Northern Dynasties

Chapter 1329: Capturing Hua Jiao

Pogangdu is located in the south of Jiankang. It is an artificial canal connecting the Qinhuai River and Taihu Lake. It was dug by order of Sun Quan, the Emperor of Wu during the Three Kingdoms period. After its completion, it became an important waterway connecting Jiankang and the Three Wus.

During the Southern Liang Dynasty, because the canal body of Pogang Du was relatively narrow, Shangrong Du was dug on its south side. During the Hou Jing Rebellion, Shangrong Du was blocked due to lack of proper dredging and management. The Southern Chen Dynasty did not have enough manpower and resources to dredge it, so it had to reopen Pogang Du.

This canal flows through the high hills and slopes north of Maoshan Mountain. Its river section is stepped due to the terrain, and water is stored and released through weirs along the way to maintain navigation. When a war breaks out, these high or low weirs become ready-made war fortifications.

Wu Mingche was ordered to lead his troops out of the capital to quell the rebellion. When his troops reached the south of Jurong, the vanguard had already discovered the group led by Hua Jiao, Chen Qian's confidant.

Hua Jiao followed Chen Qian's orders and stationed at Pogangdu to intercept the divisions and brigades from Jiankang that might come south. His troops had already been active near this passage and had launched an attack together with the troops going to attack Wujun, so they had been in place several days ago.

As a traditional road connecting Jiankang and the Three Wus, there were many merchants traveling along Pogangdu. So after Hua Jiao arrived here, he dispatched his troops to intercept those merchant teams and keep all the people and goods, so his influence was growing rapidly.

He also ordered the detained merchants to build fortifications based on several slopes, ponds and dams. Although these fortifications were not as good as real castle walls, they still had considerable defensive capabilities between the undulating plains.

When the Jiankang Division arrived here, they first used intimidation to drive the rioters away. Seeing that these rioters showed no signs of withdrawing, Wu Mingche did not waste any more time and immediately ordered an attack.

Although the team led by Hua Jiao arrived in advance and made a lot of preparations, their equipment was relatively poor. Although many armors and equipment were lost to the people during the Hou Jing Rebellion, Chen Qian also collected a lot of them in Wuxing, but these secretly raised soldiers were not his trusted main force after all, and he would not give them too sophisticated weapons.

Therefore, these people could only defend themselves in the camp and did not take the initiative to attack. On the contrary, the divisions and brigades of Jiankang were more active. A thousand archers marched forward and shot with bows, while crossbowmen in the rear coordinated the attack and killed the enemies who dared to go out to fight.

Although Zhong Huajiao also deployed some archers in the camp to counterattack, their long-range attack capabilities were still lacking. In addition, without sufficient armor, the soldiers in the formation were constantly hit by arrows and killed and injured.

However, these soldiers were not an ordinary mob. They had rich experience on the battlefield. After suffering the first round of arrow attacks, they quickly made a rough judgment on the enemy's fire coverage pattern. They no longer gathered together, but quickly dispersed and sought cover respectively, which reduced casualties.

The wounded who were unfortunately shot by stray arrows would not shout and disrupt morale, but would curl up in corners or roll over to find cover. The crossbowmen took advantage of the opportunity to shoot outwards. Although the counterattack was sparse, they relied on the terrain advantage of being on the slope and had a relatively high hit rate. They even temporarily forced back an enemy squad that tried to attack. The scene became a little tense for a while.

"You guys take a detour from the south of the pond and cut off the bandits' retreat!"

After deploying the mission of frontal attack, Wu Mingche arranged a cavalry team of 500 people to bypass the dam here, block the rear, and guard against changes in the enemy situation in the east.

The undulating terrain here is certainly not conducive to the cavalry's advance and retreat, but even just the sound of rapid horse hooves can put considerable psychological pressure on the enemy soldiers in these positions.

The sound of galloping war horses echoing among the hills and valleys really made the expressions of the soldiers in the camp become serious. Many of them were from Jiangbei and even Hebei, and they naturally knew that the mobility of cavalry could play a huge role in outflanking and intercepting operations in the wild, but they did not have any cavalry combat formations. If there was no subsequent reinforcement, this could be said to be a very fatal flaw.

Therefore, someone could not help but ask Hua Jiao: "Excuse me, General, does the lord have any plan to help this side? The enemy is much more numerous than us, and the offensive is so fierce. Although we have the protection of the camp, we cannot avoid danger at any time. The guards of the merchant group are not strong enough to fight. I am afraid that we cannot hold the position for long with the soldiers here alone!"

Hua Jiao naturally knew that the deployment of troops here was a comprehensive arrangement to be prepared for any eventuality. The main purpose of Lord Chen Qian was to control Wujun. Before this goal was achieved, he would not send troops to rescue here. So his task was to delay the advance of the Jiankang Division as much as possible, buy some time for Wujun, and then wait for an opportunity to withdraw from the battle.

However, he would not reveal these plans to the soldiers, so he did not answer the question directly. He just said in a deep voice: "The government troops are worried about the situation in Wu County, so they must seek a quick victory. We just need to resist the initial offensive. When the situation in Wu County stabilizes, the government troops' offensive will naturally weaken!"

Having said that, it was very difficult to resist the offensive of the government troops. Wu Mingche himself was a master of military strategy, and now he could be said to be well-versed in both the north and the south. When he personally commanded the attack, the government troops' offensive rhythm became faster and faster, and the offensive became more and more fierce. Hua Jiao did not have as much experience and tactical skills as Wu Mingche. At the beginning, he could still cope with it, but as the offensive of the government troops became stronger, it was difficult for him to make any effective tactical adjustments. He relied entirely on the experience and literacy of the soldiers to defend, but after a fierce battle, he finally had to evacuate this position and move to the rear.

After this shift, they retreated several miles, and gradually distanced themselves from the government troops with the help of the fortifications before regaining their footing. However, the original terrain advantage was gone, and if the government troops continued to fight as fiercely as before, the battle would be even more difficult.

Fortunately, such high-intensity combat was also a considerable burden for the government troops. Therefore, after capturing the previous positions, Wu Mingche ordered a pause in the offensive. The soldiers entered the captured camps and began to rest on the spot.

Seeing that it was getting close to dusk, Hua Jiao quickly ordered his men to cook and eat. The enemy and us were not far apart, and attacking the camp at night was a common tactic used by the Southern Dynasty army, so the situation would become more dangerous after nightfall, and the soldiers had to maintain strong physical strength and energy to deal with possible changes.

In addition, Hua Jiao also wanted to take advantage of the opportunity that the enemy army was far away and had just experienced a fierce battle to launch a counterattack against the enemy, hoping to regain lost territory and regain the terrain advantage.

So at dinner time, he specially selected hundreds of elite soldiers and provided them with more refined meals, with each person getting half a dried duck breast.

While these people were enjoying their meal, he said in a deep voice: "During the previous battle, the government troops' pursuit was no longer as fierce as at the beginning, which shows that they are exhausted. They still had blood and energy to refresh themselves before, but now they have stopped, their blood and energy have subsided, and they must be even weaker. Take this opportunity to launch an attack, the enemy will surely be unable to hold on, and then we will advance together and we will definitely be able to recover the lost ground!"

When the soldiers heard this, they immediately looked embarrassed.

Although most of them were experienced veterans, that was in the past. After being exiled to Jiangdong, they first served as government slaves in Jiankang City, and later were kept by Chen Qian and used as cargo transporters. They were no longer in their previous state. Moreover, after experiencing the daytime battles, they also saw that the government troops were quite powerful and their tactics were sophisticated, so they really didn't want to fight at night.

When they thought that they would be forced out to fight to the death soon, these people suddenly felt that the duck breast they were chewing was no longer fragrant. Although they were not very happy in their hearts, since Hua Jiao had always been very strict with his people, they did not dare to object for a while. They just buried their heads in eating to hide the dissatisfaction on their faces. While they lowered their heads to eat, they gradually began to make eye contact with each other.

Although Hua Jiao did not personally fight in the daytime battle, he was always nervous and exhausted a lot of energy. Because he had to prepare to command the night attack later, he went into the tent and slept with his weapons on his head after dinner.

While sleeping, Zhonghua Jiao suddenly felt a suffocating feeling of difficulty breathing. When he opened his eyes, his vision was pitch black and he could not see anything. He wanted to open his mouth and shout, but found that his mouth and nose were covered tightly by someone. He felt something was wrong and tried to struggle by waving his arms and kicking his legs.

"This bastard has woken up! Tie him up quickly and take him to surrender to the government troops. Don't serve these thieves anymore!"

After noticing Hua Jiao's actions, several soldiers who had entered the tent in the dark hurriedly shouted in a low voice, stepped forward to hold down Hua Jiao's limbs, then picked up ropes to tie him up tightly, covered his head and face with sackcloth, and dragged him out of the tent.

When Hua Jiao regained his vision, he had already arrived at Wu Mingche's tent. When he saw Wu Mingche sitting behind the desk in the tent with a stern expression, his heart suddenly sank. He hurriedly banged his head on the ground and shouted loudly: "Lord Wu, spare me, Lord Wu, spare me! What I did now was all ordered by the King of Linchuan. The King of Linchuan is plotting rebellion in the Three Wus. If Lord Wu is willing to interfere, I am willing to help put down the rebellion!"

Wu Mingche couldn't help but sneer when he heard this, and said disdainfully: "Hua is just a slave of King Linchuan. Now I am captured by the people. How can I help the king's army?"

"Yes, yes! I was in charge of the money and grain management of the King of Linchuan. I also know the location of his warehouses and stores..."

In order to save his own life, Hua Jiao no longer cared about being loyal to King Linchuan, and hurriedly explained his value.