Chapter 421 A Late Surprise

Chapter 421 A Late Surprise

Chapter 421 A Late Surprise

On the south bank of the river, the convoy transporting materials suddenly stopped.

The sound of hurried horse hooves could be heard in the distance.

Soon, the cavalry came closer.

The soldiers, young men and drivers who were accompanying the carriage shouted and scattered.

The cavalry rushed forward quickly, divided into two wings, and encircled the enemy.

On the riverside wilderness, arrows fell like rain and blood swirls.

It took only a short while for thousands of cavalry to slaughter nearly a thousand soldiers and civilians in the entire convoy.

A moment later, a huge fire shot up into the sky, and all kinds of supplies transported from Luoyang were burned to ashes.

The cavalry rushed north again.

The southern city of Heyang has received the news, but is still in chaos.

The common people fled and hid in the crude earthen enclosures, looking at the sudden approaching enemy cavalry in fear.

Most of the adult men were drafted to the north bank of the river to fight. Those who remained on the south bank were either elderly people or teenagers.

But they are not to be trifled with.

If they encountered a large group of cavalry in the wild, they would be frightened and run away. But now they were hiding behind earth walls or wooden fences, surrounded by their relatives, and they could not help but gain courage. They held wooden spears, hunting bows, hatchets, wooden clubs and other weapons, and nervously watched the enemy cavalry circling outside, ready to fight to the death.

The cavalry patrolled around, surrounded and killed a group of civilians who had no time to retreat, seized some supplies, and then didn't know what to do.

It is certainly possible to concentrate all our efforts to break through some earthen walls, but is it worth it?
It is impossible for them to stop now like the refugee leader did, to recruit young and strong men and grow like a snowball. That would take time, and they don't have time.

Shi Le's flag came from afar and soon arrived at the south bank of Mengjin.

He dismounted and, surrounded by officers, carefully looked ahead.

Heyang South City stands west of the ferry, close to the post road.

After all, this is a city, not a fortress, so the post road will not pass directly through the city. But being so close to it can still be regarded as cutting off the post road - shooting arrows and firing crossbows from the top of the city can completely stop the traffic.

"We can send a group of elite cavalry to go around far away, through the fields, and go straight to the bridgehead." Tao Bao pointed his whip forward and said, "The bridgehead is about a mile from the north of the city. If the elite cavalry arrives, the Jin people will not dare to leave the city, and we may be able to seize the floating bridge."

"Not appropriate." Lu Ming objected: "The cavalry reported that there are hundreds of men at the bridgehead, with many barricades and baggage carts, so we can't just charge across."

"They are just a few hundred farmers. If the men dismount and fight, they can be defeated. Kui An has already led his men over. You just wait and see."

"What's the point of burning the floating bridge? As long as we can't take the South City, they can rebuild it with more time and money."

"I see they are not feeling well, what's wrong? I killed Brother Zhang Yue, and I want revenge now."

"Enough!" Shi Le scolded.

Everyone shut up immediately.

Shi Le continued to gaze into the distance.

The sounds of killing on the north bank of the river gradually became sparse, which made him a little worried.

On the way here, I received news that Shao Xun led his troops eastward to attack the Zhamadi camp. After gathering the troops and rushing over, I found that the war had already started, but I didn't know how far it had progressed.

If King Bohai wins, he will intensify the offensive.

If King Bohai fails, then withdraw.

It was a very clear idea, without any doubt. After all, he couldn't fly across the Yellow River from Mengjin to join the King of Bohai - the bridge hadn't been built yet.

Now he needs to judge how well North Shore is playing.

"Follow me and take a look." Shi Le mounted his horse again and galloped forward, followed by the generals and officers.

A battle was going on between Heyang South City and the bridgehead.

Kui An selected hundreds of people who were good at archery, dismounted from their horses and shot with bows, shooting the hundreds of young men gathered at the bridgehead so hard that they could not raise their heads. When Shi Le arrived, they were almost defeated.

Some young men who were good at archery were sent out of the city, but they were soon beaten and fled in a panic, and the cavalry almost caught up with them and seized the city gate. From then on, they could not leave, guarding this almost meaningless tortoise shell - if the soldiers guarding the city did not dare to go out of the city to fight in the field, the role of the city would be greatly reduced, and it would become a simple "storage point" for supplies and soldiers.

Shi Le paid little attention to the battlefield and only stared at the north bank.

What's the situation over there?
"General." Kui An rode his horse back and saluted from a distance.

Behind him, the defenders at the bridgehead had completely collapsed, and people were fleeing in the direction of Zhongyu City.

There were not many people in Zhongyu City. They even dismantled several boats near the river bank and disconnected the floating bridge to prevent Shi Le from taking advantage of the situation and occupying the city.

The defeated soldiers fled to the edge of the pontoon bridge, looking at the broken pontoon bridge in front of them, crying and shouting.

Zhongyu City found the only few small boats and ferried them on board one by one.

On the South Bridge, the Huns rushed over with firewood, poured kerosene on it and set it on fire.

"Crackling" sounds gradually sounded, and thick smoke rose into the sky. The Heyang South Bridge, which had taken several months to build, was doomed to destruction.

Zhongyu City sent people by boat to dismantle the bridge and try to recover some floating boats that had not been affected by the fire, but it was too late to change the overall situation.

The Hun cavalry deliberately waited for a while on the south bank.

The gates of Heyang South City remained closed throughout, and the soldiers who stayed behind were like quails, not daring to go out into the battle, and watched helplessly as the pontoon bridge was burned.

From beginning to end, Shi Le did not stop it.

This attitude of not stopping actually shows his inner inclination: I have tried my best, and what happens to the King of Bohai has nothing to do with me.

With such a big fire, it was impossible for the North Bank not to see it.

Shao the bandit had transferred all the available men to the north bank. If they knew that the south bank was under attack, their morale would be shaken. With low morale, it was hard to say whether they could break through the camp of King Bohai. They could probably hold out until reinforcements arrived. Shi Le lingered near the ferry for a while, then mounted his horse and rode away with his cavalry to see if he could get some more advantage.

Make a choice, make a choice. Since Shao Ze has made the choice, I will smash the part you gave up.

******
When Shi Le led his troops to attack the south bank, the battle on the north bank had basically ended and entered the stage of chasing the enemy to the north.

Liu Fu didn't run far.

He was guarded by thousands of cavalrymen, and was hovering in the distance.

After a long time, he appointed several generals and sent more than 3,000 cavalry to support the defeated soldiers.

Several people looked at each other, and none of them were willing.

When faced with a great defeat, who would still be willing to risk their lives for others?
After a moment of stalemate, someone finally sighed and led his troops out.

Someone took the lead, and the other two also led their troops out.

It’s still the classic cavalry encirclement and shooting.

The Jin cavalry was badly damaged after repeated battles, but they still sent out more than a thousand cavalry to engage in a fight with the Xiongnu cavalry.

The Huns scattered in all directions to avoid direct contact with the Jin cavalry. They looked for gaps to exploit and used their slightly faster advantage to kill the Jin infantry who were pursuing the remaining enemies.

This trick still works.

The Jin army's infantry immediately stopped on the spot and formed a formation to resist the enemy.

The defeated Hun soldiers threw away everything they could and ran away as if they had been pardoned.

But the effect was not particularly good, because soon a group of Hun cavalry were intercepted and severely beaten.

They were intercepted by another group of Jin cavalry. They abandoned the scattered Xiongnu infantry and turned around to charge from behind, scattering the three or four hundred Xiongnu cavalry.

The superiors had already said that no matter how many Xiongnu infantrymen were killed, it would not hurt Liu Han at all, because they were all vassal soldiers, and most of them were from Jin. After you killed one batch, they would recruit another batch, and you could have as many as you wanted, and you could never kill them all.

If you want to make the Huns feel pain, you still have to attack the cavalry.

Even if it was not the main force of the Huns who were killed, but the miscellaneous Hu cavalry who surrendered to the Huns, it would still be meaningful.

The cavalry of both sides fought for a long time. By the evening, the Huns were defeated and retreated at night.

The Jin cavalry went back to change horses and continued the pursuit.

This time their target was the infantry.

Although it was already night and the danger had increased, Wang Que'er gave the order to gather together as much as possible and pursue the Huns within a limit of thirty miles to avoid being ambushed by the Hun cavalry in the dark - that would be when they would have the upper hand.

Shao Xun rode his horse to the river bank.

It was already dark, but the fire on the pontoon had not yet been extinguished.

It was obvious that the South Bank had been attacked by surprise.

After Wang Que'er asked for instructions, he ordered the transfer of all the Heiliang troops and two thousand young men back to the south bank to stabilize the situation there.

The war in the north is over, and there is no need for so many people.

"We still have to recruit cavalry." Shao Xun smiled carefreely and said, "In order to avoid losing sight of the big picture."

Cai Cheng seemed to be thinking about something.

He has been with Shao Xun for a long time and knows a lot about him.

In his opinion, was the Liu Han court any good? It was no better than the Jin court.

Was Liu Han's country strong? Perhaps stronger than Chen Gong's, but only to a limited extent.

Are Liu Han's troops capable of fighting? They are much more capable than before, but still not capable enough.

But why have they developed so successfully?
There is only one reason: there are too many cavalry, so many that the number of your infantry is far less than the number of their cavalry.

Although the Xiongnu cavalry cannot defeat the Silver Spear Army head-on, they can choose not to fight and run around to cut off your retreat. The only thing that can limit them is the logistical factor.

How difficult it is to attack the "country of bows" with infantry.

"Let's not talk about these disappointing things." Shao Xun said, "We have defeated the Xiongnu, captured and killed nearly 15,000 people, and seized the Zhamadi camp. This is a crucial step. What should we do next, Shunling, do you know?"

"Nanqiao has been burned. It will take time to recover first." Cai Cheng said.

"What else?" Shao Xun asked.

"Set up camp and stop the Xiongnu army."

"That's right." Shao Xun said, "It's my turn to hold on here, but I don't know if the Huns will come."

Cai Cheng was right not to mention building a city.

The South Bridge had been destroyed, so the workers, materials and tools on the south bank could not be transported here. After all, there were only so many ships, and they had to ensure the supply of the army on the north bank, so there was not much spare capacity to undertake other transportation tasks. At best, they could ferry a few craftsmen and workers over to lay the foundation of the north city first.

As for the location of the North City, it had actually been decided long ago: one mile north of Changdi.

The construction of the Three Cities of Heyang was not something Shao Xun pushed for. In fact, it was a project of the imperial court. It was just that Shao Xun was very interested in it and took it over halfway after Wang Yan's persuasion.

His ambition is huge.

Using the three cities of Heyang as a base, march north to Henei, then choose one of the two routes of Shangdang or Chenguan to attack the core areas of Liu Han.

This step was not easy to take, and it has not been completed smoothly until now - the Huns might come to besiege him, and there are still people like Shi Le and Wang Mi on the south bank who have not been expelled.

Wars are one after another, and there is no end.

(End of this chapter)