Chapter 292 Tian Hu: It’s over, I’ve become a shield
The Western Army crossed the Yellow River and arrived in Shanxi.

The first person to feel afraid was not the Liangshan Expeditionary Force, but Tian Hu.

Liangshan’s base camp is in Shandong, far away from Shanxi!
The strategic depth is thousands of miles, so even if there are one or two major defeats, it doesn’t matter.

With Liangshan's current strength, it can afford to fail many times.

But Tian Hu was different. His base was in the three states of Shanxi. He had no conditions to avoid war, nor could he withstand a major defeat.

If we are defeated, just one big defeat, we will be really finished.

The Western Army swept across the southwestern part of Shanxi like a comb and approached Jinning Prefecture. Tian Hu was restless in the newly built imperial palace in Jinyang City.

Liu Yanqing, commander of the Western Army, would not avoid Tian Hu's forces. To lift the siege of Taiyuan, he must first defeat Tian Hu and open up the grain route from Kaifeng Prefecture to Shanxi.

There is no need to explain in detail the importance of food supply to the army.

The Western Army could attack Taiyuan Prefecture directly from the Song-Xia border, but food and supplies had to be transported to Shanxi via Kaifeng Prefecture over the shortest distance.

The longer the food route is, the more food is consumed.

The imperial court could not afford the waste.

Moreover, there are rebellions in various places now. If the grain route is long and is robbed by bandits, the Western Army going to rescue will not only be unable to do so but may even collapse directly without any food or pay.

Therefore, no matter from which perspective, Tian Hu must be eliminated first.

There was no possibility of crossing Tian Hu and engaging in battle with the Liangshan army.

Unless the imperial court ignored the siege of Taiyuan and directly attacked Shandong, planning to "besiege Wei to save Zhao".

But you know, it's not far for the Western Army to lift the siege of Taiyuan. But if they attack Shandong, they will have to march from the westernmost part of the Song Dynasty to the easternmost part of the Song Dynasty.

You also have to pass through Kaifeng, the most prosperous prefecture in the Song Dynasty.

The court debated this issue for three days, and finally decided to attack Tian Hu first.

Pick the soft persimmons that are easy to squeeze.

As soon as the Western Army crossed the Yellow River, Tian Hu made plans for a major battle.

At this moment, Jin Wang Tian Hu felt more bitter than if he had eaten Coptis chinensis.

He became Liangshan's shield in the south!

Face the Western Army head-on!
"Brother, the Western Army has already engaged Jin Wang Tian Hu."

The leader of the secret infantry, Shi Qian, came to report.

"What is the leader's name?" Cao Jie asked.

"The commander is Liu Yanqing, and this guy... blah blah blah... The vanguard is a young general named Han Shizhong. This guy is so brave that he turned into a giant python and fought Tian Hu under the city of Jinyang. Tian Hu was defeated... and he dared not leave the city to fight again!"

"Han Powu!"

When Han Shizhong was young, he was nicknamed "Han Powu" in his hometown of Suide. Simply put, he means the fifth child in the family.

Later, he repented and stopped being a scoundrel. Like most men in Suide, he joined the army.

Han Shizhong was stationed in the northwest with the army. He participated in the battle shortly after joining the army. Because of his bravery in combat, he was promoted from a soldier to a squad leader, in charge of only a dozen people.

Although his official position was low, Han Shizhong was still able to take responsibility actively. The soldiers he led were all older than him, but Han Shizhong was brave in battle, fair and upright in his dealings, and spoke honestly and reasonably, so everyone listened to him.

Once, the Song army attacked Yinzhou but failed to take it after a long siege. Han Shizhong fought hard to break the city, killed the enemy general guarding the city and took his head. The Song army was encouraged and rushed forward and captured the city.

This is the merit of being the first to reach the summit.

In ancient times, there were four major military merits: first to climb the wall, breaking through the enemy’s formation, beheading the general, and capturing the flag. The first person to climb the wall was called first to climb the wall. This was the fastest way for low-level soldiers with poor backgrounds to be promoted.

Famous generals such as Yu Jin and Le Jin in the Three Kingdoms period, and Xu Da and Chang Yuchun in the early Ming Dynasty were all strong warriors who were the first to ascend the throne.

To break a formation, you need wisdom and even more connections. You have to be able to command an army. You can't break a formation by yourself.

Killing the general and capturing the flag can be completed together most of the time, because when the general is with the flag, in addition to high martial arts, it often requires a certain amount of luck, the right time, the right place, and the right people.

Only the first to climb the mountain can be accomplished independently with brute force and fearlessness, so the first to climb the mountain has always been ranked first among the four major military merits and is the lifelong pursuit of countless ordinary soldiers.

In that battle, although Han Shizhong was the first to achieve great merit in beheading a general, he did not receive a major reward and was never promoted.

Later, the Western Xia army stationed a large number of troops at Haopingling. Han Shizhong led his elite troops in a fierce battle and repelled them. Soon after, the Western Xia attacked again from another route. Han Shizhong arranged for the death-defying troops to fight desperately, and the Xia army retreated slightly. There was a knight in the Xia army who fought bravely. Han Shizhong asked the captured Xia soldier and learned that he was the Xixia's military supervisor, the son-in-law. So he jumped on his horse and charged into the battle and beheaded him.

The Western Xia soldiers were thrown into chaos and fled in panic.

After the war, the Jinglüe Division finally reported his achievements to the court and requested an exceptional promotion for Han Shizhong. However, Tong Guan, who was in charge of border affairs at the time, doubted the authenticity of the report and only agreed to promote Han Shizhong by one level, which made all the generals feel very unfair.

Han Powu sacrificed his life in the northwest, but to this day, he is just a minor general.

This is the lowest-ranking general of miscellaneous rank. When placed in the wing army, he is equivalent to the military commander of a prefecture, just like Dong Ping and Huang Xin.

It’s not that the court doesn’t have capable people, but that they are not being reused!

The city of Taiyuan has long been on the verge of collapse.

The artillery built by Liangshan Leibu was far more powerful than that of this era. After more than half a month of bombing, one side of the majestic city wall had collapsed. Li Kui's F4 barbarian soldiers attacked the city once, and although they were repelled, judging from the intensity of the counterattack, the Zhe family army was already at the end of its strength.

Cao Jie subdued Shi Wenbin of Fenzhou and his 8,000 soldiers, and then rushed to Taiyuan City.

"King Wei, Tian Hu cannot stop the Western Army's offensive. Before the Western Army defeats Tian Hu, we must capture Taiyuan City so that we can rely on the strong city to confront the Western Army."

As a commander, Hu Yanzhuo had to focus not only on local wars, but also on the overall situation.

He pointed at the map and said, "First, I have already sent Guan Sheng to attack Fuzhou. The Zhe family army is all from Fuzhou. Once Fuzhou is captured, the people will be in a panic. Second, when the news of Fuzhou's capture arrives, the army will attack Taiyuan City and take it in one battle."

"You can capture the women and children of the Zhe family and bring them to Taiyuan to force the Zhe brothers to surrender." Cao Jie added.

War is always cruel.

Faced with such a strong city and a powerful general, we must win this battle no matter how difficult it is.

Liangshan started its army in Shandong and attacked Xuzhou, Cangzhou, and Daming Prefecture, but the casualties from all the attacks combined were not as great as those from the attack on Taiyuan Prefecture.

"Brother, let me charge for a while longer, and we will surely be able to capture Taiyuan."

Li Kui kept crying out.

The number of barbarian knife-wielding warriors commanded by Liangshan F4 has also expanded to three thousand people.

As soon as these four brothers appear on the battlefield, they become meat grinders.

"Brother, my heavy infantry can directly tear through the collapsed city wall defense line and take it down in one battle." Wu Song asked for a fight.

Cao Jie's eyes lingered on the southern Tian Hu forces for a long time: "Wait three days, if Fuzhou has not been taken by Guan Sheng, then attack Taiyuan Prefecture by force."

"Yes!"

Let’s not talk about the brothers going to prepare for war.

Under the city of Jinyang, Tian Hu had a look of frustration. The Western Army's offensive came wave after wave, and he could not stop it.

(End of this chapter)