Chapter 839 Battle of Liaodong

When Zhen Sheng first arrived in Liaodong, snow had just fallen in Liaodong, and it was a cold day when the food arrived. Now that Zhen Sheng comes again, although the wind is still biting and the Liao land is still frozen, the footsteps of spring have arrived, and the glaciers are moving under the sun. It glowed with silver under the sunlight, and the thawed water gurgled.

The general is still holding his long hair casually, but today he has a white jade hairpin. Wearing a tiger skin coat and deerskin warm boots, he stands to the west of the Daliao River with his hands behind his back. The wind blew his hair and his tiger fur coat rustled. The general put his hands together in his broad sleeves and looked at the mixture of ice and water in the river, feeling the splendor of the late winter in the North.

In fact, the Northern Kingdom at this time was far from being a prosperous place. Even though the general brought vitality across the ages, this place can still be described as 'desolate' and 'primitive'. But the natural wilderness is still beautiful.

Looking at the city across the river, the general said: "Send the order, the Weiwei Guards will assemble their troops immediately and cross the river to attack Fangxian County."

As soon as he finished speaking, the guards behind him mounted their horses and galloped to the Mighty Guard station to deliver the order.

"Liao Hua."

"The general is here." From behind, Liao Hua, who looked much rougher, responded.

Of course, the former Liao Hua could not be said to have red lips and white teeth, but he could still look good. But now, after leading the army and fighting behind enemy lines for a whole winter, four thousand troops and horses were reduced to two thousand and five. Liao Hua became stronger and uglier. His face was covered with frostbite, and he looked unremarkable. He was only two years younger than Wang Yan, but he was as rough as an old man.

The results of the battle were good. Wuhuan's rear was disturbed, and several captains from Liaodong were also attacked to varying degrees.

After leading the team back, the general organized and trained the rest of the troops into the Xiaoqi Battalion, and Liao Hua was appointed the Xiaoqi Colonel. As you can tell from the name, this is a pure cavalry unit. As for whether it will be light cavalry, heavy cavalry, or both, it has not yet been determined.

In fact, in addition to the cavalry that is drawn out to form a separate unit, each guard has cavalry, it just depends on the number. It is impossible to fight purely as infantry, that is courting death. Cavalry, archers, spearmen, shield soldiers, etc., were mixed troops in the Han Dynasty, which emphasized the coordinated operation of multiple arms.

Guoheng was destroyed by weakness, and Han alone was destroyed by strength. This is no joke. Although everything from the center to the localities is in bad shape at this time, the combat effectiveness is still quite strong. The scarce war horses were relatively abundant for the big men.

Looking deeper into the reason, perhaps it is that the distinction between civil and military officials is not very clear among current officials. Many of them can both lead the army and govern the people. For example, the talented counselors of the Three Kingdoms also wore swords at their waists. If they were to challenge soldiers in a duel, the soldiers would not be able to defeat them. This is the strength of the entire scholar-bureaucrat class.

In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, civil and military forces began to separate, and literati began to take power. By the Song Dynasty, military generals even became vassals of literati. Coupled with the country's dynasty system, the main path to advancement is through civil administration. The people's pursuit is not to be granted a title immediately, but to ride on horseback to test for the number one scholar. The loss of blood of the ruling class, that is, the group of scholar-bureaucrats, may be one of the reasons for the weakness of ancient dynasties...

"The Xiaoqi Battalion has been recuperating for half a month. It should have regained its combat strength. You led the army north to Houcheng (Shenyang), but there was an incoming army and guerrillas were used to contain it and destroy the food road."

"General, take the order." Liao Hua accepted the order with his hands, ran away, got on his horse and walked away.

The general's military order is still there: "The Guangwu Guards will assemble their troops and march 200 miles forward to attack Fuxin and guard the mountain pass. Another militia will be assembled, and the Yingwu Guards will be organized to besiege Wuli City."

If you fight at this time, you will definitely get cold, but you have to endure this cold. Otherwise, the war will be completely postponed until spring, which will delay spring plowing and production. This is absolutely unacceptable. The purpose is to fight for a year of peace before spring comes.

As the general's military order was issued, the war machine started. The entire general's subordinates were all busy. The arsenals and treasuries were opened, and the weapons and furs and clothing stored for the whole winter were distributed. In the military camp, there were rumbles of footsteps and loud slogans. Civil officials held gongs and jingled to organize the militia to regroup.

The land of Liaodong, which had been dormant for a winter, is gradually waking up. The thunder that has been brewing for a long time will eventually turn the enemy into powder.

As soon as the general's military order was issued, more than 6,000 soldiers of the Weiwei Guards had already crossed the Daliao River at noon that day and marched to the foot of Fang County in the evening. Then the enemy surrendered...

The general attaches great importance to the land of Fang County. This is the nearest large piece of fertile land. It must be obtained by Fang County. Whoever stops it will die.

The military order was issued in the morning, the army arrived in the evening, and the small broken city gate was opened before it arrived.

The magistrate of Fang County, whose surname is Zhang and whose name is Xun and whose courtesy name is Boqian, is from a humble family in Ji County. He led the city officials out of the city to surrender: "The magistrate of Fang County, Zhang Xun, pays homage to General Tianwu. I have long heard that the general is righteous and treats the people kindly. Now that the general has arrived, Xun must surrender." ”

"I like to kill and torture people and officials, you have nothing to fear?"

"Xun was born in a poor family, and it is not easy to know the people. He has been here for four years and has been good to the people. He has a good reputation. He knows that the general does not kill innocent people indiscriminately, so he has no fear."

Wang Yan was noncommittal: "How is the situation in the city?"

"There are 3,526 people in the city, 2,000 Han people, and the rest are all Wuhuan. The original army of 600 soldiers was transferred by Wuhuan Shanyu Supu and 500 Wuhuan people. One died of cold and hunger. One hundred and fifty-seven people, and two thousand two hundred and sixty-nine people were left in the city.

There is a wealthy family named Liu Jian who travels north and south, selling furs, mountain products and herbs. Although he has land and slaves, the land in Liaodong is vast and sparsely populated, so he has not done any harm to anyone. This winter, he still distributes food to the people. If the general doesn't believe what I say, you can just ask people's opinions. If there is a lie, there is no need for the general to punish me. I will kill myself.

This is the roster of Fang County, which the general can view. "

Zhang Xun pointed to the bamboo slips of the carriage that came out with him and was driven by officials.

Su Puyan was a leader of the Wuhuan tribe in the Liaodong vassal state, and he was also the Chanyu of the Wuhuan people here. There are only one or two thousand people in the headquarters. Now it is self-evident to mobilize troops and horses for the purpose.

Without looking at the roster, Wang Yan waved his hands and said: "Listen to your words and observe your actions. I know that you are the one who asks for orders for the people, so I should trust your words. However, once the rules are established, they must be followed, so public opinion must be asked."

Of course Wang Yan didn't believe so much nonsense, but the ancients valued promises and trustworthiness, and what Zhang Xun said must be true, because there was no need to lie because the army was at hand. It's just that the general didn't believe Zhang Xun's previous flattery.

If it was true as he said, why didn't it fall before winter? When Su Puyan mobilized his troops, he must have also grabbed food. Why didn't he stop him? There is nothing we can do. There are no soldiers and no food in the city. We can't hold on for long, and we can't count on the Han Dynasty. The various captains and Wuhuan chanyus in Liaodong are even more unreliable, and they have no way out unless they surrender.

Maybe I didn't take the initiative to surrender before, because I was waiting and watching, or I hadn't made up my mind, but now that the army is approaching, I have to surrender.

The general turned to ask: "As we head east to Pingguo (Yingkou), Anshi (Dashiqiao), and Wenxian (Gaizhou) counties, can Magistrate Zhang drive ahead of my army?"

"That's exactly what I meant. The general doesn't know. These three places are like Fang County. There are no defenders. The army is everywhere and they must surrender." Zhang Xun cupped his hands and asked instead, "I don't know when the army will set off. ?”

"I'll go tomorrow."

"General, I have something to ask of you. I hope the general will take pity on the people in my city and provide food to save their lives." After saying that, Zhang Xun knelt down and begged for food for the people.

Wang Yan waved his hand: "The army brings its own food, which is enough for the people in the city. From today onwards, I will rule the people, so why do you come to ask for help? Let's have a good rest today, and tomorrow we will recruit and surrender for the vanguard, and we will keep them for future use."

"Thank you, General."

…

The next day, the officials and militiamen of Fang County were dispatched to transfer grain to Fang County. The officials followed the previous procedures, visited public opinion, cleared the land, re-registered the people in the city, and distributed the land.

The general led the civil officials in Fang County, handled the civil affairs of Fang County, and then slowly headed to Pingguo County with his bodyguards.

The army had already set off, and the reality was as Zhang Xun said before. All the soldiers and horses in the city and the Wuhuan people who could fight were transferred away by Su Puyan. There were only Han people in the city, and the old and weak Wuhuan people. Before the army arrived, thousands of people in the city ran out of the city and froze. When the army arrived, they surrendered neatly.

Although the Wuhuan people are barbarians, they are not stupid. To the east of Fang County, in the four counties including Fang County, all the Wuhuan people who could fight were transferred away and a lot of food was robbed. This created difficulties for General Wang.

Moreover, the old and weak Wuhuan people are on Wang Yan's side. If Wang Yan doesn't win the hearts of the people, then just keep them all. The sons and husbands of these people will come to beat Wang Yan. This is shameless, bullying is shameless.

But in fact, the general still has some strength left, and he only has three to five thousand men at his left and right. Now the wealthy people are still selling him grain, and they have also made a decision that they will only accept their grain and glass will only be sold to them, and they are not allowed to go south to sell it. , they took the glass back and harvested the small-scale wealthy families.

The rule of survival is that the big fish eats the small fish. This is the case now. If the wealthy family knows that Wang Yan wants to install glass on all the houses under his rule, they must know that the cost of glass is extremely low. But they know it, others don't. It is these big families that travel to and from Liaodong now. Therefore, he accepted Wang Yan's high price and was willing to use resources such as grain, cloth, salt, and iron to be cut off by Wang Yan, and then harvest the small family.

And the money and food of these small families are all harvesting the people's wealth. In other words, General Wang is now harvesting people with broken glass.

That's what happened, but that's certainly not how the accounts were settled. After all, without General Wang harvesting, the people would still be oppressed. The people have always suffered, but now the ones who suffer even more are small families and wealthy households in various places.

Wealth will not be created out of thin air, nor will it disappear out of thin air. It is just that part of it is transferred to the general.

What the Zhen family doesn't dare to do, these big families together can really do nothing and make a lot of money...

The same is true. Although the general is still short of food, the food gap is not too big. It is no exaggeration to say that many wealthy families gathered together in one place, and their stores of food and grass were enough to send 100,000 troops and fight for a year.

The general has less than 25,000 formal soldiers. The food and grass that the 25,000 troops and horses eat is basically the same as the remaining 200,000. Moreover, they still guard the Bohai Bay fishing grounds and receive supplementary fisheries, so the problem is not that big.

If not, the general is not a kind person. To say that his moral level is high is certain, but to say that his moral level is low is also correct. Thousands of lives are not a big problem.

After accepting thousands of people, the general did not want the dilapidated city, but moved all the people from Anshi and Wenxian to Pingguo. He wants to adopt centralized and large-scale farming, and a few thousand people cannot occupy much land. There are more than 200,000 people, and each family is allocated so much land, but they can't allocate all the land in Fang County. There is no need for these thousands of people to live alone.

We also have to consider the situation of the incoming enemy. To the east of Pingguo, there are all mountainous areas. This side belongs to Liaodong County, and the other side of the Korean Peninsula belongs to Lelang County. They are all Han people living together with other tribes. The situation is still quite complicated. Yes, we must take precautions.

Therefore, the mighty guards were stationed in the east of Pingguo to defend against enemies coming from the east and protect the people behind them.

And places with dense populations are more convenient for business development. At present, the political and commercial center under the rule of the general is undoubtedly Tuhe. But Pingguo should be considered as a secondary development place.

Because it is convenient to trade with the eastern land of Pingguo, conduct economic penetration and cultural invasion, and over time, it will collapse without attack.

At present, the Liaodong Peninsula and the Korean Peninsula are not the main targets. Because they are both mountainous, there is no need to mobilize a large army to conquer and occupy. The broader Northeast Plain is the top priority.

If they don't come to harass, they won't raise troops to fight, and they can't occupy it even if they take it down. If they occupy it, it's not very useful at present and not cost-effective. His development is driven by population growth. When the population increases and the land is not enough, then it will expand. In this way, after a hundred years, there will be a large territory...

It took a week to deal with the migration of people and initially divide the fields for resettlement. And craftsmen were transferred from the rear to build kilns and furnaces, burn bricks and glass, and prepare to build houses and other matters. The seeds and farm tools for spring farming were also transported here. As long as the weather warms up and thaws, we will do a big fight.

At this time, news from other battlefields was also transmitted back.

The militia's combat effectiveness is not bad. After all, they have been training and fighting for half a year. They performed well and successfully broke through Wulv City. But the damage was quite heavy, with more than a thousand killed and more than two thousand seriously injured. Yingwu Guard was almost useless.

It was because Su Puyan dispatched troops and generals, and with the Liaodong Central Commander, the two sides merged together and got 4,000 troops. This arrangement should be prepared to attack Wang Ze in a while, but I didn't expect the general to take the initiative.

Wulv City is a big city, facing Wulv Mountain in the west, open plains in the east, and the mountain pass in the north is a gathering place for Wuhuan. It is considered an important town. So it's not that they don't want more people to guard it, but that the food and grass are not supported.

Now the whole Liaodong, the entire Han noble group, has to look at the face of the general. There is no doubt that the important passage connecting the inside and outside of the pass is the Liaoxi Corridor. No matter how bitter and cold the Northeast is, it can't stop people who want to make money, and there are still some business exchanges.

If you don't take the Liaoxi Corridor, but cross the Yanshan Mountains, pass the grassland, and come through Liaobei, then you will have to take a lot of detours. Moreover, this is the territory of the Xianbei and Wuhuan barbarians, and they are not annexed tribes. Not to mention the detour, the danger is greatly increased, and the cost is geometrically increased. No one will do such a loss-making business. So this year's Liaodong is particularly withered.

Of course, the nobles also want to go north to trade. The northeast is rich in mountain products, furs, and herbs, which are all profitable. They also expressed this to the general, but they were all rejected by the general, and he sold glass there, which was considered to make up for the loss of the nobles, so it was left unresolved.

But this is also the reason why the land of Liaodong, whether it is the Han people or the Wuhuan people, wants to fight the general to the death. This is a struggle for survival.

The battle of Wulv City was not smooth. At the beginning, the Wuhuan people looked down on the Yingwu Guards and went out of the city to fight in the field. The other side suffered a loss, and then they defended the city and did not go out. Yingwuwei dispatched several catapults and thousands of militiamen to move stones. They smashed for two days and forced the city for another day before they broke it.

Wang Yan was definitely not satisfied with this result. His military order said "siege", and he didn't say how long it would take. He was still a little too hasty and caused such a big loss.

This is to show...

The siege at this time is really not easy. It is not easy to attack by force unless the insider opens the city gate. It is quite difficult to attack the city guarded by 4,000 people with less than 6,000 people. This shows the cruelty of the battle at that time and the fierceness of the Yingwuwei militia.

It's just a better way, mainly in "siege". Wang Yan doesn't think there will be much food in Wulv City. He can accept the siege until the beginning of spring. But the battle is over. There is no other way except to take good care of the wounded and make up for the shortage of Yingwuwei.

Yingwuwei wants to show off, and also wants to farm safely in the spring for his family. If we trace it back, it's mainly the general's fault. This winter, he brainwashed his generals a bit too much...

Of course, he didn't brainwash them purely. He mainly taught classes to generals above the rank of marquis to teach them how to lead troops in battle, and brainwashing was incidental. It's definitely not that the general's skills are rusty, after all, he often does this, and when he lectures, he repeatedly emphasizes the principle that people and land will still exist even if they are lost. It can only be said that the people under his command have longed for the happy days of full granaries, so they don't hesitate to fight for their lives.

They have seen how the general treated the families of his dead comrades in the past, and they are not afraid of dying in vain. In this era when the life expectancy of the hard-working people is only more than 30 years, people don't cherish their lives. If their death can bring a better life to their families, then they will die.

Very free and easy, very decisive, and very sad...

The general is heartless, he just feels sorry for the loss of the young and strong population.

Along with the war damage, the war spoils were also reported. Hundreds of war horses, 5,000 Han people, and 3,000 Wuhuan people were captured. As the general expected, there was not much food.

It is worth mentioning that a man named Gongsun Heng was captured alive. He was from the Xuantu Gongsun clan, the Gongsun of Gongsun Du.

The Gongsun family was not a prominent family, but they were very powerful in Liaodong. Otherwise, Gongsun Du would not have had such great ability to dominate Liaodong. But the Gongsun family started with Gongsun Du, who fled to Xuantu with his father. He was initially a minor official in Xuantu and worked his way up to the governor of Jizhou. He was the highest official of a state, and at this time, his power was much greater than that of the provincial party chief two thousand years later. It was easy to develop a family.

However, he was dismissed because of rumors and was affected by the party imprisonment and was never reinstated.

The power of the party imprisonment lies here. After the officials were dealt with, they were not allowed to serve. The Ten Eunuchs got rid of quite a few people, and Gongsun Du was also deeply harmed by the party imprisonment.

According to the principle of guilt for gaining benefits, there were many prominent families and old officials behind the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

There is no doubt that they are all wise people. Before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Zhang Jiao had been in various states for many years. This matter can be seen by some knowledge. But it was not until Zhang Jiao started the rebellion that this matter entered the court. The first thing is to lift the party ban.

Speaking of the battlefield, the people of Gongsun clan came out for training, advice, and to kill Wang's thieves. This shows that Gongsun clan could no longer tolerate General Wang and participated in the military action against the general.

Since there are people of Gongsun clan in Wulv City, the front station, there must be people in Fuxin. In the battle of survival, we should go all out, and Gongsun clan should provide people and food.

As expected by the general, two days later, Guangwuwei reported. They encountered more than 10,000 enemy troops in Fuxin, and both sides fought and suffered losses. After a winter, Guangwuwei, a regular army, showed a stronger combat effectiveness than Yingwuwei. With twice the number of troops, they confronted the enemy in Fuxin. For a pure peasant army, this is a leap forward.

Of course, all this was created thanks to the good leadership of General Tianwu, who taught the tactics well, trained the soldiers well, and had relatively abundant food. A winter almost made up for the body's deficiency and kept the body in good shape.

As for the name "Fuxin", it was given by the general. The main reason is that this is the territory of Wuhuan, and there is no accurate place name. So the general directly used the later ones to push it up. The mountains and rivers in Liaodong, the famous ones are called by name, and the unnamed ones and the ugly ones are called by the general...

Another day, Changli reported that according to the cavalry, there were traces of the enemy in the direction of Liucheng (Chaoyang) in the west, and it seemed that they were going to steal the home. The specific number of troops was not found, and the cavalry reported that there were more than 5,000.

The general laughed. After all, his hometown in the real world was Chaoyang. At this moment two thousand years later, the enemy army actually sent troops to his hometown to steal his hometown in Liaodong. Although it is a bit confusing, it feels quite interesting when you think about it carefully.

Another day, Liao Hua, who went out to fight guerrillas, also sent a messenger back to report that Xuantu had 20,000 troops to attack.

The situation was clear at this point, and the enemy had deployed 50,000 troops. For Liaodong, due to the disunity within the Wuhuan, the disunity between the Wuhuan and the Han people, the lack of supplies, and various other reasons, being able to pull up 50,000 troops was almost the limit, and the more it could be, the more it would be.

There were rich families in Liaodong, but there were no big nobles like those who did business with the general. The main reason was that this place was far away from the political and economic center, and it could only be said that it was a small landlord. Otherwise, there would be no opportunity for Gongsun Du to dominate Liaodong. The nobles dragged their feet, which was quite powerful.

This battle was a life-and-death game for the Liaodong region. If he lost, the general could only be a bandit, and if he won, he would die.

However, what the enemy did not expect was that the general took the initiative to act despite the severe cold, which destroyed their arrangements. You know, the cavalry that the general sent out in the winter did not find the movement in Wulv City and Fang County. Now the general took action in advance and exposed their plan, so they had to take passive action, which gave the general the upper hand.

After all, it took a week to march and two hours to fight. If the enemy army had a large-scale movement, the cavalry would definitely find it. However, the time difference by then may be two to three days faster than now, which is already the key to determining the outcome of the battle...

In Pingguo County, the general thought about the news of the past few days and how to arrange it, and suddenly spoke.

"Pass on my military order, Xingwu Guard stationed in Tuhe, Tuhe 4,000 militiamen organized into Xiongwu Guard, stationed in Changli. Suizhong militiamen assembled to prevent the enemy from the south."

"Fang County transferred young and strong men to supplement the casualties of Yingwu Guard. Yingwu Guard divided 3,000 soldiers and went north to Fuxin to contact Guangwu Guard and attack them separately."

"Order Liao Hua to retreat behind the enemy."

"Weiwu Guard divided 3,000 soldiers and went north with me to meet the enemy, and the rest of the troops should be careful to prevent the enemy from the east. If the enemy really comes, we can stop them. If the enemy is very large and cannot be defeated, we should leave Fangxian and defend it."

"Strictly order all units not to be reckless, and not to let the enemy hurt my family is the first priority. If it is difficult to stop and hurt the people, we should fight to the death."

There are many troops coming, and the general mobilized more than 30,000 troops. If the militia is included, it is a general mobilization. Without a general, it is difficult to implement tactics. The battle is a matter of life and death, so the general has to go into battle himself.

This arrangement was to prevent the enemy from Liucheng from attacking Changli, so the Xingwu Guard was dispatched to the north to defend. This arrangement was not to take the head and ignore the buttocks, but the general did not think there was an enemy in the south. On the other hand, he did not mobilize the Suizhong militia.

The rest of the arrangements are nothing to be praised for. We don't ask Guangwu and Yingwu to make great achievements. As long as we can hold off the enemy and prevent the enemy from advancing straight into Changli, that will be victory. As for the 3,000 soldiers and horses stationed in Pingguo by the Mighty Guards, the militias are still left in Fang County to prevent the enemy from coming from the east. They just need to defend these directions.

The main battlefield of this battle is still the 3,000 Mighty Guards led by the general himself, and the 2,500 cavalrymen of the Cavalry Battalion led by Liao Hua. As long as the general's 5,000 can break 20,000, then this battle will be won. The general is very confident about this.

If he didn't go to the battlefield himself and had a few generals under his command, he would not have arranged it like this. He only led a few thousand militias and defended Tuhe by himself. Wulv, which had just been captured, can be completely abandoned, and Xuantu (Shenyang) can be directly attacked. In this way, the entire Liaohe Plain will be captured in one battle, and there will also be generals stationed. Unlike now, even if he wins, he can't occupy the Liaohe Plain. Because the generals are now sent out, the distance is too far, and there are too many variables.

To put it simply, he personally went into battle and focused more on defense, while he guarded his home and focused more on offense. This was due to General Wang's absolute confidence in himself.

As the general issued the military order, the communication soldiers waiting for the general's instructions in the Pingdu County Office all received the order, and after leaving the county office, they rode fast through the four gates.

The breath of death enveloped the land of Liaodong. Everyone was paying attention to this battle. The managers of the wealthy merchant caravans who were supposed to leave did not leave, but stayed in Suizhong, waiting to see how the general would respond.

Perhaps the Han court had to wait until the beginning of spring to accept the general's sale of officials, and this battle was also a factor. If the thief Wang could not survive this winter, why would there be any need to sell officials...

Ask the land of Liaodong, who is the master of the ups and downs?

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