Wanzi City is only the entrance to Taihangxing. There are four or five passes to be torn through from Wanzi City in order to reach the interior of Taihangxing. It is also the most critical Tianjing Pass in the south of Jincheng. However, seeing such a strong and dangerous Wanzi City
Zicheng, right under his nose, was stormed by soldiers who had surrendered to Shu. Cao Qian was definitely hit hard.
However, what was even more surprising to Cao Qian was that the Shu soldiers, who had never had strong fighting spirit, felt like taking medicine after taking Wanzi City.
Following the fleeing enemy troops, they rushed directly towards the Heidu Pass within the Taihang Xingnan Pass.
The leading general seemed vaguely familiar to Cao Gan. It seemed that he had once served as an assistant to Zhao Mengji, but somehow he became the leading general.
Going north from Wanzi City, the pass suddenly becomes narrower, with peaks and cliffs on both sides. The steep cliffs are covered with bushes and dense forests.
Cao Gan saw groups of soldiers and horses entering Wanzi City. Using Wanzi City as a transit point, they continuously transported soldiers, horses and war equipment into the pass. However, the pass was too narrow and it was impossible for him to watch the battle closely.
At dusk, I returned to Qinyang City.
Qinyang City is also making preparations to move the forward tent forward in order to capture Wanzi City.
During the night banquet, a scout from the front line came to report that Zhuang Peigong was the first to lead his troops to Heidu Pass at dusk. According to the original battle plan, Zhuang Peigong was only responsible for leading his troops at Heidu Pass.
First, obstacles such as horses, antlers, and iron caltrops were used to form a protective belt with the chariots to isolate the defenders in the stronghold. Then they waited until the next day to build fences and dig ditches. However, they saw that the defenders in the enemy stronghold in Heidu Pass were
The army was in a hurry and was not well-prepared. Zhuang Peigong took the opportunity to put on heavy armor and personally led his elite soldiers to attack the enemy stronghold. In less than half an hour, he defeated more than a thousand defenders and had captured the Black Calf Pass.
"What kind of medicine did Zhuang Peigong take? He is as brave as a tiger?" He Xu was responsible for staying in the newly captured Wanzi City. Zhao Shuo, Li Zhi, and Feng Yi accompanied Cao Gan and the Shu envoy back to Qinyang. He heard that
I was also stunned by the news.
Although the leaders, if not encouragement, would not suppress the forward generals to take the initiative to seize the opportunity, but when the battle plan is established and the enemy situation has not changed significantly, it is difficult to define whether it is a decisive decision or a risky behavior.
Behavior like Zhuang Peigong's behavior is not something worth encouraging, at least in the military.
"Congratulations, Your Majesty, we have gained another great general!" Feng Yi stood up with a smile and raised his voice, saying, "It's worth making an exception and drinking a large glass of wine!"
"Li Zhi, you immediately take three hundred jars of wine and send them to Wanzi City, Black Calf, to ensure that they are on duty without worries, and to give wine to the generals who have made great achievements in breaking the pass today!" Han Qian asked Li Zhi to go to the front camp to enjoy wine on his behalf.
Then he said to Cao Gan, "I have some impressions about this Zhuang Peigong. He should be from Jiangyou. He also has his younger brother Zhuang Peiyin who serves as an official in Jiangyou County, Shu State. Zhuang Peigong served as an assistant to Zhao Gong Meng Ji in his early years. He is familiar with military books and is familiar with military books."
He was good at swords and bows, so Duke Zhao used him to lead his troops. A few years ago in Gong County, this Zhuang Peigong caused us a lot of trouble. I remembered him then - he was indeed worth a bowl of wine!"
Cao Gan also had an incomplete list of Shu military generals and military attaches who were captured or asked to surrender when Zhao Mengji surrendered to Liang and when Liang's army captured Fengxiang. Cao Gan also had an incomplete list in his hand, which included Zhuang Peigong's name. He was also very fond of Zhuang Peigong.
Some impressions, but nothing outstanding.
There were not even one thousand but also eight hundred middle-level generals in the Liang Army. Unexpectedly, as the leader of a country, Han Qian could know all the generals at the general level. Cao Qian felt quite complicated.
Han Qian led his guards and placed wine bowls beside the officers, picked up the pottery bowls, filled them with wine, and drank from the bowl with everyone first.
There are very few people in the army who are not good at drinking. Li Zhigao, Han Donghu and others are no exception. Before, it was only limited to military discipline. Now Han Qian made an exception and lifted the ban and put the wine jar up. Except for those who were on duty, everyone else was in high spirits.
Start drinking.
When he was in high spirits, Wang Che took advantage of his drunkenness to toast Cao Qian and asked:
"Today, the men of Shu soldiers fought bravely to kill the enemy. Mr. Cao also witnessed it with his own eyes. I dare to ask Mr. Cao, if one day, Daliang soldiers and horses attack Shu, and these invaders are used as pioneers, how many days can the Shu army withstand it?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? Please apologize to Mr. Cao!" Han Qian scolded.
Wang Che, however, seemed to have woken up after being scolded by Han Qian, and hurriedly apologized to Cao Qian for his rudeness to Meng Lang.
"You drank too much, go down and rest first!" Han Qian drank Wang Che down and apologized to Cao Qian, "If you don't want to be such a spoiler, I'd like to give you a toast to Master Cao."
Cao Gan didn't know whether Wang Che really drank too much or was instigated by Han Qian to deliberately irritate them with words, but he felt bitter in his heart.
Zhao Mengji and Wang Xiaoxian were bewitched by the Mongols and led their troops north from Liangzhou to conquer Guanzhong, taking away 70,000 of the most elite Shu army and 30,000 strong civilians. After the mutiny, these troops were blocked north of Liangzhou.
Because they were far away from their homeland and had difficulty supplying supplies, these troops had low morale and little combat effectiveness. It was precisely because of their low morale that they were timid and fearful of fighting. However, the casualties over the years had not been large.
Over the years, there was some attrition mainly due to injuries and long-term hunger. In the end, more than 70,000 people were left to be recruited by Liang Guo.
Cao Gan originally thought that these Shu soldiers who had surrendered to the Liang Army would not have much fighting power and would at best be used by Han Qian as auxiliary troops. They were definitely not elite soldiers. However, he did not expect that they would conquer the two passes of the Mongolian Army today.
Just as Wang Che asked drunkenly and provocatively, if Han Qian used these Shu soldiers as the vanguard to attack Shu, how long could they withstand it?
With such worries, Cao Gan had a melancholy banquet and returned to the barracks with his accompanying officials to rest. After that, he asked Han Qian to stay in Qinyang for two days before heading to Luoyang.
Compared with Guanzhong, which is in dilapidated state, Luoyang is full of prosperity.
In his early years, Cao Qian went to Xuzhou and Jinling on behalf of Wang Yong many times, and got to know many Daliang generals. After arriving in Luoyang, he, his two deputy envoys and his entourage were even more warmly received.
It was in the middle of the month that I embarked on my journey back to Chengdu.
At that time, Kong Xirong had already joined forces with Li Xiu in Qinshui, took over the command of the war in southern Shanxi, and dispatched troops to Yangcheng in the west of Zezhou.
In addition to General Feng Yi's return visit to Shu on behalf of Liang, Han Qian also specially prepared a batch of exquisite national gifts for Cao Gan to take back to Chengdu and present them to Wang Yong, the Lord of Shu, to show the everlasting friendship between the two countries.
Even if horses can be replaced with traditional horse carriages using post roads, due to the lack of a limited shock absorbing mechanism in the car body, riding a fast carriage over long distances is definitely not comfortable.
There is no big problem with the slow movement of the carriage, but with the help of the post station system, changing horses at each post, and theoretically walking on a flat post road, the carriage can travel four hundred miles a day without any problem, but if a person sits in such a carriage for a day, his muscles and bones will also be exhausted.
Fallen apart by the top.
What's more, the land route from Luoyang to Yongzhou, and then from Yongzhou to Tangluo Road, passing through Liangzhou, Lizhou and back to Chengdu is more than 2,000 miles long.
Cao Gan was on an envoy to Luoyang. He chose to ride a horse from Chengdu to Yongzhou, and then changed to a boat after arriving at Yongzhou. This time when he returned to Chengdu with Feng Yi, he traveled by land all the way. Luoyang had prepared dozens of new carriages.
.
The horse-drawn carriage in Luoyang was so comfortable. The autumn air was crisp and clear at the end of August. It took only six days to rush back to Chengdu from Luoyang, which was half the time Cao Qian expected. There were so many details that made Cao Qian feel like Liang Shu.
There is a huge gap between the two countries.
Not to mention the new imperial army of Shu, most of them from soldiers to generals have not experienced the test of war. Even if Shu has recruited barbarians over the years, the number of households has finally returned to 5 million, but compared with Chu and Liang
It is still a weak country.
After returning to Chengdu, Cao Qian and his entourage spent nearly two months reporting all the details of what Liang saw and heard, regardless of whether the Shu court was uniting with Chu to resist Liang or sitting back and watching the conflict between Liang and Chu.
There are many differences, but one thing is certain, that is, Shu should never take the initiative to provoke Liang Jun at this time, and should prevent Shu from becoming the next target of Liang Jun's reconquest of southern Shanxi and Taiyuan.
The Shu court also quickly reached a consensus on the minor issue of the families of military generals who surrendered to Shu.
Ordinary soldiers have always had no choice but to drift with the crowd. It is impossible for the Shu Kingdom to send their families of up to 300,000 to 400,000 ordinary soldiers to Luoyang or Mengzhou. Han Qian proposed to submit military attachés and generals above the rank of soldiers among the Shu soldiers.
There were more than 9,000 people, and Liang Guo paid a ransom of 200,000 yuan to move them to Mengzhou as soon as possible.
In the view of the Shu monarchs and ministers, sending these young people to Luoyang can effectively resolve and weaken the hostility of the soldiers who surrendered to Shu. It can not only prevent them from becoming the vanguard when Liang Jun conquers Shu, but can even take advantage of their nostalgia for their homeland.
, making them a force within Liang State to resist Liang Jun's attack on Shu.
It was rare for the Shu Kingdom to supervise this matter efficiently. When Feng Yi completed his mission and left Chengdu in mid-September, the first batch of 1,200 officials and officials moved directly to Luoyang with him.
At that time, Cao Qian and Jing Qiongwen also rushed to Meishan Station outside Chengdu to see him off on behalf of Wang Yong, the Lord of Shu.
Seeing the men and horses meandering northward gradually disappearing from the field of vision, Cao Gan reined in his reins and planned to return to the palace with Jing Qiongwen to renew the order; more than a hundred brocade-armored cavalry were walking on the left and right.
Jing Qiongwen, who is nearly seventy years old, has frosty white hair on his temples. He is good at maintaining his health, but he is energetic and energetic. At this time, he is still assisting Wang Yong in the affairs of state with Zuo Pushe. He looks back and looks at the remaining
The men and horses heading north in the dust waved their hands to signal the attendants on the left and right to disperse, and asked Cao Qian: "Mr. Cao is going to Luoyang. From what Cao Gong has seen, when will the Liang army be able to defeat the Mongolian army and regain Taiyuan? And if the Sima family, Xu
Mingzhen has returned to Southern Chu, is it possible for the Chu army to compete with her?"
After returning to Chengdu for more than half a month, many people asked Liang publicly or privately about the details, but no one asked about it as directly as Jing Qiongwen; Jing Qiongwen had never asked so directly before.
Cao Gan reined in the reins, sighed sadly, and said: "When Han Qian was in Mengzhou, there were only more than 30,000 troops on the north bank, and even half of them were gathered on the south side of Taihang County to attack the Mongolian army. However, Zhu Rang was sitting in Bianliang on the south bank.
With 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers and horses, they are timid and dare not fight, and even their attempts to contain them are careless. According to what Qian sees, if the Mongolian army cannot defend southern Shanxi before the end of the year, it is not impossible to take the initiative to retreat to Taiyuan, Heshuo and other places.
The north and south of Yanshan are guarded. As for the Chu army, as long as it fails to build a warship that can defeat Liang's army, its capital, Jinling, will be under direct threat from Liang's army. Does Jinggong think the Chu army can really compete with Liang's army?"
"What if the Chu court moved its capital to Hongzhou?" Jing Qiongwen asked.
Hongzhou is located on the west bank of Poyang Lake. It not only has waterways leading to the rivers and seas, but also has land routes connecting Hunan and Jiangdong. As early as the period of Emperor Tianyou, it was an important strategic town. Yang Zhitang, as a clan general, also sat in Hongzhou for many years in his early years.
Cao Gan thought for a long time and said: "If the Chu court can decisively move the capital to Hongzhou, it may be able to struggle for several years."
"Can we only struggle for a few years?" Jing Qiongwen asked.
Cao Gan had finished his words and had no intention of giving Jing Qiongwen a more definite answer. He looked up at the blue and white clouds above the mountains. It seemed that the scenery had not changed for thousands of years, and all that had changed was piles of bones turning into dust...
