Chapter 374 Mobilization

Chapter 374 Mobilization

Chapter 374 Mobilization
After passing Gongxian County, the enemy troops increased in number.

The nearly 20,000-strong army consisting of the Silver Spear Army, the Volunteer Army and the Yu and Yan Dingzhuang was like a huge magnet, attracting countless Hun infantry and cavalry.

On September 20th, we arrived in Yanshi and after resting for a night, we continued on our way.

Along the way, Shao Xun did not intervene in the command, but chose to be a bystander.

The Silver Spear Army's combat proficiency was quite high. Even the eleventh and twelfth buildings, under the leadership of the veterans from the first ten buildings, fought better than in the previous few days.

Fighting power has many components, one of which is determination.

You need to have a big heart, be calm and not panic.

Not everyone can do this.

How would ordinary infantry perform when faced with overwhelming cavalry? The Battle of Heshui has already revealed the outcome.

Don't think of it as a surprise attack. Even if it was a frontal attack, repeated harassment would always distract and tire Gou Xi's main infantry, eventually revealing a flaw.

In this era, only a few people, such as Ma Long and Liu Yu, could rely on a group of highly qualified infantry to dominate the ocean of cavalry and even win battles again and again.

Shao Xun was glad that he was leading the Silver Spear Army to escort the grain.

If it is the Yamen Army, the outcome is hard to say, it's a fifty-fifty chance.

If it were the largest force under his command, the Tuntian Army, it would probably have collapsed halfway and might not even have reached Gong County.

Man Yu and Qiao Hong captured a few more prisoners and after interrogating them, they finally got some new information: Henei King Liu Can once stationed in Henei, but later left and no one knew where he went.

The other one is about the direction of Yique Pass.

Because Shao Xun was too difficult to deal with, the Huns mobilized most of their mobile forces, and the south could no longer stop Liang Fen's 14,000-strong army from moving north.

After hearing the news of the interrogation, Shao Xun took a dagger and started drawing on the ground, and the generals gathered around and watched.

"Liang Fen might get to Luoyang before us."

"Yique Pass is not far from Luoyang. The Xiongnu army is rushing towards us. Liang Fen has horses from Liangzhou. If we are besieged by the main force of the Xiongnu, we may be defeated. Now, the Xiongnu have probably given up that route."

"Did Liu Cong issue an order to encircle and annihilate our troops?"

"Since Liang Fen can enter Luoyang, let's just withdraw and return to Xuchang."

"You're almost in Luoyang and you're still leaving. Are you stupid?"

Shao Xun stretched out a hand, signaling for silence.

Everyone immediately shut up and listened to Master Shao's instructions.

"It's meaningless to argue about Liu Cong's purpose." Shao Xun said, "They have more horses and more people. They can easily turn the detachment into the main force and the main force into the detachment. If I hadn't come to Luoyang, Liu Cong - no, Liu Can - would have really attacked Luoyang. He watched us take action and then changed his tactics."

For a regime with a large number of cavalry, it is meaningless to argue about which is the main force and which is the detachment.

It's not like they were marching all the way to the northeast and all the way to the northwest, which were thousands of miles apart. They were all just circling around Henan. If necessary, Liu Can could completely adjust the main attack direction.

It is completely unclear what the situation in Luoyang is now.

According to previous information, the food supply could last until the twelfth lunar month. Later, a batch of food was sent to Beijing, and the court recruited more than 30,000 civilians to serve as garrison troops. The food supply could last until the end of the year, that is, more than three months.

Taking into account the freezing of the rivers, the window for transporting grain was actually less than two months.

If no food is transported in during these two months, Luoyang will fall into famine and will be invincible.

"Now that I'm in Luoyang, Liu Can can choose to fight me here, or he can choose to avoid the strong and attack the two states of Yan and Yu. What do you think he will do?" Shao Xun looked at the generals and asked.

"The Xiongnu don't look like they are going to fight a decisive battle." Wang Que'er said bluntly: "During this journey, the only really fierce battle was in Gong County. The rest were mostly harassment, which was just to get by."

"We have captured quite a few prisoners in the past few days, including some bandits. So there shouldn't be many Xiongnu soldiers around Luoyang. There may have been many before, but they have probably been transferred away now." Jin Zheng said, "Master Shao, why don't we find a chance to cross the river to the north, attack Henei and Shangdang, and then contact Liu Kun to attack Pingyang together."

Wang Que'er, Sun He, Zhang Daniu, Lu Heigou and others all looked at Jin San with surprised eyes. Isn't this a bit too risky? If they are not careful, the whole army may be wiped out.

Furthermore, are you sure that the Huns broke through the two states of Yu and Yan first, or you attacked the city of Pingyang first?
The Huns have many more soldiers than you do. If you go to their lair, you will lose your advantage in the interior.

Jin San is really crazy!

"Okay, it's time to rest enough. You all go back to your camps and continue moving forward. Cai Cheng, inform the transport troops to let go of the trackers and continue moving forward." Shao Xun actually already had a guess in his mind.

There are only two possibilities.

After arriving in Luoyang, we should be able to rule out one of the possibilities.

After the chariot array and fleet resumed their movements, the Huns surrounded and harassed them again.

But this trick is no longer of much use.

What caused the greatest trouble to Shao Xun was actually the bumpy road surface, which forced them to stop frequently to take soil to fill the potholes and ditches, greatly slowing down the march.

It was not until the night of September 23 that they saw the brightly lit city of Luoyang in the distance.

The area around Dongyang Gate and Jianchun Gate was even ablaze with flames. There were traces of smoke and fire on the city gates. Jianchun Gate was even half burned down, and the corpses of both the enemy and our side were filled inside and outside the city gate.

Damn, have you ever fought in a street fight?
When staying overnight at Prince Yang's Mansion in the southeast of the city, Shao Xun was speechless.

But he could barely understand it.

The army was defeated in two consecutive field battles, resulting in nearly 10,000 casualties or evacuations.

The food reserves are running out day by day.

The field was filled with overwhelming Hun cavalry—in reality, there might not be that many, but the visual effect was stunning.

There was no news of reinforcements, no information could be sent out, and no news from the outside world could leak in.

They are like an abandoned island, in constant fear. When defending a city, the worst thing is to defend it to the death.

A city defense battle without any hope can not be sustained to the end, especially in a huge city like Luoyang with a very chaotic interior.

Confidence is the key, you have to give people hope.

******
Hou Feihu led four Silver Spear Armies and marched quickly all the way back to Xiangcheng in five days to collect all the supplies.

As for Duyang, it is under the charge of the Duyang farming army.

Further away in Nanyang, Cao Fu had already issued an order to appoint Le Kai as the left general of the rear army, in charge of the overall situation, and Yang Dan as the right general to assist Le Kai.

They have only one mission, to prevent the war from spreading to Luonan.

Even if Nanyang is disrupted, as long as the situation is stabilized, it will be a credit and no crime.

When we arrived at Xiangcheng, we could see government soldiers and troops leading horses and walking everywhere on the post road.

On the way, Hou Feihu encountered a group of government soldiers heading north from Luyang, totaling more than 490 people.

According to them, all those who could join the battle had come, including even some young boys with childish faces.

The young man is the nephew of a government soldier.

They are still young, their martial arts skills are not yet mature, they have no combat experience, and their weapons and equipment are very poor, but the military situation is urgent and now is the time when they are needed to fight for their lives.

There are even more people in Xiangcheng.

In the wilderness beside the Ru River, the soldiers walked back and forth, fetching water and cooking.

The palace soldier untied the horse's belly strap and took the horse for a jog.

Some people even gathered together young greenhorns who had never been on a battlefield and taught them some tricks on the battlefield.

A large number of horses, donkeys and mules were passing by Ying Bridge, heading east.

"Old Ma, Old Ma, I'm going to make you fight for your lives again this time." Hou Feihu sighed.

The benefits of Chang'an's siege of the Xianbei have not yet been fully reaped. It has been six or seven years, right?

During the six or seven years, these horses played a huge role, especially in the battle against Gouxi, where many old horses died from running, but in the end, they successfully carried the knights on their backs to Heshui and defeated the enemy in one battle.

"Let's go!" A loud roar came from not far away.

Hou Feihu looked in the direction of the voice and saw Changjian Army's deputy governor Chang Can waving his hand and leading more than 500 resting soldiers on the road.

Those should be the three defenses of Shiqiao, Lijia and Yongxing in Liang County. The government soldiers and their followers, more than a thousand people, lined up in neat rows, crossed the Ru River, passed Xiangcheng without entering, and headed straight towards Yingyin.

After a while, the soldiers from Ruyang and Nanshan defense forces, who had just finished their meal, set out.

A moment later, the Lushan and Funiu defenses were dispatched.

"Everyone says that Master Shao has gone to Chen County, but at the critical moment, he still has to rely on the foundation he laid in Luonan a few years ago." Looking at the mighty army of government soldiers, Hou Feihu couldn't help but feel emotional.

As they were talking, the soldiers from the two new defense offices of Qiyin and Gongzhu in Ye County and Wuyang also arrived one after another. After a short rest, they will march eastward tomorrow.

The military farm troops in Guangchengze also dispatched 5,000 people.

The number of the unit has been reduced to about 27,000 people, and this year an additional 5,000 people were transferred to Duyang to serve as the garrison troops - the vacancies were replaced by Wang Sang's troops captured last year.

These 5,000 men were led by the Jing brothers to Xuchang to serve as auxiliary troops. After the war, they would become garrison soldiers who could own property, marry wives, and receive rewards.

On both sides of the Ru River, the army is vast and mighty.

Near Xiangcheng, war horses were galloping in an endless stream.

At the command of the Xuchang Shogunate, the soldiers who were usually scattered everywhere gathered one after another, and in an instant they gathered nearly 15,000 combat-ready soldiers.

This is just the first mobilization.

The military farms in Luyang, Duyang, Guangchengze, Yingyang, Yangguan, Langling and other places have not yet been mobilized on a large scale.

The only drawback is that they are mostly infantry, lack mobility and move slowly. This is not a problem when facing bandits, but it is more troublesome when facing the Xiongnu who have a large number of cavalry.

But the order has been given, there is no hesitation.

The autumn harvest is over and there is a lot of grain stored in various places. Even if they have to squat in the pits to defend, they are still valuable.

Almost at the same time, hundreds of Hun cavalry suddenly appeared on the east bank of the Yellow River northwest of Fan County.

With just one charge, they captured the ferry where there were almost no soldiers.

The county magistrate had tried his best. He and his only two or three hundred men held out until the last moment before fleeing in panic.

That afternoon, more than a thousand infantrymen crossed the river and began to cut wood, build boats, and construct a pontoon bridge.

Throughout the night of the 25th, more than a hundred small boats went back and forth, continuously ferrying the Xiongnu infantry and cavalry to the east bank of the river.

The infantry began to build fortifications and reinforce the bridgehead.

Hundreds of vanguard cavalry, led by tribal leaders and chiefs, split into two groups and headed towards Linqiu and Fanxian to create panic.

The war has reached this point, there is no need to cover up our tracks any longer.

The Huns had already shown their fangs: they crossed the river from Dongwuyang, entered Dongping, bypassed the Sijin defense line in Puyang, and detoured deep into Yanzhou.

After three years of unsuccessful attacks on Luoyang, the Huns suddenly changed their combat objectives.

(End of this chapter)