Chapter 1057 Xiangfan

Chapter 1057 Xiangfan

Chapter 1057 Xiangfan
In the long Wanye Corridor, there were crowds of carriages and horses, and flags like a forest.

On the hillsides on both sides, there were scouts and rangers appearing and disappearing everywhere.

The drumbeats were continuous and could be heard for two hundred miles from beginning to end.

Before the rear troops had fully entered the corridor, the front troops had already escorted the emperor to Duyang.

The Silver Spear Left Camp, the Black Sword Left Camp, the royal army, part of the Left and Right Jinwu Guards, part of the Left and Right Flying Dragon Guards, the First and Second Camps of the Yellow Head Army, part of the Yicong and Luoyan Army, all the living-catching troops, and all the Youzhou Cavalry Commanders, totaling more than 50,000 people, in addition to 10,000 sons of the government soldiers recruited from Luonan, 10,000 young men from the five counties of Yingchuan, Runan, Chen, Liang, and Jiyin, 10,000 young men from the service households of Bianliang, 10,000 young men from Hebei, and 10,000 young men from the Shaofu Tuntian Army, totaling more than 100,000 combat soldiers and logistical support troops.

As for the logistical militia responsible for transporting food and fodder, they will not be assembled in large numbers until October to deliver food and fodder and military supplies to Nanyang.

Considering that supplies have been delivered to the front line on a small scale and at a low intensity for more than half a year, this one-month gap is nothing.

There are 50,000 combat soldiers and almost 200,000 or 300,000 people providing services for them. The cost of war is truly staggering.

Of course, if there is a canal leading directly to the front line, the number of logistics personnel can be reduced by more than half and the cost can be reduced by more than 70%.

On September 21, Shao Shen led more than 3,000 people of the Left Cavalry Guard to Wancheng. The first thing he did was to integrate the various Hu soldiers who had loose discipline and were not under the same command.

At the same time, Mao Bao, an old subordinate of Wang Dun and a military officer of the Jingzhou Shogunate, arrived in Xiangyang with supplies.

They set out from Jiangling, took a boat to Yangkou, and then arrived in Xiangyang.

This river was dug by Du Yu, who made use of the dense lakes and ponds between Jiangling and Xiangyang and dredged the old canal from the pre-Qin period. Thus, a river connecting the Mian River (Han River) and the Yangtze River was opened, greatly shortening the distance between Jiangling and Xiangyang without having to detour through Xiakou and other places.

Of course, merchants are generally reluctant to take this route, because there are swamps and lakes everywhere, reed marshes are endless, and there are not many people. They prefer to take a detour to Xiakou and distribute goods there. But if it is a military operation, that is another matter.

After arriving in Xiangyang, Mao Bao would not leave. He and the 5,000 reinforcements he brought with him stationed in Fancheng to block the Liang army.

That afternoon, Xiangyang Prefect Deng Yue arrived at the other side of the river by boat.

He was also an old subordinate of Wang Dun and had a good relationship with Mao Bao.

After Tao Kan established his government, they were both retained, one as a military officer and the other as the prefect of Xiangyang.

As soon as they met, Deng Yue pointed at the soldiers brought by Mao Bao and said in surprise: "The governor didn't even give us some elite soldiers. Who are these people?"

The soldiers were cutting down trees in the wild and collecting hay and firewood, keeping them for their own use while not giving them to the Liang people. This prevented them from collecting firewood nearby or even building siege equipment, wasting their time and energy.

But the images of these soldiers are somewhat...

Many of them have disheveled hair and ghostly things on their faces. They are barbarian soldiers!
Mao Bao also said helplessly: "Boshan, for so many years, the entire Jingzhou's capable troops have never exceeded 40,000. You have 10,000, which is already 41% of the total. The governor has to suppress the local area and leave some people to support everywhere. I can bring 2,000 elite soldiers and 3,000 Yi soldiers, so you should be content."

After hearing this, Deng Yue was speechless.

The enemy is coming in full force, and it is difficult for the governor. He must have a sufficient number of troops on hand to provide support at any time, or to check for loopholes and save the situation.

There are already 10,000 heavy troops stationed in Xiangyang. If we send you 2,000 elite soldiers and 3,000 foreign soldiers, that's already very good.

If you still want reinforcements, the most likely ones are the barbarians, who will be plenty to you.

"Shuozhen, how do you plan to defend?" Deng Yue stopped dwelling on this question and instead asked about the war.

"If Xiangyang is not defended, the bandits will certainly go down the Mian River and attack Jingling, Jiangxia and Nanjun." Mao Bao said, "Fancheng is an important barrier to the north of Xiangyang, so we must defend it no matter what. Governor Wang (Wang Dun) was kind to me in the past, but now that things have come to this, I can only die to repay my country."

Deng Yue didn't want to hear these words. He was willing to fight for the court, but he didn't want to die for his country.

"Boshan has fought with Lekai several times. Where did he come from every time?" Mao Bao asked back.

"Go upstream from the Mian River to the Ji River, then go around to the south; or go straight to attack Fancheng." Deng Yue said.

"That's right." Mao Bao said, "To defend Xiangyang, the navy is the key."

After that, he pointed to the south bank across the river and said, "Xiangyang is located in the middle of a river bend, with rivers on the west, north and east sides, which is a natural moat. On the north bank of the Mian River is Fancheng, which faces Xiangyang across the river, and they are mutually supportive. As long as there is communication with the navy, it will not be difficult for the two cities to protect each other. The weak point is the south of Xiangyang City, so Xianshan must be firmly defended and cannot be lost."

"I have divided 4,000 soldiers and stationed them in the mountain fortress." Deng Yue said, "Today, I sent out the men of the noble families in various counties, but many of them refused to accept the invitation. It is really disheartening."

"Do your best." Mao Bao said, "If we push them too far, these nobles may surrender to the enemy. Shao is too powerful."

Deng Yue nodded and said, "Shuo Zhen's words make sense. Now we can only talk about what we can do."

Mao Bao frowned slightly after hearing this.

With Deng Boshan acting like this, the morale of the Xiangyang defenders was low.

******
Shao Shen's reorganization of troops in Nanyang does not mean that there will be no further action.

As a general who had been deep behind enemy lines, he was not the kind of person who would take things easy. In fact, after reorganizing a group of soldiers, he would send another group to the front line.

The first group to go south was 2,000 Xianbei cavalry, led by Qifu Wuzhen, the chief of the Qifu tribe. They went south from Wancheng, passed Xinye, and reached the northern border of Fancheng.

When the first rain of arrows fell, the Jin soldiers who were collecting firewood fled one after another, abandoning their carts, firewood and even tools, diving into the reed marshes, and rowing their boats to escape. More than a dozen people who did not have time to escape were blocked on the shore, their eyes full of despair.

Dozens of riders watched them from afar, drove them as far away from the river as possible, then circled around and shot arrows at them, trying to break away from contact.

Among the woodcutters were two archers who were guarding them, but they were shot dead at the moment of the surprise attack.

The Xianbei cavalry were well aware of the threat posed by the archers, so they concentrated their shooting at them as soon as possible.

The remaining dozen or so people were mostly holding axes for chopping wood, and a few spears, and they fled in all directions without any cover.

The sound of arrows breaking through the air continued, and several people were killed in an instant. The rest surrendered in despair.

The leader threw out a bundle of leather ropes and called on his men to tie up the prisoners, while waving to a place not far away.

More than a hundred riders appeared on the other side of the stream.

Obviously, they were lying in ambush to prevent being attacked from behind by the enemy, but it didn't work.

After experiencing many battles in Huainan, the Ministry of War has compiled the cavalry combat experience in areas with dense water networks into a book and distributed part of it. As for whether to learn it or not, it is your business. Just don't complain if you suffer a loss.

Throughout late September, the Xianbei of Qifu and a part of the Di and Qiang tribes in Hezhou, who had moved south earlier, continued to clear out the Fancheng area.

The main task was to prevent the enemy troops from going out to collect firewood, and to capture and kill messengers and scouts, gradually making the enemy blind and deaf.

Of course, this is impossible.

How could the Jin army become truly deaf and blind when they were within the radiation range of Yunmengze? At least the water transportation was difficult to be cut off, and the land transportation was not necessarily the same.

However, being able to prevent the enemy from collecting military intelligence, making them unclear about the situation in the north, and slowing down the speed at which they obtain intelligence is already a great victory.

By the end of September, the defenders of Fancheng had almost completely stopped going out, and relied solely on ships to travel to various places to transport messengers, supplies, and equipment.

On the first day of October, Mao Bao climbed up the city wall and looked around, only to see enemy cavalry roaming around on both the east and west sides of Fancheng. A few miles west of the city, they even raised a large flag and roughly built a camp that could accommodate several thousand people.

Of course, there were no enemy troops to the north and south of the city, because there was a lake to the north of Fancheng and the south of the city was backed by the Mian River, so the enemy could only attack from the east and west sides.

"They are building the floating bridge." After being reminded by his general, Mao Bao came to the west city. Facing the setting sun, he put his hands on the sunshade and observed carefully.

On the Mian River, thousands of infantrymen - perhaps dismounted mixed Hu cavalry - were cutting down trees and building a temporary pontoon bridge.

After the bridge was built, they would use the camp as a support, cross the river to the south, and harass the flank and rear of Xiangyang.

Is it really a good idea to defend like this? For the first time, Mao Bao questioned this tactic.

It may seem safer to passively accept the attack and drag it out until you can no longer drag it out, but everything has its pros and cons. Doing so will only boost the enemy's arrogance and weaken the morale of your own military and civilians.

Moreover, if the Shao bandit does not attack Fancheng and Xiangyang, but only besieges them, and refuses to leave, and is determined to fight even at the risk of heavy casualties, what should we do?
This strategy of hurting others is the most difficult to defeat.

At this moment, a rider suddenly came from the west of the city and dismounted from his horse far away.

A soldier on the city wall drew his bow and arrow and looked at Mao Bao.

Mao Bao never gave any orders, intending to listen to what the other party had to say.

"General Mao." Seeing that no one was shooting arrows from the top of the city wall, the man became bolder and walked forward more than ten steps, shouting, "I am a guest of Lord Pan's residence in Xingyang. General, do you still remember the old friendship between our two families?"

Old friendship? It didn't exist. The Pan family of Xingyang was a big family. Even the Zheng family was inferior to them. How could they have any friendship with the local tyrants like the Mao family?
"Since I can hear your accent, I will spare your life. You'd better leave quickly, or you might be killed by an arrow." After saying that, Mao Bao personally picked up the bow and arrow, and the arrow flew out and landed a few steps in front of the messenger.

"General Mao." The envoy was shocked, but still a little unwilling, so he said: "The emperor of Daliang always likes cold people. If you surrender, you can expect wealth and honor. Now 800,000 infantry and cavalry are heading south to Jingzhou. If you delay, they will all be turned into powder. You should think carefully-"

The messenger was about to say something else when he saw Mao Bao take out another arrow. He cursed inwardly, ran back to his horse in embarrassment, mounted his horse and left.

Mao Bao gently retracted the arrow, looked at the messenger's receding back, snorted coldly, and then frowned again.

The cold snort was for the subordinates to hear, so that they would strengthen their determination to defend.

Frowning was a sign of worry. Shao had mobilized so many troops, he would definitely not be willing to return empty-handed. Regardless of the final outcome, the defenders of Fancheng and Xiangyang would definitely suffer heavy casualties.

Of the people standing beside him now, I wonder how many of them can make it to the end...

Starting from the second day of October, as Mao Bao guessed, more and more Liang army infantry and cavalry moved south.

They spared the heavily defended Xiangfan and instead began to persuade the surrounding counties to surrender. They also invited representatives of the nobles and county officials who were willing to surrender to meet the emperor in Yuyang.

The military battles were fought by Shao Shen, while the political battles were Shao Xun's business. For the Southern Expedition, the latter may be more important.

(End of this chapter)