Chapter 49: Cutting Out the Future
Chapter 49: Cutting Out the Future
Time passed quickly and soon it was the first month of the year.
Emperor Hui of Jin, who was crazy about changing the reign title, had already decided that this year would be called the first year of Yongxing (304).
Yongxing has a good meaning, but I don’t know if this new year name can get rid of the bad luck and bring “eternal prosperity” to the Jin Dynasty.
Biyong is generally calm.
Some time ago, news came from the south that Xianbei cavalry were pillaging the countryside.
However, these Hu cavalry were very cunning. They would not go to the mountains with dense vegetation, nor would they come to the south of the city with many buildings and complex terrain. They moved around on the open plains, intercepting messengers and driving away scouts - in fact, their main job was still looting.
We are not stupid.
Sima Ying invited them to fight but did not give them much benefits, so the Xianbei people "took it for themselves", and in the end the people of Luoyang were the ones who suffered.
On the eighth day of the first lunar month, seeing that the front line was at a standstill, King Sima Ying of Chengdu sent out messengers one after another, repeatedly urging them to hurry up.
It has been nearly half a year since the expedition began. Since this is a huge army that has never appeared since the Wei Dynasty, the consumption of various materials will also be huge.
Hebei can no longer bear the pressure, the people are complaining, and the refugee army that was previously defeated by the violent attack is showing signs of reviving again.
Considering that spring plowing will begin next month, if the fighting is not completed in the first month of the year and the soldiers are sent back home to farm, life in Hebei will be even more difficult in the coming year, and who knows what kind of chaos may arise.
In particular, Zhang Fang in the west of the city had twice submitted petitions requesting to return to the capital, although they were rejected by Chang'an - Sima Yong didn't care what would happen if the farming season was delayed - but after the news reached Yecheng, Sima Ying really couldn't sit still.
He even had a premonition that he would fail, and he became extremely worried and restless.
So he decided to take a gamble and ordered an attack.
The new commander Qian Xiu was very disgusted with this order, but there was nothing he could do, so he summoned all the generals and after discussion decided: a general is not always subject to the orders of the king when he is away from the court, and the orders of King Chengdu must be carried out, but not all of them can be carried out.
So, a medium-sized attack was launched.
The results were dismal.
In the open field battle, tens of thousands of Hebei troops were forced to flee in a panic, suffering heavy casualties.
Up to this point, more than 70,000 Hebei troops had been captured or killed, almost one third of the troops, which was a serious blow.
The staff of Ye Prefecture begged the King of Chengdu not to fight any more recklessly. Since they couldn't win, they might as well continue to dig deep trenches and build high fortifications to trap the enemy in Luoyang.
Sima Ying agreed sadly.
In this battle, the difference in the quality of the soldiers was vividly reflected, so much so that he had to wonder whether the corrupt soldiers could still be relied on as the main force.
It was several days later when Mi Huang and Shao Xun learned the news.
"The Grand Commander won three battles of a slightly larger scale." Mi Huang sighed, with a look of reluctance on his face.
The first was the Battle of Jianchun Gate, where Sima Yi defeated Lu Ji and beheaded more than 30,000 people.
The second time was the Battle of Qianjinqiao, where Sima Yi defeated Zhang Fang and beheaded more than 5,000 people.
The third time was the Battle of Luoshui, where Sima Yi defeated Qian Xiu and beheaded more than 20,000 people.
Sima Yi did lose before, such as the battles at Yanshi, but they were all minor defeats. Moreover, the king's army had won a minor victory in the north of the city, defeated Qianxiu in the battle of Dongyang Gate, and killed Meng Chao in the south of the city, so there were many similar minor victories.
Overall, after fighting for less than half a year, Sima Yong lost nearly 20,000 men, Sima Ying lost more than 70,000 men, and the Luoyang central army under Sima Yi lost more than 10,000 soldiers.
The battle loss ratio looks very good, but the situation is becoming increasingly passive, which is really outrageous.
At this point, Shao Xun couldn't figure out how to win.
"Why is the governor sighing?" Shao Xun said, "After the Grand Commander missed two chances, it is impossible for him to win. The royal army is good at fighting quickly, not at holding out for a long time. It is already the first month of the year, and there is not much food in the granary, right?"
Taicang is located inside Jianchun Gate and is the granary of the entire Luoyang.
During the Northern Wei Dynasty, Taicang was moved inside Dongyang Gate.
During the Sui Dynasty, due to the increasing reliance on water transport, warehouses were built outside the city, such as the famous Heyin Warehouse.
The Tang Dynasty learned from the lesson and moved the warehouse city to the northeast corner of the city, named "Hanjia Warehouse City", which could store one million hu of grain.
"It's almost empty." Mi Huang said, "The soldiers have reduced their rations."
"Since there is still food left, why reduce the soldiers' rations?"
"I guess the commander-in-chief wants to fight a protracted war." After saying that, Mi Huang smiled, obviously not quite believing it.
"How about Guanzhong?" Shao Xun always felt that Sima Yi lacked the courage to make desperate strategic decisions. Going all in is certainly a gamble, but do you have any other choice?
"Liu Shen led more than 10,000 soldiers from seven counties to attack Chang'an. Hearing that Sima Yong was in a panic, he almost couldn't cope with it. But he was quite ruthless. He gritted his teeth and refused to recall Zhang Fang's troops, and continued to fight." Mi Huang said.
Liu Shen was originally sent by the court to Shuzhong to take charge of the overall situation and fight against Li Liu. When he arrived in Chang'an, he was forced to stay by Sima Yong to serve as his military advisor, and later he was appointed as the governor of Yongzhou.
In order to ease the defensive pressure in Luoyang, Sima Yi sent people to Guanzhong to convey an imperial edict, ordering all counties to raise troops to attack Sima Yong. Seven counties responded and united around Liu Shen.
At this time we have to mention Sima Yan again.
It was he who ordered the disbanding of the county soldiers, which resulted in a lack of soldiers available in the local areas. This time, the seven counties united together to raise more than 10,000 county soldiers, most of whom were temporary conscripted farmers, which shows how difficult it was.
Sima Yong had about the same number of troops left behind, so after getting over the initial panic period, he plucked up the courage not to recall Zhang Fang, and struggled to hold on, determined to kill Sima Yi.
"The victory in Guanzhong lies in the surprise attack. The longer it drags on, the more dangerous it will be." Shao Xun judged, "Most of the soldiers in the seven counties are not very capable of fighting, and Sima Yong still has more than 10,000 garrison troops. These people can fight. Even if they are caught off guard at the beginning and suffer losses, after adjusting, Liu Shen's victory is unlikely. There is no hope. The commander-in-chief is pinning his hopes on outsiders, which is like trying to catch fish in a tree." "Let's not talk about this." Mi Huang waved his hand, not in a good mood.
Although his "boss" Sima Yue had contacted several generals of the imperial guards and high-ranking officials in the court to betray Sima Yi, he was not happy and felt it was a pity when he saw Sima Yi winning battles one after another but heading towards defeat step by step.
"Have you chosen the person?" he asked.
"I have chosen ten archers and thirty soldiers. I have not told them what to do, but I have explained it to the two team leaders."
For this kind of thing, you can hide it from the soldiers for the sake of confidentiality before taking action, but you must explain it clearly to your direct officers, otherwise you will only be asking for trouble.
Just like when Sima Yue was secretly planning to stab Sima Yi in the back, he had to call him, the commander of the front-line thugs, over and explain clearly what he was doing.
If Shao Xun arrived at the scene in a daze and found out that it was Sima Yi who was responsible, he would be afraid and quit the job, or if he was not mentally prepared and messed up the job in a hurry, then Sima Yue would be stupid.
Sima Yue could conceal the truth from some of his trusted staff, and even from his wife, Concubine Pei, but he could never conceal it from Shao Xun, who was in charge of the arrest. Because accidents might happen at the scene, and the soldiers fighting on the front line could be confused, but the commander was qualified to understand the details of the mission and respond accordingly.
"Is it reliable? Don't be afraid to take action just because Sima Yi is in front of you." Mi Huang asked.
"Don't worry, the people I choose are reliable." Shao Xun said.
The ten archers were from Li Zhong's team and were led by him personally.
There were another thirty people from Shao Xun's "old capital", led by Huang Biao, and they were selected from older teenagers, generally around seventeen or eighteen years old.
In addition to the soldiers, there were four other people: Chen Yougen, Huang Biao, Yang Bao, and Li Chong.
Yang and Li were simply keeping them by their side to watch over them and not give them any chance to do anything naughty, even if the possibility was extremely small.
Chen Yougen and Huang Biao knew what to do. They were desperadoes, as were the ten archers.
To deal with Sima Yi, everything else is secondary. The only important thing is that the people you bring with you must be reliable.
If you say you will take action, you have to take action. Don't hesitate just because you heard Sima Yi's identity. That's the point of playing this.
Therefore, he brought a combination of desperadoes and brain-dead fans to ensure a successful attack.
"Try not to kill or injure the Grand Commander." Mi Huang reminded.
"Why?" Shao Xun asked.
Killing and capturing alive are two different concepts with completely different levels of difficulty.
To put it bluntly, if he found the right opportunity, he could kill Sima Yi with one arrow, but to capture him he would have to engage in close combat with his followers, which was much more complicated.
"Sikong doesn't want blood on his hands." Mi Huang said.
Shao Xun nodded slightly when he heard this.
Sima Yue may have done this to win over the scholars of Sima Yi's shogunate and the imperial guards. Especially the latter, Sima Yi's prestige has increased a lot due to his successive victories. If Sima Yue killed people brazenly, it might have a negative impact.
"When do we start?" Shao Xun asked.
"The Grand Commander has withdrawn his troops from the west of the city. The Emperor has summoned him to comfort him. We will go back tomorrow and make preparations in advance. You make arrangements here to avoid any chaos."
"Don't worry, I will take Yang Bao and Li Chong away before I leave. As for Biyong, it would be better for the supervisor to be in charge personally." Shao Xun said.
"This..." Mi Huang hesitated a little.
"Guardian." Shao Xun looked him in the eyes and said, "Xun is not an ungrateful person. The matter of capturing Sima Yi was carefully planned by the governor. I was just following the governor's orders."
Mi Huang nodded slightly awkwardly and said, "In that case, I will go into the city tonight and report to the Minister of Works."
The city gates are definitely not open at night, but you can enter via a hanging basket.
After saying this, Mi Huang hesitated for a moment, and then said, "You should know that this is a serious matter. You only have one chance, so you must not be lenient."
Shao Xun smiled and weighed the heavy sword, saying: "I understand. Now that things have come to this, I have no choice but to use the sword to cut out a future."
The bitterness of a little person, haha.
In order to climb up and gain a higher position and more resources, you have to offend people, do dirty work, risk your life, etc. Is there anything you can avoid?
After the two of them decided on the plan, they stopped talking nonsense.
That night, Mi Huang quietly went back to Luoyang and came back in the late night. He was allowed to stay in Biyong, which made Shao Xun feel relieved.
Early the next morning, when Yu Wenjun was carrying the rice steamer out of the house with great effort, she happened to see Shao Xun, who was carrying a heavy sword and a bow, and was surrounded by a crowd of people.
As if sensing something, he turned around and took a look.
The golden sunlight fell on him, and the smile on the corners of his mouth was so bright, and seemed to carry a hint of cruelty.
Yu Wenjun put down the rice steamer and watched quietly until all the people in the group disappeared.
She is eight years old and has a very keen intuition. She is completely different from her brother.
Will this happen if you kill too many people?
You must come back.
(End of this chapter)