Chapter 381 Ferry

Chapter 381 Ferry

Chapter 381 Ferry
"Ah!" The screams were earth-shattering, filling those who had not yet had the chance to be interrogated with fear.

Not only was Zhang Yue tortured and beaten, but other prisoners, officers above the rank of team leader, were also to be interrogated individually.

As a result, the screams shook the wild, making passers-by frightened.

Shao Xun declined the banquet hosted by the governor of Jiyin, and only tried to appease the people slightly, focusing on understanding the battlefield information.

He would not stay in Jiyin for long. Today he would torture the prisoners, gather the cavalry and horses that had not yet arrived, obtain supplies, and rest for a while. He would lead his troops to march at the latest tomorrow morning (October 9).

As for the goal, it depends on the results of the interrogation.

On the other side, before Shao Xun arrived at Kaocheng, a large fleet approached Dongwuyang at night.

Three floating bridges connect the east and west on the river, and even at night, people and vehicles flow continuously.

There were more than a thousand cavalry and three to four thousand infantry stationed in the ferry camp on the east bank.

They were called "infantrymen", but they were mostly farmers. Most of them were young men captured from Dongping, and a small number came from the troops of Liu Bao, a general under Shi Le. Naturally, Liu Bao became the commander of this unit, with the task of guarding the safety of both sides of the South Floating Bridge, and sometimes helping to transport supplies.

Half a month has passed since we crossed the river to the south, and the first batch of supplies has been transported back to the north bank.

Liu Bao looked at them and found them all good things, but it was a pity that they did not belong to him, or rather, not all of them belonged to him.

After inspecting the ferry on the west bank, he returned to the east bank via the pontoon bridge.

As he walked, he was also thinking about how to train the thousands of Dongping men who had been newly recruited into the army on the west bank.

When we returned to the camp, the moon was already above the willow trees.

At this time, the general came to report to him: "Central Guard General Jin Zhun sent people to transfer a batch of donkey carts from the camp, and he also planned to borrow our cavalry."

"Ridiculous." Liu Bao cursed quietly, "Jin Zhun has tens of thousands of cavalrymen under his command, why is he asking me to borrow troops?"

"I heard that the King of Henei sent envoys to various places, saying that the thief Shao has returned from Luoyang." The general said: "The Central Guard Army is stationed in Gaoping and sent a vanguard to Jiyin. After hearing that the thief Shao has returned, he ordered all cavalry to join him."

"Just cavalry? No infantry?" Liu Bao asked puzzledly.

"Yes." The general replied.

Liu Bao nodded.

Although Henan has a crisscross of rivers, there are still many places suitable for light cavalry operations. They can give full play to their advantages of "riding and surrounding and shooting" and just choose a good battlefield.

What's more, some of the imperial cavalry are good at charging and killing.

Even if Shao the thief comes with tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry, we can always run away if we can't defeat him.

Liu Bao was a lean and skinny man. After listening to his subordinates' report with narrowed eyes, he asked, "You didn't give them the cavalry, did you?"

"How dare you act on your own without military orders?" the general said with a smile.

"Did Jin Zhun's people get angry?"

"No."

"Didn't you say anything else?"

"No."

Liu Bao looked at his general with satisfaction and said, "You are acting prudently, that's right. Jin Zhun is a noble of the Xiongnu and a guard of the Han Dynasty. He is in a high position and has great power. His subordinates are also very domineering. Beating and scolding people are common. We can only bear some of their anger, otherwise it will be difficult for General An Dong to do his job."

"Yes." The general nodded repeatedly and asked, "General, did you gain anything from your inspection of the west bank camp?"

"It's still the same as always." Liu Bao said helplessly, "The new Ding Zhuang is so stupid that he doesn't even know where to poop."

After saying that, he yawned, waved his hand to let his generals leave, and lay down directly on the couch and fell asleep in his clothes.

At three o'clock in the morning, when Liu Bao was still in a daze, he suddenly heard dense drum beats, occasionally mixed with the sound of trumpets, and finally the loud shouts of killing.

"Oh no! Thieves are attacking at night!" He jumped up, took down his sword and bow from the wall, and strung the bowstring while feeling confused and uncertain.

They were deep in the rear, surrounded by friendly troops on all sides. Even if someone attacked, they should have attacked the troops on the periphery first. Why would they rush here? Did the camp explode?

The general rushed in and said anxiously, "General, someone has robbed the camp."

"Do I need you to tell me?" Liu Bao scolded him, hurriedly put on his armor, and called together hundreds of his personal soldiers to march towards the place where the killing was the most intense.

After walking just a few dozen steps and not reaching the destination, they saw flames rising from the bank of the Yellow River in the distance, and a large group of defeated soldiers rushing towards them in a disorderly manner.

"Your mother's slave!" Liu Bao cursed, then pulled his general over and said, "Go tell Liu Zhi to bring the cavalry over and charge."

"Yes." The general selected a few people and asked them to mobilize the troops.

In the blazing firelight, he could already see some clues.

Next to the ferry, seven or eight ships were lined up and anchored.

Hundreds of soldiers had already disembarked and lined up in neat rows, setting fires everywhere and creating chaos.

Then he bent his bow and shot the panicked and running soldiers of his own side.

At this point, most of the men rushed forward with spears in hand, and in just one encounter, they routed his infantry.

There was a continuous stream of infantrymen pouring out of the camp, obviously they were rushing out to rescue after receiving the news. But when they were halfway there, they saw the fierce soldiers holding long spears on the opposite side, and they immediately became timid. The newly enlisted young men ran away directly.

The old soldier was influenced by them, made a few gestures, and then was defeated.

"Don't transfer any more people, let's go." Liu Bao looked for a while, his thin face full of helplessness, then he turned around nimbly and disappeared into the wilderness.

After a while, the sound of horse hooves could be heard.

More than a thousand cavalrymen first ran out wildly, and then circled back.

The Silver Spear Army soldiers who had already rushed into the camp were not afraid at all. Some of them even ran forward dozens of steps, waving their bows and spears at them, looking very arrogant.

In addition, they also sent a part of their men to rush onto the pontoon bridge, first killing the few enemy soldiers who came to rescue from the west bank, and then piling firewood on the pontoon bridge, pouring kerosene on it, and setting it on fire.

The fire burned fiercely, lighting up half the sky.

On both sides of the Yellow River, everyone looked at all this in amazement and remained silent for a long time.

Liu Bao sighed and was about to retreat, but he became furious when he saw that the enemy infantry dared to charge his cavalry on foot.

He dismounted, took the bow from his personal general, aimed at the officer who was closest to him, drew the bow to the full, and let go of the arrow. Then he mounted his horse and rode away without even looking.

More than a thousand riders sped away and disappeared into the night.

The Silver Spear Army, which had just occupied the camp, gathered the prisoners and ordered them to reinforce the camp.

The river was still burning.

The floating bridge continued to disintegrate and break, slowly sinking to the bottom of the river.

The fleet anchored on the river began to move again, with more than 20 ships sailing downstream and heading straight for the second pontoon bridge.

This night is destined to be uneventful.

******
The news of the incident in Dongwuyang reached Gaoping the next afternoon.

At that time, Central Guard General Jin Zhun was preparing to march westward to besiege Jiyin. After hearing the news, he had a bad feeling and immediately sent messengers to each camp, ordering them to retreat immediately. He also sent out a large number of cavalry to search for the enemy. At this moment, Shao Xun had already defeated Zhang Yue's troops and was resting outside Jiyin city.

Inside Gaoping City, Jin Zhun's forehead was already covered with sweat.

After thinking for a while, he sent someone to call his cousin Jin Ming and said, "Shao Xun is really capable. Go to Jibei and Jinan and ask them to find a suitable place to build a floating bridge."

"Okay." Jin Ming nodded in agreement, and then asked, "Liu Bao lost the ferry, led his army to flee to Puyang, and fled to Shi Le. Should he be punished?"

Jin Zhun hesitated for a while and said, "Forget it for now. Liu Bao is not the only one who lost the ferry. We can settle the accounts for these messes after the grain route is connected."

Jin Ming had no doubts anymore and left immediately.

"Wait." Jin Zhun said again.

Jin Ming stopped and turned to look at him.

"Dispatch two more groups of people." Jin Zhun said, "One group will go to Shi Le and ask him to turn his troops to attack Juancheng. Just tell him this. The infantry will attack the city, and the cavalry will find a good place and set up a trap to see if Shao Xun will be fooled."

Jin Ming hesitated and advised: "The food stored in the army will not last long. Now the three floating bridges are broken, and the army is in turmoil. I am afraid Shi Le will not obey orders."

The Han army's current food and fodder supply is roughly divided into two parts.

About half comes from the north bank of the Yellow River.

The other half is raised locally.

Three pontoon bridges were damaged, the two banks were blocked, and half of the food supply was lost at once.

Although the army has surplus food, it is only enough to last for about twenty days at most, or even less, because the situations of each unit are different.

Shi Le is not a fool. How could he be willing to risk his life under such circumstances?
"Send someone first!" Jin Zhun glared at him and said.

"Okay." Jin Ming agreed reluctantly.

"Another group of people went to Pengcheng to look for Zhao Gu. He had just captured Pengcheng and Xiapi and was very rich. He was asked to prepare money and food in case of emergency."

"Where is Cao Yi?" Jin Ming asked.

"Tell him to return to Qingzhou immediately and collect food, livestock, and vehicles." Jin Zhun said, "If things go wrong, the whole army will retreat to Qingzhou for food."

"Yes, sir." Jin Ming finally left.

His elder brother was the Central Guard General, who was deeply trusted by the King of Henei and was responsible for commanding the troops of Shi Le, Liu Ya, Hu Yanyan, Cao Yi, and Zhao Gu.

It seems that he is a little hesitant now.

After Jin Ming left, Jin Zhun continued to think. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He almost called Jin Ming back and asked him to take the imperial guards to capture the three bastards who had lost the ferry.

No matter how many defenses they had, they failed to defend against the river, and a surprise attack was successful, cutting off half of the food supply route - to a certain extent, in fact, the entire food supply route was cut off, because the food and fodder they collected locally were one-time use, and the enemy would not provide a second time in a short period of time.

How did a good battle turn out like this?

(End of this chapter)