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In the lobby of the City Lord's Mansion, everyone looked depressed, in addition to some high-ranking generals such as Zhao Chongxuan, Jia Chongjun, and Cao Lingzhong were nowhere to be found, there were also several high-ranking officials such as the Anxi Metropolitan Protector's Mansion and the Jiedu Embassy's Mansion There was no news, and only a few were able to sit here, most of them were either captured by the Great Food Army or separated from the brigade.

At this time, Xiushi pressed his sword and walked in from the outside and hugged Gao Xianzhi and said: "General Qiyu, the last general has sent people to collect all the soldiers who fled here, the main force of our army is only 3,524 people, most of them are cavalry, a small number are fast infantry, and there are more than 3,000 Hu cavalry, most of them are Western Turkic soldiers, and none of the Anxi troops belonging to the left wing of our army have been seen!" In addition, the last general carefully counted these soldiers who fled back, and did not find General Cao Lingzhong, General Zhao Chongyu, General Jia Chongjun and General Zhao Hu. ”

The atmosphere at the scene was even more sad, Gao Xianzhi's face was miserable, and he said: "Fiasco, this is an unprecedented fiasco!" Since the establishment of the Anxi Protectorate, I am afraid that it has not experienced such a fiasco! Someone must bear the responsibility for this fiasco, otherwise it will be difficult to calm the anger of the court and the soldiers, I have written to the emperor to ask for guilt, but Anxi can not be chaotic, military and political affairs still need to work together to maintain! ”

The grumpy general Lifei Yuanli listened to Gao Xianzhi as if he was explaining the aftermath, and his stomach erupted with anger, directly aimed at the prison army Bian Lingcheng, he pulled out his saber and pointed at Bian Lingcheng and said angrily: "You are this dog eunuch, if you didn't escape with the rear army, how could we have been so defeated, I would have been cut down now, and then sanctioned the brothers who died in battle!" ”

As he spoke, he raised his knife and rushed towards Bian Lingcheng, who was horrified, hurriedly got up and ran away, and screamed: "General Gao, help, help!" ”

Gao Xianzhi was shocked, and immediately said to a few pro-soldiers: "Stop General Lifei quickly!" ”

The other officials all looked shocked and fled to the side, lest Li Fei Yuanli's knife slash at them. Several of his own soldiers were strong people, and after Gao Xianzhi's order, they immediately stepped forward to hug him, and seized his weapon, Li Fei Yuanli was controlled and still punched and kicked in the direction that Bian Lingcheng was dodging, and roared: "Lao Tzu is going to kill you, kill you······"

Bian Lingcheng was so frightened that his face was pale, and his whole body trembled, and everyone looked at him and saw a water stain under his feet, it turned out that he was so frightened that he was incontinent.

Gao Xianzhi had to stand up and shouted angrily at Li Fei Yuanli: "Li Fei Yuanli, what do you want to do?" Aren't you messy enough? This defeat can't be blamed entirely on Lord Bian, the matter has come to this, what is the benefit of being angry with others for the situation? Come on, take him down, let him sober up! ”

"No!" Several pro-soldiers agreed, and immediately escorted Li Fei Yuanli out of the big tent, Li Fei Yuanli was still shouting and shouting to kill, and he was furious.

Gao Xianzhi was very disgusted when he saw Bian Lingcheng's appearance, but in order to take into account the overall situation, he still instructed Bian Lingcheng's two entourage: "A few of you will help Lord Bian go back and change your clothes first!" ”

Several entourages immediately helped Bian Lingcheng and left the lobby.

At this time, another lieutenant walked in and hugged his fist and reported: "General Qiyu, the Hu cavalry soldiers who fled back rushed out of the camp and muttered about asking for food and grass to satisfy their hunger, since our army escaped, the grain and grass and ordnance have long been lost, and now our army itself is not enough to eat, and it is impossible to replenish them with food and grass, and now these thousands of Hu cavalry soldiers have faint signs of disobeying orders, and if they are not careful, it is very likely that a mutiny will occur!" In addition, the Hu people who built the city with taxes are also not kind to us, and they regard the generals and soldiers of our army as if they were enemies! ”

Gao Xianzhi and the generals suddenly changed their faces when they heard this, Gao Xianzhi calmed down, waved his hand to send the captain who reported the report, and asked the officials and generals: "What do you think should be done with this matter?" ”

The officials and colonels looked at each other, and the scene immediately became chaotic, and some people immediately said angrily: "This group of barbarians, if the main force of our army is still there, how dare they be so presumptuous?" ”

"That's right, this group of foreign barbarians saw our army's defeat yesterday, and they immediately turned their faces, it's really hateful!"

Liang Zai, the deputy envoy of Jiedu, stood up and said to Gao Xianzhi: "General, now the situation is unstable, the soldiers are making trouble with food, and the Hu people in this vicinity are hostile to our army. Xia Guan suggested that all these barbarians be dismissed and let them return to their respective territories, while our army continued to retreat east and returned to Anxi! ”

Before Gao Xianzhi could speak, Bian Lingcheng's voice came from the door: "The miscellaneous family agrees with Deputy Envoy Liang's suggestion, and the whole army will return to Anxi immediately!" ”

Gao Xianzhi was stunned, pointed to the ground and said, "If my army leaves and dismisses these Hu cavalry, then what should I do here?" If the Great Food Army is killed, who will garrison this city to resist the Great Food Army? ”

Bian Lingcheng first bowed to Gao Xianzhi, and then said: "This place is under the jurisdiction of Beiting, our army has no responsibility to defend, Beiting should know that our army and the Great Food Army are fighting in Hengluosi, don't you know that you will send someone to garrison?" Now that the guards here are empty, this should be the responsibility of the North Court, what does it have to do with me Anxi? Besides, with the strength of our thousands of people now, and the soldiers have no fighting spirit and low morale, if the Great Food Army chases, our army will not be able to resist at all, rather than being killed by the Great Food Army at that time, it is better for our army to take the initiative to retreat and preserve its strength, at least we must leave some seeds for the Anxi Army, and the Anxi Army can't all fold here! ”

Gao Xianzhi listened to Bian Lingcheng's words, his heart was shaken, he turned his head and instructed Duan Xiushi: "General Duan, immediately send someone to Broken Leaf City to report to Lai, just say that our army has been defeated, and it is very likely that the Great Food Army will raise troops to march eastward, let him prepare early!" The exception is to take out half of the grain and grass of our army and give it to the army, so that they can disband on the spot after receiving the grain and grass, and return to their territories! ”

"No!" Duan Xiushi clenched his fists and agreed, turned around and left.

In the afternoon of the same day, the Hu cavalry of the Western Turkic tribes of more than 3,000 people were disbanded on the spot, and the remaining Tang army of more than 3,600 people quickly left the city of Shuijian and retreated eastward under the leadership of Gao Xianzhi.

·······

Fifty miles north of the city of Hengrus, in the middle of the desert.

The scorching sun was in the sky, and a group of Tang cavalry who could not see the end at a glance was coming south, the armor on the soldiers shimmered with metallic luster under the scorching sun, and there were bursts of friction of weapons and equipment in the ranks, and the war horses snorted and gasped.

Zhao Ziliang licked his chapped lips, took out a cowhide water bag from the side of the horse's belly and poured it into his mouth, put down the water bag and put his hand on the pergola to look ahead, a small black dot appeared in the line of sight and in the sky, knowing that it was the flying eagle reporting the news, he immediately rode his horse to the side and let the team behind him pass.

Came to a small sand dune, the eagle in the sky began to fall, Zhao Ziliang raised the arm tied to the iron armguard, the black eagle spread its claws and landed on the armguard, Zhao Ziliang took out a small note from a small bamboo tube tied to the eagle's left foot and looked at it, and then tore the note.

Zhao Ziliang pondered for a moment, beckoned back, a personal soldier immediately brought pen and ink and white notes, Zhao Ziliang sat on horseback and wrote a column of small characters on a small white note with a brush, and then rolled the note into a small bamboo tube, covered the cap, stroked the eagle's wings with his hand, raised his right arm upward, and the eagle spread its wings and flew into the sky.

Watching the eagle turn into a small black dot and disappear into the sky, Zhao Ziliang instructed Sima Chen Qing beside him: "Order the whole army, walk another fifteen miles out of the desert, we will rest in the woods at the edge of the desert, let the army speed up the march!" ”

Chen Qing hugged his fists and said: "Obey!" ”

It takes four days to cross the desert from the broken leaf water edge in the north of the desert, in order to reduce the burden as soon as possible and maintain the speed of the march, Zhao Ziliang ordered each person to carry only five days of dry food and drinking water before the army set off, today is just the fourth day, in terms of time and the consumption of the army, Zhao Ziliang pinched very accurately, and in this case, the army still maintains combat effectiveness, even if it encounters the enemy now, the whole army can be put into battle.

Less than half an hour later, the army reached the edge of the desert and entered a forest of poplar trees to rest, where there were already traces of horses and humans staying, which were left by the detective sentry post, and now the people here went to the forest sky, indicating that the reconnaissance sentry had continued to move forward.

The army entered the woods in an orderly manner, and each battalion looked for a place to rest, and the marching Sima Chen Qing immediately arranged for sentry guards and patrol affairs.

After the big tent of the Chinese army was set up, Zhao Ziliang and others entered, and the Taoist priest Wang Ximing took out a compass to measure the direction, and then took the map to locate it.

"General, our army should be in this position now! Twenty miles to the west should be able to reach the Hengrus River, and another forty miles to the south should be able to reach the city of Henglus! Wang Ximing pointed to the map and drew a cross mark on it with his fingernails.

Zhao Ziliang looked at the map and said: "Very good, there should be no detective posts of the Great Food Army around, otherwise the front scout should send someone to report, now we will wait for the detection news of the front scout horse!" ”

After that, Zhao Ziliang took Zheng San to a camp tent next to him, took out a large amount of meat and white noodles, as well as fresh vegetables and fruits from the wrench space, and then said to Zheng San: "There may be a big battle tonight or tomorrow, let the soldiers have two full meals!" ”

"No!"

Zheng San agreed, and immediately began to arrange for the men to come to collect the ingredients for cooking, and before evening, a large amount of food fragrance was emitted in the woods where Tang Jun was resting, and the soldiers couldn't help but swallow when they smelled this fragrance.

After several days of crossing the desert, they can now eat fresh meat, white flour steamed buns, as well as vegetables and fruits, which surprised the soldiers, but they were extremely excited, and their appetite was greatly boosted.

When the meal was cooked, Zhao Ziliang also took a large porcelain basin to receive the meal, and then walked slowly in the woods while eating, observing the spirit and emotions of the soldiers, all the soldiers knew him, and watched him come over with the food, and they all stood up and greeted: "Hello general!" ”

"General, this meal is too rich today, how can you still eat fresh meat and vegetables and fruits here? And this white-flour steamed bun, it's so delicious! ”

Zhao Ziliang stretched out his hand and patted them on the shoulders one by one, and said with a smile: "How to make you eat well and eat well is what I should do, and fighting and winning the war is what you should do!" I've eaten and drunk enough, and I've gotten enough mental strength to go into battle to kill the enemy! ”

All the soldiers said: "It is comfortable to fight with the general, the general can rest assured, the brothers will definitely kill the enemy army!" (To be continued.) )