Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 416 The Commander’s Involuntary Action

Xianyu Ahu also knows how to fight.

Of course he knew that if Su Ze wanted to attack Hengzhou, he would have to go around the Six Towns and head south. With such a long supply line, it would be impossible to have too many troops.

After all, he has 100,000 troops under his command. Could he be frightened by a few words from Su Jie?
Ever since Xianyu Xiuli, Xianyu Ahu has not had any big ambitions. He just wants to stay in a safe place and make a decision when the situation becomes clear.

But this guy forced me again and again, does he really think he dare not kill anyone?
Just when Xianyu Ahu was furious, his subordinates suddenly rushed into the cell and whispered the shocking news to him. Xianyu Ahu stared at Su Jie and said:
"Su Ze actually led his troops to Hengzhou?"

Su Jie still said stubbornly:

"Hehe, are you scared now? Once the Duke's army arrives, you will all be dead without a burial place!"

Xianyu Ahu's face changed immediately. He was a little afraid of Su Ze. Otherwise, Su Jie had offended him many times, but he did not dare to kill him to vent his anger.

Su Jie sneered and said:

"Let me go quickly. I will spare your life when the Duke of the County attacks Pingcheng!"

Xianyu Ahu really couldn't bear it anymore. He was afraid that if he stayed there any longer, he would kill this guy, so he had to leave the cell.

But when he calmed down, he still told his men:

"Treat him. If he dies in prison, you will be held responsible!"

Then Xianyu Ahu said to his left and right:

"Let's investigate further! How many soldiers did Su Ze bring with him, and where did he attack Pingcheng from?"

Xianyu Ahu then became worried again. Although he claimed to have an army of 100,000, it was actually a combination of many forces, and there were many factions within the army.

Moreover, it takes time to mobilize 100,000 people, and there are also troublesome issues such as food and fodder supplies.

In addition, if Su Ze took a detour through the Six Towns to attack Hengzhou, he would have to take the Baidao route.

However, Baidao City, the fortress at the exit of Baidao, had been destroyed in the Six Prefectures Rebellion, and Xianyu Ahu did not have enough craftsmen to rebuild the city.

Do we really have to rely on Pingcheng to hold on?
Xianyu Ahu just felt annoyed. Pingcheng could certainly be defended, but if only Pingcheng was defended, other places would probably surrender.

Then what is the point of defending Pingcheng?

Forget it, let’s first find out Su Ze’s military strength and then quickly gather troops.
-
Suiyang.

Sui Yang defender Qiu Daqian looked into the distance worriedly.

Chen Qianzhi was not far from Suiyang, but he did not rush to attack the city. Instead, he sent someone to deliver a letter into Suiyang City.

This was a letter from his former benefactor, Yuan Yanming, the former governor of Yanzhou.

He was appointed as the garrison commander of Suiyang by Yuan Yanming when he was the governor of Yanzhou.

Later, Yuan Yanming led his troops north to fight against Gao Huan. Due to Suiyang's important geographical location, Qiu Daqian did not go with him and remained in Suiyang for garrison.

After Yuan Yanming was defeated, he was afraid that he would be found guilty by the Northern Wei court, so he wanted to take Yanzhou and defect to Southern Liang.

However, the local nobles in Yanzhou were unwilling to follow him, and Yuan Yanming finally fled to Southern Liang.

After that, the rebels invaded Xiangzhou, which cut off the connection between Yanzhou and Luoyang. Only water transportation was left for communication, and the situation in Yanzhou became even more complicated.

One part of the area surrendered to Ge Rong, and another part submitted to Southern Liang. Qiu Daqian, who was guarding Suiyang, refused to surrender to either side and has been guarding the city to this day.

The 3,000 defenders that Qiu Daqian reported to Luoyang were naturally false.

When Yuan Yanming attacked Jizhou from Yanzhou, he had only 10,000 soldiers and horses. If there were 3,000 people in Suiyang City, he would not have left them with him.

In fact, there were only one thousand soldiers and civilians in the entire Suiyang city. Of course, a fortress city like Suiyang was not a place for people to live in. The city was basically full of soldiers and their families, and there were also six or seven hundred people who could fight.

In fact, this number of troops can be used to defend, at least it won't be a problem to delay Chen Qianzhi for a while.

However, when Qiu Daqian's letter for help was sent to Luoyang, no one paid any attention to it. There was not even any intention of dispatching troops from nearby to provide support, which made Qiu Daqian very disappointed.

After receiving the letter from his old benefactor today, Qiu Daqian no longer had the will to hold on.

But the appearance still needs to be done.

This is not to say that Qiu Daqian cares about his face. The times are chaotic and he is just a military man. Face is not important at all.

The reason why Qiu Daqian did this was actually to avoid causing trouble when surrendering.

After all, the Northern Wei Dynasty has existed for so many years, and since Emperor Xiaowen began to lean towards the southern front, there are also some loyal people.

If it were not for these loyal men, Qiu Daqian would not have been able to hold Suiyang for so long even when Xiangzhou was cut off.

Apart from anything else, many of his officers were determined to fight Chen Qianzhi to the death.

If I give the order to open the city and surrender, these people might just chop off their heads.

Surrender is also an art. After Qiu Daqian decided to surrender, he immediately ordered nine lines of defense to be set up outside the city to resist Chen Qianzhi's army.

When his subordinates heard this, they all gave advice:
"Defense, the enemy outnumbers us, we should hold the city to the death, why do we have to go out of the city to fight?"

Qiu Daqian knew that some people would have doubts, so he used the reasons he had prepared long ago to prevaricate:

"The southern bandits are good at water battles. If the water level rises in spring and Suiyang is flooded, it will be difficult to fight. So we should go out of the city to set up a defense line and use it to wear down the enemy's morale. If we can't win, it won't be too late to retreat into the city to defend."

There was nothing wrong with Qiu Daqian's reason, and no one could find any objection. They could only follow his advice and set up nine lines of defense outside Sui Yang City.

When Chen Qingzhi heard that Qiu Daqian was setting up a defense line outside the city, he naturally smiled slightly. He also tacitly did not order an advance, but gave Qiu Daqian time to set up a camp.

Three days later, when nine temporary defense lines were built, Chen Qianzhi began to attack Sui Yang.

Yang Zhong was holding a spear, standing in the first row, with his brothers behind him.

Yang Zhong was originally a cavalryman, but there were many waterways near Suiyang, and many places were muddy swamps and mudflats. So although Chen Qianzhi's troops included both infantry and cavalry, the cavalry had to dismount and fight on foot.

The drums sounded, and Yang Zhong moved forward firmly with a spear in his hand. The soldiers behind him were encouraged and followed Yang Zhong forward.

Being on a battlefield full of people, ordinary soldiers have no idea what is happening on the battlefield.

Not to mention ordinary soldiers, even grassroots officers don’t know the situation on the battlefield.

So for the soldiers, what they can follow are their officers and comrades, while what the grassroots officers can follow are the various drum beats and commands on the battlefield.

In fact, when a real war breaks out and the battlefield is filled with shouts of killing, these things will be useless.

Most of the time, the brigade commander would lead his soldiers to charge forward, fight until their morale collapsed, and then retreat.

There is a famous saying, "The most orderly time for war is when the war has not yet begun."

Therefore, the quality of grassroots officers is crucial, and the backbone veterans in the team are equally important.

Grassroots officers can see the situation clearly and find the right angle to break through on the battlefield. Core veterans can stabilize morale and set a good example for new recruits, allowing the team to maintain a basic formation.

Yang Zhong was a qualified officer. He quickly found the weak points in the enemy's deployment and led his team to bypass them.

Qiu Daqian had already made arrangements, and the first line of defense must have the highest casualty rate.

So he arranged those who demanded to defend Suiyang to the death on the first front line.

As expected, Chen Qianzhi launched the attack in the morning and encountered the most stubborn resistance at the first line of defense.

However, Chen Qianzhi was also a famous general who was good at training troops. The backbone of these 7,000 white-robed soldiers were all veterans who had experienced several major battles. By noon, they had broken through the first line of defense.

Things went much more smoothly after that. In less than an hour, just as the sun was setting, Chen Qianzhi captured three of the nine camps.

At this time, the diehards who refused to surrender had either died or been captured, so Qiu Daqian naturally led the remaining troops to surrender.

Chen Qingzhi also tacitly did not make things difficult for Qiu Daqian. He not only pardoned his entire family, but also recommended him to Yuan Hao.

Yuan Hao heard in the rear that Chen Qingzhi had won the first battle and captured the important town of Suiyang in one day. He hurriedly drafted an imperial edict, promoting Chen Qingzhi to the positions of Envoy with Special Powers, General Zhenbei, Guard General, and Commander-in-Chief of the Vanguard Army.

Yuan Hao also rewarded Qiu Daqian, making him General Anbei and letting him lead troops to follow Chen Qianzhi in the Northern Expedition.

Yuan Hao now felt even more arrogant, and he ordered Chen Qingzhi to hold another coronation ceremony for him near Suiyang, and he wanted to reward his ministers.

After Sui Yang was captured, there was still the important defensive town of Kaocheng ahead. Chen Qianzhi originally did not want to waste time, but Yuan Hao issued several imperial edicts in succession to urge him.

When some Northern Wei officials in Yanzhou heard the news of Yuan Hao's ascension to the throne, they also came to submit.

Chen Qingzhi had no choice but to stay in Suiyang temporarily to organize Yuan Hao's coronation ceremony.

The news of Suiyang's defeat was quickly sent to Luoyang, and Xi Yi, who was in charge of the situation in Luoyang, became anxious.

Erzhu Rong led his troops back to Jinyang, and Yuan Tianmu went to Ji County on the north bank of the Yellow River to resist Xing Gao. Now Chen Qingzhi was coming along the south bank of the Yellow River. Suiyang had already fallen, and if no troops were sent to defend it, it would really be beaten to Luoyang.

Xi Yi immediately mobilized 5,000 servants and private soldiers from the nobles in Luoyang on the grounds of urgent military situation, and appointed Yuan Huiye, the Prince of Jiyin, a member of the royal family, to lead troops to Kaocheng to resist Chen Qingzhi.

Originally, Xi Yi was planning to lead his troops there himself, but Erzhu Rong handed Luoyang over to him, and there would definitely be trouble if he left Luoyang.

Jiyin Prince Yuan Huiye was a prince whom Erzhu Rong had known when they were fighting dogs in Luoyang. Because he quickly sided with Erzhu Rong, he did not participate in the Heyin diving competition.

After Erzhu Rong massacred the princes and nobles of Luoyang, Yuan Huiye, the dandy young man, became one of the few generals in Luoyang who could still lead troops.

Xi Yi knew that Yuan Huiye was addicted to alcohol and would make mistakes, but there was no one who could replace him, so he could only remind him not to drink in Kaocheng and just delay Chen Qingzhi. Yuan Tianmu would rescue him after defeating Xing Gao.

If the enemy bypasses Kaocheng, do not pursue them blindly. Just harass their food supply and supplies to delay them.

Anyway, there is Hulao Pass to the west of Kaocheng to Luoyang, and Erzhu Shilon is guarding it. Yuan Huiye will make a contribution as long as he can delay the time.

Yuan Huiye immediately agreed and led the last troops in Luoyang to the battle.

(End of this chapter)