To capture Nanyang and capture Jingzhou, Ye Ji Luorong had already made up his mind. The task given to Zhou Fan, Tian Chang and other generals was to capture Nanyang City as soon as possible and completely open the passage for the army to go south. **PAO! Book.
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Twenty days have passed since the generals Zhou Fan, Tian Chang, and Meng Anchan led their troops to Nanyang City. However, in the early stage, the main task was to clear the obstacles on the periphery of Nanyang City, fill in the trenches, build siege roads, and build an siege.
City war weapons, conduct tentative attacks.
It was not until August 8 that the Nanyang offensive and defensive war entered its true climax.
More than 70,000 soldiers and horses took turns to seize the head of Nanyang City from the siege road, ladders or city climbing vehicles; hundreds of stone crossbows of various types were forced to attack Nanyang City. There was not much stone around Nanyang City, so they collected stone tablets from all around.
, millstones and other objects were all thrown towards Nanyang City.
For a time, arrows rained like dense rain inside and outside Nanyang City, and blood flowed like a river.
Ye Ji Luorong and She Wenzhuang also stayed at the Dushan Camp in the north of Nanyang City to supervise the battle. Ye Ji Luorong didn't care about the casualties of the siege troops. He only cared about the casualties of the defenders at all times, and only cared about the will of the defenders to fight.
He didn't waver, he only cared about where to invest stronger combat power in order to tear a hole in Nanyang's defense.
On the third day, Ye Ji Luorong even allocated more than a thousand white-cloaked elites who had accompanied him to the Dushan camp to Zhou Fan for use in attacking the city.
In the early wars of the Yandong tribes, the source of troops mainly came from tribesmen. After the Ye Qiujian Incident and the early years of Yejier's rule, elites were selected from tribesmen to form standing troops, called the Wangzhangsu Guards.
These people are skilled in bows and horses, have practiced martial arts since childhood, and have participated in brutal wars all year round. They are the real elites of the tribes in the east of Yan.
In the ninth year of Chongguan, Ye Jier personally led 100,000 soldiers and horses to break through the pass and invade Yannan. Only 10,000 people were selected as guards of the king's tent.
With the surrender of the Hus in Yanxi, the size of the cavalry troops controlled by Bei Yan became larger and larger, and the size of the newly attached troops also rapidly expanded to more than 200,000 troops. Except for some of the original royal guards, some remained in Yanjing.
, outside the Suwei palace, almost half was allocated to the princes to serve as personal guards.
On the basis of the elite guards assigned to the king's tent, Ye Jiluorong formed his direct lineage army, numbering 6,000 people. Over the years, he fought in the north and south, and became the elite of the Northern Yan elite. He was accustomed to wearing white felts to fight.
, and it is different from other troops under Ye Ji Luorong, so it is also called the White Cloak Army.
In order to open the gap as soon as possible and capture Nanyang City, Ye Jiluo Rong could only hand over his direct lineage to Zhou Fan to engage in bloody hand-to-hand combat.
Zhou Fan's new annexed army of 50,000 troops was formed by incorporating the surrendered troops from Xuanzhen into other surrendered troops and minzhuang.
After the establishment of the new military household system, the status of soldiers was improved, and there were few cases of deprivation of food and pay in the army. Therefore, the morale and combat effectiveness of the new annexed army were improved compared to before the surrender, but Zhou Fan's troops
Those who can be called elite are mostly the Xuanzang border troops who surrendered with him, and the total number is only more than 20,000. Even with more than 20,000 people, not all of them will fight to the death in battle.
The Yandong Zhuhu originated from the white mountains and black waters, with Bulun Mountain as their ancestral home. They were born fishing and hunting in their early years. They were not nomadic people in the traditional sense. The white cloak army under Ye Ji Luorong actually fought on horseback and on foot.
The experienced warriors and tigers who fought in hundreds of battles were all brave men who fought to the death in exchange for achievements in order to win the world for Bei Yan, and the armor they wore and the bows and swords they carried were the best among the Yan Bei army.
The white-cloaked elites were integrated into the siege troops and horses, forming a sharp knife-like front. They went up the siege road and stabbed the already precarious Nanyang city defense with bleeding wounds one after another, causing rapid casualties among the defenders.
rise.
With Ye Jiluorong standing on the viewing platform, Shewenzhuang watched groups of soldiers and horses constantly stand up at the top of the city, and started a hand-to-hand battle with the defenders for the top of the city. The defenders were defeated steadily, secretly feeling that Beiyan
A clan is built by war, a country is built by war. The elite tigers and warriors tempered by hundreds of bloody battles are indeed extraordinary elites. I thought that if this offensive continued, the Nanyang garrison would continue to bleed. Even if Liang Chengchong died, he would not withdraw from Nanyang.
Even if we leave, we won't be able to hold on for a few days.
Ye Ji Luorong stood on the railing and said to Zhou Fan: "It's been a long time since we massacred the city. Send the order. After the city is broken, the siege army will be allowed to slaughter and plunder for three days before heading south!"
After listening to Ye Jiluorong's order, Shewenzhuang's heart felt like a dry well, motionless.
Hu Wenmu Dang would not give up Jingzhou easily, but he had to cross the Han River, go south from Xiangyang, and have Dangyang (Jingmen) cities in front of him before he could reach Jingzhou City.
Although Hu Wenmu used Dangyang to defend Jingzhou's outer fortifications and did not have many troops stationed there, it would still take a lot of time to capture them one by one.
If the enemies of Dangyang were to delay Bei Yan's march into Jingzhou, they might have the main force of the Huaidong Army cross the river before them and form an encirclement at Hanjin (now Hankou).
Now in Hanjin, Yang Xiong has more than 10,000 naval troops who are also defending the city and blocking the Han River. Although after taking Wuguan, Ye Jiluorong ordered Sun Jichang, one of the eight commanders of the new annexed army, to lead 15,000 infantry and cavalry to Hanjin.
Jin sent reinforcements to strengthen the defense on the southern front; even if Sun Jichang could arrive at Hanjin in time, the strength of Hanjin was far from enough to fight with the main force of the Huaidong Army in the open area between Hanjin east and Qichun.
Huaidong's troops in Jiangzhou at this time included nearly 40,000 water infantry. After Huaidong's water infantry in Ganzhou, Yuanzhou, Fuzhou and even Jiangning were transferred to Jiangzhou, Lin Fu was stationed in Jiangzhou.
The total force that can be mobilized to attack Hanjin can reach up to 100,000.
If the main force of the Huaidong Army is asked to cross the river first to form an encirclement in the Hanjin area, and their route south to Jingzhou is blocked by Dangyang and other cities, then they will have no choice but to abandon Jingzhou and go south along the east bank of the Han River to liberate Hanjin.
Wai.
The massacre of Nanyang was to frighten the defenders of Dangyang into not daring to resist stubbornly.
The massacre of Nanyang was to make the newly attached troops and the She family generals who had just surrendered become more bloodthirsty, let go of their ideological baggage, and let go of the illusion that surrendering to Huaidong would escape liquidation.
Zhou Fan was ordered to go to the front line to supervise the battle. Ye Jiluorong said to Shewenzhuang: "We have carefully discussed the military food matter with the King of Fujian..."
Wenzhuang responded and followed Ye Ji Luorong back to the main tent.
After capturing Nanyang, they crossed the Han River to attack Jingzhou, most notably Ye Ji Luorong. The problem Shewenzhuang had was not the lack of troops, nor the large-scale Huaidong Army gathering in Jiangzhou with the intention of crossing the river to the north, but the raising of grain and grass.
This time the attack on Nanyang was very hasty, but in order to gain time, Luo Xiancheng was prompted to surrender and send troops to contain Huaixi, so the war in Nanyang had to be started in July.
Fortunately, Chen Zhihu defeated the soldiers and horses that followed Liang Chengyi and retreated south from Hezhong Prefecture in Beiru River and intercepted a large amount of grain. Only then could Ye Ji Luorong lead a main force of hundreds of thousands of infantry and cavalry to immediately attack Nanyang from the western Henan area.
In the past, the Northern Yan soldiers and horses were accustomed to snatching food from the battlefield to replenish the army. However, all the prefectures in Henan were in ruins, and Nanyang and Huaixi carried out thorough clearing before the war. It was impossible for the Northern Yan soldiers and horses to raise food from the local area after entering.
Enough food.
For this war on the Western Front, Emperor Ye Ji'er of the Mandate of Heaven specially transferred Zuo Chengzheng and Fan Lan to Luoyang, Hezhong Prefecture to take charge of the food and salary matters for the Western Route Army.
Although production in Yanji and Jinzhong has recovered relatively well in recent years, and they were able to grit their teeth and raise an additional one million shi of grain for the war on the Western Front a year ago, transporting this grain from the banks of the Yellow River to Nanyang is not an easy task.
The water system of the Yellow River leading to the south mainly converges into the Huaihe River. River transportation can be used to transport grain southward. The safer route is to transport grain and grass from Jinzhong and Yanji to Luoyang, and then transfer them from Luoyang to Nanyang.
There is no direct waterway from Luoyang to Nanyang via Ruyang, and the Yishui, Rushui, Shashui and other water systems have to be cut off. If you want to mobilize one million shi of grain from Yanji and Jinzhong to Luoyang, you have to go
Transporting it southward by land to Nanyang was a great test for Beiyan's newly established logistics system.
It is about 700 miles from Fangcheng to Luoyang. Different from the rush march, it takes 20,000 civilians and thousands of mules and horses to transport grain back and forth between Luoyang and Fangcheng, which takes about a month.
Walking back and forth once a month, you can only transport 110,000 shi of grain to Fangcheng, and nearly 20,000 shi of grain will be consumed on the way.
Naturally, Ye Ji Luorong cannot be satisfied with such logistical capacity, but no one can do it better than Fan Lan.
After a large amount of consumption in the early stage of the war, the current grain reserves in Fangcheng and Ruyang are only 60,000 to 70,000 dans. When the next batch of grain is shipped, the grain reserves will not exceed 100,000 dans. It should be said that it is not enough to support more than ten people.
After capturing Nanyang, ten thousand troops immediately went south to attack Jingzhou.
Therefore, it is necessary to use its channels to prepare more food and grass in Xiangyang for the upcoming Jingxiang war.
At this time, food was being raised in Xiangyang from three sources: one was from Xiangfan, the other was from Suizhou, and the third was from the Guanzhong area via Wuguan.
However, these three places are not places with surplus grain. Shewenzhuang itself is not sure how much grain can be raised in a short period of time.
However, in Ye Jiluorong's eyes, the most difficult period is not too difficult. It is already early August.
In the Jingxiang area, including Suizhou and Xiangfan areas, wheat is grown in spring and matures in autumn. By mid-to-late September, a large amount of autumn grain can be obtained on the Jinghan Plain to supplement the shortage of military food. It only needs to be harvested.
Previously, if we could raise enough 200,000 shi of food in Xiangyang, we could support the early stage of the invasion of Jingzhou.
However, regarding the food issue, Shewenzhuang is not as optimistic as Ye Jiluorong thought.
Luo Xiancheng sent troops from Tongbai Mountain to attack Huaixi, and a large number of young men were recruited into the army. Suizhou's farming system was almost in a semi-abandoned state after June. Even if there was food grown in the fields, it would not be ready until the tenth month of autumn.
A large number of people were sent to harvest in a few days. In order to supplement the horse food for the war horses, the war horses gnawed the young crops outside Nanyang City. From Xinye to Fancheng, it was the strategic buffer zone between Nanyang and Suizhou. The cultivation of grain fields was very poor, and from Xiangyang
The plain on the east bank of the Han River all the way to Hanjin (Hankou) in the south has been in ruins for several years. After the remnants of the She family entered, it was not possible to clear up the wasteland and cultivate crops in a short time.
Not to mention that at the moment, even when autumn is ripe, the food that can be obtained from Xiangfan and Suizhou will not be too much. I am afraid that to supplement Luo Xiancheng's own troops and horses, there will be a serious shortage; the situation in Guanzhong will definitely not be better than that in Suizhou.
In the end, the transportation capacity from Luoyang to Nanyang must be strengthened to provide food for the campaign.
As long as the grain can enter Nanyang, it can enter the Han River through the Feishui River and go south to the front line. Another option is to raise grain from the periphery of Jingzhou.
From Dangyang to the south and Jingzhou to the north, between the Han River and Jingshan Mountain, is the main wheat-growing area in Jinghu. The farming situation is also better. After the autumn ripening, some grain should be raised.
Shewenzhuang analyzed many things in detail with Ye Jiluorong and said: "From what I see, the transportation of grain from Luoyang to Nanyang is still too slow. Ten thousand troops and horses should be deployed to make up for the lack of transportation capacity.
Maybe it won’t delay the next Jingxiang war..."
When it comes to food, Ye Jiluorong will not be careless.
However, even if there is not enough grain to be raised from Jingxiang when the autumn is ripe, Ye Jiluo Rong believes that as long as Nanyang is captured, the passage from Luoyang to Nanyang via Ruyang and then to Fancheng will be smooth, and the passage to the south from Xiangyang will be smooth.
Energy is still being transported continuously to the Jingxiang front line. Perhaps the transport capacity needs to be increased.