Chapter 174: Solid

The horses are tall and fat in autumn, and the cold wind is solemn.

On the official road between Jincheng County and Tianshui County, a mixed Xiliang infantry and cavalry unit of about 30,000 people was personally directed by General Han Sui of Zhenxi, and drove to the southeast in a mighty manner and set up camp sixty miles from Beiyuan City.

General Han Sui of Zhenxi is a thin and small middle-aged man. Apart from a pair of eyes that are never guessable, the man's appearance seems to be very inconsistent with his identity.

But if anyone underestimates him, the result of waiting will be losing his life.

The flags were like forests, the wind and horses were neighing, and another life-and-death fight. Han Sui took a deep breath. Compared to the killing of thousands of troops on the battlefield, he prefers to achieve his goals in a more "civilized" way, such as setting up a trap to lure and kill viruses, such as killing people with a knife, and then destroying the corpse invisibly.

"Only reckless men hope to get everything by winning on the battlefield!" Han Sui reminded his son-in-law Yan Xing more than once.

But now, Yan Xing is dead. He is so worthless and shocked Han Sui.

In the heavily guarded military camp, Yan Xing was actually held hostage and killed by human soldiers without bloodshed. In addition to his strategies, such an enemy must also have enough courage.

"Is it Ma Chao?" Han Sui's thought flashed through his mind, but he immediately denied it. Although Ma Chao's force was very good, his mind was not as good as Yan Xing. Only Yan Xing could plot against Ma Chao when the two fought.

"On the ground in Liangzhou, is there such a powerful opponent?" Han Sui looked up at the sky under the setting sun with a grim expression.

After countless wars, he once plotted against his opponents again and again. Whether it was Beigong Boyu, Li Wenhou, Wang Guo, Yan Zhong, and Ma Teng, they were just passing by in the land of Xiliang, and only Han Sui was its real master.

However, this time, Han Sui, who was full of confidence, was a little shaken. After receiving the news of the defeat on the Western Front, he blocked the unfavorable news in time. On the one hand, he continued to order Yang Qiu and Zhang Heng to maintain oppression of Jicheng, but on the other hand, he quietly withdrew his main force. After gathering more than 10,000 defeated troops fled back to Jincheng, Han Sui joined forces with 30,000 troops to attack Beiyuan.

The essence of military strategy is to make a name for the east to attack the west. Based on his understanding of Ma Teng, he knew that Ma Teng, who was in a proper manner in the front of Jicheng, would definitely concentrate on the main defense. His previous purpose of asking Yan Xing to attack Beiyuan was to open a gap from the side Hebei region. Combining all factors, this tactic is undoubtedly the most practical solution.

Long before arriving, Han Sui sent a number of scouts to inquire about the realities of the enemy in Beiyuan City. However, every time the scouts reported that the Beiyuan defenders were in strict security and could not get into the city, nor could they know the realities of the other party.

Sun Tzu said: Only by knowing yourself and your enemy can you be defeated in a hundred battles. If you know yourself but don’t know your enemy, you will have half the winner. Now that the enemy is unclear, what Han Sui can do is hope that the soldiers will be fully energetic and then attack the city in the early morning when the defenders in the city are most prone to fatigue.

"Order the soldiers to rest for two days. During this period, the three armies took turns to guard against the enemy's sneak attacks!" Han Sui's order was quite safe. He divided the 30,000 troops into three stops, placing 10,000 people into one squad, and interlaced with warnings, so that even if the enemy attacked, he would not be afraid.

Compared with Han Sui, who came from afar, the Beiyuan defenders who had already been waiting for battle knew themselves and enemies. At the moment when Han Sui's army arrived, Zhao Yun, who had already discovered the enemy's movements, was also thinking about countermeasures to defeat the enemy. At this time, in Beiyuan City, in addition to Zhao Yun and Ma Chao's more than a thousand soldiers, there were also Pang De's two thousand elite soldiers.

Just as Ma Chao expected, after receiving Ma Chao's letter, Pang De rushed to Beiyuan without hesitation. His arrival not only greatly boosted the morale of the defenders, but also gave the defenders, who were troubled by food shortage, enough food and grass.

Beiyuan City, in the conference hall, the rewards are intertwined.

"Tonight, I and Zilong each led 300 dead soldiers to attack Hansui's camp!" Ma Chao laughed and raised his head to drink all the strong wine, throwing it to the ground.

After learning that Zhao Yun attacked Yan Xing's camp at night and killed Yan Xing without hurting one man, Ma Chao, who was the bravest army of the three armies, had already been interested in competing with Zhao Yun, and at this time he didn't care that his injuries had just recovered.

Zhao Yun pondered slightly and nodded, "Okay, Han Sui camped sixty miles away from the city. The purpose is to rest and recuperate and wait for battle. We cannot let him do what he wants! However, in order to prevent accidents, we must leave a force to support us!"

"Well, Ling Ming, you stay in the city and open the city gate when we retreat!" Ma Chao stepped out, turned over and jumped onto the horse's back, and then turned around and ordered Pang De who was following him.

Regarding Ma Chao's unpolite order, Pang De just nodded calmly to show his approval. Then he silently climbed the city to prepare to defend against the enemy's arrows and stones when the enemy was attacking. Pang De's courtesy name was Lingming, and was a Taoist in Nan'an. He was a county official at a young age and was engaged in the prefecture. He first went to Pingzhong and attacked Qiang and rebel against Di, and made many military achievements. He was later promoted to the lieutenant.

Compared with Ma Chao, Pang De is actually more like a standard Northwest soldier. He has a rough appearance, a burly body, and is a bit dull and unwilling to speak. The so-called heroes cherish each other. On the battlefield, Ma Chao and Pang De jointly fought against the enemy several times, and there were several cases of mutual rescue between them. This brought the relationship between Ma Chao and Pang De closer and made them close friends.

On December 8, 19th, the night before Han Sui was preparing to attack the city, two less noticeable city gates in Beiyuan quietly opened, and three hundred dead soldiers came out from each gate. They quietly approached Han Sui's camp step by step.

"Kill!" In the quiet dark night, there were suddenly shouts of killing.

Then Han Sui's camp was in flames, and Ma Chao, who broke into the enemy's camp on the left and right, and Zhao Yun quickly inserted into the enemy's heart like two sharp daggers. After a moment of panic, the Korean army, who served as the patrol, quickly reacted. Under the orders of the middle and lower-level officers, the Korean army began to assemble and round up the Beiyuan army that broke into the invading.

"Set a fire - burn!" Zhao Yun's voice was firm and powerful as he shouted.

The Korean army's resistance was unexpectedly tenacious. These soldiers were more combat-effective than the Western Liang soldiers led by Yan Xing last time. After a brief contact, we could detect that the Korean army was well-trained and the autumn wind was strong at night. Setting fire not only burned the tent made of curtains, but also caused chaos. The Korean soldiers who were resting were dreaming of spring and autumn, almost until the tent was burned by the fire, they shouted in a fire.

"Fifth!" On the other side, Ma Chao shot and knocked down a Han army general who was greeted with a shot. The soldiers behind him rushed over immediately and chopped off the head of the man.

Ma Chao's shooting skills are famous for his ruthlessness. He takes the enemy's key points by making moves. He stabs it with one shot and returns only when he takes his life!

In contrast, Zhao Yun's wind and snow gun is light and elegant, and it is like a dragon swimming into the sea. It is opposite to the enemy. In terms of killing or injuring, Zhao Yun often chooses the latter.

"Kill to the right and meet General Zhao!" Ma Chao shouted in a deep voice.

Jin Ma Chao's reputation showed his courage in a one-on-one single challenge. The generals and officers of the South Korean army could hardly get into the three-way match in front of Ma Chao. At the same time, the right camp of the South Korean army was no longer the same as Zhao Yun's back and forth.

In fact, night battles are a severe test for both sides of the battle. With flags and drums, the troops commanding the advance and retreating cannot distinguish the direction at a dark night. The more troops there are, the greater the danger of chaos. At this time, the general's control and the quality of training of individual soldiers, and the combat effectiveness become the key to the situation.

The sound of killing shook the sky, and Zhao Yun and Ma Chao were like two tigers breaking into the beast group, unstoppable!

"Get together into a formation and stop the enemy!" When it was dawn, the Korean army found that the enemy had killed half a night of only more than 600 people. In awe, the Korean army began to form several intercepting lines to surround the Beiyuan Army.

"Retreat!" Seeing that the situation was not good, Zhao Yun immediately issued an order to retreat. After meeting, Zhao Yun and Ma Chao took the lead in opening the way. Wherever the two guns pointed, the Korean army fled in hopes of wind and waited for the Korean army camp. Zhao Ma broke all the way, covering the soldiers and fighting and retreating.

When approaching the city gate, a torch was lit on the top of the city. It turned out that Pang De led the remaining soldiers to wait for a long time. Seeing this, Han Sui hurriedly ordered the soldiers not to pursue them, so as not to fall into the ambush of the enemy again.

Although Zhao Yun and Ma Chao's night attack were not great, the morale of the Korean army was greatly affected, making Han Sui determined to attack, but because of the troubles of the soldiers all night, they were exhausted. If they continued to guard and fight, they would not be allowed to attack again. Isn't it a joke to passively defend with a large army of troops?

If it were someone else, he might be at a loss, but Han Sui was not angry but happy.

"The command of all battalions to speed up rest during the day and patrol strictly at night to prevent the enemy from approaching!" In order to deal with the sneak attacks of the defenders in the city, the scheming Han Sui came up with a way to tighten day and night. This seemingly dull method achieved excellent results. The next night, Zhao Yun and Ma Chao returned without success in the night attack.

After two days of rest, Han Sui directed the army to attack the city on a large scale.

The Beiyuan defenders were ready for battle.

When the soldiers came to report the news of Han Sui's attack in the early morning, Zhao Yun and Ma Chao immediately rushed to the Xicheng and Beiyuan, which were most vulnerable to attack, to command the soldiers to fight.

Although siege was not the strong point of the Xiliang soldiers, Han Sui was also prepared to take down Beiyuan City this time. First, he jumped over the city and took the arrows on the horse, aiming at the guards who were poking their heads out of the city to shoot accurately! Then there were the lowest-level infantrymen who were carrying cloud ladders, rushing to the wood, and pushing simple catapults toward the city gate.

These numerous infantrymen were usually the common people. They were temporarily arrested during the war to act as the first batch of cannon fodder to die. When they saw the Korean army approaching the city gate, Pang De, who was responsible for commanding directly at the city, he immediately rained arrows and arrows. In front of the counterattack that was too dense to penetrate into the gaps on the city, the Korean infantrymen who had not undergone regular training fell one after another.

"Take a car, attack!" Han Sui looked at the strong offensive and defensive battle expressionlessly and kept ordering. He did not care about the casualties of the infantry. These people were originally living targets used to consume the enemy's arrows and stones.

Beiyuan's city wall was hit by stones continuously, and gradually showed signs of collapse. As long as a hole could be opened, the Xiliang elites waiting behind could rush in.

However, just when Han Sui was proud, the Beiyuan city gate suddenly opened wide, and several small groups of people emerged from it. The soldiers were lit oil fires in their hands and headed straight for the catapult cart.

"Stop it, it's Pang De's outlaw, you can't let him get close to the catapult cart!" Han Sui's screams were drowned in the deafening shouts of killing.

The appearance of Pang De made Han Sui feel terrified. According to the original information, the place where Pang De should have appeared was the Northern Line, not here. Could it be that Ma Teng saw through his plan?

Compared with Han Sui's uncertainty, Pang De's assault was unyielding. At the most critical moment of the war, Pang De personally led the dead soldiers to pounce on the enemy outside the city with a knife. A soldier fell down by an arrow, and another soldier was stabbed in the abdomen by the Korean army's spear, but none of this could stop him from advancing.

Finally, under Pang De's life-and-death rushing, several catapults of the Korean army caught fire one after another, and the 200 dead soldiers who left the city with Pang De were almost completely injured and killed.

"Ma Dai, please respond to General Pang De!" Zhao Yun's eyes were hot and he ordered loudly.

Pang De's sudden battle made the defenders excited and their fighting spirits. The ladders were pushed down one by one. As soon as the Chongmu arrived at the gate of the city, all the soldiers holding it were shot and killed. Even though Han Suikong had tens of thousands of elite soldiers, he could only see the failure of the strong attack again and again.

The fierce battle lasted for two days. In this battle of Yizhi for endurance, the Beiyuan defenders finally laughed to the end. Han Sui watched the attacks again and again and again, and he was helpless with his mind. Finally, the Han army, who was unwilling to fight, left behind more than 3,000 bodies that died under the city and began to retreat in panic.

"Go out of the city to pursue!" After seeing the chaos of flags in the Korean camp and the dust was flying, Zhao Yun and Ma Chao knew that the Korean army had really retreated. They each led a thousand elite soldiers and drove out.

The Korean army, which had long been exhausted by the defenders' defense, completely lost its fighting spirit. Before the two sides could fight, the Korean army retreated in panic, which caused even greater chaos. Under the fierce killing of Ma Chao and Zhao Yun, Han Sui's retreat turned into a defeat.

The Han army, who was disguised as armor, fled back to Jincheng in a panic. Han Sui was still in shock. When he counted the remaining numbers, the 30,000 infantry and cavalry escaped before the expedition, even less than 5,000 people escaped!

Han Sui never expected that he would have suffered such a great defeat after decades of ​​hiding across Xiliang. Beiyuan was just an inconspicuous small city with not high walls and not deep protection of the river. The defenders had no more than 5,000 people over and over again. How could he defeat his 30,000 army?

"Beiyuan is as strong as a golden soup, and cannot be attacked!" Looking back at the direction of Beiyuan, Han Sui sighed to the sky. In this battle, he would rather believe that the city was the strength of the city helped Ma Chao, than believe that it was the tenacity of the defenders, and the bravery of the general won the victory.
Chapter completed!