After climbing the earthen city wall and looking southward, Guo Rong finally breathed a sigh of relief, looking relieved.
"Your Majesty, there are not many soldiers and civilians in this city. The city has been cleared and we are in control. There are too many prisoners, more than 15,000 people, and the pressure on the guards is too great. We have temporarily confiscated the weapons and armor and guarded them separately at the east and north gates! "An Shouzhong found Guo Rong and reported.
The problem of too many prisoners was probably a happy worry for the victorious Han army. In this regard, Guo Rong pondered for a moment and directly ordered: "Capture the Tang army, soldiers and civilians, generals and soldiers, and keep them in separate prisons. Give them little food and starve them!"
"Yes! I will deal with this immediately!" An Shouzhong responded.
"Wait!" Guo Rong suddenly called An Shouzhong.
An Shouzhong stopped and asked, "Do you have any other instructions?"
"I'll go with you!" Guo Rong thought for a while and said: "These prisoners must be used for their own purposes! Since the Southern Expedition, at least 150,000 slaves have been recruited for transporting supplies, serving in front of the army, and garrisoning in the city. Now that spring has begun, it will be the farming season, and the soldiers are thinking about returning. For the Central Plains and Huaibei states, the people's strength has been exhausted and the burden is too heavy. If the Tang army can be captured and the people of Huainan can be captured, it will be of great benefit to our army's strategy.
Your Majesty sent the king to gather all the things in Haozhou and know the affairs of Dianzhou, control the soldiers and the people, and win the hearts of the people. This is a long-term plan! The prisoners in this battle should be selected who are strong and willing to serve and be made into auxiliary soldiers to be used in front of the army! "
"What you said makes sense!" An Shouzhong responded, but couldn't help but hesitated: "However, this move may be suspected of expanding the army without authorization..."
Hearing this, Guo Rong couldn't help but turn his head and glance at An Shouzhong. There was clear surprise in his eyes. He paused and then said: "Trust minister, you have a promising future!"
"It is difficult to quench the thirst of the nearer by water far away. The most important thing for me to do is to deal with these prisoners. Otherwise, with so many prisoners gathered together, it is easy to cause trouble. Secondly, I am afraid of slowing down the actions of our army!" while walking! While writing, Guo Rong said: "I will write a memorial and send it to Shouchun. With the emperor's wisdom, he will agree. I don't know what the war situation is like in Shouchun..."
Before Guo Rong went to deal with the prisoner problem, Zhao Yanjin found him first, looking like he had too much energy. Guo Rong asked: "How is the situation?"
"According to the prisoners, Huangfu Hui went north and only left 3,000 soldiers to garrison at Qingliu Pass! Moreover, Huangfu Hui issued an order yesterday to transfer 2,000 men from Qingliu Pass to the north. However, after hearing of his defeat, he withdrew. !" Zhao Yanjin reported: "Envoy, do you want to take the opportunity to capture Qingliu Pass?"
Guo Rong thought about it, punched his fist, and said to Zhao Yanjin: "I will put on the Tang army armor with you five hundred soldiers, pretend to be defeated, cross the clear water, and go to the deceitful pass! Remember, act according to the situation and act as prepared as possible. , don’t force it!”
"Obey the order!" Without any hesitation, Zhao Yanjin responded: "The general will go immediately!"
...
After Guo Rong won the great victory in Lai'an and relieved the Han army, he was looking for the entire Huaidong and drinking horses from the Yangtze River. Zhao Kuangyin, Huaidong's deputy economic envoy, led five thousand troops all the way east to aid Shanyang.
Five thousand soldiers and horses may seem like a lot, but in fact, only less than three thousand of them are usable, and the rest are selected from Huaibei Dingzhuang. Although they are issued with weapons and have undergone rough training, they are actually They are still farmers who have taken up swords and guns. Of course, there is no shortage of warriors in the Central Plains. As long as these people survive a battle, they can become qualified soldiers.
There was no way, even Guo Rong only led 4,000 infantry to deal with Huangfu Hui. On Xuyi's side, they had to leave enough strength to contain them. After a long period of entanglement, Guo Tingwei was not an easy opponent to deal with. If he relaxed, Xuyi's tens of thousands of Tang troops, led by Guo Tingwei, would definitely be defeated. It will cause big trouble to the Han army.
It almost followed the route of the raid on Shanyang last winter. Except that the winter scenery turned into spring scenery, there were not many changes along the way. Zhao Kuangyin even felt familiar. Although facing the siege of the Tang army, the situation in Shanyang was already critical to a certain extent. Zhao Kuangyin was ordered to go to the rescue without being impatient.
Since the conquest of Huaihe, the Han army's main method of combat has been to besiege the city and call for reinforcements. It was uncertain whether the Tang army would suffer the same fate, and Zhao Kuangyin had to guard against it.
Therefore, while sending troops to investigate the battle situation in Shanyang, they marched slowly and thought over and over how to fight. Until they entered Hongze and based on the situation in Chuzhou, Zhao Kuangyin made up his mind on how to fight this battle.
He divided the army into two groups, one with 3,000 soldiers, mainly composed of Suzhou Tuanlian, led by Dang Jin, hiding behind. The remaining approximately two thousand people were the auxiliary soldiers. Although some officers and leaders were mobilized, their combat effectiveness and execution ability were worrying. Weizun Academy
Zhao Kuangyin led the two thousand soldiers, brightly lit his flag, and swaggered towards Shanyang without concealing his tracks.
On the other side of Shanyang, 40,000 Tang troops have surrounded the city. Of course, 20,000 navy troops are helping in the battle. However, Xishanyang was built near the river, and it was these naval forces that threatened it the most. The warships of the Tang army were two feet high. They built platforms and ladders, and Tang soldiers could follow them to climb the city wall.
It is learned that the reinforcements of the Han army coming from the west are not many, but it can also be seen from this that the Han army is lacking in strength in Huaidong. The general of the Tang army, Yao Feng, obviously did not want to be affected by this army when the city was broken, so he sent a general with five thousand troops to Fuliang to the west to defeat the Han reinforcements.
Tang Jun's actions were naturally as Zhao Kuangyin intended, and they were even unexpectedly happy. He originally planned to use the remaining troops to show the enemy's weakness and lure some of the Tang army to come west to share the pressure of Chen Sirang's defense of the city.
He had never thought that Yao Feng would be so generous and come directly with five thousand troops. Zhao Kuangyin could be said to be overjoyed. Then, it was still the same old routine, pretending to be defeated to lure the enemy, ambushing troops in all directions, and defeating them. Only this time, due to the emergency of the war, Zhao Kuangyin's feigned defeat was actually a real defeat, and he was almost driven into Hongze by the Tang army to feed the fish.
However, precisely because the defeat was real, the trick of luring the enemy was more effective. After Dang Jin led the main force to fight out, the five thousand Tang army was defeated directly. The leading general was decapitated by Dang Jin, adding another stroke to his military exploits. .
After defeating the Tang army, Zhao Kuangyin did not chase them north and kill the defeated soldiers as usual, but only drove them south. Afterwards, Zhao Kuangyin only organized his troops briefly, and divided the army into two groups again. One group picked up all the wounded auxiliary soldiers, set up a flag, raised Zhao Kuangyin's general flag, and continued towards Shanyang in the northeast.
Zhao Kuangyin, on the other hand, joined the party and led the remaining 2,700 Suzhou regiments to practice, diverted to the southeast, crossed the canal at Baoying south of Shanyang, and completely wiped out the 500 defenders left by Yao Feng. The goal is very clear.
On Yao Feng's side, he had received a battle report of a severe defeat to the Han army's reinforcements, and the report of defeat followed closely, and the defeat was complete, directly allowing the Han army's reinforcements to approach the canal. Although the Han army was small in number, it was like a shot in the arm for the Shanyang defenders who were in dire straits.
The Tang army clearly felt that the originally shaky city defense was stabilized by the Han army. When he noticed the "Zhao" flag on the west bank of the canal, Yao Feng realized that the Han general coming to help was Zhao Kuangyin, who had previously achieved a great victory at Wukou.
In response to this, Yao Feng immediately increased his vigilance. Although he had more troops and was not afraid of the Han army, after consideration, he decided to temporarily stop the offensive against Shanyang. After several days of fierce attacks, the Han army guards in Shanyang City suffered heavy losses. The Tang army was also exhausted and needed to rest and recuperate.
If it was just for rescue, then judging from the reaction of the Tang army, it had achieved good results. Although it treated the symptoms but not the root cause, it at least gave the Han army guards in the city a chance to breathe. However, Zhao Kuangyin led the main force, sneaked southward, and crossed the river via Baoying. It can be seen that his plan was huge.
At midnight, outside Shanyang City, the four Tang Army strongholds on land and water were silent. Apart from the sound of wind and the constant snoring, the only sound was the officers and soldiers of the Chinese army patrolling the camps.
On the upper floor of Nanying Village, the sentry tried his best to remain vigilant, observing the surroundings from a high position, but under the night, the surroundings were dark, and only the outlines of some trees could be seen. The spring night was very cold, and the hands and feet were cold and numb. When hardship struck, the sentries could only hope that time would pass faster and they would wait for someone to take over.
About two miles away from the South Camp, Zhao Kuangyin personally led more than 2,000 soldiers and sneaked here. The black armor of the Han army contrasted with the dark night and completely blended into it. Above his head was the dim moonlight. Looking far into the distance, he observed the situation in Tang Camp.
They all slept all afternoon during the day, and then took advantage of the night to sneak nearly forty miles north. Dang Jin stood next to Zhao Kuangyin and looked around, nervous and excited at the same time: "The layout of Guantang camp is quite orderly, not without vigilance!"
Zhao Kuangyin nodded, but his expression was extremely stiff, and his pupils were extremely bright, and he said to Dang Jin: "Tonight, we are going to risk our lives in a battle. If we succeed, we will achieve great success, if we fail, we will die. Are we ever afraid? "
"Brother Zhao, what you said is that you are looking down on your brothers! Tangying is just a dragon's pond and a tiger's den, so why not go there?" Dang Jin suddenly became unhappy.
Seeing this, Zhao Kuangyin smiled slightly. Staring at the enemy camp closely, his expression became solemn: "Second the order, a night attack is a dangerous strategy. The soldiers of each camp should follow their orders. They should follow me and charge the flag to kill, and don't get lost. Although the Tang army is called 40,000, However, the number of infantry is only half that, and the casualties and fatigue caused by the siege are still nothing to worry about. As long as the land camp is disrupted and defeated, the navy has nothing to worry about!"
After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, before the bodies of the Han soldiers had completely cooled down, Zhao Kuangyin gave the order and went out first, leading the people and quickly heading towards the Tang camp. I didn’t ride a horse this time, that would be too big a goal.
More than two thousand soldiers, holding coins in their mouths, kept silent until they approached the Tang village and were observed by the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, when they suddenly broke out with a loud killing cry. Under the leadership of Zhao Kuangyin, with unified goals and coordinated steps, several battalions were defeated in a row. Killing and chaos descended on the Tang army...
As Zhao Kuangyin's army launched a massive night attack, storming the stronghold and kicking down tents, the Tang camp under Shanyang City soon fell into chaos.
