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Outside Ninh Binh City.
In Shile's military camp.
In the battle last night, it was precisely because Shi Le's prediction came true that the Jin army that attacked at night in Ningping City was ambushed. Thousands of elite soldiers suffered heavy casualties. As a result, Shi Le's prestige in the army was even greater. Like the sun.
In fact, although Shi Le was the Fangzhen general of the Hu and Han Dynasties, the composition of the tribes he commanded was complex, not all Hu people, but also a large number of Han refugees, bandits, etc.
Moreover, even among the barbarians, the origins are quite complicated.
There are not only the Jiehu in Bingzhou, but also the Lushuihu and Wuhuan people in the Taihang Mountains, and the Zabu Xianbei in the Yanmen area. Instead, they are the ruling class Huns of the Hu-Han Empire, which are very rare among the armies of Shi Le and others. , this is because the population of the five Xiongnu tribes is still too small, and each one is an important resource for the Hu-Han Empire. Naturally, the Hu-Han emperors Liu Yuan, Liu Cong and his son were unwilling to assign them to foreign generals such as Shi Le and Wang Mi.
In short, Shi Le's army is a mixture of Hu and Han people from a variety of sources. The relationship among them is chaotic and the trust between them is very limited.
It is difficult for such an army to have high combat effectiveness without a strong commander.
Therefore, since the fourth year of Yongjia, Shi Le re-expanded the army in Hebei. Once he entered Yuzhou and Henan, he continued to use his victory to enforce various military disciplines and strengthen the control and integration of Hu and Han soldiers in various departments.
Stimulated by the continuous siege of cities and territories, as well as the generous plunder they brought, these Hu and Han soldiers under Shi Le had gradually become extremely obedient to military orders and commands.
Shi Le was very pleased to see that these tens of thousands of Hu and Han soldiers were no longer the ragtag group that had no way to advance or retreat, charging or retreating without authorization.
Especially before the Jin army's sneak attack was foiled last night, these Hu and Han soldiers under Shi Le were still a little afraid of the huge Jin court army.
However, with Shi Le's divine help, the failure of the night attack by the Jin court's central army gave his Hu and Han soldiers a great psychological advantage over the Jin court's central army.
Among these Hu and Han soldiers, Shi Le's prestige has also been greatly improved. Those who were originally dissatisfied with Shi Le's strict order to run the army no longer dared to discuss it privately.
Shi Le was also clear about these results.
At this time, Shi Le had complete confidence in this pursuit battle aimed at Jin Tingxingtai.
"Shi Hu, Diao Ying!"
In the big tent, Shi Le gave an order.
"The general is here!"
"The general is here!"
Shi Hu and Diao Ying quickly stood up and obeyed the order.
"I order you two to lead 3,000 light cavalry and go north to Kucheng of Uishui. There is a ferry for Uishui there. There is no need to attack Kucheng by force. You only need to control the ferry for Uishui to prevent the Jin court from coming for reinforcements."
In this order, Shi Le made his nephew Shi Hu the chief general and his old subordinate Diao Ying his deputy.
This is not simply because Shi Le is Shi Le's nephew, but also because Shi Le values Shi Hu's combat ability. Since Shi Le led his army south to Yuzhou, Shi Hu has been making many military exploits, and he has a lot of credit for being the first to ascend and kill generals. His bravery The effort is better than the old ones like Diao Ying. What is missing now is more experience.
Shi Le used Shi Hu as the main general this time. On the one hand, he wanted to train him, and on the other hand, he also wanted Shi Hu to have the qualifications to lead, so that he could be promoted in the future.
Because Shi Le felt that even as powerful as Emperor Gao of the Han Dynasty, he still needed a large number of clan generals under his command. After all, Guo Heilee, Diao Ying and others who relied heavily on Shi Le's army were outsiders. How could Shi Hu, his nephew, be so natural? cronies.
Shi Le also thought that as long as Shi Hu had stronger prestige in the army, he could become Shi Le's right-hand man in the future. With Zhang Bin as his strategist and military commander, and Shi Hu as his charger, Shi Le's future career would naturally be more stable.
Naturally, Shi Hu and Diao Ying quickly accepted the order.
However, after accepting the order, young Shi Hu still asked with doubts.
"General, now all Jin's 100,000-strong army is in Ningping City. Why should I take my people to Wushui in the north?"
Shi Hu, who originally wanted to quickly kill and plunder Ningping City after conquering Ning Ping City, actually resisted this order. However, now that Shi Le's military orders have become increasingly strict, the ferocious and arrogant Shi Hu did not dare to attack easily. He was disobedient, so he only dared to ask.
Shi Le didn't pay attention to Shi Hu's doubts.
"Because, among the prisoners yesterday, I learned that the Qingzhou Army Liu Yu had sent people to the Jin court a few days ago. The Qingzhou Army led by Liu Yu had already occupied Yanzhou. It is very likely that he would go south to Yuzhou to meet these troops. The Jin Dynasty marched all the troops in Taiwan, and the Wo River was their final route. In order to be on the safe side, they had to seize the Wo River ferry first."
"General, Yanzhou is hundreds of miles away from here. The Qingzhou army is all infantry. How could they come so quickly." After hearing Shi Le's words, Diao Ying also had different opinions.
In fact, the reason why Diao Ying said this was because of Shi Le's fate. His authority was under Shi Hu's and he became a subordinate of a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy. This made Diao, the veteran of the "Eighteen Riders" Ying felt very unhappy. On the other hand, it was because the Jin Dynasty's 100,000-strong army was like a fat pig that was about to die. If he left Ningping City at this time, wouldn't he miss out on the credit and wealth he had obtained?
Naturally, Shi Le had a pretty good guess as to what Diao Ying was thinking, but he had recently claimed to take Liu Bang, Emperor Taizu of the Han Dynasty, as his model, so he explained patiently.
"The reason why I arranged this is not simply to defend against the Qingzhou Army."
After two or three confrontations with the Qingzhou Army, Shi Le and many of his old troops were already very wary of the very evil Qingzhou Army. However, this time, Shi Le had a very negative attitude towards whether the Qingzhou Army would come to support them.
Shi Le thought that if he were Liu Yu of the Qingzhou Army, he would definitely be more willing to sit back and watch the Jin court's Xingtai army collapse. In that case, the lands of Yanzhou and Xuzhou around Qingzhou could be slowly and boldly encroached on.
Moreover, Yanzhou was so far away from the southern tip of Liang State, and Shi Le did not believe that the Qingzhou Army could forcefully march hundreds of miles, wading into dangerous territory for some unrelated Jin court visit.
"Ningping City is so small that it cannot be defended for a long time. The Jin army in Taiwan will definitely abandon the city and break out to Xuzhou, and Kuxian and Qiaoxian areas are the only way to go."
Shi Le continued.
"So, this time you two must not only be on guard against possible enemies to the north of Uishui, but you must also intercept the troops breaking out of Jin's Xingtai at any time."
"This time, I want all the Jin soldiers to die here!"
After listening to Shi Le's words, Shi Hu and Diao Ying accepted the order and stopped talking. Although in this case, the two of them would definitely not have as much credit as following Shi Le's main attack, but fortunately, it was basically impossible to encounter any strong enemies. If you are an enemy, you can feel free to rape, plunder, and plunder for a few days.
A moment later, a staff member dressed as a Jin scholar suddenly entered Shi Le's tent. As soon as he entered, he said with a smile on his face.
"General, the matter is settled!"
Seeing the visitor, Shi Le immediately greeted him with a smile.
"Youhou, thank you for your hard work. Is there any change in the Jin army in the city?"
The visitor was Shi Le's planner Zhang Bin. After going south to Yuzhou this time, thanks to Zhang Bin's many suggestions and suggestions, Shi Le's several attempts to attack the fortified city were easy.
Therefore, Shi Le soon officially appointed Zhang Bin as the right chief historian and general of the middle base, and became the number one counselor in the army. Even Diao Ying, Guo Heilue and others were gradually surpassed by Zhang Bin.
In the army, starting from Shi Le, Zhang Bin was always addressed as "Youhou".
"General, there are pillars of smoke in Ninh Binh City. It is more than ten times more than the smoke from the kitchen in the morning. It must be that the Jin army has begun to demolish the houses and burn them. It does not look like they will be defending for a long time. They may have started to prepare dry food and are thinking of abandoning the city. And run away!"
"Youhou" Zhang Bin's face was full of joy that he was about to win.
When Shi Le heard this, he also made the same judgment in his mind. After all, if the army breaks through, it must want to march as soon as possible. It is also common to prepare rations by cooking them in advance.
"Not only now, General, I searched for the residents near Ningping City, and finally learned that although there are wells in Ningping City, they are far from being able to supply the needs of a hundred thousand troops. I am afraid that these Jin troops will not need more than a day or two. Abandon the city."
After hearing the words of "Youhou" Zhang Bin, Shi Le was already very sure that the Jin army in Ningping City would abandon the city and flee within a day or two.
Because Shi Le once thought that if he was a defender trapped in Ningping City and had no food to eat, he could eat other things to satisfy his hunger, such as snakes, rats, horse meat, or human meat.
However, if there is no water, even if there is sufficient food, it is impossible to survive for two or three days. If it is necessary to deal with the enemy's siege, I am afraid it will be difficult to cope with even one or two days.
"Hahaha, Youhou is indeed a descendant of Liuhou, the most resourceful person in the world!"
Shi Le immediately praised Zhang Bin happily.
Suddenly, Shi Taiji and Zhang Chengchou acted like a king and his ministers complementing each other.
···········
Inside Ninh Binh City.
"General, the marching order from Commander Wang Taiwei has been issued. We must abandon the city and break out of the encirclement at Yin time tomorrow."
Zhou Heng applied the ointment he had finally obtained for General Pinglu Qianduan while telling him the military order he had just received.
"Hey, what's the point of breaking out of the siege? I see that those Hulu didn't siege the city with much fanfare at all. Maybe they are still looking forward to us leaving the city to break out of the siege."
Another brigade commander next to him said.
"Yes, it may be very dangerous to abandon the city and break out of the siege this time." Pinglu General Qian Duan said with a worried look.
Because Qian Duan knew that the Hulu cavalry outside Ningping City came and went like the wind. As long as the Xingtai army left Ningping City and without the protection of the city wall, they could be attacked by barbarians anytime and anywhere in the open plain wilderness. The attack of the captive cavalry.
If it were the previous Chinese army, they would definitely not be afraid of these lightly-armed and fast-horse cavalry, but today's Xingtai Chinese army has the right time, right place, and no advantage at all, with a look of decline.
"However, this is good. We can always find a way to survive. It is far better than dying of starvation or thirst in this small Ningping City." Pinglu General Qian Duan continued.
"Yes, those stupid military ministers have occupied the water sources of many wells. The water allocated to us sergeants today is only two sips in total, which is not enough to moisten our throats. My throat is already smoking. ”
Han next to him said angrily with a hoarse voice.
"You guy, your throat is smoking, and you talk so much nonsense!" Zhou Heng cursed his subordinate, and then kicked him.
"Why don't you go find two good pieces of wood? Let's build a frame and use it to carry the general tomorrow morning."
After Han Hun was kicked, he immediately went out to find some useful wood.
After going out, Han Hun started looking for suitable wood in the messy alleys.
At this time, Ningping City was full of people, rushing around like a mess of flies.
Although many houses in Ninh Binh City have been demolished and used as cooking wood, either the beams are too thick or the frame timbers are too thin.
After wandering around for a long time, Han Hun finally found a few pieces of wood that he could use to make a frame for dragging the wounded.
Just as he was about to turn around and go back, he met several small troop leaders from other battalions, and Han Hun immediately started talking to them.
At this time, everyone is worried about tomorrow's breakout.
Because the barbarians outside Ningping City were all cavalry, and the troops in Xingtai no longer had any horses at this time, they were all infantry.
As a result, the initiative in this battle was completely in the hands of the Hulu cavalry. These hungry and sleepy Chinese soldiers did not even have a chance to fight against the Hulu cavalry.
The Hulu cavalry will definitely launch the most deadly attack when they are at their weakest.
"Hey, even if I can run out, where can I go? I heard that the area around Xuzhou is under the command of Zhao Gu, another Hu-Han traitor. I'm afraid that even if I get lucky, I will still be captured by Zhao Gu when I get to Xuzhou. Let these barbarians and thieves kill and plunder them."
A team leader, a junior officer, said dejectedly.
"That's not necessarily true. Why do we have to go to Xuzhou?" Han Hun said immediately after hearing this.
"Where to go then? Didn't everyone say that the military commanders are going to Xuzhou?"
Several people present looked at Han Hun with doubts on their faces.
"Where to go? To Yanzhou, don't you know? The 100,000 Qingzhou Army led by His Majesty the Emperor's newly appointed General Liu Yu is in Yanzhou. I heard that these Qingzhou Army will go south to Liang State to meet us! "
After Han Hun finished speaking, he told a group of people around him what he knew about the Qingzhou Army's three previous defeats of the Hulu.
After listening to Han Hun's words, these soldiers of the Central Army of the Jin Dynasty praised the Qingzhou Army's three defeats of the Hulu, but their previous killings of the Hulu in Luoyang were no less than those of the Qingzhou Army.
What really reassured and encouraged them was what Han Hun said. The newly promoted general Liu Yu led a hundred thousand Qingzhou troops to rescue them.
This sentence deeply encouraged the surrounding Jin court soldiers. Even if the Qingzhou Army had not arrived yet, as long as they continued to go north, they would encounter the Qingzhou Army earlier.
In this way, it is much better than Xuzhou, whose future is full of dangers.
Moreover, this Han Hun is a subordinate of General Qian Duan, General Pinglu of the Chinese Army Zuowei General. He is considered the core of the Chinese Army and naturally has access to the most core information.
The most important thing is that Han Hun told these things so clearly that these soldiers, who were almost in despair, couldn't help but not believe him.
Just as more and more soldiers and officers gathered around Han Hun and began to have a heated discussion because of this rumor, suddenly, a shout came from behind.
"How dare you, such a bold madman, to stand up for the traitor Liu Yu in the army!"
