Chapter 164 Chaos
The setting sun made the battlefield ruins around Anyang City look even more desolate.

As early as when the vanguard army arrived at Anyang City, 70 to 80 percent of the nearby civilians had fled, and the remaining nobles had also all run away.

If the rebels attacked, they could still save their lives if they gave in. If the imperial army passed by here, they could also deal with it by paying some rations and livestock as rewards to the soldiers. But both families came and were ready for a big fight. As a result, the remaining people who were not recruited by the government or the rebels all fled to the northwest and northeast.

When the Yamen Army and Xuchang Army, which were the first to set out, arrived at Anyang City, the rebel army had already occupied this dilapidated small county town. Thousands of remnants of the original vanguard army escaped and went dejectedly to Dangyin County in the south. The head of the governor Lu Ji was hung on the east gate, and he received the same treatment as a General named Meng Chao.

The rebel army suffered many casualties during the siege, and also seized a large number of Anyang defenders and civilian laborers recruited from Xingyang County. It took a lot of time just to settle these surrendered soldiers and civilian laborers.

The King of Chengdu, who was in charge of supervising the battle and commanding the city, had not yet arrived with his troops. The General of the Yamen Army, who arrived first, did not have the courage to lead his troops to attack the city, so he sent people to persuade the enemy soldiers in the city to surrender, while asking his soldiers to hurry up and eat.

The rebel army in the city also sent people to persuade the General of the Yamen Army to surrender.

"General Huangfu, why don't you surrender to the great general? The Sima family is immoral, and there are few good people in the noble families. This morning, General Meng Chao of the Yamen Army proposed to lead the army south to reduce casualties. This governor Lu Ji did not move his troops for his own reputation, and even beheaded General Meng Chao and hung his head at the east gate. How can this move convince the people? You, the poor family, have no hope of success under the Sima family, but the great general can reward people according to their merits and appoint people according to their talents."

Wang Cheng, whose body was covered with wounds and stabbed by knives and halberds, was not dead yet. With the experience of climbing the ladder last time, his injuries were much smaller this time. After a simple bandage, he went to the front of the Jin army to persuade them to surrender under the protection of a dozen rebel cavalrymen.

The commander of this Jin army was named Huangfu Shang, a native of Chaona County, Anding Commandery. His brother Huangfu Chong is now the governor of Qinzhou.

Huangfu Shang originally attached himself to Sima Lun, the Prince of Zhao. However, Sima Lun only lasted eight months in Luoyang City before he was strangled by the princes and officials. Before he could find the next prince to attach himself to, he was selected by the Central Commander and sent to the north under the command of the Prince of Chengdu to suppress the bandits.

"Shang understands the good intentions of the general and Wang Ping, but Shang has already served the King of Chengdu as his master, how can he betray them in the middle of a battle?"

Pingzhi was the pen name of Wang Cheng, a member of the Wang clan of Langya who was quite famous and acquainted with many people.

In front of his subordinates, Huangfu Shang politely declined the enemy's attempt to surrender on the grounds that he could not betray his country.

"Hahaha, I understand what General Huangfu means. If Sima Ying is defeated, the general will definitely lead his troops to surrender. Then the generals of the rebel army will be waiting for your arrival." Wang Cheng deliberately raised his voice.

Even if the King of Chengdu did not come this time, Huangfu Shang would not be able to get away with it if these words reached Sima Ying's ears, because Wang Cheng was planning to sow discord.

"Don't talk nonsense, Shang has no second thoughts."

To show his loyalty, Huangfu Shang ordered his cavalry to shoot arrows to drive away the bandits who were trying to surrender, so that he would not be embarrassed to explain himself in front of the King of Chengdu.

The cavalry of the Jin army was on guard against the Anyang bandits two miles away, while most of the infantrymen set up copper helmets used for cooking, stuffed rice noodles, wheat noodles, salt dough, vinegar cakes, fermented black beans and other things into the helmets and stewed them.

The negotiations between the commander and the enemy soldiers did not affect the hungry guards. After the fire was lit, the smell of vinegar cakes quickly spread to the noses of the infantrymen surrounding the bronze helmet, mixed with the aroma of rice noodles, making the guards drool.

After the marching rations were cooked, the first people to eat them were not the infantry, but the cavalry who took turns to replace them, as well as low-level military officers such as sergeants and squad leaders.

The lower-level infantrymen had no objection to this, as they had been doing this for many years.

After being driven away, Wang Cheng returned to Anyang City with the cavalry around him.

The drawbridge at the south gate slowly lowered, and as he rode his horse into the city gate, he smelled the fragrance of the rebels' food.

After capturing Anyang City, the defenders' stored food and livestock were basically all given to the rebels. In order to reward the soldiers, the general ordered some skinny donkeys in the city to be slaughtered.

During long marches, the Jin court would provide soldiers with skinny cattle, horses, and donkeys, which could be used for labor and to temporarily satisfy hunger. If military rations were insufficient, military officers such as the chief officer and the deputy commander could slaughter these cattle and horses on their own initiative without being punished for destroying military property.

The confidence that the Jin court had in doing this was that the government raised enough livestock and opened official horse farms in various states, such as the Renping Ranch in Renping County, Pingyuan State, Jizhou.

After taking Yecheng, cattle, donkeys and other livestock were no longer in short supply in the rebel army's territory, and even one or two livestock could be distributed to the families of meritorious soldiers. The only problem was that there was a huge shortage of war horses and pack horses.

Wang Cheng, escorted by his cavalry, found the general at the county government office. Before he could reply, he was given a wooden bowl filled with thick porridge and some minced meat.

To be honest, he was actually not used to the rebel army's way of eating, because no matter their status, the rebel soldiers ate almost the same thing, and when they got food, they lined up on a first-come-first-served basis. If a military officer was late, he also had to wait for his meal.

But Wang Cheng had to admit that this method could quickly boost morale. Even someone like him who was semi-confined had never been troubled by others when it came to eating.

"The enemy's Lieutenant Colonel is named Huangfu Shang. Although he is from a poor family, his brother is still the governor of Qinzhou, so he has no intention of surrendering. I caught a glimpse of a general named Gong Shifan. If the general sends someone to persuade him to surrender, there is a 50% chance that he can be persuaded to lead his army to surrender."

Wang Cheng answered while eating.

"Will Sima Ying lead the army in person or send a general to supervise the battle?"

A rebel captain asked.

This is the key point. There are many factions within the Jin army. As long as the part of the Jin army that supervises the battle is defeated, the remaining factions will most likely preserve their forces in order to gain a good position within the Jin court.

If Sima Ying led his army north from Dangyin County, the rebel army would only need to send more cavalry to besiege the King of Chengdu.

"I think Huangfu Shang means that Sima Ying should come in person." This was the answer Wang Cheng had thought of a long time ago. The rebels were keeping a close watch on him and there was no chance for him to escape. He had to make the best of it, so he put some thought into doing things for the rebels.

"The general's reputation is far-reaching, and the Jin soldiers are afraid of him like a tiger. If Sima Ying doesn't come in person, his soldiers won't fight seriously. At most, they will just pretend to fight and then retreat."

Wang Cheng took the opportunity to flatter the general.

But this is also true. The Battle of Anyang was Sima Ying's first battle to recapture Yecheng. All things are difficult at the beginning. If the Jin army suffered a crushing defeat in this battle, it would be difficult to boost morale even if more troops joined the battle later.

"After dinner, Li Ji will lead people to gather all the cows in the city, tie knives to the cows' horns, wrap cloth around the cows' mouths, and tie hemp ropes to the cows' tails." Li Hao gave the order.

During the siege, more than 1,400 rebel soldiers were killed and countless were wounded. They also had to leave people to guard against the surrendered soldiers. There were only 7,000 to 8,000 people who could fight. However, if they just wanted to defend the city, those surrendered soldiers and surrendered civilians could also help.

In order to capture Changle City in the east, Li Hao also sent two Zhonglang Army to lead the army towards Changle City. After capturing Anyang, he urgently transferred this rebel army to turn westward, and it would arrive in Anyang around noon tomorrow.

Sima Ying probably wanted to take advantage of the fact that the rebel army was old and exhausted to recapture Anyang in one fell swoop, so he led his troops north regardless of everything and was determined to start a battle even though it was almost evening when he arrived.

The rebel infantry fought a fierce battle during the day, and they were good at defending the city, but they probably couldn't fight outside the city. Only the cavalry, who had not fought much, had enough strength to fight outside the city.

Li Hao thought of using a similar method to the Fire Bull Formation to disperse the infantry formation of the Jin army. When the situation became chaotic, he and Wang Mi led the cavalry to bypass the two wings and go around to the rear to supervise the cavalry formation to kill the enemy commander Sima Ying. When he was assigning tasks to the lieutenants and lieutenants in the city, several scouts rushed in and reported that most of the Jin army had approached one mile south of Anyang City.

"The enemy's cavalry may number several thousand, following closely behind the infantry. The weapons they carry are relatively light, mostly battering rams and ladders. There is indeed a banner of the King of Chengdu."

The Jin soldiers arrived faster than the rebels had imagined. According to the military intelligence reported by the scouts, these Jin soldiers only hurriedly ate some rare food such as rice noodles and wheat noodles, which were only eaten during a forced march, a few miles to the south.

Rice noodles are a special kind of military ration. One stone of coarse rice can only make two dou of rice noodles. Wheat noodles are made by grinding unshelled wheat grains into crumbs and frying them. They are much harder to swallow than fried flour, but they are large in quantity and filling enough for a large number of soldiers to have a full meal without having to fire.

Of course, these military rations can also be stewed together and made into a paste, which tastes much better than eating them dry.

"You are sending yourself to death at a fast pace. All the generals, go and defend the city according to your duties. Wang Mi, gather the troops and follow me to fight from the east gate."

Li Hao sneered and told the generals to take orders and leave.

Relying on their sufficient strength, the Jin soldiers deployed in front of the three city walls in the north, southeast and north before nightfall.

Surrounding three sides and leaving one side open is a classic military tactic. The missing west gate ostensibly left an escape route for the rebels, but in fact it was to lure the rebels to break through and then set an ambush to annihilate them.

Of course, judging from the marching speed of the Jin soldiers, they would not have time to set up an ambush somewhere in the west, and the cavalry that could maneuver quickly did not have the courage to confront the rebel leader, General Li. This missing link was only to prevent the rebels from fighting to the death.

The rebels filled up several roads in the northern section of the moat. Although it was dug again after noon, it was not dug deep underwater, and the rammed earth walls were only blocked at both ends without being filled in detail.

After the Jin soldiers learned the situation clearly from the defeated soldiers who fled to the south, they deployed nearly 20,000 troops in front of the north gate as their main attack direction.

As it was getting dark, the King of Chengdu urged them to attack the city again and again. The officers of the Jin army had no time to care about much else and ordered the soldiers to fill the moat with torches.

The northern city wall was the main attack direction of the enemy soldiers, and the attack from the east gate was relatively weak. After the crossbow soldiers fired several rounds from the top of the city wall, they drove the enemy soldiers who were filling the river near the east gate to the areas on both sides.

After the suspension bridge was lowered, dozens of fearless Jin cavalrymen rushed to the suspension bridge under a hail of arrows. However, when they discovered that the leading bandit general was the rumored General Li, they retreated in fear, leaving behind more than a dozen corpses.

"What a sin! Another dozen war horses were shot dead."

Li Hao sighed and took the lead. The two thousand cavalrymen behind him filed out one after another. The rumbling sound of horse and cow hooves resounded through the east gate, causing the offensive of the Jin soldiers in front of the east city wall to stagnate.

The bandits had few cavalrymen, and a cavalry of this size must be led by the bandit leader. All the officers and soldiers of the Jin army understood this. None of the more than 10,000 Jin soldiers in front of the east city wall dared to organize an army to stop the enemy. They just shouted loudly and pretended to be working hard.

After successfully arriving at the northeast of Anyang City, Li Hao summoned ten cavalry squadrons while the cavalry were driving the war bulls to turn their heads.

"You don't have to follow me into battle. Once the battle bull formation is deployed, you lead your brothers to run south, bypass the city wall and turn west, shouting all the way that the King of Chengdu is dead. If you encounter the enemy, don't get entangled, just shout in front of the large enemy formation."

With the speed of information transmission of the Jin soldiers, even if Sima Ying was not dead, the leading officers would have to work very hard to confirm whether the King of Chengdu was dead or alive.

"Order!"

After the ten squad leaders saluted, they led their subordinates to move slightly south.

More than 270 war oxen were already facing north towards the Jin soldiers. Two schools of Jin soldiers, totaling 3,000 men, were charging towards the rebel army that was leaving the city. After General Li gave the order, the rebel soldiers in charge of lighting the fire lit the hemp rope at the tails of the oxen.

The cows felt pain and rushed forward with their hooves spread out. The 3,000 Jin soldiers who were coming to kill them only heard a roar from the ground, as if a large group of cavalry were rushing towards them. However, there were no torches among the enemy army, only faint lights.

"Stop the formation, the shield bearers stand in front of the formation, the halberd bearers hold the halberds."

The two Jin army captains thought that they were bandit cavalrymen without torches, so they ordered their troops to form a battle formation to prevent the cavalrymen from dispersing their own soldiers.

But the war bull, whose tail was burned by fire, didn't care what was in front of it, and rushed forward and backward into the Jin army's formation.

Unknown things can often inspire the greatest fear in people. The Jin soldiers in the first two rows roughly understood that this was a mad bull with a dagger tied to its horns, but the Jin soldiers in the back did not know. They only knew that a monster rushed in regardless of the halberd formation, and their comrades in the front row were knocked down one after another.

"There's something sneaky going on, brothers, run."

I don't know who shouted, but a large number of Jin soldiers headed to the safe place in the rear. A place with many people and torches can make people feel most at ease.

The war bulls' charge was blocked, but the pain in their tails did not disappear, and they rushed forward together with the group of defeated Jin soldiers.

The river filling in front of the north city wall was in progress, and the 18,000 Jin soldiers under the command of the General of the Guard were still preparing to attack the city. The defeated soldiers and the war bulls only made a small part of the Yamen Army unstable. After dozens of messenger cavalry gave orders, the Jin army gave way.

The rebel cavalry then rushed towards the Jin army's flag. The Jin cavalry near the flag was mainly responsible for supervising the infantry attacking the city, and only sent four cavalry units to fight.

However, the commanders of the four cavalry units did not dare to confront the bandits head-on and sent their soldiers to shoot arrows from a roundabout way. However, the defense line was breached with just one charge.

"Follow me and take Sima Ying's head!" After knocking an enemy soldier away with a double-edged spear, he reined in his horse and shouted.

The battle in front of the north city wall had become intense, and the Jin cavalry near the flags had to organize their troops to fight.

Sima Ying, the King of Chengdu, who was hiding in the Jin army's camp near the east city wall, was worried about the war situation in the north when he suddenly heard something unbelievable.

"The King of Chengdu is dead. All the generals should lead their troops to withdraw to Dangyin."

This sound came from everywhere, and it was obviously a small move made by the cavalry sent by the enemy.

"How dare the thieves arrange this while I am still here!"

Sima Ying said angrily.

General Yuzhou often led his cavalry to charge directly at the flag of the central army. In order to avoid being beheaded by the enemy soldiers, the King of Chengdu hid here with his personal soldiers, and handed over the responsibility of commanding and supervising the battle in the north to the General of the Guard of the Yamen Army.

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(End of this chapter)