Chapter 938 : Three North Plains Ten Heroes Appeared!
In fact, before the "Battle of Hyunshi City", the food situation of King Su's army had already begun to be tense. However, at that time, Zhao Hongrun prioritized defeating Bao Yuan and Jin Bo, two Korean generals who were ranked among the top ten tycoons of Beiyuan.
Therefore, we did not consider the issue of military rations.
To be precise, the food problem was not critical at that time, because Zhao Hongrun planned to withdraw his troops at that time, but he knew very well that if he ordered the withdrawal immediately, then Han General Bao Yuan would definitely follow them like a hunting wolf.
The swarm bites the prey bite after bite.
Therefore, Zhao Hongrun hoped to find a way to severely damage the light cavalry of the Storm Kite Army before withdrawing his troops.
The attack on Xuansheng City was actually just to draw out the 30,000 cavalrymen of the Baoyuan Army. Otherwise, what would Zhao Hongrun do with such an enclave when his retreat was cut off?
Unexpectedly, the result of the "Battle of Hyun's City" was even better than he expected. Not only did he severely damage Han General Bao Yuan's 30,000 cavalry, but they also defeated Han General Jin Mao, another ten tycoons of the North Plains.
Capturing the city of Xuans in one go inevitably made Zhao Hongrun a little distraught - in this case, should he retreat according to the original plan?
You must know that to the north of Xuushi City is Changzi City, which is a very key strategic city in Shangdang County. It extends in all directions and is a hub city connecting the south and north of Shangdang County. Its strategic significance is equivalent to Linfen and Linfen in the west of Hedong County.
Anyi.
Moreover, Changzi City was also a city that once belonged to the Wei State.
Zhao Hongrun didn't know exactly how many years ago, Changzi City belonged to his Wei State and was the bridgehead for his Wei State's confrontation with South Korea across the mountain in Shangdang County.
During those years, South Korea's cavalry was not as powerful as it is today, and infantry and crossbowmen were still the main force of the South Korean army.
At that time, the confrontation between Wei and South Korea mainly took place on the mountain plank road on the northeast side of Changzi City. In order to attack Changzi City, South Korea built a mountain plank road across the Taihang Mountains from "Maocheng" in the west of Handan County.
started a long local war.
In order to block the army from Handan County in South Korea, the Wei people built a pass in the northeast of Changzi City, which was the once famous "Hu Pass".
Over the long years, Changzi City supported Shangdangnan County of Wei State, allowing the Wei people to sit on this fertile land including Xuushi City.
But later, "Hu Pass" was lost, and "Changzi City" was also lost. The Wei people had no choice but to evacuate southward and rebuild the passes in the area where "Tianmen Pass" and "Mengmen Pass" are today.
Later, the Wei State also lost the "Tianmen Pass" and "Mengmen Pass", completely losing the fertile land of Shangdang.
Therefore, as a Wei person and the prince of the Wei State, Zhao Hongrun actually very much hopes to help his country regain the lost land. It is for this reason that he brought Wei and South Korea into Shangdang County more than a hundred years ago.
Print out the ancient maps from the confrontation period and take them with you.
But now, Zhao Hongrun has captured Xuun City, and Changzi City is right in front of him. Zhao Hongrun hopes to send his army north to recapture Changzi City, a city that once belonged to their Wei Kingdom.
However, the army under his command was out of food.
The daily ration consumption of one hundred thousand King Su's troops is equivalent to a hill made of grain, which is quite exaggerated.
The logistics transportation of King Su's army took the route of Pilao Pass: in Wei State, a team of civilians transporting military grains jointly organized by the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War would continuously transport grains to the front line. First, they would be transported to Linfen.
’, then from Linfen County through Tang County, Pilao Pass, and finally transported to King Su’s army.
It is worth mentioning that the military rations of King Su's army were generally based on "fast food" or "ready-to-eat" foods, such as fried rice, mutton cakes, dried meat, etc.
This was advocated by Zhao Hongrun. After all, the King Su's army under his command was well-trained and equipped with Wei's most advanced weapons and equipment, so its offensive power was very powerful. This resulted in the King Su's army often being able to conquer several places in a row within a few days.
Because of this, some people think that a certain King Su is good at quick attack and long-range attacks.
But the result of this is that the supply of logistical food and grass is insufficient. Maybe at a certain period, the speed of the civilian team responsible for transporting food was not even as fast as the speed of King Su's army attacking the city on the front line.
In order to avoid delaying the fighter plane, Zhao Hongrun advocated instant military rations, using fried rice, mutton cakes, dried meat and other foods that were easy to store and did not spoil easily.
It is undeniable that this kind of fried rice fried in lard or mutton cake fried in mutton oil is easy to carry and resistant to hunger. A soldier often eats a small handful of fried rice or a piece of mutton cake to last for a whole day.
All day. Needless to say about dried meat, a small piece of dried meat that is as hard as a stone can be chewed by a soldier for a whole day, as if it is not to fill his stomach, but to grind his teeth.
.
Especially when this kind of instant food is mixed with hot water, the soldiers will feel bloated in their stomachs after taking only two mouthfuls and no longer feel hungry.
It is precisely for this reason that King Su's army, which had only supplied supplies once in Tang County, was able to persist for more than 20 days after penetrating deep into Shangdang County with the food route cut off.
But unfortunately, this is already the limit. If Zhao Hongrun can't find a way to get food, then King Su's army will have no choice but to consider withdrawing their troops, let alone continuing to attack Changzi City in the north.
However, due to the special historical significance of Changzi City, Zhao Hongrun hesitated.
You must know that King Su's army was able to capture the city of Xuans at a very small cost this time because he used hundreds of barrels of water to scare Jin Piao's army in the city, scaring those Jin Piao soldiers who had been attacked by oil barrel bombs into frightened birds and went out.
Yu feared and abandoned the city wall. Otherwise, even Yan Mo would not have been able to seize the city of Xuans from the hands of Han general Jin Bo so easily.
If the entire army had to retreat this time due to food problems and hand over the captured Xuushi City to South Korea, would the Wei army be able to capture this city at such a small cost in the future?
Some people may think that King Su's army possesses strategic-level war weapons such as oil barrel bombs, and capturing the city of Hyunshi is not a problem at all.
But the problem is that the area around Xunshi City is very fertile land in this basin, and oil will cause serious pollution after burning. What Zhao Hongrun wants is to be complete and able to be planted.
A land of crops, not a dead land without vegetation.
Call him selfish, but he is unwilling to use weapons such as oil barrel bombs on land that may become his own territory.
It was enough to turn the originally fertile land that could grow crops into a dead land without any grass. This kind of stupid thing was done once in Henan City, the former residence of the Jiejiao tribe in Sanchuan County.
After thinking about it, Zhao Hongrun felt very entangled: he was not willing to hand over the Xuanshi City easily, but his reason made him understand that after severely damaging the 30,000 Qingqi of the Storm Kite Army, his army should retreat bravely and rely on the strength of the victory.
Escape quickly and cheaply so that it's not too late to retreat.
Unexpectedly, but within reason, Zhao Hongrun finally decided to withdraw his troops. After all, he was not someone who was obsessed with the gains and losses of one city or one place. His priority was the situation of his Su Wang Army.
But his generals couldn't understand this decision.
In fact, it's not that it's incomprehensible. To be precise, this emotion should be one of depression and annoyance.
Thinking about it, their King Su army clearly defeated two powerful Korean generals, Bao Yuan and Jin Bo, but they had to retreat due to food and fodder problems. It was as if they had lost a battle. Who would feel better?
In a sense, King Su's army defeated the powerful Korean army tactically, but lost strategically.
The strategic "loss" was not because of Zhao Hongrun, but because the friendly forces did not follow up. To put it bluntly, it was Zhao Yuanzuo, the king of Nanliang outside Tianmen Pass, who failed to pose a sufficient threat to Tianmen Pass. Otherwise, how would Baoyuan dare to follow?
Tianmen Pass mobilizes troops and horses to cut off King Su's army's return route?
The so-called "crime other than war" refers to this situation.
Having said that, in fact, at the military council, several generals hesitated to speak.
In fact, many generals of King Su's army felt that at this time, they should give priority to the issue of military rations, collect military rations by all means, and then use these rations to counterattack Tianmen Pass or march troops to Changzi City.
During a war, what does it mean to rob the enemy's civilians of food? Isn't victory the first priority?
Some generals even thought of more vicious measures, such as using the Korean people in Hyun City as military rations.
But in front of His Highness Prince Su, they did not dare to mention it at all, not to mention any more vicious measures, not even to mention robbing enemy civilians of food.
Because the military regulations of the Su Wang Army clearly state that unless they are attacked by enemy civilians and there are casualties among soldiers, then the Su Wang Army reserves the right to find the murderer and execute him in public; otherwise, the Su Wang Army will not
It is allowed to do anything that infringes on the personal safety and property of civilians in the enemy country.
"War, let the civilians go away", this is the principle pursued by a certain King Su.
However, just when King Su's army was preparing to evacuate south, the situation suddenly changed again.
First of all, the remaining 15,000 cavalry of the Baoyuan Army, which had been severely damaged, changed their previous aggressive attitude in front of the Wei army and began to implement harassment tactics of multiple small groups of cavalry.
It has to be said that this is the conventional tactic used by light cavalry to deal with infantry. The practice of cavalry attacking infantry like the "Battle of Xuushi City" is very wasteful in Zhao Hongrun's opinion - yes, it is not stupid, but wasteful.
The strategic use of the light cavalry was wasted.
But now, Han general Baoyuan suffered a heavy loss from the Wei army, and finally reacted, trying to use endless harassment and sneak attack tactics to contain King Su's army in the area of Xuushi City.
"Ignore him!"
After learning about this incident, Zhao Hongrun felt annoyed, but he had no good solution. After all, the light cavalry was a cunning unit. If he had a light cavalry in his hands, he would also use this trick to defeat the Korean army.
There is nothing to praise or criticize about wanting to be immortal and dying.
The only thing Zhao Hongrun could do was to have all the troops under his command be on alert to be prepared for a sneak attack by the light cavalry of the Storm Kite Army.
But a few days later, when King Su's army cut the meat of more than ten thousand dead horses into dried meat, and prepared to evacuate south with the few grains stored in the granary in the Xuans' city, the Qingya soldiers sent out
Suddenly, a report came that there was a Korean army in the north, consisting of infantry and cavalry, and they were quickly heading towards Hyunshi City.
Half a day later, Zhao Hongrun climbed onto the wall of Hyun City and looked to the northwest. Sure enough, he saw a large Korean army arriving here.
"It came so quickly..."
Zhao Hongrun frowned.
According to the information he learned from several noble families in the city, there was only one person who could come to support so quickly and hold such a large number of mixed infantry and cavalry troops.
That is the Han general who is stationed in Changzi City, one of the ten tycoons of Beiyuan, and the chief garrison of Shangdang County, Feng Ting.