The atmosphere in Kong Youde's big tent was very depressing, and everyone in the tent looked solemn, only the lit candles occasionally made a "crackling" sound.

Kong Youde stared at Mao Chenglu with an arm hanging from his chest with a gloomy face and said: "Today's siege battle, half of the main force of Thailand went out, but in the end it was a feather return, you can't get rid of it as the siege lord, what else do you have to say?" ”

Listening to the tone of Kong Youde's words, it seemed that he wanted to put all the blame for the failure of the siege on himself, and he wanted to punish himself heavily, Mao Chenglu's face was a little pale, half because of pain and half out of anger.

These people are temporarily entangled together because of interests, and Kong Youde is just the leader jointly elected by everyone.

Mao Chenglu is also an old oilman who has been rolled in the oil pot countless times, how can he let Kong Youde casually splash dirty water on his body!

Seeing that the guards with him were all behind the battle, Mao Chenglu said to Kong Youde: "What Marshal Kong said is too heavy, and the general can't afford it." Today's siege of our army is not desperate, the last general command and dispatch is also appropriate, once the Pingdu City Urn City was broken, to the defenders of the city to deal a severe blow. ”

Staring at Kong Youde, he continued: "The problem lies with Sun Darong, he led the chariot battalion to attack the opponent's city gate, but ignored the defenders of the city, and was caught off guard by the defenders of the city with explosives, which directly led to the siege soldiers fleeing, and then affected me to attack the soldiers of the city wall. ”

Mao Chenglu completely put the blame for the failure of the siege on Sun Darong, the leader of the rebel army, who had been killed by a gunpowder bag, and there was no proof of death anyway, even if Kong Youde wanted to seize the handle and make an example of the monkey. But there's no place to start.

Kong Youde obviously expected that Mao Chenglu would not give in easily, and he also realized that he could not push the other party too much. If you really take everything seriously, I'm afraid that these people will fall apart a long time ago.

Don't look at Kong Youde's gloomy surface. In fact, he was also at a loss in his heart now, today's battle of the rebels lost their troops, which made him realize that Pingdu City was like a difficult bone to gnaw, even if he broke his big teeth, it was difficult to gnaw, and its tenacity was comparable to Laizhou City, and he hesitated whether to continue to attack.

The ultimate purpose of leading the rebels out is to rob the grain, grass, money, Caitun and Dengzhou City, in order to prepare for the need to confront the official army, and now half of the army under his command is dragged in Laizhou City, if he personally leads this army and then be dragged by Pingdu City. There would be no way for the whole army to have food and supplies, and it would certainly not work.

He questioned Mao Chenglu, both with the intention of deterring the other party and the meaning of inquiry. The meaning of shirk in Mao Chenglu's words was very obvious, but he finally gave himself a step down.

Kong Youde's tone slowed down: "Sun Darong underestimated the enemy's greed for merit, and drove his soldiers to attack the city without doing a good job of defense, and was taken advantage of by the city gate guards, which is indeed the source of the rout of our army." Now that General Sun Darong has been killed in battle, he cannot be held accountable for his crimes. But as the commander who led the troops to attack the city wall, General Mao is not exempt from responsibility. ”

Kong Youde's eyes were fixed on the pale Mao Chenglu, and his tone changed: "But now on the battlefield, it is the time to employ people, and the commander allows General Mao to make meritorious contributions." Continue to command his troops. ”

Mao Chenglu put the old man's heart in his stomach for a long time, and hurriedly bowed down and said: "Thank you for your decision, the last general is grateful." The soldiers under the command of the last general are willing to serve the commander! ”

Kong Youde reluctantly squeezed out a smile and said, "General Mao is injured, so you don't need to be polite. Today, our army failed to attack the city, and suffered heavy losses. Chen Guangfu led 2,000 soldiers to attack Xiaohuakou without progress, but repeatedly sent people to ask for reinforcements. Now the situation in all aspects is unfavorable to me, now our army is blocked by Pingdu City in front, and there are Xiaohuakou defenders behind to intercept it, and there are obstacles in advance and retreat, this commander would like to ask all the generals to talk about what measures our army should take next to deal with the current situation. ”

Cao Shaozhong has been feeling palpitations until now, and he feels even more humiliated. The 2,000 cavalry against the 1,700 hoplites of the opposing side not only had any advantage, but were defeated by the opponent's firearms.

After Kong Youde finished speaking, Cao Shaozhong said: "The defending army is full of firearms, and the last general thinks that the defenders will not have too many explosives, and our army will continue to attack the city tomorrow to induce the other party to exhaust this firearm, and then they can take the city." ”

Mao Chenglu shook his head and sighed: "How can you be sure that the defenders will not have too many explosives, but I think it is not difficult for the other party to make this kind of explosives, this thing is like a divine fire crow on a rocket car, it is filled with gunpowder, it can explode when it ignites the gunpowder line, and as long as there is enough gunpowder, it can be made in large quantities, this thing is used to defend the city wall is precisely the nemesis of the siege army." ”

Saying that, his eyes turned to Kong Youde and said: "Besides, our army lacks large-scale siege facilities, and the Western artillery has been destroyed in a flash. It is also not advisable to besiege the city for a long time, and no one knows when the imperial army will come to encircle and suppress it. ”

Kong Youde asked casually: "General Mao's intention is to give up attacking this city?" ”

Mao Chenglu nodded and said: "Yes, the plan for now is to withdraw the troops and leave this place of right and wrong, and find another weakly defended city to get rich rewards, why waste the lives of soldiers here!" ”

Another rebel general present also nodded and said: "After today's fiasco, most of the soldiers under his command are demoralized, and they are barely attacking the city to increase casualties. ”

Kong Youde was a little unwilling, he had already heard of the wealth of Pingdu City, and he was full of confidence to lead his troops to prepare to conquer Pingdu City, who would have thought that he had encountered a big nail...... However, Mao Chenglu was right, his soldiers had lost their sharpness, the siege equipment was rudimentary, and the Western artillery was destroyed by the other party.

After closing his eyes and weighing it, Kong Youde slowly opened his triangular eyes and said: "Our army takes raising food and salaries and confronting the imperial court for a long time as the first priority, so we can't delay more in this small Pingdu City, so the commander decided to lead the troops to evacuate here, so let the clown in Pingdu City be arrogant for a while, and he will be ashamed again in the future." ”

All the generals in the tent knew that Kong Youde had agreed to withdraw his troops from Pingdu City, and this was just to find a step for himself, so they all agreed with Kong Youde's decision.

Kong Youde's complexion improved slightly. Then he said: "Without further ado, Ben Shuai decided to start evacuating overnight. This will avoid the tailgating and harassment of the defenders of Pingdu City. ”

Mao Chenglu's mentality has returned to normal, and these people are all grasshoppers on a rope. No one can do without each other, and since Kong Youde said that he would not pursue his faults and adopt his correct suggestions, he was obliged to give advice.

He bowed slightly to Kong Youde and said: "Our army retreats, and there are complicated movements of soldiers, materials, and baggage, which may arouse the suspicion of the defending army, and then send troops to chase and kill, and now there is a garrison blocking the way for our army to retreat." Therefore, the retreat of the army is only a pretense that it is secretly preparing for the retreat. "General Mao is relieved. These commanders will be arranged. ”

Mao Chenglu asked again: "The last general is willing to lead his soldiers and horses to set off to Xiaohuakou overnight to assist Chen Guangfu in capturing Xiaohuakou and clearing the way for the retreat of the army." ”

Kong Youde was very satisfied with Mao Chenglu's cooperation, his triangular eyes narrowed slightly, and he said with a smile: "This commander is using General Mao's intention, and this commander has appointed you as the vanguard, so that all his soldiers will be fed with war meals, and go to Xiaohuakou overnight to join Chen Guangfu, and strive to annihilate the defenders on the mountain before most of our army arrives." ”

Mao Chenglu bowed and said, "The last general will obey the order." ”

Kong Youde nodded. His eyes turned to Cao Shaozhong and said: "Shaozhong, you lead two thousand cavalry to stay behind the big camp to prevent the defending army from pursuing, and only after our Chinese army is completely undisturbed can you lead the army to evacuate." ”

"The last general obeys!" Cao Shaozhong only felt his heart skip a beat. This is an opportunity, if the defending army dares to chase after the infantry again, he will definitely lead his cavalry to teach the other party an unforgettable lesson. He felt that he had found a way to restrain the opponent's explosives.

Kong Youde glanced at him and instructed: "After sending you to lead the cavalry, it is to protect the commander and the smooth transfer of logistics baggage, grain and grass. You are not free to provoke into battle. ”

Cao Shaozhong bowed and saluted: "Please rest assured, the marshal will not make a mistake in his humble position." ”

In the grass two miles away from the rebel camp. There were more than a dozen soldiers of the Enemy Hunting Division, who were monitoring the movements of the rebel camp at the moment.

One of the lurking soldiers whispered: "Jiang Tou'er, these rebels seem to have become honest after today's lesson, and we haven't seen the rebels send scouts until now tonight." ”

Another cavalryman said: "Yes, how do I think the rebel camp is particularly quiet, will the rebels be preparing to escape overnight!" ”

Jiang Yu lay on his stomach in the grass, gently spit out a piece of grass in his mouth, and waved his hand lightly: "Go to the rebel camp to explore the position of the rear camp and see what tricks the rebels are playing?" Dazhu, you go and take care of the war horses and keep your distance from us. ”

Saying that, he took the lead and touched the rebel camp, and Jiang Yu led more than a dozen of his subordinates to lurk in the direction of the back camp gate of the rebel camp, and found the figures in the camp from afar, as if they were carrying loading and unloading materials, and a few war horses galloped outside the camp from time to time.

Jiang Yu and the others quickly lurked in the grass, looked up and probed carefully, and through the barrage of the camp gate, they saw that the torches in the rebel camp were bright, and suddenly the rebel camp door was wide open, and a group of rebel soldiers marched out of the camp......

Jiang Yu spit out the grass in his mouth and scolded in a low voice: "The rabbit cub wants to run!" Let's withdraw! ”

At this time, in the courtyard of Chen Lilan of the Pingdu City Garrison Mansion, Feng Jian looked at his eldest son Feng Ning, who was still having a high fever in the next room, with a tired face, and Chen Lilan leaned on Feng Jian's arms with tears on his face and fell asleep.

Repelled the siege of Kong Youde's rebels during the day, captured countless weapons and armor, and even captured more than 1,000 rebels, Chen Suowen and Fang Zengwei Pingdu City, the two heads of civil officials, were naturally overjoyed, Chen Suowen was better, and he was very confident in Feng Jian.

And Fang Zengwei really felt incredible, he just hoped that Feng Jian's men could hold the city, the ferocity of Kong Youde's rebels had long been rumored, and he didn't expect that after a battle, Feng Jian and his subordinates not only repelled the rebels' attacks, but also achieved such huge results.

Zhao Shougang Fan Li and his 1,700 soldiers became the heroes in the hearts of the people of Pingdu City, when they returned triumphantly, they were welcomed by the people of Pingdu after hearing the good news of victory, many soldiers were stuffed with eggs in their arms, and there were many big girls looking at these heroes on the battlefield, expressing their friendship with affection.

Chen Suowen and Fang Zengwei set up a banquet to invite Feng Jian and the meritorious soldiers of the Zhenshan Battalion to celebrate, Fang Zengwei was so happy that he couldn't keep his mouth shut, and he repelled and captured so many rebels, he was naturally the first merit as the parent official of Pingdu City, so he repeatedly said during the banquet that he would immediately report the good news to the imperial court, and he must not let Feng Jian and his subordinates bury their merits.

Feng Jian has always been worried about his son Feng Ning, and it was easy to deal with the officials of Pingdu City, Feng Jian confessed to Chen Suowen and rushed back to the mansion as soon as possible! (To be continued......)