Qian Song

Chapter 73 The Huben Army Crosses Jiangbei and Enters (Read More!)
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Since the line along the Yangtze River has been lost, Tong Guan has nothing to worry about.

The point is, Tong Guan didn't want to engage in refueling tactics, and was defeated one by one by Li Cun.

Therefore, even though the situation in the southeast was very critical, Tong Guan suppressed his impatience and slowly gathered troops.

At the end of the first month, Xin Xingzong and Yang Weizhong commanded Xihe soldiers, Liu Zhen and Yang Keshi commanded Jingyuan soldiers, Zhao Ming commanded Huanqing soldiers, Huang Di commanded Yanyan soldiers, Ma Gongzhi commanded Qin Feng soldiers, and Ji Jing commanded Hedong soldiers. Under Yanqing's restraint, all of them were concentrated in Yingtianfu, Nanjing.

At the same time, under Tong Guan's strong request before leaving, the Gyeonggi Forbidden Army also dispatched 20 forbidden troops this time, under the command of Song generals such as Guo Zhongxun and He Guan, and they also came to Yingtianfu in Nanjing one after another.

In addition, Tong Guan transferred all the Imperial Army, Xiang Army, and Township Army from Jingdong East Road, Jingdong East Road, and Huainan East Road to Yingtianfu, Nanjing, Song Dynasty.

A total of the internal and external armies, the Song army transferred to the southeast has about 50 people.

——A large part of them are mainly civilian husbands who escort food and supplies, and their combat effectiveness is very limited.

When the various ministries were about to be assembled, Tong Guan and the others suddenly heard a piece of news that changed their expressions greatly:
Yangzhou was also attacked by the Huben army, and the Huben army had already crossed the river and went up...

……

Tan Zhen, who had lost the natural danger of the Yangtze River, fled to Yangzhou, and hung up the signboard of the Liangzhe Road System in Yangzhou again.

After more than ten days of Zhao Lingyu's restraint, Tan Zhen was pleasantly surprised to find that there were more than 4 Song soldiers who fled to Yangzhou. In addition to the armed landlords who fled from Runzhou and Jiangning, he actually had five more soldiers in his hands. 6 horses!
This number inspired Tan Zhen's spirit.

Tan Zhen quickly suppressed the frustration of defeat, self-reflection, and then went deep into the army in person, mourning the death and inquiring about the wounded everywhere.

During this process, Tan Zhen selected a group of generals who performed well in the last big battle to take up key positions.

Tan Zhen's various actions gradually stabilized Song Jun's hearts and temporarily stabilized the situation.

Ordinarily, it was understandable for Tan Zhen to do so.

But the problem is that Tan Zhen only remembers to revive the morale of the Song army, but forgets that he is still fighting.

In the battle of Danyang, although the Song army was defeated, it still had considerable combat effectiveness.

It can be said that if Tan Zhen deploys well and makes good use of the natural dangers of the Yangtze River, he can still stop the Huben army from crossing the river north.

But Tan Zhen heard from the armed landlords who fled to Yangzhou that after he was defeated and fled the Yangtze River with the remnants of the defeated generals, the Song army in Runzhou and Jiangning Prefecture had lost their resistance. The Jiangning Mansion was attacking the city and occupying territory everywhere, with arrogance.

Tan Zhen, who has seen that Li Cun actually has only [-] to [-] soldiers ready to fight, believes that under such circumstances, Li Cun has no strength and dare not cross the river to fight him again, and will only rely on the natural danger of the Yangtze River to defend.

Therefore, Tan Zhen only set up a few observation posts in several important places on the north bank, and did not send a large army to block the Yangtze River.

In other words, Tan Zhen never thought that Li Cun would cross the river and attack Yangzhou.

It can even be said that Tan Zhen, who was determined to revive the morale of the Song army, did not pay any attention to the movements of the Huben army.

Therefore, the Song army did not guard against the surprise attack of the Huben army.

Moreover, Tan Zhen has been rewarding the soldiers of the Song Army in recent times.

And because it is currently during the Spring Festival, according to Zhao Song's practice, the army will hold some get-togethers and find some camp prostitutes to add to the fun.

Therefore, during this period of time, Tan Zhen was busy drinking and carousing with the soldiers of the Song Army almost every day.

On the 26th day of the first lunar month, the sky was just getting dark, and the soldiers of the Song Army who had been partying till late last night suddenly heard that the Huben Army had descended from the sky, and they fell into a panic.

Drunk-eyed Tan Zhen went to the city and saw the black tiger-headed banner of the Huben army fluttering in the morning wind.

Tan Zhen woke up from the wine in a fright, and in the depths of winter, he broke out in cold sweat.

Without even hesitating, Tan Zhen fled out of the city in a hurry.

Seeing that the commander-in-chief had run away, the generals of the Song Army under Tan Zhen immediately followed suit, scattered and fled to Gaoyou Army one after another...

Zhang Wei and other generals of the Song Dynasty wanted to restrain the fleeing Song army, but with tens of thousands of troops fleeing in a big rout, how could a few of them be able to restrain them.

There was no way, and in the end Zhang Hao and others could only escape from Yangzhou City with the defeated army.

Li Cun, who only led the guard horse army to harass the Song army, saw this scene while marching, and immediately changed his original strategic goal, leading the guard horse army directly to kill the city gate.

As a result, the city gate was wide open, and there was not even a single defender.

Li Cun immediately dispatched four battalions of horse troops, and let Chen Kuutong, who came with the army, lead the occupation of Yangzhou City. Thirty thousand civilian husbands came with a big boat.

After explaining all this, Li Cun immediately led the remaining horse troops northward to cover up and kill the Song army.

——It's not that Li Cun wants to kill them all, but Li Cun is afraid that Tan Zhen and the others will realize that this is just a feint attack of a harassing nature, and they will gather together to kill them.

Li Cun led the guard horse army all the way northward, and scattered all the established Song army along the way, until they killed the Gaoyou army, let the soldiers of the guard horse army show off their power outside the Gaoyou army, and then led the crowd back to Yangzhou city.

"Sun Tzu's Art of War" reads: "The victory or defeat of a soldier lies in courage and cowardice." It also says: "With courage, you can break through."

Li Cun has proved through practice that the brave wins when encountering a narrow road. Sometimes being brave can really save the day, or even turn defeat into victory, while cowardice can only lead to failure.

Li Cun expressed his feelings and said to the left and right: "My generation of soldiers, in the face of a strong enemy, knows that we are invincible, but we must use our swords. Even if we fall, we will still be a mountain, a ridge..."

After hearing Li Cun's words, all the soldiers guarding the horse army respected Li Cun. They were all thinking, how awe-inspiring, how decisive, how happy, and how bold the governor is!

in fact--

What Li Cun said was just an introduction.

Many soldiers of the horse army who have followed Li Cun since Qingxi saw with their own eyes how Li Cun owned more than 50 counties in five prefectures from scratch (if Yangzhou is included, it would be six prefectures). I saw with my own eyes how Li Cun defeated the Song Army they used to fear like a tiger time and time again.

It is no exaggeration to say that Li Cun is now a god in the eyes of the soldiers guarding the horse army, no, in the eyes of the soldiers of the entire Huben Army.

It seems that as long as you follow Li Cun, there is no battle you cannot win.

Just like this time.

Before Li Cun sent troops, almost all the civil officials opposed Li Cun's crossing the river to attack the Song army, and even opposed Li Cun's personal risk.

But Li Cun left a sentence, "Only by attacking and defending can we defend ourselves.", and led the guards and horse troops to cross the river secretly.

Who would have thought that there were no defenders at all in the dangerous places on the north bank.

Seeing this, Li Cun immediately led the guard horse army to surprise Yangzhou City.

As a result, as soon as Li Cun just showed up, he scared away tens of thousands of defenders, and easily captured the important town of Yangzhou City.

All the soldiers guarding the horse army are still dreaming. Naturally, what Li Cun said is true to them.

in fact--

God knows, Li Cun led the guard horse army across the river just to scare Tan Zhen, including Tong Guan who is about to come, and make them think that they are going to burn the war to Jiangbei, or even to the Central Plains, disrupting their battle plan , to gain some rest time for himself, he has no intention of attacking Yangzhou at all.

It's because Tan Zhen is too particular. When he saw Li Cun coming, he immediately gave Yangzhou to Li Cun. How could Li Cun live up to Tan Zhen's kindness?

When Li Cun led the guard horse army back to Yangzhou City, the front guard army, rear guard army and Li Cunyao's [-] civilian husbands had not yet arrived.

It was not until the next morning that the former guards arrived.

At that time, the rear guards also arrived.

At ten o'clock in the evening, the [-] civilian husbands arrived in Yangzhou City with more than a thousand large boats.

They came with the former guards and the public trial team used by Li Cunyu. As soon as they arrived in Yangzhou City, they began to proficiently carry out public trials of house raids on the officials, gentry and nobles in Yangzhou City...

At the same time, the [-] civilian husbands began to load the mountains of loot captured by Li Cun on the thousands of large ships they brought and the thousands of large and small ships seized from Yangzhou...

Seeing that there were only [-] civilians pretending to be too slow, after the officials of the Huben Army consulted Li Cun, they hired people from Yangzhou City to help load the ship at ten times the price...

Of course, the officials of the Huben Army did not forget to recruit soldiers, talents, craftsmen, and boatmen...

……

(End of this chapter)