Chapter 611 Victory and Defeat
A huge hand-drawn map hangs on the wall of the ruined temple.
Jin Zheng pursed his lips tightly and looked up and down.
Outside the ruined temple, a large group of people were marching through the night.
It is already October, the cold wind is howling, and the air is freezing.
The sergeants were walking on the land of Hebei, breathing in the heat and stepping on the stars and frost.
Night marching is not something that any soldier can accomplish, and it is also very dangerous. Once an enemy cavalry charges forward, and if the armor is incomplete, the flags and drums are unclear, the formation is not organized, and the physical strength is insufficient, a big defeat will occur if you are not careful.
But Kim Jong just dares to take risks.
This is his character, he likes to rush and fight, nothing else.
In this year's Northern Expedition, Shao Xun had almost no involvement in specific command. After arriving in Anping, only one order was issued, which was to order Kim Jong to lead his army to shrink.
Jin Zheng felt a little blushing.
Why didn’t Master Shao give Wang Queer an order? Why didn't you give Li Zhong an order? He didn't even command Xi Jian in Xuzhou.
To be honest, this battle ended in an anticlimactic manner.
At the beginning, they advanced with great success, conquering Hejian and Gaoyang, forcing Boling to attack anyway, and almost conquered three counties in a row, with great momentum.
There was a small problem in the middle, and he was tricked by the Huns to trick the tiger away from the mountain. Fortunately, he woke up in time, took the lead, and the soldiers fought hard to bring the situation back.
Well, Jin Zheng also admitted that the defeat at Hejian City caused the Dingzhuang recruited in Bohai, Pingyuan, Qinghe, and Yangping counties to lose many men and horses, and their morale became extremely low, which in turn affected The subsequent battle process, but this is not irreversible.
After the adjustment, the troops were sent to Zhongshan.
He followed the tactics learned from Liangxian martial arts, combining good and strange. The regular troops forcibly crossed the Hengshui River, and the surprise troops sneaked upstream. Overall, the tactical actions were carried out and achieved results.
Part of the Yi Congjun, who served as a surprise soldier, successfully crossed the river and suddenly reached the Shangquyang area in Changshan.
At this time, the Huns' Hengshui defense line had actually been broken.
The surprise troops can circle around to the enemy's rear on the west bank of the Hengshui River, attack and kill their grain transport troops, and cause the thieves to collapse without a fight.
By increasing the offensive from the front, the main soldiers can push the enemy's butt all the way and win a big victory.
When Master Shao gave the order, he wrote him a separate letter, affirming his tactics and thinking that it was correct. But he also pointed out that his vision was not broad enough and he could not control the overall situation well.
He understood the meaning of the latter sentence. Duan Shefuchen, Duan Wenyang, and Duan Mobo from Duanbu Xianbei went south, with a combined force of more than 10,000 cavalry, and entered the Zhangwu and Hejian areas. The miscellaneous cavalry who protected the grain road may not be willing to fight to the death, or they may really be unable to fight. In short, they were defeated, allowing the Xianbei people to attack and kill many of the troops.
At this time, Liu Yao decisively invested in the reserve team and mobilized half of the ten thousand cavalry guarding Daijun Tuoba Xianbei to drive over his own surprise troops.
At this point, Master Shao finally made a decision for him: retreat.
Kim Zheng has a strong execution ability. Since he ordered a retreat, he simply did not do anything else and retreated further to lure the Huns deeper.
This process was quite painful, and the troops behind the break suffered heavy losses - mainly miscellaneous cavalry.
Jin Zheng even retreated to Shuzhou in one fell swoop, joining up with the remaining soldiers from Bohai County. While sending Yi Congjun to besiege Duan Bu Xianbei, he waited for an opportunity to counterattack.
When the news of the changes in Youzhou came, he understood the gap between himself and Master Shao, and even more understood what it meant that his vision was not broad enough - he estimated that when the people who overthrew Wang Jun appeared in Youzhou When possible, Master Shao was brewing this plan.
In Master Shao's view, he and Li Zhong were both regular soldiers, and the Youzhou talents were the rare soldiers.
This kind of military strategy that combines the positive and the strange is indeed of a high level.
Liu Yao may have thought of this possibility, but he was unable to deal with it. He had to guard against both Tuoba Xianbei and Youzhou people. The troops were too short and he could only abandon one direction - until now, he still had 5,000 cavalry to guard against the Tuoba clan in Daijun. He was really scared of being beaten. .
After reviewing the battles of the previous few months, Jin Zheng thought for a long time.
Suddenly, he whipped out his sword and cut off the candle on the table.
The firelight in the ruined temple suddenly dimmed, making Jin Zheng's face look extremely ferocious.
Now that things have come to this, it’s time to use what he’s good at.
Just chase!
Don’t be afraid of being attacked by the superior bandit army, just fight against the bandits.
If a man dies, he will die, so why scratch his ears!
After thinking about it, Jin Zheng strode out of the ruined temple. He first stood on the roadside and glanced at the Silver Spear Right Battalion who was marching into Xingye.
Under his leadership, this unit is unparalleled in bravery and is extremely good at frontal fighting. It achieves victory in the most embarrassing and fearful way for the enemy - defeating the enemy in frontal field battles with a majestic division is undoubtedly the most effective way. A tactic that can undermine the enemy's confidence.
Let you change in all kinds of ways, I will break them all in one go.
After getting on his horse, the soldiers surrounded Kim Jong and disappeared into the night.
Within a few days, they had crossed the entire river, resupplied in Gaoyang County, and then continued westward.
The ones who were faster than them were the miscellaneous cavalry, who had already fought against Liu Yao's troops behind them.
It is a pity that if there was a large, fast and mobile heavy armored infantry force at this time-such as the Mule Army established a few years ago-things would be much simpler, and even the retreating troops could be relieved. Liu Yao's troops were unable to obtain sufficient supplies and their retreat turned into a rout.
******
Liu Yao's movements are actually quite fast. After gathering the troops for a few days, he found that it was too late, so he gathered the troops and ran first. There were more than 5,000 cavalry and 4,000 infantry - most of them were under Shi Le's command.
On the 18th, Liu Yao arrived near Gaoyang County. The infantry had disappeared and was left behind in Hejian, still one day away.
The retreat process was not very smooth. They were pursued by various miscreants who took refuge in Shao Xun.
Especially Shangbai Zhenjiang and Wuhuan native Bo Sheng pursued the most closely. They did not hesitate to take the lead and broke through the Hun soldiers twice, biting off two pieces of meat.
The number of Liu Yao's troops who ran to Gaoyang was still five thousand, but this was the number after supplementing the scattered cavalry that had gathered from other directions. The troops who retreated all the way from the Hejian and Zhangwu borders lost at least 1,500 people - not necessarily all dead, but it is true that they failed to keep up with the large army.
The Jin flag was still hanging at the head of Gaoyang County, which greatly disappointed Liu Yao.
Zhang Zou's servants attacked a county town that had become an outcast and the morale of the army was shaken, but he was unable to capture it.
With no choice but to continue withdrawing westward.
On the 19th, the entire army crossed the Qishui River.
The scouts came to report that a Youzhou general named Gaizhi was going south from Beixin City and was very close to them.
When he learned that the opponent was mainly infantry, Liu Yao once wanted to make a surprise attack, but finally gave up because he was too far away from the retreat route.
On the night of the 20th, Liu Yao arrived at Anxi, Zhongshan. Before he was happy, he encountered a group of Xianbei cavalry heading south from Yishui.
In the darkness, without distinguishing between ourselves and the enemy, the two sides engaged in a confused melee. The fight lasted until dawn, and I didn't know whether I was killing one of my own people or the enemy.
Liu Yao rushed into Anxi County in a hurry and got a chance to breathe. Counting the cavalry following him, less than half were already there.
After resting for a day in Anxi, hundreds more riders came to invest.
These people belonged to different camps. During the retreat, they disrupted their organization and spontaneously formed one group. They were lucky enough to escape back.
Liu Yao looked at their embarrassed appearance and sighed speechlessly.
He had also seen this kind of scene when he was chasing Kim Jong. It's just that the enemy was in such a panic at that time, and now it will be him.
Liu Yao had just had a few hearty meals in Anxi when he was shocked to hear that Puyin, Wangdu and other counties had been captured by Yan troops going south. Undercurrents surged in Anxi County again, and the situation was not good, so they retreated decisively and arrived at Zhongshan County on the night of the 22nd. As soon as Liu Yao left, Anxi immediately changed to the Jin flag.
After hurriedly replenishing supplies, he gave up Zhongshan and retreated to the southwest.
On the road, another group of cavalry who escaped back met, but they were also intercepted by the cavalry coming south from Youzhou. Normally, these Youzhou cavalry have average combat power and are no match for the Xiongnu. Unfortunately, as the commander, Liu Yao has no intention of fighting. Can you expect the sergeants to fight bravely? Not realistic.
On the morning of the 26th, Liu Yao arrived in Lingshou County, north of Zhending, and received support from his own troops. After counting the number of people, he found that there were only 1,500 riders.
He was accompanied by five thousand cavalry who came from the north to guard Tuoba Xianbei. They defeated the Zuying tribe from Youzhou, but they did not dare to continue to expand the victory, but quickly searched for Liu Yao's location.
Hearing this, Liu Yao only let out a long sigh.
“The Shangdang Jie people ran away.”
“Feng Yi and Di Qiang’s cavalry returned halfway, but the infantry failed to cross the Hengshui River.”
“Zhang Yu’s servants were in Pu The whole army of Yin was destroyed."
"Liu Zheng took two thousand remaining soldiers to defend Bolu. They were targeted by the Wuhuan cavalry from the north of Boling. It is estimated that they will not be able to return."
" Xianbei of Shangjun defeated thousands of Youzhou cavalry. When they passed Wangdu to rest, they were attacked and killed by the county magistrate. Only a thousand cavalry came back. They will be in Puwu County."
"Jingxing is there. To hoard military supplies and strengthen the city defense, General Huyan asked the king to retreat quickly.”
……
All kinds of news came one after another, making Liu Yao feel even more depressed.
It was so exciting to chase Jin Zheng before and how exciting the killing was, but now I feel so embarrassed.
Winning first and then losing is especially heartbreaking.
In fact, the enemy's strength did not reach a certain level to win. Especially after Duan Xianbei arrived on the battlefield, Liu Yao once saw the hope of winning - at least the stalemate could continue.
But I still collapsed at the critical moment. I was lured out and then pulled back. This process was too painful.
Think carefully, where did you lose? In fact, the answer is obvious: insufficient troops.
Even if Duanbu Xianbei and Shile are included, their strength is only 40,000 to 50,000 infantry and cavalry, and they have to guard against Tuoba Xianbei, so they cannot use their full strength.
The total number of Shao Xun's men and horses exceeds 60,000, not counting the more than 20,000 cavalry subsequently invested by Su Qiu, Zhang Jackal, Bo Sheng and others.
Youzhou soldiers moved south again, but when they were exhausted from fighting with Jin Zheng, the overall situation suddenly became unsustainable and defeat was determined.
Looking into the deeper reasons, he had no less than 20,000 troops left in Xinxing and Taiyuan to guard against Tuoba Xianbei. If these 20,000 people could be put into the battlefield in Hebei, what would be the result?
There is no use thinking about it now. I really don’t know how to clean up this mess in Hebei.
"Send someone to inform Shi Le that I will stay for another three days and gather the scattered soldiers." Liu Yao wiped his face and said in a low tone: "Retreat to Jingxing on the 29th. He - look Let’s do it.”
(It’s the last day, don’t waste your monthly tickets, thank you.)
(End of this chapter)