On October 23rd of the 16th year of Hongde's reign, Chu's 60,000 vanguard army led by Xiong Hu, Lord Pingyu of Chu, was defeated in Yanling and the entire army was wiped out.
About three days later, those hundreds of Chu soldiers who were lucky enough to escape the Yan River finally arrived at Shangcai with great hardships.
Shangcai is the site of the ancient Cai State, and it is also a border area between the Wei State and the Chu State today.
Because there have always been constant wars and wars on the border between Wei and Chu, almost no people from the two countries live in the border areas between the two countries. Those who stay in such border areas are often bandits and bandits.
However, since Chu Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo led his army to this place, almost all the bandits and bandits nearby have disappeared.
After the King of Chu officially declared war on Wei, Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng, immediately sent his troops to Shangcai. He sent out several troops and ordered his Xiong nobles and ordinary generals to quickly attack Wei's cities and conquer Changping one after another. , Chenling, Xu County, Shangshui, Xihua, Linying.
Although Wei's local magistrates and military officers led the soldiers and civilians in the city to resist desperately, they were unable to resist Chu's army. At best, they only delayed the destruction of the city.
No, just recently, Zhaoling City, which was in danger of the Luo River, was finally captured after being surrounded and attacked by the Chu army for several days.
The fall of Zhaoling meant that Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, had removed the last nail in his march to the front. He was finally able to send his troops northward without any scruples to support the vanguard army on the front line, namely Xiong Hu, Lord of Pingyu.
But what he never expected was that hundreds of defeated troops on the front line who had returned from the battle would deliver an incredible news to him: Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu had been defeated and his entire army was almost wiped out.
"How come?!"
In the process of summoning the defeated troops, Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, jumped up from his chair after hearing the shocking news.
The other generals who were listening in the commander's tent were also greatly shocked.
You know, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu has an army of 60,000 in his hands. And how many guards are there in Wei State's Yanling City?
"Reinforcements arrived at Yanling, tricking our army into crossing Yanling, and ambushed Lord Xiong Hu."
With that said, the summoned defeated soldiers told Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo in detail what they knew about the situation, but the latter frowned frequently and did not speak for a long time.
After a long time, Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo asked hesitantly: "Where is Xiong Hu?"
The defeated soldiers looked at each other, and one of them lowered his head and carefully reported back: "At that time, the Wei army occupied the pontoon bridge and forced our soldiers down the Yan River. Master Xiong Hu was among the army, and he might have been captured, or..."
He did not continue speaking, but everyone in the tent could understand what he wanted to express.
Either captured or killed in battle...?
Yangcheng Jun Xiong Tuo rubbed his brow bones tiredly and sighed involuntarily.
You must know that Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu is the cousin of Yangcheng Jun Xiong Tuo. The two are almost the same age. The only difference is that Xiong Tuo is the son of the current King of Chu, a royal bloodline of the Xiong family, while Xiong Hu is a side branch and belongs to the public clan. .
If we use the title of Wei State to explain it, it is equivalent to the relationship between the prince and the heir apparent.
However, because the two are similar in age and have played together since childhood, Xiong Hu, the king of Pingyu, has always strongly supported Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng, and helped him expand his influence in Chu State. He hopes that he will become the king of Chu State in the future.
It is precisely because of this that Xiong Tuo, the Lord of Yangcheng, couldn't help but feel worried when he heard that Pingyu's brother Xiong Hu might be facing an unexpected incident.
In the tent, a general saw Xiong Tuo's expression and quickly comforted him: "Sir, Master Xiong Hu is a good person. It's probably just unfortunate that he was captured by the Wei army. I don't think... Well, I don't think it's really like that..."
"I hope so." Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo sighed slightly, and then the expression on his face became much more solemn: "However, Xiong Hu was defeated. I really didn't expect... Humph! Someone, tell me Order, Zaifu (Gen) from Xiping, Ziche (Yu) from Shangshui, and Lianbi from Zhaoling, send their troops northward and gather them at... Yanshui!"
The Zaifu Gen, Zi Cheyu, and Lian Bi he mentioned were the three generals under Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng.
"yes!"
After issuing the general order to advance the troops, Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, issued another order to his own army: the entire army marches out!
Within the next two or three days, the four armies of Shangcai, Xiping, Shangshui, Zhaoling, and garrisoned in the four areas that had been captured by Chu State jointly led their troops to the north, with the front pointed directly at the Yan River.
During the march, Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, was surprised to find that the Wei army, which had defeated Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu's 60,000 vanguard army, did not seem to be taking advantage of the situation to regain the lost territory.
No, from the news of the advance of the three generals Zaifu Gen, Zi Cheyu, and Lian Bi, Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng, did not hear that they encountered the Wei army marching south, which made him a little puzzled. .
After all, it stands to reason that the Wei army near the Yan River wiped out Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu's army in one go. They should take advantage of the high morale of the army sergeants and take advantage of the situation to recover the lost city of Wei. Why didn't they see their direction at all? Where is the news about the troops marching south?
Of course, this refers to the large army of the State of Wei. As for the small forces, Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, also knows that there have been many cavalry teams of the State of Wei recently, harassing them endlessly regardless of life and death.
Those Wei cavalry teams, numbering in the hundreds, were like rats wandering around the area occupied by the Chu army, harassing Chu's scattered troops. They would eat small groups of Chu soldiers when they encountered them, and if they encountered The Chu army, which was in large numbers, retreated decisively, not giving the Chu army a chance to counterattack.
What's even more troublesome is that these Wei cavalry don't engage in close combat with the Chu army at all. They often fire a wave of bows and arrows from a distance, and then they don't care about the casualties of the Chu soldiers. As long as the Chu army shows signs of counterattack, The group immediately retreated, retreated to the edge of the arrow field, and fired another wave of arrows.
Repeatedly.
Thanks to this shameless tactic, neither the Lord of Yangcheng, Xiong Tuo nor the three generals under his command, Zaifu Gen, Zi Cheyu, and Lian Bi, now dare to send out a small force to pursue them. .
After all, they didn't pay much attention to these cavalry at first. Therefore, seeing that the opponent's cavalry only had a few hundred people, they casually sent more than a thousand infantry to pursue them. Unexpectedly, the more than a thousand Chu infantry were killed. The Wei cavalry, which consisted of only a few hundred people, gnawed their bones clean, and almost no Chu soldiers could escape.
In the end, the Chu army could only send out a small force several times its strength to pursue them, but even so, the Wei cavalry were able to retreat calmly after effectively killing some of the Chu soldiers with their bows and crossbows.
In fact, this is pretty good.
The terrible thing is that the Wei cavalry sometimes dispersed and sometimes united. No, just yesterday, a Chu army transporting grain and grass team was attacked by these people. Three thousand Chu soldiers were responsible for transporting grain. The entire army was wiped out, and all the food and grass on the convoy were burned.
At that time, Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, realized that the number of cavalry sent by the Wei State must be at least three to four thousand.
"What a despicable and shameless tactic!"
After hearing the news that the grain and grass troops were attacked, Yangcheng Jun Xiong Tuo was furious.
Because in his impression, the role of the cavalry was nothing more than to form a team on the battlefield, and then charge together to attack the opponent's defense line. Unexpectedly, the role of the cavalry was so disgusting.
If I had known this, I should have formed a cavalry...
Looking at the continuous attack reports that were delivered to him, Xiong Tuo, the Lord of Yangcheng, felt very upset.
He wished he had a cavalry in his hands at this moment, but unfortunately, the Chu State was located south of the river. There was no place to produce war horses, and the war horses used by the generals in the army were also exchanged with the Ba State to the west of the Chu State. What they got was no better than that of Korea and Wei who bred their own war horses.
You must know that the price of the war horses given by the Ba Kingdom to Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo was quite expensive. It was so expensive that it cost to build a cavalry of 5,000 people. The war horses alone could raise a cavalry of tens of thousands of people. army.
No wonder. After all, in the Chu State, soldiers are quite worthless consumables. Before each war, Lord Yangcheng only needs to give a certain amount of "settlement allowance". Those civilians in the Chu State whose families cannot even eat enough will understand. There are a large number of people who are willing to exchange their lives for that money. A sum of money that is precious in their eyes but insignificant in the eyes of Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo.
It is precisely because of the low life of people in the Chu State that the princes and nobles of the Chu State are accustomed to recruiting civilians in the territory to fight before war.
It's okay to give these civilians a weapon and a piece of leather armor. But if it costs a lot to build a cavalry, few noble lords are willing to spend the money.
After all, in the eyes of many aristocratic lords of the Chu State, military achievements are piled up with human lives, and as long as they themselves sit back and enjoy their achievements, compared with those people, Xiong Tuo, the Lord of Yangcheng, is much better, at least he is in the territory A formal standing infantry was formed, and military pay was paid on time like other countries. Unlike some aristocratic lords of Chu, who would rather spend large sums of money on extravagant enjoyment than use the money to form a formal army.
It seems that after this battle, they have to trade some war horses with Pakistan and form a cavalry, otherwise... otherwise, they are really too passive.
After being harassed endlessly by Wei cavalry for several days, Xiong Tuo, the king of Chu Yangcheng, made up his mind.
Of course, he was passive, but he didn't just let Wei's cavalry harass them wantonly. After several days of observation, he also made a response.
It was very simple. He ordered his troops to ignore the provocation of the Wei cavalry and not to allow small groups of troops to be privately pursued.
In this way, the threat posed by the Junshui Camp cavalry led by Wei general Cao Jie was greatly reduced.
After all, they are only a cavalry of about 5,000 people. At this time, Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, who has joined the three generals, has an army of more than 60,000, and it is estimated that the final strength will be at least 8,000. More than ten thousand.
Therefore, Cao Jie dared not attack this 80,000-strong army, because it was no different from seeking death.
As for Cao Jie and the cavalry under his command, they took advantage of the Chu army to shoot from a distance while the Chu army was rushing to the Yan River. Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng, did not care about these losses at all.
Sixty thousand troops huddled together, and if they were more vigilant, even if the Wei army could still kill some Chu soldiers with long-range shots, the effect would obviously be minimal.
The only thing is that Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, has not thought of a countermeasure yet.
That is the grain road, which is the transportation route of grain and grass.
In this regard, the 5,000 Junshui Battalion cavalry led by Cao Jie have become a major concern for the Chu army. (To be continued.)