Eastern Jin Dynasty: My powerful father

Chapter 246: A soldier never tires of deceit
Fu Yan's journey back was not thrilling, and things were not difficult to understand. Even Yao Xiang, the commander-in-chief of the three armies, fell into blind optimism and lost his vigilance. Many pairs of eyes in the Qiang army were staring at Yao Xiang. One can imagine what kind of mentality the people below have.

The Qiang army's sentries were ordered to monitor each gate in Ye City, but they were only monitoring each gate. How could they patrol the gates carefully and carefully at night?

Therefore, when Fu Yan returned to Murong Ke's army and Murong Ke asked him if he had alerted the Qiang army, Fu Yan couldn't help laughing and said:

"The Qiang people thought they were sure to win, so they were arrogant and lazy. Even the sentries and cavalry patrolling were careless."

When Murong Ke heard this, he asserted:
"Knowing the slightest thing, as the saying goes, a arrogant army will be defeated. Yao Xiang attacked Jizhou from the north and brought his own destruction."

At this time, Murong Zang, who was accompanying Murong Ke, asked:
"Uncle Wang, since the enemy is unprepared, why not send troops to attack the camp?"

Murong Zang was the eldest son of Emperor Murong Jun of the Yan Kingdom. He was granted the title of King Le'an. He followed his uncle Murong Ke to conquer Qi State under his father's order. This was not to monitor Murong Ke, but to make Murong Zang accept him in Murong Ke's army. Experience.

Murong Ke explained patiently:
"Yao Xiang has been in the army for half his life. Even if he underestimated the enemy, how could he neglect the defense of the camp? If he took the risk to rob the camp and missed a single hit, wouldn't it be a warning to the enemy?"

Murong Zang suddenly realized, he cupped his hands and said:

"Thank you, Uncle Wang, for your teaching."

All the generals kept their promises and just ate a few bites of dry food to fill their stomachs for lunch on the battlefield. Who wouldn't want to go back to camp and enjoy hot meals and dishes when they were exhausted.

The next day, in the weak morning light, Yao Xiang left only some sergeants to guard the camp and headed straight for Yecheng with the main force.

Murong Ke nodded slightly. He admired his nephew very much. Although Murong Zang's talents were not outstanding, he was a man who knew how to advance and retreat.

Yao Xiang was still supervising the battle on the front line. Seeing that it was getting late and approaching dusk, he said:

In the open space about a mile north of the Qiang Army camp, a Yan Army primary school commander was ordered to light a fire. The firewood they brought was all over the ground, and the fire was burning brightly.

Yao Xiang's heart sank. He knew clearly that someone must have set fire to the camp, but where did the army come from?

I saw black smoke billowing straight into the sky. This was definitely not the kind of smoke that could be caused by lighting a fire for cooking.

But it is not that there is no hope of victory. Yecheng is crumbling, as if telling everyone:

After a day of siege, they were already exhausted. Now that they saw such a battle, they mistakenly thought that the camp had been robbed, and they themselves were under siege by the enemy. Even the elites couldn't help but lose their positions, and the soldiers were restless.

The battle was difficult, and the Qiang army went into battle as usual, each unit taking turns to attack the city.

If you work harder, it's almost there.

"Sooner or later, Yecheng will be mine. If the city falls, there is no need to hurry. Send my military order, pay the money and withdraw the troops. Return to the camp to eat, have a good rest, and fight again tomorrow."

Immediately, the gong was sounded, and the Qiang troops attacking the city retreated one after another.

However, something unexpected happened. A soldier who retreated pointed to the rear of the military formation in the direction of the camp and said in horror:
"Look!"

The Qiang camp was only five miles away from Yecheng. When it was daylight, the Qiang people had already formed a formation under the city.

The situation was critical and Yao Xiang did not allow him to think too much. He was about to lead his army back to support him, but he saw dust rising from the east, west and south sides, as if thousands of troops were besieging him. All the Qiang soldiers were horrified.

As the eldest son of the emperor of the Yan Kingdom, being able to know how to advance and retreat may be the most praiseworthy quality.

That thick smoke was the noise they made.

Murong Ke only had 10,000 fine cavalry around him, and Yao Xiang finally left some soldiers to guard the camp.

If Murong Ke chooses to attack the Qiang army camp, the number of people will be small and it will not be helpful. With too many people, it would be impossible to launch an attack on the main force of the Qiang army, so Murong Ke came up with a way. He did not have to actually conquer the Qiang army camp, but only needed to prepare enough flammable materials in the direction of the Qiang army camp. Create a fire.

The Qiang army who was five miles away did not know whether it was true or not, and mistakenly thought that the fire came from the camp, so they must have concluded that the camp was robbed.

To the east of the Qiang army, it was Murong Zang who led 500 cavalry and drove more than 10,000 walking horses. They tied branches to the horses' tails. When they saw the thick smoke rising into the sky, they galloped, raising dust. .

The Yan army had 10,000 fine cavalry, one man and three horses. The movement to the west was caused by the same trick, with 500 cavalry driving more than 10,000 walking horses.

As for the south, there are nine thousand fine cavalry led by Murong Ke himself, which is where the main force of the Yan army lies.

Yao Xiang had seen this move before.

When he rescued the state of Xiang and joined forces with the Yan army to fight against Ran Min, the general Yue Wan of the Yan army tied branches to his horse's tail and swept up the dust, which frightened Ran Min's 100,000 elite infantry and cavalry into panic and chaos.

As a witness to the Battle of Xiangguo, Yao Xiang sat on his horse and shouted:

"The Yan people are just bluffing! Don't panic! Don't be chaotic!"

However, the raised dust may be fake, but the sound of the galloping horses is really scary.

It also made the Qiang army officers and soldiers believe that there were tens of thousands of cavalry coming from the east and west.

Even if Yao Xiang shouted to the soldiers until his voice became hoarse, it would be of no avail.

As everyone knows, this is just Murong Ke making full use of the walking horse.

Murong Ke led nine thousand fine cavalry to fight out of the dust in the south. At the head of the battle were three thousand armored cavalry as the flagship force of King Yan.

In the previous battle for Luoyang, Murong Ke regretted not bringing armored cavalry. This time when he went south, he naturally recruited them into the army.

Since the Qiang army had launched an siege, the infantry was naturally the main force. The cavalry was not of much use, so the cavalry could not be allowed to dismount and attack the city.

Among the defenders of Yecheng, there were only a very small number of cavalry, which could hardly pose a threat.

Therefore, Yao Xiang only brought thousands of cavalry to suppress the formation, and the rest of the cavalry were all in the camp.

Although the generals who stayed behind in the camp realized that something was wrong, they were already gathering soldiers to prepare for rescue.

However, not to mention the time it takes to assemble the soldiers, the Qiang army on the front line is now in chaos because of Murong Ke's little tricks. It is still unclear whether they can support the reinforcements until they have traveled five miles.

Witnessing an incident outside the city, the three gates to the south of Ye City that had been closed before were now all opened. Murong Chui personally led the defenders to fight out of the city, forming a north-south pincer attack with Murong Ke who came from the south.

It is true that the defenders of Yecheng are just a mob. If they really want to fight the elite Qiang army openly, they will be defeated at the first touch.

However, the battle outside the city not only intimidated the Qiang people, but also emboldened the defenders. Of course they did not know that this was just Murong Ke's bluff.

Just like the Xiongnu archers and cavalry under Huan Xi, they all fought bravely to take the lead.

The Qiang army did not have a horse or chariot formation to rely on. How could this group of already frightened infantry face the impact of the Yan army's armored cavalry?

Fu Yan led three thousand armored cavalry, as if they were in an uninhabited land, killing Qiang people wantonly, which made Yao Xiang's eyes almost split.

(End of this chapter)