Chinese New Year

Chapter 412 Withdrawal
On the north bank of the river, cavalry were patrolling everywhere.

They had nothing else to do but split into several groups and spend the whole day herding horses, patrolling on the shore, and observing the conditions on the river.

Starting from August 20th, something was wrong. The Jin army began to send people to the downstream to cut down trees on a large scale, build rafts and boats, and tie them together as if they were building a floating bridge.

After the news was reported, the Zhamati camp immediately sent people in small boats to observe closely.

Stone men and stone animals are being placed on Zhongyu City, and it seems that a floating bridge will be built to the north bank. In this case, the newly built floating bridge downstream is more confusing...

On the 21st, the general and King of Bohai Liu Fu led more than 10,000 people to Yewang. In the afternoon of the same day, they rode fast to the Zhamati camp.

"General." Wang Zhang personally went out of the gate to greet him respectfully.

Liu Fu was a prince, King of Bohai, and a general.

Wang Zhang was the General of the Central Army. The word "Great" was added to his title to honor his position. The rank of his government was higher, but in fact, there was no essential difference between him and the General of the Zhen Army, the General of the Fu Army, and the General of the Zhengzhen Anping.

In other words, there was no essential difference between Wang Zhang's official position in Liu Han and General Pingdong Shao Xun's positions in Jin State, and they belonged to the same echelon.

Before Liu Fu came, Wang Zhang was the commander of the army.

After Liu Fu arrived, he naturally came under his command.

To put it bluntly, Liu Cong was still not very confident in Wang Zhang, and he didn't seem to have any achievements, so he replaced him.

"What's the situation with the enemy?" Liu Fu had nothing else in his eyes except the Jin army on the south bank.

He had mixed feelings towards the thief coach Shao Xun.

On the one hand, he was grateful to Shao Xun for defeating Jin Zhun in Gaoping and making his brother, who loved luxury and pleasure, look disgraced - after all, King Liu Can of Henei was the commander-in-chief and it was impossible for him not to bear any responsibility.

On the other hand, he was also worried about Shao Xun's growing power.

Since the incident of watching fish in Fenshui River, Your Majesty sincerely admitted his mistakes and temporarily calmed the dissatisfaction of the ministers.

But Liu Fu knew that his father was already worried.

After Yewang returned to Pingyang, the emperor ordered Hejian Wang Yi to be General of Chariots and Cavalry, and Pengcheng Wang Yi to be General of Guards, and both of them were in charge of the troops and the imperial guards.

Gaoping Wang Kui was appointed General Zheng Nan and stationed in Lishi.

Wang Ji of Jinan was appointed General Zhengxi and built Xiping City to live in.

King Cao of Wei was appointed General Zhengdong and stationed in Pu Zi.

He was the King of Bohai, and he led his army to the front line of Zhamati and took over the position of commander-in-chief of Wang Zhang's army.

Six princes are in charge of the Chinese and foreign armies - although not all of them, but more than half of them - isn't it clear what their father is thinking?

Having many sons has this advantage: it can help share the pressure on the father.

As the fifth prince, Liu Fu wanted to fight for his own future while fighting for the Han Dynasty.

Wang Zhang was also a straightforward person. He led Liu Fu directly to the river bank, pointed with his whip, and said, "General, please look, the city of Taozhu is called 'Zhongyu City', and it has been built. From the north gate of Zhongyu City to the river, stone beasts have been buried and iron chains have been cast. They intend to lay a floating bridge to the north, directly under our feet."

"There is also a South City on the other side of Zhongyu City, which has not yet been completed. A few miles downstream from the South City, the scouts learned that the Jin people were cutting wood and making boats, and seemed to be planning to build a bridge across the river."

"News has come back from the south bank that the Jin Lord has sent an edict to Heyang, ordering Shao Xun to cross the river as soon as possible and attack Henei without any mistakes."

"Given these three points, I think Shao Xun is a little anxious and plans to make a desperate move and break into the north bank in one fell swoop and build a city to live in."

Liu Fu observed carefully for a while and suddenly sneered.

Wang Zhang looked at him in confusion.

"How do the central army think Shao Xun will cross the river?" Liu Fu asked.

"Or advance in three directions." Wang Zhang said.

"Please try to explain it."

"The first route is to build a floating bridge while advancing to the north bank; the second route is to ferry people by boat and attack upstream; the third route is to risk building a floating bridge downstream and attack from the east while making a feint to the west."

"Three fronts at once?"

"Three ways forward."

"I think Shao Xun would not do this. Among these three routes, one or even two must be false, and only one is true." Liu Fu said.

"General, the most taboo in war is speculation. We still have to be prepared." Wang Zhang advised.

Liu Fu suddenly turned his head and stared at Wang Zhang.

Wang Zhang looked at him calmly without backing down.

Liu Fu suddenly changed from anger to joy and said, "The General of the Central Army is experienced in battle. I will listen to you."

Wang Zhang withdrew his gaze from Liu Fu.

It is not difficult to see that King Bohai is not really willing to listen to his advice.

In fact, although Wang Can of Hanoi was fond of luxury and indulged in pleasure, he was much more broad-minded and was able to listen to opinions.

The King of Bohai lived a simple life, was always reading and practicing martial arts, and he had a good reputation in the capital, but it was hard to say what kind of person he was.

As far as the Han Dynasty was concerned, he would rather the emperor lived a luxurious life than act recklessly.

"Have you arranged other directions?" Liu Fu asked again.

"It's not a very good arrangement, it's just been arranged. How the fighting turns out is up to fate." Wang Zhang told the truth.

Liu Fu was not very happy.

But he also knew that the outcome of the battle could not be determined by himself alone, but also depended on the enemy.

The two sides were of similar strength and neither made any mistakes. Even if one side won in the end, it would be a pyrrhic victory with huge losses.

In most wars, the competition is about who makes fewer mistakes and then can seize the enemy's mistakes to win in one fell swoop.

Shao Xun is a seasoned opponent.

It's not that he never makes mistakes, but he rarely makes them. Moreover, you only discover many mistakes afterward, when you have already missed the best opportunity to fight. However, he was still a little depressed, and said frankly: "Before I came here, I had thought about it carefully. In the two battles of Luoyang and the one battle of Gaoping, Shao Xun could at most maintain an undefeated situation. Why did he take the initiative to attack today?"

"I have been thinking about it, but I really don't understand. The Han army has no less than 200,000 soldiers, and Shao Xun only has tens of thousands of infantry. It is incredible that they didn't pin him to the ground and beat him. Why is that?"

After hearing this, Wang Zhang was silent.

yeah why?
To be fair, the Han Dynasty has become stronger and stronger in recent years, with an increasingly larger territory, more and more households, and more and more money and grain.

Even though the siege of Luoyang was frustrated and the march south to Yanyu failed, they, with cavalry as their main force, had never been seriously damaged. On the contrary, they made up for it in other directions, and their national strength increased instead of decreasing.

But as the fighting went on, the battlefield was almost reaching the north bank of the Yellow River. Why?
It was outrageous that a force with almost no cavalry was able to advance step by step by relying on cautious advances.

To be honest, Shao Xun's strength is not as good as Jia, Liang and others in Guanzhong. At least they can attract a lot of cavalry, and in this respect they are not much inferior to King Zhongshan (Liu Yao).

Within the Han Dynasty, Wang Zhang was most wary of Shi Le, for no other reason than that Shi Le recruited at most 30,000 Jie, Wuhuan, Xiongnu, and Xianbei cavalry from various places at one time, which posed a much greater threat to the Han Dynasty than 50,000 or 100,000 infantry.

But now, Shi Le obediently obeyed orders and went to war, Shao Xun built a city on the river and threatened Henei, and it was this man who became the most prominent.

"Don't worry, General." Wang Zhang thought for a while and said, "If our army loses, it won't hurt our bones. If Shao Xun loses, most of his army will be wiped out. Our army can lose many times. If Shao Xun loses once, his position will be shaken. If he loses twice, his power will collapse. If he loses three times, he will die without a burial place. We just have to wait for him to make a mistake."

"That's such a low-spirited thing to say!" Liu Fu sneered.

Wang Zhang did not answer, but just looked at the river.

After a moment, he rubbed his eyes subconsciously, and saw that on the river bank, one boat after another left the anchorage, rowing hard, and gathered on the river.

One ship, two ships, three ships... Gradually, dozens of ships gathered together, divided into several groups, and rowed towards the north bank of Zhama Dike.

Liu Fu also saw it, and his expression was one of surprise and delight.

"Send the order to gather the cavalry." Liu Fu bypassed Wang Zhang and gave the order directly.

Wang Zhang did not object, after all, King Bohai was the commander-in-chief.

What's more, this order is not wrong.

The infantry stationed behind the camp and fought desperately to stop the attack.

The cavalry lined up on the plain, and when the enemy's formation was disorganized and their men were insufficient, they suddenly rushed out and drove them into the river in one fell swoop.

The reason why "attack when the enemy is halfway across the river" is so famous is because it really works.

******
At the city of Xin'an, another siege ended in failure.

Chen Yong, the Sima of the Left Guard's Base Camp, was killed in the battle, and more than ten officers including Huang Biao, the Sima of the Vanguard Camp, were injured, resulting in a total loss of more than 3,000 soldiers.

This time, no one was trying to be sloppy. All the officers went into battle shirtless to boost morale, but they were still short of a chance and were beaten back after reaching the top of the city wall.

When the troops were retreating, a cavalry unit came from nowhere, went around from behind the mountains, and launched a surprise attack, causing heavy losses to the rear troops and killing many officers.

At this point, the fighting could no longer continue. Anger was accumulating in the camp and seemed ready to explode at any moment.

"General, we can't fight any longer." Pei Kuo, the left guard general, had a scruffy beard and sunken eyes. It was obvious that he had not had a good rest recently and was extremely anxious. He said, "In recent days, people have been fleeing continuously. The morale of the army is low. I am afraid we will not be able to fight any more."

"Just one breath left." Xun Song was a little reluctant.

"Always one step short." Huang Biao, the Sima of the Left Guard Vanguard Battalion who had just finished bandaging his wounds, did not give Xun Song any face and sneered, "Wang Mi suffered heavy casualties, but our casualties were even greater. I don't know who recruited those refugees. They were afraid of death when attacking the city, and ran away when they were left behind. Once night falls, they try every means to escape from the camp, which affects morale. What's the point of continuing to fight?"

Xun Song slammed the table and stood up, glaring at Huang Biao.

Pei Kuo said that it was fine, but who do you think you are, Huang Biao? You are a farmer for generations, and you dare to speak so arrogantly?

The general's personal guards looked at Xun Song. With just one order from him, Huang Biaoming could be executed.

Xun Song hesitated for a moment and sat back down.

The bodyguards were somewhat disappointed, but not surprised.

If he doesn't even deal with people who cry loudly and play sad music in the military camp, thus affecting morale, how do you expect him to deal with the generals?

Everyone still remembers the camp patrol seven days ago.

As soon as he returned to the commander's tent, he received a military report: Wang Mi went out of the city to attack at night and won a great victory, beheading more than a thousand people, including several officers of the Right Guard, and countless others who fled during the night.

If the angel had not arrived later, bringing some money and rewards, and strictly ordered the camps to continue attacking the city, they would have retreated.

We have been fighting for seven more days now, but it seems to be of no use except for more deaths.

Right Guard General Li Yun kept his head down and remained silent.

His troops suffered greater losses than Zuowei and their morale was even lower, but he did not dare to speak out.

Seeing that Xun Song was still hesitating, he sighed silently in his heart. Fortunately, the wounded had been sent to Luoyang a few days ago, which reduced a lot of burdens. Otherwise, the morale would be even lower during the retreat.

"The enemy cavalry that pursued us today are probably reinforcements from Pingyang." After receiving Pei Kuo's signal, Xu Lang, the commander of the three divisions of the Left Guard, said, "Grand Commander, the Xiongnu have increased their troops, and they are fresh troops. Our army is exhausted after a long battle and cannot fight again. We should withdraw."

Seeing that the generals were unwilling to fight anymore, Xun Song sighed inwardly.

This time when he goes back, he may never get the chance to lead troops again.

The commander of the imperial guards is a big fire pit. Whoever jumps in will be disgraced.

Just as he was about to say something, an aide came hurriedly and reported, "Grand Commander, a messenger from Yiyang has arrived, saying that the Zhongwu Army was attacked by Shi Le at the Erling Mausoleum in Xiaoban, losing 2,000 soldiers, and the rest fled. The prefect of Hongnong, Yuan Yan, has summoned all the troops in the forts to defend Huixiban. This matter is of great importance, so I sent a messenger to report."

"It turns out that he is Shi Le's man." Pei Kuo suddenly realized.

Li Yun could no longer hold back, and stood up and said, "General, our men have no intention of fighting, so we should withdraw and reorganize. Shi Le has many cavalrymen, and they are fresh troops who have been well-rested. If we delay any longer, the losses will only be greater."

Xun Song also felt nervous.

He couldn't help but spread out the map and look left and right.

Everyone looked at him, and the meaning in their eyes was the same: Stop looking and give the order.

Xun Song glanced at everyone, unable to withstand the pressure, he slowly raised his hand, then dropped it again powerlessly: "Order the troops to withdraw."

(End of this chapter)