Chapter 1532: Sweeping Jizhou (Part 1)
After Qin Hao transferred troops from Si and Jingzhou to the north, Bingzhou and Hetao had a total of 450,000 troops. Even if he transferred 350,000 troops into Hebei at one time, there were still 100,000 troops left to guard Bingzhou and Si.
If this was before the Battle of Hetao broke out, a mere 100,000 troops would naturally not be enough to defend the two places, but now the situation in Northern Xinjiang is completely different.
After the army left, Jizhou in the east became a battlefield, and Qin Hao's jurisdiction was in the south. The only two directions that could threaten Binghe were the north and west.
The only threat to the north is Yuan Meng, and Tuo Lei's son Kublai Khan is still a hostage in Luoyang. Tuo Lei will never go south unless he wants his son to die.
In addition, Yuanmeng was first defeated in Hetao, and then fought with the Manchus for two years, losing both sides. It can be said that his foundation was completely destroyed. He has not recovered yet, and he is unable to go south to invade Bingzhou.
Therefore, even if Tuo Lei really didn't care about Kublai Khan's life and death, and really gritted his teeth and sent troops to fight, Yuanmeng's national power would not be able to send many troops, and he would be unable to break the heavily guarded Zhenbei Pass and Yanmen Pass.
Apart from Yuan and Meng, the only threat the Qin army faced in northern Xinjiang was the Liangzhou princes in the west. However, they were fighting separately. The direct conflicts were huge, and it was extremely possible to unite to fight against the outside world. Low.
Therefore, in Qin Hao's view, leaving a hundred thousand troops was more than enough. If the number of Jizhou Ming troops had not exceeded his expectations, he would have only prepared to leave fifty thousand defenders.
As for the task of guarding Bingzhou and Hetao, Qin Hao naturally handed it over to Meng Tian, who had shined in the Battle of Hetao. He is still the leader of the Jin clan, so it is appropriate for him to be responsible for guarding the two places.
Regarding the news of the surrender of the Ming army, Qin Hao is not ready to make it completely public for the time being. Although this matter cannot be hidden at all, as soon as the army passes Hu Pass, it will be discovered by enemy spies immediately, but Qin Hao still has to try his best to cover it up. All entered Jizhou.
The 350,000-strong army cannot just leave. Even if all the Huguan gates are opened, allowing the army to pass through uninterruptedly, it will take several days to get through.
The Ming general responsible for guarding Huguan was Long Qie's younger brother Long Yang. He was also very satisfied with Qin Hao, his brother-in-law, so he had no objection to surrendering to Qin.
Long Qie had already greeted Long Yang, asking him to hand over control of Huguan to the Qin army after the Qin army arrived.
After all, when the war breaks out, all the grain and grass will be transported to Jizhou through this, so it is not an exaggeration to say that Huguan is the throat of the Qin army. How can they continue to be controlled by the newly surrendered troops?
Long Yang's political attributes were outmatched, and he naturally understood the key, so he did not dare to neglect it at all.
As soon as Zhang Liao arrived with his army, Long Yang let go of the city defenses and allowed the Qin army to take over the great pass of Huguan, while he prepared to lead his army to follow Zhang Liao to the land of western Hebei.
"The movement of our army this time is so big that it cannot be hidden from the spies of South Korea and Zhao. At this time, Yuan Shao and Han Xin must have known about it, so they must take advantage of the fact that they have no time to set up defenses, and they must feel the border to interrupt Han as soon as possible. The arrangements of the two countries Zhao.”
Guo Jia looked calm and said unhurriedly: "But Huguan is also very important and must be in the hands of our army's direct descendants. I also ask General Zhang Liao to select the candidate to guard the general as soon as possible."
Zhang Liao nodded solemnly and said: "The lord has decided to take charge of Huguan personally, so the people who stay will not stay long, they only need to wait until the lord arrives."
Hearing this, all the generals secretly breathed a sigh of relief. After all, you have to go to the front line to achieve meritorious service. No one wants to stay behind.
Regarding the candidates who were left to guard Huguan for the time being, Zhang Liao's eyes first wandered on Hu Luguang and Zhang Han, but finally fell on Zhao Yun.
"Zilong, you will guard Huguan first. When the lord comes later, you will lead the army to catch up."
"No." Although Zhao Yun was a little reluctant, he still accepted it readily.
Hu Luguang and Zhang Han looked at each other and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. They were not willing to stay.
Zhao Yun temporarily took over Huguan, while Zhang Liao and Guo Jia led the army into Jizhou first, and 80,000 cavalry traveled continuously for a day before crossing Huguan.
Another day later, Qin Hao's guard generals, Xu Chu and Xiong Kuohai, led the Tiger Guard and Iron Guard respectively, arriving at Huguan one step ahead of Qin Hao.
After Zhao Yun handed over the city defense to the two men, he immediately led thousands of fine cavalry under his command to chase Zhang Liao's army. At this time, Zhang Liao had joined forces with Long Qie.
Zhang Liao briefly observed the cavalry under Xia Long Qie, but found that the equipment of the Ming cavalry was exactly the same as that of the Qin army.
The same armor, the same weapons, the same crossbows, and even the same type of horses.
If he hadn't known that this was a surrender, Zhang Liao would have thought that this was the Qin army.
"Long, please see General Zhang Liao."
Seeing Long Qie salute to him, Zhang Liao quickly dismounted from his horse and helped him, saying: "General Long Qie is not too polite. You are a man who has been granted the title of marquis. I, Zhang Liao, am only a viscount. How can a marquis want to salute a viscount?"
The six levels of title are: king, duke, marquis, uncle, son, and male;
The Qin army conferred the title of marquis on five people, plus the three newly ennobled people from the Ming clan. Although there were only eight people in total, there were still quite a few people with the three titles of earl, viscount and baron.
Zhang Liao holds the title of viscount, while Xue Rengui, Li Cunxiao, and Zhao Yun hold the title of earl, and are only one step away from becoming a marquis.
"The etiquette cannot be discarded. Long's title is higher than that of the general, but the general is the leader of this battle, so he naturally deserves Long's gift." Long Qie said seriously.
Seeing that Long Qie's words didn't seem to be fake, Zhang Liao was secretly relieved.
Although Zhang Liao was the chief general in this battle, Long Qie was also one of the two lieutenants. If the lieutenants dissatisfied with him as the chief general and opposed him in everything, it would inevitably have an unnecessary impact on the war.
Zhang Liao had heard before that there were rumors in the market that Suo Long was arrogant and not an easy person to get along with.
Zhang Liao was prepared to endure and give in when he could, but he didn't expect that after meeting Long Qie himself, he would behave so humbly and not at all as domineering as rumored.
Seeing that Long Qie was so reasonable, Zhang Liao was greatly impressed by his senses. After the two armies merged, they immediately set off towards the border, and Zhao Yun also caught up with him a day later.
"General Zhang Liao, General Long Qie, and Yuan Shao were on guard against the Ming Dynasty. Um, no, it was our army."
A trace of embarrassment flashed across Guo Jia's face, and then he continued: "Sixteen strongholds and eight strongholds have been set up on the border.
As for Han Xin, although he did not have as many defenses as Yuan Shao, he still had nine strongholds and three camps.
Our cavalry has a large number. If we concentrate our actions and destroy them one by one, it will be too slow. This will also give them a chance to react.
Therefore, Guo thought that he could divide his forces and destroy all their arrangements on the border before Yuan Shao and Han Xin could react. "
