Chapter 143: I know the general is still more powerful than ten thousand men

The Youzhou army only sent out one group of people, namely 500 combat soldiers and 300 to 400 civilian laborers to carry food, fodder and military equipment.

The soldiers challenged each other outside the west gate, while the civilians went to the outside of Jingxing City to fill the connection between the Gantao River and the moat.

The Gantao River gathers tributaries such as the Songxi River, Wen River, and Tao River, and is connected to the moat of Jingxing City. Once this end is filled, the moat water will flow into the Gantao River from another lower-lying connection point.

The Youzhou Army's plan was to force the rebel army to fight.

"Heroes on the city wall, the current ruler is wise and brave, surrender the city quickly and the imperial court will still leave you a chance to live."

"The Grand Commander has issued an order that all Bingzhou soldiers and civilians who surrender will be pardoned."

"The King of Changshan issued an order: The military and civilians of Jingxing are exempt from taxes and labor service for one year. If you have any conscience, you should know the King of Changshan's benevolence and justice. If you follow the thief Li to cause trouble again, I will punish you without mercy."

The Youzhou army did not have the determination to attack Jingxing County by force. Instead, they sent out a dozen people with loud voices to continuously make announcements, letting the people in the city know that if they surrendered early, the court would not blame them.

Dividing the rebel leaders and the people is one of the main means to resolve civil unrest. Officials and officers from all over the country basically know this trick and it has been effective time and time again.

As long as the people who rebelled were brought over, the leader of the rebel army could only wander around with his trusted soldiers and become a high-level horse bandit.

The Jin army is not afraid of the horse bandits who have no territory. As long as they continue to encircle and suppress them, they will be able to eat away the bandits bit by bit.

Unfortunately, the Youzhou army made a wrong calculation. The people of Jingxing County were either family members of the rebel soldiers who had been allocated land, or tenants or households supported by the gentry. After surrendering to the court, they had to continue to work like slaves for the gentry. If they followed General Li in the rebellion, they could get some land and livestock.

The rebels' response was quite simple. They only sent a hundred or so armored swordsmen and archers out of the city to guard the west gate. At the same time, they used large crossbows such as wooden crossbows to shoot at the civilians filling the river from the top of the city, forcing the group of people to retreat.

General Li, wearing a double armor, rode out of the city on his horse. The speed of his horse's hooves left a trail of smoke, and his imposing manner caused the front-line soldiers of the Youzhou army to become extremely agitated.

"Xu~"

Only when he reined in his horse did the Youzhou soldiers settle down and stay in the army formation.

Li Hao looked around the front and carefully observed the Youzhou infantry.

Youzhou was the front line against the Xianbei and other Hu tribes. The military soldiers were naturally quite strong, and their armor rate was much higher than that of the county soldiers and the private soldiers of the gentry.

From what Li Hao saw himself, about 30% to 40% of the soldiers were wearing heavy armor and lamellar helmets. Officers such as sergeants and platoon leaders obviously had much heavier armor, not only with breastplates and wrist guards, but also a lamellar collar similar to a large scarf.

The infantry commanders, the banner bearers, the war supervisors and others all had war horses, while officers such as Wu Shibai stood in the army formation like the soldiers.

The rest of the soldiers were not completely without protective gear. They basically wore light armor, either leather armor or a piece of iron armor on the chest, which was equivalent to the Liangdang armor without the armor piece on the back.

The weapons of this Youzhou army were also relatively sophisticated, with spears, halberds and guns being the main weapons.

The Governor of Youbing has always been stationed in Ji County, Youzhou. The Governor's Office is under the jurisdiction of 70,000 to 80,000 military households. Excluding the old, weak, sick and disabled, the Governor of Youbing alone can mobilize 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers, including more than 10,000 soldiers with armor and helmets.

Therefore, the Youzhou army outside Jingxing City should be considered elite.

The rebel army's reconnaissance cavalry found out that there were thousands of Duan clan Xianbei cavalrymen accompanying the Youzhou army. They did not appear at the gate of the city at this time, which must be because they wanted to lure the rebel army's main force out of the city to fight.

"Brothers across the street, General Li gave each soldier 30 mu of land, as well as houses, cattle and sheep..."

Most of the Jin army's soldiers were military households. Before the war, the rebel army also sent people to announce their own policies.

Both sides wanted to win over the other side's soldiers, and they started quarreling after shouting. The soldiers who were shouting had never been to school, so they spoke in a vulgar manner, which made the soldiers on both sides who were ready for battle laugh.

"Bring the halberd!"

After the scene was set up, Li Hao ordered the rebel soldiers to hand over his halberds to him, then he rode his horse around to the side and rear of the Youzhou army and began a single-handed charge.

The captured post horses all had single stirrups, but the general ordered his men to combine the two into one, and together with the Takahashi saddle, they formed a proper heavy cavalry harness.

His halberd was also modified from the Bu-shaped halberd, with an additional blade added to make it a cross shape, a bit like a long bore.

Although they are all simplified versions, defeating the Youzhou army is still no problem.

As soon as General Li went around, the civilians with him fled in all directions. The Youzhou army also began to change their formation, changing the direction of their halberds and spears from facing the city gate to facing the direction of the enemy.

However, the speed of the army's movement could not be compared with that of the cavalry. The lightly armored soldiers who were originally staying in the rear had to face the heavily armed Li bandits who were charging. As soon as the two sides engaged in battle, some lightly armored soldiers broke away from the army and began to flee in unison with the civilians who had fled earlier.

The military system of the Western Jin Dynasty was that one army had 500 people, and the chief officer was called a certain Du. If the chief officer was in charge of 500 soldiers under the command of a Tunqi Xiaoliu, he would be called a Tunqi Du, and the chief officer of the 500 soldiers under the command of an Infantry Xiaoliu would naturally be called an Infantry Du.

In addition to the infantry supervisor, there were five other commanders on horseback to maintain the military formation. They used the back of their ring-handled swords to chop at the Youzhou soldiers and only then did they stabilize the formation.

But the bravery of Li the thief was obviously beyond their expectations. After rushing into the army formation, his cross halberd came back like a sickle to weed, and the two blades always brought back a piece of flesh and blood.

Although the halberds, spears and lances of the Jin soldiers pierced Li's body and the horse under his crotch, Li was not moved at all and continued to stab, cut and pull with the cross halberd.

The morale of the soldiers soon collapsed before the battle. Even with the encouragement of the supervising officer Bo Chang and the infantry officer, they had no intention of fighting against General Li and fled in all directions.

On the top of the city wall, Li Huang and others were also stunned.

One person charging into battle was already the bravest of the three armies, and he actually killed 500 Youzhou armored soldiers. If this got out, people would think that the people of Jizhou liked to brag. "The power of the general has been seen today."

"I didn't believe that the general was so brave that he could defeat ten thousand men. But after seeing it with my own eyes, I realized that the general was even braver than ten thousand men."

Li Huang had already made up his mind that even if his old father was unwilling to come, he would still bring some of his clansmen to seek refuge under the rule of General Li.

With only one brave general guarding Jingxing Pass, no matter how many soldiers come to attack, it will be useless.

Accompanying him were high-ranking rebel leaders such as Li Lian. Li Lian originally came from a humble background, but recently gained power and became quite arrogant.

He pointed at the figure of the general who was chasing after the Youzhou army's supervisor, Bo Changsha, and praised: "Don't mention these soldiers, even if the Youzhou cavalry came, I will cut them down without hesitation."

Apart from the land distributed by the general, what mainly attracted the rebel soldiers to return was General Li's performance on the battlefield.

In previous battles, it was often the general who charged into the enemy camp alone, and then the rebel soldiers chased and captured the fleeing soldiers. After following him personally several times, none of the rebel soldiers had the intention of becoming an enemy of the general.

Li Huang nodded desperately, and his black cloth crown became a little loose.

Regardless of whether such force can succeed or not, it is enough to protect the peace of the area.

Under the city of Jingxing.

Li Hao, who had seized a warhorse from the enemy, rode his horse in a roundabout way, encircling and intercepting the fleeing Youzhou soldiers.

The rebel swordsmen guarding outside the west gate slowly moved forward and began to clean up the messy battlefield, but they never got too far away from the city gate.

Duan Wenyang, who was lying in ambush behind a distant hill, saw that the enemy was only willing to send a few hundred men out of the city, so he urged the Xianbei cavalry to charge towards the city gate.

No matter what, let's kill these bandits first.

Of course, he also saw the horrific act of the bandit leader killing and dispersing the Youzhou soldiers. Duan Wenyang was quite afraid of this fierce general, but he felt that the cavalry under his command were as fast as the wind and were enough to kill the hundred or so bandit soldiers before the bandit leader charged into the battle.

The charge of hundreds of cavalrymen immediately attracted the attention of all parties. Li Hao, overjoyed, stopped pretending and simply leaned forward, holding his halberd, and rode his horse towards the Duan cavalry.

The Xianbei people were not trustworthy, and he did not want a large number of them in the rebel army, so at this time he had to keep the horses but not the men.

In the Duan family cavalry group, the first few dozen riders were all heavily armored cavalry with armor on both horses and men, and they were obviously the elite among the elite. Behind them were ordinary armored cavalry, whose horses were smaller and who also did not wear armor.

The main weapons of the cavalry on both wings are horn bows, and they are obviously responsible for outflanking.

But in front of General Li, this style of fighting was obviously inappropriate.

When his horse encountered the Duan clan cavalry group, the few riders leading the charge were immediately stopped, and both sides fought fiercely with halberds and spears.

It was the first time that Li Hao had such a satisfying confrontation with heavy cavalry. He could not help but be delighted. He swung his cross halberd continuously and within a few breaths, dozens of Duan cavalrymen fell to the ground.

Of course, he was also hit by several arrows and spears, but the mere dozen or so wounds were nothing to worry about.

In the end of the Jin Dynasty, the health points restored by one attack were equal to the damage dealt. The cross halberd blade could restore 60 to 80 health points to one person.

The enhanced blood recovery makes him fight without any worries, and he can kill as much as he wants.

As long as there is an enemy in front of him, he can chop them down to restore their health.

The surrounding Duan clan Xianbei were also made of human flesh. The quick death of their companions made them terrified. Most of the cavalry rushed forward and headed straight for the gate of Jingxing City, not daring to stay there at all.

"How dare you kill my soldiers!"

Although Li Hao felt very comfortable in killing, he still had to take care of his own soldiers. So he jumped onto an ownerless horse with his halberd in hand and chased after the Duan cavalry whose formation had become disordered.

The reason for changing horses was that the war horses of the Duan cavalry were obviously stronger and could carry him faster.

"The enemy general is chasing us. Retreat quickly and don't fight any longer."

Duan Wenyang, who was hiding in the cavalry group, gave orders quickly. After witnessing General Li's bravery, he took his personal soldiers to command the army to avoid a head-on encounter with this killer.

But he didn't need to give orders, as the Duan cavalry ran away faster than each other, and no one dared to confront this fierce general.

The Gantao River flows roughly from southwest to northeast within Jingxing County, so the Duan cavalry fled to the northeast along the Gantao River.

Li Hao was not satisfied with either killing the enemy or stealing the horses, so he chased to the city gate and ordered the rebel soldiers to collect the ownerless horses. He also asked for a horn bow and several pots of arrows.

The battle situation became much simpler after that. General Li would stab and hack with his halberd when he got close, and shoot with his bow and arrow when he couldn't catch up.

All of Duan's cavalrymen were filled with regret. They hated Liu Bao, the governor of Youzhou, for not informing them before the army set out that there were such vicious people in this place, leaving them to die thousands of miles away.

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(End of this chapter)