Chapter 349

Chapter 349

With the Xiongnu in the north and the rebels in the south, Chai Yue faces a difficult choice.

The commander-in-chief of this Chu army is General Cui Hong. In normal times, Cui Hong would never follow the advice of a junior. This time is different. Except for the seal of the general, he handed over almost the entire army to Chai Yue. Let it be arranged, he sat next to him and nodded in agreement.

The few who knew Cui Hong understood that the general had to flee back to the capital, and that was the source of power. As long as the Cui family wanted to continue to have power, they had to win in the capital.

Chai Yue didn't want to think so much. The capital was a desolate place for him, and only in the army could he get the status and dignity he dreamed of.

"This battle can only be won but not defeated. We must let the Huns understand that the strength of the Chu army still exists, so that they can negotiate with them and exchange for the emperor." Chai Yue did not understand the situation outside the Great Wall and Jincheng. His plan was for the Huns to surround the emperor. , the Chu army in turn forced Da Chanyu.

But the Chu army had only 70,000 or 80,000 people after being replenished many times, far less than the Huns. The number of rebels behind them was not large, and cooperating with the enemy was also a big worry.

Being attacked by the enemy on both sides is a dilemma for any general.

Chai Yue decides to take a risk.

"There is an old general guarding the labor house in the north. One day, I only need one day."

Fang Daye nodded. The more important the moment, the less willing he was to speak, and the more gloomy his expression became, but his promise was trustworthy.

Fang Daye commanded 10,000 troops and arranged them along the mountain with several banners to block the more than 100,000 Huns. Chai Yue led the remaining 60,000 or 70,000 troops to attack the approaching rebels with all their strength, striving for one day. End the battle within, turn around and come back to support Fang Daye.

This is an extremely risky plan that requires careful cooperation. The mistakes of either Chai Yue and Fang Daye will lead to the defeat of the entire Chu army.

Chai Yue did not attack immediately, and the formation of troops looked like they were going to fight the Huns. This was a normal choice for ordinary people, but he had already sent a large number of scouts to closely monitor the progress of the southern rebels. He also sent an ambush to prepare Block the rebels' retreat.

As he expected, the rebels were too immature, and they won several small victories on the way to the north. Coupled with the encouragement of the Huns, they believed that this battle would be won, so they rushed forward because of their greed. It was not like they came to fight, but to pick up the spoils of war. , the marching speed is too fast, and the line is stretched longer.

On the morning of the third day after Dadan issued the ultimatum, the emperor was toasting his ministers in Jincheng. The battle of Yan Kingdom started ahead of schedule. The Huns attacked first. The Chu army had no city walls, but only temporary wooden fences. The Huns did not need any siege equipment. As the horses galloped, the Chu army fought against them with rolling wood and beating stones.

Chai Yue began to send out an army, the number of which was small at first, only a few thousand people, it seemed that the Chu army could not spare any manpower to confuse the rebels and lead them into the narrow area that had already been selected.

More than an hour later, Fang Daye blocked the two charges of the Huns. Chai Yue sent all the soldiers in his hands to surround the rebels and shoot them with random arrows - time was running out, Chai Yue did not want to keep prisoners.

The rebels paid a heavy price for their arrogance. They were trapped in a long and narrow valley. There were Chu troops on the front, back, left and right, especially the Chu troops on both sides.

Fang Daye's side was quite difficult. Many defense lines were broken by the Huns. He gathered the remnants of the soldiers and guarded the mountains without giving an inch to attract the Huns to continue to attack.

The Huns made a huge mistake at this time. The famous kings and nobles who commanded the battle never saw the movements of the Chu army behind the ridge, thinking that the Chu army on the ridge was the main force, and the Xiongnu soldiers who broke through the defense line were eager to snatch heads and flags for meritorious service, and did not care at all. other things.

Fang Daye personally held the bow and arrow and fought side by side with the soldiers. He persisted until the evening. There were only a thousand people left, and the arrow and stone were approaching. The Chu army still refused to retreat or surrender.

Only then did the Xiongnu commander realize that the number of Chu troops was wrong.

Chai Yue's army finally returned in time. Although they were running around all day, they took advantage of the victory. They saw the Huns and the banner of the Chu army still standing on the mountain from a distance. The exhaustion of the soldiers was swept away. It should be the defensive side, but at this time it has become the attacker.

The battle of Yan Kingdom will last for three days and three nights. An unnamed mountain has changed hands more than ten times. No one can completely defend it, and no one will give up.

On the same day, fighting took place outside the Great Wall.

After weighing it again and again, Da Chanyu felt that the presence of the Chu army outside the Great Wall in Mayi City was not the most urgent threat, so he quietly transferred the main force of the Huns to the land of Yannan, preparing to destroy the Chu army of Cui Hong in one fell swoop.

Da Danyu didn't know that Deng Cui had arrived in Mayi City, and even if he knew, he wouldn't care. According to the information of the Huns, Deng Cui was just a deserter from the Chu army who kidnapped the concubine of King Youxian, and went all the way westward. No one would have thought that such a person would be a general of the Chu army appointed by the emperor.

The Chu army outside the Great Wall first arrived in the State of Yan, and the Great Wall checkpoints in this area were broken and occupied by the Huns from the pass.

The Huns did not leave many people to guard the gates, and they were not good at guarding high walls, and they always felt that they were not as free as the flat grasslands.

The first level was recaptured in less than half an hour.

Deng Cui suddenly realized that he had picked a big bargain, and as long as he was brave enough, he could continue to pick it up.

Let Deng Cui formulate an impeccable offensive or defensive plan, he can't do it, so every time like this, he finds an excuse to sleep and hand over the specific affairs to the generals under his command, but when it comes to analyzing the general situation and making decisive decisions , he has a keen intuition that is almost perfect, as if there is a god to help.

Deng Cui immediately ordered that all the Chu troops did not need to maintain their formation, and moved forward at full speed in order to seize the number of points at the checkpoint, and they were not allowed to attack by force.

When the emperor fought hard against the Huns in Jincheng and Chai Yue in Yannan, Deng Cui's army was like a wild horse, advancing both inside and outside the pass to snatch the passes of the Great Wall occupied by the Huns.

In fact, Deng Cui lost an opportunity. In order to completely wipe out the Chu army in Yannan, Da Chanyu mobilized more than half of the Xiongnu troops in the pass. From Mayi City to Jincheng, only a small number of Xiongnu troops were stationed. Run to Jincheng to save the car.

But at that time, no one knew about these situations: the Chu army did not know that the Huns moved south, and the Huns did not know that the Chu army was advancing eastward from outside the Great Wall.

The few scouts who found anomalies were running wildly on the road at the moment, and no one believed the news at first.

The people with the most uninformed information are the soldiers and civilians in Jincheng who are besieged.

The Huns' stone-throwing offensive continued until the second half of the night, and the southern wall of Jincheng was already dilapidated.

The emperor also left the city head, and like ordinary soldiers, he immediately ate a few mouthfuls of dry food to prepare for the final battle.

Outside the city was the territory of the Huns, and the Chu army did not intend to leave the city, but to start street battles inside the city.

The old and the weak, women and children were all sent to the North City, where the city wall was intact. The soldiers of the Chu army were lined up on the streets of the North City. Except for a few generals, most of them were walking. Horses, cattle and sheep were arranged in front as the first line of defense in the city.

The Chu army was divided into two divisions, the eastern part was commanded by Fan Zangshan, and the western part belonged to the emperor. Cai Xinghai handed over the responsibility of command and led the few hundred remaining soldiers to protect the emperor.

At the darkest moment in the early morning, the Huns confirmed that Jincheng had been broken, ended the stone throwing, and sent troops into the city.

The Huns crossed the bridge smoothly, quickly sorted out the chaotic rocks in various places in the city wall, and then swarmed in.

The first "enemy" they encountered was not a human being, but a group of mad cows and horses startled by the torches on their tails.

The Huns were attacked, and they were in chaos for a while, and their offensive was frustrated, but it didn't take long for them to regroup, like snakes into the hive.

Jincheng is not a big city, the streets are not very wide, and a lot of earth, stone and bricks are piled up. The advantages of cavalry and crossbows are gone. The Huns can only dismount and compete with the Chu army step by step.

The street fighting lasted for an hour, the sky was already bright, and the Huns made slow progress, so they changed their tactics and started setting fires.

There are not many houses left in Jincheng, especially the southern city. Almost all of them have been demolished to make room for the utensils in the city and to provide earth and stones for the defending city. Only sections of uneven walls are left, so that the horses cannot run freely.

But the fire was still burning.

The Chu army actually took the opportunity to launch a counterattack and drove the setting fire to the city.

The five siege weapons in the city are all made of wood, so large that they cannot be moved, and they are difficult to extinguish after burning, so they can only be left to burn.

The flames soared into the sky, and the Huns outside the city were greatly encouraged to enter the city again, forcing the Chu army to retreat step by step.

Han Ruzi had already dismounted and was running around on the street. At this time, orders were not important. The emperor himself was the most important means of boosting morale. Most of the people around him were lost. Only Zhang Youcai and Cai Xinghai were left with a few eunuchs. Everyone else is fighting with the soldiers, even Meng E and other guards are no exception.

No one asked the emperor why he wanted to guard the city, not even the emperor himself. Everyone went into an almost unconscious state of madness, refusing to give in or surrender.

Han Ruzi felt that there was no need to run around anymore. He had not been in direct contact with the enemy. It was time to join the battle, so he said to Zhang Youcai, "You stay behind."

Zhang Youcai also held a knife and shook his head vigorously.

"You can't fight. If I get hurt, I need your care."

Zhang Youcai nodded reluctantly and stayed on standby with the other two eunuchs.

Han Ruzi smiled at Cai Xinghai and said, "It's a street fight again, do you remember that time in the palace?"

Cai Xinghai certainly remembered that at that time he took the emperor to flee in the long alley, and was chased by more than a dozen Jianghu tourists. It was after that, he gave up on the emperor, so he laughed loudly: "The scene is bigger, and my legs No injuries, you can kill as much as you like."

The two scrambled to run forward, Zhang Youcai and others followed behind, not to let the emperor out of their sight.

There were more and more Chu soldiers in front, and occasionally a cold arrow swept over their heads, and everyone who saw the emperor followed behind and shouted loudly.

A group of soldiers blocked the street and were fighting with the Huns. Han Ruzi and Cai Xinghai could only squeeze forward step by step. There were people on the front, back, left and right, but they couldn't see the enemy, but they knew that the enemy was just a dozen steps away. .

Every step was so difficult. Suddenly, the front was looser. Han Ruzi quickened his pace, and the others also quickened their pace. The swords and guns were swaying, but he still didn't see the enemy.

After running a hundred paces, the emperor and a large number of Chu soldiers suddenly realized that the Huns were actually retreating.