Chapter 1061: Reasonable Tactics: Big Steps Forward, Big Steps Back
Chapter 1061: Reasonable Tactics: Big Steps Forward, Big Steps Back
"Attack others but not yourself! This principle is not something that even soldiers who have served in the army for many years can understand and often forget."
On October 25th, in the Yangkou camp, Tao Kan stood with his hands behind his back, his gray beard fluttering in the river breeze.
Chief Clerk Zhou Fu and Sima Wang Qianqi followed behind him.
The wind was a bit strong today, and even though they were riding on a huge ship, it was still not very stable. However, the two of them had long been accustomed to it, and they walked as if they were walking on flat ground.
"Generally speaking, I have been taken over by the thief Shao." Tao Kan said, "Should we save Xiangyang? If not, we will just sit back and watch him swallow up our elite soldiers, generals, famous cities and towns. If we save him, he will certainly obstruct us in every possible way, and even take the opportunity to kill us."
Wang Qianqi was somewhat surprised when he heard this and asked, "Mingsir, has the Shao thief not attacked Xiangyang yet?"
Tao Kan looked up at the sky and said, "Even though we have laid siege, we still haven't taken it. The ruler and his ministers of Jianye are thousands of miles away and don't know how dangerous the war is, which led to this."
Zhou Fu and Wang Qianqi looked at each other in silence.
As the chief historian and Sima of the shogunate, they certainly knew that Tao Jingzhou was actually unwilling to defend Xiangyang.
The reason was very simple. After years of fighting, they were already exhausted, and it was too far away from Xiakou and Jiangling. It would be better to move the people south to fill the population of Jiangxia and Jiangling as a long-term plan.
This was what Tao Kan had thought beforehand, but the imperial court did not allow it. Instead, a large amount of supplies and equipment were transported and a strict order was issued not to abandon Xiangyang.
Therefore, he could only formulate a battle plan under this premise. In simple terms, it was to use Xiangyang to consume the enemy's manpower and morale. Now it seems unlikely, Tao Kan actually had the idea of giving up Xiangyang for the second time.
Of course, the two had different opinions on Tao Kan's idea.
Zhou Fu thought it was a good idea to send only a small number of soldiers to monitor the situation, and if anything went wrong they could retreat south to Wuchang, the former capital of the Eastern Wu.
Wang Qianqi felt that they should defend, even though the local people were already suffering from the fighting and could no longer hold out.
Xiangyang is the barrier between Jiangxia and Jiangling. If Xiangyang exists, these two places can live in peace. If Xiangyang does not exist, these two places will enter a wartime state and have a hard time.
But they are not the ones who make the decisions, so it's useless.
"My lord, is it possible that the thief Shao is using Xiangyang to tie up my army?" Zhou Fu took two quick steps, followed behind Tao Kan, and asked.
"That may not be the case." Tao Kan said, "How can there be a set rule for fighting a war? Shao the thief is also taking things one step at a time. He was heading for Xiangyang from the beginning, but Xiangyang's walls are high and deep, and the garrison is no less than 10,000 people, so it is difficult to capture it suddenly. Moreover, their soldiers come and go like the wind, and attacking the city is the worst way to fight. It is better to let them go and see if we can annihilate the enemy."
"To attack others, but not to be attacked by others...If he attacks the city, he will attack me. If he does not attack the city, then I will be attacked by him."
"That's the big picture. Let's talk about the battle. This time, Songxia was taken over by the enemy. He knew where our army was strong and where the enemy was weak, but he was blinded by greed and died in defeat."
"As the ancients said, 'the right time, the right place, and the right people', the bandit Shao led his entire army south, which actually took advantage of the right time." Having said this, Tao Kan turned around and looked at Zhou Fu and Wang Qianqi.
Zhou and Wang both smiled bitterly.
This "time" does not just refer to the weather, but more to the transition from the old to the new in Jianye and the turmoil in people's hearts.
Once people's hearts are in turmoil, some people may surrender to the enemy, such as the Jiangxia Li family.
Li Chong's surrender to the enemy was very troublesome, and resulted in the city of Jiangxia falling into the hands of the enemy.
In addition, there have been rumors spreading these days that Zhonglu Kuai Heng accepted Shao's appointment as the governor of Xiangyang and rebelled!
If this is true, then this is also a reflection of the turmoil in people's hearts.
Of course, Shao Ze also chose a relatively good season and went south in late autumn and early winter.
Of course there are epidemics during this period, but they are not as serious as in summer. For people in the north, it is a life-saving time.
"They don't have the advantage of the terrain." Tao Kan said: "When it comes to military operations in Jingzhou, the navy is essential. The further south we go, the more we need the navy. The terrain is ours. As for the people, -"
Tao Kan shook his head and smiled bitterly: "The nobles of Jingxiang are indecisive and the people's harmony is no longer in my control."
"The time, the place and the people are favorable. I only have the advantages of the place and half of the people, while Shao has the time and half of the people. This battle will be difficult."
After hearing Tao Kan's analysis, Zhou Fu and Wang Qianqi looked at each other in dismay.
Now they finally understood why Tao Jingzhou was unwilling to defend Xiangyang.
The further south you go, the more obvious the geographical advantages become, and the more determined people become to resist Shao.
The further north we go, the smaller the naval advantage becomes, and the people become more and more indecisive.
The ancients had already made the struggle between the armies very clear, but Jianye gave his orders at random.
But - maybe it's not their fault.
When the new king ascended the throne, he abandoned the important city right after he came to power, which must have made him look a little unhappy.
"Mingsir, do you still want to save Xiangyang?" Zhou Fu couldn't help but ask.
"Let's get things sorted out first." Tao Kan was silent for a moment, then said, "Save as much as you can and see if you can get them out."
Is this considered rescue? Zhou Fu and Wang Qianqi looked at each other in bewilderment.
"If the court holds us accountable..." Zhou Fu hesitated.
"The court must make a choice between saving the people and losing the territory or saving the territory and losing the people. How can we save both the territory and the people?" Tao Kan sighed, "Shao the bandit claims to have '800,000 soldiers', but that is mostly lies. I can only claim to have '100,000 soldiers'. With 100,000 against 800,000, what are the chances of winning? It is better to retreat south, leave the best soldiers and generals behind, and rely on the navy to resist a few."
"Now only the Yangtze River can stop 800,000 soldiers. If you insist on saying whether there is a chance of victory, I dare not say there is no chance, but it is definitely not in Xiangyang."
"My lord, where is the chance of victory?" Wang Qianqi listened attentively and asked.
Tao Kan did not say it explicitly, but only said: "To serve others without being harmed by others, the right time, right place and right people are all that is said."
After saying that, he turned and left, his voice still floating from afar: "Let Chen Xiu withdraw his troops. Runan has no intention of doing anything, and Shao the thief is completely unmoved." Wang Qianqi responded subconsciously, with a look of confusion in his eyes.
Zhou Fu secretly thought that in the end he would have to fight according to the original strategy. Could he disobey the imperial order?
******
When Dou Qin returned to Yu County with Song Xia's head, the morale of the defenders plummeted.
Huang Biao took the opportunity to organize a large army to attack, but Heiliang's left camp made the final decision and broke through the city.
After the capture of the city, no one could stop them from cutting off the Mian River.
In fact, it was only Song Xia who did not move forward. If they had arrived near Yu County and seen the Liang army's attempt to put wooden stakes in the river, they would have understood their combat intentions: they wanted to eat up Xiangyang first, hold it firmly, and then plan for other things.
Tao Kan's judgment on Anlu's change of hands was actually correct. It was an accident, and troops were temporarily transferred to take over. There was no intention to move south for the time being.
In addition to the Eastern Army, the Western Army easily captured Shanghuang and Weixiang, and the main force crossed the Wei River and advanced towards the Zhang River.
When the news from the two armies came back, Shao Shen was wandering outside Xian Mountain in the south of the city.
In the past, Yang Hu liked to climb this mountain for fun. Today, there are even temples and stele built on the mountain to commemorate him.
But now, with the passage of time, Mount Dan has become a battleground for military strategists.
On the rugged and narrow mountain road, the soldiers from both Jin and Liang were fighting hard, risking their lives.
Shao Shen only glanced at it briefly and didn't seem to care much.
His uncle requested that the main strategy be siege, but he also had a request that was difficult to express out loud, but Shao Shen had to carry it out.
At the foot of Mount Danshan, the Second Battalion of the Yellow Head Army was on full alert, closely watching Mount Danshan where a fierce battle was breaking out.
The two thousand soldiers of the Zhuosheng Army sat on the ground with their horses at their sides, ready to attack at any time.
Two thousand armored soldiers of the Nanyang Le family's vanguard army were stationed behind the earth wall in the middle of the mountain road. They were well equipped with bows and crossbows, and drove a group of miscellaneous Hu people to attack from above. They cleared the Wu soldiers on the mountain road bit by bit and pushed them back into the city again.
This is the last attack today. If we fail, we will call it a day.
Over the past few days, more than 3,000 miscellaneous Hu people have died in this area, and more will die in the future.
How can there be no casualties when attacking a city or a mountain? This is normal.
As for forcing people to rebel, that's fine, it has been like this since ancient times, even in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Otherwise, how could the sentence "The soldiers I send to fight are not my countrymen" be so famous?
Just fight back. They have already prepared for your resistance.
After making a circle, Shao Shen went to the south of Xiangyang City under the protection of hundreds of his personal soldiers.
There are many wooden poles erected here, and many human heads are hung on each pole.
Dozens of highly skilled riders, armed with spears, carried the heads of Jin army officers cut off from the battlefield, galloped back and forth, and shouted loudly:
"Song Xia is dead, and the enemy troops have retreated."
"Without reinforcements outside and no food inside, why not surrender?"
"If you surrender yourself, you will not lose the wealth of your family. If you delay, both you and your family will perish together."
"Xiangyang is not Wu territory, why risk your life?"
Occasionally a few arrows fell from the top of the city wall, but after suffering a small loss at the beginning, the knights were very smart and carefully maintained their distance until the defenders brought in the crossbows, and then they dispersed.
But the word had spread…
Deng Yue stood on the top of the city wall, looking carefully at the densely packed enemy camps north and south of the Mian River, his heart sank little by little.
The siege had lasted for several days, and the Liang people had basically taken no action except for a fierce attack on Mount Xian.
They were all experienced fighters, and Deng Yue knew at a glance that they planned to mainly resort to siege.
Encircling without attacking is also a fighting style, but it consumes more supplies, but it seems that the Liang people don't care.
After looking at the south side, Deng Yue turned to the north and looked at Fancheng on the other side of the Mian River.
It was even quieter outside Fancheng, with no sign of a major war about to break out.
Deng Yue was not worried that Fancheng would be captured by the Liang army. What he was worried about was that the morale of the defenders would be low and they would eventually surrender without a fight.
This is not an unfounded worry, because even he himself has doubts.
Did the Liang people really kill Song Xia? Were the reinforcements really blocked from entering?
He was not concerned about the reinforcements, as there were enough troops to defend the city. What he cared about was whether Xiangfan’s connection with the outside world was unobstructed.
If Commander Tao really can't reach the city, then wouldn't all of their tens of thousands of people be dead?
You don't even need to fight the enemy, just surround them until you run out of food. Will they eat you next?
Of course, it is also possible that the besieging army will run out of food first and will have to retreat because they can no longer hold on.
Or the plague may simply spread, morale may drop, and the entire army may lose its combat effectiveness.
Or maybe they have internal strife among themselves and can no longer fight.
No one knows what will happen.
So far, Deng Yue still has some hope.
(End of this chapter)