The most crucial step in gathering the remnants of the army is to gather their hearts. Xue Shixiong is worthy of being a veteran general who has been in the army for many years, and the simple sentence "go home" aroused everyone's desire to survive. With a goal in mind again, the soldiers' behavior is no longer as chaotic as when they first escaped from life. The orders given by the commander were carried out more or less smoothly, and the order of the army was much better than at night.

Although they are now deep in enemy territory, the Goguryeo people may catch up at any time. Xue Shixiong refused to let the soldiers seize every opportunity to flee for their lives, and walked twenty miles in the morning and afternoon of the first day, so he chose a hilly area that was dangerous to defend and had a water source available, and set up camp to let everyone rest.

On the second day, the army rested until the end of the day, and marched thirty miles in the morning and afternoon, and at three o'clock in the afternoon, they set up camp early. Xue Shixiong sent scouts to investigate the enemy's movements, and on the other hand, he sent soldiers with outstanding archery skills to follow Wang Yuantong to hunt around the camp. At the same time, more than 300 healthy veterans who had done farm work at home were selected to go to the valley to look for wild vegetables, mushrooms, yellow flowers and other things to improve the food for everyone.

After three days like this, the soldiers' bellies gradually full, the panic in their hearts gradually disappeared, and the physical fatigue slowly began to recover. Seeing this, Xue Shixiong appropriately sent three regiments of foot soldiers to attack a remote nomadic tribe, and under the defenselessness of the other party, the Sui army naturally won a complete victory, and the cattle, sheep, and horses robbed no less than 100 heads, and followed the rout to chase and kill for fifteen miles before returning the victory. Xue Shixiong was overjoyed, and gave each of the soldiers a great merit and two buckets of rice. At the same time, he ordered that all the looted livestock be killed and roasted into pieces of meat for everyone to replenish. For a time, there was thunderous cheers in this army, and almost everyone firmly believed that under the command of such a wise general, everyone could safely withdraw to Liaoxi.

Seeing that Xue Shixiong would buy people's hearts like this, some people in the grain protection army were secretly dissatisfied. At present, this army of soldiers and horses was rescued by everyone, and the food used was also transported from Liaoxi by everyone who sacrificed their lives, and even the current marching map was drawn by Li Xu, the captain of the military academy guarding grain, when he was in Huaiyuan Town, not the topographic map of Liaodong issued by the Great Sui Army! But all the praise was borne by Xue Shixiong alone, what kind of truth is this?

Looking for an opportunity to wash his wounds, Wu Shi Tong leaned over to Liu Hongji's side and whispered his indignation. Liu Hongji was not angry, smiled, and comforted in a low voice: "General Xue is experienced and experienced in using soldiers, no matter his prestige and ability, he is far above me, and it is understandable that the soldiers and horses are under his command." Everyone is still in danger at the moment, what is the use of fighting for a little fame! Besides, we didn't save people to be grateful, trivial things, Shi Tong shouldn't look too bad! ”

"The 300,000 army has been built by people, and what are you boasting about how old you are!" Samurai pouted in disdain and muttered quietly.

"The defeat of Liaodong is really not the fault of the soldiers! If it is ......" Liu Hongji looked around cautiously and swallowed the second half of the sentence into his stomach.

Judging from the panicked behavior of the enemy when they marched into the camp that night, the Goguryeo soldiers were far from being brave and good at fighting. If both sides let go of their hands and feet, 100,000 Sui troops could sweep half of Liaodong. The expeditionary force took less than a month to go straight from the east bank of Liaoshui to the city of Pyongyang, which cannot be described as brave. General Yuwenshu's coping strategy when the food ran out can be regarded as decent. Such a victorious battle has ended up in such a result, and I am afraid that the blame should not be pushed on the soldiers. But who is the person who should be responsible, but it is not something that Liu Hongji, a small car general, can comment on indiscriminately.

"Whew!" Wu Shi Tong spewed a vicious breath from his nostrils, ignored Liu Hongji, and turned his head to Li Xu to complain. saw Li Xu lying on the stone slab like a duck, clumsily wiping the wound on his back with a strip of cloth dipped in salt water. When he set foot in the camp at night, he received two stray arrows in his back, and the injured part was just between the two shoulder blades, and he wasted his strength.

"I'll wipe it for you!" The samurai staggered forward and snatched the wet cloth from Li Xu's hand.

The armor on the Sui army was made by the emperor during his reign, and it was well-made and solid, so the arrows did not penetrate too deep into Li Xu's body. But because of the hot weather, the army has been walking in a hilly area with dense woods and deep humidity for several days, so the wound on Li Xu's back is a little infected, and it looks like a large red patch, which is very scary.

Looking at Li Xu's embarrassed appearance, Wu Shi Tong couldn't help but shake his head. First went to the stream to wash the wet cloth again, then dipped it in thick salt water, wiped off the pus and blood around the wound little by little, and muttered quietly while wiping: "That General Xue is also too good at employing people, knowing that you are injured, and letting you take care of the front and back of the cavalry every day.......

"Skin trauma, don't tighten." Li Xu gritted his teeth and tried his best to make himself feel relaxed. After the salt water soaked into the wound, the annoying itching felt lesser, but the burning pain made people shiver.

"It doesn't matter, if it weren't for the strong captain's armor on your body, these two arrows would have killed you a long time ago!" Samurai scolded very dissatisfied. Although Li Xu is his top boss, he is much older than Li Xu, and the relationship between the two sides is close, so there is not so much respect and inferiority between each other.

"Captain's armor? Hiss-" Li Xu took a breath of cold air in pain and asked.

"Of course, do you think this armor is just good-looking? Our Great Sui rules, the higher the level, the more solid the armor, above the captain, the armor lining is added with an iron ruler. Old Qi, they are good with you, so your armor is thicker than that used by ordinary captains......" Wu Shi Tong saw Qi Poning washing his wounds not far away, and deliberately raised his voice.

He said happily to himself, but he didn't notice that the back of his hand suddenly hardened, and accidentally, the wet cloth was wiped directly into the wound, which made Li Xu's body tremble, and the whole person stiffened into a dead fish.

"Uh-" Li Xu couldn't help but let out a low groan.

"Right away, right away!" Wu Shi Tong hurriedly expressed comfort to Li Xu. The hand was too heavy just now, and new blood was already flowing out of the wound. That is, Li Xu, if he changed to another boss, he would definitely give him a big slap when he raised his hand.

"No, it's fine!" Li Xu moaned weakly. Since joining the Grain Guard Army, his armor has been rationed by Lao Qi on his own initiative. From the team leader, brigade leader to the captain, every time he was promoted, Qi Poning sent someone to send a new armor, and by the way, he took back the original set of inappropriate status. Li Xu was accustomed to this kind of care, and only felt that different levels of generals wore different armor for the sake of serious military appearance, but he didn't expect that there was such a big difference in their protective performance.

Peeking at his companions who were close to scrubbing their wounds, he suddenly found that among the 63 people who had returned from the camp that day, the team leader, and the brigade leader actually accounted for a large part. Above the brigade rate, only Li Liang was killed, and only one of the six teams that went to the camp was killed, and twenty-two of the thirty gang commanders are still alive, while the ordinary soldiers are far less "lucky" in the enemy's stray arrows!

He peeked at Liu Hongji and saw that the big brother, who usually took good care of him, was lying on his back on a slate wound basking in the sun. The two soldiers squatted beside him and scrubbed his wounds with a clean white cloth. Not far from Liu Hongji is Yu Wenshi, this guy who has finally calmed down is sitting on a stone and drinking tea at this time, and the two generals of the Yuwen family, whether it is the brave and extremely brave Yuwen Ji or the loyal Yu Wenzhong, all lowered their heads to make fire, one used the snatched iron pot to make Yu Wenshi and boil jujube leaf tea, and the other was carefully roasting a hare.

"It turns out that being a captain has this benefit!" Li Xu sighed lowly, and there was an indescribable tiredness in his voice. On that day, 300 brave men set foot in the camp, and they thought that everyone was facing the same danger. Now I know that in the face of death, human life is so different.

"Of course, otherwise who would be desperately climbing up!" The samurai replied disdainfully, carrying the dirty strips of cloth and washing them by the stream.

By the stream, there were piles of ordinary soldiers, who were not so particular about eating, and on the makeshift pot made of stone chips, occasionally someone put down a piece of meat, or a few mushrooms, which could provoke a small cheer.

At that moment, Li Xu didn't know whether he should be happy or sad. He suddenly felt very impulsive and wanted to find someone to fight. clenched his fists, but he couldn't lift half of his strength.

At this moment, Li Xu was not the only one who wanted to find someone to fight. Hundreds of miles away at the edge of the Maqi River, the Goguryeo Prime Minister Eulji Mundeok was also particularly depressed. A group of boiled ducks flew into the sky with all their wings fluttered, and disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye. Although on the day of the enemy's breakthrough, Etoshi Wende was not present. But let such a large group of people escape, and the almost jade-perfect Liaodong Annihilation War was flawed. If you look at the big picture, this flaw is more than a small point!

Taking advantage of the enemy monarch's penchant for false fame, the Goguryeo monarchs repeatedly used the two tricks of surrender and treachery, and played a wonderful game. More than 300,000 Sui troops, armed to the teeth, were dragged to death in Liaodong. This victory cannot be described as magnificent, and in Goguryeo, the prestige of King Gowon and Prime Minister Eulji Mundeok suddenly rose to an unprecedented peak! Although their means of winning may seem a little disgraceful, as long as the results are good, who cares about the process and means? Besides, playing scoundrels is the monopoly of small countries. If a small country plays something with a big country, the country will definitely find its own death.

This is a good opportunity for Goguryeo to rise, and at present, the remaining nearly 700,000 soldiers and horses of the Great Sui outside the city of Liaodong have been fluctuating. If Goguryeo had sent people to leak the news that the expeditionary force had been lost in Maqishui and promote it, the seemingly powerful Sui army would definitely retreat without a fight. The Goguryeo soldiers killed Liaoshui with the power of great victory, and they may not be able to take the land of western Liao, which their ancestors have dreamed of for generations.

However, the prerequisite for a large-scale counteroffensive was that there were no more remnants of the enemy in Goguryeo. There are many small tribes in the land of Liaodong, and they are accustomed to following the strong. Today, Goguryeo has a big victory, and they can follow Goguryeo to fight the autumn wind. If the back roads of the Goguryeo soldiers and horses were copied, they would definitely not hesitate to atone for His Majesty the Great Sui Emperor. Therefore, the remnants of the army that escaped must be found as soon as possible. As long as they existed for a day, the Goguryeo army could not cross the Liao River without worry.

But the remnants of the army disappeared in the night. Etozhi Wende had been to the camp abandoned by his opponents, and had seen thousands of fires that had been extinguished. Judging from the number of footprints and horse manure around the fire, he knew that the number of enemy troops who came to rob the camp that night would never exceed 1,000. It was this mere 1,000 dead soldiers, but not only caused almost three times as many casualties to the Goguryeo army, but also rescued the remnants of the soldiers who had been starving for several days. If the general who led the thousand dead soldiers was hidden behind the Goguryeo army, Eulji Wendeok would always have the feeling of a thorn in his back.

He sent 5,000 cavalry to chase and kill along the Wugu River for two days, but found no trace of the enemy. According to the report of the defenders of the Black Bone City, there was indeed a cavalry force of nearly 10,000 people who tried to storm the Black Bone City that day, but under the head-on attack of the defenders, the enemy army left hundreds of corpses and the enemy retreated in panic. To this day, the heads of those corpses are still piled up by the black bones.

"10,000 iron cavalry, if the enemy army had 10,000 iron cavalry, you idiots would have lost the Black Bone City long ago!" Etozhi Wende cursed at the messenger of the Black Bone City. He would never believe that 10,000 iron horsemen had ever appeared near the Black Bone City, and the only possibility was that this army of soldiers and horses used their fast movement to deceive the defenders of the Black Bone City, and sneak attacked the joint camp outside the Po Shan Village on the same night.

Using the repeated rush of cavalry to give the enemy the illusion that the army is pressing the territory and then retreating, it quickly kills in the middle of the night, rushes into the company camp, and then slips away like the wind! If this is the case, this cavalry can be said to be an iron army, they have run at least 200 miles non-stop in a day and a night, and they still have the physical strength to launch a decisive attack on the Goguryeo camp.

"But if that's the case, where did the foot soldiers who rushed out of Bo Shan Village go? It can't be that the Sui army that came to rob the camp still brought thousands of war horses! Ezhi Wende was puzzled. From the captured Sui army's baggage, he obtained a map of Liaodong issued by the Great Sui to the generals, on which the Sui army mastered the only road from the Great Liang River to Wugushui, and on the Great Sui military map, except for the country and the two cities of Fuyu, the other areas were blank. (Note 1) "Someone! Send a letter to Gebe, Mudi and Cangyan Sanzhai to stay behind! Suddenly, Etozhi Wende shouted. It was not a blank, as the prime minister of Goguryeo, he knew that there were several fortresses on the edge of those barren mountains and mountains that had just been annexed to Goguryeo not long ago, and the private soldiers of each village were now gathered under his command.

"Send a letter to the guards in Sanzhai and tell them not to pay attention to the movements nearby. Benxiang immediately sent a large army to arrive, even if he dug three feet into the ground, he would dig out the Sui people! ”

"Send a letter to Sanzhai, a thousand miles away!" In the open field, the messenger's fast horse beat a golden drum.

Note 1: Buyeo, that is, Siping. Domestic, that is, Ji'an. The following Gebezhai is now Tonghua, there is no city here on the map of the Sui Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty set up Gebezhou here.

[Remember the URL . 三五Chinese网]