Tiger Guards

Chapter 677 Door-to-Door Delivery
The seat of the Southern Commandant of Longxi, Lintao County.

This was the location of Dong Zhuo's clan, but after Dong Zhuo's downfall, his brothers, nephews, and other generals who commanded troops were executed one after another. After Mei Wu was also captured, all of his relatives were exterminated.

The Dong clan members who originally lived together in Lintao County were also afraid of being implicated by the imperial court, and they scattered after hearing the news.

After the heavy snow stopped, Pang De, the Southern Commandant, relying on his war instincts, also led his ragtag army of over a thousand men northward.

These soldiers, a combination of troops from Longxi County and those guarding the pass, lacked fighting spirit. They were more afraid of Han Sui's powerful influence and had great concerns about the coalition army of over 100,000 men that was attacking Zhao.

It was only because Ma Teng transferred 500 men when Pound took office that he was able to control this motley crew of over a thousand.

Like herding sheep, Pound drove and supervised the more than a thousand men in the vanguard.

This has always been how battles are fought on the Liangzhou battlefield, and Pang De couldn't find a good way to restrain and urge these thousand-plus men to fight desperately.

Once you leave Lintao County, you can only head northeast. After traveling about twenty miles, you will reach a three-way intersection.

To the east lies a deep mountain road in bad condition, but a narrow path winds its way north to Zhang County.

To the north lies the course of the Tao River. Due to the flooding of the Tao River, the roads on both banks are intermittent, making it impossible for large groups of people to pass.

The population living in the Tao River basin is not large, so there is not enough manpower to repair and maintain roads along the Tao River.

Upon reaching the crossroads, the soldiers immediately began to act perfunctorily, and there was a growing sense of impending mutiny.

Seeing this, Pang De had no choice but to select and recruit brave and strong men from among them, and to screen and stratify the soldiers under the jurisdiction of the Southern Commandant.

Unfortunately, only about two hundred men were willing to follow Pound into battle. With the opportunity pressing, Pound had no choice but to compromise for the time being.

He left a large contingent to camp there, and then led 800 infantry and cavalry on the road to reinforce Zhang County.

He dared to send reinforcements for two main reasons.

Firstly, the southern part of Lintao is right next to the Qiangdao. It was only after Pang De took office that he heard that Zhao Ang, the magistrate of Qiangdao, had recruited Han and Qiang chieftains to send troops straight to Tianshui.

Not only the Qiangdao region, but the entire Wudu Prefecture, namely the Longnan region, was thus left vulnerable.

It was no longer militarily significant for Pang De to continue holding Lintao.

The second reason is that the sudden heavy snowfall will inevitably increase the difficulty for all parties to find valleys in the wild, and all parties' supplies will be cut off. Under such circumstances, if any party cannot endure it, a decisive battle will break out.

Knowing full well that a decisive battle was about to break out, Pound's personality made it impossible for him to continue to endure.

By joining the battle, he still has a chance to change his fate on his own.

If he stayed in Lintao and the rebels won, he would have no choice but to surrender to them if he didn't want to die; if he didn't surrender, his subordinates would tie him up and send him to Han Sui... Perhaps, given his status, he wouldn't even get to see Han Sui.

Zhao Ji promoted him to the position of Commandant of Southern Longxi, which was a step from a county official to a county magistrate, skipping two major ranks: the position of Gentleman of the Palace and the position of County Magistrate. This was equivalent to saving a normal person ten years of official career!
Of course, this is not something that can be skipped. Only by accumulating enough military merits during his tenure can Pound fill the ten-year gap in his seniority.

Otherwise, one will still have to start from the position of county magistrate in the future.

If his influence is sufficient in the future, he will be given a title of "filial piety and integrity" to supplement his official career.

Therefore, Pound had no choice but to set off on his campaign, trudging through the snow.

About fifty li south of Zhang County and about forty li northeast of Lintao, there is a city called Suoxi.

This place is far from the road, about ten miles away.

If Pound's army did not want to camp in the freezing cold at night, he had no choice but to spend the night in Sosi.

At this moment, the hundred or so riders of the Solan tribe, who were the fastest fleeing, arrived at Soxi City. Soxi City did not have a deep connection with the Solan name. Due to the turmoil in Liangzhou and the large-scale population movement, it was only called Soxi City at this time, which did not mean that the Solan family still controlled the city.

Solan arrived at the city gate and shouted loudly, "I am a soldier under General Han, ordered to suppress the traitor Pang De in Lintao! Open the city gate immediately, or when the army arrives, you will be reduced to dust!"

Upon hearing this, the garrison commander of Sosi City peered over the earthen wall. The garrison was pitiful; he had only a dozen or so men and two torches by his side.

The torches in Soran below the city were sparse, but the knights were numerous, and the snow-covered landscape made them appear even more formidable.

Just as the garrison commander was in a dilemma, Pang De's vanguard officers rode up on horseback, carrying torches.

Solan was terrified when he saw this. His men and horses were exhausted and had not eaten or drunk anything all day. Where would they find the strength to fight?

"withdraw!"

Solan was indignant. He looked up at the not-so-high walls of Sosi, pulled hard on the reins, turned his horse around, and led his rider away.

As a result, the group was sparse, with less than half of the riders following him on horseback. Many other riders reined in their horses and did not move, and some even huddled together in a sense of crisis.

Solan merely glanced back, then gripped his whip and lashed out: "Go!"

Seeing his unrestrained behavior, some of the riders following him slowed down and gradually broke away from Solan.

In the end, Solan was followed by only a dozen or so riders, who fled along an unknown mountain ravine at night.

When Pound arrived, nearly a hundred horsemen surrendered.

These people were extremely exhausted, and their horses were also running out of energy. All they wanted to do was surrender, have a good meal, and then get a warm night's sleep.

Seeing that the situation was clear, the garrison commander of Sosi rushed forward and personally opened the dilapidated city gate, holding a torch to welcome Pang De into the city for the night.

At the city gate, Pang De had no intention of entering the city. He simply instructed, "Immediately fetch fodder and cooked food. If we defeat the enemy army, you will be credited!"

Upon hearing this, the garrison commander was also invigorated: "Yes, Your Majesty, I will immediately go into the city to urge each household to prepare hot food and fodder!"

Pang De turned his head and looked around at the officers and soldiers gathered around him. Under the torchlight, these men were all awakened by their martial spirits and were in high spirits, especially their eyes and brows, which were very bright and sharp.

"Captain, please give the order!"

A recruited guard officer raised his head and shouted, as if he were about to turn around and throw himself into the great cause of killing the bandits.

"No rush. Let's make a decision after the officers and soldiers have had a good meal and the horses have been fed."

Pang De, however, calmed down: "Sosi City is neither too big nor too small, just right for the bandit generals to spend the night and seek shelter from the cold."

Before he could continue his analysis and persuasion, a knight rode up lightly and whispered, "Captain, another group of defeated cavalry is coming from the north, no less than fifty riders."

"Alright, all teams, rest and regroup. The personal guards, change your horses and follow me into battle."

Pound immediately gave the order, and at that moment only his personal guard had spare warhorses; the other officers could only watch helplessly.

In reality, they were too exhausted to charge. Riding tired warhorses, they found it difficult to break through the enemy lines, and when things went wrong, they couldn't even escape the enemy's pursuit.

On the other side, Han Sui, having cut off his beard, sighed deeply on horseback, lamenting the impermanence of life.

"General, Suoxi City is just three miles ahead!"

One of the leaders boasted, "The city's garrison commander is a good friend of mine. With just a few words, I can persuade him to surrender the city and welcome the general into the city to rest."

(End of this chapter)