Chapter 18 Night Attack
After several days of marching, the Yan army of more than 10,000 people led by Murong He passed the Minchi and crossed the abandoned Hangu Pass, and was only a few dozen miles away from Shan County.

Along the way, Li Yuanhui no longer had the idea of ​​offering suggestions, but instead had a more macro-level understanding of things like how to deploy the march, how to set up camp, and how to arrange sentries.

As a military secretary, he had access to all military matters. Although the commander-in-chief Murong He was a weakling, as the deputy commander-in-chief and General Zhenxi Pang Lingxun, he could be considered a veteran on the battlefield.

Not only was he a bodyguard of Emperor Murong Ying, he also served as a Lang Jiang in the expedition against the Southern Wei and the Turks in the north. In the seventh year of Tiansheng, he led an army alone in the western expedition against Tuyuhun and gained a lot.

This is also why he was made Murong He's deputy.

Firstly, he is Murong Ying's confidant, and secondly, his abilities are beyond doubt.

After the meeting, Murong He became a hands-off boss. The battle of Beimang gave him a clear understanding of his abilities, so all military affairs were handed over to Pang Lingxun.

Li Yuanhui followed Pang Lingxun to handle military affairs, such as how many miles a day the army should march, where to set up camp near a water source, how to deploy the troops during the march, how to arrange the rear guard troops, how far apart the troops should be, how much military rations should be consumed every day, how to choose the route during the march, etc.

Pang Lingxun was open-minded and did not hide his knowledge from Li Yuanhui, a studious young man. He answered almost every question and explained many of his experiences in detail.

So Li Yuanhui knew that there were many marching methods and precautions, such as "parallel marching", "mountain marching", "light marching", "heavy marching", "combined marching", "cycling" and "walking".

In addition to accurately calculating the marching distance, we must also carefully organize reconnaissance to find out the conditions along the march.

When crossing rivers, climbing mountains, and passing through deep forests, a small team of scouts should be sent out to search for any unusual human activity within a few miles, and then send people to climb up the mountains to keep alert.

When the road conditions are unclear, you need to ask a guide to lead the way, and send a vanguard to "clear the road" and "open the way".
Then the camp was moved. The scouts marched ahead of the army and had to keep track of the terrain, roads, natural disasters and other conditions that would affect the march. The scouts needed to carry five-color flags for early warning, with each color corresponding to a different situation.

For example, a yellow flag corresponds to a ditch ahead, a forest or swamp corresponds to a green flag, a wildfire corresponds to a red flag, and a deep ravine corresponds to a black flag.
Li Yuanhui had read the Art of War before, but when he really put himself in the shoes of others, it was a different story.

"What you learn from books is always shallow. You must practice it yourself to fully understand it. The ancients really didn't lie to me."

After returning to the tent and following Pang Lingxun on his patrol of the camp, Li Yuanhui dragged his tired body to sit on the bed and couldn't help but sigh.

Cousin Dou Xianjun was surprised and asked, "Where did Silang find this beautiful sentence? Why haven't I heard it before? It makes a lot of sense."

Li Yuanhui was stunned for a moment, then he made up a story: "Maybe it's the collection of poems by Emperor Xuan?"

"I have read Emperor Xuan's poetry collection carefully, and it seems that these two lines are not included," said Zhao Er on the side.

Li Yuanhui patted his head and hurriedly changed the subject: "I can't remember which book I saw it in. Oh, we will be in Shan County tomorrow. We can go into the city to eat something good. My cousin and Brother Zhao have been to Shan County. Is there any good food there?"

The three of them were from the same department, so they camped in the same tent during the march. As time went by, they became very familiar with each other and spoke freely.

Dou Xianjun thought for a moment and said, "What good food can there be in Shan County? The last few times I went to the two capitals with my father, we stayed at the posthouses when passing through Shan County. The food was also prepared by the posthouse cooks. It was barely edible. But Shan County is not far from the river, so the fish may be fresher?"

Zhao Erze shook his head: "Although I was born in Guanzhong, I went out with my father when I was five years old. I have been in Zhuo County and Luoyang in recent years. I can't even remember the last time I passed by Shan County. Dou Liu, has Chang'an been okay in recent years? I almost forgot what Chang'an is like?"

Dou Xianjun was very excited when he mentioned Chang'an. "It is also the Western Capital. Although it is not as prosperous as Luoyang in recent years, it is more prosperous and the food is good. The singing and dancing in Miaoshanfang are unique. There is a singing girl in the fang, named Fan Sanshi Niang. She is in her teens, her dancing is graceful, and her voice is like the sound of nature. She can be said to be 'a perfect combination of voice and appearance'. There is also Gongsun Wuniang, who is especially good at sword dancing and has an exquisite figure."

When Zhao Er heard this, he immediately became interested and his eyes lit up. Li Yuanhui also listened very seriously. He was not so focused even when Pang Lingxun was teaching him the key points of marching.

The three of them talked a lot, looked forward to the beauties singing and dancing in Chang'an City, and then fell into a deep sleep.

At this time, danger was approaching in vain. In the middle of the night, a rebel army of more than 2,000 people, wrapped in armor and holding their guns, appeared silently behind the Yan army camp. They had taken shortcuts and traveled at full speed in the past few days just for this moment, to outflank the Yan army before it entered Tongguan.

Pang Lingxun was also a veteran general, and he had also made arrangements for night duty, but when the rebels launched their surprise attack, it was also the most difficult time for people. In addition, because the government troops set up a temporary camp, the fences of the tents were buried shallowly, and the rebels directly pulled them out with war horses.

Afterwards, Yang Xun took the lead, leading two thousand infantry and cavalry, and broke into the Yan army camp. They trampled on their horses and set fire to the tents. The situation near the camp gate was particularly tragic. Many people were cut in the throat by the rebels in their sleep, and some stood up suddenly and were choked by the smoke and fire.

Although there were scouts warning, it was still not enough to stop the rebels from attacking at night. A large number of government troops heard the shouting and killing in their sleep, and they were awakened and had to fight hastily.

Li Yuanhui jumped up from the bed when he heard the noise, and immediately realized that this was a night attack. He quickly woke up Dou Xianjun and Zhao Er, then took his robe and went out of the tent to put it on in the moonlight, then went back to the tent to light the candle with a tinder, took his bow and arrows, hung his sword, and went out of the tent again. He saw that the left and front camps were already ablaze, and the shouts of killing were deafening.

The central army where he was also quickly stood up, put on armor and prepared to meet the enemy.

The left army and the front army were in chaos, but this also gave the other three units time to react. Fences were set up between each camp, dozens of steps apart.

Li Yuanhui was not wearing armor. The first reason was that he was a military officer and did not need to rush to the front line to resist.

Secondly, he felt that wearing armor was not a good idea now. If the entire army was really defeated, wearing armor would be a great hindrance to escape.

Under the leadership of Yang Xun, the rebels displayed amazing fighting power. In a very short time, they broke through the camp deployed to the north of the central army, and then drove the defeated soldiers directly to the central army.

After being armed, Pang Lingxun immediately organized the central army to defend the camp, and barely managed to resist the attack of the fleeing soldiers and rebels.

As dawn approached, Yang Xun realized that he could not completely defeat the Yan army, so he decided to quit while he was ahead and gathered his troops and withdrew from the battle.

Although he did not face the rebels head-on or engage in close combat, Li Yuanhui was still haunted by the night attack.

This night attack was too terrifying. Visibility was extremely low at night, and many people suffered from night blindness. In the panic, sometimes they couldn't even tell who was who.

People who launch night attacks often take advantage of this factor to amplify the fear of the unknown. Some even pretend to be enemy troops to lure the attacked troops into killing each other.

Once distrust arises, it will greatly affect the combat effectiveness of the army.

After dawn, Li Yuanhui was ordered to immediately organize his clerks and secretaries to begin inquiring about the casualties and battle losses of each unit.

There were about a thousand casualties, and nearly two thousand people fled or disappeared. The burning of some baggage and tents was a minor problem, after all, it was only a few dozen miles to Shan County and they could get reinforcements.

But the morale of the entire army began to become low. If they were to engage in a head-on battle with the rebels now, they would probably be defeated at the first blow.

Seeing this situation, Pang Lingxun could only pull his commander Murong He together to comfort the soldiers, boost morale, reward the soldiers who first sounded the alarm last night, and execute dozens of deserters.

Only then did they organize and mobilize the team and march towards Shan County. For the sake of safety, they deliberately slowed down the march and kept themselves on guard at all times.

This also meant that the rebel vanguard led by Yang Xun did not have the opportunity to attack the Yan army again.

On August 13, Murong He led his troops to the county seat of Shan County and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Just one day later, scouts brought news that the rebel army was marching at full speed and was less than a hundred miles away from Shan County.

(End of this chapter)