In May of that year, Liu Shouwen, the governor of the Yichang Army, led his troops south to Neihuang to intercept the Bian Army. He was accidentally ambushed, and the general Shan Keji was killed on Qingcao Slope. The Bian Army Li Si'an, Zhang Cunjing, Yuan Xiangxian and others led their troops to cover up the killing.
Liu Shouwen escaped with his own life and fled back to Weizhou City. That night, the Lulong Army, which suffered a heavy setback in the siege, broke out of camp and withdrew its troops. However, Huangfu Jun, Ge Congzhou and He Delun in the city led the attack. The Lulong Army behind them burned the camp in an attempt to stop them.
The enemy was attacked by Li Sian and others who arrived shortly afterwards. As a result, all the Lu Long Army's armies were completely routed.
Thanks to the previous retreat arrangements in Li Chengzhong's military tent, the well-organized Jianzu Qianying Youdu maintained an intact structure during the rout. On the way, they encountered small groups of cavalry and infantry who were pursued many times, but Youdu was not as good as others.
Lulong's army usually ran away like crazy, but turned around and stopped, with spears in the front and bows and arrows in the back ready. For such a well-organized unit, the pursuers had no interest in fighting, and more heads were ahead.
, why risk your life here?
As for the large group of pursuers, Youdu could see them from a distance, and it was much easier to hide or change direction and escape. Therefore, Youdu miraculously did not lose anyone along the way. This kind of orderly marching retreat
While ensuring relative safety, it also lost speed. In addition to being burdened with food and weapons, the loss of speed was also due to Li Chengzhong's deliberate suppression.
Zhou Zhangdao was the first to raise objections. His reason was simple. It would take half a month to return to Youzhou with such a move. There were pursuers along the way, many of whom had already far exceeded Youdu. By the time
When the pursuers return, the two sides will encounter each other again. This view is supported by many Youdu soldiers, and their eagerness to return home is more urgent than ever.
Zhang Xingzhong firmly supported Li Chengzhong on this point. After careful consideration, he expressed the reasons for Li Chengzhong's actions according to his own understanding. A traveling speed of forty miles per day is appropriate, so that he can have the physical strength to fight when encountering enemy troops.
For pursuing troops, enemies who are organized and capable of fighting will not attack. In addition to the military common sense of "Don't chase poor enemies", any victorious army is not willing to make unnecessary sacrifices after a great victory.
, because they already have enough heads to receive military honors. This has been fully proved by the encounters in the past two days.
Now that Zhang Xingzhong realized his intention and made it known to his mouth, Li Chengzhong was not willing to waste his words. With the support of Zhang Xingzhong and Jiang Miao, Youdu continued to march north at a speed of forty miles per day. Zhou Qidao and the few
The brothers who were too slow had no choice but to follow this way. They had no guts to leave Youdu and escape on their own. The consequences of stragglers running away alone on the land of Hebei would be terrible. This has already been seen from the headless corpses seen in twos and threes along the way.
The above was confirmed.
Li Chengzhong also asked everyone to save food rations as much as possible. When setting off, the rations prepared in each person's package were only enough for three days, which means that there was at least twelve days of food shortage. Fortunately, in this era, the grassland on the land of Hebei was dense.
The woods are in groups and the environment is excellent, so there are many wild animals. Along the way, You try to focus on hunting, hunting hares, guinea pigs, wild sheep and the like for food, and try to keep food for emergencies.
In Youdu, you can often see the corpses of Lu Longjun lying on the ground. Their heads have been cut off long ago, and they are just lying in the wilderness. Maybe some wild beasts will come over soon and take away the flesh from the corpses, and eventually they will turn into
There were so many bones. Thinking that these corpses were still alive before, the Lu Longjun brothers were still fighting side by side on the same battlefield, and everyone felt very uncomfortable.
After staying away from the battlefield in Weizhou, Youdu has been temporarily safe for the past few days, and has not encountered pursuers for a whole day. However, this safety is destined to be temporary. The pursuers have already surpassed Youdu, and may be on their way back soon.
They met on a narrow road. So everyone was more vigilant, not daring to be exposed too much in the wilderness, and marched along the woods.
But even so, Youdu still encountered the first group of retreating Bian Army pursuers. At that time, Jiang Miao, who had better eyesight, saw a small forest in the northeast and it was already noon, so Li Chengzhong decided to lead everyone to the forest.
He took a short break to avoid the scorching sun directly overhead. This decision was normal, and none of the three gang leaders had any objections. So Youdu quickly entered the forest.
Here, they ran into a small group of Bian Army infantry who were resting in the forest. The two sides encountered a sudden encounter, and both were surprised and inexplicable. After a while of shouting, they started a tense confrontation. There were many people in Youdu, and the number was twice that of the Bian Army.
More than twice as many, there were only ten people in the Bian army, and they looked like a group. The leading officer of the Bian army did not dare to take action first.
Although the Bian army has a small number of people, it is well-equipped. Everyone wears leather armor and iron helmets on their heads. In addition to swords and swords, there are also two crossbows! In comparison, Youdu looks a bit shabby. Especially.
Looking at these two crossbows, Li Cheng's heart tightened violently, and he did not dare to make any mistakes.
The two sides faced off for a long time, with beads of sweat dripping down their foreheads. They were all sizing each other up. No one dared to take the lead or even wipe their sweat. Behind the Bian Army was an ox cart obtained from somewhere.
The car was full of heads, which made Li Chengzhong's eyelids jump and his scalp feel numb. He knew that these must be the trophies of the other party, and the heads of the Lu Longjun brothers must be on the car. He couldn't help but feel a little sad and angry. Looking at the heads in the car,
He wanted to rush forward and kill these sons of bitches, but... there were twenty-two brothers from Youdu behind him. He had loudly promised everyone before that he would take everyone home safely.
go.
The officer of the Bian Army suddenly said: "Brothers on the opposite side, how about we not fight? You go north and we go south. Just pretend we don't see it."
Li Chengzhong looked at the cart, and then thought about Brother Youdu behind him, and finally held back and nodded. The two sides slowly retreated. When Li Chengzhong led his team out of the forest, the Bian army also drove up the ox cart to pass through.
woods, heading south.
Out of danger, Li Chengzhong breathed a sigh of relief. He was about to speed up the march in Youdu, but suddenly he heard a crisp sound of "pah pah pah" behind him. When he turned around, he saw Zhou Qidao slapping him hard in the face.
It turned red. Everyone looked at it in surprise. Only Zhou Xiaolang, a fellow villager who was beheaded by Zhou, pulled his arm and kept stopping him, but Zhou Xiaolang's eyes were already red.
Zhou Qidao slowly squatted down, covered his face with his hands, and cried loudly: "So and so is a coward... So and so is a coward who is afraid of death! So and so should rush forward..."
Zhou Xiaolang was also crying at the side.
Li Chengzhong asked for a long time, but Zhou Qidao just cried and didn't answer. Only Zhou Xiaolang cried and explained the whole story. Thirty miles further north from there is Zhou Gezhuang outside Wuyi City, which is the home of Zhou Qidao and Zhou Xiaolang. Just now Bian Bian
What was pulled on the bullock cart behind the army was not the head of brother Lu Longjun, but the heads of Zhougezhuang villagers! Some of them were obviously acquaintances of the two men. The Bian army was killing good people and taking credit!
Zhou Qidao squatted on the ground and cried loudly, slapping his mouth repeatedly: "A certain person boasts of being brave, but he is a coward! He has no courage to go up and fight... Damn the thieves of the Bian Army, even the elderly who are almost sixty will not be spared... Three
Uncle...you have favored someone since childhood, but someone doesn’t dare to avenge you!"
Zhou Xiaolang also cried: "There is also little Yaozi..."
Zhou Qidao was stunned: "There is also Xiaoyao?"
Zhou Xiaolang's face was filled with tears and he nodded: "Da Lang, I saw Xiao Yao, inside..."
The two of them burst into tears like this, and the Youdu brothers all fell silent. Li Chengzhong thought about the heads in the car, and his heart was so depressed that it was hard to express.
Crying, Zhou Qidao stood up abruptly, turned around and ran towards the road, followed closely by Zhou Xiaolang. Li Chengzhong hurriedly asked someone to carry the two of them back. Zhou Qidao was indeed very strong, and Zhang Xingzhong waited for three brothers to come up before he could
He was pushed to the ground. Zhou Qidao struggled and yelled: "Let go of XX! Let XX go! XX wants to go back for revenge! Li, let them let XX go! Damn it, Zhang Xingzhong, let go!"
Li Chengzhong is not the kind of person who would rather stab himself for the sake of his brothers. Strictly speaking, he is even a bit selfish. He followed the army into Beizhou and disobeyed orders to assemble in Youdu before the army retreated. In fact, it was all for himself.
. But he is not the kind of villain who is selfish to the point of harming others and not benefiting himself. On the contrary, his character contains a strong passion factor. He will be excited because he is in the spectacular Lulong Army. In the crisis of Beizhou,
Fighting desperately all the time, cheering and encouraging for the few words of the commander-in-chief Liu Rengong, and grieving for the countless brothers who died under Weizhou City.
At this moment, looking at Zhou Qidao and Zhou Xiaolang struggling on the ground, thinking about the car of heads, his blood surged into his heart again. He looked around at every brother in Youdu, then motioned to let go of the two of them, and took a deep breath.
He took a breath and said: "I want to go back... Is anyone coming with me? Those who want to come follow, and those who don't want to go stay where they are and wait." After that, he turned around and headed back to the road.
Jiang Miao said nothing and followed Li Chengzhong. Wang Dalang whistled and followed closely. Zhou Qidao and Zhou Xiaolang were stunned, then stood up quickly and chased Li Chengzhong while wiping their tears. Zhang Xingzhong stood silently.
, watching Li Chengzhong and others drift away.
Sixteen of the twenty-three people from Youdu followed Li Chengzhong. Wang Dalang cursed at Zhang Xingzhong several times on the road: "The person named Zhang is a coward!" But Li Chengzhong stopped him: "Don't blame them, your life is your own.
, everyone wants to go back alive." He didn't blame Zhang Xingzhong, on the contrary, he understood it very well. To be honest, the brothers of Lu Longjun had been discouraged by the Bianjun, who asked them to go back and fight on the way to escape, and for the sake of their own death.
It was indeed a bit reluctant to fight with unrelated people. Even among the people following him, there were many who were hesitant. They belonged to Jiang Miao and Zhou Qidao's gang. They reluctantly followed because they obeyed the inertia of superior officers.
Came over.
The group of people returned to the woods and began to chase southward following the ruts. Wang Dalang was a hunter and was very good at tracking. He never lost track of them along the way. Soon he saw an ox cart driving on the horizon.
The back view of the Bian army marching slowly and leisurely.
Li Chengzhong looked back and saw that Zhou Qidao was about to rush forward with red eyes, so he quickly stopped him. Zhou Qidao glared at Li Chengzhong, but Li Chengzhong ignored him and suddenly said to everyone in a deep voice: "There may be some of you among you.
I'm hesitating whether to go up and fight, or whether to risk my life for revenge for Zhou Da's hometown. So I want to say a few words, if you change your identity, what would you think if your relatives were killed? "
After a pause, seeing everyone thinking about his words, Li Chengzhong added: "Zhou Da is from Jizhou, Jiang Miao is from Yingzhou, I am from Youzhou, and Wang Dalang is from Shenzhou... In short, we are all Yanzhou people.
Zhao people! People in Zhouda's hometown were killed today. I am very angry and angry. I am thinking, tomorrow, will it be the turn of people from Yingzhou, Youzhou and Shenzhou to be killed? We are the Lulong Army,
We were born here and grew up here. This land is our root! If we don’t protect them, who else can protect them? If we don’t take revenge and don’t make the Bian army pay the price of blood, tomorrow we will be in Niu
The head in the car may be the hometown of Jiang Miao, the hometown of Wang Dalang, and the hometown of all of us!"
After saying that, Li Chengzhong took a deep breath. Seeing that everyone was a little excited, he said: "That's what I said. There is still a chance. When we fight later, those who don't want to go can stay here."
Zhou Qidao's eyes were red, and he looked at Li Chengzhong with choked eyes: "Li Lang..."
Li Chengzhong stopped him with a smile, turned around and left. The fifteen people behind him immediately followed him, and no one was left behind.