Chapter 708 3th Route Army
Chapter 708 Three Armies
Ten thousand cavalrymen pressed forward like a mountain. The enemy commander Cai Jiande was knocked off his horse by a spear from Su Dingfang. Five thousand infantrymen collapsed instantly and turned around to flee.
The Wagang Army collapsed, and the soldiers scrambled to escape. At this moment, everyone only wanted to escape. The soldiers threw away their armor, weapons, and everything they could throw away, just thinking about running faster than others.
But no matter how fast they ran, they could not outrun the horses. The cavalry surpassed the Wagang soldiers and gradually closed in to surround them. The cavalry shouted, "Those who surrender will not be killed! Those who surrender will not be killed!"
The Wagang soldiers saw a glimmer of hope in their despair, and they all knelt down and raised their hands high.
Three days later, Luo Shixin's army arrived at Wagang Mountain.
Wagang Mountain is not actually a mountain, but a piece of earthy hilly area gradually formed by the accumulation of silt from the Yellow River over thousands of years.
The mountain is not high, only a hundred feet high, but it is very large, covering an area of a hundred miles in radius, and is covered with gullies and lush forests. The terrain is very complicated. Officers and soldiers came to clear it out many times, but were defeated by the Wagang Army which took advantage of the terrain.
But after Su Dingfang captured 5,000 Wagang prisoners of war, the Wagang Army's terrain advantage disappeared. The Sui army interrogated hundreds of people and quickly drew a detailed topographic map of Wagang Village.
Luo Shixin immediately divided his troops into three groups and went into the mountains to encircle and suppress the Wagang Army. He led 20,000 troops in the middle, Qin Qiong led 15,000 troops in the west, and Li Jing and Su Dingfang led 15,000 troops in the east.
The three armies broke into Wagangzhai. There were only 10,000 troops led by Wang Bo in Wagangzhai. It depended on who could find this army.
Luo Shixin led his troops to the main camp of the Wagang Army. There were many wooden buildings here, but no one was there. It was a completely empty camp. Luo Shixin ordered the Wagang camp to be set on fire.
The fire blazed fiercely and the Wagang Village was engulfed in flames. Thick smoke billowed from the top of the mountain and could be seen dozens of miles away.
Qin Qiong led 15,000 troops to the western camp of the Wagang Army. This was Shan Xiongxin's large camp, and it was also empty. Qin Qiong set fire to the camp in accordance with the prior agreement.
Without the camp, the Wagang Army could not stay in the mountains for long. Soon, Hao Xiaode’s camp in the east was also caught on fire. After years of operation, the Wagang Army was finally completely burned down by the fire.
At this time, night fell, Qin Qiong took his army to rest on a hill and deployed patrols. Unfortunately, Cheng Yaojin was chosen to patrol at night.
He was full of complaints, muttering, "We were clearly going to spend the night, why didn't they burn the camp after daybreak? We were forced to sleep in the open on the hill. I don't know what they were thinking. They didn't want good conditions, but chose to suffer!"
He found a big pine tree, lay down against it, and told his men, "All of you go on patrol, and notify me immediately if anything happens!"
Cheng Yaojin closed his eyes and rested for a moment, then fell into a deep sleep. At two o'clock in the morning, Cheng Yaojin was awakened by the urge to urinate. He had to get up, walked to the cliff with sleepy eyes, and stood in front of the cliff to urinate.
Suddenly, Cheng Yaojin's eyes blurred, and he seemed to see a cluster of bushes move. He rubbed his eyes and looked carefully, only to see a dark shadow hidden behind the bushes dozens of steps away. There was more than one, and there were countless dark shadows hidden. Cheng Yaojin was startled and suddenly woke up. It turned out that the enemy was hiding under their noses.
"I'm going to go find a pot of wine to drink!"
He muttered to himself, turned around and walked away. After walking about twenty steps, he ran away, shouting, "The enemy is coming! The enemy is coming!"
The sleeping soldiers were awakened by his hoarse voice and stood up one after another. Qin Qiong came forward and asked, "Where are the enemy troops?"
Cheng Yaojin turned around and pointed, "On the hillside ahead, they are hiding behind the bushes."
Qin Qiong knew that Cheng Yaojin's shouting must have alarmed the enemy, so he immediately ordered, "All troops, line up!"
The army quickly formed a battle line. At this moment, a large group of enemy troops rushed up the hillside and attacked the Sui army. They had originally planned to launch a sneak attack on the Sui army at three o'clock in the morning, but they did not expect to be discovered by Cheng Yaojin, which made them lose the opportunity for the sneak attack.
Wang Bo was also desperate. Since he had been caught, he would fight to the death. The Sui army had already formed a battle array. Thousands of crossbowmen in front crouched and fired with crossbows, and the spearmen in the back held shields and spears, forming a shield mountain.
The dense crossbow arrows made the enemy soldiers fall one after another. The leather armor of the Wagang Army could not withstand the power of the crossbow arrows. In just two rounds of arrows, two thousand soldiers fell. Wang Bo saw that the situation was not good, and his courage disappeared. He shouted: "Retreat! Retreat!"
The remaining 8,000 soldiers turned around and retreated. Qin Qiong shouted, "Blow the horn and chase them!"
"Woo——"
The Sui army horns sounded, and the 15,000 soldiers shouted, "Kill!"
The overwhelming Sui army chased after the Wagang army, and the Wagang army was defeated. The soldiers were killed so hard that blood flowed like a river, corpses were everywhere, and countless people knelt down to surrender. The main general Wang Bo also died in the chaos.
Xiao Xia's army of 100,000 arrived at Chenliu County, Liang County.
Xiao Xia was also very clear that this northern expedition would be much easier than the first time. The reason was very simple. The main force of the Wagang Army had already moved north, and how could the remaining troops possibly resist his three armies?
In the cabin, Xiao Xia sat in front of the sand table in deep thought. He discovered a strategic place that was forgotten, Hongnong County. Hongnong County is located between Luoyang and Tongguan, but not on the ancient Xiaohan Road. It is important, but it has nothing to do with the battle between Luoyang and Chang'an. It is unimportant, but it can be attacked at any time to capture Hangu Pass and cut off the ancient Xiaohan Road.
More importantly, the flag of Hongnong County on the sand table was white, indicating that there was no army stationed in Hongnong County. Xiao Xia looked down along the sand table and found that there was a pass at the junction of Hongnong County and Xiangguo County, called Zhuyang Pass. A narrow passage showed that it was possible to enter Hongnong County from Xiangguo County.
Hongnong County was ignored by both Chang'an and Luoyang. It would be a pity if I didn't seize this opportunity.
At this time, a soldier said at the door: "Your Highness, Yingchuan County battle report!"
"Let him in!"
After a while, a messenger walked into the cabin, knelt on one knee and reported, "Your Highness, General Zhang Xutuo defeated Meng Rang's army in Yingchuan County, beheaded the enemy general Meng Rang, and captured more than 7,000 enemies."
Xiao Xia nodded, and suddenly an idea came to his mind, and he wanted to let Zhang Xutuo go to Hongnong County.
He immediately wrote a military order and gave it to the messenger, saying, "Give my order to General Zhang Xutuo and ask him to continue his efforts and capture Xiangguo County!"
Xiangguo County is the Pingdingshan City in later generations. It currently belongs to the territory of Luoyang Wang Shichong. If you take over Xiangguo County, you can go north and take over Hongnong County.
The messenger took the order and hurried away. At this time, another soldier came to report, "General Luo Shixin has led the army to Fengqiu County and can attack Xingyang County at any time!"
Xiao Xia nodded and sent someone to find General Wang Junkuo and said, "You lead 30,000 troops to attack Xinzheng County in the south. After capturing Xinzheng County, turn north and cooperate with my army to encircle Guancheng County!"
"I humbly obey my orders!"
Xinzheng County is located in the southern part of Xingyang County. Originally, Zhang Xutuo's army went north as the southern army to surround Xingyang. Now Zhang Xutuo has another mission, so Xiao Xia decided to let Wang Junkuo take the southern route to surround Xingyang.
Wang Junkuo left, and Xiao Xia kept his troops in place, waiting for news from Wang Junkuo. Three days later, news came that Wang Junkuo had led 30,000 troops to occupy Xinzheng County.
Xiao Xia immediately issued an order, and the three armies marched into Xingyang County together, heading towards Guancheng County.
(End of this chapter)