Invincible son

Chapter 297 296 [Variables]

Kaiping five years, July nineteenth.

Fourteen Hongling messengers set off from Kyoto with the imperial decree, and galloped to Lingzhou on [-]-mile horses.

That afternoon, Ye Qi left Green Willow Village in the northern suburbs, riding a gun alone, did not return to the capital to bid farewell to Gu Zhen and Tao Hua, and set foot on the official road to the border alone.

On July 21, Xifu Youjunji and Cheng'anhou Lu Min led the Beijing Army to the North Camp to march westward. Emperor Kaiping and all the civil and military officials went out of the city to see them off in person, and the people of Kyoto were empty.

The response of the Daliang court was not unpleasant. It could be said that the necessary procedures had been simplified to the extreme. For example, Emperor Kaiping did not hold a large-scale military parade, and even the food and grass of the North Camp had to be supplemented by state capitals along the way.

The war has never gone away, this is the most simple worldview in the hearts of every Liangren.

At this time, no one dared to hold back. The imperial court started to operate efficiently and accurately like a precision instrument from top to bottom.Emperor Kaiping not only promoted Pei Yue to be the commander of the Tibetan front guard, but also asked him to recruit troops in Lingzhou to form a strong mobile force, and even allowed him to select elite soldiers from the frontier army in a secret decree other than the imperial decree.Of course, this astonishing trust and respect made most of the important ministers puzzled. Except for a few big figures such as Wang Pingzhang and Mo Haoli who could barely guess the emperor's mind, others could only lament the man who broke through the door. The Pei family boy is too lucky.

It's just that even if Kyoto has achieved the ultimate, the situation in Lingzhou is still not optimistic.

From Kyoto to the western border, it is necessary to pass through Qizhou, Dengzhou, and Lingzhou. The distance is close to two thousand miles, and the marching speed of the North Camp will take at least 25 days.Relatively speaking, this speed is already close to the limit in the ancient army, which is entirely due to the widest and smoothest official road built by Daliang in the west, as well as the excellent quality of the Beijing army itself.

In other words, for nearly a month, the frontier army and Lingzhou had to rely on the West Wu people's attack.

On July [-], Daokou Village fell.

On July [-]th, Wufengzhai fell.Before dawn the next day, Tribulus Village fell.

In just four days, one-third of the nine military strongholds west of Dongqing Mansion had been lost.

It was not until July [-] that the Guping camp responded. Wuwei Hou Ningzhong led an army of [-] troops to the west, but stopped at Nanshanzhai, which was more than [-] miles away.This is the one closest to the Guping camp among the nine military strongholds. The general in the army was quite puzzled by this. The explanation given by Ning Zhong was that the Western Wu army was aiming at Dongqing Mansion behind them, so they had to be careful.

After capturing three military strongholds in a row, the Western Wu people did not stop and continued to attack eastward, as if they were not at all worried that the Hucheng defenders in the north would cut off their retreat.This Western Wu army has a strong force, including 12 cavalry and [-] infantry, led by Zhang Qingbai, the general of Zhennan among the "four generals".

After Ning Zhong's army and the Hucheng defenders were unexpectedly silent, Jiming Village, located in the center of the nine military villages, became the target that the Western Wu army must take down.

The terrain of Jiming Village is dangerous, with Jiming Mountain in the south and Xionghe River in the north. The village is built on the mountain, controlling the east-west road.As long as the West Wu people can take down Jiming Village, it means that they can completely break the military system in the west of Dongqing Mansion. From now on, the north, east, and south directions will be flat.

After dividing troops to occupy Daokou Village, Wufeng Village and Tribulus Village, Zhang Qingbai led his army to continue eastward.

Zhang Qingbai is a special outlier in the Western Wu military, which highly respects personal bravery.He is refined and gentle in temperament, although he was born in a general family, he does not practice martial arts.In today's era where there is almost no chance to stand out if you can't go to battle to kill the enemy, it seems strange that Zhang Qingbai, a scholar, can be among the "four generals", but it is actually because of his outstanding military ability, he is also one of the "four generals". Xie Lin, the great general of Zhendong, admired his control over his subordinates.

Zhang Qingbai's use of troops highlighted the word "steady". Unlike Xie Lin who frequently led the army to move in a large area and then raided with surprise troops, he rarely used too weird and dangerous moves.Relying on his precise judgment of the battlefield situation and his superb command art, he can rely on his exquisite local operations and his innate ability to predict risks to win the battle in a stalemate even when both sides have the same strength, even if they are slightly weaker. Complete the gradual cannibalization of the enemy.

15 years ago, Pei Zhen led the western expedition. Although he did plan for a big defeat all the way and prepared for the final conquest of Hucheng, he still suffered a big loss at the hands of Zhang Qingbai who was stationed in Gancheng at the beginning of the battle.

Zhang Qingbai was only 37 years old at that time.

It was no fluke that he was able to get to where he is today, which is why the Emperor Xiwu specially sent twenty master guards to protect him.

On the vast Gaoyang Plain, a large number of Western Wu scouts were thrown out like chess pieces, constantly collecting news about Liang Jun.

[-] infantry marched to Jiming Village, and [-] Qingqi rushed to the formation.

It is impossible for Zhang Qingbai to throw all his troops at Jiming Village, not to mention him, even a general with a few years of military experience would not do so.After all, to him, although Jiming Village is important, it is only a node in the whole battle, far from a decisive battle.

To the northeast of Wufengzhai, the army of Western Wu is temporarily stationed.

In the handsome tent, Zhang Qingbai in a long gown stood in front of the sand table, watching the battlefield pattern quietly.There are seven or eight Western Wu generals in the tent, all of them are hulking and glaring, but no one makes a slight sound, and no one cares that Zhang Qingbai doesn't look like the commander in the army at all.

"The defenders of Hucheng haven't moved yet?" Zhang Qingbai asked.

The general leading the scout battalion clasped his hands and replied: "General, according to the news from the scouts, since July [-]th, the gates of Hucheng have been closed and no one can enter or leave the city. At present, not a single soldier has left the city."

Zhang Qingbai's tone was calm, as if there was a hint of approval: "Xiangcheng Hou Xiaojin seems insignificant among the generals of the Liang Kingdom, but he is an extremely rare defender of the city. No wonder that after Lu Min returned, Emperor Liang promoted him to be a Hucheng conducts abstinence. Ning Zhong is still staying in Nanshanzhai?"

The general responded: "That's right, Ning Zhong led Guping's four guards westward, and stopped when they arrived at Nanshanzhai. The last general thought that he was planning to abandon the rest of the army and fight our army at Nanshanzhai. , even if he is defeated, he can return to the Guping camp, at least he can keep the overall situation intact."

"Marquis of Wuwei."

Zhang Qingbai said Ning Zhong's title, smiled lightly, and shook his head.

The general said again: "General, the thousand-man team that was in charge of chasing and defeating the soldiers in Daokou Village was already strong. We found their bodies forty miles north of Daokou Village. Soldiers."

Zhang Qingbai nodded and said: "Understood, I ordered Guo Rong to take down the Jiming Village within ten days."

"Yes!"

"You retreat."

Zhang Qingbai said calmly, and after everyone left, he frowned slightly.

The disappearance of the thousand-man team, and the fact that someone was gathering up Liang Guo's broken army who had escaped from birth, was enough to show that there was still a lone army on the Gaoyang Plain that was not in his mind.

Over the years, he had figured out the military situation on Liang's border, and he knew in his heart that it was impossible for a large group of elite cavalry to appear suddenly. Presumably, this lone army should be small in number and would not pose too much threat.

But for Zhang Qingbai, who is used to controlling everything, this lone army is like a dark shadow in his sight, and if it cannot be erased, it means that there are variables.

He doesn't like the variables.

(End of this chapter)