Chapter 654 Daxian Mountain

Chapter 654 Daxian Mountain

Chapter 654 Daxian Mountain

On the morning of the first day of April, more than 6,000 light soldiers from the Silver Spear Camp advanced quickly and arrived at Laiwu County.

This was truly a "light march", meaning that they did not carry armor or other things that would hinder the march, and the baggage was also abandoned. People only carried several days' worth of food and water, and they were running out of breath, with a large number of people falling behind.

This kind of extreme march usually only occurs when there is a very urgent military situation or when a person decides to take a shortcut to launch a surprise attack. It is a way of magnifying one's own danger to seize a fleeting opportunity.

To put it bluntly, it is a gamble. Whether it is worth it or not depends on your own judgment.

Anyway, in history, some people advanced quickly with light troops and won great victories, while others made things worse and suffered disastrous defeats.

When Zhang Shuo (Zhang Daniu) rushed to Laiwu, he counted the people and found that most of those who fell behind were new soldiers who had joined the army in November of the previous year. They only had a year or so of military service and were not in good condition in all aspects. It was understandable that they fell behind under the forced march.

In comparison, soldiers who had been in the army for two years were much better off. Apart from other things, at least they had enough food during this period, and sometimes they had broth and cheese. They became stronger, their physical fitness improved, and they were more organized. They would help each other, so fewer people would fall behind.

Zhang Shuo looked at the panting guys and decided to send his deputy to stay in Laiwu to take in the stragglers and wait for the baggage train. He himself led more than a thousand "veterans" and continued to move forward to meet up with Yang Quan as soon as possible.

Yang Chen was still nearly a day's journey from Laiwu. He was greatly surprised when he heard the news from the front.

"Mr. Wang, where is Lord Liang?" The troops were still marching. Yang Chen spread a carpet and a desk in the grass by the roadside, took a short rest, and asked after reading the military newspaper.

"A messenger just reported this morning that they are still waiting for the boat in Jiyin. After hearing that the situation in the north has been opened up, it was decided to send the Yicong army ahead, and the infantry will abandon the boats and travel by land, and rush to Gaoping as fast as possible." Wang, a Zhonglang official in the General's Mansion, replied.

He followed Yang Chen to serve as a military supervisor. For this purpose, Duke Liang temporarily assigned him a hundred swordsmen and six or seven clerks, who only obeyed his orders.

It can be seen that Mr. Liang did not expect the start to be so smooth.

The commander-in-chief of this expedition was Lord Liang, and he had three generals under his command, each leading an army ranging from 10,000 to 30,000.

As for Lord Liang, he led part of the Yicong Army, all of the Yinqiang Zuoying Camp and his personal troops. If the hereditary soldiers of Xuchang and the able-bodied men of Jiyin and Jiyang counties who served as auxiliary troops were counted, there would be a total of 20,000 infantry and cavalry, which were the main force to support the battle.

If the three governors are making good progress, he won't take action.

If the three commanders make serious mistakes and the situation becomes critical, he will deploy these 20,000 troops.

In addition, the troops he led also had the intention of guarding against the south.

In short, they are the reserve team and will go wherever they are needed.

But Mr. Liang obviously missed something.

The northern army under Xi Jian's command was divided into two, with cavalry raiding and Hebei soldiers forcing their way across the river, encircling and annihilating tens of thousands of Cao's soldiers. At this time, they had already captured cities with the assistance of some rebel nobles in Le'an, and at the same time cut off the connection between Jinan and Qi, creating extremely favorable conditions for the Dongping and Gaoping prefecture soldiers and the infantry of various counties and states who rushed over later - the enemy was panic-stricken and might not have much desire to fight.

Yang Chen led more than 30,000 infantry and cavalry into Laiwu Valley. The vanguard commander Yang Quan said that he had seen the outline of Linzi City, which was probably not false.

After successfully passing through Laiwu Valley, they had a much easier time on the way. The primary goal was to capture Linzi and remove this city that could threaten their retreat. At the same time, they could also use it as a base for the next military operation and store food, grass, and equipment to be transported here.

After taking Linzi, they attacked Guanggu without any hesitation.

I just don’t know what’s happening with the southern army.

Just a few days ago, we received the news that Jin Zheng led the Silver Spear Right Camp to arrive in Xia Pi by boat, and then waited for two more days to retrieve the baggage.

The governor of Xuzhou, Mi Huang, led more than 10,000 soldiers and horses from local nobles to join them and headed north to Langya, but now no one knows where they are.

They spent too much time on the journey and probably haven't had time to achieve any results.

"How about the south?" Yang Chen asked.

"I heard that Zu Ti was hoarding food and military supplies." Wang said, "There is no other movement."

"What about the north?"

"Liu Yao captured several remaining counties and towns in Taiyuan, but did not advance eastward to Hebei."

Yang Chen hummed and said with a smile: "I have rested enough, let's march forward."

After saying this, he asked his personal soldiers to pack up their equipment, and he led the horse, jumped on the horse, and galloped forward.

******
Jin Zheng was indeed a bit slow along the way. The reason was simple: the distance was the longest and he spent too much time on the road.

After gathering troops and military supplies in Xiapi, they took a boat and headed north along the Yishui River, but had to get off the boat and walk after only a short distance. It took them five days to finally reach Kaiyang (near present-day Linyi), which was already noon on March 22.

On the evening of the 23rd, they arrived at Linyi County (50 miles north of Linyi today). For some unknown reason, Jin Zheng led his troops directly to Wang Dao's old house in the south of the city and stayed there overnight.

Afterwards, they marched along the Yishui River Valley, left Langya, entered Dong'an County, and arrived at Dongguan County on the night of March 28th.

The entire army rested here for two days, waiting for the baggage troops that fell behind, and at the same time restoring the strength of the main force.

On the first day of April, the entire army maintained a medium-to-low marching speed and arrived outside Daehyeon Mountain on the afternoon of the third day, where they set up camp.

On the morning of the fourth day, Kim Jong led his personal staff to climb Mount Daehyeon to observe the enemy's situation.

Well, after observing the thieves' momentum, their first stop was a dilapidated temple.

Regardless of what the temple was used for before, the personal soldiers cleaned it up and then built five altars to worship the Five Emperors.

After Jin Zheng finished the sacrifice with everyone in a serious manner, he seemed to have untied some knot in his heart and said with a smile: "Xi Congshi and Yang Sima sent me a letter saying that Cao Yi had mobilized a large number of troops to the north to plug the leak. I didn't believe it at first, but now that I have been on the mountain for a long time and have not seen any demon soldiers coming to attack, I know the truth."

The generals from the powerful families such as Lanling Xiao, Langya Wang, Yan, Donghai Mi, Wang, Xu, and He laughed along.

No matter what you think of Jin Zheng in your heart, it's wartime now. There is a ban on beheading in the army. If you anger Jin Zheng, he will justifiably behead you, and there is no place to complain.

"Let's go down the mountain." Jin Zheng said after taking a last look at the high mountains.

Daehyeon Mountain is not a majestic mountain.

Compared with the dangerous terrain of the Eight Passes of Taihang Mountains, it is not even on the same level.

According to the guide sent by Wang, it takes 35 miles to cross Daxian Mountain. The most difficult part of the 35 miles is actually in the south of the mountain, where Jin Zheng and his men are.

The mountain is not high, but the terrain is a bit strange. In many places, only one carriage can barely pass through, and it is impossible to meet other cars.

After finishing this section in Shannan, the road becomes much easier until Daxian Pass.

From a normal military perspective, to defend Daxian Pass, you must defend the several strategic locations south of the pass. If there is no city, you must build a few strongholds, relying on the terrain and strongholds to gradually wear down the attackers' strength and spirit. By the time they reach Daxian Pass, they have already suffered heavy casualties and their morale is low, so it will be much easier to fight them.

Now Cao's army has completely abandoned Guannan and all its forces have been withdrawn to Daxian Pass City. This is already a disadvantage in itself, and it also shows that they are a little panicked.

There are many reasons for panic, and it is difficult to determine them now.

Maybe due to insufficient manpower, the original garrison was transferred north in large numbers to reinforce other battlefields. After all, the Xianbei cavalry was already galloping in Le'an and could rush into Beihai and Qi at any time. That was a flat terrain, and there was no way to restrict them. Wasn't Cao Yi panicking?
In addition, Yang Chen has already dispatched troops to Laiwu Valley, and there must be fierce fighting in the valley. Even if he cannot win for the time being, Cao Qi will be under great pressure and may withdraw troops stationed in Linqu and Daxiangguan areas to reinforce Laiwu Valley.

Another reason is related to the previous one. After Cao Yi withdrew the garrison, he was worried about the Daxian Pass area and sent more troops. However, these new soldiers were not as good as the original garrison. They were of low quality and weak combat effectiveness. They could only watch and showed their true colors once they were in a fight.

Jin Zheng believes that there are two reasons.

There are advantages to coming late, fuck!
Even if he won this time, he still owed the favor to the other two armies, which made him quite embarrassed.

But no matter what, let's fight first and test the enemy's strength. ******
On the sixth day of April, almost all the troops and baggage trains from various camps had arrived.

That morning, Yan Zhuo, a cousin of Yan Han, a military officer in Sima Rui's court, led an army of 2,000 soldiers up the mountain road and headed straight for the city of Daxian Pass.

Because the mountain road was rugged and the terrain was unfavorable, no siege equipment could be deployed or used. Yan Zhuo's two thousand soldiers could only carry large shields and long ladders and use the ant-like siege method to brute force their way in.

Jin Zheng found a hillside that was ideal for watching the battle and led his generals to observe the battle.

Dense arrows were shot down from the top of the city, occasionally mixed with the "buzzing" sound of crossbows.

Yan's troops suffered heavy casualties at once, and by the time they reached the moat below the city, more than 200 of them were already lying there.

The noise from the troops was growing louder and louder, and they were showing signs of disintegrating.

Jin Zheng gave the order for the second attack with an expressionless face.

The He clan of Donghai led more than 1,700 soldiers to follow, with swords drawn and bows strung. If the Yan clan troops in the front line collapsed without a fight, the rear line would kill the front line and resolutely not allow them to retreat - if they wanted to retreat, they had to wait for orders and permission before they could walk down the dense forest slopes on both sides.

Yan's troops quickly filled up part of the trench, rushed to the bottom of the city wall, and attacked the city like ants.

The battle didn't last long.

The Yan family's troops were completely defeated before they could even capture the city wall.

He's troops immediately shot arrows and swept down all the fastest fleeing Yan's soldiers.

The Yan clan members behind dared not advance, nor did they dare retreat, and suddenly cried and shouted.

The He family's troops received the order and beat drums to march forward.

Yan's defeated soldiers retreated step by step. In the end, they finally gritted their teeth and shouted, carrying long ladders to attack the city again.

A brutal fight immediately broke out throughout the city.

The soldiers on both sides had red faces and shouted angrily, trying their best to reap the lives of the enemies in front of them.

The second group of He's troops continued to advance.

The two thousand soldiers of the Donghai Wang family have already formed into the third formation.

Their faces were solemn, as if they had lost their parents, and their legs were shaking unconsciously, but there seemed to be another command coming from behind, and the troops of Lanling Xiao family were gathering.

The Yan family's troops who were the first to attack the city finally couldn't hold on any longer, their last bit of courage was exhausted, and they collapsed for the second time.

The flag was lit on the hillside.

Yan Zhuoru was pardoned. With his hair disheveled, he led his remaining troops and divided them into two groups, slowly withdrawing from the mountains and forests on both sides.

On the front battlefield, the He family army followed closely and launched a swift offensive.

Jin was watching silently.

The enemy's arrows were still very fierce, and it was unknown how many of their own soldiers were killed or injured. But when the Yan family was defeated, they did not open the city to pursue and kill them, which was a bit incredible.

Are the defenders of a city so stubborn? Will the defenders fight?

He seemed to understand something, so he kept calm and continued to observe.

In fact, the He family army did not hold out for long. However, after they captured the top of the city and fought with the enemy, they were ultimately defeated and dispersed.

Jin Zheng opened his eyes wide, not missing any movement of the enemy.

The number of people on the top of the city wall that He's troops attacked just now was not that large, but the enemy took a lot of effort to clear them out. This shows one thing, at least the quality of the enemy troops preparing for close combat on the top of the city wall is worrying, and they are not like regular troops.

The He family attacked again, but this time they did not reach the top of the city wall. It seemed that after their momentum was lost, their morale was too low and they could not attack any further.

Jin Zheng ordered He's troops to retreat and go to the rear for reorganization. After the reorganization, they could go back to the battlefield in a few days.

The third group of soldiers from the Wang family of Donghai came up.

As soon as they attacked, Jin Zheng's eyes widened.

The first batch of enemy archers retreated and were replaced by a new group. However, the level of this group of replacements was far inferior to the previous ones. They were a little rusty in archery, not fast enough, and their accuracy was also worrying. The soldiers who loaded the crossbows were so clumsy that the shooting rhythm was obviously disrupted.

"Haha!" Jin Zheng laughed out loud.

Master Shao often said that you should fight to test your opponent's strength, which is a very true saying.

Many times, you can’t tell just by looking. You have to fight with real weapons to test the enemy’s true level.

The fighting power of the Wang family of Donghai is quite strong, much stronger than the previous two families, and it seems that they have some old background.

They carried long ladders and climbed up, with the sound of killing shaking the sky.

The defenders on the city wall were in a panic and fought desperately.

For a moment, corpses fell one after another and piled up layer by layer under the city.

The fourth formation of 1,500 soldiers from the Lanling Xiao clan soon arrived as reinforcement.

The two thousand men of the Donghai Mi clan are already preparing for the fifth formation.

The enemy troops defending the city were obviously a little panicked.

At the critical moment, the defenders brought fresh troops to the city and broke up the fiercest attack of the Wang family of Donghai, and completely drove them off the city.

The flag of retreat was raised.

Wang's troops fled in panic, as if they had survived a disaster.

The fourth formation began its attack.

Jin Zheng relaxed. He had already seen the enemy's strengths and weaknesses: there were elite soldiers who could fight, but they were few in number, and there were a lot of untrained and unqualified young men who were just filling in the numbers.

This city is not difficult to attack.

He was already thinking about when to send in the elite Silver Spear Right Camp to make the final decision.

He even looked around on both sides of Daxian Pass to see if there was any shortcut that could be used to bypass it.

Of course, if there really was a path, the enemy would have cut down trees and built fences to guard it. But so what? We just had to fight.

They are just bullying you because you don't have enough troops and your soldiers have low quality!
I will take over this broken city in three days at most.

(End of this chapter)