Chinese New Year

Chapter 538: Supervising the Battle
After mid-September, more and more enemy troops gathered at Fukouxing.

On September 12, a group of Qiang soldiers arrived at the city and attacked the camp.

This was the first battle between the two sides, and it also meant that the Huns had finally shown their fangs. They would not sit idly by and watch the Jin people capture the entire Hebei Province.

When the news came, Shao Xun had already led the Silver Spear Left Camp to Lu Ze Town in the northwest of Dalu Ze, and was leading the governor's siege of Anping.

The battle has been going on for more than half a month, and all the troops are advancing step by step with good momentum.

They really "advance step by step", and if they are not urged, their progress will be very slow. It's not that they are steady, but that they dilly-dally and don't want to use up all their strength.

Especially the infantry brigade, which always finds various excuses to slow down, hoping that others will fight first so that they can take advantage of the situation.

One moment it says that the autumn rain is continuous and the road is difficult to travel on.

One moment I heard that the Hun cavalry was numerous, and I must be well protected.

Then he said that the army had insufficient food and fodder for three months, and it would be better to wait until more food and fodder were delivered before setting off.

In short, they just find all kinds of reasons, and they all sound quite legitimate.

After repeated strict orders, the various tribes were finally willing to send out most of their cavalry, which set out ahead of the infantry to harass the elderly, the weak, women and children of the Xiongnu.

Liang Fuci did not come to Hebei alone, in fact he had "20,000 cavalry".

Of course, the so-called "20,000 cavalry" does not mean that he has 20,000 cavalrymen. This is too exaggerated. There is no such rule on the grassland.

This actually means that he can recruit more than 20,000 adult men from the tribes he brought with him. This is the rule for counting soldiers on the grassland.

During the Western Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu claimed to have 300,000 soldiers and horses, which actually meant 300,000 adult men, corresponding to a total population of about one million.

Liang Fuci brought more than 60,000 people to Anping, mainly Xiongnu, accounting for more than half, and the rest were various Hu people, distributed in Anping, Qinghe and Bohai, farming and grazing.

Since the outbreak of the war, all the Huns in Qinghe have withdrawn to Anping.

The Huns in Bohai defeated part of the eastern army, which frightened the Jin troops in Leling and Pingyuan. In addition, Cao Qi plundered Leling, and Shao Xu had already intended to withdraw his troops. So this route was considered useless and the troops were stationed in Bohai.

But they were not without merit. At least they persuaded some officials in Qinghe and Bohai to rise up and return to the right path, thus cutting off the external wings of the Xiongnu.

Su Qiu, the general of Lukou Town who came south from the north, was cunning and refused to fight the Huns head-on. He only attacked the Huns' pastures and villages, looting their cattle, sheep and people, and did not fight a hard battle at all.

Even when a large group of Huns came, he avoided fighting, knowing for sure that the Huns were surrounded on all sides and could not fight him to the end.

If it really doesn't work, I will retreat to Lukou City and stop fighting. Can you still catch up with me?
The ones who were really fighting the Huns were actually the Qihuo Army who were eager for revenge.

They had a grudge against Shi Le and did not want to see him come back, so they tried their best to defeat Liang and Fu Ci.

Bo Sheng personally led thousands of cavalrymen and fought a series of battles with the Huns, resulting in heavy casualties.

Yang Dan also worked very hard along the way.

He ran the fastest and had already captured Nangong County. However, the vanguard army suffered a defeat and was surrounded by more than 3,000 Huns in the wild, and the entire army was wiped out.

Fortunately, he had a lot of cavalry on his side, no less than 5,000. After adjusting his tactics, he stabilized the situation.

"More than 100,000 troops, with no less than 14,000 cavalry, besieged Liang Fuci with 20,000 cavalry, and this is the result so far..." On the vast shore of the misty Dalu Lake, Shao Xun looked at Liu Hezhu and Liu Hedu, father and son, who came to meet him, and said, "If I hadn't come, would you have planned to disperse?"

"How dare I, how dare I." Liu Hezhu cried out, "Mingsir, Zhang Chai led his army to defeat at the Zhang River, thousands of casualties, and the people were in panic. If I hadn't led my elite cavalry to raid the Xiongnu pastures on the east bank of the Zhang River and captured their old, weak, women and children, the Xiongnu would not have retreated, and Zhang Chai would have lost even more people."

Shao Xun snorted coldly and said nothing more.

Liang Fuci could dispatch 20,000 cavalry on paper, which was actually a huge force. Theoretically, he could completely kill these Hebei local tyrants.

The problem is, he also has pots and pans.

More than 60,000 miscellaneous Hu people were scattered all over the country. They did not build forts, but lived a half-pastoral and half-farming life, which required a lot of land and they lived in scattered areas. If the enemy could not be kept out of the country, the elderly, the weak, women and children would not have enough space to move around and would be easily attacked and captured.

If you gather all the young men to Anping, what will happen to their families?
Gathering all the population under the city of Anping would only create an even more chaotic situation, and it is also impossible.

Therefore, the Huns took advantage of their cavalry and achieved several tactical victories, defeating the Eastern Army and intimidating the Northern Army. However, the Southern and Western Army advanced step by step and sent cavalry to capture the elderly and weak Huns, as well as cattle and sheep. The Huns themselves were also in chaos.

This is just a bad fight, with both sides rolling in the mud, with you winning sometimes and I winning sometimes. It has a bit of the feeling of a fight between two weaklings.

By now, the four armies had suffered heavy losses and had started to play tricks and no longer wanted to fight.

Some people even secretly colluded with Liang Fuci to engage in a sit-in war.

This is why Shao Xun came here to supervise the battle.

Seeing Shao Xun go to comfort the captured Xiongnu, Liu Hezhu quietly walked to Liu's side and asked in a low voice: "Yena, does Lord Chen have...does he..."

Mrs. Liu was milking cows. Upon hearing this, she glanced at Liu Hezhu and was too lazy to say anything.

Liu Hezhu secretly thought there was hope.

In the past, I would be scolded whenever I mentioned this matter. This time, I just looked at him coldly, with a look of contempt and disgust, but I didn't curse at him. This is progress.

He rolled his eyes and said, "Yena, do you think Liang Fuci will lose?"

"If Shao the thief doesn't come to supervise the battle, the war can't be fought." Liu said after milking a bucket of milk.

"But he came, and he brought soldiers with him." Liu Hezhu said, "I captured thousands of people and 100,000 cattle and sheep. I had robbed enough and didn't want to fight anymore, but when I saw Chen Gong coming, I gritted my teeth and continued to fight. Our cavalry rushed in front and harassed the Xiongnu pastures, and the infantry followed behind to occupy the land and tighten the noose step by step. If Liang Fuqi didn't have the courage to abandon the elderly, the weak, the women and the children, and rush out with the strong men, he would really be finished."

Liu was a little stunned when she heard this.

Once the grassland tribes' pastures were discovered and they were attacked by enemy cavalry, they would be doomed to destruction.

During the Western Han Dynasty, there was a tactic called "raiding the nest", which was to lead elite cavalry to attack the places where the elderly, the weak, women and children were grazing.

According to Shao Ze, this is called "attacking the enemy while they must rescue them", which prevents your cavalry from running around and forces them to engage in head-on combat.

If Liang Fuci fled and led a large group of cavalry to make a detour, then the Xiongnu cavalry's families, cattle, sheep, tents and all other property would become the Jin army's.

So Liang Fuci couldn't do that.

What he was doing now was gathering people, cattle and sheep while retreating, and then taking advantage of the different coordination among the four armies, or the opportunity when one of the armies advanced recklessly, to eat up a part of them and weaken their morale, and then he was desperately looking for an opportunity to win.

He did achieve some results.

But Anping was so small, and many grazing camps had been looted, resulting in the loss of a large number of people, cattle, sheep, and wealth, so it was difficult for him.

So, this is a bad fight.

But as the situation worsens, the Jin army may be able to use its size advantage to gradually tighten the noose around Liang Fuqi's neck.

Moreover, Shao Xun is here...

This man no longer fights military battles, but only political battles all day long.

At this time, he went to comfort the captives, returned their property, and even gave them a small reward, and then asked the elderly, the weak, women and children to call back their sons, nephews, fathers and brothers.

This was a fatal blow.

Liu was not optimistic that Liang Fuci could hold out. In the end, it might turn out to be a case of the Huns fighting the Huns...

"Yena, Liang Fuci is finished. Shi Le is the only one left in Hebei, and he will be destroyed at any moment." Liu Hezhu said, "Once Lord Chen takes Hebei, the situation will be settled, and he can compete with the Emperor of Pingyang. He is one of the most powerful people in the world, and Shi Le is nothing."

"Bang!" Liu threw a bucket of milk at Liu Hezhu.

Liu Hezhu dodged in a hurry, but was still splashed with milk all over his head and face.

"You!" He wanted to curse, but after thinking it over he held back.

Liu looked towards the north, which was the direction of Zhaojun and Zhongshan.

My husband should be preparing for battle over there, right?

At the beginning, she still hoped that Da Hu would lead his troops back and rescue her.

But by now, she had given up hope.

As the light in his eyes gradually disappeared, cracks began to appear in the dam of his heart.

Everyone around her was trying to persuade her and drag her into the water.

Mr. Chen spent every day with her, handling government affairs, training troops, and comforting surrendered people, and everything was in order.

His focused, confident and wise appearance while working made Liu subconsciously feel a little irritated.

She didn't know where this irritability came from, and she didn't dare to delve into the root cause of this irritability.

She was escaping and trying her best to resist, but the strength of her resistance was just like that of Liang Fuci, who was caught in a dilemma. Her defeat was inevitable.

"Yena." Liu Hezhu saw his niece was in a daze, so he quietly walked over and whispered, "The people who went to Shangdang are back. Your brother raised the price on the spot, and I didn't dare to tell Mr. Chen."

Liu picked up the barrel and continued milking.

"What did Liu Runzhong say?" Liu Hezhu asked. Liu didn't respond.

"He is no longer satisfied with being the governor of Shangdang." Liu Hezhu said sarcastically, "He thinks too highly of himself. He said that you are his only sister, so he wants Mr. Chen to marry you and make your child the heir to inherit the power of the Shao family and even the whole world."

"Idiot." Liu finally said something.

As I was speaking, for some reason, my heart beat a few beats faster.

Shao——Does Shao Xun have a hope of conquering the world?
"I think so too. He has been the local emperor in Shangdang for so long that he really thinks that no one can do without him." Liu Hezhu said, "However, he mentioned that Liu Yao has already arrived in Shangdang, commanding tens of thousands of Di, Qiang, Han and Xiong people, and is very aggressive. If he can help, the situation will definitely be different."

Liu calmed down and said nothing more.

"Oh, I don't know how to tell Mr. Chen." Liu Hezhu sighed.

Warm cheers were heard not far away. The two looked up and saw a man in a red robe on horseback who was as fast as lightning. He drew his bow and arrow and shot them continuously.

Wherever he passed, five of the six straw men were shot down.

Pegasus shot at the straw man and hit five out of six, which was already a miraculous skill.

With such riding and archery skills, he could probably hit half of the targets even when shooting flying birds while riding a horse. No wonder everyone cheered.

"If Mr. Chen were still on the grassland, he would probably be a great leader," Liu Hezhu sighed.

******
Night fell over the earth and a bonfire was lit.

The personal soldiers wearing Ming Guang armor stood all over the ground, looking around and on high alert.

Six thousand Silver Spear Army soldiers were stationed on the periphery, surrounding the central camp.

The lake water gently hits the bank, making a splashing sound.

In the center of the camp, a dozen Xiongnu girls had just finished dancing, which drew continuous cheers from the crowd.

There were probably tens of thousands of Huns and other tribes gathered nearby, most of them were captives, and a small number of them had surrendered voluntarily due to the situation.

Shao Xun gathered them together mainly to unite the troops, undermine the morale of Liang Fuci's troops, capture Anping as soon as possible, and stabilize the situation.

After the dance, the Huns brought half a cow and placed it on the ground.

Two respected elders stepped forward, and one of them took the knife and cut a piece of bloody internal organs from the cow, which was called "heart dish". They cut it into pieces and put it into a porcelain plate.

Another person picked up a tall bowl and poured milky liquid into it.

After they were done, two girls, about thirteen or fourteen years old, stepped forward, walked in front of Shao Xun, knelt on the ground, and raised their hands above their heads.

The man on the left spoke in a clear and crisp voice, "When frost fell from the sky, the most powerful Chanyu in the world decided to send out his troops to hunt with the commanders of the tribes, cut fresh food for food, and asked each other what they had seen and what they were good at."

Another person said: "In September, when frost and snow fall, the water will gather into a bowl. If the Chanyu looks at the bowl and drinks it all in one gulp, he will rule the world."

Shao Xun sat cross-legged on the felt carpet, looking at the bloody "heart vegetable" in silence.

The Huns all looked at him.

Even Liu looked over curiously.

Shao Xun took the meat-cutting knife from the tray, picked up a piece of "heart-touching vegetable", put it in his mouth, chewed it slowly with a smile on his face.

He moved quickly, eating one piece after another. Just when the smile on his face became a little stiff, he picked up the bowl.

This is a high-footed bowl, fired in the Central Plains, but it is rare in the Central Plains.

The base of the bowl is about ten centimeters long, the mouth of the bowl is large and deep, and it is filled with milky white kumis.

He seemed a little impatient, picked up the cup with both hands and drank it down with gulps.

Some of the wine spilled, mixed with blood and fell onto the robe.

After a moment, he drank it all and placed the bowl on his plate.

Just as he was about to wipe his mouth with silk, he paused and simply wiped it with his sleeve.

The two girls displayed the empty tray to everyone.

The cheers rose like a tsunami.

Shao Xun stood up, suppressed the churning in his stomach, and laughed.

Liu Hezhu shook his head and sighed. How many high-ranking officials in the Jin Dynasty could achieve this?

They would only contemptuously call them "Hu" and humiliate them in every way, even though they had relied on the Hu people to fight wars for many years.

If the Hu people had your armor and weapons, and had money and food to provide them with, they could concentrate on honing their skills and practicing tactics, and would have defeated you long ago.

Since the Western Han Dynasty, they have relied on weapons and armor to bully others.

At that time, "the weapons of the Hu people were simple and blunt, and their bows and crossbows were ineffective", and one Han could defeat five Hu people.

By the Later Han Dynasty, "they had acquired quite a bit of Han craftsmanship", but one Han could only defeat three Hu people.

What about now? When the battlefield was at a stalemate, the Hu people's heavy cavalry was needed to decide the outcome.

The Han people are lucky because they have Shao Taibai.

Otherwise, who would own the vast north?

Taibai was brave, heroic, broad-minded, and treated Hu and Han people equally. Liu Hezhu truly admired him.

He really has the potential to unify the North, but no one else can.

Seeing Shao Xun being worshipped by the Hu people, Liu suddenly felt a little scared and left in a panic.

"I only wish for peace between the Chinese and the barbarians. The Han, Jie, Qiang, Di, Xiongnu, Wuhuan, Xianbei... are all my children. Those who come to surrender will be forgiven, and those who stubbornly resist——"

"Kill them!" someone shouted.

Shao Xun glanced over there with satisfaction, raised his right hand, and shouted: "Those who resist stubbornly——"

"Kill them!" The voices gradually became louder.

"The last holdout—"

"Kill them!"

"Here comes the wine!"

The girl then offered kumis.

Shao Xun might have been drunk, so he picked up the wine bowl and drank it all in one gulp.

The cheers almost pierced the night sky.

More than a dozen girls came forward and started dancing around him.

Liu sat down on the grass and looked at the grand scene under the campfire from afar.

She took out a jade pendant from her bosom and looked at it for a long time.

There was a word "Stone" carved on the jade pendant, and she held it tightly in her hand, as if drawing strength from it.

This person——

When trying to win over the Jin clans, he was very literary, eloquent, and well-quoted from classics.

When he was with warriors, he would go hunting and shooting, and ask about their well-being.

When interacting with other people, he was generous and magnanimous, and respected their customs and gave them enough face.

Could such a person really be a god incarnate?
This divine man really fits the image of a heroic man in her imagination.

How did Liang Fuci resist?

Da...how can Shi Le resist?

On September 13, under the command of Shao Xun, the various troops regrouped and launched a more fierce offensive against Liang Fuci's troops.

From that day on, more and more Huns deserted their posts and came to join them, and their families were reunited.

It was also at this time that the fighting in Shexian and its surrounding areas began to enter a white-hot stage.

The situation in Hebei, at least until this moment, is still chaotic and unclear, and anything is possible.

(End of this chapter)