Chapter 172 Emergency Mission: Attack Xiping
Su Ze was taking a nap, but when he heard the battle report, he immediately put on his clothes and stood up. He opened the system and saw multiple emergency messages on the map.
Hezhou is the front line, and Tuyuhun is eyeing Baohan City covetously. It dreams of swallowing up Hezhou and controlling the entire Hehuang Valley.
So after Su Ze took office, he built sentries along every ferry crossing along the Yellow River and sent his followers to take turns guarding and monitoring the military situation of Tuyuhun.
After briefly reading the military intelligence reported by his followers, Su Ze hurriedly summoned his soldiers and then led the cavalry to Bingling Temple, an important river defense site north of Baohan City.
The 1,600 newly recruited troops were stationed in the military camp outside the city. Although Su Ze wanted to let them enter the city for training, the Qiang generals led by Liang Zhao refused to allow them to enter the city on the grounds that there were rebels led by Que Tiehu among the newly recruited troops.
These new troops were not very useful, and Su Ze was not planning to take them into battle, so he only took the two hundred most elite cavalrymen with him.
Su Ze brought with him cavalry, and they marched very quickly. They arrived in front of Bingling Temple in less than an hour.
Bingling Temple is a temple on the bank of the Yellow River. Su Ze’s teacher Li Daoyuan once visited this place along the Yellow River. The Buddhist temple is not important. What is important is the Bingling Temple wooden bridge across the Yellow River next to the temple.
Qifu Jipan of Western Qin built a flying bridge over the Yellow River. The bridge was fifty meters high and took three years to complete.
This is the first bridge built across the Yellow River in the entire Hezhou.
The bridge is made of wood stacked up in an alternating pattern, extending out into the river layer by layer, with the wood holding each other in the middle.
The bridge has no piers, only outrigger wooden beams laid across the steep cliffs in the dangerous valley. It looks like a flying bridge, so it is called a flying bridge. It is the forerunner of modern cantilever bridges.
Su Ze had inspected the bridge before entering Baohan City.
When he first saw the bridge, Su Ze felt as if he had traveled back to the modern era. He really couldn't imagine how a regime based in the northwest in the Sixteen Kingdoms era could have built a wooden bridge across the Yellow River and created such an engineering miracle as a city.
This Bingling Temple wooden bridge is an important passage for traveling between the two sides of the Yellow River. The garrison commanders of Baohan in all dynasties have thought about burning it down, but they were reluctant to burn down this perfect architectural treasure.
Today, this bridge is also an important channel on the Silk Road. Merchants from the Western Regions traveling to Hezhou must enter Guanzhong through this bridge, which saves the trouble of taking a boat across the Yellow River at the ferry.
When Su Ze saw the Bingling Temple wooden bridge for the first time, he was also reluctant to burn it down. He simply sent a small team to station in the abandoned Bingling Temple to guard the wooden bridge.
But now standing in front of the wooden bridge, Su Ze instructed his subordinates: "If the enemy forces the bridge, burn it. This general will send people to negotiate on the other side."
Murong Shaozong stepped forward and said, "General, please let me go. I understand Xianbei language."
Su Ze nodded. Tuyuhun was the country established by the Murong Xianbei who migrated westwards. They could barely be considered to be from the same clan as Murong Shaozong. It would naturally be best for him to go and negotiate and find out the situation.
Su Ze assigned two more cavalry guards to Murong Shaozong. Watching him lead the horse across the wooden bridge, Su Ze's heart was in his throat.
Su Ze's new army has not yet been fully trained, and the Qiang generals in Baohan City are not trustworthy. If Tuyuhun attacks Baohan now, it will put great pressure on Su Ze.
Give himself some more time. As long as the new army is trained and the threat within Baohan City is eliminated, Su Ze can start to deal with Tuyuhun.
Torches were lit on the south bank of the bridge. The Ganliang West Army led by Gao Hui looked at the wooden bridge hesitantly. Gao Hui had crossed the Yellow River through this wooden bridge. When he saw a knight wearing the standard armor of the Northern Wei Dynasty appear, he immediately raised the banner in his hand and said:
"I am Gao Hui, the envoy of the Wei Dynasty! Whose tribe are you from?"
Murong Shaozong saw Gao Hui's banner and realized it was real, but he still rode cautiously and asked:
"I am a general under the command of General Su Ze, the Protector of the Qiang."
"Su Ze, the Protector of the Qiang? Was he just appointed by the court?"
Gao Hui continued, "Take my seal to your general and tell him that I am Gao Hui, an envoy sent to the Hephthalites to escort the Ganliangxi Army that was lost in the Western Regions back to the Central Plains. There are Tuyuhun cavalry chasing us from behind. Ask him to help us cross the bridge as soon as possible!"
Murong Shaozong took the imperial seal from Gao Hui, rode back to the south bank, and handed the seal to Su Ze.
Gao Hui? Seeing Fu Jie Su Ze confirmed his identity, he looked at Su Chao beside him and said:
"Ling Chuo, I will lead the troops across the bridge. If anything goes wrong, you will burn the wooden bridge."
Su Ze led the cavalry around him across the wooden bridge. When he saw Gao Hui, who was dressed in rags and had gray hair and beard, but stood straight with a banner in his hand, he felt respect in his heart. He was sure that the middle-aged man in front of him was Gao Hui, the envoy from Wei.
Su Ze dismounted and crossed his arms, saying, "General Su Ze, the Protector of the Qiang, greets Gao Pingxi!"
Seeing Su Ze directly reported his official position, Gao Hui breathed a sigh of relief. The energy that supported him throughout the journey disappeared in an instant, and he almost couldn't stand.
The young man beside Gao Hui quickly supported him, and Gao Hui said weakly:
"General Su, I was on my way back from my mission to the Hephthalites. Along the way, I met the descendants of Li Liang who stayed in the Western Regions and brought them back to their homeland. There are still Tuyuhun soldiers chasing us from behind. They have been chasing us all the way!"
Su Ze asked, "How many pursuers are there?"
"About a thousand people."
Su Ze jumped on his horse and said, "You escort General Gao across the bridge, and I will intercept them!"
Seeing that there were only 200 cavalrymen behind Su Ze, the young man who supported Gao Hui said hurriedly: "General, these Tuyuhun cavalrymen are very fierce. My grandfather died in their hands. Let's retreat to the south bank and mobilize the defenders in the city to fight again."
Su Ze looked at the young man. His face showed fatigue after the long journey, but he spoke clearly and quickly stated his plan.
"What's your name?"
"Li Clan of Xiliang, Li Cunzhen, the captain of the Ganliang West Army!"
Li Cunzhen? Su Ze recalled the history of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties, and found no such person.
But he said they were from the Xiliang Li family, so wouldn’t that mean they were the same family as the royal family of Li Tang?
What kind of organization is this Ganliang West Army?
Su Ze had a lot of questions in his mind, but now was not the time to ask them.
He looked at Li Cunzhen and said, "My dear, are you willing to follow me to kill the enemy?"
Li Cunzhen saw that the cavalry behind Su Ze were fully armored and had great momentum, and he also understood the source of the confidence of this general who protected the Qiang.
He thought of his grandfather who died while being the last one to leave, and his blood rushed up, saying, "I am willing to follow the general to kill the enemy!"
"Give him a horse and a knife, and let him follow."
After saying this, Su Ze led the 200 riders behind him and headed west along the river, following the tail end of the fleeing team.
-
The army that pursued the Ganliang West Army was the Tuyuhun army, led by He Luo, a general under the Tuyuhun King Fulianchou.
Although Tuyuhun were Xianbei people who migrated from the northeast to the northwestern plateau after the fall of the Former Yan Murong clan, they had abandoned the sinicization of the Former Yan Murong clan and re-integrated with the local Qiang people to complete their re-Huization.
Their royal family has removed the Han surname "Murong" and returned to the stage of tribal civilization with a name but no surname.
Under the king of Tuyuhun, there were eight chieftains, each of whom controlled a city and had a relatively large degree of autonomy. The city controlled by He Luo was Xiping City on the Silk Road. He relied on the taxation of Silk Road trade to become one of the most powerful forces under the eight chieftains, and was more active in joining forces with the Hephthalites to control the Silk Road.
So this time He Luo personally led a thousand troops to pursue Gao Hui and the Ganliang West Army along the way back to the Central Plains, with the intention of killing the Wei envoy, deliberately provoking a war with the Northern Wei, and forcing the Tuyuhun King to cooperate with the Hephthalites.
Over the years, the northwest defense of the Northern Wei Dynasty has become increasingly lax. The former Hezhou governor Kou Zhi was known for corruption and plundering the people. Many Qiang tribes in the western part of Hezhou have defected to Tuyuhun.
The Xiping City controlled by He Luo was the city that Tuyuhun had seized from the Northern Wei a few years ago. Therefore, even though He Luo had led his troops deep into Hezhou, he still showed no fear.
Seeing that they were about to catch up with the tail of this Han team, He Luo's face showed a ferocious look. He had killed many Han people who were left behind along the way. In the end, even elderly men came up with weapons in hand to cover their retreat, which meant that there were no young and strong men who could fight in this Han team.
He Luo thought of what the Hephthalite envoy said, that the Ganliang Western Army carried a map of the Han Chinese garrisons in the Western Regions. As long as he got this map, he could unite with the Hephthalites to eliminate the Han Chinese strongholds in the Western Regions.
He Luo resisted the urge to rob these Han women and children, raised his knife and said, "My men, charge forward. Capture the Wei envoy alive and you will be rewarded with a hundred gold coins!"
The Tuyuhun cavalry behind them shouted like wild beasts. They passed the fleeing troops of the Ganliang West Army and galloped directly towards the flying bridge across the river!
The two cavalry teams, one charging from the front to the back, and the other charging from the back to the front, naturally collided in the middle of the Ganliangxi Army's fleeing team.
Although He Luo's cavalry were large in number, they collided with the armored cavalry charging in the front. These Tuyuhun cavalry had no time to react and were rushed and cut by the armored cavalry, just like a piece of meat being cut into several pieces by a sharp knife!
There were howls of fear on the battlefield. The Tuyuhun cavalrymen who were knocked away by the armored cavalry were like a will-o'-the-wisp boy who had hit a dump truck. Their bodies were torn into pieces and thrown away, and blood and flesh were scattered all over the battlefield!
Li Cunzhen, who was standing next to Su Ze, had never experienced such a horrific scene before. Those arrogant Tuyuhun cavalry didn't even have a chance to fight back under the charge of the armored cavalry.
Su Ze looked at him and asked, "Can you kill the enemy?"
Li Cunzhen clenched the knife in his hand, nodded and said, "Yes!"
"kill!"
Su Ze commanded the heavy armored cavalry to charge into the Tuyuhun cavalry again. The team, which had already been dispersed by the armored cavalry, was stabbed into the "spike". The Tuyuhun cavalry, which was not elite to begin with, collapsed instantly.
. . .
When it was almost dusk, Li Cunzhen dug out He Luo, whose half face was cut off, from the pile of dead bodies. This always brave young man finally burst into tears, as the blood revenge he had suffered along the way was finally avenged.
He cut off He Luo's head, then knelt down facing west to commemorate his father who died in battle.
Su Ze looked at the bodies of the Tuyuhun people on the battlefield, and after Li Cunzhen finished his worship, he asked:
"You said he is He Luo, the commander of Xiping City?"
Li Cunzhen nodded and said, "General, this is what the thief said when he was chasing us!"
Su Ze opened the system map and looked at the flashing golden exclamation mark at the location of Xiping City on the map.
【System Task: Capture Xiping City.】
This mission had no issuer and the mission description was very simple, but this mission made Su Ze's heart beat violently.
Xiping is the most important city in the middle reaches of the Huangshui River, but this city belongs to Liangzhou, not Hezhou.
A few years ago, Tuyuhun captured Xiping and seized the most fertile agricultural area on the north side of the Hehuang Valley, turning the original defense system of Liangzhou and Hezhou into a single-horn system. Hezhou became a salient surrounded by Tuyuhun forces and was often harassed and attacked by Tuyuhun people.
Even near Jincheng, which originally belonged to the rear, Tuyuhun cavalry appeared.
By taking back Xiping and restoring the system of joint defense between Baohan and Xiping, we can drive the Tuyuhun people out of the fertile Hehuang Valley!
Now that Tuyuhun Qushuai of Xiping City has died here, Xiping City must be unguarded, and it is a good time to attack the city.
Su Ze made a quick decision. The system would not issue a completely impossible task, which meant that with the cards in his hand, there was hope of capturing Xiping City!
With such a good opportunity in front of him, Su Ze had no reason not to give it a try.
He immediately called his men and said to Hou Jing and others, "General Qu of Xiping City is dead. I want to attack Xiping."
After Su Ze said this, everyone was shocked.
Xiping is an important military town in the northwest after all. Although the two hundred men under Su Ze are strong, they are basically cavalry. How can they attack the city without even siege equipment?
Murong Shaozong was about to persuade Su Ze to take a long-term view, but Hou Jing immediately said, "I am willing to be the first to ascend!"
Su Ze shook his head and said, "There is no need to advance in this battle. Order everyone to take off their armor on the spot, put on Tuyuhun armor, smear some blood on their faces, rest on the spot for half an hour, and then set off to Xiping!"
-
Gao Hui crossed the wooden bridge and met Su Cho who was waiting for him at Bingling Temple.
Su Cho bowed to Gao Hui and led him to Baohan City.
Along the way, Gao Hui kept looking back and asked Su Cho, "Where is your general?"
Su Chao had already received the news from the scouts and knew that Su Ze had led his men to attack Xiping City.
However, he is not sure about Gao Hui's position yet, and many Qiang leaders in Baohan City have unclear relations with Tuyuhun.
Therefore, Su Chao did not tell Gao Hui the truth, but only said half-truthfully: "General Su has already defeated the Tuyuhun cavalry, and is now chasing after the defeated soldiers."
Hearing that Su Ze had won, Gao Hui finally calmed down.
Su Cho brought Gao Hui back to Baohan City. In order to prevent spies from infiltrating the Ganliang West Army, Su Cho first placed them in a military camp outside the city.
When Gao Hui walked into Baohan City holding a banner, Liang Zhao and other Qiang leaders rushed out to greet him.
Compared with their fear of Su Ze, these Qiang leaders were much more enthusiastic towards Gao Hui.
The branch of the Bohai Gao family in Hezhou was deeply rooted. Gao Hui had a nephew who served as the military chief in Baohan City, and basically all the military chiefs and generals in the city knew Gao Hui.
Su Cho intentionally or unintentionally used Gao Hui's influence to issue orders, allowing these Qiang leaders to leave the city to provide aid to the returning Ganliang West Army.
Although Liang Zhao and other Qiang generals were unwilling to leave Baohan City, they dared not disobey Gao Hui's orders.
As soon as they left Baohan City, Su Cho mobilized 1,600 newly recruited people into Baohan City and quickly took control of the city gates and military camps.
By the time Liang Zhao and others reacted, the city gate had already been completely controlled by Su Chao.
The Hehuang Valley is the valley between the Huangshui River and the Yellow River. This area has always been an agricultural production area, the Jiangnan area on the Great Wall.
In addition, if you are interested, you can search for Bingling Temple Grottoes. It was built during the Northern Liang Dynasty and is a very shocking Buddhist building complex. I wonder if any of my readers have been there.
(End of this chapter)