Time flies, and it has suddenly entered September. On the second day of September, the army led by Guo Xu in Yingtian Mansion seemed to have finally lost its patience and began to mobilize the entire army. The troops were divided into three groups and advanced northward from the east, middle, and west directions.
The war fell into a one-sided situation from the beginning. The seven or eight prefectures and counties occupied by the religious bandits that had long lost the ability to resist changed hands without any resistance. In fact, there was no resistance in these states and counties, and most of the religious bandits
They have all retreated to Chengwu north of Shanzhou to gather, so they are naturally defenseless.
On the fifth day of September, Guo Xu personally led the army to conquer Shanzhou, which was once the place where Haidongqing settled and was also a larger state capital. After Shanzhou, which was located in the hinterland of Jingxi East Road, was captured, the entire Jingxi East Road
More than half of the territory in Fuzhou County has been recovered. To the northwest of Shanzhou is Chengwu County where the religious bandits are gathering strength at this moment.
For Haidongqing, the loss of Shanzhou means that Chengwu County is about to be threatened. The two sides are less than 300 miles apart, and the next target of the Forbidden Army's attack must be Chengwu County. That also means that he has to launch an attack on Chengwu County.
Xi's breakthrough was launched.
On the night when the news of the fall of Shanzhou reached Chengwu, Hai Dongqing immediately convened a meeting of all the guardians and guardians and announced the order to ban the Xingren Mansion the next day. Hai Dongqing's request was that Xingren must be captured within three days.
Renfu, breaking the last hard nut to the west to enter the five counties north of Beijing. Three days is the fastest speed at which Guo Xu's army can reinforce Xingrenfu. If Xingrenfu cannot be taken in three days, Guo Xu's army will arrive.
That is a situation where there is no way forward and no way back.
At the meeting, all the guardians and protectors wrote a death warrant with their own blood. Although this was somewhat forced, all the leaders knew very well that this was the last chance and there was no way out. Only
Only by capturing Xingren Mansion can we block the attack of the Imperial Army from behind, and then we can march all the way west and escape. At this moment, there is nothing fancy to say, we can only go all out, otherwise we will become Renren.
Early the next morning, a mighty army of religious bandits set out. This included the Skitarii, the Holy Lao Group, the Saint Women's Group, the Holy Spirit Group, as well as carts transporting food and supplies, collecting gold and silver, etc. The procession of people and horses stretched out
For more than twenty miles, the road to the west is paved.
In the frosty and desolate mountains and fields, these nearly 60,000 people, who had been coerced, brainwashed, or had no choice but to follow, marched westward. In the sky, geese returned southward in mid-autumn, forming a line, heading to the warm south to prepare for the winter.
But these people on the ground are completely different. They have left their hometowns and rushed to unknown distances, with no idea of their return journey.
Of course, no one had time to lament this, because a cruel siege was imminent. Chengwu County was less than a day and a night away from Xingren Mansion. In the afternoon of the next day, the three thousand religious bandits from the leading guard army came
It has entered the jurisdiction of Xingren Mansion.
…
Xingren Mansion, formerly known as Caozhou, was upgraded to a mansion in the second year of Qingfeng. The reason why it was upgraded to a mansion was because the relationship with the Liao Kingdom became increasingly tense. Since the frequent conflicts with the Liao people, the Zhou Dynasty
In order to prevent emergencies, in addition to increasing troops in border towns, the imperial court also began to build a second line of defense south of the first line of border towns. As a result, some state cities began to upgrade, strengthen city defenses, station troops and horses, and the organizational structure was also improved.
The purpose of this is obvious. There must be several lines of defense in the depth direction. If there is a full-scale conflict with the Liao Kingdom, even if the first-line cities in the border towns are not protected, the second line of defense can be quickly formed by relying on the reinforced and upgraded state capitals in the rear. This Xingren
The Mansion is part of the plan to upgrade the garrison, and together with the seven or eight upgraded cities north of Bianliang, it forms the second line of defense from west to east.
It was originally Xingren Mansion in Caozhou. Because it was just a state city, it did not have the right to station troops and horses. After it was upgraded to Xingren Mansion, a small army of soldiers and horses was stationed here. That is the Guangji Army. The name of Guangji Army
It is named after the Guangji River that flows through Xingren Prefecture. The establishment of the Guangji Army is actually insufficient. The full number of troops for a local state garrison is 8,000. However, the establishment of the Guangji Army is only five
Thousands of people. This is also because the imperial court's finances have been too tight in recent years. Therefore, in addition to the important border towns and Dazhou Prefecture, which have full troop quotas, places like Xingren Prefecture can have 60% of the full quota. It is already very good.
Yes. In many places, there are actually not even half of the soldiers. This seems inconsistent with the fact that the Zhou Dynasty had nearly two million soldiers, but it is exactly the reality. The Zhou Dynasty seems to be in a dilemma of always having insufficient soldiers.
middle.
Xingren Prefecture is not big. In fact, it is only the size of a state. It has four counties: Wanting, Jiyin, Nanhua and Chengshi, with a population of only 120,000. However, Mokan Prefecture is not big, and the administrative center is
The military facilities and city construction of Xingren Mansion are very solid. Since it is part of the second line of defense in the north of the imperial court, Xingren Mansion has indeed spent a lot of money and effort on the construction of city defense and military facilities. The expansion of Caozhou into
The city was enlarged and an outer wall was built around the city wall. The outer wall was tall and strong, with dozens of arrow towers and watch towers, and an urn at the north gate. The entire city was also divided into two inner and outer cities.
The inner city is the residential area and commercial area enclosed by the original old city wall. The outer city is mostly where military facilities such as military barracks and yamen, schools and racecourses are located. This can be regarded as a characteristic of the city after the reconstruction and upgrading of the old state capital.
It is precisely because of such a structure and various complete military facilities that Xingren Mansion withstood the test when the religious bandits rebelled. Nearly a month ago, when the youth believers in Xingren Mansion gathered in the middle of the night to riot, they wanted to control
When they were living in Xingren Mansion, they once occupied the entire inner city and almost controlled the entire city where people lived. However, they were unable to control the outer city at all. And the outer city was led by the Guangji Army
stationed there, the sudden uprising of the religious bandits did not cause a fatal blow to the Guangji Army. Wu Yongbo, the commander of the Guangji Army, immediately led his troops to launch a suppression campaign. The religious bandits dug themselves a hole in the urn, and when the inner city city
After the gate was controlled, the six or seven thousand religious bandits who were causing trouble in the inner city had nowhere to escape. Wu Yongbo personally led thousands of troops into the inner city and strangled thousands of religious bandits. The rest of the religious bandits dispersed, and those who surrendered disappeared.
He was quickly suppressed.
Although the religious bandits from other counties later gathered men from several branches to come for reinforcements, facing high walls and dense fortifications, they had no choice but to retreat after two days of siege.
Therefore, even though dozens of prefectures and counties along the east and west roads of Beijing were wiped out, Xingren Prefecture was like a small boat in the stormy waves, but it was actually preserved intact. It also became a refuge for many people. They were given to religious bandits in various counties.
Despite all the conquests, Xingren Mansion was still firmly in the hands of the imperial court.
Of course, this is also because the religious bandits did not mobilize the main force to attack. After all, Xingren Mansion only had 5,000 defenders. Before that, there had been 20 to 30% casualties, and the actual combat strength was less than 4,000. If Hai Dongqing had been there before
If you can free up your hands and mobilize the skitarii, Xingren Mansion will definitely not be able to defend it. But there is no point in assuming that. The imperial court's actions to suppress the rebellion are rapid, and Hai Dongqing has no chance to free up his hands to mobilize troops to smooth things over.
For this thorn, his main force must guard Yingtian Mansion. The location of Xingren Mansion was not that important at the beginning, and there was more than one passage to the west. What Hai Dongqing thought was that if Meng Xiang captured Yangwu
County, even if they have to pass through Xingren Prefecture when they lead their army to the west, they can easily capture it. Therefore, the location of Xingren Prefecture is not taken seriously by them. They only regard it as a sharp thorn.
, although the pestle looks uncomfortable there, and the sting is painful, but it is not fatal.
However, at this moment, Xingren Mansion has become the only stumbling block on the road to escape. Taking Xingren Mansion has become a matter of great significance and must be ensured.
Liu Mengyuan, the prefect of Xingren Prefecture, and Wu Yongbo, the commander of the Guangji Army, have long been paying close attention to the actions of the religious bandits gathered in Chengwu County. They are actually a little bit big-headed. Not long ago, Xingren Prefecture was still peaceful, but in the blink of an eye, here
Suddenly it became the center of attention.
Two days ago, the rebel army from Beijing crossed the river and arrived at Wanting, forty miles west of the city. To the east, religious bandits gathered again in Chengwu County. To the south, King Huai's army was sweeping in again. It seemed that the three armies were about to attack this small area.
The small Xingren Mansion meets each other. Xingren Mansion, which was originally supported alone, seems to have become a small boat in the waves at this moment, which makes people feel frightened.
However, one thing is clear, for Xingren Mansion, a storm is coming.
Two days ago, Guo Mian, Guo Kun, Lin Jue and others led nine thousand soldiers and horses across the Guangji River and arrived at Wanting County. The army was stationed in Wanting County and did not go directly to Xingren, which is only forty miles away.
It's not that Guo Kun and Lin Jue don't want to do that, but that they can't do that.
When the counter-insurgency army set off, the imperial edict issued to the two princes was very clear. One of the two armies headed north was responsible for the counter-insurgency affairs in the five counties north of Beijing, and the other army was fully responsible for the counter-insurgency affairs on the east and west roads of Beijing. Principle
The counter-insurgency troops of the imperial court should cooperate with each other to counter-insurgency, and respond to each other's reinforcements. But in fact, this is not the case. Guo Xu once clearly stated that the counter-insurgency operations on the east and west roads of Beijing can only be solved by himself, and will never be allowed to
Others intervened. At first, this was naturally because he was afraid of being robbed of his credit, and also because the troops led by Guo Xu were enough to quell the rebellion of the religious bandits on the east and west roads of Beijing. He did not need outsiders to intervene at all.
In order to avoid unnecessary disputes, the imperial court acquiesced to this. This was also Guo Chong's obvious favoritism. He would rather sacrifice the progress of counterinsurgency than favor Guo Xu, hoping that Guo Xu could take the main credit for counterinsurgency.
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However, as the war progressed, the setbacks of Guo Xu's army were disappointing, while the North Road army was unstoppable and easily recovered the five counties. According to common sense, the court should order Guo Mian and Guo Kun to lead their troops eastward and enter the East and West Road of Beijing.
Forming an encirclement with Guo Xu's soldiers and horses, and assisting Guo Xu in countering the rebellion. However, the imperial edict issued by the imperial court was to let Guo Mian and Guo Kun stick to the five counties and eliminate the remnants of the religious bandits, and did not let them go
Jingxi East Road.
This was exactly what Lu Zhongtian was trying to do. Even Yang Jun originally thought that letting Guo Mian's army march eastward to encircle him was the best way to speed up the process of countering the rebellion. However, Lu Zhongtian said something to Guo Chong and Guo Chong gave up the idea.
