Chapter 384 Where is Jin Zhun?

Chapter 384 Where is Jin Zhun?

Chapter 384 Where is Jin Zhun?

Although there were only 300 armored cavalry, they charged with astonishing power. After crashing into the crowd of Huns, they danced or stabbed with their halberds and horse spears, and almost no one could match them.

The Xiongnu's formation had already been slightly broken up by the Wuhuan light cavalry in front of them, and after seeing the armored cavalry charging, they subconsciously wanted to dodge to the sides.

This kind of avoidance is effective, for example, people on the edge managed to escape successfully.

But the effect is not very good because the middle part is torn into pieces.

Following closely behind were the veteran troops such as the Cavalry Commander, the Yulin Commander, and the Huben Commander.

At their peak, these cavalry units had no less than 500 or even 1,000 cavalry, but because the court had no money and it was difficult to improve the organization after the losses in the war, they had shrunk greatly at this time. But when charging, they were still extremely brave, showing the style of the old Luoyang Central Army.

They even slowed down their speed and expanded to both sides to widen the gap, driving the already dizzy Xiongnu cavalry outwards, making it difficult for them to assemble for a while.

Following behind them were the Yicong Army, and on the outside there were also large horses from Liangzhou, flanking them from both sides.

Armed with spears, horse lances and halberds, they charged forward fearlessly, constantly driving the enemy forward and not giving them the opportunity to gain distance and gather their cavalry and archery.

rush!rush!rush!
Charge until the end of time, until the enemy completely loses the courage to fight again.

Jin Zhun has already come down from the city wall.

After a while, the south gate of Gaoping opened wide, and hundreds of cavalry guarding him rushed directly from the flank and fought with a Liangzhou army on the left wing.

They rushed very quickly, and after only a brief entanglement, they passed the blockade of the Liangzhou soldiers and rushed towards the large battlefield in the center.

Seeing this, the Yicong Army at the back of the line sent some of their men to fight with them.

Jin Zhun sighed secretly, there was no chance anymore, and quickly left the battlefield.

The personal guards waved the big flag to attract the defeated soldiers to them.

The soldiers from Liangzhou chased closely behind, but gave up after a while because the horses were unable to run anymore.

Jin Zhun continued to move forward, gathering the defeated soldiers along the way and heading eastward.

After seeing his general flag, the Huns seemed to have found guidance and moved closer in a daze.

Jin Zhun ran while looking back, feeling a chill in his heart.

He looked dejected and had completely lost the courage to fight again. He just ran away.

With more than 5,400 cavalrymen, they were defeated by an enemy force of less than 4,000 cavalrymen.

The more Jin Zhun thought about it, the colder he felt, and the sadder he became.

The Xiongnu cavalry could not defeat the Xianbei cavalry in a head-on charge, and often got scattered by the Tuoba cavalry. They were also no match for the Central Plains cavalry, and were also scattered by them.

Is the era of horse archers really over?

He ran while groaning for who knows how many miles. When he found that no one was chasing him, he sighed and found an abandoned village to rest.

If you don't feed the horse, you can't move forward.

During this period, defeated soldiers continued to come and join them, and by the time they set out again, they had gathered two to three thousand cavalrymen.

At this time, news came from the west that there were pursuers.

Jin Zhun wanted to stay and fight, but when he saw that everyone around him was silent and their morale was low, he sighed and retreated.

While retreating, more than a hundred people were dispatched to shelter the defeated soldiers and contact the cavalry who had rushed back to reunite with them.

******
After the battle, Shao Xun immediately sent people to persuade the infantry defending the city to surrender, but was rejected.

The defending general was named Jin Kang, Jin Zhun's cousin. He dispatched his trusted troops on the spot, killed dozens of agitated new recruits, and barely managed to stabilize the situation.

The enemy refused to surrender, and Shao Xun didn't know what to do for a moment.

There was no choice but to abandon the defenders in the city, send out a part of them, replace them with a group of war horses with sufficient horsepower, and pursue eastwards.

He also ordered Beigong Chun to lead his men back to meet the next two groups of soldiers, mainly to get food and water from the horses.

We set out from Jiyin on the night of October 8th, carrying only enough food and water for five or six days. Now two days have passed, and the most important thing now is to obtain supplies.

During the rest period, Xiongnu cavalry returned from other places one after another. Seeing the tragic battlefield outside Gaoping City from afar, they were speechless for a while.

Almost without exception, these Huns, numbering in groups of several hundred, just marched away.

By evening, the pursuing troops returned from the east, and Yin Qi shouted, "Someone saw Jin Zhun running to the southeast."

"General, chase them!"

"Go after him. The Xiongnu have just been defeated and will have no desire to fight. If we wait a few days to let them recover, more people will die if we fight again."

"Let's gather together water and horses, and gather two thousand people to chase him. Even if Jin Zhun can gather five thousand cavalry, we can just charge him and defeat him."

"The Huns are so scattered that we can't let them come back to their senses."

Shao Xun stretched out his hand and stopped everyone from talking.

"You - come here." Shao Xun pointed at an official who was accompanying the army and said.

"Ming sir." The clerk came over with a bitter face.

"Your family is in Dongmin City?"

"Yes." The clerk's face became even more bitter, but he didn't dare to say anything.

He was an official in Jiyin County and was assigned by the governor to go with the army. Of course, he was not asked to fight in the battlefield, but to return to his hometown near Dongmin City to provide supplies for the army.

God have mercy on him, he doesn’t even know whether his family members are still alive or have been killed by the Huns.

Even if he was there, he would certainly have been extorted by the Huns. Now that Mr. Chen brought a large army to the door again, even if he only stayed for a day or two, his family assets would be emptied and he would become a member of the "glorious" refugee army.

Shao Xun was also a little depressed.

We are clearly fighting on interior lines, but why is it like fighting in enemy territory? It's so difficult to get supplies.

His ruling power became weaker as he went eastward, and by the time he reached Gaoping, it was already not working very well.

Night fell quickly.

Shao Xun arranged a team of cavalry to monitor Gaoping City.

But there was no movement in the city all night, and the defenders didn't even have the intention of leaving the city for a night attack, which made him very regretful.

There must be a lot of supplies in Gaoping City, but unfortunately we can't get them.

He was now in the same situation as the Huns, with cavalry moving around and no way out against the fortified city.

After dawn, Shao Xun asked Qiao Hong to take 500 cavalrymen and more than 1,000 horses, return to Jiyin first, and then take a detour to Xuchang, and let Cao Fu order the palace soldiers to launch a full-scale counterattack.

He had already seen that the Huns' morale was shaken, and they had already begun to gather their troops and retreat before the battle.

Why were the Huns in such a hurry to retreat?
They had only suffered a defeat in Jiyin, and the casualties were Shi Le's troops, mainly infantry, so why did they have to retreat in a hurry?

It’s a pity that the captured prisoners didn’t know why.

But retreat is a good thing. Once you retreat, morale will be difficult to maintain. Who will be willing to fight hard then?
Just chase him!
******
In the afternoon of the tenth day, the army gathered a little and headed straight for Dongmin City, arriving that day.

There were no soldiers in the city, but there was no food either, and the grass around had been almost cut.

Someone was sent to follow the clerk to the nearby fort to "borrow" grain. The fort was polite, but only gave 10,000 hu, which was barely enough for three days.

It can be seen that this is their limit.

It's not easy for Shao Xun to force him. If he really pushes him to the limit, he will just close the door and defend himself. Do you want to kill him?
If we want to kill him, it would be a big loss to use cavalry.

If you don't do anything about him, you will lose your prestige.

Therefore, Shao Xun sent several hundred pieces of captured silk to the fort as a thank you gift, and at the same time, he also arranged for the wounded in the army to recuperate in his fort.

After finishing all this, they rested in Dongmin City for a day and two nights to recover from the fatigue of the men and horses, and then set out again to pursue in the direction of Fangyu County.

On the evening of the 12th, they arrived at the almost deserted county town and defeated a group of Xiongnu cavalry outside the city. There were about three hundred of them. No one knew where they came from. They were dazed and probably looking for Jin Zhun.

This is the effect of pursuit.

The so-called pursuit does not mean that you keep chasing after him by looking at his back, which is unrealistic. Instead, it means that you keep the pressure on him and follow him at a moderate pace, so that the enemy commander can always hear the news of the pursuit, making him nervous and anxious, and unable to stay in one place for a long time.

And since you can't stop, it will be difficult to gather more troops, because your scattered people are also looking for you.

They rush to a place and find that you have left, so they ask around where you have gone, and then adjust their direction to chase you, which will cause chaos.

And if you keep moving forward, it will be even more difficult to restore morale because the soldiers are used to running away and have no courage to fight the enemy at all.

In history, this is how Ajige set out from Beijing to pursue Li Zicheng.

In fact, when he set out, Li Zicheng had already fled very far and even had enough time to organize a counterattack in Huaiqing, but Li Zicheng just kept hanging behind him, chasing him all the way to Xi'an and then to Hubei, and never let go.

Shao Xun estimated that the entire battlefield was now in chaos.

He is looking for Jin Zhun, and the Huns are also looking for Jin Zhun. Where the hell have you been? Answer me!
On the 13th, based on information obtained from the captured enemies in Fangyu County, Shao Xun chased them to Hulu County.

After seeing the "King's Division" appear, the county magistrate who had been hiding came in the middle of the night, crying and telling the story of how he persisted in resisting and finally had no choice but to surrender.

Shao Xun was not interested in his story and just asked him to search for supplies.

As a result, they spent the entire day of the 14th here, but only got a few thousand hu of grain and beans, which was better than nothing.

On that day, the county magistrate asked people everywhere, but the information he got was inconsistent.

Some people said that they saw a "large group" of Huns heading towards Pei County.

Some people say that a "large group" of Huns crossed the river to the north.

Shao Xun was very skeptical about how many people were in the "brigade" they were talking about.

These people have little military experience and don't even know how to count heads. When a large cavalry unit is marching and the air is filled with smoke and dust, and you don't dare to get close to see, the deviation is too big.

Perhaps a group of thousands of Hun cavalrymen were considered by these gentry to be the main force.

There was no other way, Shao Xun could only choose a direction for himself.

On the 15th, the army marched south to Pei County and arrived there on the afternoon of the 16th. They captured hundreds of Huns and defeated them in one blow.

Fortunately, Pei County was not breached by the enemy, and the county magistrate took 10,000 hu of grain for supplies on the spot.

At the same time, people were sent to the various forts near the county seat, ordering them to immediately gather a batch of food and send it to the county seat.

At this point, Shao Xun finally felt the feeling of fighting in the interior and his confidence increased.

The Huns can be seen near Pei County. This damn Jin Zhun really went to Pengcheng.

(End of this chapter)