No one force can be monolithic. If the powerful families in Tanzhou were really inseparable from Ma Yin, Ma Xun and his son, the Ma family would not have had civil strife ten years ago and had to submit to Da Chu and ask Emperor Tianyou to send troops for help.
The rebellion was quelled.
At this time, the powerful families in Tanzhou followed Ma Yin, and Ma Xun and his son rebelled. In addition to Tanzhou's elite soldiers and horses being mainly in the hands of the Ma family and his direct generals, there are two key factors that cannot be ignored.
On the one hand, Emperor Tianyou purged local forces during the Jing-Xiang War, as well as Fan Wenlan and Kong Zhou's innocent disasters, which made the powerful families in Tanzhou worry that they would also be purged after the vassal reduction.
On the other hand, they believed that with the intervention of the Shu Army and the Liang Army, they could survive this battle, and Tanzhou would eventually establish an independent country, and they would all be able to be named marquises and prime ministers, and enjoy greater glory and wealth than ever before.
Although Han Qian is not interested in such "glory and wealth", it does not mean that everyone in the world can be as open-minded as he is.
However, as long as Yuanjiang Xingying's offensive is fierce and sharp enough, the powerful Tanzhou family, which has no integrity at all, will consider whether to continue to indulge in the fantasy of becoming a lord or prime minister, or make a new choice to avoid Tanzhou
After a disastrous defeat, he was destroyed along with the Ma family.
Just like Xiying and other Chenzhou powerful forces have made a new choice, as long as a powerful family in Tanzhou joins them, the balance of strength between the two sides will quickly open up, accelerate the demise of Tanzhou, and change the Liang army's gathering in Caizhou.
It's meaningless.
This was also a political offensive in addition to direct military operations. At this time, Shen Yang and Xinchang Marquis Lipu also used various channels and intermediaries to secretly contact powerful families in Tanyuelang, Shaoheng and other states to weaken their support for Ma Yin.
The power of father and son must end the feudal war as soon as possible.
In fact, the Tanzhou rebels were under the direct control of Ma Yin, his son, and his trusted generals, numbering only 40,000 people.
At this time, the other 50,000 troops gathered by the Tanzhou rebels were mainly rural soldiers drawn from more than 30 counties in five states after Ma Yin and his son declared separatism.
The generals of these rural soldiers were mainly descendants of powerful local families.
At present, the direct troops of the Tanzhou rebels are stationed in several major cities to prevent the military pressure exerted by the main force of the Chu army from three directions: Yuedong, Yuanzhou, and Jingzhou. In Wuling City, Ma Rong's headquarters is also in Tanzhou.
Direct-line soldiers with relatively strong combat effectiveness.
In addition to the Tanzhou navy, those who could be mobilized to reinforce Wuling City by land at this time were mainly rural soldiers drawn from the counties in the northwest of Tanzhou and the hinterland of Langzhou.
Although these reinforcements from the surrounding counties had reached about 10,000 by the end of April, they were mainly gathered in Qingyun Mountain and Caoyan Ridge outside Wuling City, but they did not dare to attack the northern foot of Huanglong Ridge.
As well as Zhou Pang who was stationed at the eastern foot, two elite troops from Zhou Shu entered the gates of Wuling City and met up with Ma Rong's troops.
The really fierce battles occurred below Wuling City. Li Zhigao led his troops and battalions to launch a strong attack on Wuling City from mid-April;
The generals of the state water camp conducted interception operations against the main force of the Tanzhou water camp that had been reinforced from Dongting Lake.
Since the rebels were in the north of Langzhou, all the troops in the central area were depleted. In early May, Zhang Feng sent his son Zhang Feng to lead an elite infantry force of 3,000 horses across the river brazenly.
Although no formal news has come back from Yang En's mission to Shu, the Shu army in Yiling remained silent in the face of Jingzhou's division of troops to move south.
Zhang Feng bypassed Jiang'an City, which was guarded by Ma Yuanheng, the governor of Langzhou, and led his troops to cross from the west of Jiang'an. In only ten days, he passed through the hills at the northeastern foot of Wuling Mountain and several large streams, and arrived at Caoyan Ridge.
Zhou Pang's troops attacked the 5,000 rebels stationed on the west slope of Caoyan Ridge and defeated them in just one day.
At this time, Zheng Hui personally led 3,000 soldiers, detoured back to Qingyun Mountain, and surrounded the 5,000 rebels stationed at the southern foot of Qingyun Mountain.
On May 11th, head with stone
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The rebels, who were mainly rural soldiers and gathered in Caoyan Ridge, chose to surrender under the leadership of General Zhang Han. Under the supervision of more than ten thousand elite Chu troops, they turned around and participated in the storming of Wuling City.
On May 14, the Chu army invaded Wuling City in three groups. General Ma Rong was surrounded in the back streets of the county government. Seeing that there was no hope of breaking out, he raised his sword and committed suicide. After that, less than 1,500 remnants of the Wuling defenders were left to choose.
Abandon weapons and surrender.
At this time, it was exactly a month since Li Zhigao led his troops to attack Wuling City and launched an siege.
Zheng Hui then led 8,000 elite troops from Zhou Shu, Zhou Pan, and Xiying, as well as more than 4,000 soldiers and horses from Zhang Han's tribe, and more than 15,000 naval officers from Fan Xiang's naval force.
The horse walked down the Yangtze River and rushed downstream to Langzhou Prefecture to govern Hanshou.
Hanshou is the most important city in the western plain of Dongting Lake. Only by successfully capturing Hanshou can we completely control the lower reaches of the Yuanshui River and the western plain of Dongting Lake.
At the same time, Li Zhigao, together with Zhang Feng, Zhang Feng's son, led 6,000 elite troops north to Jiang'an County on the south bank of the Yangtze River.
At this time, in Langzhou, except for the two thousand rebels who had not yet surrendered in Hanshou County, only Ma Yuanheng and his eight thousand water infantry troops were stationed in Jiang'an County, confronting Zhang Wei's troops who were guarding Jingzhou on the north bank.
In addition, Shishou and other Langzhou fortresses either chose to submit to the imperial court because of the surrender of Zhang Han and other generals, or because the defenders were exhausted and there were no soldiers to defend the city, the Chu army chose to plant a white flag on the top of the city before the Chu army arrived and chose to surrender.
Han Qian, Zhang Ping, Li Chong and others were temporarily responsible for staying in Wuling City, using Wuling City as a new logistics base to treat wounded soldiers, prisoners of war, and transport food and supplies.
Just after the city was captured, the city was still in chaos. Han Qian, Zhang Ping, Li Chong and others climbed onto the still intact wall on the south side of Wuling City to preside over the search of the city.
Looking around, the remains of the generals on both sides of the city have just been cleared and exhumed. There are mud pellets and stone bullets smashed by both sides with cyclone cannons everywhere. Except for the south city, which is slightly intact, the walls on the other three sides have collapsed and created gaps.
In a month's offensive and defensive battle, it was destroyed beyond recognition.
Some of the houses in the city were destroyed by cyclone cannons, but more were destroyed by fires intentionally lit by both the enemy and ourselves.
Burnt black corpses, thousands of refugees whose homes had been burned down and who had no land to shelter, wandered the streets in numbness or grief, waiting for inspection by the generals who entered the city to prevent rebels from hiding among them.
A few miles away in the Yuanjiang River, many destroyed warships sank into the river. Occasionally, ship masts could be seen sticking out of the river, subject to the impact of the river current.
During the frontal attack on Wuling City, Li Zhigao, Fanying and the subordinate Zhang Han suffered 2,450 casualties. This casualty can be said to be heavy, but in the interception battle above the Yuanjiang River, the casualties were even more tragic.
Ma Yin and his son also knew that Wuling City must not allow any losses. When they saw tens of thousands of soldiers from the countryside gathered in Qingyun Mountain, Caoyan Ridge hesitated and did not dare to attack. On the one hand, they sent envoys to destroy it, and more importantly, they called on Tanzhou, their direct lineage.
The elite water camp tried to forcefully open the Yuanjiang waterway and send reinforcements and supplies to Wuling City.
Although Yang Jian led the main force of Lou's naval force into Dongting Lake to fight frequently to contain the main force of Tanzhou Water Camp, Fan Xiang's troops and Xuzhou Water Camp were still on the Yuanjiang River and were still under a heavy interception task. Almost every day on the Yuanjiang River
Water battles of all sizes will break out.
The twelve large sailing warships and other small and medium-sized platoon warships in the Xuzhou Water Camp lost nearly two-thirds in a month of fighting, and nearly half of the 1,800 water camp generals and stern workers were killed or injured.
, more tragic than the battle losses in several directions on land.
Han Qian watched everything in silence. Even though he knew very well that this was a necessary sacrifice to calm the chaos, but compared to his previous hard-heartedness, he could not suppress a trace of compassion in his heart at this time. He secretly felt that this might be
The general passed the responsibility to Zheng Hui, Li Zhigao knew their shortcomings, right?
As a general who is responsible for the overall situation on the battlefield, any compassion is extravagant and superfluous.
At this moment, Han Qian could better understand the old story his father told him on the eve of his departure from Jinling to serve as the governor of Xuzhou. The impact on him was
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How can it be so profound, but unfortunately in the next ten years, Han Qian still cannot see the possibility of the war in the Central Plains being eliminated.
Faced with the chaos in the world, Han Qian really didn't know how his father felt deep inside.
"The city has been preliminarily cleaned up. Please tell me how to deal with the many captured soldiers and surrendered officials." Tian Cheng, surrounded by dozens of guards, walked towards the south wall and reported to Han Qian.
Zheng Hui, Li Zhigao and the others will continue to use troops in other directions without stopping. Han Qian will be the leader in Wuling City to handle all matters.
"Wen Rui was in Wuling City before the war. Have you searched for him?" Han Qian asked.
"We were ordered to search the city, but we haven't found anything yet. However, the officials in Wuling County are all being detained in the back house of the county government. Wen Ruilin may be among those people. Would you like to go take a look, sir?" Tian Cheng said.
.
The rebels' main generals in Wuling City, Tian Cheng and others used telescopes to confirm when they attacked the city. However, the surrendered prisoners of war in the city and the surrendered officials of Wuling County totaled 1,780 people, and they have all been driven to the city.
They were detained in a temporary prisoner-of-war camp and there was no time for further sorting out.
At present, only a preliminary search has been carried out in the city, and there may still be some rebels hiding their officials in disguise in the homes of ordinary households.
Han Qian smiled and asked Zhang Ping: "Master Zhang, do you want to go to the county government together?"
Zhang Ping was also going to move into the city to take care of his official duties, so he had to choose a complete house near the county government office to live temporarily. Naturally, he followed Han Qian towards the county government office.
As soon as he walked into the county government office, he heard noises coming from the back house. Han Qian walked over and saw a group of generals about to rush into the back house, but they were stopped by the angry Zhao Ting'er, Yao Xishui and others.
"What's going on?" Han Qian came over with a dark face and asked, staring at the thirty or forty drunken soldiers blocking the door of the back courtyard and wearing military uniforms with the word "Wuling" embroidered on their breasts.
The Longque Army, Louchuan Army and Fanying, led by Zheng Hui and Li Zhigao, went to Jiang'an County and Hanshou County respectively. In addition to the wounded and sick generals, mainly the Wuling Army generals stayed in Wuling City.
.
"I want to come over here to pick up some suitable manpower, and these drunk guys are just about to rush in and snatch away the women detained here!" Zhao Ting'er's heart was beating wildly, and she stood behind Han Qian and whispered.
"Drag them all out, and give each of them ten lashes to sober up," Han Qian said to Tian Cheng behind him, "and announce my order to the whole city. From this moment on, those who leave their posts without permission and those who drink illegally will be severely punished.
Anyone who dares to rape civilian women will be killed without mercy! Anyone who dares to attack prisoner of war camps, county jails and other government offices will be killed without mercy!"
In order to cope with the ever-expanding war, the Wuling Army continued to recruit new soldiers from Xuzhou and Jiyizhou County in the middle and upper reaches of the Yuan River. There was no way to deal with the mixed situation.
In a short period of time, they all focused on the training of battle formations, and because of the continuous reorganization, the Wuling Army had not yet exposed any major problems in terms of military discipline.
Zheng Hui had not focused on rectification before, and Han Qian had handed over the command, and it was impossible for him to intervene in the rectification of military discipline before.
On the other hand, captured soldiers surrendered to officials after the siege was a spoil of war, and the family members of captured soldiers surrendered to officials in the city were also spoils of war shared by the meritorious generals.
Generally speaking, some young and beautiful female relatives will be given to military generals.
Those female relatives who were mediocre in appearance but reasonably decent were incorporated into prostitute camps for the enjoyment of ordinary generals, and could also be used to raise military resources.
Those who were really old and perverted were sent to hard labor camps with other prisoners of war to work.
The capture of Wuling City was a great victory. After experiencing many cruel and bloody battles, some generals couldn't bear it anymore and needed to vent their anger. So they ran over and wanted to pick out the descendants of the officials and their female relatives to go out and enjoy themselves. Unexpectedly, they were bumped into by Han Qian.
superior.
More than a dozen guards behind Tian Cheng rushed out, blocked the troublemaking soldiers, and ordered them to take off their armor to be tortured, but no one dared to resist.
