Chapter 94: More Haste, Less Speed ​​(First Order Request)
After a few days of preparation, the Yan army took the lead in launching an attack and the Battle of Xiaoqing River began.

Prince of Qi Murong Ju led the army and ordered his eldest son Prince of Zheng Murong Chao to lead the front, rear, left and right armies of more than 20,000 troops, and his second son Prince of Liang Murong Zan to lead the left dragon army of 15,000 troops. They attacked the defense line built by the Qingzhou army from two directions, one in the south and the other in the north.

The front, back, left and right armies had already suffered heavy losses in several major battles, and now their total strength is only over 20,000, but the four generals are all veterans of the battlefield.

The Right General Pu Gusu, a Xianbei man, was known as “a match for ten thousand men” and was the bravest of the three armies.

Left General Zheng Guo, a descendant of the Zheng family of Xingyang, was strict in military discipline and followed the late emperor in the Northern Expedition. He formed a formation with thousands of infantrymen and resisted tens of thousands of Turkic cavalry, preventing them from advancing an inch. He was praised by the late emperor for his style of Zhou Yafu and Xu Huang. It was he who led his troops to cover the retreat during the two expeditions to Goguryeo.

Former General Xue Qi, a native of Longmen, Bingzhou, was a branch of the Hedong Xue family. His family had made great military achievements for generations. His father, Xue Gang, was once a general of chariots and cavalry.

The Later General, Prince of Zhou Murong Fengxian, was twenty years old. He was a brave general of the royal family and the nephew of the sage. His father, Prince of Zhou Dao, Murong Jing, died young, and he was brought up by Empress Murong Yinghe. He was skilled in riding and shooting and had a resolute character.

Before the Siege of Guangwu, the troops of these four generals added up to more than 50,000 people. They were originally the vanguard army leading the way, but when the Turks moved south, they became the rear guard. They were caught off guard and had to form a temporary formation. In order to cover the saint's retreat, they suffered heavy losses.

In the end, the number of people who retreated into Guangwu was less than 20,000, and after more than a month of confrontation in defending the city, the casualties were considerable.

After returning to Chang'an, the four armies had a total of more than 20,000 troops after replenishment. This expedition was commanded by the eldest son of the emperor, Murong Chao.

Although Murong Chao has a weak character, he is a prince after all. He has received a good education and is both civil and military. He is just a little cowardly when facing a saint, but he is not completely useless.

His uncle Murong Ju had already reminded him about this battle that any undecided matters could be referred to the left general Zheng Guo for decision.

So, Murong Chao directly handed over the command of the operation to Zheng Guo.

On a high slope not far from Xiaoqing River, Murong Chao, his staff and Zheng Guo, as the central army, were looking at the battlefield situation from afar.

Zheng Guo got straight to the point and said, "Your Highness, I don't know what result you want from this rebellion. You might as well speak frankly."

Murong Chao's slightly plump face showed a simple and honest smile. "Lord Zheng, you are a veteran general of the imperial court. You can give orders on my behalf regarding all matters concerning the use of troops. As for the result, it is actually not important. As long as we can successfully break through the rebels' defenses and lift the siege of Dongpingling, we don't need to worry too much about anything else."

Zheng Guo nodded. In fact, what he wanted to ask Murong Chao was whether he should take this opportunity to win the first merit with Liang Wang Murong Zhan. After all, the two princes led their troops to attack at the same time. This did not seem like the work of the King of Qi, but rather a test of the two princes by a saint.

Murong Chao also gave him a clear answer that he did not want to compete for the first credit.

If they want to win merit, they will naturally have a way of fighting to win merit. If they are eager for quick success and instant benefits, they need to race against time, and casualties will naturally be high. If they don't need to win merit, they will naturally have a safe strategy for using troops. If they fight steadily, they will naturally reduce casualties.

Zheng Guo then ordered the troops under former general Xue Qi to drive the auxiliary soldiers and laborers to fill the trenches, while the combat soldiers were responsible for the guard.

The rear general Murong Fengxian led the cavalry to patrol, while the right general Pu Gusu's troops gathered their strength and prepared for battle.

More than ten miles south of the four armies in front, behind, left and right, not far from the northern foot of Mount Tai, Murong Zan and General Zuo Longxiang, who was also his uncle, Duke of Nangan, Yuwen Chengye, stood on a small hill, looking at the battlefield and watching the battle.

Murong Zan had been disliked by the Saint ever since the siege of Guangwu. Sometimes he was not even able to see him when he came to pay his respects.

Originally, when he was on tour in the north, he was the first prince to command troops, commanding the Left and Right Longxiang armies. General Zuo Longxiang was his uncle, and General You Longxiang was his future father-in-law.

Now his marriage with Wenxi Pei family has been cancelled because his fiancée Pei Yu has contracted a serious illness. Naturally, Wenxi Pei family will not invest a lot of manpower and resources to support him.

The Yuwen family was a powerful Xianbei clan with a large population, and naturally divided into many branches. The most prominent among them were the lineage of Duke Zhao Yuwen Kai and the lineage of Duke Chu Yuwen Jin. His mother, Concubine Yuwen, was from the lineage of Duke Chu, and Princess Wu Yuwen was the granddaughter of Duke Zhao Yuwen Kai.

He naturally knew that his father was creating checks and balances to prevent a giant like the Yuwen family from working together to assist him.

The same goes for the Jingzhao Wei family.

Among the Wei family in Dayan, the most prominent ones are the lineage of Duke Xunguo and the lineage of Duke Xiaoyao. Among them, Concubine Wei, the mother of King Wu, is from the lineage of Duke Xunguo, while his former queen is from the lineage of Duke Xiaoyao.

However, because of his bad relationship with the late Princess Liang, and his father-in-law, Duke Xiaoyao and former Weiwei Qing Wei Jin, who were executed for their involvement in the Qin King's rebellion, his decline had become somewhat severe.

He also used some tricks to make the former princess die due to lack of timely medical treatment when she was seriously ill. He originally wanted to marry into the powerful Wenxi Pei family to get their support, but now that Pei Yu has contracted a serious illness, this plan has failed.

He knew that if he had followed his father to Guangwu and done nothing, he would not be treated so coldly now. Even if he canceled the marriage with Pei Minzhi's daughter, the saint would find another daughter of a noble family to marry him.

He was even thinking about asking to marry Duan Jin, the daughter of General Duan Yihong.

The woman's reputation spread far and wide, and the Duan family was a noble family that shared weal and woe with the Murong family, and had enormous influence in the army and the court. But the only thing that needed to be worried about was that three of her fiancés had died in succession. With this in mind, he didn't dare to risk his life in the attempt.

Now he lacks help from his in-laws and his father doesn't like him, so this is a rare opportunity for him.

Whether we can make a comeback depends on this battle.

"Uncle, we must not fall behind in this battle."

Yuwen Chengye nodded when he heard this. He was naturally aware of the current situation of his nephew Murong Zan.

In fact, the Yuwen family is Murong Zan's biggest support now. Once Murong Zan can successfully seize the throne, the lineage of Duke Chu will naturally rise.

If not, they will have to stand aside after the power reshuffle.

Yuwen Chengye immediately gave orders, driving the laborers to carry soil to fill the trenches. At the same time, he ordered General Chu Liang to lead the cavalry to be on guard, and General Chen Guang to lead the infantry to be ready. After the laborers filled the trenches, they immediately cut down the fences and broke through the defense line of the Qi County rebels.

The two armies began filling the moat almost at the same time.

However, on one side, there was an urgent urging, and the soldiers in charge of supervision from the Zuolongxiang Army were whipping and cursing, while the laborers were pushing carts or carrying bamboo baskets filled with soil forward, and they had to withstand the arrows from the rebels on the opposite side.

As for the rebels in Qi County, after discovering the Yan army's assembly point through beacon towers, they immediately began to mobilize their troops to deploy defenses.

The person in charge of the defense against the Yan army was Qi County Sima Jia Xiong. As an old soldier who had experienced many wars, he was well versed in the attack and defense of the camp. Before a section of the trench was filled to allow the two armies to engage in close combat, the Yan army could do nothing except using archers to suppress the Qi County rebels.

Generally speaking, those who are responsible for filling the trenches are not elite combat soldiers, but only auxiliary soldiers and laborers.

The latter would not have armor on their bodies, so he had people cut wood and bamboo into arrows early in the morning. Although they could not penetrate armor without metal arrowheads and their lethality was greatly reduced, they could still cause effective damage to civilians who were not protected by armor.

It can also save arrows with iron arrowheads for use in battles against the main force of the Yan army.

The result was that the rebels used crudely made, low-quality bows and shot wooden and bamboo arrows that could cut through the city walls. The arrows had no accuracy or power, but were still able to cause effective casualties to the civilians who lacked protective equipment across the trenches several feet wide.

And it causes fear.

Upon seeing this, the Yan army immediately sent archers to counterattack and suppress the enemy.

However, the Qi County rebels, who had been well prepared, directly rolled out arrow shields made of wooden boards and straw. The Yan army's arrows did not cause many casualties, but they sent a lot of arrows to the rebels.

Seeing the other side taking out wooden boards and straw to block the arrows, the Yan army immediately had people wrap cloth strips around the arrows, dip them in kerosene, light them, and then throw them at the rebels.

Who knew that the rebel leader Jia Xiong had also anticipated this. The straw had already been soaked, and the Yan army's rockets could not be ignited.

During the first day of fighting, the Yan army's progress in filling the ditch was very limited.

The northern army under King Zheng suffered almost no casualties because of the proper management of the situation by Zheng Guo, who ordered the civilians to push the soil out of the range of the enemy's arrows, and the remaining dozens of steps were left to the soldiers from various units to push the soil into the ditch in turns, so the casualties were almost negligible.

The Southern Army under the command of King Liang suffered heavy casualties, with nearly a thousand civilians killed or wounded, but their progress in filling the trenches was not as good as that of the Right Army in the north.

At the same time, Murong Zan, who was furious, also received a note written by his commander-in-chief, the emperor's uncle, Prince of Qi Murong Ju.

"More haste, less speed."

(End of this chapter)