Thousands of horsemen appeared in the north of Yangqu County.
Its vanguard of 500 horsemen reined up their horses and stopped at a distance, surprised and uncertain.
There's something wrong with this city.
The city gates were closed in broad daylight. Although there was news that the battle at Jingxing Pass was about to begin, but what? Jingxing Pass was still there. Thousands of soldiers and horses were guarding the pass. How could it be so easily broken?
Damn it! Could it be that this group of people had bad thoughts after hearing that Shao thieves were besieging Bingzhou with several troops?
Outside Jingxing Pass, there was Jin general Li Chong.
Outside Hukou Pass, Yang Dan was rushing to attack the city.
At the foot of Danzhu Ridge, Feihu, the commander of the Black Army, was trying every means possible, either by attacking from the front, or by attacking from behind, in an endless struggle with the King of Zhongshan.
Outside Zhi Guanxing, there was a man named Yang Quan who led more than 15,000 people and tried again and again.
It turned out to be a four-pronged siege, and the momentum was extremely huge. It is normal for them to have evil thoughts, because even we...
The cavalry leader who led the team carefully observed the lower city.
There was still a big flag with the Chinese character "Han" flying at the top of the city, but there were not many people there. Occasionally, people appeared and looked at them furtively, which made them feel even more depressed.
But the owner of the building did not give up, and immediately sent people to shout to the top of the city to prepare food and grass for delivery. At this time, they did not dare to go in, and immediately sent people to rush north to report to Shi Le, who was one day's journey away.
"Where is Yang Quling?" A rider stepped forward, looked at the city head, and shouted at the top of his lungs.
Chengtou still didn't respond.
The knight shouted again: "The military situation is urgent. You don't want to live anymore?"
Someone at the top of the city looked down, then quickly retracted his head, and there was no more movement.
Now everyone knew that something was wrong. Even though Yangqu County did not rebel, it still had different intentions and became at odds with each other.
"Open the door quickly and take out the grain and grass from the warehouse." The knight shouted for the third time, but he was obviously a little out of breath.
The sound of messy footsteps sounded at the top of the city. After a while, a man leaned out half of his body, without saying a word, just raised his hand and shot an arrow.
The arrow missed slightly and landed in the mud beside the knight. He was startled, and he hurriedly turned his horse's head and turned away.
The five hundred horsemen who were arrayed farther away saw them, and there was a slight commotion.
After a stalemate for a while, they had no choice but to drive away. Looking at the direction they left, it turned out to be north.
Shi Le got the news on the morning of April.
At that time, the army was advancing, and he and his staff Diao Ying were resting by the roadside.
"Cao Pingle came back last night." Shi Le sighed and said, "Wang Xiu is dead, killed by Guo Rong. Most of them were lost in Shangai County."
"Cao Pingle should have arrived at Shangai on the 22nd and 3rd. Why did it take so long to come back?" Diao Ying was a little puzzled.
Shi Lena pointed with his riding whip at a fort in the distance that looked like it was facing an enemy, and said: "This is the reason."
Diao Ying was silent.
There are too many obstacles in the place, and we will help whoever wins. There is no moral integrity.
If the two parties are evenly matched, they may still help Shao Thief, because Shao Thief is a general of the Jin Dynasty, and they are also Jin people, so they naturally tend to that side.
From this point of view, it would be good for Cao Pingle to come back, and the possibility of dying in the wild is even greater.
"Yangqu is probably gone too." Shi Le looked to the south again and said expressionlessly.
Diao Ying looked ugly.
At this point, even if he was grateful for Shi Le's kindness and was very loyal, he would still be discouraged. The Taiyuan wealthy family had surrendered not long ago, let alone being loyal, so it was normal for them to repeat themselves.
"Lord, now..." Diao Ying stopped mid-sentence because he really didn't know what to say.
Shi Le's expression became calmer as he continued: "Shangai County is gone. Do you think the Shao thieves will send troops from Weize to attack Jingxing?"
Diao Ying's face became even more ugly.
"Actually, what does it matter if Shangai is lost or not?" Shi Le sighed: "Shao's thieves attacked with many troops. They might be able to resist it at first, but as time goes by, something will go wrong. Either Jingxing Pass is broken, or Hu is defeated.
Kouguan or Ziguan in any other direction, or even more than one direction went wrong and was breached. The general trend - is gone."
Diao Ying couldn't help but look at Shi Le.
Da Hu is getting older and older, his originally bright eyes gradually become cloudy, and his original high spirits gradually disappear, replaced by a dull and twilight look.
This situation is so torturous! No matter how heroic you are, under repeated blows, the spirit in your chest will eventually be drained away.
"Let's go." Shi Le stood up, looking a little lonely. Finally, he smiled bitterly and said, "I shouldn't have such extravagant hopes."
Diao Ying asked subconsciously: "Where does your lord want to go?"
"Send Qingqi to support Zhang Jing." Shi Le ordered: "If he is still at Jingxing Pass, forget it. If he has already broken through, let's talk about how many remaining soldiers can be gathered to support him. Then - return to Xingxing. Shiling.
On the mountain, send people to dig trenches, cut down trees and build fences, and leave troops to guard it."
Diao Ying understands.
Shiling Mountain is located in the north of Yangqu, to be precise at the junction of Taiyuan and Xinxing counties. Sometimes it belonged to Xingxing County, sometimes it belonged to Taiyuan Kingdom, and now it belongs to the boundary of Yu County of Taiyuan.
Shiling Mountain is the boundary mountain between Taiyuan Basin and Xinzhou Basin. The post road goes over the mountain and connects the two basins.
The mountains are surrounded by mountains and are considered dangerous. Many road sections are only suitable for bicycles, making them a barrier to the north of Jinyang.
Da Hu left his troops to garrison here. He was obviously frustrated and planned to give up on the south completely and live his own life behind closed doors. This was actually very difficult to do, but it just took one day at a time.
Give the order and the army will return.
Diao Ying looked lonely, looking at the plants and trees in Taiyuan, and finally said nothing, only sighing deeply.
****
Most of Jinyang's troops went south.
Liu Yasheng, the clan member of Liu Han, recruited two tribes from three households among the Zahu tribes and refugees who came last year, and sent a total of 10,000 cavalry south to support Liu Yao.
Then they gathered the remaining 5,000 Xiongnu, Zahu, and Jin people on foot and cavalry and stationed them in Jinyang.
He has a brain. The old, weak, women and children have been sent west, leaving only some people to graze livestock and serve as the defender's logistics.
The Huns were complaining. How long have they been here and they are about to leave?
The water and grass here in Taiyuan are abundant, the soil is fertile, and there is a lot of land. They are very satisfied. But who would have imagined that just over a year later, the war broke out in front of them, so everyone was full of complaints.
But dissatisfaction ended with dissatisfaction, Liu Yasheng's order was very firm, and the Xiongnu herdsmen and Jin refugees also knew the power, so they finally dismantled their tents, packed up their belongings, and silently headed west and then south, heading for Pingyang and Hedong areas.
On the second day of April, when he learned that Shi Le was not patrolling but was renovating the city fortress, Liu Yasheng cursed loudly.
On the third day of April, in order to buy time for the old, weak, women, children and livestock to retreat westward, Liu Yasheng led 3,000 cavalry to the east to observe the enemy's situation.
Until now, he is still a little confused.
I don't know how many people from the Jin army came, let alone where they are, so I can only go east to take a look.
On the fifth day of April, in the wilderness between Yuci and Shouyang, rebels scattered everywhere and could be seen everywhere.
After randomly looking for a few people and interrogating them, Liu Yasheng finally felt the seriousness of the matter when he learned that Jingxing Pass had been lost and Jin troops were swarming in.
In the afternoon of that day, Jin infantry in pursuit appeared in the wilderness.
Liu Yasheng led his troops to press forward and defeated a group of hundreds of Jin soldiers who rushed the fastest.
The Huns' light cavalry surrounded them from left to right, raining arrows down like rain, and slaughtered all the Jin's infantry with very slight casualties.
After this blow, the Qingzhou soldiers who came later finally woke up: in the vast Taiyuan Basin, the Hun cavalry was not something infantry like them could resist.
So we could only set up camp and rely on the three to five days of food and grass that we carried with us to persevere. If the food was exhausted and reinforcements did not arrive, we would have no choice but to eat people, although Liang Gong did not allow it.
On the evening of the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the golden crow falls in the west and the sky is filled with red clouds.
Liu Yasheng rode his horse up the high slope and looked far into the distance.
The riders kept going out and back again, bringing back all kinds of true and false news.
"Thieves appeared on Aixi, hundreds of them in number."
"There are also bandits on the east side of Shangai. They are no less than five hundred. Judging from the hair ornaments, they are from Xianbei."
"The rebels also have a lot of infantry. A company camp has been set up outside Shangai County. It looks like there are no less than ten thousand people."
"On the post road from Jingxingguan to Shangai, there is an endless stream of heavy vehicles."
"The rebel army is carrying the banner of 'Liu' and 'Li'. It must be Liu Ling and Li Zhong."
The news kept coming back, Liu Yasheng became more and more irritated as he listened, and the generals and commanders around him also looked solemn.
As the saying goes, people are reflected by famous trees, and Li Chong's reputation is relatively large in Bingzhou.
This person has an uncanny ability to integrate soldiers and horses from different sources and form them into a force that can go into battle. He may not be able to achieve any brilliant results, but you don't want to take advantage of him too much.
To be honest, this kind of general is really disgusting. They would rather choose a general who is open and close than fight with an old turtle like Li Chong.
In the past few years, Li Chong fought steadily on the battlefield in Hebei and completely eliminated Shi Le's remaining forces.
When guarding Yecheng and Zhaojun, he was able to mobilize his troops calmly, repel Shi Le and Liu Yao's troops who came down from Jingxing Mountain, and also took the time to suppress the rebellion, which can be said to be very easy.
Many people in the Pingyang court discussed the name "Li Chong", calling him a famous general in the world. Now that I heard that this person had entered Bingzhou, I suddenly felt bad and felt very uneasy - if it were someone else, I might be able to expel him, but Li Chong
Once a person like Zhong goes up the mountain, he will stay there and it will be difficult to get rid of him.
"General." Seeing that Liu Yasheng was silent, the military officers became a little uneasy and stepped forward to ask about their next move.
"First block here, how many days can we block it?" Liu Yasheng pointed to the mountains, rivers, fields and forests ahead, and said: "If the enemy cavalry attacks in a big way, retreat to Jinyang and make further calculations."
Now the Huns can no longer gain the upper hand in mounted battles, let alone infantry battles. This is a big problem.
Originally, we could rely on the terrain to station troops at the pass and fortify the city, but Jingxing Pass has been lost, so all this is meaningless.
Bingzhou's internal and external mountains and rivers have a long defense line. If one point is broken through, the entire line will be shaken.
This is a decisive battle launched by Shao Thief.
The decisive battle is not just a form of 100,000 people from both sides lining up in an open field to kill each other. In fact, this time Shao Thief's soldiers were divided into separate groups, and a total of more than 100,000 auxiliary soldiers were used. This is a standard
Accurate strategic decisive battle.
There is no danger to defend east of Jinyang, and the defense line has retreated to Jinyang.
Liu Yasheng actually didn't want to stick to Jinyang, but he didn't dare to withdraw because it would deceive Liu Yao.
The Jin people may not even attack Jinyang by force. Alas, it's difficult.
Chapter completed!