Early the next morning, the Privy Council sent a military map, Zhen Jian led an army of 100,000 out of the capital, heading north, the people of the capital heard that Zhen Jian was going to lead the troops to the Northern Expedition this time, they were all excited, singing and sending each other off, which of the people of Great Chu did not want to regain their former territory, which one did not want to destroy the Liang State.
As soon as Zhen Jian led the army out of the capital, he met Ye Qiu, who came back, Zhen Jian asked Ye Qiu to go on a northern expedition with him, Ye Qiu rode a horse and followed Zhen Jian, Zhen Jian asked lightly: "What did she say?"
” Ye Qiu said: "She said......
Always count. ” "Well, that's good."
Zhen Jian nodded slightly and didn't say anything more.
Ye Qiu has been following Zhen Jian for a long time, and he has gradually figured out Zhen Jian's temperament, Zhen Jian this time is different from usual, because Zhen Jian looks a little deep now, and there seems to be something hidden in his heart, with Ye Qiu's understanding of Zhen Jian, Zhen Jian should be brewing some plan, and it is likely to be a big plan.
A month later, when they arrived in Xiangyang, Zhen Jian's army wanted to go on a northern expedition, and the fastest shortcut was to cross the Han River from Xiangyang through a pontoon bridge, and he naturally had to meet Qin Xueyang.
Zhen Jian and Qin Xueyang didn't say much when they met, because they were both generals who held military power, and they couldn't have too much intersection, Zhen Jian just borrowed the way, and left Fancheng the next day and went straight to the north.
Zhen Jian left, Qin Xueyang stood at the head of the city and saw him away, and when Zhen Jian's army completely disappeared from view, she slowly raised her hand, and there was a small paper ball in her palm, which Zhen Jian quietly gave her.
She opened the paper ball, and after reading it, she frowned slightly, and sighed leisurely: "He is going to die and live later......"
Zhen Jian led a large army into the border of Liang, and did not encounter the army of Liang to stop it, because Liang has been greatly injured in the past two years, and now he has sent 200,000 troops to aid the Xiongnu, the country is empty, and the garrison on the border is very weak.
As soon as Zhen Jian entered the border of Liang, he issued a military order, Gai Qing led an army of 25,000 to attack Caizhou, Gai Li led an army of 25,000 to attack Dengzhou, and himself, Li He, led an army of 25,000 to attack Tangzhou.
Dengzhou, Caizhou, and Tangzhou are almost arranged in a straight line, and it is really a bit risky for him to disperse his forces and want to break through these three border state capitals together.
At present, the combined strength of these three state capitals is also sixty or seventy thousand, after all, these three state capitals are the border state capitals of Liang State.
But things are often beyond people's expectations, the Chu army, which has always been known for its weakness, attacked in three directions, the soldiers were noble and fast, and with the help of gunpowder, in just three days, the three state capitals and cities were all conquered, and nearly 100,000 stones of grain and grass were collected, and countless soldiers and guns and crossbows were collected.
Zhen Jian's surprise attack was quite effective, and he caught Liang Jun off guard, he did not stay here, but continued to the north and attacked Xuzhou.
Zhen Jian's army has not yet arrived in Xuzhou, Liang has excluded the fast horse to the Xiongnu, and quickly transferred back to the army, the emperor of Liang also realized that the Chu army came prepared this time, and it should not be taken lightly, especially the Chu army has a secret killing weapon like a divine thunder, which is really terrifying.
It took Zhen Jian nearly ten days to attack Xuzhou, and nearly 50,000 soldiers and horses were stationed in Xuzhou, all of which were ordered by Emperor Daliang to be requisitioned from the surrounding state capitals, and after Zhen Jian captured Xuzhou, there were still 80,000 soldiers and horses left with him.
The soldiers of Da Chu were still a little apprehensive when they first started the expedition, after all, many of them had never fought against the Liang army, but they had always heard that the Liang army was extremely fierce, and they were very stressed in their hearts.
But Zhen Jian knew that although the Liang army was fierce, their internal strength in defending the city was average, although the Chu army's siege ability was weaker, but it didn't matter, he transferred all the gunpowder from the secret weapon courtyard this time, before the siege, the gunpowder opened the way, and the gunpowder was thrown into the city of the Liang army with a catapult, and a bombardment, no matter how fierce and brave you are, what can you do.
The successive victories greatly increased the confidence of the soldiers of the Chu army, and the morale of the troops was high, sweeping away all the counties and towns in Xuzhou, and within a radius of hundreds of miles, there was not a single soldier of Xuzhou who completely entered the control of the Chu army.
Next, it is to attack Zhengzhou, Zhengzhou is an empty city, and it is easy to take it, because Zhengzhou is close to Daliang City, the emperor of Liang is not stupid, instead of spending a large number of soldiers and horses to defend Zhengzhou, it is better to concentrate all forces in Daliang City, and deal with the Chu army, their reinforcements are on the way back, as long as they hold on until the reinforcements come back, the overall situation can be determined.
However, things did not develop in the direction imagined by the Emperor of Liang, Zhen Jian did not attack Daliang City, but bypassed Daliang City, and the soldiers were divided into two ways, all the way to attack Weizhou, all the way to attack Guidefu, due to the lack of troops in Daliang now and scattered, many cities are only guarded by thousands of soldiers and horses, and they cannot resist Zhen Jian's attack at all, Zhen Jian took Weizhou and Guide, and almost lost any soldiers, and the grain and grass he captured along the way were so much that they couldn't eat them for a year, and it had become a burden to the march, Zhen Jian ordered, Escort all the grain and grass to the outside of Daliang City, burn it, and burn it to the Emperor of Daliang.
Hundreds of thousands of stones of grain and grass stretched for six or seven miles outside the city of Daliang, burning, like a huge wall of fire, the flames soared to the sky, burning for a day and a night, the Emperor of Daliang, who had just turned twenty-seven years old, was so angry that his face was pale, and when the reinforcements arrived, he must break Zhen Jian's body into pieces.
The beggars sent news that the 200,000 troops sent by Liang to the Xiongnu had returned to King Qin, and now they had passed Henan Mansion and would soon arrive in Zhengzhou.
Liang's 200,000-strong army arrived in Zhengzhou and immediately began to launch a strong attack, vowing to take the city of Zhengzhou.
The 200,000-strong army was really extraordinary, and captured the city of Zhengzhou in only one day, but after they entered the city, they found that it was an empty city.
Then, the entire Zhengzhou city bloomed everywhere, and there was a sound of explosions, and then, the city of Zhengzhou burst into flames, and the whole city seemed to have become a big fireball, and the flames burned nearly a hundred zhang high, as if to burn the sky red, and countless Liang troops wanted to escape from Zhengzhou City, but they just escaped from the city gate, but found that there were a large number of Chu troops guarding outside, and they just rushed out, and they were greeted by a rain of arrows.
People often say that the urn catches turtles, and Zhen Jian's strategy is to stew lobsters in a cauldron, this Zhengzhou City, like a cauldron, the reinforcements of the Liang army, is a group of lobsters with teeth and claws, they themselves climbed into the cauldron, Zhen Jian has already hidden gunpowder everywhere in Zhengzhou City, all the houses are covered with hay, firewood, sulfur and other flammable things, the fire ignited, the gunpowder raged, the gunpowder exploded, this Zhengzhou City is like a boiling oil pot, 200,000 Liang troops, nowhere to escape.
The city of Zhengzhou burned for two days and two nights, the flames were finally extinguished, none of the Liang troops escaped, all followed the city and turned into ashes, Zhen Jian boarded the city wall of Zhengzhou City, full of sight, a ruin is still emitting white smoke, in addition to the strong city wall, there is no longer a complete building.
"Dashuai ......"
Gai Qing looked at Zhengzhou City, which had been reduced to ruins, felt his scalp tingle, and said, "Fight like this......
It's inevitably hurtful. ” "Fighting a war is inherently a cruel thing."
Zhen Jian said lightly, "We Chu people don't want to fight, but the Liang people and the Xiongnu have been attacking for more than 80 years, under the walls of Fancheng, there have been millions of martyrs and heroic souls......
I want to destroy the Liang State this time, even if I slaughter all the Liang army, I will not be merciful. ” Gai Qing's face was stunned when he heard this, and he was speechless for a while.
"Pass my military orders."
Zhen Jian said slowly, "Bury the pot and make rice, early tomorrow morning, and send Daliang City!"
” "Yes!"
Gai Qing immediately took the order and left.
After a long time, Xu Jie, who was dressed in an official robe, climbed the city tower and walked to Zhen Jian's side, looking at Zhengzhou City, which had been reduced to ruins, Xu Jie also felt quite emotional.
"Lord Xu."
Zhen Jian looked at him with a smile, pointed to Zhengzhou City, and said, "Everything in front of you, do you have a testimonial?"
” Xu Jie said: "It feels like a dream. ” "What's the explanation?"
Xu Jie said: "I never thought that our Great Chu would one day be able to invade the Liang State, beat the Liang State to the point that it was unable to fight back, and won a complete victory. ” Zhen Jiandao: "I told you, my plan is seamless, you have to believe me." ” Xu Jie said: "I may have had some concerns before, but now, Xu firmly believes that you will succeed!"
”