A small-scale conflict occurred outside Lingchang County. The Feilong sergeants who went to collect food encountered resistance from the township brave militia.
The Xia Army soldiers did not want to tangle with them because it would waste too much time.
Finally, something very outrageous but reasonable happened. The village brave militia donated a hundred dendrobiums of grain and ten mules, and the Xia army retreated.
Qi Binzhang expressed satisfaction with this, and now he was supervising the large troops to count the supplies and prepare to transfer them elsewhere.
They have been resting in Lingchang County for two days.
The equipment is almost in repair, the horses' hooves are trimmed, and the shoes are nailed. The number of mules, horses and donkeys has increased to about 12,000.
Many people had not finished all the dried meat, cheese, and milk powder they had brought with them when they set out. Liang Jun's speed was so slow and his soldiers were so few that they could stay in one place for more than a day and cook with the captured grain.
, have a good sleep comfortably.
What about the planned encirclement and interception?
At first, everyone was very nervous. After laying down a field, they hurriedly counted supplies, replenished food and water, and then ran away quickly. But now it seems that there is no need to be so panicked.
The amount of grain and grass carried with the army is still about ten days, which is slightly less than before. But the problem is not big. The population in Henan is too dense, and the agriculture has recovered well, so grain and grass can be collected easily.
The most amazing thing is that recently, groups of Bian people have come to seek refuge in twos and threes, bringing their own weapons and some even riding horses.
They are all a bunch of thieves, or simply deserters who have committed crimes. They have no moral integrity and want to make a fortune with the Feilong Army.
Qibizhang turned them into a separate battalion. Currently, there are about two hundred people. They fight very fiercely, but of course the military discipline is also very poor.
"According to what you said, Zhu Zhen has sent his cavalry to the east and pursued them all the way?" Qibizhang asked while munching mutton in the Lingchang County government office.
"Returning to the general, the cavalry sent by Zhu Zhen set off from Zhengzhou, divided into two routes, north and south, marching eastward along the Yellow River, all the way to Bianzhou, and outflanked them."
"There are still people coming from the direction of Caozhou. When I left my hometown, I heard many people say that Desheng Army He Delun was recruiting people, horses and mules to go north."
"There should also be infantry dispatched to guard the bridges and military towns."
The people who spoke were all thieves who brought their own rations and weapons, and one of them was a sergeant who deserted. They had some information that was difficult for Qi Banzhang to know, and they could still provide a lot of reference.
Qi Banzhang asked someone to spread out the map and study it carefully.
I don’t know how many cavalry Zhu Zhen sent, but they were at most two to three thousand, and the troops were divided into two groups. In fact, the threat was not very great.
Hedren's left and right Desheng troops are more troublesome. They have three thousand riders. If they fight head-on, the Feilong army is not afraid. The trouble is that if they keep a close eye on them all the way and then cooperate with the local infantry to intercept them front and back, it will be very troublesome.
Henan is not a place where you can run wherever you want. In fact, there are many obstacles that hinder the cavalry's march, such as rivers, woods, low hills, cities, passes, etc.
The most troublesome thing is actually the river.
Henan has a well-developed water system. Although most of it is repaired and dredged manually, the water is deep enough and must be bridged or built by oneself.
If the former is heavily guarded, it only needs to hold you back for a while and let the pursuers surround you, and you will basically not be able to escape.
The latter also takes time and carries the risk of being surrounded.
But then again, what the Liang people lack most now is troops. With infantry and cavalry cooperating with the pursuit and interception, in such a big place, not tens of thousands of people can do it?
Qi Banzhang doesn't believe that Zhu Quanzhong can still assemble tens of thousands of troops, and there is no need to defend the Yellow River defense line? And since the troops are insufficient, then don't even think about surrounding me.
"I have made up my mind!" Qi Bizhang threw the meat cleaver on the table.
The sharp knife was nailed into the chopping board, making it tremble endlessly.
The general and his subordinates were talking about rumors, and the soldiers looked at him with blank eyes. He was confused, what "I have made up my mind"?
"Go to Huazhou first!" Qibizhang's greasy fingers slid around on the silk map, leaving large ugly oil stains, as if this area was about to be "contaminated" by his army.
"There should be some soldiers in Huazhou, but not too many. Let's prepare to attack, wait a moment, and let the Liang people gather here, and then" Qi Banzhang moved his thick and greasy finger to the east and said: "
Go to Puzhou and borrow some arrows and military supplies from Zhu Xuan's house. We will also take care of any injured brothers, and then we will break into Songzhou via Dao Yun and Yan."
Everyone was not surprised at all when they heard this.
Moving towards Huazhou, we had already planned to retreat to Puzhou if the war went unfavorably.
It's hard to say what the attitude of brothers Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin is now, but they are not yet siding with Zhu Quanzhong. It shouldn't be difficult for the army to pass by and provide some supplies, and they can also take a good rest and regain their energy.
Moreover, the pursuers had no idea of their next move. Maybe they thought the Feilong Army was heading to Yunyan to reinforce Erzhu, which was not surprising.
"That's it!" Qi Binzhang decided on his next move without giving others a chance to interrupt.
Generals Tuoba Renfu and Li Renyu were also on Er Zhu's territory, but I heard that they were not interested in human affairs and were not willing to fight to the death with Zhu Quanzhong's men and waste their strength. They actually followed Zhu Xuan's men to plunder De.
, Zizhou is too much.
If we encounter them this time, we should gather these people and act together.
If Tuoba Renfu and Li Renyu don't want to, there's nothing to say. They just want to rebel and stand on their own feet and have their own means to deal with it.
On the tenth day of March, Qibizhang ordered the city to be abandoned and headed for Baima County, Lisuo, Huazhou, seventy miles to the northeast.
At the same time, there was some movement in the Heyang area.
Fu Cunxun, the envoy of the returned army, led more than 20,000 troops on foot and cavalry southward to attack the Liang people's stronghold on the north bank of the river.
Gao Renhou also sent 5,000 Feilong troops to Huojia County to look for an opportunity to cross the river and go south, intending to launch a second wave of raiding columns into Henan.
Zhu Quanzhong doesn't want to withdraw his troops now, so I'll put more pressure on you and see who can't stand it first.
…
"Whoosh!" Hit by an arrow.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!" Several arrows flew out in succession. Except for one arrow that missed the target, the other eight arrows all hit the target.
The onlookers cheered loudly.
Shao Shude got on his horse and circled around the shooting range. During this period, he shot five arrows in a row, three of them hit the target, and two of them missed.
The expressions of the sergeants became even more crazy.
"Shoot the deer! Shoot the deer!"
They hit the ground with their guns and shouted and cheered rhythmically.
Riding on horseback and shooting, hitting three out of five arrows, this is a magical skill!
Shao Shude threw the riding bow into Li Zhong's hand, laughed and dismounted.
Showing your skills in front of the new recruits will help improve morale.
Warriors these days especially admire those who are stronger than them.
If you are strong in force, it will be easy to win their support. You don’t know how many tactics and tricks you can save, and you don’t know how many rewards you can save to win over.
The prestige of the founding emperor came from these little things bit by bit, which was what the established emperor lacked.
I'm going hunting, who dares to chirp? Not only don't they dare to chirp, but they also share the prey with me.
"Commander, there is movement in Heyang. Gao Renhou divided the Feilong Army into two groups. The first group has gone south and is operating in the Huazhou area." Chen Cheng came up and said: "Commander
If you show off your skills today, the soldiers will be convinced. If you fight against the thieves tomorrow, you will have a better chance of winning."
"They can only fight with the wind and nothing else." Shao Shude said in a low voice: "Gao Renhou is too conservative. All ten thousand Feilong Army should be dispersed. How many soldiers can Zhu Quanzhong have?"
The Tianxiong Army and the Yi Cong Army have retreated to the area north of Xinxi County. More than 10,000 people have been forcibly relocated from Baoxin County, and the city is currently being renovated on the north bank of the Huai River.
The main force finally withdrew safely, which made Shao Shude breath a sigh of relief.
Next, he could advance, attack, retreat or defend. If Zhu Quanzhong wanted to severely damage or even destroy his troops, he had to think of other ways.
"It's better to be safe." Chen Cheng said: "If we can't grab food, we will have no choice but to kill horses to satisfy our hunger and retreat to the north bank."
Shao Shude nodded, reluctantly agreeing with his statement.
Back then, in Henan Prefecture, due to the sparse population and difficulty in supplying supplies, the distance the cavalry could move was very limited. Later, when the Liang people improved their defense system, it became even more difficult.
In the past two or three years, the Battle of Xiaojiangkou, where Zhe Zongben went south to Xiangyang, and the Battle of Heqing, where Shao Shude personally took charge of the micro-management, should be landmark and decisive battles.
The former opened up the southern battlefield, and the latter annexed Heyang. Both of them could bypass the rugged and desolate Xiaohan Valley Road and harass the Liang people from the north and south.
In the fifth year of the war, Zhu Quanzhong finally realized the difficulties of the hinterland being riddled with holes. If the Xia and Liang sides were still in a stalemate stage before, today in the second year of Qianning, the balance of victory and defeat in the war has changed significantly.
The change.
The strategic stalemate stage is over, and Shao Shude is about to start a strategic offensive.
"Did any news come back from ancient times?" Shao Shude asked again.
"not yet."
The last news was sent back two days ago. Zhe Conggu led two thousand cavalry to the vicinity of Yingkou. Seeing that the Liang people's stronghold was strict and well-defended, they withdrew.
He was very courageous and entered the territory of Yingzhou. It was not to attack any target, but to conduct further reconnaissance to see if he could find the Liang people's troops.
"Wu Yu still refuses to come?" The sergeants on the school field resumed their training. Shao Shude stopped watching and turned around to ask about another matter.
At the beginning, because Wu Yu was really unreliable and had contacted Yang Xingmi's envoy in private. At the same time, in order to shift the blame and slander Xia Jun's reputation in front of the people of Anzhou, Shao Shude summoned him to Peishui. In fact, it was not considered slander, because asking for
The grain and grass were real, Wu Yu just added fuel and vinegar to them.
At the same time, Tianxiong Army envoy Zang Dubao quietly left the city and went to the camp outside the city to avoid being beheaded by Wu Yu, which would be too unfair.
Now it seems that Wu Yu did have something in his heart, he actually stopped coming, and the food collection also stopped. He may not have betrayed Du Hong, but his intention to wait and see is indeed very obvious.
A typical little warlord who supports his troops and respects himself!
"Commander, Wu Yu's matter can be put aside for now." Chen Cheng said: "Shi Zan's army of ten thousand people has arrived in Shangzhou, and the food and grass will soon arrive there. Without the food in Anzhou, we will not be hungry.
"
Shao Shude was noncommittal. Let’s not talk about the loss of long-distance land transportation of food. But now is not the time to think about this. He looked across the Peishui River from a distance and said: "Send an order to Wu Zangjie, and his troops will retreat to White Dog City. New news
County, don’t cross the river.”
Baigoucheng is on the north bank of the Huai River, seventy miles southwest of Zhenyang County, close to the great post road from Caizhou to Shenzhou.
Liang was garrisoned here by White Dog. Therefore, Yao Xiong, a general in the Later Wei Dynasty (Northern Wei Dynasty), said: "White Dog is an important town in the north of Liang."
The city is not big. It was semi-abandoned before and has been renovated recently. It also has a lot of food and grass looted from Caizhou.
Xinxi County, the Xi Kingdom in the Spring and Autumn Period, was destroyed by Chu. Five miles south of the county is the Huai River, and thousands of soldiers and horses can be stationed.
Shao Shude asked Yi Congjun not to retreat across the Huaihe River, but to separate the two north bank strongholds of Baigou and Xinxi. This was a wise idea.