Although he still had more than 20,000 people in his hands, the former army was defeated and the 20,000 cavalry were routed by the Tang army's 5,000 cavalry. These men in his hands were no longer able to reverse the defeat.
He had thought that he would be defeated. After all, Li Ji was a famous general, and the combat effectiveness of the Tang army was obvious to all.
But he never expected that he would be defeated so quickly. It had only been more than two hours since the two armies fought, and he was defeated.
But he also knew that he could never escape like this, otherwise the Tang army would pursue him one after another and it would be even worse.
"Send the order for the rear army to withdraw to the main camp and hold on, and at the same time send people to collect the defeated troops. Don't panic..."
However, in this situation, how could one not panic.
When they heard that the camp was being withdrawn, more than 20,000 rear army soldiers rushed back.
You can still maintain the basic formation at the beginning, but later it will be like herding sheep.
Yi Nan looked angry and helpless. At this time, he felt more clearly how big the gap was between Xue Yantuo's soldier quality and that of the Tang Dynasty soldiers.
In the same retreat, the Tang army retreated alternately a few hours ago, causing a lot of trouble to the pursuing Xueyantuo people.
For a few hours, Xue Yantuo performed what it means to herd sheep.
However, Yi Nan also overlooked a problem. The commander-in-chief is the backbone of the army. The commander-in-chief flag represents the commander-in-chief. If the commander-in-chief flag moves, it means the commander-in-chief has also moved.
If the commander's flag moves forward, it means that the entire army is pressing forward, and the commander will personally go into battle to kill the enemy, which can boost morale.
If he retreats... it means the coach escapes.
Moving left and right also depends on the situation. When you have an advantage, it doesn't matter. When you are at a disadvantage, it can easily cause misunderstandings and shake the morale of the army.
Although Xue Yantuo's former army collapsed, it did not completely lose its organization.
There are also many tribal leaders who are using their prestige to gather soldiers and take charge of the local situation.
The same goes for Dadu She. He sent out all his troops and forcibly gathered the defeated troops, which has initially achieved results.
It can be said that Yi Nan, the Great Khan, was quite successful and had a very high prestige.
Many people now rely on his prestige to support their last breath.
But now the sweat flag representing him has moved, and many people who are trying their best to maintain the situation are suddenly dumbfounded.
Dadu She even looked up to the sky with hatred and shouted: "Heaven wants to destroy me, Xue Yantuo."
One of his cronies came over and said: "What should we do, Xiaohan?"
Dadu She glanced indifferently at the banner of the Khan tent that was retreating, and replied: "Send someone to find Li Ji and tell him that I have surrendered."
The confidant was shocked.
Surrendered? You are the biological son of Zhenzhu Khan. How could you have such an idea?
Zhenzhu Khan is a Yinan.
Dadu She said: "What else can we do if we don't surrender? I am the son of the Khan. Maybe I can save my life. What about you?"
Everyone around him was silent. Someone had to take responsibility for the consecutive losses, and Dadu Shi was the most suitable candidate to take the blame.
First, more than half of the 30,000-strong Pioneer Battalion was lost in a night attack by the Tang Dynasty. This time, thanks to his meritorious service, the commander's former army was defeated again, and he would inevitably face punishment after returning.
If Yi Nan was more cruel, it would be possible to kill him directly.
If Yi Nan's sons are like this, then their subordinates can't even think about getting favors from him.
But some people still hesitated and said: "But... our family is still here."
Someone immediately said: "Do you think you can save your family when you go back? Then we will die together."
Everyone was silent again. Even if their family members were not killed, they would be demoted to slaves.
They are accustomed to living a life of superiority to others, and naturally they do not want to be slaves like animals.
Dadu Zhu saw that no one was talking anymore, so he said: "If anyone doesn't want to surrender with me, I won't make it difficult for him. He can leave with the defeated army now."
After hearing this, most people's expressions remained unchanged, they had already made their decision.
A few people had signs of struggle on their faces, but in the end most of them accepted this reality. Only a few people handed it over and said:
"I'm sorry, Xiaohan. I really can't worry about my family, so I just want to say goodbye."
As expected, Dadu Shi was not embarrassed and said: "Hey, I hope there will be another chance to meet again, so let's just say goodbye."
After watching these people leave, he said to the remaining people: "Anyone go to the Tang Army camp and contact Li Ji."
…
Li Ji had been observing the overall situation with a telescope, and he immediately noticed the movement of the banner of the Khan tent. His heart moved and he ordered:
"The whole army shouted, Yi Nan escaped."
The method of delivering this message is very simple. No one is needed to deliver it. Hundreds of guards are summoned to shout in unison:
"Yi Nan escaped."
"Yi Nan escaped."
The sound spread far away and reached the ears of some soldiers.
The morale of this part of the Tang army rose again, and they all shouted, "Yi Nan has escaped."
Soon it turned into the whole army shouting: Yi Nan has escaped.
Most people in Xueyantuo could not understand the language of the Tang people and were very confused about what these people were shouting.
But there are always those who are bilingual. When they heard this, their expressions changed. They turned around and saw the rear army retreating and the banner of the sweat camp moving.
Then……
"The Khan escaped."
"The Great Khan has escaped, run away."
"..."
Then, Xue Yantuo's former army, which was still holding on, was completely defeated.
Fortunately, Yi Nan led the rear troops to withdraw into the military camp in time, and then closed the camp door tightly to prevent everyone from entering.
Even if Xue Yantuo defeated his troops, it would not work.
Some broken soldiers tried to break into the military camp, but they were greeted with heart-wrenching treatment by their compatriots - in a physical sense.
Seeing this, the defeated soldiers also knew that they could not enter, so they turned around and fled around the military camp towards the rear.
The Tang army's pursuers had to stop in front of Xue Yantuo's camp.
Just like crossing the city to attack someone else's rear, it is very dangerous to cross the Xueyantuo military camp to pursue the fleeing soldiers.
After all, Yi Nan still has more than 20,000 people in his hands, and there is still a chance of causing danger to the Tang Dynasty.
With victory in hand, Li Ji didn't want to take any chances.
Rather than chasing Yi Nan, what he wanted to do more was to trap the opponent here and then force him to sign an alliance under the city.
This was also one of the many plans made by the emperors and ministers of the Tang Dynasty when they were in Chang'an, but everyone agreed that it would almost never happen.
Yi Nan is also a lifelong hero, and it is unlikely that he will fall into such a desperate situation.
Li Ji didn't expect it to be so smooth, and the most unlikely possibility appeared.
After that, he surrounded Xue Yantuo's military camp and neither attacked nor sent envoys to communicate.
Yi Nan's face was extremely solemn, not that he was worried about food and water.
In the past, the military camp stockpiled food and grass for 100,000 people for half a month, but now there are only more than 20,000 people left, enough to feed them for several months.
The water source is also a dug well, which is enough to last.
He was not afraid of the Tang army's attack. At this moment, he had already realized that the Tang army did not have many artillery shells, otherwise they would not have prepared only ten trebuchets.
Relying on the military camp, he was confident that he could continue to fight with Li Ji.
If he was just a general of Xue Yantuo, it would be okay to think so. The problem is that he is the Khan, and if he cannot get out of trouble in time, the consequences will be disastrous.
So he must find a way out of trouble as soon as possible.
It's just that Li Ji had the place under siege, and for a while he had no choice.
Seeing that the sky was getting dark, he still did not dare to relax at all, for fear that the Tang army would launch a surprise attack again.
However, what Yi Nan didn't know was that Li Ji had no intention of launching an attack.
He was waiting for news that would allow him to put aside all his worries.
…
After nightfall, a cavalry force of more than a thousand people walked out from a small tribe, and quietly headed toward Xue Yantuo Khan's tent with their horses in their hooves.
Wang Fangyi took advantage of the weak firelight to look at the map again and made sure that there was no problem with the route.
Then he handed the map to the personal guards and said to Jing Hengyan, Sheng Liwei and others on the side:
"A surprise attack is a surprise. The later the Xue Yantuo people discover it, the better the effect will be. So restrain your subordinates and make no noise on the road."
"Here." The generals replied.
"The war is about to begin, and the Xueyantuo people will definitely prevent us from attacking their rear, and they will definitely send out sentries widely."
"Hua Wu, Yi Liang, these sentinels will be left to you. Be sure to find them and remove them."
"Here." Hua Wu and Yi Liang said in unison.
"...Does anyone have anything to add?" Seeing that no one spoke, Wang Fangyi ordered: "Okay, let's follow the plan and set off."
Hua Wu and Yi Liang led the reconnaissance battalion to set out first, carefully searching for every suspicious spot and ensuring that every sentinel was eliminated.
Every time a section of the road is cleared, a messenger returns to the main army to deliver the news.
"This person from Xue Yantuo is too stupid. The sentry arrangement is so obvious, I'm afraid others won't find it."
After once again wiping out a group of spies, Yi Liang couldn't help but turn on the taunting mode.
Zhang Bin next to him said: "Xue Yantuo can't read a lot of Chinese characters, so how can he know the art of war? It's normal for the sentry to be so low-level and so obvious."
"Do you think that everyone is like me, a soldier of the Tang Dynasty? Even a small soldier must know the art of war."
People around me echoed: "That's right, my ancestors were all poor people who couldn't read a single word. I didn't expect that after becoming a soldier, I learned to read and write. Even if I return to my hometown in the future, I can become a teacher."
Unexpectedly, Zhang Bin, who was the first to speak, turned his back and shouted, "Can you shut up? Can you afford it if the Xue Yantuo people find out?"
Everyone was furious: "You were obviously the one who started this, okay?"
"I was testing you. It's obvious that you don't have enough concentration." Zhang Bin said confidently and confidently.
Others yelled and cursed: "You still have no shame."
Yi Liang stopped him and said, "Okay, stop joking, the task is important, pack up and move forward."
So the group wiped the blood on their weapons and continued moving forward.
In order to hide his tracks, Qianqi walked slowly and only reached the vicinity of Xue Yantuo's tent in the middle of the night.
After looking at the distance of only more than ten miles, Wang Fangyi breathed a sigh of relief and directly ordered:
"Everyone took off the horse's foot bindings, took out their swords and guns, and prepared to charge and attack."
"Tell Hua Wu and Yi Liang that we will launch a surprise attack in a quarter of an hour and ask him to destroy the roadblocks set up by the Xueyantuo people in front to open the passage for the large army."
Orders were issued one after another, and the soldiers took action quickly.
A quarter of an hour passed quickly, and Wang Fangyi stood up and prepared to give the order to attack.
However, at this moment a spy came to report: Hua Wu asked him to suspend the operation and rush to the front as soon as possible.
Although it was strange that something unexpected had happened, out of trust in his subordinates, Wang Fangyi let everyone rest where they were while he quickly found it with his bodyguards.
Pushing the timeline forward half an hour, Hua Wu successfully reached seven or eight miles in front of Xue Yantuo Khan's camp.
Just when he was hesitating whether to take the risk and continue walking, Zhang Bin ran over.
"Captain, the front is wrong."
"What's wrong?" Hua Wu's heart suddenly became suspicious. Could it be that someone discovered him?
Zhang Bin replied: "There is a group of Xue Yantuo people parked in front, not knowing what they are doing."
"A group of Xue Yantuo people? How many people are there?" Hua Wu asked quickly.
"There are so many of them that I don't dare to get close. There are about a hundred or ten of them. Judging from their appearance, it seems... it seems..." Zhang Bin said hesitantly.
Hua Wu urged: "It seems like something, tell me quickly."
Zhang Bin made a surprising statement: "It seems to be waiting for us."
Hua Wu said angrily: "What are you talking about? If the people of Xue Yantuo knew that we were coming, there wouldn't be more than a hundred people waiting for us."
Zhang Bin also thought it was impossible, so he didn't persist: "Hehe... I also know it's impossible, but they look really similar."
Hua Wu said: "Stop thinking nonsense, let's go, take me to see you."
Under the leadership of Zhang Bin, Hua Wu came to the back of a big tree, and sure enough he found a large group of Xue Yantuo people parked in front of them, not knowing what they were doing.
Moreover, the location chosen by this group of people is very good. It is a small dirt bag surrounded by flat ground. It is almost impossible to reach it quietly.
Because of the distance, he couldn't see exactly how many people there were. Even with his clairvoyance, he could only see some blurry figures.
However, I carefully counted the number of people and it was almost the same as what Zhang Bin said, about a hundred or ten people.
This is very tricky. The opponent's terrain is too good and there are many people. Sending a few people to touch it can't defeat the opponent. If everyone goes together, it will be easy to be discovered.
Should we take a detour?
But this place is very close to Xue Yantuo Khan's tent, so there is no way around it.
And who knows if there are more spies ahead. If you bypass this one, you may not be able to bypass the others.
The key is that this direction is the most suitable for launching a surprise attack. If you change to another direction, there will be mountains or rivers. You must find a way to deal with these people.
Hua Wu put down his clairvoyance and said, "Let's go a little further to see if there is any good way to deal with them."
Zhang Bin responded in a low voice, and then the two of them moved forward together. Originally, the two of them were cautious, fearing that the other party would set up hidden sentries along the way.
But what they didn't expect was that they actually reached the nearby area smoothly without encountering any sentries along the way.
It seems that the other party did not set up sentinels at all, but gathered everyone together.
This is so weird.
Just when the two of them felt strange, the next moment...
"Woof... woof... woof..." Several dog barks were heard, and the two people's bodies froze, as if the blood in their bodies had solidified in an instant.
Have a dog?
For these scouts, the biggest enemy is not humans, but hounds.
No matter how well you hide it, you can't hide it from them.
Just as the two were thinking about how to escape, someone on the hillside suddenly said loudly:
"Are you coming from the Heavenly Army of the Tang Dynasty? Please tell your general that I am asking for an audience."