Han officials

Chapter 171: The Frustrated Wei Army [12]

Wei Zhe's reply soon reached Luoyang.

When Dong Zhuo learned about this, he was furious and completely gave up his last bit of hope. He decided to lead the expedition himself.

That night, he stopped drinking and played with the concubines. It seemed as if the former brave general Dong Zhongying had returned.

However, the next day when he put on his armor and rode on his majestic warhorse, Dong Zhuo found that everything had changed.

He used to be able to shoot with both hands, but now he even has difficulty pulling the horn bow in his hand.

As for his unparalleled riding and archery skills, he could no longer do them after his thigh muscles grew back.

This made Dong Zhuo feel a little complicated, but he still put on an appearance of fighting to the death.

Even before leaving for the battle, he boasted: "Kill the two Yuan brothers and Wei Zhe, and the whole world will obey me!"

If someone who didn't know saw it, they would think that he was going out to pacify the princes in Guandong.

Following Dong Zhuo's order, all the camps in Luoyang were immediately dispatched, whether they were soldiers from Liangzhou, Bingzhou, or the Han army in Luoyang, all came out in full force.

However, since there were no more dangerous checkpoints between Chenggao Pass and Luoyang, Dong Zhuo, after careful consideration, decided to set the battlefield at the foot of Beimang Mountain and chose to block Wei Zhe in the Yanshi County area.

It has to be said that Dong Zhuo, who had spent half his life in military service, still had a very sharp vision.

Even though the road was flat after leaving Chenggao Pass, he still managed to find the best ambush location.

Because although this place is a plain, there are Shouyang Mountain and the remnants of Beimang Mountain in the north, and Gushui River runs across it in the south.

It can be said that this area of more than ten miles is the narrowest section of terrain between Luoyang and Chenggao Pass.

If the Wei army was allowed to pass through here, Wei Zhe could lead his army directly to the north gate of Luoyang.

Given the dilapidated state of Luoyang today, it would be impossible for Dong Zhuo to defend it even if he wanted to.

As for the other side, Wei Zhe also decisively decided to fight head-on after receiving the scout's intelligence.

After all, he had never been afraid of anyone in a fair battle.

Now that Dong Zhuo took the initiative to leave Luoyang to block the attack, it actually fulfilled Wei Zhe's wish.

So starting from the morning, small-scale fighting began at the foot of Beimang Mountain.

Even though it was rainy and foggy, the scouts from both sides were still fighting fiercely.

It can be said that:
It rains heavily during the Qingming Festival, and the pedestrians on the road are heartbroken!
……

At three quarters past noon, Wei Zhe finally arrived here with his army.

On the slope, Wei Zhe looked at the aggressive Dong Jun opposite, and his face became solemn.

Even though Luoyang was within reach, Wei Zhe did not underestimate Dong Zhuo in the slightest.

There's nothing we can do about it, since Prime Minister Cao's car accident was so widely known.

Wei Zhe didn't want to be like Cao Cao, who built nine steps on the mountain but failed at the last moment.

In fact, the situation Wei Zhe faces is still quite serious.

Even though Dong's army suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of Xuanmen Pass, Dong Zhuo still had a large number of troops under his command.

In addition to the troops left behind in Chang'an, there were more than 30,000 Dong troops in front of Wei Zhe alone.

Actually, Huangfu Song is to blame for this matter.

You must know that after Dong Zhuo entered Luoyang, although he tried every means to incorporate the Han troops from all over Luoyang, he only had 30,000 soldiers.

Even if we include the young and strong people recruited later, there were only barely more than 40,000 people.

At that time, Jingzhao Yin Gai Xun led 5,000 county soldiers and stationed troops in Youfufeng with former general Huangfu Song to resist the rebellious army from Liangzhou.

Huangfu Song had 30,000 elite soldiers under his command.

Therefore, when the news of Dong Zhuo's rebellious rule came, Gai Xun secretly contacted Huangfu Song, intending to join forces to attack Dong Zhuo.

After all, if the two of them joined forces and marched west, it would still be possible to defeat Dong Zhuo.

At that time, the coalition forces against Dong Zhuo were in full force in the east of Luoyang. If Gai Xun's plan had worked, perhaps Dong Zhuo could have been eliminated.

Although killing Dong Zhuo might not necessarily save the Han Dynasty, it was indeed an opportunity to save the chaotic situation.

Dong Zhuo naturally also saw the hidden danger, and was even more worried about Gai Xun and Huangfu Song controlling a large number of troops in the Sanfu area.

After completely controlling the court, he summoned Gai Xun as a counselor and Huangfu Song as a captain of the city gate.

Logically speaking, such a call-up would undoubtedly be a humiliation to Huangfu Song.

But Huangfu Song rejected Gai Xun's suggestion and prepared to hand over his troops and head to Luoyang.

However, Huangfu Song's chief secretary Liang Yan was not optimistic about his decision, believing that even if he did not raise an army to fight Dong, he should not abandon his troops and march to Luoyang.

In order to convince Huangfu Song, Liang Yan even said bluntly:
"The Han Dynasty is weak, and the eunuchs are causing chaos in the court. Although Dong Zhuo was executed, he failed to remain loyal to the country and has since plundered the capital, deposing and enthroning people at his will. Now, to summon the general would bring disaster at the most and humiliation at the least. Now that Zhuo is in Luoyang, and the Son of Heaven is coming west, we will bring the general's army, 30,000 elite soldiers, to welcome the Supreme Emperor and carry out his orders to suppress the rebellion. We will issue orders throughout the country to recruit troops and generals. The Yuan family is pressing him to the east, and the general is pressing him to the west. This is how we will capture him."

However, even after Liang Yan said this, Huangfu Song was determined to be a loyal minister.

Even though he knew that Luoyang was in danger, he was still unwilling to disobey the emperor's edict.

If Huangfu Song was merely greedy for fame in the past, he is now considered pedantic.

With Huangfu Song's departure, Gai Xun had no choice but to go to Luoyang with Huangfu Song.

Therefore, Huangfu Song not only betrayed Gai Xun, but also indirectly betrayed Wei Zhe.

However, after observing the formation for a while on the hill, Wei Zhe burst into laughter.

"This battle must be won!"

Upon hearing this, Taishi Ci immediately became curious and asked, "The enemy Dong's army formation is quite well-organized. How did they win?" Seeing him ask this, Wei Zhe did not keep him in suspense. He immediately waved his whip and pointed downwards with a smile.

"Although the Dong bandits have a large number of troops, most of them were forcibly recruited. They are scattered across the mountains and their morale is divided."

"Observing the battle formation today, we can see that Dong Zhuo is actually using the troops from Liang Province to resist all the other armies!"

"This method is fine if you rely on the strong to bully the weak, but it will inevitably lead to chaos if you encounter adversity!"

Of course, if he was given another year, Wei Zhe believed that these would not be a problem with Dong Zhuo's methods.

But what Dong Zhuo lacks most now is time. It takes even more time to reorganize the army and win over the morale of the troops.

When the generals heard Wei Zhe say this, although they seemed to understand, they felt relieved.

Wei Zhe then stopped wasting time, called Zhao Yun over and whispered a few words to him before returning to his camp.

……

As time passed, the Wei army and the Dong army finally collided.

In the thick fog, thousands of soldiers rushed out like evil spirits and then fought each other.

In just a moment, corpses with their intestines ripped open and heads and bodies separated could be seen everywhere.

But even so, the soldiers on both sides still fought bloody battles with ferocious faces.

This horrifying scene seemed as if hundreds of ghosts from the underworld had really come to the human world during the Qingming Festival.

Even in the distance, where the naked eye couldn't see clearly, there were constant sounds of footsteps coming from the fog. Being in it, it even gave people a sense of endless flow.

However, Taishi Ci was not affected by this illusion at all.

He looked up at the gray sky and found that the sun was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn this weather!" Taishi Ci couldn't help cursing as he felt sticky all over.

Taishi Ci hated cloudy days, and hated rain even more, because such weather made the cavalry more risky.

But even so, when he saw that his main formation had loosened under the attack of Dong's army, he still led the cavalry battalion to provide support.

At the same time, Zhong Hu was still making arrangements with a calm expression:

"Send a message to Mao Kun, ordering his troops to march to the left to replace Xu Kuan."

"Send a message to Zhang Liao, ordering his troops to march out to the right to replace Liu Yi..."

Speaking of this battle at the foot of Mang Mountain, because the battlefield was open, Wei Zhe and Dong Zhuo did their best.

Perhaps relying on his military advantage, Dong Zhuo was very arrogant from the start.

He used Lu Bu and Guo Si as the vanguard, and Niu Fu, Xu Rong, Li Jue, Zhang Ji and Duan Wei followed closely behind. They attacked in a sharp formation, intending to kill the enemy with one blow.

Although the morale of the Wei army was high, they formed a circular formation, with Taishi Ci and Wu Zhong leading the left and right guards.

As for Wei Zhe, he had 5,000 Liaodong infantry and cavalry in the center of the square formation, waiting for an opportunity to move.

The square formation is good for attacking, and the circular formation is good for defending. It is obvious that Wei Zhe has no intention of exchanging pieces with Dong Zhuo.

Although he wanted to take Luoyang as soon as possible, things on the battlefield could not be rushed.

For example, now, Dong Zhuoyue wanted to fight him head-on, but Wei Zhe was not willing to do what he wanted.

After all, he has fewer troops, and if he gets involved in a melee, Dong's army's advantage will be maximized.

It is precisely because of this that Dong’s army’s offensive became more and more fierce.

Arrows flew out wave after wave, and in the blink of an eye, "weeds" had grown in front of the Wei army's formation.

Many soldiers in the Wei army were shot to the ground and lost their voices.

However, when it comes to archery, the men from Liaodong are not much worse than the people from Liangzhou, and they immediately fought back.

But before long, the bows and arrows of both sides were soaked by the rain and lost their tension, so they could only rely on swords to fight.

The defenders eventually got the upper hand, and the more fiercely Dong's army charged, the more they died.

The two sides stabbed each other with spears across a wall of shields. In a short while, corpses piled up like mountains and blood flowed like rivers in the middle.

However, Dong's army had too many cannon fodders, and they were still charging towards the Wei army's formation.

Even though several waves of troops had rotated inside the circle, it still looked somewhat shaky.

Then Taishi Ci and Wu Zhong, who were coordinating on the left and right, immediately began to launch surprise attacks again.

While dealing with the pursuit of Dong's cavalry, they also disrupted the situation on the front line.

After an hour, nothing had changed except that a large number of people had died on the battlefield. The situation seemed to be at a stalemate.

The only difference was that the vanguard of Dong's army began to flee.

I don't know if they were scared by such a bloody meat grinder, but when a battalion of Han troops from Luoyang were driven forward to continue attacking the Wei army, more than a dozen people from Luoyang City actually dropped their weapons and fled.

"Those who retreat will die!"

Seeing this, Dong Jun's supervisory team immediately showed no mercy.

But in the blink of an eye, a team of Liangzhou soldiers captured more than ten deserters and killed them on the spot with their swords.

After that series of head shocks, this wave of attack was indeed a bit stronger.

But the Wei soldiers behind the shield wall finally managed to hold their ground and launch defensive counterattacks from time to time.

But even so, the Wei army was still filled with anger, and they would probably explode at the slightest spark...

(End of this chapter)