Chapter 731 "Get Out"
"Crash!" The heavily loaded baggage truck passed by, causing a splash of water.
The prisoners were numb, too lazy to dodge, and did not dare to dodge.
In the Battle of Xiurong, one Xiongnu general (Qiao Zhong) was captured and 2,500 troops surrendered. Only Qiao Yu and a few hundred others broke out and disappeared.
Ask again about the number of Xiurong's defenders before the war: more than 5,500.
In the actual siege stage, the number of Xiongnu soldiers killed in battle was less than three thousand. Obviously, they did not have the determination to die or fight to the last man.
You know, this is Xiurong City, named after Liu Yuan, and it was captured just like this. It shows how low the Xiongnu's military morale has declined.
Of course, the orthodox Huns still resisted resolutely, especially when they were guarding the river, fighting in the field with the Silver Spear Army, trying to attack halfway across the river. Unfortunately, the upper reaches of the Fen River (Lan River) were not wide enough and the current was not fast enough, so they were defeated in one fell swoop.
During the city defense stage, the Huns continued to die in large numbers, while the Di and Qiang suffered fewer casualties. Among those who finally surrendered, nearly two thousand were them.
This is reality.
After capturing Xiurong, Shao Xun sat in the city and recruited the chief.
Wang Queer led the Silver Spear Zuoying, Luoyan Army, Xianbei Qingqi and a group of nearly 18,000 strong men to the south.
Before leaving, I tortured Qiao Zhong - in fact, he was tortured without much punishment - and learned that there were 4,000 Xiongnu forbidden troops and "thousands" and "ten thousand" of miscellaneous tribesmen in Chihshui area. "Remaining", build fortifications to defend yourself.
Qiao Zhong really didn’t know the number of Zahu, so he could only use a vague number to deal with it.
As for who the guard is, I will scare you to death if I tell you: Liu Fu, King of Bohai.
Wang Queer traced the map and found that the Xiongnu camp was about 150 miles away from them. It was located in the Chishui River Valley and was built on the road.
There should be a large number of Huns tribes in the mountains on both sides.
Their attitude is very important.
These tribal soldiers are not difficult to deal with and can be easily defeated in frontal field battles. However, instead of fighting you head-on, they will only sneak attack on your long supply line, which is very annoying.
This is actually the reason why Shao Xun wanted to recruit the tribal chief.
There is no hope of turning enemies into friends, so it is better to stabilize them first. If there are a few young men among the tribal leaders who are willing to help lead the way and select a few tribes that dance the most happily to be destroyed, the others will have to weigh it up.
In fact, some tribes have already chosen to cross the Yellow River and go to the Hexi area.
In the past two years, the climate in Guanxi has improved, precipitation has increased, and the grasslands in Hexi (Hetao area) are rich and beautiful. Wouldn’t it be great to be like the Tiefu Xiongnu fleeing from Yanmen and Xingxing to the west?
Shao Xun did not care about these people who fled west, and could not care about them. If they escape, the threat to the food route will be reduced. It's a good thing and there is no need to complicate it.
Since Xiurong went south, the army's food routes have been harassed by Ruoyouruowu, which caused Wang Queer's troops to march very slowly and had to send a large number of cavalry to cover the rear.
He counted the time and felt a little worried.
The military adviser Zhang Bin was appointed to accompany the army and participate in the praise painting. Seeing Wang Que'er's worry, he advised: "There is no need to worry, Governor Wang. Marching in the mountains is not easy, and you have to prepare for the camp step by step. Food, grass, equipment The transportation of winter clothes and wound medicine is slow, which hinders the advance of troops, but it is indispensable for the current plan. We must not advance rashly."
"The person I am worried about is not the Xiongnu, but it is the right time." Wang Queer raised his horse whip and said, "Maybe in ten days and a half, the snow will fall. Even if you have winter clothes, when the weather is cold and the ground is freezing, the morale of the troops is low and there is some fighting spirit."
Zhang Bin had obviously considered this issue. After hearing this, he immediately said: "Military battles are inherently unpredictable. When the first snow falls, it will definitely not be too cold. If it really doesn't work, you can retreat to Xiurong and Loufan. , Fenyang and even Jinyang."
Wang Que'er's face still didn't have much expression, and he just said: "That's it. The military order of Liang Gong has been issued, so let's fight."
"The king's army went south. Even if they didn't attack the city or take the territory, the Xiongnu would not dare to take it lightly. They would be prepared for it." Zhang Bin added: "Qiao Zhong once sent people to Pingyang to ask for reinforcements. I heard that thousands of people were sent to Pingyang, mostly from the tribes stationed in the east of the river. This army has a difficult journey north, and perhaps there is not enough food and grass for our army. On the other hand, once they leave, the troops at Zhiguan and Hongnong are too weak to fight, so they can only retreat step by step. ”
Speaking of this, Zhang Bin shook his head.
Wang Queer looked at the majestic mountain ridges on both sides of Chishui River and didn't say much.
He understood what Zhang Bin meant.
The second time they sent out troops, the breakthrough was probably in the south, not them.
The soldiers in Jinyang are serious soldiers, attracting the main force of the enemy to gather, and creating opportunities for Zhiguan and Hongnong.
Liu Shan, Tang Jian, and Liu Runzhong of Shangdang actually have the same role. They don’t have many soldiers, but as long as they send a few troops to cross the Wuling Road to the west, the Huns will not dare to withdraw their defense. Soldiers and horses on the north and south roads of Wuling.
Yang Dan and Wen Qiao had the same idea. They led tens of thousands of troops to attack Lengquanshui. The battle was weak, but the Huns did not dare to withdraw the thousands of troops guarding the camp. And behind these thousands of soldiers and horses, there are more than one "thousands" who can be rotated or even reinforced at any time.
Liu Cong mobilized troops from Hedong to go north to Xihe, but did not mobilize troops from Pingyang, which already illustrates the problem.
Considering that Hongnong is making great progress, should Liu Cong send reinforcements?
The troops were guarded everywhere, and the troops were heavily occupied and thinly divided. Perhaps this was Master Shao's intention.
On October 21, pioneer Duan Mobo arrived at the Huns camp on the west bank of the Red Flood River (north of Fangshan County). The two sides chased each other in the mountains, with arrows like locusts, and a new battle broke out.
******
The gate of the camp suddenly opened, and hundreds of riders filed out, shouting loudly.
The personal soldiers surrounded Shao Shen, shielding them with bucklers and spears, and charged straight into the enemy formation while braving arrows.
Of course, this is not enough, there will definitely be arrows missed.
But after all, he is the nephew of Duke Liang. These hundreds of horses are equipped with horse head armor, which only protects the horse's head, neck, chest and abdomen.
This kind of horse-head armor is cheap to make. During the Early Han Dynasty, there were more than 97,000 horse-head armors stored in the Donghai Arsenal. If the former Han Dynasty could afford suitable war horses and personnel, at least 97,000 horse-head armors could be assembled. Thousands and a half armored cavalry - of course this is impossible. The cost of armored cavalry is never the armor, but the difficulty of finding horses, the personnel training cycle is too long, and the daily expenses are too high.
Hundreds of cavalry bypassed the large formation of Mi soldiers, caught up with the retreating soldiers who had attacked the stronghold, and charged forward to fight fiercely.
When the killing spree started, Shao Shen stepped out from the crowd, identified the direction with dozens of "evil young men", and headed straight for Wang Mi's banner.
Wang Mi stood on the high slope, the corner of his mouth twitching.
Shao Shen is an old opponent that he has known for many years.
Shao Thief spent a lot of effort to train him. He has excellent martial arts and a good military strategy. He is very brave when galloping. He especially likes to charge with hundreds of cavalry.
Fortunately, he made preparations today. As the flags were waved, drums beat continuously, and several battalions lined up in neat formations. They fired with strong bows and crossbows, knocking down the defeated troops and the chasing cavalry in a large area.
"Xilulu!" The horse neighed in pain.
Several of the evil young soldiers in front of Shao Shen had fallen, and the gap was exposed. Several arrows flew to them and were inserted into the armor. Fortunately, the penetration was not deep, but the pain was excruciating.
What is even more helpless is that the war horse first stood up, and then fell to its knees heavily.
Shao Shen hurriedly rolled off the saddle, took the reins handed over by his own soldiers, jumped onto a new horse, gritted his teeth and charged again.
The Qiang people surrounded them with light cavalry, arrows raining down like rain.
Shao Shen hurriedly urged his horse to meet them head-on. As they passed each other, the horse's spear swept down the two men in an instant.
After rushing forward for more than ten steps, another gun came towards me.
Shao Shen narrowly dodged and then grabbed the barrel of the gun. The enemy knight pulled back hard, and Shao Shen let go of his hand. The enemy knight became unstable and swayed, and was picked up by the evil boy who followed closely.
Wang Mi had already stood up, secretly scolding the Qiang Qingqi for being incompetent and not working hard to fight. If it weren't for my cavalry, I would have lost all my cavalry a long time ago. Do you have any use for me?
Fortunately, the infantry has slowly pressed forward. Under the rain of arrows, the Jin cavalry that rushed over suffered heavy losses.
Shao Thief's great nephew was surrounded by more than a hundred cavalry, rushing left and right among the Qiang cavalry, looking incomparably brave.
The Qiangqi did not confront them head-on.
When the Jin cavalry charged, they dispersed and then galloped.
The Jin cavalry turned, and they went around to both sides and rear of the enemy, firing arrows continuously.
The Jin cavalry gave up the entanglement and went straight to the direction of the big banner, and the Qiang cavalry only blocked it slightly.
It should be said that the battle situation is very stable.
But seeing that Shao Shen was still alive and kicking, Wang Mi couldn't hold back his anger.
He glanced to the east and saw another group of infantry troops dispatched to continue attacking the stronghold.
The Zhongwu troops on the wall were raining down arrows and throwing stones, boiling water and other objects from time to time. They resisted very tenaciously.
Wang Mi was a little anxious.
My younger brother Wang Yan is still fighting in Lianchi. He cannot stay too long in the Erling area of Koban and must conquer this stronghold as soon as possible.
Thinking of this, the flag waved again. Another mixed infantry and cavalry team of 2,000 people left the starting point, marched towards the rear of the Jin cavalry, and outflanked them.
We must kill Shao Shen, who dances the most happily, as soon as possible!
As soon as he died, the morale of the Zhongwu Army collapsed, and a great victory was expected.
At this time, he had deployed almost all of his reserves, and the total number of infantry and cavalry that surrounded Shao Shen exceeded four thousand.
Shao Shen seemed to be aware of the danger, and slowly gathered his cavalry, looking for a gap and retreating.
The war drums under the banner were beating faster and louder, which was a signal to speed up the advance of troops.
The four thousand cavalrymen shouted in unison, moved quickly, surrounded the Jin cavalry who were lagging behind, and killed them wantonly.
Moreover, the Qiang cavalry, who had not worked very hard before, now saw the Jin cavalry retreating, and suddenly shouted and were extremely brave.
The entire formation began to lengthen, and gradually became a little chaotic.
At this time, a large plume of smoke and dust rose in the east, and the rhythmic sound of horse hooves was overwhelming, echoing throughout the valley.
Wang Mi's expression changed. He looked up and saw countless armored warriors galloping out from behind the camp guarded by the Zhongwu Army.
They are very fast. They don't care about the horses at all, and they don't save any horsepower. They just maneuver quickly.
"Fu soldiers?!" Wang Mi's face turned dark. He felt as if he had made a mistake.
A total of 2,400 soldiers passed through the entire battlefield, walked to a gentle slope and dismounted, and then at a dizzying speed, they drew out their equipment and formed a formation.
In an instant, more than two thousand armored warriors rushed over in small steps.
Under the heavy fire from the crossbow machine, a large number of Qiang cavalry who were chasing Shao Shen fell off their horses and screamed in agony. When the rest of the crowd saw it, they immediately dispersed and retreated.
After the crossbowman finished shooting, he immediately turned around and retreated.
The rest of the people quickened their pace, armed with heavy swords, big axes and long halberds, and headed straight towards the pursuing Mi Bing infantry.
Their maneuvers on the battlefield were not random, but deliberately selected flanks. From arriving at the destination, to dismounting and forming a formation, and then marching into the wall, the entire movement is completed in one go. After defeating the Qiang cavalry, he without hesitation inserted himself into the formation, causing a bloody storm.
“It’s over!” Wang Mi couldn’t stop trembling.
This is the last capital!
The nightmare of the past seemed to come back again. Every time he was complacent and had accumulated some experience, he would be immediately caught and beaten by Shao Xun.
Not once or twice!
In the past few years, he has become a little more stable, and Shao Thief did not come to beat him specially, so his capital has become stronger and his ambition has become higher and higher, but today it seems that he is going to lose it...
Wang Mi felt dizzy for a while, his ears were buzzing, and in the end there was only a huge word "Go" in his mind!
"Poof!" He spit out a mouthful of blood and was about to fall to the ground.
General Wang Gen quickly stepped forward and supported Wang Mi.
"Order to withdraw the troops and return to Shaanxi City." Wang Mi said weakly.
Wang Gen nodded and immediately sent someone to deliver the order. And he took his own soldiers, helped Wang Mi into a donkey cart, guarded him, and ran westward.
(End of this chapter)