Chapter 166: A Letter to the King of Donghai to Punish the Bandit Li

When the rebel cavalry that set out from Anyang arrived at the battlefield, Sima Ying had already escaped from the siege escorted by his personal soldiers.

"The captains of our army led their troops to attack in turns, but the Jin army fought to the death and refused to be defeated. The enemy general even set an example by personally supervising the battle and escorting Sima Ying and his personal soldiers to escape to Changle County, and he also covered Sima Ying's retreat. My subordinates were incompetent and only led people to kill several captains."

Li Xiang, the General of the Household, had a ruddy complexion, showing a bit of guilt. He had no organized cavalry under his command, and his war horses were all under the saddles of centurions, five hundred masters and other middle and high-level military officers, so he was unable to organize a pursuit.

This part of the Jin army was still tightly surrounded. The rebel infantry attacked and killed more than a dozen times but failed to break up the enemy formation. The enemy general Gong Shifan still had fighting spirit and seemed to be waiting for Sima Ying to escape to Changle County before sending troops to rescue him.

"Set up a chi-shaped army formation and disperse the Jin army first."

After learning that Sima Ying and others had escaped for more than half an hour, Li Hao asked Li Xiang to prepare for another siege. After killing and dispersing the Jin army, Li Xiang's troops would be free to turn back and besiege Changle County.

After a while of intensive preparations, the soldiers from the largest school formed the triangular shape required by the general in front of the ruined temple.

The first row of soldiers held large shields, which spread out like two wings on the sides of Li Hao at the tip of the wedge. Inside the shield formation were several rows of halberd bearers. The halberd tips and blades reflected the cold light and stretched out from the shield wall, scaring the front row of Jin soldiers to tremble in fear.

There was a team of soldiers beating drums in the army. In order to ensure that they would remain in formation when facing the enemy, these soldiers had practiced advancing to the beat of the drums.

Take five steps forward for each drum beat, which means your feet take a total of ten steps forward.

The lower-level soldiers were not well educated, and the numbers they were most familiar with were two, five, and ten. In this wedge-shaped formation, each soldier only needed to lift his left leg five times after the drum sounded.

It was very tiring to advance in this way, and the speed was not fast. In order to ensure the tightness of the shield formation, centurions, 500 masters and other military officers needed to urge the soldiers to stay close together in the interval between two drum beats.

The enemy army had already deployed their forces early on, led by the thief general Li Hao, who was holding a battle axe as long as his body. The Jin soldiers who were surrounded had lost half of their courage.

As the Qi-shaped army advanced, every drumbeat would make Gong Shifan and his subordinates' heartbeats speed up several times. The pressure was overwhelming, and most of the Jin soldiers in the front row facing the Qi-shaped army felt they could not breathe.

When the distance between the two sides was shortened to fifty steps, the archers of the Jin soldiers began to shoot a rain of arrows, but the sword and shield bearers and halberd bearers in the first row were intimidated by the power of the enemy soldiers, and a few of the Jin soldiers broke away from the defensive formation and fled to the sides.

The insanely large battle axe shone brightly in the eyes of the Jin soldiers in the front row. Even the most loyal soldiers did not want to take the blow.

They received ten dou of grain every month, so naturally they had to do work that could only produce ten dou of grain. The axe-wielding enemy generals on the opposite side had to be dealt with by the captains, inspectors, and lieutenant generals who received dozens or hundreds of shi of grain every month.

Since the Jin army officers sent soldiers to stabilize the formation, with someone taking the lead, the Jin soldiers facing the Qi formation retreated one by one.

The Jin army's formation began to become chaotic, and many Jin soldiers even ran towards the rebel army outside, but halfway through they dropped their weapons and surrendered.

The rain of arrows caused some casualties, but the Qi-shaped army led by the general was still advancing, and the Jin army archers also began to withdraw, exposing the General of the Central Army Gong Shifan and his personal soldiers who were in charge of the command to the Qi-shaped army.

These thousands of Jin soldiers were crammed in this dilapidated temple for a week with no way to retreat. Gong Shifan let out a long sigh, knowing that he could not hold on this time.

"King Chengdu, I will repay you in my next life."

Gong Shifan bowed towards the east where Changle County was located, then dismounted and formed a simple formation with dozens of his personal soldiers.

He originally wanted to lead these elite soldiers who still dared to fight a fierce battle against this Kheti army formation, but the booming drum sound made his heart pound.

The opponent is General Li who is invincible. Just one blow from his axe can break anyone into two halves.

"General Yuzhou, the soldiers around me are all from Yecheng. If I commit suicide, can you please treat these soldiers well?"

Knowing that he would not receive any reinforcements from Changle County, Gong Shifan suddenly decided to avenge his death on the King of Chengdu.

"Those who surrender will not be killed, and those who join the rebel army will be given a hundred acres of land."

A centurion of the righteous army responded to Gong Shifan's words.

The Kheti army was still approaching in an orderly manner, and the distance between the two sides was about to close to 30 steps. Gong Shifan hardened his heart, drew the sword at his waist and slashed his neck.

As soon as he drew his sword, the personal soldiers began to try to stop him, but the General was determined to die. After the personal soldiers helped their commander's body to lie on the ground, they gathered in a circle and cried bitterly.

After Gong Shifan's death, the number of Jin soldiers who ran out of the ruined temple and surrendered to the rebel army increased greatly. The military officers at all levels were unable to suppress them, and when the trend of defeat was formed, they took the lead in surrendering.

The Qi-shaped army slightly made way for the wailing personal soldiers, and only fought fiercely for a short while with hundreds of stubborn and refusing to surrender Jin soldiers before ending the encirclement and annihilation battle.

"Find a coffin for this Gong Shifan and give him a decent burial."

Before leading the cavalry to continue chasing Sima Ying eastward, Li Hao gave a special order.

Wang Cheng had previously said that Gong Shifan might lead his troops to surrender, but what was unexpected was that he actually remained loyal to the cause.

After the infantrymen under Li Xiang simply collected the weapons of the surrendered soldiers, they marched eastward under their command. Changle County was only more than 20 miles away, and it would probably be noon when they arrived, so there was still time to attack the city.

……

West Gate of Changle County.

Sima Ying, exhausted both physically and mentally, hid behind a battlement and secretly looked at the more than one thousand rebel cavalrymen outside the west gate.

Even though he had seen the elite cavalry in Yecheng and Luoyang Central Army, Sima Ying had to admit that this cavalry was well-equipped and in high morale. The double stirrups improved the cavalry's ability to fight on horseback. He even guessed that most of these cavalry had the ability to fight in close combat.

"Who is the thief general Li Hao? If anyone knows him, please point him out to me."

Sima Ying whispered.

The enemy soldiers were just outside the city, so he even spoke in a low voice to avoid exposing his location.

"It must be that man, holding a battle-axe."

"No, no, the thief Li is good at using double-edged spear on horseback. The man holding the double-edged spear is the thief Li. Only this man's big collar is superior to the other thieves." The bodyguards nearby whispered inferences. Many Yecheng soldiers had seen General Li on the battlefield, but these bodyguards had not, so they could only guess based on the weapons and body shape.

Sima Ying had no choice but to summon a captain stationed in Changle County and ordered him to point out the enemy general outside the city to him.

"The thief general is the man under his command. The strong man beside him is named Wang Mi, who calls himself Flying Leopard and has a bad reputation."

Hundreds of steps away, it was already afternoon, and the sunlight coming from the west was blocked by the iron helmets, making the facial features of the bandits outside the city hidden in the shadows.

Sima Ying didn't see it clearly, but the group of cavalrymen outside the city chased him like a dog all night long, and he would not tolerate this.

The two sides were still trying to persuade each other to surrender, and the defender in the city even proposed to make General Yuzhou the king. The situation was relatively eased, so King Chengdu quietly poked his head out from the battlement, squinting his eyes and staring at the two strong men under the enemy's flag.

After only a few breaths, a scream came from behind Sima Ying.

"My king, be careful, there are sneak attacks~"

The King of Chengdu only had time to hear the first half of the sentence before a powerful arrow pierced through the battlement and shot into his left eye with great accuracy.

The personal guards immediately became confused, and honorific titles such as "Great King" and "King of Chengdu" were heard continuously. Even the rebel cavalry outside the city could hear that the King of Chengdu on the top of the city was in a bad state.

Li Hao chuckled and followed Sima Ying's example, changing into ordinary iron armor and hiding among the ordinary cavalry, letting a tall and strong man pretend to be himself and stand under the flag with Wang Mi.

Judging from the portrait, Sima Ying had very handsome features. When an extremely beautiful head poked out from the parapet just now, Li Hao knew that this person was the target he wanted to kill.

What was rare was that the sunlight coming from the west reflected the situation at the west tower of Changle County clearly. General Li could even see Sima Ying's pale face.

The chaos in Changle County continued until Li Xiang led his troops to arrive. With the help of the surrendered soldiers, the speed of filling the moat was much faster than attacking Anyang City. There were only 10,000 defenders in Changle. After the first wave of rebel soldiers climbing up the ladders, a considerable number of Jin army officers began to surrender, and more Jin soldiers fled from the other three gates, most of them going south.

Sima Ying died in this city. Cui Kuang, the defender of Changle, surrendered to the rebel army in front of the county government office with the body of King Chengdu. Even though his family was in Luoyang, he did not dare to go back.

The officials and princes in Luoyang City had no other abilities, except for their great ability to kill three clans of high-ranking officials and officers in the East Market.

……

April 8th, Jiyin County, Yanzhou.

A team of thousands of people slowly moved eastward. Unlike the aristocratic families that fled south, this team was mainly composed of armored soldiers, mixed with a large number of scholars and their families. The most eye-catching was the nine-rent banner of the King of East China Sea.

Sima Ying's defeat triggered a new round of crushing in the Luoyang court. Liang Wang Sima Rong and Qi Wang Sima Jiong colluded with each other and worked together to drive away Sima Yue and his subordinates. They also appointed Sima Yue as the Grand Commander of Hebei, commanding the troops of Qing, You and Ji states to wipe out the Li clan's bandits who were rampant in Hebei.

The 38-year-old Sun Hui rode his horse to the first luxurious carriage behind the Jiuren Banner. The cavalrymen following the carriage addressed him respectfully as "Your Majesty" and made way for the window.

Sun Hui took out a piece of silk cloth from her bosom, held it to the car window, and shouted loudly:

"Your Majesty, this is the letter I wrote to fight the bandits. Please take a look at it."

Sima Yue, who was sitting in the carriage, took the silk cloth, held it in front of his eyes and read it roughly.

The Han traitor Li Hao was violent and tyrannical, and the people of Qi suffered. He tortured his enemies and made them wanton. He killed or spared at will, and was quick to criticize and liked to slander. He had villains everywhere. The army was made by bandits, officials were captured by surrender, prisoners were saved by the nobles, and prisoners were released by money. The people suffered the cruelty of being buried in ashes, and the wise king felt the sorrow of having his bones painted in lacquer.

The rebel generals Wang Mi, Li Ji, Lu Rong and others followed the crowd, usurped the throne, and abused the people, causing the people of Yan, Qing, Xu and Yu states to be displaced… Whenever I think of the people of Yan and Zhao, who were kind and righteous, and who fought bravely and shed blood to avoid the cruel disasters, I have the heart to turn against them, but I cannot muster the strength. Now I have sent an envoy with the imperial seal to command the military affairs of Hebei and to invite Sima Yue, the King of Donghai, to lead the army. The flags are high like clouds, the training troops are shining in the sun, they are using the strategies of Sun Wu and the tactics of Shangfu. Everyone is brave enough to bite iron, and everyone is thinking of themselves. To fight with such a large number of people is like a raging fire burning autumn cattails and a strong wind sweeping fallen leaves.

The manifesto had about 280 words. The first half accused the rebel leader Li Hao of various crimes. The middle part criticized several rebel generals for leading their troops to harass the gentry and private fields and fortresses of the noble families in various states. As a result, the people of Yan and Zhao were looking forward to the court sending troops to suppress the rebels, and the rebel troops would be like autumn winds burned by fire and fallen leaves swept away by the wind.

"Good writing, good writing. The raging fire burns the autumn grass, and the wind blows the fallen leaves. This momentum alone is enough to scare the thief Li so much that he can't sleep. It's just a matter of time before the thief is wiped out."

Sima Yue picked up a few sentences and praised them, "Come here, send someone to copy this proclamation as soon as possible and send it to all states and counties as soon as possible, and post it near every city gate."

Whether he could defeat the bandits was another matter. As the commander-in-chief in charge of all military affairs in Hebei, he had to build up his momentum first and win the hearts of the local gentry.

The troops under the Qingzhou and Youzhou Military Governorates have not been disbanded yet. As long as the imperial court shows its determination to suppress the bandits, it can always get those aristocratic families to send troops to help.

Among the Li family's bandits and the aristocratic families, only one can control the land, and the civil unrest has been going on for more than a year. The commanders of the forts in various states and counties in Hebei are more aware of this than anyone else.

After being defeated in the battle of Luoyang, Sima Yue was angry for more than half a month, but during the journey, he had already figured out the key point.

King Sima Jue of Qi was not without rivals. King Sima Yong of Hejian in the interior sent his general Zhang Fang to lead his troops to station in Dongyuan County of Hedong Prefecture, while he himself led a large army to Linjin, the capital of Fengyi Prefecture, and was eyeing it covetously.

To the east of Fengyi County is Hongnong County, and Henan County, where Luoyang is located, is adjacent to Hongnong. Sima Yong only needs to find a weakness in Sima Jiong, the King of Qi who is in charge of the government, and then he can attack Sima Jiong from two directions.

Liu Yuan, who had originally been affiliated with Sima Ying, occupied Wenxi and Fenyin counties in Hedong County. Several counties in the southern part of Pingyang County also fell into his hands, connecting with the Qiang and Hu territories in the northwest.

After Zhang Fang of the Chang'an Army did not make any effort to fight the bandits under Li Ju's command, several major forces in Bingzhou, Pingyang and Hedong successively divided the territory, drove away the officials appointed by Luoyang, and achieved a fragile balance.

As long as the Prince of Hejian leads his army eastward, Bingzhou will surely fall into war again. The Qiang, Hu and Di people inside the pass will also be restless and will most likely follow the powerful Liu Yuan and imitate Qi Wannian, Hao Duyuan and others who did a few years ago to cause another commotion.

Sima Yue's idea was to instigate the King of Qi and the King of Hejian to fight successively in Sizhou. After the army of Chang'an, the army of Xuchang and the central army of Luoyang were defeated respectively, he would lead the government troops from Youzhou, Qingzhou, Yanzhou, Xuzhou and other places to attack Luoyang again.

As for the Li clan bandits in Jizhou, he only needed to pretend to send troops to collect them and win the hearts of the nobles and people in Ji, You, Qing and other places.

Among the princes in various places, Sima Rong, the King of Liang who had suppressed Qi for ten thousand years, was the most knowledgeable about military affairs. Even this King of Liang felt that conquering the bandits was a hard job and only wanted to fight for power in Luoyang. Sima Yue also did not think that he could wipe out the Li bandits with the strength of three states.

So before going to Hebei, he planned to go to Xuzhou first to trick the newly appointed Qingxu Governor Wang Yan into his service.

Xuzhou is a good place. It is separated from the bandits by the land of Yanzhou and has not suffered from war in recent years. In Sima Yue's view, this is the place where he can rise.

PS: Please give me recommendation votes and monthly votes.

(End of this chapter)