Xiao Siwen never expected that the most serious thing would happen in Zhuozhou! And suddenly unprepared.

The wind had already ruffled his beard and sideburns, but he had long since lost sight of them, and sat on his horse with a pale face and a startle.

Earlier, when there was a bang and earth-shattering shouts of fighting from the city, the gates were closed. Xiao Siwen wanted to call the men and horses who had not entered the city to rescue, but the cavalry in his hand had no siege equipment for a while, so he had no choice but to go around the city and shoot arrows.

It has been a long time since the fighting was fierce in the city. At this time, I suddenly saw the south gate of Zhuozhou slowly open...... But no one came out, the open city gate, a thin white smoke filled, and almost all the Liao soldiers looked at the city gate.

Now, do you still dare to enter?

Xiao Siwen's face turned blue and white for a while, and he was speechless. He had a feeling, as if an enemy had torn open his chest and said loudly: Come and stab me! But he didn't dare to stab ...... at all It's a total humiliation.

"Who is the Zhou army guard in Zhuozhou?" Xiao Siwen only then remembered to ask about this.

Finally, a subordinate general said: "The name is Guo Shao, the person of the Guard Division." I heard that he used to be a blacksmith. He married Fu Yanqing, a daimyo, and married the sister of the empress of the Zhou Dynasty. ”

"Blacksmith?" Xiao Siwen almost cried, he was beaten so badly by a blacksmith!

Xiao Siwen said again: "Are you sure you have sent someone to report to the Khan?" ”

The general said: "Yili personally took his entourage to report." ”

Xiao Siwen saw that the soldiers were depressed, and the remaining soldiers and horses were also very thin, so he had no choice but to retreat to Gu'an.

……

Guo Shao was not surprised to hear that Xiao Siwen had retreated.

There is no news of the main force of the Khitan lord on the north bank of Zhuoshui going south, and even if he is coming, it is unlikely to be today, because the sky is dark and it is almost evening.

The smoke in the air dissipated, but there was still a faint smell of gunpowder smoke and a strong smell of blood. It's a bit fishy, a bit like the smell of standing on a fishing boat, and it makes people feel a little sick to their stomachs.

"The humane Liao army is strong, and we don't kill him like killing pigs! Hahaha! ”

"It's all raised by my father and mother, I don't believe in killing or dying......"

The generals in the tent talked frantically and excitedly, and many of them were covered in blood. Guo Shao's body is the cleanest, and he didn't go into battle in person. The lining was only changed this morning, the white silk was spotless, and the ring chain mail was brand new...... But he felt that he had the most blood on his hands, and he couldn't wash it off at all.

However, having killed so many people, he felt that he would not be punished, but would be rewarded. The Liao State was the greatest enemy of the Zhou Dynasty, and Chai Rong was threatened by the Liao State as soon as he ascended the throne; Besides, the Central Plains Dynasty still doesn't treat the barbarians they think are human, and everyone is not good.

The people below were noisy, but Guo Shao didn't say a word. Everyone is used to this way of getting along, but there are too many times to form a habit, anyway, don't pay attention to the main general, and say anything is completely fine.

"Yang Biao, Wang Zhang." Guo Shao suddenly raised his head and said, "There is also Qi Tingxun." ”

The three of them hurriedly stopped talking, stepped forward and bowed, "The last general." ”

Guo Shao said: "You immediately go and gather the people of the first, second, and fourth armies, assemble them and stand by at any time, except for the general's own soldiers, the rest of the war horses are handed over first...... Luo Yanhuan, you lead the Third Army to receive all the Khitan horses. ”

"Order!" The four of them clasped their fists.

Guo Shao said again: "Li Chuyun, you send a man to get those wounded soldiers out, load the car if there is one, and carry it on a stretcher with a door panel if there is no car." ”

He gave many orders in one breath, and then said to Zuo You: "Mr. Zuo helped me draft a note. Report the victory first, kill 10,000 people (there is an exaggerated component), surrender thousands of war horses, thousands of heads, and write the rest...... Then complained, the left wing of the Hujie army fought hard in the city and suffered heavy casualties, don't write the number of specific casualties, the more lyrical and described, the better. By the way, the food and grass are running out, the houses and tents are damaged, and the wounded soldiers have nowhere to be placed; He wanted to send troops to escort the wounded soldiers from Qigou Pass to the south bank of the Juma River...... Finally, tell the official family that the main force of the Liao army has signs of moving south, and Zhuozhou cannot hold it, so please retreat to the south bank of the Juma River as soon as possible, so as not to annihilate the whole army! ”

He added: "What about the officials in Zhuozhou? Send a few people to call the Chinese army. Fearing that the Liao army would slaughter the city after reoccupying Zhuozhou, he asked the officials to organize the people of Zhuozhou City to flee to Qigou Pass tomorrow. The corpses left in the city are left alone for the time being. ”

…… Guo Shao made a phone call to confirm that everyone knew what he should do, and he fell silent again. Another burst of clearing thoughts.

In fact, what he was thinking about in his heart, he had thought about it many times, but now he had to straighten it out again, which was really a bit complicated and prone to omissions.

First, he judged that Xiao Siwen would be fooled when he chased him to Zhuozhou. (Of course, if you don't fall for it, you have to find another way.) ）

Guo Shao is a very good learner, and this battle is based on the experience he has learned before. Three years ago, the ambush in the city of Wuzhen was too smooth...... Let him truly realize that the siege warfare of this era has almost no street fighting, and both the offensive and defensive sides are not considered according to experience. Therefore, once Xiao Siwen "breached" the city gate, the Liao army was bold and arrogant before, and the possibility that they would not take the opportunity to follow into the city to be greedy for merit was relatively small.

After entering the city, first disrupt the enemy's formation with smoke, raids, and false news, causing chaos; Then heavy troops blocked the city gate from the flank, using the terrain to divide and encircle. He learned these things from Chai Kehong, a famous general of the Southern Tang Dynasty.

If it weren't for Chai Kehong's two times to use this strategy, the first time was to deal with Li Jixun, and the second time was to deal with Guo Shao in Haozhou; It is difficult for Guo Shao to come up with specific measures and deployment methods from scratch in a short period of time. Chai Kehong used to be his enemy, but he was also Guo Shao's teacher...... In this battle of Zhuozhou, Chai Kehong's tactics were almost completely copied.

As expected, the sudden ambush of Xiao Siwen's department went very smoothly. The Liao army is much stronger than the Southern ** combat effectiveness, but the method of using troops is not necessarily as clever as the famous generals of the Southern Tang Dynasty in the Huainan Campaign, or it may be completely inferior. If Chai Kehong is alive, and if he is in Guo Shao's position, he can also get rid of Xiao Siwen's department, maybe he will do better.

…… That's what has already been done. Now Guo Shao has returned to his purpose: to return to Tokyo.

Whether he can return to Tokyo or not, it is not at all transferred by Guo Shao's will, but by the words of Emperor Chai Rong; Otherwise, Guo Shao would still dare to resist the decree?

But Chai Rong's will does not necessarily mean that Guo Shao stays in Hebei; Instead, he felt that Guo Shaobu was originally on the front line in Zhuozhou, and he listened to Zhao Kuangyin's "recommendation", so he felt that Guo Shao stayed was the most appropriate choice...... But what if Chai Rong feels that Guo Shao is not the most appropriate person? Then the emperor will most likely deploy otherwise.

Therefore, Guo Shao's logic is to influence Chai Rong's judgment and turn himself into a person who is not suitable for staying behind; also thought of a more suitable candidate for Chai Rong, that is Han Lingkun.

The first step is to cross the Juma River; Let Han Lingkun guard the Juma River in Qigou. Han Lingkun's left wing of Long Jiejun was in the position of Qigou Pass, and he did not move his troops and did not suffer losses...... Obviously, it is more suitable to stay in Hebei than Guo Shaobu, who had just experienced a major battle, suffered "heavy losses" and "tired soldiers" and had fled back to the Juma River.

How to go back to the south bank of the Mama River? If you are timid, you can ask for persuasion...... But Guo Shao, in order to prevent a lot of dreams at night, planned to directly cut and then play, and then run away; On the one hand, he asked for an order, and on the other hand, he ran away.

Because of the first merit of the Northern Expedition to annihilate the enemy "10,000 people" in Zhuozhou, Guo Shao had the courage to resist with merit. Moreover, he had already learned about the situation on the front line, and in order to "prevent the annihilation of the whole army", he decided to withdraw from the army at the first opportunity, and at that time he would at most say that he had misjudged the fighter plane and was suspected of dereliction of duty, at least it was not an unforgivable crime...... There is also experience to follow how to be punished; In the Battle of Huainan the year before last, Li Gu pioneered the withdrawal of troops from Shouzhou City and returned to Zhengyang. As a result, the emperor was furious and reprimanded him for misjudging the fighter, but he didn't take Li Gu seriously; And this time Guo Shao has made such a great feat, it will not be a matter of "misjudging the fighter".

At present, Guo Shao is ready to realize his first step of vision, and he is roundabout with Chai Rong's will. The head-on conflict is to find death, and no one in the Great Zhou Dynasty has the strength and prestige to fight Chai Rong head-on.

…… Guo Shao looked up at the south, touched the waist ornament embroidered by the person on his waist, and said in his heart: The queen's earnest words are never forgotten; But that's all I can do, there's really no other way.

The queen must also hope that he will use this proper method, and she has trusted Guo Shao countless times to get things done. This time will be no different, right? Guo Shao felt that what she did could satisfy her...... Otherwise, in this situation, is there a more clever plan?

"Is there any movement in the main force of the Liao army in the north?" Guo Shao has asked this sentence many times in a row.

Li Chuyun was in charge of sending scouts to monitor the north, and said busily: "There is no movement yet, at least it has not entered the range of dozens of miles now." ”

Guo Shao glanced at the dim light outside the tent and said softly: "It's too late today, the Liao army shouldn't come." ”

What about tomorrow?

Guo Shao once again remembered how Chai Rong retreated after the decisive battle with the main army of Liao. At that time, the main decisive battle of the Zhou army was unfavorable, and it was to retreat south overnight after the Liao army retreated, so that the Liao army had lost the pursuit fighter when it reacted...... The cavalry of the Zhou army still ran fast.

Chai Rong and Zhou Jun were experienced martial artists, and Guo Shao believed in their abilities and felt that he should learn their way of running away; The Hujie army was not as fast as the cavalry, but the enemy army was dozens or hundreds of miles away, and the distance was more advantageous than Chai Rong's when he ran.

He immediately decided: "Call the infantry battalions of the First Army, the Second Army, and the Fourth Army to 'escort' the wounded soldiers to retreat to Qigou Pass tonight." ”

The general hurriedly said: "The troops have just experienced a big war and retreated overnight, I am afraid that it will cause chaos, and the establishment will not be able to recover its combat strength for a long time." ”

Guo Shao said: "As long as people go back alive, I don't plan to fight again." Everything was thrown away, and only dry food was taken with them. Zuo Yu, immediately issue military orders from the shogunate and order all departments! ”

"Yes, my lord." Left Yu holds fists.

Guo Shao's face was not bloody, and his hand seemed to be nervous when he pressed it on his forehead. But the surroundings had long since returned to calm, save for the groans of wounded soldiers and the noise of bugs. His left hand was still resting on his waistband, and he kept wondering: Am I doing the right thing?