Chapter 1206: Across the North
Chapter 1206: Across the North
In the silent wilderness, a drumbeat suddenly rang out.
A moment later, the east gate of Hefei opened wide and teams of cavalry rushed out.
They formed a loose formation at the city gate.
"Have the people come back?" asked Cavalry Commander Zhang Qi.
"No." The subordinate shook his head.
Zhang Qi didn't feel well.
There were at least a dozen rangers active in the wild, but only three of them have returned so far, and they came back from the west and south. As for the east and north, it seemed as if some monsters that eat living people were lurking, and not a single rider has returned.
"Boom boom boom..." The drumbeats continued, and the beats became more and more frequent.
"General." The subordinate looked worried.
Zhang Qi turned his head and looked towards the top of the city wall.
The prefect He Chong was wearing a loose robe with big sleeves and was beating the drum himself.
The drumbeat is the order, there is no room for compromise.
Zhang Qi was a little hesitant.
However, he also understood that from the perspective of the prefect, would it be appropriate to allow the enemy to ride horses around Hefei?
This is the seat of government of Huainan, where the face lies.
It would be fine if there were no cavalry, but after allowing the bandits to sneak across to Piliang last time, the court deliberately strengthened the direction of Hefei with thousands of cavalry. Would it be appropriate not to fight them?
The sound of the drums seemed to express He Chong's mood, urging him. He had no choice but to fight. If he couldn't beat the Lord, he would give up.
People are so contradictory.
Even though we know the chances of winning are slim, for various reasons we always have to confront the enemy first, and then make corrections after suffering a loss.
Does Mr. He really not understand?
He may just want to shut other people's mouths, to use their lives to shut up those people who can't do anything and can only spread rumors.
"Go!" Zhang Qi flicked the whip and rode out.
The flag bearer followed closely behind.
Next came the personal soldiers, who slightly sped up their horses and rushed in front of Zhang Qi.
Behind them was a large group of people, as many as seven or eight hundred riders, stepping on the snow-covered ground and rushing towards the white wilderness.
The knights of the Condor Heroes Camp, who were showing off their might in front, rode up on their horses to meet them.
The distance between the two sides continued to narrow, and the sound of arrows breaking through the air began to be heard.
"Swoosh!" An arrow flew past the ear and hit a personal soldier behind him.
The bodyguard groaned in pain, but fortunately the armor blocked his attack and he only suffered minor skin injuries, so he was able to hold on.
Zhang Qi was secretly frightened.
He rushed in front and through the gaps in the crowd, he found that the light cavalry on the opposite side were shooting arrows calmly but not slowly at all. They shot arrows one after another with considerable accuracy.
This is a veteran!
I need to speed up and rush over! This thought came to Zhang Qi's mind.
As long as they rush close and engage in hand-to-hand combat, these mounted archers will be scattered.
"Kill!" Zhang Qi roared and rushed out of the crowd.
The personal soldiers sensed the commander's intention and rode their horses to catch up.
The other soldiers also sped up their horses, and the speed of the entire army was suddenly increased.
"Swoosh! Whoosh!" The arrows from the opposite side became more frequent.
Men of the Jin army kept falling down, and some knights carrying horn bows could not bear it anymore, so they put away their lances, drew their bows and arrows, and fought back.
As for the armored cavalry holding thick horse lances, they made up their minds, kept their bodies as close to the horse's back as possible, followed Zhang Qi, and rushed towards the Liang army madly and desperately.
The knights of the Archery Camp began to disperse to both sides, but some of them remained in the middle. After shooting the last arrow, they charged head-on into the Jin cavalry, holding round shields, swords, and iron hammers.
Perhaps they knew that the weapons in their hands could not compete head-on with spears and halberds, so after they missed each other for the first time and caused many casualties, they turned their horses around and fled in another direction.
"Chase!" At this point in the battle, Zhang Qi no longer had the mind to think about anything else. He now focused all his attention on the battle in front of him.
After the first wave of charge dispersed the Liang army, the morale of the Jin army was boosted. They kept chasing the defeated enemy all the way without letting up.
The two sides chased each other and soon ran away for several miles.
The scattered light cavalry of the Archery Camp gathered together again, speeding up their horses, letting the front and center armies of the Jin cavalry escape, and blocking more than 200 cavalrymen of the rear army outside.
For some reason, their movements suddenly sped up, and arrows rained down like rain, specifically targeting the larger horses.
The rear cavalry of the Jin Dynasty was mostly composed of slackers, and they were confused by the sudden increase in pace.
The cadets fell off their horses one after another. The sergeants rushed forward and found that the enemy's melee cavalry would not disperse easily this time, and the arrows of the mounted archers were very tricky. They could shoot people and horses with ease and accuracy.
The rear cavalry of the Jin Dynasty could not resist the enemy, and the officers suffered heavy casualties. Finally, they could not hold on any longer. After making a circle, they fled towards the city gate.
He Chong, who was standing on the city wall of Hefei, looked at it with his mouth slightly opened and a look of shock.
On the other side, Zhang Qi, who had chased for several miles, soon sensed something was wrong. The Liang army's "fleeing soldiers" were fleeing eastward, and they were chasing them eastward, but at this time the ground on both the south and north sides began to tremble again.
In a flash, Zhang Qi realized: Perhaps the Liang people were not defeated, they just wanted to lure them here.
Sure enough! A large group of cavalry came out from behind the small woods in the south, and they were already running fast. Next, they would speed up and attack them from the side.
On the northern horizon, a black line roared from north to south.
They were clad in iron armor, holding long spears and large halberds, their morale was high, and they charged forward almost with a desperate attitude.
It's over! An idea popped into Zhang Qi's mind.
No, we can't give up yet!
"Retreat!" he shouted loudly.
The riders behind him had disappeared without him noticing, and the captain, second lieutenant and all three of them died on the battlefield.
Zhang Yu's forehead was sweating, and he decided to retreat with his personal soldiers first, and use practical actions to remind others to follow. But at this moment, a group of light cavalry rushed behind him. They were soldiers from the Eagle Shooting Camp who had returned. There were not many people, only two or three hundred cavalry, but it was enough to bring the morale of the Jin army to the bottom.
Looking down from the air, the Jin army had only about 400 cavalrymen, who were blocked by a thousand cavalrymen from the east. Hundreds of cavalrymen from the north and south also rushed over at a faster speed, and more than 200 cavalry archers came from the rear, so the army was surrounded on all sides.
The surging wave of cavalry came over with the force of thunder, scattering the Jin army that was in a chaotic retreat, and then pursued and crushed them.
When the dust settled, the battlefield was filled with empty and ownerless horses.
In this battle, the Jin people lost their 500 most capable cavalrymen.
After cleaning up the battlefield, Su Baochen led the cavalry battalions of Shooting the Eagle, Decisive Victory and Front of the Tent directly to the city of Hefei, and stopped just within an arrow's reach.
Zhang Qi's head was held high on a spear.
He Chong and others on the city wall looked at this and were all silent.
******
The eastern army led by Pugu Zhongchen seemed to progress more quickly, and they did not encounter much strong resistance along the way.
On the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month, they swore an oath and set out at Huainan Garden. Each person carried ten days' worth of food and fodder, and each person rode two horses. They first turned east and then headed south.
When they marched, many people surrendered in the counties they passed through, which surprised Pugu, the loyal minister, and Sun Song, who served as the military supervisor.
There are not many people in Huainan County anymore.
The people of Jin moved their people southwards many times, and now, except for a few people near the county towns, there are very few fortresses in the countryside. Therefore, the surrender of these county towns is still of positive significance, at least they can provide a certain amount of supplies.
By the end of the month, Yinling, Dongcheng, Quanjiao and other counties had all surrendered.
On the first day of the first lunar month in the seventh year of Liang Kaiping (333) and the fourth year of Jin Taihe (), when the cavalrymen of the Hengchong Battalion, as the vanguard, arrived at the outskirts of Liyang, this important city in northern Jiangsu once again closed its gates in broad daylight.
That’s not all. On the second day of the first lunar month, the Shesheng and Huangjia camps were active between Liyang and the Huaiyang hills in the north, cutting off the connections between a number of military camps on the hilltops and Liyang and Wujiang.
The messenger comes and is captured.
The scout came and was shot.
Shan Xiashan Yanlin, who was stationed in Liyang, completely lost contact with the thousands of soldiers in the Huaiyang Qiuzhu military camp. He didn't know whether they were still holding on or had already fallen.
It happened to be snowing heavily at this time, and the surroundings were foggy. Even if you climbed high and looked far, you couldn't see clearly.
He did the same thing, and the Jin army stationed at Huaiyang Hill did the same thing. They were also worried about whether Liyang would be lost.
On the third day of the first lunar month, the Iron Cavalry Battalion rushed to the outskirts of Wujiang City. When persuasion for surrender failed, they dismounted and built siege equipment. They attacked for two days but failed.
At this point, they completely gave up the attempt to attack the city and instead searched for boats, claiming to cross the river south to Jianye and capture "Sima Xiaoer".
On the fourth day of the first lunar month, Pugu Zhongchen and others disappeared from under the city of Liyang and headed straight to the south of the city. Taking advantage of the windy and snowy night, they climbed up to the top of Liangshan Mountain, killed hundreds of defenders, and planted the big flag with the word "Liang" on it on the top of the mountain.
The East and West Liang Mountains sandwich the river and overlook the middle stream, which is very important - well, the altitude of West Liang Mountain is actually less than 90 meters, so it can barely be called "overlooking".
There is Liangshan Island at the foot of Xiliang Mountain, which is a sandbar in the river with a wide terrain.
Cities, houses, warehouses, and military camps were built on the island, where thousands of troops were stationed. It was also one of the main garrisons of the Liyang Navy.
On the morning of the fifth day, the snow stopped falling. The Jin army on the sandbar was shocked to see that Xiliang Mountain had been occupied. A naval commander proposed to land by boat, defeat the Liang army, and recapture Xiliang Mountain. However, no one dared to move without receiving the order from the mountain commander.
Of course, Shanxia might have sent someone to pass on the order, but the messenger was captured and killed. They could only hope that a new messenger would sneak over at night.
On the sixth day, after a lot of twists and turns, Pu Gu Zhongchen found that the Jin army had no intention of fighting a decisive battle with them, and they did not have the ability to attack the city, so he left the Iron Cavalry and Shesheng Battalions to continue to wander around Liyang, and he led the Hengchong and Huangjia Battalions back to Quanjiao County. After looting some food, he followed the Chushui River all the way north and arrived at Tangyi County in two days, and went straight to Guabu.
Guabu is a ferry crossing with a mountain next to it, namely Guabu Mountain.
On the ninth day of the first lunar month, Pu Gu, a loyal minister, climbed up Guabu Mountain and looked at Jianye across the river.
He had only 1,600 to 1,700 cavalrymen and 3,800 horses, and had already penetrated deep into the enemy's rear.
On the opposite bank was the capital of the State of Jin. In the northeast, it was said that there was an army led by a general named Su Jun, and behind him were the county troops of Chen Yan, the prefect of Tangyi. In fact, there were also local nobles in the west who were loyal to the State of Jin.
With more than a thousand people, he was surrounded.
But after fighting for so long, he came to his senses. The Jin army seemed to be like that. They had the ability to defend the city, but they lacked the ability to fight outside the city.
Come and hit me if you dare!
"Find a boat and take a few dozen people across the river first." Pu Gu Zhongchen ordered.
Everyone opened their mouths and looked at him in surprise.
(End of this chapter)