Chapter 96 Peace? Just a truce!
Chapter 96 Peace? Just a truce!
Zhang Fang decided not to attack Luoyang anymore, but the war could not be stopped immediately.
It would be a shame to build so many siege engines and not use them.
Gathering so many defeated soldiers would not waste too much food.
The latter is particularly deadly. On the way back, I don’t know if there is enough food, and I will have to eat meat again. The meat in Guanzhong cannot be eaten casually. I have eaten it twice in Hongnong. How much meat can I find the third time?
It's difficult! Let's consume some people first.
On September 25th, Shao Xun was awakened in the middle of the night. He then dressed neatly and rushed to the Pingchang Gate Tower with the Silver Spear Army and a total of 1,200 soldiers from the Central Army who had been relieved from the Taiji Hall.
On the horse path, there were shouts and screams everywhere, and the shadows were so vague that it was impossible to make out the figures.
"It is forbidden at night. Anyone who runs around will be shot dead regardless of friend or foe." Shao Xun gave the order directly.
The crossbowman stringed the crossbow and the archer nocked the arrow.
"Woo--" A horn sounded and dense arrows were fired.
It was like a violent storm, instantly covering most of the bridleway.
Wherever the rain of arrows passed, there was no one standing.
The horn sounded again and again.
The archers also stood on the horse road and shot at the top of the city wall, which in turn brought a series of screams.
"Boom boom..." The sound of drums rang out.
The teaching team protected Shao Xun and rushed forward first.
Several braziers on the city walls had gone out, and the light was a little dim, but this only made the battle more eerie and hideous.
"Bang!" Chen Yougen rushed to the front, like an angry King Kong, and slashed with a sword, directly hitting the opponent's face.
The others quickly followed, and under the dim yellow light, they engaged in a bloody close combat with the enemy.
Shao Xun rushed to the battlement first, chopped off a head that had just appeared, and then kicked another enemy with half of his body exposed to the ground.
He heard a sound of breaking air behind him and dodged to the side.
"Dang!" The ring-handled knife struck the rammed earth city wall, which had already become as hard as iron, making a crisp sound.
Shao Xun slashed down with his sword.
"Bang!" Blocked by the iron armor.
But the heavy sword's slashing power was so great that the enemy soldier's ring-handled sword fell out of his hand, his helmet was knocked to the ground, and he could not stop stumbling backwards.
"Your mother's slave!" Shao Xun lost his temper. He took two quick steps, grabbed the enemy soldier's hair, and pressed him into the brazier.
The enemy soldier was dazed by the heavy sword, and when he came to his senses, the burning charcoal was right in front of him.
"Ah!" The screams were earth-shattering and the stench of burnt flesh filled the air.
Shao Xun held him down for a moment, then pushed him to the ground. He then raised his foot and kicked the brazier towards the two enemy soldiers who had just climbed onto the top of the city wall.
The hot charcoal flew in the air, burning the enemy soldiers and making them scream.
Under the moonlight, the heavy sword slashed repeatedly, and the bright sword light killed from left to right, and then from right to left. Wherever it passed, five or six enemy soldiers screamed and fell to the ground.
The soldiers of the training team followed suit, picking up the fire basins and throwing them into the crowd of enemy soldiers.
The archers followed, taking careful aim from a distance and shooting at valuable targets.
The battle is bloody and cruel, and it tests people's will extremely.
The soldiers of the teaching team fell on the city wall one after another, and with their blood and courage, they wore down the attacking enemies bit by bit.
It was indeed a meat grinder. I don't know how many sacrifices were devoured that night.
After the Silver Spear Army caught up, the situation had completely stabilized.
They lined up in neat arrays, fired their guns like dragons, and wiped out the few remaining enemies.
"Ah!" The last enemy officer was forced into a corner, and dozens of spears stabbed him at the same time, nailing him to the wall.
The new recruits of the Silver Spear Army were too nervous and used too much strength, and even lifted the man into the air.
The blood flowed down and formed a small pool of blood at his feet.
"Bang!" After the spear was withdrawn, the corpse fell to the ground with a bang.
The enemy general opened his eyes wide and looked up at the sky unwillingly.
The moon in Chang'an should be this bright...
Shao Xun walked back and forth on the top of the city wall, holding a heavy sword dripping with blood.
The enemy had stopped climbing up, apparently knowing that reinforcements had arrived in the city. This night attack on the city had failed.
They didn't even have time to pack up their siege equipment, and retreated in panic, disappearing into the night.
The sound of footsteps was heard again on the path.
The soldiers in the central army captured dozens of deserters and pushed them over.
Shao Xun snorted coldly and asked, "Where is Miao Yuan?"
"General Miao was injured and sent back to the city." A deserter said after a moment.
Shao Xun was silent for a while, then pulled him over.
The deserter didn't understand what was going on, but saw a streak of sword light slashing down, and his head flew off in an instant.
"Abandoning the city and fleeing should be punished by death. All of them should be beheaded," he ordered.
The deserters were in an uproar.
The soldiers in the central army didn't care what they thought. They used their swords and spears to quickly kill all of them.
The field was filled with a strong smell of blood, and even the Silver Spear Army soldiers who had just fought in the battlefield and killed people felt a little uncomfortable.
"Jin San, Lu Heigou!" Shao Xun shouted.
"Here." The two stepped forward in unison.
"Take people out of the city to hunt them down, and limit them to the Niu Market." Shao Xun gave the order.
"promise."
"Do you know how to chase?"
"More torches, more drums, and chasing in a line. The limit is 300 steps." The two men replied as if they were reciting a book.
The purpose of using multiple torches is to create the illusion that we have more people.
The same goes for beating multiple war drums, which can even be placed in different directions to confuse the enemy.
These are all night fighting tactics, especially effective when the enemy is retreating.
They chased in a line, stopping after 300 steps to reorganize the formation, and then continued the pursuit.
This measure is to prevent encountering enemy reinforcements or being counterattacked by their rear guard troops.
Shao Xun laughed after listening to this. The student soldiers really put in a lot of effort and memorized the skills they learned thoroughly.
Now is the time to put them into practice.
******
The Silver Spear Army that went out of the city to pursue returned before dawn with almost no casualties, but also not much gain.
The enemy ran very fast, and it was difficult to discern their direction in the darkness. In the end, only a few dozen unlucky stragglers were killed - those who got separated due to poor eyesight.
Over the next few days, the enemy's offensive gradually subsided.
Occasionally they would launch a crazy attack, but the number of people involved was not large.
On the 26th, we attacked the East City.
At one point, Wang Bing was in a panic, and the enemy army broke through the city wall. In the end, he relied on the 3,000 auxiliary troops given to him by Shao Xun, and relied on the advantage in numbers to crush the enemy who broke through. During the days of attacking the East City, the defenders suffered more than 400 casualties. If the East City could not be conquered, they would attack the South City on the 27th.
The new recruits of Miao Yuan's army wanted to escape, but they didn't dare to.
Shao Xun personally led the reserve Silver Spear Army to support the battle, joined the battle at the critical moment, and finally repelled the enemy.
On the 28th, there was a minor fight in West City.
He Lun responded calmly and had more soldiers than Zhang Fang, so he did not allow Zhang Fang to succeed.
At this point in the battle, both sides understood that the Battle of Luoyang was over.
If you don't succeed at the beginning, the opportunity is lost forever.
The Western Army's current attack is more like a cover for retreat or some other action.
Moreover, they no longer sent out elite troops. Those who attacked the city were either weak soldiers or refugee soldiers. Naturally, there would be no results. They were simply giving heads to the enemy, and even helped their new recruits grow.
On the last day of September, thousands of Western Army cavalry gathered outside the city.
The infantry broke camp and marched away in an orderly manner.
Later in the evening, the cavalry also mounted their horses and disappeared into the distant horizon.
Warm cheers broke out on the city wall of Luoyang.
It has been more than two months since Sikong started the Northern Expedition, during which time there have been many ups and downs and twists and turns. Those who can still stand here at this time have a feeling of surviving a disaster.
And all of this is inseparable from that man.
The warrior in golden armor stood on the city wall, bathing in the sunset, which was full of brilliant rays of light.
He is the pillar that has enabled Luoyang to survive until now.
No one doubts his prestige.
After retreating from the city wall, Shao Xun returned to Jinyong City. The first thing he did was to go to the princess's residence to report and ask for instructions.
When others saw it, they praised it highly.
Sima Shao was not only good at fighting, but also very loyal. Even when Sikong was away, he would report everything to the princess.
The princess has also gained the support of a group of soldiers recently.
She brought the maids in the mansion and the women from other families who moved in to mend the battle robes for the soldiers and boost their morale.
There were even two times when he personally cooked meals and took his servants to carry them to the top of the city to feed the soldiers - well, not everyone could eat it, after all, there was only a little food, and it was said that Shao Sima and the officers of the teaching team shared it.
Her behavior was relatively rare at that time, so the effect was particularly good and it really played a role in boosting morale.
"Why is Zhang Fang leaving now?" Concubine Pei asked softly through the window.
"I just heard that this guy may have robbed the tombs of dukes and marquises of past dynasties, or even the imperial mausoleum." Shao Xun replied, "He is like this. If he doesn't take something back, the soldiers will complain and will not go to the battle next time."
"It's really crazy." Concubine Pei sighed.
Shao Xun was silent.
His eyes wandered across the blurry window paper, and he felt that Concubine Pei seemed to have changed her clothes.
Ask for instructions every day, change it every day, the style is different, and it is worn in different ways.
This is a game between adults, hazy and fun.
But Shao Xun knew that Concubine Pei was rational. As long as Sikong was still alive, she couldn't do anything.
Yes, the education of scholars and ladies at that time was indeed diverse, the constraints of etiquette were greatly reduced, and the atmosphere was relatively open, but there were still only a few cases like Sima Rui's mother who were involved in many romantic scandals.
"I have found what you are looking for. It is written on this piece of silk. Take it." The window opened, revealing Concubine Pei's face, which was both happy and angry.
Shao Xun took the silk and glanced through it.
"Are the Xiongnu worth your worry?" Concubine Pei was puzzled: "Now that Zhang Fang has retreated, Luoyang should be peaceful, right?"
"It's only a temporary peace." Shao Xun said, "Sima Ying's decline is obvious. If he loses, his next target will be Sima Yong. If we don't wipe him out, how can Sikong stay in Luoyang and issue orders?"
Sima Ying and Sima Yong were allies. After defeating Sima Ying, they would inevitably march into Guanzhong to suppress Sima Yong's forces.
If Sima Yue didn't completely eliminate them, he would open champagne and get drunk in the first half.
The war is still to be fought, but Luoyang may indeed usher in a rare period of peace.
Upon hearing this, Concubine Pei rolled her eyes at Shao Xun and said, "You know Sikong better than I do."
Shao Xun smiled awkwardly and said vaguely: "Sikong has great ambitions, of course he will wipe out the princes one by one."
As he replied, he looked at the beautiful handwriting on the silk.
Concubine Pei was indeed very talented in literature. She read through so many archives and historical materials, and the content she finally summarized was very concise.
After reading it, Shao Xun had a rough understanding.
Simply put, in the past, the Xiongnu south of Wei Wu were deep in the interior and their power was gradually growing, so they were divided into five parts to weaken their power.
Each army had a commander, and selected people from Wei as Sima to supervise. At the end of the Wei Dynasty, the commander was changed to a captain.
The Left Commandant commanded more than 10,000 tribes and lived in the ancient Zishi County (now south of Linfen City, Shanxi Province).
The Right Commandery had more than 6,000 tribes and lived in Qi County (now southeast of Qi County, Shanxi).
There were more than 3,000 tribes in the Southern Duwei, living in Puzi County (now Xi County, Shanxi).
There were more than 4,000 tribes in the Northern Duwei, living in Xinxing County (now Xinzhou, Shanxi).
The Central Commandery had a population of more than 6,000 people, living in Daling County (now northeast of Wenshui, Shanxi).
As for the Southern Xiongnu, Cao Cao's attitude has always been to drive them into service as soldiers and fight against various forces.
He was also very alert. Splitting the Xiongnu into five parts was one move. At the same time, he continued to recruit people - "Courtesy to summon the nobles and make them come to the shogunate; when the nobles were all gone, he sent the strong men to follow him as volunteers; and when the army went out to fight, he recruited them as brave soldiers. After the officials and soldiers left, he gradually moved their families and sent them to Ye. There were tens of thousands of people in total..."
Cao Cao's routine was to make the Huns serve as officials, elite soldiers as "volunteers", and ordinary herdsmen go with the army. That's not all, after the Huns became soldiers, they had to move their families away, tens of thousands of people in total.
These Xiongnu people who arrived in Yecheng were basically assimilated by the Han people. If you ask them now, most of them don’t know whether their ancestors were Xiongnu or Han, so they assume they were “Wei people”, and now they assume they are “Jin people”. Their language, clothing, and living habits have completely changed, and they have lost their own cultural characteristics.
As a result of Cao Cao's actions, the population of the Southern Xiongnu was only about tens of thousands at the end of the Wei Dynasty.
At the beginning of the Jin Dynasty, there were nineteen Xiongnu outside the Great Wall who surrendered. Only three of them were of a large scale: one was "more than 20,000 tribes", one was "100,000 men and women", and one was 29,300 people. The rest were around 10,000 people, or even just over a thousand.
Therefore, the five tribes of the Southern Xiongnu now have about 400,000 to 500,000 men, women, young and old, minus the population lost after the Jin Dynasty's conscription into wars - not just those who died in battle, but also those who served in the army and whose families were relocated to the hinterland of the Western Jin Dynasty and assimilated into the Han culture - and more than 100,000 adult males.
This force is quite considerable.
Under the extreme conscription scenario, theoretically all adult males would have to go into battle, which would mean hundreds of thousands of Hun soldiers.
Of course, in order to achieve sustainability, they would not do such a thing. They would conscript 50,000 men at most. Even 50,000 men would be considered to affect their livelihoods, so they would dispatch 20,000 or 30,000 men, and then add more than 100,000 Han men to form the so-called "Hun Army".
If the central army in Luoyang was still there, with all the light and heavy cavalry and armored cavalry in place, we could fight them, and the chances of winning would be very high.
But now, nothing to say!
Shao Xun put away the silk, said goodbye and left.
Peace in Luoyang? No, it's just a truce.
The next enemy will most likely be the Huns.
Will Sikong send him into battle? It's very possible.
It is necessary to plan ahead.
But before that, he had another important thing to do: a messenger came from Yecheng, informing him that the Crown Prince Sima Ying might send troops to escort the emperor back south in the near future, and ordered the generals left behind in Luoyang to welcome them.
(End of this chapter)