Indeed, as Liu Ling guessed, the pursuit battle has passed its climax.
This was just a well-prepared and unprepared raid. Wang Sang and Liu Ling couldn't wait to come and kill them, so why should they hesitate?
The only regret is probably that the wind and snow were too heavy, the visibility was too low, and the weather was too cold, which was not conducive to pursuit.
However, just because the officers and soldiers are inconvenient to pursue does not mean that others cannot.
Since the enemy army wants to plunder, it is inevitable that the people will be scattered in various places. Under the bad weather, it will take time to gather them. Now they were directly beaten by a wave of raids. Wang Sang and Liu Ling fled in a panic, and the thieves were scattered everywhere.
They didn't even know where to assemble, so they could only retreat to Linli County - the starting point when they went south.
On the way to retreat, the Silver Spear Army, Yamen Army, Fu soldiers, and Yi Cong watched eagerly, and when they encountered them, they chased them and fought fiercely. Therefore, one can imagine the chaos of the rebel army's retreat.
There may have been some organizational discipline at the beginning, but as time goes by, there are fewer and fewer people who can maintain the organization, and most of them are from youth. The old thieves who followed them when Xu started the uprising have to be in Yu and Yan at the end.
The brave people from Erzhou joined the gang.
New recruits don't have this ability, and they often fall behind while walking, and this most likely means death.
On the post road leading from Gong County to Linli, there are many corpses lying on the road. Many people even have no wounds on their bodies. It is not known whether they died of starvation or freezing-mostly the latter.
In the freezing cold night, strong winds blew and snowflakes filled the sky. The thieves who had not eaten all day and night were walking in groups in small and five groups without knowing the direction, desperately walking in the deserted wilderness. They were very likely to die of cold and starvation.
When Shao Xun rode by, his eyes only glanced at these corpses and then looked back.
Another group of Lin Lu's father (hao) and old man (qiang) appeared in front, respectfully offering wine, meat, food and grass.
Behind a low wall, there were even hundreds of earthen pots and rice steamers buried, in which hot soup was boiled to provide supplies to passing sergeants.
Officials from the county and town urged the young men to bring out the steamed corn.
"This is the first time I enjoy this kind of treatment..." Shao Xun sighed with emotion.
The last time I came to Hebei, and even earlier to Guanzhong, there were not so many people working for the army along the way, and I even had to send people to collect food.
That's the advantage of fighting on my father-in-law's territory.
At the same time, it can also be seen from the side that Yu Chen has been holding on to Ji County for several years and his prestige is quite high. At least he can command the local wealthy families to provide logistical support.
In addition, judging from the situation in Ji County, Gong County, and Linli County, a considerable part of the fields are planted with winter wheat, which shows that the father-in-law can implement the court's policies to a certain extent.
What is this? This is execution! A very valuable ability in troubled times.
"Your Majesty, Commander Wubao Ying has captured a lot of thieves, there are always seventy or eighty of them." Tang Jian pointed to a group of men in the distance who were drinking porridge, and said: "The fleeing soldiers are generally
Everyone will be captured by Wubao and become slaves."
Shao Xun nodded and ignored the matter.
With the action of the Wubao commanders, few of these thieves would be able to go back.
He remembered the story of Yelu Abaoji, the founding monarch of Khitan. He led his army south to the Central Plains. One hundred thousand soldiers were defeated by the 5,000 soldiers of the Later Tang Army, and the army was completely defeated. When they met in Shahe for the second time, when they saw the flag of the Later Tang Army, they immediately
Frightened, they scrambled to cross the river. The ice broke and countless people drowned. Abaoji's son was captured.
Later, the Tang army pursued bravely, but it snowed heavily. Countless Khitan people died from the severe cold. They were attacked and killed by villagers on the way back, and only a few of them escaped in the end.
Don't underestimate these "villagers" and "households". In troubled times, they have a certain fighting capacity.
When a large army comes, they are as honest as quails. If you burn, kill, and loot, they may not be able to resist. But when you are alone, you can experience how powerful they are.
All in all, a bandit army of hundreds of people is very dangerous, let alone a group of three or five. That is the walking slave, Wubao Commander, the manor owners will definitely capture or kill them, and will not let them go.
They left.
The army rested outside Wubao for an hour, finished hot meals, hot soup, and dried their cotton clothes before continuing to march north.
On the 13th, reports came from the front, and the government soldiers acting as vanguard entered Linli County.
The county was deserted and had apparently been abandoned by the bandits.
After receiving the news, Shao Xun ordered to speed up the pace and led the main force of the Chinese army to the county in the afternoon of the next day. On the way, he even ran into a retreating bandit army, numbering about a thousand people. The equipment was confiscated on the spot and sent to Ji.
The county guard was put on guard.
On the evening of the 14th, he climbed to the head of Linli County and overlooked the marching brigade.
This army is a bit like Liu Yu's 100,000-strong army that destroyed Nan Yan.
Many people only know Liu Yu's Queyue Formation, but Liu Yu is actually an expert in using chariots.
When he destroyed Nan Yan, he set out from Xuzhou with this chariot formation and headed straight for Guanggu (the capital of Nan Yan).
Despite being harassed by the Xianbei cavalry along the way, I remained unmoved and would only attack the enemy and save them.
The closer they get to Guanggu, the lower the Xianbei cavalry's initiative becomes and the more they lose their composure.
In the end, the cavalry lost the battlefield initiative to fight when they wanted and leave when they didn't want to, and were forced to take the initiative to attack Liu Yu.
There was no suspense in the result. Nanyan was defeated and perished.
Attacking the enemy must save it is the core, which means who has the initiative on the battlefield.
Where should I attack and save?
Shao Xun looked towards the east, as if he could travel through time and space, and landed above Ye City.
After interrogating the prisoners, they learned that the enemy had placed a large amount of baggage, property, and prisoners in Yecheng. Wang Mi, Wang Sang, Liu Ling, and even Shi Le all sent some troops to Yecheng to stay behind and guard the money, food, and people.
Shi Chao himself, based in Yecheng, enlisted in the army to expand his strength and seemed not to want to leave at all.
Then, the goal is obvious: our army has won the first battle, is in great momentum, and has enough food and grass to last more than a month, so we will attack Yecheng directly to see how the thieves react.
****
Shi Le had just returned from Zhaojun and arrived at Xiangguo. The whole army rested here for a night.
At this time, Hu Yanyi, the imperial censor, came from Puzi, read out the imperial edict, and conferred the title of "Chi Jie, Pingdong General" on Shi Le. The rest of his official positions and titles remained as before.
Shi Le thanked the emperor for his kindness.
It was inconvenient for Hu Yanyi to stay for a long time, so he left on the same day.
Before leaving, Shi Le stuffed a lot of gifts over with him. Hu Yanyi pretended to refuse them and accepted them. At the same time, he promised to put in good words for Shi Le when he returned.
After seeing off the imperial envoy, Shi Le breathed a sigh of relief.
This time I went east, I gained a lot.
First, tens of thousands of strong men were captured in Weijun and Dunqiu. After eliminating the weak and retaining the strong, more than 20,000 were obtained. Then, using this as capital, they went north to attack Zhaojun, killed Feng Chong, the western captain, and then defeated the beggars.
The army captured and killed nearly 20,000 people.
Zhaojun had no opponents. Just as he was preparing to attack Julu, he received news that Wang Sang and Liu Ling had failed, so he decisively stopped preparations to attack Julu and headed south to Guangping, approaching Yecheng.
But he has not yet made up his mind, and is especially prepared to listen to the opinions of three counselors - Diao Ying, Zhang Jing, and Zhang Bin. They are the "gentlemen" harvested in Hebei this time. They have great strategies, so they are chosen by Shi Le.
Heavy.
Shi Leyou, Diao Ying, and Zhang Jing leaned on each other for help and obeyed his advice.
Of course, he is now facing the same predicament as Shao Xun. He has no power to open a government, and advisers are following him with no identity or position.
Otherwise, Diao Ying and Zhang Jing would have to be given the position of Chang Shi. As for Zhang Bin, in terms of ability shown, he is inferior to Diao Ying and Zhang Jing. It would be good to be given a meritorious position in the future.
"The king is the governor after all. He cannot just sit back and watch Wang Sang, Liu Ling, Wang Mi and others be defeated by the Jin people." Zhang Jing is a man with a strong appearance and a strong appearance. Yunwen Yunwu rushed ahead of Diao Ying and said: "If the news spreads,
Return to Pingyang, the emperor may have some opinions."
Shi Le nodded, this statement made sense.
"Your Majesty, there are still conscripted soldiers and property in Ye City. It would be a pity if we abandon them." Diao Ying added.
After saying that, he gave Zhang Jing a vague look, full of competition.
Zhang Bin sat there in silence and did not interrupt.
"Why didn't Meng Sun say a word?" Shi Le looked at Zhang Bin with encouraging eyes and said with a smile: "But it doesn't matter."
Zhang Bin bowed and asked, "I heard that your Majesty fought against Lu Yanghou Shaoxun when he was under Ji Sang's tent?"
"There was no fighting." Shi Le said: "Back then, Gu——I fought with Gou Xi and basically lost. If I met Shao Xun, I would probably end up being defeated and fleeing. Lu Ping, Li Le is not a mediocre person.
In the battle of Feixiang, Shao Xun was defeated with dignity, and nothing will change if I replace him."
After saying that, he looked at Zhang Bin calmly and said: "At that time, we were not as good as him. As for now, it's hard to say."
Zhang Bin nodded and said: "Has your Majesty figured out how many soldiers Shao Xun brought? What is their combat strength?"
"According to what Wang Sang and Liu Ling said, Shao Xun should have fifty thousand people." Shi Le said: "But they don't agree with each other, and there are many contradictions. I don't believe it all."
"What the king said is absolutely true." Zhang Bin said: "Based on the past history of the Jin court, it is unlikely that a man like Shao Xun from a humble background could command an army of 50,000, at most half. Moreover, observing the deployment of the Jin army, Pei Yuzhou
The troops had withdrawn from Baima, and the king's chariots and cavalry were watching the troops on the river, with no intention of going north. Only Shao Xun went all the way to Hebei, so this man was probably not favored by the emperor and ministers of Jin, so he was driven north to be consumed. There is no reason for this.
Apart from the fact that he comes from a poor background, he was successful at a young age, and he is arrogant..."
"This man is really arrogant in his military use." Shi Le sighed: "According to what Meng Sun said, only twenty or thirty thousand people dared to go deep into Hebei. In fact, he relied on the elite soldiers under his command to not take us seriously."
"My servant advises the king not to rush to fight with Shao Xun." Zhang Bin said solemnly: "This attack on Guangping and Zhaojun has yielded no less than 30,000 soldiers and a lot of money, food and livestock. Now it has been transferred to Hedong, and it will take some time. Your Majesty
You can go south, but don’t waste your battle. We must first find out the enemy’s strength.”
Shi Le had residences in Liu Han, mainly in Yanmen and Xinxing counties in the north. This was also the reason why he repeatedly invaded Changshan. As soon as he exited Xingdao to the east, it was Changshan County in Hebei Province.
This time the seven generals went to Hebei, but they first went south to Shangdang, and then left Huguan in the east to attack Yecheng and its surroundings.
It was actually a mature and prudent statement to send back the benefits first, so Shi Le agreed after thinking about it.
"I am very happy with the strategies Meng Sun proposed today." Shi Le stood up, walked to Zhang Bin, took his hand, and said with a smile: "I will make more suggestions in the future. Although my pocket is not rich, it can't be short."
Your reward."
Zhang Bin also laughed.
After chatting and joking with Zhang Bin, Shi Le walked up to Diao Ying and Zhang Jing and said: "Meng Sun is old and prudent, but you are right. How can a man act like a dog in a coward and be timid? Shao Xun is arrogant and arrogant, and he is alone.
Go deep, don't take the heroes of the world lightly, I lead the army to the battle, how can I retreat without firing a single arrow? This battle will still have to be fought, even if we can't defeat him, we still have to gnaw a piece of his flesh. So wait and see
We work together to strategize, and I will be courageous in the face of battle, bend my bow and fight bloody battles. Let's work hard together to keep Shao Xun in Hebei. If you really can't do it, there is no need to be depressed, just eat the hard work and work hard. How about it?"
"I will obey the king's order." The three of them looked at each other and replied in unison.
On October 15th, after resting for a day in Xiangguo, Shi Le led more than 7,000 cavalry and 25,000 infantry to go south to Yecheng.
Almost on the same day, Shao Xun led his troops to leave Linli, and the whole army marched eastward, also heading towards Yecheng.
At this time, the wind and snow stopped.
Chapter completed!