Fangcheng is located on the northern edge of the Nanyang Basin, sandwiched between Funiu Mountain and Tongbai Mountain. The strategic terrain is extremely important and has always been a battleground between the northern and southern forces.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the southern overlord Chu State built continuous defensive fortresses in Nanzhao, Fangcheng, Biyang, Lushan and other places to block the passage of northern forces southward through Funiu Mountain and Tongbai Mountain; during the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao and
The Battle of Bowangpo between Liu Biao and Liu Bei took place in the mountains and forests fifty miles south of Fangcheng County.
After the Jingxiang War, Emperor Tianyou realized that just guarding the two cities of Xiang and Fan across the Han River could not protect Jingxiang well. Even if the entire vast Nanyang Basin was sparsely populated, it was necessary to build a fortress on the northern edge of the Nanyang Basin.
The new line of defense can better block Liang Jun from the hinterland of Jingxiang.
Emperor Tianyou once sent Du Chongtao to move the defense envoy of Deng Xiangdu to the remaining city of Dengzhou in the Nanyang Basin, and requisitioned a large number of Dingkou from Hunan, Jiangxi and other places to fill Deng, evenly, to strengthen the border defense; while Fangcheng County and Fangcheng County were
A continuous defensive wall was built between Wuyang County in Caizhou, with the east and west wings extending to the mountains at the eastern foot of Funiu Mountain and the western foot of Tongbai Mountain.
The Fangcheng defense line is not a simple city, but a defense cluster composed of more than fifty large and small cities and villages.
During Du Chongtao's period, in addition to the 12,000 Forbidden Army generals stationed in Fangcheng's defense line all year round, there were also more than 15,000 military households relying on many villages in the north of Fangcheng, Nanzhao and Qinyang counties to carry out farming.
Drilling and preparing for war is also an important part of the military strength of Fangcheng's defense line.
After Du Chongtao, Zheng Hui and Chai Jian took over the defense line of Fangcheng, and the number of standing soldiers never fell below 10,000 elite soldiers.
At this moment, there are only three thousand troops stationed in Fangcheng's defense line.
Some of the original military households in the garrison were transferred to the Xiangzhou marching army, and a considerable number of the military households in the garrison moved to Liangzhou for resettlement in the past three months. Currently, there are less than 5,000 left.
Yu Ding from the garrison (young and strong soldiers who have not been incorporated into the active battalion are called Yu Ding. When the Fangcheng defense line is at its peak, 20,000 Yu Ding from the garrison can be urgently requisitioned to participate in the defense of Zhucheng Walled City when encountering an enemy).
When the flames of war were everywhere, the soldiers in the field also picked up their weapons, put on their armor, stood in front of the village wall, and looked anxiously at the elite Tangyi army coming south from Wuyang County, covering the front buildings like a black tide.
Ma Shiping Post Road in Song County.
The Mashiping Post Road extends all the way to the hinterland of Dengzhou (Nanyang Basin), across the Tangbai River, from the west bank of the Tangbai River to Fancheng on the north bank of the Han River.
Fangcheng County is an important node of the Mashiping Post Road. Eight or nine miles away from the city to the north, the two fortifications of Laohutou and Shangguanzhuang are built on both sides of the Mashiping Post Road. They are about ten feet high.
Above, the terrain is steep, and it is the northernmost wing of the entire Fangcheng defense line. Currently, there are only one hundred-man team and three hundred field soldiers stationed on each side.
When the forward troops of the Tangyi Army arrived at Laohutou and Shangguanzhuang, they almost didn't pause. They each sent more than 500 heavily armored elites, holding swords and shields high, along the slope path that branched out from the Mashiping Post Road, not afraid of the scattered people.
Arrows and falling rocks launched a direct attack on the two fortifications.
Where is the morale of the defenders at this time?
After the soldiers of the twenty or thirty military attaches who could be said to be direct descendants of Chai Jian or Late Honglou were killed, the other guards threw down their spears, shields, swords and bows and surrendered. Counting from the time when the soldiers of the Tangyi army approached the wall of the village and attacked,
, the battle was over without even having time to burn a stick of incense.
Dusk has fallen, but the stars and moon are in the sky.
The main force of the forward army did not set up camp anywhere between Laohutou and Shangguanzhuang. They lit rosin torches and continued southward along the Mashiping Post Road.
When Shi En, the guard of Fang City, saw this scene, he was so distraught that he abandoned the city and fled south.
There are only more than 2,000 garrison guards in Fangcheng, and there are only 1,000 garrison guards in Dengzhou City, a hundred miles away to the south.
Although the two cities of Xiangfan and Xiangfan, which are three hundred miles to the south, still have 6,000 defenders, even if they are reinforced, it will take four or five days at the earliest to enter Fangcheng County.
Seeing the banner of the Tangyi Army and it being true, Shi En refused to run away at this time. How could he expect that the five thousand soldiers stationed in the surrounding cities and villages, who were thinking of their old Chu, would fight to the death for them?
It can be said that there are quite a lot of direct descendants of Wan Honglou among the more than 2,000 defenders in Fangcheng, but they had no plan when they fled. They only hated their parents for having two legs. Many generals even took advantage of the chaos and fled to the mountains and forests on both wings.
, or deliberately delaying and falling behind, waiting to surrender.
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Cao Ba did not lead hundreds of cavalry behind him to garrison the capital of Fangcheng County. He rushed to the south bank of Shangtao River twenty miles south of Fangcheng overnight, caught up with Fangcheng's deserters who fled south, went around to the west wing, and attacked Canghuang from the upper reaches of Shangtao River.
The enemy troops formed a sudden formation and launched a night attack, routing the enemy troops with less than a thousand men remaining and preventing them from escaping to Dengzhou City.
It was Kong Xirong who sent people after him, and strictly ordered Cao Ba to lead hundreds of cavalry to retreat to a mountain forest on the west flank to rest and recuperate, and give up the plan to attack Dengzhou City overnight.
The Xiangzhou rebels had only 6,000 standing troops in Deng and Jun states, and they were still guarding various cities. However, they were sure that Xiangcheng had only taken the road south from Caizhou one day before.
Not to mention the Zhou Shu headquarters guarding the Three Passes of Pingjing and the rebels guarding Jingmen and Yingzhou. Even Lu Qingxia and Zhou Yuan were willing to use the last remaining troops and horses in Xiangfan and Xiangfan to fight tomorrow evening.
It was not possible to enter Dengzhou City before.
The purpose of their attack was not to kill or injure many rebel generals, but to avoid causing too many casualties. The main purpose of the operation was to expel and kill them, and to take over Dengzhou, Xichuan, and Jingzikou as quickly as possible.
Waiting for the Walled City.
Among the Tangyi army, the number of elites who were good at archery and cavalry and Songfan war horses was also quite limited. The Nanyang marching army temporarily managed to organize a cavalry force of 600 cavalry and handed it over to Cao Ba to lead as the vanguard. What happened to Kong Xirong?
We should all be on guard against Cao Ba's reckless warfare and unnecessary casualties.
In the second half of the night, the clouds suddenly became dense above the night sky, the north wind howled and blew across the earth, and in the early morning there was scattered heavy snow.
Cao Ba set off as a whole team at this time, despite the heavy snow, and arrived outside Dengzhou City at noon.
Dengzhou had become an empty city at this time, and more than a thousand defenders abandoned the city in a hurry and fled southward in the middle of the night.
Cao Ba did not lead his troops into Dengzhou City, but went west into the hills at the southern foot of Funiu Mountain, passed through Rangcheng and Neixiang counties, and headed straight for Xichuan, two hundred miles away.
Considering that the rebels may abandon Xiangfan and follow Ying, and defend Junzhou based on the territory, Xichuan, an important town in the north of Junzhou, is also the most important turning point in the Jingxiang War.
Important nodes.
Cao Ba rushed to Xichuan immediately. Even if he could not seize the city immediately, he still had to find ways to restrict the rebel reinforcements from entering Xichuan along the Xichuan River...
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At noon on the seventh day, Chai Jian led four thousand remaining soldiers and fled into Xiangcheng in a panic. It could be said that he wanted to cry but had no tears. Seeing Lu Qingxia, Zhou Yuan and others also looked at each other in confusion.
The recruiting army was not notified in advance, but not to mention Zhou Bingwu, Zhang Wei, and Zhao Zhen, all of whom could be said to be veteran generals of Da Chu. They had caused quite heavy casualties to the Chishan Army during the Jinling Rebellion.
In the early morning of the night before Chai Jian, he received the news that the 20,000 elite troops of Tangyi Army were heading south from Caizhou. He and Zhong Yanhu, who was guarding Yingzhou City, started to arrange for the troops to abandon the city and flee north, but they were accurately detected by Zhou Bingwu and Zhang Wei.
to the intention.
Starting from early October, under the supervision of Zhou Bingwu, Zhang Wei and Zhao Zhen both transferred the main elites of the Youwu Guards and the Youwu Xiang Army to the walls of Jingmen and Yingzhou to organize the siege in an orderly manner.
The previous offensive was neither urgent nor slow, nor intense. It mainly used craftsmen to build tornado cannons to attack the city. However, seeing that the main force of the rebels showed signs of fleeing north, Zhang Zhen and Zhao Zhen not only strengthened their attack on Jingmen and Yingmen.
During the offensive in the two cities of Yingzhou, a small group of elite cavalry was also organized to go around Jingmen and the south side of Yingzhou to slow down the rebels' southward escape.
When Chai Jian abandoned Jingmen City, he still had more than 10,000 soldiers and horses under his command. However, he was chased by the elite vanguard soldiers and horses of Zhang Wei along the way. Countless soldiers were defeated and scattered, and a large number of generals mutinied on the way.
He was extremely lucky to be able to escape into Xiangcheng with more than 4,000 remaining soldiers, considering that he was usually extremely powerful.
As the water camp of the Youlongwu Army decisively attacked from the lower reaches of the Han River, Zhong Yanhu, who was guarding Yingzhou City on the east bank, suffered even more heavy casualties. In the end, the remaining infantry and naval forces who fled into Fancheng on the north bank were less than 4,000.
people.
At this moment, the right-wing soldiers and horses of the Rebellion Army, dominated by the Youwu Xiang Army, were quickly gathering towards the area between Fancheng and Zaoyang along the channel between the Han River and the western foot of Dahong Mountain.
Obviously, Zhou Bingwu and Zhao Zhen had already confirmed that Tangyi's army was attacking from the north. This move was intended to intercept Zhou Shu's Suizhou camp army from evacuating to Fancheng via Zaoyang.
At this time, the weakness of Jing Xiang's army was completely exposed.
Not to mention the horses that charged into the battle, the previous Xiangbei Army had a very limited number of horses, and most of them were taken to Liangzhou by Li Zhigao.
Although the recruiting army did not have many war horses, there was no shortage of war horses.
Among the Left Wuwei Army and the Right Wuxiang Army, the faster-moving horse infantry accounted for almost half of the total strength. It was these horse infantry troops that ordered Chai Jian and Zhong Yanhu to be unable to effectively escape the pursuit, resulting in heavy losses.
Zhao Zhen personally led an infantry of 5,000 horses, which had already gathered in Chiyang, thirty miles west of Zaoyang. The first batch of soldiers and horses from Zhou Shu's command to retreat to the west entered Zaoyang City.
What's more critical is that the Tang River and Bai River, which originate from the remaining veins of Funiu Mountain and Qifeng Mountain, join in the southern part of Xinye County, continue south, and merge into the Han River in the east of Fancheng. At this time, they have just formed thin ice;
There was originally a pontoon bridge downstream near the mouth of the river, but Zhong Yanhu burned the pontoon bridge with fire in order to prevent the pursuers from advancing into Fancheng.
This also means that unless Zhou Shu can lead his troops to defeat Zhao Zhen's troops, his troops will have a chance to cross the Tangbai River by ferry and escape into Fancheng!
Thinking that Zhong Yanhu would lead Fancheng's remnant troops to support him from the west wing, it would be impossible to break through in the next few weeks. However, this does not mean that Zhong Yanhu does not dare to fight, but that nearly 20,000 Tangyi army elites have entered Dengzhou and are now dividing their troops non-stop towards Xichuan.
Advance. If Zhong Yanhu cannot lead his troops to strengthen the defense of Canglang City at the mouth of Danshui River into Hanshui River immediately, causing Canglang City to be captured by the Tangyi Army first, it means that all the troops west of Canglang City will be defeated.
Become a turtle in a urn.
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Under the setting sun, in a muddy snow field trampled by humans and horses, thousands of corpses lay on both sides of an unknown stream. The temperature during the day was slightly higher, and the warm fresh water converged on the stream, causing the thin ice to melt, and the silence
The stagnant stream is like a long river of blood, running across the earth.
Zhao Zhen sat on the saddle contentedly, stopped by the river, and looked at the snow-capped mountain ridges in the distance.
"Commander, I didn't make it through the weeks, so I passed away!" A junior high school student pressed the knife on his waist, opened the tent curtain, and ran over to report.
"Find a coffin, bury Zhou Shu's corpse, and wait for Zhou's military department to come over before disposing of it," Zhao Zhen said.
This battle can be said to have been a devastating victory. The only decent battle was when Zhou Shu led two thousand of his direct descendants to break through the interception of Youwu Xiang's army and fight to the Tangbai River.
Although Zhao Zhen finally annihilated the rebels on the east bank of the Tangbai River, the Youwu Xiang Army, which had an absolute advantage in strength, also suffered more than a thousand casualties.
When Zhou Shu was finally captured, Zhou Shu was hit by dozens of arrows and killed more than ten generals of his right arm Xiang army.
However, Zhao Zhen respected Zhou Shu as a man and wanted to capture him alive and send him to Jinling, where his achievements would be even more impressive. However, he did not expect that Zhou Shu lost too much blood and was ultimately unable to revive him.
At this time, the remnants of the rebels had fled to Canglang, Yunyang, and Fangling on both sides of the upper reaches of the Han River. According to the Qinling Mountains, Wudang Mountain faced the steep terrain of the Han River, guarding the gateway to Hanzhong from the west.
After winter, the upper reaches of the Han River to the west of Danjiangkou are shallow but fast, densely covered with rocks, and ships of all sizes are not allowed to enter. The trails on both sides are narrow and dangerous, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.
In any case, before the water level in the upper reaches of the Han River rises in spring and summer, it will be extremely difficult for the rebel army to open the westward passage to Hanzhong in a short period of time.
What's more, the Tangyi army now occupied Xichuan, Jingyun, Jingzikou, Neixiang, Rangcheng, Dengzhou, Biyang, Nanzhao, Fangcheng and other 11 counties occupying most of the two prefectures of Dengjun and Dengjun. At the same time, Zhou Dan was in Guangzhou
Occupy the three passes of Pingjing, Wusheng and Huangxian, and control another passage from Huaixi to Jingxiang via Huaiyang Pass.
Of course, the Tangyi Army was also ordered to attack the rebels, so it cannot be said that they were wrong. However, how to distribute the subjugation missions between the Recruitment Army and the Tangyi Army in the future requires Haosheng to think carefully.
At present, Zhang Wei has led his troops to Xiangcheng, and Zhao Zhen has also sent forward troops to occupy Fancheng. It is not necessary to say that they cannot make the decision on how to carry out the subsequent crusade, and even how to divide the subsequent defense zones in Jingxiang. Not to mention that Jinling may not have the final say.
To be able to issue an order directly, in the final analysis, it still depends on how Jinling and Tangyi negotiate!
After all, most people did not expect that the first Hehuai War would end with such an ending.
"It should be the official ship of Zhou's Ministry of War coming over!"
Army Commander Ma Ruancang pointed to several warships sailing southward on the Han River in the distance and said.
Ruan Cang is the son of Ruan Yan. He once served as the governor of Yang and reduced the vassalage of Huaidong. Except for his father Ruan Yan who continued to serve as the governor of Chuzhou and assisted King Xin Yang Yuanyan to lead the Chuzhou camp army to defend the lower reaches of the Huaihe River. In addition, Yang and Taizhou
The governor, Sima, Changshi and Liu Cao's army were all sent by officials from Jinling. Ruan Cang followed Zhao Zhen to the west and served as Army Sima in the Youwuxiang Army.
Zhou Bingwu went out to recruit envoys as the Minister of War, and was currently the highest military and political officer of the imperial court in Jingxiang. Zhao Zhen took Ruan Cang and other generals and rushed to the shore to see Zhou Bingwu; when they arrived at the river beach covered with reeds,
At that time, Zhang Zhi also came over from Xiangcheng in a warship.
Zhou Bingwu was over sixty years old, but he was still full of energy. He was wearing a purple official uniform without a hat. His gray hair was a little messy by the cold wind. He landed on the shore and looked at the desolate wilderness. He stood tall and thin.
On the shore, he looked like a handsome and elegant civil servant.
In comparison, Zhang Wei's appearance is much rougher. He is wearing a battle armor and holding a shoulder knife on his waist. His age cannot be seen. He is actually two or three years older than Zhou Bingwu.
The one who landed with Zhou Bingwu was Zhang Qian, the supervisor of the military capital, wearing a scarlet official robe.
Not to mention their official positions, Zhou Bingwu and Zhang Zhi can be said to be the only remaining marshals and generals in the Chu army who have achieved great success. Zhao Zhen stepped forward to pay tribute to them.
"Which cities are the Tangyi Army currently stationed in?" Zhou Bingwu asked with concern.
"Tangyi's army was mainly stationed in Dengzhou, Xichuan and other cities, and only a few hundred soldiers were stationed in Xinye and Tanghe. In the direction of Suizhou, Zhou Zang only sent troops to take over the three passes of Pingjing, Wusheng and Huangxian, and did not continue to the south - I
I sent someone to see Kong Xirong yesterday evening and there should be a reply soon," Zhao Zhen said.
"Now that the war is over, the generals will be responsible for cleaning up the battlefield and taking over Suiyang. Let's go to Fancheng first." Zhou Bingwu said.
To defend Xiang, you must defend Fan. The two cities of Xiang and Fan stand between the Han River. Defending Fan City can not only prevent the Tangyi army from extending its tentacles to the banks of the Han River, but also control the southern area of the Nanyang Basin downstream of the Tangbai River.
Coincidentally, when Zhao Zhen, Zhang Qian and Zhang Qian arrived at Fancheng by boat with Zhou Bingwu, Kong Xirong and Li Xiu also happened to arrive surrounded by a group of guards. The two armies officially met in Fancheng.
In late July, Jinling issued an edict to Tangyi and sent troops from the flanks to attack Xiangbei. Tangyi's troops and horses were not formally included in the order of the recruiting army. Therefore, Zhou Wu's army responded to Tangyi's troops and horses that entered Dengjun and Dengzhou, even in name.
There is no right of control either.
Therefore, both parties entered the government office that had been set on fire by Zhong Yanhu before he abandoned the city and fled, and sat down in the hall as equals.
On the left are Zhou Bingwu, Zhang Zhen, Zhao Zhen, Xue Ruogu and others. Even Zhao Zhen and Zhang Qian are both over fifty years old, with frost-stained hair on their temples.
On the right side, only Kong Xirong and Li Xiu were sitting alone; Li Xiu was a little older by three or four years, and Kong Xirong had made the most of his plans. He was only thirty-one years old this year, which can be said to be too young.
"The Tangyi army borrowed the road from Caizhou to move south. Marquis Qianyang should have foreseen that the rebels would be devastated and vulnerable. Can you tell us how the Tangyi army will participate in the battle in the next stage?" Zhou Bingwu asked.
"The Ministry of War of Zhou must have known that the Mongols captured Yongzhou, and that Zhao Mengji and Wang Xiaoxian wanted to surrender to the Mongols," Kong Xirong said directly without making any fuss with Zhou Bingwu.
The army jointly attacked the enemy forces occupying both sides of the Wei River. However, considering that it was inconvenient to build the Tongbai Mountain post road, it would not be possible to complete it until next autumn at the earliest. It was extremely inconvenient to transport ordnance, grain and grain through Lu Valley. The Ministry of War of Zhou was also asked to send troops to attack as soon as possible.
Go down to Canglang City so that Chishanhui merchant ships can enter Danshui as soon as possible..."
The most convenient way to transport supplies to Xichuan and Wuguan is to enter the Han River through the Yangtze River Waterway and then transfer to the Danjiang Waterway. Only then can a large amount of ordnance and food and grass be transported continuously from East Lake and other places into Shangluo to support the Nanyang Marching Army in the Shangluo area.
Combat - To open up this waterway, we must first ensure that Canglang City, located at the mouth of the Danjiang River, is captured from the rebels; if Canglang City cannot be recaptured, the merchant ships of the Chishan Society can only enter the Tang Dynasty from the east side of Fancheng.
From Baihe, ordnance, grain and grain were transported ashore via Xinye and transported overland to Xichuan. From Xichuan, they were then loaded onto ships and sent to Wuguan. Not to mention the extra effort, it also required an extra two to three hundred miles of land route, which was very expensive.
Although after the supplies landed in Qisi, they took a road from Caizhou in the north to Dengzhou and then to Xichuan. The land route was only about a thousand miles, which was much closer than taking the southern waterway, but there was no perfect and smooth high-level road.
The transportation capacity of post roads, land vehicles and horses is far from being comparable to that of water routes and boats.
Even if a post road is built in Tongbai County in the future across the valley at the northern foot of Tongbai Mountain, which will shorten the land transportation from the upper reaches of the Huaihe River to Dengzhou by nearly 300 miles, it will not be as convenient as the waterway.
Of course, the completion of this post road will ensure that the connection between Nanyang and Huaixi will not be cut off.
This also shows that Tangyi will control Deng for a long time and balance the ambitions of the two states.
Zhou Bingwu glanced at Zhang Zhen, Zhao Zhen, Xue Ruogu and others sitting at the bottom, and sighed in his heart. It was obvious that even if Han Qian had the ambition to merge Deng and Jun states into Tangyi, it was not possible for them to do so.
Those who refuse will eventually have to compete with Tang Yi from the political affairs hall...
