After all, as far as the eye is concerned, of all the battalions of the Far Eastern Army, their Wagang camp has the least military exploits. And they now also know that with the founding of the Far Eastern Army coming soon, His Highness King Qin An will soon be enthroned as emperor.
Is it good to appoint officials to official positions and award titles and honors based on merit?
"Commander Xie, please tell me about the intelligence of the various forces in Sichuan and Sichuan and the reconnaissance of the road from the Central Plains to Sichuan." Xu Shiji waved his hand and directly interrupted the two captains who wanted to speak, and said calmly.
Xie Yingdeng was still in charge of the intelligence affairs of Wagang Camp. At this time, he stood up quickly and saluted Xu Shiji, Cheng Yaojin and the purple-faced demon Chen Xiaoxiao, but ignored the others. He took out a topographic map and laid it on the table, and then said: "
Please see, everyone, the land of Sichuan and Shu is mainly controlled by two forces on the surface. One is Zhu Can who has occupied Hanzhong and the two counties of Champ. The other is Xiao Xian who is in the Chengdu Prefecture and Jiangling area south of Hanzhong."
"Zhu Can was a county magistrate when he was young. Later, he took advantage of the chaos and called himself King Garuda. He was very cruel. Most of the places he conquered were looted. He once led his subordinates to eat human flesh. It was a real cannibalism.
The king of human demons, the prince once strictly ordered that this person must be captured alive and then cut into pieces with a thousand knives."
Cheng Yaojin echoed: "Since the prince wants to capture him alive, then Zhu Can, the man-eating demon king, must be captured alive."
Xu Shiji nodded slightly, indicating that he meant the same thing, and asked, "What about Xiao Mian?"
Xie Yingdeng looked solemn and said: "According to the intelligence provided by the Military Intelligence Office and the military intelligence obtained by the spies I sent, this Xiao Mian is not easy to deal with."
After a pause, Xie Yingdeng continued with a somewhat solemn look: "Xiao Mian was born in the Xiao family of Lanling. He was originally a descendant of the Liang Dynasty. He was lonely and poor when he was young. He was extremely filial to his mother and generous, because he was the former Empress Xiao of the Sui Dynasty.
A distant relative of the family, so in the first year of Daye, he was granted the magistrate of Luochuan County through the kindness of his relatives. In the eleventh year of Daye, Xiao Mian raised troops in Luochuan and called himself King of Liang. Last year, he proclaimed himself emperor in Yueyang, with the country name Liang and the reign name Mingfeng.
, set up hundreds of officials, just like the old system of the Liang Dynasty, and its sphere of influence extends from Jiujiang in the east, to the Three Gorges in the west, to Jiaozhi in the south, and to Hanshui in the north. It has an elite army of 400,000, which can be said to be one of the largest forces in the south. But this person
One flaw is that he is suspicious of the generals, so according to the data analysis of the Military Intelligence Agency, his subordinates have limited loyalty to him."
Xu Shiji nodded and said: "Li Shimin only brought more than 50,000 people to Sichuan. Even if the Li family had many arrangements before the Sichuan-Sichuan land, the current target is definitely Zhu Can's Hanzhong and Champion counties. Therefore, our final goal
The goal is also to capture the land of these two counties. In this process, our enemies mainly include two parties. One is Zhu Can, the man-eating demon. But the main one is Li Shimin. According to the prince's instructions, this person has great talents, and we will definitely
There must be no slighting or contempt, Ying Deng, please tell us about our route to Sichuan now."
Xie Yingdeng nodded and continued: "So far, there are only two roads into Sichuan known to the world, one is the land route and the other is the water route. The land route is from the Guanzhong Ancient Plank Road in the north, through Hanzhong, and Guangyuan into Sichuan. The water route is from the east to Sichuan.
Kuimen enters Sichuan."
"The land route to the north is obviously impossible, because if we want to take this route, we must first penetrate Luoyang or capture Luoyang before marching into Guanzhong. Moreover, according to intelligence from the Military Intelligence Agency, Li Shimin took this route. This is
There must have been soldiers and horses blocking the road along the way, and they are all places that are easy to defend but difficult to attack."
"The possibility of taking the water route is also very small, because the land that the water route passes through is Xiao Mian's territory of Liang. What we are going to fight now is Zhu Can's Hanzhong and Champion counties. We have not yet provoked Xiao Mian.
time, because it is obviously not enough to defeat Xiao Mian with just our Wagang First Battalion."
Cheng Yaojin frowned and said, "As the scriptures say, our Wagangying camp can't enter Sichuan at all?"
However, Xie Yingdeng came to the map with a smile and said, "General Chen, please be patient. Thanks to the detailed map provided by the Military Intelligence Bureau, I found a mountain road on the map."
At this point, Xie Yingdeng had already drawn the mountain road with charcoal and continued: "Of course you can't be sure just by looking at the map, so I have sent people to walk this mountain road according to the map, and even sent people to survey some places.
It has also been repaired.”
When everyone heard this, they were immediately overjoyed.
Unexpectedly, Xie Yingdeng added: "But there is a problem with this mountain road. Near Champion County, Zhu Can sent people to build a pass outside the mountain road, called Devil's Pass. The name of this pass is indeed worthy of its name. It is better than what Shangguan Hu and the others have just recently
The captured Long Pass failed to pass, and it was true that one man was able to pass the pass and ten thousand men could not open it. According to the exact information reported by the Military Intelligence Bureau, this devil's pass was like a
Zhu Can's 10,000 men are currently stationed there. According to the intelligence analysis of the Military Intelligence Office, it will take several months for an army of 100,000 to be difficult to conquer."
Huang Tianhu immediately said: "It's difficult to take it down even with a gunpowder bag."
Xie Yingdeng was a little dissatisfied with Huang Tianhu's questioning of what he said. He snorted coldly and said: "The Devil's Walled City is not a man-made construction, but a natural mountain stream and cliff. Although the gunpowder pack is powerful, Huang Tianhu, do you think you can blow up the entire mountain?
It won’t work.”
Huang Tianhu's expression paused and he stopped talking. After experiencing the power of the Far Eastern Army's gunpowder weapons during training these days, Huang Tianhu became extremely obsessed with gunpowder weapons.
Xu Shiji thought for a moment and said: "Your Majesty sent us five hundred special force masters. If these five hundred special force masters are allowed to sneak into the devil's barrier, can we break it from the inside?"
Xie Yingdeng explained: "General Xu didn't know. Except for the entrance and exit of the mountain road, Devil's Pass has high and steep mountains on both sides, which are almost the same as cliffs. Moreover, the cliffs and slopes for several miles near the military camp of Devil's Pass are full of rocks.
, there is no vegetation higher than the knees. The defenders only need to send out one or two sentries, no matter day or night, no one lurking can escape the eyes of the sentries. To be honest with you, the Military Intelligence Office and I also wanted to find out what was going on in the Li Jiajun's stronghold.
The situation, but neither I nor the more than ten spies sent out by the Military Intelligence Agency have never returned, including a stagnant master from the Military Intelligence Agency. Of course, if someone like Huang Tianhu has reached the first-class level of Qinggong and body skills,
Experts may be able to infiltrate, but it is impossible to infiltrate in large numbers. But the number of people is too small and it is difficult to break through from the inside."
Xu Shiji frowned slightly, nodded and said, "I see."
Huang Tianhuzhi couldn't help shouting: "Commander Xie, what you've been saying for a long time means that we can't enter Sichuan at all, right?"
Xie Yingdeng ignored Huang Tianhu, but looked at Xu Shiji, clasped his fists and said, "My subordinates have sorted out all kinds of intelligence provided by the Military Intelligence Office, and after sorting and analyzing it, they found that the guard of this devil's stronghold is addicted to alcohol..."
…………
…………
Hedong, Taiyuan City.
Now five of the seven counties in Hedong have been captured, and they have been firmly controlled by civil and military officials sent from Fanyang County by Du Ruhui led by Pei Yuanqing and Wang Xuyiwenyiwu. Some of Fanyang County's policies have been implemented in the counties in Hedong.
It went quite smoothly and progressed steadily.
This is mainly because the Pei family and the Wang family took the lead in dedicating half of their fields as public fields. Then according to the Fanyang County model, these fields and the fields obtained by the Far East Army through other methods will be contracted for five, ten, or fifteen years.
, all of which were contracted to poor farmers in a period of twenty or even thirty years, and only a small amount of tax was paid to the government on a regular basis every year.
And after Wang Junlin asked the Hammer Battalion led by Guan Xiaotong to station in Hedong, some of the remaining forces and troops of the Li family in Hedong did not dare to make any changes.
Now there are only two counties left near Guanzhong, which were captured simultaneously by the 50,000 Pegasus Battalion led by Wu Si and the 50,000 Xiaoyu Battalion led by Pei Yuanqing.
Xiaoyu Camp was the camp head established by Pei Yuanqing with the surrendered Li family soldiers and horses as the main force. Wang Junlin thought that Pei Yuanqing would come up with a very majestic camp name, but it turned out to be called Xiaoyu Camp.
At that time, Wang Junlin was a little emotional after hearing Pei Yuanqing's choice. Pei Yuanqing was really infatuated with Xiao Yu, but this was destined to be fruitless!
As long as Wu Si and Pei Yuanqing captured the last two counties, all seven counties in Hedong would be under the rule of Wang Junlin. At this point, only the nine counties in Guanzhong and two counties near Luoyang would be left in the entire north.
These days, there are only two things that really worry Wang Junlin. One is that since the beginning of last year, the Far East Army first attacked the Central Plains, and then attacked Hedong. The continuous war lasted for more than a year and used more than 300,000 troops.
The Far Eastern Army's stockpiles of food and fodder are nearly exhausted.
Liu Ziming, who was in charge of finance, knew that if Qian Yuechan hadn't led the Fanyang Chamber of Commerce's rapid profit growth, especially the astonishing profits from maritime trade, and continued to draw blood from the Anang Kingdom of the Goguryeo Peninsula to support the army, the Far East Army would really have a financial crisis.
Therefore, after all of Hedong was captured, the only troops that the Far Eastern Army could use were the Wagangying camp. No matter how many more troops, food and grass supplies would not be enough.
Otherwise, they would have to forcibly collect grain and grass from the people, which was a situation Wang Junlin never wanted to see.
Another thing that worried Wang Junlin was that Nie Xiaoyu never rescued Shen Guoer.
Wang Junlin also didn't expect that the secret report sent by Nie Xiaoyu said that Shen Guoer was first kidnapped by the No. 1 Killer King and wanted to use it.
Shen Guoer failed to kill Nie Xiaoyu, but the sword god snatched Shen Guoer away again.
The Sword God is a true Grandmaster Realm master, not even counting Nie Xiaoyu and the No. 1 Killer King. He is the only known Grandmaster Realm master among humans in the world. The Sword God is closely related to the Dugu family, and the Dugu family belongs to Li Yuan.
A staunch supporter, so Shen Guoer falling into the hands of the Sword God is actually equivalent to falling into the hands of the Li Yuan Group to a certain extent.
Fortunately, the Pei family captured Li Jiancheng alive. Wang Junlin ignored Pei Ji's hint and was ready to trade Li Jiancheng for Shen Guoer without hesitation.
But Wang Junlin did not need to take the initiative to raise this matter, because the envoy sent by Li Yuan had already set off from Chang'an and was on his way to Taiyuan.
………
………
Daye fifteenth year, February 4th.
In the mountainous area leading from Luokou City in the Central Plains to Champion County in Sichuan, it started raining the night before. The rain was not very heavy. In the lower areas, there was only a thin layer of puddles on the ground.
However, it was very cold after the early spring rain. Moreover, such weather had made it even more difficult to walk through the secret mountain path that Xie Yingden found on the map and explored.
According to Xie Yingdeng's calculations on the map and the estimation of people using horse speed, the distance of this mountain road is about two hundred and thirty miles. Half of it is a mountain valley road, and the other half is naturally formed by dry rivers and ditches.
There are also some traces of artificial openings on the road. It is obvious that the traces were made recently and were opened by people sent by Xie Yingdeng.
Even so, the grass is knee-deep in many places and even covered with scattered shrubs. It is said to be a secret path, but in fact, strictly speaking, there is no road at all.
But on February 4th, 30,000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry suddenly appeared on this mountain road that was not a road, heading towards Champion County.
This is none other than Wagang Camp, which was newly launched by the Far Eastern Army and went into battle for the first time.
Due to road restrictions, the 60,000-strong army led by Xu Shiji took a long time. At the forefront of this cavalry were 150 scouts selected by Xu Shiji. They were more than ten miles beyond the main force and searched carefully.
When moving forward, if there is any disturbance, you will stop immediately, hide yourself behind the trees and rocks beside the road, and grab the long bow or quick crossbow in your hand.
Occasionally, some hunting woodcutters would appear on this road, and the orders received by these Wagang camp scouts were to shoot them without mercy.
Although these unlucky hunters are almost impossible to be the enemy's spies, it is very likely that these hunters will reveal the whereabouts of Xu Shiji's 60,000 men, allowing Zhu Can to prepare in advance.
Therefore, these 150 scouts were very careful. You must know that when walking on this road, the mountains on both sides of the road stand eerie. If the enemy knew their whereabouts in advance and set up an ambush on the mountains on the roadside, the consequences would be disastrous.
of.
After all, even a simple search of the hills on both sides of the road is impossible. In that case, the speed of the small forward force may be slower than that of the army at the rear. The more than 230 miles of mountain roads,
Even if you walk for six or seven days, you may not be able to finish it.
About ten miles behind these 150 scouts were 3,000 soldiers from the Engineer and Troop Battalion who were also on horseback but holding axes, long saws and other tools in their hands. They wore military uniforms with the unique emblems of the Engineer and Troop Battalion.
, this is the largest support force sent by Wang Junlin to Wagang Camp besides the special forces and the Military Intelligence Office.
Along the way, under the command of a captain of the engineering transport camp, the engineers skillfully cut down and moved the trees on the road, and even had time to lay wooden boards on some potholes and muddy places. This is the so-called mountain opening.
paving.
A few miles behind them, there is a large group of 30,000 cavalry. At the end of the team, there is an ox cart dragging a trebuchet, a giant crossbow, and gun accessories. It is the 30,000 cavalrymen from Wagang Camp who are responsible for escorting these ordnance.
infantry.
Over the past three days, this road has been difficult to navigate in more than 20 places, but after repairs by the three thousand engineers in front, it was barely passable for oxcarts.
However, no one expected the rain today. However, Xu Shiji was not in a hurry. When there was no way, he stopped the army and waited for the engineers and soldiers to build the road. Sometimes he encountered some troubles.
The three thousand engineers could not solve the problem. Xu Shiji would even order the people from Wagang camp to dismount and cut down trees and help the three thousand engineers to pave the way.
But from beginning to end, Cheng Yaojin, the number two man of Wagang Camp, was nowhere to be seen. In addition, the 500 masters of the special forces who were ordered to strengthen Wagang Camp were not among them.