Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 457
On May 23rd in the third year of Dashun, it was sunny and sunny, with a gentle spring breeze.

The leaves of the wild pear trees danced gently overhead, and the weeds densely covered the road.

Horse-drawn carriages passed by on the road, the shouts of carriages, the whistle of whips, and the calls of animals extended from the edge of the woods far and near to the distant city.

Under the wall, the siege battle has officially begun.

The city defense system of Guochao is roughly divided into four levels: army, guard, city, and town. Shihaozhai belongs to a typical "town".

A shallow trench was dug outside the town, or a trench, commonly known as a moat, and its official name is Chenghuang.

"Gao Zu Ji" records: In the ninth year of Wude, "Order the city and county to repair the city god and prepare for the Turks."

"City God's repair" is also one of the important contents of the country's assessment of local officials.

During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court erected gods and built temples for the city god, and offered sacrifices on a regular basis. The city god was sanctified, so the moat was renamed "City Moat".

The trench has no water, so it is called "Huang". The city god outside Shihaozhai is still very shallow, which can hardly play a blocking role.

At this time, there was only a blowing of the horn, and on the temporary high platforms and the female walker's wall, the bows were fired, and arrows as dense as raindrops flew into the village along the south wind.

The soldiers of the Bian army on the wall of the village raised their big shields to cover them, and they were in a hurry.

"Come on! Go back and forth one by one, and receive the reward when you come back." The ten generals of Qingtang Dufu soldiers roared, and a large group of masters charged up with stern faces carrying small sacks filled with soil.

Only sparse arrows fell on the wall of the village, hitting a few unlucky ones.

They screamed and fell to the ground, trampled by countless people, and fell silent after a while.

The fastest rushing master threw the sack into the ditch.

Heavy sandbags fell to the bottom of the ditch, crushing the spines underneath.The person was full of joy, turned around and ran back, but unexpectedly, he was blocked by the people behind him, pushed and squeezed, and fell directly into the bottom of the ditch.

Countless sandbags fell on him, and after screaming for a long time, he finally stopped.

"Next time we have to recruit some Tibetans, Qiang people, and Master Dangxiang." On the earthen platform, Gao Renhou ordered in a low voice.

The staff members cupped their hands and kept this sentence in their hearts.

"I heard that Zhang Quanyi didn't even dig the city god when the army attacked Shidao and Qiandao last year, let alone the sheep and horse walls. It's really a waste of military equipment." Gao Renhou looked at the trenches that had gradually been filled up for a long time. He said with a smile: "This year, we dug a trench, but there is no wall for sheep and horses."

The sheep-horse wall refers to a low wall between the city god and the city wall, which is only as high as the shoulder.

There is a system in the country, and there is a distance of [-] steps between Huangchao and the city wall. The sheep and horse wall is within this distance. Sheep, horses and other livestock are usually kept in captivity, so it is named this way.

The rain of arrows on the high platform was still falling, and at this time, two new female walls were assembled, and dozens of archers climbed up, firing their bows again and again.

For the warriors of Guochao, archery is the first assessment content, followed by spear and rifle. If you don't know these two skills, you can't eat as a soldier.On the high platform, the regular government army was condescending, and with the help of the wind, the Henan Fuzhou county soldiers on the wall of the stronghold could not lift their heads.

At this time, I have to mention Zhang Quanyi again, this guy is really outrageous.

If you change the state soldiers from Bianzhou, Songzhou, Xuzhou and other places, the level will not be bad, but the archery skills of the state soldiers in Henan Fuzhou are the same as their fighting skills, so it is worth noting.

After filling the trenches, there was a burst of drumming in the formation of the volunteer army.

Dozens of sergeants got into the bottom of the ladder speeding car and pushed it forward.

In this kind of stockade, there is absolutely no need for equipment such as rushing cars, and the city defense facilities are extremely simple.No matter how Gao Renhou looked at it, he felt that the defenders in this village were pitiful, and they were all serving as an early warning to the people behind.

At the rear of the formation, two thousand cavalry pawns stood there holding the reins, doing nothing.They are to prevent the enemy from going out of the city to destroy the siege equipment, but it seems that there is no need to dispatch it.

And in a nearby valley and behind a forest, there are still more than a thousand cavalry hiding, waiting for some thieves who don't open their eyes to come to rescue them, but most of them will be disappointed today.

Surrounding points to fight for aid, if the people you surround don't pay attention to it at all, then it will be useless.

After the ladder flying car hit the wall of the village, the soldiers from Hengshandu rushed out from the bottom of the car and climbed up the flying ladder.

Gao Renhou didn't have much interest in watching it.

The guardian army looks like this, it doesn't seem to be able to resist very strongly.

Shuofang's army was at its peak, with excellent equipment. Looking at them from a distance, their morale was already at a disadvantage.Coupled with the fact that there is no reinforcements to arrive in time, it is even more mourning, and defeat is inevitable!

"I don't know if General Bai may wait for the Bian bandits to reinforce the army." Gao Renhou asked left and right.

No one can answer this, it's hard to say.

They came too fast, completed the siege preparations in one day and two nights, and then launched a resolute attack without stopping. Will the Bian thief have time to react?
"A strong man has climbed the wall!" An excited voice came from the watchtower car.

Gao Renhou looked intently, but saw several people climbing up the wall one after another, brandishing long poles and blunt weapons to sweep across.

They were wearing heavy armor, and it was difficult for the bandit army to hurt them, but they were squeezed back steadily.

"It's time to prepare to attack the dry moat village." Gao Renhou looked past Shihao village to the field to the east, and said, "It's a hard bone, so we need to prepare some strategies."

"Of order." The staff members responded one after another.

……

"The strategy is actually correct, but now we need patience." In the valley, Bai Gui sat peacefully like a mountain, calm and relaxed.

In fact, he is more anxious than anyone else, eager to make contributions.

But marching and fighting, it is useless to be anxious, it will reveal flaws instead.

In his many years of military career, he has seen too many things, and Bai Gui dare not look down on anyone.

At the end of the former dynasty, Wang Shichong and Li Mi fought around Luoyang.Shichong led the infantry, and Li Mi had more than 1 cavalry, all armed with long spears, charging in array, with amazing power.

But in the end, Wang Shichong's infantry won, and Li Mi's more than 1 spear cavalry belonged to Shichong.

It is taboo for military strategists to despise the enemy.

"Has there been news from the south?" Bai Gui asked.

The south naturally refers to the direction of Ruzhou.

As Heluo Youyi's strike envoy, all the cavalry in the army are temporarily assigned to him.He deployed [-] Qingqi under the command of the Pro-Military Division of the Duhufu to the south of Xiaoshan Mountain, and spread out their activities to monitor the enemy forces in the direction of Ruzhou.

Ge Congzhou and Yang Shihou may take the Zhongwu Army and Caizhou Army northward at any time.

There are many mules in Huaixi, and there are many "Huaiyi" who can ride horses and shoot arrows. Cai and Chen's soldiers are very mobile and cannot be ignored!
"not yet."

"Expand the search area." Bai Gui ordered without hesitation: "Don't fight if you encounter the enemy, just report to me."

"As ordered."

Bai Gui picked up the order letter sent by Li Tangbin again, and read it carefully.

The main force of the Bian army should still be east of Xiaoshan, which is closer to Xin'an and Luoyang, easier to get supplies, and less likely to be intercepted.

To the west of Xiaoshan Mountain, although there are many garrisons, it seems that they are not the main force, nor are they old thieves.

If they can successfully eat up this group of bandits, they will win the first battle and their morale will be improved to a certain extent. This is the purpose of his and Gao Renhou's plan to encircle and fight for aid.

But will there be any surprises?
What will happen to the bandit army in Ganhaozhai?What will happen to the enemy troops in Xiaoshan?Are there new bandits emerging from another direction?

Bai Gui decided to wait until the situation became clearer.

This wait is two days.

On the 24th, Gao Renhou sent someone to report that no Tibetan army envoys escorted food, grass, and equipment to Shihaozhai.This stronghold has been conquered, more than a thousand Bian troops have been captured and killed, and more than [-] grains have been obtained.

On the 25th, the main force of the Yi Cong army arrived outside Ganhao Village, but the bandit army could not hold out. The army was assembling siege equipment and preparing to attack the village.

After thinking about it for a while, Bai Gui rode out of the valley with a few horses and scouted in person.

There was a drizzle in the sky, which seemed to be hindering their raid.It is also mountainous and rainy, which is obviously not conducive to cavalry combat.

I can't even line up the array, how to rush to kill?They didn't ride bows.

Bai Gui scouted the field for a whole day, during which time he also encountered a ranger from the Bian army grazing horses by the river bank, but disappeared in a flash.

At dusk, there was still nothing, and the field was so quiet.Bian Jun seemed to have disappeared without any movement.

"Come on!" After returning to the camp, Bai Gui found the messenger.

"General." The sergeant saluted.

"You go back to the camp, and ask the Tibetan military envoys and the high deputy military envoys to collect the remaining horses in the camp, and bring over a thousand soldiers who can ride horses." Bai Yu said, "Let them set off late at night and take remote paths. Don't let them go." people noticed."

"As ordered."

Bai Gui stood up and leaned against an old tree.

Since you haven't moved, you can only throw stones and ask for directions.Even if it is not successful, the loss is not too great, but once it is successful, it is very worthwhile to be able to find out the enemy's movements.

A thousand warriors arrived at their hidden valley on the night of the 26th.

"Why did Vice Envoy Gao come in person?" Bai Gui was a little surprised when he saw Gao Renhou with a tired face.

"I'm getting old, and I'm a little tired from traveling at night." Gao Renhou didn't answer, but instead complained: "General Bai, we originally agreed that the main force of the Yi Cong army will attack the village, and you lead the cavalry in an ambush, taking advantage of the rush and disorderly formation. A sudden attack. What, changed your mind?"

The main force of the Yicong army had already begun to tentatively attack the village during the day, but the Bian army was tightly defended, and it was indeed not as easy to succeed as Shihaozhai.

"The bandit army may not have moved at all, or it may have moved, but my scouts have not detected it." Bai Gui analyzed: "I inquired about the tactics of the Xiabian army, and the bandits from top to bottom like to attack actively, or Sneak attack, or ambush, or force attack, in short, I don't like to be beaten passively. Based on this analysis, the bandit army may make some moves."

"Didn't you keep staring at Hu Guo's bandit army?" Gao Renhou asked as he sat down on the ground.

"The mountains are high and the forests are dense, so it's impossible to control everything. If the thief sets off at night and intentionally takes a detour, it is possible to escape my detection."

"How are you doing?" Gao Renhou asked.

"Wait for two days first, if the bandit army doesn't make any more moves, they can only throw stones to ask for directions." Bai Gui made up his mind and said, "Please ask Deputy Envoy Gao to complete it."

"The old man has come here, why do you have to worry?" Gao Renhou smiled, and said: "If you make up your mind, let's do it! Whether you succeed or not, it's up to you!"

After that, he added another sentence: "If it doesn't work, just attack the stronghold honestly."

　It’s the end of the year, I’m busy with work, and my time during the day is so crowded that I’ll post it as soon as I’m done writing it, so tomorrow (today?) may not be available during the day.

Halo, Chapter 2 has been reviewed, and there are still during the day.

　
(End of this chapter)