The Shu army pursued them in a hurry and seemed unwilling to give up. However, their horse power was not as powerful as the Han cavalry and they always fell behind. The pursuit was ineffective. Instead, they were "kite"ed by the Han army for several miles and killed more than twenty cavalry. Got angry.
The generals from Nanzheng had never fought with the Han army. The advantage was that they still had the courage to fight with them. The disadvantage was that they did not know the depth and pursued recklessly, and completely ignored Li Tinggui's instructions.
Until they approached the Han camp, they saw that under the cover of hills, they were attacking from two sides and wanted to outflank the Han cavalry, so they quickly woke up. Looking at the Han cavalry who were twice as many as his own, no matter how ignorant the Shu general was, he had no confidence in being outnumbered. Recalling Li Tinggui's explanation, he shouted: "The Han army is cunning. If there is an ambush, retreat!"
Then he quickly led his men, reined in the horse, turned around, and returned along the original road. The pursuit was too deep, I enjoyed the pleasure of pursuit, and experienced the pain of death again. The more urgent you are when chasing, the more desperate you are when escaping.
"Copy them up separately for me, don't let Shu Qi go!" Ma Renyu rode his horse forward, taking the lead, shouting at the top of his lungs, his face full of excitement.
The Han cavalry around him are all elite, and they are very skilled in dividing and attacking. Once the military order is given, they are all skilled in changing formations to attack. Ma Renyu rushed ahead, full of fighting spirit and murderous intent.
After the troops were organized from Guanzhong and the Southwest Camp was established, Ma Renyu was transferred from Fengchen Camp by Liu Chengyou to support Xiang Xun. As a young and handsome general who emerged from the Fengchen camp, with his bravery and prowess, and as someone favored by the emperor, Xiang Xun naturally paid special attention to his training.
However, in this battle between Shu and Han, Ma Renyu participated in the battle as a cavalry commander. However, since the beginning of the war, the two sides have been fighting fiercely in the mountains. It is basically a city defense battle. Although the cavalry under their command are in combat order, they have little use for them. At most, when attacking and defending the fortresses of Liangquan, Guzhen, Shunzheng and other cities, they would lead people to cover and watch the battle.
As a young general with strong blood and high spirits, the feeling of not being able to fight before the battle and having to sit back and watch the success or failure was really uncomfortable. Ma Renyu was also frustrated. It was a rare opportunity to kill the enemy with his life. Even if the goal is relatively small, it still excites him.
Once the fighting spirit that has been accumulated for a long time breaks out, what emerges is a group of hungry, wolf-like and tiger-like knights, with iron hooves criss-crossing, pursuing them relentlessly, firing crossbows continuously, throwing javelins, and skilled charging techniques. , almost caused Shuqi to collapse.
They were entangled and strangled all the way, and when they reached the Xicheng Pass, Li Tinggui saw that the situation was not good, so he ordered his troops to go out of the city to set up a formation to respond, and cooperated with the remaining Shu cavalry to resist the counterattack. Ma Renyu was also bold. When he saw that the city gate was open and there was some gap between the Shu army's formation and the suspension bridge, he bypassed it and looked like he was about to rush into the city.
This directly caused the Shu army to waver, and no matter how confident Li Tinggui was, he would not allow the Han army to be so arrogant and defeat the enemy with just a thousand cavalry. He directly used his supervising team to set up shields and spears under the city. Arrows rained down from the city, blocking the Han cavalry.
There was not much space available under the city. After losing dozens of horses, Ma Renyu decisively ordered to switch to battle. He cut through the weak points of the Shu army's formation, killed hundreds of people, and then left the battle circle and walked away. .
What was left to the Shu army was a mess, broken into pieces, and the ground was full of wounded soldiers. They were more afraid than angry towards the retreating Han army. Although they repelled the arrogant Han cavalry and captured more than a dozen horses, their already low morale suffered another blow.
And Li Tinggui could only suppress the cheap feeling of humiliation, grit his teeth, hold his breath, shelter the defeated soldiers, treat the wounded, appease the morale of the troops, and readjust the city defense.
The thick city gate of Xi County slowly closed. After suffering this loss, Li Tinggui had no intention of opening the city gate again.
Compared with the depression and defeat that began to spread among the Shu army in Xixian County, the Han cavalry, under the leadership of Ma Renyu, gradually returned to camp, checking the battle damage and results, and taking in the leftover and lost horses. .
"The Shu army is still so vulnerable!" On the way back to the camp, a subordinate general laughed, his face trembling: "If we hadn't been unprepared, we had just attacked the city, and our success in breaking the city would have been lost. Once we have taken it, there is no need for the army to attack the city step by step."
"It's only a small victory, but you are so arrogant. No wonder Du Shuai has recently cracked down on the arrogant soldiers in the army!" Although Ma Renyu scolded, the young and heroic face was also filled with a smile: "The arrogant soldiers will be defeated. Don’t you understand the truth?”
"It's not that we are arrogant and underestimate the enemy, it's just that the Shu army's combat power is so great. Since the attack on Shu, we and other soldiers have been acting as foils, holding our heads high, but sitting back and watching other armies kill the enemy and make meritorious deeds. The soldiers are holding back their anger. , this battle can be considered a relief!" The camp general sighed with emotion.
As he spoke, he paid attention to Ma Renyu's expression and muttered: "Besides, we just attacked the city, and it was you, the general, who took the lead in charging up..."
Hearing what he said, Ma Renyu also grinned, but quickly suppressed it and said a little seriously: "But I think the morale of the Shu army has recovered somewhat. Compared with the resistance in Chengzhou and Xingzhou, It’s much more intense!”
"In a short period of time, sixty-three of my cavalry were lost!" Ma Renyu turned to look at the camp general with a look of pain on his face: "After returning to the camp, remember all the brothers who died in battle. If you have the opportunity, return them. His body should be contained..."
"Yes!" There's not much to say on this matter.
After scanning his surroundings, Ma Renyu sighed: "The geographical situation here is really not conducive for my Han cavalry to move freely. We still have to wait until we enter the plains of central Sichuan, which is where we can gallop and use our strength!"
"The general is right! In my opinion, if we continue to fight at the current speed, our army will be able to celebrate the New Year in Chengdu next year!" said the camp general.
Ma Renyu shook his head. Although he was brave and confident, he was not as arrogant as Chengdu. Not to mention the steep Shu Mountains and dangerous roads, it would not be so easy to survive this winter. In addition, although the imperial court continued to attack Shu, its support for the front line did not seem to swallow up Shu.
When he was Pan Mei's younger brother in his early years, Ma Renyu was basically obsessed with honing his martial arts, practicing riding and shooting, and asked Pan Mei more about everything. However, after entering the Fengchen Camp, in addition to exercising their physical fitness and practicing combat skills, they also received education in culture, military art, and combat practices. After such edification, they achieved complete personal independence after arriving at the Southwest Camp.
Unconsciously, through constant observation, General Xiao Ma had his own independent thinking and opinions on the situation and development of the war.
The sky was getting dark, and both men and horses were exhausted after a day of marching, camping, and fighting. The winter wind was blowing coldly and whistling. On the road, from time to time, the corpses of Shu soldiers who died in the pursuit and battle could be seen, like road signs, guiding the soldiers back to camp. If they encounter a small number of corpses of Han soldiers, they will be brought back to the camp and cremated.
When they returned, the Han army's camp on the east bank of Jushui had been completely built, and the efficiency of the elite troops was often astonishing. The camp walls are well laid out, heavily guarded, and the sounds of people and animals can be heard.
In the commander's tent, Xiang Xunzheng studied the enemy's situation with the Han generals, and made an oral description of the defenses in the west city that he had observed in the evening. There were also drawings and notes in the military record room. Regardless of being tired, I just took a few bites for dinner.
The attacking cavalry returned to camp, which caused some cheers. After the announcement, they entered the tent. Xiang Xun raised his eyes and asked, "How was General Ma's victory?"
"The last general pursued him all the way to the west city, killed nearly three hundred Shu cavalry, and captured one hundred and sixty-eight war horses. The Shu army in the city came out of the city to meet them, but the last general saw an opening and led an attack. He wanted to break the city in one fell swoop, but was defeated by Shu. The army tried their best to block it. But they had no choice but to attack the responding Shu army, break their formation, kill hundreds and then return..." Ma Renyuhui reported.
"good!"
"The results are quite fruitful!"
"General Pony is so brave!"
The Han generals in the tent expressed their praise and congratulations to Ma Renyu with a smile. Although Ma Renyu is young and is still under twenty-two years old, he has a good reputation in the military for his generosity and open-mindedness as a hero from Hebei Province, and many generals have good relations with him.
"You are very courageous! With thousands of your cavalry, you dare to attack the city!" Xiang Xun also smiled and asked, "How is the resistance of the Shu army?"
Ma Renyu responded: "Their morale has recovered. If we hold on to the city and defend it, it will not be easy to break it!"
After listening to his answer, Xiang Xun's face became even more satisfied. He commented objectively and did not underestimate the enemy.
"I personally inspected the Shu army's city defense. Li Tinggui found that Xi County was indeed built solidly, with wide pools and solid walls. There were sufficient preparations and there were almost no loopholes in the layout. I imagine Liang Quan and Shun Zheng were defeated in a single battle. Impossible!" Xiang Xun stood up, looked around, and said calmly: "No matter how strong the city is, it must be defended by people. I don't believe that the defeated soldiers, new troops, and ragtag crowd in the city can stop my army!"
"I'm willing to listen to Du Shuai's deployment!" Someone immediately took the lead in expressing his position loudly.
"Doesn't Li Tinggui want to live and die with Xi County? I will help him!" Xiang Xun clenched his fist and said coldly: "Pass an order, for five days, let the three prefectures of Feng, Cheng and Jie recruit 10,000 civilians to come to the army. Come forward to help!
Tomorrow, we will break up the camp and set up the stronghold, and move forward to the front of the pass to lower the stronghold. The generals will assemble their troops and soldiers, build siege equipment, and prepare to break the city! "
"yes!"
