Goose Three Kingdoms

Chapter 553 Regret is useless
The three thousand newly formed knights under Zhang Fei were lucky.

The next day, the Wuhuan vanguard knights appeared near the southern mountain pass. They had no choice but to withdraw the siege and follow the central army group to evacuate, saving a day of hard work that they had planned.

This time, Zhang Liao was the rear guard. He divided his 3,000 cavalry into three teams of 1,000 cavalry, and had the teams retreat in turns.

The Wuhuan knights were only a few miles away at their closest pursuit, but they were only getting close and had no intention of engaging in a fight.

But it also put great pressure on Zhang Liao's newly formed cavalry. If Lu Bu hadn't led the cavalry to patrol the rear, they might have lost their composure.

The Wuhuan people saw that Zhang Liao's retreat was quite strategic, and they were already tired from the pursuit, so they did not launch any exploratory attacks.

Soon, the news from Guangning City and Tian Yu's letter were delivered to Ke Bineng again.

In order to maintain his prestige, Kebi Neng followed his usual style of doing things, so he personally led more than 10,000 cavalry to cover the rear and stationed in the Saikou area north of Guangning City.

He thought for a moment, then said to the leaders of the surrounding tribes, "If we cannot defeat the troops in Guanzhong in this battle, we will not gain anything, nor will we be able to take revenge. But if the Wuhuan do not lose their vitality, given Tadun's character, he will definitely go to war with me. General Yuan's sister is Tadun's wife, so how could she stop us? To please Tadun, she might even help Tadun and attack me together."

"This place has become a place of trouble now, so it's better to leave early. What do you think?"

He sought the advice of other tribal leaders, but his concerns were valid.

The scattered tribes of the Wuhuan people expanded to Yuyang, Daijun and even Yanmen, and there were Wuhuan people even in the northern part of Shangdang.

These scattered tribes lived next to the Eastern Xianbei and competed with them for pastures. Could it be that the Eastern Xianbei could not defeat these Wuhuan people?
No, they were afraid that the Wuhuan people who had a grudge against Tadun would surrender to Tadun under the pressure of survival, so they invited Tadun to send troops to Dai County.

In addition to the previous dissuasion of Xianyu Fu and Yan Rou, the Eastern Xianbei tolerated these small Wuhuan tribes.

There were still frictions in daily life, so many small Wuhuan tribes who were avoiding Tadun's attack could not stay in Dai County and went to Yanmen and Shangdang.

Ke Bineng retreated too quickly, and when Tian Yu caught up with him, there was only a valley with a lot of horse manure left.

Tian Yu could only head south to join the Wuhuan army. When he arrived, Tadun had already moved into Guangning City.

The city of Guangning was full of Wuhuan people who were undisciplined and had no military discipline. They smashed the houses of the residents, whipped or killed the men, or forcibly tied their hands and feet with leather ropes and tied them in front of their horses, apparently trying to make them their slaves.

The sounds of men and women crying were heard everywhere. Tian Yu's face was tense and he rode his horse slowly.

Suddenly, the head of Guangning County, accompanied by several county officials, ran to the front of the horse and glared at Tian Yu: "Tian Guorang, our Guangning officials and people have defended the city to the death and refused to welcome the Grand Marshal into the city. We even used men and women to defend the city together! We also listened to your words and opened the city to welcome the Youzhou officials to rest in the city. How could you let the Wuhuan people harm the men and women of my homeland!"

Tian Yu was speechless. A general in the shogunate drew his sword and pointed it at the county magistrate, and shouted: "Everyone in the world knows that the black bandits are good at engineering. Guangning was spared, I'm afraid it was not a fluke. The city has insufficient food and fodder, but they gave it to the black bandits?"

"Don't talk nonsense. The men and women in my city can testify to this!"

"As evidence? Why is there so little food and fodder in the city?"

The officer turned to look at Tian Yu and said, "I think this guy is colluding with the bandits. Today he is here to disrupt our army's morale. His intentions are evil and he must not be let off lightly!"

As he spoke, he thrust his hips forward, drove his horse, raised his sword and was about to chop. A county official shouted, "County sir, retreat quickly!"

At the same time, he stretched out his hand to pull the county magistrate violently, but he was hit on the head by the sword. He was not killed, and blood spurted out of his forehead. With a ruthless look on his face, he drew his sword and slashed off the opponent's right arm holding the sword.

Immediately, the guards who followed nearby rushed forward with spears and halberds and stabbed the county official who was only wearing sleeveless half-armor to death in an instant.

After seeing the blood, several Wuhuan people nearby drew their bows and shot the county magistrate and three other county officials to death without saying a word.

Seeing this, Tian Yu looked at the shogunate official who was holding his broken arm and gritting his teeth, saying, "The matter of Guangning has been known to all places in Dai, and the remaining cities will never open their gates to welcome us again." The official was also tough, his face turned pale, "You are a bandit, it is not a pity to die!"

As he was speaking, he lost too much blood and his eyes went dark, and he fell off his horse.

Tian Yu was too lazy to participate in the treatment. He just took out a handkerchief to wipe the blood spots on his face, kicked the horse's belly lightly, and glanced at the county magistrate who had not yet finished his work and stared at him with wide eyes.

After the eye contact, Tian Yu looked back and forward, then slowly raised his head to look at the azure blue sky, and then kicked the horse's belly with greater force.

In the county government, when he arrived, Tadun was standing in front of a map, studying it intently.

Tadun looked back at Tian Yu's expression and said with a smile, "From Lord Tian's expression, I know that Kebi can escape?"

"Just as the king expected, they escaped very quickly. When I went there, no one was there."

Even the last people who were watching and on guard were not left behind. Tian Yu sighed helplessly: "The city is in chaos, and many officials and civilians have been harmed. Although the king can benefit temporarily, the cities will have to defend to the death in the future. I am afraid that our army will never get a grain of millet in Daidi again."

"Mr. Tian is worrying too much."

Tadun turned back and looked at the map attentively. "I have also found out. Kebi Neng has been very powerful in recent years. The grain stored in various cities is limited and can barely be used for self-use. The people have worked hard to farm, but they are also extorted and seconded by Kebi Neng. Liu Xuande, the General who guards the north, can't do anything about Kebi Neng. Therefore, Daidi's production this year is not as good as Guangyang County, Yuyang County, and Shanggu County."

Those places are not Kebi Neng's core areas of influence, and people like Guan Yu and Zhao Yun are not people whom Kebi Neng can blackmail.

The governor of Dai County, Sun Qian, had no intention of governing the county and could do nothing about Ke Bineng, so many incentive policies issued by the Zhenbei Shogun's shogunate could not be implemented.

There was no smile on Tadun's round face. "No matter how hostile the heroes of Dai are to the soldiers of Guanzhong, they will not give our army winter rations. Please inform the general to increase the grain transportation. Why can't I see Zhao Congshi?"

"He just had a conflict with the county lord and his arm was cut off."

Tian Yu said as he came to the map and asked, "Does the king have any ideas?"

"We cannot allow the Guanzhong troops to join forces with Liu Xuande. Pingcheng is a large city in the border counties. If the Guanzhong troops enter the city, we have too many troops and too little food to hold out for long."

Tadun raised his hand and pointed at Pingcheng vigorously: "If we can't take his head, the general and I will be unable to sleep or eat."

Facing Tian Yu's gaze, Tadun said firmly, "My vanguard also tried and provoked him several times, but his rear guard was patient and did not fight. We know that he is determined to leave and has no intention of returning to fight. At this time, you and I must split our forces. I will lead the main force to gallop at night and arrive at the eastern suburbs of Pingcheng tomorrow to block his way west."

Then he raised his hand and pointed to the northeast of Pingcheng: "There are two large passes here, and the Dai army may find it difficult to resist. I hope Lord Tian can lead his troops to bypass them, rush away, join the Dai army, and block the pass."

"Your Majesty, the Guanzhong soldiers are best at night battles, and our army has suffered greatly from them."

"He is good at night fighting. Does that mean our army is afraid of him?"

Tadun raised his hand and patted Tian Yu's shoulder: "At this point, even if he can fly, we will shoot him down from the sky! Tonight I will gallop from the south and Lord Tian will go from the north. The two armies will run parallel to each other. What will he choose?"

Seeing that Tian Yu did not object, Tadun smiled again and said, "The only way to survive is to abandon the army immediately and rush straight to Pingcheng. But if so, after Liu Xuande accepts us, who will be the leader and who will be the assistant?"

"I, I will respond right away. After a brief rest, I will rush to Gaoliu with light luggage."

Seeing this, Tadun's smile became even brighter. He was also very envious of the more than 20,000 Han and Hu coalition forces outside Pingcheng.

To swallow them up is equivalent to actually controlling Dai, as well as half of Yanmen and half of Shangdang.

(End of this chapter)