Chapter 229 Hanling Mountain
Chapter 229 Hanling Mountain
The road from Linlu County to Yecheng in the east is not too far, but it is not easy to travel because it has to pass through hilly and mountainous areas.
The Yicong Army took the lead.
They have expanded to 900 people. Their equipment is not very good, but their morale is good.
Perhaps, these relatively young warriors are easily agitated and get carried away with passion.
Arima's righteous followers scattered far away and wandered around.
The horseless volunteers walked with five hundred auxiliary soldiers, driving carts, and traveled on the dilapidated mountain post road.
Sometimes, they even have to stop to repair the road - if there is a big pothole on the road, if you don’t fill it up, you will be cleaned up.
It took them four full days to cross the endless mountains and reach the plains.
They waited here for a day, and set out again in the early morning of the 20th, heading towards Anyang along the post road covered with residual snow. At this time, the more than 30,000 infantry and cavalry led by Shi Le had rested in Handan for a night.
Shao Xun had dismounted and was walking. As he walked, he drew a map and asked the military guide about the local customs and practices.
Chu Huo followed beside and watched silently.
This soldier is a little different.
His favorite thing to do was probably to keep talking to the soldiers while they were marching. Most of the chats might be meaningless nonsense, but occasionally he would find problems, ask them carefully, record them one by one, and solve them.
In addition, he also liked to draw maps. It seemed as if he had no trust in the maps issued by the court. He had to draw them himself and add countless annotations to each map, many of which came from his conversations with the guides.
When doing these things, he would often call a group of officers he trusted to follow behind him and watch him do things silently.
This person - seems to be able to accomplish something.
Chu Huo silently compared the impression he had of Shao Xun with his previous impressions: arrogant, domineering, warlike, lustful, but at the same time kind-hearted and fond of farming.
Following him all the way, he didn't find any domineering behavior from Shao Xun.
He was somewhat arrogant. He used his troops fiercely and boldly, and looked down on the troops from Hebei. He felt that his army could conquer the whole world, and even if they were surrounded, they could still defeat the enemy - he was simply arrogant to the extreme!
He wanted to advise repeatedly, but he held back and wanted to observe the situation.
There are indeed some who are good at fighting.
When Wang Sang, Liu Ling and others divided their troops and plundered in all directions, he decisively seized the opportunity and pursued them all the way, leaving them no chance to regroup after being defeated. This can be said to be a victory in the first battle.
He didn't see that he was lustful, but at least this man didn't get close to women during battles, and there were no women in the army. He was much better than many generals who brought dancers and female musicians with them and considered it an elegant thing.
The more Chu Huo read it, the more reliable he felt. At the same time, he felt a little secretly happy in his heart: Marquis Luyang is still discriminated against by many scholars, and there are not many talented people in his account. This is a good opportunity.
Arrive early and get a seat, arrive late and stand aside.
The position of Minister of Agriculture in the Marquisate of Luyang might be acceptable.
In this way, they drew maps as they marched, and the army of nearly 20,000 people stopped and started, and arrived at Anyang County, which was in a state of "anarchy", at nightfall on the 22nd.
From now on, heading north, it is no longer the narrow post road between Linlu and Anyang, but a wide post road, only forty miles to Yecheng.
At this time, Shi Le's army had already arrived in Yecheng.
******
The sun was high in the sky, dispelling the coldness from the earth.
Shi Le looked at the sky in surprise. It was extremely cold a few days ago. A north wind blew from the south, all the grass was broken, and heavy snow was flying all over the sky.
After this period, the weather suddenly turned warmer, leaving people at a loss as to what to do.
Inside the Bronze Sparrow Tower, weeds were growing thickly and the roofs were dilapidated.
Shi Le summoned Wang Mi, Wang Sang, Liu Ling and Shi Chao to discuss the matter.
Of the seven generals who went down to Taihang, General Zhendong Qiwuda was defeated by Tuoba Xianbei and retreated with his remaining troops.
Well, the Xianbei also retreated.
Without the help of the Xianbei, Liu Kun would have been unable to fight.
He wanted to see how long the Xianbei people could help him.
Yan Pi is dead.
During the siege of Zhaojun, he was shot and killed. Thousands of his people were annexed by Shi Le, and together with the 30,000 men he had forcibly conscripted in Guangping and Zhaojun, they transported property, grain, and livestock back to Hedong.
Thinking of this, Shi Le's gaze moved again to Wang Mi and the other four generals.
Among these people, Shi Chao already has more than 6,000 people.
He is well-known in Hebei and has a deep foundation. He did not use too many tricks in the recruitment process. His followers are relatively stable, but it is not easy to annex them by force.
Wang Sang and Liu Ling were hit head-on by Shao Xun, one was left with only about 4,000 soldiers, and the other was left with about 5,000 soldiers, most of whom were new recruits.
Wang Mi suffered no losses and now had more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry.
The three of them together have more than 20,000 soldiers, so it is not easy to use force.
After thinking it through, he decisively gave up some unrealistic ideas and said, "The Jin army is marching north in large numbers, with tens of thousands of troops and a fierce momentum. However, I intend to march south and besiege them with my entire army. What do you think?"
Shi Chao looked into the air, as if he was counting the number of dust particles in it.
Wang Mi was calm and didn't say anything.
Liu Ling looked calm, with his eyes half open and half closed.
Only Wang Sang spoke up: "Commander-in-chief, our army has only 60,000 soldiers combined, and Shao Xun probably has 40,000 or 50,000 soldiers. It will be difficult to fight him. For now, why don't we take advantage of him while he is still in Anyang and pack up our wealth and leave first?"
"Bang!" Before Shi Le could say anything, Shi Chao slammed the table heavily and glared at Wang Sang: "Go, go, go, you just know how to go! Yecheng is the foundation of the kingship, so you can just give up like that?"
Wang Sang was not afraid of Shi Chao. Seeing that he was so rude, he retorted: "Pingdong Grand Commander is so arrogant. Since you came down the mountain, you have not fired a single arrow. But you are recruiting soldiers in Yecheng and watching us fight to the death. What are you thinking?" "You are just a bandit, and you dare to challenge me?" Shi Chao sneered: "Believe it or not--"
"Bang!" The sound of a heavy object hitting the wooden table was heard.
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw Shi Le throwing an official seal on the table and saying, "This is the seal bestowed by the emperor for the governor. It can control the troops."
After that, he asked someone to bring a sword, took it in his hand, and said in a cold voice: "This is the token of the imperial sword sent by Hu Yanyushi. If you have any dissatisfaction, do you dare to speak to it?"
Shi Le is now the "Chijie" governor.
The so-called "jie" originally referred to a flagpole, but nowadays, "holding jie" is just a symbol of authority.
Tokens of trust are no longer limited to flags and banners, they can be anything.
Sima Mo, the King of Nanyang in the State of Jin, was stationed in Guanzhong. The token of "Chijie" bestowed by the emperor was a sword.
The token of the Han Dynasty that Shi Le received was also a sword.
Faced with this symbol of power, Shi Chao wisely shut his mouth. Wang Mi, Wang Sang and Liu Ling looked at each other and lowered their heads.
As long as you are still a Han minister and as long as you do not want to rebel, it is best to obey the man with the sword.
Shi Le held the sword bestowed by Liu Yuan in his hand and asked again: "I want to lead my troops south to fight Shao Xun. Will you obey my order?"
"We will follow the governor's orders." After a moment of silence, several people responded.
"Well!" Shi Le said with a straight face, "Prepare food, equipment, and soldiers immediately, and set out tomorrow at the latest to attack the Shao bandits."
"Yes." The four generals all dispersed and reorganized their troops.
Shi Le called together generals such as Kui An and Tao Bao, ordered them to lead their troops and prepare to set out, and distributed orders to them one by one.
The war machine has been fully started.
******
The army led by Shao Xun rested for a day in Anyang.
The main purpose is to restore the soldiers' strength, while also allowing the auxiliary troops time to repair the vehicles and ensure they are in good condition.
On the 24th, the camps left Anyang one after another, crossed the Huan River, and headed north.
That afternoon, when they reached the vicinity of Hanling Mountain, the scouts and rangers suddenly became nervous because a large number of enemy rangers appeared in the wild, and their numbers were increasing as time went on.
The infantry did not stop advancing, but simply slowed down their marching speed to maintain their strength.
Cavalry Commander Duan Liang led more than 400 cavalrymen who were "capable of commanding the tiger guards" out of the chariot formation and rushed into the vast wilderness.
Yicong Du Manyu led more than 200 cavalrymen and rushed out from another direction to meet the enemy cavalry.
"Boom boom..." The drums sounded, and the marching infantrymen gathered their composures, followed orders, and continued on their journey.
However, some people were armed and put on armor and sat on side carriages and baggage carts to prevent sudden attacks by the enemy.
Looking down from the sky, across the vast land, a long dragon of infantry was marching northward along the post road.
The long dragon is vaguely divided into three sections.
The first section was a little shorter, with about four thousand people.
The second section was the longest, with nearly 10,000 people.
The third section is similar to the first, with more than 5,000 people.
In the fields and grasses on both sides of the long dragon, countless "black groups" were moving rapidly.
Inside the "black group", war horses neighed and shouts were heard continuously.
The black groups outside are numerous and powerful, one thousand, two thousand, three thousand...
The number is increasing rapidly.
Some of them were armed with sharp spears and halberds, and charged fiercely in the form of a "black group".
Some of them scattered and formed "black snakes" that swam quickly in the wilderness, flanking and shooting countless arrows.
The black group and black snake approached the long line of vehicles step by step with great momentum.
The drumbeats stopped and the long dragon suddenly stopped.
Soon, flags were flying in the long dragon formation. As if by magic, the two borders of the long dragon began to extend outward, like moving city walls.
A moment later, three circles appeared in the wilderness, each one about a hundred steps apart.
The sun gradually set and the sky gradually darkened.
A large number of the enemy cavalry surrounding the chariot formation dispersed.
Their total number has exceeded 10,000. It is obvious that Shi Le has gathered all the cavalry under the command of the generals.
The ten thousand cavalry were divided into three parts.
Some of them went to find places to feed horses, eat and sleep - these people did not need to participate in the battle in the short term, and their most important task was to eat well, sleep well, and rest well to conserve their energy.
Some of them found places to hide and were on standby at all times - they didn't have to fight for the time being, but they needed to be rotated to attack at any time.
Some of them began to attack - their mission was a little vague because the commander had not yet made up his mind.
But no matter what, the official battle has actually begun at this moment.
(End of this chapter)