On the occasion of rebirth Zhou Sui

Chapter 402 Seizing the City

When Yang Yichen heard that Gaobiling was captured by the Yan army, cold sweat broke out on his back.

Yang Su besieged the city along the way, but only divided his troops into 2,000 men. While the city on the north and south sides of Gaobi Ridge was under the control of the Sui army, Yang Su still left a thousand defenders on the ridge, which shows the importance of this place.

On the one hand, Yang Yichen sent his close associates to Yang Su's camp to report the news, and at the same time, he personally led two thousand cavalry under his command out of the city to see the news.

Passing through the narrow Queshu Valley, Yang Yichen also saw clearly the flags of the Yan army fluttering in the wind on the high cliffs.

Yang Yichen almost broke his teeth. He tentatively ordered the cavalry to dismount and attack the mountain, but was easily beaten back by the Mai Iron Staff.

But it also made Yang Yichen realize that Gaobiling was adequately defended. He left one general behind and led his cavalry to monitor Gaobiling, while he returned to Xihe County and led his infantry to prepare for Yang Su's march south.

The messenger worked hard and traveled more than three hundred miles in one day before delivering the news to Yang Su.

"Qian Jie made me miss a big deal!"

Yang Su no longer had the calmness that he had in the past, and his appearance was distorted by anger, making him look ferocious and terrifying.

It was only the first month of the year and there was no spring plowing yet. There was no need for Yang Liang to fortify the walls and clear the fields. The Sui army could not even find a single grain of food in the fields.

The people were afraid of the war and either fled to the mountains with their rations or hid in the city.

Since going north from Xihe County, Yang Su drove directly to Jinyang, and the cities along the way were only divided into sieges, but there was no attack.

If the logistics supply is cut off by the Yan army at Gaobiling, the consequences will be disastrous.

Yang Su could no longer keep his composure, so he immediately ordered the entire army to break camp and move south, retreating first to Xihe County.

But how could Cui Che let Yang Su leave so easily? After Mai Tiezhang and Li Jing captured Gaobiling, they immediately sent people north to report the news to Cui Che.

Three thousand cavalry had to pass through without being noticed, but the messenger wearing the uniform of the Sui army was able to pass without any scruples. Cui Che had already received good news the day after he captured Gaobi Ridge.

Cui Che immediately ordered the cavalry of the Qi army to harass the Sui army along the way, which also caused the Sui army officers and soldiers to suffer miserably.

It's easy to come, hard to go.

The Yan army's attack did not cause many casualties to the Sui army. After all, Cui Che was also worried that Yang Su had intentionally exposed a flaw, and actually set up an ambush to lure him to attack.

What's more, it made the officers and soldiers of the Sui army exhausted physically and mentally.

The messenger could arrive in a day and night for more than three hundred miles, but when the army went south, it would take five or six days to be attacked by the Yan army's cavalry.

But at night, Cui Che would always send dozens of cavalrymen to beat gongs and drums outside the Sui army camp and make a lot of noise, disturbing the Sui army officers and men and secretly scolding Cui Che for his wickedness, but they were helpless.

However, when Yang Su finally arrived in Xihe County, what he saw was Yang Yichen with red eyes.

Not only was the main force of the Sui army harassed along the way, but the two thousand cavalry left by Yang Yichen to monitor Gaobiling were also destroyed.

It turns out that during the battle of Gaobiling, Li Jing persuaded Mai Tiezhang to let go of the Sui prisoners, but kept their uniforms in case of emergency.

When Li Jing discovered that there was a group of cavalry under surveillance at the foot of the ridge, and after estimating the time for Yang Su to normally go south, he immediately asked Mai Tiezhang for 800 knights, all wearing Sui army uniforms, descending from the south and continuing on the Huoshan path.

Went around to the north.

Li Jing pretended to be Yang Su's advance guard to explore the road, but he was originally from Guanxi. At night, Yang Yichen's remaining troops could not see clearly the appearance of the Khitan cavalry who followed Li Jing, but they could distinguish Li Jing's Guanxi accent.

He actually easily deceived the camp gate and Li Jing led eight hundred cavalry into the camp. Yang Yichen's two thousand cavalry were unprepared and suddenly suffered a night attack.

It was because Yang Ensi was killed by Cheng Yaojin's formation and their morale was low that they were sent by Yang Su to guard Xihe County and did not face Cui Che's main force of the Yan army directly outside Jinyang City.

Now they were frightened again. No matter how much the guard shouted, he could not calm the cavalry. Countless people were trampled on each other. In fact, only a few hundred people were killed by the Yan army who attacked the camp.

Except for a small number of defeated troops who escaped during the night, Li Jing released all 400 prisoners. As for the Sui army's two thousand cavalry horses, Li Jing led them to Gaobi Ridge to be slaughtered and mixed with dry food for consumption.

It's not that Li Jing didn't want to keep these horses, but the fodder on Gaobi Ridge could only supply the needs of his war horses.

The destruction of this cavalry was undoubtedly a huge blow to Yang Yichen. At least the remaining three thousand infantry under his command could no longer ignite their fighting spirit no matter how much they were encouraged.

He didn't understand that he went to Jiaozhou to fight and destroyed the Wanchun Kingdom that had been entrenched for many years. He had a smooth journey, but when he arrived in Hedong, he always suffered defeats whether he faced Cui Che or Li Jing.

Looking at Yang Yichen's current appearance, Yang Su also knew that he could not count on him in this battle.

But fortunately, Xihe County is still there, allowing the Sui army officers and soldiers to have a place to stay.

But before he could take a breath and plan how to capture Gaobi Ridge, his personal followers came to report. Cui Che led the main force of the Yan army to the stronghold outside the city.

Cui Che's move south this time not only harassed the main force of the Sui army, but also occupied a large number of cities in the southern part of the Taiyuan Basin along the way.

When Yang Su gave up the confrontation with the Yan army outside Jinyang City and retreated to Xihe County, he must have withdrawn the siege of the cities along the way.

After all, the top priority now is to recapture Gaobi Ridge, not to capture Jinyang. Since we have already moved south, there is no need to divide our troops to besiege the cities along the way.

If these troops are not recalled, I am afraid they will have to be defeated one by one by Cui Che. There are two thousand people in a city, which is not too many, but it is definitely not too few.

Cui Che, on the other hand, dispatched infantry to seize the city in the name of assisting defense. The city was empty of defenses. Seeing that reinforcements were coming south, he did not dare to compete with the Yan army for control. The defenders led the remaining troops back to Jinyang.

Since then, places in the southern part of the Taiyuan Basin, such as Jiezhou Xicheng County (Jiezhou administrative office, today's Fenyang, Shanxi), Pingyao County, and Bingzhou Qingyuan County, etc., all came under Cui Che's command.

This made Yang Liang in Jinyang City jump anxiously, but he did not dare to fall out.

Although the defenders from various places returned to Jinyang and there were tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in the city, their morale was depleted and they could not bear to fight.

The officers and men under his command also had many contacts with Cui Che, but they did not dare to ask questions for fear of forcing these warriors to rebel.

However, as Gaobi Ridge was captured by Cui Che, Yang Su's retreat was cut off, and the balance of victory clearly tilted towards Cui Che. The civil servants and generals in Jinyang City undoubtedly breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, if Cui Che really wins, Yang Liang will be the only one who suffers.

But if Yang Su wins, everyone will die.

Therefore, at least until Yang Su's defeat is determined, no one, including Wang Kun, Pei Wen'an and others, will try to hinder Cui Che.

Instead, he wanted to persuade Yang Liang to endure the calm for a while and take a step back to open up the world.

No more today, the next chapter will be around ten o'clock tomorrow morning.

(End of chapter)