Tiger Guards

Chapter 141 The Poisonous Scholar's Plot
Beijiang, at nightfall.

Li Kan climbed up the north city wall. About twenty steps away from the wall was a newly built wooden shed.

The officers, soldiers and young volunteers were grouped into teams of fifty and placed in a wooden shed to spend the night.

Li Kan inspected seven or eight wooden sheds, and military officers gathered and followed him.

Arriving at the gate tower, the candidate guarding it pointed to the north bank of the Fen River and said, "The Xiongnu have more campfires tonight, almost a third more than last night."

Li Kan took two steps forward and raised his hand to place it on the newly fixed door panel on the parapet. Both sides of the door panel were covered with a layer of yellow mud mixed with wheat straw.

The entire Beijiang city wall was raised three feet by reinforcing it with wooden planks.

This effectively protects and shields the defenders' torsos.

Li Kan carefully watched the Huns' campfire on the north bank, and no emotion could be seen on his face.

He and Hou Xuan both came from poor families around Fenyang. With Zhao Qian's official suppression of the Baibo Army two years ago, most of the Baibo Army were repatriated and became civilians.

Relying on these old Baibo soldiers who had lost their organization, they also developed again.

When the Huns migrated south, various scattered populations were forced to join them due to survival pressure.

Now all the families have migrated south, and the residents of Beijiang City have also been forcibly relocated, leaving behind nearly a thousand young and strong people.

Li Kan observed for a moment, raised his hands and clapped his hands, and asked, "How many Xiongnu ships are there?"

Although Zhao Yan ordered all counties to collect boats when he went south, it was impossible to search them all.

At present, a large number of ships are hiding in the upper reaches of the Huishui River, towing them into the reeds and hiding them.

Hou Xuan recalled briefly, his tone uncertain: "There were about a hundred ships, about a hundred and thirty, with a specific transport capacity of about a thousand people at a time, no more than fifteen hundred. It would take about thirteen round trips for the entire army to cross the river."

Li Kan expressed his opinion: "The Xiongnu are controlling the upper reaches. They have at least 300 ships. Perhaps they have already crossed the river in Baibo Valley or Xiangling. Here they are decoys and reinforcements."

As for sending scouts for reconnaissance... there's no need.

For Li Kan and Hou Xuan, after dealing with the Huns for so many years, they have already figured out the Huns' style of doing things.

When avoiding the Huns' crackdown, the more scouts you send out, the easier it is for the Huns to catch your main force by following the scouts' movements.

If the emperor and his officials were poor and had few people, the Huns would not take it seriously.

Now, let alone the Wei family’s treasury, the young and strong soldiers accompanying the emperor alone are worth the Huns’ looting.

The Huns not only lacked women, but also young and strong men.

The fighting among the various Hun tribes was all about the number of young and strong men.

Even slaves can increase production efficiency and contribute to tribal conflicts.

Li Kan had already made his judgment and asked, "What do you think of Wen Ze?"

The candidate gazed at the Xiongnu camp on the north bank. "This time, the Xiongnu number no fewer than 30,000 men, five large divisions. They want more than just gold. I suspect they've deployed two decoy lines, one here and one in Xiangling, while the real elite troops are still in Xiangling."

They had fought each other for five years, and the candidate never underestimated the Huns' tactics.

Li Kan thought for a moment and then said, "Please sign your names with me and report this to Minister Zhao."

“This is as it should be.”

Hou Xuan suddenly asked, "Bo Cheng, even if we win this battle, how many casualties will Zhao Shizhong's troops suffer?"

Zhao Ji still had extra troops, but after repeated elimination, he only had 8,000 Tiger Infantry, and he only took 5,000 of them north.

With extreme exploitation, another three to five thousand young and strong soldiers can be deployed near Anyi.

There were more than 4,000 people in Beijiang City, and 8,000 soldiers and horses from the imperial court and Hedong heading north, which was less than one-third or even one-quarter of the Xiongnu.

It's not like the candidate had never fought a battle with such a huge disparity in the enemy's strength, but those were battles involving only a few hundred people on each side, which was nothing compared to what was happening now.

The question from the candidate made Li Kan silent for a moment, then he said, "We cannot lose. If we lose, Hedong will all belong to the Xiongnu."

Cheng Yi and Cheng Yin had already fled to Weibei, but were frightened back by Li Jue.

In fact, there is no essential difference between Li Jue and the Huns in many cases.

The people of Hedong seem to be from Sizhou, but culturally and geographically, they are often regarded by outsiders as part of Bingzhou.

It cannot be said to be Bingzhou, but Taiyuan and Hedong are separated by a strip of water and have similar cultures, so they can be regarded as two sides of the same coin of Jin.

Qin and Jin were too powerful, and there was no King of Qin or King of Jin during the Han Dynasty.

It was precisely because this group was relatively strong that it was forcibly separated, with Taiyuan under the jurisdiction of Bingzhou and Hedong under the jurisdiction of Sili.

If we really lured Li Jue, Guo Si and other bloodthirsty Liangzhou rebels to Hedong, they would go crazy and chop all the way along the Fen River to Taiyuan. They would not retreat until Taiyuan was burned to the ground.

Because of historical traditions and background, Li Jue could cooperate with the Huns in Fenbei without any hesitation.

Given the brutal killing of Guanzhong and Bingzhou people by the Liangzhou people during their previous rebellion, it would be difficult for the Hedong people to gain any advantage from Li Jue.

Even if Li Jue showed mercy, the Huns would not show mercy.

Zhao Ji was unwilling to provide food to feed their families, children, and elders, and with such pressure of survival that they had to live and die together, they could only stay in Beijiang and defend this strategic node.

The Xiongnu lack siege equipment and tactics, so holding Beijiang is not difficult. The difficult part is inflicting heavy damage on the Xiongnu in a field battle. Otherwise, the Xiongnu will gather and disperse erratically and will wear you down.

Soon, the two men, along with a military letter signed by the county magistrate Zhao Xu, were sent south, and the two messengers rode fast horses.

For more than half a month, a defensive barrier was barely built at the pass between Jishan and Zijinshan using wooden fences and trenches.

There are no less than 3,000 young and strong people guarding here, including those from Wenxi, Nanjiang and the people who migrated south.

They were divided into groups and stationed there, each guarding a section.

Temporary camps were also built on both sides of the mountain roads to defend the dangerous terrain and prevent the Hun scouts from infiltrating.

But tonight, Zhao Ji's soldiers were following behind. When the emperor's carriage arrived at the north of Wenxi, the rear team led by Zhao Ji had just passed the middle carriage of Tongxiang.

The old Zhao family residence in Zhongcheli, along with the ruins of nearby neighboring houses and courtyards, is surrounded by a circle of wooden fences, which should have been organized and constructed by local village elders.

Various people who migrated from the south lived in the car. Zhao Benji wanted to return to his old house at night to take a look and rebury the corpses in the cellar on behalf of the original owner.

But there were only three or four hundred people in the train, and all kinds of wooden sheds were built on the inside of the collapsed wall, so he gave up the idea of disturbing the place.

Continuing to lead the troops north, after another five miles, they arrived at the old city of Quwo.

In the four counties of Beijiang, Nanjiang, Wenxi and Anyi, there are too many cities similar to the old city of Quwo. The ones with many people are townships, and the ones with few people are villages. Some ancient cities are even abandoned and uninhabited, left to be eroded by wind and rain.

The old city of Quwo was no exception, crowded with women and children who had migrated south to escape the chaos.

As the Black Flag Tiger Steps and Tiger Guards Cavalry marched slowly on the highway, a bonfire was lit in the old city of Quwo, which had regained its popularity. The old men and strong women inside stood on the city wall, holding javelins, wooden spears, and slingshots, and watched.

The elderly and women who migrated here did not dare to let their guard down when facing the army, even if it was the imperial army.

Even though we knew that the soldiers were from Hedong, the Baibo Army also came from Hedong.

Zhao Ji calmed down and walked another twelve or thirteen miles before finally arriving at Beixiang.

Xu Huang had already divided the camp area for the night and sent military letters to the Beijiang defenders.

The emperor's carriage entered Tunbei Township, and the Tiger Infantry Army stationed north of Beixiang.

In the north of Beixiang, the Tiger Infantry surrounded the vehicles and built campfires everywhere.

After Zhao Ji made a round of inspection, he came to the central army area.

Here Jia Xu and Pei Xiu have reassembled the sand table, and the General of the Imperial Guards Guanqiu Yi and the Palace Attendant Pei Mao are also there.

Zhao Ji handed the Beijiang Army Report he had read to Jia Xu, and raised his hand to take off his heavy helmet... This was an Iron Pagoda style helmet, or more accurately, a Song Dynasty heavy infantry armor helmet.

It is said that the armor plates of three sets of infantry armor can be dismantled to make three sets of cavalry armor used by the Iron Pagoda.

The night wind blew, the campfire swayed, and sparks flew from time to time.

Zhao Ji couldn't help but think of the time he spent the night in Beixiang when he enlisted as a Tiger Guard. He looked around and smiled at Pei Xiu, "Seventh Brother, I still remember when we spent the night in Beixiang, I gave two ducks. I gave one to Hu Bingcao as a gift, and I stewed the other one and ate it with my friends."

The Huben who had some savings at home sold some food that night and had a very sumptuous meal.

Hu Ban was reluctant to eat the duck, so he asked someone from Beixiang to send it home.

Zhao Ji finished his sigh, his face devoid of smiles. "Today's troops are a hundred times greater than last night's, yet I don't feel the slightest bit of joy. Why is that?"

Pei Xiu, sitting at the end of the table, had no choice but to go beyond the rules and answer, "Aji, don't feel burdened. A true man should die defending his homeland without regrets."

"Well, then let's give it a try, clean up the mess left by our predecessors, and create a peaceful and happy sky for future generations."

Zhao Ji looked at Jia Xu blankly, "Mr. Wenhe, you are worth as much as ten thousand elite soldiers in my heart."

Jia Xu smiled modestly, "You are too kind, Minister."

As for whether or not the Xiliang poison scholar was a poisonous scholar, although he didn't want to admit it, when he thought about it alone in the middle of the night, he felt a little sense of accomplishment and pride.

This kind of thing is not easy to publicize. Jia Xu laughed and said, "Hou Xuan and Li Kan are both capable generals. They would not do anything without a purpose. I think their reasoning is reasonable. Does the Minister agree?"

"I agree with them. The Huns should not be taken lightly."

Zhao Ji did not have the habit of blind arrogance like the ministers, so he asked: "How to break it?"

"Build a dam in Yicheng and wait for an opportunity to dig."

Jia Xu pointed at Yicheng, upstream of the Huishui River. "Even if the Xiongnu have hidden elite troops, our forces are still outnumbered. We should first attack those blocking the road, draw those on the north bank across, and then use our strong forces to defeat those halfway across. If a large force of elite cavalry attacks from the northeast, we will block it with water."

As for the paddy fields, water conservancy facilities, wooden bridges and the like that were destroyed along the way, Jia Xu didn't care at all.

Qu Bei, Xu Huang, Guanqiu Yi, Pei Mao, and Jia Kui, who was sitting at the last seat with Pei Xiu, did not react.

Only after defeating the Huns can we be qualified to discuss the losses.

Otherwise, no matter how well it is preserved, what does it have to do with you?
After Jia Xu finished speaking, he looked around and saw that they were all practical people. Suddenly, he had an urge to stop pretending to be a gentleman.

Everyone looked around, and the atmosphere suddenly became much more harmonious.

Even Guanqiu Yi felt that victory was closer.

(End of this chapter)