bookrandom Chapter 333: Unstoppable force!!!
Chapter 333: Unstoppable force!!!
In early December of the third year of Xining in the Song Dynasty, the court appointed Gu Tingye as the commander-in-chief of the cavalry and infantry of the Annan Road camp, the general manager of the recruitment and suppression, and the envoy of the Jinghu North and South Roads and the Guangnan East and West Roads.
The Song army assembled an army of up to 200,000 and marched into the Guangxi region in a mighty force.
Among them, there are 100,000 troops in the army, composed of the central imperial guards and local troops; 20,000 in the navy; and 80,000 in the logistics support force, totaling 200,000, who were sent to Jiaozhi.
Before that, the navy officers Shen Qi and Liu Yi took the lead in attacking Yong'an Prefecture quickly and planned to continue their advance to Xin'an Village.
Both places are coastal towns. With the help of the 20,000 local army recruited, they advanced by water and land, heading straight to the downstream areas of Thang Long (Hanoi) - Halong Bay and Bolukou.
Once these two places were captured, the Song army's naval fleet would go up the Bach Dang River, turn west to the Bac River, and enter the capital area around Thang Long.
Seeing this, Gu Tingye and Zhao Xie made a prompt decision and divided their troops into two groups to launch a blitzkrieg.
The team was led by Zhao Xie and Yan Da. They went west of Yongping Village and entered Jiaozhi. They then attacked Menzhou, Jiadong, and Jilangzhou. They went straight southwest along Zhileng River and Nanping River, then crossed Ruyue River and attacked Tiande Prefecture.
Tien Duc Prefecture was the northeastern barrier of Thang Long and an important defense base for the capital. Once the Ly Dynasty lost Tien Duc Prefecture, the northeastern gate would be wide open and Thang Long would surely fall.
The other route consisted of Gu Tingye, Wang En and Li Xian. They went through Luzhou and entered Jiaozhi, captured Danbo Cave and Sumaozhou, and attacked Liangzhou along the Dante Luo River.
Then they seized Wanchunzhou and joined the Shen and Liu naval duo who were going up the river, and together they advanced westward along the Beijiang River and attacked Thang Long.
Wanchunzhou, located along this route, is the gateway to the east of Thang Long and also serves as a sluice gate to block the enemy from advancing up the river.
With the same nature as Tiande Prefecture, once Wanchun Prefecture is lost, the capital city of Thang Long City will be a lamb to be slaughtered and will no longer be defended.
At the end of the first month of the fourth year of Xining (1071), which was the third year of Shenwu in the Li Dynasty of Vietnam, Yan Da and Zhao Xie led the Song army to capture Jilangzhou with great momentum.
Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the defending general Liu Yingji had no choice but to surrender.
The morale of the Song army was greatly boosted. Then, at Yan Da's suggestion, they adopted a strategy of advancing by land and sea and began to attack the territory of the Li Dynasty more quickly.
When the Song army reached Wugao, they were blocked by the Li army's elephant formation.
Although Zhao Xie, Yan Da and others had never seen a pig run, they had eaten pork, and Li Jun's power could not scare them away.
As Yan Da smiled with some evil intentions, the Song army held powerful crossbows with a thin line lit on top, and then shot at the elephants fiercely like monkeys.
There was no result at the beginning. After all, elephants have thick skin and flesh, and can temporarily withstand the damage of bows and crossbows.
The next second, the continuous "boom" sounds spread throughout the Nanping River. All the Song army soldiers covered their ears tacitly and looked calmly at the elephant troops on the opposite side.
The orderly Li army's elephant soldiers were frightened by the series of explosions and fled in all directions.
This brought an unexpected disaster to Li's army, which had originally lined up to charge. The out-of-control elephants disrupted Li's own camp, causing Li's army to fall into chaos in an instant and eventually had to retreat in defeat.
Watching this spectacular scene, Yanda sighed with emotion: "It seems that in future wars, a mature firearms unit will be able to easily change the course of the battle."
Zhao Xie, who was standing by, smiled and nodded in agreement: "If you want to keep up with the times, you should learn more from Prime Minister Han and don't fall behind."
The two looked at each other and laughed out loud at the same time. They both felt that fighting now was like playing, extremely easy.
Afterwards, the Song army led by Yan Da and Zhao Xie in the north took advantage of this opportunity, advanced rapidly all the way, and successively conquered Wugao and Beijiang City.
However, in mid-February, when the northern Song army crossed the Nanping River and arrived at the Ruyue River, they were suddenly attacked by Ruan Gen, the left general of the Li army.
The Song army in the north was caught off guard and lost nearly a thousand people. They then retreated to the north of Ruyue River and set up camp to confront Ruan Gen.
This was also the heaviest casualties suffered by the Song army since entering Jiaozhi. When the military report was submitted to the Southern Song Army, Gu Tingye got angry for the first time in front of Wang En and Li Xian.
"What are they thinking? Do they think the opposing army is made of mud?!"
"Without any prior investigation, and without any subsequent reflection, you're handing me a list of casualties?!"
"It's okay that Zhao Xie is a civil official, but Yan Da was born into the Han Dynasty as a disciple. He's the general appointed to lead the troops in this southern expedition. Doesn't he know how to be cautious?!"
Gu Tingye rarely loses his temper like this, especially after getting married. Under Sheng Minglan's constant harassment, his temper has almost become as bad as a salted fish.
Originally, they thought that as long as the strategy and tactics were appropriate, this expedition to Jiaozhi would be a great achievement, but Yan Da and Zhao Xie ended up causing such a mess.
"General Gu, please don't get angry. Since this is a war, there will inevitably be casualties. Instead of getting anxious and angry, the key is to think about how to defeat the enemy."
Military Supervisor Li Xian quickly stepped forward to stop Gu Tingye's anger and handed him a cup of tea to comfort him.
What can be said about Li Xian? He was a man of some ability and was much loved by Emperor Shenzong, so he often took credit for others' achievements.
However, now with the control of Mr. Han and the constraints of a number of military and political leaders, the job of military supervisor has become purely a decoration and a place to gain merit.
Therefore, Han took the initiative to appoint Li Xian as the military supervisor, which moved the eunuch so much that he almost set up a tablet for Han at home.
According to Li Xian, we eunuchs are not liked by the people, and how long we can live depends on the words of the government.
No one has ever treated them well, except Han Hou, who is a very good man. Not only did he think of them and bring them gifts, he also shared the credit with them. He is a big tree!
Since Li Xian is now considered a senior eunuch in the palace, when he said this, the eunuchs, both big and small, saw Han with their eyes shining, and they wanted to kowtow to him and ask him to give them some benefits.
As the military supervisor this time, Li Xian was just there to make a cameo appearance, and at the same time he was also acting as a representative of the government to mediate between the various parties.
Now seeing that Gu Tingye was a little angry, he immediately stepped forward to persuade him.
However, these words made Mr. Gu stunned, and then he fell into deep thought.
"General Li is right. Commander Gu is a little too nervous. After all, casualties are inevitable in war."
After all, Wang En and Yan Da were both Han Ming's subordinates, so he quickly cooperated with Li Xian.
"It's also because the Song army has been winning battles so smoothly these past few years that they've forgotten that wars always involve casualties..."
Gu Tingye finally realized what was bothering him.
In recent years, the Song army has found it as easy to capture cities and seize territories as taking something out of a bag. The entire army has almost forgotten that more than a decade ago, they were losing every day, and the people living on the border were in mourning all day long.
Why can't he bear the loss of just these people now?
It's simply that they now take human lives more seriously. In the past, they believed that even if soldiers were close to them, they were resources that should be squandered in war.
It can be supplemented later, but it is different now. Every life represents a family, not to mention the pain and difficulties that follow.
Gu Tingye took a deep breath and pointed at Wang En and said, "Send a message to Zhao Xie Yanda. After the war is over, I will report this defeat impartially to my superiors."
"Their first task now is to break through the Ruyue River for me and take Ruan Gen's head as a sacrifice to the soldiers who died in the battle—!"
"Also, send a message to Shen Qi and Liu Yi to speed up the capture of the Bach Dang River. We must capture Wanchun Prefecture and enter Thang Long Prefecture before the beginning of spring!"
Gu Tingye's words made Wang En straighten his body. He immediately clasped his fists and said, "I obey your orders!"