Chapter 280: Li Ke abandoned Xinzhou, Li Hanzhi took advantage of the fire to rob, "Release!" With an order, arrows flew like locusts, and countless arrows flew out from Lu Long's army.

However, the Hedong army on the opposite side did not show weakness, they counterattacked with crossbows, and from time to time there were war horses screaming and falling to the ground. The only thing the rider could do was to shoot the arrow with more power with tears.

The infantry of the Hedong Army formed a shield wall with huge tower shields, but even so, from time to time, the shields shook due to the strength of the arrows, and other arrows were shot into the shield wall.

But on the whole, the losses of the Hedong Army were not large, and the army advanced strongly. Sharp spears stretched out through the gaps between shields, forming a dense forest of spears. There's nothing in the distance, but the closer you get, the more nervous you get.

Especially when the north side is a cliff, the south side is a substitute for water, and there are spears approaching from east to west, people have a feeling that there is no door to the sky, there is no way to enter the ground, and the sky is no way.

"How's the general doing?" The deputy general, who had just escaped death and was rescued by his subordinates, couldn't help but change his face greatly, and he lost his voice to Yuan Xingqin.

"Order the soldiers to pick up their spears and prepare to resist! Not really...... Ignite a fire, burn the tail of the warhorse, and disrupt the opponent's formation. When Yuan Xingqin said this, a gloom flashed in his eyes. He knew that if he gave this order, he would suffer resentment from the hearts of many light cavalry.

In Lulong, the training time of a light cavalryman takes a year to a year and a half. During this time, Lulon sells a young foal between the ages of one and a half and two at half price, and when they are trained as a qualified cavalryman, they all enlist with the foal that was provided at half price.

And even if it's a dead thing, for more than a year, there are feelings. Not to mention the war horse that has a very spiritual surname and accompanies him through the wind and rain. Therefore, although Yuan Xingqin's order was finally carried out because of the military order, it is conceivable what the light cavalry thought. The resentment in the hearts of the hussars will certainly not be less.

After a while, the Hedong Army in the west was only a hundred meters away from the cavalry of the Lu Long Army.

"Order the cavalry to attack with mounted spears! At the same time, ......" Speaking of this, Yuan Xingqin showed a solemn expression, and said with a heavy heart: "The tail of the war horse is tied with flammable materials, when necessary...... Ignite! ”

Hearing this, the adjutant general of "......" opened his mouth and seemed to want to admonish, but in the end, the words turned into a complex and long sigh in his throat.

It seems that it is because he knows that if he is not good in battle, he is afraid that his mount will become a victim because of it. The soldiers of the Lu Long Army fought very bravely, but the cavalry was not infantry, and after they dismounted and fought, they went to 30% of their combat effectiveness. The cavalry spear is not an infantry spear, only one zhang long, while an infantry spear is one zhang and four feet long. Although he was heroic, he couldn't stop the other party's advance.

The last line of defense was constantly pressed, and the adjutant sighed again, closed his eyes, and sat aside without speaking. It's as if he fell from a horse before.,It's like I'm in a coma.。

Yuan Xingqin glanced at the deputy general coldly, and the deputy general Yuan Xingqin, who had nothing to worry about, was very disdainful. But he was so strong, and he didn't say anything. The herald on the other side said, "Prepare to blow the trumpet!" ”

The herald nodded a little indifferently, picked up the horn made of ox horns, and slowly brought it to his mouth. For some reason, he felt that the horn that had been light had become particularly heavy at the moment.

"General!" Yuan Xingqin's personal soldier captain suddenly lost his voice and exclaimed.

"Don't convince me! They hate! Let them hate! What I want to do is to keep this army and give an account to Your Highness! Yuan Xingqin indifferently interrupted the words of the captain of the pro-soldiers, but there was a helpless sadness in his indifferent voice.

"It's not! Checkmate! It's Commander Xie! Reinforcements are coming! The last words of the pro-soldier made everyone who heard it freeze their bodies for an instant. It was as if time had stood still in this instant.

Yuan Xingqin was stunned for a long time, and his gaze crossed the attacking Hedong Army. Looking at the rear, I saw a big flag waving in the wind. Above: Yuan Congjun's army and horses are commanding the left and right carriages to make Xie.

The person who came was Xie Yanzhang, who had already led the two compartments in the year of the weak crown, and saw his thin and short body riding on a war horse, and his slightly immature voice roared hoarsely. "Throw away all weapons and shields except for the cavalry gun. At the fastest speed! Rush over! Rush over!! ”

Zhang Yi, the commander of the Hedong Army who was responsible for attacking Yuan Xingqin behind his back, heard the sound of horses' hooves and couldn't help but change his face, and hurriedly turned around, only to see that a light cavalry had already launched a charge behind him, and the distance from him was only less than sixty zhang.

"Infantry! Hurry back! Crossbowmen change knives and axes! Zhang Yi's voice was particularly sharp because of his nervousness, like a duck pinching a soundtrack.

The soldiers of the Hedong Army were shocked, and the crossbowmen who were calmly shooting in the back were quickly shocked, and the crossbows were quickly shot out on the bowstring, and those who did not have a bowstring did not dare to put on the bowstring, so they hurriedly picked up the long knife and battle axe carried on their waists, and began to set up the formation under the command of the commander.

However, because they were too nervous, the soldiers did not seem to perform at the same level as usual. The crossbow bolts that shot out were either too high or too low. It often doesn't cause much damage, but makes people feel that it is deliberately waterproof and lets the enemy rush over.

"Where's the spear!? Fast! Come back quickly, or it will be too late! Zhang Yi's voice was still so sharp and ugly, but no one cared about it anymore. The spearmen behind quickly turned their heads, but they didn't just turn around, they needed to set up. In particular, many spearmen turned around, and they couldn't distinguish between the front and the back, the left and right, and for a while, the battle formation of the Hedong Army seemed extremely chaotic.

Xie Yanzhang knew that he had to seize the opportunity now, otherwise he would let the other party react in this narrow terrain. Unless mounted iron cavalry charges, it is difficult for light cavalry to break through enemy lines.

Xie Yanzhang, who was under the mask of the evil ghost, showed a resolute and stubborn look on his face. A delicate dagger was drawn from the cowhide belt.

"Black Cloud, I'm sorry!" The dagger in Xie Yanzhang's hand stabbed down on the buttocks of the war horse Heiyun, and the war horse Heiyun under his crotch screamed. Xie Yanzhang's eyes showed a touch of sorrow.

Under the stimulation of severe pain, the speed of the black cloud of the war horse soared suddenly, surpassing many light cavalry in one fell swoop, coming to the front line, and even slowly passing over a group of cavalry, and there was a tendency for thousands of cavalry to charge.

But this situation cannot occur in any case, not only because Xie Yanzhang is the commander of the first army, but also because of the dignity of the light cavalry. They are not as good as a teenager, dozens of cavalry in the front gritted their teeth, all took out daggers and stabbed them on the buttocks of the war horses, and the hooves of the war horses in front of them moved quickly, making people feel that the horses' hooves did not touch the ground and flew into the air.

"Spearmen!" At this moment, Zhang Yi's voice was a little more relaxed, because finally more than sixty spearmen came to the front, and they tried to line up in a row, although thin, but enough to relax the defensive line of relief.

However, when Zhang Yi saw the cavalry in the charge again, his heart couldn't help but lift it again. The enemy's cavalry was getting faster and faster, and in the boiling smoke, Zhang Yi even saw the hideous face of the light cavalry charging in the first row, and the cavalry spears glistening in the sun. The sharp spear trembled slightly with the jolting of the horse, but anyone knew that he would be extremely accurate when he stabbed his target.

"Spearmen! Fast! Zhang Yi's voice once again reverted to the previous duck sound that seemed to be pinched on the vocal cords, and when they heard this sound, all the soldiers of the Hedong Army also knew the critical situation. However, some things are more anxious and chaotic.

One of the spearmen pushed away the spearmen in front of him and said, "Where should you go!" ”

The spearman pushed the other man and shouted angrily, "Don't run around! ”

Soon they quarreled angrily.

There are more than a dozen spearmen in the hands of the spearmen entangled together, the four-meter-long spear makes it more difficult for the anxious spearmen to draw their spears, so the more difficult it is to draw the spears.

As the minutes passed, the distance between the two sides became closer and closer. Li Siyuan, who was on the other side, didn't know when he had already boarded the boat, as if he was standing calmly on the bow of the boat, observing everything on the entire battlefield. However, if someone looks at Li Siyuan now, they will find that his fists are clenched tightly, and nervous sweat is stained with Li Siyuan's palms. Li Siyuan is not as calm as it seems.

"Kill!" Xie Yanzhang roared, and the war horse under his crotch slammed into the spear forest, and the three spears pierced into the body of the war horse Heiyun under the crotch, but the huge impact force also made the three spearmen snort, their faces turned red, and one of them even fell to the ground. But Xie Yanzhang was no better, he was thrown up.

Fortunately, the spear formation of the Hedong Army was not tight, and Xie Yanzhang landed on the Hedong Army formation and knocked over two unprepared sword and axe men. The thin spear line, like a hard and fragile eggshell, was quickly broken through after inflicting damage on more than a dozen light cavalry.

"Kill!" The roar of the light cavalry of the Yuan Congjun filled the battlefield for a while, and the sharp spears continued to pierce into the bodies of the unprepared Hedong saber axemen. From time to time, the light cavalry of the Yuan Congjun Army, who had not time to draw their spears, were cut off by the Hedong saber and axe men who pounced on them.

The blood kept splashing and fell into the water, turning a faint red. The screams came and went, and the sound of swords entering flesh continued to sound.

However, with the light cavalry in the rear constantly rushing up, the huge impact force ruthlessly knocked part of the Hedong Army into the water, and the soldiers of the Hedong Army wearing heavy armor kept wailing, but the water and fire were ruthless. The mother who gave birth to them, Hedaishui, ruthlessly swallowed a local soldier of the Hedong Army, and only a series of bubbles bubbled up, letting people know that a life was ruthlessly swallowed by Daishui.

"Get on the horse!" Yuan Xingqin quickly grabbed the fighter plane and roared like crazy.

The herald quickly blew the horn, and this time the herald felt so full of strength that he wanted to keep the horn sounding as a symbol of the charge. The hussars, who had just retreated, couldn't help but get excited, and they quickly turned on their horses and charged the enemy.

Now the entire battle formation of the Hedong Army is in chaos, and the Hedong Army in front does not know what to do, there is an enemy in the back, and the enemy in front is ready to charge. Some soldiers chose to turn around and defend, and some soldiers chose to hold their bodies and resist Yuan Xingqin's cavalry. But what a battle formation needed was unanimous coordination, and chaos began.

The cavalry smoothly crashed into the already chaotic spear battle formation of the Hedong Army, and the light cavalry who entered the battle formation put down their cavalry spears and drew out the barrier knife at their waists. The short barrier knife was like a dragon into the sea in the four-meter long spear cluster, and the spear that was close to the body could not be used at all, and the light cavalry turned over and dismounted, and stabbed the barrier knife into the panicked spearman's body.

"I surrender!"

"I surrender!"

Perhaps the Hedong Army was not afraid of dying in battle, but they were afraid of merciless slaughter. In the face of a barrier knife that is good at hand-to-hand combat, and a spear that is not as close as an embroidery needle, the outcome of the war has long been doomed from the time it was approached by the opposing light cavalry.

"Retreat!" Hearing the surrenders one after another, Li Siyuan closed his eyes, and for a moment it made people feel like an old man in the twilight. And now Li Siyuan is only twenty-nine years old, and he is in the golden age of oriental men.

"General, this ......" Li Siyuan's personal captain hesitated for a moment, and said: "It's better to let our soldiers speed up the attack, and at the same time send ships over, maybe we can pick up a little brother." ”

Li Siyuan shook his head slowly, his voice revealing a deep sense of frustration. "It's useless! If you continue like this, you will only allow the enemy to catch up! Let everyone get on board and the water flows. Retreat quickly. ”

"Yes!" Although the captain of the pro-soldier was unwilling, he also knew that if Li Siyuan made a decision, there must be his reasons, and it was definitely much more correct than himself.

In this battle, 1,600 soldiers of the Hedong Army surrendered, and at the same time, Li Siyuan's 500 crossbowmen in Yanmen City were also blocked from retreating, and finally all of them were surrounded by 1,000 elite cavalry, and wisely chose to surrender. However, because of the fighting, Li Siyuan was able to escape, although afterwards Li Cunhuan asked Ge Congzhou to personally lead the army, but he only burned a part of the baggage and killed more than 100 levels.

Li Siyuan led 10,000 soldiers and horses to retreat all the way to Tanglin, but he received an order from Li Keyong ordering him to retreat to Chitang Pass.

Li Siyuan couldn't help but look up to the sky and sighed, "Father, this is to give up the northeast of the river!" And bring in the Tatar iron horsemen! It's going to be a scorched earth! I don't know when I can regain the rivers and mountains! ”

After Li Siyuan said this, he turned over and dismounted, and with tears in his eyes, he picked up a handful of black soil from the ground and wrapped it in linen. Although Li Siyuan was very unwilling, he finally chose to turn the soldiers and horses of Xinzhou, plus the soldiers and horses brought by Daizhou, a total of 18,000 people retreated to Chitang Pass, accompanied by tens of thousands of people.

Because it was too hasty, along the way, he was not accustomed to the water and soil, fatigue caused illness, he was attacked by wild beasts, and bandits and bandits took advantage of the fire to rob countless people. In just one road, nearly 3,000 bones have been buried, which is embarrassing. Jinyiwei seized the opportunity and vigorously built momentum for Li Cunhuan's arrival. What's more, the influx of more than 45,000 hooligans has caused the price of rice in Taiyuan to soar, especially now when there is a shortage of green and yellow and facing war.

The price of rice, which was originally high, became more and more expensive because the grain merchants maliciously stored the grain merchants during the war, and the people frantically purchased.

On 16 April, the price of rice in Taiyuan reached the highest point in history in the past 30 years. A bucket of rice costs 300 yuan, and there is no market. What is this concept? In Youzhou, now one stone of rice is only forty yuan. If you are in Liaodong and Qingzhou, which are important grain-producing areas, a bucket of rice is not even more than two yuan.

It's cheaper than the price in Tianbao, and of course it has something to do with the high cost of money. In the past, it was said that Tianbao was the power of the world to cast money. And now there are melee battles in various places, not to mention minting money, and there are laborers who are either pulling to dig iron ore to build weapons, or serving as soldiers, plowing the fields and producing food. After all, although money is important, without soldiers, weapons, and food, there is no foundation for life. If you don't have money, you will be poor in materials, and you can still rob other people's money.

Up to now, Li Cunhuan has even considered whether to come up with a currency smaller than copper coins?

And these are the main points that have become more diligent propaganda of Jinyiwei, the people don't understand anything, they just want to eat a bite. A bucket of rice costs 300 yuan, I'm afraid the price in a famine year is just that. As a result, Li Keyong's people's morale plummeted, but Li Keyong, who has not yet entered Taiyuan, has won a lot of people's favor.

As a result, because of Li Keyong's inaction, but half a month, Li Cunhuan has just taken over Xinzhou and has not yet entered Taiyuan. Among the refugees in Taiyuan, there was a situation of starvation death. The people began to send people to write 10,000 documents, and invited a respected old man to ask Li Kening, the assassin of Taiyuan, to set up a porridge shed.

Li Kening was a benevolent person, so he asked his servants to set up thirteen porridge shacks in the refugee settlement. But Li Kening is just a history of assassination. In three days, there was not much left in the granary. Li Kening had no choice, he knew that Li Keyong must have food there, but he knew that this eldest brother was the master of killing people without blinking.

At the beginning, Li Kexiu, the most virtuous of the brothers, was stingy with his own use because he loved the people like a son. When Li Ke used it, he had no money to entertain Li Ke, so he was beaten by Li Ke with a stick and died of anger.

Li Kening hinted that the respected old people among the refugees went to Li Keyong, and those old people probably felt that they were few and weak. I don't know where the energy comes from (in fact, it's Jinyiwei secretly fueling the troubles). In addition to several respected people in Taiyuan, they united 100,000 people to sign their signatures, and more than a dozen respected old people went to Li Keyong to ask for opening a warehouse to release grain and suppress grain prices.

Li Keyong was really furious, although he had food in his hands, but the supply of the army was tight, where was the food to supply the untouchables in his eyes? In fact, this is mainly because Li Keyong defeated the battle in Xingzhou at the beginning, and Li Siyuan couldn't take the grain with him, so he burned all the grain that was enough for 100,000 troops to eat for three months, plus some captured by Zhu Wen. As a result, now it is a time when there is no catch, and Li Keyong is thinking about finding a big household to start, where there is food.

It just so happened that there were seven or eight large families among them, and Li Ke was so evil that not only did he not open the warehouse to release grain, but also sent the old people he asked for in the dungeon to be imprisoned on the charge of collaborating with the enemy. and sent for their homes to be raided. This is a hornet's nest, these big families are really kind people in the area, and they are usually the most benevolent. has a lot of popularity among the people, Li Ke used this to copy the house, but he also copied the people's hearts.

When refugees began to make trouble, Li Keyong didn't look at it. Instead, he sent a large army to carry out an iron-blooded suppression, killing hundreds of heads and hanging them from the city gates. By the time Li Cunqiao and Kang Junli reacted, it was too late. And the turmoil is calmed, but all people of insight know that under the calm crater, there is an undercurrent, and when the anger accumulates to a certain extent, he will explode into remorseful anger.

But now all this, even if Li Keyong knows about it, I'm afraid it will be put aside. Li Cunhuan hurriedly attacked Chitang Pass and Shiling Pass, and these two passes and the Tianmen Pass established by later generations are collectively called Taiyuan Three Passes. However, now Tianmen Pass has not been established, and Chitang Pass and Shiling Pass are Xiongguan that echo each other. The distance between the two sides is only sixteen miles, and there is a big mountain between them, but behind the pass, there is a mountain road built by the predecessors that can communicate the two passes.

The unique mountain path allows the two levels to support each other and echo each other. However, because of the barrier of the mountains, the enemy who attacked in a hurry could communicate for forty miles, which was almost the distance of an ordinary infantry army in a day's march. However, Xiongguan also has its own evil equipment grinding. Lulong's huge trebuchet became a nightmare for the defenders. The huge trebuchet could shoot a hundred and twenty pounds of boulders, and the range was slightly farther than the defenders' trebuchets. But just this point has already decided the success or failure, so that the defenders of the two Xiongguan can only choose to be beaten passively.

At the same time, although because of the danger of the two levels and the strong city walls, the trebuchet could not break the two levels for a while, everyone knew it. The Chitang Pass and the Shiling Pass were broken, but it was only a matter of time.

However, I have to say that people are unlucky, and drinking cold water will also stuff their teeth. Li Hanzhi, who was in an antagonistic relationship with Zhu Wen, saw Li Keyong in a big disaster. couldn't help but peep at Luzhou, and sent troops to raid Luzhou, but unfortunately it was unsuccessful. However, it also captured a city in Luzhou, the eldest son city, which can be used as a springboard to attack the party in Luzhou. With this springboard, Li Hanzhi immediately led an army of 20,000 to storm Luzhou.

And Luzhou is now only 5,000 soldiers and horses, if Li Keyong does not send troops to rescue, the fall is a certain thing.

After Li Keyong got the news, his face changed greatly on the spot, and he hurriedly gathered his henchmen to discuss the matter.

As soon as Li Keyong told the urgent report of Luzhou in the White Tiger Hall, his henchmen were immediately divided into two factions. Li Cunmiao advocated sending troops to rescue. Otherwise, everyone thinks that they are easy to bully in Hedong, wouldn't it make the surrounding festival envoys peep?

But the words of the reactionary Kang Junli are also very reasonable. "You say save, how to save? Don't look at the 60,000 soldiers and horses gathered in Taiyuan now, but more than half of them are new soldiers. You told them to defend the city reluctantly, how can they attack? More than 20,000 veterans and more than 13,000 people are already there at Chitang Pass and Shiling Pass. There were 14,000 men left, of whom 3,000 were the Chengtian army, to guard against Wang Rong's robbery in the east. The rest is in Taiyuan, which means that there are only 11,000 people at the disposal of my father. But don't forget, once the Chitang Pass and Shiling Pass are broken, they will have to rely on them as the backbone of the city. There are also Tatars coming, and they must have the strength to deter them, otherwise I am afraid that the Tatar barbarians will have the heart to take advantage of the fire to rob. ”

(To be continued)