At dawn the next day, after paying the price of more than 80,000 lives, the coalition forces finally broke through the defense line of the Hetao defenders and successfully invaded Dingzhou City. The coalition forces, which had already been red-eyed for a long time, immediately entered the city.
A massive massacre began. However, there were not many people in the city, and the surviving people still relied on the favorable location to make sneak attacks or attack small groups of coalition forces, causing great trouble to the coalition forces.
However, Li Tieming and others did not care. In their view, the fall of Dingzhou was a foregone conclusion and no one could change it. Since these people were so tough, let them die.
Under his command, he slowly moved towards the city guard's mansion in the center of Dingzhou City.
He Fu's official robe was already stained with blood, and the sword in his hand was missing several gaps, but he still asked loudly: "Madams, are you ready?"
Liu Yan nodded: "Master He, please give the order. The other party is not an ordinary person. If we don't hurry up, I'm afraid our arrangement will be exposed."
Xu Tou tried his best to smile: "Master He, the final nirvana has begun."
He Fu smiled freely and waved to the soldiers behind him. The soldiers understood and hurriedly ran out. A burst of noise was heard, and the Dingzhou City Governor's Mansion suddenly burst into flames. This was like a signal. After seeing
After the fire broke out in the city guard's mansion, the Hetao defenders who had already prepared for Nirvana immediately set fire to Dingzhou City. The moment the Hao Jin brothers were sent away, He Fu and others had already made a decision
This nirvana plan perished with the city. Later, when they retreated, they also scattered as many flammable items as possible, as well as kerosene, tung oil, etc. in every corner of Dingzhou. They only waited until a fire broke out in the Dingzhou City Guards House.
Set fire to the city.
He Fu and others were well prepared, and the coalition forces did not expect that the Hetao would be so vicious. Countless soldiers were immediately plunged into a sea of flames, and screams could not be heard.
"Retreat! Retreat immediately!" Li Tieming was shocked and shouted almost at the top of his voice: "Come here, get water to put out the fire! Put out all the fires on the road behind first!"
Li Xiaoran left in a hurry, but ran back quickly: "Father, all the wells are blocked by stones, and the fire is very fierce. Fortunately, there are no enemy troops on our back road. It is not too late to retreat now."
Li Tieming didn't care about his face at this time. When he heard this, he quickly led his soldiers to flee along the road they came in. However, fire and water were merciless, and many soldiers still fell into the sea of fire. Li Tieming finally retreated to the outside of the city and took stock.
After looking at the troops and horses under his command, there were 30,000 Qinchuan cavalry and 30,000 soldiers from the Guards Corps. Now there were less than 20,000 soldiers left. After questioning Song Zhengfeng and others who were also in a state of embarrassment, Li Tieming sadly discovered that he had taken the decision.
Zhou, himself and others paid the price of nearly 100,000 soldiers, but this fire burned to death at least 50,000 soldiers.
In the Dingzhou City Governor's Mansion, He Fu, Xu Tou, Liu Yan and others sat in their seats without fear, looking at the Dingzhou City that had burned half of the sky in silence. There was an empty seat above He Fu's head.
, that belonged to Lin Taiyue. When the city of Dingzhou was destroyed, this old man held his sword and refused to retreat. In the end, his blood splashed on the city tower, and he became the last martyr among the four famous scholars in Qingfeng. However, they did not sacrifice their country with death, but
To sacrifice oneself to death.
Liu Yan, Yancai, Jiang Ting, Meng Ling and others sat side by side, each touching their bellies. In a month or two, the children in their bellies would be born. However, they could not wait.
That day has come. What’s the joy of life, and what’s the fear of death? Unable to leave any flesh and blood for their husbands, the women are still a little sad. Long Shuang’s expression was silent. Before she came to Dingzhou, she had left her son with He Yu. Naturally,
There is no need to worry about her son's safety. Of all the people, she is the most worry-free one.
At dawn, the city of Dingzhou was destroyed, and the defenders refused to surrender. The entire city was burned to the ground. Of the more than 200,000 people who stayed in Dingzhou, no one survived.
In the afternoon, Li Tieming and others finally gathered their troops and slowly pushed to the gates of Yanzhou City. However, the coalition forces at this time were really sad to talk about. The Sashan army led by Tipu and Lengye, in addition to Nana Hada,
He led about 30,000 cavalry to pursue Li Xiao, but now there are less than 100,000 left. Only half of the Suzaku Army is left, and the White Ear Army is in slightly better condition, only losing about 30,000 soldiers. Li Tieming is the worst, even if
Including the soldiers of the Guards Corps, there were only 20,000. After joining the 70,000 soldiers of Zhu Zhao's tribe and the 30,000 infantry of Li Bicheng's tribe under Yanzhou City, Li Tieming sadly discovered that the army of more than 700,000 men that had been reorganized in the beginning was now now
There were less than 350,000 left. Of course, this did not include the nearly 100,000 cavalry of Nanhada and Li Tieming. In desperation, Li Tieming had no choice but to let Watanabe Shimo, who was near Huangyangtan, immediately lead his 100 cavalry.
The Wandong Japanese army came to help.
After the fall of Dingzhou, the coalition forces were finally able to attack Yanzhou unscrupulously. However, Li Xiao did not know this. From the moment he broke out, he had been fleeing in embarrassment during the joint siege by Nanhada and Li Tiezhan.
Although Nanahada is a rising star in the Sashan military and his cavalry is quite elite, he is not from China and is not familiar with the environment of Hetao. However, Li Tiezhan is different. The Li family in Qinchuan and Hetao have maintained a relationship for a long time.
Due to the friendly relationship of time, Li Tiezhan was very familiar with the geographical conditions of the Hetao. After all, he was the most famous general in Qinchuan, and he had an absolute advantage in terms of military strength. Most of the pressure on Li Xiao came from him.
.
Li Tiezhan knew Li Xiao's strategic plan very well. It was obvious that his best solution was to cross the river and head to Yumen Pass or Youyun Sixteen Prefectures. However, if he did not pursue it more closely, it was not impossible for Li Xiao to escape to the mountains in the Jizhou area.
Therefore, Li Tiezhan deliberately left 20,000 cavalry near Fengling Ferry, while he and Nanahada led the rest of the cavalry to pursue and intercept Li Xiao.
Li Tiezhan divided his cavalry into several teams and took turns chasing Li Xiao's cavalry. In this way, the pursuers were able to maintain sufficient physical strength. Although the horses in Hetao were good horses from the Bloody Plateau, after running continuously for a day and night,
, also appeared to be unable to succeed. However, Nanahada and Li Tiezhan did not have this problem at all because they divided their forces to pursue them.
"We can't continue to escape like this. We must immediately fight to Fengling Ferry, cross the river from here, and go to the Lord as quickly as possible." In a small village at the junction of Jizhou and Shizhou, Li Xiao's cavalry was repairing and resting.
The time was very short, only one hour. So Li Xiao also took the opportunity to discuss the next strategic plan with Xin Jiao and others.
Fu Ruoshui said worriedly: "But Li Tiezhan already knows that we are going to break out from here, and there are a large number of cavalry deployed on the road, so we can't break through head-on."
Xin Jiao shook his head and said: "But it's not a problem for us to flee like this now. Our troops are limited, and the Lord's army doesn't know when it will be able to come back. If this continues, sooner or later we will be killed by the Qinchuan cavalry. Have you noticed that our
The scope of activities has been reduced a lot, and since last night, we have been wandering around Jizhou and Shizhou."
Li Xiao stabbed the spear in his hand heavily on the ground and said in a deep voice: "We can't hesitate any longer. If we don't leave now, I'm afraid there will be no chance of escape. At Fengling Ferry, Li Tiezhan must have been fully prepared, and
All the ships here must have been burned by them, and it will be difficult for us to cross the river here."
"Then why not take the Hukou Ferry in Anzhou?" Fu Ruoshui asked doubtfully.
"It's too far. We have to go from here to Anzhou, and the distance can't be compared with Li Tiezhan's cavalry. Moreover, the physical strength of the war horses may not be able to last for so long." Li Xiao shook his head: "So we have to forcefully cross Fengling.
The ferry. The north of the ferry should still be under my control in the Hetao. As long as we can escape here, we can go directly to Shazhou Fucheng, rest for a while and then go directly to the lord."
"Ferry, we still need a ferry!" Xin Jiao said.
"There is a small ferry in the northwest of Shizhou called Shipandu. It is relatively remote. The Qinchuan cavalry should not have been here." Li Xiao turned around and said, "Jiang Ning, you should be familiar with this place. You should lead the five hundred cavalry there immediately.
Stone plate, take all the found boats down the river to the vicinity of Fengling Ferry. Pay attention to hiding the traces, and we must not reveal the hidden treasure before we arrive."
"Everyone, get ready. The whole army will set off in an hour. Whether we can deliver the two princes safely to the lord depends on this battle."
Fengling Ferry.
In 619, Haotian had just recaptured the six states of the Hetao. In order to save face, Yelu Canghai and others deliberately stationed more than 100,000 troops on the north bank of Fengling Ferry, preparing to teach the Hetao a lesson while the river was frozen. As a result, Haotian took the initiative to attack.
, here they faced the 150,000 coalition forces led by Yelu Chixian and others, and narrowly defeated the opponent. Although there were not many beheadings, it stabilized the situation in Hetao.
The following year, the Battle of Hukou broke out. Situ Lie and his deputy Wang Xian led 10,000 soldiers to resist Hengshi Hasan's 100,000 troops here relying on natural dangers. Just when the defense line was about to collapse, it happened to be a heavy rain, and Shizhou prefect Zheng Chengen came to the rescue.
In time, Hengshi Hassan's attack was blocked, effectively protecting the safety of the Loop.
However, since the Second Northwest Road was regained in the Hetao, the strategic position of Fengling Ferry has been seriously reduced. There is not even a regular army stationed here in the hinterland of the Hetao. However, this does not hinder its importance.
Fengling Ferry, like Hukou Ferry in Anzhou and Wangjin Ferry in Dingzhou, are the most important inland river ports in the Hetao. However, Wangjin Ferry focuses on commercial flow, while Fengling Ferry and Hukou Ferry are for military needs.
Lord. In order to intercept Li Xiao's cavalry, Li Tiezhan specially placed Li Yuanyang and Li Yuanshan's 20,000 cavalry here.
Due to Lu Bumi's betrayal, Soul Eater's intelligence system on the Second Northwest Road was completely lost, including the one at Fengling Ferry. Chu Pu, the prefect of Shazhou, discovered something strange on the south bank of the ferry at that time and quickly informed Situ Lie at Yumen Pass. At the same time,
, Chu Pu did not forget to send a message to Haotian in Yanzhou and Chu Xiangcheng in Hetao, but both groups failed. At this time, Chu Pu also realized the seriousness of the matter. Later he learned that all the homing pigeons
They were all killed by the falcons from the Bloody Plateau and the bald eagles outside the Great Wall, and the small group of cavalry he sent out were assassinated by the ninjas of the Eastern Japanese Dynasty.
Dongbo also spent a lot of money this time, and almost all the ninjas in the country were sent out. Because of this, they were able to cut off the connection between Hetao Sanlu and Haotian. However, it was just a cut off. By this time, Luo Xiang and others had discovered the anomaly in the Hetao and immediately responded accordingly.
When Li Xiao arrived at Fengling Ferry, both Li Yuanyang and Li Yuanshan were waiting. Li Tiezhan's order was very simple, that is, not to let a mouse pass through Fengling Ferry. Both of them knew very well what kind of military temper Li Tiezhan was, so they didn't do anything at all. Don't dare to be careless in the slightest.
When the two armies meet on a narrow road, the brave will win. The two armies are connected. Without any courtesy, the war has entered a fierce state. Hetao soldiers have always been known for their tenacity and strong will to fight. Now that they are in a life-or-death situation, their fighting will is even more inflated.
Li Xiao's face was serious and extremely nervous. However, after seeing six or seven ships slowly floating down the upper reaches of the river, he suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. Jiang Ning, after all, lived up to his expectations of him.
"Brothers, kill! Li Tiezhan will arrive in two hours at most. For the sake of the lord and mistress, kill!" Li Xiao shouted loudly, and the spear in his hand danced with flowers, killing the Qinchuan soldiers.
Although the Qinchuan soldiers were well prepared and their combat effectiveness was quite fierce, under the fierce and fearless attack of the Hetao soldiers, a gap was still opened.
"Ji Qing, you cover the mistress and the princess and leave first! I will be the one to cut off the rear here!" Li Xiao shouted loudly.
Ji Qing did not hesitate. His mission was to protect the safety of the two princes, even at the cost of his life.
The first to rush to the ferry was the Xuanyuan Guards led by Ji Qing, who drove their horses directly into the river. Ji Qing and others protected Xin Jiao and the others and jumped onto a ferry, and they quickly followed. The ferry Unlike battleships, even the largest ferries can only carry a hundred people at most at a time. Smaller merchant ships can only carry forty or fifty people at most.
Li Yuanshan and the two men were in a panic. If the Hetao cavalry were allowed to cross the river by force, the angry Li Tiezhan would have to cramp and skin them. The two men could not care less now, dragging their own soldiers towards the ferry. But Li Tiezhan Xiao was still happy too early. Not long after the ferry from Jiangning arrived, more than a dozen towering masts suddenly appeared on the lower reaches of the river. Li Xiao was shocked. Such tall masts were not something that the river fleet could possess. , this is clearly the mast of a sea ship. And the most likely one is the warship of the Eastern Japanese Dynasty.
The dilapidated house was hit by continuous rain, and the leaky boat was hit by a storm. The appearance of the Japanese warships had already chilled the hearts of the soldiers in the Hetao, and the looming flags on the north bank of the ferry made Li Xiao's heart suddenly drop to the bottom. .This is an army coming from the east. The appearance of the flag is completely different from that of Hetao. It is obviously not a friendly army.
However, the last straw that broke the camel's back was the faint sound of horse hooves coming from behind the Loop. Li Tiezhan and Nanahada's cavalry actually arrived an hour earlier than expected! At this time, Ji Qing's five All the Baixuanyuan Guards are still on board, and they haven't even docked yet.