Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 500 War Horse
Chen Qingzhi revealed his identity as the General of the Right Guard, recruited the two soldiers as his personal guards, and continued to take Wei Can to his manor.

Wei Can said in the car:
"I want to advise your majesty."

Chen Qianzhi shook his head. As a master of military strategy, he could see the situation very clearly.

In recent years, Xiao Yan's obsession with Buddhist practice has exceeded other people's imagination.

Not only did he eat vegetarian food himself, he also promoted vegetarianism in the palace, and the food given to his ministers became vegetarian.

Those nobles who lived a life of luxury were fine, but Chen Qianzhi saw that the eunuchs who did physical work were exhausted and collapsed, and the guards guarding the palace were also weak.

While playing chess with Xiao Yan, Chen Qingzhi gave Xiao Yan some advice in an indirect way, but was then pulled aside by Xiao Yan to attend a lesson on vegetarianism and merit.

Xiao Yan was so obsessed that before doing anything, he would ask Bian Ji, who was by his side, how much merit this matter could accumulate.

The most ridiculous thing is that Xiao Yan even asked the historian who recorded his daily life to record his merits and deeds and compile them into a "Merit Book", which would be handed over to him every month for publication.

The ministers outside the court also began to report good news but not bad news, and all they told were lies that the world was at peace.

If Wei Can made a memorial at this time, how many interest groups profiting from the imperial guards system would he offend?
The most important thing is that Xiao Yan could no longer listen to these words. Chen Qingzhi never fought a battle that he was not sure of winning. He could only persuade him:

"Your Majesty is wise and intelligent, how could he not know about this? We should just wait quietly."

Wei Can recalled the retaliation he received when he made a memorial last time. He was the grandson of Wei Rui, and there were still a large number of Wei clan members serving in government. Although he could sacrifice himself, he could not ignore his family, so he had no choice but to back off.
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On May 10, Erzhu Rong led his troops in Jinyang and went to Yanmen Pass in person.

When these elite soldiers who followed Erzhu Rong moved, it was like a dark cloud covering the city. They gathered at the foot of Yanmen Pass, and the defenders on the city wall were a little scared.

Dugu Xin finally understood why his lord was so cautious when facing Erzhu Rong. The enemy's troops were so elite that they were indeed hard to beat!
If they had not been defending Yanmen Pass and had really encountered Erzhu Rong's army in the wild, it would have been a horror story.

Erzhu Rong's flag fluttered in the wind, and at this time Su Ze's flag was also raised on the city wall of Yanmen Pass.

Erzhu Rong, wearing Ming Guang armor, rode forward, and Su Ze appeared on the city wall.

However, Erzhu Rong and Su Ze were both wearing armor and were out of the archer's attack range. After many years, the sworn brothers met again, and the friendship they had when they became sworn brothers had long since disappeared.

Maybe this is what it means to be alone.

Su Ze put away these messy thoughts and said loudly:

"Brother Erzhu, it's been a long time since we last met in Luoyang."

Erzhu Rong looked at Su Ze on the city wall, and then saw the white hair in his helmet, and a complex emotion rose in his hard heart.

When I was interacting with Su Ze in Luoyang, we were both insignificant little people at that time, but we were young and full of vigor and ambition.

Now both of them have become big names competing in the North, but they have already turned gray and things have changed.

Facing this sworn brother, Erzhu Rong rarely smiled.

It was a recognition of a lifelong enemy.

Erzhu Rong looked at Su Ze and shouted across the air:
"After parting in Luoyang, I didn't expect that we would meet again on the battlefield. Brothers, why don't we put down our weapons and assist His Majesty together?"

Su Ze smiled slightly. He didn't expect Erzhu Rong to say such a thing.

Su Ze said, "I don't know which emperor you are talking about, brother Erzhu? In Su Ze's heart, there is only one emperor, and Erzhu Rong and I have both paid homage to that emperor."

After saying this, Erzhu Rong felt a little embarrassed.

This is because Yuan Ziyou lacked legitimacy. Yuan Xu was the son of Emperor Xuanwu and was enthroned as emperor with the approval of the whole world. Erzhu Rong also paid homage to him in those days.

No matter what reasons Erzhu Rong found to depose and enthrone the emperor, he could not deny Yuan Xu's legitimacy.

Su Ze's words were very clear. You, Erzhu Rong, have established a fake emperor and have already stood against the people of the world. Isn't it ridiculous to persuade Su Ze to surrender at this time?
In fact, it has come to this point and there is no possibility of reconciliation between the two sides.

In the chess game of dragon fighting, the winner will leap into the sky and transform into a dragon, while the loser will fall into the abyss, never to be recovered.

Even if Erzhu Rong and Su Ze sympathize with each other, the people behind them will support them to continue fighting.

Erzhu Rong also knew that it was useless to say more, so he continued:

"Brother Su, what does our quarrel have to do with anyone else? The people of this world are suffering so much. Why don't we each gather our troops and have a good fight? The winner will be the king and the loser will be the bandit, so that the people of this world will not suffer?"

Su Ze looked at Erzhu Rong, and he didn't expect to hear the word "people" from him. Su Ze just thought it was a little ridiculous. Now that Erzhu Rong was in a disadvantageous position, he actually proposed to go out of the city for a decisive battle. He was not a brainless reckless man, so how could he use his own weaknesses to compete with others' strengths?
Su Ze said:

"Erzhu Rong, you and I are both familiar with the Art of War. War is a matter of great importance to a country. It is a matter of life and death, a matter of survival and destruction. We must pay close attention to it."

"How can we act on impulse when dealing with national affairs like a scoundrel in the market?"

"Brother Erzhu, if you can take Yanmen Pass today, come and take it yourself. If you can't take it, don't say anything more. Su will be waiting for you inside the pass!"

After saying this, Su Ze ordered his men to shoot arrows, ending the conversation in front of the battle.

This arrow also meant that the sworn brotherhood between him and Erzhu Rong was severed, and the two sides actually fought on the battlefield and became opponents.

Erzhu Rong looked at the sturdy Yanmen Pass and thought of the shadow of Yubi City.

Even Yanmen Pass is more difficult to attack than Yubi City. Yanmen Pass is embedded in the mountain, and behind it is Hengzhou controlled by Su Ze. Supplies and personnel can be transported up continuously, unlike an isolated city like Yubi City.

But since they were already here, it would be too damaging to morale if they didn't fight. Erzhu Rong could only order an attack on the city. Since they had come, they had to show their respect before leaving.

This time, when attacking Yanmen Pass, both sides made much noise but achieved little.

Erzhu Rong attacked the city for three days, but he did not send any of his elite troops. He only ordered the troops from the prefectures and counties to symbolically attack Yanmen Pass. Finally, he withdrew the camp after leaving some corpses behind.

Erzhu Rong would not use his precious military forces at Yanmen Pass. He led his troops to Yanmen just to pledge his own military strength and to intimidate the defenders in Yanmen Pass.

Su Ze didn't fall for his tricks. His goal was to tie up part of Erzhu Rong's troops in Bingzhou.

A few days later, after Su Ze handed over the defense of Yanmen Pass to Dugu Xin, he led his personal guards back to Dingzhou again. He solved the worry about Yanmen Pass and ensured the smooth flow of supplies in the rear. Su Ze was finally able to free up his hands to deal with Hebei.

Hebei was once the most prosperous region in the Northern Wei Dynasty, with many aristocratic families. At that time, the Yellow River had not yet become a hanging river as it did in later generations. Hebei had a well-developed water system and the Jizhong Plain provided abundant resources. In the following hundreds of years, it remained the most developed region in the entire China.

But it does not mean that Su Ze can sit back and relax. Erzhu Rong can quickly support Jizhou by leaving Bingzhou through Fukouxing. Now Erzhu Rong's sworn brother Yuan Tianmu is stationed in Yecheng and has just quelled a rebellion in Jizhou.

How to attack Jizhou? Should we attack Qi and Lu regions first and then Jizhou, or should we attack Jizhou first and block Erzhu Rong in Bingzhou? All these need to be adjusted according to the current situation.

On the way, Su Ze received several battle reports about the battle between Yuwen Tai in Shanhaiguan and Gao Huan who entered Liaodong.

It can only be said that gold shines everywhere. As the ice and snow in the north melted, Yuwen Tai and Gao Huan, the destined enemies, began rounds of confrontations.

The Khitans trusted Gao Huan very much. The Khitan leader handed over the elite troops of his tribe to Gao Huan for command and transported all his assets to Houcheng.

Gao Huan did not disappoint the Khitan leader's expectations. He also developed his own response to Yuwen Tai's light cavalry tactics.

The characteristic of Yuwen Tai's light cavalry is that it sacrifices the defensiveness of armored cavalry and increases the mobility and combat effectiveness of light cavalry.

The advantage of this style of fighting is that it liberates the mobility of the cavalry, allowing them to operate in a larger combat range.

However, this style of fighting also has its weaknesses. Without the protection of the vest, the war horses are very vulnerable, and the losses of war horses in this kind of combat are very heavy.

Moreover, Yuwen Tai did not have many elite cavalrymen, so the size of the team he attacked each time was not large. He could not defeat a larger tribe all at once, and he needed to gather small teams around him to attack together.

After analyzing Yuwen Tai's methods of deploying troops, Gao Huan also took countermeasures.

He first ordered the tribes north of Shanhaiguan to gather together for grazing under the order of the Khitan king, and set up beacon towers in each tribe to light the beacon fire if they encountered the enemy.

In addition, Gao Huan also trained a similar light cavalry unit and specifically let the soldiers practice horse archery. As long as a beacon fire was lit nearby, this mobile cavalry would be sent to rescue.

Gao Huan set up an ambush again, ambushing troops in several large tribes, waiting for Yuwen Tai's cavalry to arrive and then counterattacking, and instead wiped out several of Yuwen Tai's cavalry who were greedy for merit.

Gao Huan fought several successful battles near Shanhaiguan, which helped to reverse the disadvantage of Shanhaiguan and return the two sides to a state of confrontation outside the pass.

Su Ze did not punish Yuwen Tai. The Khitan had been gathering strength in the Baishan and Heishui for several generations, so they were naturally not that easy to deal with. Gao Huan was also an old hand at using troops. To put it bluntly, Yuwen Tai's military tactics were not new. They were similar to the tactics of the Mongolian cavalry in later generations.

The weak point of the Mongolian cavalry was also their war horses. As the Mongol Empire expanded, the consumption of war horses exceeded the limit that the empire could bear. Military conquests stopped, internal problems began to be exposed, and eventually led to the collapse of the empire.

Su Ze did not have enough elite war horses of his own, and he was also unable to provide enough war horses to support Yuwen Tai.

Given the current situation, Yuwen Tai can only wish for the best.

On the way to Dingzhou, Su Ze met several newly promoted officials.

(End of this chapter)