There is actually a garrison in Taicheng Town, with about 3,000 people, including more than 1,000 troops from the Fifth Academy and 2,000 local residents.
Li Yixian, who served as the vanguard, ordered the siege despite the fatigue of the march.
The Jin army resisted fiercely at first, which surprised the Xia people. They were in such an isolated and helpless situation, why did they resist?
However, after killing more than 300 soldiers of the Fifth Academy who dared to fight, the defenders were in a state of confusion. In addition, in the dark of night, they saw long marching teams everywhere on the post road and in the fields, so they gave up.
They were cowarded and instead of surrendering, they fled out of the city. Naturally, the outcome was not good, as they were all killed.
The Xia soldiers in the field hardly paid much attention to this battle. They continued to march with expressionless faces. Since they went north, they experienced too many battles. The enemy's performance was lackluster, not even as good as Wei Bowufu, and they failed to win.
Too much respect.
There is still a large group of enemy troops in Handan. If we rush over now, we still have time to catch the thieves and achieve more achievements.
There were cavalry passing by on horseback.
It is rare to see people marching on horseback, let alone galloping at night. The officers dared to relax the ban on riding horses, which shows how anxious they are now.
Move forward, move forward, move forward again! Don’t let those bastards who manage the army take away the credit.
At this time, in Handan City, the governor of Mingzhou and the military envoy of the Fifth Academy An Jinquan were also packing their luggage and preparing to flee overnight.
In the evening, the order from the King of Jin arrived, and the entire army abandoned Handan and retreated to Wu'an.
An Jinquan hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to carry out the order.
He is the governor of Mingzhou, and his family is also in Mingzhou. There are only more than 3,000 state soldiers in the state city. If the Xia soldiers insist on besieging it, they will eventually fall.
It was not a good decision to abandon his family and property and flee back to Hedong. But An Jinquan did it in the end, and Li Keyong would be very pleased to know about it.
The only shining point of the Hedong military and political group in the overall situation of repeated defeats is probably the super strong internal cohesion.
There are actually not many locals in Xing Mingci, a soldier of the Fifth Academy.
The army was established in the third year of Dashun (892), with 5,000 Hedong sergeants as the backbone, and 15,000 strong soldiers were selected from the three towns of Youzhou, Chengde, and Datong, and the establishment was 20,000. In other words, most of the soldiers
Source: Li Kuangwei, Helian Duo, and Wang Rong's armies.
Eight years after the formation of the army, it was basically the direct descendant of the main force in Hedong, but the number of troops was gradually reduced to just over 10,000, and the missing soldiers were transferred out to form other government armies.
In the past eight years, the Fifth Academy Army has also slowly completed the replacement of the old and the new, absorbing some tribesmen from northern Daibei, recruits from Hedong, and civilians from Xingming to join the army to supplement battle losses or retired soldiers. But overall, they are still a force.
Non-native troops with Hedong colors over Hebei colors.
Therefore, after receiving the order, they set off without any hesitation. Anyone who likes Handan can take this ghost place. They just want to return to Hedong and meet their families.
The west city gate has been opened, and the first batch of sergeants are marching out of the city. On the street behind them, the baggage vehicles are filled with goods, drinking water, equipment and other miscellaneous materials. The mules and horses inside and outside the city have been collected and saddled.
The bridle was used for riding, or simply turned into a pack horse to carry supplies.
Some officers were seizing the last moment to plunder. They led soldiers like wolves and tigers, and violently broke open the doors of the people's houses in Handan. They didn't have time to do too much evil, so they just took the property when they saw it.
An Jin and his men brutally killed more than ten of the soldiers who had taken the most ruthless actions, and hung their heads on both sides of the street. This finally stopped the restlessness a little.
Are you kidding me? You have to run away and rob, so do you still want to fight on the way? King Jin so many times in front of the enemy - well, the successful retreat in front of the enemy depends on strict battlefield discipline.
Kill! Kill! Kill! These bastards.
There were messengers coming in and out outside the north gate, constantly transmitting various orders and information.
"The thieves' army is still attacking Mingzhou. General An's command is steady, and the city's defense is as stable as Mount Tai."
"How is the rebel army's offensive going?" An Jinquan ignored the second half of the sentence and directly asked the key question.
"A ride or a ride," the messenger replied.
An Jin has everything figured out. With the limited strength of the Administrative Army, there is no guarantee that Mingzhou City will be captured. This can be seen from the fact that Linming and other places fell earlier. Moreover, they did not prepare to attack by force, so where did the strength go?
What? Are there reinforcements coming from the direction of Xingzhou?
After the first messenger left, An Jinquan ate something in a hurry and was about to put on his clothes and go out. Another messenger came to report: "The Huang Jia Army in front of the hall has retreated towards Wu'er Valley.
Defeated. The bandit cavalry arrived in cover, General Li was caught off guard and fled Wu'er Valley."
An Jin's whole face twitched. Shi Junli, who was so stubborn, ran very fast. He saw that he was out of the sea of misery, but I was still struggling in the quagmire. Alas!
"Where is King Jin?" An Jinquan asked.
"The king personally led his adopted son to charge across the two armies and come to Handan." The messenger replied.
"Okay!" An Jinquan was in a good mood and ordered someone to take the messenger down for dinner and gave him two pieces of silk as a reward.
After all, the King of Jin did not abandon these old brothers, and even came in person under such a bad war situation. How could he repay this kindness?
An Jinquan took off the tip of the bow from the wall and stroked it carefully. As long as everyone works together, this battle can still be fought. If it doesn't work, just stick to the east of the river. If this generation can't do it, leave it to the next generation, maybe it will
There is a chance.
"Military envoy!" The general came with another person.
An Jinquan took a closer look at the nearly exhausted courier: his face was covered in blood, there was an arrow hanging on his back, and he was trembling as he walked, which was very ridiculous.
But An Jinquan couldn't laugh. He knew that the messenger was hunted down all the way, which meant that the Xia Thief's range of activities had covered this area, and there were many people, otherwise it would be dark and confusing, and he might not be able to hit him.
"Your Majesty, the bandit army has passed through Taicheng Town and King Zhao City, and the vanguard has arrived more than ten miles away." The messenger took a breath and said.
It came so fast! An Jinquan's face instantly became very solemn. Xuan was furious, these beasts had just finished fighting, didn't they even take a break?
There were heavy casualties during the siege, and rest was necessary. Even Shao Shude couldn't say anything. You only need to rest for one day, so what if I give Handan to you? Hello, I am good, everyone. Beasts, beasts!
"Take this brother down to bandage his wounds, and eat something to refresh himself." An Jinquan ordered.
After saying this, he asked someone to put on his armor and strode out of the county government office.
It’s time to evacuate without further delay.
****
In the dark night, it is difficult to distinguish between friend and foe.
The infantry was still in formation, but the cavalry dispersed as they walked.
There was a group of hundreds of horsemen here, and a group of more than a thousand horsemen there. When the horses were resting, they heard the sound of horse hooves in the distance, which frightened everyone to get on their horses and prepare for battle. In the end, they found out that it was one of their own, and it was a false alarm.
But sometimes you will encounter enemies.
In the south of Handan City, a small-scale cavalry fight has been going on for more than an hour.
On the battlefield, there were endless curses and shouts in various accents.
In the dark night, countless knights fell from their horses and died with their eyes open.
Li Keyong, with more than 1,500 cavalry, had just finished resting his horse power when he encountered a group of Xia army cavalry heading north.
Lao Li is over forty years old, but his martial arts skills are still as good as before. Under the dim light, his arrows are flawless. Every time he raises his hand, someone will fall down. When he gets angry, he even rushes to kill one of them himself.
Ten Xia army cavalry generals were killed and felled from their horses.
The soldiers were secretly frightened when they saw it. After the Xia army retreated and fled for their lives, they quickly pulled the reins of Lao Li's horse and tried to persuade him.
Li Luoluo, who always likes to kill without thinking, is also a little worried. In the night, it seems that there are enemies everywhere. Handan is far away, but there is noise everywhere, and there is a faint sound of drums and horns coming from inside and outside the city gate.
"Sir, the main force of Xia's cavalry army has gone to Handan. In the dark of night, it is really difficult to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy, so it is not conducive to rush and kill." Li Luoluo came over and advised: "Shijun An has gone to Wu'an, let's wait and see
Just fight and retreat. As long as the thieves are not allowed to pursue them comfortably, even if the Fifth Academy Army gets separated, they can still be slowly contained later."
The Wuyuan Army, which numbered over 10,000 people, had been defeated by the Administrative Army near Linming County before. Thousands of soldiers were lost, and the remaining 2,000 soldiers fled to Wu'an County. Most of the 1,000 soldiers in Taicheng Town were gone.
The remaining 7,000 people retreated overnight.
But this kind of retreat in the dark is not easy.
It's okay if no one is chasing you. If you chase, you will easily panic. By then, people will be scattered everywhere, disrupting the organization, and you will basically be at the mercy of others. What's more, before the last group of people have time to leave Handan, thieves and cavalry will arrive.
Blocked them in the city.
"I didn't expect the summer thief to come so quickly!" Li Keyong sighed, and his mood had calmed down.
That's when it really hit the mark.
On the way from Fukou, he met An Jinquan and learned that after the Xia bandits captured Fuyang, they went straight north without resting. He immediately realized that he had made a mistake and the Fifth Academy Army should not have fled overnight.
However, what can he do if he doesn't run for his life all night? After dawn, the Xia Army's vanguard infantry rushes outside the city, and it will be even harder to escape by then. Based on his understanding of An Jinquan, he will probably order the entire army to stand firm, so this is
It's another Fuyang story. It was heavily besieged by the main force of the Xia army and was eventually destroyed.
But Li Keyong was still very angry, angry with himself.
After Lu Huaizhong succeeded with one move, his attack was like a gust of wind and rain, giving him no chance to adjust and breathe. He was still confused and full of anger after the battle.
After fighting for a while, his anger calmed down a little, and Li Keyong returned to reality and thought calmly.
The sound of killing outside the west gate of Handan increased a few degrees, and the fire started raging.
The firelight in the darkness was like a bright lamp, attracting countless Xia army cavalry.
Li Keyong knew that the group of sergeants from the Fifth Academy who failed to escape were doomed.
He mounted his horse silently and ordered to leave.
There were also shouts of killing in the northwest, which was the direction An Jinquan left.
That night, I don't know how many people died in the wilderness. It would be good to have half of the sergeants who were able to successfully evacuate to Wu'an in the end.
The tens of thousands of troops of the Fifth Academy were on the verge of being annihilated without much fighting. Who would dare to believe it?
Li Keyong waved his riding whip bitterly and headed straight for Wu'an.