Chapter 372 Guess

Chapter 372 Guess

Chapter 372 Guess
Chenggao had few troops and no geographical advantage, so it was captured by the Huns in two days.

Afterwards, a large group of infantry rushed to the outside of Hulao Pass, set up camp, and built siege equipment.

A small number of Xiongnu cavalry remained in Chenggao, while most of them grazed their horses at the foot of the mountain.

General Shan Zheng, the general who guards the west, climbed up a high slope to observe the situation inside Hulao Pass.

The city is brightly lit and full of people.

Shan Zheng had already found out that the garrison commander was named Zheng Zun, a descendant of the Zheng family of Kaifeng. He had once served as an official in Luoyang, but later returned to his hometown to live in seclusion.

The troops guarding Hulao Pass were a mixed bunch, including Zheng's own troops, soldiers from Xingyang County, temporarily conscripted men, and even some recruited bandits and pirates. There were a total of about 4,000 people, who tightly separated Luoyang and Xingyang.

This majestic fortress was like a lock, locking the Han army in the Luoyang Valley.

However, the lock can lock the enemy, but it can also lock yourself.

The first thing Shan Zheng did when he arrived here was to dig trenches and build strong fortifications. He also built several small camps on the high mountains and stationed troops there.

This time he brought 5,000 of his own troops, plus 3,000 surrendered soldiers from Guanzhong and 2,000 young men captured along the way, totaling 10,000 troops.

He was also assigned 5,000 light cavalry from various tribes in Guanzhong. A group of 1,000 people were left to guard Chenggao, while the vast majority were grazing at the foot of the mountain.

Shan Zheng did not want to attack Hulao Pass by force.

Firstly, he didn't want to lose too many troops.

Secondly, he also had some resentment towards the so-called Han court.

The reason was simple: his own daughter, Queen Shan, was forced to death.

Shan was the empress of the previous emperor. When the previous emperor passed away, she was young and extremely beautiful.

The current emperor (Liu Cong) forced her to marry him and favored her day and night.

This is nothing, it's the custom on the grassland, Dan Zheng can accept it.

But the subsequent developments were beyond his expectations.

Although the Crown Prince Liu Yi was young, he listened to someone and thought that his mother should not serve Liu Cong, which was an act against human ethics.

After hearing what her son said, Shan was so ashamed that she committed suicide.

After her death, the Di and Qiang tribes in Hexi lost a major support in the Pingyang court.

The only consolation is that the Crown Prince is still alive and will inherit the throne in the future.

This is also the main reason why more than 100,000 Diqiang tribesmen in Fengyi and Shangjun areas are still willing to be loyal to the Han Dynasty.

If the Crown Prince died or was unable to inherit the throne, Shan Zheng felt that they would have no reason to continue to be loyal to the Han Dynasty.

"General Zhenxi is actually on the mountain. It took me a long time to find him." Xianbei leader Lu Zhuyan walked over from the mountain path and laughed.

Shan Zheng felt disgusted.

This man had brought the four tribes of Xianbei and surrendered to the late emperor with him. Originally, there was some affection between them, but this man was too utilitarian and only wanted to gain merit and be rewarded in order to expand his influence in Fengyi and Shangjun.

Shan Zheng particularly looked down on this kind of leader who recklessly drove his troops and mindlessly fought for the court - I am a royal relative after all, and I am not as enthusiastic as you.

"What's the matter?" Shan Zheng asked coldly.

Lu Zhuyan didn't care about his cold attitude, and still smiled and said, "Can you allocate 30,000 hu of grain? I know that the general received some tributes from the commanders of the forts, and also robbed some wealth in Chenggao."

"Not enough food?" Shan Zheng asked.

"It's not that there's not enough." Lu Zhuyan said, "My horses are now only eating grass. They have to graze for several hours a day, and we have to prepare fodder at night. How can we fight like this?"

If the horses were left to graze and feed themselves, they would need several hours a day to eat.

If the grass is cut manually and collected for feeding, this time can be greatly reduced.

If the food is fed artificially, it will be even better, and the horses will be able to go out and fight most of the day.

"Your troops are resting now, there is no need to fight, just be patient." Shan Zheng said, "If it really doesn't work, I will give you the people I captured in Chenggao, and you can drive them to cut grass."

"Thank you, General Zhenxi." This was Lu Zhuyan's purpose. After getting what he wanted, he was overjoyed.

"You crossed the river this morning, but did you find out where the King of Hanoi was?" Shan Zheng asked.

"They should have reached Ji County. More than 50 counties and towns have surrendered, and the county magistrate Yu Chen is only able to defend the city." Lu Zhuyan replied.

After listening to this, Shan Zheng felt relieved.

This year, Wang Jun of Youzhou went south and defeated the governor Shi Chao, who fled back to Anping.

Upon hearing that the King of Henei's army was moving towards Hebei, Wang Jun quickly withdrew his troops and retreated to Youzhou.

There should be nothing wrong over there.

In a few days, the King of Hanoi will probably go to Dunqiu to herd his horses.

"Go down and prepare well." Shan Zheng ordered: "Don't just think about looting. Chenggao must not be lost."

******
The teeth-grinding sound of strings being twitched continued to ring out.

The crossbow on the baggage cart was already loaded with arrows.

On the surface of the Luo River, even larger and more powerful crossbows were ready.

A moment later, powerful crossbow arrows, with sharp sounds of breaking through the air, flew densely towards a group of enemy infantry rushing towards the convoy.

The soldiers of the Silver Spear Army wore armor and held swords, quietly guarding behind the vehicles.

A fierce battle is about to break out.

Shao Xun paid little attention to the battlefield, but let several student officers take command.

He sat in a damaged sidecar that was waiting to be repaired, watching the Yicong Army's deputy governor Qiao Hong interrogate the prisoners in the Hu language.

There were two prisoners in total, one of whom was beaten to death and was interrogated.

The man in front of him witnessed the tragic plight of his comrades from afar and did not dare to hide anything. He confessed everything like beans pouring out of a bamboo tube.

After Qiao Hong finished the interrogation, he verified the confession of the man in front of him, and then stepped forward to report. "Dang!" A light feather arrow fell on the roof of the side compartment.

Shao Xun's expression remained unchanged as he asked, "Is the trial finished?"

Qiao Hong repeated the information he thought was reliable, and then reported the information that needed to be verified one by one.

Shao Xun immediately asked Cai Cheng to bring the map and tried to piece together the entire picture of the battlefield.

These low-level prisoners actually knew very limited things, so Shao Xun had to fill in some of the information himself based on his experience and try to complete the entire chain as much as possible.

There are a few things that can be confirmed at present:

First, the Huns did not seriously attack Luoyang, probably because they knew they could not take it and did not want to waste too much manpower.

This brings us to the second question: what did the Huns want to do?
An obvious fact is that when their mixed land and water force left Gongxian and headed for Yanshi, the Huns were also mobilizing their troops - Shao Xun had already seen the Huns troops marching along the north bank of the Luo River, advancing in the opposite direction of theirs.

A bold guess is that when the Huns saw that they were gradually moving away from Hulao Pass, they mobilized a large force to besiege them.

What do you want to do after taking Hulao Pass?
It is unlikely that they could occupy the pass for a long time, because it was impossible. Once the main force of the Xiongnu retreated from Luoyang, the troops at Hulao Pass would become isolated and could not hold the pass under a long-term siege.

So, attacking Hulao Pass actually only has short-term goals.

If you think about it this way, your thoughts will become clear all of a sudden.

"Kill the bandits!" A loud roar came from the convoy of cars not far away.

Shao Xun knew that the two sides were engaging in close combat, and the officers were boosting morale while also letting their soldiers know their location for easier command.

"Qiao Hong!" Shao Xun shouted.

"I am here." Qiao Hong threw the prisoner to his men and responded loudly.

"Based on your understanding, what kind of war do you think Liu Han is fighting?" Shao Xun asked.

When Qiao Hong heard this, he felt pressured.

He was a Hun, and it was obvious that Lord Chen wanted him to provide him with ideas based on the way the Huns did things and thought.

After thinking for a long time, the sounds of killing and screaming beside the chariot formation became louder and louder. Qiao Hong was annoyed and blurted out: "Mingsir, I think Liu Can must have prepared a large number of infantry and cavalry, no less than 50,000, waiting for us somewhere."

"Why do you think so?" Shao Xun asked.

Two more feather arrows fell on the side carriage, making a dull sound.

You don't need to look to know that where the two sides fought, arrows were flying, blood and flesh were everywhere, and countless people had been buried under the millstone of war.

Qiao Hong continued, "When the Xiongnu fight, they learn to hunt like wolves in grasslands. Some follow and monitor, some attack and harass, some make detours and outflanking moves, and some gather their strength and appear at the last moment to deliver a fatal blow."

"Surveillance can make people nervous, harassment can make people tired, and detours can distract people. Repeat this process several times, and then the strongest wolf king will take action, bite the prey's throat and never let go."

"Is this the tactic Liu Can used?" Shao Xun asked.

"It must be." Qiao Hong affirmed: "This is what the Xiongnu are best at."

Shao Xun did not comment.

In fact, what Qiao Hong said is not wrong. This is the way normal people think.

"Is this current attacking force considered harassment?" Shao Xun asked, pointing backwards.

The blood and energy have already spread to his side, so thick that it cannot be dissolved.

All I could hear was the loud noise of the battlefield, shouting, cursing, the clashing of weapons, the sound of arrows flying through the air, the screams of the dying, and so on.

Qiao Hong raised his head to take a look and said, "Mr. Chen, this is harassment. The attacking troops are probably the strong men from the Hu Jin in Guanzhong, who were driven to Luoyang to die."

"They are quite good at fighting..." Shao Xun made a gesture of listening.

Qiao Hong listened quietly for a while and said, "This is the second charge."

Shao Xun stood up and got out of the carriage.

The bodyguards immediately raised their large shields and covered him tightly.

The second line of attack had actually been going on for quite some time, and the area outside the convoy was filled with corpses, with the enemy army showing signs of collapse.

After a while, two gaps were opened in the chariot formation in the distance, and the cavalry of the Yicong Army poured out, ready to chase and kill the fleeing soldiers.

"Qiao Hong." Shao Xun shouted again.

"I am here." Qiao Hong had just mounted his horse.

"If you can catch one or two of these bandits, I will reward you generously," Shao Xun said.

"Yes." Qiao Hong looked solemn.

The enemy infantry could no longer hold on, and the fierce offensive came to an abrupt halt at its climax.

The cavalry began to speed up and chased the fleeing soldiers relentlessly.

The Xiongnu light cavalry also went out to try to stop them.

Shao Xun withdrew his gaze. He had fought more than one battle and was too lazy to watch more.

The only difference from the past is that the combat effectiveness of the Xiongnu infantry has increased, and can now cause greater casualties to the Silver Spear Army.

"Send an order, clean up the battlefield as quickly as possible, and then continue to move forward." Shao Xun ordered: "Don't pay attention to the harassment of the bandits unless a large group of their infantry attacks. Speed ​​up and rush to Yanshi and head to Luoyang."

The most uncomfortable part for him now is that the battlefield is one-way transparent to the enemy, and it is difficult for him to get news from the outside world.

He had several guesses in his mind.

But no matter which one, more information is needed to make a judgment.

There is a price to pay for misjudgment.

First rush to Luoyang, stabilize the situation, complete the mission to defend the king, obtain more information, and then analyze the enemy's movements and make the next tactical move.

A blind man fighting a war is probably his current situation.

(End of this chapter)