Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1211 Stop Loss
"Whoosh!" An arrow flew out, and a lieutenant general of the Xia army, with superb riding skills, narrowly avoided it.

As soon as he got up from Mashan, another arrow flew towards him, hit his throat, and fell off the horse with a scream.

There was no joy on Li Keyong's face.

He shot again and again, almost every arrow was shot, killing several people in a row.

Xia Jun on the opposite side did not show any weakness, and the arrow rain came quickly and urgently.Li Ke's personal soldiers held large shields and protected them tightly.

But in the end, there was still an arrow flying towards him.

In the blink of an eye, Li Ke used to throw himself on the horse's back to avoid it.Then he didn't get up, held the bow in both hands, and shot directly from the ground, shooting Xia Bing who had sneaked up on him off his horse.

With galloping shots, side shots, lying shots, back shots, and left and right bows, Li Keyong was as straight as a god of war, killing countless enemies, many of whom were high-value officers.

But he fought, but found that there were fewer and fewer soldiers around him, and he was killed at some point.

After cursing secretly, he cast a look back at the moon, fired two arrows in a row, killed one person, and then shouted to retreat.

The Jin army was well-trained, quickly disengaged, and withdrew like a gust of wind.

Xia Jun also reined in the horse, and everyone looked at me and I looked at you, with lingering fears in their hearts, and did not pursue.

The Jin army withdrew several miles away and stopped.

Li Ke frowned tightly. He was getting older and his physical strength was not as good as before.If it was 20 years ago, he led people to rush to kill, and there was nothing he couldn't win.

Not far from a small river, the last carriage also crossed the river.

The car was full of all kinds of goods, and the escorting sergeants were beaming and kept urging them on their way.

"That's all the ambition." Li Keyong spat, dismounted and rested.

Calling back and forth, and returning to the old road of robbery, this is actually his acquiescence.

In the past few years, Li Ke has rectified military discipline, and looting is not allowed on the surface.But there is no money in Hedong, and the treatment of warriors is getting worse and worse. At this time, you have to compensate them in other ways, and the military discipline rectification will come to an end without a problem.

If you have no money and need to rectify military discipline, who the hell will play with you?
The warriors ate something themselves first, and then fed the horses salt water and dry food. After everything was ready, Li Keyong gave the order to retreat.

On the way back, he kept thinking about a problem.

He Dong joined the war to rescue Cangjing halfway, but it has been going on for a long time.He personally supervised the battle, and even charged and killed many times. The soldiers actually worked hard.And he basically won all the battles he personally charged, but the overall situation of the battle has never changed. Why?
Well, he actually knew the reason, but he just didn't want to admit it.That is the comparison of strength between Xia and Jin. There is already a qualitative gap. No matter how much you win tactically, the overall strategy will continue to fail, and passiveness is inevitable.

"Damn it!" Li Ke flicked his horsewhip and walked away first.

The sergeants were not surprised at all, and urged their horses to follow.King Jin was sulking more and more, and they were used to it.

After retreating all the way back to Linlu County, Li Ke returned to the county government on his own.

"Husband, let's drink some tea." Mrs. Liu brought a bowl of tea with her own hands and said softly.

Li Ke took the tea and drank it down.

Liu turned around behind him and gently rubbed his shoulders.

Li Ke didn't speak, just enjoyed it quietly.

After a long time, Mrs. Liu stopped, and seeing that the tea was already cold, she ordered the soldiers to boil another pot.

"No need." Li Ke said with a wave of his hand.

The soldiers retreated in response.

Mrs. Liu brought another snack made by herself, twisted a piece and stuffed it into Li Keyong's mouth.

Li Keyong was reluctant at first, but under Liu's insistence, he swallowed it anyway.

"Is it delicious?" Liu asked with a smile.

"So-so." Li Keyong said.

"After that return to Jinyang, I will do more." Liu said with a smile.

Li Ke was silent again.

"Husband, it's time to make a decision." Liu said in a low voice.

Li Keyong got up suddenly and turned around in the hall.

The news from Youzhou, of course, has been delivered here quickly.To be honest, Li Keyong was still very flustered at the beginning, and wanted to withdraw his troops immediately and rescue Youzhou with the whole army.However, the eldest son Luoluo assured him that Xia's bandits were blunt, and he was sure to block the Xia people in Jizhou.

So Li Keyong hesitated again.He wanted to wait and see if there would be a favorable change in the situation.

But this time, they waited for the news that the city of Dezhou was broken.Moreover, it took a long time. Li Cunzhang's army's morale was fluctuating. Although additional rewards were issued, everyone knew that he could not persist for a long time.

Now, he had to make a decision.As a commander-in-chief, abandon all kinds of interference factors and make a responsible person's decision.

"Shao thief won't fight!" Li Ke slapped the table with his palm, his expression full of anger.

If you look closely, there seems to be a hint of embarrassment.

That's right, it's no wonder if you don't become angry from shame when you are fooled by your own brother-in-law!
The gang of counselors under his command are also idiots, so no one thought that Bandit Xia would cross the sea to sneak attack?Obviously they are already running southern Liaoning, and from what the Khitan people said, the momentum is not small.

I can't even think of this, what is it if it's not a rice bucket?
"Husband, now is not the time to be impulsive." Liu Shi came over, adjusted his sleeves for him, and persuaded softly: "If the situation is like this, what can I say? Where is our foundation? Hedong."

It is true that Youzhou is also very important.But for the Jin army, Hedong is the fundamental place for Zhenger Bajing.This is not to say that they don't want to save Youzhou, but that there is always a point of importance.

"Can Luoluo hold Youzhou?" Li Ke asked, grabbing Liu's hand.

Liu sighed.Husband can ask such a question, but he has already been shaken.

"Husband, it doesn't matter if Luoluo can hold or not. The army outside Cangzhou City has lost their morale, and they are ready to return." Liu said, "It's time to order them to withdraw."

"They left, what about Lu Yanwei?" Li Keyong asked.

"Retire to Yingzhou." Liu replied, "Yingmo Erzhou has a household registration of more than one million, and the remnant soldiers raising Lu Yanwei will not be a problem. With them, even if the Xia people occupy Cangjing, the situation will not be stable in the short term."

"But in the end, the rebellion can be suppressed and stabilized." Li Keyong said.

Mrs. Liu smiled, stretched out her hand to caress her husband's face, and said: "It's up to people, who knows what will happen in the future."

"Think I'm a three-year-old again." Li Ke said angrily.

Liu sneered, and then said seriously: "Husband, after losing the battle, how can you want this or that? Recovering the loss as much as possible, and considering the long-term battle in the future, is the right way."

Li Ke was silent.With the loss of Cangjing, the situation in Hebei is very bad, so there is no long-term battle.

But Madam is right, it is more important to recover the loss.For now, let's take care of Youzhou first, don't think too much.If you drag it on, it is not impossible for the Yan soldiers outside Cangzhou City to directly mutiny for you.

Liu waited patiently.I have said everything that needs to be said, and my husband is already old. He has suffered many setbacks these years, and he already knows what it means to be stronger than others.When it's time to admit defeat, you have to admit defeat. There is nothing shameful.

Sure enough, after thinking for a long time, Li Ke finally sighed in pain and said, "I lost again..."

Mrs. Liu took his hand and comforted him silently.

"Let's retreat, let's all retreat." Li Keyong said helplessly: "Let Li Cunzhang retreat to Youzhou to do things cheaply. Then send envoys to Zhenzhou and ask King Zhao to send some more troops to help them retreat. Lu Yanwei, follow him Where to go. Whether you want to go to Youzhou or seek refuge with Wang Rong, whatever he wants, I can't control too much. What do you think of this arrangement, madam?"

"My husband has arranged it very thoughtfully, and I don't have much to say." Liu said.

"On the side of Cizhou, Yazi has full authority to command all the troops and horses."

"After all the armies have withdrawn, take a short rest. After a while, we will go north to Youzhou."

"If there is spare time, let's solve that troublesome son An Jingsi together."

When Li Keyong said these things, Mrs. Liu did not interrupt.

From her point of view, it was all trivial matters.She only needs to persuade her husband to make the most beneficial choice for Hedong in the major nodes. As for the other things, she is not easy to interfere as a woman.What's more, she has never been to the front line to fight, and she has never personally commanded an army to fight. It is better to leave these professional matters to men.

"After this battle, will Wang Rong vote for the Xia people?" Li Keyong suddenly remembered this and asked.

Chengde is still quite powerful.Among other things, the huge number of horses alone is a huge amount of wealth, and it is also a necessary material for the battle.

After thinking for a while with a frown, Mrs. Liu said, "Prince Zhao is weak, and he might be disappointed. Husband still needs to send someone who can speak well, talk about the benefits and harms, and encourage him a lot."

Li Ke used to think carefully about the candidates.

"Of course, you don't have to worry too much, husband." Liu said again: "Chengde and Yiding towns, even if Jie Shuai wants to surrender, the warriors will not agree, it is completely different from Cangjing."

This is to list Cangjing as the weakest vassal town in Hebei, and it is almost the same in fact.Fighting may not be the weakest, but the quality of will is indeed weak.In short, not die hard enough.

"Will Thief Shao take advantage of the situation to attack Chengde?" Li Keyong asked.

"Husband, you should worry more about Youzhou." Liu Shi said, "If you change positions, where will you attack?"

Li Keyong nodded and said, "I will follow Madam's words."

"Actually—" Liu said again: "I heard that Yang Xingmi in Huainan has stopped fighting with Qian Liu. If they can make a big move northward, they can still draw a lot of Xia people's troops. Maybe we can think of a way to send envoys across the Xia territory. , contact Yang Wu."

"How promising is Yang Xingmi!" Li Ke said disdainfully.

In fact, if Mrs. Liu didn't remind him, he really wouldn't be able to remember it for a while.

In history, it was actually Yang Xingmi who sent an envoy to travel across Henan pretending to be a merchant, and even made a painting for him.It can be seen that Yang Xingmi is in Huainan, but he is concerned about the war in the north.Let alone the combat effectiveness, the pattern is indeed much stronger than Li Keyong.

"But Yang Xingmi is in a good position." Liu said with a smile: "If he aggressively raids the empty rear of the Xia people, it will be much more effective than my husband deploying an army of tens of thousands in Hebei. Yang Xingmi still has a bit of vision. He just killed Tian You and An Renyi have eliminated internal hidden dangers, and Qian Liu was defeated by them, so he may be free to go north."

"Then send someone." Li Ke said indifferently.

Anyway, just give it a try, it doesn't matter if Yang Xingmi agrees or not.What he is most concerned about now is the situation in Youzhou.

(End of this chapter)