Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 515 Wuyi
Jingxingkou is difficult to attack.

Although Jingxingkou is not as fortified as Yubi City, with Heba Yue there, it would still cost a huge price to capture it.

More importantly, Erzhu Rong was eyeing Bingzhou covetously. He could lead troops to support Jingxing Pass at any time, or when Su Ze was in a desperate situation, he could attack Su Ze's territory from other passes of the Eight Xings of Taihang. This would result in Su Ze being restrained and put into a passive position.

There is no way. The development of military technology is a history of spiraling attack and defense.

Today is an era in which city defense technology is developing rapidly and the cost of defense is gradually becoming lower than the cost of attack.

By the Tang Dynasty, An Lushan's tens of thousands of rebels were unable to capture Suiyang City, which only had a few thousand people. That was the nightmare of all siege warfare.

The separatist rule of the warlords in the middle and late Tang Dynasty occurred in such a background. Once a warlord occupied a state, a county, or even a city, he would be able to pass it down for several generations and act tyrannically on the territory. The court would require several or even dozens of times more troops to capture.

Therefore, after the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the approach of appeasement and mutual provocation was more often adopted to deal with the rebellious vassal states, because the cost of siege was too high.

The Song and Yuan dynasties were an era of rapid development of siege technology. By the Ming Dynasty, the transition from Portuguese cannons to red cannons greatly reduced the difficulty of sieges, and the country entered an era where attack was more important than defense.

With the development of firearms in modern times, the trench warfare of World War I turned the battlefield into a meat grinder, and everyone began to focus on defensive tactics.

Germany's blitzkrieg and air warfare in World War II once again entered the offensive era.

Therefore, for Jingxingkou, Su Ze’s method was still to use spies.

Attacking the heart is the top, attacking the city is the bottom.

The strategy of sowing discord has always been one of the most effective strategies throughout history.

But before using spies, we still have to put some pressure on Erzhu Rong.

On August 20th, Murong Shaozong marched south from Youzhou, fought his way to Hejian County, and headed straight for Wuyi (Hengshui), the northern gateway of Yecheng.

Yuan Tianmu, who was stationed in Yecheng, Jizhou, immediately led his troops to Wuyi to fight.

This time, Murong Shaozong brought out most of Youzhou's troops, claiming to have 50,000 Youzhou elite troops, with Chen Chong (Hou Mo Chen Chong) as the left vanguard and Peng Le, the former commander of Youzhou's elite cavalry, as the right vanguard. Murong Shaozong personally supervised the transportation of food and grass as the central army, and marched south in a mighty manner.

Yuan Tianmu had only 20,000 defenders in Yecheng at that time. Seeing that Murong Shaozong was about to attack in a large scale, Yuan Tianmu could only send a letter to ask Erzhu Rong for help as soon as possible, and mobilized troops from Xiangzhou and Qizhou south of Jizhou to go north for support.

The land of Hebei was once again plunged into war.

Xiangzhou.

The seat of Xiangzhou was originally Wei County, but the city was destroyed during the war.

The Dongyu area near the Yellow River was occupied by the Southern Liang Dynasty when Erzhu Rong was busy fighting Su Ze.

Dongyu is too close to Weijun, and there is no dangerous pass between them.

After Heba Sheng took office as the governor of Xiangzhou, he had no choice but to move the provincial capital to Xiangguo, which was further north.

There is no way. Xiangzhou has been a place of war since ancient times, and it can be said that there is no strategic location to defend.

The only consolation is that the current national strength of Southern Liang is not good enough. After the Southern Liang army arrived in Dongyu, it was unable to continue the Northern Expedition.

But Heba Sheng's bad days had just begun.

Because Heba Sheng did not have the power to establish a government, the only things he could mobilize were the two thousand troops he brought with him.

The Xiangzhou area had just experienced several wars with Chen Qianzhi in Ji County, and its southern region was occupied by the Southern Liang army. The local warlords were dissatisfied with Erzhu Rong's rule and rebelled one after another.

After Heba Sheng arrived in Xiangzhou, he was either suppressing rebellions or on his way to suppress rebellions every day.

What's worse is that Heba Sheng's origin in the Six Garrisons made him discriminated against in the entire Hebei region.

Although it was the fault of the Hebei nobles who made you six towns slaves back then, don’t you people from the six towns have any fault at all?
The main battlefield of the Second Six Garrisons Rebellion was in Hebei Province, and the areas most affected were Jizhou, Xiangzhou and other regions.

The local nobles were hostile to the people of the Six Garrisons, and many of them were dissatisfied with the fact that Heba Sheng, the commander of the Six Garrisons, became the governor.

What’s even worse is the trouble caused by the Erzhus around him.

The Yellow River is a lifeline.

Grain from Qi and Lu was transported to Luoyang along the Yellow River.

The governor of Qizhou, east of Xiangzhou, was Erzhu Shilon.

West of Xiangzhou is the capital, and the governor of Henan is Erzhu Dulü.

Heba Sheng, who was caught in the middle, had to endure so much humiliation that it was impossible to tell outsiders about it.

Heba Sheng even felt that being the governor of Xiangzhou was not as free and easy as when he was the military commander of the Six Garrisons.

But today he was finally relieved. Murong Shaozong led the elite troops of Youzhou to attack Jizhou. Yuan Tianmu summoned the troops of Xiangzhou and Qizhou for support. Heba Sheng immediately handed over the state affairs to his deputy and led two thousand cavalrymen north.

In addition to Hebei, a harshly worded letter was also sent to Liaodong and delivered to Gao Huan.

When Gao Huan saw Yuan Tianmu's letter, he felt very depressed.

The letter expressed dissatisfaction with Gao Huan's lack of progress during this period. Yuan Tianmu asked Gao Huan to take Shanhaiguan while Murong Shaozong was taking away the elite troops of Youzhou, so as to put pressure on Murong Shaozong to be attacked from both sides.

But it is easier said than done. When Gao Huan learned the news sent by Hu Sichun that Yuwen Tai had crossed the sea and landed to capture the Goguryeo capital of Pingcheng, he immediately led his troops to attack Shanhaiguan.

As a result, Gao Huan tried his best and used various means, but still failed to capture Shanhaiguan.

When he was closest to breaking the city, Dou Tai had already rushed onto the city wall, but because he could not stand firmly, he was pushed down by a little kid with a spear.

Dou Tai was lucky as he was not seriously injured after falling from the city wall, but his legs were broken and he could no longer fight.

Gao Huan knew that Yuwen Tai was good at commanding troops. After controlling Goguryeo, Yuwen Tai would definitely attack Khitan together with Goguryeo.

So Gao Huan contacted the Khitan king again and asked the Khitan to build a defense line along the Yajiang River to guard against the attack of the Goguryeo people.

As a result, the already stretched military forces and resources became even more strained.

On the other hand, Yuwen Tai did not get many resources from Murong Shaozong in the first place. Now that he has conquered Goguryeo, it is equivalent to adding an extra front line out of thin air, which greatly enhances his strength.

Gao Huan was feeling depressed. He had come to Liaodong with the idea of ​​establishing his own regime, but he was trapped by a small-time Yuwen Tai and was unable to escape.

However, the Khitans were cooperating with Erzhu Rong, and he could not ignore Yuan Tianmu's orders. He could only continue to urge the troops to assemble and prepare to attack Shanhaiguan again.

The entire north was like a chess game, and was mobilized as Su Ze sent troops to Jingxingkou.

Erzhu Rong, who was stationed in Bingzhou, remained calm and did not take any action.

In mid-September, Murong Shaozong deployed his troops in Wuyi. Chen Chong led a thousand armored cavalry as the left wing, and Peng Le led three thousand elite cavalry from Youzhou as the right wing. Murong Shaozong also led five thousand Modao soldiers as the front line of the central army, with strong crossbowmen and shieldmen supporting them.

As for Yuan Tianmu, he had originally sent out four letters asking for help.

However, Erzhu Rong remained in Bingzhou, and Erzhu Dulü stayed in Luoyang and refused to send troops because of the Hedong Pass defense.

Erzhu Shilon of Qizhou was willing to send troops, and he led 4,000 cavalry to Jizhou.

Yuan Tianmu knew that his military talent was not as good as Heba Sheng's, and originally wanted to give all the cavalry to Heba Sheng's command.

But Erzhu Shilong was dissatisfied and said:
"Does the Grand Chancellor look down on me, Erzhu Shilong? Does he want me to be controlled by him?"

After saying that, Erzhu Shilon glanced at Heba Sheng.

He had long been dissatisfied with his cousin Erzhu Rong's use of the Heba brothers. He believed that the people of the Six Garrisons were cunning and fickle and had no loyalty at all.

The Heba brothers changed their masters many times and had a past relationship with Su Ze. They were allowed to hold such positions, so they might betray the Erzhu family at any time.

Heba Sheng did not dare to interfere at this time, and could only say to Yuan Tianmu:
"Grandmaster, let's let everyone lead their own troops."

Seeing that Erzhu Shilon and Heba Sheng were not on good terms, Yuan Tianmu could only let them lead their respective cavalry.

Heba Sheng brought two thousand cavalry, and Erzhu Shilon also brought two thousand cavalry.

Yuan Tianmu divided his two thousand cavalrymen between the two men, and each of them commanded three thousand cavalrymen.

Heba Sheng commanded the left wing and Erzhu Shilon commanded the right wing.

The next day, the war drums sounded and both sides lined up in Wuyi.

Heba Sheng quickly assessed the situation on the battlefield.

On Murong Shaozong's side, the left wing cavalry is the most elite.

Chen Chong was a famous and brave general of the younger generation. Heba Sheng also knew him, Houmochen Yue. The thousand armored cavalrymen under his command were the best cavalrymen under Su Ze, and even their horses were covered with armor.

Peng Le on the right wing led the elite cavalry of Youzhou, many of whom were newly recruited from good families in Youzhou. Although their equipment was good, due to the shortage of top-notch war horses, most of the cavalry wore heavy armor or half armor, and the horses had no armor.

But what Heba Sheng couldn't understand the most was the Modao phalanx in the center of the army.

Heba Sheng rode on his horse, looking at the strange military formation arranged by Murong Shaozong on the opposite side, and was full of doubts about the flashing long swords in front of the battle.

What kind of weapon is this?
Sabre?

Heba Sheng was cautious. He was just about to send his elite troops to test the enemy's strength when he suddenly heard the sound of galloping horses. It turned out that Erzhu Shilon could no longer hold back, and he led three thousand cavalrymen to charge towards Peng Le's elite cavalry of Youzhou.

Looking around at Heba Sheng, Heba Sheng still suppressed his men and said:

"Wait and see how the other side moves."

As expected, Chen Chong's troops opposite Heba Sheng did not move at all.

Fighting in large armies is actually a bit like taking turns playing cards.

The central army is the biggest trump card. When the central army is deployed, it is the time to play the trump card. Generally, it will not be deployed until there is a major turning point in the battlefield situation.

This does not mean that the central army is elite, the central army generally constitutes the "majority" of the entire army.

"Most" means ordinary people. They can achieve good results with the boost of morale, but once they are defeated, it will be a complete defeat.

In an army, the most elite troops are naturally the vanguard.

(End of this chapter)