Chapter 505 Risks and Opportunities
In Chaoge City, the bloody killings have just ended.
Yang Dan led two thousand people and marched along the street wall, driving the rebel Shuiwu Fort residents as the vanguard, killing hundreds of remaining enemy soldiers and even accidentally injuring a small number of enemy soldiers. soldiers.
The Wubao commanders looked at Yang Dan with pale faces.
There were also people kneeling next to a corpse, crying on the ground.
That was his son. After being converted early, he and his troops were besieged by the Wubao people loyal to Dahu, and he persisted until the last moment.
Yang Dan took hundreds of soldiers from Nanyang Lejia and killed them all together with the surrounding enemy soldiers, making no distinction between friend and foe.
Even his son was beheaded by Yang Dan before he could say a word.
Theoretically, this is accidental damage.
It is impossible for Li Chong to take out his anger on Yang Dan just for the sake of surrendering someone from Hebei. He can still tell the difference between the more serious and the less important.
Therefore, this dumb loss is finally settled.
Yang Dan licked his mouth, wanting to kill this person too to avoid future troubles.
But there are too many people around, so it is not convenient to do it. We can only find a way later.
The private soldiers of the Nanyang Family quickly took control of various key points in the city, driving the surrendered Hebei people away and asking them to visit Li Chong.
Yang Dan walked into the county government office and looked at the corpses on the ground with an expressionless face.
Hebei people are fighting each other and killing each other. What does it have to do with him? The only thing that made him unhappy was that all his belongings had been robbed, even though there weren't many valuable things in the county government office.
The food stored in the city is extremely scarce. I just sent someone to do a rough inventory, and found that there were about five or six thousand husks of millet, more than 2,000 husks of wheat, and less than 2,000 husks of miscellaneous grains. It was very pitiful.
This small amount of food is enough for the three thousand defenders to last for a month.
A few three to four hundred households may still have some food stored in their homes, but how many days can they last? If there is a real fire, the defenders are unwilling or unable to surrender, and in the end they will have to plunder all their food and cook their people. This kind of thing has not been uncommon since the late Han Dynasty.
After inspecting the county government office, Yang Dan climbed to the top of the city again.
The two thousand wealthy soldiers he brought from Nanyang were divided into four groups to guard the four gates. This was the most important place.
Four thousand Nanyang soldiers have just come in, and they are guarding the city head.
The last four thousand people were stationed in the old camp in the east of the city, at odds with Chao Ge.
Captain Li Zhong has told him that he will be responsible for the defense of Chaoge County. This is the forward stronghold to take over the south city of Fangtou. It is very important and must not be missed, so ten thousand people are arranged to guard it.
In addition, this is actually a reward.
Those who break the city first will naturally be treated differently, even though they are picked first.
There are still baggage convoys coming to Chaoge from the east bank of Qishui.
This is necessary.
If you don’t take advantage of the favorable opportunity before Shi Le’s main force has returned and the Zhiquliu cavalry has been repelled to rush to transport supplies, when are you going to transport them?
If Li Zhong planned to continue to lead his army northward, cross the Qishui River, and attack Dangyin, then Chaoge County would be his logistical fulcrum - Dangyin, as the name suggests, is located on the south bank of Dangshui.
To be honest, he thought it was not a good thing for Li Chong to go north. But he is the governor, and he is under the military orders of Duke Chen, so what else can he say? Besides, I heard that Mr. Chen is going to add more troops to this group...
Well, that's it, just fight, and kill him if you die.
The desolate sound of the trumpet sounded in the wilderness.
The cavalry brigade headed north again, heading towards Qishui - Qishui originates in the mountains, first goes from west to east in Jijun, and then turns south.
“It’s really hard work!” Yang Dan glanced at them with a complicated expression and said with emotion.
******
On May 23, within the Kaocheng shogunate, generals were coming in and out, constantly gathering all kinds of news.
Shao Xun sat on the recliner, his eyes wandering around the map on the wall.
The recliner swayed, and his body also swayed, his mood was very relaxed.
The war can be said to have begun, because Li Chong, the governor of the left, has led his troops northward.
On the 19th, Ke Chaoge.
On the 20th, the vanguard cavalry entered Qishui and seized the stone bridge.
On the night of the 21st, the army set up camps on the north and south banks of Qishui River.
The distance from the south and north cities of Fangtou to Jijun and Chaoge County is about thirty miles.
Going northeast from Chaoge, it is about eighty miles to Dangyin County, Wei County, and you need to cross the Qishui River in the middle.
We crossed Danshui from Dangyinbei and arrived at Anyang County about 40 miles away.
Anyang crosses the Huan River to the north and travels another 40 miles to Yecheng.
The whole journey is more than 190 miles, less than 200 miles.
On the 200-mile journey, except for the first section of more than 30 miles, the remaining 160 miles cannot use rivers. Materials can only be transported by land, and three east-west rivers need to be crossed in the middle. Conquer Dangyin and Anyang, two cities blocking the post road.
For Shao Xun, the risks slowly began to increase. For Schle, opportunities gradually began to appear.
The news coming back from Yecheng has been intermittent and has completely stopped recently. Shao Xun does not know where Shi Le is.
Perhaps, he was collecting food while heading south, and was not in a hurry to return to Yecheng immediately.
Heh, he is quite vicious.
Shao Xun closed his eyes and sketched another marching route in his mind.
Light footsteps sounded, followed by the sounds of trays and bowls.
"In the past, in order to fight against the Yuan Tan brothers, Cao Mengde specially built a canopy, dredged the waterway, and traveled northeast from Baigou." A familiar voice rang in his ears.
Shao Xun did not open his eyes and continued to listen.
"In Hebei, no matter how unstable people's hearts are, it is still easier for Shile to supply supplies than for you. If you are not careful on the way north, you may risk the annihilation of the entire army."
"You have already To build Fangtou Nancheng and dredge Qishui Gudu, the fleet can go up the river to Fangtou. Wouldn't it be safer to collect Liyang, Dunqiu and other counties? "
"Cao Mengdes followed the Baigou to Neihuang, turned to the northwest, and went up against the Huan River. His military supplies reached Anyang, and then went north to surround Yecheng."
Shao Xun raised the corners of his mouth slightly and sighed: "Studying is just Well, the ancients know everything about the present. These days, some generals are illiterate and not as good as Hua Nu."
How did Cao Cao attack Yecheng?
In fact, it was not that they rushed directly to Yecheng and then surrounded it as most people thought.
In fact, he faced the same dilemma as Shao Xun, how to transport supplies to Yecheng smoothly, safely and at low cost.
Moreover, Shao Xun faced a worse situation than Cao Mengde, because Shi Le had a lot of cavalry, which was more difficult to deal with than brothers Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang - not because of strength or popular support, but mainly because of the issue of arms.
It is indeed extremely risky to transport grain directly from Fangtou to the north.
But if we follow Cao Cao's example and use ships to make a triangle, transport the grain by water to Anyang, and then transfer it by land, it will only be a journey of forty miles, but it will be much safer.
Many wars since the Han Dynasty have been fought around grain roads.
"I'm leaving." Shao Xun sat up, picked up the tea bowl and took a sip, keeping his eyes on the map.
There were only cities and mountains and rivers on the map, but as the supreme commander, who was planning wars almost day and night, he "saw" the number, strength and location of the troops next to the cities and mountains and rivers.
But when we went further up to the central area of Hebei, it was completely blank.
Assassination and rape of governors is not omnipotent, and Yu Chen only recruited some people. He did not know where Shi Le was, how he arranged it, and how he planned to fight.
Therefore, since ancient times, military books and strategies have always emphasized the principle of "first making yourself invincible, and then making the enemy victorious". The reason is that you don't have the eyes of the sky and it is impossible to know every move of the enemy. , so first make yourself watertight, stable, and invulnerable, and then catch the enemy's mistakes and defeat them in one fell swoop.
Of course, it is easy to say, but not so easy to do.
This not only tests the level of the commander, but also the ability of the generals below. Even the subjective initiative, battlefield reading ability, and adaptability of mid-level officers can influence the final battle situation.
War is not guaranteed to be won by being strong and able to fight. There is uncertainty in it.
"In such a hurry? The Silver Spear Soldiers haven't arrived at Fangtou yet, have they?" Concubine Pei came over and massaged his head.
"Although we won the first battle, it was not that safe." Shao Xun said: "Yin Qi, the deputy governor of the Yi Congjun, died of serious injuries. I have withdrawn his troops. With just a few cavalry, we have to open the way. It is not enough to seize time, cover the car formation, provide protection for the fleet, and even chase and defeat the enemy. If Shi Le wants to defeat me, he can only make a fuss about the cavalry. This is his only chance. "
"Now that you have made up your mind, go ahead." Concubine Pei said, "There are three thousand people in Kaocheng, enough to defend the city along the river. Liu Qia and Man Heng, do you want to go north?"
"These peasants and soldiers have average fighting strength, so they should stay in Henan." Shao Xun pondered for a moment and said, "Besides, I am also worried that something will happen to the east, or even to the south."
"There is enough food and grass. "
"The crops in many places are not good this year, and the harvest may be poor now."
"It's better if you know it. He straightened his robe and said, "Don't take risks. Now that you have lost one or two games, your muscles and bones will no longer be broken."
Shao Xun nodded slightly.
There is also a difference between defeat and failure.
If the defeated army is a miscellaneous force, it doesn't matter. To put it darkly, it is not necessarily a bad thing.
If the one who loses is a direct force, then he will become Liu Xiu, and he may not even want to be Liu Xiu. After all, his status is far inferior to others.
"After I leave, Yanzhou will be quiet. Even if there are Hu cavalry going south to harass, they should stay behind closed doors and don't act rashly. Anyone who dares to come here to request troops and horses will not be allowed." Shao Xun finally said He warned again.
"Okay." Concubine Pei nodded and looked up out of the window.
The scorching sun is at noon, and the soldiers are fighting.
She felt tremendous pressure just as an outsider.
As the saying goes, a single move can affect the whole body. People who are fully involved in it have many more things to consider than she does. The worries during this can be imagined.
The poems and essays only talk about defeating the enemy through laughter and conversation, deliberately hiding the heart-wrenching steps and meticulous and cumbersome preparations, making people think that war is a very simple thing, which is ridiculous.
"Will Liu Cong..." Concubine Pei suddenly thought of something and asked.
Shao Xun did not answer for a long time.
Maybe this problem also bothers him.
(End of this chapter)