A huge fire broke out outside Mayi City.
Carts loaded with grain were piled among the firewood and burned to the ground.
Cows and sheep were slaughtered on the spot with wailing screams. Suotou, who hurriedly evacuated, only wanted to select the fattest piece of meat from the cow and sheep, cooked it wholeheartedly, and then abandoned it and roared away.
The people at the top of the city looked at it with eyes splitting, and some even cried bitterly, but what's the use? If you cry day and night, can you cry Suo Tou to death?
There were only more than 3,000 cable-headed cavalry outside the city, and there were also 4,000 to 5,000 cavalry inside the city. However, they had attacked once before and were defeated. No one dared to fight again. To be honest, the Wuhuan cavalry lost more than a thousand people in that attack.
People, Suo Tou also suffered six to seven hundred casualties, the difference was not that big, but Suo Tou was obviously more tolerant of casualties than them.
Hundreds more horses came galloping on the eastern horizon, most of them whizzed by, and dozens of horses stayed. A nobleman wearing an iron helmet reined in his horse and turned around, shouting: "Let's go! Don't stay any longer."
"
He carried two bows, two quivers, an axe, a wooden pole and a spear that could hook a man off his horse. He looked majestic, but half of the quivers were empty, and there was a faint trace of something on his body.
With blood stains and a tired look on his face, the actual situation may not be that optimistic.
Those who received the order did not hesitate.
Several clan leaders walked over, kicked over the pots in which the meat was being cooked, and loudly ordered to assemble.
The herdsmen were stunned at first, and then quickly got up. Without saying a word, they ran directly to where the horses were, jumped on them, checked their equipment, followed the large army, and headed north.
An hour after they left, more than 500 riders arrived. They first drove around outside the city, then turned around and headed north, chasing them all the way.
Everyone at the top of the city watched silently, ready to make a move.
The prefect Zhang Tong was extremely confused. Faced with the eyes that were looking at him, he opened his mouth, but in the end he still did not give the order.
Everyone is disappointed.
Not to mention the livestock that were snatched away by the ropes before they could be moved. Even if they didn't grab anything, do you think there was no loss?
No, there is still a loss.
Pasture and pasture are different. May is the key heading and budding period for many high-quality pastures. If you trample on it like this, it will definitely not grow well this year. And if the pasture is not prosperous enough, herdsmen will suffer losses.
In addition, if a large number of young crops in the farmland are eaten and trampled by war horses, is this not a loss?
The war has entered its third year. In many cases, the number of people killed directly by the war is not the majority. There are more people killed by famine and epidemics. At this point, the Central Plains and grasslands are the same, and the degree of death is different.
That’s all.
Therefore, the Wuhuan people, Jin people, and Huns in Mayi were full of resentment towards Suotou, and they had the urge to beat up the drowned dog for revenge, but the prefect refused!
At this time, the impetuous person began to curse. The sound was not loud, but it resonated with others, and the whispers continued. When it reached Zhang Tong's ears, he was especially irritated.
Two hours later, another team of three to four hundred people arrived.
Everyone was carrying a baggage, and it was obvious that they had returned after having been plundered. Judging from the corner of the silk exposed in the baggage, most of them were fine gold and silver of high value.
The noise became even louder now, and someone started to reprimand loudly.
Prairie people are like this. They have a bad temper and will explode on the spot if they are unhappy, even if the person in front of him is the prefect, the most powerful family in the county.
Zhang Tong's face turned red and white like a magic trick.
A moment later, just as the cable-headed cavalry figured out their direction and planned to retreat north, Zhang Tong finally gave the order to attack.
In an instant, the south gate and north gate of Mayi opened at the same time, and a total of more than two thousand Wuhuan cavalry rushed out and outflanked them from two directions.
The Xianbei people were startled and quickly evacuated.
When the Wuhuan people saw it, their morale surged. It turned out that the enemy was in a hurry to retreat and did not dare to fight us!
As a result, everyone was brave and superb, and tried their best to pursue and intercept him.
During the fight, Suotou was also fierce, breaking through the Wuhuan people's blockade and breaking through their thin defense line.
The Wuhuan people gathered up the skirmishers and continued to stay behind, using their cavalry bows to kill the slowest cavalry with rope heads.
Suotou ran for a while, but found that retreating like this would lead to a dead end, so he circled back again, charged and fought hard, and defeated the hundreds of Wuhuan cavalry who were pursuing the front.
Just when you were about to retreat calmly, you found that more Wuhuan cavalry dispersed to both sides. They did not charge you head-on, but only played cavalry shooting.
If you chase him, stay away.
If you leave, he will come after you.
By this time in the battle, Suotou had lost more than 70 riders, and the remaining half were injured. Seeing the Wuhuan people gathering more and more, they finally lost their fighting spirit, turned around and ran away, without caring about anything.
Coincidentally, the powerful men in Mayi counties raised troops one after another.
Some were unlucky and directly encountered a large-scale - for example, more than a thousand - rope-headed cavalry. They were immediately stunned and rolled back home whimpering like defeated dogs.
Some were either lucky or not, and had a hard time fighting with the rope heads who were eager to find a large force to join. They suffered a lot of casualties, but they intercepted many horses, cattle, sheep and even weapons that the rope heads had abandoned in their haste.
Some were so lucky that they ate two or three rope-headed cavalry in one day and became very angry.
From this we can also see what kind of difficulties we will encounter once we fail or are forced to withdraw our troops in front of the enemy when fighting in a place without a mass base.
****
On the 26th, the last few ropes that had been used to intercept the pursuers rushed back in a hurry, and met 7,000 cavalry led by Qiu Dun near Mayi.
This force is a new force, and it has been raiding small tribes in the west since it went south.
Later, he was ordered to go south to intercept the Qingqi coming north from Kelan. After defeating them, he was summoned by Helan Aitou to go east to Mayi to meet the troops behind him.
They charged several times, fighting four times in one day, and killed Puyang Mountain general Xu Buyan in formation, and routed thousands of his cavalry.
Later, he defeated Feng Long, the commander of Feilong Mountain. Feng was wounded and fled, losing more than half of his 500 riders.
However, seeing more and more Jin troops surrounding them, they finally couldn't bear it any longer, so they took the remaining defeated generals with them and fled to the northwest at night.
All day long on the 27th, the cavalry passing through Mayi City were as numerous as the crucian carp crossing the river, one after another, endless.
Most of these people were pursuers, but few Xianbei cavalry could be seen. They either fled, surrendered, died, or simply hid. Few of them dared to appear openly in the wilderness.
Among the large group of cavalry, the Zuo Xiao Cavalry Guard and Silver Spear Right Battalion commanded by Shao Shen were still marching slowly.
Our own cavalry passing by saw that they had many vehicles and horses. Occasionally, some people came over to ask for some water and horse feed, and then continued to pursue the enemy. They simply regarded their infantry as a mobile supply station.
Shao Shen's face turned red with anger, and the usually arrogant Silver Spear Soldier was also dumbfounded.
This is a war with a completely different style from the Central Plains array.
After fighting until now, we can basically draw a conclusion: both sides are fighting with cavalry or mounted infantry who are faster and can keep up with the rhythm.
Traditional car-camp infantry is too slow.
They may have strong combat capabilities, but under the constant harassment of the cavalry, they can only walk a dozen miles a day. Sometimes the harassment is so intense that they can only walk a few miles a day.
The Xianbei people did not adapt to Jin Zheng's mounted infantry tactics. Tens of thousands of cavalry surrounded the two thousand men guarding the high ground, but they could not survive. The mountain road was blocked and they could not rush through.
The infantry of the Jin army also felt helpless because they could not capture the enemy's main force and were slow to move.
Both sides are adapting and need to deepen their understanding of the opponent's tactics.
From the current point of view, there are still many difficulties in going deep into the uninhabited and flat prairie, and targeted training is needed.
However, encountering enemies with different combat styles is also an improvement in itself.
Combat effectiveness is improved through repeated learning and improvement.
On the 28th, Shao Shen led his army to Mayi.
The Yinqiang right camp rested for a day, and he got rid of the "burden" of the Yinqiang army and led the Zuo Xiao cavalry northward to attack Zhonglingyuan.
Along the way, there were a lot of our own cavalry heading north. They were cautious but optimistic, pursuing them non-stop.
****
Zhonglingyuan (probably near today's Fenghuang Town) has become a sea of ​​cavalry.
People come here every day, and people leave every day. It seems chaotic, but it is actually much more organized than before.
On the 28th, Helan Aitou led the largest group of more than 4,000 men and horses to ride northward, heading straight to the ancient Great Wall pass in the northwest of Shanwu, crossing the Lianling Mountains, entering the Gaoshengyuanshui Basin, and returned to Shengle.
Nearly a hundred miles to the west of them, the Qiu Dun family took a relatively complete group of more than 9,000 horses and retreated northward by another route. There were mountains between them, making it difficult to communicate.
Kim Jong-ze is still staying near Shanmu.
The Dou family and his son have surrendered, but the Yilou family is all over the mountains and fields, still negotiating terms.
Jin Zheng waited for several days and became furious.
Early on the morning of the 28th, he led his men to join the army.
More than 8,000 soldiers of Zuo Feilong Guard gathered here. He asked people to count the rations and fodder for the army. There were still more than 70,000 dendrobiums, enough for the whole army to eat for a month, so he no longer hesitated.
In the wilderness, carts were rolling around, and flags were flying like clouds.
Two thousand soldiers lined up in a neat queue and went out immediately.
More than two thousand people led their troops towards the gentle slopes of the hills on both sides to protect their flanks.
Behind them, there are seven small car formations in a row, with more than a thousand to two thousand people in each formation.
The cavalry of Ilou's tribe hesitated.
They were negotiating to surrender, but the conditions were not satisfactory, and they were actually a little unwilling. If the war situation had not been like this, it was unlikely that the Yilu tribe would have considered surrendering to Shi Yijian.
While they were hesitating, the soldiers of Zuo Feilong Guard had already fired the first batch of arrows and began to resolutely clear the way forward.
This is the shocking scene that Mrs. Wang, Shi Yijian, mother and son saw when they arrived at Shanwu.
Jin Zheng was truly fearless, and when he got angry, he even dared to fight the Tuoba Shi tribe that he was trying to win over—to be precise, he would fight anyone who blocked his way.
In the south of Shanwu City, Liu Runzhong alertly gathered the Jie cavalry and watched Dai Guo's group from a distance.
Wang's face turned red for a while.
After a while, she secretly warned herself to be patient and then suppressed her anger.
At the same time, she subconsciously looked at the generals gathered around her, and secretly reflected: I didn't control my temper well today, and I need to change it.
"General Dou, send someone to Yilou's headquarters and tell Yilou that this is your last chance. If you don't surrender, Jin Zheng, the governor of Jin, will suppress all the warriors." Wang said.
Dou Qin responded, summoned a few close associates, and asked them to immediately pass on the message.
In fact, Yiluobu is very willing to surrender, and it is almost enough to delay it until now.
After giving instructions here, Wang called Wang Chang and asked him to personally go to Jin Zheng's camp and deliver some cattle and sheep to the labor force.
Wang Chang took the order and left.
When leading the team through the wilderness south of Shanwu City, he subconsciously looked at Liu Run's thousands of cavalry in the middle.
They stood with their horses at a distance, facing their own direction, obviously on guard.
Wang Chang sighed secretly, how could such a good ally become like this?
I don’t know what’s going on with Changsun Fuxiang.
He only brought a few hundred personal followers with him, and crossed the ancient Great Wall to the north and entered the Woshui area. With the help of Dou Yuzhen, recruiting them would not be a problem. But the problem was that they also wanted to go to Yanchi and the Shenhexing area to recruit and surrender the tribes that were grazing there.
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Chapter completed!