I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 242 Victory in the first battle
They watched their comrades fall one by one, and watched the Han cavalry wreak havoc in their camp as if they were in an empty land, and their hearts were filled with fear and despair.

The people in front were being slaughtered, and the people behind were already fleeing. The personal guards around Jiang Yin were also surrounded by the Han cavalry. After a round of hacking, some of the personal guards lost their entire heads, some lost half of their heads, and blood splattered everywhere. It was a horrible sight.

What's more, perhaps knowing that Jiang Yin had no hot water to wash his face, he "contributed" his life. The steaming brain and blood covered Jiang Yin's face. The sticky feeling and the pungent smell of blood made Jiang Yin almost vomit.

But he had no time to feel fear or nausea. With his adrenaline running wild, he tried his best to resist the attack of the Han cavalry. He waved the sword in his hand and tried to fight his way out.

However, the attack of the Han cavalry was so fierce that he could not resist it at all.

Finally, under the fierce attack of a Han cavalryman, he was stabbed in the shoulder by a spear. The severe pain made him scream, and the sword in his hand almost slipped out of his hand.

He gritted his teeth, endured the pain and tried to continue fighting, but another Han cavalryman took the opportunity to swing his knife at his neck. Jiang Yin's pupils shrank and he hurriedly dodged, but it was too late. The sharp blade still cut a deep gash on his neck.

Blood gushed out, staining his clothes red. He paused for a moment, then fell face down to the ground. His body twitched a few times, and then there was no movement.

His eyes were wide open, as if he was still looking at this world full of blood and cruelty. Beneath him, his blood had soaked the dry land, gradually forming a shocking pool of blood.

Jiang Yin's fall seemed to be a signal. The already shaken morale of the rebel soldiers completely collapsed. Like a flock of frightened birds, they dropped their weapons and fled in panic.

Yuan Shu immediately seized the opportunity and led his elite cavalry to pursue the enemy like a tiger descending from the mountain, galloping across the land.

On the battlefield, the bodies of the rebels lay scattered all over the place, their blood dyed the ground red. The tragic scene was too horrible to watch.

However, the battle is not over yet.

Some rebel soldiers fled to the Yinshui River in panic. They tried to walk on the ice, hoping to escape to the other side for a chance of survival, but how could they know how difficult it was to walk on the ice?
What's more, their speed is no match for the cavalry.

The Han cavalry chased after them as quickly as the wind. The deserters, who had no time to get onto the ice, had no weapons, let alone any formation. They were like living targets in front of the cavalry.

The cavalrymen brandished their swords, and every swing took the life of a rebel. This scene, rather than being a battle, was more like a rare opportunity for actual combat training, allowing the cavalrymen to accumulate more experience in horseback combat.

Soon, the Han cavalry also chased to the banks of the Yinshui River.

They looked at the rebel deserters who were struggling to walk and slipping from time to time on the vast ice surface, but they did not rush onto the ice to chase them. Instead, they took out their bows and crossbows, aimed at the targets, and began to shoot at fixed points.

This unilateral advantage that the enemy poses no threat to them is simply too wonderful.

The Northern Army knights who were skilled in riding and shooting displayed their archery skills to the fullest, and the rest of the cavalry who were not good at riding and shooting also took out their bows and arrows, using this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hone their riding and shooting skills.

Arrows fell like raindrops, and the rebel soldiers were constantly hit and killed.

When Yuan Shu and his personal guards arrived at the banks of the Yinshui River, the ice was already covered with rebel deserters who had been shot like hedgehogs. Some Han knights were still not satisfied and planned to cross the ice to hunt down the remaining handful of rebel deserters, but Yuan Shu stopped them.

"Let them go back and tell those remnants of eunuchs that if they go against the imperial court, they will only end up dead!"

Yuan Shu won the first battle and was naturally very happy. Although this group of enemies were not really strong, victory was victory. No matter how weak the enemy was, it was still a victory!
So he immediately sent people to count the battle results and record the battle strategies, and ordered the news to be notified to Duan Xing so that Duan Xing would know.

Then, he ordered the entire army to take a short rest, planning to cross the Yinshui River and march to the other side after a while, with the target being Suanzao County, Chenliu County.

Interestingly, just when Yuan Shu ordered the battlefield to be cleaned up and a short rest was taken, Shao Yuan, who was the military commander of his subordinates, suddenly rushed to him and reported an unexpected discovery to him -

In the rebels' previous camp, he found a large pile of freshly cooked and still hot meals.

"Is there such a thing?"

Yuan Shu was a little surprised. He followed Shao Yuan to the rebel camp and found a pile of large pots in the mess.

He went forward and lifted the lid of one of the pots, and looked inside. Although it was a mess, the aroma was real. Yuan Shu used a spoon to stir the pot and fished out some stewed meat cubes. The aroma filled his nose and made him smile.

"This should be the meat stewed with flour paste. It seems that the rebels were killed by us before they had a chance to eat a hot meal. It's just right. We don't have to make a fire to cook. Let's share all the food with the brothers!"

Having just experienced a battle, the soldiers needed a hot meal to restore their strength.

At Yuan Shu's command, the Han cavalry immediately divided the stewed meat with joy.

There are three thousand people on his side, and the rebels seem to have more than three thousand people as well. It is definitely enough for everyone to eat their fill.

This unexpected delicacy made the soldiers happier and gave them more confidence for the upcoming battle.

In addition, they also seized more than one hundred intact war horses and a large number of dry food, pickled meat and other military supplies.

"The supplies for these rebels are quite good. They have food, pickled meat, and salt. It seems that they have collected quite a lot of supplies."

Yuan Shu was a little worried about this, and said to Fan Li beside him: "If this happens, I'm afraid there will be many siege battles to fight in the future."

Fan Li didn't seem to be worried at all.

"Nevertheless, good supplies must be allocated to soldiers who are good at fighting. With the rebels' abilities, they can't defeat us even if we give them all the delicacies from the mountains and the sea."

Yuan Shu smiled and didn't think any more about it.

In addition to a large amount of food captured, the Han army also obtained a number of injured and half-dead horses.

As for these horses, Yuan Shu ordered them to be slaughtered directly and the meat sent to Duan Xing's main force in the rear, asking the logistics personnel to pickle the meat and use it as military rations, so as to provide additional food for the army.

Yuan Shu had achieved great success and got off to a good start. Upon hearing the news, Duan Yu was very happy and immediately sent people to publicize Yuan Shu's good start to the entire army.

After learning that the rebels' tactical skills were extremely poor, Duan Xing felt more relieved.

"I've said it before, these rebels have been living a life of luxury in the wealthy counties of Kanto for many years, how could they know the horror of a battlefield? Humph! This time, I'm going to teach them a lesson on what a real battlefield is like!"

Afterwards, the main force of the Han army continued to advance and soon arrived at Yuanwu County where the battle had taken place before. Then, they successfully arrived at Suanzao County which had been occupied by Yuan Shu.

Suanzao County was previously occupied by the rebel Jiang Yin's troops, and Jiang Yin's troops were completely wiped out by Yuan Shu, so Suanzao County did not put up any resistance after Yuan Shu led his troops to arrive.

When the rebels arrived, the magistrate of Suanzao County had already fled the city, leaving only a few minor officials in the entire county.

Seeing the arrival of the Han army, they directly opened the city gates, knelt at the gate to welcome the Han army, and prayed for forgiveness.

Yuan Shu did not make things difficult for them and successfully took control of Suanzao County. He asked them to prepare logistical supplies for the army, mobilize county residents to build camps for the Han army, and further send scouts to the east to investigate the movements of the rebels.

When Duan Xing arrived in Suanzao County, Yuan Shu had already prepared a sufficient camp. Duan Xing was very satisfied and had a very pleasant meeting with Yuan Shu. They discussed the next battle plan together.

From Yuan Shu's narration, Duan Xing learned that Yuan Shu did not continue to advance after arriving in Suanzao, because he learned from the scouts that a large-scale rebel army was stationed in Yan County in the northeast.

They have occupied Yan County and there are signs that they are repairing the city defenses.

To be cautious, Yuan Shu, after a period of reconnaissance and intelligence gathering, roughly judged that there were no less than 20,000 rebels in Yan County. At the same time, the rebels stationed troops in Zaocheng in the next few days.

However, they did not launch an attack on the sour jujube, and seemed to be taking a cautious approach.

(End of this chapter)