Chapter 41: The First Battle of Merit
When the fleet was running, the Turks did move with it, and there was a certain danger in sailing at night, but there was also horseback riding at night.
"Raise the lantern and keep up with the first boat."
The wind at night is particularly strong, although the ship carries a lot of load, but it also walks very fast, there are a few experienced boatmen on the first boat with a long penny to explore the waters, fortunately, the waters of the upper reaches of the Yellow River are quite stable, the fleet is lined up and walked, but nothing happened, but on the shore, there is the sound of falling horses screaming from time to time.
"Hahaha, running with a large group of cavalry at night, a random pit, a stone blocking the road, can make them fall to death a lot of people, just run with us all night, they will fall to death at least two adults." Zhang Mingyuan and the other subordinate officials said happily when they heard the screams coming from the shore.
"It is estimated that their leader will not continue like this, and then he will send a small group of cavalry to follow, and he will move a large team to chase after him during the day, Jun Mai, you have to prepare to attack." Sun Xiangfu looked at Xi Jun and said.
He had only been running for an hour, and the leader of the cavalry on the shore, Ashdeu, had to give the order to stop the pursuit, and in this hour, dozens of his men fell from their horses and were trampled to death.
However, he was unwilling to let the fleet go to pick up the Wei Chi Gong troops, who were entangled with the main Turkic force, so he ordered a centurion to lead a hundred horsemen to continue to chase the fleet, and after dawn, the brigade would follow.
"Brothers, there is work to do, there are only 100 people, there is no challenge, and if you run slowly, you will have nothing to do."
Xi Junmai has lived in the Qin Mansion for a while, and he is naturally familiar with the guards of the Qin Mansion, and most of the guards know his skills, except for the captain Qin Hu who can fight him, I am afraid that only Qin Qiong can treat him when he is in his heyday, and this kid's fighting style is very domineering, one word, fast, he led the horse ashore, and rushed to the enemy formation quickly, one hundred to one, and he was not afraid at all.
Xi Junmai quickly exerted his fast knife to the extreme, these days his swinging style is not in vain, a single horse, every swing of the knife, can take away the head of a Turkic cavalry, just a dozen breaths, he killed through the charge formation of a hundred Turkic cavalry, just this encounter, the Turkic cavalry who died under his knife as many as twenty or thirty people.
"Kill, don't let that kid steal the whole credit alone."
The guards of the Qin Mansion are all experienced in a hundred battles, there is a fierce general like Xi Junmai to take the lead, and the morale is greatly boosted, and the Turkic cavalry is just led by a centurion with mediocre force, and the first one to be beheaded by Xi Junmai, it is conceivable that the morale will be low to what extent, the situation instantly became a one-sided pursuit and slaughter, in less than a quarter of an hour, a hundred Turkic cavalry were all killed under the Tang saber, and the Tang army was not damaged at all.
"Don't stop, drive away the horses left by the Turks, go directly to their camp, and set fire to their camp."
As soon as Xi Junmai went ashore, he was like a wild horse on the loose, and he was not satisfied with killing only a hundred Turkic cavalry, such a small battle was too easy for him, and he attacked the Turkic army camp by surprise At this time, he did not believe that these Turks had run all day during the day, and they still had the strength to build fortifications when they slept at night.
Xi Junmai's judgment was right, the Turkic camp had no fortifications at all, only with more than a hundred Turkic war horses to disrupt their night team, Xi Junmai successfully led the Qin Mansion guards to break into the Turkic camp, and directly picked up the campfire used by the Turks to light and cook, and the wood with Mars flew everywhere, the weather was dry in autumn and winter, and there was a strong wind tonight, and after a while, the entire Turkic camp was on fire.
Ashdewu didn't panic, so he had to call his subordinates to escape from the camp area first, and watched Xi Junmai and his party set fire to it, and then retreated safely.
On a mound less than three miles away from the Turkic camp, Qin Hu led more than a dozen horsemen to watch the sudden fire of the Turkic camp.
"Qin Sixteen, quickly bring a few people to report this matter to the Duke of Eguo, he has his own opinions."
An hour later, Qin Hu caught up with the position of the fleet and boarded the ship.
"Sun Sima, the princess of Hubei is stationed along the river fifty miles downstream, and our army can return to the boat to receive their grain and grass."
Sun Xiangfu was happy with Qin Hu's report, as long as the food was given to Wei Chigong, the task of his trip would be completed, so he ordered, "So very good, Zhang Mingyuan, drop the sail, all the shipwrights will start, and return to the ship for fifty miles." ”
Going down the water, although it was a night boat, but in less than two hours, it was almost there, and suddenly Qin Hu lit a torch on the bow of the ship to send a signal, and after a while, there was a response on the shore, and the entire fleet began to dock.
After a while, Wei Chigong's brigade arrived at the shore, and Wei Chigong, who looked tired, took the lead in jumping onto Sun Xiangfu's flagship, with one mouth to eat and drink.
"Sun Xiaozi did a good job, the old man's main cavalry hasn't fought the Turks in a serious way! But you burned a Turkic camp first. Wei Chigong was already extremely hungry, and said while stuffing something into his mouth.
"It's just a small victory, and ensuring the food and grass of the Guogong army is the task of the boy's trip." Sun Xiangfu said while adding hot water to Wei Chigong's bowl.
"This is not a small victory, when the old man is full of food and drink, then Ashdewu is estimated to be blown by the cold wind, and before dawn, this fang will be destroyed."
Wei Chi Gong is a veteran of the battlefield who has fought for half his life, how could he let go of such a good fighter, he came to Jingzhou for three days, in fact, he did not fight with the Turkic soldiers, and specialized in destroying bridges and blocking roads to contain the main Turkic army, which is also the strategy formulated by Li Shimin after discussing with the ministers before, as long as the Turks are dragged until the winter snow solstice in October, the Tang Dynasty will win, however, the credit on the battlefield depends on the number of enemies killed, and Wei Chigong is a general who is particularly good at grabbing merit and killing the enemy.
"It's not difficult to destroy this fang, but the difficult thing is to face the counterattack of nearly 200,000 Turkic main forces behind him, Guogong, boy, here is a set of sixteen-word tactics to help Guogong break the enemy."
When Sun Xiangfu was waiting for Wei Chigong to eat, he suddenly thought of those anti-Japanese war dramas broadcast on TV all day and night in later generations, and it was difficult for Sun Xiangfu to think about these sixteen-character tactics.
"You kid still know the art of war? Come on. Wei Chigong said with some surprise.
In his previous impression, Sun Xiangfu was just a cook who cooked better, at most he knew a few words, and he was smarter than ordinary cooks.
"The boy's tactics are called 'guerrilla warfare', and the grandfather can now rely on the waterway to supply grain and grass, and on the supply line, it is almost worry-free, as long as he does the sixteen-character trick of 'the enemy advances and I retreat, the enemy is stationed and I disturb, the enemy is tired and I fight, and the enemy retreats and I chase', you can ensure that the Turks will not be able to reach Chang'an before October." Sun Xiangfu explained.
"The enemy advances and I retreat, the enemy is stationed and I disturb, the enemy is tired and I fight, and the enemy retreats and I chase?" Wei Chigong repeatedly savored the sixteen words that Sun Xiangfu said, and every time he read it, the essence in his eyes became a little bigger, obviously, he had a talent for war and could quickly understand these sixteen words and be able to apply them to actual war.
"Exquisite, too subtle, I'm afraid this tactic is to summarize the tactics used by the old man recently! Or you boys who have read books will use some words, and if the old man's set of military tactics is written, it will give you a name for compilation. Wei Chigong said with a smile.
Although 10,000 grass and mud horses flew over in Sun Xiangfu's heart, he said with a smile on his face, "Exactly, exactly, as long as Grandpa Guo adheres to his own set of tactics, the custody can be successfully completed by His Majesty." ”
Of course, adding the word 'knowing soldiers' to his talent is not Sun Xiangfu's wish, the actual situation is that he does not 'know soldiers', and when he arrives on the battlefield, everything is based on his subordinates Zhang Mingyuan and Liu Renjing, but fortunately, they are quite reliable.
Therefore, Sun Xiangfu hates such a thing as taking his life to be rich and rich, rich and rich, he can get it in many ways, why do you have to play with your life!
Therefore, he doesn't plan to leave such an image for Li Shimin, otherwise, as soon as the Tang Dynasty starts the war in the future, he will be sent to the battlefield, and he will pay it back, often walking by the river, there is a reason not to wet his shoes, Sun Xiangfu still knows.
At the time of the third watch, the well-fed and well-fed Wei Chi Gong led an army of 20,000 to kill in the direction of Ashdewu Wu's department, and the fleet naturally followed up all the way, according to Qin Hu and Wei Chigong's subordinate scouts, Jieli's main army was afraid of being attacked by the Tang Dynasty Navy at night, except for Ashdewu Wu's men, the nearest camp was also twenty or thirty miles away from the riverbank, which was enough for Wei Chigong to get away from the Turkic main cavalry after he succeeded.
When Wei Chigong's 20,000 troops besieged the Turkic cavalry who had gathered in a leeward col to roast the fire, Ashdeu knew that he would not be able to escape today, and the battle ended in less than two quarters of an hour, with more than 1,000 Turkic cavalry killed and Ashdeu surrendered.
The defeat of nearly 4,000 horsemen of the enemy army in the first battle and the capture of the enemy's high-ranking officials at the Jin level can be regarded as a great achievement that can be written into the chapter, so after collecting the enemy's war horses and weapons, Wei Chi Gong ordered Sun Xiangfu to write a seal and return to Chang'an, and at the same time let the empty ship that unloaded the grain and grass send more than 2,000 prisoners and Ashdewu back to Chang'an.
Sun Xiangfu appointed Liu Renjing to return to Chang'an with 2,000 sailors and half of the empty ships to deliver good news and sacrifice prisoners, and he would escort a ship full of grain and grass to the front line again.
"Guogong, in the battle ahead, you should also try to capture as many prisoners as possible, and the boy will send a clipper to send him back to Chang'an." After the chapter and the grain and grass were handed over with the seal, Sun Xiangfu pulled him when he said goodbye to Wei Chigong.
"Why do you want so many captives? Our Datang's food is used to feed them, and it is wasted. Wei Chigong said disapprehantly.
During this period, the soldiers of the Tang Army calculated their military merits by the number of beheadings, and every general who led the troops was eager to cut off more enemy heads when they fought, which could give the soldiers practical benefits such as land, food, salary, and official ranks, and only when they got the benefits, those soldiers were willing to die for them.
"Isn't our restaurant about to be built, when the time comes, you can ask Your Majesty for more captives to pull us over to do coolies, which can save us a lot of money!" Sun Xiangfu gave Yu Chigong a look with a smile that you know.
Yu Chigong smiled and said, "You kid is also bad, but I like it, hahahaha······"