Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

Chapter 232 Failure, enemy master

In June, the night star river is bright, the night wind howls, the black tree shadows are hideous in the wind, the horseshoes rumble, and there is only moonlight on the avenue, Xiang Xun and the others dare not light a fire.

Looking at the distance, Xiang Xun was flustered. There was a wheat field in the distance of the woods, and the wheat swayed slightly in the night wind. They came here through a small road, passing through a large wheat field.

When going north, the commander-in-chief ordered that the people should not be disturbed as much as possible, that the people's fields should not be trampled on, their houses should not be burned, and their livestock should not be robbed, but at this time, they couldn't care less.

There are only about two hundred people in their group, and the forward and the Chinese army have already gone to Yijin Pass after they are in charge.

Xiang Xun was still in shock at this moment, but he was a veteran with rich experience after all, and he knew that he couldn't just flee to Yijin Pass at such a time. If the Liao army followed them, it would be troublesome, and someone needed to break the rear.

The mission after the end is very dangerous, and it is very likely that it will never return. In such a time of turmoil, only the end of the general can make the whole army feel at ease.

In the Battle of Huainan, Jiangnan general Lin Renzhao failed in a sneak attack and forced the entire army to retreat. He himself broke the rear by a boat and allowed the Chinese army to retreat safely. Such courage and ability also impressed the generals of the Zhou army.

And for this defeat, Xiang Xun felt ashamed. The task given to him by the commander was to provoke the Liao Kingdom to the north, lure the enemy deep, and retreat at any time to give up Gu'an.

So he didn't even enter the city, but camped outside the city for the convenience of retreating.

At the same time, the forwards were sent to the north, more than ten miles south of Youzhou, to investigate the movement of the Liao army. Once there was movement ahead and the Liao army went south, they shot arrows across the river to resist, then turned south immediately, and entered Yijin Pass.

But what I didn't expect was that all the sent troops were derelict in their duties, dazzled by successive victories, arrogant and didn't take the Liao people seriously, and even set up camps for convenience when they were stationed in the south of Youzhou Not far from the avenue, no scouts were dispatched at noon because of cooking.

As a result, the Liao army suddenly went south to attack them, and dozens of people were captured and killed on the spot. After that, the Liao army did not hesitate at all, and followed them all the way to Gu'an.

After the remnant soldiers from the north had just fled back to the camp and explained the general situation, a large number of Liao troops had already appeared in the woods and fields on the other side of the river. Their.

So Xiang Xun didn't even think about it, and immediately ordered the entire army to withdraw to the south, leading the troops to cut off the rear.

At the same time, he immediately sent someone to contact Murong Yanzhao in Zhuozhou in the west, because he guessed that once the Liao Kingdom attacked, it was likely that the troops would divide into two groups and attack Gu'an and Zhuozhou at the front respectively. If Gu'an fell into the enemy's hands, then Murong Yanzhao It's also dangerous.

Xiang Xun led the people to retreat slowly on the avenue, fearful all the way, beware of pursuers from behind, dare not light a fire at night, can only walk by moonlight and stars.

In the middle of the night, when people were tired and horses were exhausted, Xiang Xun was finally sure that the Liao army was not chasing him, and ordered everyone to retreat at full speed in the direction of Yijin Pass.

At dawn, the tired and sleepy people finally arrived at the city of Yijinguan. After verifying their identities and entering the city, they all fell to the ground and fell asleep. Even Xiang Xun fell asleep leaning against the haystack beside the stable.

That night, in Waqiao Pass, tens of miles behind Yijin Pass, Shi Congyun stayed awake, waiting for news from Xiang Xun.

In the middle of the night, the soldiers also rushed to report to him in the middle of the night, and most of the training department had returned to Yijin Pass, and Gu'an was once again occupied by the Liao army.

After he breathed a sigh of relief, he immediately called the messenger: "Go to Zhuozhou from the west immediately, don't go to Gu'an, tell Murong Yanzhao to retreat from the west to Waqiao Pass, and don't go to Yijin Pass from Gu'an.

Remember, you must be quick. The Liao army has already occupied Gu'an. If they don't know and retreat to Gu'an, it will be over. The life and death of Murong Yanzhao's army depends entirely on you. "

Several messengers solemnly said: "Don't worry, Commander, we will send the news overnight even if we die."

Shi Congyun patted the shoulders of several people: "Go, come back early."

After dealing with these matters, he didn't go to bed to sleep, but put on his overcoat and squinted in the military tent for a while, Fu Zhaoyuan and Pan Mei accompanied him.

When the sky was getting dark, another messenger came, they came from Zhenzhou in Sidehou, and they told him the big news that the Northern Han Dynasty had indeed sent troops!

According to Li Chongjin's scout report, the army of the Northern Han Dynasty has assembled in Mengzhou and can enter the battlefield from behind them at any time.

The Liao Kingdom, which had been quiet for a month, made a big move when it moved. The Northern Han Dynasty was ordered to march from the east. They led their troops to march south from the north, trying to pinch the Zhou army from two directions.

At this time, Shi Congyun can't control Zhenzhou. Zhenzhou (near Shijiazhuang in later generations) is about [-] miles away from the front line. With such a large space span, it is too late for him to deploy troops to support him. He can only trust Li Chongjin, Zhang Yongde, and Li Jixun. Waiting for others, at the same time, we must pay close attention to the situation over there.

Once Zhenzhou falls, the Northern Han army can attack them from the side and rear, so there is no need to fight, they must retreat across the board, and they may not even be able to defend the three passes they have beaten.

This kind of war is like this, the battle line is close to thousands of miles, and the strategic goal can only be achieved by the cooperation of various corps. It is impossible to rely on anyone alone, and nothing can be achieved without anyone, so you are not afraid of god-like opponents, but pig-like teammates. The words are common throughout the ages.

Afterwards, the scout battalion sent by Shi Congyunjia began to bring back the movement of the Liao army intensively. He selected and trained a large number of scouts and achieved initial results. Many scouts densely covered the area south of Youzhou, and the movement of the Liao army was almost every two quarters of an hour. Will report to his desk.

It feels good that the battlefield is becoming more transparent, but soon he discovered the problem. He does not have a dedicated staff department. A lot of information is good, but too much information may also confuse people. There is no dedicated staff department to give him information. After sorting out the information and extracting useful main content, he was dizzy alone.

Luqiu Zhongqing was in charge of this work before, but now Luqiu Zhongqing went to help him raise food and grass.

So I had to temporarily let Pan Mei, the military supervisor, help with these matters. Although he was not as skilled as Luqiu Zhongqing, he was still competent for the time being, and Guo Tingwei also joined in later.

With the help of Pan Mei and Guo Tingzhi, he finally felt a lot easier, and he also paid close attention to the movements of the Liao army.

"The main goal of the next stage is to get Murong Yanzhao's troops back to Waqiao Pass," Shi Congyun muttered to himself.

Tens of miles away from Juma River in the outskirts of Zhuozhou, the morning glow is overwhelming, the sun is just rising, and the long shadows of trees are densely packed. Murong Yanzhao is pacing on the riverside, and a long shadow is drawn behind him. He nervously looks at the densely packed Liao military.

The Liao army reached the other side of the river last night, but did not cross the river.

It seemed that there were a lot of people, so he immediately led people to guard several ferries and bridgeheads.

The North Juma River is a large river in the north. The width of most parts of the river is more than 40 meters, and it is difficult for the Liao army to cross it quickly.

Murong Yanzhao led people to confront the Liao army by the river, and found that there were more and more Liao troops assembled on the other side, at least twice as many as last night, and he immediately judged that the opposite was the Liao army.

However, he did not back down. The mission given to him by the commander was to lure the enemy southward and pass through Yijin Pass. The enemy did not cross the river, and probably would not leave at the Juma River. He decided to block the Liao army at the ferry and bridgehead for a while to anger them.

When the sun rose completely, Murong Yanzhao gasped as he looked at the shimmering Shizhang River facing the bank. Behind the woods on the distant river bank, more and more people, horses and tents emerged from the mist and shadows. more clearly.

The dust rolled up by many cavalry running behind the woods filled the sky, swept into the air, and covered the sky on the shore.

Last night, he thought that the opponent had only 4000 or [-] troops, but now he saw that the Liao Kingdom had at least [-] troops!
I was a little puzzled in my heart, why did the opposing general dare not attack with such a huge force advantage?

Without thinking about it, he immediately ordered people to cut down trees and block the ferry and bridgeheads. Then the whole army prepared to retreat in the direction of Gu'an, and he personally led 500 people to cut off the rear.

But it didn't take long before I encountered a messenger from the rear, bringing the news that Gu'an was occupied.

The moment Murong Yanzhao heard the news, he said coldly, "Gu'an is forty or fifty miles to the east of us, and the cavalry will arrive in a few hours. Xiang Xun will definitely send someone to call the police on us."

The lieutenant also reacted: "But now the night has passed, and no one has come."

"Quickly retreat! The whole army runs south, and tell the whole army to be careful in case of ambushes!" Xiang Xun hurriedly said, and immediately led his men to stop the rear, and finally headed south.

Not long after leaving the city, a bloody soldier came across the road and cried to him: "General, we have been ambushed. At Wuxingzhuang, twenty miles south of the city, the Khitans ambushed us there. They came from the east. Yes, they let too much, surrounded the brothers."

Murong Yanzhao's face darkened, his beard trembled, "It's still too late!"

Many subordinates panicked, "What should the general do, should we bypass it?"

Murong Yanzhao hesitated for a moment, and immediately became firm: "No, there are only two avenues, and one can't go to the east. Gu'an has been occupied by the Liao army. The south one must be rushed over. We can't run away by taking the trail. Sooner or later he will be caught up!

Brothers, if you want to live, go south and make a way out, otherwise there will be bandits on the north and east, and we will be besieged to death sooner or later. "

Seeing what the Lord General said, everyone gradually began to calm down.

"Immediately go south to help." Then he personally led the team and galloped south.

On the road outside Wuxingzhuang, a lot of dust rose into the sky, and the shouts and killings could be clearly heard from a long distance. The exit to the north of the village was a flat and open threshing ground, surrounded by a large number of wheat fields.

A large number of Liao cavalry has surrounded the Zhou army in the middle of the wheat field, and the shouts of killing can be heard from a long distance away. A large number of cavalry on the outside are shooting arrows around the Zhou army in the middle, and there are many Liao cavalry and infantry regiments inside. The regiment surrounded Zhou Jun.

Many Khitans are shouting to besiege the Zhou army. The weakly equipped rangers are on the periphery, forming a huge two-tiered circular formation. The middle circle of infantry and heavy cavalry hardly moves, blocking the Zhou army inside. Keep moving and shooting arrows.

Holding the spear in his hand, Murong Yanzhao said loudly: "Brothers, there is still a way to survive, go!"

Then they rushed directly to the opponent's formation with hundreds of people, and the well-armored heavy cavalry rushed to the surrounding Liao army's light cavalry from a hundred steps away.

All of a sudden, the horses neighed and the dust flew up. Murong Yanzhao pinched the horse's belly and continued to speed up. The wind howled in his ears, the horse's hooves rumbled, and a spear pierced through the opponent's chest directly through inertia. The terrified Liao cavalry screamed and was stabbed off the horse, and smashed backward with a bang.

Immediately, he shouted angrily, shook his spear, and slapped another person off the horse. The horse's hoof quickly trampled on it mercilessly, and the wailing and screaming were instantly drowned in the sound of the horse's hoof.

The peripheral Liao army was unprepared for their appearance, and was caught off guard in chaos. The cavalry following Murong Yanzhao rushed in one after another, and the Liao army Qingqi cavalry who were unable to react in the future fell off their horses, screaming again and again.

In the northeast corner of the encirclement circle of the Liao army, people turned their backs on their backs and became a mess.

Murong Yanzhao rushed out dozens of steps, immediately turned his horse's head and led the crowd to rush back, the outer light cavalry had been killed and opened a gap, this time directly charged towards the heavy cavalry and infantry inside.

These Liao heavy cavalry and infantry were besieging the Zhou army in the middle of the defense. They were suddenly attacked from behind, unable to react for a while, and were killed by surprise.

Murong Yanzhao easily pierced through the armor of a Liao soldier with his fast horse, inserted the spear into his throat, and then let go immediately to prevent himself from being knocked off the horse by the huge force. The back of the head of a Liao infantryman.

"Brothers! The reinforcements are here, rush out, this way!" Murong Yanzhao yelled towards the encirclement as he and the crowd went forward to kill.

The Zhou army trapped in the large formation heard the sound and saw the reinforcements, and their hearts were shocked. They fought desperately and attacked from both sides. Sauce was squeezed, and thick blood flowed out from the crevices like water. The soldiers in the middle wailed for help, but to no avail, they were quickly cut down and chopped to death.

The northwest corner, which was attacked from both sides, became a hell like a meat grinder.

Soon, the Zhou army inside was covered in blood and hurriedly climbed over the corpse wall, and the surrounding Liao army was killed so that they retreated temporarily and did not dare to step forward.

Murong Yanzhao immediately ordered people to get off the horse and clear the pile of corpses to make way for the people inside.

It took only a quarter of an hour before the general of the Liao Kingdom sitting in the rear had already reacted, and the soldiers on the periphery shouted anxiously: "General, hurry up! Liao reinforcements are here!"

Murong Yanzhao looked up and saw the dusty sky in the northeast, the ground shaking under his feet was getting bigger and bigger, and saw that there were still two or three hundred people who hadn't rushed out from the encircled formation of the Liao army, he gritted his teeth and said, "Go! Withdraw south immediately! "

A large number of Zhou army soldiers fled south one after another, giving up contact with the Liao Kingdom, and soon hundreds of Liao cavalry rushed over from the wheat fields in the north, blocking the gap in the army formation.

In the distance, Murong Yanzhao heard the soldiers crying and telling him not to give up on them. He felt very uncomfortable, but he had no choice but to watch the Liao cavalry who came from the northeast to reinforce the gap again. .

He didn't even have to think about what would happen to those who didn't escape and were surrounded by the Liao army.
As he charged forward, he was farther and farther away from the village, and his vision gradually widened. Murong Yanzhao saw a large number of flags flying on the hillside outside the village in the distance, and the Liao army standing there, who could not see the side, seemed to be looking at them sarcastically. escape in embarrassment
Murong Yanzhao, who was covered in blood, gritted his teeth, but there was nothing he could do. The thieves' troops were far superior to them, and the opponent's general acted resolutely, setting up an ambush overnight.

In the evening, when Murong Yanzhao fled back to Waqiao Pass with his bloody and exhausted soldiers, the marshal came to greet him in person, but Murong Yanzhao couldn't kneel down, crying.

"Commander, the old man has failed the commander, two thousand sons, one of them came back with more than [-] people, and the rest either fled or were captured and killed by thieves, please punish the commander!" Murong Yanzhao knelt on one knee .

Shi Congyun stretched out his hand to help him up: "It's not your fault, I made a miscalculation. After the Liao army took Gu'an and didn't continue to pursue the training department, I should have thought that they might be cutting off your retreat. Although they sent a messenger Still a step late.

The opposing general is a man who knows how to fight, and he knows that it is better to cut off one finger than to hurt five fingers.He gave up chasing Xiang Xun to the south, but went west overnight to copy your back route, and joined forces with another army in an attempt to encircle and annihilate you.

You have done a good job of bringing people out. Before that, you were worried day and night that your entire army would be wiped out. "

Shi Congyun sighed, the loss this time was really big, the forward of the Liao Kingdom is a man who knows how to fight, he didn't take advantage of the victory to go south to pursue Xiang Xun, but concentrated his superior forces to the west with the intention of annihilating Murong Yanzhao's troops, this move was really a good move , He was a little caught off guard.

(End of this chapter)