Chapter 82: The Siege of Guangwu (Part )

After Zhao Yi led his army to Xinkou and observed the terrain, he set up camp on the west bank of the Hutuo River, with his back against a branch of the Taihang Mountains, leaving only the northwest sides to defend against the enemy.

As the first general to lead a large army to the Xinkou battlefield to defend the emperor, Zhao Yi's arrival greatly boosted the morale of the troops gathered at Xinkou to defend the emperor.

Before Zhao Yi arrived, more than 10,000 people had gathered in Xinkou, coming from various counties and prefectures of Bingzhou, such as Loufan, Jiangjun, Jiuyuan, as well as Zhongshan, Changshan, Julu and other counties and prefectures of Jizhou.

Although they relied on their geographical advantage to lead their troops to Xinkou to support the king, the local officials did not have enough time to organize too many troops in such a hurry. In addition to sending out soldiers from the counties, they could only organize some civilians as soldiers, and the number of them was generally small.

Most of them have around a thousand people, and some have only three or four hundred people.

Moreover, the troops were disorganized, with good and bad people mixed together, and their weapons and armor were not complete.

Such a team lacked unified command. It would be difficult for them to continue to advance northward to attack the hundreds of thousands of Turkic troops and protect the king, let alone defend Xinkou.

Zhao Yi's arrival solved the urgent problem.

The person who arrived at Xinkou at the same time as Zhao Yi was Yuwen She. In fact, this governor of Bingzhou prepared marching supplies, mobilized troops and then went to the capital to defend the king at a normal pace.

The main reason was that after Zhao Yi received the imperial edict, he was already near the Yellow River, and his troops were already fighting against the Wagang Army, so he set out directly without any preparation.

Then they continued to march quickly and miraculously arrived at Xinkou before the army from Jinyang.

Yuwen She did not think of competing with Zhao Yi for the initiative, but spent a lot of time gathering food and grass around Jinyang, preparing to supply the army that had not arrived yet but was definitely very large in number.

After Zhao Yi's troops arrived in Jinyang, it was Yuwen She who replenished them with food and fodder.

After Yuwen She arrived, the total number of the army reached about 70,000. Compared with the hundreds of thousands of Turkic troops, it was still not enough to lift the siege of Guangwu. Zhao Yi led his cavalry to make several attempts, but all failed.

Together with the intelligence from Loufan and Mayi, some useful information was obtained. The total number of Turkic troops was probably 400,000.

The new Khan Shibi personally led an army of 250,000 to isolate Guangwu, and his brother Ashina Jieshe led a detachment of about 100,000 to besiege Gang County and confront the Yan army's army. They were stationed in Yuanping, southwest of Gang County, blocking the throat of the Yan army's northward march to support the king, and also blocked Loufan Pass, a key road leading to Mayi and Loufan.

If the army to support the king wanted to continue northward, it would first have to deal with the Ashina Society and the Turkic army under his command.

The current strength of the Yan army is not enough to accomplish this task, and they can only continue to wait for the arrival of the main reinforcements from Guanzhong, the eastern capital Luoyang, and other parts of the world.

His brother Zhao Er began to frequently communicate with officials in Mayi, Loufan and other places to collect potentially useful intelligence.

Inside the left general's tent, Zhao Yi ordered his men to take off his armor, revealing his muscular upper body. He then casually put on a robe, looked at his aide Wang Junya and his second brother Zhao Jiong who were writing furiously beside him, took the bowl of water handed to him by the soldier, and drank it all in one gulp.

"How is it, have you collected any useful information in the past few days?"

Zhao Yi had fought in dozens of battles. He had followed the emperor in the Western Expedition to fight against Tuyuhun, the Eastern Expedition to fight against Goguryeo, and put down the Rebellion of Yang Xun. Since last year, he had wiped out several bandit armies entrenched on both sides of the canal.

But he had never dealt with the Turks before, and he was completely clueless about this battle.

Zhao Er put down his pen, stood up, straightened his back, stretched his body for a while and said, "Brother, these days, Wang Canjun and I have inquired about many things and talked with several officials in Yanmen, Mayi and Loufan. Now we have collected little useful information."

"I only know that the Turkic army is composed of three types of soldiers. The Khan's personal army, the Fuli, is also known as the Wolf Guard, which is equivalent to our elite combat soldiers. The ordinary herdsmen are called Kongxian, and there are also Tuojie, who are mostly composed of the Nine Zhaowu Clans. They are considered mercenaries and have good combat effectiveness. However, the number of each type of Turkic army this time is still unclear."

"In addition, the current Khan has been replaced by the bandit chieftain Shibi, whose name is Ashina Tujishi. The former Khan Qimin is said to be seriously ill and should be dying." "The main force besieging Guangwu was led by Ashina Tujishi himself, and the one besieging Gang County was a detachment, led by Shibi's younger brother, Ashina Jieshe."

Zhao Yi nodded after hearing this. The information that Zhao Er and military officer Wang Junya had was somewhat useful, but not much.

"Jun Ya, I have been fighting with the enemy these days. They have a large number of cavalrymen who are good at archery. Go and tell all the troops to prepare large shields to protect against the rain of arrows from the Turkic cavalry."

"Yes, General. I understand."

After the army left, Zhao Dacai asked, "Erlang, if we rush to Yanmen County day and night, will the sage grant me full authority to command the army and relieve Yanmen?"

Zhao Er said, "Brother, this matter may not depend on the saint, it depends on whether the Prince of Wei will come to the king's defense. I heard that the Prince of Wei has been in poor health since he returned to Chang'an from Liangjun. If he doesn't come, the only ones who can compete with you are Yuwen She, the governor of Bingzhou, and Murong Hui, the governor of Jizhou. Even if the Prince of Wei doesn't come to Guanzhong, the Prince of Gaoyang will lead his army. The Prince of Xia is a prince, and the Prince of Gaoyang is deeply trusted by His Majesty. Can you compete with them?"

After hearing this, Zhao Da shook his head and said, "What if the King of Wei leads his army here in person?"

Zhao Er smiled and said, "If the Prince of Wei comes in person, the Saint will certainly let him take charge of the overall situation. The Prince of Wei is fair and does not care about his family background. My brother has made outstanding military achievements and his position is comparable to that of Governor Yuwen and others. The Prince of Wei is likely to appoint my brother to command the army. After all, with his health, he probably doesn't have the energy to personally manage military affairs."

Zhao Da smiled and said, "Erlang is right. We can only hope that King Wei can take charge of the situation."

Zhao Er said: "Brother, you don't have to worry. Our army has been marching fast all the way, and we were the first to send an envoy to report the news of the emperor's service to the king. When the emperor hears this, he will definitely remember your loyalty to the country and your diligence in the king's affairs. After this battle, you will definitely be rewarded."

Zhao Da smiled and said, "Actually, it doesn't matter whether there is a reward or not. There are endless wars in this world. If you want a reward, why bother traveling so fast?"

Zhao Er said: "Brother, are you trying to use this achievement to become the military commander of a state?"

"Hahahaha, second brother, you know me. Right now, the borders of the world are in flames, and the Central Plains is in a place of war. Bandits are rampant and plundering everywhere. We have killed one after another, but we can't wipe them out. If we can't govern the prefectures and counties, we will be too constrained and will be defeated by the bandits sooner or later. So if we can achieve great success this time, we will have a chance to make some plans."

After Zhao laughed loudly, he gradually stopped smiling and spoke seriously.

Zhao Er secretly laughed in his heart when he heard this. This brother was really careful in what he said. It was obvious that he saw that troubled times were coming and wanted to seize a state as his foundation. What he said was very high-sounding.

Thinking about the superb acting skills of my brother during the march, who would not praise him as a "loyal minister of Yan"? My own skills are not good enough.

Just as the two brothers were making their plans, a soldier outside reported that Governor Yuwen had sent someone to inform them that Governor Yongzhou Military Affairs and Prince Gaoyang Murong He had arrived.

As a senior official of the royal family who was deeply trusted by the emperor and also a prince, Zhao Yi naturally did not dare to be arrogant. He immediately had him dressed again and went to meet Prince Gaoyang.

When Zhao Yi saw King Gaoyang at the camp gate, he was a little surprised, because Murong He looked even more embarrassed than when he was rescued by reinforcements from Luoyang in the Battle of Mangshan. He was dishevelled and dusty.

"General Zhao, Commander Yuwen, as soon as I heard the news, I led 3,000 cavalrymen and rushed all the way. I finally arrived in time. But I didn't expect that General Zhao was so fast in the Central Plains. It really makes us ashamed."

Zhao Yi apologized with a smile, "Your Highness, you have had a hard time on the journey. I was just thinking about the safety of the Saint, so I walked a little faster."

Upon hearing this, Yuwen She smiled but said nothing. He felt very dissatisfied but couldn't say it out loud. After all, the other person has traveled a longer distance and faster than you. What else can you say?
Murong He praised him again, saying that he was diligent in the king's affairs and was eager to protect his master.
Zhao Yi also praised the other party in return, and then asked about the situation of the troops in Guanzhong that were most concerned about him.

Murong He's answer made him feel very happy.

"I will lead 3,000 cavalrymen in advance, and King Wei will lead the army behind. We will arrive in ten days."

(End of this chapter)