Chinese New Year

Chapter 472 Late Night
The bright full moon was dragged into the depths of the dense clouds, and the earth became dark.

The river breeze blew, mixed with the fishy smell of water, and seemed to be mixed with a little bit of rain.

There was silence inside and outside Fangtou, and the entire camp seemed to have fallen into complete sleep.

It was almost midnight inside the central army tent, and Shao Xun was still negotiating with the shogunate officials who had rushed over from Henan.

"The main force of the Yicong Army has been transferred back to Henan. You must cooperate closely. The forts are very important. They are needed to provide food and fodder, house the wounded, and pass on information." Shao Xun said, "We may not be able to capture the main force of the Xiongnu, but as long as we hurt one or two troops, they will retreat on their own."

Today is September 25th. The Huns have been invading Henan for almost twenty days. Since crossing the river from Jibei, they have mainly wreaked havoc on the three counties of Jibei, Gaoping and Dongping. Now they have just shifted their focus to Jiyin and sent two small-scale detachments into Puyang and Liang. This may be to disrupt the view, or it may be to further test the situation in various parts of Henan and encircle and suppress the few remaining cavalry forces in the area.

When Shao Xun ordered the main force of the Yicong Army to withdraw, he actually made some trade-offs.

His cavalry unit currently has more than 500 riders left in the northern city of Heyang, and the rest have brought Fangtou with them.

According to the order Man Yu had just received, he was to lead 2,000 cavalrymen back south, so there would not be many people left in Fangtou, about 800 or so.

This is the minimum, anything less would be inappropriate.

It also meant that he had given up the idea of ​​a counterattack. Without a large-scale cavalry, even if Shi Le was defeated, he would not be able to pursue him, because you cannot pursue Shi Le's cavalry group with confidence.

Making choices is nothing more than giving up one aspect and strengthening another.

"My lord, the people in some counties are uneasy and seem a little unstable. The shogunate has sent people to comfort them. But there are still some counties that are keeping their troops in place. Should we send people to urge them to move forward?" said the military officer Yu Liang.

"Which counties?" Shao Xun asked, his eyes fixed.

"Taishan and Lu counties are located on the flank of the Xiongnu, but they have closed their doors to protect themselves and have not sent out a single soldier," said Yu Liang.

Shao Xun looked at Yu Liang.

Yu Liang felt a little embarrassed and lowered his head.

"Yuan Gui. I heard that there was a civil uprising in Runan. Do you know about it?" Shao Xun suddenly asked.

"What?" Yu Liang was shocked. This had not happened when he left Xuchang. When did it happen?

"I just received a military report. Zhang Xiaoer from Fufeng was dissatisfied with being conscripted to the river, so he gathered people to start an uprising, captured Yang'an County, and killed the magistrate. In Gepi, Li Mazi from Pingyang started an uprising, destroyed the dike, killed officials, fled east to Ruyin, and captured Yuyang." Shao Xun looked at Yu Liang expressionlessly and said, "Do you want to hear the slogan they raised?"

“This…” Yu Liang’s face turned pale and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Focus more on the important things and don't think about trivial things." Shao Xun said.

"Yes." Yu Liang replied with difficulty, looking a little dazed.

He suddenly thought of the advice given by the local officials when he was inspecting the rivers, lakes, ponds and other places. He felt a little regretful. It seemed that he had indeed acted too hastily.

But what he was most worried about now was not how to quell the civil unrest, but whether he would leave an irreparable bad impression on Mr. Chen. In his anxiety, he was distracted and wanted to fly back to Runan right now to kill all the rioters one by one.

After teaching Yu Liang a lesson, Shao Xun looked at Lieutenant General Liu Anzhi and said, "The men in the five counties of Chen County have been training for years during the slack season. Some of them even fought in the Battle of Zhamadi. I leave them all to you. You can leave the small villages alone and gather the people together, at least five battalions together, to guard against sudden attacks by the enemy. Remember, the Silver Spear Army has turned south to quell the civil unrest. They will not be able to go to Chen County for a while, so don't take it lightly."

"Yes, sir." Liu Anzhi responded loudly.

He had reason to be excited.

Even if one person from each family contributed, there would be tens of thousands of people. In this world, how many people could lead an army of tens of thousands?

Well, his army of tens of thousands is too weak, because they are all stationed in the same place and will not assemble on a large scale, but it is still a considerable force, which means that his status in the shogunate has been raised to a higher level.

Thinking of this, he stole a glance at Yu Liang.

If there had been no uprising in Runan, Lord Chen might have let Yu Liang lead the troops, right? After all, he was a military officer.

Liu Anzhi calmed himself down, continued to sit upright and listen carefully.

"Let's talk about the transportation of food and fodder..." Shao Xun said.

At this time, outside the central army camp, the rapid sound of horse hooves broke the silence of the night.

A warhorse stopped outside the camp and neighed for a long time. After some negotiation, the defenders lowered the ladder and led the horse into the camp.

Soon, hurried footsteps landed outside the central army tent.

Liu Ling, who was like a door god, came in to report something and then brought him in.

"I had no intention of repairing Fangtou South City, but now I think it's a good opportunity. As for food and fodder, we will do our best to raise funds. If there are enough, we will build both cities. If not -" Shao Xun's voice stopped.

He looked at the messenger gently and said, "Your name is Tang Xin, right? You have a younger brother in the Yamen Army."

"Mr. Chen actually remembered me..." the messenger said in surprise.

"Tell me, what's the matter?" Shao Xun asked with a smile.

"My Lord, Shi Le sent troops to attack the front camp at night, and the attack was very urgent. General Hao, please dispatch the Silver Spear Army for reinforcement." The messenger said. "Can't you hold on?" Shao Xun said unhappily, "Could it be that you neglected your duties and were careless, allowing someone to get close to you without you knowing it?"

The messenger was speechless.

"Let's go up to the platform and take a look." Shao Xun waved his hand, walked out of the tent, and led everyone to the platform in the middle camp.

There were blazing fires inside and outside the front army camp, and the sounds of killing were getting louder and louder, from far to near.

Faintly, people kept falling from the camp walls, both on the attacking side and on the defending side, and it looked like the fighting was very intense.

Shao Xun had fought many battles and he knew at a glance that Hao Chang had been ambushed at night.

This kind of thing was very common in wars throughout history, because it is difficult to maintain a state of tension for a long time.

"Send a message to Jin Zheng to send out four groups of soldiers for reinforcement." Shao Xun gave the order.

The messenger left quickly.

Shao Xun gave the order easily, and Liu Anzhi and others did not seem to be in a hurry.

Although the fighting in the front camp was fierce, it would not be breached for a while. Although Hao Chang had followed Mr. Chen for so long, he still liked to make a fuss.

Such a person can never achieve anything great.

One less competitor, that’s great.

Inside the central army camp, Jin Zheng ignored the officers' dissuasion and dressed himself. When he walked to the equipment rack, he picked up a weapon and walked out of the camp gate - well, it was a bit pretentious, but the soldiers of the Silver Spear Army basically knew how to use several kinds of weapons. As a senior officer, Jin Zheng practiced martial arts for many years and could really wield any weapon.

In front of the camp gate, Jin Zheng was holding a sharp steel knife.

While waiting for the troops to line up, he looked at the knife in his hand with gentle eyes, and gently stroked the back of the knife with his left hand, from the handle to the tip, then turned his wrist and stroked it back along the blade to the handle.

After doing all this, he took a deep breath, looked forward, and said, "Let's go!"

"Kill!" More than two thousand people roared in unison and rushed out with murderous intent.

On the platform, everyone continued chatting.

"The soldiers who attacked at night this time should be the soldiers that Shi Le summoned from Wei, Zhao, Guangping, Yangping, Julu, Qinghe and other counties." Shao Xun pointed to the north where half the sky was red and said, "This year he also took over Zhongshan, Changshan, Gaoyang and other counties, collected surrendered soldiers and refugees, and distributed land. His actions are quite disturbing."

"There are many famous mountains and swamps in Hebei, and he recruited many Hu people and taught them farming and animal husbandry. Almost all of Qihuo's troops were defeated and surrendered, and Shi Le used them. This year, Shi Le had a great harvest. If he hadn't crossed the river to attack Hebei, Youzhou would have been destroyed in an instant. I'm afraid Wang Jun wouldn't last half a year."

Why did Wang Jun lose? Not only because Youzhou was weak, but more importantly, Wang Jun was surrounded by enemies, and no one was willing to help him.

He had previously fallen out with Tuoba Xianbei and fought a great battle with them, but was defeated.

Then he fell out with the Wuhuan, and his son-in-law Su Shuyan surrendered to Liu Han and plundered Youzhou.

Then continue to work with Liu Kun.

First, Liu Kun sent his clansman Liu Xi to secretly return to Zhongshan to recruit soldiers. When Wang Jun found out, he was furious and directly transferred the troops fighting Shi Le back from the front line to attack Liu Xi and kill him.

After supporting Liu Xi, Shi Le was advancing rapidly and captured the counties of Zhongshan and Changshan. Wang Jun was terrified and prepared to return to fight Shi Le, but was afraid that he would not be able to defeat him, so he summoned the Xianbei of Duan, with whom he had fallen out, to help him.

However, the Xianbei people of Duan tribe were afraid of being harmed by Wang Jun and did not respond to the call.

Wang Jun was furious and actually bribed the Tuoba Xianbei with a large sum of money to ask them to help teach his son-in-law a lesson and attack the Duan Xianbei.

Tuoba Yilu was greedy for wealth and put aside past grudges. He sent his son Tuoba Rilu to lead troops to attack the Duan tribe, but was defeated.

At this point, it was completely impossible for the Duan Xianbei to help Wang Jun anymore.

Wang Jun's rule in Youzhou was already in jeopardy.

Actually, it’s quite weird to think about it. This guy actually fell out with everyone around him. His behavior is so chaotic that it’s really unsettling.

Shao Xun once doubted whether he could help Wang Jun, a piece of scum, to rise from his slump.

Even if he is helped up for a while, he will probably do things again and end up killing himself.

"My lord, does Shi Le really intend to keep wasting time?" Yu Liang watched for a long time and found that after the reinforcements arrived, the enemy's offensive suddenly stagnated. There was a stalemate for a moment, and then they were slowly pushed out. However, they did not seem to give up. Another batch of reinforcements arrived, trying to save the defeat.

"Yuan Gui, we've been fighting for so long, haven't you figured it out yet?" Shao Xun said, "Shi Le is serious this time, and he has used all his tricks. He doesn't care about casualties and is fighting fiercely. Another cavalry has broken into Henan, burning, killing and looting everywhere. Even near Luoyang, there is a bandit general with 3,000 cavalry wandering around. At this time, if I can hold on, Shi Le will be helpless. If I don't want to fight all my tricks, I can only retreat. If I can't hold on, it won't be so easy to retreat with the bandit cavalry watching closely. If I'm not careful, I'll be defeated."

After hearing this, Yu Liang felt a little ashamed.

At the critical moment, he was still causing trouble. Alas.

"Go back and do your best. The overall situation in Henan depends on you and others to support me." Shao Xun waved his hand and said, "There's nothing to see. The overall situation of tonight's battle has been decided."

(End of this chapter)