Chapter 1066 Ultimate Goal

Chapter 1066 Ultimate Goal

Chapter 1066 Ultimate Goal
On November 15th, the Yifu Xianbei, Zheju Xianbei and Wuwei Lushui Hu tribes from Xihai County took turns to attack. Each tribe only attacked once, then retreated and was replaced by another tribe.

After such a series of battles, the defenders, who had lost more than half of their troops, sent envoys to negotiate surrender.

Shao Shen was unwilling to surrender, but after repeated persuasion from Yang Jiongzhi, he finally agreed to let the remaining thousand defenders lay down their weapons and march down the mountain.

However, as soon as they came down the mountain, Shao Shen's expression changed immediately. He wanted to kill the surrendered soldiers but was almost stopped by someone.

However, death penalty can be avoided, but living crime cannot be avoided.

Exiling criminals to the frontier has been an old wisdom throughout the dynasties. The final destination of this group of people was Hehui City. There were a total of one thousand families, and all of them were exiled.

When Shao Shen planted his flag on the top of Mount Xian, Xiangyang and Fancheng were greatly shaken.

That night, another knight shot a letter of surrender into the city, but there was no response for a while.

A careful count of the defenders revealed that there were still more than 5,000 in Xiangyang City - if Deng Yue had not conscripted servants from the wealthy families or people from the market, which of course was unlikely.

The number of defenders in Fancheng was less than 4,000.

The overall situation is precarious and looks like it is on the verge of a storm.

On the 16th, after waiting for sufficient food and grass, Huang Biao led his troops directly to the outside of Shicheng.

The number of troops he had along the way had been greatly reduced.

The Luoyan Army and half of the Dai Kingdom cavalry had been transferred westward and merged into the Western Route Army, under the command of Jiang Ke. Only the Right Jinwu Guard, the Heiliang Left Camp and more than 4,000 Tuoba Xianbei cavalry remained in Huang Biao's hands, with less than 15,000 combat troops and about 29,000 auxiliary troops.

Obviously, Shao Shen adjusted the deployment, increasing troops on the western front and attacking Jiangling directly, while the eastern front was in an "offensive defense" state.

However, Huang Biao was obviously not satisfied with defense.

When he learned that there was a Jin army water fort and two thousand ground troops in Shicheng, he immediately ordered a fierce attack.

This city is near Zhongxiang in later generations.

During the Three Kingdoms period, Sun Quan built a fort here and sent a Yamen general to guard it, hence the name "Yamen Fort".

Wei and Wu fought back and forth. In the Jin Dynasty, Yang Hu was appointed as the governor of Jingzhou. He conquered this place and built a stone city on a land with mountains behind and water beside, as a frontline fortress to confront Eastern Wu.

At the end of the Former Jin Dynasty, Du Tao was forced to rebel by Wang Cheng, and Shicheng fell.

Tao Kan led his army to attack, but was defeated by Du Zeng here.

Shicheng is actually the territory of Jingling County, but there are not many civilians here. No idea whether they have been relocated or have all escaped.

Huang Biao didn't care where the people of Jingling had gone. He just wanted to take the city, so he went out to look out as soon as possible.

"Boom, boom, boom..." While looking out, the sound of advancing drums could be heard nearby.

The soldiers of the Heilongjiang Left Camp formed an orderly array and launched an attack on the Jin army's water stronghold.

When the navy marches, they need to have a rest point along the way, and that is the water fort.

Such a village is needed to repair ships, store supplies, accommodate the wounded and sick, and even serve as a starting point for an attack.

Huang Biao made a rough observation and found that the east, south and north sides of Shicheng were built with walls using the natural terrain, and the west side was a cliff, overlooking the Mian River. In other words, the connection between the water fort and the city could be cut off artificially.

So, the cavalry of Tuoba Dai only charged once and lost a few men, but they found out where the soft riverbed was and where the relatively solid ground was, and then launched a resolute attack, blocking the Jin army that was trying to travel between the stone city and the water fort, and cutting it into two parts.

The attack on the water fort had already begun, but Shicheng ignored it and only sent the Right Jinwu Guards and Xianbei cavalry to monitor it. As soon as the enemy left the city, they would immediately engage in a field battle with them.

Behind them, an even more shocking scene appeared: 1,200 government soldiers, with their followers, 2,000 young men, and 1,000 cavalry, pulled ox carts, donkeys and mules southward, advancing towards the city of Jingling County.

There were only a few thousand people, and only half of them could fight. Yet they dared to march south with only half a month's worth of food and fodder. Their momentum was extremely fierce.

"Send someone to inform Anlu and ask Zuo Feilongwei and his gang how long they will delay." Huang Biao called the messenger and gave the order.

The messenger turned and left.

Huang Biao turned his head and looked towards the water fort.

The Jin navy guarding the camp was exchanging fire with the Heilang Left Camp on the wall. Arrows and stones were flying on the battlefield, and the battle became intense from the very beginning.

Huang Biao remembered that a Xianbei general had advised him yesterday that if they could not capture any city along the way in one go, they should just bypass them all and send people to monitor them while the main force marched south to drink from the Yangtze River.

Huang Biao was a little surprised. Did the Xianbei people like to fight like this?

If the main force heading south is cavalry, we can indeed send a part of the elite cavalry to monitor the defenders in the city, then bypass the city and march south in a large force, but that would pose too great a risk.

It's not noticeable during the attack, but when retreating, all the troops have no will to fight, and that's going to be a disaster - don't take it for granted, horses are more delicate and sensitive to the environment than humans, and when they get sick in the densely watered areas of the south, you can understand the feeling of running on two legs while being chased.

Huang Biao did not dare to let go of the cities along the way, and after failing to persuade them to surrender, he began to attack.

He didn't dare to say when he could capture Shicheng, but there were not many navy troops in the water fort, and the camp was not strong, so it would not be difficult to capture it.

In the north, Xiangyang has been besieged but not attacked. In the south, you are not going to attack Shicheng, Jingling and Yangkou?
There is no way, you have to be ruthless when you need to.

******
In the Yangkou camp, Tao Kan was seeing Cai Mo off.

"Shiheng, I still feel a little uneasy." Cai Mo had already boarded the boat and looked at Tao Kan on the shore, and couldn't help but say.

Tao Kan laughed loudly and said, "Now that things have come to this, there is no point in regretting."

As the two were talking, soldiers drawn from various places were boarding the ship in batches.

Tao Kan recently adjusted his deployment, drawing troops from Wuchang and Xiakou, gathering 15,000 infantry and more than 10,000 naval forces, which was the most powerful mobile corps in Jingzhou, and the only mobile corps. The defense of Jingling, Yangkou and nearby areas was basically entrusted to the 10,000 Jiangzhou naval and land troops brought by Cai Mo, and they were strictly ordered not to fight recklessly, but to cooperate with the land and sea forces and defend firmly.

The two or three thousand men under his command can use the Yangshui River, Xiashui River, and even the spring water that is not easy to transport to provide reinforcements to various places.

Four words: wait and see.

The Liang army was dragged on until it could no longer bear the casualties of the siege, the endless rivers and muddy ground, and the frequent delays in food and fodder supplies. Even until the beginning of next spring, when more and more northern soldiers were unable to adapt to the climate and water, and large numbers of war horses and draft animals died, they were forced to retreat.

Being forced to retreat and being willing to retreat are two different things.

He didn't believe that the Liang army could escape unscathed from the pursuit at that time. If things went wrong, a crushing defeat was very likely to happen. By then, not only would the siege of Jiangling be lifted, but Xiangyang might also be lost.

The thing he regretted most was that the court gave reckless orders at the beginning, forcing him to lose more than 10,000 soldiers in Xiangfan and two places.

If he had an extra 10,000 elite soldiers at this time, bringing the main force of the infantry capable of field battles to 27,000 people, he could even march to the north of Jiangling, make a major detour, and completely cut off the retreat of the main force of the Liang army that was gathering in Jiangling.

But now there are only more than 15,000 soldiers, which is much riskier, because the Liang army may have adjusted its deployment, and it may not be enough to attack from both sides.

But he had to keep this to himself, and even Cai Mo couldn't say more.

You can't blame the emperor, the prime minister, and all the officials in the court, can you?
Cai Mo didn't know what Tao Kan was thinking. Seeing Tao Kan laughing, he said helplessly, "Shi Heng!"

Tao Kan put away his smile, bowed to Cai Mo, and said, "If you are willing, why not help me find some more soldiers and horses. They don't need to be very strong, but they can defend the city. It would be best if they are soldiers from Xiangzhou, as they are close. Don't use barbarian soldiers, as they can't even defend the city well. If there are only barbarians, it would be best if they are trained to defend the city. In this way, I can transfer the garrisons from Wuchang and Xiakou, which will greatly increase my control."

After that, he sighed again and said, "If it really doesn't work, the barbarians are fine. I can just take them with me to fight."

"This..." Cai Mo thought for a moment and said, "I will return to the capital now, Shi Heng just needs to wait for good news."

Tao Kan bowed and went on board.

The imperial court was really obsessed with guarding against Fang Zhen. Even at this time, they still refused to hand over Xiangzhou to him.

Tao Kan's ship gradually went away, the sound of drums continued on the river, and masts and oars were like a forest.

On the post road near the river, a large group of infantry were also on the road, heading straight for Huarong.

A navy gathered in the south of Huarong City. You can take a boat into Yunmengze and then go to Jiangling via Xiashui.

Cai Mo could not understand these military deployments and mobilizations. He only knew that Tao Kan was struggling to hold on under the massive invasion of the "800,000" Liang army and was desperately waiting for the right time.

After shaking his head, he worriedly ordered the boat to start.

It would be very quick to go down the Yangtze River from Yangkou and then return to Jianye. He wanted to discuss matters with important officials in the court as soon as possible.

On the way here, I vaguely heard that the Liang army was heading south from Huainan and besieging the new city of Hefei, but I didn't know what was going on.

Xuzhou should have also taken action, right?
This is a full-scale invasion with such a massive momentum that it will certainly not be easy for Shao to give up. Now it depends on who can hold out.

******
On November 20th, Jiang Ke, the commander-in-chief of the Western Army, was already stationed in Dangyang and began to mobilize troops frequently.

There is no end in sight for the long journey of carriages from north to south in Dangyang.

The south is a densely networked area with rivers, and even in well-developed areas, there are rivers one after another.

Baggage trains often piled up in front of the few wooden bridges, waiting in line.

What is even more frustrating is that many bridges were destroyed, which greatly delayed the advance.

The young men were driven down to the river to build a temporary floating bridge. Sometimes they were so busy that they were sweating profusely, and sometimes they were so cold that their lips turned purple and they were shivering.

There were people lying on the ground next to the carriage.

Some people feel weak, some have severe fever, and some suffer from vomiting and diarrhea.

The officers sent people to gather them in a temporary camp.

The doctor will give a simple treatment, and if the patient still can't get better, then he will die.

The soldiers who were in a hurry to pass through competed with the young men for the road. There was constant cursing and disputes all day long, and the situation was extremely chaotic.

The rear heard that a baggage troop was ambushed by Wu people who came ashore from the lake while resting at night, and suffered heavy losses. The flames illuminated half the sky red.

Therefore, in the past few days, Dangyang sent out several groups of light cavalry to inspect the grain routes along the way.

But they cannot eliminate the phenomenon, they can only reduce its frequency.

It was not until the 21st that this phenomenon almost disappeared, after a vanguard drawn from the Eastern and Central Armies arrived and was assigned to the baggage train.

However, the newly arrived Xianbei cavalry still suffered a loss. They were seized by the enemy and surrounded in a village surrounded by water, and lost more than a hundred cavalry.

Looking down from the air, from Jiangling to Xiangyang, the hundreds of miles of road were lined with flags and filled with carriages and horses.

Various troops were interspersed among them, as if all the men in the world had gathered here.

At this moment, the center of the battlefield has shifted to Jiangling.

It was also at this moment that even the dumbest person knew that Xiangyang was just a by-product, and the most important target in Shao's mind was Jiangling.

As for Jiangling, there is no way to cut off external aid unless no one comes to rescue.

(End of this chapter)