Chapter 714 Attack backwards

Chapter 714 Attack backwards

Chapter 714 Attack backwards
Being attacked from both sides, with no way to retreat, this kind of situation was extremely dangerous in ancient wars, and it was inevitable that the army would be shaken.

Zhang Jing had just slept for two hours with his clothes on. When he was woken up by his personal guards, his face was full of impatience and helplessness.

"What happened?" Zhang Jing asked.

When I asked this question, I was already thinking, could it be that someone wants to surrender?

This is not unfounded.

Starting from the first month of the year, the imperial court began to move people, livestock and property to Guanzhong.

In fact, this is done every year, but it is particularly eye-catching this year because the Jin army has already invaded Bingzhou, and the danger of Taihang is shared by both the enemy and us.

In other words, the timing is not very appropriate, which can easily lead to people's associations and cause unrest.

But in the current situation, it’s not too wrong to do so.

Since thirty years ago, there has been less rainfall in Guanzhong and the climate has been dry, resulting in a large outflow of people to Bingzhou, Sizhou and Jingzhou.

This relatively arid climate continued until the severe drought ten years ago, and then gradually improved.

When the locust plague breaks out, everyone has it.

When the drought broke out, everyone suffered, but the situation in Guanzhong has been alleviated.

In the past two years, there has been too much rainfall on both sides of the Yellow River and in the Chang'an area, causing more than a thousand households to be displaced by the floods.

All signs indicate that the rain that God owed to the people of Guanzhong and Bingzhou will slowly be returned.

There had been a small increase in the repayment for two or three years before, so when there was a drought in Henan and Hebei, Bingzhou and Yongzhou were not affected. On the contrary, the grain harvest was good. As of now, the drought is a thing of the past, and the only thing that can hit Bingzhou, Yongzhou and Qinzhou is a locust plague. There is really no way to deal with it, so much so that the people of Bingzhou have eaten each other.

This year, there might be heavy rain in Bingzhou and Yongzhou, but he didn't know which one would be more serious. He hoped it would be Yongzhou, after all, that was not their territory.

To get back to the point, the imperial court saw that the rainfall in Guanzhong was gradually returning to normal, and even slightly more, and the cracked earth was slowly repairing, so they began to relocate households to the local area, and to farm and graze, and store food and fodder.

This was possible before, but it is best not to do so this year.

This is Zhang Jing’s opinion, but there is nothing he can do about it since what he said does not count.

Now there is some hesitation in the army. They all suspect that the emperor wants to retreat to protect Guanzhong. At most, he can use Wuling, Taihang and Zhongtiao as a screen and keep the three counties of Pingyang, Hedong and Xihe as the external barrier of Guanzhong. Pingyang and Hedong have complex water systems and fertile soil. To be honest, they are very rich. It would be a pity to lose them. If they can be protected, they must be protected. If the country's national strength is greatly boosted in the future and it counterattacks Guandong, it will also be a forward base, right?
In short, the army suspected that the emperor was going to abandon the four counties of Xinxing, Taiyuan, Leping and Shangdang to be captured by the Shao bandits. Unfortunately, Zhang Jing and his lord Shi Le were within this range.

King Zhongshan Liu Yao might have been abandoned, but it is also possible that he would be assisted in his retreat.

In short, I feel very upset, worried and disappointed.

How can we maintain a strong fighting spirit in such a situation? We have held out for several days and have done our duty to the Emperor of Pingyang. Zhang Jing would not be surprised if someone surrendered, although he had been working hard to prevent such a thing.

"Sima, there is a large enemy army behind the pass and they have broken through the baggage camp." said the personal soldier.

Zhang Jing stood up suddenly, took down his bow and sword from the wall, and asked, "Which noble family rebelled? It shouldn't be. The noble families in Leping are scattered in various valleys. How can they be easily connected?"

As he was speaking, a few more soldiers came up and helped Zhang Jing put on his armor.

"Let's go and have a look." Seeing that the personal soldier who reported the news could not explain anything, Zhang Jing calmed down, strode out, and ordered: "Immediately gather all the generals to the West Gate Tower to discuss the matter."

Jingxing Pass is called a pass, but in fact it is just a small, narrow and cramped area sandwiched between two east and west walls.

There are two gates, namely the East Gate and the West Gate. There are no civilians in the city because there is a lack of sufficient living space. Almost all the space is used to build military barracks, arsenals, and granaries. This fortress was built purely for war and does not take into account any people's livelihood needs.

The east and west gates were very close, and Zhang Jing arrived there quickly.

The city was filled with pale-faced soldiers.

Zhang Jing looked at them and saw surprise, fear and deep despair in their eyes.

Just like me.

There was no expression of emotion on his face. He silently climbed up to the top of the city wall and looked around.

This way, this way, and that way...

It seemed as if there were battles everywhere, noises everywhere, and the sound of weapons clashing everywhere. People who didn't know the truth would have thought that the enemy was overwhelming and endless, and there might be tens of thousands of them.

But Zhang Jing had rich experience in battle. He only took a quick look, then listened carefully to the sounds coming from the night wind, and then looked at the figures near the various fire points. He immediately came to a conclusion: the attacking enemy did not exceed three thousand!

They can still be saved.

The officers came up one after another. Except for those who were commanding the battle and those on standby, the remaining eight officers were all present.

They looked panicked, and hesitated to speak. At the critical moment of life and death, they seemed to be no better than ordinary soldiers. In the end, everyone turned their eyes to Zhang Jing.

Zhang Jing was silent for a long time.

Everyone waited silently.

After waiting for an unknown amount of time, the sounds of killing in the east of the city gradually died down. Everyone knew that this was because the Jin army had failed to capture the city, and the remaining soldiers had retreated. After that, there would usually be a period of silence until the offensive was restarted.

Zhang Jing turned around, looked at everyone, and asked, "Do you want to live?"

"Yes." Everyone responded.

"Do you want to reunite with your parents, wife and children?" Zhang Jing asked again.

"Yes." Everyone was excited. "Then follow my orders." Zhang Jing glanced at everyone and said.

"We are willing to obey Sima's orders." Everyone said in unison.

"Take advantage of this opportunity to open the west gate and attack backwards!" Zhang Jing paused here.

Just when the officers thought that they were going to take the initiative to attack and eliminate the threat from the rear, Zhang Jing added: "Gather the remaining courage, and attack from the rear in the dark. The enemy will definitely not be able to stop us. After we break through, we will return to Xinxing and never come to this damn place again!"

"Yes, sir!" The officers responded loudly, and then went to prepare.

Not long after, when someone from the East City came to report that the Jin bandits were forming their battle array in the wilderness again, preparing to launch an attack, the West Gate suddenly opened, and countless soldiers rushed out silently.

Hundreds of well-armored warriors were in the front, and the rest followed closely behind. After rushing out of the city gate, they shouted loudly and attacked fiercely.

Zhang Jing's judgment was very accurate.

Lu Ya had less than two thousand soldiers with him. One of them was staying in the mountains and forests, making noises and shouting to confuse the enemy; one of them was setting fires everywhere to create chaos; one of them was chasing the enemy to the north and was in a state of disarray; only less than a thousand people were pulling some baggage carts across the road, ready to block the enemy in the city.

The battle was fierce from the beginning.

The enemy rushed to the baggage wagons like crazy, stabbing with spears and slashing with swords. In the dark night, archers kept shooting, not caring whether their shots were accurate or not, or whether they would hit their own people. They just poured out the arrows in their hands without caring about anything else.

A mere thousand people can't stop it.

The enemy climbed over the baggage wagons, broke up the Qingzhou soldiers' formation, and continued to charge into the darkness.

The Qingzhou soldiers were forced to disperse to both sides, and while running, they secretly cursed that they were all a bunch of lunatics. It was also at this time that they deeply understood the true meaning of the military strategy of "do not stop the returning troops" - for some troops, if you block their desire to return home, you will really pay a heavy price.

Lu Ya was so overwhelmed that his head was turned. The soldiers around him fell one after another. He was also hit by an arrow and stumbled into the forest on the right.

After calming down, he looked at the post road in the light of the fire and found that the enemy did not chase them at all, but ran westward in a swarm. At the beginning, they were quite organized, but as they ran, their formation became a little scattered, and they seemed to be trying to escape. He suddenly realized.

Seeing that hundreds of soldiers were gathering around him, he stopped them and said, "Don't act rashly. When the enemy soldiers pass by, hit their tail! Hit their tail!"

The soldiers were confused, but some military students came to their senses and realized that the defenders of Jingxing were scrambling to escape!
Those people who were blocking the road were really unlucky. They had to withstand the most fierce attack of the enemy and fight at the moment when the enemy's morale was at its highest.

Based on this judgment, they could have opened up the post road, gathered their troops, and then pursued the enemy from behind.

Blood will cool, morale will drop, and strength will wane.

When the fleeing enemy found that there was no obstacle ahead, the desire to survive would make them flee irrationally. At that time, no matter how the officers shouted, it was useless and they could not pull them back.

At this time, attacking from the rear of the enemy would have a miraculous effect.

What a pity! I didn't think of it in such a hurry.

It took a long time for the enemy to retreat. When Lu Ya saw that there were already three or four hundred people gathered around him, he immediately ordered an attack.

Morale is so mysterious!

The enemy, who had been so brave just now, had now almost lost all their fighting spirit. They didn't want to stop fighting at all and only wanted to escape.

The Qingzhou army, which had just been beaten to a pulp, was now full of morale. They rushed down the hillside, cut off the enemy army in the middle, and stopped the last few hundred people.

The enemy army was ready to fight back, but they heard enthusiastic cheers from above the city wall. There was no doubt that the Jin army had already reached the top of the city wall, and Jingxing Pass was about to be broken.

Almost in an instant, the momentum they had raised declined visibly.

Some dropped their weapons and knelt in surrender.

Some people fled into the mountains or deep valleys, running for their lives.

Some people gritted their teeth and rushed forward, but they were quickly wiped out.

Another group of defeated soldiers rushed out of the city in a noisy manner. They were stunned when they saw a large number of their own soldiers throwing down their weapons and kneeling on the ground.

Looking ahead, there was a blazing fire. I didn't know how many people had come in the dark night, and I immediately lost my fighting spirit.

The shouting and screaming behind me were getting closer and closer.

They hesitated for a moment, then dropped their weapons and surrendered.

On the night of March 319 in the third year of Shengui (), Liu Ling's troops attacked from both sides and captured Jingxing Pass.

After learning that Zhang Jing had led his troops to flee, Liu Ling personally led his troops in pursuit.

In the afternoon of the 28th, the enemy's rear guard was intercepted, 200 heads were beheaded, and more than 1,000 were captured.

On the evening of the 29th, they chased the enemy to the east of Shangai County, killed more than a hundred people and captured a thousand.

On the 30th, they continued to pursue westward and advanced towards Shouyang (now Shouyang).

Almost at the same time, the commanders of the forts and the owners of the manors who received the news took out the Jin flag on the spot to express their submission.

As the news spread, the wealthy families in Leping, Taiyuan, Xinxing and other places were in an uproar, and their eagerness to try was obvious.

The Huns' rule in this area was tending to collapse.

(End of this chapter)