Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

Just after noon, the army ate some dry food, and had not had time to rest. Suddenly, the south gate was opened, and two light soldiers galloped in, and the gate was hastily closed. Not long after, a big drum "Dong Dong..." was heard from the city tower, and the soldiers around Guo Shao stood up and looked up. But in the city, only the soldiers of Zhou army walking on the wall can be seen, but they don't know what happened.

A general in the army said: "I'll go to Beicheng to have a look. Everyone, keep your soldiers and horses safe and calm, and wait for the lord to come back."

"Here!" Several other generals responded one after another.

At that time, the drums were beating loudly, as if there was a military sentiment, and groups of soldiers were continuously sent to the city, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense. But everyone was still calm and not panicked, but the army gradually started to talk and talk.

"Isn't it rumored that the Khitan soldiers only came with a few thousand horses, and they will never attack the city!" Someone explained the mystery with a single word. No wonder everyone in the city seemed to be calm.

I heard another person say: "Don't talk about thousands of riders, even tens of thousands of riders may not be able to capture Xinzhou City anytime soon."

This man was right. It was rumored that the Liao people were not very good at attacking cities, not even defending them.

After the Khitan people entered the Hebei area, they were no longer pure nomads, but were in a state of half-herding and half-cultivating. Even animal husbandry was very popular. They learned a lot about farming countries. However, the Han people are good at managing the military role of the city, and the Liao Kingdom does not seem to pay attention to this aspect.

But this time the Liao army is going to save Jinyang. If they don't pull out Xinzhou, how can the road to Jinyang be peaceful?

Since the Five Dynasties, the Liao Kingdom has never given up its attempt to expand southward and occupy the territory of the Central Plains Dynasty, and they have done a good job. Occupying Youyun Sixteen Prefectures opened the door to the core area of ​​the Han people from Hebei on the east line; supported the Northern Han Dynasty on the west line to occupy Jinyang. This place overlooks the entire Hedong area from a high house, and you can drink the Yellow River when you go south, and it is close to the hinterland of the Central Plains. In terms of the situation, the Liao Kingdom has entered the threshold of the Central Plains with both feet, and it occupies a strategic location, which can be advanced, attacked, retreated, or defended.

Therefore, Jinyang is very important to the Liao Kingdom. Even if they are in civil strife, they must gather elite soldiers to rescue them.

The Zhou Dynasty sent heavy troops to Xinzhou for the purpose of blocking the reinforcements from the Liao Kingdom and preventing them from threatening Jinyang's siege troops.

...In the afternoon, the general who went to the North City to check the situation came back, and everyone waited for his feedback. Because the Xiang Xun Department had not received a military order for the city defense, the soldiers did not dare to move, and they could not see anything while staying inside the city wall.

During the generals' conversation, Guo Shao knew that the returning general's name was Zhang Jianxiong. This person left a deep impression on Guo Shao, not because of his appearance, but because he was the first person Guo Shao talked to after he came to the Northern Han Dynasty. He was the one who asked in Jinyang, "Where did the infantry get so many war horses?" and saw Shi Yanchao killing innocent people indiscriminately in the middle of the road, and almost went out to make a theory.

Zhang Jianxiong said succinctly: "There came a group of Liao army cavalry, probably more than a thousand cavalry, wandering around outside the city. The king of Wei ordered the forward Shi Yanchao to lead the cavalry out of the north gate to fight. After a short fight, the Khitan couldn't resist and fled north. Shi Yanchao got the order of the king of Wei and followed them in pursuit."

A general standing beside him sighed after hearing this: "Shi Yanchao is really brave!"

Zhang Jianxiong lowered his face when he heard this: "I think it's probably a trick of the Khitan soldiers deliberately retreating to lure the enemy, so that Shi Yanchao will rush forward while underestimating the enemy, and let this fellow fall into the trap!"

The general muttered: "Didn't Shi Yanchao pursue him only after he got the order from King Wei?"

Zhang Jianxiong blurted out, "King Wei is getting old."

After hearing this, all the generals kept silent, so as not to discuss King Wei in public. After all, Wei Wang Fu Yanqing was the commander-in-chief of various armies in Xinzhou, and he had such a high status and prestige. The middle and lower-level generals said that he was wrong, and he really shouldn't be.

At this moment, I saw Xiang Xun and Shu Qi riding their horses from the central axis road in the north. When Xiang Xun returned to the army, he got off the horse nimbly and threw the reins in his hand to his followers. All the generals also gathered together.

Xiang Xun first glanced back to the north, and then said: "Shi Yanchao fought, chased to Xinkou, and bumped into the Liao army brigade. King Wei was worried that he might make a mistake due to lack of troops, so he asked me to lead the troops to meet him. Everyone is ready to prepare."

Guo Shao, Yang Biao and others were not familiar with Xiang Xun's subordinates, so they didn't speak much all the way, but they could understand what was going on in the war and military situation when they came and went in Xinzhou City. At this time, Guo Shao was very puzzled.

Wei Wang Fu Yanqing's mission goal is very clear, which is to garrison Xinzhou and other places to block Liao's reinforcements and rescue Jinyang; usually it seems that it is the most obvious to do this kind of thing, passive defense is enough. Even if they can't defeat the Liao Army, as long as they work hard on defense, the Liao Army won't be able to do anything against Xinzhou. Anyway, the Liao army wanted to pass through here, not only worried but also restless, that's right... Under such circumstances, Fu Yanqing asked Shi Yanchao to take the initiative to attack. What is the purpose of Fu Yanqing?

Could it be that seeing Shi Yanchao won the first battle, King Wei wanted to take the opportunity to capture Xinkou? Along the way, Xiang Xun kept asking local officials and people about the topography of Xinzhou, and Guo Shao also learned a lot. The Xin and Dai basins are the main roads to the Jinyang area from the north, and there are mountains between Xin and Dai that are difficult to cross; there are only two traffic tunnels in front of Xinkou Town.

If the Zhou army occupied Xinkou and sent troops to block the two nearest tunnels, the Liao army would have to change into a bird to fly over the mountains if they wanted to go south. If this is the plan, what is Fu Yanqing's main force still doing in Xinzhou? It should have been possible for Shi Yanchao to rush forward, and the army would cover their backs to keep up, and drive the Liao army out of Xinkou regardless of the cost... But at present, they only ask Xiang Xun to help them. I really don't understand why it is so mysterious.

The number of soldiers and horses brought by Xiang Xun is 2,000, but there are only more than 300 light cavalry who can really fight tough battles. Such reinforcements allowed Shi Yanchao's striker to fight the main force of the Liao army? Or run back quickly to meet Shi Yanchao... Then why did Shi Yanchao chase him out?

For a while, Guo Shao felt that King Wei's front and back tactics simply lacked a basic logical relationship. But it's hard to say, after all, Fu Yanqing's family is a warlord who has held the king for three generations. Such a high-ranking person should always have extraordinary wisdom. Maybe he has far-sightedness, which is not something that a youngster like Guo Shao can guess.

But it was about his own life and the lives of the twenty brothers who had traveled long distances. At this time, Guo Shao couldn't care less. He changed his style of knowing the rules and not talking too much. He saw the opportunity and asked, "General Xiang, should we save Qianfeng Shi and come back, or should we support him and continue fighting?"

Xiang Xun turned his head and glanced at Guo Shao who was speaking, and responded calmly: "King Wei didn't say anything."

Guo Shao was speechless and asked again.

At this moment, Zhang Jianxiong yelled: "Damn! Shi Yanchao doesn't show any face to the lord, so he gets angry when he thinks about it! He even asked us to rescue him? If he is so capable, let him beat the Liao people back alone!"

When Guo Shao heard it, he also thought of the incident in the village halfway. Zhang Jianxiong's "disgrace" was probably what he was talking about.

When Shi Yanchao killed the innocent women who were robbed, Zhang Jianxiong almost came forward, but was later stopped by General Xiang. At that time, Guo Shao thought that Zhang Jianxiong was a good young man with sympathy and a sense of justice, but now that he only scolded Shi Yanchao for not giving Xiang Xun face, he suddenly realized: Zhang Jianxiong’s dissatisfaction was not at all because of sympathy for those innocent women, but because he was angry at Shi Yanchao’s attitude in front of the lord, and he was fighting for the lord Xiang Xun.

The warriors of the Five Dynasties probably didn't treat those slaughtered women as human beings at all.

At that time, as soon as Xiang Xun saw Shi Yanchao, he used the official order to teach Shi Yanchao a lesson, and what he said was reasonable. It may be difficult for Shi Yanchao to refute the reasonable reasoning... But Shi Yanchao should be upset, being taught a lesson by a general he despises, why?

That's why Shi Yanchao didn't reason with you verbally at all. Don't you want to ask how to deal with it? According to Xiang Xun's intention, it should be to let the innocent women go and punish the rebellious soldiers who did not observe military discipline. But Shi Yanchao simply killed them all, what can you do to me?

He wasn't killing people, but he deliberately wanted to make trouble with Xiang Xun in public, slapped Xiang Xun in the face, and sulked.

It's just that those innocent women were pitiful, they didn't do anything wrong, and they were hacked down like props to vent their anger. Guo Shao is still a bit of the mainstream values ​​of modern people. Of course he disagrees with this practice of ignoring life... But he didn't think it was wise to stand up and fight for right and wrong in the world of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, so he also became an indifferent bystander; Do you want to win or lose with the top general of the Zhou Dynasty internally, or wait for someone to ask for justice after you are killed? What's more, in the wild and chaotic place, there are more than one tragedy, which is beyond the control of an ordinary person.

... Everyone was very dissatisfied with Shi Yanchao, and cursed in front of Xiang Xun.

At this moment, Xiang Xun raised his hand to stop the generals from discussing, and said unhurriedly: "Shi Yanchao is a little arrogant, but did he kill our people, or did he do something unrighteous? Nothing! Then what are you and him doing? They are both generals of the Great Zhou, so don't have to care about the length for a little thing."

Zhang Jianxiong said angrily: "I'm afraid that if we go to rescue him, he won't appreciate it, and blame us for being troublesome."

Xiang Xun said: "Shi Qianfeng is not a person who doesn't understand his grievances. We must focus on the overall situation, and don't spoil the battle situation with impulsiveness. You stop talking, and order all the troops to leave the city lightly!"

Only then did the generals stop and took orders one after another.

Guo Shao also told his men to lead their horses, put on their weapons and set off. Luo Mengzi asked: "Is our stuff left here? Will it be picked up by others..."

Before Guo Shao could answer, Yang Biao yelled, "It sounds like you have a lot of money. You search carefully, except for the things on the horse, how much are they worth?"

Luo Mengzi just gave up, and muttered: "I don't have a good opinion of Shi Yanchao. Those women might as well wait for the rebels to snatch them away. Maybe they can live better if they are snatched back by the sergeants."

Yang Biao also said coldly: "Shi Yanchao is nothing."