The drum beats come and go, as if beating on people's hearts, knocking their souls out.
On June 20, after many days of stockpiling supplies, the Jin army marched westward from Neihuang.
Countless boats sailed out of Huangchi, entered Baigou, turned north and turned west, sailed upstream from the county seat more than 200 steps north, and entered Huan River.
In the end, Hao Chang, the captain of the field camp, did not get the opportunity to join the army. He led 5,000 troops from Yingyang and Luyang to stay in Neihuang to prevent the enemy from easily taking away this important strategic node.
Shao Xun led all the two battalions on the left and right of Yinqiang, one Yi Congjun, all the Mule Army, and one Fu Bing, totaling more than 18,000 soldiers, plus 5,000 Xuchang soldiers, 3,000 Fu Bingbu, Kaocheng, Ning
There were 5,000 troops stationed in Pingcheng and other places, 3,000 Quzhuangke from the wealthy tribes in Henan, and 3,000 soldiers from Wubao, Hebei. The total force was more than 37,000, known as 150,000, and they headed straight for Anyang.
When Zhi Quliu and more than 2,000 cavalry arrived in Neihuang, they saw such a scene.
The trackers wore short rough clothes and stood barefoot on the river beach. When the trumpet sounded, their muscled thighs suddenly exerted force, and the fiber ropes stretched straight, dragging the heavy ships forward.
When encountering a shoal, they even took extra care and sent men to the north shore to tow the ship from both sides to ensure that the ship could pass safely.
Between Huangchi, Baigou and Huanshui, there are forests of rafts and oars, and there is a bustle of people, as if all the ships in Henan have gathered here.
Seeing the Xiongnu Qingqi approaching, the bell immediately rang on the ship.
The boatmen and troop carriers worked together to push the ballista to the side of the ship, and worked hard to load the arrows and wind the bow.
Our own cavalry was dispatched on the shore and rushed straight towards the Huns.
The infantry also quickened their pace to cover the trackers and prevent them from being affected. As a result, the ships had no time to anchor and lost control and collided with each other.
The arrows were as dense as locusts.
As soon as the Hun cavalry approached, they turned their horses' heads again and ran back with their heads in their arms.
If it doesn't work during the day, it's just a waste of time. Try again at night.
Zhiquliu seemed to have anticipated this scene, and just sighed softly before leading the others away.
He is like a gambler. He has lost once in the same card game, but he doesn't believe in evil. He always thinks that if he plays again, he might be able to turn defeat into victory.
But this is the material world, war is materialistic, and the enemy is not someone who can be defeated at the first touch, so why would you bother to provoke him? Apart from the dozen or so corpses left behind, what else can you get?
After the enemy cavalry withdrew, the Yi Congjun pursued them for several miles and stopped pursuing them. They returned to the river bank and continued to guard the fleet while the infantry advanced.
There are many ways to teach your enemies a lesson.
The Huns cavalry are light and agile, and it is difficult to catch up. But as long as they get closer to Anyang and Yecheng, one day, these Huns cavalry, who are running around and harassing them repeatedly, will run back obediently and not go anywhere.
Okay, give up their maneuverability advantage and fight you head-on.
You didn't take the initiative to catch them, but they were forced to run in front of you and fight you in a way they were not good at. This is the wonder of war.
"Wow!" The bow of the ship split the water waves and struggled forward.
The sound of trackers' horns resounded on both sides of the Huan River.
The convoy squirmed forward without any noise, like a silent beast stalking on the eve of a hunt.
The armor shines with a dazzling silver light, as if it is eager for flesh and blood sacrifice.
This huge team headed straight for Anyang, unstoppable.
****
A group of cavalry dismounted.
Some people led the horses to graze, while others took off various tools from the backs of the pack horses and started working hard.
The sky is cloudless and dazzlingly blue.
On the ground scorched by the scorching sun, three thousand Huns cavalry wielded spades and picks and carried dung baskets, carrying away the excavated soil and dumping it into the Huan River.
Not long after, Marshal Youwubao led more than two thousand men and drove a cart to the river bank.
He hesitated and asked whether to push these carriages into the river.
Kui'an whipped him directly and said: "Do it quickly, don't hesitate."
Wubao Shuai was unhappy and ordered the guards to push the carriages one by one into the river and fill them with sandbags.
Kui An learned this move from Shao Xun.
When he first besieged Luoyang, Shao Xun filled the river with heavy carts and sandbags, and temporarily built a wading channel, allowing his soldiers to successfully cross the river and gain a firm foothold on the other side.
This trick is still useful now.
Even if the river cannot be blocked, it is always better to let some sections of the river silt up.
Shao Xun could certainly send people to dredge and clean up, but this would take a lot of time and slow down his advance.
The order given by Tao Bao was to delay, Kui'an, and Zhi Quliu to act separately, and they really did everything they could.
After working like this for an hour, the surface of the river became turbid.
Kui'an patrolled along the river and was quite satisfied.
It is easy to block a river, but difficult to dredge it. Just this one move can disgust Shao Xun for a long time and buy Dahu more time.
The guards had stopped working and retreated to the trees not far away.
Firstly, after working under the scorching sun for so long, I really couldn’t work anymore; secondly, because the river was overflowing and both sides were muddy, I couldn’t work anymore.
The sound of horse hooves sounded in the distance.
After a while, the scout ran back wildly.
After hearing the report, Kui'an immediately ordered everyone to mount their horses.
He personally led 2,500 men, strung their horned bows, and marched forward to meet them. The other hundreds of people drove them to change horses and retreated.
Marshal Wubao panicked, led the draft horse, called to Baoding, and dispersed in a rush.
The place was quiet for a while, except for the rushing water, which overflowed the river bank, submerged the post road and meadow, and created a large yellow mud pond.
The cavalry from both sides started a fierce battle in the wilderness.
Arrows flying, swords clashing, killing and being killed have become the main theme of Hebei.
After fighting for less than half an hour, both sides gathered their troops and looked at each other from a distance.
The Jin army had few cavalry, only 500 vanguards, but they were well-equipped and good at fighting.
The Huns were outnumbered, five times as many as they were, so they could outflank them and use more to attack the smaller ones, giving full play to their strength advantage.
The two sides fought for a while, with quite a lot of casualties, and both sides did not want to fight.
So, after looking at each other for a moment, they retreated tacitly and disappeared into the wilderness.
Half an hour later, the sound of horse hooves sounded again in the east.
A thousand mule troops came to the river bank.
Warlord Jiang Ke looked at the destroyed river and sighed.
A thousand people dismounted their mules, and half were assigned to guard the river while the other half tried to clear the river.
That's all the enemy is capable of.
If the nearby Wubao commander is willing to provide food and grass on the spot, the matter is actually not that complicated. However, there are only a few people in Changle County who are secretly working together and are not willing to come over openly. It is really a wise way to die.
The river channel is being cleaned here, while Kui'an over there is leading people back to Changle County.
There was some commotion in the county. But after they withdrew, it gradually calmed down.
Kui'an climbed to the top of the city and looked east.
The Huan River flows quietly, winding and disappearing at the end of the east.
Nothing could be seen there, but Kui'an seemed to hear the constant sound of marching drums, the roar of ships splitting the river, the rustle of infantry advancing, and the huge buzz of crossbows being fired.
He felt that something was wrong with his brain, and it looked like he would have to arrest some women to vent his anger tonight.
But he actually knew it very well in his heart, but he had always been unwilling to face it: all kinds of small means could only stop the enemy soldiers for a while, but they would still come in the end, and they were unstoppable.
"Send the order and report the Shao thieves' movements every hour. Anyone who dares to slack off will be killed without mercy." Kui An slapped the city wall and ordered.
The soldiers took the order and went down to deliver the order.
Kui'an still refused to go downstairs and continued to stand there, looking at the eastern sky like a stone.
****
On June 23, Yecheng was particularly fresh and clean after the drizzle.
Shi Le, surrounded by the generals, returned to this long-lost city.
He patiently chatted with the officials and scholars, and then returned to the mansion. It was already the time when the lanterns were first lit.
"Comfortable." Shi Le leaned on the couch without any image, with a look of dust on his face.
The soldiers brought the food, and each of the staff took a futon, sat on the floor, and began to eat.
Shi Le ate quickly, threw away the bowl after a while, drank tea and rinsed his mouth.
"There are still a lot of things I haven't had time to do." After rinsing his mouth, he sighed and said.
The first thing is to set up a school, train people from the Jin Dynasty as teachers, select generals and disciples to go to the school, and train talents to manage the place, so that we will not be like now, relying on the nobles for everything and constantly bargaining with them.
The second thing is to amend the Nine-Rank Officials Law to allow local states and counties to elect virtuous people, and focus on people of lower origins such as poor people, powerful people, etc., which also weakens the influence of the great gentry.
The third thing is to re-count the household registrations in various counties. The current household registration statistics are simply a joke, far smaller than the actual population. In fact, this problem was very common in the Later Han Dynasty. Zhang Bin believes that even if only hundreds of thousands more people can be counted,
It was an improvement compared to before, and he was convinced of it.
Statistical household registration is the prerequisite for the issuance of fixed rents and taxes. If it can be implemented, then there will be no need to keep making excuses with the gentry.
The fourth thing is to delete the laws and regulations.
Shi Le knew this very well. Laws were harsh and complicated, and if people accidentally violated them, the price would often be unbearable. He felt that some unreasonable, inhumane, too complicated, and too harsh laws should be deleted, so that
The people can breathe a sigh of relief, which can also stabilize society in disguise and facilitate governance.
In addition to the four things, there is actually an exhortation to teach farmers to grow mulberry trees.
He has been doing this, but he has only done half of it, that is, allocating fields and houses to the more than 70,000 infantrymen who started with him, allowing them to sow and harvest by themselves, and practice fighting in their free time.
As for other than these people, he couldn't control them, and he didn't have the energy to do so for the time being. Instead, he entrusted them to the gentry to rule powerfully.
To this end, he ordered his sons, nephews and generals to marry the gentry in Hebei and Bingzhou to deepen their relationship with each other.
To be fair, if Shi Le is given a few more years to carry out these five things one by one and implement them in depth, he will really have a firm foothold in Hebei. The "Hebei League Leader" will be at his fingertips, just like the "Henan League Leader"
"Same as Shao Xun.
When doing things these days, you can't escape from these few things.
Countless people have helped sum up the experience. If you want to find another way, it will often be self-defeating.
Policies must be consistent with three things: first, the level of productivity; second, the traditions and values ​​of the times; third, the external and internal environment.
If you don't do these three things, you won't know how you will die.
The five things Shi Le wanted to do were actually reliable, which may be one of the factors that contributed to his success.
But he doesn't have this time anymore because someone doesn't want to give him a chance.
That man is very cruel, and he keeps a close eye on those who have proven himself in history, and he will kill them quickly.
This is life, there is no way around it.
"Where is Shao Xun?" For a moment of emotion, Shi Le once showed some weakness, but now he sat up straight, expelling his inappropriate emotions, and asked in a deep voice.
"We can arrive in Changle County the day after tomorrow at the earliest." Zhang Jing put down his bowls and chopsticks and said first.
"How is Changle County?" Shi Le asked.
"It can't be stopped." Zhang Jing replied honestly: "Perhaps we can only think of a way in Anyang. Taobao sent thousands of people south to defend the city."
"Thousands of people?"
"Taobao doesn't really want to defend Anyang. He wants to fight Shao Xun in Yecheng." Zhang Jing glanced at Shi Le and said.
Shi Le was thoughtful, but now was not the time to care about such nonsense. He thought for a while and said: "This is not wrong."
"At the end of May, Shao Xunfu arrived in Fangtou."
"In the first ten days of June, it went down the Baigou, and then came to Huangchi. Ships swarmed into Huangchi, constantly hoarding grain and equipment."
"Now we have another army at Changle. If we can defeat it, we will head west towards Anyang."
"The army on the west route formed a camp step by step, defeated Chaoge, seized the stone bridge, crossed Changsha Valley, and headed north to approach Dangyin."
"The two groups are about to meet up. Do you have any good ideas?"
Zhang Bin also finished eating. After rinsing his mouth, he said directly: "Your Majesty, it's time to send another group of people to Pingyang."
When Shi Le heard this, he said: "Ma Jing and Zhu Ji's people only accept money and do nothing. It is really hateful."
Zhang Bin still looked at him.
Shi Le came to his senses and immediately smiled and said: "Don't be upset, Meng Sun. I will send someone to Pingyang right now."
"Over there in Anping..." Zhang Bin said again.
"Liang Zhenyuan doesn't dare to be cunning. If Shao Xun is allowed to capture Ye City, it will be difficult for him. His soldiers will come, don't worry." Shi Le said.
Zhang Bin nodded, and then said: "There is only one strategy now, which is to resist at the provincial level and wait for change."
"Meng Sun might as well elaborate."
"Dangyin can no longer be defended, so we can abandon it, but Anyang cannot be abandoned." Zhang Bin said: "Anyang is only forty miles away from Yecheng in the north, which can be said to be very close. There are Anyang Bridge, Hanling Mountain, Yema Gang, Cao Cao in the north of the city.
Bridges and other places that are conducive to garrisoning troops can be used to send infantry troops forward, set up strongholds on the road, and resist at every level. The longer the delay, the better."
"In Yecheng, the city defenses were repaired, supplies were widely stored, and soldiers were recruited to facilitate the defense."
"Choose additional cavalry and elite infantry, and dispatch brave generals to lead them. Your Majesty knows better than me what to do."
After hearing this, Shi Le pondered for a moment and asked, "What if Shao Xun refuses to leave, and we attack him step by step?"
"Delay and wait for change." Zhang Bin repeated it again.
Shi Le remained silent.
Zhang Bin believed that he could no longer resist Shao Xun on his own and needed help from the imperial court.
This strategy is not foolproof.
How long it can be delayed is the question.
What will be the consequences of procrastination is also a question.
Until the end, it was still a question of whether anyone would come to rescue.
There are too many problems, but there is no solution.
Even if there is a decisive battle with Shao Xun, it is better to delay it first and be more prepared.
As for the alienation of Hebei scholars because of this, that is a trivial matter.
If we cannot win this battle, everything will be lost.
If he wins this battle, the wallflowers will come back to support him and beat him up.
"What's going on with King Zhongshan?" he asked.
"We fought several battles with Tuoba, with wins and losses." Zhang Bin did not mention Liu Kun, because he did not have many soldiers, and most of them were new soldiers, so he could not play any role. He could only sit and watch Tuoba Xianbei and the Pingyang court.
The war, although this war was caused by him.
After Shi Le listened, he didn't speak for a long time.
Others did not interrupt and waited patiently.
"Bang!" Shi Le slapped the table and said, "In that case, let's just stop doing it. Send the order to send the crown prince to Pingyang. If his mother dares to make any noise, I will divorce her."
After saying that, he looked at Zhang Bin, Zhang Jing and others, and said: "There are still some difficulties in this battle, let's go over them together."
Chapter completed!