Establishing a thousand-year family from the nobles of the Western Han Dynasty

Chapter 35: Harassment Strategy, Xu Zheng Died in Battle

"Don't worry, big brother. I still have thousands of elite soldiers. Together with the defenders in the city, we are capable of fighting."

Xu Gong comforted his brother softly. It was a pity that he was a step too slow this time, allowing Liu Ruyi to escape and exposing his whereabouts. But what could he do now that things had come to this? He could only choose to accept it.

"Alas... it's my fault too. If I had moved a few steps faster, the sacrifices of so many soldiers wouldn't have been in vain."

Xu Zhao was very regretful. It was really a close call. If Liu Ruyi was killed, the rebels would be leaderless and would naturally collapse. But Liu Ruyi was still alive. He would definitely increase the intensity of the attack and strive to capture Chang'an as soon as possible.

"Brother, don't blame yourself. The most urgent task now is to quickly resist the rebels. Things are not out of control. As long as we hold on for three months and wait for His Majesty to lead the troops back to help, everything will be solved."

Xu Gong didn't want to see his elder brother so sad, so he tried his best to make amends. But it's useless to regret now, as there's no way to solve the problem.

"You're right, I'm superficial." Xu Zhao cheered up. He wanted to hurry up and make arrangements. Since there was no chance of winning in a frontal attack, he would adopt a harassment strategy!

He constantly attacked the rebels' food supply routes, forcing them to lead their troops back for reinforcements, and then withdrew early, imitating Peng Yue's guerrilla warfare, which effectively tied down the rebels' forces.

"Brother, give the orders immediately. We can't stop here any longer!" Xu Zhao stood up and planned to go and make the arrangements himself.

"Brother, just take a good rest. Leave everything to me." Engineer Xu volunteered. He knew that his brother was injured and the most urgent thing was to take good care of himself and not let the injury get any worse.

"Well, it's time for you to have some good experience." Xu Zhao thought about it carefully and decided to give this important task to Xu Gong.

.........

Yan State.

The Donghu sent an army of more than 200,000 to attack Jicheng. They were determined to seize the entire Yan area and could not waste any more time. Otherwise, if Taiyuan was lost, they would get nothing.

Hu Duo finally understood this logic. There was no need for him to launch a strong attack on Xu Zheng's troops. He just needed to attack Ji instead. In this way, the Han army would be able to leave the favorable terrain on their own.

There was absolutely no need to fight to the death, so Hu Duo focused on attacking Jicheng. As for Xu Zheng, he was of course also on guard and planned to take him down in one go.

"General, this is bad. Hu Duo is now attacking Jicheng with all his might. With their current strength, it may be difficult to defend it."

A general at the front line ran in in a panic. He found that the harassment that used to take place every day had stopped. After scouts investigated, he understood the reason.

It seems that Hu Duo has figured it out.

"What? This is bad..." Xu Zheng's face suddenly turned ugly. He had guessed that this day would come, but he didn't expect it to happen so suddenly.

"Huh, it looks like there will be a battle after all." Xu Zheng felt a little suffocated. He only had less than 40,000 troops under his command, and he had almost no chance of winning against the Donghu army of hundreds of thousands.

But there was no point in being afraid at this point, so he quickly gave orders, ordering all the soldiers to dress neatly and go out in full force to the vicinity of Jicheng to fight against the Hu people!

I hope to catch them by surprise.

More than 40,000 fully armed soldiers set out and marched towards Jicheng. The armor rate of this army was actually quite good, but it was still a bit difficult for them to face so many Hu cavalry.

"General, are we really not going to make some preparations?" someone asked.

Xu Zheng shook his head gently: "It's too late. The King of Yan has sent three letters asking for help. It seems that the situation is far worse than we thought. We must rush to rescue."

"If the city falls, all our efforts these days will be in vain." The general also fell silent. This battle was doomed to be disastrous. In fact, the number of Han troops was no longer 40,000, but only about 37,000. The offensive of the Hu people in the past month had been very fierce.

While Xu Zheng was calculating his tactics, he also glanced at the pale-faced Xu Gong next to him, so he went over to comfort him: "Don't panic, if you can't control your fear, you can watch from a distance. Your absence will not affect the overall situation."

“Yes…” Xu Gong also wanted to fight, but considering his special situation, he chose to retreat for the time being in order not to hinder everyone.

The Donghu people's attack was very fierce. A large number of arrows and boulders poured down towards the city walls. Even bone arrows were still able to cause damage, and many defenders were shot down.

These Hu people were different from the Xiongnu. They loved to learn the craftsmanship of the Han people and had basically learned all the simple things like ladders and battering rams.

The soldiers climbed up the ladders one by one, but were hacked to death and thrown down in an instant, and the situation on the field was extremely tense.

"All the generals, listen to my orders, kill them!"

Following Xu Zheng's order, tens of thousands of Han soldiers immediately charged forward with spears and swords, but it was obvious that Hu Duo was prepared. The Hu cavalry hidden behind him rushed out and engaged in a fight with him.

This time Xu Zheng did not hold back at all and even went into battle himself, charging into the front lines. The Han army outnumbered ten to one and actually gained the upper hand in a short period of time.

This time, Hu Duo mobilized 100,000 troops to encircle and suppress Xu Zheng's troops. The siege was actually just a cover, and most of the troops on the front line were old and weak.

In fact, Hu Duo didn't want to attack Jicheng by force at all. His purpose was just to lure the snake out of its hole, make Xu Zheng anxious and lose his mind, and finally fall into the trap.

Apparently this tactic was very effective. Due to the excessive sensitivity, Prince Yan sent out the letter for help without any verification. Xu Zheng also had no time to think because the incident happened suddenly, so he had to send troops.

This time it’s a do-or-die battle.

"Hahaha, these cowards have finally come out of their shells. Looks like today is the day for me to take over the Central Plains."

Hu Duo laughed loudly, put on his armor, picked up his weapon, and rushed out on his horse. Behind him were the 5,000 most elite Hu cavalry.

The enemy was powerful, and the Han army was smaller in number, so they were soon exhausted and showed signs of decline.

Hu Duo personally led the army to charge, the cavalry charged wildly in the army formation, countless soldiers died tragically under the horses' hooves, and Xu Zheng himself was exposed on the periphery.

"Kill! Kill that Han commander!"

Hu Duo laughed loudly and led his troops to charge forward personally. The Han army along the way was completely unable to resist. The sounds of horse hooves, swords clashing and screams were intertwined together. The Hu people unexpectedly came to Xu Zheng very quickly.

"Damn it, big brother, it seems I can't complete the task you assigned to me." Xu Zheng smiled bitterly. It was obvious that Hu Duo came for him. He must have regarded himself as the big brother and wanted to capture the leader first.

"Hahaha...Xu Zhao, your life is mine!"

Hu Duo rushed over on his horse, and Xu Zheng was completely unable to resist with his martial arts, so he was defeated.

Phew!

With a feeling of trance, Xu Zheng looked down and found that his chest had been pierced.

(End of this chapter)