Chapter 793 A Dream of Youth 325
Looking down from the city tower, the city was densely packed with people. General Xu was unable to fight, while General Xu had learned military strategy from his father since childhood and was very knowledgeable about how to use military formations to fight the enemy. The seemingly chaotic army was actually moving in accordance with the drumbeats on the city tower, forming ranks to meet the enemy.
The Northern Jin general, caught off guard by the counterattack, was momentarily stunned, but quickly recovered. He killed a few soldiers who were too weak to stand and tried to escape to stabilize morale, and then led his troops to meet the enemy.
The Northern Jin cavalry was the most formidable, and even though the Great Zhou was well-prepared, they still managed to break through and escape.
Upon spotting another contingent of Northern Jin troops coming to meet them from afar, General Xu immediately ordered the retreat, for a desperate enemy should not be pursued. Their encirclement plan had succeeded.
When the drums stopped, Aqilan, who was leading people to treat the wounded soldiers in the city, couldn't help but peek out to see if the army had returned.
"Sister Hongying, if we defeat the enemy this time, can we go out and find our teacher?" Normally, Aqi Lan respectfully calls Xie Ning "Master," but Xie Ning has always been the only teacher in her heart.
Xu Hongying also helped with some simple bandaging. Upon hearing this, she paused for a moment, then said, "I will go. Aqi Lan, you stay in the city and help Du Mingzhao and the others treat the wounded soldiers. Please also take good care of Aqi; his injuries haven't healed yet..."
War is not so simple. Xu Hongying recalled some wars she had read about in books. They were only described in a few words, but when they came to reality, they were so real and cruel.
On the Bingzhou side, there was General Xu, who was undoubtedly very skilled in battle. However, the Northern Jin was not bad either. The enemy's generals were extremely brave and resourceful. After several sieges, although the enemy suffered many casualties, the Bingzhou city also suffered heavy losses.
If Bingzhou City remains under siege, the city's food and medicine supplies will definitely run out. The main purpose of temporarily repelling the Northern Jin army this time is to allow several teams that were collecting supplies to go out.
Transporting grain into the city at that time will be fraught with difficulties.
Moreover... Xu Hongying recalled what she overheard when she went to ask General Xu for more people: of the 30,000 soldiers in the city, only a little over 20,000 were actually usable, and with the losses from that day, the number was probably less than 20,000.
This plan to turn the tables was executed under immense pressure by General Xu, because it required transferring troops from other city gates, especially since there were still 20,000 Northern Jin troops eyeing the North Gate. If the enemy launched a full-scale attack, the North Gate would inevitably fall.
Xie Qi suggested using scarecrows dressed in military uniforms to create the illusion of a large number of guards at the north gate, thus misleading the Northern Jin army and preventing them from easily attacking the city after they saw through the Great Zhou's scheme.
If this plan is also discovered, then there will be reinforcements on the Fen River posing a threat. If the Northern Jin army attacks the city, the rear will inevitably fall.
But in reality, the only reinforcements at Fenhe were the five thousand who had been scattered and then gathered together; the rest had gone to the east gate. Otherwise, nearly ten thousand Northern Jin troops would not have been left behind.
However, since they were able to connect with the reinforcements from Shaanxi, most of the pressure was relieved, at least the number of people on both sides was about the same.
What Xu Hongying didn't know was that the reinforcements actually only numbered 30,000. The claim of 40,000 was just to obtain provisions for 40,000 people. After deducting the losses of today, the reinforcements and local troops together numbered less than 50,000.
As for the soldiers who retreated from Shiling, half of them were incapable of fighting. Since most of them were new recruits, their obedience was not high. When they were defending Shiling, it was they who led the way in running away, which is why Shiling collapsed so quickly.
General Xu had no choice but to accept them, since having an extra five thousand soldiers to defend the city was a good thing. However, these soldiers needed to be trained, so he reorganized them and assigned them to various armies.
They are trained by the generals of each army.
All of that was fine. What worried General Xu and the prefect the most was the issue of provisions. The prefect had sent people to inquire, and it turned out that the reinforcements only numbered 30,000, and now they were even less than 30,000, yet they still wanted 40,000 units of provisions. It was simply outrageous.
General Xu pondered for a while and then agreed, but reduced the amount by five thousand and gave some other gifts to the generals who came to provide support.
The gifts given to those generals were insignificant compared to the provisions for five thousand men.
Seeing that the prefect was still hesitant and his face showed obvious opposition, General Xu had no choice but to remind him, "It is already good that Shaanxi has sent people to help. If we cannot even provide enough food and supplies, then which prefecture will dare to come to Bingzhou's aid in the future?"
"But when the Northern Jin invaded, it was their duty to rush to the aid of the various prefectures."
"But how many people can actually do that?"
General Xu felt that the prefect of Taiyuan was somewhat naive, which showed that he was still inexperienced. However, when he thought about the other party's identity, he felt relieved. The other party had come to Taiyuan to avoid trouble.
Otherwise, given his status, he would have been appointed to a prosperous region, not come to Taiyuan.
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