All Heavens and Worlds Modified History System

Chapter 294: Grain grabbing during the autumn harvest disrupts the army's morale, and the people are clear-headed and understand the benefits and disadvantages

"What? Yang Jian is dead?"

"What? Licheng is lost?"

"What? The enemy troops have already reached the city of Zichuan?!"

South of Juye Lake (Liangshan Lake), Song Wei, the envoy who was recruiting bandits to fight against Huang Chao's army on the other side of the Wanfu River, received bad news one after another within just a few days.

"How can it be!"

Song Wei was helpless and furious, like a mad tiger. "Yang Jian has 5,000 men! He also brought soldiers from Qizhou and the counties. How could he be defeated?"

"Licheng is so strong. Even if we are short of soldiers, we can use money and food to recruit strong men to defend the city. How can the thieves break into the city?"

"A bunch of stupid teammates, trying to kill me~~~"

You can't blame him for being angry and mad; the situation was simply too bad.

Yang Jian died, but the troops he brought with him were destroyed too. The impact was too great.

Moreover, the rebel army has already reached Zibo. Behind Zibo is Qingzhou, the base camp of their Pinglu Army.

Once the news spread, the army was immediately in chaos.

"Song Gong." An aide immediately stepped forward and suggested, "Quickly withdraw the troops and return to Qingzhou!"

"It's not that easy." Song Wei's face flushed red. "How could the main force of the bandits on the other side of the river just watch us retreat?"

Huang Chao's troops may not be very powerful, but they have a large number.

The huge army formation of over 100,000 people gave off a strong sense of oppression.

Once we retreat, the enemy will cross the river to pursue us, and we will probably suffer a crushing defeat.

"Then negotiate peace." The staff said this without any pressure. "Negotiate peace with the bandits on the other side. The Pinglu Army will not attack them, and they will not enter the Pinglu Army's territory."

Song Wei's heart moved slightly, and he twirled his beard, "The court is there."

"The imperial court is thousands of miles away, but the families of the soldiers are all in Qingzhou."

The staff again suggested, "We should get through this difficult time first, and then find an opportunity to regret it later."

Song Wei nodded, "Okay."

The idea is good, but Huang Chao is not a fool.

We are now in the rising stage of our careers, and it is not the time to undermine each other.

Faced with Song Wei's proposal for peace, he not only rejected it immediately, but also sent people across the river to the Pinglu army to spread the news that Qingzhou was about to be lost.

There is no doubt that the morale of the Pinglu Army is in turmoil.

Song Wei had no choice but to send messengers to Henghai Town and Weizhou Town for help, while ordering all places in Zibo and Qingzhou to guard the cities strictly and wait until the army returned.

In his opinion, the defense of Zibo City was strong and it would be no problem to hold on for a month or two.

The city defense of Zibo was indeed very strong, and the garrison was large in number, and there was no internal support.

If Chen Ran wanted to attack, it would take him ten days or half a month just to build the siege equipment.

“Why attack the city?”

During the military tent meeting, Chen Ran explained his point of view to the generals: "We fight on the move and will not attack a city unless necessary."

Ge Congzhou, who had been promoted all the way after making meritorious contributions, attended this military meeting for the first time, but he was not at all nervous and simply said, "General, where are we going?"

This is an important issue. After all, if you travel around and fight, you must have a destination.

"A few years ago, Li Guochang led the Shatuo people to defeat Pang Xun. Do you still remember?"

Li Wende was an old subordinate of Pang Xun, so how could he forget this?

He immediately stated, "General, I have fought with the Shatuo people before, and their cavalry is indeed brave. They are good at guerrilla warfare, breaking through enemy lines, harassing guerrillas, long-distance raids, and single-horse and small-group warfare. They are very strong in combat."

These are very pertinent words, neither too exaggerated nor too derogatory.

"Infantry will eventually suffer a loss against cavalry." Chen Ran said seriously, "If you want to sweep the world, you must have a strong cavalry."

"Although the Tang Dynasty is large, the Western Regions have been lost. Daibei is the territory of the Shatuo people, and the Hetao area is too far away. There is only one large horse farm closest to us."

This was already very clear, Wang Wenyu asked uncertainly, "General, do you mean to go to Youzhou Town?"

"Yes, it is Youzhou Town!"

After these words were spoken, several people looked a little unnatural.

The so-called Youzhou Town was actually the former Fanyang Jiedushi, which was also the core territory of An Lushan.

After the Anshi Rebellion, the troops here were still in a state of separatism, and they only obeyed orders from the imperial court and not its decrees.

After Lulong Town moved south to Ziqing Town, its territory was also annexed by Youzhou Town. With more than 100,000 soldiers, Youzhou Town could be called the most powerful vassal state in the world!

Chen Ran actually set his target on the most powerful vassal in the world, leaving several people at a loss for words.

"I know this is difficult." Chen Ran said calmly, "But no matter how difficult it is, we have to do it. Otherwise, why would we resist the tyranny of the court?"

"The reason why we are traveling and fighting now is to increase our strength. When we are strong enough, we will go north."

Ge Congzhou and others had no choice but to bow and respond.

The city of Zibo, with its strong defenses, would not be attacked, but the crops outside the city that were about to mature could not be spared.

Under the threat of knives and the temptation of financial rewards, people from all over Zibo came out to harvest crops.

All the harvest that could be taken away was taken away, and what could not be contained was distributed to the local people.

As for those who want to join the army, they are strictly selected, and only the best ones are admitted to the auxiliary camps.

The thousands of horses captured at the foot of Yanggu Mountain were all taken to the cavalry, while draft horses, pack horses, and riding horses were used to pull carts.

Compared to carts pulled by oxen, horse-drawn carts were not only faster, but also more numerous.

The defenders of Zibo City and other county towns in Zibo Prefecture closed the city gates and watched the harvest outside the city coldly, with no intention of leaving the city to fight.

Those guarding the city were all soldiers from the prefectures and counties or even temporarily recruited able-bodied men. Naturally, they were not as brave as professional soldiers in fighting.

When Chen Ran's large group of troops headed for Qingzhou, cities everywhere sent out troops to snatch food from the local people. The conflicts sparked caused chaos and turmoil everywhere.

"Qingzhou."

Looking at the familiar scenery in front of him, Chen Ran also felt a little emotional.

"Has the general been to Qingzhou?" Ge Congzhou asked curiously.

"Yes, I have been here." Chen Ran nodded, and added in his mind, 'Two hundred and fifty years later.'

“Continue to collect food.”

“There’s no place to put it.”

"It doesn't matter. The garrison will send us carts and horses."

Qingzhou is the base of the Pinglu Army. Although the main force of the military town was taken by Song Wei to fight Huang Chao, the soldiers left behind were still brave. It was impossible for them to watch Chen Ran snatching food like the county soldiers.

An Shiru, the deputy governor who stayed behind in Ziqing Town, was originally arranging the autumn harvest. He was shocked to learn that the enemy army had entered the country.

He quickly mobilized soldiers from all over Qingzhou and the troops outside the capital to prepare for a decisive battle with Chen Ran.

The so-called Yawai troops are the troops stationed in various sub-cities and military camps outside the city where the Jiedushi is stationed. They are also one of the core forces of the vassal state.

The organization of local military governors was chaotic, but generally speaking, the soldiers stationed in the city by the Jiedushi were called "yabing", and the soldiers stationed in the surrounding cities and military camps outside the city were called "yawaibing".

The Ya soldiers and the Yawai soldiers are the core of the military power of the vassal state.

In addition, there are troops stationed in various prefectures and counties outside the Jiedushi’s seat. These are the provincial troops, which were previously called county troops.

The guards of the Pinglu Army were divided into two cities, Haozhuangshandu.

Yidu, led by Yang Jian, has been defeated and annexed by Chen Ran.

The other capital is under the jurisdiction of the Jiedushi Song Wei.

There were about 20,000 soldiers in Yawai, but Song Wei took away 15,000 troops.

The remaining 5,000 troops were used to guard Linzi City.

As for the soldiers from various states, there are quite a few of them, but they are scattered across various states and counties. It is difficult to mobilize them during the busy harvest season.

The final result was that An Shiru could only come to fight with 4,000 soldiers from outside the capital and several thousand soldiers from the prefectures and counties as auxiliary troops.

Faced with the Pinglu Army who took the initiative to challenge him to a fight, Chen Ran chose to go around in circles.

He had long since settled his old camp in the mountains of Laiwu, and led a group of combat soldiers and auxiliary troops, and circled around Zibo and Qingzhou with the Pinglu Army.

Chen Ran can afford to delay, but the Pinglu Army cannot.

Ge Congzhou led his cavalry to harass, plunder and disrupt grain collection.

Seeing that he could not collect grain, and that if there was a heavy rain, the entire Ziqing Town would be starving to death, An Shiru was worried and had to mobilize the defenders inside and outside Linzi City again to destroy and expel the cavalry.

The defense of Linzi City, which was once surrounded by tens of thousands of troops, had been weakened to the extreme.

Upon receiving the news, Chen Ran simply abandoned all the baggage and arranged a team of auxiliary soldiers to carry the baggage to lure An Shiru to continue circling.

He led more than 2,000 soldiers and rushed all the way towards Linzi City.

More than two thousand people may seem like a small number, but at this time Linzi City was already extremely empty.

More importantly, the surrendered soldiers from Zhuangshandu who joined Chen Ran were promised that they would be regular soldiers if they captured the city. They took the initiative to lead the team and persuaded many of their former colleagues, easily capturing the core city of Ziqing Town!

Linzi City is a big city, and it is also the core area of ​​the Lu Army in Ziqing Town.

The armories, granaries, government warehouses and other storehouses in the city were filled with mountains of military supplies and fodder.

A large number of livestock and horses were seized at the livestock farm outside the city.

When An Shiru heard the news, he hurried back in shock. The huge banner of "General Acting on Behalf of Heaven" flying on the top of the city was so dazzling.

An Shiru still wanted to attack the city, but Chen Ran simply asked the families of the soldiers outside the city to go up to the top of the city wall and shout, which almost instantly defeated the troops outside the city.

An Shiru was helpless and had to lead his confidants and rush to Yunzhou to find the governor Song Wei.

"General."

Ge Congzhou and others were all very excited, "We have captured Linzi City!"

This is a world-famous city.

Taking over this place is almost equivalent to taking over Qingzhou, and it is almost equivalent to controlling half of Ziboqing Town.

No wonder they were so excited.

"Raise the flag to recruit people, gather livestock, build carts, and load supplies."

Chen Ran remained calm and had no intention of taking over the city.

He knew very well that the main force of the Pinglu Army in Ziqing Town had not been destroyed, and the nearby Henghai Army and Weizhou Army could attack at any time.

It is impossible to defend this city.

The most urgent task is to reap all the benefits before the anxious Song Wei fights back!

(End of this chapter)