Jiuxi

Chapter 716 Chapter 714 [Lost in one day]

From Gongsun Ran's narration, Lu Chen and the generals learned the details of the Battle of Kaocheng.

Twenty-one days ago, Han Zhongjie led 60,000 troops to approach Kaocheng. Just two days later, Jingjun commander Wu Yanshu personally led 20,000 reinforcements to the northeast of Kaocheng, forming a pincer attack with the defenders in the city.

Han Zhongjie ordered the marching commander Yuan Xingqin to lead 20,000 troops to confront the reinforcements of Jing's army, while he personally commanded the army to attack the city.

At this point in the war, the resistance of the Jing army showed a change from strong to weak, but the Jing army stationed in Kaocheng was extremely determined to defend, perhaps because Wu Yanshu's reinforcements were more than 20 miles outside the city. Although they were blocked by part of the Qi army, they still saw hope. In the subsequent days of offensive and defensive battles, the Jing army relied on the barrier of the city wall to repel the Qi army's attacks time and time again with difficulty and tenacity.

Han Zhongjie calmly deployed his troops and gradually increased the intensity of the siege.

Seven days later, Wu Yanshu seemed unable to hold back any longer, and Jing's army began to advance towards the open area east of Kaocheng.

Han Zhongjie immediately ordered Yuan Xingqin to lead his troops to retreat and join the main force.

This was obviously to guard against ambushes hidden in the city, so as to catch the Qi army off guard with the joint efforts of both inside and outside.

Afterwards, the two armies continued to test each other and engaged in small-scale battles to the east of Kaocheng, with no clear winner.

The day of decisive battle took place six days ago.

The battle started in the early morning and lasted until before sunset.

The commanders on both sides had their backup plans. First, the Qi army relied on its advantage in troop strength to repeatedly tear apart the formation of the Jing army. Then the second reinforcement of the Jing army appeared, which was the 20,000 elite troops left in the north by Wu Yanshu.

Han Zhongjie seemed to have anticipated this, and he immediately transferred 20,000 reserve troops from the rear. That is to say, this time the Qi army attacked Kaocheng with not only 60,000 troops, but 80,000, accounting for half of the entire Western Route Army.

Eighty thousand versus forty thousand, this is a very superficial comparison of power.

Even with the addition of thousands of elite soldiers stationed in Kaocheng, Jing's army was still at a disadvantage.

The change in the battle situation was completely within Han Zhongjie's expectations. The Qi army, which had gained the advantage, immediately spread out its formation and encircled the Jing army in a large-scale manner. At this time, Han Zhongjie could no longer hide his excitement, because this was very likely to be the second great victory in Yongqiu.

"...But no one expected that Wu Yanshu actually hid an ambush! He had been deliberately showing weakness in order to let Marshal Han put all his troops into the battlefield so that the two armies could not be separated. The third group of Jing's reinforcements came from the northwest and northeast, with a total of nearly 40,000 people, and they had been gathering strength for a long time. Our army was hit by this, and the already untidy formation became even more difficult to mobilize."

Gongsun Ran's tone was sad and his eyes were red.

All the generals in the hall were silent.

Although they had no good feelings towards Han Zhongjie, those fighting on that battlefield were all men of Da Qi. How could they not be united in their hatred of the enemy?
Lu Chen looked solemn and asked slowly, "Where did Wu Yanshu get the reinforcements from? Did he withdraw all the garrisons on the entire western front?"

Gongsun Ran nodded quickly and said, "My Lord, it is true. But... no one would have guessed that Wu Yanshu was so bold that he would rather lose many cities and fight to the death with our army in Kaocheng."

If you save the land and lose the people, everyone and the land will be lost; if you save the people and lose the land, everyone and the land will survive.

This wise saying came to Lu Chen's mind. He sighed softly and said, "Even so, the enemy and our army were roughly equal in strength on the battlefield at that time. Why did our army suffer a crushing defeat?"

Gongsun Ran said cautiously: "According to the soldiers who retreated, the battlefield situation was very chaotic at that time. Our army and Jing's army were entangled. Marshal Han and General Yuan tried their best to command. Although our army was slightly at a disadvantage, it was not without the ability to fight. But at this time, Wu Yanshu appeared from nowhere and produced thousands of heavily armed cavalry, which directly broke through our central army."

"Heavy cavalry?"

Lu Chen read it out almost word for word.

Gongsun Ran said, "Yes, Lord, this news is definitely correct. The timing of the Jing army's heavy cavalry's appearance was very cruel, just when our army's morale and physical strength were declining, and because the formation was not tight enough, we were unable to withstand the opponent's attack."

Lu Chen said slowly: "Since Wu Yanshu is qualified to replace Qing Yugong, he is obviously not incompetent. I have repeatedly reminded Marquis Yongyi and Governor Liu before, why didn't they prepare more prudent countermeasures before the war?"

This sentence left Gongsun Ran speechless.

He was just an insignificant captain under Liu Shouguang. How could he answer this angry question?
Lu Chen also knew that it was meaningless to embarrass this captain, so he slowed down his tone and said, "Tell me about the results of the battle."

Gongsun Ran said with increasing trepidation: "According to statistics after the battle, our army lost more than 27,000 men in this battle, and more than 15,000 were wounded. The enemy's casualties are unknown."

"boom!"

Lu Chen raised his hand and slammed it on the armrest, saying coldly: "Han Zhongjie is a man with great ambitions but little talent!"

All the generals in the hall were filled with grief and anger.

You must know that this time Han Zhongjie brought the main forces of the army, especially those veteran soldiers drawn from the Jingzhou Governor's Office. All of them were elites trained by Li Tianrun with great effort. They were killed in vain around Kaocheng. It was a heavy blow to Da Qi.

Sitting on the second chair from the left, Li Bingxue's face was as cold as a thousand-year-old ice, and her eyes were filled with endless sharpness, as if she wanted to poke several bloody holes in Gongsun Ran's body.

Huangfu Yu and Huo Zhen's eyes were even redder, those soldiers who died on the battlefield were all their comrades who had lived and died together with them day and night!

If Lu Chen hadn't been here, they would have cursed at Han Zhongjie long ago.

This oppressive atmosphere made Gongsun Ran silent. When he received Liu Shouguang's order, he knew that this was a very dangerous and difficult mission, but he dared not disobey the military order and went on this journey anyway.

Lu Chen forced himself to calm down and said in a deep voice: "How could Han Zhongjie, as the commander-in-chief, be shot by an arrow?"

Gongsun Ran bowed his head and replied, "My Lord, according to the story told by Marshal Han's personal soldiers, our army was in danger at the time, and Marshal Han knew that he had to withdraw, but the Jing army would not let our army leave so easily. At the critical moment, in order to stabilize the morale of the army, Marshal Han decided to lead the troops himself to cover the retreat of most of the troops. During the retreat, Marshal Han was once surrounded by the Jing army. In the end, General Fan Wendi led his troops to rescue Marshal Han. The situation was very chaotic, and the enemy army once rushed around the general's flag. It was at this time that Marshal Han was shot by the enemy."

Hearing this, Lu Chen's anger eased a little.

Fortunately, Han Zhongjie was not the kind of person who was afraid of death, otherwise the losses of the 80,000 troops of Da Qi might have been even greater.

But this does not reduce Han Zhongjie's guilt. As the commander-in-chief, he was unable to judge the battle situation in time, and this is the biggest problem.

Normally, Wu Yanshu would not risk his own life for the sake of Kaocheng. When Duan Jingjun was clearly at a disadvantage in the battle, he still insisted on fighting to the death. This was obviously a bait.

Han Zhongjie was eager to make a contribution and ignored the possible danger, resulting in heavy casualties among the people of Da Qi. He must bear all the responsibility.

Lu Chen raised his hand and pinched his brows, and asked: "What arrangements have our army made for the follow-up?"

Gongsun Ran replied, "General Liu sent troops to support the defeated troops, and ordered the garrisons in Taikang, Xinping, Chou'an, and Guining to strengthen their defenses. He also took advantage of Wu Yanshu's abandonment of the border defense to recapture Yuanwu City and Lushan City in the northeast."

Lu Chen thought for a moment and said bluntly: "When you go back, tell Commander Liu that the victory of the Jing army is just a prelude. They will definitely take advantage of the situation to counterattack. Don't think about conquering cities at this time. The most important thing is to defend Jingzhou. Let him give up Chou'an, Guining, Yuanwu and Lushan directly, and only heavily guard Taikang and Xinping. These two cities are strategic points. If the Jing army wants to go south to Yongqiu, they will definitely not be able to avoid these two places."

"Yes, my lord."

Gongsun Ran agreed. This trip was not only to report the results of the battle to Lu Chen, but also to shoulder an extremely difficult mission. However, before he could open his mouth, a man came in and said hurriedly, "Sir, the Yang Inspector of the Textile Bureau wants to see you."

Lu Chen nodded slightly, and a moment later Yang Jingxuan walked in with a serious expression.

"Greetings, sir."

Even though he was extremely anxious, Yang Jingxuan was still not too panicked.

Lu Chen waved his hand and said, "Don't be polite at this time. Have you received any intelligence about the Western Front? I already know the details."

However, Yang Jingxuan just glanced at Gongsun Ran, shook his head and said, "Sir, I just received an urgent report from the north."

Lu Chen narrowed his eyes slightly and said in a deep voice: "Speak."

Yang Jingxuan said: "The Emperor of Jingguo has mobilized at least 100,000 troops to the south, and they have now reached Henan Road."

The Henan Road is very close to the Heluo area. Even if the army moves slowly, it can reach Heluo within twenty days at the latest.

Once the Jing army's reinforcements arrive in Heluo, they can continue to move south and attack the current western battlefield.

The hall fell into silence, and all the generals looked at Lu Chen.

As the Grand Commander had expected, the so-called civil strife in Jing State was clearly just a cover-up, or it could be said that the situation had not yet reached the point where the emperor and his subjects were at loggerheads with each other to the death. Otherwise, Emperor Jing would have had to devote all his energy just to dealing with the two large armies controlled by the Qing Yu family. How could he have the spare time to dispatch troops to the south?
Gongsun Ran only felt a loud bang in his mind, and two words popped out uncontrollably.

It’s over.

The Western Route Army suffered a major defeat, and more importantly, lost too many of its main elite troops in this battle. The impact was not only that the Northern Expedition became a bubble, but also threatened the safety of the entire Jingzhou.

Lu Chen is personally in charge of Dingzhou, and the strength of the various armies in Dingzhou is still there. The Jing army will definitely not cause trouble for Lu Chen. They only need to divide their troops to guard a few key locations to guard against the Dingzhou army, and then put all their energy into attacking Jingzhou. In this way, they can destroy the Jingzhou defense line that Li Tianrun has painstakingly built for more than ten years in one fell swoop!
All the generals were anxious, but Lu Chen was surprisingly calm at this time.

After pondering for a long time, he looked at Gongsun Ran and asked, "Commander Liu sent you here to report the results of the battle. Is there anything else you want to convey?"

Gongsun Ran's face was as pale as snow, and he said with great difficulty: "The Grand Commander begs you to send troops to support Jingzhou."

"If I had known this would happen, why did I do it in the first place?!"

Li Bingxue finally couldn't bear it anymore and scolded in a cold voice.

Gongsun Ran was speechless and dared not speak.

Lu Chen said expressionlessly: "Go back and tell Liu Shouguang that no matter what method he uses, he must defend Xinping and Taikang for more than two months. If he can't do it, have someone take his head to the capital to apologize to the emperor. Also, have him ask the emperor how to resolve the current crisis."

Gongsun Ran didn't dare to say anything more and just nodded in agreement.

Lu Chen looked around at the generals and said word by word: "Everyone, defending the borders and the country is the mission of our generation of soldiers. No matter how dangerous the situation is or how powerful the enemy is, you and I must not be timid. Only by facing the challenges head-on can we be heroes."

All the generals stood up and said in unison: "We obey your orders!"

(End of this chapter)