Chapter 1329: The Great March

Chapter 1329: The Great March

Chapter 1329: The Great March (Part )
"It's the south wind..." Shao Yu climbed up a high slope and looked at the fluttering military flags, thoughtfully.

The south wind suddenly rose, making it more convenient to cross the sea to Qingzhou.

This year, Hengyu and Wenma should have sent a batch of new ships, and the transport capacity is more sufficient. Even if some of them are damaged at sea, they can still transport a large number of people, horses, equipment, food and even draft animals across the sea to Liaodong.

The army of the Donglai camp will march north in large numbers to attack Xiangping and other places by the end of May at the latest, and may later enter Xuantu County along the edge of the swamp.

It doesn't matter whether they come to Jicheng or not.

There was a dense sound of horse hooves in the front, and the cavalrymen of the royal palace who were taking a rest at the foot of the slope stood up, drew their weapons, and prepared to mount their horses to attack the enemy.

Shao Yu looked down at the grass again. Most of them had already sprouted and were full of vitality.

The grass is growing so well that I wonder how many cattle and sheep can chew it. As long as the army in the grassland camp plans the route properly, they will not eat up the grass roots.

However, the pastures of the Twelve Yuwen tribes were doomed to fail this year. The foreign cattle, sheep, horses and camels passed through the border like locusts, eating up all the grass that should have been chewed by their cattle and sheep. What should they do? Perhaps they could only gather up all the strong cattle and sheep, ride on war horses, take bows and swords, and go to graze elsewhere.

The sound of hooves is getting closer.

All the guards of the palace had mounted their horses and began to jog towards the oncoming enemy troops.

Sheren Guo Shi looked excited, with his gray hair and beard flying in the south wind. He personally beat the drum to encourage the soldiers to fight bravely, while also reminding the enemy that the King of Yan from Daliang was here.

This was Shao Yu's opinion. He insisted on doing so, wanting to see if any Xianbei general would lose his mind, unable to resist the temptation, and want to capture and kill him as a military achievement.

You never know, there really are such people! There is no shortage of desperate people in this world, and there is no shortage of people who are blinded by fame, wealth and power.

More than a thousand enemy cavalrymen were getting closer and closer. The grassland was filled with smoke and dust, and the sound of killing suddenly arose.

The fifteen hundred cavalrymen of the royal palace also shouted loudly and were full of fighting spirit.

Lieutenant Sima Lu Han led 3,000 newly arrived gardeners from Yanshan and formed a spear formation relying on the high ground.

Five hundred cavalrymen were in the middle of the formation, and as long as there was a gap in the formation, they could rush out.

To the southeast of the highland is a small stream with a wooden pole inserted every few dozen steps. It is a marked shallow water area and can be crossed by wading on horseback.

There is a small forest in the northeast of the plateau. In late spring, the willows are swaying, but the birds are circling above the forest and dare not land.

Come on, there aren't many people who would let me use myself as bait. Since you dare to attack the majority with a small number, you must be a little arrogant. Let's see if you have the ability to take my head.

"Put on armor!" Shao Yu ordered calmly, and immediately two soldiers came forward and put on the golden armor bestowed by the emperor for him.

After everything was ready, they helped Shao Yu onto the horse's back, hung the adjusted horn bow on the side of the saddle, counted the number of arrows in the quiver, and then lifted the heavy lance over.

Shao Yu took it with one hand and waved it in the air as if it were a piece of cake.

The cavalry of both sides who were charging head-on had already started fighting, and at this moment, the sound of horns suddenly rang out.

Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves was heard from the southeast. More than 800 cavalrymen from the Prince of Yan's Palace rushed out. Under the leadership of Hou Mochen Can, they ran quickly to the bank of the stream and waded across.

For a moment, water splashed everywhere, and the momentum was fierce.

At the edge of the grove in the northeast, one cavalryman after another came out on horseback, gathered in an open space by the woods, mounted their horses, and shouted "Kill" in unison. Then, led by Tuoba Sigong, they charged forward.

Obviously, this is a fishing trip.

The techniques are not sophisticated at all, and the strategies are not profound at all, but they have been tried and tested since ancient times, because they go straight to the heart of the people and those who are willing to take the bait will be tempted.

After the head-on battle, both sides were a little frustrated because they suffered heavy casualties.

The Liang army launched a standard three-stage charge, with 500 cavalrymen in the front, middle and rear. After a head-on collision, the 500 cavalrymen in the front dispersed, while the 500 cavalrymen in the middle engaged in a fight with the enemy. The horse speeds of both sides slowed down a bit, and each tried to gather their troops and then launch a second charge.

At this moment, two cavalry groups on the flanks of the battlefield had already rushed over and formed a semi-encirclement of the Xianbei cavalry.

When the first feather arrow fell, the Xianbei people who were reorganizing their troops realized that something was wrong and their morale plummeted.

But there was no chance to regret. A total of nearly three thousand cavalrymen from three directions surrounded the enemy cavalry, which numbered no more than thirteen or fourteen hundred. They were scattered in one blow and could no longer gather together. They broke out in all directions.

The Liang cavalry rode straight in pursuit, following far behind, drawing their horn bows with ease and calling out their names one by one.

The two sides chased each other and fought for more than ten miles before withdrawing their troops.

"Your Highness, we have killed a captain!" At noon, the lieutenant Daohua led more than a hundred riders and rushed back first, saying happily.

At the end, he added: "This man was shot and wounded by General Tuoba first, and was captured and killed by our soldiers after he fell off his horse."

Shao Yu looked up at Tuoba Sigong who was standing in the distance.

There are many people who are good at archery, but there are very few who can combine riding and archery to perfection.

Some people shoot arrows on horseback with very stiff movements, but some people shoot while riding a horse at a gallop. Not only are their hands very steady and their upper body hardly moves, their movements are also full of the beauty of rhythm. They are masters.

His father was such a person, and so was he. The Tuoba Sigong in the distance was also quite interesting in this regard.

What a talent!

"Pick up this man's head and see if we can recruit someone to take it away," Shao Yu ordered.

After saying this, he rode down the hill and continued his patrol and sweep mission.

******
The construction of Fancheng (now Pingquan) was almost completed.

It was just a simple little earthen city, with no need for battlements, no moats, or anything like that. The only requirement was that it be large enough to store enough supplies and food. With the efforts of 20,000 people, it was roughly completed in just twenty days.

On May 12, Yanjun prefect Zhan Ping sent most of the people to Pinggang, and stayed in Fancheng to supervise the transportation and storage of grain. At this time, dull drum sounds rang out in the wilderness.

He climbed to the top of the city wall immediately and looked around.

"My Lord." A county soldier came over and bowed. Zhan Ping's official uniform was a little dirty, his hair was a little messy, and he was wearing a leather armor over his uniform, which looked very funny.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked, "Why are you beating the drum?"

The leader pointed to the forest in the east and said, "Sima Huang of Shangbai Town ordered the drums to be beaten to meet the enemy. His flag is over there."

Zhan Ping looked around and saw that near a mountain pass, a "yellow" flag was moving rapidly. Among the trees and meadows, rows of soldiers could be vaguely seen. They were holding bows and spears and were heading towards the pass to block it.

The pass road is not very big, and it is not even a proper post road, but a small path opened up by mountain people and herdsmen who took a shortcut. The road is full of densely packed "deer antlers", which look more like chopped down branches if you look closely, but it is enough. The cavalry can't rush through it if they encounter it.

The Xianbei people who came from nowhere encountered these branches and had no choice but to dismount and drag them hard, trying to clear them away.

There was a thatched hut behind the branches, with seven or eight soldiers living in it. At this moment, some of them were holding swords and shields, and some were holding spears, cursing at the Xianbei people. There were also three archers shooting out of the window of the hut. In an instant, several Xianbei people screamed and fell to the ground.

The Xianbei people were not willing to be outdone and sent in archers to fight back, and a scream was heard from the straw hut.

After the drum sounded, a team patrolling nearby arrived first.

There were only fifty of them, and when they saw some dismounted Xianbei cavalrymen roaring and charging over the branches, they were a little scared. However, the leader stepped forward with a sword and shield in hand, and the soldiers felt relieved. They immediately formed a battle formation and moved forward, protecting the leader in the center.

When attacking the city, the Liang people implemented a harsh policy of "pulling out and beheading" these conscripted soldiers. There were even cases where the rear team beheaded the front team. If the rear team hesitated to advance, the cavalry who were ready for battle would rush over from behind and slaughter them all.

There is no logic at all and it is extremely cruel, but this is war. An ordinary person is as insignificant as a blade of grass. No one will listen to their suffering and cries. All they have are military law, whips and butcher knives.

Of course, this would bring a side effect, that is, many people would take advantage of the chaos on the battlefield to escape, especially during night battles, because they would lose their team leader. Therefore, amnesty was their chance to escape. Nothing was isolated, otherwise, the large number of desperate people in the mountains, forests and swamps would be really desperate.

Although they were not attacking the city at the moment, these people still subconsciously protected their team leader. Then the sword and shield soldiers stepped forward, the spearmen stabbed together, and the archers were divided into two sides, constantly drawing their bows and arrows.

The two sides engaged in a short, bloody and desperate fight on the mountain road.

The Xianbei people came with a mission, so they naturally refused to retreat. But the Shangbaizhen soldiers did not dare to retreat either. It didn't matter if they died, but it was the most painful to see their families suffer.

Soldiers on both sides fell down like felled trees, blood all over the ground, and screams of pain continued.

A group of soldiers from Shangbai Town rushed over from the rear, and more Xianbei people also rushed over. The two sides stood on the corpses and tree branches and fought each other, and it gradually turned into a melee.

After fighting for a while, when the "yellow" flag appeared more than a hundred steps away, the Xianbei people finally stopped investing their strength and began to retreat on horseback.

Until this moment, they didn't understand why these "civilians" and "laborers" were so difficult to kill. Some of them even had iron armor, and many of them could shoot arrows.

It’s so difficult to rob food, how can we continue the war?
The endless stream of people on the post road at the foot of the mountain had stopped long ago.

Everyone watched the fighting in the mountains nervously, until the enemy retreated, they finally cheered together.

The officers rode up on horseback, waving their whips and shouting loudly.

The servants then came to their senses, put away their swords, guns, bows and shields, some pulled the horses, some pushed the carts, and continued on their way.

Zhan Ping also withdrew his gaze.

Although the mountain road is difficult to travel, it is not without advantages. At least it makes cavalry attacks much more difficult.

Since May, the Xianbei people have attacked the grain routes quite a few times.

Sometimes they succeeded, sometimes they failed, but overall it was nothing. For millions of grains, the loss of a few thousand hu at a time was not a big deal.

Moreover, the intensity of the harassment has obviously decreased in recent days, and no one knows what happened. Judging from his own experience, it is probably because the Xianbei people can't find a place to stay nearby, and it is difficult to search for supplies, so the harassment can no longer continue.

This time, we will probably be able to reach the bottom of Jicheng very smoothly.

******
On May 13, after receiving tens of thousands of hu of grain and fodder, Li Chong finally gave the order to march.

In the wilderness leading from Pinggang to Liucheng, there was an endless stream of people and horses.

The Youzhou Miscellaneous Hu Light Cavalry Guards were on the outermost side, while the Left and Right Cavalry Guards, several thousand cavalry, followed the infantry, leading their horses on foot. If they were attacked by enemy cavalry, they would immediately mount their horses and prepare for battle.

The large group of infantry formed several columns and marched through hills, swamps and grasslands.

Half a day after the leading Silver Spear Right Battalion left, the Black Jade Left and Right Battalions followed suit. Early the next morning, the Left and Right Jinwu Guards received orders to leave the camp...

The team was very long. The Silver Spear Right Camp had already set out for a few days, and the Silver Spear Middle Camp at the rear had just left the ancient city of Pinggang.

During the march, they would break camp and set out at 6 a.m. every day and stop at 3 p.m., with all the cavalry deployed and the infantry starting to set up camp, including digging trenches and placing chevaux de frise.

The marching speed was only twenty miles a day, which was very slow, but Li Zhong insisted on doing so and never tired of inspecting each camp.

Some people thought that with so many cavalrymen, it was unnecessary to build regular camps every day. Not only was it time-consuming and labor-intensive, but it also had to be dismantled before leaving, which was a waste of effort. The large logs used to build the camps were loaded on the carriages, which was extremely heavy and greatly affected the speed of the march...

During the military meeting, someone brought up the point that when Cao Cao of the Han Dynasty attacked Wuhuan, they did not build any camps when camping at night, and the soldiers just slept in tents, so wasn't that fine?

What's more, when Sima Yi marched into Liaodong, he only placed deer horns at important intersections when staying overnight. He did not have any solid camps at all, so he had plenty of time to march every day.

Li Zhong refused to listen and insisted that the generals should not be afraid of trouble and should dig trenches and set up camps tirelessly every day, even if it meant reducing the marching time.

The crowd had no choice but to stop advancing in the afternoon when the sun was still hanging in the sky and build the camp like a hedgehog.

For this reason, Li Chong also got a nickname: General Xiuying.

On the 21st, the Silver Spear Right Camp arrived at Liucheng and continued their advance after a day of rest.

On the 25th, we arrived at Chosun County.

By the end of May, the location of Jicheng could be seen from afar.

During the entire march, the Murong Xianbei cavalry did not find any opportunity to harass or even defeat them along the way.

(End of this chapter)