Late Tang

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Once Guiyi was defeated, Mo Ying was empty, which meant that the door to the south was opened.

On the northern border of Mozhou, there were originally three passes here, plus the land of the two states of Moying, there are several large moors. In spring and autumn, it is a piece of Zeguo, plus many rivers, so Moying has always been a place in Hebei. From the north to the south, the second important line of defense except Yanshan.

It is precisely because of this that Wang Jingchong gathered heavy troops in Cangzhou.It's all because the four towns believe that Mozhou has three defenses, and since You Zhuo is in the hands of the four towns, then Li Jing's light troops will go south with only seven days of food. .

"Can the three passes be defended?" Wang Jingchong summoned the generals and asked Liu Rengong who had just washed up with a dark face in the hall.

Liu Rengong shook his head with a bitter face. In fact, after Liu Rengong broke out of the city, he thought of rushing back to Mozhou immediately, relying on the three passes to defend, and then borrowing reinforcements from Li Quanzhong and Wang Jingchong.

But he was hunted down by Liao Qi along the way, and when he finally arrived at Waqiao Pass in Mozhou, he was very surprised to see that Waqiao Pass was still there.But when he closed and opened the door and was about to enter the customs, he woke up and found something suspicious, and then turned around quickly.As a result, as soon as he retreated and closed the door, the red flag immediately waved, and ambushes were all over the place, and all the generals came out.

It turned out that the cavalry of the three armies sent by Li Jing had already gone directly south and captured Waqiao Pass first.If he hadn't been vigilant, he would have almost closed the door and beat the dog.But even so, under the pursuit of the cavalry in the pass, he fled all the way, and lost almost half of the last two thousand cavalry plus some defeated soldiers gathered on the road.

Then he did not give up and went to the second pass in the east again. This time he was more vigilant and careful. When he arrived nearby, he first sent scouts to watch.In the end, it was found that the two levels were also captured. Although it looked like Mozhou soldiers were still guarding the second level, in fact, some traces of the battle were still there.

Hearing this news, Liu Rengong led more than a thousand cavalry all the way to the farther east and headed south, but was still discovered by Jingcheng's cavalry near Jingcheng, and chased them all the way to Cangzhou City.

"Three levels are lost. If my guess is correct, Mozhou and Yingzhou must have been lost by now." Liu Rengong sighed.

Three passes and one loss, and Mo Ying's main force was lost again. The main force of the Chengde army is in Cangzhou and Dedi, and the main force of the Yiwu army is now in Youzhou.At this time, not to mention the three passes, the entire Moying Prefecture, and even Chengde Town and Yiwu Town were already empty.

Mo Ying originally had the river defense line in addition to the three passes, but although it is already February at this time, the land of Hebei still has not thawed at this time.The north is not like the south. The rivers and swamps in the south are often the natural line of defense.But in the north, when the river freezes in winter, it is like a smooth road, which is basically flat.Spring, summer and autumn can still have effects, but at this time it is useless at all.

Facing Li Jing's [-] soldiers marching south, Liu Rengong's Mozhou cities had only a few thousand guards, and the situation in Yingzhou was probably similar.There are still [-] soldiers and horses left behind in Wang Jingchong's four prefectures of Chengde and Dezhou.

The soldiers and horses of these states add up to less than [-], but they are scattered among the six or seven states. It is simply a mess. How to fight against Li Jing?

As for the fact that Li Jing only had seven days of food and grass, it has become a joke now. Li Jing only captured Guiyi at this time, and he has the food and grass of tens of thousands of troops, and there is no shortage of food and grass at all.

Sizhen wanted to close the door and beat the dog, but now Li Jing has directly attacked Sizhen's confidant.

"Your Majesty, immediately report the current situation to the three kings of Yanyi and Wei. Please ask the second king of Yanyi in Youzhou to lead his troops to the south immediately, and at the same time ask the king of Wei to go north immediately, and then we will return to the west. Li Jing will fight between Mo Ying." Liu Rengong suggested aloud that his Mozhou must be over.It is impossible to take it back with his strength, and now he can only rely on the soldiers and horses of the four kings.

Before Wang Jingchong could answer, someone replied: "Liu Shijun's words are inappropriate, and Mo Ying is in danger now. At this time, my Chengde army should immediately travel south and return to the four prefectures of Chengde. Only in this way can we have a chance of winning. Otherwise, before the soldiers and horses of the three towns come back to help, I am afraid that we will be surrounded by Li Jing in Cangzhou first. Cangzhou has little food and reinforcements are still far away, and the Liao army has a siege weapon. It's also difficult to defend."

Liu Rengong sneered and said: "Li Jing probably has already captured Mo Ying. If he leaves Cangzhou at this time, it may not be easy to return to Chengde. Don't forget, Li Jing has [-] cavalry. In Cangzhou City, there are many cavalry. It's the infantry. Once we leave the protection of the city, what do you think we can use to fight the Liao cavalry on the plain?"

The power of the three thousand cavalry of the Liao soldiers was clearly seen by everyone.Thinking of [-] such cavalry galloping and attacking on the plain, all the generals felt that Liu Rengong's words were almost reasonable.If you fight against cavalry, the infantry will occupy the majority, and it is best to defend according to the city and the stronghold.

In a field battle on the plains, even if [-] infantry were to face [-] cavalry, it would be a losing battle.

But Wang Jingchong couldn't just sit and guard Cangzhou at this time, not to mention that Cangzhou was short of food.It is only said that Chengde only has more than [-] soldiers and horses left behind. If Li Jing does not come to attack Cangzhou, but directly enters the four states of Chengde, then the old nest will be lost.What's more, the entire army's soldiers and their families are in Chengde. At this time, how stable is the army's morale.

At this time, Wang Jingchong really regretted it.It's really hard to steal the chicken and lose the rice. It's hard to snatch the three states of Yichang, but in the blink of an eye, the four states of Chengde and Dezhou are about to be killed by Li Jing.

It's really Ma Le Gobi, this Li Jing doesn't follow the routine at all.

Looking at Wang Jingchong's appearance, Liu Rengong felt a little gloating in his heart, and he was not the only one who was unlucky.

"King Zhao, I think it's not the worst thing if Li Jing attacks Chengde. If he takes down Mo Ying and then attacks Chengde, then Li Jing must leave his troops to defend Mo Ying when he comes. Each prefecture and county will reduce troops. Secondly, when Li Jing attacks Chengde, it will just give us time for our troops to deal with it. I am afraid that Li Jing will not fight Chengde, but directly attack Cangzhou."

Liu Rengong's analysis was very methodical. At this time, Li Jing was playing Chengde, not to mention that Chengde still had tens of thousands of soldiers and horses. He was temporarily recruited to defend the city, and it was impossible for Li Jing to swallow it all at once.In this way, Li Jing had to divide his troops instead, and finally fell into a quagmire.And in this way, the four towns would have time to react, and they could send troops over to fight Li Jing.

But who is Li Jing, since this time he took it by surprise, instead of fighting Cangzhou, he went to fight Guiyi.How could someone as smart as Li Jing beat Chengde?Anyway, if he is Li Jing, in the current situation, after sweeping the empty Moying two states, he will be part of the army to guard the third pass of Mozhou to prevent the troops of the second Yanyi king of Youzhou from going south.At the same time, he directly led the main force to rush to Cangzhou and surrounded the lone army in Cangzhou. If the Chengde army in Cangzhou could be defeated again, no matter how strong the soldiers and horses of the four towns are combined, the result would only be the result of being defeated individually.

Even if Cangzhou can't be destroyed, the soldiers and horses of the four towns can be cut off from the north to the south. At least, the two states of Moying don't even want to take it back.

These words sounded like five thunderbolts in Wang Jingchong's ears, expressing the most worrying possibility in his heart.

At this point, he was really stuck.

Cangzhou is not easy to guard, it is already February.According to the situation in previous years, in another half a month, navigation on the Liaohai Sea will resume.Cangzhou is close to the sea, and Li Jing will have more than 8 troops.At that time, there will be a steady stream of soldiers and horses landing directly in Cangzhou from the sea. The 18 soldiers are not all of Li Jing's. According to information, Li Jing has [-] soldiers, [-] united soldiers, and [-] township soldiers. .If we really have to wait until that time, Cangzhou will definitely not be able to hold on.

Wu Jingchong was caught in a dilemma. He withdrew at this time, fearing that Li Jing's [-] cavalry would catch up and be unable to resist.He stayed and stood firm, but was worried that the reinforcements would not arrive. On the contrary, Li Jing's reinforcements would arrive first as soon as the Liaohai Sea was open to navigation.

At this moment, a guard walked up to Wang Jingchong and reported, "Your Majesty, another group of troops has arrived outside the city. The leader claims to be Li Kuangwei, the eldest son of King Yi and governor of Yingzhou."

"Li Kuangwei?" Wang Jingchong couldn't help being taken aback, of course he knew Li Kuangwei.I just heard from Liu Rengong's report that Li Kuangwei abandoned his allies and fled during the battle of Guiyi, which was an important reason for Guiyi's defeat.And he was fleeing to the west at that time, but he didn't expect to appear here.

"How did he appear here?" One side ordered: "Please."

Soon, Li Kuangwei had already arrived. He was wearing silver armor and a brocade robe, but he didn't look like he was defeated.When he came in and saw Wang Jingchong and others, he hurriedly took a step forward, bowed his body and cupped his fists and said, "Nephew Kuangwei has seen Uncle Zhao Wang!"

The four towns are called kings and brothers. Although Li Kuangwei is not much younger than Wang Jingchong, his father Li Quanzhong is King Yi, and he and Wang Jingchong are brothers, so he calls himself a nephew.

"Why did the general appear here?" Liu Rengong asked suspiciously.

It was only then that Li Kuangwei discovered that Liu Rengong was also here, he was stunned for a moment, but he didn't feel guilty about running away first, and said bluntly: "A certain person came here this time to ask for reinforcements."

"Reinforcement please?" Wang Jingchong asked.

Li Kuangwei nodded and said, "That's right. After Guiyi's defeat, a certain person returned to Yingzhou to stand firm. Although Bandit Li is cunning and powerful, but with the help of my soldiers in the Yiwu Army, the six counties in Yingzhou now, except for Gaoyang and Pingshu The second county fell into the hands of Li Thief, and the remaining four counties of Boye, Hejian, Shucheng, and Leshou were still in the hands of our army. However, although our army was brave, there were no more than ten thousand soldiers in the four counties of Yingzhou at this time. Therefore, A certain relative came to Cangzhou to ask Uncle Zhao Wang to send troops to rescue him."

"What? Yingzhou hasn't fallen yet?" Now it was the turn of Liu Rengong and Wang Jingchong to exclaim.

"After the Li thief captured Guiyi, he swept across Mozhou, even Kewaqiao Pass and other three passes, and then within two days he had captured Qingyuan, Tangxin, Moxian, Wen'an, Renqiu, Changfeng and our Yingzhou Gaoyang, Changshu and others have a total of one prefecture, nine counties and three gates."

If it was Lucheng and Jingcheng, in less than ten days, Li Jing had already won three passes in eleven counties in a row. The speed of this attack was already astonishing.

"Uncle Zhao Wang, Li Jing is currently dividing up his troops to plunder the counties and collect food and grass. Please also ask Uncle Zhao Wang to send troops to support Hejian immediately. If Hejian is not lost, the virtues will be preserved. If Hejian is lost, not only Cangzhou will be besieged, but I am afraid that the four towns of Chengde will also suffer disaster."

The two prefectures of Moying are parallel to the north and the south, and to the west of the two prefectures of Moying is Dingzhou in Chengde Town, and to the south are the two prefectures of Yi and Shen.

The two prefectures of Moying and Moying are both flat plains, while the territory of Dingzhou is in the Taihang Mountains, with very few plains.Therefore, if you defend Yingzhou, it is equivalent to blocking Li Jing's southward steps.This is why, in the history of Hebei's wars, Hejian has such an important position in the center of Hebei.

The arrival of Li Kuangwei made Wang Jingchong's brows slightly relaxed.Yingzhou has not yet fallen, this news is very important to him.

"King Zhao, this Cangzhou is not a place to stay for a long time." Half a day later, Le Xingda, the governor of Weibo Bozhou who had arrived with [-] soldiers and horses, saw Wang Jingchong and immediately said after hearing the latest news.

"Oh?" Wang Jingchong also knew that Le Xingda was a general of Wei Bo, and his family had been the Wei Bo Military Academy for generations.This time, he was the military envoy of Wei Bo's [-] troops. "Why did General Le say that?"

"Yingzhou Hejian is an important town in the center of Hebei. If Hejian is lost, defending Cangzhou is just a helpless move. But since Hejian is not lost, then at this time, it is not appropriate to defend Cangzhou, but Hejian."

Liu Rengong couldn't believe it when he heard the news that Yingzhou had not disappeared.

At this time, he came back to his senses and said to Wang Jingchong: "King Zhao, if Hejian is lost, then Li Jing will go south and attack the empty Chengde states, and Dong can lead his troops to surround Cangzhou. No matter which one is, it will be extremely harmful to us." It is not good. Since Hejian is not lost right now, then we should return to Hejian immediately, otherwise, if Li Jing abandons Chengde and surrounds Cangzhou, and in a few days, Li Jing's reinforcements will continue to come from the sea, then we will die."

"As long as Hejian is guarded, the four prefectures of Chengde and Germany will be fine. As long as we stick to it for a while, when Yanyi Wei's three-way soldiers and horses encircle us, we will still have a great advantage over Li Jing. Even if we can't encircle and wipe out Li Jing, At least it can make Li Jing withdraw from Hebei."

Wang Jingchong frowned, what Li Kuangwei, Liu Rengong and Le Xingda said made sense.The location of Hejian is much more important than that of Cangzhou. At this time, Wang Jingchong no longer thought about encircling and annihilating Li Jing from the four towns.What he was thinking about was how to keep his troops and territory. If He Jian could hold them, he would be able to stop Li Jing from going south.

Similarly, Hejian is an important town, with a higher wall than Cangzhou City, and it is close to the Chengde prefectures. You don’t have to worry about logistics, food and salaries for a while, and what’s more important is that if you guard Hejian, you don’t have to worry about Li Jing’s soldiers who came from the sea. horse.

The other one, the 3 Wei Bojun brought by Le Xingda just now, also made him feel relieved.Adding these [-] people, he has [-] soldiers and [-] young and strong auxiliary soldiers.Although there are [-] Liao riders from Jingcheng in Cangzhou and Hejian, he is not far away.

It's just that, Cangzhou is irresistible and can only give up.

But after pondering for a moment, Wang Jingchong finally decided that he could call back after losing Cangzhou.If there was a mistake in Hejian, Li Jing would have gone directly to Chengde's hometown.

"Immediately pass down the order to move troops to Yingzhou Hejian immediately!" (To be continued.)