Tian Chengsi's army moved south rapidly. By the evening of the next day, it was only more than fifty miles away from Wuqiang County, but still no fleet was seen, which made Tian Chengsi feel something was wrong.
Judging from the time, they should have met a long time ago, but now they can't see their shadows, and Tian Chengsi finally lost his temper.
He ordered the entire army to rest on the spot and ordered the spies to go south to look for the fleet.
The soldiers gathered together and talked about it. Everyone could guess some clues. So far, they have not encountered a baggage fleet. There is a high probability that something happened.
In a marching tent, Tian Chengsi was pacing back and forth with his hands behind his hands. He was extremely agitated. In fact, he also knew that something was likely to happen to the fleet, but the fact that no defeated troops had escaped made him feel a little lucky.
Night fell, and at this time, someone outside shouted: "Your Majesty, General Pan is back!"
Tian Chengsi rushed out of the tent and saw Pan Xi, the leader of the escort fleet, being helped up in a miserable state. His armor and weapons were gone, he was covered in mud, and his hair was disheveled. He looked like a beggar.
When Pan Xi saw Tian Chengsi, he immediately knelt on the ground and cried loudly, "My lord, we are all gone. We encountered tens of thousands of Tang army cavalry, our fleet is gone, and our brothers are gone too."
Tian Chengsi was cut out in the heart with a knife, and 'poof!' a mouthful of blood spurted out, and he fell on his back. Everyone was in chaos, and they rushed to save Tian Chengsi. Tian Chengsi slowly woke up, his face was pale, he waved his hand and pointed at Pan Xi
, and made a killing gesture to the soldiers.
The soldiers understood this, drew their knives and swarmed in, hacking Pan Xi to death.
Tian Chengsi spurted out another mouthful of blood and fainted again. The soldiers quickly carried him into the camp and went to find a military doctor for treatment.
An hour later, Tian Chengsi finally woke up. His cousin Tian Qianzhen stepped forward and said anxiously: "The spies found Tang Army cavalry in the south, at least tens of thousands of them. I'm afraid they will launch an attack tonight."
Tian Chengsi said in a low voice: "The army will go to Dingzhou immediately and hide the news. It must not be leaked!"
Tian Qianzhen nodded, "I understand!"
Tian Qianzhen immediately replaced Tian Chengsi and delivered the order, and the army immediately gathered and marched quickly westward!
In the dark of night, Tian Chengsi's army began to head west. Although Tian Chengsi ordered the news to be sealed, he gave the sealing order an hour after he fainted. The news that the fleet's food, fodder and baggage had been robbed had already spread throughout the entire army.
This news became the straw that broke the camel's back. The morale of the military collapsed completely. Most of the soldiers only had one day of dry food. If they didn't escape at this time, how could they wait?
Under the cover of darkness, soldiers began to flee en masse. On the official road, many soldiers made excuses to tie their shoelaces, disappeared into the wheat fields, and disappeared without a trace.
After the army set off and marched less than ten miles, the fleeing soldiers were gone.
Dozens of miles behind, Xi Wanli led 30,000 cavalry, Li Feilei and Wei Ran each led 10,000 cavalry, and a total of 50,000 cavalry followed Tian Chengsi's army far behind.
This was the wolf pack tactic implemented by the Tang army. They did not attack the enemy immediately, but followed them from a distance. They waited until the enemy's strength was exhausted before attacking in one fell swoop to completely annihilate the enemy.
Xi Wanli was the leader of the wolf pack tactics, commanding the entire 50,000 cavalry. Twenty miles behind the 50,000 cavalry, Li Ye personally led an army of 50,000 to follow, while Guo Ziyi led an army of 100,000 north to surround Hejian County.
.
Judging from the current situation, the Tang army can completely wipe out the armies of Tian Chengsi and Li Baochen before the Uighur army goes south, so there is no need for Wang Lun to send an envoy to the Uighurs.
However, this time Wang Lun succeeded in persuading Tian Chengsi to march westward, which was indeed a great achievement. He also sent his confidants to secretly inform Li Baochen of the news in time, so that Li Baochen could take precautions. In the end, Tian Chengsi fell short of success and was on the road to death.
At the fourth watch, more than a dozen Tang Army cavalry escorted several deserters in front of Xi Wanli. Xi Wanli asked: "Which army are you from?"
"Report to the general, we are a joint army!"
There are three armies under Tian Chengsi. One is the Dongsheng Army, which is the 30,000 cavalrymen who were wiped out. They are all Donghu people. They are the most elite troops under Tian Chengsi. After 30,000 people were wiped out, the current Dongsheng Army
There were only about 4,000 soldiers left in the victorious army.
The second group is called the Guards, which consists of 40,000 people. They are also veterans who have followed Tian Chengsi for many years. They are basically Han Chinese. This army is currently the main force.
The third branch is the joint army, with a total of 50,000 people, 10,000 from each of the three vassal towns, and 20,000 from Tian Chengsi alone. The command is in the hands of Tian Chengsi, and the leader is his clan brother Tian Qianzhen.
The 50,000 Hezong Army are all new soldiers, and the four families are unwilling to send out elites, so the Hezong Army has the weakest combat effectiveness and the lowest morale.
Xi Wanli asked again: "How many people did you lose in the fire?"
"Basically all of them are gone, only one or two are left at most."
This was within Xi Wanli's expectation. The Hezong Army must have run away first. If the Guards also ran away, then they could take action.
At noon the next day, in a temporary tent, Tian Chengsi was angrily scolding a group of generals, including several sons and clan brother Tian Qianzhen, as well as several veteran generals who had followed him for many years.
"What do you mean you're afraid that I can't bear it? You're afraid that I can't bear it so you won't say anything? You won't say anything until all the soldiers have escaped? Isn't that right!"
Tian Chengsi was so angry that if the soldiers had not been able to bear it and revealed something to him, he would not have known that more than half of the soldiers had fled.
The third son, Tian Hua, said helplessly: "The main thing is that telling my father is useless. It can only add trouble. The military rations have been exhausted. Most of the soldiers have not eaten breakfast and are hungry. So I sent military discipline soldiers to kill the deserters. As a result,
The military discipline officer also ran away."
"Humph! That's because you are incompetent!"
Tian Chengsi turned around and asked Tian Qianzhen, "You are a veteran. Is there nothing you can do?"
Tian Qianzhen sighed and said: "The only way is to seize the city with our troops, but tens of thousands of Tang Army cavalry are following us. Once we seize the city, they will definitely come to kill us."
Tian Chengsi thought for a moment and said, "Tell me first how many troops there are?"
Tian Qianzhen said: "So far, there are still 4,000 people in the Dongsheng Army, 28,000 people in the Guards Army, and 8,000 people in the United Column Army, a total of exactly 40,000 people. I ordered to kill one person early in the morning.
Thousands of old horses appeased the Dongsheng Army and the Guards, but the United Column Army did not give them, because the number was really not enough."
“Where is the closest county to us?”
"Raoyang County is less than twenty miles away from us."
Tian Chengsi immediately said to Tian Qianzhen: "You lead 8,000 Guards and 8,000 Column Army to intercept the Tang Army cavalry behind. Give me an hour. I will lead 20,000 Guards and 4,000 Dongsheng Army." Go and plunder Raoyang and at least boost the morale of the 24,000 people."
Tian Qianzhen hesitated and said: "The whole army may be destroyed!"
Tian Chengsi waved his hand, "I know that the entire army will be destroyed. Now it is impossible to cover everything. I can only protect part of the main force, and the others can only be sacrificed."
After a pause, Tian Chengsi continued: "You promised these eight thousand soldiers, as long as they are willing to fight to the death, I will reward each of them three hundred taels of silver, and I will never break your promise!"
Tian Qianzhen smiled bitterly in his heart, Tian Chengsi didn't have any money, he was clearly making an empty promise to deceive the soldiers into giving up their lives.
But there is no other way, this is the only option.
He originally wanted to kill another thousand horses and feed the sixteen thousand soldiers, but there was not a single extra horse. Although the soldiers of the Donghu Army all had war horses, anyone who dared to touch their war horses would be immediately killed. To rebel, you really can’t move.
Tian Qianzhen had no choice but to lead 16,000 troops to leave the team and rush east to intercept the Tang army's cavalry and buy his lord an hour.
Tian Chengsi personally led 24,000 people and rushed towards Raoyang County, which was more than ten miles away.