Perhaps no one thought that a simple matter of digging and filling trenches would be so difficult.
The sergeant of the Changzhi Army was carrying a spade and a pickaxe, not knowing how to start.
There was a large group of cavalry in the distance, and as time went by, there seemed to be more and more of them.
They were shouting loudly, making meaningless shouts, and roaring back and forth, as if just waiting for you to start taking soil, they would take advantage of the chaos to rush over and kill all the enemies.
Moreover, we cannot collect soil nearby, so we have to go to a place a little further away, and we need to send troops to protect it.
Liang Jun indeed had this plan. Five hundred men would dig the soil, and a full two thousand infantry guards would be able to pile up heavy objects as obstacles near the place where the soil was taken.
But now there is another problem, the ground is frozen hard, so we need to go out to collect wood, collect firewood, and heat the ground.
Fortunately, there were a lot of locust trees planted near the post road. The ones nearby have been cut down, and some can be cut down further away, but they still need to be guarded.
Yes, first cut down the trees, then dig the soil, and then fill the trench.
Riding lightly on the snowfield.
Someone took out the tightly hidden bowstring from his arms, strung it, and then shot it in the north wind.
After shooting several arrows in a row, without looking at the results, he lowered the bowstring, hid it in his arms, and quickly rode away to meet at a resting point in the distance.
There was already a big pot of hot soup, and the meat jerky that I brought with me was thrown into it piece by piece, exuding an alluring aroma.
In this crazy weather, how nice it would be to drink a pot of hot soup.
Liang people who went out to collect firewood were hit by arrows from time to time, and screams came one after another.
This is really frustrating. When your bow is against the wind, you can't touch people at all, but the Xia people's arrows can fly at high speed, killing people one by one.
And judging from their crazy looks, they were probably thinking that even if they broke all the bowstrings, they would continue to cause trouble and try their best to hinder Liang Ren's every action.
After paying a lot of casualties, we finally got enough firewood back, but it was almost midnight and the sky was getting dark.
The morale of the Liang soldiers was somewhat low, and everyone was cold and hungry. Kou Yanqing had no choice but to order to set up camp on the spot and boil water for cooking.
The soldiers cheered for a while, eager to eat hot food immediately to drive away the cold.
The sound of horse hoofbeats started again, this time on a larger scale, with more than a thousand horses rushing in together.
They aimed at the weak points of Liang Jun's camp and fired a round of arrows from a distance. Two hundred capable warriors dismounted, put on their armor, and charged forward with a roar.
The brutal hand-to-hand combat immediately began.
Drums suddenly sounded in the Liang Army camp, and the sergeants who had just sat down to rest lined up in armor. There was no need for them to dispatch, but they needed to be prepared for support.
The battle did not end quickly, and the Fan people who dismounted and fought on foot were quickly defeated. However, the riders on the periphery were still shooting arrows from a distance, constantly killing and injuring the Liang Army soldiers, forcing them to give up the pursuit while maintaining a low-intensity contact state.
Liang Jun's response was also good. They quickly dismissed most of the sergeants and asked them to return to the camp to rest. Only three battalions of soldiers were left sitting in the tents without disarming and ready to attack for reinforcements at any time.
The harassing cavalry finally retreated, and Liang Bing felt relieved and prepared to eat.
Kou Yanqing stepped on the snow and looked around. There were still cavalry in twos and threes in the field. From time to time, they would gather and approach, insulting and provoking. Sometimes when they found the right opportunity, a magic archer would come up, shoot an arrow and then leave.
In fact, the casualties caused were not large, but the damage to morale was considerable. Fortunately, the Changzhi Army was relatively resilient and was fine for the time being. If it were the Tutuan countrymen, most of them would have looked panicked and been in panic all day long.
Well, actually this is nothing. The key is that we only walked a few miles for most of today, which is a bit uncomfortable.
Normally, cavalry attacks are not that dangerous, but with such heavy wind and snow, the road itself is difficult to walk. The Xia thieves took advantage of the upper hand and continued to harass them, regardless of casualties, making them pay a heavy price for every step they took.
The thief has a big appetite!
After patrolling around and encouraging the sergeants on duty, Kou Yanqing returned to the tent and stared at Hu Zhen.
The raids continued at night, with fierce drumming and high-pitched shouts of killing.
Liang Jun was forced to stand up, and the entire army mobilized once, but soon found that only a few thieves were attacking, shooting rockets from a distance, and then dispersed. Everyone slept in their clothes, leaving only a few sergeants as backup.
At the third quarter of the Yin hour, the war drums beat again.
This time Liang Jun was not fooled. Some people were awakened from their sleep. After the officer scolded them, they continued to rest.
After the sun rose over the eastern horizon, Kou Yanqing was stunned to find that a cavalry army riding a tall horse appeared in the southern wilderness.
Armored cavalry!
Farther away, flames were rising into the sky, smoke was rising, and countless captured people were sweating profusely and digging trenches with all their might.
What a thief!
"Blow the trumpet! Beat the drum!" Kou Yanqing pressed his hand on the hilt of his sword and said angrily.
Is it possible to stop me without paying a price?
The armored cavalry seemed "afraid" of Liang Jun's superiority and actually "escaped" northward.
…
A hungry lone wolf lingered on the vast snowfield.
Suddenly, its gaze was fixed on the west, where people were shouting and horses were neighing, and it was very lively.
Zhu Youning's troops could have reached the southwest of Luoyang last night, but because the wind and snow were so heavy, the soldiers were so cold that they were so cold that they were unwilling to leave.
Zhu Youning was worried about a mutiny, so he ordered the camp to be set up for rest.
After spending a quiet night, we continued our march early on the ninth day of the first lunar month.
The road is really not easy to walk.
In the wind and snow, the carriage became very heavy and the people were a little listless.
The officers were running back and forth, shouting that they would have food and wine when they arrived in Luoyang, and asking everyone to work harder, we would not be within ten miles.
Everyone managed to keep their spirits up, encouraged each other, pulled and pushed, and protected the baggage vehicles through the snow, moving forward with difficulty.
At this time, when they were only five or six miles away from Luoyang, the scouts came back with news that shocked them: Luoyang had fallen, the Xia army's flag was hung on the city wall, and there were an unknown number of soldiers and horses.
"Where's Hu Shuai?" Zhu Youning yelled: "Why didn't you send an envoy to report such a big thing?"
The scout lowered his head and said nothing. The messenger was probably killed. Is there any other possibility?
Gu Xi
What to do? Zhu Youning was slightly panicked.
Are there any friendly forces now? Where are they? Why is there no news at all?
The sergeants looked at him one after another. After Zhu Youning was silent for a moment, he said: "We are not going to Luoyang anymore. We are going south, through Yique Pass, and back to Ruzhou!"
"Zhen Envoy, what are you going to tell me when you get back?" someone asked.
"Explain?" Zhu Youning sneered and said: "I am the envoy of Yongning Town, not Luoyang Town. Leaving Yongning was the order given by Hu Shuai. Now we can't contact Hu Shuai, and Luoyang has fallen. I don't know how many Xia thieves are there.
They are waiting for us. Go south to Yique Pass!"
"As ordered." Everyone responded one after another.
There will probably be a war when we go north, everyone knows that. People will die in a war, and no one likes it.
A few generals who were more enterprising or loyal secretly frowned, feeling that it would be a pity to abandon Luoyang and it would be harmful to the overall situation. But the generals have given orders, what do you say?
The Zhu family themselves don’t take it seriously, so what are you thinking about?
After the order was conveyed to each camp, the five thousand people began to turn around and hurriedly formed a group. At this time, the scouts rushed back from the north: "There are summer thieves! No less than three thousand people!"
"Damn it! What kind of battle is Hu Zhen fighting? It's all a trap! Send the order and form a formation to meet the enemy." Zhu Youning drew out his sword and shouted.
Two thousand native Tuan peasants hurriedly gathered the baggage vehicles. Three thousand Youguo troops took off their armor, spears, rifle bows, epees, mo knives, longke axes, iron maces and other weapons from the vehicles and began to form an array.
The north wind howled, making it almost difficult to open his eyes, and Zhu Youning's brows furrowed.
The wind is not in your favor!
Cai Songyang got off the carriage, and his legs and feet were a little weak. Yesterday, an arrowhead was removed from his thigh, but the wound had not healed. Now he got out of the carriage and chased the enemy. How brave!
"Help me." Cai Songyang ordered to the left and right.
The soldiers understood, one was holding a shield on the left, and the other was holding a bow on the right. Cai Songyang didn't even turn around, and grabbed a weapon from the chariot. It was very good, it was a short sword, which was just right.
"You guys say that I am seriously injured and cannot fight. Now that I have this sword in my hand, I can chop off the heads of thieves. Who dares to compete with me?" Cai Songyang looked at the old men of the Tiande army around him and said loudly: "Kill thieves better than me.
If there are more, each person will be rewarded with a hundred pieces of silk, and he will never break his promise. Gentlemen, do you dare to compete with me, an injured person?"
"Why don't you dare?"
"This wins me for sure!"
"Kill the thieves! The worst case scenario is death."
"One man is in charge, no one can control him!" someone shouted a slogan.
"One man deserves it!" "One man deserves it!"
The north wind is blowing across the ground, and snowflakes are flying and falling.
More than a thousand Tiande soldiers led the battle. Cai Songyang was supported by his own soldiers, waving the iron sword in his hand, talking and laughing loudly with others.
The sergeants responded with a loud smile, their armors ringing loudly, and their long spears in their hands pointed at the culprits with great pride.
Ma Sixun wiped the ice crystals off his face.
Cai Songyang dared to attack the bandit formation even though he was still injured. What the hell do I have to be afraid of? The ferocious and cruel factor in the martial artist's blood was activated. He took off his armor, took off his helmet and threw it on the ground, and said angrily: "I want this thing."
What's the use of standing in the way! Let me charge and kill you!"
"Kill! Kill! Kill!" The overwhelming sound of killing rang out, and the lone wolf jumped into the woods with his tail between his legs.
On the wilderness, the two armies marched through the thick snow, without any nonsense, their swords and guns penetrated their flesh, and they chopped each other fiercely.
Cai Songyang stepped aside, swung his iron sword across a person's neck, and said loudly: "Kill the thief!"
"Kill one of the thieves!" A sergeant slashed down with his heavy sword, and blood spurted out on his face.
He kept his feet on his feet, holding on to the thieves' spear that was stuck on his armor. He waved his hands and slashed with his sword: "Kill the two thieves!"
"Okay!" Cai Songyang laughed loudly and said, "It's hard to give up my good fortune, and I don't want to lose it to you."
With one stab of the iron sword, an unarmored soldier was stabbed to death: "Kill the two thieves!"
Zhu Youning looked a little stupid from behind.
The number of Xia thieves was similar to theirs, but as soon as they fought, the hundreds of soldiers in front of him were beaten back steadily.
This can't go on like this!
Zhu Youning stepped down from the high platform and called for the first battalion of soldiers left in reserve to assemble. He was going to launch a counterattack to curb the arrogance of the thieves.
I don't know if it was an illusion, but there was the sound of horse hooves in the west.
After a while, it seemed that there were also ones in the south.
His expression suddenly changed and he returned to the high platform.
The results of his observations made him a little desperate: on the bank of Luoshui in the west, thousands of cavalry had already mounted their horses, holding horses in their hands, and began to accelerate; while in the south, thousands of armored cavalry had been put on and were being supported by auxiliary soldiers.
He got on his horse and took over the thick horse trunk.
The sound of horse hooves became more and more urgent.
The two sides in the front are fighting in a mass, and there is no way to adjust. So, let the two thousand natives in the back line resist for a while?
"Draw a team!" He immediately asked the flag to be raised, and the orderlies got on their horses and went to convey the order.
But it was too late! A thousand cavalry from the west increased their horse speed to the extreme, and rushed in from the flank of the Tutuan peasants who were chaotically turning around.
Wherever the horse danced, it was like a strong wind blowing, causing all the grass and trees to sway.
The thieves are in chaos!
The first wave of 400 armored cavalry also rushed over.
Zhu Youning looked in horror and saw the knight on the white horse and white armor galloping like a tiger. Splashing snowflakes were flying beside the horse. Under the sunlight, he looked like a heavenly soldier.
Four hundred cavalry rushed in from behind the formation, and the panicked bandit soldiers were unable to effectively stop them even for a moment. The formation collapsed, and the defeated troops scattered everywhere.
After breaking through the two thousand Tu Tuan peasants, the Leopard Cavalry did not stop at all and hid behind the rebel front line.
The cavalry of the Dingyuan Army followed and swarmed in, widening the gap.
Behind them, a second wave of five hundred armored cavalry also charged, and the defeat of the bandit army was certain.