Chapter 356: Nonsense
The Huns have retreated from Xin'an, and Luoyang has returned to peace.
The caravan that had been stranded in Liang County for a long time headed north again, passing through Yique Pass to Luoyang. The court seized the time to collect taxes to make up for the increasingly empty treasury.
The wheat seedlings in the farmlands of Luonan counties are growing well, which makes people feel extremely at ease.
Everything seems to be going for the best.
At this time, waves of troop mobilizations ushered in near Liang County.
All the remaining old horses in Guangchengze were transferred away, and even a batch of new horses were requisitioned. Folk donkeys, mules, and the like were recruited as much as possible. Once a batch was requisitioned, a batch was sent away. batch.
In the northern part of Puyang Suanzao County, troops have been gathering here continuously since a few days ago.
More than 2,000 cavalrymen from the Yi Congjun were mobilized, and about 1,200 infantrymen who could ride horses also came.
On the seventh day of June, a thousand soldiers came over.
On the ninth day of June, due to the order of the general shogunate of the town army, the beggar army from Chenliu and Liang Guo mobilized more than 700 cavalry and brought their bows to Suanzaojiu.
On the tenth day of June, two hundred soldiers from Yangcheng Prefecture arrived.
On the 11th, 300 Liang County soldiers arrived...
The lineup was extremely large. By the 16th, 2,000 soldiers and 3,000 Yi Congbu had been gathered. Cavalry, more than 700 Wuhuan Qingqi, a beggar army, plus more than 200 Shao soldiers, a total of more than 6,000 people, more than 9,600 horses, more than 4,000 mules, and 3,000 donkeys, almost all the family wealth Empty.
The more than 6,000 people have no auxiliary troops, they are all fighting soldiers. In other words, the soldiers must complete the work of the auxiliary soldiers themselves.
On the 17th, the soldiers loaded all kinds of luggage on the backs of the pack animals.
In addition to weapons, there are also a large number of vinegar cakes - Hu cakes are soaked in vinegar and dried, and can be stored for up to sixty days.
Horse ingredients are also indispensable, mainly cooked beans and salt.
We are out on an expedition and the military situation is raging. It is too slow to replenish energy by grazing horses. We may have to herd horses most of the day. We cannot afford to delay, so we can only feed them food directly.
Do not bring unnecessary items, such as cooking utensils, grindstones, etc., to reduce the weight of the draft animals as much as possible to free up space to carry more dry food and horse feed.
Even so, at the end of the day, the food was still only enough for twelve or thirteen days.
Eat sparingly, maybe you can consume two or three more days, but it won’t be too much.
People can be hungry for a day or two and persist. The horse is not good enough, even if it's hungry, it won't run if it says it won't.
At the same time, Suanzao County also organized manpower to pull out the small wooden boats prepared in advance from the river and began to erect pontoons on the river.
On the other side of the river is Ji County. Although it is shaky and looks like it will be captured by the Huns at the next moment, it is still under our own control and there will be no main enemy troops coming to harass it.
Therefore, when Shao Xun set off with a large force on the night of the 17th, the pontoon bridge had already been erected.
It took a whole night and half a day before all the army crossed north to Ji County. After a short rest, they roared eastward and disappeared into the vast wilderness.
******
The army advanced almost parallel to the north bank of the Yellow River.
On the night of the 18th, I stayed in the rural farmland between Ji County and Chaoge County.
On the afternoon of the 19th, it passed by the north of Yanjin. After nightfall, it did not stop, crossed the river directly, and passed south of Fangtou.
At this time, the Huns just woke up from a dream and immediately went to Yecheng and Changshan to report to Shi Chao and Shi Le.
Seeing their performance, Shao Xun secretly thought, "It's nothing."
When you go south, you make me hard to guard against. When I go north, your performance is also very impressive. Have you never thought that there would be so many horses, donkeys and mules galloping north of the river?
However, the Huns did not look for trouble, and Shao Xun did not bother to care about them.
After all, there are only a few soldiers who are good at mounted combat, and most of them are mounted infantry.
As for the mounted infantry, they cannot defeat the Huns' light cavalry when fighting on horseback. There is no need to attack the enemy's strengths with their own shortcomings.
On the afternoon of the 20th, the entire army marched into Liyangjin and dispersed more than a hundred Huns soldiers guarding Jinguan.
The whole army rested all night.
That evening, when Shao Xun looked at Baima Mountain on the other side of the river, Baima Jin had organized manpower to ferry some supplies over in small boats to replenish consumption.
At this time, many Xiongnu rangers had appeared in the wild. I don't know if they were Shi Chao's troops or Shi Le's soldiers. But they were small in number, with no more than a hundred riders per group at most. Facing the Jin army occupying Liyangjin, which had cavalry and heavily armored infantry, they did not dare to get too close.
Their top priority should be to gather the cavalry scattered everywhere so that they can fight.
But no one will wait for them stupidly.
On the 21st, the army continued eastward.
At this time, Shao Xun found that the troops were not moving as fast as in the first day or two.
This is normal. Even if one person has two horses, the speed of the attack will slowly decrease over time. After all, fatigue accumulates, and a night's rest is not enough to relieve it all.
On the afternoon of the 22nd, the entire army arrived in the south of Dunqiu County and rested as usual.
The number of Huns cavalry roaming in the wild gradually increased, with the largest group reaching two thousand, and they began to approach and harass.
Shao Xun ordered his soldiers to dismount and form a formation, and used crossbows to drive away the bandit cavalry. Then he ordered the Liangzhou horses to charge directly into the formation, while Wuhuan's light cavalry outflanked them, driving the bandits to pieces.
In fact, the Huns' light cavalry were very fast and not many people died. However, after discovering that this Jin army's combined infantry and cavalry had strong combat power, they knew they had little chance, so they quickly dispersed.
They couldn't handle the Jin army, which numbered more than 10,000, so they had to ask Da Hu to come in person. In the evening, Shao Xun took Yu Liang outside a fort southeast of Dunqiu.
"Yuan Gui, why are you here?" When Wubao commander Li Shou came out, he was shocked when he saw Yu Liang.
"Come with Chen Gong to fight." Yu Liang saluted and said.
Yu Liang had one wife and two concubines. His first wife was the Xun family. The two concubines were respectively from the Shang family in Jijun and the Li family in Dunqiu. They were all small and medium-sized local noble families.
The main lineage of the Li family in Dunqiu has traveled south with the prefect Lemo and settled in Nandun and Xincai, but some people have stayed, such as Li Shou.
"Could it be an attack on Hebei?" Li Shou glanced at the general stationed at Ma Gaopo in the distance in surprise and asked.
"It is inconvenient to say more about this matter. Today I just ask for some water and horses and mules." Yu Liang said.
Li Shou hesitated for a while.
Yu Liang was a little anxious and said: "You should hesitate during the official holiday. It will be in your own interests to fight back to Hebei in the future."
Li Shou was silent for a while and sent people back to Wubao.
After a while, a group of people pulled a cart and left the city via the suspension bridge.
There was a lot of "grain" loaded on the car. Yu Liang took a look and found that it was just bran and grain.
This is not for people to eat. Mix bran and grain with some salt water, which is suitable for feeding horses.
"Steamed cakes are being made in the kitchen. They will be delivered in a few moments." Li Shou said.
After finishing speaking, he sighed, looking a little hesitant.
He didn’t know whether it was right or wrong, but he had done it, so what could he do?
He looked at the general, who was pointing in the distance.
Following his instructions, a group of cavalry rushed out from time to time and disappeared on the horizon.
After giving instructions, people collected some horses and sent them to Wubao.
Li Shou took a glance and saw that most of them were horseshoes with cracked hooves that had not been trimmed, so he accepted them with confidence, and then gave them some horses, donkeys and mules in exchange for them to maintain their mobility.
After a while, the steaming steamed cakes were brought out basket by basket...
******
Gou Xi in the countryside of Guofan County, Dongping Taking a sledgehammer, he smashed Sima Yue's tombstone into several pieces.
After smashing it, I felt much relieved.
He ran in such a mess that he didn’t have time to clean up anything. His wife and family were all trapped in Qingzhou, which made him very angry.
After sitting down with a heavy breath, he took the letter from his staff, scanned it roughly, and sneered again and again.
“…The Duke was listed with honors early and offered many good advices. From the north to the south of the river, he accomplished hundreds of battles. The victory shocked the three armies and cheered the six counties… The Duke upholds the spirit of the mountains and rivers, and receives the blessings of the universe. Qi is actually the town of the country and the shield of the country. I have been friends with the gods for a long time, and now I am willing to donate 100,000 grains, thousands of armored soldiers, and 500 war horses to strengthen the military needs."
"... In the land of Qingzhou, the owl jackals have invaded and harassed Henan, and I am still uneasy. There are Huns in the north and chaos in the south. I also have the important task of supervising the canal. I can't choose the three counties of Dongping, Jibei and Taishan as my base. Soldiers, guard the borders of the state, stop the thieves from spying on them, and appease those who rebel. "... I have always known the talents of the public, and I have always been prepared for the dangers of the mountains and rivers. The troops are at the forefront, the trenches are deep and the bases are high. Given time, the traitors will be disturbed and the thieves will be defeated. This is all the result of the public."
"... It may be said that there was a small gap between the Duke and the former Situ. Now that he has passed away, everything is over. The heir king and concubine of Donghai also know that the Duke is responsible for the long-term strategy of the country, and he has the sincerity of the country in his mind. I wish to express my respect to him. Using the prestige of the duke to regulate the counties, the duke should not be suspicious."
After reading the two pages, Gou Xi directly balled up and threw it away, saying: "Shao Quanzhong is tricking me. I thought I was three years old. Where is the child?"
Gou Chun picked up the letter from the ground, read it silently, and said: "Brother, it is true that Shao Xun cannot be separated. I heard that Shi Le and Shi Chao repeatedly sent troops south, and Nanyang was in chaos again. , He also has to bear the responsibility of water transportation, and he really can't spare much troops. On the other hand, the Huns usually go south to harvest grain and wheat during the autumn harvest. Shao Xun would rather not be prepared for this. If he can't win quickly if he sends troops eastward, He is surrounded by enemies on all sides and is expected to be defeated. He shouldn't dare to offend us now."
"Confused!" Gou Xi scolded and said, "Even if Shao Xun is not able to fight with me for the time being. How can you be unprepared? Does this look like a war?"
Gou Chun was speechless.
"Send all the rangers out and go west deep into Puyang and Jiyin to investigate the movements of Shao's troops. Remember, you must not slack off. If you see Shao's army mobilized, report it immediately. Especially the Silver Spear The army is the top priority," Gou Xi ordered.
"Okay, I will arrange the manpower now." Gou Chun said.
"How many people do you have on hand?" Gou Xi asked again.
“Five thousand new refugees were recruited, and now there are more than 8,000.”
Gou Xi nodded and said, “Tomorrow we will go south to Gaoping to recruit troops and collect food.”
He had several old acquaintances in Gaoping, who were the old generals who had followed him in the great defeat of Jisang in Dongwuyang, and they agreed to help him recruit new soldiers and expand his troops.
Yanzhou still makes people feel comfortable, and there are acquaintances everywhere.
With the old ministry and the governor Qing Xu Yanyu Jingyang in the name of military affairs, as long as there are soldiers, there are many things that can be done.
To be honest, he is unwilling to go to war with Shao Xun now, but this does not mean that he completely believes Shao Xun's lies.
Even if he has to go south to Gaoping to gather money, food and soldiers, he will keep one eye on Kaocheng and never dare to slack off.
On June 25th, Gou Xi led more than 15,000 old and new soldiers southward, heading straight for Gaoping State.
(End of this chapter)