Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 697
Large groups of cavalry stopped one after another in the distance.

Under the command of the officer, they were neatly divided into three parts.Some took off the armor and equipment from the pack horses and put them on each other; some gathered the horses and gathered at the rear; some stayed behind and served as a reserve team.

After putting on their armor, the sergeants took up weapons such as long lances, epees, and infantry bows, and marched towards the wall to kill the enemies lined up one mile away.

The enemy army was a little flustered. They only had armor in the front row, and most of them were unarmored regiments in the back row. The total number of them was no more than a thousand.

Actually don't blame them.A material transfer node in the deep rear, do you need to arrange heavy defense?No need.

But now there is a problem.

Four thousand soldiers of the Flying Dragon Army came over with overwhelming momentum.They are tall, well-equipped, expressionless, and calm in action.Perhaps in their eyes, killing a person is no different from killing a chicken.

That's right, the left wing of the Flying Dragon Army is full of desperadoes! 5000 people went east to Yun and Yan, and half of them were lost in the battle. When they returned, the army had grown to more than [-].

Long-term mobile combat, hard life, and high elimination rate make the survivors have two brushes.Dare to fight and fight, rebellious, murderous, disregarding life and death.

Desperadoes are not to be feared, but desperadoes with strict discipline, excellent equipment, and high martial arts skills are terrifying.

When the Flying Dragon Army came back from the left wing, Shao Shude inspected it, and Qi Bizhang respectfully followed behind him, and finally let the sergeants who came to vote halfway, who accounted for the majority of the team, know who is the boss.

But this level of overhaul is not enough.If it weren't for the urgent need for the Flying Dragon Army to be dispatched, Shao Shude planned to reorganize this army for a year, dismantle the organizational system, exchange personnel, and then re-acquaint them with each other to strengthen their integration.

The civil servants who came back with the army talked about many things in private, and there were a lot of small reports.There are stories about sergeants who are plundering abroad, about officers who are rebellious, and there are even a lot of stories about Qibizhang himself, because he arranged many relatives from the Qibi tribe to serve as middle and senior military officers, which "does not conform to the system" .

The high-frequency and high-intensity wars delayed this rectification. The desperadoes received a reward from the King of Xia. Three days later, they were dispatched again. Now they are about to attack the Liang army in Yingqiao Town: a total of more than a thousand people, some The combat power is only six or seven hundred.

Liang Ren's courage is commendable!
They knew that the dilapidated Yingqiao Town had no blocking effect, so they simply came out to fight in the field, hoping to defeat the enemy in one battle and save the day.

Both arrays were quickly connected.

With the addition of sharp blades and chopping with knives and axes, the stalemate on the front line only lasted for a while, and then there was an uncontrollable collapse.

The experienced and courageous sergeants fell to the ground after the first wave of hacking each other, but Xia Jun's rear row topped the Liang Army's soil regiment without hesitation, and directly smashed them to pieces, leaving them in a mess.

Qi Bizhang turned his eyes away from the battlefield, and led five hundred horsemen straight to the town.

The people fled in all directions, crying and shouting.

Qi Bizhang was not surprised. The Liang people didn't know how to arrange Xia's army. They were probably classified as the same as Qin Zongquan. The reaction of the common people was not surprising, he had seen it a lot.

There are dozens of old and weak soldiers in the town, who seem to be piling up firewood and preparing to burn food.Seeing Xia Jun rushing, he immediately dispersed without caring about anything.

"Pull up the mules." Qi Bizhang rode on the horse, swiped his whip and ordered.

It was all work with ease, and soon a sergeant came forward, untied the leather jacket on the mule's back, and led it away.They don't need a carriage, which hinders the speed of marching, but mules are necessary. They eat less, are resistant to rough feeding, carry more, have good endurance, and are not too slow. They have always been the favorite of the soldiers of the Flying Dragon Army.

"Count the food, take away what can be taken away, and burn what can't be taken away." Qi Bizhang quickly issued a second order.

Yingqiao Town is an important node on the post road from Xuzhou to Ruzhou.At the same time, a lot of materials arrived here for distribution by water transport, and then sent to various places.If this is done, the logistics of Liang Jun in Ruzhou will have a big problem.

As for burning food, it was a routine operation of the Flying Dragon Army.Everywhere they went, they fed the livestock first, and then filled the grain bags on the pack animals. The rest were supplies that could not be taken away, and the usual treatment was to burn them with a fire, so that they would not be left to serve the enemy.

Liangren seemed to want to burn food just now, and he had already piled up a lot of firewood, which saved the Feilong army a lot of trouble.

"Replenish some materials such as arrows and wound medicine. Take the time to feed the horse, loosen the girdle, and wash it. After resting, set off immediately and go to Xiangcheng." The third order came one after another, which shows the fighting rhythm of the Feilong Army It was very fast and the intensity was very high. Perhaps this was an important reason why they were able to survive under the siege of the Liang people.

The officers performed their duties and began to get busy.

Qi Bizhang found a dry place to sit down, drenched in cold water, gnawed on the rough, dry and hard multigrain pancakes, and studied the course of action.

The distance between Xu and Ru is about 230 li, passing through Xiangcheng and Jiacheng counties of Ruzhou, and arriving at Lisuoliang County.

Xiangcheng is on the edge of Rushui.Chen and Xu's grain and grass materials were transported to Yingqiao via Yingshui River, then transported by land to Xiangcheng, and then transported to Ruzhou via Rushui River.

The seven counties of Ruzhou, the four counties of Xiangcheng, Jiacheng, Liang, and Linru are all located on the banks of Rushui, and these four counties are also the places with the largest population in Ruzhou—in fact, there are not many. In Zhang Quanyi's time, there were only [-] households. Growth is also limited.

In addition, from the direction of Caizhou, materials can also be transported along Rushui, so this place is really crucial.

Since the hardships, the eastern capital of the imperial court has stayed behind and will lead Ruzhou as a barrier for Luoyang.The post of Ruzhou defense envoy was set up many times. Zhuge Shuang was the Ruzhou defense envoy before he led his troops to crusade against Li Guochang and his son.

Qi Bizhang only glanced at it for a while, and asked people to put the map away.The next step is to attack Xiangcheng, cut off the traffic of Rushui, and "wean" Dinghui.

Most of them have already received some rumors about this meeting, and they don't know how to make a decision.

……

Outside Taiguguan City, the sudden heavy rain extinguished the flames on the ladder car.

Liang Bing on Guancheng was so angry that he jumped up and down, scolding the injustice of God.

Xia Jun's morale was greatly boosted, taking advantage of the favorable opportunity when the rain just fell and the ground was not too muddy, he continued to launch a fierce attack.

In the past few days, more than a thousand defenders have been killed and wounded, but Taigu Pass still cannot be captured.

The two generals Ma Sixun and An Xiuxiu who were in charge of the command were unmoved, and wave after wave of Luoyang Tutuan villagers were driven up, risking their lives to attack the fortified Guancheng.

Outside the Yuyuan Pass to the east of Taigu Pass, most of the Dingyuan Army and Jinglue Army left the pass and marched towards Dengfeng County.Behind them, there are 3000 Tutuan peasants from Huazhou, and the total number of the army is about [-].

A part of the Jinglue Army rode [-] paces under the leadership of deputy envoy Wei Boqiu and You Yi envoy Yang Yi, and took a risk. Insert a report into Cheng County.

They brought a large amount of milk powder, dried meat, and beans, which were carried by mules and horses accompanying the army, but it was only enough to last ten days.Once the offensive is not going well, or if the food and grass are not collected, then they can only paralyze there, waiting for the rear to use the "thin water pipe" of Luokou to help them at a high price, or simply retreat and declare that this route has failed.

The dispatch of the Dingyuan and Jinglue armies was mainly due to the information sent back by the scouts, and because the Taigu Pass was tight, a large group of Liang soldiers went west from Dengfeng to reinforce the Taigu line.

The scouts estimate that there are more than [-] soldiers, of which [-] are "elite soldiers" and more than [-] "lean soldiers".

According to the judgment of the Luoyang camp, it should be a thousand Luoyandu or Tingzidu infantry who brought more than 1000 newly arrived Tutuan villagers to reinforce Taiguguan.There were more than 1000 long-distance troops and more than [-] local peasants in this Guancheng. The meeting had already suffered more than [-]% casualties, and morale was a little low. It urgently needed new troops to replace or reinforce them.

As for the defenders in Dengfeng County, there should be more than [-] elites, [-] Po Xia troops, and [-] Tutuan villagers, a total of [-] people.

In fact, the overall combat effectiveness is not good.Because the strength of the Po Xia Army, which occupies the majority, is very suspicious, the veterans of the Dingyuan and Jinglue Second Army have the confidence to teach them how to behave, if they dare to fight in the field.

The news of the Xia army's massive attack spread to Dengfeng early, and Zhang Guihou immediately called the generals to discuss the matter.

Zhu Hanbin went to Taigu, now apart from the chief general Zhang Guihou, the biggest one in the city is Zhao Lin, the envoy of the Po Xia army, and then there are middle-level generals such as Wang Yanzhang, Liu Qi, Du Yanqiu and so on.

"The thieves are fierce and coming straight, everyone has any regulations, let's discuss it." Zhang Guihou was a little haggard, and said weakly.

In his opinion, the battle was too fucked up.First let the brigade of thieves slip past and go straight to Xuzhou.Although it's not their fault, if the Gein Flying Dragon Army doesn't want to fight, you can't stop it, but how to put it, there are still dereliction of duty.If the higher authorities really want to investigate, everyone must take responsibility.

The second thing is that the Xia bandits outside Taigu Pass didn't care about human life at all, and the offensive was shaky. The defenders persisted for less than ten days, and 400 people were killed or injured, and they had to ask for reinforcements.The defenders also claimed to "kill [-] thieves", but in Zhang Guihou's view, it was all nonsense.

But there was no way, Taigu Pass could not be lost. In the end, Zhu Hanbin led more than [-] people to go there, which further weakened the strength of Dengfeng's troops. The most important thing was that they lost a thousand capable soldiers.

The biggest fucking thing is they don't have reinforcements anymore.

Chen Xu Jiedu envoy Zhao Jue claimed that Xuzhou's direction was "tremendous" and "raided all over the country", and refused to send Yamen reinforcements, which meant that Dengfeng had become a lone army.

Of course, the solitary army has the tactics of the solitary army. This may be what King Liang wanted them to do, that is, stick to Dengfeng, contain the main force of the Xia thieves going south, and buy time for dispatching troops in other directions.

But in the battle of Luoyang in the first month, did the defenders of several cities surrounded by isolation and division have any good fruit to eat?The entire army in Gong County was wiped out, Xin'an surrendered, and Heyang Nancheng held on for three months. Both Huo Cun and his son died in the battle, which was extremely tragic.

If they are besieged in Dengfeng, can they wait for reinforcements?

To be honest, if it was five or six years ago, Zhang Gui Houxin.

But now, he doesn't believe it.

It's just that I have lost too many battles in the past few years, and I can't lift my spirits. Anyone who believes is a fool.

Zhao Lin observed Zhang Guihou's words and expressions, and when he saw that Zhang Guihou was hesitant to speak, he immediately had an idea in his mind.He cleared his throat and said: "The bandit army is powerful, our army has not many soldiers to fight..."

Having said that, Wang Yanzhang glared at him.

Zhao Lin was unmoved, and continued: "It's a pity to throw it lightly here. It's better to avoid the edge for now, retreat to Gaocheng and even Yangdi, and keep a useful body, which can pose a greater threat to the bandit army."

"Shameless!" Wang Yanzhang stood up and cursed angrily.

"Wang Ten Generals, sit down." Zhang Guihou scolded, and said, "You think I'm a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death? How did I ever retreat when I was fighting Qin Zongquan? Years of fighting are fierce. Our army can only fight two thousand troops, how can we fight against the enemy?"

This is to underestimate Po Xia's army and not trust their combat effectiveness at all.Wang Yanzhang was full of anger and couldn't vent, so he punched the table and sat down angrily.

"Does the Tenth General Wang have any rules?" Zhao Lin also showed the prestige of a military envoy, and reprimanded: "If you are trapped in Dengfeng, you will end up just like Huo Cun."

Now even Liu Qi, Du Yanqiu and the others couldn't stand it anymore, and all looked at Zhao Lin.Huo Cun and his son are loyal and brave people, Zhao Lin's arrangement of them is a bit too much.

"Forget it, I've made up my mind!" Zhang Guihou stood up and said, "Immediately withdraw to Yangdi, relying on the Zhongwu Army, and fight against the enemy together. Without reinforcements, the defense of Dengfeng is meaningless."

Wang Yanzhang looked up to the sky and sighed.

Faced with the possibility of being surrounded, some people choose to stick to it, some want to break out, and some retreat directly.People are different, and choices are also different. It's nothing at all, but I'm very unwilling.

Is Xia thief superhuman?I don't believe in keeping Dengfeng for three months, and there will be no reinforcements.

This battle was won!Ugh.

(End of this chapter)