As the sky darkened, the fighting and fierce battles under the city of Daluo in Jiaozhou also came to an end again. Only the camp was full of mutilation and corpses, gradually drowning in the dim sky.

"Defeated, this is really defeated, and it is irretrievable."

Zeng Gon, who was resting in a big car without clothes, looked at Da Luo City, which was in darkness when the gate was closed and the lights at the head of the city were sparsely lit, and looked at the dense campfires that were lit one after another at the other end of the camp, and couldn't help but secretly feel bitter in his heart.

Although before it was dark to break away from the battle with the thief army, his command had gathered more than 3,000 men, about half of the men and horses who fought in battle; and there are camps and some equipment and materials left by the grass thieves as evidence for guarding; Against those enemies, there is still a double advantage in hand. But the huge psychological blow and demoralization of being abandoned in the city is even more than the threat of the vanguard of the thief army who are in the midst of the confrontation and the threat that most of the thief army will return at some point.

What's more, after they were ruthlessly cut off from the city, they had to face new dilemmas and problems. At the beginning, it was just a full breakfast, and the result of planning to win in one go without food rations caused the threat of starvation;

Although some usable parts could still be pulled out from the materials that the grass thieves had not had time to burn, it was inevitably a drop in the bucket for the tired and hungry soldiers around him. Instead, they could only prop up all the containers they could find, use the temporary chopped fences and wooden tools as firewood, and boil pots and pots of porridge paste of great and small sizes.

Although the mighty Zhuluan River is just a stone's throw away, no one is willing to venture across it anymore, or take a detour through most of the camp to get water; I'd rather go directly to scoop up the yellow and unclear water in the ditch around me to drink; Because, this battle process of winning first and then losing has almost exhausted the last bit of energy that most people can burst out and squeeze out.

In fact, once the offensive of the whole army stopped, even the desire to continue to pretend to surround and block the remnants of the grass thieves on the two earthen platforms could not be sustained and completely disappeared; It was only under the slightest surprise attack of the foreign aid that the thief army spontaneously contracted and retreated, and it was easily merged into one place; He watched them again, and repaired the broken earthen ramparts.

And Zeng Gon didn't even have the heart to pursue and rebuke them; Then it was a long confrontation and a standoff after nightfall; But the night was also not long in peace, and the grass thieves were clamoring and harassing all night, but in the second half of the night, they actually took advantage of the darkness to carry out the night attack.

This time they actually bypassed the camp directly opposite them, and launched a sneak attack from the direction of the city wall with some negligence behind their hands; As a result, Zeng Gon promised a future and made an example of the monkey, and Enwei used the boss's kung fu to stabilize the military spirit, and was suddenly shocked by the high tension and exhaustion.

In the middle of the night, the clamor and tearing up in the darkness at a loss, no matter how much Zeng Gon shouted and shouted, he was dumb, but he couldn't; I don't know how many thieves and my own people I killed, until the sky turned white and the soldiers in the panic were also exhausted, and they slowly and naturally calmed down.

By the time dawn returned, there were less than a thousand people left in his temporary base; Among them, there are only more than 30 Shu army athletes who originally trekked with him over the lofty mountains and mountains; There are only more than 100 local die-hard soldiers.

For most of the others fell in the course of the attack, or were killed and wounded in the chaos and fratricidal battles of the night. This result also made Zeng Gon feel a little cryless and discouraged, and suddenly began to doubt his life and the result of all this hard work.

"Am I really doing something wrong? But now there is no face to see the envoy and the uncle. ”

He muttered to himself like this, and suddenly took out the sword given by Cui Envoy Jun unexpectedly, and dragged it his neck.

In an instant, the blood vessels burst out, but Zeng Yi, one of his own pro-army and one of the generals of his hometown, held the blade of the sword with his hand and failed to cut his neck, and then screamed out in shock:

"Envoy."

"All of them."

"Never."

"What are you stopping me from doing?"

Zeng Gon, who had attempted suicide, shouted in grief and shame.

"Now that the matter has come to this, will I still be humiliated by the army of thieves?"

"It's better to take my head and change my future and liberation."

"The Lord."

Seeing that his hands were cut and bloodied, Zeng Yi shouted loudly.

"Why do you need to be so self-defeating? Isn't it common for soldiers to win or lose? ”

"In the early years, a certain general was in the army, although he was defeated repeatedly, and he didn't know how many times he fought again and again. Only then can we have today's situation and achievements. ”

"Why did you become so gentle and fearful that you couldn't even afford a single defeat after you arrived in this land of Annam?"

"After you committed suicide before the battle, where are you going to leave me and other sons who have always been with you? Isn't it possible to go with you? ”

"Well said, good scolded"

After hearing these honest and heartfelt words, Zeng Gon's face turned into excitement and shame.

"It's me who pretended to be a child, and I almost failed your intentions and entrustment."

After all, he is the "Zeng Ren Ghost" who has been in battle for a long time and relied on himself to fight from a small colonel to a general; After bottoming out with a serious setback, it was able to quickly regain its strength or rekindle its fighting spirit.

At least although the words of the old trilogy Zeng Yi are contrary to the ear, the basic truth is not wrong, and there are more than 1,000 people who are still willing to follow him at this last moment; Compared with those half-hearted or two-ended existences in the city, or Gao, Li and others who had high hopes; It's a force that can be trusted and trusted.

Even if there is an accident in this Daluo City and he rejects himself, there is still no shortage of great potential in the vast land of the Thirteen Prefectures of Annam. I have always limited my vision to Jiaozhou Daluo City before, which is obviously too narrow;

Now, he can completely use the only remaining horses under his command as the foundation and shield, and quickly get out of this dangerous place where people's hearts and situations are already seriously unfavorable to him before most of the thieves return.

Then he went directly south to a relatively rich state and county far away from Jiaozhou, in order to seek to occupy a foothold. At the beginning, he could bring more than a dozen family members to join the army and fight for the position of the head of the army; and was able to rely on the hundreds of healthy soldiers recruited from Shu to easily seize the power of Jiaozhou; Could it be that with these soldiers right now, they can't deal with the local forces in a mere distant state?

Then slowly collect money from the local area, train soldiers, gather strength, and seek opportunities and prospects to start over; It can even be considered to borrow troops from the Linyi State in the name of the imperial court or invoke it as a help; At least these foreign grass thieves can stay forever or never leave?

If they were gone, he would be able to rely on the local soldiers of the wealthy clans with enough confidence to go on without falling behind; Since he could have calculated and defeated them once or twice, he could have come back a third time.

If these grass thieves want to stay for a long time, they will inevitably have new suspicions and frictions with those local Tu tribes; And this is also where his chance to re-emerge and seek a way out of the upper echelons of power.

Thinking of this, he suddenly felt brighter in his heart, and even the gains and losses and injuries after the defeat became much easier; He even took the initiative to come to the rest of the soldiers and comforted them loudly, and ate with them the simple porridge that was as simple as water.

"Eat as much as you can before you can do the next thing."

"Don't worry, the wounded soldiers and those who don't want to go, I will stay and let them surrender to the city."

Zeng Gon snorted and drank the strange-tasting thin porridge as he made arrangements to his remaining subordinates

。。。。。。

At the other end of the camp, several leaders such as Qu Chengyu, Xu Yijiang, and Zhao Yinggong also squatted on the edge of the earthen platform, while gobbling up broken compressed dry food and pickles, and drinking strong tea soup to eliminate food; While accepting the report of his subordinates.

"There seems to be a change in the side occupied by the officers and soldiers, and the noise has subsided a lot?"

Xu Yi will suddenly give a judgment.

"Looks like I'm going to run away."

"Then what if I wait and change."

Qu Chengyu couldn't help but be a little worried

"If you leave that thief, there will be endless misfortune."

"It doesn't matter."

Zhao Yingong, whose cheek was injured and his voice was a little out of tune, said.

"With their spare strength, they can't escape far. In this flat land, do they want to be faster than four legs? ”

However, the situation developed a moment later and was somewhat unexpected.

"What a dog thief, it's a strategy to attack the west."

Zhao Yinggong, who led the team to catch up, looked at the old and sick people who were tired and fell to the ground in front of him.

"The officers and soldiers' squad is still in the battalion, so quickly turn around and go back with me to deal with it."

A moment later, he had to take the place of the horse's hooves on the riverbank, and watch the figures sitting on the floating tools go down the river. Because, these officers and soldiers who stayed in place had actually set up wooden rafts and rafts in advance, and then took advantage of the attention of the righteous cavalry to cross the river with all their might.

In the meantime, it was only a mile away, and even the other volunteer soldiers who stayed behind could not react, so most of the officers and soldiers who abandoned their clothes and armor and fled lightly were easily waded into the water to catch up with the floating raft. And Zhao Yinbow's people had no other way than to chase their backs and shoot a burst of bows and arrows.

(End of chapter)