Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 836 Blocking and Surrounding

A raging wave of cavalry appeared in the wilderness outside the camp gate.

In fact, it’s not all wilderness anymore. Zhengzhou’s terrain is flat and there are many rivers and lakes. For example, Guancheng County has Futianze and Lishibei. The agriculture is developed and there are many cultivated lands.But it is obvious that these farmlands are now barren. Because of the small number of people and the heavy corvee, the common people are too tired to plow a few mu of land, and a large number of fields are in a state of no one cares about them.

The barren farmland has become a grassland, which is now used as a horse station.After the guards dismounted, the soldiers immediately entered the Jiugou camp.The auxiliary soldiers gathered the horses and took care of them on the spot.They will leave and return to Guancheng after a while, carrying food and supplies.

No one can tell how long you need to stick to the vinegar ditch, it is always right to stock up on more supplies.

Meng Zhixiang, Murongfu, He Lianjin, Zhao Ye and other thousands of households led nearly [-] soldiers to guard the camp. Meng Zhixiang was appointed as deputy Wanhu to temporarily control the army.

The rest of the generals took the auxiliary soldiers to transfer food and supplies.

Zhe Siyu, the envoy of the Iron Cavalry Army, carefully looked at the military appearance of the guards for a while, and smiled to the left and right: "The armor and equipment are good, but I don't know how to fight."

Everyone laughed loudly.

Meng Zhixiang heard it from a distance, probably understood what they were laughing at, shook his head and said nothing.

The combat effectiveness of the iron cavalry army is relatively poor among the cavalry troops of the Xia army.Any army cavalry can easily win them, although the iron cavalry always ridicules that they usually walk with horses and have no mobility at all.

But their frontal impact is stronger than yours. Iron cavalry is suitable for abusing vegetables, and it is better to fight nomads than military cavalry, but it depends on others for tough battles.

"We have to work hard this time." Meng Zhixiang said to the other thousand households: "We are all part of the Supreme Khan's private army, and we must not embarrass the old man. Once there is a fight, Zhu Youyu may go east, and the eight anise There is also the possibility of sending people westward from the town, and the worst case is a two-phase attack and besieging our army. Therefore, the camp must be built stronger, and there must be no problems."

"Obey." Several thousand households took orders one after another.

They belong to the Khan slave department, which is a completely different system. They are most taboo to have too many contacts with people from the Yajun system. This is a major event that will affect their future.

The highest apex of the slave tribe is to get a piece of grassland with rich water and grass, build a city, farm and animal husbandry, and live forever.This is equivalent to exercising the real power of the Central Plains, isn't it better than anything else?
Furthermore, if the slave chieftain is promoted by the Khan, he can also be an official in the Central Plains. There are actually more choices, so why care about other people's opinions?
After settling down, the bodyguards started the intense work of strengthening the camp.

The nearby woods have been cut down, it doesn't matter, send more people to cut down in the distance.

It doesn't matter if there is not enough hay, send people to look around.With so much wasteland, the forage is enough to feed the pack horses who are not picky eaters. Although it is impossible to only feed forage, it at least reduces the consumption of food.

Not enough coolies, uh, this seems to be impossible.Where the two armies see each other, the people will leave if they die. If they really can't find people, they can only suffer from their own auxiliary soldiers.

And just as the bodyguards were preparing for the blocking battle in an orderly manner, the iron cavalry had already engaged Liang Ren in advance.

******
The outside of Bajiao Town has become a racetrack for the Xia Army cavalry.

It's not that Liang Jun has no cavalry at all. After all, Wei Bo sent a lot of horses, and Wang Shifan of Qingzhou also said he would donate horses.But the number is too small, and they are often scattered everywhere as rangers, and they are simply reluctant to take them out to fight with others.

The game between people is actually very intuitive. If you dare not come out to stop me, then I will not be polite.

The iron cavalry even boldly divided into multiple groups, each with no more than two hundred riders, and harassed everywhere.Staring at the post road between Bajiao Town and Banqiaodian, when they saw a team transporting grain, they went up to attack.

But this time it didn't work out.They are not disappointed, failure to succeed is the norm.

If the side with more cavalry can cut off the infantry's food road at will, how will the Central Plains infantry and Khitan play in the future?They can pull out 10,000+ cavalry, and it is not impossible to mobilize 30 to 30 cavalry.If you only have tens of thousands of infantry and thousands of cavalry, and facing [-] cavalry of Khitan, wouldn't you dare not fight?Not to mention taking the initiative to attack, fighting more with less, defeating cavalry with infantry, and defeating the enemy in field battles.

But the huge pressure caused by the cavalry was also real. The defenders of Bajiao Town quickly sent the news back to Bianzhou and reported it to Zhu Quanzhong.

But Zhu Quanzhong was in a state of desperation, and was dealing with the battle situation on the front lines of Xiangyi and Weishi.

The Weisheng army launched a fierce offensive, regardless of the cost.They recruited soldiers on the spot, and as many as [-] Songzhou masters were assembled to forcibly attack Xiangyi City.

The Tutuan villagers paid a huge price in casualties, broke through the fortifications of the defenders outside the city, filled up the city god, demolished the wall of sheep and horses, and cleared all obstacles to attack.

Xiangyong rebelled several times, all of which were brutally suppressed, and then deserted many people. When Zhe Zongben let them go and the main force of the Shangweisheng army attacked the city, there were only a few thousand soldiers left in the Songzhou Tutuan .

More than 2 Wesheng troops launched a wave of offensives. Feeling the pressure, the defenders sent messengers out of the siege to ask Bianzhou for help.

Wei's side was similar, and the casualties of the defenders began to increase sharply.The messenger complained to Zhu Quanzhong that the city lacked arrows, wound medicine and materials to repair the city wall.If no reinforcements come over, they will last for another ten days and a half months at most.

Both Xiangyi and Weishi have been fighting for a long time. If the Xia army hadn't rescued several times on the way, the city would have been destroyed long ago.It is not an exaggeration to insist on half a month. In fact, Bianliang is already very worthy. If the situation worsens, failure is inevitable.

"Don't you all agree to relieve the siege of Xiangyi and Wei's family?" Zhu Quanzhong was not in a good mood looking at the several staff who unanimously opposed this.

"Your Majesty, my son has more than ten thousand soldiers stationed in Zhongmou, but Xia's rebel cavalry is large and thin at Bajiao and Banqiao. This matter is very strange." Li Zhen replied: "I think that the rebel army has increased its troops, and my son may be in danger. You might as well order them to withdraw their troops, and at the same time advance westward to the Bajiao to meet the Changzhi army."

"Jing Sima, what do you think?" Zhu Quanzhong looked at Jing Xiang, who had aged a lot, and asked.

"The Changzhi army is brave and good at fighting, and the thieves will increase their troops, and they will not be able to take it for a while. The king may go south along the Bian River, first relieve the siege of Xiangyi, and then return to Bajiao to meet the son." Jingxiang said: "The king , at this very moment, we have to make some extraordinary moves in order to reverse the decline."

Jingxiang means that if Xiangyi is lost, then the Xia army can drive straight in and go straight to Bianzhou along the Bian River.The same is true for the Wei family. Once they fall, the thieves will have no worries. When the army arrives at the city of Bianzhou, it will be very dangerous.

"Your Majesty, you might as well imagine that if the main force goes westward to Bajiao and ignores Xiangyi and the Wei family, can they really hold out for half a month? If the Xia bandits really increase their troops, they may end the war in the west within half a month and save the prince?" Xiang continued: "If my predictions are correct, Shao Shude must have personally led the army to Zhengzhou, and there may not have been about [-] Xia soldiers gathered in that place."

After all, Jing Xiang is still greedy.It is necessary to keep the stronghold in the south, but also to bring back the Changzhi Army, which is likely to be encircled, so as to continue to maintain the mess of Bianzhou and wait for changes.

In his opinion, the eldest son Zhu Youyu is actually not that dangerous, and the whole army will not be wiped out within ten days and a half months.The army has enough food and grass for more than a month. If you stick to it, you may wait for reinforcements from Bianzhou.

On the other hand, Xiangyi and Weishi are already in a state of death if they don't save them, and the situation is even more urgent.What's more, if the Weisheng army can be defeated under the city of Xiangyi, the situation can even be greatly improved.

Jingxiang used to hate gambling, but now he thinks it's worth the gamble.

"Your Majesty, I think you can't go south." Wei Zhao took a step forward and said loudly, "At this time, we can't take extreme risks, and the priority is to take care of your son."

Jingxiang became anxious when he heard the words, and he, who has always been temperless, did not get angry. He said: "This is not a risk, and that is not a risk. Let the Shao bandits use their power to overwhelm others, pressing every step of the way, just to make a living." Time, is it useful?"

"Jing Sima also mentioned it in the past, waiting for changes. Why, did you change your mind?" Wei Zhao asked rhetorically without showing any weakness.

"If Xiangyi and Wei's fall, and Xia's thieves besiege Bianzhou, and Bajiao Town and Zhongmou are finished, how can we procrastinate?" Jing Xiang sneered and said.

"Jing Sima, you are too greedy to put the king's safety at risk..."

"Shuzi is insufficient and conspiracy!"

"Enough!" Zhu Quanzhong shouted, his face full of anger.

"I've made up my mind." He looked at the staff and said, "Gather the army and march westward."

Jingxiang looked up to the sky and sighed.King Liang has lost the vigor and courage of ten years ago, and his defeat is imminent.

******
Under Zhongmu City, Zhu Youyu found that he couldn't retreat at all.

The Zhongmu garrison actually went out of the city to attack at night. Although they were thwarted, they obviously had the strength to fight and had a lot of troops. This completely overturned the previous judgment.

But in the middle of the night, the cavalry gathered outside the camp shouted loudly, and the momentum was astonishing. Zhu Youyu could only order to guard the camp, and everything will be discussed at dawn.

But what happened after dawn?
Zhu Youyu boarded the high platform in the camp and looked to the west, but saw a huge number of troops advancing here.And their vanguard seems to have entered Zhongmou County last night, and the banner has already been raised at the top of the city.

"Tianxiong Army..." Zhu Youyu sighed softly and muttered to himself.

This is a well-known army even in Liangdi, with skilled skills, bravery and bravery, and frequent success stories.The Changzhi Army, which was captured in Luoyang before, was inseparable from them.

"You really think highly of me." Zhu Youyu laughed at himself: "This is to eat up ten thousand of us together. The thief Xia must have been planning for a long time. If my prediction is not bad, Bajiao Town may have already been attacked by thieves." The army is besieging."

"Yamei, whether to fight or go, it's time to make up your mind."

"It's better to break out to the south. Go to Weishi County, join forces with the defenders inside and outside to defeat the bandit army, and then return north to Bianzhou."

"Most of the south is not easy to go, it may be a trap."

"I can't move now, and if I move, I will be flanked by many parties, and it will easily collapse."

"Then is it possible to stay in this dead place?"

The generals argued endlessly and could not come up with an idea.

"Okay, okay, don't say any more." Zhu Youyu stopped the arguments of his confidantes and said, "Even if we want to withdraw, we must first defeat the enemy in front of us, otherwise we will be chased and bitten , How many people can go back?"

"I have made up my mind, I will defend first." Zhu Youyu said: "Wait for my father's news. There is a large army in Bajiao Town, which is close at hand, and they can go west in a short time and kill Zhongmou City. At that time, when the several armies join together, the Xia bandits can take Don't let us down."

He counted the flags, and the Iron Cavalry, Tiande, Tianxiong, and Zhenguo Four Armies all appeared. These are tens of thousands of warriors who can fight.It is not a good choice to retreat hastily, maybe it will collapse in the middle.Still have to fight first.

On the evening of September [-], the main force of the Tianxiong Army arrived in Zhongmou.After nightfall, Shao Shude led his own soldiers to the front line.

The offensive against Zhu Youyu will start tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)