Chinese New Year

Chapter 503 General
Huangchi, also known as Huangze, is located in the west of Neihuang County and north of Baigou River.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, King Fuchai of Wu went north and met with Duke Ding of Jin, Duke Ai of Lu and others at Huangchi, which is known in history as the "Huangchi Meeting."

There are many different opinions on the cause of Huangchi. The most likely possibility is that the ancient Yellow River changed its course, and then a huge lake was formed in the low-lying area of ​​Huangchi. It was very large at first, then gradually became smaller, and finally dried up during the Zhengtong period of the Ming Dynasty.

Huangchi is a very important node because a large number of ships can be moored here.

Ships and water systems are the lifeline for the Henan army, which is mainly composed of infantry.

The fifth day of May is a bad day for the people of Neihuang County.

Because the Great Hu's Northern Expedition to Youzhou was extremely consuming, they requisitioned food and fodder from all over Hebei, causing food prices to rise steadily.

After a large number of cavalry were allocated, the requisition of food and fodder became more severe, causing grain reserves in various places to quickly run out. Some poor people in Neihuang County even began to pick mulberries, wild vegetables, and grass roots to survive, and they were miserable.

As the Jin army gathered in large numbers in Fangtou, anyone with a discerning eye could see that another war was about to break out. As a result, manors and fortresses began to hoard grain and were reluctant to sell it, causing grain prices to reach a new peak.

The high grain prices may not be a big deal for farmers who grow and harvest their own crops, as they will not buy grain. However, for those who live in cities and do not directly engage in agricultural production and rely on buying grain to survive, it is very uncomfortable and famine is inevitable.

"The ancients said that May is an 'evil month', and it's true." By the bank of the Huang Pond, Huang Tongyi was cutting mugwort and sighing.

Huang Tong's son Huang Tao stood up and looked to the north.

The vast expanse of blue water was empty, with nothing on it. In the past, no matter how hard the weather was, there would be people rowing and racing on the lake, which was very lively. Unfortunately, now there was nothing, it was indeed an "evil month".

"Grandpa, I want to go to the lake to welcome Wu Jun." Huang Tao put down the sickle, touched the bubble in the palm of his hand, and said.

"You don't want to welcome Lord Wu, you want to play, right?" Huang Tong exposed his son's lame excuse and added, "Besides, the custom of dragon boat racing originated from the great official Qu Yuan of the Chu State. He drowned himself in Miluo River, and the people mourned for him, so they raced to save him."

"But what is written in Cao'e Temple is 'On the fifth day of May, Wu Jun went upstream against the tide and was drowned by the water.' It is obvious that the source of the custom is Wu Zixu. What does it have to do with Qu Yuan?" Huang Tao argued.

"Do you believe I will beat you up?" Huang Tong said angrily, "My family is from Chu, and we have no mortal enemies with Wu. Have you forgotten what your father taught you?"

"It happened many years ago. Sun Wu was destroyed..." Huang Tao curled his lips. Seeing that his father was really going to hit him, he immediately begged for mercy: "Grandpa, don't hit me. My family has been a one-man family for generations. If you kill me, you will have no descendants."

Huang Tong stopped his palm-leaf-fan-like slap, threw the mugwort on the ground, and said, "Pack it up and take it home."

After that, he went to the lake to wash the horses.

After a while, Huang Tao tied the mugwort and placed it on the horse's back.

The father and son led the horse towards home, chatting casually along the way.

"Grandpa, you said that you met Shao Xun when you went to Feixiang to buy horses?" Huang Tao asked.

"I haven't seen it, it was so chaotic, I didn't dare to go near it. I was just drunk and boasting to others." Huang Tong blushed and said, "At that time, Ji Sang was still alive, Gou Xi and Shao Xun attacked from both sides. After the war, I went to the battlefield and saw nothing was left. Even the dead horses were eaten."

"Is Shao Xun very good at fighting?" Huang Tao asked again.

"How should I know?" Huang Tong shook his head: "It should be good. In the Battle of Yemagang, Shi Le and others gathered tens of thousands of people and defeated them. But it has been a few years, and the Dahu can't be underestimated now. Who knows?"

"Uncle Gao said yesterday that if Shao Xun called, he would surrender. Grandpa, you quarreled with him at that time. Why?" Huang Tao asked again.

"In our fortress, there are people from Bingzhou, Jizhou, and Sizhou. The origins are complicated. When you are not sure, there are some things you can't say casually."

"Grandpa, you want to surrender too?"

"What do you mean by surrender or not? It's so harsh. Shao Xun is here, we should shut ourselves in and offer some money and food, that's all."

"You're not going to send protons, are you? I don't want to go."

"I won't send you there." Huang Tong sighed, not in a good mood.

Yesterday, when I was discussing matters with several other fortress leaders, someone mentioned the incident in the late Han Dynasty when Cao Cao attacked Yuan Tan and his brothers. They were all worried that Shao Xun would attack Neihuang.

In the end, nothing was accomplished and people were left in a state of panic.

He was still thinking about it when he got up this morning, and the more he thought about it, the more upset he became.

Damn you Shi Le and Shao Xun, you two should decide who is the winner. Who do you want me to vote for if I am in the middle?

Especially Shao Xun, please don't cheat me, seriously.

He went around Neihuang, tricked a bunch of people into joining him, and then just walked away. How would the Hebei people feel about this?

In times of war, these things are the most troublesome.

The decision is not made lightly. Once made, the future of more than a thousand households in the fortress will be at stake.

The two of them quickly returned to the dock.

The guards were guarding outside the door, fully armed and ready to face a powerful enemy. When they saw the Huang father and son, they immediately saluted and let them in.

The mother met them at the door of their home. When she saw the father and son, she scolded them: "Everyone else sent the villagers to cut mugwort, but you insisted on going by yourselves."

"This is how your heart will be sincere." Huang Tong laughed.

Huang Tao raised the mugwort in his hand and said, "Mother, if you use this grass to prick people, you can scare away Shao Xun's 100,000 troops."

The mother was so angry that she laughed and said, "You just talk nonsense."

"Shao Bing is here!" Hurry footsteps were heard outside the yard.

Hmm? Huang Tong and Huang Tao looked at each other, then ran out and climbed up the corner tower to watch. They saw more than a dozen cavalrymen coming from west to east outside the fort, galloping along the Baigou.

When they got close to the fort, they dismounted.

A few people were pointing and talking, while one was writing and drawing.

Huang Tongyi looked at their attire and found that they were not the Jie cavalry under Shi Le, but genuine Jin cavalry.

"Something bad has happened. Shao Xun is really going to attack Neihuang." Huang Tong murmured.

"He only knows how to imitate Cao Mengde, doesn't he have any rules of his own?" Huang Tao stamped his feet and said, "Just go and attack Yecheng directly."

It is very simple to attack Yecheng directly. Go north from Fangtou, follow the Great Post Road, capture Chaoge, Dangyin, Anyang, and then go north to Yecheng. But looking at the current situation, Shao Xun obviously intends to advance northeast along the Baigou River and enter Huangchi.

There is no doubt that Neihuang is his primary target.

Alas, what you fear will come true. Now Shao Xun is really going to attack, what should I do?
"Let's leave it to fate." Huang Tong patted his son's shoulder and sighed.

******
Compared with the few Jin army cavalry in the Huangchi area, there were large cavalry groups numbering in the thousands on the post road west of the Qi River leading to Chaoge County.

Each of them carried two or three horses and seven days' worth of food and water. They moved quickly and galloped across the wilderness.

On the fifth day of May, they even lured away a group of more than a hundred mixed Hu cavalrymen and surrounded and annihilated them.

On the sixth night, we stayed in a fort in the northeast of Gong County.

Almost at the same time, infantry gathered outside the north city of Fangtou, and vehicles were transported in large numbers. Their intention to move north was very obvious.

Tao Bao, the governor of Wei County, received the news immediately and ordered the city gates to be closed and the stored materials to be counted. Unfortunately, there were not many.

Wang Jun's northern expedition cost a lot of money, and most of the grain in Yecheng was lost to the north. And this year's crops are not growing well, which makes people very worried that there will be famine in the second half of the year.

For this reason, a considerable number of soldiers and civilians in Yecheng have moved to Anping to seek food because they cannot be fed.

With no other options, he could only report to Youzhou and ask Dahu to make the decision. At the same time, he sent Zhi Quliu to lead a part of the cavalry to the south to collect food and keep watch nearby.

On the tenth day of May, a large number of cavalrymen poured into Chaoge County. After a little replenishment, they rushed southward and headed straight to the north city of Fangtou. They immediately climbed to a high place to observe the enemy situation.

His eyes first fell on the banks of the Qi River.

The Qi River meanders from north to south.

Trenches were dug and earthen walls were built on the west bank. Zhi Quliu cursed in his heart, thinking that they had nothing to do but dig trenches and build walls, making it impossible for his cavalry to charge.

There is a gap between the east bank of the Qi River and the north city of Fangtou, which seems to allow cavalry to move in and out directly, but the room for maneuver is too small. If they encounter cavalry like the Jin army's fierce charging and attacking cavalry, it will be quite troublesome.

Furthermore, at such a short distance, their infantry might also join the battle, set up barricades, or pull in baggage carts, further reducing the cavalry's room for maneuver.

Fighting with enemy infantry and cavalry in a small space is something that a wise man would not do.

Look outside the north city of Fangtou again, wow!

More than ten thousand infantrymen were leaving the city and forming a battle line in the wilderness.

His eyes swept across the three square formations in the shape of a triangle.

The front row had bright armor, waving flags, and standing spears.

The morale of the back row was high. They had been standing for a long time without much noise. Their formation was neat. Although they were not first-rate infantry, they could not be defeated in a few strokes.

"Boom, boom, boom..." The sound of passionate drums rang out from the top of the city wall.

More than ten thousand infantrymen advanced in unison, stopping after fifty steps.

"Kill!" Tens of thousands of people roared in unison, shaking the wilderness.

"Xilulu!" Someone's horse was frightened and started neighing on the spot.

Zhi Quliu was shocked and glared at him.

The drums started again.

"Kill!" Tens of thousands of troops advanced another fifty steps, then aligned themselves and stood in the wilderness with weapons in hand.

This time, Lian Zhiquliu felt the murderous aura filling the wilderness.

The south gate of Fangtou North City was opened, and more than a thousand cavalrymen filed out of the city, bypassed the city wall from the east side, and came to the wilderness in the north.

They ran in small steps without speeding up, but the strong feeling of oppression could not be shaken off.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" The infantry formation in front advanced again.

The cavalry began to speed up.

On the Baigou River not far away, masts and oars were like a forest. Countless transports stood on the decks, hitting shields with the backs of their swords. The sound of shouting came from far away and came one after another: "Kill!"

The drummer on the city wall took off his shirt and beat the drum shirtless.

The rumbling of drums inspires people to move forward.

All the more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry in the audience became excited.

The front row of infantry laid down their spears, and the crossbowmen pulled the mule carts forward and unloaded the powerful crossbows.

The archers were divided into two sides, ready to fight.

The cavalry began to encircle the enemy.

"Retreat!" Zhi Quliu spat, came down from the high ground, and retreated with his three thousand cavalry.

"Ding ding!" The gong sounded.

Except for the cavalry which was still pursuing, the infantry had stopped advancing.

The drummer dropped his mallet at his feet and laughed.

"Victory!" The infantry formation looked at the retreating backs of the enemy cavalry and shouted in unison.

"Victory!" Thunderous cheers rang out inside and outside the city at the same time.

On the river, the boatmen who were transporting supplies listened and seemed to be thinking deeply.

The servants who were unloading the cargo in the river saw this and regained their strength.

The Guanxi soldiers, Nanyang soldiers, Heiliang soldiers, Tuntian soldiers, and transport soldiers who had traveled a long distance shouted excitedly, and the slight fear that had originally existed in their hearts disappeared.

Everyone should move forward in a group, don't be afraid, fight with him, kill him, the enemy will also be afraid and retreat.

Military officer Li Chong came to the women's wall.

The powerful roar can be heard everywhere.

It was steaming up from the banks of the Qi River, the big rivers, inside the city, and in the wilderness, as if it was about to sweep across the land of Hebei.

"What do people in Yecheng say?" he asked.

"Shi Le's main force has not returned yet."

"Today we will slaughter pigs and sheep and feast for the whole army. Tomorrow we will march to Chaoge."

"As ordered."

Li Chong turned around and left, silently going down the city wall.

Wherever he passed, the military academies all saluted him.

He was a military officer of the shogunate, an old man from Yuan Cong, and a general appointed by Mr. Chen himself. He had commanded the army in Puyang for several years and was familiar with every tree and blade of grass on both sides of the river. He was very experienced.

This time, it is a crucial battle to test his value.

If you can cross this line, you will become a general whose name will go down in history.

If you can't get over it, everything will be over.

(End of this chapter)