Chapter 578 Crossing the river! Go to Luo!
After Luo Xiao and Zhang Jiao had this conversation, Zhang Jiao figured out some things, and his previous worries were swept away. He became cheerful again.
Luo Xiao felt a sense of extra weight on his body, as if something had fallen on him.
If it were an ordinary person, he would probably start to worry about the reason.
But Luo Xiao is different. In his opinion, Emperor Su Wang will not harm him.
As long as the Emperor Su Wang does not take action, what does it matter even if it is the heaven?
It's just a matter of fighting the enemy with our generals and blocking the water with our earth.
Ji Zhao's gaze fell on Luo Xiao. He had a premonition that this new son of destiny of the family would accomplish something unprecedented in the family, in a way that no one could imagine.
…
Zhang Jue changed his previous plan of plundering land everywhere, and instead led the Taiping Army to cross the river, enter Henei, and attack Luoyang directly. At the same time, he besieged Yingchuan and other counties around Luoyang, cutting off Luoyang's connection with the outside world.
For the Taiping Army, there is no most suitable and sure-fire way to win.
The Taiping Army was active across the states and counties, but in fact the main force of the Taiping Army that had combat effectiveness did not split up and enter the counties and towns.
Under such circumstances, if Zhang Jue led 150,000 Taiping troops to attack Luoyang, the imperial court would certainly be shocked.
The emperor and ministers who are afraid of death will certainly be afraid and will mobilize a large number of troops from all over to guard Luoyang.
Countless loopholes will appear in the court's panicked dispatch.
It might be possible to defeat the main force of the Han court's imperial guards and bring the Han court into the abyss, just as Xiang Yu defeated the main force of the Qin army in Hebei.
Of course, the premise of all this is that Zhang Jue’s ability must be strong enough.
Does Zhang Jue have this ability?
Luo Xiao thinks that he doesn't have it. Zhang Jiao's military ability is not bad, but he is an excellent community leader. He is still far from being able to fight a battle as powerful as a god.
However, seeing Zhang Jiao's confident look, Luo Xiao did not say anything.
When the soldiers of the Taiping Army learned that Zhang Jue was going to attack the counties around Luoyang, they were all excited. After all, going to Luoyang and killing the emperor and the ministers was their heartfelt wish.
The Taiping Army led by Zhang Jue was said to have hundreds of thousands of troops and was in high spirits, but in reality, there were only barely tens of thousands of elite soldiers who could fight tough battles. The Taiping Army was dispatched between Jizhou and Youzhou, so they were not particularly short of cavalry.
The Taiping Army, somewhat disorganized, gathered under the flags of various factions. The west wind was blowing hard, the flags were fluttering, the scene was a little messy, but the atmosphere was solemn and dignified.
Zhang Jue had his men arrange the sacrificial objects one by one and slowly drew out his sharp sword. In the Han Dynasty, no one would go to war without offering sacrifices to Xiang Yu, the leader of armies. In addition, they had to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth for justice.
The Taiping Army was acting on behalf of Heaven and punishing tyranny. If they did not do something magnanimous, wouldn't they be considered thieves?
Looking at the troops under the high platform, Zhang Jue said proudly: "My brothers, we used to be diligent and kind people, spreading good ways, but now we hold sharp blades and want to kill the Han court!
The Han court accused us of being thieves, and the people who brought chaos to the world and forced us to rebel against yin and yang. Were they not the ministers and the emperor sitting in Luoyang?
The sage said, repay evil with justice!
Isn't it natural for us to lead our troops to Luoyang now?
God has sent down an edict, and we are shouldering a heavy responsibility. The Mandate of Heaven will soon end, and it is in our hands.
Cross the river and enter Luoyang!"
The wind roared fiercely, the flags fluttered, and countless shouts came from under the high platform, "Cross the river! Cross the river!"
The Taiping Army soldiers under the high platform were still wearing the same linen clothes they wore when farming, with holes everywhere, but their faces were filled with infinite hope.
The momentum is fierce, as if the light from the sky breaks through the clouds.
Luo Xiao felt Zhang Jiao looking at him with a smile and full of confidence.
…
Zhang Jue openly dispatched troops, and the Han court naturally got the news. This instantly made the powerful people in Luoyang City a little panicked, especially since many people were blocked in Luoyang City and unable to return to the prefectures and counties.
Huangfu Song had just led the Sanhe Knights to Nanyang to pacify the Taiping Rebellion in Jingzhou, but soon after he received news that the court was going to transfer him back to Hebei to fight against the bandit leader Zhang Jue. Not only Huangfu Song, but also brave commanders such as Zhu Jun were transferred to Hebei.
In the army, Huangfu Song was speechless, wondering what was going on with the nobles in Luoyang.
But he certainly didn't dare to disobey the emperor's order, so he could only rush back while writing a letter to the emperor, saying, "Luoyang is located in the middle of many passes. As long as we guard the passes carefully, the enemy army will not be able to break into Luoyang. You can rest assured.
There are many brave men in Ji, You and Bing. The imperial court only needs to recruit the heroes in the prefectures and counties to hold off the enemy. When the rest of the prefectures are pacified, we can attack from all sides and suppress Hebei. We will surely be able to conquer the enemy and succeed."
But after the letter was sent, Huangfu Song soon received a reply from Luoyang. The emperor and the ministers scolded Huangfu Song, saying, "Luoyang is the most important city in the world. Ten thousand cities, ten thousand counties, ten thousand states are not as important as it!
You are using Luoyang as bait. If you make a mistake, the country will collapse. This is really stupid. Go to Hebei quickly and wipe out the bandit army. Don't say another word!"
These harsh words made Huangfu Song shudder. He must have said something wrong, but he still didn't understand how could something go wrong in Luoyang?
Then weren’t the eight passes in Luoyang built in vain?
If Luoyang could be conquered so easily, it would have been impossible to establish the capital here no matter how great the resistance was in the first place.
As a commander with limited political ability, Huangfu Song did not understand that as the capital, Luoyang could not be considered from a military perspective, but rather had to be considered from a political perspective.
From the commander's perspective, there is no problem.
But from the perspective of the emperor and ministers, Huangfu Song was playing with their lives. The reason why they didn't issue an imperial decree to kill him was because they needed Huangfu Song to fight.
The lieutenant in the army asked with some concern: "General, we are suddenly transferred back to Hebei to fight. Will there be any accidents?"
Huangfu Song frowned and sighed, "Of course there are disadvantages.
This general does not take the Taiping Army seriously. The gap between them and the imperial court is too big, and their defeat is only a matter of time. However, after this incident, the time to pacify the Taiping Army will be delayed again.
The only thing we can do now is to pacify Zhang Jiao, and it would be best if we can capture and kill him directly.
If Zhang Jue died, the Taiping Army would be leaderless, and the rest of the army would fall into chaos, and perhaps the rebellion could be quelled as quickly as possible."
While everyone else was in a panic, Huangfu Song was thinking about how to quickly and steadily put down the Taiping Dao Rebellion.
…
The land of Hebei has always been a battleground for military strategists. Many battles have been fought here. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, many large-scale battles took place in Hebei.
The most famous one is of course the battle between the coalition forces of princes and the Qin army at the end of the Qin Dynasty, in which 300,000 Qin troops were wiped out.
The Qin Dynasty fell in one battle!
Xiang Yu succeeded to the throne and was formally elected by the princes as the common ruler of the world.
Now that the Han Dynasty was in danger, Hebei was again the region.
Countless troops gathered here, and the Han court recruited tens of thousands of people from the Sanhe area and expanded them into the Yulin Huben.
The Taiping Army in Qingzhou is also moving towards Jizhou.
Huangfu Song marched along the north bank of the river in accordance with the court's order. He brought thousands of soldiers with him. On the river, countless money, food and supplies followed the army. This was Huangfu Song's greatest confidence in defeating the Taiping Army.
Although the Taiping Army seems to be powerful now, in fact, it is far from being comparable to the imperial court in terms of the number of mobilized people and the requisition of food and fodder.
He had previously suggested to the court that the heroes in the states and counties should each clear out the Taiping Army in their local areas. Unfortunately, the court did not listen to his advice. Otherwise, in his opinion, the raging Taiping Army could be pacified overnight.
As soon as we entered Jizhou, we saw the Taiping Army's flag, "Peace in the world!"
These four bright large characters fluttered on the flag. Clearly it was a blessing, but it made Huangfu Song feel filled with a solemn and murderous atmosphere, because as long as the Taiping Army was at peace, they, as a group, would not be at peace.
What made Huangfu Song's eyelids jump the most was that these Taiping troops had actually arrived here. The reason he could see the Taiping troops so quickly was not because they were marching day and night, but because the Taiping troops were too close to Luoyang.
As long as we move westward along the north bank of the river and then break through the two ferry crossings on the river, we can break into the Luoyang Basin. No wonder the Luoyang nobles are so anxious to transfer us back.
This was because they were frightened by the momentum of the Taiping Army.
If Jizhou is in such a critical situation, then Yanzhou and Yuzhou are probably no different. However, in Huangfu Song's eyes, these are only superficial crises.
What are the functions of the Xiongguan Pass?
It comes into play at this critical moment!
For a commander like Huangfu Song, the map is not divided into pieces. A plain of 500 miles or 300 miles is of no significance. The cavalry can just charge down.
In Huangfu Song's eyes, only a depth of a thousand miles would be of strategic significance, because a depth of a thousand miles would allow for tactical deployment, such as harassing food routes and raiding camps.
As for the strategic passes and dangerous passes, they are insurmountable natural barriers. With a strategic pass in hand, thousands of troops will be in vain.
As long as the eight passes of Luoyang were there, Huangfu Song believed that Luoyang would be safe.
If they can let Luoyang fall while guarding these passes, what a waste they are!
Judging others by one's own standards is a problem that almost everyone will encounter.
Huangfu Song shook his head and stopped thinking about it. Now that he had seen the Taiping Army, he had to prepare to wipe them out.
Zhang Jue began to observe the stars at night. He wanted to do something big!
(End of this chapter)
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