In Rencheng County, the commander-in-chief Zhang Zhongxiong waited eagerly for the logistics fleet. He stood at the top of the city every day and looked eagerly, but he was disappointed every day.
As time went by, the food they carried gradually ran out, and the food in the city was also exploited by them. Almost all the rice stores were robbed by them, but even so, the food for the 50,000-strong army could only last for three days.
Oh my god.
Of course, they can choose to retreat. After all, the Western Army has not besieged the city. If they retreat in time, they can retreat to Xucheng County in the north. There is Dongping Prefecture, a famous grain-producing place. There are 20,000 Donghu troops stationed there, so there should be enough food.
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But the question is, will Wanyan Wushu allow them to retreat? Zhang Zhongxiong also knows that once he abandons Rencheng County, Jeju and Tengzhou will be lost, and even Yunzhou will be lost.
Zhang Zhongxiong was extremely distressed. He had to make a decision today. The remaining food could only be consumed by them on the road.
Zhang Zhongxiong could not make up his mind and summoned several governors to discuss countermeasures.
Commander Feng Lin said: "The logistics grain and fodder have not arrived for a long time. It is very likely that they were intercepted by the Western Army. Zhang Dutong, we can no longer rely on grain ships. We should evacuate eastward immediately before our morale collapses. Otherwise, once the grain is exhausted,
The soldiers will definitely cause trouble and loot the whole city. Then, we will be like the Luoyang defenders, waiting to be beheaded by Chen Qing one by one!"
Chen Qing killed thousands of soldiers who had raped and robbed the people in Luoyang. Although it had no impact on the Jurchen soldiers, it shocked the signing army greatly. Although no one would say such things openly, all Han generals would restrain military discipline and give themselves
Even Li Cheng, who did not dare to kill more than 20,000 prisoners of war, was leaving a way out for himself.
This was also the notice Chen Qing issued to the Han soldiers when he attacked Henan Road the year before last. It didn't matter how the battlefield was fought. As long as the people were not harmed, they would not be held accountable after the war and everyone would be allowed to return home and reunite with their families.
As a result, the Luoyang defenders ignored the situation and committed rape, burning, killing, and looting people's property. As a result, they were marched to the top of the city and had more than 3,000 heads chopped off.
Commander Feng Lin's words caused concern among many people. One commander asked: "We looted rice stores, does this count as robbing people's property?"
Feng Lin shook his head, "This certainly doesn't count. This is called military requisition, not personal robbery. It's not the same thing."
Seeing that everyone was going off topic, Zhang Zhongxiong coughed twice and said, "I called everyone together to ask everyone to vote collectively. As I said just now, our food can last for three days. Now we have two choices. First,
Withdraw troops to Xucheng County, Dongping Prefecture. Secondly, continue to wait for food and fodder support. Let everyone vote!"
Everyone secretly despised the coach. He did not dare to take responsibility and asked everyone to vote. However, this was also a way. The law does not hold everyone accountable. It was a joint decision made by everyone. It was not easy for King Liang to hold him accountable.
Zhang Zhongxiong glanced at China and said: "If you support the first choice, please raise your hands!"
The ten commanders raised their hands, and everyone knew that waiting would lead to death.
Zhang Zhongxiong breathed a sigh of relief, nodded and said: "Since everyone has chosen to retreat, there is no need to vote on the second article. Everyone goes back to clean up. We will withdraw our troops eastward as soon as it gets dark tonight."
In the past two days, the 100,000 cavalry led by Chen Qing have also been on alert. Chen Qing has received news that the Jiaolong Battalion intercepted the grain fleet sent to Rencheng.
According to the intelligence analysis he had, the defenders in the city were about to run out of food, and they would most likely evacuate at night in the next two days.
As soon as night fell, Yang Zaixing led 30,000 cavalry to Yuxing Town, twenty miles away from the city, to ambush. If there was no movement, he would withdraw after daybreak.
In the night, Chen Qing was wearing armor and standing in front of the big tent with his hands behind his hands, looking far away in the direction of Rencheng County. The moon was bright and the stars were sparse. The night sky was exceptionally clear. The whole earth was sprinkled with a layer of silver. Although it was night, it was as bright as day.
This is good weather for marching!
At this moment, Chen Qing faintly saw fire flashing in the sky. Then, a closer fire appeared in the sky, which was a rocket. Soon, the gunpowder arrow closest to them flew into the sky.
"The enemy retreats!"
Chen Qingdang immediately ordered: "Send the order for the army to mount their horses immediately!"
"Woo——" A low horn sound sounded in the military camp.
Sixty thousand cavalrymen mounted their horses one after another, and after a short while, they rushed out of the camp in a mighty manner, gathered into a long dragon, and rushed towards Rencheng County, fifty miles away.
The 50,000-strong army left the south city gate and retreated to the east. Just less than a mile away, not far away, nine gunpowder arrows shot into the sky in succession. The bright red flames were particularly eye-catching in the night.
Immediately afterwards, nine more gunpowder arrows soared into the sky in the distance, bright red flames streaked across the night sky, and nine more gunpowder arrows flew up in the distance.
Zhang Zhongxiong was secretly alarmed. This was the Western Army's scouts using gunpowder arrows to report the news, just like beacons. Soon, the main force of the Western Army would know that they had retreated. The main force of the Western Army was fifty miles away. If they were lucky, the Western Army would pursue them.
Not with them.
But the Western Army is all cavalry!
"Send the order, speed up the march!"
Most of the soldiers also saw the message from the gunpowder arrows. Everyone was frightened and ran faster.
After running for about fifteen or six miles, there was suddenly a rumble of thunder behind them, and the ground was shaking slightly. The soldiers looked back in horror, and saw that the night sky turned gray, a kind of gray-yellow color, filling the space between the sky and the earth.
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"The Western Army cavalry is coming!"
I don't know who shouted, and the whole army became commotion. The soldiers shouted in panic: "The Western Army cavalry is coming!"
"Stop the whole army and line up for me!"
Zhang Zhongxiong shouted desperately, but it was a pity that he was not Li Cheng and did not have the prestige of being consistent in the army. His voice was drowned by the fearful shouts of the soldiers, and even the dozen trumpeters who were originally following him disappeared.
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The 50,000 soldiers dispersed like a flood bursting a bank, running wildly. Some soldiers took off their armor, threw away their weapons and rations, and threw away everything that could hinder their escape.
The soldiers said anxiously: "Commander, let's go quickly! The Western Army is coming to kill us."
The overwhelming Western cavalry had already reached a mile away, and the war horses were running wildly in the wilderness. The momentum that swept across the earth, as if the heaven and earth were falling apart, made the soldiers lose their will to resist. As long as one person escapes, thousands of people will escape.
Thousands of people fleeing will lead to tens of thousands of people fleeing for their lives.
Especially during the march, tens of thousands of people stretch for more than ten miles. Even if they are assembled into a formation at the fastest, it will take more than half an hour. Once they encounter an enemy surprise attack, they will basically be defeated. If you are lucky, most of them can escape and regroup.
Soldier, it was bad luck and the whole army was wiped out.
Zhang Zhongxiong came with a fierce attack from the Western Army, so he had to sigh, turned his horse and ran as fast as he could. Dozens of his soldiers also followed closely on horseback.
Soon they surpassed most of the fleeing soldiers. Zhang Zhongxiong couldn't help but look back, only to hear the Western Army cavalry shouting: "Those who surrender will not be killed! Those who surrender will not be killed!"
Countless soldiers knelt on the ground and surrendered. Even before the Western cavalry came to kill them, scores of soldiers knelt down and raised their hands in surrender.
Zhang Zhongxiong suddenly saw Commander Feng Lin and Zhang Bao kneel down and surrender with tens of thousands of soldiers.
"These two bastards!"
Zhang Zhongxiong gnashed his teeth in hatred, but he had no choice but to beat his horse and gallop in the dark.
An hour later, Chen Qing arrived with the main force. By this time, the fierce battle was over. In fact, the signing army was not that unbearable. Sun Yue, the commander-in-chief, led 5,000 people and 20,000 Western cavalry to fight against each other. The fierce battle lasted for nearly half an hour.
The entire army of 5,000 signatures was destroyed, and the general Sun Yue was also captured alive by Yang Zaixing.
However, Sun Yue's resistance also protected many soldiers from escaping, which frustrated the Western Army's hope of capturing all the signature troops alive. The Western Army only captured more than 34,000 people and escaped with more than 10,000 signature troops.
Chen Qing arrived at the battlefield, and Yang Zaixing stepped forward to hand over the order. Chen Qing saw that Yang Zaixing was covered in blood, and the smell of blood hit his nose. He frowned and said, "A battle broke out between you and the enemy?"
Yang Zaixing smiled bitterly and said: "An army of about 5,000 people gathered and fought fiercely with us. In the end, the enemy army was completely wiped out. The brothers suffered more than 500 casualties."
"Where is this resisting army? All of them died?"
"Of course not. We killed more than 3,000 people and captured 1,500 people. The enemy's leader was Ming Zongzhi. He challenged the subordinates to a duel. After ten moves, he was captured alive by the subordinates."