Chapter 831 Ambush
Chapter 831 Ambush
After entering late April, battle reports from the east came in one after another.
Just like last year, Wang family of Guangning suffered a disadvantageous battle against the bandits.
Changsun's troops retreated completely into Changshan.
The Dugu tribe fled to Pingshu.
Chen Yougen sent Lan Wu, the general of Yijing Town, to fight against him, but he was also defeated.
Shao Xun listened to Chen Yougen's idea and did not interfere.
The troops in the central and western routes also remained motionless.
On the last day of April, he continued to sit in the manor and review official letters. He also met with the imperial physician Huangfu Fanghui, who was introduced by the Minister of Personnel Liang Fen.
The Huangfu family and the Liang family are basically related.
Liang Liu was the son of the cousin of Huangfu Mi, the father of Huangfu Fanghui.
Liang Fen's wife was also from the Huangfu clan.
The relationship between these two families is truly inseparable.
Huangfu Fanghui had just returned from Jingzhou. After hearing that Shao Xun had compiled the book "Fengtu Diseases", he gladly took the position of imperial physician and included some of the diseases he had discovered in the book.
Shao Xun flipped through it and found that Huangfu Fanghui had already listed a separate section for Jingzhou, and the first item recorded in the section was "water poisoning."
After reading the symptoms carefully, isn’t this schistosomiasis?
Huangfu Fanghui believed that there were "poisonous insects" in the water, which multiplied in large numbers after entering the human body and "ate the five internal organs", causing the sick people to become extremely thin and have a bloated belly.
He even speculated that the major epidemic among Cao Cao's army during his southern expedition was caused by water-borne parasites.
It’s written in quite detail!
Shao Xun was not particularly clear about other diseases, but he knew schistosomiasis very well, after all, it had been widely publicized in later generations.
He thought about it, can this disease be cured at this time? Sadly, no.
Can it be prevented? It's also difficult, but it's better than nothing.
Before sending Huangfu Fanghui away, he drew a Hubei snail on a piece of paper and asked him to kill it - in fact, he just wanted to have peace of mind, which was impossible to do.
But will this move have no effect at all? Not necessarily.
If he could make people realize that intermediate hosts are also valuable, perhaps some people would have escaped. It's a pity that most people in the world probably don't believe him and think he's talking nonsense.
Huangfu Fang was ill when he returned to write the local customs under "Bingzhou Mu", while Shao Xun continued to review it.
Yu Hua, the Supervisor of the Imperial Household, reported on the progress of the ink for woodblock printing: Unfortunately, the progress has been limited.
Shao Xun had no choice because he didn't know the recipe either.
Some of these ancient technological innovations took decades, hundreds or even thousands of years to produce results.
Investing a lot of manpower and material resources shows that superiors attach importance to it, but it only shortens the process. To really achieve results, a bit of luck is still needed, because this is a process of trial and error.
The problem lies in the ink, so let’s get on with it.
The third one was sent by Guang Chengze.
They bred a type of draft horse that was strong and docile, and said that it could be used to try horse plowing.
This made Shao Xun silent for a long time.
In fact, the manor economy is more suitable for horse farming, but not for the small peasant economy.
He remembered that there was a lot of horse farming in the Northeast region in later generations.
Simply put, in the north, horse plowing is fast and can plow more land in a unit of time (such as when rushing to farm), but the plowing is shallow.
Oxen plow slowly, plowing less ground per unit time, but plowing deeper.
When there are few people and much land, extensive planting can be carried out over a large area, with a wide range of crops and a small yield, which will bring greater returns than intensive farming and is suitable for horse-drawn plowing.
When there are many people and little land, it is necessary to cultivate the land carefully and use ox-drawn plowing.
Horse farming pursues per capita output value, and the yield per mu is low.
Ox-plowing pursues per-acre yield, and the per capita output value is low.
Should he give it a try? Shao Xun hesitated, but finally decided to do a pilot project.
******
After reviewing the official letter, he waited quietly for news from the east.
At the same time, he issued the first order, and Dong Wu led 3,000 "Xia Ba" people northward and entered Xinxing.
In Dai County, Chen Yougen actually had no way of controlling which direction the enemy would come from. In fact, he had cast several nets, but the place where the net was finally closed was beyond his expectations.
On the tenth day of May, the Qiyi River Valley was exceptionally quiet.
Chen Yougen climbed the hill for the last time to explore the terrain.
Pingshu County stands far away in the north.
A few miles south of the city, there are numerous springs and streams, which eventually converge into the Qiyi River.
Most of the streams run north-south, and some even go around the city. In May, the streams rise and flow continuously, with occasional shallows dotted in between, allowing people and horses to wade across.
The deputy commander of Luoyan Army, Daoxun, led 600 infantrymen to camp in the woods behind the easternmost stream, waiting quietly.
Two or three miles behind them, there were more than 3,000 infantry and cavalry of the Wei family.
Behind a hill a few miles to the southeast, the main cavalry of the Luoyan Army was resting.
In the city to the north, the streets and alleys were almost filled with cavalry. These were the 1,500 cavalry brought by Liu Hezhu - there was no other way, the city was not big, and after trying every possible means, they could only cram in so many troops.
Another 1,500 cavalrymen were stationed in a forest in the northeast.
Simply put, Chen Yougen planned to lure the enemy to this preset battlefield, and then intercept them head-on, ambush them from all sides, annihilate the enemy forces in one fell swoop, and boost morale.
The only difficulty with this plan is whether the front can hold up.
At this time, Chen Yougen hoped very much that the Tuqi Commander of Youzhou was here, but unfortunately King Liang had transferred them to Hongnong, and they were on duty to support Hedong at any time, so it was impossible for them to come here in a short time.
The dull sound of horse hooves rang out in the east.
Chen Yougen was startled and a sickly flush appeared on his face.
He really likes this kind of head-on combat with fists and blood.
He looked around and saw a big tree on the hillside, so he climbed up quickly and looked out. On the eastern horizon, more than a thousand riders appeared before his eyes.
They looked panic-stricken and in great disarray. As they ran, they looked back fearfully.
A larger cloud of dust appeared behind them.
The ferocious-looking Xianbei cavalry followed closely behind, their hooves sounding like thunder.
Even during the charge, their formation was not too loose and was generally still in the shape of an arrow.
Perhaps because they saw obstacles such as streams and woods ahead, the Xianbei people's formation changed: the cavalry on both wings began to increase their speed and move forward, encircling the enemy from the south and the north, trying to completely annihilate the more than a thousand cavalrymen.
They had won too many battles and looked down on the Wuhuan people, charging into battle without any scruples.
Even when charging, a leading general looked at Pingshu County from afar and saw that the flags on the city wall were tilted and people were stumbling and fleeing in all directions. Then he laughed loudly and was extremely arrogant.
"Crash!" After suffering more than a hundred casualties, the fleeing Wuhuan cavalry rushed to a shallow beach.
Someone had thoughtfully put up a small flag in the shallows, as if they were afraid that others didn't know that they could cross the river here.
Countless horse legs stepped into the river at the same time, splashing huge water, and there was a lot of shouting and neighing of horses, in an extremely chaotic manner.
Chen Yougen was waiting quietly on the hillside.
More than 500 of the Wuhuan cavalry who had escaped had already reached the shore and ran to the west side of the creek. There were still about a hundred cavalry in the middle of the river, and about 400 cavalry on the opposite bank.
Seeing that it was too late to cross the river, they desperately abandoned their horses and waded across the river.
Suddenly there were cries and shouts everywhere, and stumbling figures could be seen everywhere.
"Swoosh! Whoosh!" Countless arrows fell from behind. The five or six hundred cavalrymen who had already crossed the river scattered and disappeared on the grassland in the west. Dozens of people who were crossing the river screamed and fell to the ground. Even those who abandoned their horses and crossed the river suffered casualties.
The foamy muddy water and the bright red blood mixed together with the screams of pain, cries and even pleas for mercy, playing a cruel movement of death.
The Xianbei people began to cross the river and pursue.
They are aggressive and brave.
After hundreds of riders crossed the river, they chased after the fleeing Wuhuan cavalry. Those who were crossing the river looked towards the direction of Pingshu County, as if they were planning to go straight into the city to see if they could scare the Wuhuan people away and then have some fun in the city.
"Boom, boom, boom..." Just as the Xianbei people were chasing them with great momentum, two thousand cavalrymen appeared from behind the hills in the southeast.
They were excellent riders and controlled their horses' speed steadily. The mounted archers spread out to both wings, and the cavalry with lances stood out from the crowd. The whole group was in a charging posture, attacking the flanks and rear of the Xianbei cavalry who were squeezing towards the river bank.
"Boom, boom, boom..." Almost at the same time, fifteen hundred Jie cavalry rushed out from the woods in the northeast and rushed into the group of Xianbei cavalry who were wandering on the river bank from the side and rear with lightning speed.
The two ambushes' charge took the Xianbei people by surprise.
The riverbank was already crowded, and they had lost speed, and were attacked from behind, so they were blown away.
Looking down from a high place, more than 3,000 Xianbei cavalry were cut into several pieces on the spot, and countless of them fell off their horses or into the water.
The leading general was furious. He ordered his men to wave flags and shout loudly, but the situation was too chaotic and few people obeyed him in such a hurry.
"Boom, boom, boom..." The drums sounded for the third time.
"Kill the bandits!" Dao Xun jumped up and rushed out of the forest with 600 soldiers. He first shot with bows and crossbows, knocking down a large number of Xianbei cavalry who had just crossed the river.
These Xianbei people had already known that there was an ambush on the east bank of the river, and were already extremely panicked. Now they were suddenly attacked, and they were shocked and angry, and their fighting spirit was greatly shaken.
Without much hesitation, they decided to flee westward.
Dao Xun ignored them and rushed to the shallows of the river with 600 infantrymen.
Arrows flew out densely, knocking some of the Xianbei cavalrymen who were crossing the river to the ground. After they fell to the ground, they blocked the path of the following cavalrymen.
Dao Xun was greatly encouraged and led 600 men to shoot arrows along the river, thus blocking the Xianbei people's subsequent attempts to cross the river.
"Squeak!" At this time, the south gate of Pingshu County opened, and 1,500 Jie cavalrymen filed out. After slightly arranging their troops, they galloped southward.
Looking down from the air, the entire battlefield has been divided into three sections.
The first section is located farthest west.
The Xianbei cavalry who had successfully crossed the river earlier continued to pursue with high morale, completely unaware of what was happening behind them until they encountered a second group of hundreds of people who had successfully crossed the river.
The enemy force totaled about a thousand cavalry.
In front of them, Wei Xiong was waiting with a thousand infantrymen, and the road was littered with deer horns and caltrops.
Two thousand light cavalry were slowly advancing, intending to fight a decisive battle with the Xianbei people.
Liu Hezhu personally led a thousand cavalrymen from behind, intending to attack from the front and back together with Wei Xiong.
The second section is located right in the middle.
Dao Xun, deputy commander of Luoyan Army, led 600 soldiers to confront the enemy cavalry across the river, and continuously took the lives of the enemy cavalry with powerful bows and crossbows.
Another 500 cavalrymen from Liu Hezhu's army also slowly moved forward, just in case.
Behind them, two thousand Pingshu Dingzhuang were rushing over breathlessly.
The third section is located on the east side, across the stream.
A total of 3,500 Xianbei cavalry had been scattered and were in complete chaos.
The Jie cavalry and the Luoyan army charged and killed repeatedly. When they saw a large group of enemy cavalry, they dispersed them, and when they saw a small group of enemy cavalry, they surrounded and killed them.
The enemy had lost their organization and was completely defeated. Many of them tried to escape and flee in all directions.
When Dao Xun saw this, he simply took his soldiers, stepped on the corpses of the Xianbei people and horses, slowly rushed to the other side of the river, advanced like a wall, and took advantage of the chaos to attack and kill the Xianbei people who were in disorder.
The fighting on the entire battlefield was in full swing, and the balance of victory in the war was heavily tilted towards the Jin army.
Chen Yougen took in the overall situation and laughed.
The plan is accomplished!
In today's battle, it will be no problem to kill more than 2,500 Xianbei people. If we are lucky, it will not be surprising to behead 3,000 people.
Killing three thousand bandits in one battle, to be honest, has not been done since last winter, and it is still a great morale booster.
Your mother is a servant! I let you be so arrogant!
He now wanted to see whether the Wuhuan people in Daijun and Guangning would escape again.
"The fight is almost over. Cut off all the heads in a while. I will take them to Dai County to teach Wang Feng and his men a lesson." Chen Yougen ordered: "Also, let's take a look at the subordinates of that old witch Qi to see if they have suffered any harm at my hands."
"Yes, sir." The soldiers responded loudly, their morale high.
(End of this chapter)