Chapter 611 Victory or defeat

Chapter 611 Victory or defeat
A huge hand-painted map hangs on the wall of the ruined temple.

Jin Zheng pursed his lips tightly and looked around.

Outside the ruined temple, a large group of people were marching overnight.

It was already October, the wind was howling and the air was freezing.

The soldiers walked on the land of Hebei, breathing out hot air and stepping on the frost.

Marching at night is not something that every soldier can accomplish, and it is also very dangerous. Once the enemy cavalry rushes to attack, if the soldiers are not careful, their armor is incomplete, their flags and drums are unclear, their formation is not in order, and their physical strength is insufficient, they will suffer a great defeat.

But Kim Jong-un is willing to take risks.

This is his personality, he likes to rush forward and attack, nothing else.

Shao Xun had almost no involvement in the specific command of this year's Northern Expedition. After arriving in Anping, he only issued one order, which was to order Jin Zheng to lead his troops to retreat.

Jin Zheng felt a little blush.

Why didn't Master Shao give orders to Wang Que'er? Why didn't he give orders to Li Chong? He didn't even give orders to Xi Jian in Xuzhou.

To be honest, this battle started off well but ended badly.

At the beginning, they advanced rapidly, conquered Hejian and Gaoyang, forced Boling to rebel, and almost captured three counties in a row, with great momentum.

There were some minor problems in the middle, and the Huns tricked him into leaving the mountain. Fortunately, he woke up in time, led the troops, and the soldiers fought hard and turned the situation around.

Well, Jin Zheng also admitted that the great defeat under Hejian City resulted in the loss of a lot of men and horses conscripted from Bohai, Pingyuan, Qinghe, Yangping and other counties, and the morale became extremely low, which in turn affected the progress of subsequent battles, but this was not irreversible.

After the adjustments, the troops marched to Zhongshan.

He followed the tactics he learned from Liangxian Wu, combining regular and unconventional tactics. Regular troops forced their way across the Hengshui River, while unconventional troops sneaked across the river upstream. Overall, the tactical moves were well executed and effective.

A part of the Yicong Army, which served as a special force, successfully crossed the river and suddenly reached Shangquyang area in Changshan.

At this time, the Huns' Hengshui defense line had actually been broken.

The special forces can detour to the rear of the enemy on the west bank of the Hengshui River, attack and kill their grain transport troops, and cause the enemy to collapse without a fight.

If the main troops intensify the offensive at the front, they can completely chase the enemy all the way and win a great victory.

When giving the order, Master Shao wrote him a separate letter, affirming his tactical approach and believing it was correct, but he also pointed out that his vision was not broad enough and he did not have a good grasp of the overall situation.

He understood the meaning of the latter sentence. Duan Shefuchen, Duan Wenyang and Duan Mobo of the Duan tribe of Xianbei marched south with a combined force of more than 10,000 cavalrymen and attacked Zhangwu and Hejian. The miscellaneous Hu cavalrymen who were protecting the grain road might not want to fight to the death, or they really couldn't win, so they were defeated and many of the baggage troops were attacked and killed by the Xianbei.

At this time, Liu Yao decisively deployed the reserve troops and mobilized half of the 10,000 cavalrymen who were guarding against the Tuoba Xianbei in Dai County to drive out his own surprise attack.

At this point, Master Shao finally helped him make a decision: retreat.

Jin Zheng had a strong execution ability. Since he had ordered a retreat, he might as well go all out and retreat farther to lure the Huns deeper into the enemy's territory.

This process was rather painful, and the remaining troops suffered heavy losses - mainly miscellaneous Hu cavalry.

Jin Zheng even retreated to Shuzhou in one breath and joined forces with the remaining troops of Bohai County. He sent the Yicong Army to besiege the Duan tribe of the Xianbei while waiting for an opportunity to counterattack.

When the news of the change in Youzhou came, he realized the gap between himself and Master Shao, and understood more clearly what it meant to have a narrow vision - he guessed that when the possibility of overthrowing Wang Jun appeared in Youzhou, Master Shao was already planning this.

In Master Shao's view, he and Li Chong were both regular troops, while the Youzhou talents were the surprise troops.

This military strategy that combines the regular and the unusual is indeed of a high level.

Liu Yao may have thought of this possibility, but he was powerless to deal with it. He had to guard against both the Tuoba Xianbei and the Youzhou people, and his military strength was too tight, so he could only give up one direction - up to now, he still had 5,000 cavalry guarding against the Tuoba clan in Dai County, and he was really scared of being beaten.

After reviewing the battles of the previous few months, Kim Jong-un thought for a long time.

Suddenly, he drew out his sword and cut off the candle on the table.

The firelight in the ruined temple suddenly dimmed, making Jin Zheng's face look extremely hideous.

Now that things have come to this, it's time for him to make use of what he is good at.

Just chase him!

Don't be afraid of being besieged by a superior enemy army, just fight back against the enemy.

A real man is willing to die if he wants to, why is he scratching his ears?
After figuring it out, Jin Zheng strode out of the ruined temple and stood by the roadside to look at the Silver Spear Right Camp advancing at night.

Under his leadership, this unit was extremely brave and adept at frontal combat, and they won victory in the most humiliating and frightening way for the enemy - defeating the enemy in a frontal field battle with a powerful army is undoubtedly the most effective tactic to undermine the enemy's confidence.

No matter how you change, I can defeat you with one blow.

After mounting his horse, the personal guards surrounded Jin Zheng and disappeared into the night.

Within a few days, they had crossed the entire Hejian River, replenished their supplies in Gaoyang County, and then continued westward.

However, the miscellaneous Hu cavalry were faster than them and had already engaged with Liu Yao's remaining troops.

Unfortunately, if there had been a large, fast-moving heavy armored infantry force at this time - such as the Mule Army established several years ago - things would have been much simpler, and it might even have prevented Liu Yao's retreating troops from getting enough supplies, turning the retreat into a rout.

******
Liu Yao's actions were actually quite fast. After gathering his troops for a few days, he realized that it was too late, so he fled with the troops he had gathered earlier, including more than 5,000 cavalry and 4,000 infantry - most of whom were from Shi Le's troops.

On the 18th, Liu Yao arrived near Gaoyang County, but the infantry had disappeared and were left behind in Hejian, still a day's journey away.

The retreat was not smooth as they were chased by various Hu tribes who had defected to Shao Xun.

In particular, the general of Shangbai Town, Wuhuan man Bo Sheng, chased the closest. He did not hesitate to lead the charge and twice dispersed the remaining Xiongnu soldiers, biting off two pieces of meat.

Liu Yao's troops who fled to Gaoyang still had 5,000 cavalry, but this was the number after the scattered cavalry who joined from other directions were added. At least 1,500 troops and horses retreated from the border of Hejian and Zhangwu were lost - not all of them died, but it was true that they did not keep up with the main force.

The Jin flag was still flying on the top of Gaoyang County City, which greatly disappointed Liu Yao.

Zhang Yupu attacked a county town that had become an abandoned pawn and whose soldiers' morale was shaken, but he was unable to capture it.

With no other choice, they could only continue to retreat westward.

On the 19th, the entire army crossed the Fenshui River.

The scouts reported that a Youzhou general named Gai Zhi was heading south from Beixin City and was very close to them.

When Liu Yao learned that the enemy was mainly composed of infantry, he once wanted to launch a surprise attack, but finally gave up because it was too far away from the retreat route.

On the night of the 20th, Liu Yao arrived at Anxi, Zhongshan. Before he could be happy, he met a group of Xianbei cavalry coming south from Yishui.

In the darkness, the two sides could not distinguish between friend and foe, and a confused fight broke out. By dawn, no one knew whether they were killing their own people or the enemy.

Liu Yao rushed into Anxi County in a panic and got a chance to catch his breath. He counted the cavalrymen who followed him and found that they were less than half.

After resting for a day in Anxi, hundreds of cavalrymen came to surrender.

These people belonged to different camps. During the retreat, the organization was disrupted and they spontaneously united into one group. They were lucky enough to escape.

Liu Yao looked at their miserable appearance and sighed in silence.

He had also seen this kind of situation when he was chasing Jin Zheng, but it was the enemy who was in such a mess at that time, but now it was him.

Liu Yao had just had a few full meals in Anxi when he was shocked to hear that Puyin, Wangdu and other counties were captured by the Yan army heading south. There was an undercurrent in Anxi County and the situation was not good, so he retreated decisively and arrived at Zhongshan County on the night of the 22nd. As soon as Liu Yao left, Anxi immediately changed to the Jin flag.

After a quick replenishment, he simply abandoned Zhongshan and retreated to the southwest.

On the way, they met a group of cavalrymen who had fled back, but they were also intercepted by cavalrymen coming south from Youzhou. Normally, these Youzhou cavalrymen were of average combat power and were no match for the Xiongnu. Unfortunately, Liu Yao, the commander-in-chief, was not interested in fighting. How could you expect the soldiers to fight bravely? It was unrealistic.

On the morning of the 26th, Liu Yao arrived at Lingshou County, north of Zhending, and was picked up by his own troops. After counting the number of people, he found that there were only 1,500 cavalrymen.

He was met by 5,000 cavalrymen who came from the north to guard against the Tuoba Xianbei. They defeated the Zuying tribe from Youzhou, but did not dare to expand their victory. Instead, they quickly searched for Liu Yao's whereabouts.

After hearing this, Liu Yao could only sigh.

"The Jie people of Shangdang have fled."

"Half of the Fengyi Diqiang cavalry returned, and the infantry failed to cross the Hengshui River."

"Zhang Yupu's entire army was wiped out in Puyin."

"Liu Zheng is holding Bolu with two thousand remaining soldiers. He has been targeted by the Wuhuan cavalry heading north from Boling. He is unlikely to return."

"The Xianbei from Shangjun defeated several thousand infantrymen from Youzhou. When they passed by Wangdu to rest, they were attacked and killed by the county magistrate and his men. Only a thousand cavalrymen returned and are now in Puwu County."

"Jingxing is stockpiling military supplies and strengthening the city's defenses. General Huyan asks the king to retreat quickly."

……

Various news came one after another, making Liu Yao even more depressed.

The more fun it was to chase Jin Zheng and kill him, the more embarrassed he felt now.

It is particularly painful to win first and then lose.

In fact, the enemy's strength was not enough to ensure victory, especially after the Duan Xianbei arrived at the battlefield, Liu Yao once saw hope of winning - at least he could continue the stalemate.

But he still collapsed at the critical moment. He was lured out and then pulled back. The process was too painful.

If you think about it carefully, where did they lose? In fact, the answer is obvious: insufficient manpower.

Even if the Duan tribe Xianbei and Shi Le were included, their military strength was only about 40,000 to 50,000 infantry and cavalry, and they also had to guard against the Tuoba Xianbei, so they could not use their full strength.

The total number of troops under Shao Xun's two armies exceeded 60,000, not counting the more than 20,000 infantry and cavalry subsequently deployed by Su Qiu, Zhang Chai, Bo Sheng and others.

When the Youzhou soldiers marched south again, and when they were exhausted from fighting with Jin Zheng, the overall situation suddenly collapsed and defeat was inevitable.

If we dig deeper into the reasons, he left at least 20,000 soldiers in Xinxing and Taiyuan to guard against Tuoba Xianbei. What would be the result if these 20,000 soldiers could be deployed to the battlefield in Hebei?
It’s no use thinking about this now. I really don’t know how to clean up this mess in Hebei.

"Send someone to inform Shi Le. I will stay for three more days to gather the scattered soldiers." Liu Yao wiped his face and said in a low voice: "Retreat to Jingxing on the 29th. He - take care of it."

(It’s the last day, don’t waste your monthly tickets, thank you.)
(End of this chapter)