From Ezhou to the north of Huaiyang Mountain, there are many falcons in the thousands of miles of mountains and wilderness. When two homing pigeons flew back to the pigeon nest at Wujinling Camp, their wings and abdomens were injured and they almost failed to fly back.
This is also the most important uncertainty factor in using carrier pigeons to send messages over long distances.
At this time, they could not care less whether the two homing pigeons could be cured or not, but the secret message sent back by Guo Que and Feng Yi shocked everyone.
"Wan Honglou must be worried that the news of the sudden changes in Heshuo will not be hidden from us for too long. Yao Xishui left Lingshan Camp and took the road to Dongting Lake. He must be thinking of causing trouble in Xuzhou and attracting our attention!"
Feng Liao was still staying in the Wujinling camp at this time. He received a message from Guo Que via a flying pigeon and immediately summoned everyone to the courtyard where Han Qian lived to discuss matters. Feng Liao was the first to
I guessed that Yao Xishui's erratic whereabouts must have evil intentions towards them.
As the core disciple of the younger generation in Wanhonglou, Yao Xishui has the most trust from Lu Qingxia. He can be said to be the successor of Lu Qingxia. Now it is Lu Qingxia who is in charge of the palace. Whenever something happens, it is Yao Xishui who is out and about.
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Therefore, the Military Intelligence Staff Department is also very concerned about Yao Xishui's movements. However, as a remnant of the Shenling Division, Wanhonglou is also very good at concealing himself. It is not easy to confirm Yao Xishui's whereabouts at any time - even the official ship of the Weaving Bureau.
At about the same time, there were more than a dozen ships outside, weaving silk fabrics from prefectures and counties to supply the palace, providing great convenience for its secret spies and spy activities.
Yao Xishui went to see Li Zhigao, Zhou Shu, Li Xiu, Deng Tai and others a few days ago to further verify their predictions about the situation in Heshuo. However, Yao Xishui did not stay with Li Zhigao for a few days before suddenly running to Dongting Lake. At this time
Everyone gathered in Wujinling could not possibly think that Yao Xishui was going to see the spring scenery of Dongting Lake.
After the Dachu Navy was destroyed in Hongzepu, Han Qian transferred almost more than three-quarters of his generals from Xuzhou to form the Tangyi Army, leaving only a small number of soldiers and horses to guard Xuzhou.
Before Han Qian and Wang Jun got married, they specially brought Zhao Ting'er over for a reunion. Later, Zhao Ting'er became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter for Han Qian in East Lake, but never left to return to Xuzhou.
At present, the military and political affairs of Xuzhou are mainly presided over by Xi Xunqiao, Qiao Weiyan, Xi Chang, Wei Xu, Han Dong, Guo Xiao, and Tan Yuliang who stayed in the Wuchuan Valley.
In order to allocate resources as much as possible to support Tangyi, Xuzhou Prefecture Soldiers and Tianping both have only about 2,000 generals on active duty to maintain the defense and local security of the eight counties.
Considering the military and political environment around Syria, this amount of troops can be said to be quite stretched.
On the outskirts of Xuzhou, not counting Zheng Hui's headquarters on the east side of Xuefeng Mountain, the three families of Chenzhou, Sizhou, and Xiyangtian in Yezhou had more than 6,000 soldiers for generations; while the old counties in central Guizhou in the upper reaches of Qianjiang and Ruanjiang rivers
The powerful local surnames in prefectures and counties have stronger military strength.
In the past, Tangyi's army attacked cities and plundered territory in Jianghuai, and the military fronts were unprecedented. The Han family also spoke loudly in the court, and with the long-term and large-scale trade exchanges, Han Qian did not have to worry about the Xi family, the Yang family, and the Tian family.
It's easy to do anything rashly, but if Yao Xishui secretly planned something in the name of Cishou Palace, there might be one or two forces that would be encouraged to make moves.
Of course, whether it is the Sizhou Yang family who suffered heavy losses in the civil unrest in Sizhou, the Yezhou Tian family, or the Xi family, which is the most powerful among the three families, they may not dare to speak out and openly use troops against Xuzhou, but
They learned from the civil unrest in Sizhou and secretly condoned the rogue bandits, or they sent out elite soldiers and horses to directly pretend to be rogue bandits and burned, killed and looted wantonly in Xuzhou. How should the people who stayed in Xuzhou respond?
"Guo Que, Feng Yi, and Lin Sheng have all gone to Xuzhou. Only Xiying, the Yang family, and the Tian family are not so bold as to openly send troops to invade Xuzhou. The situation in Xuzhou may be a little chaotic, but there is nothing to worry about.
"Yes," Guo Rong said with a frown, "What we need to consider at this time is, if we still want to hide the truth, how should we respond when something happens in Xuzhou, so that Wan Honglou will mistakenly think that we are not aware of the situation in Heshuo?
Don’t know anything?”
Guo Que's secret letter was sent back via flying pigeons. As soon as Han Qian got up, he was still washing up, sitting behind the long desk with disheveled hair, tapping his fingers rhythmically on the wooden desk, thinking about the question raised by Guo Rong.
Wang Jun was dressed in plain clothes, sitting next to Han Qian, and said: "Looking at the current preparations of Yiyang's troops, they mainly plan to invade Luoshan City, and they don't have too greedy intentions. Yao Xishui's westward advance should be a casual move.
Son..."
"Li Zhigao uses his troops steadily and will not take action easily without a complete chance. This is also the biggest problem." Han Qian said with a bitter smile.
The so-called strategy means that when one does not have overwhelming strength, one can only place more hope on the opponent making more mistakes.
Yao Xishui's westward march was definitely going to cause trouble. If Li Zhigao had high hopes for Yao Xishui's westward march, they could naturally make targeted arrangements.
However, the problem is that Li Zhigao is extremely stable in his deployment of troops. Currently, they are mobilizing and deploying troops on the front lines of Yiyang and Luoshan without showing too much greed, and they do not show any signs of special expectations for Yao Xishui's westward advance.
In this way, no matter how they deploy and how they try to hide the truth, they may not be able to achieve the results they expected in the end, and they may even be self-defeating.
"Are we going to remain unchanged in response to all changes?" Feng Liao asked hesitantly.
The messengers sent by Guo Que, Feng Yi and others when they were at Lingshan Camp arrived at Wujinling Camp two days ago and brought back the defense deployment of Zuo Longque Army and Zuo Wuwei Army in Yiyang and Luoshan, as well as the two armies.
A preliminary collaborative operational plan was reached.
Based on previous intelligence, it can be preliminarily speculated that even though Li Zhigao knew that Heshuo was about to undergo drastic changes, his target was still relatively conservative and focused on Wen Bo's troops who were guarding Luoshan City.
When the drastic changes in Heshuo disturb the southern defense line of Liang State, Li Zhigao should lead his troops to cut off the retreat of Luoshan City defenders, forcing the defender Wen Bo and his more than 10,000 elite troops to surrender. At the same time, the entire Guangzhou area to the west of Luoshan City will also
All will fall into the control of the Xiangbei Defense Envoy.
Feng Liao's suggestion to remain unchanged in response to all changes is to assume that Li Zhigao's intentions will not change due to Yao Xishui's westward march, or that his intentions will not change significantly before Yao Xishui's westward march actually causes trouble.
The Tangyi Army did not make major deployment adjustments. When the Shouzhou Army was in chaos, the first step was only to take over Anfeng Village, Gaocheng, Yincheng, Qisi and other counties and villages in southern Huozhou.
…
At this time, a guard walked in and handed a secret letter directly to Han Qian.
Han Qian opened the secret letter, pondered for a while, and said, "Then we will remain unchanged in the face of all changes!"
Wang Jun looked over in confusion. She saw that Han Qian was still quite hesitant just now. She didn't know what message was written in the secret letter, so Han Qian suddenly made up his mind.
After everyone here read the secret letter, Han Qian did not give the secret letter to Guo Rong for archiving. Instead, he threw it directly into the copper brazier and burned it to ashes. He said to Feng Liao: "I'm going to Yanzi River these two days. You
Let Guo Rong accompany me to see..."
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In the past year, the Shouzhou Army took Anfeng Village as its core and built a number of fortresses to station elite soldiers and horses, tightly blocking the passage out of the Nanfeishui River Valley.
Not to mention that the Tangyi Army only had more than 6,000 infantry troops in the Wujinling Camp. Even if the number of troops was doubled, it would be difficult to directly send troops north along the Nanfeishui River Valley.
Whether they can seize the southern city of Huozhou as soon as possible when the situation in Heshuo changes drastically, taking advantage of the unstable morale of the Shouzhou army and the chaotic situation, building the Huazhu Peak plank road before that is the key to success or failure.
Although the Huonan Special Forces Battalion gathered eight or nine thousand soldiers and horses on the northern slope of Huaiyang Mountain, it still had more than 40,000 people, old and young.
Tens of thousands of them fled into the mountains because they were escaping the forced relocation by the Shouzhou Army, or fearing that the Shouzhou Army would forcibly recruit young people. They had no basis for survival in the mountains.
Before the Honan Special Forces Camp entered, these people ate bark, grass roots or Guanyin soil to satisfy their hunger in the mountains. Their living conditions could be said to be precarious.
After the Huonan Special Forces Camp entered the mountainous area on the north slope, although the poor people at the bottom were mobilized to stand up and overthrow the rule of the rich and powerful people, and the momentum of confiscating the land, houses, grain and grain was huge, the production of materials in the mountains was already in short supply.
, coupled with the previous influx of large numbers of refugees, the grain reserves obtained are still difficult to feed such a large population.
Not to mention soldiers and weapons, the current starving situation of the Honan Task Force has not been fundamentally improved. How can it have strong combat effectiveness, let alone take the initiative to attack the northern slope of Huaiyang Mountain?
, entered the Huonan Plain and attacked the walled city defended by the Shouzhou Army?
Before the plank road was built, only three to five hundred people could carry an average of three to four thousand kilograms of supplies across the mountains and ridges every day, which was already the limit. However, more than 40,000 women, children, old and young, were crying for food every day.
At least 30,000 to 50,000 kilograms of supplies are needed to fundamentally change the state of starvation. The gap is too big.
However, after more than 2,000 craftsmen working for more than four months, the main body of the Huazhufeng Plank Road is nearing completion. Currently, there are still three cable bridges that have not been finally connected; and these three cable bridges are also key nodes of the Huazhufeng Plank Road.
The first cable bridge is located in the upper valley of the Yanzi River, and it is also the first place Han Qian went to inspect.
The climate in the Huaiyang Mountains is still warmer than outside the mountains. The ice and snow have melted in late February, and occasionally there are clusters of fresh green or bright yellow stamens exposed on the cliffs, which are particularly eye-catching.
The rocky beach in the upper reaches of the Yanzi River makes it impossible to navigate by boat. The only way to get there from the downstream pier is by land.
Wang Jun was not good at riding horses, and the post road built in the upper reaches of the Yanzi River was extremely steep and dangerous, so Han Qian and Wang Jun rode a horse together and walked slowly along the road.
Wang Jun nestled in Han Qian's arms, but he was not rigid. He looked at the Yanzi River below the post road. The water was already abundant, flowing rapidly over the rocks, breaking up white waves. Looking at the black and brown stone walls on the west bank, there were occasionally one or two green pine trees.
It grows tenaciously from the stone wall, thinking about how wonderful it would be if the spring is late and slowly walking on the road. The post road has no end.
In the upper reaches of the Yanzi River, there are many cliffs on the west bank, and the terrain on the east bank is relatively gentle. There are trails trampled by mountain people and farmers for thousands of years. The east bank post road was also repaired on this basis before, but to the upper reaches of the Yanzi River, it needs to be built.
An iron cable bridge connects to the starting point of the Huazhufeng Plank Road on the west bank.
More than a thousand years ago, there was a precedent for building iron cables across streams and canyons. Xuzhou has given priority to the development of iron smelting and casting in recent years. It is not a difficult task to build an iron cable more than a thousand feet long, but the key point is that there are no iron cables on the east bank of the Yanzi River.
A boulder that can hold iron ropes in place.
The final decision was to use stone slurry to pour the bridge piers at all costs.
Before winter last year, we first built a cellar on the east bank of the Yanzi River, quarried clay and limestone and roasted them in the cellar. Then we built a water mill to grind the coarse materials and finally create stone slurry. Then we poured it continuously with stone slurry and special iron bars.
After a month passed, Han Qian and Wang Jun, surrounded by many guards, rushed to the upper reaches of the Yanzi River and saw that two huge bridge piers, five feet square and more than five feet high, had been poured on the east bank.
But it was a coincidence that Kong Xirong also came over from the north slope of Huaiyang Mountain today to see the construction progress of the Yanzi River Cable Bridge.
Although there are still three key nodes on the Huazhufeng Plank Road that are not connected, temporary slings or simple pontoons have been built on these three nodes to transport craftsmen and construction materials.
Nowadays, traveling from the Yanzi River Valley to the Baishui River Valley is much more convenient than before. The daily supplies transported to the upper reaches of the Baishui River Valley have also increased from two to three thousand kilograms in the early days to tens of thousands of kilograms; and the exchanges of a small number of people have also doubled from before.
A trip across mountains and ridges that took four or five days was shortened to one day.
However, until the three cable bridges are built to allow carriages and horses to pass through, large-scale material transportation and personnel exchanges will not be realistic.
Kong Xirong personally entered the northern slope of Huaiyang Mountain in the past few months. His cheeks were covered with dense stubble, and his figure was thicker and thicker. At this time, he looked even more rugged. He saw Han Qian and Wang Jun surrounded by Guo Rong, Feng Liao and others.
He came over, bowed his hands and saluted, pointed to the bridge piers and said: "These two bridge piers can be said to be the masterpiece of Jixu Prefecture's engineering work."
Although the chief engineer in charge of the construction of Huazhufeng Plank Road was Qiao Jun, a disciple brought by Chen Jitang, neither Chen Jitang nor Ji Xiyao personally went to the mountain, but they had successfully used clay and limestone in the experimental furnace of the Engineer School for the first time four years ago.
Since the first furnace of suitable stone slurry was fired, the stone slurry has been used as a building adhesive and mixed with river sand to form concrete. Together with special bamboo, wood or iron bars, it has been used for pouring foundations and beams. Chen Jitang
, Ji Xiyao and the others spent four years instructing their disciples in the Engineering School.
Kong Xirong said that these two bridge piers are the culmination of Xuzhou's craftsmanship. It is no exaggeration at all. The next thing to do is to connect the bridge piers to the west bank with six iron cables, and then lay thick wooden boards.
These methods are actually quite simple.
Now that he met Kong Xirong, Han Qian asked about the situation of Huonan's advance camp in detail.
In the past ten days, the scale of material input has greatly improved, mainly concentrated in the Huonan advance camp villages in the upper reaches of Baishui River and Guanhe River. The situation has also been greatly improved compared to the most difficult period, at least from the more serious.
The country has emerged from the state of famine, and spring plowing work has begun in the upper reaches of Baishui River and Guanhe River, and the soldiers have also resumed a certain degree of training.
The situation of the refugees who fled from the southern counties of Huozhou into the depths of the northern slope last year has also been sorted out.
Among the tens of thousands of displaced people, almost every household had an adult man who was forcibly recruited by the Shouzhou Army as a civilian husband before the great victory at Wujin Ridge to be used in the attack on Wujin Ridge.
After sorting it out, almost 4,000 of these civilians were captured by Tangyi during the great victory at Wujinling. After the war, almost all of them were incorporated into the supply camp as auxiliary troops and garrison troops.
In addition to the need to add a group of experienced military attachés to the Huonan Advance Battalion, Kong Xirong now hopes to transfer these four thousand auxiliary soldiers from the supply camp and integrate them into the Huonan Advance Battalion as regular soldiers. The fate of these people can also be foreseen.
The combat effectiveness and cohesion will not be bad.
Whether it was the Wujinling camp that mobilized the poor from the hinterland of the Northeast Slope to join the army, or the Huonan advance camp that entered the hinterland of the North Slope to mobilize the poor, the number of troops was definitely not low. However, the poor at the bottom had been hungry for a long time and had to enlist in the army.
His physical condition was very poor at the beginning, and by traditional standards, the proportion of elite soldiers was very low.
In addition to ample japonica rice and pasta, the army also provides a certain amount of meat, soy products, eggs, etc. It will take about one or two years for the physical condition of the generals to improve and barely reach the standard of elite soldiers.
The generals of Wujinling Camp have been resting and recuperating for nearly a year, and the situation has naturally improved a lot. However, Huonan's advance camp has only had a slightly looser supply of supplies in the past ten days.
If drastic changes in Heshuo are imminent, it is obviously unrealistic to hope that the nearly nine thousand generals in Huonan's advance battalion can rest and become elite soldiers in the next one or two months.
However, Kong Xirong believes that the overall combat capability of the Huonan advance battalion can be achieved by adding some experienced grassroots military attaches who fought bravely and 4,000 auxiliary soldiers who have been recuperating for more than a year, have a certain training foundation, and have guaranteed follow-up cohesion and morale.
There is considerable improvement.
"We have also just decided that the left and right armies will maintain the status quo for the time being. We are mainly considering strengthening the Huonan Task Force Battalion so that when the situation in Heshuo changes dramatically, we can recover the walled city in the south of Huozhou as soon as possible. At present, it seems that we still have to
As quickly as possible, we will mobilize these people from the supply camps and hand them over to you." Han Qian said.
At that moment, he asked Guo Rongyima to draft a military order, and he came to sign it. He then sent people to rush back to the Wujinling camp, and the military intelligence staff officer used the list to draw these people out of the camps...
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In late February, spring has begun to melt in the Jianghuai River, but the heavy snow in Heshuo is still there.
On the last day of February, the sky above Dingzhou City was filled with leaden haze, and snowflakes were falling one after another. It seemed that the arrival of warm spring would not be seen for a while.
"What has happened to God in the past few years? The spring has started later every year, and in summer and autumn, the drought has become worse every year. Will God let the people live? When did this happen? And
Such heavy snow!”
In the tea shop opposite Guanjiang Tower, a few rude men pushed open the door and walked in, complaining loudly about the heavy snow falling outside.
The wind and snow poured in as the door curtain was pushed open, causing everyone sitting in the warm teahouse to shiver uncontrollably.
Han Bao and Zhang Shigui were sitting in the corner by the window, drinking hot tea that was full of foam. The tea was a bit bitter, and Han Bao and the others couldn't get used to it, but the hot tea was very comfortable in their stomachs.
They glanced at the few rude men who entered the teahouse at this time, and then used the gap in the window to peek into the Guanjiang Tower opposite the teahouse. They lowered their heads and held a pottery bowl with a small mouth missing, and drank the tea soup.
Several rude men came towards them, six of them sat around an adjacent tea table, and two others came to Han Bao and Zhang Shigui's table, and in a rude voice called the waiter to make tea.
While taking out the wheat cakes from the package, looking at their patched dog-skin coats, they looked like ordinary horse travelers visiting villages.
The tea shop is not a high-end place. In addition to tea, it also provides some simple food. It is normal to share a table, but Zhang Shigui held down the short blade under his clothes vigilantly.
Han Bao grabbed his wrist and told him to calm down.
"Han Bao, these are the two escapees you captured from Beihengchong. They are very vigilant. They have good prospects." A man with a beard on his face lowered his voice and laughed.
"His name is Huo Li. He is his uncle's son who joined Tangyi from Yangzhou with his wife. He is also a member of the Military Intelligence Staff Department." Han Bao introduced to Zhang Shigui.
"Don't mention my identity deliberately, as if I am just one step ahead of you." Huo Li grinned. He was only twenty-five years old, but he had a beard, or he had not experienced much during this time.
Less weathered, his appearance looks rougher and more vicissitudes than his actual age.
Huo Li and Wang Zang both served in the Military Intelligence Staff Department. Even Han Bao, the elite scout who went north to scout the enemy, was selected by Huo Li accompanying Xi Faer. Han Bao naturally recognized Huo Li, who had specially grown a beard.
At this time, they saw that Huo Li had arrived in Dingzhou earlier than they expected, which showed that the situation in Dingzhou had indeed caused extreme seriousness in Tangyi.
At this time, Han Bao took out an iron ring from his arms, placed it on the table, and faced Huo Li with the ring with a special seal.
Seeing Han Bao take out the iron ring, Huo Li was a little frustrated and pointed at the taciturn man opposite him who looked much more delicate and gentle, and introduced him: "Wang Che, Mr. Bao may not have seen him before, he is Wang Tang's."
Seventeenth Brother, who used to serve in the General Affairs Department and traveled to Heshuo in his early years, came here with me this time. Your Excellency and Madam have specifically asked us to come here and follow your orders, Mr. Bao, so you don’t have to go out of your way to send this person here.
Jinyun martial arts ring is displayed. However, it is not easy for Mr. Bao to target Guanjiang Tower before we come over. I thought Mr. Bao knew how to charge into battle and kill the enemy..."
Han Bao joined the Chishan Army during the Jinling Incident. Before that, he and his brother Han Donghu were proficient in kick and boxing skills. Later, they practiced swords and guns with the masters in the army. They made rapid progress, had extraordinary martial arts skills, and were extremely brave in combat. They charged into the battlefield in several bloody battles.
Before going north, he had captured nearly a hundred heads. He had made many military exploits and was easy to learn. Before going north, he had been promoted to the commander of the battalion, but he had just turned twenty-one.
Although there are many young generals like Han Bao in the Tangyi Army, and Han Bao, like his brother Han Donghu, had a rare calmness among his peers and rarely showed his sharp edge, at this moment in Huo Li,
In front of Wang Che, he still looked a little different.
Although Wang Yan, Wang Che, Huo Li and others were all sons of common people within the Wang Huo clan, in the eyes of the Tangyi generals, they were descendants of the clan after all, and some barriers would be difficult to completely eliminate in a short time.
At this time, Han Bao was somewhat worried that Huo Li would not listen to his orders or even make arbitrary decisions based on his background and age, so he immediately made it clear with Huo Li the distinction between priorities, so as to avoid disagreements and delaying major events.
Of course, Wang Che and Huo Li followed their wives to Tangyi. In terms of background and status, they were both better than ordinary generals. However, they saw that they were able to brave dangers and travel two or three thousand miles to penetrate into enemy territory and come to follow them.
They met, and Han Bao was deeply moved.
Especially since they were able to rush over so quickly to join us, it was obvious that they were traveling day and night to ensure that we could catch up with them as soon as possible. In fact, in addition to doubling the workload, they also had to take greater risks.