Tang Dynasty Mingyue Song Dynasty Pass

Chapter 868 Alarming the Royal Master

Li Chugeng fled to Dangshan County with his remaining troops, feeling helpless and angry. He planned to gather the scattered soldiers and regroup there.

The fall of Pengcheng was inevitable. Li Chugeng knew that the situation was pressing. He could not conquer Pengcheng with his troops. If he did not retreat, he would be trapped in a desperate situation of being attacked from both sides. When Li Chugeng's troops withdrew from Pengcheng, the city fell into the hands of Wu's army without any suspense.

At the same time, Lin Renzhao and Su Chen led the army to encircle and suppress the troops of Zhang Yongde, Zhang Hui and Fu Yanqing.

At this time, the Song army was like a frightened bird, fleeing in all directions. The original large army was broken up and turned into groups of several hundred people, fleeing in multiple directions.

Zhang Yongde fled north with hundreds of people. He did not choose to go to Pengcheng because he was keenly aware of the pursuit of the Wu army. If he fled to Pengcheng, it would be like walking into a trap and falling directly into the encirclement of the enemy. When the Wu army turned around, they could easily stop them. Therefore, he decisively chose to go north, successfully escaped the blockade of the Wu army, and saved his life.

However, Zhang Hui and Fu Yanqing were not as lucky as Zhang Yongde. They retreated with their troops, but were constantly attacked and killed by the Wu army. They themselves were also fighting bloody battles, with wounds and scars all over their bodies.

The battle was extremely cruel and bloody. The battlefield was littered with corpses. After escaping for more than ten miles, the blood and body parts were all over the place. It was a horrible sight. Every step was in a pool of blood, and every glance was full of broken limbs. The brutality of this battle left a lingering fear in the hearts of everyone who experienced it.

"Whoever captures the Song generals Zhang Hui and Fu Yanqing alive will be rewarded with 500 taels of gold, and whoever kills them will be rewarded with 300 taels of gold!"

When Su Chen learned that Zhang Hui and Fu Yanqing, two powerful generals of the Song Dynasty, were leading their troops in a retreat, he decisively issued a bounty order to encourage the soldiers to continue the pursuit.

His military order was spread, and the shouts of the soldiers echoed over the battlefield, as exciting as the sound of a war drum, inspiring the fighting spirit of the Wu army.

In fact, for Su Chen, the life and death of these two people did not make much difference. Whether it was capturing or killing them, it would deal a heavy blow to the Song army and weaken their morale and combat effectiveness.

As soon as the bounty order was issued, the Wu army's du yu hou, du tou and du zheng were greatly encouraged, and they set their sights on the remaining troops of Zhang Hui and Fu Yanqing, pursuing them relentlessly and vowing to capture and kill the two generals.

"Kill! Don't let the enemy general go!"

"The one in front is the Song general Zhang Hui. There will be a huge reward for capturing and killing him!"

"The good opportunity I've been waiting for to get promoted and make a fortune has come!"

Under the stimulation of the huge reward, the Wu army became more active. They knew Marshal Su Chen's character very well. As long as he promised, he would definitely fulfill it, so no one doubted the issue of the reward. They chased their prey like cheetahs, with only the goal in front of them.

In the end, Zhang Hui was captured alive after being blocked and attacked by several forces of the Wu army. Fu Yanqing was shot by a hidden arrow while trying to break out, and escaped with serious injuries, his life or death unknown.

At this point, the 100,000-strong Song Dynasty reinforcements were successfully defeated by the joint attack of Su Chen and Lin Renzhao, thus completing this crucial battle.

On the other hand, Zhao Kuangyin was originally anxious about the long-term attack on the Wu army. The main force of the Song army had been attacking Lu Jiang's army for days. Although they were suppressed layer by layer, the Wu army gradually retreated. Round after round of defense systems, they withstood the fierce attack of the Song army, just like releasing a flood, unloading the power of the more than 100,000 main forces of the Song army that swept in like a torrent. "Something is wrong. Although the Wu army is at a disadvantage, it does not show signs of defeat. It is still persisting and has a basis for advance and retreat. It seems that there is a master guiding it. My Song army cannot effectively annihilate the opponent. Moreover, some sneak attacks have been prevented by the opponent in advance, as if they are very familiar with our tactics."

Zhao Kuangyin was full of doubts and felt more and more that this was Pan Mei's way of using troops.

Cao Bin pondered for a moment and said, "I also feel that there is something wrong with the Wu army, just like when Pan Mei was there. Either Pan Mei taught Lu Jiang how to use troops and fight before he was dismissed, or Pan Mei is in the Wu army camp and has not left!"

Cao Bin was very familiar with Pan Mei, just as Pan Mei was familiar with him. Therefore, when Cao Bin was commanding the battle, he found a problem. Many attack ideas and sneak attack tactics did not work. The Wu army seemed to have taken precautions and preparations, and even found a way to crack the fighting style and formation of the Song army.

This made Cao Bin wonder whether Pan Mei had really left the Wu army, or whether he was secretly guiding Lu Jiang, allowing the Wu army to respond to the Song army's attack so accurately.

"Do you doubt that Pan Mei was not dismissed from office?" Some generals also looked surprised, with a hint of uncertainty in their voices.

"Did our strategy of sowing discord fail to work?" Another general frowned, his tone revealing worry.

"Is this a self-torture tactic used by the Wu army?" The generals began to question whether their own strategy of sowing discord was really effective.

Zhao Kuangyin became increasingly uneasy when he heard these doubts. If Pan Mei was still in charge of the overall situation in the Wu army, then what was their purpose? Was all this just to attract the main force of the Song army to continue attacking, and then launch a fatal blow at a critical moment?

He vaguely felt that this might be Su Chen's secret plan.

At this moment, a scout ran in breathlessly, conveying urgent military information. "Report - an urgent battle report from 500 miles away!" Zhang Qiong, the leader of the imperial guards, stepped forward to take the battle report and quickly handed it to Zhao Kuangyin for review.

Zhao Kuangyin unfolded the battle report, and after quickly browsing it, his face changed instantly.

"What? The reinforcements were ambushed and defeated and are in disarray!" He was very surprised at first, then he suddenly realized that he had been fooled.

"What a counter-espionage plot! It deceived me." Zhao Kuangyin smiled bitterly, helpless, and angry! He didn't expect that his carefully planned counter-espionage plot would be countered by Su Chen.

"Your Majesty, what happened?" Cao Bin saw that Zhao Kuangyin's face looked wrong and asked hurriedly.

Zhao Kuangyin sighed, his voice filled with fatigue. "We were all fooled by Su Chen. When we were using the strategy of alienation, Su Chen began to lay out a plan and staged a counter-espionage plan for us. He temporarily replaced Pan Mei with Lu Jiang, paralyzed our decision-making, and attracted our main force. But he freed up his hands to ambush our reinforcements in the Pengcheng area, cut off the supply route, and sandwiched our main force in the middle. I never expected this."

Zhao Kuangyin's words were like a heavy hammer that hit the hearts of every general present. They realized that not only did they fail to weaken the power of the Wu army, but they fell into the trap carefully set by Su Chen.