Chinese New Year

Chapter 470 Destruction
Zhang Gu opened the window and gazed into the distance.

The rising sun disappeared into the thin clouds, and dark clouds were emerging where the sky and the earth met.

He spat and cursed, then immediately dressed neatly, went down from the attic, and ordered his men to bring the horses.

A moment later, the soldiers of Sanfangfu rushed out of the fortress where they were staying and rushed into the vast world.

The Xiongnu cavalry had already crossed the river, their numbers were large and their momentum was aggressive.

Zhang Gu looked around and led his men to a small forest.

The forest is not big, but it is enough to cover one direction.

There is a small river behind them. Although it is not wide, it can prevent the cavalry from charging recklessly.

In front of us is a huge cemetery with graves packed together, which is shocking to see.

All the troops stayed in the fort, and the soldiers took various weapons from their horses and roughly set up a battle formation.

The sword and shield soldiers were outside, followed closely by the spearmen and lancemen. The rest of the people were holding various miscellaneous weapons such as individual crossbows, foot bows, long swords, long-handled axes, hook-and-sickle spears, ring-handled swords, etc., preparing for battle - really, if you have never seen the palace soldiers, you don’t know that there are so many strange weapons in the world.

There were no less than two thousand Hun soldiers attacking, and the leader seemed to be a fool who actually wanted to take on all the palace soldiers in one go.

Yes, they had less than 900 men, and although they had horses, they didn't seem to be good at cavalry warfare. How should I put it? It was a bit like the cavalry of the Western Han Dynasty, who rode deep into the grasslands and encountered - uh, the Huns, but actually "dismounted and fought on the ground" instead of charging on horseback.

In a flash, the Hun general took advantage of the fact that the soldiers were still adjusting their formation and ordered a charge.

Hundreds of cavalry were immediately separated from the team.

The hundred men in the front had high noses and deep eyes, wore iron and leather armor, and held long spears and halberds in their hands, and rushed forward.

The four or five hundred riders at the back slowed down slightly and moved to both sides.

Dense crossbow arrows were fired from the tomb, killing the Xiongnu cavalrymen who were in the front and knocking them off their horses. Those who were not hit were startled and immediately slowed down their horses and dispersed, and the formation suddenly became loose.

Bowmen were also added to the shooting.

The soldiers were extremely brave. They cursed loudly and drew their bows and arrows.

Powerful arrows flew through the air and targeted the horses, causing the enemy riders to fall to the ground one after another, a horrible sight.

In the end, only less than half of the people rushed forward.

"Kill!" The grave mounds blocked the charge of the war horses. Only a dozen or so riders rushed in through the gap between the grave mounds, but their horses' legs were quickly hooked by the sickle spears.

The horse couldn't be driven forward and neighed in pain.

A soldier held a thick wooden club at the top and thin at the bottom, and smashed it with all his might, causing the enemy rider who was controlling his warhorse to fall off his horse. Before he could get up, he was hit by several sharp blades, and blood immediately flowed out.

"Shhh!" A horse fell to the ground with a loud bang.

The enemy cavalry was agile. He jumped onto a nearby grave mound in mid-air, drew his sword, and was about to charge forward when he was stabbed by several spears.

The palace soldiers cruelly lifted him up, and blood flowed down his legs and dripped onto the grave.

The autumn wind suddenly blew, and the soul flags on the new graves rustled, as if they were extremely satisfied with the fresh blood.

One by one, the cavalrymen were cut down from their horses, and none of the nineteen Huns who had rushed into the cemetery survived. Even the Huns who had hurriedly reined in their horses were continuously killed and wounded by crossbows and bows, and another twenty or thirty of them fell to the ground screaming.

Dozens of palace soldiers jumped out of the cemetery, holding long spears and heavy axes, and with their superb infantry combat skills, they easily killed the Xiongnu cavalry who were knocked unconscious.

The morale of the Hun cavalry brigade in the distance was shaken.

These are not infantry that can be easily dispersed, so it's a bit troublesome.

In fact, most of the peasant soldiers could not withstand the might of the cavalry at this time. They lost their footing before they even got close to them. This was the case with Wang Jun's troops in Youzhou. Even though they had more contact with the cavalry, they still failed. After a few rounds of cavalry shooting, they often collapsed and forgot that their infantry bows were more powerful than cavalry bows.

The Huns bullied Wang Jun wantonly in Youzhou and were invincible, but when they came to Gaoping, they hit him on the spot.

There were less than 900 infantrymen on the opposite side, all of them had armor, most of them had crossbows or bows, they were well-equipped, and their martial arts were far superior to those of ordinary peasant soldiers.

The most important thing is that he has enough experience: he chose a good battlefield.

The presence of rivers and woods prevented the cavalry from making detours, and the grave mounds prevented the melee cavalry from charging head-on. In the end, only the mounted archers detoured to the left and shot a volley of arrows from a distance, causing a few casualties.

But they were quickly driven away by powerful bows and crossbows, leaving behind a field of corpses.

It seems like a loss!
The leading general was calming the warhorse under his crotch, his face changing from gloomy to bright.

In the cemetery, the morale of the soldiers was high. Some of them held human heads on their spears and jumped onto the grave mounds, laughing loudly.

There was a commotion on the Huns' side.

The general hesitated for a long time and was about to order a retreat when he heard the sound of war drums behind him.

He turned his horse's head and looked back.

The drums rumbled from the fortress not far away. A moment later, the gates of the fortress opened wide, and more than a thousand infantrymen rushed out with shields and spears, forming a battle array outside the fortress wall.

The Hun general snorted coldly and ordered a retreat.

******
Zhang Gu fought well in Rencheng, but Yu An, who was also the commander of the troupe, was helpless in Xia Qiu.

He had 1,200 soldiers under his command, but they had less than 100 sets of iron armor and only over 400 sets of leather armor, which the soldiers had made themselves after saving money for a year.

The most important thing is that they only had dozens of horses and mules, which were also purchased by the soldiers themselves.

They had poor mobility and average equipment, and although their morale was high, they could only assist in garrisoning the county town - the families of the soldiers in Xiaqiu County were all evacuated into the county town.

So, when Zhao Lu led 3,000 cavalrymen around the city and found it difficult to take it easily, and they left in a hurry, they had no way to deal with it.

The Xiongnu cavalry rushed into the vast countryside, looking for food to harvest. At 3 p.m., Zhao Lu stopped outside a fort.

I have to admit that there are some despicable people in the world who won't cry until they see the coffin.

Yu Hua issued an order to rush to harvest millet and beans. Some people carried out the order, some dragged their feet and executed it slowly, and some simply ignored it as they were reluctant to lose even a bit of grain.

Perhaps this is the norm for grassroots execution.

Three thousand riders stopped in the wilderness.

Some people spread out and kept alert.

Some people gathered the horses and looked for pastures to graze them.

Some people are still in combat mode, ready to deal with any emergency at any time.

The rest of the people scattered into the fields and rushed to harvest the beans.

They had no sickles, but that was okay, sabers would do.

The beans were harvested one by one and piled up in the open space.

Zhao Lu dismounted and took a look, his face showing joy.

Beans are good things. They can be eaten by humans and horses, and they can satisfy hunger.

Bingzhou actually also grows this thing, and the Xiongnu are not unfamiliar with it. Look -

The herdsmen skillfully tied the roots of soybeans with grass and piled them upside down in the fields. After drying them for a few days, they shook them vigorously and the beans came out.

Hmm, I wonder if the people in the fort are anxious. Maybe I can trick them out...

Thinking of this, Zhao Lu looked around, looking for a place to ambush.

Zhao Lu's troops were active in the northeast of Gaoping, while Kong Tuan stayed in Dongping and moved at a slower pace.

The main reason was that they brought a large group of teachers and servants, driving large and small carts.

Some of the laborers were provided by Cao Yi.

This guy probably had some ulterior motives and only provided three or four thousand people. The rest were Jin people captured in Jibei and Dongping, a total of over three thousand.

They searched along the way, trying to obtain food from the enemy.

But Dongping is different from Gaoping. It is located on the front line and only planted one season of millet this year. The harvest was almost finished by mid-August, so not much food was snatched from the wild.

This fact made Kong Tun extremely angry and frightened at the same time.

Why are these forts and manors becoming more and more difficult to deal with? They all refuse to provide food and their tone is very tough.

There are very few earthen walls with weak defenses. Even if we encounter a few occasionally, we don't get much after breaking them.

"Someone, go collect firewood and pile it up in that forest." Kong Tun waved his hand and gave the order directly.

The soldiers took the order and left. By evening, hundreds of acres of mulberry forest were filled with dry firewood.

Fires were lit in piles, and crackling sounds were heard one after another.

When night fell, the fire had already turned half the sky red.

Some people took axes and went into the orchard to cut down the fruit trees one by one.

Kong Tuan looked at the figures walking back and forth on the wall of the fort and laughed out loud, feeling much more refreshed.

Next time you encounter a stubborn fortress, you must do this! If you don't give me food, I will burn your mulberry forest, block your wells, and destroy all your houses. Let's see if you surrender or not.

On top of the fort, everyone looked angry, but did not dare to make any move.

They saw clearly just now that the Xiongnu cavalry were divided into several groups and ambushed in various places. If they left the fort at this time, they would simply be asking for death.

"It's already burned, what's the point of complaining?" The commander of the fort looked at everyone and said, "If there is no mulberry forest, we can plant sesame seeds next year and we will always have clothes to wear. If there is no orchard, we will just eat less fruit and brew less wine, but it won't kill anyone!"

Everyone felt a little relieved after hearing this, but they were still very angry.

Someone could not help but say: "Mr. Chen asked for money and food from time to time, and we gave it to him. He also asked for cloth and livestock, and we also gave them. Now that things have gotten so bad, this is the result. We might as well surrender to the Xiongnu."

Someone else echoed, "After the Battle of Gaoping, Henan was already peaceful, and the Xiongnu didn't dare to come, but they insisted on attacking Hebei. Now, they are forced to invade the counties of Henan, causing us such a huge loss, and Mr. Chen still has the nerve to ask for money?"

"Yeah, isn't it good to live a peaceful life? If you have to fight each other, how many people will be left when you unify the world?"

"If we hadn't attacked Hebei, there wouldn't be so much trouble! Even if Shi Le had two guts, he wouldn't come to Henan to plunder."

"Heroes have great ambitions for the world, but who will pity the people?"

"Shut up!" The commander of the fort shouted, stopping everyone from talking.

After taking a quick look, he sighed and said, "This is the way the world is. Lord Chen eats people, and the Xiongnu eat people too. But our family businesses are all here, and the Xiongnu don't have the ability to stay in Henan for long. Don't mention surrendering to the Xiongnu again, lest you bring disaster upon yourself."

When everyone heard this, they looked sad.

Yes, the Xiongnu cavalry was powerful, but they did not have the ability to occupy Henan. They could only cause destruction, and they could not even surrender.

"At this point, there is nothing more to say." The commander of the fortress said, "It is important to guard the gate and continue the family business. The Xiongnu, the military leaders, and the corrupt officials are all bad people. Live well, and wait until Shao Xun and Shi Le have had enough and can no longer fight, or the victory is decided, then we can breathe a sigh of relief."

In the dark night, flames filled the sky and Hu cavalry were everywhere.

Perhaps, this is what Zhang Bin called a stalemate, to see who can't bear it first.

(End of this chapter)