In such a smooth way to conquer Ping'a City, Hua Anzhong was naturally very happy, and sent a soldier on the night of the city to send this result to the camp of the Northern Expeditionary Army overnight.

Early in the morning of the second day, Han Qian led the main force of the Northern Expeditionary Army, divided into several groups, and crossed the Huaishui River in a mighty way, and the army assembled on the north bank of the Huaishui River to stand by, just waiting for Han Qian's order, and then immediately marched.

Han Qian stood on the shore on his horse, looking at the troops that were being assembled, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

......A soldier sent by Hua'an was riding a horse and rushing towards Han Qian.

Han Qian saw the soldiers running from the west path, and they were dressed in pro-barracks clothes, and immediately judged that they were soldiers under Hua'an. So, without waiting for the little soldier to dismount, he hurriedly asked, "Ping'a Cheng, how is the situation?" ”

The soldier dismounted, hugged his fists and said: "General, good news, the officers and soldiers of the left brigade of my own battalion have broken through Ping'a City, annihilating 270 enemies, and none of the officers and men of our army have died." ”

"What, the city of Ping'a has been breached." Han Qian was suddenly shocked, he didn't expect that Hua'an would attack a county town with two hundred soldiers, and there were no casualties.

"General, what a good omen! As soon as our main army crossed the river, good news came from the front. Chen Xiong also smiled from ear to ear.

Han Qian stroked his beard with a smile, looked at Chen Xiong, and said: "Hua'an broke through Ping'a City so easily, which is enough to prove that the enemy's main force has retreated, and the soldiers defending the city have lost their fighting spirit, and my main force can recover the Huaibei cities smoothly." ”

Hearing this, Chen Xiong nodded and said, "General, the army has been assembled, let's march immediately!" ”

Han Qian nodded, and ordered loudly: "Chen Xiong, you immediately lead eight thousand men and horses to march into Yicheng, and within two days, you must break the city." ”

"General rest assured, Chen Xiong will definitely live up to his mission." Chen Xiong clenched his fists and rode forward to straighten out the team.

Soon, Chen Xiong, the deputy general of the Northern Expeditionary Army, gathered 8,000 men and horses and slaughtered towards Yicheng.

"Soldiers, march to Huaiyuan and go on the march." Han Qian let out a loud shout and led the rest of the army to attack Huaiyuan City due north.

After a day's march, in the evening, Han Qian and Chen Xiong's armies arrived at Huaiyuan and Yicheng respectively, and the soldiers of the pro-military battalion who had been waiting there for a long time reported the situation in the city to the two of them carefully.

Knowing that the defenders of the city were insufficient, Han Qian and Chen Xiong took the same decision, that is, to immediately attack the city, with more than ten times the superiority of troops, and suddenly launched an attack on the city, the result can be imagined, more than half of the enemy army was killed, and the remaining soldiers fled to the rear.

For the sake of safety, after capturing the city, Han Qian and Chen Xiong did not take advantage of the victory to pursue, but camped in the city to rest, waiting for the follow-up reinforcements of the Jing and Yang Erzhou legions.

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After the enemy's 20,000 horses retreated across Huaishui, they retreated directly into Shansang City at the southern end of Yuzhou, and Zhang Ju put the 20,000 troops back into the hands of Kui'an, the main general of the rear army.

Due to the defeat on the front line, Taobao, Zhang Ju and the generals all came to the table to plead guilty, and at the same time, they also found some unavoidable excuses for themselves in the table, and even pushed the main responsibility for the defeat to others.

These pleas and the defeated military report were placed on the case of the palace hall of Yecheng at the same time.

Shi Hu, the king of Great Zhao, sat on the dragon chair with an angry face, and casually flipped through a few battle reports and recitals, the content of which was nothing more than defeat, asking for guilt, defeat, and guilt.

"Waste, a bunch of waste." Shi Hu shouted violently and kicked out the case in front of him with a fierce kick.

"Click, click." The case was smashed to pieces, and the memorals and war reports placed on the case were suddenly scattered all over the ground.

The military generals in the main hall were so frightened by Shi Hu's move that they didn't dare to say anything, and they lowered their heads one by one, avoiding Shi Hutou's gaze.

"Order, gather all the soldiers and horses in Yecheng, and this king will drive the expedition in person." Shi Hu twisted his fat body and sat up from the dragon chair violently.

"Your Majesty, you can't, you can't!" As soon as Shi Hu said this, the generals in the main hall were suddenly frightened, and they knelt down one by one to beg Shi Hu to calm his anger.

In fact, the reason why Shi Hu said this was just because he was angry in his heart, and he was angry and vented the sullenness in his heart, but unexpectedly, he scared the Manchu Dynasty civil and military half to death.

A Wenchen was afraid that Shi Hu would really go on the expedition, so he hurriedly went out and played: "Wang San, by all means, now, my Dazhao is under enemy on all sides, Duan Liao in the north has repeatedly invaded my border, Xiliang Zhang Jun has stationed 100,000 troops on the border of my Dazhao, the intention is unknown, the remnants of Liu Yao in Guanzhong often make trouble, and the grassland Tuoba clan has also coveted the Central Plains for a long time, so it is necessary to guard against it." ”

"Hmph, the front line has been defeated repeatedly, if you don't send troops, the Jin army will drive straight in, won't you fight all the way to Yecheng." Shi Hu shouted loudly.

"Your Majesty, although our army was defeated in this battle, the losses of the Jin army were not small, the Jin family has always been partial to the south of the Yangtze River, and there are few people in the Manchu Dynasty who are enthusiastic about the Northern Expedition, and they will not chase after them when they learn that our army is retreating." A minister analyzed.

"Hmph, back then, the Jin general Zu Ti fought all the way to the edge of the Yellow River, and almost crossed the Yellow River, but now, how can he not chase after him." Shi Hu scolded loudly.

"Your Majesty, the Jin family has encountered the rebellion of Wang Dun and Su Jun one after another, and the national strength is not as good as before, besides, the current Jin family can't find a famous general like Zu Ti."

"Your Majesty, my Da Zhao has been cultivating for several years, and it is not too late to attack Jiangnan again."

"Your Majesty, I, Da Zhao, should first deal with Duan Liao, who has repeatedly offended the border."

The Manchu Dynasty was civil and military, and they exhorted one after another.

Shi Hu saw that what the ministers said was very reasonable, and at the same time, the anger in his heart also disappeared a lot, so he ordered loudly: "Order, the army in the middle of the front line retreats to Shansang City, appoint Kui An as the main general, Tao Leopard, Zhang Ju, Wang Lang, Zhang Jackal, Yao Gezhong, Sun Fu are all deputy generals, tell Sù Kui'an, you must hold Shansang City, otherwise, come to see you." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." The herald received the order and turned to leave the main hall.

"Scattered." Shi Hu shouted, held his big belly, and left the hall with his head held high.

After Shi Hu left, the Manchu Dynasty civil and military who were so frightened that their faces were covered with sweat glanced at each other and slowly withdrew from the main hall.

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The main force of the Northern Expeditionary Army rested in Huaiyuan and Yicheng for three days, during which Han Qian sent scouts every day to investigate the enemy's situation near Shansang City in Yuzhou.

The scouts learned that the main forces of the enemy army were all gathered in Sansang Castle, and there was no sign of advancing or retreating, and it seemed that they were planning to defend it.

Han Qian calculated in his heart that the main force of the Northern Expeditionary Army was nearly 20,000, the main forces of Jing and Yang Prefecture had reached 60,000 gathered in Dangtu City, and the total number of troops of the Three Routes was 80,000.

Just when Han Qian was waiting for the main forces of Jing and Yang Erzhou to cross the Huaishui for reinforcements, the imperial court issued an order to withdraw immediately.

Soon, the main forces of Jing and Yangzhou began to pull out the camp from Dangtu City and slowly marched to Yangzhou and Jingzhou.

Han Qian had no choice but to order the troops to retreat, and the main force of nearly 20,000 troops of the Northern Expeditionary Army retreated from Huaiyuan and Yicheng to Dangtu respectively.

At this time, Hua'an's pro-military battalion left brigade was still in Ping'a, and when he received the order to retreat, Han Qian's main force had already retreated to Huaishui.

Hua'an didn't dare to stay alone, after receiving the order to retreat, he immediately led his subordinates to run to the ferry north of Dangtu City overnight, all the way to the ferry, and finally arrived at the ferry early the next morning, fortunately, the enemy did not chase after him, Hua'an commanded nearly 200 soldiers, safely crossed the Huaishui, entered Huaiyuan City and joined the main army of Han Qian.

Han Qian was ordered to lead the main force to camp in Dangtu City, and ten days later, the news came from the front that the main force of the enemy army had returned to Yecheng, so the imperial court ordered Han Qian to lead the main force to retreat to the capital.

Although Han Qian was extremely reluctant, he had to obey the orders of the imperial court and lead the main force to retreat to the capital.

On the day of the retreat, Han Qian stood on the wall of Dangtu City, looked at the Huaishui in the north, let out a long sigh, and frowned unconsciously.

"Master, our army is in a state of collapse, but the imperial court has ordered the troops to retreat, I really don't know what the emperor and the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty think." Huaan complained.

Han Qian frowned and glanced at Hua An, and said helplessly: "The northern and southern scholars are all bent on the south of the Yangtze River, and most of the ministers in the court and the central government are from the scholar clans, and the emperor is also helpless. ”

"The beautiful rivers and mountains of the Central Plains are not allowed to be recovered, and these scholars who only seek partial peace are really hateful." Hua An scolded angrily.

Seeing Hua An scolding the scholars, Han Qian hurriedly frowned and said: "Presumptuous, these words, don't talk nonsense in the future, the merits and demerits of the scholars are not something you can comment on." ”

Seeing that Han Qian was a little angry, Hua An hurriedly changed his words and said: "Master, don't worry, this time, although our army failed to recover the Central Plains, it has destroyed a lot of enemies, especially the famous general Tao Leopard of Zhao State, who was beaten by us is falling flowers and flowing water, happy!" ”

"Well, that's true, our army didn't fight in vain." Hua'an's mood has improved a lot.

"General, the army has been assembled, when will it go?" A soldier asked, clenching his fists.

Han Qian glanced at the city, and saw that the army had been assembled, and ordered loudly: "Go, the army will set off immediately." ”

"Yes, General." The soldier received the order and turned to leave.

Soon, the order was heard, and the cavalry in the vanguard had already mounted their horses and marched south, followed closely by the infantry that followed.

Han Qian finally glanced to the north, turned around, looked at Hua An, and said softly, "Let's go, it's time for us to go." With that, he walked down the city wall.

Hearing this, Hua An stepped down the city wall, stepped on the war horse, followed Han Qian's left and right, and slowly marched south.

Because the Northern Expeditionary Army was defeated and took the initiative to retreat, rather than being defeated and forced to retreat, although the army retreated, the soldiers were still strongly welcomed by the people along the way, and all kinds of condolence materials were stuffed into the pockets of the soldiers from the hands of the people from time to time.

This kind of warm atmosphere can be described as triumphant, and the feelings of the soldiers are also very high, and everyone is full of smiling faces.

After several days of marching, the main force of the Northern Expeditionary Army entered Liyang City, joined the 2,000 troops left before, and then rested for a day, and early the next morning, through the Guò ferry, the army crossed the river in several groups and entered the garrison north of the capital.