Chapter 904: Chaos

Chapter 904: Chaos

Chapter 904: Chaos (Part )

Jin Zheng's troops consisted of 2,400 palace soldiers, 600 cavalry, and a hundred or so personal soldiers, totaling just over 3,000. The route was not complicated, just taking a detour first and then rushing northwest along the Zhongling River.

The river flows from the west of Shanwu City to the northwest, and then splits into two.

It turns northeast and is called Wo Shui, named because it flows east from the ancient county town of Woyang in the Han Dynasty. The Xianbei called it "Kebuni City" (now Shuanggucheng in Liangcheng County).

It continues to flow northwest, then turns southwest, still called Zhonglingchuan, which is today's Red River, and finally merges into the Yellow River.

Along the way, there is a north-south tributary called "Gaoshengyuanshui", named after Gaoshengyuan, the leader of the Tiele Xiongnu. Following this river to the north, you can directly reach an east-west highway connecting Shengle and Pingcheng, located west of Chanhexing.

This is exactly what Kim Jong is aiming for.

However, they encountered big trouble as soon as they attacked: their roundabout way to the north was eventually discovered.

Dou Qin immediately dispatched more than 3,000 cavalry to pursue and intercept them.

At the same time, thousands of soldiers from the south of Shanwu City arrived outside the city at night under the cover of the Jie cavalry, carrying simple ladders made during the day and attacking the city.

For a moment, the wilderness was dotted with stars and crowded with people, and the shouts of killing almost pierced the night sky.

Dou Qin was worried that the city could not be defended, so he personally led his troops to charge.

As a result, Liu Runzhong also took to the battlefield personally, and with the cooperation of more than a thousand government soldiers, he fought a fierce battle with the Suotou cavalry.

Dou Qin charged twice but failed to break through the Jie cavalry that scattered after a charge during the day, and he was suddenly a little panicked.

By the second half of the night, the more than 2,000 soldiers attacking the city had reached the top of the city twice and almost captured it.

At this time, Dou Yuzhen led a team of cavalry to retreat, with several arrows on his back.

"Grandpa, where is Aitou? If we continue this battle, we will have no chance of winning. Some people have just left at night. They must have gone to the mountains to meet up with the elderly, the weak, women and children. I'm afraid they are going to surrender." Dou Yuzhen got off his horse and said breathlessly.

Most of the elderly, the weak and livestock in their tribe retreated towards Woyang. Although the losses were not light, they also managed to preserve their vitality as much as possible.

Shanwu really has no reason to continue.

"I've miscalculated!" Dou Qin said with a heavy sigh.

The three armies marched south and joined forces at Mayi to gain the upper hand. When this plan was first proposed, Dou Qin did not object too much, because it was not impossible to succeed. The reason for dividing the troops into three groups was mainly because the cavalry was too expensive. Thirty thousand people were crowded together, with seventy to eighty thousand horses, and the terrain was not open enough. When encountering the enemy, only the vanguard could engage in battle, which was a pure waste of manpower.

But the bad thing is that the enemy attacked first.

More than 20,000 of them went up from Zhonglingchuan and directly blocked their troops. They won battle after battle and advanced all the way to the city of Shanwu.

It was only when we reached this point, where the terrain was relatively open, that the situation of continuous retreat was reversed.

But the enemy commander seemed to be leading his troops north again, not taking them seriously at all, and was extremely bold.

After a moment's thought, Dou Qin deduced that Jin was trying to go to Shengle.

The route is not difficult to guess. It is most convenient to march through the mountains along the river valley. Not only is the terrain flat, but there is also abundant water and grass along the way, which is more conducive to drinking water for people and livestock. Otherwise, the lack of water alone can destroy tens of thousands of troops.

"I have sent several groups of people to look for Aitou. Qiu Dunshi from the west has also sent people to contact him." Dou Qin said, "Whether Aitou is willing to come back or not, and what Qiu Dunshi will do, we will leave it to fate."

Dou Yuzhen stamped his feet heavily and cursed: "The situation has deteriorated to this point, all because of the descendants of the Tuoba clan themselves!"

Dou Qin smiled bitterly.

This is true. If you don't mess around, how can others have a chance?
Tuoba Yilu was killed by his son Liuxiu, Tuoba Pugen killed Liuxiu, then Pugen and his son Shisheng died suddenly, Tuoba Yulu was murdered, and then Tuoba Shiyijian, Tuoba Yihuai and Heli and Hena attacked each other, and now Yihuai and Shiyijian have turned against each other...

It was a civil war from beginning to end.

Sometimes, Hedouling wondered, would it be better if the Tuoba Alliance did not contact the Jin people, always maintained its traditions, and did not have internal disputes between the old and the new or even vendettas?
As soon as you translate it into Chinese, problems arise.

The most terrifying thing is that this problem has been seized upon by others and they won’t let go.

The Tuoba clan was scattered all over the place. Even though Hedouling was not a Xianbei but a Gaoche, he still felt sorry about this.

I wonder if there is anyone who can unite the Tuoba Xianbei again and fight against the enemy together.

If anyone can do this, Dou Qin is willing to vote for him. At this time, the disputes between the old and the new seem to be nothing. What should be considered is the survival of the entire Tuoba Alliance.

The sound of horse hooves attracted the attention of the father and son.

The sound of hooves came from the east, and the cavalry deployed on the periphery stepped forward to intercept, shouting and asking questions.

After a while, a shaved-headed Wuhuan man wearing a fur coat was led over.

"Yude, I haven't seen you for many years. How have you been?" the man said with a laugh.

"You are..." Dou Qin looked carefully in the light of the fire and said, "Wang Chang, the head of Wang Feng's household?"

"It's me." Wang Chang laughed and said, "After not seeing you for so many years, why don't you treat me to a drink?"

In the darkness, Dou Qin's face changed several times.

Wang Chang walked a few steps closer and said softly, "Khatun asked me to bring you a message."

Dou Qin had a blank expression on his face, but he didn't stop him from talking.

"Khatun said that if we continue fighting, it will just be Xianbei fighting Xianbei, which will only waste our energy." After Wang Chang said this, he kept silent.

Dou Qin pondered for a long time and said, "Come to my tent."

******
Since May 23rd, Helan Aitou has been hesitating.

According to the captives, there were only more than a thousand soldiers in Yinguan City, while he had more than ten thousand cavalry, ten times more.

Some of his subordinates requested a fight, saying that they would capture Yinguan and that they would have no shortage of food and fodder.

But Helan Aitou did not agree.

They attacked a grain transport team near the city of Mayi, killing more than a thousand Shao soldiers. After two successes, they had nearly 70,000 bushels of millet and wheat, and also found a grazing place for the Jie people, and obtained more than 80,000 cattle and sheep and 6,000 war horses.

Although it was said that there were 15,000 troops at this time, they actually only had 5,000 armored cavalry with the best equipment and the strongest combat power. The remaining 10,000 cavalry were scattered, looting everywhere, searching for grazing places of Shao's army, and occasionally fighting with the mobilized cavalry of the Mayi landlords. It would take a while for them to be gathered together.

What's more, are there really only more than a thousand soldiers in Yinguan County?

Looking at the densely packed abandoned food carts outside the city, we can judge that there should be a large number of men in the city. They may not be able to fight in the field, but what's wrong with squatting on the top of the city to fight? It makes it seem like cavalry dismounting to attack the city is very powerful.

On the afternoon of the 23rd, he led his troops toward Yanmen Pass, and the two sides fought almost immediately.

The 3,000 men of the Left Cavalry Guard charged at them for a while, but were directly repelled.

After dismounting and forming a battle formation, the armored cavalry charged for a while but returned in defeat.

At this point, Helan Aitou had tested their strengths: this so-called Luonan Prefecture soldier was indeed strong in infantry combat and also good in cavalry combat, and could defeat the Xiongnu cavalry, but was still inferior to the Xianbei's most elite armored cavalry.

But they did not retreat.

Moreover, there were a full six thousand silver-spear armored soldiers advancing slowly and resolutely under the cover of the chariot formation, which was difficult for them to deal with.

For example at this moment——

The elite armored cavalry took off their iron armor and abandoned their horse lances, wearing only light leather armor and riding bows. They galloped left and right around the chariot formation, but they never had a chance.

"Alas." Helan Aitou sighed silently in his heart.

At this moment, dozens of riders came running from the northeast.

"Someone from the Pilou clan." Someone said softly.

Someone also went to greet them, and after a while, brought the group of people over.

Helan Ai took a look and saw that two of them had arrows stuck in their backs, as if they had been attacked.

"Assistant Prime Minister, this is Fuzhuzhen (a postman) from the Hedouling tribe. He has been chasing us from Tuwenshui and encountered the Jin cavalry halfway. Judging from their flags, they should be the Yicong army coming from the direction of Xinping. The Pilou tribe has already met them."

Helan Aitou was not surprised by this, and only asked: "What happened to Hedouling? Why hasn't he come to join us yet?"

"My lord, he encountered the main force of 100,000 Jin Zheng on the way. The battle was not going well, so he retreated to Shanwu to lure the Jin army." Fu Zhuzhen endured the pain on his body and said, "When I was leaving, I saw more than a thousand cavalrymen heading west in the direction of Wuzhou City. They should be the vanguard. It was dark at that time, and we were not discovered by them, so we quickly went south to report the news."

"Where are the people from the Yilou clan? Didn't they go to intercept the enemy troops in Wuzhouchuan?" Helan Aitou felt something was wrong after hearing this and asked subconsciously.

The messenger was confused.

His position was too low, so it was impossible for him to know the overall deployment of his own side.

No one told him where the Yiluo tribe was. Even if they were to move out in large numbers, he would not be able to find out in a short time.

Helan Aitou also reacted and stopped looking at the messenger, but his expression became even gloomier.

The Jin general named Jin Zheng was so brave and aggressive that he felt very uncomfortable. At this moment, he could neither advance nor retreat.

"Ding ding..." The sound of gongs coming from afar startled Helan Aitou.

That was when the Silver Spear Right Camp saw that it was getting dark and decided to set up camp on the spot.

The soldiers of the Zuo Xiaoqi Guard stood by and watched from afar.

Everyone looked at Helan Aitou, some with unpleasant expressions.

Jin Zheng's 100,000-man army was definitely fake, but there might be 30,000. Among these 30,000, most were infantrymen, and they had a great chance of capturing Shanwu. Once Shanwu was lost, and they set up fences and garrisons at various important roads, the threat would be too great.

Now I just hope that the Yilou people can send reinforcements as soon as possible and don’t let the Jin people comfortably control such a large area.

Helan Aitou raised his head again and looked at the more than 8,000 soldiers and horses of the Silver Spear Right Camp and the Left Cavalry Guard in the distance.

What is the purpose of going south to Mayi?
One was to eat the enemy's vanguard, but their vanguard actually took the initiative to crawl into its own stomach.

The second was to destroy the enemy's stockpiles, a goal that was only partially accomplished and not very smoothly.

If we stayed, we might be able to search for some of the enemy's grazing land and destroy their supplies, but the risk of being left behind would also increase.

does it worth?
"Gather the men and contact Qiu Dun, and order them to come for our support." Helan Aitou made a prompt decision and issued the order.

The messengers quickly scattered.

In the traffic jam in the distance, Shao Shen climbed up to a high place and looked into the distance, watching quietly.

This was his second time to fight against the grassland bow-drawing kingdom.

This time, the feeling was even more profound.

The enemy cavalry came and went like the wind, and it could be said that the two sides had no fixed battlefield. They fought here today and there tomorrow.

If you reveal a flaw, you will immediately find yourself surrounded by overwhelming cavalry.

You are invulnerable and will not see large groups of enemy cavalry for several days.

During this process, you need to be nervous at all times and not give the enemy any chance. Only when you encounter a stronghold can you completely relax, have a good sleep, and restore your strength and energy.

He had no idea what the enemy was up to.

Because for their army, the initiative of the war was not in their hands. The Xianbei could fight when they wanted to, and leave when they didn't want to.

The Xianbei people were willing to stop and fight a decisive battle, that must be because they thought the time was ripe, otherwise they would not fight a decisive battle with you at all.

But it doesn’t matter, you fight yours and I fight mine.

They would be considered successful as long as they could successfully reach Mayi and transport the 100,000 hu of grain they brought with them to the front line.

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(End of this chapter)