At present, the entire Bei'an County still maintains a certain degree of independence, and the only counties that have independent control over the military and civilian affairs are Andu and Ningqiu counties.
Ningqiu County is located on one side, with complex terrain, many mountains and hills, and its population and wealth are in the middle and lower reaches, so it cannot have any impact on the overall situation.
If we capture the other three counties of the four counties in the south of the county, and finally capture Ningqiu County, we don’t need to spend much effort, it will be a matter of course.
Compared with the strategic position of Ningqiu County, Andu County, located in the northernmost part of Bei'an County, is of great significance.
Its city defense is complete and it has transportation to the outside world. It is the northern gate of Bei'an County.
Sun Yucheng, who owns the two counties of the county and city, takes Andu County and sends heavy troops to guard the pass. This will form a closed loop of the political and military territory and have a stable strategic rear.
In this way, it will be much easier to deal with the Demon Subduing General's Mansion in the south of the county with peace of mind.
Lou Jinpeng has loved learning about mountains and geography since he was a child, and he is familiar with family military traditions, so he naturally knows the value of Andu County to Bei'an County.
Therefore, he captured the two counties day and night, hoping to launch a surprise attack on Andu in order to gain an advantage in the upcoming battle.
From the moment Jiedu Mansion sent troops to capture the south of the county, Lou Jinpeng knew that they were going to go to war with the General Mansion. This was the inevitable truth that one mountain could not tolerate two tigers.
But he never expected that Zhou Bai would move so quickly. According to the calculations before the war, the general's mansion would normally disperse its troops and eat in the wild.
Zhou Bai wanted to gather all the troops and supplies for the first battle. Seven days should be the fastest time limit, which is enough time for the army to return.
However, the envoys from Andu County for help had just arrived in Pingcang, and the main force of their army could go out on the same day. This was too unreasonable.
"Have you been prepared? Or did Jiedu Mansion leak the news?"
No matter how many doubts Lou Jinpeng had, facing Sun Yucheng's successive urgent edicts, he could only lead his army back halfway.
They brought out 20,000 people, 5,000 yamen troops and 15,000 foreign town troops. When they returned to the county, they turned out to be 30,000 people.
Not only did he not send troops to stay in Tong County and Fusheng County, he also raided and took away all the soldiers and horses in the two counties, including the family members of the wealthy families.
The money and food in the government treasury of the other two counties were also completely emptied. They did not look like officers and soldiers at all, but just bandits who took a fortune and ran away.
Especially Fusheng County, the only middle county in the south of the county, with a population of more than 200,000, plundered nearly 7,000 soldiers and a large amount of money and grain.
In his eyes, the problems of the more than 10,000 newly added soldiers and horses, such as using weapons to make up for the numbers, weak willpower, and inability to display their combat power, are no big deal in his eyes.
If it is not suitable for field battles, it can also be placed in the city to assist defense, or as a supplementary soldier.
As for how much instability and trouble this kind of behavior would bring to Jiedu Mansion's rule in the south of the county in the future, he couldn't care too much about it at the moment.
In the next battle, we can only win but not lose.
If you win, you can adjust slowly. If you lose, everything will be in vain.
On April 14, the vanguard general Jiao Tu appointed by Zhou Bai led 3,000 regular soldiers (garrison troops) and 300 cavalry, and marched quickly to Futong Town, a market town a hundred miles away from the county seat.
Now that the Demon-Suppressing Army is out on an expedition, the cavalry will no longer be hidden away as treasures. They already have the confidence to use battle as a substitute for training.
The cavalry army has been expanded to a total of one thousand cavalry. Except for the five hundred cavalry who will not move lightly as direct subordinates, the remaining five hundred cavalry will be used as ranger sentries that are not collected at night and equipped with the army.
The forward equipped with 300 cavalry is to use the advantage of cavalry to cover the battlefield ahead, effectively harass and delay the enemy's activities, and make Sun Yucheng blind.
Since the great changes in Cangbei County, caravans passed through the grassland trade route every day, but now no group of merchants has been seen for several days.
Because now only the Taoist officials dispatched by the General Mansion can ensure that the caravans are not disturbed by wild ghosts. If we want to maintain the grassland trade routes, we will need to spend more manpower and material resources.
Similarly, Huyanhe, which is gaining ground in the northern grasslands, has become more difficult to obtain resources in the south.
In order for the General's Mansion to ensure smooth business routes and regular buying and selling of resources, Hu Yanhe suffered a lot of blood.
As a gift of 800 war horses, cheese, fur, ore and other grassland resources equivalent to ten thousand taels of silver, things are indeed getting better and better.
Moreover, Huyanhe not only built a new city on the grassland as the capital of the Northern Jin Dynasty, but also made significant military progress and captured most of the northern foothills of Yinshan Mountain.
Yinshan is of extraordinary significance to the Jin people. Hu Yanhe's title is the Marquis of Yinshan. If Yinshan is completely conquered, Hu Yanhe will gain unimaginable political prestige.
The noble ministers from the Southern Jin Kingdom will also turn around and support him, and the unification of the Jin Kingdom will be a foregone conclusion.
Thinking of Hu Yanhe's various performances after he fled to Daxu, especially his forbearance and determination in Shenjing, he finally got the opportunity to be a "sword" by Emperor Xiangxing.
Zhou Bai felt that with such an opponent, if he was allowed to unify the Jin Kingdom, the rear would definitely be greatly threatened.
So after taking Hu Yanhe's resources, the General's Mansion set up a market in Cangbei County.
Of course, after receiving the money, they would definitely not let Huyanhe come all the way to get resources, and they would still send the caravan.
However, the Cangbei Forex Market is a nominal external forex market, and all forces can come here to exchange resources.
For example, another large grassland country, the Xianbei Kingdom, or the Nanjin Kingdom adjacent to Cangbei.
Jiao Tu couldn't imagine these big strategic games, nor would he care about them.
He only cares about eradicating Futong Town as soon as possible. This is the first battle of joining the General's Mansion. If he delays even a little bit, it will be difficult to repay General Fumo's trust.
Many people in the Demon-Suppressing Army are qualified for the position of vanguard. Zhou Bai chose a demoted general, so he was naturally given a chance.
If you can achieve a good record, you can not only prove your talents, but also quickly integrate into the larger group of the Demon-Subduing Army.
Zhou Bai really wanted to reuse and train the talented generals who were destined to be red and yellow. Being a pioneer depends on Jiao Tu's specific performance.
Futong Town, as its name suggests, is a trading town rich in goods.
In peacetime, this is one of the most lively places in Bei'an County. Even in the county town, it may not have all the goods here.
Since Sun Yucheng launched an army to capture the county town, the counties in Bei'an County have basically cut off official exchanges, and several market towns and strategic locations around the county town have become military controlled by Jiedu Prefecture.
Futong Town, in particular, is an important node for the Northern Army to move south to the county town, so there are troops stationed here.
The prosperity was no longer there, and the houses around the market town were collectively demolished and used for the construction of village walls.
An open commercial market town turned into a fortified military stronghold blocking the official road.
At first, Zhou Bai could lead his cavalry around and come and go freely, but if he really wanted to march his army, he couldn't leave such a nail behind, otherwise the Houqin Food Road would be harassed.
On the wall of the stronghold, there are many armored soldiers, and the garrison troops are ready.
However, both the soldiers and officers looked sad when they saw the troops arrayed outside.
Because this powerful army did not plan to set up camp, but instead built simple ladders and battering rams. It seemed that they were going to capture Futong in one go.
"Report, the enemy's vanguard general Jiao Tu has sent a letter persuading him to surrender. Mr. Qian, do you want to read it?" A soldier quickly sent a letter to the garrison Mr. Qian Huang Gui.
Different from the establishment of the central army, one battalion of 500 men is not enough to garrison many places, and one guard and two guards are too many.
The garrison army needs to be flexibly adjusted, so a lot of additional military positions have been extended to supplement the regular teams, battalions, guards and other establishments.
Such as Bai Zong, Qian Zong, Defensive and so on.
Before Huang Gui could read the letter and learn who the vanguard general outside was, a group of other officers immediately exploded.
"The flag with the character Zhou, the flag with the character Jiao, it is indeed General Jiao Wei, why is it him!"
"What are you afraid of? There are two thousand of us and they are only three thousand. If we can't defeat them in a field battle, we can't defend them?"
"Hey, brother, you are a servant of a great commander. You don't know Jiao Tu's reputation among the county soldiers. At the beginning, no one was afraid of the bandits in Cangshan. As soon as Jiao Tu sent out troops, he immediately hid in the mountain and stayed there for several months."
"There are two thousand of us, but only 700 are old men who have been trained and started their careers with the commander. The rest are..."
Before he finished speaking, Huang Gui turned over with a glare and snorted coldly.
Suddenly, there was silence all around, and everyone was as silent as a cicada.
The eldest brother treats them well, but he is really angry, and he is not a rare person who is served by military law.
After using Weifu for his own use, Huang Gui crumpled the letter of persuasion into a ball and felt more comfortable.
This group of brothers, after they were stationed in Futong Town, enjoyed the hot food and drank spicy food, but they just got a little carried away.
However, his expression remained gloomy, because he himself knew that his subordinate was right.
Huang Gui and other guards stationed around the county town were not actually given the best jobs at the beginning. None of the four counties in the south of the county and even other pass counties in the county had better positions than the guards in the small towns.
But good fortune and misfortune can come as no surprise. Just when Sun Yucheng was about to send troops to control the four counties in the south of the county, he was severely attacked by Zhou Bai. His prestige and luck were greatly reduced.
The outer town army could only stay in the county town for the time being, but Huang Gui's positions in the surrounding areas became a hot commodity.
Perhaps to strengthen defense, or perhaps to silence the generals of the outer town army, with Sun Yucheng's acquiescence, the generals who were out of town, such as Huang Gui, expanded their troops one after another.
The town of Futong occupied by Huang Gui was rich in business, money, food and taxes, so there was a scene where he had a thousand generals but led two thousand soldiers.
Two thousand soldiers were not many, but it made a general in Jiedu Mansion fancy his position and failed to persuade Sun Yucheng to lower the order.
But when he really thought about the fighting strength of his two thousand soldiers, Huang Gui was a little unsure. How long can he hold on?
One day or two or three days?
Jiao Tu arrived so quickly that he didn't even have a chance to escape. You said that if you had sent a message earlier, he would have held on.
As a non-Jiedu direct descendant, Huang Gui, who was just an inspection officer, didn't know what "loyalty" meant.
】
"Report, Mr. Qian, the water source outside the town has been discovered."
Just when Huang Gui was hesitating, Jiao Tu was not idle outside. As a former county soldier, he was on guard. The county city was a hundred miles away, and there was no place he was familiar with.
Several close subordinates suddenly felt as if they were bitter melons. Bei'an was short of water, and the only water source in Futong Town was a hidden underground spring. Unless they were locals, most people didn't know where it was.
This is because they were not prepared, otherwise they would have to store spring water in advance if they really wanted to defend it.
"Only enough water to make two meals for the entire army?"
"Go and kill the logistics officer!"
Huang Gui had no place to vent his anger, but Jiao Tu resorted to one method after another. Not only did he make the guards shout loudly that they had no food and water, and no reinforcements.
They even directly offered rewards for the heads of officers at all levels, including Huang Gui, for those who took the initiative to open the city gates, and for those who rebelled before the battle.
Huang Gui's head is worth a thousand taels of silver... The one who takes the initiative to open the door is Xu Cong, a ninth-grade official...
For a moment, people in Futong Town were in panic. Huang Gui felt his neck was cold and couldn't help but be suspicious.
"Brother, how about we surrender? I think Zhou Fumo is very generous. Even if you can't lead troops, at least you have an official status, right?"
Coupled with the whispered advice from his subordinates, Huang Gui was shaken.
"Mr. Qian, there's a fire in the back village, and someone has become a traitor!"
At this moment, thick smoke rose from the direction of the rear village, and at the same time, Jiao Tu from outside issued an order to attack.
"kill!"
Huang Gui's expression changed. If there were any Qi observers here, they would be able to see that the Qi above his head, which was connected to the direction of the county and city, was being disconnected step by step.
Pa da~
Finally, when the pale archers on both sides were preparing to shoot the first wave of arrows, he gave the order.
"Open the gate of the village. I, Huang Gui, have surrendered. I only wish to be the guide of the demon-suppressing general!"
Phew~
Amidst the relaxed exhalation, Huang Gui also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. He didn't feel anything embarrassed. Those who know the current affairs are heroes.
The key is that he understands Sun Yucheng's purpose in asking him to guard this place. It is nothing more than to delay as much time as possible and consume some of the energy of the Demon-Conquering Army.
…
Two hours later, still outside Futong Town, Huang Gui changed his previous weakness in front of Jiao Tu and viciously chopped off the head of a Jiedu Yamen soldier.
Looking around, a reinforcement army of 3,000 people was being attacked from front to back by Huang Gui and Jiao Tu, and was scattered and collapsed.
Many people died with their eyes open. Why did Futong Town fall so quickly? The commander-in-chief clearly sent them to support immediately.
"Huang Gui, you betrayed the commander-in-chief and you will die a good death, oh..."
Huang Gui slashed the neck of the general who recognized him again.
It can be seen that he is actually in a somewhat complicated mood now.
Chance coincides with fate.
On April 15, after acquiring Futong Town as a rear stronghold, the main force led by Zhou Bai formally arrived at Bei'an County.
Zhou Bai didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he learned that the Jiedu army who wanted to fight with him in the field was defeated in the forward battle and retreated into the city.
Should we say that Jiao Tu was too good at fighting, or that he did bad things with good intentions, but in the end it was a great achievement to capture Futong Town and kill three thousand enemies.
It turned out that Sun Yucheng was more confident when he learned that Lou Jinpeng had brought back 30,000 troops, and wanted to fight Zhou Bai in the field battle based on Futong Town.
There are 20,000 yamen soldiers in the county city, plus Lou Jinpeng's 30,000 soldiers. No matter how you look at it, they have a better chance of winning.
Zhou Bai had previously destroyed his Fulong Taoist Priest Group and reduced his luck. Sun Yucheng admitted that it was a great defeat, but that was at a transcendent level.
He didn't believe he would lose in a battle between armies, and now that he had the help of the Yinshen of the Three Realms, he was even more confident.
However, during the battle at Futong Town, he was given a severe slap in the face, and the morale of Jiedu's army plummeted.
"Peng, where is General Lou? Zhou Bai's demon-conquering flag is almost erected in front of my Jiedu Mansion!" Sun Yucheng pushed over the things on the table and asked angrily.
"Back to the commander-in-chief, General Lou has arrived at Tingshan Mountain, thirty miles away from the city, and has set up eighteen military strongholds on the mountain."
"Why don't you come back?! I want to be like Huang Gui..."
There was silence in the hall, and Sun Yucheng realized that he had said the wrong thing and quickly shut up.
After a long time, the deputy general replied cautiously: "General Lou said that the county and city defenses are complete. The commander has 20,000 yamen soldiers. In addition, he can also mobilize the young people in the city to assist in the defense. There is no need to worry at the moment."
"Furthermore, it is difficult to defend an isolated city. The general wants to use Tingshan Mountain and the county and city to coordinate with each other to avoid falling into a completely passive situation."
At this time, flags were flying outside the city, and the setting sun was like blood.
With tens of thousands of troops on both sides facing each other, the chilling military spirit impacted the destiny, making it difficult to discern the trend of the war.
But when Zhou Bai heard that Lou Jinpeng was stationed in Tingshan, he immediately relied on the perfect qi-gazing technique to spy on Sun Yucheng's mistakes.
Qianlong Qi transferred, when did Sun Yucheng lose his destiny!
