Chinese New Year

Chapter 609 Fighter Plane (Part )

Shao Xun had been in Anping for a long time, so some of the shogunate's attendants and Shao's servants rushed over.

On the tenth day of October, Lu Zhi also arrived from Yecheng.

Several carriages stopped on the path covered with a thin layer of snow.

Shao Xun jumped off the carriage and looked around.

On the empty field, the grass is yellow and withered, looking extremely desolate.

The north wind blew hard and steadily, and the rotten thatch on the roofs of abandoned houses danced high.

The river water is clear and cold, with some broken ice.

The red sun hung in the sky, without a trace of warmth.

To see the big picture from the small, Hebei at that time was like this village.

"Youzhou has seen a lot of changes. The once powerful Wang Jun has fallen to the ground with a bang. It makes people sigh that things have changed." Shao Xun looked at Lu Zhi who followed him and said, "However, this has saved the people from a war. I don't know how many people died."

It is said that in troubled times, human lives are used to clear up the accumulated evils, but when what you see are no longer numbers but real people, the feeling is completely different.

One is the perspective of a bystander, who has nothing to do with the matter.

One is the perspective of an eyewitness, who can empathize with the person.

Youzhou can be conquered by sending troops, even if it means endless killing.

Youzhou could be offered by someone else, so as to avoid the loss of manpower, money and food, and it could also be accepted.

On the one hand, Shao Xun felt sorry for the hardships of people's lives and wanted them to live a better life and not have so many people die, so he was willing to give up some of his own interests for this.

On the other hand, if necessary, they will not hesitate to infringe upon the interests and even lives of the people.

Two kinds of thoughts coexist in him at the same time. After all, people are not diodes. They are too complicated.

But if we continue to deconstruct it, the conclusion is very clear: he loves others, but he loves himself the most, and the premise of loving others is to love himself.

This is the ruler.

"Why don't you take charge of Youzhou yourself?" Lu Zhi followed and asked.

Shao Xun did not answer but asked: "Zi Dao, what do you think of the arrangements made by the governor and the governor of Youzhou?"

Lu Zhi thought about it and said, "That's very appropriate."

Although they were not the candidates he wanted to recommend, Liu Han and You Tong were also good and they were both related to him.

"Who should be appointed as the governor of Jizhou?" Shao Xun asked again.

Lu Zhi was silent.

What Mr. Chen said was actually a tactful refusal of official positions such as Mu of Youzhou and Mu of Jizhou.

He won't come to Hebei, at least not for the time being.

In addition, half of Jizhou was conquered last year, but the post of governor has remained vacant.

Lu Zhi never mentioned it, because he couldn't bring it up, and he had to avoid suspicion. If Shi Le and Liu Yao were defeated this year, the entire Jizhou would be taken, and it would be inappropriate to have no governor.

Today, Mr. Chen mentioned the governor and asked him to recommend someone. The meaning of this is difficult to understand.

"Zi Dao." Shao Xun urged, "Zi Dao is still the one who can teach me about the overall situation in Hebei."

Lu Zhi felt uncomfortable and could only say, "The Imperial Attendant Hua Heng can be appointed as the governor."

Hua Heng was the son of the former Shangshu Ling Hua Yi, and was the imperial concubine's commander and palace attendant.

The most important thing is that Hua Heng’s mother was from the Fanyang Lu family and was Lu Zhi’s aunt.

Mr. Lu really promotes talented people regardless of their relationship with him. Since the Northern Expedition, he has already secured a prefect for the Hua family in Pingyuan. If there is another governor, the Hua family's influence will be greatly boosted.

"Yes." Shao Xun agreed immediately.

Lu Zhi was a little surprised, but then he understood: If Hua Heng became the governor of Jizhou, then he, Lu Zhi, would most likely have to return to the court.

That's the exchange.

Mr. Chen is a kind man and also very sober.

What was he going to do? Lu Zhi thought about it and had an idea: among the three officials, the position of Sikong was vacant, so this was probably it.

I sighed silently in my heart. After working so hard for so long, I still didn't get the desired result.

"Liu Yao has launched an all-out counterattack and crossed the Hengshui River in a large force. What do you think, Zidao?" Shao Xun walked into the bare farmland, pushed aside the snow, picked up a piece of topsoil, and looked at it carefully.

"Liu Yao wants to join forces with the Xianbei people to attack from both sides and surround the Jin governor in Gaoyang and Hejian areas," said Lu Zhi.

Shao Xun nodded. Lu Zhi still had some understanding of the battle situation.

In fact, Jin Zhengda could have held on. Yi Congjun went back to protect the grain route, and although the grain supply would be affected to a certain extent, most of it could still be transported to the front line. The biggest problem now is that winter is coming and the rivers are tending to freeze, which will greatly affect transportation. The grain and grass that were originally expected to support two months may not last that long.

Of course, the Jin army was in trouble, and the Huns were also in trouble.

Even though Shi Le had stored a large amount of food and grass in advance, even though Changshan and Zhongshan counties had been plundered, and even though the Xiongnu had few soldiers, they were about to collapse, and they wanted to fight a quick victory. This was the general background.

Shao Xun had a basis for this judgment, because just after Jin Zheng gave up the territory he had conquered west of the Hengshui River and retreated on all fronts, the Huns launched a large-scale pursuit. As a result, they were attacked halfway across the river west of Zhongren City by Jin Zheng himself, resulting in no less than 3,000 casualties, and even more people fleeing.

But even after such a setback, Liu Yao still ordered a pursuit, which showed that they were also extremely fed up with this year's war and wanted to decide the outcome quickly.

So when the opportunity arose, they decisively deployed their troops.

For Shao Xun, the opportunity for battle actually appeared.

******
Overwhelming numbers of cavalry appeared in Wangdu and Puyin areas.

The Jin army, which had set up a camp on the road, only held out for half a day before being defeated by the siege of the Xiongnu infantry and cavalry.

The light cavalry of both sides fought against each other in the wild.

Liu Yao climbed up the high platform inside the camp and looked around carefully.

The infantry led by Liu Zheng and Zhang Yupu advanced bravely, pursuing the defeated Jin troops.

The soldiers on both sides spoke with similar accents. One side came from Changshan, Zhongshan, and Zhaojun, and the other side came from Bohai, Qinghe, and Pingyuan. The former were Han soldiers, and the latter were Jin soldiers.

After half a day of fierce fighting, the remaining Jin soldiers could no longer hold on and fled.

The Han soldiers followed closely behind with great momentum and pursued them relentlessly.

The cavalry on both sides also took action.

One side wanted to pursue the Jin army's fleeing soldiers, while the other side wanted to intercept them.

The accents of the two warring groups were complex, including Chinese, Xianbei, Xiongnu, Diqiang, Jie, and Wuhuan, which was similar to Xianbei.

Those who speak Chinese may not necessarily be fighting for the Han people, they may be killing the Han people.

Speaking the Hun language does not necessarily mean they are fighting for Liu Han. In fact, they came from Anping and were encircling the flank of Liu Yao's light cavalry. Arrows were flying in the north wind, and the Huns who were charging forward were killed and wounded.

However, the most active were the Jie people. They worked the hardest and were good at close combat, responsible for frontal interception, and their sword and shield skills were superb, which was different from the Central Plains cavalry with long spears and large lances.

"This bunch of Jie bandits!" Liu Yao looked at them with some dissatisfaction.

It would be fine if you just changed your job, but it's too much for you to still work so hard after that.

The officers and soldiers around Liu Yao also cursed when they saw this.

In fact, as a slave tribe of the Xiongnu, the Jie people had never been treated seriously by them.

In addition to their low status, their appearance and culture were incompatible with the Huns.

Among them, except for a few who look similar to the Huns, most of them have high noses and deep eyes, and a small number of them even have blonde hair. The language they speak is a mixture of Western words, Hun words, and Chinese.

The most important thing is that they believed in Zoroastrianism. Before going to war, they knelt down collectively to worship "Hu Tianshen" (the name given by the Jin people, that is, Ahura Mazda, the main god of ancient Persian Zoroastrianism), which not only the Jin people did not like, but also the Xiongnu people felt disgusted.

"He is a fickle person." Liu Yao thought to himself, "There are still a large number of Jie people in Shangdang. We must find a way to eliminate the hidden dangers."

"Disperse!" said an officer, pointing at the battlefield ahead.

Liu Yao looked around and saw a chaotic battlefield with horses and men intertwined. The horses of both sides slowed down, and some even stood still, brandishing weapons on horseback, hacking and stabbing each other. As the fight went on, the Jin cavalry began to slowly retreat and collapsed backwards, and the Xiongnu cavalry took advantage of the situation to pursue them, unstoppable.

Liu Yao breathed a sigh of relief and said, "We'll spend the night in Puyin tonight."

This year's war was so painful. It lasted from July to October and both sides were exhausted. From the perspective of the Jin army, the war started in May and lasted even longer.

Unexpectedly, what finally determined the direction of the war was Shi Le's stroke of genius: using money to lure the Duan tribe of the Xianbei to move south and intercept the Jin army's retreat.

At this point in the war, there is nothing to hesitate about but pursuit.

Chase the Jin army, drive them into defeat, and kill them until they no longer have the courage to turn around and fight, and completely recover the lost territory - it may be a little difficult, but whatever can be recovered will be the best.

"Let's go." Liu Yao waved his hand and called on the soldiers to follow.

After leaving the camp, the guards brought the horses. Liu Yao jumped on them and took out a bag of mare's milk from under the saddle bag. He tilted his head back and drank a few gulps. Then he laughed and said, "It's great!"

That's it, that's the feeling!
After drinking the wine, I felt the blood rushing up my body, as if a god possessed me, with infinite power.

The Jin soldiers before him were no longer human beings, but plants and trees that could be easily chopped down by him.

"Chase!" he shouted and ran out first.

The bodyguards followed closely behind, shouting loudly.

On the snowfield, the Hun cavalry marched in large numbers, their hooves sounded like thunder, and they crossed the roads, fields, and wastelands, heading eastward.

On the seventh night, we arrived at Puyin.

On the tenth day, they pursued the enemy into Gaoyang.

On the evening of the 11th, they arrived at the city of Gaoyang. Three thousand soldiers from Pingyuan were trapped in the city and dared not go out to fight.

Liu Yao was in high spirits and immediately sent people to contact the Duan tribe of the Xianbei, preparing to attack the Jin army from both sides.

It was at this time that he received the news of the changing situation in Youzhou.

(End of this chapter)