Chapter 253 Asking for help

Chapter 253 Asking for help

Chapter 253 Asking for help
The Xiongnu army built a fairly standard camp, which was fundamentally different from the refugee rebel army.

But in the end, I was a little careless. I didn't expect someone like Yuan Yan to cheat and attack me.

Really, he sent a lot of wine and meat, so that everyone had a happy meal. In addition, Chu Wangcong praised him, and unknowingly, they let down their guard a lot.

The sentries were definitely arranged, but in the overall relaxed mood, some slackness was inevitable. In addition, the surrendered people from Hongnong were sensible, and food was specially sent to them, so it was a bit perfunctory.

Of course, they eventually paid a heavy price for their laxity.

In the dark night, a large group of armored soldiers rushed in. Without any nonsense, they first attacked the outer sentries.

The patrolling sentries had long disappeared, and the few secret sentries were killed by the Hongnong County soldiers who knew their locations before they could even make a sound.

The air was filled with a strong smell of blood.

The faces of the soldiers who launched the night attack turned pale and they trembled uncontrollably all over, but no one stopped. They just followed the guidance of the torches and rushed towards the gate.

First a loud shout was heard outside the gate, followed by the sound of arrows breaking through the air and the screams of people before death.

The door panels were placed over the trench.

Dozens of warriors rushed forward, some drew their bows and arrows, aiming at the camp wall where people were crowded.

Someone was sweating profusely as he took an axe to chop the door.

Someone tied a rope to the camp gate and put the other end on the oxen and horses, and dragged them hard.

The attack of the Hongnong County soldiers had already alarmed the Xiongnu defenders in the camp. No matter how relaxed or lazy they were, they had been fighting for years after all, and now they knew something was wrong.

Soon, an officer and his men rushed over, trying to figure out the situation: Was it a night attack, or was the camp simply blown up?
They were greeted by a hail of arrows.

At this time, there was no need to doubt it anymore. Someone must have launched a night attack, and most of them were the soldiers from Hongnong County who were nearby!

The Hun officer was furious and immediately organized people to fight back. At the same time, he sent out several messengers to blow the horns and wake up the entire camp.

"Woo——" a low and high-pitched horn sounded.

"Boom, boom, boom..." The sound of drums gathering troops also sounded.

There was an uproar in the Xiongnu camp. The officers, tribal leaders, and chiefs beat and scolded the soldiers and organized them into a formation, sending them to reinforce the camp wall in a continuous stream.

Some people have already taken horses, bows and arrows, and weapons, preparing to leave the camp and encircle the enemy - no matter whether they can catch the thieves or not, it is good to scare them away first.

At this moment, there was a loud "bang" and the camp gate fell to the ground under the heavy weight.

"Kill!" Yuan Yan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, was overjoyed, and immediately led the soldiers to rush in.

He really led the charge and did not shy away from the sharp edge.

Dozens of young men and soldiers brought from their hometown in Lueyang were also brave and fought desperately.

Led by them, the morale of the two thousand county soldiers was greatly boosted. They shouted loudly, marched forward with drums beating, and killed the hastily assembled Huns, forcing them to retreat step by step.

At the end of the team, there were hundreds of people holding firewood, kerosene and torches. Whenever they arrived at a place, they would immediately pile up the firewood and light a big fire.

Thanks to their efforts, the number of fire points in the military camp continued to increase, one, two, three... gradually it became a raging fire that engulfed half of the camp.

Liu Cong got up in a hurry from his sleep. The alcohol had worn off a lot, but he still felt sore and weak all over and had a hangover feeling.

However, when he heard the news that Yuan Yan pretended to surrender and led his troops to attack, he immediately came to his senses.

"Traitor!" Liu Cong's voice was filled with grief and indignation.

He was still a little unconvinced, so he lifted the curtain and strode out. In the light of the blazing fire, he suddenly saw Yuan Yan, who was wearing iron armor, holding a lance, and shouting and fighting.

"You good thief!" Liu Cong's eyes turned red, and he wished he could rush up immediately and tear Yuan Yan into pieces.

"Come here, quickly gather the troops and follow me. I will not stop until this villain is killed." Liu Cong drew his sword and shouted.

"Your Highness!"

"Your Highness, calm down!"

"Your Highness, please leave."

The generals and officers hurriedly grabbed Liu Cong and tried to persuade him.

It’s not that they don’t want to fight, it’s just that they are powerless to save the situation.

What is the situation now?
First, the Jin people pretended to surrender and suddenly attacked, catching our side off guard and unprepared.

Second, the people of Jin set fires everywhere to create chaos. Under the cover of night and in the thick smoke, many people could not distinguish between friend and foe and killed indiscriminately.

Third, there were rumbling drums outside the camp, and shouts of killing from other camp gates. Admittedly, this might be a strategy used by the enemy, but in the chaos, the command was not effective, but some people believed it. Look, a leader had already taken his tribal soldiers and galloped away.

"Your Highness, a military conflict cannot be forced. It is better to retreat for the time being, reorganize the troops, and then return to fight again."

"Yes, Your Highness, it is difficult to gather all the people now. It is better to retreat first, gather the defeated soldiers, and then decide what to do next."

"Your Highness, we have more horses than the others. The bandits can't catch up with us. Let's retreat first."

Everyone talked at once and explained the current situation clearly.

It can also be seen from here that these Xiongnu generals were quite experienced.

Before rebelling against Jin, there were conflicts between tribes, and a lot of experience in small-scale battles was accumulated.

During the Rebellion of the Eight Kings, he participated in the war as a mercenary and accumulated a lot of experience in large-scale combat.

After fighting with the Jin Army and the Xianbei for several years, a large number of generals and veterans have grown up, and the military strength is improving every year.

What they said were all very pertinent opinions.

Liu Cong forced himself to calm down.

After glancing at many Hun soldiers who could not distinguish between friend and foe and were fighting each other, he sighed, mounted his horse and left.

His personal soldiers and generals gathered behind him and fled out of the northeastern camp gate. After Liu Cong left, the Xiongnu people completely collapsed.

Those who found horses mounted and fled.

He couldn't find his horse and ran away.

In short, it was a terrible scene.

The fire was still burning, gradually engulfing the entire camp.

Liu Cong, who was arrogant and victorious in every battle, was defeated in Hongnong in a ridiculous way.

The prefect Yuan Yan became famous because of this battle.

******
When Shao Xun got the news, he couldn't believe it for a moment.

It is more likely that Yuan Yan really surrendered than pretended to surrender.

Besides, he didn't know this person very well and had no way of telling.

"As you said, Lord Yuan took action last night. What's the point of asking me to go over now?" Shao Xun walked back and forth in Jinmenwu with his hands behind his back.

Tang Jian, along with his personal soldiers, stared at the two messengers with a fierce look, as if he would chop them into pulp immediately at the command of Shao Xun.

The two men brought several horses and rushed all the way from Hongnong. It took them a full day and night to deliver the message.

The war was already fucking over. What's the point of calling us over now?
"The Xiongnu are powerful, and Liu Cong has only 10,000 men under his command, and they are only the vanguard. At most next month, their main forces will be assembled and will march south." The envoy pleaded, "Your Majesty, please ask Commander Shao to lead the army north immediately to help defend Hongnong."

Shao Xun did not comment, but walked to the wall and looked at the map hanging on it.

He led a total of 20,000 soldiers. Those closest to Hongnong were part of the government troops, stationed at Huixiban, and urged the men in the various villages in Yiyang to cut wood and set up fences, and to take earth to build fortifications.

The tactical intention was very clear, which was to block the relatively easiest mountain road and prevent the Hun army from moving south to the Luoshui River Valley.

As for other mountain paths, they only sent people to monitor them, or even no one to monitor them was sent.

If the Huns like to take the mountain paths, feel free to go, we won't stop you. Anyway, there are enough mobile troops in the rear to gather their strength, so if you appear by taking a detour, we can just go up and attack you.

The troops returning to Xiban were said to be the closest to Hongnong, but they were still two hundred miles away, and had to pass through the winding paths between the Xiaoshan Mountain Pass and the Shan County Tuyuan.

If the march is normal, walking twenty miles a day, it would be considered good if we could arrive in ten days - in fact, it is very obvious on the map that most of the 200-mile journey is in the mountains.

Seeing that Shao Xun did not reply for a long time, the two messengers were a little disappointed.

One of them provoked him, saying, "I have heard for a long time that the Duke of Luyang County is brave and good at fighting, and has defeated many stubborn enemies. But today I see that he is just so-so."

Shao Xun seemed unaffected and continued looking at the map.

Instead, the generals became angry and started cursing.

"Didn't Yuan Yan even know to inform me before he took action?" Long Sword Commander Chen Yougen scolded.

"General Chen, the opportunity for battle is fleeting." Li Zhong couldn't help but say, "It's hard to predict when Liu Cong will come. If we delay, the soldiers from Hongnong County will be driven as the vanguard and go south to Yiyang, and we will have no way to stop him."

The envoy looked at Li Chong with gratitude, thinking that this was a sensible man.

"Li Bailian, whose side are you on?" Chen Yougen asked angrily.

Li Zhong did not argue with him. He turned his head to look at Shao Xun and said, "The commander-in-chief may as well lead his troops northward and station them at Mount Xiao. If the Xiongnu have been defeated, we can march westward in large numbers and divide our troops to guard the three crossings of Yingjin, Maojin, and Tongjin to block the river and resist the enemy. If Liu Cong is still there, we may attack him."

"Guozhen, what do you think?" Shao Xun turned his head, looked at Chen Jing and asked.

Chen Jing did not expect Shao Xun to ask him this. After thinking for a while, he replied, "What Governor Li said is mature and prudent. Maybe we can go north to have a look. The army will set up camp at the intersection of the East and West Xiao Mountains. There is flat land between the mountains, which can accommodate tens of thousands of people. It is raining heavily now, so it should not be difficult to get water from the mountains."

"How come Guo Zhen knows so much?" Shao Xun asked with interest.

"When I was an official in the court, I traveled between Chang'an and Luoyang many times. The Xiaoshan Pass was a must-pass road for both public and private transportation, and the court set up a post station. There were actually quite a few villages between the East and West Xiaoshan Mountains, but I don't know if they are still there now." Chen Jing replied.

Shao Xun understood the implication of his words.

If there are villages in the mountains, there must be fields and water, which can be used by the army to station for a short period of time.

In fact, Shao Xun had also been to that place, accompanying Mi Huang a few years ago.

Stationing troops on top of Mount Xiao, overlooking the mountainside and the road below the mountain, this is a much better condition than Ma Su's.

As for crossing Mount Xiao and continuing westward to riverside plains such as Shanxian and Hongnong, it remains to be seen.

Chen Jing just said that Li Zhong was mature and steady, but in fact Shao Xun was almost the same.

He was very aware of his own strengths and weaknesses, and had always tried to set up the battlefield in the mountains, greatly weakening the power of the Hun cavalry and fighting with their infantry.

It’s not that we can’t fight on the riverside plain, but there’s no need to.

His mission was to prevent the Huns from bypassing Yiyang and attacking Luoyang from the flat Luoshui River Valley, rather than defending Hongnong.

We must make good use of the terrain in the mountainous area of ​​western Henan.

Here, the two legs of the infantry are not necessarily worse than the four legs of the horse, and sometimes they are even better.

"Pass the order, after dawn, the entire army will march north." Shao Xun made up his mind and gave the order.

The messenger was overjoyed and praised: "If you go north, Hongnong will be safe."

Shao Xun smiled faintly and asked, "What's your name? You're quite brave."

"Yuanxi." The messenger replied, "I am from Lueyang."

On the morning of August 20, Changjian Army Deputy Governor Chang Can led the Huixiban garrison northward as the vanguard.

Shao Xun followed closely with the main force and marched towards Mount Xiao in a mighty manner.

(End of this chapter)