Jiang Min walked in the field, holding a small shovel in one hand and a small basket in the other, looking for plump shepherd's purse.
Spring is here, and the wild vegetables in the fields are popping up again, and there is no end to digging. Recently, various fortresses in Shenshan County have called on troops to dig wild vegetables in the fields during their free time to supplement the shortage of vegetables. Jiang Min took the lead, digging out a small basket every day to replace half of the daily meals.
It was already past the season for planting food and vegetables when they arrived, and it was impossible to transport everything from the rear. Jiang Min's army could only try to solve part of it by themselves. Now is the spring plowing season, and each fort has reclaimed a lot of land and is waiting for sowing.
A soldier came from afar, crossed his hands in front of Jiang Min and said: "Zhao Fu, there is an official document from Luoyang, please return to the stronghold immediately!"
Jiang Min straightened up and handed the small basket to the soldier. Said: "Fill the basket, half of our food today is for this!"
After saying that, he followed the soldiers who reported the news and returned to the military camp not far away.
Seeing Jiang Min come in, staff officer Di Yun handed over the official document. He said: "There are three thousand troops from Taiyuan going south, and they came very urgently. We originally thought that Taiyuan's army was going to annihilate us, but Commander Jie didn't think so."
Jiang Min took the official document and opened it to read. Wang Xiaolie told Jiang Min that the main target of Taiyuan's three thousand troops should not be Shenshan County, but to go south to compete for Luoyang City. After wiping out Jiang Min and others, the army went south, through Zezhou and into Jiyuan, to cooperate with Liu Yu's reinforcements coming from the direction of Kaifeng Prefecture. Jiang Min has just arrived at the sacred mountain and has not yet established a stable footing. If he judges that it is difficult to stop the Jin army's attack, he can hide in the mountain first.
Putting down the official document, Jiang Min closed her eyes and thought.
Three thousand gold troops were certainly not enough to deal with Wang Xiaolie's army. The reason why he went south was mainly to cooperate with Liu Yu. Not long after the puppet Qi Kingdom was established, Liu Yu had very little confidence in his military power. Without the help of the Jin Army, he would not even have the courage to send troops to deal with Wang Xiaolie. If they really wanted to capture Luoyang, the Jin army could not rely on the Jin army in Taiyuan Prefecture, but had to send troops from Shaanxi.
After thinking for a long time, Jiang Min opened his eyes and said to Di Yun: "The artillery has been built. Can it be installed in several villages in the central part within ten days?"
Di Yun said: "The road is not good, so it's not easy to pull it over. The best way is to cast it again in the walled city without having to pull it back and forth."
Jiang Min said: "The Taiyuan army has moved south, and I am afraid it will be too late to cast it in the walled city. We must find a way to transport the cannon, otherwise it will be too late. If there are no cannons on the castle, it will be difficult to stop the Jin army."
Di Yun said: "Zhaofu, if we have difficulty resisting the Jin army, Commander Jie, we can hide in the mountains and let the Jin army pass. When the time comes to block the Jin army's retreat, wouldn't it be a greater threat to them? Three thousand Jin troops, It’s not difficult to resist the army ahead.”
Jiang Min sighed and said: "It's because it's three thousand Jin Army, no more, no less, so I don't want to let them pass. With three thousand people, how can the Jin Army consider the issue of their retreat? They are going all the way to grab each other, no matter how poor the state or county is, , enough to feed them for a few days. Once they are allowed to cross Tianjing Pass, they will cause harm to many places in the Central Plains!"
After thinking about it for a while, Jiang Min said decisively: "Even if you use people to carry it, you have to carry the artillery to the wall! Our wall is intact. As long as there is artillery to help, the Jin army wants to pass through Shenshan County. It is a wishful thinking! Jieshuai has already captured it. Luoyang, whether we capture Zezhou from the east or Jiangzhou from the west, we will never be so difficult again. With help from the rear, life will be much easier in the future."
Di Yun said: "A cannon weighs two thousand kilograms. It is really not easy to carry it up the wall."
Jiang Min said: "No need to say more, let's carry it over! The Jin army will come to Jinzhou and then to Shenshan County. It will take ten days as soon as possible. We have to install it within ten days! We will recruit people tonight and work out a solution together! Two thousand kilograms That’s all, as long as there are many people, we can always carry it!”
With current technology, if you want to pose a sufficient threat to the enemy, the iron cannon must weigh at least one or two thousand kilograms. Even though it is so heavy, it is much less powerful than bronze artillery and is not suitable for use in field battles. But it is enough to defend the city and deal with the Jin people.
At the Song Army barracks near Jiagu Town, Cao Zhiyan put down the official document and said to his staff officer Fei Lida: "The official document from Luoyang said that there were three thousand gold troops in Taiyuan Prefecture heading south. Commander Jie judged that he was coming for us, and he might want to go from Zezhou Zending Pass Go south and cooperate with Liu Yu's reinforcements from Kaifeng Mansion. Three thousand people are not many, but they are erratic and we can't catch them for a while. We only need to guard the Yellow River crossing, and I don't think they can do much."
Fei Lidao: "What Dutong said is right. There is a Chinese army in the direction of Luoyang, and it is impossible for the Jin army to cross the Yellow River from Mengzhou. It seems that they can only cross the river through a few ferries in Sishui, and we will just defend to the death. Here, What remains to be seen is how many reinforcements Liu Yu can bring."
Cao Zhiyan said: "Commander Jie captured Luoyang City, and Liu Yu signed a large number of people in the territory, as if he wanted to attack in a large scale. However, there were not many people in the nearby prefectures and counties, so Liu Yu could only start from the prefectures and counties in Hebei. Where could he go at that time? How many signed troops can there be? Without signed troops, there won’t be many troops coming.”
Liu Yu's military system mixed the Song and Jin dynasties, and he also had some of his own imaginative ideas, like four different images. Once Liu Yu decided to mobilize troops, he would sign people in the territory to join the army, which was called signing troops. The main role of the signing army is to transport food for the main army and also serve as military miscellaneous workers. The number of signed troops is not large, and the number of regular troops is certainly not large either.
After looking at the map for a while, Cao Zhiyan sighed: "Jie Commander occupied Luoyang too quickly, and the current situation cannot be clearly seen for a while. According to the deployment, we should take Zhengzhou from Mi County, and Niudu Yuhou and Jiedu Tongzhi will lead The right army left Yingchang Prefecture and went forward to occupy Weishi. The puppet Qi reinforcements came to attack. We fought the enemy head-on in Zhengzhou, while the right army threatened the enemy's rear from Weishi. Tomorrow we will arrive at Zhengzhou City, but the puppet Qi reinforcements have not yet arrived. Know who’s coming.”
Fei Lidao: "After Liu Yu came to the throne, this was the first battle between them and this dynasty. I don't want to be careless. I heard that the soldiers and horses of the puppet Qi were all under the control of his son Liu Lin. Liu Lin should still lead the army. Bar."
"The Romance of Fairy Wood"
Cao Zhiyan said: "This Liu Lin used to be a rich man who had never led an army. When his father became the emperor, he became a general himself. Isn't this a joke? We have tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and we have to face such a person. Who can I talk to to reason with you?"
Fei Li suddenly said: "By the way, Li Cheng surrendered to the Puppet Qi a few months ago, could it be him?"
After hearing this, Cao Zhiyan pondered for a while and said: "This Li Cheng is quite a character. I heard that he was very well-organized in leading troops and fought bravely. He was a good general for a while. However, this dynasty has repeatedly surrendered and Li Cheng has rebelled again and again. No matter what, he can't be reassured. .Now that I have defected to Liu Yu, can I really do my best?"
Fei Lidao said: "I heard that Liu Yu was very generous to those who surrendered to him. He gave high official titles and a lot of money without any restrictions. It's hard to say that Li Cheng was willing to sincerely serve. This man has led troops for many years, but he has A powerful enemy."
Li Chengcheng was a convert from Xiongzhou. He was said to be able to hold a bow and stone, and he was an archer at first. After the Jin army captured Xiongzhou, Li Cheng led his people across the river and went south, and was repeatedly rewarded. He was recruited by the Song Dynasty twice, rebelled twice, and finally surrendered to Qi after being defeated.
Zhao Gou admired Li Cheng very much and tried to recruit him many times, but his wish failed. It is said that the steel knife used by Li Cheng weighed seven kilograms. After being defeated, the steel knife was sent to Zhao Gou, who still sighed for a long time.
Among the thieves in the Song Dynasty, not everyone behaved ridiculously and was not a great person. Li Cheng led his troops with strict military discipline and strict self-discipline. He distributed the money he got to his subordinates. If a subordinate is sick, he will greet him personally. It can be said that Li Cheng basically did everything Liang was going to do in the book. But when they met Yue Fei in the end, hundreds of thousands of troops dispersed and had no choice but to defect to the puppet Qi.
If the reinforcements coming from the puppet troops were Li Cheng, he would be a formidable enemy. Cao Zhiyan thought for a long time, lay down on the table, and looked at the map carefully.
Zhengzhou is located between Kaifeng Prefecture and Henan Prefecture. It has a solid city. After the Yellow River water course was changed, it to some extent replaced the previous role of Sishui Pass. Cao Zhiyan was not worried that he would not be able to defend this strong city. What he was worried about was whether he could cooperate with Niu Gao and Li Nong's right army to wipe out the reinforcements.
