Chapter 384 Where is Jin Zhun?
Although there were only three hundred armored cavalry, the charge was astonishingly powerful. After crashing into the thicket of Huns and horses, their halberds and horse spears either danced or stabbed, and almost no one could defeat them.
The Huns were slightly separated from their formation by the Wuhuan Qingqi in front. After seeing the armored cavalry charging, they subconsciously wanted to dodge to both sides.
This kind of avoidance is effective. For example, people on the edge have successfully escaped.
But the effect is not very good, because the middle part is washed away.
Following them are veteran troops such as the Qiaoqi Army's Shangqi Du, Yu Lin Du, and Hu Ben Du.
At their peak, these cavalry units had no less than 500 or even 1,000 cavalry each. Because the imperial court had no money, it was difficult to improve the establishment after the war damage, and it had been greatly reduced by this time. But when charging, they were still extremely brave, showing the style of the old Luoyang Chinese Army.
They even suppressed their speed, expanded to both sides, widened the gap, and drove the dizzy Hun cavalry to the outside, making it difficult for them to assemble for a while.
Following them were the Yi Congjun, and the Liangzhou horses on the outside were outflanking them.
Armed with spears, horse spears, and halberds, they moved forward inexorably, constantly driving the enemy forward, without giving them a chance to distance themselves and mass their cavalry and shoot.
rush! rush! rush!
Rush until the end of time, until the enemy completely loses the courage to fight again.
Jin Zhun has come down from the tower.
After a while, the south gate of Gaoping opened wide, and hundreds of cavalry were guarding him. They rushed up from the flank and fought with a Liangzhou army on the left.
They rushed very quickly, and after only a slight struggle, they overcame the interception of the Liangzhou soldiers and rushed towards the big battlefield in the center.
The Yi Congjun at the back saw this and detached some of their men to fight with them.
Jin Zhun sighed secretly, there was no chance, and he quickly left the battlefield.
The soldiers waved the flag and asked the defeated soldiers to move closer to it.
The Liangzhou soldiers followed closely, but gave up after a while because the horse could no longer run.
Jin Zhun continued to move forward, gathering his defeated troops along the way, and headed eastward.
After seeing his general's flag, the Huns seemed to have found guidance and moved closer in despair.
Jin Zhun looked back while running, feeling a chill in his heart.
Looking downcast, he completely lost the courage to fight again and just ran away.
There are more than 5,400 cavalry, which makes people with less than 4,000 cavalry feel overwhelmed.
The more Jin Zhun thought about it, the colder his heart became, and the more he thought about it, the sadder he became.
The Huns cavalry could not defeat the Xianbei cavalry in a head-on charge, and often caused the Tuoba tribe to be dashed to pieces. They could not defeat the Central Plains cavalry, and they were also dashed to pieces.
Has the age of mounted archers really passed?
While lamenting, he ran and ran for an unknown number of miles. When he found that no one was chasing him, he sighed and went to find an abandoned village to rest.
It is impossible to move forward without feeding the horse.
During this period, broken troops continued to come to join together. By the time they set off again, two to three thousand riders had gathered.
At this time, news of pursuing troops came from the west.
Jin Zhun wanted to stay and fight, but when he saw that everyone around him was silent and demoralized, he sighed and withdrew.
While withdrawing, more than a hundred people were dispatched to contain the defeated troops, contact the returning cavalry, and join them when they arrived.
******
After the battle, Shao Xun immediately sent people to recruit the infantry defending the city, but they were rejected.
The guard general's name was Jin Kang, who was Jin Zhun's nephew. He dispatched trustworthy troops on the spot and killed dozens of rioting newcomers, barely stabilizing the position.
The enemy did not surrender, and Shao Xun didn't know what to do for a while.
There is no other choice but to abandon the city's defenders, detach one of them, replace them with a group of war horses with sufficient horsepower, and pursue eastward.
He asked Bei Gongchun to lead his people back to meet the last two groups of soldiers, mainly to get water from the horses.
We set out from Jiyin on the night of the eighth day of October, carrying only five or six days’ worth of food and water. Two days have passed and the most important thing is to obtain supplies.
During the rest period, Huns cavalry returned from other places one after another. They saw the tragic battlefield outside Gaoping City from a distance, and they lost their voices for a while.
With almost no exception, these hundreds of Huns riding in one group walked away directly.
In the evening, the pursuing troops returned from the east, and Yin Qi shouted: "Someone saw Jin Zhun running to the southeast."
"General, chase him!"
"Chase him. The Huns are newly defeated and will have no intention of fighting. If we wait for a few days to let them recover, many more people will die if we fight again."
"Let's gather some food and water. Then gather together the horses and gather 2,000 men to chase him. Even if Jin Zhun can gather 5,000 horses, he can just overwhelm him."
"The Huns are too scattered, so they can't. Let them come to their senses."
Shao Xun stretched out his hand and stopped everyone's words.
"You - come here." Shao Xun pointed to an official accompanying the army and said.
"Ming Gong." The clerk came over with a sad face.
"Your home is in Dongmin City?"
"Yes." The clerk's face became even more bitter, but he did not dare to say anything.
He was originally an official in Jiyin County and was assigned by the prefect to accompany the army on the expedition. Of course, he was not asked to go into battle, but asked to return to his hometown near Dongmin City to provide supplies for the army.
It’s so pitiful that he doesn’t even know if his family members are still there or if they were killed by the Huns.
Even here, he must have been blackmailed by the Xiongnu. Now that Duke Chen comes with his army again, even if he only stays for a day or two, his family will be emptied and he will become a "glorious" refugee army. member.
Shao Xun was also a little depressed.
Obviously it is an internal battle, but why is it so difficult to get supplies like it is a battle on enemy territory?
His dominance became weaker and weaker as he went eastward, and by the time he reached Gaoping, it was already a bit difficult to use.
Night fell quickly.
Shao Xun arranged a group of cavalry to monitor Gaoping City.
But there was no movement in the city all night, and the guard did not even intend to leave the city for a night attack, which made him very regretful.
There must be a large amount of supplies in Gaoping City, but it is a pity that they cannot be obtained.
He is now in the same situation as the Huns. The cavalry is moving around and there is no way to face the fortified city.
After dawn, Shao Xun asked Qiao Hong to take away 500 cavalry and more than a thousand horses, return to Jiyin first, and then detour to Xuchang, so that Cao Fu could order the soldiers to launch a full-scale counterattack.
He had already seen that the Huns' military morale was turbulent. Before the battle, they had already begun to gather their troops and retreat.
Why were the Huns eager to retreat?
It was just a defeat for Jiyin. The losses were Shi Le's men and horses, mainly infantry. Why did they retreat in a hurry?
Unfortunately, the captured prisoners didn’t know why.
But retreat is a good thing. As long as we retreat, it will be difficult to maintain morale. Who will have the heart to fight hard by then?
Just chase his mother!
******
In the afternoon of the tenth day of the lunar month, the army gathered a little and headed straight for Dongmin City, arriving on the same day.
There are no soldiers in the city, but there is no food either. The grass around has been cut to almost nothing.
I sent someone to follow the clerk to the nearby Wubao to "borrow" grain. They were polite, but only gave me 10,000 hu of dendrobium, which was almost enough for three days.
It can be seen that this is their limit.
Shao Xun doesn’t try to force him. He’s so anxious that he just closes the door and defends himself. Do you want to fuck him?
If you do it to him, it would be a real loss to have cavalry.
If you don’t do it to him, you will lose your own prestige.
So, Shao Xun had several hundred bolts of captured silk sent to Wubao as a thank you gift, and by the way, the wounded in the army were placed in his Wubao home to recuperate.
After finishing all this, they rested for a day and two nights in Dongmin City to recover from the fatigue of the men and horses, and then set off again to pursue Fang Yu County.
On the evening of the 12th, we arrived at the almost deserted county town and defeated a group of Huns cavalry outside the city. The number was about three hundred. I don’t know where they came from. They were dazed. They were probably looking for them. Traces of Jin Zhun.
This is the effect of pursuit.
The so-called chasing death and chasing north does not mean that you chase him while looking at his back. That is unrealistic. Instead, he always maintained pressure and followed leisurely, so that the enemy commander could always hear the news of the pursuers, making him nervous and anxious and unable to stay in one place for a long time.
And since you can't stop, it will be difficult to gather more troops, because your people scattered in all directions are also looking for you.
They rush to a place and find that you have left, so they ask around where you have gone, and then adjust their direction to pursue you. At this time, chaos will occur.
But as you kept turning, it became even more difficult to restore morale, because the soldiers were used to running away and had no courage to face the enemy.
Historically, Azig set out from Beijing to pursue Li Zicheng in this way.
In fact, when he set off, Li Zicheng had already run far away, and even had enough time to organize a counterattack in Huaiqing, but he just kept hanging on behind, taking his time, chasing all the way to Xi'an, and then chasing When I arrived in Hubei, I never let go.
Shao Xun estimated that the entire battlefield was now in chaos.
He is looking for Jin Zhun, and the Huns are also looking for Jin Zhun. Where the hell have you been? Say something back!
On the 13th, based on the information obtained by the enemy captured by Fang Yuxian, Shao Xun pursued to Hulu County.
After seeing "Master Wang" appear, the county magistrate who was hiding came to find him in the middle of the night, with runny nose and tears, telling him how he persisted in resisting and finally had no choice but to turn around.
Shao Xun was not interested in his story and only asked him to search for supplies.
As a result, I spent the whole day here on the 14th, but only got thousands of dendrobiums of grain and beans, which was better than nothing.
On that day, the county magistrate went around looking for people to inquire, but got mixed information.
Some people said that they had seen the Huns "brigade" heading towards Peixian County.
Some people say that the Huns "brigade" crossed the river and headed north.
Shao Xun was very suspicious of how many people there were in the "brigade" they mentioned?
These people have little military experience and don’t know much about counting heads. The cavalry brigade is marching, filled with smoke and dust, and you don’t dare to look closer. This is too big a deviation.
Perhaps a Hun skirmisher with a thousand cavalry was considered the main force by these squires.
There is no way, Shao Xun can only choose one direction.
On the 15th, the army marched south to Peixian County, arriving in the afternoon of the 16th. They captured hundreds of Xiongnu and defeated them with one blow.
Fortunately, Peixian County was not captured by the enemy, and the county magistrate took 10,000 hu of grain for supplies on the spot.
At the same time, people were sent to Zhubao Village near the county seat and ordered to immediately collect a batch of food and send it to the county seat.
At this point, Shao Xun finally felt the feeling of fighting inside, and he became more confident.
The Huns can appear near Peixian County, so Jin Zhun really went to Pengcheng.
(End of this chapter)