Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 177: Battle of Juma River

Wang Ziteng thought about it and realized that the relocation of the capital to the south was relatively secretive. In order to keep it secret, Emperor Longqing chose to leave at night and closed all the gates of the capital after he left. The people of the grassland should not know that Emperor Longqing had escaped for a while.

He can take advantage of this time difference to complete the withdrawal in secret.

He ordered his soldiers to make more fires and cook during the day so that smoke would rise in the city. At the same time, he cut down large amounts of wood to build walls and defensive facilities around the city to create the illusion that they were holding out, in order to paralyze the grassland people.

At night, Wang Ziteng ordered the soldiers to withdraw in batches and retreat to Jizhou in the rear little by little.

In the tent of the grassland army.

The generals on the grassland gathered together to discuss the next course of action.

At present, the biggest problem facing Caoyuan is how to attack the capital and Wang Ziteng's troops.

The walls of the capital city are high and thick, so it is definitely not easy to break through.

Wang Ziteng's army is stationed in Pinggu County, not far from the capital. Once an all-out attack on the capital is launched, Wang Ziteng will certainly come to support. At that time, the city will be attacked from both sides.

They had no choice but to attack. The grassland army was short of food and fodder, and had to rely entirely on captured grain and the cattle and sheep they brought with them. If they stagnated for a long time, they would fall into a food crisis, and the grassland could not continue.

Moreover, Kah Khan heard that Fang Yong from the south had arrived. The longer the time passed, the more unfavorable the situation would become for the grassland.

The generals on the grassland are also aware of this, so the focus of discussion now is whether the main force of the army should attack the capital or Wang Ziteng.

To put it simply, the former means sending the main force to attack the capital, and sending another force to stop Wang Ziteng's army.

The advantage of doing this is that the goal can be achieved in one battle. Once the grassland army captures the capital and controls the Han emperor, Wang Ziteng's army will no longer be much of a threat.

But the downside is that it is not easy to stop Wang Ziteng's army while attacking the capital. If they fail, they will face the dilemma of being attacked from both sides.

The latter is the exact opposite of the former.

The latter was the main force responsible for attacking Wang Ziteng, and an additional force was dispatched to stop the army in the capital.

This would be simpler than the former, because according to various intelligence, there would not be too many soldiers and horses left in the capital. It would be much easier to stop the army in the capital than to stop Wang Ziteng's army.

However, the disadvantage is that Wang Ziteng's army is huge, and the main force attacking Wang Ziteng will definitely suffer heavy casualties. Moreover, even if Wang Ziteng is defeated, he will have to attack the capital again, which will take even longer...

The grassland generals had different ideas about these two methods. Some supported the former, believing that it was better to accomplish the goal in one battle; others supported the latter, believing that it was better to be safe.

Kah Khan pondered the pros and cons. Both methods had their own advantages and disadvantages. No matter which method was adopted, there were reasons for it. But the most important thing was not to delay it. As the Khan, he had to make a decision as soon as possible!

Thinking of this, Kah Khan was about to speak when suddenly, a man rushed in.

"Great Khan, I have important intelligence to report!"

Sun Huaiyi's face flushed, and he stood outside the tent excitedly. He wanted to go into the tent, but was stopped by the grassland soldiers.

Kah Khan frowned slightly when he saw this. He instinctively disliked a villain like Sun Huaiyi, but seeing that the other party looked urgent, Kah Khan suppressed his prejudice and let Sun Huaiyi in.

After Sun Huaiyi came in, he immediately knelt on the ground and paid respect to Kah Khan. Then he took out an envelope from his arms and said:
"Great Khan, I have a cousin named Sun Shaozu, who is currently the commander of the Five Cities Military Division in the capital. This is the secret letter he sent to me today. It contains important military information. Please read it, Great Khan!"

Upon hearing this, Kah Khan immediately asked his men to present the secret letter.

After his subordinates presented it to him, Kah Khan opened the secret letter and his pupils dizzied when he saw its contents.

"The Han emperor actually escaped without a fight. This is really God's help!"

Kah Khan could hardly hide his excitement.

The secret letter was passed to Li Hao for viewing. After reading it, Li Hao was also shocked by the description in the letter, and even a little unbelievable. He said to himself:
"Why? There are still 200,000 troops led by Wang Ziteng outside the capital (the actual number is 170,000). Why would Emperor Longqing flee without a fight? He actually handed over the capital to us. Is this a trap?"

Sun Huaiyi heard what Li Hao said and said hurriedly:
"Khan, I guarantee with my life that this is definitely not a trap. My cousin Sun Shaozu has long heard of your reputation and admired you, so I sent you this secret letter. When the tyrant king of Daxi heard that the Khan's army was coming, he was scared out of his wits and fled. Now the people in the city are looking forward to the Khan entering the city and taking charge of the world!" Upon hearing this, Kah Khan looked at Sun Huaiyi twice.

I have to say, sometimes these flattering words sound quite nice.

Upon hearing this, Li Hao stepped forward and said:
"In any case, the Khan should quickly reorganize his troops and prepare for the attack. First, send scouts to investigate the capital. If it is really as the letter says, then immediately cooperate with General Sun... to capture the capital. With the capital as a guarantee, it will be of great benefit to the Khan's future cause."

Kah Khan nodded upon hearing this and said:

"Just do as my father says!"

Li Hao said again:

"In addition, we need to send a fierce general to stop Wang Ziteng's troops. Although I think Wang Ziteng has no intention of fighting at this time, it is still best to take precautions for the sake of caution."

"Also, if the matter in the capital is correct, we need to send a light cavalry unit to capture Emperor Longqing. The enemy's migration southward must be slow, and our army's light cavalry will be able to catch up with them."

Kah Khan agreed again.

"correct!"

Li Hao remembered something and said:
"Remember to be on guard against Fang Yong. I heard that he has already arrived at Jinhai. Although I don't know if he has received the news of Emperor Longqing's migration to the south, we still have to be careful and guard against it!"

Kah Khan said yes again.

Soon, the orders were issued layer by layer.

Outside Zhuozhou is the Juma River.

This is a river outside the city of Zhuozhou, and it is also the only way for Emperor Longqing to migrate south.

Fang Yong led his troops on a quick attack and arrived here before dark.

Emperor Longqing was traveling with his family and walking slowly, so it was estimated that he would not arrive here until the next morning.

Fang Yong came here in advance to set an ambush.

Based on the surrounding terrain, Fang Yong deployed a total of three ambushes.

One force was located at Dongxianpo in the northwest, ambushing 3,000 soldiers and horses to block Emperor Longqing's retreat.

One force was located in Lianchi Village in the east, ambushing 3,000 soldiers and horses to block Emperor Longqing's left route.

Along the front road, one thousand soldiers were ambushed on each side of the Juma River stone bridge, launching a direct attack on Emperor Longqing.

Fang Yong himself led the rest of the large force to camp in the upstream sand ditch to prevent the large number of people from alerting the enemy and exposing them prematurely.

After all, Emperor Longqing still has more than 4,000 soldiers and horses around him. If the other side notices and chooses to escape alone, he will be in great trouble.

Soon, the ambush was set up.

The only flaw was that the 1,000 ambush troops on each side of the Dashi Bridge were not easy to hide due to the flat terrain.

Fortunately, the weather was good and it snowed heavily.

Seeing this, the soldiers bought straw mats, large pot lids, soy sauce jar lids (a kind of conical lid on the jar unique to the north) and other items from the nearby villages and covered themselves with them.

It was snowing heavily, and soon a layer of snow piled up on the soldiers. From a distance, they looked the same color as the surrounding snow, and there was no sign of an ambush at all.

The next morning, Emperor Longqing's southward migration team was seen arriving from afar.

(End of this chapter)