Tiger Guards

Chapter 502 The Art of Luring the Enemy
From the royal court of Sheyan, going upstream along the Sheyan River, one can reach the core administrative center of Shangjun, Fushi.

Xu Huang, Zhao Yun, and Zhang Liao are dividing their forces to besiege the settlements of most of the Qiang tribes surrounding Fushi.

Xu Huang and Zhao Yun set up camps in the south and west of Fushi City, respectively, relying on the Sheyan River to establish their camps.

Initially, they set up camp around the vehicle. After three days of construction, they piled up earth and watered the area, building low ice walls outside the camp.

Since the outbreak of the war, most of the Qiang tribes had prepared for it, relying on the fortifications of Qin and Han cities or the stone fortresses they built themselves for defense. On the contrary, the smaller tribes of the mixed Hu tribes lacked strong fortifications and were unprepared, which allowed the Xiongnu to take advantage of them.

At the southern camp, Xu Huang went out to inspect Fushi City. When he returned, he saw Pei Xiu showing him Zhao Ji's military order: "As the commander-in-chief predicted, the Grand Marshal ordered our army to continue besieging Fushi City and to expand the camp so that the troops of the General Who Pacifies Bandits could move in."

Xu Huang flipped through the military orders, trying to grasp the meaning behind the wording, before taking off his helmet: "So it seems Zhang Wenyuan is planning a trap to lure the enemy?"

The scattered and plundering Xiongnu followers were already bait in his eyes, but this was not enough to lure the Xianbei people to attack the vicinity.

Therefore, when advancing towards Yulin and Kucha, Zhang Liao's forces would be retreated in large strides.

Xu Huang carefully analyzed the success of Zhang Liao's luring of the enemy. He went to the cowhide map hanging inside the screen and looked up to observe it. Pei Xiu also came over and said, "The General Who Pacifies Bandits has also replied, saying that the Xiongnu troops are arrogant and unruly and are lax in their defenses. He believes that the Xianbei are even more arrogant, and even if they take the initiative to retreat, the Xianbei will dare to pursue them all the way to Fushi."

"I don't care what he does, as long as he brings most of the Xianbei people here."

Xu Huang gazed at the map, his eyes calm and serene, devoid of any emotion: "Our army has never fought against the Xianbei. Perhaps Zhang Wenyuan's judgment is correct."

In terms of distance, he hoped that Zhang Liao could make his feigned defeat look more convincing.

When Zhang Liao withdrew from Yulin along the imperial road and the Xianbei people launched a large-scale pursuit, the Grand Marshal's main force headed north, and the two sides happened to encounter each other at Fushi.

As for the various losses incurred by the scattered plundering of the Xiongnu guerrillas, this was not something Xu Huang should consider or be responsible for.

Now, the miscellaneous tribes of Hu who are plundered by the Xiongnu will not share any profits with the Grand Marshal. Since they are to be responsible for their own gains and losses, Xu Huang can only sit idly by.

By luring the Xianbei people here, we will not only have ready-made camps, but also a safe enough distance to pursue them.

From Shangjun to Andingjun, one can only take the Sai Nei Chi Dao (塞内驰道) northwest from Fushi. It has been abandoned for many years, but it is still a major road that leads directly to the north.

Xu Huang did not believe that this battle would allow them to occupy the northern lands, nor was it appropriate to station a corps of 20,000 to 30,000 men outside the border defense line at the moment.

The purpose of this battle was to sweep away and destroy the resistance of the various Hu tribes in the three commanderies.

After Anding County and Shang County are well-established, then we will take over the entire Beidi County.

If we could capture the entire Beidi Commandery, located upstream of Shuofang and Wuyuan, we could maintain our offensive against the Xianbei.

Therefore, the Xianbei people will not give up Beidi Commandery, and a decisive battle will be fought around Beidi Commandery.

After the decisive battle, the only option is to rely on the advantageous geography of Beidi Commandery to wear down the Xianbei people over a long period of time.

This was both a drain on the Xianbei people and a deep integration of the Liangzhou people and the Xiongnu people.

Xu Huang looked at the map and composed himself, hoping that the Xianbei people would be as arrogant as Zhang Liao had predicted and take the initiative to pursue them.

He also understood Zhang Liao's concerns. Zhang Liao did not want to make the feigned defeat and rout too realistic, as this would result in the loss of a lot of equipment and supplies.

However, during this season when ice and snow cover the earth, the Xianbei people could only obtain horse feed from Fushi and receive it from the Qiang and Hu people.

Although the Qiang and Hu people in Yulin had stored winter pasture and grain, what was the point of the Xianbei people staying in Yulin?
Only by defeating their own side head-on could the Xianbei people gain the submission of the various Hu tribes in the three commanderies.

Once the Xianbei people send troops, there is no room for delay or hesitation.

In the midst of ice and snow, the limited supply points meant that one of each side had to fall!
In a small valley by the roadside south of Yulin, Zhang Liao sat atop a chariot, watching as two battalions of infantry used crossbows to suppress the defenders of the stone fortress before gradually scaling the stone walls and storming the fortress built against the mountain and beside the water.

The outer wall was made of earth and wood, covered with a layer of stone, while the interior consisted of earth and wood houses and cave dwellings.

The houses and cave dwellings built against the mountainside have a sense of layering and give a feeling of three-dimensional defense.

However, with two heavy infantry battalions attacking from two directions, and crossbowmen suppressing the enemy, it was only a matter of time before the houses and strongholds were breached.

The Qiang and Hu people are brave and fierce, and the women also shoot arrows, but they are often accurately sniped by powerful crossbows.

The Qiang and Hu people who stubbornly resisted in their houses could not withstand the heavy infantry's strong attack. In order to force some Qiang people who were holding crossbows and guarding strategic locations, the heavy infantry who participated in the attack set fire to the houses.

Before noon, two-thirds of the buildings below the mountainside had been captured. The further they went, the more skilled the infantrymen became, and the greater their numerical advantage became in local battles.

As a result, the Qiang people who retreated to the mountainside dared not show their faces. However, the mountain path was narrow and rugged, and the enemy took the initiative to water the area, making it difficult for heavy infantry to attack. So they began to collect various kinds of wood, attempting to set it on fire.

However, due to their cultural beliefs, the Qiang and Hu people were not afraid of being attacked by fire or burned to death.

This was just a stone fortress that the Xiongnu had failed to capture. While Zhang Liao was observing, the captured people and herds of animals were being driven and gathering towards his main camp.

"Report~!"

The scout rode up lightly, reined in his horse, and shouted: "General! The right wing of the righteous army has retreated in disarray, saying that the main force of the Xianbei has passed Kucha and is about to enter the Yulin Pass!" "Sound the retreat."

Zhang Liao turned his head and instructed the military commander, then said, "You and the supply battalion should set off south immediately. I will lead the cavalry to meet the infantry in their retreat."

Upon hearing this, the military commander looked at the more than two hundred prisoners who had gathered nearby and asked, "General, what is this?"

"It's up to you."

Zhang Liao gave him a knowing look, and the other military officers also went to look at the military commander.

The military commander hesitated, and the other officers dared not speak rashly, all looking blankly at him, as if waiting for his decision.

The military commander went to see Zhang Liao again, who was intently observing the battle scene at the front.

Anxious, the military commander hesitated before speaking to his men, then raised his hand, gripped his whip, and lashed it down sharply: "Except for the captured border people, the rest will all be...!"

"Here!"

Several military officers responded loudly and led the soldiers forward to quickly identify the captured tribesmen, who had already lost the will to resist.

Those who could understand the shouts rushed forward as if grasping at a straw.

As for those who couldn't understand, they didn't resist the crossbows the soldiers raised; some simply turned away to avoid looking.

Zhang Liao glanced around and saw that a group of people had been shot dead in no time.

Those who survived the screening process disregarded past relationships and immediately stripped off their leather and felt coats.

At the sound of the gong, the two infantry units, which were prepared to set fire to the area, immediately set fire to the timber at various intersections and withdrew from the stone village area under the cover of crossbows.

During the evacuation, they even set fire to fuels scattered throughout the stone village, such as stacks of cow dung containing dried sheep dung balls.

There were also various kinds of fodder for wintering, smoke filled the air, and the two infantry units withdrew one after another, many of them carrying or dragging the heads they had captured.

On the road to Xiashi Village, there were newly shot prisoners on the roadside, and the soldiers who had shot them had also cut off their heads and retrieved their crossbow bolts.

On the pristine white snow, there was bright red blood everywhere.

The soldiers had no time to regroup, and after the various units assembled, they withdrew by sled. Zhang Liao's personal guards urged them along the road, and some utensils that had been rummaged through the Qiang people's houses were discarded by the roadside.

After retreating for more than ten miles, Zhang Liao, who was covering the rear, saw that the beast horde was moving slowly and gave another order.

Besides cattle, horses, and camels, the largest flock of sheep was immediately shot.

Infantrymen rode sleds along the road to hunt sheep, chasing and shooting them before cutting off their hooves and heads, and then cutting open their bellies to remove their intestines.

Often, they couldn't wait for the blood to drain completely before loading the sheep, skin and all, onto the sled.

Some infantrymen would drink fresh, boiling sheep blood or eat raw sheep liver and heart when slaughtering sheep.

The flocks of sheep that had managed to escape along the roadside scattered in panic across the hillsides and fields near and far.

To avoid the advance of the Xianbei army, the Xiongnu volunteer troops that had been raiding and plundering in the direction of Yulin also gradually retreated southward, reluctant to give up the herds of animals they had captured.

They didn't even have time to drive their spoils, let alone gather the sheep near the road.

The sheep gradually gathered into a flock. Some, unable to withstand the wind and snow on the slope, voluntarily followed the lead sheep down the mountain to the main road, where they joined the other herded flocks and headed south together.

The Xiongnu people had no time to rest. As they retreated, they would occasionally seize weak lambs and, without having time to roast or cook them, would cut them up and eat them on horseback.

Squads of Xiongnu warriors drove the herds of animals southward. When the Xianbei vanguard pursued them, the roads were already trampled solid by the hooves of cattle, sheep and horses, and stained black with dung.

There were dead cattle and horses lying on the side of the road; they hadn't been skinned in time, and only large chunks of flesh had been cut off their bodies.

Sheep hooves, sheep heads, and intestines were carelessly discarded on the roadside, along with various broken household utensils.

The Xianbei chieftain leading the group dismounted, drew his sword, and tried to cut open the lungs of a dead cow. Seeing that the deeper meat was not frozen, he immediately cut a piece of tenderloin that was still relatively fresh.

He put it in his mouth and chewed it, then tilted his head to look at the south end of the road, but the Huns were no longer in sight.

A Qiang chieftain from the nearby area rode up on horseback: "Why did you stop chasing?"

"You need to be well-fed to have the strength to fight."

The Xianbei chieftain gave a vague answer, then waved his hand, signaling the Xianbei people who had come with him to dismount and search along the road for edible meat.

(End of this chapter)