Chapter 676 Just Begins, and Then It Ends
Chapter 676 Just Begins, and Then It Ends
After capturing Ji County, they rested for a day.
Even on this day of rest, the soldiers were still restless. They were so angry that they wanted to chop the enemy clean like cutting melons and vegetables.
When Shao Xun selected the generals to stay behind, none of them answered a word when asked.
In the end, it was Liu Qia who volunteered, saying that he was old and wanted to stay in Ji County and supervise the transportation of grain and fodder.
On September 17th, the army crossed Qingshui.
On the 18th, the vanguard arrived at the city of Huojia.
The next day, large groups of troops arrived one after another. At this time, they received a piece of news that was like a bolt from the blue: Huojia had surrendered.
The troops continued to march forward with great fanfare. On the 22nd, they recaptured Xiuwu County with a single drumbeat.
At this point, Shi Hu had lost all his territory, and the more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry he brought to Wen County were in an uproar.
On the 24th, the cavalry troops that had received supplies advanced in large numbers and wreaked havoc in the eastern half of Hanoi with an extremely powerful momentum.
Outside Wenxian City, the Huns, who had been besieging for a month and a half, were panicking and were considering retreating.
In fact, the siege was most fierce in the first ten days.
During these ten days, the Xiongnu attacked fiercely at all costs. A gap was even made in the city wall, and the enemy swarmed in. If it weren't for the hundreds of soldiers who fought hard to drive them out and then demolished the houses to repair the city wall, the city might have fallen.
The defenders in the city include 1,200 government soldiers and their followers, several hundred Jing clan followers, and more than 3,000 young men from Heyang, a total of about 5,000 people. They have held their ground until now, and more than half of them have been killed or wounded.
If they hadn't seen their own cavalry cruising on the periphery and the officers vigorously spreading the word that the Huns were short of food, their morale would have already fallen to the bottom - of course, the fact that the Huns were not very good at siege was also one of the reasons.
By now, after hearing that Shao Xun had crossed the river from Puyang and captured Ji County and other places, the Huns wanted to retreat.
On the 24th, Han Anxi General Liu Ya personally went to the north of Wen County and met the furious Shi Hu.
"Why should a real man worry about not having a wife?" Unconsciously, the temples of Liu Ya, who was once full of vigor and vitality, were already covered with a layer of white frost. His face was full of sorrow and anxiety, but he still patiently spoke to Shi Hu.
Shi Hu was a violent man, and he was dissatisfied. He said in a low voice, "I wonder how long General Anxi is going to fight? When we attacked Wen County, we lost 10,000 people. When we attacked Heyang, we lost another 2,000. Now Ji County is completely lost, and no less than 5,000 people have fallen under the sword of Shao. If we continue to fight, I think we will have no soldiers left to fight next year."
The others were a little surprised to hear Shi Hu speak like this.
But what he said was not wrong. They consumed so many people but gained nothing. There was not enough food and cattle and sheep. Now the only thing left was a large amount of pickled meat jerky. Did they fight just for the pickled meat jerky?
Liu Ya was angry and was about to yell, but when she saw everyone's expressions, she suppressed her anger.
In fact, Binh Yang did provide disaster relief to Hanoi.
A month ago, the noble families in Hedong collected 200,000 hu of grain and sent it to Yewang through the Chen Pass - but that was all.
After all, the Han Dynasty was a country made up of fragments.
Hanoi gave him Liu Ya, who held all the military and political power in his hands. The price was that he often had to face difficult situations alone.
In times of crisis, the imperial court would give some help, such as the four guards of the Eastern Palace who were once exiled here, and the 200,000 hu of grain used for disaster relief this time. But is it enough? Is it enough for him to resist Shao Xun? The answer is no.
Hanoi is flat and has no strategic location to defend. After fighting for so many years, the enemy is almost exhausted and can no longer defend it.
This year's locust plague dealt a fatal blow, causing the already difficult situation to show signs of collapse.
He had secretly sent his family to Chenguan. This was his opinion as a local general.
"Retreat." He was too lazy to argue with Shi Hu and the others. He was too tired to even curse at anyone. He just said to Shi Hu, "The thief general Wang Que'er has left the northern city of Heyang. You can do whatever you want. If it doesn't work, retreat back to Shangdang. I'll help you persuade Liu Runzhong. It's difficult for everyone. At this time, we should - tolerate each other for the sake of the country."
"What?" When they heard that Wang Que'er was leading his troops north, everyone changed color.
General Guo Rong, the General of the Northern Expedition, said in a lost voice: "Wang Que'er is an important general in Jin. He must have taken advantage of us by leading his troops here."
The others looked at each other, and their expressions were all very unhappy.
The year before last, Wang Que'er attacked Yewang, but after a long battle, he was forced to retreat. Even with such a good opportunity, he was not able to stay. That battle left a deep impression on the generals of Henei, Ji County, and Shangdang.
If they fail to capture the city this year and are about to retreat, will it be successful?
If you think about it carefully, Wang Que'er at least had no shortage of food the year before last, and had reinforcements to help him at the last moment. What do they have this year?
Did the imperial court in Pingyang send troops? Not necessarily.
They had only moved their tribes to Guanzhong before, but this year they had already forcibly moved the nobles there. To the emperor, Hanoi was just a human shield to resist Shao Xun.
Rely on Liu Yao? He was also in a difficult situation, the biggest problem was the lack of food.
What should I do?
Shi Hu suddenly stood up and walked out of the tent directly, without giving Liu Ya any more face.
Guo Rong stood up, sat down again, and stood up again. After hesitating for a while, he apologized and left.
"Where is Ji Long going?" Guo Rong chased after him and asked.
Shi Hu jumped on his horse, looked eastward, and said, "I want to take back Ji County."
Guo Rong was stunned.
******
Outside Shanyang City, the army surged past.
The four gates of the county were wide open. The county magistrate, county magistrate, county lieutenant and others had already fled with their families, leaving only a few low-ranking officials who trembled as they went out of the city and knelt to greet the new conqueror.
In the end, the conquerors ignored them completely. The army did not even stop for a moment, but continued to move forward, heading diagonally southwest. The county officials looked at each other and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
This isn't a bad thing.
If Lord Liang really wanted to enter the city, to put it bluntly, they wouldn't know what to use to entertain the troops.
What kind of world is this?
But people could do nothing to help. The war front had been full of people for years, and there was little food. When faced with a locust plague and a flood of refugees heading south, even the rich and powerful had to flee.
They waited for a while, and as it was getting dark, they prepared to go back and close the city gates. At this moment, hundreds of riders rushed over and shouted, "Mr. Liang is coming tonight, quickly prepare a quiet house."
"Yes." The county officials secretly groaned and agreed reluctantly. At the same time, they were also secretly guessing what had happened. Weren't they marching at full speed before?
No one told them.
In the second half of the night, more and more troops gathered outside Shanyang City.
The dull sound of horse hooves continued to ring out in all directions, east, west, south, and north, and the sound of weapons clashing and shouts of killing could be faintly heard in the wind.
They didn't know whether Liang Gongjin entered the city or not. They only knew that there was a commotion in the second half of the night, with people in the city shouting and horses neighing. It took a long time for the commotion to calm down.
After dawn, as soon as the county officials went out, they saw soldiers coming and going on the streets, filling up Shanyang City.
The remaining people in the county were recruited and marched out of the city to help the auxiliary soldiers pound rice and grind flour.
This was actually a good job, because they would not be short of food. The county officials worked very hard and called all their relatives to come to the auxiliary army camp to help.
Some county officials were even ordered to bring people to deliver food to the city.
When they climbed to the top of the city wall and looked into the distance inadvertently, they were stunned.
Amid the howling north wind, the two armies faced each other from afar in the wilderness.
One side flew a flag with the word "stone" on it, and the other side flew a flag with the word "gold" on it.
General Shi has few people on his side, and it’s hard to count how many there are, but maybe tens of thousands?
General Jin's troops were endless, and the most elite group in the middle stood solemnly in the wilderness without a single noise.
There were more soldiers on both wings, but their uniforms were different and messy. Some seemed to be wearing the old uniforms of Shi Le's time, or the red uniforms of Gou Xi when he was the governor of Yanzhou. In short, they were very messy and definitely not elite soldiers.
The cavalry of both sides have begun fighting.
After fighting for a while, General Shi's troops from the west were a little exhausted. At this time, the sound of horse hooves like thunder rang out from the north of Shanyang City, and hundreds of knights in silver helmets and armor rushed out with great momentum.
On both sides of them, there were even more bald knights, howling like wild beasts, covering the wings of the armored knights.
After they appeared, the Shi tribe cavalry turned their horses around and fled backwards.
Flags were waved repeatedly on the high platform in the west, but the retreating knights seemed to ignore them completely. They left the formation and disappeared into the distant horizon.
The infantrymen arrayed in the wilderness made a great noise.
The county official in charge of carrying food was so engrossed in watching that he even faintly heard crying and shouting.
The armored cavalry turned their horses, adjusted their direction, and charged directly into the Stone Army's infantry from the flank.
On the front battlefield, General Jin's troops advanced bravely and in unison.
The miscellaneous soldiers on both wings were excited, and their formation was a little messy. Moreover, they rushed too hard, and actually fell behind the elite soldiers in the middle, shouting loudly and rushing into the Stone Army infantry.
The shaved-head light cavalry seemed to know how to fight very well.
They left the armored cavalry behind and nimbly went behind the Stone Army's infantry, raining arrows down on them, instantly destroying the Stone Army's last hold.
"Have you seen enough?" The county official suddenly heard a voice in his ear. He turned his head and saw a one-eyed military officer looking at him with a smile.
The county official was startled and bowed his head to confess his crime.
This man was blind in one eye, and it looked like his wound had not fully healed yet, as he was wrapped tightly in gauze. Even in this state, he refused to stay and recuperate, and wanted to go with the army...
No wonder the Huns were defeated!
No one can match this level of energy, let alone Shi Hu and Liu Ya.
"Shi Hu has been defeated." The one-eyed military school looked outside the city and said disdainfully, "Without a home, what will the soldiers have to fight for? Not turning against them in battle would be the best way to show him respect."
Just as he said this, a large flag with the word "Guo" on it quickly moved in a corner of the Shi army's formation, and the soldiers dismounted and knelt in surrender in front of the formation.
The more than 3,000 infantrymen in the "Guo" formation were still relatively intact. They all threw down their weapons and knelt on the ground to beg for surrender.
The miscellaneous soldiers on both wings were very dissatisfied with the rapid charge and deliberately did not stop. After they had dispersed the enemy, they heard the sound of the gong and slowly stopped.
The battle seemed to have just begun and ended quickly.
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(End of this chapter)