Chapter 600 Hope of breaking the situation
On the fourth day of September in the ninth year of Yongjia of the Jin Dynasty (315), on the bank of Hengshui (now Tanghe) in Zhongshan Kingdom.
Feathered arrows were flying on the river. From time to time, someone was hit by an arrow and fell to the ground, screaming in pain.
There is also the strong crossbow installed in the west of the river. Every time it is fired, there is a huge "buzzing" sound. The thick crossbow arrows penetrate the grass on the other side of the river with great momentum, and kill a group of people. The sergeant holding the big shield was shot to the ground.
On the half-built pontoon bridge, the shouts were loud and arrows rained down.
The body fell into the river like a dumpling and sank quickly.
On the west bank of the Hengshui River, more than a hundred pioneers Xiao Rui had already rushed over. Before they could form a formation, they were scattered by the Hun cavalry rushing towards them.
They did not collapse. In groups of three or five, they fought with the Hun cavalry.
On the pontoon, reinforcements roared and rushed over to respond.
The crossbows and bows and arrows on the shore were firing non-stop, harvesting human lives wantonly.
The Hun soldiers on the west bank of the river also knew that the critical moment was coming. Liu Zheng, who had retreated from Hejian, took the lead and rushed over with thousands of infantry, taking turns to charge and kill.
The east bank of the river was also in a hurry, and threw in elite troops and generals, braved the damage from crossbows and strong bows, and marched forward bravely with large shields.
For a time, the sound of fighting on both sides of the river was loud. Tens of thousands of soldiers from both sides risked their lives to fight on both sides of the Hengshui River.
In the evening of the battle, with the help of the Huns' light and heavy cavalry, Liu Zheng finally defeated the Jin army's attempt to forcefully cross the Hengshui River, completely defeated them and drove them to the other side of the river.
A moment later, a fire burst into the sky on the pontoon, signaling the end of today's fighting.
Both sides retreated more than a hundred steps, licking their wounds in the camp.
Liu Zheng wiped the blood from his face and collapsed on the ground. Just now, he was so immersed in the fight that he lost his strength.
Beside the feet is a corpse of a Jin army. It should be an elite soldier who was forcibly crossed in advance.
The silver armor has a bow tip attached to the left waist without being strung. On the right side hangs an empty scabbard, the knife has been broken and fell not far away.
The corpse still held the spear tightly in its hand. The servants cleaning the battlefield could not break it off no matter how hard they tried. In the end, they had no choice but to cut off the fingers and take out the spear.
This is Shao Thief's Silver Spear Army.
They form a formation at the bridgehead like hedgehogs, very difficult to deal with. If it weren't for the repeated attacks by light and heavy cavalry and the siege by infantry, there would really be nothing we could do against them. In the end, it will be eliminated only by the heap of human lives, alas.
There was a strong wind on the river and the white waves were rolling.
Bodies continued to float down from the upper reaches, not only of humans, but also of war horses.
This should be the soldiers from both sides who were killed in a fight in a certain river section upstream a few days ago. After sinking to the bottom of the river, they came up again - of course, if you have iron armor on you, you have to stay there all the time. In the dark bottom of the river, he was buried in the belly of the fish.
"Crash!" The sound of water splashing sounded in the distance.
Liu Zheng turned around and saw a group of Huns cavalry rushing into the river to test the depth of the water.
Beside them, there was a sergeant holding a bamboo pole to measure the depth of the water.
"Hey!" Liu Zheng smiled bitterly.
This group of people sent by King Zhongshan are really big-hearted and actually want to cross the river to fight back. He, Old Liu, no longer thinks so.
It would be good if we could hold on to the Hengshui defense line and save Zhongshan County. In fact, he didn't know how long he could hold this long line of defense. The enemy will take detours. If they cannot attack here, they will naturally choose another place to cross the river - perhaps they are already doing this now.
After he recovered, Liu Zheng stood up holding the scabbard and silently looked at the other side of Hengshui River.
Half of Zhongshan, Gaoyang, and Hejian east of Hengshui have been lost, and Zhang Wu will probably not be able to hold on for long.
At this point in the fight, it is a matter of life and death, and the only thing left is to give it a try.
******
Just when Liu Zheng heard the Huns cavalry walking into the river, somewhere in the upper reaches of the Hengshui River, a large group of cavalry was wading through the water.
They moved very slowly, with a little caution, crossing the shoal in groups.
The soldiers crossing the river immediately spread out and were on alert from a distance.
Following soldiers gathered near the river bank. Their number increased, one hundred, two hundred, five hundred, one thousand...
In the end, even the pack horses carrying equipment, water, and tools crossed the river, and the leader The general breathed a sigh of relief.
The auxiliary soldiers got off their horses and immediately began to set up camp.
Camp camps can be divided into formal and superficial camps.
The formal one is like a city, and the superficial one only has tents, antlers and horse guns.
The rangers spread out even further, spreading out dozens of miles away, taking turns on guard duty.
The rest wash the horses, eat some water, and maintain the equipment.
Every wrong step in the war may bring disaster, which must not be ignored.
They were lucky and didn't encounter enemies all night.
On the second day, more than 2,000 rebel soldiers who were full of food and horses left the camp. One person and three horses galloped toward the southwest.
On the seventh day of September, the whole army arrived in Shangquyang (today's Quyang) area...
The dull horse hooves galloped like thunder.
Merciless arrows shot out.
The long and thick horse is thirsty for blood.
The marching infantry was instantly confused.
There were more than three thousand of them, recruited by Shi Le, and went to Shangquyang County to join other troops and wait for the next order.
It can be seen from the color of their uniforms that this is a temporary recruitment of peasant soldiers.
Farmers and peasant soldiers are different.
The peasant soldiers in Shile who divided their fields and houses were experienced in battles for a long time. They had uniforms and sophisticated weapons. Many of them also had iron armor, leather armor and other equipment, and they were also fully trained.
The only difference between them and the recruited soldiers is that they usually work at home and farm, and only train or go out in their spare time, so they have considerable combat effectiveness.
But these people in front of me are obviously not. They are real farmers, the kind with insufficient training. Even though the Hu and Han people in Hebei were accustomed to horses, they were still panicked when they saw a large group of cavalry rushing into battle.
There were a few strong soldiers in the team, and under the command of the officer, they surrounded the baggage train and made a desperate resistance. But the miscellaneous soldiers, numbering more than 3,000, were making a loud noise and were at a loss what to do.
If you want to escape, Shile's military discipline is strict and you will probably be killed and your family will be harmed.
Fight, but don’t have the courage. A few days ago I was carrying a hoe at home, and now you want me to kill someone with a knife?
So he froze there.
However, when the first wave of arrows fell, the deterrent effect of military law was greatly reduced.
Being killed as a deserter is terrible, but you have to be able to catch me!
Not to mention, if you don’t run away now, you will die immediately. If you run away, you may still survive - what if Dahu is killed by Shao Xun? Don't say it's impossible, the wives he left behind in Yecheng probably gave birth to children for Shao Xun.
More than three thousand people immediately broke up and ran into the nearby mountains.
Hundreds of sergeants hiding in the baggage train were almost brought to collapse. The sergeants looked at each other with pale faces.
Yi Congjun ran over.
The horse archers laughed and circled around the baggage train, preparing to enjoy a delicious meal.
The sound of horse hooves sounded again in the southwest.
The faces of the Yi Congjun soldiers who were dispersing their formation changed, and the Huns were coming.
The sound of drums and horns resounded throughout the land, and the flags changed continuously. More than two thousand cavalry slowly gathered together and stood ready.
The defeated Shile infantry wept with joy and were terrified.
The officers also recovered and took them in, beating and scolding them, and began to form a team.
Now that you are lucky enough to escape, you should quickly plunge into the next desperate battle. You will not be completely relieved until you die in battle.
******
“Here, here, and here.” In Zhending City, Shi Le’s finger clicked on the map.
Large groups of Jin cavalry were discovered in Quyang, Weichang and other places.
What does this mean? This shows that the troops and horses led by the thief general Jin Zhengzheng were not blocked by the Hengshui River. At least their cavalry had found a place to cross the river - and perhaps the infantry.
The Hengshui Defense Line can only stop them for a while, but as time goes by, they will eventually be breached.
In the final analysis, we still have insufficient troops.
Zhongshan Wang Yao only brought two groups of troops.
The first batch of more than 7,000 cavalry arrived earlier, mainly Feng Yiqiang Di, Shangjun Xianbei, and the Xiongnu. They are currently defending Hengshui. In addition to the thousands of infantry that collapsed in Hejian and Gaoyang, as well as the local soldiers recruited from Zhongshan, the total force was more than 30,000.
The second batch was led by the King of Zhongshan himself. In addition to the 10,000 Xiongnu cavalry, there were thousands of Shangdang miscellaneous Hu cavalry and Jin infantry from Taiyuan and other counties, totaling 16,000 to 7,000 people.
To be honest, Shi Le didn’t know what King Zhongshan was doing, nor what the court was doing.
In the key battle that determined the fate of Hebei, the reinforcements sent by the imperial court were only about 24,000 cavalry.
As for the 24,000 cavalry, not all of them have been put into battle. At least 10,000 cavalry are in Liu Yao's hands and stationed in the foothills north of Zhending. It is said that they are to guard against the expansion of Daijun. After Xianbei went south, Wang Jun of Youzhou even crossed the Yishui River and attacked Changshan in the south - this county was a place that Shi Le and Wang Jun had repeatedly fought for.
"Is there a reply from King Zhongshan?" Shi Le asked without looking back when he heard footsteps coming in.
"Never." Diao Ying, who just returned from Youzhou last month, replied.
"Why is there so much noise outside?" Shi Le asked again.
"Just now, General Kui led his troops out of the city, defeated the Jin thieves, and burned more than ten siege vehicles. The sergeants at the top of the city cheered." Diao Ying replied.
"Yes." Shi Le nodded and continued to study the map, as if he could see some flowers.
Diao Ying also looked at the mountains and rivers of Changshan in the picture.
The thief general Li Chong led 30,000 people to the south of the city. After setting up a camp, he built siege equipment and began to attack the city. It has been several days now.
This is the Jin army attacking from south to north.
Another bandit took Jin Zheng from east to west and captured Hejian and Gaoyang counties. Now they are blocked in the Hengshui area of Zhongshan County. If they break through this line of defense and capture Zhongshan County, they can advance to the east of Changshan City, and then the two groups of Jin thieves will join forces.
The situation on the battlefield is very clear.
At this point in the fight, neither side can play any tricks, and only head-on fighting remains.
There were not many soldiers under Hu's command - there were only more than 10,000 infantry and 3,000 to 4,000 cavalry in Changshan and surrounding areas.
If the war cannot be fought, many people will not be willing to sacrifice their lives.
Before Li Chong and Jin Zheng sent troops, Da Hu could still raise at least 12,300 cavalry, but not long after the war broke out, this number quickly dropped to 7,8,000 - not killed in battle, but The ministers are no longer willing to work hard.
Da Hu and King Zhongshan together only had more than 40,000 troops, which was only comparable to the Jin army.
The strength is obviously at a disadvantage.
Fortunately, so far, as the front continues to shrink, the thickness of the troops everywhere has slowly increased, and there is a glimmer of hope to stabilize the front.
At least, Li Zhong cannot take down Zhending City, and they do not plan to retreat easily this time.
At least, Zhongshan County is still desperately resisting the Jin people, and the battle is very stalemate.
At least, there is still hope for Zhang Wu -
"How is Duan Bu Xianbei? Is there any news?" Shi Le asked about it as expected.
"It came here once five days ago." Diao Ying said: "Duan She Fuchen also went south. He defeated Shao's soldiers in Shuzhou and beheaded more than a thousand of his men. But now we don't know where he is."
Shi Le's His eyes fell in the direction of Zhang Wu again.
If the Xianbei people break through, break through and break through again along the empty rear of the Jin army, the situation will turn around.
Yesterday, the king of Zhongshan sent his generals with thousands of elite cavalry to the east, intending to break through the possible interception of the Jin people, and suddenly arrived at Zhangwu to join the Linghu Ni tribe. If they can arrive successfully, the battle situation may usher in a turning point - —This is the news he was waiting for just now.
But this big insertion is actually very difficult, because the Jin people also have a large number of cavalry, which may not necessarily be able to get there smoothly.
Now the real hope of breaking the situation lies with Duan Bu Xianbei.
(End of this chapter)