Lingbao is located on the south bank of the Yellow River, bordering Shaanzhou (today's Sanmenxia) to the east and less than two hundred miles to the west is the important town of Tongguan, the gate to Xi'an.
Last autumn, after wiping out Baiwang's troops, Wu Sangui and Ma Ke were ordered to garrison Luoyang from Anqing. Then Li Yan adjusted his layout and ordered Wu Sangui to march west to defend Shaanxi Province. Just a few days ago, Li Yan was preparing to attack Chaoyi. They were also ordered to send troops and horses to march west again and stationed in Lingbao to stand by.
Wu Sangui knew that the rebel army was in peace talks with the imperial court. This situation was the most sensitive and the situation was the most changeable. Therefore, Li Yan's order to advance the army westward was in line with the current strategic adjustment.
Lingbao is less than 200 miles away from Tongguan. It is adjacent to the Yellow River and mountains to the north. The terrain is steep and narrow. At the important moment, it has reached the territory of the rebel army. It can be said that they are finally facing each other head-on.
After a few days of trekking, Wu Sangui and Ma Kebu arrived at Lingbao to garrison. They didn't have many direct troops under their command, but they were all elite soldiers. When the chaos in the Yangtze River was calmed down, they added a lot of surrendered troops. There are seven to eight thousand men. Although the force is not strong, it is very courageous. After all, there are tens of thousands of main forces led by several lords in the rear.
Information in this era lags behind, but after Chang Yu took office, he attached great importance to the timeliness of information. Quick communication channels and military stations were set up between various units and with the capital to maintain close contact with each other. There are three hundred regular intelligence It must be delivered within one day if it is within a kilometer, and if it is urgent, it must be delivered within one day if it is within 800 miles.
Although Li Yan, Wu Sangui and others were on different lines of defense and separated by hundreds of miles of mountains and rivers, any military information between them would reach them within a day and a half at the latest.
For example, a few days ago Li Yan sent an order to Wu Sangui to advance westward, and it took only half a day to reach Shaanzhou from Puzhou.
On the day Wu Sangui and Ma Ke entered Lingbao, another military message came from there, and Li Yan successfully raided the imperial court.
Lightning struck down an entire city, which was originally a great joy, but after receiving this military information, Wu Sangui and Ma Ke showed no joy on their faces and even gradually became solemn.
Both of them had experienced battle experience and were no less intelligent than Li Yan. At this time, during the negotiations, Li Yan suddenly launched an attack. Although the specific reason was unknown, something had obviously changed.
Originally, the situation of the confrontation between the two armies across the river was relatively clear. They would shake hands and make peace if the talks were good, and they would fight if the talks failed. However, this sudden blow immediately broke the balance, and the situation became complicated and confusing, and it was even possible that a full-scale war would suddenly break out.
Could it be that the talks in Beijing have collapsed?
It's impossible. If the talks break down, there's no way they haven't received the news, and if a full-scale war breaks out, Chang Yu will definitely come to the front line in person and it won't be Li Yan's turn to give them orders.
Li Yan only passed the military order, but did not elaborate on it.
But once the whole body is mobilized, although Li Yan's side won the first battle, it is very likely that the situation will be chaotic later. Wu Sangui and Ma Ke did not dare to be careless, especially since they were now bordering the rebel forces, with no barrier between them. That really means you can do it if you just do it.
For this reason, Wu Sangui ordered his scouts to investigate westward and keep an eye on every move of the Tongguan rebels. The officers and soldiers soon contacted the spies of the rebels, but there was no real conflict between the two sides. Pandou Town was used as the boundary to expel each other. Mutual penetration, it is obvious that the officers and soldiers moving west to garrison Lingbao also made the thieves in Tongguan feel uneasy.
Two days after being stationed in Lingbao, we still haven't warmed up. Suddenly, an urgent order came from Puzhou to attack Tongguan!
wipe! Wu Sangui and Ma Ke were shocked and broke into sweat on the spot.
Tongguan is the gate to Xi'an, and a full-scale war is about to begin!
Moreover, Tongguan is an important town that must be fought over by military strategists. The rebel army's defense is so impeccable that it is impossible for them to attack it with just two soldiers and horses.
If we talk about field battles, Wu Sangui's Guan Ning cavalry can defeat the opponent and attack the city... but it is really not possible.
Fortunately, Li Yan was more detailed this time.
It turns out that Li Guo unexpectedly launched a night attack and besieged Hejin. Li Yan was either unwilling to save him or not. In the end, he simply refused to save him. If you didn't surround me in Hejin, then I would surround you in Tongguan.
It turned out that they were not really attacking Tongguan, but surrounding Wei and rescuing Zhao. Wu Sangui and Ma Ke looked at each other and smiled!
However, their small force is not enough to put pressure on the rebel army, and may not be able to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao. This will require the main force from the rear to advance.
So Wu Sangui immediately ordered his troops to rush to the rear and march westward. At the same time, he ordered the scouts in the front to leave a gap, allowing the rebel spies to penetrate and detect the advancing movements of the officers and soldiers without leaving any trace.
Then, after the two men discussed, Wu Sangui led his direct line to sit in Lingbao, while Ma Ke led his troops to advance to Pandou Town, thus disturbing the bandits in Tongguan.
Pandou Town is the town of Gu County in later generations. It is less than a hundred miles away from Tongguan and is basically right under his nose.
Sure enough, the information that the officers and soldiers began to gather forces to march westward was quickly detected by the thieves in Tongguan, and then sent to Li Guo as quickly as possible. Li Guo was not in Tongguan at this time, but in Dali!
The capture of Li Zicheng made him panic, and the subsequent destruction of Chaoyi City frightened him even more. At this time, he could not confirm whether Li Zicheng had been captured, nor did he know why Li Yan took action.
But no matter whether Li Zicheng was captured or not, he would not allow Chaoyi City to be lost. This would be greatly detrimental to the situation of the rebel army. If the peace talks were held, their bargaining chips would be severely squeezed. If the peace talks failed, it would be even worse. .
So Li Guo decided that he must immediately counterattack and take back Dali.
But at this moment, an idea flashed in his mind, maybe Li Yan was waiting for him to counterattack.
Did he seize the imperial court just to remove his spy? Or simply seize the chips?
Isn't there a deeper intention behind it?
According to the intelligence, Li Yan dispatched at least 3,000 troops and horses to cross the river for a surprise attack. This was also the limit of the troops stationed in Chaoyi City. However, if he devoted all his troops and horses to the siege, he was still very sure of taking it back, but just across the river was How could he turn a blind eye to Li Yan's tens of thousands of main troops.
He should be waiting for his troops to come.
Chaoyi City is definitely not easy to take back at this time.
In this case...
Why don't I take advantage of the plan and take it by surprise!
So he ordered his two most valiant generals, Luo Hu and Ma Bao, to go to Hancheng and mobilize nearly 8,000 troops from surrounding counties to raid the Hejin County on the other side in the early morning. They first broke through the river bank defenses and then successfully laid siege to the city. The heroes who should have taken credit immediately, But he instructed Luo Hu not to rush, and to cook slowly over low heat.
That's right, Li Guo's ultimate goal was definitely not to capture Hejin. He wanted Li Yan to send troops to rescue him.
When he wanted to divert the tiger away from the mountain, as long as Li Yan sent soldiers and horses from Puzhou to aid Hejin, he would personally sit in Dali and use his troops to counterattack the imperial court, go to Hejin and regain the imperial city. This was his ultimate goal.
Li Yan, aren't you always known for your resourcefulness? I'm going to weigh you today to see if you can see through my intentions. Li Guo is very satisfied with this flash of inspiration. He hasn't played such a high-level strategy for a long time. .
Hejin.
Qin Songwang was miserable at this time, but also felt very guilty.
Before Li Yan surrendered to Chang Yu, he stayed in the rebel army as a military adviser. He could make suggestions and participate in commanding operations. He did not have his own army, and Qin Songwang was just a follower. In short, he was a personal soldier or a soldier. General Gao Qi was a small leader of the bandit army. He had hundreds of people under his command. During the Taiyuan War, he attracted thousands of bandit soldiers to surrender to the court along with Li Yan. After that, his military skills in conquering the south and the north also stood out. With great military exploits, he became Li Yan's closest confidant.
After Li Yan was ordered to garrison the Yellow River, he was recommended by Chang Yu as the governor of the Yellow River and prime minister of the defense of the Yellow River. As one of his confidants, Qin Songwang was sent to garrison in Hejin, the northernmost line. Although it was not the first place to bear the brunt, it was extremely important because the two armies worked carefully. Most of the scouts avoid the frontal defense line and enter through here. Even Chang Yu took a detour from here when he went to have fun on the other side last time.
Moreover, on the other side is Hancheng occupied by the bandits. According to intelligence, there are at least two thousand troops.
Although Qin Songwang's military strength was slightly superior, he did not dare to take it lightly. This was the experience he learned from Li Yan: be careful when sailing the Wannian Ship. After stationing in Hejin, he began to consolidate the defense, because there were often rebel soldiers landing here at night. Crossing the border, or even circling the city to conduct raids and reconnaissance, the number ranged from a dozen to dozens or hundreds. At first, they relied solely on the officers and soldiers to drive away the snipers, but after all, the job of the night guards was to conduct reconnaissance and intelligence, and defense also required soldiers and horses to defend the city. Come and do it.
So Qin Songwang also dug a trench defense line on the bank of the Yellow River, with observation posts and sniper points, and a regular garrison of five to six hundred people, specifically used to snipe and intercept the thieves who brazenly came to disturb trouble. This can also be regarded as the peripheral defense line of Hejin City.
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