Chapter 1225 Xuancheng

Chapter 1225 Xuancheng

Chapter 1225 Xuancheng
Wang Dao had just left Waili City when he received news of the clamor of the army besieging Jincheng. After roughly understanding the reason, he sighed and ordered the food stored in Taicheng for long-term defense to be transferred to Jincheng for emergency relief.

But the morale of the army was already beyond redemption.

On the tenth day of March, when he arrived at Jiangcheng County, he learned that hundreds of Liang troops took advantage of the noise and low morale of the camps to break out of the siege at night and disappeared into the vast night.

This news brings both joy and sorrow.

The good news was that the Liang army really couldn't hold on any longer. Their strength had never exceeded 2,000, and they were already exhausted by now. Hundreds of people broke through, and it was good enough if a hundred or so survived in the end. Moreover, the wounded soldiers could not be taken away, which was also a military achievement for Zhao Yin, who had been under siege for a long time.

What worries me is that the morale of the army is low. If possible, we still need to make a major rectification.

These guys have been fighting for so long and have experienced some tough battles. If they are trained well, they can be used to block the enemy troops.

After the incident in Jincheng was resolved, Wang Dao thought of Xuancheng again.

After all, he was a little worried, so he picked up a pen and wrote three letters in a row in the carriage.

A letter was sent to Wang Bin, the General of the Southern Army and the Governor of Jiangzhou.

Wang Bin's Yicong commander had captured Shicheng before Lei Ming, and was advancing by land and sea, pursuing the Liang people.

Lei Ming's brother Lei Dian was appointed as the military commander of Xunyang County. Together with Zhou Guang, they attacked Wankou but failed. After the Liang people crossed the river to Xuancheng, they retreated to consolidate Xunyang County.

As for Hefei, it was probably abandoned. Currently, only the governor He Chong was holding on with several thousand soldiers, and it was unlikely that reinforcements would arrive in the short term.

Zhongli, which is further north than Hefei, has already fallen.

Wang Dao didn't want to find out whether the city was broken or surrendered. There was no point. Wasn't the main reason that the Liang army drank water from the Yangtze River, sneaked across the river to harass, and the Huainan army was transferred to the south? There was no point in getting entangled in details.

Wang Dao planned to have Wang Bin transfer the Jiangzhou army to join the nearby Xuancheng battlefield, quickly quell the chaos in the south of the Yangtze River, and then see if there is any opportunity to reinforce the north of the Yangtze River.

Of course he knew that Zhuge Hui in Wuchang was not very stable, but things had come to this point and there was no better way. He had no choice but to rob Peter to repair Paul.

The second letter was written to Su Jun.

He wanted to persuade this man again. The Northern Dynasty could not give him a high position and generous salary. Only by staying in the Great Jin Dynasty would he be valuable and get more and greater benefits.

The third letter was written to Shan Xia, and the person who delivered the letter was Wang Ying, the heir of Wang Dun and a relative of Wang Dao...

At this time, a large army had gathered outside Xuancheng County.

Liu Chao did not come here in person, and Xuancheng Internal History Tao Fu took over the command.

Although it was called a large army, in fact there were only a little over 20,000 people, divided into three military camps, surrounding from the north, east and south. As for the west, there was Lujiang (now Qingyi River).

To the east of the city is the Tao family army, which has the largest number of troops, over eight thousand.

The army in the north of the city was still the Tao family army, but it was the Wanling Tao family, a branch of the Moling Tao family, with a total of 7,000 soldiers.

In the south of the city, the Xu and Ge families had a combined army of more than 5,000.

It's not that there are no more soldiers, but that Danyang and Wuxing are still fighting. The Jin court has even withdrawn the troops from Kuaiji and Wujun that were sent to support, so it is impossible to dispatch many people to this battlefield.

Sima Chong's troops were also not there, because the descendants of the Shanyue commander, the Zu family, were inciting a rebellion. He had no choice but to take the lead and led 5,000 people south to suppress the rebellion.

Shan Xia's troops advanced along the Lujiang River, and part of the vanguard reached the area west of Xuancheng County.

It was obvious that they wanted to gather west of Lujiang, confront the Liang army across the river, stabilize their position, and then launch an attack.

As for the Liang army, 4,000 people were crammed into Xuancheng County, most of whom were young and strong men from the Ji family.

Outside the city, there were more than 3,000 miscellaneous soldiers from the Qian and Sun families who had fled here, plus about 2,000 Liang troops, including more than 600 cavalry.

The two sides had their first contact on March 5th.

Ji was eager to make a contribution, so he took the initiative to attack, but was defeated by the bandits.

After the Jin army won the first battle, they did not rush to attack, but began to set up camp, which remains until today.

To be honest, the Liang army wasted some time, but the Ji family only wanted to return to Xuancheng, but did not dare to take the initiative to move eastward into the Three Wu areas, and it was difficult for the two sides to reach a consensus.

Until today, all arguments have ceased because the people of Jin took the initiative to line up in the wilderness and challenged each other to battle.

It was obvious that they did not want to attack the city, and more likely wanted to finish the battle quickly and go home.

It just so happened that the Liang army did not want to attack the village, and did not want to delay until the hot and humid rainy season.

The two sides met by coincidence and launched a battle in a flat plain east of Xuancheng County.

Ji Cheng, the son of Ji Shihe, selected 3,000 soldiers and stationed them in the center, the remnants of the Qian and Sun families were stationed on the left wing, and 1,400 Di and Qiang soldiers were stationed on the right wing, slightly forward, making the entire formation not so straight, but slightly convex to the right.

The Tao family on the opposite side almost came out in full force, and seven thousand people formed a thick cone-shaped formation. The three or four hundred people in the front were all strong and powerful, with large shields, iron armor, long spears and powerful bows. They were obviously elite.

After the three drum beats, the two sides almost did not test each other and quickly entered into a combat state.

The arrowheads of the enemy army were aimed directly at the most elite troops of the Ji family. As soon as the battle started, the sound of killing was deafening and blood gushed out.

Ji Shihe and Guo Song stood on the top of the city wall, overlooking the entire battlefield.

"General Guo, why don't you send out the cavalry?" Ji Shihe had never fought in a war, so he urged as soon as he came up.

"The infantry of the two armies have just fought. Their strength is still strong and their casualties are not heavy. Why do we send out cavalry?" Guo Song refused directly and didn't want to tell him how to fight.

Ji Shihe could only continue watching.

Alas! The young slave of the Third Family was knocked down. Is he still alive? If he is dead, how can I face my Third Brother?

Cao Laizi has been in my family for four generations. He is a rare brave and loyal man. It seems that he was hit by an arrow just now? Is he dead?
This killing was too brutal!

Ji Shihe's face had turned so pale that it couldn't get any paler.

The soldiers they have been raising for many years! The monthly expenditure on food, rice, wine and meat is not small. Ji Shihe looked at the account book and lamented to the tribesmen that it was not easy to raise soldiers. Everyone laughed and said that without these people, the family business would be swallowed up by others sooner or later.

The Jiangdong court has never cared about what is happening below. When people fight, they rely on these elite troops to deter foreign enemies. What will happen in the future without them?
"General Guo, it's time to send out the cavalry!" Seeing his own troops falling one by one like bamboos, Ji Shihe could not help but grab the sleeve of Guo Song's military uniform.

"Shut up!" Guo Song shook his hands vigorously and scolded.

Ji Shihe was choked.

Guo Song remembered that he had a good relationship with Huan Yi and Huan Wen, so he softened his tone and said, "Lord Ji, the central army can still hold on. Your troops are not made of clay. Isn't your son still fighting hard?"

Ji Shihe was just about to say this, and immediately said: "General Guo, my son's personal soldiers have suffered heavy casualties. If the fighting continues, they will be gone. To be honest, it is not easy to gather these personal soldiers in white clothes and armor. They are either from my clan or the village, or they are friends who grew up with my son..."

"They fought well, which impressed me. There are also capable southern soldiers." Guo Song seemed completely unable to understand Ji Shihe's anxious and regretful mood, and actually gave a serious review.

At this moment, the more than a thousand Di Qiang soldiers on the right wing also fought with the bandit army.

These people were extremely brave and immediately shook the enemy's position after they rushed forward.

Looking down from the top of the city wall, the enemy's elite spearheads were pushing Ji's troops back little by little, but the soldiers behind the spearheads were not so capable of fighting. They were immediately unable to stand when they were charged by the Di Qiang soldiers.

Their arrowhead was still moving forward, and a certain formation in the central army following the arrowhead did not stop.

The formation was slightly deformed.

"General Guo!" Ji Shihe stomped his feet twice, extremely anxious.

Guo Song suddenly turned his head and glared at him fiercely. His hand even touched the hilt of the knife. He almost resisted the urge to kill this man.

How could the local tyrant leader of Jiangdong be so virtuous? There is no such thing as a war without casualties.
During the Battle of Zhamati, the Huns' camp was attacked and one battalion was defeated. The next battalion rushed forward with the rear team stepping on the corpses of the front team. Some wounded soldiers were not killed by the enemy but were trampled to death in the ditch by their comrades. Their bodies were pierced by bamboo sticks and iron spikes. Did anyone cry out? Well, maybe someone did, but no one cared. The hearts of warriors in troubled times had long been hardened.

Ji Shihe was so frightened by Guo Song's glare that he took a half step back.

Guo Song turned around and continued to look at the battlefield.

The defeated soldiers of the Qian and Sun clans on the left wing were in low spirits and seemed unable to hold on.

The middle lane is still holding on with gritted teeth.

The right wing had penetrated deep into the enemy's central formation and was unstoppable. The noise of the bandits gradually grew louder and the disjointed formation became more serious.

Wait a little longer, wait a little longer...

Guo Song muttered to himself.

Ji Shihe numbly looked at the battlefield filled with blood and flesh flying everywhere, and numbly looked at his own capital being consumed bit by bit, and he remained speechless for a long time.

"It's time!" Guo Song slapped the parapet and ordered, "Move out the cavalry."

Immediately someone hoisted the agreed-upon flag and blew the horn at the same time.

Ji Shihe was shocked and his face became much more lively.

Rhythmic horse hoofbeats could be heard from below the tower. A moment later, the first row of cavalry appeared in sight, followed by the second row, the third row...

They controlled the horses skillfully, as if they were part of their bodies. After rushing out of the city gate, the hundred or so riders in the front headed towards the enemy's left wing, stretched out their formation, and launched a volley of fire.

A few arrows fell into the cavalry formation, causing a small-scale chaos.

The Di Qiang soldiers took advantage of the situation and launched a fierce attack, killing the wavering enemies in front of them and forcing them to retreat in panic.

The sound of heavier horse hooves gradually sounded.

After the horse archers had shot two or three arrows, they each made way, and the armored cavalry appeared behind them.

Under the sunlight, these people were like steel beasts, rushing in from the chaotic left wing of the enemy.

The noise on the battlefield suddenly became louder.

The position chosen by hundreds of cavalrymen was very tricky, which was exactly where the front and back of the enemy's formation were disconnected.

As they charged, the gap in the enemy's formation grew larger and larger until it suddenly broke apart...

Where had the Jiangnan villagers ever seen such a battle? Countless people threw away their weapons and turned to flee.

The Diqiang soldiers only felt the pressure in front of them eased, and then they chased after the scattered enemy troops like a tiger descending from the mountain, hacking and killing them.

The entire enemy formation was heading towards irreversible collapse.

In this battle, the Liang army captured and killed more than 4,000 of Tao's private soldiers and captured their camp.

The private soldiers of the Xu and Ge families stationed in the south of the city fled overnight.

The Tao family of Wanling in the north of the city also broke camp and fled.

Guo Song and Han Zhongzhi followed in pursuit, and Tao's army was defeated. Thousands of people fled in all directions and did not even dare to enter Wanling City.

On the 13th, Guo Song led two thousand infantry and cavalry to the city of Wanling. The thousands of defenders did not dare to fight and fled directly.

At this time, Langya King Sima Chong had just defeated thousands of Zu's troops under the city of Anwu County. He was feeling complacent when he heard the tragic news, which was like a bolt from the blue.

With fear in his heart, he actually stopped his troops here, not knowing where to go.

On the 16th, Ji Cheng led his troops to capture Jing County and blocked Sima Chong's way north.

Guo Song sent people to contact the Shen family in Wuxing, and at the same time ordered Ji Shihe to quickly contact the various tribes in the countryside who were still on the sidelines and gather as many troops as possible.

At this point in the battle, some people have to make a choice.

(End of this chapter)