Tiger Guards

Chapter 196: Attacking from the West and Attacking from the East
As the sky brightened, Zhao Ben's troops advanced along the highway. They could already see Pei Xiu's thousand-man team winding its way along a country road seven or eight miles to the right.

This country road gradually converged into the Chidao Road, where Zhao Ben's team took their second break and fed the horses.

The boat anchored in the Fen River finally came ashore, and Ximen Jian led ten teams of Tiger Infantry soldiers off the boat.

The first team of black flags disembarked first, and at this moment they could already see smoke rising from the sky above the Shang clan's troops.

On the other side of the river is the mouth of the Jin River, where soldiers from the surrounding counties and local tyrants from Pingtao camped overnight, and the smoke from cooking fires was even denser in the morning.

Seeing that the Shang family did not send troops to interfere, Zhao Ji waited for several hundred tiger infantry teams to form a formation, and without exchanging any words with Ximen Jian, he immediately led his troops forward.

On the west bank of the Fen River, south of the Jin River.

The teams under Han Shu's command took a temporary break. He sat by the campfire with his back to the campfire, observing the river mouth area on the north side of the Jin River.

Between the north of Jinshui River and Jinyang City is a vast swamp wetland, in which many paddy fields have been transformed.

However, the Fen River was difficult to manage, so the swamps near the mouth of the Jinshui River were silted up and the reeds were like dense forests.

These reeds are what attracted the rebel army to spend the night here. They can be quickly cut down and used to build huts.

What’s more crucial is that there is the Jin River to the south and the Fen River to the east... The reeds in the swamp are tangled like a maze, which is very unfavorable for Xu Huang to launch an attack.

Han Shu observed for a moment and said to his attendants, "Inform the Minister of the Interior that there are mostly infantry, both men and women, in Jinze, and not many knights. I suspect the knights from the west bank crossed the river and moved to the east bank last night. Ask him to be on guard against sieges and ambushes by enemy cavalry."

"Here!"

The five emissaries responded, quickly left, and rode away on their horses.

Han Shu then said to his attendants, "Follow me upstream to cut reeds and trees and make reed and wooden rafts."

A dozen or so military officers bowed in response, then returned to their teams and headed upstream.

Along the way, they encountered a burned and looted village. Han Shu immediately deployed decoy troops there and raised flags.

On the east bank, Zhao Ji approached the battlefield five miles away.

I saw a reed wall erected outside the village opposite, using these green walls to block the view.

As he observed, the fleet had begun to move north, about to cut off communication between the two sides.

In the fleet, Xue Zhuo stood on the mast, observing the surroundings. When he sensed something was wrong, he immediately slid down and shouted to his men, "The enemy cavalry are all ambushing on the east coast! Quickly inform the Minister!"

"Order all ships to prepare for battle!"

The conditions for infiltrating and encircling the Shang clan's troops on the east coast are no longer available, and now we have to be wary of the opposing Zhao Ben team's strong attack.

The fleet lowered its sails one after another at the sound of horns, and the rebel forces of both Han dynasties fell into chaos.

On the top of Jinyang City, Xu Huang looked out at the battlefield. Scouts took a detour to report and pass on the military intelligence they had gathered.

Wang Qi was anxious and urgently advised, "Captain, the Marquis of Zhao is a brave and powerful man, and he will surely lead the charge. The rebels crossed the river at night and gathered on the east bank, which is detrimental to the Marquis of Zhao's safety. I implore you to send troops to harass the west bank, attacking the elderly, weak, women, and children, and disrupting the morale of the troops on the east bank."

"Don't act rashly. There are only 500 reliable soldiers in the city, but over 3,000 untrustworthy ones."

Xu Huang stood still, glancing sideways at Wang Qi. "The enemy's advantage lies in their stealth. Our army can detect them, and Minister Zhao has a fleet accompanying them, so he must have noticed them as well. The enemy's tactics have been exposed. With Minister Zhao's military tactics, what is there to fear?"

Wang Qi was so anxious that he was jumping up and down, but he could only force himself to calm down. He put his hands on the parapet and accompanied Xu Huang to continue observing the changes on the battlefield.

If Jinyang City is lost, victory in the field battle will lack decisive significance.

Xu Huang showed great patience. Zhao Ji gave him the most important task, which was to defend Jinyang.

If he was under Yang Feng's command, how could it be his turn to defend Jinyang?
His task is often to play the vanguard and lead new and old brothers to do the most dangerous work.

The forward is also very important, but the damage is bound to be great. The reinforcements are like water, and the losses are continuous. If you are not careful, the forward will be broken.

If Xu Huang dares to lead troops or send troops to provide support now, he will never be considered for such missions in the future, and he will most likely be reduced to a vanguard or a detachment.

When attacking the Baibo generals, accepting military advice, and confronting the Huns, Zhao Ji himself performed extremely well as a vanguard, and there was no need to replace him with another one.

Zhao Ji's weaknesses were the relay army and the central army. Before, Xu Huang had been doing the work of the relay army and the central army, and he did it very stably.

So at this time, Xu Huang really couldn't move.

Although Wang Qi's concerns were reasonable, he was reluctant. However, Xu Huang believed that he should stay in Jinyang, like a stone weighing on the hearts of the people in Taiyuan.

At this moment, Zhao Ji'er's troops did not move. They were three miles away from the enemy and the entire army dismounted to rest.

The thousand tiger infantrymen who had formed a battle formation in the rear also arrived and were deployed on the riverbank and fields on the left wing; the thousand cavalry led by Pei Xiu also approached and appeared three or four miles northeast of Zhao Ji.

After the formation was stabilized, Pei Xiu and Ximen Jian came to the front together.

Zhao Ji had already built a fire here, and the entire army was cooking hot soup and eating compressed dry rations in advance.

Pei Xiu jumped off his horse and came over, saying, "Wei Xing sent a messenger to report that there is no enemy in the east. He is searching north. If there is no enemy, it means that the elite rebels are on the east bank. We have no fewer than 5,000 men on the front line."

Pei Xiu walked forward and sat on the folding chair, then took the water bag handed to him by Zhao Ji and took a sip.

Zhao Ji said, "Han Shu also sent someone to report that the people in Jinze on the west bank are mostly elderly, weak, infantry, women and children, about three to four thousand people. It seems they knew I was coming and deliberately played a trick to attack from the west."

Pei Xiu asked, "Should we send a message to Jinyang, asking Xu Huang to lead his troops, along with Han Shu and Xue Yu, to attack the weak soldiers, women, and children on the west bank?"

"Jinyang cannot be moved. I have ordered people to take a detour to deliver the message."

Zhao Ji bit a piece of compressed dry food, which made a crunching sound in his mouth and soon turned into a paste. He drank a sip of water and swallowed it.

Ximen Jian said at this time: "The bandits are short of food and fodder. If we surround them but do not attack, they will become disorderly. If we block the river with our fleet, the knights will attack the old and weak on the west bank..."

Zhao Ji only glanced at him and denied it. "If Xu Huang moves, he will fall into their trap. If we gather our forces to attack the weak and old on the west bank, we will also fall into their trap. They are gambling. If they win, they will be the soldiers of sorrow and anger. I don't want to gamble with them."

Ximen Jian looked at Pei Xiu in confusion, but Pei Xiu just smiled. Seeing that Ximen Jian was still looking at him, Pei Xiu explained, "The enemy is not just in front of the battle."

"Yes, I understand."

Ximen Jian responded once and said nothing more.

Zhao Ji concentrated on finishing the compressed dry food, which had been stored for almost a month, and the taste was just so-so.

Finally, he rinsed his mouth with water and said, "Our army is in high spirits. We won't play these games with him."

He stood up and looked at the messenger: "Order the fleet to harass the west bank. Han Shu is allowed to harass and set fire to the enemy forces in Jinze. Do not engage in deep fighting. Focus on harassment. I want to unsettle the enemy on the east bank."

"Here!"

Several messengers hurried away, and more came forward to replace them. Zhao Ji looked at the two and said, "Go find Wei Xing and tell him to withdraw his forces and rest his horses, so that he won't be lost when he catches the fleeing soldiers."

"Here!"

The two messengers responded and retreated to Zhang Zan to get the newly written military order. Zhang Zan wrote quickly and carefully stamped it with Zhao Ji's seal.

After stamping, you must carefully check the seal text to avoid it being difficult to identify.

Zhao Ji looked at Pei Xiu and said, "I will go forward to fight. Seventh Brother, gather up the scattered knights and arrange for them to rest and rejoin the battlefield when the opportunity arises. Seventh Brother, you have a thousand cavalry here, and you will also join the battle when the opportunity arises. Be sure to leave five hundred cavalry behind to prevent any unforeseen events."

Thousands of cavalrymen from both sides charged back and forth, and no matter how many people there were, it was actually difficult for them to make contact with the other side.

Pei Xiu bowed in response and turned to look at Ximen Jian, who also bowed in response.

Zhao Ji said, "You will lead the infantry to advance in an orderly manner in an oblique formation. Warn each unit not to leave the formation to attack the enemy, but to focus on defense."

As he spoke, Zhao Ji made gestures to explain to Ximen Jian what the oblique formation was like.

In this battle, we cannot rely on the Tiger Infantry to defeat the enemy. The key to defeating the enemy lies in the cavalry charge.

After all the military orders were conveyed, Zhao Ji was the vanguard and was the first to break out of the battle formation. He stood on the chariot, grabbed the bow and observed the front.

Behind him were twenty-three chariots and more than five hundred cavalrymen, and another five hundred or so cavalrymen advanced in a horizontal formation, waiting for an opportunity to join the battle.

Pei Xiu also quickly returned to the main camp, observed the battle situation, and prepared to deploy troops at the right time.

At this moment, it was almost noon and the sun was scorching.

The only good news is that the ground nearby is covered with dense vegetation and there is no obvious dust.

(End of this chapter)