Chapter 459 In the Mountains

Chapter 459 In the Mountains
The news of the changes in Hanoi soon spread to Pingyang, but it hardly caused any stir because Emperor Liu Cong led the army in person.

On July 20th, above the mountains to the north of Beiqu County, Pingyang County, Liu Cong's imperial canopy almost reached the clouds.

At least one-third of the Han Dynasty's capable troops were gathered here, densely distributed in the valleys, ready for battle.

At the moment of life and death, Liu Cong became much more sober.

I won’t take Wu Shi San anymore.

Women don't play anymore.

I don't even watch the fish.

He was dressed in iron armor, riding astride a majestic warhorse, holding a bow and a sharp sword, looking ready to fight to the death.

Chen Yuanda wiped away his tears.

Vaguely, he saw the masculine spirit of the emperor who personally led the elite cavalry to charge during the Battle of Changping.

The emperor also had a glorious past.

At that time, he was fearless, daring to fight and extremely brave. Otherwise, he would not have gathered a group of brave men around him and succeeded in seizing the throne at the critical moment.

It's a pity that after the government was stabilized, the emperor fell into the arms of women, and his spirit was gradually worn away, leading to this situation.

Fortunately, at the critical moment when the Xianbei launched a large-scale invasion, the emperor came to his senses, led the army in person, and vowed to fight the bandits to the death.

A small-scale fight has already begun at the foot of the mountain.

All the camps of the Imperial Guard were dispatched, and even the armored cavalry had chosen their starting positions, waiting for the final decision.

The Xianbei also have armored cavalry, but their number is smaller than ours, and they are also eyeing us covetously.

But it seems that there is no need for them to go out for today's battle.

In the narrow and rugged valley, the armored cavalry could not move, and the Xianbei heavy cavalry charged straight up.

The Han people also sent out well-armored guards and elite cavalry to engage in a charge against the enemy. For a time, men and horses were thrown to the ground, and the sounds of painful neighing were endless.

On the gentle slopes on both sides, the Xianbei people were in high spirits and shouted loudly for a fierce battle.

The Xiongnu imperial guards who were fighting against them were lightly armed cavalry. After teasing the Xianbei people with arrows in front of the formation, they successfully aroused their anger. When they saw them charging towards them, they immediately turned around and ran away.

While running, he turned around and shot arrows, continuing to tease the Xianbei people.

The Xianbei people kept falling off their horses, and they became more and more angry, chasing after the enemy without stopping.

But as the chase went on, because of the rugged terrain, the horses of both sides slowed down and it seemed like they could no longer run.

Upon seeing this, the Xiongnu army divided more than a thousand cavalry into several groups and turned around to encircle the enemy.

They crossed the stream, rushed over the gentle slope, and galloped through the pine forest. Their riding skills were so superb that it was breathtaking.

As they charged forward, they kept shooting arrows, and the Xianbei people fell down one after another.

In the fight in this rugged valley, neither side could speed up their horses and they often encountered obstacles, or had to go up and down hills, and cross streams. The overall speed was shockingly slow.

In such an environment, what was tested was the ability to control the horse and the superb riding skills. There were very few opportunities for the two sides to engage in close combat. The Xianbei people were completely unable to take advantage of their impact force and were instead shot down by the Xiongnu's bows and arrows, suffering heavy casualties.

After a while, they finally collapsed.

A large number of Tuoba Xianbei cavalrymen armed with spears fell off their horses, and hundreds of them knelt on the ground to beg for surrender.

Yilu's nephew Pugen was furious and sent out another team of mixed Hu cavalry.

The fighting continues...

Under the canopy, there was a burst of cheers.

Liu Cong's face relaxed.

Liu Kun colluded with Tuoba Yilu and set out from Jinyang to attack Xihe and Pingyang counties.

The Jin army was divided into three routes.

The first route was led by Liu Kun himself, and was mainly composed of soldiers he recruited in Zhongshan. They set out from Taiyuan and occupied Lan Valley. They wanted to go west along the Fen River and then turn south. However, they were blocked by Liu Can just when they set out, and the two sides confronted each other in the mountains.

The second route was led by Han Ju, the military supervisor of the shogunate. They marched south from Jinyang, along the Fen River, passed Guanjuejin (commonly known as Queshu Valley), and entered the territory of Xihe, but were blocked by Han Dangjin General Lan Yang.

The third route was led by Tuoba Pugen, who went south from Daibei, marched along the east bank of the Yellow River, crossed the entire Luliang Mountain area, and suddenly appeared in Pingyang while Liu Kun's two armies attracted the attention of the Huns.

Judging from the route of advance, the first two routes were weak, mainly composed of Jin troops and supplemented by Xianbei troops, which attracted the attention of the Han army head-on. The Xianbei cavalry led by Tuoba Pugen attacked from the side and rear, trying to capture Pingyang in one fell swoop.

The plan was very good, and the Xiongnu did divide their forces to block Liu Kun and Han Ju. But how can I put it? These two routes were too weak and could not attract the main force of the Xiongnu.

When Tuoba Pugen's whereabouts were discovered, Pingyang was shocked. Emperor Liu Cong led the main force of the imperial army to personally lead the army to attack and blocked the Xianbei cavalry that was surging southward in Beiqu County.

The Huns were not slow to react.

If the Xianbei cavalry were allowed to break into the flat Fen River Valley, the situation would become difficult to handle.

Now that they are encountering them in the endless mountains, it is actually advantageous for the Xiongnu infantry and cavalry.

The so-called Beiqu County is located in the north of today's Ji County. In the Tang Dynasty, it was Jichang County, the seat of Cizhou. Tuoba Pugen actually went south from Tang Zhenwu Army, passed Zhalu Army City, Kelan Army, Shilou Pass, entered Xizhou, and then went south to Cizhou.

If the Huns had discovered this a little later, they would have really entered the river valley plain area. Fortunately, they were blocked in the mountains.

The two sides have been confronting each other in the mountains for several days, fighting more than ten large and small battles, with both sides winning and losing.

Tuoba Xianbei was in a hurry to go south, carrying few supplies, and in order to march quickly, they left behind the old, weak, women and children who were herding cattle and sheep all the way south. There is no doubt that a stalemate was not good for them. The longer the stalemate lasted, the greater the possibility of failure.

Liu Cong is also a veteran fighter and understands this point very well.

After seeing the battle between the two sides gradually end and both sides withdraw their troops back to the camp, he turned his head to look at the Chief Justice Chen Yuanda with a complicated expression.

"Chen Qing." Liu Cong said.

"Your Majesty." Chen Yuanda stepped forward and bowed.

"Chen Qing is the pillar of the country, and I trust him." Liu Cong said, "You can lead 10,000 people north to Xihe and Taiyuan to intercept Tuoba's retreat."

"I obey your order." Chen Yuanda replied in a deep voice. "Ask the heroes in the mountains." At this point, Liu Cong's face turned ugly. He said, "Why did the Xianbei advance hundreds of miles without any obstacles? Did the people in the mountains abandon the Han Dynasty?"

"As you wish." Chen Yuanda responded and said, "Your Majesty, the Xianbei came too quickly, and the tribes in the mountains did not have time to react. This is understandable. In this critical moment, Your Majesty should be magnanimous."

"Humph." Liu Cong snorted coldly, "I can be magnanimous, but some people are ruthless and treacherous, and they may not be loyal subjects. If Chen Qing goes north, the Xianbei will not be able to hold out for a few days. Once they retreat, I will chase them down and kill them. Then I will ask those mountain chiefs what their intentions are."

Chen Yuanda remained silent.

Compared with the previous emperor, the current emperor is not a magnanimous person, and he is well aware of this.

Just a few months ago, he was almost killed by Jin Shang.

This matter originated from Empress Liu.

In the first month of this year, Empress Dowager Zhang passed away. When Empress Zhang (the Empress Dowager's niece) heard the news, she was "unable to control her grief" and also passed away.

In March, the emperor appointed concubine Liu E as empress and built a ceremonial palace for her.

He was the first to advise the emperor against this, arguing that the palace was already big enough for living and building a new one would be too extravagant. This angered the emperor, who wanted to kill his entire family.

All the ministers made earnest appeals to the emperor, but he did not listen.

At the critical moment, Empress Liu secretly sent someone to notify the emperor to suspend the execution, and then she submitted a petition to the emperor to make a death-defying appeal, which finally stopped the execution.

Chen Yuanda knew that Empress Liu was also trying to protect herself and did not want to offend the civil and military officials in the court, but she was indeed a smart and clear-headed person.

The emperor is different.

Although he was pardoned reluctantly in the end, the words he said made Chen Yuanda secretly shudder: "You should fear me, but you made me fear you instead!"

These words were obviously filled with resentment.

Yes, all the civil and military officials in the court came to persuade the emperor, and he was forced to submit, but he must have felt very uncomfortable, right?

Chen Yuanda knew that the emperor had already held a grudge against him.

But he didn't feel that scared. As a subject, all he had to do was to be loyal.

The late emperor treated him with great kindness. Even though the current emperor is extravagant and stubborn, he is not completely unyielding to advice. He just tries his best to manage state affairs until the day he dies.

Seeing that the emperor had nothing else to say, Chen Yuanda bowed again and prepared to leave.

"Wait a minute." Liu Cong stopped him and asked, "Just now, a report came from Henei that the Jin thief Shao Xun led his troops northward and attacked severely. Liu Anxi asked for more troops to attack Heyang. What do you think?"

Chen Yuanda pondered for a moment and replied, "Your Majesty, the court has already decided on the strategy of 'crossing Yong and Bing', and it should not be changed. The three cities of Heyang certainly block our way south, and we will have to fight sooner or later, but not now."

Upon hearing this, Liu Cong nodded slightly.

In fact, it was not just Chen Yuanda who held this attitude, but basically everyone in the court had this attitude.

After Jinyang was regained and lost again, the situation became increasingly uncertain. The court faced strong pressure from the Tuoba Xianbei and it was difficult to take care of all directions.

Not to mention Hanoi, they are now even retreating towards Guanzhong.

Liu Yao actually fought quite well. Relying on a small army, he won battles repeatedly despite being at a disadvantage in terms of military strength and even occupied Chang'an at one point.

If Tuoba Xianbei had not marched south in large numbers and the imperial court had not withdrawn some troops from Guanzhong, the Jin generals and officials might have been defeated by now, making the situation in Guanzhong completely clear.

But there are no ifs in the world. The Tuoba Xianbei did move south, and Liu Yao had to retreat to Fengyi again, holding his ground and waiting for the situation to change.

In fact, the imperial court owed Liu Yao a little, which caused twists and turns in the good situation in Guanzhong.

Now that Liu Yao is in this state, it will be even more difficult for Liu Ya to get support.

To put it bluntly, the business was too big and we were attacked everywhere, like a battlefield on all sides, so we had to give up one or two directions.

Hanoi is clearly abandoned, but -

We can't just ignore it.

"Mr. Chen," Liu Cong said hesitantly, "What if we order Shi Le to reinforce Henei? Will he respond?"

Chen Yuanda said without hesitation: "Since this year, Shi Le and Cao Yi have been paying less tribute, but they still dare not secede and establish their own regime. Especially Shi Le, who is sandwiched between Liu Kun, Wang Jun, and Shao Xun, and has General Zhenyuan watching him nearby, so he will not dare to make trouble. If we mobilize troops now, they will most likely come."

"He dares not to cause chaos?" Liu Cong asked, "Does that mean Shi Le wants to establish his own country?"

"Your Majesty has already made a plan in mind, and I dare not speak rashly." Chen Yuanda replied.

Liu Cong was silent.

There are few fools who have come to this point.

Didn't the whole court know what Shi Le was thinking? It was just that everyone was playing dumb.

The same applies to Cao Yi.

The tribute sent this year is less than last year, which shows that its ambitions have grown a lot.

But can we touch him? No. There is no need to do so.

At least so far, Cao Wei has not shown any obvious signs of rebellion and is still willing to cooperate with the court's strategy.

Shi Le needed the court's help more than Cao Yi.

He has neither the capital nor the behavior to be independent.

Although he was reluctant to fight in the Battle of Zhamati, he still sent troops.

After weighing the pros and cons of reinforcing Heyang this time, Shi Le had to pretend to send troops as ordered, no matter how dissatisfied he was.

This is the game between the monarch and his subjects.

I know what you are thinking, you know the court knows what you are thinking, and the court also knows that you know...

"Pass the order, ordering General Shi Le, the General of the Eastern Expedition, to send troops to Henei and obey the orders of General Anxi." Liu Cong made up his mind and gave the order.

(End of this chapter)