Chapter 279 Battle of Zhangshui
In the vast land between the Yingshui and Rushui rivers, both the attacking and defending sides had some of the strongest armies in the world, and the war reached a very high intensity from the very beginning.

The Eastern Army launched a fierce attack on the two camps in the middle of Guo Xing's Lujiang Left Camp. Despite heavy casualties, they broke into the camps several times within ten days, but were eventually driven out by the Western Army.

Before the Eastern Yan and Western Yan fought in Yingchuan, Zhao Da of Jizhou in the north and Tuoba of Bingzhou also raised clouds of war in Hebei. Although the scale of their war was not as large as that in Yingchuan, the brutality of the war was no less.

After the spring ploughing in April and May, Zhao Da had already planned to attack Bingzhou, nominally to suppress the rebellion and to avenge the sneak attack last year. After all, Bingzhou nominally belonged to Western Yan, while Jizhou was under the command of Luoyang.

But what he didn't expect was that before he took any action, the Bingzhou army took the lead in sending out troops.

In May, perhaps unable to wait, Tuoba Yuqing personally led an army of 60,000 out of Fukou Pass and headed straight for Yecheng, with the intention of swallowing up Jizhou in one breath.

Zhao Da, the governor of Jizhou, personally led 30,000 elite troops across the Zhang River to attack Tuoba Yuqing.

The two sides fought a fierce battle north of the Zhang River.

In this battle, the Jizhou army formed a large formation with 18,000 infantrymen, with their backs against the Zhang River, and the cavalry hid in the formation.

After observing the battle formation, Tuoba Yuqing ordered his cousin Tuoba Jun, nephew Tuoba Huan and nephew Hedouling Changxi to lead their own light cavalry to take turns to harass the Jizhou army formation, which was the most common kite-flying method used by cavalry against infantry.

The harassment continued until the afternoon, and Tuoba Yuqing felt that the Jizhou army must be exhausted and the time had come, so he sent his brother Tuoba Yuji and General Liu Hao to lead armored cavalry to charge and break through the formation.

The Jizhou army remained unmoved. Relying on strong bows and crossbows, large shields and long spears, the infantry formation withstood six consecutive waves of attacks from the Tuoba armored cavalry.

After the seventh attack, the Jizhou Army finally seemed to be on the verge of collapse after a day of harassment and attacks.

Liu Hao, a fierce general of Bingzhou Army, was a Xiongnu man known for his bravery. In the final charge, he held a large spear and faced the arrows, and finally broke into the Jizhou Army.

Until this time, the Jizhou cavalry, which had rested for most of the day, finally moved.

Zhao Daqin led 8,000 cavalrymen from behind his own infantry formation, bypassed his own infantry formation, drew an arc, and rushed towards the center of the Bingzhou army.

Zhao Da was charging in the front, and beside him was Shi Yanchao, a famous and fierce general of the Jizhou army. He was nine feet tall. The two men were running side by side, both holding large spears and were unstoppable, and they went straight into the main formation of the Bingzhou army.

The Bingzhou army, which had been exhausted for half a day, was no match for the Jizhou cavalry, which had been resting in the infantry formation for half a day, in terms of physical strength and fighting spirit.

Zhao Da and Shi Yanchao moved forward unstoppable. Tuoba Yuqing's cousin Tuoba Jun was knocked off his horse by Zhao Da's spear.

His troops were also defeated by the Jizhou army, and it was only then that Tuoba Yuqing realized that something was wrong.

Because Zhao Da was less than two miles away from his central army.

Tuoba Yuji and Liu Hao's troops were also cut off from the rear army, and Zhao Da sent out a cavalry of 2,000 men to intercept them.

Upon seeing this, Tuoba Yuqing directly led the central army to attack, and engaged in a melee with Zhao Da's cavalry.

At this critical moment, the backup plan that Zhao Da had prepared in advance was launched.

Su Yong and his son Su Dingbian led more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry from Xiangguo in the north and finally arrived at the Zhangshui battlefield. Su Dingbian led more than 1,000 cavalry as the vanguard and launched a fierce attack on the rear of the Bingzhou army, which immediately fell into chaos.

Zhao Da also led his troops to attack bravely, rushing towards Tuoba Yuqing's large banner, and no one could stop the spear in his hand.

The Tuoba clan's elite soldiers, who prided themselves on being elite, finally witnessed the bravery of the Han general. Seeing that his bravery was unstoppable, Tuoba Yuqing became frightened and turned to flee. Shi Yanchao saw this and took out the javelin from his back and threw it, hitting the warrior holding the flag for Tuoba Yuqing.

However, a young general named Ma under Zhao Da's command took out a large bow, drew his arrow and shot straight at Tuoba Yuqing's back.

Although Tuoba Yuqing was wearing heavy armor, the bow of the young general named Ma was extremely powerful, so it hit his shoulder blade and almost knocked him off his horse.

When Zhao Da saw this scene, he immediately shouted loudly: "Tuoba Yuqing was shot to death."

This sound also announced the complete defeat of the Bingzhou Army. The Jizhou Army fought bravely, and the Bingzhou Army saw that the commander's banner had arrived, and some people saw that Tuoba Yuqing was shot by an arrow, so they fled.

The Jizhou army launched a counterattack and began to pursue the fugitives.

In this battle, there were more than 60,000 Bingzhou troops, but only more than 10,000 of them successfully escaped through Fukou Pass.

Tuoba Yuqing was wounded by an arrow, but was protected by his personal guards at all costs and escaped.

More than ten generals including Tuoba Yuji and Liu Hao were captured, and dozens of officers were killed in the battle.

In this battle, the Bingzhou army suffered a very tragic defeat.

Tuoba Yuqing himself was in a state of failing when he arrived at Shangdang County. He was anxious and had an arrow wound. Before he passed out, he only left one sentence: "Quickly summon Tianbao here."

Tianbao is referring to Tuoba Yuqing's youngest son, Tuoba Tianbao, who is only sixteen years old. However, he is the most valued by Tuoba Yuqing, who often says that this child will be the one who will make our family prosperous.

After the great defeat in the Battle of Zhangshui, Tuoba Yuqing felt that he did not have much time left, so he sent someone to find his youngest son to entrust him with his final affairs.

However, his eldest son Tuoba Jun, who was stationed in Hedong, learned about it in advance. Therefore, Tuoba Jun, who was in Anyi, rushed to Changzi County, Shangdang County, and finally arrived at his father's side before his brother Tuoba Tianbao.

After seeing his eldest son Tuoba Jun, Tuoba Yuqing could only sigh helplessly and said that it was God's will, because he knew that it was impossible to leave the position to his youngest son.

In desperation, he handed over the position of head of the family, as well as the titles of Governor of Bingzhou and Duke of Dai to his eldest son Tuoba Jun in front of everyone.

When Tuoba Tianbao arrived, Tuoba Yuqing was already dead.

Tuoba Jun immediately placed Tuoba Tianbao and his cousin Tuoba Tianmu under house arrest. However, he was concerned that killing brothers right after their father's death would have a bad influence, so he sent a number of people to watch over them.

As a result, on the way back to Jinyang, Tuoba Tianbao and Tuoba Tianmu seized the horses and bows and arrows of the guards who were guarding them and escaped.

Tuoba Jun sent people to chase them, but Tuoba Tianbao and Tuoba Tianmu looked back and shot, and every shot they shot hit the target. Anyone who came close fell down as soon as the arrows shot. The two men then escaped and ran north.

After Tuoba Tianbao and Tuoba Tianmulai returned to Jinyang, they took their troops and hurried back to Dai County, which was equivalent to giving Jinyang to Tuoba Jun.

Seeing this, Tuoba Jun knew that the Tuoba family could not withstand internal strife at this time, so he sent his uncle Tuoba Yin to Dai County to appease his brother Tuoba Tianbao. The two brothers temporarily maintained superficial peace due to the severe situation.

The Battle of Zhangshui can be said to have had a huge impact on the situation in Hebei. After Zhao Da defeated the powerful enemy in one fell swoop, his prestige in Jizhou greatly increased.

The two major aristocratic families, the Zhaojun Li family and the Qinghe Cui family, as well as local powerful people, changed their tone and provided manpower, money and food to support his expedition to Bingzhou.

After gaining the support of local nobles, Jizhou's war potential was fully unleashed.

Zhao Da also decided to strike while the iron was hot and organized an army of 100,000 people, taking advantage of the victory in the Battle of Zhangshui to march into Bingzhou.

He left his second brother Zhao Jiong to guard Yecheng, and led his army to advance from Fukouxing. The Bingzhou army was in a panic because of the recent death of Tuoba Yuqing, while the Jizhou army was unstoppable and successively captured Huguan, Tunliu, and Changzi. He then sent Su father and son with 20,000 troops to take over Hedong, and led 80,000 troops north to Jinyang.

At this time, Taiyuan County in Bingzhou became the main battlefield in the battle for northern hegemony, and the outcome of the Jinyang battle would most likely determine the future trend of the world.

As luck would have it, in June, Youzhou governor Xue Shixiong died of illness. Three of his five sons were in Luoyang, one died young, and his youngest son Xue Wanbei was a reckless man who had neither the prestige nor the ability to succeed him as governor.

Luoyang, thousands of miles away, naturally could not have any influence on the situation in Youzhou, and the Youzhou military generals and local gentry all recommended Liu Xuanji as the governor of Youzhou.

After some refusal, Liu Xuanji accepted the seal and imperial seal of the governor and became the actual controller of Youzhou.

He also became the person who could decide the fate of the North.

(End of this chapter)