Chapter 127 Liu You

Chapter 127 Liu You

Chapter 127 Liu You
Compared with Luoyang, the appearance of Yuzhou is indeed very different.

If the imperial power in Luoyang suppressed the influence of many aristocratic families, making them restrained themselves under the emperor's feet, Yuzhou was different. Aristocratic families gathered here, and farms, villas, and fortresses could be seen everywhere, forming separate military and political entities that shared power with the three-level officials of the prefecture, county, and city of Dajin.

This was the situation Shao Xun saw as he traveled with more than a thousand Tu generals, five hundred cavalrymen, a total of more than four thousand horses, mules and donkeys, and seven days' worth of food, water and horse fodder.

The Jin Dynasty once conducted a population census, and after the conquest of Wu, the population was around 2200 million. But even a fool would know that the aristocratic families concealed a lot of people, so how much did they actually know?

Later scholars generally believed that when the Eight Kings Rebellion first broke out, the actual population of the Western Jin Dynasty was about 3500 million. In other words, a large number of people in the country were hidden by the aristocratic families and were not reported at all.

The other 1300 million people do not exist in the household register of the imperial court. But these people are not left unattended. If the imperial court cannot take care of them, the aristocratic families and local tyrants will take care of them.

Of course, there were more than 1300 million nobles and powerful families. The 2200 million people listed in the household register were also largely protected and driven by them. The number of people available to the court was decreasing year by year, and the tax base was getting smaller year by year. Now, in order to transport money and grain to the capital, they had to bargain with the noble families - this was the meaning of Wang Yan's existence.

The state of this country is accelerating as the Eight Princes Rebellion deepens...

"Ku County..." On the night of September 18th, Shao Xun, who was searching eastward, sat on a ridge somewhere on the outskirts of Ku County, drawing a map based on his impressions by the dim candlelight.

Gao Yi, Zhang Jin and Duan Liang lost interest after watching for a while and sat down to wipe their weapons.

Gao Yi could barely be considered an old friend of Shao Xun's, as he was there when Wang Guo sent his army there.

Zhang Jin was the person assigned to him after the imperial guards were reorganized. He could be said to be the leader of a group, or a general, because he held an official position.

Duan Liang was a Xianbei.

This was normal within the Luoyang Central Army, because during the Cao Wei period, a large number of Hu cavalry were recruited. At least half of the Youzhou Tuqi Du of the Jin Dynasty were Xianbei and Wuhuan, and many of the cavalry officers and soldiers of the other guards were also Xianbei, Wuhuan, and Xiongnu.

We all serve as soldiers to eat food and fight in wars, so who cares? Serving as a soldier for the emperor might earn you more money, and your family can move here and become Luoyang residents.

"The name Ku County sounds familiar." Shao Xun muttered.

He felt that this place seemed to be related to Wang Yifu, but he couldn't remember where, so he had to give up.

"General, if we can't find the enemy, we have to go back for supplies." Gao Yi said, lowering his head to wipe his sword.

"Don't rush back. If you really can't make it, borrow food from the people." Shao Xun waved his hand and said.

It is said that they are borrowing grain, but most of the time they cannot be repaid, so it may be more appropriate to collect grain.

There were not many "free" people in the counties of the country who were not yet attached to the manor. He imposed levies on the people, which was actually accelerating the process of manorization, so that more people would offer their land and become manor servants for safety reasons.

They were indeed searching for enemy forces these days.

There is fog on the battlefield.

After gathering information and analyzing intelligence, he could only know the approximate location of the enemy, but not the exact location, so he could only rely on his own search.

Similarly, the enemy did not know their location, and might not even know whether they were coming.

At present, Shao Xun can only grasp two points: one, Liu Qiao is in Pei State; two, he sent people to the surrounding areas to collect food and fodder a few days ago.

That's all.

"General." A messenger came hurriedly and reported: "News came from Qiao State. Two days ago, Liu Qiao's troops were collecting food and grass there. Yesterday, they went east. I don't know where they went."

Shao Xun, Gao Yi and others looked at each other and were all overjoyed.

As long as we can catch his trace, we can follow the clues to find Liu Qiao's whereabouts.

"One more thing." The messenger hesitated.

Gao Yi and Duan Liang left tactfully.

The messenger waited for a while and then said, "General, there is news from Yushanwu that a convoy did not return. They sent people to search along the road and found bloodstains and broken spears, but nothing else. Even the bodies are gone."

"Bang!" Shao Xun punched the ridge of the field.

It only takes a little thought to understand that this is a case of being robbed by a thief. And there are only a few families in Yingchuan who have this ability, such as the Xun family, the Chen family, the Yu family, etc.

A transport team has about 200 people from Wudang, plus 30 to 50 soldiers of the Long Sword Army. Although this force is not strong, it is not something that bandits can deal with.

At least those dozens of long sword warriors can only be dealt with by the elite troops trained by the aristocratic families. As for the people in the castle, their fighting power is average. If a thousand troops are pulled out from the aristocratic manor and equipped with a hundred or eighty cavalry, they can indeed be surrounded and annihilated.

In this world, the biggest enemies are not the refugee armies, government troops, or the Hu people, but the local tyrants who control hundreds or even tens of thousands of private soldiers.

"Where are the people from Yunzhongwu?" Shao Xun asked.

"Master Jinzhuang brought more than 200 soldiers and 400 strong men. It will take two days to reach Yushanwu. The carriages and horses will go even further, and it will take another three or four days to arrive."

"They marched lightly and quickly, so they don't have all the equipment, right?" Shao Xun said, "Have them equipped themselves with all the equipment at Yushanwu and escort the armor back to Yunzhongwu. We can't make any more mistakes. Let Chen Yougen be in charge of transporting the armory in Xuchang."

"Yes." The messenger waited for a while, and when he saw that Shao Xun had no other instructions, he bowed and left in a hurry.

Shao Xun sorted out his thoughts and decided to put the matter aside for the time being as the war was more important.

"Pass the order down and advance eastward overnight." He called Duan Liang and Gao Yi and gave the order.

"promise."

******
The countryside at night is quiet and charming.

When the breeze blew, mixed with the fragrance of the soil, it made the fighter who had been away from home for a long time feel a special kind of tenderness in his heart. How is things at home?

The thatch on the roof needs to be reinforced, otherwise it might be blown away by strong winter winds.

The rope on the well wheel broke, and my second brother said he would ask someone to make a new one. I don’t know if it has been fixed yet.

My children have been clamoring to eat hemp soup and bean rice on the first day of October. Now it’s time to eat it, right?
The wife wouldn't sell those fat sheep in advance, would she? She must wait until mid-winter to sell them.

Never mind, the fight won't last long, at most I'll be able to go home in a month or so. If the spendthrift woman really sells the sheep ahead of time, I'll definitely punish her.

"Clang clang..." The sound of hurried horse hooves rang out, shattering many people's dreams.

Liu You opened the tent and looked around with a suspicious look.

The night is dark and nothing can be seen clearly.

The sound of horse hooves is getting closer.

A moment later, hundreds of cavalrymen rushed forward, circled around them, and dropped arrows from time to time, creating great chaos.

The baggage and grain carts formed a circle, so the cavalry could not rush in directly, but they could still shoot arrows from a distance. These soldiers transporting grain were not prepared at all and suffered a great loss immediately.

"Where did these bandits come from?" Liu You was a little surprised.

The Xuzhou hereditary army has been completely defeated, and there is no possibility that there are any enemies within a radius of hundreds of miles.

No, strictly speaking there is.

Several names of aristocratic families instantly popped up in Liu You's mind. It was not difficult to raise more than a hundred or even thousands of horses in a large manor. After all, their own sons and nephews also had to practice riding and archery. Some of the guests were real cavalrymen, but they had always been on good terms with his father, so it was hard to believe that they would send troops to attack.

So where did this come from? Could it be the soldiers of King Fanyang?
My father had an old friend in the Hu Palace, who secretly sent a message. After learning that my father had defeated Sikong, King Fanyang immediately led his troops back to help. But most of them were infantry, how could they be so fast?
"Swoosh! Whoosh!" No one answered him, only arrows kept flying through the air.

The shooting was not very accurate at night, but there were too many people in the camp, so it still caused considerable casualties.

In the distance in the night there was also the sound of dense footsteps.

The footsteps are getting closer.

Soon, a vague figure appeared in sight.

"Kill!" The evening breeze brought a murderous shout, which made Liu You's heart tremble subconsciously.

The pace suddenly quickened, and the sound of the armor plates colliding seemed to be right next to my ears.

"Ah!" The first spear pierced the guard on the baggage cart.

The soldiers brought by the night wind jumped up, climbed onto the carriage, and started stabbing and hacking, killing non-stop.

The guards were scattered.

The soldiers jumped off the vehicles and rushed into the camp, killing and hacking.

Although the guards were numerous, they were attacked in a hurry and had no time to react. For a moment, there were ghosts howling and wolves running around.

Without any hesitation, Liu You immediately ordered his men to open the gap in the baggage wagon formation. He led dozens of hastily assembled cavalrymen and rushed towards the enemy troops who were climbing up the wagon formation, trying to cut them off and give the defenders a chance to catch their breath.

But someone had already noticed his whereabouts in the dark.

Shao Xun led fifty riders and charged forward on horseback to meet the enemy head-on.

The cavalry charge was extremely brutal.

No matter which type you are, whether you are brave and fearless, cowardly, skilled, or incompetent, when you charge head-on, there is not much room to maneuver and you have to face the enemy's spears, lances, and halberds.

If you are not careful, you will fall off your horse and die on the spot.

More than a hundred cavalrymen from both sides quickly crossed each other, and in an instant a large number of empty and ownerless war horses were created.

Shao Xun turned his horse's head, holding up the bloody lance, and shouted, "Liu You!"

Liu You also turned his horse around and looked at Shao Xun who was a hundred steps away, and asked, "Who are you?"

"Ha, after a trick, it turns out to be you!" Shao Xun laughed and rode his horse straight forward. Tang Jian hurriedly patted his horse and took several riders to guard him on both sides.

Shao Xun kept urging his horse to go at a very fast speed.

Looking at the opponent's unstoppable momentum, Liu You felt somewhat suspicious, wondering whether he should temporarily avoid the attack, dodge his charge, ride away on his horse, and shoot him with arrows.

"Die!" Before Liu You could think any more, Shao Xun rushed forward in an instant, and the thick lance went straight to his chest.

Liu You subconsciously lay down on the saddle and avoided the fierce attack. When he was about to stand up, he saw a sharp ring-handled knife falling from the sky.

With a "crack", blood gushed out.

Liu You's body swayed on the horse's back, and then he fell to the ground with a bang, splashing a cloud of dust.

(End of this chapter)