han army in Lanzhou were under the command of General Meng Ping. They stayed in Taiyuan at this time and participated in the siege of Taiyuan. Cao Shili's troops were only part of the Han army in Lanzhou.
Cao Shili should be regarded as a more pure military general. He thought that when going south, he only needed to obey the military orders of the East Route Army Commander. He did not have a relatively powerful adviser like Meng Jian to assist him, so he could not see through Yue Hailou.
In his mind, he just said calmly: "Since the situation in Hulao Pass is so important, Xu Huai may also be hiding in Hulao Pass; however, everything just follows the orders of Marquis Yue!"
Xu Huai led his troops to raid Kelan. Cao Shili's wife and mother were killed by the arrows of soldiers in Tongbai Mountain. Cao Shixiong's eldest son was executed by Xu Huai in Guanlui Mountain, and Cao Shixiong's young grandson was also abandoned by Xu Huai among the refugees and disappeared.
——The family of a senior general of the Han army in Lanzhou had almost hundreds of people killed by Xu Huai's sword.
Since Yue Hailou said that Xu Huai was more likely to be in Gong County, Cao Shili did not shirk the mission of attacking Gong County, both emotionally and rationally.
However, even if he couldn't see through Yue Hailou's true thoughts, he still felt that the possibility of Xu Huai appearing in Hulao Pass was no lower than that in Gong County. Yue Hailou's words still made him a little confused, and he was straightforward.
Break it open.
"Xu Huai is going to be at Hulao Pass. I also have some old grudges to settle with him." Yue Hailou said very calmly.
Mo Lihu didn't even care about what Yue Hailou and Cao Shili were hiding in their words, but he knew that Yue Hailou was right about two things: first, the strategic position of Hulao Pass was more important; second, Yue Hailou was more important than
Cao Shili is more familiar with the situation around Hulao Pass.
Therefore, the two groups happily and harmoniously determined their respective main directions of attack.
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The cavalry of the Red Husband that entered Hehuai was much larger in scale, much more maneuverable, and its front was unstoppable. The outer areas of Songshan Mountain were filled with the scouts and horses of the Red Husband.
This also ensured the concealment of Yue Hailou and Cao Shili's troops advancing towards Hulao and Gongxian.
That night, piles of bonfires were lit up and down the walls of Gongxian City.
Xu Huai accompanied King Jing to stand on the city tower and looked at the distance. The captive soldiers occupied a small earthen stronghold at the mouth of the river as a large camp. It was not enough. They were driving hundreds of captive villagers to cut down the trees in the cold spring night wind.
Build larger fences on both wings.
"The Chi Hu people should soon mobilize a larger force to attack Gong County. Does this also mean that Zhengzhou has been lost?" King Jing Zhao Tuan looked at Xu Huai and asked.
Apart from entering Songshan from Nancheng, Gong County scouts have no choice but to send out scouts to the east, west, north and other relatively open and accessible hilly areas and river mouth alluvial plains. They now rely more on the movements of the enemy to judge the surrounding areas.
The situation changes.
Xu Huai nodded, recognizing that King Jing Zhao Tuan's judgment was correct.
Zhengzhou was not lost, so it was meaningless for the Chihu people to expend their energy to attack Gongxian.
Even in the process of rapid expansion of the Red Husbands, the surrendered troops need to be brutally squeezed to eliminate the weak and retain the strong, but they will not be wasted on meaningless combat directions at any time.
As one of the four towns, Zhengzhou is also an important town near the capital. Its fall will not only quickly make the Chihu troops from the east and west completely respond to each other from the north to the south, but also have a profound impact on the Dayue soldiers and horses near the capital and guarding the villages in Hedong and Hebei.
It must be no small matter.
Before Zhengzhou, although more than a dozen cities in Hedong, Hebei and Gyeonggi Fu counties had fallen, they were all county towns defended by local rural soldiers and Xiang troops.
In addition to the local rural soldiers and Xiang troops, Zhengzhou also has more than 10,000 imperial troops affiliated with the Beijing-North Road Deployment Department, with a total of more than 20,000 soldiers and horses. The Chihu people mainly rely on the surrender troops who are seriously lacking in siege weapons.
Zhengzhou was captured in only five days. What would the defenders of Weizhou, Zezhou, Luzhou and other important towns think?
How can the military morale remain unwavering?
This will also inevitably shake the determination of the ministers and officials in the DPRK to defend Bianliang.
The voices of the peace-negotiating faction, or the capitulation faction, will probably become louder soon, right?
Xu Huai didn't want to worry about too many things at this time. He cast his gaze towards the deeper night sky in the distance. The dark clouds were low and there was only a faint glimmer of light, vaguely outlining the boundaries between heaven and earth. He still didn't know which movie it would be.
The surrendered troops were driven by the Red Husbands to attack Gong County.
Although the Khitan surrendered at Yanji and the Chihu people surrendered a larger army, the Chihu people would definitely use this army to encroach on the cities in Hedong. The one who really entered Hehuai should be Yu Yunshuo. Hedong surrendered to the Chihu
Cao Shili, Yue Hailou, Xiao Qian, Wen Hengyue and other tribal troops of the people.
After all, the Chihu people were not in a hurry to attack Taiyuan at this time, and they could seize enough horses and equipment from Yunshuo to surrender to the vassal army, improving their mobile combat capabilities.
At this time, Xu Wujiang, Qian Shangduan, Zhang Xin, Liu Shiwang and others boarded the city tower. King Jing Zhao Tuan looked over and asked: "Can the four-corner climbing road be completed before the Japanese soldiers attack the city in large numbers?"
"It should be possible. Your Highness will not be disappointed!" Xu Wujiang replied.
The defense system of Gong County is more complete than that of ordinary counties, but it still mainly relies on the city wall and the ancillary facilities on the city wall, and the access to the city is concentrated behind the four gate towers.
Although the walls on both sides of the city tower are only three hundred steps long, considering that the defenders, who are mainly soldiers guarding the mausoleum, have weak combat effectiveness, once the captured soldiers first board the city wall with elite troops, the defenders want to pass through the narrow city wall.
It is very difficult to drive the elite soldiers down from the city first.
After Lu Xiong and others arrived at Xu Wujiang, Xu Huai suggested to King Jing through them that four climbing roads should be urgently repaired inside the four turrets in Gong County.
This will directly reduce the longest reinforcement distance above the city wall from three hundred steps to one hundred and fifty steps.
In addition to the defenders, there are more than 20,000 people in the city. During the reorganization of the defenders, it is inevitable to organize the more than 5,000 young men in the city - Gu Dajun and other commanders of the tomb defenders, this
Even though King Jing was driving him to organize the people, he didn't dare to complain.
There are so many young people available. Although there are no ready-made narrow alleys near the corner towers of the four cities, the houses are demolished, stone walls are built directly inside the corner towers, and then the stone walls and city walls are filled with stones, wood, soil, and temporary
It is not difficult to build a road to the city.
At least it is much easier than when Xu Huai secretly built the road to the city in Datong City.
At the same time, they also organized civilian braves to demolish all the buildings adjacent to the city wall on the inner side and clear the passage for the troops and horses in the city to quickly advance and retreat.
In addition to the main streets being blocked by horses to control entry and exit, the narrow alleys and narrow passages were also blocked with bricks and stones; all thatched roofs were pulled clean to prevent fire attacks by captive soldiers, digging traps, and internal trenches.
In short, do everything possible to turn the thin defense line established solely on the city wall into a three-dimensional defense system that can suppress the Japanese soldiers from advancing deeper into the city even if a certain section of the city wall is breached by the Japanese soldiers, or even introduce the Japanese soldiers into the city to eliminate them.
When Xu Wujiang was in charge of the Huaiyuan Township Camp, he had already established a profound concept of the defense of small towns. At this time, he made suggestions to King Jing one by one and quickly promoted them in Gong County.
Xu Huai didn't say much. In addition to hoping that Xu Wujiang would perform well in front of King Jing, more importantly, he, Wang Ju, Guo Junpan, Zhou Jing and others needed to recharge their batteries when a fierce battle was about to begin.
Lu Xiong was wounded by an arrow and had been running around for days. Xu Huai also held him down, fearing that his body would not be able to bear it, so he did not keep him busy.
In fact, except for Zhang Xin who had no experience in actual combat and defense, Qian Shangduan had been in office for twenty years and had some experience in various matters. He was also quite capable and not a pedantic person.
With Qian Shangduan and Xu Wujiang assisting King Jing to take charge of the defense, there would not be any major loopholes left; as for the rest, Xu Huai would not be able to build Gongxian in such a short time.
