The Red Mansions

Chapter 565 Jia Heng: Report Victory to the Court!

Chapter 565 Jia Heng: ...report victory to the imperial court!

In the evening, the soldiers of the Beijing camp in front of Sishui Pass were cleaning the battlefield, collecting arrows, broken soldiers, flags, and burying the corpses. Everything was quiet and chilling. From time to time, crows in the mountains circled and flew by, pecking He was eating the dead body on the ground, and suddenly saw a small group of cavalry galloping past the official road, and was frightened, flying to the mountain forest.

Throughout the afternoon, the cavalrymen of the Beijing camp were divided into dozens of units in a team of 50 people, chasing and killing the bandits who were scattered in the endless wilderness, and gradually returned as night fell.

At the gate of the city, Jia Yun was wearing a red uniform of the Han army, covered with black armor, holding a Yanling knife in his hand, looking up at the official road in the distance, looking past the Jingying cavalry who came from time to time, waiting for Guoyong Qu Guang, the battalion ginseng, returned.

Although Jia Yun is Qu Guang's personal soldier, in fact, he seldom fights with a knife in battle, because he is a member of the Jia clan. There will be intentional or unintentional care.

Really complied with that sentence, the war in the Beijing camp is not about fighting and killing, but about people's understanding of the world.

"The general is back." At this moment, the soldiers standing tall and looking far from the gate tower called out loudly, and cheers came from the gate tower.

Hearing this, Jia Yun quickly raised her eyes and saw smoke and dust rising from the official road in the southeast direction, obscuring her sight, and pairs of cavalry pawns galloping from a distance like a surging tide, seven or eighty cavalry They have already come to the front within a breath, but they haven't waved their banners, and some soldiers are also listless and tired.

Qu Guang, who led his personal guards to chase after Gao Yue's remnant soldiers and returned, took the reins of his horse and approached the Sishui City Pass. With a "wow", he slowly slowed down his horse, and the cavalry behind him gradually followed into the city gate.

Jia Yun trotted all the way and followed the cavalry into the city gate, clasped her fists and said, "General, you're back."

Qu Guang got off his horse, handed the horse to Jia Yun, and said, "Let people drink water and fodder."

Then, dragging his heavy body, he headed towards the barracks built in the city gate.

At this time, Kang Shaowei, the deputy general who was checking the supplies in the treasury, heard that Qu Guang had returned, and hurriedly led a group of personal soldiers to meet him. He clasped his fists and said, "General Qu, have you ever chased down the bandit leader Gao Yue?"

Qu Guang's face was not very good-looking, his eyes were indifferent, and he said angrily: "Leading people chase all the way to Zheng County, who wants to meet a group of bandits who are accompanying them, fight with them for a while, break some soldiers, and the bandit leader will flee to Zhongmou Going to the county, the bandits are very powerful there, and I have few soldiers, so it is not easy to go deep."

When Kang Shaowei heard this, he secretly said it was a pity, and followed Qu Guang into the barracks.

Qu Guang entered the barracks, picked up the teapot and gulped down the lukewarm tea, then wiped the water from his beard, and asked loudly, "Would you like to send it to Jie Shuai?" With the military newspaper?"

Kang Shaowei said: "After a while, after defeating the enemy bandits, I have already ordered several fast horses to send them over."

Qu Guang asked: "After the general leaves, how is the battle going?"

"Except for a small number of 200 people who fled to the mountains and forests, the scouts under their command were still searching and searching. They were killed or captured, and almost the entire army was wiped out. According to the captured thieves, this time it was Gao Yue who led the old battalion to attack. Their men were originally There are 6000 people, and [-] were taken to Kaifeng Mansion, and now most of them have been lost." When mentioning this matter, Kang Shaowei's tone was also somewhat excited, since the Jingying became an army, there has never been such a big victory.

And the most important thing is that a basic judgment has been made on the number of thieves entrenched in Kaifeng Mansion, and a total of 4000 people went there.

Qu Guang quickly asked: "How many thieves are there in Kaifeng Mansion now?"

Kang Shaowei said: "The thieves are bluffing. Except for Gao Yue's subordinates, there are only more than ten thousand people in Kaifeng Mansion who can really fight. Many of these are bandits entrenched in the west of Henan and some from Shandong. The others are all peasants who have just put down their hoes, adding up to [-] to [-], which is called [-]."

Qu Guang frowned, and said, "That's not a lot, 6 to [-] people, it's not scabies, it's clearly a worry."

Kang Shaowei seemed a little hesitant, but he still said: "There are still some Henan capital officials who surrendered. They accepted the votes and were disrupted and organized into bandits. There are not many, about five or six hundred."

Qu Guang's face was gloomy, and he said in a low voice: "When Kaifeng is recovered, the imperial court will deal with it on its own."

After Kang Shaowei heard the words, he didn't continue to mention this matter.

Qu Guangdao: "It's not too late, Deputy General Kang, you immediately lead [-] riders to cross the river to the north and north, and stop the enemy's escape from the north in the Yanjin area. Although you can barely win a game, you can't ruin the arrangement of the commander-in-chief."

This is also what Qu Guang mentioned with Kang Shaowei before, the strategy to prevent the bandits from fleeing when they encounter the police, we can't wait for Jia Heng to come to Sishuiguan to send troops to arrange, and immediately block it on his own initiative.

Kang Shaowei said: "The last general will set off now."

Saying that, without further delay, he got up and left.

As Qu Guang said, his face was ugly, and he was still a little annoyed and said in a low voice: "Although most of the bandits' main force will be wiped out in this battle, there is no guarantee that the bandits will not escape from other provinces. If the bandit leader is captured..."

At this time, Jia Yun, the soldier beside him, said: "Don't be upset, general. Our army is all cavalry. Even if the enemy flees in all directions and uses light cavalry to capture the remnants of the bandits, there is no need to worry about them corrupting other states and counties." .”

Qu Guang waved his hands, nodded, and said, "This is the only way to do this."

Henan Prefecture, Gongyi County

Towards evening, the western sky was filled with sunset glow, dyeing the entire western sky red. The more than 2 cavalry led by Jia Heng did not enter the county seat, but dismounted on the plain three miles southwest of the county seat to take a rest and give the horse a rest. Forage, people eat dry food, due to the urgent march, I brought three days of dry food with me, and I can barely deal with dinner at the moment.

"Military newspaper of General Qu at Sishuiguan." At this moment, a captain in Jinyi, with a military newspaper in his hand, trotted all the way to Jia Heng and a group of personal guards.

Jinyi Qianhu Liu Jixian quickly reached out to take it, turned around and handed it over: "Jieshuai."

Jia Heng was surprised, reached out to take the military newspaper, looked down, and gradually frowned.

The military newspaper roughly records the cause, process, and results of the Battle of Sishuiguan. Qu Guang fought against the three thousand bandits led by the bandit leader Gao Yue, and won a great victory. He wiped out most of the bandits in one fell swoop. Guangqin led his own soldiers to pursue him.

"Sir?" Princess Xianning looked at Jia Heng curiously. Seeing his serious face, she put down the scallion pancake wrapped in kraft paper and handed it to Xia Houying who was beside her. ? "

Xia Houying, who was standing by the side of Princess Xianning with a knife, took the pancake, her willow-leaf eyebrows were condensed, her clear eyes were bright and shining, and her eyes fell on the military newspaper in Jia Heng's hand.

General Jia Heng handed the report to Princess Xianning, and said with a smile: "Your Highness also take a look, Sishui Pass has just fought with bandits and wiped out three thousand bandits."

Deployment belongs to deployment, and the battlefield is changing rapidly. Since Gao Yue is so unwise, there is nothing wrong with Qu Guang's move. As for the others, just think of another way.

"Oh?" Princess Xianning said in amazement, then quickly took the military newspaper, lowered her beautiful eyes to read it, and said in surprise: "The next battle at Sishui Pass wiped out three thousand cavalry soldiers, and captured countless?"

Several other surrounding generals also circulated it, discussing it happily, and it spread for a while, and the cavalrymen who were a little tired and demoralized regained their fighting spirit.

Looking at this scene, Jia Heng thought to himself, this is fine, at least the morale will be high, and when they arrive at Kaifeng Mansion, the generals will strive to be the first.

Princess Xianning recalled Jia Heng's frown just now, and asked with concern: "Sir, does this allow the bandits to call the police in advance? Abandoning the city of Kaifeng and fleeing elsewhere, did it disturb the previous deployment?"

Jia Heng said softly: "The two armies are facing each other, and the fighters are fleeting, so we can't be limited to deployment. The most urgent thing now is to adapt to the situation and make arrangements."

Strategically, strategies can be deployed in advance, but tactically, the micromanagement of "moving the machine gun five meters to the left" is not possible, and the situation on the battlefield changes at any time according to the fighting situation between the two sides. Into a pot of porridge?

Princess Xianning nodded, and said: "General Qu said in the military newspaper that there are remedial measures, and he sent [-] cavalry soldiers to the Yanjin line to monitor the route of the bandits fleeing north."

Jia Heng pondered and said: "Now the bandits are hurting, I don't worry about the north, they either flee to the Shandong border, or go south to Jianghuai, these two places must be prepared in advance, fortunately, we have a lot of cavalry and strong mobility. "

The original worry was that Gao Yue would lead his horse bandits to attack, and it would be embarrassing if they broke through the county seat, but now that most of their main force has been lost, the danger has been greatly reduced.

Princess Xianning saw a look of surprise on her face, and asked: "So, according to Mr., the thieves may escape from Kaifeng Mansion to the south?"

Jia Heng shook his head and said: "When the thieves are defeated, most of them have doubts in their hearts, but if they leave the rioters who have finally gathered together, I'm afraid it's not easy to give up. Of course, we have to guard against it. Now we still have to block it in advance. However, now that the thieves and cavalry have been wiped out and their mobility is restricted, it is difficult to pose a threat to Jianghuai, Yingchuan and other places. We can’t wait to be stationed in Zheng County before dispatching.”

So Qu Guang's victory this time lies in his active attack. In the first battle, most of the bandits' main forces were wiped out, and most of the military power that could cause chaos in a province was cut off. sub-uncertainty.

The latter can only be prevented and adjusted through corresponding strategies, but the thinking is largely unchanged, and the focus is still on encirclement, suppression and annihilation.

"After eating, we need to speed up the march." Jia Heng looked at Princess Xianning who was thinking, and then looked at Liu Jixian at the side, and ordered: "Let Jinyi and the soldiers of the Jingying army send pigeons and deliver them urgently. Report victory to the court."

In any case, defeating the main force of the thieves was a good start, and it could also ease the hearts of the emperor and courtiers a little.

Liu Jixian bowed his hands and said yes, and took the order to go.

……

……

In the middle of the night, the city of Sishuiguan was shrouded in darkness, and a round of bright moon in the sky was as bright as silver, shedding thousands of brilliance. Balls of flames in the middle, beating non-stop with the evening wind, also reflected the faces of the soldiers of the Han army near the crenels of the gate tower red.

Among the row upon row of houses in Guancheng, one of them is the official office of Sishuiguan. At the back of the courtyard, in the side room, Qu Guang, with the help of Jia Yun and a few soldiers, was sitting on the back of the house. Jin Chuang Yao was bandaging the wound, and there was a clearly visible knife wound on his shoulder, which was injured by Gao Yue when he fought with Gao Yue.

Just before Qu Guang entered the Guancheng, he was worried about affecting the morale of the army, so he didn't mention this to the deputy general Kang Shaowei, and the injury was covered by the cloak on his back, and Kang Shaowei didn't notice anything wrong.

Qu Guang returned to his residence after deploying troops to defend the city of Sishui Pass, and ordered his own soldiers to help with the Jinchuang medicine.

"General, the wound is covered with medicine. Change it twice a day, and the scar should heal within three to five days." Jia Yun helped Qu Guang wrap up the white gauze at this moment, put the small bottle of Jinchuang medicine in the suitcase aside, and then After passing the towel that the soldiers had replaced, he twisted a pot of hot water, washed his hands and said.

While putting on his clothes, Qu Guang asked with a smile, "Jia Erlang, who did you learn your medical skills from?"

Jia Yun washed her hands and said with a smile: "My uncle at home opened a medicine shop, and I went there to play when I was a child, and saw the doctor inside who had been diagnosed and treated."

Qu Guang encouraged with a smile: "My boy, why don't you ask Marshal Jie to assign you a job as a military doctor? If there are more people to be treated, you can also confine your wife and son."

"It's more realistic to follow the general to fight and make meritorious deeds. Besides, I follow the general all the way. I feel that the more I think about this battle, the more I know." Jia Yun wiped her hands, with a simple smile on her handsome face.

Qu Guang knew that this was Jia Yun euphemistically reminding him of the taboo of fighting, so he smiled and said, "Then can you practice the marksmanship that I taught you?"

A smile appeared on Jia Yun's face that resembled "Sun Shiwan", and said: "General, I can already practice it once."

"Okay." Qu Guang was about to say something, but at this moment, he heard the voice of a soldier from outside, "General, the army of Jieshuai has already arrived outside the pass city, please go and greet him."

Qu Guang's complexion changed, and he got up quickly, took the Yanling Saber picked up from the table, and said to Jia Yun, "Go, go to meet him, I thought I should come here now."

However, when Qu Guang led a group of soldiers to meet the visitors, he saw Cai Quan who came with [-] cavalry.

At this moment Cai Quan, under the retinue of his own soldiers, got off his horse and said with a smile, "Old Qu."

As he spoke, he stepped forward to hug Qu Guang and patted his shoulder.

Qu Guang let out a "hiss".

Cai Quan's complexion changed slightly, and he hurriedly asked, "Old Qu, what is this?"

"Fighted against the bandit leader Gao Yue, and was slashed by the knife in his hand." Qu Guang explained, seeing that there was no one beside Cai Quan, he asked, "Where is Jie Shuai?"

"Jie Shuai is still behind, and he probably won't come until tomorrow morning. Jie Shuai heard that Guancheng had dispatched a lot of people to Yanjin, so he sent a fast horse to urge me to come and help." Cai Quan smiled. , Said, ordered several thousand households beside him to lead soldiers and horses to settle.

Hearing this, Qu Guang led Cai Quan towards the Guan Yamen under the light of pine oil torches on both sides, and asked, "Have you received the military report before? How do you say it?"

Cai Quan said: "What else can I say? Let me lead the army to help, and say that General Qu's defense is empty. Don't make a mistake."

"I am here with a thousand soldiers and horses, even if bandits come with a hundred thousand troops, I will not be afraid." Qu Guang said with a solemn expression.

"General Qu is proud!" Cai Quan laughed and said, and then followed Qu Guang into Guancheng.

……

……

The night is deep and everything is silent, only the sycamore trees illuminated by the bright moon make rustling sounds under the blowing of the spring breeze.

In Kaifeng Mansion, in the study room in the backyard of the yamen hall, Shao Yingchen was wearing a blue gown, standing with his hands behind his back, looking out the window at the quiet night.

"Mr. Shao, are you still asleep?" At this moment, accompanied by a calm and firm voice, Gao Yue's general Zhan Weiyong entered the study with heavy steps and asked.

Shao Yingchen turned his head to look at the person who came, and asked, "Brother Zhan, have the defenses in the city been properly arranged?"

The 27-year-old red-faced general in front of him was also one of Gao Yue's 36 cavalry. He was entrusted with the important task of guarding Kaifeng by the general because of his serious temperament and sophistication, and he was a rare general who did not have the habit of banditry for years.

"It's been arranged, and it's according to Mr.'s wishes. Harassment of local merchants and people is strictly prohibited." Zhan Weiyong said, frowning, and said coldly: "Some people are too shameless. Bullying, now that he has entered the city, he is even more vicious than those officers and soldiers, like a beast! Sir, there are more and more people gathered here, and it is getting harder and harder to restrain."

As Gao Yue's troops conquered Kaifeng City, there were bandits who were used to looting and looting, and some gangsters who were originally in government prisons. Joining Gao Yue's troops now, the military discipline is corrupt and lawless. A catastrophe has ushered in. It can be said that the people of Kaifeng Mansion almost hate the bandits.

However, after Shao Yingchen persuaded Gao Yue to prevaricate him, he still did not give up the idea of ​​trying to restrain the military discipline of the thieves, and asked Zhan Weiyong, who stayed in Kaifeng, to strictly restrain the heroes of all walks of life in Kaifeng and suppress lawlessness.

Zhan Weiyong had always admired Shao Yingchen, a military think tank, and acted on his word. On this day, he had many conflicts with all kinds of heroes from all walks of life.

"Sir, just now, my subordinates clashed with some members of the Tiger Gang who took refuge in Big Brother, and killed five or six people from the other side, and the other side just stopped." Zhan Weiyong said with a frosty complexion, frowning, shaking his head : "Since entering the city, I feel that some old brothers have also changed. They either eat wine and play for money, or lead their brothers to find those big girls and young wives in the city to spoil them. I waited to follow the big brother to fight for Fengtian. Advocate righteousness, now everyone comes to Kaifeng to join the gang, it's not good."

This is the scene after the fall of Kaifeng in the past few days. The basic social order has been chaotic, which is why Gao Yue hastily dispatched troops to Sishui Pass, because the longer it takes, the less able it is to restrain these heroes.

Shao Yingchen sighed, and said: "I saw a few in Runing Mansion before, but now in this provincial capital, it's even worse."

"No, according to this, it would be better not to come down on Jitou Mountain. Originally, those corrupt officials were killed, but now they are ten times worse than those corrupt officials." Zhan Weiyong said with a cold snort.

As Gao Yue's troops grew like a snowball, especially after the Kaifeng mansion was taken down, the momentum was the same, but the team under him was mixed. At this moment, there are more than a dozen groups of large and small forces in Kaifeng city, and each has its own territory. Originally, Gao Yue's old camp The old brothers of the old school were also brought down.

Shao Yingchen was worried, and said: "Now it's up to the general. If we can capture Sishui Pass and threaten Luoyang City, we can reorganize these people."

As he spoke, he asked again: "Has there been any news from the general?"

Zhan Weiyong took a sip of tea, put down the teacup, and said, "Not yet, but according to common sense, it's almost time to win the Sishui Pass."

Shao Yingchen shook his head and said worriedly: "It's hard to say."

"Mr. Shao is worried that big brother will go on a business trip?" Zhan Weiyong frowned and asked worriedly.

Shao Yingchen's face was serious, his eyes flickering brightly, he sighed, and said: "Today I thought about the situation again, I'm afraid that no matter how slow the court is, and after the Kaifeng mansion is destroyed, it should be aware of it, the general is going... ...I'm afraid we won't be able to break through Sishui Pass by surprise."

Ever since Gao Yue led his brothers to plan a surprise attack on Sishui Pass, he was a little worried, and even regretted that he didn't persuade Gao Yue earlier.

Zhan Weiyong's face changed slightly when he heard the words, and he said anxiously: "Sir, what do you mean, the imperial court's reinforcement army has arrived?"

Shao Yingchen sighed, and said: "Even if there is no reinforcement army, how can the Henan government not send troops to defend the pass? I originally thought of giving it a try, but now I feel a little reckless."

The main reason is that Gao Yue was unwilling to give up and insisted on trying it out. In fact, no one could bear it. Luoyang City was right in front of him, and he led three thousand cavalrymen with well-equipped armor and high morale. What's more, Gao Yue has never fought with such a rich force in so many years!

Once the Sishui Pass is seized, tens of thousands of troops will follow up, sweep Heluo, and take down Luoyang. Thinking about it makes one's blood boil, but it is destined to be a dream.

While the two were discussing, Shao Yingchen frowned, and looked outside in surprise. It was clearly the sound of restlessness coming from the outside, which was extremely clear in the quiet midnight.

Zhan Wei changed his complexion slightly, calling out to the soldiers outside the eaves, and said, "Go and see what's going on?"

However, just as the guards arrived at the Moon Gate, they suddenly heard a few people outside shouting, "The master is back."

Even after entering the city, these bandits from Jitou Mountain still did not change their previous address to Gao Yue.

"Mr. Shao, the boss is back." Zhan Wei said in surprise.

However, Shao Yingchen frowned, his heart skipped a beat, coming back at this time... I'm afraid it's not a good thing.

(End of this chapter)