In the third year of Jin Yongxing's reign, it was May 20th.
Wang Hu, the governor of Qingzhou and the general of Ningbei, launched two probing attacks on Xi'an City where the Donglai Army was guarding, and basically tested the strength of the Donglai Army in the city.
The number of Donglai troops in Xi'an City was only 3,000. Although the generals who defended the city were quite organized, they easily repelled the two sieges of the Jin army.
But that was just a test move by Ningbei General Wang Huan. Most of the people who died were private soldiers recruited from Jinan County. It didn't matter to him how many people died.
If Wang Huan really wants to conquer the city of Xi'an, it cannot be said to be easy. As long as he sacrifices a few lives, he can quickly defeat the rebels defending the city. But to attack the city, he will definitely have to use Youzhou soldiers. These are the governor of Youzhou. The cornerstone of Jun's power, Wang Huan did not want to fight for his life with the rebels, so he deliberately left the city of Xi'an undefended to lure the main force of the Donglai Army in Linzi.
Wang Huan knew that if he attacked the city and Yuanshui River blocked his retreat, the rebels would definitely take the opportunity to attack him with all their troops when they saw that they were in such a dangerous situation.
Therefore, after Wang Huan initially tested the city of Xi'an twice, the Jin army surrounded the city without attacking, and deliberately let go of the rebels who came out to ask for help at night.
Sure enough, that night, after seeing the messenger sent by Cao Yi in Xi'an City to ask for help, Liu Bogen in Linzi City was overjoyed. The Youzhou Jin Army could not attack Xi'an City twice, which showed that the strength of the Youzhou Jin Army was not as strong as in the legend. Strong, it may just be that Youzhou has many horses and cavalry, and can always advance and retreat freely when winning or losing.
Liu Bogen summoned the generals overnight and planned to march the entire army to Xi'an City the next day. Taking advantage of the Jin army's sudden attack on the fortified city and unsteady foothold, he planned to eliminate these Youzhou Jin troops between Xi'an City and Yuanshui. .
Looking at Liu Bogen, who was so ambitious, many generals gave advice. Since the city of Xi'an can stop the Youzhou soldiers, then we have a big city like Linzi, and the Youzhou soldiers have nothing to do with us. Why go out of the city to fight with them in the field?
Liu Bogen and Wang Mi both sharply rebuked this timid and negative attitude.
What Liu Bogen wanted was that the Youzhou soldiers were on the verge of death. He must seize the opportunity to annihilate them to gain more prestige and ensure that no Jin army would dare to come and stroke his tiger's beard for a period of time.
Wang Mi not only thought about what Liu Bogen was thinking, but also because Cao Yi was an old acquaintance of his when he was in Donglai County, and he was his old subordinate after joining the rebels. Now Cao Yi is trapped in a tight siege. If he can't sit still, Cao Yi will undoubtedly die. Even if the Donglai army relies on Linzi city defense to repel the Youzhou Jin army in the future, I am afraid that the person who will benefit the most and gain prestige is Liu Bogen, and a man who has no regard for Cao Yi's death. How will the rescued Wang Mi face his subordinates such as Xu Miao, Gao Liang, and Wang Ling?
With Liu Bogen and Wang Mi, the two leading brothers, making the decision, all the other generals did not dare to say anything further.
May 21st, cloudy day.
In the early morning, when the sky started to light up, all the three gates of Linzi City were opened in the south, north and south. Liu Bogen only left a small number of confidants and 4,000 new auxiliary troops to stay in Linzi, while the rest of the 60,000-strong army came out in full force.
The 60,000-strong army only carried three days of rations. After leaving the city, they marched in three directions. On the particularly wide plain official road in Qingzhou, the team could stretch for four or five miles.
Such a huge movement had long been discovered by the Youzhou scouts who were scattered on sentries. When the Donglai Army had just left Linzi City, the Jin Army scouts reported to Ningbei General Wang Huan.
After Wang Huan received the intelligence report, he was not worried but happy that the rebels were finally lured out of the fortified city of Linzi.
Although the number of rebels was larger than he expected, Wang Huan still had full confidence in his Youzhou soldiers and Xianbei cavalry.
Before Liu Bogen led the entire army to attack, he also sent envoys to send messages to Han Ling, Xu Teng and Liu Yu who were stationed in Ye County, Pingshou and Ju County respectively, asking them to lead their elite troops to Linzi quickly to wait for deployment.
Because Liu Bogen felt that he would win this battle with Youzhou soldiers.
After the victory of this battle, the surrounding Jinan, Leling and Taishan will no longer have enough troops to defend, so Liu Bogen wants to have more troops to capture these three counties during the new defeat of the Jin army.
Linzi City is less than fifty miles away from Xi'an City, and one day is enough.
Almost all the cavalry of the Donglai Army were sent forward to provide sentinels and cover for the army.
The 60,000-strong army trampled on the dry road and sent dust flying. The cavalry going around kept reporting back on the reconnaissance ahead, and passed on Liu Bogen's military orders one after another.
Two hours later, the originally gloomy sky became clear.
At Chen time, under the rays of the sun, the temperature became hotter and hotter. The 60,000 people who gathered together to march soon became thirsty and unbearable. Liu Bogen had to order to slow down the marching speed to allow all the troops to have time. Use time to drink water from the roadside river or well.
Just when most of the Donglai troops were drinking water and taking a break, suddenly a large amount of sharp smoke appeared in the sky ahead.
After receiving the reward, Liu Bogen and Wang Mi quickly went to the front army to check in person. It turned out that thousands of cavalry appeared in the front, scattered so scattered that it was not possible to see the specific number of people for a while.
These cavalrymen quickly encountered the cavalrymen of Donglai Army. The Donglai cavalrymen, who had no advantage in numbers or riding skills, were quickly defeated and had to retreat to a position very close to the infantry ranks. Rely on the infantry's advantage of infantry and bows to block the enemy's cavalry.
"These hateful Xianbei slaves."
Liu Bogen hated these Xianbei barbarians deeply. It was these Xianbei cavalry that forced him to lose control of the battlefield information. Fortunately, the roads along the way were all plains, with almost no dense forests and valleys, so he was not too worried about the Jin army setting up ambushes along the way.
But even so, the Donglai Army's march had to become more careful, and the speed slowed down. The Xianbei cavalry scattered around were like annoying wild dogs, following the Donglai Army from a distance. Next to them, some Donglai troops who accidentally broke away from the large army or tried to pursue them were lured a certain distance away and were surrounded and annihilated by the roaring Xianbei cavalry. Although for an army of 60,000, the loss of these 100 men was not a big deal. It was nothing, but it was a huge blow to the morale of the marching Donglai Army.
Liu Bogen and Wang Mi had no choice but to hope to reach Xi'an City as soon as possible. When the battle with the Youzhou soldiers began, these fly-like Xianbei cavalry would be sent up by themselves.
Under the harassment of the Xianbei cavalry, the entire Donglai army had only marched twenty miles at noon. Because the weather was so hot, the Xianbei cavalry did not know where to hide to enjoy the cool weather. The Donglai army also took advantage of this opportunity. Chance began to stop and rest. Because the marching team was dense, many wells along the way were even drank dry by the front troops. When the team behind them arrived, the water in the wells was still not full, and many thirsty soldiers started to drink. Looking for the river on both sides, I wanted to get water to quench my thirst.
However, many soldiers looking for water were attacked by Xianbei cavalry ambushing near the water source.
These Xianbei cavalry ambushing in the grass and groves used wild dog-like tactics to the extreme. After killing the Donglai soldiers one by one, they disappeared like the wind. The Donglai soldiers were so frightened that they no longer dared If you leave the queue at will, even if you are thirsty, you can only gather a hundred or ten people.
Under this drag, the Donglai Army could not move faster.
