Yongjia fifth year, April.
Yuzhou, Liangguo, Ku County, Ningping City.
The officials and officers of the Central Army of Dajin Xingtai, led by Taiwei Wang Yan and Xiangyang King Sima Fan, rested and reorganized after arriving at Ningping City.
Taking this opportunity, the Xingtai armies plundered the people in the city and replenished the already scarce supplies.
The military commanders headed by Taiwei Wang Yan and Xiangyang King Sima Fan were unable to stop this blatant plundering of the people.
In other words, Wang Yan, Sima Fan and others had no intention of stopping this practice.
In just one day, Ningping City, which was still somewhat populated, was completely looted. Almost all the people in the city fled. In Ningping City, which had a small population, there were almost no traces of ordinary people. Officials and sergeants everywhere.
Under this circumstance, Taiwei Wang Yan's original plan to rest for a day and then continue to speed up the march to Xuzhou Donghai Kingdom could not be implemented because almost all the officials and soldiers in Xingtai refused to continue moving.
In addition, due to the rainy weather at the turn of spring and summer, Wang Yan and others could only announce that they would rest for one or two more days in Ningping City.
Taiwei Wang Yan and Xiangyang King Sima Fan and others already knew that there was a popular saying among the Xingtai armies, that is, after arriving at Xuzhou Donghai Kingdom, the Xingtai armies would continue southward to Jiangdong.
The officers and soldiers of the Central Army, who were almost all from the north, were all depressed because of this. In addition, although Taiwei Wang Yan and King Sima Fan of Xiangyang were very prestigious among the scholars, they were often arrogant in front of the officers and soldiers of the Central Army. , his prestige among the soldiers is far inferior to that of the dead King of East China Sea Sima Yue.
In addition, Wang Yan and others still had no way to raise the scarce food and grass at this time, and in the past marches, they had almost no ability to coordinate the march of a huge army of 100,000, and many confusions occurred.
All these unfavorable situations have gathered together. It would be fine if there were no external threats, but as long as a powerful threat suddenly comes, all these unfavorable factors will become the introduction to destroy the armies of Xingtai.
After two consecutive days of rain, the sky finally cleared up.
Under the service of several servants, Wang Yan, the Taiwei of the Jin Dynasty, had just gotten up. After a simple breakfast of more than a dozen dishes, he drank a spicy and rich soup.
"Go and tell King Xiangyang. We just talked for a while and let's go to the government office in the city to discuss military affairs." Wang Yan said to his servant while sipping the soup.
The servant was ordered to leave and walked out in small steps. However, as soon as he reached the door, without even stepping out of the door, he was hit by a person from outside and screamed. He fell to the ground on his back.
"Ouch!" The slave screamed miserably and covered his butt. The blow just now almost broke his butt.
Hearing that the slave was so rude, Wang Yan felt angry in his heart. The slaves in the family were never allowed to be so rude. He raised his head and wanted to scold the two people who collided, but he only saw a horrified face. .
"Lieutenant, the barbarians are chasing us. There are tens of thousands of horses and horses all over the mountains and fields. I can't even count them."
The man who spoke was a military general in uniform. The collision just now did not hurt this powerful warrior at all, or it could be said that his mind was not on it at all.
Seeing the general's fear, Wang Yan was also panicked.
"Hulu? Where is he?" Wang Yan asked immediately.
This military general was Li Chang, the former military governor of Xingtai. He was one of the few generals who had prestige in the Chinese army and obeyed Wang Yan's command, so Wang Yan had always been new to him.
"Reporting to Lieutenant, just to the west of Ningping City, there are many Hulu cavalry who have crossed the Shahe River." Li Chang, the former military commander, said anxiously.
Shahe is a river to the west of Ninh Binh City. As long as you cross this river, you will reach the gate of Ninh Binh City.
"How many thieves are there?"
Wang Yan secretly complained in his heart. Now the soldiers in Taiwan are distracted. If they encounter a large group of Hulu cavalry again and pursue them, they may be in trouble.
Under the current situation, Wang Yan couldn't help but pray in his heart that these barbarians were all passing by and looting, and they must not be specifically targeting the troops in Xingtai.
However, the words of former military governor Li Chang quickly shattered Taiwei Wang Yan's illusions.
"Lieutenant, there are at least 20,000 to 30,000 thieves. Across the sand river, we can't see clearly what's going on in the west of the river, but there are definitely not thousands of thieves in the wilderness of the west of the river."
"Moreover, these barbarians are very ferocious. After crossing the Shahe River, they have chased and killed all the nearby woodcutter soldiers and defeated a battalion of soldiers outside the city."
When Wang Yan heard this, he cried out in pain.
It's broken, it's broken. Originally, the Chinese army in Taiwan was unsettled, but now it encounters so many Hulu cavalry coming with great momentum, I'm afraid it will be even more unstoppable.
Today's Chinese army is in need of food, reinforcements but no reinforcements. It seems that there are enemies on all sides, not to mention ordinary soldiers. Even Taiwei Wang Yan is full of despair and fear.
"Quickly, change your clothes for me. I want to go to the top of the city to check in person."
Wang Yan gave the order, and the servants around him immediately hurriedly fetched armor and uniforms.
On weekdays, Wang Yan rarely wears the military uniforms and armors that symbolize vulgar warriors, so for a while, these unfamiliar servants got into a mess with each other. In the end, with the help of the former military governor Li Chang , and then Wang Yan finished dressing it.
After Taiwei Wang Yan put on his armor, he thought for a moment and ordered his servants to get his regular clothes with loose sleeves and put them on outside his armor.
Under the cover of the wide and elegant uniform, the armor Wang Yan was wearing could not be seen from the outside at all.
Seeing the puzzled look on Li Chang's face, the former military governor next to him, Wang Yan blushed slightly and said.
"If the sergeants in the army see me wearing armor, they will definitely think that the situation is critical, and they will be afraid that false rumors will be spread, which will not be conducive to the stability of the military's morale."
After Li Chang heard this, he immediately understood and felt impressed.
When Taiwei Wang Yan, accompanied by Li Chang, hurried to the top of Ningping City in a hurry.
Wang Yan discovered that at the top of the city, a group of clan kings led by Xiangyang King Sima Fan had also arrived.
Everyone came to the city head at the same time. Wang Yan knew that the kings of these clans must have heard about the Hulu attack.
There were no pleasantries or conversations, because Wang Yan came to the top of the city and from his condescending advantage, he could see the situation outside the city.
Although the 100,000 troops in Hangtai have arrived and stationed in Ninh Binh City, the small Ninh Binh City cannot accommodate so many soldiers and officials.
Moreover, issues such as drinking water and making fires for cooking for 100,000 people are major issues that need to be solved every day. Therefore, hundreds of officials and some soldiers in Xingtai are stationed in Ningping City, and the rest of the soldiers are stationed in their own camps. Outside Pingcheng.
Wang Yan, who had just boarded Ningping City, looked out and saw groups of Chinese soldiers, like sheep being chased by wolves, rushing into Ningping City from the city gate one by one.
A large number of military tents, armor, equipment and other items were abandoned in the camp outside the city.
Behind these panicked soldiers, there were only a few hundred scattered Huqi, and these Huqi were only focused on looting the treasures and property abandoned by the Chinese army in the camp. Not many of them actually went. Chase.
"How dare you, thief!"
Seeing that only a few hundred Hulu cavalry were frightening the tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers outside the city, they abandoned their camps and fled into the city. Taiwei Wang Yan immediately yelled angrily.
At this time, more generals and officials had arrived on the city.
After Taiwei Wang Yan scolded him angrily, he looked around at the generals on the left and right and spoke.
"There are only a few hundred thieves, which general would dare to go out of the city to counterattack?"
Many generals present subconsciously shrank their necks when they heard Captain Wang Yan's inquiry.
At the same time, many generals were secretly cursing Taiwei Wang Yan in their hearts. In the current situation, the gates entering and exiting the city have been blocked by the influx of soldiers from outside. Let alone a counterattack out of the city, let alone the influx of soldiers. It was a blessing that there were trampled casualties among the soldiers who entered Ninh Binh City.
Moreover, most of the Chinese soldiers stationed outside the city are lower-ranking sergeants in the armies and soldiers from the foreign armies. The officers and generals on the top of the city are all senior generals of the Chinese army. Let these noble generals, It's impossible to risk your life for some low-status soldiers.
After asking himself, the generals around him were all silent, which made Wang Yan angry.
He was not angry that these generals were afraid of the enemy, or that they were wise to protect themselves and refused to fight.
What really annoyed Taiwei Wang Yan was that when faced with his inquiry, not only did no one of the generals of the armies accept the order enthusiastically, but no one even raised different opinions. The result of this silence was that Wang Yan From Yan's perspective, it means he doesn't pay attention to his own authority.
However, in this case, Wang Yan still relied on these people to defend himself, but he was unable to do so for a while.
Just when Wang Yan wanted to continue to say something to save his face, he suddenly heard bursts of screams and exclamations near the city gate outside the city.
Wang Yan followed the direction of the sound and looked from the city wall.
Outside the city gate of Ninh Binh City, among the crowded soldiers, because more and more soldiers were crowded together, the originally narrow suspension bridge could not carry many people at all. Many soldiers were pushing each other. In the crowd, he was pushed out of the moat.
There were many soldiers who were pushed to the ground by the crowd behind them without even stepping onto the moat's suspension bridge, and then were trampled to death by the crowd.
Without officers and generals to maintain order, the soldiers who were assigned to station outside the city had completely lost order.
When no enemy attacked, the number of people who trampled each other to death instantly exceeded the number of people killed by Hu Qi.
Seeing this situation, many generals at the top of the city ran to the wall at the city gate, and each of them yelled at the top of their lungs to give orders to the soldiers outside the city, trying to restore order.
However, under the surging crowd, the voices of these officers were quickly drowned out by the screams and roars of the crowd.
Taiwei Wang Yan took one look at the situation at the city gate and then withdrew his gaze.
Because, at this time, another scene attracted his attention far more than the death of some lowly soldiers.
To the west of Ninh Binh City, on the west bank of Shah River.
As bursts of sound came like thunder, Wang Yan, who was on Ningping City, raised his eyes and saw that on the west bank of the Shah River, there were tens of thousands of cavalrymen, holding various flags, under the shining of the morning sun. , as if covered with a golden coat, the majestic feeling of the cavalry tide, although separated by such a long distance, still continuously impacted Wang Yan's heart.
"These Hulu have found a suitable place to cross the river."
At this time, Li Chang, the former military commander next to Taiwei Wang Yan, whispered, seemingly explaining to Taiwei Wang Yan the reason for Hu Lu's actions.
After hearing the words of former military governor Li Chang, Taiwei Wang Yan still did not look away from the Hulu cavalry in the distance.
"Li Chang, are all these barbarians from that bandit chieftain?" Wang Yan's tone was full of uneasiness.
"Replying to the captain, the banners of these Hulu are all the banners of Hu Han in Bingzhou. The villain just saw some clear banners from a distance. They are all the troops of Jie Hu Shile, and he did not see other Hu Han thieves. The banner should only be Shi Le Part One."
In Li Chang's words, there seems to be a sense of happiness that he only met one of Shi Le's troops. After all, although the other troops such as Wang Mi, Zhao Gu, Liu Ling, etc. may not be as strong in combat power, their numbers are no less than Shi Le's. If a few big thieves and chieftains come together, it will probably be a really desperate situation.
However, after hearing Li Chang's words, Taiwei Wang Yan was confused for a while.
"It's a weird thing, it's really a weird thing."
Hearing Tai Lieutenant Wang Yan whisper to himself, former military commander Li Chang didn't know why.
The Hulu cavalry that are chasing now are all under Shi Le's command. Is it any wonder? These Hulu thieves all want to plunder the property and people of the prefectures and counties, and they often don't act together, because in that way, not only will their respective The looted goods and the population will be much smaller, and there will be competition between the various tribes, making it difficult to maintain their fragile alliance.
"Lieutenant, what's weird?" Li Chang asked bravely.
"Why."
At this time, Taiwei Wang Yan looked away from the Hulu cavalry outside the city. He glanced at Li Chang and said.
"A few days ago, that Qingzhou thief Liu Yu sent an envoy. Do you still remember?"
Li Chang was stunned when he heard this, and said in a low voice quickly.
"Replying to the Lieutenant, I will certainly remember this matter."
Seeing the uncertain expression on Taiwei Wang Yan's face, Li Chang, the former military commander, immediately added, "However, I remember the Taiwei's instructions and have never told anyone about this matter."
Hearing what Li Chang said, Taiwei Wang Yan raised his eyelids and said coldly.
"Of course I know, you can't possibly say it."
"The really strange thing to me is that at that time, not even a single trace of Hu Qi was found in the Chinese army camps. How did Liu Yu, who was far away in Yanzhou, know that there was Hu Qi after our army left Xiangcheng? What about riding behind and chasing?"
Li Chang was also very surprised after hearing Wang Yan's words.
"Taiwei, if that's the case, doesn't it mean that the envoy Ju Xian at that time knew from Liu Yu that there were Hu cavalry chasing our army before he came to meet the Taiwei!?"
"How did the Qingzhou thieves find out about the fact that they were thousands of miles away?"
"Can this thief predict the future?"
