Chapter 298 Xingyang

Chapter 298 Xingyang

Chapter 298 Xingyang
"Swoosh!" An arrow flew out and hit the straw man a hundred steps away.

Is this the legendary "shooting an arrow through a hundred steps"? Everyone was stunned.

However, they had no time to continue marveling at the sight. As the war drums sounded, tens of thousands of private soldiers formed a sharp arrow formation and advanced in a wall towards the direction where the arrows of Marquis Chen were shot.

The formation was a bit rough, and the soldiers were not very skilled, so they made many mistakes during the advance. But fortunately, no major chaos was caused, and they successfully advanced to the designated location and completed an attack on the straw man.

"The private soldiers of the aristocratic families are good at fighting on a scale of a thousand people. They may be able to fight on a scale of more than a thousand but less than five thousand. But when it comes to ten thousand people, or when they need to arrange a formation that they are not familiar with, they will make numerous mistakes and be at a loss. Write it down." Shao Xun stood on the high platform, looking at the private soldiers of various clans who were conducting their final drill, and gave the order.

The clerk recorded it on the spot.

Jin Zheng, Wang Que'er, Man Yu, Tang Jian and others stood by, each thinking about something.

They had watched the training of the private soldiers of the noble families many times and found that their basic skills were not too bad. Some of the elite soldiers were even proficient in various martial arts, daring to fight and fighting, and extremely brave.

This made them very confused. With such strength, why didn't they dare to fight with Wang Mi, Shi Le and others?

After several drills, they gradually understood that, just as Chen Hou said, the more people there were, the weaker the combat effectiveness, and they didn't know how to fight.

The deserters and veterans hired back by the aristocratic families were mostly junior officers and soldiers. Their military inheritance was not comprehensive, and they could not be taught further after reaching a certain level.

The gentry might have military books and strategies in their own homes—if the family was founded on Confucianism or metaphysics and had never produced a great general, they might not have them—but they might not necessarily practice large-scale battles often.

One is very consuming, the other is unnecessary.

Over time, this is what it became.

Compared with the Yuzhou gentry, the Jiangnan families and powerful people are truly an anomaly.

This may be related to the previous political situation of Eastern Wu. This country relied more on the power of aristocratic families than Cao Wei, which led to its unique political ecology. In the end, the main body of the army even became the armed forces of the gentry and powerful families.

"After the training is completed, each person will be given a piece of silk." Shao Xun gave the order after seeing tens of thousands of armed troops begin to gather.

There was no surprise at all, and the cheers were very loud.

After a while, dozens of leaders of the Qu family soldiers came with their men to claim the reward after getting permission from their master.

"Thank you, Lord Chen, for the reward." Everyone expressed their gratitude.

Shao Xun took the opportunity to encourage him.

He even memorized the names of some tribal leaders, and when they were called out in public, the people whose names were called were very excited.

This method may not seem very clever, but it is really useful. As long as you are willing to spend time and energy to do it, it will always be effective. Prestige and people's hearts are often accumulated bit by bit in this way.

After distributing rewards to the soldiers, he did not plan to take all the remaining wealth.

After roughly understanding the magnitude of the He family's wealth, he only planned to take 30,000 pieces of money and silk, and the rest would be divided among the participating tribes, including those shops.

As for the land, troops and food, Shao Xun naturally accepted them with a smile.

In addition, matters concerning the He family’s cronies are also being investigated in depth.

There are many powerful landlords who are dependent on the He family. It is a good opportunity to deal with them all at once, and it is estimated that a lot of money and food can be obtained.

Money and grain have three uses.

The first is to accommodate the soldiers, their families and followers, and the first year's expenses must at least be covered.

This part is mainly for food expenses. Perhaps it is necessary to purchase some oxen and farm tools, but not much, and the He family even has them ready-made.

The second is to set aside a portion of the money to buy horses and recruit soldiers, which is the responsibility of Wu Qian.

The Liangzhou soldiers are about to leave.

Shao Xun asked Wu Qian to take another batch of gifts to Liangzhou to thank Zhang Gui for the gift of horses. He also asked Wu Qian to buy some horses and recruit some soldiers.

He planned to take out 20,000 pieces of silk, 5,000 strings of cash, plus some of the gold, silver, jade, and Central Plains goods seized from the He Mansion, and set off with Beigong Chun and others to return to Liangzhou.

As for when he will come back, we will have to wait and see.

Shao Xun felt that most of the soldiers from Liang Province would come again next year, so it would be a good idea for them to return together to avoid being robbed along the way.

Third, if there was still something to be gained from plundering He's followers, Shao Xun planned to exchange land with the Chenjun gentry, try to concentrate the land, and settle auxiliary troops.

Ideally, a stable ruling area should be formed in Chen County, Ningping City, and Xiang County.

After all, the tribes and lands of the aristocratic families are their own, and they can transfer to others at any time without too many restrictions.

But the situation is different in the area under one's control. The land is relatively evenly distributed and is governed by military law, so it is not so easy to rebel.

In early April, Shao Xun, who had been lingering in Chen County for a long time, finally received an imperial edict: lead his troops north and station in Xingyang.

In addition, he received two letters.

The first letter was from Le Mo, the governor of Dunqiu, saying that Shi Le had launched a fierce attack on Dunqiu, all the counties had fallen, and many people in the fortress had surrendered to the enemy.

So far, he has only managed to keep the county seat and is unable to recover the lost territory.

There are less than 4,000 soldiers in the city, which are expanded by hundreds of Nanyang Le clan members and hundreds of volunteer warriors from Hebei. There have been many casualties in the fighting until today, and there are not enough food, fodder and equipment. So I request that you lead the army and civilians to retreat south.

Shao Xun wrote back asking him to persevere.

But he has nothing to say. If things really don't work, it's not his fault if he retreats.

How can you let them hold out without any reinforcements and being isolated to the north of the river? The situation in Ji County was slightly better, but it was still difficult. It was just that my father-in-law had been an official there for a long time and had won several battles to defend the city, so he was well prepared and could hold out longer.

The second letter was from Concubine Pei.

Shao Xun's forehead was covered with sweat after reading it. This is too...

******
"In the fourth month of summer, there was a flood. There was an earthquake in Yanzhou."

Suiyang Canal was dug artificially.

In the seventh year of Jian'an (202), Cao Cao arrived in Junyi and "repaired the Suiyang Canal".

In fact, it is to organize the rivers, lakes and wetlands between Junyi (Kaifeng) and Chenxian (Suiyang) to form a complete canal.

North-south rivers such as Suiyang Canal, Bian Canal, Woshui River, Yingshui River, and Sishui River are very important because the Yellow River and Huai River are roughly parallel and both run east-west. In order to connect the two, these north-south natural or artificial canals are necessary.

The same is true for the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River, which also need a north-south river connection.

The entire water transport network was built on these north-south rivers.

The Suiyang Canal is not wide, and the water volume is not abundant, so it has always been relatively "gentle".

But in the summer of the fourth year of Yongjia, with successive heavy rains, the water level rose sharply, and the artificial canal of Suiyang Canal actually showed some hideousness.

The trackers shouted slogans and walked hesitantly on both sides of the Suiyang Canal, pulling one heavily loaded boat after another upstream.

There were five or six soldiers standing on the front and rear decks of the ship, holding swords and bows, looking very majestic.

They were soldiers of the Silver Spear Army. This time they went north without having to walk, they could just take a boat, which was very easy.

The cabin was filled with bags of grain, some of which was seized from the He family and some of which was supplied by the Yuzhou gentry.

After the severe drought last year, Yuzhou was in a difficult situation and food was not abundant. This time, raising food was really a life-threatening task for them.

But the world is like this, what can we do? If the Huns come, they will probably ask for more.

No matter how insufficient the food is, military supplies must be given priority. As for whether someone will starve to death as a result, that is not our concern.

This is the cruel reality, the bloody reality in troubled times.

On the post road on the west bank of the Qu River, more soldiers and carriages were marching.

They mainly came from Yingchuan, Chenjun and Qiaoguo, totaling 7,000, including 500 cavalry and more than 6,000 infantry.

In addition to the cavalry, most of the 7,000 soldiers of the Silver Spear and Yicong armies served as auxiliary troops.
To put it simply, the troops commanded by Shao Xun included 6,000 Silver Spear Army soldiers, more than 800 Yicong Army soldiers, 500 cavalry provided by the gentry of the three counties, plus his own personal soldiers, totaling about 7,500 soldiers.

There were also 2,000 auxiliary troops led by Hao Chang and more than 6,000 auxiliary troops from the three counties.

The total force is around 16,000.

There weren't many soldiers, but they were of high quality, especially the six thousand Silver Spear Soldiers, who were the undisputed backbone of the battlefield.

Without these six thousand people, the remaining ten thousand are just a bunch of losers.

On the sixth day of April, the army arrived at the western suburbs of Junyi County.

A large group of cavalry appeared in view, took a look and then left.

They are not enemies, theoretically they are even friendly forces: the Wuhuan cavalry of the Qihuo Army.

There were a large number of Wuhuan and other miscellaneous Hu refugees in Guangzong, Junyi and Liangguo, who followed the beggars to seek food everywhere.

They can ride horses and shoot arrows, but many of them have been reduced to infantry. After all, they have become beggars, so how can they still want to ride horses?
On the grassland, if it is not necessary for life, herders are unwilling to raise horses at all. It is too uneconomical!
The hundreds of cavalrymen in front of him were probably the only organized cavalry unit that Beggar General Chen Wu could muster.

After resting for a few days in Junyi, the army continued its journey westward.

At this time, Shao Xun received news that Shi Le was building a pontoon bridge in Dongyu, as if he was going to cross the river to the south. Sima Yue lifted the siege of Bai Ma and stationed in Puyang.

While Pan Tao was conveying this military intelligence, he also attached a line of small words.

Shao Xun felt heavy-hearted after reading it.

Sima Yue fainted again.

After waking up this time, he was extremely irritable and would beat and kill servants at will, and he also forgot many people and things.

Shao Xun was not worried about Sima Yue, but more about the tens of thousands of troops following him. He was also worried that after Sima Yue's death, Chen Wu, Qi Ji, Wang Ping and other beggar generals would no longer obey his orders and act on their own, turning from friendly forces fighting against the Huns into "wild monsters" who were difficult to distinguish between friend and foe.

On April 15, the army arrived in Xingyang.

Li Chong led 2,000 Yamen troops to join the group and delivered a batch of military supplies and vehicles to deal with cavalry. He then returned to Changsha to organize the garrison troops in the rear.

On April 20th, the first batch of grain ships set out from Hefei, intending to enter the Yellow River via Qiao State, Chen County, Chenliu State, and Xingyang County and head to Luoyang.

The Guangling Duzhi Office was restored, but the food and fodder had been burned and it was difficult to raise them for a while.

Almost at the same time, Liu Cong led tens of thousands of people to Hanoi to take charge of frontline military affairs.

The Han and Jin armies confronted each other across the river on a battle line of hundreds of miles, stretching from Henei in the west to Dongyu in the east, and a war over the grain transport was about to break out.

(End of this chapter)