Chapter 357 The lightning rush

Chapter 357 The lightning rush

Chapter 357 The lightning rush
The army set out in the early morning of the 23rd and marched eastward for three days.

The "tail" attached to the back is getting longer and longer, but no one dares to take action.

Shi Le had not yet prepared to march south in a large force, and it was not yet autumn when the horses were fat on the grassland. The Zaohu were still fattening their livestock at home and had not received any "employment contracts" from the Dahu.

Shao Xun laughed out loud as he looked at the timid Jie, Wuhuan, Xiongnu and even Han cavalry.

The little train whirrs along, crossing rivers and fields. It will soon reach the end. Don't be in a hurry.

At this time they had arrived in Dongwuyang.

The battlefield five years ago has been submerged in weeds.

At that time, Gou Xi led tens of thousands of soldiers from Yan and Yu to cross the Yellow River to the north, won a series of victories in Dongwuyang, and captured cities and strongholds, and was unstoppable.

People like Ji Sang and Shi Le were beaten badly.

After several years, the situation has changed dramatically, leaving people at a loss as to what to do.

Gou Xi was forcibly driven out of Yanzhou by Sima Yue. After arriving in Qingzhou, he was unable to gain a foothold and was defeated by Cao Qiu, so he fled to Yanzhou again.

What would have happened if Gou Xi had not been driven away by Sima Yue? Perhaps things would have been much better than they are now.

After all, it was he who led the Yanzhou soldiers to achieve the myth of consecutive victories, and it was he who stopped the rebel army from moving south and wreaking havoc on Yanzhou, so he still had some foundation.

But there are no "ifs" in history. As time passed, when Gou Xi came to Yanzhou again, it was much more difficult than before.

Now is the time to put an end to him.

If you want to seize my territory, you must be prepared to die.

There is a ferry in Dongwuyang County called Cangting Ferry.

In the sixth year of Jian'an in the Han Dynasty (201), Cao Cao led his troops to the Yellow River and attacked Yuan Shao at Cangting, defeating him.

Shao Quanzhong also wants to cross the river now.

In fact, some people have already started crossing the river to the south.

The boatmen at Cangtingjin were caught before they could escape. They dejectedly rowed their boats, ferrying boatloads of people and horses to the other side.

Shao Xun divided his troops and occupied Dongwuyang, Yangping and other counties, recruited manpower, cut down trees and built a floating bridge - there was no need to build a good bridge, just one that could be used temporarily.

The large army took the opportunity to rest here.

At noon on the 28th, the crudely built floating bridge was finally completed. It was shaky when walked on and almost capsized.

But it doesn’t matter, as long as I can pass the military.

Shao Xun led more than a thousand cavalrymen to cover the rear, occasionally charging forward to scare away the surrounding Hun cavalry.

Ten days have passed since I appeared in Ji County on the 18th.

For Shi Le and Shi Chao, these ten days should have been confusing.

As for mobilizing cavalry, we were afraid to attack because the enemy had a lot of troops and we suffered some losses after fighting two or three times.

As for mobilizing the infantry, it was simply too late.

The Jin army marched too fast and did not take care of the horses at all. They abandoned many injured donkeys, mules and horses along the way, just to speed up the march.

Under such circumstances, it was really difficult to pursue them, so much so that we could only watch them march along the Yellow River and rush to Dongwuyang.

It seems that we are going to cross the river and return to Yanzhou now. This should be a good thing, right?

But what’s the point of him going back and forth like this?
First leave Yanzhou, cross the river to the north, then cross the river to the south and return to Yanzhou. It's a fucking forced march!
The cavalry's forced march comes at the cost of losing horses. I really don't understand them.

Of course, there were smart people who saw something fishy, ​​but they just ignored it because it was none of their business. Why would they risk being hunted down and kill someone to send a letter to Cao Wei, Zhao Gu, and Gou Xi?
On the first day of July, an army of more than 6,000 people appeared on the south bank of the Yellow River - or the east bank.

After a short rest, they calculated that the remaining food was less than enough for seven days, so they decided not to delay any longer.

The Wuhuan light cavalry went first, followed by the palace soldiers, mounted infantry, and Shao's personal soldiers, and the Liangzhou large horses walked at the end.

The entire army rushed southward, passing Fan County on the afternoon of the second day without entering, and rushed towards the southeast.

At noon on the third day of July, we had arrived at the northeast of One Lake.

******
On the third day of July in the fifth year of Yongjia in the Great Jin Dynasty (311), after a long journey, the brothers Gou Xi and Gou Chun led their army to the south of Jinxiang County.

Xiahou Heng, the prime minister of Qiao State, led a vanguard of 3,000 people to Dongmin City, and faced Gou Xi and his brothers across the He River.

Behind him, the army gathered one after another, with a total number of no less than 20,000 - most of them were peasants conscripted from Qiao and Pei.

For Gou Xi, this was a good opportunity, because after Zhao Gu invaded Taishan, he went to Lu and attracted more than 10,000 troops from Li Chong's army.

After receiving the news, he left the camp east of One Lake almost overnight and led his entire army south to Jinxiang.

He got a precious window of time: first defeat Xiahou Heng's weak troops, then march eastward to fight a decisive battle with Li Chong.

But what puzzled him was that Shao Xun was still in Kaocheng collecting food and fodder, and the Silver Spear Army had not yet set out, but was only training in Chenliu.

Does he really not want to go to war with me?
Gou Xi didn't believe it at first, but now he is really shaken.

The Silver Spear Army, which he relied on to control the four directions, did not move at all and was still hiding in Kaocheng. Did this look like they were about to take action?
But that’s fine too.

With the title of commander-in-chief of the military affairs of six states in hand, it would be much easier for him to take over the two states of Yu and Yan as long as he was given time - although Xiahou Heng, the prime minister of Qiao State, was instigated by someone and actually brought the young men from Qiao and Pei States to stop him. Gou Xi even suspected that he was acting on his own initiative.

"Brother!" More than ten riders retreated from the other side of the Heshui River. The leader was Gou Chun. It turned out that he personally led people across the river to investigate.

"Brother, Xiahou Heng only has a few thousand soldiers. I don't know which families gathered them together." Gou Chun ran over breathlessly and said, "The camp is well organized, but there are not many people. Should we try to attack it?"

The staff looked at each other, wanting to say something, but in the end, everyone was dejected and silent.

The staff who had followed until now were considered relatively loyal. Now that things had come to this point, they had no choice but to survive.

Gou Xi pondered for a long time.

After such a long journey, the army was actually a little tired. If it was the old troops he led before, this would not be a big deal. But this batch of people now had too many new recruits, and they were not as resistant to hard fighting as the old soldiers.

However, he quickly made a decision: "Send someone to build a bridge. Once it's completed, immediately select elite troops to cross the river and attack the enemy camp."

"Yes." Gou Chun took the order loudly and left.

Gou Xi let out a long sigh.

There is no time, really not much time. Shao Xun is currently tied up, but if he is allowed to recover, Gou Xi does not believe that he will sit back and watch him gain a foothold at the junction of Yanzhou, Yuzhou and Xuzhou.

Because he has the greatest asset: general, commander-in-chief, and in charge of military affairs of the six states of Qing, Xu, Yu, Yan, Yang and Jing.

Shao Xun was only a general of the imperial army, not a prefect. Therefore, he only focused on training the Silver Spear Army, because that was his private army, and no matter whether he was a ninth-rank official or a first-rank official, these soldiers were his.

He himself realized this.

The territory that he gained entirely by relying on the Silver Spear Army to intimidate the surroundings was not stable, it was just that no one challenged him.

From now on, the battle for the dominance of Yanzhou has begun, and whoever wins will be the master of Henan.

Fortunately, Shao Xun was hesitant and not decisive at all, trying to delay himself by stalling for time.

Ridiculous, ridiculous!
It was not difficult to build a floating bridge over such a small river. After dark, it was almost finished.

In the camp, soldiers were everywhere busy eating.

No one spoke, because Gou Shijun (Gou Chun) was not a good person and was even more cruel in killing people than his Grand Commander.

The recruits didn't know it before, but after some of them were beheaded without any warning, they understood everything.

Some smart people even guessed the reason why the brothers Gou Xi and Gou Chun ultimately failed in Qingzhou, which was probably related to harsh laws and indiscriminate killings.

"Boom, boom, boom..." The sound of drums rang out in the camp.

The sergeant who was still eating quickened his pace.

Those who had finished eating stood up one after another and, led by the officers, lined up in the open space outside the camp.

The battle has actually already begun.

On the south bank of the floating bridge, a few warriors wearing heavy armor were already charging forward with large shields raised and sharp blades in hand.

The Qiao army on the opposite side attacked the pontoon bridge once, but failed to make a move. After leaving behind more than a hundred corpses, they retreated in panic.

The heavily armored warriors gave chase for a while and almost broke into the camp, but in the end, because they had fewer soldiers, they slowly retreated.

But they have already established a firm foothold on the south bank, and the main force can cross the river at any time. It is only a matter of time before they capture this camp.

"Boom boom boom..." The drum beats continued.

Now it’s no longer about gathering troops, but about advancing.

In the queue, the officers shouted and scolded the clumsy recruits because they could not understand the gongs and drums, could not identify the flags, and had to be reminded by the officers constantly.

Amid the chaos, groups of people were driven across the river, lined up on the opposite bank, and then launched an attack on the Qiao army's camp.

Arrows and stones flew everywhere on the battlefield.

The Qiao army guarded the camp, but they were few in number, only 3,000 people. The advantage was that most of these 3,000 people were from various families and had some fighting power.

Gou Xi's army has a large number of troops and some elite veterans. Although their morale is low at the moment, they are still able to fight.

Gou Chun, who was in charge of attacking the stronghold, did not hesitate at all. He first let the new soldiers charge forward, and then decisively deployed the old soldiers, using them as the spearhead and launching a swift attack.

The battle entered its bloodiest stage from the very beginning.

By midnight, the second pontoon bridge was built. More and more Gou Xi's soldiers crossed the river and began to attack the camp from another direction.

The battle is becoming increasingly fierce.

Although the troops from Qiao and Pei who were guarding the camp had good skills, they lacked combat experience and were caught off guard by the attack from both sides.

At the beginning of the Yin hour, all the pavilions and barriers outside the camp were breached, the trenches were filled, and the earth walls were torn to pieces.

At half past five in the morning, the sky was already turning pale. One of the camp gates had been breached, and the defenders set fire to repel the enemy, then frantically pulled in sundries and baggage vehicles to block the gate.

Gou Chun was furious and killed more than ten people on the spot and ordered another attack.

Gou Xi also crossed the river and rushed over. Looking at the battlefield filled with deafening sounds of killing, he frowned slightly.

"Brother, in half a day or at most a day, we will surely break through this camp." Gou Chun thought his brother was worried about the war, so he comforted him.

"I just received news that a large group of troops are coming from the south, with no less than 5,000 people," said Gou Xi.

"Who are they from?" Gou Chun was surprised and asked, "Could it be the Yamen Army led by Li Zhong?"

"No." Gou Xi shook his head and said, "They are not from the Linqiu garrison either. They should be soldiers sent from Pei and Qiao."

There are cavalrymen patrolling outside Linqiu City in Puyang, reporting every day, but there has been no movement so far.

There were no enemy troops in the Jiyin direction.

Gou Xi breathed a sigh of relief.

Come if you want. There are only 5,000 reinforcements. Let’s fight them all together.

Just as the battle on the south bank of the Heshui River was becoming increasingly fierce, the army led by Shao Xun had arrived at the eastern border of Juye County at lightning speed.

After a short rest, they continued to move forward with their group reduced to about 5,000 people - some of them fell behind along the way.

At noon on the fourth day of July, just as Gou Chun attacked the camp and Gou Xi led his men in a fierce battle with the arriving reinforcements, Shao Xun had already arrived in Jinxiang County, only forty miles away from the battlefield.

(End of this chapter)