Chapter 698: Chaos when food runs out
Chapter 698: Chaos when food runs out
The donkey meat and mule meat were eaten up. At night, the 80,000 soldiers tasted hunger for the first time. They could only lean against the stone wall and drink water to resist hunger. Soon, the water was almost finished.
In the middle of the night, the soldiers began to work. They tied their belts into a long rope, hung their helmets on it, and went to the Yangtze River to scoop water. This was a good trick, at least the drinking water problem was solved, but what about food?
After being hungry all night, they still had nothing to eat the next morning. The soldiers were so hungry that they felt dizzy, anxious, and their legs were weak, making it difficult for them to walk. People would feel hungry if they didn't eat for one meal, let alone two meals.
The soldiers were dissatisfied and began to make noises. They realized that Yu Wenzhi was right. If they stayed in Jiangjin County, they might find a way to cross the river. For example, they could find a group of soldiers who were good at swimming and swim across the Yangtze River to occupy the county, and then use the county resources to build a floating bridge. Of course, these were all hindsight. Why didn't they think of this method at the time? But this did not prevent the lower-level soldiers from resentment against Sima Dekan and the other five.
The gap of only three meters wide became an insurmountable natural barrier for the 80,000-strong army. However, when people were forced into a corner, there was still a way. Sima Dekan finally thought of a solution. He ordered the soldiers to tie up the spears with ropes and use two thousand spears to make a four-meter-long spear bridge, which was just right above the gap.
Sima Dekan ordered the soldiers to march in formation with shields raised, but it was no use. Just as hundreds of soldiers walked a few dozen steps past the spear bridge, there was another sudden explosion on the mountain road, causing the soldiers to jump around and scream. The soldiers at the back turned around and fled, and the spear bridge broke in the chaos. Dozens of soldiers screamed and fell off the cliff, and the spear bridge fell with it.
The more than 200 soldiers left in the west were desperate and surrendered one after another. Zhou Faming ordered the army to accept the surrender of the other side's soldiers. The more than 200 soldiers who were originally sympathized suddenly became the envy of the opposite side.
Sima Dekan was in despair. The enemy's fire bombs were too powerful and they could not get through at all. This method failed, so he had to return to the central army with his personal soldiers.
But what Sima Dekan could not have imagined was that the surrender of more than 200 people made the other soldiers realize that they could surrender! As long as they surrendered, they could save their lives.
The soldiers shouted, "We surrender! We surrender!"
Of course they could surrender. Zhou Faming ordered the soldiers to put wooden boards on the gap and ordered all the surrendering soldiers to put down their weapons and armor, raise their hands and walk over. Groups of soldiers raised their hands and walked across the wooden bridge, and were given a new life.
The commander in charge of the rear army was Zhao Wentuo, a brave general. He hated Sima Dekan and others deeply, so he did not report the surrender of the soldiers, allowing the soldiers of the rear army to surrender continuously.
After more than 10,000 soldiers of the rear army surrendered, Sima Dekan finally got the news. He was furious and ordered Pei Qiantong to lead more than 100 military soldiers to stop the surrender and to put Zhao Wentuo in a formation on the spot.
Zhao Wentu knew that Sima Dekan would send people to cause trouble for him, so he was prepared. When Pei Qiantong rushed over with more than a hundred military soldiers, he was surrounded by thousands of angry soldiers. The soldiers in front and behind shot arrows together, and Pei Qiantong and more than a hundred of his men were shot like hedgehogs and died on the spot.
Zhao Wentuo decided to go all out and led thousands of soldiers in mutiny. They received steamed buns from the Sui army and ate two steamed buns each. After they had enough strength, they began to seek revenge against Sima Dekan under the leadership of Zhao Wentuo.
"Brothers who don't want to starve to death, follow me and kill Sima Dekan. We will surrender to the King of Jin, and we can have enough food and share the permanent land!"
Having enough food is the immediate concern, and getting permanent land is the hope. The soldiers were excited, and more and more soldiers followed Zhao Wentuo, gradually growing from a few thousand to tens of thousands.
Sima Dekan was discussing countermeasures with several generals. The food supply had been cut off for two meals, and if they didn't find a solution, the soldiers would rebel.
The solution they thought of was to have a group of soldiers swim to the other side, pull up a few long ropes, and then quickly build a rope bridge. Although there was no food on the other side, there were a lot of plants on the mountain. By eating some wild vegetables and tree bark, the generals might even be able to eat game. Then the army could return to Jiangjin County, and there would be hope.
At this time, shouts of killing suddenly rang out from the west. Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Sima Dekan asked sternly, "What happened?"
A leader of the personal guards came running over, crying, "The soldiers have mutinied, Zhao Wentuo is coming with countless soldiers, please make a quick decision, General!"
What's the point of making a decision? Let's run away! Sima Dekan and his generals turned around and fled to the east. Unexpectedly, the front army in the east also mutinied. It was the soldiers led by Wei Xiaoze, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War and the Sima of the front army, who mutinied.
Wei Xiaoze was the son of Wei Xuan, and Chen Botu, who participated in the rebellion, was originally a general under Wei Xuan. With Chen Botu's intercession, Wei Xiaoze was spared and continued to serve as the Minister of War and Sima of the Vanguard Army.
Wei Xiaoze took advantage of the opportunity when Chen Botu, the commander of the vanguard army, went to the central army to participate in discussions, and led 20,000 vanguard troops to mutiny.
The hungry soldiers in the central army also mutinied under the influence of Zhao Wentu and Wei Xiaoze. Sima Dekan, his generals and hundreds of his personal soldiers were left with nowhere to go and were hacked to death by the angry soldiers.
Wei Xiaoze ordered the head to be chopped off and the body to be kicked off the cliff.
The entire army surrendered, and 80,000 soldiers finally ate hot porridge and steamed buns. Countless soldiers were so excited that tears flowed down their cheeks.
Zhou Faming ordered the engineering soldiers to repair the mountain road using plank roads. The next morning, 20,000 troops and 80,000 surrendered soldiers returned to Ba County.
These 80,000-strong army was originally the elite army rebuilt by Emperor Yang Guang after the war in Korea. It was an elite army in terms of equipment and training. These elite troops mainly came from Guanzhong, Luoyang, Central Plains and Shandong.
Zhou Faming left behind Zhao Wentuo, Wei Xiaoze and 30,000 soldiers from the Central Plains and Shandong provinces, whose hometowns had already become the territories of the King of Jin.
The remaining 50,000 soldiers were sent to Jingxiang for reorganization. At the same time, the captured ships were also sent to Jingxiang.
Looking at the arrival of 80,000 surrendered troops, Qiu He was truly shocked. He did not expect that the Jin King's army was so powerful that they captured 80,000 troops and more than 2,000 warships without bloodshed in just a few days.
Qiu He stood on the top of the city wall, sighed and said to his two sons: "With the King of Jin here, it is too early to say that the Sui Dynasty is about to perish. Although Li Yuan has Guanlong and Hedong, Xiao Xia also has the entire south of the Yangtze River as well as Shandong and the Central Plains. They are evenly matched, especially since the King of Jin has the powerful weapon Iron Fire Thunder. Li Yuan may not win!"
Master Qiu said in a deep voice: "The situation in Chang'an is very clear. Emperor Yang You is just a puppet. Once everyone is clearly divided, Li Yuan will no longer need to pretend to be the Sui Dynasty. He will definitely establish his own dynasty. Since father has decided to continue to be loyal to the Sui Dynasty, he must not waver, otherwise neither side will accept us."
Qiu He nodded slightly. He agreed with his eldest son's attitude. At this time, he must stand firm, especially since the Tang Dynasty envoy Jiang Jiliang died in his hands. Jiang Jiliang had followed Li Yuan since Taiyuan. How could Li Yuan tolerate him again?
Qiu He then said to his second son Qiu Xinggong, "I have already made an agreement with Zhou Faming that you will lead the army to Fuling County. This is also a test for our Qiu family. If you can withstand the test, the King of Jin will treat our descendants well. After all, he was my subordinate in the past, and I have a favor for him."
Qiu Xinggong bowed and said, "Please rest assured, father. I will never let the Qiu family fall off the list of merits in the revival of the Sui Dynasty!"
The war was not over yet, and Li Xiaogong's army was on its way south. Li Xiaogong's purpose was of course to intercept Yu Wenzhi's army and supplies, so he led his army to take a shortcut, heading southeast from Chengdu, crossing the Mianshui River into Ziyang County, and then east into Fuling County, and then directly along the Xihan River to Ba County, setting up a checkpoint in Ba County to intercept Yu Wenzhi's army that had taken a long detour.
However, Li Xiaogong could never have imagined that the Jin Wang army had already seized Badong County and Ba County and persuaded Qiu He to surrender. What was even more fatal was that they had intercepted Yu Wenzhi's 80,000 troops in advance, and Yu Wenzhi had been wiped out.
Shen Guang led 60 warships northward along the West Han River and arrived at Fuling County early in the morning. At the same time, 6,000 troops led by Qiu Xinggong also arrived. At this time, Li Xiaogong's 10,000 vanguard troops were still 30 miles away from Fuling County. Qiu Xinggong took the lead and entered the county town and made deployments.
(End of this chapter)