"There are also five thousand iron cavalry arranged in ten layers. Their light shines brightly in the sun, making the thieves more frightened." [Book of Wei]
On the tenth day of the seventh month in the fourth year of Chuping, Yuan Shao came to Huguan and heard about the rebellion in Hedong. He asked to lead his troops into Hedong to quell the rebellion for the imperial court.
Yuan Shao refused to listen and went to the court again, his words became more sincere. When most people saw it, they really thought that Yuan Shao was a loyal minister of the king. After raising the banner of helping the court to quell the chaos, Yuan Shao used Zhang Liao as his excuse.
In the name of harboring moth thieves and collaborating with bandits, he ordered an attack on Huguan in order to defeat Zhang Liao who had few troops as soon as possible.
At the same time, Cheng Yin and Hou Xuan, the former captains of Hedong County, were attacking Pishi, Puban and other cities with all their strength, hoping to defend against the natural dangers of the Yellow River.
After overcoming all objections and deciding to go on a personal expedition, the emperor finally led a total of more than 40,000 troops from the north and south to Zuofengyi Linjin County within a few days, across the river from Puban. The reason why he was able to respond so quickly
, and rushed to Hedong quickly, all thanks to the emperor's unremitting training of the Northern and Southern armies, and the long-criticized renovation of the spacious official road from Chang'an to Huayin.
On the other side of the Yellow River, more than 20,000 of Cheng Yin's men have set up camp on the river bank next to Puban County, set up a defensive line, and sent cavalry scouts to patrol the coast to prevent the imperial court from sending troops to cross the river.
The first confrontation between the two sides took place in Pusaka.
"Ha" a guard staying on the arrow tower yawned. He kept staring at the movement on the other side of the river. From midnight to noon, he would inevitably feel a little tired.
"Here, it's time to eat." Another soldier climbed up the ladder carrying a cloth bag. He was thin and lean, and seemed to be familiar with the guard: "Damu, what have you seen for most of the day?
No?"
The guard called "Big Eye" lived up to his name. He had a pair of huge eyes with clear black and white pupils, which looked piercing. He took the cloth bag and opened it. There were three or four pieces of roasted meat inside.
Hu cake as hard as stone: "Damn, it's this thing again."
"It would be nice to eat some." The capable man sighed slightly, picked up the Hu Biscuit, bit off a piece with his teeth, chewed it in his mouth, then unscrewed the water bag he carried with him and drank from it.
He took a big mouthful. After swallowing a moist, tasteless cake and water, he asked again: "I just asked you, have you seen anything in the past half day?"
"What did you see?" Damu held a piece of cake in his mouth, pursed his lips and said, "I was almost blinded by the opponent."
"What?" the man muttered, without looking to the other side. The archery tower was extremely tall. He could see across the rolling Yellow River and directly see the large tent of the imperial army on the opposite side.
I saw that pots were being buried in the camp opposite to make rice. Apart from the dozens of large banners symbolizing the emperor's visit, the most eye-catching thing was the groups of troops walking between the military tents, the majestic armor
Soldier. Under the bright sunshine, the armor worn by the soldiers was so shiny. To exaggerate, it was like mirrors shining light on the arrow tower.
The man looked at the orderly and well-equipped troops on the other side, his face turned a little pale, and he felt a chill running through his body for no reason. He just turned away and did not dare to look again, because he was afraid that he would not be able to control it.
I was trembling, even more afraid that I would use my thin clothes to block the enemy's iron armor on the battlefield later.
He couldn't help but murmured: "Can we survive this battle?"
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Damu patted the other party's shoulder in a funny way: "No matter whether he can beat him or not, after eating a few rations of food from the Cheng family, do you really think of yourself as a soldier of the Cheng family? If he can't beat him, then
Just run, on the battlefield, gold is not as important as your own life."
"You're right." The man swallowed secretly. He and Damu were both small leaders of the Baibo Yellow Turbans. After the Baibo bandits were annihilated by Huangfu Song, all the tens of thousands of people they surrendered were old and weak.
The young men were divided into field soldiers, while some veterans were absorbed by Cheng Yin and Hou Xuan to make up for the losses caused by the two of them during the conquest of Baibo.
I remembered that I followed Han Xian and others to fight against Huangfu Song, but I had personally seen the power of the Northern Army. However, the Northern Army at that time was only fully equipped with armor. Unexpectedly, less than a year had passed, but it had become more elite.
It’s useless!
Naturally, he would not have thought that these soldiers were just the elite of the Northern Army, and were treated only by the middle base camp. As for the infantry, Shesheng and other battalions were only lightly armored. In the original crusade against Bai Bo, the middle base camp guarded the supplies.
, did not go into battle in person, so he gave him the illusion that the Northern Army was making rapid progress.
The man was still frightened, thinking that the Northern Army had changed its armor, but he couldn't help but said: "But I heard that in order to bring peace to Hedong, the country will personally lead the troops this time..."
"What are you afraid of? This is not the first time we have rebelled." Da Mou stared hard and swallowed the last mouthful of biscuits. However, he took a sip of water, clapped his hands and said, "It's your turn to look out.
I’ll go down and rest first.”
Just on the other side of the Yellow River, there were people looking at Cheng Yin's camp.
"Did you see that?" The emperor was riding on his horse, looking at the sloppily built military camp on the other side with a relaxed expression. He sneered at the people around him and said, "A bunch of rabble!"
Wang Bin, the lieutenant of the Northern Army, watched for a while while twirling his beard, and then said: "This battle is not difficult to fight. The only thing I worry about is crossing the river."
This was a battle situation that any layman could see, so everyone did not answer the question and tacitly gave Wang Bin this rare opportunity to speak on military strategy.
"The boats collected by the Capital Water Supervisor from the Wei River, the Yellow River and other places are still usable and can cross the river." Xun You continued: "There is a saying among military strategists: 'Don't welcome it in the water, but attack it with half a ship'. I think
, it is easy for the army to cross the river, and the most important thing is to establish a firm foothold on the other side and prevent the rebels from succeeding."
The emperor frowned, glanced at Xun You, and said calmly: "How about letting the middle base go first and shooting the second battalion across the river? But with the strong armor of the middle base and the powerful crossbows, we don't have to worry about the rebels coming after we pass."
"Your Majesty Ruijian." Xun You nodded in agreement.
"Go to Gao Shun and Ju Jun." After the emperor ordered it, he asked Jia Xu again: "There is chaos in Hedong, and there is a lot of turmoil in the surrounding areas of Hongnong, Shangdang, and Bingzhou. Even Zuo Fengyi's Qianghu
There is also some instability. Fortunately, the Qiang people are profit-loving, and the court treats them well, so there will be no chaos. As for Hanoi, Hedong and Shangdang are adjacent to each other. Now that there are things happening in various places, why is there no news in Hanoi? "
"Your Majesty, I'm afraid Zhang Yang is also hesitating and trying to wait and see the situation." Jia Xu said calmly and without thinking: "He neither wants to be controlled by others nor is he willing to be caught between two parties and be lonely in power, so he is always wavering.
Presumably after this battle, Zhang Yang should make a decision."
The emperor heard this, but before he could answer, Xun You suddenly said: "The former general Zhu Gong has been ordered to guard Henan. He can be ordered to lead troops into Mengjin and Zhongmou to prepare for the army in Hanoi and Chenliu."
Xun You's words were very clever. At this time, Zhang Yan and Zhang Sheng were wreaking havoc in Hongnong. If he wanted to pass on Zhu Jun's orders, he could not avoid Hongnong no matter what.
"Xun Jun, the field soldier organized by Diannong Colonel Wu Kuang in Huayin, has also seen it. It is enough to fight the rebels. Zhang Yan and others are not as powerful as Fan Xian. Maybe Hongnong will pacify Hedong before he can." The emperor understood Xun You's words and said softly: "The former general is familiar with the battle formation. At this time, he will naturally make preparations for what he should do. There is no need for the imperial court to send another edict."
After listening to the emperor's previous words, especially the sentence "Not as powerful as Fan Xian", Xun You finally understood the emperor's attitude towards Hongnong at this moment.
At this time, Lieutenant Gao Shun of Zhongbao and Lieutenant Jujun of Shesheng arrived hand in hand, wearing armor and hanging swords. Emperor Xun You issued military orders to them on behalf of the emperor, and after adding some details, the two went down and began to gather soldiers to board the ship. , getting ready to kick off a battle.