After returning to the post house, Zhang Dezheng already knew what was going on. The most important places in Zhang Nan Castle are the barracks, the south gate and the north gate. If you capture these three places, you will control the entire castle.
After dinner, Zhang Dezheng called Mao Jie and several colonels into the room, told them about the reconnaissance situation, and then said: "We will take action at midnight tonight. I will lead people to seize the barracks, and you guys will seize the south gate and North Gate. Actions must be concealed and the enemy is unaware!" Mao Jie and several colonels clasped their fists and said, "Yes!"
After the second watch drum beat, the oil lamps in the windows of Zhang Nanbao's house were extinguished one after another, and the castle suddenly fell into the abyss of darkness. When the third watch was approaching, Zhang Dezheng led 300 elite soldiers to leave the inn and headed towards the barracks.
The sky on the first day of the new year is full of stars, but the weak starlight cannot dispel the darkness on the ground. The streets in the middle of the night were completely silent, with only the footsteps of the soldiers breaking the deathly silence. The temperature dropped sharply at night and his hands hurt from the cold. Zhang Dezheng took a deep breath and inhaled the near-freezing air into his lungs. The coldness coming out of his body cheered him up.
Two oil-paper lanterns hung at the entrance of the barracks, and the dim light shone on two soldiers holding guns. The two soldiers had stood for so long that their bodies were almost freezing. They could only keep tapping their feet to keep warm. A soldier with sharp eyes suddenly saw a large group of figures shaking in front of him. He quickly grabbed the weapon in his hand and was about to shout loudly when an arrow flew with a hiss that cut through the air and penetrated his throat. The soldier fell down. On the ground. The companion next to him was horrified at the sight, and just as he was about to shout loudly, another arrow flew towards him, shutting his mouth forever.
Zhang Dezheng put away his bow, drew his saber, and ordered in a low voice: "Hurry over and charge into the barracks!" The soldiers rushed into the compound with weapons in hand. It was pitch dark inside, and the enemies were all sleeping in the barracks. The soldiers of the Tang Army broke into the barracks, hacking and killing indiscriminately, and screams came from every barracks.
Standing in the middle of the courtyard and commanding Zhang Dezheng, he heard shouts and sounds of fighting coming from the north and south gates. It seemed that the battles at those two places had also started.
At daybreak, the battle was over, and all the defenders were annihilated. The sun rises as usual, but Zhang Nanbao has a new owner.
The people of the Qin Dynasty led their troops from Longmen to cross the river on ice and camped on the wall of Baibi to confront King Kong of the Song Dynasty... The generals invited King Kong to fight with King Kong of the Song Dynasty. The people of the world said: "Jingang hangs his army deeply, and the elite soldiers and fierce generals gather here, and Wu Zhou According to Taiyuan, we rely on King Kong as a shield. King Kong's army has no reserves and relies on plunder as capital, so it can fight quickly. I will close the army to frustrate its front, divide the troops into Fen and Xi, and attack his inner circle. The enemy's food will be exhausted, so he will Escape. Wait for this opportunity. It is not advisable to fight quickly."
——"Zi Zhi Tong Jian"
In Jiangxian County, Song Jingang's face was filled with dark clouds after he came out of the granary. Just now, he inspected the largest granary set up by the army in the county. There was not much food left in the granary. In fact, since the Tang army captured Zhang Nan Fort a month ago and cut off the grain road on the east side of Fen River, he has never received a grain of grain. Now, seeing that the food he had hoarded was about to run out, how could he not be anxious?
Song Jingang felt that Li Shimin was really not a simple person. He had been at odds with him for more than five months, but he just couldn't get out. Song Jingang certainly knew that Li Shimin was consuming his food, but he was helpless and couldn't think of any good countermeasures.
Since last April, Song Jingang and Liu Wuzhou sent their troops southward, and they have been invincible along the way. Precisely because the battle was fought so smoothly, the battle line was stretched too long. By the time he captured Jiangxian County, the entire front line was more than a thousand miles long. Once the front line grows, the supply of food and grass becomes a big problem. Li Shimin garrisoned Baibi, and across the Yellow River was the Guanzhong area. Food could be continuously transported from Yongfengcang. Therefore, Li Shimin's soldiers could eat and drink enough and lie on the grass to bask in the sun every day, while Song Jinjiang's soldiers could only have one full meal and one hungry meal.
The current situation on the battlefield is also very unfavorable to Song Jingang. The Tang army also occupied Haozhou (today's Fenyang), Luzhou (today's Changzhi) and Wenxi. Although there were only a few thousand defenders in these cities, they could not be conquered repeatedly. If the battlefield is compared to a game of chess, these cities and towns are the chess holes for the Tang army to work on Song Jingang's territory. However, Song Jingang's two chess holes on the Tang army's territory, Pufan and Xiaxian, were successively occupied. Tang Jun was eaten.
At present, except for Zhang Nan Fort, the rest of the strategic points from Pingyao to Jiangxian are still in the hands of Song Jingang. However, if the journey from Pingyao to Jiangxian is compared to a highway, then the few chessmen of the Tang Army happen to be located on both sides of the highway. They are constantly squeezing into the middle, threatening his rear safety at any time.
The food and grass are about to be exhausted, and the battlefield situation is extremely unfavorable. Besides retreating, does Song Jingang have any other options?
Back at the Chinese army's tent, Song Jingang sent his bodyguard General Wei Chigong to call over. After the other party sat down, he said: "Mr. Jingde, our army's food route has been cut off by the Tang army, and the stored food is about to be used up. We can no longer hold on. For the current plan, we can only retreat." Yuchi Gongyi Hearing this, he hurriedly said: "King Song, where do you plan to evacuate?"
"Jiexiu."
"Jiexiu? Jiexiu is nearly five hundred miles away from here. How can we retreat so far all at once?"
Song Jingang nodded and said: "Mr. Jingde, you also know that I, Song Jingang, am not a coward. No one in the Tang army is my opponent. Jiang Baoyi, Li Zhongwen, Pei Ji, and Li Yuanji are all defeated by me." , if Li Shimin dared to come out to fight with me, I believe he would be like those people. However, Li Shimin refused to come out and worked with me. I repeatedly sent people to ask him for a decisive battle, but he ignored him, just like his mother Like a turtle, he huddled in his shell and refused to poke his head out. Didn’t Li Shimin claim that with only 30,000 elite soldiers, he could defeat me and Liu Wuzhou and recover the entire Hedong? Why is he such a bastard? "
"I, Song Jingang, are not afraid of war, but I am afraid of running out of food and grass. I originally thought that Li Shimin would only hold on for a month or two, or at most three months, before he could not help but come out to fight me. But I didn't expect that he would fight with me. It took me more than five months. It seems that I still underestimated him. I admit that I was defeated by Li Shimin this time because of his patience. I really don’t understand that he is just a second-rate person. How can a ten-year-old boy have such great endurance?"
"However, Mr. Jing De, I, Song Jingang, will not give up easily. Therefore, I decided to let you lead 10,000 elite troops to withdraw to Jiexiu first. I will lead the army to follow up. As long as the army safely withdraws to Jiexiu, The battle line can be greatly shortened. By then, we can capture Zhang Nan Fort, restore food roads, and build food roads on the Fen River. When we have enough food, we can then fight Li Shimin. I believe we can defeat him. !”
After listening to Song Jingang's complaints and withdrawal plan, Yuchi Gong left the Chinese military tent. According to Song Jingang's order, he led 10,000 troops to Jiexiu. Five days later, Song Jingang asked Xun Xiang to lead 5,000 troops as the rear guard, and he personally led the main force of the army and secretly set off to retreat.
On this day, Li Zhiyun was at the New Army camp. His second brother sent a guard to find him and asked him to go to the Chinese Army camp. Li Zhiyun walked into the military tent and found that many generals had arrived ahead of him. After everyone arrived, the second brother said: "Generals, according to the report from the scouts, Song Jingang has led his army to retreat. Haven't you always wanted to fight Song Jingang? Now the opportunity has come. Please be ready as soon as you return. Let's go. We must catch up with Song Jingang and completely eliminate him!" The generals were very happy to hear this, and they all clasped their fists and said, "Yes!"
Song Jingang was by no means an idle person, he even escaped without noticing. He led the army to retreat on March 14, and it was not until three days later that the second brother received the news. It was not until the seventh day, March 21, that the Tang army led by his second brother caught up with Xun Xiang, who was serving as a rearguard cover, in Juzhou (today's Huo County), more than 200 miles away. Song Jingang's main force He had already disappeared without a trace.
When Xun Xiang saw that he was overtaken by the Tang army, he immediately led his troops to hide in Juzhou City, closed the city gate tightly, and planned to defend the city. The Tang army immediately surrounded Juzhou City.
After Li Zhiyun arranged for the new army to set up camp, he immediately went to the Chinese army camp to find his second brother. He walked into the military tent and saw that the second brother was pacing back and forth in the tent, seeming to be thinking about something. He said loudly: "Second brother, when will we attack the city?"
The second brother did not answer, but stopped, looked at him and said: "According to the scouts, Song Jinjiang wants to escape to Jiexiu. We can't chase him slowly like this, and we will probably let him slip away. Let's do this, Wu Brother, I will hand over the army and food and grass to you, and I will personally lead the eight thousand cavalry to pursue Song Jingang. Do you think this is okay?" Li Zhiyun thought the second brother's idea was good. They spent more than five months with Song Jingang. It took a lot of effort to wear him out, it would be a shame if he ran away. So, he nodded quickly and said: "Okay, after I capture Juzhou City, I will lead my army to Jiexiu to meet you."
"Okay then, it's settled!"
After the second brother left, Li Zhiyun began to arrange an siege. The second brother only brought 8,000 cavalry, while Song Jingang had tens of thousands of horses, which was a huge disparity. Therefore, Li Zhiyun had to capture Juzhou City in the shortest possible time, and then lead the army to reinforce the second brother.
Li Zhiyun asked Scarface to transfer the firearms battalion to focus on the North Gate. Eight red-coated cannons were lined up in a row and fired fiercely at the city gate. The gate tower was blown down, and the enemy troops on the top of the city were covered in blood, flesh and blood, and all were killed and injured. Soldiers from the firearms battalion rushed into the city gate, tied dozens of grenades together, and blew open the thick city gate studded with huge copper nails. The soldiers swarmed in, and in less than an hour, they occupied the entire city of Juzhou and captured Xun Xiang alive. Li Zhiyun left two thousand troops to guard Juzhou and led the army to chase his second brother.
The second brother led eight thousand cavalry to pursue Song Jingang. He took the lead and galloped wildly. Half a day later, they began to catch up with the enemy troops one after another. These were the laggard officers and soldiers of Song Jingang's army, and their numbers ranged from dozens to hundreds. A large group of cavalry rushed forward, cutting and killing indiscriminately, just like chopping melons and vegetables, and heads fell to the ground one after another. When encountering a large group of resistant enemy troops, use the impact of the cavalry to quickly break through the enemy's defense line and annihilate the enemy.
