Chapter 678: The Demolition of the Southern Tang (Part 1)

Among the various conditions in which the Southern Tang resisted the large-scale attack of the Northern Tang army, the advantage in terrain gradually became the only support of the Southern Tang. In order to resist the attack of the Northern Tang army, the Southern Tang did not hesitate to invest 80,000 troops to defend among the various dangerous passes in the northern part of Bashu. Among them, 50,000 heavy troops were gathered in Yinping, Jianmen and Pu'an counties in Jianzhou, and Jianmen Shu Road in the northern part of Jianzhou became the top priority of defense.

According to legend, during the Warring States Period, King Hui of Qin wanted to swallow Shu, but he had no way to enter Shu. He lied that he gave him a gold bull and five beauties to the King of Shu. The King of Shu believed it and sent the five powerful men around him to split the mountain and open the way. He entered Qin to welcome the beautiful women and transport the Taurus. He opened this Shu road, called the "Talent Bull Road", also known as the Jianmen Shu road.

Among the thirty-mile-long Jianmen Shu Road, Jianmen Pass is a natural danger in Shu Road. Jiange is magnificent and towering. One man is the pass, and ten thousand men cannot open it. It is located in the mountains and ridges of Dajian Mountain, breaking the necessary path to get off from Hanzhong to Bashu.

During the Three Kingdoms period, the general of Wei State Zhong Hui attacked Shu, and the general Jiang Wei of Shu led an army of 30,000 to Jianmen County to guard Jianmen Pass, and blocked Zhong Hui's army of 100,000 outside Jianmen Pass.

The cycle of history. To this day, the general of Northern Tang, Li Guangbi, led an army of 100,000 to take the Jinniu Road and launched a large-scale attack on Shuzhong, but the army was blocked outside Jianmen Pass. The general of Southern Tang, Chen Xuanli, led an army of 50,000 to station in the three counties of Jianbei, and himself led 30,000 elite troops to be stationed in Jianmen County, relying on the natural danger of Jianmen Shu Road to confront the Northern Tang army.

The two armies have been confronting each other inside and outside Jianmen Pass for seven days. The two armies have fought intermittently for more than a dozen times, both of which are very small in scale, with each death and injury.

It seemed that the Northern Tang army could not find any effective offensive method, and the two sides were indefinitely stalemate.

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Although Jianmen Pass was in a stalemate, a change occurred in Langzhong County, about a hundred miles southwest of Jianmen County.

In order to fight against the Northern Tang army, Li Longji and Li Heng and his son implemented a military strategy. Bashu actually recruited 400,000 troops. Seven or eight out of ten were invested in the army. These 400,000 troops were stationed in two places, 200,000 in Jingxiang and 200,000 in Shu. After the entire army of Jingxiang was wiped out, there were only 200,000 troops left in the Southern Tang army. After the 200,000 troops were removed from Nanzhao, there were actually only 180,000 troops, of which 100,000 troops were stationed in Chengdu. Among the other 80,000 troops, only the three counties of Jianbei mobilized 50,000 troops, and the remaining 30,000 troops were stationed in dangerous passes everywhere. Basically, there were no troops in each hinterland prefecture and county.

Langzhong County is the capital of Langzhou Prefecture. It is located at the confluence of the Jialing River and the East River. It has a mild climate and fertile land. It was once the capital of Ba State. In the fertile Basin, a thousand miles of Bashu Basin, Langzhong County is an extremely important county with a very high economic status. It has always been a major county with a tax tax on Basin.

Despite its high economic status, its military status is average, without military garrison, and there are only more than one hundred militiamen guarding the city gates.

At night, the dark night enveloped Langzhong County. It was already three o'clock in the morning. The whole city gate had already been closed. More than 20 militia soldiers in the East City were sleeping soundly. A veteran woke up from his sleep and muttered to the night. He urinated at the foot of the wall. The night wind blew him to wake up a little. He was about to go back to his room, but a strange phenomenon attracted him. He suddenly saw a long black dragon winding from a distance, at a very fast speed. The ground began to tremble slightly, getting closer and closer. Gradually, he saw clearly.

"The son of the turtle seems to be a cavalry!"

The veteran jumped up in fear and ran to the bell tower. The city bell rang, and the dull and harsh bells woke up the entire county town. The militia soldiers ran to the top of the city, and the situation outside the city scared each of them to the pale face.

The cavalry team outside the city had already lit torches, and the flames spread to the distance, with a total of 20,000 people, and they were all cavalry.

This cavalry of 20,000 people was the Northern Tang cavalry coming from Lizhi Road, led by the general Tian Ganzhen. They were the Anxi army stationed in Tocharo. After following Li Guangbi to conquer Longyou, they formed a new Longyou army. This time, Li Guangbi led 50,000 Longyou elite troops to march into Hanzhong, and they were also among them.

According to Li Guangbi's earliest combat plan, Li Guangbi led the main force to attack Jianmen Pass, and deputy general Tian Ganzhen led 10,000 cavalry to attack Chengdu.

However, with the early completion of Yiling's battle with Jingxiang, Li Guangbi changed his combat plan, and general Li Sheng led 50,000 troops to Yiling and entered Shuzhong and attacked Chengdu, while Tian Ganzhen led 20,000 cavalry on the litchi path, using the high-speed maneuver of the cavalry, inserted behind Jianzhou and attacked Jianmen from behind.

Tian Ganzhen marched quickly along the way, quickly crossing the litchi path, where there were few troops stationed, and used a surprise attack tactic to pull out three outposts in the litchi path in a row.

In Xuanhan County, there were also 10,000 troops stationed in the Southern Tang Dynasty. Tian Ganzhen did not alert the snake, but used the rapid maneuver of the cavalry to detour through Dongxiang and Yongmu counties to enter Bazhou. After two days of march, he arrived in Langzhong County.

The prefect of Langzhou was Zeng, a Jinshi in the third year of Tianbao. He was originally the county magistrate of Langzhong County. He had been promoted to prefect for two years. He felt a little sick for a few days and was sleeping in a drowsy sleep. The wife who was sleeping bells were suddenly awakened by the sound of bells coming from the city.

"Master!Master!"

The prefect's wife woke her husband up, and the prefect Zeng asked in a daze: "What's the matter!"

"It seems that something happened in the east city. I heard the bell ringing. You go and take a look!"

"What's going to happen so late? I have a headache, let's talk about it tomorrow!"

Prefect Zeng turned over and was about to continue sleeping, when a fierce knock on the door came from outside.

"Encourt! Euncourt!" Some yamen runners shouted in panic.

"What happened?" Zeng Taishou asked unhappily.

"Empress, there are tens of thousands of cavalrymen outside the East City, and we want us to open the door."

"Hey! I've been so troubled, why are the army coming again?"

The transit of the army means exhausting people and money, and it means that vicious cases are everywhere, making him feel like a fight. Prefect Zeng did not react. He sat up, put on a piece of clothing, opened the door and asked, "Where did the army come from?"

"The envoy is a cavalry!"

Prefect Zeng woke up suddenly. Where were there any cavalry in the Southern Tang Dynasty? He was so scared that he was out of his mind. The Northern Tang army was coming. His first reaction was that he wanted to get into the bed, but his wife was pulled over.

"Master, don't be stupid, go and have a look!"

His wife is from Qingzhou. It is not scary to know that the Anxi Army is strict in military discipline. It will be scary if the Southern Tang Army comes.

Under the persuasion of his wife, Prefect Zeng felt a little relieved, put on his official uniform and rushed to Dongchengtou.

Outside the East City, Tian Ganzhen has been waiting for a long time. They all bring their own dry food and generally do not enter the city and try not to disturb the people. However, crossing the Jialing River requires cooperation from the government, and Tian Ganzhen needs to discuss with the officials.

At this time, a large number of officials and yamen runners came up from the city, and the officials from the prefecture and county yamen came. The endless fire outside the city was like the ocean, which scared all the officials to fear.

"The lower official... is Zeng Yansi, the prefect of Langzhou. May I ask... which general is under the city?"

"After this is the governor of Lanzhou, General Tian Ganzhen of Yunhui, who was ordered by the court and King Zhao to destroy the pseudo emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty. He passed by Langzhou. Please open the city gate as soon as possible. I have something to discuss with you."

"Will the army enter the city?"

"The army does not enter the city, nor do you want you to provide food, but you want you to provide ferries, and we will requisition all ferries."

The officials quickly discussed that there was no problem with providing ferries. The key was that they were afraid that the army would enter the city. In the end, the prefect Zeng made an idea. They could not defend the city at all. It would be better to open the city. In addition, although the other party said they didn’t want food, they still had to prepare dry food and cooked meat to reward the army as much as possible. In short, don’t offend the other party.

They took action separately. The county government went to prepare dry food and cooked meat. The state government went to mobilize the ferry. The city gate slowly opened. The prefect Zeng led nearly a hundred elders in the city to greet him. They knelt in front of Tian Ganzhen's war horse. The prefect Zeng raised the prefect's seal high, "Langzhou is willing to surrender to the Northern Tang Dynasty and be loyal to the court and King Zhao!"

Tian Ganzhen felt the fear of the officials and the people. He turned over and dismounted and stepped forward to help Taishou Zeng, "Prince should not do this. Everyone is Tang minister. We are not An Lushan bandits."

He whispered to more than a hundred elders: "My fellow soldiers, the Anxi army has strict military discipline and no offense. We will not enter the city, nor will we blackmail the people. We are rushing to Jianzhou. As the saying goes, the defeated army is like a locust. Once the Southern Tang army is defeated, the defeated soldiers will inevitably burn, kill and loot, and cause disasters to the living. We want to block the defeated soldiers' way to escape south and prevent the disasters from the south of Jianzhou. This is the military order of His Highness Zhao. Those who kill people will die, injured people and steal theft will be punished. Please rest assured, the elders and fellow villagers!

The elders were excited, and somebody shouted, "Long live King Zhao!"

More than a hundred old men followed and shouted, "Long live the King of Zhao, Long live the Northern Tang army..."

Zeng Taishou was extremely moved. He said sincerely to Tian Gan: "The Southern Tang court was full of military force and heavy taxes. All prefectures and counties were deeply affected by it. I would like to issue a document to Shuzhong Prefecture and County, and call on Shuzhong Prefecture and County to return to the Northern Tang Dynasty and resist the fake emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty."

Tian Ganzhen was overjoyed and bowed to him, "If you do this, you should remember your great achievements!"

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As the sky gradually became brighter, officials from Langzhong mobilized nearly a thousand ships of all sizes from nearby. Langzhong was originally the most important ferry in the middle reaches of the Jialing River. The water flows in this area are smooth and the waves are as bright as mirrors, which is very suitable for crossing the river.

In the morning light, 20,000 cavalry began to cross the river. At this time, Tian Ganzhen's words had already spread throughout the city through the mouths of more than a hundred old men. Without the deliberate preparations of the county government, tens of thousands of elders in the city spontaneously left the city, flocked to the dock, fed to the pot of slurry, and rewarded the Northern Tang cavalry. The scene was extremely lively. Tian Ganzhen led hundreds of officers to kneel down to thank the villagers, and left more than 100 wounded soldiers to recover from the city.

Until afternoon, 20,000 cavalry finally crossed the Jialing River. The army was excited and rushed towards the three counties of Jianbei a hundred miles away.
Chapter completed!