Chapter 88 Master Ruyang

On February 15th, the tenth year of Chongzhen, the Xingtian Army, which had been resting in Yongning and Lu's for two or three months, finally took action again. Nearly 5,000 Xingtian Army soldiers, plus 2,000 new battalions as auxiliary soldiers, suddenly crossed the Luohe River in the south of Yongning County. It took only two days to enter Song County in the south of Yongning County. After hearing the news, the government of Song County did not dare to intercept Xing Tianjun at all. It hurriedly collected the soldiers and horses and retreated into the city. It sent couriers to report to Luoyang and asked the magistrate Feng Yijun for help.

However, what the officers and soldiers in Song County did not expect was that after Xing Tianjun rushed all the way into Song County, he did not attack the county seat of Song County, but only left the troops of two companies of Liu Bao, entered the jurisdiction of Song County, and directly captured a village fortress called Maozhuang at the road from Song County to Ruyang County and Yichuan County. , stationed here.

Maozhuang seems to be an inconspicuous small village, but the terrain is very critical. This is just the main crossing of Song County connecting Yichuan County and Ruyang County. Xing Tianjun occupies this place in one fell swoop, which is equivalent to pinching the channel of Song County to the outside world and cutting off the channel of materials between Song County and the outside world, which is equivalent to giving Song County Isolated.

If the government of Song County wants to connect with the outside world, then Maozhuang is a card that blocks them from coming out of the mountain, which is equivalent to putting a knife on Song County's neck. In this way, whether Song County takes it or not depends on Xing Tianjun's next mood.

After Xiao Tianjian arrived in Song County, he immediately divided his command into two roads, assisted by Luo Li as the main Liu Bao, and assigned him a new battalion as an auxiliary army. He quickly drove along the Yihe River to the northeast, and went straight to Yichuan County to the east of Song County, along the way to the Zhuangbao of several giant gentry in Yichuan County. Sweep.

Xiao Tianjian personally led Li Shuanzhu's third battalion, Liu Yaoben's teaching camp, a new battalion and 700 barracks. With the cooperation of the engineering company, he quickly set up a pontoon bridge on the Yihe River south of Maozhuang. After crossing the river, he rushed straight to Ruyang County in the east of Song County.

After February, the weather began to warm up, and the river began to gradually thaw. There was still thick ice by the river, but the ice in the middle of the river had melted, but there was still some ice floating down the Yi River. Xiao Tianjian immediately watched a team of Xing Tianjun's soldiers stepping over the pontoon bridge. On the bridge, they strode towards the south bank of the Yi River. Under the drag of mules and horses, gun trucks also rolled over the surface of the pontoon bridge and crossed the Yi River. There were also a brigade of carts loaded with grain and materials and soldiers' tents, and also slowly passed through another pontoon bridge. The army crossed the Yi River in a day.

Xiao Tianjian's action goal this time is very clear, that is, to take Ruyang County. This time, the reason why he targeted Ruyang County is not complicated. Ruyang County is located in the west of Henan, but it is the east gate of western Henan. From Ruyang County to the east is a flat plain, and Ruyang is also an important strategic point. The city has a large amount of grain reserves, which is the largest granary around Luoyang. As long as Ruyang County is taken, Xing Tianjun will get the front base to attack east into central Henan and obtain a large amount of grain and fodder to support Xing Tianjun's next move in central Henan.

And the downfall of Ruyang is also a big blow to the Henan government. In the eighth year of Chongzhen, it was the place where Hong Chengchou's troops were meeting. Hong Chengchou was here, commanding nearly 100,000 officers and soldiers to march against the thirteen volunteers who entered Henan. Therefore, as long as Ruyang County is attacked, it will also undermine the confidence of the government to a certain extent.

But this time, Xiao Tianjian did not gather all his troops to attack Ruyang County. Before he decided to take Ruyang, Jiang Qin's subordinates had already sneaked into the territory and city of Ruyang County and made it clear about the situation in Ruyang County. At present, the number of officers and soldiers stationed in Ruyang County is very small, with less than 1,000 soldiers. The force is also scattered to several places, and the strength is not enough to fight against the Xingtian Army, so it basically does not need too many troops to fight against Ruyang. In terms of the combat strength of the Xingtian Army, one battalion is enough.

But the disadvantage is that Yichuan, north of Ruyang, is stationed at this time by an official army transferred from Guidefu, with a force of more than 5,000 people. Originally, these 5,000 officers and troops were sent by Wang Jiazhen to attack Yongning County. If Xiao Tianjian led his troops to attack Ruyang, this army will It poses a considerable threat to Xing Tianjun.

Xiao Tianjian is not afraid that these 5,000 officers and soldiers will come to rescue Ruyang. In that case, it can be said that he is in his arms. With the combat ability of Xing Tianjun, he is the best at fighting in the field. If they really dare to come to rescue Ruyang, then Xiao Tianjian is fully confident to defeat him outside Ruyang County.

I'm afraid that these officers and soldiers will not come to save Ruyang, but I take this opportunity to send troops to Yongning and attack Yongning with Wang Shaoyu. In that case, it is difficult to stop their attack with a semi-new battalion stationed in Yongning County alone. Now it is spring and the land has been thawed. It is an important time for spring ploughing. If the officers and soldiers are allowed to attack Yongning, then the grain fields in Yongning County will not be expected to have any harvest this year.

What is the most important thing about war now? Weapons are still secondary. The most critical thing is the food problem. No matter how strong the army is without food, the combat effectiveness will be halved for one day. If the food is cut off for two days, there is basically no more fighting. This is also the main problem of the rebels at present. For the lack of food, they are forced to use mobile combat. The law relies on continuous plunder to meet their demand for food. It is also because of the frequent lack of food that they have no time to station troops and have no strong combat effectiveness.

Unlike other Rebels, Xing Tianjian has been extremely concerned about the issue of food from beginning to end, and has always put the issue of military food first in all affairs. He would rather give up many opportunities than ensure that they occupy a place, operate a place, and restore local agricultural production as soon as possible, so that it can be guaranteed as soon as possible. Provide a relatively sufficient food supply for Xing Tianjun.

Therefore, Xiao Tianjian led his troops to attack Ruyang this time. What he was most worried about was the officers and troops stationed in Yichuan County. In order to ensure that they would not take this opportunity to counterattack Yongning, they sent two battalions, Luo Li and Liu Bao, to Yichuan, to contain the officers and troops in Yichuan County with one of their partial divisions.

The government of Ruyang County never thought that they would become the first target of Xing Tianjun's attack this time. Originally, they were not unprepared, but in their opinion, if Xing Tianjun wants to expand its territory, it is likely to choose Song County or Yiyang to start, basically It is impossible to choose to attack Ruyang County.

However, when the sentry news that Xing Tianjun had crossed the Yihe River and marched towards Ruyang was reported to them, the officials of Ruyang County panicked and hurriedly sent people to ask for help from Luoyang. On the one hand, they also quickly transferred the brave villagers into the city to assist in the defense, and at the same time gathered the young men in the city. Come on, drive them and start preparing for the defense of the city.

Unfortunately, their reaction was still a little slow. Xiao Tianjian did not give them much time to prepare at all this time. After crossing the Yihe River, it took less than a day for the striker to rush to Ruyang City.

The people who were still busy setting up a deer fortress outside the city suddenly heard the alarm, so they immediately fled to the gate and wanted to return to the city. However, they did not wait for these people outside the city and a few officers and soldiers to enter the city, Situ Liang's cavalry team rolled to the west gate of Ruyang County like a whirlwind.

"Close the door! Close the door quickly and raise the suspension bridge! Hurry up!" After seeing the cavalry of the Xingtian Army appearing on the horizon, a man guarding the gate almost shouted at the soldiers guarding the gate with a changed tone.

"Mr. Xiao! The people outside the city haven't returned yet! Isn't closing the door now the same as leaving them out of the city? A small flag official quickly said to the boss.

"Mom, I can't care so much! Who would have thought that the thief soldiers and horses would come so fast! Close the door quickly, and it's their bad luck! If you don't close the door, the gate will be lost!" The surname Xiao was so anxious that he couldn't take care of anything at this time. He roared and ordered the soldiers to close the door.

The people who were building fortifications outside the city and a small number of officers and soldiers rushed to the gate, but at this time, they saw that the suspension bridge of the gate was being slowly pulled up, and even the gate was slowly closing, so they shouted loudly and shouted that the soldiers guarding the door should not rise up the suspension bridge to close the door. However, their shouts did not play a role at all. The suspension bridge was still pulled up. The red-eyed officers and soldiers or the people and the people even jumped directly into the cold moat and struggled to swim towards the gate, but some people did not know water. In addition, the temperature of the moat was almost as low as zero. Some people were so cold that they cramped as soon as they entered the water, twitched and screamed and sank into the river.

Seeing that the gate had been closed, they were hopeless to enter the city. Many people who were locked outside the city saw the cavalry of the Xingtian Army getting closer and closer, so they immediately dispersed and fled in all directions outside the city.

Situ Liang led his troops to urge the war horse, and the wind rolled towards Ruyang City. Seeing that the gate had been closed and did not neglect it, he immediately rushed to the next gate, circled the civilians and officers and soldiers who had not had time to enter the city, and shouted loudly to make them kneel down and surrender.

In a short time, these officers, soldiers and civil husbands who did not have time to enter the city outside the city became prisoners of the Xingtian Army and were circled outside the city.

At this time, there was a sound of warning gongs and horns everywhere on the wall, and the whole town of Ruyang County was completely in chaos.

The guard of Ruyang was a guard surnamed Feng. At this time, he had already heard the news and hurriedly put it up. He quickly caught up with the wall of Ruyang County with his family and stared at the outside of the city.

When he saw hundreds of Xing Tianjun's cavalry galloping back outside the city, and more flags were raised on the road in the west of the city, Feng guard was suddenly shocked and sweated in a cold sweat, and ordered the officers, soldiers and people to be sent to the city wall to be ready to guard.

A group of soldiers and officers and soldiers were driven up the city wall by the officers, and more people carried all kinds of guard tools to the wall.

By the time Xiao Tianjian led the main force to reach the city, the Ruyang garrison was basically ready. Even a door, bowl, and Fran machine cannons on the city were set up and loaded with cannon bullet stones.

Xiao Tianjian stood still. With an order, Xing Tianjun camped on the ground outside the city, and the military engineers immediately led the soldiers of the new battalion to build all kinds of siege equipment.

Xiao Tianjian took Li Shuanzhu and Liu Yaoben and other generals around Ruyang County. The area of Ruyang County is not large, and it is slightly smaller than Yongning County. The wall is far from as strong and tall as the wall of Yongning County, and the number of defenders is not large, although he watched Xiao Tianjian and other generals of the Xingtian Army at the gate. He wandered around outside and observed the city's defense. The city did not dare to send troops out of the city to chase and kill, but huddled in the city and looked at the appearance of the city in fear.

"Ruyang is just like this! I'll give you three days to take down Ruyang County!" Xiao Tianjian stopped outside the south gate of the county. After looking at the defense of Ruyang City, he sneered and waved his whip to Li Shuanzhu, Liu Yaoben and others.

"I'm obediently! ..." Several people immediately answered the order loudly on the horse's back.