Chapter 778 Fate
Inadvertently, the rain stopped suddenly.
Some people looked up at the sky and saw dense clouds. They thought to themselves: Could it be that God deliberately stopped the rain for the tens of thousands of troops on both sides to fight?
This idea is so hellish that it makes people shudder.
At dawn, the direction of Guangwu Old City becomes lively.
The huge golden tent began to be dismantled, and various items such as pillars, beams, felt cloths, and furniture were loaded up, and hundreds of cars were packed into it.
The women carefully squeezed the morning milk from the cows and goats, put it into barrels and leather bags, and placed it on the car.
On the bank of the river are big, muscular men, shirtless, shouting slogans, and dragging fishing nets up from the river.
Every time he caught a big fish, he would turn around and show off, making the group of women laugh.
Children picked up wild vegetables and mushrooms on the hillside and put them into baskets. Some people staggered down the mountain carrying bundles of firewood on their backs.
The dull sound of horse hooves sounded all around.
The knights galloped in the sea of horses, driving group after group of horses, and disappeared into the southern horizon.
After they left, one column after another of cavalry holding spears passed quickly. The leader's spear was hung with a pennant flag, flying in the wind.
The old man with white beard and hair sat on the wooden pier, holding the wooden cup tightly with his hands like dry bark, and his eyes were deep.
After taking the last sip of milk, he sighed.
This is fate.
When he was young, he liked to fight on the battlefield and fought several battles for the Jin Dynasty. Even nine years ago, he fought for the Jin Dynasty for the last time, defeating the Huns in the Blue Valley and chasing Baili.
Now he doesn't like this.
He just wanted to lie under the stars in the sky on a summer night, listen to the sound of the wind, and watch his grandson sleeping soundly in the tent.
This Chanyu and that king brought only endless suffering.
The blood will never run out.
The majestic and deep sound of the trumpet sounded, as if coming from all directions, touching the soul.
A tall and wide chariot appeared on the muddy land in the north, and the curtain was lifted, revealing the serious face of the prairie Chanyu.
Teams of warriors carrying bucklers and bows and swords hanging at their waists followed the chariot, with flags connected to each other, overwhelming the sky.
The slaves gathered in groups, holding ceremonial guards in their hands.
The old man fell to the ground as soon as his sight came into contact with the chariot.
The wheel ran over the puddle and poured muddy water on the old man.
Until the sound of wheels could no longer be heard, the old man slowly stood up and wiped the mud and grass stems from his forehead.
He returned to his temporary residence, picked up his bow, knife and riding whip, took out the horse, and climbed up.
The cattle and sheep were driven forward by him. When they climbed over a hillside, he couldn't help but stop and look back, taking in the panoramic view of the northern scenery.
The south wind blew strong, causing fine ripples to appear on the river.
On both sides of the Hutuo River, among the waves of green grass blown up by the wind, there are snow-white sheep everywhere.
The herdsmen rode their horses for a stroll, whips cracking from time to time, driving the cattle and sheep forward.
The song echoed repeatedly in the deserted valley.
The sound is rough, sad, desolate and wild, just like the birch tree in the snowstorm, with a lonely back but growing tenaciously.
Bloody killing and love for life are contradictory yet unified in everyone.
This is Xianbei, this is the grassland.
The old man took off the leather bag from his waist and took a sip of kumiss.
The Xianbei, Wuhuan, Huns, Jie, and Han people surged southward, ready to fight.
When will they become one like the milk and wine in their hands?
Maybe never, because that's fate.
******
The Yellow Head Army slowly gathered in Jinyang.
Smoke curls up from the kitchen in the morning.
At the base of the city wall, there are rows and rows of earthen jars, which are steaming and steaming, making it a spectacular sight.
Zeng Yi held the scabbard in his arms and closed his eyes tightly.
He didn't really fall asleep, but he was homesick.
He was afraid that the flash of tenderness in his eyes would be seen by others, making people laugh, and destroy his cold and fierce image.
Should the wheat at home be harvested?
I wonder what she will do alone. Will she have time to stop it? It rained a while ago.
The leeks planted after spring should have been harvested for several crops. You can sell them when the market starts. Will you get a few extra bucks?
Did you plant melons after Qingming Festival? He remembered what he told her, but he didn't know if she understood it.
Many high-ranking officials came to Pingyang, and melons and fruits were sold well in the summer, which could help subsidize the household income.
A sheep in the pen had a problem with its hoof. He wanted to kill it and sell it for money, but the woman hesitated.
How stupid. The sheep’s hooves will rot sooner or later. How long can it survive?
Alas! After sighing silently in his heart, Zeng Yi opened his eyes.
"Team leader." The sergeant of our team brought a bowl of wild vegetable soup and said with a smile.
Zeng Yi picked up the bowl and drank slowly.
This is not a pure vegetable soup, but a soup made with wild vegetables and dried meat.
He has been drinking this so much lately that he is almost tired of it, but the biggest shortage in the army is all kinds of millet. What can be done?
There was a piece of bone at the bottom of the bowl. Zeng Yi was not afraid of burning it, so he picked it up with his fingers. He first gnawed away the rotten meat on the bone, then took a look at it, and then started sucking in the bone marrow. "Team leader, I picked it for you, isn't it good?" the sergeant smiled.
Zeng Yi glanced at him and said nothing.
“Drink quickly, two bowls per person, and I’ll scoop it up after you finish.” The sergeant said again.
“This thing will be gone before noon as soon as you soak it in urine. It’s useless.” Zeng Yi disliked it while drinking it sweetly.
Meals such as pancakes and corn can be eaten by the Silver Spear Army, the Yi Cong Army, and the Pro-Army Army, but they cannot eat them. Who makes food insufficient?
The difference between the top and bottom, strength and weakness in the army is so obvious that there is nothing we can do about it.
"Team leader, take me with you when we fight. I'll go where you go, okay?" the sergeant said softly as he served the second bowl of soup.
"Why? If a team advances and retreats together, is there any way to say whether to take it or not?" Zeng Yi asked.
"If you are fighting in the field, I will be fine." The sergeant said, "But if you are storming the enemy camp and fighting in the mountains, if I follow you, I can survive and maybe gain something."
"Are you concerned?" Zeng Yi lowered his head to drink the soup so that no one could see his expression.
The sergeant was silent for a long time and said: "The one at home is pregnant. I want to go back alive. It's best to make some money."
Zeng Yi remained silent.
The sergeant sighed again: "Actually, when I was floating in the water holding a piece of wood, death was no longer so scary to me. King Liang saved me, and this life is to give him another life. How about it? I just want my child to survive and grow up safely, even if he doesn’t have my last name. It would be great if I could take a few pieces of cloth home with me.”
The last word. At this time, the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, as if he had thought of something beautiful.
"I hold the sword and shield, you hold the gun. Follow me closely and don't go too far." Zeng Yi suddenly said.
"Okay." The sergeant's face was filled with joy.
"After surviving this battle, we will live." Zeng Yi said: "Don't worry, the battle won't last long. If we fight for another month, the Silver Spear Army will have to drink wild vegetable soup with us. In the end, We will be able to start our troops in as late as July."
While the two were talking, the troops who had eaten breakfast had already packed their bags and started to set off.
A mighty force of nearly 20,000 people left Jinyang and pointed directly at Shiling.
******
After the main force of the Jin army arrived in Jinyang, there was a large-scale retreat in Yangqu and other places.
Within a few days, all the tents that once covered the ground were demolished. People, cattle and sheep headed north, across the stone ridge, to Xingxing. Only pure warriors were left, herding horses and keeping watch. Jinyang direction.
From this point of view, the Xianbei people know how to fight.
They are obsessed with going south, but they will not fight for every inch of territory. They will fight as they should. If they cannot win, they will run away. If they win, they will chase them north and eliminate the enemy into an organized armed force.
This is a smart approach and a strategy passed down from time to time, a strategy that fits their production and lifestyle.
At the end of May in the fifth year of the Divine Turtle (321), they once again launched a test to go south.
This is a "humble" temptation, because since ancient times, no Hu people have occupied the main areas of the Han Dynasty, and no Hu people have been emperors, not one.
Although since the founding of the Later Han Dynasty, the balance of power between the two sides has been changing in favor of the grassland. They have become more civilized, their rules and regulations have been improved, their iron production has increased sharply, and the cavalry's tactical innovations have been changing with each passing day. Now One thousand cavalry can easily defeat five thousand or even ten thousand cavalry in the Han and Huns eras...
They are full of confidence.
Tanshihuai's attempt to unify the grasslands was a great attempt, but it turned out that the Han army was no match for them. Tens of thousands of cavalrymen were beaten by the Xianbei cavalry and almost all of them were annihilated. Seventy-eight out of ten were killed.
Unfortunately, Tan Shihuai died in his forties, and Xianbei fell into pieces and became a thug of the Central Plains princes.
But this attempt still has positive significance.
Perhaps, if the grasslands are unified now, their strength will be far greater than when the Xiongnu unified the grasslands, because they have sophisticated weapons made by blacksmiths, and the quality and quantity far exceed those of the Xiongnu era.
They have armored cavalry, and their number far exceeds that of the Huns.
They have roughly trained infantry, and their combat effectiveness is much stronger than the pitiful infantry of the Huns.
The scale of their farming also far exceeds that of the Huns.
The most important thing is that with the high bridge saddle and the bilateral stirrups, it is extremely convenient whether it is marching, riding archery or hand-to-hand charging. It can fully utilize the strength of the whole body and use more skills.
The Huns' cavalry, who wore blankets and rode on bare horses, holding the horse's belly with only their legs, making ridiculous and clumsy movements, hardly deserves to be called cavalry, just like adults and children. The difference...
Now maybe we can make a second attempt after Tanshihuai.
The new masters of the Central Plains will certainly not allow them to make such an attempt, and collision is already a doomed fate.
On May 27th, the general's cavalry led Yin Xi and two thousand rebel troops out of the Fenshui Valley and attacked Yangqu.
Of course the Xianbei people who stayed here responded.
In the afternoon, the sky is high and the clouds are clear.
The majestic horse, carrying the heroic knight, trotted quickly on the dry grass.
They snorted and their hooves made a rhythmic clatter.
Gradually, the speed became faster and faster, and the horse's back became more and more bumpy.
The wind carried the fragrance of grass, occasionally mixed with the smell of cow and sheep dung.
The sound of flags, horns, whistles, and shouts came to my ears.
The knights have serious faces, even ferocious.
When the opponent's increasingly taller figure appeared in his eyes, as well as the cold light of swords and guns flashing in the sun, the sense of depression disappeared in an instant.
There is no hiding, no avoiding. Today, there is only death.
The first battle broke out in Yangqu with thousands of riders from both sides.
Twenty miles south of Yangqu, countless cavalry are marching.
Shao Xun looked at the pale Xianbei envoy and said only one sentence: "It's too late!"
(End of this chapter)