Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

Chapter 196
On summer nights, unknown insects, birds and beasts are singing all around. The valleys to the east and west of Jingmen are lush and dark. There are two mountains to the south of Jingmen. The width between the two mountains is about two miles wide. open.

A large number of Nanping young and strong usually bring their own bedding and sleep on the open ground in the south. More than 4000 troops in Nanping cleared the way for the Zhou army, and at the same time supervised the civilians, stationed in the valley.

In fact, looking at the place where they were stationed, Shi Congyun knew that Wang Nanping had the idea of ​​curbing the army going south from the very beginning.

It's a pity that Gao Jichong and Gao Baoyin, the specific executors on the front line, have already been limped by him. The coach is not yet mentally prepared, not to mention the many soldiers. When the Zhou army began to surround their barracks, many people didn't understand what was going on, and they were still watching .

On the other side, Shi Congyun quickly sent a large group of cavalry to continue south, telling the local people along the way that General Zhou Jun said that they don't have to work and they can go home individually.

These days, when people come to work for the country, they have to bring their own clothes, food, money, and various utensils. To put it mildly, it is called expropriation, but to put it bluntly, it is coercion. If they dare not come, they will kill with swords.

This is not just in Nanping, but everywhere. It was the case when Da Zhou attacked Huainan and when it attacked Shu, 10,000+ civilians were recruited.

So if it weren't for soldiers guarding and supervising, no one would want to do such a job.

At the beginning, after hearing the words of the cavalrymen of the Zhou army, the common people were skeptical. It was not until some bold ones took the lead to leave and found that no one surrounded or killed them, that they suddenly felt relieved. .

However, the Nanping Army in the southern valley of Jingmen had no idea at all, because their generals and high-level officials were detained by Shi Congyun with the Hongmen Banquet.

But because there was no order from above, they didn't know what to do and waited until dawn.

Shi Congyun stood on the eastern hillside south of Jingmen, overlooking the valley below. The surrounding Zhou army had expanded to [-], and the army led by Wang Quanbin had also entered Jingmen overnight.

Shi Congyun looked down, and said to the generals beside him: "The Nanping Army has no chief general, so transfer the recruits to the front, gradually narrow the encirclement, force them to surrender, and let the recruits see the world."

The subordinates all commanded the envoys to take orders, and hurriedly went down to dispatch. In the morning, the encirclement of the Zhou army began to change. The recruits were pushed inside, and the veterans were outside. Then the encirclement was gradually narrowed, and the Nanping army was forced to surrender by shouting loudly.

This was a battle without any suspense, so Shi Congyun let the recruits go forward to train their battlefield qualities.

The new recruits did show fear and tension at the beginning, and even the formation that had been trained countless times before was a little scattered. Fortunately, under the loud guidance of the veterans behind, they slowly stabilized their positions and surrounded the enemy from all sides.

Shi Congyun saw that this enemy should be Nanping's elite troops, with a high armor rate, and even though there was no leader, they were surrounded by layers but did not retreat immediately. Instead, they began to use the fence around the camp to prevent horses and others from using bows. The crossbow returned fire.

According to the training, the recruits of the Zhou army erected a platoon of shields about the height of a person in front, and continued to fight back with bows and crossbows in the rear, slowly approaching the opponent's camp in an orderly manner.

Arrows from both sides were coming and going in the valley, but because they were surrounded on all sides, the Nanping army was in a very disadvantageous position. They could only attack the front of the Zhou army, but the Zhou army could attack them from all directions.

At the beginning, there was a stalemate. After two hours, the sun rose high, and the Nanping army camp was full of dense arrows. Many people fell to the ground screaming. Finally, someone near the south gate couldn't stand it and opened the camp gate to surrender.

The trend of surrender soon spread, and in the entire camp, there were only people near the northern sentry tower who resisted stubbornly.

Zhou Jun asked the soldiers who surrendered to put down their weapons and walked out of the camp. Then Zhou Jun from the south entered the camp in large numbers.

The battle lasted until noon, and at last more than a hundred Nanping soldiers who were stubbornly resisting were compressed in the open space between the Shao sentry tower and the fence in the north of the camp, surrounded by layers of Zhou troops outside.

These more than 100 people should be the loyal and brave men of Nanping, but they have nothing to do. Losing the sentry tower is tantamount to losing the commanding heights.

Over the years, the Zhou army can be said to have fought south and north, especially the veterans of the Crane Control Army under Shi Congyun.

Although the more than 100 Nanping troops were loyal and brave, there was still a big gap between them and the Zhou army.

The commander of the army commanded by the Zhou army at the forefront ordered to only use shields to cover the periphery, to surround them without rushing to attack.

Then he ordered the sharpshooters in the army to board several sentry towers in the camp, and shot at them with bows and crossbows from a high position.

Because they were condescending, they couldn’t guard against them at all. In just a quarter of an hour, more than 20 people were shot down one after another, crying all over the ground. They wanted to rush out but were forced back by Zhou Jun’s platoon shields as high as a man and dense spears protruding from the gaps. Soon he couldn't hold on any longer and chose to surrender.

Shi Congyun could see clearly from the hillside, and he also understood why in this era, the southern army was not the opponent of the north most of the time.

From a military point of view, it is not that they are not good at fighting, nor that they have no loyal and brave men, but that there is a gap in war experience. Wars are commonplace in the north, but most places in the south have been peaceful for more than ten years.

The more than 100 Nanping loyal and brave men below wanted to fight to the death and risk their lives to serve the country. Their courage is commendable.

But they are courageous and bloody, but they are not as experienced in war as Zhou Jun. They are old and cunning. Once they make mistakes on the battlefield, they often cannot make up for it with courage.

If they are veterans of the Zhou army, if they want to resist, they will choose to defend around the highest point of the camp instead of the seemingly safe fence.

The Nanping army guarded the fence of the northern camp, and voluntarily gave up the high point of the sentry tower to the enemy, and they were powerless to resist.

By the afternoon, all the battles were over, and the overall casualties in this battle of 3 people and 4000 people were small.

The Nanping army killed 52 people and injured more than 500 people. The Zhou army killed two people and injured 150 people.

Most of the Nanping Army surrendered, and they are not to blame for this situation.

It wasn't until the dust settled that Shi Congyun sent someone to bring Gao Jichong, Gao Baoyin and others to tell them that the Nanping Army had been wiped out.

The young Gao Jichong and Gao Baoyin, who had no opinion, turned pale with fright, and many officials trembled and dared not speak.

Only two upright civil servants scolded him for treachery, dishonesty, and a wolf-hearted thing.

The words were so harsh that the people around them trembled in fright, colleagues even pulled their sleeves, and some people knelt down and begged for mercy.

After they got tired of cursing, Shi Congyun patted Gao Jichong on the shoulder and said to him: "A certain striker has almost entered Jiangling at this time, and Nanping will definitely cease to exist in two days. Can't change.

If you know the current affairs, you should give up resisting, obediently follow me back to Beijing to meet the emperor, when the time comes, your family will definitely be rich and prosperous.

As for you courtiers, you will be the courtiers of the Great Zhou in the future, and you can still be appointed by the emperor, but if you don't know the current affairs, I will kill more people than you can count. "

Everyone nodded repeatedly, and Gao Jichong quickly stated: "Everything will be arranged by the commander in chief."

Gao Baoyin said with emotion: "I once heard that the great commander-in-chief is invincible and invincible in all battles. When I saw it today, it turned my hands into clouds and turned my hands into rain."

Everyone stopped talking after hearing this, and even the two civil servants who scolded him before sighed and stopped scolding.

Indeed, Shi Congyun's actions may be disgraceful, but in just two or three days, three prefectures and seventeen counties were easily captured, and hundreds of thousands of people in Nanping were saved from the disaster of war. I have to admire.

On the same day, Shi Congyun ordered Li Hanchao's scouts to deploy to the south of the river, and Wang Quanbin led the army to the south. The real strategic intention was exposed, not to conquer Shu, but to take the land of Jingchu.

Early the next morning, when Shi Congyun was on his way to Jiangling, Li Chuyun's messenger also arrived. He led a thousand elite troops into Jiangling to control the defense of Jiangling city without fighting.

The letter also detailed his situation when he arrived in Jiangling.

Jiangling's elite soldiers and young adults are all in the Jingmen area, and the city is empty.

People in the city thought that Zhou Jun was still in Jingmen, and somehow they suddenly arrived in Jiangling, two hundred miles away. Nanping Wang Gao Baorong didn't know what was going on, and was afraid of offending Da Zhou, so he hurriedly led a team out of the city fifteen miles to meet him.

Li Chuyun made a decisive decision and detained Nanping Wang Gao Baorong, and then led his army to gallop into the city to control the city defenses, and Jiangling was captured just like that.

Shi Congyun laughed after reading the letter, excitedly passed it to Luqiu Zhongqing, and then ordered the army to speed up to the south, spreading the news of King Nanping's surrender along the way.

So far, in just three or four days from the start of the operation, Nanping was taken down like this, taking over the land of three states and seventeen counties almost without bloodshed.

This is great news, but the bad news is that his strategic intentions have been exposed. Wuping, who has nine states to the south, will definitely not sit still.

Sure enough, on July [-], when Shi Congyun entered Jiangling City to appease Gao Baorong's family and at the same time ordered his army commanders to lead troops to take over Xiazhou and Guizhou, Li Hanchao, who was investigating along the south river, reported back.

It was found that a large number of ships and people were gathering in the Sanjiangkou area in the east, at least tens of thousands.

Shi Congyun knew that the battle of this trip would come soon.
(End of this chapter)