On the eighth day of the first lunar month of the third year of Qianning, a thousand cavalrymen of the Dingyuan Army set off first.
According to the old rules, they were allowed to ride on horseback this time without having to lead the horse on foot. They carried five days of dry food and dozens of kilograms of cooked beans. The weight was not light, so it was actually impossible to ride on horseback the whole way.
After leaving Shazha Valley, we first traveled southeast for thirty miles to Yongning County.
People in the county were in panic, and all the major officials including the Ling and Cheng had fled. One of the county lieutenants also ran away and was said to have gone into hiding in the countryside. The remaining county lieutenant surrendered.
The cavalry army had no intention of stopping here. After collecting all the donkeys, horses and mules they could get, they headed eastward and captured Fuchang County in the afternoon. After dark, they rested at Liuquanyi, more than thirty miles east of Fuchang.
The soldiers' morale was high and they wanted to march overnight, but "horses don't understand patriotism" and could only rest for one night at this inn.
Early in the morning of the ninth day of the lunar month, we marched non-stop towards Yongji Bridge and Shouan County, no matter the wind or snow, just to get to the battlefield as soon as possible.
At this time, Zhu Youning's five thousand troops were complaining because of the heavy snowfall. They had just passed Ganshuiyi and were still nearly twenty miles away from Luoyang.
The Yumen army was at its base, and the vanguard had turned back to attack Sheyuan Pass. The main force of 3,000 men was only ten miles away from Yanshi County.
The Tiande Army Yang Sheng's tribe had been fighting fiercely for a whole day with the 2,000 Changzhi Army who stayed in the old city of Luoyang. They were unable to win and retreated to Shiqiaodian to defend.
In the north, Fu Cunshen decisively ordered to stop the attack on Heyang Nancheng, and vacated the Baoyi Army's right wing, Jiebin Department, to stick to the Baisima Ban area as a reserve force for the siege. Tianxiong's army of 10,000 people escorted grain, grass, and equipment southward. , heading straight to Luoyang.
Like sharks smelling the smell of blood, all the Xia army troops rushed in to hunt the right wing of the Changzhi Army led by Kou Yanqing. As for Zhu Youning's 5,000 men and Xu Huaiyu's 10,000 men, they all regarded him as a chicken and a dog in a urn.
In the north of Luoyang City, Cai Songyang suffered several injuries and was almost unable to fight any more. The German army of more than 2,000 days suffered more than a thousand casualties, and the casualties among the Tutuan folk were even greater.
If Kou Yanqing worked harder, he might be able to pull Cai Songyang out of the ruins and win the reputation of killing the general of the Xia army. But he didn't want to fight, because there was news from the direction of Luoyang's ancient city that the Xia thief Tian's German army had been killed. There were about 3,000 people who came over, plus 2,000 native Tutuan folk, and we just repelled them.
Kou Yanqing keenly felt that there seemed to be a big net coming towards him, and immediately ordered the soldiers and horses of Luoyang Ancient City to retreat in the direction of Taigu Pass.
As for the mess in Luoyang, he didn't want to deal with it, although Hu Zhen disagreed.
"Xu Huaiyu is the great king Yuancong. General Kou really wants to abandon him?" Hu Zhen asked with a livid face.
Kou Yanqing glanced at him, "Aren't you also the old man Liang Wangyuan? If he becomes cruel, he will even abandon you, so what can he do?"
"Your Majesty, your Majesty, simply took me out of the army and gave me the title of personal soldier. You didn't just throw me here lightly." Kou Yanqing said with a straight face, but he didn't give Hu Zhen any face at all.
"You!" Hu Zhen was furious, and instinctively wanted to call for soldiers. Suddenly he realized that he was in the Changzhi military camp, so he could only change his tone and said: "Da Lang, Zhu Youning's troops will be here in one day. By then or
Can we attack again?"
"No!" Kou Yanqing said: "Hu Shuai, the thieves have stationed Yang Sheng's troops in Shiqiaodian, which is less than two days' journey away."
"Yang Sheng was originally a general in Dashanguan Town, but he is unknown. Why should he be afraid?" Hu Zhen asked.
"Cai Songyang is also unknown. In today's battle, his troops dare to fight and fight hard, so we should not underestimate him." Kou Yanqing said: "It is not advisable to underestimate the thieves before they have fought."
Hu Zhen choked. Could it be that Kou Yanqing was demoralized?
"Da Lang, we must wait a few more days." Hu Zhen thought for a long time and said, "I will send an envoy to inform Xu Huaiyu of Xin'an County and order him to withdraw to Luoyang. No matter what, we must take them away."
"Commander Hu can send an envoy to convey the message." Kou Yanqing became a little impatient and said, "The Changzhi Army will not stay any longer and will leave today."
Over the past few days, Kou Yanqing's opinion of Hu Zhen has dropped sharply. How long has it been since then, and he still cares about that little money?
The Huazhou Army originated from the Yicheng Army. After An Shiru was killed, some of the people were controlled by Hu Zhen. Together with his old subordinates, they slowly recruited new people. Over time, they formed a large force in the Liang Army system.
Hilltop.
Of course, this mountain was later cut down by the Liang King. Hu Zhen left Luoyang and had to painstakingly rebuild his capital. He finally saved a lot, but today it looks like it will disappear again.
For a military leader, troops are his capital. Hu Zhen was afraid of being punished by King Liang, but he was also reluctant to run out of capital. Kou Yanqing could completely understand.
But I understand, but I won’t play with him anymore.
At that moment, regardless of Hu Zhen's bad face, he ordered all the troops to pack their bags, break camp and set off.
Xu Huaiyu’s life and death is none of my business?
Besides, you can't save her even if you want to. She's far away in Xin'an County, and she's not her mother-in-law, so why should she save her? It's important to preserve your strength.
…
Above the city of Luoyang, the north wind howls.
After watching Changzhi's army disappear into the vast snowfield, Ma Sixun shook off the snow flakes on his body and hurriedly got off the tower: "Open the door and welcome King Xia's troops into the city."
The sergeants looked at each other.
"Some of you are old men who came from Haozhou with General Ma, some are sergeants from Bian Song Dynasty, and some are locals from Luoyang. There are some things that I shouldn't say more about-" Duan Ning, who was standing aside, sighed and said: "The situation in the world is changing.
Nuannuo, you kill me, I will kill you, sometimes you have to be willing to admit defeat. Now the king of Liang has been defeated, the victory of Luoyang has been decided, and the Xia army is rolling south, with hundreds of thousands of people. All the kings want to raise their troops to fight.
?”
After saying this, Duan Ning paused for a moment and carefully observed everyone's expressions. After seeing various emotions such as shock, contemplation, fear, etc. appearing on their faces, Duan Ning immediately felt relieved and said: "Today we can only ask Kaicheng to surrender."
Along the way, King Xia is kind and will certainly forgive you, so don’t worry."
"That's all it can do." Everyone said at once.
The city gate opened less than half an hour later, and Ma Sixun and Duan Ning went to Cai Songyang's camp alone to "please apologize" to show their sincerity.
Cai Songyang was bandaging his wounds. There were several large wounds on his chest and abdomen, and even more small wounds. There was a wooden basin in front of him, with some arrows thrown randomly in the basin, which should have been taken out of his body.
"The guilty general Ma Sixun (Duan Ning) pays homage to General Cai." The two of them did not dare to look further and saluted together.
Grain factory
"Stop talking nonsense!" Cai Songyang slammed the table, glared at Duan Ning first, then looked at Ma Sixun, and sneered: "General Ma, did you know that I wanted to kill you just now?"
Ma Sixun was startled, and there was sweat oozing out from his back.
"Now I'll give you a chance!" Cai Songyang said loudly without giving him a chance to speak: "Immediately mobilize all the troops and go south to pursue Hu Zhen. Kou Yanqing must not let them escape."
"This..." Ma Sixun hesitated.
"Are you going to do it or not? Give me a sweet word!" Cai Songyang said angrily.
Hearing his anger, the sergeants outside the tent all looked in, as if they were going to kill people if Cai Songyang gave the order.
"Yes... yes." Ma Sixun quickly realized his situation and responded with a grimace.
"Don't worry, I won't let you fight alone." Cai Songyang sneered: "I still have seven or eight hundred cavalry here. They will cooperate with you. Hurry up and move out. If you are late, it will be too late."
"As commanded."
After waving his hand and shooing Ma Sixun and Duan Ning away like flies, Cai Songyang sighed.
The 2,500 infantrymen he brought south to Luoyang were beaten and disabled. More than half of the 2,000 native regiment peasants were also killed or injured, resulting in heavy losses.
He had just ordered to integrate more than a thousand local warriors and the remaining hundreds of surrendered soldiers into his own army, so that the number of active sergeants under his command was restored to more than 2,000.
Normally, these two thousand people would take time to reorganize and train, but Cai Songyang didn't want to wait.
After wrapping up this wound, I will continue to pursue you!
The Changzhi Army has killed so many of my sons, how can I let you go?
…
The wind got stronger and stronger, and the snow took advantage of the wind and hit people's faces.
In the wind and snow, there were faint sounds of killing.
"Don't let Hu Zhen escape!"
"Seize Hu Zhen and offer it to the Supreme Khan!"
"It's snowing so heavily, he can't run away!"
"Brothers, catching Hu Zhen is a great achievement!"
"No one can compete with me!"
The sound of horse hooves sounded, and the cavalry from the bitter cold land in the north of the Great Wall approached from the north, taking advantage of the wind to shoot arrows, bullying the rear guard of the Changzhi Army who was retreating south.
The arrows fired back by the Liang people were weak and were blown away by the wind, causing bursts of laughter from the pursuers.
However, after shooting a burst of arrows, the Fanqi gave up and drew out their daggers and bones one after another, and rushed forward with shouts.
It wasn't that they didn't want to continue shooting. It had snowed heavily for two days and two nights. The weather was bitterly cold and the bow strings were stiff from the cold. It was difficult to open the bows. They forced the bow strings to break a lot.
As the saying goes, "A bow string breaks when the snow freezes, and a flag pole breaks when the wind blows." But at this time, it is better to "only have a lonely sword, and the word Longquan is immortal." It is the right time to chop with a sword!
In the vast wind and snow, large groups of cavalry sometimes disappeared into the snowfields and sometimes appeared suddenly. Liang Jun's rearguard troops were nervous, hiding in the baggage vehicles, holding long spears, knives and axes, and struggled to drive away the chasing Fan cavalry.
Another part of the cavalry went around the front of Liang Jun and charged forward.
Liang Jun had no choice but to send out capable infantry to walk in front under the protection of the chariot array. Spare bow strings and crossbow strings were also taken out from the baggage so that they could be quickly replaced if the strings broke.
Kou Yanqing also got on a carriage, wearing heavy armor and holding a sword to boost morale.
At this time, he was secretly glad that the Xia bandits were harassing him so crazily, which further confirmed his previous guess: the bandits were advancing in several directions, intending to outflank his troops and keep the right wing of the Changzhi Army in Luoyang forever.
Fortunately I didn't fall into your trap.
After fighting like this for several miles, Kou Yanqing felt that he had killed and wounded more than a hundred Tibetan cavalry, which should have broken their nerve, when the convoy suddenly stopped.
"What's going on?" He jumped off the carriage, strode forward, and asked angrily.
"General, the thieves have dug many pits and trenches in the snow. Lieutenant General Li has sent people to fill them."
Kou Yanqing's face suddenly became very ugly.
After harassing and digging holes, what else is left behind?
If we continue like this, how far can we go by nightfall? Five or six miles? Seven or eight miles?
He glanced back at the northern sky. His eyes seemed to be able to penetrate the layers of clouds and see the Xia soldiers who were panting heavily and chasing after him crazily.
"Calculating the time, Zhu Youning should be able to arrive in the southwest of Luoyang tonight. Maybe he can attract Xia Thief's attention and become a scapegoat." Kou Yanqing thought to himself.