Chapter 1180: Strategic Retreat

Wang Mang knew that once Yang Lin was defeated, the Southern Coalition Army would be isolated and difficult to support, and it would definitely end sooner or later, and although he wanted to save Yang Lin, he couldn't do anything at all.

Just when Wang Mang thought that he was completely in a dilemma, a letter from Chen Qingzhi, who was far away in Hedong, once again gave him the confidence to persevere.

In the confrontation with Xue Rengui, although Chen Qingzhi repeatedly fell into disadvantage, he was not crushed like Wang Mang, and the casualties of the army under his command were not too large, so under the backdrop of Wang Mang, it seemed that Chen Qingzhi was extremely rare and valuable.

Chen Qingzhi was the only general who had not suffered a big loss in the confrontation with the Qin army, and his exhortation Wang Mang had to be taken seriously.

Chen Qingzhi said in the letter that the annihilation of Yang Lin's entire army was a foregone conclusion, even if Yang Guang captured Hangu Pass, he could not save it, and he did not think that Yang Lin could capture Hangu Pass, after all, Li Cunxiaoke, the world's first fierce general, was also there.

Since the fall of Hangu Pass, Yang Lin has already become a turtle in an urn, and the end of the annihilation of the whole army has long been doomed, it is just a matter of time.

Therefore, instead of thinking about saving the doomed Liang army, it is better to think about how to get out of the chaos in Sizhou.

Although the strength of the Southern Coalition Army is more than that of the Qin Army, its combat power is far inferior to that of the Qin Army, and this can be seen from the fact that the 120,000 Southern Liang Army was pressed and beaten by the 50,000 Qin Army.

Without the Liang army on the side, the Qin army can use as many as 100,000 troops, not to mention that there are nearly 20,000 wolf riders from the state, this force is by no means something that the Southern Alliance can oppose.

Although there were few cavalry in the Qin army, when Qin Jian participated in the alliance of princes, he brought 30,000 wolf horsemen to the south, and this cavalry also became the trump card in Qin Hao's hands.

After the battle of Dong, the wolf cavalry also paid great casualties, but it still had nearly 20,000 battleable horses, and Qin Hao supplemented it from the Liang army's prisoners of war, which also restored the number of cavalry owned by the Qin army to 30,000.

When Yuwen Chengdu completes the reorganization of the 40,000 Liang army, there will be another 10,000 Xiliang iron cavalry in the 40,000 integrated army, and the Qin army will have 40,000 cavalry in Sizhou.

However, for the Southern Coalition Army, whether the Qin army has 40,000 cavalry or 20,000, the difference is not very big, because whether it is 40,000 or 20,000, they have no way.

The Southern Coalition Army also had cavalry, but the number was too small, and the combat power was not strong, so it was not the opponent of the Qin army at all, and if you went out of the city to fight, you would definitely lose.

Hanoi and the east of the river are also a flat terrain, which is like a back garden for the wolf rider and the Xiliang iron rider.

Although the Southern Coalition Army can defend with the help of the city wall, it is meaningless to defend just to sit still, after all, the Southern Coalition Army does not have enough grain and grass, and once the grain reserves are exhausted, they will face the same outcome as Yang Lin.

For the current southern coalition army, there is no chance of winning at all in the battle with the Qin army on the Heluo Plain, it is better to preserve the living forces, withdraw from Sizhou, and return to the south.

Bingzhou is mountainous, and most of the terrain is dangerous, and the southern coalition army can only continue to confront the Qin army by occupying a favorable location.

Chen Qingzhi's words are clear to Wang Mang in his heart, but after all, he is only the main general and not the main father, and it is not that he can give up if he gives up.

However, Wang Mang was finally determined to retreat, and what made Wang Mang make up his mind was another point mentioned in Chen Qingzhi's letter, that is, it is not easy for the Southern Coalition Army to withdraw from Sizhou now.

If the Southern Coalition Army wants to withdraw from Sizhou, it must be withdrawn before the Qin Army solves the Liang Army, otherwise the Qin Army's cavalry will not be restrained by the Liang Army, once it drives straight into the Yellow River to cut off the retreat route, then the Southern Coalition Army will really want to go and will not be able to leave.

As soon as he thought of this, Wang Mang had already made a decision in his heart, no matter how difficult the resistance to withdraw from Sizhou was, he must withdraw, and if he stayed in Sizhou, he would definitely die sooner or later, and there would still be a glimmer of life when he returned to Bingnan.

The princes of the southern part of the country still have tens of thousands of troops in the southern part of the country, plus the 120,000 troops in Sizhou, and the southern alliance army relies on the huge strength advantage and the dangerous terrain to defend, which may not be able to block the attack of the Qin army.

What's more, even if Hanoi and Hedong were abandoned, the losses of the Southern Coalition Army would not be large.

When they entered Sizhou, they only had 60,000 troops, but when they returned, they became 120,000.

Even if the 20,000 Chen Zhang mercenaries and the 20,000 Baibo mercenaries are removed, there are still 80,000 left, which is 20,000 more than the number of troops before they came.

Chen Zhang and Bai Bo's mercenaries also suffered heavy casualties in the confrontation with the Qin army, but the first thing Wang Mang did after expanding his army again was to make up for their losses, and only in this way could he ensure that the Yugoslav Alliance would not collapse.

Although Wang Mang decided to withdraw from Sizhou, he would not be so cheap Qin Hao, there were millions of people in Hedong and Hanoi, and he decided to leave a mess for Qin Hao.

That's right, after raiding the family, Wang Mang extended his claws to the ordinary people.

Before withdrawing the army, Wang Mang ordered the collection of all the rations of the people under his rule on the grounds that the war was approaching, and then distributed them uniformly.

The people were naturally reluctant to hand over the grain, but under the coercion of the sabers and guns of the big army, they did not dare not to pay it, and a small number of people chose to resist under dissatisfaction, and the result was naturally to die under the suppression of the army.

For a time, the people of the two counties cried and wailed, and countless people scolded Wang Mang.

After Wang Mang successfully collected the grain, he retreated with all the grain and grass, but Wang Mang did not give up, and left three days' rations for the people.

In fact, Wang Mang can leave no food at all, but in this case, he will definitely starve a large number of people to death, and he will also completely stink his reputation.

If Wang Mang really doesn't want to take advantage of Qin Hao, he can completely implement the scorched earth strategy and kill all the people in Hanoi and Hedong, so that Qin Hao won't be able to take advantage of it at all.

But Wang Mang's heart is still not ruthless enough after all, and the slaughter of the city is too unconscionable, Wang Mang can neither do it, nor do he want to do it.

But to collect the surplus grain in the hands of the people and let the millions of people in Hedong and Hanoi consume the grain and grass of the Qin army, Wang Mang still didn't have much burden in his heart.

And the Southern Alliance army is overwhelming, and if they gather together to retreat, the Qin army can't stop it even if they want to.

Su Lie and Xue Rengui didn't have many troops in their hands, and they were afraid that this was a trap to lure them out of the city, so they didn't go to stop it at first, and after they reacted, it was too late to stop them.

After leaving the devastated Hanoi County, Wang Mang took all his troops and hurried all the way to the south bank of the Yellow River, where the boats for the northern crossing had been prepared in advance.

On the south bank of the Yellow River, in front of the ferry.

Wang Mang looked at the soldiers who kept carrying supplies, as well as the boats that repeatedly traveled back and forth on both sides of the Yellow River, and couldn't help but sigh lightly: "This is just a strategic retreat, and I will come back." ”