Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 286 Sophisticated
"Do it!"

"Uuuuuu——"

More than ten miles south of Juzhou City, Liang Zun seized the opportunity and blew the horn immediately. A thousand cavalry and infantry formed a goose formation and launched a charge.

"Hold your position!"

In the barbarian army, Duan Bangcheng, who was under the banner, felt his scalp tingling and quickly commanded the army to stabilize the situation.

The barbarian troops stopped one after another and tried to stabilize their position.

But at the same time, Liang Zun led a thousand Lingnan cavalry and infantry to take advantage of the opportunity to press forward and collide with them like spearheads.

There were countless casualties on both sides. In order to fill the gap, the barbarians continued to send additional troops to the south, leaving the defenses on the left and right sides weak.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Lin did not bother to wait for General Lin Ruzhen, and immediately led 500 elite cavalry to launch an attack.

"kill!!"

Five hundred elite cavalrymen attacked the barbarian army directly from the flank with unstoppable force.

More than a hundred elite cavalrymen drew their bows and arrows, aiming at the barbarians' cheeks, calves and other exposed parts and shot at them.

At a distance of only twenty steps, arrows pierced the cheeks of the first batch of armored soldiers in an instant, and many of the barbarians fell down.

The second and third rows of armored soldiers came in time with guns to fill the gap, but Zhang Lin did not charge rashly, but blew the whistle and retreated.

After he evacuated, he continued to blow the horn and launched a second assault.

For a moment, many people were shot and fell down, and with the continuous attacks from Liang Zun's troops in the south, the barbarian army's position was in danger.

"Uuuuuu——"

The horn sounded again in the south, and Lin Ruzhen led more than 1,400 elite cavalrymen to attack.

They bypassed the main battlefield in the south and came to the right side of the barbarian army, forming a pincer attack with Zhang Lin's troops.

Compared with Zhang Lin's troops, General Lin Ruzhen had more foreign soldiers and more experience.

After they saw that the barbarian army had abandoned bows and crossbows and was holding swords and spears, they immediately began to approach slowly and leisurely, and when they got close, they shot arrows at them.

This would save horsepower and cause greater damage to the enemy.

Of course, this standing style of fighting is not good-looking, but it is very practical.

At least from the perspective of the battle formation, dozens of barbarians fell down almost every breath due to heavy arrows hitting their faces.

After a cup of tea, the barbarian soldiers' formation had become very weak and they had to shrink their formation.

However, after Duan Bangcheng did this, Lin Ruzhen's elite cavalry were able to face more barbarian troops.

"kill!!"

Liang Zun was no longer in a hurry. He only needed to tie down the barbarians in the front and let the elite cavalry attack and kill the barbarians on the left and right wings.

Arrows rained down, and most of Nanzhao's infantry were killed by the bows and arrows of the Lingnan elite cavalry on the left and right wings. However, the battlefield in the south was in a stalemate, and the number of barbarians around Duan Bangcheng was getting smaller and smaller...

Seeing that the situation was out of control, Duan Bangcheng immediately told the dozen or so elite cavalrymen beside him: "Prepare to break out..."

More than a dozen elite cavalrymen were stunned, but still nodded.

"kill!!"

"Uuuuuu——"

The horn continued to sound, and Duan Bangcheng no longer hesitated and blew the whistle immediately: "Retreat to the north!"

"Beep--"

A shrill whistle sounded, and the barbarian army, most of whom had been killed or wounded, could not bear the casualties and hurriedly began to retreat while fighting.

Liang Zun was not in a hurry to attack because they had suffered many casualties.

Among the Lingnan soldiers who attacked from the front, no less than 200 were wounded.

After Liang Zun properly settled the two hundred people, he immediately ordered someone to blow the whistle to call the herd of draft horses from the south.

Dozens of cavalry and infantry drove the herd of drawn horses northward, while General Lin Ruzhen and Zhang Lin were still chasing the barbarians.

A quarter of an hour later, the more than 700 surviving cavalry infantrymen mounted their horses and rode their draft horses to pursue northward.

General Lin Ruzhen and Zhang Lin's two thousand elite cavalrymen continued to advance until the barbarians in the formation switched to bows and crossbows and began to counterattack under the protection of the outer barbarians. Only then did the two men lead their troops to retreat a hundred steps away.

Even so, the barbarians, who had been fighting for a while, couldn't help but slow down.

After they walked three miles north, they were caught up by 700 infantrymen led by Liang Zun.

At this time they were already exhausted, but the Lingnan Army was still at ease.

The barbarian soldiers in the formation were inevitably in despair, and the infantry led by Liang Zun also made preparations to rush north.

Due to the vast terrain, the barbarians were simply unable to stop them.

Upon seeing this, Duan Bangcheng knew that if the northern route was cut off, he would be dead, so he gritted his teeth and blew the wooden whistle.

"Beep--"

In the blink of an eye, he and more than a dozen elite cavalrymen beside him rushed out of the barbarian army formation, abandoned them in the face of the barbarians' desperate gazes, and broke through to the north without looking back.

"I'll go after him!!"

Zhang Lin raised his voice, very excited.

Without waiting for Lin Ruzhen to take any action, he immediately led hundreds of elite cavalry to chase after him, while Liang Zun also dismounted and led the infantry to form a battle array.

"Surrender without killing!"

General Lin Ruzhen divided his troops and used cavalry to surround the barbarians in three directions.

The barbarian soldiers' position was completely locked in place. If they moved at all, they would be attacked from all sides by the Lingnan Army.

Seeing that their commander had abandoned them, the barbarians in the formation laid down their weapons one after another, and General Lin Ruzhen also waved his hand and ordered them to surrender.

"Drive! Drive!"

At the same time, after breaking out, Duan Bangcheng directly abandoned Juzhou and fled to Bozhou in the north.

Zhang Lin pursued him relentlessly and soon chased him for more than ten miles.

As both sides were short of horsepower, they chased each other and stopped to move northward.

"Where's Zhang Lin?"

After the army and the civilians crossed the Wuman River, Gao Pian arranged for Wang Zhongren to lead them to Qingzhou City, while he rode north to question Liang Zun and others.

"The barbarian generals broke out to the north, and Zhang Lang led hundreds of elite cavalry to pursue them!"

“…” Gao Pian frowned and cursed Zhang Lin in his heart for being so reckless after so many years.

"General Lin Ruzhen, lead your elite cavalry to pursue northward. If you encounter Duan Zongbang's troops, immediately return to Qingzhou with Zhang Lin."

"As long as Qingzhou is captured, Duan Zongbang will have to turn to the north of Qianshui and retreat to Tangxing, and our army will be able to calmly recover the areas of Qianling."

"I obey your command!" General Lin Ruzhen did not dare to delay and immediately led his elite cavalry to chase to the north.

"Gather the wounded and retreat to Qingzhou!"

Gao Pian withdrew his gaze and gave instructions to Liang Zun.

Liang Zhan heard this and pointed at the thousand or so surrendered soldiers in the distance: "General, these captured surrendered soldiers..."

Gao Pian narrowed his eyes upon hearing this and said in a cold voice: "Our army has defeated Duan Zongbang's 30,000 barbarian troops, captured 3,000 armored soldiers, and captured nearly 10,000 barbarians!"

"This..." Liang Zun understood that his commander-in-chief did not intend to keep the soldiers.

But the former was fine with 3,000 soldiers, but what about the latter? Where could he capture 10,000 barbarians?
"General Jie, this barbarian..."

Liang Zhan's face was not looking good, but Gao Pian raised his chin and said, "There are so many barbarian soldiers in Juzhou, Zhuangzhou, Qingzhou and other counties. Aren't they all our surrendered soldiers?"

Liang Zhan's eyes lit up, and he immediately bowed: "I understand, thank you for your guidance, Marshal Jie!"

"Let's go!" Gao Pian turned his horse's head, and Liang Zun looked back at the two generals beside him.

Soon, shouts of cursing, hacking, and begging for mercy were heard behind Gao Pian. The land was dyed red with blood, and three thousand sets of blood-stained armor and piles of heads were carried away.

"Drive! Drive!"

After sunset, Zhang Lin continued to pursue Duan Bangcheng and more than ten other riders. Duan Bangcheng and his companions stopped and started, and fled northward for more than thirty miles overnight.

Zhang Lin wanted to continue the pursuit, but he did not have enough food, so he had to retreat southward.

Compared to him, Duan Bangcheng kept fleeing, and in the early morning of the next day, he finally ran into his father's soldiers.

Duan Bangcheng was thirsty and hungry and was in a miserable state. There were only three elite cavalrymen left by his side, and each of them was shot like a hedgehog.

If it weren't for their thick armor, they would have died long ago.

Even Duan Bangben himself was covered in blood after taking off his armor, and the more than twenty arrow wounds were terrifying.

"My eldest son, you..."

He was sent to the central army in the rear by the Tang soldiers. After Duan Zongbang learned the news, he roughly guessed that Juzhou had fallen, but he never expected that his eldest son would be injured like this.

"Brother, you..."

At this time, Duan Bangcheng was covered in wounds, and the arrow wounds were scabby, which looked particularly terrifying.

"Father, I lost Juzhou..."

Duan Bangcheng tried to stand up and salute, but was held down by Duan Zongbang.

The Dali Duan clan was a large clan after the Xiliang Wuwei Duan clan moved south. Although the Duan clan had become a large "Bai Man" clan in Dali at this time, they still retained some of the names from the Han and Jin dynasties in spoken language.

"No problem. Juzhou was given up anyway. How many soldiers do they have?"

Duan Zongbang comforted his eldest son, and Duan Bangcheng immediately said: "Two thousand elite cavalry, all of them are Western horses!"

"Besides that, there are a thousand cavalry and infantry, and there are more than ten thousand more in the distance."

"They were crossing the Wuman River, and I was fighting these 3,000 soldiers. The distance was too far, so I couldn't see how many civilians and soldiers were among them." "Just from the direction they were crossing the river, I'm afraid they were going to Qingzhou City..."

"All right!" Duan Zongbang looked at his injured eldest son with heartache. After comforting him, he turned and walked out of the tent, taking a deep breath.

"General, the retreat route to Qingzhou has been cut off. We are afraid..."

The two generals couldn't help but speak, and Duan Zongbang was not carried away by the rush.

After Du Yuanzhong led 7,000 soldiers and horses to escort the Han and barbarians from Bozhou back to Luzhou, he was left with only 23,000 soldiers and horses.

Now that his eldest son has lost three thousand men, he only has 20,000 soldiers under his command.

If we insist on attacking Cheongju, it is not impossible to take it, but there is no need to do so.

Although the Qianjiang North Road is difficult to travel, it is possible to reach Tangxing smoothly, and then directly attack Zhuti of the Tang Dynasty through Tangxing.

Even though he really wanted to avenge his eldest son, he couldn't gamble with the lives of 20,000 soldiers.

"Change to the northern route of Qianjiang, send out light cavalry, and tell Officer Du Qingping to be on the alert for the Tang army to invade."

"Yes!"

General Duan Zongbang issued the order, and then he suppressed his temper and returned to his tent.

At the same time, Gao Pian led his troops to capture Qingzhou City at night, and beat more than 3,000 local barbarians in the city into southern barbarians and captured them all.

Male barbarians were beheaded and female barbarians were used as camp prostitutes for the soldiers to vent their anger.

That night, the city of Qingzhou was ablaze, and women were screaming...

The next day, Duan Zongbang led his troops along the northern route of Qianjiang, while Song Ya of Yizhou assembled his troops and took the opportunity to recapture the three deserted counties of Bozhou.

The victory report was sent to Chang'an, and by the time it arrived, it was already late August.

"Gao Pian defeated Duan Zongbang, captured 3,000 soldiers and captured nearly 10,000 barbarians, and recovered Juzhou and Qianling."

"Song Ya and Suo Xun recaptured Bozhou, and Duan Zongbang retreated to the northern part of Qianshui Road... A great victory! A great victory!"

Inside the Xianning Palace, Li Yi couldn't help but feel proud as he listened to the memorial the eunuch had just delivered.

"With the talents of Song Ya and Gao Pian, it would only take them a few days to invade the southern barbarians, right?"

Faced with his arrogance, Pei Xiu frowned slightly, and Bai Minzhong even stood up and poured a bucket of cold water on him.

"Your Majesty, Duan Zongbang was attacked during his hasty retreat. This was an unexpected move by Gao Pian."

"Although the government troops won a great victory at Wumanshui in Qianzhong Road, the people in Juzhou, Bozhou and other places were all plundered."

"Even if the two are talented, Qianzhong is devastated and cannot provide money and food. Naturally, they cannot support the two of them to lead their army to invade the Nanman territory."

"The same is true of Annan's royal style."

After Bai Minzhong finished speaking, Jiang Shen stepped forward and bowed, saying:

"Your Majesty, in the past, most of the money and grain from Qianzhong Road and Lingnan Road were transported by Jiannan Road, Shannan West Road, and Jiangnan West Road."

"Now the grain price in Jiannan Road has risen sharply. Xichuan and Dongchuan are short of money and grain. They can only stay there and cannot fight back."

The only people left in Xianning Palace were Pei Xiu, Bai Minzhong and Jiang Shen, while Linghu Tao disappeared.

A few days ago, Li Yi dismissed Linghu Tao and appointed him as the governor of Xuanwu, Yicheng, Huainan and other four towns.

Bi Yu, the governor of Zhaoyi Army, was transferred to Beijing to serve as the Minister of Rites, and Tang Chi, the governor of Shuofang Army, was transferred to serve as the governor of Zhaoyi Army.

Huizhou was incorporated into Shuofang, and Zhang Zhifang, the governor of Huining, was appointed as the inspector of Ling, Wu and Huizhou, and the governor of Shuofang Army, with a military force of 7,000 men.

The purpose of doing this is mainly to show goodwill to Liu Jilong.

After all, Zhang Zhifang was not a talented general, as can be seen from the fact that he was driven out of Liangzhou and caused the Huizhou rebellion.

Letting such a person control the two states of Hui and Ling along the border of Longyou and command the Shuofang Army also shows that the court has no intention of provoking Longyou.

The Tang Dynasty now needs to tighten its fists and settle the Nanzhao issue first, so pacifying the three towns of Longyou and Heshuo is a top priority.

"I remember Gao Pian. Minister Wang once mentioned him to me."

"With him and Song Ya in charge of Qianzhong, I think Qianzhong should be able to settle down."

Li Yi still listened to the advice. Since Bai Minzhong, Pei Xiu and Jiang Shen all said that they could not attack, he would continue to speak according to their words.

However, as an emperor, he still has to have certain ideas.

"But every month that the military campaign in the southwest continues, more than 200,000 strings of cash and grain are spent, and I am worried."

After Li Yi finished speaking, Bai Minzhong and others nodded in agreement.

Now, there are nearly 60,000 troops mobilized along the southwestern border, and the number of civilian laborers required to maintain food and fodder for these 60,000 troops is as high as more than 100,000.

Every month of fighting would cost more than 200,000 strings of cash.

It wouldn't be a big deal if all the generals along the border could win great victories like Wang Shi and Gao Pian.

But if the stalemate continues, the foundation of the Tang Dynasty may not be as strong as it is now.

Thinking of this, Bai Minzhong took the initiative to speak:

"For now, we can only urge Cui Shixiang to encircle and suppress the rebel Qiu Fu in Haizhongzhou, and then stop the expeditionary forces in Zhejiang East."

Military affairs in the southwest cost money and food, and the same is true in the southeast.

Cui Xuan also had 40,000 soldiers and horses under his command, which were recruited from Xuanwu, Huainan and other towns, and the monthly expenditure was more than 100,000 strings of cash.

If Qiu Fu could be defeated as soon as possible, the more than 100,000 strings of money and grain could be invested in military operations in the southwest, and a counterattack could be launched at the right time.

"In that case, please hurry up, Mr. Bai."

As soon as Li Yi finished speaking, he stood up and said, "Wang Shi, Gao Pian, and Song Ya have all made contributions. The Southern Court must not forget to reward them!"

He did not decide on the reward himself, but left the issue to Bai Minzhong and the other two.

Without waiting for the three to interrupt, he stepped down from the golden platform, and the eunuch took the opportunity to say, "Dismiss the court!"

"Tian Yun, set up the polo field."

"This slave accepts the order..."

Looking at the backs of Li Yi and the eunuch as they left, Bai Minzhong and the other two looked at each other and couldn't help shaking their heads.

At the same time, Liu Jilian, who was in Longyou, also received military intelligence from the south.

"As expected, with Gao Pian and Wang Shi here, even if we send out a large force, we will not be able to get any results."

In the Longyou Protectorate, Liu Jilong carefully looked at the military intelligence collected by the Sanxian Tower and could not help but nodded.

"Duan Zongbang... Is this Duan Siping's ancestor?"

Liu Jilong paused for a moment on Gao Pian's name on the Duan Zongbang and couldn't help but smile.

Yang Jisi, Duan Zongbang and others were also considered to be famous generals who were feared throughout the Indochina Peninsula.

It’s a pity that their talents were no longer revealed in the war with the Central Plains.

Whether it is Wang Shi from Annan, or Gao Pian and Song Ya from Qianzhong, their level is higher than them.

On the contrary, Xiahou Zi of Xichuan and Cui Shenyou of Dongchuan, despite their titles of envoys and prime ministers, were frowned upon for their military talents.

"General, Gao Pian was able to defeat the Southern Barbarians with only 3,000 soldiers. If we go to the south, I'm afraid we can wipe out the Southern Barbarians!"

Inside the hall, Zhang Chang praised himself generously.

Gao Jinda also laughed when he heard this and said, "Nanzhao is also considered a powerful force in the southwest. The imperial court and Tubo in the past also suffered a lot at its hands. Mr. Zhang should not be too arrogant."

"Haha, if I were leading the army, I would definitely not be so arrogant, but if it was General Jie who led the army, he would definitely be able to wipe out the southern barbarians!"

Zhang Chang was open-minded and simply admitted that he was not capable of it.

When Liu Jilong heard them say this, he also said, "Xiahou Zi is losing ground, and Cui Shenyou is stationed in Baidao City (Yibin) and cannot move forward."

“Although Duan Zongbang and Yang Jisi were repelled by Gao Pian and Wang Shi, the great ceremony has a profound foundation, and it is not difficult to recruit troops.”

"In my opinion, this attack should be a test by You Shilong against several directions of the Tang Dynasty."

"Now that the probing is over, the north is obviously easier to attack than the east. I'm afraid You Shilong will have to prepare to capture the two states of Xi and Rong."

"If Bai Minzhong fails to dispatch Gao Pian and Song Ya to help Rongzhou in time, it is estimated that Zhuti, Jingchuan, Pinzhou and Xunzhou in the south of Rongzhou will be lost."

Liu Jilong said his judgment, and Zhang Chang laughed after listening: "The more chaos there is, the better. The more chaos there is in the south, the more people will flee into Longyou!"

"It can't be too messy..." Gao Jinda shook his head and said:

"If they continue to flee like this, the price of food in Xichuan will get higher and higher. Although we can still feed the people fleeing into the country for the time being, it will not be good if the number increases over time."

"The price of grain in Guanzhong has risen to 1,200 coins per dan, and the price of grain in Xichuan and Dongchuan has also risen to around 1,000 coins per dan."

"Nei Dao needs no further explanation. The price of grain has never been lower than a thousand coins."

"Now it seems that our food prices are the lowest among all the places around us."

"If the military commander had not prohibited the sale of grain from Longyou to the states in Jiannan, I'm afraid that merchants from other vassal states would have come to buy grain long ago, raising the price of grain in Longyou."

After Gao Jinda finished speaking, Cui Shu also frowned and said:

"Although the ivory merchants from other places cannot come to buy, Zhang Jieshuai from Hexi and Shang Moyan from Weixi need a lot of food."

"In order to maintain the safety of our army in the northwest and southwest, we have no choice but to sell food to them."

"If the chaos in the south lasts too long, we will also be affected."

Seeing Gao Jinda and Cui Shu say this, Zhang Chang also shut up and looked at his own commander tentatively.

Liu Jilong felt his gaze and slowly put down the information about Sanxian Tower in his hand, his face still calm and confident.

"Don't worry, this war will turn around in three years."

"Even if the fighting continues, it won't affect us..."

(End of this chapter)