Xiang Xun had about 2,000 men, including 300 to 400 cavalrymen in good armor and good military appearance, who should be considered the elite and core force of the army. Behind him was a long line of infantry, marching in a long column on the road; four people in a row, the team looked about 300 to 400 steps long, so Guo Shao estimated that he had about 2,000 men.
This group of infantry was not comparable to the previous Dianqiansi Xiaodi Army of Guo Shao. Most of them were incompletely clothed and armored, and a few did not even have helmets. The soldiers were of different heights and had a variety of weapons. It seemed that Xiang Xun's troops really relied on the three or four hundred elite cavalrymen around him. Perhaps only these cavalrymen had strong combat effectiveness.
Thinking of this, Guo Shao felt that the twenty-odd cavalrymen under his command were not dispensable to Xiang Xun's reinforcements, and could be considered a force. Because Guo Shao felt that the soldiers in the team were all strong, and Yang Biao was even a fierce general, but he just didn't make it.
The army marched during the day and camped at night. On the morning of the third day, the march suddenly stopped.
I saw a village beside the main road, a very ordinary village with disorderly houses, most of which were dilapidated. There were a few big trees between the houses as usual, and there was nothing special about it.
Guo Shao soon discovered something unusual. A group of soldiers were coming out of the village, not only soldiers, but also several carts pulled by mules and horses; behind the carts were several young women tied, their hands tied to the cart frame with ropes, crying and walking along with the mule carts.
Those soldiers are from the Zhou army. This place is not as far as Xinzhou, and the whole area is within the control area. There are only troops from the Zhou Dynasty.
In Xiang Xun's cavalry, two groups of cavalry mounted their horses, left the main road and surrounded the soldiers from the left and right, and soon surrounded the chaotic soldiers who had just come out of the village. At this time, Xiang Xun himself led his entourage to pass by, and Guo Shao and others were right behind him. Seeing this, they also led their horses and slowly followed to see what was going on.
When Xiang Xun saw the rebels pulling a cart full of stuff and women behind it, he knew what was going on without even asking. These rebels not only robbed people of their money, but also their wives and daughters.
Damn it, Xiang Xun yelled, take them all down
Those disorderly soldiers were surrounded by the elite cavalry. Seeing this situation, they dared not resist and just stood there dejectedly.
At this time, a general beside Xiang Xun said: "This place is close to Xinzhou. In addition to our troops, the troops here are the troops of Wei Wang Fu Yanqing, Guo Congyi, Bai Chongzan, Shi Yanchao and four others. The disorderly soldiers must be theirs. If it is inconvenient for the lord to kill them, you can tie them up in the army and hand them over to their commander for disposal; send all the property and women back to the village."
After hearing this, Xiang Xun's anger subsided a little. Just as he was about to give an order, he suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves coming from the north, and everyone looked out in the direction of the sound.
After a while, a group of horsemen came riding. The one in front was very tall, probably half a head taller than Guo Shao, and his torso was thick and sturdy, looking like he was one size bigger than the average person behind him, even the warhorse he was riding looked smaller. I guess the horse he was riding must have worked much harder. When he got closer, I saw that he had thick eyebrows, big eyes, a face as sharp as a knife, and a murderous aura. Just by looking at his appearance, he didn't look like an ordinary person.
Guo Shao had long been at the bottom of the imperial guards and had no idea who this man was.
However, it seemed that Xiang Xun recognized him. He rode forward and bowed, saying: I never thought I would meet Shi Qianfeng here.
The big man squinted his eyes and was very arrogant, but he also returned the greeting and said simply and straightforwardly: To the general.
Xiang Xun then said: Brother Shi, you should know that after our army attacked Hedong, the military discipline was relaxed and there were looting, so that the officials and people of Hedong defended themselves, making it more difficult for our army to supply. The government has repeatedly ordered the soldiers not to loot the people, but look at these people, not only robbing things, but also robbing people. They should not be soldiers under Brother Shi's command, right
Humph. Unexpectedly, that big man responded to Xiang Xun like this. Xiang Xun was a general after all, but the burly man looked unconvinced. He was probably not a nobody.
Guo Shao was thinking, just now a general mentioned Fu Yanqing, Guo Congyi, Bai Chongzan, and Shi Yanchao, but only Shi Yanchao's last name was Shi. Could he be Shi Yanchao
Even though Guo Shao was only a low-ranking general for a long time, he was still a soldier after all; how dare you call yourself a warrior if you have never heard of Shi Yanchao's name? Shi Yanchao was recognized as the best general in the Zhou Dynasty military, and his reputation was comparable to Zhang Yuanhui of the Northern Han Dynasty. It was unknown who was more powerful between the two best generals in their respective countries. In the end, neither of them won a duel, and Zhang Yuanhui was shot dead on the battlefield by an arrow from Guo Shao, an unknown soldier.
Shi Yanchao snorted, jumped off his horse, and walked straight to the front of the chaotic soldiers. The dozen or so people who had just been tied up all lowered their heads and didn't even dare to look at him.
Shi Yanchao didn't say a word, and everyone remained silent, waiting to see what he would do.
He then looked at the girls tied to the back of a mule cart. All of them looked frightened, but one of them looked at him secretly. Shi Yanchao suddenly pulled out a long sword from his waist and walked up with the sword in hand. Although the girls stepped back timidly, they were not overly panicked. Perhaps the general was here to cut the ropes for them. Didn't the generals here just now discuss not looting the people
There was a "puff" sound, followed by a scream, and then the girl started to scream. Shi Yanchao actually walked up and stabbed one person to death without saying a word.
Someone next to Xiang Xun came forward, and Xiang Xun stretched out his arm to make a gesture to stop him.
Then Xiang Xun ignored the women's pleas and cries, and killed them all with his sword in a few moments, leaving a pool of blood on the ground.
At this moment, there was a thud, and one of the soldiers fell to his knees and begged for mercy: General Xiang, we know we were wrong.
Shi Yanchao's chest was covered in blood. He came back holding a sword dripping with blood. He went up and swung the sword and chopped down. The kneeling soldier screamed and fell to the ground. Shi Yanchao spat, "Son of a bitch, a greedy and lustful spineless man!"
After killing one, he walked to the second one. The guy stood there with his eyes wide open and his face pale, his hands tied behind his back. Shi Yanchao grabbed his hair and slashed his neck with a sword. Blood spurted out. The man fell to his side, but he was not dead yet. His limbs twitched like he was having epilepsy.
Finally, one of the people who were tied up started to curse angrily: You bloodthirsty and cruel Shi Yanchao, you will not die well!
The soldiers present watched him kill more than a dozen people one after another with his own hands. No one moved, and no one tried to stop him.
Shi Yanchao threw the bloody sword on the ground, and his followers hurriedly picked it up and wiped it. At this time, he walked to the front of the horse, took the reins, turned back and sneered: General Xiang, are you satisfied with my treatment
Xiang Xun was speechless and clasped his fists, saying: See you later, we will meet in Xinzhou.
After Shi Yanchao and his cavalry left, Xiang Xuncai said: Bury the bodies.
The army stayed for a while beside this unknown village. Looking at the height of the sun, it was almost noon. Xiang Xun ordered to continue on the road. It seemed that they were close to Xinzhou, and it was just in time for lunch.
As expected, at noon we saw a city in front of us. Walking north from Jinyang, the first city of a certain size we saw was undoubtedly Xinzhou.
The gates of Xinzhou were tightly closed, and troops were stationed on the city walls to help defend the city. Xiang Xun sent troops to the city walls to negotiate, and after they had presented evidence, the gates were opened, and infantry and cavalry entered Xinzhou one after another.
This city is important, but it is not very big, and the scene inside is still a bit desolate. However, it seems that there are many troops stationed in the city now. There are queues of infantry and cavalry constantly moving on the central cross avenue, and there are also a large number of soldiers and horses stationed in the city gate just entered.
Guo Shaozheng was curious about how many troops were transferred from Xinzhou, but he was not in a position to ask Xiang Xun. He was used to being a low-level general and knew that he did not need to understand or inquire about these military secrets.
But at this moment, the general who first spoke to Guo Shao in Jinyang and questioned why the infantry had so many war horses asked about this matter. He asked: How many troops have come from Xinzhou
Xiang Xun said: Now the King of Wei has more than 10,000 generals under his command, and the surrendered general Sang Gui of the Northern Han has several thousand troops, so together there may be 20,000 people.
The general said: With so many troops, you still ask us to reinforce them. Didn't the intelligence report say that the Liao army only has a few thousand cavalry
"Who cares? Tell the soldiers to rest here. I'll go to the central army camp to see the King of Wei first," Xiang Xun said.
For the time being, the group could only rest in a small open space inside the city gate. The place was too small to build a stove and cook, so they sat on the ground, eating dry food and drinking cold water to fill their stomachs. Some people looked for wells everywhere, while others were busy mixing bean cakes and salt with feed to feed the horses. Guo Shao and others were infantrymen, but they had been in the army for a long time and were more familiar with war horses. Luo Mengzi was carefully checking the horseshoes.
Although there were many soldiers in Xinzhou, it felt very peaceful for a while. It seemed much more peaceful than Jinyang, where the whole city was filled with people crawling like ants.