Chapter 147: Powerful Ye City
The 4,500 central army soldiers and more than 2,000 conscripted civilians were in chaos in the dark. No one knew how many bandits there were. All they knew was that there were sounds of fighting everywhere in the camp and the sound of horses' hooves like iron hitting iron could be heard from nearby from time to time.

What's even more terrifying is that the leader of the bandits who attacked the camp this time should be the bandit general Li Hao, the butcher who killed all the Zhao nobles and forced them to flee south with their families.

This Jin army was brought by Sima Qian from near Luoyang. Their families were basically in Sizhou, and the civil unrest between Bing and Ji could not affect their hometown. They had no intention of marching north, and when they were suddenly attacked by the enemy, the military officers such as the captain and the infantry commander had no time to organize a retreat, and the soldiers just wanted to escape far away.

It would be good enough if I could escape from the bandits' pursuit, and it would be even better if I could escape all the way to my hometown in Sizhou.

So the soldiers in the central army fled south in a hurry, and when they encountered the rebel cavalry, they tried to hide from them.

General Li, who was in a killing mood, disrupted the military camp here, and then quickly gathered his subordinates, "Don't make a fuss, don't fight."

The rebel cavalry were not numerous to begin with, and Li Hao was reluctant to let them die in the chaos. He charged back and forth in the barracks several times before he gathered most of the rebel cavalry together.

Of course, there was an unexpected gain. The rebel infantrymen who had been captured were also found by their comrades.

"Report to the general, the damned Sima Qian sent people to kill our centurions, squad leaders, and sergeants. We must kill them to avenge them."

Under the light of torches, the rebel infantry surrounded the general and cried about the harm they had suffered.

After the Jin army captured them, they only killed military officers such as Wu Shibai, and locked up the ordinary soldiers together without giving them any food.

This is certainly not because the Jin army's commanders and captains were kind-hearted. Those who had the strength to rebel were considered able-bodied men, and they could make a lot of money by selling them to the gentry as private slaves.

"Kill him long ago. Take out Sima Qian's head and circulate it around so that the brothers can rest in peace."

General Li gave the order.

The chaos in the Jin army camp was still getting worse. Perhaps some people felt that there was no hope of recovery, but they did not want the tents, rations, and armor that the soldiers of the central army had not had time to put on to fall into the hands of the rebels, so they set fire everywhere. In a short time, the camp was uninhabitable.

After the rebel soldiers found a few bags of food and cooking utensils such as pots and steamers, they hurriedly evacuated and stopped after walking a mile to the west.

It was almost dawn and the morning light was dim. Li Hao ordered his soldiers to light a fire and steam rice here first.

"Brothers, just eat steamed wheat rice on the north bank. I'll go to the south camp to stir things up."

After settling this group of rebels, General Li selected more than 20 energetic archers and marched across the Henan River.

This time, the Jin army soldiers were divided into two major groups, with half of them being from Yecheng and the other half from the central army in Luoyang. Some of the central army soldiers who had escaped earlier ran to the vicinity of the South Camp, while others spread their legs and ran southward.

Although both Jin armies were under the banner of the Jin court, the kings to whom they belonged were hostile to each other, and their own soldiers were also wary of each other.

After the camp was blown up in the north, Lu Zhi, the commander of the Yecheng troops, guessed that it was the rebel general Li Hao who attacked the camp at night, so he closed the camp gate and did not let the Luoyang soldiers in until daybreak.

"Zuo Changshi, it is better to gather these central army soldiers to prevent them from causing trouble in Jizhou."

In the South Camp, Captain Ximen Bing urged Lu Zhi to open the camp.

Compared with the military households in various places, the training and armaments of the Luoyang Central Army were far ahead. Among the central army brought by Sima Qian, those who wanted to go home had already run away, and most of the remaining ones were bachelors, who could be formed into an elite force with a little training.

"In this case, will the King of Zhao vent his anger on the King of Chengdu?"

Lu Zhi had his own ideas. Sima Qian's defeat was Sima Qian's own business. If the soldiers of Yecheng took over the soldiers of Luoyang, and if King Sima Lun of Zhao held him accountable for this, King Chengdu would probably not take the responsibility for him.

What if he gets involved?
"We'll talk about it later. If we let the bandits gather these leaderless soldiers together, bandit Li will become even more powerful."

Ximen Bing was thinking about his own family business.

The Zhao nobles could no longer bear the harassment from the rebel Li clan. Even though this year's grain had not yet been harvested, they were anxious to move elsewhere to avoid having their entire family captured and forced to dig coal at the Jingxing Mine.

Yecheng was their first choice of migration destination. If these Zhao nobles moved there, local nobles like Ximen would be squeezed out.

Lu Zhi was born in Fanyang State in Youzhou and was just an official in Yecheng under the King of Chengdu. He understood Ximen Bing's plan, but the King of Zhao was now powerful. If Sima Lun used this as an excuse to strip the King of Chengdu of his post as defender of Yecheng, he would not end up well.

"Let's hold on to our camp and ask for help from Yecheng!"

Zuo Changshi had formulated a strategy, and it was impossible for him to leave the camp and confront the rebel Li Hao head-on.

Duan's heavy cavalry didn't last a single round, so it was useless for the infantry from Yecheng to attack.

On the east side outside the camp.

Outside the range of the Jin army's bows and arrows, the rebel cavalry were looking for large stones as requested by the general.

"It doesn't matter if it's smaller than a human head or larger than a fist. The more the better!" Li Hao shouted.

Stones are enough to deal with this kind of wooden camp.

After finding more than thirty stones, General Li led ten rebel soldiers carrying stones and approached the southern camp of the Jin army.

The soldiers of Yecheng used horn crossbows and split crossbows to shoot feather arrows, hoping to drive away the bandits, but what they didn't expect was that the bandit leader actually started throwing stones.

Throwing stones would be fine, as they could hide behind the camp and be blocked by ordinary stones and wooden fences. Even if they hit the soldiers, at most they would be bruised and black, but no one would die.

But the stone that the thief threw was a big stone slightly smaller than a human head. If it hit the body, it would be broken into pieces and there would not even be a complete body left.

The soldiers from Yecheng nearby hurriedly brought chevaux de frise and placed them behind the camp, and reported the situation outside the camp to Lu Changshi.

"The general is mighty!"

After throwing more than twenty pieces in succession, a wide enough hole was finally opened in the camp, and no Jin soldiers dared to guard the area.

"You go back to the north bank to eat, and then come back to this camp to capture people after you have eaten and drunk enough."

After taking a long ring-handled sword and a cross halberd handed over by his subordinates, Li Hao ordered them to return to the north bank and bring the group of brothers to the south camp later.

"How can we let the general kill the enemy alone every time? We are willing to follow the general into the enemy camp and never retreat until we die!"

There was a sergeant named Zhang who pretended to be strong in front of the leader. Although he was tired and hungry, and his underwear was soaked with sweat several times, he remained verbally confident.

Inspired by him, the remaining rebel soldiers also expressed their willingness to follow the general to kill the enemy.

Li Hao laughed, "Eat your fill before you fight. Take my warhorse back and feed it. I still have to chase this group of Yecheng soldiers southwards."

After sending this group of soldiers north, he wielded two weapons and charged into the southern camp of the Jin army alone.

……

"How brave he is!" "The halberds and spears of our soldiers poked him, but it was like scratching an itch with a shoe, and it was useless."

"Zuo Changshi, you should order the troops to withdraw. The soldiers can't hold out for much longer."

Lu Zhi, Ximen Bing and others who were hiding far behind the elite soldiers were stunned. Some even rubbed their eyes several times to confirm whether this was true. They had heard of the reputation of General Li before, but now that they had seen it with their own eyes, they realized that the rumors had underestimated General Li.

This is a butcher who can kill an entire army by himself!

In the South Camp, General Li, holding a cross spear, yelled and shouted, and every time he attacked, he could take the lives of several Jin soldiers.

Behind him was a bloody road paved with corpses of all kinds. It was difficult to find a complete body.

The morale of the soldiers in Yecheng had long been destroyed by his killing, and few soldiers dared to rush up to engage in battle with General Li. However, the commander-in-chief and the captains did not order a withdrawal, so the soldiers in Yecheng could only go around in circles with General Li.

"Sound the horn to withdraw. Withdraw as many soldiers as possible."

At the critical moment, Lu Zhi made the wisest decision of his life.

If they fled to Yecheng, there would be many soldiers in that city for this man to slaughter, and Lu Zhi and others might be able to save their lives.

After the commander-in-chief gave the order, the soldiers in the southern camp of Yecheng ignored the supervision of the military officers such as the supervisory officer Bochang and the infantry officer, and after running a few dozen steps, they threw away their helmets and armor and fled south with only their weapons.

The iron helmet and body armor are the most valuable things on them. Generally speaking, as long as the armor is lost, the enemy will often scramble to loot it, and then they will not bother to pursue.

But General Li did not take this seriously. He found the rebel soldiers who came to clean up the battlefield after dinner, and led the group of cavalry to chase the commander and captains of the Yecheng soldiers.

As for ordinary soldiers, as long as they didn't block the road, Li Hao would let them go.

On the battlefield, we don't attack the diligent or the lazy, we only attack the blind.

The small river that Nanying faces is called Huaihe River, which is about 280 miles away from Yecheng.

General Li led the rebel cavalry in pursuit for two days and one night, chasing the Yecheng lieutenant, infantry commander, war supervisor and other military officers, who had only forty or fifty cavalrymen, to the outskirts of Yecheng like chasing rabbits.

Only about seventy rebel cavalrymen caught up, and the rest fell behind one after another.

But as soon as this small number of people appeared at the north gate of Yecheng, the defenders in the city were so scared that they closed the gates and raised the drawbridge.

The defenders in the city were not clear about the details of the battle at Huaihe River, but the nine thousand Jin troops were beaten into a pulp in less than ten days, and the commander even ran back to Yecheng with three captains and dozens of cavalry officers. One can imagine how strong the bandits they encountered were.

Yecheng was an important city that had been continuously managed by several generations of people in the Wei and Jin dynasties. The city walls were up to three meters high and the moat was incredibly wide. Without special catapults and civilians to fill in the moat, Li Hao had no way to deal with such a strong city for the time being.

It was obviously inappropriate to leave like this, so General Li took his men to look for a large fort outside the city. Now that they were here, they might as well rob a noble family first!

……

"My Lord, things are not going well. Prince Qian was beheaded by the rebel leader Li Hao on the north bank of Huai River. The troops that went to suppress the rebellion were defeated. Chengdu King's Left Chief Secretary Lu Zhi led his men to flee back to Yecheng in disgrace."

In the Prime Minister's Mansion in Luoyang, Sun Xiu hurried into the back hall. His boss Ma Lun was still watching the dancers and holding a disheveled young singer in his arms.

Seeing that King Zhao had a dazed look in his eyes, Sun Xiu did not dare to force the dancers and singers to leave, so he could only move closer to them cautiously. After swallowing his saliva, he reminded them in a low voice about the Jin army's defeat in Gaoyi County of Zhao.

"If we lose, we will send another one to conquer you."

Sima Lun had no intention of calling his staff to discuss the matter.

Sima Qian was just an ordinary son of his. He had only been given the title of Yellow Gate Minister and not even the title of king. Sima Lun, who was over 60 years old, would not be sad about the death of this son.

He is old and has only a few days left to enjoy himself, so he has to seize the moment.

Sun Xiu said it another way, "Mingsir, the bandit leader Li Hao has reached the outskirts of Yecheng, and the King of Chengdu is so scared that he hides in the city and doesn't even dare to send troops to encircle and suppress him. You can take this opportunity to reduce his title. Now that the position of King of Taiyuan is still vacant, why not transfer him to King of Taiyuan?"

Sima Ying owned Shu County, Guanghan County, Jianwei County, Wenshan County and other places, with a fief of 100,000 households, and was also the governor of Yecheng City. He was a first-class king.

Upon hearing this, King Sima Lun of Zhao immediately stood up, patted the singer's butt and asked her to go away.

Sun Xiu's eyes followed the singer's figure. Sima Lun snorted coldly, and Sun Xiu turned back to face his master.

"What you just said makes sense, but we need a more appropriate excuse to transfer Sima Ying to the title of King of Taiyuan."

Sima Ying and other kings with military power are all younger brothers of the current emperor Sima Zhong. The King of Zhao is now harboring the intention of usurping the throne and establishing himself, and nine out of ten of his intentions are being used to deal with Sima Ying and others.

"Gong Ziqian was the Imperial Court Minister. The Yecheng Army allowed the bandits to kill Gong Ziqian. This is enough excuse."

Sun Xiu of course knew that his lord had not thought of making a fuss about the death of his third son, so he reminded him.

The gray-haired Sima Lun clapped his hands together and said, "That's right! The Li clan thieves have actually reached Yecheng. Wouldn't that mean that Zhao has been robbed by them? You need to think of a way to mobilize the army to wipe out these rebels while also depleting the strength of Sima Jiong, Sima Yi, Sima Ying and others."

He didn't care about Zhao State. He felt that Luoyang was his territory. As long as Sizhou was fine, everything would be fine.

"Transfer the King of Qi to Yecheng, and then force Sima Ying to lead the Taiyuan troops, Sima Yi to lead the Changshan troops, and Sima Jiong to lead the Yecheng troops to jointly encircle and suppress the rebel territories between Bing and Ji."

Sun Xiu had already thought of a strategy.

King Zhao slowly stood up, tied the laces of his robe, paced back and forth, thought for a moment, and then asked:
"There are only 5,000 or 6,000 soldiers in Taiyuan. If we mobilize them in large numbers, what if Tuoba Xianbei takes the opportunity to attack Jinyang from the south? What if Qiang Hu also attacks Taiyuan County from the west?"

Sima Lun certainly was not considering the local people. Taiyuan County was the only barrier of Bingzhou. Once it was occupied by the Hu people, Pingyang County and Hedong County in the south would face foreign ethnic groups such as Qiang, Hu and Xianbei.

Luoyang and other places were also in danger. Sima Lun still wanted to live a carefree life in Luoyang for a few years and did not want the situation, which could be barely maintained, to change suddenly so quickly.

"Don't worry, my lord. I have already made plans. Liu Yuan of the Xiongnu has always been on good terms with Sima Ying, and he has long served as the Grand Commander of the Five Tribes. Most of the five tribes of the Southern Xiongnu are in the Fen River area of ​​Pingyang County. You can order Liu Yuan to return to Pingyang and recruit Xiongnu soldiers to fight and suppress the bandits."

The surrendered Southern Xiongnu were divided into five parts by Cao Cao and settled in Bingzhou and other places. As the son of Zuo Xian Wang Liu Bao, Liu Yuan spent most of his time as a hostage in Luoyang.

Sun Xiu was not sincerely calculating the situation for King of Zhao Sima Lun. Instead, the Liu family bribed Sun Xiu with gifts worth hundreds of thousands of money, and even promised that if Liu Yuan could be allowed to return to Bingzhou, the five Xiongnu tribes would give Sun Xiu fifty beautiful women.

Sima Lun thought for a long time before deciding to do as Sun Xiu said. He had not sent out many troops from his central army anyway, so he just had to continue to consume the troops of Sima Jiong, Sima Ying and others.

"Good! Let's act according to this plan."

PS: Please give me recommendation votes and monthly votes.

(End of this chapter)