Sincerity and loyalty are the foundation of life, while cunning and ** will destroy the country. Those with bad intentions and lies occupy high positions, so that the real heroes can only sigh helplessly.
The heroes of Liangshan dominate the rivers and lakes, and one hundred and eight generals are full of pride. However, unlike other anti-kings, Song Jiang was bent on seeking peace and leading the Liangshan brothers to the path of submission to the imperial court.
However, after returning to obedience, the heroes of Liangshan became cannon fodder for the imperial court to crusade against the Quartet. They first conquered the Liao State, then leveled the Tianhu in the north of the river, and then destroyed Wang Qing in Huaixi, and finally fought in the south of the Yangtze River.
It can be said that since returning to the imperial court, the heroes of Liangshan have been fighting almost all the time. However, in the final battle against Fang La, they suffered an unprecedented blow, killing 59 people and 11 dying of disease, for a total of 70 deaths.
Although Yangsan did not win all the battles before, he did not lose so many people. So, what was it that caused them to suffer so hard against Fang La?
Let's take a look at Fang La's strength first.
Fang La, a woodcutter from the mountains of Shezhou, chops wood in the mountains every day. However, an accidental handwashing by the stream changed his life. Reflected in the water, he wore a flat crown and a dragon robe, as if he was an emperor.
This adventure convinced him that he had the destiny of the Son of Heaven, so he gathered like-minded people and began the road of resistance. Under his leadership, the power gradually expanded, and the name was changed to establish itself as a country.
He has occupied eight counties in the south of the Yangtze River, including Shezhou, Muzhou, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Changzhou, Huzhou, Xuanzhou, and Runzhou, and even pointed directly at Yangzhou. According to the description in the book, Fang La's power is not trivial, not inferior to those bandits who gather in the mountains and forests, and even compared with the Liao State.
Fang La's power should not be underestimated, his territory is vast and his troops are numerous. According to information from various sources, there are 50,000 southern soldiers in Runzhou, more than 90,000 troops in Suzhou Fangtianding, about 50,000 troops in Fangxiang, 20,000 troops in Shezhou Fangyuan, 38,000 imperial forest troops in Qingxi Fangla, and troops in Wulong Pass, Yuling Pass, Muzhou Dongguan, etc., with a total of about 250,000.
Moreover, each pass is tightly guarded, and Fang La's forces roughly have about 400,000 troops. In addition, Fang La's talent reserve is also very rich, although many people think that he only has eight generals, but in fact, he is a self-reliant country, with three provinces, six ministries and Taiwan institutes, etc., and has a lot of talents in Jiangnan.
In Fang La's forces, we can see many powerful generals. Among them are the four generalissimos Deng Yuanjue, Shi Bao, Li Tianyan, and Si Xingfang, all of whom are powerful generals.
In addition, there are Wang Yin, Fang Jie, Pang Wanchun, Lu Shinang, Liu Yun and others, and their strength is also quite good. There are also powerful forces such as the Eight Hussars, the Twelve Gods of Jiangnan, the Four Dragons of Zhejiang, and the Twenty-four Generals of Hangzhou, as well as Bao Daoyi, Zheng Biao, Du Wei, Qian Zhenpeng of Changzhou, and Bai Qin of Dongguan, among which there are many masters.
Therefore, Fang La's forces were not inferior to Liangshan in terms of the number and quality of military generals. Moreover, the Fangla forces occupy the home advantage, they are natives of Jiangnan, and they have an absolute advantage over the climate and terrain.
This may have been one of the top five reasons why Yangsan suffered heavy losses in battle.
Fangla's power is strong, and the Jiangnan region is also full of talents. Liangshan suffered serious losses during the conquest of Fangla, and the main reasons can be attributed to five aspects: 1Lost home advantage: The first thing Yangsan lost was home advantage.
As people often say, "the time is not as good as the place, and the location is not as good as the people". When Liangshan conquered Liao, Tian Hu and Wang Qing in the early stage, although they did not attack the city and occupy the territory, they all carried out horse warfare and foot warfare in the north, which was what Liangshan's forces were best at.
This can be seen from the fact that Liangshan has five tigers, eight horses, sixteen small biao generals, ten unicorns of the infantry army, and seventeen generals. However, during the conquest of Jiangnanla, Liangshan ran to the southeast and lost the home advantage.
The one hundred and eight people in Liangshan are mainly from Shandong, Hebei and Henan, all of whom are northerners, and are not very suitable for the geographical climate, customs and customs of the south of the Yangtze River, let alone water warfare.
In addition, it is a siege, which is even more difficult.
Because the heroes of Liangshan were not good at water warfare, many people lost their lives in battle, such as Shi En, Kong Liang, Hou Jian, Duan Jingzhu and others. In addition, due to climate reasons, many people have died of illness, such as Zhang Heng, Mu Hong, Kong Ming, Zhu Gui and others.
Although Yangsan did not have an advantage in the water battle, they were still able to win a crushing victory, thanks to the strength of men and people. After Fang La became the emperor, he was unpopular with the people, and the people were brutalized.
While in Wulongling, many ordinary people guided the way and helped the Song army capture Chenggui and Xie Fu.
The loss of Liangshan was not only due to the gap in personnel and troops, but when attacking Dongping Mansion, Song Jiang once said that Liangshan had 100,000 soldiers and 1,000 fierce generals, but the actual situation was that Liangshan before Zhao'an only had about 60,000 troops and 100 single and eight generals in its heyday.
Even when conquering Fangla, Liangshan obtained Runzhou and Dantu, and the strength of the army only reached about 70,000, which was still a gap compared to the Fangla army.
There are many heroes in Liangshan, but there are not many who are really capable of fighting, and most of them are only technical talents with low martial arts. Although they are more powerful in walking on the rivers and lakes, after all, they are born in green forests, and their actual operation of war is much inferior.
Although Lu Junyi is strong in martial arts, he is not a qualified coach. When attacking Yuling Pass, he did not send his capable men to investigate the road situation, but sent six generals with 3,000 people to investigate, but more than 2,000 people died before the battle began.
Dong Ping, Zhang Qing, Liu Tang and others were too reckless, perhaps because their previous wars were too smooth, so they became a little arrogant. However, Fang La's forces were not so easy to deal with.
Although Jiangnan has a rich talent pool, it is still not as good as Liangshan. However, Fang La's power structure is very tight, although the generals are not necessarily the most powerful, they cooperate tacitly, and they are cunning and ruthless.
The generals of Fang La's forces not only have strong ability to join forces, but also are amazing in their cunning and ruthlessness. They are good at using ambushes and designs, such as Pang Wanchun shooting Shi Jin and others, Wang Yin designing a pit to kill Shan Tinggui and Wei Dingguo, Shi Bao hiding at the city gate to kill Bao Xu, and so on.
Moreover, they are even more unscrupulous, and even poisoned arrows are used on the battlefield, which shows how ruthless they are. When the Liao State was conquered, Tianshan Yong's arrow hit Zhang Qing's throat and was saved, but the generals of Fang La's forces were unrelenting and attacked their opponents with poisoned arrows, which made people look at them impressively.
The departure of Gongsun Sheng and An Daoquan was an important loss for Liangshan's expedition against Fang La. Before departure, these two key talents had already left the team, and the departure of Gongsun Sheng was immeasurable for Liang Shan.
If Fan Rui was not in the team, how would Liang Shan deal with the spell attacks of enemies such as Bao Daoyi and Zheng Biao? Compared with Gongsun Sheng, An Daoquan's importance in the southeast battlefield cannot be ignored.
He participated in the Battle of Zhengfangla, but was recalled due to a minor illness of Song Huizong. If An Daoquan was still in the team, many of the injured would not have died, and at least more than a dozen people could have been left.
The main reason why the Liangshan men and horses suffered heavy losses in the campaign against Fangla was that the nature of the expedition to Fangla had changed. In the previous three wars, the two sides did not reach the point of fighting for life and death.
In the battles of Liao, Tianhu, and Wangqing, although there were also some captured generals, the two sides did not immediately execute them, but chose to exchange generals or save people.
However, in the battle against Fangla, the two sides had clearly reached a consensus that they would fight to the death, and any captured soldiers would be put to death. This brutal fighting environment caused the Liangshan men and horses to suffer heavy losses in the battle against Fangla, and many important battles were captured and executed by the enemy, including Hao Siwen and Pang Wanchun.
It is an unavoidable fact that the heroes of Liangshan have run out of energy. Their glory began with outwitting the Shengchengang, and they experienced many battles such as three dozen Zhujiazhuang, Qingzhou, Xiyue Huashan, taking the Daimyo Mansion, and breaking Zengtou City, until they reached their peak when they gathered together.
However, there is no banquet in the world that will not be dispersed, and it is an iron law in the world that prosperity must decline. It is precisely this situation in Liangshan, which went into decline after its peak. Fei Bao once said to Li Jun: "My brother has been in Liangshan for more than ten years, and he has won all battles.
When he went to break the Great Liao, he never lost a single brother. This time, I saw the frustration of the sharp spirit, and the days were not long. "Liangshan has been in the mountains for decades, and the gas has been exhausted. The young men who were at the beginning have become middle-aged people, and they will inevitably go into decline, which is an important reason for the great loss of the people and horses in Liangshan.
In addition, there is the problem of treachery and evil against the country. Even if Liangshan did not damage the men and horses when he conquered Fang La, but the traitorous ministers were in power, they could not tolerate them, and they would be allowed to fight the second and third Fang La, until Liang Shan disappeared.
Since the time of Zhao'an, Liangshan has been destined to embark on this tragic road.