Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 419 The Big Picture
The Desheng army came to Zhengzhou.

Strictly speaking, it was the left wing of the Desheng Army.

The source of this army is the original Bian Army cavalry, led by Xuanwu Yamen Yang Yanhong and Li Si'an.These two cavalry generals from generation to generation are both from Bianzhou Chenliu.

After Zhu Quanzhong left the town of Xuanwu, he only had [-] soldiers on hand. In order to win over the old Xuanwu army, he retained these old generals.

However, he did not fully trust these generals who were not directly descended, especially the older generation.

Yang Yanhong is now gradually being marginalized, and Li Si'an has turned into Huang Tengda, which is surprising. Perhaps he has secretly gained the trust of Zhu Quanzhong. He is currently the chief general of the cavalry army and the deputy general is Wang Tan.

The original source of the Youde Shengjun was Yicheng Town, that is, Huazhou cavalry.

After Zhu Quanzhong entered Bian, he ordered Pang Shigu to recruit warriors from Huaixi and Ziqing to form a cavalry army, which was later merged into the Youdesheng army.

Pang Shigu has been promoted, and now He Delun will be the winner of Youde.

This person was born in the Hexi Tribe. His father served in the Huazhou Army, and his father died and his son replaced him.

There are also several cavalry troops in the Bian army, but they are very small, some even have only [-] cavalry. Furen, Tianping, and Taining towns surrendered troops.

This time they were taken away by Ge Congzhou.

Apart from Desheng Army and Tabai City, only Zhongwu Town still has a cavalry army. The source is the Huaixi Pinlu Army and the descendants of the local Hu people. The scale is not large, with more than a thousand cavalry.

The Desheng army had [-] riders on the left and right hatchbacks, and the elite Tabai had [-] riders. They had been in Heyang before. This time, the [-] riders on the left wing received an order to go to the northern border of Henan Prefecture to expel the Xia army's rangers.

The original leader of Zuo Desheng's army was Li Xuan. After this man was killed, Pang Shigu's favorite general Shi Shucong took over the army, and he led his troops westward.

Along with them, there were more than [-] infantry led by Yicheng Jiedu envoy Hu Zhen.

Henan infantry, that's really as much as you want.

The Xuanwu Army had grown to 7 to [-] people, and more than [-] Cai thieves were recruited. After reorganization, Shi Pu of Wuning, Zhu Xuan of Tianping, Zhu Jin of Taining, and Luo Hongxin of Wei Bo were all beaten to shame. At that time, there were already one prefecture and fifteen prefectures, with millions of household registrations, and his strength should be the best in the world.

But they are still waiting.

Although Henan Province has continuous mountains, it also has many plains.The infantry is exposed on the plain, and it is very difficult to face the harassment of the cavalry.

Standing in the craftsman's camp, Zhu Quanzhong said with a smile: "I don't think it's a big deal to beat Zhu Xuan, Zhu Jin, and Shi Pu on weekdays. Among the three, only Zhu Jin has more cavalry, but it's still not a cause for concern."

Jing Xiang and Li Zhen stood beside each other, looking at the craftsmen who were building the vehicle, they were speechless.

Jin Malong marched westward, and the infantry was paired with a side-car, breaking the Huqi.

The so-called partial van means that one side of the compartment has a baffle with shooting holes, which can be used by archers or crossbowmen to shoot, and the other side has no baffle. One is to reduce material costs, and the other is to facilitate getting on and off.

The vehicle moved forward and fired at the same time.Riding bows are not very powerful and cannot penetrate the baffle, and the range of step bows exceeds that of riding bows, so Hu people suffered heavy casualties.

When camping, surround the car into a camp, which may be more than one layer, and it is difficult to break through.

Ma Long selected [-] crossbowmen to bring three years' worth of food, grass, and arrows, and they fought as they walked.

The Western Jin court once lost contact with him, thinking that his entire army was wiped out, until the news of Liangzhou's recovery came.

Ma Long's convoy fought and marched for more than a thousand miles, killed tens of thousands of thieves, and regained Liangzhou.

The Xuanwu Army does have some vans, but the number is far from enough to equip 5000 men. There is no other way but to build them temporarily.

But it’s not that the vans cannot be used. There are ready-made parapets and wooden parapets in the craftsman’s camp, which are similar to the vans. The disadvantage is that they are much bulkier, and they can only be used at this time.

Jing Xiang and Li Zhen are familiar with military books, so they naturally know how to deal with cavalry.It's just that I didn't expect that these things would be used in the war in the Central Plains, and I was speechless for a while.

This kind of convoy can guarantee the transportation of soldiers and military rations. In addition to the many forts in Henan, the army has no worries about logistics, and there will be no risk of food roads being intercepted.

But there are also weaknesses.If the bandit cavalry doesn't come to attack you, it will be troublesome to kill your people, unless you build a special van, garrison troops everywhere, and use dense troop configuration to cut the action route of the bandit cavalry.

They will always rest and camp.In the long-term battle, the people are tired and the horses are exhausted, and the horses cannot run the vans.

Of course, this is just a tactic of passive defense. The best way is to attack Shuofang and go straight to the enemy's lair.

The sidecar convoy walked on the prairie with enough food, grass and arrows, and was not afraid of cavalry at all.The problem is that Shao thief also has a large number of pawns. In short, it is a very complicated matter that requires long-term consideration and careful calculation.

"If the Shao thief only has cavalry and no infantry, it will be easy to deal with." Zhu Quanzhong knocked on the fender of a newly built sidecar, and said with a smile: "This person's first four thousand Tielin army is the infantry. Pawns, and later relying on the help of the Yue family to have hundreds of cavalry, how did they become like this now?"

"Commander, it's not difficult to repel Shao's bandits this time, but we still have to find a way to attack Shuofang in the future. Otherwise, Henan Mansion will be repeatedly invaded by his cavalry, plundering people, destroying bridges and fortresses, and it will be impossible to defend against."

"We still have to fight Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin first, Shi Pu is nothing to worry about." After thinking about it, Zhu Quanzhong said: "You might as well send someone to give you a humiliating speech and a generous gift in exchange for retiring. If not, you can marry your sons and daughters as in-laws. "

Jing Xiang and Li Zhen shook their heads and laughed.

The lord really can use any tricks, Shao thief may not be able to accept the tricks.

However, his supply line is very long. There are tens of thousands of horses here, which consumes a lot. How much can Henan Mansion loot?There are only [-] households, and most of the food is concentrated in the city. How much can he get?
In this battle, Shao thief probably lost money.

"Commander, why don't you lure Shao's bandit deep into the city of Luoyang, and then complete the battle. If you can capture and kill this bandit, Shuofang will be torn apart, and the big thing will be settled." Li Zhen suggested.

Zhu Quanzhong thought about it seriously.

From Guanzhong to Luoyang, the supply line is full of loopholes and consumes a lot.It means that there are few cavalry on hand, otherwise the Shao thief would have tasted the pain of running out of food.

"I'm afraid he won't come. Looking at his use of troops, cavalry and pawns are everywhere, but how about infantry? There are very few. Most of the troops are not assembled, how can he be willing to come?" Zhu Quanzhong stroked his beard, and suddenly said: "Maybe Spread the news that he intends to attack Shanguo, which made Wang Chongying and his son doubtful. If he really takes action, he will fight with Hezhong and Shanguo towns, and Li Keyong will also have doubts, and his alliance will collapse without attack.”

"The Marshal must have made arrangements long ago." Jing Xiang said with a smile.

Zhu Quanzhong pointed at Jingxiang with his finger, laughed loudly, and said, "Jing Sima knows me too. Li Keyong has repeatedly attacked but failed, and his stamina is insufficient. There is no worry in the north. Now I can send an envoy to Youzhou. Kuangwei has always hated Keyong. , or it can be said to persuade him to send troops to attack Daibei. At this time, if the Shao bandits suddenly attack the city of Luoyang, we will gather a large army and encircle the four roads. If Wang Chongying and his son cut off his way back, the big thing will be settled."

"Shao Zeitou is also arrogant. He dared to come over such a long supply line. Let him learn a lesson this time." Li Zhen was very disgusted with this army leader who suddenly came from the west, and he really spoiled the master's unification of Henan.

Zhu Xuan had just lost Caozhou, internal turmoil, should have taken advantage of the situation to make progress, but in the end a good opportunity was lost.

Now Zhu Xuan has probably started to rectify the internal affairs, killing those who should be killed, and seizing power if they should be seized, and fighting later will take more effort.

Li Keyong also had a deep connection with Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin. From time to time, he used Wei Bo to send troops to help, which is equally hateful.

"I don't blame him for sending an order to Ge Congzhou, saying only one sentence, 'A good woman can't cook without rice'." Zhu Quanzhong found a chair and sat down.

"One more thing, if you can lure Shao thief to Luoyang, it will be a first-class achievement."

"As ordered."

Ge Congzhou once saved the life of the king of Dongping County.

That was the time to attack Qin Zongquan.The Huaixi cavalry was fierce, and Marshal Zhou Fu got on his horse, and then fought fiercely with the bandit cavalry, and his face was injured.At that time Zhang Yanshou also galloped to the horse and killed several Cai thieves in a row, which made the commander escape.

With such outstanding achievements, no matter how badly he played in Henan Mansion, his position would be as stable as Mount Tai.

"Huaizhou and Sizhou, do you have an explanation?" Zhu Quanzhong asked again.

After the fall of Suzhou, the communication between Huaizhou, Sizhou and Xuzhou was inconvenient, and they all had their own ideas.

He has repeatedly sent envoys to surrender, but he has not yet completed his work.

"Commander, Xuanshuai Yang Xingmi also sent envoys to surrender. The two states are vacillating and it is difficult to make a decision."

"Let Guo Yan go to Suzhou." Zhu Quanzhong's face fell, and he said: "Contacting Chuzhou is really impossible. Use force."

To deal with these two weak states, one partial division is enough.

The governor of Chuzhou was a member of the Xuanwu Army. Zhu Quanzhong had placed him there when he was the envoy of Huainan, but he was isolated and was really an enclave.Now that we have Suzhou, we should contact you more.

"The situation is like this, take your time, don't rush." ​​Zhu Quanzhong stood up, looked at the busy craftsman who was sweating profusely, and said: "Restriction is not a concern, the focus today is to attack Er Zhu and Shi Pu. If Xia Bandits can retreat, it doesn’t matter if they send envoys to give gifts, I’m not afraid of losing face. If not, then use other methods to deal with it.”

"All craftsmen are rewarded with two bolts of silk."

"As ordered."

(End of this chapter)