Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Two days later, as a fine snow fell, the retreat of the Western Army came to a complete halt. The snowflakes falling all over the sky melted almost as soon as they hit the ground, turning the ground into soft mud. No matter how hard the soldiers whipped them, the oxen and horses pulling the cart lowered their heads and paid no attention. The wheels were turning, but they remained still except for splashing mud everywhere. The soldiers had to put straw, bundles of branches, and even clothes under the wheels to move the cart forward a few meters before sinking into the next mud pit.

The Eastern Army seized this good opportunity given to them by God. Hei Te Changzhi took the lead and was the first to dig hard on the ground with a pickaxe. He divided his soldiers into two teams, one team dug the soil and the other team dug hard. The team wore armor and held soldiers on guard, taking turns eating and resting, day and night. As a result, on the third day when the snow stopped and the ground was frozen hard, there were already two trenches about four miles long, four meters wide and two meters deep across the Western Army's retreat path. The soil dug out from the trenches was piled up on the second Behind the trench, a barrier was formed, and behind the barrier were densely packed spears, flags, and arrows.

When Pei Xingjian saw with his own eyes how quickly the enemy had built this barrier on his own retreat route, he couldn't help being surprised. However, he suppressed his army's desire to fight with extreme calmness, although the Eastern Army's cavalry scouts almost Already approaching the fence outside the Western Army's camp, the soldiers of the Western Army were almost impatient to go out and fight.

For four days, Wang Wenzuo challenged the Western Army in vain, but Pei Xingjian stood still. Moreover, he told his subordinates unabashedly that he was unwilling to leave the camp to fight the enemy when it was not good for him.

Faced with Pei Xingjian's almost stubborn persistence, Wang Wenzuo took active action. He divided his troops to cut off the Western Army's retreat to the south, and built a very strong camp on a high ground overlooking the road. As a result, not only was it impossible for the Western Army to retreat westward to Tongguan, but the road to the southwest toward Yiyang was also cut off. After Pei Xingjian learned the news from his spies, he desperately and sadly found that he had been completely surrounded. He would either leave the camp and fight the enemy who had the advantage of cavalry, or a few days later, driven by hunger, he would attack Wang Wenzuo. surrender.

In this way, Pei Xingjian thought day and night about how to lead his army out of the predicament, but he could never find a way out of this extremely dangerous situation. His soldiers also became dejected. At first they just cursed their commander in a low voice, but then they began to curse him loudly. He was a cowardly and incompetent commander who avoided fighting when victory was very promising before. Now they are doomed to failure and death. They thought of the Battle of Changping with fear, and loudly complained that Pei Xingjian was a more reckless and imbecile guy than Zhao Kuo. Because the Zhao army was fighting in a long and narrow valley at that time, it was surrounded by the enemy and was in a desperate situation due to the unfavorable terrain. However, their commander, due to his negligence and incompetence, actually allowed the enemy to surround him on an open flat land.

During the night, heavy snow fell and stopped. Pei Xingjian couldn't bear the frustration in the military tent, so he changed into a coarse fur coat and walked out of the tent. He walked to a higher place and saw the smoke column rising from behind the mountains high in the west, reaching straight into the sky and illuminating half of the sky. Pei Xingjian saw this and asked, "What's going on with this column of smoke and light?"

"It should be the scouts of the Eastern Thieves who are burning horse dung!" A subordinate replied: "The scouts work day and night, using the smoke pillar as a signal. If there is any movement on our side, we will use it to signal!"

Pei Xingjian nodded heavily, he sighed, and just as he was about to say something, he heard the sound of a long song coming from outside the camp. The song was like a wolf howling, and it was a song from Saibei, boundless and far away. Pei Xingjian had just listened to two verses when he heard someone in his own camp was also composing a song to match the song. Suddenly, there were people composing songs both inside and outside the camp.

"Grand Governor!" Someone among his subordinates exclaimed in surprise: "It must be Wang Wenzuo's trick. It won't work if it continues like this! It's better to send someone to stop it quickly, otherwise the army will collapse without a fight!"

"It's too late!" Pei Xingjian sighed: "The military morale has reached this point, what else can be done?" After that, he returned to his tent.

In the early morning of the next day, Pei Xingjian received a report from his subordinates that the Hu cavalry in Beiting and Hexi towns in the camp last night had lost four to five thousand cavalry, and it was estimated that most of them had defected to the enemy camp. Pei Xingjian knew that if this continued, he would not need enemies to fight, and his troops would collapse on their own. They had no choice but to order the entire army to break camp and head westward in the heavy snow. The snow fell heavier and heavier along the way, and more and more soldiers escaped. By nightfall, only more than 10,000 soldiers were left in the army.

When Wang Wenzuo learned of the enemy's movements, he immediately ordered the cavalry to prepare for departure and sent three heralds to warn Hei Te Changzhi. He believed that Pei Xingjian was most likely to retreat to Tongguan, because he could only retreat to Tongguan. In order to protect the pass, if he breaks through to the south, even if he can break through successfully, he will not be able to protect Chang'an, which is unacceptable to Pei Xingjian. Then he took five thousand cavalry as his vanguard and led the army forward through the snow.

Everything happened as Wang Wenzuo expected. At dawn, the Eastern Army sentries on the trench discovered Pei Xingjian's forward. They blew the horn: the enemy was approaching.

Kuroge Tsuneno ordered everyone to be armed, retreated behind the barrier behind the ditch, and began to shoot arrows and throw stones and short spears at the approaching enemy forward. Pei Xingjian knew that time was very precious to him, so he ordered each team to immediately launch a fierce attack, hoping to open a gap in the enemy's defense line.

The Western Army launched a swooping attack with extremely fierce force. Soon they crossed the first trench and began to cross the second trench. They used spears to stab the enemies on the ramparts condescendingly, while the defenders responded with stones and Bows and arrows, people kept falling, and the vacancies in the ranks were quickly filled by successors. The sky was gloomy and gray, and the snowflakes falling from the sky had turned into cold and biting drizzle. The clash of weapons and the shouts of the combatants were heard. It was an extremely cruel and bloody battle that spread throughout the countryside.

Pei Xingjian put in the last reserve force, extended it to the right side of the defenders, and tried to go back behind. This happened much earlier than he thought, but the enemy's resistance was stronger than he thought, and time passed quickly. In his opinion, as long as he can escape back to Tongguan, it is victory. No matter how many soldiers he loses, as long as he can occupy Tongguan, he can protect Chang'an and receive a steady stream of supplies from Guanzhong behind. And if he is defeated here, everything will be over. Wang Wenzuo would definitely not leave time for the court to rebuild the new army.

On the barrier, Hei Te Changzhi clearly saw the enemy's outflanking troops. He knew that victory no longer depended on courage and strategy, but on the number of soldiers. If we continue to fight like this, we will be surrounded before dark, and everyone will be finished.

"Ming Jin, Ming Jin!" Black Teeth Changzhi shouted loudly: "Everyone shrinks towards the big flag!"

With the sound of gold ringing, the guards of Black Teeth Changzhi began to retreat as orderly as possible towards the big flag in the center of the long wall. Many people fell down during the retreat and paid the price with their lives. Of course, if Pei Xingjian hadn't ordered to quickly pass through the barrier instead of pursuing, Hei Te Changzhi's losses would have been much greater. Despite this, the defenders' death in battle exceeded nearly a thousand people.

"Blow the trumpet, blow the trumpet, assemble the teams, we have to leave here as soon as possible!" Pei Xingjian said loudly. He knew in his heart that Wang Wenzuo should have discovered his actions long ago, and his cavalry should be heading here. His only hope was to retreat to the steep and narrow Xiaogu Valley as soon as possible, where there was not enough space for Wang Wenzuo's cavalry to exert its strength. In this way, Pei Xingjian used all his strength to organize his army, because they had suffered heavy losses in the fierce battle that lasted for almost more than two hours. Then, he ordered them to move westward as quickly as possible. He secretly prayed to the gods and Buddhas and made rich wishes if he could escape the fate of being overtaken.

However, before Pei Xingjian's vanguard had walked four miles on the official road connecting Guanzhong and Luoyang, the mounted archers of Wang Wenzuo's cavalry had already appeared in the wilderness and launched an attack on the left wing of the army led by the general.

It is difficult to describe Pei Xingjian's panic in words. According to an attendant who was beside him at the time: Although Governor Pei's face was as pale as rotten milk, he still calmly gave the order. He ordered his troops to Arrange in two horizontal lines and place the few cavalry on both sides, hoping to protect your flanks from the enemy's overwhelmingly superior cavalry.

Pei Xingjian had just finished forming the formation when the Eastern Army's cavalry rushed over like a wall, splitting the Western Army's cavalry on both sides into pieces, then swept over and fired arrows at the Western Army's infantry from behind, like raindrops. The arrows fell, and groups of Western infantry fell in the ranks. What followed were armored knights rushing from the front. Behind these armored knights were large swaths of armored infantry. Faced with such a fierce attack, the Western Army's formation collapsed.

It was already afternoon, and the sky was already dark. Due to the thick dust and mist, it seemed like dusk.

From the time they set out until now, the Central Army of the Western Army has not made a single grain of rice. When the enemy's cavalry rushes forward, they stand up to resist. Invincible sits down to pant. Even their water bags are empty. Many people's lips are chapped and swollen, and their throats are hoarse. They saw the puddles on the ground filled with water from the melted snow. They took off their helmets and breastplates one after another, lay down on the ground, and licked the water like dogs and sheep. When one of the lieutenants beside Pei Xingjian saw this, he also wanted to drink water like this. Pei Xingjian pulled him and said: "The muddy water on the ground is too dirty, you can't drink it directly!" So he took off his turban, soaked it in the muddy water, then lifted it up and twisted it hard, and caught the water with his mouth to drink. When everyone saw this, They all followed Pei Xingjian's example and fetched water to quench their thirst.

At this time, with the sound of horse hooves, a group of Eastern Army cavalry rushed over. They saw these Western Army soldiers drinking water in the puddles, but did not approach them. They just opened their bows and fired arrows. After two rounds, they bypassed them and moved forward. While moving forward, he whistled. Someone next to Pei Xingjian said: "If the cavalry of the East Thieves did this, there must be their troops behind them. Let's leave as soon as possible, otherwise we will die!"

"No!" said an experienced veteran: "If we go west, we will definitely be overtaken by the thieves' cavalry and shot from behind. The only way to survive is to rush forward!"

Everyone's eyes were focused on Pei Xingjian, and he nodded: "Yes, the enemy has a lot of cavalry. If we flee westward, we will only be gradually weakened and cannibalized by the cavalry. This is a tactic commonly used by the barbarians on the grassland. Wang Wenzuo has many soldiers around him. Many Dongyi knights cannot escape even if they want to!"

So everyone followed Pei Xingjian's instructions, dropped their baggage, carried only food, armor, bows and arrows, and headed east. At this time, the oncoming more than 20 knights were caught off guard and were rushed by them. Before the knights could turn around, They've already rushed out.

At this time, there were lines of Eastern Army infantry all around the battlefield. They either carried spears or halberds, or held crossbows. They swept across the battlefield in separate groups and hunted down the remaining Western Army skirmishers. Pei Xingjian and others did not engage in battle for a few times, but the Dong people were already surrounding them from all sides. Arrows were flying everywhere and spears were stabbing. Soon, the few livestock and horses around Pei Xingjian were injured, so he ordered The remaining horses were tied together and he fought on foot with a spear.

"Grand Governor, Grand Governor!" a guard shouted: "There are still a few uninjured horses. Hurry up and rush out!"

Pei Xingjian was furious: "Now that things have come to this, is life so good?"

Pei Xingjian's followers were very moved when they heard this. They rushed into the ranks of the Eastern Army side by side, holding a spear in one hand and a knife in the other, shouting to kill left and right, and they were allowed to rush out in front of everyone who was invincible. After escorting Pei Xingjian for a while, they finally reached a hill where there were more than ten people. Seeing that he was like a trapped animal, the Eastern Army did not dare to step forward, and shouted one after another: "There must be a noble person on the hill, please come quickly, we will all be richly rewarded!"

Pei Xingjian saw more and more enemy soldiers under the hillock, and knew that he would not be able to rush out today, so he had to take off his helmet, walked to the hillside and rewarded him: "I am the Minister of Rites, the Right Guard General of the Inspectorate, Guanzhong The general manager of Dao March, Pei Xingjian! If you call Wang Wenzuo, you will receive a generous reward!"

When the soldiers below heard the words, they cheered in unison. After about half a moment, more than a hundred riders arrived. The leader jumped off the horse, raised his hands to the hill and saluted: "How is Mr. Pei on the hill?"

"A defeated general does not dare to salute as a general!" Pei Xingjian avoided the salute: "Everyone is his own master, I just ask that the lives of those who follow me are not harmed!"

"That's natural!" The visitor laughed and said, "The general asked me to invite Mr. Pei to a gathering. Please mount your horse!" After that, he led the horse to the foot of the hill.

Pei Xingjian came down the hill and got on his horse. The visitor also jumped on his horse and blew a whistle. Dozens of horsemen gathered around him, surrounding Pei Xingjian. (End of chapter)