Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 731 The Great Retreat

The clown waved his hand, and said, "Old Gao is right, be careful when sailing for ten thousand years, especially in our business, think about the fate of the brothers in those six strongholds, you should know that there is nothing wrong with being careful, We must keep a low profile in Xiangfu Kingdom. First of all, sabotage and assassination are not allowed any more. It is meaningless. Our main task is to report the situation of Xiangfu Kingdom to the Prime Minister for details, and then we can only do it if we can ensure everything is safe. For some damage, Zhang Hu, you can stay in Xiazhou for the time being, and just be in charge of communication, especially near this place, you need to lay out the escape route and have a second stronghold to cover here."

The old man said in a low voice: "Boss, this matter has been arranged. To the southeast of this place, a yard has been purchased. It is also entered twice. There is a street in the middle. The villain roughly measured it with his feet. It is about [-] yards apart. One step, the villain will make a tunnel from the main room here, and prepare a change of clothes there. Once there is something here, we can withdraw from the main room, and another shop is diagonally opposite, [-] steps north. A small hallway is used to monitor whether there are abnormal people in the street, and there are dried fruit stalls there."

"The arrangement is very good, but the old man is still a little worried. This place is narrow, and there are only two alleys around it. Once it is blocked, we can't get out. We have to find another place. It is best to buy it to save those troubles... ..."

"Master." Lao Gao gently interrupted him, "The housing prices nearby have risen sharply, and the yards facing the street on the third floor are all above 400 taels."

"So expensive?" The clown was startled, ordinary shops in Kaifeng are not so expensive.

Lao Gao nodded lightly, and the clown murmured: "Next time we go back, we must find a way to ask for more funds from above. One of the reasons why Huaxia Weifu was so powerful back then is that they had inexhaustible funds. "

At this moment, there was a knock on the side door, and the clown stood up with a whimper. He breathed a sigh of relief until he heard the rhythm clearly, "Zhang Hu, go and open the door."

Huangwanguan is the place that must pass through from the place where the Dangjin army is at this time to the official road of Gyeongju. It became a garrison point of the Song army just now.

Just half an hour ago, when Dang Jin was commanding the army to storm the four military strongholds of Xiangfu Kingdom, a gold medalist came and sent the imperial court order to let Dang Jin withdraw the troops. Of course, he also briefly said that he should immediately Reason for retreat.

At that time, Dang Jin continued to order the troops to attack calmly, then turned around and asked Tang Peng to quietly march [-] reserve troops who had not yet entered the battlefield to seize Huangwan Pass.

If Dang Jin still doesn't understand what Ye Chen wants to do here after learning that the Khitan's [-] troops have gone south to the Zhending Mansion, then he will be ashamed of his current position in the Song Dynasty and how many years of fighting he has fought up.At the same time, he also made the most correct move for a commander at this time --- keep calm, everything must be done quietly.Otherwise, the morale of the army will be in chaos, and the consequences will be disastrous.

Tang Peng led 2000 people to guard near Huangwan Pass, naturally to ensure the smooth passage here.Prevent the Xiangfu country's army from detouring and intercepting here.

Tang Peng still remembered that when the senior generals above the Dangjin convened the army commander announced their withdrawal, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Attacking such a military stronghold was beyond the capabilities of the Song army. Before arriving at the army village, nearly 3000 people were lost in the four trenches and an earthen wall in front of them alone, and more than [-] people were injured.There are also some injured who will not be able to make it back to Gyeongju.

In short, this time the Great Song conspired to join forces with Fuzhou and Linzhou to attack Xiangfu Kingdom, and it failed completely. Not only did they lose Fuzhou and Linzhou, two extremely important strategic locations, but also suffered serious losses of troops, which was the first time since the founding of the Song Dynasty.

"General, a spy from Xiangfu Kingdom was found ten miles to the northwest." A spy flew off his horse, knelt down on one knee in front of Tang Peng, and reported loudly.

Tang Peng sighed, and his face became more and more gloomy and dignified - if the strength of the troops on the battlefield weakens to a certain level, it is easy to be detected by the opponent.Tang Peng reckoned that Dang Jin's operation of quietly leaving the earth wall that had just been captured would not be so smooth.If the earth wall is abandoned directly, then Ye Chen and Yang Jiye will immediately judge the intention of Dang Jin, and the black wolf army is all cavalry, and the infantry retreats and the cavalry follows, it is easy to expose flaws, let alone the retreat of the defeated army, if it is really like Dang Jin and As Tang Peng guessed, another army of Xiangfu Kingdom had already detoured to stop them, so it is very likely that they will never return.

"What, we broke through the position of the left wing of the Song army?" Ye Chen looked up in surprise, only to see Li Guangshun and Yang Jiye nodding with certainty.

Ye Chen immediately stood up, fixed his eyes on the map on the wall and asked, "Are there any follow-up troops to join?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, there is currently only a reserve team of 500 people. I see that the earth wall occupied by the Song army is already showing signs of fatigue. It was just preparing for a small-scale attack, and the gunpowder packs were not even used. The reserve team is also insufficiently prepared. Thinking that the left wing position of the Song army was easily broken through, it was the minister's fault. The commander who led the team did not expect that they were still very hesitant when they attacked the earth wall. The minister saw from the tower that their battalion command flag crossed The earth wall passage was kept for half an hour, and the surrounding Song army came to help before withdrawing." Li Guangshun said.

Ye Chen interrupted him with a wave of his hand, glanced at Yang Jiye who was looking at him, and said: "Mobilize 2000 troops to attack the Song Army's left-wing defense line, and ask Hu Sanguang on Nanshan to observe carefully. If the Song Army sends reinforcements from the rear, then Withdraw, if the Song army mobilizes reinforcements from other positions on the earth wall, then mobilize another 2000 people to attack the middle line of defense of the Song army."

"Your Majesty means that their frontline forces are decreasing?"

"It stands to reason that they withdrew their troops more than a day later than the time calculated by the staff. At this time, Zhao Dezhao's urgent gold medal for his withdrawal should have arrived. It's just that the soldiers are not tired of cheating, and the party's ability to fight is not weak. There are tunnels behind the earthen wall , Today, the Song Army's various departments often change defenses, and they come and go indefinitely. Only by increasing the attack strength can the feedback be accurate."

"In addition, Nanshan sent some troops to the north slope to contain the left wing of the Song army."

"Let Hu Sanguang send gold medal spies to venture around the rear side of the Song Army's camp to observe the deployment of the Song Army's troops."

"Nanshan and Beishan Mountain ensure that the roads at the foot of the mountain are clear, and cavalry are ready to gather at Nanshan and Beishan at any time. The defense lines in the middle must keep in touch at all times. The earth wall defense line is seven or eight miles away from the Song army camp. It is not so easy for them to retreat quietly. "Ye Chen looked at the Song army camp from a distance with his eyes like lightning, and said solemnly.

"I will make arrangements immediately. In addition, I think Master Hu should send more gold medal spies to investigate Huangwan Pass, Xiahe Valley and other places." Yang Jiye said.

Ye Chen nodded, expressing his agreement with Yang Jiye's idea, and said: "Bite them, Dang Jin has already shown his intention to retreat, and the retreating army is weak. Once we start chasing, we will chase to Gyeongju, and completely let the Song army be in Qingzhou." I, Xiangfu Country, is frightened, so that the kings and ministers of the Song Dynasty will feel fear, so that I will not easily provoke my Xiangfu Country."

On March 24, after noon, the Black Wolf Army launched intermittent offensives across the board. The Song Army's battalion horns sounded in unison, and only [-] cavalry rushed to the battlefield.

The banner of Dangjin also came to the foot of Beishan, and his mood was very low. Today's situation shows that the Black Wolf Army has discovered the change in the strength of the earth wall through continuous testing. The number of troops dispatched can be used to determine the number of people in the earth wall, so he can only give up the practice of retreating quietly and use cavalry to respond to the retreat of the earth wall troops and horses. Although they all retreat, in this way, the earth wall defense force must be separated from the Xiangfu country's army His attack will definitely suffer a lot of losses, which cannot be compared with the effect of his planned step-by-step stealthy evacuation.

"Commander, if the two superintendents hadn't insisted on withdrawing 500 people from the left-wing divine guard army to retreat early, how could the left wing be broken by the earth wall by the black wolf army? The commander of the army, Wang Daqing, completely disregarded the safety of the entire army, and sent troops to the two supervisors privately without the permission of the commander in chief. The commander should impeach them when he returns to the capital."

The commander of the brave army made Gao Zhengxi feel aggrieved. The enemy's retreat in front of him is easy to be detected, and then he is chased by the enemy. The morale of the soldiers in the army is very poor. Every time they retreat, they need to be closely guarded by the supervisor team. Such a long line cannot ensure safety at all, and can only be gradually reduced when changing defenses.Dang Jin asked all the armies to retreat step by step, and the elite should be placed as the last cover.

Unexpectedly, the two supervising soldiers heard him say that Ye Chen might send a large army to surround them from behind, and after discussing the matter, they secretly ran away with 500 people each.The reason why the two superintendents both recruited members of the Divine Guard was because the Divine Guard was the most elite army brought from the Forbidden Army in the capital during the party's advance.

As a result, these 1000 people were missing, allowing the Black Wolf Army to break through the soil wall in charge of the Divine Guard Army in one weak attack. Although they struggled to drive out later, the actions of the Black Wolf Army since then have obviously strengthened their temptations and firmly contained the soil. The power of the Song Dynasty on the wall.

Dang Jin nodded slightly, impeachment must be impeached, but the matter has come to this point, the most urgent task is how to bring the nearly [-] troops back to Gyeongju.

Before Dangjin could figure out a way to withdraw safely, the Black Wolf Army turned from defense to offense amidst the explosion of rumbling gunpowder packs, and each selected a key strike on the left, center, and right.Dang Jin didn't dare to delay any longer, and quickly ordered to send cavalry to respond, and the troops left behind by the earth wall began to retreat one by one.

Dangjin's most unwilling retreat before the enemy finally began.

The infantry and archers on the far right were the first to withdraw, forming a formation of two hundred steps behind the earthen wall to meet the retreat of the soldiers and horses in the middle.Then came the left-wing troops. The confronting Black Wolf Army sent out cavalry to keep biting the adjourned Song Army horses, forcing some of the retreating Song Army troops to return again. The armored clothes and luggage all over the ground retreated.

(End of this chapter)