The Zhenbei Army followed Lu Zhi's instructions and retreated toward Zhongren Pavilion, thirty miles away to the north.
However, rumors spread widely in the army, which inevitably cast a haze on the morale of the Zhenbei Army. More and more officials believed that their retreat was due to the defeat of the Hejian Army.
The situation was very dangerous. They were followed by the invincible General Zhang Chong, and there was no trace of their reinforcements on the land of Hebei.
All the officials who could figure this out were dejected and frightened.
Lu Zhi was aware of this situation and was worried that the troops with low morale would even collapse because of this, so he ordered some troops in the front to light a fire and cook on the spot, cooking more food so that the troops coming from behind could have hot food.
With the supplement of calories, the morale of the army has also recovered a lot.
At the same time, in order to avoid congestion, Lu Zhi ordered the cavalry troops to march from both wings, leaving the straight road for the infantry and baggage.
When the Zhenbei Army reached the Dingxian area, they also encountered an infantry army coming from Yangcheng in the north. The number was about a thousand people. The general was Minchun, the commander of Zhongshan. He brought the volunteers he had recruited.
He Buqu came to join the Zhenbei Army.
Lu Zhi met Min Chun during the march and admired his loyalty to save the country. After learning that Min Chun's troops had not eaten for many days of marching, Lu Zhi also gave Min Chun some dry food from the Chinese army.
After that, Min Chun joined the Chinese army in Lu Zhi and continued northward with the army.
This made Min Chun's tribe very dissatisfied when he turned back. Later, when they saw Min Chun marching on an ox cart, they even mocked him: if Min Jun opens his mouth, his brothers will break their legs.
Minchun's troops were almost all Guizhou disciples from the Dingxian area of Zhongshan. They generally did not have much recognition of the Han army. The reason why they followed Minchun south was simply because they were hijacked.
Originally, Min Chun told everyone that they would be given a reward for departure fees when they arrived at the battlefield, but that was gone now, because Min Chun meant that they didn't even go to the battlefield, so they wanted no reward.
Okay, if you, Min Chun, play this trick with your brothers, then the brothers will have to fend for themselves.
These people first plundered a batch of luggage that was left behind, and then divided it all equally, and then began to plunder the houses and houses of bad people along the way, and plunder people's money.
Even some local village elders who had been arranged by the Zhenbei Army to take care of the wounded were robbed by this group of arrogant soldiers. This can be said to have greatly ruined the reputation of the Zhenbei Army.
But Lu Zhi didn't know all of this. The entire retreat was in chaos, and he had lost control of the military discipline of his team.
How far does this confusion even go?
For example, Lu Zhi almost lost the map of Zhongrenting.
As early as when he was still in Lunu, he selected Zhongrenting as the location for the decisive battle. So he specially asked a cartographer to draw a detailed map of the Zhongrenting area.
Originally, this map had always been in charge of Lu Zhi's admirer Yang Lin, but when he retreated, Lu Zhi discovered that Yang Lin was missing.
Lu Zhi had people look for it for a long time but couldn't find it. Later, Yang Lin came back on his own.
It turned out that when he was looking for water, he encountered two hunters wandering nearby, and they wanted to sneak attack him while he was looking for water. Fortunately, Yang Lin was good at swordsmanship, and he killed the two hunters after a fight, but he
I found that my horse was missing.
The map of Zhongren Pavilion is right there.
Yang Lin panicked now, and finally found the mount grazing on a grassland after searching for a long time, and then retrieved the map.
After that, Yang Lin didn't dare to run around anymore, and hurried to Lu Zhi's car with the map to wait.
The Zhenbei Army's retreat was so chaotic.
But even with such chaos, Lu Zhi was still making subsequent military arrangements.
He obtained the map of Zhongren Pavilion from Yang Lin, and then discussed it with several staff members and began to dispatch the troops already stationed in the Zhongrenting area.
This map is very detailed and well reflects the landforms, buildings, and roads of Zhongren Pavilion, which provides support for the deployment of troops.
Relying on this map, Lu Zhi began to deploy troops to the corresponding battlefield.
At the same time, Lu Zhi also ordered the sentry cavalry of Junzi Camp to rush towards the troops in Zhongrenting in the north, telling them that he had led the main force to Zhongrenting and asked them to speed up the construction of fortifications.
Lu Zhi also wrote a military order to the defeated Hejian Army, and asked the three guards to quickly rush to Zhongrenting to regroup after receiving the military order.
Because the location of the Hejian Legion was unclear, Lu Zhi directly sent out ten sentries in order to allow the military order to be conveyed.
These sentry riders from the Gentlemen's Camp set off toward the northeast with feathered messages, three horses and a companion, and three days of dry food.
Along the way, these gentlemen's camps witnessed the chaos of the Zhenbei Army's retreat.
Because there was no one to restrain them, from time to time you could see scattered officials looting the countryside. In the ravines on both sides of the straight road, you could always see overturned baggage trains, and some precious military supplies were abandoned in the ravines.
There were also some wounded soldiers lying under the green shade of the straight road, looking numbly at the sky, motionless.
However, you can always see some loyal officers who still manage the team competently, and there is no chaos. In short, when the sentries of the Junzi camp went north, they saw the differences between the Zhenbei Army battalions.
They also saw some cavalry soldiers rudely pushing down the infantry's baggage trains because these people were blocking the cavalry's passage.
In any army, the contradiction between the cavalry and the infantry is always not small. The Han army is naturally no exception, so at this time, a riot is always unavoidable.
But in the end, the infantry always lose, and the result of the defeat is that they can only walk through the fields on both sides, and even have to walk through some swamps.
So when the infantrymen covered in mud appeared in front of the cavalry, they were always laughed at.
Compared to the cavalry, these infantrymen were undoubtedly pathetic, but compared to the infantrymen who were left at the head of the two battalions on the Dingting battlefield, these people were lucky.
When the sentries from Gentleman's Camp finally made their way through the chaotic military columns, they finally rushed to nearby Lunu. Here they wanted to look for the defeated troops of the River Legion and ask them about the location of their main force.
Only when they arrived in Lunu did these people realize that the chaos in the Zhenbei Legion just now was really nothing compared to the big one.
Ever since Lu Zhi led the Zhenbei Army southward, the powerful men of Lu Nu have been paying attention to the war in Dingting.
The walking servants of each family have to run here three times a day, just to keep abreast of the latest trends.
So when the Zhenbei Army abandoned its position and retreated northward, and its marching location was not to the northeast of Lunu but to the southwest, the powerful Lunu forces panicked.
They knew they had been abandoned by Lu Zhi, an old thief.
When they ran home covered in mud and sweat from walking, the powerful men were still eating. But as soon as they got the news that the Han army was defeated, these powerful men stopped eating and asked their servants to catch up.
The cart that had been prepared left the north gate to escape.
It’s not just one family or two that are smart, and the troubled times are no longer just one or two years ago, these powerful people have also evolved a strong ability to survive.
So gradually, the whole city began to boil, and ordinary Nulu people saw everyone in the city fleeing north with their families and carts.
Seeing the opportunity, some prisoners ran directly to these people's homes and plundered the remaining large items, which the powerful men could not take away. Some nearby gangsters also rushed into the houses when they saw such an advantage.
Di, pick up those things no one wants.
As a result, Lunu City soon fell into chaos.
The local powerful people were well prepared, with cars, cattle, horses and troops, so they could go the fastest and safest way. However, the powerful people who originally fled to Lunu from other areas of Jizhou could not stay at this time.
Moreover, they knew that the powerful local team was safer, so they followed these people with their families.
So when Lu Zhi's Junzi camp sentries arrived at Lu Nu, Lu Nu was already in chaos.
Here, they finally found a few defeated troops of the original Hejian Army, and they told the sentries that the remaining Hejian Army was at Maoting, five miles southeast.
After receiving the news, the sentry riders changed their horses and ran to Maoting again without rest.
Along the way, they once again saw wounded soldiers and slaves along the road, and various military supplies were abandoned on the road unattended.
Obviously, the situation of the Hejian Legion is very serious.
It turned out that earlier today, one of Zhang Dan's outpost cavalry finally caught up with the turbulent Hejian Corps.
The last one left in the army was the baggage camp. They panicked when they heard the sound of horse hooves behind them.
Fear dominated them and they fled, their belongings scattered all over the ground.
We can't blame the heavy troops. These people are just ordinary people in the army who have no courage and courage. They don't have fighting ability. What's more, they were beaten by Zhang Dan's army before and were discouraged?
But those who walked in front were the Bohai soldiers. They were honorable, and a lot of the baggage was their military pay, so they were extremely reluctant to part with it.
The Bohai soldiers turned around and went south to defend, but Zhang Dan's vanguard sentry cavalry was too small in number, so in the end they only made some harassment and then withdrew.
Although they repelled the pursuers and recaptured the baggage, the three giants in Hejian discussed it and decided that they should move north quickly, so they ordered the entire army to carry the baggage themselves, and left all the baggage that could not be taken away on both sides.
After doing this, they gathered a group of local people and took them to hide in a forest valley before preparing to rest.
Later that day, the sentries from Junzi Camp actually found the Hejian Legion, and waited for them to hand the plumes to Chen Yan, the Prime Minister of Hejian.
At this time, Chen Yan's face was dark and his thick beard was sparse. He took a look at the letter and couldn't help but said:
"You want us to go north to Zhongrenting?"
Chen Yan couldn't bear it anymore and said a little bit defensively:
"We, the children of Hejian, have only been out of our hometown for a few days, but we are dead and injured. We finally escaped and were asked to go to Zhongren Pavilion? I understand clearly that the Taishan army is like tigers and wolves, and it is still not suitable for a head-on confrontation.
.”
Seeing that Chen Yan did not want to fight, Yang Xuan, the governor of Bohai, couldn't help but said:
"Mr. Chen, it's better not to say angry words. At this time, do we still have any choice? Either we can fight with the Taishan bandits together with Lu Shuai's main force, or we can kill ourselves here in Lin'ao right now. No matter where we are.
It’s all worthy of the country.”
After Yang Xuan said this, Anping Prime Minister Linghu Yu couldn't help but muttered:
"Country? Which country? The one in the east or the one in the west?"
Yang Xuan glared at Linghu Yu, then stared at Chen Yan to see what he thought. Among them, Chen Yan had the strongest military power. Without his consent, nothing could be done.
Chen Yan sighed. He really hated living like this. He was worried all day long and had nothing but food and shelter. What kind of life could a human being have? Thinking of this, Chen Yan wanted to die.
Thinking about it, Chen Yan was about to take out his sword and wipe it on his neck.
Yang Xuan was shocked. How could she have thought that Chen Yan was so stubborn? She quickly stopped her and persuaded:
"Old Chen, we are not at the end of our rope yet. Don't we know what kind of person Lu Shuai is? We don't fight uncertain battles. If we go there with the army, we will definitely win."
It didn't matter whether Chen Yan died or not. He pushed his seal into Yang Xuan's arms and said:
"Old Yang, you understand me. I am good at talking, but I am impatient in practical matters. I will give this seal to you, and my Hejian soldiers will also give it to you. But Old Yang, you must leave it for me.
It’s the truth.”
Yang Xuan squeezed Xiangyin tightly, looked at Chen Yan's serious expression and said seriously:
"Old Chen, you ask."
"Can we really win this battle?"
Yang Xuan did not dare to fool him and told Chen Yan his thoughts. He drew a picture on the ground with a branch and explained:
"Old Chen, Linghu, look at this. This is the location of the Zhongren Pavilion, and there is the Ding Pavilion where the Taishan Army is located in the military report, and we are probably at this location."
Chen Yan and Linghu Yu both squatted on the ground, listening to Yang Xuan continue:
"I can probably guess three points of Lu Shuai's current arrangement. Now he is going to have a decisive battle with the little thief Zhang Chong at Zhongren Pavilion. In terms of the strength and combat power of both sides, they are right between the two. But with us, it's different.
Well, as long as we rush to Zhongren Pavilion now and catch up during the battle, it will be a fatal blow to the Taishan bandits. So whether we can win this battle depends on whether we can get to Zhongren Pavilion."
Chen Yan was also a loyal man. After hearing Yang Xuan's words, he refused and asked him to lead the army to leave. He had to rush to Zhongren Pavilion.
Chen Yan has had enough of this troubled world. No dog can live like this.
…
On August 9, the heavy rain continued to pour.
This rain has been falling since the latest, and it has not rained yet.
But Zhang Chong couldn't wait any longer. He wanted to pursue Lu Zhi who fled north and must annihilate him in Jizhou.
Therefore, even if it rains heavily, the Taishan Army still gathers into battle wearing raincoats.
Four miles away, there were two battalion heads left by Lu Zhi to snipe, with a thousand people.
Unfortunately, the camp leaders who were ordered to stay behind were Lu Chong and Xue Shen, the powerful men from Daibei.
At this time, in the heavy rain, Lu Chong loudly said to Xue Shen through the thick fog:
"The enemy army has gone out to fight. I will lead my troops out of the camp to fight first, and then you will take my turn."
Xue Shen nodded hurriedly, and then watched Lu Chong go down the wall.
Soon, Lu Chong led five hundred soldiers out and then disappeared into the rain, leaving Xue Shen alone and troubled.
I don’t know how long it took, but there was no sound of fighting in front of me. Xue Shen said secretly:
"Is Lu Chong lost?"
But soon, Lu Chong came back with his team, followed by a dense Taishan army.
Lu Chong was at the foot of the wall and said:
"Xiao Xue, I have abandoned the dark and surrendered to the light. For the sake of you and my fellow countrymen, and for the sake of my own disciples, please come out and surrender."
Xue Shen was furious and never expected that Lu Chong would abandon him and surrender.
Brother, you should tell me that you surrender, and I will go with you.
You, Lu Chong, are really a traitor and you really deserve to die.
Although Xue Shen hated Lu Chong deeply, at this point, he had no choice but to surrender.
In this way, the Taishan Army effortlessly captured the sniper unit deployed by Lu Zhi, and pursued it earlier than Lu Zhi expected.
Lu Chong, you deserve to die. Why don't you take me with you when you surrender?