Chapter 603: Retreat troops in Hedong

Li Qing'an learned about the loss of Xiangzhou three days later. At this time, he was no longer in Luoyang, but on his way back to Chang'an, a major incident also happened in Chang'an. Right Prime Minister Pei Zunqing was assassinated and the murderer committed suicide fearing his crime. The main messenger behind the scenes was unknown.

Pei Zunqing's accidental death caused the court to fall into chaos and disrupted Li Qing'an's political arrangements. He had to rush back to Chang'an to deal with the government affairs.

At night, Li Qing'an and his party stayed at the Xiting Inn in Shanzhou. This time he rushed back to Chang'an, he did not bring Yang Yuhuan, but left her in Luoyang.

The lights were soft, and a faint sandalwood filled the room. Li Qing'an sat at the table and wrote quickly, sometimes stopping his pen and meditating, sometimes sighing slightly. If Cheng Qianli was a mortal enemy in Anxi, and at this moment, all the discord between them disappeared with Cheng Qianli's death, Li Qing'an had only respect for the martyrs in his heart.

He wanted to write to the court to give the loyal ministers of the Tang Dynasty who were guarding Xiangzhou to enough honor, to be honored by the Grand Marshal, to be awarded the Grand Commander of Youzhou, and to the Tang army who died in battle, he also wanted to give them the same pension as Anxi.

Li Qingan was also full of regrets. Although he had already seen An Lushan's strategic intentions, repeatedly warned Guo Ziyi and Cheng Qianli, and even ordered them in the name of the Grand Marshal of the World, they never adopted it and corresponded to themselves with silence.

Of course, Li Qing'an knew that Guo Ziyi was trying to transfer more people from Hebei. Morally speaking, it was beyond reproach to do so, but military-wise, this was undoubtedly an extremely unwise approach. Not only did he lose 50,000 elite troops in vain, but he also put the Shuofang Army in a strategic passive state. At present, Guo Ziyi's 150,000 troops were dragged in Hebei, and Hedong was empty, with only tens of thousands of militia soldiers who had just been converted into regular troops, with weak forces. Now, an army of An Lushan has entered Hedong from Fukou Xing and attacked Taiyuan directly. Once Taiyuan is lost, Guo Ziyi's retreat will be cut off, and he will likely be wiped out.

Li Qingan stood up and walked slowly to the window, opened it, and it was snowing outside the window. The earth was vast and the world was white. His eyes were very complicated. Deep in his heart, he also faintly hoped that Guo Ziyi's army would suffer a crushing defeat and use An Lushan's hand to remove his only military opponent in the court. But on the other hand, he did not want the Tang army to be slaughtered and become a political victim.

It was this complex mentality of worrying about gains and losses that made him unable to help reminding Guo Ziyi several times to avoid risks. He was worried about the loss of Taiyuan, so he urgently ordered the governor of Yunzhou Lei Wanchun and the prefect of Daizhou Xin Yunjing to lead 20,000 troops to Taiyuan and occupy Taiyuan before Li Guiren's army.

Li Qingan sighed, hoping that Guo Ziyi could return to Hedong in time after receiving the news of Xiangzhou's loss, otherwise the consequences would be unpredictable.

At this moment, he suddenly heard the sound of rapid footsteps outside the room. He turned around in surprise and saw a personal soldier outside urgently reported: "General, Hengzhou emergency information."

“Come in and speak!”

Li Qing'an's heart suddenly hangs. What happened in Hengzhou again?

A personal soldier came in and knelt down on one knee and said, "Hebei is urgent. Guo Ziyi defeated Shi Siming in Zhending and killed more than 40,000 enemies. Shi Siming's army has retreated to Tangchang County, Dingzhou. Guo Ziyi's army pursued him at the ranks and has passed Wuji County."

"Ah!" Li Qing'an was shocked. He quickly walked to the table and spread the map. Tangchang County was about 300 miles away from Zhending, while Wuji County was at least 250 miles away from Zhending. Li Qing'an couldn't help but complain. This must be the news that Shi Siming had known that Li Guiren's army had entered Hedong. He pretended to be defeated and lured the enemy, and led Guo Ziyi's army to go deeper. Once he sent another army around Zhaozhou to enter Zhending and block Guo Ziyi's retreat, it would be useless to determine that Guo Ziyi's army defended Tumen Pass. If An Lushan's army headed north again, Guo Ziyi's army would be wiped out.

Thinking of this, Li Qing'an ordered: "Urgent order Li Guangbi to enter Hebei, be sure to drag An Lushan's army down."

He ordered again: "Immediately Fei Ge sent a letter to Guo Ziyi and ordered him to withdraw back to Hedong immediately!"

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The battle in Hengzhou was full of twists and turns, full of strangeness and coincidences. Li Qingan was not right at all. Guo Ziyi's defeat of Shi Siming was not because Shi Siming pretended to be defeated, but Guo Ziyi sent troops at snowy night and caught Shi Siming off guard.

Shi Siming's army was defeated, and those who were killed and trampled on each other, more than 40,000 people were killed and injured, and all the armor was thrown away, and all the tents and food were discarded. Shi Siming retreated to Dingzhou before he could clean up the remaining troops.

Guo Ziyi's army stopped chasing Wuji County, Dingzhou. His soldiers were too tired and had to rest enough to continue to attack Shi Siming's additional troops.

That night, Guo Ziyi's army entered Wuji County. After a day and night of battle, the soldiers were exhausted and fell to the ground and fell asleep. There was silence around him. Hundreds of sentries patrolling the city back and forth, but Guo Ziyi couldn't fall asleep. He came to the city with his hands behind his back. Looking at the heavy night, he fell into deep thought.

Xiangzhou dragged An Lushan's main army 300,000, which gave him opportunities to fight in the north. This time, Shi Siming's army was defeated, and Li Huaixian's army would have to reinforce. He nominally had 100,000 troops to defend Youzhou. Guo Ziyi knew that in fact there were only 60,000 troops, and he had to defend Youzhou. There would definitely not be too many reinforcements. He was eaten one by one. Finally, he directly attacked An Lushan's nest, cut off his food and grass, and shaken his roots. An Lushan would have to withdraw his troops from Xiangzhou.

This was Guo Ziyi's strategy. He knew that Cai Xide's 100,000 troops would take Xiangzhou and An Lushan would inevitably go out to go south. In this way, Xiangzhou could restrain most of An Lushan's army, and his main force would go out of Jingxing to Hebei, and he would turn his head in Hebei.

It should be said that Guo Ziyi’s strategy is not a problem. The key now is time. Whoever can grab the time will take the initiative in the war.

A rapid sound of horse hooves woke Guo Ziyi from his meditation. He leaned his head to look down at the city and saw two cavalry running towards the city gate, one after another, and the other behind. These were the cavalry who delivered the letter.

"What's wrong?"

Guo Ziyi asked loudly. In the night, he saw that the two cavalry were in panic and felt a sense of injustice.

The cavalry in front reported first: "The old general, Xiangzhou news, An Lushan's army has captured Xiangzhou, and most of the 50,000 defenders were killed, and General Cheng committed suicide."

"Cheng Qianli..."

Guo Ziyi closed his eyes in pain, and he calmed down and asked again: "What else?"

"There is also news from Hedong that Li Guiren's troops defeated the 30,000 troops left by Wang Chengye, who was left behind in Taiyuan in Taigu County, and the 60,000 thieves are advancing towards Taiyuan!"

If Guo Ziyi felt a kind of pain when the fall of Xiangzhou was said to be a kind of pain, then the rebel Li Guiren's troops had already been killed in Taiyuan, which made him feel a kind of shock.

Guo Ziyi also thought about the possibility of Xiangzhou falling. If Xiangzhou falling, he would immediately retreat to Hedong, but he did not expect that An Lushan would really divide his troops to attack Hedong. Li Qing'an's warning unfortunately came true.

Guo Ziyi felt a pain of failing. As long as he was given two more days, he could turn the situation around.

At this moment, another informant soldier rushed from a distance and shouted from afar: "Elder General, something is not good!"

"What happened again?"

"An Qingxu's tribe suddenly returned and has now reached Luancheng County, Zhaozhou. He was blocked by Yan Taishou leading two thousand militia groups to the south. The situation is critical, and the veteran general retreats quickly!"

Three unfavorable news caused Guo Ziyi's face to change drastically, especially the Anqingxu tribe who had already moved south suddenly returned and had arrived in Luancheng County, less than a hundred miles away from Tumen Pass. If he did not retreat, his retreat would be cut off. Once the retreat was cut off, An Lushan's army headed north, he would be in danger of annihilation of his entire army.

Guo Ziyi was forced to helplessly and had to order: "Tell me my order and the entire army will retreat immediately."

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Guo Ziyi's army was forced to retreat, and at the same time, Shi Siming, who had retreated to Tangchang County, also received strong reinforcements. Li Huaixian ordered his general Li Baozhong to guard Youzhou City. He personally led 40,000 Youzhou cavalry to Dingzhou. Shi Siming immediately rectified his troops and cooperated with Li Huaixian's elite counterattack on Guo Ziyi's army. In the east of Wuji County, the Yan army defeated Guo Ziyi's 20,000 rear troops in a battle. General Li Guoliang was shot by Shi Siming with an arrow and fled west.

Li Huaixian led 40,000 Youzhou Iron Cavalry to chase them all the way, and caught up with the right general Wei Boyu's army in Jiumen County. The two armies fought fiercely, and Wei Boyu's army was defeated by Youzhou Iron Cavalry and the Tang army was defeated.

At the same time, unfavorable news came from Luancheng County. Yan Gaoqing led 2,000 militias to resist An Qingxu's 20,000 troops for one day, and the county was captured and killed. Jiang Xiaotong and Ma Jun fought to the death. Yan Gaoqing and his son Yan Jiming, Chief Secretary Yuan Luqian and more than a dozen people were captured and unyielding. They were cruelly tortured by An Qingxu. An Qingxu led his army to march straight in, and the retreat was in critical condition.

At this time, Xiangzhou was lost, Hedong was defeated, and the news that the retreat was cut off by An Qingxu had spread throughout the Tang army. The Tang army was depressed and exhausted. Coupled with the pursuit of 40,000 Youzhou cavalry, the situation was extremely unfavorable to Guo Ziyi, and his army saw the moment of life and death.

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There are more than 200 huge warehouses in the northern barracks outside Youzhou City, which is an important place for An Lushan to stock up on grain and grass. An Lushan’s most elite 40,000 Youzhou Iron Cavalry is also stationed here, and 40,000 Youzhou Iron Cavalry are also stationed here. At the same time, 40,000 Youzhou Iron Cavalry are also defending the grain and grass warehouse.

The granary covers a vast area and is surrounded by huge camps. It is divided into two parts: the granary on the east and the grass warehouse on the west. It is usually patrolled by 40,000 cavalry day and night, and the guard is extremely strict. One of the main reasons why An Lushan did not lead the cavalry of Youzhou this time was that he was worried about the loss of food and grass.

However, Guo Ziyi's defeat of Shi Siming's troops in Hengzhou caused a brief chaos in Youzhou's defense. Just as Guo Ziyi's intelligence, Li Huaixian's Youzhou garrison was indeed only 60,000, less than 100,000. The reason was that two Khitan troops of about 40,000 and Xi army escorted a large number of Hebei fruits back to Raole and Songmo. In fact, there were only 50,000 troops left in Youzhou, and 10,000 troops were sent by Li Huaixian to wipe out the rebel army in Qiu County.

However, Shi Siming's defeat caused Li Huaixian to send troops to help. Otherwise, Shi Siming's entire army would be wiped out and his Youzhou might not be able to be preserved. On the one hand, Li Huaixian sent people to urge the army to return immediately. On the other hand, he ordered his confidant general Li Baozhong to lead 10,000 troops to defend Youzhou, and he himself brought 40,000 Youzhou cavalry to Dingzhou to support Shi Siming.

There are only 10,000 guards left in the huge Youzhou. Li Huaixian only thought of returning in a few days. There were no Tang troops near Youzhou, and there were also troops going to Qiuxian on their way back. Ten thousand troops should be able to handle it for a few days.

Ten thousand troops, 5,000 people guarded Youzhou City, and 2,000 people were distributed in various military important places. The troops were short of strength, and the area covered more than ten miles. The grain and grass warehouse that was originally guarded by 40,000 Youzhou cavalry was left to guard, and 3,000 people were already the limit of the troops that could be provided.

Three thousand people were divided into two parts, of which two thousand were guarding the granary and another thousand were guarding the forage warehouse. They were divided into two shifts and patrolling day and night.

But no matter how hard they did, they still could not plug the huge defensive loopholes. There were 84 warehouses in the forage warehouse and nearly 6 million dans of hay were stored, which was the source of life for An Lushan's 400,000 war horses.

On the night when Li Huaixian defeated Wei Boyu in Jiumen County, 22 Tang army scouts including Ji Sheng, who had been lurking in Youzhou for nearly ten days, were dispatched. It was a bit incredible to say that Ji Sheng and others are now the garrison guarding Lusitai Fortress. There were originally thirty garrisons in Lusitai Fortress. After being killed by Ji Sheng and others, they transformed into the glorious Yan army in An Lushan's lair.

The important task Li Qing'an gave to Ji Sheng was to burn An Lushan's forage warehouse. They were waiting for the opportunity. God-given opportunity, and 40,000 cavalry left Youzhou, and their opportunity came.

There was no need for any makeup. They were wearing Yan army armor and with the legal waist tags of Yan army. They came to Youzhou City in a swagger and passed through several outposts along the way, and all of them were unblocked. "According to General Li's order, reinforce the grain and grass warehouse for defense!"

The reason is glamorous and the legal Lusitai Fortress defenders, the outpost cannot call the city to confirm like later generations, and they are unobstructed all the way.

At the second update, Ji Sheng and his party arrived at the forage warehouse in the north of Youzhou City. At this time, there were only more than 500 soldiers guarding the forage warehouse group covering an area of ​​nearly ten miles, and there were more than 400 sentry towers in the camp, with at least 200 people. Such defense was useless.

A black shadow flashed, and Xiao Xie, who was going to investigate, ran back like a swallow. Ji Sheng and others hid in a forest about a hundred steps away from the forage warehouse. Ji Sheng hurriedly met him, "How is it?"

Xiao Xie curled his lips and said, "Jitou, you are thinking too much. There is no one on those dozen mail towers, just go in."

Ji Sheng was overjoyed and said to Xiao Xie: "Leave the horses to guard!"

Xiao Xie was stunned, "I stayed? Why?"

"No reason, this is my order! Do you dare not obey the order?"

"I get it, hum!"

Xiao Xie had no choice but to roll his eyes at the big brother who was grimacing at her, and stayed in the woods with anger.

Ji Sheng waved his hand, and twenty brothers rushed out like arrows, climbed over the unguarded fence like a monkey, and everyone gathered together again.

"Each person is responsible for a warehouse. If possible, try to burn as much as possible. Come together here in a quarter of an hour. Remember, twenty-one of us will have to leave if we come in!"

Everyone dispersed again, and the cat's waist ran along the warehouse. They were all the extremely experienced scouts, the twenty most elite selected from the first scout camp. Each of them could stand alone. After a moment, they sneaked into the warehouses filled with grass.

Ji Sheng entered the No. 54 Warehouse, which is the largest warehouse group, with 200,000 dan of forage, and two soldiers guarding each warehouse. At this time, they closed the gate and went into the warm forage pile to sleep.

But Ji Sheng was not lucky. As soon as he sneaked into the forage warehouse, he heard two soldiers talking.

"Goro, how much money do you have on you? Can you lend me some?"
To be continued...