Chapter 175: Ji Sang
Chapter 175: Ji Sang (Additional chapter for leader Bayangerishun)
Just as Yu Chen and Shao Xun were discussing the enemy situation in the camp, outside the Yellow River ferry in the Yangping area, there was a crowd of people and a large army gathering.
Suddenly, the crowd dispersed to both sides.
The cavalrymen who came first whipped their whips repeatedly and hit the soldiers who were unable to dodge.
After the first team of more than a hundred riders passed by, another few hundred riders came galloping over, escorting a majestic-looking man as they slowly moved forward.
This man had a high nose and deep eyes, was strong and sturdy, had a gentle smile on his face, and even stopped his personal guards from whipping the soldiers.
After hundreds of riders passed by, a large group of soldiers escorting thousands of vehicles appeared on the distant horizon.
The carts were fully loaded with grain. Assuming that each cart carried 50-60 hu, there were probably more than hu of grain here.
It sounds like a lot, but for an army of up to 50,000 or 60,000 people, it is nothing.
According to the regulations, the army should store enough food and fodder to last for three months, and then replenish it as needed, and transport at least one month's needs at a time - requiring thousands of horse-drawn, mule-drawn, donkey-drawn or ox-drawn carts.
If it is really insufficient, there must be at least one month's worth of food in stock. Otherwise, when the military rations run out and there is no time to grab them, won't the army just scatter?
An army of more than 50,000, including war horses and draft animals, would need more than 100,000 hu of food and fodder a month. The food that Shi Qianfeng had robbed was not enough to eat, and was even less than the stored food of a small family.
"The Stone Vanguard has won another victory."
"The Stone Vanguard is magnificent."
"Isn't it time to eat more?"
As the grain convoy approached, everyone shouted and spoke pitifully.
Kui An and Wang Yang, who were in charge of supervising the transportation of grain and fodder, laughed when they heard this.
After a while, Zhi Xiong rushed up from behind and said angrily: "Are there still rules? What did General Shi say? You are not refugees, not bandits, but volunteers. Volunteers should act like volunteers. What's wrong with making a mess?"
After saying this, he waved his hand and hundreds of soldiers rushed in from behind, beat the men with their scabbards, and made them run away in panic, and then ordered them to line up and stand in silence.
After doing all this, Zhi Xiongfang nodded and ordered to move on.
On the other side, Shi Le entered the big tent, took off his armor, picked up the water bag, and drank it down happily.
"General." A moment later, Ji Bao, Wu Yu, Liu Ying, Tao Bao, Guo Ao, Liu Hui, Zhang Yue, Zhao Lu and others gathered together and saluted.
"Zhi Quliu, I heard that there is someone in your tribe who abducted women when collecting grain and hid them in the army. Is this true?" When he saw Zhi Quliu, Shi Le suddenly threw down the water bag and asked.
"Yes." Zhi Quliu did not dare to hide it.
"How dare you!" Shi Le was furious: "We are raising an army of justice, so we are collecting grain from the people to support our army. Why are you harming people at random?"
The six branches cannot be matched.
"The offender will be beheaded and his head will be hung at the camp gate. The woman will be given a bag of grain and allowed to go home. Go and do it immediately."
"Yes." Zhi Quliu breathed a sigh of relief and left in a hurry.
The rest of the people looked stern.
Compared with the general (Ji Sang), the general who swept the enemy (Shi Le) was strict in disciplining the army, but he was also generous and magnanimous to others, and everyone respected him.
You can loot and massacre the city, but you must have orders. If you do it without orders, you will be executed immediately.
"General, will we cross the river again after this withdrawal?" Tao Bao from Fanyang asked, seeing the depressing atmosphere in the tent.
"No." Shi Le shook his head and said, "Gou Xi has sent troops from Yanzhou and led the people north. There is no chance now."
When everyone heard Gou Xi's name, they were all afraid.
It was because the impression I had when I followed Gong Shifan in the uprising a year ago was too deep.
Sima Hu, King of Fanyang, led the troops of Xuchang northward. Gou Xi took command and dispatched the troops. After several battles, he defeated the main force of Gong Shifan in one fell swoop.
Everyone fled in a panic and still have doubts about Gou Xi.
"What are you afraid of?" Guangping native Lu Ming said unconvincedly: "Most of the Xuchang soldiers have returned to Yuzhou, and only 10,000 are left in Yanzhou. Most of Gou Xi's troops are from Yanzhou, so what is there to be afraid of?"
They were afraid of the Yuzhou soldiers but not the Yanzhou soldiers. This was because they had been taught a lesson by the Yuzhou soldiers but had not been beaten up by the Yanzhou soldiers, so they had the confidence to fight back.
Of course, Lu Ming's words also meant to boost morale.
Shi Le was silent at first, then turned to look at an old Confucian scholar and asked respectfully: "Mr. Cui has read the classics and history books. Do you have any good ideas for this situation?"
"Mr. Cui" was silent for a moment, and said, "I think Sima Yue is narrow-minded and not like a leader. He will not be able to control people like Gou Xi. Now the army has enough food to meet the needs of several months. It is better to retreat a little and escape to Qinghe. If Gou Xi lets his troops pursue, we can hold off with him in Hebei. After a long time, Sima Yue will be afraid of Gou Xi, and there will be a turning point."
"Great." Shi Le clapped his hands and smiled, saying, "The general also has the same idea. It can be said that it is a coincidence."
Mr. Cui nodded and said no more.
Shi Le pondered for a moment and said, "Send someone to report to the general that the food and grass have arrived. Make a quick decision on what to do."
"Yes." Guo Ao from Jinyang responded respectfully.
He was responsible for such trivial matters as welcoming and seeing off guests, guiding guests, and distributing money and food, so naturally he would send someone to report to the general's camp.
The messenger soon arrived at Jisang camp.
At that time, Ji Sang had just returned from an inspection and was sitting cross-legged in the big tent.
More than ten people surrounded him, fanning him vigorously with palm-leaf fans.
It was already quite hot at the end of May, but Ji Sang was wearing a precious fox fur coat and a thick carpet under his butt.
People who don’t know would think he has kidney deficiency.
Everyone who knew about it understood that the general was afraid of being poor. He treated the good things he had robbed in Yecheng as treasures and would wear them even in the hottest weather, refusing to leave them for a moment.
After the messenger entered the tent, he reported Shi Le's idea. After hearing it, Ji Sang wiped his sweat and said with a smile: "Shi wants to stop while he is ahead? Well, let's do as he wishes, send troops to Qinghe, and he will be the vanguard."
Shi Le's original name. Some people say that his ancestors were Xiongnu Qiangqu people, but he lived in Shangdang and was classified as Jie people. To be honest, the composition of Jie people was complex. As long as they lived in that area, no matter which tribe they were from, they were called Jie people by the Jin court because they were too lazy to distinguish them.
After joining Gong Shifan's army, Ji Sang took the name "Shi Le".
Shi Le was brave and good at fighting, and he often served as a vanguard. Ji Sang still trusted him very much.
This southward raid was actually just a test to see if they could break into Yanzhou and occupy the territory.
Yes, Ji Sang had no strategy. Perhaps because he was afraid of being besieged by the Jin court, he became more and more like a bandit. He would retreat after conquering a place, burning, killing, and looting, and never thought of staying to occupy the territory.
But maybe it's not his fault.
What else can we do when the world is like this?
State and county towns are easy to capture because their military forces are scarce.
However, the fortresses of the aristocratic families have many soldiers and are difficult to defeat.
It's not that they can't win, the question is whether it's worth it? Thousands of people were killed or injured in the capture of a fortress, and the young and strong captured might not be enough to make up for the loss.
What's more, many of the soldiers attacking the fort had fought in battles for several years, and there were also a large number of veterans from Hebei. It was not worth it to exchange them for the young men who were farming.
Nowadays, they only choose earthen walls with short walls and few people, and break them down in one go. This is the most profitable.
Earthen walls are easy to attack, but they don't quench thirst. After a long time, the food supplies were exhausted, and faced with the government army's suppression, they had to move.
Now, it's time to move on again.
Thinking of this, Ji Sang felt increasingly stuffy.
But he subconsciously wrapped his fur coat tightly around him, letting the sweat pour out.
The human fan next to him looked pale, and his hands increased the frequency of fanning as if they were cramping.
"Swish!" a palm-leaf fan broke directly, and the front half fell on Ji Sang's face.
Ji Sang slammed the table and shouted, "Behead him!"
The soldiers rushed forward and dragged the fanner out regardless of his pleas.
The remaining human fan operators were sweating profusely as they waved the fans carefully to bring coolness to Ji Sang.
Ji Sang stood up suddenly, walked out of the tent, looked at the soldiers coming and going in the camp, and suddenly felt frightened.
He has tens of thousands of soldiers, but cannot even occupy a piece of stable territory. He is chased by others every day. Why is this?
The imperial court's suppression was only one aspect.
Isn't the bigger reason that they were born in a poor family? They were looked down upon by scholars and even refused to cooperate?
Damn, 50,000 soldiers can’t deal with you, so what about 500,000?
I don't believe that a person's neck can be harder than a knife.
Kill kill kill!
We will kill you until you are afraid, kill you until you kneel down and beg for mercy, kill you until you cry and wail. Will you still dare to look down on us then?
He suddenly didn't want to leave anymore.
Why would they let go of Yangping so easily after taking it with great difficulty?
Gou Xi won once, but he may not be able to win every time.
Just wait.
If it doesn't work, go to Pingyuan to meet Shi Le.
******
On the fifth day of June, Sima Yue arrived in Xuchang.
People from the shogunate arrived one after another.
Those who arrived first did not rush to do anything, but instead enjoyed themselves sightseeing, or drank all night long and indulged themselves in pleasure.
Sima Yue looked at all this with tolerance and just laughed it off.
As for scholars, they should always be more tolerant - in other words, if people with no background or family status act so unbecomingly, they are courting death.
After gathering all the men, the first thing everyone in the shogunate discussed was not how to suppress the bandits, but how to control the Luoyang government from a distance.
This took another ten days.
It was not until late June that Gou Xi and Shao Xun could no longer wait and sent people to urge Sima Yue to discuss the plan of advance seriously with his staff.
On June 25th, Sima Yue sent Liu Yu, the left chief secretary of the shogunate, to Ji County to recruit soldiers from Ji, Wei and Henei counties, as well as Shao Xun's troops of the Yamen Army, a total of more than 20,000 people. He appointed Liu Yu as the commander-in-chief and marched eastward to Ye.
Before leaving, King Sima You of Runan grabbed Liu Yu and whispered some instructions to him.
Gou Xi led his troops across the river to the north and attacked Dongwuyang.
The two armies attacked at the same time, like two fists, fiercely hitting Ji Sang.
He himself led more than 30,000 troops from the Left Army, Left Guard and Xuchang troops to Guandu in the north to support Gou Xi.
As the commander-in-chief of the two armies, this time he wisely did not command the troops personally, but served as a backup and provided support in the center.
It must be said that Sima Yue's campaign against bandits was half successful when he took this step.
Fighting a war should be left to professionals.
Sima Yue learned many lessons and finally had some understanding of his own abilities - or rather, he was afraid. At this sensitive moment, he really couldn't afford to lose.
Anyway, no matter where Gou Xi and Liu Yu fought, the greatest credit still went to Sima Yue, because he was the commander of the army.
(End of this chapter)