Just when Xiao Yao entered Luoyang City, Xiao Moke and Huang Wenyuan each led a remnant army and returned to Shouyang!

When Xiao Moke led 5,000 cavalry to break through from Linying County, because of the melee with the besieging troops of the Qi army, the troops were also scattered, so in the end he could only escape back to Runan County with less than half of the remaining cavalry.

And Xiao Shilian also took the 1,000 cavalry that Huang Wenyuan assigned to him, went all the way south, collected a lot of remnants, and finally returned to Runan County!

After Xiao Moke rested in Runan County, Xiao Moke, who had been worried about Xiao Yao, was ready to lead the army north to rescue the besieged Xiao Yao, and at this time, Huang Wenyuan, who had successfully broken through from the Qi army camp, had also escaped from Wei Xiangyuan's pursuers and successfully fled back to Runan County.

When he heard that the people of the forward brigade had also successfully broken through and returned to Runan County, Xiao Moke Gaoxin immediately ran out to greet him, but found that there was no Xiao Yao in the team, and they all looked gloomy and sad, their hearts tightened, and they hurriedly asked, "Where is Shiro?" Where is Shiro? Didn't he come back with you? ”

"Old General Xiao! There are traitors in our forward brigades! It was Zhang Dabao, the king of the saddle, who betrayed us! As a result, we were defeated by Gao Changgong's army of 30,000, and finally besieged by them on a barren mountain! In order for us to snatch the war horse and break through, the commander personally led the death squad to attract the attention of the Qi army, and now we don't know where the commander is now, and we don't even know if he has successfully escaped from the enemy's siege! Huang Wenyuan knelt down to Xiao Moke and cried bitterly.

"What? Shiro him! Hearing the news that Xiao Yao's life and death were uncertain, Xiao Moke suddenly felt that he was spinning, and his feet were unsteady and he took a few steps back.

Xiao Shilian, who was on the side, hurriedly stepped forward to support Xiao Moke, pretending to be very sad and comforting: "Father, Shiro is resourceful and auspicious, so he will definitely be fine!" ”

In fact, Xiao Shilian was secretly happy in his heart: for the sake of these subordinates, as a commander, he actually went to lead the enemy away in person, such as being stubborn and dull, and he couldn't complain about others when he died! And this is Gao Changgong's thoughtful and well-planned trap, I see how you can escape from Gao Changgong's army this time!

"The Commander will be fine! And I believe that with the commander's ability, he will definitely be able to escape from the encirclement of the Qi army! Even if he was unfortunately caught by Gao Changgong, Gao Changgong would not execute the commander immediately, they must have wanted to find out the secret of the commander's manufacture of gunpowder and firearms! So we can now be absolutely sure that the commander is still alive! Old General Xiao, the commander is your righteous son, one of the reasons why we fell into Gao Changgong's ambush this time is because the commander wants to rescue Old General Xiao, so now we beg General Xiao to immediately lead his troops north, attack Linying County, and save the commander back! Li Nong knelt down and pleaded with Xiao Moke.

"Please send troops immediately to save the commander!" All the soldiers of the Forward Brigade knelt down and begged Xiao Moke.

"Good! Quick, gather the army, let's rush to Linying County immediately to save Shiro! Xiao Moke, who had recovered from his recovery, immediately ordered.

"Father, calm down! We can't afford to be impatient! Now we have just been plotted by Gao Changgong, not only our cavalry battalion has been severely damaged, but even Shiro's forward brigade has been crushed! And we just escaped from Linying County, and our morale is at its lowest, if we still go to Linying County to challenge Gao Changgong at this time, isn't that tantamount to throwing ourselves into the net? Xiao Shilian immediately stopped, now he wished that Xiao Yao had been caught or even killed by Gao Changgong, of course he didn't want Xiao Moke to lead his troops to save Xiao Yao.

"And you!" Xiao Shilian pointed at Li Nong and said, "I know you are desperate to save Shiro's heart, but can you still fight now?" Even with the 1,000 cavalry you lent me, you now only have more than 2,000 troops left, and the artillery you are most proud of is gone, so what are you going to do to fight Gao Changgong? And I believe that Shiro personally led away the enemy and let you break through, but also to let you come back alive, if you go back to die at this time, then it will not live up to Shiro's hard work, and those brothers of the death squad, won't they die in vain? ”

Xiao Shilian was so righteous that everyone was speechless, Xiao Shilian knew that he had gained the upper hand, so he pretended to be very sad and continued: "Shiro is my younger brother, seeing that he is trapped in an enemy country and his life and death are uncertain, am I not in a hurry?" Don't I want to save him right away, but now that the situation is so critical, can we go and save him? Since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety have been in a dilemma, we are all soldiers, so we can only put loyalty to the country and the emperor in the first place! Now that we have just suffered a fiasco, the first thing to consider is to prevent Gao Changgong from taking advantage of the victory to pursue and continue to attack us in the south, Runan and Chenliu counties are the cities we have just taken, and our foundation here is not stable, so it is not appropriate to stay here! And the main force of our Northern Expedition is still in Shouyang, so we must return to Shouyang immediately, preserve our strength, and never lose any more soldiers! As for Shiro, we can send more spies to infiltrate Qi to inquire about him, and then make plans!" ”

Xiao Shilian was well-founded and irrefutable, so in the end, Xiao Moke still agreed to Xiao Shilian's suggestion, not to save Xiao Yao first, but to immediately lead the remnants of the army back to Shouyang to preserve his strength!

When Xiao Moke returned to Shouyang and brought back the news of the disastrous defeat of the army and Xiao Yao's disappearance, Wu Mingche and other generals were shocked!

"What the hell is going on? How could Shiro be defeated at the hands of Gao Changgong, and how could only half of the forward brigade come back! Wu Mingche stumbled and beat his chest and asked angrily.

"Dudu, it's all my fault! After taking Runan County, I led the cavalry to pursue the enemy, but I fell into the trap of Gao Changgong and was besieged by him in the empty city of Linying County! And Shiro came to save my useless father, and he also fell into Gao Changgong's ambush, and Zhang Dabao, the son of the cavalry general Zhang Zhaoda, betrayed the forward brigade and burned the ammunition and materials of the artillery battalion, causing the artillery battalion to fall into the encirclement of 30,000 Qi troops, and finally Shiro led the death squad to lead the Qi army away in order to save his subordinates, which allowed the soldiers of the forward brigade to break through and escape back, but Shiro is missing, life and death are uncertain! I was the one who hurt Shiro! If I had followed the advice of the lieutenant general, fought steadily, and did not pursue rashly after taking Runan County, these things would not have happened! Please take care of my military law! Xiao Moke cried bitterly to Wu Mingche and pleaded guilty.

"Zhang Dabao? Why did he defect? His father is a general of the Che Cavalry, our loyal and famous general of Da Chen, the Zhang family is full of loyalty, after Zhang Dabao is a famous general, why did he do this! Wu Mingche smashed the cup in his hand and said fiercely.

"When he was in Xuyi County before, Zhang Dabao was kidnapped by Gao Changgong! I believe that at that time, he had already colluded with Gao Changgong and began to betray us! It was he and Gao Changgong's internal and external cooperation, and together they calculated our forward brigade, that we were ambushed by Gao Changgong and fell into the encirclement of 30,000 Qi troops! When Zhang Dabao was in the infantry battalion before, the commander took away his military power and made him only a deputy company commander, he had already shown his dissatisfaction with the commander, and later in the forward brigade, everyone was promoted, but he was the only one who was not promoted, so he betrayed us and betrayed us! I must capture him, tear him to pieces, and avenge the Commander and his dead brothers!" Huang Wenyuan gritted his teeth and said.

"Alas! can only 5,000 Rao forward brigades, but they are surrounded by 30,000 Qi troops, and there is no artillery to kill the enemy, they can successfully break through, and half of the soldiers can escape, it all depends on Shiro! I don't know if he has escaped from the encirclement of the Qi army now! Wu Mingche lamented.

"Governor, what do we do now? Do you want to immediately send troops to attack Linying County, take that piece of the city, and then rescue General Xiao Yao? Zhou Luo, who had a good relationship with Xiao Yao, asked.

"We were defeated by Gao Changgong just now, and even the forward brigade that terrified the Qi army was defeated by him, and now their morale is at its highest, and we should not send troops! And without the firearms of Shiro and the artillery battalion, I believe that we will not be as invincible as before in the fight against the Qi army, and I believe that this kind of thing will not happen again if the soldiers take the city bloodlessly! Moreover, we have just taken Huainan, and our foundation is not stable, so now we can only do a good job of defense to prevent the Qi army from taking these places back! Wu Mingche shook his head and said, as a boss and elder, he really wanted to send troops to save Xiao Yao! But as the governor of the army, he has to consider the overall situation, so he can't save Xiao Yao yet.

"Alas, arise all of you! The situation is complicated, and it involves the son of the general of the chariot, so I can't handle it hastily! A few days ago, I heard that Shiro successfully won Chenliu County, and the emperor also sent a holy decree to reward Shiro, which shows that the emperor also attaches great importance to Shiro! But now Shiro suddenly had an accident, so let's do it, General Xiao, you hand over the military power, and then return to Jinling, and personally ask the emperor for guilt, let the emperor decide this matter personally! Wu Mingche said helplessly.