Chapter 624 Lobbyist
On the Juma River, a pontoon bridge has been erected.
More than 4,700 soldiers from the Right Battalion of Silver Spears went north along the pontoon bridge and arrived at Quanzhou on the southern border of Yan State at the end of February.
After they crossed the river, five thousand men recruited from Zhangwu and Hejian counties also crossed the river one by one.
But they quickly stopped, searching for tanks while waiting for the arrival of additional troops.
After more than half a year of fighting, all kinds of supplies were severely depleted.
Arrows, weapons, etc. have been replenished in Hebei. Iron armor, leather armor, etc. have been replaced or repaired. Two-thirds of the chariots have been lost, and only part of them have been replenished so far.
As for replenishing soldiers, we have to wait for Nanyang's Yinqiang Zhongying to send new soldiers.
In mid-November last year, Wu Qian recruited 5,000 new soldiers in one go and added them to the Silver Spear Central Camp.
Zhongying transferred three soldiers who had been trained for a year and incorporated them into the Heiji Army, bringing its total strength to six thousand - currently there are still 4,200 people in Youzhou.
The middle camp transferred another two thousand soldiers who had been trained for one year to supplement the battle losses of the second battalion of Silver Spear.
As a result, there are still a total of eleven buildings and 6,600 soldiers in the middle camp, most of which are new soldiers.
Ten thousand people under Jin Zheng were trained in Quanzhou.
On the other side, in early March, Shao Xun personally led more than 4,000 black soldiers, 5,000 Yi Congjun, and more than 7,000 Zhuhu Qingqi to arrive in Lu County, while the Pioneer Division approached Wu Ending (Today's Ji County).
The total number of soldiers and horses on this road is more than 17,000.
In addition, ten thousand generals from the five major towns rode northward and just arrived at Jicheng to gather, collect grain, arrows and other supplies, and rush to Lu County day and night.
The movement of more than 30,000 horsemen was very huge, and it soon spread throughout the counties of Youzhou.
At this time, Zaosong had arrived at a pasture in the south of Xuwu County.
On the bank of the river, there were several white tents, and seven or eight shepherds rode horses to meet Zaosong.
Zao Song reined in the horse from a distance, and when he saw the horse stall in the herdsman's hand, his eyelids suddenly jumped.
Wang Pengzu is really outrageous!
He heard that Duanbu Xianbei had fought with Shi Le before, and the siege failed. When they retreated, they were chased and lost five thousand armored horses.
He didn’t know whether the five thousand armored horses were fully equipped, or whether they were only equipped with the Han Dynasty horse head armor, which only covered the front of the horse’s head and chest, leaving no armor on the neck, back and rump. During the rebellion, a total of more than 97,000 pieces of horse head armor were transported to the Donghai County Arsenal. The production was much simpler than the full armor.
Considering that Duan was defeated in the Western and Eastern Liaoning areas and lost a lot of cavalry equipment, the group of people who are still surviving in Peiping actually still have horses, euphorbias, and armored cavalry to use, Zao Song was speechless.
He is also responsible in this matter.
“Produced in Zaotai?” the approaching shepherd asked in awkward Jin dialect.
"Where is the Duke of Liaoxi County?" Zao Song had already adjusted his mood and asked with a straight face.
The shepherd choked and said, "Please follow me."
After that, he turned around and led the way.
Zao Song followed and was soon led to a forest clearing.
A huge tent was set up in the open space. Looking from a distance, it seemed that it could not accommodate hundreds of people. During the Southern Dynasties, some envoys went north and were very surprised to see a huge tent that could accommodate thousands of people. They bluntly said that it was just a tent before. I heard that I have seen my true appearance now.
After Zaosong dismounted, he asked the guards to stay outside and walked into the tent with only two followers.
There were many iron-armored warriors standing outside the tent, holding bows, knives, spears and other items. These were accompanied by the Duke of Liaoxi County, and they looked very majestic.
Zao Song snorted coldly, trying to show off to me!
After entering the big tent with his head held high, he glanced around and saw more than twenty people sitting inside. There were four leaders: Duan Ji Lujuan, Duan Mobo, Duan Pixi, Duan Wenyang, and others. He is a relatively unfamiliar person, probably a descendant of a backward aristocratic family.
In these four sections, the front and the heart were at odds with each other, but this time the army pressed on, it was rare for them to come together.
The one in the middle sitting behind the desk is Duan Ji Lujuan.
This man is sitting on a tiger skin with his legs crossed.
Wearing a Xianbei hat on the head - Cui Jishu was not killed, and the lotus stems in the family pool turned into human faces, wearing Xianbei hats, this is the hat.
This hat is also called Wuhuan hat. It is made of wood and is similar to the shape of a tea bowl. It is dyed with red dye - partly similar to the bowl-shaped hat worn by later Manchu and Qing officials.
This kind of hat covers the scalp of the Xianbei people very well. Only a few braids hang down from the bottom of the hat, which looks like ropes. Therefore, they are sometimes called "Suotou" or "Suolu" in disdain.
Duan Ji and his family members were wearing ocher sweaters with left lapels.
Xianbei people really like to wear red hats and red clothes.
He held a meat cleaver in his hand, cut off a piece of bloody venison, picked it up on the tip of the knife, and asked: "Wouldn't you like some?"
Others were immediately worried. Look at him kindly.
Especially Duan Wenyang, who is sitting on the outside, has a sturdy back, an open sweater, and the black hair on his chest is like a steel needle.
He looked at Zao Song with a smile, stuffed a piece of raw venison into his mouth, and started chewing.
When we were marching and fighting, and the rations were no longer available, we ate the smelly raw horse liver, raw horse blood, and even raw human flesh. Raw venison was nothing—sometimes even human flesh was not eaten. Carry a human or animal bone with you. When you are really hungry, you can get some water to make soup and swallow it whole.
If you don’t turn yourself into a beast, how can you have fighting power?
The Huns are too civilized, so they cannot be defeated. The Jin people are even more civilized than the Huns.
Zaosong walked straight to the case, took off the venison on the tip of the knife, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it, and said with a smile: "The gift from Liaoxi Duke is indeed delicious."
Duan Ji Lu Jue Hehe laughed.
Zao Song also laughed.
Everyone laughed, but some people's laughter turned into sneers.
"Zao Taichan, I heard that you killed Wang Shao?" Duan Ji and Lu Juan put down the meat cleaver, wiped their hands and asked.
"After the death of the husband, the wife was in a trance, couldn't afford to fall ill, and died suddenly at home." Zaosong said expressionlessly: "The world is unpredictable, who can say clearly? For example, all of you here. , I can still sit around and eat meat at this moment, but I don’t know how many people will be seen in ten days.” As soon as these words came out, everyone’s expression changed.
Duan Ji's Lu family looked as usual and just asked: "Taiwan, you used to fool around under Wang Pengzu. Why, now you feel that Shao Xun is the British master and you have to live happily Have you done something?”
“Mr. Chen is a hero in the world. He is generous, kind, smart and wise, and he has the courage to break through the formation. He taught me how to break through, so I am willing to work for him,” said Zao Song.
"Bravery may be possible, but generosity is not necessarily the case." Duan Ji and his family members said: "In the battle of Chang'an, five thousand of my warriors were killed. How can I be lenient? My father died in depression, and with this Things are inseparable. ”
"It's just an old thing, why bring it up?" Zaosong sneered and said disdainfully: "If Murong Xin were to kill him, more than five thousand people would die? I'm afraid it might be more than fifty thousand."
When Murong was mentioned, the atmosphere in the tent suddenly became dull.
The wars between them and the Murong clan were very frequent, countless times, but they won less and lost more.
Murong Xianbei used his light cavalry to roam and shoot, his heavy cavalry to charge, and his armored cavalry to make the final decision, which was extremely fierce. It's a head-on confrontation, and without clever hedging, you really can't beat him!
Moreover, Murong Xianbei also had a large number of infantry, which Duan Bu Xianbei lacked.
The Murong family wanted to kill Duan Bu completely, which made people even more frightened.
"Chen Gong can defeat Murong Xianbei?" Duan Mobo sneered at the side: "In the battle of Zhangwu, Yi Congjun was no more than that. I have fought several times, and only those who speak Xiliang dialect The soldiers have some skills and are relatively tough, but the others are not good. "
The most powerful cavalry among the Yi Cong army are indeed the cavalry recruited from Liangzhou. The others are either private soldiers of the wealthy families in Henan or private soldiers. The miscellaneous cavalry is well equipped, but the personnel are messy, and their combat effectiveness is indeed average.
And the number has been greatly expanded in recent years, from a thousand to three thousand, then back to two thousand, and then to five thousand, and then It was downsized to 3,000 and suddenly expanded to 7,000. Most of the people had not been in the army for a long time, and the personnel consumption was very fierce. Two generals died. Recruits were repeatedly added, so that Shao Xun lamented that the volunteer army of 7,000 cavalry was not as good as before. It can be fought when the establishment is only three or four thousand.
It takes three to five years for the Silver Spear Army to develop combat effectiveness, and it will only take longer for the cavalry to improve its combat effectiveness. Therefore, after Duan Mobo's battle, he did not look at the uprising and joined the army. He felt that they were ordinary and not as powerful as imagined.
"General Duan didn't get much advantage in the Zhangwu battle, right?" Zaosong glanced sideways at him and said, "I heard that no less than a thousand Xianbei warriors died in Zhangwu, Hejian, and Gaoyang. Fight a few more times, and General Duan's troops are probably going to be wiped out, right? On the other hand, Mr. Chen, once he returned to Henan, he raised his arms, and there were young men from wealthy families who came to surrender, and the Yi Conscript army was easily expanded to ten thousand horses. , can General Duan still fight?"
The smile on Duan Mobo's face froze.
The army is actually a consumable, and he understands this very well.
And what he relies on to rule the roost is just thousands of veterans who have repeatedly fought with Yuwen Xianbei, Murong Xianbei, and soldiers from all walks of life in the Central Plains, and have rolled out of the battlefield.
Veterans will also be consumed, and each one who dies will lose one.
Although he kept belittling the Yi Congjun, this army is still better than Zahu. It cannot be defeated in one wave and must be attacked repeatedly. In this process, casualties are inevitable.
Zao Song’s meaning is very clear, how many people do you have to grind meat?
"That's enough." Duan Ji and Lu Jue looked at Zao Song and said, "Has Shao Xun arrived in Lu County? I heard that in addition to the cavalry, there are also infantry?"
Zao Xun Song nodded.
"What conditions did Shao Xun give?" Duan Ji and Lu Juan asked.
Duan Mobo suddenly turned his head and looked at Duan Ji Lujuan.
Duan Shefuchen lowered his head, not knowing what to think.
Duan Wenyang and Duan Pixi looked at each other and indicated with their eyes.
"The generals of the three towns of Linzhen, Lulong and Jingsai can be hereditary." Zaosong said.
“Only three?” Duan Ji and Lu Juan frowned.
“Only three.” Zaosong nodded.
Duan Ji and Lu Juan sneered and said, "Shao Xun has a really dark heart."
Zao Song looked at him and smiled without saying a word.
"Has he convinced us?" Duan Ji and Lu Juan asked.
Zao Song bowed and said: "The Duke of Liaoxi may be proud of the brave men under his command, but has he ever thought that the Murong clan has gone to increase troops in Liaoxi? Under the attack from the east and west, he could only flee to the northern mountains. Then he will fall into Yuwen's arms. Who is Yuwen? Can he be polite to Duan Gong? Or maybe Liaoxi Gong wants to surrender to Murong? >
Duan Ji and his family members were silent for a long time.
"Oh, I almost forgot! Since the beginning of spring, there has been a shortage of pasture and the livestock are not strong." Zaosong continued: "Presumably Mr. Duan does not have much grain and beans. How should we fight this battle? Once the war is not going well, a large-scale attack will be carried out. How many people can live if their livestock dies on the way?"
"How many people are there in the Black River Army?" Duan Ji Lujuan asked.
“No less than ten thousand.” Zaosong replied.
At the same time, I was secretly surprised that Duan Bu and Xianbei actually knew about the Black Silk Army.
The three cores of Chen Gong's infantry army, the Silver Spear Left Battalion is the strongest, the Silver Spear Right Battalion is much less powerful, and the Heijian Army is even worse than the Silver Spear Right Battalion. But no matter how bad they were, they were still better than those miscellaneous soldiers, so Duan Ji and Lu Jian didn't ask the other infantry troops at all, because the cavalry frowned and collapsed in a single charge.
"There are also fifteen thousand elite soldiers from the right battalion of Silver Spear going north, with their chariots rumbling, and their morale is high. I wonder if the armored cavalry under Duke Duan can defeat them? If not, we have no choice but to move." Zaosong said again: "The grass buds are very short in spring, and the cattle and horses have no food, alas!"
At this point, Zaosong shook his head.
Duan Ji and Lu Juan looked at the other four people and asked, "What do you think?"
Duan She Fuchen smiled and said, "I don't want to vote for Murong."
Duan Pixi said: "If Shao Xun can respect the Jin Dynasty, it is not impossible to surrender."
Duan Wenyang hesitated for a moment and asked: "When will Murong Xuan send troops? There seem to be more than 20,000 cavalry in Liaoxi County. , and there are a lot of infantry, will they come in the spring?"
No one could answer him.
Duan Mobo glared and said, "How can it be dignified to surrender without fighting?"
Duan Ji and his family members were silent for a long time after hearing this.
Zao Song waited patiently.
"I want to meet Shao Xun. Does he dare to meet me?" Duan Ji and Lu Juan suddenly asked.
(End of this chapter)