Chapter 305: The Deep Quagmire of War
After Zhao Yulin took command from the front of Yongshan Village, Master Lu's hands were itching to lead the troops south to Dongchuan. He told Lao Lu to be patient and advance steadily, saying that we were not really going to go to war with the Dali Kingdom.
The equipment of the new Shenwei Army at this time was very different from that of ten years ago. The 5,000-man vanguard led by Fire Phoenix belonged to the newest team, and its firepower was equivalent to that of a reinforced regiment in later generations.
Soldiers all have standard crossbows, which have realized the clip-type loading of arrows. Due to the poor road conditions, a large number of mortars are equipped. This guy was made by Cuiping Mountain to be easy to disassemble. After the overall weight was greatly reduced, three soldiers can carry the cannon and three shells and walk, which can ensure fire support at any time.
The new army has been equipped with a musket battalion. This type of musket is a bit similar to the Japanese's Type 38 rifle. The bullet has a large caliber and extremely strong lethality. The gun body is made special to facilitate close combat and bayonet fighting.
The new hand-held guarana device was more stable and more powerful, and each soldier carried four of them.
Especially with the Fire Phoenix personally leading the charge, the brothers became more motivated and ran loudly.
The tribes along the way have long envied the clean society under the rule of the Shenwei Army. Many of their children study in the academies in the new city , and they describe the places controlled by the Shenwei Army as paradise on earth.
So when the Shenwei Army showed up, the people and chiefs immediately opened the village gates to welcome them, and sent rice and meat to comfort the new army. Some chiefs even begged Fenghuang to stay and not leave.
But danger also comes.
Huo Fenghuang led 5,000 soldiers to Jianchang. She ran too fast and was alone. The chieftain in the south ran to her and reported: It's terrible. The Dali army is passing through the ferry of Tiekuanggou and heading north. There are no less than 20,000 people. You can't see the beginning and the end.
Of course, Fire Phoenix understood that this was reinforcement sent by the Dali Kingdom to support their Jianchang Prefecture.
Her vanguard army left soldiers and horses to guard the city, transportation routes and supply points along the way. By this time, there were less than 4,000 people with her, and the enemy soldiers were at least over 20,000. Everyone was looking at the Fire Phoenix with a nervous look on their faces.
Fenghuang said confidently that she was not to be afraid. Since Dali had already sent out troops, our New Song Kingdom would certainly not sit idle. General Cao's troops should be here soon, so she sent people to the north to inquire carefully.
Sure enough, the news came in less than half a day.
General Cao Youwen led an army of 20,000 and attacked Jianchang Prefecture directly. He chased Gao Sheng's rebels in two consecutive battles. The number of this group of bandits was less than 2,000, and they fled into Jianchang City in a panic like a stray dog.
Huo Fenghuang immediately rushed to meet up with Cao Youwen. Our General Cao was delighted to see Huo Fenghuang, and he said in high spirits that he would change horses and chase after the enemy all the way, and he would keep rushing forward to avenge his brother and sister-in-law. With only his 20,000 elite soldiers, they could demolish Jianchang City.
Fire Phoenix thanked Lao Cao with a big smile and told him that there were 3,500 newly trained soldiers from Cuiping Mountain, and they brought 20 mortars with them.
Lao Cao was delighted and said that he never thought that the young man from Yulin would become more and more wealthy after fighting in the war.
At this time, the messenger brought Zhao Yulin's letter, telling them that Jianchang Prefecture was important, but the Tiekuanggou in the south where the black iron was produced was more important. Master Lu had already sent Yongshan to threaten Dongchuan County, and he thought that it would be interesting to take Jianchang and Huichuan in this battle and seize the Tiekuanggou by the Jinsha River.
Lao Cao slapped his head and said, "Oh, how could he forget? Black iron ore is the best ore for us to make high-quality weapons."
Huo Fenghuang was happy to see Zhao Yulin coming to Yongshan Village to support her, so she was about to lead her troops to fight against the Dali reinforcements, occupy Huichuan Prefecture, and seize Tiekuanggou at the ferry.
Lao Cao waved his hand and said there was no need for his younger brother and sister-in-law to help, and just asked all the Baiyue people to make the trip.
Du Baiyue immediately assured Huo Fenghuang with great anticipation that they would be able to defeat the Dali army and take back the large iron mine for the Shenwei army.
Fire Phoenix was itching to fight, but since Cao had given the order, she had no choice but to give up and told Baiyue to do it well.
Then she handed over her vanguard brigade to Baiyue.
Lao Cao said that he didn't have many men who could run away, so he gave him 8,000 first, which would be 10,000 to fight against Dali's 20,000.
Du Baiyue excitedly stood at attention and saluted immediately, assuring them that they would complete the task.
After seeing all the Baiyue people leave, Lao Cao sighed and said that when he insisted on following the emperor's order to march west, only Baiyue followed him to Luoyang. Unexpectedly, they suffered a disastrous defeat as Yulin'er said, and Baiyue was neglected by his brother and sent to Cuiping Mountain to train troops, where they stayed for several years.
Fire Phoenix is very clear about this matter.
At that time, the emperor of Lin'an ordered the troops to march into Luoyang, but Zhao Yulin thought the time was not right and did not go. It was General Cao Youwen who led the troops out through the Qiaohan Road.
Du Baiyue ignored Zhao Yulin's tactful dissuasion and led the Third Column to follow General Cao on the western expedition to Luoyang. Although he fought bravely and his command was correct, he lost most of his troops.
The Third Column was led by Fire Phoenix, and it was Phoenix who handed them over to Du Baiyue personally.
Zhao Yulin was very angry after the defeat in Luoyang. Du Baiyue knew that he had committed serious sins and voluntarily resigned from his military post. It was Yulin's brother who asked him to go to the Cuiping Mountain military camp to train new recruits and temper his temper.
Fire Phoenix said that gold will always shine, Baiyue is still young, and Brother Yulin wants him to temper himself. Isn't that why he is being appointed to lead the troops?
Fire Phoenix proudly told Lao Cao that the new army's firearms she brought were greatly enhanced, with twenty mortars alone and a neatly organized musket battalion.
Cao was delighted and said enviously that his 10,000-man army only had 20 cannons, and the new army was very powerful.
Fire Phoenix said that this was configured in accordance with the requirements of Brother Yulin's new army. He said that all countries are strengthening their firearms, and future columns will generally be equipped with mortars and red cannons.
Lao Cao nodded and told Fenghuang to rest while he went to inspect the defenses. Jianchang Prefecture was also a large city, and Lao Cao had less than 5,000 soldiers left. He had no choice but to surround the city and wait for reinforcements...
The Dali Kingdom was in a panic at this time. The danger from Jianchang Prefecture had not been eliminated yet, and Song troops appeared to enter the country from the direction of Yongshanzhai. If the Shenwei Army took Dongchuan in one fell swoop, it would cut off the connection between all counties in the northeast, which would be equivalent to losing the barrier in the east.
Not only that, the Shenwei Army in Guangnan West Road was also marching towards Zuining Town. Even the Dai Viet Kingdom was on the move, and the Chen Dynasty was even more ruthless, sending a large army to try to swallow up the fertile jade mining area in the south.
Those tribal leaders were like hungry dogs. They would follow whoever gave them benefits, and soon they defected to the Dai Viet Kingdom.
Duan Xingzhi was still discussing in the court. The Gao family and the Chai family both said that we must first stabilize the powerful neighbor Song State in the north. Oh, no, it should be called the New Song State. The Shenwei Army of the New Song State is really powerful. If we continue to fight like this, we will soon lose a large area of territory, and it is even possible that the country will be destroyed.
Duan Xingzhi only then realized that the Shenwei Army and the New Song Kingdom were not people who could be easily provoked.
At this time, the eunuch handed over the letter from Yongshan Village. The commander of the Shenwei Army, Zhao Yulin, demanded that Dali hand over the evil young master and return power to the emperor of the previous dynasty; the Dali army withdrew from the north of the Jinsha River and stationed troops every fifty miles. The area within fifty miles along the Jinsha River was a military buffer zone between Dali and the New Song Dynasty.
Zhao Yulin demanded that all of these conditions must be met, otherwise the Shenwei Army would occupy Dongchuan, take over all the counties and prefectures northeast of Dali, and head straight for their Shanchan Prefecture.
The patriarch of the Gao family immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.
The first one is difficult to do. Who is the eldest young master? Isn't it the current emperor Duan Xingzhi who sits on the dragon throne? That's how he is called in the back hall of the Duan family. Dali can't hand over its emperor to the new Song Dynasty for its disposal.
The Chai family shouted: Fight, keep fighting until the whole country is destroyed. He didn't believe that the New Song Dynasty had so many soldiers and horses that it dared to fight against the two major military groups in the north and south at the same time.
However, the group of ministers below were anxious.
Except for the territory in the west involving Tubo, the Dali Kingdom was not affected by war. The surrounding areas were filled with smoke of gunpowder, and it could be said that it was surrounded by enemies on all sides.
Lu Youpeng's troops of the Shenwei Army have occupied Dongchuan, which has in fact cut off the connection between Dali and its northeast. It will only take them a few minutes to eat up this area. This situation gives people the feeling that the Shenwei Army is unstoppable, and its troops are heading straight for the capital Dali, and the country is already in danger.
The Shenwei Army of Guangnan West Road, led by Yue Fei's descendant Yue Ting, marched into Zuining Town.
Dai Viet was still stirring up trouble in the south, obviously taking advantage of the situation. If Dali wanted to concentrate its forces to resist the Shenwei Army, Dai Viet in the south would definitely take advantage of the situation and attack.
Although Duan Xingzhi was bold, he did not have the wisdom to govern the country. He was already panicking as troubles came from all directions. He was struggling and hesitating when he heard a long chant of "Amitabha" and saw the monks of Tianlong Temple file into the palace hall.
Everyone immediately prostrated themselves on the ground. A monk had already gone up to grab Duan Xingzhi and tied him up with iron chains made of fine iron.
Tianlong Temple was the state temple in Dali Kingdom. After abdicating, monarchs of all dynasties practiced Buddhism there and prayed to God for peace in Dali. It had a very high prestige, but very few of them intervened in state affairs by force.
The abbot sighed that the Duan family was unfortunate and had such a rebellious, disloyal and unfilial descendant. He announced that Duan Xiaolin's father would be sent back to the throne and the emperor, who had been forced to abdicate, would sit on the throne again.
The ministers in the court immediately knelt on the ground and shouted "Long live the emperor!"
Duan Xiaolin's father said helplessly that he was exhausted physically and mentally and didn't want to be an emperor anymore. However, with the war and disasters around him, he had to shoulder this heavy responsibility.
He thought that the current plan was not to confront the New Song Kingdom, but to immediately recall all officials and troops from Jianchang Prefecture to fight against Dai Viet, and send envoys to Xinshi and the New Song Kingdom to make peace and ask them to withdraw their troops.
The ministers in the court are fed up and leave Jianchang Prefecture?
This is a huge piece of land. However, Dali has built a foundation that has been built for hundreds of years. How can it face its ancestors?
The little emperor said: They have always been hypocritical and insincere towards the Divine Power Army, and have ruined the originally good neighborly relations.
Now that a powerful enemy is right in front of us, Jianchang Prefecture is definitely lost, and it is even more of a question whether Huichuan can be defended. So we might as well give them all to the New Song Kingdom. We haven't gained much from these two prefectures anyway.
