Chapter 165: Cao Cao dug it, and the rebels dug it too
The Jin soldiers besieging Anyang City were not the Yecheng troops of King Chengdu. In order to reduce casualties, Sima Ying left his Yecheng infantry in Dangyin City and only brought cavalry to mix into the various armies to serve as a supervisory team.

Therefore, after the rumor that King Chengdu was dead began to spread, the Jin army in the east and south began to become restless. It was also dark, and the commander of the cavalry could not cover everything.

The first to withdraw from the battlefield were the Jin soldiers who had filled the river. The rebel army's defense was very disciplined, and the crossbows and stones often dealt a heavy blow to the enemy soldiers on the front line.

There was only commotion in the rear army formation three or four hundred steps away from the city wall. No officers took the lead in withdrawing. Most of them were watching the situation. If the news of King Chengdu's death was confirmed, these Yamen Army and Xuchang Army would lead their troops back south without hesitation.

Their destination for returning south was naturally not Dangyin County. The commander-in-chief of the anti-bandit movement had died in the battle, so they returned to their respective bases first to check the situation.

The situation seemed to still be hopeful; at least it had not reached the point where the armies would rush to flee.

"If the Northern Army does not send out generals to appease the Southeastern Armies, I'm afraid that in a few hours, these officers will lead their troops to retreat south." Henan Yin Wang Yan was worried, "Please ask the King of Chengdu to immediately summon the nearby generals and reveal their identities to stabilize the morale of the army."

He was Wang Cheng's elder brother. His daughter had been engaged to Prince Minhuai Sima Yi. When Empress Jia came to power, Wang Yan submitted a petition to cancel the engagement. This kind of opportunistic behavior was despised by the world.

However, the Wang of Chengdu could not read or write, but he happened to like to associate with famous scholars of literary conversation. So he brought Wang Yan with him on this northern expedition and made him his aide.

Sima Ying agreed with this and sent his personal cavalry commander to summon the nearest General of the Central Army, Gong Shifan.

It was quite inconvenient to send messages in the dark. A quarter of an hour passed before Gong Shifan, accompanied by hundreds of infantrymen and dozens of cavalrymen, arrived near the Jin army. After confirming that it was the Queen of Chengdu, he rolled off his horse, crawled to the foot of the horse, knelt on the ground and cried loudly.

"Thank goodness, the king is safe, thank goodness!"

The King of Chengdu was very annoyed by his delay. It was a great war, and the situation would deteriorate with every quarter of an hour of delay.

"General, please stand up. Let General Gongshi's troops serve as my personal guards. Summon the generals of other troops and plan the siege."

Even at this point, Sima Ying remained optimistic about the situation.

The 20,000 Northern Army troops could not change the overall situation, and the two Southeastern armies captured Anyang City easily.

Gong Shifan thought differently. "Your Majesty, the bandit leader General Li rushed straight to the banner. When he found out that Your Majesty was not under the banner, he sent people to spread rumors that Your Majesty had passed away. This was a trick to trick Your Majesty into showing up. When Your Majesty summoned the generals and stabilized the army, the movements of our army would surely be known to the bandit soldiers. Then the bandit leader would lead his army to attack. What would happen if Your Majesty could not dodge in time?

Besides, it is already the first watch of the night, and the only way to communicate with the generals is by word of mouth. It would take a while for the enemy general to lead his troops to attack the king just after he summoned them to his side, and he would kill them all at once."

This is also the words of an experienced person. The army to suppress the bandits has more than 200,000 soldiers. They can force their way to Yecheng step by step. As long as the King of Chengdu and the generals leading the army are alive, there will be a day when Yecheng can be recaptured.

There was no need to worry that the Jin soldiers would surrender on the battlefield. The families of the Yamen Army and Xuchang Army, who were leading the charge, were all near Luoyang and Xuchang. The strategy of using family members as hostages had been implemented since the Cao Wei period and was quite useful.

Sima Ying thought this made sense, and Gong Shifan had been leading troops for many years, so he was more experienced and mature than Wang Yan, who was a famous scholar.

"In your opinion, General, how should I respond?"

The 22-year-old King of Chengdu thought about his actions this afternoon and felt that sending troops north was too risky and that the right thing to do was to keep them in place.

"Even if the thief Li Hao is brave, it will take a long time to kill the northern army. The commanders of the southeastern and eastern armies are still here. Let them retreat southward on their own. When the king appears at dawn to reorganize the army, only in this way can the two armies be saved."

Gong Shifan stood on the ground and responded to King Chengdu's questions respectfully.

"Wouldn't that mean we're letting the enemy attack and kill the 20,000 Northern Army soldiers? Anyang City is right before our eyes. I really can't bear to retreat like this."

Sima Ying still wanted to give it a try. Although it was dark, the Jin army had a considerable advantage in terms of manpower.

"The families of the Yamen Army are all in Luoyang. Even if Li the thief kills the Northern Army, he won't have time to kill all 20,000 people. Most of the soldiers can still escape. The only solution now is to withdraw the troops quickly. If we delay, there will be changes, and changes will lead to chaos."

Gong Shifan still insisted that the King of Chengdu should not take any action and led his troops away.

The noises of the soldiers around were heard one after another. The officers were still sending people to investigate the life and death of the anti-bandit commander. Some low-level soldiers had already taken advantage of the cover of night to disperse to the south.

The momentum of attacking the city in one fell swoop is gone.

Sima Ying sighed, "Please ask General Gongshi to escort me south."

It is destined that we cannot capture this small county town tonight. The earlier we leave, the sooner we can reach the safe area. When the bandit general Li Hao finds out that he is not under the flag, the bandit cavalry may come to kill his cavalry.

Gong Shifan offered another suggestion: "Your Majesty, all the generals will lead their troops southward. The thief Li will definitely follow the army and take advantage of the situation to kill him. With the chaos, even if our soldiers are elite and loyal, they cannot guarantee Your Majesty's safety in the dark. We should go east. Changle County is only 40 miles to the east. Dongqiu County, which is further east, still has 40,000 troops. The thief general Li Hao has already appeared in Anyang. If he does not move, Your Majesty can order the soldiers of Dangyin to attack Anyang in the north. If he continues to lead his troops southward, Your Majesty can gather the vanguard troops, cross the Zhang River and take Yecheng directly."

The only vanguard troops whose numbers were dispersed were the 20,000 stationed in Anyang City. Changle and Neihuang counties each had 10,000 men, and the troops from the four counties of Dongyu were commanded by Lu Yun, and together they were enough to fight a siege.

The more Sima Ying thought about it, the more he felt that Gong Shifan was a talent. Now, there were 40,000 to 50,000 rebel soldiers and more than 200,000 imperial troops gathered in Weijun. With the rebels' strength, they could only capture one or two counties in time. No matter whether the Anyang rebels attacked or defended, the Jin army would always be able to respond.

While he was thinking, hundreds of torches suddenly appeared in the north, followed by the sound of horse hooves.

"The enemy formation is in disarray, follow me and kill them~"

"The King of Chengdu has already surrendered, and the generals of the Jin army will not be killed if they surrender."

Various slogans were shouted out by the rebel cavalry. Sima Ying and others looked closely and saw that the leading bandit was holding a long spear with a bloody head stuck on the tip of the spear.

This riveted helmet with a high pointed top is an iron helmet commonly used by generals, colonels and other military officers. It also uses the large riveted plates unique to the Yecheng riveted helmet, and only thirty-four or thirty-eight plates are riveted together to form an iron helmet.

Sima Ying was furious and was about to send troops to stop the Jin army and take away the head of the man who disturbed the morale of the army, but Gong Shifan held his thigh.

"Your Majesty, calm down. The bandits are trying to lure you out. You should retreat eastward as soon as possible."

Gong Shifan saw clearly that the head had been chopped on the face. He had to get closer to tell whether it was the King of Chengdu. The morale of the two armies in the southeast had been lost. Even the cavalry from Yecheng who were supervising the battle had little intention of fighting any further.

After his chest rose and fell violently several times, Sima Ying ordered Gong Shifan to regroup and retreat eastward. The King of Chengdu did not dare to let his personal soldiers leave the infantry brigade under Gong Shifan, so he only ordered most of the torches to be extinguished and marched eastward steadily.

The rebel cavalry had little interest in the infantry formation. Even though the wedge-shaped formation could rush into the hollow formation, the infantry were slow to move and their collapse speed was much slower than that of the cavalry formation.

What's more, the generals and military officers of a certain status, such as the infantry commander, lieutenant, and lieutenant general, all rode war horses. They could just chase the cavalry and kill them. Without the command of the military officers, the infantry would slowly disintegrate.

Thousands of Yi cavalrymen roared past, catching and killing the Jin cavalry while also providing the slow-moving Jin infantry with the motivation to flee south.

Whenever they passed a Jin army formation, Li Hao and his personal soldiers would shoot a rain of arrows. After capturing Ye City, the general's arsenal was greatly enriched, and the bow and arrow he carried with him was replaced with a longbow with the greatest bow power.

This heavy longbow is also known as Lingbao Bow among the people. It is said to be the same model used by the flying general Li Guang. Li Hao has not tried whether he can shoot into a stone within a hundred steps, but he can easily break through the armor within a few dozen steps.

There was no need for the rebel cavalry to chase them, as the Jin army's infantry formation retreated on its own after being shot once.

After circling Anyang City for most of the time, the rebel cavalry still failed to find Chengdu King Sima Ying and his personal guards.

"Could it be that Sima Ying didn't come? He only sent a general of the guard and several lieutenant generals?"

The leaders of the rebel cavalry gathered together and shared the military intelligence they had seen. Wang Mi's troops were the most active and once surrounded the Northern Army and killed them, but still did not find Sima Ying.

The Prince of Chengdu guarded Yecheng for two years. Any number of painters could depict his facial features and figure. Before the rebel soldiers who attacked Anyang marched south, everyone had seen Sima Ying's portrait. But tonight, after spending half the night trying, they didn't see him.

The head before belonged to a general of the guard under the flag. The Yamen Army of the Luoyang Central Army was under the charge of four generals of the guard. This was the biggest gain of tonight's battle.

"Sima Ying must have come, but he is hiding somewhere and has not shown up. Wang Mi will lead two cavalry units to chase from the west to the south, and I will lead the remaining cavalry units to chase from the east to the south. We will chase the cavalry directly."

General Li gave the order.

The Jin soldiers mainly retreated to the east and south, mostly towards Dangyin, because the main food and fodder were stored in Dangyin City, and the soldiers who ran to Changle, Dongyu and other places in the east would most likely go hungry.

It was late at night and there were voices everywhere. After a brief reorganization, the rebel soldiers mounted their horses and continued to search for Sima Ying, the King of Chengdu, who was hiding somewhere unknown.

In the fifty-li area between Anyang City and Dangyin City, small-scale skirmishes continued until dawn. Tens of thousands of tired and exhausted Jin troops were scattered in the area, and under the command of military officials, they marched dejectedly towards the military camp near Dangyin.

After a night of fruitless searching, the rebel cavalry also avoided the Jin army retreating southward and slowly returned to the north.

The damage to Anyang City was even worse, especially the northern city wall. Last night, the Jin Army attacked the fastest from the north. If it weren't for the rebel cavalry who killed the general and seized the flag in one go, I'm afraid that the siege soldiers of the Jin Army would have been able to attack the top of the city in a large number and cause greater casualties to the rebel infantry defending the city.

According to rough statistics, including yesterday's siege, more than two thousand soldiers and civilians have been killed.

In order to quickly improve the cohesion and morale of the soldiers on the battlefield, the General's Office has always provided generous pensions to the volunteers who died in battle.

The previous pension standard was that if one person died in battle, his family would receive 15 taels of silver and an additional 30 acres of land. If there was a child under the age of ten, they would be given three dou of wheat or millet every month.

After occupying several large counties, the additional land grants to the families of soldiers killed in battle were increased to 50 mu, the one-time pension amount reached 30 taels of silver, the wheat and millet for supporting children remained unchanged, and there was an additional exemption from military service for three years.

Land and wheat and millet were easy to solve, but cash was always a little tight, because the rebel army's money mainly came from plundering the gentry and the Jin court government.

Most of the taxes collected by the rebels were in-kind, and they did not set up a special mint, so the rebels had no fixed source of Wuzhu coins.

"Send those Di people, Qiang and Hu soldiers to dig up the tombs of the great families near Anyang, and use the money obtained to provide compensation for the soldiers who died in the battle."

At the city gate, Li Hao ordered General Li Ji to send troops to dig up the tombs of the wealthy families near Anyang.

There are not many noble families left in Jijun, Weijun and Dongyujun. Even if the rebels want to rob the wealthy, they have nowhere to rob. Yanzhou in the southwest is a potential target, but there is the Yellow River between them, and it is inconvenient for the rebels to travel back and forth from their current territory to Yanzhou.

Therefore, we can only make up for it from the tombs of the gentry. After all, the person can escape but the tomb cannot.

Since the early Western Han Dynasty, powerful and aristocratic families have had the custom of burying bronze and lacquerware in tombs, with five-zhu coins and bronze mirrors being the main bronze objects.

When Cao Cao started his career a hundred years ago, he often sent people to dig up graves to get copper coins to feed his army. He even set up military positions such as the Grave Digger and the Fachou Lieutenant General who were specifically responsible for digging graves.

The most famous tomb dug by Cao's army was the tomb of King Liang Xiao of Han, the younger brother of the great chess master of the Han Dynasty. The things they dug out took dozens of ships to transport.

Although the big tomb was dug up by Cao's army, the number of new tombs has continued to increase in the 81 years since Cao Pi came to power. The period from the late Cao Wei Dynasty to the Western Jin Dynasty was extremely extravagant, and there are many good things in the tombs.

This huge tomb was dug by Cao Cao, and naturally the rebel army could also dig it.

Li Ji took the order and left.

At exactly 9:00 a.m., that is, around ten o'clock in the morning, the 10,000 rebel troops led by General Li Xiang suddenly sent a scout to report a piece of military intelligence.

"King Sima Ying of Chengdu fled to Changle County last night under cover of darkness. He was accompanied by only 5,000 to 6,000 soldiers and 700 to 800 cavalry. Li Xiang, the Lieutenant General, led his troops to surround Sima Ying and the Jin army near a temple, but they were afraid that they did not have enough cavalry to contain Sima Ying. General Li Xiang asked the general to send cavalry to help."

This rebel army was originally preparing to attack Changle County. They set out half a day later than the 10,000 people led by Li Hao. Their original plan was to wait for the Jin soldiers from Changle County to come to the west to support Anyang County and then fight them in the wild. Unexpectedly, the Jin soldiers from Changle County did not move and stayed firmly in that small county town.

The Jin troops near Dangyin marched north again, so General Li sent people to transfer this volunteer army to Anyang City.

I didn't expect to gain so much.

"Good job blocking the enemy. Li Xiang has done a great job this time. Recruit all the cavalry in the city to follow me into battle!"

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(End of this chapter)