Horse on the World

Chapter 984 Heroes Twilight

Qu Yongjie led nearly 100 troops to retreat to Fancheng. This is a small county town surrounded by mountains on three sides. In the middle is a flat terrain with a radius of several square kilometers. At most, it was only tens of meters to [-] meters. After returning to Fancheng, Qu Yongjie set up a camp on the Sanmian Mountain to protect Fancheng, but nearly [-] soldiers and horses were compressed into this small place with a radius of less than ten square kilometers. All the tactical manoeuvres have been exhausted, and they are completely passive.

What is even more worrying is, where did the food and grass for the nearly 50 troops come from?Although some of the troops were brought with them when they retreated, they could not last for many days. Fancheng was a small city, and the food and grass that could be raised were extremely limited.Even if the ground was dug three feet, this small county town would only add less than [-] jin of grain and grass to Qubu. For this little grain, the people living in Fancheng were looted, and they could not find a single grain at home. Come.

The numb Fancheng people looked at these desperate Luoyang soldiers with hatred. The hatred hidden in their eyes shocked Qu Yongjie. The cries of women, children and young children made his heart twitch. A poor family, hunger, persecution, and embarrassment filled his childhood. Seeing all this, he couldn't help but recall his youth.

He ordered the expulsion of all Fancheng residents.

Standing on the not-so-high city wall of Fancheng, watching tens of thousands of people being chased away by swords, spears, and leather whips, they were driven out from their homes that had nothing left. out of the city, weeping and cursing murmured from the crowd.

Qu Yongjie lowered his head with a wry smile, expelling them and keeping them away from this small town where a big war is about to take place is the only thing he can do for them. If they stay here, they will only become victims of this war. At the same time, the last thing people care about is the lives of these ordinary people.

Drive them away, and believe that the current Dingzhou Army will settle them. After all, the winners will not only need people's hearts, but also people who can create wealth for them.

It's a pity that the people who are being driven out of the city don't seem to understand his painstaking efforts. They can only see that it was Qu Yongjie who broke their peaceful life, snatched their last grain, and drove them away. The home they live in.

"The city walls of Fancheng are not enough to defend. Destroy the houses and build barricades. Let us fight a street battle with the Dingzhou army, and let us end our final mission in hand-to-hand combat!" Qu Yongjie whispered.

Two days later, the troops that failed to attack Dingjun Mountain rushed to Fancheng. Qu Yongjie learned that hundreds of officers below Ma Xieyou and above were killed in battle. He no longer felt sad. It was only a matter of time. It's up to me.

Three days later, the coalition forces of Zhang Aimin and Chen Zeyue advanced to a place about ten miles outside Fancheng. Immediately afterwards, Qian Duobu of the Tiger Camp in Dingjun Mountain also arrived in Fancheng.

Five days later, the two armies of Lu Dalin, Tian Feng, and Guan Xinglong arrived in Fancheng. Around the small Fancheng, they gathered about 30 Dingzhou troops in a short time, and surrounded Fancheng layer by layer.

In Fancheng, you can also hear the cheers of the Dingzhou Army because of the victory of several major armies. These cheers also represent that the countdown to his own death has begun, and the countdown to Da Chu's has also begun.

Luoyang has not been able to send any reinforcements. Even if there are, it is impossible to let them out at this time. The result will only be that the given state army will eat them one by one. At this time, the only way to gather all the troops in hand , trapped in Luoyang, but how long can it last?
For hundreds of thousands of years, Luoyang has never been broken by the enemy from the outside. This time, will there be an exception?Qu Yongjie sat in the county government office which was used as a temporary headquarters, and thought to himself.

Presumably that would be the greatest siege battle in history, with spears and shields strong, who can control the ups and downs?Unfortunately, I can't see it.

Although they were encircled, the Dingzhou army didn't seem to be in a hurry to attack. Instead, they dug trenches slowly outside Fancheng and built parapets, looking like they were going to be besieged for a long time.

As an excellent general, Qu Yongjie admired the opponent's commanding general very much. With the victory in hand, he did not get carried away at all, but took the safest approach. You must know that although the current Luoyang soldiers are desperate, But there is another emotion, that is tragic.The energy that a group of mourning soldiers can burst into despair is astonishing. If the Dingzhou army is eager to attack at this time, even if they win, the price they have to pay must be astonishing. Obviously, the opposing generals also deeply understand At this point, they tightened the encirclement without haste, luring themselves to take the initiative to attack, and then eating up their last troops little by little, in exchange for the greatest victory at the smallest cost.

Appreciating the opponent is just an extra emotion, but the more savvy the opponent is, the more tragic it is for Qu Yongjie now, which is slowly destroying his only little bit of hope.

Qu Yongjie has no doubts, behind the seemingly loose opponent's line of defense, the hungry mouths are opening wide, revealing the sharp burnt teeth inside, waiting for him to pounce on him, and then chew himself to pieces Not a single bit left.

Food and grass are the biggest problem now. Now the whole army can only eat a dry meal for the soldiers who are ready to fight that day, while the soldiers in rotation can only live on a bowl of gruel. Even so, the whole army can support at most 20 It takes a lot of time, and this also includes all the war horses, pack horses, mules and donkeys of the whole army, and after that, the whole army will run out of food.

Qu Yongjie had no intention of sending troops out to fight. Sending troops out of the city to fight would mean consuming more food and going out to fight if the soldiers were not fed enough. Soldiers who had no strength could only commit suicide.If the opponent does not take the initiative to attack, Qu Yongjie is also willing to delay for a few more days, even if the whole army will starve to death in the end, as long as he can buy more time for the defense of Luoyang.

Lu Dalin was not in a hurry to attack this time. In Pingzhou City, Zhou Tong's deadly counterattack sounded the alarm for him. Even if you are sure of victory, don't underestimate your opponent, even if you are a tiger. , the opponent is a little white rabbit, and it is not ruled out that this little white rabbit will bite your vitals before dying.

The destruction of more than thirty Shenwei cannons made Lu Dalin's heart ache to the bone.

Qu Yongjie's army is besieged in such a small place, basically they can't play any tricks, and their most fatal weakness is food. If it is possible, Lu Dalin doesn't mind going after all the opponents are hungry. clean them up.

Lu Dalin, Tian Feng, Guan Xinglong, and Chen Zeyue gathered in Fancheng. In terms of seniority and age, they all respected Lu Dalin. Therefore, the commander-in-chief of this battle was undoubtedly Lu Dalin.

"The lord has decided to attend the final battle of Luoyang in person, and the decisive battle is scheduled for September, and it is still in May. We have enough time to deal with Qu Yongjie, and then we will march to the city of Luoyang." Lu Dalin said: "The lord is expected to be in July Starting from Dingzhou in July, arriving at the city of Luoyang at the end of August, and starting the attack in September, the lord said that he would spend this year's Spring Festival in Luoyang city."

Lu Dalin's words made all the generals in the tent burst into laughter.

"General Yang Yidao's [-] troops are now approaching the gate of Luoyang, but now we don't need so many people here, so what I mean is to deploy a group of our troops here, mainly cavalry, to advance to Luoyang, First, it can form solidarity with General Yang Yidao, and second, it is also to deter Luoyang and certain forces that are still on the sidelines, we have already begun to form a siege to Luoyang."

"General Lu is right. In fact, in Fancheng, cavalry is not very useful, and it is impossible for Qu Yongjie to break out. Therefore, a large number of cavalry here is indeed a waste of money and food." Chen Zeyue said.

"In this case, we will send the cavalry from the Changsheng Battalion, Yizhou Battalion, and Feiling Battalion to Luoyang." Guan Xingyue pondered.

Lu Dabing jumped up all of a sudden, "Why are there no cavalry from our Red Army?"

Lu Dalin glared at him fiercely, "What are you clamoring for? General Guan's arrangement is very good. You have been in command of the Red Cavalry for so many years, but some of the bad qualities of the Red Cavalry have not changed. If you let you go out I don’t know what they will do in such a wealthy place in the suburbs of Beijing? You know, now we not only want to defeat our opponents and occupy Luoyang, but we also want to win the hearts of the people, do you understand?”

Lu Dabing sat down angrily, "What do you not understand? Not long ago, we spent so much money and food to settle the lives of the people in Fancheng, isn't it just to win the hearts of the people!"

Tian Feng smiled and smoothed things over, "Soldier, don't be impatient. It is impossible to transfer all the cavalry. We must also keep the cavalry here. The red cavalry you lead is a veteran strongman of our Dingzhou Army." Army, can't we transfer all the elites away?"

Lu Dabing nodded, feeling a little better.

"General Lu, according to our estimation, the grain and grass under Qu Yongjie's troops should be able to last for ten to twenty days. It has been ten days now, shouldn't we exert some pressure?" Chen Zeyue turned his gaze to Lu Dalin and said.

"I also have this intention." Lu Dalin said, "We can start some light attacks on Qu Yongjie's outer positions. It doesn't matter whether we can attack or not. The key is to let our soldiers regain their spirits. , warming up for the attack on Luoyang."

Qu Yongjie climbed up to Quanjialing on the left side of Fancheng with difficulty. Since May, the Dingzhou soldiers suddenly began to attack the outer positions. Judging from the extent of the Dingzhou soldiers' attack, it seems that there is no target at all. One hammer to the east and one stick to the west, today hit Quanjialing, tomorrow the focus of the attack suddenly changed direction, to Tanziling on the right.

On the Quanjialing position, a general with a haggard face greeted him, and most of the soldiers sat or lay on the position numbly, seeing Qu Yongjie coming up, they just rolled their eyes and looked at him , the face is basically covered with vegetables, this is hungry, and now the food and grass are getting more and more scarce, many troops have already started peeling bark, looking for wild vegetables, and digging gophers.

"How about it?" Qu Yongjie asked.

The general shook his head, "Very bad, General, we have basically run out of food, and if this continues we will be consumed to death, why not fight to the death? While the soldiers still have the last bit of strength?"

(End of this chapter)