Chapter 382: Success or failure depends on this move

Chapter 382: Success or failure depends on this move

Chapter 382: Success or failure depends on this move

Shi Le received the news earlier than Jin Zhun and ran faster than him.

At noon on October 8th, his infantry and part of his cavalry fled and retreated from Chengyang towards Linqiu.

Another part of the cavalry headed for Jiyin, intending to support the withdrawal of Zhang Yue's troops.

But halfway through the journey, they encountered defeated cavalry returning from the Heze area, so they immediately changed direction and rushed back to Chengyang.

"Shao Xun has arrived and defeated Governor Zhang in Jiyin. More than 5,000 troops are probably wiped out." When everyone heard the news reported by Tao Bao, they were speechless for a moment.

"How come he came so quickly?" someone couldn't help but ask.

"Where are you from? Where are you going?"

"It should be the move of rushing to attack Gou Xi, gathering a large number of horses and mules, and rushing on the road desperately. I was in the open and the enemy was in the dark, and I suffered a loss all of a sudden."

Shi Le sat at the top with a calm demeanor, not saying a word, just listening to what everyone was saying.

After talking for a while, they saw that Shi Le didn't respond and thought it was boring, so they stopped.

"Are you done?" Shi Le glanced at everyone and asked.

Everyone held their breath and concentrated.

"You've finished talking, now it's my turn." Shi Le stood up, smiled, and said, "It's not a big deal."

Everyone was stunned.

"Most of the casualties were infantrymen. We have as many of these soldiers as we want, and they are worthless." Shi Le said directly: "Compared with the few people we lost, we got so many copper coins, silk, and utensils, so it's still a profit."

"Now that Shao Xun is back, it will be difficult to capture the cities in Yanzhou and Yuzhou." Shi Le continued, "I expect that General Jin will order all the troops to retreat slowly."

Everyone savored these words in silence.

The reason why Zhang Yue suffered a loss was that the enemy was in the dark while he was in the light, so he was unprepared.

Similarly, if the other units continue to move forward, they may also suffer losses.

In addition, the three floating bridges in Dongwuyang were damaged, and food could not be transported across the river for a while, which inevitably affected the morale of the army.

The above is our analysis.

From the perspective of Jin State, Shao Xun had returned, and the two states of Yu and Yan had a backbone, and the morale of the military and civilians was restored.

When attacking a city, the ideal situation is to take it without a fight and have the enemy surrender.

The second is to easily capture the enemy city with minor losses.

The most uncomfortable thing is to capture the enemy city at the cost of a large number of troops.

Once Shao Xun came back, it would not be so easy for many cities to surrender. This was something that had to be considered.

Da Hu pointed this out very clearly, and everyone thought there was nothing wrong with it. If they continued fighting, it would be completely useless and a waste of food and supplies.

"Let's stop fighting and go." Shi Le said, "First retreat to Dongping, then go to Qingzhou."

After saying this, Shi Le seemed to remember something, and looked at Zhang Bin again and asked, "Mengsun, what do you think of this proposal?"

Zhang Bin bowed and said, "General, you are decisive and well versed in the art of war. I have some strategies to help you. You may want to take a look at them."

"Tell me." Shi Le waved his hand and said with a smile.

"The general may send out light cavalry. It doesn't need to be many, two to three thousand will be enough. Bring more horses, more food and water, and find the direction where Shao Xun is, ride and shoot, harass everywhere, and cover our retreat." Zhang Bin said.

"Shao Xun already knows the location of our army. Will harassment be useful?" Shi Le asked.

"We can always delay it a little." Zhang Bin said, "If the enemy cavalry rushes in formation, there is no need to engage them, just scatter and run away. We don't seek to stop the enemy, we just seek to delay their progress."

"Okay!" Upon hearing this, Shi Le agreed without hesitation, and immediately selected three generals, ordering them to lead a thousand cavalry each to harass the enemy.

Seeing that Shi Le accepted his suggestion, Zhang Bin stopped talking.

Shi Le paced slowly for a few steps and said with emotion: "We have been marching south for half a month, and the battle has been a whimper. I don't know how to fight next. Fortunately, Shao Xun doesn't have many cavalry, otherwise it would be difficult to control him."

What was the Han Dynasty's greatest advantage? A large number of horses and cavalry.

As for the infantry, although they have been improving, they are still not good enough.

Except for a small number of Pingyang Imperial Guards infantry, the rest were no match for the infantry that made Shao the thief famous.

Just like Shi Le, he now claims to have 80,000 infantrymen, but in fact they are all just farmers with experience in fighting in the battlefield.

If we really want to deal with him, we still have to rely on cavalry. This trip southward was actually a successful evasion. Unfortunately, we didn't do it well, and the food supply was cut off, which hurt morale.

How to fight next depends entirely on the King of Henei and the Central Guard Army.

******
In fact, we already know most of the enemy's strategic deployment.

Shao Xun took out a map, traced it with his finger, and said, "The enemy's guard general Jin Zhun is in charge of the overall situation. He is stationed in Gaoping. He has 10,000 cavalry and 5,000 infantry. They should be relatively scattered. As for where they are scattered, Zhang Yue can't tell clearly."

"Liu Ya and Hu Yanyan's main forces are looting in Mount Tai. They each have several thousand cavalry, and some of them are also scattered in various places under the command of Jin Zhun. They have a small number of infantry, but they are not very elite. Most of them are new recruits."

"Zhao Gu led an army of more than 20,000 soldiers to Xuzhou, and easily captured Pengcheng and Xiapi. Pei Dun surrendered in Huaiyin and was captured by them. The bandits were planning to attack Donghai State, and they were plundering diligently."

"Cao Yi originally went south to attack Xuzhou, but was conquered by Jin Zhun on the way and came west to Gaoping. The number of his people is unknown."

"This is how the enemy army is deployed." Shao Xun raised his head, looked at everyone, and said, "Come and discuss it, and see how to fight."

Man Yu, Qiao Hong, Yin Qi, Beigong Chun, Wang Hu and others came over and had a long discussion.

"I heard that Lord Chen sent elite troops by boat to the east to attack the Dongwuyang ferry. I wonder what the situation is like now?" Wang Hu asked.

"I don't know either." Shao Xun shook his head and told the truth.

"That's going to be difficult." Wang Hu said.

Shao Xun glanced at him.

Wang Hu has been immersed in officialdom for many years. In his early years, he suffered many losses because of his straightforward temperament and low emotional intelligence. He has changed a little now, but he still speaks directly.

"If you have a plan, you can tell me." Shao Xun said, "We will discuss it together."

Wang Hu hesitated for a moment and said, "Why not go straight to Gaoping?"

Shao Xun hesitated for a moment and asked, "Reason?"

Speaking of professional issues, Wang Hu, who was trained as a cavalry general, was in high spirits, his eyes brightened, and he said, "According to Zhang Yue, the enemy army has only 30,000 to 40,000 cavalry, but they are spread out in Yan, Yu, and Xuzhou. Jin Zhun definitely doesn't have many people. They did this completely because they took advantage of the fact that you don't have many cavalry and are far away in Luoyang. It's difficult for them to come back to help in a hurry, so they feel free to divide their troops and plunder. But you are back, and you came very quickly. The enemy army may not be able to gather its troops so quickly, so we will attack them together."

Shao Xun looked at the map again.

"Mingsir, using the fast to defeat the slow is the essence of military strategy." Wang Hu said, "In the battle of Heze, a small number of bandit cavalry fled. Shi Le and Jin Zhun probably already knew that Mingsir was coming. Jin Zhun might be deploying troops and gathering his troops. The opportunity for battle is fleeting. If you give him a few days, he will have more than just these few troops at hand."

"What if Jin Zhun runs away?" Man Yu couldn't help but ask.

"If he runs away, we will chase him." Wang Hu said as a matter of course, "Even if we chase him to the ends of the earth, we will hold on to him. In grassland tribe feuds, if one side is defeated and flees, the other side will chase them for months or even a year."

"What if Jin Zhun stays in Gaoping and orders the troops to move closer to him?" Man Yu asked again.

Wang Hu looked at Man Yu somewhat unhappy and said, "Some things can be done if you are 50% sure. Why do you have to think so much? If Jin Zhun really dares to use himself as bait to make the troops close to him, we can just run away. At most, he will eat up some of our troops. There is no such thing as a war without casualties."

"Wang Xiaoqi is right." Shao Xun patted Man Yu on the shoulder and said, "If there are really tens of thousands of bandits surrounding us, then give up and retreat westward. I will personally cover your retreat and everything will be fine."

"How can I let you personally cover our retreat?" Man Yu said embarrassedly.

Shao Xun glanced at the direction of Dongwuyang on the map again and said, "Besides, I believe in Jin Zheng, Wang Que'er, and the Silver Spear Army. Maybe they have already captured the ferry and destroyed the enemy's pontoon bridge, but we don't know it."

"We can definitely fight this battle." Shao Xun made up his mind. After looking around at everyone, he said, "The enemy has more soldiers and we have fewer, but the enemy's forces are too dispersed while our forces are relatively concentrated. The current battlefield situation is that both sides are intertwined and entangled with each other. If we continue to fight like this, it will be a bad battle. I have made up my mind. I will go straight to Gaoping and leave tonight."

"Yes." The generals responded one after another.

The battle was over at dawn, all the men were assembled by noon, and all supplies were received by dusk.

The attack will take place at night, without giving people a chance to catch their breath.

But as Wang Hu said, the enemy will also adjust and respond. The intelligence obtained from Zhang Yue will become less accurate and outdated as time goes by.

The opportunity to fight has actually appeared. This is not given to them by the enemy carelessly, but earned through their own efforts.

When leaving Luoyang, didn’t the Huns set up any obstacles?

The cavalry harassed the troops repeatedly, and Shan Zheng blocked the mountain road, but was finally fooled by Chen Gong. He killed Lu Zhuyan in battle and successfully crossed Dayi Mountain and entered Xingyang.

They rushed hundreds of miles to Jiyin, captured Zhang Yue alive, and defeated thousands of enemies, which was beyond the expectations of the Huns.

Now, there is one last chance.

This opportunity is not as sure as before, but if it is missed, as Mr. Chen said, the next battle may be a bad one, and a relatively passive one. After all, the enemy has tens of thousands of cavalry, and they can easily wear down their few thousand cavalry.

The rise and fall of Henan depends on this one move, let’s do it!

(End of this chapter)