Chen Ran is also a veteran. But not every veteran is willing to face such a large-scale siege. At this moment, what came to his mind were the situation when he was surrounded by the Mongolian army in northern Xinjiang in his early years, and the situation where Wang Shixian fought to the death with the enemy in Haicang Town and suffered huge casualties.
He subconsciously clenched his hands so tightly that in the wound on the back of his right hand, bone stubble stung the muscles. But the loss lasted only for a blink of an eye. He immediately returned to normal and said to Tian Xiong, "Where are those forts in the upper reaches of Lushui River? Is there any movement?"
"Not yet..."
"Let them all withdraw." Chen Ran said decisively.
"Qian Ju, with this withdrawal, I'm afraid it will be difficult to recover in a short time!"
"If you don't withdraw, what can you do if you stay there? Are you going to die?"
Chen Ran shook his head: "These days, our troops have repeatedly struggled with the black army and have always maintained the transportation route on Lushui River, but this does not mean that we can advance and retreat freely in the face of several times more troops. Note that stability The key to Zhongdu is the Lushui Passage, and the key to maintaining the Lushui Passage is our Zhigu Village. Since the enemy forces are pressing in from three sides with such a large force, they must have understood this... Let's concentrate our efforts and hold firmly. Zhigu Village."
"……yes."
Tian Xiong was very capable and immediately arranged for a fast boat to pass the order along the river. In accordance with military regulations, the detectives are still sending back a steady stream of military reports. At this time, all the generals and commanders in the village gathered together.
In recent days, there are several staff officers who arrived at Zhigu Village with the ship, all of whom are capable people in the Dinghai Navy Military Mansion.
Among them, the experienced official named Song Zizhen was the scholar who took the initiative to seek refuge with Monk Luo when he was recruiting refugees from Shandong.
Previously, the East Road of Shandong was planned, and many things were done in various places. The military government controlled more than fifty cities. Some state and county officials were promoted from retired generals, and some were from the civilian army. Once they took office, they would immediately preside over the distribution of military households. He has great power over his farmland. Among these people, it is inevitable that there are those who are ignorant of political affairs. They have become corrupted in a short period of time. They rely on gathering power and collude with others for personal gain. Some even hide in private houses and occupy more land.
Miancai Chucai followed the observation and interview system of the previous generation, selected personnel in the Government Affairs Department, and inspected the officials in separate lines. They established procedures and held meetings with them to be responsible for deposing corrupt officials, rewarding honesty and diligence, and establishing discipline. Song Zizhen is the person in charge of one of them. Within a month of his trip, he impeached no fewer than a dozen local officials and Dinghai navy officers. He even used the additional authority granted by the Recording Department to directly kill two generals in the military camp.
The fact that things were done so smoothly showed that Song Zizhen was indeed capable, but it also caused considerable shock in the army. At this time, his picketing mission had come to an end, and Guo Ning didn't know what he was thinking. With a stroke of his pen, he transferred Song Zizhen from the Political Affairs Department to the General Staff Department, and then shipped him to Zhigu Village and asked him to give it to Chen Ran. Make consultations.
Although Song Zizhen was a scholar, he paid a lot of attention to military affairs in his daily life. At this moment, he sorted out the military reports one after another and explained them to the generals present while marking them on the map.
"The Bohai Navy at the mouth of the Sancha River is a tribal defense force placed by the imperial court in Gaozhou in the early years. Brother You Xing personally led more than 3,000 Bohai soldiers, and his deputy was his cousin Wang Qishi. In addition, in Mu After Hua Li took control of Beijing Road, he was joined by twelve men from Wanhu and Qianhu, with a total strength of more than 7,000, and the banners of each family have been confirmed."
"The Khitan army at Liukou was led by Yelu Kechoubal. He was once the right-hand man of the veteran Wugu Sunwutun. After Wugu Sunwutun died in battle last year, he led his troops to return to Beijing. However, he was blocked by Brother Yeluliu and was stranded on the Beijing Road. The four thousand people at the core of his tribe were the elites who were transferred from Shangjing to King Qin of Zhongdu by Prime Minister Shan Shan in the early years. In addition, after the defeat of Yeluliu Ge, his younger brother Yelu Sibu led his tribe to Muhuali, and at this time he also In the army, they are under the supervision of Yelu Kechou Baer. The number of his troops is about ten thousand. At this time, they are coming from Anci, Yongqing, and Xin'an, blocking the east and west factions of the Marco Polo River."
"As for Shi Tianying's troops, they are our old opponents. They have always moved along Lushui before. The number of enemies in this direction is the largest. According to the flags seen so far, the main force of the black army of 20,000 people is here, and They changed their previous style of avoiding deadly and vicious fights. They used thirty stone cannons and two thousand soldiers who dared to kill, and they broke through the fort at Sanchakou in one go. Fortunately, most of the soldiers in the fort had already boarded the ship. We have retreated, and our casualties are not great. In addition, Brother Yang Jiezhi's troops are now in the salt marsh area on the coast, and their purpose is most likely to cut off the water channel east of Zhigu Village."
"There are a total of 40,000 enemy troops from three directions. They are approaching fiercely." Several generals looked at the map and all frowned.
At this time, the territory of Zhongdu Road was full of beacon smoke. There were a huge number of soldiers and horses who broke into Zhongdu from the direction of Beijing and then attacked the city and plundered the territory. But after all, this is a force distributed throughout the entire General Manager's Palace. As for the area near Zhigu Village, Yang Jie, who was killed by Chen Ran a while ago, only had 4,000 troops... We had one thousand against four thousand. This battle was completely won.
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But Song Zizhen drew dozens of large and small marks on the map, which were like Mount Tai overwhelming them, exceeding the range that could be used for field confrontation. That’s 40,000 people! This kind of war involving tens of thousands of people should be handled by a big shot like Guo Xuanshi, right? Why did you come to Zhigu Village?
It goes without saying that the importance of Zhigu Village is great, but 40,000 people... that is an army of 40,000 people!
The people present were all experienced generals. Looking at these marks, you can understand that the enemy moved quickly but solidly entered every key point. The determination contained in this could not be clearer! They just want to crush the defenders of Zhigu Village head-on! This is a noose used in Zhongdu City, and is being tried in Zhigu Village!
After Song Zizhen finished his introduction, he looked at the generals and colonels around him. Even the young men who usually prided themselves on being brave were biting their lips nervously and speechless.
Someone said: "This force is probably not something we can resist. We must ask the envoy for help immediately."
Some people tried to comfort their companions: "This gang of thieves has used such a large formation. After approaching, they need time to rest. In addition, they have to build siege equipment, so we still have a few days..."
"What are we going to do in a few days? Arrange to board the ship and escape?" An officer sneered: "The envoy asked us to stay in Zhigu Village and stabilize the Lushui channel, but he didn't let us escape! What do you think, surnamed Sun? What to do?"
"I mean, let the common people leave quickly..."
The officer who spoke earlier explained repeatedly. Suddenly finding such a large number of enemy troops approaching, his companions were inevitably excited and nervous. In fact, everyone understood what he meant.
In the early morning of the next day, Chen Ran stood on the watchtower and saw enemy troops appearing from several directions, and each chose a suitable terrain to set up camp. Within two or three days, the camp was completed, but the enemy was not in a hurry to attack and instead began to build siege weapons.
For several days, the soldiers who looked out saw many enemy troops busy cutting down trees, and then forming giant ladder trucks, catapults and other behemoths in the camp. These behemoths grew from two in one building to dozens of them, and they gradually became as far as the eye could see.
"We can't wait for them to come. We have to select a group of elite soldiers to come out and set fire to the camp tonight!" Tian Xiong suggested.
Chen Ran nodded: "You have to choose a good hand."
