Not to mention that a certain family wanted to sell their daughters for peace of mind, let's talk about the Youzhou Tuqi camp outside Sanhe Pavilion.
The siege of Mao Shao's tribe continued. After Gongsun Zan left, Gai Tong, who was in charge of military affairs, did not change Gongsun Zan's original siege plan.
Obviously from this point of view, Gai Tong is an extremely confident and capable person. Otherwise, a new official would most likely have to come in to take over and deal with all the bad things.
But soon Gai Tong discovered something was wrong.
Outposts returning from woodcutting operations kept reporting that during the past two nights, the clouds in the south often appeared dark red. The experienced frontier soldiers guessed at a glance that this must be the color of the sky reflected by the bonfire in the camp.
And to be able to reflect such a flaming cloud, you can imagine how many bonfires there are on the opposite side.
Gai Tong received this information and quickly ordered a group of cavalry to go south to investigate.
But unfortunately, as the Taishan Army's assault cavalry moved north of the Hutuo River, the Taishan Army's interception ability was no longer what it used to be. After the fifty-man sentry cavalry moved south, they disappeared without even a drop of foam.
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Gai Tong did not dare to delay the military situation anymore and hurriedly informed Lu Zhi about the situation in Sanhe Pavilion. However, before he could wait for a reply, he received news that Lu Zhi ordered him to lead his troops to withdraw north.
Gai Tong didn't understand and continued to wait for the follow-up. Because he felt that Lu Zhi might not have seen his military report yet, so he made the wrong decision.
At this time, the enemy army is increasing its troops, and it is the time of the decisive battle. How can we retreat? One army retreats, while the three sergeants decline.
At the same time, Lu Zhi received Gai Tong's military report, but he came to the opposite conclusion as Gai Tong.
He believed that Zhang Chong was a cunning little thief who set up a bonfire on the front line to bluff him, just to confuse him.
Therefore, Lu Zhi once again urged Gai Tong to retreat north and join him.
Seeing Lu Zhi's determination, Gai Tong knew that Lu Shuai was far-sighted and feared that there was some information that he didn't know, so Gai Tong stopped insisting.
After hastily burning the camp, Gai Tong retreated north with his small group of four thousand cavalry.
At this point, the siege of Sanhe Pavilion has been resolved.
At this time, Sanheting only had eight days of rations left. When Mao Shao saw that the enemy had withdrawn from the siege, he still couldn't believe it. He was ready to die in battle.
Now the siege is being withdrawn like this?
In the end, Mao Shao waited until night before letting someone secretly go down the wall to investigate, and finally confirmed.
Afterwards, he contacted Pan Zhang in the south and learned that the king had crossed the river with his main force.
…
When he learned that Lu Zhi was leading the main force of the Zhenbei Army to withdraw north, Zhang Chong hurriedly ordered all his troops to move northward, preparing to catch up with the retreating Zhenbei Army.
Lu Zhi's actions greatly exceeded Zhang Chong's expectations.
He passed on false information, which actually made Lu Zhi think that his side was bluffing, and then attacked him. While he would wait for his work, he would fight Lu Zhi on the battlefield he chose.
But now Lu Zhi wants to run away, how can this be done?
So Zhang Chong urgently ordered Dong Fang's troops, who were the most advanced, to cross Zishui quickly and intercept the enemy Gai Tong's troops retreating north.
Just as Lu Zhi deeply felt that the time for a decisive battle was not ripe, Zhang Chong also deeply understood that this would be a favorable time for him to fight for a decisive battle.
Once autumn and winter arrive, most of his troops are soldiers from Mount Tai and the Central Plains, and they may not be able to withstand the winds in Shuobei.
On his side, a strategic mobilization has been carried out. Both troops and food are ready, and the morale of the soldiers is also high.
If you drag it further, the variables will be too great.
Therefore, Zhang Chong made a decisive decision and led his army northward to seek a decisive battle with the main force.
The first goal of heading north this time was to capture the new city in order to cut off the converging channel between the Youzhou Cavalry and Lu Zhi's regiment.
Dong's visit to the new city is about forty miles away. The Taishan Army's normal daily march is about twenty miles, and it has to cover twice this amount of distance in one day. You can imagine the difficulty.
However, after receiving the military order from the base camp, Dong Fang did not hesitate and set off with 11,000 officers and men. Because he knew that capturing the new city would mean that the greatest glory in this battle would belong to the marshal's department of the rear army.
In fact, it is impossible to capture the new city before Gaitong's troops cross the new city. After all, have you ever seen infantry defeat cavalry?
But here lies the capriciousness of fate and the drama of war.
On August 2, the day Gaitong's four thousand cavalrymen evacuated Sanhe Pavilion, it rained heavily for two days.
The majestic heavy rain forced Gaitong's troops to suspend their march to take shelter from the rain. Horses are prone to getting sick when exposed to the rain. Unless there is a military emergency, they will not run in the rain.
Gai Tong's understanding of the current situation was exactly like this. After he withdrew the siege of Sanhe Pavilion, he guessed that Lu Shuai did not want to fight this decisive battle. Therefore, he had no reason to think that he should return north in a hurry.
So, during the two days of heavy rain, Gai Tong stopped. However, because of the heavy rain, Dong's delegation had two more days of marching space.
And in the heavy rain on August 3, they flew into the empty new city and blocked Gaitong's Youzhou Tuqi's return route to the north.
Gai Tong still doesn't know much about this.
At this time, he was enjoying his breakfast in the clear sunshine after the rain.
On August 4th, two consecutive days of heavy rain finally ended.
The Youzhou Cavalrymen dried their damp boots, put the preserved bow strings back on their bows, took out their saddles from the tent, and put them on their beloved horses.
At this time, Gai Tong was sitting on a small horse under the canopy. In front of him was a box with wine and some roasted venison on the front.
Venison is not unusual. The Huns in the army caught it in the forest this morning.
But the roasted venison was strange. It had been raining heavily for two days, so where was the dry firewood to make a fire? I didn't see that the Youzhou Cavalrymen could only dry their boots instead of lighting up the fire to roast them.
From this we can see how luxurious this simple breakfast is.
While the sergeants at the rear were hurriedly cleaning up the camp, Gai Tong was leisurely enjoying the tranquility accompanied by sixteen tough followers.
Chewing the delicate venison and looking at the morning after the rain, Gai Tong was temporarily freed from the hustle and bustle of the army.
The Gai family is a family of meritorious service to the country, and their food, clothing, housing, and transportation in the military are all noble.
For example, right now, he has thirty disciples serving in the army, and his luggage includes sixty mules and horses. Take the bar he drinks from now, which is privately brewed at home.
It's just that the wine I brought with me when I left home for the expedition has been almost consumed. So far, I can only drink it by mixing it with water to relieve my homesickness.
While Gaitong was eating, a military general came over.
The wet and muddy shoes stepped on Gai Tong's expensive tapestry, bringing up mud along the way.
But Gai Tong didn't care at all. He smiled and said to the general:
"Guorang, please take a seat quickly and enjoy some wine from our hometown."
The so-called "state giver" is also named Tian Yu.
After saying that, Gai Tong asked someone to clear a place for Tian Yu, and gave Tian Yu a piece of the venison that was still being roasted.
Tian Yu stopped the servant's movements and said to Gai Tong worriedly:
"Captain Lieutenant, I feel uneasy because of my humble position. We have been patrolling here for two days. If we don't leave, we probably won't be able to catch up with Lu Shuai."
Tian Yu was very young. In fact, he was only sixteen at this time, but he showed extraordinary abilities, intelligence, meticulousness, and harshness.
Therefore, he was appreciated and promoted to the same side by Xian Yufu, but that night, Xian Yufu was shot and killed by Gongsun Zan for fleeing from battle.
Tian Yu regarded Xian Yufu as his elder brother after Liu Bei. Now that his brother had both died, he naturally felt resentful in his heart. But Gongsun Zan left, and he could only stay in the army.
Later, Gai Tong re-absorbed him. On the one hand, he admired him, but more importantly, he had a grudge against Gongsun Zan.
Tian Yu repaid his kindness and treated Gai Tong with all his heart.
After hearing Tian Yu's words, Gai Tong nodded, wiped the corners of his mouth with a kerchief, and ordered the whole army to set off.
They could reach the rest of the way by walking in two days. Of course, before that, they would have to rush to Xinshi for lunch at noon.
After being soaked in the rain for two days, the brothers' bones were all tender and they were about to enter the city for a good meal.
The first cavalryman to set off was Gongsun Fan, who led a thousand cavalry to clear the way.
Gongsun Fan showed his excellent ability as a cavalryman. He sent sentinel cavalry squads of fifty people each to various directions to detect the enemy's situation.
These are the best sentry riders in the army. With a horned bow, a knife, and a bag of food, they can rush forward and turn like the wind.
After Gongsun Fan was the main force of three thousand assault cavalry led by Gai Tong.
They held high their canopies, flags, and horses, and ran on Guangyang Road under the sunshine. These warriors who were good at fighting had already recovered from the previous defeat at Sanhe Pavilion.
But this calmness was lost in the urgent military information sent by Gongsun Yue:
"The new city has been lost, and the road to the north has been cut off by thieves."
Now, Gai Tong was stunned!
Can the Tarzan thieves fly? How did they get behind me?
…
Youzhou Tuqi's return route was blocked, but naturally he would not sit still and wait for death.
In fact, when Gongsun Yue reported the military information to Gai Tong in the rear, he had already led his troops to attack the Taishan Army.
What Gongsun Yue attacked was a fortress on Guangyang Road, which the Taishan Army rushed to build in the past two days. Although it was not very strong, it was equipped with all kinds of equipment such as blocking horses.
Guarding this dock wall was Lu Xiang, a brave general from the rear army marshal's department.
Sure enough, since he fell into the hands of Dong Fang due to his unruliness, this most painful task was handed over to him.
But Lu Xiang didn't take it seriously. For him, the more dangerous it was, the more his blood boiled. He was a hero born for war.
So from this perspective, Lu Xiang is a subordinate that all generals like. No matter what order you give him, he will execute it without hesitation and will not complain about the difficult task. Of course, the premise is that you can really do it.
Hold him down.
After Dong Fang captured the new city, he figured out the nearby terrain and selected this place as the first sniper pass. There were several more behind it.
Dong Fang was very aware of the superiority of the troops on both sides. Although he had 11,000 troops under his command, due to the rapid march, only more than 4,000 people actually reached the new city, and the rest were still on their way.
Relying on these 4,000 exhausted troops to snipe the 4,000 sudden cavalry Han troops was still very risky.
Therefore, his plan was to defend continuously and delay Gai Tong's troops here, allowing Zhang Dan's army from behind to gain time.
At that time, it will not be easy to gather tens of thousands of rear and left armies to completely annihilate Gaitong's tribe?
But this premise is that he, Dong Fang, can keep them here. Therefore, he put Lu Xiang's elite troops at the forefront just to fight a blocking battle first.
Lu Xiang's Department is a strengthened department, one level below the Xiaowei Department, with thousands of soldiers.
Gongsun Yue's cavalry force also had the same number, and because the roads here were complicated and full of obstacles and traps, Gongsun Yue's troops could only dismount and fight.
In other words, the strength of the two armies is very close.
In order to open the passage back to the north as soon as possible, Gongsun Yue went all out from the beginning.
He was fully clothed in armor, holding a ring-headed sword, and organized the dismounted cavalry to launch the first wave of offensive.
Stepping on the wet ground, these bow-legged assault riders ran on the battlefield with one foot deep and one foot shallow.
The Taishan thieves were very cunning, and they dug irregular pits on this vast battlefield. Many Han warriors simply stepped on the air and disappeared.
But even so, the morale of these assault cavalry was still high. They passed through Juma and soon fought with Lu Xiang's troops who took the initiative to leave the stronghold.
The intensity of the fighting suddenly rose to its peak.
When the Youzhou Tuqi were fighting on foot, the cavalry in the rear were not idle either. They were running along the Zishui line to see if there were any other wide roads for the army to pass.
But unfortunately, it doesn't.
After knowing the result, Gongsun Yue once again dispatched a wave of soldiers to fight in front.
Now the situation is very clear. If they don't capture this place, they Youzhou Cavalry will really hate Jizhou.
Soon, reinforcements came from behind.
Gai Tong was very decisive and directly ordered the brave general Shan Jing to lead two thousand reinforcements to support Gongsun Yue.
At this moment, personal preferences are completely unimportant. If the channel is not opened, they will all die.
As the saying goes, one person fights to the death, and three people retreat. If one army fights to the death, then it is natural for the three armies to overcome the difficulties.
With the support of fresh troops, Lu Xiang's troops could no longer hold out.
After an hour of bloody fighting, this unstable camp was breached.
Lu Xiang led some soldiers to retreat to the woods to the west, while more defeated troops retreated from Guangyang Road to the next camp.
But more than a hundred wounded soldiers who could not be evacuated were slaughtered in the camp by the red-eyed Youzhou Cavalry.
Blood dyed this dark wetland red, looking like a human tragedy.
After breaking through this barrier, the Youzhou Cavalry continued northward at an astonishing speed.
Obviously, Gai Tong is no idiot either.
Faced with the powerful blockade of the Taishan bandits, he would have fought in vain for so many years if he never expected that there would be pursuers behind him.
So, he personally led his assault cavalry to attack the next barrier. This time, he didn't even need an hour to break through the barrier again.
At this time, Dong Guan's available troops were not even two thousand.
The Han army's proficiency in fighting and determination to die greatly exceeded Dong Fan's expectations. He did not expect that these assault cavalry were so resilient and could burst out with such fighting power in difficult situations.
At this time, he could only order his sentry cavalry to urge his subordinates who were on their way to speed up, and on the other hand, he took the remaining two thousand soldiers out of the city and actively invited the Han army to attack.
You can't cut off people's return path just in the city. Now you can only take the initiative and get entangled with these Youzhou Cavalry to keep them.
At this time, where did Zhang Dan's left army march to?