Chinese New Year

Chapter 624 Lobbyist
A floating bridge has been built on the Juma River.

More than 4,700 soldiers from the Right Silver Spear Camp went north along the pontoon bridge and arrived in Quanzhou, in the southern border of Yan State, at the end of February.

After they crossed the river, 5,000 young men conscripted from Zhangwu and Hejian counties also crossed the river one after another.

However, they soon stopped, searching for chariots and waiting for the arrival of reinforcements.

After more than half a year of fighting, all kinds of supplies were severely depleted.

Arrows, weapons and the like have been replenished in Hebei, iron armor, leather armor and the like have been replaced or repaired, and two-thirds of the chariots have been lost, so far only a portion of them have been replenished.

As for replenishing the troops, they have to wait for the Silver Spear Camp in Nanyang to send new soldiers over.

In mid-November last year, Wu Qian recruited 5,000 new soldiers in one go and added them to the Silver Spear Camp.

The Central Camp transferred three battalions of soldiers who had been trained for a year to join the Black Sword Army, bringing its total strength to 6,000 - currently there are still 4,200 people in Youzhou.

The Central Battalion transferred another 2,000 soldiers who had been trained for a year to replace the casualties of the Silver Spear Battalions.

Thus, the Central Camp still had a total of eleven battalions and six thousand six hundred soldiers, most of whom were new recruits.

Ten thousand troops of Jinzheng's army were trained in Quanzhou.

On the other hand, at the beginning of March, Shao Xun personally led more than 4,000 Heiliang troops, 5,000 Yicong cavalry, and more than 7,000 Hu light cavalry, and arrived at Lu County, while part of the vanguard approached Wuzhong (now Ji County).

The total number of soldiers and horses along this route was more than 17,000.

In addition, the generals of the five major towns marched north with 10,000 cavalrymen and had just arrived in Jicheng to assemble, collect food, arrows and other supplies, and rush to Lu County day and night.

The movement of more than 30,000 infantry and cavalry was so huge that it soon spread to all the counties in Youzhou.

At this time, Zao Song had already arrived at a pasture in the south of Xuwu County.

There were several white tents standing by the stream, and seven or eight shepherds riding on war horses came to meet Zaosong.

Zao Song reined in his horse from a distance, and when he saw the lance in the herdsman's hand, his eyelids twitched.

Wang Pengzu is really outrageous!
He heard that the Duan Xianbei had fought against Shi Le once before, but failed to capture the city and were pursued during their retreat, losing 5,000 armored horses.

He was not sure whether these 5,000 armored horses were fully equipped or only equipped with Han Dynasty horse head armor - which only covered the head and chest of the horse, with no armor on the neck, back and buttocks. During the local rebellion in the Han Dynasty, more than 97,000 sets of horse head armor were transferred to the Donghai County arsenal at one time. The production was still much simpler than full armor.

Taking into account that Duan's troops had suffered successive defeats in western and eastern Liaoning and had lost a large amount of cavalry equipment, Zao Song was speechless that the group of people who were now struggling to survive in Peking still had horse lances, halberds, and armored cavalry to use.

He is also responsible in this matter.

"Produced in Zaotai?" the shepherd who came over asked in awkward Jin dialect.

"Where is the Duke of Liaoxi County?" Zao Song had adjusted his mood and asked with a stern face.

The shepherd choked and said, "Please follow me."

After that, he turned around and led the way.

Zaosong followed and was soon led to a clearing in the woods.

A huge tent was built on the open ground. From a distance, it looked like it could accommodate hundreds of people. During the Southern Dynasty, an envoy went north and saw a huge tent that could accommodate thousands of people. He was very surprised and said that he had only heard about it before, but now he had seen it in person.

After Zao Song dismounted, he asked the guards to stay outside and walked into the tent with only two followers.

Outside the tent stood warriors in iron armor, holding bows, swords, spears, halberds and other weapons. These were the personal followers of the Duke of Liaoxi County, and they looked very majestic.

Zao Song snorted coldly, you are just trying to intimidate me!
After he entered the big tent with his head held high, he glanced around and saw more than twenty people sitting inside. There were four leaders: Duan Jilujuan, Duan Mobo, Duan Pidi, and Duan Wenyang. The others were unfamiliar, probably children of later generations of nobles.

These four sections were not in harmony before, but now that the army is approaching, they have come together for a rare occasion.

The person sitting behind the desk in the middle is Duan Jilujuan.

The man was sitting on a tiger skin with his legs crossed.

Wearing a Xianbei hat on his head - Cui Jishu was not killed, the lotus stems in his family pond turned into a human face, and he wore a Xianbei hat, which was this kind of hat.

This hat is also called the Wuhuan hat. It is made of wood, shaped like a tea bowl, and dyed red. Some parts of it are similar to the bowl-shaped hats worn by Qing officials in later generations.

This kind of hat covered the shaved scalp of the Xianbei people very well, with only a few braids hanging down under the hat, making them look like ropes, so they were sometimes contemptuously called "Suotou" or "Suolu".

Duan Jilujuan was wearing a ochre-colored sweater with a left lapel.

The Xianbei people really like to wear red hats and red clothes.

He held a butcher knife in his hand, cut off a piece of bloody venison, put it on the tip of the knife, and asked, "Don't you want to eat something?"

The others immediately looked at him with malicious eyes.

Especially Duan Wenyang, who was sitting on the outside, with a muscular build, his sweater open, and the black hair on his chest like steel needles.

He looked at Zaosong with a smile, stuffed a piece of raw venison into his mouth, and started chewing it with a crunching sound.

When marching and fighting and the army was short of rations, they had eaten raw horse liver, raw horse blood and even raw human flesh, which all had a strong fishy smell. What was raw venison? Sometimes there was even no human flesh to eat. They would just carry a human or animal bone with them, and when they were really hungry, they would boil some water into soup and swallow it whole.

How can you have the fighting power if you don’t turn yourself into a beast?
The Huns were too civilized, so we couldn't defeat them, but the people of Jin were even more civilized than the Huns.

Zao Song walked straight to the table, took the venison off the tip of the knife, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it and ate it, saying with a smile: "The gift from Duke Liaoxi is indeed delicious."

Duan Jilujuan laughed.

Zaosong also laughed.

Everyone laughed, but some people's laughter turned into sneers.

"Zao Taichan, I heard that you killed Wang Shao?" Duan Jilujuan put down the meat-cutting knife, wiped his hands, and asked.

"After my father-in-law died, my wife was in a trance and fell ill, and died suddenly at home." Zao Song said expressionlessly: "Things in the world are unpredictable, who can predict it? For example, you guys here can still sit around and eat meat now, but I don't know how many of you will be able to see in ten days?" As soon as these words came out, everyone's face changed.

Duan Ji and Lu Juan looked normal, and only asked, "Tai Chan, you used to mess around under Wang Pengzu. Why do you think Shao Xun is an eloquent ruler and you need to work hard now?"

"Mr. Chen is a hero of the world. He is kind and benevolent, quick-witted and wise, and has the courage to break through the enemy lines. I am impressed by him, so I am willing to work for him." Zao Song said.

"He may be brave, but not necessarily kind." Duan Jilujuan said, "In the battle of Chang'an, he killed five thousand of our brave soldiers. Is this kindness? My father died of depression, which was closely related to this incident."

"It's just an old story, why bring it up?" Zao Song sneered and said disdainfully: "If Murong Wei were allowed to kill us, the number of dead would be more than 5,000. I'm afraid it would be more than 50,000."

When the Murong family was mentioned, the atmosphere in the tent suddenly became gloomy.

The wars between them and the Murong clan were so frequent that they could not be counted, but they had more defeats than victories.

The Murong Xianbei used light cavalry to shoot, heavy cavalry to charge, and armored cavalry to make the final decision. They were extremely fierce. If they fought head-on, without any tricks, they would really be defeated!
Moreover, the Murong Xianbei also had a large number of infantry, which was what the Duan Xianbei lacked.

But the Murong family wanted to kill all the Duan people, which made people even more frightened.

"Mr. Chen can defeat Murong Xianbei?" Duan Mobo sneered at the side, "In the Battle of Zhangwu, the Yicong Army was no better than this. I sent people to fight several times, and only those who spoke Xiliang dialect had some skills and were relatively tough, the others were no match."

The most powerful troops among the Yicong Army were indeed the cavalry recruited from Liangzhou. The others were either private soldiers of Henan nobles or mixed Hu cavalry. They were well-equipped but had a mixed staff and their combat effectiveness was indeed average.
Moreover, the army has expanded severely in recent years, from a thousand to three thousand, then back to two thousand, then increased to five thousand, then reduced to three thousand, and suddenly expanded to seven thousand. Most of them have not been in the army for long, and the personnel consumption is very severe. Two generals have died, and new recruits have been repeatedly replenished. As a result, Shao Xun lamented that the Yicong Army of seven thousand cavalry is not as capable of fighting as when the establishment was only three or four thousand.

It would take the Silver Spear Army three to five years to form combat effectiveness, and it would take even longer for the cavalry to improve their combat effectiveness. So after the fight, Duan Mobo looked down on the Yicong Army, thinking that they were mediocre and not as powerful as he had imagined.

"General Duan didn't gain much advantage in the Battle of Zhangwu, did he?" Zao Song glanced at him and said, "I heard that no less than a thousand Xianbei warriors died in Zhangwu, Hejian, and Gaoyang. If they fight a few more times, General Duan's troops will probably be wiped out. On the other hand, Lord Chen went back to Henan, raised his arm and called for the sons of wealthy families to come and join him. It was easy for the Yicong Army to expand to ten thousand cavalry. After training, will General Duan still be able to fight?"

The smile on Duan Mobo's face froze.

The army is actually a consumable, and he knows this very well.

What he relied on to become a leader were nothing more than a few thousand veteran soldiers who had fought repeatedly with the Yuwen Xianbei, Murong Xianbei, and various armies from the Central Plains and had emerged from the sharp blades of the battlefield.

Veterans will also be consumed, and one less will be left when one dies.

Although he kept belittling the Yicong Army, this army was still more capable than the Zaohu. They could not be defeated in one wave and had to be attacked repeatedly. In the process, casualties were inevitable.

Zaosong’s meaning is very clear, how many people do you have to grind the meat?
"That's enough." Duan Jilujuan looked at Zao Song and said, "Shao Xun has arrived in Lu County, right? I heard that in addition to the cavalry, there are also infantry?"

Zaosong nodded.

"What conditions did Shao Xun give?" asked Duan Jilujuan.

Duan Mobo suddenly turned his head and looked at Duan Jilujuan.

Duan Shefu Chen lowered his head, not knowing what to think.

Duan Wenyang and Duan Pidi looked at each other and signaled with their eyes.

"The positions of generals of the three towns of Linji, Lulong and Jingsai can be inherited by their successors," said Zao Song.

"Only three?" Duan Ji Lujuan frowned.

"Only three." Zao Song nodded.

Duan Jilujuan sneered and said, "Shao Xun has a really dark heart."

Zaosong looked at him and smiled without saying anything.

"Is he sure he can defeat us?" asked Duan Jilujuan.

Zao Song bowed and said, "The Duke of Liaoxi may be proud of the brave warriors under his command, but has he ever thought that the Murong clan has already sent reinforcements to Liaoxi? Under attack from both the east and the west, he can only flee to the northern mountains, and then he will run into the arms of the Yuwen clan. Who are the Yuwen clan? Can they be polite to Lord Duan? By then, their fate may be worse than surrendering to Lord Chen. Or, does the Duke of Liaoxi want to surrender to the Murong clan?"

Duan Jilujuan remained silent for a long time.

"Oh, I almost forgot! Since the beginning of spring, there has been a shortage of grass and the livestock are not strong." Zao Song continued, "I guess Lord Duan doesn't have much grain and beans. How can we fight this war? If the war goes badly, we will have to migrate on a large scale. I don't know how many livestock will die on the road. How can we live?"

"How many people are there in the Black Sword Army?" asked Duan Jilujuan.

"No less than ten thousand." Zao Song replied.

At the same time, he was secretly surprised that the Duan tribe Xianbei actually knew about the Heiyao Army.

Among the three cores of Chen Gong's infantry, the Silver Spear Left Camp was the strongest, the Silver Spear Right Camp was much weaker, and the Black Spear Army was even weaker than the Silver Spear Right Camp. But no matter how weak they were, they were still stronger than those miscellaneous soldiers, so Duan Ji and Lu Juan didn't ask about other infantry at all, because with cavalry and foot, they would collapse with a single charge.

"The Silver Spear Right Camp also has 15,000 elite soldiers heading north, with chariots rumbling and morale high. I wonder if Lord Duan's armored cavalry can break them? If not, they can only migrate." Zao Song added, "The grass sprouts are very short in spring, and the cattle and horses have nothing to eat. Alas!"

Having said that, Zao Song shook his head.

Duan Jilujuan looked at the other four people and asked, "What do you think?"

Duan Shefuchen smiled and said, "I don't want to vote for Murong."

Duan Pidi said: "If Shao Xun can respect the Jin Dynasty, it is not impossible to surrender."

Duan Wenyang hesitated for a moment and asked, "When will Murong Wei send out his troops? Liaoxi County seems to have more than 20,000 cavalry and a lot of infantry. Will they attack us in the spring?"

No one could answer him.

Duan Mobo glared at him and said, "How can you surrender without even fighting?"

After listening to this, Duan Jilujuan remained silent for a long time.

Zaosong waited patiently.

"I want to meet Shao Xun. Does he dare to meet me?" Duan Jilujuan suddenly asked.

(End of this chapter)