But where to go, it's so easy, whether it's the Tang Army in the north or in the south, they won't sit idly by. Especially when I heard that the Tang army had a large number of cavalry fighting this time, it was a huge threat to his retreat to the south. But if you don't withdraw, there is only a dead end, so Murong Chui has no better way.

After thinking for a while, he said: "Today's plan, there is no way, after leaving some men and horses, the brigade of soldiers and horses will retreat as soon as possible, and first retreat to the south bank of the water." Otherwise, with our troops, it will be difficult to stop the Tang Army's southward advance. ”

The Dasha River is located in the central part of Hebei Province. This water is a big river at this time, originating in the depths of the Taihang Mountain, and flowing eastward from the south of Lunu County in Zhongshan Country after leaving the mountain. Then, not far from the southeast of Gaoyang Kingdom, it turned northward, flowed eastward from the north of Zhangwu County, and entered the sea in Tianjin in later generations.

Because the river runs from east to west, and it is summer, there are often heavy rains in the mountains, so the water volume is very large, and the river surface is relatively wide. For Murong Chui, it was an ideal place to block the Tang army's southward advance.

What's more, there is another larger river, Tuoshui, which runs in the same direction as the southern part of the river, which flows into the sea at the northeast of Zhangwu County.

This Yutuo water is the Yutuo River in later generations, it also originates in the depths of Taihang Mountain, but after it comes out of the mountain, it flows through the south of Changshan County. The narrowest point between the two rivers is in the southern part of Gaoyang Kingdom, and the distance between them is only a dozen miles.

With such two big rivers, it is tantamount to heaven's help for Murong Chui. Whether it is the incomparable combat strength of the infantry of the Tang Army or the strength of the cavalry, it is impossible to come and go freely on this unobstructed plain as it is now.

Of course, if he really withdrew his army to the area of Yutuoshui and Lushui, it would mean that all the counties and counties north of these two rivers would be abandoned.

However, judging from the current situation, it seems that it is almost lost. The rest of the places will probably fall into the hands of the Tang Army sooner or later.

In this case, it is better to maintain the vitality and devote yourself to the defense line as much as possible. As long as the 70,000 Tang troops can be blocked in the north of the Tuoshui River, it means that this Tang attack can be disintegrated by at least one-third.

In terms of this value, it seems that it is worthwhile to give up the counties in the north.

After all, these places won't run away on their own, as long as they wait until the strength of the Yan Kingdom recovers in the future, can't they just take back these places!

As for concentrating troops and launching a decisive battle with the Tang army in the territory of Fanyang Kingdom, Murong thought about it, but after thinking about coming and going, he finally gave up. Not only because the forces in hand are too scattered now, it is not easy to assemble, but also easy for the Tang army to take advantage of.

The important thing is because Murong Chui knows that the soldiers and horses under his command are not the opponents of the Tang Army at all, whether it is in terms of the quality of the soldiers or the armor and equipment. Going out of the city to fight the brave Tang army in the field, the probability of victory is extremely low.

And this is Murong Chui's deepest experience of fighting the Tang Army in recent years. Only under the circumstance that the time, place, and people are indispensable can it be possible to achieve a complete victory in the battle against the Tang Army.

Otherwise, it is better to take a defensive position and slowly consume its sharpness.

In normal times, even if he had exhausted the army in his hands, he would not blink an eye. But not now, because the Yan State is in short supply, and the troops in his hands are to fight less, and they can't be easily consumed.

Based on this idea and consideration, Murong Chui sent someone to order the other counties to agree on a time to withdraw their troops together. Since Lunu County was already surrounded by Shao Zisong, this retreat message could not be sent to the city at all.

So, when the 70,000 troops on the northern defense line began to move a few days later, the Lunu County side was still completely in the dark and did not know the situation, and was still waiting for him Murong Chui to rescue them.

Retreat is not so easy, especially for such a large army. Once you act, it is very easy to make chaos without interference, not to mention that there are tens of thousands of Tang troops eyeing you next to you.

The only advantage is that the surrounding cities have not been completely captured by the Tang army at this time. The Tang army is slowly clearing these cities, and the troops left in Zhuoxian and other places are not particularly large, of course, mainly cavalry.

In order to ensure the success of the retreat, Murong Chui only told these news to the generals of the garrisons such as Anci, Quanzhou, and Yuxian. In addition, the remaining counties did not tell them, but sent people to order them to hold out and wait for reinforcements.

In this way, these cities served as targets to attract the attention of the Tang army, thus buying time for Murong Chui's southward retreat.

At the beginning of June, Murong Chui took advantage of the night to officially lead his army south. Because there were Tang cavalry cruising outside the city, he organized some old and weak soldiers in Zhuoxian County, about three or four thousand people.

Then, he ordered these people to take torches and kill them from the north gate towards the county seat of Liangxiang in the north, and successfully attracted all the Tang cavalry outside the city. As for himself, after leading the remaining soldiers and horses out of the south gate, he fled all the way south.

The situation on the entire defense line is basically the same, and the retreat methods of each county town are similar to Murong Trai's. This approach was actually not a rash move, but was carefully considered by Murong Chui.

First, if there are too many old and weak people in the army, they will inevitably slow down the withdrawal of troops and become a burden to themselves. So, it's better not to take these people with you.

Second, it is because someone must attract Tang Jun's attention. And these selected people are, to put it bluntly, just cannon fodder sent to death. As for their life or death, Murong Trai didn't care about it.

Because he didn't believe that these people would really fight to the death, and as soon as they left the city, they immediately scattered and fled.

In fact, just as he expected, how could these people who were singled out and sent to death be willing. was already full of resentment, although they didn't know that Murong Chui was about to retreat, but they also understood that going out of the city and taking the initiative to attack the Tang army was an act of death.

Therefore, as soon as they left the city, many people threw their torches and fled in the dark to the surrounding no-man's land. Most of the rest were caught up by the Tang army and basically wiped out outside the county seats.

When Murong Chui retreated westward, Liao Chuan was south of Liangxiang County, thirty miles away from the county seat of Zhuoxian, preparing the next attack plan against the county seat of Zhuoxian. And Peng Lin, a few days ago, had already arrived in the south of Yuxian County, and now he is leading the army to attack the county seat of Yuxian.

Shi Yue and Yao Chang also divided their troops, respectively to take Rongcheng County, the southernmost county of Fanyang Kingdom, and Beixincheng County, the northernmost county of Gaoyang Kingdom. Generally speaking, the war went relatively smoothly.

If these places were taken, it would mean that the area occupied by the Tang army east of Taihang Mountain had once again expanded eastward, and it was expanded in a row. It is not a fragmented expansion little by little, and this approach will be more convenient for subsequent arrangements.

"General Qiyu, the Yan army suddenly left the city and killed us!" In the middle of the night, the sudden noise made Liao Chuan frown, and soon, someone came to report.

"Huh? Murong Chui has been cowering in the city for many days, and we can't lure him out of the city by all means, why did he come out by himself today? Hearing the news, Liao Chuan couldn't help but feel strange.

Since Murong Chui couldn't hold out, Liao Chuan's soldiers and horses have been wandering around. At the beginning, because he faced more than 30,000 enemy troops in the three counties of Zhuoxian and Zhuo County with 10,000 soldiers and horses, as well as Changxiang County, he would not run directly to Zhuoxian County.

But after Peng Lin came out of the mountain and took the two counties of Gu'an and Fanyang in the south of Fanyang Kingdom, the soldiers and horses of Yuxian County were restrained. In this way, all of Liao Chuan's energy was completely focused on Murong Chui's body.

After all, as long as Murong Trai solves it here, basically the war in this area will be almost over.

And for Liao Chuan, attacking the city is obviously not a good idea, after all, there are many enemy troops in the city. The best thing to do, of course, is to let the enemy come out and fight. After all, this is the strength of the Tang Army, and when the strength of the troops is about the same, it is almost a sure thing.

But it was obvious that Murong Chui also understood this, so he didn't pay attention to Liao Chuan's provocation outside the city at all, and just stuck to it.

"By the way, where are these enemy troops who came to attack now?" After thinking for a while, Liao Chuan asked.

"Strange to say, after these people left the city, although the momentum was not small, but the movement was very slow. Less than a few miles out of the city, he was intercepted by our cavalry. The number is not clear in the darkness, but there should be thousands. Moreover, I heard that many people did not fight at all, and just scattered and fled. ”

"In that case, these people are a rabble!" Hearing this, Liao Chuan couldn't help but be slightly stunned, but then his thoughts changed, and he suddenly said: "It's not good, Murong Chui wants to escape!" Immediately the order was given, and the army was ordered to pursue to the south. At the same time, send people to order soldiers and horses everywhere, as well as General Peng and other armies, to pursue the Yan army as soon as possible! ”

"Yes! The last general will send someone to give the order! ”。

Soon, Liao Chuan personally put on his armor and led a large team of men and horses to kill under the city of Zhuoxian. Along the way, I saw those soldiers of the Yan Army, and saw that they were either thin and short, or white-haired, which confirmed what he thought in his heart.

When he arrived at the city of Zhuoxian, the scout sent out to inquire came back and reported: "General Qiqi, as the general expected, Murong Chui led the army out of the south gate and rushed south for more than an hour!" ”