Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

I immediately picked up the first battle report and looked at it, and I was overjoyed after reading it.

The battle report said that in November of this year, after staying in Xingzhou, Chen Sirang Yizhou soldiers went out to fight, and defeated more than 1000 puppet Han bandit troops in Hedong at the foot of Xishan Mountain, and beheaded more than [-] ranks.

At that time, because the Northern Han Dynasty could not defeat Li Jun, the Jiedu envoy of the Zhaoyi Army in Liaozhou (near Zuoquan County, Shanxi), he was beaten by Li Yun and lost troops and generals. He retreated steadily, and several counties in Liaozhou were almost lost. It was the Liaozhou Zhisuozhou City that was attacked by the Zhaoyi Army led by Li Yun, and even the governor of Liaozhou was arrested.

Therefore, the Northern Han Dynasty wanted to send troops to the south. They came to the side and then attacked, and went east to the Taihang Mountains to reverse the situation. Unexpectedly, after Xingzhou stayed, Chen Sixang was already prepared. Immediately after his whereabouts, he led people to set up an ambush at the mountain pass.

The Northern Han army was ambushed as soon as it came out of the Taihang Mountains. As a result, more than 1000 of the army of more than 500 were killed. This can be said to be a very big victory, and the ratio of killing and killing is very impressive.

Shi Congyun laughed happily after seeing it. Although Li Yun was a stabbing head, he was very disrespectful to the officials and the court, and even dared to imprison the military supervisor sent by the court, but he fought fiercely.

In fact, in the past few years, the state of Zhou has been fighting on three fronts, and the war continues, but the scale of the war is different.

The main battlefield is in the south, while the eastern side of Taihang Mountain is still at war with the Northern Han Dynasty, and the northern side of Hebei and the Liao Kingdom are also often at odds.

In contrast, the war with the Northern Han Dynasty was much more intense than the war with the Liao Kingdom.

Over the past few years, the two countries in the Liao Kingdom have had border conflicts most of the time, but they have been at constant war with the Northern Han Dynasty.

In the first battle of Gaoping, although finally forced to rescue by the army of the Liao Kingdom, Zhou Jun actually walked in a very embarrassed way, because he was afraid of being chased by the army of the Liao Kingdom. All the fire was burned, because the officials knew very well that once the Liao army arrived in Jinyang, if they were not careful, they might be wiped out in Hedong.

But in the first half of the Battle of Gaoping, the Northern Han army lost over [-], and almost all the main elites were wiped out. It is certain that the Northern Han Dynasty will not recover from a setback. If it is not afraid that the Liao Kingdom will cross the Yanmen Pass again and send reinforcements from Daizhou to the south, it will not be difficult to destroy the Northern Han Dynasty. up.

As long as the army of the Central Plains besieges Jinyang, no matter how strong the city is, it’s just a problem. It’s not like besieging Shouzhou. Will they surrender when the city runs out of ammunition and food? Shouzhou has been besieged by tens of thousands of troops and tens of thousands of people for more than a year. It's broken before leaving the city.

The key is that Shouzhou is in Huainan, and the Liao Kingdom cannot intervene, and it is too easy for the Liao army to go south to Jinyang. If they garrison Jinyang for a long time, the Liao army will inevitably go south to rescue.

Therefore, whether the Northern Han Dynasty will perish or not has never been determined by the Northern Han Dynasty. Since the official Gaoping fought a beautiful battle, the Northern Han Dynasty has no qualifications to fight against the Central Plains. The key lies in how to make the Liao Kingdom not dare to intervene in the Northern Han Dynasty.

The method adopted by the Great Zhou was to encroach. The army did not care about him, but the generals on the border continued to send troops to attack it from time to time. Most of the elite of the Northern Han Dynasty were lost in the Battle of Gaoping. Li Yun and others were all powerful generals. Can't resist this encroachment.

In this kind of continuous small-scale war, it is impossible for the Liao Kingdom to send large troops to the rescue, which is laborious and costly.

It has to be said that this kind of decision-making is very clever. Shi Congyun also admires the decision-making of the prime minister and officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty on this matter, especially Wang Pu's strategic vision.

Concentrate forces to attack the easy-to-fight countries in the south, continuously expand its territory and population, and still make profits, while in the north, it will continue to use local warfare against the Northern Han Dynasty to erode it, weaken it, and make it exhausted.

The national strength of the Northern Han Dynasty was not as good as that of the Great Zhou Dynasty. After the war, it was exhausted to deal with the border wars, so it could only be dragged on and weakened, and the more it fought, the worse it was. Anyway, our country is strong and can afford it, but the Northern Han Dynasty can't afford it.

By the fall of this year, Li Yun had taken down several counties in the Taihang Mountains, opened up the way for the Zhou army to enter the Taihang Mountains, and won the Liaozhou Administration.

Shi Congyun was happy not only for the blow to the Northern Han army, but also for the failure of the Northern Han's attempt to retake Liaozhou.

He is going to fight the Liao Kingdom soon, and what he is most afraid of is that the Liao Kingdom or the Northern Han Dynasty will go southeast from the river, then go east out of the Taihang Mountains and enter the central part of Hebei, and attack his army from behind.

There are two roads for the Liao army or the Northern Han army to go east out of the Taihang Mountains. One is to go south from Jinyang, from Liaozhou (Zuoquan County) to Guzhen (Wuan City) and Xingzhou (Xingtai City).

The other one is to go east from Mengzhou (Meng County) to Zhenzhou (Shijiazhuang North).

This forced him to think about confronting the Liao soldiers in the north, and at the same time think about sending a large number of troops to block these two roads, so that the reinforcements from the Northern Han Dynasty or the Liao Kingdom could not leave the Taihang Mountains from the east of the river. He retreats.

This is all right, the situation in Liaozhou is stable, he can send a lot of people less, and keep his troops on the front to fight Liao.

Just when he was grinning happily, Wei Renpu said: "Don't be happy, just look at the rest."

"It's still good news!" Shi Congyun's eyes lit up, and he quickly picked up the remaining battle reports to read.

After seeing it, the whole person almost jumped up!Because the news is so good.

The rest of the battle report was sent by Li Yun, the Jiedu envoy of the Zhaoyi Army.

On the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, Li Yun led an army to capture the last county town of Liaozhou in the Northern Han Dynasty, beheaded more than 1000 soldiers, and captured more than [-] soldiers of the Northern Han Dynasty.

He also controlled Heshun County to the north, and sent troops to Yushe County and Lianghouyi (near Bi County today) to the west to completely block the road from Jinyang to the east, and blocked the east exit of the Northern Han and Liao Kingdoms in the southern section of Taihang Mountains. , completely control Liaozhou.

Since then, the Zhou army's sphere of influence has expanded to the middle of the Taihang Mountains, and troops can be dispatched from Liaozhou to Jinyang at any time.

The reason why Shi Congyun was so happy was that in this way, one of his major worries was relieved, and when he wanted to sleep, someone handed him a pillow.

Li Yun took control of Liaozhou and guarded Heshun County, Yushe County, and Lianghouyi. It was impossible for the Northern Han Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom to copy his army's back route from that line.

The only possibility is the Mengzhou and Zhenzhou lines further north.

"This is good, the eastern defense line is single, we have fewer places to defend, and the worries are gone.

The frontlines of Mengzhou and Zhenzhou are already close to the front line, and they are not afraid of losing contact with the army when they send reinforcements. This battle suddenly becomes much easier!Hahahahaha..." Shi Congyun couldn't help laughing.

Wei Renpu also stroked his beard and laughed, "Yeah, I really didn't expect such a big turning point in the war. If Li Yun didn't win Liaozhou, he would have to send 2 people to the front line alone. Only by forming an army can we rest assured. Now alright."

Shi Congyun nodded: "This Li Yun is still good at fighting."

"It's a pity that he is too rebellious and doesn't obey the edict. This is not like you. He even dares to imprison the military supervisor..." Wei Renpu shook his head, a little helpless.

"Don't worry about him, at least the court needs him right now, let's talk about the future." Shi Congyun said, his mind is full of fighting the Liao Kingdom at this time, he has never been so nervous in his life, and it is too late to think about other things .

Wei Renpu also nodded in agreement, "We can only take one step at a time."

........

It is impossible to be under little pressure. At this time, the Great Zhou Dynasty was not the Northern Song Dynasty. The Shu Kingdom, Southern Han Dynasty, Southern Tang Dynasty, and Wuyue were all still separated from one side. There was no strategic depth in the south. It would be fine for him to win a big victory in the north this time. Both are acceptable.

But once defeated, Da Zhou is likely to perish directly......

This is not a joke, it is like this in a country without strategic depth. If the Liao Kingdom wins big and the army takes advantage of the victory to pursue southward, the only thing that can protect them is the Yellow River, and there are too many crossings in the Yellow River, it is difficult to hold on, and it will end in winter icy.

In this way, Da Zhou might have a successful post-promotion.

It is impossible for officials to run across the Yangtze River to become emperor, so this heavy burden is actually very heavy.

It was so heavy that Shi Congyun couldn't even sleep well most of the time, and he was often awakened by nightmares.

And during the day, he didn't dare to rest for a moment. While supervising the training of Shenhuo Capital, he personally led the generals to supervise the training of soldiers.

The tactics of the Great Zhou also needed some adjustments. If they were to deal with the soldiers and horses of the Southern Academy of Liao, then the original tactics of the Zhou army were very good, and the soldiers were also experienced.

But it would be different if elite soldiers from the Northern Academy went south. Most of the Northern Academy were Khitan nobles who fought in the South and North during these years, mainly cavalry.

To deal with the cavalry of the Central Plains Dynasty, there is a set of tactics that has been used for many years, which is easy to use and timeless, and that is the chariot formation.

This was carried forward by Wei Qing to deal with the Xiongnu back then, and has been continuously improved since then, and has continued to become an important strategy for the Central Plains Dynasty to deal with the northern nomads, almost like a textbook.

To put it simply, the outer circle is surrounded by military vehicles to prevent the horses from rushing in, and then the shieldmen and pikemen form a defensive formation behind the vehicles. Only arrows, clear water and other supplies are surrounded in the middle.At the same time, the cavalry of one's own side will be placed behind the two wings and wait for opportunities.

Once the nomadic cavalry wanted to break through the central vehicle position and suffered too many casualties or were exhausted, the light and heavy cavalry recuperating on both sides would quickly attack and fight them decisively.

This style of play is not a secret. Wei Qing defeated the Xiongnu army in such a way back then. The key lies in using it skillfully, forming formations quickly, and being able to judge the timing of the attack.

The military cart is a cart used by soldiers to transport armor, weapons, pots and pans, and usually goes with the army. After they are surrounded and laid flat, there is a base at the front end, which can be inserted with knives and guns, and the horses can be organized to approach.

Zhou Jun seldom used this method of warfare in the past, because the cavalry was very good when fighting against the southern troops, and that cavalry was not enough for his father Shi Yanchao to hang up to fight, but now he had to make preparations if he wanted to fight the Khitans up.

Because Shi Congyun has won many battles over the years and has a very high prestige in the army, the soldiers also obeyed him. He went to various camps to give speeches, telling the soldiers the necessity of training this kind of warfare, and everyone obeyed.

As soon as the order was issued, the whole army began to train in full swing.

In such an atmosphere, the time came to the middle of February in the sixth year of Xiande, and the day of dispatching troops was approaching.

Chapter 221, Pretext for War

Xiande's five years passed peacefully, Shi Congyun didn't do anything except bring a lot of presents to visit Liu Renshan and Zhou Xingfeng who were at home idly, and closed the door to see no one.

Liu Renshan's complexion gradually improved, and when he saw him again, he was relatively peaceful. Although the two were enemies, the old Liu was a Confucian general who read a lot and didn't care too much. admiration for his achievements.

Zhou Xingfeng became much irritable, and he was still yelling that if Shi Congyun hadn't cheated (using fire and thunder) in the Sanjiangkou battle, he would never have lost, but when her wife opened her mouth, she immediately cursed and became much more honest. .

In fact, for him, such a day is also very good.

Years passed quickly, and in Xiande's sixth year, everything was busy.

.......

"Is there only these?" Shi Congyun clapped a large pile of armor piles, extending from one corner of the warehouse to the other side. The piles of things filled the entire long room, which was tens of meters from east to west, and the height was even higher than he.

The surface of the armor was coated with butter, smooth and greasy to the touch, without any dust.

In addition to the warehouse here, there are several long rooms like this outside, which are used by the Ministry of War to store armor and weapons.

"There are currently 1 armors in the warehouse, including 210 six iron armors. If we work overtime now, it is estimated that we can add about [-] pieces by May, mainly because the cowhide in the warehouse is running out.

Over the past few years, the imperial army has been expanding its army, and it has been fighting for years, which has caused a huge loss. The cowhide turned in by the local area is not enough for a while, and it cannot be replenished. I hope the commander will take care of it. Many, I hope the commander-in-chief will give us more time. "Military Minister Tao Gu said cautiously, his face was full of nervousness, and there were faint beads of sweat on his forehead. He was originally a timid person.

Now that the Imperial Army has expanded to over 4 hatchbacks, the Ministry of War suddenly doesn't have that many armors to distribute to the soldiers. He is very afraid that Shi Congyun will get angry and blame him.

Shi Congyun nodded. The main material of armor is cowhide, and because of years of wars, cowhide is an important strategic resource.

The amount of these things can almost determine how many armors a country can make, and how many armors can determine the country's military strength.

In the simplest terms, a tall person like Shi Congyun doesn't need to know any martial arts at all, as long as he is covered with more than five layers of cowhide to ensure that arrows will not easily kill him, and he rushes to the place with an ax or a big sword. If you go into the crowd of people on the other side, you can kill the other side with fear.

When the Mongols attacked the cities of the Southern Song Dynasty, they used a trick. They couldn’t make good armor like the Song Dynasty. They often found some tall and strong men, put ten layers of cowhide on the ordinary armor, and they could hold the ordinary bow. The crossbow charged into battle.

So cowhide is an important strategic material in this era.

Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, due to successive years of wars, the supply of cowhide has been in short supply. Various dynasties and separatist regimes have strictly controlled and required every state and county to hand over a fixed amount of cowhide to the court every year, which is much more than before.

Moreover, since the end of the Tang Dynasty, it has been stipulated that all cowhide must be handed over to the imperial court. Even if the amount is enough, it cannot be kept privately, traded privately, let alone sold to neighboring countries, otherwise it will be a capital offense if found.

In the year before the Great Eve, the government was sympathetic to the people all over the world, so they ordered that as long as there was enough cowhide that should be handed in that year, the rest of the people could buy and sell by themselves. Of course, they still could not be sold to neighboring countries, but it was already a great thing for the people.

Shi Congyun thought to himself that the official family is a wise ruler in many aspects. At least it is a blessing for the country to have Guo Wei and Guo Rong.

"I don't blame you for this incident. The increase in troops last year was indeed too much. In the past few years, the increase in troops has been increased year after year, and there have been many wars in the south and north. It is certain that the loss is huge.

Last year, there was an increase of two troops, close to 5 people. There are a large number of armor and weapons. I have also been to the military supervisor under the Ministry of War. The craftsmen there are indeed busy. Hundreds of small shops on the Bian River The workshop is working overtime, and this time someone can see it, Master Tao can rest assured.

However, Master Tao, please continue to urge the craftsmen of the Ministry of War to work overtime, make more as soon as possible, and then think of a way. This is a major matter related to the survival of the country, and it cannot be neglected, otherwise you and I will not be able to bear this responsibility. "Shi Congyun said as he walked.

Tao Gu nodded again and again: "I will definitely do my best, please rest assured, Commander!"

Shi Congyun nodded. He has been inspecting these war supplies for the past few days, from the warehouse in the north of the city to the warehouse of the Ministry of War. Because the successive victories in the past few years have made the Imperial Army flourish, the officials' confidence in the Imperial Army has skyrocketed, and the army has continued to expand.

The important consequence of the military expansion is that the armaments cannot keep up. After all, Dazhou is only a regional power with a separate regime, and its economy and population are far behind.

At the beginning of the Han and Tang Dynasties, almost 50 million troops were raised, and these were only standing troops. If the whole country went to war, a large number of reserve personnel could be temporarily recruited and armed with huge arsenals in time, just like an important Han Dynasty discovered by contemporary archaeologists. The county has more than 50 crossbows in stock, and such a huge armament needs the support of comprehensive national strength.

They have a huge territory and a large population, so it will not be so difficult to raise them.

But now, let alone the 50 forbidden army of the Great Zhou Dynasty, it has already begun to be unable to do what it wants as soon as it has expanded to about 18, and armor weapons and other armaments have begun to be in short supply.

Shi Congyun's head hurts. There are about [-] vacancies for armor and weapons. This is the number announced by the court.

Because war must have reserve reserves, armor and weapons are good, the wear and tear in the war is very large, it is necessary to have enough reserves, and these surplus materials are actually only reserves, so he did not rush to ask the Ministry of War to send these things to the camp Send out soldiers.

This is not a small amount, and now that he is the chief inspector in front of the palace, he didn't need to worry about these things before, but now he has to.

Shi Congyun lamented that the national power is still not enough. He never had to worry about these things before, and could just concentrate on fighting. Now it is no longer possible. He needs to manage the 12 Imperial Guards in the front of the palace.

The Privy Council is a military decision-making body, with great power, but it is not their responsibility to manage and coordinate the eating, drinking and messing of soldiers, and ultimately he must manage it.

.......

Before going to bed at night, he told Zhao Shijian about these troubles, and the little girl suggested whether to seek help from those military commanders, such as Fu Yanqing, the military commander of the Tianxiong Army.

Shi Congyun was taken aback. This is indeed a solution. These local large-scale military governors, such as Zhaoyi Army Jiedu Envoys and Tianxiong Army Jiedu Envoys, who have been guarding the frontier for a long time, pay taxes first before they go up. If you hand it over, you must hoard a large amount of military supplies to strengthen your own strength.

He has a good relationship with the Fu family...

But in the end Shi Congyun dismissed this idea. The Fu family was already a huge force. If he begged like this, he would owe the Fu family favors. He didn't want to be swayed by the Fu family.

He vaguely sympathized with the official family, or felt the same way. They all married the daughters of the Fu family. On the one hand, they all needed help from the Fu family.

Not to mention the three generations of the Fu family who were crowned kings, only Fu Yanqing's generation, they have seven or eight brothers, four Jiedu envoys, a bunch of assassins, defense envoys, etc., who can guarantee that if the Fu family continues to grow, will they follow suit? What about the immortal king Guo Wei coming with a yellow flag?

Shi Congyun also didn't want to be in debt to the Fu family, so he didn't agree to this matter.

We can only suppress the matter for the time being, at worst, the more than 4 recruits will not go north for now, he thought so.

At the beginning of March in the sixth year of Xiande, Shi Congyun discussed with the officials and several prime ministers and decided to let Han Tong go north first, and recruit civilians to Hebei to repair and widen the river in Cangzhou, so that the follow-up army ships can go north smoothly.

Han Tong took the order, and on the second day of March, he was ordered to leave the capital and go north to deal with this matter.

At the same time, on the fourth day of March, Li Jixun, who was beaten by Liu Renshan because of his negligence in Shouzhou, was also transferred back to the capital. He was already the commander of the guard infantry and the third in command of the guard department, but he was punished and demoted He was the envoy of the Heyang Festival, and now he is finally transferred back to the capital after several years. The officials are preparing to fight a big war, and all the generals will be transferred back.

On March [-], the Huainan Jiedu envoy and the commander of the bodyguards and horse infantry troops, Li Chongjin, rushed back from Yangzhou, Huainan, and began to command the bodyguards again.

Shi Congyun didn't go to see him. He and Li Chongjin had a bad relationship, and they couldn't speak well when they met. In addition, they are now the leaders of the two divisions of the Imperial Army, so it's not appropriate to meet.

In addition, a large number of generals from other towns were gradually transferred to the capital.

Anyone with a little brain knows that the government is going to make a big move, and this time the move is different from the previous ones. Almost all the generals have begun to mobilize back to Beijing.

.......

By March [-]th, Shi Congyun rode to the Privy Council Office early in the morning to discuss with Wei Renpu and others about the dispatch of troops, and everyone had already begun to prepare an excuse for dispatching troops.

It is very important to be famous, even if you have absolute power.