Chapter 829 People's Heart and Tactics

Chapter 829 People's Heart and Tactics

Chapter 829 People's Heart and Tactics

At the end of March in the eighth year of the Shengui reign (324), outside of Lunu County in Zhongshan Prefecture, there were “refugee camps” everywhere.

Duan Mobo had just returned from hunting when he heard something that made his blood boil.

Without any hesitation, he mounted his horse and rode away with hundreds of riders.

On the bank of the Heng River, several shaved-headed Xianbei people were tied up and kneeling on the shore.

Looking at their bruised and swollen faces, it was obvious that they had been severely beaten. Even now they were forced to kneel on the ground, but their faces were still full of fierceness and they were unwilling to accept it.

"Mao Bang, you are just a slave, how dare you kill my soldiers?" Duan Mobo jumped off his horse and shouted angrily.

More than a thousand men and county soldiers were standing on the bank of the Heng River. When they saw the Xianbei cavalry rushing over, they were in an uproar.

Duan Mobo was approaching step by step.

In the end, the county commander, with more than a dozen soldiers, gritted his teeth and stepped forward to stop Duan Mobo.

Duan Mobo stopped walking when he saw the spear in front of him. He was still furious as he looked at Gaoyang Governor Mao Bang who was standing on the grain cart and cursed: "Do you understand? These guys are brave enough to charge into the midst of thousands of troops. They just killed a few old, weak, women and children. What's the big deal?"

Mao Bang jumped out of the car.

He is already thirty-three years old, with a tall figure and a gaunt face. When he stands in the wind, he has the bearing of a scholar.

But he is not a scholar after all, let alone a weak and powerless literati.

At this moment, he was wearing a deerskin armor on his chest, holding a bow in his left hand and a sword in his right hand. As he strode forward, he did not take the hundreds of Luoyan Army soldiers seriously at all.

"A brave warrior who has charged into the enemy's ranks should be executed if he violates military law." Mao Bang replied sternly, "Are you trying to rob people?"

After saying that, he pointed at the Xianbei cavalry behind him and asked, "What? Want to rebel? Do you dare?"

Duan Mobo gritted his teeth.

For a moment, he really didn't want to suffer this humiliation, and just killed Mao Bang with a knife. However, after taking a long breath, he swallowed it.

He was not worried about his family far away in Bianliang.

In fact, family is important, but it is not impossible to abandon them. Death is death! As long as he is alive, whether he robs or marries, he will always have a woman and heirs.

What he really can't bear to give up is wealth.

"This is Zhongshan County, is there any need for you to meddle in other people's business?" Duan Mobo cursed.

"If I encounter such evil things on the road and kill them at will, what will you do?" Mao Bang asked in return: "Even if I bring the matter to the Central Guard, I will still kill these people."

"Without the soldiers fighting on the front line, you would have been captured by the bandits long ago." Duan Mobo said angrily.

Mao Bang saw through his weakness and didn't bother to say anything more. He turned around and ordered, "Kill him quickly!"

Upon receiving the order, the soldiers of Gaoyang County raised their swords and killed several Xianbei cavalrymen on the bank of the Heng River, and then threw the headless bodies into the river.

The soldiers of Luoyan Army in the distance were making a lot of noise, and everyone was looking at Duan Mobo.

Duan Mobo already felt regretful.

If I had known this earlier, I would not have been so stubborn today. This would have made me lose face and damaged my prestige, which is a huge loss.

After the execution, Mao Bang bowed to Duan Mobo from a distance and said, "General Duan, don't forget the military meeting this afternoon. Goodbye."

After saying this, he jumped on his horse and rode away shouting.

The staff rode up and said, "Your Excellency has pleaded for the people. When the news spreads, people far and wide will praise you. It will be much easier to do things in the future."

Mao Bang slowed down his horse and said with a bitter smile, "There are not many people left in Changshan and Zhongshan, so why should we praise them? I am just angry. Master Shao said something back then, and I have always remembered it. If you didn't see it, it's fine. If you see it and don't deal with it, you are unworthy of being a man. That's how careless it is. Not to mention the Luoyan Army, even if the old soldier with the silver spear is here, he will be killed if I capture him. Anyway, Wang Que'er, Jin Zheng and others look down on me and are drifting away from me..."

Speaking of the latter, he sighed slightly.

Fortunately, Master Shao understands me. Let others say what they want to say. It won't hurt me anyway. Doing good things is the most important thing.

"Your Excellency just said that Changshan and Zhongshan are deserted, but that's not quite right." The staff pointed to the messy shacks outside the city wall of Lunu County and said, "If you must say, there are still quite a few people, but they are all Jie, Wuhuan, Xiongnu, Xianbei and even Dingling. There are thousands of Jin people, but no less than 100,000 Hu people. They are not used to farming, but hunt and herd for a living."

Mao Bang nodded.

The once prosperous Han county has now become a grassland for the Hu people to graze their livestock.

In fact, it is not only Changshan and Zhongshan that are like this. Gaoyang, Zhangwu, Hejian and Boling counties also have similar phenomena to a greater or lesser extent, but they are not as exaggerated as the former.

There are really very few Han people in Changshan and Zhongshan counties.

The farming Han people were gone, but the nomadic Dingling came, and tens of thousands of them moved south in one breath.

Zhai Shu used to be a nomad in Zhongshan. He ran away and defected to the Xianbei after Shi Le's defeat, but he had always been obsessed with the fertile Zhongshan County. This time, when he got the chance, he simply ran back.

This kind of ungrateful person who cannot be tamed is actually very dangerous.

Mao Bang dared to conclude that if the world fell into chaos again, Zhai Shu and his gang would even dare to declare themselves kings and establish a country like Liu Yuan did. They were truly bold and ignorant.

The group quickly entered Lunu County.

The Gaoyang men and county soldiers stayed outside, and only brought a dozen people in.

At this time, in the prefect's mansion, Chen Yougen was holding a horse whip and cursing. "Wang Bin, you can't fight a war, and you can't keep the people safe?" Chen Yougen's horse whip was almost poking the face of a Wuhuan local tyrant. His arrogance made several officials standing nearby hesitate to speak.

"Does Wang Feng have no one left? They are all good-for-nothings." Chen Yougen cursed angrily, "You can freeze 2,000 people to death in one winter. You are so capable. Let me tell you straight, Jizhou Liu Wangqiao has long been eyeing the people in your hands. If it weren't for the fact that Liang Wang couldn't save face and didn't issue an order, your more than 30,000 old, weak, women and children would have been gone."

Wang Bin was a big man in his thirties. He was scolded by Chen Yougen but he did not dare to get angry.

I fled in a hurry and didn't have time to take many things with me, which was really difficult.

In addition, they are now completely dependent on the Jin people to provide food and fodder for their survival, so they have no confidence to say anything.

"It's almost April, and Tuoba Heli will soon send troops to attack the two counties. It's unclear whether your master can hold out." Chen Yougen threw the whip on the ground and said angrily, "Go away, go back and recruit soldiers and horses. All men aged 13 and above and under 60 will be recruited. Bring horses and return to Guangning in mid-April. I will help you take care of these burdens first."

"Yes." Wang Bin retreated in a hurry as if he had been pardoned.

After Chen Yougen arrived at the main hall, he looked up at the map on the wall.

Since arriving here in the second half of last year, the battle has not been going well.

Objectively speaking, the Xianbei people had good fighting power, and Liu Hezhu's troops could still fight against them, but the casualties were really heavy, so he became cunning later on.

Chen Yougen saw it and became very angry.

If the King of Liang was here, Liu Hezhu would never have done this. But if it were him, they would not have fought to the death.

Now the king has issued the military order for the northern expedition against the Xianbei. He will still be in charge of the eastern route and there is no plan to change him.

The military order ordered Liu Hezhu to select 2,000 elite cavalry, and the three towns of Wuqiang, Puyangshan, and Yijing to each send 1,000 light cavalry, in addition to 2,000 cavalry from the Xianbei tribe of Duan in Youzhou, a total of 7,000 people.

In addition, there are more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry from the Luoyan Army, Xiejie Army, Zhongyi Army, Dingling Zhaishu and other units.

If Wang Feng joins forces with the troops of Wuhuan, Dugu and Changsun, he can gather 20,000 troops.

There are a total of 37,000 infantry and cavalry along the way, and they will be assembled by mid-April.

In King Liang's deployment, they belonged to the "partial force" whose main task was to protect the Wuhuan Wang family and use the areas of Daijun and Guangning to attract as many troops of Tuoba Heli as possible.

If we can win the battle, we will attack Dongmugen Mountain from east to west.

If you can't win, just try your best to fight and don't think about anything else.

Chen Yougen understood his mission, but he had been angry since he came here last year. If you dig deeper, it is actually inseparable from his current embarrassing situation.

As the King of Liang's disciples grew older, they gradually stopped taking him seriously.

Maybe he still appears respectful on the surface, but everyone involved can sense the subtle contempt.

You, Chen Yougen, say you can fight, but you really don’t have any outstanding achievements, and that’s a flaw.

King Liang gave him a chance, but whether he could seize it depended on himself.

So he was a little anxious.

Just when he was worried, his personal soldiers came to report: Gaoyang prefect Mao Bang arrived.

He turned around, forced a smile, and said, "Mao Er, among so many people, you are the only one who can bring me good news."

As for delivering food and weapons, as long as they are delivered on time, it will be a merit and there will be no guilt.

"As soon as I entered the door, I heard Mr. Chen angrily scolding his generals, but I don't know what he is worried about?" Mao Bang bowed and asked.

"People are divided and the war is going on like this. How can we not be worried?" Chen Yougen said.

"May I ask Lord Chen, can the Xianbei fight?"

"He's quite capable. His arrows are fast and sharp when he's on horseback, and he doesn't care about his life when he's charging."

"I would like to ask Mr. Chen again, does the Tuoba clan know that my reinforcements are coming?"

"I don't know."

"Is the mission that the king has assigned to Mr. Chen to defend and counterattack?"

"Yes."

"In that case, what do you have to worry about?" Mao Bang said with a smile, "It is better to show weakness first to make the enemy arrogant."

At this point, he gave a detailed explanation: "Last year, the Tuoba clan sent troops to attack us with great momentum and won battle after battle. Many counties surrendered upon hearing the news. However, as soon as the Tuoba clan left, the Marquis of Zhuolu County won over many people. Last year's battle was in vain. How can I not be angry? I expect that after the grass grows a little longer, the enemy troops will surely arrive in large numbers. Because of the great victory last year, they will certainly look down on the Wang clan, and there may be a chance."

Chen Yougen stopped walking when he heard this. After a moment, he sighed, "You are much more capable than my staff. They are totally clueless."

Mao Bang smiled and said, "I am not good at military warfare, but I understand human nature. It is up to you, my lord, to decide how to fight."

Chen Yougen hummed lightly, his eyes moving around, as if he was seriously thinking about how to arrange it.

"Mingsir, this battle must be fought well. If we can kill more than ten thousand bandits, our army will be greatly strengthened and even the Yuwen clan will not dare to go south to plunder easily again." Mao Bang said again.

"Sooner or later, I will deal with that old dog Yuwen Qiu Buqin." Chen Yougen spat and said.

"The food has been delivered. I will take my leave now." Mao Bang bowed again and slowly retreated.

(End of this chapter)