Chapter 274 Water and Fire
Guanghe six years, September 18th.
After the banquet on the night of the 16th, Zhang Chong held a gold-conferring ceremony in the morning of the next day, and a soul-calling ceremony for the fallen soldiers in the afternoon.
After a series of ceremonies, the military morale of the Taishan Army and Ru Ying Huangjin recovered slightly, but it would not be possible to restore their strength to pre-war strength overnight. Because this battle was too brutal, all armies were severely reduced in troops. The prisoners in this battle were also severely traumatized and had no fighting spirit, so they were considered semi-wasted.
Under this situation, all the military staff suggested that the attack on Xingyang be completed quickly and then return to Heji for repairs. Obviously, at this time, most people in the army were unwilling to go north to Hebei.
This was the opinion of the military staff. Zhang Chong was noncommittal, and then he asked several major generals in the army.
Among them, Guan Yu replied:
"Commander Qu, the war-weariness in the army is indeed present. From April this year when we left Mount Tai to September now, in five months, we have fought three times with more than 10,000 people. We have fought three times with more than 1,000 people. , we fought six times, and there were countless small battles left. Since this May, I don’t know the situation of other school commanders. Taking my left school commander as an example, the casualties are half, and there are many more after that. For example, the generals and generals of some of the main force units were replaced three times, and even the generals at the station level were replaced once. These troops suffered heavy casualties and would be difficult to fight without repairs. "
Seeing that Zhang Chong was listening with an open mind, Guan Yu told the truth:
"Commander Qu, now we have traveled thousands of miles. Except for repairs in Puyang, we have been on the road almost all the time. The troops are very tired. Many of the Han soldiers who surrendered and absorbed sat there halfway, saying that they would not leave again even if they were killed. There are also troops There are also complaints among the people, saying that the cavalry brothers are more comfortable with four legs, but it is not like their two legs will be broken.”
Zhang Chong frowned and asked:
"What about the situation of Zuo Xiaowei's officials?"
The main force in the management of the army lies with the military officials. The sergeants must have complaints, but they usually don't take them seriously. People who are troubled will inevitably say strange things. But if the officers and soldiers in the army also think this way, then the evil spirit is really there.
Guan Yu nodded and directly talked about the situation of the officers and soldiers in the army:
"Most of the military officials in Zuo Xiaowei's department are from the Lao Taishan area. These people have high consciousness and take the lead, and the military system depends on them to maintain it. But because they are all from the Lao Taishan area, they are also homesick. We are now in Xingyang, After being away from home for a long time, everyone is worried about the situation of Taishan. Our main force is away, and we don’t know if Taishan has been attacked by the Han army, and we can’t contact him, so we are very worried. "
Seeing Guan Yu asking about the situation in Taishan's hometown, Zhang Chong simply said:
"When we left Mount Tai in April, the people in charge were Du Man and Army Deputy Yang Mao. Although we took away most of the main force, because of the good grassroots work in the old Taishan area, most areas were divided into fields and pulled up The defense of the base area was actually not weak, and before we left, we almost wiped out all the Han soldiers around Mount Tai, so the pressure on Mount Tai was not great. Judging from the letter Duman gave me, there was currently only Xuzhou. Langya made a trial attack, but because Duman and the others were holding the Yishan Pass, they withdrew again."
Guan Yu nodded, but as he spoke, Zhang Chong said:
"Are you asking why I didn't tell the sergeants this?"
Zhang Chong explained:
"The letter from Duman was not sent directly to me. Because we fought too many battles, they always lagged behind us. After we captured Puyang and established a stable base in the Heji area, the two sides officially established communication. We all went south later, and Adan brought this information from Fengqiu.”
Zhang Dan, who was sitting next to Guan Yu, nodded repeatedly when he heard this.
There is no way, this is the communication situation in this world. A phone call in later generations would take months or even years here. In times of peace, communication between various localities also relied on the inn system, but it was only available to officials, and private people could only rely on dedicated people to run errands or travel along the way. The first method is too expensive, and the second method is highly uncertain. Letters often get lost halfway through. All in all, it’s not easy to communicate in long-distance places.
This is not a big joint. After Guan Yu finished speaking, Zhang Chong looked at Zhang Dan to listen to his opinion.
Zhang Dan touched the beard around his mouth, thought about it, and said it truthfully:
"The situation of the Right Military Division is the same as that of the Left Military Division, but the situation is different. The same thing is that there is also depression in the army, but it is not as serious as that of the Left Military Division. Thanks to the repairs in the Fengqiu area, the morale of each department is good. . But the composition of our department is different from that of Zuo Xiaowei. Most of Zuo Xiaowei's officers are old Taishan people, and the soldiers are generally veterans of the war. However, because our department has been split up before, a large number of soldiers are. After fighting in the Heji area, these people saw the bloody battlefield, and they all showed some shrinkage. For example, after recovering from their injuries, they were unwilling to return to the army, and they also found ways to return to the Heji area. Those who divide the fields are just greedy for the security of the rear. Except for the hard-working and hard-working boat trackers, the soldiers in the Heji area are generally worse than those in the Taishan area."
Seeing that Zhang Chong didn't ask, Zhang Dan made his own summary:
"Commander Qu, given the current situation, it is not worthwhile to start another war. Those Heji soldiers are tired of fighting at the doorstep of Xingyang, let alone taking them to Hebei to fight the Han army again."
Zhang Chong didn't say anything. Instead, he was pleased that the senior military officials in the army were generally able to express their thoughts truly and tell the truth. They did not have the Han army's style of reporting good news but not bad news, and covering up mistakes with minor mistakes.
Don’t be afraid if there are problems, just be afraid that you can’t see the problems.
Although Guan Yu and Zhang Dan didn't say anything, Zhang Chong already knew their opinions.
Regarding the current situation, their view is that mobile operations are not recommended. As long-term operations on the outside are carried out, it will be very difficult to replenish supplies and personnel in the army. We should return to Heji for repairs and expand the system of dividing the fields and pulling in soldiers to protect the fields.
These are all true words, but Zhang Chong is still hesitant.
What is he hesitating about?
Because to be honest, Zhang Chong himself was a little confused.
He couldn't understand the current situation. The letters that Ding Sheng sent to Huang Wan a few days ago made him realize that there were still 30,000 Han troops there. He didn't know how many powerful troops there were, but this force was still stronger than the Taishan army. Then there was the internal support of the Han army in the army. Zhang Chong did not make it public in order not to alert others and make people panic, but it was still a thorn in the flesh and could pierce into the flesh at any time.
Let alone internal and external troubles, let's just say that if he ignores the situation of the Battle of Hebei now and returns to the Heji area. According to his deduction, once the wave of Han troops from the south joins the Hebei battlefield, the Yellow Turban Army will be dead. Then after the Yellow Turban Army is destroyed, will he be able to sit still in the Heji area?
When the time comes, all the Han soldiers from Hebei and the Central Plains will come to besiege them. How can Zhang Chong stop them with a small area? Unable to stop it, the Heji area was lost. Where to evacuate? Evacuate to Mount Tai? Then the base areas around Mount Tai cannot be defended.
And there, the Taishan Army has taken root for a long time, and the distribution of fields has been implemented. Once the Taishan Army cannot hold on, all those years of hard work will be ruined, and the leaders of Guizhou in these areas will believe that the Taishan Army has lost everything. At that time, he would probably have no choice but to hide in Mount Tai with his remaining soldiers.
But I'm afraid Taishan can't protect them!
Therefore, ignoring Hebei and returning directly to the Heji area for repairs may seem like a way to survive, but it is a dead end. So where is the real way to survive?
Going to the battlefield in Hebei? Not to mention that the Taishan Army is now war-weary and its combat effectiveness has been severely reduced. Even if Zhang Chong relies on his former prestige to persuade his subordinates to go north, can the Taishan Army in this state defeat the main force of the Han Army?
And once he fails, Zhang Chong's prestige will be truly wiped out, and he may really be regarded as a grass-head king.
That is to say, prosperity is also booming, and death is sudden.
If he couldn't retreat, he couldn't advance either. Zhang Chong was really confused and didn't know what to do.
To be honest, he now knows how difficult it is to conquer the world, especially for someone like him who comes from the bottom and is almost universally enemy. He still won the battle, but he still had a headache, let alone if Xingyang lost the battle.
Zhang Chong continued to think about the way out for the Taishan Army, and the machine of the Taishan Army continued to act according to its previous inertia.
……
In the sixth year of Guanghe, on September 18th, outside Xingyang City.
The hustle and bustle of the day replaced the quietness of the night.
Outside Xingyang City, groups of Taishan troops came up from the rear. This place was already full of tents, and the Taishan Army, which had arrived in advance, took advantage of the free time to wash their faces with the cool water of the river outside the city. There are also some people praying to the rising sun. They are obviously people from Ru Ying Huang Turban.
The laborers who came up behind, under the leadership of the baggage team, dragged the cart creakingly, which was covered with various ready-made logs. They could just use these when they set up camp. Some of the cars behind were filled with supplies, bundles of arrows, and bags of corn.
The person responsible for this siege was the Taishan Army Houxiaowei Department. Two thousand people from his department set up camp and built forts using the East City Cang as a fortification.
After eating the imperial meal, the high-spirited officers and soldiers of the Hou Military Academy launched an attack on Xingyang City with great vigor and high spirits.
……
Two moments later, Ding Sheng, the commander of the Hou Military Academy, became angry with all the officials under his command.
At this moment, Ding Sheng was so angry that his beard froze and he cursed:
"People in the city are not afraid of death, so you are? Aren't you just risking your life? Go in and kill them all."
Jin Quan is the general who led the main attack this time. The siege failed, so he must reply:
"Captain, it's not that the brothers dare not risk their lives, it's that the people above the city are all Guizhou leaders in the city. It's hard to kill the brothers!"
Ding Sheng got angry:
"Did they take a knife?" "Yes"
"Have you ever stabbed one of us?"
"Stab!"
"Then what nonsense are you talking about? They are not the head of Guizhou, they are all enemies. Those who dare to draw swords with us are all! Do you understand?"
Jinquan also wants to say:
"But..."
He was interrupted by Ding Sheng:
"There's nothing wrong with it. I'll take the lead in fighting later. If the city can't be broken this time, don't come back. You just want to see that the left and right forces keep pressing on us? Are you a coward? You're a coward. I’ll replace him with someone else!”
Knowing that the captain was angry, Jin Quan slapped his chest and said fiercely:
"Captain, don't worry. We will definitely capture Xingyang this time."
"Why don't you go quickly?"
As soon as Jin Quan waved his hand, he led the soldiers out of the tent with murderous intent.
Watching Jin Quan leave, Ding Sheng asked a dark, lean and gray-bearded old soldier next to him:
"Xiang Weng, is this Xingyang City difficult to defeat?"
Xiang Weng was an old recruiter who had joined the army in Guanxian County. He had rich experience in battles and was specially invited by Ding Sheng to watch the army for him.
Xiang Weng clasped fists at Ding Sheng:
"Captain Lieutenant Hou, when General Jin attacked the city, I also watched from behind. There were not many enemy troops in Xingyang City, and most of them were civilians on top of the city. I can also see this clearly, it must be inside the city. The county magistrate used the family members of these people to coerce them into defending the city. I saw this method when I was in northern Xinjiang. When the Xianbei people attacked the city, they would first attack the nearby villages and coerce the Han people to attack the city. Well, if you can't break into it, you will also consume the tools in the city. I didn't expect that the Xingyang County Magistrate was as cruel as a barbarian. It would be unfair not to kill him."
Xiang Weng wanted to say more, but was interrupted by the frowning Ding Sheng:
"Xiang Weng, I'm asking you, are we sure of our attack this time? Let's not talk about anything else."
When Xiang Weng heard this, he secretly spit and said in his heart:
"What an evil ranger who doesn't know how to respect his elders."
However, he still said respectfully:
"It's not a big problem. The last time General Jin was kicked out, it was because his hands were tied. After all, where is the military discipline? But now with your method of motivating generals, I believe that Jin will soon gain something."
At this moment, a Taishan soldier rushed into the tent, holding a bloody head in his hand. Report:
"There was a riot in the city. He killed the county magistrate and surrendered to his generals!"
Sure enough, the head was none other than Yang Zan, the magistrate of Xingyang County, and the city of Xingyang was destroyed.
……
When the city of Xingyang was broken, Chen Huan of the Taishan Army who stayed in Changshe, which was a hundred miles away, finally could not withstand the siege of the Han army. Under the cover of Ren Jun's assault cavalry, they retreated towards Songshan Mountain in the north.
In the sixth year of Guanghe, on September 14th, the left and right Zhonglang generals of the Han army, together with Runan Haoqiang, led 20,000 troops. After defeating the Runan Yellow Turbans, they finally arrived at Changshe.
After the battle with the Runan Yellow Turbans, the Han army's strength was not without losses. At this time, the left Zhonglang general Zhang Wen had 6,000 troops, and the right Zhonglang general Zhu Jun had 7,000 troops. After the war, Runan's powerful tribe had about 7,000 troops.
On the 14th, the Han army appeared and led the Taishan Army to attack the Wuliting barrier outside Changshe City. Chen Huan led a thousand elite soldiers in the city, and Ren Jun led 500 sudden cavalry out of the city to rescue. However, the battle was unfavorable and the Wuliting barrier fell.
On the 15th, Chen Huan's troops engaged the Han army, and the two sides fought bloody battles. However, Chen Huan's troops were too few, and they finally withdrew to Changshe City under the cover of Ren Jun's cavalry troops.
Chen Huanlu left the Rangers and formed an army in Guizhou Province, relying on the four fortifications outside the city to continue to resist the Han army. However, under the fierce attack of Sun Jian, the commander of the other army, the four fortifications outside the city fell one after another, and the watchtower at the corner of the city was burned down.
On the 16th and 17th, the Han Army's Right Zhonglang General's Department Sima Sunjian, Guardsman Sima Fu Xie, and Zuo Zhonglang General's Front Army Sima Cao Cao stormed the three gates of Changshe. The two sides fought a bloody battle, but Chen Huanjia stayed with him until the end. Block the Han army's fierce attack.
It was night, and Chen Huan, who knew that the city could not be defended, led his troops to break out from the north gate under the cover of the night, under the cover of Ren Jun's sudden cavalry.
At dawn on the 18th, the Han army discovered that the Taishan Army had withdrawn, and did not enter the city. They pursued the remnants of the Taishan Army and caught up with them at Geqiu northwest of Changshe. Sun Jian, commander of another branch of the Han army, took the lead and charged and attacked fiercely. Ren Yun, the sudden cavalry general of the Taishan Army, was furious. He wore three layers of armor, mounted a horse with a spear, and stabbed Sun Jian's horse. Unfortunately, he himself fell off the horse and died.
Seeing that the general was missing, the Tuqi troops turned back to attack, seized the general's body, and then protected Chen Huan's troops and continued to retreat toward Xinzheng in the northwest.
The Han army was still going to attack, but Lu Xiang and Lu Kuang's troops stationed in Xinzheng had already received the news and took the opportunity to ambush on the mountain road. Sun Jian's troops lost hundreds of people and retreated southward in a hurry.
In the end, Chen Huan's troops and some of the assault cavalry successfully retreated to Xinzheng, but they also lost the assault cavalry general Ren Jun in this battle. Ren Jun is an old man of the Taishan Army and has always been a strong general among the cavalry generals. Losing Ren Jun this time will undoubtedly be a heavy loss to the Taishan Army.
When the Han army saw Chen Huan's troops breaking out, they did not continue the attack, but returned to Changshe and started looting.
Thanks to the fact that Taishan's army took away the Zhong and Han families in the city when they went north, there was no one in Changshe City that the Han army could worry about.
At this time, the Han army had been fighting for a long time, and because they were fighting fiercely in Runan and far away from the center, they had not received supplies. Therefore, in order to maintain the morale and combat effectiveness of the army, the generals acquiesced to the looting behavior of their Han soldiers. In the past in Runan, the army was composed of powerful soldiers from Runan. These people were close to each other. The Han soldiers could not let go and plunder at all. They could only rob the Yellow Turban Army who were poorer than them.
At this time, Changshe City was different. Who here doesn't understand moth thieves? I don’t know how you survive, moth thief. In other words, everyone in the city at the moment is a rebel party.
Therefore, on September 18, 20,000 Han troops began to plunder the people in Changshe City in batches and divisions. They killed anyone who dared to resist, drank wine from the cellars of these houses, and drank wildly while venting their animal desires on the women.
The old residences of the Zhong and Han families have not escaped the murderous attack. The Han army broke into these beautiful mansions and looted all kinds of bronze wares and long letter lamps inside. They were still in Zhong's family temple, and tortured the women they had snatched under the banners of Zhong's various gods.
These farces were stopped after Zuo Zhonglang's general Cao Cao arrived and killed several people. But Cao Cao could only save the residences of the Zhong and Han families, and he could do nothing to help with the rest of the tragedy in the city. No matter what, Cao Cao might die at the hands of those old men.
At this time, the Han army was out of control.
After experiencing a long war, especially the bloody battle of Yingyang, these Han troops actually lost their fighting spirit. Logically speaking, they should be withdrawn to the rear line for repairs, but at this time, the Han court did not have any spare troops to replace them.
In this way, the string that had collapsed for a long time completely collapsed in Changshe City.
I don’t know who was the first to set fire to the city. Then the crazy Han soldiers followed suit and set fire to the city. The entire Changshe was destroyed in the flames.
The long shrine in history was burned down by the Han army. Now, even though history has changed, at this moment, history seems to have been corrected. This ancient city was destroyed by the Han army.
Cao Cao, who hurriedly fled outside the city to avoid the fire, looked at Changshe in the flames and the people of Changshe who kept escaping from the city. He sarcastically said:
"Look, our Han soldiers are really saving the people from fire and water."
(End of chapter)