On the night of thunderstorms, the lights in the Shangdang County Guard's Mansion were bright, and the ironclad soldiers of Soldier Gosensen could be seen everywhere in the huge mansion.

The courtyard corridor was full of busy figures, maidservants, servants, handymen and armor soldiers, with brisk steps and shuttles back and forth.

Under the stone steps of the main hall in the front yard, hundreds of sentry horses and heralds led their horses and waited for orders, and from time to time, there were sentry horses from outside to report the military situation in various places, and the main hall was also transmitted out one after another military orders.

This back and forth has been going on for two hours. In other words, from the moment the army of the great general Li Li Li entered the county guard mansion, urgent military information sent from all over the country was sent here, and the military orders issued by Li Li were also sent from here.

And so on and so forth, starting at dusk and continuing until late at night. By this time, hundreds of heralds had left the palace with military orders and headed for the states and counties, and there were also hundreds of sentinels who had come to report the situation of the battle.

"The rain is very strong, so you can go back to the camp for the time being, and wait for the summons at any time. Go ahead! As the last five sentinels rode away, a scribe stepped out of the main hall and waved his hand to the sentinels and scouts at the stone steps to return to the camp to take shelter from the rain.

In the main hall, Li Li, who was dressed in a brocade robe, gently put down the wolf's hair, his expression was extremely tired, and his face was full of tiredness, so that his cheeks were slightly pale and his pupils were bloodshot. This kind of look had never appeared on Li Li's face before, and this was the first time, which showed that he was extremely tired at the moment.

Not only that, Li Li's expression at this time was extremely solemn, his eyes were melancholy, and there was a faint sense of anxiety and self-blame. It gives people a feeling of exhaustion.

"It's late at night, so rest as soon as possible. Wechen will be here tonight, if there is an emergency. It must be reported to the Lord as soon as possible. Seeing that Li Li was physically and mentally exhausted, Zhuge Liang was very worried, and couldn't help but say softly.

"The defeated army, the morale of the army is fluctuating, and the morale is low, how can we be a little slack?" With a deep groan, Li Li slowly got up. walked to the hall with heavy steps, sat beside Zhuge Liang, and sighed softly: "I'm really tired at the moment." But his heart was in turmoil, his thoughts were scattered, and he couldn't sleep. If Kong Ming has time, he will drink two glasses with me, and get drunk to relieve a thousand sorrows. Maybe only when I'm drunk can I forget my worries for a while. Get a good night's sleep. After finishing speaking, Li Li smiled faintly, his pale cheeks and bloodshot eyes made Zhuge Liang feel sad when he saw it, and he couldn't help but worry about his body.

"If this continues, how can my brother's body be able to withstand it, sooner or later he will be exhausted." Zhuge Liang secretly thought to himself.

Immediately, he discarded these distracting thoughts and forced a smile on his face to comfort: "Actually, my brother doesn't have to worry so much. The situation is grim at the moment. However, it is not that the morale of the army is unstable and the situation is turbulent. In the opinion of the foolish brother. As long as the news of the return of the brother to Shangdang County unharmed by the sentinels who had just been dispatched was transmitted to the garrisons and prefectures and counties, the situation could be stabilized in the next ten days, and then the situation would naturally return to normal. It is the safety of my brother that is the fundamental decision of the situation in Xiliang, and now that my brother has returned to Bingzhou unscathed, the people's hearts are stable, the army's spirit is stable, and the situation is as solid as a rock. Although it is a consolation word, it is also a big truth, obviously Zhuge Liang is moved.

Li Li bowed slightly, raised the wine cup and motioned for Zhuge Liang to drink together. After drinking, Li Li looked at him with a smile on his face and asked, "Last year, I heard that Brother Xian took Shi A and three other guards to Xichuan to travel, why did he appear in Bingzhou at this moment?" Could it be that the virtuous brother is really like a god, but he is thousands of miles away but knows that the war in Hebei is worrying? Indeed, today Zhuge Liang led the troops to the rescue in time to make Li Li very curious, or he was deeply surprised by this, he did not expect that Zhuge Liang had arrived in Bingzhou and mobilized a large army to go out of the customs to rescue.

Zhuge Liang obviously expected that Li Li would definitely ask this question, and after hearing this, he said without thinking: "Even if the elder brother doesn't ask, the foolish brother will have to ask for guilt." This foolish brother's unauthorized transfer of troops and state garrisons is really an unforgivable sin, and I beg the Lord to punish him! ”

Li Li shook his head slightly when he heard this: "What is the crime of the virtuous brother who transferred troops to help him as a brother?" In addition, in a hurry, the elder brother granted the virtuous brother the right to act cheaply last autumn, and if necessary, he could mobilize troops and horses from various counties. It is because the virtuous brother sent troops to rescue this time is not only not guilty, but meritorious; If there is no virtuous brother to lead the troops to help, I am afraid that my brother is still on the way to escape at the moment, and the good luck is unpredictable! ”

Zhuge Liang waved his hand to show his gratitude: "Thank you for your magnanimity, and the ministers are terrified." Zhuge Liang has always had a clear distinction between public and private, so in a few words, his title for Li Li also changed, abiding by his duty, dealing with things in a very measured manner, and never exceeding half a step.

"That's it, there is no need to be formal, and there is no need to be polite between you and my brothers." Li Li waved his hand lightly.

Zhuge Liang nodded happily, and then reported: "Last autumn, on the order of my brother, my brother and General Zhengnan (Li Xian) went to Hanzhong to form the Eagle Guard, and the army was completed in two months. Afterwards, the foolish brother thought about it very much, so he and Shi A went to Xichuan for a trip, and did not return until he learned that his brother had won a great victory in the southern expedition. On the way back, the foolish brother watched the stars at night, Huo Ran saw a vision in the sky, and the star had fallen within ten days, and the purple star where the elder brother was located was obscure and unknown, and there was also a tendency to fall. These visions heralded a great change in the Central Plains war, and then the foolish brother learned that his brother had led an army to conquer Jizhou, so that the vision of the stars would definitely be on the elder brother.

Immediately, the foolish brother rushed back to Chang'an in the starry night, and happened to meet Li Xuan, the assassin of Xiliang who arrived in a hurry, and after asking, I knew that I had the same ominous premonition as him. Immediately he stayed in Chang'an to stabilize the situation, and the foolish brother took the tiger talisman that his brother left in the general's mansion to Luoyang, but when the foolish brother arrived in Luoyang, he heard that the elder brother led the army to besiege Yecheng for more than half a month, and Yecheng could be captured in a few days. It was the foolish brother who rushed to Hanoi County non-stop, but he received an urgent report again, and learned the news that his brother was trapped in Yecheng and that our army was defeated, and the situation changed so quickly that the foolish brother was extremely uneasy.

So the foolish brother did not lead the troops to Jizhou, but directly diverted to merge the state, and mobilized soldiers and horses along the way to Huguan. At noon today, when the foolish brother led the troops to Huguan, he saw thick smoke in the southeast mountain forest, and then led the troops out of the pass. Fortunately, my brother Jiren Tianxiang finally came back safe and sound! After finishing speaking, Zhuge Liang was still afraid for a while, and his heart palpitated.

Li Li was silent after hearing this, drinking to himself, frowning, showing that he was depressed in his heart, and he was very sorry for the defeat of Yecheng, and he blamed himself.

After a while, he poured Zhuge Liang a glass of wine with his own hands, and said in a low voice: "The virtuous brother has traveled hundreds of miles in the starry night, and it has been hard. This glass of wine, for your brother! Raise a glass and drink together, and after drinking, Li Li didn't say anything again.

Seeing this, Zhuge Liang almost wanted to open his mouth to persuade him, but he didn't know what to say or what he could say.

In the first battle of Yecheng, the Xiliang army suffered its first defeat since many years of conquest, and the losses were huge, and the hundreds of thousands of troops who went to Jizhou suffered heavy losses, which can be called an unprecedented defeat. Just now, more than ten reports of defeat arrived in Shangdang in just half a day, but they were all stopped by Zhuge Liang and not reported to Li Li as soon as possible.

It is known from the battle report that so far, all the soldiers and horses besieging Jizhou have suffered heavy losses.

More than 100,000 Youzhou troops under Zhang Liao's army in Julu were led by Cheng Yu, a close adviser under Cao Cao's account, in the name of leading the army to join, and the Qingzhou army led by Man Chong took advantage of the night to sneak attack and break through the camp in one fell swoop. In the battle, the Youzhou army under Zhang Liao's account suffered heavy casualties, and the ten pavilions broke six pavilions, and were pursued and killed by the Cao army along the way, losing cities and lands one after another, and losing Julu County and Zhuo County one after another. After the war, Zhang Liao led his army to retreat to Youzhou; Fortunately, Bohai County is still in the hands of the Xiliang Army for the time being, and it has not fallen, otherwise the Bohai Sea Division will not be protected.

Zhao Yun's troops, who captured Zhongshan, and Zhang Yan's troops, who occupied Changshan Kingdom, were also counterattacked by the Jizhou army. During this period, Cao Jun went to contact Zhao Yun and Zhang Yan under the pretense of the name of the allies, as an internal response, and then attacked with the Jizhou army inside and outside, and successively captured the camp, forcing Zhao Yun and Zhang Yan to abandon the camp and flee, and hurriedly retreat to Montenegro. As a result, the two counties of Zhongshan and Changshan fell and returned to the hands of the Jizhou army again.

At the same time, the soldiers and horses of the two battalions of Zhao Yun's Wushuang Iron Cavalry and Zhang Yan's Feiyan Light Cavalry suffered heavy casualties, losing more than half of the soldiers and horses, and also taking the lives of dozens of generals. Now, the two battalions of men and horses retreating to Montenegro are retreating to Bingzhou, and they will reach Shangdang County in a few days.

Compared with these three routes of soldiers and horses, the middle route army led by Li Li suffered the most heavy losses.

In the battle of Yecheng, Li Li successively mobilized 130,000 iron cavalry such as the Flying Bear Battalion, the Qinglong Battalion, the Tiger Ben Battalion, and the Youzhou Battalion (40,000), plus 20,000 Jin Qiwei, 20,000 trapped camps and 50,000 infantry troops, a total of 220,000 troops. During the war, Li Li divided the army into two parts, the front army was led by Zhou Yu as the main general, leading 30,000 Qinglong battalions, 20,000 Youzhou troops and 40,000 infantry troops into the south bank camp; Li Li led the rest of his troops and horses to be stationed on the north bank of the Zhanghe River.

On the day of the breakdown, Li Li personally led 80,000 cavalry to cross the river, and after meeting with Zhou Yu's army, he led the army into Yecheng. At this point, there were as many as 170,000 Xiliang troops stranded outside Yecheng City, and only Gao Shun's subsidence camp and more than 20,000 foot cavalry guarding the baggage remained in the camp. Immediately, Li Li was trapped in the city, and Cao's army adopted the strategy of encircling the point to send reinforcements, using both water and fire, defeating Zhou Yu and Dian Wei's two soldiers and horses one after another, and sent troops to attack the Gaoshun camp.

After the war, only more than 20,000 iron cavalry of the more than 100,000 Xiliang troops outside Yecheng were able to escape back to the camp alive, as well as more than 4,000 soldiers under Li Li who successfully broke through, and the remaining 140,000 cavalry were wiped out. And Gao Shun's subordinates, who stayed in the camp, resisted the battle of 40,000 troops led by Cao General Lejin to attack the camp, although they held the camp, they also lost more than 10,000 soldiers.

As a result, in the battle of Yecheng alone, less than 60,000 of the 220,000 troops under Li Li's command survived in the end, and the remaining 160,000 soldiers were lost in one battle. Even if there are survivors, they will become prisoners of war of the Cao army, and the good luck is unpredictable.

After Zhuge Liang received this information, he intercepted all of them and temporarily concealed them and did not report them. He was very worried that Li Li, who was already physically and mentally exhausted at the moment, would not be able to bear such a heavy loss, so he crushed Li Li's will to hold on, and he was exhausted, worried, and suddenly fell ill.

―――――― To be Continued ―――――――――――― (To be Continued......

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