Xue Ao hoped that Zhao Yu would defeat the rebels as soon as possible, but unfortunately, in addition to Zhao Yu's subjective unwillingness to do so, the objective conditions were not met.

To put it simply, Zhou Gongjun once deterred Wang Qing, Zhang Ji, Cao Wu, Qin Yu, Jia Shu and other generals with their risky fighting style.

Wang Qing immediately issued an order to slow down the offensive, and ordered Zhang Ji, Cao Wu and other generals to firmly encircle the Zhou Gong army.

After all, in Wang Qing's opinion, although the Yingchuan soldiers under his command are not as good as the brothers in Heihuzhai, they are also their own people, and the 'righteousness' in his heart makes Wang Qing not want to win this battle purely by filling in people's lives.

Therefore, he changed his tactics and ordered Zhang Ji, Cao Wu, Qin Yu, and Jia Shu to lead their respective subordinates to surround Zhou Gong's army, and then attack from all sides.

Under Wang Qing's orders, the four generals Zhang Ji, Cao Wu, Qin Yu, and Jia Shu quickly led their respective subordinates from the front of Zhou Gong's army to its flanks.

"You want to wrap me up?"

Zhou Gong immediately noticed the change in the Yingchuan army on the other side, and secretly sneered in his heart.

How? Did the Jin generals on the other side think they would run away?

Thinking of this, Zhou Gong raised his finger forward, pointed to a banner with the words 'King of the Yingchuan Commander', and shouted: "Everyone, that is the banner of the general of this Yingchuan army, kill it!" ”

It was probably the initiative of Zhang Ji, Cao Wu and others to evade and give in, which made the Jiangxia Yi soldiers under Zhou Gong a little more confident, and they shouted loudly and killed Wang Qing's location.

"Don't think you can break through easily!"

Wang Qing's old subordinate Le Gui was shocked when he saw this, and immediately commanded his soldiers to wait solemnly.

I have to say that at this time, he actually had a little drum in his heart, after all, among the various units of the Yingchuan Army, the strength of the part he commanded on behalf of Wang Qing was the weakest, almost all of them were county soldiers recruited from Runan and Xiangcheng counties, although they were tested and tempered in the battle of Liangcheng, but whether they could block the rebels on the opposite side, Le Gui was also unsure.

Fortunately, he was not the only one here, when he learned that Zhou Gong was desperate to lead the army to raid Legui, Zhang Ji, Cao Wu, Qin Yu, and Jia Shu immediately launched an offensive against Zhou Gong's army from the flank.

These attacks from all sides made it difficult for Zhou Gong's army to parry.

But Zhou Gong didn't care about it, and he only had the banner of 'Yingchuan Duwei Wang' in his eyes.

He knew that the owner of that banner was Wang Qing, a general under the command of Zhou Hu, the commander of Yingchuan, and as long as he could defeat this person, the morale of the Yingchuan army would inevitably be greatly demoralized.

"Kill it!"

He shouted at the top of his lungs.

Under his order, nearly 10,000 Zhou Gong troops ignored the flank raids of Zhang Ji, Cao Wu and other generals, and crashed headlong into the defense line organized by Legui.

"Stop them! Block them! ”

Le Gui shouted, boosting morale, but it was still difficult to avoid the soldiers under his command being killed by the enemy and retreating.

At this critical moment, Wang Qing personally stepped forward with his guards and blocked the largest opening in the entire defense line.

"Cheer me up, little!"

Wang Qing's shouting and scolding resounded on this defense line, which shocked the soldiers on the defense line.

"Captain Wangbu!"

"It's the Captain of the Royal Division!"

I saw that under the surprised eyes of the Yingchuan soldiers, Wang Qing had come to the front of the battle at some point, pointing at the rebels on the opposite side with two knives in his hand, and shouted loudly: "It's just a rebel, it's not enough to worry about, the little ones, I'll kill me with Lao Tzu!" ”

With that, he took the lead in meeting the rebels who had rushed to him, holding two swords, slashing left and right, as if there was no one.

『Wang Qing......』

Zhou Gong's subordinate general Xu Lian saw Wang Qing from afar, and immediately ordered: "Pass my order, and the crossbowmen will shoot arrows at that Wang Qing." ”

At the sound of an order, Xu led the two hundred crossbowmen under his command and immediately aimed at Wang Qing, who had rushed to kill the Yingchuan army, and shot a round of arrows with a whoosh.

"Arrow strike! Arrow Strike! ”

The guards beside Wang Qing immediately noticed the hundreds of arrows, and immediately rushed to Wang Qing and used their shields to protect their boss.

On the other side, Le Gui was also enraged, and scolded hatefully: "Do you think we don't have crossbowmen?" Give me the order to tell the crossbowmen to shoot the fuck! ”

Under Legui's orders, his crossbowmen also began to fight back.

To be honest, for the two sides, both with tens of thousands of soldiers, the lethality of a few hundred crossbowmen is really limited, especially in this kind of close-range melee, with the slow speed of the crossbowmen's reloading arrows, it is enough for the foot soldiers to make a few attacks.

For example, Zhang Ji personally led hundreds of spearmen to break into the Zhou Gong army from the flank.

"Rush!"

In a loud shout, the hundreds of spearmen lined up neatly and rushed towards the ventral side of the Zhou Gong army, and the Zhou Gong soldiers on the outside couldn't resist it at all, and they were broken into by this sharp soldier in the blink of an eye.

"Report! The right flank is under attack! The right flank is under attack! ”

The herald immediately informed the battle situation on the right side to the Qu general Xu Lian.

However, before Xu Lian could make any decisions, Qin Yu, who was on their left flank, also launched an offensive against them.

The front could not be broken, and the two wings were suddenly attacked, and the face of Qu General Xu Lian showed a little horror.

"I'm afraid it's really going to ...... this time."

Gritting his teeth, Xu raised his arms and shouted: "Kill it directly!" Break through the Yingchuan army in front of you! ”

Xu Lian's decision soon reached Zhou Gong's ears, but Zhou Gong was indifferent to it.

Because he knew that Xu Lian was carrying out his instructions and implementing his ...... At the same time, he did not hesitate to die with the enemy, but also to contain the order of this Yingchuan army.

"Report! The two flanks on the rear were attacked by the Jin army! A herald hurried to report it.

Hearing this, Zhou Gong still looked ahead, and ordered without looking back: "Order Han Gu and Gao Ning to resist." ”

"Yes!" The herald departed.

At this time, Zhou Gong turned his head and glanced behind him.

He wasn't observing Jia Shu's division, he was just looking at the retreat of the other half of his Jiangxia Division's army.

But unfortunately, his line of sight was obstructed by the battlefield where the 40,000 Yuzhang Yishi were located, so that he didn't see the retreat of Chen Miao, Xiang Xuan and the others at all.

At this time, there was a slight flash of loneliness in his eyes, but he disappeared.

"That's fine...... The Yingchuan army has been completely pinned.

He thought to himself.

At the same time, Chen Miao, who Zhou Gong was thinking about, had bypassed the battlefield of Yuzhang Yishi from the east side under the protection of Xiang Xuan and other generals.

I don't know if it's a coincidence, Chen Miao and his party bumped into Cheng Zhou, who led people to retreat because they were avoiding Xue Ao.

"Cheng Zhou!" Chen Miao shouted from afar.

"Chen Miao?"

Cheng Zhou hurriedly led people to join Chen Miao.

I saw Chen Miao's expression eagerly said to Cheng Zhou: "Zhou Gong has led the army to intercept the Yingchuan army, what is the situation on your side?" ”

Cheng Zhou immediately briefly explained the situation: "I underestimated the strength of Xue Ao, the generals in our army were all killed by that fight, and the damn Zhou Hu, he sent more than 6,000 Liangcheng troops to assist the Taiyuan cavalry, and the current army under my command is being defeated and retreated by the more than 6,000 Jin army infantry and 5,000 cavalry......"

Hearing this, Chen Miao's face became more and more serious, and he said in a deep voice: "You must withdraw!" Leaving half of the people to contain Xue Ao and Liang Chengjun, we immediately evacuated in the direction of Jiangdong Yishi...... If my expectations are correct, General Wu Yi will meet us at the front. ”

"Good!" Cheng Zhou nodded and said, "You go first!" ”

It's not that Cheng Zhou is righteous and awe-inspiring, and he is willing to leave the hope of life to Chen Miao, just because his Yuzhang Yishi has been defeated by Xue Ao, and he can't do it at all as Chen Miao said'Withdraw half of the people', once he orders the retreat, then it will inevitably be the defeat of the whole army.

In this case, Cheng Zhou thought it was necessary to keep the only 10,000 people left under Chen Miao's command, after all, this 10,000 Jiangxia righteous division still had the ability to fight—this was his judgment as the commander of Yuzhang Yishi.

Obviously, Chen Miao also guessed this, nodded and said solemnly: "Thank you, there are ...... Take care! ”

"What you said ......" Cheng Zhou smiled bitterly, and immediately urged: "Hurry up, I can't stop that Xue Ao here." ”

Seeing this, Chen Miao did not hesitate at all, and immediately ordered: "The whole army retreats to the Jiangdong Righteous Division, quickly!" ”

Under Chen Miao's order, the only remaining 10,000 Jiangxia Yishi under his command quickly bypassed Yuzhang Yishi and evacuated to the south.

During this period, Cheng Zhou's pedestrians watched quietly, and it was not until he saw that Chen Miao's army had withdrawn for nearly two miles, that he ordered to the left and right: "Inform the whole army, tell the soldiers of the whole army to break through to the south, and if they can't break through, let them flee for their lives......"

Hearing this, he was shocked and said: "Qu Shuai, although our army is scattered at present, it is still resisting the Jin army on the whole, if this order is given, then we will ...... Just ......"

"Do you think we'll still win?" Cheng Zhou smiled bitterly: "The defeat of my Yuzhang Yishi is only a matter of time now...... Go and inform the whole army, it would be nice if a few more people could survive. ”

“…… Be. ”

A moment later, the heralds sent by Cheng Zhou spread the order of this Qu Shuai to Yuzhang Yishi.

"Cheng Shuai has an order, the whole army is evacuated to the south, and those who cannot break through are allowed to flee for their lives. …… Repeat, Cheng Zhou has an order, the whole army evacuates to the south, and those who can't break through are allowed to flee for their lives! ”

Just like Cheng Zhou's guard said, if it was said that there were still some Qu generals and 500 generals who were still resisting to the death before Yuzhang Yishi, then with this order, almost all the soldiers of Yuzhang Yishi completely lost their fighting spirit.

For a time, the Yuzhang Yishi, who was on the verge of collapse, was completely dispersed at once, and a large part of the nearly 30,000 soldiers who have survived so far began to evacuate to the south, while the rest scattered and fled for their lives.

However, how could Xue Ao and the Taiyuan cavalry under his command, including the Liangcheng army led by Wang Xun and Zhang Qi, let this piece of fat run away?

Xue Ao immediately issued an order: "Order Dong Dian and Zhong Liao to immediately converge with me and follow me to pursue the rebels." …… This is left to Liang Chengjun. ”

Under Xue Ao's orders, the Taiyuan cavalry quickly assembled around him.

At this time, Xue Ao discovered that the 5,000 Taiyuan cavalry under his command had lost a lot of numbers.

Probably lost nearly a thousand horses.

Seeing this, Xue Ao frowned unconsciously, after all, the loss of nearly a thousand horsemen was really not small.

But considering that they almost single-handedly crushed the entire 40,000 Yuzhang rebels, this price is not unacceptable.

What's more, the battle loss of nearly 1,000 cavalry does not mean that nearly 1,000 cavalry were killed in battle, and a considerable part of them just lost their horses and could not follow the rest of the cavalry to fight.

These Taiyuan cavalrymen who had lost their horses, Xue Ao ordered them to quickly withdraw from the battlefield.

It's no wonder, after all, it takes a lot of materials and time to train a qualified cavalry, and Xue Ao is certainly reluctant to use them as infantry soldiers - besides, these cavalrymen who are used to fighting immediately may not be able to beat foot soldiers when they get off their horses.

"Chase!"

With Xue Ao's order, nearly 4,000 Taiyuan cavalry threw off their horse's hooves and chased straight after the fleeing Yuzhang Yishi.

On the way to chase after the horse, Xue Ao loudly ordered to Dong Dian and Zhong Liao: "Dong Dian, Zhong Liao, you two will cover up behind the Yuzhang rebels and divide them, and I will lead a thousand horsemen to the front to see if I can intercept Chen Miao's Jiangxia rebels." ”

"General be careful."

Dong Dian and Zhong Liaoer replied loudly.

As a result, nearly 4,000 Taiyuan cavalry were divided into three again, with Dong Dian and Zhong Liao being responsible for chasing and killing the fleeing Yuzhang rebels, while Xue Ao led more than 1,000 cavalry to bypass these fleeing Yuzhang Yishi and go forward.

Xue Ao thought very clearly, at present, the rebels on the opposite side still have combat capability, only 40,000 Jiangdong rebels and 10,000 Jiangxia rebels, if he can intercept these two rebels and disrupt them, when Zhou Hu, the commander of Yingchuan, defeats the Zhou Gong army left by the rebels and leads the army to help, he will be able to achieve a brilliant victory.

"It's a pity that Li Meng couldn't make it, otherwise these rebels would have been wiped out today!"

A trace of regret flashed in Xue Ao's heart.

Indeed, looking at the current situation of this battle, if Li Meng, the governor of Henan, arrives with nearly 50,000 Henan troops, then I am afraid that there is only one way for the three righteous divisions to be wiped out.

It can be seen that Xue Ao's belief that he could wipe out the '300,000 rebels' was by no means a groundless lie.

He has this self-confidence.

Of course, having said that, if before this battle started, Li Meng, the governor of Henan, arrived with 50,000 Henan troops, I am afraid that the battle situation may not be what it is now-in the final analysis, the reason why the three-way righteous division is like this today is that in addition to their eagerness to withdraw to Chen County, the more important thing is that Chen Miao, Cheng Zhou, and Wu Yi all underestimated Xue Ao's courage, and arbitrarily believed that Xue Ao did not dare to attack him with only 5,000 cavalry, so that he was caught off guard by Xue Ao.

"The cavalry is coming!"

"Run for your life!"

The Taiyuan cavalry led by Xue Ao quickly spared the fleeing Yuzhang Yishi's large army, which frightened the soldiers up and down Yuzhangyi's faces.

But Xue Ao didn't bother to pay attention to these people, and led his cavalry to chase straight to the Jiangxia Yishi in front.

I have to say that the sound of more than a thousand cavalry galloping on horses is really not small, and the Jiangxia righteous division in front of him quickly noticed the cavalry behind him.

At this time, the general Zhu Yuan, who had already converged with Chen Miao, hurriedly found Chen Miao, and said urgently: "Chen Shuai, then Xue Ao is coming, we must form a formation immediately, otherwise I am afraid that we will suffer the same fate as Yuzhang Yishi......"

However, Chen Miao shook his head and said, "No! Tell the soldiers to hurry up! …… The Koto Volunteer has already answered me at the front. ”

"What?"

Zhu Yan was slightly stunned, and hurriedly looked to the south side, and then he found that the Jiangdong Yishi, who had evacuated one step earlier, did not leave them alone to flee for their lives, but waited in a formation in the distance, obviously to meet them.

"Quick! Rush over! ”

With Chen Miao's order, more than 10,000 Jiangxia Yishi soldiers accelerated their running speed, and immediately rushed through the position of Jiangdong Yishi.

And more than 1,000 cavalrymen such as Xue Ao, who was closely following behind Chen Miao's army, had to slow down and finally stopped.

The reason is very simple, because the Jiangdong Yishi deployed an array of 40,000 or 5,000 crossbowmen in front of the position, and I don't know if all the crossbowmen in their 40,000 army were gathered together.

To be sure, crossbowmen had some restraint on the cavalry, but not a heavenly restraint, because once the cavalry began to charge, they would at most give the crossbowmen a chance to shoot once - to die twice, and after that, it would be a one-sided slaughter of the crossbowmen by the cavalry.

But even so, facing an array of crossbowmen of as many as four or five thousand people at this moment, Xue Ao couldn't help but hesitate a little.

Because he knew that if they forced their way forward, the more than 1,000 cavalry under his command would surely suffer heavy losses or even be completely annihilated.

Even he, boasting of being unparalleled in the world, couldn't parry the volley of four or five thousand crossbowmen—but no human being could stop a salvo of bows and crossbows of this scale.

What's more, behind these four or five thousand crossbowmen, there are as many as 35,000 foot soldiers of the Jiangdong rebels.

Therefore, Xue Ao was forced to stop pursuing Chen Miaojun and wait and see the situation.

At this time, a cavalryman beside him reminded: "General, the Yuzhang rebels have fled." ”

“……”

Xue Ao nodded slightly, frowning and not saying a word, as if he was a fierce beast waiting for the opportunity to attack.

While quietly watching the situation, as many as 20,000 Yuzhang rebels had broken and fled to the positions of the Jiangdong rebels, and immediately evacuated to the south under the command of the Jiangdong rebel generals.

And from beginning to end, the 40,000 Jiangdong rebels remained motionless.

"General!"

"General!"

The two generals, Dong Dian and Zhong Liao, were also forced to abandon the pursuit and join forces with Xue Ao due to the threat of 40,000 Jiangdong volunteers.

After greeting each other, Xue Ao chuckled and said to Dong Dian and Zhong Liao: "I thought that these Jiangdong rebels had fled, but I didn't expect them to stay and take over the other two armies, heh, it's really righteous......

Speaking of this, he turned his head to look at Jiangdong Yishi in the distance, and sneered: "So, how are you going to retreat?" ”

He made up his mind that as soon as the nearly 5,000 crossbowmen showed the slightest sign of retreat, he would immediately lead 4,000 cavalry to kill them, and first deal with these crossbowmen who could pose a threat to his cavalry.

As long as these crossbowmen are eliminated, the remaining Jiangdong rebel foot soldiers are purely their prey, allowing them to hunt to their heart's content on this plain.

At the same time, in the distance in the Jiangdong Yishi's main formation, Wu Yi said to Zhao Yin with a wry smile: "I really didn't expect that these cavalry would be able to defeat the Yuzhang Yishi who far outnumbered them. Especially that Xue Ao, it's really terrifying......"

"After all, it's the Five Tigers of Chenmen."

Zhao Yin smiled, and immediately said to Wu Yi: "We have already done everything we can do, and next, we must also evacuate as soon as possible, otherwise when the Yingchuan army and the Liangcheng army are free, it will be troublesome......"

"Hmm." Wu Yi nodded and ordered: "Pass the order, and all departments will retreat in order." ”

Under Wu Yi's order, 35,000 Jiangdong Yishi infantry soldiers began to retreat one after another, which made Xue Ao, who was already waiting a little impatiently, immediately cheer up.

But what surprised him was that the five thousand Jiangdong crossbowmen remained on guard and remained motionless.

"What do you want to do on the other side?" Do you want to let these five thousand crossbowmen be cut off?'

Rao is Xue Ao was also a little puzzled.

However, at this moment, the five thousand crossbowmen moved, and the original phalanx quickly dispersed into two horizontal columns.

Immediately afterwards, half of the crossbowmen who were holding the banner of the word 'land' and were in the rear of the array began to retreat one after another, retreating two or three hundred paces, and then formed an array again.

At this time, the other half of the crossbowmen holding the 'Zhao' banner also began to withdraw one after another, and they retreated to a distance of about two or three hundred steps behind the 'Lu' banner crossbowman array, and also formed an array again.

During this period, the only remaining 10,000 Jiangdong Yishi infantry troops also slowly retreated.

“……”

In Xue Ao's eyes, there was a hint of amazement.

Rao did not expect that the Jiangdong rebels would actually retreat in this way.

Although it was a little slower, there were two or three thousand crossbowmen and ten thousand foot soldiers staring at them from beginning to end, so that Xue Ao could not see the opportunity to surprise at all—unless he was willing to force his attack at the risk of heavy casualties among his cavalry.

"General......

Dong Dian, the cavalry general, also sensed the tricks of the Jiangdong rebels on the opposite side, and said to Xue Ao with a frown: "It seems that the Jiangdong rebels on the opposite side have come up with a way to block our cavalry...... What to do? ”

『……』

Xue Ao stroked the mane of Aima Lie's mane, frowned and said nothing.

He also didn't know how to break the step-by-step retreat strategy of the Jiangdong rebels with cavalry alone.

"Hasn't Zhou Hu defeated the rebels' broken troops yet?" He asked, frowning.

"Not yet."

An informed herald cavalry immediately came to proclaim: "The rebel general Zhou Gong, who left behind the broken back, doesn't seem to plan to break through, and risked his life to drag Zhou Duwei's Yingchuan army to death, the current Yingchuan army has surrounded the 10,000 rebel regiments, but it will take a little time to encircle and suppress it......"

"What about Liang Chengjun?" Xue Ao frowned and asked again.

The herald replied with a fist clenched: "The Liangcheng army is still in the rear to entangle with the Yuzhang rebels who have not had time to escape, and it will also take a little time. ”

"Damn it!" Xue Ao scolded in a low voice.

At this moment, he misses Li Meng very much, and the 50,000 Henan Army under Li Meng's command - at a time when the Yingchuan Army and the Liangcheng Army are being dragged on the local battlefield, if Li Meng's 50,000 Henan Army is there, how can he be forced to dare not step forward by the 5,000 crossbowmen of the Jiangdong rebels?

"Wait, wait for Zhou Hu to solve the rebel ...... after the break"

Xue Ao ordered with some discouragement.

Even if it was him, he could only wait for the Yingchuan army and the Liangcheng army to free up their hands at this moment before they had the ability to continue to pursue the rebels.