Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 673 Gathering
On the eighth day of the first lunar month in the third year of Qianning, a thousand cavalry soldiers of the Dingyuan Army set off first.

According to the old rules, this time they are allowed to ride on horseback instead of walking on foot.People carry five days of dry food and dozens of catties of cooked beans, which are not light, so it is actually impossible to ride the whole journey on horseback.

After exiting the Shazha Valley, head southeast for thirty miles and arrive at Yongning County.

The people in the county were panicked. The main officials such as Ling and Cheng had all fled, and one of the county lieutenants also escaped.

The cavalry did not intend to stay here. After recruiting all the donkeys, horses and mules they could get, they traveled eastward and captured Fuchang County in the afternoon. After nightfall, they rested at Liuquanyi, more than [-] miles east of Fuchang.

The morale of the soldiers was high, and they wanted to march overnight, but "horses don't understand patriotism", so they could only rest at this station for one night.

In the early morning of the ninth day of the ninth day, they continued to advance towards Yongji Bridge and Shou'an County without stopping, with no obstacles in the wind and snow, just hoping to get to the battlefield as soon as possible.

At this time, Zhu Youning's [-] people, because of the heavy snow, the soldiers complained, had just passed the Ganshui post, and it looked like it was nearly [-] miles away from Luoyang.

The Yumen Army is at the head of the dragon, and the vanguard has already turned to attack Yuyuan Pass. The main force of 3000 people is only ten miles away from Yanshi County.

The Yang Sheng Department of the Tiande Army had fought fiercely with the 2000 Changzhi Army left behind in the old city of Luoyang for a whole day. They were invincible and retreated to Shiqiaodian to hold on.

In the north, Fu Cunshen decisively ordered to stop attacking the southern city of Heyang, vacated the Jiebin Department in the right wing of the Baoyi Army, and stuck to the Baisi Maban area as a reserve team for the siege.Tianxiong's [-]-strong army escorted food, grass, and equipment to the south, heading straight for Luoyang.

All the ministries of the Xia army, like sharks smelling blood, rushed to hunt the right wing of the long straight army led by Kou Yanqing.As for Zhu Youning's 5000 people and Xu Huaiyu's [-] people, they all regarded him as a chicken and a dog, a turtle in a urn.

In the north of Luoyang City, Cai Songyang suffered several injuries and was almost unable to fight anymore.There were more than [-] days of German troops, with more than a thousand casualties, and the casualties of the Tutuan peasants were even greater.

If Kou Yanqing worked harder, he might be able to pull Cai Songyang out of the ruins and win the reputation of beheading General Xia.But he didn't want to fight anymore, because news came from the direction of Luoyang's old city that Xia Zetian's German army had killed him. There were about 3000 people, plus [-] Tutuan villagers, who had just repelled them.

Kou Yanqing keenly sensed that there seemed to be a big net encircling him, and immediately ordered the soldiers and horses in the old city of Luoyang to retreat in the direction of Taigu Pass.

As for the mess in Luoyang, he didn't want to deal with it, although Hu Zhen disagreed.

"Xu Huaiyu is the old man Yuancong, the great king. General Kou really wants to abandon him?" Hu Zhen asked with a livid face.

Kou Yanqing glanced at him, aren't you also the old man Liang Wang Yuancong?Be hard-hearted, even throwing you away, so what?

"Your Majesty Jian pulled me into the army and gave me the army, but I didn't let me throw it lightly." Kou Yanqing said with a straight face, showing no respect to Hu Zhen at all.

"You!" Hu Zhen was furious, and instinctively wanted to call for his own soldiers, but suddenly realized that he was in the Changzhi barracks, so he could only change his tone and said, "Dalang, Zhu Youning's troops will arrive in a day, by then or Can we attack again?"

"No!" Kou Yanqing said: "Hu Shuai, the bandits stationed Yang Sheng's troops in Shiqiaodian, less than two days away from here."

"Yang Sheng was originally the town general of Dasan Pass, so why should he be afraid of him?" Hu Zhen asked.

"Cai Songyang's name is unknown. In today's battle, his troops dared to fight and fight, so we should not underestimate them." Kou Yanqing said: "It is not advisable to underestimate the generals before they have fought."

Hu Zhen choked.Kou Yanqing, could it be that his morale has been knocked down?
"Dalang, you must wait for a few more days." After Hu Zhen thought for a long time, he said, "I will send an envoy to Xu Huaiyu of Xin'an County and order him to withdraw to Luoyang. No matter what, I will take them away."

"Hu Shuai can send envoys to communicate." Kou Yanqing became a little impatient, and said: "The Changzhi Army will not stay any longer, and we will leave today."

Over the past few days, Kou Yanqing's perception of Hu Zhen has dropped sharply. When is it? Do you still care about the little capital?

The Huazhou Legion originated from the Yicheng Army back then.After An Shiru was killed, some people were controlled by Hu Zhen, and his old subordinates slowly recruited new people. Over time, they formed a big mountain in Liang Jun's system.

Of course, this mountain was later cut off by King Liang, and Hu Zhen left the town of Luoyang, so he had to painstakingly rebuild his own capital.After finally saving a batch, it looks like it will disappear again today.

For an army leader, the army is the capital. Hu Zhen is afraid of being punished by the king of Liang, but also reluctant to run out of his capital. Kou Yanqing can completely understand.

But understanding is understanding, but I won't play with him anymore.

At the moment, regardless of Hu Zhen's stinky face, he ordered all the ministries to pack up and set off.

Xu Huaiyu's life or death is none of my business?
What's more, if you want to save him, you can't save him. It's far away in Xin'an County, and you're not a mother, so why should you try to save her?Conservation of strength matters.

……

Above the city of Luoyang, the north wind howled.

After seeing the Changzhi army disappear into the vast snow field with his own eyes, Ma Sixun shook off the snowflakes on his body, and hurried down the tower: "Open the door, welcome the soldiers and horses of King Xia into the city."

The sergeants looked at each other.

"Some of you are old people who came from Haozhou with General Ma, some are Bian Song sergeants, and some are locals from Luoyang. There are some things that I shouldn't have to say--" Duan Ning, who was standing aside, sighed and said: "The situation in the world is changing. Chao, if you kill me, I will kill you, sometimes you have to be willing to gamble and admit defeat. Now the king of Liang has been defeated, and the victory of Luoyang has been divided. ?”

After saying this, Duan Ning paused for a moment, carefully observing everyone's expressions.Seeing shock, contemplation, fear and other emotions on their faces, he immediately let go of his heart and said: "The only way to surrender is Kaesong. King Xia is benevolent and will pardon you all, so don't worry."

"That's the only way to go." Everyone chattered.

The city gate opened half an hour later, and Ma Sixun and Duan Ning went to Cai Songyang's camp alone to "plead guilty" to show their sincerity.

Cai Songyang is being wounded.There were several large wounds on the chest and abdomen, and more small wounds.There was a wooden basin in front of him, and some arrowheads were randomly thrown in the basin, which should have been taken from him.

"Criminal General Ma Sixun (Duan Ning) pays his respects to General Cai." The two did not dare to look any further, and saluted together.

"Stop talking nonsense!" Cai Songyang slapped the table, first glanced at Duan Ning, then looked at Ma Sixun, and sneered, "General Ma, do you know that I wanted to kill you just now?"

Ma Sixun was startled, and sweat leaked from his back.

"Now I'll give you a chance!" Cai Songyang didn't give him a chance to speak, and said loudly, "Call together the troops immediately, and go south to pursue Hu Zhen and Kou Yanqing, and we must not let them escape."

"This..." Ma Sixun hesitated.

"Are you going to do it or not? Give me a quick word!" Cai Songyang said angrily.

Hearing his anger, the soldiers outside the tent looked in one after another, as if as long as Cai Songyang gave an order, they would cut people down.

"Follow... obey." Ma Sixun quickly realized his situation, and replied with a bitter face.

"Don't worry, I won't let you fight alone." Cai Songyang sneered, "I still have seven or eight hundred horsemen here, and they will cooperate with you. Hurry up, or it will be too late."

"As ordered."

After waving Ma Sixun and Duan Ning away like flies, Cai Songyang sighed.

He took the [-] infantry that went south to Luoyang, and they were considered disabled.More than half of the [-] Tutuan villagers suffered heavy losses.

He had just ordered that more than a thousand Xiangyongs and the remaining one hundred surrendered troops be incorporated into his own troops, so that the number of soldiers under him who could still move returned to more than 2000.

These 2000 people would normally take time to rectify and train, but Cai Songyang didn't want to wait.

After wrapping up this injury, I will continue to chase!
Chang Zhijun killed so many sons of me, how could he let you go?
……

The wind was getting stronger and stronger, and the snow took advantage of the wind to hit people's faces with pain.

In the wind and snow, there was a faint sound of shouting and killing.

"Don't let Hu Zhen run away!"

"Catch Hu Zhen and dedicate it to Supreme Khan!"

"It's snowing so hard, he can't escape!"

"Brothers, capturing Hu Zhen is a great achievement!"

"No one will rob me!"

There was a sound of horseshoes, and the bandits from the bitterly cold place in northern Saibei approached from the north, shooting arrows with the help of the wind, wantonly bullying the guards of the Changzhi army who were retreating south.

The arrows Liang Ren fired back were weak and were blown out of focus by the wind, causing the pursuers to burst into laughter.

However, after shooting arrows for a while, Fan Qi gave up his hands, drew out his dagger and Gu Duo one after another, and rushed forward shouting.

It wasn't that they didn't want to continue archery. It was snowing heavily for two days and two nights. The weather was bitterly cold, and the bowstring was frozen hard. It was not easy to open the bow.

As the saying goes, "the bow string is broken in the freezing snow, and the flagpole is broken by the wind", but at this time, it is not as good as "the only lone hero sword, and the Longquan character is immortal". It is the right time to chop with a sword!

The wind and snow were boundless, and large groups of cavalry pawns sometimes disappeared into the snow field, and sometimes appeared suddenly.Liang Jun's guard troops were nervous, hiding in the baggage vehicles, holding long spears, knives and axes, struggling to drive away the fan cavalry who were chasing and killing them.

Another part of the cavalry circled to the front of Liang Jun and charged forward.

Liang Jun had no choice but to send capable infantry to walk ahead under the guard of the chariot formation.Spare bow strings and crossbow strings were also taken out of the luggage, so that they could be quickly replaced in case the strings broke.

Kou Yanqing also boarded a carriage, wearing heavy armor and holding a Mo knife to boost morale.

At this time, he was secretly glad that Xia Bandit's harassing crazily proved his previous guess: the bandit army marched in parallel, intending to outflank his troops and keep the right wing of the Chang Zhi Army in Luoyang forever.

Fortunately, I didn't fall for your big tricks.

Fighting like this and traveling for several miles, Kou Yanqing felt that he had killed and wounded more than a hundred Tibetan cavalry, and when they should have been discouraged, the convoy stopped suddenly.

"What's going on?" He jumped out of the carriage, strode forward, and asked angrily.

"General, the thieves dug a lot of pits and trenches in the snow. Lieutenant General Li has already sent someone to fill them."

Kou Yanqing's face suddenly became very ugly.

The means of harassment and digging have been used, what is left behind?
If this continues, how far can you go when it gets dark?Five or six miles?Seven or eight miles?
He glanced back at the northern sky, his eyes seemed to be able to penetrate layers of dark clouds, and saw those Xia Bing who were panting heavily and frantically chasing after him.

"Calculating the time, Zhu Youning should be able to reach the southwest of Luoyang tonight, maybe he can attract the attention of the thief Xia, and act as a scapegoat." Kou Yanqing thought to himself.

(End of this chapter)