In early summer, the weather was getting warmer. Guo Shao and his men were worried that the corpses would rot in the town and cause an epidemic. They wanted to bury the dead in the back mountain as soon as possible, but the town commander Li Desheng did his best to stop them. He asked someone to cut off the heads of the Khitan soldiers, load them onto a truck, and hurriedly sent them to Luzhou to ask for credit.
Soon, officials from Luzhou came to Wuqi Town with six pigs and sheep, copper coins and two sacks to reward the army and the generals. Only then did Guo Shao finally understand why the Khitan soldiers appeared here.
The news initially came from the surrendered Liaozhou officials.
After the Battle of Gaoping, the Khitan army retreated, or perhaps they did not expect the Zhou army to immediately take advantage of the victory to attack Jinyang and Taiyuan. A group of troops were stranded in Liaozhou, southeast of Jinyang, and did not have time to leave. Their troops were not large, with only one or two hundred real Khitan cavalry and a thousand foreign servant infantry. When they learned that the Zhou army was heading north, they could not leave. The line from Jinyang to Taihang Mountain in the north was controlled by the Zhou army, and the area east of Taihang Mountain was also under the jurisdiction of the Zhou Dynasty.
The retreat of the Khitan troops was blocked, and then the situation became even worse. At that time, the Zhou Dynasty emperor ordered four armies to attack the outskirts of Jinyang to support the main battle. The right wing was led by Laizhou Defense Envoy Kang Yanzhao, who attacked Liaozhou. Liaozhou officials sent people to surrender day and night.
The Khitan troops were ready to break out, but soon received a secret order from the north, strictly ordering them to march south from Liaozhou to harass the Zhou Dynasty's grain route. Surrounded on all sides, they did not retreat but advanced instead. It was obvious that this army had become a discarded pawn, and the Khitan upper class just hoped that they could play a role in the end.
Zhou's army's logistics supply was indeed a huge problem. It was said that countless counties in Hedong and the left states, including Xi, Ci, Jiang, Ze, Jin, Lu, Xing, Zhao, Zhen, Ding, etc., had been asked to recruit civilians to transport food to support the front. You Pushe Li Gu temporarily replaced Fu Yanqing and judged the affairs of Taiyuan Prefecture, and used all his skills to transfer food.
Before long, grain transport convoys could be seen on the road near Luzhou, like a long dragon with no end in sight.
Guo Shao discussed with other generals and decided to follow the army transporting grain and fodder north to Jinyang and rejoin the Xiaodi Army.
So Guo Shao led the imperial guards to march north on foot. In addition to his three brothers and the civil official Zuo You, there were 20 wounded soldiers who had recovered. There were originally 40 to 50 wounded imperial guards stationed in Wuqi Town, but some were disabled, some were seriously injured and had not recovered, and 7 or 8 died in Wuqi Town.
It was another long journey with loads on foot. Guo Shao had walked so much since he came out of Tokyo that his boots had worn out several times. On the way, he met the troops of You Pushe Li Gu who were inspecting the grain route. Li Gu heard about Guo Shao's achievements and praised him greatly. He ordered the grain supervisors to provide supplies along the way and rewarded him with more than 20 war horses.
After Guo Shao and others obtained the war horses, they transformed themselves into a cavalry unit.
It was not until mid-May that Guo Shao's team arrived in Jinyang and were immediately stunned by the scene they saw.
Thick smoke billowed over the towering Jinyang City, and the sound of killing shook the sky. Countless armies surrounded it and attacked from all sides. People were crawling everywhere on the high walls. From this scene, the Zhou army was using the most conventional siege tactics: ant-like swarms. They rushed up like ants and attacked with ladders as their main tool.
Countless rockets were flying in the sky, and the whole city was like a fireworks tube exploding. The rockets were like dense sparks flying. There were flashes of fire above and below the city, and black smoke was everywhere. The ladders were full of people, and rolling logs and stones were falling one after another. People kept falling from the sky. The most unbearable thing was that oil was poured down from the city from time to time, and it caught fire as soon as it touched the fire. The soldiers with burning bodies rolled desperately under the city wall, and the burning armor could not be taken off for a while, which was a horrible sight.
A group of people pushed a calf-hide battering ram near the city gate. There were stone holes on both sides of the city gate, specially used to pour oil. After a while, the battering ram turned into a pile of blazing firewood. The Zhou army continued to advance, and people were constantly killed and injured. The battlefield looked extremely tragic.
Guo Shao and others stood there in amazement until they saw a group of civilians carrying wounded soldiers screaming and groaning towards them, then they quickly led their horses away to make way.
With so many troops fighting like this, where can we find Zhang Yongde
After that group of civilians passed by, they soon saw a large group of Zhou cavalry marching towards this side. There was a word "Xiang" on the flag in front of them, but they didn't know which army it was.
The cavalry ignored Guo Shao and the others at first, because they were also dressed in Zhou army uniforms and were obviously friendly troops. However, some people still found it strange that there were more than 20 people standing here watching the show.
A general in front of him left the main road, reined in his horse by the roadside, and pointed his whip at Guo Shao, who was leading the group, and asked, "Whose troops are you?"
Guo Shao replied: They are people under the command of Wang Degong, the infantry commander of the Xiaodi Army.
The infantry squad questioned why there were so many cavalry generals.
Guo Shao hurriedly said: These horses were given by Li Gong, the Right Prime Minister of Taiyuan. We came from Luzhou and met Li Pushe on the way. Li Pushe heard that we killed Zhang Yuanhui and defeated more than a hundred Khitan cavalrymen in battle, so he rewarded me and gave me war horses as a gift.
Your name is Guo Shao, the general asked hurriedly.
It is this last general.
At this moment, the general in front of the cavalry turned his head and took a look, then turned his horse and walked towards this side. The general had a big face, rough yellow skin, and was very burly; the general was also looking Guo Shao up and down.
The general asked: Are you really Guo Shao
Guo Shao calmly replied: We are all military personnel; there is also a general in the imperial army named Zhao Kuangyin who met me in Gaoping and praised me in person. I dare not lie.
Someone by his side whispered: There is indeed such a person as Zhao Kuangyin, the Marquis of Sanyuan.
Haha, the general suddenly laughed and said, "If you had said it was Guo Shao earlier, it would have saved you a lot of trouble."
The general has met the general
The general said: I have never seen it, but I have heard of it. You shot Zhang Yuanhui to death with one arrow, and you became famous by stepping on his corpse. He looked at Guo Shao carefully again and said, "The infantry of the small army was all killed in Gaoping. Who are you going to find? I think this is it. You go with me to reinforce King Wei first. After the battle, I will bring you to see the emperor and ask the emperor to give you another official position. By the way, I am Xiang Xun, the commander of the front army of the Hedong camp of the Xuanhui Southern Court.
Guo Shao, who had long heard of General Xiang, hurriedly bowed. To be honest, he had been in the army of the Five Dynasties for several years, but he still did not fully understand the various official positions above him, and was only familiar with the positions of officers at the bottom. However, when he heard that Xiang Xun's official title was so domineering, he must have a high position.
Xiang Xun said: Are you willing to follow me to Wei Wang Fu Yanqing to stop the Liao army in Xinzhou? The troops are not enough and he has sent people to ask for help. I am following the order of the emperor to reinforce Xinkou.
Guo Shao clasped his fists and said readily: I am willing to go.
At that time, he had no time to consult his brothers and subordinates, so he agreed first. Everyone should understand this decision: since we are here, we must fight. Is there any more miserable task than climbing the wall of Jinyang City? Look at the wounded soldiers who were carried back, they were all roasted by kerosene.
So everyone followed Guo Shao, leading their horses and joining Xiang Xun's army.