Have I been turned into a groundhog too?
Chapter 131: Close the door and beat the dog
Yuwen Tai did not give Zhang He any chance to react as he stabbed the marmot in front of him with his spear, but the tip of the spear felt a heavy resistance, accompanied by a metallic clang, and a series of brilliant sparks. Even though Zhang He was maliciously deformed, his passive talent still existed. His shiny fur turned directly into steel, blocking Yuwen Tai's attack.
Once attacked, Yuwen Tai's magic was broken, and Zhang He turned back into his original form. He picked up the spear with lingering fear.
Fortunately, my talent is transformation. The moment I was attacked, my skin transformed into the corresponding elements and metals. Otherwise, I would have been pierced through the heart by the spear!
Yuwen Tai frowned slightly, and a confused expression appeared on his youthful face.
He has a strong talent, which can transform people into black otters, making them lose the ability to speak and unable to hold weapons. This is extremely deadly to both mages and warriors, and often only requires a single spear strike to kill them. The only drawback is that if attacked, the transformation magic will be forcibly stopped.
However, Zhang He's passivity just offset his own advantages.
Seeing that he could not win by magic, Yuwen Tai brandished his lance and fought Zhang He openly. The lance in his hand was like a violent storm, or as if it were turning the sea upside down, sweeping, blocking, grabbing, and stabbing, with each strike aimed at Zhang He's vital points.
The pressure Zhang He felt from her was exactly the same as that from Zhang Liang. This centurion leader was extremely powerful and had excellent skills, and he quickly overwhelmed Zhang He in close combat. But even though Yuwen Tai had the upper hand, he was unable to kill Zhang He. Several times he broke through her defense and stabbed her heart with his spear, but her skin turned into steel and she only stepped back two steps, unable to cause any damage.
Yuwen Tai became more and more annoyed as the battle went on. He muttered something to himself and suddenly a cloud of poisonous smoke spewed out from his spear. He tried to break through Zhang He's defense with a combination of acid and physical damage.
But it didn't matter. Although Zhang He's dragon blood talent was afraid of mixed damage, he himself was a Confucian scholar. Facing the long spear wrapped in poisonous smoke, he just used [Remove Magic] to release a perfect arcane pulse, breaking Yuwen Tai's weapon enchantment. Yuwen Tai gained the upper hand several times and broke through the defense several times, but he just couldn't cause any harm to Zhang He.
At this moment, other Han troops also rushed over under the leadership of several Qu Junhou. Even though this group of people turned into marmots and dug a tunnel without anyone noticing, the exit was not big, and only fifty horses and cavalry sneaked in. The rest of the horses and cavalry were stuck in the tunnel and couldn't get out. There was no place left on the ground.
There were as many as five hundred Han soldiers surrounding the group of black otters. After a round of terrifying javelin throwing, the sword and shield men in the first row used shields and long swords to stick to the surroundings of the men and horses, making it impossible for them to break out and charge. The halberd men in the second row, the spearmen in the third row, and the battle spearmen in the fourth row waved dense spears and halberds like a forest, surrounding the fifty men and horses, and countless sharp spear tips stabbed at them like raindrops.
On a nearby city wall, a hundred Han soldiers gathered, using sixty crossbows and twenty longbows to shoot a powerful rain of arrows, shooting the troops who followed Yuwen Tai into a bloody mess like hedgehogs. If these troops had not been wearing heavy armor, they would have been dead by now.
Yuwen Tai sighed. The defender of Yubi City was in real trouble. If her talent was not clever, she would have died under his spear by now. He could then take her head and destroy the morale of the Han army in Yubi, causing it to collapse and thus conquer the city.
But now, not only did Zhang He not die, but he also dragged himself here. More and more Han troops came to reinforce. If he didn't run away, he would really be shot into a hedgehog. Brave and skilled generals are not afraid of group fights, but it is difficult for them to deal with bows and crossbows projectiles beyond the line of sight.
Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Yuwen Tai pursed her red lips and blew a shrill whistle. The fifty horses that had rushed out slowly retreated, and she herself also personally covered the rear and retreated from the tunnel she had dug.
Zhang He did not pursue them. Instead, he threw a few handfuls of burning straw into the tunnel, filling the entire tunnel with flames and thick smoke. Soon, violent coughing sounds were heard throughout the underground, forcing the group of people to retreat and flee.
"Immediately dig trenches inside the city wall! Place more basins and turn them upside down on the ground to listen to the sound! Five bends and five villages! You 100 people are responsible for monitoring the ground! The enemy has turned into a groundhog to dig the ground! Amplify the frequency of the monitoring sound!"
Zhang He wiped a cold sweat, it was too dangerous, the entire Jade Wall was almost destroyed!
The tense and exciting offensive and defensive battle continued. The Yuwen Xianbei tribe, which had absorbed Han people and orcs, used all kinds of strange tactics in the siege. However, Zhang He went to the front line to supervise the battle. On the fourth day, the Yuwen Xianbei still failed to break into Yubi.
It took Yuwen Tai three days to march from Jiexiu to Yubi and four days to besiege the city. Zhang He's toughness bought Liu Zhuang a full seven days. During this time, Liu Zhuang not only assembled the remaining four battalions of troops, but also began to make new deployments against Yuwen Tai.
First, the fully assembled four battalions of 10,000 people did not go directly north to Yubi to support Zhang He, but made a big circle to the west, and returned to the west of Yuwen Xianbei from the south of Yuwen Xianbei without anyone noticing.
Anyi Camp and Laishui Camp were two newly formed camps by the Hedong people. Although they were fully equipped with weapons, their training level was the lowest. Liu Zhuang placed these two camps in Fenyin and Longmen, and cooperated with the local county magistrate's private soldiers to station them there. They blocked all the Yellow River crossings in the Fenshui Basin, making it impossible for people and horses to escape along the Yellow River, thus blocking Yuwen Tai's retreat route to the west.
Afterwards, Liu Zhuang led the most combat-effective Baima Battalion and Zhangshui Battalion from Longmen Ferry, heading north all the way to Jiexiu!
Yuwen Xianbei's road to the south was blocked by Yubi City, and she was unable to break through.
Now, the several ferry crossings that Yuwen Xianbei used to cross the Yellow River to the west were also completely blocked.
As long as I can recapture Jiexiu, I can cut off Yuwen Xianbei's route back to the north! Completely block these invaders from the south, west, and north!
As for the east? The east is the Taihang Mountains, a natural geographical barrier. Yuwen Tai has fallen into his own trap. As long as I can take back Jiexiu, the 10,000 troops that have penetrated deep into Hedong will be like a beast in a cage and a cooked duck in a pot!
Liu Zhuang led 5,000 elite soldiers and rushed towards Jiexiu day and night. Along the way, he relied on his double-pupil vision and two hundred elite veterans under Tuoba Yun as scouts, vigilantly checking the scouts along the way, just to make 5,000 people appear at the foot of Jiexiu city without anyone noticing and take back the north gate of Hedong City!
In order to gain a time difference, Liu Zhuang even organized a separate cavalry. There were one thousand elite cavalry in the Baima Camp, and five hundred veteran horsemen in the Zhangshui Camp. The one thousand war horses that the Guo family had just sent were immediately put on stirrups and high-bridge saddles, and one thousand new recruits who were usually trained as pack horses were put on. A total of two thousand five hundred cavalrymen were made, who took the lead in launching a surprise attack on Jie Xiu!
Chapter 132: Thousand Miles Attack
It took Yuwen Tai three days to fight his way from Jiexiu City to Yubi, traveling fifty kilometers a day. After all, the counties in Hedong were well-fortified and she had concerns about food and fodder.
Liu Zhuang set out from Longmendu to Jiexiu, and the distance to Jiexiu was also 150 kilometers. His cavalry traveled lightly and traveled 100 kilometers in one day and one night. Passing by the county town and the fort, he directly used the seal of the governor to ask the local county magistrate and the nobles to bring their own private soldiers and food and grass to follow behind, and quickly followed me to fight Jiexiu! When the time comes, the spoils will be divided equally!
At noon the next day, 2,500 cavalrymen arrived at a forest near Jiexiu City. In order to make up for the time difference, Liu Zhuang even killed more than 60 pack horses. The other horses were also exhausted, and some of them collapsed directly to the ground.
Liu Zhuang immediately ordered all the men to rest for the afternoon. In the evening, Tuoba Yun, with two hundred elite troops under his command, appeared at the gate of Jiexiu, pretending to suppress Liu Zhuang, Lu Bu, Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao, Guo Huai and other elite Han cavalry among the hundred elite troops.
"Open the door! We have captured a large number of Han officials! These people are very important. If we leave them on the front line, we may lose them. The chief asked us to take them back to Jiexiu City and detain them!"
Although Tuoba Yun was sinicized, she experienced the most glorious era of Xianbei when she was a child, and she still knew her mother tongue, so she could open the city as soon as she opened her mouth.
The troops in charge of defending the city were very careful. She first looked at the flag of the Tuoba tribe. Well, it was in the Xianbei style, but she had forgotten which tribe it belonged to - after all, there were hundreds of troops from large and small tribes who followed Yuwen south, and it was impossible for her to remember them all.
As for the Han captives, they had no armor or weapons and were tied up tightly with ropes. They posed no threat at all. Some of them were indeed wearing expensive silk robes and looked very rich and noble.
Forget it, there are indeed a group of traitors in Yanmen County, but where did the troops in the hinterland of Hedong come from? He believed in Tuoba Yun's identity and opened the city gate to let the group of people in. Unexpectedly, just after passing through the city gate corridor, Tuoba Yun directly transformed into a violent white bear with the changing blue magic shadow, and smashed the head of the centaur with one palm!
"Capture the city gate immediately!!!"
At Liu Zhuang's command, two hundred Tuoba tribe soldiers immediately entered combat status. While protecting the one hundred Han people, they started a massacre of their former compatriots. They stabbed long spears into Qiumuling's chest and shot feather arrows accurately into the heads of their comrades.
These elite Han soldiers disguised as prisoners immediately broke free from the ropes. Liu Zhuang threw out everyone's weapons and armor from his Qiankun bag, and the group was quickly armed within five minutes. Lu Bu was too lazy to even put on his armor. He grabbed his Netherworld Bow and shot three times, hitting the target three times. In the dark, he shot the heads of three guards, dumbfounding the Qiumuling clan's soldiers who were responsible for staying behind.
No, what happened? Why are there also rebels in Hedong?
"Traitor! Xianbei traitor!!!"
Losing the protection of the city wall and being outnumbered, dozens of Xianbei soldiers retreated quickly, cursing and seeking news from their leader, and directly ceded the southern city wall to the three hundred Han troops.
Liu Zhuang had only 300 men at the moment, and he didn't know the specific number and location of the troops left behind, so he didn't dare to take risks. He just shot whistling arrows to communicate with the army. The 300 men defended the city wall, waiting for the arrival of the other 2,200 cavalrymen to attack Jie Xiu together.
After an anxious wait, reinforcements from both sides arrived almost at the same time. On Liuzhuang's side, the Baima Camp and the Zhangshui Camp had a total of 2,500 cavalrymen, with spears in the air and large flags waving. On the other side, the Qiumuling clan who stayed behind had only 500 soldiers, a five-to-one difference in strength.
These five hundred soldiers were frightened after seeing the comparison of troop strength, and many of them wanted to abandon the city and flee. If the city gate had not been lost, it would not be a problem for us to defend it with the help of the city wall.
But now the city wall has been lost, the Han army has rushed into the city, and we are fighting a street battle with an enemy five times our number? Is this true?
"Don't be afraid! Don't be timid! The Han army is only gathering at the city gate. A large number of Han troops have not yet entered the city! Everyone, immediately launch an attack with me! Drive the Han people out!"
The leading horse was waving a long spear and roaring loudly.
"Jiexiu is the northern gate of Hedong! It must not fall! If we run away, Black Otter and other tribesmen will be trapped in Hedong and can't get out! Do you want to escape back to the grassland and be stabbed in the back by their wives and children? Everyone, charge with me! Sacrifice blood to the Blood God, and offer your skull to the Skull Seat!!!"
Amid the inspiring roar, the centaur leader brandished his spear and charged towards the Han army. A large number of Xianbei centaur soldiers were infected by his fanatical shouting and charged forward together, trying to drive the Han army, which had just captured the city gate and was not yet firmly established, out of the city!
Hundreds of soldiers and horses came in a mighty force, drawing their bows and arrows, ready to shoot three times rapidly after rushing within a hundred meters, disrupting the formation of the Han army, and then launching a devastating charge.
However, when they rushed to two hundred meters away, Lu Bu remained calm, took a deep breath, and fired three rapid shots at the centaur leader. One shot hit the forehead, one shot pierced the neck, and one shot pierced the heart. The centaur leader died on the spot, and blood was spilled all over the ground. The morale of all the centaur soldiers was severely hit, and the centaur soldiers who were charging nearby were all stunned where they were.
"Everyone, charge!"
Seeing that Lu Bu's long-range sniper kill was successful, Liu Zhuang immediately blew the charge horn, and led the Han army that rushed in first to launch a counterattack. For a moment, countless arrows poured down on the heads of both sides like a rainstorm, causing blood and flesh to fly everywhere and skin to be torn. Countless long spears pierced into the enemy's body like a forest of metal, leaving corpses all over the ground and blood flowing like a river.
Lu Bu wielded his halberd and with one sweep he was able to knock down at least two horses at the same time. Zhang Liao and Zhao Yun were like two flying stars, one purple and one silver, flashing in the chaotic crowd of horses and soldiers, bringing death and terror. Tuoba Yun performed several blasphemous priestly spells and directly transformed herself into a four-meter-tall giant bear wearing Khorne bronze armor and burning with Tzeentch's magic flame. She rushed left and right in the crowd, unmatched. Liu Zhuang rode on her back and shot his arrows left and right, never missing a target.
Guo Huai also chanted something, causing balls of flaming fire to rise slowly and explode in the area where the Xianbei people were most concentrated!
The Qiumuling clan was already at a disadvantage in terms of numbers, and their leader was shot dead by Lu Bu during the charge. Once the close combat fell into a stalemate, or even an unfavorable situation, their morale collapsed as they watched more and more Han troops pour into the city. After fighting for less than ten minutes, they showed signs of retreat. When the second cavalry charge entered the city accompanied by deafening drumbeats, the entire Qiumuling clan collapsed completely, and fled screaming.
The author says:
Author's words: 2000 monthly tickets plus more~
Chapter 133: The Master's Strategies
"Lü Bu! Zhang Liao! Dugu Yan! Yuchi Hong! Block the four city gates immediately. Do not let a single person escape. Everyone who shouts surrender will not be killed!"
Seeing that Qiumuling's troops were defeated, Liu Zhuang immediately organized a capture. If they were in the wilderness, it would be difficult for him to stop them from escaping. But now that they were in the city, as long as he blocked the four city gates, these troops would be trapped like turtles in a jar, unable to escape.
After a night of fighting, of the 500 soldiers of Qiumuling clan, 200 were killed and 300 were captured. Not a single soldier ran out to report to Yuwen Tai. The soldiers who were still fighting in Yubi were unaware of the fall of Jiexiu. Jiexiu city was thus recaptured by Liu Zhuang.
The warehouse inside made Liu Zhuang a little stunned: a large amount of food, coins, and cloth were densely piled up in Jiexiu's warehouse. This didn't look like the supplies a small county town should have. So there was only one answer: the things that Yuwen Xianbei robbed in Xihe and Taiyuan might have been temporarily thrown in Jiexiu as a transit point.
"Keep an eye on the warehouse. After the battle, we'll share these supplies according to our merits."
Liu Zhuang wiped the blood splashed on his face and immediately began intensive deployment. He urgently conscripted the people in Jiexiu City into corvée labor. During the service, they would be provided with food and drink, receive some wages, and deploy rolling logs and stones on the city walls.
He did complete the encirclement and blockade of Yuwen Xianbei, but if she broke the defense, his encirclement would be meaningless.
Liu Zhuang's surprise attack on Jiexiu City and the encirclement and annihilation were so successful that Yuwen Tai realized something was wrong two days later: I have regular contact with the troops in the rear, how come it was cut off?
She immediately sent her fastest scout back to check. The scout took three days to go there, which was a distance of 150 kilometers. When he found the Han army flag flying in Jiexiu City, he was stunned. The return journey was a distance of 150 kilometers, but it took him thirty hours to complete the entire journey. He then told Yuwen Tai the devastating news.
It took two days to discover the event and four and a half days to investigate. The total of six and a half days was enough time for the infantry of the Baima Camp and the Zhangshui Camp to reach Jiexiu, and it was also enough time for Liuzhuang to complete the repair of Jiexiu city defense. The magistrates of nearby counties and private soldiers of aristocratic families also gathered in Jiexiu one after another.
Time is on Liu Zhuang's side.
Now, the situation was extremely frightening. Yuwen Tai was shocked to find that his 10,000-plus men were trapped in Hedong like animals trapped in a cage! Yubi in the south could not be taken, Jiexiu in the north had fallen, Taihang Mountain in the east could not be crossed, and news came from the Yellow River crossing in the west that a large number of Han troops had appeared!
Faced with such an unfavorable situation, Yuwen Tai acted decisively and immediately blocked the news, not letting others know that the army was surrounded: among the 10,000 people, only one tenth of the troops were his own people, and the rest were all from other tribes. If others knew the news, the army's morale would be in chaos. Who knows what the chiefs of other clans will do, and they will regard themselves as the culprit who caused everyone to fall into the trap.
"He Liuhun, what do you think we should do?"
There was no other choice, so Yuwen Tai once again called his Han aides to discuss a retreat.
"There are three strategies at the moment."
The woman in the succubus statue also knew that something was wrong. She rubbed her temples in pain and offered three suggestions.
"The worst strategy is to continue to attack Yubi, forcefully break through the fortress, and rush to Anyi. The families of the governor of Hedong and his soldiers must be near Anyi. We can capture a large number of prisoners and use them as hostages to force the governor of Hedong to pay a huge amount of compensation and let us go."
"The middle strategy is to retreat immediately. While the Han army has just captured Jiexiu, we should rush back and recapture the city. Then, we should not go south any further. We should just rob a few places in the Fenshui Basin and then return."
"So, what's the best strategy?"
Yuwen Tai asked worriedly.
"The ultimate goal is to defeat Jie Xiu and clear a way for everyone to retreat back to the grassland. However, as the Art of War says, you can't defeat the enemy without killing him. We can't let the governor of Hedong lead us by the nose."
He Liuhun's beautiful face showed a beautiful yet dangerous smile.
"Don't fight Yubi anymore. Retreat first. Let's go fight Xiangling. That city is much easier to attack than Yubi. With my and the greenskins' siege skills, plus your tunnel digging skills, Black Otter, breaking the city won't be a problem."
"Why do you want to attack Xiangling?"
Yuwen Tai asked with some confusion.
"Because Jiexiu was lost, our food and grass can't last for a few days. Xiangling is the base camp of the Jia family in Hedong. They are one of the three major families in Hedong. Now only the Jia family's property can feed our army! There is no better target than Xiangling on both sides of the Fen River.
Moreover, at least a quarter of the administrative team of the Hedong governor are from the Hedong Jia family. With their hometown destroyed, these Han officials must be terrified. If this governor named Liu Zhuang still wants to stay in Hedong, he must come to save Xiangling!"
At the same time, we will place more scouts and ambush on the main roads from Yubi and Jiexiu to Xiangling. As long as these Han troops do not stay in the city and come out of Yubi and Jiexiu to the wild - are you afraid that your cavalry will not be able to defeat these Han infantry in the wild?"
Yuwen Tai thought carefully about He Liuhun's suggestion and thought it was a good plan. He immediately lifted the siege of Yubi that day and marched to Xiangling in a mighty manner. At the same time, according to He Liuhun's calculations, he set up more scouts and ambushes on the main roads, and divided the 3,000 troops into 300 teams of ten people, which plundered all the nearby farms that were not cleared of fortifications to provide food and fodder for the army.
"These people are quite intelligent."
Upon hearing that Yuwen Xianbei lifted the siege of Yubi but did not try to attack Jiexiu to break the encirclement, but instead ran towards Xiangling, Liu Zhuang became a little nervous. He was not the traditional Han official in He Liuhun's mind, and did not care about the life or death of Xiangling Jia family at all. If his men could kill all these aristocratic families, he would have to thank Yuwen Tai for freeing up a lot of land for himself and liberating a large number of serfs.
But the problem is, this group of people are now looting on both sides of the Fen River in order to solve the problem of food. There are too many people in Hedong, and it is impossible to implement the policy of clearing the fields in every village. Liuzhuang can ignore the noble families, but must take care of the people - these are his basic base. The people even looted the land under the military farming system!
Liu Zhuang was in a dilemma. If he continued to defend Jiexiu City, it would be tantamount to exposing all the people in his territory to the slaughter of soldiers and horses. He would lose the support of the people in Hedong. Without the support of the people, he would never be able to defeat the aristocratic families.
But if they leave the city, it's obvious that they are setting traps for me, preparing for an ambush, mobile warfare, and attacking me while I'm marching. Ten thousand troops, ten thousand cavalry! Even if they don't set traps, ambushes, or field battles, the chances of me winning are not very high.
After much thought, Liu Zhuang admitted that a person's ability has its limits, and immediately summoned all his staff and team to discuss countermeasures.
"Attack! Attack directly! Don't worry, my lord. I am willing to lead 500 cavalrymen to attack Yuwen Tai himself, take her child's head, and come back to report!"
Lu Bu said without hesitation.
"Fengxian, are you being too extreme? According to Zhang He's report, Yuwen Tai's fighting power is higher than hers. He can turn everyone into a marmot at will, and even turn himself into a marmot, and then escape underground. He is very difficult to deal with. If Fengxian you are turned into a marmot by magic, how are you going to fight Yuwen Tai?"
Lu Ze immediately advised his sister not to take risks.
"The best way right now is to hold on. It's early spring now, and the people's food reserves have been almost used up over the winter. We should speed up and expand the scope of clearing the fields. Yuwen Tai won't be able to grab much food. We just need to quietly hold on at Jiexiu, and the 10,000 troops will automatically collapse due to hunger, and we don't have to waste a single soldier - don't forget, although the horses have innate physical advantages, their appetite is five times that of ordinary people."
Guo Huai, who had the second highest intelligence, glanced at Tuoba Yun next to him and expressed his opinion.
"Boji, defending is the final choice when there is really no other way."
Liu Zhuang immediately interrupted Guo Huai. If the common people were not taken into consideration, then defending would indeed be the best option. However, this daughter of an aristocratic family could treat the common people like grass and numbers, but he himself could not do that because of the policy.
As I said, without the support of the people, how can I fight against the Hedong family?
The people gathered together were thinking hard. Jia Xu, who had the highest intelligence, frowned, adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses next to his cheek, and said in confusion.
"I'm very curious. According to the intelligence from Zhang He and other scouts, only one-tenth of the more than 10,000 troops who came this time belonged to the Yuwen Xianbei. The rest were all in the form of an alliance, and they went south with Yuwen Tai to rob."
"Then the question is, why are these people not in chaos even though they have been forced into a desperate situation by us and have become caged beasts? Instead, they are still loyally following Yuwen Tai? Let her command them to besiege Xiangling, plunder the people, and set up ambushes as easily as using her own fingers? She even deployed scouts on a large scale. This does not match my impression of the Hu people. I followed General Dong in many battles and had many dealings with the Hu people. The cohesion of the Xianbei people seems to be a little too high."
"Wenhe means..."
Liu Zhuang also felt something was wrong. Yes, it was not like he had fought with every group of people. Theoretically, the three tribes of Dugu, Yuchi and Bu Liugu all belonged to one big tribe, but in the end, the three groups were scattered like three independent tribes and were easily defeated by him one by one.
