Low dark clouds shrouded the plains on the north bank of Sushui. A dozen horsemen rode forward and reined up their horses in front of an abandoned village.
The knight on horseback silently stared at the flames still burning in the ruined village, and black smoke rose into the air.
The earthen fence of the remaining village, which is less than one person high, has a large hole opened on the side near the Sushui River.
Seven or eight ragged corpses were scattered at the gap in the village wall.
The ruined village is on the side near the official road, where the main village gate is located. From the main village gate to the official road, there are hundreds of corpses lying in the luxuriant weeds.
It is easy to see from various traces that a group of captive soldiers walked along the river beach from southeast to northwest, while the captive cavalry crossed the wall from the west and entered the village. A considerable number of villagers and villagers fled in panic from the east gate of the village.
However, they were outflanked and attacked by small groups of soldiers waiting on both wings. Most of the people had no resistance and were slaughtered in the fields in front of the official road.
Of course, there should also be quite a few villagers who had no chance to escape and were brutally massacred in the village.
Southwest Shanxi has not experienced a bloody war for more than a hundred years, and because it is close to the salt pond, which Dai Viet relies heavily on for its finances, it will severely crack down on thieves if they appear. The villages enjoy peace and do not have a strong sense of worry. This is different from Xu Huai and his friends before.
The Qingquan Gou Village that was attacked by Gongxian County was similar. The wall of the village was low and thin, and had been in disrepair for a long time. Looking at the traces of the gap, ropes with iron hooks were still used to grab the earth wall, and a few horses were used to directly drag down the gap to create the gap.
Judging from various traces, the number of soldiers who raided the village was very limited, probably less than thirty.
After the captors fled, many villagers who had been able to escape returned one after another. They stood in front of the burning thatched huts with corpses on the ground. Some cried bitterly, some stamped their feet and hammered the ground, and some watched silently.
Looking at the disaster in front of me.
Soon some villagers saw a new group of cavalry approaching and thought it was the soldiers who had killed a carbine. Some people panicked and ran away in the opposite direction. Some stood numbly on the ground. There were also a dozen people who picked up and scattered them on the ground. The soldiers disdained them.
A glance at the crude weapons, filled with anger and fear, gathered together, preparing to welcome the captive soldiers into the village again.
"Folks, don't panic, we are soldiers of Qin Feng's army, and we came here to scout out the enemy's situation!" Shi Hu led the two of them and led their horses to the residual village. In addition to negotiating with the villagers who had survived the disaster, they also first confirmed that there were no other people in the village.
abnormal situation.
Xu Huai, Xiao Yanhan and others approached the village wall and dismounted from their horses, waiting calmly for Shi Hu to advance to the village to confirm the situation.
In terms of terrain, cities such as Zelu in the Shangdang Highlands are easier to defend than Jinpu and other places in the Linfen Basin.
However, the terrain downstream of the Fen River is open, and apart from being separated from Guanzhong by the rolling Yellow River, there are no steep mountains blocking it.
銆愯铌湡攛屾渶杩戜竴鐩ancun椤鍜霜阒呰鍤湅涔﹁毴町鎹㈡簮鍒囨崲锛屾湕璇wedding煶鑹insert pan纴瀹夊崜鑻Rules and Regulations
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Prefectures such as Pujin and Luoyang on the south bank of the Yellow River also have Yuban Road. The Yuanqu Ancient Road can pass through Zhongtiao Mountain and Wangwu Mountain directly to the bank of the Yellow River, and then cross the river to the south bank.
If Chihu's Eastern Route Army's western wing troops can capture Hangu Pass or even Tongguan in time, his West Route Army will definitely send a large number of troops south along the Fen River to attack the city and seize territory in order to respond to the Eastern Route Army across the river.
It is "a pity" that the Chihu East Route Army was stopped when it marched westward to Gong County. The entire Tongguan and Hangu Pass were still firmly under the control of the Dai Viet soldiers and horses. They could recruit boats to cross the Yellow River and enter Pu at any time.
State, Jinzhou.
Therefore, even in the harassment operation, the Chihu West Route Army did not focus on occupying Jinzhou, Puzhou and other places downstream of the Fen River, but worked hard to attack
Zezhou and Luzhou in Shangdang Highlands.
In fact, as long as Taiyuan, Zezhou, and Luzhou are captured, the Chihu people will be able to control a new troop dispatching channel outside Hebei from Yunshuo through the eastern part of Hedong and Zhiguanxing, and Taihangxing to drink the Ma Yellow River.
Occupying the Shangdang Highlands where Ze and Lu states are located, it can threaten Meng, Wei and other places on the north bank of the Yellow River to the south, it can drink Fen water to the west and threaten Guanzhong, and it can reach the plains of central and southern Hebei when heading out of Taihang in the east.
Therefore, strategically, in the early stage when too many troops could not be spared, the Chihu people mainly focused on harassing Shangdang. At this time, due to the approaching flood season, their troops who had entered Hehuai River had to withdraw north, Xiao Qian
After Yue Hailou, Cao Shili and other surrendered troops passed through the Taihang Mountains one after another, they no longer rushed to retreat north. Instead, they gathered in Zezhou, Luzhou and other places, trying to storm the unbroken cities in these areas.
Occupy the entire Shangdang Highlands.
In response to this situation, Xu Huai of course suggested that King Jing lead the mausoleum-defending army to cross the Taiyue Mountains to the east and enter Zezhou to contain the Chihu people's surrender troops who intended to occupy the entire Shangdang Highlands, and then urged the imperial court to dispatch the Western Army to cross the river and go north.
, first solve the siege of Luzhou and Zezhou.
Although Xu Huai did not think that there was a possibility of reversing the entire war situation, judging from the combat situation, they undoubtedly should make such a choice.
At this time, thousands of surrender troops had entered the Taiyue Mountains. It was initially confirmed that they were a unit under Xiao Qian's command of Yunshuo's surrender troops. Their intention was to attack Qinshui County and control Chihu, the key pass to Zezhou from Pujiang and other places.
From a human perspective, by taking Qinshui County and controlling Taiyue Mountain and Wangwu Mountain, the Western Army Jianrui, who was advancing eastward along the Fenshui River for reinforcements, could be blocked and buy more time for them to occupy the entire Shangdang Highlands.
At present, the soldiers and civilians of Qinshui County are still holding on, and the city has not fallen. However, the defenders in the city are mainly volunteers from the countryside. Xu Huai still does not know how many days Qinshui can hold out under the siege of thousands of vassal troops.
At present, the combat effectiveness of the tomb-defending army they led across the river to the north cannot be said to be very strong. If they advance westward in a bold manner, they can ask the surrender army to detach a force in advance and select dangerous mountains and valleys on the west side of Qinshui County to organize a tight defense.
In order to intercept, Xu Huai did not know how much price he had to pay to attack from the mountain passes that were easy to defend and difficult to attack and break the siege of Jiangxian County.
If the casualties were too heavy, they would lose the significance of crossing the river to the north to contain and harass the captives.
The Chihu people had limited reconnaissance capabilities to the west of Gongxian and Yanshi. The defending army went around Maojin Ferry to the west of Xiaoshan Mountain and headed north. Xu Huai believed that the Chihu people were not aware of it yet.
In order to give the surrender troops besieging Qinshui County a "big surprise", at least they must not disturb the enemy until their elite forwards pass through many dangerous passes and enter Qinshui County. They separated into small groups to drive away the small group of captives.
, all pretended to be soldiers of the Western Army, and also changed to the banner of the Qin Feng Road Capital Deployment Department.
However, there were still a large number of captive soldiers stranded on both sides of the Fen River. Under the circumstances of harassment, it was not easy for the 4,000 soldiers and horses of the mausoleum guarding army to march close to the northwest foot of Mount Li to hide their traces.
Xu Huai made two preparations for this:
The first-hand preparation was for Zhou Jing and others to lead a group of elites and disperse into the peaks and ridges at the eastern foot of Mount Taiyue to lurk.
The captive cavalry stranded in Pujiang and other places at this time were directly dispatched by the general camp of the Chihu West Route Army that besieged Taiyuan City, and had no affiliation with the surrender troops who were approaching Qinshui City and preparing to attack the city.
Before the rebel cavalry in Pujiang and other places are completely expelled, the surrender troops under Qinshui City will not send too many scouts to the east of Taiyue Mountain; and the raiding cavalry in Pujiang and other places will go there even if they notice something abnormal.
Qin County sent a message, but it is unlikely to go to
They gathered in the west of Qin County and guarded the flanks of the surrendered troops.
In this case, the channel can be cut off and the message blocked.
The second-hand preparation was, of course, to hide the traces as much as possible so that the soldiers would not notice anything unusual.
At this time, we need to make good use of the Wubao villages along the Sushui River that have not yet been captured as springboards, and go out day and night to advance towards the west wing of Qin County.
Before the main force of the mausoleum guarding army set off in batches, it was necessary to expel the captive cavalry on the marching route. To this end, the Yiqi Battalion sent a dozen small groups of soldiers and horses, pretending to be Western Army reconnaissance cavalry, to move along the Sushui River.
Because the soldiers who entered Pujiang and other places to conduct raids and raids were all elite Red Husbands with rich combat experience, the Yiqi battalion was naturally full of experts; Xu Huai personally led the team to find suitable transit villages.
Over the past few days, four thousand soldiers and horses have been divided into several batches, hiding day and night, and have sneaked into Jiangxian County.
Passing through Jiang County and heading north along the Sushui River is Yicheng County, and heading east from Yicheng County is the eastern foothills of Taiyue Mountain.
Especially after passing Baiju Ridge, there are mountains and mountains on both sides. The mountains are dangerous and the valleys are deep, making it difficult for humans and animals to move. As long as people and horses are sent in front and behind to block the gorge, no one will notice that there will be an army of three to four thousand people.
The horse is advancing deep into Taiyue Mountain.
"Although this stockade has just been conquered, the villagers have been almost slaughtered. There are still forty or fifty people left. It is easy to control this place and it can be used as a foothold for us to go north!" Shi Hu just negotiated with the villagers and left at this time.
We came out to report, "The villagers have no doubts about our origins. We just listened to them complaining about their sufferings for a while. They should be willing to cooperate with us. No one will tell the Chihu people!"
"Okay, let's go and rest first. It's still early. We'll wait for Wang Zhang, Zhou Yong and the others' reconnaissance results before deciding whether to stay here!" Xu Huai said.
Xu Huai and the others led their horses into the stockade directly through the gap. Shi Hu brought the head of the stockade to meet Xu Huai so that Xu Huai could ask some details directly.
After learning about the plundering of the captives and the fall of nearby villages, Xu Huai and the others found a yard that was not overheated to rest. However, as soon as they drank half a piece of wheat cake with water, Shi Hu, who was responsible for standing on the lookout, rushed over to report.
: "There are more than thirty cavalry soldiers galloping this way. Judging from their scattered formation, it seems that they expected that the villagers who had fled before would return at this time, and they wanted to kill them all and massacre the remaining villagers.
clean!"
Xu Huai, Xiao Yanhan, Niu Er and others walked out of the yard, climbed to the roof and looked into the distance. More than thirty captives were divided into two teams. One team went straight to the Dongzhai Gate to kill, and the other team took a circuitous route from the far side. Obviously,
The purpose is to go around the gap near the Sushui River on the west side and block the escape route of the villagers to the Sushui River beach.
"What should I do?" Shi Hu asked.
They dispersed and headed north, driving away the captives and cavalry along the way, rather than fighting them head-on.
That would only arouse the vigilance of the red warriors.
Scouts are used to detect the enemy's situation, and when encountering the enemy, they mainly engage in entanglement and fighting. Unless they have an absolute advantage, they usually do not aim at annihilation. Therefore, when encountering a small group of captives, they will also maintain the style of "bullying the weak and fearing the strong", and they only need to call the captives.
Just stay nearby at night.
Normally, the dozen or so of them should mount their horses immediately and escape through the gap on the west side to the outside, so as not to alert the Red Husbands. But if they really break out directly, it will be difficult for the remaining people in the village to struggle.
Naturally, the surviving villagers cannot escape the tragic fate of destruction...
