The ninth and forty-eighth chapter arrogant soldiers
Early the next morning, Guo Song began to mobilize troops. The Jin army currently has a total of 250,000 troops, of which 150,000 troops are deployed everywhere. Chang'an has 100,000 troops. This time Guo Song is preparing to personally lead 70,000 troops.
Going south, leaving 30,000 troops to guard Guanzhong, but leaving 30,000 troops alone may not be enough. Considering that there are 80,000 militia soldiers in Guanzhong, Guo Song ordered them to be recruited and incorporated into the defense of Guanzhong. General Yao Jin personally
Located in Tongguan.
Guo Song handed over the defense of Chang'an to Zhang Qianyi. Although Zhang Qianyi was a civil servant, he knew the art of war well and had experience in defending Tibet in Shazhou.
The troops and horses have not moved, but the food and grass have to go first. The Jin army has been preparing to attack Bashu as early as last year. A large amount of food and grass materials are hoarded in Hanzhong. They will use Hanzhong as a logistics base to advance towards Bashu step by step.
Before dawn, Guo Song led an army of 70,000 and set out. At the same time, 10,000 camels were set off, manned by a thousand camel drivers. The camels were loaded with dry food and fodder, and followed the 70,000 army in a mighty way.
Head towards Ziwu Valley.
While secretly heading to Hanzhong, Guo Song also publicly announced that he was going to Longyou to inspect, and sent thousands of cavalry to Longyou under his banner.
This is also a kind of strategic deception, which caused the Southern Tang's spies in Chang'an to misjudge.
...........
Jiannan and Yazhou were quite strategic. After capturing Yazhou, the experienced Shang Dongzan immediately withdrew 20,000 troops from the city and hid them. Only 5,000 soldiers were left in the city. This created the illusion that the Tubo army only had 5,000 soldiers.
Thousands of people.
At the same time, he spread a large number of rumors. Tubo suffered a serious famine last year. Shang Dong agreed and sent more than a dozen grain harvesting teams to rob grain and livestock in Lushan, Mingshan, Baizhang and other counties. This scared people from all over Yazhou and fled to
Qiongzhou.
At this time, Shang Dongzan received information that a Tang army of 20,000 people had entered Qiongzhou. He immediately ordered a grain harvesting team to enter Qiongzhou to rob grain and livestock.
The chief general of the Tang Army, Wang Qingyang, was also a member of Dou Wenchang's faction. After Hun Yao, the military governor of Jiannan Province, was killed by an eunuch, Wang Qingyang was promoted to General Zuo Xiaowei and served as the military governor of Jiannan Province. You must know that he was under Li Sheng's leadership.
His subordinate was still just a general, but after Li Sheng was seized power, the army was reorganized into the Shence Army. All generals were promoted one level, and he was promoted to general Zhonglang.
But Wang Qingyang sized up the situation, and when everyone was disdainful of the eunuchs in charge of the army, he promptly defected to Dou Wenchang, who was promoted to general by Dou Wenchang and became Dou Wenchang's right-hand man in controlling the Shence Army.
Although Wang Qingyang has a high status, it is his first time to lead an army in battle as a commander. However, Dou Wenchang promised him that if he defeated the Tibetan army this time, he would be canonized as a county king. This made Wang Qingyang, who was already a little nervous, look forward to it.
extremely.
This time Wang Qingyang led a total of 20,000 troops, including 15,000 Shence Army and 5,000 Jiannan Army. In addition to Zhang Meng and his 2,000 troops who had retreated from Yazhou, a total of 22,000 troops were stationed in Lin.
Qiong County.
Linqiong County is also a large county with a large population, but the county walls are relatively dilapidated and low, and its defense capabilities are far inferior to those of Yazhou.
What really annoyed Wang Qingyang was that he commanded the Shence Army as the commander-in-chief of the Jiannan Army, and the officers and soldiers of the Shence Army generally did not agree with him.
At night, Wang Qingyang came to the East Camp for inspection. The East Camp is the Shence Army Camp, and the Jiannan Army Camp is the West Camp. The two armies have different treatment, salary and food. Of course, they cannot live together.
, otherwise it will cause serious conflicts.
The Shence Army's monthly salary is three guan, which doubles during the war. In peacetime, they have one meal of meat every three days, and they must eat meat every day during the war. However, the Jiannan Army's monthly salary is 600 guan in peacetime, which is increased to one during the war, and they can only eat one meal every three days during the war.
Half full, you can eat enough during war. As for meat, the soldiers of the Jiannan Army cannot see it. It would be nice to have a bowl of broth occasionally.
It was quiet in the East Camp, and many soldiers were asleep. At this time, when he passed a large tent, he suddenly heard his name mentioned in the tent. He immediately reined in the reins and listened carefully.
"I think Wang Qingyang's skill in flattering others is first-rate. He leads troops to fight! Have any of you seen him? Anyway, I have never seen him fight, haha!"
"That is, under General Li Sheng, he was just a partial general, but now he has become a general. He is very good at talking!"
The soldiers in the tent laughed and ridiculed without restraint, and were full of disdain for Wang Qingyang. Wang Qingyang turned pale with anger and clenched his fists. Finally, he snorted heavily, turned his horse and left.
After walking a long way, I could still faintly hear harsh laughter coming from the big tent.
Returning to the Chinese army's tent, Wang Qingyang kicked the stool over with a strong kick. He was so angry that his eyes were filled with fire. Is his evaluation in the army that bad?
At this time, the soldier reported at the door: "Commander, General Zhang Meng wants to see you."
Wang Qingyang took a long breath and ordered: "Let him come in!"
After a moment, Zhang Meng quickly walked into the tent, clasped his fists and bowed: "See you, Marshal!"
Wang Qingyang glanced at him and saw that he didn't kneel to him, so he asked coldly: "What's the matter with you?"
Zhang Meng's official rank is from the third rank of Yunhui General, and Wang Qingyang's rank is from the third rank to the champion general. The official rank difference between the two is only half a rank, but their titles are the same. They are both county princes, and Zhang Meng is Dou Wenchang's adopted son.
Dou Wenchang's status was slightly higher than that of Wang Qingyang, so Zhang Meng was not allowed to kneel in front of Wang Qingyang.
Zhang Mengdao: "I have just received news that hundreds of Tibetan troops are looting food in Linxi County. I beg you to lead troops to encircle and suppress them."
Zhang Meng lost Yazhou and had a heavy responsibility. He knew that Dou Wenchang would never forgive him after returning to Chengdu, so he was eager to make atonement for his sins.
Zhang Meng's words reminded Wang Qingyang that at the last moment, Dou Wenchang and Huo Xianming repeatedly urged him to find out the true and false status of the Tibetan army. Zhang Meng had previously told him that the Tibetan army numbered 20,000 to 30,000 people, but Wang Qingyang asked those who had fled with them.
The soldiers learned that Zhang Meng had not seen the other party at all, but fled when he heard that the South City Gate was lost.
In order to escape the crime, Zhang Meng would of course exaggerate the number of enemy troops, even saying that the number of enemy troops could be 100,000. Therefore, Wang Qingyang did not believe Zhang Meng's lies at all. In the past two days, he asked people who had fled from Yazhou City to inquire
It is clear that the Tibetan army only has 5,000 people. It was because Tibet suffered from severe famine that they came to rob food.
Wang Qingyang originally planned to write a military report to Dou Wenchang. Since Zhang Meng proposed to encircle and suppress the Tibetan army who was robbing food, he could use this opportunity to test the authenticity of the Tibetan army.
Wang Qingyang agreed immediately, "I will give another thousand soldiers, together with your two thousand tribesmen, a total of three thousand people, to go to Linxi County early tomorrow morning."
Zhang Meng was overjoyed and immediately bowed and said: "I will never disappoint the coach in my humble position!"
........
Early that morning, Zhang Meng led three thousand people to leave Linqiong County and ran all the way to Linxi County, fifty miles away with murderous intent.
Just entering Linxi County, a grain convoy consisting of more than 200 ox carts came on the official road ahead. The carts were loaded with grain and other property, and there were also thousands of livestock, followed by 500 Tibetan soldiers.
On both sides of the bullock cart.
Zhang Meng deceived the opponent and shouted, "Kill!"
"Kill--"
Three thousand Jiannan Army soldiers shouted and rushed towards the Tubo soldiers. Five hundred Tubo soldiers were so frightened that they turned around and ran for their lives, throwing away their helmets and armor, and even their weapons, lest these things hinder their escape.
Zhang Meng did not expect that these Tibetan soldiers were also afraid of fighting. He was both proud and a little regretful. He had known that he should have sent spies first. After discovering the enemy's troops, he would then ambush them and annihilate the five hundred enemy troops.
The merits atone for one's sins.
Seeing the Tibetan soldiers disappearing like rabbits, Zhang Meng had no choice but to order the soldiers to put away their armor and drive the ox convoy back to Linqiong County.
Wang Qingyang never expected that Zhang Mengqi would win, seize a large amount of grain, cattle and sheep, and defeat 500 Tibetan soldiers who were robbing grain. This really made him excited. If he could defeat the Tubo army in Yazhou in one fell swoop and recapture Yazhou, not only would he be able to seal the country
The king of the county, and more importantly, no one dares to say that he can't lead troops to fight. With this battle, he, Wang Qingyang, will become the most meritorious general of the imperial court.
He immediately wrote a detailed report and sent someone to Chengdu immediately. In the report, he proposed that the opponent's troops had only 5,000 troops, weak equipment, and low training levels. They should all be recruits. He asked Dou Wenchang and Huo Xianming to
Allow yourself to send troops to Yazhou to wipe out the invading enemy.
In the afternoon of the next day, Wang Qingyang received a reply from Dou Wenchang and Huo Xianming. The letter contained only one sentence: 'Send troops to Yazhou and annihilate all the enemy forces.'
Dou Wenchang and Huo Xianming were also convinced from the flying pigeon message sent by Yazhou officials that the other party only had 5,000 people and would plunder Jiannan like a bandit. In this case, they could indeed fight.
That night, Wang Qingyang ordered Zhang Meng to lead 2,000 troops to guard Linqiong County, while he led 20,000 troops to kill Yazhou City.
Shang Dongzan had received news from spies that 20,000 Tang troops from Linqiong County were marching towards Yazhou in a mighty manner. A sneer appeared on his lips. His trick of showing weakness to lure the opponent's arrogant soldiers was successful.
He immediately led an army of 25,000 to attack and set up an ambush in a forest on the border between Yazhou and Qiongzhou. The ambush forest was two miles away from the official road. It could not ambush the opponent, but it could prevent the opponent from finding out that he had been fooled and retreat.
Shang Dongzan immediately ordered five thousand cavalry to bypass the enemy's back and cut off the enemy's retreat.
The next morning, 20,000 Tang troops came from the official road in the distance. Suddenly, drums sounded loudly in the woods to the south, and a large Tibetan army came out of the woods.
Wang Qingyang thought he had encountered an ambush and immediately ordered his troops to form a formation to fight. However, when he saw the number of people on the other side clearly, there was a 'buzz!' sound in his head, and his heart fell into the abyss. He knew that he had been fooled.