Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 456

The land of Henan is shrouded in a strong atmosphere of war.

The grove has been cut down in a mess, here and there.

There are rangers and scouts everywhere on the hills, and orderlies gallop past from time to time.

There is no one in the wilderness, only broken walls and ruins of villages, telling the story of a miserable life under the setting sun.

Occasionally, a group of llamas came along, frightened the birds in the bushes and grass, and circled for a long time in the lonely sky.

Sitting in the abandoned Taoist temple, Li Tangbin was not at all tired after dealing with official duties all day.

It's time, but he can't feel even a trace of tiredness.

The commander-in-chief put all the [-] troops into his hands, and Li Tangbin felt a heavy burden on him.

I don't know what the handsome man likes about me?He smiled wryly.

The soldiers brought a bowl of soup cakes, with green onions and leeks floating on it, and a large piece of mutton.

Livestock from Guanbei cannot be transported to Henan, except for dried meat and cheese transported with the army.

Not enough pasture.

Merchants who went to Chang'an to do livestock trading would fight privately for the pastures and water sources along the way, which shows that this is also a precious resource.

After eating the soup cakes in twos and twos, Li Tangbin quietly looked at the map spread out on the incense table, and did not move for a long time, as if he had already meditated.

There were [-] Yicong troops, [-] Shanguo troops, [-] Heyuan troops, [-] Jishi troops, and [-] Tianzhu troops, for a total of [-] troops.It looks like a lot, but in this area where the mountains are rolling and rolling, cavalry is often useless, where the enemy's fortresses are everywhere, and the number of troops may not be less than yours. Fighting inside the opponent's line, supplies and soldiers are easily replenished and the cost is low. The place still has to go east, and there are big articles in the meantime.

The red candles on the incense table are shining brightly, illuminating the murderous intentions of Chen Bing on the paper.

It seemed that the rain was about to come, and the evening wind blew in through the doors and windows, rustling the paper.

Behind the incense table, the mud puppet with half of its head missing quietly watched the martial artist Jiu Jiu in front of him. He was making a decision, a decision concerning the fate of thousands of people.

Yi Congjun Qingtang has arrived at Shihaozhai.

The master and auxiliary soldiers are cutting down trees and making siege equipment.Tomorrow, these heavy-armored warriors from Hengshan Capital will also arrive. They, who are nicknamed "Bubazi", will join Qingtang Capital to take on the important task of attacking the city.

It doesn't matter if someone is dead, there are tens of thousands of Dangxiangshan people in Xiashi County who can add to it.Li Tangbin doesn't care about human life, let alone a Tibetan.

The Shanguo army was dawdling, like mourning for a concubine, and now they have just gathered in Shanzhou, received equipment, money and food, and they are still two or three days away from Xiashi.

The Tianxiong Army, the Shunyi Army, and the guards stayed behind, and the Huazhou Army stationed troops at the dangerous points along the Weihan Valley Road. If there was not enough, the [-] National Army of Tongguan Township would also send people to support them. They were incompetent in field battles, but they cleared the rear It is still possible.

The six towns of Binning, Jingyuan, Shuofang, Weibei, Longyou, and Hexi are still dispatching Tutuan villagers to Tongguan to supplement the number of Zhen Guojun.

Of course there must be a main force, but miscellaneous soldiers are also indispensable, and even more are needed.The Yinshan Fanbu and Hexi Dangxiang who have already arrived in Guozhou will appear on the battlefield more and more frequently in the future.

The Heyuan army, the Jishi army and the Tianzhu army stayed together. They had just left Xiashi and had not reached Shihao.

Only when Shihao, Ganhao, and Huguo are captured, the road ahead will suddenly become clear.

Li Tangbin calmed down and signed the order letter handed over by his staff.

……

Yuxi galloped, and the messenger soon arrived in a deep valley.

There are secret sentries all over the valley, and they were discovered as soon as they approached. After the identity was verified, the messenger was brought into the valley.

The setting sun shines at night, dyeing the forests and mountain springs in the valley with a red glow.

Many tents and huts have been set up in the valley.Some sergeants were resting in their clothes, while others were taking care of the horses and equipment, but they tried not to make any noise.

Grass is collected to dry and used as fodder for horses.

Dawan alfalfa is widely planted in Lingxia. It is an excellent feed for livestock, and horses also like to eat it.

The Marshal's move is really a stroke of genius, which means that a lot of horse fodder has been produced out of thin air, and three to four stubbles can be cut a year. The growth is extremely fast and the yield is extremely high.

It's a pity that there are still too many weeds, occupying a lot of pasture growth space. If pasture is everywhere, it can come and go like the wind just like on the grassland.

"General Bai, a military order has arrived." The messenger said after handing over two confidential documents.

"Thank you." Bai Gui sat up from the ground, then was taken aback: "Why are there two?"

"I don't know."

"Take this brother down to rest, and send him away later." Bai Gui ordered, and then opened the secret document to check.

One letter was written by the envoy Li Tangbin, the meaning was very clear, and he agreed with the battle plan proposed by him and Gao Renhou.

With only such a small force and such a complicated terrain, it would be difficult to break the situation without resorting to extraordinary measures.

The other "letter from home" that made Bai Gui feel refreshed, and his sister asked someone to write it for him.

Bai Gui read it three times, and finally put it away carefully, with a smile on the corner of his mouth.

Since Huizhou went to the Marshal, the Bai family has worked hard for many years, and finally saw the light of day!

The younger sister's beauty can only be considered beautiful, and she is still illiterate, so that she has been able to work as a maid for several years.The commander-in-chief became interested, and occasionally pampered him, but unfortunately he failed to give birth to a boy and a girl.

If the younger sister can improve her status in the commander-in-chief's side, and fight bravely on the battlefield here, and make great achievements, both internally and externally, the Bai family will definitely be able to rise to a higher level.

The plan has been made, and now it depends on whether the Bian army is willing to give this meritorious service.

Bai Gui asked someone to bring a map and carefully observed the mountains, rivers, roads and fortresses above.

The Bian army had many infantry, benefiting from dangerous passes.

Our army has more—well, more infantry, but more cavalry, which is good for charging.

However, the mountains are continuous and the riders cannot form a row, which seems to be very unfavorable.But when it comes to war, don't you have to make use of your strengths and avoid weaknesses, suppress the disadvantages, and carry forward the advantages, so that you can win.

Bai Gui looked at the terrain over and over again, and went through the plan over and over again, trying to take every detail into consideration.

Distance, time, force, repeated thinking, repeated chewing.

The sky gradually darkened, and the valley was dark.

There were no fireworks, and everyone ate hard vinegar cakes and drank cold water.

Nothing happened, the horse seemed to be infected too, or was taken care of too comfortably, nudging his partner affectionately, and then sleeping quietly standing up.

……

In the big camp of Huguo Village, the Bian army was busy, preparing various materials and equipment.

With the help of his own soldiers, Liu Kangyi organized his equipment and luggage.

The news that Shihaozhai was besieged by Xia thieves has come.

The thieves built a large number of equipment, and the offensive was very urgent. There were no more than a thousand soldiers from Henan's prefectures and counties in the village.Even in the case of defending their homeland, their morale is high, but their combat effectiveness should not be overestimated.

Shihaozhai is very close to Xiashi, a day's journey away.

Setting up a stronghold so close to Xia Bandit is not so much a defense as a warning. This is just a large beacon.

To the east of Shihaozhai, there is Ganhaozhai, which is stationed with heavy troops. There are more than a thousand soldiers from Xu Su, a thousand soldiers from the Henan Fuya Army, a thousand soldiers from Songzhou Prefecture, and five hundred soldiers from Huazhou, making a total of [-] soldiers. One hundred infantry and two hundred cavalry were reorganized into an outer town army, namely the Ganhao Town Army.

The scale of Ganhaozhai is also relatively large, with trenches dug outside, horse pits trapped, and barbed caltrops and carbine-rejecting guns placed.

On Shenquetai in the north, there is also a small village guarded by soldiers from Huazhou.

Here, it can resist the army of summer thieves for a long time.When the offensive is exhausted and morale is low, the opportunity will appear.

"Let's go!" Seeing that the preparations were almost done, Liu Kangyi gave the order.

The [-] army came from very complicated sources. There were soldiers from Yan and Yun, Henan government army, brave soldiers selected from the Tuntian soldiers, and Xuanwu government army. There is an army to fight.

Liu Kangyi was a little regretful, the Xuanwu town soldiers sent by the general to Henan Prefecture were too few, and most of them were stationed in important areas.

Sometimes he thought darkly, isn't this consuming someone?

But after thinking about it, he shuddered and threw the idea away.The Marshal is such a hero, he led 500 people out of the town of Bianzhou, fought against the old generals of the Xuanwu Army, recruited his elite soldiers, and then broke the Bo and Ying rebel generals, and wiped out Qin Zongquan. The army continued to grow from tens of thousands of people at the beginning to Close to 20.

He also defeated Wei Bo many times, and got hundreds of thousands of coins and millions of pieces of silk from him. Since then, he has surrendered and made offerings every year.

This is the hero!Everything the hero did was naturally justified.

After the army was ready, Liu Kangyi sent out the only few hundred mule soldiers, scattered far away, and guarded the left and right.Immediately, 5000 people, taking advantage of the darkness, quietly descended the mountain in large and small vehicles.

The trick to deal with Xia thief is actually very simple.

Henan Province is mountainous, which is not conducive to the cavalry of the Xia bandits, and the terrain is complex, so there are many places to hide.

He has already selected a valley, there is a spring in the mountain, which can accommodate thousands of people, it is very hidden, and the location is between Shihao Village and Huguo Village, so it is very convenient to attack.

The sergeants have already received orders in advance, no fire, no smoking, no noise, no walking around, everything is waiting for the order to act.

If there is a disobedience, behead!
After training this army for half a year, Liu Kangyi still has some prestige.From this point of view, the order was executed very well, which made him very satisfied.

Fight a few more battles, the cohesion will be stronger, and it will be a strong army.

The Central Plains is full of wars, and the people's customs are strong, and they have tempered one after another strong army. The Xiaozhen army in his hand will definitely go down this road.

After walking most of the night under the moonlight, we finally arrived at our destination.

The mule army had entered early, and they occupied some high places, laying down with crossbowmen.

After receiving the safe signal, the brigade entered in batches.

Regardless of their fatigue, they immediately began to set up camp.

Some auxiliary soldiers began to distribute water, and everyone ate rough dry food without any complaints.

The ancestors said that Qin soldiers endured hard battles, how could they not know that Henan soldiers also endured hard battles?Anyone who has experienced more than a hundred years of war and turmoil will become more resilient.

The first battle down the mountain will surprise Xia Bandit and wash away the shame of last year.

(End of this chapter)