Chapter 1205 Battle in Liangzhou

An era has changed.

Renduoyading clearly remembered that two years ago, when he commanded the Battle of Lingzhou, there were elite Jingyuan and Xihe soldiers under the city. Their vanguard soldiers were all wearing armor and helmets, but they were short of food and weapons.

Facing the solid city wall of Lingzhou City, these Song troops were forced to climb up the wall and swarmed with ants. They were killed and wounded in a mess. In the end, they retreated after running out of food for twenty days and were chased by Dangxiang's cavalry.

When Renduoyading went down to the city, he inspected the corpses of the Song army. The soldiers who died in the battle were all starved to the point of losing their shape. The horses and animals carrying the carts that were killed along the way were also as skinny as firewood.

Ren Duoyading lamented that the Song Dynasty's defeat was not due to war, but was due to the impatience of the generals.

Afterwards, Li Bingchong, the leader of Dangxiang State, met with Renduoyading and said that he had defended Lingzhou City in times of crisis and praised him as a world-famous general of Dangxiang.

Renduoyading was very humble and righteous. This was the result of strengthening the walls and clearing the country, not the skill of his ministers in fighting.

Indeed, when the Song army went on a crusade, Dangxiang failed in field battles one after another. It was a little-known veteran who suggested to the ruler of the country and the Empress Dowager Liang that they adopt the method of clearing the country, gathering powerful troops in Xingling, and luring the Song army to penetrate deeper.

This was the big break.

Of course, Renduoyading has no credit at all? Yes, there is. When the Song army first arrived at Lingzhou City, the people in the city were panicked, and the generals wanted to abandon the city and leave.

It was Ren Duoyading who stabilized the morale of the army and calmly commanded to repel the first round of the Song army's attack. But this was something that many generals could do.

When the Song Army entered the border before, he fought with Zhang Zhi, a Jinglue on Xihe Road, and was hit by an arrow in the shoulder. Compared with Zhang Zhi, he was no famous general. In the end, Mingsha City could not be attacked for a long time, and again

It was Renduoyading who was ordered to take charge of the siege in the face of danger and wiped out nearly 10,000 Song troops in one fell swoop.

If there were still a few people in Dabaigao who were dissatisfied with Ren Duoyading before, now they are all convinced.

Therefore, Ren Duoyading was also sure that once the Liangzhou city was destroyed, the Song army would not spare him.

Worried that the Song army would continue to test fire with artillery, Ren Duoyading and his generals ate on the tower. The meal was just a bowl of brown rice with some green onions and leeks.

However, there was not much difference between the rich and the poor at this time in Dangxiang. It seems that Renduoyading's army only ate brown rice, and the soldiers also used it. There was nothing wrong with it. However, Renduoyading and the others used porcelain bowls for their tableware.

, the soldiers used wooden bowls, these were the only luxurious ones.

Ren Duoyading still adheres to the tradition of the Qing Tang people, braiding his hair and wearing a left fold. Sometimes he can't stand it when his son Ren Duo Baozhong imitates the Han people's wearing of turban and right fold.

He believed that Sinicization would lose the brave and martial spirit of the Dangxiang people.

But he also understood that the implementation of the Han system would help the monarch to centralize power. For example, the Liang family's original tribal system, although there was concern about dispersion, still maintained the brave and fighting custom of the party members. Although Ren Duoyading had opinions, he was like him

In this way, Dangxiang generals who came from the Qing and Tang Dynasties and Han surrender ministers like Li Qing all belonged to the category of "poor families" and could only gain power by relying on the king.

So he didn't object in the end.

Later, he realized that there was nothing he could do about promoting the Han system. For example, Han rice was indeed more delicious than cheese.

But now Renduoyading realizes that he may not even be able to afford brown rice.

Because he foresaw that Liangzhou would be attacked by the Song army, Ren Duoyading had prepared for this battle in advance and dug deep storehouses in Liangzhou City to reserve military rations to prevent the Song army from being trapped in the city.

But they did not expect that when Wen Xixin and Wang Fan's troops arrived on the southern route of the Song Army. Due to the Song Army's previous misdeeds, the tribes near Liangzhou were worried about being massacred by the Song Army and poured into Liangzhou City from all directions.

Even the Song army did this deliberately, specifically driving the old, weak, women and children from all directions into Liangzhou City, while detaining the young and strong, forcing all nearby tribesmen to flee into Liangzhou City.

These tribesmen were all panic-stricken. After entering the city, they had no food and clothing, and poor discipline. Ren Duoyading had to send troops to suppress it. These hundreds of thousands of newly added old, weak, women and children consumed the food reserves in the city, but during the battle to defend the city,

It has very limited uses.

At present, there is not enough food in Liangzhou, and such methods make Ren Duoyading faintly frightened.

When did the Song army achieve their goals, they resorted to such unscrupulous means.

…

After the Song armies on the West Road and the Middle Road joined forces at Liangzhou City.

The generals gathered.

Li Hao and Wang Wenyu, two of the most famous generals in Xihe Road, are not here, but they have other important uses.

Wang Wenyu sits on the front line of Zhuolu City and Gaizhu City, supporting Liangzhou or the East Route Army at any time.

Li Hao was originally based in Lanzhou to support the two groups.

However, after more than 200,000 troops joined forces, the supply of food and grass was no longer available. Fan Yu ordered Li Hao to lead 10,000 people and 30,000 civilians who had just returned to escort the food and grass to Liangzhou City.

The meeting of the two armies was a gratifying event, but the atmosphere inside the tent was a bit solemn.

The generals in the tent were divided into two groups: the east and west armies, the Fan and Han factions, and the civil servants and military generals.

In fact, the factions in the army are more complicated than among the civilian officials, and mountain-top doctrine is prevalent. There is a language barrier between the Ban generals and the Han generals, and there is a gap in the conflict of interests.

Therefore, after the joy of joining forces at the beginning, it immediately entered the stage of undercurrents.

It was Zhao Ji who got up to discuss the matter.

Zhao Ji came from a family of officials. His grandfather Zhao He and his father Zhao Zongdao were both famous officials. Zhao Zongdao and Han Qi were also the sons-in-law of Cui Li.

Zhao Ji was the third generation of the Yamen, but he was a general of the New Party. When he was on inspection, he found that Fu Bi's implementation of the Green Crops Law was unfavorable. At that time, he was impeached by Shangshu, which led to his final official resignation. Zhao Ji is currently in charge of the transportation of Qinfeng Road, and is responsible for the grain and grass of Wang Fan's West Route Army.

The matter of transfer.

Officials of the New Party generally have outstanding abilities, and Zhao Ji is no exception.

This time when the West Route Army marched north, he made perfect calculations in arranging food and fodder, which not only maximized savings on civilian service, but also ensured the supply of the army.

Now the two armies are gathering for discussion.

Zhao Jidao: "Now that the army has gathered together, we should release the accompanying soldiers and civilians as soon as possible, otherwise we will consume food and grass here, and we will run out of food and grass in less than ten days."

That's right, the civilian workers who transport grain and grass also need to eat grain themselves.

Zhao Ji continued: "Shen Cunzhong, the strategic envoy of the Jingyuan Road, once calculated an account and concluded that the most urgent task was to conquer the enemy because of the enemy's supply of food."

"He calculated an account. For example, a civilian servant carries six dou of rice, a soldier carries five days of dry food, and a civilian servant pays one soldier, and he can leave for eighteen days."

"With six measures of rice, one person can eat two liters per day. If two people eat it, it will be used up in eighteen days. If you include the return journey, you can only go in nine days."

"If two civil servants pay one soldier, they can go away for twenty-six days. For example, two measures of rice, one stone, and three people can eat six liters per day. After eight days, the burden of one civil servant has been exhausted, and he will be sent back with six days of food.

.For the next eighteen days, two people will eat four liters of food per day and food. If the return journey is included, they can only go on for thirteen days. In the first eight days, the daily eclipse will be six liters. On the next five days and the return journey, the daily food will be four liters and food."

"Three people pay one soldier, and they can leave in thirty-one days, and they can enter in sixteen days."

"Based on this, it is estimated that one hundred thousand troops and three thirds of the baggage will be stationed at 70,000 soldiers, and 300,000 people have been used to transport food. It is difficult to add more. If they are returned to civilian service, reinforcements will be needed. Then.

Counting deaths and diseases, the number of people will be slightly reduced, and the reduced food will be used to support the soldiers."

Zhao Jizhiyan yawned a little at the generals present and felt very bored.

But Cai Bian knew that this was a true insight. For many people, the last two-pronged attack on the party was a defeat. For example, the old party believed that the war should not be launched, while the new party summed up experience and believed that it had clearly won the frontal battlefield.

It was only due to lack of logistics that we lost in the end. This was not a crime of war.

Shen Kuo has also been reviewing and summarizing his experience in more depth.

Why is the logistics insufficient? The army's supply line should be within a few days.

Shen Kuo calculated that if the limit of three people carrying food to support one soldier was calculated, the supply line would need to be within sixteen days.

Based on the calculation that the army marched thirty miles a day, four hundred and fifty miles was the limit of the Song army's attack.

If we include the five days to attack the city, we can only reach 300 miles at most.

Shen Kuo finally concluded that a hundred thousand troops would go on an expedition, of which 30,000 would be baggage troops. There would be only 60,000 to 70,000 actual combat troops, so 300,000 civilians would be needed to ensure logistics. Under normal circumstances, the imperial court would not be able to afford it.

The final solution to this problem is to defeat the enemy with food.

Of course, Cai Bian also saw Shen Kuo's suggestion from Zhang Yue. However, Shen Kuo's solution of "defending the enemy with food" was changed by Zhang Yue into "shallow attack and advance fortress".

Since it is a shallow attack to build a city, it seems to be a waste of manpower and material resources.

At the same time, Zhang Yue greatly appreciated Shen Kuo's spirit of inquiring, and praised him as a method of "seeking truth from facts" and "exercising excellence".

Zhao Jidao: "It's five hundred miles from Lanzhou to Liangzhou. This time Lanzhou dispatched 150,000 troops and 300,000 civilians. Because they adopted the water transportation method of the Yellow River and Zhuanglang River, they greatly saved the power of civilians."

"At the same time, a large number of mules and horses were recruited from the people. Camels can carry three stones, horses and mules can carry one stone and five buckets, and donkeys can carry one stone. Therefore, it is not only more than enough for two civilians to serve as one soldier, but eight oxen crossbows and artillery carts are also transported."

"However, the civilian servicemen are stranded here, which consumes countless military supplies. The subordinate officials have already sent the Huangzhou civilian servicemen back, but they have not seen the Lanzhou, Xizhou, and Hezhou civil servicemen sent back."

Shen Kuo's method was that three people went on the road, and after eating the food and grass carried by one person, he immediately sent that person back. However, it was very dangerous for civilians to return to the living world, and reinforcements must be used to protect them.

Lanzhou lacked these considerations. Zhao Ji saw that in addition to the army, a large number of civilian services were hoarded under Lanzhou City, which would undoubtedly increase the burden of food and grass, so he made suggestions.

This was indeed a mistake of the Central Route Army. Cai Bian explained that this was to build artillery positions in the north of the city and to build fortifications at the same time. After the completion, the civilian service would be released.

But Zhao Ji was not done yet, and continued: "I impeached the king of Xihe Road, and sent his troops to kill innocent people indiscriminately under Liangzhou City and massacre the people!"

After Zhao Ji finished speaking, Wang Fan sneered, and the generals on his left and right also looked at Zhao Ji angrily.

Wang Hou, the leader, also had a headache. So many nonsense things happened before he even attacked the city.

Cai Bian knew very well that Zhao Ji, as a New Party official, had always been favored by Li Xian before, but as Wang Anshi's son-in-law, he was not necessarily so convinced by Zhang Yue. It should be noted that the other party dared to impeach even Fu Bi. people.

…

When a scene of party struggle was staged in the Liangzhou camp.

Here, the reinforcements from Xingling Prefecture that Renduoyading had been waiting for have been delayed in arriving.

Li Bingchang, the leader of the party, certainly knew the importance of Liangzhou.
To be continued...