Chapter 300: Fight if You Can
Chapter 300: Fight if You Can
On the surface of the Woshui River, there are boats one after another, with no end in sight.
The ship had a deep draft, which almost weighed down its sides. It was filled with millet, rice, beans and a small amount of wheat transported from Huainan and Jiangnan.
There were more than a dozen troop transports and boat workers standing on the deck of each ship.
Most of the transports were not wearing armor, only about one-third wore leather armor, and a small number wore iron armor - wearing armor was really inconvenient and very dangerous when fighting on the river.
Chen Yan rode a horse along the shore, followed by more than a thousand transport troops and some baggage vehicles.
We are already close to Yangxia. If we go further northwest, we will enter the territory of Fugu County of Chenliu State.
Chen Yan was on the river, but not completely ignorant.
It was early May, and the Huns had been moving south for ten days.
During these ten days, there was not much movement in Xingyang, but there was a great deal of commotion in Yanzhou, especially in Puyang and Chenliu, where cavalry surged southward, grazing and looting.
A large group of infantry followed the cavalry, taking away the looted money and food and the captured men, causing chaos throughout Yanzhou.
The result of the chaos is obvious -
Ahead was a dock of Yangxia County. Outside the roughly enclosed camp, thousands of people gathered there, crying and begging for some food.
When they saw the ship coming, the crowd became even more agitated and started shouting loudly.
"Can you save the nobles but not the common people?"
"Please, give me a bite to eat, I'll do anything for you."
"Hurry up and release the food!"
There were more than a thousand people stationed in the dock camp, all of whom were members of aristocratic families mobilized by Lord Chen.
They stood on the village wall and looked at the refugees coldly.
If they were locals, they might be given some food out of pity. But for outsiders, how could that be possible? They themselves were short of food!
The first ship came ashore.
The trackers found a place to rest for a while. They were not responsible for the following section of the river, as it was someone else's territory. If they crossed the boundary rashly, they might be beaten.
Some transport soldiers fetched water and started a fire on the deck to cook. After a while, the aroma of food filled the air, causing the hungry people on the shore to become even more agitated.
"Grab the food!" someone shouted and rushed towards the river.
The trackers were frightened and fled in panic.
"Shoot!" a troop transport officer ordered.
"Swoosh! Swoosh!" Arrows flew out from the boat. At first they were sparse, but gradually they became denser.
The refugees who rushed towards the canal boats were knocked to the ground, and the rest rolled and crawled away.
Chen Yan's transport troops formed a semicircle.
They had indeed trained before, and some of them had even taken part in the battle to quell the Shibing Rebellion, but most of them had never fought in a war, lacked experience, and were very nervous.
When they saw the refugees rushing over, some of them even shouted loudly and were directly chopped to death by the officers.
Fortunately, the refugees were not strong soldiers, and there were men, women, old and young among them. After being shot with arrows, they were scared and scattered.
Chen Yan pushed aside several transport soldiers and rode forward.
There were dozens of bodies lying on the ground, young and old, male and female.
He sighed twice, lamenting the hardships of the people.
Most of these people were not refugees before, but at least lived in groups. The reason why they were starving and had to move south with their elderly and children is not hard to guess: they were robbed by the Xiongnu and were forced to beg in the south.
Small forts and settlements are the most dangerous.
They do not have the bargaining power of the aristocratic families, and are helpless when faced with an attack from a large army.
But he just sighed twice.
There is a food shortage everywhere now. If we give food to the refugees, the army will not be able to get enough to eat, and many residents will starve to death.
In fact, he also heard what the refugees shouted just now. To some extent, their questioning was not wrong.
Save the ministers, but not the people?
But the order Chen Yan received was to transport the grain back to Luoyang. He did not dare to release the grain to help the people without authorization, nor did he want to do so.
The negative impact of last year's severe drought has only begun to show its power this year.
After consuming a whole year's worth of food, everyone now knows how valuable food is. They try to keep it in their hands as much as possible and will never give it away unless it is absolutely necessary.
The refugees were unable to resist Wang Mi and Shi Le, and after handing over most of their food, they were doomed to die.
No one would save them because no one could conjure up food.
After a day's rest in Yangxia, a new group of trackers arrived and the fleet continued to move forward, heading north along the Suiyang Canal, arriving at Junyi via Fugu, and settling in the water fort.
Junyi is a hub for water and land transportation, with a huge warehouse city and the troop transport of Yang Bao, the commander of the Sizhou Duzhi Army.
Chen Yan noticed that the grain in Junyi Cangcheng had run out, and probably all of it had been transported to Luoyang. After the grain he was escorting arrived, it would be able to replenish the inventory a little.
But these stored grains could not be kept for long, and would soon be transported away by boat by Yang Bao's men, entering the Yellow River through Xingyang, then into the Yi River, and then transported upstream to the Taicang in Luoyang.
There are many dangers along the way.
It was indeed inconvenient for the Xiongnu to attack the boats on the river, but they could attack the boatmen. Once they succeeded, the grain would accumulate in Junyi and Ao Cang and still could not enter Luoyang.
War is dangerous and fierce, and I don't know how to deal with it this time.
After unloading the food, Chen Yan led the fleet back.
Along the way, starving people could be seen everywhere.
What’s even more terrifying is that the locusts seem to be increasing in number…
******
In Baima County, Puyang, the Dahu Shi Le had already crossed the river.
Recently he had fought several battles with Sima Yue's troops, with both sides winning and losing.
To be precise, he won four of the six small-scale battles. The two losses were due to the cavalry's failure to cooperate in time, which led to the defeat of the infantry. This made him somewhat alert: a short period of one and a half years was not enough for him to train an elite infantry.
Overall, he still recognized the combat effectiveness of the tens of thousands of people under Sima Yue's command, but he had many ways to kill these people.
"Your Majesty."
"Captain."
"General."
"Big...big beard."
When he heard the last call, Shi Le glared at the man, but did not pursue the matter. Instead, he said, "The King of Chu and the King of Quyang have sent people to urge us again. What do you think we should do?"
"Commander-in-chief, please hold off for a while." Tao Bao said directly, "Sima Yue is ill, and the army is mainly composed of infantry. Now he is retreating to the city and abandoning the countryside. It is a good opportunity for us to grab some food. After we grab the food, we can throw the hungry people to Sima Yue and Shao Xun, let them sit back and watch the people starve to death, and bear the bad reputation. Isn't it wonderful?"
"Passed!" Shi Le made a few comments, but did not directly reject Tao Bao's proposal.
Tao Bao was a little clever and resourceful. What he said was what their group had been doing on both sides of the river. It was just not as harsh as Tao Bao said. They would leave some food so that the people could farm with peace of mind.
If you grab all of them at once, you will get more, but what about next year? Will you still be able to make ends meet?
Restraint. Only those who know how to restrain themselves are qualified to taste the final victory.
"Mengsun, tell me how we should fight this battle?" Shi Le looked at Zhang Bin and said.
Diao Ying and Zhang Jing glanced at each other secretly, both feeling a little anxious.
In recent months, Zhang Bin and Zhang Mengsun have received significantly more attention. Although they are still not as much as the two of them who serve as the left and right chief secretaries, the trend is not right, which is worrying.
"Excuse me, General, what is Minister Wang doing?" Zhang Bin asked.
Shi Le seemed to understand something.
Wang Mi, that fellow, was so bold as to not dare to take the initiative to touch Shao's tiger whiskers. In fact, his soldiers were worse than those of the Jin State, at least they were not formed every year.
In the Battle of Suanzao, the enemy hid in the camp and finally collapsed, with more than 3,000 casualties. Sima Yue, the attacker, also lost about the same number of lives, so he actually won.
"Wang Mi is also looting." Shi Le said.
"I would like to ask you one more question. If the general collects all the food and military supplies and leads his troops westward with 20,000 cavalry and 60,000 infantry, a total of 80,000 troops, attack Shao Xun's 20,000 infantry in a field battle, can he win?" Zhang Bin asked again.
Shi Le was a little hesitant.
Among the 80,000 infantry and cavalry, the only ones that can really deal with the bandit Shao are the 20,000 cavalry.
The infantry, which has been trained for more than a year, may be able to fight against other people, but they will most likely be unable to fight against the Silver Spear Army.
This is not something that can be achieved simply by having more people.
The art of war makes it very clear that when there are too many people, the left will not hear the right, the right will not hear the left, the front will not know the back, and the back will not know the front. The enemy has thousands of elite troops and they will focus on your formation. The contact surface is so large that most of the 60,000 infantry may not have the chance to engage the enemy. It is not impossible that they will be pierced through and collapsed.
"Maybe we can win." Shi Le looked into Zhang Bin's eyes and said.
"General, why are you bragging when you are not sure yourself?" Zhang Bin said, "Shao has too few cavalry, which is his biggest disadvantage. If that is the case, we should not fight him in the field. If I want to fight, I will fight. If I don't want to fight, I will leave. Shao can't catch up, so he can only cry out in vain."
Shi Le did not comment, and then asked: "What if the King of Chu sends someone to urge us?"
"The King of Chu is sweeping away the remaining enemies in Henei, so he may not be able to go south for a while." Zhang Bin said without hesitation: "Delay it for a while until it can't be delayed any longer."
Shi Le thought it made a lot of sense.
In fact, he thought so too. How sick must one be to take the initiative to fight Shao thief? Even that idiot Wang Mi knew to avoid Xingyang.
You are awesome for letting me suffer this loss.
It would be stupid of me to let myself suffer the same loss twice.
The loss like the one in the Battle of Mustang Hill is enough to be suffered once.
What he should do is to avoid the real and attack the fake, make a feint to the east and attack in the west, and make a roundabout way.
"Peach Leopard." Shi Le made a decision quickly and began to give orders immediately.
"I am here."
"You will lead 3,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantrymen from Jiyin to the south and plunder Liang."
"As ordered."
"Kui An."
"I am here."
"You will lead 5,000 cavalry and 15,000 infantry from Chenliu to the south and plunder Chenjun."
"As ordered."
"Zhixiong."
"I am here."
"You will lead 2,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry to plunder Yingchuan and Xiangcheng."
"As ordered."
"Remember, it's still the old rules." Shi Le reminded, "Leave enough food and grass for the return trip. If you can fight, then fight. If you can't fight, then leave. If you can collect food and grass, stay a little longer. If you can't collect it, come back early. Scouts spread out and gather information everywhere. Don't slack off. Do not use the cavalry separately, but drive out and kill the Jin cavalry, intercept their messengers and scouts, and make them deaf and blind. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir." The three responded in unison.
Zhang Bin watched silently and nodded secretly in his heart.
After experiencing the nightmarish defeat at Yemagang, Da Hu finally knew how to fight.
You may not be very proficient or clear about it yet, but you have remembered the rule of "fight if you can, run away if you can't" and you have applied it well.
People are not born knowing everything. It is the greatest virtue to know one's mistakes and correct them.
(End of this chapter)