Chapter 66: The West River confrontation [two in one]
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————The following text————
On the sixth day of July, the day after Handan, the royal capital of South Korea, declared war on Wei, in Yanmen County in the northwest of South Korea, Yanmen Guardsman Li Mu led tens of thousands of Yanmen troops and marched south to prepare to attack Hedong County of Wei.
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The Yanmen Army under Li Mu was divided into "five divisions". These five divisions were located at "Linhu Pass", "Shanwu", "Mayi (today's Shuozhou)", "Yanmen Pass", and "Loufan Pass".
, always intimidating Yanmen County.
Among them, the three passes of Linhu, Yanmen, and Loufan are all dominated by infantry, and "Shan Wu" is the administrative seat of Yanmen County. Only "Mayi" is a natural pasture with fertile land.
The pasture is fresh and tender, and wild horses gather there all year round. Therefore, it has become the main livestock and horse pasture in Yanmen County, and it has also become the main station of the Yanmen Cavalry.
This time, considering the new neighbor and powerful enemy "Lian Pi, the prefect of Wei Yunzhong County", even Li Mu did not dare to touch the soldiers of "Linhu Pass", and only mobilized Ma Yi, Shan Wu, Yanmen, and Lou Fan.
The Korean army in the four areas, with approximately 50,000 infantry and 40,000 cavalry, totaling 80,000 troops, was ordered to mobilize towards "Lishi".
Among them, Li Mu, the guard of Yanmen, personally led 40,000 Yanmen cavalry through the Xihe Plain and headed straight for Lishi. The total distance was nearly 800 miles. The Yanmen cavalry arrived in six days, which was extremely fast.
Around July 12, after Yanmen guard Li Mu personally led 40,000 Yanmen cavalry to Lishi City, he took over the local Korean garrison on the one hand, and on the other hand, he sent his clan brother "Li Ren" to lead Lishi and Gaolang.
There are about 4,000 Korean troops stationed in other places.
Go to "Zhongyangyi" and "Pingzhou" in the territory of Lishi, hoping that the latter will try to attack "Beiqu" under the jurisdiction of Hedong County of Wei State after integrating the Korean troops stationed in Zhongyangyi and Pingzhou, and then march into "
Pi's".
Once "Beiqu" and "Pishi" were captured by Han general Li Ren, it meant that Li Mu had opened up the main road from Xihe to Hedong County. Otherwise, he could only take advantage of the road and take the mountain road to the east to attack Hedong.
"Pingyang Town" under the jurisdiction of the county.
Of course, there is another way to borrow the road to the west, that is, borrowing the road from Hexi County of Wei State, but Li Mu did not consider this road at all - he was clearly attacking Hedong County, and he had to borrow Hexi County.
Is Wei's "Hexi Governor Sima An" a soft persimmon?
You must know that Hexi County is the west branch of the Wei State. As the name suggests, the army under the command of Sima An in Hexi is obviously stronger than the Hedong Army. Now that the situation has not yet opened up, Li Mu does not want to provoke such a powerful enemy.
Wei General Sima An's Hexi Army and Li Mu were prepared to wait until their own army had established a foothold in Hedong County before making further considerations.
So that day, Li Mu's younger brother Li Ren led four thousand soldiers to Zhongyang and Pingzhou. Within a few days, he arrived at the two places and quickly took over the garrison troops in the two places, expanding his military strength to eight
With about a thousand people, they then tried to attack "Beiqu".
However, when Han general Li Ren came to Beiqu and took a look, my dear, the Wei State actually built this city like a fortress, and the fortress was covered with flags like clouds. It didn't look like it was empty for defense.
"Damn it! How did (Taiyuan Shou) successfully capture this city back then?"
The Korean general Li Ren couldn't believe it, so he summoned his Korean general "Xu Jie" who was originally stationed in Lishi, and asked the latter: "Beiqu's defense is so tight, how did you capture this city in the first place?
?”
Lishi guard Xu Jiu also felt a little confused and said with a wry smile: "When our army attacked Beiqu, Beiqu was not so solid... I guess it was the Wei people who strengthened the defense in advance."
Xu Du guessed it right. After Wei Ji, the Lintao Lord of the Wei State, served as the Hedong Guard, he sent people to build defenses in Beiqu, making the original mountain city of Beiqu so impregnable that even Lintao Lord Wei Ji was still in Beiqu.
On the mountains on both sides of Qucheng
Many sentries and beacon towers were built with the intention of turning Beiqu into Hedong County's frontline sentry in the north: if South Korea attacks Hedong County, as long as Beiqu City is still there, the Wei army can climb up to spy on the general movements of the Korean army within the territory.
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But now the facts have proved that reinforcing Beiqu is indeed a very clever move. No, at this moment, the Korean general Li Ren who led the army to attack Beiqu is in a dilemma: fight, there is no chance that he can capture Beiqu, and
This move is tantamount to giving an early warning to Hedong County; why don't we continue to attack "Pingyang" eastward?
After much deliberation, Han general Li Ren finally chose to retreat despite the difficulties, seize the time, and led his army quietly eastward to "Pingyang" under the jurisdiction of Wei State's Hedong County.
However, when he arrived in Pingyang and saw the Wei camp stretching for more than ten miles in Pingyang, as well as the "Wei Northern First Army" flag fluttering in the wind above the Wei camp, he almost despaired: Pingyang's defenses were even worse than Beiqu's.
Be strict!
This Hedong County is simply a hedgehog!
"...This is a sneak attack!"
After scratching his hair, Han General Li Ren smiled bitterly in his heart.
But there is nothing we can do about it. After all, Wei's Hedong County, in addition to the Hedong Army guarding Lintao Lord Wei Ji's Hedong Army, is also stationed in the Northern First Army of King Huan Zhao Xuan. Unless South Korea's Taiyuan Shou Lecheng leads the Taiyuan Army to arrive at this moment, otherwise
, it is indeed difficult to pose any actual threat to Hedong County.
Thinking of this, Han general Li Renwei temporarily returned to "Pingzhou" and sent someone to ask for instructions from his clan brother Li Mu who was in Lishi.
However, if he was walking back and forth in "Beiqu" like this, how could he not alert the defenders of Beiqu?
The guard general of Beiqu, or "Beiqu Wei", was "Mao Bo", the confidant of Lintao Lord Wei Ji. He was a mature, prudent and well-behaved general. Although he was not very talented, he
If it serves as the guard of a city, it is more than enough.
When Mao Bo learned that Han general Li Ren was leading an army sneaking back and forth in the north of Beiqu, he ordered the whole city of Beiqu to be under martial law and sent someone to report the matter to Lintao Lord Wei Ji who was in "Fenyin".
At this time, Lintao Lord Wei Ji had just received two groups of messages from the Green Crows. The former conveyed to him the news that "Korea has declared war on the country and has sent troops to attack Qixian", while the latter brought the news from the capital of Daliang.
Latest decision: Our country declares war on South Korea!
Therefore, when Wei Ji, Lord of Lintao, received the urgent military information sent by his general Mao Bo, he was not surprised at all.
"Since Daliang has declared war on South Korea at this time, it's time for me to take action..."
Thinking of this, Lintao Lord Wei Ji summoned a soldier and ordered him: "Go to Pingyang quickly and inform His Highness King Huan that Wei Ji is preparing to send troops to attack Xihe. He asked him to take charge of Hedong County and beware of Taiyuan, South Korea."
The soldiers and horses of the army!”
"Yes!" the soldier responded and left.
Two days later, King Huan Zhao Hongxuan, who was stationed in "Pingyang", received a summons, or general order, from Lintao Lord Wei Ji.
Although King Huan Zhao Xuannai was born as a prince and was the closest brother to Prince Zhao Run, his status was much higher than that of Lintao Lord Wei Ji. However, as the prince, his elder brother Zhao Run appointed Lintao Lord Wei Ji as the commander-in-chief of the "Western War Zone".
Therefore, King Huan Zhao Xuan could only obey his orders.
At this time, after receiving the general order from Lintao Lord Wei Ji, King Huan Zhao Xuan couldn't help complaining: "There is going to be a fight over Xihe, why do I have to stay in Pingyang?"
After hearing this, Military Advisor and Staff General Zhou Min smiled and persuaded: "Your Highness, don't be anxious. South Korea's Taiyuan Army will definitely set foot in this area. Our Northern Army has many opportunities to make achievements, so there is no need to rush."
Having said this, he blinked and said: "In my opinion, there are more people than porridge on that side of the Xihe River. There are Shao Hu, Sima An, Long Ji and other generals. Although our Northern First Army is not weak, it can be said that
Although I may not be able to overtake those generals, I still stay in Pingyang. At any rate, I can still win the powerful enemy "Han Taiyuan Shou Le Cheng" alone."
King Huan Zhao Xuan thought about it and agreed.
He also felt that the "Xihe" side was really too scary. All the fierce generals from the Wei State were stationed in Xihe. Maybe reinforcements from the Qin State would intervene in the future. Shao Hu, Sima An, Wei Ji, Long Ji and others, if
Coupled with the Qin Kingdom's Wuxinhou Gongsunqi, Changxinhou Wangjian, Yangquanjun Yingba, etc., this is no longer a question of "whether the Xihe Theater can be won", but whether the army in this theater can be divided into
How much credit.
Although King Huan Zhao Xuan was full of confidence in himself and the First Army of the North under his command, if he was arranged in the same war zone with Shao Hu, Sima An, Gongsun Qi, Wang Jian and others, he might not have done anything in the First Army of the North.
The fight is over. How embarrassing is that?
"...It's better to stay in Pingyang honestly."
King Huan Zhao Hongxuan thought to himself.
At the same time, Wei Ji, the king of Lintao, had exhausted Hedong County except Beiqu City, borrowed a road from Hexi County, and prepared to bypass Hukou Mountain in the north and attack Xihe.
At the same time, Sima An, the governor of Hexi, received the general order from Wei Ji, Lord of Lintao, and also dispatched 40,000 Hexi troops to march north.
On the other side, Li Mu, the Yanmen guard who was stationed in Lishi, also received a secret message sent by his brother Li Ren. He learned that the Wei State had deployed heavy troops in Beiqu and Pingyang, making sneak attacks temporarily difficult.
I succeeded, and I frowned inwardly.
In Li Mu's view, although Wei and South Korea have maintained a confrontation for nearly a year, and it is not surprising that both sides have deployed heavy troops on the border, there is something obviously wrong with the defensive attitude of the Wei army.
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You must know that a stalemate is a stalemate. In the Central Plains, there were several times when two countries entered into a confrontation posture out of strategic considerations. In fact, the soldiers on the front line were not as nervous as if war was coming.
Even as the confrontation time gradually lengthened, the soldiers of the two countries would gradually relax, and even in the end, the patrol soldiers of the two countries met in the wilderness. Because they often met each other, they became familiar with each other, said hello to each other, and even exchanged words with each other.
It’s not like this has never happened before.
On the other hand, the Wei army on the opposite side was always on high alert, as if the Korean generals had already known that this battle would break out in the near future.
This is really not quite right.
But now, there is no point in thinking about these anymore. After all, South Korea and Wei have declared war on each other. Unless the fight is so scarred that each other is unable to continue, otherwise, it will be the death of "two tigers fighting each other."
Game - if Korea wins, Wei will perish; if Wei wins, Han will perish.
Two days later, deputy general Yan Feng and others led 50,000 infantry and finally arrived in the Lishi area from Yanmen County.
Since the passage to the south had been blocked by the Wei army, Li Mu, the guard of Yanmen, could only choose to cross the river to the west (i.e., the "vertical" part of the "vertical hook" on the right side of the character "ji", excluding the "curved hook" part).
Go to Hexi County, and from here open the situation leading to Hedong County.
As for attacking "Pingyang" through "Pingzhou", Li Mu did not consider it, because Pingyang was one of the targets of his army in Taiyuan, South Korea. If he and Chenggong's army were crowded in Pingyang, it would only be
He was surrounded by Wei Jun on all sides.
One day later, Li Mu led his infantry, cavalry and horses to build a pontoon bridge to cross the river. At the "Que" on the other side of the river, he ordered the infantry to build a camp. At the same time, he sent cavalry to search the territory to see if there was an ambush of Wei troops here.
Even he himself led a thousand cavalry to assess the general situation of this place.
And the next day, when Li Mu personally led his army on patrol, he encountered an army slowly coming from the northwest. When he saw the flag, he was shocked to see that it was the Wei Wu Army of the Wei State.
Looking at the general's flag again, Li Mu just learned that the leading general of this Wei army was Wei's general "Shao Hu".
"Hey, hey, hey..."
Even Li Mu, the guard of Yanmen, was a little dazed at this moment: the reaction of the Wei army could not be described as speed. It was simply that they had anticipated the enemy beforehand, had a clear understanding of the fire, and had prepared everything well in advance.
So much so that their side, which was the first to take action, had not yet set up camp on the west bank of the Xihe River and established a foothold, but the Wei army had arrived at the river bank.
"Report! There are traces of enemy troops ahead. They should be cavalry from Yanmen County, South Korea. There are about a thousand people in number."
The sentry cavalry of Wei Wujun also hurriedly reported the traces of the cavalry led by Li Mu to General Shao Hu.
After hearing this, Wei General Shao Hu ordered the entire army to rest where they were, while he went out to watch Li Mu's thousand cavalry.
After excluding the soldiers stationed in the Hetao area, the troops brought by Shaohu this time were not many, about 20,000, but even with more than 20,000, he did not need to worry about the thousands of Yanmen cavalry on the opposite side.
——Although Wei Wujun is mainly infantry, and it is really annoying to encounter light cavalry who adopt harassment tactics, but if Wei Jun has been more vigilant, the losses will not be much.
After all, there are only a thousand cavalry.
The reason why he went out to watch was because he found that the Korean light cavalry did not harass them, but was sitting in the distance. If nothing else happened, it might be the Korean general who commanded this cavalry, who was watching.
They are Wei Wujun.
"...This is probably the cavalry who came out to perform inspection missions."
Muttering secretly, Shaohu also looked at the cavalry on the opposite side from a distance. Seeing that the other side's armors were fully equipped, the queues were neat and no one was making any noise, he secretly praised in his heart: What a well-trained cavalry!
On the opposite side, Han general Li Mu also looked at the Wei Wu army attentively. Seeing that nearly half of the Wei army were heavy infantrymen holding shields, he couldn't help but frown.
Although the cavalry restrains the infantry, this depends on the specific situation. Although the Yanmen cavalry wears breastplates, they are essentially light cavalry. When encountering Wei's heavy infantry, they may not necessarily have the upper hand, especially when the Wei
When the country's heavy infantry is gathering and setting up a tight defensive formation, if the cavalry dares to charge into the formation at this time, let alone the light cavalry, even the heavy cavalry will suffer heavy casualties.
"...the Hedong Army in Beiqu, the Northern First Army in Pingyang, and the Wei Wu Army here. The reaction speed of these Wei troops is simply incredible."
Li Mu couldn't help frowning. At this time, he couldn't help but have a bad guess: South Korea's blatant declaration of war on the Wei State might have been designed. Otherwise, how could the Wei State have defenses everywhere?
The speed of this support was simply faster than their attacking side.
After looking deeply at the Wei army in the distance for a long time, Yanmen guard Li Mu waved his hand and retreated with his cavalry.
Seeing this, Wei General Shaohu secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
It's not that he is afraid of the thousands of cavalry in front of him, the problem is that if the other side keeps harassing them, the two legs of Wei Wujun cannot outrun the four legs of the opposite cavalry, and they will only be beaten in vain, although the casualties may not be huge.
, but if you ask the other side to shoot some of your own soldiers in vain, this will hurt morale after all.
Shao Hu was also a little surprised by this: the general of this thousand-man Korean cavalry was very decisive, and it seemed that he was not an ordinary person.
Also, if he were an ordinary general, since Wei Wujun could not catch up with him anyway, he would probably harass these Wei soldiers, but Li Mu did not, because in his opinion, it did not make much sense.
Therefore, he decisively ordered an evacuation and took his cavalry back to the "que place", where his infantry were still building forts.
Returning to the unfinished camp, Li Mu summoned his deputy Yan Feng to the temporary commander's tent and said to him: "I just ran into a Wei army about thirty miles northwest of here."
"Which Wei army?" Lieutenant General Yan Feng asked curiously.
"It's Shaohu's Wei Wujun, estimated to be about 20,000 people." Li Mu said in a deep voice.
Li Mu still knew something about Wei General Shaohu and the Wei Wujun under his command. After all, during the "Third Northern Battle", Wei General Shaohu was the commander-in-chief of the Wei army. At that time, even Wei Gongzi Run was the commander-in-chief of the Wei army.
Served as Shao Hu's deputy general.
Even later in the "Battle of Wu'an", Wei Wujun was one of the main forces of the Wei army, so Li Mu had a general understanding of the strength of this Wei army.
"As far as I know, Shaohu's Wei Wujun is stationed in Hetao. Why is it here in Shangjun?" Lieutenant General Yan Fengyi said with a frown.
You know, the west of the Xihe River is Shangjun, which is at least eight or nine hundred miles away from the Hetao where Wei Wujun is stationed. It is hard to imagine that the Wei Wujun would arrive on the west bank of the Xihe River at this time, and they happened to intercept the Yanmen Army on the river bank.
Build forts in the area.
"I also think Wei Jun's reaction was a bit too quick..."
Li Mu frowned and said.
However, it was useless to think about it at this time. He calmed down and weighed between the two ideas of "advancing troops to defeat Shaohu" and "retreating to the east bank of the Xihe River".
After a long time, he said in a deep voice: "Yan Feng, please pass on the order. This fortress no longer needs to be built. Ask people to strengthen the defense on the east bank of the (river)..."
"General?" Yan Feng looked surprised when he heard this.
You must know that their strategy for sending troops this time is to sneak attack Hedong County and take the lead in opening up the situation. However, in the past few days, Li Mu's garrison did not move in Lishi. In fact, the fighter plane has been delayed for several days. But now, Li Mu actually wants to attack Dongdong County.
They set up defenses on the shore and took a defensive stance. This was completely opposite to their original strategy. No wonder Yan Feng was surprised.
Seeing this, Li Mu said in a deep voice: "There is something wrong with Wei's reaction. It is too alert, as if it is expected that our army will send troops at this time... If the Wei army here really gets some news, then in a few days It is definitely not only Wei Wujun who will arrive on the west bank within the next day. Sima An from Hexi and even Wei Ji from Hedong are likely to lead their troops to arrive." Having said this, he frowned and thought for a moment, and then said: " I even began to suspect that Wei Gongzi Run led the Yanling Army and the Shangshui Army to the Song Dynasty, maybe to lure Han Dynasty to use troops against Wei State..."
Having said this, he touched his chin with his right hand and pondered for a moment, nodded slowly and said: "Yes, only in this way can we explain why the Wei army reacted so quickly, because it was Wei Gongzi Run who triggered this war, so the Wei army must have been there for a long time." Be on guard.”
After hearing this, Yan Feng asked in confusion: "What are the benefits of Wei Gongzi Run doing this?"
Li Mu took a long breath and said in a deep voice: "In order to sneak attack on our country, Han... Think about it, if our army from Hanoi attacks Wei, they will only go to Hanoi from Handan. Once a war breaks out in Hanoi, it will be difficult for us to take care of it." After learning about the whereabouts of Wei Gongzi Run, he led the Yanling Army and the Shangshui Army to the north, crossed the river, and directly invaded the hinterland of our country..."
Listening to Li Mu's analysis, Yan Feng became more and more frightened. In his opinion, if the facts were as predicted by his general, then if Wei Gongzi Run led his army to attack the hinterland of his country in Korea, this move would be really serious. It's too deadly.
Thinking of this, Yan Feng said urgently: "General, we must be on guard against this matter. We need to send someone to warn Handan as soon as possible."
"Hmm."
Li Mu nodded solemnly.
On that day, Li Mu wrote down his speculations in his own handwriting, and ordered his confidants to travel to Handan day and night, and deliver them to Han Wu, the Marquis of Li.
At the same time, he ordered about 70% of his troops to withdraw to the east bank of the West River and build defensive facilities on the east bank. Only a few infantry were left to continue building forts in the area, and a few cavalry were still active in the west bank area - after all, he had no idea about his own speculation. , and he was not very sure.
But on July 18, when the Wei State's Hedong Guard, Lintao Lord Wei Ji, and Hexi Guard Sima An successively led their armies to the west bank of the Xihe River, Li Mu was finally convinced of his judgment.
Unfortunately, he guessed that in this battle, South Korea was not the active party at all. In fact, Wei State was the active party. Therefore, a sneak attack on Wei State's Hedong County was just a dream.
At this time, he was very lucky. Fortunately, he felt that something was wrong with this battle a while ago, so he deliberately delayed in Lishi for a few days and did not borrow the road directly from Hexi County to attack Hedong County. Otherwise, the Wei army would be in Hedong at this time. Blocked, and Wei general Shao Hu cut off the retreat on the Xihe River. Li Mu and his 40,000 cavalry were all buried in Hedong County.
On the same day, after learning that Wei Ji's Hedong Army and Sima An's Hexi Army had both arrived on the west bank, Li Mu also led hundreds of light cavalry out of the "Que Di Han Camp" and peeked at the three Wei armies, Wei Wu Army, Hexi Army, and Hedong Army from a distance. , secretly estimating the outcome of a confrontation between the two sides.
In his estimation, the three Wei armies, namely the Wei Wu Army, the Hexi Army, and the Hedong Army, together numbered nearly 100,000, and his army under Li Mu also numbered about 100,000. Therefore, the two sides were even in terms of numbers, and in In terms of the number of cavalry, the Korean side surpassed the Wei side, being about two to three times the number of Wei cavalry.
Therefore, Li Mu did not panic: since the sneak attack failed, let's fight honestly. Although the three Wei generals Shaohu, Wei Ji, and Sima An were indeed difficult to deal with, Li Mu was not in vain.
You can't defeat the opponent if you see him.
However, before this idea lasted for two days, Li Mu was stunned to learn that a Qin army also slowly arrived in Xihe. He saw this Qin army looking like a giant snake on the horizon, with only the head of the snake visible.
, the snake's tail is not visible.
Seeing this, Li Mu gasped and immediately ordered the woods on the west bank of the Xihe River to be burned down. He also burned his "Que Di Military Camp" and withdrew all his troops to the east bank of the Xihe River.
For the next two days, Li Mu stood on the east bank and peered at the Qin and Wei allied forces on the other side of the river. When he saw that the Qin and Wei allied forces on the other side of the river were so numerous that they could hardly stand, even Li Mu felt an indescribable feeling in his heart.
Emotions - Who the hell is hitting whom?
A few days later, the Qin and Wei coalition forces roughly built several forts on the west bank of the Xihe River - maybe seven, maybe eight. Anyway, these forts were so close together that it was difficult for Li Mu to judge.
But at this time, he could roughly guess the total strength of the Qin and Wei coalition forces.
Three hundred thousand!
It is three times the total force under his command!
In this situation, Li Mu felt a headache. He originally wanted to attack Wei's Hedong County, but he didn't expect that he was actually the one who should defend!
"..."
Looking at the Qin and Wei coalition camps on the other side of the river, Li Mu thought hard about his strategy.