Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 930 The Final Battle
Now Shuofang County has not been completely pacified, but Yuan Xi has retreated and is preparing to go south from Yanmen to Jinyang because he can't wait any longer.

From the beginning of the attack on Bingzhou to the remaining Jinyang, the entire process of dispatching troops was full of surprises. Fortunately, Xianbei was temporarily stabilized, and the Xiongnu also fell apart because of the expedition to Bei and Huchuquan. Otherwise, if hundreds of thousands of southern Xiongnu united, all the people would be soldiers. , Yuan Xi doesn't know how to fight hard at all.

But now Yuan Xi used tens of thousands of troops to pacify the five northern counties all the way, and now he is attacking Jinyang because of his strategic success. Before the war started, he had already planned the attack and made use of all the favorable factors. .

Just like the princes of the Central Plains are not united and will attack each other, the same is true for the Hu people. The starting point of their interests is still their own tribe. The so-called Chanyu is just the leader of hundreds of large and small tribes. This is the case with Xianbei Wuhuan , the same is true for the Southern Huns.

In this era, even all strata in the Central Plains did not actually have much strong feelings about family and country. The continuation of the idea of ​​​​the unification of the Qin and Han Dynasties was only driven by the idea of ​​​​the upper class making contributions and establishing careers in the world. Ordinary people as long as the court could There are not many ideas left to ensure that they have enough food and clothing.

Under this situation, if it is to say that what supports the Central Plains people's desire to live a good life is the cultural heritage of China for thousands of years and the worship of the blood of their ancestors, the Hu people in the border areas are still in a chaotic and hesitant period of thinking.

Regardless of the Xianbei or the Xiongnu, their desire to find a safe place to live is still difficult to realize, not to mention the conflicts between the tribes due to the squeeze of living space.

However, if the Hu people have a strong leader, they can unite based on the interests of expansion, and their strength will increase sharply in a short period of time, forming a highly aggressive group. In turn, due to the increase in their strength, they will be able to expand externally. The benefits outweighed the losses, so its scale grew bigger and bigger like a snowball until it brought disaster to the Central Plains.

Without such a leader, the Hu people would have suffered more losses than gains during their expansion, and they would have returned to a situation in which tribes fought among themselves for their own interests, just like the current Xianbei and Southern Xiongnu.

During his years in the border areas, Yuan Xi has accurately grasped the mentality of the Hu people who want to win but are afraid of losing. When encountering the opponent's infiltration into the Han Dynasty to plunder, he will definitely fight back with all his strength as soon as possible, and will not hold back until he is killed. The other party suffered heavy losses and was so painful that they no longer dared to take similar actions.

Therefore, whether it was the Xianbei or the Southern Xiongnu, Yuan Xi fought back several plunders and invasions over the years at all costs. Although Yuan Xi suffered a lot of losses, it did affect the pace of the original struggle for hegemony, but it did result in gains. The results were very good. The tribesmen outside the fortress were killed many times. After each family wailed and cried bitterly, they no longer dared to invade the Youzhou frontier fortress.

But even so, according to Tian Yu's estimation, there may be at least about 70,000 or 80,000 die-hards. If they are not handled well, even if they are defeated, these people may flee to the Central Plains and become the most difficult bandits to deal with.

So over the years, Yuan Xi carefully built a siege network. He first controlled the Black Mountains to block the passage to the east of Jinyang, then merged the five northern counties of the state to block his escape route back to the desert, and then joined forces with senior officials to cut off his escape route in Shangdang County. The rest of the route going south is the Yellow River to the west. The Southern Xiongnu who are now in Jinyang in the Taiyuan Basin are already unable to fly.

This is the case in Xianbei. The three alliances established by Tan Shihuai during his lifetime can now only fight for power outside the Great Wall. Among them, Kebi Neng is from a humble background but is the strongest. Bu Dugen has the blood of Tan Shihuai but is mediocre. To Kebi Neng Naturally, be careful. If the two conflict with each other, it will be a matter of time.

As for the Southern Xiongnu, based on their experience under the rule of the Han Dynasty for hundreds of years, they were also in chaos. Although the policies of the Eastern Han Dynasty went astray and aroused the resistance of the Southern Xiongnu, most of the Southern Huns , still don’t want to openly confront Han Ting.

At this time, Yuan Xi adopted a policy of differentiation just right. By promising to win over Qubei and others who were not optimistic about the prospects of the Southern Xiongnu rebellion, and through several attacks on Xianbei, he frightened some clan leaders who were already wavering in their stance. , giving Huchuquan, who didn't want to start a war, an excuse to sit back and watch.

Under a series of strategies, this group of people has been completely isolated. They were originally opposed to the Huchuquan Qubei people. Now, from the standpoint of relying on the Huchuquanqubei people, they really hope that they will be finished as soon as possible.

In the end, the only ones left were the die-hard Southern Huns who refused to defend Jinyang (Taiyuan).

"Two frontal marches, one to the Luliang Mountains in the west and the other to the Heishan Mountains in the east, will completely compress the Southern Huns into the basin."

After all, how the Western Han Dynasty fought back the invasion of their ancestors for hundreds of years, which brought the Huns to the brink of annihilation. This painful oral experience also made many people within them not want to fight at all.

However, even so, Yuan Xi will not underestimate these Huns. For this battle, he must win beautifully and show an absolute crushing advantage, so that he can completely frighten the Huns who still have some ideas in their hearts.

This is from the Datong Basin to the Taiyuan Basin. There are not many routes that can be taken. It is suitable for each general to lead the army all the way and block all routes.

Yuan Xi looked at the generals below, including Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao, Zhang He, Tian Yu, Gao Lan and Qubei. He was the only one who knew the value of these people. Even these generals themselves were not aware of them. In today's world, they are What a terrifying combat power.

In order to survive, the Hu people have no psychological barriers to temporarily relying on the strong, including the Han people. After all, this is how their ancestors came, so Yuan Xi took advantage of several major victories over Xianbei and successfully used a series of means to divide Xianbei. , especially Bu Dugen joined forces privately to free up energy to deal with the Southern Huns.

With the arrival of Gao Lan and the Youzhou soldiers, the nearly year-long Battle of Bingzhou has reached its final battle. All that is left is to invade the Taiyuan Basin and gradually capture Datong, Jinyang and other places that the Han Dynasty had previously abandoned. The city is fortified.

Under this situation, the Hu people's alliance, which was temporarily put together based on the interests of plunder, fell apart invisibly. They could not benefit from Youzhou, so they could only annex each other. In this way, the conflicts between the Hu people tribes were further exposed. come out.

Yuan Xi walked to the map and said: "This time we go south from Yanmen, and our ultimate goal is Jinyang."

He continued: "I want the troops to be divided into four groups."

"The main attack is from the two fronts, and the mountains on both sides are well defended to prevent them from escaping."

"The Four Court Pillars of Jizhou fought in Heishan many times and are suitable for fighting in mountainous areas, so they were handed over to Junyi all the way from Luliang Mountain and to Gao Lan all the way from Heishan."

After hearing this, the two generals quickly stood up and took the order. "As for the two lines of the Chinese army, Zilong Wenyuan will be the forward, and the cavalry will be the main force to clear out the Huns soldiers on the periphery."

Zhao Yun and Zhang Liao also stood up to take orders.

"As for going to Bei, you will join our central army and call the city to surrender during the siege."

Qubei took the order and said at the same time: "Several big cities around Jinyang are quite strong, I'm afraid the cavalry won't be able to attack them hard."

Yuan Xi smiled and said: "No problem, let's cut off their supplies first. When we get to the city, the equipment that Heishan has been building will almost be shipped over."

In the past year, Xu Huang has been defending Huaicheng at the Heishan Exit, while the Heishan tribesmen led by Yang Feng are making siege equipment.

Montenegro is rich in timber and other resources, and now the equipment is almost ready. In autumn, the Yellow River has also entered the dry season, which is perfect for Heishan to cross the river to transport the equipment.

Yuan Xi finally said: "Guo Rang is also with me in the Chinese army. I have my own arrangements."

"The whole army rests for one day and sets out the day after tomorrow!"

The generals accepted the order with a bang. After everyone left, Yuan Xi said to Tian Yu: "When Yang Feng comes back, you can arrange your manpower to cooperate with her at any time to sneak into the city and break the city together inside and outside."

Only then did Tian Yu understand Yuan Xi's intention, to attack the city forcefully, the soldiers would suffer a lot of damage no matter what, but if someone like Yang Feng sneaked in and opened the city gate, the losses would be reduced a lot.

Fighting on the battlefield was done with all possible means. Tian Yu felt a surge of excitement in his heart. It was time for the Han people to take back Bingzhou. He wanted to let these Huns know that things that did not belong to them would sooner or later be vomited out. !

After Tian Yu left, Yuan Xi walked into the back room and saw Lu Lingqi spinning her halberd gloomily.

Her waist and abdomen were now bulging, and she could hardly put on her armor. She originally thought that while she was still flexible, she could go to the battlefield and watch Bingzhou be conquered. However, Yuan Xi and Xianbei continued to negotiate and spent the whole summer. , Lu Lingqi's hope of following Jinyang was completely dashed.

Yuan Xi also knew where Lu Lingqi was depressed and comforted her: "There is no other way. You have to be as prepared as possible before starting a war."

"Otherwise, if we rush to attack Jinyang in the summer without adequate preparation, Xianbei will take the opportunity to cause trouble, and many more people will die. The relatives of these soldiers will all hate me."

Lu Lingqi pursed her lips and said gloomily: "Of course I know, but when I think about how ambitious I was when I set out from Jicheng, the most critical battle turned out to be ineffective and became a drag. It's really embarrassing to go back like this."

"And I really can't worry about who will protect my husband on the battlefield."

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "With Zhang Fang, Sun Li and the others, you can just take care of your baby with peace of mind."

"Actually, in my opinion, it's best for you to go back to Jicheng to recuperate, but since you insist on staying in Bingzhou, I won't force you. After all, the girls of the Lu family don't back down from battle."

"In that case, you should be responsible for the distribution of food and grass in the rear."

Lu Lingqi's worry turned to joy and she said proudly: "My husband understands my concubine!"

Yuan Xi smiled and said: "Don't be too proud. This battle cannot be fought in a short time."

"In order to reduce losses, we still need to besiege the city for a period of time. Maybe we will have to celebrate the New Year in Bingzhou."

As expected, Yuan Xi's words came true, and the subsequent developments were indeed moving in the direction he had guessed.

The field battle of Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao and others went quite smoothly. Facing the high morale and well-armored Youzhou Army, the Southern Huns cavalry were no match at all. After a few battles, they were beaten to pieces and fled into various cities. , the situation naturally entered a siege battle.

Then Yuan Xi discovered that several cities around Taiyuan were not easy to fight, and were even harder to fight than any city he had seen before.

(End of this chapter)