Chapter 266 Level 3

Chapter 266 Level 3

Chapter 266 Three Levels
On October 18th, Shao Xun arrived at Huixiban.

After a month of construction, several camps have been completed near the south exit of Huixiban.

The front village is located on a slope. It is not very big and it is difficult to squeeze in three to five hundred people.

The rear camp is located in an open area and can accommodate more than 3,000 soldiers.

A camp was built on each side of the Jiandi River. It was also very small and housed a total of six or seven hundred soldiers.

The 4,200-man Zhongwu Army was stationed here.

"Sir, the Zhongwu Army has not yet had a commander-in-chief." After completing the inspection, Tang Jian reminded dutifully.

The position of governor was vacant, and the deputy governor was still in Yiquanwu saying goodbye to his family and also did not come.

The Zhongwu Army was in a state of being without a leading general.

With a war imminent, this is not a good thing.

"What do you think about letting Yuan Yan be the commander-in-chief?" Shao Xun asked.

"My Lord, do you think so highly of him?"

"He is the governor after all. With this status, things will be much easier. The county soldiers will also be incorporated, and the Zhongwu Army will have nearly 6,000 soldiers." Shao Xun said, "I will hand it over to him when we return to Xiban. Chen Jing will be the other deputy governor. He is the commander of the imperial army and is responsible for training. Du Yin will be in charge of money, food and equipment."

Tang Jian nodded silently.

When Langjun did things, he often explained the causes and consequences to him and other confidants. The intention of cultivation was very obvious, and of course he knew it.

It will take about another month for Yuan Yan's group to arrive.

Zhuyang is a township in Hongnong County, located among the mountains. To get there, one must first go south to Shangluo County, then turn northeast at the junction of Shangluo and Lu's counties and follow the Luo River. The entire route is mountainous and very difficult to travel.

Yuan Yan's troops had thousands of people, big and small, carrying the old and young, and had traveled all the way here. It was unknown how many of them would be killed or wounded.

Before he arrived, Chen Jing was the de facto commander-in-chief of the Zhongwu Army.

In the afternoon, Shao Xun returned to Jinmenwu.

The main force of the army was stationed at the foot of the mountain and continued to train.

The wheat planted last month has grown into green shoots. Shao Xun looked at it and found that it was growing very well.

Zheng Long, the owner of Jinmenwu and a student of the second phase of Luoyang, is very confident in the soil fertility. He planted crops relatively densely, hoping to harvest more grain in May next year.

The craftsmen who came with the army were repairing equipment.

The evacuated people were led by county officials to settle in their own areas.

Some people come, some people go.

For the people of Hongnong, Shanxian and Huxian, Yiyang is the "rear" and "safety".

But for Yi Yang locals, Yi Yang is the "front line" and "unsafe".

Many people from Luoyang had already fled south in large numbers, and of course there were also quite a few people who left from Yiyang.

When they left, their land and houses were left behind, which was just right for them to settle down.

On the 19th, Shao Xun, who was personally directing the training of the Silver Spear Army, received news: the royal army had fought several battles with the Huns and was defeated every time.

The first one was in Hanoi.

The Xiongnu looted extensively and were about to attack the ancestral tomb of the Sima clan in Wen County. The prefect Pei Zheng sent General Guo Mo to lead an army to rescue, but was defeated by the Xiongnu.

The second game will be in Mengjin.

The Hun army began to build a pontoon bridge to cross the river.

Situ Yue crossed Liu Tun and sent General Song Zhou with 5,000 imperial troops to block the river to resist him.

The Huns found several places upstream and downstream, sneaked hundreds of cavalry across in small boats, went around the rear, and suddenly attacked a team transporting grain to Mengjin.

When Song Zhou heard that his food supply was cut off, he was horrified and led his troops to retreat south.

After the Xiongnu built a pontoon bridge and crossed the river, they caught up with Song Zhou and defeated him.

The third game was still in Hanoi.

When the people of the county heard that Guo Mo and Song Zhou were defeated, they suddenly rebelled, attacked and killed officials and soldiers loyal to the court, and captured the prefect Pei Zheng and surrendered.

That’s all the news for now.

After reading it, Shao Xun had only one feeling: the imperial guards were not that bad after all, at least they still dared to fight.

Unfortunately, there are too few cavalry.

When Wang Mi rebelled last May, the Cavalry Corps still had 2,000 cavalrymen.

After experiencing many wars in the past two years, the number of troops has not increased but decreased, falling below two thousand - in fact, this is normal. There is no money, and the vacancies in Shao Xun's Yamen Army have not been filled.

With such a small number of cavalry, even if their frontal combat capability is stronger than that of the Huns, their military strength is not on the same order of magnitude.

The reason why Song Zhou was defeated in this battle was that he did not have enough cavalry.

Of course, he has his own problems.

Once their retreat was cut off by the Hun cavalry, they panicked and wanted to run away.

There are Huns everywhere in the wild, how can you run? It is better to set up camp and hold on until the Huns retreat on their own - if the food brought with the army is enough.

Using infantry to resist cavalry is too passive strategically.

Moreover, there is no unified command.

Shao Xun could see that the Grand Commander Liu Tun was very conservative and was planning to allow the Huns to move south and then rely on the defense of Luoyang City to launch a counterattack.

Sima Yue intervened and ordered Song Zhou to march north, without necessarily consulting Liu Tun. As a result, Song's army was isolated and helpless, and fled as soon as they were surrounded, suffering a great defeat in the process.

When Liu Tun received the news of Song Zhou's defeat, he was probably stunned.

Shao Xun put himself in Song Zhou's position and also felt that it was a trap!
It is no problem to station troops in Mengjin and block the river to repel the enemy. But it requires the cooperation of friendly forces, and it is very difficult to fight alone.

Just like the problem Song Zhou encountered, the main force of the Xiongnu could only cross the river by floating bridges. But they could also use small boats to ferry a small number of people across the river to harass the rear of the defenders. At this time, the second-line troops were needed to counterattack and drive out the infiltrating enemy troops to ensure that the rear of the first line was unobstructed.

No one knows what Song Zhou was thinking at the time. Perhaps he didn't expect any friendly forces to come to reinforce him, so he ran away decisively.

If you think about it this way, it’s not incomprehensible.

The main responsibility does not lie with Song Zhou, but with the upper level.

This battle is fought!

"Send the order!" After Shao Xun finished looking at the map, he threw it on the table and said loudly.

Tang Jian immediately called a clerk.

"Changjian Army Deputy Commander Chang Can led 500 soldiers and his troops east to Yiyang County. The rest of the troops were led by Chen Yougen and stationed at Yique Pass. Liang County recruited 1,000 men and placed them under his command."

"Zheng Dong, the leader of the Yamen Army, led 500 men to station at Huanyuan Pass. Liu Shan, the leader of Yushanwu, led 2,000 fortress soldiers to the north and was assigned to Zheng Dong's command."

"Qin San, the leader of the Yamen Army, led 500 men to station at Taigu Pass. My nephew Shen led 2,000 Luoyang Sanyuanzhuanggu troops to the north and was assigned to Qin San's command."

"General Huang Biao will lead the remaining Yamen Army, Silver Spear Army, and government soldiers (more than 4,000 people) to station at Green Willow Garden to provide support at any time." "Order Wu Qian to go to the camps of the Tuntian Army and select 3,000 strong men, send them to Green Willow Garden, and hand them over to Huang Biao for command."

The clerk wrote swiftly and finished recording quickly.

After Shao Xun read it, he found no problem, so Tang Jian immediately sent someone to pass on the message.

The situation changed quickly and had to be dealt with accordingly.

Shao Xun picked up the map again and looked at it carefully.

He knew that in this year in history, Luoyang did not fall.

But that was history, and now he was not sure, after all, a lot had changed.

He was not sure whether the imperial court had sent people to garrison the three passes of Luonan. It was highly likely that they had not, after all, that was the so-called rear area.

The three passes of Luonan were mainly used to defend against enemies from the south. In terms of the type of the pass, its defense capability against the north was relatively poor. But it was a pass after all, better than a temporary camp. Now that people were sent to occupy it, the enemy's convenient passage to the south was blocked.

If the Huns really wanted to attack Guangchengze, apart from sending a small group of troops over the mountains and across the ridges to infiltrate like a sneak, they could only go east and detour through the four counties of Xingyang, Chenliu, Yingchuan and Xiangcheng. This was unlikely and would not be sudden.

Now, he has "locked" himself, the imperial guards and the Huns in a basin and hills north of the Three Passes, south of the river and west of Mount Song. Let them do it if they want.

******
Chen Yougen rushed to Yique Pass in the afternoon of the 20th.

Sure enough, apart from dozens of "military officials" from Henan County who were responsible for collecting taxes, there was not a single soldier in the city.

"Get out!" Chen Yougen used his whip to drive away several military officers who were walking towards him, and then ordered the palace soldiers to take over the city gate.

There were still many pedestrians and carriages to the north of Yique Pass. Seeing that the soldiers seemed to be intending to close Yique Pass, they all quickened their pace.

Some people were lucky and managed to pass through the city before it was closed and head south smoothly.

Others were stopped.

The soldiers drew their swords and crossbows and ordered them to return north.

"General, please be kind and let me pass. My father is a minister..." someone begged kindly.

Chen Yougen walked over, glanced at him, and sneered three times: "Don't talk about Shangshulang, it's useless even if Shangshu comes. Get lost!"

"Get out of the way! I'm from Prince Wu's Palace. I'm blinding you!" someone yelled.

Chen Yougen just slapped him in the face and ignored him.

The soldiers behind him were busy going in and out, digging trenches and setting up chevaux de frise on the north side of the city.

Princess Xiangcheng Sima Xiuwei's carriage squeezed to the front, and Cheng Yuantan stepped forward to negotiate.

"Even the princess can't do that!" A captain of the palace soldiers shook his head firmly.

Cheng Yuantan was a little annoyed and even a little discouraged.

General He Lun of the Left Guard used the excuse of "insufficient military supplies" to rob the princess of her belongings in Luoyang City. Did anyone do anything about it?

A few years ago, He Lun would not have dared to do this. But in today's world, ordinary princes and princesses really can't scare these warriors.

It's really lawless!

But he had no choice but to continue begging.

"Wang Dun? Forget Wang Dun. Even if Wang Taiwei came, it wouldn't work." The leader of the imperial guards glanced at Chen Yougen from the corner of his eye. Seeing that he didn't say anything, he straightened his chest and pushed Cheng Yuantan, causing him to stagger. He said, "Go away. Don't block the way. Someone else will go out to collect firewood soon."

Cheng Yuantan was so angry that his face turned blue, but he could do nothing.

Sima Xiuwei heard it clearly in the carriage and his face turned pale.

If I had known this would happen, I would have stayed in Luoyang.

He wanted to order a turn back, but he was unwilling to do so.

For some unknown reason, she took out a letter from her bosom.

"Princess, I am incompetent..." Cheng Yuantan returned to the carriage and said with a look of shame.

"Cheng Qing, take this letter and give it to the general. He will let them go." Sima Xiuyi said.

Cheng Yuantan was skeptical. After taking the letter, he subconsciously glanced at it and saw the words "From Her Royal Highness the Princess" written on the envelope.

He was not sure whether the letter would be useful, but there was no other way now, so he could only give it a try.

When Chen Yougen saw Cheng Yuantan returning, he took the letter in confusion, but his face changed after just one look.

The reason is simple: the handwriting and font are so damn familiar!
He originally could not read very well, but he learned a little bit in the past few years with great pains, and often copied the calligraphy given by Shao Xun.

He would recognize these six words "From Her Royal Highness the Princess" even if they turned into ashes.

The regular script and the handwriting are beautiful, who else could have written it if not the official of Luyang County?

He immediately handed the letter back to Cheng Yuantan and ordered him to be released.

That’s not all, he also ordered fifty palace soldiers to accompany him for escort.

The soldiers removed the barricades and the princess' carriage moved forward slowly.

When the people outside who were begging to be let out saw this, they started to make a commotion and even curse.

"Get out!" One of the soldiers got angry and hit them on the head with a whip, saying, "They are the family of the Duke of Luyang County. Who are you? Get out!"

"Bullshit!" Someone said without thinking, and ran away while holding his head, cursing: "Do you think I'm blind? That's the carriage of Princess Xiangcheng, and the princess is the wife of Wang Dun of Yangzhou."

"What Wang Dun's wife? She is my general's wife, otherwise how could Governor Chen send someone to escort her? Get out of here, don't force me to do it!" Several more people rushed up, waving heavy swords, as if they wanted to kill people.

The person who cursed back turned pale and walked away immediately.

Sima Xiuwei heard the quarrel between several people from afar, but she did not clarify.

Cheng Yuantan couldn't help but look at her.

The princess lowered the curtains, blocking his view.

Cheng Yuantan's heart moved, and he seemed to be thinking about something.

No wonder, no wonder! He had always been confused about many things, and now he had the answers.

This matter - alas.

He is a retainer, so it's hard to say anything.

After the storm ended, peace gradually returned to the area outside Yique Pass.

By evening, a shallow trench had been completed.

Several bonfires were built next to the trenches. The soldiers had no rest tonight and had to fight all night long.

After the trenches were dug, horse traps had to be dug. There were a lot of things to do.

Sporadic Hun scouts had appeared outside Luoyang, indicating that the main enemy force was not far away and would arrive within a few days.

The offensive and defensive battle is about to begin.

(End of this chapter)