Chapter 1,237: Troops Heading to Shangjun

In early February of the fifth year of Jian'an in 200, after several months of rest, the troops of all the Tang Kingdoms had been reorganized, and even the newly incorporated Shangdang had basically been put on the right track. Thanks to the efforts of Tian Zheng, the governor of Shangdang, the internal affairs of the cities of Shangdang were basically stabilized. In particular, the people who had migrated from Shangai continued to move after the New Year. After these people were settled, they played a great role in the stability of Shangdang.

After the beginning of spring, Tian Zheng sent people to borrow thousands of strong cattle and horses from the three surrounding counties, which made the people of Shangdang feel more at ease. In addition, since last year, Huangfu Jianshou, Li Le and Shangdang Duwei Zhou Shi have been training troops and sending troops to eliminate bandits in Shangdang.

Not only that, since the capture of Shangdang County last year, Huangfu Chaobo has ordered that food and supplies from the three surrounding counties continue to enter Shangdang, and several caravans under the control of the Shaofu and caravans from other counties of the Tang Kingdom are also continuously transporting various supplies to Shangdang. After several measures, the people of Shangdang quickly recognized the rule of the Tang Dynasty.

In the hall, Huangfu Chaobo was discussing with several important officials. What they were discussing was the matter of sending troops to Shangjun, Bingzhou. This was a decision made by Guo Jia and Pang Tong after they returned from Shangdang last year. There were several reasons for deciding to send troops to Shangjun.

The first reason was that after the Shangdang War, Chen Gong had blocked almost all possible avenues of attack around Taiyuan. If the Tang army wanted to attack Zhao, in addition to attacking several passes, they could only go north to Shangai and then attack Taiyuan to the west. However, if they went to Shangai, one of the reasons was that the road to the north was too difficult to walk. There were hundreds of miles of dangerous mountain roads from Shangdang to Shangai. If the army walked, it would be very difficult. Another point was that Huangfu Chaobo did not want to expose the fact that the Black Mountain Army had surrendered to him too early.

If the Tang Dynasty sent troops to Shangjun, and if Shangjun was taken, and if it went smoothly, the entire area within the Yellow River in the Hetao region was completely controlled, it would be able to support the allies of Wuyuan and Shuofang to the north, and to attack Taiyuan and Yanmen in the hinterland of Bingzhou to the east, and to threaten Zuo Fengxu in Guanzhong to the south, and to the north of Bingzhou to the west.

The second reason is that the situation in Guanzhong is not clear now, so the Tang Dynasty should not enter it too early, so as not to cause joint opposition from the three families. Before that, it should control this place where it can attack from all sides, and then it can go to war no matter which side it is.

Of course, Shangjun also has its disadvantages. It can attack from all sides, but it is also surrounded by enemies. However, Huangfu Chaobo did not worry much, because he did not think about operating here immediately after the occupation. After the Tang army occupied Hetao, it only used it as a springboard for sending troops. As for business development, it would have to wait until Guanzhong and Bingzhou were pacified.

"How is the army preparing?" Huangfu Chaobo looked at Xu Shu and asked;

Although Xu Shu was Guanglu Xun, he also had another responsibility as the deputy of the national lieutenant Zhu Jun, assisting Zhu Jun in charge of military affairs.

"Reporting to the king, General Tian Yu's Yingyang Camp has been fully prepared. According to the original plan, the Yingyang Camp will have two ordinary infantry battalions, one crossbow battalion and one cavalry battalion, totaling 20,000 combat troops. As for the other troops, the two infantry battalions of Xiongqu Camp in Hongnong County, led by General Shegan himself, have been secretly assembled in Hongnong City. They will cross the river and reach Maojindu as soon as the river water stabilizes in the next few days."

"And the 10,000 Xiliang cavalry and 5,000 infantry of General Hua Xiong's Baotao Camp in Henei County have now quietly arrived at Jiguan, but because the snow on the road of Chenguanxing has not melted, it is difficult to walk. They are still preparing to pass through Chenguanxing. However, according to their itinerary,

they should be able to arrive in Hedong smoothly before the 20th."

According to the prior discussion, this expedition to Shangjun will mainly be led by the Yingyang Camp of Tian Yu in Hedong, the Xiongqu Camp of Shegan in Hongnong, and the Baotao Camp of Hua Xiong in Henei. With Tian Yu as the main general, She Gan and Hua Xiong as deputy generals, and considering that Jiangshan had a powerful military advisor Fa Zheng, Huangfu Chaobo specially sent Pang Tong as the military advisor.

In this way, there were 45,000 combat troops, and 5,000 guards and 10,000 civilian workers and craftsmen were mobilized from Hedong, totaling 60,000 troops, to be sent to Shangjun.

Originally, among the troops of various units, except for the troops of Hedong County who crossed the river directly from Caisangjin, it would be best for the rest of the troops to be directly transported to Caisangjin by the Tang army navy, but now the river water downstream of Fenglingdu has just begun to thaw, and the river water north of Fenglingdu has not yet thawed, so it is impossible to sail directly. Even the troops of Hongnong must choose a suitable time to cross the river.

According to the original strategy, the army will complete the assembly before February 15th, and start crossing the river from Caisangjin on the 20th. Now it is only the beginning of February, so there is still plenty of time.

Hearing that all troops could arrive on time, Huangfu Chaobo breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at Guo Jia and said, "How are the three alien forces in Shangjun? Are there any changes?"

"Your Majesty, after several months of detailed investigation, the situation in Shangjun has become completely clear. As we have learned before, Shangjun is still controlled by Jiangshan, the remaining king and Xiongba. Among them, Jiangshan has the greatest power, because he is the nephew of Jiang Pei, the former governor of Hedong. When he left Hedong, he took away 20,000 of the most elite soldiers and horses in Hedong. In the past few years, he has occupied four cities, Fushi, Gaonu and Qiuci in Shangjun, and Yuanyin in Xihe County. In addition, there is a pass between Fushi and Qiuci, named Yulin Pass."

"According to the news sent back by Shadow, Jiangshan currently has about 30,000 troops, including 10,000 cavalry, about 10,000 soldiers guarding four cities and one pass, and the remaining 10,000 are all elite soldiers... It can be said that the battle is still very strong."

"Only 30,000 troops?" Huangfu Chaobo was stunned when he heard this. You know, Jiangshan took at least 20,000 elite soldiers from Hedong at the beginning. After so many years, the number of troops is still only 30,000, which is indeed not much.

In fact, Huangfu Chaobo only looked at the situation of Jiangshan from the perspective of the cities under his control. If we look at the situation of the cities in Tang or even the entire Central Plains, Jiangshan is indeed not many with only 30,000 soldiers in four large cities.

But the actual situation is that the conditions in Shangjun are far different from those in the Central Plains. If it weren't for a big shot like Fa Zheng assisting him, Jiangshan would probably not even have 30,000 soldiers now.