Chapter 718 Forked Road

Chapter 718 Forked Road

Chapter 718 Forked Road
When the big flag with the Chinese character "Jin" was hoisted on Danzhu Ridge, on the ancient battlefield of Changping, all the troops, whether they were attacking or resting, burst into warm cheers.

After more than half a month of fierce fighting, with thousands of casualties, they finally captured the boundary mountains between the north and south parts of Shangdang.

Hou Feihu threw away the drumstick and looked north.

It is really not that easy to fight. This result was achieved only after the Jingxing Pass was breached and the enemy's morale was shaken. If there had not been Li Zhong's breakthrough, or if there was only one army from Shangdang to the north, I don't know how many people would have been killed or injured.

Changping has been the site of countless wars, both large and small, throughout the ages, with new souls stacking up against old ghosts. It is definitely the burial place destined by God.

He took a deep breath, got off the platform, turned over and mounted on the horse.

After breaking through this ridge, the army rushed northward, directly attacking Lu County (the seat of Shangdang) and Xiangyuan, and in one fell swoop captured the gateway to Jin territory, where they joined forces with Li Chong.

Just as he was about to gallop away, a messenger brought a military report: the Huns sent troops from Wuling to attack Gaodu.

He was startled, but when he looked again, he saw that there were only two thousand soldiers, and he was relieved immediately. Gaodu was guarded by the governor Liu Runzhong and the general's mansion supervisor Liu Shan. The former had tens of thousands of tribal soldiers, and the latter had two thousand five hundred Yanzhou soldiers. They could definitely drive away the two thousand enemy troops that were difficult to supply.

The battle of Danzhuling was a bloody mess, but he did not mobilize this army. To put it bluntly, he was afraid that Liu Cong would cross the mountains and cut off the army's retreat.

Especially after consulting the classics, I learned that at the turn of spring and summer, the water level (Huoze River, a tributary of Qinshui River) rose, and the Qin general Wang He used to transport food by boat, saving a long section of mountain road. It happened that there was a lot of rain this year, so it is hard to guarantee that the Xiongnu would not transport food by water to reduce losses and support more troops to travel east.

After Shao Xun learned of his deployment and reasons, he openly said to everyone, "If you don't know astronomy and geography, you are not worthy of being a general." He also mentioned that "Que'er was calm and tenacious," "Jin San was brave and resolute," and "Flying Tiger was meticulous," which showed his admiration for him.

Today, his deployment finally took effect.

Liu Cong's sneak attack did not achieve its effect, so the army had no worries about its retreat and could march northward without worry.

On the night of April 12, the army crossed mountains and ridges and reached 20 miles north of Danzhu Ridge, where they caught up with Liu Yao's rear guard.

The Heilongjiang Army deployed its troops and engaged the enemy in a field battle, defeating them severely and beheading more than a thousand of them.

In the dark night, Liu Yao ran wildly and escaped from the pursuers.

At this time, a fork in the road appeared ahead.

Liu Yao suddenly stopped.

The guards were puzzled, but more puzzled. They finally managed to escape the pursuers in the dark, why did they stop and run?
Liu Yao ignored them and just stared towards the west, which was the direction of Changzi County.

The northern road of Wuling, with Pingyang at the west end and Changzi at the east end.

If we head towards Changzi now, we can rely on the county town and hold out for a while. Even if we fail to hold it in the end, we still have a chance to break out and head back to Pingyang via the Wuling North Road.

If you do not run west to Changzi, but continue to head north, you can return to Huguan (county, not Hukouguan) and Luxian, and try your best to integrate the human and material resources of the six counties in the north, making a last-ditch effort.

The choice of fate is before him, and the way to go is just a matter of thought.

The defeated soldiers who followed him back seemed to have thought of this as well. They held their breath and waited for Liu Yao to make a decision.

Liu Yao did not think for too long. After a long sigh towards the west, he turned around, looked at everyone, and said, "The defeat at Danzhuling is not your fault. It was really because the battle situation was too dangerous and the army's morale was unstable, which led to this. The battle has come to this point, and I don't want to lie to you anymore. Shangdang and Jinyang are powerless to recover."

Everyone listened quietly, without much change on their numb faces.

"There is a fork in the road ahead. Going west will lead you to Changzi, and going north will lead you back to Shangdang." Liu Yao added, "The soldiers fought bloody battles at Danzhu Ridge, killing and wounding nearly 10,000 Shao soldiers. You can be said to have done your best. Now that things have come to this, I don't have the face to drag you to be buried with me. You can choose your own way."

"Where is the Grand Commander going?" the general couldn't help but ask.

Liu Yao sighed and said, "I will go back to Shangdang and deal with Li Zhong and Hou Feihu."

"Wherever the Grand Commander goes, I will go," said the general.

This is a matter of course.

Where else can the commander-in-chief's personal army go? Even if the commander-in-chief wants to die, they must die with him, otherwise they will die socially or even physically.

Outside the imperial army, among the defeated soldiers in the various camps, there were passionate voices: "We swear to follow the Grand Commander until death."

Unfortunately, the voices were a bit sparse, and many people kept their heads down and remained silent.

This is the reality of defeat.

Even ants try to survive, let alone humans? After all, only a few are willing to die bravely.

"Good!" Liu Yao suddenly smiled, sweeping away his previous dejection, and said: "In the face of great defeat, there are still so many brave men following me. What else can I ask for in life? Let's go back to Shangdang."

"Go back to Shangdang." Thousands of people followed closely and shouted.

The others looked at each other in bewilderment at first, then bowed to Liu Yao, and under the guidance of their respective military academies, ran towards Changzi County.

After Liu Yao left, many defeated soldiers came back one after another.

As with their previous choice, most of the defeated soldiers marched west at night towards Changzi, while a small number continued to head north.

The Black Sword Army arrived at the fork in the road just before dawn. Without any hesitation, they pursued northward. On the 15th, they defeated two local warlords who were unaware of the situation along the way.

In the evening of the same day, they arrived outside Huguan County, and after a drum beat, they captured the city which had almost no defenders.

When they arrived here, they stopped for a while, waiting for supplies and follow-up troops.

Liu Yao already has nowhere to escape, so there is no need to chase him so urgently.

******
On the 12th, Li Chong led his troops south and spent a day crossing the Dongguo (same as "Wo") River.

On the morning of the 15th, they arrived at the northeast of Qi County (now Taigu District) and encountered the cavalry of Taiyuan Wang. After arresting him, they hung him up and tortured him. After learning that Wen Qiao's attempt to seize Qi County had failed, they fled to the southwest and persuaded the three counties of Jingling, Zhongdu and Wu to surrender.

Li Chong immediately sent a messenger to bypass Qi County and rush to Jingling, ordering Wen Qiao to lead the troops of the three counties to the north to attack Qi County and delay the Wang family's troops.

They then continued south into the mountains, marching along the Jianggu River (now Xiangyu River) valley post road, and arrived at Jianggu in the evening of the 16th.

There were more than a thousand local nobles armed with troops, who were ordered by Liu Yao to guard Jianggu, the core hub connecting Shangdang and Taiyuan. However, they had no intention of fighting and surrendered as soon as the army arrived.

It was also at this time that Li Chong learned from the surrendered troops that Hou Feihu had already broken through Danzhuling and was pursuing in the direction of Hukou County.

Almost at the same time, another piece of news came: the Wang family of Taiyuan surrendered in Qi County.

Li Chong just sneered after hearing this.

In times of turmoil, there are always people who are confused and do ridiculous things like being rude at first and respectful later. It is not for him to decide what to do with the Wang family of Taiyuan. It is up to Lord Liang to decide.

This family is considered a first-class wealthy family in the north, and is as famous as the Wang family of Langya, the Yang family of Taishan, the Pei family of Hedong, and so on. It is the largest wealthy family in Bingzhou.

Not only were they deeply entangled with the Xiongnu and their interests were closely bound together, but some of them also went south to Jianye to serve as officials - people who had been affiliated with Sima Yue in the past, such as Wang Cheng, who had served successively as Sima Yue's secretary, teacher of the crown prince Sima Pi, and governor of Donghai.

Even officials in Luoyang were included.

The division of officials into different parts is an old routine of the aristocratic families.

But the main branch of the Wang family was attached to the Xiongnu. Many years before Jinyang was conquered, the Wang family sent a considerable number of clansmen to settle in Pi County, Pingyang County, where they bought land and manors, recruited refugees, and prospered.

Li Zhong was not optimistic about the future of the Taiyuan Wang family. Perhaps the entire clan would not be exterminated, but the main branch of Qi County would definitely be severely punished. From now on, only the Wang branch would exist.

At noon on the 20th, the 5,000-strong army crossed Xuancheling (now Huanghualing in Yushe County) and heard that Hou Feihu had conquered Huguan County. After resting for three or four days and replenishing supplies, they set out for Lu County.

Li Chong ordered to rest for two days and wait for supplies.

At this point in the battle, there is no need to rush.

By this time, he had pieced together the battle situation in Shangdang. To his surprise, Liu Yao did not flee westward, but chose to live and die with Shangdang.

But if you think about it carefully, it makes sense.

As the King of Zhongshan, you were in charge of the wars in Shangdang, Leping, Taiyuan and Xinxing counties. When he suffered a disastrous defeat, shouldn't he be held responsible?
Even if he ran back to Pingyang, he would most likely die, and even his family would be implicated.

If he died in battle at Shangdang, his family would be safe.

If you want to die or save your family, there is almost no hesitation and you will definitely choose to sacrifice yourself.

While resting, Li Chong was not idle either. He sent out vanguard cavalry to Wuxiang County, seventy miles south, and successfully persuaded the county to surrender.

The most dangerous part of the post road connecting Shangdang and Jinyang is between Yushe and Taigu in later generations.

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, many passes were set up, and the Sui and Tang dynasties continued, such as Xuanche Pass located in Huanghualing (which is also the highest point of Jianggu Avenue, similar to Danzhuling), and Shihui Pass located in the north of Yushe.

Because the war in Bingzhou during the Western Jin Dynasty was not as intense as during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Xuanche Pass, Shihui Pass, Changping Pass (on Danzhu Ridge) and others did not exist, but this greatly facilitated the war.

On the 22nd, the army marched south again. At this time, Li Zhong received news again: Upon hearing of the defeat in the rear, the commander of Hukou Pass surrendered.

"The final nail has been driven into Liu Yao's coffin." Li Chong sighed upon hearing the news.

Liu Yao's abilities were actually not bad, and he had not made any obvious mistakes in the past few years. His failure had little to do with his personal abilities, but more to do with the national strength of the Xiongnu.

Once Hukou Pass was surrendered, not only did Yang Dan's troops swarm in, but even Duke Liang led a large army into Shangdang. Liu Yao was surrounded on all sides and had no way of survival.

On the 25th, the army entered the Zhuozhang River Valley and camped on Songmen Ridge that night.

At this time, Xiangyuan County, 30 miles south of Songmen Ridge, had been surrendered by Hou Feihu, and other counties also sent envoys to negotiate surrender matters.

By this time in the entire Shangdang County, only the seat of government Lu County and Changzi County to the west had not surrendered.

Li Chong camped at Songmen Ridge and did not move. He sent a messenger to report to Lord Liang and ask for instructions on the next move.

Simply put, he felt that there was no point in going south, so it would be better to turn north, join Liu Ling, and try to encircle and annihilate thousands of Liu Yasheng's troops.

(End of this chapter)