Zhang Shigui knelt in front of the solitary grave and suppressed the pain in his heart, so as not to scream out of control.
"Let's go?" Shi Ruhai went up and patted Zhang Shigui on the shoulder, motioning Zhang Shimin to grab his brother's arm with him, carry it behind his back, and then took advantage of the night and braved the wind and snow to walk through the woods to the east of the village.
, go north.
In order to prevent Zhang Shigui and Zhang Shimin brothers from lying, after Han Bao left Beihengchong with a small team, he went to the village where the villagers of Hengchong Village moved north to Huozhou.
This was also done to conceal their motives and route to the north.
Even if enemy scouts find their traces on the northern slope of Huaiyang Mountain, they will mistakenly think that they are just reconnaissance on the edge of the defense line. Then they will become much safer after entering the northern area of Huozhou and crossing Huaihe River.
It can slightly speed up the journey north.
However, after visiting the village where Beihengchong villagers moved to in the northern part of Huozhou, they stayed for two days and found out that Zhang Shigui was pregnant. He had grown up in the same village since childhood, and his wife, with whom he had a close relationship, had already died in childbirth on the way north.
Because of the military confrontation between Liang and Chu these years, the land along the Huaihe River is fertile but the population is sparse.
For example, in Haozhou, the combined population of all counties does not exceed 60,000 to 70,000 people.
As for Huozhou, the northern slope of Huaiyang Mountain in the south of Shouzhou has long been the inner hinterland of Shou and Huozhou, and has been relatively less disturbed by the war. Whether it is a gathering of civilian households or a military reclamation, it is far away.
Better than other areas.
Almost half of the more than 700,000 people under the control of the Shouzhou Army are concentrated in these counties.
However, the battle of Wujinling completely changed this situation.
The inner hinterland, which used to be regarded as relatively safe, became a frontline theater where the Shouzhou Army and the Tangyi Army faced off and frequent battles occurred. As the Shouzhou Army completely turned to the Liang Kingdom, the former war zones on both sides of the Huaihe River became the inner line.
hinterland.
In order to avoid population loss and organize the restoration of production in the areas along the Huaihe River, after the fiasco at Wujinling, Xu Mingzhen did not wait to stabilize her position in Anfengzhai, and immediately moved the households in the southern part of Huozhou and the northern part of Chaozhou as quickly as possible.
All were forced to move north.
After the Jinling Incident, the supply of grain and fodder in Shouzhou was extremely tight. In the past two years, Bianjing transferred 400,000 to 500,000 shi of grain and fodder from Song Ying and other prefectures every year to support the Shouzhou army, which could barely make up for the lack of military resources.
Not to mention the disastrous defeat at Wujinling. Not only did the generals suffer a large number of casualties, but they also lost a large amount of combat supplies. This made Shouzhou's grain supply even more stretched, and it also required all-round adjustments to the defense line.
Under such circumstances, the people of Shouzhou naturally fell into extreme poverty. Regardless of whether they were high or low, any food they had in stock was forcibly taken away by the Shouzhou army. Two to three hundred thousand old, weak, women and children were forced to flee without adequate preparations for relocation and resettlement.
The forced large-scale migration and the severity of famine and epidemics are truly unimaginable.
Zhang Shigui's wife died in childbirth on the way north, while his brothers' parents lived in a leaky shack made of fluffy grass after moving north, picking up wild vegetables and tree barks for food every day, and both froze to death within a few days of winter.
However, the villagers took pity on them and found a torn mat to bury them at the entrance of the village.
However, this was just an inconspicuous tragedy in the turbulent situation of the Jianghuai War. Due to the shortage of supplies, Anning Palace forced a large number of people to flee when crossing the river. In the past three years, they died of starvation, freezing and illness.
Countless people died after being treated.
If we count the soldiers killed in battle and those who died of serious injuries, the loss of lives under Shouzhou would be at least 100,000.
In comparison, all the states in the south of the Yangtze River can be regarded as governing the world.
Looking at the village under the night, Han Bao pursed his lips, and his thin cheeks were like knives and axes, giving people a sense of perseverance. He thought to himself that only the new system can spread to the world, and the poor people like ants are all covered with blood.
That fate, which is like being crushed by a boulder, will be a little easier, right?
Compared with the ignorant young man who was full of brute strength and full of resentment but did not know how to express it during the Jinling Incident, four years have passed, tempered by battlefields or bloody wars, and more systematic training from elementary literacy classes, intermediate literacy classes to martial arts schools.
, at this time, Han Bao had grown into a qualified middle-level general in the Tangyi Army.
His brother Han Donghu is already a senior general at the level of Du Yuhou. Of course he can stay in the army as a battalion commander, or go to the counties on the inner line as a county lieutenant or commander, but he still chooses to take on more difficult and dangerous tasks.
.
He initially chose to lead a small group of elites to the mountainous area east of Huazhu Jian, mobilizing and leading the poor and slaves at the bottom to engage in riots, and expand the effective jurisdiction of Huaiyang County beyond the barriers of high mountains to the western mountainous area.
Han Qian emphasized that the purpose and role of guerrilla warfare must not be limited to sending troops and horses to use the advantages of the terrain to contain and harass enemy troops, but more importantly, to mobilize the poor people at the bottom.
Only in this way can we effectively reduce the population and areas controlled by the enemy, weaken the enemy's ability to exploit resources and continue to support the war, thereby achieving the purpose of fundamentally weakening the enemy.
Later, Han Bao failed to make the trip because the Military Intelligence Staff Department had a more important reconnaissance mission assigned to him.
…………
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After traveling in stealth all the way, crossing the Yellow River, and then climbing over the mountains, Han Bao and his small group entered Zezhou in early December.
The news of the death of Jin Emperor Shi Chongsi was only officially announced to the world at the end of spring last year.
At that time, the Jin crown prince Shi Chengzu was at the governor's side of Shuozhou, and the Queen Mother Zhang and the Privy Councilor Liu Jun welcomed Jin Lu Wang Shi Jiyuan into Taiyuan Mansion to ascend the throne.
The prince of Jin Dynasty, Shi Chengzu, with the support of the soldiers and horses of northern Jin Dynasty, occupied Shuozhou and Daizhou became independent. The Jin Kingdom fell into civil strife for a while.
Before the news of the death of Jin Emperor Shi Chongsi spread, Liang Emperor Zhu Yu was supervising the battle in Sizhou. He learned the news that Shi Chongsi was seriously ill a moment earlier, so he immediately mobilized elite troops and horses to go north.
Seeing the chaos in the Liang Kingdom, Zhu Yu sent troops from Weizhou and Bianzhou to seize the Wei, Huai, and Yi states on the north bank of the Yellow River that had been taken away by the Jin army during the Liang Dynasty. Then, last winter, he crossed to the south of the Taihang Mountains.
From the mountains at the foot of the mountain, Zezhou, an important town in the southern part of the Jin Kingdom, was captured, known as "Hedong Fanping, the gateway of the three Jin Dynasties, the first charge of Taihang, and the throat of Heshuo".
Shi Chongsi established the Jin Kingdom based on Hedong Road and Hebei Road. He has long regarded Zezhou as the most important garrison town in the south. For many years, elite troops have been stationed in Zezhou. The Jin army occupied Hanzhou and left the Taihang Mountains.
It can seize the Wei Huaiyi states on the north bank of the Yellow River and threaten Bianjing, the capital of Liang. The code can hold the Liang army outside the Taihang Mountains.
Although Zezhou and nearby cities have long been the focus of competition between the Liang and Jin armies, in the past thirty years, the Liang Emperor Zhu Wen (counting the period when Zhu Wen was granted the title of King of Liang), the city of Zezhou has never fallen to the Liang Dynasty.
In the hands of the Liang army, the Liang army was repulsed at the gates of Zezhou City several times, or was unable to attack for a long time and had to withdraw its troops.
This time, Liang Emperor Zhu Yu also took advantage of nearly half of Zezhou's defenders being taken to Jinjing by King Lu Shi Jiyuan, and sent troops to besiege Zezhou before his troops could return for reinforcements. After that, he spent four months setting up a whirlwind.
The cannon blasted open the walls of Zezhou City, and severely damaged the north side of Zezhou City, defeating the reinforcements led by the Privy Councilor Liu Jun of the State of Jin.
Han Jun spent several days around Zezhou, looking for traces of the battle between the two sides. It was obvious that the Jin State did not expect that Liang Jun could hold on to Zezhou City for four months in the severe cold season of wind and snow.
siege.
After capturing Zezhou, Emperor Zhu Yu of the Liang Dynasty mobilized Guanzhong soldiers and horses non-stop to march eastward and attack from the east and west, seizing Anyi, Xiangling, Ronghe, Linjin, Quhuo, Yicheng, and Yuxiang in the southwest of Hedong County.
After waiting for more than 20 counties, Liang Jun had almost completely occupied the southern counties of Hedong Gujun.
And this winter, Zhu Yu gathered nearly 100,000 elite troops and advanced to the city of Luzhou, an important town in the central part of the Jin Kingdom.
Han Bao led a small group of elite scouts, braved the wind and snow to cross the hinterland of the Hehuai River, crossed the Taihang Mountains, and entered Zezhou. On Han Qian's order, he conducted a close reconnaissance of the confrontation between the Liang and Jin armies in Luzhou.
There are eight passes in Taihang Mountain, which are the connecting channels between the old counties in Hedong and the old counties in Hebei and Hanoi.
Thirteen years ago, the Jin State lost Youyun and other prefectures. Feihuxing, Puyinxing, and Junduxing in the north were all lost to the control of the Mengwu people. Liang Jun seized Huai, tamed the states, and then controlled Zhiguan.
There are three passages: Xingxing, Taihangxing and Baixing. Only Jingxing and Fukouxing in the east of Luzhou became the key passes for the Jin army to connect the east and west.
Once Liang Jun captured Luzhou, he would completely separate the eastern and western parts of the Jin Kingdom. This would not only determine the life and death of the Jin Kingdom, but also determine the outcome of the thirty-year struggle between Liang and Jin. It would also determine the overall future direction of the Central Plains.
The Shouzhou army was defeated in the north of Huaiyang Mountain, and Emperor Liang Zhu Yu did not waver in his determination to capture Luzhou in one fell swoop.
The war between Liang and Jin also involved the situation of the Mongol people running the Yunyou states in the north. It was extremely involved. Even though scouts had been dispatched many times before, the information obtained was still fragmentary.
There are currently no conditions to establish a more complete military intelligence network. It is difficult for three or five ordinary scouts to accurately judge the war situation in the north and the intricate relationships among the forces, so as to conduct more targeted and accurate intelligence reconnaissance.
Han Bao and others were selected under this background.
After Han Bao and others crossed the Yellow River, it was already extremely cold in the north. Along the way, a steady stream of people and horses could be seen, braving the wind and snow, escorting grain and other materials, passing through Taihangxing and other passes into the southern part of Hedong Gujun.
Most of the civilians still wore thin and worn-out clothes, shivering in the cold wind, and there were many frozen corpses abandoned on the side of the road. But for Liang Jun's soldiers, even the fabric on the inside and outside of their uniforms was still made of kudzu.
But most cold clothes are already filled with cotton batting that is warmer and more cold-resistant.
The links involved in weaving were complicated and it was difficult for Liang Jun to popularize cotton fabrics in a short time. However, the cotton planting area in Bianjing and Luoyang was gradually expanded to nearly 100,000 acres in more than three years under the personal promotion of Emperor Zhu Yu of the Liang Dynasty.
Cotton and other processes are relatively simple. Shelling seed cotton to make fluffy cotton batting for filling winter clothes is relatively easy to implement and popularize.
This also became the greatest guarantee for Liang Jun to continue to besiege Jin's cities in the severe cold winter.
Last winter, the Liang Army besieged Zezhou City. The Jin Army obviously misjudged the Liang Army's ability to continue fighting in the winter. It did not send reinforcements to Zezhou in time before winter entered. Furthermore, it was unable to send reinforcements despite the snow and wind throughout the winter, and it was delayed until the beginning of spring.
Reinforcements were hastily sent out, but they were defeated, so that Zezhou City, an important town that the Jin army had not lost for thirty years, finally fell into the hands of Liang Jun.
This is equivalent to the southern gate of Jin being kicked open by Liang Jun.
In addition, the large-scale use of cyclone cannons and the substantial improvement of Liang's smelting and casting skills in the areas of Bianjing and Luoyang were also the keys to the Liang army's combat effectiveness being able to comprehensively suppress the Jin army for the first time.
Crouching deep in the mountain forest, looking at the incomplete Zezhou City in the distance, Han Bao thought that if there were no other accidents, there should be no problem for Liang Jun to capture Luzhou this winter.
In fact, the Jin army was even more restricted in the cold winter snow and wind, which further widened the gap in combat effectiveness between the two armies.