novelAbuy Chapter 123 Raid into the trench to capture the bandit general
Chapter 123 Raid into the trench to capture the bandit general
After the war, in Taiyuan, seasoned battlefield veterans such as Shi Jingtang and Liu Zhiyuan realized the seriousness of the situation and convened a meeting of generals overnight.
"This can't go on. If we attack like this a few more times, the city's defenses will inevitably break down sooner or later."
Guest general Jing Yanguang participated in today's defense and spoke first.
After Wang Yanzhang's death, he served as a military officer under Zhu Shouyin, a confidant of Li Cunxu, and was stationed in Bianliang. When Li Siyuan ascended the throne, he issued an edict to visit Bianzhou, which caused a great uproar. Some thought it was to conquer Wu, while others thought it was to subdue a powerful and oppressive lord in the east.
Zhu Shouyin had previously lost the southern city of Desheng, and Li Siyuan had submitted a memorial impeaching him for punishment. Upon hearing the news, Zhu Shouyin was still uneasy. In his panic, he made a series of foolish decisions, including killing the commander-in-chief Ma Yanchao, closing the city gates and refusing orders, thus confirming his own treason charges.
Li Siyuan sent Fan Yanguang to lead troops to the city. The people of Bian opened the gates and surrendered. Zhu Shouyin and his entire family committed suicide. Jing Yanguang was implicated and sentenced to death in the marketplace. He was about to be beheaded.
Shi Jingtang, then serving as the Deputy Commander of the Six Armies, saw him and took a liking to him, so he secretly sent him away and later recruited him as a guest general. Now, with the army besieging the city, he was entrusted with military affairs and performed a great service in defending the city.
Liu Zhiyuan remained silent. He had previously looked down on Zhang Jingda, believing him to be without any ingenious strategies and not worth worrying about. However, reality slapped him in the face; the remains of the Five Dragon Bridge still stood atop the city wall, not yet completely cleared away.
"It is truly astonishing that the government troops were able to create such a powerful siege weapon."
When Li Shouzhen, the provincial governor, accompanied Shi Jingtang to watch the battle, he was deeply shocked by the sight of the five ladder bridges soaring into the air like a long dragon, crossing the moat and reaching the top of the city wall. The scene was deeply imprinted in his mind.
Li Shouzhen was unaware that thirteen years later, he used the same tactics, but his opponent was now Guo Wei, who was attacking the city by bridge today. But that's another story.
"Due to the continuous rain, Zhang Jingda has not yet been able to accumulate soil to build a fence and construct a long enclosure. This is heaven's help."
After all, building such a large machine as the Five Dragon Bridge takes a long time and can only be done once. If it is used again, people will be wary. Shi Jingtang was worried about something else.
"However, unforeseen events can occur. If the weather clears up for a few days and the long trenches close in, isolating us from the outside world, even if the Khitan reinforcements arrive, they will find it difficult to break through and rescue us. What can we do then?"
"Father, we cannot just defend; we must take the initiative."
Shi Jingtang's adopted son, Shi Chonggui, also attended the military council. He was the son of Shi Jingtang's elder brother, Shi Jingru. After his father's death, he was adopted by his uncle and is now twenty-two years old.
Shi Chonggui was fond of archery and riding, just like his father and grandfather. Shi Jingtang once entrusted him with various affairs and ordered someone to teach him the Book of Rites. However, he could not grasp the main points and said, "This is not my family's business."
When they were besieged in Taiyuan, Shi Chonggui personally braved arrows and stones and offered advice to his men on several occasions, which made Shi Jingtang value him even more.
Most of the generals agreed with his suggestion: it was better to fight for survival than to sit and wait for death.
Jinyang originally had a considerable number of troops. The troops that An Shenxin, An Chongrong, and Zhang Wandi had successively joined were all cavalry, totaling more than 5,000 cavalry. Although still far fewer than the expeditionary force, they were still capable of fighting.
However, there is still another problem.
"Commander Gao Xingzhou, the master of formations and slaying, leads the cavalry. This man is renowned for his bravery, riding a white horse and wielding a silver spear; who can rival him?"
More than ten years ago, Jing Yanguang had fought Gao Xingzhou in Zhongdu. Ma Qianfei was no match for him and was extremely wary of him.
After a moment of silence, a rough voice rang out: "Gao Xingzhou is outdated and no longer as brave as he once was. My valiant general An Xiaoxi is more than capable of capturing him."
Everyone looked at the speaker and saw that it was An Chongrong, the Northwest Border Inspector and a native of Shuozhou.
An Chongrong was strong and skilled in riding and archery. He joined the Zhenwu Army. Shi Jingtang sent someone to lure him, promising him a position as a military governor. An Chongrong then led several hundred cavalrymen to join him.
Previously, when Gao Xingzhou was in charge of the Zhenwu Army, An Chongrong committed a crime punishable by death. However, thanks to his mother's appeal to the emperor and the intervention of the Privy Councilor An Chonghui, the late emperor issued a decree of leniency and pardon, thus saving his life.
It's not surprising that An Chongrong and Gao Xingzhou had a grudge and harbored hostility towards each other. However, everyone was skeptical that the unknown An Xiaoxi could be Gao Xingzhou's opponent.
However, it is not advisable to boost the morale of others and diminish our own prestige at this time. What if this young general is Guan Yu, the horse archer who was not yet famous?
An Chongrong was full of confidence in his subordinates, and the plan to attack Changwei was thus finalized.
……
Several days later.
As dawn approached, Taiyuan was shrouded in a thin mist, seemingly no different from any other morning.
However, if viewed from the city tower, one could see thousands of infantrymen quietly leaving the city under cover of night and crouching behind the sheep and horse walls.
Inside the barbican, hundreds of cavalrymen thronged shoulder to shoulder, with the following troops forming a long line that stretched into the city.
Each unit had one flag, with thirty flags and 1,500 riders. One-third of the riders and their warhorses were heavily armored and clad in armor, making them elite armored cavalry.
More than three thousand infantrymen had left the city beforehand. Although the punitive expeditionary force was large, it surrounded the city from all sides, divided its forces into different locations, and concentrated nearly five thousand infantry and cavalry to launch a sudden attack on one place. They must have achieved some success.
An Chongrong's Northern Cavalry, An Shenxin's and An Yuanxin's Xiong Yidu, and Zhang Wandi's Zhang Sheng Cavalry, each led their own troops into battle. Shi Jingtang also sent Jing Yanguang to command a part of the Taiyuan Cavalry, not letting the surrendered generals take on the major responsibilities alone, in order to show fairness.
A large flag fluttered atop the city wall several times. Upon seeing the signal, the troops inside and outside the city mobilized in unison at a single command.
The gates of Taiyuan opened wide, and a torrent of iron surged out!
Cavalrymen surged out of the city in droves, forming a wedge formation as they galloped at high speed. Infantry followed closely behind, covering the flanks and rear. Five thousand men formed a single, unstoppable arrow, shooting towards the giant serpent's long circumference!
The first general was a burly man who held a long axe. The front of the axe was a crescent-shaped iron block about eight inches long, with one side thick and the other side sharpened.
Do not underestimate this small crescent moon; its power is astonishing when swung. Even the finest armor will be instantly broken and fractured with a single blow from this axe, making it a truly domineering weapon.
When the current emperor served as a military officer under the late emperor, the weapon used to kill generals and seize flags was this kind of weapon, which had many names such as Kaishan, Jingyan, Rihua, Wudi, and Changke.
The axe-wielding general was none other than An Xiaoxi, recommended by An Chongrong, a fierce warrior in his prime.
The generals urged their cavalry forward, their hooves rising and falling in waves. The government troops only had time to fire a few arrows before the enemy had already reached the long trench.
An Xiaoxi galloped past on his horse, and a junior officer of the government army hastily went to meet him. With a roar, he swung his axe and cleaved the officer's skull open, killing him instantly. His men immediately scattered.
The long wall, shaped like a long dike, served as a kind of fortification. An Xiaoxi scattered the enemy in front of him and led his cavalry to the next location. The infantry followed behind, pushing down the wooden palisades, filling in the trenches, and destroying the fortifications, like a large number of ants gathering in a heap to devour the body of a giant snake.
The surprise attack went smoothly, catching the government troops completely off guard. An Xiaoxi, as the vanguard, successively defeated several defensive positions, displaying his arrogance and invincibility. He was ready to press on and break through the encirclement completely.
He was dreaming of making great contributions when a troop of soldiers came rushing in like lightning, led by a general on a white horse with a silver spear!
……
Amidst the dust kicked up by the horses' hooves, two flags fluttered in the wind, one on the left and one on the right.
"Arrangement and Slaying Technique"
"high"
Upon receiving the report, Gao Xingzhou swiftly led his troops to intercept and kill them.
An Xiaoxi was not surprised but delighted. If he could kill the general Gao Xingzhou on the battlefield, wouldn't he become famous throughout the world?
He immediately raised his long axe high above his head, striking a pose as if he were about to split Mount Hua, and shouted as he spurred his horse forward, ready to fight him one-on-one.
An Xiaoxi had already envisioned the confrontation in her mind.
When the axe comes down, Gao Xingzhou has to either dodge or parry; then, with a sweeping attack, Gao Xingzhou can only duck and dodge; as the two horses pass each other, the axe turns and sweeps, and the enemy general is captured in no time.
The three signature moves of Cheng Yaojin, a famous general who helped found the Tang Dynasty, were nothing more than splitting heads, picking ears, and wiping horses.
Having experienced countless life-or-death battles on the battlefield, Gao Xingzhou was far calmer than An Xiaoxi. In the brief moment before the confrontation, he had already taken in every move of his opponent.
The axe techniques are not fancy; there are only six moves: chopping, hacking, hooking, entangling, stirring, and flicking.
Most ordinary military generals only know how to use brute force to slash and hack, and do not understand the following four methods.
By skillfully utilizing the structural features of the axe, hooking, entangled, and locking the weapon, and flipping and twisting it, the opponent loses their grip and the weapon falls from their hand. Only a master knows this kind of technique to subdue the enemy.
Gao Xingzhou and Li Congke sparred and were very familiar with the axe-wielding tactics, knowing their advantages and disadvantages.
The long axe was cumbersome and slower than the long spear. Its wide-ranging moves could only intimidate mediocre opponents, and in Gao Xingzhou's eyes, it was nothing but a weakness.
An Xiaoxi is not skilled enough; he's just like Pan Feng, a general from the Three Kingdoms period.
In the blink of an eye, the warhorse galloped close, and when An Xiaoxi was within reach, she shouted and used all her strength to bring down her long axe with a powerful gust of wind!
He was already imagining the scene of hitting Gao Xingzhou and seeing flesh and blood flying everywhere.
Unexpectedly, Gao Xingzhou neither blocked nor dodged, but instead used the "Raising Fire to the Sky" technique, extending the spearhead above the axe and pressing it down with force.
The axe was about the same length as the spearhead, but weighed several times more. When the two collided, one would normally expect the heavier one to push aside the lighter one, but the result was unexpected.
An Xiaoxi exerted force from above, and Gao Xingzhou followed suit, causing the axe to miss and crash heavily to the ground. Gao Xingzhou lost his balance on the saddle and lurched forward.
Gao Xingzhou had just raised his spearhead, put down his axe, gripped the handle and turned it around, when the spearhead struck An Xiaoxi's lower back in a swift motion, a perfect "jade belt around the waist" strike!
An Xiaoxi was unable to control herself and fell off her horse.
"Tie him up."
Gao Xingzhou defeated the enemy in one move, calmly gave the order, and then ordered a counterattack.
Several times their number of cavalry swept in like an autumn wind. Generals such as An Chongrong, An Shenxin, An Yuanxin, Zhang Wandi, and Jing Yangguang could not withstand them and turned their horses to flee in defeat.
In this battle, the Taiyuan rebels attempted to launch a surprise attack on the government troops, but were instead ambushed and killed by Gao Xingzhou, suffering a heavy defeat.
August 25th, Xin Si.
On the fifth day, the emperor held court, and all officials listened attentively to the reports sent back from the Taiyuan army.
The Chamberlain loudly announced the battle results.
"The rebels scattered and fled. Gao Xingzhou drove them to the city moat, where most of them drowned. He captured over a hundred rebels, including the general An Xiaoxi, and seized 180 armored horses." (Note 1)
"Good! As expected of Xiao Gao."
This clean and decisive victory filled Li Congke with great joy, and he inadvertently called out the old nickname, praising it highly.
"A general on a white horse, wielding a silver spear, unparalleled in the world!"