In the open fields on the north bank of Mishui River, the noise rose to the sky.
Thousands of bandit troops were beaten to pieces and fell back.
At first, the defeated army was only scattered into a few groups.
However, as the Silver Spear Army pursued bravely, the enemy troops became more and more scattered, from more than a thousand people in one group to several hundred people in one group, and then to one hundred and ten people in one group. In the end, the troops collapsed in small groups.
They all showed up, and the collapse was really severe.
No one is trying to gather the defeated troops, and now is not the time.
Wang Sang galloped on his horse, surrounded by his own soldiers, followed by a few empty horses.
Chang Can led his soldiers to pursue him, shouting loudly, "Don't leave Wang Sang!"
Wang Sang was worried, so he looked back and shot an arrow, which missed but also frightened Chang Can.
There was a rout of troops ahead.
Wang Sang turned his horse's head and rushed toward a place with relatively few people.
"Bang!" The person blocking the road was knocked away.
Wang Sang clamped the horse's belly with all his strength and fled as fast as he could.
After rushing forward for more than a hundred steps, he finally got rid of the large group of defeated soldiers.
Wang Sang looked forward, feeling suddenly enlightened and relieved.
At this moment, dozens of riders rushed straight from the left front. The first person was tall and had amazing arm strength. He was waving a particularly thick and long horse pole and knocked down the two of them in one glance.
"Liu Ling!" Wang Sang's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Haha, Wang Sang, come with me to see the prince." Liu Ling patted the horse forward, gave the horse a poke, and then seized the opportunity of Wang Sang to dodge sideways, and picked up Wang Sang in his hand like a chicken.
Thrown across the horse's back, he dodges people in a flash.
Wang Sang's soldiers shouted angrily and rode after him.
Liu Ling was too lazy to fight with them, so he went in a circle, led the pursuers to the vicinity of the government soldiers, and then disappeared behind the crowd.
"Bang!" When Wang Sang was thrown to the ground and smashed to pieces, Shao Xun glanced at Liu Ling in surprise and asked, "Is this Wang Sang?"
"Reporting to the lord, this is Wang Mi's younger brother Wang Sang, the fake Han Pingbei general, and the regular servant of Sanqi." Seeing Wang Sang want to get up, Liu Ling stepped on his back and replied respectfully.
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"You were General Pingbei before, right?"
"Exactly."
Shao Xun nodded.
The officials and titles of Liu Han are worthless, and they are available when you go there, and each one is more bluffing than the other. The king of Ping Jin, the general who destroyed Jin, the general Andong, the general Pingbei, etc. are wholesaled as if they are free of charge.
Wang Sang's abilities were limited, and he was only granted a relatively fictitious official position such as a Disciple Rider at the beginning, for the sake of his cousin Wang Mi.
If Liu Ling had not been captured and General Pingbei was freed up, Wang Sang might not have had his turn.
He couldn't even get along with the free generals, but Wang Sang was quite capable, which made Shao Xun look down upon him.
You are not even as good as Zhao Gu.
"Take him down and interrogate him carefully." Shao Xun said, "After the interrogation, wait for an opportunity to send him to Luoyang."
"As ordered." Several soldiers rushed up, first stuffed a ball of rags into Wang Sang's mouth to prevent him from slandering others, and then dragged him away like a dead dog.
"Clean the battlefield quickly." Looking at Wang Sang's struggling figure, Shao Xun said and ordered: "The entire army will go to the ancient city of Xinzheng and rest for three days."
"In addition, Chen Liangfu from Yingchuan will send another batch of grain and grass."
After defeating Wang Sang's troops, the thieves who went south to Henan and carried out plunder should be frightened.
In the middle of winter, their supply of food and grass is not sufficient. They have already grabbed what they can now. If they continue to consume, it will be difficult to grab more. If they are in a stalemate, they may retreat.
This achieves the goal.
****
Liu Yao, who was based in Luoyang, waited for several days to get the news.
There is no other way. Their messenger must first cross the Yellow River to the north, detour to Jijun and Hanoi, and then go south to Luoyang.
Perhaps you can also try to cross the Songshan Mountains, but there are many bandits in the mountains, and many refugees live in settlements. If a few messengers pass through, it will be too dangerous, and they will disappear without paying attention.
When the messenger arrived outside Ximing Gate, it was Wang Mi and Zhao Gulian who sent the messenger to request a retreat.
Liu Yao thought for a long time and finally agreed that they should rest in the Luoshui Valley, but did not allow them to retreat.
He understood their situation.
They attacked Yunzhongwu first, but failed repeatedly. Zhao Gu's troops suffered casualties of more than 2,000, and Wang Mi's casualties were no less than 1,000.
At this point in the war, it's not that it can't be fought, it's just that it's really unnecessary.
The terrain is so dangerous that one person on the other side can replace several of yours, which is a big loss.
Overall, in the Luoshui River Valley for most of the month, they only harvested more than 3,000 people and a small amount of food. Overall, they could not make ends meet.
This road could actually be withdrawn, but Liu Yao did not dare to issue an order. He had to report to Pingyang and listen to the emperor's opinion.
As for the news he had just received that Wang Sang's tribe had lost most of its troops and only a thousand people escaped, he didn't care much about it.
It's bad luck for them to meet Shao Xun when they go south to plunder.
What really made Liu Yao think about withdrawing his troops was the defeat report from Daibei.
In order to take revenge, Liu Kun lobbied Tuoba Yilu of Xianbei with humble words and courtesy to invite troops. Yilu agreed and sent his nephew Tuoba Yulu with 20,000 cavalry to help.
The Xianbei were so fierce that they defeated the Xiongnu Tiefu clan and the Bai tribe Xianbei, invaded their camp, and massacred them. The two tribes could not resist, and while asking for help from Pingyang, they led their troops to flee west, crossed the Yellow River, and reached the boundary of Shangjun - Tiefu
The Xiongnu and Baibei Xianbei surrendered to Liu Kun last year, but were conquered by Liu Cong and then defected to Liu Han.
Liu Kun was overjoyed that Tuoba Xianbei had accomplished such a great feat, and he memorialized Yi Lu as the Great Chanyu and acting as the Duke of the County. Because Luoyang was blocked, the memorial could not be sent in, and he had not yet received a response from the court.
But Tuoba Yilu took it seriously, and because of the long distance between the fiefdom and the tribal grassland, he led more than 10,000 people to fall into Yanmen.
Obviously, no matter how bad the land in the Central Plains is, it is still better than the grassland. The ten thousand tribes are not Tuoba Yilu's entire capital, they are just the people he sent to occupy the pit.
Wang Jun was very dissatisfied with Liu Kunkan's generous behavior - Daijun belonged to Youzhou - and firmly disagreed, so he fought with Tuoba Xianbei and retreated in defeat.
At this point, Tuoba Xianbei's center of gravity has moved to Yunzhong, Yanmen, and Daijun.
This is a pretty good land, suitable for both grazing and farming. In the Tang Dynasty, the Datong Army Jiedushi was set up to station in Yunzhong to control the grassland tribes. Tuoba Yilu even had more generations than the Datong Army.
Prefecture - The county in the Western Jin Dynasty was called Yuzhou in the Tang Dynasty, and Yanmen County was called Daizhou in the Tang Dynasty.
Liu Kun may have also realized that it was not appropriate to raise Tuoba Xianbei too fat.
But I'm not a fool. Tuoba Yilu and Liu Kun are sworn brothers. What's wrong with me taking some of my brother's land? I fought so many battles and shed so much blood for you, and you want to get rid of it?
Liu Kun had no choice but to move the people in the northern counties of Yanmen that had just been recovered from the Xiongnu. After all, he would have to borrow troops from Tuoba Xianbei in the future.
Liu Yao was not interested in Liu Kun's troubles. He only knew that Yanmen County was lost, Baibu Xianbei, and Tiefu Xiongnu fled to Hexi. Although he still surrendered to Pingyang, his strength was greatly damaged and he would not be able to send many troops to fight for the court in the short term.
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He is now more worried that Tuoba Xianbei will not be satisfied and will enter Xinxing County or even northern Taiyuan, which will threaten the Xiongnu's pastureland.
He had a strong desire to retreat.
On the 21st, King Liu Can of Hanoi arrived at the camp outside Ximing Gate.
"Shiguang, I have decided to retreat." After thinking for a few days, he had made up his mind.
Liu Can was not surprised at all and just asked: "Is it because of insufficient food and grass?"
"There are always droughts and locusts, and there is never enough food and grass." Liu Yao smiled bitterly: "The camp only has enough food for more than ten days. Where are you?"
"Absolutely." Liu Can replied: "Shi Le didn't have any food and grass?"
"He is not as good as me. He can only support him for ten days at most, and then he has to go back to Yecheng to eat." Liu Yao said, "I didn't get much, and I can't make ends meet. I can't continue this battle."
Liu Can had nothing to say.
Last year, when we attacked Luoyang, we finally retreated because we ran out of food.
The past two years have been really difficult, and the Wubao commanders have been extremely tough. It's not that they suddenly became brave, but that they really can't produce much food.
On both sides of the road, there were hungry people lying on the ground everywhere.
As long as you are willing to give out porridge and provide disaster relief, you can have as many soldiers as you want, but unfortunately no one can produce food.
This battle is indeed like this.
"Will you come next year?" Liu Can felt a little pity.
Luoyang, the center of the world.
Not to mention that Aweng (Liu Yuan) never forgot about it before he died, he also longed for it and had a very strong urge to conquer it.
"Let's talk about it later," Liu Yao said uncertainly.
In his heart, he felt it was unnecessary.
As long as Luoyang is not short of food, it will be difficult to capture it, just like this expedition.
Or the Jin imperial army could go out to fight in the city, but this seems impossible.
It's difficult anyway.
"South of Yique, I heard that there are Guangchengze, Liangxian, Xiangcheng and other counties, which have been stable for many years and are quite prosperous." Liu Can said: "If you can rush over and plunder, you will gain a lot."
Liu Yao shook his head, he didn't quite believe it.
Drought and locust plagues are widespread and cannot fail to affect local areas.
Even though it's better than other places, it's still limited. Shao Xun's food reserves are probably about to bottom out.
Both sides were exhausted from this battle and needed to rest.
"I'm going to tackle the key problem next year. What does the King of Hanoi think?" Liu Yao asked.
"If King Shi'an becomes the governor, I would like to lead the army as the vanguard." Liu Can said.
Liu Yao smiled softly.
Although the King of Hanoi was a prince, he was not a crown prince. The Han Dynasty did not have a crown prince, only the crown prince (Liu Yi).
Since the emperor personally promised in front of everyone that day that he would return the throne to King Beihai when he grew up, this matter could not just be said.
The King of Beihai is now the crown prince and the crown prince of the Han Dynasty.
Perhaps the King of Hanoi was also disappointed?
Or do you have a little bit of ambition and want to make more contributions to squeeze out the crown prince and become the crown prince in the future? This possibility cannot be ruled out, and it is even very possible.
But what does that have to do with him?
After the emperor ascends the throne, it is unlikely that he will go on a personal expedition. From now on, apart from the nobles of the Huyan clan, the only people who will lead the troops in war are the Liu clan. The King of Hanoi will have many opportunities, and it depends on whether he can seize them.
Liu Yao took one last look at Luoyang.
There seemed to be people on the Ximing Tower who climbed up to look at the city.
"Let you be proud for a while first." Liu Yao thought to himself: "Maybe one day you will have civil strife among yourself, and then it will be easy to take Luoyang."
Chapter completed!