Chapter 63: Poor dry bones around the grass roots
The entire battle situation that took place in Yanzhou seemed to be stalemate in a short period of time, although the contact battles in a small area continued, and there were also mutual injuries, but if it was a major battle involving tens of thousands of people participating in the war, the two sides almost maintained the same tacit understanding, and began to scribble a call, and when they saw that it was almost over, they each withdrew their troops, thus avoiding this kind of frontal conflict.
However, anyone with a discerning eye can actually see that in fact, both sides are only temporarily dormant, like two poisonous snakes who want to kill each other, but neither of them can bear the tragic result of fighting to the death, so they can only swim in the grass temporarily, silently looking for an opportunity to defeat each other in one fell swoop, and then completely end this war that is related to the fate of the countries of the Southlands.
The calmer the sky before such a storm, the more tragic and terrible it is to follow.
The mountains and rain are coming, and the unprecedented war in Yanzhou has successfully attracted everyone's attention, everyone, whether it is ordinary civilians or careerists who are secretly plotting, they are all waiting for a result, whether it is Da Liang who can't bear the pressure and is defeated, Yanzhou is lost, or the Weijin coalition army is beaten back to Qilian Mountain, and then unable to get out.
On the side of defending the country, it is a three-way strategy to advance simultaneously, although the troops are divided into three routes, but there is also a priority and priority.
Although this is the first time in his life to participate in this kind of all-out war related to the fate of all countries, thanks to the trust of Emperor Duanmu Shuofeng and Wu Heng's strong recommendation, Xie Houyin is young and does not have enough achievements to deter all parties, but he can become the commander of one party, take charge of the front-line command, personally lead 200,000 troops, and face the famous Xiong Zhen army, which can be said to be in the limelight for a while.
Shouldering the heavy burden and being watched by everyone, Xie Houyin was not intimidated by such a great pressure, but instead commanded with arrogance, dispatched troops, and gave full play to his talent in command, leading the army all the way to overcome the enemy, and there was no one to stop him, and he took the thirteen counties of Hulan County in three days, attacking all of them, and being invincible, even in the Xiong Zhen army, which has always been arrogant, once this person is mentioned, they are mostly admired and afraid.
Relatively speaking, Hu Yanshi, who led the troops to fight in a more stable style, led the army to deploy layers of defenses, interlocking with each other, and protected the entire supply line in the rear as impregnable as a copper wall.
This person's defensive ability can be seen from his ability to defend Qilian Mountain for the Imperial Court for more than 20 years, which is really rare in the world.
As the descendant of Wei Chilin, the founding general of the country, he not only has good martial arts, but also has Wei Ping as a strategist to assist, and he is like a tiger with wings, and for a time it was also a repeated victory, and he made a lot of achievements for the defense of the country.
Of course, the most important thing is that having Wei Ping, a strategist, on his side, allowed him to avoid a lot of risks of being ambushed, and the styles of these two complement each other, cooperate with each other, and are as intimate as a newlywed.
Compared with the two, there are so many fancy and attention-grabbing generals on the Jin side, Xue Bi, the Duke of Chuyang, and Zhu Fengxian, the new Grand Situ Fengxian, each of whom leads an army, and then the think tank staff officer personally formed by Dazai Chen Jing is in the center to regulate and control.
Although the confrontation with the Lixue army has strong combat effectiveness, but the strength is actually the least, the battle of Juyongguan, first in the flood of 30,000, so it is difficult to divide the troops to fight, but although the Lixue army is small, but the most brave, plus the Jin side itself is the state of external rigidity and internal emptiness, the two are almost chess opponents, which also leads to the Jin side of the war is often the most tragic.
After a month of pulling each other, and then to the stalemate at the back, the only one who could really stand up and take charge of the Da Liang side was the 100,000 Xiong Zhen army led by Yan Keni, the tiger eye general.
At the beginning of the battle in the mine, he was slightly inferior in his own martial arts, and he obediently stayed in the trap in order to let the other party covet his head, so he was shot by Xie Houyin, and the result was that he almost died there, but then he relied on the ambush in advance, so that the patriotic general suffered the first fiasco in his life, and now he relied on the strategy of clearing the wilderness with a strong wall, and made up his mind to fight a war of attrition with the Weiguo with a long supply line, and personally led the army to guard the last checkpoint of Yanzhou, that is, the defense line of Luoshi Mountain that has almost reached Liangzhou.
No matter how the other party provoked and scolded, Wanyan Keni always ordered his subordinates to be unable to defend it, so he intercepted all the elite soldiers under Xie Houyin and successfully stifled the opponent's offensive.
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On the vast prairie of Yanzhou, a group of three light horsemen were galloping in it, all three of them were wearing cloth clothes and light armor, and their whole bodies were carried with only two short blades as weapons, except for the most ordinary longbow and quiver, and in addition, it was a little dry food for the stomach, and strive to minimize the things that affected mobility.
This is the spy from Xiong Zhenjun, all of whom are local men in Yanzhou, familiar with the terrain, and persevering, just like the weeds that grow on the grassland.
Scouts, who can also be said to be scouts, are the group of people with the highest casualty rate in all wars, but the most unobtrusive, difficult to fight for, they really put their heads on their belts, and everything they do is just to be an eye on their own outside, to help their commanders see all the situations clearly.
Xie Houyin's troops had been outside Luoshi Mountain for seven days, and in these seven days, every day, Wanyan Keni would send dozens of light cavalry teams like this to spy on intelligence not far from the opponent's camp tent, and always grasp the enemy's movements, and today is naturally no exception.
A group of three people took on the shape of arrows, carefully rode their horses up the hillside, and after dismounting, they stood on a high place, and with the help of the woods, they looked at the large camp of the Weiguo side in the distance.
Among these three people, one is responsible for looking, one is responsible for making records on vellum paper, and the other is on the side, and the division of labor between the three is clear and extremely efficient.
In this kind of time when eyesight is needed, the natural good eyes of Yanzhou people play a great role.
It was time for Shen to eat, and in the distant camp there was a faint smoke from cooking on a fire.
As the person who was watching, his expression suddenly tightened, and he shouted in shock: "200,000 people, how can there be only such a stove?"
When it comes to making a fire to cook, the men will put down the cauldron that they are carrying all the way, and then take local materials to make a stove, generally ten people get together to cook and eat the same pot, so if there are 200,000 people stationed here, even if it is just to ensure that the camp is unhindered, to prevent the other party from suddenly attacking their own formation, and eating in shifts with each other, then there should be tens of thousands of stoves, but now the camp is empty, and a few stoves are buried, no matter how you look at it, it is not enough.
But how did the other party secretly send people out?
It stands to reason that if the other party suddenly launches a large-scale military movement, and this side is not blind and deaf, how should it be noticed, not to mention that the other party came over, in the past seven days, they have come to spy on intelligence every day, and they have not found anything abnormal, could it be that they secretly transferred last night?
Suddenly, an extremely terrible conjecture suddenly appeared in his mind.
The other party's 200,000 people, I am afraid that they agreed on the meeting place in advance, and then secretly transferred them in batches at night, for seven days, little by little every day, without reducing the number of stoves used, creating a false impression that they are still there.
A little less every day, because if there is no war, the soldiers usually hide in the tent to rest, this is to save the consumption of materials, so let them move as little as possible, but if there is no one in the tent for a long time, but the guards at the door are always there, this side is really not sensitive enough to find anything abnormal!
In other words, these 200,000 Chen soldiers fell into Shishan, which was just a feint, in fact, the main force of the other party had already secretly evacuated Chen Cang, and now I don't know where they went.
What a terrible thing is this?
Even if the other party deliberately left tens of thousands of people as confusion, but the other party still has more than 100,000 people missing, if they suddenly join the stalemate in a certain place, I am afraid that the current balance will be broken in an instant!
The most terrifying thing is that if they didn't find anything abnormal a few days ago, it was because the other party deliberately buried more stoves and confused them, why is it no longer hidden today?
Because the other party doesn't need it anymore!
This matter must be reported to the general, otherwise the entire Yanzhou battlefield will be defeated on all fronts!
At the moment when he hurriedly turned around, a feather arrow shot out of nowhere, piercing through his eye socket, and the force carried by the feather arrow was so great that it threw him to the ground.
The other two had already reacted the moment the arrow broke through the air.
Without going to check the injuries of their companions on the ground, the remaining two fell to the ground almost instantly, and went around under the horse's belly, so that the archers hidden in the shadows lost their target, and the two showed the unique horse skills of Yanzhou men, just stepped on the saddle with one foot, and with a slight hook, they directly turned over on the horse, pulled the reins, turned around, and quickly evacuated towards the rear.
It's a pity that the same two people have been blocked in advance on the way back for the two of them.
These two people are also wearing green cloth clothes that are more conducive to lurking, but it seems that they are obviously scouts from the Wei Guo's side.
Neither side used their bows and arrows to shoot first, because at such a short distance, if they took the bow and shot and then dropped it, it would take too long, and with the foot strength of the war horse under the crotch, once they missed, the moment they staggered each other, the opponent's weapons would definitely stab up, so they tacitly took out the dagger tied to their waists.
There was not a single superfluous nonsense, because they were the ones who had no personal vendettas, but had to kill each other, four young men, and launched a charge.
"Click!"
Especially on the way to attack, one of Xiong Zhenjun's side suddenly turned around, almost attached to his horse, and the dagger stretched out in his hand blocked an arrow from the rear when he couldn't fire at an intermittent moment, and smashed it to the side.
He subconsciously looked towards the place where the arrow had come from, but only to see a short and sturdy figure faintly visible among the layers of leaves.
He hadn't forgotten how that companion had died, so he had been secretly guarding against the cold arrow from the shadows since just now.
There is a person in the tree with a bow as a containment, sneak attack at any time, even if the scouts in order to streamline their equipment and increase their speed, there are generally only eight or nine arrows in their quivers at most, but now there are at least six or seven left, plus there are two people on the opposite side as a strong attack, they are almost certain to die when they have already lost one person first.
However, this news is too important, too terrifying, and may even change the entire battle situation in Yanzhou, so they must pass it back, even if it is a fatal situation, they must fight hard!
In the eyes of both of them, there was a determined color that looked at death as home.
Everyone is afraid of death, but there is always something in the world that transcends life and death!
The Yanzhou man is the eagle of the grassland!
The two sides collided in an instant, and the four of them fought each other, all armed with short-bladed daggers, and their moves were all straight to the point, without any fancy skills at all.
They would not have taken on the task of frontal combat, all this was to ensure that they moved quickly and hidden, otherwise it would be better to wear heavy armor and be invulnerable.
There is a way that is an inch long, an inch strong, an inch short, an inch dangerous, this kind of close use of short blades to fight each other, compared to the long weapon of you come and go, in fact, it is much more dangerous, because if you are not careful, you will inevitably die!
In particular, the archers hiding in the trees were still looking for opportunities, taking the time to shoot cold arrows at them, forcing them to turn back and defend, which made the two of them even more stressed, almost desperate.
"Poof!"
Because he had to turn around to dodge the arrows that came from behind, one of them didn't notice for a while, he was stabbed in the body, and the person on the other side looked indifferent, and he couldn't even see the slightest excitement of success, but he just wanted to pull out the sharp knife that was still in the other party's body and stab again, the majestic grassland man on the opposite side suddenly showed a decisive look, grabbed the hand holding the dagger on the other side, and let it stir in his abdomen, the ninja was in severe pain, and the whole person directly pounced, regardless of the back and was hit by another arrow in the blink of an eye.
Even if it hurt into the bone marrow, he used twelve points of strength, and he bit the other party's neck with one bite, crushing the other party's whole person to the ground, and let the frightened horse step on his left leg, his eyes were red, and he just didn't let go.
The latter suffered pain, felt the passage of life, and the two daggers frantically poked holes one after another in each other's bodies, but slowly, the madness in his eyes also dimmed, and the hand that stabbed the other party slowly slipped down, and finally only two daggers were left in each other's bodies, and they were unable to pull them out.
Feeling that the person in his arms was no longer moving, the man finally relented.
There were three arrows stuck in his back, from the belly to the waist, there were countless holes, and the intestines had slipped out of the holes, and the strength that came out of nowhere, he actually dragged his broken leg and staggered to his feet, roared, and suddenly put himself on the belly of the horse under the man who was still fighting with his companions, holding the dagger that had just been pulled out of his body, and just a light stroke on the soft belly of the horse, the horse lost its center of gravity, and the belly was broken, and the blue, yellow, and red intestines fell to the ground, and the whole was overturned to the ground, wailing and struggling, and trying to stand up, but only crushing the other person to the groundγ
"Let's go!"
The man who was holding the hole in his stomach could only look up to the sky and let out a long howl, his face was full of tears, he shook twice, and fell down heavily.
As he lay dying, he didn't think about whether the mission would succeed because he had done his best.
This brave prairie man, just suddenly remembered that when he was a child, once he secretly ran out to play, accidentally rolled down the hillside, hit a stone, and broke his face, in the tent, the mother who was usually very strict with herself, but rarely did not blame herself, just silently wiped her wounds for herself.
His eyes were empty, he lay on the ground, and muttered, "It hurts, Eji, it hurtsγγγγγγ β
In the end, the companion who was lucky enough to survive did not cry, he just kept his face calm, grabbed the reins and hurried home.
It's not that he doesn't grieve, nor is his heart like steel, it's just that too many people have died in this war, and his tears have long since dried up, and it can even be said that he is a scout, because he has to go deep into the enemy camp at any time, so he is ready to die at all times, as long as this important information can be transmitted back quickly, even if all three of them are dead today.
In other words, if they can't pass it back, they will just die in vain.
The man behind him was still in the tree, and at this time he was already past the shooting range, even if he jumped down and chased after him on horseback, he should not be able to catch up, this time it should be possibleγγγγγγ
The thoughts in his mind were interrupted instantly, the whole person's eyes widened, his hand was loosened, and the whole person rolled off the horse, watching the horse run away, one hand subconsciously stretched out in the direction of home, his hand was full of green muscles, and his face was full of unwillingness.
How so?
How so?
Just now, a feather arrow suddenly flew from the side, shooting directly through his neck, he was speechless at this time, only to see blood constantly coming out of his throat, making him feel extremely painful, the whole process of death, it seems that it will take a while.
He stared blankly at the blue sky overhead, the white clouds, the sky that had been looked up to by their Yanzhou people for generations.
Three of the three patriotic scouts came from a distance on horseback, and one of them jumped off his horse, first reached out and stabbed him in the heart, stirring it hard, not only ending the pain of the other party, but also preventing him from being injured by the opponent's counterattack before death.
Then cut off the opponent's right ear as a proof of his exploits, and after checking it carefully, after confirming that nothing was missing, they hastily cleaned up the battlefield, and they rode away directly.
Successfully exterminated a team of spies from the Liang Kingdom, but there was no expression of joy or pride on their faces, because they all knew that maybe next time, it would be their turn to be killed, and the corpse wilderness.
Maybe that's the fate of scouts, if you see too much, you're always more likely to get hurt, isn't it?
The people on the battlefield still have the possibility of returning home with a glorious return to their hometowns, but they may always be just a group of insignificant people, and even the historians don't bother to write half a word more for them.
However, even if these have been tempered by the wind and sand for many years, they are still still young faces, but there is no sadness for fate, and there is no fear of death, on their faces, there is only an indifference to life and death, because those undeserved, superfluous emotions have long been hidden in the bottom of their hearts with the continuous death and replacement of their comrades-in-arms.
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The current situation is that the two armies of the Bloody Army and the Xiong Zheng Army are the defenders, occupying a favorable position and holding onto the opposite Wei Jin coalition army together.
In these days, the Draining Blood Army has not insulted the prestige of the immortal god general Chang Dingfang, and the two sides occasionally clashed, even in the case of inferior troops, they have never seen the Drained Blood Army take a step back, and what is even more terrifying is that even if it is only a miserable victory, they have never seen them lose, which shows the horror of the Draining Blood's combat power.
Although from a strategic point of view, they are completely abandoning their own advantages and wasting their strength as the defenders, but they have successfully stabilized the morale of the army that is about to collapse by relying on one victory after another, after all, a victory is better than holding on all the time, isn't it?
Chuyang Gong Xue Bi is a well-known veteran of the Jin Kingdom, and his combat style is actually similar to that of the Weiguo Hu Yanshi, they all take a steady and steady fight, step by step, and only seek the word "no loss" in the war, even if it is a change of life, it doesn't matter, as long as the other party can pay the same price.
This is much inferior to Xie Houyin, who is also known for his stability, Xie Houyin's use of troops is always to ensure that he does not take big risks, and strives to "make a big profit".
On the other side of the Jin Kingdom, that is the army led by Zhu Feng first.
This young man from a family of rites and Taoism is also unique in terms of tactical command, and he has not lagged too far behind, although most of this is because of the talents supplemented by Chen Jing's subordinates as staff officers, but in the end, on the road to fight against the bloody army, his army has not fallen too far behind, which can be regarded as commendable.
After all, the strength of the Jin State itself knows best, most of the 400,000 troops are temporary patchwork parallel goods, and if they can fight with the long-trained and fierce blood-draining army, they are already blessed by the ancestors of the Jin Kingdom.
In the real command of the Jin army, as the leader of the Jin State in this entire war, Chen Jing has stayed up for two whole nights without resting.
Although marching and fighting is not what he is good at, how can he rest when the whole army refers to him as a "Dazai" to give orders?
Suddenly, the curtain of the tent where the staff officers of the Jin State army discussed the war with Dazai Chen Jing was lifted, and Wu Heng, a scribe wearing an ordinary plain cloth shirt could not cover the unparalleled demeanor, and the feather fan shook gently, stepped in.
Chen Jing withdrew his gaze from the map on the table, raised his head, looked at the middle-aged strategist known as the "poison man", and threatened in a cold voice: "Without being communicated, you swaggered directly into the big tent of our Chinese army, aren't you afraid of death?"
This person is very dangerous, especially after the destruction of Da Liang, he is a poisonous snake that will bite directly towards the Jin Kingdom, this point, there is no need to doubt it, to be honest, whether it is for Chen Jing or Chen Jing for him, he has a heart of killing.
However, before this, the two of them must work together to restrain each other's subordinates from causing civil strife, otherwise they will definitely not be Da Liang's opponents.
Both of them knew these points, so Wu Heng was not afraid, just fanned the feather fan in his hand, and chuckled: "Seeing that this great event is about to be accomplished, where will Dazai be willing to kill him at this time, if not, how dare he come to visit him alone? If Da Liang perishes, I am afraid that if he comes again, he will have to bring hundreds of thousands of troops to protect him." β
"Humph!"
Chen Jing couldn't help but snort coldly, that is, he had to admit that this person did grasp people's hearts very accurately, because he was Chen Jing and a person who knew the general situation, so at this critical time, no matter what, it would be impossible to kill him, thus causing infighting, which would only make their common enemies happy.
"Then aren't you afraid that I will send someone to detain you here? Thinking about your Mr. Wu's life, it is still enough to make Duanmu Shuo fall into the trap, right?"
Wu Heng shook his head and said indifferently: "Indeed, if Dazai is only detained here, but does not take his life, it is true that he will not make trouble to the point where it cannot end, but does Dazai think that my master is a person who will obediently accept the coercion because the life of the courtier is held?"
Chen Jing was stunned when he heard this, and he didn't know how to answer.
Indeed, with Duanmu Shuofeng's domineering temperament, it is impossible for him to be coerced, not to mention that this is just the life of a courtier, no matter how important this courtier is to him, he would rather let you kill him directly with a knife, and if he retaliates, it is impossible for you to use this as a coercion and allow him to take it.
"You're right, I really can't do this, what's more, you're still good at this marching and fighting, and I can't kill you for the time being. Chen Jing stood up, put his hands on his shoulders, and frowned, "Say, why did you come to my Jin State residence this time?"
Wu Heng took a step forward and saluted: "Naturally, it is for Dazai to offer a strategy to destroy the enemy!"
When Chen Jing heard this, his spirits perked up, and he suddenly became a little interested, stretched out his hand, and invited.
"Oh, sir, you might as well speak up. β
Wu Heng smiled and said: "Actually, I am just a lobbyist for General Xie who defends the country, and I don't hide it from Lord Dazai, General Xie's 150,000 soldiers and horses are already on the way from Luoshi Mountain, and they will arrive early tomorrow morning, and when the time comes, it will be the time when the entire army of the Bloody Army will be annihilated!"
Chen Jing squinted his eyes and said coldly again: "Even if General Xie is a master of war and can secretly control Chen Cang, he quietly rushed over without alarming Xiong Zhen's army, but how can we break the city? We can't afford the loss of this strong attack!"
Although the two countries of Wei and Jin are coalition forces, they have been on guard against each other for a long time, and both of them must maintain a basic balance in terms of strength, at least if they want to eat each other, the loss should not be too great, but if the casualties on the Jin side are too heavy, not to mention that Daliang will be destroyed and then annexed by Weiguo, I am afraid that before the two sides go to Daliang Capital together, they have already been eaten first.
Wu Heng shook the feather fan lightly, and explained confidently: "The name of the Draining Blood Army is a blessing and a curse, the current commander of the Draining Blood Army is the old department of the Chang Ding Fang, for this immortal star, it is highly respected, the name of the Draining Blood Army left by Chang Dingfang is something that he has to protect with his life, in order not to fall into the prestige of General Chang, he would rather risk being killed, but also have a good fight with you, this point, presumably Chen Dazai has already understood." β
Chen Jing nodded lightly, and did not deny this, this is indeed the case, the 400,000 army of the Jin Kingdom has fought so far, and the casualties have almost exceeded 100,000, almost all of which are caused by the desperate pursuit of this bloody army.
Originally, the opponent's armament was several times stronger than that of the Jin army, and they were well-trained and good at joint attacks, even if the Jin State had caught them off guard at Juyong Pass before, but once it was really a frontal fight, the Jin side often had to retreat after not holding out for a few rounds, if it weren't for the fact that there was a group of elites personally trained by Xue Bi as the backbone of these 400,000 people, the Jin side might have been defeated.
Don't look at the situation in Yanzhou, it seems that Da Liang's side has retreated again and again, but the actual losses of the Weijin coalition army are not small, these battle reports that look glamorous on the surface are all piled up with the lives of soldiers.
"This time, it is the sincerity of my patriotism, General Xie wants to take the name of the Draining Blood Army as a stepping stone, then only need to fight with the Draining Army several times, Zhu Situ who is familiar with each other will lead the troops to provoke, according to the other party's temperament in the past, the Draining Blood Army will be deceived, when the time comes, Zhu Situ will pretend to lead the army to retreat, just lead it out of a distance, General Xie will lead the troops to kill, cut off the opponent's back road, and kill them by surprise, this time, the Draining Blood Army will be wiped out by the whole army!
"Wouldn't it be nice that Dazai's side wouldn't need to exert too much force at that time, but he could completely wipe out the obstacle of the Bloody Army?"
I have to say that it is indeed a heart-warming statement to completely eliminate the bloody army in one fell swoop.
However, Chen Jing only thought about it for a while, then raised his head and said coldly: "But if General Xie comes late, the elite of my Jin Kingdom will be completely wiped out, and Zhu Situ will die, how can you trust you and gamble the lives of your subordinates?"
When Wu Heng heard this, he didn't explain too much, just hooked the corners of his mouth.
"It's up to you Dazai. β
"In short, General Xie is already on the way, Dazai, you have a whole night to think about, but what I want to tell Dazai is that the same strategy can't be used a second time, this opportunity is missed, and it is broken by the other party, so the next opportunity, I don't know when it will be. β
"Besides, we have to speed up our pace, because only if we make enough noise in Yanzhou, those people who are hiding in the shadows will really jump out and knock down Da Liang's spine with us, but if we stop, those wall grasses don't mind asking for benefits from Da Liang, and cooperate with Da Liang to destroy us. β
"You, you have to think about it. β
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