Chapter 681 An unexpected gain
Chapter 681 An unexpected gain
This time, Xiao Xia led his army to the Northern Expedition without planning for a long time. On the one hand, the time to unify the world had not yet come. Unifying the world is like stewing meat. If the stewing time is too short, the meat will not be cooked through. It will not only be difficult to chew and swallow, but also taste bad. It must be stewed over low heat for a longer time to make a good pot of meat.
The same goes for unifying the world. If it ends too early and the various interest groups are not crushed, it will leave various hidden dangers for governing the world in the future. But if it is fought too badly and all the people are killed, it will be like stewing the meat.
How to grasp this opportunity is Xiao Xia's strategic goal for this expedition. He wants to open up shelter areas in the Qi and Lu areas so that the people of Hebei and Central Plains will have a place to escape and stay.
On the other hand, his backyard was still unstable. He still had 50,000 troops trying to recover the two Lingnan regions, and there was also Yu Wenhuaji in Bashu. Once Yu Wenhuaji wanted to expand outward, Jingxiang would be the first to be hit. Also, if Wang Shichong of Luoyang or Li Yuan went south, the first place they would attack would also be Xiangyang. So Xiao Xia ordered Sun Lei to lead 30,000 naval and land troops to defend Xiangyang and Yiling.
Although Xiao Xia has the powerful weapon Iron Fire Thunder, it is only a weapon for siege and water warfare. It is very effective against fixed targets, but it may not be effective in war. Unlike the artillery shells of later generations that explode as soon as they hit the ground, it has a certain delay, which gives the enemy soldiers a certain amount of reaction time. As long as they can lie down in time and cover their ears, they can be unharmed at a distance of ten feet, and only suffer minor injuries at a distance of several feet.
The second reason is that there were not enough iron fire bombs. Unlike the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of artillery shells that were launched in later generations, the Sui army in the south of the Yangtze River had only a few thousand iron fire bombs in stock. It was impossible to use thousands of them lavishly in land battles. Instead, they were more specialized and were mostly used for sieges.
Therefore, the strategic goal of Xiao Xia's expedition this time was to open up the line from Jianghuai to Qi and Lu, and at the same time take over the coal-producing area of Pengcheng County.
Zhang Xutuo had also swept through Qi and Lu before, and all the small bandits had been wiped out by him. Now there were only three bandit groups left in the Qi and Lu areas. One was Xu Yuanlang who occupied Lu County and Dongping County, one was the Ge Qian tribe who had just been defeated by Dou Jiande and fled south to Jibei County, and the other was the Du Fuwei tribe in the south.
The purpose of this expedition is to destroy these three bandit gangs.
Qin Qiong led an army of 20,000 and had already charged into Donghai County. Donghai County was adjacent to Jiangdu County and posed a great threat to Jiangdu County. Once the army moved north, Jiangdu County would be left empty and could easily be taken over by Du Fuwei of Donghai County.
Xiao Xia wanted to open up Jianghuai, Qi and Lu, and Donghai County would be the first to bear the brunt.
Du Fuwei was said to have an army of nearly 100,000 men, but his forces in Donghai County were not large, only 30,000, led by the second in command Fu Gongyou. The rest of the army was in Langya County, and his base was also moved to Langya County.
Qin Qiong's army had already captured Shuyang County and continued to advance toward the northeast. Although there was Lianshui County to the south near the Huai River, according to scouts, there were no bandit troops there. Du Fuwei's army was mainly concentrated in the northern part of Donghai County.
At dusk that day, Qin Qiong's army camped near a small town called Danji Town, which was about 150 miles away from Qushan County, the seat of Donghai County.
The army brought 10,000 camels, which were mainly used to carry food and tents. Small tents were set up one by one. As the weather gradually got hotter, mosquitoes began to increase in number. Soldiers were resting in the wild and were easily bitten by mosquitoes. The mosquitoes were very ferocious and would stare at people and bite them. Applying medicine on the skin was useless. The soldiers could not sleep at all at night, and poor sleep would seriously affect their mental state the next day.
Therefore, soldiers must rest in tents, which provide physical isolation to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes.
The tents were all small marching tents, each of which could accommodate five soldiers. The 20,000-strong army built 4,000 tents and sent more than 1,000 soldiers to patrol the periphery.
The soldiers began to make fires. Now the army no longer needed to cut trees for firewood. They used honeycomb coal, which was a round cake of coal. Each soldier carried five or six pieces. This military honeycomb coal was mixed with saltpeter and sulfur powder and was very easy to ignite. There were also special stoves, which were very light and small. A soldier only needed two stoves, one for making pancakes and cooking, and the other for making soup and tea. Only four pieces of honeycomb coal were needed to cook a meal.
Soldiers are not allowed to drink raw water, and those who do will be punished by military law. This has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the Sui army in Jiangnan. Now every soldier knows that the plague is transmitted by drinking raw water.
After dinner, each soldier drank a cup of hot tea and went into the tent to sleep. Ten thousand camels lay in the distance, leisurely eating grass and drinking water.
Inside the commander's tent, Qin Qiong was staring at the sand table of Donghai County. The sand table was given to him by King Jin. There was only Donghai County on it. It could be seen from the sand table that there were not many county towns in Donghai County, only five in total, including Lianshui County and Shuyang County in the south, and Qushan County, Donghai County and Huairen County in the north. It could be seen from the sand table that Huairen County was very small, with low and dilapidated city walls and only a few thousand people. There was no need to consider Huairen County. The only ones left were Qushan County and Donghai County.
Donghai County is quite special. On Donghai Island, there is a strait about one mile wide between Donghai Island and the mainland, and you have to take a boat to get to the island.
But Donghai Island was controlled to some extent by Jiangnan General Administration Office. The Military Department's Water Transport Bureau set up a fresh water supply point on Donghai Island, which was dedicated to supplying fresh water for the sea transportation between Donglai County and Jiangdu County. For so many years, the supply point has been safe and sound, which means that Du Fuwei never stationed troops on Donghai Island. Of course, Donghai Island has no strategic value to Du Fuwei.
Qin Qiong's gaze finally fell on Qushan County. This large county should be the enemy's base in Donghai County.
Cheng Yaojin is on duty in the first half of the night tonight. He cannot sleep during this kind of duty and must suppress his sleepiness and stay alert.
Cheng Yaojin was dozing off on his horse, with two soldiers standing beside him, watching the surroundings vigilantly and ready to wake him up immediately if anything happened.
After taking a nap for half an hour, Cheng Yaojin was no longer so sleepy, but another temptation made it difficult for him to resist, that was the lights of the tavern in Danji Town.
One soldier knew Cheng Yaojin too well, so he said with a smile: "General, why don't we go to the town for a patrol! There may be scouts of the enemy."
Cheng Yaojin was cheered up. This is a good suggestion!
"Okay! Let's go check out the town."
Cheng Yaojin led a hundred soldiers to the town and came to the tavern tacitly. Cheng Yaojin turned around and said to the soldiers: "I will go in to inquire about the news, you wait outside!"
The soldiers all covered their mouths and laughed, but Cheng Yaojin pushed the door open with two soldiers in a serious manner.
The pub was very shabby, with only four or five small tables. There were only two or three old drunkards, slumped over the tables, drunk.
Besides the shopkeeper, there was only one waiter, who came up to him and said with a smile, "Would you like a drink, sir?"
Cheng Yaojin waved his hand and said, "I am on duty and I am not allowed to drink. I came to inquire about the situation."
The shopkeeper saw the general staring at the wine jar on the counter and swallowing hard, and immediately understood what he meant. He smiled and said, "General, would you like to drink some water? The water here is of very good quality."
Cheng Yaojin narrowed his eyes slyly and smiled: "Then bring me a bowl of water!"
The shopkeeper poured him a bowl of wine and said with a smile: "This is sweet osmanthus soaked in water, General, try it."
Cheng Yaojin picked up the bowl and drank it all, praising it highly. "The water quality here is really good. Tell me, what has happened in the past two days?"
"General, there was an army passing by at noon today."
Cheng Yaojin was startled, "What army is passing by?"
(End of this chapter)