Chapter 1158 The building will collapse
Chapter 1158 The building will collapse
The battlefield suddenly became quiet during the day on the 16th.
Li Xiong did not make much movement, while Li Cheng's vanguard almost completely moved to the hills, felling trees to set up fences, digging trenches and building walls, setting up a posture of deep trenches and high fortifications.
Huan Wen sent a part of the Shilou Mountain Hu to dismount and fight on foot, but they were repelled by the enemy's bows, crossbows, long spears and large shields.
Without hesitation, he immediately used the mobility of his cavalry to rush north for several miles, targeting the central and rear armies that were moving closer to the front army.
At the beginning, the Cheng army resisted well, and more than 10,000 people joined Li Xiong's troops, but the few thousand people at the back had a surprising collapse.
In the Fu River, countless soldiers ran into the river in panic.
Huan Wen stood on a high place and had a panoramic view of the whole situation.
He Fen led hundreds of cavalry and separated more than 3,000 infantrymen like a knife cutting tofu. Then the cavalry was divided into two and dispersed widely.
The knights controlled the speed of their horses at a leisurely pace, just like they were herding sheep. If they encountered any running around, they would simply rain arrows at them, cutting the fleeing soldiers into smaller pieces while strictly controlling their route of advance.
Some of them couldn't run anymore and just charged forward on their horses, scaring them so much that they gathered their remaining strength to escape again.
Some people ran slowly and just drew their bows and arrows. After the last few people died, the people in the front completely lost their minds, squeezed out the last bit of potential in their bodies, and fled.
Some people tried to resist together, but arrows rained down instantly, and then the cavalry rushed over directly. A light scratch of the saber revealed a huge gash in the chest and abdomen. The long spear was used to poke and swing, and corpses fell like rain.
Every hard lump that tried to "clump" was instantly shattered by the hitting of the "plowshare". In the end, no one on the entire battlefield dared to resist, and everyone fled in all directions crying.
Abandoned weapons and armor were everywhere, and countless people were trampled to death. Those who collapsed on the ground were as good as dead, motionless, and allowed to be slaughtered at will.
The 3,000-strong army was divided into more than a dozen small groups. They completely lost their organization and the courage to resist. Even their strength was completely consumed in the life-threatening escape.
In this way they were swept away and driven to the banks of the Fu River.
The person in front subconsciously stopped, but the people behind were still running around. For a while, the sound of "splash" was endless. The person who fell into the water screamed and cried, trying to climb to the shore, but was soon knocked into the river by the crowd behind. After floating up and down a few times, he soon disappeared.
The cavalrymen did not stop their advance until the clear sound of gongs rang out.
Cheng Jun was either kneeling or lying on the river bank, distraught and crying.
Without weapons, fighting spirit, or strength, it seemed that he had even lost his soul.
Huan Wen even suspected that if he asked these people to dig their own pits, they might do it numbly.
This is probably what a crushing defeat looks like.
On the other side of the hill, Li Cheng and his ministers watched this scene in silence, looking at each other in dismay.
The untrained infantry had no power to fight back against the cavalry. They were driven forward in a disorderly manner like sheep. In the end, they completely lost the ability to resist. One cavalryman often drove a dozen or even dozens of infantrymen, and not a single one of them turned back to fight. It was incredible and chilling at the same time.
Sometimes a man can be so strong that he can face the charge of armored cavalry head-on, fight to the death, and risk his life to knock the enemy off his horse.
But the same person can sometimes be so fragile that he abandons all his equipment and armor, lies on the ground after being exhausted, and allows himself to be slaughtered.
The cavalry tactics of the Liang people were truly the pinnacle. With only three to five thousand cavalrymen, they were able to keep an eye on an army of 30,000 and force them to collapse inch by inch.
It is not impossible to crack this tactic, but they cannot do it. It can even be asserted that this scene will continue to be repeated for hundreds of years to come.
After the dust settled on the battlefield, the Liang people began to escort the prisoners away.
They had gathered a troop of nearly 20,000 men but made no move. It was obvious that they had lost their courage and morale.
The fortifications built on the hills became their last line of defense, but also a prison to imprison them.
******
All the Liang troops near Dianjiang have withdrawn, and the food supply route of the Jiangzhou army has been opened, but the situation has not improved and seems to have become even more dangerous.
On the ninth day of the second month, the Baihuyi tribes in Fuling, under the persuasion of Xu Yaozu, killed the officials of Cheng State and raised their flags to return to the right path.
If the loss of Fuling was not fatal, then the successive losses of various counties in Ba County since mid-February had made the Jiangzhou army panic. This not only meant that they had lost part of their food source, but also blocked a considerable part of their transportation channels.
On February 13th, someone in Jianwei County rebelled and killed the prefect and surrendered.
On February 16, the day Li Xiong was surrounded, Langzhong fell and Luo Yan was captured.
The next day, the Bandun Barbarians in the southern part of Ba County surrendered one after another, almost completely cutting off the retreat of the Jiangzhou army.
At this point, all Li Cheng's combat-capable troops in the country were divided into three parts:
The army of General Li Shou, who was in charge of the expedition to the east, had only about 30,000 men left, and nearly 10,000 naval troops. Their food and grass sources were almost completely cut off. Although Yangguan had not been captured, they were already trapped.
General Zhenbei's army still had about 20,000 infantry and cavalry left. They were probably the best-off, but with the changing situation in the south, they were likely to collapse without a fight.
Finally, there were the 30,000 troops hastily assembled by Chengzhu Li Xiong. After repeated harassment, the remaining 20,000 troops were trapped by thousands of cavalry in the hilly area several miles north of Guanghan, unable to advance or retreat.
Moreover, with Gong Chun leading the Bandun Man to capture the Guanghan County City on February 18, they were no different from dead people and could only rely on the food and fodder they brought with them to survive from day to day.
Recalling three months ago when the war broke out, Li Cheng mobilized the entire country and recruited soldiers on a large scale, gathering 120,000 naval and land troops, which looked quite strong.
Three months later, there were only 80,000 to 90,000 soldiers left, which seemed to be okay, but the situation was extremely passive, and they were completely cut off and surrounded, trapped in a deadly situation. At this point in the war, it can be said that the defeat was inevitable.
Not only were the combat effectiveness of Li Cheng's soldiers inferior to Shao Liang's, but even their tactics were completely suppressed. Even with the main force still intact, he looked like he was about to face death.
If in the end an army of 70,000 or 80,000 surrendered and the country was destroyed within three or four months, it is almost certain that their evaluation in history books would not be very high.
Shao Shen received the news on February 20th and immediately sent people to publicize it.
On the top of Yangguan City, major generals including Li Shou, Luo Heng, Cai Xing, Shangguan Dan, Li Bao, and Xie Siming were speechless when they heard the news.
Some news cannot be concealed, not to mention that the Liang people intend to spread it.
That night, the navy ships anchored on the river below the city became noisy. Governor Luo Heng tried to suppress the riot himself, but was captured by the rebels. He sailed downstream to surrender to the Liang army.
To be fair, the navy's surrender was the smartest move, because they really defeated the Liang army on the battlefield and demonstrated their value.
After the first group surrendered, there was soon a second group, a third group...
Even Master Lu was making a fuss, and only Li Shou handled it decisively and managed to suppress it.
However, with the morale of the army seriously shaken, the fall of Jiangzhou and Yangguan was imminent.
******
However, no one expected that Chengdu would be the first city to have problems.
On the 21st, Liang cavalry appeared on the outskirts of Chengdu.
"Li Xiong has been defeated, why not surrender?"
"Fifty thousand men at Yangguan took off their armor."
"Yang Nandi killed Ren Tiao and surrendered the city. The people of Chengdu should surrender quickly."
While the knights were galloping back and forth, they were also picking up several human heads with their spears. It was difficult to see clearly from a distance, but they must be the ministers and generals of the Cheng State.
Crown Prince Li Ban was handling government affairs in the Chongde Hall of the Eastern Palace. When he heard the news, he and Crown Prince's Left Guard Li You looked at each other in dismay.
Prime Minister Fan Ben also received the news as soon as possible.
He left the palace directly and drove back to his home, while sending people to notify officials he was familiar with to meet at the Prime Minister's Residence.
There was already some chaos in the city.
Ordinary people are the most likely to panic and the most realistic.
They would not listen to how many enemies were killed today or how many generals were beheaded tomorrow. They only knew that the Liang bandits had reached the outskirts of the city. What did this mean? It meant that no one stopped them along the way!
Why didn’t anyone stop them? They had suffered a great defeat, and all their soldiers and generals had died, so of course no one would stop them.
The first place the crowd gathered was the grain and oil shop. More and more people gathered there, took out all the valuable things in their homes, and did everything they could to buy food.
If the city is broken, it might be good. The most terrible thing is the siege. At that point, is it strange that a bushel of rice costs hundreds of coins? Forget rice. Even a mouse can be sold to you for thousands of coins!
Their panic buying further intensified the panic, which quickly spread to every corner of the city.
Before long, the noise gradually grew louder, but there were almost no soldiers in the city. Except for the two thousand men led by the prince's left and right guards, all the others, including the palace guards, had been looted and taken away by the emperor, so that no one could suppress the commotion for a while.
The vagrants took the opportunity to cause chaos in disguise, their target was the market...
The wealthy families began to close their gates, and even the old men with disabilities climbed up the wall with knives. As for why there were no young people, it was of course because they were all conscripted by the emperor...
Fan Ben lowered the carriage curtain and sighed secretly.
"It's only been three months, and the situation has taken a sharp turn for the worse." He thought to himself, "We were defeated so easily. The Liang soldiers may look down on the Shu people, and we will have a hard time in the future. But what can we do now that the battle has turned out like this?"
Being looked down upon by Liang soldiers was indeed a very serious problem. Fan Ben was an experienced man and saw the key point at a glance.
It was not easy for Cao Wei to conquer Shu in the past. After the war, there were occasional minor disturbances in Shu, but it was generally peaceful. Even the scholars in Shu were recruited in large numbers to serve as officials. Cao Wei and Sima Jin generally adopted a conciliatory policy.
Why is this so? The two countries have been fighting for many years and value is a factor that cannot be ignored.
If Shao Liang destroyed Li Cheng in three months, how could you expect others to respect you? Shao Xun was not a kind man.
"It was a bit of a mistake!" Fan Ben sighed and said to himself.
To be honest, in this national war, the support of the Shu clans for the imperial court was not enough and they held a negative attitude as a whole. They were even less supportive of the emperor than the Qiang people and the Liao people, after all, they really gave money and risked their lives.
If they contribute more of their well-trained troops to support the emperor in his wars, hold out against the Liang army for a few months or even a year or two, and then surrender in the end, their status will be much higher.
In short, it was a very bad idea.
The carriage stopped and started, and after dispersing a group of vagrant young men, it finally arrived at the Prime Minister's Mansion.
Fan Ben returned home with a stern face. He wanted to have a good talk with others.
(End of this chapter)