Although Liu Yan knew that he gave up the city defense and led the army to break through the siege, it would be good if the 3,000 soldiers under his command could escape back to Xudu alive with 300 people.

But sticking to it is like a dead one, and he has no way to find it, not to mention Liu Ping's strict order to withdraw his troops.

Of course, Liu Ping's order was for him to go out of the city to attack Yuan's army, but in his opinion, this was just a good excuse to abandon the city and flee.

He originally had 5,000 people in his hands, and only 3,000 were left after defending the city for so many days, and with such a small number of people, he still dared to attack the 10,000 Yuan army outside the city?

If you can escape, you have already burned high incense.

At this time, the sky gradually darkened, and an attendant came to hand the lamp, and in the dim light, everyone was silent.

Needless to say, respecting Liu Ping's military order and leading the army to break through the siege is already a consensus reached by everyone.

But suddenly they gave up the city that they had been defending for so long, and everyone felt uncomfortable in their hearts.

At this time, an attendant suddenly came in with a thin piece of bamboo and handed it to Liu Yan.

Liu Yan looked at it, his face became even heavier, and he said in a muffled voice: "Pass the order, take strict precautions tonight, if any people approach the city gate, they will be killed!" ”

He then handed the bamboo pieces to everyone for everyone to circulate.

It turned out that this was the threatening and inducing letter that Yuan Jun shot in outside the city.

"It is conceivable that we have been guarding the White Horse for so long, and if we suddenly evacuate, it will be the people of the White Horse City who will suffer," one of the generals handed the bamboo piece in his hand to the next one, and then said hatefully.

"Needless to say, this is also expected, but this Yuan army is so tyrannical and dares to openly slaughter the city, isn't he afraid of being spurned by the world?" The next general glanced at the bamboo piece and continued to pass it down.

Liu Yan shook his head and said helplessly: "Now the whole situation is that the enemy is strong and I am weak, and the people of White Horse City, I'm afraid I can't control it."

What we need to do is to bring the soldiers back to Xudu as much as possible, so as to preserve our strength, rather than coexist and die with the White Horse Castle.

It is the limit that Ping Gongzi can contain Yan Liang's 40,000 army, this is the last chance he created for us, whether he can break through smoothly depends on me waiting. ”

"That's right, please give the general an order!"

"Order, straighten out the army and horses, and go out of the south gate tomorrow at midnight, no one will have to worry about anyone else, and they need to lead their troops south.

Even if one person can escape back to Xudu, it can be regarded as worthy of the grace of Ping Gongzi's rescue. ”

"No!"

The generals stood up, clasped their fists and agreed in unison, feeling generous to die.

……

The next day, Yinshi.

The eastern sky had just turned indigo, and Liu Yan led dozens of soldiers to rush out of the garrison general's mansion on horseback and march in the direction of the barracks.

"General, why are there people on either side?" A pro-soldier suddenly said to Liu Yan.

Although it was very dark, Liu Yan also noticed that both sides of the street were full of kneeling people.

"Go and ask," Liu Yan ordered, and then said gloomily: "Forget it, probably the people guessed that we were going to withdraw the army, and they knelt there and begged us not to leave."

It's important to hurry, go! ”

Since they can't protect the lives and deaths of the people on this side, talking too much can only add to their sadness.

At this moment, they ignored the people kneeling on both sides, and galloped into the barracks, and by this time all the soldiers had been put in order.

The military rations in the city have been exhausted, and it is a burden to hold money, so every soldier in front of him is lightly armed and simple, and everything is based on being able to escape.

Liu Yan didn't make a big noise, since it was a breakthrough, naturally the more sudden, the better.

Even before the enemy could react, they passed through the defensive line.

Of course that's not possible.

At this time, the east was already white, and the sky was already dark.

"Let's go!"

Liu Yan ordered softly, and led the remaining 3,000 soldiers out of the barracks quietly.

Unexpectedly, when he couldn't walk Lixu, a herald came to report: "General, the road ahead is blocked by the people, and they can't walk, and they keep saying that they want to see the general." ”

"Dare to block my march?" Liu Yan felt his head big and asked, "How many people are there?" ”

"The old and the young are afraid that there are tens of thousands of people."

"Tens of thousands?"

Liu Yan gasped, there were only more than 10,000 people in the entire White Horse City, and it looked like they were all here.

He hurriedly rode forward, only to see that the people were crowded, and by the light of the sky that had just brightened, the old and the young, could not see the edge at a glance.

At the head was an old man dressed in silk clothes with gray hair.

Liu Yan has been guarding White Horse City for a long time, and he knows all the leading people in the city.

knew that the old man was the number one gentry in White Horse City, Li Zong, the head of the Li family.

There were seven or eight strong men tied to the ground in front of Li Zong, covered in clothes one by one, as if they were dying.

At this time, Li Zong greeted him and bowed to Liu Yan: "Report to the general, these people tried to do wrong in the middle of the night, plotting to open the city gate to welcome Yuan Jun, but they have been taken down by me and handed over to the general for disposal." ”

"The head of the Li family has a heart," Liu Yan was still wondering before, with the temptation of Yuan Jun's bamboo chips outside the city, why no one tried to open the city gate to welcome Yuan Jun in the middle of the night, in exchange for a chance to live.

It turned out that it was taken down by the head of the Li family.

"In the next place, I will show Cao Sikong the heart of the Li family master to the heart of the court, and there will be a reward at that time."

"General Liu doesn't need to be polite, the old man just wants to ask, what does General Liu want to lead the army in the middle of the night?"

"Withdraw!"

Liu Yan didn't dare to look at Li Zong, lowered his head and squeezed out two words, the situation in front of him was so obvious, no matter how interesting it was, it was not interesting to quibble.

Unexpectedly, Li Zong then knelt down on his knees in front of Liu Yan's horse.

Led by Li Zong, the tens of thousands of people behind him also knelt on the ground like a tide.

Li Zong said angrily: "Since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, we have suffered greatly from the attacks of bandits, and it is easy to look forward to Cao Sikong pacifying the bandits in the Central Plains and welcoming the Son of Heaven to Xudu

Now that Yuan Shao has raised an unrighteous army and sent troops to attack, the general should do his best to break the enemy and defend the territory, why should he withdraw his troops easily? ”

The more he spoke, the more excited he became, and he was already choked up when he said the back.

"We are all law-abiding Han people, the general withdraws, we will die in the hands of the violent Yuan, how can the general bear it?

Now we are willing to take out all the food stored in the family and use it as military food, and I only ask the general to think of the white horse and the common people and not withdraw the army. ”

Liu Yan felt very embarrassed, as a city defender, the enemy army came over, but he abandoned the city and fled, throwing all the people in the city under the enemy's butcher's knife, which was not very glorious.

Li Zong's words made Liu Yan speechless.

At this time, another middle-aged person dressed very ordinarily spoke: "We are originally from Jingzhou, and it is precisely because I heard that the imperial court here appointed Liu Ping's son Tuntian, so my family moved here.

Now I would like to ask the boy why the defenders have withdrawn before they have been planted for a season. ”

"It was Pinggongzi who ordered the withdrawal of the troops," Liu Yan couldn't refute, so he had to mutter.

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