Chinese New Year

Chapter 653: Night Battle (Additional chapter for the Alliance Master under the Wutong Tree)
The terrain of eastern Shandong in later generations was generally that Mount Tai, Mount Lu, and Mount Yi stretched from east to west, separating the north and the south.

Of course, it is impossible that such a long east-west mountain range is entirely unsuitable for vehicles and horses to pass through.

Laiwu Valley is a very critical road connecting the north and the south.

The southwest entrance of this valley is in the southwest of present-day Laiwu, and the northeast entrance of this valley is in the southwest of present-day Linzi. Both the Zishui River and the Wenshui River have sections flowing out of it. This was also one of Liu Yu's routes for the Northern Expedition. The main force went north from Daxian Mountain, and a small force went out of the Laiwu Valley.

There is Laiwu County in the valley, which was established during the Han Dynasty and has been occupied by Cao Qi for several years.

On March 28th, when Shao Xu, Duan Pidi and others attacked from the front and back and defeated Cao Qi's troops guarding the river, Yang Chen personally led more than 30,000 infantry and cavalry from Mount Tai, arrived at Mou County (near present-day Laiwu), and officially entered the Laiwu Valley.

On the last day of March, Guang Yi, a former official of Yue Prefecture and a descendant of the Guang family of Le'an, led a hundred people out of Laiwu County and headed southwest.

Because there had just been a series of heavy rains, mountain streams converged and flowed into the Wenshui River, then southwest into Lu, then into the Zibo River, then northeast into Qi.

Guangyi and his companions went upstream along the Zishui River. Along the way, they saw continuous and steep mountain ranges on both sides. There were also places with deep and gloomy forests, which looked very creepy.

Considering that the post road has been in disrepair for a long time and is even difficult to travel, if there are ambushes, it will be really difficult to move forward.

After walking for several miles, Guangyi saw a group of knights on foot leading their horses in the distance. After sending people to negotiate, he got the general named Yang Quan, who led 500 cavalrymen as the vanguard and headed straight for Laiwu.

"General Yang." Guangyi waved from afar.

"Is there a priest ahead?" Yang Quan shouted while sitting on the horse.

"Le'an Guangyi has come to welcome the royal teacher." Guangyi asked his followers to stay behind and went forward alone, and soon met Yang Quan.

This was a young man who was no more than thirty years old. He was tall and had strong arms. When he saw Guangyi, he dropped his spear to the ground and dismounted.

Guangyi's eyelids twitched.

Maybe it had rained, and the ground by the river was soft, the thick and long lance in Yang Quan's hand went straight into the ground very deep, making people swallow their saliva just by looking at it - if you were hit in the chest by this thing while charging on horseback, could you keep your body steady?

Yang Quan stepped forward.

Two personal soldiers also stepped forward, one to hold Yang Quan's horse, and the other to get the spear.

For some reason, the man pulled for a long time but couldn't get the lance out. So he called another person over, and the two of them worked together to pull out the lance stuck in the mud. They followed Yang Quan, carrying the heavy horse-fighting weapon one after the other.

"How is Laiwu?" Yang Quan glanced at the people who followed Guangyi and asked.

"Cao Yi sent a general to garrison Laiwu. He was drunk and tied up by the whole county. More than 2,000 of his followers were killed and dispersed by local nobles. So we ask the royal army to arrive quickly, otherwise there may be changes." Guangyi bowed and said anxiously.

Laiwu was originally a county under Mount Tai, and was captured by Cao Yi a few years ago. The local nobles had a close relationship with the Yang family of Mount Tai, so they naturally rebelled at the first suggestion.

Two days ago, they gathered 700 to 800 people, first knocked out the officers sent by Cao Yi and put them in jail, then raided Cao's troops and drove them out. If nothing unexpected happened, Guanggu would have heard the news and would probably send a second wave of troops, so they had to act quickly and occupy Laiwu before the enemy so that the army would have a place to stay.

"Didn't Cao Yi claim to have more than 100,000 soldiers? Why did he only send more than 2,000 people?" Yang Quan waved his hand and asked someone to bring the horses over.

"We do have over a hundred thousand able-bodied men, but where do the hundred thousand soldiers come from?" Guang Yi said with a wry smile, "We have at most 20,000 men who can fight, half of whom are Gou Xi's surrendered soldiers, and the rest are mostly demons and bandits."

The name "demon thief" was not invented by Guangyi, but was the official name given to the Taoist disciples of Tianshi by the Jin court.

The world has been in chaos for more than ten years, and the Jin court has many opponents, among which -

There is "rebel". Although Shao Xun is often called a "thief", he is actually a rebel within the system, so it is appropriate to call him "Shao the Rebel".

There are "thieves", usually peasant uprising armies or something like that.

There are "Lu", generally Hu people.

There are "demons", which specifically refer to religious rebels.

Guangyi said that Cao Qi had 10,000 evil thieves, which meant 10,000 diehard Tianshidao members.

As for the more than 100,000 soldiers, that's pure nonsense.

When Shao Xun attacked Hebei, the manifesto also said that there were "500,000 soldiers from Henan". This was all nonsense.

"In this case, there is no time to hesitate." Yang Quan thought for a moment, called a close follower and said, "You return quickly and report the general's information to Governor Yang, asking him to immediately send the Silver Spear Central Camp and light troops to rush to Laiwu."

"Yes, sir." The attendant mounted his horse and left.

Yang Quan also mounted his horse and shouted, "Go to Laiwu."

Five hundred Yang clan members mounted their horses and said, "Let's go to Laiwu."

Hundreds of riders slowly picked up speed along the Zibo River.

The road had been in disrepair for a long time and was muddy and slippery after the rain. From time to time, riders would fall to the ground, and from time to time, horses would be accidentally injured and kneel down in pain.

Yang Quan didn't even look at them, and kept urging everyone to speed up and follow closely.

A moment later, Laiwu City was in sight from afar.

Someone on the top of the city wall shouted loudly, put his hands on the awning, and concentrated his eyes, as if he wanted to see clearly which side their cavalry belonged to. Only after confirming it did they hurriedly open the city gate and let Yang Quan and his group in.

"Prepare food, horse feed, and medicine. If you have donkeys, mules, and horses, bring them all here. Don't make any mistakes." Yang Quan shouted orders as he jumped off his horse.

Guangyi followed him into the city. When he dismounted, he felt like his butt was not his own. He bared his teeth and scolded, "Why are you still standing there? This is the son of Sima Yang."

When they heard the name of Yang's son, all the officials stood up in awe and their hands and feet immediately became quick.

In the Taishan area, the words of the Yang family are more effective than those of the emperor.

To put it bluntly, if the Yang family had helped Cao Yi, the battle would still have to be fought. In fact, if the Yang family had not fought desperately before, where would Cao Yi be now? It might not be Guanggu City. He might have already fought his way out of Qingzhou and destroyed the entire eastern half of Henan. Yang Quan entered the county government office, took a baked Hu pancake, and took some fermented black beans from his personal soldiers, spread it on it, and said while eating, "Don't slack off, rest for two hours, and set off on time at the beginning of the Shen time."

The reason for the rest is not that the people can't run anymore, but the horses.

Horses are such a pain in the ass. If they are not feeling well or are hungry, they won't run. If you force them to run, they will foam at the mouth and fall to their knees. If you encounter a horse with a bad temper, it will even kick you with its hooves.

Simply put, humans can persevere through willpower, but horses cannot - this is why Napoleon once lamented that "horses do not understand patriotism."

Guangyi was listening to Yang Quan's words and felt his heart pounding.

Isn’t this Yang family member too energetic?
After Yang Quan finished eating half a cake, he took out the cowhide water bag, gulped down a few mouthfuls, and asked, "Will you still lead the way for me?"

"I am a commoner and have no official position." Guang Yi said with a wry smile, "General Yang's use of troops is as fast as lightning. It is rare to see such a thing."

"I learned it from Mr. Liang." Yang Quan said.

At this time, an expression of admiration and even respect appeared on his face, and he said: "In the Battle of Gaoping in the past, Liang Gong returned from Luoyang and rushed hundreds of miles. His speed was amazing. Later, he chased Jin Zhun all the way. His strategy of using troops was simply astonishing. Oh, and there was also the battle of detouring to Hebei and rushing to attack Gou Xi. Alas, such a fantastic battle method can only be performed by the Taibai Star Spirit."

Guangyi was stunned.

This Yang Quan truly admires Lord Liang, and he does not hide it at all.

Guangyi thought about it carefully. Is Lord Liang really that good? Am I mistaken? In the past, many people in Yuefu looked down on him.

After he forcibly married his mistress, Mrs. Pei, even more people disliked him. Guangyi also felt that this was a bit bad, but he didn't dare to say anything openly.

This Yang Quan only sees the good points of Lord Liang. He is a complete flatterer, Guang Yi thought angrily.

After resting until the afternoon, hundreds of cavalry continued to advance, rushing towards the northeast.

After nightfall, due to bad weather, everyone had no choice but to dismount and move forward on foot.

In the second half of the night, they encountered a group of infantrymen holding torches and marching noisily towards Laiwu on the north bank of the Zishui River.

It was pitch dark in the night and I had no idea how many people were coming from the other side.

In a hurry, Yang Quan did not hesitate at all and ordered the cavalry to climb the high slopes on both sides, string their horn bows, and shoot a rain of arrows in the direction of the enemy's advance.

The screams suddenly became continuous.

The enemy soldiers came at great speed. They were not wearing armor and did not carry any long weapons. After being suddenly attacked, they were thrown into chaos.

"Kill the bandits!" Yang Quan didn't care that his troops had not been fully gathered, he shouted and jumped out.

More than two hundred people followed closely behind, holding horse lances, horn bows, ring-handled swords and other weapons, and pursued in the direction of the enemy's retreat.

The brave wins when we meet on a narrow road.

In the dark valley, what is the difference between 10,000 people and 1,000 people? You don't even know how many enemies are on the other side, and when you are nervous, it is easy to scare yourself.

The Yang family army was slightly better.

They were highly organized, with blood relatives as the bond, generations of slaves as the backbone, and well-trained troops with sophisticated equipment. They fought fiercely along the narrow Zishui River valley with unparalleled bravery.

Before the battle, Yang Quan sent more than 20 people with nimble legs and good eyesight, carrying small riding drums on horseback, and stumbling through the mountains and forests. Whenever they stopped at a place, they would beat the war drums and shout at the top of their lungs for fighting and killing.

The enemy was confused by the Yang family army's ferocious and desperate fighting style, and retreated step by step, with noise everywhere.

In the pitch-black environment, sometimes when they ran into their own people, they would be so scared that they would scream and shout, and then draw their swords to fight each other.

When the drum beats sounded from all directions, they became even more frightened and ran around like headless flies, hacking and killing indiscriminately.

There were still more than 3,000 Cao soldiers in the rear formation who were still on the march. When they heard that more than a thousand people in the front formation had been defeated and there were shouts of killing and drums everywhere, they thought that a large group of Shao soldiers had arrived and they were ambushed, so they turned around and left.

How could such a retreat be so simple in the dark?

To put it bluntly, the more people there are, the more disadvantages there are.

Some soldiers of the Yang Family Army fell behind, and there were also cases of not being able to distinguish friend from foe, but they were fewer in number and relatively more organized, so the losses were smaller, and they maintained a momentum of advancing and pursuing.

Cao's army was in trouble. There were 4,000 to 5,000 people. When they retreated, they were crowded together. They were frightened by the drums and shouts of killing. They shouted and made loud noises, pushed and stabbed each other. Before the enemy came close, they were lying on the ground. The remaining people were still in high spirits, breathing heavily, and their physical strength was mostly exhausted. They were obviously unable to fight and were taken in and reorganized in the rear.

But how could Yang Quan give them such an opportunity?

He led more than 200 people, lined up in a loose formation, holding horse spears, bows and swords, shouting and killing. The enemy troops they encountered all fled in panic, running towards the mountains and forests on both sides.

Yang Quan didn't care about them and just kept chasing them.

By dawn, the valley path suddenly became clear.

Yang Quan, who was already exhausted, turned his head and looked behind him. There were only seventy or eighty people left. They were all exhausted and their legs felt like they were filled with lead and they couldn't move.

Looking at their expressions again, they were mostly excited. It was obvious that they were in chaos after the dark battle last night, and so were the enemies, but the enemies were even more chaotic. I don't know how many people died in Laiwu Valley, how many people fled into the mountains, and how many people accidentally fell into the Zibo River and drowned...

In the end, no more than half of them successfully escaped.

Yang Quan looked at the enemy soldiers fleeing in panic in front of him and the city looming on the distant horizon, and smiled.

The dangerous road of Laiwu Valley is firmly in their hands.

After the main force arrives, they can march to Linzi and attack Cao Qi's heartland.

(End of this chapter)