Thanks to the gift of Yu Wenshiji, the supervisor of the army, the war horses mobilized by Xiongwuying when they went to Liaodong to meet the Yuanzheng army were all left in the army afterwards. After the Battle of Liaodong, there were more than 10,000 soldiers left in the Xiongwuying camp, which could be used
The total number of riding horses and draft horses amounted to 15,000 to 6,000. Before receiving the latest military report, everyone was proud of the army's marching and assault capabilities, but
Now, the ability to march past others has become the main factor that prevents everyone from being lazy.
"That's it, it's great for us to be infantry, and we can walk as slowly as we want!" Someone whispered.
"Yes, that's right. How can we fight with a wealthy young man if we have only a low life!" Someone glanced at the superior supervisor and began to sneer again.
The current predicament Xiongwu Camp is facing is all caused by the children of a few aristocratic families. From house to house, there are naturally some people who look at Yuwenshi with displeasure.
"There's no point in complaining! If the rescue is not timely, the Ministry of War will definitely not let us go." Marching Commander Shi Zhao Ziming pinched the complainer with his eyelids and reminded dissatisfiedly.
The few people who said weird things shrugged their shoulders and felt very boring themselves. Among the generals in the Xiongwu camp, except for Yu Wenshi, the supervisor of the army, the others did not have a deep background. Whether they were complaining or dissatisfied, the battle was still going on.
We must fight. Otherwise, the imperial court will investigate the responsibility for neglecting the opportunity to fight. Without the help of important ministers to explain, no one will understand no matter how many difficulties we have.
Silence returned to the Chinese army tent again, like the silence before a thunderstorm. The generals no longer complained, but racked their brains to think of ways to break the situation. But apart from obeying military orders and disobeying them, they could not find any other way.
A way to avoid getting burned.
Cui Qian and Zhao Ziming turned their attention to Li Xu again. Since the Battle of Wuming Valley, the two of them have become accustomed to using Xu Zi as their backbone. The dilemmas that were almost unsolvable at that time were easily solved by General Lang.
The fire has been solved. Now I just want to think of a risk-avoiding countermeasure, which should be difficult for General Li in the end.
But Xuzi's performance disappointed everyone. From the beginning of the discussion to now, he has only maintained order a few times. General Lang did not make any of the decisions that needed to be made. The same goes for Supervisor Yuwen beside him, frowning
, eyes closed, not knowing whether he was thinking of countermeasures or already taking the opportunity to fall asleep.
"Hey, Old Zhao, where are the other reinforcements?" Zhang Xiu poked Zhao Ziming with his hand and asked in a low voice.
"We haven't even crossed the Juma River yet, and the fastest troop has been left behind by nearly a hundred miles!" Zhao Ziming thought for a while and replied. "But the reinforcements from the capital are said to have passed Mianchi, totaling 40,000 forbidden troops.
The elite, led by General Wei Wensheng, dug up the ancestral graves of Yang Xuangan's family in Huayin along the way. It is said that this can destroy Feng Shui!"
"This guy named Wei is not even a good guy!" Zhang Xiu spat on the ground and crushed it down with his feet.
How dare he think of trying to win the war by picking up other people's ancestral graves! A few low-level generals who came from the food protection army shook their heads slightly. Think about General Wei's behavior last autumn when he set fire to the bridge without waiting for everyone to return. This person will be surprised this year.
His behavior is not difficult to understand in the eyes of everyone.
Hearing Wei Wensheng's name, Yuwen Shiji suddenly regained his energy. "Where are General Wei's troops and horses? Where are the other troops and horses? Ziming, can you mark it clearly on the map?"
"My subordinates, do your best!" Zhao Ziming nodded, grabbed the charcoal and walked towards the sheepskin map spread in the middle of the tent. It is a very taboo behavior for someone who is not the commander to inquire about the movements of friendly troops without permission. But at this critical moment, Zhao Ziming
He couldn't care so much. "According to the latest military reports and hearsay from subordinates, General Wei has arrived here." Zhao Ziming used charcoal blocks to draw an arrow near the stream in the northwest of Luoyang. "Yang Xuangan personally led the team to greet him. It is estimated that he has arrived recently."
There will be a decisive battle in the next few days." He paused, found another clean sheepskin, drew a dozen arcs on it, pointed to the one on the far right and said: "We are here, as normal cavalry
With the marching speed of our army, we will definitely reach the north bank of the Yellow River within ten days. However, if other groups of soldiers, horses, infantry and cavalry are mixed together, the marching speed at the slowest case can be half of ours."
"Well!" Yu Wenshiji let out a long sigh. He understood the implication of Zhao Changshi's words. Even if he delayed the time, the first one to rush to cause trouble would definitely be Xiongwuying. Unless he, the supervisor, used
The family strength takes all responsibilities, otherwise, everyone has no second choice.
"Is Luoyang City higher than the city wall of Liaodong City?" When Yu Wenshi was in trouble, Li Xu also came over and asked in a low voice.
"Compared with our Luoyang in the Sui Dynasty, Liaodong City can only be regarded as a bandit village!" Yu Wenshiji turned his head and couldn't help but mocked again. Is there anyone who has never seen Luoyang City in such an old age? His heart surged.
A bit contemptuous. But Xuzi's words quickly turned his contempt into surprise.
"Although Yang Xuangan has many people under his command, he has no siege equipment. He will not be able to capture Luoyang in a short period of time!" Li Xu walked around the millet, looked at the sheepskin map again, and whispered.
"Then we can't deliberately delay on the road!" Yu Wenshiji retorted loudly. He had already made a vow in his heart that he would no longer rely on the strength of his family. If he deliberately misses the opportunity to fight, the rootless Li Xu will not be able to withstand it.
A round of impeachment by the censors.
"Without delay, we will start our journey day and night from tomorrow. It is better for General Murong to stop the rear. Those who cannot keep up with the brigade will directly dodge to the roadside and wait to be taken in. Lieutenant Li will go out with the scouts, one person and two people riding two horses. If they encounter anyone on the way,
Anyone who rides a horse will be arrested immediately!" Li Xu nodded and gave Yuwen Shiji a reassuring smile.
"You are going to touch Han Shihe!" Murong Luo exclaimed. Han Shihe is the son of the late old general Han Qinhu. After becoming a famous general, he is known as a good fighter. Although the family power behind him seems to be more troublesome than others, but
In terms of military use, Yuwen Shiji and Li Xu combined may not be Han Shihe's opponent.
"I'm not sure I can beat Han Shihe!" Li Xu shook his head, not caring about admitting his poor military skills in front of everyone.
"I, I don't mean that. What I mean is that the enemy has a large number of soldiers. Let's go there, and we can't help much with just a drop in the bucket!" Murong Luo explained very ashamedly. Although the general has a good temper, he just said
I was so impulsive that I actually questioned the general's ability to his face.
"I don't want to fight them head-on, and I don't have a boat to cross the river!" Before Murong Luo could finish apologizing to him, Xuzi grabbed a piece of charcoal and drew a circle on a city on the north bank of the Yellow River, beside the Yongji Canal.
"When I attack this isolated city, I won't offend anyone on the south bank!"
Liyang, the important grain garrison site of the Sui Dynasty, jumped into everyone's eyes. Yang Xuangan was able to feed an army of 300,000 people, relying on the military grain stored in Liyang warehouse. At this moment, the main force of the rebel army was busy attacking the city on the south bank of the Yellow River, and the generals who stayed behind in Liyang City
Yuan Wuben was just a county captain before and had no experience in leading troops.
"Yang Xuangan definitely doesn't know that our entire battalion is composed of cavalry!" Li Xu paused and slowly stated the reason why he advocated attacking Liyang. "The official roads near Liyang extend in all directions. Even if we fail to attack by surprise, we can quickly get far away."
escape."
"You might as well just say, if we can't fight, we'll run away!" Yu Wenshiji laughed softly, and there was no longer any sarcasm in his words. It's only a guy like Li Xu who comes from a humble background who doesn't care so much about being a general.
Famous. Turn around and run away as soon as you miss a hit. This is a common tactic of prairie horse thieves, not what a dignified Sui army should do. But at the moment, this tactic is very practical.
"First, the rebels cannot catch up with us. Second, Yang Xuangan sent troops from Luoyang to protect Li Yang, which means that we have contained the enemy and eased their offensive against Luoyang!" Li Xu nodded, admitting that his thoughts were once again occupied.
Yuwenshiji guessed it right. There is nothing to be ashamed of. Yuwenshiji Tianqi was already very smart, and his experience was more than a little bit deeper than his own.
He walked back to the coach's seat with a smile, raised his command arrows, and sent them out one by one. Then he announced with encouragement or admiration that the new journey would begin tomorrow morning, and everyone could have a good sleep tonight.
The next day, Xiongwu Camp suddenly accelerated.
There was a post station every hundred miles or so next to the official road in the Sui Dynasty. The soldiers of Xiongwuying ran along the official road and stopped to rest when they encountered a post station. Whenever everyone took a rest, Yu Wenshiji took his relatives with him.
As a general of Wu Yalang, the soldiers plundered all the good horses in the post station. Those horses that were exhausted and could not keep up with the speed of the group were forcibly given to the post soldiers by Yu Wenshiji as collateral.
"This is a Sui army horse. Feed it well and hand it over to our defender General Murong Bie when he catches up! Don't worry, I will not corrupt your post horse!" Yu Wenshiji smiled and told the postman, "By the way,
You can report this matter truthfully, my surname is Yuwen, and my courtesy name is Renren. There is no need to reveal his identity as Prince Consort and Commander-in-Chief. The surname Guang Yuwen made the postmen dare not disobey his orders. A large number of posthorses and horse materials were
They were mobilized into the Xiongwu Camp to ensure the marching speed of the soldiers as much as possible.
Everyone slept for less than three hours that night, and they continued to run wildly before dawn on the third day. Many horses lost their strength in the morning. Li Xu ordered the soldiers who could not keep up with the group to change their mounts, and the exhausted horses were killed by him.
It was thrown on the roadside and left to Murong Luo, who served as the defender, to take care of it.
In the afternoon, some weak soldiers couldn't stand it anymore. Their faces were pale and their bodies were shaking in the saddle. Yu Wenshi and the weak soldiers left the team and gathered in a roadside post station to wait for the rear guard to take them in. The speed of the other soldiers did not slow down.
, continue to gallop southwest along the official road.
"We are competing with Yang Xuangan to see if he can capture Luoyang faster or we can reach Liyang City faster!" Chief Shi Zhao Ziming and Colonel Zhang Xiu mobilized the brothers like this. "The Emperor just rewarded us.
You can't repay a favor. We were the first to rush over and smash Yang Xuangan's rice cooker. Such a great contribution must be visible to the court!"
"Smashed his rice cooker!" the soldiers responded with roars of laughter, mud and sweat running down their faces. No one would have expected them to be so fast. In the past two days, other reinforcements have been pulled away by the Xiongwu Camp.
More than two hundred miles away. Yang Xuangan's attention should be entirely on the main force of the official army. He may not pay attention to this small force that has just been converted into government soldiers.
Even if the rebels noticed the rapidly approaching cavalry, it would be difficult for their general to receive the news in time. Li Mengchang led the scouts to search the area within fifteen miles in front of the army. If a horse was found galloping south on the official road,
All the guys, whether they were merchants or postmen, were detained pending trial.
Xiongwuying did not allow anyone to pass their team along the official road. The official road at the foot was the best route to Liyang. If there were people along the way who wanted to warn Yang Xuangan and tried to warn the rebels, they could only follow the army slowly.
.If the messenger crossed the mountains and took a small road, he would definitely arrive near Luoyang after the army arrived in Liyang.
On the night of the third day, the Xiongwu Camp received an urgent military message from the front heading north near Luan City. The defender of Xingyang was Han Qinhu's old subordinate. He could not bear to fight with the son of his old friend and led the whole city to surrender. Han Shihe captured Xingyang without bloodshed and turned around.
Head north and join forces with Gu Jue to attack Hulao Pass.
"If you fight for fifty miles, you will defeat the general!" Li Anyuan was a little worried about his brothers. If Han Shihe easily captured Hulao Pass again, the Xiongwu camp would lose the need to rush to Liyang. In the past two days, the stragglers have already
Close to 700. If we continue to reduce our numbers at this rate, we will not have more than 5,000 troops arriving near Liyang.
The five thousand exhausted troops were unable to stand a fight regardless of whether they faced Li Yang's defenders or the rebels led by Han Shihe.
"We must rush over. Han Shihe may not be able to return to Liyang in time. Even if he returns in time, the rebels will be as tired as us." At the critical moment, Xuzi suddenly behaved extremely stubbornly.
He doesn't want to give up halfway, no matter whether the opponent is Han Shihe or Yuan Wuben. Whether it's a mule or a horse, you won't know until you run.
"And the rebels have no armor!" Xuzi said loudly, trying his best to restrain the fatigue and weakness deep in his heart. At this moment, he found that he was very eager to fight Han Shihe. (To be continued)
