Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-One: Commanding the Army in Zhengyang
At noon the next day, Zhao Hongrun ordered to continue advancing towards Zhengyang County south of Runan.
However, due to the critical geographical location of Runan County, Zhao Hongrun left part of his troops in Runan to defend the city in case of sudden situations.
After all, if Runan is lost, even if Shangcai is still in the hands of the Wei army, it will still be difficult for Zhao Hongrun to return to Wei.
Therefore, Zhao Hongrun is bound to have Runan and Shangcai firmly in his hands. As long as these two cities are firmly in his hands, Zhao Hongrun will have a way out at any time, so that his army will not be trapped in the Chu State.
Trapped in a quagmire and unable to get out.
Precisely because of Runan's strategic geographical location, Zhao Hongrun did not hesitate to keep the Junshui Army's shooting battalion and an infantry battalion. He expected 10,000 elite Wei soldiers to guard Runan, even if there were
The Chu army came to attack, but could not capture the city for a while.
However, afterwards, Zhao Hongrun thought about it and left the Xiaoqi battalion of the Junshui Army behind.
It's not that he doesn't trust the 10,000 Wei soldiers, it's just that the road to Zhengyang has already been blocked by heavy snow, and the cavalry's combat ability in the snow is undoubtedly greatly reduced. Therefore, Zhao Hongrun hopes to do everything possible.
Preserve the strength of this cavalry team. After all, Wei is not as good as South Korea, and cavalry is also a very precious weapon. As the saying goes, good iron must be used on the blade.
In this way, Zhao Hongrun's dredging army and Wei soldiers who sent their troops south this time only had two infantry battalions led by generals Li Wei and Wu Bi, with a total of 10,000 Wei infantry.
As for the long-range strike methods, with the temporary loss of the accurate shooting battalion, Zhao Hongrun only had nearly a thousand crossbowmen on the two hundred tanks under his command, which can be said to have shrunk a lot.
But this is enough. After all, the main force attacking Zhengyang County this time is not the Junshui Camp, but the 35,000-square-meter army led by the surrendered general Qu Cheng. Zhao Hongrun thought about it and finally decided to let these Chu
People have to figure it out on their own.
Because Zhao Hongrun felt that due to the sensitive issue of different origins, it would be better for the Wei soldiers to reduce the number of killings in the Chu State as much as possible, because this could easily arouse the Chu people's sentiments of sharing the same hatred. On the contrary, if the Pingyang army was asked to attack Zhengyang
, not only will those Chu people be less likely to resist "foreign invasion", but they may also gain other benefits.
Under the command of Qu Cheng, the 35,000-square-meter Yang army was divided into three branches. Qu Cheng personally led the 15,000-square-meter Yang army to capture Zhengyang County, leaving Zuo Xunxi and Huayu to lead 10,000 troops.
The troops captured Queshan County and then defeated Gongye. General Zuoqiu Mu also led 10,000 troops to capture Xincai County.
Zhao Hongrun, on the other hand, led an army of 10,000 dredgers, far behind.
If it goes well, he won't even have to go through the battle of siege the city and can enjoy the results.
Arrangements like this made Zhao Hongrun feel how relaxed and comfortable he felt when Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, launched a large-scale attack on the Wei State, and sent his four armies to attack in the front, while he himself sat comfortably in the rear.
The so-called thirty years in Hedong and thirty years in Hexi. Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng, once led four armies to attack Wei. Now, it is Zhao Hongrun's turn to lead three armies to attack Chu. No, if you include Gu Liangwei and Wuma Jiao
, the 15,000 Pingyang army led by Wu Ji and three others was attacking Pingyu County. Zhao Hongrun also led a four-pronged army to attack Chu.
I have to say that this is somewhat ironic. In just a few months, the offensive and defensive momentum of Chu and Wei was completely reversed.
"After passing the hills in front, we are almost within the boundaries of Zhengyang County."
This time, Yan Mo, the general of the Pingyang Army, still did not accompany the army. He still followed Zhao Hongrun, helping to guide the 10,000 Wei troops in the Junshui Camp.
After all, Zhao Hongrun's army was about twenty miles behind Qu Cheng's army. In such an environment where roads were blocked by heavy snow, without a Chu man who was familiar with the local area to guide the way, they would easily get lost. It would be unnecessary for the Wei soldiers to walk an extra mile. Wrongful road.
"I can't wait to meet those big clans that are so wealthy that they have the money to build their own cities..."
Zhao Hongrun took a sip of hot water into his gradually freezing hands, rubbed his hands vigorously, and then held the cold horse rein again.
The weather was so cold that heavy snow was still falling from the sky. Such extremely bad weather was originally not conducive to the march, but there was no way, because if they could not conquer Yangcheng Jun Xiong Tuo's territory as soon as possible, they would have to wait for them The news that the Wei army had invaded Chu reached the ears of the Chu court. By then, the Wei army's attack would become even more difficult.
Therefore, no matter what, we must capture as much Chu territory as possible before the King of Chu and the Chu court learn the latest news, move the Chu population on this land to Runan, and then find a way to get from Runan Next to Ru River, the people of Chu were transported to the territory of Wei by water, and this method of population plunder was used to increase the national base of Wei.
Fortunately, even if they marched against the Chu army in such a harsh environment, the morale of the Wei army under Zhao Hongrun was still very high.
It’s no wonder, after all, the territory under the rule of Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, has almost no resistance at the moment. Therefore, their Wei army invaded Chu State just to reap the benefits after the war. I believe any Wei army will be able to do this. The blood boils.
In fact, not only the morale of the Wei soldiers was high, but also the soldiers of the Pingyang Army did not raise any objections to rushing on the snowy day. After all, Zhao Hongrun had already told them that after capturing Xiong Tuo and those of the big clans, After the city, they will also have a share of the property collected. I believe this sentence is enough to make the soldiers of the Pingyang Army forget the harsh weather and the pain of marching across mountains and rivers.
"Your Highness, the city ahead of us should be the Peng family's city."
After passing through a mountain pass between hills, Yan Mo pointed forward and reminded.
"Hmm." Zhao Hongrun squinted his eyes and looked forward.
Although the visibility was not high when the snow was falling, he could still see a city standing vaguely in the distance ahead.
When the army approached, Zhao Hongrun took a look and found that although the scale of this city was far from that of a county town like Runan, the city's defenses were no less impressive.
I saw that the city wall was more than one foot high, but its length was hard to see at the end.
According to Yan Mo, the city wall of the Peng clan was more than two miles long, which amazed Zhao Hongrun.
You must know that a city of this size, placed in Dawei, is like a small county with a population of nearly a thousand households.
But here, it is just the family castle of the Peng family.
"How many people are there in the Peng clan? Is it necessary to build such a big city?" Zhao Hongrun asked in disbelief.
"It's not just the Peng family that lives there." Yan Mo answered with a pointed finger: "There are also farmers and domestic slaves of the Peng family living in this city... Your Highness, look over there." He raised his finger and pointed away. It is a fairly vast flat snowfield outside the city.
Zhao Hongrun glanced in the direction Yan Mo pointed, with a hint of confusion on his face. He didn't understand the special meaning of Yan Mo's gesture.
Seeing this, Yan Mo whispered: "That turned out to be a grain field."
"..." Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but widen his eyes when he heard this, thinking that the grain field was too big, right?
"Around the city?" he asked in surprise.
Yan Mo nodded, confirming Zhao Hongrun's guess: Yes, the open spaces outside the city are all cultivated fields.
Zhao Hongrun opened his mouth in amazement. He became more and more suspicious that the city in front of him was actually a county town, rather than just a city belonging to the Peng family as Yan Mo said.
"It seems that this place has been captured by General Qu Cheng."
Yan Mo took a few glances at the city wall of Pengcheng and found simple white flags on the wall. On the white flags were written huge words Ping Yang Jun Qu in ink, and said lightly with some emotion.
Zhao Hongrun did not speak, but led 10,000 Wei soldiers from the Dredging Battalion to carefully approach the gate of the city.
He found that the city gate was now wide open, and when they approached, the soldiers wearing Chu army leather armor on the city wall did not make any hostile moves. It suddenly dawned on him: These Chu soldiers turned out to be Pingyang Army.
Sure enough, when the Wei soldiers from the Junshui Camp behind Zhao Hongrun officially entered the city, the "Chu soldiers" on the city wall did not make any move to attack. On the contrary, there were even several generals waiting at the city gate, waiting for Zhao Hongrun and others. 's arrival.
"The last general, Hou Bai, of Pingyang Army, respectfully welcomes His Royal Highness King Su."
The Chu general kowtowed and saluted in front of Zhao Hongrun's horse.
Zhao Hongrun took a few cursory glances at the city and saw that the city was empty. It was hard to imagine that there were 15,000 soldiers under Qu Cheng's command stationed here, so he asked out of curiosity: "Is Qu Cheng in the city?"
Hou Bai cupped his fists and bowed his hands in salute, saying, "General Qu Cheng has gone to the next clan city. He asked General Mo to station two thousand men here to greet His Royal Highness King Su."
It seems that Qu Cheng is very hardworking...
Zhao Hongrun smiled and shook his head.
You must know that the Peng clan is a big clan that is so wealthy that it owns its own family city. However, after Qu Cheng found a way to conquer this place, he had no intention of taking away the wealth of the Peng clan. Instead, he continued to attack in a hurry. The next big clan, this means that Qu Cheng has great ambitions and he is eager to make achievements in this battle that are unmatched by others.
As for what he plans to use this meritorious service to pursue, although Zhao Hongrun is not interested in guessing, he has already thought of it in his heart.
"Okay, I will keep your merits in mind. Now, I will take care of this city..."
Just as Zhao Hongrun was about to announce that he would take over the city, suddenly, a burst of screams came from the city, and soon there was a noise of people.
…
Zhao Hongrun frowned.
When Yan Mo and General Hou Bai heard the noisy screams, their expressions changed drastically, because they were so familiar with that kind of shouting and killing, as if they had once captured Wei. When he was occupying the country's city, he allowed his soldiers to burn, kill, and loot.
"Walk!"
Zhao Hongrun shouted in a deep voice, and led the 10,000 Wei soldiers from the dredging camp under his command to quickly move towards the depths of the city where the sound came from.
From the side, Yan Mo gritted his teeth bitterly and followed closely behind Zhao Hongrun.
Damn it, I hope those guys don’t really do something like that. Otherwise, those bastards will really embarrass the Chu people in front of King Su... (To be continued.)