A journey of seventy miles is really not that long.

Shao Xun temporarily recruited more than a thousand riders to clear the way in Jingle.

The combat effectiveness of these people left behind is very poor, even compared to the Tianchi headquarters. They don't expect to win anyone, as long as they can detect the enemy in advance.

Yi Congjun followed closely behind as backup.

The infantry stretched out their formation and advanced at full speed.

The only danger is that the enemy has ambushed a large number of infantry in the mountains on both sides, but in the vast mountains for hundreds of miles, unless they don't eat or drink, and can fly, it is impossible to reach here from Pingcheng.

One day later, the tribal light cavalry acting as the vanguard arrived near the ruins of the ancient city of Loufan, and exchanged bows with the small number of Xianbei cavalry remaining in the city.

Two days later, Shao Xun arrived at the old city of Loufan.

At this time, Langu sent a messenger south to the northern border of Xiurong County, then crossed the valley eastward to Jingle, and then went south to catch up with the army. They reported that more than a thousand Xianbei riders came from Xiurong (today's Lanxian County) to the east.

He went to Lan Valley to repel the army that was trying to capture the living beings.

The Caocheng River in the north of Arashi Valley County is generally calm, except for the smoke and dust in the sky, flags everywhere, and the continuous sound of drums and horns, or suspected soldiers.

After Shao Xun read it, he didn't make any adjustments.

It doesn't matter whether he is a suspected soldier or not, he can't withdraw the troops stationed there anyway.

The same applies to Tianchi. It is impossible for him to withdraw his soldiers and Huangtou Army.

With stability at his back, he can fight with peace of mind at the front.

After arriving at the old city of Loufan, no siege equipment was built. Shao Xun sent thousands of Huangtou troops forward, carrying large shields, and directly burned the wooden fence blocking the gap in the collapsed city wall.

Hundreds of Xianbei cavalry in the city knew that there was no chance of victory in the infantry battle, so they fled in a hurry.

At this time, the Xianbei people who were attacking Lan Valley from the northwest also began to move eastward.

They couldn't get around the beautiful appearance and went straight to the old city of Loufan.

On the afternoon of the ninth day of May, Yinqiang Zhongying set up obstacles at the intersection of Fenshui and Lanshui to guard against cavalry attacks.

The army is in the rear, with bows and crossbows cocked, and is ready.

After doing all this, he climbed up to a hillside on the west bank of the Fen River and looked west.

The enemy cavalry was sparse and not very numerous.

The total number of soldiers on the hillside, in the river valleys, and in the farmland totaled about 1,600 to 1,600.

The cavalry really hit the infantry, so few people dared to charge. Do you think it was the time when the Xianbei cavalry defeated tens of thousands of Liu Bogen's rebel troops in one battle?

"Stop them, don't let them come!" Shao Xun issued the order: "Order Zhang Shuo and Man Yu to mobilize an elite force and squeeze the rope head to the west. Then send envoys to Xiurong. If the city is still there, order

Qiao Yu summoned the herdsmen and attacked and harassed them from behind."

"If we can contact the Shengsheng Army, follow them westward and attack the rope head."

"The Yi soldiers stationed at Fangshan will head north along the Lishi River as quickly as possible to join the Xiurong defenders."

Nearly 20,000 cavalry blocked the narrow intersection of Fenshui and Lanshui. The more than 1,000 Xianbei cavalry were absolutely unable to break through. Behind them were the herdsmen of various tribes who were gradually reacting, as well as the Zhusheng Army and the Yi Cong Army.

The troops can be deployed, and Shao Xun does not intend to let them go.

The current battlefield situation is a bit like encirclement and counter-encirclement.

According to what he has learned so far, after the Shiling Pass defenders collapsed, the Xianbei people had penetrated deep into the Taiyuan Basin and the mountainous areas to the west of the basin.

This unit should be the vanguard, mainly composed of cavalry, with many horses and draft animals. It carried at least ten days of dry food. It may have also grabbed some food on the way, or harvested the green wheat that was about to mature in the fields of Jinyang, Xiurong and other counties.

supply.

After they left Jinyang, they headed west into the rolling mountains, along the flat Fenshui River Valley, and occupied the "T-shaped intersection" of Loufan Old City, and then suddenly split into two for some unknown reason——

Maybe someone saw Shao Xun's handsome flag and came back to report it.

Go all the way north from the T-junction, march along the Great Post Road in the Fenshui River Valley, and try to raid Jingle and Tianchi.

I can only say that their style is very bold and aggressive. I don’t know where they get their confidence.

Anyway, Shao Xun has been fighting for so many years, and he has never seen anyone dare to block his retreat with just two thousand cavalry. Let alone two thousand, doubling it to four thousand is seriously insufficient, let alone this is not a plain, but a mountainous area.

.

On the other hand, the Xianbei people attacked Xiurong, and the north bank of Lanshui was basically captured by them. However, the county seat is on the south bank of the river. There are also some farmlands there. The tribes, Wubao commanders, and the ministers recruited some strong men, and they were across the river from the Xianbei people.

Confrontation.

The Xianbei people had no choice but to give up the idea of ​​seizing Xiurong County, so they continued to rush northwest for dozens of miles in an attempt to attack Langu County, but were discovered by the Shengsheng Army.

Once discovered, the cavalry had nothing to do.

To seize the enemy's stronghold, we still have to rely on infantry, but who knows where the Xianbei infantry is, perhaps as far away as Pingcheng.

Based on these two points, Shao Xun made a bold judgment: This was a tentative southward invasion, or robbery, by the Xianbei people.

As for the news that Tuoba Yulu gathered tens of thousands of soldiers and horses from the torture of prisoners, further observation is needed.

Because when not fighting, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses are gathered every year for patrols.

Apart from anything else, in the spring and summer when the Yinshan Mountains are frosty, the number of troops, officials, and herdsmen is rarely less than 50,000. They move around, pitch tents, and graze their animals.

During harvest and hunting in autumn, more people and horses gather.

This kind of activity happens every year. It would be unscientific for you to judge that someone is going to invade the south just when you see someone amassing troops.

Only when the Xianbei army moves south to Yanmen and enters Xingxing can we make a judgment about the escalation of the situation.

While I was daydreaming, another large plume of smoke came from the west.

Shao Xun's eyes narrowed and he looked carefully, only to see many herders wearing furs coming into the valley.

He was a little shocked at first, and then sneered.

Where these herders come from is self-evident.

He went down the high slope.

The battle plan was about to be adjusted. He originally wanted to quickly deal with the more than a thousand Xianbei cavalry blocked in the west of the building, and then march eastward to Jinyang.

Now it seems that we can only send a small number of soldiers and horses eastward to contact Jinyang. The main army must stay in Loufan to eliminate this collection of enemies and traitors first.

****

As the sun sets in the west, there is actually a bit of chill in the mountains in early summer.

The purple-robed knight is riding high on a high hill, looking to the east.

The Misty River flows quietly eastward, and merges into the Fenshui River flowing from north to south near the ancient city of Loufan. Then it flows eastward together, out of the mountains and into the fertile Taiyuan Basin.

In the western part of Taiyuan, roads are built in river valleys.

There are mountains on both sides of the river valley, stretching for hundreds or even thousands of miles without end.

Fenshui turned a big bend here, running from north to south to east to west, so the post road also became a T-shaped road.

The ancient city of Loufan is located on the west bank of Fen River, in the northern half of the river valley.

Not far from the city is the Lanshui River, a tributary of the Fen River. To the south of the Lanshui River is a flat valley. Further south, the valley gradually becomes rugged and extends into the mountains.

The commanding flag of "General Shao" was erected outside the old city of Loufan. The Jin soldiers set up strongholds on the mountain, and the flags were densely packed.

There were soldiers and horses in the old city of Loufan, and trenches were dug and earth walls were even built outside the city.

On the flat valley floor on the south bank of Lanshui River, a group of yellow-headed men were carrying rifles and antlers.

The warrior wearing iron armor sat on the ground with his equipment beside him, ready to go into battle at any time.

The narrow road was actually blocked.

"He, the new gang is making trouble." A man came from behind and said breathlessly.

Tuoba He turned his head suddenly and looked to the rear. There was a lot of noise and commotion there.

He didn't understand what was going on, so he looked at the visitor with doubtful eyes.

Wasn't everything going well before? They didn't want to be ruled by the Shao thieves. They all said they wanted to kill the Shao thieves. They came to lead the army on behalf of the king and were willing to send troops anyway. What are they doing now?

"Let's go! Let's go!" shouts resounded throughout most of the valley.

When the generals saw the Silver Spear Army marching in along the sound of drums, they were immediately frightened out of their wits. They shouted to their own men and ran back in a hurry.

"Trash!" Tuoba Hena understood.

These tribesmen who were won over by him were just like the herdsmen under Shao Thief's rule. They bullied the weak and feared the strong. They ran away when they encountered strong enemies and surrounded and burned, killed and looted when they encountered weak people.

The only difference is probably that Shao Thief really gave some benefits to those who were willing to take refuge in him.

For example, the county magistrate Qiao Yu organized the people to stick to their beautiful appearance.

For example, Bu Dabu led the Muzi Mu slaves to fight against them across the river.

For example, the Jieren Liu tribe was waiting in Jingle.

I heard that all three of them had entered the family of Lu, and could go to the Han Dynasty to serve as officials. Shao also supported them to become local county magistrates, and they were given enough kindness, so they were unwilling to rebel.

Even the ordinary shepherds received certain benefits.
To be continued...