Chapter 60 The army sets out for battle
The third day of the sixth month in the twenty-third year of Chengping.

An army of 100,000 soldiers from Chongshan Town went out of the pass, claiming to have an army of 200,000.

General Zhang Shouwang was appointed as the General of the Northern Expedition, and Deputy General Ji Feiyu was appointed as the General of Yang Wei, and the troops were divided into two groups to attack the Hu people in the East China Sea.

The eunuch Zhang Yude, who was in charge of the garrison, went with the army. The governor Sun Xincheng was sent as an imperial commissioner to inspect the military affairs of Chongshan Town. In addition, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Wu Mingzhen, was in charge of supervising the collection and expenditure of food and salaries for various routes.

The sixth day of the sixth month in the twenty-third year of Chengping.

Zhang Shouwang led five battalions of garrison troops, four battalions of reinforcements, and seven battalions of mobile troops, a total of 60,000 troops, and marched straight to the foot of Black Cloud Mountain.

Black Cloud Mountain, the battle of Black Cloud Mountain twenty years ago was the most glorious battle in Chongshan Town.

Because of this battle alone, the northeastern border of Dayong was peaceful for twenty years.

Now, the army of Chongshan Town has come to Heiyun Mountain again. I wonder if they can recreate the glory of twenty years ago.

Yang Zhengshan followed the Zhenbiao Zuo Battalion into the battle. The Zhenbiao Zuo Battalion had a force of three thousand generals, a baggage train under the command of a battalion general, four hundred battalion guard cavalry, and two hundred elite night cavalry, totaling about four thousand three hundred people.

In addition, Zhenbiao Zuoying also had a thousand temporary laborers recruited to help the baggage team transport food and supplies.

Yang Zhengshan was the deputy commander of the baggage train. At this time, he was leading a hundred soldiers and three hundred civilians from Linguan Fort, escorting more than a hundred mule, horse and ox carts and following the army of Zhenbiao Zuoying.

Escorting food and fodder is a hard job. Beyond the mountains are endless hills and grasslands, and there are no roads at all.

The only road was the one trampled by the army in front, which was bumpy and extremely difficult to walk on.

The key is that military orders are as heavy as mountains. They must transport food and grass to the designated place within the specified time. If there is any mistake, everyone will be punished.

Even though Yang Zhengshan had Zhou Lan's support, he dared not slack off in the slightest.

Fortunately, it didn't rain in the past few days. Although they had a hard time along the way, they managed to catch up with the large group in front.

Standing at the foot of Black Cloud Mountain, Yang Zhengshan looked up at the not-so-high mountain top, and the scene of his original body fighting here emerged in his mind.

In the battle twenty years ago, I was just a small pawn and had no idea about the overall battle situation. I only knew how to fight desperately in the chaotic battlefield.

The bloody battlefield appeared in Yang Zhengshan's mind, making him tremble all over.

Although it was just a dream like watching a movie, he still felt it was extremely tragic.

That was a real battlefield, a battlefield that could not be accurately described with rivers of blood and corpses everywhere.

The original body was very lucky to survive that battle.

And now that Yang Zhengshan has come here himself, he wonders if he will also have to go through such a brutal battle.

……

The Donghai Hu people are a nation that makes a living by nomadism and hunting. They occupy the hills and grasslands two thousand miles northeast of Dayong. Most of the tribesmen lead a nomadic life, and only a small number of people live in Fushan City.

If the Donghai Hu tribe is a kingdom, then Fushan City is their capital.

Fushan City is just 500 miles northeast of Heiyun Mountain. The battle of Heiyun Mountain 20 years ago was because the army of Chongshan Town threatened the safety of Fushan City, which forced the Hu tribe of Donghai to mobilize all their strength to come and fight.

Unfortunately, Chongshan Town suffered heavy losses in that battle and was unable to continue attacking Fushan City. In addition, there were disagreements in the court of Darong. Otherwise, the Hu tribe of Donghai would have become history long ago.

This time, the strategy used by Chongshan Town to conquer the East China Sea Hu tribe was the same as twenty years ago. The troops were divided into two groups and they also marched to the foot of Heiyun Mountain, hoping to force the East China Sea Hu tribe to come to Heiyun Mountain for another decisive battle.

If the Donghai Hu tribe cannot be forced to take the initiative to fight, the Chongshan Town army will have to spend dozens of times more time and materials to find those migrating tribes in this vast northern border.

However, the Hu people of the East China Sea are not fools. They learn from their mistakes. They had already suffered a great loss at the foot of the Black Cloud Mountain twenty years ago, so how could they repeat the same mistake now?

At the foot of the Black Cloud Mountain, tents stretched for miles, and the solemn atmosphere reached straight into the gloomy sky.

The army has been camped here for more than ten days, but the main force of the East China Sea Hu tribe has not appeared yet. Only some scouts and elite cavalry are constantly harassing the surroundings.

In the main general's camp.

The general of Chongshan Town, General Zhang Shouwang, frowned as he looked at the map hanging on the screen. Next to him sat a white-faced eunuch with wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. He was the eunuch Zhang Yude, the garrison eunuch.

In addition, a dozen or so lieutenant generals and guerrilla generals in iron armor gathered behind Zhang Shouwang, concentrating on looking at the map. Zhou Lan was naturally among them.

"It seems that they will not take the initiative to fight!" Zhang Shouwang said with some difficulty.

To be honest, this time he agreed to conquer the Hu tribe in the East China Sea, because he was very clear about the current situation of Chongshan Town. Today's Chongshan Town is no longer the Chongshan Town of 20 years ago.

The entire Chongshan Town is said to have an army of 200,000, but the real elite troops are only the five battalions of the town flag. As for the soldiers who can fight, it is estimated that there are only 50,000 of them, and the rest are all just filling in the numbers.

Perhaps the current Donghai Hu tribe is not as powerful as the Donghai Hu tribe in the past, but in the past twenty years, Chongshan Town has declined too much.

If the East China Sea Hu tribe took the initiative to fight, he would still have some confidence, but now the East China Sea Hu tribe avoided fighting, he had no confidence at all.

"General, why don't we attack Fushan City directly?" Liu Nanbo, the Guangning vanguard lieutenant general of Chongshan Town's northern route, couldn't help but speak.

"The city wall of Fushan is three zhang high, not much different from our Chongshan Pass. If we attack by force, our troops will need to be ten times more than the enemy. If we besiege them, we don't have that much time!" said Wang Bin, Lieutenant General of Songzhou Guard on the east route of Chongshan Town, shaking his head slightly.

They had missed the right time by setting out in June. If they went to besiege Fushan City at this time, as long as the enemy dragged on for two months, they would have to retreat. Otherwise, when winter came, they would not even need to fight and the soldiers would be frozen to death.

"What should we do? We can neither advance nor retreat!"

"If you ask me, it's better to attack by force than to stay here!"

"Wouldn't it be a waste of life to attack with all your might? We might as well retreat first and make plans later!"

……

For a moment, everyone in the tent was whispering and discussing in low voices.

Zhang Shouwang heard their discussions and his expression became more gloomy. "Okay, if you have anything to say, speak loudly. Don't whisper in private!"

However, as soon as he opened his mouth, everyone stopped talking and there was no sound at all.

Zhang Shouwang saw this and couldn't hide his disappointment.

These useless trash are usually arrogant and domineering, as if they are fearless, but when they really get to the battlefield, they are as timid as quails.

His eyes swept over everyone, causing them to lower their heads and not dare to look at him.

Finally, his eyes fell on Zhang Yude, "Eunuch Zhang, do you have any advice?"

Zhang Yude was cleaning his fingernails with his head down when he was suddenly questioned by Zhang Shouwang. Without even raising his head, he said, "I am only a military supervisor and I dare not talk about military and national affairs. But I have something to remind the general!"

"Eunuch Zhang, please speak!"

"Your Majesty is waiting for the general's victory report in the capital! This war should not be dragged on for too long!"

The first sentence still made him dare not talk about military and national affairs, but the second sentence forced Zhang Shouwang to go to war as soon as possible.

Zhang Shouwang took a deep breath. He knew what this damn eunuch was thinking.

The dead eunuchs don't care whether they win or lose, nor do they care about the lives of their soldiers.

All he cares about is whether he can take advantage of the opportunity to make more money.

Every time military rations come in and out, the dead eunuchs can make a profit. Every time soldiers die, the dead eunuchs can also take the opportunity to make a fortune.

As for the others, don’t they have generals like them to hold the line?
"Then let's attack the city!" Zhang Shouwang said helplessly.

He hated Zhang Yude, the damn eunuch, but Zhang Yude was right in one thing: the Emperor was waiting for their victory news in Kyoto.

Thinking of the impatient Emperor, Zhang Shouwang knew that he could not delay any longer.

"Three days later, we will set out to recover Shancheng!"

(End of this chapter)