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Li Jiancheng knew that his army was now under attack from the enemy, and the situation was unfavorable, so if he wanted to retreat with his whole body, he was afraid that it would not be easy.

However, after all, he was born into a family of gatekeepers and received a lot of military training from an early age. And I also have a lot of combat experience, although I started to panic for a while, but I quickly calmed down.

After discussing with Liu Jing, Li Jiancheng issued an order for Hou Junji to lead 10,000 soldiers and horses, while he led his own soldiers and the main force of the Tang army to flee north desperately, striving to return to the fortified city of Hejian County as soon as possible.

It's just that although Li Jiancheng's idea was good, he overestimated the psychological endurance of the Tang soldiers under him.

Since many Tang Army soldiers were Guanzhong disciples who had only been recruited into the army for less than a year, they did not have much combat experience.

Although they also participated in the war of destroying Li Rail, conquering Hetao, and fighting Hedong, they had never experienced such a vicious battle, nor had they ever seen such a tragic war scene.

Now seeing a corpse with a broken abdomen, a miserable death, and covered in blood appeared in front of them, they couldn't help but tremble in horror and tremble in their legs.

Especially the Tang army that was left behind, seeing the Zhou army's brigade rushing over, many of them were Mo Dao soldiers with long-handled broadswords, and they were even more frightened. After all, the cavalry of his own army can't beat others, let alone their infantry.

With every swing of the broadsword, the headless corpse of one of his comrades fell...... Every one of them was in a state of panic.

Soon, some soldiers secretly fled backwards, trying to pick up a life. And this kind of fear of the enemy like a tiger, trying to save his life like a plague, quickly spread among the Tang army, a large number of Tang soldiers began to break up, desperate to run to the mountains and forests on both sides, let Hou Junji shout throat to no avail.

The morale of the enemy army was low, and they even broke and fled, which greatly shortened the time for the Zhou army to defeat the Tang army and break the rear army.

Yu Ming saw that the opportunity could not be lost, and it was a good opportunity to consume a large amount of the Tang army's vital forces, so he ordered a general attack. He waved the Liquan Treasure Spear and rushed to the front, leading by example to urge all the soldiers of the Zhou army to move forward bravely and crush the enemy in one fell swoop.

Under the attack of the Zhou army from both sides, the situation of the Tang army, which was already in a precarious situation, deteriorated even more......

At this time, Hou Junji, the chief general of the Broken Hou Army, saw that the general trend of the Tang Army had gone, and knew that today's defeat had been achieved, so he did not dare to continue the war, so as not to become a prisoner of the Zhou army. He then gave the order to retreat and ordered his soldiers to retreat in the direction of Hejian County.

However, he didn't expect that the morale of the Tang army was prematurely ejaculation, the original commander did not order a retreat, and some people were struggling to support it because they were afraid of military law. Now that I heard the order to retreat, the last bit of hard work disappeared.

The Broken Rear Army, which could barely resist, was huddled together in a mess after he gave the order to retreat, you hug me and squeeze, you rob me, and everyone wants to give birth to a few more legs, so that they can run back to the safe city in Hejian County as soon as possible.

In this way, the queue of the Tang army's broken rear army suddenly collapsed, and it collapsed for thousands of miles, and even if Sun Wu was reborn, Zhuge Liang's rebirth could not be recovered.

Fortunately, Hou Junji saw the opportunity to act and ran fast. Under the protection of his own soldiers, he finally killed a blood and returned to Hejian County with more than 1,000 cavalry.

When Li Jiancheng gathered all the remnants of the army and counted them after entering the city, he found that more than 10,000 soldiers had been lost in this battle, and the grain, grass and baggage stored in the camp had also been lost.

After this battle, Li Jiancheng no longer dared to take the initiative to attack, and ordered the city gate to be closed and not out. At the same time, all the troops in the outer counties of Hejian County were also retracted back into the city. put on a posture that rats don't come out of their holes.

This time, the victory of the first battle of the Northern Expedition of the Zhou army, Song Jingang was the meritorious, he led 5,000 elite soldiers, and Mao recommended himself to be a strange soldier. Not afraid of life and death, not afraid of hardships and dangers along the way, in the Lingxiao Mountain, which is full of cliffs and cliffs, it is impossible to have it, and he has opened up a road stubbornly.

After the battle was over, when Song Jingang, whose face was covered with blood and scarred, appeared in front of Yu Ming, Yu Ming was really moved.

He clasped Song Jingang's palm and said, "King Kong, although I have only known you for a few years, not for a long time, I have always treated you as a brother. In today's battle, you know that you are not only a brave general, but also an excellent commander, who can inspire the courage of soldiers and lead them to overcome difficulties that are otherwise difficult to overcome. I have an excellent general like you in Da Zhou, why worry about Li Tang not being destroyed? Say: whatever reward you want, I will promise you! ”

After hearing this, Song Jingang was also very excited and said: "Your Majesty's kindness of knowing and carrying you, the last general will never forget, and the last general just did what he should do." If Your Majesty wants to reward, it is better to reward those soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country, so that their families can live the rest of their lives without worrying about food and clothing! ”

"Good! I promise you! Yu Ming was also impressed by Song Jingang at this time, and wondered that it was no wonder that he could inspire his troops to live and die with him, just from the words and deeds of such compassion for his subordinates, it can be seen.

Two days later, Yu Ming personally led the Chinese army to the city of Hejian County, and half a month later, Wei Chi Jingde and Qin Qiong also led the left and right armies respectively to conquer Zhao County and Pingyuan County. The army broke through the outer defense line of the Tang army from the west, east and south respectively, and successfully reached the city of Hejian County.

Now, whether it is Li Jiancheng or Yuming, they all know that the first battle of Hejian County is related to the life and death of the Hebei war, and Zhou Junsheng will open up the connection with Beiping, Liaodong and other places, so that the northern and southern armies will become one.

Tang Junsheng will cut the Zhou army's territory in half, and then break each one. Moreover, the horses and forage from Liaodong could not be transported to the south, and at the same time, the silk and tea from the south of the Yangtze River could not be transported to Guanwai. The Zhou army will fall into its passive situation.

Therefore, Yu Ming and Li Jiancheng both put all the troops that could be mobilized in their hands into the battlefield of Hejian County, and the decisive battle was just around the corner!

……

In September of the first year of Yongchang, the offensive and defensive battle of Hejian County quietly kicked off. This is also the Zhou army's Northern Expedition, a decisive battle to rescue Hebei, if Hejian County can be successfully conquered, then the recovery of the whole territory of Hebei has been decided. 、

Although there were still some Tang troops in the Zhuo County and Dingzhou areas, they were not the main force of the Tang Army, they were local county soldiers recruited temporarily, and their combat effectiveness was also very weak. And as the Zhou army continued to win wars, many of them were panicked.

They are natives of Hebei. Li Jiancheng can leave Hebei at any time, but they can't do without it. Moreover, the last time the Shandong Shi clan rebelled, Yu Ming's iron-blooded slaughter methods made them even more apprehensive. Someone has secretly contacted Yuming and expressed his intention to surrender.

According to the inference of Yuming and Xu Shiji, as long as the Zhou army captured Hejian County and opened up the connection with Beiping, they were afraid that they would not have to attack by themselves, and these local county soldiers with the background of Shandong scholars and the name of the Tang Army would take the initiative to surrender. But now, because Li Jiancheng is still holding on, the main force of the Tang Army is still there. Most of them still had a glimmer of hope that the Tang army would defeat the Zhou army and make a comeback.

But are miracles really that easy to happen?

Previously, the Tang army was able to successfully capture the Hetao, Hedong and most of Hebei. It was because the main force of the Zhou army went south to attack Du Fuwei, and the troops in the north were very empty.

And because Yuming's main focus was on the southern expedition, the generals deployed in Hedong, Hetao, Hebei and other places were also worse than Qin Qiong, Wei Chi Jingde and other famous generals, which gave Li Jiancheng an opportunity.

But now the main force of the Zhou army has returned to the north, although it is still inferior to the Tang army in terms of total strength. But in terms of actual combat effectiveness, it is no worse than the Tang Army, and even much stronger. In this case, it is inevitable that many Hebei clans have adopted a wait-and-see attitude and dare not make a clear statement.

Since the end of the armistice agreement in the Tang and Zhou dynasties, the resumption of the war, has now entered the eighth month of the outbreak of the war, and the armies of both sides have fought fierce battles on a nearly 2,000-mile-long front from Hetao, Dingxiang, and Beiping in the north to Jiangling and Xiangyang in the south, and they are all somewhat exhausted. Now it depends on who can persist more and fight hard, and who has a better chance of winning the final victory.

However, the current situation is still slightly unfavorable for Zhou Jun. The Tang army in Hejian County has sufficient grain stock, although it is besieged by the Zhou army at the moment, and not a single grain can be transported in. However, due to the fact that Hejian County was built as a granary storage place in southern Hebei. Therefore, there are many large granaries in the city, and after the fall, these grains and grasses fell into the hands of the Tang army. Therefore, there is no problem for Li Jiancheng to support him for more than half a year.

However, the situation on the side of the Zhou army was not good, because the front was stretched too long. The transportation of grain and grass is quite inconvenient. Fortunately, the eldest grandson Wujian had been prepared for this, and she ordered to use a large number of ships captured after conquering Jiangnan, and collect the grain in Jiangnan and Luoyang through the Yongding Canal dug by Yang Guang before, and send it to Hebei through the canal water, forming a long life support line, continuously sending all kinds of grain, grass, baggage and military supplies to the front line.

It was Yuming who knew it even more in his heart. Each day that the fighting in Hebei is extended, the economic pressure on the Great Zhou will deepen. And because in the past six months, the Zhou army has recruited a large number of migrant workers in various places to support the front line, which has also caused great dissatisfaction among the surnames. If it weren't for the imperial court to pay salaries, I was afraid that it would provoke a popular uprising.

Now, Hebei has entered autumn, and the weather has cooled down suddenly. Both warring sides were a little illprepared for wintering, and many soldiers were still wearing single clothes. If the war drags on, the damage to the armies of both sides will be even greater. Both Li Jiancheng and Yu Ming are looking forward to ending this war before winter comes.

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