Chapter 1643: News from the North, Shen Tang finally marches
Chapter 1643: News from the North, Shen Tang finally marches into the army
In the Tianshui Army camp, Shen Tang and the generals were all there, and even Xin Qiji and Shi Ying had already arrived.
Xin Qiji was only an auxiliary in the battle of Southern Xinjiang, so the reward was not high, but Shiying did get the title of viscount!
"The main force of the Jin people has gathered, and Tulha's troops have also joined Tu Dankening, including many local soldiers and horses from the original Lintao Road. There are now about 50,000 soldiers and horses, and they have arrived in Deshun Prefecture.
However, the Jin soldiers have no plans to garrison troops for the time being, and are still marching eastward, probably to garrison Pingliang Mansion."
"Xia and Liao soldiers and horses divided their forces to attack various places on Lintao Road. The Jin people basically had no resistance. As of two days ago, all the prefectures on Lintao Road have fallen!"
"The main force of Xia Liao soldiers and horses led by Zhang Hua was nearly 20,000, and there were about 10,000 soldiers and horses in Lanzhou. However, we found that nearly 40,000 more soldiers and horses entered Lintao Road from Jingyuguan! However, these four The thousands of soldiers and horses are not elites, they should be ordinary soldiers recruited temporarily to divide the troops and defend them!"
"So, the number of Xia Liao soldiers and horses currently controlled by Zhang Hua is nearly 70,000!"
Shen Tang was not worried about the following soldiers and horses. These were not party elites, but ordinary soldiers. Their combat power was probably similar to that of ordinary local soldiers and horses in the Song Dynasty! And Zhang Hua did not expect these 40,000 soldiers to play their role. How much combat power the army has, it is enough that they can help garrison various places in Lintao Prefecture without affecting his continued march.
"Now Zhang Hua leads a main force of 10,000 troops stationed in Lintao Prefecture, and the rest of the troops are still scattered in various state capitals!"
After listening to what the soldier said, Shen Tang looked at the geological map for a long time, then suddenly smiled and said, "Everyone, this party member has helped us take down Lintao Mansion!"
When the generals heard this, they couldn't help but burst into laughter!
Afterwards, Shen Tang's expression calmed down, "Since Xia Liao's soldiers and horses have captured Lintao Road, we will be disrespectful!"
"Generals, listen to your orders!"
"The end is here!"
"Shi Ying leads his troops into Taozhou. You are the fulcrum and rear of all other troops. No matter what happens elsewhere, Taozhou cannot be lost! As long as your troops are pinned to Taozhou by my commander, you will be the winner in this battle. A great achievement!"
"The general will obey your orders!"
Shiying stood up happily. He did not expect that Shen Tang would be the first to assign tasks to him. Although he had been knighted before, he was still inferior to Xin Qiji and others. If he made great achievements again this time, he would still be Are you afraid of not being able to compare with other generals?
"Not only do you want to occupy Taozhou, but you also need to divide your troops into Iron Castle and come to the Yuanzhai area to prevent the party's troops from going south to Lizhou!"
These locations are all at the junction of Lintao Prefecture and Lizhou West Road of the Great Song Dynasty. If the Xia and Liao soldiers and horses are trapped in Lintao by then, they may not be able to break into the territory of the Great Song Dynasty by jumping over the wall in a hurry.
"Don't worry, Commander, the general will not let any of Dang Xiang's soldiers enter the territory of Lizhou West Road!"
Of course Shiying knew the pressure he was facing this time. He was the rear of the entire Lintao Road. If there was a war with the Xia and Liao troops, their main force would probably attack the rear and leave the Song troops in front alone. At that time, all the pressure would be gone. on him.
"Feng Mo, you allocate 10,000 Tianshui troops to temporarily return to Shiying's command, and the rest will stay where they are first!"
"The general will obey your orders!"
Feng Mo is the commander-in-chief of the Tianshui Army. As an important frontier fortress, the Tianshui Army has a total of 23,000 soldiers and horses. However, the Tianshui Army's combat strength cannot compete with the several soldiers and horses of Shen Tang's direct lineage.
"Shao Hongyuan, lead your 10,000 troops into Jishi Prefecture!"
"Xin Qiji, you lead 10,000 troops to raid Hezhou!"
"Bian Xi, you lead 10,000 troops into Lanzhou!"
"My commander's Chinese army will march into Lintao Mansion. This time we want to see how capable Zhang Hua is!"
As Shen Tang's order was issued, except for some Tianshui troops who were still stationed in Tianshui, all the other soldiers and horses, totaling 80,000, marched into Lintao Mansion!
If we add the civilians and auxiliary troops, the number of the army will be nearly 200,000! At the same time, Wang Yingchen also summoned the civilians to continuously transport grain, grass and material resources from various places forward.
Moreover, another deputy envoy, Chen Junqing, also set out from Jiangnan, escorting a large number of military pay and provisions towards Lizhou.
The success of Shen Tang's first step plan gave Zhao Shen great confidence! Therefore, even though many people in the court still strongly opposed sending troops to the north, Zhao Shen resisted all opinions and supported Shen Tang at all costs. support.
Moreover, the current Zhao Shen is no longer the same as when he just came to the throne a few years ago! Although the national treasury is not rich, Ma Shao has already secured his position as the third envoy. With Ma Shao's support, there are many fewer constraints on the allocation of military pay and grain.
Liu Gong was in charge of the Privy Council. His methods were subtle and he also had a considerable say in the Privy Council.
In addition, there is also support from Shi Hao and his family in the court!
It can be said that the current situation is much better than the last Zhang Jun's Northern Expedition.
What's more, others don't know Shen Tang's ultimate goal, but Zhao Shen knows it clearly.
In order to get back his ancestral land in Henan, Zhao Shen did not allow anyone to stop him.
Originally, he had some doubts. After all, this plan was so huge that if he was not careful, it would cause heavy damage to the Song Dynasty.
But the war in southern Xinjiang was basically the same as Shen Tang's plan, and the situation in the north was also within Shen Tang's plan, which greatly increased his confidence in Shen Tang.
In order to collect grain and grass, Ma Shao asked Zhao Shen to exchange special items such as salt and other specialties with Shao Sheng and other wealthy merchants, asking them to help transport grain and grass from all over the country.
Therefore, this time it was a battle for one place on the surface, but it actually affected almost half of the Song Dynasty.
If they can win, it will be worth it, but if they lose, the Song Dynasty will not be able to mobilize troops again for at least ten years!
The rest of the troops went northward to Lintao Road one after another, and marched towards the predetermined position according to Shen Tang's order!
On the tenth day of March, Shen Tang led nearly 30,000 Chinese troops and left Jizhong Mountain in the north and entered Qinzhou territory on Fengxiang Road.
Then, head west along the northern foot of Jizhong Mountain and enter Gongzhou on Lintao Road!
Wherever the army passed, Ningyuan Village, Yongning Village and other places almost surrendered! There were small groups of Xia and Liao soldiers guarding some places, but how could they stop Shen Tang's 30,000-strong army!
Shen Tang did not rush to attack the important town in Longxi. Instead, he detoured and bulldozed Yanchuan Town and Shuyangzhai in Gongzhou, and came to Lintao Mansion with a majestic force.
At the same time, Shiying's front troops also successfully captured Yuanzhai, Iron Castle and other places, and then marched into Taozhou! There were three thousand Xia and Liao troops stationed in Taozhou Fucheng. However, before Shiying's mad attack, Next, he only held out for less than five days before he had to abandon the city and flee. Shiying entered Bingfu City and sent troops to clear out other Xia and Liao soldiers and horses in Taozhou. Then he deployed defenses along the Tao River and completely brought Taozhou under his control. among.