On August 22, 387 of the Daliang calendar, King Yong'an Chen Su led the Daliang imperial guards from Guangwu Town, Xingwu Town, and Yingwu Town and finally arrived outside Ganyang City.
Arriving together with the three towns' imperial guards were the left and right guards of the Ganyang Army led by Cao Tingjin, the Grand Commander of the Ganyang Protectorate.
Originally, the largest military organization of Liang State was the army, and under the army was the guard. However, since King Yong'an Chen Su took command of the imperial guards more than ten years ago, he added a "town" organization above the guards of the imperial guards.
Currently, there are seven towns in the Daliang Imperial Guard, each town has four guards under its jurisdiction, and each guard has about 20,000 people.
King Yong'an Chen Su also appointed the chief officer of a town as a governor of the third rank, which was equivalent to bringing the town of the imperial guards and the army of various border protectorates to the same level.
The Guangwu Town, Xingwu Town, Yingwu Town of the Imperial Guards, as well as the left and right guards of the Ganyang Army, immediately began to set up camp in a strategic location to the north of Ganyang City, less than ten miles away from the Xiongnu camp.
Helian Ke, the Right Wise King of the Xiongnu, wanted to take advantage of the Liang army's unstable foothold and launch a surprise attack with tens of thousands of elite black-feathered cavalry.
However, seeing that the location of the Liang army camp was not suitable for large-scale cavalry combat, and that while the Liang army was building the camp, it also arranged tens of thousands of heavy infantry to line up in front of the camp, the Xiongnu Right Wise King Helian Ke gave up the idea of launching an attack at this moment.
He simply sent someone to deliver a declaration of war to Chen Su, the King of Yong'an of Liang State, inviting the two sides to have a decisive battle outside Ganyang City three days later.
Prince Yong'an Chen Su is forty-three years old this year. He is less than 1.7 meters tall and very thin, but he is known as the God of War of Daliang.
Of course, the reason why King Yong'an Chen Su was called the God of War of Daliang was not because of his powerful martial arts, but because of the great military achievements he made after he took command of the Liang Kingdom's imperial guards.
In the 373rd year of the Daliang calendar, bandits wreaked havoc in Zibo and Yizhou in the northeastern region of Liang State, and even the capital of Zibo was captured by the bandits.
Prince Yong'an Chen Su was ordered to lead 150,000 imperial troops north to wipe out the bandits in Zibo and Yizhou.
In five months, King Yong'an Chen Su won nine battles in a row, not only defeating nearly one million bandits, but also defeating 200,000 Turkic cavalry who took advantage of the situation to loot in the final battle.
In the 378th year of the Daliang calendar, several chieftains in the southwestern region of Liang State united to rebel. King Yong'an Chen Su was ordered to lead 200,000 imperial troops south to quell the rebellion.
In the end, King Yong'an Chen Su spent a year beheading thirteen rebellious chieftains, eliminating 400,000 rebels, and quelling the southwestern chieftain rebellion.
In the 383rd year of the Daliang calendar, the Northern Jin State, which was adjacent to several states in the south of the Liang State, suddenly sent an army of 800,000 to the north, causing many counties in the south of the Liang State to fall one after another.
It was also King Yong'an Chen Su who led 300,000 imperial guards and troops from several southern protectorates to repel the invasion of the Northern Jin Kingdom, and caused the Northern Jin Kingdom to lose nearly 500,000 elite troops.
To the south of Liang, there were five countries with the same origin as Liang, namely Northern Jin, Southern Jin, Lu, Chu and Yue. Among them, Northern Jin was the most powerful, with sixteen states and eighty million people.
Northern Jin and Southern Jin were originally one country - Jin. Later, due to civil strife, they split into two countries. Southern Jin only had five states and a population of less than 30 million.
Since its establishment, Liang State has fought many wars with Jin State. Both sides tried to annex the other and form a unified nation.
After the division of Jin State, Northern Jin State, which inherited most of the territory and population, launched four large-scale northern expeditions against Liang State, including the one in 383 of Daliang calendar.
The State of Liang also launched two southern expeditions against the State of Northern Jin, but like the four northern expeditions of the State of Northern Jin, both ended in failure.
Yong'an Prince Chen Su looked at the declaration of war sent by the Xiongnu Right Wise King Helian Ke, then smiled and said to the generals in the tent, "I didn't expect the Xiongnu to actually challenge us to a fair fight. What are your thoughts on this?"
Cao Tingjin, the Grand Commander of the Ganyang Protectorate, hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Highness, the Xiongnu army outside Ganyang City currently has at least 400,000 soldiers, all of whom are cavalry.
Outside Ganyang City is a flat land, which is very suitable for cavalry combat.
I believe that if we just hold our camp here and form a pincer attack with Ganyang City, we will definitely be able to force the Xiongnu to retreat."
Although the imperial guards of the three towns defeated the 200,000 Xiongnu troops outside Shuoyuan City and killed more than 50,000 people, they also lost 20,000 people themselves. Currently, there are only about 230,000 imperial guards left in the three towns.
After the left and right guards of the Ganyang Army arrived at Shuoyuan City, they fought several fierce battles with the Xiongnu army outside the city, resulting in the loss of more than ten thousand people.
However, the left and right guards of the Ganyang Army incorporated the 10,000 young and strong victims who were helping to transport food and fodder into the army, so now the two guards together still have a full strength of 40,000 people.
Of course, the combat effectiveness of the left and right guards of the Ganyang Army will inevitably decline significantly compared to before due to the incorporation of 10,000 new recruits.
Cao Tingjin felt that if the 270,000 troops of the Three Towns Imperial Guards and the Ganyang Army's left and right guards fought a decisive battle with more than 400,000 Xiongnu cavalry on the plains, although it could not be said that they would definitely lose, the chances of winning were really slim.
The best option is to rely on Ganyang City and fight a battle of attrition with the Xiongnu army. When the Xiongnu army runs out of food and grass, the Xiongnu army will naturally have to withdraw to the grassland.
At this time, Gai Wei, the governor of Guangwu Town, the imperial guards, spoke up and said, "Your Highness, we from Guangwu, Xingwu, and Yingwu have come all the way to Pizhou, not just to drive the Xiongnu back to the grasslands.
I believe we must teach the Xiongnu a more profound lesson, so that they will not dare to set foot in Daliang for at least ten years."
Then Cheng Shijun, the governor of Xingwu Town, and Zhao Sheng, the governor of Yingwu Town, also expressed their support for accepting the challenge from the Huns, and were unwilling to weaken the reputation of the Daliang Imperial Army.
Yong'an Prince Chen Su then said to Cao Tingjin, "Old Cao, I also support this decisive battle.
The three imperial guard towns, plus your Ganyang Army, should be enough to deal with more than 400,000 Xiongnu cavalry.
Moreover, this battle was not only to defeat the more than 400,000 Huns, but also to show it to the other three khanates on the grassland.
Don't think that just because the drought has revived the bandits in the north, these grassland Tartars can take advantage of the situation to rob people."
Cao Tingjin nodded immediately when he heard what Yong'an Prince Chen Su said. "Since Your Majesty has made up his mind, I am willing to lead the Ganyang Army to fight the Xiongnu to the death!"
Yong'an Prince Chen Su smiled slightly, "Old Cao, then it's settled.
In the decisive battle three days later, you must mobilize all the cavalry from the vanguard and rearguard of the Ganyang Army.
I have heard before that some generals in your Ganyang Army chose to abandon Ganyang City for their own selfish reasons, which almost shook the morale of the soldiers and civilians defending the city.
Now I will give them a chance to make meritorious deeds and atone for their sins. In three days' time, I will have all the generals and their families send out their soldiers, especially the cavalry, to participate in the decisive battle against the Xiongnu."
These words of Yong'an King Chen Su made the generals of the left and right guards of Ganyang Army feel a little embarrassed. After all, these generals all came from the six major general families of Ganyang Army, including Sun Zhe, who had been promoted to the commander-in-chief of the left guard.
Cao Tingjin then assured Yong'an Prince Chen Su, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. If anyone dares to think of preserving their strength again, I, Cao Tingjin, will not let him go!"
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