In less than a month, the Jin army broke through the defense line of the Hu people in various places, whether it was the Xiongnu people in Bingzhou or the Xianbei people in various places, in the face of the fierce attack of the Jin army, they were all in a hurry for a while. In order to realize the plan of encircling and annihilating the Huns in Bingzhou, as early as the place where the war began, Zhang Fang commanded 30,000 cavalry troops to attack Mayi for a long time.

After starting from Chang'an, the army marched north along the west bank of the Yellow River, and after a short stop at the city of Fushi, the army went straight to the crossing of the Yellow River. After three days and two nights of intense swimming, the 30,000-strong army finally crossed the Yellow River and officially stepped into the territory of the Huns.

The most basic requirement for a long-distance attack is to be fast, accurate and ruthless, at this time Zhang Fang, who was riding on horseback, was thinking about the future battle plan of the army, and in his opinion, it was best to take the horse before the defenders of Yanmen found out.

Yanmen County in the Western Jin Dynasty was less than half of the territory in the Qin and Han dynasties, and the land in the north of Yanmen was basically occupied by the Hu people.

At this time, there were a total of 5,000 Xiongnu defenders in Mayi, and if they could take Mayi before the reinforcements arrived, it would inevitably make the Jin army have enough advantages in the overall situation. It will lay a decisive foundation for the Great Jin Dynasty to recover and annex the states and gather and annihilate the Huns.

"My lord, is this Yanmen County? Sure enough, there is no prosperity in our Guanzhong! Joining the army, Wen Jie looked at the somewhat desolate wilderness and sighed.

"Hehe, what do you know, this place originally did not belong to the jurisdiction of the state, but the jurisdiction of Yongzhou. It's just that this place is located on the west bank of the Yellow River, which is not convenient for defense. before it was occupied by the Huns. Zhang Fang was marching on a horse while chatting with the participants.

"My lord, do you think we can succeed in this operation? Although Mayi is not as tall as Guangwu City, it is also an important border town, and there are many enemy soldiers stationed there, and our heavy weapons are all left on the other side of the Yellow River, so it will inevitably take a lot of effort to attack Mayi in the future. Wen Jie, who joined the army, stood behind Zhang Fang and said with some worry.

"Hehe, how can you be 100% sure of a war? But maybe we can do a miracle. Liu He, who is now stationed at Yanmen, did not know that the defenders of the Yellow River crossing had been wiped out, and our dispatch this time was very secretive. It doesn't have to be a surprise! Zhang Fang is very confident. And this mission is also very much in line with his habits, he has always liked to use strange soldiers.

"Besides, it will only be a few days at most, and we will be able to see what we have gained and lost here. It would be better to let the brothers speed up the march. Strive to take Mayi as soon as possible! ”

"Yes. My lord, go and order the troops to speed up the march! Join the army and answer loudly.

As the order was delivered, the entire army instantly sped up the march. The march of the cavalry. Sure enough, much faster than the infantry. This time, in order to speed up the march, the Jin army who was on the task of rushing did not even bring a single artillery, even ammunition. In order to improve the unit's sustained combat capability, in addition to muskets, the entire unit was also equipped with a lot of cold weapons such as bows and crossbows, long knives, etc.

The soldiers of the Xiang army who were on the task of running were galloping wildly, and the cavalry in the box army were mostly Sinicized Di and Qiang people, and they had a congenital advantage over the ordinary Han people in terms of horse riding.

Zhang Fang is now full of ambition, and after easily winning the Yellow River crossing, his confidence has soared, and he has also seen that the future after defecting to the imperial court is also bright.

The Jin army is strictly disciplined and well-armed, how can the Hu people be the opponent of the Great Jin. The more he thought about it, the more Zhang Fang felt that it was an extremely wise decision for him to defect to the imperial court.

Departing early in the morning, the forward troops had reached less than ten kilometers outside of Mayi. Because of the danger of the Yellow River in the west, Ma Yi was very lax in guarding the west and did not send a large number of scouts. Zhang Fang led the army all the way, but he didn't find a few enemy scouts.

"The front is Mayi, let's all sum it up and see how we can take Mayi. I don't need to say more about the importance of this battle, right!? For us, we can only win and not lose, otherwise not only will the imperial court's plan to encircle and annihilate the Huns fail to be realized, but I am afraid that we will also fall into death. Zhang Fang is not alarmist when he says this, there are a large number of Hu people hoarded on the north and south sides of Yanmen, once the Yanmen crisis is discovered, Liu Yuan will definitely take it back at all costs.

"My lord, why don't we charge directly! Before the Hu people could react, they directly entered the city of Mayi. In the chaos, the enemy army will be defenseless, and maybe we will be able to go down in one go. One of the lieutenants suggested.

"No, it's too risky. Although the number of troops in Mayi is less than 10,000, they are all elite Huns, and if our surprise attack fails, it will be troublesome if we are dragged by the enemy. The soldier shook his head and said he couldn't take the risk.

Not to mention that he didn't agree to join the army, even Zhang Fang would not take risks easily, as the main general in charge of the surprise attack plan, the more calm he had to be at the last moment, because one of his decisions was likely to cause the entire army of his subordinates to be wiped out, so he couldn't be cautious. Now there are more than 50,000 Hun cavalry in Yanmen County, of which 30,000 are deployed in Guangwu, and the others are all scattered in various places.

"So what are we going to do? I knew that I had brought a few artillery pieces over, and I fired a few cannons at Ma Yi, but I was afraid that the other party would not open the door and surrender. ”

"The army will rest for a while, let the scouts go out to look for it, see if we can find some Han Chinese, and we will ask each other about the local situation." Finally, Zhang Fang commanded.

The soldiers sat down one after another, some people rested, some people drank water and ate dry food, Zhang Fang looked around again, this is the plain area, the official road is lined with endless grassland, and occasionally a few fields are mostly barren, compared with Guanzhong, it is really much more withered here.

Zhang Fang turned over and dismounted, and walked towards a crooked-necked tree not far away, under the big tree was standing cramped and restless more than a dozen old peasants, originally they saw the soldiers coming to recruit people, they were frightened to stay away, and then saw that the army did not infringe on them, so they were invited here by the Jin army under the condition that the soldiers were half forced and half voluntary.

More than a dozen old peasants saw more than 100 soldiers walking around a general, they were so frightened that they stood up one after another, at a loss, Wen Jie, who joined the army, hurriedly reassured them and said: "Don't be afraid, my family wants to talk to you, there is no malice." ”

An old man mustered up his courage and asked tremblingly, "May I ask who your general is?" ”

"My lord is the governor of Jin Yongzhou and the captain of the school, Lord Zhang Fang, who came to pacify the Xiongnu people in Bingzhou and rescue the Jin people in distress on the order of the saint."

At this time, Zhang Fang came over and said with a smile: "What are you doing with so many official names?" You just said that the king master is here, don't you just do it. ”

Only then did the old peasants know that the group of people in front of them turned out to be the famous imperial court kings, and they were stunned, and after a long time, they knelt down one after another, bowed and said: "We don't know that the general has arrived, how offended, please forgive the general!" ”

Zhang Fang hurriedly helped everyone up, and said with a smile: "Everyone hurry up, there is no offense, please hurry up!" ”

Zhang Fang helped everyone up, and the old peasants saw that he was amiable, without the frame of a high-ranking official, and not as fierce and vicious as General Huren, they all relaxed their hearts, and some people smiled: "Master Wang's demeanor is really different!" ”

Zhang Fang happily sat cross-legged on the ground, waved his hand to everyone and smiled: "Everyone sit down too!" ”

The old peasants sat in a circle around Zhang Fang, and Zhang Fang said to everyone: "Fellow villagers, this time I will come on the order of the emperor to save everyone, and the saint is very worried about everyone. Over the years, everyone has fallen into the hands of the Hu people, and they must have suffered a lot. But in the future, you don't have to worry, in the future, Wang Shi will recover and merge the state, and everyone's good days will come. ”

The old farmer sighed and said: "Who says it's not, the taxes of the state have become heavier and heavier in the past two years, and they were barely acceptable before, but now they basically don't give people a way to live." Ay! The headache is the field rent, regardless of summer and autumn, seventy percent per mu, thunder can not move, the disaster will be slightly reduced, but at least according to the five transactions of the harvest year, if you can't pay it, ask the owner to borrow grain, even the principal with interest, plus profit, and finally can't pay it back, or the family fled, or sold into slavery, and the whole family became a slave of the Hu people, such as he ....."

The old farmer pointed to the young farmer and said: "He is the manor slave under the Hu people, he has been working all year round, and the lady has to go to wash and cook for the Hu people, miserable!" ”

The young peasant's head bowed deeply, almost touching the ground, Zhang Fang nodded silently, this was the case everywhere in the Central Plains at the beginning, and it was not until the current enthronement that the Holy Lord changed this situation.

At this moment, Zhang Fang felt that the responsibility on his shoulders was extremely heavy, and a sense of urgency burned his heart, so he slowly said to everyone: "The people of Bingzhou have suffered, and I will apologize to everyone here. ”

"This time, Ben was ordered to go east, which would completely end the rule of the Hu people in Bingzhou. First of all, the land in front of you, I could have told you that Your Majesty had ordered a crackdown on local wealthy clans in the Central Plains and Guanzhong, and in the future, these lands would be confiscated by the imperial court and then redistributed to everyone, and all those who were born slaves would be released free, this is Your Majesty's personal decision, and no one can change it. ”

All the villagers and peasants were stunned, and when they reacted, they were so excited that they fell to their knees, and many people couldn't help but cry loudly, "Long live Your Majesty, long live, the emperor is our reborn parents!" ”

The young peasant could not hold back the excitement in his heart, and ran wildly along the ridge, waving his arms and shouting at the peasants in the field: "Oh my God! Master Wang is here, we are saved! ”

"We're going to be free...."

He shouted hoarsely to the end, and fell on his knees on the ridge, covered his face and wept bitterly, he was a slave of the Hu people, he and his wife and daughter were other people's property all their lives, they could be bought and sold by others, and they could be humiliated by others, and now he would finally be free. (To be continued......)