Tang Dynasty Bandits

Chapter 248 Opening Ceremony and Final Battle

An excessively large troop force is not conducive to rapid relocation. The enormous consumption of supplies will also bring locust-like destruction to the enemy.

Historically, refugee armies often faced food shortages, and "when hungry, they would plunder; when full, they would abandon their surplus. Countless of them disintegrated and fled, collapsing on their own without any resistance."

Taking these factors into account, Huang Chao always controlled the size of his army. After entering Lingnan and selecting the best soldiers from the local militia, Huang Chao's army had only about 30,000 soldiers, with the remaining 20,000 being auxiliary soldiers, servants, and family members.

The official battle reports often mentioned that there were hundreds of thousands of bandits. On the one hand, this was an exaggeration of the size of the bandit army. On the other hand, Huang Chao would sometimes unite local armed forces to fight together, and they would disperse after the battle.

To minimize disruption to the people, one must prioritize economic considerations. The streamlined administration and troop reduction policies, coupled with the use of trade networks to supplement supplies, enabled Huang Chao's army to maintain discipline far superior to most government troops.

However, they were first struck by a plague, and then fiercely attacked by the Nanzhao army. Due to insufficient troops, the grass army was in dire straits.

The defeat at the hands of the Nanzhao army resulted in the deaths of over two thousand men, and with the addition of the wounded and unable to fight, the total number reached three thousand.

The plague directly caused more than three thousand deaths and left nearly ten thousand people still weak. Although not all those infected were soldiers, the number of soldiers lost was still more than seven thousand.

After removing the garrison troops stationed in Guilin and other places, Huang Chao's besieging camp only had 17,000 soldiers left who were still capable of fighting. A large part of them were also weakened due to the aftereffects of the plague.

The situation regarding government-backed reinforcements is as follows.

Duan Baolong, the Qingping official of Nanzhao, led the Luo Juzi of the Nanzhao central government, the royal cavalry, war elephants, and some tribal chiefs and guards, gathering more than 8,000 elite troops, to the east to aid Guangzhou.

Xin Dang, the military governor of Lingnan West Circuit, arrived with more than 5,000 remnants of the West Circuit and 2,000 Taining soldiers. He then lured them with generous rewards and gathered as many as 10,000 barbarian tribesmen.

As a result, the number of soldiers sent to rescue Guangzhou exceeded 27,000.

Admittedly, the barbarian tribesmen were unreliable in field battles.

Duan Baolong and Xin Dang did not intend to engage Huang Chao in open battle right away.

They dug deep trenches and built high walls, blocking key points around the roads. The barbarians skilled in raiding were released to attack supply wagons attempting to secretly resupply the besieged army's camp.

The plague had ravaged the army, reducing its fighting strength. Facing the government army's camp protected by war elephants, it was almost impossible for them to take it down.

Among the government troops, there are even more outstanding individuals.

Due to the custom of drawing troops from the north to garrison the western route of Lingnan, two thousand men were drawn from the Taining Army this year, led by Deng Jiyun and Xiao Ling, two of the "Six Stars of the Southern Dipper" under Qi Kerang.

Both men had been taught civil engineering techniques by Qi Kerang, enabling them to build impregnable camps, making them even more foolproof against the grass army, which was ravaged by the plague.

What if they broke camp and withdrew through the gaps in the government troops' camp?

Huang Chao's army had surrounded most of the city, and their retreat was bound to be chaotic. If, while the rebel army was breaking camp, the three government armies had launched a joint attack, with the city's defenders also in pursuit, what would have been the outcome of being attacked from all sides?

Not to mention, Li Yi's navy might also take the opportunity to land and fight Taipingquan.

If the stalemate continues, the poor army, which is not receiving supplies, will soon run out of food, and morale will inevitably waver.

In the open space between their own camp and the government troops' camp, the soldiers caught some wild rabbits in the weeds, dug up some loaches in the muddy fields, and gathered some wild vegetables such as ferns, purslane, shepherd's purse, mugwort, and purslane. They laughed and said, "Finally, we can eat some new and interesting things."

Zhu Wen knew, of course, that his brothers were only putting on a brave face. This small gain was a drop in the ocean compared to the depletion of their grain reserves.

"All troops, march out of the camp! Fight to the death!"

Huang Chao finally made a decision.

"Commander Huang, if our army leaves the besieged camp to fight, Li Tiao will surely send out elite troops to break out from the city gates and attack our rear," Xu Tangju advised.

"Moreover, the enemy has come from afar, and now that they are well-fed, rested, and their fighting strength is even greater, they have arrived..."

"Then what other methods do you have?" Huang Chao questioned.

Xu Tangju lowered his head sheepishly, speechless. "When we were first surrounded by the enemy, our army could certainly launch a fierce attack on the enemy camp that had not yet established a firm foothold. But many of our troops are weak, and we have just suffered a defeat at the hands of the Nanzhao army. Are you confident that you can break through the camp built by the master craftsmen of the Xue Shuai army?" Huang Chao's imposing gaze swept over the generals.

Only then did everyone realize Huang Chao's intentions.

With their own supplies running low, the enemy will also see this as the best time for a decisive battle. Compared to pursuing and killing fleeing enemy troops, a frontal annihilation battle can eliminate more enemy forces.

Li Tiao was bound to send troops out of Guangzhou to attack the rear of the rebel army, which gave Xin Dang and Duan Baolong the confidence to wage war.

But in such a situation of being attacked from both sides, with the enemy outnumbering us and our opponents being no ordinary generals, is it really possible to win?

Huang Chao then issued a second order.

"To avoid a surprise attack by the Guangzhou Navy, our fleet sailed out of the dock and onto the open river to fight that brat Li Yi!"

When these words were spoken, all the generals were shocked.

Although the newly trained navy had a considerable number of troops, totaling 20,000 men, its weaponry, training, and number of large ships were far inferior to the Guangzhou navy of Li Tiao and his son.

How can we allow the rebel navy to break away from the dockyard and engage Li Yi's navy across the sea?

Compared to later periods, the estuary of the Yuejiang River had not yet accumulated a huge amount of silt. Guangzhou was located right next to the mouth of the Yuejiang River, with the vast ocean outside.

Compared to the vast and boundless sea, even large lakes like Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake are but tiny specks.

If the newly established Caojun Navy were to fight Li Yi to the death, it would not only have to face the gap in the quality of its troops, but the two sides would also be completely outmatched in terms of naval combat experience.

Zhu Wen walked up and said lazily, "Master, leave this task to your disciple."

He had never commanded a naval battle.

Huang Chao laughed loudly: "Liang Yu is indeed courageous! Tomorrow there will surely be a favorable wind, and you will surely sail smoothly and win, utterly annihilating Li Yi!"

Seeing this, none of the generals dared to speak further.

The conversation between Huang Chao and Zhu Wen was clearly pre-arranged, with Huang Chao speaking in a calm and composed tone, displaying an air of absolute confidence.

But what exactly are their plans, and where does their confidence come from?

The generals were unaware of this, but they could only trust Huang Chao and Zhu Wen one more time.

The next day, as the first rays of dawn appeared on the horizon, the sound of drums and gongs resounded throughout the grass army camp.

The soldiers of the Grass Army marched out of the camp gate in an orderly fashion, forming three square formations on the ground: left, center, and right. They also set up a rear formation to guard against attacks from within the city.

The number of soldiers who left the camp was not 17,000, because 3,000 to 4,000 more needed to stay behind to protect the wounded, sick, elderly, weak, and their families in the camp and prevent them from being attacked by the enemy.

The number of enemy soldiers facing the Cao army was twice that of their own, not even counting Li Tiao's troops inside the city.

The foreign merchants in the city deeply resented the peasant army, so providing Li Tiao with several thousand soldiers would not have been difficult.

The more perilous the situation, the more Huang Chao remained calm and composed.

He stood proudly atop the high chariot, his gaze sweeping over the enemy troops advancing towards his own ranks.

The colors of the armor of the Nanzhao soldiers and the government troops were distinct, like fire and basalt.

Huang Chao casually remarked, "The enemy is numerous but disorganized, nothing to fear. Who can defeat them for me?"

(End of this chapter)