Chapter 843 1 Approaching step by step
Chapter 843 Getting closer step by step
The sun is shining brightly and the summer is hot.
On the long-dilapidated post road, the criss-crossing wheel tracks are clearly visible.
On the "hills" between the wheel ruts, foxtail grass swayed in the wind, and unknown wild flowers dotted among them.
There are dense bushes on both sides of the post road, with flowers, wild fruits, and leaves and buds that small animals love to eat.
The bushes extended far away, gradually connecting with the rolling hills and transitioning into tall and deep forests.
"Crash!" A carriage drove along the ruts, splashing mud and water everywhere, and all the flowers and plants fell to the ground.
After the carriage passed, Dogtail Grass had just straightened up when another carriage arrived...
Cars came one after another, in a mighty procession that seemed to have no end.
After the chariot passed, there was a large group of cavalry.
They led their horses in silence and advanced on foot.
The foxtail grass was finally trampled to the ground and became part of the soil.
The cavalry didn't know how long they had been marching before they saw another carriage.
After the carriages passed, the infantry followed, and behind the infantry came the carriages...
I don't know how long it took, but the marching crowd suddenly stopped.
The messenger rushed by at high speed, delivering orders one after another.
The officers also sent out their servants to inspect various places.
The birds in the forest swooped down and looked down at the earth.
Under the blue sky in the north, there are green grass and picturesque mountains and rivers.
And in this landscape painting, clumps of "ink" are spreading, covering every corner of the painting.
Looking closely, it was a sea of black cavalry. They were marching from north to south in such a large scale that they almost completely surrounded the more than 2,000 infantrymen who were marching.
But the infantrymen advancing from south to north responded early.
Based on the terrain, they built a temporary defensive position with side-carriages and deer horns as the core, with bows and crossbows fully equipped and infantrymen daring to fight.
Waves of cavalry passed over the sidecars and the outer perimeter of the antlers, like waves skirting around reefs, helpless.
Ji Shou sat on the soft haystack and thought to himself, "Could Yu Ju have been killed by Suo Tou? Otherwise, why hasn't there been any news?"
"Swoosh! Whoosh!" Two arrows flew over his head.
Ji Shou didn't care at all and just looked at the attacking Xianbei people.
They walked around in circles in vain, shouting curses in frustration.
Ji Shou laughed after hearing this and said, "If you are unwilling to dismount and fight on foot, you will not be able to stop the army from advancing north."
They had only walked a little over forty miles and were still eighty miles away from Pingcheng, but they were already losing their patience.
……
To the southeast of this "reef", more than 2,000 infantrymen were surrounded by cavalry.
They were marching near a village when they received the news from the scouts.
Zhao Huai, the leader of the Silver Spear Army, acted decisively and more than 2,000 people retreated into the village, occupied some houses, and blocked the outside with vehicles.
Unlike Ji Shou's side, a battle broke out here.
The Xianbei people dismounted and fought on foot. After a brief mobilization, they rushed forward howling.
As expected, they were repelled by the skilled infantry of the Jin army.
After trying this twice, the leader of the Suotou tribe looked at the two or three hundred corpses lying on the ground and suddenly felt a black screen before his eyes.
These people have been riding sheep since they were young, and riding horses when they are a little older. Day after day of herding has made their riding skills perfect.
Someone got drunk and lay on the horse's back on his way home. Although he was clearly dizzy, his body instinctively made various movements without using his brain to prevent himself from falling off the horse.
There are several months in a year that are hunting season, and they will follow the nobles to hunt and practice archery.
When grazing on weekdays, they also hunt and even drive away wild animals such as wolves.
Such a cavalryman with excellent riding skills, great coordination between man and horse, and superb archery skills was stabbed to death by a soldier with a yellow turban on his head when he dismounted and fought on foot. Wasn't that a loss?
How many "Yellow Turban Bandits" do you have to kill to make up for the loss of such an excellent cavalryman?
The noble sighed and ordered a retreat.
Fortunately, the cavalry still has the initiative to fight or not. If the cavalry does not want to fight, the Jin army's infantry can do nothing to them.
but--
This initiative is slowly disappearing.
When the Jin army arrived at Pingcheng, did they really have any choice? Yu Ju launched a tragic attack under Guangwu City. Did he want to fight? No, it was because his cavalry had lost the initiative and could only choose to attack. There was no other way.
……
"I can't find any news about Pingcheng anymore." Wang Que'er stood beside the well, scooped up a ladle of cold water and drank it.
The Xianbei people sent out a large number of light cavalry to block roads, kill messengers, drive out scouts, and tightly block all news within a radius of fifty miles around Pingcheng.
You do not know where his armies are gathered.
You don't know if he will come to hit you, or when he will come. You can't judge his true intentions from the slightest clues.
Some people in the army believed that this was a precursor to a large-scale attack by the Xianbei, but this was just a guess.
Today, more than 40,000 Xianbei cavalrymen surged southward, which seemed to confirm this conjecture.
However, these 40,000 cavalrymen were helpless against the Jin army's infantry, who were warned by scouts and rangers. In the end, they could only circle around them and retreat in embarrassment.
Their only achievement was to delay the Jin army to the maximum extent possible, reducing their marching speed to less than ten miles a day.
In addition, several thousand cavalrymen rushed to attack Xinping and even Yinguan to see if it was possible to cut off the Jin army's food supply and force it to collapse without a fight.
However, considering the existence of a large number of Wuhuan "rebels", it seemed that light cavalry's deep-seated raiding and looting had become a dangerous task, making the grassland tactics passed down from ancient times difficult to work.
Simply put, send out elite cavalry to station at the front, fight while retreating, lure the enemy step by step, and let them chase after them, so that the battle line becomes longer and longer, and the troops become more and more dispersed.
For the Pingcheng Xianbei, this move is difficult to implement unless they persuade Wang to betray Shao...
"Commander-in-Chief." The sound of horse hooves could be heard outside the courtyard. A messenger jumped off his horse and said, "Your Majesty's military order."
Wang Que'er wiped her hands, took it, opened it and was a little surprised.
"Pass the order, the Yicong army should go forward to open the way, and do not hesitate." Wang Que'er gave orders to his staff.
******
For the nobles in Pingcheng, the news that the Jin army was approaching step by step was really upsetting.
On the 27th, the vanguard of the Jin army was less than 70 miles away from Pingcheng.
More than a thousand cavalrymen sent out to harass the area suffered casualties, and some leaders of small tribes simply escaped halfway and never returned to Pingcheng.
Although the large tribes did not flee, they were secretly transferring the elderly, the weak, women, children, cattle, sheep and other property.
On the 28th, the Jin army was still more than 50 miles away from Pingcheng.
After harassing various tribes and causing more than 3,000 casualties, they were still helpless against the Jin infantry. The only achievement was defeating the Jin cavalry that opened the way.
Helan Aitou offered sacrifices to heaven on the grassland with great fanfare. Some tribes near Pingcheng had already left their pastures and went to join him.
Of course, more people went south to join the Wang family, after all, they were all Wuhuan people and were easy to talk to.
On the 29th, Da Xi surrendered to Dai Jun Wang Feng with tens of thousands of people.
This was news that shocked everyone in Pingcheng.
The Da Xi clan originally stayed behind to cover the retreat. They had good fighting ability and won more battles than they lost against Chen Yougen's troops. But as they were winning, they surrendered - of course they didn't surrender to Shao Xun, but to Wang Feng, the agent of Wang's mother and son.
Almost on the same day, the pastoral official (from the Da Xi clan) who was grazing in the Hunshui (Yuhe River) and Yangshui (Yuni River) areas fled east with tens of thousands of horses and presented them to Wang Feng - it was obvious that this had been planned for a long time.
As soon as these two things happened, everyone smelled something unusual.
On the 30th, the Jin army was less than 30 miles away from Pingcheng.
Qi fell ill in the Pingcheng Palace.
Her hair turned completely white overnight and she seemed to have figured out a lot of things.
"That bitch Wang is the second me, haha." Qi was lying on the couch, staring at the ceiling with lifeless eyes: "It really seems like it."
Tuoba Heli seemed to want to say something but stopped himself.
Is this the time to think about this? I want to go back to Dongmugen Mountain, mother, please nod and agree.
Unfortunately, Qi was already caught up in her own emotions, still saying, "Why can't we win? Pingcheng to Yanmen is more than 300 miles away, can't you think of a way to cut off these 300 miles?"
"Yuwenqiu is not diligent. If you continue to wait and see, you will be the next one."
"People are confused. Shao's best fighter is not the Silver Spear Army, but that bitch Wang. If she hadn't recruited the rebels, Shao's retreat would have been cut off long ago."
Tuoba Heli didn't want to listen to his mother's nonsense anymore.
He walked out cautiously - even at this time, he was still a little afraid of Qi - and tried to discuss with his younger brother Hena.
Pingcheng is no longer a suitable place to stay.
If it really doesn't work, they can just go back to Dongmugen Mountain. If they can't stay there either, they can go to Ruyuan.
The tribes there would support him no matter what - no, to be more precise, they would support their mother Qi.
Just like many Wuhuan people recruited by the Wang family, they were not even loyal to Tuoba Shiyijian, but to Shiyijian's mother Wang family - the problem of the maternal clan being too powerful has always been an old problem of the Tuoba Xianbei. In the distant past, there was the competition between Fengfei and Lanfei, and recently there was the dispute between Madam Qi and Madam Wang. If things continued to develop in this way, they might have to kill the mother and keep the son to feel at ease.
In the past few days, Tuoba Heli has been listening to the ideas of his close ministers.
Few people are fools. Many people pointed out one thing: if they run to the grassland, Shao Ze might not chase them. He might even hope that He Li is still alive and can gain the support of some people on the grassland.
He Li nodded repeatedly, wishing he could pack his bags and go back to Dongmugen Mountain right now. But his younger brother He Na thought that if he escaped without fighting, he might be killed on the way. Of course, he also didn't say that he might be killed if he lost the battle.
After hearing this, Tuoba Heli hesitated again. In addition, his mother was ill and unable to walk, which made him even more upset.
On the first day of July, the Jin army was more than ten miles away from the city.
Tuoba Hena personally led his troops to the south to harass the enemy, and the Yicong army attacked again. The two sides fought more than ten battles, and each lost no less than two thousand cavalry. It was very tragic.
Since the Yicong Army launched the Northern Expedition, it has lost more than a thousand cavalrymen in scattered incidents, and recently lost nearly three thousand people. The army, which had just expanded for more than a year, was basically crippled.
After nightfall on the second day of July, countless torches suddenly appeared in the wilderness south of Pingcheng, almost like a sky full of stars.
The Jin army is coming.
(End of this chapter)