At this moment, a low horn sound suddenly sounded in the distance, 'Woo-'. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Liang Li was pleasantly surprised by the familiar sound of the horn, this was their main force coming back, and he shouted: "Resist! Our reinforcements are coming. ”

The arrival of reinforcements greatly boosted the morale of the Tang army, and the soldiers counterattacked one after another, and the formation that was about to be defeated gradually recovered, and it actually withstood the powerful offensive of the Sui cavalry.

At this time, the main force of the Tang army, 13,000 people, under the leadership of the main general Duan Decao, came from the east to cover and kill.

Because the north is a forest, the south is a big river, many of the cavalry's tactics can not be used, but it is conducive to the infantry group attack, the Tang army spear soldiers in front have formed a formation, and the main force of the Tang army in the back is fierce, the Sui cavalry actually formed an unfavorable situation of being attacked by the enemy.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Luo Cheng immediately shouted: "Retreat north!" ”

"Woo! Woo! ”

The horns of the Sui cavalry withdrawing sounded, and the 7,000 soldiers were killed and wounded more than 500 people, and the rest of the army followed the main general to the forest, and soon disappeared into the forest.

The Tang army did not chase after them, but quickly joined forces in one place, and at this time, Duan Decao urged him to step forward and asked, "General Liang, how big is the loss?" ”

Liang Li sighed and said: "It is estimated that the casualties are nearly two thousand, the cavalry attack of the Sui army is too sharp, if the general does not come back in time, I am afraid that we will be wiped out." ”

Duan Decao snorted coldly and said: "I knew that the Sui army would have a back hand to besiege the city and send reinforcements, destroy grain and grass, and cut off the back road, this is their consistent method, and this time it must be the same, and it was really expected by me." ”

"So what should we do now, is it to withdraw our troops and go back? Or ......."

Duan Decao was a little hesitant, although the Holy Lord ordered him to keep the warehouses and mines in Rulin County, but many years of experience told him that he had absolutely no chance of winning this battle with the Sui army, and the other party not only had 20,000 infantry, but also 10,000 cavalry, and it could be seen from today's cavalry that they were all elite soldiers.

Jag Hyun only wanted to minimize the losses before attacking his own rear team, but once he decided to fight head-on, he would also be defeated by the whole army.

After hesitating for a long time, Duan Decao finally made up his mind and said, "Let's go back to Shuofang County first, and I'll explain it to the Holy Lord!" ”

He gave the order, and the army quickly turned around and retreated in the direction of Shuofang County.

........

Zhang Xuan's army arrived at the battlefield an hour after the Tang army retreated westward, at this time the Sui cavalry had returned, Luo Cheng did not go to chase the Tang army retreating westward, his mission was not successful, but he could not chase the Tang army retreating westward without authorization, this is a principle of the Northern Sui army, allowing continuous action within the scope of a task, but must not carry out another task without authorization.

To put it simply, if Liang Li's logistics army is forced to retreat westward, Luo Cheng can indeed lead the army to continue to chase and chase to the end, this is within a mission range, but Duan Decao's main force returns, and retreats westward with the logistics army, the logistics army will disappear, and Luo Cheng's task will also end, if he goes to catch up again, it will be another task without authorization.

Luo Cheng has gradually matured, he knows that the military regulations are strict, and the defeat of the army is not a problem, if the unauthorized action leads to the defeat of the army, then the problem is serious.

The cavalry was busy cleaning up the battlefield, at this time, the main force of the Sui army arrived, Luo Cheng was ashamed, and hurriedly came to the front of the commander Zhang Xuan, knelt down on one knee and saluted: "The humble duty did not complete the task, causing the enemy's logistics army to escape, please punish the commander!" ”

Zhang Xuan nodded and asked, "What about the casualties?" ”

"Returning to the marshal, our army has lost 384 people killed and 270 wounded, and the enemy corpses and wounded soldiers have been removed, the exact number is unknown, but it is inferred that it should be around 2,000 people."

Zhang Xuan said slowly: "The casualty ratio of cavalry and infantry is generally about one to three, your army's casualties are normal, the responsibility for the failure of this attack is not yours, the main force of the Tang Army retreats west in time is the key, so I won't punish you, please get up!" ”

"Thank you for your forgiveness!"

Luo Chengxing stood up with a salute, he turned over his horse again, hugged his fists at Zhang Xuan and said: "Although the Tang army retreated westward, they also did not complete the task, please allow the marshal to take Rulin County and annihilate the enemy army in the city!" ”

Zhang Xuan smiled slightly: "Since this battle is led by me, then the victory or defeat of the war is not only limited to the battlefield, this Duan Decao is quite strategic, but how can he be my opponent, don't worry, my soft knife has been stabbed!" ”

........

These days, the Sui army besieged Rulin County but did not attack, the county town has been a rumor, all the shops have been closed, every family is closed, the soldiers are uneasy, and no one is going to repair the city wall, everyone knows that the city wall is just an ornament, the Sui army is easy to capture the city, and there is no point in repairing the city wall.

The main general Xi Shiling is even nowhere to be seen, he knows in his heart that once the Sui army breaks through the city, he will be the first to die, anyway, life and death are these days, so he hides at home all day and drinks and has fun with his concubines, and can enjoy every day.

In the morning, Xi Shiling had just drunk two glasses of wine, when a personal soldier said outside the door: "General, there is a Sui army envoy outside who asks to see him, saying that he is your old man." ”

Is it that the old man Xi Shiling didn't care, but the words 'Sui Army Messenger' made his heart skip a beat, making him seem to see a glimmer of hope in the dark, Xi Shiling hurriedly asked: "Where is the person?" ”

"Right outside the door!"

Xi Shiling didn't care about drinking, so he got up in a hurry, and the concubine hurriedly dressed him, and Xi Shiling instructed the soldiers: "Please ask him to wait in the guest room, and I will come immediately." ”

The soldiers walked quickly, and Xi Shiling put on his clothes and hurried over before he could tidy them up.

In the guest room, a young man sat on the couch, his waist straight, his eyes calm, at this time, Xi Shiling hurriedly walked in, the young man got up and saluted and said with a smile: "General Xi, don't come to harm?" ”

"You ......"

Xi Shiling only felt that he was very familiar, but he couldn't remember the name for a while, "I remember you, but I can't remember the name." ”

"Under the surname Xu, do you remember the general?"

"You are.... Xu Chun! ”

Xi Shiling suddenly remembered that this person was his general when he was in Hongnong County, and after he surrendered to Li Shentong, he also left, but he didn't expect him to defect to Northern Sui.

The young man smiled and nodded, "The general still remembers me." ”

Xi Shiling hurriedly pulled him to sit down and asked, "What are you doing in the Sui Army now?" ”

"At the beginning of the Northern Sui Dynasty, he served as a brigade commander, and after the Battle of Goguryeo, he was promoted to a captain, and later made many meritorious contributions, and at the beginning of the year, he was promoted to the general of Eagle Strike."

"Not bad! Not bad! I've always heard people say that the most difficult thing for the Sui army to break through is the captain, and you actually broke through and became a middle-level general, congratulations! ”

"Thank you for the general's compliment, this time I came to see the general on the order of the marshal, that is, the order of His Royal Highness the King of Qi."

Xi Shiling's heart was pounding, Zhang Xuan actually had something to say to himself, what could it be?

He swallowed his spit and asked, "What did His Royal Highness King Qi say?" ”

"His Royal Highness the King of Qi can promise not to kill you, let you live, and you can also protect your wealth for the rest of your life."

"What are the conditions?" Of course, Xi Shiling knew that Zhang Xuan would not let himself go for no reason, and there must be conditions.

"The conditions are very simple, I hope you will write to the Son of Heaven, impeach Duan Decao for perfunctory holy intentions, withdraw troops and go back as soon as you expose the Son of Heaven, and you want to imply that the Son of Heaven has the heart to support the army and stand on its own."

Xi Shiling bowed his head and was silent, of course he knew the other party's intentions, and he also knew the consequences of his book to the Son of Heaven, Duan Decao was either deposed or forced to continue westward.

Xu Chun said again: "I'm not lying, Duan Decao's army did come, but he retreated soon after leaving Hengshan, and he didn't have the heart to rescue Rulin County at all." ”

Xi Shiling nodded silently, "I know he has withdrawn again." ”

"Then the general still has any doubts."

Xu Chun took out a golden arrow and put it on the table, "This is the golden arrow of His Royal Highness the King of Qi, which means that his promise is valid, isn't the general still at ease?" ”

Xi Shiling sighed and said, "Then what is my ending?" ”

"Rulin County we will definitely capture, the general has two ways, one is to withdraw to Yanfu County on the west bank of the Yellow River, after the war, we will let you return to the Tang Dynasty, the other is to pack up your belongings and leave, we will reward you with a thousand taels of gold, you can go to Hebei to find a county to buy land as a rich man, and enjoy the wealth of the second half of your life, but my family commander said first, the general is not allowed to touch any material in the warehouse, otherwise all his promises will be null and void."

Xi Shiling pondered for a long time, and finally nodded, "Okay! I'm going to write an eagle letter to the Son of Heaven now, but I'll make two choices for me to consider before I tell you. ”

Xu Chun left the golden arrow to Xi Shiling, said goodbye and left, Xi Shiling sighed for a long time, in fact, he wanted to choose the second one, anyway, Li Yuan didn't want to see him, so it was not interesting to do it, it was better to enjoy the glory and wealth.

.......... (To be continued.) )