Wei School's Three Good Students

Chapter 132 The situation in Bo County changes
At the end of July, Zhao Cheng glanced at the battle situation in Bo County and remained silent. Facing the Shudi Group, whose escape route he had already covered, he snapped the bamboo skewer in his hand.

Now, Zhao Cheng could have simply waited for Emperor Shu to retreat south, and the Hao army could have built fortifications on the ground along his retreat route, leaving Da Yao's 100,000 troops as skeletons. But Zhao Cheng had to abandon this strategy, and he sighed deeply, like "Zhuge Liang after his failed Northern Expedition".

Strategic time is of the essence, and he cannot afford to squander the current enormous gains; the collapse of Bo County is already comprehensive. Although Zhao Cheng knows that the war in the east will not have a significant impact on his war in the west, the situation here in the west is causing a severe shake-up in the morale of the various forces that have already submitted to the Hao Kingdom.

The element of human nature in Eastern wars is quite mysterious; Zhang Fei could leave the city gates wide open in front of Changban Bridge and wait for Cao Cao to come and break in, even though he was backed by defeated troops, Cao Cao's army just didn't dare to go up; but when Emperor Huizong of Song opened the city gates, chaos erupted inside.

Zhao Cheng: If we don't bring the army back to the sandbar to stabilize morale, even if we block the main force of Da Yao, the whole army will not be able to fight wholeheartedly.

Zhao Cheng: If we let that guy in the east (Wu Xiaoque) continue like this, the dynasty will be over.

…A long August has begun…

Returning to Bo County, the Da Yao Legion, under Wu Fei's command, is filled with the strongest sense of ambition and heroism in the past decade.

Since the start of the war with the pseudo-Hao, this is the first time that the North has experienced the feeling of being able to overpower the pseudo-Hao.

For those spoiled officers from the Eastern Market Army who came from the capital, their heads could now be held even higher. These纨绔子弟 (sons of wealthy families) could openly boast after returning to the capital.

Of course, Wu Fei was very politically astute and strictly forbade his soldiers from provoking friendly forces. He was quite polite to Zhu Liqiang's battalions that came to help.

Wu Fei's humility stems from his awareness that he is also growing. If his previous experience in mobile warfare was limited to the southern border and Zhenzhou, those two battles were merely a trial run; now, it's time for true battlefield combat.

Wu Fei: "The enemy in the southern border region are complete barbarians. I was just conducting a drill. As for Zhenzhou, King Lelang is an idiot. I was only responsible for maneuvering and did not carry out any major battles to annihilate them."

Only today have I gained real-world experience.

Wu Fei is now commenting on the gap between his own tactics and those of Haotian's military strategists, comparing it to the generational advantage of 21st-century fighter jets.

First, there's the range. Third-generation fighters like the Flanker and the Pomegranate can take off from various airports and quickly assemble into formations to deal a heavy blow to second-generation fighter groups that lack sufficient range and are difficult to form in large numbers.

Wu Fei's current strategy is to use this tactic: facing the enemy's sluggish and slow assembly speed, he only needs to use a sudden burst of speed to scatter them. Then, with the marching speed of his own troops, he can quickly concentrate his superior forces to wipe out a portion of the enemy. In other words, Wu Fei only has 5,000 troops, but he always manages to outnumber them; while once Hao's army disperses, they will inevitably be captured.

Then there are radar and stealth, which can prioritize the detection of the enemy and seize the initiative. Wu Fei leads the army to monitor the enemy from all angles on the battlefield. Once the enemy's marching column reaches the key crossing point, they immediately display their flags and launch an attack.

As for the duration of the battle, it goes without saying. The opposing side has tens of thousands of men constantly being pulled and mobilized, while we only have five thousand here. These five thousand are constantly being rotated in the rear camp, and nearly half of the thirty thousand recruited soldiers have already seen combat.

…The offensive and defensive postures have shifted…

On August 2nd, Wu Fei directly led his troops to the gates of Huangyu City, but ignored Huangyu City and immediately marched to a place ten kilometers outside the city, where he captured a small town called Hezhuji to the north.

The city gate of this small town was still opened through deception, which shows that the governor of Bohai was already very cautious.

The military commissioner ordered all city garrisons to be extra cautious, but the Wu family army's operational range was too large, and the Hao army was severely lacking in "capable and reliable" personnel.

The Hao army commanders were unable to send their capable confidants to guard all the city gates. In particular, these smaller fortresses were originally intended as refuges for Hao army members who were dissatisfied with their own positions.

When the Wu family army deceived the crane-gathering group, they used highly realistic forged Hao army seals and documents, and wore Hao army armor. They even hired locals who swore outside the gate that it was no mistake.

After the city gates were tricked into opening, the East Market cavalry stormed in and seized this crucial strategic location. Just five kilometers below this hill lay the Shahe ferry crossing, a vital route for transporting grain and supplies northward from Huangyu City.

It's important to emphasize that this is a transportation hub between Huangyucheng and Gushouguan. As for why Wu Fei didn't capture this place at the very beginning of the battle, we'll discuss that later.

…Liquidation in progress…

After the Eastern City Army captured the fortress called Hezhuji, the inside agents who seized the city gate continued to play a role in clearing out the city.

Guided by their inside agents, soldiers in the Eastern Market searched each household for dragon descendants. During these searches, the agents acted like judges, deciding the fate of each family. Those who had gained power through their connections with Hao Kingdom officials were severely punished.

"Sir, this is the place, this is the house, they are not human!"

Ben Chengnei gritted his teeth, pointing with a bitter and resentful expression at a house with its gates tightly closed.

As the door was smashed open, the man inside, who clearly looked like a "nouveau riche," knelt down and begged for mercy, saying, "Gentlemen, it's all good!"

But the local leader didn't give a chance to argue. "Huang San, you bastard, your backer is gone! I'm going to settle accounts with you over the years!" With that, he brought up all the things Huang San had done over the years, including relying on powerful figures in the Hao Kingdom and bullying men and women.

Note: When the Hao Kingdom forcibly incorporated the region into its rule, it supported local forces that had submitted to it in order to establish a rule centered on itself. This disrupted the original hierarchical order and led to the accumulation of numerous conflicts.

These people living in large houses are not from traditional aristocratic families, but rather from "poor families" who rose to power by currying favor with powerful figures.

People from humble backgrounds may generally be more capable of getting things done in local areas than those from aristocratic families, but their overall quality is very worrying. Due to a lack of collectivist indoctrination, once they gain power, most of them become cruel officials "out of necessity".

For example, this Huang Qian, who has been calling himself Third Master Huang in Hezhuji for the past few years, has been clinging tightly to the coattails of the Hao Kingdom's occupying forces while flaunting his "opportunistic" upward social mobility. He bullies and oppresses his fellow villagers within a ten-mile radius, attempting to establish a village community centered on himself through a fierce "obedience test."

This is a microcosm of how, in history, when the nomadic tribes invaded Xia, they carried out a series of brutal massacres of the opposition in order to gain legitimacy.

…History workbook…

Xuan Chong: If, in a major social reshuffle, the newly risen class does not rise to power through "driving changes in productivity" or "defending the nation and the collective through blood and sweat," then they are unworthy of their positions. Their rise signifies the accumulation of social contradictions.

Currently, if the military strength of the Hao Kingdom is strong, it can suppress all conflicts, but local conflicts will never disappear. Moreover, these lackeys who easily achieve "class advancement" will intensify their efforts to create conflicts.

Because the lackeys themselves are filled with apprehension and insecurity about their upward "class," their underlying inferiority complex leads them to use their power to test the stability of their social class and to build confidence by instilling fear in others—this is what is meant by "acting up."

It is worth mentioning that if the Dongshi Army had not come to fight in the north, the spoiled brats in the army would have gradually felt "empty" and restless due to the sudden rise in social class. They would have then recklessly tested the boundaries of the world's tolerance for them in order to determine how much their "confidence" level had actually jumped.

Now that they are following Wu Fei in Bohai and have obtained real merits that can be recognized by all parties in the Great Yao, they will definitely cherish their social class with courtesy when they return.

Xuan Chong: In other words, the class with truly stable power is more stable in its emotional expression.

…returning to the city now…

Within Hezhu Village, the purge continues, and a brutal campaign of revenge begins. All men from families deemed unreliable are slaughtered, while women are sold into slavery.

Wu Fei tacitly approved the brutal revenge of his inside agents, because Hezhuji was too important. He had used his "insider" to trick the fortress gates open, and he absolutely wouldn't allow anyone else to use the same method. Therefore, those remaining at the fortress had to be absolutely reliable. A head, supposedly belonging to a dragon descendant, was hung high on the fortress flagpole. There would be no chance for this point to be compromised again.

Wu Fei dispatched 500 soldiers to garrison at this point.

In the next phase of the operation, Wu Fei must guard against the southward advance of the Hao Kingdom's military forces at Gu Shou Pass in the north. Even if they advance south, they must have such a fortress as a buffer.

…blood was flowing…

On August 4, while Zhao Cheng was making the most of the time to adjust the battle plan of the army of the Emperor, Wu Fei surrounded Huang Yucheng. More than 8 troops built earthen ditches and fences around Huang Yucheng.

Lord Wu Fei had no intention of directly launching a surprise attack on the city. Even though the son sent by Commander Zhu and his several battalions, along with the newly armed local militia, were willing to do so, Wu Fei ordered them to remain still for the time being. Regarding the siege process, thanks to good coordination with local authorities, Wu Fei managed to gather sufficient military rations.

With Wu Fei's guarantee, local wealthy families who had joined the army readily agreed to the gamble, carefully recording their winter grain reserves and lending them to Wu Fei—enough for the army to besiege the city for two months. If they could capture Huangyu City, they could seize the grain and settle all their debts.

As for two months from now, if they fail to capture the city, the Dongshi Army will collapse!

Wu Fei: War is all about overload. It's either you die or the enemy dies.

Inside Huangyu City, the military governor, looking at the besieging army, felt a surge of panic, for he had already dispatched his main force. If they were to launch a full-scale attack, they might be captured in a single battle.

His advisor glanced at the local militia gathered outside the city and determined that these troops were unarmored laborers who could be raided. In desperation, the military governor shouted to his men: "Who dares to go out and fight?"

A few minutes later, a troop of armored cavalry charged out of the Yellow Jade City, advancing towards the large contingent of laborers. These able-bodied men from Bo, who had been digging trenches outside the city, heard the drumbeats and, following the flags they recognized, retreated through a series of safety passages marked with tripwires. Each of these safety passages had a sign indicating its location, with a small running figure painted in green on the sign.

The chaotic state of the Yao Army farmers clearly indicated that they hadn't been trained for long, but at least they recognized their own numbers and evacuated separately along the paths drawn on the ground, instead of crowding together in one place.

The Haojun soldiers who came out of Huangyu City to launch a surprise attack were clearly not expecting that these Yao soldiers and farmers would be so well-trained in their "collapse".

What surprised them even more was that a regular army of two hundred men quickly arrived from the enemy's rear and deployed in a musket formation.

Just as Hao Jun's Yu Yong lancers crossed the trench, the Yao army's rear lines unleashed crossbows, hurling dozens of lime packets. The resulting cloud of lime engulfed the assault force. As the Yu Yong soldiers coughed and covered their mouths and noses, they didn't even bother to protect their chests with their shields; the muskets opened fire.

On the city wall, Hao Jun and his group witnessed firsthand this "insidious" fighting style.

Among the tens of thousands of troops besieging the city, four musketeer squads of five hundred men each advanced to their optimal positions and opened fire, like a precision-engineered firepower machine.

At a distance of 150 paces, the muskets fired continuously, unleashing two thousand rounds of ammunition within ten minutes, like wave after wave of scythes, felling batch after batch of Hao soldiers who had come out of the city to fight.

As these armored soldiers fled the city, abandoning their armor and weapons, a troop of fifty Yao Army cavalrymen followed closely behind.

This was a cavalry force led by Zhu Chong, the son of Zhu Liqiang. These retainers and followers, who had come to claim credit, were extremely excited and chased after the Hao army, killing them all. It was quite like a satisfying portrayal of the proverb "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river; never underestimate a young man's potential."

The military commissioner of Hao Army shouted, "Close the city gates!"

As the city gates slammed shut, Wu Fei's side dispatched grenade launcher cavalry to rush to the city wall and suppress the enemy's advance, while Zhu Chong's cavalry slaughtered all the fleeing cavalrymen outside the city.

The city walls were completely silent.

No one in Hao's army was willing to launch a surprise attack anymore. They didn't even plan a night raid. They'd lost all courage.

Huang Longcheng immediately sent out a message for help, pleading for assistance from the army outside and even from Gushou Pass.

Almost simultaneously, Wu Fei intercepted a hawk carrying a message from within the city, confirming that the Hao Kingdom officials inside were frantically trying to send troops back to reinforce the city. He nodded, "Good, good." He then dispatched an officer with a military tally to accompany the communications officer and mobilize the conscripted peasant soldiers from the eastern outpost to continue the siege. He himself mustered three thousand troops to prepare to fight off the reinforcements.

…two days later…

After both Gu Shouguan and Hucheng agreed to send reinforcements.

Wu Fei pointed at the map and said, "Eliminate the Hucheng Group, don't let a single one escape! We must clear the battlefield before the enemy reinforcements from the north arrive!"

On August 5th, Wu Fei led 7,000 troops to Dakan Township. This was almost all the troops available for battle, except for the necessary defenses of the major camps and the 4,000 troops needed to besiege Huangyu City.

The Hao army in Hucheng, having received orders to return to reinforce, remained sluggish, terrified by the defeats they had suffered over the past month. This mirrored the fear of Zhao Cheng among the northern warlords, including Zhu Liqiang.

Sun Yong, the general of Hucheng, had become a cautious man. He began to consolidate his army, ignoring the urging of the military commissioner in Huangyu City, and led a thousand elite troops and six thousand conscripted farmers into a single unit. He was willing to expend Hucheng's meager grain supplies to maintain stability.

However, Sun Yong was unaware that when he stopped in Dakan Township, the surrounding Yao Army troops all gathered around him.

Sun Yong was awakened by bugle calls in the camp this morning. He then saw dust flying around him and the banner with the character "武" (meaning "martial") hanging high. He immediately raised the "no-war" sign.

The logic behind the "no war" card is: "I have more troops, I know you can't break through, and I don't want to respond to your provocations. Go cool off somewhere else."

However, the dust did not dissipate, and by noon, more and more people were gathering outside the camp. He sensed that something was wrong.

He currently commands only eight thousand men, including able-bodied soldiers, but that may have been insufficient long ago. For the past month, desertion has been commonplace among his troops. Currently, his main camp can only hold its ground against a force of four or five thousand Yao soldiers. However, judging from the dust rising from the outside, there are now over ten thousand.

In fact, the Dongshi Army surrounding Sun Yong did not exceed ten thousand men. When Wu Fei's army used the dust raised by the horse, they created a situation where they were surrounded by enemies on all sides. Sun Yong still had a chance to break out, but unfortunately, he chose to wait.

Within half an hour of Sun Yong's cowardly retreat, twenty cannons of the Yao Army were dragged out, a small portion of which were provided by Zhu Liqiang. After the cannons were loaded with ammunition, they blasted the "no-battle" sign at the entrance of Sun Yong's camp.

The artillery continued firing, and the heavily armored soldiers, lined up in formation, launched their attack under the cover of the shells flying overhead. Behind them, the three iron lions advanced, their target the tower in the camp.

As the cannonballs blasted open the tents, chaos erupted in Sun Yong's camp. The militiamen in his camp suddenly rebelled, their heads wrapped in red cloth, shouting, "Slay the dragon! Slay the dragon!"

These fifty men were few in number in the camp, but they caused considerable chaos. Sun Yong had originally assembled his troops to prepare for the Yao army's charge, but when he looked back, he saw flames shooting into the sky, and that was not all. Just as he turned around, he suddenly heard shouts of "Defeat! Defeat!" coming from all over the camp.

Sun Yong's troops' morale plummeted. He quickly killed several generals who turned back. Just then, he heard the sound of flapping wings in the sky, followed by a voice shouting, "The one wearing the tall helmet is the enemy general!" Then a volley of fire arrows was fired.

Sun Yong was terrified and quickly ordered his personal guards to gather around him. However, just as he was assembling, he suddenly heard a sharp roar approaching from afar. Only then did he realize that these dragon horses were not actually coming to launch an attack, but to scout out the artillery fire from the rear.

Then, as he prepared to dodge the shells, he felt a sudden dizziness, as if he were drunk. However, he had a good tolerance for alcohol and did not get drunk immediately. He still saw one, no, three shells coming at him in quick succession, as if they were all aimed at him and hit him very accurately.

Despite unleashing his full killing intent, Sun Yong still felt his internal organs dislocate as the cannonballs rained down on him. He coughed up a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of his organs. Before he collapsed, he saw a dragon-horse charging down from the sky.

Faced with the flashing swords, Sun Yong took out a flask of wine from his waist, poured it down with difficulty, and murmured, "How many will return drunk on the battlefield?"

As he was drinking, the Dragon Horse Knight struck with his spear, piercing his chest. He coughed up blood and the wine he hadn't swallowed before being cut down by the swordsmen.

As Sun Yong fell, the camp instantly erupted into chaos. Faced with the slaughter, the remaining Hao soldiers began to fight individually. However, the Wu family army, which had stormed into the camp, was not in a hurry. Faced with the desperate struggle of the Hao Tian remnants who were huddled together, they directly deployed musketeers. Those Hao soldiers who were still stubbornly resisting with their swords and knives saw the Yao army lines separate, revealing rows of dark gun barrels. Their desperate struggle turned into a furious outburst of cursing for "lack of martial ethics."

The leader of the remnant Hao Army said, "If you're men, let's have a real fight!"

Hong Qiang: "Everyone, prepare for the three-stage attack."

Hao Jun, who was only forty paces away with his back against the wall, muttered, "Damn it!"

"Bang!" The execution began amidst the smoke and fire, with swords and knives clattering to the ground.

Hao Jun's remaining courage crumbled under the fire of Yao Jun within fifty paces.

Wu Fei counted the captured flags and the captured high-ranking officers of the Hao army. Standing on the captured military flags, he said, "We'll have to fight two more battles like this, and then we won't need to besiege the city anymore. We can pacify Bohai with a simple proclamation."

(End of this chapter)