Li Huai led the army to the county seat of Xiangguo fifty steps away, and the head of the city immediately panicked, constantly shouting and scolding, and there were also the sounds of women and children shouting for heaven and earth. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info There are brave young men who pick up bows and arrows and shoot indiscriminately, and the arrows are either high or low, and those who can shoot to quell the rebellion are all blocked by strong shields. Hundreds of rebel troops just looked at the chaos and unbearable on the head of the city.

Li Huai snorted coldly and said: "Xiangguo Ling and Wei are really incompetent, just such a group of rabble, they took the city, and even sent their lives. ”

A strong man in his thirties next to him said with a smile: "Uncle, there is another set of Taiping thieves to deceive people's hearts, is this march and battle, they are still far behind." It's still early today, are we going to attack the city right away? ”

Li Huai said coldly: "Gu'er, the lion fights the rabbit with all his strength, for the general, not only must have a sharp spirit, but also have a cautious and cautious mind." At all times, your own safety must be the first priority. Order, set up camp, and break the city tomorrow. ”

Li Huai led the army to camp a mile outside the East Gate, completely ignoring the thousands of Taiping Taoists in the city.

Luo Fang stood at the head of the city and looked at the court army that was hurrying to quell the chaos, and asked trembling and frightened: "How come, how can it be, how can the court pacify the chaos army come so quickly?" ”

Luo Fang's three sons were all standing behind him, and only the little Luo Pei was beside him: "Dad, it's the local people of Xiangguo County, not the chaos army of the court." You see, that person is not Li Huai, the patriarch of the Li clan in the east of the city. ”

Luo Fang became more and more frightened when he heard this, and said, "Is it him? How is he? Isn't he a commoner? How can I muster hundreds of troops against me? ”

Luo Pei sighed: "The Li clan has been established in Xiangguo for hundreds of years, and you don't know that the commander and lieutenant of Xiangguo didn't go to visit the Li clan before taking office. If the Li family doesn't like them, who can be long-lasting. The Li family has such a high reputation in Xiangguo County, and Li Huai has served as a captain in the court, so why not summon troops to quell the chaos in a critical time. After this battle, maybe he will be reinstated again. ”

Luo Fang was like a dead ash, turned his head and asked Xiao'er, "How long has Cheng Xiaofang and Leader Fu been gone?" ”

Luo Pei looked at the eldest brother and said, "When the eldest brother saw them off and left, more than an hour had passed. ”

Luo Fang hurriedly shouted: "They are going on foot, it will definitely not be too far, Da'er, you quickly ride out of the north gate, go after them, and ask them to come back immediately." ”

An honest man in his thirties left in response, and Luo Pei hurriedly shouted: "Big brother, I want to tell them that I am a member of the Luo clan in Xiangguo, and only the two of them obey their orders." ”

Luo Fang was stunned for a moment, and after a long sigh, he waved his hand to let Da'er go quickly, and then said: "The main force of the uprising in Xiangguo County, the three hundred Guardian Divine Army, are all the subordinates of the leader Tao Sheng, when Tao Sheng is not there, he may be able to command one or two for his father, but let the two young people instruct him, I am afraid that these three hundred Guardian Divine Army will not listen." ”

Luo Pei said: "It can't be controlled, if they want to live, they must listen to the leader, otherwise they will wait for the city to be destroyed." ”

Luo Fang shook his head and said, "I'm afraid that after Tao Sheng comes back, he will be reproached again." ”

Luo Pei persuaded: "Dad, the car will naturally go straight to the bridge, let's talk about it then, besides, the head of Fu may not be a person who loves power." ”

Late at night, Li Huai was sitting in the camp, watching the bamboo slips by candlelight, and was fascinated by himself, when he suddenly heard a noisy sound outside the camp. Hurry out of the camp tent to look around, only to see the east, south, north and three sides of the mountains and fields of fire, more endless shouts, listen carefully, but it is the Taiping Road secretly widely spread "the sky is dead, the yellow sky should stand, the age is in Jiazi, the world is auspicious." "These sixteen words.

If you count the torches carefully, there are no less than 5,000 people, and a torch is counted as 35 people, which is an army of 20,000 or 30,000. Li Huai couldn't help but be shocked in his heart, could it be that the Taiping Dao thieves from Julu County and Changshan County came to help? No, they weren't so fast, so where did these centaurs come from?

Li Gu hurriedly ran over and shouted, "Uncle, what should I do?" Whether to stick to the camp or retreat quickly. ”

Li Huaisi said: He forced himself to gather the soldiers of Xiangguo County to recapture the county seat in the name of the Li family, and did not spread the news of King Zhao and the minister of state in Handan. At this time, there is no surplus food inside, and there are no reinforcements outside, but they cannot be defeated by the thieves. It's just that......

Li Huai looked at the number of torches in all directions, and said in his heart: In the middle of the night, I don't know how many thieves there are, maybe only the number of thousands is bluffing, if it is easy to scare away, it is not good for the morale of the army. However, today, because he despised the thieves in the city too much, he was too close to the city when he went down to the village, and it was not good for defense, so it was better to retreat for the time being.

Li Huai is an experienced veteran after all, and when he is broken, he immediately shouted in a deep voice: "Pass the order, the enemy and I are unknown in the middle of the night, just in case, take advantage of the enemy not approaching to retreat ten miles to the village, and then attack the city after dawn." Also, the torches in the camp are not to be extinguished when they are leaving, and they are not allowed to light another torch when they are leaving. ”

Li Gu Gong obeyed, turned around and went to make arrangements, and after a while, more than 600 people in the whole army packed up and quietly evacuated from the back of the battalion.

Li Huai rode a horse in the army, thinking: It seems that this group of thieves is not a rabble, there are also people who are good at warfare, and if the Xiangguo Rebellion wants to be calmed down, I am afraid it will be a little difficult.

After walking for a few miles, the sudden sound of killing was everywhere, and the soldiers in front and behind screamed again and again, and Li Huai hurriedly ordered to set up a formation on the spot to meet the enemy. But in the darkness, the queue had already opened up into a snake hundreds of steps long. And the soldiers don't know where the generals are, the generals don't know the shape of the soldiers, and they don't know how many thieves are down, how they can easily form a formation.

The composition of the army to quell the rebellion was already quite mixed, and the morale was different, and it was suddenly attacked in the dark night, and it was panicked from the beginning. After a while, there was even more chaos, and Li Huai had to order the Chinese army to light torches, beat war drums, and gather soldiers into formation.

Just lit the torch, beat the drums, and shot more than ten sharp arrows when the field was neutral, hitting the drummer, the flag bearer and Li Huai. Li Huai shouted, stroked his shoulders and turned over and fell off the horse. The sound of war drums stopped after a few sounds, and the rebel army was puzzled, but saw that the fire was bright in the middle of the army, and there was already a panic. I even heard the thieves' shouts of joy in all directions, "Li Huai is dead, those who surrender will not be killed, Li Huai is dead, those who surrender will not be killed." ”

Some cowards saw that the opportunity was not good, and they had already abandoned their weapons and were ready to surrender on the spot. At this time, there was a loud shout from the front: "Li Gu stands here, and the army breaks through with me." After that, the screams in the front line intensified, but the military formation was moving forward firmly, and after a while, the thieves in the front line scattered in a hurry, marching faster.

It's just that the rebellious army in the rear team was bitten and couldn't retreat, and in the darkness, I don't know how many long poles and spears were stabbed indiscriminately, and the wounded were everywhere. When Li Gu led the army away, the Taiping Taoist people in the city had already heard the news and lit torches and chased after them. When the rebel army saw that the situation was not good, some people immediately shouted for surrender. Someone took the lead, and the more people surrendered, and in the end, nearly 200 people in the rear surrendered.

Luo Fang's two sons led six or seven hundred Taiping Taoists to hurry over, and they were all overjoyed to see more than 300 Taiping Taoists armed with wooden sticks and long poles capturing nearly 200 Taiping rebels. Luo Pei and the second brother discussed, Luo Pei led the people to pursue the rebellion army first, and the second brother first escorted the rebellion army back to stabilize the people's hearts.

Li Gu charged in front of him, and someone behind him shouted: "Gu Gongzi, the head of the family calls you." ”

Li Gu immediately reined in his horse and came to the Chinese army, only to see that Li Huai had been hit by two arrows in his left shoulder and left leg, his face was pale, and he had obviously shed a lot of blood, and he was being carried forward by four people.

Li Gu threw himself off his horse and asked eagerly, "Is my uncle okay?" ”

Li Huai said bitterly: "Gu'er, from what I have just seen, the number of thieves who ambushed our army is not large, at most five or six hundred, and the armor is not even, so they are definitely not the opponent of our army. But you shouldn't run in a hurry, you should go back and fight, you will be able to defeat the thief. ”

Li Gu said: "What my uncle taught me is that I am only careful of my uncle's injury, so I don't dare to entangle with the enemy." ”

Li Huai said: "My injuries are not serious, and I can't die. However, this expedition can be regarded as a failure, so it is better to save the Li clan first and wait for the arrival of the imperial army. Order, light the torch, and retreat generously. Let's see if the thieves dare to chase after them. ”

Li Gu responded to the order, immediately ordered to light the torches, and the troops gathered and slowly retreated. Luo Pei led the people to chase after him, and in the face of the 400 rebellious troops in the group, he did not dare to clash, but was only hundreds of steps away and followed. Li Gu knew that there were still many thieves in ambush in the dark, and he had the intention to turn around first and kill Luo Pei's men and horses, but because of Li Huai's order, he would save the Li family first, so he didn't dare to mess around.

The two armies walked each other for an hour, but they only walked five or six miles away, and there were still five or six miles away from the courtyard of the Wubao Zhuangyuan of the Li family. At this time, I suddenly heard the sound of killing on the side of the Li Clan's Zhuangyuan, and it was obvious that many people were besieging the Li Zhuangyuan.

Li Huai and Li Gu were shocked, and when they sent troops to quell the chaos, they had already brought out most of the private soldiers in the clan, leaving only a dozen people at home to guard. Originally, it was calculated that it would only take two days to quell the chaos, but he didn't care about the protection of the Li family's village, and he didn't want the thieves to copy it.

Li Gu shouted: "Uncle, the thieves don't dare to attack me, so let's lead the troops to retreat quickly." ”

Li Huai shook his head and said: "No, although there are few soldiers in the Zhuangyuan clan, there are many young and strong people, and the thieves are in a hurry, it is impossible to capture the Zhuangyuan." The thieves want to force me by attacking the place where I must be saved, just to make me panic and rush to help, so there must be an ambush waiting for our army ahead. Retreat at the original speed, and after an hour the thieves will retreat. ”

No matter how anxious Li Gu was, he could only retreat as usual according to the order. It's just that he just retreated less than two miles away, and the shouting in the direction of Li's manor shook loudly, only to hear from afar, "It's broken, it's broken." Voice. There was a thunderous explosion in Li Gu's mind, and the whole person was stunned, and he turned his head to look at Li Huai, who was also stunned.

In the end, there was only one thought left in my mind, how could the Li family's village be broken so quickly?