Great Han Empire

Chapter 634
Ganling Kingdom, Beiqiu City.

The two armies of Wang Dang and Peng Lie rushed towards Beiqiu and Ganling City one after the other.

At midnight, the forward battalion of Wangdang's army arrived at Beiqiu.They met unexpectedly with the rear battalion of the Jizhou Army, which was retreating south.

After the army Sima Renge received the report from the scouts, he sent someone to report to Wang Dang urgently, and at the same time commanded the army to kill him from the flank of the Jizhou army.The soldiers of the Jizhou army were caught off guard, and were killed so that they ran wild and broke into an army.

When a chief of the Jizhou army was brought before Ren Ge, he cursed angrily, "You barbarians from northern Xinjiang are blind. We are the army of Jizhou, not the army of Youzhou. You should fight the army of Youzhou. To fight Gongsun Zan, you made a mistake."

One of Ren Ge's subordinates raised his hand and punched him, "I hit you."

"Why are you arguing? You just answer whatever your lord asks?" Another subordinate reached out and pulled off the man's helmet, and slammed it to the ground. "If you make any more noise, I will cut you off."

Ren Ge strode over and kicked him to the ground, "Where are you going? Are you going to hit Gongsun Zan or run away?"

Ren Ge is in his 20s, of medium build, with a prominent scar on his long black face.He used to be a bandit in the Taihang Mountains.After the Han army conquered the desert, he was ordered to guard Jinxueyuan.After two years in that desolate place, he was nearly insane.He once publicly threatened that as long as he was allowed to leave the desert, he would go back to the Central Plains to beg for food.After Yan Wuwei heard about it, he wrote to ridicule him, don't go back to the Central Plains to beg for food, just continue to be your bandit in the desert.

Although the head of the village groaned miserably while hugging his stomach, his tone was still harsh, "Our army is right ahead, just wait for your death."

"Hit me." Ren Ge was furious, rushing forward with punches and kicks.The head of the village couldn't stand it any longer, and while begging for mercy repeatedly, he said in a vague way that the Shangguan asked us to go south overnight to attack the Yellow Turban Army in the Fagan and Dunqiu areas of Yanzhou.

"Yuan Shao is going to run." Ren Ge immediately realized that the situation was serious, "Hurry up and report to Lord Wang that Yuan Shao is going to run."

"Send the order, the army will immediately go south to pursue."

The sound of assembled war drums instantly shook the dark night.

"What about the prisoners?" a military marquis asked loudly.

"Kill, kill them all." Ren Ge raised his hand and shouted, "Brothers, hold up the torches and run forward..."

=

Wang Dang received Ren Ge's urgent report, and immediately ordered the whole army to turn around and pursue southward, Dahe Gudu.

"Report to Lord Peng Lie urgently, follow up as quickly as possible, and strive to surround Yuan Shao in Dahe Gudu."

"Report to Lord Zhang Yan urgently, Yuan Shao has already escaped, and the encirclement may fail, please come to help quickly, Lord Zhang Yan."

"Where is General Zilong? Where are the iron cavalry?" Wang Dang opened his mouth and shouted at the night sky, "I want iron cavalry, I want iron cavalry..."

=

Yuan Shao was very surprised when he heard that his rear army had been attacked near Beiqiu, "Hurry up, send more scouts, we must find out whether it is the Youzhou army or the Northern Xinjiang army that is following us."

"Order the ministries to speed up and quickly cross the river."

Ju Shou looked back.The nearly [-] troops were divided into three groups, like three winding dragons, advancing side by side.The dense torches are like red stars on the sky, which is magnificent.

"My lord, I suggest giving up food and supplies, and the whole army should travel lightly. This will save a lot of time."

Yuan Shao shook his head, "We still have ten miles to go to Dahe Gudu, so we have enough time. After crossing Dahe Gudu, we will be safe. We don't know the situation in Yecheng now. Food, grass and supplies are very important to us, so we can't lose them. "

=

Dahe Gudu.

Before this dynasty, the Yellow River had undergone two large-scale diversions, one in the fifth year of Zhou Dingwang (602 BC), and one in the period of Wang Mang.

The river course after the first diversion of the Yellow River is called "Dahe Gudu".Dahe Gudu diverted from the main river near Baima City (now Huaxian County, Henan Province) in Yanzhou, and entered the sea in the middle section of Bohai County (now Huanghua County, Hebei Province).In the middle of the Warring States period, the lower reaches of the Yellow River were fully embanked, and the water of the Yellow River was exclusively routed to the "Old River of the Great River" until the current dynasty. "Dahe Gudu" has been stable for 470 years, during which it has overflowed nine times, but has not been diverted again.

During the Wangmang dictatorship of this dynasty, due to the serious sediment accumulation, it was inevitable that the Dahe Gudu would be diverted. Therefore, after several major floods, the "Wangmang River" (known as the Dahe Gudu in the Western Han Dynasty in history) was finally formed.

Afterwards, the Yellow River experienced nearly 60 years of flooding and frequent embankment breaches. By the time of Emperor Xiaoming, it finally formed the course of the Yellow River today (known as the Great River of the Eastern Han Dynasty in history, and it has been stable for more than 800 years. The location of the Great River of the Eastern Han Dynasty is higher than that of the Great River of the Western Han Dynasty. To the east, Qiancheng County in Le'an State, Qingzhou, which is now Lijin County in Shandong, enters the sea, and its direction basically follows the southern edge of the North China Plain, without dividing Hebei into two.)
=

Dozens of fires were lit on the embankments on both sides of the Gudu River, bright as day.

Yuan Shao and a group of subordinates stationed on the embankment of the horse, looked at the soldiers struggling to walk in the waist-deep mud of the old road, each with a dignified face and a heavy heart.

Due to the gradual rise in temperature, the ice and snow in the old course of the Yellow River have all melted recently, and the silt layer has thickened immediately. However, the early opening of the Yellow River and the thawing of nearby rivers and ditches have caused the water levels of various water systems to rise again, and part of the ice water has flowed in. The silting of the old river has been exacerbated, and the silt layer has become thicker and thicker.

This was something Yuan Shao and his subordinates did not expect, and they came to a dead end.

The scouts came and went like flying, one news after another caused Yuan Shao to be in chaos.

It was the Northern Frontier Army who attacked and killed our own army near Beiqiu, and they were chasing after them.Then the scouts discovered that more Northern Xinjiang troops were coming from the northwest.The soldiers of the Northern Xinjiang Army no longer hid their whereabouts. They held their torches high and ran all the way.

=

Yuan Shao, Jushou, Tian Feng, Shenpei, Xin Ping, Feng Ji, Han Qiong and others started a heated debate about which direction the army should retreat.

Jushou and Tian Feng asked Yuan Shao to give up food, grass and supplies immediately, and the army quickly crossed the old course of the Yellow River.

"As far as we can go." Jushou said anxiously, "Li Hong's intentions have been exposed. He wants to encircle us and Gongsun Zan and solve the Jizhou issue in one battle."

"Look, my lord..." Tian Feng unfolded the map and explained, "It is Li Hong and Qu Yi who are holding back from the front, and there must be a large army on his left and right flanks going south rapidly to complete the encirclement by outflanking him. His right flank The army has been exposed now, and the left-wing army is probably coming soon. No matter whether we go left or right, it is a dead end, and the only way to survive is to continue forward."

Shenpei, Xin Ping and others believed that even if the reinforcements from the Northern Xinjiang Army arrived in Jizhou secretly, there would not be too many reinforcements.Judging from the current situation in northern Xinjiang, Li Hong can only deploy 4 to [-] troops from outside the Great Wall to help south.There are only [-] troops outside the Great Wall, and it is impossible for Li Hong to dispatch all of them to go south regardless of the safety outside the Great Wall.If Li Hong wanted to give up on Da Mo, he would have given up a long time ago, and he would not wait until now.Calculating based on such a force, it is impossible for Li Hong to implement the encirclement strategy. At most, he can only send a surprise army south to threaten and force the Jizhou army away, so as to wholeheartedly fight the Youzhou army.

"The Northern Army has cut off our connection with Ye City in the past few days, forcing us to withdraw from the battlefield. The Northern Army has achieved its goal." The judge said, pointing behind him, "They came after us, but It's just a bluff. We should advance rapidly to the southwest along the Dahe Gudu, occupy Guantao first, and then quickly return to Yecheng."

"You mean to say that Ye City is intact?" Yuan Shao asked.

"Of course." Xin Ping rushed to explain, "We and Gongsun Zan together have an army of 10,000+. Regardless of whether Li Hong is crazy or not, he will not come up with a plan to encircle him unless he seeks his own death. Take a step back and say, Even if Li Hong really wants to encircle us, can he eat it in one bite? If he can’t, what will happen in the future?” Then he looked at Ju Shou and Tian Feng, “The two adults don’t think that Li Hong and Gongsun Zan have joined forces to divide Jizhou equally, right? "

"There are 20 field soldiers in Northern Xinjiang, and [-] each in Hedong and Hetao. If Li Hong recruits [-] field soldiers to go south..." Feng Ji interrupted Tian Feng before he could finish speaking.

"Master Tian, ​​we will know nothing about the [-] troops stationed in the fields going south? Beijiang has been buying grain everywhere in Yangzhou, Jingzhou, and Yuzhou in the past few months, in order to deal with the two regions of Jizhou and Kansai at the same time in the next few months. On the battlefield, where does he get the extra money and food to supply the [-] troops stationed in the fields to fight south? Does Lord Tian think that the eldest princess and the Jinyang court can turn beans into gold and conjure millions of hu grains out of thin air?"

Yuan Shao also agreed with the opinions of Shenpei, Xin Ping and others, but as a precaution, he ordered Han Qiong, Han Hao, and Zhu Ling to lead their troops to cross the river first, and ordered Pan Feng, Hu Yi, and Zhang Sheng to lead their troops five miles away. Block the pursuers.

"My lords and I headed west along the old road." Yuan Shao said, "If this pursuer is bluffing, everything will be fine for us."

=

After traveling less than two miles to the west, the scouts reported again and found the main force of the Northern Frontier Army from the direction of Beiqiu City. There were at least 3 to [-] people. The torches were as dense as stars in the sky, illuminating most of the sky.

It is less than fifty miles from Beiqiu City to Dahe Gudu. Before dawn, all the troops of this army will rush to the old course of the Yellow River one after another.At that time, the Jizhou army will be attacked on three sides, and behind it will be the muddy and difficult old course of the Yellow River, with a dead end.

Without further hesitation, Yuan Shao decisively ordered to abandon all food, grass and supplies, and the entire army immediately crossed the old course of the Yellow River.

At this time, Zhu Ling's vanguard battalion soldiers had found a way to safely cross the Dahe Gudu at the cost of losing more than 300 people.Yuan Shao immediately took many of his staff members, and with the support of his personal guards, he took the lead to cross the river.

=

The soldiers of the northern border army were suppressed by the howling arrows and were unable to advance two hundred steps away.

But to be honest, they couldn't run anymore.From morning until now, their legs have never stopped.After rushing for more than 150 miles in a row, he even fought an encounter with the enemy in Beiqiu. Even the iron man was tired and fell down.

Panting, Ren Ge jumped off his horse, panting heavily, and scolded loudly, "Stand up for me. I haven't fought for two years. Are your legs and feet weak?"

"My lord, we have too few troops. If we rush forward, we will die." A military marshal looked at his subordinates heartbrokenly, and whispered, "My lord, wait a little longer. Wait for the troops behind to catch up..."

Ren Ge gave him a slap on the head, "Wait a little longer? Wait until the enemy has crossed the river. Come on, go to me immediately..."

"Beat me the battle drum... beat the drum..."

"Stand up, brothers, stand up for me..." Ren Ge snatched the black panther battle flag from the flag bearer and waved it vigorously, "Warriors of the Yanmenguan Battle, warriors who swept across the desert, raise your hands! Your weapons, follow me to kill, kill... go..."

=

All the torches in the distance were suddenly extinguished, and the earth fell into darkness again.

Hu Yi nervously walked to the front of the formation, looked around blindly, and listened intently.

"Look, my lord..." A bodyguard pointed forward and shouted in horror, "Northern Army, the Northern Army is here..."

In the distant night, first there were one or two solitary and fast-moving red stars, then one piece, and then a large piece. Suddenly the sky and the earth brightened, and a fiery red star river several miles long jumped into the night sky instantly. The turbulent and majestic water of the Tianhe River roared towards it with the faintly audible sound of wind and thunder.

Hu Yi changed his face in shock, turned around and ran, "Retreat, retreat, cross the river, cross the river immediately..."

In the dark night, in the cold wind, Hu Yi's hoarse cry was extremely terrifying and shrill, "Crossing the river..."

The Jizhou soldiers were already very nervous and fearful, but now they were even more frightened. They followed the battle flag chaotically and ran desperately.

=

The Northern Border Army rushed out of the darkness.

Ren Ge held up the flag in one hand and the knife in the other, like a long arrow flying from the string, he rushed like flying, "Kill...kill..."

The soldiers were not shot by the arrow array, which made them very surprised, and they couldn't die if they wanted to die.When they rushed out of the darkness cautiously and saw the Jizhou army retreating in a hurry, they realized that they had just saved their lives, and the enemy turned around and retreated at this time.

"Kill..." The morale of the Northern Xinjiang soldiers suddenly became like a rainbow, and their heavy legs seemed to suddenly gain infinite strength.

Ren Ge raised the battle flag high, and his running speed was greatly affected. Seeing soldiers rushing in front of him one after another, Ren Ge felt very humiliated.When I was in the Taihang Mountains, I was famous for my divine legs. How many people can run faster than me?He grabbed a soldier who ran past him, and forced the battle flag into his hand, "Take it, follow me..."

"Brothers, kill..." Ren Ge spread his legs, shouted and roared, "Kill, kill, kill..."

=

More than 1000 northern Xinjiang soldiers rushed into the enemy's battle formation like wild horses, and the two sides immediately started a bloody fight.

With the saber flying, Ren Ge soared into the air, chopped down the retreating enemies with one stroke, and then followed up with one stroke, chopping off the enemy's head.Panting violently, he stood with his sword facing the wind. At this moment, he saw the main force of the Northern Border Army roaring from a distance. The countless torches illuminated the night sky, and the violent roar seemed to tear apart Darkness of night.

Ren Ge laughed loudly, raised his hands suddenly, raised his knife and shouted wildly: "Brothers, the army has arrived, kill it, kill it..."

=

Pan Feng and Zhang Sheng commanded the soldiers to place more than 2000 chariots and supply carts on the river embankment, and hundreds of supply carts were pushed down below the river embankment.

Hu Yi led a group of personal guards and fled to the back of the car formation in a panic.

"Light it up..." Pan Feng roared loudly, "Light it up right away..."

Hu Yi was shocked, and grabbed Pan Feng, "Wait a minute, there are three thousand of my subordinates behind..."

Pan Feng pushed him away, pointed at the approaching Northern Xinjiang army, stared and shouted, "There are not only three thousand of your subordinates behind you, but also tens of thousands of enemies..."

"ignition……"

Hu Yi was furious, and suddenly raised the knife to Pan Feng's neck, "You go, I will make some fire."

Pan Feng sneered, "Put the knife away, or I will kill you."

Zhang Sheng rushed up to hug Hu Yi, dragged him and ran away, "Let's go, let's go..."

=

The fire took advantage of the wind, and the fire quickly burned up. After a while, the flames on the embankment soared into the sky, and the flames rose into the sky, with an astonishing momentum.

Ren Ge looked at the raging fire with a look of despair.

Seeing that the pursuit was hopeless, the soldiers of the Northern Xinjiang Army lost their fighting spirit.

The generals and soldiers of the Jizhou Army, who were blocked by the fire, dropped their weapons and surrendered when they saw that there was no way to retreat.

=

Wang Dang came galloping on his horse.

Ren Ge was stationed with a spear, and walked up to Wang Dang crookedly, "My lord, Yuan Shao is a nice person. Before leaving, he set a fire for us to keep us warm from the cold."

Wang Dang looked at the fire and shook his head helplessly, "How are you? How about death?"

"There are not many casualties, but they are too tired." Ren Ge turned his head and pointed at the soldiers lying on the ground in twos and threes. "After running for a day and a night, and fighting two battles, everyone couldn't stand up anymore."

Wang Dang patted him on the shoulder appreciatively, "Take someone down to rest."

"My lord, Yuan Shao ran away, leaving only Gongsun Zan. He wouldn't run away too, would he?"

"I have already sent someone to report to General Zhang Yan. After Peng Lie gets the news, he will immediately lead his army to turn east and surround Ganling City first." Wang Dang said with a wry smile, "If Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao are together If you retreat for a while, things will be very troublesome."

"We have tried our best." Ren Ge said dejectedly, "Yuan Shao must have got the news that Yecheng was lost, otherwise how could he run away? And just when we were about to surround him."

"Yuan Shao won't have such good luck forever." Wang Dang said angrily, "We must avenge Bai Shuai's revenge."

=

At dawn, Zhang Yan received an urgent letter from Wang Dang.

After all, the Beijiang army still fell short, and Yuan Shao escaped because of a bad move.The general's plan to stabilize Jizhou in World War I failed.

Zhang Yan ordered the army to go directly to Ganling.

=

Xifeng Pavilion.

In the morning, when the northern army was gathering to attack Gongsun Zan, they heard the earth-shattering sound of war drums from the other side's camp, and Gongsun Zan took the lead in attacking.

Li Hong was overjoyed, he and Qu Yi led the army to fight.

The northern border army formed a defensive formation, with Lei Zhong's army in front, He Feng's and Fan Li's troops on the left and right flanks, Wen Chou commanded in the center, and Li Hong and Qu Yi led the Black Panther Yi Cong and Huben in the rear to support them.

=

The Northern Xinjiang Army is so powerful that its most powerful weapons are cavalry and crossbows.There is nothing in the world that can match the iron cavalry charging into the formation and the ballista killing the enemy.

Today, although the iron cavalry of the Northern Frontier Army were not there, the ballista still made Gongsun Zan very sad.The two battles between Jicheng and Panhe allowed him to fully experience the strength of the Northern Xinjiang Chariot Battalion.A hundred ballistas may not be terrible, but the power of five hundred ballistas is not something that any army can bear.Gongsun Zan didn't want his cavalry to die in vain under the ballista of the Northern Border Army, so he ordered Shan Jing to take the lead in attacking the Northern Border Army with [-] Youzhou infantry.You have ballista, I have someone, let's see who is better.

The strong bows and ballistas of the Northern Xinjiang Army caused thousands of Youzhou Army to fall on the way to charge.

Compared with the Panhe War in November last year, the Youzhou Army's ordnance has been greatly improved. The soldiers generally put on new armor and have heavy new weapons in their hands, especially the number of bows and arrows. Countless.These weapons were all manufactured by the ordnance workshops in Danyang and Wujun, Yangzhou, and were sent to Bohai County by merchants from those two places on huge sea ships.Yangzhou merchants told Gongsun Zan that these weapons were originally ordered by Jizhou Mu Yuan Shao entrusted Yangzhou Inspector Zhou Qian, but now that Yuan Shao has been driven away by the Lord, he should sell them to the Lord at a favorable price.

=

Lei Zhong only had 500 men, so of course he couldn't stop the Youzhou Army, which was full of people and furious.Lei Chong struggled for a while, then retreated.

The Northern Xinjiang Army then used the three square formations of Wen Chou, He Feng, and Fan Li to resist the attack of the Youzhou Army.

Seeing that the time had come, Gongsun Zan immediately ordered Yan Gang and Gongsun Fan to lead [-] cavalry each to attack the left and right flanks of the Northern Army, and ordered Zou Dan to command [-] infantry to charge from the front again.

Without hesitation, Li Hong immediately ordered the entire army to retreat.

The Northern Xinjiang Army only lasted for more than an hour before being defeated and fled.

Gongsun Zan defeated the famous Li Hong, and the Youzhou Army defeated the famous Northern Border Army.At this moment, both Gongsun Zan and the soldiers of the Youzhou Army were immersed in great excitement and joy.

Looking at the camp left behind by the northern border army and the food and supplies hoarded in the camp, Gongsun Zan was full of ambition and gave the order to pursue.But he was very careful, he ordered Yan Gang to lead [-] cavalry in front, Shan Jing led [-] Youzhou infantry in the center, and led the army himself to follow up.

=

At noon, when Yan Gang arrived at Yunting, he was suddenly ambushed by the northern army.A thousand cavalry desperately escaped from the arrow array, and more than half died.

Shan Jing immediately commanded an army of [-] to kill Shang Yunting at any cost.

Yang Feng and Xu Huang each led their troops out from the hills on both sides, and Qu Yi led the army back to fight again.Shan Jing was outnumbered and almost wiped out the entire army.At this time, Gongsun Zan led the army to kill.The iron cavalry of the Youzhou Army were blocked by the horse-rejection formation and could not exert their power, so they had to let the infantry pass through the horse-rejection formation first to rescue.

The strong bows and ballistas ambushed by the northern border army on the hills on both sides once again exerted terrible power, and the horse-repelling formation suddenly became a place of death.Not long after, the corpses of Youzhou Army infantry covered every corner of the Juma Formation.

Gongsun Zan was furious, and ordered Gongsun Fan and Zou Dan to lead their armies to attack the hills on both sides of Yunting.

Li Hong ordered to retreat again.

=

In the afternoon, outside Ganling City.

Zhang Yan and Zhao Yun shook hands, and there was no joy on their faces.

"You are late." Zhang Yan smiled wryly.

Zhao Yun shook his head helplessly, "Brother Feiyan, how long did it take you to fight Yecheng?"

"One day," Zhang Yan said, "there were only [-] defenders in the city. This was something we didn't expect at the beginning. We conquered the city at dusk, and the scene was chaotic. Maybe it was at that time that Yuan Xi and Xu You sent People escaped."

Zhao Yun comforted Zhang Yan, "Brother Feiyan has avenged Bai Shuai and many other Yellow Turban brothers by taking down Ye City. Yuan Shao ran away this time, so he won't have such good luck next time." Then he I told you about the opening of the Yellow River, "I'm worried that Tian Kai and Liu Bei from Qingzhou will cross the river to help immediately, so I want to ask you, do you want to divide your troops to stop it?"

Zhang Yan opened the map and looked at it carefully for a while, then shook his head, "Don't split up the troops to block the attack, let them come."

Zhao Yun looked at Zhang Yan suspiciously.

"Yuan Shao has already fled, and only Gongsun Zan and his 10,000+ army are left in this encirclement." Zhang Yan explained, "If you want to defeat Gongsun Zan in a battle, it is best to draw all of Gongsun Zan's forces here."

"Brother Feiyan means to surround Gongsun Zan, use Gongsun Zan as bait, and attack his reinforcements?"

Zhang Yan nodded, pointed to Ganling City in the distance and said, "I'll take down the city first, and you go and chase Gongsun Zan and drive him to Jieqiao."

=

Wang Dang, Yu Digen, Peng Lie, Liu Ming, Jiang Wu, Mustafa and others have not seen each other for more than two years. Everyone said goodbye to each other and was very happy.

Zhang Yan and Zhao Yun bid farewell to each other after discussing the next move of the army.

Wang Dang and Liu Ming hugged each other, and said with a smile: "We have just said a few words, and we are about to break up again. Take care, Wang Rizhu, and we will meet again after this battle is over."

Liu Ming leaned close to Wang Dang's ear and whispered a few words.Wang Dang laughed, "Okay, the battle in Jizhou is over, I will definitely go to the desert."

Jiang Wu smiled and said, "Heizi, did Ri Zhu Wang just say that he has a beautiful younger sister?"

Wang Danghei blushed.Jiang Wu raised her leg and kicked Liu Ming, "Ri Zhu Wang, how many sisters do you have? Why do you see one and the other?"

Liu Ming chuckled, looked at the crowd, and shook his hands mysteriously, "This is a secret, you can't tell it."

Peng Lie grabbed Liu Ming, "Doesn't King Rizhu have a lot of younger sisters? You can't favor one over the other, you have to take care of me, brother."

Liu Ming suddenly looked distressed, "Old Peng, why didn't you say it earlier. It's too late, too late..."

"Fuck you..." Jiang Wu pushed Liu Ming away, and smiled at Peng Lie, "Don't be fooled by him. This kid doesn't even have a younger sister, and he's looking for son-in-laws for Shan Yuting's princes all day long." , one day the general will call for questioning."

Everyone laughed and said goodbye.

=

dusk.

Surrounded by the Black Panther Yi Cong, Li Hong flew across the boundary bridge on horseback.

Zhu Mu rushed to meet him, his expression was very worried, "General, General Xu Rong of Longxiang hurriedly reported the military situation with a fast horse of [-] li."

=

(End of this chapter)