Unfortunately, on the way back, Ping'an encountered the Yan army's encirclement and interception, and the brave and warlike General Ping was alone, unable to resist, so he had to give up the idea of reporting to the siege army, turned around and fled to the southwest, and fled to Zhending. The hundreds of thousands of besieging southern troops outside the city of Beiping knew nothing about the rout of Zhengcunba, until the fierce Yan army pounced on the city of Beiping, and together with the Yan army defending the city led by Zhu Gaochi to respond to the city, they attacked inside and outside, and beat these unprepared Southern Army soldiers who were abandoned by the general. Under the leadership of Yu Tongyuan, Qu Neng and others, the southern army that escaped fled all the way to Zhending, and then withdrew from Zhending to Dezhou with Ping'an.

Shen Ruoyu fled back to Texas with Sheng Yong, and picked up many fleeing soldiers along the way, including many Sheng Yong and his lost subordinates. When they arrived in Cangzhou, they unexpectedly ran into Chen Hui, who had been missing for a long time; There were not many of the 10,000 cavalry he had brought out, and General Chen himself had suffered a gunshot wound in the leg. Everyone fled to Texas in embarrassment, while constantly collecting the lost soldiers of the Confederate Army.

Entering the high city walls of Texas, the fleeing Southern Army soldiers regained some sense of security. The general Li Jinglong was really already in Texas, and when he saw that Shen Ruoyu was safe and sound, he was greatly relieved, and immediately wanted to find someone to escort the prison army back to Beijing, but Shen Ruoyu repeatedly excused himself, saying that he would advance and retreat with the army, so he gave up.

After counting the number of people, it was learned that the Southern Army lost a total of 100,000 troops in the Battle of Beiping. The defeat of the army was much more tragic than the battle of Zhending. Fortunately, this time, I finally didn't put the left and right deputy generals in again, and several generals of the Southern Army were still safe, except for Chen Hui, who was a little injured.

Li Jinglong came up and asked Chen Hui where he had gone and why he had not returned; Knowing that the White River is deep and rapid, why did he cross the river, and lost countless elite cavalry in vain.

Chen Hui reluctantly explained: "The general doesn't know that when our department bypassed the Baihe River on the third day of the first month, the Baihe River was still turbulent and could not be crossed. Later, on the fourth day of the first month, the last general found the traces of the Yan army's 160,000 people in the field, and then he knew that he had gone wrong with the Yan army, and immediately turned around to chase after him, and when he arrived at the bank of the Bai River, he found that the Bai River had completely frozen into ice overnight, and the Yan army of 160,000 people had all crossed the Bai River, and the Yan generals Chen Heng and Chen Qi were waiting for me to cross the river to fight in a formation on the west bank of the river. However, when the last general led the people to cross the river, unexpectedly, the ice suddenly melted, and it collapsed for thousands of miles, and our people drowned. The Yan army took advantage of the danger and dealt us a cruel blow, so it led to this fiasco. If it weren't for Chen Hui's recklessness, it was really God's blessing against the king. ”

When Li Jinglong heard this, he was silent for a moment, and then asked:

"Our army retreated from Zhengcunba, why didn't anyone go to Beiping to report the news? You all took care of your own life, didn't you leave all the brothers who were besieging the city behind? If someone had reported the news, Marquis Yu and General Qu would not have suffered such heavy casualties. ”

Sheng Yong did not speak; He Fu and Wu Jie also did not speak. Shen Ruoyu secretly sighed on the side that General Li was really not kind enough, obviously he was the first to escape on the battlefield, leaving all the more than 400,000 troops behind, and at this moment he shifted the responsibility to others. He didn't speak either.

Only Ping'an couldn't help but say: "General, the last general and General Sheng fought out of the siege of the Yan army at that time, and General Sheng escorted the supervisor to retreat south, and the last general did turn around and planned to go to Beiping City to report the news, but there were only a dozen horsemen and horses left around the last general, and he couldn't rush the Yan army's position at all, so he had to withdraw to Zhending." The general retreated early and didn't tell us, everyone was caught off guard, and no one could blame anyone. ”

These words could only anger Li Jinglong. General Li's eyes were like torches, looking directly at Ping'an, and said coldly:

"General Ping, I haven't asked you yet, I don't know how I feel when I met your old lord King Yan before the battle? King Yan's old troops are all over the northern land, aren't you General Ping one of them? It is not surprising that your cavalry department led the Yan army outside the camp and was rushed to collapse by his Duoyan Sanwei, but General Ping still escaped unscathed, and so many soldiers under his command came out together, which shows that the king of Yan still cares about you very much. ”

The color of Ping'an's face changed greatly, and he asked loudly, "The general has something to say; Ping An has a clear conscience, and I ask the general to say directly, do you suspect that I am safely collaborating with the enemy and cooperating with the anti-king? ”

Li Jinglong said quietly: "Collaborating with the enemy, that's not enough; If you want to come under my command, there shouldn't be anyone so bold. It's just that when we met before the battle, King Yan once put his heart to you, and his kindness was like a mountain, and it was reasonable for you to deliberately let him go, and in turn, he also let you go, which was even more natural. ”

Seeing that Ping An was about to explode, Shen Ruoyu hurriedly interjected:

"The general's words are wrong; If the general suspects that General Ping's position is not firm enough because General Ping used to be the old department of King Yan, doesn't that make me Shen Ruoliao have no face to stay here anymore? What does the general think of me in his heart? ”

He Fu also said on the side: "General Ping and General Ping are also a family, General Ping is loyal and commendable, and everyone can see it; The general was also anxious for a while, and he had no intention of speaking, and General Ping never had to go to his heart. ”

Li Jinglong was silent for a moment, sighed softly, and said:

"That's it, in this battle of Beiping, all the generals are united, and everyone is fighting very hard; If it weren't for the harsh winter in the north, the swallow thieves repeatedly raided, and the old treacherous and cunning, there would not have been such a defeat. Everyone has a good rest for a while, and when I play to the Son of Heaven, I must transfer men and horses again, this time, I am afraid that I will have to work Wuding Hou Guo Ying's big drive, and when he gathers his six or seven hundred thousand troops, the northern expedition in the spring of the next year will be a chance of victory. ”

Two days later, Li Jinglong wrote a report to the Son of Heaven, describing the entire Beiping Campaign, and sent someone to Jingshi. In his report, the general wrote lightly that because the generals "are not accustomed to the bitter cold of Beiping, and the small battle is unfavorable, they will return to Dezhou, hoping to join forces next year and win the victory", please "do not worry about the saints". After Zhu Yunwen received the report, he ordered the general to garrison Dezhou, and asked Li Jinglong to rest in Dezhou, and at the same time sent Shen Ruoxiao to report back to the court and rest for a few months.