Chapter 1156: Only 45 Miles Away
Chapter 1156: Just Four or Five Miles Away
In the rumbling vehicle, Li Du was wiping his brother's body.
Li Yu's face was frighteningly pale, as if all the blood had been drained long ago, leaving only blue-black marks on his fingers and toes, which made Li Du burst into tears.
Not long ago, they brothers were full of vigor and vitality. But now, they are at the point of life and death.
No, maybe he will go down to meet his brothers soon, so the fourth brother will be left alone in Chengdu.
But now that they are all gone, how can the fourth brother of the prince survive alone?
The hurried sound of horse hooves in the wilderness attracted Li Du's attention.
The Huns attacked and killed people repeatedly, and there were actually quite a few casualties, but they still surrounded and stared at this team of no more than 7,000 people.
The cavalry went out several times and chased them away, but they could not get far and always surrounded them again after a while.
But it doesn't seem to matter much.
The emperor got off his chariot, put on armor and held a sword, pointing at the Hun cavalry in the distance.
Inspired by this, the soldiers' morale gradually recovered and they fought in a more organized manner.
The Xiongnu light cavalry made several close harassment attacks, but were driven back each time after being reinforced with archers.
The cavalry took advantage of the situation and pursued the Huns, fighting repeatedly and increasing the casualties.
They were probably the troops that had fought the most battles up to noon today, and naturally, they had suffered the most casualties, with a total of about 1,500 cavalry.
At noon on the 15th, the army was still seven or eight miles away from Guanghan County.
In the nearby mountains, some Qiang and Liao chieftains sent cattle and wine to the roadside and cried, "Your Majesty, we have been greatly blessed, but this is all we can repay. We are so ashamed that we cannot show our shame."
When Li Xiong saw them, he helped them up one by one and said with a gentle smile: "It is enough for me to see you at a time when the country is in danger."
After saying this, he ordered the palace guards who came with him to put away the beef and wine, and then he couldn't help coughing a few times.
When several chiefs saw this, they felt sad.
No matter how brave a person is, he will grow old one day.
The empire built by one's own hands will eventually collapse.
The Li family rises and falls in one generation, which is really too cruel.
However, the emperor was very free and easy. At this critical moment, he still went to the battlefield despite his illness and had no intention of dying of old age on his bed. Perhaps this was the reason why he was able to accomplish his goal.
"You should go back quickly to avoid being implicated." Li Xiong waved his hand and said.
After saying this, he hunched over and coughed for a long time. The guards rushed forward and supported him.
Li Xiong paused for a moment and said, "Kill the cattle and cook them so that the soldiers can have a good meal. Drink a little wine, don't drink too much."
Everyone followed the order, but they had to find someone to test the wine first to avoid being contaminated.
Several chiefs left soon.
Li Xiong had a couch brought in, and he sat on the high slope holding a sword, pointing ahead, and said to his ministers: "Yesterday someone advised me to return to Chengdu and defend the city, but I refused."
"If the world is not settled and the North is still fighting, this move may be able to delay the situation. But the North has already been unified, so this strategy is extremely pedantic."
"Besides, I don't want this either."
At this point, Li Xiong turned his head and stared toward the northeast, smiled brilliantly, and said, "Shao Taibai is a true hero, I am certainly not as good as him, but you can't ask me to surrender and behave in such an ugly way."
After that, he patted the couch and said, "Now that things have come to this, I can't say anything nonsense. You all can see clearly that if Jiangzhou is not rescued, the 50,000-man army will collapse. If Jiangzhou is lost, the situation will be over. Therefore, I am invincible in this battle, I——"
As he said this, Li Xiong looked at the Xiongnu cavalrymen who were desperately approaching and shooting arrows from a distance, and said, "I swear to fight the Liang bandits to the end, and I will not stop until I die."
These words are very powerful.
When the ministers heard this, some wept, some sighed, some were excited, and so on.
After lunch, the army continued to move forward, and the attack came as expected -
On the flat river valley ground, the cavalry of both sides retreated as soon as they met.
The Huns were unable to charge and suffered too many casualties, while the Cheng army was reluctant to waste their cavalry, after all, one death was one less.
Li Xiong shook off the guards' support and walked to the front.
The illness that plagued him for several years had already consumed too much of his vitality. After walking a few miles, sweat broke out on his forehead, but he insisted on not asking for help, and did not return to the sedan chair. Instead, he pointed his sword forward and said with a smile: "They say that the guards are not good at fighting. I am here, so aren't they all brave?"
"Your Majesty is leading the army in person, and everyone in the army will be moved to tears. Naturally, everyone will be willing to die in battle." Zan Yan said, standing by with a knife in his hand.
The fighting power of the palace guards is indeed not strong, but after all, the emperor is behind them, so it is really difficult for them to escape without a fight.
However, when the Xiongnu cavalry charged over, the guards did not perform very well, with heavy casualties and some fleeing after the fierce battle. Fortunately, General Jianwei (Li Qi) personally captured and killed the escapees, and managed to maintain morale.
With the cooperation of cavalry, the Huns' offensive was quickly dispersed.
But today, after half a day of harassment, the Huns' attacks were much more frequent than yesterday. They were willing to do everything they could to slow down the army's advance, even at the cost of casualties and horsepower. Now, a deep trench appeared in front of them. It was obviously dug by the Huns temporarily, and they even took away the excavated soil.
This post road has been in disrepair for a long time and is now full of potholes. We have to stop and repair the road after going a short distance.
At this time, the Huns attacked again, arrows rained down like rain, and those with weak wills were frightened and scattered.
To be honest, if the emperor had not come in person and brought palace guards and cavalry with him, their marching speed would have been even slower.
Not to mention, the soldiers had been nervous all day and were already very tired.
I’m afraid we won’t be able to reach Guanghan County City today.
******
Outside a farmhouse in the west of Anhan County, a large group of cavalry rushed over.
Gong Zhuang, who had been prepared long ago, immediately sent up his well-maintained horse.
There are more than 1,200 horses in total, and they have been resting here for half a day. They were all replaced by the Feilongshan garrison soldiers who had been away for half a day.
In order to help the tired warhorse recover as quickly as possible, Gong Zhuang spent a lot of money.
Cooked beans and salt water were freely available, which even the young men in the tribe might not get to eat every day. But as long as there were horses sent to be raised, Gong Zhuang would never fool people with hay and would feed them with grain.
During the horse change, Huan Wen walked over and bowed to Gong Zhuang, saying, "If we win this battle, it will be thanks to Lord Gong."
Gong Zhuang looked at the young man in amazement and said with a smile: "My 30-year-old wish has finally come true. I feel extremely happy. This achievement is nothing more than a passing cloud to me."
Huan Wen smiled and stopped dwelling on the issue. He simply said, "There is still one city left in Baxi called Langzhong, which needs to be recovered as soon as possible. If there is spare strength, a part of the troops can be sent west to attack Guanghan."
The brothers Luo Yan and Luo Gu were defeated by the Zan clan's shield soldiers who crossed the river. Luo Gu died in the chaos. Luo Yan fled back to Langzhong, and it was only a matter of time before he could capture it.
Huan Wen entrusted all these matters to Gong Zhuang, the governor of Baxi, and Zan Ying, the governor of Dangqu, and ordered them to gather troops to eliminate those who disobeyed him in the county and then advance in the direction of Guanghan and Ba counties.
Gong Zhuang was eager for revenge, and while besieging Luo Yan, he also used his influence to gather thousands of shield soldiers from the Gong, Yang, Fu, and Xian families to march westward to take Guanghan, which was less than two days' journey away.
However, they might not be able to catch up to besiege Li Xiong, and Huan Wen was reluctant to hand over this honor to others, but this was not something that could be told to outsiders.
After the greetings, he did not linger but directly mounted his horse and headed west with a thousand Shilou Shanhu.
Naturally, there were more than two thousand tired horses left here.
Gong Zhuang did not hesitate to order black beans and salt water to be brought to wash and feed the horses, waiting for the next batch of cavalry to arrive so that they could replace the horses...
Not long after Huan Wen set out, 500 Feilongshan garrison soldiers led by Chen Chite passed by Guanghan County (between present-day Shehong and Suining).
There are soldiers in the city, but their numbers are small and they don't have the courage to leave the city. They heard that the prefect had fled, so the county magistrate is now leading the soldiers to guard the city, waiting for Li Xiong's army to arrive.
Chen Chite didn't bother to care what the people of Guanghan thought. When he led his troops four miles north of the city, the sun had already set and he encountered a group of retreating Xiongnu cavalry.
Seeing the troops from Feilong Mountain garrison arriving, the Huns felt relieved but also somewhat dissatisfied.
Starting from the 14th day, they made great efforts and lost six or seven hundred cavalry before they were able to delay the progress of the Cheng army.
A rough calculation showed that they had only walked twelve or thirteen miles in a day and a half, so that the entire army could see Guanghan County City from afar, but there was still several miles between them and they could never reach it.
"How many cavalrymen are left among the Cheng bandits?" Chen Chite asked as he had his men loosen the horses' belly straps, take them for a jog, and feed them some food and water.
"There should be less than fifteen thousand." The Hun officer replied.
"There are so many?" Chen Chite asked in surprise.
"They don't send out cavalry easily, they value them very much." said the Hun officer.
"Where is Captain Wanqi?"
"They went around to harass us. They just scared away thousands of bandits and are chasing us now."
"Are you so bad at becoming a thief? Then why didn't you attack with all your might last night?"
The Xiongnu officer almost choked to death, and said stiffly: "If you think it's easy to fight, just go and try it tonight. Li Xiong has already ordered to set up camp."
"Setting up camp?" Chen Chi was overjoyed.
It is only four or five miles away from Guanghan. Even if it is not easy to travel, as long as we are willing to suffer casualties and rush forward regardless of everything, at least half of the 30,000-strong army will be able to run into the city, and Li Xiong will most likely be able to hide inside. In that case, we can only surround them.
But he was reluctant to abandon his army and was unwilling to take risks in the dark, so there was nothing he could do.
"We must all march tonight. We must not let Cheng the thief sleep peacefully." Chen Chite rubbed his hands and said, "Captain Huan will arrive in the latter half of the night. We should be able to get another 1,000 cavalrymen by noon tomorrow. By noon tomorrow at the latest, the whole army will be assembled. By then, Li Xiong will not be able to leave even if he wants to. If we are three days late, Commander Duan will also be here."
When the Hun officers heard this, they immediately realized that it was a critical moment.
At this moment, we must grit our teeth and risk our lives to stop Li Xiong and never let him enter Guanghan - of course, it wouldn't be a big problem if he entered, since he couldn't go to rescue Jiangzhou anyway, but it would be more difficult later.
Now that the soldiers from Feilong Mountain have arrived, looking at the tall horses they are riding and the silver armor on the pack horses' backs, their chances of stopping Li Xiong have greatly increased.
Do it! Harass tonight.
(End of this chapter)