Chapter 1157 Can’t leave anymore

Chapter 1157 Can’t leave anymore

Chapter 1157 Can’t leave anymore
The full moon on the 15th was particularly round, illuminating the entire earth like a bright snow-capped mountain. However, from time to time, people would still scream and fall to the ground in the wild.

Han Tong gritted his teeth, carefully controlled the horse, stared at the road ahead with wide eyes, and moved forward silently.

Walking was tiring, and riding a horse was not a comfortable job either. Han Tong felt that his butt was about to be broken.

If you think about it carefully, going south from Shilou County to Dayangdu in Hedong, one person had three horses - he only had one horse, and the other two horses were lent to him by students from the county school.

After crossing the pontoon bridge, they arrived in Luoyang. After resting for ten days, they headed south again, passing through Nanyang and Xiangyang and arrived in Jiangling.

Only then could they truly rest, catch their breath, and raise some horses. The imperial court also provided some additional horses, but most of them were worthless pack horses.

Then they took the mountain road, passing Yidu, Jianping, and Badong. They had already passed Nanpu, but were urgently called back and went around the mountains to Dangqu. After just two days of rest, they were led west by Captain Huan to a place called Guanghan.

This time, we rushed all the way.

When I left my hometown, it was autumn and the horses were fat at the foot of Shilou Mountain, but now it is mid-spring in Shu, which makes me feel deeply moved.

By the way, three horses became two, and some people had less than two, so they had to raise funds and borrow money everywhere. After the campaign against Shu, they were lucky to have half of the more than 3,000 horses left, which was more than the loss of people.

At the beginning of the first hour of the Chinese New Year, the troops in front of them stopped. After a while, a military officer rode up on horseback and ordered everyone to rest for half an hour.

Han Tong felt relieved, but he could not rest yet. As a rare talent in the army who was fluent in both the Shanhu language and Mandarin, he had to rush to Captain Huan's side to receive orders and translate at any time.

The Shanhu are a typical mixed Hu community, composed of the descendants of the Shanrong and Red Di in the pre-Qin period, mixed with the Xiongnu, Di Qiang and various other tribes.

After the fall of Liu Han, many of the five Huns joined in, making their power grow day by day. Some people called them "Ji Hu".

They do everything, including farming, grazing, hunting, fishing, and sericulture. In fact, their level of civilization is higher than that of purely nomadic tribes.

Their language is very unique, mixed with words from various ethnic groups, but with different pronunciations.

At that time, Han Tong bid farewell to his sister and brother-in-law (Feng Bachi) and went to Shilou County to be a teacher. At first, he could not understand what they said at all, but he was willing to learn and he married the daughter of a mountain barbarian chieftain. Gradually, he understood.

When the army was being recruited, he would use his connections to register his name and serve as an interpreter. After returning, he would be promoted to county doctor.

When he trotted all the way to Huan Wen's side, he heard the messenger report: "At dusk, Commander Wanqi attacked the enemy's rear army. The enemy army seemed to have a commotion, and many of them fled. They also killed the rear army commander Shangguan Dun."

"Who are the rear troops?"

"According to the captives, he was a servant of a wealthy family."

"Where is Shangguan Dun?"

"The old general of the six counties died during the camp roar."

"He died during the camp whistle, so why did Wanqi Ke say that he was beheaded?"

The messenger was speechless.

He Fen was delighted and said, "You are such an honest messenger."

"Has the rear army completely collapsed?"

"Probably not." The messenger said, "The troops of Li Qi, the pseudo-royal member of the imperial family, did not raise any banners, and they even sent people to clean up the mess. Captain Wanqi said that the enemy's rear troops must have lost more than half of their troops."

"Where is the central army?" Huan Wen asked again.

"The central army defended tightly, the soldiers beat gongs and drums, set two fires, and shot dead more than ten patrol officers. The bandits certainly could not sleep well."

"Didn't you harass the front troops?"

"General Chen from Feilong Mountain led more than a thousand men to harass us. The bandit cavalry went out in large numbers and there was a melee in the dark night, with heavy casualties on both sides." The messenger replied, "Captain Wanqi and General Chen will gather their forces in the second half of the night and harass us once or twice more."

"The cavalry was fighting in the night. Even with a full moon, it was difficult to distinguish them in a hurry. We didn't even know if those killed were our own people or not. The casualties were probably heavy," said Huan Wen.

"It may not be a bad thing." He Fen said on the side: "After wiping out the Cheng bandit cavalry, the remaining infantry has been tossed around for two nights. I don't believe they still have the strength to move forward. If they die, then -"

"That's enough!" Huan Wen stood up suddenly, looked at He Fen coldly, and said, "Take a short rest. We will be on the road in half an hour."

He Fen shut up angrily, it was a great thing to have the princess' support.

******
In the mountains and fields, the scattered lights went out one after another, and another round of offensive receded.

Li Xiong put down the sword in his hand, gently supported himself on the ground and stabilized his body.

As the emperor, he certainly didn't have to fight on the front line, but it consumed a lot of energy. To him at this moment, this energy was more like life force.

General Zhenxi, Governor of Wenshan, and Cavalry Commander Li Ba rode back on horseback, his battle clothes stained with blood.

"Your Majesty." After getting off the horse, he bowed down and saluted. Perhaps because of the injuries on his body, his expression was extremely painful.
Li Xiong calmed himself down, stepped forward to help him up, and said, "My son has returned after defeating the enemy, how great!"

After Li Ba stood up, he felt his father's skinny arms. His eyes turned red. He supported Li Xiong with his backhand and said, "Grandpa, go and have a rest."

Li Xiong shook his head and said, "Grandpa wants to stand here and watch the soldiers return from killing the enemies one by one."

Li Ba couldn't persuade his father, so he had someone bring a couch and helped his father sit down. Then he took out a felt blanket and gently covered his father's legs.

"How many cavalry are left?" Li Xiong asked.

"There are still a thousand riders left."

"Where are the horses?" "We collected some Xiongnu horses during the day, and there are still more than 900 horses."

"What do you think of tonight's battle?"

Li Ba was silent for a long time, and then said, "I think the Liang people are looking for my cavalry to fight with."

"Are they new reinforcements?"

"Yes, their name is Feilongshan Zhenjun." Li Ba said, "There are hundreds of elite cavalry, at least one-third of them have iron armor. They are the first to charge, and the rest follow closely behind. They are quite brave. But they don't look like the army of Liang State."

"How to say?"

"They form a small group of 10 riders, with a black flag on the back of a lieutenant, and a large group of 50 riders, with a red flag on the back of a lieutenant. Five hundred riders form a general's flag. They are different from the Liang army I have seen before."

"There is a method for this." Li Xiong said, "When the uprising started, some of the king's troops did not know the method, suffered a lot, and many people died. Later, they slowly summed up and figured out a set of methods. After the uprising was successful, they asked someone to preach military books, and when they heard the words in the military books and strategies, they exclaimed, isn't this what they did? It turns out that most of what they learned from the battlefield is in line with the military strategy, even if they have never read the military books."

"I heard that Shao Liang set up military garrisons in strategic locations and border areas, with garrison commanders, chief historians, military officers, chief clerks, minor supervisors, recorders and other officials of various ranks." Li Xiong said, "The people are governed by military law. When they are busy, they farm and graze, and when they are idle, they train. The upper and lower levels are integrated and quite familiar with each other. Even if there was no system in the past, it has changed over the years. They raise horses, make weapons, and train soldiers by themselves, and ask the Shao Liang court for some rewards from time to time. How is this different from the military system?"

"They are waiting for you tonight. It's obvious that they want to use up all the royal cavalry and then slowly deal with the infantry." Li Xiong smiled bitterly and said, "It's a pity that the rear army camp was in chaos, and the casualties are less than 3,000. The central army has also lost nearly 2,000 soldiers since yesterday. It's only been two nights..."

Li Xiong knew very well that even though they could still hold on now and the casualties were not many, it had been two days and two nights. If they continued to waste time, the moment would come when the string would break, and the number of casualties and those who fled would be in the tens of thousands.

There are two ways to relieve the physical and mental fatigue of soldiers.

One is to enter Guanghan City, where there are city walls for protection, and then we can relax.

The second is to cut down trees, dig trenches, and build solid camps, which is actually no different from going into the city to rest.

But once we stop, do you think it will attract more cavalry?
The first reinforcements had already arrived during the day, so it was conceivable that the Liang people must be rushing here at all costs. If they stopped, they would be completely unable to move forward.

But everyone understands the principle, but what about the reality?

The group of people brought here had been harassed for two days and two nights. They were actually like frightened birds. The rear army was even shouting in the camp. If they continued to force their way forward, no one knew how many people would be defeated. Their morale would also be severely damaged, and they would lose their combat effectiveness in a short period of time. Rescuing Jiangzhou would become an empty talk.

A dilemma.

"After daybreak, I will reward all the troops." Li Xiong hesitated for only a moment, then made up his mind and said, "My son, you can go to the camp to pick out the treasures, and your father will..."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw several long lines of torches coming towards him in the darkness ahead.

As we got closer, the long dragon of torches slowly spread out, passing through the farmlands, crossing the forests, and covering the valleys and hills.

Looking from a high place, in the wilderness shrouded in darkness, torches looked like stars, the sound of hooves sounded like thunder, and occasionally the sound of horses neighing echoed endlessly in the valley.

Reinforcements have arrived.

Li Xiong stood up and watched for a long time. He said, "It sounds a bit bluffing. It looks like there are thousands of cavalry, but there may be only one or two thousand."

Li Ba looked at his father in a daze, not knowing what to say.

"Maybe we can't leave." Li Xiong actually smiled, looked at his son, and said, "I wonder if thousands of years later, will anyone remember the past when you and I fought side by side on the bank of the Fu River?"

Li Ba suddenly wanted to cry, but he didn't know for whom.

******
The morning of the sixteenth arrived quickly.

Three miles north of Guanghan City, another trench was dug.

This time the excavated soil was not transported away, but an earth wall was piled directly on the other side of the trench.

Behind the earth wall, a group of Huns were sleeping on the ground, snoring loudly.

Next to them, the Shilou Shanhu brought by Huan Wen were wiping equipment and feeding horses.

News came from the front: the remaining 2,000 troops of Li Cheng's rear army have joined forces with the more than 17,000 troops of the central army, and are moving towards the front army.

As for its front army, which consisted of less than 4,000 infantry and cavalry, they had already begun to retreat to the gentle slope of the hill.

Many people began to cut wood, dig trenches, build camps, and pretend to hold their ground.

Huan Wen breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the news.

After arriving last night, he led his men to charge into the enemy's center overnight, killing and wounding hundreds of them and scaring them away.

It was only because they had marched a long distance and their horses were weak, otherwise they would have had to fight all night.

From this, we can also judge that although the current army seems to be large in number and powerful, they are actually a group of frightened birds. In one night at most, they will be harassed and overwhelmed and finally collapse.

Li Xiong seemed to realize the problem.

He did not force his way forward, but instead set up camp on the spot, and waited until his troops had recovered before marching south.

It was also at this time that Huan Wen finally understood why the emperor built a city every thirty miles when he went north to attack the Tuoba Xianbei, and that was when there were a large number of cavalry guards.

Fighting and learning along the way, Huan Wen was making progress.

"If the Cheng bandits don't move, I won't move either." Huan Wen ordered, "Send out a thousand men to harass the Cheng bandits' central army and don't let them get close. The rest of you, rest here. As for Guanghan City, persuade them to surrender once more. Also, urge Gong Chun's troops to arrive here by tomorrow afternoon at the latest."

(End of this chapter)