Chapter 777 Golden Account

Chapter 777 Golden Account

Chapter 777 Golden Account
This rain made Shao Xun very troubled.

On the one hand, it can greatly offset the opponent's cavalry advantage. On the other hand, the summer wheat has not been fully harvested. Even if it has been harvested, it still needs to be dried, which will have an impact on this year's grain production.

In addition, he has psychological trauma.

It rained heavily the year before last, and there were "torrential rains" last year. Even if this year's rain is not as heavy as last year, there may still be heavy rain.

God owed Bingzhou countless rains in the past, and now he has returned them to you all in a short period of time. Are you touched?

When the army led by Shao Xun arrived in Jinyang, Liu Runzhong had already arrived from Shangdang with 3,000 cavalry several days ago and fought with the Xianbei people several times.

Well, the results were so-so, and our casualties were even greater than those of the enemy. In the end, we had to rely on the city to fight, and mainly protected the food supply route.

But there are effects.

After seeing the reinforcements from the Shangdang Jie cavalry, the Xianbei people no longer dared to graze their livestock wantonly near the Fen River.

They collected the last remaining grain in the fields, cut the best and most luxuriant grass along the river bank, and then withdrew more than 100,000 fat and strong livestock northward to the three counties of Yangqu further north.

Shao Xun divided the army into three parts.

A part of the Yellow Head Army with 3,000 men stationed at Yangchangcang, located dozens of miles northwest of Jinyang, to prevent the Xianbei people from advancing westward. At the same time, a part of the Yellow Head Army with 2,000 men stationed at Loufan was transferred to the east and set up camp in the river valley below Yangchangcang.

A 2,000-man Yellow Head Army stationed in the Blue Valley west of Jinyang, not only to prevent the Xianbei from sneaking in and bypassing the rear of Jinyang, but also to intimidate the miscellaneous Hu tribes in the mountains, because the Blue Valley was a gap in and out of the hilly pastures west of Jinyang.

The light cavalry that came with the army crossed the Fen River and stationed on the east bank.

The main force of more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry entered Jinyang City.

Actually, the two sides are not that close...

"How much food and grass is left in the city?" Shao Xun asked as soon as he entered the city.

Shao Guang, the governor of Taiyuan, and Liu Ling, the deputy governor of Wansheng Army and the general's foreign military official, stood by his side. Shao Guang was the first to speak: "It's almost gone. We still have 20,000 hu of grain and beans left."

This amount of food is only enough to feed the several thousand defenders in Jinyang for two months.

As for the common people, there were actually not many of them in the city, and their food reserves were not even as abundant as those in the army.

If the siege really lasts for a few months, all the food stored in these people and their families will be consumed at once.

"Kelan has been badly damaged." Shao Xun was silent for a moment, then said, "Most of the summer wheat in the fields has been lost, and many cattle and sheep have also been looted. It is very difficult to raise food and grass. It is better to fight quickly than to hold out for a long time."

This time, when they went north for inspection, they only had enough food and fodder to last for more than two months, which consumed most of their stored food.

When pacifying the border tribes, 30,000 miscellaneous livestock were collected. Later, Liu was asked to kill some of the livestock. Now there is still some jerky, but it will not last too long, at most one or two months.

Some say that summer wheat has been harvested in Henan and Hebei, but it will take time to transport it to the front line, the earliest by mid-July, and it may be late July or early August. Moreover, last year's flood in Hebei caused huge losses, so we can't squeeze too much this year - even if we squeeze, we have to wait until September when the grains are harvested.

Shao Xun was almost always thinking about taking the enemy's cattle and sheep.

"This rain has both advantages and disadvantages." Shao Xun looked at the continuous drizzle outside again, his expression changing from gloomy to bright.

There were many staff members holding umbrellas and wearing straw raincoats walking around in the yard. With the assistance of their personal soldiers, they unloaded various office supplies and daily necessities.

Military strategist Zhang Bin, chief clerk Yuan Neng, recorder Yang Yu, military officer Pei Zhan, protector Mi Zhi, assistant secretary Wei Fu, as well as servants and messengers, a total of hundreds of people, all lived in the prefectural government's mansion - Shao Guang moved to his own home in Jinyang to work.

"How are the nobles of Jinyang?" The commander of the imperial army, Huang Zheng, came in and served tea and snacks to everyone. Shao Xun asked, inviting the two to sit down together.

"Two families were unfortunate." Shao Guang said, "The Guo family in Yangqu was unprepared and was forced by the Xianbei. Only a few dozen of their sons and daughters fled and went to Guo Jing in Wu County."

"What do you mean by unprepared? I just couldn't bear to give up the crops in the fields." Liu Ling curled his lips and said, "We heard the news that the Xianbei cavalry had crossed the Shiling Mountains, but we still hoped for the best and sent all our soldiers and farmhands out to harvest the wheat. As a result, the Xianbei rushed in and the farm was lost. Thousands of men and women were taken captive and no one knows where they were taken."

"Oh? But Guo Rong's hometown?" Shao Xun asked.

"That's right." Shao Guang sighed, "Yangqu is too far to the north, and the Guo family is so kind and reluctant to give up their wealth that they have come to this point."

"Which other one?"

"The Liu family of Taiyuan was exterminated." Shao Guang said: "The Liu family was small and weak, but they were not as decadent as the Sun family and the Linghu family. They were indecisive and were defeated by the Xianbei."

The Linghu clan was killed by Liu Kun, and now only two or three cats, big and small, are left.

The Sun family was hit hard by Liu Yao and suffered a lot. They got a little relief after they married into the Shangdang Liu family a while ago.

"What happened to Mrs. Sun and Mrs. Linghu?" Shao Xun asked again.

"They have all fled to Jinyang." Shao Guang replied, "I will take their servants into the army to help defend the city, and will return them after the mission is over."

It was not easy for Shao Guang to be the prefect. The main reason was that there was no one in Taiyuan. Even the wealthy families did not have many people, and the area was extremely poor. It was difficult to collect donations from the wealthy families to organize county soldiers.

"Taiyuan won't work like this." Shao Xun frowned and said, "If it's deserted, how can we fight against Dai in the future? The cost of transporting food and grass from Henan and recruiting laborers is really too high."

"Your Majesty, if you drive the Xianbei away, you may be able to relocate people and open up wasteland." Shao Guang suggested, "The land in Taiyuan and Xinxing counties is not bad. Shi Le farmed and fought in Xinxing more than ten years ago and had a good harvest. If you relocate people to the counties, you can realize your ambitions."

"We'll discuss this later." Shao Xun waved his hand and said, "The war is urgent right now, let's drive the Xianbei people out of Taiyuan first."

******
Xixing Mountain, also known as Juzhu Mountain, Yanmen Mountain and Xingling.

There are many large and small passages on the mountain, each with a fortress, which together form the Yanmen Pass (Juzhu Sai) defense system.

To be honest, Yanmen Pass is not as easy to defend as Taihang Pass. It’s not that the mountain is not dangerous enough, but that there are more than ten passages, which is astonishing.

Some passages can be used by carriages, so a fortress is built there. Some passages cannot be used by carriages, but only by people, so a less expensive earthen fortress is built.

Some tunnels are not much bigger than animal paths or woodcutter paths, and it is a bit difficult for people to pass through them, so they are not guarded, but only people are sent to monitor them. Or, in the middle of the road, find a place with a water source and slightly wider terrain, build a simple fortress, and send a few people to guard it.

Yanmen Pass is not only a pass, but also a general term for an entire defense system.

After the Xianbei people took over Yanmen, they adopted the policy of focusing on the large and letting the small go, and took control of the two widest passes.

One is called "Yanmen Pass" and the other is called "Xixing Pass". The two passes are not far apart and are side by side from east to west.

As for other mountain passages, just ignore them.

Anyway, there are tribes dependent on them grazing in the mountains. When something happens, they can just conscript people, cut wood and build fences.

Even if someone sneaks over, it doesn’t matter.

Who are we?

Wouldn't it be enough to use the Xianbei cavalry to defeat the enemies who sneaked to Xingbei on the plain?
This kind of thinking, this kind of line of thought, and this extreme confidence in the combat effectiveness of cavalry were cultivated through long-term actual combat.

Everywhere there were infantrymen being crushed by the cavalry's charge, I couldn't even try to be modest.

It was not just the Tuoba Xianbei who were like this; the other Xianbei were much the same, because their fighting power was so strong that it was not until the Central Plains infantry developed and they were taught a lesson several times that they began to reflect.

Twenty miles south of Yanmenxing is the old city of Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, where Emperor Gaozu imprisoned Lou Jing and where the Xianbei Golden Tent was set up.

To the north of Yanmen Xing is the ancient city of Yinguan, also known as Xiaguan City.

Xixing Mountain itself is the watershed between the Hutuo River and the Sanggan River. To the south of the pass is the Hutuo River and the Xinzhou Basin, and to the north of the pass is the (lěi) Shui (the upper reaches of the Sanggan River) and the Datong Basin. The former is the Han area, and the latter is a mixed area of ​​Hu and Han people.

Both sides of Xixing Mountain are very important to Tuoba Xianbei because it is their forward base for invading the Central Plains in the south.

Tuoba Yulu has not come here to take a good look. There is a reason why the Golden Tent is set up here this time.

However, the atmosphere in the tent was a bit solemn today.

The sound of raindrops dripping like endless urine makes people extremely irritated.

The serving slaves, maids, and guards were all trembling with fear, and dared not make too much noise when doing things, for fear of encountering misfortune.

"Hena rushed too deep into the water and was cut off from retreat. I'm afraid it will be difficult to rescue him."

"I told you not to fight. Just do your inspection. Why go south?"

"Yes. Speaking of which, our relationship with the Central Plains is not bad, right? We have helped defend Jinyang many times and defeated the Xiongnu. If we send envoys to visit us and speak kindly to them, we may be able to establish good relations with our neighbors."

"Ridiculous! Once Guandong is unified, he will become a great enemy. If you don't look for him, he will look for you."

"Did Cao Mengde come to look for him back then? No. He also evacuated the border residents and gave up a lot of land. Isn't Shao Xun another Cao Mengde?"

There was a lot of noise in the golden tent that could accommodate hundreds of people.

The new and old factions confronted each other with different opinions, and almost brought the Golden Tent to a standstill.

The internal tearing was really fatal to Tuoba Dai.

"Silence." Tuoba Yulu's voice was heard from inside the tent. He said, "Send an envoy to Jinyang first and tell him that I want Xinxing County. If Shao Xun is willing, you can withdraw your troops."

He did not mention Tuoba Hena, which soon caused dissatisfaction among others: "Your Majesty, Shao Xun has never suffered a big loss, and he is very proud. He may not be willing to cede the five counties of Xinxing. If he captured Hena, beheaded him and swore an oath to the army, and marched north in large numbers, but now it is raining heavily, the horses can't run, and the bowstrings are soft and powerless, how can we fight?"

"Send Hena back, and make peace and stop the war."

“We shouldn’t have gone south.”

These were obviously words spoken by the New Party, and they also made the Old Party furious.

"Bah!" Someone cursed directly: "Xinxing is already in our hands, why give it back?"

"Those fort commanders and manor owners who sent food and fodder to the army are just left to Shao the thief? If Shao the thief kills them all, who will dare to surrender to the King of Dai in the future?"

"Let's have a fight. I want to see how good they are."

The quarrel never ends.

Don't expect to change their minds; perhaps the only way out is physical destruction.

If you can't solve the problem, then solve the person with the problem.

There is no need to kill them all. Kill some of the leaders and the rest will not cause much trouble.

The alternation of the new and old factions in power had become a common sight in the Tuoba Dynasty.

"Pass the order down, defend Shiling Pass firmly." Tuoba Yulu's voice sounded again: "We will move camp and set off tomorrow, heading south to Yuanping."

Yuanping is the southernmost county in Yanmen County.

There is a mountain in the south of the county. The Hutuo River flows south from the valley, and the Xinchuan River converges from west to east. The two mountains are sandwiched together and it is extremely dangerous. It is commonly called "Xinkou" - the Cao Wei geographical record "Wei Land Records" said "Emperor Gaozu of Han escaped from the siege of the city and returned to this place. The six armies were happy", hence the name.

This is the boundary between Yanmen and Xinxing counties. It is a good place.

(End of this chapter)