A lowly soldier becomes king, I slaughter my way through the late Tang Dynasty!

"That can't be right. Taizhou's city walls are high and sturdy, and the main force of the army is stationed there. How could they just abandon it like that?"

Niu Ben still harbored illusions, believing that things weren't so bad.

To be honest, if Li Rui hadn't remembered this history, he wouldn't have thought that Du Chongwei would abandon Taizhou City.

But that's the truth; Du Chongwei really did run away!

"Further words are useless, Brother Niu, you should hurry up and fortify the city's defenses."

Seeing Li Rui's certainty, Niu Ben's expression gradually became serious, and he nodded emphatically.

Currently, there are 300 soldiers from the Trapped Camp in the city, plus 600 surrendered soldiers who have been incorporated over the past ten days. Li Rui calls them the "Restoration Army," meaning to restore Yan and Yun.

In addition, seven hundred surrendered soldiers were sent to serve as laborers.

Li Rui was very relieved to have Niu Ben in charge of the city's defense.

After all, he didn't know how to deploy city defenses, and there was obviously no time to learn on the spot. He could only wait and see if the system rewards would include this part in the future.

Upon arriving at the inn in the city, Li Rui got straight to the point.

"The Khitan army is here. I estimate the first wave of attack will be tonight. We don't have many people, so defense will be difficult."

Pack your things and don't sleep tonight. If anything unexpected happens, wait for me at the west gate immediately and prepare to escape.

Liu Duobao trembled in fright, his face full of sorrow.

Li Rui's words were way too blunt; it was practically a declaration of his intention to flee. Couldn't he have been a little more tactful? My heart can't take it!

There was also a hint of worry in Liu Fuji's beautiful eyes.

"Is it really impossible to hold on?"

Li Rui shook his head.

"There's a chance we can hold our ground, but we must always be prepared for the worst."

Liu Duobao nodded repeatedly.

"Yes, yes, this is a matter of life and death, we can't be careless. I'll have someone pack our bags right away."

As soon as he left, Liu Fuji hesitated to speak.

Li Rui seemed to have guessed her thoughts and spoke first.

"Don't worry, I won't abandon you."

Liu Fuji smiled sweetly, her beauty truly captivating.

Li Rui's mind wavered, and he thought to himself, "What a devil!" He hurriedly took his leave.

While we can't let such a beautiful woman slip by, fighting is the priority right now.

……

"The enemy is coming!"

In the pitch-black night, a long, orange-red dragon galloped and roamed across the land.

Listen carefully, thump thump... thump thump...

After a while, the sound grew louder and louder, rumbling... rumbling...

People who have been fighting for many years can understand a lot when they hear this voice.

"They are definitely Khitan cavalry!"

Niu Ben frowned and then shouted.

"Everyone up to the city walls! Prepare bows, arrows, logs, and stones!"

Chaos erupted on the city wall, and it took almost half an hour to get everything ready.

At this moment, the orange-red fire dragon had become so vast that it covered the sky!

The deafening roar filled my ears; just listening to it made me imagine countless iron hooves crashing heavily to the ground.

The soldiers, who had been full of confidence, now looked at the endless rows of stars and felt a great sense of loss.

"How many cavalrymen would that take?"

Li Rui knew the answer: 80,000 iron cavalry.

But he didn't say it, because if he did, it would only make everyone feel hopeless and cause morale to collapse.

Fortunately, these 80,000 cavalrymen covering the mountains and plains were not coming for Mancheng; their target was Taizhou City.

Niu Ben shouted in a deep voice.

"What's there to be afraid of! No matter how many Khitan cavalry there are, can their horses even jump over the city walls? Once they dismount, they're all just carrying one head on two shoulders!"

Once everyone had calmed down a bit, Niu Ben continued.

"Besides, our main force is in Taizhou. The Khitan will only send four or five thousand troops to fight us at most, so there's nothing to worry about!"

Upon hearing this, the soldiers nodded in agreement, and morale was restored.

Yes, with hundreds of thousands of troops stationed in Taizhou, how could the Khitan possibly expend so much manpower to attack Mancheng?

That's the logic.

however……

The first step resulted in a huge mess.

Inside Taizhou City, discussions are in full swing.

"The Khitans have marched a long distance and are exhausted. I think we should take the initiative and launch a night raid on their camp!"

The speaker was Li Shouzhen, a fierce general, but whose personal character was rather low.

Huangfu Yu also thought he could fight, so he shouted loudly.

"I agree. If we can attack from both sides and launch a night raid, the Khitan will surely suffer heavy losses."

Ma Quanjie nodded slightly, approving of the attack plan.

Zhang Yanzhe lowered his head and remained silent, only focusing on wiping his sword.

Li Yin's forces were the weakest, and he had little say in the matter.

Seeing that no one objected, Li Shouzhen turned his gaze to Fu Yanqing, seeking the opinion of this famous general.

Fu Yanqing also thought it was worth a try, so he nodded.

"When the commander arrives, let's all volunteer for battle."

Everyone nodded in agreement, their morale high.

After waiting a moment, the high-ranking generals urged him on.

"Where is the commander-in-chief? Have they gone to invite him?"

"They went there half an hour ago, why haven't they come back yet?"

"Send someone else to invite them; the opportunity to fight is fleeting and cannot be delayed!"

Just as the generals were urging them on, someone came running.

"Report!!"

The man, panting heavily, shouted loudly before even entering the room.

"Generals, Commander Du has led his troops through the south gate and is heading towards Yangcheng in the rear!"

Du Zhaotao is Du Chongwei, who is the commander of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

Upon hearing the news, the scene fell into a deathly silence.

The generals stared in astonishment, unable to process what they had just witnessed!

"Where...where did he go?"

Huangfu asked a silly question.

This is a pointless question. Everyone present is shrewd and knows exactly what Du Chongwei is up to.

Let's run away!

Could it be that we're heading out of the city to meet the enemy?

Putting aside whether Du Chongwei has the guts, you're heading out of the city in the wrong direction!

To meet the enemy head-on, we should exit through the north gate.

A flanking attack should be launched from the east or west sides of the city.

What does it mean that you led your troops out through the south gate?

Isn't the South Gate our strong rear base?

Attack from the rear?

Just when everyone thought it was absurd and questioned the authenticity of the news.

A messenger ran up and shouted.

"The commander-in-chief orders the entire army to retreat to Yangcheng."

For a moment, everyone was completely dumbfounded!

What does it mean when a formidable enemy is at hand, the commander-in-chief of an army runs away first, and only after leaving the city does he order the others to retreat?

This military order seems more like Du Chongwei running halfway through his mission, suddenly remembering that he was the commander-in-chief, and then hastily issuing the order.

Or rather, he did it on purpose.

First, withdraw your main force to avoid the chaos of the retreat causing your main force to be unable to leave in time and resulting in a loss of strength.

"This...this..."

Even if Fu Yanqing couldn't believe it, the fact remained that the commander-in-chief had run away.

Just moments before, they were discussing how to launch a night raid out of the city and win a victory.

Then, a moment later, the leader ran away!

This is absolutely absurd!

At this moment, Zhang Yanzhe, who had been wiping the knife, suddenly jumped up.

"Yes, sir!"

After shouting, Zhang Yanzhe quickly made his escape!

Seeing this, Li Shouzhen and Ma Quanjie also realized what was happening and quickly ran out one after the other.

The commander has already run away, what's the point of fighting anymore!

Forget about night raids, we can't even defend the city!

At this point, issuing the order to retreat first would allow one's own troops to leave Taizhou ahead of time.

If the Khitan cavalry catch up, whoever covers the rear will suffer!

Zhang Yanzhe was quick-witted and was the first to run away, followed closely by Li Shouzhen and Ma Quanjie.

Inside the hall, only Fu Yanqing and Huangfu Yu remained, staring at each other in disbelief.

Li Yin, who wanted to leave but dared not, also glared at them.

The three of them stood there dumbfounded for a long time before Fu Yanqing finally closed his eyes and gritted his teeth.

"Let's retreat."

Huangfu Yu snorted angrily, but there was nothing he could do, so he quickly left.

Li Yin was eager to leave, but Fu Yanqing stopped him.

"General Li, Li Rui predicted that the General would abandon Suicheng. What about the General abandoning Taizhou? Did he ever say that?"

Li Yin pursed his lips and said with a bitter face.

"He didn't say it, but Niu Ben mentioned in his letter that Li Rui had already concluded that the army would be defeated all the way before attacking Mancheng."

I didn't believe it, so I didn't pay attention. Who would have thought...?

Fu Yanqing sighed and waved his hand.

"It's not your fault, who could have imagined... Yeah, besides Li Rui, who could have imagined it?"