The formation envoy has an order, we have many troops, don’t be afraid, go deeper, deeper and deeper!” On the bank of Zhuozhang River, the messenger read out Lu Huaizhong’s latest order.
Li Zhong was in charge of the army at Yuhou, and Lu Ming, the military envoy in the left wing, respectfully accepted the order.
"Whoa!" Li Zhong took out the sword from his waist and ordered: "Whoever gets to Mingzhou first will be credited with the first achievement!"
When everyone heard this, they shouted in unison: "Go to Mingzhou! Go to Mingzhou!"
There is a post road from Cheng'an to Mingzhou.
Starting from Xiangzhou, one goes straight north, passing through Ye County, Fuyang (Cizhou), Handan, and Linming (now Yongnian) to Xingzhou. This is the first post road.
Starting from Xiangzhou, it goes northeast, passes through Linzhang, Cheng'an, Yongnian (east of today's Yongnian), and south to Xingzhou. This is Post Road 2.
The main force of Xia's army took Post Road 1, and the military force took Post Road 2.
The method of using military force, which combines the right and the strange, was so popular in the dynasty that it was still enduring from Taizong to this time.
To advance troops in two directions is to bully you because you have few soldiers and insufficient strength. What can you do to me?
After Li Zhong issued the order, the army set off immediately. They only carried 15 days of food and grass with the army. It took two days to arrive at Mingzhou City from the station. If the attack cannot be taken for a long time and the retreat is cut off, then grab it! In order to
The war is won, no matter how many things there are.
After resting, thousands of soldiers and horses in the left wing of the Jinluo Army were in high spirits. Along the way, they constantly encountered armors and weapons discarded by Jin soldiers, and even groups of broken soldiers lying on the roadside gasping for air.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!" Facing the defeated soldiers who were getting up and trying to flee, the officers and soldiers of the army were not polite at all. They raised their bows and fired, causing screams along the post road.
Li Zhong then sent out sergeants in teams to search both sides of the post road, killing as many as possible to expel the defeated Jin army.
Two thousand cavalry led horses on foot, and they were useless in this kind of battle. In terms of marching ability, they were inferior to infantry. Their only strength was their explosive power, which had been exhausted in the previous pursuit.
However, after herding the horses, they could mount their horses and give chase. Because of this, Guard Jin Qianzhi and the others were really unlucky. From Cheng'an County to Mingzhou City, it was only a short eighty-mile journey.
, more than 3,000 cavalry were defeated. Some were killed, some were captured, and some hid in the mountains or villages halfway. When the morning light of July 15th showed, Murong Teng and his last few hundred people were surrounded.
In a village.
The battle lasted only half an hour. Most of the thieves were captured, and more than 200 people below Murong Teng were killed. The guards' golden spears were straight, and they were removed from the Jin army.
In the end, Murong Teng didn't get a chance to complain, but there were more than 5,000 guards with golden spears. The combat mission was unclear and varied. Li Junqing, who served as the attack envoy of Fushui Youyi, couldn't figure out the specific deployment of Xia's army.
and military strength are to blame.
Of course, if we dig deeper, the root cause of this failure actually lies with Li Keyong.
Xing Mingci had more than 10,000 troops in the three prefectures, plus less than 30,000 Yamen troops, to fight against the Xia army, which was several times their strength, on a flat plain. From a strategic point of view, it was wrong.
The strategy is wrong, no matter how good the tactics are, it cannot make up for it. Li Keyong, let's take the blame honestly.
The vanguard of the military force who arrived at Mingzhou City immediately captured the people, cut down large trees, and made siege equipment.
On July 16th, they could hardly wait any longer and tried to attack the city using simple wooden ladders, but were repulsed by the Mingzhou soldiers defending the city.
Afterwards, they gave up their attempt to rush down to Mingzhou and began to set up camp. At the same time, they sent their cavalry to detour northward and went all the way to the direction of Shahe. They met the Jin army's cavalry brigade before returning.
Along the way, the army marched more than a hundred miles in a few days, captured a city, killed one bandit general, and captured and killed more than 3,000 Jin soldiers. The forward reached Shahe River, and Xingzhou was shaken by it. It was considered a turnaround.
Already.
*****
Under Cizhou City, the siege battle has been going on for a whole day.
Li Junqing stood on top of the city, looking confused.
On the north bank of Fu River, the camps stretched as far as the eye could see, extending far into the distance.
On the field, the cavalry was crisscrossing, bringing up large clouds of dust and smoke.
Under the city wall, corpses were densely packed, and damaged vehicles were scattered everywhere.
Those who attacked the city were local men from the two states of Xiangwei, occasionally mixed with a wave of Zhendian Xia soldiers.
The offensive was extremely fierce and fast-paced. One wave collapsed and another rose again. The defenders were shaken, and the attackers were still filling the city with people without fear of death.
No, maybe it's not that you're not afraid of death.
On the wall of the Xia army camp, there were densely hung heads. Most of them were soldiers who fled, and most of them were local warriors who defended the two states. They had lived a good life for too long. After the Anshi Rebellion, there was peace for more than a hundred years. Generally speaking, it was
The battle may be bearable, but when the two sides enter the stage of hand-to-hand combat with red bayonets, and when they see their fathers, brothers, and countrymen falling in front of them one by one, it is easy for them to collapse mentally.
Lu Huaizhong was willing to fight for the best treatment for his sergeants. Under his rule, anyone who dared to embezzle military pay would be immediately killed without any discussion. He also provided generous pensions. He often visited the homes of those who died in battle, and sometimes even used part of his personal property to make up for it.
Martyred family members.
But he was unscrupulous in order to win. Everyone said that Li Tangbin was cruel, but Li Tangbin was only cruel to miscellaneous troops and not so bad to his own people. Lu Huaizhong almost treated everyone equally. Even his son and nephew were forced to fight on the front line.
You can see his will.
After a day's fierce attack, many areas on the south side of the city wall were damaged - this was once again Li Ke's fault, the result of poor local governance.
After a day's fierce attack, the men and horses who came out of the city to burn the Xia army's siege equipment suffered heavy losses and were almost captured from the city gate.
After a day's fierce attack, eight generals of the Cizhou Prefecture Army were killed, and the morale of the army had been shaken.
Seeing the company camped on the opposite side for more than ten miles, with drums and horns shouting and flags covering the field, everyone was wondering, could Cizhou still be able to defend it?
The sun gradually sets, and the sunset glow makes the water turn red, like blood.
A fight in the north of the city has ended again.
"Rebel General" An Xiuxiu led a large group of cavalry to charge repeatedly and repel the reinforcements coming from the direction of Fukou.
Li Junqing punched the female wall and fell to the top of the city in anger.
Most of Zhaoyi County has been captured, and there will be no reinforcements from Fukou Town. There are only more than 6,000 Huangjia troops in front of the hall, which is not enough to fill their teeth in front of the Xia army, which numbers as many as 100,000.
There are still more than 10,000 troops from the Fifth Academy in Handan, and An Jinquan, the governor of Mingzhou, personally leads the army to guard it. They are the only friendly forces that can relieve Cizhou, but are they willing to come?
When the King of Jin held a meeting with the generals in Xingzhou, Li Junqing thought that 40,000 troops were actually quite a lot and were enough to defend him. But when the fight actually started, he realized that this number of men was simply not enough.
There are too many places to defend. The state army occupies more than 10,000 people. The mobile troops are only about 30,000. The more elite volunteer army and Hengchong army are in the hands of the King of Jin. In fact, the only people who can be used on the front line are guards.
The golden gun is straight, and there are three troops of the Huangjia Army and the Fifth Academy Army in front of the hall.
The King of Jin held the four towns of Hedong, Zhaoyi, Datong, and Youzhou, with more than 100,000 troops, which seemed to be a lot. But in times of crisis, the mobile troops that could be mobilized were so pitiful. It is not obvious at ordinary times, but in this fight, Li Junqing
I suddenly felt chilled.
Shao Thief can mobilize more than 100,000 mobile troops, how big the gap between the two sides must be!
There was another overwhelming sound of killing outside the city, and Li Junqing lost his mind and remained silent for a long time.
*****
Li Keyong was meeting with Li Xiji in Wu'an when he received the news.
Wu'an is a county under Cizhou and an important town at the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain.
During the Warring States Period, the Qin army "camped in Anxi" and "made noise to rein in the troops, causing the roof tiles in Wu'an to vibrate" in order to force Handan.
During the Pingzelu rebellion in the imperial dynasty, Li Deyu also suggested "cutting off Wu'an" and exterminating Zelu's military supplies in Shandong - the five Zelu states, and the three Xingming and Ci states located on the Hebei plain were obviously the main grain production bases.
Traveling more than a hundred miles northeast of Shexian County and out of the Taihang Mountains, you can reach Wu'an and then Handan.
Li Xijidu's people transported a batch of equipment to Wu'an, and then brought a group of newly recruited family members of the sergeants back to Hedong.
Obviously, neither the master nor the servant expected that Xia Jun would launch an offensive so quickly and make rapid progress, so they were a little panicked.
Li Xiji could not blame his lord.
In fact, he proposed the strategy of strengthening the wall and clearing the country very early. He believed that Xingming's three states were isolated in Shandong, with inconvenient transportation and communication difficulties with Zelu. If he still lingered on, he would suffer big losses sooner or later.
Although the King of Jin recognized this in his heart, he could not give it up. To this day, more than 30,000 households of Xingmingci people were moved to the east of the river by recruiting soldiers, and distributed land to them for farming.
The group of more than 5,000 Xingmingci people who were relocated yesterday turned out to be the final result of the clearing of the wilderness in the three prefectures of Shandong.
What else can Li Xiji say about this? Nothing can be said!
"The fifth battalion of new troops is well trained. I will take them back to Xingzhou sooner or later." Li Keyong said with a forced smile.
Li Xiji let out a long sigh.
The King of Jin has already acquiesced that Xing Mingci will not be able to hold on sooner or later? If he had known this, why did he do it in the first place?
Five battalions of new troops, front, rear, left, center and right, are still training in the Xin Dynasty. Last year, there were more than 30,000 people. One year later, there will be more than 40,000. Including these new recruits, there are almost more than 50,000.
These soldiers are mainly composed of common people from the three states of Xingmingci, supplemented by Dingzhuang from the Tibetan tribe who have moved inland. The purpose of their formation is to supplement the consumption of the fierce war. At present, it seems that the consumption is getting faster and faster, and the 50,000 new troops are not yet available.
It came in handy. The first batch of training only lasted for one year and three months. It was enough to be a supplementary soldier, let alone to be deployed into the field as an organic soldier.
"Your Majesty, if nothing can be done, just withdraw." Li Xiji advised: "Wei Bo is unreliable. Expecting them to send troops to reverse the situation is purely..."
Li Xiji didn't want to say some unpleasant words, but the meaning was very clear. So many Xia soldiers had poured into Cizhou, and even Mingzhou had sent thousands of infantry and cavalry. If they continued to hesitate, Handan's Fifth Academy Army would definitely not be able to escape.
, Huang Jiajun in front of the hall in Fukou Town is also in danger. As for the guard Jin Qianzhi, news has been lost, and it is probably not optimistic.
"I have mobilized the Khitans to march southward, and they have reached Dingzhou. Yi'er, Hengchong, and the Khitans are all cavalry, and they still have the strength to fight." Li Keyong said.
"Your Majesty!" Li Xiji stood up immediately and said hurriedly: "Xingzhou is a dead place! No matter how many soldiers you add, they will never come back."
Li Keyong was furious when he heard this and stared at Li Xiji with one eye.
Li Xiji looked at him without fear.
"You go back to Luzhou first. I have my own ideas here." Li Keyong turned his head and said.
"Your Majesty, since you have sent troops to guard Cilu Pass, it means——"
"Enough, enough!" Li Keyong said angrily.
Li Xiji sighed, bowed his hands, and left silently.
He had also spoken unscrupulously just now, exposing Li Keyong's hidden fear and worry, which made his lord furious. He understood that what he said was inappropriate. For the King of Jin, he had to follow the rules and deal with them.
It is not a good choice for him to speak out and give advice when he is very angry.
Perhaps, he would have to suffer one or two more defeats before King Jin could completely wake up and give up those unrealistic thoughts.
