Chapter 566: Troops Enter Shaoxi Mansion
After a long silence, Jia Cong slowly spoke.
"Since Pangu created the heavens, the Three Sovereigns established the nation, and the Five Emperors expanded its borders! Whenever a nation faces great events, men must sacrifice their lives in battle! Even if bones form hills and blood flows across rivers, we must not dishonor our nation's land or destroy its borders! Soldiers will pierce their hearts and souls, generals will sacrifice their lives on the blade, commanders' spears are stained with blood, and kings' blades shine. We make no distinction between old and young, high and low, senior and junior, noble and humble, and we will unite with one heart and one mind! We will drain the waters of the Yellow River and break the waves of the East Sea to conquer the lands of the barbarians, wipe out the hideouts of the Japanese slaves, punish the invaders who bully you, and destroy the barbarians! Even if the vast seas flow, we will stand upright without shame. Even if corpses cover the borders, only our spirits can be relied upon..."
Jia Cong's low voice rang out, and the huge training ground fell silent. Only these words, which were either emotional or tragic, reached their minds.
All the soldiers stood with their chests straight and their eyes blazed. Although they didn't understand some of Jia Cong's words, they could hear the courage and pride in them. And this pride belonged to everyone present.
"Today, I am sending you off to war! But I am also sending you to death!"
"If you return victorious, I will give you a feast to celebrate your victory. If you die on the battlefield, I will erect a monument with your names engraved on it, so that the people will know your contributions to the country and the people."
Crash!
All the soldiers knelt down on one knee and said, "Thank you, Marshal!"
Ma Shang stepped forward, bowed, and shouted, "General, I beg to fight!"
"Go!"
Following Jia Cong's loud shout, the five thousand soldiers saluted and then marched towards the southwest in a mighty force.
When these thousands of soldiers were about to walk out of the gate, a towering war song suddenly floated up from behind them.
"That year, a hundred thousand soldiers marched out of Yumen, their banners waving..."
"The whole army is full of high spirits, the smoke of war billows and confuses the world, the heavy snow falls and covers the bows and swords..."
"The Qiang flute doesn't make the willows lament, the war drums urge the men and horses to howl. Under the moon, weapons flow like water, the setting sun stains the battle robes with its lingering red..."
"Who can say that the general is worried about his white hair when looking in the mirror? How many times, in my dreams, I still hear the flute from the border..."
After seeing off Ma Shang's troops, the military camp was still busy. After noon, Shi Nai led the army to bid farewell to Jia Cong and continued to head south towards Jiading Prefecture.
Afterwards, Jia Cong personally led the remaining troops, about 20,000 in number, and marched southeast into Longzhou.
After two days of marching, the army arrived in Renshou, the capital of Longzhou . Hou Jing and his two companions said goodbye to Jia Cong. They would lead their troops south to Shima Town, while Jia Cong's troops would continue to march southeast to Shaoxi Prefecture.
After another three days of marching, the army arrived at Ziguan, the border between Longzhou and Shaoxi Prefecture.
That night after the troops had temporarily stopped, Jia Cong summoned all the generals to discuss matters.
"We are entering Shaoxi Prefecture. The situation in Shaoxi Prefecture is unclear, so we must proceed with caution."
"Jiang Zining, immediately send scouts to Rongde and Weiyuan to investigate the situation and the strength of the Southern Xinjiang tribes besieging Longtai Town. Also, send troops north of Weiyuan to bypass Fushun Prison and head towards Hutou Mountain."
"Hou Xiaokang still has a full 20,000 troops in Hutou Mountain. The news that Xie Jing and the other two were surrounded must have been caused by the blockade by the Southern Xinjiang tribes, otherwise Hou Xiaokang would not have kept his troops idle. Send him orders to split his troops into two groups. One group should set up an ambush in the area around Da Lao Creek, which is the border between Shaoxi Prefecture and Xuzhou. The other group should march northwest from Hutou Mountain and ambush in the area around the border between Shaoxi Prefecture and Fushun Prison."
"Xie Jing and the other two were trapped, and their escape route must have been cut off. Otherwise, why wouldn't they go to Fushun Prison to join forces with Hou Xiaokang?"
"Longtai Town is only about twenty miles away from the border. Let him wait for an opportunity to surprise attack the troops behind Xie Jing's forces."
"Now that these tens of thousands of tribal soldiers from Longtai Town have arrived, there's no need for them to go back."
"I obey your orders!"
"Qiu Liang, lead a thousand soldiers south to ambush Yingling! If anything happens in Shaoxi Prefecture, the troops here will definitely need to communicate with the troops in Jiading Prefecture and Baima Town. Guard the key roads in the Yingling area and cut off their communication."
"Don't worry, Marshal!" Qiu Liang stood up and accepted the order.
"Lu Feng, you will lead 3,000 soldiers as the vanguard and advance ten miles ahead of the main army. Han Qi, you will lead 5,000 soldiers as the rear guard, and I will personally lead the central army."
"The army passed through Rongde along Shuangxi and headed directly to Longtai Town."
The generals obeyed the order and then went to rest.
After everyone left, Jia Cong lay alone on the bed, lost in thought.
After deciding to lead the troops, he discussed three issues with the Emperor, raising the question of whether Dali would send troops. The first was the influence of the tribes in Chengdu Prefecture. The second was that he was not as familiar with the terrain and local conditions as the other side. The third was the potential risk of Dali sending troops.
And now, the second point.
Although troops had been sent to blockade the north and south of Jiading Prefecture, and it seemed that both Meng Hua and Xie Jing and others had sent scouts, the other party was still able to find loopholes and take the opportunity to put Daqian's troops in danger.
It was not easy to rescue Xie Jing's troops this time. First of all, the soldiers under his command were not many. After the division, there were less than 20,000 soldiers left. The enemy's military strength was unknown. However, the 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers who could trap Xie Jing and his men would be at least several times more. Even with the help of the terrain, the number of the enemy's soldiers would not be less than 50,000.
Secondly, as long as the enemy is not a fool, he will definitely anticipate the arrival of troops and horses, so during the subsequent march, he may be sniped by the enemy at any time.
Another thing is that their troops were tired after several days of attack, while the enemy was well-rested.
After a long while, Jia Cong still couldn't fall asleep, so he got up and went to the hall again. He opened the geological survey map, looked at the next marching route, and deduced the possible battle situation.
…
Between Longtai Town and Gongjing Town, when Xie Jing and his men returned with their troops, they were going to pass through Shaoxi Prefecture and head to Meizhou to meet up with Jia Cong. However, as soon as they entered the territory of Longtai Town, the vanguard army was attacked by the enemy.
The two were not panicked about this. After all, they had more than 30,000 soldiers and horses at their disposal, so they were not without confidence.
The front army fought a decisive battle, with both sides losing one or two thousand soldiers and horses, and then the other side retreated. Xie Jing personally led his troops forward, but he never expected that there was an army of tens of thousands of people blocking his way.
After some discussion, Xie Jing and the other two arranged their troops and fought against the enemy. While the battle was in full swing, the rear army camp was attacked again by the enemy's troops. The two did not dare to fight anymore and hurriedly retreated, but the enemy took advantage of the situation to kill them.
When the two men finally managed to stabilize their troops and checked, they found that the number of casualties had reached six or seven thousand.
Furthermore, it had been confirmed that the enemy's combined forces numbered at least 50,000 to 60,000. If it were the troops from the major camps in the capital, Xie Jing might not be without the confidence to fight them again. However, the combat effectiveness of these local troops was generally average, and even with an equal number, they might not be a match for the enemy.
