Although the cavalry of the vanguard of the Xia army retreated, because they retreated in time and were mostly cavalry, they did not suffer heavy losses due to the sudden blow of Xiao Tang's troops.

After Xiao Tang led his troops back to the castle where he was stationed, he immediately ordered Lang Zhong, who was accompanying him in the army, to treat Hua Rong's injuries. According to the Song Dynasty when the army went out, they were all ordered to dispatch Han Lin Yuan to wait for the treatment of the soldiers, and the medical officers followed, and the border county commander also had many medical officers and medical accompaniments, to say that these medical officers who accompanied the army to the border court were indeed profound, good at diagnosing external and internal injuries, but they were able to deal with the injuries of the generals who had fought fiercely here one after another, entirely because the supervising army at that time was making Cai Yan suspect that the border court was bitter cold and the army was working hard, in case there was a headache and brain fever, there were many more capable people to take care of it, and now these medical officers have the ability to deal with injuries, It can be regarded as really coming in handy in the army.

After half an hour of diagnosis and treatment, Lang Zhong, who was sweating finely, immediately reported to Xiao Tang that although Hua Rong was exhausted from the battle and suffered several injuries on his body, fortunately, his life was not in serious trouble, but due to the repeated exertion of his right arm, the muscles and flesh were torn and the blood flowed to the elbow, and he could only breathe during this time, otherwise the tendons of the hand muscles would be ruptured, even if an arm was not completely abolished, Hua Rong's ability to open a strong bow and lead arrows was probably impossible to return to the level of unparalleled pairs.

In other words, Xiao Tang now has temporarily lost another usable combat power under his command.

There is another thing that makes Xiao Tang's brows tighten, while he is transferring people and horses to help protect the soldiers and civilians in the border court, he also pays close attention to the movements of the Xia army led by Brother Cha in the north, and after the advice of Xu Guanzhong, Xiao Jiasui and other henchmen, Xiao Tang originally sent strange troops to disturb the two wings of the enemy army, confusing the line of sight, trying to slow down the momentum of the Xia army under Brother Cha to take advantage of the situation. However, although the use of military strategy and strategy is in one mind, it is also when the momentum is at a disadvantage that it has to make up for it with strange tricks, and now Chage, who firmly occupies the initiative strategically, has not been affected at all, and is still sweeping the military fortress on the border of Song and Xia, and still pressing towards the fortress where Xiao Tang is located step by step. On the contrary, among the several people and horses sent out by himself to rescue the soldiers and civilians of the surrounding military villages and counties and towns of the Great Song Dynasty, Li Yongqi has not returned to his life so far, and even the soldiers and horses of his department have not been heard from, and no fast horses have come back to report the situation.

The crockpot is not broken from Inoue, the general will inevitably die in front of the battle, and the slightest carelessness in the battlefield will be defeated and killed, not to mention that since Xiao Tang decided to change the course to rush to help Liu Fa, he also expected what a dangerous situation he would face, as for the famous general Cha Ge who commanded the army of the Xia Kingdom...... Indeed, it is also a terrible adversary who will not leave the enemy any chance.

Although the fortress garrisoned by Xiao Tang has been repaired by the best efforts of the military under his command, there are many parts of the city wall where the bricks have peeled off and the rammed earth has collapsed, and there have already been soldiers who have repaired it with wooden fences, but this is still not an important military town with high walls and deep moats, and there is a lack of large-scale defensive ordnance in addition to stone and rolling wood, and even the number of arrows is not optimistic. Fortunately, it can rely on the dangerous terrain, and half of the city is surrounded by steep mountains like knives, which also makes it difficult for the enemy army to set up a formation of thousands of troops and horses to encircle and attack from all sides.

Moreover, although there is a lack of garrison now, and there is no other part of the Song army in the rear, even if the rear road is cut off, there are many water and trees among the mountains that rely here, and there are also birds and beasts, even if the enemy cuts off the rear road and is surrounded by groups, drinking water and food are enough to survive for a while. After all, the Song and Xia national wars were not only here to attack each other, but also to consider the battle situation in the west and east, and it was impossible to always gather heavy troops regardless of the gains and losses of other strategic places.

The most critical question is how long Xiao Tang can hold on here.

If you abandon this place and continue to evacuate to the south, and give the walled pass here to the Xia army, the other party will be unimpeded, and I don't know how many enemy troops can go south along this passage endlessly, and I don't know that the people of the Great Song Dynasty on the Song-Xia border along the Xihe Road and Jingyuan Road will die tragically under the swords and axes of the Xia people. Among the border people who have been rescued by Xiao Tang and sent people and horses one after another, only a small half of the people living south have migrated to a more stable place under the rule of Lanzhou on Xihe Road. Now, in addition to the soldiers under Xiao Tang's command, there are only more than 20,000 old and weak women and children who are temporarily placed in the walled city, and it is absolutely impossible for these people to delay their journey, and it is absolutely impossible to transfer back to the hinterland of the Song Realm before the Xia army encircled.

Abandon these people who are dragging down their trips? Although Xiao Tang also knew very well that whether it was Liu Fa, the general of the Western Army, or the people of the Song State who numbered more than 100,000 people on the Song-Xia border, according to their original destiny, they were also killed by the large-scale counterattack of the Xia army, from the very beginning Xiao Tang intended to be able to save the lives of these lonely and helpless people, especially now that he could see countless fleeing Li people sitting on the ground in horror in the fortress, whether it was a local family in wrinkled robes, or a refugee man in ragged clothes, whether it was a young man with some strength, Or the old people and children...... Xiao Tang could see from their eyes that all the people who had avoided the disaster here regarded him and the Song army under his command as the last straw to save their lives, and when the eyes of tens of thousands of people were full of sad and begging looks, and projected towards him, Xiao Tang suddenly felt that his heart became heavy.

Although Xiao Tang thinks that he is not the kind of chivalrous man who serves the country and the people in his mind, but now the heavy responsibility of saving tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians is on his shoulders at this time, not to mention that in the future, there will be Jurchen Jin and other enemies who are far more vicious than the Western Xia, and he has been thinking hard to change the catastrophe of the Central Plains Dynasty in history.

"Now the troops that can resist the Xia army north of the Xihe Road in the border are only our soldiers and horses, presumably the situation will drag on any longer, and if the forbidden soldiers and horses deployed in the rear know that we are still stuck in this pass, they will definitely not ignore it forever. We are not looking for a place to die, but to defend against the country here, and we can't let the summer thieves go straight in......"

In the simple handsome tent in the city fortress, Xiao Tang's face was solemn, and he met the gaze of the generals under his command and said in a condensed voice: "I, Xiao Tang, have been fighting side by side with you for a long time, so naturally I should be honest and honest, and make it clear that we are here to resist the enemy, and we may not be able to be rewarded and promoted by the imperial court. But the man's fame is taken immediately, not in the song, my generation enlisted in the army, and it was also because the people of the Great Song Dynasty were not invaded and slaughtered by Hulu, if they only focused on their own fame and fortune, how could it be done by a good man in the army? It is because I have made up my mind, even if the enemy army is strong, we still have to stay here to resist the Xia army and protect the people of the Great Song Dynasty! ”

Listening to Xiao Tang's categorical words, Yao Pingzhong, who was sitting on the side, sighed and said: "Xiao Jieshuai said that if the colleagues of the other tribes know that we are here to fight against the Xia thieves, they will not always ignore it, but now that the old Xianggong is forcing six or seven military states in Hengshan, far water cannot quench the thirst of the near, and it is Tong Xuanshuai who is in charge of the military power of the West Road, if you want to wait for him to send a large army to meet us...... Hehe, I'm afraid it's far away, but the man's husband wants to make immortal achievements, and naturally he understands why he wants to join the army, since I am willing to come with Xiao Jieshuai, how can I give up halfway at this time? ”

Although the other generals present may not be like Yao Pingzhong, they may not directly point out that Tong Guan will still have to watch from the wall, but they also all know that with Xiao Tang's diversion to the north and rescue Liu Fa, maybe they have already offended the powerful minister, and it is good not to be suppressed and framed by an unclear crime at that time, and I hope that Tong Guan can send troops to support in time? I'm afraid this thing is even more impossible than teaching the powerful eunuch to have a full house of descendants.

However, although he had to fight alone at the moment, almost all of the people present thought the same as Yao Pingzhong. And Liu Fa, who was sitting at the head side by side with Xiao Tang, also nodded slowly at this time, and said: "If we give up these people to steal their lives, what kind of soldiers are we waiting to save the country and help the needy?" Meng Xiao Jieshuai rescued me, and also taught me to be able to pick up a life, and now how can I protect these tens of thousands of people from the Xia people's swords and axes, we are all driven by Xiao Jieshuai. ”