Chapter 353 Growth (Additional update for alliance leader Wang Zhiyi 0524)
It was nearly June, and wormwood was everywhere in the farmland that had been abandoned for a long time.
In the dense reeds on the river bank, wild ducks soar into the sky.
The plateau is full of graves. The Qingming Festival has passed, but no one is sweeping the new or old graves.
This seems to be a forgotten land.
Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves came from far and near, occasionally mixed with the sound of weapons clashing.
At the front were more than a hundred riders, all galloping as if they were trying to escape.
The people running in front were okay, and the dozen or so riders who fell behind had more or less arrows stuck in their bodies.
And dozens of steps behind them, the cavalry, whose number was almost three times theirs, shouted loudly and roared again and again.
Some people hold spears, some hold halberds, and some hold horn bows and sneak up to shoot an arrow.
Both sides chased and fled, running for several miles in the blink of an eye.
At this time, more than two hundred horses rushed towards the fleeing party from the southeast. Judging from their attire, they looked more like Wuhuan and Xiongnu than the people of the Central Plains. But their target was precisely the miscellaneous cavalrymen who were escaping in front. Their movements were fast, fierce and merciless. It seemed that they had been ambushing here for a long time.
Yes, the place where they started was a forest.
After coming out of the woods, I submerged myself in the wormwood that was almost as tall as a person. I slowly accelerated. After I heard the continuous sound of horse hooves, I suddenly rushed out and cut into the enemy jungle from the flank. With a series of bows, the enemy soldiers were instantly killed and turned upside down.
The pursuers rushed in, surrounded the enemy from the rear, and slaughtered them wantonly.
A successful ambush!
There is no doubt that this is the cooperation between the two groups of people, consciously driving the enemy into the preset battlefield, and then gathering together to encircle and annihilate them.
There was a slight error during the execution, which allowed the Huns to escape the first ambush area. Fortunately, the plan itself was redundant and more troops were mobilized. If one failed, there was a second one.
This battle has entered the final stage.
The Hun cavalry knew they could not escape. Some desperately fought to the death, some begged for surrender in unfamiliar Mandarin, and some were so heartbroken that they faced the other side's cavalry, charging straight ahead regardless, trying to break out of a Break through the gap and escape.
But all in vain.
The Wuhuan Qingqi of the Beggar Army were cruising in the periphery.
The shock cavalry of the Yi Congjun were armed with long halberds. After getting close, they charged and struck fiercely, and soon knocked off the last group of enemy cavalry who dared to resist.
When the Huns occasionally broke through the blockade and tried to escape, the beggar army's rangers immediately surrounded them and shot the thieves and their horses into hedgehogs.
The battle ended quickly.
The cavalry of the Yi Congjun dismounted, first rescued their own wounded soldiers, and then refreshed the Huns and cleaned the battlefield.
The beggar army can also pick up some benefits. The meat of injured and dead horses can be taken away, and the leather can be handed over, especially the highest quality horse crotch leather.
The enemy's damaged ordnance is allowed to be taken away, and it can be repaired and used again.
The sons of Yi Congjun still look down upon these things.
These Xiongnu light cavalry are slippery and extremely fast. Most of them are wearing furs, and only a few of them have leather armor for protection.
It's not that there are no melee weapons, but the skills are rough and I'm not very good at them.
Their greatest characteristics are their flexibility, fast speed, and accurate riding and shooting, which makes them a headache to harass.
To deal with them, we can only mobilize several times the number of troops as much as possible, use ambush, lure the enemy and other means to surround and annihilate one of them with superior force, so as to make them fearful, increase their costs, and curb the rampage of the enemy. arrogance.
“It’s really not easy to catch such a group of thieves.” Manyu, the governor of Yi Cong, climbed up a small slope and looked at the corpses of men and horses scattered on the ground, sighing.
He was followed by three cavalry generals, the deputy governor Qiao Hong, the general Duan Xiong, and the general Yinqi.
Qiao Hong was a Huns and a descended general. He brought most of the more than 300 cavalrymen in the early days of the Yi Congjun.
Duan Xiong was from the Forbidden Army. He once ambushed the Huns at Qili Pass. At that time, he was still leading armored cavalry. He was transferred out of the town by Sima Yue and went to Yanzhou. After going round and round, he returned to Chen Gong's tent. .
Yinqi is new here, from Liangzhou. After recruiting a thousand Liangzhou cavalry, their faction occupied a large share of the Yi Cong army.
To be honest, Manyu was under great pressure.
As the chief officer of Yi Congjun when it was founded, Mr. Chen has never moved his position, perhaps out of love or for other reasons. But no matter what, when the size of the army is expanding day by day and the factions are becoming more and more complex, it is a great test of his ability.
He spent almost all his time with this unit.
I often feel inadequate and incompetent, and then I force myself to start painful studies. Just after I have improved, I find that there are more capable people, so I try my best to learn and ask for advice - I can’t be looked down upon by others. , Otherwise, how can he control the entire army?
This ambush of the Xiongnu was a decision he made after overcoming all objections. He mobilized nearly a thousand cavalry, just to surround and annihilate two to three hundred enemy cavalry. However, he initially alerted the enemy and even let people run away. More than a hundred riders.
Fortunately, the final result was not bad. More than 170 enemy cavalry were captured and killed, which greatly dealt a blow to their arrogance.
"Warlord, if you fight like this, you will inevitably be attacked." Yinqi said unceremoniously: "We mobilized thousands of cavalry, but only fewer than two hundred were killed. And in Chenliu, Puyang, Dongping, Ji In the north and other places, the Huns are still looting, destroying crops and houses, and the people are displaced and lying in the wild. If this continues, it will do great damage to Mr. Chen's reputation."
"What can you do? ?" Manyu asked.
"No." Yin Qi said: "I just told the warlord that this is not the answer."
Fuck! Man Yu felt resentful in his heart. If he didn't find any solution, he would just ask questions, right?
"You are the military governor, I am not." Yin Qi smiled and went to gather the troops.
Qiao Hong laughed sarcastically and said: "Warlord, this guy has a stinky face all day long and doesn't like anyone. Next time, send him across the river to harass Shi Le." Duan Xiong was surprised when he heard this. He glanced at Qiao Hong.
Why is this happening between colleagues? How many people can Yinqi take to Hebei? Even if you bring a thousand Liangzhou cavalry with you, if you are surrounded by people and find a place in the wilderness to shoot at you from all sides, so that you cannot take advantage of close combat, wouldn't it mean that your entire army will be annihilated?
What's more, he didn't believe that the Huns didn't have any cavalry to charge and fight hand-to-hand. Xianbei has a lot of heavy cavalry who are good at charging, and Liu Han has a forbidden army. He should have both heavy armored infantry and heavy cavalry. This is a big deal.
Damn, the Huns are unreliable!
“Don’t talk behind people’s backs.” Man Yu glared at Qiao Hong, then pointed to the distance and said, “Send a beggar for me.”
"Overseer, you are such a beggar. You think highly of them when you come to fight. Why bother?" Qiao Hong said disapprovingly.
Man Yu looked around and said: "The beggar army came to help the battle on the order of the Dowager Princess of the East China Sea."
"On the order of the Dowager Princess?" Qiao Hong was a little confused. Explanation: "Where is the heir?"
"The heir is studying behind closed doors, and all affairs in the palace are decided by the concubine. I guess that the concubine will not step down until the heir gets married. This is such a heavy burden. Go quickly and don't ask questions."
Qiao Hong left with question marks on his face.
Manyu got on his horse and descended the high slope.
The cavalry gradually gathered and walked on the bank of the canal.
Ahead is Putianze, one of the famous swamps in ancient times, located three miles east of Guancheng.
The Great Wall (Zhenghan Great Wall) in the west, Guandu in the east, and Peiqushui in the north. The longest point from east to west is about fifty miles, and the north and south are twenty-six miles. The water area is very vast.
Putian Ze connects to the Yellow River in the north, Jishui and Laodang Canal in the east, and communicates with the Bian Canal and Honggou water systems.
It also has the function of regulating flood peaks and water volume. "If the water is strong, it will flow to the north (Yellow River), and if the canal overflows, it will flow to the south (Bian Canal)."
In this era, there were only a few sand hills in Putianze. Perhaps because of its connection to the Yellow River and years of war, it was unable to maintain water conservancy facilities. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, Putian Ze gradually silted up and sandbars increased. The entire Daze was divided into 24 lakes, connected by waterways.
In the Tang Dynasty, a lot of area around Putianze was developed, so the Zhengzhou administrative office was moved here.
During the Qing Dynasty, Pu Tianze gradually disappeared due to the construction of farmland around the lake.
There are a large number of ships moored in the Putian Ze.
Several sand hills in the middle of the river were transformed into docks, and they were crowded and noisy.
Man Yu led the people to stop at the temporary station south of Putian Ze.
In the wetland area, the water plants are extremely abundant.
Especially after the flood receded, the muddy ground was covered with lush pasture.
The horses wandered around, chewing happily.
Li Ju, the commander of Wubao, was appointed as the order of Xingyang. He brought a group of people from his Wubao to graze cattle, sheep and horses outside Putianze, and cut the grass to dry and chop it as a reserve. forage.
This is also an advantage of inside operations.
Wubao and military cities are everywhere, and supplies can be made at any time. In the future, if the number of horses increases, horses can even be replaced, which will greatly increase combat efficiency.
When the Huns came south, they would face such a disadvantage.
When the Jin people went north, they would also encounter the problem of insufficient supplies.
Attacking deep into enemy territory is always more difficult than defending.
"Dang-dang..." A clear bell rang on a sand hill in the middle of the lake.
After a while, a ship left the dock and slowly headed north.
Then the second and third ships...
This is the fleet of Yang Bao, the captain of the Du branch, fully loaded with grain and silk sent from Guangling, and transported to Beijing.
The troop carriers sat nervously on the front and rear decks, carrying bow tips, quivers, and crossbows in their hands.
The fleet may encounter an enemy surprise attack, so they cannot help but ignore it.
I heard that Jin Zheng, the deputy governor of the Silver Spear Army, brought more than 8,000 chariots, horses and auxiliary troops to Aocang. He should be escorting these canals to Luoyang.
From Aocang to Luoyang, trackers are needed along the way. The Huns may not be able to attack the boats on the river, but they can still attack the trackers, so they must send troops to escort them.
"Jin Zheng..." Manyu thought silently.
It seems that Mr. Chen is going to focus on cultivating their ability to be independent.
Jin Zheng, Wang Queer, Hou Feihu and others have great prestige in the Silver Spear Army, they are very familiar with them, and they are easy to command. They should be the first batch of people to take on important tasks.
Manyu felt a sense of crisis.
This life of a person is like sailing against the current. If you don’t advance, you will retreat.
Man Yu had a headache when he thought that there were so many people in the Yi Cong Army who were dissatisfied with him. I have no choice but to improve myself.
Martial arts and military strategy cannot be left behind.
He is still young - or too young - and has plenty of opportunities.
(End of this chapter)