Final Volume Chapter 99
The rest time was not long, and a spy came from behind to report that the Zhen army had already chased them. Chen Lihua's face suddenly changed. She dared not delay any more time, and hurriedly ordered the whole army to continue on their way.
When they passed Wan'an Valley, it was already dark. Seeing that the Sichuan army was going to pass through the valley directly, Tang Yin shook his head again.
He had a good impression of Chai Song, and deliberately pointed him out: "General Chai, Wan'an Valley is a rare and dangerous place. As long as a small group of soldiers occupy the peaks on both sides, even if the enemy has thousands of troops, it will be difficult to pass through Wan'an Valley."
His implication was straightforward enough, reminding Chai Song that he should quickly separate a part of his troops to act as death soldiers and occupy the peaks on both sides of Wan'an Valley. Even if he could not kill many Zhen troops, he could at least delay the speed of the Zhen army chasing them.
But Chai Song obviously did not understand the implication of his words, and instead laughed at the Zhen people for not considering it carefully.
He nodded, snorted coldly, and said, "Yes, although the rebels used a trick to defeat our army this time, they did not consider that our army would retreat from Wan'an Valley. If the Zhen army could set up an ambush here in advance, our army would really be wiped out."
Tang Yin couldn't help rolling his eyes. The Zhen people didn't think of it, so why can't you think of it now? He sighed lightly and said no more.
To make a long story short, Tang Yin and others followed the Sichuan Army and traveled all night, and finally arrived in Jinsha City in the early morning of the next day. Chai Song wanted to invite Tang Yin to go with him, but he was politely rejected. Before the Sichuan Army escaped from Jinsha City, Tang Yin had already left with Qingyu, Cheng Jin and others.
No one talked along the way. Soon, Tang Yin and his party returned to Shangjing.
After Tang Yin returned to Shangjing, the Tenth Corps under the command of Tang Yin also arrived in Zhenxi. After that, the Zhen Army reorganized its forces, gathered the garrisons from all over the country, and soon formed an army with a strength of up to 250,000.
In just over a month, the rebel forces led by Li Shu became famous, and the people of Zhenxi came to surrender one after another. Their strength grew rapidly, and their military strength expanded from the original 70,000 to more than 100,000.
In addition, due to the secret assistance of Feng State, the Zhen Army had sufficient money and food, and complete armaments. In addition, Yin Li managed the army well, which made the current Zhen Army feel reborn and brand new, and it was incomparable with the previous rebel army.
Under the command of Lu You, the Sichuan Army fought three large-scale battles with the Zhen Army in Zhenxi. Although the Sichuan Army did not lose in these three battles, it did not gain an advantage. The Sichuan Army and the Zhen Army began to enter a short stalemate in Zhenxi.
The army's own army was not doing well in Zhenxi, and it was delayed in suppressing the rebellion. Instead, the rebels became more and more powerful, and the Sichuan court was also quite troubled. In desperation, Xiao Xiang sent Yang Zhao to lead the third and fourth legions to Zhenxi to form a pincer attack on the rebels with Lu You.
The third and fourth corps commanded by Yang Zhao can be regarded as the core corps of the Sichuan Army, and their combat power is among the best in the entire Sichuan Army. At this moment, Xiao Xiang sent Yang Zhao out, which shows that she is really anxious now, and she is very dissatisfied with Lu You who is fighting in the front.
Yang Zhao and Lu You, two famous generals of Sichuan, joined forces to suppress the rebels. The total force under their command exceeded 400,000. They thought it was a sure battle, but they suffered a setback in the first battle with the Sichuan Army.
At present, the rebel forces are still compressed in Bainan County in Zhenxi. After Yang Zhao led his army to Zhenxi, he immediately launched a joint operation with Lu You's part, attacking Bainan County in a two-pronged approach.
The more than 400,000 Sichuan troops came fiercely, and when they first entered Bainan County, they were unstoppable. The main force of the Zhen Army did not dare to resist its edge, and could only retreat again and again. In the end, the main force of the Zhen Army retreated to Baiyang County.
Li Shu led the Zhen army to retreat to Jinsha City, but Yin Li, the commander of the Zhen army, "ran away". He did not flee from the battlefield, but felt that with the current strength of the Zhen army, it could not resist so many Sichuan troops anyway, and the only way to win was to seek help from outside.
But now the only country that can help them is Chiyue, which borders Zhendi.
Yin Li decided to go to Chiyue for rescue in person. Before leaving, he also specifically told Li Shu that he would go all out on this trip, and he might be able to bring Chiyue's reinforcements back in one month at the latest and half a month at the earliest.
Li Shu believed Yin Li's words and patted his chest to guarantee that he would lead the Zhen army to defend Jinsha City for a month without any problem.
Of course, there was a reason why Li Shu was so confident. First of all, Jinsha City is the place where the Zhen army stored food and grass. There was nothing else in the city, but there was plenty of food and grass, enough for more than 100,000 Zhen army to use for a month. Secondly, Jinsha City was a big city with strong defense, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Another very important point was that the Zhen army had seized a lot of large equipment when fighting with the Sichuan army before, which could be used for city defense, making it easier to defend.
After Yin Li left, the Zhen army led by Li Shu began a long wait in Jinsha City. Li Shu was looking forward to the stars and the moon, hoping that Chiyue's reinforcements would come. As a result, Chiyue's reinforcements did not arrive, but the Sichuan army led by Lu You arrived first.
After Lu You led his army to Jinsha City, he did not rest for a long time, but ordered all the soldiers to launch a full-scale attack on Jinsha City, and the bloody battle of Jinsha began.
At this time, the attacking Sichuan Army had 250,000 troops, and the defending Zhen Army had more than 100,000 troops. The difference in strength between the two sides was not that great. After the battle started in full swing, the Zhen Army defending the city was relatively relaxed.
The Sichuan Army's fierce attack lasted for three days and nights. After three days of fighting, the defense of Jinsha City was still strong and could not be broken by the Sichuan Army. After a long siege and heavy casualties, Lü You had no choice but to order a suspension of the siege.
Seeing that the aggressive Sichuan Army was finally repelled by their side, the morale of the Zhen Army was greatly encouraged, the crowd was excited, and the morale reached its peak.
In order to celebrate their own victory in repelling the Sichuan Army's strong attack, Li Shu also specially held a celebration banquet in the city to reward the soldiers who showed bravery in the battle to defend the city.
But the good times did not last long. Two days later, the Third and Fourth Corps of the Sichuan State, led by Yang Zhao, also arrived in Jinsha City and joined Lü You's army.
Knowing that the main force of the rebels was in Jinsha City, and the leader of the rebels, Li Shu, was also among them, Yang Zhao was overjoyed. He immediately summoned troops from all over Zhendi and set tasks for the county heads in various places. Whether it was to use local troops to make up the numbers or to force the people of Zhendi to serve as able-bodied men, in short, the troops must be transported within the date he specified. If the task could be completed on time, he would report to the court for reward. If the task could not be completed on time, he would be dismissed from office and thrown into prison for punishment.
Yang Zhao was much tougher than Lu You. He acted vigorously and decisively, and his tactics were cold and decisive.
In theory, no matter how high his military rank was, he belonged to the military after all and could not control the local officials. However, he believed that the generals could not obey the orders of the emperor when they were away from home. He could temporarily exercise the power of the court and force the local officials to provide him with convenience.
Officials from all over the country dared not disobey Yang Zhao's order. The heads of all counties gathered all the local troops in the county. If the number of people was not enough, they would take prisoners from the prison to make up the number. If it was still not enough, they would use slaves and labor. If it was still not enough, they could only follow Yang Zhao's instructions and capture the people of Zhen as soldiers.
In just one month, Yang Zhao squeezed out 200,000 troops from the officials of the counties of Zhendi and mobilized them all to Jinsha City in Baiyang County. At this time, the Sichuan Army outside Jinsha City was no longer 400,000, but expanded to more than 600,000. So many soldiers surrounded Jinsha City with three layers inside and three layers outside, and it was impassable. Not to mention that people could not get out, even a mouse could not get out.
Of course, the "local troops" that Yang Zhao later recruited were too watery. There were not many real soldiers among them. Most of them were prisoners, slaves, and Zhen people. They were forcibly captured and naturally resented the Sichuan people from the bottom of their hearts. It was impossible for them to sincerely help the Sichuan people to fight the rebels. However, this was already within Yang Zhao's expectations. He did not expect these people to play a big role. As long as they filled the numbers and strengthened the momentum, and served as cannon fodder during the siege, they would have completed their mission.
After gathering more than 600,000 troops, Yang Zhao immediately ordered the entire army to attack and besiege Jinsha City from all sides. The offensive of the Sichuan Army now is a world apart from that of Lu You at that time. At that time, there were only 200,000 people attacking, and now the number has tripled. Standing on the top of the city and looking out, you can hardly see the ground. Wherever you look, it is all Sichuan Army, black and dense, like ants. Just looking at the overwhelming battle formation shown by the Sichuan Army, they have already won 60% to 70%.
When the attack was launched, the central army of the Sichuan Army did not move forward at all. The local army was in the front, while the central army stayed behind to hold the line. The archers were in the front. Their arrows were shot at Jinsha City and the local army that fled back.
Under Yang Zhao's planning and command, the Sichuan Army launched a full-scale attack on Jinsha City with zero casualties in this core combat force.
He did not expect the local army to break through the defense of Jinsha City. As long as the rebels' manpower and combat power could be consumed, no matter how many local soldiers were killed or injured, it was worth it.
On the surface, Yang Zhao's tactics were both clever and vicious. He used the Zhen people to fight the Zhen people. No matter how many casualties on both sides, it seemed to have nothing to do with them, the Sichuan people. In fact, his tactics were just drinking poison to quench thirst. The resentment of the Zhen people against the Sichuan people was deep enough. Now he used this method to make the Zhen people kill each other, which would only make the resentment of the Zhen people against the Sichuan people reach the limit.
On the battlefield, the most pitiful ones were the "local troops" who were forcibly recruited. If they retreated, they would be shot by the central army of Sichuan State. If they advanced, they would have to fight against their compatriots who were defending Jinsha City. It was a dilemma. However, the battlefield did not give them time to hesitate. The arrows flying from the front and back made them fall to the ground in groups. (To be continued)