Chapter 785 Class Teacher
Chapter 785 Class Teacher
"Snap!" The horsewhip was swung down with force and broke into two pieces. The officer stared angrily at the soldier guarding the gate.
The soldier staggered and grimaced in pain, but he quickly stood up again, saying nothing, his hand already on the hilt of the knife.
"Forget it, forget it." Someone patted Bu Da's shoulder and whispered, "Lao Yanshi (Madam Qi) will compensate you when we go back."
After hearing this, the minister took a long breath before leaving. As soon as he left, his expression immediately calmed down.
Among those who can reach the top, there are certainly reckless men, but there are also many smart people.
They were a half-pastoral and half-agricultural tribe, and had always been a member of the New Party. As the flag bearer of the New Party, Madam Qi still had to give her face, after all, Tuoba He was her son.
Although he was angry about this matter, Tuoba Yulu did nothing wrong.
He is the King of Dai, the nominal master of the entire Dai Kingdom. He can have a tendency, but he cannot turn a blind eye to the internal rifts and do nothing about it. Who knows what Madam Qi will do if you deliberately let Tuoba Hena be detained or even killed by the Jin people? Do you want to make the internal divisions more obvious?
If you hold this kind of thinking, then you lack the vision and are not qualified to be a leader.
You have to know that even if there are differences, the New Party still followed you to fight southwards. Everyone is eating from the same pot. Do you want to push people out?
Uniting more nobles has always been the most important task of the grassland monarch.
"Baa, baa..." After the people left, many livestock also began to move.
In the heavy rain, the cattle and sheep were walking in a somewhat awkward manner and their numbers were greatly reduced.
This war was ultimately a loss.
When not going out to fight, the herdsmen survive on the milk of cows and sheep.
After going to war, because of the fighting, it is impossible to rely solely on cow and sheep milk, and some meat must be supplemented, which requires slaughtering livestock.
Furthermore, after the rain, some livestock became sick and died, which is also a loss.
War, after all, is a highly costly activity.
Amidst the chaos, the elderly, the weak, women and children who were grazing in the rear and providing supplies to the army retreated first.
Next came the baggage troops and the fort commanders and manor owners who were forced to support Tuoba Xianbei during the war.
Hearing that Shao Xun often attacked those who surrendered to the enemy, even though he was extremely reluctant, he still followed the Xianbei people in their retreat with a dejected look on his face. Along the way, women and children were crying, it was so miserable.
Did they do something wrong? Maybe. But between life and death, not everyone can face it calmly.
Tuoba Yulu led a group of civil and military officials to climb the high slope beside the road and looked to the south and then to the north.
Shao Xun was still very trustworthy. He stopped fighting as he said and did not pursue the enemy.
Of course, maybe he couldn't chase in such heavy rain.
"Your Majesty." Wei Xiong coughed.
"what's up?"
"After you go back, you must appease the tribe." Wei Xiong said softly.
Tuoba Yulu was silent for a long time and did not speak.
Wei Xiong was too lazy to say more since he had already reminded him anyway.
As for how to comfort her, he doesn't need to worry about it, as everyone does things differently.
Throughout the ages, the grassland tribes were not always successful in their robberies. If they were not careful, they would end up losing money, and they might even lose money several times in a row. What should they do at this time?
Not everyone can be a leader. Compensation, balance and even personal charm are all very important.
He has a strong personal charm, is good at speaking, and can make big promises, and can make important people endure losses and continue to work for him.
Tuoba Yulu has no personal charm and cannot have the appeal and influence across factions, so he must compensate people with real money.
His redemption of Tuoba Hena eased the tense relationship with the New Party - however, a woman with a strong personality like Qi might not appreciate it, and Wei Xiong didn't want to say more about this.
The old, weak, women and children of the Jiudang tribe brought a large group of livestock to graze, providing meat, milk, cheese and even horses for the army. Their men were fighting on the front lines, and all of them suffered losses. If Yu Lu did not compensate them, everyone would complain.
To put it bluntly, it’s Yu Lu himself who is not good enough.
Some lords can convince the public and suppress all oppositions just by relying on their past prestige without paying out real money. But what prestige does Yu Lu have?
He had only been in power for a short time and had only established his prestige once, when he defeated the Tiele Huns. This time he went south with the intention of consolidating and expanding his prestige, but he returned empty-handed and lost five or six thousand soldiers. What else was there to say?
As for the Tuoba Xianbei as a whole, the losses in manpower and livestock in this war were barely worth mentioning; the biggest loss was the sharp decline in the prestige of the new generation of leaders.
The grassland system was highly dependent on a strong leader. As long as the Tuoba clan did not find their own strong leader, the political situation would never be stable.
This loss is invisible and intangible, but it is very fatal.
******
"Boom!" The flood rushed down, washing away a large number of tents, equipment, horses and even personnel.
In the darkness, there were sounds of running and shouting everywhere.
After Shao Shen was awakened, he hurriedly led people to rescue him. But in the dark night, how could it be so easy?
He worked until dawn, but failed to rescue many people. Instead, he lost a lot of food and supplies, and he was exhausted.
As the sun gradually rose, everyone felt a little dejected.
The camping site was clearly located at a high altitude and was very safe, so how could it be submerged by a sudden flood?
The mountains are not as safe as they seem, especially when it rains.
Shao Shen sighed and said, "Notify all the camps and get going."
The messenger immediately went to deliver the message.
After hearing this, Duan Mobo's gloomy face finally softened. There were more than 5,000 soldiers when they set out, and after continuous marching and fighting, there were only more than 4,000 left.
After circling around Shanwugu City, they were gradually discovered by the enemy and were chased after.
The tribes in the mountains have also become alert. Some have set up defenses, some have moved away. In short, they are not as easy to deal with as before, and they will always make you pay a price.
To raid behind enemy lines is to use the prepared to attack the unprepared. If the enemy is already prepared, then it is not worthwhile.
So they turned south, trying to escape pursuit.
When they ran out of food, they robbed a small tribe, but this delayed their progress, exposed their whereabouts, and were attacked by the enemy again. After a fierce battle, some died in battle, some were lost, and now there are only about 3,000 of them left.
To put it bluntly, those who fall behind or get lost behind enemy lines have a lower chance of returning.
Without a guide and without supplies, they would most likely be surrounded and killed by the increasingly courageous tribesmen, or be wiped out by the pursuing enemy forces. There was even the possibility that the enemy would not find them and they would fall ill or starve to death in the mountains.
They are almost out of the mountain now.
When you climb up and look far into the distance, you can vaguely see a flat valley. If your guess is correct, that place should belong to Mayi County.
Soon the sound of horse hooves could be heard in the mountains.
Shao Shen jumped on his horse and galloped away with the team.
The palace soldiers followed closely behind, each riding three horses, galloping away.
A moment later, dozens of people followed, driving thousands of horses that looked exhausted and skinny.
It was obvious that these replacement horses had not been grazed long enough to gain weight before they were forced to catch up with the main force.
There is no way, the pursuers are coming too fast, they have a place to change horses and resupply, but that doesn't mean you can too. This is the biggest difficulty in fighting behind enemy lines, because you don't have a stable supply point.
In the grassland tribes, women, old men and young men can occupy a mountain pass, look down from a high position, and shoot arrows with bows.
As long as the arrow flies, it has the potential to kill the enemy.
If you can launch a surprise attack, do so. If you can't, you won't have time to waste with them because their pursuers will be here in no time.
The dull sound of horse hooves echoed throughout the valley.
While walking, some horses suddenly foamed at the mouth and fell dead on the road.
No one stopped. In this army, everything was expendable, both men and horses.
After walking for half a day, a part of the Luoyan Army and the palace soldiers finally caught up.
They stayed behind to stop the pursuers.
Use the mountains and rivers to delay enemy cavalry that may pursue you, and ensure that the main force escapes smoothly.
On June 20th, just after Shao Xun and Tuoba Yulu had negotiated peace, their savage-like army finally broke out of the mountains and descended into the wide, flat basin (Datong Basin).
The number of cavalry in Mayi County has increased several times.
As soon as they came out of the mountain, they saw dozens of cavalrymen resting and patrolling in the distance.
After seeing them, some people boldly surrounded them, but did not get too close, just following from a distance behind.
Some people ran away, reported the news everywhere, and prepared to mobilize a large group of troops to encircle and suppress the enemy.
Shao Shen and the others looked solemn. They no longer spared their efforts and threw away the luggage that was in the way and ran wildly towards the southwest.
On the 21st, we encountered an obstacle head-on.
The Jin army was eager to return home and fought hard with the bandits. The commander of the army, Chen Tonggen, was hit by a stray arrow and died.
On the 22nd, they rushed to the north of Tianchi and encountered another group of enemy cavalry. The two sides fought in the wilderness and the sound of killing shook the sky.
Seeing this, Liu Zhao, who was on the Tianchi Lake, personally led the tribe's light cavalry to attack, defeated Tuoba Xianbei, and welcomed Shao Shen and others in.
At this time, there were only more than 2,000 soldiers left, more than half of them had been lost.
Among those who did not return, at most half died in battle, and even more were missing.
After the news was passed back to Shiling Pass, Shao Xun nodded and said nothing more.
My nephew's group was the last to end the battle.
He did not blame himself too much for losing more than half of his money.
In the first battle of Hexi, Huo Qubing went deep behind enemy lines. He lacked experience and had bad luck. He encountered many Hun soldiers and fought frequently. Only 3,000 of his 10,000 elite cavalrymen returned, resulting in a loss of 7,000.
The second time was much better. They went deep behind enemy lines and lost only 30% of the approximately 20,000 cavalrymen.
My nephew circled back and forth among the hills, river valleys, and basins, fighting for nearly a thousand miles. In the end, he lost more than half of his troops, but it was still okay, not bad.
On June 26, Shao Xun ordered the troops to return. By then, the army had run out of food and only had meat soup left to eat.
When he reached Jinyang, he received news that there had been an earthquake near Chang'an in May and Mount Zhongnan had collapsed.
At this time, he finally understood why the Huns did not advance eastward in large numbers.
It's not easy for everyone to live in this little ice age climate and this geologically active period.
(End of this chapter)