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◎The Pyu Kingdom surrendered, and Deng Chong fell ill.
Merchants, envoys, and soldiers who traveled between Pyu and the Central Plains throughout the dynasties all confirmed one thing: from May to September each year, Pyu was hot and humid, with muddy roads, infested with mosquitoes, and pervasive miasma, making it unsuitable for warfare. However, from October to April, the weather was dry and dry, making it ideal for military expeditions. This was generally the case, although there were also years with unusual weather, just as the Central Plains occasionally experienced floods or droughts.
Deng Chong came to Yunzhou to serve as the general in order to attack the Pyu Kingdom. For nearly two years, he, the deputy general Geng Yue, and the Yunzhou governor were busy training troops, transporting war horses and food, supervising the construction of warships, and investigating the enemy situation and seasonal changes in the Pyu Kingdom. Every step was intensive and they tried to know both themselves and the enemy. Therefore, when Emperor Xingwu finally sent the order to send troops in mid-October, Deng Chong and Geng Yue, who had already prepared their troops, immediately divided their troops into two groups and advanced towards the Pyu Kingdom.
There are a total of 70,000 troops in Yunzhou, with 10,000 left to guard the border to prevent surprise attacks from the Pyu army. Deng Chong led 30,000 infantry and cavalry along the northwest land route to advance towards the Pyu capital of Wacheng. Deputy General Geng Yue led 20,000 infantry and 10,000 navy along the southeast waterway to advance towards Wacheng. According to the plan, the two armies will join forces in Xincheng, an important town north of Wacheng, around New Year's Eve.
The Pyu soldiers were short in stature, and their individual combat effectiveness was inherently inferior to that of the Yunzhou troops. Previously, they relied on small raids, plundering the civilians and rations along the Yunzhou border before quickly withdrawing. They relied on the mountainous terrain and the miasma they were accustomed to to resist the Yunzhou army. When Fu Daonian first assumed command of Yunzhou, he frequently dispatched troops in pursuit. Later, due to ineffective campaigns and the illness of his soldiers, he became less active. With the influence of a Pyu beauty, he further condoned Pyu's incursions, causing the Pyu soldiers to harbor contempt for the Yunzhou army.
Then they waited for the new general Deng Chong.
If Fu Daonian was a lion who was gradually harassed by the Pyu Kingdom and became helpless and lazy, then Deng Chong was a tiger who had just discovered that his territory was invaded. He even dared to call the emperor and princes in the capital his brother, and even looked down on famous founding generals such as Zhang Jie and Meng Ji. How could he allow the Pyu Kingdom to run wild in his territory?
Yes, the Great Qi belonged to Emperor Xingwu, but Emperor Xingwu was his good brother, and it was he who helped his good brother to conquer this country. If outsiders invaded his brother’s territory, it was equivalent to invading his territory!
Deng Chong came with raging rage, and his troops were also infected by the general's anger, becoming a group of fierce and ferocious soldiers. Even those soldiers who were lazy by nature had to act like wolves and tigers to avoid being targeted by the general and whipped.
Wherever Deng Chong's army went, the cavalry were defeated and fled, local officials were captured, and government offices were burned down.
After several defeats, the cavalry knew that they were no match for the Yunzhou army, so they fortified their positions and cleared the fields along the way, abandoning villages and towns and hiding in camps to defend instead of defend.
However, Deng Chong's army was in high spirits, and after losing a small number of troops, they still arrived outside Xincheng as planned.
A hundred miles south of Xincheng is the capital of the Pyu Kingdom, Wacheng, so the emperor of the Pyu Kingdom mobilized 50,000 troops to Xincheng in advance to resist the army of the Great Qi.
Deng Chong had only 15,000 troops left. Of the missing 15,000, 8,000 were responsible for logistics, and 5,000 were deployed in the captured camps to prevent their retreat and food supply routes from being cut off by the Piao Army. More than 900 people were killed or wounded, and more than 1,000 died of malaria.
The army set up camp ten miles away from the new city.
Deng Chong rushed in impatiently as soon as the general's tent was set up. He glanced at the guards spreading medicine powder along the corners of the tent, glared at the generals who had followed him in, and asked, "Where are Geng Yue's troops? Any news?"
"Reporting to the General, according to the sentries, General Geng is currently leading his navy in a battle with the Pyu navy in an effort to open up the waterway. Zhang Jian's 10,000 infantry are expected to arrive in three days."
Mentioning Zhang Jian who was following Geng Yue, Deng Chong looked at Zhang Su who had been following him. Zhang Jian, the third son of the Zhang family, was as fair and handsome as a scholar when he left Beijing. Now he is twenty years old. He has been training with the Yunzhou Army in the military camp for a year and a half. He has also been exposed to wind and sun and traveled thousands of miles with the army to the heartland of the Pyu Kingdom. His fair face has been tanned. But now Zhang Su looks more like a military general. He is wearing armor and is awe-inspiring without even being angry.
Thinking of Zhang Su's bravery and fearlessness in killing the enemies along the way, Deng Chong liked him much more, so he just complained briefly about Zhang Jian's speed and didn't say much.
After opening the kettle and taking a few gulps of water, Deng Chong instructed, "After lunch, go to sleep. We are few in number, and the Pyu Kingdom will surely attack our camp tonight."
If the Pyu Kingdom has three times their number of troops but still doesn't dare to come out for a field battle, then it's really like a grandson!
Several generals listened to him and no one objected.
The taciturn Zhang Su finally spoke, "The general anticipated a night attack from the Pyu Kingdom, and the Pyu commander also guessed we would be on guard. So, instead of giving our army time to recuperate, they should have attacked our camp right away while we were resting. Victory depends on sheer numbers, anyway."
Deng Chong glared at him for a few times, but said, "That makes sense. So, except for the soldiers who are camping, everyone else will hide in the tents and eat the rations they have on them. They won't be allowed to sleep after eating. Keep all your bows, arrows, and swords ready. Once they've finished eating, have the cooks set up a pot and start a fire. Just boil water. The smoke will be visible to the Pyu spies anyway."
He might dislike someone in private, but that was just private. Deng Chong would not be confused during a war.
The generals made arrangements separately. All the archers hid in the tents near the south side of the camp, the infantry in the middle, and the cavalry on both sides.
After the soldiers had finished their rations and rested for two quarters of an hour, the cooks started to light a fire.
As smoke rose from the cooking stove, the Pyu spies immediately turned back to report to the commander-in-chief.
The leader of the Pyu State called out 10,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry, but he just couldn't believe that twice as many well-fed soldiers couldn't defeat the hungry and tired Qi army!
So, 10,000 Pyu cavalry ran in front to break up the Qi camp, and 20,000 infantry followed to prepare for battle. However, as soon as the Pyu horses approached the Qi camp, the first wave of Qi archers who were in ambush shot out a rain of arrows, followed by the second and third waves. At the same time, 2,000 Qi cavalry rushed out of the camp from both sides and headed straight for the 20,000 Pyu infantry.
After more than an hour of fighting, Qi lost 3,000 soldiers and left nearly 20,000 corpses of cavalry soldiers. Deng Chong alone killed more than 100 people. If Zhang Su and others had not stopped him, Deng Chong would have chased them to the gate of Xincheng. However, the Qi general, who was covered in blood and riding a horse with a long sword in his hand, still frightened the cavalry commander on the wall of Xincheng.
At this point, the leader of the Pyu Kingdom took his only remaining 30,000 soldiers and horses to defend the city wall and refused to go out again.
Three days later, Zhang Jian's 10,000 infantrymen arrived at the Qi camp, bringing the strength of Deng Chong's army to more than 20,000.
After two days of rest, on the sixth day of the first lunar month, Deng Chong personally led the army to attack Xincheng!
However, although the Hu army was not as good as the Yunzhou army in field battles, they were extremely brave and had an iron will when defending the city. Deng Chong failed to break the city in two charges.
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Geng Yue sent another 10,000 troops to join the main army.
Deng Chong frowned and asked, "Where is Geng Yue?"
The infantry commander's face was heavy. "General Geng was shot in the shoulder by an arrow. After three days of recuperation, he suddenly became ill with malaria. He had to stay on the ship to recuperate, so we had to occupy the waterway for the army."
Deng Chong's heart sank. Even with a military doctor prescribing medicine and timely treatment, only three or four out of ten people who contracted malaria would recover. And if they were also injured...
Deng Chong already hated the Pyu Kingdom, and seeing that he was about to lose an old general who had fought alongside him because of this battle, Deng Chong immediately decided to send troops to attack the city for the third time. It was at this time that the Pyu Kingdom sent an envoy to beg for peace.
Deng Chong drew his sword and was about to chop off the envoy's head with his own hands!
Zhang Jian and Zhang Su stopped him at the same time, first sending the Pyu envoy away. Then Zhang Jian said, "General, before we left Beijing, the Emperor gave us a verbal order that as long as the Pyu Kingdom was willing to pay tribute, we would agree to peace talks. General, you must not continue fighting."
Deng Chong spat at him: "The emperor is afraid that the Pyu Kingdom will be difficult to defeat. Now we are about to reach the capital of the Pyu Kingdom, what's the point of negotiating? Come here, listen to me..."
"Who dares to move rashly?"
Zhang Jian suddenly pulled out a red gold waist badge from his bosom, held it high in his hand, and looked coldly at Deng Chong and other generals, "The emperor has bestowed this gold badge upon you. Seeing this is like seeing the emperor in person. Anyone who violates this will be charged with treason!"
Several deputy generals who were used to following Deng Chong's orders were stunned, looked at each other, and dared not move.
Deng Chong snatched the badge from Zhang Jian's hand and confirmed it was genuine. He frowned and asked, "Why did the emperor give you the badge?"
Zhang Jian took out a scroll of imperial edict from his bosom and said, "This is the emperor's order to the general. Please kneel down and receive it."
Deng Chong glanced at the people around him, frowned, and knelt down.
The imperial edict from Emperor Xingwu contained only one sentence: "Deng Chong, I will obey you in all matters of warfare, but you must listen to me when to cease fire. If you do not listen, I will no longer have you as my brother!"
After reading the imperial edict, Zhang Jian handed it to Deng Chong.
Deng Chong stared wide-eyed as he read it word by word. Every stroke was the familiar handwriting of Emperor Xingwu!
He clenched his hands tightly, making a crackling sound. He squeezed until the imperial edict was about to break. Only then did Deng Chong grit his teeth and say, "Okay, I will listen to the emperor and negotiate peace!"
Deng Chong agreed to the peace talks, but he was not satisfied with the conditions of the Pyu envoy. He insisted that the Pyu Kingdom must pay double the tribute before he would agree to withdraw its troops. Moreover, he only gave the Pyu emperor three days to consider. After three days, when the Pyu envoy did not return with a new letter of surrender, he continued to attack the city.
The Pyu envoy left in anger.
Deng Chong was also very angry. In the afternoon, he led his troops to the wall of Xincheng to shout and curse. After cursing enough, he returned to the camp. After taking a few steps, he suddenly retreated outside the camp, walked a distance to the east, and untied his belt in front of a pile of weeds.
The generals behind him smiled and didn't take it seriously.
Zhang Su advised, "There's a lot of miasma out in the wild. General, why don't you return to camp and..."
Seeing Deng Chong deliberately loosening his pants to expose his legs, Zhang Su turned his head in time.
Deng Chong saw this and laughed out loud: "Do you think I'm your dad? I have to pee here!"
Zhang Su just left.
On the 19th day of the first lunar month, the Pyu envoy returned with the double tribute Deng Chong had requested. Deng Chong casually inspected it and was quite satisfied. He tapped the envoy on the forehead and said, "Go back and tell your emperor that if he dares to invade the border of Great Qi again, I will march to your capital and personally chop off your emperor's head to drink with it!"
The envoys from the Pyu Kingdom dared to be angry but not to speak out.
Deng Chong threw his men far away and ordered the army to break camp!
.
On the tenth day after the Great Qi withdrew its troops, Geng Yue, the deputy general of Yunzhou, became seriously ill with malaria and died on a navy warship.
On the nineteenth day after the Great Qi retreated, that is, on the eighth day of the second month of the sixteenth year of Xingwu, just as the Qi army was about to return to the territory of Yunzhou in the Great Qi, Duke Dingguo Deng Chong suddenly fell ill, and his symptoms were consistent with malaria.
All the accompanying military doctors were called over to treat Deng Chong with all their strength.
Deng Chong said nonchalantly, "Don't worry, I'm strong and healthy. A mere malaria can't take my life!"
As Deng Chong said, the malaria did not take his life. However, after taking medicine for a month and finally recovering from the illness, Deng Chong, who was already 55 years old and Duke Dingguo, had become completely white-haired, pale-faced and thin.
【Author’s words】
Old Deng, hey.
100 little red envelopes, see you tonight!
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