In the northeastern border of Changqing County, a large group of cavalry appeared on the post road.
Spring has arrived, and weeds and flowers are rushing to emerge from the roadsides. In the farmland that has been resting for several months, people are already busy. Spring wheat is sown one after another, pinning farmers' hopes for the whole year.
No matter how the war is fought, life will go on.
However, the appearance of the large group of cavalry still panicked them. The farmers hesitated and left the farmland in a hurry, without even having time to take away their farm tools.
Wei Boqiu, the commander of the Dingnan Army, was a little helpless. He had ordered not to trample on the wheat fields, but these farmers still regarded them as ferocious beasts. Are the warriors in the outer town so scary?
He flicked his riding whip and entered Fengqi Post.
Fengqiyi is located 40 miles northeast of Changqing County. The area was called Stu County in the Han Dynasty, and Jishui River runs 26 miles west of the county. There is Stu Mountain in the north of the city, hence its name.
During the Tianbao period of the Guo Dynasty, the name was changed to Fengqi County. In the 15th year of Yuanhe, the province was transferred to Changqing County and placed under the jurisdiction of Qizhou.
After leaving Yucheng Ferry, the Dingnan Army marched all the way south, intending to quickly capture Changqing County, but failed, so they retreated to the next best thing and divided the entire army into dozens of groups and went to the countryside to collect food and grass.
On February 15th, a small grain-raising team encountered enemy cavalry near Jishui. The two sides fought a short and fierce battle, and then separated.
At this point in the war, there was nothing to hide. The Xia army bypassed Weibo and attacked Qizhou, which was an earth-shattering blow. At this time, the people in Ziqing town must be trying their best to adjust their strategic deployment and take advantage of every opportunity to restore their disadvantage.
Wei Boqiu decisively changed his combat mission, mainly delaying and delaying the enemy's possible retreat, trying to block the enemy's main force to the west of Changqing, waiting for a few days for the generals, Yanei, Tianxing and other armies to cross the Yellow River and march south to Qi.
State, completely blocking the enemy's retreat.
Fengqiyi has become a huge storage base, and a large amount of "collected" grain and grass are stored here. The war is urgent, and Wei Boqiu cannot care whether the people of Changqing will starve. He harvests as much grain as he can and stores it first.
Say it again.
Dozens of miles away to the west, the battle between the two cavalry armies was gradually heating up: the old and new generations of Tibetan people were riding and shooting in circles by the Jishui River.
Fu Yanchao, the captain of the Dingnan Army, stood in the distance with a thousand horses.
Everyone put on their armor and sat on the ground, waiting for orders.
The auxiliary soldiers held the reins in their hands and carried the long horseshoe on their shoulders, looking ahead without blinking.
More than two thousand horsemen galloped across the battlefield, and under the flying arrows, people kept falling off their horses.
Tuoba Renfu's three thousand cavalry were almost all Uighurs and Shaqi Dangxiang at first. Now there are many Ziqing warriors, and the fighting methods have become diversified, including horse charging, horseback archery, etc.
The Dingnan Army is mainly composed of Hexi Tibetan tribes and mainly uses cavalry and archery. Now it also has some skills in close combat.
The two sides met their opponents and fought endlessly. The battle lasted only a quarter of an hour, and each had already lost hundreds of knights.
"Get on your horse and charge!" Fu Yanchao stood up and ordered.
Thousands of cavalrymen stood up almost instantly, stepped on their stirrups and mounted their horses, their armor leaves clattering in the direction.
The flag has been hoisted, the horses are raised diagonally forward, the sound of hoofbeats gradually becomes louder, and a thousand riders rush forward like a long dragon.
After Tuoba Renfu led his own soldiers to defeat the siege, he withdrew towards Changqing County.
After Fu Yanchao caught up, a powerful crossbow fired from the top of the city, and more than a dozen unlucky men fell to the ground screaming. Then the flag was waved, and the team circled back and formed an array in the distance.
"Do the slaves of the four surnames dare to fight?" Fu Yanchao asked loudly, holding a long spear and standing on a high slope.
The soldiers laughed loudly.
Tuoba Renfu was the nephew of Tuoba Sigong, the governor of Youzhou. He later defected to the Tatar tribe on the grassland, returned to Shao Shude, and finally went to Ziqing Town to work under Wang Shifan. Wasn't he just a domestic slave with the fourth surname?
Tuoba Renfu had already reached the top of the city. When he heard this, he didn't feel ashamed at all. He said loudly: "What's the use of talking about it? In the three towns of Yun, Yan, and Qi, there are only 112,000 yamen troops. We must recruit troops."
After that, there will be an army of 300,000. Shao Shude only has a few people, but he dares to attack me? Let him wash his neck and wait, Qizhou will be his burial place."
After saying that, he drew his long bow and shot an arrow.
I don't know whether it was because he was not good at shooting or was blown by the wind, but the powerful and heavy arrow missed Fu Yanchao, but instead brought the soldier beside him off his horse.
The soldiers of the Dingnan Army were both fearful and admired when they saw him.
The people of the grasslands admired this kind of warrior with accurate shooting skills the most. Tuoba Renfu's skill won their admiration.
"Yun Town has been destroyed, the soldiers have returned home, and now Qizhou has also been conquered. Your escape route is cut off, where can you retreat to?" Fu Yanchao subconsciously wanted to retreat, but he suppressed his instinct and continued to sit firmly on the horse.
He went up and said loudly: "It's better to surrender. King Xia's benevolence will definitely spare your lives."
"Don't listen to his nonsense." Tuoba Renfu shouted with his voice breaking, "Shao Shao has raised so many soldiers, and he doesn't want to raise more. Gentlemen, look at the troops and horses he brought in the Eastern Expedition. Most of them were surrendered.
The soldiers surrendered to the generals, driving them to attack the city and consume them, leaving themselves at the edge of the edge without blinking an eye. Will such a cruel and ruthless person let you continue to serve as soldiers? Impossible! In addition to killing, can you farm?
If I am sent away, I am afraid that I will have no food and clothing, and my family will be hungry for food, which will be unspeakable misery. It is better to fight with Shao Thief and let him retreat when he sees the difficulties."
Tuoba Renfu's words still had an effect.
There were rumors in the army that the Shao thief asked Liang to surrender thousands of troops to work in the fields, but the troops were unwilling to surrender, so they massacred them all.
There are also rumors that the Shao thieves will attack the three towns of Jingyuan, Shaanxi and Fengtian this year. The soldiers from the three towns will go to Qingtang to farm with their families, and will never see the Central Plains again for generations.
There are also rumors that Shao thieves liked to use Guanxi soldiers. After conquering various towns, the local soldiers were dismissed and the warriors became beggars. They had to pawn their sons and sell their daughters.
These rumors are half true and half false, and they sound quite credible, so everyone is insecure and afraid of falling into this situation. To tell the truth, these people have been soldiers for generations, and they really don’t know how to do anything else.
To make a living, many people live in the city, and they don’t have much property at home. Once they can no longer serve as soldiers, they really don’t know how they will survive.
"Dog thief!" Fu Yanchao is still a young man after all, not as cunning as the old turtle Tuoba Renfu. After scolding him for a few times, he led the people back and continued to send people to look at all the roads, big and small, to prevent thieves from crossing.
.
****
Above Jishui, several pontoons lead to the north bank.
The pontoon bridge has been built for a long time, and soldiers went back and forth between the two sides to raise food and grass.
All the people in Pingyin County have fled. Not only because of the war, almost everyone in their families has had their food and belongings taken away. What will they eat if they don't run away?
As a result, a huge wave of refugees rushed to Lu County and Yunzhou in the west.
Guo Shaobin and Zhang Jun, who stayed behind in Lu County, only had more than 2,000 soldiers and did not dare to let them enter the city. They only scattered some military rations so that they could barely feed themselves.
Han Zhu, the deputy envoy of the Yamen Army, also did not open the city, and the military rations were quite insufficient and he could not help too many people.
Fortunately, the Japanese army escorted a batch of grain and grass from Bianzhou to Yunzhou, so these people would not starve to death.
The Japanese troops did not return, but camped outside Yunzhou City, waiting for the next order.
Zhu Zhen's Peng Sheng Army headed to Puzhou to take over the defense vacancy left by Tianxing's army and prepare for Wei Bo's army to move south.
Wang Shike, who was in the east of Pingyin City, did not know the specific deployment of the Xia army, but he had studied military strategy and knew that under this situation, the Xia people were already gathering troops.
In an encirclement battle, after cutting off your retreat through detours, you will mass your forces on the frontal battlefield and launch an attack. Eventually, you will be under pressure from both sides and the entire front will collapse.
"The pontoon bridge needs to be repaired quickly." Wang Shike just sat down and drank two sips of tea, then stood up again, walked a few steps, and sat down again.
What does it mean to be restless? This is it.
The deputy envoy of Jiedu of Ziqing Town and Wang Shifan's top aide was sitting next to him, sipping tea silently.
The name of this staff member can shock people to death: Li Siye.
But he was a literati. Because of the culture at that time, he could play with swords, horseback and archery. But like the Gaiyu in Jinyang, he was born as a warrior and ended up working as a civilian staff for more than ten years.
Zhu Qiong and Zhu Xuan also came. Zhu Xuan was relatively calm and silent, but Zhu Qiong was obviously anxious and uneasy.
"This battle cannot be fought!" Zhu Qiong shouted: "Zhu Gong of Yanzhou led his army to the north, and they were all in the south of Zhongdu County to repel the Xia thieves. It is obvious that the Shao thieves are increasing their troops to the north. After their army is assembled,
, what should we do? We can’t leave, and we can’t fight. Wouldn’t our whole army be annihilated?”
It was news two days ago that Zhu Jin's army was repulsed.
It is said that he rode out of Yanzhou with 5,000 paces, recruited thousands of native tribesmen, and marched northward. However, he encountered Xia thieves, lost the battle, and returned to Yanzhou.
They were not very clear about the specific battle situation, and the Yanzhou envoy did not want to say more. He only said that Zhu Jin led his army to charge bravely and "killed more than ten Xia generals" before "the entire army returned."
Wang Shike, Zhu Xuan, Zhu Qiong and others naturally didn't believe it. They all privately felt that the Xia thieves had been keeping an eye on Yanzhou for a long time and were waiting for Yanzhou's troops to be dispatched. Zhu Jin suffered this loss and withdrew again. This was nothing.
, but what about the Xia army? What was its designation? Was it the Tielin army? Where is it now? I have no idea.
"Zhu Shijun, we still have to work together in the same boat. You want to go back to Qizhou, I understand, but once your department leaves, it will definitely shake the morale of the army. Then the Xia thieves will take advantage of it, and everyone will not be able to get away."
Wang Shike patiently reassured him: "Whether you are leaving or staying, you must be prepared. I have sent people to build a pontoon bridge on the river. If it didn't work, I crossed the river to Bozhou. The Wei people will not turn a blind eye to shouting and killing.
If you close your eyes, it won't be a problem for us to take the road back."
"How can we cross the river to Bozhou?" Zhu Qiong said angrily: "Now we should fight back and attack Qizhou directly. Shao's thieves have taken a roundabout way, how many soldiers can they have? Most of them are cavalry, right? They can defend the city."
To the east of Pingyin, there are Wushan, Taoshan, Gamashan, and Stushan Mountains. The mountains are continuous and are not conducive to the cavalry. We and other infantrymen will return to support and kill them back with lightning speed. Shao's thieves will definitely have nowhere to go.
But if you go there and ride alone, how can you go to Bozhou?"
"Zhu Shijun, please be patient." Wang Shike was really good-tempered. He could even be said to have lost his temper. He still advised: "I didn't say I would definitely go to Bozhou. It's always right to make more preparations. We are not discussing now.
Well, don’t be in a hurry.”
"You are not in a hurry, I am!" Zhu Qiong's anger subsided a little, but he still said: "My soldiers' homes are all gone. If you ask them to go to Bozhou, do you believe that the camp will be blown up immediately?"
Wang Shike was speechless and stopped talking.
"Where is King Jin's army?" Zhu Xuan, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly asked.
Jin King Li Keyong sent He Huaibao, Mi Zhicheng, An Fushun, An Fuqing, An Fuqian and other generals to lead ten thousand people on foot and cavalry to rescue the three towns of Yun, Yan and Qi. We had communicated with them before and they were still in Xingzhou at that time.
You won't know where you are.
Among the five, He Huaibao is the main general, followed by An Fuqian and Mi Zhicheng. There are infantry troops that Xing Mingci has fought for many years and Shatuo cavalry. The lineup is still very strong.
Among the five generals, Mi Zhicheng's archery skills are considered to be outstanding and he is quite famous among the Jin army, while An Fuqian and his son An Chongjiu are brave and good at fighting, and they are the best in the three armies. Li Keyong is indeed interesting. When Liang Jun attacked
Yun and Yanshi repeatedly sent reinforcements via Weibo. This time the Xia army attacked Yun and Yanshi again, in order to curb the ambition of his sworn brother.
"Jin army?" Wang Shike was stunned and fell into confusion again.
To be honest, he had actually wanted to escape before. But after hearing what Zhu Xuan said, he was a little hesitant.
Zhu Xuan was more of a gambler, because he had nothing to lose, so he just said: "It's better to wait. Our army has enough food and grass, so we can defend it for a while, or send troops to continue attacking the city, and wait until the Jin army comes for reinforcements."
, give Xia Thief a surprise and defeat him badly."
In fact, Zhu Xuan had another hidden meaning that he did not say: if the siege of the city consumes some local peasants, the food will be more than enough.
"This..." Wang Shike frowned and hesitated.
"Yameni." Li Siye suddenly stood up and said, "Please kill Zhu Xuan!"