Chapter 668 No Choice
The main gate of Jinyang Xiongcheng opened, and men and women in various costumes filed out of the city, forming a thin formation behind simple horses and vehicles.
Everyone is pessimistic when the war reaches this point.
Last year Tuoba fought for power on behalf of the upper class of the country, and Liu Zun, who was a hostage in Shengle, surrendered Xianbei, Wuhuan, and Jin 30,000 families and went south.
The arrival of these 30,000 households directly emptied the little wealth that Jinyang had managed to accumulate, and then some people fled one after another.
This year, the locust plague has occurred, and more and more people have fled. By August, only a few thousand households remained. And these thousands of households are also uneasy, thinking about where to go to survive all day long - without food, there is really no way.
Wei Xiong bit an arrow in his mouth. Without stopping, he picked up the bow and arrow and aimed forward.
To his left and right, the sergeants held up their spears, swords, shields, and rifle bows, looking nervously and numbly ahead.
Among them are Han people, Xianbei people, Wuhuan people, and Huns. They belong to different countries and speak different languages. But at this time, they have no choice but to get together and fight to the death. .
The east wind blew strongly, and the bamboo trees were almost bent, leaving a post road covered with weeds.
On the post road, more than ten riders urged their horses to run away while turning sideways and shooting arrows in the rear.
Behind them, dozens of horsemen were chasing after them, even firing their bows.
The two sides chased and fled, and soon came to Jinyang.
Behind them, dense horse hooves shook the ground, howling sounds spread all over the fields, and overwhelming cavalry passed through the post roads and fields, rushing towards Jinyang City.
Behind the knights, unarmored or lightly armored infantry trotted all the way, eating the dust raised by the horses' hooves, with ferocious faces.
The attack is coming! The Huns are attacking!
In a year of great disaster, no one has an easy time. Since there is not enough food, cattle and sheep, we must fight them out.
If you win, you can eat other people’s cattle, sheep, grain, and even corpses.
If you lose, you can reduce your food intake for cattle and sheep, and you won’t lose no matter what.
Life is so cruel sometimes. Many people have been walking on the edge of life and death since they were born.
If the weather is favorable, you can give birth.
It is impossible to survive when disasters occur frequently.
If you want to struggle on, you have to kill, rob, bet with your own life, and rob the precious resource of survival.
The desperate Huns began to attack the desperate Jinyang army.
At this time, it is meaningless regardless of ethnicity or group.
Two-thirds of the troops defending Jinyang were Hu people, and half of the troops attacking Jinyang were Hu people. What a chaotic battle!
"Open the horse." Wei Xiong, who has been in the grassland for many years, ordered.
On the grassland, even if not everyone can ride a horse, they have all seen horses. They are not afraid of horses, let alone horses rushing towards you. Therefore, many strange and strange animals that are rarely seen in the Central Plains have been born. Tactics, such as the tactics of resisting cavalry with feet -
Under Wei Xiong's order, several big-bodied Xianbei people pulled the horses to both sides.
More than a dozen of our own cavalrymen rushing at the front raised their reins and jumped up, passing quickly.
As for why the horse needs to be reined up, the reason is that although the horse is open, there is still a strong wooden stick lying across the middle. As long as this stick is present, the cavalry cannot charge straight through and can only jump in.
This will result in a loss of speed.
This will reduce the frequency of passes.
A large group of infantrymen gathered on both sides of the gap, stabbing with spears, which will also reduce the number of enemy cavalry rushing in.
Of course the Huns knew this tactic very well, but they still rushed in without hesitation.
A bloody battle breaks out near the gap.
The enemy cavalry galloping past stabbed the defending infantry on both sides with their spears and sabers.
The infantry gritted their teeth and stabbed with their spears.
Blood flowers rose high, and the war horses neighed in pain.
Arrows flew around, and the soldiers fell to the ground with a groan.
After letting in more than a hundred enemy cavalry, a group of infantrymen held up large shields, trying hard to block the incoming lances and flying arrows. They held torches and lit the wooden sticks lying across the gap.
The flames are blazing, and the war horses are hoofing back.
The Hun cavalry that rushed over were in chaos. They adjusted their posture angrily and used their lances to poke at the infantry behind the baggage train.
Infantry bows and cavalry bows were intertwined, and arrows rained down from the sky. Both armies inside and outside the baggage train suffered heavy casualties.
The hundreds of Huns cavalry who were let in were surrounded by infantry.
There is no road ahead, either a baggage truck or a fence, on the left and right.
Having lost their speed, they fought together with the swarming Jinyang infantry. Some people kept screaming and fell off their horses. The scene was extremely bloody.
Actually, these Jinyang infantry who chopped down the cavalry were not that strong.
Most of them come from the grasslands, but they are not naturally afraid of horses or cavalry charges. They have seen enough and are used to it.
But the Central Plains infantry had to train for a long time before they could restrain their fear of cavalry charges, because they rarely saw horses and were not used to them.
In the past, Wu Han often charged five thousand cavalry. When fighting Gongsun Shu in Chengdu, cavalry general Gao Wu directly rushed into Shu's army and assassinated him, which was extremely smooth.
In Hebei, Liu Xiu personally led the troops. When faced with You Lai and other Youzhou indigenous infantry who were familiar with cavalry tactics, he was defeated miserably. He only escaped with his own life. Finally, Geng Yan led the cavalry archers to come up. , Long-range fire suppression was enough to repel the chasing Youzhou infantry.
These Hu and Han infantry under Liu Kun are vulnerable to regular Central Plains infantry, but when facing cavalry, they can perform better than Central Plains infantry, which is also an anomaly.
But it’s useless no matter how well you perform at this time.
The Hun cavalry gathered in front of the baggage train gradually dispersed, and unarmored and light armored infantry swarmed in, flooding the Jinyang infantry camp like a tide.
Both sides are crazy to save their lives.
There is almost no command or formation. They are fighting together, using up the last bit of strength in their bodies, slashing left and right, either you die or I die.
The sound of horse hoofbeats sounded from the side and behind, and the Xianbei cavalry general Jidan under Liu Kun's tent rushed out with more than a thousand horses.
The Huns' cavalry surrounded them from left to right, and the two sides fought repeatedly in the farmland that had been abandoned for a long time.
There were too many Huns, almost several times their number. Before the battle was over, Jidan lost one-third of his cavalry.
Some people began to break up, bypassing Jinyang and running to the north.
"No retreat!" Jidan roared and gathered some people and continued to fight with the Huns.
But now that it’s over, what’s the use?
The men and horses he had managed to gather were immediately scattered after being surrounded by a barrage of arrows from the Huns. Without morale, pessimism and despair, no matter how brave a person is, they are useless.
With tears in his eyes, Ji Dan ran around and found that Liu Kun, who was supervising the battle above, had disappeared.
He sighed, maybe this is good.
Liu Yueshi is loyal after all.
Last year, 30,000 families went south, and it was he who provided the last bit of food relief. The fall of Jinyang today is not unrelated to the fact that there are hundreds of thousands more mouths to eat.
Now it's all over.
Thirty thousand soldiers and civilians moved south, and their reputation was unparalleled. Although food and grass were scarce, Liu Yueshi defied all opinions and sent troops without hesitation, although he was defeated miserably at the hands of Liu Yao.
A year later, 30,000 people were scattered. Jinyang had no soldiers and food, and the fall was imminent.
It was like a dream.
When I woke up from the dream, everyone shed tears and said goodbye. It was so sad.
Following the retreating Ji Dan, Liu Kun and others, the Huns rushed into Jinyang City in an attempt to find food.
The knights outside the city dismounted and began to clean the battlefield.
Tear off the clothes on the corpse first, they can still be used.
Weapons are also picked up and can be used as spare equipment.
The heads of the corpses will be chopped off regardless of whether they are friend or foe.
Someone was washing pots and pans by the river.
Someone took an iron brush and began to brush the meat.
Some people started to argue. One said that the liver is fat, give me more, and give you the butt meat in exchange, but the other refused to give in no matter what.
The severed limbs and arms were also gathered together, placed in a stone mortar, pounded hard, made into a paste, cooked and eaten at will.
Wei Xiong was captured by the Huns and tied up. When he heard the Huns soldiers arguing, he didn't react much.
How can we blame others harshly during a disaster?
In fact, he also knew that liver is fat and fat, and people who have never eaten it would not know...
Suddenly, he felt sad again and cried to the sky.
I have followed Tuoba Yilu and Liu Kun for many years and experienced many wars, but in the end I have become a human being and a ghost.
When the enemy city was conquered, he slaughtered and ate dried meat.
When he was defeated by the enemy, he abandoned the old and the weak and allowed the enemy to ravage him.
Now that they are defeated and bound, it seems that they are to blame themselves.
But he is not willing to give in. In troubled times, there is no way for anyone to be tender and affectionate.
The Huns came over, holding sharp knives, and they wanted to cut open the abdomen and take out the internal organs and present them to the leader.
Actually, this is a routine operation in troubled times and disaster years.
It’s just that people are reluctant to spread such unspeakable things.
Being in such a torrent, you will get sick even if you are not sick...
Some people are more seriously ill, such as Wei Xiong and his Huns enemies.
Some people are less ill, such as Shao Xun and his men.
Everyone is sick.
******
Ten days ago, Pan Tao and others were still speculating about whether to attack the Huns.
In fact, you don’t need to fight, they are coming.
On the tenth day of August, autumn is high and horses are fat.
In the wilderness, the sound of horns is heard.
Countless Huns on foot and horse swarmed in, carrying a large number of refugees, and rushed straight towards Wen County.
Wen County Magistrate Jing Hong climbed up to the city and looked out, and suddenly took a breath of cold air.
He never knew that the Huns could mobilize so many people.
He also didn’t know that the Huns were actually willing to fight siege warfare, which they were not good at.
The gray-haired old man and the half-grown boy with a runny nose stood together, holding up their spears and advancing slowly.
Even women mounted their horses, bent their bows and shot arrows.
Isn’t this a fucking life? !
How will the tribe develop in the future if the woman and the boy die?
Slaughtering precious cattle and sheep on the spot, no matter the horsepower, charging with all your might, are you planning to complete your victory in one battle?
Even if they win this battle, not all of them will be able to survive the coming winter.
This autumn, countless people are destined to die.
The sergeants, refugees, strong men, and healthy women in Wen County were mobilized, organized into various battalions, and climbed to the top of the city, preparing to fight the enemy to the death.
Even urchins as young as seven or eight were given wooden sticks.
At the critical moment, it is good to consume even one arrow from the enemy.
The knights rushed out of Wen County in a hurry and headed towards Heyang to convey military information.
The Huns blocked them from left and right, and the knights clashed desperately. In the end, only two scarred men sent the news to Heyang Beicheng.
The Heijian army who returned to Heyang immediately sent a messenger to relay the news eastward, and finally delivered it to Bianliang in the early morning of August 14.
The Bianliang shogunate is debating whether to go north to Hanoi. There are supporters and opponents, and the quarrel is fierce.
But now, all arguments are over.
You are still discussing whether to attack, but the enemy has already taken the initiative to attack.
In fact, there is no choice.
(End of this chapter)