Fu Song

Chapter 651
Zhang Ren led the mule and walked hard along the winding path in the countryside in the mud up to his feet.

On the mule's back were several men's armor and a saber.

That knife used to belong to Lao Shichang.

When the Song army counterattacked and recaptured the small hill, only two walls remained of the adobe house.

After digging through the ruins, the first thing everyone saw was a saber that was deeply inserted into the ground.The handle of the knife was so burned that there was only less than a grip left, but the blade was not damaged at all because it was stuck in the ground.

Zhang Ren asked to have the knife.

The battalion general fully agreed to him.

As the only survivor of this event, while owning this knife, Zhang Ren naturally also has to take over many other things that must be borne.

It can be seen that the skeletons of the nine people were squeezed together. Obviously, the last living person dragged everyone's bodies together before setting fire to the house.

Along with the Zhanmadao, there were also identification plates of nine people.

It is owned by every soldier. A small iron plate is engraved with the owner's identity information. The return of each plate represents the death of a soldier.

This is the tradition of the Yunnan-Guizhou army.

People leave their names, and geese leave their voices.

Now this tradition has spread to all the Song army.

The war has lasted for a month. As the first unit to engage the enemy and withstand the most violent attack from the enemy, the number of troops has been severely reduced. The troops of more than a thousand people, who were killed in battle, and those who were injured were sent to the rear. Only half of the people left to fight on the battlefield again.

Originally, Wei Wu wanted to leave this army behind to guard the food and grass, but the battalion commander Zhouquan stood outside the gate of the general for a day carrying the nameplates of hundreds of war dead, and finally drove away the wounded soldiers who were recuperating nearby. Come over, some are even carried over.

Finally Wei Wu agreed to their request.

But they definitely have no part in the frontal main battlefield!
After all, only half of them were able to fight, and they were no longer able to independently undertake combat tasks in one direction. The task assigned to them was to guard the flanks of the army and prevent the enemy from infiltrating from this direction.

Wei Wu actually didn't think the opponent would come from this direction.

Because this direction is basically all mountain roads, it is extremely difficult to travel, heavy weapons cannot be transported through here, and even if some light infantry come from here, what effect will it have on the battle situation?

Of course, that's not what he said to Zhou Quan.

He told Zhou Quan that although this is not the main direction of attack, it is related to the weakness of the flanks of the entire camp. If the enemy comes from here, it may go deep and threaten the supply camp behind the army. Therefore, the task is very important.

Zhou Quan never thought that Wei Wu would lie to him, he accepted the task happily, and then set off towards the target with his five hundred subordinates.Among them, there are some slightly injured soldiers.

From Zhou Quan's point of view, the most difficult time has passed. He led the troops through the most difficult time. He sacrificed so many comrades-in-arms, but he did not achieve much in battle. This will prevent the dead comrades from receiving more compensation. .But now that the whole front has turned into a counter-offensive, it is time to make a lot of military achievements. If they are allowed to rest behind and not participate in the battle, then they will be rewarded for their merits after the war is over, and their camp will not gain anything.

This makes their early losses meaningless, at least for the soldiers who died.

Only by continuing to participate in the war can one obtain military merits, and then have more rewards, and then more rewards can be distributed to those who died.

This is the only thing Zhou Quan can do for them.

A rain made the march even more difficult.

After a whole day of marching, they finally arrived at their destination when the night was about to fall.

The previously docile Agate River became extremely irritable during the flood season. The dark red river roared and rushed down from the upper reaches, hitting the rocks on the bank, splashing waves as high as a person, and from time to time there were heavy hits of wood and the like. On the shore, then pushed away by the flood and continued all the way down.

The scariest thing is naturally those whirlpools that appear from time to time and disappear suddenly. You don't know where and when they will appear, but any thing that is hunted by them will be pushed down in an instant and will never have a chance to come up again. stand up.

There is a stone bridge over the Agate River, which is the goal they want to guard.

In Wei Wu's words, the enemy is likely to march from here.

Looking at the roaring river and the stone bridge for a carriage to pass, Zhou Quan fell into deep thought.

The enemy will come from here?
In fact, the entire battalion was filled with suspicion.

But Zhouquan never thought that Wei Wu would lie to him because of his admiration and respect for the iron-footed general Wei Wu. He still ordered the army to start setting up defense lines.

Half the soldiers set up camp a few miles from the river.

The other half took a crowbar and a pick to the bridge.

A piece of stone was dug out and tied with a rope. Several people yelled and carried it to the middle of the stone bridge, and began to build a wall.

After several parapets were built on the bridge, the walls were built on both sides of the top of the wall. Several crossbows will be placed behind these parapets to cover the bridge deck. Of course, they can also be used to block the enemy on the river. of forced crossing.

But looking at the turbulence of the river, everyone felt that there was no possibility of forced crossing.

Zhang Ren is now a team player.

It has to be said that the speed of promotion during the war is indeed the fastest.

A month ago, Zhang Ren was still a soldier.

His Shi Zhan is gone, and he is the only one left.

Then he was programmed into another Shi.

After a month of combat, he climbed up step by step from soldier to corps leader, then to commander, and then to team leader.

There are still several necessary conditions to be promoted quickly in the war.

The first is that you have to be able to survive.

Secondly, you must have clear military exploits to convince other survivors.

Zhang Ren did it.

The former Zhang Xiucai became Zhang Butcher in just one month.

From a recruit, a scholar who was looked at sideways, to a big brother who is admired by all the soldiers today, it took only a year.

The felt blanket was spread on the ground, Zhang Ren leaned against the stone wall, took out a piece of leather and slowly wiped his saber.

The handle is new.

Two feet long blade, three feet long handle.

The thin hemp rope on the handle of the knife was slowly wound up by Zhang Ren bit by bit. These skills were taught by the old master. The former Zhang Ren didn't know it at all.

The blade is shiny, but the gap between the hemp rope is filled with some purple-black things, no matter how you wash it, it won't be clean.These things make the rope and the handle into a whole.

In the Song army base camp in Sui County, the top general was no longer Wei Wu at this moment, and Gao Yingxiang, the great general in Xingyuan in the east, arrived here without making a sound. The location of the last fight must be in Sui County.

As long as they succeed in Sui County, they can go straight down and threaten Shangqiu and Songcheng.

Even if Shangqiu and Songcheng cannot be taken down in the end, all the efforts of the Song army in this area over the past year can be destroyed when the soldiers arrive.

More importantly, they will loot what they need most in this place.

You must know that when Huang Chun decided to surrender in Shangqiu, Songcheng and other places, the vitality of this place was preserved as much as possible.

In this battle, because of the desperate resistance of the Song army in front, this area successfully completed the autumn harvest.

If they can take this area, they will get the food they dream of.

Nominally, the entire Sui County only has about [-] troops from the White Feather Army led by Wei Wu, but tens of miles away from Sui County, another [-] elite troops mobilized by Gao Yingxiang are silently waiting for the outbreak of war.

These troops arrived in batches, and then assembled quietly. At the same time, the Imperial City Sizhi Qiuyuan and the army began to silence the battlefield.

This area can only enter, not exit.

In the direction of Jingdong, the generals of the Song army led by Li Yan started a strategic deception. The navy came and went, and it seemed that they were transporting people and food to Pei County one after another.

In fact, those soldiers who disembarked in good spirits during the day re-embarked from another direction at night, and then disembarked again in the same place during the day, but with a different flag.

It seems that the Song army is preparing to launch a large-scale counterattack in the direction of Jingdong.

"This time, Lu Ben'an assembled all the infantry and cavalry of the Liao army in the direction of Jingdong, and Qu Zhen made the most of it. Moreover, Lu Ben'an also transferred [-] people from the puppet Qi Liu Yu. The opponent this time can be regarded as a big capital. , [-] horses are on the opposite side of us, attacking us in three directions." Gao Yingxiang pointed to the map and said.

"Jie Bao's right road, [-] cavalry, came from Qi County. Chen Tiansong led [-] Qi Guo cavalry, and launched an attack from the direction of Ningling, while Lu Ben'an led the main force of [-] cavalry, and came from the direction of Minquan. Come on. At the beginning of the battle, our troops will retreat and lure the opponent to the vicinity of Suixian County before engaging the enemy. After our troops have fought with Lu Ben'an's troops, you must use the fastest speed to defeat Jie Bao on the left and right And Chen Tiansong, it would be best if they could be forced to approach Lu Benan's Chinese army."

Both Wei Wu and Tian Zhen nodded in agreement.

Gao Yingxiang's second request was much more difficult than the first one.

It may not be difficult to defeat the opponent, but it will be much more difficult to squeeze the opponent to the direction of the Chinese army led by Luben'an.

Gao Yingxiang wanted to wipe out the enemy's vital force in one fell swoop.

Especially this time Lu Ben'an brought more than [-] main forces of the Liao army. If he could eat up the more than [-] main forces of the Liao army, even Yeluzhen would be heartbroken, and he would not be able to recover in a short time.

And if Qu Zhen loses more than [-] elites, then his Zhao regime can count down.

On the other hand, Liu Yu, the puppet Qi, lost tens of thousands of people, and it would not hurt his muscles or bones.

In Changling Town, where the camp of the Luben'an Central Army was located, a famous general galloped out from the inside, and then rushed to their respective troops. My nerves tense up.

The other side didn't seem to react, and was still gathering troops in BOE, which made the coalition army full of confidence that they would win.

Luben was not happy.

For him, this battle was actually a failure.

The goals that were intended to be achieved before the war were basically not achieved.

Yeluzhen hoped to smash Shangqiu and Songcheng to pieces, and in the process, it would be best to wipe out a few elite troops of the Song army.

The White Feather Army Wei Wu currently stationed in Shangqiu, Gao Yingxiang's troops stationed in Xuzhou and other places are all veterans brought by Xiao Cheng from the southwest, as long as one of them is eliminated, Xiao Cheng's power will be greatly reduced.

And Xiao Cheng's power is weakened, and the forces opposing him in the Song Kingdom will take advantage of the momentum to rise.

This war has both military and political goals.

But now, none of them have been implemented.

Although the loss of Bai Yu's army was not small, it was far from being injured. Lu Ben'an was amazed by the tenacity of the opponent's army.Under the sudden attack launched by myself, the tenacious resistance of the Song army troops that fought with me at first made the speed of my own advance completely unable to meet expectations, and also allowed the Song army to quickly complete the military deployment, dragging the war into a turmoil. The stalemate stage.

This final blow was an action by Lu Ben'an to save face.

In fact, Zhennan Wang Yeluzhen had already issued an order to retreat across the board.

In Yeluzhen's view, once the war has reached a stalemate, it will be the coalition forces that will lose out if the fight continues.Failure in logistics will cause the coalition forces to suffer a big defeat on the battlefield.

And like Zhao Guo, it really can't afford another big loss.

Yeluzhen didn't want to lose the knife yet.

But Lubenan detained the messenger and brazenly assembled the army to prepare for the final blow.

Yeluzhen is far away in Xijin Mansion, beyond her reach.

As long as he wins this battle, it will make sense to say anything after he goes back!
What if you lose?

Of course I won't lose.

Lu Benan let out a heavy breath.

Yeluzhen is an ally of the Empress Dowager Chengtian, and she herself is a direct descendant of the Empress Dowager Chengtian.

Now Yeluzhen is the king of Zhennan, and he himself is the governor of Hebei Road. Although he is also controlled by Yeluzhen, he doesn't have to listen to Yeluzhen in everything.

If he won this battle, he would have more power to speak in front of Qu Zhen and Liu Yu. With the strong support of these two, it is not impossible to fight against Yeluzhen in the south.

Empress Dowager Lai Chengtian is also happy to see that she can take more power from Yeluzhen.

In the final analysis, although Yeluzhen supported the Empress Dowager Chengtian, he was still an imperial party, while the Liao Han family represented by the Lu family was a queen party through and through.

After six years, the imperial party will inevitably want the emperor to be in charge.

And six years later, Empress Dowager Chengtian was only in her early thirties!
Power is something that is in the hands, who is willing to let it go?
Even someone as clever as the Empress Dowager Chengtian couldn't get rid of this shackle.

(End of this chapter)