On the west side of the battlefield, Zhao Yanxun beat his horse and moved forward slowly.
The war lasted for almost two hours, and he had been sitting at the rear of the military formation, receiving a large amount of news from the front line.
Although he was confident in the strength of his opponent's army, after all, he was facing three times as many enemy troops, so Zhao Yanxun was still a little worried.
Although the soldiers of the Guards Division have been upgraded, their numbers are a little small after all, and there is still a cooling-down period for their strength, so they have to rely more on the other nine guards to resist.
But fortunately, both the Guards Department and the Soldiers and Horses Department showed their majesty and did not let Zhao Yanxun down at all.
As time went by, Yong's army became more and more advantageous, and the imperial army continued to flee, which allowed Zhao Yanxun to relax.
At this time, an order was sent to the guards to return and report to Zhao Yanxun: "Your Majesty, the enemy troops in the north are counterattacking, and the ninth guard is attacking!"
Hearing this, Zhao Yanxun couldn't help but feel strange.
By now, he already knew that the two wings of the imperial military formation were defended by ordinary guardsmen.
These people were the first to be defeated. It stands to reason that it would be very difficult for them to stabilize the front. Now the ancestral counterattack seems outrageous.
"Send an order to Fang Tong to push these people back!"
"yes!"
But after the guard left, another report came, and the other guards launched a frantic counterattack.
Not surprisingly, the Hexi Dusi and Guangyang Dusi strictly implemented Zhang An's orders and let their men launch a counterattack regardless of the cost.
For the safety of their families, these two men sold their brothers and conscripted civilian husbands.
They told their men that the main force of Yong's army had detoured back to the rear of the military formation, and the only way to survive was to attack in the opposite direction.
Although this rhetoric is full of loopholes, it is not difficult to deceive the panicked soldiers and civilians as long as they add more fuel and jealousy.
In order to survive, these soldiers of the Guard Army chose to break out of the encirclement to the west, and even risked their lives to charge forward.
Not to mention, they counterattacked so hard that they confused the Yong army.
That is to say, when the Yong army did not know what was going on and was trying to suppress these "rampant" counterattacks, the three infantry guards of the Forbidden Army still withdrew.
This scene was seen by soldiers from Hexi Dusi and Guangyang Dusi.
Fortunately, both envoys had already prepared countermeasures. They told their subordinates in advance that the Imperial Guards would be responsible for blocking their retreat.
In other words, the Forbidden Army, which was really trying to escape, was still regarded as a lifesaver by the ordinary guardsmen.
"Brothers, break through the encirclement... break through the bandit army!"
"In order to survive, rush!"
"rush!"
Not being able to fight properly, these people showed stronger fighting power while escaping for their lives, which temporarily caused the Yong Army's front line to become a little unstable.
Again, it is true that Yong's army is powerful, but the enemy's military advantage is too great, which can make up for the shortcomings in other places.
Fortunately, the Yong army's front was only temporarily unstable and soon stabilized.
Throwing away the scabbard, the guard Si Nanjun Qianhu Wangcheng cursed: "His grandma is so embarrassing... Listen up, let me break through them!"
As the high-end combat force of the palace, the Guards Department was forced to retreat by a group of rabble just now. This was unforgivable in Wang Cheng's view.
If he didn't show his results quickly, he really didn't know how to face Zhao Yanxun.
On the other side, Qianhu Gao Zhengan also shouted loudly: "Brothers, if we let these bullies continue to show off their cruelty, other guards will laugh to death from us!"
"Destroy them!"
By this moment, all the soldiers in the Guards Department had already held their breath in their hearts.
"kill!"
A fierce battle broke out between the two sides. The imperial guards and civilians sacrificed their lives to gain speed for the imperial army to escape.
It wasn't until they discovered that even the imperial cavalry that had been supporting them were withdrawing one after another that they began to have doubts in their hearts.
Breaking out to the west, even if they can break out, there is still the Han River blocking them on the other side, where can they escape.
The morale of the army was shaken for a while, and a counterattack lasted only twenty minutes before the entire army collapsed.
This time, the fighting spirit and morale of the army were exhausted, and they could no longer be organized to fight back.
The imperial court's 70,000 to 80,000 troops were reduced to nothing in an instant, and the officers fled faster than the soldiers.
Fortunately, there were no zombies east of the Han River, otherwise they would all die in the mouths of zombies if they tried to escape like this.
"Report to the prince that the imperial army was defeated..."
"Report to the prince that the Imperial Guards have escaped in advance..."
Hearing the continuous reports, Zhao Yanxun smiled.
After winning this battle, the imperial army on the western front was abolished. Next, he could drink directly by the Maji River, and the military peak pointed directly at the capital.
If the people in the capital were still arguing with each other and had not organized a defense, maybe he could defeat Jishui in one go.
Before leaving Longyou, Zhao Yanxun told the generals that he would capture the capital before winter.
But the current speed of the advance was faster than he expected.
It has been less than two months since the troops were launched on April 18, but more than one-third of the progress of the Jingnan mission has been completed.
Although he was happy, Zhao Yanxun was also holding back his anger at the moment.
He was actually tricked by the Forbidden Army, and these bastards actually withdrew early.
As the saying goes, it is better to cut off one finger than to injure ten of them. No matter how many soldiers and civilians die, it does not matter to the imperial court.
"Send orders to all ministries to pursue immediately... to find the Forbidden Army and annihilate it!"
"yes!"
As the battle line collapsed, countless soldiers ran wildly in the entire western area of Donghe Prefecture, risking their lives.
Now it turns out that they have all been deceived by the court, and there are no enemy troops in the east.
"Brothers, the court does not treat us as human beings... we have to take care of our own lives!"
"This bunch of bastards from the imperial court allowed me to stand in front of them and risk their lives, but they allowed the Imperial Army to escape first..."
Zhang An and others agreed on the strategy, and the soldiers attributed their hatred to the imperial court. This is actually a normal thing.
This will also lead to the fact that these defeated soldiers are alienated from the imperial court, and even if they are gathered and organized later, they will no longer really risk their lives to fight.
Of course, some people wanted to escape as soon as possible, and some soldiers of the Guards Army who could not escape had no choice but to kneel down and surrender, praying for their lives.
"Put down your weapons and squat down!"
"Anyone who disturbs will be shot without mercy!"
In order to survive, most of the guardsmen followed the instructions. A few were afraid and tried to escape, so they were killed on the spot.
In fact, on the land of Donghe Prefecture, there is another group of people fleeing at the moment, and that is the civilians who have not been incorporated into the army.
There are at least 170,000 to 80,000 of these people, who are specifically responsible for transporting military supplies to the army, and are also responsible for serving the land that has been reclaimed.
The area east of the Han River was conquered. In order to solve the huge food consumption, the imperial court planned farming at the beginning of spring.
Now that the imperial army was defeated, these civilians who were close to the front line fled in panic.
Many people had no sense of direction and fled westward in circles, eventually becoming prisoners.
Of course, the purpose of Yong's army was not to increase the number of prisoners, but to eliminate the main force of the imperial court.
So they marched quickly, hoping to catch up with the Imperial Army who had escaped in advance.
However, due to the obstruction of the deserters in the middle and the lack of harassment by the Forbidden Army cavalry, this greatly slowed down the progress of the Yong army.
When Yong's army rushed all the way to Donghe Mansion and took control of it, the city had already blocked its defenses.
The suspension bridge has been pulled up, and Imperial Guard soldiers are guarding the city walls. It will undoubtedly be extremely troublesome to capture this city.
The soldiers of the Yong Army who arrived first organized a defense five miles away from the city, waiting for Zhao Yanxun's next order.
The reason why they were separated by five miles was because they were worried that if they were too close to the city, they would be attacked by the cavalry outside and the defenders inside the city.