Low dark clouds shrouded the plains on the north bank of Sushui. A dozen knights rode on horseback and reined up their horses in front of a ruined 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 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 others.
It is similar to the Qingquan Gou Village that was attacked in Gong County before. The walls of the village are low and thin, and have been in disrepair for a long time. Looking at the traces of gaps, ropes with iron hooks are still used to grab the earth walls, and a few horses are used to directly drag down the gaps.
Come.
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 the cavalry 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, 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.
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 the western wing of Chihu's Eastern Route Army can capture Hangu Pass or even Tongguan in time, the 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 Gongxian County. The entire Tongguan Pass and Hangu Pass were still firmly under the control of the Vietnamese troops and horses. They could recruit boats to cross the Yellow River and enter Puzhou at any time.
State, Jinzhou.
Therefore, even in the raiding 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 the 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 and march eastward to Zezhou, to contain the surrender troops of the Chihu people who intended to occupy the entire Shangdang Highlands, and then urged the imperial court to dispatch the Western Army to cross the river and march northward.
, first relieve the siege of Luzhou and Zezhou.
Although Xu Huai did not think that there was a possibility of the entire war situation being reversed, 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 the key passes from Pujiang and other places to Zezhou - the
For the Chihu people, by taking Qinshui County and controlling Taiyue Mountain and Wangwu Mountain, they can block the reinforcements of the Western Army from the east along the Fenshui River 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 rural soldiers. Xu Huai still does not know how many days Qinshui can hold out under the siege of thousands of surrender 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 big way, 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 he had to pay to attack from the mountain passes that were easy to defend but 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 small groups of troops to drive away small groups 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.
They sent a message to Qin County, but it was unlikely that they would gather to the west of Qin County and defend 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 must make use of the Wubao villages that have not yet fallen along the Sushui River 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 teams 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, so it is easy to control - this can be used as a foothold for us to go north!" Shi Hu just negotiated with the villagers.
When he came out to report, "The villagers also 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 have a rest first. It's still early now. We'll wait for Wang Zhang, Zhou Yong and the others' reconnaissance results before we decide whether to stay here!" Xu Huai said.
Xu Huai and the others led their horses directly into the stockade 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 high 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 maintain the style of "bullying the weak and fearing the strong", and they only need to call the captives.
It’s ok as long as you don’t 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...