Jinting Han people

Chapter 186 Encounter (4k)

After crossing Fenyin, the already gloomy weather became even more depressing.

Liu Xian sent a messenger to Fenyin City to report the news, hoping that Fenyin County would offer some assistance to Xiayang while he advanced, assuming responsibility for maintaining order on the west bank of the ferry crossing. After all, he had brought all the county guards with him, and relying solely on the county officials to maintain order in Xiayang was practically impossible.

The Fenyin Order replied in agreement, and Liu Xian no longer had any worries. They headed east along the Fen River.

While Hedong is also renowned for its fertile plains, the terrain surrounding the Fen River still exhibits typical Guanzhong characteristics. Here and there, large, tortoise-shell-like plateaus rise up. Atop these plateaus lie flat, arable fields, yet they are fragmented and unconnected, like rags scattered across the ground, creating a dizzying visual experience. The Fen River Valley, wedged between these plateaus, stretches from six to seven miles at its narrowest and over ten miles at its widest. This, combined with the advantages of the canal, creates a natural transportation corridor.

As Liu Xian led his cavalry on the river valley road, the scene he saw was shocking.

The further east you go, the more refugees you see. At first, there are only groups of three or five, but after walking ten miles, you can see groups of more than ten people walking in a long line. After another twenty miles, it becomes an endless stream of people.

The situation within the crowd was worse than Liu Xian had imagined. The refugees fleeing in large groups were fine; at least they had some basic food, clothing, and even some had carriages. But the refugees within the crowd were mostly scattered, with many elderly, weak, women, and children, simply swept along by the crowd, their hands empty. It was clear that some hadn't eaten in a while, and their clothes were torn.

Even the few who were driving cattle and carrying rice and flour did not dare to stop to light a fire, fearing that if they did, countless pairs of hungry eyes would light up and snatch their food. In fact, from the cries of some people on the roadside, it can be inferred that such a thing has already happened.

When they saw Liu Xian leading his army passing by, the refugees immediately rushed over like a wave as if they had seen a savior, shouting:

"Sir, help! Sir!"

The refugees' cries were like a swarm of arrows, carried by the wind and piercing Liu Xian's defenses. But Liu Xian only had five days' worth of rations, so how could he possibly provide disaster relief? He steeled his heart and ordered his men to hasten the process, driving the refugees away. He simply said, "Hold on a little longer, and we'll find help in Hexi."

Liu Xian felt a bit choked up in the disappointed and hateful eyes of the refugees, but he didn't say much. Instead, he slowed down his riding speed slightly and drove towards the foot of the plateau, so as to slightly avoid the refugee group.

Then he asked Zhang Gu who was standing beside him, "A Tian, do you feel anything is wrong?"

Zhang Gu shook his head blankly, which disappointed Liu Xian. He was about to turn around and ask Li Sheng, but Xue Xing said first, "I think something is wrong too."

"Oh? What does Jida think?"

Xue Xing said, "It's only been five days since Linfen fell, and Linfen is a full two hundred miles from Fenyin. If we were moving at a normal rate, only a handful of refugees would have arrived today, but we've encountered perhaps 50,000 or 60,000 people along the way. Could this be a spontaneous wave?"

Upon hearing this, Li Sheng immediately agreed, "I think so too. It seems the rebel army is deliberately expelling the refugees."

Zhang Gu was somewhat puzzled and asked, "What are their intentions?"

Liu Xian replied, "It's simple. Use the refugees to disrupt our order at the ferry. Then they can drive the refugees away and use them as shields to seize the ferry. We can either keep the refugees out of the way or abandon the ferry and let them cross."

As soon as these words were spoken, a great deal of tension immediately arose among the cavalry. After all, this meant that they might soon encounter the Huns, and they didn't know how many there would be. They had no experience fighting them, so they were still somewhat uneasy.

To make matters worse, the rain finally began to fall. They had expected a torrential downpour, but instead, it was a light drizzle. In less than half a day, the road had become muddy and the march was significantly slowed. Liu Xian had originally planned to march a hundred miles, but today, it looked like he would only cover eighty at best. And there was no telling when they would encounter the Huns. With this in mind, Liu Xian made a decision.

He said to Xue Xing and Li Sheng, "Jida, Binshuo, we can't hurry in the current situation. Why don't you two lead 400 riders to the nearby mountain, and we'll stay at the foot of the mountain. That way, no matter who we meet, we can look after each other."

"After walking for another hour, we'll find a pavilion in the wild and rest for the night."

With this, the already small cavalry split into two groups. Wearing straw hats and raincoats, they continued eastward amidst the drizzling rain. Liu Xian surveyed the terrain as he walked. They were now on the south bank of the Fen River, a few hundred paces from the forest. The soil was so wet that horses' hooves left clear hoofprints. On the other side, he could still see the lifeless and dilapidated refugees.

Many of them weren't completely destitute, but their spirits had all declined to a frightening degree. Was it because of the rain? Or was it because their peaceful lives had been disrupted, and they had lost their faith in the future?

At that moment, a gust of wind blew from the front, sending raindrops flying downwind like arrows. People held down their hats with their hands or covered their foreheads. Ahead, faintly visible, a few black objects flew swiftly through the rain, passing over people's heads. The sound of their wings flapping rapidly in the air was so deafening that the knights on horseback flinched.

"It's crows!" Lu Quyang saw clearly the flying objects, they were fleeing into the distance with the wind and rain.

Why were crows flying over from the opposite direction for no apparent reason? Liu Xian, alert, extended his hand to signal those around him to stop, and also used flags to signal the knights behind him to halt. Then, he ordered the twenty riders around him to quickly advance with him to examine the situation ahead.

Sure enough, in the rain, he noticed that the refugee group had become chaotic, and the originally calm river beach began to make some loud noises. Even from several miles away, he could vaguely sense that something was wrong.

Everyone's nerves were suddenly in suspense. They only had a thousand light cavalry. What if there was a large enemy force ahead? They hadn't considered encountering the enemy on the first day of crossing the Yellow River. And now, it seemed the two sides were only four or five miles apart, separated by a stream of refugees. Once the stream was blocked, the two would meet.

Soon, the refugees who were driven out from the rear finally revealed a gap. The rain from the sky was still falling continuously, and the knights had subconsciously tightened their bows at their waists, looking nervously ahead.

Sure enough, a hundred feet away on the north bank of the Fen River, a group of cavalrymen, all dripping wet, were also seen, staring ahead in surprise, having evidently just spotted Liu Xian and his group. They too wore conical hats, but their bodies were covered in dehaired sheepskin cloaks and deerskin boots. Many of their horses had darker fur and were generally thin, their saddles worn and worn, often with quivers and leather buckets hanging from them.

From this distance, Liu Xian could even see the leader's face. His high cheekbones were striking, and beneath his dark, thin face, a pair of narrow eyes shone with a look of surprise and suspicion. The rain had wrinkled the beard on his upper lip and chin into wisps.

"It's the enemy army!" I don't know who shouted first.

Upon hearing they had encountered rebels, the new recruits among the knights were unnerved and momentarily at a loss, unsure what to do. But the veterans, former bandits, remained unfazed. They assessed the number of Huns in the distance while planning their battle formation. Sun Xi had already made his assessment. He said to Liu Xian, "Sir, the rebels facing us are only about a thousand strong. They're likely just a small outpost. Should we fight them or not?"

Liu Xian said calmly, "We are now separated by a river, and they dare not make any rash moves. Let's say something first to trick him."

After saying this, Sun Xi immediately galloped to the riverbank and shouted at the Xiongnu on the other side, "Listen up, you over there! We are from the Western Expedition Army. We heard that there are rebels causing trouble, so we have come to suppress them! Who are you? If you are ordinary Hu people, immediately lay down your weapons and surrender! If you are rebels, then draw your bows and arrows and come and fight to the death!"

The Xiongnu on the other side certainly wouldn't surrender, but upon hearing that the troops coming were from the Western Expeditionary Army, they were somewhat intimidated. After all, among the major military commands, the Western Expeditionary Army's troops were recognized as the most elite. Two men stood beside each other, whispering to each other for a moment, seemingly a leader speaking with his followers.

After they talked for a while, the two whispering men suddenly separated. The one who was probably the leader did not move, while the other suddenly rode out and galloped towards Sun Xi. Once he was within range, he reined in his horse and spoke in standard Chinese. He said:
"We're all just trying to make a living, so why make things difficult for each other? We're just good citizens of Shangdang, forced into a corner by others, so we're going to Shuofang to seek refuge with our relatives and friends! We have no intention of lingering here. If you insist on fighting, we're not afraid. However, we've heard that Sun Xiu, the commander of the Western Expedition Army, is also extremely tyrannical. If you die fighting for him, would you really be willing to do that?"

What he said made sense, but clearly, no one on the battlefield relied on reason to convince others. As soon as he finished speaking, the bow he had been carrying on his back was quickly grasped in his left hand, and in his right hand, an arrow had already been grasped. With a flick of his right hand, the arrow was nocked onto the bow.

But Liu Xian's vigilance was already at its highest. As he watched Sun Xi march out, he'd already placed his bow and arrow on the horse's mane. Seeing the man on the other side grab his bow and arrow, he quickly raised his hand and drew his bow. The moment the man's bowstring was drawn, his arrow whizzed out, piercing the man's right palm. The man let out a muffled cry and dropped his bow, the arrow lodging in the ground.

Liu Xian ignored him and, after a quick greeting to Sun Xi, retreated, stretching out his cavalry to show their lack of numbers. Liu Xian's plan was to provoke the enemy's anger, then show them weakness, forcing them to cross the river and pursue him. As long as the Xiongnu crossed first, he would have absolute control.

He looked back for a moment. The Xiongnu hesitated, realizing they had the numerical advantage. Not far away lay a shallow ford, the water no more than three feet deep. Unwilling to lose face, they shouted loudly and fired whistling arrows into the air, signaling an attack. The Xiongnu immediately rode across the river and pursued Liu Xian.

They've fallen into a trap! Liu Xian was overjoyed, but his expression became increasingly cautious. He ordered his men, "Spread out! Spread out! Make their team longer."

Liu Xian's 600 men immediately split into three groups, one led by Liu Xian himself, and the other two, led by Sun Xi and Zhang Gu, split off to the left and right, pretending to flee. However, after the prolonged rain, they could not move any faster in the wet mud, and instead the distance between them and the Xiongnu behind them grew closer and closer.

The pursuing Huns became even more convinced of their advantage, and howled excitedly like monkeys. They drew bows and arrows from their waists, intending to start shooting arrows as soon as they were within range.

Seeing this, Liu Xian was not anxious. He just moved slightly towards the forest on the side. Before the distance was shortened to within the range of an arrow, most of them disappeared in the forest between the hills.

The leading Hun saw something was amiss and tried to shout for his men to stop, but it was too late. Some of the Huns had already rushed into the woods. The leader couldn't abandon them, so he led the rest of the men in.

But when he reached the foot of the mountain, a sharp sound suddenly broke through the forest, like the cry of an owl. The Hu leader was shocked. He knew it was the sound of arrows. The enemy might have planned to use this as a signal to launch a counterattack!

"Stop! Stop! Come closer to me..."

Before the word "grab" was uttered, the Han army in the mountains had already begun to descend and counterattack. They rode their horses like flying horses, their hooves drowning out the sound of rain in the forest and causing rocks and leaves to shake. While the Xiongnu were chasing their prey, they had actually become the prey caught in the net.

The Han troops in the forests had already laid aside their bows and arrows, switching to their more effective close-quarters swords. After Cai Fang's forces joined them, they immediately rushed down in one volley. The two forces instantly intertwined, and in just a few breaths, numerous blades had slashed through flesh and blood, leaving horrific wounds.

The situation changed so quickly that the Xiongnu were caught off guard and immediately lost their will to fight. They ignored their leader's orders and hurriedly turned their horses and fled. But this only put them at the mercy of the enemy.

Liu Xian led his men and killed them like mowing grass. The opponents had no heavy armor, not even light armor. No one could be his match. Within a quarter of an hour, he killed seven people in a row.

After rushing out of the forest, most of the Huns had already shown signs of fleeing, only a small number of them seemed to be still resisting stubbornly. Liu Xian immediately led his men to surround them and eliminate these points one by one.

Not long after, Liu Xian saw the Xiongnu leader, who was leading five or six men charging back and forth in the crowd, but was surrounded by dozens of people and had no room for resistance at all.

Liu Xian hurriedly rode over and told the people around him, "Leave him alive. I have a lot to ask him."

The leader heard this and raised his weathered face to look at Liu Xian for a moment. Then he suddenly said to him, "Don't ask. We knew how we were going to die the day we rebelled."

After saying that, he pulled out a dagger from his waist with his left hand, then opened his mouth and stabbed the tip of the knife into his throat without hesitation.

What a tragic death! Liu Xian saw a large amount of blood spurting out and subconsciously dodged backwards, but some blood foam still splashed on his body. When Liu Xian came back to look at him, the man fell to the ground, his body still twitching.

His guards were also shocked by this, and their hands holding the knives dropped down for some reason.

After a moment of silence, Liu Xian asked his servant, "What is the name of this warrior?"

"His surname is Bu, and his name is Bu Ming. He is a descendant of the Xubu clan, one of the three great noble families of the Xiongnu."

"Okay, I'll take note of his name." Liu Xian turned to his subordinates and said, "Anyone who kills people with a sword or bow should have the awareness of facing death like Bu Ming."

The first encounter battle commanded by Liu Xian in his life ended with Bu Ming's suicide, officially announcing the end of this small battle.

The sound of rain gradually grew louder. Drops of rain fell from the sky, mixing easily with the blood, and then passed through the rocks and loess, washing it clean.

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(End of this chapter)