There was only one reason why Zhang Gao came to Yecheng in person after he had already sent He Fujin to assist Yan Jin in guarding Yecheng.
That's when he suddenly realized that he had committed a major military taboo.
Zhang Yan is currently stationed in Xiangzhou, which is only fifty or sixty miles away from Yecheng in the north. In fact, two command systems of the Zhou army have been formed, and there are many overlaps.
For example, he sent Huang Yingda to reinforce Zhang Zhaojun. This was Zhang Gao's decision, but Yan Jin didn't know it.
If Huang Yingda goes and Zhang Zhaojun has been ordered to retreat by Yan Jin, then he will be cheating himself.
So Zhang Yan decided to go to Yecheng in person to unify the command system before making any plans, and he also needed to listen to Yan Jin's opinion.
At the end of April, Zhang Gao personally led a thousand Hanshandu horse infantry, and fought against the six henchmen of Zhang Zhaojie (Dunzhu), Zhang Zhaojie (Qiongre Duojin), Zhang Zhaozhong (Manxiong), Fanshun, Wang Tongtong, and Zhang Cheng. Under escort, they arrived at the front line of Yecheng.
At this time, Zhang Zhou's main force of more than 80,000 people and 40,000 people were in Xiangzhou and the south, controlled by Fan Quan, Feng Hui, and Shanzhu'er Luo Shande, who had rushed back from Xuzhou.
Thirty thousand people are on the front line of Yecheng, and more than 10,000 people are deployed from Weizhou to Bozhou.
The reason for this division is entirely due to logistical support capabilities.
Since the three floods, droughts and locust plagues four years ago, to the subsequent war between Shanxi and Liaoning and Yelu Deguang's entry into Tokyo, the population of the entire Hebei area has been depleted.
There are only 20,000 households in the three states of Xiang, Wei, and Bo. The population of more than 100,000 people is simply unable to provide supplies for the large army.
All grain, grass and baggage had to be transported from Henan. If Zhang Yan brought all the army to one place, plus the hundreds of thousands of civilians transported, the logistical supplies alone would be catastrophic.
Therefore, Zhang Zhang could only place his command tent in Xiangzhou at first, and move his armies closer to the Yellow River one by one, in order to reduce the logistical pressure.
In fact, ancient wars were, to a large extent, limited by logistics.
Many times in ancient battles, we watched the army attack in a concentrated manner like a fierce tiger, but in the end it became a scattered and combined attack, which was a helpless choice limited by logistics and terrain.
Zhang Yan arrived at Yecheng secretly, and as soon as he arrived, he summoned all the officers above Yuhou to start a military meeting.
Only then did he realize that sending Huang Yingda to support Zhang Zhaojun (Ma Shacai) had caused a bad chain reaction.
Seeing Yan Jin's somewhat embarrassed expression, Zhang Hao waved his hand with a smile.
"Whatever you want to say, I'm not a god, so I can't have a perfect plan. Just tell me what will happen if Huang Yingda goes to reinforce."
Zhang Yan's smile gave Yan Jin great encouragement. He stepped forward with relief, pointed at the map and said.
"As soon as Huang Yingda's 1,500 Uighurs arrived, Duke Zhangye had 3,500 horses under his command, plus the 1,500 men from Li Rong's army who were besieged, there were 5,000 men in total.
Among these five thousand people, the saint Hexi Xiaorui alone was more than three thousand. If that person was Guo Wei, he would have definitely flown down the Zhang River by now.
These three thousand saints will definitely not give up. If they are trapped, we must rescue them. Liu Zhiyuan can lead the elite Hedong Army to attack Beizhou first. "
Zhang Hao nodded. His most elite Hexi team consisted of five guards of the pro-army and seven towns of the forbidden army, with a total of only thirty-six thousand people.
Not to mention 3,000 people trapped, even if 300 people were trapped, they still had to find a way to rescue them.
"How big can Zhangshui be? Will Zhang Zhaojun and Huang Yingda have any accidents?" Zhang Gao put away his smile and asked Yan Jin.
Yan Jin shook his head, "No, outside the valley mouth, the terrain is flat and the river is wide. Even if Guo Wei blocks the Zhang River, it will form a flooded area of more than ten miles in radius, and the water depth will definitely not be deeper than the knees.
Besides, the Duke of Zhangye is a brave general of His Majesty. He always knows his troops well. He will definitely camp at a high place to avoid being hit by the Zhang River. "
Zhang Hao quietly breathed a sigh of relief and walked around twice, "According to the frontline battle report, Guo Wei's generation in Fuyang only has more than 30,000 people. Could it be that he didn't expect that my army might have arrived? How dare he set up a battle array with me?" "
"I think it's not that Guo Wei doesn't understand that our army has arrived, but that he feels that after the floods, the land is soft and the horses can't move fast, and our army has lost one of its advantages.
Secondly, our army has many soldiers. After flooding, not only will it be difficult for the horses to move, but the burden on the soldiers will also become heavier. Guo Wei's troops mostly wore medium to light armor, which gave them many advantages in action.
In addition, once the road is blocked by water, it will be very inconvenient to transport food and grass, and we will certainly not be able to send too many soldiers to relieve the siege.
Guo Wei can deal with me as long as he lets people defend Fuyang and send more than 20,000 people to the mouth of the valley. "
Zhao Yanjin had obviously studied it, so he talked eloquently to Zhang Yan.
"Damn it! This Guo Que'er thinks he is the best in the world! He's a dog, I have to beat his brains out!"
Wang Tongtong, who was next to Zhang Yan, immediately became popular. Looking at it this way, Guo Wei was indeed a little overconfident.
He wanted to use the Zhang River to repay the other side with his own way, so that the Zhou army would lose its mobility advantage and gain the maneuver advantage himself. With 30,000 troops, he could trap the 780,000 or 80,000 Zhou troops on both sides of the Zhang River.
As soon as Wang Tongtong started to curse, all the generals in the room began to curse. Murong Yanzhao stepped forward and said to Zhang Hao.
"Sage, it seems that the Hedong army thinks that our great Zhou Tianbing relies on the sharpness of the cavalry. I invite you to be the vanguard and go into battle with light armor to defeat Guo Que'er. Let the Hedong thieves see that our army is also the best in the world in infantry combat."
Zhang Yan also smiled coldly. The sharp cavalry in Hexi really gave the people of the world a stereotype, that is, the Zhou army mostly relied on cavalry to conquer the world.
But in fact, Zhang Yan started his career by relying on infantry. In the beginning, Hanshan was almost entirely infantry.
At that time, except for Bai Congxin and Ma Shacai, Zhang Gao did not have many cavalry talents.
The cavalry of Shandu was brought to him by his aunt's brother Li Ruotai, and after Cao Yuanxin gave him hundreds of Yue cavalry from Hu Ci Le, Hu Guang and his son, Zhang Yan began to slowly have cavalry.
What happened after Zhang Yan truly began to become powerful after he received gifts from Li Shengtian and recruited a large number of cavalrymen such as Bashimi, Ogus, and Uighurs, and returned to Liangzhou to recruit the Liangzhou Liugu Tribe and the Shandong Tribe. .
"Okay! Let's go meet Guo Que'er for a while and let him know how tyrannical you are in foot combat."
After preliminary discussions on the plan, the generals below the commander went out one after another. The only ones left were the true confidants. Zhang Yan wanted to discuss the specific details with them and how many troops could be sent.
Moreover, Zhang Yan saw that Murong Nobunaga looked like he had something to say just now, and wanted to hear his opinion.
Sure enough, as soon as everyone sat down and Zhang Gao gave orders for the entire meal, Murong Nobunaga spoke.
"Sage, I feel that there is no need for us to send out the entire army to deal with Guo Que'er, because the Duke of Zhangye and others who are surrounded this time are not incapable of fighting back.
Even if Fuyang's Hedong Army mobilizes in full, they will still be able to fight their way out of the siege, not to mention that we can also support them. If our entire army goes to fight such a bad battle, that is what Guo Wei wants to see most. "
Zhang Yan was silent for a while after listening. He also felt that he seemed to be a little over the top just now, and was irritated by Guo Wei's attitude of belittling the ability of his troops to fight on foot.
"Then where do I think we should invest our main force?" Zhang Yan took Murong Nobunaga's hand and walked to the map again, and a group of confidant generals also gathered around.
Murong Nobunaga's hand drew a circle in Shenzhou, Yingzhou and other places north of Beizhou.
"Liu Zhiyuan's Hedong Army spent all its resources but could only recruit about 60,000 people, of which Guo Wei of Fuyang had at least 30,000.
Although in the past year, Guo Wei recruited many Hebei bandits and former Hebei Zhujie Zhenya soldiers scattered throughout Fuyang, the Hedong Army among them was at least 15,000 to 20,000.
Therefore, the Hedong Army in Liu Zhiyuan's hands is only 40,000 to 45,000 at most.
The Fu Pingzhang family has been in the Wei, Bo, and Bei areas for a long time. Although the Khitans suffered considerable losses when they went south, they can still gather four to six thousand troops and horses, and thousands more men can be mobilized in Beizhou City.
With only more than 40,000 men, Liu Zhiyuan would not be able to capture Beizhou in a short period of time, and even if he forced him to surrender, he would not be able to do so.
Therefore, Erchen believes that the Khitan soldiers and horses that have been assembled and trained in Youzhou will also go to Beizhou to join Liu Zhiyuan.
Only the Khitan could bring 40,000 to 50,000 troops. Only after the two sides gathered nearly 100,000 troops could they possibly capture Beizhou in a short period of time.
Even though Fu Pingzhang is interested in the imperial court, the Fu family is a big family. Since Emperor Wu of the later dynasties, it has been the family of Wu Xun. It is so intertwined that even Fu Pingzhang cannot completely control the overall situation.
Erchen even suspected that someone among the defenders of Xiangzhou City had already contacted Liu Zhiyuan. "
Yan Jin, Zhang Zhaojie, Fan Shun and others looked at each other, and only Murong Nobunaga could say this.
Everyone has seen how favored Fu Yanqing's eldest daughter Fu Ying'er has been since she entered the palace.
Murong Nobunaga's words were equivalent to saying that even though Fu Yanqing sent all his daughters to the palace, it did not mean that Fu Yanqing and his family were 100% loyal to Zhang Yan.
Once the pressure from Liu Zhiyuan is too great, the Fu family may coerce Fu Yanqing and seek refuge with Liu Zhiyuan.
Zhang Yan's heart skipped a beat. This possibility cannot be said to be very big, but it cannot be said to be impossible.
Moreover, the basis for all his current judgments is based on the impression Fu Yanqing gave him in history.
But this impression, because Fu Yanqing had three daughters and three concubines, is very likely to be Yimei and Chunqiu in the history books.
I think in history, after Zhao Da usurped the throne of Fu Yanqing's grandson Guo Zongxun, he must have given him a lot of benefits, not to mention that Zhao Da's younger brother Che Shen was also Fu Yanqing's son-in-law.
The culture of the Song Dynasty was at its peak, and the calligraphy skills of the Spring and Autumn Period were superb. For example, when Ouyang Xiu compiled the New History of the Five Dynasties, he directly destroyed all the records of the previous dynasties that were not to his liking and then wrote it as a family story. Zhu Wen's daughter-in-law took turns to sleep with him, and it was possible that he would follow him. The actual situation is different.
You must be on guard!
Thinking of this, Zhang Hao took a deep breath and asked Murong Nobunaga again.
"Then do you think we should go north to Beizhou to rescue Fu Yanqing?"
Murong Nobunaga slowly shook his head and raised his voice and said: "Save Beizhou directly, how can we go straight through Jizhou and go to the Hutuo River to attack the Khitan army.
They were so frightened that they were killed by the Lord last time. If they are suddenly attacked by my cavalry when they go south, the whole army will be completely defeated.
After killing the Khitans, what use were Liu Zhiyuan's tens of thousands of Hedong infantry? "
Murong Nobunaga's eyes shone with blazing light. This kind of surprising fighting method was Murong Nobunaga's favorite.
Bai Congxin also followed, raised his hands and said to Zhang Yan: "Qinghai Public Security Bureau is right. As long as we cut off the Khitan, Liu Zhiyuan's most important foreign aid, and then return to attack the Hedong Army that besieged Beizhou, wouldn't it be easy?
Rather than relying on Fu Pingzhang to defend Beizhou, we should do it ourselves! "
Um! As expected, there were all kinds of factions in the party, so all Bai Congxin had to do was make it clear that the one he, Zhang Shengren, could trust the most was the Hexi Army.
It seems that the entry of Fu Yanqing, Gao Xingzhou and others, especially Fu Ying'er and Gao Eniang, put a certain amount of pressure on the Hexi Wuxun Sect.
Um! It's pretty good. This proves that Zhang Yanafu and the second-year high school girl made the right move.
Zhang Zhi could rely mainly on the Hexi faction, but it was impossible to rely entirely on the Hexi faction.
But for now! Zhang Yan decided to agree to Murong Nobunaga's combat plan because this plan is very implementable!
Liu Zhiyuan was finished after killing the Khitan cavalry who was still in fear.
(End of chapter)
