The third is sent!

Mid-September.

After discussing with Yu Zhongwen and others, Laihu'er retreated more than 50,000 Sui troops in Daxing City to the island in the estuary of the river with a naval warship.

Daxing City was abandoned.

After abandoning Daxing City, Laihu'er returned to Pyongyang with more than 30,000 soldiers and horses.

These 30,000 horses are no longer the naval division soldiers he brought, but are composed of five thousand elite soldiers under each selected subordinate due to the six generals of Zhongwen, Xue Shixiong, Song Laosheng, Hou Mo Chen Yi, Lai Hu'er, and Zhou Fashang.

The fleet is immense.

Just as he was about to set off, a speedboat arrived.

But it was an angel who had set out from Linhaidon in Liaoxi, and this messenger brought the emperor's latest edict.

The emperor has already issued an edict on the tenth day of the ninth month.

"Old Yuwen actually fled back?"

"In addition to General Yuwen, the four generals Cui Hongsheng, Zhao Cai, Zhang Jin, and Jing Yuanheng also went back, and about 40,000 defeated soldiers of the Ninth Army withdrew to Liaodong."

I heard that there were 40,000 people back, and everyone finally felt a little better, plus the 50,000 withdrawn from Daxing City, and the 20,000 from Luo Cheng, then the Ninth Army also retained 100,000 horses.

"Your Majesty has decreed that Yu Wenshu and other five generals will be removed from their official positions and titles, and they will all be imprisoned for their crimes. Also, General Xin Shixiong died in battle. ”

Everyone was silent.

"The emperor sent me to deliver an edict to let the generals of Daxing City withdraw their troops and return to the court."

The sailor who came to Hu'er also received an edict from the class teacher.

"Edict."

Yu Zhongwen took the edict, turned to the angel and said, "I have already received the edict from His Majesty, but before that, I still have one more thing to do, and I can only leave when I am done." Luo Cheng, the general of the Fifth Army on the left, also led 20,000 brothers near Pyongyang, and we had to go and pick him up. ”

"General Luo is still alive?"

"It's definitely alive."

The angel said happily, "Then I will immediately report this good news to Your Majesty." ”

"It's a pity that His Majesty has sent an order to Donglai to recall the second army of the sailors who have set sail, otherwise, it would be more secure." Angel Road.

"Even if there are no reinforcements, the old man has to pick up Luo Cheng, which is owed to Luo Cheng by the old man and tens of thousands of soldiers who have survived the robbery in Daxing City." Yu Zhongwen said resolutely.

The fleet continued south.

By the end of September, they had finally arrived at the mouth of the Beijiang River.

At this time, I met the sailor auxiliary yacht that had been waiting near the mouth of the river.

When Laihu'er learned of the upheaval after he left, he was shocked and speechless.

"Hurry up and go back to see General Luo."

on the island.

With the arrival of Laihu'er and others with 30,000 soldiers, the island was full of laughter.

The angel who came with him personally read out the edict of the class teacher to Luo Cheng and the soldiers of the Fifth Army of the Left.

Luo Cheng took the edict with a heavy heart, and it was finally over.

"I can't imagine that Luo Dajun has made such an immortal feat, God, I really can't imagine that when the Eighth Army was defeated, you could return to Pyongyang with one shot, and kill Pyongyang, with only half an army of 20,000 horses, you took Pyongyang and captured Gao Yuan alive, which is amazing."

"What's more, General Luo also destroyed 50,000 horses of Goguryeo Ieji Ieyasu at the mouth of the Beijiang River."

"Yes, I can't believe it, I'll write a good news to Your Majesty right now."

Yu Zhongwen patted Luo Cheng's arm and said with a sigh, "Our Eighth Army has nearly 300,000 people, which is not as good as your Left Fifth Army and One Army. ”

Lai Hu'er was even more ashamed, "The biggest sinner in the failure of this Eastern Crusade is me Lai Hu'er, if I don't be greedy for merit, I won't let the Ninth Army run out of food and no help." ”

"Sin, sin, sin."

Luo Cheng shook his head, "War is like this, the situation is changing rapidly, and no one can guarantee that everything will go as planned. It's come to this, and I'm not going to talk about those retrogressions. Now that Your Majesty's edict has been issued, let's prepare to retreat. ”

Lai Hu'er looked at the countless people, horses, money, food and materials on the island, and smiled bitterly, "I sent the fleet back to Donglai to transport troops before, but as soon as the soldiers and horses passed through the Miaodao Islands, His Majesty's squad edict arrived, and they had already returned." I have only a few hundred ships here, and I can only carry 30,000 people. Now we are returning in batches, waiting for the first batch to be transported back, and then we can come to pick up the second one. ”

"It's okay, it's okay to arrange it."

"Don't worry, I'll go to the Donglai Navy Battalion and ask all the ships to be sent over there to pick up people."

In order to show respect for the brothers of the Left Fifth Army, Lai Hu'er specially said that he would send the brothers of the Left Fifth Army back to the Central Plains first.

Luo Cheng pushed it a few times, but Yu Zhongwen and others also said that they would let Luo Cheng and their great heroes go back first, so they finally decided to do so.

I got along with Yu Zhongwen and Lai Hu'er on Bailing Island for a few days, and they also talked a lot about the Eastern Crusade, and they also did a war review, and finally came to the conclusion that Duan Wenzhen's Eastern Crusade strategy did have a chance to succeed, but the success rate was extremely low. The key is that it is too risky, too many soldiers and horses and people have been used, and they are interlocking, and it is too difficult to implement.

Of course, the main reason for the current turmoil in the Central Plains is that the Yellow River just burst its embankment this year, flooding more than 40 counties, resulting in a great famine this year, so a large number of popular uprisings began.

But in the final analysis, if it weren't for the fact that the imperial court and local governments had gone all out to prepare for the Eastern Crusade in the past two years and had conscripted too many people to serve in the army, it would not have caused the Yellow River to fall into disrepair and there would have been a major embankment burst this year.

And because of this year's Eastern Crusade, a large number of young people went to Liaodong to transport money and grain, so when the disaster occurred, the disaster was not in time. A large number of government soldiers were conscripted, which made the local garrison empty, and after the disaster, bandits swarmed and changed people.

The root of all this is still due to this too large and risky crusade.

The morning weather is fine and the sea breeze is gentle, making it a good day to sail.

Luo Cheng took the remaining 12,000 brothers of the Left Fifth Army, loaded with the money, silk, gold and silver they had looted and boarded the ship, because there were too many looted things, they could only take away the most valuable first, and a large number of money, silk, materials, livestock, prisoners, etc. could not be loaded, so they could only be placed on the island first, and then transported back when the follow-up fleet arrived.

"Sail!"

"Enlightenment!"

Luo Cheng stood on the deck and watched as Bailing Island became smaller and smaller, and finally disappeared into the vast sea as a small black dot.

The fleet traveled along the coastline, and Luo Cheng could see the Goguryeo coast not far away.

"I'm not reconciled."

Lai Hu'er patted the lever and said, over there, Yu Zhongwen, Xue Shixiong, Zhou Fashang, Song Laosheng, Hou Mo Chen Yi and other generals, looking at the endless coastline, looking at the green mountains and green plains on the shore, all with unwillingness and heartache.

"We'll be back sooner or later."

Luo Cheng just said plainly.

.。 m.