In the Jin army camp, the faces of all the generals were very ugly at this time, and many of them had even shown panicked eyes.

The reinforcements of the Wu army came too quickly, even if Li Cunmiao had tried to estimate the time of the arrival of the Wu army earlier, but the final result was still beyond his expectations.

In fact, this result was normal, after all, it was not ordinary people who were surrounded by the Jin army, but the supreme commander of the Wu army, Wu Wang Yang Wu, in this case, if the Wu army did not rush to the rescue like crazy, it would be a strange thing.

If you want to say that the only problem of the Jin army may be that they failed to break through the defense line of the Wu army in time, especially the sudden collapse at the last moment, it is too demoralizing and delayed, otherwise the Jin army may not have no hope of winning.

Now there are only two options in front of the Jin army, and the first option is to fight a decisive battle immediately.

At this time, there were not many reinforcements from the Wu army, although the overall strength had a little advantage, but it was not absolute, if it was a decisive battle, the Jin army still had a chance to win.

However, Li Cunmiao understood that when the morale of the army was low, but the morale of the enemy army was high, and the enemy army would have more reinforcements arriving at any time, the only chance to achieve victory was that Yang Wu would make some low-level mistakes, but the question was whether it was possible? At least Li Cunqiao thinks it's unlikely.

At this time, anyone can see the advantages of the Wu army, as long as they hold on and wait for the reinforcements to arrive further, then the Wu army can achieve a complete victory, and at this time, it is as difficult as climbing to the sky to defeat the Wu army.

Since a decisive battle is not advisable, then the only way to deal with it is to choose the second way to deal with it, which is to withdraw the troops immediately.

Now that there are not many reinforcements from the Wu army, if you take this opportunity to decisively withdraw your troops, you may be able to return to Hebei safely.

At the Liujiacun ferry, the boats that crossed the river were still there, and the Jin army's navy was also retained, and if they could reach the ferry, with the full cooperation of the navy, they should be able to withdraw part of the army to Hebei.

After all, when crossing the river to the south, those ships not only had to transport 35,000 troops across the river, but also had to transport their grain, grass, baggage, ordnance, and cavalry horses, which naturally took a long time.

And now after a fierce battle, the Jin army of all departments has lost more than 10,000 people, and the number of troops who need to cross the river has been greatly reduced, plus those material and cavalry war horses can be given up at the critical moment, so that the remaining elite soldiers may be transported back to Hebei to preserve their strength to the greatest extent.

However, if this is done, it not only means admitting the complete defeat of this battle, but also means that the more than 10,000 defenders led by Li Zhou in Yang Liu Nancheng and the 5,000 elites led by Li Siyuan in Yunzhou City will be abandoned in the end.

It also means that the Jin army's southward strategy has completely failed.

After paying such a heavy price, after losing so many elites, but in the end he got nothing, Li Cunqiao couldn't imagine what the future would be like, let alone what fate he would face after returning to Hebei.

Decisive battle? The hope of victory is too slim, but there is a greater possibility that the whole army will be annihilated by this, and Li Cunqiao does not dare to make such a risky decision.

Fall back? The tragic price paid was all in vain, and the dream of decades of hard work between father and son for two generations would become a phantom, and Li Cunqiao was unwilling to make such a decision.

Faced with these two dilemmas, even Li Cunmiao, who has always been decisive, became hesitant at this time, sat there with his eyes closed and pondered, and did not speak for a long time.

On the side, Shi Jingjiao, who had just led his troops here, suddenly couldn't sit still.

He cautiously reminded: "King, at this time, enemy reinforcements are constantly coming, whether it is a withdrawal or a decisive battle, please make a decision as soon as possible!" ”

Yesterday, he led 5,000 cavalry, and with the cooperation of another 3,000 relatively old and weak infantry troops, he was in charge of the right flank of the army, not only to contain the 5,000 cavalry led by Chai Kehong, but also to contain the 5,000 infantry led by Zhu Siqing.

Although the cavalry of the Wu State was not as famous as the cavalry of the Jin State, and the difficulty of cultivating cavalry was much higher than that of the Jin State, they were well-trained and had high morale, but they were not necessarily worse than the Jin cavalry when they really fought.

And Zhu Siqing's 5,000-foot army is far stronger than the 3,000-foot army of the Jin army.

When he learned that the Chinese army led by Yang Wu, the king of Wu, was surrounded by the Jin army and was struggling to support, both Chai Kehong and Zhu Siqing attacked as if they were crazy, hoping to rush to support as quickly as possible.

And Shi Jingjiao naturally couldn't let this kind of thing happen, he led his troops to form a strong defense line, resolutely intercepted, for a whole day, the Wu army failed to advance half a step, during this period Shi Jingjiao faced a great pressure can be imagined.

However, when it was almost dawn, he suddenly received news that a Wu army of 5,000 men had bypassed his line and rushed south.

This army was actually a reinforcement led by Wang Yanyan and Zhou Ye, who were making detours all the way, did not entangle with the Jin army, and went all the way south, but rushed ahead of Chai Kehong and Zhu Siqing.

But Shi Jingjiao didn't know that this was a reinforcement from Yang Liu Nancheng, and he thought that the Wu army on the opposite side had divided his troops, so he also chose to divide his troops to intercept them.

As a result, by the time he found out that he had made a mistake and that the Wu army had not divided his troops, the defense line had already been broken through.

At this time, Shi Jingjiao had no choice but to fight and retreat, and finally rushed to join Li Cunqiao.

After a whole day of fierce fighting, the soldiers under his command also suffered heavy casualties, and the original 8,000-foot cavalry army was left with less than 5,000 people at this time, especially the cavalry as the main combat force suffered a lot of losses, and many cavalry soldiers lost their horses and could only fight on foot.

Facing Shi Jingjiao's reminder, Li Cunqiao glanced up and asked in a hoarse voice: "General Shi, do you think that if we fight a decisive battle with the enemy now, will we have a chance to win?" ”

"This ......" Shi Jingjiao didn't know how to answer.

Li Cunqiao said: "If you have anything to say, is Lone a person who can't listen to the truth?" ”

For Shi Jingjiao, the general under Li Siyuan's command, Li Cunqiao didn't pay much attention to it before, at most, he just felt that this person was good at riding and shooting, so he was transferred to his side as a guard, but Li Siyuan took this person very seriously and asked Shi Jingjiao to be transferred to the army.

At that time, Li Cunqiao had already asked Li Shaorong (Yuan Xingqin) from Li Siyuan's side, so it was difficult to refuse in the face of Li Siyuan's request.

However, this time the battle of crossing the river made Li Cunqiao see this person's ability, so he also took him seriously.

I only listened to Shi Jingjiao ponder for a moment, and then replied carefully: "King, please forgive the last general, if it is a decisive battle at this time, there is not much hope for our army to win. ”

If Shi Jingjiao said this at other times, other generals such as Zhao Zaili, Li Shaorong and others would definitely stand up and fiercely oppose it; But at this time, these people did not say anything, but their eyes showed a look of approval, and it was obvious that they also thought that the decisive battle was not good for them at this time.

Seeing such a situation, Li Cunmiao was naturally disappointed: "It seems that all the generals think that they can't fight at this time, so what's the use of forcing a decisive battle alone?" ”

Thinking of this, although there was too much unwillingness in his heart, Li Cunqiao finally made a difficult decision under the influence of reason: "Order, withdraw the troops!" ”

When the generals heard this, they immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and shouted one after another: "The king is wise! ”

……

Now that the decision to withdraw the troops was made, Li Cunmiao suddenly became decisive again and regained his former composure and calmness.

Withdrawing troops is not an easy task, especially when withdrawing troops in front of enemy lines, which is even more dangerous.

In history, because of an accident during the withdrawal of troops, the whole army was defeated, there are too many such examples, Li Cunqiao has experienced a hundred battles, and naturally knows that he must be prepared for Zhou Xiang at this time.

He calmly gave the order to retreat, arranged the order of the withdrawal of the officers and men of each department, and decided to personally lead the cavalry to break the rear to ensure the safety of the army.

Of course, in addition to deploying and withdrawing troops, Li Cunmiao did not forget another thing, that is, to send messengers to send messages to Li Siyuan in Yunzhou City and Li Zhou in Yang Liu Nancheng, asking them not to wait for reinforcements, and immediately lead their troops to break through the siege, and maybe there is a chance to break out of the siege.

Although Li Cunmiao also knew that under the siege of the Wu army, it would be difficult for these messengers to break through the blockade and pass the news in, but he could only do so.

Soon, under the personal leadership of Li Cunxuan, all the cavalry of the Jin army gathered and formed an offensive formation, as if the decisive battle was about to begin.

But at the same time, the first retreating army had already been ordered to prepare for retreat.

……

At the bottom of the hillside, the generals of the Wu army had also gathered to discuss the military situation in the humble tent of the Chinese army.

The night of fierce fighting made all the generals full of exhaustion, even Li Jian, Zhou Ye, Wang Yanyan and other generals who had not experienced the big war were tired because of the overnight rush.

However, the imminent scene of the big war made their spirits more excited.

At this time, the follow-up reinforcements sent by Zhou Ben had not yet arrived, and the reinforcements brought by Li Jian were only 10,000 people, and the advantage in strength compared with the Jin army was not great, and the only advantage was in morale.

Therefore, in this situation, many generals advocated continuing to adopt a defensive posture, mainly delaying time, as long as more reinforcements arrived, and the final victory in today's battle could be achieved.

Even Yang Wu felt that it was not time to continue to take risks, but to guarantee victory first.

At this moment, the guards outside hurriedly came in and reported: "King, generals, the enemy cavalry is gathering!" ”

The generals were shocked when they heard this, and immediately left the camp and looked at the Jin army camp.

I saw that in the opposite camp, the dense enemy cavalry had been completely assembled, as if it was overwhelming, and the momentum was extremely terrifying, making people unable to count how many cavalry there were.

Looking at such a scene, even veterans such as Li Jian, who had been on the battlefield for a long time, were also shocked.

"This, how many cavalry do you have to have? The Jin Kingdom is worthy of being the Jin Kingdom, and the scale of this kind of cavalry alone is enough to deter the Quartet! The generals sighed.

Yes, if all the cavalry of the Wu army are added together, there are also tens of thousands of people, but the problem is that the cavalry of the Wu State is generally scattered, and at most four or five thousand cavalry are invested in each major battle.

Li Jian immediately pleaded: "King, it seems that Li Cunqiao is not willing to fail, and he still wants to continue the attack." Please return to the hillside immediately, and the last general will fight to the death to repel the enemy! ”

Zhu Siqing and other generals also said: "Please sit in the rear and watch the battle, and the last general will fight to the death!" ”

The enemy's tens of thousands of cavalry gathered together, and the scene was certainly terrifying, but the Wu army would not be afraid.

First, the Wu army originally had a large number of cavalry, which could be used as a mobile force to contain a part of the enemy army; Second, the infantry of the Wu army had already formed a formation, which was enough to resist the charge of the cavalry.

In the face of a large infantry formation with a strict formation, the advantage of the cavalry is actually not great, and even if it rushes to charge, it may be defeated.

For example, when Liu Yu defeated the 30,000 iron cavalry of the Northern Wei Dynasty with a 3,000-foot army, he relied on the power of a strong bow and crossbow.

Now the Wu army also formed a large infantry formation, with its back against the hillside, and held the line with a strong crossbow, so it was naturally not afraid of the enemy.

Of course, once such a big battle starts, there will definitely be danger in the scene, so all the generals persuaded Yang Wu to return to a safe place on the hillside.

Yang Wu said with a smile: "Otherwise, the enemy army seems to be about to attack, but in fact it is about to retreat." If Lone's prediction is good, it won't be long before the enemy army will withdraw. ”

"The enemy wants to withdraw?" The generals expressed their disbelief.

Now the strength of the Jin army is still very strong, and the decisive battle with the Wu army may not be lost; But if the troops are withdrawn, it will be a direct admission of defeat, and Yang, Liu Nancheng and Yunzhou will also give up directly; With Li Cunqing's adventurous personality, would he do this?

Yang Wu said with a smile: "Li Cunqiao may be unwilling, although he is a person who likes to take risks, he is not a fool. At this point, he doesn't have much chance of winning the decisive battle, and he won't do that. ”

Glancing at the generals, he continued: "In addition, even if Li Cunqiao wants to take risks, the generals under his command may not be willing to take risks. So he must be retreating. ”

In fact, in the final analysis, it was the sudden collapse at the last moment before, which brought too much damage to the morale of the Jin army.

When they achieved such a huge advantage, they failed to achieve the final victory, but were crushed by the enemy's counter-charge like a dream, and such a blow made the Jin generals still dream.

Including Li Cunqiao himself, he had great doubts about his own strength at this time, so he made the decision to withdraw his troops.

On the Wu army's side, the generals were skeptical of Yang Wu's judgment, but it didn't take long for the first Jin army to begin to retreat, and more Jin troops were retreating, and the generals no longer had any doubts.

Li Jian immediately stood up and said: "King, although the Jin army is retreating, their strength is still there, and there are elite cavalry after being broken, if they rush to pursue, they are afraid that they will be easily ambushed." The Admiral believes that he should wait for the arrival of subsequent reinforcements before making plans. ”

Yang Wu nodded and said, "The pursuit is certain, but this matter really can't be too urgent." For the time being, we just need to bite the enemy army first, and wait until the edge of the Yellow River, then it will be the time when the enemy army is destroyed! ”