Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 383: The Enemy on the Battlefield
"put!"

"boom--"

"Uhhhhhh!!"

On the same day, when Liu Jilian raided Huizhou, Wang Shi attacked Weizhou, and Hukesiguang spied on Chengji, Gao Pian and Li Fu of Xichuan also launched attacks on Gutaoguan and Jiangyou County.

However, they encountered the same situation as Wang Shi, that is, the iron-clad defense of the Longyou soldiers.

In front of Gutao Pass, except for 5,000 elite cavalry who did not move, the remaining 15,000 cavalry and infantry had already led the civilians to fill the moat and pushed the nest cars, battering rams and ladders to the front of Gutao Pass.

But even so, facing the sturdy walls of Gutao Pass, as well as the gun carts, three-bow crossbows, wolf-tooth maces, ten thousand enemies, iron cannons and other weapons on the horse road, Xichuan's offensive suffered repeated setbacks. Hundreds of armored soldiers died at the base of the city walls, and the number was still increasing.

"put!"

"boom--"

There was the dull sound of artillery and smoke again, and what they represented were the lives of dozens of vanguard soldiers.

Compared to yesterday, Gao Pian's face was ashen at this moment, and he no longer had the composure he had before.

His hand unconsciously grasped the hilt of the sword at his waist, and his eyes were fixed on the battlefield three hundred steps away.

He could only watch helplessly as the soldiers he had trained so carefully for so long continued to fall, as if someone was bleeding in front of Gutao Pass with every breath.

"General Jie, this group of people, what kind of magic are they using?"

Zhang Lin couldn't help swallowing, but for Gao Pian, who liked to study alchemists, this scene was not unfamiliar.

"This is like the scene when an alchemist encounters a pill disaster while refining an elixir. I think they can use this power in their hands. Send people to Xichuan quickly to find some alchemists to solve the problem!"

Gao Pian gave orders to Zhang Lin in a deep voice. Zhang Lin did not dare to delay and immediately sent people to Xichuan to search for the alchemist.

At the same time, Gao Pian also ordered the troops to retreat and no longer prepared to launch an attack at the cost of the lives of his soldiers.

At least he would not attack easily until he could defeat the alchemist of the Longyou Army.

"Dang Dang Dang..."

The sound of the horn echoed in the river valley. When the Xichuan soldiers who were attacking in the front heard the sound of the horn, they withdrew from the battlefield as if relieved.

If they could take the bodies away, they would have liked to do so, but the Longyou Army's crossbows would not stop firing. Faced with the crossbow arrows that were flying like locusts, they could only evacuate in a hurry.

Soon, the front army withdrew to its main camp. Gao Pian asked Zhang Lin to count the troops while he returned to the tent to review today's battle.

It was only noon, and it would take at least four hours before dark, but Gao Pian had been thinking about it for more than an hour.

When Zhang Lin and Liang Zun returned to the tent, Gao Pian did not speak first, but waited for them to report.

Zhang Lin bowed and said in a muffled voice, "Six hundred and seventy-six of our men have been killed, and another two hundred and nineteen are injured and unable to fight."

"In addition, more than 700 civilians were killed, most of whom died while filling the moat."

After only half a day of attack, the Xichuan Army suffered nearly a thousand casualties, and even a large number of civilian laborers were killed or wounded.

You must know that when Tubo invaded last time, the three states of Han, Peng and Shu lost a lot of population, especially the people within a hundred miles of Gu Taoguan, all of them fled. It would take a lot of effort to forcibly recruit civilians here.

Fortunately, the moat has been filled to create a path, otherwise even more civilians would not be able to withstand such losses.

Gao Pian took a deep breath, then looked at the two and said, "The magic used by the rebels today also has gaps. I think they need to prepare before casting spells."

"I also studied it carefully and saw that the rebels took about an incense stick to perform the spell once."

"The only way now is to attack with catapults and wait for the alchemists to arrive, so that we can find out the methods used by the rebels."

His words sounded a bit mysterious, but he was indeed a little afraid of the methods used by the Longyou Army.

If the elixir tribulation mentioned by the alchemists can be used by Liu Jillong, then is Liu Jillong proficient in the art of witchcraft?
Thinking of this, Gao Pian couldn't help feeling a little apprehensive. The governor of Dongchuan, Li Fu, also shared the same idea.

They still used catapults to attack the city, but they did not dare to send soldiers to attack it by force.

In addition, like Wang Shi, they all submitted memorials to Chang'an.

However, facing their conservatism, Liu Jilong became more and more courageous.

At noon on the seventh day of June, Zhou Bao and others assembled their troops, leaving behind a thousand soldiers to garrison Wulan County, five hundred soldiers to garrison the Yellow River ferry, and the remaining 7,600 elite cavalrymen were assembled outside the city.

The elite Longyou cavalry on the west bank had not been seen since they chased the defeated government troops on the west bank northward in the early morning. Zhou Bao did send light cavalry to the west bank to check, but no news came back from the light cavalry, so it was estimated that they were in great danger.

"In just a few days, we have lost more than 1,300 elite cavalry. The military strength of our town is not enough to help Huining!"

The terrain outside Wulan County is mainly sloping plains and hills, which are very easy to be ambushed, so Zhou Bao sent fast horses to investigate the safety, but Li Sigong, who stayed behind, was very dissatisfied with Zhou Bao.

At present, Zhou Bao has no more than 1,600 elite cavalry, and Zhuye Chixin has less than 2,600 elite Shatuo cavalry. As for him, he still has more than 3,500 elite Dangxiang cavalry, so his words are very serious.

Although Zhou Bao heard it, he pretended not to hear it and comforted him:
"I have already reported the casualties here to the court. The court will definitely not let you and your people suffer any loss."

"I hope so." Li Sigong calmed down a bit after hearing that, while Zhu Xie Chixin was still wrapped in coarse cloth and holding the reins with his left arm.

Seven thousand elite cavalry were waiting outside the city, hundreds of whom were sent by Zhou Bao to the outskirts of Wulan to patrol for thirty miles to prevent Liu Jilian from raiding them again.

As time passed, everyone became impatient.

Fortunately, before their patience ran out, hundreds of elite cavalry emerged from the hilly area in the southwest and galloped towards them.

A quarter of an hour later, hundreds of elite cavalry arrived in front of the battle formation. Zhu Xieyi, who was in charge of scouting, stopped his horse and said, "There are no ambushes in the hills and valleys ahead. I have left 500 soldiers stationed in the key areas. You can pass quickly now."

"Okay!" Upon hearing this, Zhou Bao took out the command flag and waved it. The flag soldiers hurriedly waved their military flags. Seeing this, more than 6,000 elite cavalry began to follow the banner and advance towards Huining.

As the team continued to advance, they began to walk into the remnants of the Loess Liangmao, but the Loess Liangmao of this era did not have bare loess, but was covered by forests and grasslands.

The vegetation is not dense, but it is much better than the Liangmao Ruins.

The next nearly sixty miles of road were all in the Liangmao gullies, and the forty-mile-long valley road made Zhou Bao, Zhuxie Chixin and others have to be extremely careful.

Even though the valley was several miles wide, it could not give them a sense of security.

Even ordinary soldiers couldn't help but want to speed up their horses and pass through the valley as quickly as possible.

Fortunately, Ma Li, who had rested for a night, gave them enough sense of security. Before it got dark, they walked out of Liangmao in fear.

What lay before them was a relatively wide hilly area, but this hilly area was surrounded by mountains and had only three exits.

Two of them lead to Wulan, and only the one in the south leads to Huining.

Seeing that it was getting dark, Zhou Bao did not dare to continue marching. He immediately led his troops to the mountain pass in the south and set up camp near the pass.

Since they were cavalry reinforcements, the entire team did not bring any civilian laborers with them, so they had to do the hard work of setting up camp by themselves.

Having learned lessons from the two surprise attacks, the soldiers of the three armies did not complain too much. Instead, they cut down a lot of trees and simply piled them up to serve as simple fences.

Zhou Bao also sent out a thousand cavalrymen to release the Tang cavalrymen to the three exits of the hilly plain, extending the range of the Tang cavalrymen to thirty miles, and the entire army slept in armor.

After this, even if the Longyou Army launched a surprise attack, they would have enough time to react.

From the time of Xu (19:) when the camp was set up, the soldiers of the three armies could only eat Hu bing to fill their stomachs.

Generals such as Zhou Bao were treated slightly better, with just a few more pieces of dried meat.

Originally thought tonight would be peaceful, but at midnight (23:), Zhou Bao, who had just slept for half an hour, heard the voice of the report.

"General, the soldiers in Huining and other places are reporting urgently!"

Zhou Bao sat up almost as soon as the report was rang out. After rubbing his dry eyes slightly, he stood up and walked out of the tent.

"What's the matter?"

Zhou Bao opened the curtain, and seeing the general in front of him, he hurriedly said: "When the Tang cavalry sent out to Huining, they encountered the rebel Tang soldiers. Our Tang cavalry fought and retreated. Judging from the posture of the rebel Tang soldiers, Huining may have been lost."

"Impossible!" Zhou Bao subconsciously refuted after hearing Duan's words.

"The walls of Huining City are built with rammed earth, nearly three feet thick, and the city is heavily guarded. How could it fall into the hands of the thieves in just two days?"

"General, everything I said is true!" Seeing that he could not convince Zhou Bao, the general could only lower his head.

Zhou Bao paused for a moment, then said, "Call another 200 cavalrymen to get up at night and send them to Huining. If they encounter rebels, send fast horses back to report immediately!"

"Yes!" They all bowed in response and left in a hurry.

Watching him go away, Zhou Bao returned to the tent anxiously, but he had already hung up the curtain, so he could clearly see the scene outside the tent. Under the night, only the weak campfire in the camp could provide some light. Zhou Bao waited for half an hour, and his eyelids couldn't stop fighting.

Time passed little by little, until the Chou hour (1 o'clock) the sound of horse hooves was heard.

He tried to keep himself together, but then he saw that everyone was coming back, his face full of anxiety.

"General, the rebels have already taken Huining City and are currently resting forty miles southwest."

"Forty miles away?!" Zhou Bao suddenly stood up and said hurriedly, "Please ask the two military envoys to come over!"

"Yes!" They all agreed and hurried to find Zhuxie Chixin and Li Sigong.

Zhou Bao, who was sitting inside the tent, stood up and paced back and forth, making a simple analysis.

The distance between the Tang cavalry they sent out and the rebel Tang cavalry was 20 miles away from the camp, which means that they set up camp at about the same time as the Longyou rebels, and sent out the Tang cavalry at about the same time.

If this is the case, the rebels in Longyou should have noticed where they were camping, and they have been resting for about two or three hours now.

"Straight bitch!"

Zhou Bao cursed inwardly, not knowing whether he was cursing the rebels in Longyou or the general who lost Huining.

After one stick of incense, Zhuxie Chixin, Li Sigong, Zhuxie Yisheng and others arrived one after another.

They had only rested for two hours, so they were naturally lacking in energy and their complexions did not look too good.

Seeing this, Zhou Bao did not delay and immediately told everyone that Jianging City had fallen and the rebels were resting forty miles away from him.

Zhuxie Chixin had not rested well to begin with, and when he heard the news, he could not help but curse: "Are your people dogs and rats? So many people defended a city, but it was breached in less than two days!"

Although Zhou Bao was in the wrong, he was suddenly scolded and his face was not in a good mood.

Li Sigong was also very angry, but he remained calm and said, "What should we do now? I would say we should withdraw to Wulan County first."

"Withdraw to Wulan?" Zhu Xie Chixin couldn't help but sneered:
"Ulan is surrounded by hills, which is not suitable for us to fight. There are few arable land and few people, and it is impossible to provide food and fodder for our more than 8,000 infantry and cavalry."

"If the rebels send troops to camp on the three official roads in the north and south, more than 8,000 of us will be trapped and die in Wulan."

"Why not send a message to Wulan now and have the general there recruit civilians to transport Wulan's food and fodder to Mingsha County in Lingzhou, while we retreat to Xiaoguan in the east."

"Xiaoguan cannot be lost. If Xiaoguan is lost, Guanzhong will definitely be shaken!"

Zhu Xie's sincere words won Zhou Bao's approval.

Counting from the first day of June when the imperial court issued the "Decree to Punish Liu Jilian", it is now no more than the eighth day.

He lost Huizhou and Xiaoguan eight days after the war started. He didn't dare to imagine how angry the Supreme and the officials in the court would be.

If he lost Huizhou, he could still make up for it, but if he lost Xiaoguan, he would definitely be stripped of his position and sent away.

Thinking of this, Zhou Bao said anxiously: "In this case, I will send people to Wulan now and send troops to withdraw to Lingzhou."

"Please both of you lead your troops and follow me to Xiaoguan to camp!"

"Not right!" Li Sigong couldn't help but say, "The loss of Xiaoguan will certainly shock the court, but what if Lingzhou is left empty and lost?"

Li Sigong's territory is in the northeast of Lingzhou. If Lingzhou is captured by the rebels, there is no guarantee that the Pingxia tribe will not be implicated in the future.

He didn't care that Zhou Bao and his men were going to Xiaoguan, but he couldn't just watch the rebels attack Lingzhou.

Not only him, Zhou Bao also thought so. After all, Lingzhou was the seat of Shuofang Town, so it naturally could not be lost.

Thinking of this, he said to Zhu Xie Chixin: "Please ask the military envoy to lead the troops to withdraw to Xiaoguan, and I and the military envoy Li will withdraw to Lingzhou. How about that?"

"Yes, sir!" Zhu Ye Chixin bowed and responded, and Li Sigong also bowed and responded.

On the surface, the two of them haven't changed much, but they are full of resentment in their hearts.

The two tribes went south to plunder Longyou, but in yesterday's battle, all the food and civilians they looted were rescued by Longyou, and in the middle of the night, the defeated soldiers were attacked and killed.

Apart from some armor and money and food before the war, the two tribes not only got nothing now, but also lost nearly a thousand people. How could they be in a good mood?

Zhou Bao knew that the war was not going well, but there was nothing he could do.

Half an hour later, Zhou Bao led his troops to break camp and retreat to Xiaoguan, more than 200 miles away.

A few hours passed, and as the sun rose to high in the sky, a larger group of people arrived at the original mountain pass.

There was a strong wind at the mountain pass, and the flags of "Longyou Protectorate" fluttered in the wind.

Tens of thousands of cavalry and infantry stretched for five miles, and there were nearly ten thousand civilians driving carriages in the team.

When they arrived at the mountain pass, they saw the trees that Zhou Bao and others had abandoned when they set up camp.

Li Ji dismounted and checked the temperature of the charcoal fire. He then dusted off his hands and asked the captain beside him, "Did the Tang cavalry send back any news?"

"Yes, the government troops have fled to Xiaoguan. There are at least seven or eight thousand elite cavalrymen. They should be the elite cavalrymen who escaped from the commander yesterday."

The general's words made Li Ji's eyes light up. He wanted to chase and kill this elite cavalry, but when he thought of Liu Jilong's military order, he calmed down and said, "Don't worry about them. Capture Wulan first and lead the general across the river."

"Yes!"

The team did not stop, but after releasing enough Tang cavalry and Tang soldiers, they took the same route Zhou Bao and his team took yesterday and headed to Ulan County, more than 60 miles away.

The next day, when Li Ji led his troops to the outskirts of Ulan County, he discovered that the government troops in Ulan County had already withdrawn, and they had also forcibly conscripted thousands of civilians to march north.

The warehouses in the county were empty, and the only people left were less than 10,000 elderly and weak people.

"Commander-in-chief, they are infantrymen. Even if they marched north yesterday, they certainly could not go far. If we go north to intercept them, we will definitely be praised by the commander-in-chief."

Looking at the empty granary, Li Ji's face turned pale, and the captain beside him brought him back to his senses with a word.

He was thinking whether it was worth it, but another captain stopped him and said, "Commander-in-chief, the commander only asked us to capture Wulan and help them cross the river. He didn't ask us to do anything else."

"Humph, just two thousand infantrymen and a few thousand civilians, but they can scare Captain Tang like this."

The captain who made the proposal couldn't help but mock him, but the captain named Tang just frowned slightly and didn't say anything.

The reason why the two were so confrontational was mainly because Captain Tang belonged to Chen Jingchong's faction, while the captain who proposed the proposal belonged to Li Ji's faction.

Seeing that Captain Tang rejected the attack, Li Ji said, "The government troops are only two thousand infantrymen and several thousand civilians. What is there to be afraid of?"

"Captain Tang, I order you to lead the Daxia and Changle armies to station at Wulan, repair the sunken boats, and lead the generals across the river. I will personally lead the remaining troops to pursue and intercept the food and grass transported by the government troops."

Upon hearing this, Captain Tang couldn't help but stop Li Ji. After realizing what was happening, he immediately bowed and said:

"Commander-in-chief, the army of the military commander is on the west bank, and the journey is only 20 to 30 miles. There is no need to rush. We should send a fast horse to ask the military commander."

"If the governor insists on going, I can only report the truth to the commander!"

"You..." Li Ji couldn't help but hesitate when he saw Captain Tang was so tough.

Before the war, Liu Jilong repeatedly issued orders strictly prohibiting generals from disobeying military orders and attacking on their own.

If Captain Tang really insisted on reporting to the commander, he would definitely be caught as an example and severely punished by Liu Jilong.

Thinking of this, Li Ji could only hold back his anger and said, "Order...the three armies to enter Wulan County and repair the ferry boats."

"Commander-in-chief." The captain who proposed the idea couldn't help but speak, but Li Ji shouted at him: "Didn't you hear me?"

"Yes..." The captain agreed reluctantly, then glared at Captain Tang and left helplessly.

After he left, Li Ji looked at Governor Tang and couldn't help but said, "Tang Bingde, you did a good job..."

"I don't deserve it!" Tang Bingde accepted Li Ji's words calmly.

Seeing that he refused to listen, Li Ji had no choice but to leave the warehouse.

After he left, a general outside the warehouse also walked in and couldn't help but snorted:
"Brother, this Governor Li is not very capable, but he has a bad temper."

"If he hadn't been clinging to the high position of the military commander, would he have been able to become the governor?"

Tang Bingde nodded when he heard this: "Don't argue with him. When the commander comes, I will punish him."

As soon as the two of them finished speaking, they walked out of the warehouse, and the laborers waiting outside the warehouse began to load and unload the supplies from the baggage carts into the warehouse.

(End of this chapter)