Lord of the House

Vol 10 Chapter 117: 2 difficult to advance and retreat

Su Tingzhan rode his horse and twirled on the frozen ground on the northwest bank of Moling Lake. His iron hoofs stepped on the unmelted ice, making a clattering sound. In the white afternoon sun, the Qiaolou in the southeast corner of Jiangning City was shining brightly. .

The more than 10,000 soldiers and horses that followed him hurriedly traveled for hundreds of miles, but they were not tired from stepping off immediately, on the contrary, their fighting spirit was very high.

Seize the cities of Xuanzhou, Lishui, etc., and slaughter and loot the troops, and release the tyranny of the soldiers, but there are only a thousand households in Lishui, Xuanzhou and other cities. There are only a hundred or ten people in a city with beautiful girls and young daughters-in-law, and they are not enough for generals to play with. Ordinary generals naturally have no hope.

Jiangning is like a large piece of fat and oily beauty/meat lying in front of you, more than a million mouths, endless wealth to plunder, countless beauties to play with, not to mention running a hundred miles a day, Running for ten days in a row, the strength is also sufficient.

And the newly-arrived prisoners and soldiers in the imperial camp were filled with tyranny even more.

The early Jiangning garrison generals, even after the collapse of the military household system, were mostly recruited from local children.

During Li Zhuo's period, considering that Jiangnan's children were born with ease, it was difficult for them to have the courage to kill the enemy. When he increased his troops twice, he recruited brave soldiers from the refugees in Haosi on the north bank of Chaotian Dangdang. On the one hand, it was also to reduce the pressure of a large number of refugees on Jiangning.

However, after Li Zhuo left Jiangning, Cheng Yuqian did not do a good job of sorting out the families of the soldiers from the displaced households. After the Haosi area was a little quieter, they were expelled back to their original places.

King Ning went to the vassal in the south, and the guard camp with him were all the children of the northern land. When the guard camp was expanded, the generals and soldiers also chose more northern displaced households; still this problem has not been solved.

The Royal Battalion Army was formed on the basis of the Ningwang Guards and the Jiangning Guards. These factors made the origin of the soldiers of the Royal Battalion complicated. Due to the serious merger of land in Jiangning Prefecture and the exceptionally strong local forces, neither Li Zhuo, Gu Wuchen, nor Chen Xiyan of the later period could achieve the military reform of restricting military households by fields and soldiers by military households.

During the chaos in Jiangning, some generals with small families in the city may still have the heart to defend the soil and keep more than 2,000 people. Almost a thousand people gathered together, but the majority of the soldiers without roots accounted for them, and almost all of them became unscrupulous soldiers and violent soldiers.

Xie Chaozhong led the troops of the Royal Camp to the south, mostly for the direct line he gathered during the Ningwang Weiying period, especially the group of military attachés who were promoted by the old guards of the Weiying. They surrendered to the Zhejiang and Fujian troops to slaughter in the south of the Yangtze River, which is even more crazy.

It is said that the troops will be surrendered, and the military officers will slaughter with them. Even if a few ordinary soldiers can't bear it, how can they come out of the mud and not be stained?

Shewenzhuang incorporated the soldiers of the imperial army into the right flank, and then slaughtered them to block the retreat of these soldiers, at least so far, it was successful. Otherwise, the right wing would definitely gather 30,000 soldiers and horses, and after the small-scale slaughter in Lishui and other cities, the right wing soldiers and horses had a high fighting spirit to enter Jiangning.

When Su Tingzhan led his troops to arrive, there were still a small number of soldiers in the Huaidong Army operating outside the imperial city.

Su Tingzhan dispatched several small groups of soldiers and horses, mainly descending soldiers, to expel them. Intimidated and stimulated by the slaughter, the soldiers of the Imperial Camp Army were not afraid of fighting at all, and even forced all the Jia soldiers scattered outside the Huaidong Army into the army. In the imperial city, small-scale battles between streets and lanes are hard to take advantage of.

This situation also made Su Tingzhan feel more confident.

"Huidong's dark soldiers deployed on Jinchuan Prison Island landed at sunrise. Nearly 3,000 people, all wearing strong armor, all bows, swords and spears, joined the imperial battalion army and the remaining government army, and they were rushed by the general. Before I came, I was protecting my family and retreating to the imperial city, and there were more than 6,000 troops in total." The leader of Jiangning's dark pile stood in front of Su Tingzhan and reported the details of Jiangning city. Han Bin and Chen Ruyi both sailed westward with Wang Xueshan. The leader of the dark pile is a middle-aged man with an unremarkable appearance. He runs a bicycle shop in Jiangning for his business. "The humble officer leads only more than 800 soldiers in ambush in the city, and he is scattered in various places to disrupt the situation in Jiangning. He cannot stop it, please ask the general. Guilty!"

"You've done a good job, you still go into the city, make good use of your subordinates, and monitor the situation in the city..." Su Tingzhan said.

The previous hidden piles and the ambush soldiers who poured into Jiangning City with the displaced people were mainly used to disrupt the situation in Jiangning City and ensure that Jiangning City could not organize an effective defense before most of the Zhejiang and Fujian troops arrived.

Since the 3,000 dark soldiers deployed by Huaidong on Prison Island came out, it was impossible for these ambush soldiers to solve the problem.

"Doesn't the general lead his troops into the city?" asked the leader of the dark pile in surprise.

"Then you have to wait for the second son to come," Su Tingzhan responded, and then ordered, "You send someone to contact those rebels in the city. If you are willing to surrender, you must go out of the city to accept the reorganization before tonight, and you will have them in the future. Opportunity to indulge. After tomorrow, I will send troops in and out to suppress and kill Wushe!" After ordering these, he let him go down.

Huaidong's dark army united with the unscattered imperial battalion army, which still had 6,000 or 7,000 troops, and retreated to the imperial city.

At the moment, Su Tingzhan can call only 14,000 troops outside Jiangning City. If he divides his troops to control the four cities and various key points in the city, it will undoubtedly give the Huaidong Army in the imperial city a chance to defeat them. Moreover, he had too few troops at this time. If he had to use them all to surround the imperial city, how could he be sure that Huaidong would no longer have ambulances on the prison island?

If his 14,000 people suffered a big defeat in the first battle, then they would have to avoid Jiangning and leave.

Don't look at the successive victories of the Zhejiang and Fujian troops, but fundamentally they have not escaped the danger.

Su Tingzhan is a veteran of the Zhejiang-Fujian army. How could he rush into the city before the enemy's situation is known?

In addition, Huaidong troops and horses occupy the imperial city. To control the outer city and then besiege the imperial city, the unrest in the city must be suppressed, so that the offensive can be organized in an orderly manner. This also requires a large number of troops and horses. Not that he can do it right away.

In addition to those who fled the city, it is estimated that there are nearly 10,000 imperial troops and Jiangning government troops in the city. Although these troops are scattered, they have soldiers and armors. Although I know if there are soldiers in Huaidong mixed in? If they were besieging the imperial city, and suddenly one or two hundred Huaidong soldiers came out from behind, it would be a big joke.

Su Tingzhan ordered his troops to bypass Nancheng, occupy Donghuamen and Dongshuimen first, and separate the imperial city from the prison island.

Su Ting led the main force of troops and horses, and then all moved to the camp outside Donghua Gate. The other seven gates only dispatched a total of more than a thousand people to garrison; the main reason was that Donghua Gate was the closest to the imperial city, and was about to attack the imperial city. Concentrate the main force of troops and horses near Donghuamen.

On the imperial city side, Su Tingzhan ignored it for the time being, and had to wait for Luo Wenhu to lead his troops, and Tian Chang, She Feihu, Yu Wenfei to lead the main troops from the middle route, and then they would have enough troops to control such a large city. .

Outside Donghua Gate, a thousand hectares of fertile land, looking at the horizon, the dense building complex in Hekou Town stands within sight. The left and right farmers and Hekou Town also fled, and only three or five people closed their doors and watched the soldiers and horses outside in trembling.

****************

Standing behind the guard wall, Sun Wenbing and Lin Xulu saw the front of the Zhejiang-Fujian Army marching towards Dongcheng, and they sweated in their hearts.

Gao Zongting first wanted to protect the imperial city, and the elite soldiers and military guards from Jiyun Society were all transferred to the imperial city, leaving only a thousand people to defend the prison island. As long as the enemy army is determined to attack the prison island, they can only abandon the island and flee.

It's not that Su Tingzhan didn't want to take prison island first.

The right-wing soldiers and horses forcibly recruited civilian ships near the Rouge River and captured the Jiangning Navy warships, barely forming a navy force of 4,000 people. Just as the Huaidong reinforcements came from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the Zhejiang-Fujian Army's right-wing navy had to come from the upper reaches of the Rouge River, which was shallow in winter, much slower than the land route, and they would not be able to reach Jiangning until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.

Although Prison Island was only five or six hundred steps away from the river bank, Su Tingzhan had no navy in his hands and could not recruit enough ships temporarily. On the other prison island, I can only look at the island and sigh, and there is nothing I can do.

They even had to scuttle the two fishing boats they had finally collected at the mouth of the Jinchuan River. Since there was no condition to attack the island by force, Su Tingzhan had to prepare for the Huaidong Army to use the island as a base and use warships to pass through various estuaries to the hinterland of Jiangning. interspersed.

Since Su Tingzhan led his troops to gain a firm foothold at Donghuamen, after She Feihu got the letter, he and Yu Wenshan sped up their camp from Jinshan, and 10,000 troops rushed into Jiangning at night. Luo Wenhu also led his troops to come from Lishui, which made the Zhejiang and Fujian troops in Jiangning suddenly increase to more than 34,000 troops.

Compared with the swiftness of the Zhejiang and Fujian troops, the Huaidong side was slightly slower.

This season, the northwesterly wind is strong, and it is the headwind against the Huaidong Water Camp, which is coming upstream, but before nightfall, Lin Zonghai personally led more than 2,000 soldiers from the vanguard of the Dongyang Prefecture Army to cross into Chaotiandang and stationed in Prison Island. .

A little later, Shewenzhuang, who had been sitting in the town of Guangde and commanding various troops in the center, was surrounded by cavalry and drove nearly three hundred miles a day and night to Jiangning to supervise the battle in person.

Under the cold moon, Shewenzhuang wore a plain cotton robe, her cheeks were sunken, her eyes were puffy and haggard.

Although the Zhejiang and Fujian troops have won one after another, Shewenzhuang's life is not easy, and his heart is also more and more tormented.

The big tent is located on the tower of Donghua Gate. Through the sentry on the inside, you can clearly observe the imperial city under the cold moon.

Huaidong's armored soldiers were already standing on the head of the imperial city, their swords and spears reflected the light of the cold moon, and the cold wind whistled in the sky above Jiangning City, coming through the post, as if a ghost was crying and a wolf howling.

"The four cities and nine gates are already under control, and we can send troops to expel the chaotic troops at dawn," She Feihu said, "Feihu is willing to lead the elites to guard the inside of Donghua Gate. Kill it!"

"Let's talk about it, give you 20,000 troops, how soon can you take down the imperial city?" Shewenzhuang asked, looking at the generals around him.

Su Tingzhan, Tian Chang, Yu Wenshan, Fang Zhenhe, Luo Wenhu, etc. were all silent and did not speak. Su Tingzhan, Tian Chang, Yu Wenshan were all veterans from Zhejiang and Fujian. If they were to fight slowly, they could always capture the imperial city. The only people in the city who can be called elites are the three thousand top soldiers in Huaidong, but no one can say how fast they can go.

In addition, there is also a palace city in the imperial city, which means that as long as the soldiers inside do not surrender, even if the city wall is captured, it will still have to fight **** every step of the way.

Even She Feihu couldn't easily answer this from Shewenzhuang.

"Is ten days enough?" Shewenzhuang, who has always been calm and calm, asked impatiently.

Huaidong's troops on the northern front were limited, and Yue Lengqiu was slippery again. She Wenzhuang was most worried about the main force of the Huaidong Army, who had entered Hangzhou and was led by Lin Bing.

The 60,000 troops of the Huaidong Army led by Lin Fuqin left the last five hundred miles away from Jiangning.

Zheng Mingjing led 20,000 elites from the left wing to retreat to Liyang. Although it blocked the opening of the main force of the Huaidong Army to go north to Jiangning, Liyang City was not really dangerous, otherwise the Hanghu Army would not collapse after ten days.

Lin Fu could even stay behind 30,000 soldiers and horses to monitor Zheng Mingjing's department, and lead the remaining 30,000 elites to bypass Liyang and continue northward. As long as they reach Jiangning's troops and join forces on the northern front, the Huaidong Army will be in the periphery of Jiangning. Troops and horses will also reach 60,000. In addition, the Jiangzhou Army was approaching from the right flank, and the Zhejiang and Fujian Army was still at an absolute disadvantage in Jiangning and its strength.

If the Imperial City can be taken down before the main force of the Huaidong Army arrives, and Jiangning City can be completely controlled, the battle will naturally continue.

If Lin Bie led the main force of the Huaidong Army to arrive, but the imperial city failed to capture, the Zhejiang and Fujian troops were forced to retreat to the outer city to defend, the situation would be dangerous——

"Huaidong guards the Imperial City but not Donghua Gate, is that bait?" Fang Zhenhe suddenly woke up at this moment.

"Yeah!" Luo Wenhu reminded Fang Zhenhe, patted his thigh and said.

Yu Wenshan's eyes also lit up. He wanted to say something, but when he saw that the governor, the second son, Tian Chang, and Su Tingzhan were all looking as usual, he realized that they had seen this long ago, but he, Fang Zhenhe and Luo Wenhu were at this time. just saw it.

The Huaidong Army guarded Donghua Gate, which was less than ten miles away from the prison island in a straight line, and there was no dangerous terrain in the middle for the Zhejiang and Fujian troops to insert. As long as the Huaidong Army's reinforcements from the Yangtze River and the Dongyang Prefecture Army entered the prison island, they would be forced to retreat from Jiangning. However, as long as the main force of the Huaidong Army did not come, it would be easy for them to withdraw from Jiangning.

The Huaidong Army defended the imperial city, so that they could see that even if the imperial city could not be conquered, the 60,000 troops could barely defend the outer city. Although the situation was dangerous, it was not that there was no chance of victory. This was to tempt them to stay for a decisive battle. !

Will this bait be swallowed, or will it just turn around and evacuate from Jiangning? If he turned his head and left and ran to Jiangning City after all the hard work, how would he explain to the generals below? Are you afraid of the Huaidong Army? After that, do you want to fight the Huaidong Army?

What a poisonous bait!

Fang Zhenhe also realized his slowness and smiled awkwardly.

Su Tingzhan asked Shewenzhuang directly: "What if the left wing withdraws now?"

If Zheng Mingjing withdraws now, he will definitely be able to rush to Jiangning before the main force of the Huaidong Army. Then they will have enough troops to attack the imperial city calmly while defending the periphery.

Tian Chang said: "If the left wing withdraws, even if we can go to the imperial city, the Huaidong Army and Jiangzhou Army can calmly block the roads around Jiangning!"

"Jiangning City alone will last for half a year," Su Tingzhan said. "In half a year, the eldest son will definitely go to Jiangzhou and lead troops to help!"

She Feihu still had 40,000 elite soldiers in Jiangxi, and they were also the last elite of the She family. Yang Xiong still had 20,000 navy troops attached. As long as there was enough time, the strength of the Zhejiang and Fujian troops that could gather in the periphery of Jiangning would not be less than the Huaidong Army and Jiangzhou Army, not to mention that they still occupy Jiangning City.

"Within half a year, Beiyan must also make moves," Yu Wenshan said, "No matter how timid Luo Xiancheng is, he should be able to see the situation clearly!"

"What if Huaidong gave up on Xuzhou?" Tian Chang asked rhetorically.

Lin Fu has always implemented the strategy of guarding Huai and must guard Xu Si, and operating a defense line in Xu Si, including two elites of Huaiyang Army and Fengli Army, half of Jinghai's third water battalion, warships and a large number of soldiers, all deployed. On the Xu Si line of defense.

But ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ Once Huaidong abandons Huaidong's outer defense line and temporarily retreats to the banks of the Huaihe River, a Huaihe River can replace 20,000 to 30,000 elite soldiers in a short period of time, which means that Huaidong can take the Huaiyang Army Or one of the Fengli Camp was dispatched to the south to fight.

Going south from Shanyang to Jiangning is closer and faster than going westward from Chongzhou, which will offset the possible forces brought by the flying tiger.

Even if half a year is enough for Beiyan to act, it is impossible to predict exactly what the situation will be, and everything is still a gamble.

Luo Xiancheng's Changle Army claimed to have twenty soldiers and horses, but the Changle Army was not as good as Liu An'er Huangjue Army's heyday, and he could not expect too much, nor could Yang Xiong's Dongting Lake bandit be able to compete with Huaidong Water Camp on the Yangtze River.

"The left wing does not retreat to defend Liyang, but advances to the southwestern foot of Xiling. How long can it intercept the main force of the Huaidong Army?" She Feihu asked with gritted teeth.

Su Tingzhan, Tian Chang and others were all shocked.

Zheng Mingjing led his troops to retreat to Liyang City. The main force of the Huaidong Army could not be delayed for too long, but they had an advantage in military strength, and most of them would choose to divide their troops to bypass Liyang. Once Zheng Mingjing was asked to take the initiative to attack and use the low-ridge terrain in the south of Liyang to intercept the Huaidong Army, there would only be two results: first, after enough time to intercept, retreat into Xiling or Fuyu Mountain in the south, or give Huaidong to Huaidong. The main force of the army was surrounded and annihilated.

The 20,000 soldiers and horses on the left wing led by Zheng Mingjing were all soldiers of the Eight Fujian Wars. They were gambling with the soldiers and horses on the left wing, just to buy a few more days to fight the imperial city here. Just leave, retreat to Yangjiang and Xuanzhou, and gradually reduce the force to Huizhou.

Su Tingzhan, Tian Chang and others all looked at Shewenzhuang together, and saw that the Governor was holding his slightly swollen eyes, silent, and their hearts were raised in their throats, worried that the Governor would also take a gamble. . My QT room is open! More vulgar official QT room number [9167] Click to enter

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