Fifty thousand cavalry rushed forward, and less than 35,000 were withdrawn intact, and the rest were either seriously wounded and dying, or were left on the battlefield to ask for more blessings.

The second prince was almost stunned by what he saw in front of him, originally he thought that he was just here to gild and take the credit back after turning around, but now that he looks at it, it is a question of whether he can leave a whole corpse.

"Your Highness!" Just when the second prince was lost and didn't know what to do, the national teacher who had just taken away Irik's military power came back: "What is Your Highness still hesitating about?" Still not ordered to withdraw troops? ”

"Withdraw, withdraw? Isn't that already taken down? The second prince was also a little stunned when he saw the national teacher, and asked stupidly.

"What the old minister said is the withdrawal of troops, the army will directly withdraw to the country and defend in Mansickt!"

The second prince finally reacted to what the national teacher said, and said angrily: "What? Withdrawn to the country? Stubborn? How can this be, we came out this time ......"

The old national teacher interrupted the second prince, pointed to the defense line of the Tang army on the opposite side and said, "Stupid, we have obviously been deceived by someone when we come out, haven't you realized it yet?!" What we have in front of us is definitely not 200,000 Tang troops, there are only 100,000 people at most, you don't want to know where the other 100,000 people went? ”

The second prince's face turned pale, he didn't know that what the national teacher said was right, he just felt a little unwilling.

But despite this, the national teacher is still not used to his faults, the face and future of the second prince are indeed important, but the future of Byzantium is obviously more important, and the unwillingness of the second prince to lose the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers is obviously not attached to the interests of Byzantium.

Another point is that Byzantium does not have the strength to fight with the Tang Dynasty, in the face of the Standing Army of nearly 2 million Datang, the national strength of only more than 400,000 Byzantium is like a small businessman.

They simply don't have the strength to bear the price of losses, if all these 300,000 people are left here, the next battle basically doesn't have to be fought, and the Byzantium, which only has more than 100,000 troops left, will even have a problem guarding the king, where is there still the strength to fight to the death with the Tang Dynasty.

This is not that the national teacher is worrying about the sky, after the battle just now, the second prince has also understood that his own military strength is not the opponent of the Tang Dynasty at all, and the Tang army behind that line of defense did not catch up with them after causing them huge injuries, it is estimated that they are also waiting, waiting for the other part to arrive at the designated position, waiting for the ambush circle to be completely arranged.

After having such a consensus, the second prince also lost hope for the next battle, and looked at the national teacher who was almost red-eyed and sighed: "Okay, let's withdraw our troops and withdraw to Mansickt as quickly as possible." ”

"Hmm!" Seeing that the second prince was soft, the national teacher did not show the letter of appointment again this time to press him, but just nodded and went to the back to rest, waiting to retreat with the army.

……

With more than 200,000 troops, every movement is a huge project, and it is a big problem for the front army, the middle army, and the rear army to go first and who will go later. If the battle is won, it may be easier to mobilize, but if the battle is lost, then there is no need to say anything, and it will definitely be a mess.

The Byzantines were now faced with such a situation, their morale plummeted, everyone acted as if in slow motion, and by the time everything was ready to withdraw their troops, it was already evening.

At this time, the herald sent by the second prince to Minny City also returned, but he did not bring back the head of the Minny City Lord, but lost a hand.

"What's going on? Why is this happening? Could it be that the Minny City Lord wants to rebel?! The snobbery on the battlefield made the second prince's temper a little irritable, and he asked angrily as he looked at the herald who had returned from injury.

"Your Highness, Ming, Minni City, has surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, and now, now the city walls are covered with the battle flags of the Tang Army, I, our retreat has been cut off."

"What, what?" The second prince sat on the ground with his buttocks, and he didn't know how to react for a while.

However, the national teacher was not calm, frowned and came to the herald and asked, "How can you be sure that the Minny City Lord has surrendered, do you dare to guarantee with a human head that he is not bluffing." ”

"National teacher, everything is what the villain has seen with his own eyes, there are at least nearly 30,000 Tang troops in Minny City, and they are waiting for us to retreat, and then suddenly kill them when we are halfway back." The herald said tremblingly, enduring the sharp pain in his arm.

"Really? Will they tell you this kind of thing? The second prince also came back to his senses at this time.

"His Royal Highness the Prince, National Teacher, all this was said by the Tang General himself when he cut off the villain's left hand, if you don't believe it, you can send someone to verify it."

Verify, also verify that every bit of time is very important at this time, no matter whether what this herald said is true or not, the second prince has no time to verify it.

The national teacher looked up after pondering for a while and said, "Okay, since that's the case, I'll believe you once, but if what you say is a lie, be careful of your head." After speaking, as soon as the national teacher waved his hand, someone immediately came up and helped the herald with the broken hand down.

"National teacher, what should we do? Do you want to go back the way you came? The second prince had no idea for a while, and immediately asked the national teacher for advice after the herald was helped out.

The national teacher smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Even if he is telling the truth, we must go back the same way, don't forget, our baggage is on the road, if we change the path, we will lose supplies, and I am afraid that the whole army will still be wiped out at that time." ”

"This ......" The second prince suddenly had a feeling that he was about to collapse, the Tang army in front was already so difficult, and when he withdrew, he didn't know if they would catch up, if there were 30,000 Tang troops in Minni City, how many of the 200,000 or so people under his command would be able to go back alive?

"Isn't there a saying in the Tang Dynasty that a dead horse is a live horse doctor, and we can only bet that the herald was bought by the Minny City Lord, and there is actually no Tang Army in the city, everything is an illusion." The national teacher sighed and patted the second prince on the shoulder, who was already frightened: "Whether there is a Tang army's resistance is still between the two, we can only gamble!" ”

"But what if there is? We should have 100,000 Tang troops in front of us, and if there are another 30,000 in the city, it will be 130,000, which is already about the same as our military strength, and besides, we are still newly defeated, and 130,000 people are enough to completely wipe us out. The second prince said in a panic, as if the Tang army had really come over.

"Your Royal Highness Prince, no matter what, you must make a decision now, and it will be very detrimental to our withdrawal if it is delayed until dawn, and at that time, whether the Tang army in front of us kills us, or the Tang army in the back blocks our way, it will force us to a dead end."

The national teacher looked at the second prince with disappointment in his eyes, when did Byzantium degenerate to the point where he would flee when he saw the enemy, is this still the country that fought all over the world at the beginning!

The tangled emotions lasted for a quarter of an hour, and finally the second prince ordered under the urging of the national teacher: strategic transfer!

At the sound of the order, the whole army marched out, and by the darkness of the night, more than 200,000 people set out on the way home, although the superiors had repeatedly stressed that this was not a withdrawal, but the soldiers knew in their hearts that they had lost 70,000 or 80,000 men in the morning, and now they began to move again, and this was not a withdrawal of troops.

After losing the battle, you have to worry about whether the Tang army will catch up, no one will be high-spirited, and even say that running away without taking off your clothes can be regarded as well-trained in this army.

"Your Highness, Minny City is ahead, should we go over and have a look?" After marching for about an hour, a black shadow appeared in the night, and a Byzantine general who was familiar with the environment approached the second prince and asked cautiously.

"No, tell the troops to speed up the march and pass here as fast as possible." The second prince looked up at the huge shadow in front of him like a monster in the night, and said impatiently.

"But Your Highness, what if the Lord of Minny is bluffing? There is a city that is much easier to defend than to fight the Tang army in the wilderness, or at least to wait for reinforcements......"

The second prince glared angrily at the general who came over, interrupted him, and said: "Reinforcements, how many soldiers do you think there are still in the country that can be sent, 100,000 or 200,000, I'm not afraid to tell you, we are the last reinforcements, if we are surrounded here, the result is no different from death." ”

The general touched a nail and walked away with his nose, but he left with a hint of resentment in his eyes.

In the face of the menacing Tang Dynasty, all the Byzantines knew that defeat was a matter of time, and this time their reckless rush over was actually the biggest mistake.

But the mistake has been made, and now what is considered is how to survive, how to live, there are not many people who know that there is a dead end in front of them, and there are only a few throughout the ages, so there will be the word hero.

"Whoosh ......" and "......Whoosh" A series of strange thoughts, the Byzantines who were slowly marching on the ground all raised their heads and looked at the sky.

One, two...... A total of five brilliant fireworks flickered in the sky, even covering the stars in the night sky.

But although the fireworks were beautiful, none of the Byzantine troops on the ground had the heart to look at them carefully, and everyone knew that something would inevitably happen when such a movement was made at night, especially on this night of escape.

And it turned out that their guess was not wrong, just as the troops in front were hurrying away, a series of dull 'thunder' suddenly sounded from the head of Minnee City in the dark, and in the sound of 'thunder', there was also a dazzling fire.

"The enemy attack ......, defend against ......" Before the word 'defense' could be called, hundreds of fires had already exploded in the marching ranks, and countless screams and splashed human stumps told everyone with practical actions - their guesses had been fulfilled, and Minni City was indeed in the hands of the Tang army.

And it was not so simple, just as the artillery fire at the head of the city covered the advancing Byzantine army, there was also a rolling 'thunder' behind them.

"Run, run! The Tang people are here! In the smoke of gunpowder, I don't know who shouted, and then countless people responded. It's just that the Byzantines, who have been bombed by Zhenguan's cannonballs, can't tell the difference between southeast and northwest at this time, and even if they want to run, they can't find the direction, and many people even run in the opposite direction because of this, rushing towards the end of the line.

The second prince and the national teacher were also stunned, although the cannonball did not hit their heads for the time being, but the distance was still too far, according to their estimates, the retreating army at this time was at least more than five miles away from Minni City.

That's five miles, not five steps, how can there be a weapon that can hit such a long distance? Could it be that Datang really has the help of immortals, and they all use immortal methods? That's why you sold all those useless bows and crossbows?

In just a moment, countless thoughts came to the minds of the second prince and the national teacher, and they actually forgot to command the army.

……

Long Yi held the lance that had accompanied him for half his life, and galloped among the fleeing Byzantines, all the bullets in the revolver had been exhausted, but there were many enemies, as if they could not be killed.

Beside him were his guards, all of whom had revolvers in their hands, but they did not shoot.

At this time, the enemy completely lost the consciousness of resistance in addition to fleeing, and killing them with a gun is a waste of bullets, which is far better than rushing up to kill and cutting them with a knife, after all, this place is too far away from Datang, and every bullet is a waste of resources.

And then there is the fact that there is really no sense of accomplishment in beating people with a gun, and what kind of warrior is it without that feeling of being sharp into the bones! Only those who cut off the heads of their enemies with their own hands are real men.

Hell, if Li Chengqian knew that these big-headed soldiers were so hypocritical, I don't know if he would be angry and thunderous, and each of them would have been whipped dozens of whips.

……

Pei Xingjian had also been killed from Minni City at this time, and with thousands of cavalry belonging to him, he went straight to the Byzantine Chinese army.

The battlefield had long been in chaos, and the Byzantines fled in all directions like crazy, and it was a little difficult to chase even if they wanted to chase at night, so Pei Xingjian simply didn't care about the guys who escaped, and just rushed towards the direction of the Chinese army.

His dream is to be a general who spans all over the world, but he couldn't go to the battlefield at all because of his age before, but now he finally has a chance, and if he doesn't kill a big fight, wouldn't he be sorry for himself.

As for the cavalry that followed him, these people also gave up the new rifles in their hands and switched to the horizontal knives that they had long been accustomed to.

The rifle is of no use on a bumpy horse, and it may still be possible to hit the enemy during the day, but in the chaotic battlefield at night, if you don't want to accidentally injure your own people, and don't want to kill your own general, the best weapon is still a knife.

(End of chapter)