On November 3, Tian Jun, the governor of the cavalry, led a sudden cavalry of 5,000 all the way south, and traveled to Jiexiu.

……

The wind was cold, and thousands of horsemen and horses exhaled into clouds and ran on the hard frozen ground.

They were ordered to go south six days ago, and the original task was to cut off the supply of grain and straw south of Taiyuan and obtain supplies for the main force of the Taishan army under Taiyuan City.

However, a few days ago, Tian Jun, a cavalry general who led 5,000 cavalry southward, suddenly received information that he had carried the flag, saying that traces of a large-scale Han army had been found in the Jiexiu area.

Therefore, Tian Jun decisively realized that this was a once-in-a-lifetime fighter, so he led two assault battalions and three Wuhuan battalions, counting 5,000 horses and 8,000 horses, to quickly move south.

Long before sending troops, Zhang Chong granted Tian Jun the right to make decisions in the south, and ordered Li Fu and Ma Wu to be controlled by Tian Jun.

So, on the road from Qixian to Jiexiu, the Taishan army was full of sudden horsemen rolling south, and there was no crime in autumn.

It was November, and the time was Shenshi, but the sky was already starting to get dark.

The fields on both sides of the road were covered with frost, and from time to time startled rats could be seen scurrying among them.

Under the apricot and yellow big squirt, Tian Jun, who was short but full of majesty, stood tall and smiled at Li Fu and Ma Wu:

"Lao Li, Lao Ma, you look at the frost and snow covering the ridges, the coming year will definitely be another bumper year."

Li Fu and Ma Wu also smiled, and it was difficult to hide the joy between their eyebrows.

There is no way, since entering Yanmen Pass, the march of the Taishan army has become smoother and smoother. First of all, the Flying Fox was opened, so that Hebei's soldiers and grain sources continued to support the Bingzhou battlefield, and then connected the three passes, broke the Bingzhou army, and now Taiyuan has been surrounded.

It can be said that at this point, the most core area of Bingzhou has almost fallen into the hands of the Taishan Army, and it is only a matter of time before Bingzhou is all taken into his arms.

And now, when they heard that a wave of Kansai reinforcements appeared in the Jiexiu area, Tian Jun and the others were even happier. After all, no one has too much military merit.

But along the way, Tian Jun's joy still has a shadow, that is, the army passes through the county and the township, but there are not many people. Although he also understands that this is the villagers who are afraid of the army, but we are the Taishan Army, haven't they heard that the Taishan Army is an army that rescues the suffering of the Qiantou leaders?

But this little gloom soon dissipated, for they soon arrived at Jiexiu.

Jiexiu is located in Jinzhong, on the east bank of the Fen River, 80 miles wide from east to west, and 80 miles from north to south. It is mountainous in the south, hilly with rolling hills in the middle, and plain in the north.

Because its fertile ground has always been a heavy county in the Taiyuan Basin, its negative Guo Sangma, the suburbs are fertile and there is no open land, the villages are dotted, the fireworks are thousands of homes, and they are lush.

So Tian Jun thought, no matter how bad it is, it should be better when he arrives in Jiexiu.

But what?

Tian Jun's expectations were soon disappointed, and there were ruins everywhere along the road, and he wondered in his heart, could it be that Jiexiu had been robbed here?

His questions were quickly answered.

In front of him, on the side of the road, a group of ragged and desperate-looking homeless people lurked. When they heard the sound of horses' hooves from the north, they seemed to be a group of small beasts panicking and trying to avoid them, but when it was too late, they fell to their knees in despair, kowtowing and begging for mercy.

At this time, in the thick twilight, a mighty cavalry flashed out of the smoke and dust, the swaggering banner, the fine iron armor, and the wanton look, all showing that this was an iron-blooded army.

As a result, these outcasts were even more desperate, because in their simple understanding, the more such an army became, the more violent it became.

In this way, in the crowd, the boy cried, the old and the weak moaned, and his eyes were blank, and there was no way to live in the heavens and the earth.

Sure enough, when the cavalry on the opposite side saw themselves and the others, they gradually lowered their horse speed and began to circle around them.

On their periphery, these cavalry gathered more and more.

At first, these people were kneeling, and they didn't dare to look at them at all, for fear that a single look would bring disaster to themselves.

But as time passed, the cavalry did not move at all, and some bold outcasts began to peek secretly.

They saw the horsemen standing neatly on their horses, and there was no ferocity or greed in their expressions, but rather curiosity, pity, and anger.

Are these people taking pity on us?

At this moment, a man came from among the cavalrymen, a small man, like a child in their crowd, but the spirit of the wanderers did not dare to look at them directly.

The person who came was Tian Jun, he picked up the man in front of him and asked:

"Where are you from, and why are you here?"

The man was trembling and couldn't say a word, and Tian Jun also understood, because he was also such a person before.

But just as Tian Jun was about to ask the next person, this person suddenly cried, and then sobbed:

"We are all from Xiaonanli in front, a group of soldiers came to our place to kill and loot, and we all fled here to avoid trouble."

Tian Jun frowned, and asked a few more words, such as how many troops the other party had, who were them, but he didn't answer anything.

After thinking for a while, Tian Jun called Li Fu:

"Lao Li, you take the department to the front quickly, if you can fight, you will fight, if you can't fight, come to report to me quickly."

Li Fu did not hesitate, took the order and left.

Soon, thousands of horsemen rolled sideways and killed in front of Jiexiu.

After Li Fu and the others left, Tian Jun asked the army to give these homeless people some food, and comforted:

"Don't be afraid, fellow villagers, we are the Taishan Army, our team of poor people, and now we are going south to clean up the local tyrants who harm people. I don't know if you've heard of our Taishan Army, we went to the place, cared for the old and the poor, opened a warehouse for relief, relieved the hungry, and finally gave everyone land when it was stable. So you don't have to be afraid, with our Taishan army protecting you, no one can harm you. ”

Hearing this, the wanderers whispered, but no one spoke, obviously they knew about the Taishan Army, but judging from the performance of these people, it should not be a good impression.

Sure enough, the one who had just started talking couldn't help but say:

"This general, I can see that you seem to be good people, but how can you be Tarzan thieves? We know the Taishan thieves, they burn and loot, do everything, and even say that they killed people in Hebei over there. ”

Tian Jun was laughed angrily, and he asked rhetorically:

"You haven't seen the Tarzan Army, how do you know this?"

Seeing that Tian Jun was angry, the homeless man who hit the head didn't dare to say more, just lowered his head.

And at this time, another person explained:

"General, these are all said by the Jia family in our township."

At this time, Tian Jun understood, and he didn't explain, and asked:

"Do you want to go back home?"

All the displaced people nodded, so Tian Jun said heroically:

"Our Taishan army is never afraid of rumors, because we always use practical actions to tell everyone who is our own team. Fellows, don't you want to go back to your hometown? Then come with us. ”

As he spoke, Tian Jun jumped on his horse and said to the riders behind him:

"The people's homes are occupied, what are we going to do?"

The riders chanted:

"Get rid of the thieves and settle the people!"

"Get rid of the thieves and settle the people!"

……

In this voice, those wanderers went from panicking at the beginning, to half-believing, and finally couldn't hold back their tears, sighing that this is really an army to save the distress.

And it didn't take long for the assault rider who had just gone down to fold back, and Li Fu, who was the first in it, ran directly to Tian Jun's side and announced:

"Tian Shuai, the people in front have been caught, and they are all from the Liangzhou Army."

Tian Jun suddenly realized that the Kansai reinforcements were close to the left, so he asked:

"Have you been tortured, where is the main force of the enemy?"

Li Fu nodded, but hesitated, Tima walked up to Tian Jun and said in his ear:

"Tian Shuai, the Kansai Army in front of us has a huge 50,000 people, and our number is too small, so I'm afraid it's not good to attack like this."

Tian Jun was also taken aback, and asked again if it was true.

Li Fu affirmed:

"The few I copied separately all said so, and it should be true."

Tian Jun thought for a while and asked something else:

"Then did you miss the Han Cavalry?"

Li Fu was a little ashamed and said:

"We have annihilated all the people in the township, but before we can pass, one of the enemy cavalry has escaped. We are late, and we can't catch up. ”

Who knows Tian Jun Daxi:

"Okay, just let those people run away."

So he called all the officers to him and arranged them as follows.

……

When Hu Zhen rushed back to the camp with the tooth soldiers, the armies in the camp were eating.

Hu Zhen was flustered, but when he arrived at the camp, he began to put down his horse speed and walked slowly through the camp.

Along the way, he greeted the western soldiers on the road from time to time, these people were his old subordinates, and he was very familiar with Hu Zhen.

They didn't see Hu Zhen's panic, but instead gathered around him and began to complain to him.

Some people are saying that they have been walking for half a month since they set off from Chang'an, and it is too hard. Some complained that the food in the army was too bad, and some of them said that the Qianghu people in Guo's camp were always singing and dancing to harass them, and begged Hu Zhen to transfer the Qianghu people to other places.

In short, it's all trivial. In the past, Hu Zhen would listen to these people's complaints very carefully, but today, he has something on his mind and is unwilling to stay longer for a moment.

After responding to the old subordinates, he passed through with the tooth soldiers.

The old subordinates who stayed in place were bitter in their hearts, and they could only sour a few words:

"General Hu is different after all, I can't listen to our old brothers say a few words of sincerity."

After that, Hu Zhen didn't stop all the way, and returned directly to the middle tent, and then the Chinese army sounded the drum.

The dense and violent drumming soon woke up the entire battalion, and they turned their necks to look at the Chinese army, not knowing what was really happening.

As for the battalion commanders, they were very professional, and they had already gone out of their tents to run to the Chinese army when the first drum was played, and they had already entered the tent to wait, and when the third drum was finished, dozens of battalion generals were already sitting in the big tent.

After the generals finished sitting, the first sentence Hu Zhen said was:

"The Tarzan army has been killed."

Everyone present exclaimed in unison, but did not say much.

At this time, Hu Zhen had already made a decision, since the Taishan thieves had already been killed, then he must have to fight, otherwise he would not want to lead troops in the future.

So he told the people about his determination to encourage the morale of the people.

But obviously, from the silence of the people present, the generals did not agree with Hu Zhen's meaning.

Among them, Guo Yan and Fan Chou gave Li Dao a look again and again, signaling him to talk to this old nonsense, this battle still has to be considered in the long run, and now that the enemy army is coming, he has not yet figured out how many enemy troops are coming, so he will fight a decisive battle with others?

Besides, it's not impossible to fight, but you have to come up with a discipline first. You can't let the Liangzhou soldiers fight, and then let the Bingzhou soldiers and the Xiyuan soldiers sit and watch.

But before Li Wei could speak, he heard Zhang Ren and a group of Yizhou generals stand up and say respectfully to Hu Zhen:

"Now that the enemy is present, my generation should serve the country, so please give the order of the commander."

And as soon as Zhang Ren and them spoke here, Pang Yan over there also stood up and begged Hu Zhen for battle:

"Hu Shuai, I'm in the West Garden."

Hu Zhen was a little moved, but he didn't expect that the first to support him was the Xiyuan Army, it seems that they still have a country in their hearts.

So he turned his head to look at Li Dao and said movingly:

"Childish, what do you think?"

Li Dao was quite embarrassed at this time, what could he do?

Now even the Yongyi military horses on the periphery are fighting, if he says that he will not fight, wouldn't it make Hu Zhen embarrassed? After all, no matter what, your own people still have to help your own people.

So Li Dao had no choice but to say:

"I am willing to fight this bloody battle for Your Majesty and for the Captain."

As soon as Li Dao said this, the matter was basically confirmed. After all, the rest of Lu Bu and the others are bound to fight.

So, Hu Zhen turned around and said impassionedly:

"This governor has been specially selected by His Majesty and the Grand Master, and has been entrusted with assistance and important tasks. Now north of Sanguan, Taiyuan is besieged, and this Cheng and the state are in danger. At this time, our generation should stimulate the conscience of heaven, and only by swearing to kill the enemy can we live up to the kindness of His Majesty and the Grand Master. In this battle, self-inflicted, we must fight to the death, and we would rather die than give in. It is necessary to let the Taishan thief understand that I can't touch Kansai, and if I touch it, I will die. ”

The generals were indignant and lifted their spirits.

So, Hu Zhen struck while the iron was hot and began to arrange the formation of this battle.

He ordered Lü Bu's Bingzhou army and Zhang Ren and other Yizhou armies to join forces and defend the north. Then the Yongzhou soldiers and horses guarded the second line, and the last line was Li Dao and other Liangzhou soldiers.

In the final analysis, he still thinks about Li Ji and them.

After explaining the formation, let's talk about tactics, Hu Zhen summed up this battle in four words:

"Defend instead of attack."

At the beginning, Lu Bu and other state troops were used as outposts to raid and sentry, and the number of Taishan troops on the opposite side was sentry first. If the enemy has a large number of troops, they will first return to the camp, rely on the fortification, and then let the Yongliang soldiers and horses of the second and third lines attack in turn.

In the end, the enemy army was routed by this continuous attack.

After this arrangement, the generals had different thoughts, but they didn't say anything more.

When everyone went back to the camp to explain the defense, Hu Zhen suddenly said something like this:

"The country and the Taiwei have been raising soldiers for a long time, and tomorrow will be the time for our army to use weapons. I have decided that tomorrow will be a decisive battle, there will be no retreat, and when the armies see that I am in a big fight, I will not move, and all the armies will take a step back, and whoever retreats I will kill him. ”

After speaking, Hu Zhen looked at everyone present with indifferent eyes, including the generals of Liangzhou.

In this battle, there is no advance or retreat.

(End of chapter)