Chapter five hundred and eighty fifth game (seven)
The fourth watch had already passed, and all 80,000 soldiers were woken up. None of them were allowed to sleep. Instead, they lay back to back, wrapped in military blankets, waiting for dawn in the cold night. Everyone was shivering with cold and complaining.
Liu Guangshi had been awake all night since he learned the news that the army grain ship was attacked. He had rich experience and the opponent's main force must be nearby, which increased the possibility of a night attack.
But he could not order the troops to move. The 80,000-strong army moved at night. Once attacked, chaos would easily occur.
The best way is to form an army on the spot. Once attacked, you can stand up and fight back immediately. Especially when dealing with cavalry, you can be prepared in advance.
Liu Guangshi paced back and forth in the room, worried. His confidence in capturing Bashu had completely faded. What he was thinking about now was how to escape unscathed.
"What time is it now?" Liu Guangshi asked anxiously.
"Reporting to the capital, it's almost time for the fifth watch."
Liu Guangshi felt a little relieved and ordered: "Send the order to the whole army to set off in half an hour!"
Of course, the purpose of setting off is to withdraw troops. Their grain ships have been intercepted. How can they march towards the Three Gorges Road again?
At this time, Yang Zaixing temporarily stopped the cavalry assault because the scouts took the risk to detect an important piece of information. Liu Guangshi's army was in a state of sit-down gathering...
A cavalry assault is also dangerous, mainly due to the opponent's intensive bow and arrow counterattack. The opponent has an army of 80,000. Once the bow and arrow are fired, thousands of arrows will be fired, and the cavalry will suffer heavy losses.
Cavalry assaults often rely on time difference to break into the enemy's formation before the opponent has time to react.
If the enemy is sleeping, even if he runs a mile, he still has time to break into the crowd before the enemy is ready.
But now that the enemy troops are sitting and gathering, they will have enough time to fire their crossbows, and they will probably be forced to retreat after suffering heavy losses.
Yang Zaixing changed his plan and launched a surprise attack while the enemy was retreating.
Before dawn, the 80,000-strong army began to evacuate quickly. The mighty army ran quickly along the official road, stretching out for more than ten miles. Although many soldiers had not slept all night and were exhausted, their hearts were full of fear and survival.
Desire still stimulated the potential of the soldiers and made them run as hard as they could.
Li Qiong discovered the problem. He urged his horse to catch up with Liu Guangshi and said urgently: "Du Tong, the team is too long. The terrain in this area is complicated and it is easy to be intercepted by the opponent."
Liu Guangshi was in front of the team. He looked back and found that the team was too long and he could no longer see the end.
Of course Liu Guangshi knew that this was very dangerous, and he immediately ordered: "The front army stops advancing!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a series of explosions came from behind, followed by the shouts of killing, the team was in chaos, the soldiers were crying and running desperately, shouting, "The cavalry is coming! The cavalry is coming!"
The night's fear finally broke out at this moment. All the soldiers began to run away like a mountain falling apart. The soldiers pushed and trampled each other desperately. These soldiers were all new recruits who had never fought before. Fear broke out quickly like a plague.
Affects everyone.
The generals shouted loudly to no avail, and they were forced to flee eastward by the soldiers.
The cavalry of the Western Army did launch an attack, and they attacked at multiple points. Liu Guangshi's army was caught off guard. Under the pursuit of the cavalry, the soldiers fled wildly and collapsed across the board.
The rear army of 20,000 people was intercepted and surrounded. Li Hongyu, the rear army, ordered the entire army to surrender. Yang Zaixing did not continue to pursue, but ordered more than 27,000 prisoners of war to be escorted to retreat westward.
Liu Guangshi ran for more than 40 miles in one breath and stopped running near Jingmen Mountain and began to collect the remaining troops. However, by noon, they only collected less than 30,000 defeated troops. Could it be that the other 50,000 troops were annihilated by Chen Qing's army?
Yet?
At this time, Li Qiong fled with thousands of soldiers and reported to Liu Guangshi: "I found a lot of discarded armor and weapons along the way. I guess many soldiers took the opportunity to flee."
"How many brothers were killed?"
"There shouldn't be many, more than a thousand at most. Chen Qing's cavalry was just creating momentum, especially the gunpowder explosion, which scared the brothers."
Liu Guangshi stood there for a long time, then sighed and said, "Let's retreat to a safe place first!"
The army continued to withdraw eastward. In the afternoon, they encountered more than a hundred carts of food sent from Zhijiang County. The soldiers finally got a good meal. That night, they withdrew from the boundaries of Xiazhou and entered the boundaries of Jiangling Prefecture. The whole army breathed a sigh of relief.
At this time, Wu Chang brought good news to Liu Guangshi. They robbed Jinghu South Road of one year's taxes and grain, about 1.2 million guan of money and 400,000 shi of grain. Hundreds of large ships were fully loaded and anchored in Jiangling Mansion.
.
This news finally gave Liu Guangshi, who was extremely depressed, a glimmer of sunshine in his heart.
At this time, counselor Yang Cui'an suggested to Liu Guangshi: "It is better to discuss with Chen Qing's army and use money to redeem part of the surrendered army. If we can redeem 10,000 or 20,000 troops, it will be crucial for us to stand firm on the Jinghu South Road.
"
Liu Guangshi took this suggestion seriously, and he immediately called in his confidant Li Miao and asked him to go to Shuzhong to negotiate with Yang Zaixing.
In the Jiangling City Government Office, Li Hui was pacing back and forth in the lobby, looking very worried.
Li Hui was appointed the envoy of Xuanfu to Sichuan by the imperial court two months ago. He came all the way to Bashu to take up the post. Unexpectedly, he received news that Chen Qing's army had occupied the entire territory of Sichuan just as he arrived at Jiangling. Li Hui had to temporarily stay in Jiangling Mansion.
Follow the court's subsequent arrangements.
Not long ago, Li Hui received an edict and learned that the emperor had sent two armies to attack Shu, and both armies were under his control. This news really cheered Li Hui up, indicating that the emperor still valued his abilities.
Yue Fei's army on the north road was too far away for him to reach, but Liu Guangshi's army on the south road was coming to Jiangling Mansion and fell under his control.
But Li Hui never dreamed that Liu Guangshi would ignore him at all. He ordered Liu Guangshi to come see him twice, but Liu Guangshi ignored him at all. He went to find Liu Guangshi angrily, but he couldn't even enter the military camp. He ordered Li Hui to return
Suffered great shame.
And today he received two major news. One was that Liu Guangshi's army robbed hundreds of tax and grain ships from the Jinghu South Road Transfer Department. At this time, 400 large ships were moored on the river outside Jiangling City.
, there is also the flag of Jinghu South Road Transfer Department on it, the evidence is conclusive.
When the second news came, Liu Guangshi's army was defeated in Yiling. More than half of the 100,000-strong army was lost, and the remaining army was fleeing back to Jiangling County in panic.
These two pieces of news not only made Li Hui very happy, but also made Li Hui deeply wary. The joy was that he finally caught Liu Guangshi's handle and impeached him, but the wariness was that Liu Guangshi would separate Jing Hunan.
road?
This was not Li Hui's random guess, but the owner of the Jiangling Restaurant told him that Wang De, the left-behind general, publicly declared when attending a banquet hosted by several squires that if Liu Guangshi was unable to serve as Sichuan's Xuanfu envoy, he would be appointed as Jinghu South Road Festival instead.
The envoy is stationed on Jinghu South Road.
This shocked Li Hui. He was the one appointed by the imperial court as the Sichuan Xuanfu envoy, and Liu Guangshi was only the military envoy. Moreover, when did the imperial court appoint Liu Guangshi as the military envoy of Jinghu South Road? He was also stationed on Jinghu South Road.
What does Liu Guangshi want to do?
Li Hui smelled danger. If Liu Guangshi really had the ambition to separate Jinghu South Road, he would be in danger of his life if he stayed in Jiangling Mansion.
At this time, Li Chun, the second son of Li Hui, walked in quickly and saluted, "Father, the child is ready."
Li Hui immediately took out an impeachment memorial and handed it to his son, "Hurry back to Lin'an immediately and hand this memorial to Qin Xianggong. Don't delay on the way. The situation is very urgent!"
Li Chun took the memorial and put it in his arms, "My child will leave by boat now!"
After a pause, Li Chun said with concern: "Jiangling is not safe, and father must leave as soon as possible."
Li Hui nodded, "You go first, I'll pack up and go to Xiangyang. Without the official call, I won't be able to return to Lin'an!"