Chapter 391 Township Army
When the news of the Taishan Army sending troops came to Guangzong, the military officials in the city were very depressed.
In just six months, two large-scale mutinies occurred in Guangzong City. If the first was a spiritual blow to the church, then this last one was a blow to the courage.
Except for his direct descendants, not many people are willing to work for the unreasonable and illegal Zuo Beard Zhangba.
And these left-bearded men are naturally aware of this.
On the day his army imprisoned Zhang Bao, he began to take back power. First, Huang Long, who was responsible for resisting the Han army in northern Anping on the northern Xiabo front, was transferred back to Guangzong.
Huang Long holds a large number of troops, so he can naturally threaten Zuo Zhuzhangba's status. But this person's family members were all in Guangzong and they didn't dare to resist at all. When the letter handwritten by Guangzong's son and personally sent by his old servant came to Huang Long's hands, Huang Long hesitated for a long time and decided to go home.
Huang Long went south to Guangzong with only a few soldiers. As soon as he entered the city, he was captured by Zuo Zhuzhangba without even seeing his family, and was imprisoned in a secret prison. Then in the early morning of the next day, Huang Long and his soldiers were escorted to the street and hurriedly executed on the charge of ineffective use of troops.
Although Huang Long was not a great military talent, he was not very brave and good at fighting. But he was an old man in the sect, mature and prudent, and one of the first batch of followers of Taiping Dao. This man was originally a direct descendant of Zhang Jiao, and was later assigned to Zhang Bao to conquer Quyang. In such a short period of time, he was captured by his father-in-law Zuo. Ba was regarded as a dissident and was eradicated.
Once Huang Long died, there would be no veteran generals on the Xiabo front who could calm the three armies.
But what's worse is that in order to strengthen his faction's advantage in Guangzong City, Zuo Beard Zhangba also withdrawn all the troops originally stationed in Linqing to Guangzong.
Linqing is in Qinghe, and it is the bridgehead for the Yellow Turban Army to resist the Han Army from Ganling in Qinghe Kingdom. Withdrawing all the troops in this area, in other words, except for Guangzong, all the passes and important places along the way from Linqing to Guangzong lost their cover, and the defense system completely collapsed.
Perhaps it was Qinghe's long-term inaction that made Zuo Zhangba underestimate the Han army here. But in fact, as soon as he withdrew Linqing's troops, the Han army in Qinghe, which had been dormant for a long time, took action.
When the Qinghe Han army was dispatched this time, it was earth-shattering and as fast as lightning.
The Yellow Turban Army in the front retreated from Linqing, and the Qinghe Han Army in the back fought out from Ganling. Under the leadership of the commander Shen Pei, the Qinghe Han Army marched twenty miles quickly and intercepted the retreating Yellow Turban Army west of Linqing.
After a great battle, 30,000 Yellow Turban troops were beheaded, 4,000 were beheaded, and 20,000 were captured.
It can be said that after the first battle, Shen Pei and his Qinghe State Han army were known to everyone in Hebei.
How did the Han army of Qinghe State become completely different?
It turns out that starting last year, Yecheng was captured by the Taishan Army in a surprise attack. Shen Pei knew that a storm was about to sweep through Heshuo.
Most of his clans in Wei County began to migrate to Qinghe to join him because the wind was blowing in the wrong direction. As more and more aristocratic families came to the west, everyone in Qinghe knew about the Taishan Army's policy.
Dividing fields and analyzing households is simply digging up their roots. Even Emperor Guangwu didn't dare to do this when he conquered the world. Are you worthy of the Taishan Army?
But all knowledgeable people in Qinghe Kingdom know that the soldiers of Qinghe County cannot fight. Let alone fight against the mighty Taishan Army, these people would be in trouble even if they fight against the Yellow Turban Army. Before they even see them, let Ji Sun take the Qingzhou Yellow Turban and penetrate the entire Qinghe Kingdom.
Therefore, Liu Yu, the Prime Minister of Qinghe, had trouble sleeping and eating at that time. He was not only afraid of the future, but also unwilling to accept the fall of the Han Dynasty, and even more angry about the fall of the Yiguan clan. Even in Liu Yu's heart, the last item was more important than the Han Dynasty.
Clothes are civilization, and civilization can only continue as long as aristocratic families like them are around. Even if the world changes its master, it will still be the same world.
At this time, Cui Yan, a distinguished member of the Cui family in Qinghe, a prominent family in the county, recommended Shen Miao.
Cui Yan has a majestic body, handsome appearance, and beautiful beard. He also studied under the great Confucian Zheng Xuan, so he was very popular with Liu Yu, who was good at writing.
Seeing that Cui Yan recommended the trial match, he also called this person in to fight.
Shen Pei immediately offered advice to Liu Yu and proposed the formation of a rural army to protect Sangzi.
He said that when Zhang Bolu, the great pirate, brought trouble to Qingxu, he relied on the method of strengthening walls and clearing the wilderness. He ordered powerful tribes to build strongholds and dredge the country, strictly guard dangerous passes, and secretly capture traitors. Only then can he be destroyed by the imperial army in one fell swoop.
But now if Qinghe wants to withstand the attack from behind by the Taishan Army, he must also learn this trick, even more thoroughly.
Not only must they build strongholds and dredge the rivers, and join forces as forts, but they must also use local money and food to train an army belonging to their Qinghe army.
When Liu Yu heard the news, he was quite disapproving and looked down upon Shen Pei.
Why?
Just because of this so-called compilation of the rural army, protecting Sangzi is the same thing as the imperial edict given by Liu Hong to the powerful people in Henan. But what is the final result? Anyway, the Taishan Army was not wiped out, but the local powerful people rose up.
But the judge's last words convinced him, and he finally said this:
"Every powerful family has its own property. Instead of moving in a hurry, abandoning the fields and houses, and being plundered by thieves. How can we stick to the village, defend our father and brother with our children, and protect the clan and party with our family assets?"
Yes, do these powerful people have any choice now? Instead of giving the thousands of pieces of furniture at home to the Taishan Army, it would be better to use them for military training.
Therefore, Liu Yu, who had no other choice, could only agree to let Shen Pei take charge of the work of organizing and training rural soldiers.
He was very capable in judging and matching, and on the third day after Liu Yu agreed, he issued a very detailed training policy.
There are three main points. One is that the powerful people help pay, and each powerful person builds a stronghold and dredges the country. This one is no different from the previous military training in Henan. However, the second item proposed by Shenpei was very different from that in Henan. That is, Shenpei proposed that in addition to the rural soldiers scattered in various places, a direct regiment training similar to a standing one should be organized.
This regiment training is directly under the jurisdiction of the county. From the rural soldiers who have been trained in each county, strong and simple men are selected to join the army. This new army will also be an important force for the Qinghe Kingdom to resist the Yellow Turban Army and the Taishan Army.
In terms of specific military training, Shen Pei decided to follow the elite troop policy of the Taishan Army and the Northern and Southern Han Army. That is to say, we seek the essence, not the quantity, but seek effectiveness, not quick results. In half a year or a year, we will conscientiously compile an elite force that is well-trained, well-equipped, and with strict discipline.
In order to improve the cohesion of the army, Shenpei directly used the powerful children as military officials, hoping to consolidate the organizational strength of the army with the blood and family ties of brothers, fathers, sons, uncles and nephews.
After that, Liu Yu accepted the strategy and recruited thousands of brave warriors from all over Qinghe to Ganling to participate in the training of the new army. At that time, among the thousands of new troops, three generals stood out, namely Jiao Chu, Zhao Rui, and Jiang Yiqu. In addition to these three generals, there were also thousands of people who had been trained before and were assigned to the Xiajin Order. They were also the three generals of the third battalion. , respectively Shen Rong, Zhang Qi, Xu Xun.
After that, Shenpei focused on these six battalions and six generals and two thousand people, and stepped up training.
In order to obtain financial and food support from Qinghe's powerful people, Shenpei even asked Cui Yan to serve as an intermediary to coordinate and contact powerful people from all over the country.
With the coordination of Cui Yan, who was from a prominent family in the county, and the external threats of the Yellow Turbans and Taishan Army in Hebei, the powerful powerful men began to transport money and grain to Ganling.
After someone had food, the Shenpai began to practice carefully, and often went to suppress rebellions and suppress local bandits. These thieves may be the previously dispersed Yellow Turban Army, Han Army, or landless refugees. There is only one way to judge these thieves, and that is to kill them all. He said that the Yellow Turbans caused chaos because they tolerated and tolerated these people who deserved to be killed twenty years ago. If these bandit gangs were eradicated as soon as possible, how could we be here today?
Therefore, Shen Pei led his troops to defeat the bandits and killed them without mercy.
The ruthlessness and decisiveness shown by Shen Pei in the process of suppressing the bandits also won the recognition of Qinghe's powerful men, who all believed that he could defend his land and settle down.
Therefore, they strongly support trial matching.
Although Liu Yu, the supervisor of the trial matchmaker, was very dissatisfied with the trial partner's easy killing, under the current general trend, he still turned a blind eye.
With the strong support of the local powerful, the new army in Shenpei's hands expanded rapidly. There were already ten battalions of infantry and three battalions of cavalry, totaling 6,500 actual troops. Each large battalion of 500 people is given the title of chief general.
At this point, the new Qinghe Army was formed.
Originally, as soon as the new army was formed, Shen Pei wanted to lead troops out of Qinghe to attack the Yellow Turbans first. But with the news of the war between the two capitals, the powerful people knew that the imperial court would not care about the life and death of Hebei for a long time. In this case, how could they dare to let Shen Pei go out to fight?
Several times, they all asked Shen Pei to only guard his own county and only need to block the Yellow Turban Army.
The powerful men controlled the money and food of Shenpei's new army. Even though Shenpei wanted to suppress the thieves, he had no choice but to keep his troops in Ganling.
This stay lasted until May of this year, when Zuo Zhuzhangba killed Zhang Bao.
When news of Zuo Yanzhang's Eighth Army rebellion reached Shenpei's ears, he immediately realized that this was an opportunity for Qinghe's new army to emerge from the abyss.
He said to Liu Yu:
"You are a mediocre man with a left beard. He usurps power by chance and will not last long. I am willing to lead the Qinghe New Army out of the border and eradicate Guangping."
Liu Yu asked back at that time:
"Wouldn't it be bad if thieves and bandits of that generation kill each other? Why should we let the new army take risks?"
Shen Pei took a deep breath and tried his best to persuade:
"If there is only one Yellow Turban thief in Hebei, it is natural for the thieves to cause chaos. But next to the Yellow Turbans in Hebei is the Taishan Army. Once the Yellow Turbans are in civil strife, they will definitely lead the Taishan Army to march eastward. The Taishan Army is already a strong army. If The Yellow Turban manpower and material resources from Hebei are getting more and more. How can we, Qinghe, refuse?”
Liu Yu was silent now. He knew what Shen Pei said was right.
In this world of great contention, if you don’t fight, the gap between you and your enemies will become wider and wider. By then, even your so-called resistance will be a joke.
With Liu Yu's consent, Shen Pei finally began to let go of his hands and feet, preparing to target the Yellow Turban Army in chaos. Then there was the result that he led 6,500 new troops to attack for twenty miles and defeated the Linqing Yellow Turban.
In this battle, only 6,500 people were able to annihilate 30,000 Hebei Yellow Turbans. It can be said that the Qinghe New Army tested their training results on the battlefield.
Now Liu Yu had nothing to say and began to let Shen Pei take action.
Because of Zuo Zhuzhangba's recklessness, the defense line south of Guangzong completely collapsed, allowing Shen Pei to lead 6,500 people to fight all the way to Guangzong's city.
Zuo Beard Zhang never expected that the first to attack Guangzong City was not the Taishan Army from the west, but the Qinghe Han Army that he had always looked down upon.
Since then, Guangzong suffered a third siege. The first two times were the main force of the Han army, but this time it was the local county soldiers. The dramatic change of situation is nothing more than this.
After the Shenpei army arrived at Guangzong, they found that Guangzong's defense line was very tight, and he saw reinforcements from the Yellow Turban Army coming from the east and north from time to time.
What worries the judge even more is that according to careful sentinel inspection, the Taishan Army has also gone into battle, and is now blocked to the west of Zhang River by the Yellow Turban Army.
After repeated deliberation, the Shenpei decided to withdraw troops from Guangzong City and stationed them at the boundary bridge south of Guangzong. Obviously, we have prepared clear water as a line of defense.
Although Shenpei retreated, he did not let go of Guangzong's Yellow Turban Army.
He ordered his younger brother Shen Rong to personally lead three battalions of cavalry to continuously loot the cities and supplies near Guangzong, causing resentment in Guangzong's city.
Zuo Zhangba was also frightened.
It's not that he was afraid of the Han army outside. In terms of strength, the enemy's soldiers were less than 10,000, but how many Yellow Turbans were in the city?
It turns out that during the Yellow Turban Uprising in Hebei, there were 300,000 followers at its peak. Later, after several wars, especially after the Wei Shou split and fled, the military strength once dropped to the current 160,000.
Of these 160,000, about 20,000 were stationed in Quzhou to resist the Taishan Army, and 20,000 were stationed in Xiabo in the north to resist the Han army alliance in Anping and Hejian. There are still 30,000 troops deployed on the southern front line, but they have been annihilated by rationing. Finally, to the east, ten thousand people were stationed in Tobu City.
The remaining 80,000 were guarded inside and outside Guangzong. So many soldiers gathered in Guangzong, it can be said that everywhere you look you can see soldiers with yellow turbans.
But none of these young commanders with troops in their hands were willing to take the initiative to leave the city or the stronghold to fight in the field. It can be seen how low morale has been at this time.
On the other hand, Zuo Beard Zhangba also knew that he was unpopular and did not dare to send his troops out of the city. He was deeply afraid that once he was released, he would no longer be able to control himself.
But seeing the Han army constantly raiding nearby supplies, Zuo Zhaozhangba could not ignore it.
Guangzong of Anping State is located in the middle of the Hebei Plain and is densely populated. Later, after the Hebei Yellow Turbans moved the main Taoist temple to Guangzong, all the Taoist family members gathered in Guangzong. At one time, there were more than 100,000 people. Together with the current Yellow Turban Army of more than 80,000, the entire Guangzong has approximately 180,000 people.
What is the concept of these 180,000 people? At this time, the population of Luoyang city was only about 200,000, which still required the world to provide grain and millet.
Therefore, when a large number of Yellow Turbans huddled behind Guangzong, the amount of food and fodder consumed was simply countless. It turned out that the grain and millet seized by the Yellow Turban Army from looting prefectures and counties across Hebei were transported to Guangzong for storage, so there was enough for these people to eat.
But as the power of the Yellow Turbans in Hebei became smaller and smaller, the food supplies began to be stretched. But now the Han army has begun to roam all over the place, constantly harassing the remaining supply routes, and the shortage in the city is inevitable.
So Zuo Beard Zhangba knew that he could not wait any longer and decided to lead the main force out of the city to annihilate the hateful Qinghe Han army.
As a fighting general, Zuo Beard Zhangba would act vigorously and resolutely once he decided to go into battle.
The sound of war drums emitted from the city continued all night long, penetrating through the clear water outside the city, passing through the boundary bridge on the clear water, and reaching the boundary bridge camp of the New Han Army in Qinghe.
Everyone knew that the thieves were really coming.
(End of chapter)