A dozen brown-armored cavalry were galloping towards Tieguling. They were Zhao Wuji's men who set off directly from Xiangcheng last night and headed north to scout out the enemy's situation.
"In addition to the more than two hundred Liang troops stationed in Neixiang City, there are also two Liang troops, each with about five hundred people, heading towards Neixiang City. They are less than thirty miles apart." Zhao Wuji turned over and stood down.
After reporting the enemy situation in the direction of the inner village, he took off the leather bag from his waist and drank a gulp of it to quench his thirst after running all the way.
They penetrated into the area controlled by Liang Jun last night, which was very difficult.
There were two generals behind Zhao Wuji. Their shoulders and armpits were pierced by iron arrows, and their faces were pale. They could only cut off the arrow shafts on the way, and had to wait until the campsite to pull out the arrows to stop the bleeding and heal their injuries.
Han Qian personally walked over and saw that the wounds of the two wounded soldiers were not small. The medical officer put down the alcohol in his hand and used light salt water made from refined salt to clean the wounds, and then wrapped them with steamed gauze to prevent the wounds from ulceration.
The army has gold medicine to stop bleeding and remove blood clots, but the medicines used are expensive medical materials and are difficult to popularize. Only military attachés and generals can use them.
Ordinary generals' wound treatment was quite crude, even so crude as to use plant ash to stop bleeding. As a result, in the great wars of that time, the main cause of failure or retreat was uncontrolled injuries and diseases, rather than direct casualties.
Han Qian knew that both alcohol and light salt water could be used to clean wounds, and he also knew the importance of maintaining personal hygiene. However, whether it was high-purity alcohol, high-purity salt, or soap obtained by solidifying grease with salt water, it was difficult for him to do so.
Mass production, therefore these methods can only be promoted within Zuosi for the time being.
Liang Jun marched towards Neixiang City in large numbers. Li Zhigao's idea of retaking Neixiang City and waiting for Gao Chengyuan to lead his troops to reinforce it had already come to nothing.
"It seems that Du Yuhou can only use this ruined stronghold to resist Liang Jun's offensive..."
Han Qian pointed to a ruined village located at the northern foot of Tieguling Ridge on the topographic map, four miles away from the river beach, and said to Li Zhigao.
This remnant village is not big. It was a village before it was abandoned. However, the terrain not only backs it from Tieguling, but also has a river originating from Funiu Mountain to the north and flowing around the west side of Neixiang City into the Danjiang River.
Surrounded by mountains and rivers, the remnant stronghold was slightly reorganized. Only the east side could allow Liang Jun to launch an attack; and they could use warships to reinforce the remnant stronghold without having to worry about their retreat being cut off by Liang Jun.
"Deng Tai, you immediately take my general's seal and go to Jingzikou to order Zhou Tong. After receiving the order, Hao Zixia immediately led his troops to Tiecrocodile Ridge to meet me." Li Zhigao waved to a guard leader and signed the military order on his horse.
Afterwards, he handed him the token hanging around his waist and ordered him to rush back to Jingzikou immediately.
"General Gaodu is about to lead his troops over, and Iron Crocodile Ridge may be left to their defense." Deng Tai, the leader of the personal guards, glanced at Han Qian and suggested to Li Zhigao hesitantly.
"You've been raising fat for how many years. Who can fight in this battle? Who can't fight? Even a blind dog can still see clearly?" Li Zhigao was not in a good temper at this time. He scolded Deng Tai and urged Deng Tai to take care of him.
The man returned to Jingzi and passed on the order orally.
Han Qian nodded slightly. He had previously been worried that Li Zhigao would not be willing to use his direct troops to fight a tough battle, but if Li Zhigao did not assume the responsibility of guarding Tie Crocodile Ridge and instead passed it on to Gao Chengyuan, the problem would become more serious.
This is not to say that Gao Chengyuan, who was personally assigned by Emperor Tianyou as a general beside the third prince, did not dare to fight a tough battle. In fact, there was a huge gap in combat power between the first capital led by Li Zhigao and the fourth capital led by Gao Chengyuan.
The Dragon Bird Army has five capitals. The first capital is Li Zhigao, who is the adopted son of Xinchanghou Li Pu. The second capital is headed by Zhou Shu, who is one of the leaders of Xinchanghou Li Pu’s family soldiers. The third capital is Duyuhou.
However, Li Mingsheng is the nephew of Xinchanghou Li Pu. These three people were originally direct descendants of Xinchanghou Mansion and Wanhonglou.
Since the establishment of the Dragon Bird Army, the first, second, and third capitals have all given priority to the fourth and fifth capitals led by Gao Chengyuan and Guo Liang, both in selecting soldiers and supplying materials.
Among them, the First Capital, headed by Li Zhigao, has the strongest combat power and has a full number of soldiers and horses. Not to mention that after the military remonstrance, the most elite guard battalions were dispersed and organized into the First Capital, and even had 700 horses.
War horse.
Entering Jingzikou from Wuguan, the road is narrow and steep. The three forts repaired at Jingzikou are relatively strong. Even if Liang Jun stormed from Wuguan, the pressure would be relatively smaller, but the Tiecrocodile Mountains heading north to
In Neixiang City, the hilly terrain is much gentler. What the Chu army can rely on is a remnant stronghold with thin walls and large areas of collapse. It would be very difficult to just defend the stronghold, and even require active attack. Since it is relatively narrow and dangerous,
It is much more difficult to attack Liang Jun in this place and prevent Liang Jun from daring to peek at Danjiang River.
…………
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Liang Jun gathered troops and horses towards Neixiang City very quickly. Before nightfall, the number of horse and infantry troops gathered near Neixiang City exceeded 3,000. The scouts also detected that Liang Jun was gathering from the direction of Xinye and Wancheng. It is difficult to determine for the time being.
Eventually the Liang army gathered in the inner city.
At this time, the five hundred civilians transferred by Han Qian from Canglang City also hurriedly landed ashore and were cutting down trees non-stop, building fences and walls, and blocking the gaps in the remaining village.
Gao Chengyuan led more than a hundred guards to arrive at Iron Crocodile Ridge later. The main force of 1,500 generals from the Fourth Capital came in by boat. It would take tomorrow at the earliest to arrive at Iron Crocodile Ridge.
"The Neixiang Liang Army stormed Tieguling, and it was impossible for the Wuguan Liang Army not to take action."
The full moon illuminated the sky, and groups of Liang Jun's horse and infantry dispersed and approached Tieguling. Li Zhigao stood on a high ground in the north of Canzhai with a pale face. Looking at all this, he said to Gao Chengyuan who hurriedly dismounted from his horse to see him,
"I can't go back to Jingzikou for the time being. I can only ask General Gao to go to Jingzikou and take charge of the defense there."
Li Zhigao mobilized another thousand elite troops. There are still two battalions left at Jingzikou plus one elite battalion of the Xiangzhou Army headed by Zhang Bao. It should be enough to defend Jingzikou. After all, Liang Jun's troops in Wuguan are not
There were many special situations, but he was worried that Zhang Bao, who was a direct descendant of Du Chongtao, might not be able to hold on to the city as he arranged if he was not in charge of Jingzikou, so he asked Gao Chengyuan to rush to Jingzikou to take charge.
Gao Chengyuan was a person close to Emperor Tianyou. If Zhang Bao dared to disobey orders and make any changes, Gao Chengyuan would kill him, and Du Chongtao would have nothing to say.
Li Zhigao actually wanted to switch defenses with Gao Chengyuan, and asked Gao Chengyuan to lead his troops to guard Jingzikou. He mobilized the elite of the First Capital to fight a potentially bloody defensive battle on the east bank of the Danjiang River.
Liang Jun has been fighting in the south and north for many years, and his combat effectiveness is quite strong. Gao Chengyuan does not show off his strength. For the time being, he left nearly a hundred guards in Tiecrocodile Ridge. He only took a dozen people on horseback and took the road to Jingzikou to take charge.
Gao Chengyuan temporarily left most of the guards in Tieguling. This arrangement was also because he was worried that Liang Jun might launch a surprise attack on the remaining stronghold in Tieguling at night. Li Zhigao would only have 500 generals in his hands, which would not be enough to resist. - Gao Chengyuan
There are nearly a hundred guards left, and they are also carefully selected elites.
Li Zhigao had too few troops at his disposal, only 600 men. He was worried that he would be in danger if he went out hastily, so he decided to hold on to the remaining stronghold and wait for subsequent reinforcements to be mobilized, and then make other decisions based on the development of the situation.
After arranging these, Han Qian did not stay in Tieguling to assist Li Zhigao in defending the stronghold. On the one hand, Li Zhigao was commanding such a large-scale war and there was no need for him to stay and give instructions. On the other hand, some Liang Jun scouts were already there.
The eastern foot of Heilong Mountain passes through.
Bypassing Black Dragon Mountain is Canglang City. Before he led Zuosi's scouts back, he only had 60 slave soldiers in Canglang City and nearly 300 civilians. Han Qian was worried that Canglang City would be lost, so he took a boat overnight to lead the army.
Tian Cheng, Xi Rong and others went down the Danjiang River and returned to Canglang City.
Han Qian rushed back to Canglang City at midnight. As expected, more than a hundred Liang Jun scouts and Ma Jun came through the narrow passage between Heilong Mountain and Han River and were patrolling in the snow to the east of Canglang City.
After a month and a half of rushing for work, and with the number of strong civilians who gathered later, the number increased to 800, Han Qian still rushed to build a hundred-foot-square earth city on the shore of Danhan.
Although the earth city is small - perhaps it is more appropriately called a walled city - the wall is made of rammed earth, with a thickness of six to eight feet at the bottom and three feet thick at the top. People and horses avoid entering the walled city unless
Liang Jun built siege equipment, but he was not afraid that the hundreds of Liang Jun scouts would dare to attack.
Seeing the speed at which Liang Jun gathered in Neixiang City today and the number of troops and horses, which was somewhat unexpected, Han Qian wrote a letter and took Lin Haizheng by boat back to Xiangzhou City to hand it over to the third prince and Shen Yang
, in addition to the fact that Gao Chengyuan's troops from the fourth capital have already moved westward along the Han River and may pass through Canglang City tomorrow morning, he hopes that the third prince, Shen Yang, can send 1,500 troops from Guo Liang's troops from the fifth capital to Xiang.
Niushou Village in the east of Zhoucheng was mobilized to move westward, as close as possible to Canglang City, in order to prevent the distance from being too far away when reinforcements from the west were needed.
After Han Qian entered the city, he summoned Xi Chang to inquire about the situation.
"Several small groups of Liang troops appeared outside the city at night, but when they saw that we were heavily guarded, they made no other move except circling the city and setting fire to some tents..." Xi Chang was also nervous for most of the night.
Sixty slave soldiers who have been trained for a month and a half are available. I really don't know how much combat power they have. I am afraid that Han Qian will stay in Tie Crocodile Ridge. He will not be able to defend Canglang City with these slave soldiers.
Han Qian, Tian Cheng, and Xi Yin led more than forty elite Zuosi scouts back, but Xi Chang was relieved, at least he could sleep peacefully today.
At this time, there was a commotion outside. Han Qian frowned and asked Xi Chang: "What's going on?"
"The people are clamoring to go back to the village," Xi Chang said.
During the day, Han Qian transferred 500 civilians from Canglang City to Tieguling. At that time, these civilians did not know that the war was approaching, but when they saw Liang Jun's troops and horses when they arrived at Tieguling, many civilians were in commotion. However, Zhang Zhigao was at Tieguling at this time.
There were six hundred elites inside, but they were able to suppress these civilians.
Han Qian did not expect that the three hundred civilians here in Canglang City were also clamoring to go back to their respective villages. He frowned and said to Tian Cheng and Xi Chang: "You went to appease these civilians and said that Liang Jun was just harassing this side."
, unable to attack the city - there are no ships here to send them across the river for the time being. When the Liang army retreats, they will be allowed to return to the stronghold to rest. At that time, each of them will be given five liters of salt. I will never owe them anything."
Canglang is located to the east of Dan River and north of Han River, while most of the villages are located in the high mountains to the west of Dan River or south of Han River. These people have to take a boat to cross the Dan River or Han River before they can return home.
Copycat; of course, no matter whether it was coaxing or deceiving, Han Qian could not let these strong men leave Canglang City at this time.
Han Qian ran around all day and night without closing his eyes. Tian Cheng, Xi Chang and the others were responsible for the trivial matters. He went back to his room, took off his armor and lay down on the bed, thinking that Liang Jun would launch an offensive on Tielu Mountain before noon tomorrow at the latest.
If there was no threat from Canglang City, he would still have to go to Tie Crocodile Ridge to see the progress of the war.
Han Qian vaguely heard the sound of bells and drums outside, and suddenly woke up. He sat up in confusion and heard Tian Cheng announcing from outside:
"A large force of Liang Jun is approaching!"
"How big is the large force of Liang Jun? How could there be a large force of Liang Jun coming to attack Canglang City?" Han Qian was surprised and suspicious. He took the fire paper to light the lamp, but in a hurry he knocked the oil lamp to the ground and smashed it into pieces.
At this time, the sky was slightly bright, and Han Qian didn't care too much. He hurriedly put on his coat, took his armor, sword and bow in his hand and walked out of the room.
At this time, Xi Rong had just put on his clothes and hurriedly came over to help Han Qian put on his armor.
"There are almost more than 400 Liang troops. The three scouts we arranged at the southeastern foot of Black Dragon Mountain have not come back to report. They must have been killed!" Tian Cheng said.
"So many Liang Jun?" Han Qian was startled.
Zuosi's elite scouts were still too few. Except for Fan Dahei who led a group of troops to stay in Tieguling and follow Li Zhigao's command, Han Qian was worried about the lack of manpower to guard Canglang City, so he gathered most of the scouts back, only in
There were three people left in the Black Dragon Mountain northeast of Canghai City. Unexpectedly, none of them could come back in time to report the news.