Chapter 274 Stunned

Chapter 274 Stunned

Chapter 274 Stunned
The farmland is already covered with a thin layer of snow.

Anyone familiar with farming knows that if there are a few more snowfalls, there will definitely be a good harvest next year.

Within the low earthen walls, the vegetable plots are arranged very neatly.

The hemp rope on the well wheel had frozen solid, and there was a thatched shed on the well, covered with white snow.

The earthen wall surrounded dozens of huts.

Although the house is simple, it is full of life.

There are a few handmade small objects hanging under the eaves, probably for children to play with. When the wind blows, they flutter in the wind, which is very cute.

There were several vegetable baskets at the door, filled with freshly picked salted pickles.

The salty pickles are golden in color and pickled to perfection. You can tell at a glance that the hostess is very virtuous and has a good grasp of household chores.

The house is spotless.

Although the furniture is simple, it is neatly arranged. Most of them are new, except for a jewelry box that looks a little old, perhaps it has commemorative significance.

"Bang!" A cold wind blew, and the bedroom door was suddenly blown open, hitting the earth wall hard.

A dark red bloodstain extended from the threshold into the interior.

Following the blood trail, what I saw was the body of a baby.

The baby must have been killed by the fall. His eyes were closed, his fists were clenched, and a stream of blood was flowing from the corner of his mouth.

Further in, a woman was leaning against the earthen wall, naked, with her lower body in a mess, and she had been dead for a long time.

After a careful search of other houses, the bodies of the elderly were found everywhere, followed by children, and the least were women. No young men were found.

The soldiers quickly withdrew from the fortress.

There were several "fresh" corpses outside the fortress gate. Judging from their attire and hairstyle, they should be Huns.

On the post road outside the fortress wall, a torrent of steel rolled eastward without stopping for a moment.

Teams of knights walked on both sides of the torrent, with horn bows hanging from their waists, spears in their hands, and hideous human heads hanging under their saddles.

The knight in golden armor drove up from behind, and everyone saluted him.

In the Battle of Jianshui, more than 4,700 Xiongnu infantry and cavalry were killed, completely defeating their cavalry advantage that they were proud of.

It turned out that cavalry had no advantage when the logistics were sufficient, the soldiers were capable and brave, and the fighting was carried out on the interior lines with multiple resting places along the way.

When the Jin army forced their way across the Jianshui River, they even lost the initiative on the battlefield, where they could fight when they wanted and retreat when they didn't want to. They were forced to use short-range attacks against long-range attacks and storm the elite infantry that were densely defended, which led to a disastrous defeat.

If Song Zhou had carried enough food and fodder to last for more than a month in the Battle of Mengjin and set up a camp to hold his ground at the ferry, his army would not necessarily have been wiped out with the strength of the 5,000 Right Guard Army.

But he made the wrong choice. This shows how important it is to follow the right people - now everyone understands this.

The snow is getting heavier.

The snow was falling heavily and it was freezing cold.

The long line of vehicles was less than a day's journey away from Luoyang and would arrive at the city by tomorrow morning at the latest.

What would the Huns do?
Should we continue to stop them at all costs, or simply retreat and go home?

The decision lies with Liu Cong.

Theoretically, he still holds the initiative in the overall situation.

If they leave now, with the more than 30,000 surviving light cavalry, they can completely use their numerical advantage in the open Luoyang Basin to gradually wear down or even annihilate the Jin cavalry.

The capable Jin army infantry could not increase their speed due to the harassment of the light cavalry and could not catch up with the retreating Liu Han infantry.

He can get away with it, it just depends on whether he is willing to do so.

******
Let's go back a few days.

Just as Shao Xun led his troops to leave Ganshuikou and head towards Jianshui, a major event occurred at Dayang Ferry in Hedong.

The Grand Marshal Hu Yanyi, who was urged by Liu Cong to march forward without raising enough food and fodder, set out from Pingyang with 50,000 to 60,000 infantrymen and arrived in Dayang on the first night of November.

It was freezing cold at the time, and the infantry from the Xiongnu, Han, Di, Qiang, Jie, Xianbei and other miscellaneous tribes were short of supplies. Not only were they shivering with cold, but their rations were also cut in order to save more food to be sent to the front line for the cavalry to consume.

This immediately ignited their anger.

So infantry is inferior to cavalry?

In the State of Jin, cavalry were assigned to fight with infantry. Do we have to do the opposite here, with infantry assigned to fight with cavalry?
Hu Yanyi is a relative of the Liu Han family, how respected is he? Of course he knows the soldiers' dissatisfaction, but a good cook cannot cook without rice, and he can't make food. What can he do? Although he still has fish and meat, fine wine and beautiful women tonight, his life is endless.

However, as the commotion outside became more and more intense, he, who was quite drunk, had to leave the beauty's arms and go out for a patrol.

After encountering several tribal leaders who openly defied him, he flew into a rage and ordered his men to kill them.

At this moment, an arrow shot out from the darkness, hitting Hu Yanyi's throat and exiting through his neck...

The consequence of this arrow was very serious. Tens of thousands of troops lost their restraint and fled back from Dayang, returning to their tribes and fortresses. It was impossible for them to be recruited to go to Luoyang in a short time.

The news that Hu Yanyi was killed by his subordinates was rushed to Luoyang over a distance of 500 miles and was presented to Liu Cong in the late night of the fourth day of the New Year.

After dawn, Liu Cong, with a gloomy face, summoned all the generals to discuss the matter and announced the bad news on the spot.

There was a moment of silence in the tent.

Since the expedition began, two great generals, Huyan Yi and Huyan Hao, have been killed, and the loss of soldiers and horses in each camp is no less than 15,000.

Although most of them were either young men under the command of General Anbei Zhao Gu or various Hu people, the number of Xiongnu soldiers killed in the battle reached an astonishing 3,000.

Furthermore, losing too many miscellaneous soldiers would not be without negative impact.

At least, the morale of the entire army is a little low at the moment, and it is really not appropriate to fight anymore.

But who is going to say this?

Everyone looked at each other, and finally it was General Longxiang Liu Yao who spoke up: "Grand Commander, withdraw the troops."

Liu Cong remained silent, but his expression clearly showed that he was not happy.

Liu Yao ignored him and continued, "Although we have tried every possible means to raise funds, the army's food and grass have never exceeded seven days' needs. Oh, we have recently suffered defeat in the field battles and the sieges, and many people have died. We have a little surplus of food and grass, and may be able to sustain for more than ten days."

What Liu Yao said was a joke from hell.

Everyone looked at him and then at Liu Cong.

Liu Cong still had no expression.

Liu Yao seemed to be completely unaware of the meaning of his words. He continued, "The Jin army has already launched a counterattack on all fronts. If we don't withdraw now, all our efforts will be wasted."

Results?

In Liu Cong's understanding, the results might be limited to the wealth and women brought back by the grain transport team.

Perhaps there was also a blow to the prestige of the State of Jin.

But this kind of thing cannot be seen or touched. If you say it exists but others don’t agree, then it doesn’t exist. How can it be considered as a real achievement?

"Grand Commander, let's retreat. Without the infantry, Luoyang City cannot be captured." Liu Yao looked at Liu Cong and said earnestly, "I am willing to lead my troops to cover your retreat. After the army returns to Pingyang, we may be able to discuss it in detail. We may come back next year, and there may be a chance." Liu Cong was moved when he heard this. Yongming was really thinking about national affairs.

Yesterday's siege ended in failure again.

He personally supervised the battle and saw clearly that Zhao Gu really tried his best and did not hide anything. However, he was weak and the Jin army was not made of paper and had a large number of people, so he could only be defeated in the end.

Perhaps, as Yongming said, it is really impossible to take Luoyang this year.

After all, the State of Jin still has some luck left. We have to let it dissipate for a while before we can attack again, only then can we have a chance of conquering it.

Thinking of this, Liu Cong sighed and said, "Let the emperor decide on this matter. All camps - retreat to the north of the city first."

Liu Yao frowned slightly and stepped back.

When the King of Chu said this, he actually still had some thoughts in his mind.

In his heart, he probably didn't want to withdraw his troops so hastily. But the situation was like this, and he had no choice. In the end, he could only push it to the emperor and let him make the decision for him.

Fortunately, the emperor is much stronger than the King of Chu.

He should have known about Dayang earlier than the King of Chu. Perhaps the angel had already traveled day and night to Luoyang.

The withdrawal of troops is just around the corner.

******
Si Tu Yuan Le Zhao hurried into Xie's house.

The air was filled with the smell of cosmetics and powder, and if you sniffed carefully, you might even smell the aroma of wine and meat.

In the deep and winding paths, the sounds of stringed instruments, mixed with the men's teasing and the women's coquettish voices, are heard continuously.

After turning around a screen wall, the sound suddenly became louder.

Le Zhao walked into the hall without stopping.

The warmth that came towards him was like that of spring sunshine, which instantly dispelled the coldness in his body and made him feel so comfortable that he wanted to moan.

What you see is the woman's fair skin and the man's dark chest hair complement each other.

The air was filled with the smell of medicinal powder.

White flesh worms squirmed in the drunken man's arms.

Some people laughed loudly, some kept drinking, some were reciting poems, and some were cursing. There were all kinds of expressions on the scholars' faces.

The servant carefully stepped over several piles of rotten meat, tiptoed to Xie Kun, and whispered a few words in his ear.

Xie Kun was still sober. He looked up at Le Zhao and said with a smile, "Hong Mao is here. Can you have a drink?"

Le Zhao forced a smile, bowed and saluted, and said, "Military, Situ invites you."

"Oh? What's the matter?" Xie Kun glanced around the hall, and saw many of Situ's aides acting unrestrainedly here.

"The Huns in the west and east of the city are retreating. The prime minister has arrived at Ximing Tower and invited the two chief secretaries Liu and Pan, the military officers, and the generals of various camps to the tower to observe the enemy's situation." Le Zhao replied.

In fact, Le Zhao looked down on Xie Kun.

This man was born in the Xie family of Yangxia, Chenjun. He was famous for his Confucianism and liked to talk about "Laozi" and "Zhouyi". He was good at singing and playing the zither, but he did not cultivate his dignity and was disdainful of managing mundane affairs.

He entered the palace in the first year of Guangxi (306), but was willful and unrestrained, not bound by etiquette and laws, and was later expelled.

After returning home to relax, he saw a beautiful girl named Gao from the neighboring house and tried to flirt with her. The girl threw a shuttle and broke two of his teeth.

When others made fun of him about this, Xie Kun proudly said, "It doesn't affect my singing!"

Because Xie Kun was famous, when Si Tu was sent to Yanzhou, he was appointed as one of the military officers and was often asked for advice on military strategies.

"Okay, this is business. Wait a moment." After listening to Le Zhao's words, Xie Kun nodded, got up and went to the inner room, washed his face, changed his clothes, and then left with Le Zhao.

When the two arrived at Ximing Tower, they saw a huge crowd of people.

But what was strange was that so many people gathered here but they were very quiet. Everyone had a serious expression and stared outside the city.

Xie Kun and Le Zhao squeezed to the front, looked down, and were stunned.

In the wilderness to the west, there were sounds of drums, and a convoy of about 10,000 people was moving slowly forward.

Wherever the convoy went, it was like cutting through the waves, pushing back the Hun cavalry that filled the entire plain.

After the convoy passed, the waves of cavalry gradually closed in again.

After a while, the convoy stopped and connected front to back.

Suddenly, a large group of soldiers crossed the chariot formation and advanced to the left and right sides.

The dark armor, silver guns, neat steps, and solemn demeanor all tell people that this is an elite force.

The soldiers held their guns steadily, breathing out white steam as they advanced step by step in the heavy snow.

Every time they moved forward, the Hun cavalry took a step back.

Only after they had advanced thirty steps did everyone stop, put on their helmets and armor, and stood solemnly in the snow with their weapons in hand.

The traffic formation began to adjust.

After a moment, an elliptical formation of vehicles was adjusted.

The cavalry became active and launched an attack on the Xiongnu light cavalry in the distance.

The palace soldiers also mounted their horses and charged forward, and the Xiongnu cavalry gave way one after another.

The infantry began to move forward, half forward and half backward.

After half of the people withdrew, the other half also withdrew under the cover of powerful crossbows and bows.

The cavalry and palace soldiers who had caused the Xiongnu light cavalry to panic also retreated. Many of them still had arrows sticking out of their bodies, but they looked relaxed and in high spirits, and they laughed as they entered the chariot formation.

The convoy of vehicles suddenly closed together and became complete again.

The Huns seemed to be furious because they had been tricked. Thousands of cavalrymen surrounded them from all directions, circling around and shooting.

But in the snow, arrows were not accurate, and could not shoot far. On the contrary, the crossbows could still be used, and every time they were fired, they could always take away a few unlucky Xiongnu.

The Huns soon realized that this was too disadvantageous, and they retreated far away. Not long after, as if receiving an order, everyone headed north and disappeared on the horizon.

The battlefield returned to calm.

Shao Xun climbed up a temporary platform and looked out over the city.

The generals and officers of Yue Prefecture on the city wall were stunned.

The imperial guards on the city wall were stunned.

The two old wall lamps, Wang and Pei, were stunned.

Luoyang was stunned.

This is——the one that got through all the way?

(End of this chapter)