Chapter 290 Frozen
On the land of Hebei, the mountains are dancing with silver snakes, covered in silver, and the sky and the earth are completely white.
A conscripted Minzhuang was trudging through the snow with difficulty. They wanted to transport this batch of winter clothes and millet to the Qishui camp of the Han army as soon as possible.
There, due to heavy snowfall, the Han army could only confront the Taishan army across the river. But this confrontation will obviously not last long. After the Qishui freezes, a foreseeable bloody battle will inevitably break out.
So taking advantage of the heavy snow, the Han army was stepping up its efforts to mobilize supplies and weapons from the rear to build up strength.
This minzhuang came from Wuzhi County. The leader was Zhang Sheng, the local pavilion chief. After receiving instructions from the prefect of Hanoi, each pavilion sent hundreds of minzhuang people to support it.
Zhang Sheng was considered a local tycoon, but these days, the imperial court was pressing him harder and harder, and even he, the chief of the pavilion, was having an embarrassing life.
And now, he was going to take more than a hundred people to deliver food to Qishui, a hundred miles away, in this snowy day. They were walking in the freezing cold, and even if they had winter coats on the car, they didn't dare to take them off to keep warm.
Along the way, Zhang Sheng also saw the dilapidation of other places, and the closer he got to the north, the more so.
Originally, he thought that this was just the case in Wuzhi County. Who would have thought that this was the case all the way. Even an ignorant country man like Zhang Sheng had an idea in his heart:
"It seems that the world is really in chaos."
The heavy snowfall was so violent that Zhang Sheng and others wanted to find a place to take shelter, but the houses along the road were either tightly locked to prevent outsiders from entering, or they had collapsed into desolate ruins.
Obviously, although Hanoi was not systematically attacked by the Yellow Turbans of Hebei, due to frequent conquests, a large number of civilians fled to the countryside and became bandits.
In order to survive and avoid being hunted by the Han Dynasty, these people looted villages in the countryside one after another. As far as Zhang Sheng could see, the pavilions and houses built along the official road were all destroyed and destroyed. Only foxes and rabbits occupied these places, and there were no people around.
But there are still things that show that the Han Dynasty still has the ability to rule Hanoi.
In front of Zhang Sheng and others, there was a tall locust tree. The leaves of the locust tree have withered, but the branches that grew out are still strong and strong in the wind and snow.
On the branches, there were three frozen corpses hanging from the locust tree, with a wooden sign around their necks that read:
"Those who collaborate with thieves will die."
Among the people, only Zhang Sheng was literate, but even if he was illiterate, these people from Wuzhi all knew that this was not a good place.
So, everyone discussed it and decided to continue on their way despite the wind and snow.
Fortunately, they were not far from the Han army camp on the south bank of Qishui River. At noon that day, they finally arrived at Qishui camp.
At this time, the Qishui Camp had undergone earth-shaking changes. Originally, it was only the camp wall of Cao Cao's army. However, as the Han troops continued to arrive, the Qishui Camp continued to expand.
At this time, the camp stretched for ten miles. At least four captains were stationed here. The number of troops reached more than 10,000. There were also countless civilians and disciples busy, all crowded in this camp area.
When Zhang Sheng and others were pushing the cart and were about to enter the camp, a group of cavalry rushed out from the galloping road on the left side of the camp gate and headed upstream of Qishui River.
Obviously, the key factor in the defeat of Cao Cao's troops was the group of Taishan Army thieves and cavalry active on the south bank of Qishui River. While the Han army was reinforcing the camp, they continued to disperse their cavalry as a counterattack.
With these rangers patrolling, not only catching traces of the opposite side, they can at least patrol the two wings, so as not to make the same mistake as Cao Cao's troops.
The effect of these actions was obvious. The traces of the thieves' cavalry had disappeared at least within a radius of twenty miles. I think the other side knew they were outmatched and had retreated to the north bank.
Zhang Sheng and others avoided the patrolling cavalry, and after a lot of trouble, they entered the camp under the impatient eyes of the military officials at the gate.
After entering the camp, Zhang Sheng and others knew what the concept of army gathering was.
There are camps everywhere, and there are patrolling Halberdiers everywhere, looking down like hawks from the towering arrow towers, and if anything goes wrong, they will be shot immediately.
Zhang Sheng and others, led by a warehouse official, entered the warehouse area in the southwest corner of the camp, where the entire army's baggage was stored.
After delivering the winter clothes and corn, the warehouseman wrote a note on the bamboo slip with a red pen, and then let Zhang Sheng and others go.
In fact, the treasury officials did not count the materials delivered by Zhang Sheng at all, and any previous methods of using cards to make false accounts were useless. It was not that they had changed their nature, but that they were really busy.
After delivering the supplies, Zhang Sheng wanted to ask the warehouseman for a bucket of ginger soup to ward off the cold, but he was coaxed out before he could finish his words.
You have a lot of life, but you still want to order me around? Are you a cow and a horse, or am I a cow and a horse?
Of course, regardless of their status, the treasury officials are indeed busy.
At this time, not only the main force of the Han army was gathering at Qishui Camp, but also the powerful people in Hanoi came to Qishui Camp with their own armed forces to join forces.
The powerful people in Hanoi couldn't be more clear about the situation in Henan County. They knew that these Taishan troops not only wanted the lives of the Han army, but also wanted their powerful land. It would be better to kill them.
So this time, they were not forced, nor were they tied with shackles and nooses to join the army, but they volunteered and brought their own dry food to join the army.
Hanoi's tycoons were originally the center of the Han Dynasty's military preparations. Although two groups had been conquered by the previous war, there are still many powerful forces among these tycoons.
They trained briefly in Qishui Camp and organized three battalion leaders. Among them, the Hanoi hero Han Hao had a battalion of a thousand men, the hero Yang Chou had a battalion of a thousand men, and the Hanoi hero Hao Meng was also the commander of the thousand-man corps.
Of course, these three people are actually brave generals, and they do not really have the authority to command these thousands of people. Because the supplies for these three thousand men were almost all jointly funded by various powerful families in Hanoi, so in fact these three thousand soldiers were still in their hands.
The reason why they chose these three people is that they learned from the results of the defeat of the Gyeonggi powerful forces in the Battle of Xingyang. Many family members are actually not suitable to lead troops in battle. Rather than being defeated and dying, it is better to hand them over to brave heroes. .
These three generals did not set up camp in Qishui camp, but were divided into the upper and lower reaches of Qishui, serving as the outer defense line of the main force of the Han army.
On the recommendation of his uncle Du Yang, Han Hao led the new battalion to station at the mouth of Lianghe.
The mouth of the two rivers is the intersection of Qishui and Zhanshui. When the Zhanshui further north passes through the northern area of Hanoi, it merges into the east with the Qishui to the south at the mouths of these two rivers.
So in other words, the river where the Han Army and the Taishan Army's Western Expeditionary Army actually faced each other was already the intersection of Qishui River and Zhanshui River. It's just that the Qishui River has a larger flow and a longer culture, so it is collectively called this.
Precisely because the mouths of these two rivers are at the intersection, and the rivers range from narrow to wide, it is often the place where the Taishan Army's thieves ride through the water on the north bank, so Han Hao's troops were stationed here to control this important area of the river.
Yang Chou and Hao Meng served as river patrol troops, patrolling along the west bank of Qishui River. There are many wild crossings on the upper and lower reaches of Qishui River. Both of them must be inspected so that the enemy's movements can be discovered as soon as possible.
These arrangements may sound simple, but in fact they are complicated, which will test the financing ability of General Zhendong's shogunate. But fortunately, the grain platform originally established in Aocang did a very effective job.
Under the control of Xun You, Zhong Yao and others, there was an endless stream of military grain sent to the north. Unfortunately, because the road was cut off by the Taishan Army, the Han army in Handan further north has not received a single grain of millet from the south. It is also miserable. .
Of course, the greater contributors to the smoothness of the grain road were the grassroots officials and officials like Zhang Sheng, who braved wind, snow, freezing cold, and transported truckloads of grain by foot.
But for these people, the Han army was not even willing to give them a bowl of ginger soup. Perhaps what makes them colder than winter snow is the chill in their hearts.
While the Han army was accumulating strength on the south bank, the Taishan Army in Yecheng was also providing supplies to the Western Expedition Army on the north bank.
Compared with the Han Army, the Taishan Army's supplies were much more scientific.
Because the Han army lacked the ability to integrate, when Aocang millet was sent to Huai County, Hanoi, the ministries recruited from various counties and townships in Hanoi would collect grain there, and then they would transport it directly to the front line.
Although this long-distance supply method saves the energy of the warehousemen, it makes the Guizhou leaders miserable. They have to walk too many wrong roads. In addition, many of them have frozen feet in this severe cold weather, and they have to push them. Transportation, so on the supply line, there were complaints from the head of Guizhou.
The Taishan Army adopted segmented transportation. Cangcao set up a military station every twenty miles on the sixty-mile road from Yecheng to the camp on the north bank of Qishui River. Then, for the transportation of each military station, only the Qianshou from nearby villages were recruited, and they were divided into three shifts.
For example, after traveling for twenty miles during the day, the transfer team from Yecheng would store their supplies at the military station here. Then they would rest at the military station for one night, and then return to Yecheng the next day for another rest. day, and the second wave of supplies will be transported the next day.
However, because of three shifts, the Taishan Army's supply line was non-stop. This is overall planning and scheduling, which cannot be done without numbers.
This scheduling method was proposed by Zhang Chong, and then the military field officials coordinated the actions. These land-dividing officials were the most adept at planning in the army because they often measured the land.
During this process, one of the former soldiers came to the fore, and that was Qianzhao.
This king had previously accompanied Liu Bei in an ambush of the Taishan Army during the Han army's breakout battle, and was later defeated and captured. Later, during the Battle of Xingyang, Yu Jin, the Zuo Colonel of the Central Guard Army, released these prisoners of war in order to concentrate his forces.
Yu Jin made an agreement with these gentlemen, and after the war the Taishan Army was indeed victorious. Qian Zhao and others who were lurking in the surrounding fields returned to the Taishan Army without a word, fulfilling their promise with Yu Jin.
The Han people vomit their promise in a cup, but the Five Mountains are insignificant. Such a sincere statement!
He has an astonishing talent in fortune-telling. Because he successfully coordinated this military dispatch, he was recommended to join the military academy and receive higher-level training.
Of course, more important than training is that the top brass of the Taishan Army obviously maintained a certain degree of trust in Qianzhao. This may be even more important for determining one's origin.
Sixty miles from Yecheng to the camp on the north bank of Qishui, there were two military stations in the middle. A steady stream of millet, clothing, salt, and soy sauce were delivered to the soldiers of the Western Expeditionary Army on the front line to maintain their physical fitness and fighting spirit.
However, the Taishan Army could not last long with such high-consumption supplies, because Yecheng was not rich in supplies.
Although the Taishan Army sent out hundreds of thousands of dans of grain from Aocang and seized another 60,000 shi of grain from Yecheng, they also consumed a lot of grain along the way, and also transferred a large amount of millet to the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans. Food is out.
In addition, Yecheng served as the last line of defense against the Yellow Turbans in Hebei Province. After ten months of fierce fighting, the countryside was in ruins. When the Taishan Army regained nearby settlements and rural communities, they not only failed to receive supplies, but also consumed materials for construction.
Therefore, the Han army could not bear this kind of high-intensity supply, and neither could the Taishan army.
In other words, the battle between the Han Army in Henan and the Western Expeditionary Army of Mount Tai took place after this heavy snow.
But no one expected that the heavy snow would fall for five days and immediately freeze Qishui.
Now, Qishui no longer acted as an obstacle to the Tai and Han armies, but directly became a battlefield.
Guanghe six years, November 6th.
The messenger transferred from Shangdang, carrying the military order from Handan to Lu Zhi, was delivered to the Zhendong General Zhang Wen.
Lu Zhi had also received an order from Luoyang before, ordering him and Chaoge to attack the Taishan bandits from the north and south of the Han army in Henan. Lu Zhi did not dare to neglect, and hurriedly sent a messenger from Shangdang to Chaoge to arrange a time for a flanking attack with Zhang Wen.
But because of the heavy snowfall, the Taihang Mountains were blocked by heavy snow, and the messenger was trapped. The letter was not delivered until now. But precisely because of the heavy snow, Hebei and Henan were able to set a time for the attack.
That is, on the second day after the heavy snow melted, the Taishan bandit was attacked from the north and the south, and the bandit was destroyed together.
When Zhang Wen received this letter, he was very hesitant and entangled because he had a bad premonition about this battle.
This was only found in the military report he received from Zhu Jun two days ago.
Previously, Zhu Jun's regiment crossed the river from Juan County, Henan to attack Hanoi, but they have not been able to arrive until now. So Zhang Wen issued a message urging him to quickly move his army north to join him at Chaoge.
Zhu Jun also had an army of more than 10,000 soldiers from the six counties of Yuzhou, which was a decisive force. The reason why Zhang Wen had restrained his attacks before was because he planned to wait for this reinforcement.
Then two days ago, Zhang Wen received Zhu Jun's military report and was shocked.
At this moment, Zhu Jun's army was not on the north bank of the river at all. They actually turned back to Xingyang.
Zhu Jun said that when the army was preparing to cross the river in Juan County, the commander of the Sixth Regiment headed by Runan Yuan came directly to Zhu Jun and said that Xingyang was empty. Their most important thing was to guard the safety of the east side of the capital and they were unwilling to cross the river.
Zhu Jun made it clear in the military newspaper that he was helpless. Because these six regiment ministers were in the same spirit, they directly ignored his empty-headed commander. Zhu Jun said that it was a lie that these Yuzhou aristocratic families said they would stay in Xingyang, but it was true that they were unwilling to go to Hebei.
They were all Henan soldiers. When they first started the army, they were guarding their hometown. They never thought of leaving their hometown. Zhu Jun even said that this operation, which was similar to forcing the army, was carried out by the Yuan family in Runan. Its meaning is difficult to understand.
In short, Zhu Jun said, don’t think about Henan’s subsequent heroics, they will not go north.
Under such circumstances, how could Zhang Wen not have a shadow in his heart, and how could he dare to attack the Taishan Army? But now it was up to him, because the news of the arrival of the messenger from the north and the emperor's audience in the army also knew that this combined attack was imminent and had to be launched.
God, please help Yan Han survive this calamity.
(End of chapter)