Chapter 133 Stealing the beam and changing the column
Jie Zhong came to help at this time. In addition to more than a hundred cavalry guards, he also brought 500 infantry. At this time, they were all stationed at Hou'erwu at the entrance of Xishan from Wuchi Village.
Xu Huai asked Jie Zhong to enter Dongzha Village. In the simple command tent, he introduced the situation that Wuchi Village had been completely surrounded by them and that Motu and other troops were gathering troops on the edge of the eastern foot of Xishan Mountain:
"We are worried that the Motu tribe will not sincerely come to relieve the siege of Wuchi, and may try to encircle Wei and save Zhao. The troops we have left in Shuozhou City are limited, and we are still worried that it will be difficult to keep an eye on each other. The liberation army requires you to lead six hundred Once the troops come, we will be completely relieved!"
"I'm coming here with 600 troops to build up my momentum and get some military glory. Don't expect too much," said Xie Zhong.
Although Jie Zhong was also serving as the Duyu Marquis and the patrol envoy of Guangwu Village at this time, commanding 16,700 forbidden troops to garrison the northern border of Langu, and cooperated with Shuozhou soldiers and horses to suppress Xishan Fanhu from the south, it looked like a military force. He didn't have much fewer horses, but after escaping from fighting side by side in Datong, he still knew how hidden dragons and crouching tigers the people in Tongbai Mountain were.
Not to mention Pan Chenghu, Guo Junpan, Xu Wuqi, Xu Wukun, Zhu Chengjun, Zhou Jing and Xu Huai, Xu Xinan, Tang Pan, Tang Qing, Yin Peng, Han Qi, Yuan Lei, Eucommia ulmoides, Zhong Jitang, Shen Zhen Evil, Yan Xiaoyi, Du Wu, Xu Xin, Wei Daya and other generals were powerful, enterprising and full of vitality.
Whoever is a general would not want to have such a group of generals to charge into battle?
And Xu Huai dared to brave the disapproval of the world and gathered all the Tongbai soldiers who wanted to watch the country in Shuozhou. This determined the cohesion and combat effectiveness of Shuozhou's soldiers and horses, which were far beyond the reach of the ordinary imperial army.
This couldn't help but remind Jie Zhong of the situation seventeen years ago when Jingsheng's army reinforced Lanzhou and defeated the Khitan troops with overwhelming force.
The troops that Xie Zhong commanded in Guangwu Village at this time, except for the five hundred soldiers who were old, weak and exhausted, usually guarding the city and doing miscellaneous tasks, the remaining 1,200 Forbidden Army soldiers were also tempered by the fire of war. Pass.
However, he knew very well that whether it was the dozen generals under his command or the lower-level officers and soldiers, they were all far behind the soldiers of Tongbai Mountain.
He personally led his troops to come over for reinforcements. Firstly, he was following the military orders of the Tianxiong Army to control Xingyuan and Hedong Economic Envoys, and cooperated with Shuozhou to suppress the Xishan Fanhu. Secondly, he also thought about his old friendship with the Tongbaishan people, but He knew how many jins and taels of troops he had, but he didn't dare to make a big deal and say that he would help defend Shuozhou City so that Xu Huai and the others could sleep peacefully here.
Of course, Xu Huai appreciated Xie Zhong's ability to personally lead troops and horses for reinforcements, and it was impossible to assign the most difficult combat mission to his troops.
Even if he had no objection to Jie Zhong at that time, how could his generals be so dissatisfied and resentful when they saw the soldiers he brought out suffering heavy casualties?
Considering that the Motu tribe and other tribes of Tibetan soldiers gathered at the edge of the eastern foothills of the West Mountain, even if they were determined to break the siege of Wuchi Village, they would use their superior troops and horses to insert near Hou'erwu, and the Tongbai soldiers and soldiers who entered the West Mountain would Contact with Shuozhou City was cut off.
Xu Huai deliberately took out the main infantry troops from the Zhazhai near Wuchi Village and put them in Houerwu.
In this way, if the main force of Fanhu wanted to break the siege of Wuchi Village, Xu Huai would attract his soldiers and horses to the canyon inside Houerwu to fight.
If the main force of Fan Hu just wants to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao, Houerwu is only thirteen or four miles away from Shuozhou City. If there is any eventuality, reinforcements can be sent from Houerwu nearby.
However, if the main force of Tongbai Mountain Soldiers is withdrawn from the three forts, it will leave a vacancy in the siege force near Wuchi Village, which requires the soldiers and horses of Jie Zhong Division to fill in to guard against the possibility of Wuchi troops breaking out. At the same time, we must also be prepared A small number of Tibetan soldiers and horses will try to approach Wuchi Village from the valley on the west flank.
After listening to Xu Huai's plan, Jie Zhong agreed and said, "Okay, I will leave the Xizha Village to my subordinate Erlang for defense. If they rely on the terrain and the village, they can't stop the Tibetan soldiers coming out of the Xixia. I don’t have the shame to rub off on my military exploits..."
Xishan Fanhu harassed Shuozhou several times, but neither side had a real head-to-head fight. Xu Huai expected that the Motu tribe might not pay much attention to them.
After the two sides discussed the defense change plan, they did not wait until late at night to change the plan. In the afternoon, Jie Zhong transferred a battalion of infantry soldiers directly into the mountains through the zigzag gorge road and stationed themselves in Xizha Village.
The mountain path of the gorge is so narrow that it can only allow one troop and horse to travel in one direction at a time.
The two battalions of Tongbai Mountain infantry soldiers originally led by Tang Pan and Yin Peng, after Xie Zhong and his troops settled in Xizha Village, and it was already dark, they came out of the mountain with torches and headed for Houerwu at the mouth of the Gorge, thirty miles away. And go.
At this time, Dongzha Village to the east of Wuchi Village and Zhongyingzha Village to the north each left more than a hundred combat soldiers and more than 200 workers and supplies soldiers to defend, and were responsible for blocking the soldiers and horses of Wuchi tribe together with Jie Zhongqi's tribe. On the mountain plateau.
Pan Chenghu and Xu Wukun stayed to supervise the battle. Jie Zhong ordered his generals and battalion commander Zhou Quanyi to obey Pan Chenghu and Xu Wukun's control. He himself followed Xu Huai to Hou'erwu to watch the battle.
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Houerwu is located outside the gorge exiting Xishan from Wuqibu.
A north-south ridge is cut off in the middle, and Houerwu is built on the inside of the break.
The terrain here is broken, like a gap four to five hundred feet deep that suddenly collapsed at the edge of the Western Mountain. On the outside is the flat Huihe River Valley. Shuozhou City is located twelve or thirteen miles northeast of Houerwu.
It was already early in the morning when Xu Huai and the others arrived at Houerwu. The sky was covered with night, and the stars and the moon were bright. Standing on the wall made of rammed earth at Houerwu, they could see the shadow of Shuozhou City lying quietly under the night, like a vast wilderness. Giant beasts lurk deep in the wilderness.
"At dusk, more than a thousand Xishan tribesmen gathered outside the Yushu Chong Pass on the northwest side of Shuozhou City..." In front of the village wall, Yin Peng reported the latest situation around Shuozhou City to Xu. Let them know.
No matter how stretched the troops and horses were, Xu Huai would not think of shrinking all the limited troops outside Xishan back to the passive defense of Shuozhou City.
If they do that, the enemy can completely target the four city gates of Shuozhou with its superior force, and block the city of Shuozhou with their troops and horses left outside Xishan, making them unable to respond to the battlefield outside Shuozhou City.
This was also the lesson that impressed everyone the most when the main force of the Tianxiong Army was defeated in Datong.
Therefore, after noticing signs of a large-scale gathering of Tibetan soldiers from various tribes in the Western Mountains on the northwest side of Shuozhou City, Xu Huai ordered Yin Peng, Zhou Jing and others to lead 300 cavalry out of Shuozhou City and wait for orders; at this time, they led the cavalry Came to Houerwu to meet Xu Huai.
However, Tongbai Mountain only has more than 300 cavalry so far. No matter how confident you are, it is impossible to challenge enemy cavalry three or four times your own, let alone expect to be able to entangle more than a thousand Xishan Fan cavalry with this small amount of cavalry. Then wait for the elite infantry soldiers to rush over and fight.
At present, Xu Huai can only tightly surround the Wuchi tribe, but deploy the main force at Hou'erwu at the mouth of the gorge, waiting for the main force of Xishan Fanqi to attack.
Although this was a bit of a defensive move, they did not have a large number of horses to equip the army, and the Tongbai Mountain soldiers did not have enough mobility, so they could only adopt this strategy to attract the main force of the Tibetan soldiers from the Xishan tribes to come over and fight with them.
"There are more than a thousand Tibetan cavalry today?" Xie Zhong heard Yin Peng talk about the gathering of Tibetan cavalry, and frowned and said worriedly, "The determination of Tibetan soldiers to assemble seems to be quite firm!"
Xie Zhong has been in the army in Lanzhou since his father's generation. He also grew up in the military camp and has never left for half his life. Although two large-scale military provocations, the Tianxiong army was defeated.
Fan Hu’s situation is fairly well understood.
The thirteen tribes of the Xishan tribes have a total population of just over 20,000. Under normal circumstances, the tribes can mobilize around 1,500 or 600 cavalry at a time. If more than 2,000 men are mobilized on a large scale, it will almost reach three thousand cavalry.
To one degree.
The tribesmen in Xishan got rid of the soldiers and horses guarding their homes, and gathered more than a thousand cavalry near Yushuchong before dusk today, which means that the scale of this mobilization and assembly will be far beyond imagination.
Jie Zhong was a little worried. Seeing Xu Huai, Xu Wuqi and others frowned and remained silent. He thought that if the Xishan tribes gathered more than 3,000 soldiers and horses to invade the Houerwu Gorge, how would Xu Huai respond?
After waiting for a long time, seeing that Xu Huai still didn't say anything, Jie Zhong couldn't help but persuade him: "Maybe it would be safer to withdraw the troops and horses into Shuozhou City!"
But Xu Huai was not worried about Shanhu soldiers and horses.
Fan cavalry is good at riding and shooting, and they have many horses. They can gallop thousands of miles in the open field and are more slippery than loaches. Tongbai Mountain Soldiers do not have the corresponding mobile combat capabilities, so they cannot entangle them and engage in a battle of annihilation.
However, the armors, swords and bows equipped by the Fan cavalry were crude and could not be compared with the Tongbai Mountain soldiers who had officially joined the Forbidden Army. They were not good at foot combat. Xu Huai was afraid of attracting them to the gorge near Houerwu.
Dismount and fight on foot?
What made Xu Huai frown and worry was the unimaginable scale of the gathering of the Xishan tribes.
Except for Xijing and Nanjing, Khitan has lost all other areas. No matter how stupid the Dangxiang people are, they will not be able to act rashly at this time and have the greed to annex Yunshuo - the heartland of the Dangxiang people is located to the north of the Yellow River and to the Yinshan Mountains.
In the south, Xingqing Prefecture, Xiazhou, and the Red Husbands on the Hetao Plain completely annexed the northern Khitan area. The cavalry crossed the Yinshan Mountains and went south. Xingqing Prefecture and Xiazhou will also directly face the threat of the Red Husbands' cavalry.
At this time, they did not want to gather heavy troops to defend the border, nor did they want to seek peace with the Chihu people. Instead, they wanted to annex Yunshuo. Aren't they looking for death?
The large-scale gathering of cavalry by the Xishan tribes can only show that the Chihu people have promised them heavy profits.
"I heard that the imperial court was planning to attack Yan again. How did the Jie army envoy view this?" Xu Huai did not directly say that he was worried about the Tibetan cavalry in Xishan, but asked Jie Zhong what he thought of the second attack on Yan.
Military generals are not qualified to discuss military and state affairs. That is the exclusive preserve of ministers. But Xie Zhong knew that Xu Huai had no such taboo. He frowned and said:
"I came here this time to actually ask you what you think about the second expedition to Yan. Master Lu returned to Lanzhou half a month ago. He didn't say anything, but he came to have a drink with me. Listen to what Master Lu said.
It turns out that although Prime Minister Wang Xian was already among the prime ministers, he made several remonstrances against the renewed attack on Yan. He strongly stated that it was extremely necessary to negotiate peace with the party members and mobilize more elite Western troops to fill Hedong.
It seemed that the officials were not very happy. Except for the king and the prime minister, everyone in the court seemed to think that the Chihu people would follow the secret advice. Some people seemed to think that even if it was to prevent the Chihu people,
Ambition should capture the dangers of Yanshan Mountain and Yinshan Mountain..."
Although the Tianxiong Army as a whole lacks a clear understanding of the Chihu people, after escaping from Datong, Jie Zhong has always led his troops to follow Zhu Hang, so it is inevitable that he will be influenced by Zhu Hang's subtle influence on the Chihu people.
People have a deeper understanding.
It is a pity that most of the troops and horses of Tianxiong Army have been controlled by Cao Shixiong and Cao Shili. Yin Chao and Wen Hengyue did nothing, and Lei Teng completely fell to Cao Shixiong in the fight for the commander of the Ninth Chamber.
In the entire garrison north of Hedong Road, there were too few generals like Jie Zhong who were aware of the threat of the Chihu people, and their status was far from enough to influence the government.
"I suspect that the large-scale gathering of the Tibetan tribes in Xishan was caused by the instigation of the Red Husbands behind the scenes," Xu Huai pursed his lips and said, "Whether this is the case or not, we will find out when they come to attack Houerwu tomorrow!"
Although there are few garrison troops in Shuozhou City, the 500 infantry, more than 800 craftsmen, and the more than four feet high Shuozhou City Wall are not just decorations after all. It is impossible for the Xishan cavalry to prepare all the siege equipment in a hurry.
Maybe they will attack Shuozhou City - therefore, the larger the Xishan Tibetan cavalry gathering this time, the more it means they will attack Houerwu.
For the Xishan Fanhu who had already obtained the benefits promised by the Red Husband, at this time, the Tongbai Mountain Soldiers were blocked in the Xishan Mountains for annihilation. In fact, it would be better to achieve the goal of coordinating the Red Husband cavalry to quickly seize the entire Yunshuo area in the future.
Otherwise, even if they attack Shuozhou City first regardless of casualties, they may not be able to hold Shuozhou City before the red cavalry goes south!
