Chapter 120: Withdrawing from the Siege

The siege from late April to late May made Zhang Xuan's food quickly approach the cordon.

Even Zhang Xuan ordered vegetables to be planted in all the open spaces in the camp, and repeatedly sent soldiers to dig wild vegetables outside the camp. The food of the sergeants and soldiers has also evolved into wild vegetable porridge.

And with the passage of time, the ingredients of the porridge in the wild vegetable porridge are also slowly decreasing.

Even so, for these wild vegetables, Zhang Xuan's department also paid a lot of price. Huang Degong would never sit idly by and watch Zhang Xuan's subordinates move freely outside the camp, but whenever Zhang Xuan had soldiers out of the camp, Huang Degong would also send soldiers to oppose him.

At the beginning, the two sides were still thinking of tricks, such as an ambush, such as a sudden assault by cavalry.

However, Zhang Xuan and Huang Degong are not stupid, especially Zhang Xuan is used to being cautious. He would not let the soldiers leave the camp far at all, and he also dispatched all the horse teams in the battalion, about three hundred horsemen, led by Qin Meng to be ready to meet at any time.

After several ambushes, Huang Degong saw that he couldn't take advantage of it.

The idea of taking advantage is extinguished.

Zhang Xuan sent a sentry with 500 people every time, and Huang Degong would also send a general with 500 people to meet the battle.

The two sides fought hard under the watchful eye of the two armies. Until one side is out of support and retreats, because there are large armies behind. You can't chase too much, it's easy to fall into the ambush of the other party.

Under such checks and balances, the contest between Zhang Xuan and Huang Degong has a bit of the wind of Spring and Autumn Festival.

In fact, such a battle is not too cost-effective for Zhang Xuan. After all, he is less than the officers and soldiers, and he is not replenished. If you die, you will lose one.

But in the midst of the whole war, it cannot be seen in this way.

Defending the city is the most taboo to defend. Because many people are trapped in a small space, morale cannot be maintained after a long time, in Zhang Xuan's impression, in the original Kaifeng City, from time to time soldiers were also dispatched to fall into the city to steal eyes, the largest time, but also won more than 100 heads in the camp.

Yuan Shizhong is also very clear about this, and he often dispatches all units of the small Yuan battalion to fight, but compared with the nearly half of the victories and defeats of Zhang Xuan's subordinates and Huang Degong's subordinates, the small Yuan battalion has hardly won any battles.

Every time there was a battle, the non-duty soldiers in the camp stood on top of the wall, shouting and shouting or cheering.

In Zhang Xuan's view, there is a feeling of watching a football game.

However, in this rather bloody and unfancy game, even if there were soldiers on both sides pressing the formation, there were few big victories or big defeats, one side could not hold the retreat, and the other side did not dare to pursue, but the casualties of each other were quite a lot.

For Zhang Xuan, it was not without benefits.

Zhang Xuan's understanding of the generals under his command is mostly at the battalion level, and as for the sentry officers below, they only know people

, I don't know much about their style of commanding operations or something.

But in this fragmented and intensive battle, Zhang Xuan got to know the generals under his command little by little, at the level of sentinel, and there were also several talents, such as Zhang Yuanhai, Zhang Yuanhai needless to say, as I said earlier.

Shen Mao was a sentry officer in the Xiping camp, which left a deep impression on Zhang Xuan.

After all, the Xiping camp was defeated, and now there are less than 1,500 people, and Shen Wandeng can't go into battle because of a broken arm, Shen Mao is Shen Wandeng's family, and he is entangled in the remaining essence of the Xiping camp, and he actually won the battle of Huang Degong's department once.

However, Zhang Xuan could also see that the reason why Shen Mao won the battle was not because of how good the training in Xiping Camp was, but because of hatred.

In other battalions, in the Linying camp, not necessarily all of them are in the Linying camp, in the Nanyang camp, not necessarily in the Nanyang camp, in the Baoding camp, not necessarily all of them are Baoding people, but the Xiping camp is really Xiping people occupy the vast majority, and it was Shen Wandeng who introduced it into the army, I don't know how many people are related to the family, and they lost nearly half of it at once, not to mention Shen Wandeng's pain, I don't know how to face the Jiangdong fathers, and in the Xiping camp, there is also a cry.

Shen Wandeng used this to motivate the soldiers. Almost every soldier in the Xiping camp had a bit of revenge.

This mournful spirit forcibly suppressed the next part of Huang Degong's command.

Seeing this, Zhang Xuan was a little happy in his heart, and said secretly: "If the Xiping Battalion can come out of the last defeat, I estimate that there will be one more combatable soldier under his command." ”

Whether a battalion can fight or not, in fact, whether there are hundreds of old soldiers to support it, if there is, it only needs to sharpen a few battles, and it can be pulled out to fight, and the reason why the Xiping battalion is weak is because of the lack of support from old soldiers.

In the Baoding battalion, the Baoding officers under Wang Jincai, and in the Nanyang battalion, there are also Nanyang children who Zhang Xuan supported Cao Zongyu. However, it is quite difficult to turn a new recruit into a veteran if training alone.

But on the battlefield, it is the most efficient way to learn, but it is a little too cruel.

"Dangdangdang." Zhang Xuan heard the sound of Mingjin on the other side, and immediately withdrew his own people, and they withdrew. The rest of the men and horses responded one after another, and the soldiers who went out to pick wild vegetables also returned to the camp one after another.

Zhang Xuan glanced at the wild vegetables picked this time, frowned and said, "Is there only so many?" ”

"My lord," Zhang Su said, "The wild vegetables around the camp have been pulled, and there are really no more, why don't you add a little more rice today?" ”

Zhang Xuan shook his head and said, "Kill the horse." ”

Zhang Su was shocked and said, "How can an adult kill a horse? What if anything, they can escort the adults away? ”

"There's no way I'm going to abandon the army and run away

。 Zhang Xuan said coldly: "The last batch of grain, I have to keep it no matter what, and I have to wait until the last moment, or there are not many wild vegetables, and there is not enough forage for the horses." After a long time, the horse will only lose weight and will not be able to be used, so why not kill it now. Three hundred horses is enough to feed the army for a while. And from today on, the army will kill horses and not go to war, I think Huang Degong will also guess that we have run out of food, will he do something? ”

"My lord, do you want to create the illusion of food shortage and lure Huang Degong to attack?" Zhang Su said: "Is this feasible? ”

"I don't know." Zhang Xuan said: "Always give it a try. ”

Zhang Xuan was also helpless.

Zhang Su looked at Zhang Xuan, but in more than a month, Zhang Xuan was relieved a lot, and he was already a little skinny. Even if you wear clothes, you feel a little weak. His eyes were always red, and Zhang Su didn't know how many hours Zhang Xuan slept at night.

Does Zhang Su know that Zhang Xuan is under the most pressure, especially when the food is getting less and less, Xiao Yuanying's side is already preparing one meal a day. Yuan Shizhong also repeatedly asked Zhang Xuan, when will Cao Ying's reinforcements arrive?

But how does Zhang Xuan know?

There is no communication between inside and outside, and Zhang Xuan doesn't know much more than Yuan Shizhong.

"My lord, there is movement on the side of the officers and soldiers, and the officers and soldiers have withdrawn." Wu Zilan said loudly.

Wu Zilan has been on duty above the watchtower for a period of time.

"What?" Zhang Xuan was taken aback, without saying a word, he went up to the watchtower, on the top of the watchtower several zhang high, turned the clairvoyant mirror, and found that among all the camps of the official army, there was a steady stream of soldiers coming out, and the soldiers of the brigade went south, and there were several teams of men and horses, in Xiayi City, and outside the Xizhai array, but Zhang Xuan looked at them, not at all to attack, but to prevent the righteous army from rushing out.

Tent barracks began to be dismantled, and many tents were loaded into trucks to take away.

From a distance, it looks like Che Lili and Ma Xiao Xiao, yellow sand is everywhere, and even rises to Zhang Xuan's body. The scale of the action of tens of thousands of people can be seen. Zhang Xuan also noticed Huang Degong's banner, but under the banner, he saw a general looking at the camp from a distance, and then threw his horse away.

The infantry is in front, the cavalry is behind, and the baggage is in the middle. This situation is not like a fake, and there is only one possibility that Ma Shiying can withdraw his troops in a big way. That is Cao Ying's troops.

"Qin Meng, Qin Meng." Zhang Xuan shouted.

"The subordinates are here." Qin Meng said.

"Release all the horses to be scouts, and send people to Runing, I want to know where the army is now?" Zhang Xuan said loudly.

"Yes." Qin Meng agreed, and then more than three hundred rode away.

"Fortunately, I didn't kill the horse." Zhang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief, and said secretly in his heart: "This level is over." ”

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