Chapter 645: Farewell My Concubine (Part 1)
Zhang Sheng's generous words cleared away the gloom in most people's hearts.
Everyone knows that continuing to fight to the death will only increase casualties, but retaining strength will give them a chance to make a comeback.
At this thought, a glimmer of hope flashed in the eyes of all the generals. Although the road ahead will become more difficult, they will never give up the struggle as long as they have a breath left.
Seeing hope igniting in everyone's eyes, Zhang Sheng was also filled with relief. As long as these people were in the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty would not perish.
The three mountain base areas respectively refer to the Taihang Mountains located between the two prefectures of Hebei and Binzhou, the Taishan Mountains located in the middle of the three prefectures of Qingyan, Xuzhou, and the Dabie Mountains at the junction of Xuzhou and Jianghuai.
These three major mountain ranges are large mountains that stretch for thousands of miles. Their internal spaces are wide and rich in materials. Even millions of people can be self-sufficient. The terrain is difficult to defend and difficult to attack. They are all good places for Tibetans to hide their troops.
Zhang Yan in original history only occupied Heishan, located at the southern end of the Taihang Mountains, but resisted the Han for more than ten years.
According to the "Huangfu Song Biography of the Book of the Later Han Dynasty": "After the Yellow Turban Thieves, there were Heishan, Huanglong, Baibo, Zuo Xiao, Guo Daxian, Yu Digen, Qingniujiao, Zhang Baiqi, Liu Shi, Zuo Zhuzhangba, Yang Feng , Yudu, Wulu, Li Damu, Bairao, Suigu, Kucuo, and Luoshi's disciples, together in the valley, are countless. The big ones are 20,000 to 30,000, and the small ones are 6,7,000. The thieves commander Zhang Yan from Changshan , and then communicated with the bandits in the valleys of Zhongshan, Changshan, Zhaojun, Shangdang, and Hanoi. They all came to Bowan, and they were called Black Mountain bandits."
It can be seen that the activity areas of the Black Mountain Army are in the valleys of the Taihang Mountains in Zhongshan, Changshan, Zhaojun, Shangdang, Hanoi and other places.
The Taihang Mountains have peaks one after another, most of which are over 2,000 meters above sea level. The Hebei Plain is to the southeast of the mountains and the Shanxi Plateau to the northwest. The roads leading from the Hebei Plain to the Shanxi Plateau are mostly distributed between the Taihang Mountains.
The terrain characteristics of the Taihang Mountains provide more convenient conditions for the communication and strategic cooperation between the various units of the Black Mountain Army distributed in the valleys of the Taihang Mountains.
Zhang Yan was just a leader of the Yellow Turbans. Relying on the geographical advantage of the Black Mountains at the southern end of Taihang, he repelled countless encirclement and suppression campaigns by officers and soldiers. He remained active until the Battle of Guandu, when he surrendered to Cao Cao.
And Zhang Sheng was the emperor of the Ming Dynasty and had resources far more than a hundred times that of Zhang Yan, so of course he would not just occupy one Taihang.
This battle has not been completely lost, so the resources at Ming's disposal are still very large. Therefore, while opening up Taihang, it also opened up Mount Tai and Dabie Mountain as base areas for Tibetan troops.
As early as a year ago, Zhang Liang had already begun preparations in secret. Now, not only has the Sanshan Base Area been opened up, but most of the defense system has been completed, and all the military personnel have been moved there. Therefore, after Li Shimin invaded Chenliu Not a single soldier's family member was caught.
Now the three major mountain ranges are filled with hundreds of thousands of Ming army family members, and they are no longer so desolate.
As long as hundreds of thousands more people move inland, the Ming Dynasty can completely close the mountain gate and hide in the mountains to become a state within a state.
After determining the strategy of retreating to the mountains, all that was left was to delay time and move the people who voluntarily continued to follow the Ming Dynasty there to prepare in advance for the endless encirclement and suppression by the Han Dynasty in the future.
Zhang Sheng glanced at the generals, took a long breath, and said in a deep voice:
"Pass on my decree to relocate all the people who are willing to follow and enter the 'Three Mountains' base area. The defenders from various places will do their best to hold on, and then immediately abandon all territories, and the entire army will retreat to the 'Three Mountains' base area to defend it."
"No." All the generals shouted in unison.
As for the candidates for the leaders of the three major base areas, Zhang Sheng had already made a decision in his mind.
Dou Jiande, the governor of Jizhou, died of an old injury not long after Zhang Sheng arrived. Zhang Sheng took over the entire Ming army in Jizhou, so the Taihang Mountains between Jizhou and Jizhou were naturally under Zhang Shenglai's personal control.
Dabie Mountain is located between Xuzhou and Jianghuai. Now the Ming army only has one Zhu Yuanzhang in the Jianghuai area. In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang has always been loyal to Zhang Sheng and the Ming Dynasty, so he is naturally the best candidate to lead.
What really gave Zhang Sheng a headache was the candidate to lead the Taishan District. Xiang Yu and Li Zicheng, who were stationed in Yanzhou, were both qualified.
Zhang Sheng was leaning toward Li Zicheng in his heart. The hatred between Xiang Yu and Qin Hao was too great, and he would never surrender to Qin Hao with him. If he really allowed him to command Taishan District, there might be a lot of trouble in the future.
With this thought, Zhang Sheng already made a decision in his heart.
Looking in the direction of Yanzhou, Zhang Sheng's eyes flashed with a trace of evil, and he whispered to himself: "Xiang Yu, don't blame me, but there is no place for you in this dirty world. Don't you want to atone for your sins? Die. All sins are atoned for."
Neither Diao Chan nor Nu Wa is a vicious woman, and Zhang Sheng, who is a combination of the two, is naturally the same, but now she has to be vicious.
Life is so helpless.
——————
After Mingdu Chenliu was breached, the expected counterattack did not occur.
Instead of mobilizing soldiers and horses to recapture Chenliu, the Ming Dynasty ordered soldiers and horses from all over the country to defend it to the death, and then moved people from all over the country into the mountains.
This move of Ming Dynasty was really beyond the expectation of all the princes, and of course they were all happy to see it.
In August, the fifth year of Zhongping.
Zhang Sheng moved 500,000 people who volunteered to follow him into Taihang, and then voluntarily gave up the Jizhou land in his hands and reduced his troops to defend Taihang.
As for Zhu Yuanzhang, who was far away in Jianghuai, he resisted the Yangzhou coalition forces and relocated the people until he had moved more than 300,000 Jianghuai people to the rear.
In September, Zhu Yuanzhang voluntarily abandoned Shouchun and the cities in Jianghuai, and led his troops to retreat into the Dabie Mountains to defend.
The situation in the Central Plains was the most complicated. The two Ming and Han armies were facing each other here. After paying a heavy price, Xiang Yu finally covered Li Zicheng and moved nearly 300,000 people from the Central Plains into Mount Tai.
In October, Li Zicheng took control of Mount Tai, but Xiang Yu was intercepted by the troops led by Li Shimin and Cao Cao on his way to Mount Tai.
If he breaks through forcefully, he will definitely fight Li Yuanba, but Xiang Yu was seriously injured when he fought against nine generals alone before, and now he is definitely no match for him with his injuries still intact, so Taishan's path is unworkable.
Just when Xiang Yu wanted to go northward into the Taihang Mountains, Yang Jian led his army and blocked the way northward.
There are nine powerful generals in Yang Jian's army, including Yu Wenchengdu. If he is trapped this time, Xiang Yu will not be sure of saving his life.
The Taihang Mountains and Taishan Mountains are impassable, and the Han army's current strength in the Central Plains is only weakest in the south, so Xiang Yu can only break out south.
When Xiang Yu went south, the battle situation in Qingzhou also took on new changes.
After Gongsun Xuanyuan led his army southward, the Qingyou Coalition Army, joined by new forces, began to siege Huang Chao after a brief reorganization.
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