The moonlight was bright and bright, but for Lu Longjun, it was bleak.

In the middle of the night, the fleeing military horses, those who should have been gathered have been gathered, and those who should have come back should have returned, and at this point, those who have not come back basically will not come back or will not come back.

20,000 cavalry went out on the expedition, and at this time, there were less than 8,000 horsemen still here, and many of them even lost their weapons, and they were barehanded, except for a war horse, there was almost nothing else. In other seasons, this kind of soldier who has lost even his weapons is intolerable in military law, but at this time, the officers just did not see it.

Piles of bonfires were burned in the wilderness, around which the soldiers roasted their wet clothes, all in despair and silent, and thousands of people gathered here, but rarely heard a voice.

Occasionally, a sleeping soldier would suddenly jump up and run away in a panic, until he was whipped to the ground by the officers several times, and then he came to his senses.

The battle is over.

He's having a nightmare.

Such a situation, under the night sky of the wilderness, happens from time to time.

"Uncle, it has been determined that in addition to General Zhang Xing, who was killed on the spot, General Pan Feng on the left flank was also killed when he intercepted the Wuwei cavalry. Some of the cavalry on the left flank who fled back witnessed the death of General Pan Feng. Zhang Zhongwen's son Zhang Pu whispered to Zhang Zhongwu.

Zhang Zhongwu stared intently at the fire in front of him, Zhang Xing was his fellow countryman, a partner who grew up in a village, and Pan Feng was also one of the earliest people who followed him. It really hurts in my heart to the extreme, such a loss is not like those soldiers who can be replenished at any time, if the loss is lost, it will be gone, and it will never be recovered.

Looking at Zhang Zhongwu's somewhat lost appearance, Zhang Pu said in a low voice: "Uncle, although we have lost the Thai centaur, we have eight thousand soldiers, and now we are not without the strength to fight. At this moment, if we revive our soldiers and horses and kill one of them, we may be able to perform miraculous feats. ”

Zhang Zhongwu smiled bitterly, raised his head and looked at his nephew: "Pu'er, do you think that I have become confused because of this loss?" ”

"Nope!" Zhang Pu hung his head and said.

"It's useless." Zhang Zhongwu shook his head and said, "Look at our soldiers, do you still have the will to fight at this moment?" No, they all lost their souls, without a few months of buffer, this nightmare will not be eliminated in their minds, and they will be terrified when they see the Wuwei cavalry. ”

"We are indeed not as strong as before, but Yi County is now bound to relax its vigilance after the big victory, as long as there is a victory, we can get all this back, there will be brave men under the heavy reward, Xu soldiers plundered Yi County for three days after defeating them, and kept them one by one as excited as if they were beaten with chicken blood."

"How do you know if the other person will let their guard down? Take it for granted? Zhang Zhongwu said: "What if the other party is heavily guarded? At this time, Li Ze must have retreated into Yi County with the whole army, and with our unsuccessful sneak attack this time, Li Ze will inevitably be reminded that if my expectations are correct, Zhenzhou, Zhaozhou and other places must have begun to mobilize government troops on a large scale, and even if we bypass Yi County, there will be no more big results. ”

"At least it can make them restless." Zhang Puqiang argued.

"What's the point?" Zhang Zhongwu asked rhetorically: "We go deep into the enemy's territory, what should we do with logistics?" Plundering can indeed supplement some of it, but are the thousands of cavalry under Li Ze's command eating dry food? In this situation, do we dare to divide our troops and plunder everywhere? If we really dare to do this, Li Ze will dare to eat up the soldiers and horses we have divided one by one, and his infantry brigade will surround us from all directions, and finally let us have no way to go to the sky and no way to enter the ground, and it is difficult to escape the fate of destruction. ”

"Do you want to throw in the towel?" Zhang Pu was unwilling to be authentic.

"Willing to gamble." Zhang Zhongwu laughed hesitantly: "I still have this idea, Li Ze and I are the same, they both have the same idea, they want to fight and decide the winner, I lost, he won, it's that simple." But losing this time doesn't mean I'm throwing in the towel. I think back then, when Lao Tzu first came to Lulong, it was much more bleak than now, and in the battle with Yelu Abaoji, at the worst time, there were only 800 cavalry left around me. ”

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but raise his head, and looked at the starry sky in a daze for a while before he continued: "At that time, among the surviving people, there were Pan Feng, Zhang Xing, as well as Shi Yi and Fei Zhong, and your Lao Tzu was in the rear to raise logistics for us at that time. Even if the whole army was almost wiped out, I didn't collapse all the time, and in the end, I still won, and Yelu Abaoji doesn't know where to run now! ”

"Now we still have 8,000 cavalry!" Zhang Pu was also excited. "Do you mean to say that you are staying in the green mountains, and you are not afraid of running out of firewood?"

"Of course. I still have 8,000 cavalry, and I still have several states. Zhang Zhongwu said proudly: "It doesn't matter if you are frustrated for a while, as long as you can hold on to the end, there is no chance of a comeback." ”

"It's still my uncle's foresight, and he doesn't judge success or failure because of momentary gains and losses." Zhang Pu nodded again and again. "But Li Ze Xiao'er was proud for a while, we will eventually fight back."

Listening to Zhang Pu's words, Zhang Zhongwu fell silent: "Li Ze is really the most difficult opponent I have ever met in my life, much more difficult than Gao Biao. In a battle like today's daylight, it is impossible for Gao Yu's Hedong army to hold out, and in an hour at most, we can destroy their infantry phalanx and open the door to victory. ”

Thinking that Li Ze used three infantry phalanxes to stubbornly block the impact of his 15,000 cavalry for half a day, and finally let Lu Longbing lose his last vigilance and let Li Ze succeed with one blow when victory was in sight, Zhang Zhongwu was a little distracted.

From this point, it can be seen that Li Ze has absolute control over the army under his command. An army, if it suffers more than one-third of the casualties, will basically lose its combat effectiveness, and if it loses more than half, it will definitely be defeated, but the Modao soldiers who are blocking the front and the auxiliary soldiers behind them are still insisting on fighting in such a situation, which is unimaginable for Zhang Zhongwu. And he couldn't do it if he asked himself.

From this point of view, Li Ze is much stronger than him and Gao Biao.

Just look at the current situation in Hedong, as soon as Gao Yu died, he immediately fell apart, and the generals had their own thoughts, supported the army and respected themselves, and no one obeyed anyone.

As for Wu Wei, I am afraid that it is definitely an inverse ratio with them, now Li Ze has no descendants, kill him or be able to do it once and for all, if he has an heir, I am afraid that even if he is killed, Wu Wei will not fall apart.

"That's because of the fierce fire oil. Uncle, we also have fierce fire oil, and now we are refining this kind of thing as well. Zhang Pu said.

"It's just one reason for our big defeat, and it's not just the whole story." Zhang Zhongwu shook his head and sighed: "Pu'er, you rush back to Youzhou overnight, tell your father, let him start preparing as soon as possible, transfer our strength to Pingzhou, and leave Youzhou to Fei Zhong to take care of." ”

"Give up Youzhou?" Zhang Pu was shocked: "Uncle, Youzhou is our fundamental place. Now Zhuozhou is resisting, as long as we keep Zhuozhou, we can hold Youzhou. ”

"For this battle, I evacuated the main cavalry of Zhuozhou, and now the main force of Wuwei is besieging Zhuozhou, I am afraid that Zhuozhou will not be able to hold it, Zhuozhou will be lost, and Youzhou will be difficult to protect. Tell your father that he withdrew to Pingzhou, and after you have done a little rectification, you will lead your troops into Goguryeo and merge with Yeluyuan, you are the main and Yeluyuan is the deputy, I didn't care much about Goguryeo before, but in the future, I am afraid that we will use it as a place for our strategic depth of logistics supply, and we will be unable to provide us with materials for long-term warfare in Yingzhou and Liaozhou. ”

Zhang Pu pondered: "In this way, after we enter Goguryeo, the first thing we will do is to help the king of Goguryeo kill Tan Daoji. ”

"Did the king of Goguryeo always beg us to send troops to quell the rebellion from time to time? That's as he wants, but you have to remember that you can defeat Tan Daoji, but you can't kill him all, and you still have to keep him a certain strength. ”

"Understood, if Tan Daoji is really killed, I'm afraid that the king of Goguryeo won't need us." Zhang Pu laughed.

"That's it." Zhang Zhongwu nodded.

"Uncle, I'm leaving, what are you going to do next?" Zhang Pu asked.

"Rectify the soldiers and horses, understand that if you go to Zhuozhou, no matter whether Zhuozhou can defend it or not, I have to think of ways to save part of my strength and return to Youzhou, so that I can also enhance some strength for the future battle of Youzhou." Zhang Zhongwu said. "Even if Youzhou is not protected, he is a big city after all, even if it will be taken by Li Ze in the end, I will let Li Ze break half of his teeth. It is also necessary to let him have no spare strength to go north in a short period of time after taking Youzhou, so that we will have more time to operate in Pingzhou and other places. ”

Zhuozhou, the gateway to Youzhou, at this moment, has been surrounded by a large army led by Shi Zhuang and Wang Sili. As Li Ze expected before the war, once Shi Zhuang knew that Li Ze was in danger, he would inevitably want to withdraw his troops to rescue Yi County, even if Shi Zhuang knew that this was not in the overall interests of Wuwei, he would do so.

Cao Xin's arrival stopped Shi Zhuang's movements, and the Wuwei army immediately strengthened its attack on Zhuozhou.

And the main attacker is Shi Zhuang's department. And Zhuozhou, as a strategic town of the Lu Long Army, even if Zhang Zhongwu has withdrawn all the elite cavalry, but the foot soldiers who stayed to defend the city are still not to be underestimated.

Under the banner of stone characters, Shi Zhuang held a horse lance, standing upright with red eyes, and in front of him was a group of generals headed by Li Bo. The torches were burning peeling off and burning, and the city of Zhuozhou in the distance was also brightly lit.

"Li Bo, next, take your department as the vanguard, charge again, and if you can't rush to the city, you don't have to come back." Shi Zhuang's face is hideous.

"Die, and I will die above the city." Li Bo roared loudly, lifted his horse, turned and strode away.

"The Chinese army is ready!" Shi Zhuang roared: "Once Li Bo breaks into the city, the Chinese army will make the final fatal blow with me." ”

The drums of war rumbled, the shouts rang out, and another round of attacks began.