Chapter 719 0714 [Marching Into Pingxingguan]
It was Han Chang's troops who surrendered to Yue Fei.
This "first fierce general of the Jin Kingdom" ten years later, always served as a pioneer for Jin Wushu in history, but died at the hands of Wanyan Liang in the end.
Last year, he was left behind by Wanyan Loushi to cover the rear, and he still had more than 1,600 Liaodong Han soldiers.
Because they were afraid of being punished by military law, they did not dare to return to the Jin territory after escaping from the battlefield, and at the same time they did not dare to surrender to the Ming army. So they fled into the mountains to become bandits, but the nearby mountains were full of righteous armies. They did not snatch much food from the landlords, but instead had several frictions with the Shanxi righteous army.
Now, more than 1,600 Liaodong Han soldiers have been frozen to death and starved to death, leaving only 700 to 800 people.
Those who are still alive are pale and thin, and can even be described as skin and bones. They did not care about their families in Liaodong, nor did they care whether the Ming army would accept them. When they heard that Wutai County was conquered, they immediately ventured out of the mountains to surrender.
"General, please accept us!"
Han Chang knelt down in front of Yue Fei, and his seven or eight hundred soldiers followed suit.
The surrounding rebels were armed, waiting for Yue Fei to give orders, and were about to surround and kill Han Chang's troops.
A Wutai County rebel leader named Dou Lan said: "General Yue, this guy was starving last winter, and he even robbed us poor guys. We didn't have food to eat in the mountains. They relied on their excellent weapons and armor to kill nearly a hundred of my men, and also robbed the winter food from one of my hiding places!"
"This guy even fought with me twice!" Another rebel leader said angrily.
Han Chang knelt in front of Yue Fei, bowed to the surroundings and said: "Brothers, I'm really sorry, I was really hungry at that time."
"Are you the only one hungry, and we are not hungry?" Dou Lan questioned.
Han Chang apologized again, kowtowed to Yue Fei and said: "General, I was originally from Yanshan Prefecture, and my family was relocated to Liaodong by the Jin Kingdom. My family has some reputation in Liaodong, and my father is still an official in the Jin Kingdom. Now I am willing to join the Ming Dynasty as a small soldier, and then write a letter to inform my clansmen to be an insider. Even if my clansmen cannot make great contributions to the Ming Dynasty, it is still possible to pass on some military information."
Yue Fei asked the leaders of the various rebel armies: "In addition to being at odds with you, has this guy also massacred the people in Shanxi?"
Without waiting for the leaders of the rebel army to answer, Han Chang hurriedly said: "No, absolutely not! My troops have been stationed in Yunzhong, which used to be the land of the Liao Kingdom. It was not until last year that we followed the army to the south. We first besieged Taiyuan but failed, and then encountered a wall in Shouyang, and finally were defeated by General Zhang. How could we have the time to kill the people of the Ming Dynasty?"
The leaders nodded. It was indeed only last year that they heard of this person, and they had never dealt with him before.
Yue Fei then said to the leaders of the rebel army: "The enemy's surrender is a big deal, and this man has relatives serving as officials in the Jin Kingdom. I have to report to Mr. Zhang before I can make a decision. Don't rush to act, just keep these people under custody for the time being."
"Thank you, General!" Han Chang kowtowed repeatedly. He only wanted a bite of food now.
Yue Fei stayed in Wutai County for six days, so that the hungry soldiers could quickly replenish their food. At the same time, he reorganized the rebel army, selected young and strong men to form 3,000 local soldiers, and the old and weak who were eliminated could take food home.
Wutai County had military rations left by the Jin soldiers, and local gentry also came to comfort the army to prove that they were loyal to the Ming Dynasty court. Yue Fei was not short of food in a short period of time.
Their troops rushed here from the border of Hebei. Although they did not fight hard battles, they had good strategic significance and forced the Jin soldiers to directly abandon Xinzhou and Daizhou.
Twenty days later, Yue Fei led his troops to catch up with Zhang Guangdao's main force.
The army went northwards, taking over the cities of Xinzhou and Daizhou counties. If they wanted to continue northward, they had to break through Yanmen Pass.
Of course, there were other checkpoints and forts. For example, if they attacked Tuying Village, they could attack Wuzhou (Shenchi). Another example was that if they attacked Pingxing Village (Pingxing Pass), they could attack Lingqiu.
There were seven or eight such passages.
Anyway, no matter which direction they attacked, they had to force their way out.
Because they had reached the border between Song and Liao, all the mountain passages had strong checkpoints and forts.
The Song and Liao countries had been strengthening their defenses year after year, and no place was easy to capture. Some passages even had several checkpoints.
For example, Yanmen Pass was a double-pass system, divided into Dongxing Pass and Xixing Pass. After Xixing Pass, to the north, there was another pass built by Liao.
If troops were sent to Yanmen, three strong passes had to be broken in succession before the Ming army could enter Shuozhou.
Zhang Guangdao solicited opinions and said, "This year I led the army to the north, originally intending to take back Xinzhou and Daizhou, and recover the former Song Dynasty's homeland in Shanxi. But I didn't expect that General Yue would cross the mountains and attack, scaring the Jin people to flee back to the Liao Kingdom. Tell me, where should we go next?"
The Ming army in Taiyuan had achieved its strategic goal ahead of schedule because of Yue Fei's attack.
Li Jinyi suggested, "Why not postpone the northward march, since the homeland has been recovered anyway. Wait until next year to stockpile more food, and then join the Hebei army. At that time, Shanxi and Hebei will advance together and recapture the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun in one fell swoop!"
This is a very conservative, but extremely safe way of playing.
Yao Pingzhong said, "We can attack Tulongzhai in the northwest, kill Wuzhou, and cooperate with Han Shizhong's troops to completely recapture the prefectures, military prefectures and counties of the former Song Dynasty in Shanxi!"
The generals spoke one after another, saying all kinds of things.
Some even suggested that the main force should attack Yanmen Pass and delay a large number of Jin soldiers. Then send a detachment to attack Dashizhai. As long as Dashizhai is taken, we can go out of the mountains and directly take Yingzhou.
In this way, we can cut off the connection between the Jin soldiers in Shuozhou and Datong to the west, and directly take Datong to the north to take back Yunzhou.
In any case, no one is willing to attack Yanmen Pass by force.
Even if we keep bombarding with artillery, we will have to wait until winter to capture Yanmen Pass. And to the north of Yanmen Pass, there are two great passes blocking it.
Only Pharmacist Guo and Yue Fei remained silent. Zhang Guangdao asked, "What does General Guo think?"
Compared with his previous arrogance and domineering attitude, Yaoshi Guo is very low-key now. He chuckled and said, "I can fight anywhere."
"Where is General Yue?" Zhang Guangdao asked again.
Yue Fei is a general in the Hebei War Zone, so he naturally has to take Hebei's interests into consideration: "We can storm Pingxingzhai (Pingxingguan) and kill Lingqiu and Feihu counties. When the Hebei army breaks through Yizhou next year, Shanxi and Hebei can join forces and work together." Get through Fei Huxing."
Zhang Guangdao synthesized the opinions of the generals and said: "The Shanxi garrison will be divided into ten thousand to garrison Daizhou, Guoxian and Fanji (Fanzhi). The field army and the remaining garrison will be divided into two. Go west to attack Tuchang. The village corresponds to Han Shizhong's troops. If we go east to attack Pingxing Village, it would be best if we can advance into Lingqiu County."
Zhang Guangdao's meaning is obvious. He has never thought about capturing Datong, at least he will not fight against Datong this year.
As for Yanmen Pass, whoever wants to fight can go there. Zhang Guangdao doesn't want to go anyway, and he would rather take a detour elsewhere.
Yanmen has three cities, six villages, and eighteen dangerous passes, all of which can be defended. Even if they can all be conquered, the Ming army will have to spend a long time and pay huge casualties.
By the way, how did the Jin soldiers break through Yanmen Pass?
It has been mentioned in the history books, but there is no precise information about this time and space. It seems that the many passes are just like paper.
…
The leader of the attack on Pingxingzhai is Yao Pingzhong. This guy has always wanted to fight hard and make meritorious deeds. Zhang Guangdao will fulfill his wish this time.
Although there are countless checkpoints in the surrounding areas, the really important ones are actually Yanmen Pass and Hexing Pass. Even if other passages are penetrated, it will be difficult for the army to pass.
Yao Pingzhong is the chief general, Guo Yaoshi and Yue Fei are deputy generals, and the following generals include Chen Ziyi, Hua Rong, Deng Xia, Wu Jie and Liu Qi.
Chen Ziyi, Deng Xia and Hua Rong, one leads the cavalry, one leads the artillery, and one leads the musketeers. They are all relatively independent troops. They are neither chief generals nor deputy generals. They are more like friendly troops who cooperate with Yao Pingzhong in fighting.
Including the accompanying Shanxi garrison and the rural soldiers reorganized by the rebels, the combat force totaled more than 35,000 people.
Han Chang's eight hundred Liaodong Han soldiers also came with them, and they could shout to persuade them to surrender at critical moments.
Pingxingguan is not an independent pass. There are three places: Pingxingzhai, Maguzhai and Meihuizhai, which block three traffic arteries respectively.
During the Anti-Japanese War, the Chinese army officers and soldiers were stationed on these three roads, and the Japanese army also attacked from these three roads. However, Lin Shuai's 115th Division secretly hid in an unknown valley, and finally caught the Japanese army by surprise.
Yao Pingzhong led his troops to rest in Fanju County for two days, and then headed towards Pingxingguan to kill without stopping.
Chen Ziyi's cavalry expanded again this year, adding two thousand light cavalry. These light cavalry were sent out first to explore the battlefield ahead along the way.
There were still more than ten miles away from Pingxing Pass, and the two sides collided with each other.
After a fight, each other suffered casualties, and each of them ran back to report the news, leaving one behind to continue the entanglement.
Yao Pingzhong accelerated his march after receiving the news. One day later, all the light cavalry of the Ming army came back and reported: "The Jin people sent out thousands of cavalry, including many brave cavalry. We really can't stop them and have to evacuate."
Yue Fei guessed: "It seems that the Jin soldiers want to fight in the field and don't want to huddle in the pass."
Liu Qi said with a smile: "When the Jin people defended Chitang Pass, they were frightened by artillery and thunder. Moreover, Pingxiang, Magu, and Meihui Villages were built by the former Song Dynasty to defend the Liao Kingdom. The external defense is better , but the internal defense is not adequate. Moreover, it is a mountainous area and it is difficult for the Jin cavalry to use it. Therefore, the Jin people simply fight in the open areas."
Wu Jie said: "Han Chang, who surrendered, said that the Jin soldiers in Shanxi originally had more than 60,000 people. They suffered a series of misfortunes in Shanxi, and now they have more than 40,000 left at most. They must not only divide their troops to defend various passages, but also divide their troops to defend There are probably only 20,000 Jin soldiers in each of the Yanmen villages and Pingxing village, or even less than 20,000, just over 10,000."
The three famous generals of the Southern Song Dynasty served as military advisers to Yao Pingzhong. After some guessing and reasoning, it was almost like opening up the whole map.
Yao Pingzhong felt that it made sense, his thoughts suddenly became clear, and he clapped his hands and said: "Since the Jin people want to fight in the field, then use car formations to fight them. Our army has superior strength, high morale, and firearms to support us. Not to mention ten thousand You won’t be afraid of more than 30,000 gold soldiers! What do you think, Master?”
Monk Zhenbao is the leader of the rebel army. Now he is the commander of the township soldiers in Wutai County, and he also goes with everyone to kill the Jin man.
"Amitabha!"
Monk Zhenbao proclaimed the Buddha's name, clasped his hands and said, "Those golden people are evil spirits who have come to the world, and they should be sent back to hell!"
(The location of Chitang Pass was wrong by about 20 miles in the previous chapter. Thank you for your correction. If the normal position is followed, it will be easier for the Jin soldiers at Shiling Pass to retreat, but Yao Pingzhong's troops will receive the news first. )