Chapter 28 Temptation (Additional update for leader Wu Nike)
White waves, black water, and heavy mist.
On the blue waves of the Han River, densely packed ships followed the southeast wind upstream.
Each ship has a deep draft and is fully loaded with consumables such as grain, arrows, and medicinal materials.
When moving a large army, water transport is more convenient.
It would be unthinkable to fight in Xiangzhou and leave the transportation channel of Han River.
On both sides of the Han River, there are dense swamps, wetlands, woods and pastures, as well as villages and farmland dotted in between, which is a pleasure to look at.
The development of the south has just begun.
The greatest achievement since the founding of the People's Republic of China was probably the draining of swamps in parts of the south of the Yangtze River, transforming it into a place suitable for human habitation and farming.
During the mid-Tang Dynasty, Wuyue was one of the two major destinations for exiled prisoners and captured Hu people. But with the development of Jiangnan, it is now impossible for you to go to Jiangnan. Marshal Shao conquered Helong, and every time he would symbolically
The captured Qiang and Hu nobles were sent to Chang'an, hundreds or thousands of them at a time, and basically all of them were sent to Lingnan.
To be honest, the Jianghan area is not as developed as Jiangdong and Jiangxi. At this time, there are dense swamps, crisscrossing rivers, more original ecology, and the environment is more "natural".
It is better to take a boat than to take a post road.
The strong southeast wind in summer quickly blew the fleet to the dock outside Gucheng County.
Because there were too many ships to dock for a while, we had to disperse some of them to nearby creek branches with sufficient water depth, and then mobilized civilians to unload the goods at the old site.
Also accompanying the ship were more than two thousand sergeants, all from Xiangyang, and the military governor, Zhao Dewan, commanded the army.
Gucheng Ling Jingdao led people to carry drinks and drive pigs and sheep to work for the army.
This man is really good at playing both sides in troubled times!
"There is no need to do this to the county magistrate." Zhao Dewan said with a serious face: "We have to recruit slaves as soon as possible and build a warehouse city. It doesn't have to be good, it just needs to be able to support it for a while."
That's what Zhao Dewan said, but under the signal from his eyes, the people below naturally accepted the drinks, pigs and sheep. When going out to fight, of course, the sergeants must be given good food and drink, otherwise what will happen if the generals start to make trouble?
"My subordinates have already sent people to cut down trees and build buildings," Jingdao replied.
"Can the county treasury still hold on?" Zhao Dewan asked again.
"We can still store 30,000 hu of grain." Jingdao thought to himself that it was lucky that he sent a batch of grain to the Xia thieves, otherwise he would not be able to put it down.
Zhao Dewan glanced at him. This dog official actually squandered 30,000 grains. He was very courageous!
But he didn't bother to care about it.
In these days, loyalty is more important than anything else. Compared with it, everything else is trivial.
"Save 30,000 grains of dendrobium to the city." Zhao Dewan immediately ordered.
He was quite strict in running the army, and the sergeants did not delay and immediately obeyed his orders.
"The capital of Zhao has come a long way, so why not go to the city to rest for a while? My subordinates will prepare some wine and some sound people..."
"No need, I'm not good at this." Zhao Dewan waved his hand and said, "You may as well go on your own, just leave someone here to do your bidding."
After saying that, Zhao Dewan walked aside and ordered his soldiers to bring the map and study it carefully.
The direction in which the Xia thieves fled was obvious, and that was the Xiaojiangkou stockade. It was the thieves' nest, and they must have wanted to rely on the fort to defend it.
That's what they did last time.
At that time, the Zhe clan had only 3,000 soldiers. They were forced by the nephew's 20,000 soldiers and horses and immediately fled back. If his brother had not died suddenly, he would have attacked the Xia bandit camp by force.
Of course it is not easy to attack a fortress, but what other options are there? To recruit and surrender the clan?
We can only gather an army to besiege!
And since we want to attract a large army to besiege, we must set up a general grain station on the front line to transfer grain, grass and materials, and Gucheng County is very suitable.
Go upstream and approach the mouth of the Xiaojiang River, which is not far away. There are strong southeasterly winds in summer and abundant water. You only need to prepare a small number of trackers to deal with accidents, and most ships can sail with the wind to the outside of the village.
"Two of the three armies have converged on Xiangyang, but Zhao Fan's troops in Tangzhou are a little further away. Will they be defeated individually?" Zhao Dewan looked at the map, slightly worried.
A total of more than 26,000 people were mobilized, including the Yamen army, the state army, the county soldiers, and the Tuan villagers. There was no room for mistakes!
Especially the more than 10,000 elite Yamen troops, which accounted for 40% of the total Yamen army. This battle was a big gamble, and you could only win but not lose. Moreover, it had to be fought quickly and returned to the base immediately after the battle, otherwise the Xuanwu army would take advantage of the situation.
When I touched it, I felt like crying without tears.
"Come here, send your cavalry to search more and don't let go of any suspicious places. In addition, send envoys to Kuanglin's army and ask them to be careful and not to be taken advantage of by Xia thieves." Zhao Dewan ordered again.
He knew that doing so would displease his nephew Zhao Kuanglin. He could succeed as the governor of Tangzhou and lead elite troops, which obviously earned the trust of his nephew Kuang Ning. But when it came to the foundation of the Zhao family, he had to be cautious, so this was the only way.
…
In fact, Orimunemoto is not interested in defeating each one.
If one road is defeated, if the other two roads are alert and cannot be protected, then they will escape. Wouldn't it be a big deal?
It's better to gather them together and destroy them in one battle.
Looking at his side's cavalry hurriedly wading past the road, Zhe Zongben laughed loudly and said: "If my son-in-law were here, he would never fight like this. He must first cut off the enemy's food route and wait for the enemy to panic.
Concentrate the elite main force to break through one line first, so that the enemy will be frightened, lose fighting spirit, and retreat hastily. Then pursue as many troops as you can. It is safe to fight in this way, but if you do not fight it cleanly, the other two enemy forces will not be able to fight.
It’s very likely to break your muscles and bones.”
Of course, Marshal Shao's war may not be as simple as Zhe Zong originally thought. He has always coordinated politics and military means, not just focusing on the military aspect. It is normal for the two to have different ideas.
"Commander, the main force of the Loyalty Army has left Xiangyang and Dengcheng and started to march westward. We captured a prisoner and learned from the torture that Zhao Kuangning personally led the army with more than 10,000 people. His brother Kuangming led his troops to stay behind.
Xiangzhou." The leader of the rangers immediately stepped forward to report without caring about his injuries.
"More than 10,000? How much is 10,000?" Zuri Zongben was very dissatisfied with this imprecise number and pressed.
"The prisoners only know so much." The team leader felt a little ashamed.
"That's all, let's rest as soon as we get to the car and recuperate." Zhe Zongben said with a slightly calmer expression.
A few thousand more or a few thousand less is not a big problem. Anyway, if the situation is not right, they still have a stronghold to hold on to. If the situation is suitable, they can defeat the enemy in the field and completely break the courage of the loyal army.
For seven days from July 10th to July 17th, Zhe Zongben led 2,300 cavalry to carefully reconnoiter the enemy's situation, stayed outside for a while, then turned around and retreated to Xiaojiangkou.
They even abandoned a lot of property on the road, which could not only paralyze the enemy and make them think it was money to buy the way, but also hinder the pursuit of the pursuers, getting the best of both worlds.
On July 21, the army finally returned to Xiaojiangkou Village.
"From today onwards, woodcutting will also stop." As soon as he came back, he ordered: "There is enough firewood stored in the city, and there is still coal shipped from Jinzhou, so there is no need to go out anymore."
"As ordered." All the generals responded one after another.
"General Wang, the Leopard Cavalry does not need to do anything, just recharge their batteries. If any of the horses are sick and cannot be used, the Weisheng Army still has 1,500 cavalry, and you can choose the horses at your disposal." Zhe Zongben added.
Said to Wang Chong.
The horses of the Weisheng Army may not be suitable for the Leopard Cavalry. However, Wang Chong was very moved when he said this and immediately responded: "Don't worry, Commander Zhe, the Leopard Cavalry is ready to fight at any time."
"It took a lot of effort to lure the fish here. It would be a pity if it was allowed to escape from the hook." After saying that, Zhe Zongben looked at the sky again and said, "I hope the weather will be fine in those days."
Xiangzhou is densely covered with water networks, so it is indeed not easy to find a place that is conducive to cavalry driving.
The Xiaojiangkou area is also a place where rivers run vertically and horizontally, but there happens to be a large open space outside the village. If you seize the opportunity, it can be of great use.
…
Waiting is actually very boring, and the procrastination of the Zhongyi Army is beyond imagination.
It was not until July 25th that the scouts reported that more than 3,000 bandit vanguards had appeared fifteen miles east of the village.
Zhe Zongben led his people to the high platform and carefully looked at the military situation in the east.
The Zhongyi Army is still relatively cautious.
They first sent hundreds of people across a small river that blocked the road, then cut down trees and set up fences to help follow-up troops cross the river.
After all the more than 3,000 people crossed the river, they set up another camp and stood firm there, waiting for the arrival of the follow-up army.
"Cai Bing hasn't lost all his skills yet." Ori Zongben looked at the vanguard of the Loyalty Army that had set up a pontoon bridge on the river, and said with a smile: "It's all a waste of effort, come here quickly, don't bully anyone, fight happily.
One game."
All the generals were a little excited when they heard the words.
If we can fight in the field, who will defend the city! In the past, Dou Han, the military governor of Hedong Province, heard that Li Guochang and his son were going south to Xindai, so he immediately "prepared for a rainy day" and dug trenches to build a defense line outside Jinyang. As a result, all the armies despised him.
This kind of coward doesn't dare to fight the enemy face to face, but still wants to be a military governor?
Such is the custom of the country, of course there are some who defend the city, but there are more people who go out to fight in the field.
It was Zhao Kuangning. In history, Zhu Quanzhong led the army to the south. He only had more than 20,000 troops and led people to fight in the field. However, he was defeated by Yang Shihou at Tongshan in the west of Gucheng. The main force was lost, so he took his family to Huainan and took refuge with Yang Xingmi.
.
On the 28th, Zhao Kuangning's Chinese army banner appeared on the other side of the river.
The vanguard has built three pontoon bridges, and the army can easily cross the river.
At the same time, many ships came on the river, with masts like a forest and flags and flags covering the sun. The momentum was amazing.
At least half of Shannan Dongdao’s family fortune is here!