Both sides of the Wuting River have always been a hunting ground for the royal family. The wilderness here is vast, densely forested, undulating hills, and there is no human habitation for nearly a hundred miles. All kinds of wild beasts and deer are found here. In the peaceful and prosperous times, almost every October, the emperor would bring
The princes, princesses, and civil and military officials came here to camp for the Autumn Hunting. It was here that the Autumn Hunting that eradicated Yu Chaoen took place.
The water in the upper reaches of Wuting River is relatively shallow, and you can cross it on horseback. However, after reaching the middle reaches, the water gradually becomes deeper, and underwater weeds are overgrown, making swimming more dangerous. At the lower reaches, the river widens, the river is deep and fast, and it is completely impossible.
Swimming can only be done through the bridge.
There are currently three bridges on the Wuting River, a stone bridge on the upper reaches, and wooden bridges on the middle and lower reaches.
Four thousand cavalrymen of the Hexi Army, led by Guo Song, rushed all the way and crossed the Wutingchuan Bridge in front of the Jingyuan Army, and then completely demolished the bridges in the lower and middle reaches.
The four thousand cavalry continued eastward. In the afternoon, the forward scouts discovered 20,000 Jingyuan troops approaching on the official road about forty miles away from Wuting River.
The Jingyuan Army marched at a relatively slow pace, covering more than 200 miles in five days. Although the marching speed was very slow, their physical strength was maintained relatively well. This was because Wang Lienen had rich experience. He knew that the opponent was a cavalry. If the troops were exhausted on an expedition, the tired soldiers would
There was no way it could withstand the opponent's cavalry attack.
The team set off every day after daylight, and stopped at camp in the afternoon to rest. It only took three hours of marching every day, covering a distance of forty or fifty miles.
When the scouts of the Hexi Army discovered the Jingyuan Army, they were setting up camp in an open space.
Wang Lien also sent hundreds of patrol posts to monitor the situation. When the scouts of the Hexi Army discovered the other party, the scouts of the Jingyuan Army also discovered them.
'call out--'
A buzzer flashed across the sky and made a sharp whistle. Wang Lianen, who was sitting on a large rock to rest, was startled and quickly stood up.
"What's going on?" Wang Lien asked sharply.
A cavalry sentry rushed over and shouted: "General, he seems to be a scout of the Hexi Army."
Wang Lien frowned, why did the Hexi Army scouts come here?
As soon as he thought about it, he understood that they should be going to Chang'an. Of course Guo Song would be concerned about what happened in Chang'an.
Thinking of this, he scolded the dazed soldiers on the side: "Why are you so dazed? Why don't you quickly set up camp!"
Twenty thousand soldiers quickly set up a thousand tents and surrounded them with barracks. The official road was close to the Chengguo Canal, and there were hundreds of large ships in the canal to transport grain, grass and baggage for them.
At night, when the soldiers were just falling asleep, the alarm bell suddenly rang loudly on the sentry tower, 'Dang! Dang! Dang!'
Hundreds of cavalry were seen running from all directions, running against the camp fence, shooting rockets into the Jingyuan Army camp while running, and dozens of large tents outside began to burn.
There was a chaos in the camp. The soldiers rushed out of the tents, cut the ropes with their swords, and put down the tents. The tents disappeared before the fire spread.
Wang Lien raised his sword and shouted loudly: "Don't panic, the archers defend!"
The enemy troops on the periphery did not continue to attack, and the soldiers of the Jingyuan Army stabilized themselves from the initial panic. Five thousand archers rushed towards the camp fence.
The Jingyuan army had not been trained in night fighting. They were very nervous at night and fired arrows blindly and randomly without waiting for orders.
Wang Lien asked the soldiers on the guard tower, their faces were ashen, there were not many of them, they were obviously harassing his own army.
At this moment, someone suddenly shouted: "Fire! There's a fire!"
Wang Lien was taken aback and quickly looked towards the place where the fire started. The fire was not ignited in the camp, but not far to the south, with flames reaching into the sky and thick smoke filling the air.
"It's the fleet!"
Wang Lien suddenly realized that the fleet transporting supplies and food for them had caught fire.
In the end, the fleet was not rescued. More than a hundred large ships were all burned, and all supplies and food were completely lost.
...........
At the fourth watch, the sleepy soldiers of the Jingyuan Army had just put on their clothes and lay down. The alarm bell rang loudly again on the sentry tower. The soldiers who had just laid down were frightened and immediately sat up. The sleepiness was gone. Hundreds of cavalry were still there.
He ran over, shot a bunch of arrows randomly around the perimeter, and then left.
Although there were no casualties in the Jingyuan Army, the soldiers were frightened all night and no one could sleep. The next day, Wang Lien did not march out and the soldiers were exhausted. Marching in this state was impossible to fight against the enemy.
Military confrontation.
He ordered the soldiers to continue to rest, and sent three thousand soldiers to guard outside. Just when the soldiers were just falling asleep, a low horn sound suddenly came from the north, and the sound of the horn resounded through the wilderness.
Immediately afterwards, the ground began to tremble, a movement that only occurs when thousands of troops and horses are running. The soldiers of the Jingyuan Army were in a mess, wearing armor and helmets, and they saw cavalry coming from a mile away.
Wang Lien suddenly realized that he had made a mistake and that the three thousand soldiers outside were in danger. He shouted: "Gather immediately and get out of camp to fight!"
He now only hopes that the three thousand soldiers can hold out for a while and buy time for the main army to fight.
Three thousand spearmen were distributed 300 steps north of the camp, commanded by a Zhonglangjun. The three thousand spearmen quickly gathered to prepare for the strong impact of the Hexi cavalry.
But the four thousand Hexi cavalry did not attack them. They roared from left and right, shooting arrows while running. The dense rain of arrows hit the three thousand spearmen. The spearmen were caught off guard and were hit by arrows one after another. Countless soldiers screamed.
Fall down.
But they immediately raised their square shields and squatted on the ground with their spears pointed outward. This was a tactic to resist cavalry shooting.
The four thousand cavalry did not fight with them. They quickly ran away after shooting arrows. When the main force of the Jingyuan Army all broke out of the camp, the Hexi Army cavalry had disappeared behind the forest in the distance.
After struggling all morning, the soldiers of the Jingyuan Army were sleepy and hungry, but the breakfast they expected was not delivered. Only then did all the soldiers realize that hundreds of ships transporting them food and supplies were burned down last night, and they had no food.
Already.
Of course, the soldiers did not carry dry food. Their mules and donkeys only carried the wealth they carried with them. These gold, silver and jewels could not be used as food at the moment.
The 20,000 soldiers were in an uproar, shouting, and the crowd was furious. After experiencing the Chang'an Incident, the mentality of the soldiers of the Jingyuan Army has changed. Compared with other armies, they generally have a sense of superiority. They are
The heroes who founded the country, it was their contributions that enabled Captain Zhu to seize the country of the Tang Dynasty.
There is a special name for this kind of soldiers, called arrogant soldiers. Now that they are forced to go out to fight, they are full of complaints and grievances. They don't even have food to eat. All the soldiers are yelling, breaking pots and bowls, and clamoring to go back to the capital.
They don't want to do it anymore.
Wang Lianen was also at a loss for a moment. The place they were in was called Maweipo, which was the place where Concubine Yang Guifei was sentenced to death. There were only a few farmland villages in this area, and they were all relatively far away. The county seat was further away, and Xianyang County in the east was far away.
They are about one hundred and fifty miles away, and to the west is Wugong County, which is about forty miles away.
It was okay to go to Wugong County, but they had to solve the problem of breakfast and lunch first. Wang Lien's eyes fell on the donkeys and mules used by the soldiers to transport their personal belongings. Hundreds of soldiers were killed by random arrows from the enemy, and their donkeys and mules were
As they became ownerless, their money naturally fell into Wang Lien's pocket.
Wang Lien gave an order, and hundreds of donkeys and mules were slaughtered and cooked for the soldiers to use as military rations. The soldiers had a breakfast of donkey meat cooked on fire, which barely calmed down their anger.
Wang Lien decided to station himself in the nearest Wugong County, and then asked the court for help. The soldiers began to pack up and prepare to set off. The camp gates and tents could not be carried, and they were piled up and burned down. Twenty thousand soldiers began to march towards the village forty miles away.
Heading to Wugong County.
By noon, we were still more than twenty miles away from Wugong County. It was time for lunch again. This time, all the donkeys and mules had their owners. The soldiers refused to let Wang Lien kill the donkeys to satisfy their hunger. The 20,000 soldiers started to riot.
, they would not kill the donkey.
"General, why not send people to plunder some grain and rice from various villages?" Several generals advised.
Wang Lianen was in a bit of a dilemma. He was afraid that there would be an ambush from the Hexi Army around him, and the people he sent out would never return.
"General, why don't you kill the horse?" A general suggested.
They also have hundreds of cavalry, who were originally military discipline soldiers and spies.
Wang Lien shook his head. Killing horses is a taboo in the army. He would rather kill donkeys than horses. At this time, he thought of a way. He called a general and said to him: "You lead five hundred cavalry to Wugong County."
, get some pig, sheep, grain and rice back first."
This place is only a little over twenty miles away from Wugong County, and the cavalry will be back in half an hour.
General Pian clasped his fists and said, "I'll lead the army right now!"
The general led five hundred cavalry and rushed westward like a gust of wind. Wang Lien led 20,000 soldiers and continued to march slowly. No matter how hungry he was, he had to endure it first!