Chapter 142: One Man vs. Hundreds of Barbarians
At night, Jingxing County, General’s Courtyard.

This was the former residence of the magistrate of Jingxing County. It had three courtyards, front and back. There was a small pond in the third courtyard, which was converted into a general's courtyard for General Li Hao and his concubines to live in.

In the third courtyard hall, the oil lamp emitted a dim light, adding a hint of ambiguity to the room.

"Mr. Li, I am wearing the attire of a famous scholar tonight~"

Wu Xianying, wearing a straight-skirted dress, lay on the bed. She deliberately dragged out the ending sound of the word "oh". When her husband, who had finished washing up, looked over at her, she placed her slender fingers in front of her white nose and lips, slid them down a little bit, and then put them into her mouth to lick them.

"This is how carefree this famous scholar is."

Like the celebrities who had taken Wu Shi San seriously, Wu Xianying's straight-hem coat was open, revealing her underwear such as a vest and tank top.

General Li took a few glances at her. Although Wu had a charming posture and seductive eyes, he always felt that something was wrong.

Wu Xianying originally had big eyes, and when she looked at people with her eyes, she always gave people a thieving feeling, and she looked very sneaky at first glance.

Now her eyes are blurry and her face is flushed, and her whole body expresses her thoughts with actions, as if she has taken some drugs.

Li Hao walked to the bed and reached out to check her body temperature from head to toe. Sure enough, Wu Xianying must have taken Wu Shi San.

"Come quickly, Mr. Li, my body is warm."

Wu was still whispering when Li Hao grabbed her, carried her onto the bricks like a cat, and poured the reserved washing water in the basin over her.

Only then did she realize that her husband didn't like this approach.

"Never take Wushisan again!"

Bending down and getting close to her, General Li pointed his finger at her forehead and said, "One word at a time."

Wu Xianying then opened her eyes and quickly put on an innocent face, "I know I was wrong, and I will never take Hanshi powder again. Are you sure you don't want to try it, my dear?"

She is actually quite scheming, but she is quite good at pleasing General Li.

Seeing that things had come to this point, Li Hao wiped Wu's body with a towel and began to attack while she was hot.

……

Jinchang County, Yu County.

The rebel army was able to mobilize more than 1,400 soldiers and nearly 600 civilian laborers, who successively formed a battle formation in front of the south gate of this small county town.

The volunteer soldiers under the command of the General of the Universe generally come from three sources. The first is the private soldiers of various noble families. They are physically strong and have undergone small-scale training. They can follow the command of the centurions and form battle formations. They are elite soldiers.

The second group consisted of the various Hu slaves who were good at using swords, spears, bows and arrows. Li Hao selected them out and dispersed them and mixed them into the volunteer army which was mainly composed of Han people.

The third group consisted of the military officials of the original counties and the soldiers in the passes and cities.

After Emperor Wu of Jin, Sima Yan, cut the number of soldiers in the counties, in order to maintain local order, he allowed the counties to recruit military officers. The limit was 200 for large counties and 50 for small counties. These military officers plus the soldiers from the military households near the counties were the key to the Sima family's maintenance of rule over the counties.

The armor rate of the three rebel armies was very low. Excluding the soldiers who stayed behind, the rebel army that Li Hao used to attack Yu County had only more than 320 sets of Liangdang armor. Only the squad leaders and centurions had high-level protective gear such as shoulder guards and heart guards.

Liangdang armor was a common type of armor popular during this era. It was similar in shape to a vest, with two large pieces of armor on the front and back connected by laces on the shoulders. It had no protection under the armpits and was quite crude.

Of course, the Jin army also had relatively comprehensive armor for protection, such as the Ming Guang armor with two large chest guards, and armor similar in shape to the short-sleeved tube-sleeved armor of later generations.

However, these good armors are usually worn by the central army in Luoyang and the foreign troops under the jurisdiction of various military governors, and cannot be worn by soldiers from prefectures and counties.

"After taking Yu County, the general's troops will head straight for the Xianbei and the Huyi. Then we will have to fight on three fronts."

Li Huang and his followers rode their horses and stood beside the general of the rebel army. He could not understand why the general would take over the northern counties first, as Changshan County and the counties of Zhao were obviously more fertile.

This Yu County is located in a mountainous area and is not a place to be proud of.

"Three fronts? Just block the mountain road in Taiyuan. The Xianbei cavalry can't maneuver in the mountains. Only after we capture Jinchang County can the rebel army concentrate on dealing with the Jin army in the east."

Jinchang County was originally named Xinxing County. Its jurisdiction was roughly south of Mount Wutai and east of Mount Yunzhong. It was bordered by Taiyuan County and Leping County in the south. Most of the county was mountainous, and only the Xinzhou Basin, Yuxian Basin and other large and small basins were considered good land.

The reason why Li Hao attacked this mountainous area first was very simple. Dingxiang County, Yunzhong County and other places were in the hands of Tuoba Xianbei, and Wuyuan County, Shuofang County, Shang County, Beidi and other four counties and 33 counties were occupied by Qiang Hu people. Tuoba Xianbei had long been regarded as Tungusic people. In fact, their ancestors came from Changbai Mountain and Daxing'anling. A branch of Xianbei who stayed in the northeast was also called Xibe people, and evolved into the four Haixi tribes of the Ming Dynasty Jurchens, among which the Yehenara clan was.

At this time, the Xianbei people replaced the Xiongnu's ecological niche and became the absolute overlords of the grasslands north and south of the desert.

In other words, most of the horse herds on the Mongolian grasslands were under the control of the Xianbei people.

By capturing Jinchang County, we can seize their horses and form a large cavalry unit.

After the rebels formed their battle formation, they placed four long ladders on the top of the city wall of Yu County under the cover of the shield bearers.

The city is located at the foot of a mountain and does not even have a moat, so the rebels do not have to go through the trouble of filling the moat.

After making preparations, Li Hao and the rebel soldiers climbed ladders from front and back to attack the city.

The mayor of Yu County was still responsible. He organized the few soldiers and civilians he had to resist the rebels until they reached the city wall.

Things became much simpler after that. The Jin soldiers and young men in the city surrendered one after another. The county magistrate, who was selected as a filial and honest official, tried to escape, but was caught outside the city by Li Huang and others on horseback and handed over to the general of the rebel army.

The rebel army began to reorganize the people inside and outside Yu County according to the principle of unanimity among all households.

This county town is located in a mountainous area with infertile soil. There are not many nobles who can build forts, so the rebel army had a pretty smooth time taking over the various villages.

The defenders of Yu County could be said to be a group of scattered sand, although Zhao and other places were spreading the rumor that the great general Guan Zhang was brave and invincible in every battle.

But Li Huang didn't see it with his own eyes, and he couldn't report it to his old father, so he waited for another two days, and finally saw the battle.

According to military intelligence from the rebel scouts, a Jin army of two to three thousand men was coming from the direction of Ji County in Youzhou, so General Li returned to Jingxing County with only five hundred archers and swordsmen.

Li Huang and others naturally followed. They were wearing iron armor and had war horses. Even if the rebel army could not defeat them, they could still escape.

Although the rebels did not have many horses, Li Hao still deployed a considerable number of reconnaissance cavalry. Therefore, before the arrival of the Youzhou Jin army, the rebel people in Jingxing County were basically evacuated to safe places such as the county seat, various forts, and Leping counties.

The Jin army in Youzhou did not waste time attacking the forts in the countryside. They marched directly to five miles outside Jingxing City, as if preparing to capture the city in one fell swoop.

Outside Jingxing City, General Duan Wenyang of the Duan clan of the Xianbei, Captain Lu Rong of the Youzhou Army and others gathered together to discuss how to break into the city.

"Jingxing City has a moat. If we build ladders to attack, we may lose a lot of manpower. Why don't I send someone to lure the rebels out to fight? Please ask General Duan to kill the rebels outside the city."

Lu Rong planned to let the rebels and the Duan clan's Xianbei cavalry fight each other first, and then the Youzhou Jin army would take action.

At this time, most of the Han cavalry units were archers who used horn bows to kill the enemy, and their horses were not armored.

Only the Youzhou cavalry and Xianbei cavalry in the north were equipped with a large number of double stirrups, and used weapons and equipment such as Gaoqiao saddles, Bu-shaped halberds, and spears. They used heavy charges to break up the enemy formation, and then used cavalry archers to chase down the scattered enemy troops.

This style of fighting was practiced when the Xianbei cavalry and the Jin army in several counties of Liaodong and Liaoxi attacked each other. The Han soldiers in the south had not yet been exposed to the tactics of heavy armored charge.

Duan Wenyang was proud of his bravery and did not take the few refugee leaders seriously, so he agreed without hesitation.

"Then let's make a deal. After we capture Jingxing City, the craftsmen and blacksmiths in the city will share half with us."

The Xianbei general has already set his sights on the Han craftsmen.

Lu Rong nodded reluctantly in agreement. The craftsmen who worked for the refugees would be sold to the big families as slaves. If they divided half of the money around, they would have half the money left.

While the spoils were being divided outside the city, the various Li officials inside the city were discussing how to fight the battle to defend the city.

Li Huang had some knowledge and knew that the Duan family's Xianbei cavalry fought differently from other Xianbei cavalry, so he sincerely suggested that the general of the rebel army stay in the city.

"Only by defending the city can we avoid the enemy's strengths. I hope the general will think twice."

Li Hao was very excited. He originally wanted to rob horses from Tuoba Xianbei's territory, but he didn't expect that Duan Xianbei from western Liaoning would come to his door.

"That's fine. I just want to get those war horses. You guys just stay on the city wall and watch me fight against hundreds of barbarians."

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(End of this chapter)