Chapter 503: Generals
Huangchi, also known as Huangze, is located in the west of Neihuang County and north of Baigou Water.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, King Wu Fu Chai went north to meet with Jin Dinggong, Lu Aigong and others in Huangchi, which was known as the "Huangchi Meeting" in history.
There are different opinions on the cause of Huangchi. The most likely reason is that the ancient Yellow River changed its course, and then a huge lake was formed in the low-lying land of Huangchi. It was very large at first, then gradually became smaller, and finally dried up during the Zhengtong period of the Ming Dynasty. .
Huangchi is a very important node because a large number of ships can be docked here.
Boats and water systems are the lifeline for the Henan army, which is dominated by infantry.
The fifth day of May is a terrible day for the people of Neihuang County.
Because Dahu's northern expedition to Youzhou consumed a huge amount of money, grain and grass were requisitioned across Hebei, causing grain prices to rise.
After deploying a large number of cavalry, the grain and grass levy became more and more prosperous, causing grain reserves in various places to quickly run out. Some people with poor family income in Neihuang County even began to collect mulberries, wild vegetables, and grass roots to survive, and they were miserable.
As the Jin army gathered in large numbers in Fangtou, anyone with a discerning eye could see that another war was about to break out. As a result, the manor and Wubao began to stockpile grain and be reluctant to sell it, allowing grain prices to reach new heights.
Rising grain prices may not matter to farmers who grow and harvest their own crops, as they will not buy grain. But for people who live in cities, are not directly engaged in agricultural production, and rely on buying grain to survive, it is very uncomfortable, and famine is inevitable.
"The ancients said that May is the 'evil month'. I am honest." On the bank of Huangchi, Huang Tongyi sighed while cutting mugwort.
Huang Tao, the son of Huang Tong, stood up straight and looked north.
The vast expanse of blue lake is empty, with nothing there. In normal times, no matter how difficult the time is, there would be people on the lake rowing boats on this day, which is very lively. Unfortunately, there is nothing now. It is indeed a "bad moon".
"Grandpa, I want to go to the lake to meet Mr. Wu." Huang Tao put down the sickle, touched the blisters on the palm of his hand, and said.
"You don't want to welcome Mr. Wu, do you want to play?" Huang Tong exposed his son's lame excuse and added: "Furthermore, the custom of racing originated from the Chu doctor Qu Yuan. His man He died in Miluo, and the people mourned him, so they raced to save him. "
"But what is written in Cao'e's temple is, "On May 5th, when Wu Jun came up against the waves, he was flooded." "It's obvious that Wu Zixu is the origin of the custom. What does it have to do with Qu Yuan?" Huang Tao argued.
"Believe it or not, I will beat you up?" Huang Tong said angrily: "My family is from Chu, and we are at odds with the Wu people. Have you forgotten what your father taught you?"
"It's an old thing many years ago. Sun Wu was destroyed..." Huang Tao curled his lips. Seeing that his father was really about to slap him, he immediately begged for mercy: "Grandpa, don't hit me. Our family has been passed down from generation to generation. Beat me to death." It’s the last time.”
Huang Tongsheng stopped his palm-like slap, threw the mugwort to the ground, and said, “Pack it up and take it home.”
After that, he came to the lake to wash the horses.
After a while, Huang Tao tied up the mugwort and placed it on the horse's back.
The father and son led the horse toward home, chatting at various times along the way.
"Master, you said you met Shao Xun when you went to Feixiang to buy horses?" Huang Tao asked.
"Actually, I've never seen it before. The war was in chaos, so how could I dare to move forward? I drank too much and was bragging to others." Huang Tong blushed and said, "Ji Sang wasn't dead at that time. Gou Xi and Shao Xun attacked from two directions. After the battle, I went to the battlefield and found nothing. Even the dead horses were eaten."
"Shao Xun was very good at fighting. ?" Huang Tao asked again.
"How do I know?" Huang Tong shook his head: "It should be good. In the battle of Yema Gang, Shi Le and others gathered tens of thousands of people to defeat it. But it has been several years, and Dahu can't do it now. Xiao Shi, who knows.”
“Uncle Gao said yesterday that he would surrender if Shao Xun called. Why did you quarrel with him then?” Huang Tao asked again.
"In our Wubao, there are people from Bingzhou, Jizhou, and Sizhou natives. The origins are complicated. When you are not sure, there are certain things you should not say randomly."
"A Master, do you want to surrender?”
"It's such an ugly thing to say that you won't surrender. Shao Xun is here. Let's stay behind closed doors and offer some money and food. That's all."
"You won't give protons, will you? I don't want to go."< br>
"I won't send you there." Huang Tong sighed, not in a good mood.
Yesterday, I was discussing with several other Wubao leaders. Some people mentioned the old story of Cao Cao attacking Yuan Tan brothers in the late Han Dynasty, and they were worried that Shao Xun would attack the enemy.
To the end of the discussion, nothing was discussed. On the contrary, it made people panic.
He was still thinking about it when he got up this morning, and the more he thought about it, the more irritated he became.
God damn Shi Le and Shao Xun, hurry up and decide the winner. If you are neither good nor bad, who do you want me to vote for?
Especially Shao Xun, don’t cheat people, really.
Go around Neihuang, trick a bunch of people into joining them, and then walk away. How can you embarrass the pride of Hebei people?
In times of war, these things are the most troublesome.
The decision is not easy to make. Once it is made, the future of more than a thousand families in Wubao will be on the line.
The two quickly returned to Wubao.
Baoding was guarding outside the door, fully armed, as if facing a powerful enemy. When he saw the Huang family and his son, he immediately saluted and let them in.
The mother was waiting at the door of her house, and when she saw the father and son, she scolded them: "People have sent foragers to cut mugwort, but you have to go there by yourself."
"Such an attitude. You are sincere." Huang Tong laughed.
Huang Tao raised the mugwort in his hand and said, "Mommy, if you hit someone with this grass, you can scare away Shao Xun's 100,000-strong army."
The mother laughed angrily, He said: "I know how to talk."
"Shao Bing is here!" There were hurried footsteps outside the courtyard.
Huh? Huang Tong and Huang Tao looked at each other, immediately ran out, climbed to the turret to watch, and saw more than ten cavalrymen coming from west to east outside the Wubao, galloping along the Baigou.
After arriving near Wubao, they dismounted.
Several people were pointing and one person was writing and drawing.
Looking at Huang Tongtong's attire, it turned out that they were not Jie cavalry under Shi Le's tent, but serious Jin cavalry.
"It's bad, Shao Xun really wants to beat him up." Huang Tong murmured.
"He just knows how to imitate Cao Mengde and doesn't have his own rules?" Huang Tao stamped his feet and said: "Go directly to Yecheng."
It's easy to attack Yecheng directly. Go north, follow the Great Post Road, capture Chaoge, Dangyin, Anyang, and then go north to Yecheng. But looking at the current situation, it is obvious that Shao Xun plans to advance northeast along the Baigou River and enter the Huangchi.
There is no doubt that Nai Huang is his primary target.
Oh, I am really afraid of what will happen. Now Shao Xun is really coming, what should we do?
"Let it be your fate." Huang Tong patted his son on the shoulder and sighed.
******
Compared with the few Jin army cavalry in the Huangchi area, there have been thousands of cavalry on the post road west of Qishui leading to Chaoge County. Counting units of large groups of cavalry.
Each of them carried two or three horses and seven days of food and water. They moved quickly and galloped across the wilderness.
On the fifth day of May, they even lured a group of more than a hundred miscellaneous cavalry, surrounded them and annihilated them.
On the sixth night of the lunar month, I stayed in a certain dock in the northeast of Gong County.
Almost at the same time, infantry gathered outside Fangtou North City, and the vehicles were ordered to move. Their intention to go north was very obvious.
Taobao, the prefect of Wei County, received the news immediately, and at the same time ordered the city gates to be closed tightly and to take stock of the supplies. Sadly, not much really.
Wang Jun's Northern Expedition consumed a lot of money, and most of Yecheng's supplies were lost to the north. However, this year's crops are not showing well, which makes people very worried about whether there will be a famine in the second half of the year.
For this reason, a considerable number of soldiers and civilians in Yecheng have moved to Anping for food because they cannot feed themselves.
With no other choice, he could only fly to Youzhou and ask Hu to make a decision. At the same time, he sent Qu Liu to lead a cavalry army to go south to collect food and monitor nearby.
On the tenth day of May, a large number of cavalry poured into Chaoge County. After a little replenishment, they whizzed south, heading straight to the outside of Fangtou North City. They immediately climbed to a high place to have a look at the enemy's situation.
His eyes first fell on the bank of Qishui.
Qishui flows meanderingly from north to south.
On the west bank, trenches were dug and earth walls were built. Zhi Quliu cursed in his heart. He had nothing to do after he had enough to eat, so he only knew how to dig trenches and build walls so that his cavalry could not charge forward.
There is a gap between the east bank of Qishui and the north city of Fangtou. It seems that the cavalry can go straight in and out, but the room for maneuver is too small. If they encounter the fierceness of the Jin army, The charging cavalry was quite troublesome.
Furthermore, with such a short distance, their infantry may also join the battle, artificially set up horse barriers, or pull in baggage vehicles, further reducing the cavalry's room for maneuver.
Fighting enemy infantry and cavalry in a small space is something a wise man would not do.
Look outside Fangtou North City, what a guy!
More than ten thousand infantrymen are leaving the city and forming an array in the wilderness.
His eyes passed over the three square formations in the shape of a "pin" one by one.
The front row has bright armor, flags fluttering, and numerous spears.
The morale of the rear row was high. There was not much noise after standing for a long time. The formation was neat. Although it was not a first-rate infantry, it could not be defeated in a few or two blows.
"Dong dong dong..." The exciting drum beat sounded from the top of the city.
More than ten thousand infantrymen advanced in unison, stopping at fifty steps.
“Kill!” Tens of thousands of people roared in unison, the sound shaking the wilderness.
"Xilulu!" Someone's horse was frightened and neighed on the spot.
Zhi Quliu was shocked and glared at him.
The drums are beating again.
"Kill!" The tens of thousands of troops advanced fifty steps again, then aligned themselves and stood in awe with weapons in the wilderness.
This time even Zhi Quliu felt the murderous aura filling the wilderness.
The south gate of Fangtou North City opened, and more than a thousand cavalry filed out of the city, bypassing the city god from the east and arriving in the wilderness to the north.
They ran quickly in small steps without speeding up, but the strong sense of oppression lingered no matter what.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!" The infantry formation from the front advanced again.
The cavalry began to speed up.
On the Baigou water not far away, there are trees of rafts and oars. Countless troop carriers stand on the deck, hitting the shields with the backs of their swords. The sound waves come and go from far to near: "Kill!"
City The leading drummer took off his shirt and played the drums shirtless.
The sound of drums is rumbling and inspiring.
The crowd of more than 10,000 riders became excited.
The front row of the infantry leveled their spears, and the crossbowmen pulled the mule cart forward to unload the crossbows.
The infantry archers were divided on both sides, making a general battle posture.
The cavalry began to outflank the enemy.
"Evacuate!" Zhiquliu spat, descended from the high ground, and withdrew with three thousand cavalry.
"Dang Dang!" The sound of a clang sounded.
Except for the cavalry still pursuing, the infantry has stopped advancing.
The drummer threw the mallet at his feet and laughed.
"Wonderful victory!" The infantry formation shouted in unison as they watched the enemy's cavalry leave.
"Wan Sheng!" A sound like a roaring mountain and a tsunami sounded simultaneously inside and outside the city.
Above the river, the boatmen who were transferring supplies listened thoughtfully.
In Hepu, the servants who were unloading the goods saw their strength revived.
The Kansai soldiers, Nanyang soldiers, Heiji troops, Tuntian troops, and transport troops who had traveled a long distance were even more excited and shouted, and some of the fear that originally existed in their hearts disappeared.
Everyone moves forward as a group, don’t be afraid, fight with him, kill him, the enemy will be afraid and will retreat.
Li Chong, who joined the army, came to the female wall.
The powerful roar can be heard everywhere.
Transpiration rises by the Qishui River, by the river, in the city, and in the wilderness, seeming to sweep across the land of Hebei.
"What did the people in Yecheng say?" he asked.
"Shi Le's main force has not returned yet."
"Today we will kill pigs and slaughter sheep, and the whole army will be in large numbers. Tomorrow the troops will send out court songs."
"I obey."
Li Zhong turned around and left, silently descending to the top of the city.
Everywhere he passed, the military academies saluted.
He is a general who joined the army in the shogunate and was personally appointed by Mr. Yuan Cong and Mr. Chen. He has commanded the army in Puyang for several years and is familiar with every plant and tree on both sides of the river. He has rich experience.
This time, it is a crucial battle to test his gold content.
If you cross it, you will be able to become a general who will leave a name in history.
If you can't cross it, everything will stop.
(End of this chapter)