Chapter 722: Receiving New Emergencies
Chapter 722: Receiving New Emergencies
Jin Zheng arrived in the evening of the 25th.
Along the way, the Silver Spear Right Camp and the Luoyan Army fought several small-scale battles, either with small tribes of the Hu people who were afraid of being robbed and refused to give way, or with defeated Hun soldiers, or with local tyrants who did not understand the situation and refused to offer food.
Overall it's pretty easy.
The light cavalry charged and the defeated soldiers were basically dispersed.
When they encountered the Hu cavalry, they used both infantry and cavalry to defeat them and forced them to flee in panic.
The fort was the only thing that was a little difficult to deal with, but Jin Zheng didn't bother with it for too long, as he believed they wouldn't dare to take the initiative and cut off their food supply.
Six thousand elite soldiers with silver spears, more than two thousand infantry and cavalry of the Luoyan Army, plus three thousand strong men from Henan, were all Jin Zheng's troops - the latter two temporarily served as auxiliary troops.
"The enemy's morale is low, why don't you attack?" After the two armies joined together, according to regulations, Li Chong was the commander-in-chief and Jin Zheng was his deputy. However, it was not the first time that Jin Zheng had contradicted the commander-in-chief. In addition, he vaguely looked down on Li Chong's miscellaneous background, so he questioned him.
"There are not enough soldiers." Li Zhong replied succinctly: "Shi Le is trapped in a jar. It is not worth taking the risk."
"After the Battle of Jingxing, I thought you had come to your senses." Jin Zheng said with a sneer.
The noble families, fort commanders, and town commanders from Hebei behind Li Chong all looked unhappy.
Damn, can the Silver Spear Army look down on others?
Most of the battles in Bingzhou were fought by us. How many people died? On the contrary, the core battalions such as Silver Spear and Black Gun were sitting back and reaping the benefits. They only fought in the field and did not attack the strong cities. This was really too much.
"Okay." Li Zhong stretched out his hand to stop the quarrel that might have broken out, and said, "General Jin, what suggestions do you have?"
"We will send out troops in three directions." Jin Zheng held up three fingers and said, "One direction will be to look for the woodcutter's path, and harass them from behind. It doesn't matter if they all die, as long as we can mobilize the enemy. The second direction will be to send people to Xinxing to explain the righteousness, persuade the Tu people to surrender, and order them to send out troops. They don't need to be very powerful, just cause trouble. The third direction will be that I will lead the Silver Spear Right Camp to attack fiercely."
"We are already working on recruiting the local tyrants." Li Zhong smiled and said, "Once General Jin arrives, our army will be strong and we can send out a small force to take a detour. Let's do this."
The officers of Hebei looked at Li Zhong helplessly. Jin San is so domineering, and you still speak kindly to him.
"Send a thousand men to attack first. I'll go up to observe the enemy's strength." Jin San waved his hand and walked away.
Soon, the order was given.
The six thousand soldiers of the Silver Spear Right Camp put on their armor in pairs, sat on the ground, took out food and water and ate in silence.
Another group of people were wearing armor and holding weapons and went forward to provide guard.
The whole process was orderly, without a trace of chaos, which demonstrated the strict military discipline of the Silver Spear Right Camp. It also showed how frequently this unit trained on a daily basis. Every action was almost engraved into their bones and became an instinctive reaction.
Li Zhong sent two troops from Boling and Hejian to gather a thousand people and slowly attack along the mountain road.
As expected, the two sides engaged in a fierce battle halfway up the mountain.
The Hebei soldiers could not charge forward, nor did they dare to retreat, so they could only stand there, holding up their large shields, but they were still shot badly.
After charging and fighting for a while, they retreated in embarrassment.
The commander of the fortress became furious and beat the defeated soldiers with a horsewhip, gathered them together, then cursed a few times and led his servants to attack again.
Without any suspense, they quickly retreated.
This time I didn't dare to say anything. It was too difficult to attack from the bottom up and I was shot all the time.
Jin Zheng jumped down from the tree and waved his hand. More than a thousand silver spear soldiers in two buildings stood up solemnly.
Some of them were holding large shields and ring-handled swords.
Some were leaning on spears.
Someone carefully checked the bow.
Others held heavy long axes and wooden clubs, ready to sweep away the enemy in the chaos of battle.
Drums sound.
Twelve hundred people moved forward slowly and in an orderly manner.
The sword and shield soldiers were in front, trying their best to block the flying arrows.
The spearmen followed closely behind, ready to engage in close combat at any time.
The archers were scattered on the post road and in the woods on both sides, slowly approaching.
The officers and soldiers of Hebei sighed secretly as they watched the silver spearmen in iron armor marching briskly through the mountains.
Putting aside other things, these people have really good physical strength, which shows that they eat well and exercise a lot, which is a clear advantage.
Of course, what made their eyelids twitch the most were the archers.
There are three types of infantry and archery assessment items in the army: 1. infantry and archery; 2. infantry and archery while wearing leather armor; 3. infantry and archery while wearing iron armor.
Since the Han Dynasty, most archers were unarmored, a small number wore leather armor, and very few wore iron armor.
It is very convenient for an archer to shoot without armor, but it is much more troublesome when wearing leather armor, because the armor is really inconvenient, hinders movement, affects shooting accuracy, and is heavy and consumes physical strength.
Shooting while wearing iron armor is the most difficult and requires very hard and persistent training to master the shooting skills.
It is said that Liang Gong pulled a strong bow, wore iron armor and shot on foot, and he could hit nine out of ten targets from a distance of seventy steps. This is already a miraculous level of skill, and there are very few people who can reach this level.
The group of silver spearmen in front of him were all wearing iron armor. The archers were walking back and forth in the mountains. They raised their hands and shot an arrow, then quickly drew their bows and arrows and shot again.
The accuracy is terrifying, every arrow hits the target.
The two sides fought for a while, and the enemy archers hiding in the treetops, behind mounds of earth and even in the bushes on the hillside were hit by arrows one after another and screamed in pain.
The only ones who could shoot at them were the enemy archers standing behind the earth wall. After all, they were protected and safer. The casualties of the Silver Spear Army archers were mainly caused by them.
"Shoot while moving!" A loud roar came from the mountain road.
The Silver Spear Army archers immediately took action.
They were in groups of five, with an arrow on their bows and another in their mouths.
After shooting one arrow, he quickly shot the second one, and then took out the third one from the quiver, running the whole time, not standing still like before. This would certainly reduce the accuracy, but it also reduced the risk of being shot. If he was shot occasionally, as long as he didn't break through the iron armor, he could continue to fight - if he was not armored or wearing leather armor, he might have lost his combat effectiveness.
The officers and soldiers of Hebei Province were so shocked that their mouths twitched.
There are people of this level in their family, but they are really few and they are treated like treasures.
Jin Zheng randomly assigned 1,200 people to fight, and each of them was at the level of their elite troops. I had heard that the Silver Spear Army was elite, and I was impressed when I saw it today.
The two sides continued to fight.
The Silver Spear Army deployed a total of 600 archers, who fired arrows like rain with high accuracy, quickly suppressing the enemy archers and preventing them from shooting at their own infantry with impunity.
The infantry seized upon the situation and, with unmatched bravery, engaged the enemy in hand-to-hand combat on the spot.
One side is protected by an earthen wall that can hide most of the body, and it is high up and more convenient.
One side is wearing iron armor, their spears shot like dragons, they cooperated well, their morale was high, and they were not afraid of death.
The two sides were in a stalemate for a while.
And stalemate means casualties.
Jin Zheng watched from afar without any expression.
Another group of people have stood up and lined up, ready to join the next attack.
But they may no longer be needed. Inside and outside the earth wall in front, the sound of killing was deafening. Gradually, soldiers of the Silver Spear Army climbed over the earth wall and rushed in.
Although they were quickly stabbed to death by the enemy troops who were ready for battle, more and more people climbed over the wall and advanced rapidly. They rushed into the crowd of enemy soldiers in their iron armor and chopped them wildly with their ring-handled swords.
The enemy might not be used to this kind of close combat, or they might be only good at using long weapons and had little skills with short weapons. They were beaten back step by step, with people falling down in rows and suffering heavy casualties.
In front of the soldiers of the Flower Team who were proficient in various weapons, it was a hand-to-hand melee, and the Pure Team really found it difficult to resist.
In the second half of the battle, the enemy archers were the first to flee.
Some of the Silver Spear Army archers put away their bows, and under the leadership of their officers, drew their swords and joined the close combat.
The enemy troops collapsed uncontrollably and turned to retreat to the second earth wall.
The Silver Spear Army chased after them and fought with the enemy's infantry, braving the enemy's arrows.
Blood flowed like a river inside and outside the earth wall.
After only a brief stalemate, the second earth wall was broken.
The drumbeats became more and more intense, and the Silver Spear Army soldiers chased to the third earth wall. The enemy resisted for a moment, let out a shout, and then all fled.
The silver armor was still shining in the mountains. They rushed forward, straight to the highest point of the stone ridge, and killed the fourth group of enemies again. They did not stop until they encountered a tall camp.
The officers and soldiers from Hebei at the foot of the mountain looked at each other, all of them feeling dry in the mouth.
"What are you still standing there for?" Jin Zheng angrily scolded the stunned Hebei officers and soldiers, "Our men have broken through three formations in a row and killed no less than 500 enemies, and you are just standing there watching?"
After saying that, he looked at Li Chong again.
Li Zhong had a nonchalant expression, not paying any attention to Jin Zheng's attitude. However, he was an experienced fighter, and knew that the Silver Spear Army should not be allowed to attack the enemy camp first, as that would result in heavy casualties. So he selected 2,000 Hebei infantrymen and asked them to go up the mountain path, attack the enemy camp, and consume the enemy's defenses and physical strength.
The people of Hebei didn't dare to say anything more. Those who were called out stepped forward obediently and led their own farmhands to attack the enemy camp.
The attack lasted until the late night.
After another day of attack on the 26th, the enemy camp was already on the verge of collapse.
Jin Zheng decisively dispatched the Silver Spear Army, which broke into the camp at night and killed Shileya gatekeeper Wang Bo.
On the 27th, the army headed straight for Jiuyuan without stopping.
On the 28th, they conquered the city in one battle. The city was sparsely populated, and the residences of Shi Le and his officers were mostly deserted.
On the 29th, Li Chong sent troops to take over the new counties and wait for food and fodder supplies.
In early June, all the Xinxing counties were recovered.
So far, since the war began, the Jin army had captured the four counties and states of Leping, Xinxing, Taiyuan, and Shangdang, annihilated more than 30,000 enemies, and completely wiped out the Xiongnu's forces in Jinyang and Shangdang, achieving the expected brilliant victory.
What to do next depends entirely on Shao Xun's decision.
But for now, the most important thing is to step up the stockpiling of food and fodder.
The army set out on an attack, and the food supplies they originally carried for a month were now reduced to less than ten days, and they were in urgent need of replenishment.
At this time, Shao Xun had arrived in Qi County for many days.
Because Wang had committed many bad deeds before surrendering, his estates scattered in Jinyang, Qixian, Yangyi and other places were attacked by the army. He had worked as an official for the Huns or was identified by others. All his clansmen who had close relations with the Huns were killed. His property and food were confiscated, his land was distributed to the farmhands, and his wife and daughter were taken into the imperial palace.
The rest of the people were all moved to Bianliang and settled there.
If nothing unexpected happened, the Wang family would have been reduced to a poor family - fortunately, the Wang family surrendered at the last moment, otherwise they would have ended up being exterminated.
There is no doubt that this is a case of killing the chicken to scare the monkeys, and it is done for the wealthy families in Bingzhou to see.
After doing all this, Shao Xun left Qi County and headed for Jinyang. On the way, he received the news that all the emerging counties had been recovered.
In response to questions from Li Chong and others, he only gave one reply: stockpile supplies and wait for another battle.
As soon as this order was issued, everyone understood that this was only the end of the first phase of the operation.
After the rest, there will most likely be a second stage. Lord Liang really doesn't give the enemy a chance to breathe.
On the tenth day of June, Shao Xun arrived in Jinyang.
It had been raining for several days and the Fen River had risen sharply, flooding many farmlands, houses and roads, making the army unable to move for a while.
(End of this chapter)