Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1051 Another difficult decision

On July 21, the first year of Tianyou, after Fuyang was conquered, Lu Huaizhong, the former enemy platoon envoy, personally led the main force of Wuwei and the sudden generals to ride northward with more than [-] horsemen, heading straight for Handan, the important town of Cizhou.

Prior to this, the Jinglue Army, which had been building siege equipment outside the city of Mingzhou, had actually divided up its troops first. Du Yuhou Yang Yi personally led [-] cavalry and captured Linming County.

The deputy envoy Feng Yin led [-] cavalry and defeated the first part of the Fifth Academy Army in the north of Handan in the south of Linming County.The bandit army didn't dare to return to Handan, and went westward, routing into Wu'an.

Li Ke used few troops, and his configuration was still heavy on the front and light on the back. The guards with straight guns, the Huangjia Army in front of the hall, and the Army of the Fifth Academy were all deployed in Cizhou, but they were inserted by the Jinglue Army along the junction of Xing Mingci and Weizhou. Detouring Mingzhou, there is a danger of being cut off by the whole army.

When the news reached Fukou Town, Li Keyong remained silent.

Li Cunxian, envoy of the Yier Army, and Li Luoluo, envoy of the Hengchong Army, looked uneasy, staring at Li Keyong, waiting for him to make a decision.

The enemy's strategic army is developing rapidly in the direction of Mingzhou, and the threat is getting bigger and bigger. Although the food road of the Fifth Academy Army cannot be cut off immediately, the shake of the morale of the army is an objective existence.The most pitiful thing is that Xingzhou does not have enough soldiers to re-open the road.The only thing that can be used on the battlefield now is Li Ke's righteous son in his hand, rushing across the two armies.

Li Ke used a little simulation.

If they continue to operate in Fukou Town and even Cizhou, the Economic and Strategic Army will completely cut off the road from Xingzhou to Cizhou, and even capture Mingzhou.When the battle reaches this level, it can be said that the defeat is doomed.The Army of the Fifth Academy could not save it, and neither could Mingzhou.

If you lead the army to rescue Mingzhou, the traffic can still be maintained for a period of time, and even cooperate with more than [-] people from the Fifth Academy Army to defeat the Xia army that has penetrated into the direction of Mingzhou, and fight one or two battles of annihilation.The premise is that the direction of Cizhou is stable and a large number of enemy troops are contained.

Of course, there is another way, that is, to abandon Fukou Town, and the whole army goes south to Cizhou, defeating the main force of the enemy under Fuyang Jiancheng, and turning the whole battle situation in one fell swoop.However, Li Keyong was familiar with the establishment of the Xia army. The two armies of the sudden generals and Wuwei also had more than ten thousand cavalry who were good at charging. Now that the silver guns and flying bears are coming, the odds of winning are very low.

How to do?Which policy to choose?
"This battle..." Li Keyong pondered for a long time, and was about to speak when Gai Yu hurried over.

"Your Majesty." His complexion was not very good. When Li Keyong saw it, his heart thumped subconsciously. There had been too much bad news recently, and he was already a little afraid of hearing the military reports from various battlefields.

"What's the matter?" Li Ke asked calmly.

"Your Majesty, report from the direction of Zhaoyi County, there is a squadron of bandits coming." Gai Yu said: "There seems to be a change in Fuyang, there are scouts watching from a distance, and the cheers from the top and bottom of the city are like thunder, and it lasts for a long time."

Why didn't the scouts approach to investigate, but observe from a distance?Of course, the risk of approaching is too great, and it is even impossible to approach.

"My lord!" Li Keyong hadn't spoken yet, but Li Luoluo couldn't hold his breath anymore. He saw his face was ugly and anxious, and said, "Fuyang City must be broken."

"..." Li Ke wanted to say something, but didn't say anything.

Cizhou city broken?Is that easy?How many days has it been?
"Your Majesty, in fact..." Li Cunxian, the envoy of the Righteous Army, hesitated for a while, and then said: "Cizhou is isolated and helpless, with few troops. What he said is true, Fu Yang should have been lost."

Li Ke didn't need to speak.

In fact, he knew in his heart that the fall of Fuyang was inevitable.But if Fuyang is gone, what is the use of all his troubles in Fukou Town?what sense?What is the value of losing so many soldiers and horses in this battle?
"Your Majesty." Gai Yu took a deep breath and remonstrated, "Even if Fuyang is not lost, Mingzhou is in critical condition right now, and this battle cannot be fought. It is time to make a decision."

Li Ke was speechless for a long time.

Fuyang City was broken, he had actually believed the news, and this blow to the head also made him a little more sober.

From the moment Xia Jun went north, the Jin army was passive everywhere, fighting blindly and suffering heavy losses.Of course, there are reasons for the serious shortage of troops, but the mistakes in their own tactics and strategies also exist objectively.

Unwilling to admit defeat, reluctant to lose the unfavorable defense of the Xingmingci three states, pinning their hopes on unreliable allies, the result is going further and further down the wrong path.

The strategy is wrong, and the more tossed about tactics, the more wrong it is.

Li Ke has used soldiers for many years, and thought he shouldn't be at this level, but in actual operation, he is like a young boy who doesn't know how to use soldiers.

Ridiculous, ridiculous!Li Keyong let out a long sigh, his expression extremely lonely.

"Give Shi Jun an order that the Huangjia army in front of the hall abandon Fukou Town and retreat to Taihang Mountain. I will come and cut off his heir."

There are two retreat routes for the Huangjia army in front of the hall. One is to go north to Wu'an, join a broken army of the Fifth Academy Army, and then go west into the Taihang Mountains; the other is to go directly west, pass the newly built Huguan, and retreat to Shexian County .

Going north is too risky, and heading west is the most suitable, and you will enter the mountains in a few steps.If the thousands of Xia soldiers nearby pursued them, Li Ke would use his cavalry to harass them and slow down their pursuit speed.Xia Jun's follow-up brigade of cavalry came, but they couldn't leave the Huang Jiajun in front of the hall. In the mountain, it's not sure who will do who.

"Send an order to An Jinquan that the Army of the Fifth Academy abandon Handan, retreat to Wu'an, and then retreat to Taihang Mountain. I will come and cut off the rear for him."

Yes, Lao Li is still very busy.It seems that Yi'er and Hengchong's two armies are going to divide into two groups, fighting fires everywhere.

However, the retreat of the Huangjia Army in front of the hall is very easy, and the retreat of the Fifth Academy Army has a problem of "billion points".The distance is long, the situation is complicated, and it is very likely that they will hit the Xia army of the brigade.

Of course, there are positives as well.The Xia army had just broken through Fuyang. This was the siege battle with the most casualties among all forms of warfare. The morale of the troops was affected and they were also very tired. Most of them had to rest for a day or two, which gave them a chance.

"Over there in Xingzhou—" Li Ke used to ponder for a while, and finally said: "Let An Jinjun evacuate personnel and goods, and pick the important ones to evacuate first. Destroy what can't be evacuated, and don't stay to serve the enemy."

Xingzhou also only has three or four thousand state soldiers. On this huge battlefield, they can't play a decisive role. They can be regarded as powerful if they can resist for a while.

Cizhou is lost, Mingzhou is very dangerous, and Xingzhou will be difficult to keep in the end.It's not that Li Keyong couldn't understand the joints, it was just that he couldn't accept it before.Now that I have made up my mind, my mind is extremely clear, and I don't hesitate to make a decision.

"On the other hand, send envoys to Zhenzhou and tell Wang Rong that after Xia Bing captured Xingzhou, it bordered Chengde Town. With Shao Shude's posture of encroaching on the universe, Chengde will never survive. At this critical moment, we should help each other , to fight against the powerful enemy together. I hope you will send veterans on the battlefield to lead the army to meet one or two." Li Keyong said finally.

To the north of Xingzhou is Zhaozhou, and to the northeast is Jizhou, both of which are the territory of Chengde Army.If Shao Shude's threats seemed a little far away in the past, this time it really came to his doorstep, which is bound to cause a violent backlash within Zhenzhou.

Li Keyong didn't want Chengde's army to take the place of the dead, he just asked them to send troops south to take care of them for a while.Anyway, that's the end of the story, it's up to Wang Rong to listen or not.

After the order is issued, there are messengers to deliver it.

Li Ke ordered Li Cunxian to lead [-] Yier troops to herd horses nearby to monitor Xia's army, and led the rest of the Yier army and Hengchong army to the northeast to meet the Fifth Academy Army.

******
It was already night.

In Anyang City, Shao Shude was already paralyzed on the bed, reading history books leisurely.

Li Yixian took away the bowls and chopsticks lightly, then brought another pot of tea and poured it gently.

These jobs can be done by assigning anyone to do them, but Li Yixian has always done it himself, earning performance and earning flying.

"Where is Lu Huaizhong's department?" Shao Shude's voice came from the bed.

"This meeting should have reached Taicheng Town and Zhaowang City." Li Yixian replied.

Taicheng Town is located forty miles northeast of Fuyang. According to legend, it was a summer resort built by King Zhao during the Warring States Period. He also enjoyed singing and dancing here. It belongs to Handan County.Next to the city are the tombs of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru.

Zhao Wangcheng is the former site of Handan, the capital of Zhao State during the Warring States Period. It is not far from Taicheng Town, and there are Leyi Tomb and Zhao Jianzi Tomb nearby.Not far to the northwest of Handan, there is the tomb of Zhao She.Duanduan is a good historical and cultural resort.

"Marching overnight is really courageous." Shao Shude laughed.

When he said this, he was calm and not nervous at all, because he could afford to lose.

In history, when Zhu Quanzhong hit this position, he should have felt almost the same way.

Their greatest enemy is always inside, not outside.Poor internal operations will affect all aspects, will lead to a decline in the combat effectiveness of the army, and will result in military failure. This is the most dangerous thing.

But at this time, he also parted ways with Zhu Quanzhong.History told him that Zhu Quanzhong's road was a dead end, and he didn't want to try it.

"The bandit army's deployment was ineffective, the battle was invincible, and morale was low. Lu Dutou is also a veteran in the battlefield, so it's no problem." Li Yixian said.

Shao Shude didn't want to send Lu Huaizhong the formation map, telling him to deploy in this way, to arrange troops in that way, and Lu Huaizhong would not tell him how to march or how to arrange the formation.

But Shao Shude has spent half his life on the battlefield, and he is as familiar with military affairs as the lines on his palm, and he can judge the details of the battlefield with just a few words.

The main force went straight, entered Bo Handan by surprise, outflanked the division, cut off the enemy's return, and spread out the cavalry in a large area to ensure that the enemy would not touch the front without knowing it.

Xing Mingci is basically on the plains, such a battle is best fought, both sides are clear cards, there is no suddenness.

The current Shao Shude, holding the big and small kings and four twos, plays the bright cards when he plays the bright cards.

"Is there any movement from Wei Bo?" Shao Shude asked again.

"According to the news in the morning, the rebel army seems to have known about the Cizhou War. Ships are constantly flowing along the Yongji Canal. The rebel army has hoarded a large amount of food and grass in Neihuang. It seems to have a plan." Li Yixian replied.

"This made me look up to them." Shao Shude smiled, and said, "Wait quietly for the end of the Xing Mingci war, and then come to take care of Wei Bo later. Pack up your things tonight, and follow me to Ye County tomorrow."

"As ordered."

(End of this chapter)